14 March 2016

Author's note (A/N): Wow. Yet another Highschool AU. I already got seven chapters of this finished, so I'm gonna publish one per day to buy me enough time to finish the rest of the story, (hopefully) without having to change the update schedule.

This story has nothing to do with Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend, it refers to Jason, who is Nico's and Percy's mutual friend. No copyright infringement intended (is there even a copyright for Charles Dickens works, 140 years after his death?)

Short overview about the age of the characters; I'm not sure if it matches the one at the end of The Blood of Olympus. The story begins in April. I've made notes, so I hope I didn't write utter crap.
* Nico is fifteen and two months
* Jason is sixteen and nine months
* Percy is seventeen and seven months

Huge thanks goes to SilverStreaksOfStardust, she helped me to get over my writer's block by giving me some very good ideas for chapters 5 and 6. We are currently writing a Solangelo story named 'Say You Like Me' together, the link is on both her and my profiles.

I'm sure that was the longest A/N I've ever wrote. Enjoy reading, and please let me know what you think!

— Hashtag

Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus are the intellectual property of Rick Riordan. I own nothing but the plot.

Nico

To say that Nico di Angelo was a friend of Percy Jackson would be a shameless exaggeration. Even acquaintance seemed to be too much to describe his relationship with Percy. In fact, nothing connected them beside the fact that they both visited the same high school, had visited the same middle school, and that they were both best friends with Jason Grace. They had some other mutual friends as well, such as Hazel Levesque, Nico's half-sister, and her boyfriend, Frank Zhang. But, all in all, they didn't interact much. During the past few years, they hadn't exchanged more than three words.

Most the time, Percy Jackson didn't even knew that Nico existed. He saw him every once in a while when he was hanging out with Jason's friends, one of them being Nico, but he most likely didn't even know his name. Nico di Angelo on the other hand was painfully aware of Percy's existence. After all, it was hard to ignore a guy whom you've been crushing on for years, even if he doesn't notice you. The fact that Percy had had a girlfriend until the month before last didn't help either. While Annabeth Chase was going out with Percy, Nico thought of him as someone unattainable, and he hated himself for being unable to move on. After they broke up, Nico hated himself for allowing himself to get his hopes up.

And, worst of all, Jason knew about his feelings for Percy. Every now and then, Nico woke up after a nightmare that involved everybody knowing about his crush on the school's most popular and handsome guy. Of course, he knew that he was doing Jason an injustice; he was one of the most, if not the most trustworthy person Nico knew. He had sworn that he'd never tell anyone unless Nico allowed him to do so, and he hadn't pitied him or looked disgusted when he learned. But he had encouraged Nico to simply tell Percy, and that was the one thing Nico was sure he'd never be able to do. He could handle many things, but rejection wasn't one of them.

All these depressing thoughts crossed Nico's mind while he walked the small distance between the school's parking lot and the school building itself. A while ago, it had been common practice that parents (or, in Nico's case, Jules-Albert) would drop their children off right in front of the school, but that had caused a lot of traffic jam, so the headmaster's office had demanded that the parents had to use the parking lot. Nico would have rather walked to school, or at least used the bus or subway, like the grown-up teenager he was, but his father insisted on him being driven to school.

He didn't notice that Jason had fallen into step with him and greeted him until Jason nudged him from beside him. "Hey, Nico, what's up? Something wrong?" he asked, concern clearly audible in his voice. Nico shook his head. "Just thinking about… ya know. Him." That immediately shut Jason up. It was hard to speak these words. He hadn't spoken about his crush for at least four years, scratch that and make it five years. Jason had learned about it only recently, and since then, he had grown very protective of Nico.

They parted in front of the door of Nico's first class. Jason, who was one and a half year older than Nico, was in his junior year, while Nico was a sophomore, and Percy was already in his senior year. Nico wasn't sure whether it would be a good or a bad thing that he wouldn't see Percy anymore once he'd graduate at the end of the year. A good thing said his mind, a bad thing said his heart. There were days when he wanted nothing more but to rip this stupid thing called 'emotions' out of his chest and throw it away. Stupid feelings. Stupid hormones. Curse them all.

School wasn't a challenge to Nico. He wasn't a genius, but he was a lot more intelligent then he let show. He didn't get along with most of the teacher's, though. Mr. Brunner, the headmaster and Latin and history teacher of the class, was actually quite nice, but, for example, the Maths teacher, Mrs. Dodds, was almost as bad as if she was a fury, sent by the underworld to torture him. But since he always listened enough to pass his tests with A- or B+ grades, she couldn't do anything but glare at him.

While his English teacher rambled about the details of some book that they were going to read, Nico let his mind wander. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his classmate Leo Valdez play with a miniature screwdriver. His girlfriend, Calypso Atlas, smacked the back of his head, but couldn't hide the amused grin on her face. A few meters away, Jake Mason tried to flirt with William Solace, while Malcolm Pallas scribbled down notes and frowned at the two lovebirds. Nico allowed himself to snort. Malcolm, Annabeth Chase's half-brother, was one of the few pupils to actually listen to the teacher. What an idiot. Who cared about Asimov's novels anyway. The whole class would have to read it, of course, but it wasn't as if there was anything interesting about it.

Though, as he kept contemplating the subject, Asimov's laws of robotics somehow applied to him as well. A Nico di Angelo may not allow a Percy Jackson to come to harm. True, he had prevented Percy from being harmed a few times. Like when he had beaten up some members of the 'Titans'-gang who had wanted to ambush Percy. They poor guys had had no idea what had hit them. A Nico must obey orders him given by a Percy, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. True, if Percy would ask him to do him a favor, he wouldn't be able to say 'no', no matter how much he didn't want to feel this way. A Nico must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. True, he wasn't keen on dying, but he felt like he'd die for Percy Jackson if he'd have to. Yeah, stupid feelings. His IQ seemed to decrease by 50% once Perseus Jackson was in the same room.

His thoughts got interrupted when Jake threw a crumbled piece of paper at Will. To his misfortune, the teacher caught it. And, teacher he was, he unfolded it and read it out loud, sporting a smug grin.

"Since Mr. Mason seems to be so keen on communicating with Mr. Solace, I'll deliver his message to the recipient." He cleared his throat. "It says, quote: 'hey, handsome, wanna meet for ice cream later or r u busy?' Unquote." He snickered. "Now, class, who can point out the mistakes in this highly important message to Mr. Mason?" Of course, Malcolm could. While he rambled about letters not being replacements for words and such stuff, Nico's thoughts drifted away. At least, Will seemed to reciprocate Jake's feelings. They had been flirting during the past month. None of them would have to be afraid of rejection.

When the bell rang, Nico was the first to leave the class. He, coincidentally of course, knew that Percy always took the bus at 16:32, and although he despised himself for it, he always hurried to watch him. No, he wasn't a stalker, and his behavior was totally not creepy. Not at all. And of course, Percy wouldn't be the slightest bit upset if he found out one day, may the gods forbid.

Or that was what Nico kept telling himself, knowing full-well that he was lying to himself.