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Nico sits down at the Hades’ table with a small sigh. He sets his cup down in front of him, putting his book where his plate would usually go. He flips through the pages, tuning out the sounds of the other campers talking.
Eventually part of the way through dinner, someone knocks on the table in front of Nico. He looks up, startled. He doesn’t really recognize the man in front of him, but he does know that he’s one of the Hermes kids since he used to sit with them every night.
“The Director wants to see you. Said that it wouldn’t take a long time, and that you would still have time to finish your dinner.”
Nico looks down at his non-existent dinner, then nods.
He stands up, then says, “They’re in the farm house?”
The kid nods, and Nico makes his way over to the house. Mr. D and Chiron are waiting for him. They end up talking to him for at least fifteen minutes about what he’s going to do with the Hades cabin. Though he is wondering why this couldn’t have waited, he talks to them anyway. Once they release him, he heads back to his table to find Jason waiting for him.
“Hey.”
Nico nods as he sits back down. He picks up his cup, then frowns.
“You didn’t use my cup, did you?”
“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d care,” Jason replies.
Nico covers his face so Jason can’t tell that he’s having to force himself not to laugh.
“What?”
“I started taking something for my insomnia, but I have a hard time taking the pills. So I put them in my drink.”
Jason sighs.
“The one I just drank out of?”
“Yeah, and it has some wild side effects the first few times you take it.”
“How did I not know that you were taking something if it had weird side effects?”
Nico shrugs.
“I don’t know, maybe because I slept it off in my cabin?”
Jason shakes his head.
“Damn it.”
“Don’t worry. You can sleep in my cabin tonight, and I’ll make sure you don’t do anything too bad.”
“Fine. Man this sucks.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have drank out of my cup.”
Jason rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Come on. Let’s head there now before it kicks in,” Nico says as he dumps his cup out on the lawn.
Jason nods, then follows Nico back to his cabin. They get a few weird looks, but Nico ignores them until they’re out of sight. Then he just hunches his shoulders with a frown. If Jason notices, he doesn’t say anything. Nico opens the door for Jason, who looks around the cabin. It looks a lot lighter in there now, more color adorning the walls, and some of the beds don’t look like coffins anymore.
“I like what you’ve done with the place.”
Nico laughs gently.
“Thanks.”
He sits down on the edge of his bed while motioning Jason towards the beds on the other side of the room. Jason flops onto his back.
“How long till you think it’ll kick in?”
“I don’t know, but it can’t be long. Maybe another ten minutes if you’re lucky.”
“Wonderful.”
Nico leans back as he watches Jason play with the edge of the bedding. After a few minutes, he slows down till his fingers are just tied up in the blanket.
“You ok?” Nico asks, raising one eyebrow.
“I feel very weird. Like I should try the rock wall again.”
“Weird equates to rock climbing with lava? Interesting, but you need to stay here.”
“Why?”
Nico shrugs.
“Oh, I get it. Is it because I don’t feel good?”
“Yep. Do you feel sick?”
“Kind of, and also kind of tired.”
Nico stands up.
“Yeah, you’re not reacting as well as I did.”
He heads to the other side of the room. He comes back with a bucket, and puts it on the floor by Jason.
“If you actually feel like you’re going to throw up, use that.”
Jason drops onto his side.
“Do you ever think about shrimp?”
“Shrimp?”
“Yeah, they’re so tasty, and I don’t even like fishys.”
“Well, I’m allergic, so I’ve never tried shrimp before.”
Jason gasps.
“That’s so sad. You’ve never eaten that before.”
Nico smiles despite himself.
“You are funny when you’re high. However, you should try to sleep.”
“But I’m not tired anymore. I like talking to you.”
“That’s nice, I guess,” Nico says as he leans against the headboard.
Jason almost falls off of the bed as he tries to turn over again. Nico darts to his feet, then grabs Jason’s arm.
“Careful.”
Nico pulls him fully back onto the bed.
“Thank you, but you don’t have to worry. Even if I do fall off of a cliff, I can fly,” Jason says seriously.
Nico bites his lip.
“I know you can.”
Nico sits down near the foot of the bed so he’s a little bit closer. Jason smiles.
“I’m glad that you decided to stay. I think you’re doing well here.”
Nico glances at him before looking back down at his hands.
“Yeah, me too.”
Jason nods before dropping his head back down onto the bed. Jason is asleep within a few minutes. Nico spends the next few hours having to stop Jason from rolling off of the bed every fifteen minutes. After that, he settles down, and Nico is actually able to get some sleep.
He wakes up early the next morning, and steps outside to get some air. Will walks up as he’s hanging out on the porch.
“Hey, everything ok? Someone told me that Jason followed you to your cabin looking dazed last night after dinner.”
“Yeah, he just accidentally took my medicine. He was high the entire night, and is definitely going to be groggy today, but he should be fine.”
Will laughs.
“That is not what I was expecting, though I’m not sure what I was expecting.”
Nico shrugs with a small smirk.
“Are you busy? You can come inside with me, and we can talk until Jason gets up,” Nico offers.
Will smiles too.
“Yeah, we can do that.”
They talk for a few hours until Jason gets up. Other than being embarrassed, he’s alright, and they all move on like nothing happened.