Nico's POV
It had been two weeks and four or five days since I got taken in by the Kanes. I was playing Mario Kart with DeLaynie in her room. Then Amos Kane hollered for his adopted daughter. We went downstairs. A man with honey blonde hair, and grayish blue eyes was at the door. He was wearing a slicker, and had a weather beaten face. Who is this guy?
"Padre!" DeLaynie shouted as she began to run in his direction.
The man's face broke into a grin.
"Hello, my little Riptide" He said, getting down closer to DeLaynie's height.
She hugged him tightly when she got to him. I just stared baffled. Amos saw the look on my face. He explained that Njord had applied for a city program that was made after the second titan war, called the God and Child Date Program. It was basically scheduled visits for gods with their children. Amos had accepted it so his daughter could get to know her real dad. Amos introduced me to him, and him to me.
"Nice to meet my daughter's foster brother." He said as he shook my hand.
"Nice to meet you too." I said. I knew DeLaynie was a Norse demigod, so I knew to be respectful considering he could probably beat me up in fifteen seconds.
DeLaynie ran out the door, grabbing Pudgie as she did so.
"What time do I bring her back?" Njord asked.
"How about six? It's before bath time. So you can take her out for pizza too." Amos offered.
"Sounds like a plan."
Njord left, and DeLaynie waved from her seat in the car he was driving.
Which meant today, me and Amos were at home with each other, by ourselves. For the the first time. I checked the time. It was around 2:30, so three and half hours with Amos, at home alone.
Hoo boy, I have no idea what to do now
DeLaynie's POV
Padre was what I called my biological dad, as I knew some Spanish, and I knew it meant 'dad'. We headed out to go have some fun like we did the last time in June.
"Where do you want to go, DeLaynie?" Padre asked.
"What are you thinking we do?" I asked.
Me and Padre went out to a trampoline park. He knew I loved to jump around, so it seemed like the perfect fit. The last time, we went to an arcade, and I dominated him at ski ball. I was in there the second it was possible. Padre joined me, and we jumped around. Padre was wearing socks to hide his pretty feet. And because of the rules. I jumped, and sat down as I came down, and bounced back onto my feet. Padre gave me a high five. Pudgie just watched from the sidelines.
Padre went to get a drink after twenty minutes, and I went to the foam pit to jump in, and a toddler in a pink shirt was climbing up a trampoline that was sideways. I wasn't sure if I should grab her, so I just watched.
She climbed up, and sat down at the top. The grandmother came over and flipped out. I told her I was unsure whether or not I should bring her down, and she understood. Padre came back and saw what happened. He got her down, laughing about how I had casually watched a toddler climb up a trampoline.
We went to the thing where you Thwack people with a giant cylinder pillow. We did a couple rounds. Padre won. And I dragged him in on the final round. A couple of kids asked to pet Pudgie. I let them do so for a minute. Padre asked me what I wanted to do after this. We continued jumping on the trampoline until we had to go at 3:00.
Then we went to see a movie at a theater that often shows movies that played within the past fifty years.
Nico's POV
Me and Amos decided to play Mario Kart after DeLaynie left. It was surprisingly fun. Amos was absolutely unbelievably bad at this game. He crashed every five seconds. We played a few rounds and decided to go to his next gig together. Amos usually left DeLaynie at home so she wouldn't have to deal with creeps or noise. The gig was in a huge concert hall that doubled as a restaurant.
As soon as we got there, Amos had me stay in the dressing room by myself. He didn't want to risk anything. I didn't mind. It meant I got some alone time. I was able to watch via a magic mirror. He was good at this.
When he was done, we decided to go get me some new boots. I needed some as mine were tearing up. Reporters swarmed us as we left. Amos answered all questions. He was then reminded of an tv interview he'd be doing this afternoon. Once he mentioned he'd forgotten about it, I decided to tag along.
We got to the news station at 4:45. Thankfully they understood that he forgot. They helped him get ready, and I got ready to join in. Not like I had much to do otherwise.
Amos gladly answered questions, and I just hid in my hoodie. Hoping no one was going to ask me anything.
"Nico, quick question:" the lady running the show asked, "where is your boyfriend anyway?"
What do I say now? That I ran away after almost killing him? Nah, Imma just cover it up.
"Me and Will decided to take a break from each other once we finished our quest in Tartarus." I lied.
Thankfully, they bought it. I was not going to be able to handle telling the truth. I just sat in the corner until we actually were able to head back to the house. I dashed up to my room as soon as we got there. And slammed the door. I did not want to think about what happened that day.
But, someone did. I heard a knocking on the door.
"Nico. Can I come in?" Amos asked.
"Not right now." I said.
He came in anyway. He sat down next to me after Duat traveling in, which he wasn't allowed to do.
"Hey. I know that you feel terrible for almost killing your boyfriend. And I get the feeling, as I did once almost kill my brother after we had a huge fight over how our dad kept treating him better."
"Wait. You almost killed your brother?" I asked.
"I was mad in the heat of the moment. But we talked and got over it. My dad was eventually arrested for using his position to force more competition between us. So, you see, things will get better. And you and Will can make up."
I hugged him. He seemed surprised before hugging me back.
DeLaynie's POV
Me and Padre sat down with popcorn. We were going to watch that Tintin movie on the big screen. As we ate and watched the movie, I felt content. It was so cozy here. I curled up into the arm of Padre. He was so warm.
After the movie, we went to go get pizza. We went to Little Nero's pizzeria. It was awesome. The food tasted like heaven. Padre ate some before asking me something unexpected.
"DeLaynie. Can I ask you about your foster brother?" Padre asked.
"Oh sure." I said, "fire away."
"Why did Amos decide to take him in?"
"He's not cold hearted like some foster parents I could mention. He knew Nico was almost successful at committing suicide when he met him, so he decided to take him in, and try to prevent it."
Padre smiled. Once we were done, he took me home. The city was all kinds of pretty at night.
We got home shortly after that. I gave my biological father a hug before heading on inside with him behind me.
Nico's POV.
Me and Amos were getting dinner cleaned up when we heard a knock on the door. It was definitely DeLaynie. I went to get it. DeLaynie smiled and hugged me. Njord stood behind her. He and Amos went to go chat about how it went. I went to run the bath for DeLaynie and myself. DeLaynie went upstairs with me to undress.
"So, how did it go?" She asked.
"We had fun. I went on the news." I said.
"Your kidding."
"I'm not. How was your day with your biological father?"
"It was so fun Nico! We went to a trampoline park, saw a movie, and got pizza."
"That sounds like an awesome day."
"It was! I knocked him into a foam pit!"
"You did!"
"Yes. I was very awesome at it."
I laughed. She then told me about the toddler who climbed up the side of an entire trampoline. I had to be impressed. She disappeared into her room. I went to run her bath.
Me and DeLaynie both had a blast today.
