POINT PLACE, New York
January 13th 1977
Thursday Afternoon
Percy Jackson's basement
Percy, Nico, and Jason were checking out a large map while Frank waited patiently on the couch to be included in whatever activity the boys were planning. With an excited snap, Percy folded the map.
"Alright, guys. This is no sweat," Percy said confidently. "We leave right after school and we can easily make it to Apollo's cabin by like six o'clock."
Nico ran a hand through his messy black hair and laughed. "Man, I can't wait! A trip to my favorite place: anywhere but here."
"And I'm betting Long Island Sound is gonna give this kid many make out opportunities with Annabeth this weekend. The Kid is in," Percy said confidently. A glance around the room at the raised eyebrows made him wither, though. "What? Too dorky?"
Frank nodded as Leo came bounding into the basement, Will not far behind him.
"Guess who made out with Drew Tanaka behind the gym?" Leo asked excitedly.
There was brief unimpressed second as everyone sighed. Finally, Nico answered, "Every even remotely straight man in the state."
Leo faltered. "What? No… Will!"
Nico's pale face somehow found a way to lighten more as he glared daggers at Will who had the decency to look ashamed. He stormed out of the room, ignoring his friends' as they hollered for him to come back. Of course, no one knew the two were dating so no one besides Will knew why he suddenly left in a huff. Besides, they'd barely even talked since that Christmas party, maybe Will had changed his mind.
"I thought you were gay?" Percy questioned.
"I am!" Will insisted. He looked pleadingly at Leo like he could magically make Nico come back and understand. "I didn't kiss Drew, she just kind of came up and grabbed me. It happened so fast I didn't know what was going on."
Leo laughed loudly. "Yeah, she did! You guys should have seen the look on his face! The rest of the school certainly did!" There was a beat of silence before realization dawned on his face. "Oh, shit, probably should have started with that since Nico was… yeah… sorry."
Will resisted the urge to break down in tears even as Percy tried desperately to catch on to what was happening. "Why does it matter to Nico?"
Everyone stared at him as Jason leaned over to whisper in his ear.
"Nico likes Will?" Percy shouted.
Blushing wildly, Will raced up the stairs to find Nico. He found him sitting on the Jackson's front porch looking somewhere between anger and despair. There was a brief second where Nico refused to look at him. When he finally did, Will secretly wished he would look away again so he wouldn't have to see that kind of pain in his dark eyes.
"You kissed Drew Tanaka." It's not a question. Just kind of a bland statement.
"To be fair, she kissed me," Will argued lamely.
Nico didn't so much as blink. "We're through. If we were even together to begin with. Hope you guys enjoy your little camping trip."
Will cried out for Nico only to be met with his retreating back as he walked away from him. He thought about running after him, instead his legs gave out and he slumped to the ground, tears flooding his vision.
Once he had recovered and dried his eyes, he made his way back down to the basement. Numbly he repeated the news that Nico would not be going on the trip with them to Apollo's cabin. There was an uproar as the guys screamed at Leo to go fix the problem, all while Leo argued it wasn't his fault.
(***)
Paul and Sally sat at the breakfast table, two cups of coffee in front of them.
"So, Percy and Calypso are going away for the weekend," Paul mentioned casually.
Sally hummed in response.
"Whole house to ourselves," Paul continued.
His wife smiled at him over the rim of her coffee mug.
"You know what that means?" he asked suggestively.
"Dinner in front of the TV," she answered jokingly.
Paul faltered as he stared at his wife exasperatingly. "No," he replied just as Percy entered the kitchen. He gave his wife one final look before turning to speak to his son. "Perce, you're gonna be driving in snow, so I've put together an emergency roadside kit for you. Just in case there's trouble. Preparation makes all the difference. Take kitty litter, I can't tell you how many times…"
As his father continued to ramble on, Percy began to daydream about the cabin. He could see it now: a fire burning in the fireplace while he and Annabeth are making out, nothing but a blanket to cover their naked bodies. They sip champagne as their kiss ends and then, Annabeth moves the blanket slightly to reveal a…
"... road flare," Paul was saying. "I said you can save lives with a road flare."
Percy blinked twice before nodding. "Right, yes. Check. Road flare. Yeah."
(***)
Leo was holding a large rolled up sleeping baggage, talking to Calypso with a grin plastered on his face. "I brought my double sleeping bag, mi corazon."
She giggled in response. "Why do you even have a double sleeping bag?"
"When my family goes camping I have to share with Jake," Leo explained. "Used to share with Harley but he set the sleeping bag on fire with me in it once, so… You know."
Frank wandered over to join them a moment later with Will in tow. "So, Nico's still not going."
"What? Man, who else is going to encourage me and my reckless behavior?" Leo whined.
In the Jackson's kitchen, Percy found Nico sitting at the breakfast table looking more depressed than usual. He quickly ran through a list of what could be bothering the little anarchist but couldn't think of anything that would really get to him.
"Hey, Neeks," Percy hedged. "Thought you'd be a lot more excited about this trip. You know, some alone time with a certain blond?"
Nico didn't even look up at him, just kept staring at the wall in front of him. "I was but now I'm not going, so nothing to be excited about."
"Wait, what?" Percy faltered. "Dude, you have to go!" Realization dawned on him. "Is this because of the whole Drew Tanaka thing? Oh, man, you got it all wrong."
The way Nico's shoulders tensed at the mentioning of Tanaka was all the answer Percy needed. He was about to explain what Will hadn't gotten a chance to say earlier when Annabeth came bounding up to the door. All trains of thought went flying off the rails as soon as he caught sight of his girlfriend.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain, your dad's got a box of stuff for you," she laughed.
He followed her out, momentarily forgetting about his jealous friend who was moping in his kitchen. In the driveway, Paul was heaving a box filled with stuff into the Vista Cruiser. Percy assumed it was the emergency roadside kit but was unsure of what he would need kitty litter on the road for.
"Honey, I put some sandwiches in your duffel bag. Now, um, why do you need such a big bag of oregano?" Sally asked.
Percy choked before blurting out, "Nico's Italian."
Sally giggled and Percy followed awkwardly before abruptly stopping to get into the driver's seat.
"Stay warm, Sweetie!" Sally called out.
Nico came out to see everyone off and pointedly ignored Will when he tried to speak to him. It didn't help that Nico still hung on Will's every word, so he kept catching snippets of what he was trying to say.
"Will, when I said we were through," Nico whispered harshly, "I meant we were done entirely. No friendship, no talking, no anything. Got it?"
He refused to back down even as tears welled up in the blond's eyes. "I was just saying, you can go and I'll stay. They're your friends and I just… Sorry."
A key was placed in Nico's hand, and with that Will ran, crying, into the Jackson's home. A part of Nico felt like he really should go after him but the more vindictive side thought the blond deserved it. The vindictive side won out.
In the Vista Cruiser, Nico explained that Will had decided not to come along and everyone refrained from mentioning how devastated Nico sounded about it. Percy wondered for a moment if telling him that Tanaka had forced the kiss on Will would help or hurt the situation. He knew Nico deserved to know but he didn't think it would make a difference in the end.
"Do you know the best part of this whole trip?" Piper asked cheerily, refusing to let Nico ruin this for her. "That Jason got to come! Who else was going to tell me how cute I looked in my fur-trimmed jacket?"
Nico went digging through the box of emergency supplies, trying to find something to distract himself with. "Jackson, what is all this crap Paul gave you?"
"I don't know, he's obsessed with kitty litter. I think he might be going insane."
The car skidded and everyone screamed. The car stopped. There was a beat of silence before Nico exclaimed, "Far out, man!"
"What the hell was that?" Annabeth asked as she clutched the dashboard.
Percy's breathing was sporadic as he replied, "I think we hit some ice." He stepped on the gas, but the car wouldn't move. The wheels were trapped in the snow. "Great! We're stuck."
Everyone piled out of the car, into the freezing cold. Frank came around the car holding up a snowball. Piper ordered him to drop it and he did so reluctantly.
"Rude," he muttered.
Piper turned to Percy. "Do something!"
"Yeah, man," Nico joined in. "Stop goofing around."
Everyone clambered back into the car after Nico handed Percy the roadside kit. "Wow, it's freezing," Nico griped as he shut the car door, leaving Percy alone in the snow.
Percy lifted up the bag of kitty litter in confusion. "Think, Percy, think! Why kitty litter?"
Paul's face appeared before him in the night sky. "Use the gum, Perce."
"Dad, what're you doing here?"
"I'm not here, you're imagining me," his dad said with a roll of his eyes. "Now who's insane, mister smart mouth?"
Percy pointed at himself.
"Use the gum to stick the candle in the can. The candle heats the can which melts the snow behind the tire. Then pour on the kitty litter for traction. Now you think you can handle that?"
"Yes, sir," Percy answered as he began pulling out the supplies.
Paul's face started to disappear as he griped, "Good, because you don't want me back out here. I may be a figment of your imagination, but I'm still freezing my ass off."
(***)
The Jackson's basement was silent save for the occasional sniffle from Will as he sat alone on the couch. Sally came down the stairs to get something out of the freezer for dinner when she spotted Will.
"Will, what are you doing down here?"
"Nico and I had a fight," Will muttered.
Sally looked longingly up the stairs to where she was sure Paul was waiting for her. "Well, why don't you just go to the cabin and talk to him?"
"I don't have a car," Will lamented. "And besides, Nico hates me forever because Drew Tanaka kissed me."
Sally felt bad for the poor boy, he had no idea how terrible Nico was with expressing emotions, especially when he was hurt. "You know, when Mr. Jackson and I were dating, I saw him kissing a girl in a movie theatre once and I forgave him. I mean it wasn't… it wasn't so much kissing as it was a groping, pawing, sloppy nightmare."
Will looked up at her hopefully. "But you forgave him."
The longer she thought about it the more frustrated she became. "Yeah, I forgave the bastard."
That was all it took to get Will up and out of the house.
In the Jackson's living room, Paul finished lighting some candles as Sally came storming out of the basement. "And how's my pretty lady?" he asked sweetly.
Sally stomped past him and went up the stairs. "You are so full of crap!"
(***)
Will was fairly certain he could have just call a cab or hired someone to drive him to his dad's cabin, but in the heat of the moment stopping the eighteen wheeler had seemed like the best plan of action.
The truck driver's name was Bob, or at least that's the name that was stitched into his shirt. As far as random strangers one could meet in the middle of the night, he was nice enough, though Will was still more than a little anxious to get to his destination.
"Thank you again for stopping. Are you going all the way to Long Island Sound?" Will asked.
Bob shrugged. "Oh, I'm going wherever you're going."
"Wow," Will chuckled nervously. "That's lucky."
Leaning forward, Bob looked up at the night sky. "I wish the sky were a little clearer here, the stars are so beautiful this time of night."
"They'll probably be real easy to see from where I'm going," Will replied. "My friends are staying in this cabin and you can see the stars for miles. It's beautiful."
"Sounds like it," Bill giggled. "Please say hi to the stars for me."
"Will do," he promised with a smile.
(***)
The gang finally made it to Apollo's cabin later than they had originally intended. The four bedroom cabin was a magnificent golden color but modest in design. Leading up to the front door were red and purple hyacinths; yellow flowers sat happily in flower pots along the windowsill. The inside smelled of clean linen and dried sage. A bookshelf sat along one wall filled with medical texts and reference books of the Greek god Apollo.
Nico reached out to look at a children's book about Greek gods that lay abandoned in one of the bedrooms. Written in crayon on the first page was William Solace. He sat on the edge of the bed simply staring at the page before he registered that Jason was hollering for him.
Making his way back to the living room, he spotted pictures along the walls of a young Solace practically glowing as he smiled at the camera. Every new picture he saw just made him regret stepping foot in the cabin. It was filled with painful reminders of a certain blond idiot.
"We made it," Annabeth was sighing in relief as she sank onto the couch.
Percy plopped down next to her. "Just in time, too. That storm is getting nasty."
"It's so cold," Calypso complained. Leo held her tighter, looking entirely pleased at having her so close.
Jason caught sight of the mopey Italian as he entered the living room as quietly as he could manage. "Alright, so, there are only four bedrooms which means one or two people have to sleep in the living room."
Hazel started to raise her hand to offer to sleep on the couch but Nico beat her to it. "I'll stay on the couch."
"Alright," Leo said quickly. He grabbed Calypso's hand and dragged her off to pick out a bedroom.
Hazel sat down next to Frank on the couch as the other two couples followed after Leo. She watched her brother carefully. He had been rather depressed in the days leading up to the trip, it was hard to see after he'd been almost cheerful after the Christmas party. An arm wrapped around her and she relaxed into the warmth of Frank's arms.
"You alright, di Angelo?" Hazel asked. They were still on a last name basis despite their Christmas peace treaty. After all, one gift didn't erase years of grief and anger.
Completely ignoring her, Nico walked over to a liquor cabinet and took out a bottle. "Hey, Amaretto. This will warm us up. Take a sip of that, Frank."
He handed the bottle to Frank who took a sip. "Tastes like liquid candy."
Frank drank straight from the bottle without preamble while Hazel and Nico watched him in wonder.
(***)
Sally slammed the kitchen door open with Paul on her heels.
"Honey, you're talking about something that happened sixteen years ago," Paul pleaded.
Sally huffed. "And there you were at the movies in front of everybody slurping on horse-face Lynn Taylor like she was a Popsicle!"
"Sal…" Paul tried.
"A big, easy, horse-faced Popsicle!"
Paul rolled his eyes. "Horse-faced? She was a runner-up in the Miss New York pageant," he started to argue. He caught the look on Sally's face and quickly added, "Which she lost because she was such a horse-face."
Sally cried out in irritation before marching out of the kitchen.
(***)
Will was sitting in the truck eating a sandwich and playing with Bob's cat Little Bob. He had found it odd that the truck driver would name the kitten after himself but who was he to question someone's naming choices.
"Thanks for the sandwich," Will said in between bites.
Bob shrugged. "Well, I just hated seeing you so sad. You feeling better about your troubles with your friend Nico?"
"Well, it's just … You know, he's gone from unbearably grumpy to sweet and I thought we had something. Then this stupid girl came along and now everything is ruined. I thought I'd come out here to talk to him but I don't know what to say to him. No one prepared me for this," Will took a deep breath. "I just seem to mess things up and I don't know why I do it, I just get these urges, you know, and I can't control it."
Bob smacked the steering wheel. "I wrote that country song!"
He put a tape in the tape player and started singing along.
"I've been cheated, been mistreated! When will I be loved?"
(***)
Percy and Annabeth were making out on the bed. They heard music playing in the living room and intermittent bouts of laughter. They broke the kiss to listen and looked at each other in surprise when they recognized Nico's laughter.
"Okay, that's weird," Percy muttered.
Annabeth agreed. They went back to kissing when they heard Hazel's laugh join Nico's and they break away once again.
"Alright, what kind of alternate universe are we in?" Annabeth mumbled against Percy's lips.
They got up to go to the living room where they found Nico and Hazel sprawled out on the floor laughing like hyenas. The door was open, letting the cold air in, and Frank was nowhere to be seen. Percy and Annabeth shared a confused look.
"What in the gods names are you people giggling about?" Annabeth demanded.
Nico wiped tears from his eyes. "Frank's drunk."
Hazel started to stand up, still laughing. "He just downed an entire bottle of Amaretto, stripped down to his underwear, and ran out into the snow to make a snow angel." Her giggling subsided slightly. "I should really go get him before he gets frostbite or something."
"He's Canadian, he'll be fine," Nico brushed off her concern.
Annabeth chuckled. "Come on, Hazel, I'll help you get your naked Canadian."
The two left Percy and Nico alone. Nico's laughter died off as his step-sister left the room and Percy saw the same morose kid they'd driven up with return in full force. He sat down beside Nico in the floor with a gentle smile.
"I know you're upset," he said quietly, as if she might spook him. "If it's any consolation, Drew Tanaka would give it up to anybody."
Nico's eyes glared at him, clearly he wasn't helping.
"Will didn't kiss Tanaka," Percy declared. "She grabbed him and forced herself on him."
"Well, why didn't he just tell me that himself, then?" Nico muttered darkly.
Percy thought for a second, then softly asked, "Did you give him the chance to?"
Nico refused to look at him. "I want to be alone."
Deciding not to press his luck, Percy stood up to see if he could help the girls out with Frank.
(***)
Bob and Will finally made it to Long Island Sound where Will got off and waved goodbye to Bob as he drove away. Will heard rustling coming from the trees behind him. Frozen in place, he waited for the monster lurking in the woods to jump out and kill him when he heard Hazel's voice calling out for Frank.
Hazel and Annabeth tripped out of the bushes, much to Will's relief.
"Will, you made it!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Yeah, sorry," Will replied, though he wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for.
Annabeth wrapped him in a warm hug. "Maybe you'll be able to cheer Nico up."
Will shrank away from them and was about to deny that when Frank busted through the bushes wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. Frank ran towards them, fists pumping the air excitedly.
"I am a winter nymph!" he shouted. "I love this snow! U.S.A!"
And with that, he collapsed face down into the snow.
(***)
When Percy found them, they were all struggling to carry the drunken winter nymph. With his help they just barely made it back to the cabin. In the living room, Nico was sprawled out on the couch listening to Piper and Jason bicker about nothing of any importance.
The door opening caused Nico to glance over, his eyes immediately catching the blond head of hair standing closest to him.
"Will," he breathed.
Will in turn opened his mouth repeatedly but no sound escaped him.
Jason and Percy dumped Frank's limp body on his and Hazel's bed before returning to the living room where everyone was watching Nico and Will with rapt attention. The two boys were currently staring intently at one another, neither quite sure what to do or say.
"I…" Will started before Nico cut him off.
"Shut up," Nico barked.
Jason leaned against the back of the couch. "Neeks, maybe give him a chance to explain?"
Nico rolled his eyes. "I don't care. Just stay out of my way."
With that he stormed out the door into the freezing cold, leaving Will who stared after him, shock evident on his face. Before anyone could say a word, Will fell solidly onto the couch. His shoulders sagged in defeat, his hair covered his face to hide the tears streaming down his face.
Piper and Hazel quickly took a seat on either side of him and began comforting the heartbroken blond.
(***)
"Sally, this cannot just be about me and Lynn Taylor," Paul chided when he found her eating ice cream straight out of the carton. He sat down beside her and resisted the urge to groan when she moved as far from him as the couch allowed. "What's really bothering you?"
Sally put the ice cream carton down and cried, "I just want to know, why not me?"
Paul blinked. Then blinked again. "Why not...? I married you!"
"Yeah, but," Sally sighed, clearly annoyed that he was understanding her, "when we were dating, you just sat there holding my hand politely. Didn't you think that I might enjoy a passionate manhandling in a public place?"
Rubbing a hand through his hair, Paul argued, "I respect you, I'm an old fashioned guy. I don't think that you should grope the one you love." He leaned closer to her, conspiratorially. "Until you get to Las Vegas, at the Lotus Hotel with the door locked and a carton of cigarettes."
"Oh, Paul, our honeymoon."
Their lips met softly and Paul whispers, "Let's go upstairs."
Sally giggled, "No, let's go to the movies."
(***)
In their room, Annabeth and Percy finally have a moment of peace and quiet.
"I still can't believe Will kissed Drew Tanaka," Percy muttered. "Though, it was a seriously uncool move on Nico's part to not even listen to him."
Annabeth hummed in agreement.
"I mean can you believe Drew…"
"Seaweed Brain, I promise Drew Tanaka will never kiss me behind the gym," Annabeth promised.
Percy sat up a little. "Well, never say never, Wise Girl."
Annabeth punched him in the arm even as she laughed aloud.