Nico was sitting on the deck of the Argo II at his usual post away from the others. Hazel, Piper, and Jason had all gone on a quest that he hadn't been around to hear about and he didn't feel like finding Leo to ask. Nico didn't really mind the solitude, but it would have been nice to be made aware of the others leaving the ship. They were passing through the clouds when Nico heard a thump to his right.
Beside him Frank sat down and started removing items from a bag. Nico was bit startled because he never really interacted with Frank if Hazel wasn't around. When Nico looked up Frank gave him a small smile then showed off what he had in his hand.
"No," Nico said flatly and turned back to look at the sky.
"Come on Nico it's just a game," Frank urged. He had gotten his hands on some old Mythomagic cards. Nico had mentioned once that he had been a fan of the game when he was a kid, but he hadn't picked up a deck of cards since his sister Bianca had died. She was trying to be caring and get him a Hades figurine to help complete his collection, but she had ignored the rules of the gods and ended up getting herself killed in in the gods' junkyard. Ever since then he had resented the game.
"No," Nico repeat. He appreciated Frank's attempt at friendship, but he wasn't interested.
"Come on, man I didn't spend thirty drachmas trying to get Hermes to deliver these to me for nothing."
"Sorry. Go get Leo to play with you."
"I want to be around Leo just about as much as you want to be around me," Frank sighed then started to shuffle the cards. He wasn't about to give up. "I got both the standard decks for the Roman and the Greek cards along with a whole monsters deck and a booster pack for weapons. And here are the basic figurines that come along with the board," Frank said as he pulled the remains out of his bag.
Nico remembered how much he had loved Mythomagic. It all made sense looking back on it, but now the gods were real and he wasn't nearly as amused by them. But even so looking at all the new cards and figurines that he had once owned brought back happy memories. Bianca had always tried to play with him even if she was no good, and Frank was trying his best.
"Fine." Nico supposed it couldn't hurt and Frank had always been nice to him. He also thought it might make Hazel happy.
"Really?" Frank sounded surprised like he really hadn't expected Nico to accept. "Okay, awesome. Just let me get it set up." Nico watched Frank set up the board and distribute the cards. Even after years Nico still knew every rule to follow, every card he wanted, and how much he wanted to win.
After several hours their first game was finally coming to close and the boys were in a dead heat to see who would win. Piper, Jason, and Hazel had all returned, but neither Frank nor Nico had bothered to look up. Frank had mumbled something to Hazel as he inspected the board trying to create a strategy, but other than that the two hadn't looked up from their game.
"NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT! APOLLO HAS 2000 DEFENSE POINTS!" Nico yelled as Frank tried to get away with his move.
"Well if you were paying attention you would know that Minerva has 3000 attack SO TAKE THAT DI ANGELO!"
The two had decided to play a game of Greeks verses Romans. The actual camps we battling so they felt a little bad, but it was the best way could use all of Frank's cards.
"Calm down it's just a stupid game!" Hazel called from across the boat. Frank laughed and Nico shook his head.
"Not just a game," Frank whispered as he looked at his cards.
"No, definitely not just a game," Nico agreed as he tried to find the best way to defeat Frank.
"Well as you can see Nico you are in quite the predicament seeing as to the only god you have left on your side is Dionysus and as everyone knows he's the worst god in the game." Nico's memory jolted back to when he had first arrived at Camp Half-Blood and met Mr. D. The god had attempted to kill Percy Jackson, but Nico distracted him by telling him about how cool he thought his card was. Of course he had been lying.
"Who knows he might surprise you," Nico grinned. He did have one plan in mind.
"Oh, but you see I know his greatest weakness," Frank smiled. Nico could see the look of victory in his eyes, like a true son of Mars. "I play…the nymph." In normal circumstances a nymph was one of the weakest cards and they weren't very useful. Unless your god is Dionysus in which case he is absolutely useless and gets himself turned into a plant.
"Frank Zhang you will regret this day," Nico looked up menacingly. He meant it as a joke, but Frank looked seriously frightened. Nico groaned, "Best two out of three?"
Frank laughed then reset the board.