Aphrodite's Playlist of Love for Nico di Angelo

in honor (and obsession) of the Percy Jackson series, i've been writing a story about his cousin, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. i don't own them, true, but its more like a fanfiction. my friend, Alexis, told me i should post a little here, so, here it is:

We were both young when I first saw you…
-Love Story, Taylor Swift

Fourteen-year-old Nico di Angelo was not one to fall in love.
But, what son of Hades, what son of Death, what Ghost King would?
But the moment Callie, fourteen-year-old daughter of Apollo walked into Camp Half-Blood with her coppery hair, her big black-blue eyes, her pale, lily-like skin, her sweet smile, Nico di Angelo felt a pang in his chest.
Nice di Angelo wasn’t one to be nice to people. He silently glared while he sat alone at the Hades table in the dining hall. His dark clothes and skull ring seemed to give an air of despair and death that made no one want to be near him. His general rebel-like attitude and emo-like ways made something like a force-field around him that repelled friends. His black eyes with a single star shining in each were usually narrowed, sending daggers towards others. The grass died under his feet.
But, with his pale olive cheeks flushing a faint pink, he went over and introduced himself. She had smiled widely, sweetly, looking into his eyes, not stereotyping him, not glancing nervously at his skull ring or his lip ring or at his dark clothes. Smiling. At him.
Nico smiled back at her, hands in the pockets of his black sweatshirt: “I think you’ll like it here.”
All the Apollo campers, only about six boys, came to see their new cabin mate. The Demeter cabin came, too. Those two cabins were tight. Nico guessed it was because Apollo was the sun god and Demeter needed sun to grow their stuff. (The Demeter cabin absolutely despised Nico, what with him killing the grass with every step.)
When Brandon, fifteen-year-old son of Demeter, saw that pretty Callie was the new Apollo camper, a devious smile crossed his lips and his blue eyes lit up.
That guy made Nico’s smile fade. He nervously pulled his silver lip ring (a birthday present from Percy!) into his mouth.
Everyone introduced themselves to Callie, hugs and high-fives and smiles were shared, but she kept glancing at Nico from the corner of her eyes.
“You’ll like it here,” Brandon wrapped his big arm around her small shoulders as he led her away.
She glanced back at Nico as she answered, “Yeah, I think I will…”


No one sits with him, he doesn’t fit in.
But we feel like we do when we make fun of him.
‘Cause you want to belong, do you go along?
&his pain is the price paid for you to belong.
-Hero, Superchick

Callie looked at Nico, sitting all alone on the side of the sword arena. She tilted her head to the side, studying the first person to welcome her to camp.
“Callie, what are you doing? Staring at di Angelo?” Brandon sounded appalled.
“Why is he all alone?” she bit her lip.
“He’s the son of Hades. He has no friends. He’s a freak- always wearing black and glaring and he has that stupid lip ring. He talks to ghosts. No one even wants him here, anyway. He belongs with the dead,” the blonde boy explained.
She took a step towards Nico, smiling, “Well, maybe he just needs a friend.”
Brandon grabbed her arm, “Don’t go over to him, Okay?”
She frowned, but nodded.
------
At dinner, Nico found someone sitting beside him. He turned.
“Hi.” He was staring into the smiling face of Callie, with her big azure eyes and pink-tinted cheeks.
Did she not know that the cabins couldn’t sit together?
“Hey,” Nico turned back to his food.
“I thought that, since you’re always sitting alone, I’d sit with you. If it’s okay, of course. I don’t want you to think I’m annoying,” she blushed, realizing he might not want her there.
“Nah, its fine. As long as Mr. D doesn’t strangle you with grape vines for switching tables,” he chuckled to himself.
“Um, if you don’t mind me asking, and you don’t have to answer…why doesn’t anyone ever…y’know, talk to you or anything?”
Nico’s cheeks flared: “People Talk To Me!”
Everyone got quiet and turned to look, to stare at Nico and his outburst. He put his head down on his arms, muttering curses to himself.
“I’m sorry, Nico. I-” he cut her off.
“You…know my name?” he looked up at her, surprised.
She giggled, smiling again: “Of course! You’re the first person I met when I came to camp! You came up and introduced yourself, duh!”
“Oh,” he ran a hand through his thick black hair. “Right.”
An awkward silence surrounded them. Nico pulled his lip ring into his mouth, a nervous habit. “Hiding your lip ring much?” Callie laughed.
He looked at her with wide, surprised eyes, “Oh. Sorry, nervous habit. And girls don’t usually like seeing it.”
She smiled: “I like it.”
“You do?” he raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” she nodded, giggling, touching his cold, cold hand, “It’s different.”
Brandon came storming over, “What the hell are you doing, Callie?!”
“I’m sitting with my new friend, Nico,” she smiled. “That’s obvious.”
“I warned you. I specifically told you not to get mixed up with him,” the blonde boy stomped his foot. “Gods, you’re insane!”
A mischievous light lit up in her eyes, like a fire had sparked. Nico’s eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?” she stood. “I’m what?”
“Crazy. Insane. Off your rocker. He’s a son of the dead, a son of darkness,” Brandon said. Then, he slyly smiled and tucked a coppery curl behind her ear: “And you’re a daughter of light, of life.”
Opposites attract, Nico thought.
“Just…come and sit with us, Callie…” Brandon tugged on her hand. “Please?”
She looked back at Nico as the blonde boy pulled her backed to their table, hoping to catch the Ghost King’s eye.
But he had already turned away.

soooo?