The Book beside the Armchair
The cottage by the sea is filled with all sorts of books, not all of them in English. Its occupant has a surprisingly large number of books written in Ancient Greek, as well as a decent selection in Italian, although they tend to be simpler. While Nico is fluent in speaking, he has to teach himself how to read and write it properly.
It is because Nico does not throw his books away. When he has finished a book he places it neatly back on its shelf, as per whichever organisational system he uses; even if he disliked it or loathed it or thought it was rubbish, it is always kept. I am honestly not entirely sure why he keeps them, but I think it is to make the walls look less bare, less empty. An empty house is not a home.
At eleven o'clock on Monday morning he opens the door to find Jason standing there with a four year old boy. The boy is just tall enough to reach the doorknob, with a mop of choppy brown hair and skin a few shades lighter; he is definitely Piper's son. His blue eyes come straight from Jason, however, as does the serious way he looks up at Nico when he opens the door.
"Hello," Jason says with a smile. "Brendan, this is my friend Nico. Nico, this is Brendan. Say hello."
Nico looks down at Brendan. Brendan looks up at Nico.
"You look scary," says Brendan.
"Do I? I can jump from behind the door if you like," says Nico.
"That's not scary," says Brendan.
"Neither am I," says Nico.
Brendan nods approvingly and toddles in, peering around Nico's legs to look inside the cottage by the sea. Jason catches Nico's bewildered gaze and smiles widely. He's enjoying this, and judging by Nico's exasperated sigh, Nico knows.
"Come in," Nico says, turning and leading the way in, Brendan jogging along behind him. The boy looks around seriously, taking in the walls, the books, the fire burning in the hearth.
"How are you?" Jason asks, kneeling down to take off Brendan's coat and, yes, little teddy bear earmuffs.
"No different," says Nico, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of biscuits. He offers one to Brendan, who takes two and stuffs one in his mouth. A noise comes from the small child, which could either be 'fangs rule' or 'thank you'.
"I'm going to take that as a good thing," Jason says, taking one with a nod of thanks. "That's new; where did it come from?"
He's pointing towards the ruby bowl that Persephone had given Nico four days ago. Nico mentions as much.
"It's old," is the first thing Jason comments on. Then, "Why is there a pomegranate on it?"
"Why not?"
"Nico," says Brendan, tugging on Nico's pant leg. "Give me a cookie."
"Brendan, use your manners."
"Mister Nico, give me a cookie."
Nico hides a smile and gives Jason an amused glance, who just sighs and waves his hand as if saying, 'Whatever. Let the demon child do what he wants.'
Nico sits down on the armchair next to the couch, which is currently filled with Jason and Brendan. Despite the fact that technically it seats three, Brendan is four people all on his own, and he wriggles.
"I hope you have band aids," Jason says, watching Brendan out of the corner of his eye and smiling at Nico wryly. "He's… well, he's accident prone."
"He's a demi-god," says Nico. "Of course he's accident prone."
He pauses.
"Hemi-demi-god. Demi-god. What is he?"
"Demi-god," says Jason. He looks as though he is about to start explaining why, but Nico just holds up a hand and shakes his head.
"I'll take your word for it."
Brendan suddenly decides that he likes Nico, for one reason or another, and hops off the sofa to clamber onto Nico's lap. "Hello!"
Nico looks down. "Hello."
"Look at this," says Brendan, before jumping off Nico and proceeding to start doing a series of incredibly animated jumps and spins. It almost looks like dancing.
"And, I can do this!" Whatever 'this' is, he presumably does it.
"I don't know what you just did," says Nico.
"Nico!" Jason says, but Brendan just laughs.
"That's okay! Neither do I!" He laughs as though this is the funniest thing he has ever said, which to him, it probably is. "What can you do? Show me a trick! Dad shows me tricks."
Nico taps his chin thoughtfully. "I might have a trick I can show you. But you have to help me, okay?"
"Okay." Brendan climbs back onto Nico's lap and stares at him seriously, blue eyes steady.
"What's your favourite animal?"
Brendan thinks deeply. "I like dogs. No, squirrels. No, I like lions! But lions are really big. I like rabbits. We had a rabbit at home but he died."
"Would you like to say hello?"
Brendan's eyes widen. "You can do that?"
Nico nods, focuses, and suddenly there is a pull and little skitters can be heard from the corridor. A skeleton comes into the room, hopping up until it is next to the armchair. Brendan leans over and peers at it, gasping, then frowns.
"It doesn't look like Death Bastard."
Nico draws in a sharp breath, staring at Jason. "You named your rabbit Death Bastard?"
"Technically, his name is George," says Jason, fidgeting and looking away. "Piper called him Death Bastard III one time, and it stuck. We're getting another one in February who's going to be called Death Bastard IV."
"And they call me morbid." Nico looks down at Brendan again. "You know your dad shouldn't be calling rabbits Death Bastard, don't you?"
"Mum told him not to," says Brendan. "She says…" He frowns, trying to remember. "I don't know. She said something, but then she laughed. She was joking! Anyway, is that a rabbit?"
"That was a rabbit," Nico agrees. He beckons with one finger and the skeleton comes closer. Brendan looks as though Christmas has come extra early this year.
"Cooooooooool!"
"If Piper finds out…" says Jason. Then he stops. Then he shakes his head with a laugh and says, "Who am I kidding? She'd think it was awesome. Brendan, you don't think this is scary?"
"No." Brendan looks at Jason as though he's completely stupid. "Can I touch him?"
Nico nods, and Brendan leans out to pet the Lepus Creepus, an awed expression on his face. The skeleton leans into his touch, bones jittering around, held together only through necromancy.
The skeleton curls then jumps up onto Nico's lap, just next to Brendan. The boy smiles widely and laughs, before wrapping his arms around it and looking up at Nico. "You're really cool, Mister Nico. Your tricks are the best."
His attention is almost immediately drawn away and back to the skeleton, so only Jason is privy to witness the blush that runs across Nico's cheeks.
"You like him," he says later, helping Nico get lunch ready. It is nothing so extravagant this time, just sandwiches and more cookies. (Nico bakes them in very large batches; I have seen him get nearly seventy cookies from one bowl of dough.)
Nico doesn't say anything, but he looks away, and Jason smiles wider.
"You do."
"Of course I do," Nico says, turning to face Jason. He's smiling, honestly, darting glances across to where Brendan is engrossed in rearranging the living room. "He's adorable."
"I never thought I'd ever hear Nico di Angelo say the word adorable."
And if Jason's hand brushes the back of Nico's when he's reaching for the butter, well, neither of them mention it. And if Nico ruffles Brendan's hair when they come to leave, neither of them mention it. And if Brendan grabs Nico's legs in a large hug, well. They don't speak of that, either.
"Say goodbye to Nico, Brendan," Jason says, fishing in his coat pocket for his car keys.
"But I don't want to!" Brendan says, pouting as only four year olds can.
Nico drops down so that he's kneeling beside the small boy, gesturing for him to come closer. "You can come back again on Thursday if you do something for me, okay?"
"Why? Why can't I just stay now?" Brendan Grace, asking the pertinent questions.
"It's delayed gratification."
"What's grat – gratica – that?"
"It's when I give you something now, and something else later, and you don't make Dad's life hard."
Brendan frowns. "So I get two things?"
"Yes."
"Okay. What?"
Nico winks – he actually winks – and pulls out a book from the shadows. Or, at least, what I presume the shadows to be, because I have no idea where he took it from. I am omnipresent, not omniscient. "You get this."
Brendan frowns, looking down at it. "I'm not a good reader," he says.
"Don't worry, neither am I," Nico says seriously. "I couldn't read in my own language until I was five. But I think you're smarter than me. Can you see what this says?"
Brendan squints and glares fiercely at the letters. "B – L – U – E." He pokes the word triumphantly and smiles at Nico. "B – L – U – E."
"What does that spell?"
"I don't know."
"Alright. What colour is it written in?"
"Blue. It spells blue?"
"Exactly. Can you read the next word?"
Brendan frowns. "H – A – T. Hat?" At Nico's nod, he says, "Blue hat?"
Nico looks up at Jason then smiles slightly at Brendan. "Do you think your dad can read the next two?"
"No. Dad's silly."
Jason splutters a little and Nico laughs. "You're probably right. Your dad is silly. He's friends with me. Should I read them, then, or do you want to try?"
"You do it." Brendan pushes the book towards Nico's chest.
"Alright. This one is written in the colour green, and it's spelt; G – R – E – E – N. That spells green. The next word is the same as before, so it says 'green hat'." Nico taps the book. "So, what is the title?"
"Blue Hat, Green Hat!" Brendan yells happily. "Look, the elephant is wearing a blue hat!"
"And what hat is the deer wearing?"
"Green!" Brendan jumps around a little and Nico offers him a high five, which he responds to enthusiastically. "I want it!"
"Brendan," comments Jason. "Ask nicely."
"I want it, please."
Nico gives it to him with a little smile. "Now, if you're good for Dad, and you ask him nicely, you might be able to come and see me again on Thursday. Then you can show me how much of the book you've read."
"I want to read it with you." Brendan clutches the book to his chest. "Can we do that?"
Nico looks up at Jason, who is smiling so widely that I am honestly surprised that his face hasn't fallen off yet. He nods, and Nico replies, "We can, if that's what you want. Now, it's time to go. Goodbye, Brendan."
"Bye, Nico!" Brendan waves frantically, even though he hasn't moved at all.
"Thank you, Nico," Jason says seriously, ruffling Brendan's hair. "Don't get into trouble."
Nico nods at Jason, smiles at Brendan, and shuts the door.
Much later, he sits down in front of the hearth with another bloody plate of toast (I am not irritated. I am a goddess. I do not get irritated.) and opens his laptop. His email inbox has one new email in it. That makes a grand total of two.
He reads it aloud to me.
'Nico,
Brendan hasn't stopped talking about you, which I'm not surprised by. You never told me you were good with kids! Piper thinks I'm exaggerating, but honestly, I'm not. Anyway, it got me thinking. Hazel hasn't shut up about you, either. I don't want to push you – that's the last thing I want to do – but I do want to tell you that she's happy. She's happy just knowing that you have company now, and she hasn't stopped loving you just because she hasn't seen you in forever. You won't be making her unhappy by seeing her, which I think is the root of the problem. You'll be making her the happiest woman alive.
Frank came up to me the other day and asked me to tell you that he wants you to see Hazel. More specifically, he wants you to meet your niece. He also said something about myths and magic, which I didn't understand, but apparently it was important. I'm sorry.
I don't want to push you. But if you make a decision, please tell me. See you on Thursday.
Jason.'
Nico shuts the laptop, places it on the coffee table, and leans back. He stares at the ceiling for a long while, fingers drumming on the side of the armchair and occasionally shifting position; the perks of ADHD. Eventually, he gets up, turns the lights off, stokes the hearth with a smile, and goes to bed.
The cottage by the sea is silent, but for the crackling of the fire. It is dark, but for the glow of the coals and, oddly, the red shine of the porcelain bowl.
A/N: Have some gratuitous Brendan. The book he is reading is 'Blue Hat, Green Hat' by Sandra Boynton, who is not me and therefore it isn't mine either.
Hazel is coming. Promise.
- Bronwyn
