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For the last few years of his life, Nico had been searching for a place where he could belong. He’d thought he had found it all those years ago, at Camp Half-Blood, when he had been lead there by the strong and valiant Percy Jackson. He’d been starry eyed and naive, until his sister’s painful death.
After that, he’d felt like an outcast at Camp, which was why he’d left in the first place… why he lead a life of solitude on the outside world. He’d risked his life every day of his life, fighting off monsters and traveling the country simply because he thought people wouldn’t accept him for who he was, for how he felt. People only saw the darkness in him, the darkness he’d inherited from his father… that was what he had thought back then, anyway.
The timing was off, his sights were set on the wrong people… he didn’t look at the bigger picture. He had focused on the wrong people, on the wrong things. If only he’d paid attention to the world outside of Percy, Nico would have learned that there were people there for him at camp, people who actually wanted to be around him.
Nico had been scared of his own feelings, of being rejected and hurt. It took him years to realize that he hadn’t been cast aside by everyone. It took him far too long to learn that people could accept him as he was and that he was worthy of love.
It took one bright smile from a golden haired boy and some choice words for him to realize what he’d been missing out on. It took many days in the infirmary, being scolded for having left in the first place for the barrier he’d set around his own heart to break.
“Hey, Nico? Earth to Nico. Are you doing alright?” Will asked from across the table they’d been sitting in, effectively snapping Nico out of it. Nico turned to face him, taking in his handsome features. “Are you getting sick?”
A smile snuck its way into Nico’s face at his boyfriend’s concerned tone and he shook his head no. “I’m fine, Will. I was just thinking…” He reached over the table to hold Will’s hand in his own. It was warm and soft, as always. “I’m happy we’re together now. I’m glad I stayed in Camp.”
Will’s cheeks were covered in a light blush at that. It wasn’t often that Nico initiated any of the sappy stuff- that was definitely Will’s specialty, after all. “I am too, babe. Though, if you had left again, I might have ended up dragging you back this time around.” Will smiled, and Nico swore his heart skipped a beat at the sight of it. Will’s smile was always so sincere, so blinding; it always made his insides bubble up in the most pleasant of ways.
It seemed what he had been searching for had been hiding under his nose this whole time.