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The smell of it was so strong, and they weren’t even smoking it yet. He watched with shaky, disbelieving eyes as Nico brushed his hands across his forehead, pushing his sweat soaked bangs behind his ears as he shoved as much of the plants into the leather bag (lined with plastic on the inside, they weren’t that stupid) as possible. Connor’s heart was racing and he couldn’t tell if Nico was nervous or just insanely focused. As far as he knew Nico didn’t get nervous. He’d always been chill with whatever stupid plan Connor concocted and in the past 7 months of their friendship, had never said no to a single idea that didn’t involve upsetting his beloved, sun kissed boyfriend (even though Connor still wants to see what happens when Will gets a dose of truth serum, that guy totally has secrets).
Connor always thought he was too much for any of the other campers; even his brother had been spending less time with him. It didn’t bother him. How could he expect someone to stick around after all of his fuck ups? Nico, however, seemed so nonchalant, never fazed by Connor’s antics and mischievous smile. They created a habit of abusing the Stoll’s XBox console late into the night and listening to instrumental coffee house music.
Truthfully, Connor didn’t know why Nico hung out with him. After a bi-yearly visit from their estranged father (“Hey kids! Anyone have a driver’s license?”) Travis and him were gifted a lightly used camper van that Hermes advised as a good place to scheme. As nice as it would be to ruin the days of others with his brother, Travis appeared too busy playing domestic partner in cabin four to join Connor in decorating the van, so he tried to do it himself. After an hour of embarrassing himself while attempting to unwrap cables on the roof that would allow him to gain internet access, an unexpected visit from a surprisingly tech savvy Nico di Angelo turned into a friendship that made a certain camp doctor more than uncomfortable.
So when Connor woke him this morning with a nudge and said, “Hey, you fell asleep on game 6, your teammate sounded pissed. Also, we’re out of weed,” Nico assumed the brunette wanted to get a head start on the daily activities around camp and sat up onto the dark green cushions, pushing the game controller onto the floor.
“Why didn’t you wake me? And I thought we still had 2 grams.”
“I like to listen when they get angry and call you an ‘afk bitch’. And no, dude that was yesterday. We’re out.”
Nico scrunched his eyebrows and hung his headphones from a hook on the van’s cabinet. “Well... you’re older? Go get some. Does your brother know anyone?”
“If Katie found out Travis smokes she would... well I’m not sure, maybe she’s pro-pot? I don’t keep up with the Demeter kids but Katie wouldn’t risk it with Chiron.” In fact, Connor is pretty sure most of the camp was 420 friendly, but that didn’t defeat Chiron’s ‘no breaking the law’ rule. Tyranny is what Connor called it. Chiron had yet to crack down on the no-pot policy, but there was no way he wasn’t aware of its widespread use considering the Hypnos cabin reeked of skunk and diesel. He put his shoes on while Nico tossed on the nearest orange hoodie. Connor figured they’d get breakfast with the other campers and have a simple afternoon on multiplayer. Since the summer was still a few weeks away, camp was less tight on scheduling and had only a few strict protocols; don’t leave camp, and don’t put yourself or others in danger.
Nico sighed, following Connor out of the van that was parked alongside the forest line, and disconnected the wire that gave them a magically concealed WiFi connection. “We’ll figure something out.”
A calm, relaxing spring day.
Yet, hours later and here was the prized son of Hades, shoving bundles of grade A legal (where they stole it) marijuana into a Def Leopard backpack after transporting fistfuls of plant through the shadows of a Colorado greenhouse and into Connor’s newly painted camper, thousands of miles away in NYC. If he wasn’t already in trouble with the law from what he did to Malcolm two months ago then he certainly was now.
Colorado was warm and stupidly hard to navigate through shadow travel. Nico and him had gone traveling a few times together, and had only gotten lost once, in Chinatown. Only that time they’d been stupid high and he found Nico giggling at a massive red cat with moving ears. This time, they had a mission, a directive.
After lunch, they had planned it out inside the camper, parked a few yards behind the Hermes cabin and up against an outcropping of trees. They would travel, mostly drawing from Nico’s strength since shadow traveling was still new to Connor, and then the older would commit a mini heist in the grow house while Nico waited in the shadows. While it was mainly Nico’s idea (Connor was starting to question if the kid had any self preservation skills), the boy probably wouldn’t have gone through with it if he hadn’t tested Connor.
Dark eyes starting to worry, Nico leaned his head against the window of the van. “I’m not sure, what if they try to track us? What if you get caught?”
Connor’s jaw twitched in insult. “Nico, I’m a master thief. How could this go wrong?”
But of course, of course it can go wrong, and when Nico ‘opened’ the shadow for Connor and landed in the growhouse he forgot to check and make sure the place was actually empty.
Connor had started walking the moment his feet settled on the new ground and got about ten feet before a “Hey! Where’d you come from?!” had them both bolting from one corner of the greenhouse to the next. Not even a few seconds in and their plan had fallen wide open, pathetically, before it had even started. Connor ran blindly, too familiar with the chase and only took a second to make sure Nico’s hand was wrapped firmly around his bony, freckled wrist. Reaching down while running, Nico grabbed the black plastic base of a plant and yanked three times at the stems before the bulky pot dropped back down. Connor felt the younger boy shove at his side and saw Nico filling Connor’s jacket pocket with buds. He looked at the son of Hades in awe, momentarily forgetting the two men following them, bewildered at how Nico was smiling, pure and bright and full of adrenaline as they committed drug theft, of all things. He heard another shout, and only had a chance to snatch another plant from its base as Nico reached back into the shadows and melted them through the dark left side of the grow house.
The lighting blinked from the bright fluorescent of the growhouse into the soft yellow glow of the (months old) Christmas lights strung around the inside of the van. Connor landed in the passenger seat and Nico was in the dead center of the pillows, trying his very best to hide the evidence inside his bag. It was over so fast that both boys were still catching their breath when they looked up at one another, scared but smiling so wide that both of their cheeks were flushed and Connor began laughing, in shock that the craziest thing he had ever done hadn’t even been his idea. It had been Nico’s, this stupidly daring and trusting child of the underworld, and Connor, for all his popularity and proud facade, realized that Nico was the only person he knew like this. The only other camper who didn’t care that his ideas were shit, or that his habits were shit, or that he had no prospects in life. Nico was more of a friend than anyone in camp had been to Connor in a long time. When did that happen?
In the midst of their crash back into the van and their delirious adventure high, neither had noticed footsteps coming up to the camper until someone was knocking at the door. “Yo Connor, I don’t know what you’re up to but I can’t find Nico, have you seen him? You better not force him to help you sneak into the forest after dark, the dryads are starting to get scared of you.”
Will taps again at the door, and Connor starts spraying cologne and glances back at Nico, who was holding a finger up in a ‘shh’ motion. Grinning like a madman, Nico pushes the bag under the pillows and calls out, “Hey Will, we’re good! Just finishing a game!” He grins up at Connor, still holding a finger to his mouth, this time as if to say, ‘He doesn’t need to know.’