Why the fuck do people think that commenting rude things, even as a joke, will encourage me to update ANY of my stories??

Like, seriously, when has ANY author ever read "hey you pathetic piece of shit, update your story RIGHT THE FUCK NOW" and actually thought "oh, wow. This person genuinely cares about my writing. I should really update my story!!!"????

I know I never have.

Moral of the story: be fucking nice in my comments or I'll purposely put off updating for every nasty comment I get (even if the chapter is already finished), especially if you think it's "just a funny joke".

But thank you to anyone who left kind comments of love and encouragement as you all waited for the next chapter :)

Anyhoodles,

- Nico_Solace

P.S. that wasn't an actual comment I've received, but I have seen several very similar to that.

P.P.S. I lowkey hate this chapter because I couldn't get the words to go the way I wanted them to (I restarted it like three times) so if you like it let me know, if not please be gentle with your critiques 💕

(before any of you comment, I know those two are a little OOC, just bear with me okay???)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

=Annabeth=

"Why don't you just go, Jason? You're his PR agent. And his best friend! This should be your job." I point out, examining the piles and piles of paperwork in front of me.

"But you have always been better at handling his breakdowns!" Jason whines back.

Sighing heavily, I pinch the bridge of my nose. "You're not going to drop this are you?"

"Nope."

"Of course not. Okay, I'll go talk to him but only if you wipe that smirk off your face, you smug bastard."

Jason quickly tries to pull his face into a neutral expression. "I wasn't smirking. You're the best, Annabeth! I'll find in you like two hours and you can tell me what happened, okay?"

With that, he's gone.

I sigh again and stop what I was doing on my laptop. We all love Nico a lot, but dear God that boy is stupid. I get up and walk out of my office, headed straight for the Prince's room.

---

=Nico=

The gentle knock on my door makes my brain pound against my temple as if someone was taking a jackhammer to it. With a weak, unintelligible noise the person on the other side opens the door and slips inside my room. My bed dips on my side and I don't even need to look up to know it's Annabeth; her soothing touch runs from the back of my neck down my spine until her hand stops in the center of my back.

"Nico, it's almost two in the afternoon. Don't you think it's time to stop moping and actually participate in the world?" She says gently, running her fingers in a soothing infinity pattern.

"No." I groan. "Can't. Dad'll kill me."

"That's a little dramatic." Annabeth says with a snort, not sounding surprised at all. "Everyone is worried sick about you; c'mon. Let's get you in the shower and ready so you can at least come to dinner tonight."

With another groan, I turn away from the blonde and pull my thick blankets up over my face. She laughs gently and stands from the bed.

"I'll go start the water. If you're not out of this bed by the time the water is warmed up, I'll come back with another ice bath."

My eyes snap open at the memory of Annabeth dumping a bucket of ice water on me because I refused to get out of bed and I sit up quickly. "Fine, you win! I'll take the damned shower."

Finally dragging myself out of bed, I trudge over to my bathroom where Annabeth is waiting with her arms crossed impatiently. I give her a look at she surrenders, putting her hands up and walking to stand in the doorway with her back to me.

I strip and slip into the shower quickly, not wanting to be bare around Annabeth for too long.

Before she leaves the room, she pauses again. "You know, they're giving you a little space now, but eventually you're going to have to go to the meetings and talk about your next step since your unexpected coming out. Especially with Thalia and her father still in Malavita."

"Please don't remind me."

I hear the door click shut and know she's left me to finish cleaning up. Finally alone, I relax against the shower wall.

What have I done?

---

I walk into the conference room immediately being locked with at least two dozen eyes.

My father has his best advisers, the whole PR team, the eldest of my younger siblings, and Mama sitting in the room with him. They are all equipped with tablets, phones, and computers as they type things out, make calls, and read over the various articles released about me.

"Niccolo. Nice of you to actually join humanity." My father's icy voice joins the cold stare I get from him as I close the door.

"Father. Your face is looking quite lovely." I couldn't resist the dig, looking over his swollen and purple nose.

"Hades, Nico, please." My mother intercepts before my father can respond. "We are not here for more quarrelling. We are here to discuss the next step now that Nico's... Orientation has been plastered across every possible point of the internet."

"Mom, gay is not a cuss word. I came out. It was less than desirable the way I did it, but I told the world I'm gay. It's not that bad." I sigh, already exhausted with the conversation.

"Not that bad?!" Bianca pipes up right next to me. "Nico, I'm sorry to say this, but this is the worst possible thing you could have done! You've single-handedly ruined the deal with Caray and possibly cost us our biggest alley and financial assistant. You've put Mama and Dad in an awful position; now the whole country is going to think they're horrible parents for forcing you into the closet so you could marry for prestige. You've ruined everything!"

And wow, I never would've expected such a harsh assessment to come from Bianca. She has almost always been there to support me through the discovery of my sexuality and then the exploration of what that meant, though she didn't always approve of my methods. Bianca has had my back even when Father forced me into the closet and Mama stood by completely helpless to assist me. None of the advisers or employees around us speak a word.

I feel the tears I've been suppressing come rising to the surface, burning my eyes in the most humiliating way.

"Thank you, sister mine, for reminding me of what an utter moo fuck up I am to this God forsaken family!" The words come spilling out before  I can stop them. "Thank you for affirming the fact that I have no one on my side during all of this. You don't think I realize how much of a major fuck up I am for this? You think I don't regret it? You think I haven't been telling myself every second since I saw the news that I'm a fuck up? This isn't any easier for me than it is for you and your precious reputation, dammit!"

The room is full of nothing but oppressive silence when I finish speaking. The staff in the room make a point to focus on the devices in front of them, even though most of them are not working in this moment. Mama looks nothing but saddened. Bianca's eyes reveal how sorry she is, but her face reads as nothing but stony disappointment, matching almost perfectly my father's expression.

"Well," my mother begins, her gentle voice drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "Nico, you are not a disappointment. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone in this room has done more than one reckless thing in their life. We can handle this just like we handled everything else that has been thrown at us, contrary to the opinions of those around us," Maria's gaze locks onto Bianca's and my sister shrinks in embarrassment. "Our reputations and credibility are not shot to hell because of one slip up."

There's a muttering of agreement around the room as everyone goes back to looking things over and running numbers on their various devices.

After the brief interruption of my sister and I, the meeting is thrown back into action. Several ideas are thrown out in ways to repair the relationship between Thalia and I without blatantly throwing me back in the closet; ideas from having us still get legally married but not consummating and allowing us to have our own partners on the side to scrapping the deal altogether are suggested. None of them are agreed upon for obvious reasons.

Having gotten nowhere in the six hour meeting, my father adjourns it in hopes of allowing our brains time to 'decompress and come up with new ideas'.

I slip out without a word to anyone; I don't want another lecture from someone about how irresponsible and disrespectful to my kingdom my coming out was.

---

I spend the rest of the day outdoors.

The grounds are so huge, it's easy to escape out here; to hide from the world around me, even as I sit in an empty meadow.

The grass is cold and dead underneath me, seeing as it's the middle of November, but the feeling is comforting. The cool touch of the ground as I stare up at the clear blue sky helps me forget. It helps me feel free.

I don't know how many hours I lay there, but it's dark by the time I hear another person crunching through the grass. I recognize the footsteps before the deep voice next to me washes through the silent meadow.

"You know, running away won't solve this." Percy slowly lowers himself on to the grass next to where I'm laying.

"I'm not running." I say stubbornly.

"Yes, because hiding away in the most remote meadow on the grounds is totally facing your problems head on, Nico," comes the dark haired boy's sarcastic response.

"I went to the meeting today, didn't I?" My tone is harsher than I mean it. "I'm sorry. I'm just a bit stressed right now."

"A bit?" Percy chuckles. "Listen, Nico, I'm the last person that's going to judge you through this; I can't imagine what it would be like to be a member of the royal family. I'm just here to make sure my friend is doing okay."

A small smile creeps its way onto my face. Leave it to Percy Jackson to calm me down and loosen all my stress.

"Thanks, Perce. I really am doing okay, all things considered. I feel really relieved, you know? Like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

"I would imagine getting rid of a secret like your sexuality would do that to a person."

"I just feel like I can be myself now. I know everyone that handles our public reputation is pissed at me, but I really can't bring myself to care. I know it's bad that I did it but I'm just glad I did it before I married the Carayan princess."

Percy lets out a loud laugh. "Could you imagine everyone's response if you came out after you got married? Your father would have a cow."

I chuckle quietly to myself, relishing in that mental image. "His face would turn that awful shade of red and the vein on his forehead would definitely burst."

"Dude, I've been waiting for you to make that thing pop for literal years, Nico. I was convinced that was your life goal when you were younger."

"It was! It so was. I wanted to see what would happen if I got him angry enough. I stopped trying after Bianca had her pregnancy scare a few years back and it still didn't burst."

"Oh my God, not even that triggered it?" Percy's mouth dropped open. "Your dad has one hell of a forehead vein, then."

Percy and I continue to sit and joke there until the sun was long past set. It was nice to forget the world for a bit and just laugh. It takes a while to convince me, but we eventually head back to the castle once the temperature drops enough for me to feel it through my sweater.

As I lay in my bed on the verge of sleep, I realize that even though so many people are unhappy about it, me telling the world I'm gay won't run everything. We'll find a way to fix it like we've fixed everything else, just like Mama said.