Chapter Text
Nico's Pov
Nico woke up with a groan.
His body ached and he had a killer migraine. He just wanted to lay in bed and forget about everything, but he had to get ready for school.
His new school started at seven am. He woke up at five to make sure that all his bruises were properly covered and his cuts had stopped bleeding.
There was no way he was going to let himself go to school with bruises covering his face, he already had enough to worry about without being the weird kid who showed up to school black and blue.
He forced himself up. Everything hurt and he already knew he would have a lot to deal with. He stumbled over to his bathroom and looked in the mirror.
Oh wow.
He'd know it was bad, but this time it was really bad. He had a black eye on both sides and he could barely see out of his left eye. His cheeks and jaw were black and blue. There were some nasty cuts right in front of his ear from a ring. He lifted up his shirt and saw a painting of purple and blue bruises covering his thin chest. You could see his ribs, but that wasn't that strange.
He caught sight of his soulmate tattoo and quickly dropped his shirt. It was difficult enough living his life, he didn't need the reminder that for the past two years some poor unsuspecting person had been getting every black eye he got. Every bruise. Every broken bone. Every cut.
He shook his head, he couldn't think about that right now.
He went back into his room and grabbed a black long sleeved shirt, then looked down at his chest, and grabbed a hoodie instead. It would be easier if he could cover as much with his clothing as possible, especially his arms.
Once he was dressed he crept out of his room and went down to knock on Hazel's door. She'd just gotten home the day before, after getting back from her camp. Every summer she'd offer to bring Nico and every summer he'd decline.
She opened the door after a few moments looking annoyed, her hair was tied back and she was wearing pajamas, but seeing Nico her expression softened.
"Hey Nico," She yawned, "Need help with covering those up?"
He just nodded. Hazel had known what was happening for a while. At first he'd tried to keep it from her, but living in the house she was bound to see what was happening eventually. She was kind enough to help Nico with the wounds when they were bad enough, and to help cover the bruises up with makeup when he had to go out.
She led him over to her bathroom and took out her supplies. After around half an hour they'd properly covered up all the bruises. If you looked closely you could still see where his skin was swollen, and there wasn't much they could do about his eyes other than change the color, but Hazel had gotten pretty good at covering them over the years.
"Thanks Haz," Nico smiled and stood up to hug her, she was one of the few people he let touch him, "I really appreciate it."
She just gave him a sad smile and put the makeup away.
"I'm going to go back to bed for now, if you're going to stay up please at least try and eat some breakfast."
Nico just gave her a sad smile, knowing full well that he wasn't going to be able to stomach any food that morning.
She sighed and shooed him out of her room. He walked back to his room and turned on the light, looking for his backpack. He wanted to get out of that house as soon as possible if he could help it.
He grabbed his back pack from the space it'd been sitting under his bed and rushed downstairs. If he was lucky his father would still be sleeping, then he could sneak out and stay at the bus stop until it was time for school.
He wasn't lucky.
He flinched when he heard a clatter. He peeked into the kitchen to see his father, Hades, sitting at the counter drinking a beer.
Nico didn't know why he was drinking so early in the morning until he checked the date.
It was his mom's birthday. September 5th. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before. He fought back a sob from escaping his mouth, but Hades noticed.
The man spun around, and as soon as he saw Nico he threw the empty beer bottle at his head. Nico was too lost in his own grief to be able to properly dodge and it hit him in the forehead.
He heard Hades start yelling but he wasn't focusing on that, he just stumbled back up to his room and fell down on his bed.
He felt the blood trickling down his forehead and the pounding headache from the night before got worse. All he wanted to do was sleep.
He closed his eyes, planning on just resting for a few minutes then running to school. But the next thing he knew Hazel was shaking him awake, looking worried.
"Nico? Oh thank god you're awake." She looked relieved, "I need to go now, but I left a first aid kit on your bathroom sink."
Nico just nodded, but before Hazel left the room he said.
"Be careful with him today." He knew Hades had never hit Hazel before, she actually had people that would notice and care, but he didn't want to take the chance, "It's her birthday."
Hazel gave him a sympathetic look but nodded, leaving the room and hopefully the house.
He lay there for a few more minutes before finally dragging himself out of bed for the second time that morning. He stumbles into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. He grimaces when he sees the gash his fathers bottle had created on his forehead. There was no way he'd be able to cover that without Hazel's help.
But he does his best, washing away the blood and just sticking on a bandage. If anyone asked, he could just say he'd tripped and hit his head, or that it was a soulmate injury.
He grabbed his backpack again and snuck down stairs, breathing a sigh of relief when he heard his father snoring away in his room.
He stepped outside and walked to the bus stop, but when he got there he realized he was too late. On the bench he and Hazel usually sat at was a note that looked like it'd been written hastily.
I'm sorry Nico. I tried to get them to stop for you but I could only delay the bus for so long. If you're still going to school today you might want to use dad's car. Last I saw the keys were next to the fridge, and from the looks of it he shouldn't be driving anyway.
Be safe and please actually eat breakfast, even if it's just an apple.
-Hazel
Nico sighed, this was going to be a long day. He walked back to the house and snuck in through the back door, as far away from his fathers room as he could. He grabbed the keys and left through the garage.
Now, technically he shouldn't be driving. He was only fifteen and his father had obviously refused to bring him to get his permit, but he didn't really care. And Hazel had taught him, she'd had to drive to get him medical supplies enough times to be relatively good at it by now.
He made sure to go the speed limit and obey all the laws, as much as he wanted to speed and not be late, he couldn't afford to be pulled over.
He finally got to the highschool and pulled into the student parking lot. He grabbed his bag and ran into the office.
"H-hey," He did his best to sound as out of breath as he could, acting like he'd just ran to school, "I need a schedule."
The lady behind the desk gave him an annoyed look.
"Name?"
"N-Nico Di Angelo."
She made a 'hmph' sound, then typed away at her computer.
"Your advisory class is room 137. Your teacher will give you your schedule."
"Thank you ma'am." Nico had already decided he didn't like this woman, she was acting like it was Nico's fault he'd been knocked unconscious by a flying bottle and had missed the bus. But he wasn't planning on getting in trouble on the first day, so he just subtly flipped her off as he walked out of the office.
It took him around ten minutes to find the one-hundred building, this school was big, but he finally found his class and knocked on the door.
A girl opened it up for him and let him inside.
"Um..." He realized he didn't know the teacher's name, he probably should have looked at the sign next to the door before he came in, "I was told this was my advisory? I need my schedule."
The teacher gave him an annoyed look, then turned back to the class and kept talking. Nico was just forced to stand by the door, looking at the ground so no one could see his forehead, as the teacher went on about attendance and how being tardy would not be accepted in his class, he gave Nico a pointed look when he said that.
After he finally finished talking he turned back to Nico.
"What's your name?"
"Nico."
"Last name?" The teacher said it like it was obvious, it wasn't.
"Di Angelo."
He sighed and turned to his computer, typing something. Then wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to Nico.
"This is your schedule. Don't lose it. Go sit by the Solace boy in the back. Solace, raise your hand."
Nico turned back to the class and saw a boy in the back raising his hand, he assumed that was "the Solace boy" so he went and sat next to the open seat next to him.
"Hi," The boy's smile was way too bright, though he was a bit cute, but Nico refused to let himself think that, "What's your name?"
"Nico." He muttered, he kept his gaze down, the hoodie might cover it but he didn't want to explain why there was a giant gash on his forehead, and he was not in the mood to make friends, even if those friends were bright and cute and glowed like they were always happy.
"That's a cool name. Mine's Will."