"You can plug your phone into the aux chord if you want," Jason said to break the silence. Nico wasn't saying much; he sat silently in the shotgun seat, alternating between looking out the right window and looking out the front.

"Yeah, okay. I guess," Nico said. "What kind of music do you like?"

Jason paused. "Usually rock. I like mellow stuff, too. But you're in the passenger seat, you control the music." Nico nodded and put on a soft pop song. It didn't really fit into any genres that Jason knew of.

The music seemed to have relaxed, Nico though. He slumped back into the seat, a little, making himself more at home. Less like the stiff boy he was when he entered the car with Jason. Jason noticed the change immediately. Nico went from being loose from alcohol and happy in the moment to more reserved, more like himself.

Jason wondered if it was because Nico didn't like him all that much. He had only offered to give the boy a ride home. Nico could have declined, using Percy or public transportation as an excuse. But Nico accepted and went with Jason after goodbyes were said. The girls were staying for an impromptu sleepover, something that apparently girls did. Which left only Leo and Frank for Percy to bus home. Jason knew Hazel and Nico's home was close to his own, so he offered to take Nico home.

"What song is this?" Jason said, breaking the silence yet again. That exact pattern had developed. Noise ceased at a certain point in the conversation, and Jason would be the one to break the quietness.

"The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco," Nico said. "It's, uh...by the band The Lucksmiths. Have you heard of them?"

"No, that's quite a song title," Jason said. Though Jason was coherent enough to drive, a car, he was not quite coherent enough to be driving around other cars. He swerved just a bit to avoid floating into the incoming lane of traffic. A truck honked its horn loudly at him, and he said fuck off under his breath. Nico just inhaled sharply and released his air slowly.

"Yeah, they are kind of a weird band. But they're chill. I like that." They approached a stop sign and Jason stopped a little too late-coming to an abrupt halt in the middle of the intersection. Luckily, there were no cars around. "Uh, Jason?" Nico said. "Are you sure you should be driving?"

"Mmm?"

"You wanna pull over and let me drive?"

"Nico, you're like, fourteen. I don't think that's a very good idea," Jason said.

Jason had been drunk before. He held alcohol fairly well. But there was something about being in his car, in this situation with Nico di Angelo that loosed him up even more. He had never driven while drunk until then.

He wouldn't particularly recommend it, either.

It was rather hard to concentrate.

Jason looked for the turn to Nico's street. He knew it was coming up. Nico's eyes were closed, though, and the boy wasn't prepared to remind Jason when to turn.

Whitmore, Whitmore, Whitmore, he thought, looking for the Whitmore Street sign. I must be in the wrong place. Jason sped up, hoping to catch a major street and turn around.

And then he saw Whitmore.

The car was flying by at 40 mph as Jason made the left turn.

In actuality, something much worse could have happened. But fate, working as fate does, was at ease that night.

A few things happened:

Jason turned the car so hard, he hit the curb on the side of the road.

The car didn't turn fast enough, and only the stop sign inside the curb was there to keep them from going farther.

And Nico, thankfully wearing his seatbelt, slammed into the passenger side door with unmatched force and velocity. Nico's side of the car hit the stop sign in the end of the back door, missing the boy by a few feet.

Jason screamed in those few seconds, and Nico was chillingly silent. His heart thumping through his shoulder blades, Nico regained calm by steadying his breaths and Jason panted inside the stopped car.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry," Jason said at last.


AN: Sorry this is so short! I saw it sitting in my drive as I was working on WWMFT and figured that since it's summer, I should probably update. Don't forget to review if you have ideas for what to see next! It's been so long with this story, I honestly don't remember where the plot's going.

As always, have a good one.

Cheers,

Liv