Archive of Our Own ^beta

Coldwater that came from the shower rained on the petite boy's body; wetting his jet black hair, Droplets of water trickled down his slim figure. He raised his hand to his face to hopefully rid his face of water as he opened his eyes. A noise came from outside the well-lit bathroom, "NICO, HURRY UP IN THERE—" Jason yelled followed by a shriek to which Nico assume was because Leo was terrorizing the blonde with a blunt object again.

The ravenette rolled his eyes and stared into the sky blue walls of the bathroom as he continued to rinse every nook and cranny of his body, making sure that not a single spec of soap was left behind. Once he was done, he got out of the cramped shower room and into the bathroom itself where his towel and clothes were at. The instant he set foot near the door, he could once again hear the antics of Leo and Jason from outside the bathroom. Nico ignored this and grabbed his towel, putting it over his head, and violently dried his hair. Taking his towel off of his head, his damp dark black hair became tousled and messy, to which the ravenette tucked some of his bangs behind his ears in order for him to see properly. He continued wiping and patting his body dry, every time the towel made contact with his milky and sensitive skin felt like sandpaper since the towel was newly washed making the bristles of it hard and rough. After making sure that his body was dry, he reached for his clothes that were neatly folded and placed on one of the shelves. Nico took his undergarments, a normal black boxer brief and he wore it with little to no effort. 

Next, he grabbed his shirt, unfolding it in front of him, making sure he grabbed the right one, and he did. It was a black shirt that was a little over a year old, the print fading a little due to how many times it has been worn. Seriously, Nico liked this shirt so much because the cloth was soft and a tad bit stretchable, not to mention how cold and comfortable it felt while wearing it. And once again, he'd put it on in one swift motion.

Lastly, he grabbed the pair of shorts he was going to wear. And yes, it is also black. Who would've known? It was a pair of black shorts that had the name of the brand that made it on the side in capital and bold letters with two pockets on the side. He slid one of his legs in after the other. Once fully on he tied the string on the short's waistband for it to fit nicely around his waist.

Taking one last look in the mirror, the ravenette shouldered his towel, opened the bathroom door to only see a Leo threatening Jason with a brick. Nico didn't even know where Leo got that brick from. The two looked at the freshly showered ravenette that was looking at them with pure confusion. Before the two could even speak, Nico raised his right hand, making a stop gesture. "I don't even want to know." He stated, seemingly having more to say, and he did. "I'm done with the shower. Hurry up or we're gonna be late"

A female voice from the other room could be heard, Nico immediately recognized this as Piper's voice AKA. Jason's significant other. The voice clearly had a tone of irritation but not in a bad way, "I agree with Nico on this one. Annabeth's gonna upset if we get there late, and would you look at the time. It's already 6:00 PM." Nico couldn't see Piper at that moment, but he was absolutely set that she was doing her signature deadpan once again.

"Ah shit—" Jason ran for his towel and rushed into the bathroom, earning a snicker from the brick-wielding teen. Even Nico snorted at what had just happened before walking over to their laundry room and draping his damp brown towel on a rack in order for it to dry up. After doing so, he walked over to his room, passing Leo, who was now in the living room with Piper as they tried to pick out which type of clothing he should wear for swimming. Nico didn't hear much, but he could recall Leo saying "What if I go skinny dipping?" Which made Nico choke on air when he heard it. But nothing could beat Piper's reaction because she literally smacked Leo on the back of his head and stated, "We're going swimming in a public beach, you dumbass. At least wear shorts!". Nico had heard enough of that conversation and rushed back to his room, his footsteps, light and made as minimal noise as possible on the tiled floor. Not that waking on tiles made that much noise, to begin with. He's faced by the door to his room, he opens it and gets a look at his room, which didn't match his personality at all; The walls of the room, painted in a sky blue color, much like the color of the bathroom walls. 

A bed a few steps away from the door which had two pillows that were multicolored, one matcha green-colored bolster, and a neatly folded crimson red blanket on the side, and the bedsheets were in a cream color with flowers as patterns. His bed accessories clearly weren't picked by him because if it was, everything would've been black or any color that's dark-colored for the matter

An AC directly in front of the bed, Nico claims that this AC has saved his life because, without it, he would've already died from a heat stroke months ago. Yes, that's how hot it was at their place.

A study table at the far end of the room, it was your typical teen's study table. Stationaries were not in the place where it needs to be. Pens and pencils were scattered all around the desk, books and papers were also cluttered all around the desk. The only thing that looked neat was his laptop on the side with his phone set on top of it as it charged. Nico hasn't told this to anyone, but he has a fear of his phone running out of battery. So every time he leaves the house for a trip, he needs his phone to be fully charged or he'll worry like never before.

Next was a printer that's set on a little glass table was directly beside the desk with a wire that connected his laptop to his printer in order to print things. Nico seriously didn't bother setting up the printer for it to print stuff without the USB connected because he doesn't have the energy nor patience to go through all that tedious steps just for it to do the same thing but with fewer wires.

And lastly, something that you wouldn't expect to find in Nico Di Angelo's room. Which is an aquarium that's on a nightstand that he moved to another side of the room. The aquarium was fully decked out with tinted LED lights on top of it, a filtering system, a few artificial plants inside the tank, and even a contraption that made little bubbles at the bottom of the aquarium.

The ravenette takes a step into his room and walked straight to the desk where his phone was located, to check if it's fully charged. He grabs the phone and puts his thumb to the fingerprint sensor that was located on the side of his phone and the phone's screen came to life. The percentage mocked him, the 99% on the screen irritated Nico because it felt like forever for it to go from 99% to 100%. After this, he'd set his phone on his laptop, where it was placed before he picked it up. 

Nico then looked at his messy desk and remembered he needed a pouch or bag or something to store all his things in. His things weren't that much, to be honest. It was just his chargers, stylus, and Bluetooth earphones since his extra clothes were already in the large eco-bag in the living room. His eyebrows furrowed as he grabbed one of the pouches that he kept his pens and markers in and took them all out. As he was doing this, he heard the bathroom door open, notifying him that Jason was already done with his shower. He then quickened his pace and went through the pens, finding the stylus because he surely didn't want to bring a regular pen and use it on his phone. After a few seconds, he was able to find the black stylus with two different ends. He'd let out a sigh of relief as he'd put it in his pouch. By this time, his phone had thankfully reached a hundred percent so he unplugged the charger and put it in the pouch also. He pocketed his phone and earphones and went out of his room into the living room where Jason and Piper were checking if they brought everything. Nico subtly slipped his belongings into the large eco-bag and took a look at what was inside said eco-bag.

There were wires galore. It looked like they had recently robbed a wire store if those even existed. There were a whole variety of wires, ranging from phone chargers to Jason's laptop charger. Nico didn't know why he'd bring a laptop since there was probably gonna be little to no signal in the countryside.

There were also snacks in the bag, who in the right mind would go on a trip without snacks? There was a whole loaf of white bread that already had ham and cheese inside, and there was this la—arge bag of chips that looks like it was enough for 5 people, but knowing Leo, he'd probably be able to eat said bag of chips all by himself... In one sitting.

And of course, their extra clothes were also there, all bundled up and put into one plastic bag that looked like it was going to pop at any second from all the clothes that were forcefully packed inside it. Inside of the plastic bag, Nico could clearly see a pair of white boxers with lightning patterns. He immediately knew who it belongs to and decided to stop looking inside the bag.

Nico felt a hand on his shoulder to which he figured was Piper's since she had a soft and gentle touch. "Have everything packed, Nico?" The ravenette turned around and smiled softly at her, "Yes. Clothes, Charger, Phone, and Earphones are already with me." 

Piper hummed and nodded in reply as she went back to check on her boyfriend who was having a dilemma because he thinks he forgot something. Nico on the other hand went his way to the kitchen. A weird thing about their house is that there was a window in their kitchen that allowed them to look into the garage.

Nico knows that they don't have a car and they mainly used the garage for storing stuff so he decided to look at what vehicle they'll be using to get to point A to point B. One quick glance and Nico already knew that the trip will be uncomfortable. Leo was cleaning the inside of the car and the car was weird. Granted, it was more of a van than a car. There were only two normal seats and that was the driver's seat and the passenger's seat and the rest were in the back of the two main seats. The seats at the back were like a bench with cushions on them, and there was a divider that divided the front and back portion of the vehicle, making it hard to see who sat on the driver and passenger's seat. Seriously, a baby could've been driving and none of them wouldn't have noticed if they didn't focus hard enough. The only thing that Nico could closely relate it to were utility vans, and it probably was one since it looks so similar to one. And Nico couldn't believe his eyes. Leo had literally folded one of the bench-like seats and put one of those small mattresses made for one person inside the van. Nico made it his mission to be the one on that mattress and hopefully have a semi-comfortable trip.

Nico made a worried look as he saw Jason carrying their portable fan that they used when there were blackouts into the garage. The ravenette halted Jason and asked, "Are we bringing that?" Jason raised a brow at the shorter male, "Yeah. The AC on the van is broken" the blonde left Nico thereafter answering his question. Nico was screaming internally because there was no working AC and it was 30 degrees celsius. He didn't want this trip to be his demise due to a heat stroke. To be completely honest, Nico would rather die from hypothermia than a heat stroke. 

Before he could notice, Piper was already turning off all the lights in the house while carrying the large ego bag and another blue backpack that looked like it was full of stuff. Piper tossed the backpack at Nico, which brought him out of his trance, "No time to space out now, Nico. We have a long trip ahead of us". The ravenette caught and shouldered the bag and followed the girl's footsteps into the garage while turning off lights and unplugging unnecessary electronics along the way. Right when they opened the door to the garage, Nico was hit with the sight of the cluttered garage. Boxes, stuff wrapped in black garbage bags, and unused pieces of furniture galore. Nico too couldn't believe that there was a mannequin in one corner of the garage. He was worried why they would even have a mannequin in their household in the first place. The ravenette's thought of what kind of experiments Leo would do to the mannequin, assuming it was his of course.

Leo emerged from inside the van and made 'gimme' motions with his hands. Nico approached him and gladly gave him the backpack, Leo then put the bag on one of the corners inside the van. The ravenette then walked over to a stool and sat on it as he observed Piper giving Leo the rather large eco-bag, and with the van only having minimal space Leo tried to fit all their stuff into the back of the van without it being cramped. "That should be good enough for 7 passengers." Leo exhaled, wiping off drops of sweat from his face with a handkerchief, a small grin, plastered on his face, and said that everything was all ready to go. Jason went to the driver's seat and ran the van to get it started and warmed up. A few seconds later, the van's engine was already whirring as Nico looked at how the three were not as chaotic as they usually were. Seriously, Leo threatening Jason with a brick happens a lot more than you would think. Maybe it was because they were running a little late since they needed to be there before midnight and it was already 6:24 PM. The trip was going to be a long one also. It would take approximately four to five hours. If they were lucky (or unlucky), maybe another brick incident would happen again during their vacation on the seaside.

Nico knew days prior that they were going to be picking up a friend and 2 children of the event's host. The ravenette wouldn't admit this to anyone, but with Nico being a closeted gay person, he hoped that one of the people they were picking up was a cute boy, assuming that they were his age of course. He assumed that said friend will be the same age as the host so he crossed that out immediately since he knows that the host was a full-grown man. So all his hopes were on the other two. 

The creaking of the garage door slowly opening echoed throughout the room. Nico hadn't noticed, but everyone was already in the van. Jason, who was going to be the driver for tonight was in the driver's seat, obviously. Who would want a driver that's seated on the passenger's seat? Nico surely didn't. The blonde wore a thin white undershirt that looked really comfy, but its transparency repelled Nico. At least Jason wore a polo above it. The polo was a usual polo that had the color of pastel orange, and with little palm tree silhouettes as patterns. As for the bottom clothing, Jason wore a pair of pastel orange shorts with two pockets on the sides and a pocket on the back. Which Nico was sure that it came with the polo cause the colors to look too similar for it to not be in one bundle. And to top it off, he has shades propped on the top of his head. The ravenette was confused and concerned as to why he would wear shades when traveling at night, but that's Jason's business, not his. But Nico speculated that the blonde was going to use it when they actually reached the beach and not while driving in the dark of night.

A few seconds after Nico was brought back to his senses, He heard Leo from the back of the van yelling, "Dude, hurry up! I swear to the gods, you always space out, neeks." The ravenette hissed at the nickname. He didn't like that name one bit. He'd rather be called "Death Boy" than that godsforsaken nickname. Nico stood up from the stool and walked over to the doors that lead to the inside of the utility van, seeing Leo sitting on the mattress. The scrawny boy on the mattress was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, both sleeves were rolled up to his elbow, making it look wrinkly, which it surely was. He also had worn a suspender that was connected to his brown and baggy jeans which were also rolled up to his knees. Nico wondered why Leo would even wear long sleeves and long pants to only roll them up. Maybe it was his style or something? 

Piper, who was sitting on the farthest corner of the bench tilted her head onto the backrest and motioned for Nico to get inside. "Nico, better get inside before Jase leaves you behind." Not that he didn't mind if he got left behind. Chilling in his room all day while home alone wasn't such a bad thing. No one would barge in at the most random of times just to ask for a pen (looking at you, Leo) or a certain someone that would enter his room without notice and lock the door behind him just to keep a rampaging gorilla from getting him (Definitely not, Jason).

"You can sit on the mattress with Leo so the others we'll be picking up can sit on the chair," Piper added as she took out her phone to check her messages. The moment the ravenette heard what the girl said, he immediately felt ecstatic. He was going to have a semi-comfortable trip after all... That is if Leo didn't fall asleep minutes after Jason starts driving and positions his legs all over Nico, to which Nico wouldn't want to happen in a million years.

Taking a second glance at Piper, Nico noticed that she had the simplest, yet most pretty outfit out of the four of them. She wore a flowy white dress with sunflower patterns. A faux sunflower was tucked behind her right ear. Some strands of her choppy hair were braided into thin strands on the side. And to top off the whole look, she had a straw hat set on her lap, which Nico assumed that she was going to wear at the beach while having someone take pictures of her. Nico would gladly volunteer to be Piper's photographer rather than playing with some kids that were bound to throw hand fulls of sand at him. At least when he's holding a camera, some of the kids would back off in fear of dirtying or damaging the expensive Nikon DSLR camera.

Right when Nico got into a comfortable position, Piper scooted over to the back door of the van and shut it close, resulting in a loud "Bang!" noise. Almost instantaneously, the vehicle started moving. Once they had left the garage, the garage door closed by themselves. Before Jason could continue driving, Leo exclaimed "OH SHIT—" making Jason stop and look back at the three with a confused look, his hand still set on the steering wheel. "I FORGOT TO LOCK THE FRONT DOOR"

The brunette let out an annoyed groan and opened the van door, her eyebrows were furrowed as her gaze landed on Leo. "Hurry up, Valdez-" she ordered and the scrawny teen immediately got up and ran out of the van, and headed straight for the front door of their house. Nico could see from inside the van that Leo was nervous and was fumbling with the keys while he was locking the door. That was an effect of the wrath of Piper, it could scare even the bravest of men. Leo finally had finished and ran back inside the van, a "Took you long enough." came from Piper before she once again shut the door of the van. Jason took that as a sign that everything was all ready to go as he shifted the gears and stepped on the gas. 

Nico sat cross-legged, taking out his earphones from his pocket. He took out one earbud from the charging case, then took out his phone from his other pocket. He registered his fingerprint in and the screen came to life. He headed for the control center and turned on Bluetooth, resulting in the earbud pairing with his phone as he put the earbud in his ear. And almost immediately, the ravenette knew which song he'd wanted to listen to. He opened his music library and played a song named "Nameless Song". Once he heard the gentle beat of the song in his ear, he turned off his phone and set it on his lap. 

He stared out of the window as the singer of the song started singing, his focus was on their house that was getting more and more further away every second. A faint smile crept to his face as Leo handed him a pillow to which he promptly placed behind him because you bet it was uncomfortable to lean on the hard and bulky door of the van. And plus, the fear of the van door opening by itself while driving on the road scared Nico to the core because he wouldn't want to die because of a faulty door lock. If he was going to die, he would very much rather have it be a meaningful and/or a spectacular one. Since there was no working AC in the van, the three passengers opened each and every window on the back of the van in order for the air to go into the vehicle and make it less hot. Nico silently thanked the gods that they left their house at night since they would've already been sweating bullets if they left in the afternoon. 

After a few repeats of the song, Nico got bored of it and decided to put his playlist on shuffle to see if he still likes the songs he had downloaded from four years ago to the present time. The first song that played was— something that he didn't know at the time— how he would feel all throughout the vacation. It was "Crush - Tessa Violet" and he downloaded it because a friend recommended it and he surprisingly liked it. Shocking right? An emo boy liking a song about liking someone is not a normal sight. Then again, the ravenette didn't have a specific music taste either. If a song clicks, then he'd download it and listen to it for days on end on repeat.

Nico heard a rustling of plastic somewhere in the car. He glances around and saw Piper getting something from the large eco-bag that was stuffed into one corner. It sounded like the plastic wrapping of something... But what could it be? The ravenette thought of what Piper was reaching for. Could it be the bag of clothes? No, why would she take that out while on the road? The bag of chips maybe? Nico doubted that. Eating chips this early in the trip would result in the chip bag being empty within the first 20 minutes. Nico took his gaze off of Piper and onto Leo, fully knowing that the boy he was staring at was going to be the one that would theoretically be finishing the chip bag within 20 minutes or less. Nico concluded that the only thing that Piper could've been reaching for was the—

"Anyone wants a sandwich?" Piper interrupted Nico's train of thought. Ah yes, Before he could even finish saying it in his mind, Piper already had beat him to it. Leo's face immediately had a wide smile as he raised his hand happily, "Me please!" And with Nico not having eaten dinner yet, he also wanted one. "Me too, please-" the ravenette added softly.

Piper obliged and handed Nico a sandwich first, a gentle smile on her face. She reached inside the sandwich bag again and got another sandwich. As the ravenette was unwrapping his sandwich, he saw Piper hand Leo the sandwich paired with a threatening snarl. She didn't intend it on coming across as if she was angry, more like a playful snarl if those even existed. But with that snarl's intensity, Nico doubted that Leo got the message because he heard a whimper come from Leo as he quickly grabbed the sandwich from the girl's hand.

The brunette chuckled at what just happened, putting away the bag of sandwiches into the eco-bag as the two boys on the mattress ate their sandwiches. At that moment, Nico doubted that Piper didn't intend on scaring Leo because of the little chuckle she did.

Just as Nico was about to take his fourth bite on his sandwich, the car came to a screeching halt, earning Jason a confused look from Piper. "Okay, lady and gents. We're here at Poseidon's household to pick up his 2 sons and an acquaintance." He stated while his two hands still on the steering wheel, tapping it with his nails, producing a rather irritating, yet satisfying tapping noise. 

Leo, who was still eating his sandwich asked the blonde, "Who are we picking up again?" His mouth was still full of the sandwich he was eating. Seriously, swallow first before talking, dude.

Jason, not looking away from the front of the vehicle answered Leo's question, "two sons of Poseidon and one of his friends that also lives in the area."

"No, I meant be more specific—" Leo interjected, determined to know who exactly it was that was going to be riding with them for four to five straight hours.

From the corner of Jason's eye, he saw 5 people walking towards their vehicle, "Speaking of the devil. There they are." Everyone's gaze went to the small group of people walking towards the van. Nico couldn't see what they looked like, but he could tell that the group were carrying luggage, snacks that were exclusive to their place, and did Nico see that right? Were they bringing two puppies?! The ravenette absolutely adored puppies, especially those that were well behaved and did not cause chaos by licking, peeing, and shitting on everything. But the thing is, Nico isn't good with strangers, so he wouldn't have the courage to ask them if he could hold the puppies.

Piper opened the back door of the van, and Nico immediately felt some stares jab into his very being. The people that they were picking up greeted everyone in the van, and Nico could only manage a small wave. The people started to put their luggage inside of the van. There were multiple bags, slippers, boxes of cookies, and a lot more that Nico either didn't know what it was or it was too dark for him to see clearly. After a few minutes, two people got into the back of the van. One was someone who Jason referred to as "Zeus" and he sat right beside Piper. The male wore a pair of dark green cargo shorts and a simple wrinkled white t-shirt. The thing that stood out about him was that he had a small white puppy on his lap. It was so behaved, it didn't even bark or react to the honks of the other vehicles. And no, the dog wasn't dead. It was just well trained and behaved. How did Nico know this? He saw it move, so it was very much alive. The ravenette assumed that this was the host's friend that they mentioned because he looks way too old to be one of Poseidon's sons.

The other was a guy that looked old, yet young enough to look like Poseidon's son. Turns out, Leo knew this guy and the moment he got into the van, Leo greeted him almost instantly with a "Yo, Tyson!". The male wore a gray T-shirt with a design of a golden coin on the front. In their area, those coins were called Drachmas. A pair of shades were also folded up and was on the male's shirt, hanging off of its neckline. And much like Zeus, Tyson also wore cargo pants, but his was different since it was cream colored and had significantly fewer pockets than the one that Zeus wore.

That was it, at that moment, Nico lost all hopes that there was going to be a cute guy going with them. The two guys in the back with them were grown adults and so not his type so he crossed out that thought. He might as well enjoy the rest of the trip without the thought of trying to impress someone the whole time. 

What he didn't notice— due to him being so close to the ground and because the wall that separated the front and back portion of the van was limiting his vision— was that someone got into the passenger's seat.

"Is everyone all ready?" Asked Jason from the front and everyone answered in their own ways, varying from enthusiastic yesses to slight nods of the head. The loud noises of doors closing echoed in the quiet night as Jason inserted the keys into the ignition, bringing the vehicle come to life, the engine whirring. Jason waited a few seconds before he shifted gears and stepped on the gas. The two passengers they sat with in the back were waving to the two females that helped them haul their luggage into the van, and said females waved back paired with a couple of byes.

The ravenette reached for his phone, wanting something to distract himself from the rather uneventful road trip. The music he was listening to was now a Vocaloid song titled "Dawn and Fireflies", Another song genre that no one would expect Nico Di Angelo would listen to. Vocaloid songs always strikes Nico's fancy since they mostly have more meaning to it under the surface of the song. To put it simply, he liked Vocaloid songs because it was deep.

Nico headed for his phone's messaging app, hoping to chat with his online friends for a bit before the signal on his phone becomes wonky due to being out in the countryside. Scrolling through his recent chat list, he saw his online friend, Reyna had sent a few messages.

Reyna was a girl that Nico had befriended while talking to people online in his free time, and yes. Nico was absolutely sure that Reyna was a real person and not a catfish or a pedophile in disguise. The two had a strong friendship, to the point where they considered each other as siblings. And just like siblings, they would get into mini arguments from time to time, but they'd make up shortly after. Granted, they never actually formally said sorry to each other after an argument since their pride was too high for that, so they just spring back to their normal conversations as if nothing happened or as if someone had erased the memory of them having banter in the first place. Nico sure did treasure the friendship that the two of them have and was grateful that he'd met her. 

The ravenette saw a snippet of the latest message that his online friend had sent, it said “I definitely should not have…” this got Nico quite curious as to what Reyna had gotten herself into. Since the girl had anger management issues, anything could've happened. From hitting a bratty child that was addicted to frozen with a blunt object to straight-up murdering her Russian pre-cal teacher for being such a pain in the ass and a bitch to her. But no matter what happened, he would've helped her regardless. Even if it was to cover up for murder. There was always space where they could bury multiple bodies in their backyard after all. The tricky thing was to make sure that neither Piper, Jason, nor Leo knew about it. Though, Nico remembered something that Reyna had stated once in their chats. It said, word for word, "You know, you can sell their organs in the black market for a hefty price instead of getting rid of the body entirely." It wasn't something that shocked the ravenette, after all, it was common sense. Instead, it concerned the boy on why she even said it in the first place.

Nico clicked on their chat, and it opened almost instantaneously. The message bubbles had a color that was   a gradient of orange to purple and the background was black due to Nico setting the app on dark mode. Seriously, every app needed a dark mode in Nico's opinion. Focusing on the screen, he read the messages that were sent several minutes ago.

"Irrelevant but
[Screenshot-68714.png]
I definitely should not have rambled earlier."

Before even thinking of replying, the ravenette clicked on the attached file, one of his eyebrows raised while looking intensely at the phone screen. A pop-up appeared on the screen, signifying that the file was loading. After a few seconds of waiting, the image had finally loaded and Nico was met with a long screenshot of Reyna talking to someone on Discord. The boy squinted his eyes while looking at his phone screen, he couldn't read what the messages on the screenshot contained since it was blurry. Nico assumed that it was either because the photo was a long screenshot or the messaging app's image compression killed the quality. 

The ravenette tapped the message bar, tucking some of the stray jet black hair that covered his sight behind his ear and the virtual keyboard appeared and started typing soon after. "I- The quality-" was all that Nico could say. Pressing the send button, the ravenette watched as the "sending" notification turned into one saying "sent". He'd once again put his phone on sleep and set it on his lap as he continued to listen to the shuffled playlist. Which was now a song named "Just a Sunny Day For You" or its alternate title, named "Cloudless". While looking outside the window, the air hitting his face which was absolutely refreshing, a ding noise ringed from his earbud, which made the boy's eyes widen in surprise for a millisecond. He grabbed his phone from his lap and turned it on, seeing three dots on the bottom of the screen, signifying that Reyna typing. 

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

Two hours had now passed and they were now in the middle of nowhere. The dark of night enveloped their surroundings with the only light source being the headlights of their vehicle and a few others on the road. Nico could only see fields of grass in the distance, and nothing else except some trees that would appear from time to time. They truly were in the middle of nowhere. The inside of the van was no different. It was dark and quiet, though Nico could still see the people that he was with due to the light that was emitting from Leo's tablet. 

Zeus and Tyson would talk from time to time in a language that Nico didn't understand. He assumed that it was the language that the people used in the countryside they were going to, but of course, Nico was sure that people there also knew English so he had nothing to worry about. That made the boy thought of what the place would look like. Would it be a small shack near the beach? He hoped not because he simply did not like the idea of that. The ravenette low key hoped that there were forests involved. Nico was into forests and he would gladly live in a small cabin in the woods if he was given the chance. Though, he did dislike the thought of there being a lot of bugs so that idea was quickly thrown out of the window.

While in his train of thoughts, he felt the vehicle start to slow down, and soon it had come to a full stop on the side of the road. The five passengers at the back— including Nico, was giving each other confused looks, hoping that atleast one of them knew what was going on. That was then they heard Jason get out of the car, the van door closing echoed throughout the inside of the van. Reminder that they were still in the middle of nowhere so it was impossible that they had already reached their destination. The faint voice of Jason could be heard, he was talking to someone. 

Piper, being the curious girl she is, stuck her head out of one of the windows and saw Jason having a conversation with an officer a few feet away from their vehicle which made the brunette pull her head back into the van and whispered to the others, "Oh shit, we got pulled over." 

When the ravenette heard what Piper had just stated, his mind went to critical thinking mode and made hypotheses as to why they would get pulled over. They weren't speeding and Jason sure did his best to abide the law and to not break a single one. 

Leo on the other hand was panicking where he sat and was mumbling to himself. He was afraid that the trip would get cancelled and they'd all be locked behind bars for reasons even he didn't know. It was quite funny seeing Leo being all scared in Nico's opinion since he rarely showed fear.

Looking at Piper, she had a calm face on as he tried to listen in on the conversation Jason was having with the police officer outside. Despite her having a relatively calm expression plastered on her face, it was obvious that she was concerned at what had happened. 

Zeus and Tyson were there right beside Nico, the ravenette tried to distinguish what the two were thinking and/or feeling, but to no avail. Nico could compare their expressions to that of a professional poker player's. Totally unreadable. That was when— from the corner of Nico's eyes, he saw the door of the passengers seat opening.

His head turned, looking outside the window as someone with a plain white shirt stepped out of the vehicle, seemingly holding something with both his arms. For some reason, the boy caught Nico's attention and couldn't take his eyes off of the person. And at long last, the person turned around. He was holding a dog in his arms, but that wasn't what Nico was focused on. The ravenette was full-on staring at the guy's face. He was devilishly handsome as if he was an offspring of a god. 

Nico could distinguish the color of his irises only within a few seconds. The boy had sea-green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, and he totally saw himself getting lost in those eyes for hours on end. 

He also had jet black hair, much like Nico's but instead of it covering his face, it was swept to one side which exposed his facial features more. 

His complexion was that of someone that came from the Mediterranean. It wasn't white and milky like Nico's, but the guy's complexion fits his style and looks in Nico's opinion. 

And oh gods, that smile. Nico felt his heart flutter as a small smile crept to the boy's face while he was looking at the puppy in his arms.

Not to mention that the guy looked like he was in the same age range as Nico so he was ecstatic. His wish of meeting a cute guy while on the vacation was granted after all well, he didn't actually meet the guy yet, but he did grab his attention. Nico wasn't one to believe in love at first sight since one cannot love someone just from one glance. One needed to know the person first, go through hardships together, and accept the flaws of the person in order to say that it was love. Even Nico knew himself that it was infatuation. He was infatuated by the guy's looks. Nico didn't even know what his personality was like. 

The moment the boy with sea-green eyes started to walk over to the back of the van, Nico felt his face heat up and his eyes shone bright, quite literally. Another officer accidentally had shone a flashlight at his face, thus taking him out of his trance and tried to distract himself with his phone. Nico didn't want the guy to think he was weird for staring too much. 

The guy walked over to one of the windows, sticking his head in, "Hold her for me for a short while, Ty." The unknown boy asked as Tyson nodded, extending his arm out towards the boy, "Sure, Perce. Gimme her." 

Perce. Perce. Perce. Nico said the name in his head over and over, deciding it had a nice ring to it, but he immediately knew that it was a nickname. Why? Simply a gut feeling. And oh gods, his voice! The moment Nico had heard Perce's voice a shiver ran down his spine and dispersed throughout his whole body. The way he spoke was soft and a little bit hushed, which in the middle of a quiet and dark night sounded like sirens trying to lure Nico into their trap. 

As Tyson got the dog from Perce, a quiet whimper came from the dog, albeit it quickly calmed down. Perce pulled out his phone from the right pocket of his red shorts and walked away from Nico's line of sight. Even though the ravenette couldn't see the boy, he heard that Perce was talking to his father, Poseidon that they were pulled over by two officers. While all this was happening, Nico could feel that his face was heating up. Good thing the dark hid the rosy tint that was on his cheeks. 

Nico heard his little crush say bye to Poseidon on call before the beeping noise of a recently ended call ringed. Jason, who was now finished talking with the officer was now on his way back to the van. Opening the door of the van, he steps in and promptly shuts the door behind him, resulting in a loud noise. The blonde leaned over to the little window that was in the wall that separated the front and back portion of the van, his fingers massaging his temples. "We are now clear. We were pulled over because—" Nico didn't even bother on listening why they were pulled over. All he knew was at that moment, Perce got back into the passengers seat because of a loud bang noise that the doors made when being closed.

Jason was now once again ready to go. The "ping!" sound of the GPS app opening echoed in the van, as well as the sound of the engine starting up after Jason inserts the keys into the ignition. Within a few seconds, they were already on the road, making their way to their destination.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

An hour had passed since the getting pulled over incident, everyone was still quiet, all that was audible was the sound of the engine whirring and the crunching of plastic that came from the sandwiches. Within the span of an hour, the sandwiches they had brought were now half of its original amount. Nico had eaten two while Leo on the other hand had already eaten five sandwiches... Within a single hour. At moments like these, Nico wondered if the scrawny boy beside him had a second stomach that he could just push into place when the other one was full. 

Leo noticed that the ravenette that sat in front of him was giving him a dirty look as if he had disappointed him or something. "What?" Leo asked Nico, tilting his head sideways, the sandwich still in his mouth. Four eyes meet, which was surprising since Nico sucked at eye contact. "How many stomachs do you have?" Nico deadpanned, making Piper snort, clearly holding back her laughter from the way that Nico had asked such a funny question while maintaining such a serious facial expression and tone. "I want to ask the same question too, Valdez." Piper pipped in, laughing softly after. 

"I'm sorry, but do you guys take me for a ruminant organism? Of course, I only have one!" Leo answered in a dramatic manner. He even raised his hand and pressed the back of his hand onto his forehead to add to the situation. A wheeze came from Piper while Nico could only manage a soft chuckle, "I don't know about Nico here, but you definitely strike me as someone with four stomach compartments." Piper teased, gently hitting the scrawny boy's shoulder and Nico nodded in agreement. 

The boy holding a sandwich playfully rolled his eyes, "You guys are so mean." He retorted in a joking manner as a little pout appeared on his face. Seriously, this is why Piper loved to tease Leo so much. He reacts in the most random of ways, and every time someone would tease him, he'd react in a unique and different way. Maybe Piper should just work as Leo's personal annoyer? Nico would surely want in on the job also.

Tyson was on the seat, quietly laughing to himself as he watched the chaos of three housemates unfold in front of him. If he wanted to join in on the fun and tease the super-sized McShizzle sitting on the mattress, Nico wouldn't mind. He surely would've loved it if Tyson joined in.

If only Jason wasn't focusing on the road at that time. He could've also thrown a few teases at the Latino. He needed his payback for all of the terror acts involving bricks after all. Nico wouldn't even be surprised if Leo had a special compartment in his beloved tool belt specifically made for bricks used to scare Jason with. Then again, the sight of the two running around frantically entertained Nico, so he wouldn't want the habit to suddenly come to a stop one day.

Leo pointed outside the window, trying to divert the attention off of himself. "Look! There are so many stars out here." Nico then looked outside and to his surprise, Leo was right. There were hundreds of stars, all looking like they had different colors varying from green to blue to white. It was one of the most beautiful sights that the ravenette had seen in real person. It was absolutely stunning. Seeing the abundance of stars was something new to Nico since in the urban parts, one can barely see stars; zero to four stars could only be seen, so the view he was witnessing right then and there was breathtaking. Nico continued to stare at the night sky and just watched the stars twinkling every once in a while for about thirty minutes.

The ravenette leaned his head on a folded-up blanket that he promptly used as an armrest for about an hour now, his eyelids felt heavy as a yawn escaped him, making him put his hand over his open mouth for the duration of the yawn. Even after sleeping all day, sleepiness still came to him during the trip. He couldn't help it as drowsiness kicked in, his eyes closing. Everything felt at peace even though they were driving on a rather bumpy road. The mind of the teen went blank as sleep took him to dreamland, leaving his body unconscious.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

"Hnghh—" Nico whimpered from someone shaking him awake. His eyelids still heavy, but he couldn't just stay there and sleep while a person was right there, hand on his shoulder, trying to wake the slumbering boy. His eyes slowly but surely opened, his dark brown eyes adjusted to the orange light that shone onto his face. Right in front of him sat Leo who was staring him down. The van was unmoving and the other three at the back with them had disappeared. "Leo? Where are the others? And what time is it?" 

The Latino chuckled, playing with a strand of his own hair using his left hand. "We're here at the beach, Neeks. And it's eleven AM." The younger boy groaned in reply not even bothering with the nickname because drowsiness was still present, slowly getting up from his laying position, thus getting a glimpse of what's outside from one of the four windows. Let's say that the view was absolutely stunning. The first thing he saw was a large shack made of wood with a small fireplace in front of it, oh how Nico wants to sit by the fireplace and eat s'mores all night while either telling or listening to scary stories that the others had to offer. The Ravenette could see that the shack was made up out of different types of wood pieces. From the walls being made of a material that seems to look like oak to window covers that were made of bamboo. It looked mediocre at best, but who knows? The inside could be something straight out of a show and look straight up like a mansion for all Nico knew. After all, he did value the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover."

The shack stood on the sand. White sand! Nico hadn't been to a white sand beach in his life. The last time he'd been to the beach, he didn't enjoy it as much. That's why he wasn't so fond of the idea of going to the beach. The previous beach visit went something like a yellow sand beach. Nico didn't didn't mind the yellow sand at all, but when mixed with the seawater, it turns into a horrible gray color that repelled the boy.

The water was murky as if someone mixed black food coloring into the sea. Seriously, Nico couldn't even see under there, and that's with goggles on for crying out loud. And the most traumatizing part of the infamous trip was when a child grabbed a hand full of wet sand and threw it in a random direction. Care to guess where it landed? On Nico's face while he was laughing at Piper who couldn't get up on the shoreline because of the wave repeatedly washing over her. Imagine getting dirty gray sand into your mouth. Just thinking of it sent shivers down Nico's spine.

But the beach they were going to stay at was just absolutely beautiful. It looked like something out of a surfing movie. And the most beautiful part of it was the lamp that was scattered all throughout the shore of the beach. Each lamp was hung on a thick stick that was planted on the sand. The lamp itself was in a shape of a cube with panels of glass on all four sides which emitted a bright orange glow. It just added a whole other level of beauty to the scene. 

Leo, who was still with Nico as the ravenette continued to stare at the scenery of the beach, he tapped the unmoving boy on the shoulder, a small smile plastered on his face before he spoke, "How about we get out of the van first before we get lost in the beauty of the beach, hm?"

"Oh, right." Nico replied, getting his slipper from under the bench and throwing it outside the van, right onto the white sand. He pocketed his phone and put the battery-drained earbud into its charging case before the ravenette exited the confines of the cramped van and slipped on his slippers, stretching his limbs a bit making a soft moan escape him. With Leo by his side, they walked towards the direction of the shack. Unfamiliar faces were everywhere but despite all of the people around. The ravenette tried to find a certain boy with sea-green eyes and jet black hair that were much like his. That was when he noticed a man walking up to them. The man had black hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Nico thought that maintaining a beard like that would be a nightmare. He also noticed that the mam had a deep tan, probably effects from living on a beach. Yet another reason why Nico disliked beaches. It gave him sunburns and tans, which he wasn't very fond of. One feature of the unnamed man stood out to Nico, which was his deep sea-green colored eye. It was like he had seen it before. It was all too similar, and then it clicked. Nico realized that this was none other than Poseidon, Perce's father. A faint blush appeared on the ravenette's cheeks at the mere thought of Perce.

Taking a closer look, the article of clothing that Poseidon wore was what you'd expect a beach person would wear. A green polo with several types and colors of flowers and a little trident logo as it's decoration. It seemed like polos were very popular out on the beach. Seriously, most of the males Nico saw were wearing polos.

Poseidon also wore shorts that were the color of a dark beige. Two pockets on the side and one seemingly placed in front, in the bottom right part of the shorts.

"You must be Nico Di Angelo," Poseidon stated, his attention on the pale boy in front of him, Nico could only manage a hum in reply, paired with a nod of his head. The older male grinned, extending his right arm towards Nico. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Nico stared at the hand in front of him intensely before grabbing it and shaking the hand of his crush's father. "The pleasure's all mine, sir." He stated politely, trying to make a good first impression. After all, who would want to have a bad first impression of their crush's parents? Nico sure didn't.

The man smiled in amusement, letting go of Nico's hand and pulling his arm back. "Please, just call me Poseidon, Nico." The shorter nodded and hummed once again. It seems like this was his typical reply when with people he didn't know or was comfortable with yet. It was at that moment, a lady had called out "Poseidon dear, can you help me with this?" Which immediately gained the attention of Poseidon, Nico, and Leo. 

The woman had worn a simple pastel cyan-colored dress which looked surprisingly good on her. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun on the top of her head and her intense blue eyes were focused on the task she had at hand. 

"On the way, honey!" Poseidon yelled back before turning his head back at the shorter boy and stating, "Well, see ya' around, kid! Feel free to feel at home here." And at that moment, Poseidon was walking over to who Nico assumed was Poseidon's wife, Sally.

When Poseidon was out of sight, Leo immediately pulled Nico into the shack where they saw Piper and Jason were already seated at one of the dinner tables, eating. The inside of the shack was nothing like Nico had expected. It had a very unique layout.

 Leo then left the younger boy he was with to walk his way to where his two housemates were situated."YOU TWO ALREADY STARTED EATING WITHOUT ME!?" The Latino asked dramatically, wiping imaginary tears from his eyes. Nico continued to walk towards his three housemates while scratching the back of his head, eyes squinting at the chaos Leo was causing yet again. Just as the Ravenette had reached the group, a female voice from the kitchen came which startled Nico for a split second, "Don't worry, Leo. There's a whole lot more food here." Leo took a sigh of relief as the female let out a small chuckle. "Thanks, Calypso! You're the best!" Thanked the Latino enthusiastically, his hand on his waist as he watched the couple continue on eating their portion of food. 

Just before Leo was about to break and take a piece of fish fillet from Jason's plate without hesitation, Calypso walked out of the kitchen just on time, a plate of brown sugar glazed salmon fillet and salted edamame at hand. The girl wore a plain white dress that was relatively longer than the others. Her caramel hair was braided over her shoulder giving her an elegant appearance.

"Alright, where's the hungry little gremlin at?" She teased, earning Leo's attention. His focus was now on her— Or the food she was carrying. Noticing that Leo had a pout on his face, she walked over to where Leo was and placed the plate on the table. "Here ya' go." Leo immediately grabbed a clean fork from the center of the table and started eating. Nico stared in disbelief. This boy looked like he hasn't eaten in a month, but in reality, he ate five or more sandwiches within a single hour just one to two hours ago. Jason, from the other side of the table, smirked while staring at his bro eating. "What would you do if I snatch your salmon right now?" Nico already knew that it wasn't a good idea.

"Do you want a manic chasing you around with a brick again? If not, I recommend for you to discontinue your plan of stealing my precious fish." Jason and Piper began to laugh at the answer, though Nico wondered if it was the fact that he called himself a psycho or the fact that he was using the brick tactic on Jason once again. "Okay, okay. I won't steal your 'precious fish' from you."

Leo took another bite, food still in his mouth as he said, "Good choice—"

"I'll just ask Calypso for more~" Jason cut him off with a clever comeback, making the Latino exclaimed, "HEH?! we can ask for more?!" The couple and Calypso burst into laughter at Leo's reaction. Even Nico couldn't help but to let out a few giggles to which Leo had heard, turning to Nico, with an exaggerated frown on his face. " You were supposed to take my side, Di Angelo! I feel so betrayed!" He fake sobbed with a few sniffs once in a while which made the group laugh out loud more.

Piper, who was now wheezing her head off on the table slapped Leo on the back, "Oh my gods, Valdez— stop, I can't- breath." Tears welling up in her eyes from laughing.

"Why me?! Your boyfriend started it!"

Calypso stepped closer to the Latino and patted him on the back, a soft smile on her face after laughing her soul out of her body. "Don't worry, Leo. We prepared a lot of food, even you can't finish it even with the help of Jason and Nico here." She proclaimed. The girl took a glance at the standing ravenette and immediately realized that she had gotten distracted and forgot to get Nico food. "Oh shoot, I forgot to fetch Nico some food. Hold on, imma be back in a few minutes. Sit tight." And just like that, the caramel-haired girl ran back into the kitchen before Nico could even say "it's okay."

The ravenette took a seat beside the eating Latino and pulled out his phone from his pocket. Opening the screen, he saw that there were no bars. Ah shit, no signal, cursed Nico in his head, remembering that they were in the countryside. From where he sat, he had a view of the kitchen where he saw Calypso preparing his food because there were no doors separating the dining room and kitchen. Pocketing his phone, Nico sighed before hearing a loud gasp come from a frantic Jason. "Oh gods, I forgot my laptop!" The blonde exclaimed in disbelief, his arms in the large blue backpack. Nico could've sworn that the caramel-haired girl turned slightly to look at what had happened to Jason.

Nico then remembered at their house when Piper had tossed the bag to him and thought that if the laptop was there and Nico wasn't able to catch it, they'd have a smashed laptop on their hands. "What were you going to do with a laptop anyway? There's no reception here." Leo asked while nibbling on an edamame, his gaze fixed on the blonde.

"Valdez has a point. And how were you able to remember to bring your laptop charger, but not the laptop itself?" Piper added, her elbow set on the table and her head leaning onto her hand. 

The ravenette chuckled, remembering that he did clearly see the blonde's laptop charger inside the eco-bag. "That's Jason for you." The ravenette pipped in a grin on his face. 

"Oh shut up, all three of you." Jason ran his finger through his hair, pushing it back slightly. He moves away from their luggage and walks over to the table where we had just eaten. The blonde took a hold of his plate and walked inside of the kitchen. Nico assumed Jason was going to put his dishes into the sink in order to wash it. And his assumption was correct, Jason did place his dirty dishes into the sink, washing his hands first before proceeding to wash the plate and utensils. At that time, Calypso was on her way walking towards the table, meaning that she was now going to give Nico his serving of food. The girl reached the table and set the plate in front of Nico, it was the same dish that Leo was having "Here ya' go! Sorry for the wait." Calypso apologized, but Nico just shook his head and said a simple "It's fine." Before he got a fork from where the Latino had gotten his earlier and he started eating his share of food.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

"This is where you four will be sleeping." Informed a girl, as she pointed to a single blow-up mattress with four pillows on the floor of the shack's second floor. The room they were staying in was a relatively simple and surprisingly empty one. The floor was made out of a type of wood that was so smooth to the point that Nico wondered how long it took them to sand the floorboards. The mattress situated on one of the corners of the room, ultimately taking up over sixty-five percent of the room's floor.

Two electric fans were positioned in the direction of the mattress. They were only supposed to have a single fan, but the fan made a horrid clanking sound every time it turned, so the residents of the house thought that they should stop the turning of the fan and just bring them another one so that no one would be hot the entire night. Nico had to admit, this place was way cooler than their house in the urban neighborhood. If the AC wasn't on at this time of night, Nico would've already been sweating bullets, but in this place, they didn't even need an AC. Just an electric fan sufficed for the four of them to keep cool. He wished that it was this temperature at their home also. 

"Okay then. Thanks, Annabeth!" Leo thanked the girl happily as he immediately went for the mattress and laid down. The girl known as Annabeth nodded, crossing her arms in front of her chest while she walked out of the room Just from the look of it, the mattress really did look soft. Nico decided to check that out for himself as he sat on the edge of the mattress. Yes, it definitely passes Nico's standards. Nico caressed the makeshift bed before hearing the voice of Piper. "Hey, we're going to be sleeping vertically for the four of us to all fit in there." Leo enthusiastically nodded his head and switched positions. Since Nico had always felt safe while sleeping next to walls, he decided to take the spot right in between Leo and the wall. And of course, Jason and Piper slept right beside each other. Who would've thought?

As the four of them got onto the same bed, Jason immediately had fallen asleep. Nico couldn't blame him, guess all that driving took his energy. 

Leo on the other hand was having trouble falling asleep because he forgot to bring his bolster also known as his 'hotdog pillow. The Latino always found it difficult to fall asleep without it so the boy was tossing and turning all night. 

Piper took a couple of minutes to get comfortable with the surroundings. She played a few offline games on her phone to pass the time before eventually turning off her phone to go to sleep.

Before disclosing Nico's situation, keep in mind that the ravenette is terrified of bugs. So when he saw a bug on the wall, that was it. He dedicated his whole night— or midnight to stare at that bug and if it moves... Well, he didn't know what to do if it moves. He has nothing at hand that was able to kill a bug. Unless he wanted to pick up the fan and slam it at the spawns of satan that are named 'insects'. 

At some point, around one AM. The boy fell asleep while staring at the bug on the wall. And a few minutes later, he had awoken. He couldn't recall his dream if he even had one in the first place. One glance at the wall and the bug was gone. That sent Nico into high alert mode and began to frantically look around the room. He looked at every spot on the wall and it wasn't there. He checked the part of his mattress that he was laying on to see if it was there. He was about to calm down, thinking that maybe the bug had just left through the open window. He ran his hand through his hair when he felt something. A bump that wasn't supposed to be there. Adrenaline started pumping into the boy's bloodstream as he frantically tried to get the thing out of his head. Once it came out onto his hand, he looked at it, and oh my gods, it was a tiny roach. His soul left his body for a split second, managing to toss it somewhere in the room. At that point, the boy couldn't sleep anymore. He was too scared of another bug going near him so he was going to wait four hours until the sun rises to officially get out of the room with a roach roaming around freely.

The boy got his phone from under his pillow and booted it up. Maybe he could play the offline escape room type game he had downloaded prior to leaving the house to calm his nerves. Once his home screen appeared, he immediately scoured his app gallery to find the game. All this while being extra alert for the roach of course. Once he found it, he tapped on the game icon and the logos of the companies that made the game flashed on the screen. The main menu loaded into existence. The ravenette pressed start and was greeted by a small tutorial on the game mechanics and how it worked. Nico was a quick learner so he instantly picked up how things were supposed to work and the game's loading bar was now on the screen. The boy was starting to get uncomfortable with the current position he was on so he decided he was going to change positions and put lay on his back while his right leg was over the left one. 

That was when the boy felt something on the side of his abdomen. It was a light sting as if someone had pinched him. Instinct came in and he brushed his hand over the spot where the pain came from. Another bump on his shirt. "Oh shit—" the boy cursed to himself as he— without hesitation scooped the little shit onto his hand and tossed it outside the window. That was the bravest thing he had done in his whole life. Nico was low-key proud of what he just did, holding a bug in his hand and yeeting it out a window wasn't something that happens regularly. Music was heard from the boy's phone. The background music of the game he was playing. He immediately lowered the phone's volume as he stared at the screen. The game had now started and it was going to be the only distraction for the boy in the next four hours.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

Light from the sunrise that came from the uncovered window filled the dimly lit room, Nico's eyes were void of life as he was still trying to find the last clue on how to get to a certain part of the house in the game when a pop up appeared on the ravenette's phone screen. It was a notification that the phone was now fifty percent. Nico didn't know why, but he installed an app that notifies him when his phone hit a specific percentage. The pop-up read, "Your phone is now at 50%." Even after five hours of listening to music plus the four straight hours of playing, his phone had just hit the fifty percent mark. 

With Nico's three housemates still fast asleep, he decided to go downstairs to charge his phone because of the anxiety that it was going to die while on the trip back home. He slowly got up, trying to make as little noise as possible while exiting the room. His black shirt was now wrinkled and a part of it was accidentally tucked into his black shorts. Walking down the staircase, phone at hand, he heard people downstairs. They were either on the beach or inside the shack. The boy didn't know but continued heading to the ground floor. 

Stepping into the same dining room that they ate at last night, he caught a glance of a male who was cooking. He wasn't supposed to say anything, but he remembered this wasn't his house. Saying nothing would be disrespectful and he didn't want to come off as an ignorant person. Several meters behind the male, Nico greeted in a soft yet groggy voice, "Good Morning." 

The ravenette surely did catch the boy's attention since he turned around. Nico's heart skipped a beat as he realized it was Perce. They shared a few seconds of silence while looking at each other in a confused way, probably thinking of how to break the silence. 

Finally, Perce raised his hand, a smile plastered on his features. "Good morning to you too." He greeted back with a gentle tone before he returned to his task of cooking. Nico could've fainted right then and there from Perce's presence alone, and the fact that he had spoken to him made him feel like he was melting into the floorboards. 

Apart of him wanted to faint at that moment to hopefully get the attention of the cute boy in front of him, but if he did, he was sure that Perce wasn't going to be the one he was met with once he woke up. Instead, he was sure that before he regains consciousness, he was going to get a splash of water to the face by Leo. So that was a big nope. He didn't want to have a face full of saltwater first thing in the morning.

The ravenette then remembered why he came down in the first place. He walked over to the large eco-bag that was set on a plastic chair in one corner of the dining room. Reaching his hand in, he rummaged through the abundance of wires before finding the right USB cable and wall adapter before taking it out of the bag. 

Nico looks around the room in hopes of finding a wall socket where he can charge his phone at. Eventually, he found one. It was located on a wall with a little wooden coffee table under it. There was also a chair right beside it that gave a perfect view of inside the kitchen, and Nico was fully aware of who was in the kitchen.

Heading towards the direction of the charging port, he kept taking short glances at the boy who was cooking what Nico assumed was everyone's breakfast. Seriously,  Perce was good-looking, into pets, and knew how to cook. How perfect was this boy?

Sitting on the chair, he set his phone on the table and plugged in his charger on the wall socket with ease. Though, when it came to plugging in the charger in his phone, Nico fumbled a bit. Since he had nothing to do because he heard a rumor that if one uses their phone while charging, it would damage the health of the battery, thus making it have a shorter life span. He just sat on the chair while staring at the boy in front of him a couple of times. Was it creepy? Nico didn't think so. As long as he wasn't caught, it would all be okay. 

Nico found it cute when Perce would turn away from the food every time he let out a little cough or yawned. Everyone should be doing that in order for bacteria to not spread. There was this one time when Perce had sneezed. He was expecting a loud ass sneeze that he was accustomed to since Jason sneezes loudly all the time when in their house, but no. It was just like a kitten's sneeze. The little "achoo" made Nico's heart melt. Jason's sneezes on the other hand were loud enough to the point that Nico was in the backyard and the sneeze was still audible. Like, if you want to wake someone up, just let Jason sneeze in the same room as them and they'll jolt awake a few milliseconds after. 

At one point, Piper had come down from the room they'd stayed at. Piper walked over to Nico and showed him the palm of her hand which was red and swelling a tad bit. "What happened to that?" Asked the ravenette curiously. 

The brunette only managed a shrug, "I don't even know myself. I think a bug or sumthin' bit me last night while sleeping. I'm trying to resist the urge to scratching it cause it's so itchy." The girl explained, an irritated look on her face, her other hand was on her waist. "Seriously, I'd slap someone— preferably Jason if it would get rid of this itch."

Nico giggled, his right hand on his right cheek while listening to the female complain. "Oh, please do slap Jason. I think he needs it." The ravenette joked, but Piper winked at him with a smirk on her face. "I'll keep that in mind."

The two sat together in the dining room in silence. Piper was on her phone doing what gods know what. Must be nice not having low-battery anxiety, Nico thought to himself while looking at the floor. His long hair covering his face while looking at the wood floorboards before noticing that Perce had finished cooking. He covered the pan with its lid, turning off the gas stove since neither of them wanted the wooden shack to go up in flames. With the plate full of eggs in his hand, he walked out of the shack, seemingly bringing it out into the part of the beach that was their property. This gave Nico the idea that they were probably going to eat breakfast outside on the beach which excited the boy. Eating outside was something that the ravenette had low key liked every since the camping trip with his three housemates. Nico could already see it. His bare feet on the white sand, the sea breeze refreshing his milky skin, the soothing sound of the waves hitting the shoreline, the squawking of birds in the distance, and the sound of the palm tree leaves rustling from the wind as everyone ate together; either in silence or in chaos. Nico didn't mind, to be honest. Nico would've committed a homicide for that to happen at least once in his life.

Someone opened the front door which knocked Nico back into reality. It was the girl that showed them their room last night, Annabeth. She walked over towards the direction of the two peaceful teens in the dining room, two cups of what seems to be coffee in her hand. 

Annabeth handed Nico and Piper one cup each, pointing to the container of sugar on the other side of the table. "You two can add the sugar in since we don't know how sweet you like your coffee." Nico hummed in reply, "Thank you." the ravenette thanked and Piper did the same. Annabeth walked out of the shack after saying "you're welcome" and the two teens sat up to put sugar in their coffees. 

Piper dropped a teaspoon of sugar into her cup, she surely did like her coffee black with a hint of sweetness, like Nico's soul. Nico on the other hand mixed in three teaspoons of sugar into his coffee, not being able to drink it if it wasn't sweet enough. Nico's taste in coffee weirded Piper out, but everyone had their own taste. Take Leo for example. He refuses to drink coffee if it doesn't have at the very least sixty-five percent of milk. Jason offered to buy Leo coffee-flavored milk instead, but those didn't wake the Latino up but instead made him fall asleep. So he stuck to normal coffee with a shit ton of milk.

The two sat beside each other after their trip to getting sugar on the other side of the table. Nico didn't know why, but being in the same room with Piper wasn't awkward when in silence. It had a relatively calming effect on the ravenette. He'd surely pick being trapped in a room with Piper all day instead of the two other housemates of theirs that would surely annoy him to his inevitable demise.

People who Nico didn't know was now going in and out of the shack, getting plates, utensils, cups, pitchers, etc. The people were bringing the stuff outside which strengthened his presumptions of them having breakfast outside on the beach. 

Suddenly, a loud thump came from the second floor. Since the floorboards of the second floor were relatively thin, it made a loud noise. Everyone on the ground floor turned their head, diverting their attention to where the noise had come from. A nagging gut feeling was telling Nico that it came from Leo and/or Jason. Everyone looked shocked so this wasn't a normal occurrence in their household. 

Calypso, who was carrying a stack of plates set them on the table and approached the staircase. Piper felt like following the caramel-haired girl, so she stood up to follow in the footsteps of Calypso. Nico felt the presence of Piper leaving his side, and Nico being Nico didn't want to stay in a room with people he doesn't know— followed the two girls upstairs. 

It seemed like Calypso also had the same gut feeling that Nico had because she headed towards the room they had stayed at last night. "What do you think that noise was?" Nico grabbed a hold of the sleeve of Piper's dress, making the girl turn her head slightly in the direction of the ravenette, a little smile on the brunette's features. "I don't know, but I think it's got something to do with the two dorks we're with."

The three were faced with a closed-door that lead to the room where they thought the noise came from. Calypso gripped the cold metal doorknob, twisting it, and pushed the door open. There they saw the body of an unconscious Latino; He was still sleeping on the mattress, albeit Jason was nowhere to be found. Did someone kidnap Jason or something? Maybe he got abducted by aliens? The ravenette thought to himself while looking around the room confusedly.

Running water. Piper heard running water somewhere, though she couldn't pinpoint where exactly it came from. Before telling the other two, she tried once again to see if she could hear where it came from but failed. "I don't know about you two, but I hear water running," Piper informed with a serious expression. Calypso furrowed her brow and went to the first place she thought of where there could be water. The trio walked their way to the bathroom, then while walking Nico spotted a drop of something red. The first thing that came to the boy's mind was blood. He halted the two by saying "There's blood on the floor." which immediately got the attention of the two females. Piper bent down at the drop of liquid on the floor and getting a tissue paper from her back pocket. Why would someone even have tissue paper on their back pocket all the time? Nico didn't know, but he thought that maybe Piper had brought them for emergencies or something. The brunette wiped the crimson red liquid off of the ground and examined it. The two concluded that it was most likely blood just from the color alone.

Seconds later they reached the front of the bathroom. Calypso gripped the doorknob once again and twisted it, albeit this time it didn't twist nor open. The bathroom door was locked. Piper caught track of what was happening and she knocked on the door, no reply. Nico raised an eyebrow while the two females sat in front of him. Piper knocked again, but much louder then pressed her ear onto the thin plastic door. 

"Wait." A faint male voice could be heard from inside the room. Pulling away from the door, Piper turned to the two behind her, "Jason is probably in there. I heard a familiar faint voice so maybe it's Jason."

Nico nodded and Calypso hummed in response before the door made a "click!" sound, meaning that it was unlocked. The three waited for someone to come outside, yet no one came. Calypso gripped the doorknob, saying "We're coming in." before pushing the door open where they were met by a sight of Jason bending down into the sink, his face was under the water so his face was all wet. 

Every single one of the three that stood outside the bathroom with the door open squinted their eyes, processing what in tarnation they were seeing. "Jase? What are you doing?" Nico spoke, concern laced in his words. The blonde tilted his head towards the three, blood was trickling down his nose. Nico already knew what was the predicament that Jason was in the moment he tilted his face towards them. "Got a nosebleed." 

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The laughs of Nico, Calypso, and Piper echoed all around the dining room while Jason filled them in on what happened. "I'm sorry, but— you making such a serious face while telling a story this funny is killing me!" Piper exclaimed, a couple of breathy wheezes came out in between words, then continued on laughing. 

"Wait, wait, wait. So, Jason, you're telling me that you woke up, and with Nico and Piper not being in the bed, you assumed that they're already downstairs." Calypso paused to catch her breath while Jason managed a little nod. "You stood up to make your way downstairs to only get tripped by Leo's leg and fall on your face?" The three once again bursts into laughter while Jason was watching them laughing their tonsils out with a tissue stuck up his nose and his face was red like a tomato from embarrassment.

"Yes, that's pretty much it." Jason deadpanned while the laughing trio was now in tears. A few passing even heard the story which made them snort before going back to their duties. "You're never going to let me live this down, huh?"

Nico and Piper raised their head up from laughing to look at the blonde in front of them, "You bet!" the two of them said in harmony before noticing Leo getting down from the flight of stairs and looking at them with a half-asleep look. "What's with all the ruckus?" The Latino asked while rubbing his left eye as he let out a yawn. "Valdez! Just in time!" Piper stated ecstatically which surprised Leo slightly. "Woah there, good morning to you too." 

Leo found himself seated beside Calypso with Jason, Piper, and Nico in front of them. "You'll never guess what just happened with Mr. Grace over here," Piper said in a teasing manner which immediately got Leo hooked on the matter. "Color me intrigued, please continue."

"Okay okay, to put it simply—" Piper stated, her arm wrapped around her stomach from laughing. "Jason here tripped on your leg while you were sleeping and got a nosebleed." The brunette continued, the laughter coming from the three was seemingly dying down.

Leo snorted but didn't seem to be amused with what happened. "I- that's what got you three in tears from laughing?" The Latino asked, which earned an eye roll from Piper. 

"Please, if you were there to see the reaction on Jason's face while his head was practically in the sink and the way he kept a straight face while telling the story, you'd also be laughing your ass off." Calypso pipped in with a smile on her face. The scrawny boy chuckled, "Okay, good point." Calypso made a face of triumph at making Leo agree with her, running her hand through her rather curly hair from being in a braid last night. "Hey, Jason. How about you do a reenactment of what happened earlier for Valdez over here to see?" 

Jason looked at her with a blank expression, his head leaning on the palm of his hand. "Don't you have duties to attend to?" He asked in a monotone voice while eyeing the stack of plates she had set earlier on the table. "Oh shit-" the caramel-haired girl cursed, immediately standing up from the bench to grab the plates. "See you guys in a bit. You should probably go outside soon. Breakfast is about to start!" Calypso informed before running out of the shack, the stack of plates in her hands. Nico heard the crucial information that Calypso had just said, and he was now ecstatic in his seat. He was going to experience one of those family bonding-like scenes in the movies. The ravenette thought of those scenes as cringy, but when taken to real life, peacefulness is in the air will feel heavenly.

 Leo started looking around the place, the smell of oil still lingered in the room. That was when he noticed the— now-cold— cups of coffee in the hands of Piper and Nico. "Hold on, why do you two have drinks, while I don't?" The ravenette stared at the boy, thinking how Leo is seemingly always hungry.

Piper sighed, squinting her eyes at the Latino in front of her. "That's what you get for waking up late." She playfully scoffed, taking a drink of her coffee while making sure that Leo saw her drinking. 

"Yeah, and I thought you don't like coffee?" The ravenette looked at Leo, an eyebrow raised at him before setting his cup on the table. 

The Latino softly slammed his palms onto the table. "I don't dislike it per se, but if I needed to drink coffee, I would." Leo exclaimed, but Nico thought that his argument didn't exactly help him in that situation. "Yeah, yeah. Sure, Valdez" Nico took another sip of his coffee while taking a look outside into the beach.

A ringing bell could be heard from inside the house, followed by a male yell from outside the shack which got the attention of the four bickering housemates.

"BREAKFAST'S READY!" 

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Nico took his first step outside of the shack in the daylight, sand crunching under his slippered foot. The first thing that the ravenette noticed was that the lamps that illuminated the beach the night prior were now turned off which made the sand on the beach appear much whiter than that of last night. His eyes adjusted to the sudden change of brightness, making his eye squint automatically. 

The rays of light that came from the sun hit the pale skin of the teen. It was strangely soothing, unlike the sunlight at their hometown which can make one sweat bullets and give sunburns within a few seconds. Nico was convinced that they lived in either Hell 2.0 or an oven. 

The breeze from the sea made its way to Nico which sent a shiver down his spine, the refreshing feel of it had Nico crave for more since it wasn't a norm for winds that refreshing to come by for the teenager. And when paired with the sound of crashing waves, it was like he could fall asleep right then and there. 

It reminded him of the times where he used an ambient noise app to fall asleep. Nico always had always set the sound to crashing waves, birds chirping, and trees blowing in the wind. All of those could be heard at that moment which gave the boy a feeling of being safe and calm. 

The ravenette headed towards the dining table with Jason and Piper directly beside him. Where is Leo? One may ask. Well, the Latino was already there, a plate at hand. Nico was convinced that Leo could be faster than the flash when it came to food because he didn't even see how Leo made his way to the table that fast. Maybe it was when he was gazing at the scenery in front of him a moment ago. Looking at Leo, he was as social as ever. Talking to people he barely knew, it seems like he rarely runs out of topics to talk about with people, and Nico admired that trait of the Latino. Nico could barely hold conversation nor eye contact with people he wasn't comfortable with. And plus, the boy had a "threatening aura" around him— as Jason likes to calls it, so people rarely approached the boy.

Every step the boy took, crunching sound from the sand could be heard, though one thing annoyed the teen. Every time he lifted his foot to take a step, sand would fling at the back of his leg since he was wearing flip-flops. So every few steps, the boy had to shake some particles of sand off if a few stuck to his skin. 

By the time he had reached the dining table, he was handed a plate by the woman that called Poseidon over after they spoke the night before. "Here you go, dear." Her voice was soft, as calming as the ambient noise that was made by their surroundings. The teen obliged and gently took the plate off of the woman's hand. "I believe I haven't introduced myself to you yet." 

Nico was somewhat shocked at the sudden conversation the woman was making, though he didn't mind at all since she was the utter opposite of Nico. Her aura was one of a mother's. The type that one can approach and ask anything without having to fear that something was going to happen because they were as gentle as a lamb. 

Nico nodded and the woman giggled, her hair waving from the gust of wind that had just passed by. "I'm Sally Jackson. Nice to meet you, dear." She gave Nico a smile as soft as the clouds in the sky and the Ravenette faintly smiled back at Sally. Nico nodded at the introduction, paired with a hum before he introduces himself to the woman also. "Nico. I'm Nico Di Angelo." Sally also nodded in return, a soft smile still plastered on her face before she put her hand onto the teen's head, ruffling his hair which made Nico jump a bit because he absolutely did not expect anything like that to happen out of the blue. 

Sally's hand slowly pulling away from the teen's hair, she giggled at the reaction of Nico's. The touch was unexpected, yet soothing to Nico. He rarely received affection so what had happened brought a smile to the boy's face. 

The last time he received any form of physical affection was before his sister, Bianca went abroad for her dream job at a company named "Artemis Corp." It was a simple kiss on the cheek that made his whole face and the tips of his ears turn red. There was also a hug that followed, a whisper to his ear saying "I'll miss you, Nico." Before standing up, a backpack hung over one of her shoulders and a large travel bag in her right hand. Nico remembered every single detail from how she had a proud, yet sad expression on her face to how she waved goodbye to him before the door closed shut right in front of him. Nico hadn't fully grasped the idea of what his sister's position was in that company despite her telling him over and over months before leaving. The good news in all of this was that the two still had contact and chatted with each other once in a while since Bianca was busy with her work.

"You better get your breakfast, Nico. You won't want your friend over there to eat it all and leave none for you." Sally informed while pointing at the already-eating Leo that sat on one of the wooden chairs, bringing the teen out of his thoughts. "Oh, right." 

Nico reached for one of the spatulas on the plate and got himself a single egg from the plate in the middle of the table. The boy let out a shaky breath, feeling that some eyes were on him while he was getting food from the table. Trying to quicken his pace, he swiftly makes his way to get two pieces of toasts and bacon. 

Once he was done, Nico stepped away from the table and made his way to find a seat. Preferably with Perce, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that. Speaking of Perce, where was that guy? The last Nico had seen him was when he was cooking breakfast. Did he run away because he caught onto Nico having feelings for him? The ravenette prayed to all the gods imaginable that that wasn't the case. If he wasn't going to be blessed by the gods and let him sit beside Perce, then he'd prefer to sit beside the people he knew and was comfortable with. Aka his housemates, Calypso, or Sally. 

And just on time, Nico heard Jason call for his name while motioning the ravenette to sit next to him and Piper. Nico happily did as told and headed towards the couple. As he took his seat onto the long bench he shared with Jason and Piper, he heard coughing. Apparently, everyone else heard too because when Nico looked up, everyone was looking in one direction. He turned his head to see none other than Leo who choked on his bacon for a split second before the bacon piece got unlodged in the Latino's throat. Everyone ket out a nervous giggle while some asked Leo if he was okay. At this point, this was something that happened more often than one might think. After that incident, everyone ate in silence, basking in the cold breeze and calming surroundings. Nico couldn't imagine a better breakfast than this.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

"Huh? What do you mean we aren't going to swim here?" Nico asked in a confused manner, disappointment laced in his words as he looked at Jason, waiting for the reply of the teen who had just informed him about the matter. Why would they not swim on this side of the beach? It looked so perfect to the ravenette. 

Jason took a shaky breath, his hand at the back of his head. "Sally said that this part of the beach usually gets flooded with people so we're going to a 'secret' part of the beach where only little people know about and dares to visit." Jason explained though it was obvious that the blonde was confused himself. Especially when he stated the last part of the sentence. 

Almost instantly, Nico understood their situation. At least there were going to be fewer people with them which the ravenette liked since he had a mild fear of crowds. "Ah. I see." Nico muttered before the man they rode with last night, put his hand on the shoulders of both Jason and Nico. "You two should probably get your stuff. We're only waiting for Perce to come back since he's the only person that knows where it is." Zeus explained before smiling at the two, which Nico didn't expect from the man. Seriously, when Zeus has his resting face on, he looks like he hasn't smiled in decades.

Nico and Jason nodded violently, Jason even accidentally blurted out "Yes sir!" as if he was in the military or something. Zeus pulled away his hand from the duo's shoulder before walking away to gather his own stuff. The blonde and ravenette headed over to where they had placed the eco bag. The moment they enter the room, they immediately knew they had nothing to do. Why? The two were met with the sight of Piper gathering all their things and putting them into the blue backpack to which she had emptied to fit their clothes, a speaker, and phones into. Sadly, the towels didn't fit into the bag so Piper thought of the idea that she'd be the one to carry the three towels while Jason would be the person to bring the backpack. The brunette already knew that Leo would deny the idea of him carrying anything, so she already planned ahead of time.

"What are you two standing there for?" Piper asked while sitting on the ground, the blue backpack at hand while she looked at the two boys' way. 

"Oh, we went here to get our things ready, but it seems like you've already done the job." Jason stated while fiddling with his fingers while leaning against the door frame. 

Nico  stared at Piper who was staring back at them with a blank stare, "Figured I'll get it done faster myself." The brunette shrugged with a smug look now plastered on her face. Nico knew she was just kidding around, but that had hit him hard, and he could tell it did for Jason too. Jason dramatically put a hand to his chest and made a pained expression "Ouch, Pipes. That hurts." 

Piper giggled and stood up, the backpack slung on her right shoulder while the three towels were hanging off of her left arm. "We better get going. We don't want to get left behind now, don't we?" The girl headed towards the door, her white dress flowing ever so elegantly with every move the brunette made. The flowing cloth of the dress came to a halt and Nico noticed that so did Piper just before leaving the room. "Hey, Jase. Can you get my straw hat on the table over there?" She looked at Jason with a smile on her face and the blonde returned the smile. "Sure." Jason nodded, walking over to the table, his blonde hair and face being hit by the sunlight protruding through the open window of the room, making his blonde hair look like it was Repunzel's magical hair when glowing. Nico also noticed the rather attractive features of Jason's face and it was at that time he realized just how stunning the couple was. 

Nico watched as Jason grabbed the straw hat by what Nico refers to as the "crown" of the hat and made his way towards the girl carrying the luggage. Nico wondered why Jason didn't bother on helping out the brunette that was carrying all their things. Just as Piper got into arm's reach of Jason, he placed the hat on Piper's head, making her brown hair appear flatter than usual. "At least put it on me properly!" Piper whined at Jason, making Nico snicker for this wasn't a normal occurrence. Piper whining only happened once in a blue moon cause the brunette had set up a 'strong woman' reputation for herself. "Okay okay, hold still."

Nico watched as Jason closed up on Piper then taking off the straw hat from the brunette's head momentarily before the blonde found his hands in Piper's brown hair, fixing it— restoring the volume that was lost when the hat was abruptly placed on the top of the brunette's head. Once finished, Jason reached for a stray strand of the girl's hair and tucked it behind her ear. The boy smiled before gently putting the hat on top of Piper's head.

Nico could've sworn that at that moment was the only time he saw Piper blush. The slight change of tint in the girl's cheeks was one of the cutest sights the ravenette had seen all week. Seriously, the beauty that Piper possessed was too much in Nico's opinion. Too bad Nico's gay.

"A—nd done!" Jason informed, his voice coaxed in pride for he had successfully made Piper's hair look at least decent and Piper giggled at that.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

[ Bridge Picture Here For Better Visualization ]

Everyone present except Perce stood frozen in place at that sight in front of them. A rickety bridge seemingly made from long bamboo poles lay in the middle of a mangrove forest. Nico took a look down into the water, it was murky and dark, it had most likely been mixed with the mud on the floor of the body of water. 

Nico looked around to see if he was the only one that was terrified from the path the group had to take. His eyes landed on Perce's face first. The boy had an unfazed expression as if he had crossed this bridge a hundred of times before. 

Next was Jason and Piper who stood right beside each other, hand in hand as they looked like they were reminiscing over their past choices. Nico unconsciously giggled at the blonde's face, cause it looked like he was facing death, who was ready to reap his soul right then and there. 

A slight whimper that came from Leo caught Nico's attention. If one thought Jason's reaction was funny, they'd surely choke on nothing at the sight of Leo's reaction, cause Nico surely did choke on air a little. The Latino's mouth was wide open, his eyes wide as if he was seeing Kronos and his Titan army in front of him. Nico was more worried about the fact that an insect could fly into Leo's mouth without him knowing. 

As for Zeus, who had come with them also was staring at the bridge, but was cooler about it unlike the four teenagers with them. Until... 

Nico watched as Perce took his first step onto the bridge, a loud noise came from it. "Oh shit. This bridge is close to collapsing." Zeus let out a nervous giggle as if he too was as scared as the group of teens. Nico thought that Perce shouldn't have said that since everyone will be more scared. "Well, here goes nothing."

Perce takes his second step, his hands gripping the wooden railing of the bridge, each step made the bridge let out a creaking noise. With much hesitation, Zeus followed soon after Perce. 

Nico, who wanted to sort of impress Perce, he put on his poker face and followed after the two while leaving the three behind. Nico first gripped the railing as if his life depended on it, which it probably did. The first step he took was in the middle part of the bridge which Nico had learned after a few steps that the middle part was more fragile which made him go to the sides of the bridge, his two hands still gripping the railings of the bridge. Every time the ravenette raised his foot to take a step, he'd apply weight into his arms so that it'll lessen the pressure on the part he was stepping on. Nico didn't even notice, but his three housemates had now stepped onto the bridge. A weird noise that sounded like "Eek!" came from Leo, who was a significant distance away from Nico which made him turn around. Leo was in front of the couple and Jason had in fact left behind his girlfriend behind. Nico thought that if one of them could've fallen, he'd rather it not be him and instead be Jason or Leo instead. 

Roughly a minute or two later, Nico had reached the middle of the long bridge where Perce stood, seemingly waiting for the others. What Nico didn't know at the time was that the very middle of the bridge was very fragile and that one wrong move could make a person fall through the said bridge. 

Perce extended his hand towards Nico, to which he stared at for a few seconds. His poker face was replaced with that of pure flustered. Nico couldn't see it but could feel his face heating up. He was worried that the boy he liked didn't see the pink tint on his cheeks. Shortly after, Nico took ahold of the taller boy's hand and took a step forward. At that very moment, he heard and felt wood cracking from under his feet. Looking back at it, Nico could've sworn that he saw his life flash before his eyes. But then he immediately stepped back in time before the plank had broken. All this while his hand was still on Perce's to which the taller boy helped him get to a safer part of the bridge.

After that incident, he stood at the side of the bridge, his two hands still located on the railings. His heart was beating tremendously. Nico didn't know if it was because he almost fell through the bridge or the fact that he had held Perce's hand. 

I held his hand. I held his hand. I held his hand. Repeated in the ravenette's mind as he continued to get to the other end of the godforsaken bridge.

Taking a glance back, he saw the boy he had recently held hands with help his three housemates as well. The ravenette was disappointed at the fact that he wasn't the only one that had held hands with the boy, but he'd rather have his housemates alive than have them fall through without the assistance of Perce. 

The bridge was much longer than expected, but Nico could see the blue sky at the end of the bridge. Every step he took was cautious while looking back once in a while to check on the situation of the four behind him. Not like he could do something if one of them fell in. He'd probably just stand frozen, either from shock or from laughing. It depended on the person that fell in, honestly. 

Nico had finally reached the end of the bridge, he felt his heart beating slower than before and he felt like it was easier to breathe. He didn't even notice the scenery and immediately looked back at the bridge. Leo was shortly right behind him with Jason, Piper, and Perce several meters away in that order. Seeing every safe calmed the teen even more than he turned back around to face the "secret beach" they mentioned which made Nico remember that people rarely visited this place. The ravenette finally understood why. It was because of that bridge that was straight out of his nightmares. Despite all of this, Nico decided to pull out his phone and took a picture of the bridge for something to brag about to his sister, Bianca, and his Cousin, Hazel Levesque.The scenery that he was met by made up for it though. The sand was as white as snow with a slight tinge of yellow, which gave the teen the thought of snow that was peed on by Ms. O'Leary. 

The sky was just as beautiful as the one that was at the shack they had stayed at last night. The same light blue that was adorned by the white and fluffy-looking clouds scattered throughout the sky.

The water was also the same as the one that had hit the shoreline at the front of the shack. It had a color of a vivid blue that hadn't failed to amaze the ravenette.

Everything was essentially the same except for mountains in the distance. It was like the mountains that kids would draw in their art class seatwork. It had the color of a rich green which Nico very much liked and another trait this beach had was that Mangrove grew near the shore as well. This was the first time the teen had seen mangroves in person and he was intrigued by how the roots of the mangroves looked like.

[ Beach Pic Here For Better Visualization ]

Once everyone had crossed safely, the group made its way to their signature spot. It was a spot on the beach where there were fewer mangrove trees and a long table on the shore which made a good place for them to put their luggage at. 

The first thing that everyone did was take out their phones and take a picture of the body of water in front of them. Good thing Nico was prepared for this situation. He had downloaded a camera app which had a shit load of filters so that he could pick which one had fit the scenery. 

As soon as everyone finished taking pictures, they all went into the water. But not without all the boys taking off their shirts, except for Nico cause he believes in less skin shown supremacy. Nico didn't mind seeing the others shirtless since they weren't really his type. BUT Perce was in the vicinity.

The moment Nico took his attention off of his phone after saving the pictures with different sorts of filters he was immediately met with a sight of Perce taking off the white shirt he had worn since last night. The teen let out a weird noise from the sight and immediately diverted his gaze onto something else, and at that time. The thing he kept focus on was his phone that wasn't on. To Piper, who was right beside him, it must've looked weird to say that least, to see Nico plainly staring at the black phone screen. Soon after, the boy had put his phone into the backpack to avoid a missing phone incident. Nico stared into the distance while admiring the view for a couple of minutes.

Good thing Nico was already wearing his swimming clothes at that moment because Leo took hold of his wrist and pulled him into the water while saying "C'mon Neeks, we went here to have a swim! Not to space out."

The ravenette groaned as he felt the rather warm water on his feet as he was being pulled deeper into the warm salt water by the Latino. Nico heaved a sigh albeit having a smile on his face as the beach day began.

°*•×+†—†+ו*°

Nico was several meters away from shore. The water reached up to his chest. This was the first time they had seen Nico in any large bodies of water, and they didn't know that Nico was dragged along with his sister Bianca to swimming classes when they were young. So one could imagine the surprise on the ravenette's housemates when they saw Nico swim like a fish. Granted, Nico could've drowned any of them if he tried and he probably would as a joke and let them go a few seconds after they're fully submerged in water. 

It had now been an hour since they had arrived at the beach and all Nico had done was floating and freestyle swimming. It wasn't boring for Nico cause the water calmed him down. Though there were a few occasions that he was cut by a mangrove root and he thought he accidentally stepped on a starfish since he felt something soft under his feet which had sent shivers up his spine. 

Leo on the other hand was near the shore with Piper as they looked at little fishes that seem translucent and hermit crabs which Leo seemed to have an interest in since Nico legit saw the Latino put his finger near the entrance of a hermit crab's shell. It was a dumb idea to do that, but the thought of getting bit apparently didn't come to Leo's mind. And Nico loved the fact that despite Piper watching Leo put his finger near the crab, she didn't even bother on stopping the Latino and just watched intensely if he'd get pinched. Unfortunately to Piper, Leo hadn't got pinched by the hermit crab.

And Jason. The blonde got out of the waters to play on his phone. Even exclaiming that the signal there was phenomenal. The loud sounds of his game echoed throughout the empty beach with only the six of them.

Nico didn't know how, but Perce had made a makeshift kickboard out of scrap materials found on the shore. It was endearing to Nico while he watched Perce swim around with a makeshift kickboard and the way he laughed when he lost momentum or when he rises from under the water after he overturns and gets submerged with the kickboard

Even if Nico was just chilling in one corner of the beach, he had still enjoyed it. Watching everyone have fun was all that Nico needed to enjoy his time there. 

At one point, Jason, Piper, and Zeus got into a conversation and Nico listened while the three were talking. It was just the normal work stuff about the previous places they've worked at and all that. It didn't interest the ravenette, but he decided to listen anyway since he didn't have anything to do except for floating beside the three and act like he isn't listening. That was when he heard a voice call out, "Uncle Zeus! Watch me!"

Everyone in the group stopped their conversation and diverted their attention to the boy that had yelled in the distance. Even Nico got off his floating position and looked at what was happening. That was when he saw Perce on top of a mangrove tree. Oh, gods, he's gonna hurt himself, Nico thought before the teen atop the tree turned his head to look straight forward when he knew that everyone's attention was now on him and he jumped into the water, It was like it went slow motion for Nico. He could see Perce's jet black hair flowing in the wind as he fell, his t-shirt which clung to his skin slightly going up to reveal a bit of skin on his stomach area. Time went back to normal as Perce hit the surface of the water and his body sinking into the salty seawater, making a big splash. Perce rose from under the water a few seconds later while laughing. Then Nico heard Zeus yell to the teen who had just jumped off a tree to "Do it again! I wasn't looking." Which stopped the laughter of Perce and give Zeus a deadpan. "Yeah, no. I'd rather not!" Perce stated which brought laughter to Zeus. 

°*•×+†-Epilogue-†+ו*°

Nico was seated on the mattress in the same utility van they had used to get there. His head leaning on his forearm as he stared outside the van's window. His phone at hand and he had worn a different outfit which was a navy blue oversized shirt that reached Nico's knees and a pair of plain blue shorts that looked similar to the ones he had worn to swim. 

The wind was hitting his face as they made their way back home with the same passengers they had while going there. Though, someone was missing. A presence of a certain someone. Of course, it was Perce. He chose to stay behind at the beach for one more day to enjoy the countryside life for a bit more. 

Of course, Nico was bummed about the decision. He wanted to share the same vehicle with Perce. Just one last time. The ravenette was sure that he wasn't going to see Perce again since he was two years ahead of him and is most probably attending another school.

Snoring rang throughout the inside of the van. Leo, who was in front of Nico was sound asleep and so were Zeus and Tyson. Piper had now sat on the passenger seat since no one was there to occupy it. The ravenette adjusted his right leg slightly since it was going numb. The slight movement made Leo squirmed a little. 

It was quiet. Very quiet in fact. Nico's mind took over, thinking of what he could've done. He could've spoken to Perce more. The only words they had exchanged were the good mornings. If only he had tried to make friends with the boy. Maybe he could've gotten his socials and DMed Perce. But no. Nico didn't do any of those to which he regrets. Why was he even thinking like that? It was just infatuation. He'll get over it sometime soon. Or so he hoped. But those damned smiles. The face of worry Perce made when he saw Nico scared, thinking that he was about to fall down the bridge. And also the expression he made as he escorted Nico to a safer part of the bridge. Those images will forever be engraved in Nico's mind. Why? One may ask. It was because Perce was his first real gay crush. 

Nico developed feelings for someone who he had never even met. A person he knows very little about. A person who was seemingly straight out of a fictional book. And yet, he didn't do anything to get to know the boy. Nico regretted doing nothing. Though, he can't do anything about it now. No one  could travel back in time to change what had happened in the past. He would forever remember this event in his mind to when he was only admiring from afar.

°*•×+†-END-†+ו*°