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Chapter 1--
Nico's P.O.V.
-Friday-
Something is wrong .
I can’t quite describe it, but I’m looking off into nothingness, sitting in the crow’s nest of the Argo II. As real as it feels, down to the air hitting my skin and pushing my hair out of my face, I know this has to be a dream. Either that, or something absolutely insane and unnatural (even for my life) is happening.
It isn’t that it’s dark or misty in the distance, it’s all around me, and it’s nothing. Just this ship. Other than that, there’s pure silence too. It could almost be pleasant, if it wasn’t so terrifying.
I take a deep breath. There’s air, everything feels normal. My sight and my hearing is all screwed up, until…
“Hey, man, what are you doing?”
I wince, and jump like I’m waking up. I don’t wake up though, or maybe I do and that was the only part that was a dream…?
I look down, and Leo is hanging on right by me. Everything looks normal around me. Now I can hear the wind and see the water and such.
“...?” I just give him a confused look, and I’m not in total control of myself. I want to ask him what’s going on, but he’s kind of dumb and probably wouldn’t know.
“Need a break?” He asks, “You can go down and eat something. Everyone’s talking about you.”
Ugh, that doesn’t sound good. Also, this has already happened before. I didn’t think it sounded good then either.
“No. Do you need something, Captain ?” I ask him. I can help if I’m needed, but it’s not like I wanted to be around any of them at this point.
“Just seems lonely up here. You aren’t exactly fighting the allegations.”
“Allegations?” I scoff.
“Yeah, you know. Everyone thinks you’re creepy and stuff.” He leans in a bit, watching me.
I look away from him. He seems friendly, but a lot of people do at first . I remember thinking that. I was right about him being afraid of me, but when it came down to it, even Frank was uncomfortable with me, so it is just an inherent air about me. It’s my fault for existing.
“I’m not trying to fight those allegations. I’m just helping you guys for now, I need to get myself and the rest of the world to be safe and that’s all that matters.” I explain to him.
He sighs, tapping on the wood. “Mm, gotcha. I can leave you alone then.”
“ Please .” And please don’t do anything crazy, don’t let this be a bad dream… If it’s going to be, I hope I wake up before it does. I try to make myself wake up; nothing happens.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry…” He goes to start climbing down.
I finally control something. Unfortunately, it’s me saying, “I’m glad you’re okay, Leo.”
Then I look at him, and he seems really puzzled by that. Like he’s still the Leo from a year ago, who doesn’t know me yet, and hasn’t been dead yet.
He stops tapping. “ Okay is an overstatement.” He responds.
“You’re not okay?” I wonder if I need to go find him, to check on him…? I want him to be okay…
“I’ll never be okay. People like us don’t get that, we’ve lost everything, and it’s our fault. Everything that happened to you is your fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” I tell him, referring to whatever he’s talking about. As much as I know I can’t change his mind, a part of me won’t let me agree with what he’s saying. We’re kids. That’s what I learned from Will… “We are just kids.”
He shakes his head. “It’s my fault,” He mutters, “And your problems…they’re your fault. We ruined everything-”
I run my fingers into my hair, and realize everything is disappearing again. Fuck, fuck, fuck…
…
I wake up to clunking noises in my kitchen, which of course immediately makes me sit up. I tangle my fingers back into my hair. I need to check on Leo!? Is he okay?!
When I realize Will isn’t hooked up to me anymore, first I am glad that I’m still in my cabin and I’m not super disoriented or anything. I figure that it’s probably him trying to be nice and make breakfast or something.
Hearing someone else in my cabin would usually make me just think it’s Kamaria, but she isn’t around here anymore. No one else comes in here.
Then I hear the shower running, which is almost definitely Will. I get up carefully, putting a hand on my sword. I peek out into the kitchen, worried about who thinks they can just wander in here and mess with my shit…
Then I see that it’s Leo . Maybe I have been gifted with prophetic dreams ? Apollo saw that I was dating his son and gave me the most minor , dumb prophecy powers . Congratulations to me .
“...What are you doing? You scared me.” I say, which is ironic. Usually, I scare him.
He jumps, proving my point. He looks over at me, and he has my coffee machine in his hands. I immediately get really angry, because he can mess with anything else in my kitchen and it wouldn’t matter, but if he breaks the thing that gives me coffee every morning? I’ll kill him.
“I’m just upgrading ! Don’t worry, don’t worry…” He says.
I narrow my eyes at him. “If it shoots out confetti, Leo, I swear to the gods-”
“It does not! It just makes coffee better and faster. All good things.” He assures me. I don’t know if I can trust him.
“What do you mean by better? How would anything you do to it make it better?” I ask. Isn’t that subjective anyway?
“It’s cleaner and more efficient, it’ll take less coffee grounds or whatever to make what you want. Also, I found this ghost sticker so I put it on it. See?” He shows me.
Is this a nice thing he did for me? Or is it a prank? Would he risk pranking me at this point in his life? I’d say he’s too young to die, but we are demi-gods and he has died before.
“Cute.” I deadpan. There is now a cutesy ghost with blushing cheeks sticker on my coffee machine.
“So you’re welcome.”
“Why are you in here?” I ask, hearing the water turn off in the bathroom. That better be Will, I guess, since everyone thinks they can just come in here now.
“Showered, then figured I would repay you for letting me use your shower,” He says, as if I gave him permission for that, “I used Will’s shampoo and stuff though, so I should probably find a way to repay him too.”
We both learned a long time ago not to let him give us stuff. I don’t know if I can be sure that this coffee pot isn’t going to cause any problems.
“Don’t. He is the other person here, right?”
“He is! He told me to be gone before you woke up, but…here I am, here you are~”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah. Well, I was just dreaming about you.”
“Yes! That makes sense, I’m the man of everyone’s dreams .”
“No, shut up,” I tell him, leaning on my sword and watching him, “It must have just been because you’re here. Maybe I heard you talking, and subconsciously...”
“Or you’re in love with me.”
“Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I would actually like you, Leo.”
He gasps, then laughs. I relax a bit. He seems so much more calm around me than he used to. Being around his girlfriend gave him a boost of confidence--real confidence, not that fake shit he paraded around all the time on the Argo II. Maybe Will convinced him I can be trusted too, not to mention Jason… He’s way closer to them than he is with Percy, even though they have the same sense of humor that makes me want to smack them with my sword.
“Savage.” He says.
“ Savage ?” I repeat, “Yeah, okay. I’m savage .”
He laughs again for some reason. I’m not sure why, considering I’m threatening him.
“Good to know!” He says, “Are we alright here? Let me make you some coffee.” He puts the pot back and starts going through the rest of my stuff over there.
I take a deep breath, trying to keep myself from reacting. It takes me a minute to calm down, watching him start making coffee.
Then Will walks out of the bathroom, with shorts on and no shirt, a towel linked over his shoulders. He looks in the bed like he’s expecting me to still be there, then blinks at me.
"Woah, I wasn't expecting you to be up. Good morning, sunshine ... and Leo . I told you to head out once you were done." Will scolds him.
Leo just waves at him and gestures to the coffee pot. Idiot .
“Hearing aids.” I command Will. They’re on the nightstand still.
He gives me a thumbs up, before going around and grabbing them, popping them in and turning to us. "Aha, that's better. Hello."
“They’re on?” I ask first.
He messes with them again, before nodding. "On. What's going on, why is Leo still here and messing with your stuff?"
“He’s making coffee.”
“Yup! Making coffee.” He confirms, “Want some?”
Will wrinkles up his nose at the machine. "No thanks, I'll be okay. Did you use my shampoo and stuff, Leo?"
“Yup!” He says.
"Did you want to use the wet brush and leave in gel with it, I’m about to get it out?" Will asks him, using words that I've heard but don't make sense with one another.
“Can I?! Please?”
"Yeah, do you do that sort of thing, or not really?" Will asks him.
“Nope, sounds like rich people shit.”
Will chuckles. "I'll show you, then. It doesn't have to be too expensive."
“What are you even talking about?” I ask him.
I was going to yell at him but now I’m just confused.
"Just the curly hair maintenance, it keeps me from being all frizzy ." He explains, patting his wet hair.
“…” I touch my hair. It’s (definitely, it always is) a total mess.
“I figured I’d borrow his stuff for a while to get mine under control and try new things.” Leo says.
"Yes sir, we can find what works for you. Once you get the coffee going, come over here." Will says, walking over to us. "...You okay, Nico?"
I drop my hand, then roll my eyes casually. “Yeah? What?” I say, “Just annoyed.”
"Sorry, I really thought you'd sleep longer." He admits.
“So you figured you’d let this guy into my cabin…?”
"I didn't let him, he let himself in." He puts his hands on his hips.
“Uh, no? I came in and you said I could shower.” Leo says.
"...As long as you were quick." Will complains.
“I was! Then I wanted to make something nice for Nico to thank him.”
“I didn’t know you were here and I wouldn’t have let you shower here.” I point out.
“…I am being so nice to you, puh-lease .”
"The nicest... as long as confetti won't come out of that thing." Will tells him, a bit concerned.
“Why would you guys say that? It just makes good coffee.”
"I remember the fidget cube ~" Will hums at him.
“I fixed that! It’s all good now. I had to test the waters.”
Will narrows his eyes at him. "Fine, but be nice to Nico, or I'll make something bad happen to you."
“I am nice to Nico…now.” He says.
"Yeah, that's all I care about, now . I can't control what you've done or said before that... I can't really control it now either."
“Were you ever mean to me?” I question Leo.
“Yeah, all the time, only behind your back, though. But now I’m nice to your face and also behind your back, it’s great!” He nods, making me widen my eyes, but he just continues, “Coffee is started . What did you need me to do, Will?”
Are we acting like he didn’t just say that?
"...If you wanted me to show you how to do your hair, you can follow me.”
“Yeah, sure.” He says, coming over to us, “Nice tattoo.” He tells him.
Will looks down at his chest, like he forgot that he has a big sun tattoo. "Oh, thanks! I got it last winter."
“Your mom was okay with that?”
He nods. "Yes sir. She took me to get it, said I was grown enough to decide."
“And you chose a sun? Maybe I should get one and it can be a wrench.”
He laughs. "It would probably be kind of cool. Get it in the same spot, then we'd match."
“That would be epic!”
I blink at the floor. I could get something cool, maybe a skull or a skull and crossbones. It might be neat to get a ghost. Obviously, it would be the most me for it to be a ghost with a crown or something. The problem is, it wouldn’t represent me, it would represent Hades .
"Definitely. C'mon, let's get fancy." Will says, starting to the bathroom.
“How long are you guys going to be here?” I ask.
"Not too long! Don't worry. Do you want a curly hair treatment? It might not be too bad for the little waves you've got." Will offers.
“I mean, I was going to go back to bed, and ask you guys to be quiet…” I say, “…but I can do that, if you want?”
"It's up to you, honey. We're happy to have you." He smiles at me.
“Don’t call me that…”
“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t want to see you too.” Leo says, as if he didn’t come to shower then tinker with my coffee maker.
This means something. I needed to check on him.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
He chuckles. “Yeah, of course.”
That’s a very different response, and I believe Dream Leo more than Real Life Leo .
I think about that for a second. It’s not my problem. What’s the saying? Not my monkeys, not my circus . “...Okay, well, you can do my hair then. But I’m not a doll, so don’t overdo it.” I decide.
"We won't overdo it, don't worry. We'll just do it up a little bit." Will says, going into the bathroom. He holds up a brush. " Wet Brush is your saving grace."
Is he even speaking English anymore?
Leo and I stick close to him, he’s watching with more curiosity and excitement and I’m just confused. I wish I had his energy, or at least some of it.
“Maybe you can write down the instructions for me? For one day, when you’re not with me to do this…?” Leo says to him.
"I can. I have just the fancy gay pen to do it with, too. You just need to wash and condition your hair like normal in the shower--you only need to do that every so often-- and then when you get out, while it's still wet like mine is, you brush it then massage the product in." Will says. He leans over, before starting to scrunch product into his hair. "Make sure your hair is still super wet, then join me."
“You look stupid.” I inform him.
"Thanks! It's just the easiest way to do it." He tells me.
I scowl. “That’s not how you’re supposed to react.”
"What was I supposed to do?" He asks me, continuing to do what he's doing as he scrunches his hair together.
“It’s not funny if you don’t act offended.” I roll my eyes.
He scoffs dramatically. " I do not look stupid. "
“It’s too late.”
"Sorry. I'll be more offended next time." He chuckles, standing upright, his face red.
I laugh at him. Leo isn’t laughing though, he’s watching and following the instructions Will gave him. Lame.
“Thanks for trying, I guess…?” I say to Will.
"It's no problem. Really get in there with the leave-in conditioner, Leo." Will tells him, patting his back supportively.
“Isn’t that, like, gross?” I point out.
“Nope. Just makes everything soft and nice.” Leo says.
"It's made to stay in your hair. It keeps the curls defined." Will says.
“What’s even the difference?” I ask, “Between it and regular conditioner?”
"Normal conditioner is made to nourish and... moisturize . Leave in is to protect from damage , and just makes it a lot easier to manage ."
“I didn’t think you would have an actual answer to that question.”
"I mean, I wouldn't do something like that if it didn't have benefits." He chuckles.
“I feel like you would.”
"You think so?" He looks at me.
“As long as it convinced you it would have benefits.”
"Well... good point, it wouldn't take much for that, huh?" Will asks.
“It wouldn’t, exactly. So we’ll know if you do this stuff to me.”
"I mean, it's not going to make your hair look like mine." He says. "It'll probably just... made it a little more wavy. Do you want help?"
“Yeah.” I say. I’m not sure what they’re doing at all. There’s a reason I don’t ever do anything to my hair.
"You don't usually like me touching your hair. You should probably wash it first."
“Are you saying my hair is disgusting?” I ask.
"No? Your hair is always cute. You have to start with clean hair, then you do the conditioning." He explains. "I don't know how well it'll work without doing that."
“Ugh. So complicated.”
"I know~ I guess I could wash your hair in the sink for you, but I don't know how much you'd like that, either."
"Better than having to get..." I trail off. Leo is staring at me, "...Whatever you want." I tell Will instead.
Will flips the sink on, putting his hand in before adjusting the temperature. "Okay, lean in and I'll wash it as painlessly as possible. Get the spa treatment this way."
“If I pass out, just leave me on the floor.”
"No way, I'll keep you steady. It would probably be better for you to sit and I use the shower head for you." Will muses.
“Do you think so?”
"That way the blood doesn't rush to your head. Here, I'll grab one, get the shower water at a temperature you like."
“You guys usually shower together?” Leo asks.
"Never have, no." Will says as he walks out, he comes back in a second later. "It's just common knowledge if someone gets lightheaded like he does."
“He does?”
“ …Sometimes .” I say.
“Hm. I just meant, because you guys are allowed to be alone in your cabins together.”
"Eh... we're not specifically allowed ." Will says, sitting the chair halfway into the shower.
“You aren’t?!”
"We just don't mention it." He waves a hand, before taking the shower head down. "Come sit, Nico."
I move over and sit down in the chair, before looking up at him.
“I’ll make you do mine next time.” Leo tells Will.
"This isn't a salon ." He chuckles, looking at Leo's head. "It looks good. Don't touch it until it dries."
“At all?!”
"As little as you can. Okay, Nico. Are you ready? Can I lean your head back?"
“Carefully, and don’t drown me.” I warn.
“You just get waterboarded right now .” Leo laughs.
"No~ I'll be careful. I promise." Will tells me, carefully taking my chin and leaning my head back. He smooths my hair away from my face, before feeling the water again. "Let me know if this temperature doesn't work for you."
My face heats up for some reason. “Okay…”
“ Country roads~ take me home ~” Leo starts singing in an exaggerated Southern accent.
"... To the place, I belong~ " Will sings after a moment, before starting to slowly wet my hair. " West Virginia~"
“Wow, you have a beautiful voice.” Leo tells him.
Will chuckles self-consciously. "Thank you. Child of Apollo perks. I love that song, though."
“I didn’t mean you should stop.”
"I can keep going if you want." He offers, continuing to gently wash my hair.
I cringe, trying to ignore this feeling, and also them being annoying.
“Sing it like I did though, with the accent.” Leo commands.
Will clears his throat, before singing the song again with a much more pronounced southern accent, taking care to keep the water away from my face. " Country roads, take me home~to the place I belong~West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country roads ~"
“You have to shake your butt when you do it.” He tells him.
Will starts moving beside me, I can only assume he's shaking his butt. I start turning my head to look at him and confirm, but he whines at me, stopping whatever he's doing. " Hey , I don't want to get water into your eyes, stay as still as you can, Nico."
“I can’t stay still.” I mutter. Leo is laughing. It’s loud and obnoxious…and very cute.
"I know, it was more of a warning that I'm getting the shampoo out." Will tells me, laughing too.
“No more being greasy.” Leo says.
“I’m not greasy…” I mumble.
"You're fine~" Will says, starting to gently massage the shampoo into my hair. "Nice and clean."
“Ehh, bullshit.”
"It's getting cleaned right now. Let me know if you need a break." He tells me.
“ A break ?” I ask, sighing. That is the single most dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life.
"If you get overwhelmed or anything, yeah."
“I won’t get overwhelmed.”
I’ve done much crazier things than wash my hair .
"Okay. It's not a problem if you do." He says. "I find this sort of thing relaxing, maybe I can do yours next time, Leo."
“I’d say I will pay you, but I won’t. Unless I can borrow some money from you first.” Leo says.
"Don't worry about it. You'll just need to catch me when I'm free... which isn't much."
“I’ll try. You’re always free in mornings, right?”
No. He’s with me in mornings. And afternoons. And evenings. And nights.
"Um, after breakfast, yeah."
“That’s when you can do my hair then!”
"It doesn't need done every day. Twice or three times a week."
“Ohhh really?”
"Really. Come see me on... Tuesdays, Thursdays and... I guess Sundays if I'm in town." Will says like he's giving a patient orders.
“Gotcha. I’ll do that if you remind me.”
I hope he forgets to remind him.
Will pauses, taking his hands from my hair, and I hear the click of a pen. "It's on the arm, it'll go on the calendar!"
“Awesome. Hey. Sing something else. You can be the radio today.” Leo tells him. As long as he doesn’t sing with him, I’m okay with that.
"Just anything?" He asks.
“Well, something good , man!”
"Also known as, country ?" He asks.
“ Sure !”
“Like you know anything else.” I scoff.
"I know other things! I like most music." Will says. "But I'll sing one Nico might end up recognizing.... Picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor, Reachin' for the phone 'cause I can't fight it anymore~ "
I roll my eyes, but I go with it. They’re cute. I’ll never tell them that.
I hate Leo so much .
End