Out of the Shadows: A Solangelo Fanfiction

Chapter 24: The Past and Insecurities

   As Nico pulled away, Will noticed tears forming in his eyes.

   "What's wrong, Nico? Was it not good?"

   "No! No, it was great. Really great. I just...I don't know. I...I really like you. A lot. I have for a while now. But.... where I'm from...."

   "Hey, let's talk in your cabin, okay? We can warm up inside, and we won't have to worry about anyone else coming by."

   Nico nodded.

   Once they went inside, Nico sat on his bed with his back against the wall and Will sat facing him.

   "I...I don't like to think about it." Nico said after a while.

   "Think about what?"

   "My life before I went into The Lotus Casino. I mean, I don't like to think much about my life at all, but those memories are the most painful. But the thing is, I don't want to keep secrets from you. I don't want you to be in the dark about everything. I want... I want at least somebody to know my story."

   "Nico, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. All I'm going to say is, sometimes talking about things help. So if you do want to talk, I'm here. I'm here for as long as you need." 

   Nico was silent for a minute. Then finally, he took a deep breath, and in a shaky voice, Nico told his story.

   "I was born in Venice, Italy on January 28th, 1932, right at the end of the Great Depression. My mother's name was Maria di Angelo, and I had an older sister who was already 2. Bianca di Angelo. It wasn't a good time to be alive. There was a horrible dictator named Mussolini. He killed so many people, and sided with Hitler. Even then, many people were sent to concentration camps. Jewish people and....gay people."

   Nico's eyes got teary. "Nico, you can cry."

   "But boys weren't supposed to cry."

   "Things are so much different now. Yeah, some people still frown upon it. Stereotypically, girls cry more than boys. But it's way more accepting."

   "Like being gay?"

   "That's exactly right."

   Nico wiped his eyes anyway.

 "Boys were supposed to be tough. They were supposed to be the ones to be the head of the household, control the woman, have the job. A woman having a job was frowned upon, and they were limited in choice. Every girl was expected to grow up, get married, and have kids. Bianca complained about that to me all the time. She would tell me if she didn't want to marry and have kids, she wouldn't do it. But at least she had her fair share of crushes on people. I didn't. From a young age, I realized there was something wrong with me. While all the boys at school talked about crushes, I felt...left out. Isolated. I was focused on playing pirates. I was obsessed with pirates back then. When they would ask me who I liked, I would tell them I didn't know. They always looked at me funny when I would say that. They would talk about what kind of girls they were into, but I didn't know. It probably seems weird to talk about girls so young, but that's how it was. Most women were married at 18, and many even sooner. Anyways, as I was saying before, many gay people were sent to concentration camps. I found out what being gay was when I found out people were sentenced to camps for it. I went to a catholic church as a kid, and one of the things they taught you was that being gay was wrong. A sin. It was disgusting, and if you were then you were sick and you would go to Hell. So naturally, I believed that. I don't know what Mama and Bianca thought about it, they never said. But because everyone around me said it was wrong, I thought so too. There was a man a couple of houses down who was caught kissing another man. I was playing with Bianca in the yard when one of the neighbors called the police. I watched as the two men were forced into a car to then be taken to a concentration camp. They were young. In their 20's. The one that lived there used to come by to talk to Mama sometimes. He was really upset. After they left in that car, I never saw them again. Mama came out once she realized what was going on and made us go inside. She had a pained expression and she shook her head sadly. Many people I knew were sent to camps. I didn't know where they were going at the time, I was too young. I think Bianca knew. But I didn't know most of these people died. Anyways, as things got worse, so did Italy. Even though we were safe from the Nazi's, that didn't mean we were safe from Mussolini. He murdered people in cold blood. Helped Germany conquer and control other countries. But that was about all I understood. By the time I was 7, it was 1939. Once World War II started that year, Mama took us to America by boat. She told us it was a better place to live because we would have a president and not an evil dictator. We moved to Washington D.C. and lived in a hotel. While all of this was going on, I was having a really hard time in school, even though it was much easier back then. I couldn't read, which started to become a problem. I couldn't focus, and I always fidgeted. The teachers all called me lazy, and I was constantly made fun of. I learned in the orientation video at camp that most demigods have what is called ADHD and dyslexia, which is what I have. But nobody knew about those things back then. We also had many many monster attacks, but again, I didn't really understand what was going on when I was that young. Plus the mist helped hide things."