Work Text:
Nico di Angelo always won. It was a fact of the universe Annabeth had to face ever since she was but 14.
The first time she experienced the feeling that she was losing to Nico had been when Percy, the demigod who constantly bemoaned being special, who just wanted a place to belong, had chosen to become the child of the Prophecy. All so Nico di Angelo wouldn’t have to be it.
In the two years she had known Percy, Annabeth had tried to shape him to be the hero she knew he could be. He was kind, loyal and with limitless potential, but Percy was nothing if not reluctant. He had only taken his first quest because he was framed for the theft of the Master Bolt and wanted to rescue his mother, and Grover and her own kidnapping had forced his hand on the next two.
Yet there he was, willing to become the hero Annabeth always wanted him to be, and it wasn’t because of her.
Of course, that was just the beginning. Percy became obsessed with bringing Nico back, to the point that he even said no her invitations to do normal teenager stuff that she knew Percy enjoyed. Instead, he was busy looking for Nico.
At first it had been understandable. An eleven-year-old kid who had no family and was lost in a world that had changed far more than he realized was obviously a higher priority than hanging out with her. Percy was still her best friend, the guy who had held the sky for her. The guy she was starting to feel things that she had once promised herself were only meant for Luke.
If she was the one lost, Percy wouldn’t even spare one look at Nico. In fact, if what Grover told her was true, Percy found the kid annoying and clingy at the best of times.
It was his own fatal flaw, she reasoned. That loyalty to Bianca’s memory to look after her brother. Still, it bothered Annabeth that he never relented, even a bit. For the next six months, Percy looked in every forest, every park, every homeless shelter near New York for Nico.
His grades, which were never that good, started to dip to such an extent that he had to look for a new school despite not having had a monster attack at his old one.
She wondered if, when Luke had captured her last winter, Percy thought about her as much as he did about Nico now. She never had the courage to ask, afraid that the answer would be no.
When Percy told her about seeing Nico in his dreams, she knew it was time to admit defeat.
Nico’s safety was more important than her in Percy’s eyes, and that hurt.
Nico di Angelo won even when he wasn’t part of the running.
Her prophecy to find a way to close the Labyrinth and stop Luke’s invasion had mentioned how she had to choose. How one of the two boys she loved would be lost forever.
It was her choice. Up to her. Nico had nothing to do with it. He wasn’t even part of the equation.
Except that he absolutely was, because even though this was her quest, every single member of her team aside from Tyson had their own side objective. Annabeth herself wanted to clear her mind, to know whether Percy or Luke was the one she would save. Grover wanted to find Pan, after the Cloven Elders had given him his final deadline, and Percy… Percy was sure that Nico was in danger inside the Labyrinth and wanted to save him.
It was a little frustrating, to say the least. Here she was, after rejecting Luke’s plea to run away, trying to decide if she had chosen Percy already, and Percy was more worried over Nico joining Kronos’s side or getting hurt. She was almost glad when they found him at Triple G Ranch. Finally, seeing he was alright, Percy would stop worrying.
Except that didn’t happen. Percy took on challenges to protect Nico. His devotion to the boy was such that he faced carnivore horses and did archery. The latter may have sounded silly in comparison, but Percy was Annabeth’s best friend, she knew him. Percy hated archery, he was terrible at it. A natural mix of lack of talent and overall disinterest towards the subject. And he did it, successfully, for Nico’s sake.
The son of Hades’s lack of gratitude should have been a relief, but it only made Percy try harder. Together they summoned Bianca, because Percy Jackson was loyal to a fault, and he would save Nico despite Nico’s wishes.
It was recognizing that feeling of jealousy, of possessiveness, that finally made her realize that she had chosen Percy a while ago, she just hadn’t been ready to admit it.
So she had kissed him at Mount St. Helens, only for a volcanic eruption to seemingly kill him.
For a few painful days, Annabeth despaired, thinking that her choice was what had doomed him. They put together a funeral, only for Percy, her Percy, to crash it as if that had always been the plan.
She couldn’t even manage to get angry at him. With her heart decided, they went back to the Labyrinth to save Grover and Tyson, with the unfortunate company of one Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
Now, Annabeth, with her just realized feelings, knew she hadn’t won against Nico, but she could definitely win against a mortal, clear sight or not.
Percy seemed oblivious to the various power plays she and Rachel made for his attention, but in her eyes, he also seemed slightly more receptive to her. With that satisfaction, she was ready to put the whole Nico thing behind her.
A lover triumphs a friend, especially when said friend rebukes you over and over.
But Annabeth was barely fifteen, and hadn’t yet grasped that Nico di Angelo would win every single time.
He had appeared, chained up by Kronos’s army of monsters, and Percy had forgotten all about her and Rachel, fighting to free him. Was it because Nico played the damsel while she refused to lower herself as such? Percy was a reluctant hero, but a hero, nonetheless. Of course, he would put those in danger first. It was odious.
In the end, it didn’t even matter. Nico had freed himself and banished Minos, but Percy still fretted over him.
Angered she decided two could play that game. When Nico refused to go with them to help camp, Annabeth had stepped up and asked nicely. He was a twelve-year-old boy, and she a fifteen-year-old girl. Boys his age were putty in the hands of girls her age. As soon as he blushed and agreed. She had turned to look smugly at Percy. See how he likes it when she chooses Nico over him.
Her victory was short-lived. Percy had indeed been jealous, but not of Nico. No, Percy was jealous of her for being able to talk Nico into coming back.
Annabeth had lost once again, in a game she hadn’t know she was playing, because Nico di Angelo had been, and always would be a variable she had to consider when it came to Percy Jackson.
If Nico di Angelo always won, then the best strategy was not to play.
She and Percy talked often over the next year. Annabeth felt like she needed to be with Percy as much as possible before his destiny caught up with him.
It was ironic, knowing that the boy she was in love with had mere months to live when she had chosen him and doomed Luke. But she still tried to be with him in every mission she could, defeating squads of monsters, to be a girl he could rely on.
He often told her about Nico. The boy visited every so often, trying to convince him of some plan to defeat Kronos. Percy kept quiet about the specifics, though, and Annabeth… Annabeth respected it.
She had seen how Percy looked at her now. She knew because it mirrored her own expression when she thought of him. His romantic feelings for her might not be as big as his platonic feelings for Nico, but she no longer needed them to be.
She had learned her lesson. Nico di Angelo would win every single time. Some crass saying about siblings and prostitutes the Stolls were fond of crossed her mind. It was unfortunate, but appropriate.
That’s why she wasn’t surprised or jealous to learn that Nico had spirited Percy away to the Underworld from Grover, who had been MIA for a while.
She idly wondered if Grover felt the same jealousy she had felt. After all, he was Percy’s best friend, and if he would choose Nico over her, he would also choose him over Grover.
But now Annabeth had decided that she didn’t need to be first in Percy’s mind. That was an impossible to win game. She just wanted Percy’s love for her to be romantic, and in that aspect, she was doing pretty well.
However, even with that new mindset she still got the feeling she had lost to Nico once again.
Because while she had just accepted Percy’s death and just wanted to be with him until it happened, Nico had sought to protect him with Achilles’s Curse.
It was an eye-opening experience. Before, she had thought Percy’s affections for the Son of Hades were one-sided and unappreciated, yet here he was, defying the Great Prophecy and the Fates themselves to keep Percy safe. It was obvious he cared about Percy a great deal more than she gave him credit.
Conversely, Percy’s appreciation for Nico seemed to have cooled considerably, and he was even more receptive to her advances. Still, a part of her wanted to take advantage. And that got her thinking about what Nico had just done for Percy, how he had found probably the only tool to give him a fighting chance.
What had she done for Percy? Just lament about how he would have to die.
While it wasn’t her intention, those were the thoughts in her mind when, in the heat of the moment, she had received a blow directed at Percy. It was stupid. He was invincible now, but Percy had just looked at her like she had hung the Moon and the stars in the sky, so in her mind it had been worth it.
When he asked her how she had known that was his mortal spot, she had almost been too embarrassed to tell the truth. She hadn’t, she just wanted to protect Percy, to show him she was as worthy, if not more worthy, of his affection than Nico.
(She couldn’t help but wonder if Nico also knew where Percy’s mortal spot was, but she was too scared to ask, afraid the answer would have been ‘yes.’)
And that was the catalyst, really. After Kronos had been defeated. Percy had looked at her, and only at her. Nico was finally not an issue anymore and, just as a cherry on top, neither was Rachel.
She and Percy kissed, and it was Annabeth’s victory…
And as long as she never tried to compete directly with Nico again, she could keep it.
Annabeth thought she now knew how to not let it bother her that Nico di Angelo won every time, but life kept giving her surprises.
With Percy missing, she had thrown herself into Camp duties, still trying to find him whenever she had the time.
In fact, everyone had been looking for Percy, some with more intensity than others.
But none looked harder than Nico.
The son of Hades was barely at Camp anymore, always searching, always vigilant. It reminded Annabeth of the feelings of inadequacy she had had a year ago, when she had accepted Percy dying while Nico actually did something.
And of course, it had been Nico to find Percy first.
If it had been Grover or Tyson, she would have been okay with that, but the fact that it was the one person who could compete against Annabeth and win without even trying had her pulling her hair out.
Even the knowledge that Nico was only doing this to make her happy, because he had a crush on her, didn’t make her any less envious. The bond between those two was solid and deep. Annabeth wanted to take it and make it hers.
She was so angry at everything; Nico finding Percy, then becoming the damsel again (which meant Annabeth would be pushed to the side once more), the quest her mother had issued to her alone, the idea that Reyna, the Roman Praetor Jason mentioned, could be getting cozy with her Percy… that when she finally saw him again, the instinct she followed had been to Judo flip him.
He had laughed it off, for which she was glad. Nico wasn’t even there and there she was, losing again.
Then again, if she wanted to keep her Percy, she needed to know how to play.
She could no longer be passive. As Percy’s girlfriend, she needed to be on his side, and his side was protecting and saving Nico. She and Nico had never been enemies, and if she supported Percy in this, they wouldn’t even have to be rivals. Nico could take his place as Percy’s most important platonic relationship, while Annabeth would be his only romantic one.
She felt awful and manipulative doing this, but now that Percy was hers, and that she had seen how life without him was like, she knew she needed him, and that she would do anything to keep it that way.
With this new approach, she had agreed to save Nico when it was put to a vote, and even if Percy had tried to downplay it, she could see he would have ditched them all and do it solo if they had decided not to do it.
She was Percy’s perfect partner, able to see the bigger picture while keeping his wants in mind, and her efforts were rewarded.
Percy had hesitated to leave her alone when the time came to rescue Nico. He wanted to stay with her in her last stretch for the Mark of Athena. She was finally going to win over Nico!
Too bad that wasn’t really true.
Of course, Annabeth could tell him to stay with her until the last moment, making him late to save the son of Hades, but it would be a Pyrrhic victory. She knew him more than she knew herself, and Percy would never forgive Annabeth for making him not save Nico. Even if the boy ended up fine regardless of Percy’s presence, their relationship would end up fractured.
So, she stuck to the plan. She was Nico’s ally in this, after all, so she begged Percy to save him, and had the pleasure of seeing Percy leave only reluctantly. Her quest was hers alone anyways, and Percy would always remember how she hadn’t allowed him to regret missing Nico.
Nico di Angelo always won, and Annabeth was gracious enough to step back and put a laurel wreath on his head while Percy looked at her with admiration.
So why did she still felt like a loser when she and Percy fell to Tartarus together?
Was it because of the intensity in which Percy had made Nico promise to see them on the other side? Was it because Percy hadn’t so much chosen her as he had chosen not to let Nico be dragged along with them?
Or was it because, even in his sorry state after going through Tartarus and being stuck in a jar, Nico could move Percy to do the impossible, while all she could do was try to make them accept their fate?
Nico di Angelo didn’t have to be present to win. Annabeth was already aware of this.
During their trip to Tartarus, she and Percy were all they had to not crumble down. In a way, it brought them together in ways she hadn’t imagined, nor had she ever wanted to. It was referred to as Shared Trauma, she recalled. She had never wanted to go through that. She had never wanted Percy to go through that.
Then Bob had appeared, and showed her that even in the Pit, Nico di Angelo had an advantage over her.
Annabeth always had a plan, she was proud of that, but to even have a strategy you needed basic information of your situation. Tartarus was a complete unknown.
Bob, on the other hand, had that information sealed in the deep recesses of his head. He helped Percy (and by extension, her) out of some claim of friendship he had made long ago. The fact that he knew all that was probably a sign that his memories as the evil titan Iapetus might be returning in the near future.
It had scared her at first, so she had tried to reinforce some positive memories about Percy by asking him of his visits.
It would have been her worst blunder if not for Nico saving the day. Turns out, Nico had been the one to visit, the one to talk up Percy as this incredible friend who would have visited Bob all the time if his busy schedule allowed it.
Annabeth didn’t even have to look at Percy’s awed and guilty face to know she had been defeated once more. Here they were, in literal hell, with no one else to rely on, and Nico still managed to leave her in the dust.
It occurred to her that she could come across as being unfair towards Nico, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Nico was still a prized ally and a friend, even if he wasn’t a particularly close one. At the end of the day, she just disliked how much attention he could take from her boyfriend, but she had never been outright rude to Nico. She hadn’t even confronted him about his crush on her.
She knew for certain that Nico had no idea of the power he held over Percy. After all, Annabeth herself still found herself surprised by how much the son of Hades could affect him. Still, in her darkest moments, she couldn’t help but wonder, if Nico asked Percy to leave her because seeing his crush being with someone else was too painful, would Percy agree?
No, she decided, he wouldn’t. Not because Percy saw her as more important, but because if Nico ever asked something like that, it would shatter Percy’s image of this noble, unappreciated friend he had build in his mind. Nico would finally lose, but it required for him to stop being Nico.
She even wondered if, unlike her, Nico would have accepted what Percy did with Akhlys as necessary. On that notion, she couldn’t help but feel like he would, because that would only prove once again how he always won over Annabeth. He wouldn’t be afraid of Percy, of the dark potential his powers held, while Annabeth was terrified.
She thought of this and about a thousand other things as they went through Tartarus, some of those thoughts were fueled by her ADD, some by Akhlys’s presence, and some by just watching Bob be the perfect ambassador for Nico in his absence.
It hurt to leave the titan behind. She knew there was no other way, but it still destroyed her as much as the worst curses from the arai.
When they came back, she watched as Percy went to explain to Nico what happened to Bob, and to thank him.
It filled Annabeth with an ugly emotion. She wasn’t sure if it was envy or jealousy, but all she wanted was for Nico di Angelo to lose, just once.
Maybe then she could feel like Percy was solely hers.
For Nico di Angelo to lose, he had to forfeit. Annabeth could do nothing about it.
Their quest was complete. There were losses, of course, there were mistakes. The fact that she and Percy allowed themselves to be hurt and bleed was probably the biggest mistake, with Leo being the biggest loss. On the other hand, there were also triumphs, accomplishments, both personal and on a bigger scale.
Her favorite one had been Percy vowing to love her on the very place where their parents started their rivalry.
It hadn’t been the time, or the place, but it had been the perfect moment. Percy was Annabeth’s and Annabeth was Percy’s and, when it came to their relationship at least, all was right in the world.
They were talking about plans for the future (a future!), going to New Rome, to college, maybe even getting married and starting a family. It was perfect.
Too perfect, apparently, because while they were enjoying themselves by the hearth of Camp, the universe decided to remind her of a certain son of Hades and his tendency to steal away Percy’s attention.
It was business as usual. Oh, Percy talked about her and their plans, which made her happy, but even as she spoke there was so little attention on her she might as well be a tree standing next to Thalia’s.
And then came the bomb.
“For a long time, I had a crush on you.”
How dare he. All this time, she had comforted herself with the fact that even if Percy had a place in his heart that was only Nico’s, at the end of the day, the feelings could never be romantic. It was the one thing she had over him!
Percy glanced at her for a second, but his gaze turned back to Nico immediately.
And Annabeth saw it in his face. The excitement, the longing, barely concealed behind the confusion and surprise, and her whole world came tumbling down.
She could see it as clearly as if it had already happened. Percy, her Percy, despite being loyal to a literal fault, would forsake his promises and vows, forget about their plans, and go off with Nico into the sunset. They would have a story of ultimate devotion, where Nico’s love pushed Percy to do the impossible, achieve the unachievable, and Nico would smile and laugh like the kid he never had the chance to be as Percy finally allowed himself to love Nico as he had never realized he wanted to before.
Meanwhile, Annabeth would stay behind, wondering where she went wrong, what she could have done to keep Percy by her side.
In her mind, it was the only way this could end, because Nico di Angelo always won.
But then, as if the Fates, or maybe Nico, had taken pity on her, Nico forfeited.
“But I’m over that. I’m happy for you guys.”
“Wait… So, you mean—"
Nico, so absorbed in his own little world as he opened up about his feelings, didn’t notice as Percy broke down and Annabeth build herself back up. Annabeth felt guilty over the relief she felt, but not guilty enough.
The boy she loved was devastated, she could see it where a less trained eye might only see shock. But that was because she knew him best. Better than Nico, in any case, who obliviously delivered the finishing blow.
“You’re cute, but you’re not my type.”
He might as well have stabbed him. It would have accomplished the same result. As he said goodbye, she couldn’t help herself. She offered Nico a high five.
The only way she knew to say "thanks for not taking him away."
A few seconds later, Percy laughed. It was an awkward, broken sound, and Annabeth just put her arm around his shoulders.
It was okay. She would help Percy back on his feet. Their plans were unchanged, they still loved each other. What just happened had been… a lapsus. Now, Nico would become the friend he was meant to be, and nothing more, while Annabeth kept being the girlfriend Percy would never stray from.
She had won over Nico, and as unearned as it was, she would take it.
Maybe if she were a better person she would talk to Nico, tell him how Percy felt, try to convince him to give him a chance.
But she was too selfish on this particular issue, and she couldn’t live without Percy.
It didn’t matter being second choice, as long as she was chosen.
Nico di Angelo never won.
From the moment he learned he was a demigod, he had done nothing but take losses.
His mother, his memories, his sister, his happiness, his self-respect, and now even his powers.
And it all was tied to Percy Jackson.
Oh, he wasn’t responsible for any of it, but all he had done, all the sacrifices he had made, had been for his sake. The worst part was, he would do it again.
He didn't mind losing everything, as long as he could keep Percy Jackson by his side. But he wasn't by his side. He would give everything for Percy, and have nothing in return.
It was a problem he was trying to fix.
He had clung to the Son of Poseidon, because he was the only thing that he still had. However, that had only made him more miserable.
Because Percy loved Annabeth Chase and that would never change.
He had a chance now. A way out of it. The only thing he had to do, was give up on the thing that he wanted more than anything in his life.
It wasn’t like it ever would be his, anyway.
It was better this way. Percy had his fairy tale ending. He got the girl. Nico could only get whatever scraps he was allowed to take.
He followed Will Solace into the infirmary.
A second choice isn’t bad when the first choice isn’t even an option.
Especially if no one found out it was a second choice.