8Author's Note: With the release of the final book from the Heroes of Olympus series, The Blood of Olympus, and the entailing reveals about Nico's character, this story's tag will change to "slight-AU, 95% canon compliant".
Why not "definite AU", you ask?
Slight Spoilers for The Blood of Olympus below
For two reasons.
1) When Nico's tells Percy about his crush on him, Nico's sexuality is intentionally left ambiguous. So until Rick Riordan makes a definite statement regarding Nico's sexuality (like JK Rowling did about Dumbledore), I do not feel comfortable labeling him in any shape or form. Doing that would be a disservice to both Rick Riordan and Nico's character.
2) Because at 14, not everyone is secure in their sexuality. As a young adult, we're still trying to find ourselves. Just because we haven't seen Nico show any romantic interest in girls doesn't mean that the possibility isn't there. It just so happens that his first two crushes happen to be male. He's 14, romance is barely starting to be on the radar at this point.
Again, as I mentioned in the first chapter's A/N: I am not trying to "lessen someone's queerness" or use "bi identity" to make someone less "queer." I will support Nico's sexuality (whatever it turns out to be) 100% regardless of whether he is gay or bisexual.
But again, until Riordan makes a decisive statement, the tag isn't changing to AU. So again, please take the time to decide whether you want to continue on Nico and Rachel's adventure with me. If not, please hit the back button and do not click on this story again.
And again, I will not tolerate any negative comments/reviews regarding Nico's sexuality or Nico/Rachel.
You have been warned.
Moving on, for those wondering about the reason this is now considered a "slight AU"? Because in The Blood of Olympus:
1) Nico confesses to Percy.
2) He is over Percy and comfortable with the fact that it's okay to have crushes on men.
End Spoilers for The Blood of Olympus
Anyway, with a lot of awesome material to farm from The Blood of Olympus, I'll be incorporating some of that into the story! So stay tuned.