Percy
He was right.
I felt better. Hell, I felt weightless after telling him everything.
He didn't get much time to ask questions, though. I was asleep 30 seconds later.
Susan didn't sleep last night, neither did I. She cried most of it. How Bianca and Maria sleep through it, I wish I knew.
Nico
Percy passed out.
I let him sleep as I stayed where I was. He was laying on me, so I couldn't do much. But I had a text from Grover so that gave me someone to talk to.
Grover: Is he pissed with me? I didn't know Thalia was around or that she heard, and he isn't answering any of us.
Me: Oh gods no. He's pissed with Thalia and Bianca, that's really it.
Grover: Seriously?
Me: Yeah. He um... Well he's asleep now. He rambled about a lot of stuff. He probably needs a therapist.
Grover: We all do.
Me: Yeah, but he needs it a bit more. I promise. He managed to run out of energy just by talking about shit. But just... Don't ask him about it. Ask if he's okay if you want. But he'll tell you eventually. I wouldn't feel bad. He hasn't told his mom.
Grover: Wow. So what's the situation with you and Mr. Has A Lot Of Problems now?
Me: I uh
Me: I don't know
Me: We never talked about him liking me. Me was freaked out enough that people knew he was bi.
Me: We'll figure it out when he wakes up. I might as well sleep, too. I didn't last night and he's laying on me.
Grover: Well if there's anything official, just send a text. I'll let everyone know he's fine. Have a good nap.
Me: Will do
Percy
I wasn't completely asleep when I heard Nico put his phone down and struggle to move.
Figuring he was going to get up and do something while I slept, I didn't do much to resist him moving.
It was when I felt his body laying down right next to mine (were on a couch, there isn't much space in the first place) that I figured he was going to nap, too. Neither of us slept last night. At least now it's decently quiet.
When he cuddled and snuggled up with me, I didn't resist it. I just sort of gave in to his touch.
Nico gave me just a small little peck at that dip under and behind your ear. Which melted my heart.
"Thank you," he told me. "For opening up to me."
Paul
If they're not a thing this time, I'm making them a thing.
This is the second time I've come home to Percy and Nico sleeping on the couch, cuddling. Which, sleeping made sense. Not in the couch. But they probably didn't get much sleep last night. Susan wasn't very happy last night.
It was exhausting.
But anyways, the sleeping made sense. But until they're together, the cuddling really doesn't. And we've been waiting for Percy to say something. But I feel like he hasn't quite yet.
Maybe when he wakes up.
Because if not, I'm telling him everything I know.
Percy
It took a while, but I got my nerves up and asked Nico out to Homecoming. End of September.
And you know, I got really nervous and what not when I asked him. But he just... I mean he had a double take. But I repeated what I said.
Nico looked at me.
"It took you three months," the son of Hades told me. "Took you long enough."
After school I had swim practice. We swam through October. Homecoming was in a week.
Practice went well, everyone showed up, everyone at least tried. We have a few freshman on the team and one Junior who just.. they're lazy.
But I was in the locker room afterwards. My swim practice buddy partner person, Alex, was really deep in thought. Something he doesn't do unless he has a problem. And we were the last ones in the locker room. As protocol being captain and co captain of the team.
"You doing alright, Sanchez?" I asked him as I threw on my shirt, earning his attention.
"What?" Alex asked me, back in reality. Back in the mortal world, and not his own. "Oh, yeah. It's been a long day."
"That's it?"
"Well, I..." He started and thought before he spoke. "You and Bianca are friends, right?"
I nodded my head.
"Yeah," I told him. "Um, I'm friends with both Bianca and Nico. I've known them forever. Why?"
"How did Nico tell you he's gay?"
Oh.
Being bisexual and not out to my team, or my school whatsoever, I knew what this was about. He was thinking that he might be gay or bi or something of those sorts, and he didn't know how to come out.
"I..." I tried to explain it, but it wasn't easy. Because he didn't. "Nico didn't tell me. I was talking with someone else and they told me. Nico had been over at the time, so when I asked about it, he said that he was gay. But how they found out was by mistake at that. Nico hasn't come out to anyone aside his mom and his two sisters. The only person that I know that ever came out, came out in their will. Aside that, it's either everyone already knew so when they started dating someone, no one cared, or it was word of mouth through someone overhearing someone."
He bit his lip for a second, knowing that I really couldn't help him.
"Got it." Alex assured me he knew I couldn't be of much help. "What would you do if you had to like come out?"
I thought about it, knowing that I wouldn't.
"I wouldn't." I was honest. "Not until I moved out, at least. Not until I graduated and finished high school. Kids are mean."
"They don't bother Nico."
"Yeah, but he could also probably kill them with a look."
"Really?" Alex asked me. "He doesn't seem too much like a tough guy. He seems too... I don't know. He just doesn't seem like a fighter."
I shrugged. He didn't know Nico that well, but Nico was also a year below us. And he wasn't in sports or anything of that sort. Bianca was. She was doing Volleyball and she was dam good at it.
"I don't know." He told me, shrugging as he closed his locker. "I'll figure it out. Waiting probably wouldn't be the best idea for me. I don't know who would freak out. We've had plenty of gay, lesbian, whatever come and go and I mean nobody seemed to care. They're mean. But they're not mean enough to pick about that sort of stuff."
"You think so?"
"I know so, Percy." Alex informed me, suddenly a little more confident about this entire thing. "I mean, the only thing that's ever happened that wasn't good in all this was a staffs kid. They killed themselves, in the suicide note they said they were gay. The teacher got married like two years later. Might even have another kid now. He's happy now. But yeah. In recent news, that's it. And that was... 5 years ago? Going into 8th grade. The first day of 8th grade. A year before you came here. He was a really cool guy, too. That wasn't why he killed himself. It was depression and stuff. It sucked. I still miss him."
I never heard that story. Which was weird, considering Paul told us almost everything that happened there. But I suppose going into 8th grade... They didn't meet until half way through it.
Paul is a freshman teacher. So when he had us, he was engaged to my mom. Had just gotten engaged. But people didn't really know he was my step dad until a year later. It's weird.
"Who's kid?"
"Um..." Alex started. "Blowfish's kid, Patrick. He was our best swimmer in JV. A 7th grader was the best swimmer. That never happened. But... He never came back for another season."
"Paul?"
I...
"I don't have step siblings." I told him.