Chapter Text
Nico did not want to go to the ADHD/dyslexia support group. He could already imagine the horror that would await him inside the bleak classroom. A sneering teacher, hyper classmates, that feeling of being wrong that he hated so much. But Mr. Brunner had insisted that it would be good for him to learn in an environment with people like him. And his stupid father had agreed. At least Hazel would be there with him. Although she was a year younger than him, she had skipped a grade due to her test scores, achievement, and all around smartness that his parents loved to remind him about. It wasn't that Nico was failing, he scraped by with average grades most of the time, but his two sisters made him look like an idiot compared to them. While Hazel was getting As, his other sister had left to go to a specialised girls army boarding school. Bianca barely even spoke to him anymore, she was too distracted by everything there. Nico didn't mind. Really. He didn't.
"You ready?" Hazel smiled at him reassuringly. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the door. Only to see an all too familiar face. Six foot something, messy dark brown hair, beautiful sea green eyes. It was hard not to fall a little bit in love with Percy Jackson, I mean who wouldn't. Sure Nico may have had a thing for him a few years ago, or a few months ago, and there go the butterflies in his stomach, a constant reminder of his eternal crush on Percy. Nico wasn't surprised to see him here, Percy clearly ticked both boxes to be here perfectly, but he was surprised to see Percy's girlfriend, Annabeth Chase here. Annabeth was a literal genius, got a hundred percent in every exam, and was applying to all the Ivy leagues next year. Everyone knew that she would get offers from pretty much all of them. She must have noticed Nico's confusion as she quickly explained:
"I'm dyslexic, it probably doesn't seem it, but I can't read to save my life"
Unsure of how to respond he swayed nervously, "Oh, well I have both and so does my sister, this is Hazel, you've probably met her, so yeah..."
Brushing past the awkward silence, Percy quickly began introducing them to everyone.
"This is Leo," he began, pointing to a short, elfish boy, with curly hair and a look in his eyes that made you immediately aware that he would cause trouble. Leo smiled at them, still in deep concentration over whatever metal device he was tinkering with. "This is Piper," wow. Nico may be gay, but he could not deny the fact that Piper was attractive. She looked like some ancient statue of Aphrodite or some shit. Then she grinned and said hello, and that godlike moment was over. "This is Jason, " a blonde boy, with glasses, around Percy's height. Nico could remember seeing him on the football team, from the games he had been forced into attending. "This is Frank," he was massive, but Nico got the impression that he probably wouldn't be able to kill a spider. Beside him, he could feel Hazel tense up and stutter as she introduced herself to Frank. Ahhh. Something to talk to her about later. "This is Reyna," Oh, he knew her. I mean not very well, he tended to keep himself to himself, but Reyna had been one of the people, alongside Percy and Annabeth who had defended him when the bullying was really bad last year. He gave her a smile, which she gave back to him kindly. "And this is Will," Nico went to go smile at him, before freezing in his tracks. Holy shit. He felt butterflies for the second time that hour, looking into Will's blue eyes. That didn't mean anything though. Everything was fine.
"I'm Nico," he stammered out, looking around the room.
"And I'm Hazel," his sister said beside him.
Just then Reyna spoke up "Does anyone know where the teacher is?"
Annabeth replied "No, but I think we have Coach Hedge."
Leo butted in "The psychotic gym teacher? He still has his teaching license after what happened last Wednesday?"
For whatever reason, Frank froze behind him, a touch of colour in his cheeks. Actually, Nico didn't want to find out what happened last Wednesday.
Just then, the coach strode into the room." Right cupcakes ! Be quiet, do your homework, dont disturb me!" and with that, he promptly sat down at his desk, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Nico looked around at the nine people in the room and grimaced. This was going to be a long semester.