[ he loves you too, you know. that almost makes him scoff ( old habits ), but he withholds his derision. it's not fair, he knows, to blame anyone for the truth in annabeth's words, even if he doubts them a little. in his head, it's still hard to believe that percy feels anything but uncertainty towards him when for so long their relationship had been so... unclear. not quite friends, but certainly not enemies. to think that percy might feel more than attraction makes nico's head spin and he shifts his footing.

how does he respond to that? should he argue against it? that seems rather counter productive when annabeth knows percy as intimately and emotionally as he does. if not more so. she would know what percy's feeling probably better than he does. and nico has no doubt that annabeth could lay it out in the most logical argument possible for something like this.

so he doesn't argue against it. he merely lifts his shoulders again, this time in a shrug as he shifts his gaze to the ground. ]

That may be true, but he'll always pick you first.

[ it's a truth that cannot be denied and he likes to think they both know it. after all, percy never would've considered going as far as he did had annabeth never left. he recalls what percy said about him being there for percy and knows that percy never would've needed or wanted him, much less looked at him the way he had, had annabeth been here the whole time.

and when it came to either grasping his hand or falling with annabeth, nico had seen first hand the choice percy made. it still tears him to pieces inside. ]

And it figures you'd known. [ a short, mirthless laugh escapes him. a soft heh. ] I mean, it's you. You're pretty much a genius. If anyone could figure me out, it's you.

[ his feet scuff at the ground again and fortunately no grass dies around his toes. but his emotions are still simmering and he's unsure how to let go without lashing out. ]

So what are we going to do then? I don't want to give him up, but- I know I can't compete to what you two have.