AN: Warning, this chapter contains mild M-rated material of a sexual nature! That warning goes for future chapters as well. Thanks for all your support and followings! Hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. A little surprise for you all at the end too.

H.

-o-

So, it continued, these strange afterschool hangout sessions.

Nico would pick her up and then take her to some restaurant or order her whatever food she wanted. She appreciated the time they spent together, and she liked how these gatherings gave her a chance to talk to Frank. Nico's bear-like bodyguard was always hanging around somewhere, eating an ice cream as he tried to blend in with the pigeons on the pavement. He was never an annoyance and was always pleasing to be with. Not to mention, pleasing to the eyes. Or, at least, her eyes.

Nico didn't seem to be too fond of being surveilled all the time, but he just accepted that it came with part of who he was. When Hazel had jokingly asked Frank how close he was with Nico as they stood in a line at McDonald's, the Asian boy blanched and laughed nervously.

"I wouldn't say we're close, Hazel. It's not like we're friends." He laughed, "I mean, I know everything about your brother; what he eats, whom he speaks to, for goodness sakes. I even know when he's constipated."

"And how do you know that?" Hazel laughed despite the absurdity of the situation.

"Generally, I can hear him cursing inside the bathroom."

She would forever remember the confused expression on her brother's face as he came back with their order and found the two of them cackling like witches.

In summary, Frank was a joy to be with.

Eventually Hazel came to the startling realisation that she enjoyed the time she spent with her brother as well. Despite those moments of random craziness and the confusing jargon of wealthy people, she found his little quirks endearing.

The rare smiles that he allowed himself to show, the way that he was insistent on dressing as well as possible, right down to every button being aligned on his shirt. And even if it was an oversized hoodie that she'd made him reluctantly buy from a second-hand store, he still insisted on wearing it as properly as possible.

"There are animal hairs on this", he said with disdain and picked at them, "Maybe I'm wearing some old lady's clothing. Some lady whose bones are becoming dust underground. What have you turned me into?"

She laughed and pointed out that old cat ladies didn't wear black hoodies with the slogan ROCK ON ACDC on the front. In those moments, the distance between them, marked by upbringing and social values, seemed to vanish. In those few moments, she felt that they were both deeply human, connecting with each other so innocently that it achieved what a serious conversation could never achieve.

She found it hilarious that he had a paranoid fear of too much human interaction. Coffee shops made him break into nervous sweat, and shopping centres were basically hell for Nico. It didn't really make sense, considering who their father was and how he'd built his business empire. Or maybe it explained a lot.

Her only regret was that she and Reyna had never fully reconnected after the latter saved her life in that shooting. Their interactions seemed forced, and when they had to speak to each other, either at school or at the penthouse that she spent an increasingly huge amount of time at, the conversations were brief and meaningless.

You gain some, you lose some. Hazel told herself. Yet, it felt like a massive loss. Somewhere, deep down, Hazel felt that Reyna was going to play a major part in her life in the very near future. She promised herself that they would reconnect as soon as possible.

-o-

"You realise that The Phantom of the Opera was essentially a story about a masked cosplay wannabe creeping on an unsuspecting girl, don't you?"

Nico rubbed his brow in frustration as he shifted around on the grey sofa. "I- I have no reply to that. You should be a professional critic, Hazel. I mean it. You can turn any classic into trash. I'm sure we could get you into the industry. And, we're never going to any theatres ever again."

"Do people have that as a profession- criticising musicals? Do they make money?"

"What do you mean- 'as a profession'? There's a whole industry dedicated to it. It's called Hollywood and I could drive you over to Broadway to sample it right this moment."

Hazel rolled over on the bed, "Talking of being critical. I think your room could do with a makeover. All this grey is depressing. Your bed is an ocean of grey, all your furniture is either grey or black. For goodness sakes, the only things that are not grey or black are the drapes- and they're dark brown."

It wasn't so bad now that the drapes were all open, and she could see the skyline and the wide unfenced balcony that Nico never seemed to use. Probably because it was too dangerous; it didn't even have a railing. No one would go there unless they had a death wish. She couldn't imagine what the room felt like to sleep in. Empty and cold, no doubt. How did Nico stand it?

When there was no reply, Hazel raised her head and looked across the gigantic bedroom towards her brother. The modern and minimalistic fireplace, though unlit, reflected the afternoon sun and almost blinded her. "Argh, hey! Are you even listening?"

Her brother jolted out of his trance. "Sorry. Ah, I can't seem to focus today. What did you say?"

"What's wrong?" It had been three weeks since he had consulted the doctor who reassured him that everything was in order. But, since then, most of the physical symptoms that he had demonstrated in her presence before were persisting. Adding to that, recently, Nico had developed this weird habit of zoning out of conversations.

"Nothing is wrong. I just didn't get much sleep last night. I woke up from a weird dream that I couldn't even remember and then just didn't go back to sleep again."

She was about to probe more into the issue when there was a loud knock at the door.

"Come in!"

One side of the double doors swung open on its well-oiled edges without a sound. Their portly uncle strode in, followed by his son, Triton. Both of them were grinning as if they had just come from a particularly enjoyable conversation.

"Dear children! Good afternoon!"

"Wow, Uncle. What's got you so excited?"

"Why, we've just come from this fantastic restaurant near the harbour. We went to check on some cargo, but it took longer than expected. So instead of rushing back to lunch here, we visited this little fisherman's shack nearby. Such fresh mussels! When you bite into them, the freshness just oozes out-"

Nico looked a bit nauseous from the description, and Hazel couldn't blame him. Ooze did seem like a strange word choice there. "Where's Frank? Isn't he meant to be outside the door?"

Triton rolled his eyes, "He's probably hanging around somewhere. He's under no obligation to actually follow you around whilst you're in the house. And honestly, why would he? He gets paid the same when he's taking a nap compared to when he's standing at attention outside. As long as Nico is in this apartment."

Her brother rolled his eyes. He frowned at Poseidon. "Uncle, you seem to have a lot of free time these days, still able to galivant to seafood shacks between those board meetings."

Poseidon perched on the other side of the couch. His potbelly stuck out under his Hawaiian shirt, "Well, you know... The presence of one of us there is only a formality these days. My brother did well to choose effective and loyal executive managers to work for him. I'm not there to micromanage, just hanging around at the head of the table slurping cocktails really."

"Ha," Nico snorted derisively, "And they still decided that I was unfit for the role. Mentally unfit. They say they don't want a boy stepping into a man's job. But children much younger than me can do that role. It's a figurehead, goddammit."

"Nico-"

Her brother huffed angrily, "Triton, how old were you when your father let you so some serious work? Like 16? 15?"

Poseidon's brows fell like thunderclouds, "Nephew, listen here. You know as well as I do that those two things are very different. Triton was helping on board a ship full of containers. He's not managing the livelihood of thousands of workers. You see all those people, stacked in this sandwich of a building? They depend on your father and the board."

Hazel sat straighter on the edge of the bed. She didn't know if she should interject. Triton gave her a look that said 'yeesh' and closed the door behind them. You never know when there were people listening in this massive apartment.

Hazel tried to play peacemaker, "Uncle Poseidon, what are you doing here?"

The bearded man rubbed his chin wearily, "Nico, I have actually come to talk to you guys about important business. But with this foul mood in the room... I wonder if I should proceed. Nico, you really don't make it easy."

There was a pregnant pause. The young man let out a breath, "I'm sorry. Please tell me what the news is."

"Well. I wouldn't say it's really 'news' per say. It's certainly not unexpected, but not necessarily expected either." Triton shuffled over to lean on the wall near the fireplace, his oxfords soundless against the carpet. "The company executives have strongly recommended that you choose an heir, Nico. It's just a precaution. And because you don't have children. It'll probably be someone of legal age who is close to you."

Nico laughed loudly, "What are they planning, those bastards? What are they expecting? That I'm going to decide to take a swan-dive off that unrailed balcony in a whim and leave the leadership of the corporation to be decided by gladiatorial contest?"

Hazel went to say, "No, and stop being so sarcastic." But at the same time, Triton exclaimed, "Why isn't the balcony railed?", leading to a cacophony of sounds.

Nico waved away his cousin's concerns even as the latter peered outside worriedly, "It's fine. Just use your god given motor coordination skills. Unless it's raining, then just don't go outside because that marble is as slippery as hell."

"Gee, thanks for warning me. You know, there's too many damned marble floors in this house." Triton grinned at her, "And my current shoes, the soles are so worn I've come quite close to breaking my neck several times on the stairs."

Poseidon interjected with a hand wave, "Stop talking about irrelevant matters. Nico, the board wants you to choose an heir. I will get the Fury sisters to draft up a statement, then you and I can sign it. It will be purely a precautionary measure, of course. But it will provide the board with reassurance."

"What do you mean, and then 'you and I can sign it'?" Nico chuckled, "Who said that it'll be you, Uncle?"

Poseidon blanched, and Triton stumbled in the process of heading to the door. "What do you mean? Who else would you trust with the company?"

Nico grinned as he waved a hand in dismissal, "I'll think about it."

Their uncle started towards him angrily, "Nephew, listen to me. Now is not the time to have some paranoid delusion that there would be anyone else who would care as much about our family's business than me. Not to mention, more qualified than me! I worked with your father long before you and your sisters were born. I helped him build everything he had."

The young man stood up, "You worked with my father? To build that drug cartel? To ship weapons illegally and provide them to warring gangs? He had blood on his hands. Basically dripping off his hands, and you helped put it there. If there's one thing that my father taught me, it was to trust nobody else. Not your wife, not your father, and certainly not your uncle!"

Triton stepped in, "Don't go too far, Nico. God knows where you would be if it wasn't for my father. You don't have to love him, gods forbid, or even trust him. Excuse me, father." Triton waved his arms in frustration, "But surely you see him as the best option for taking over the family business if something were to happen to you that meant you couldn't handle it anymore."

Nico stood and walked over to sit on his bed, brushing past a surprised Hazel. "Maybe that will persuade the board that nothing should happen to me. There's sure to be a major legal battle about leadership if that happened. So, it's in their best interests that it doesn't happen."

Poseidon shook his head, "My boy, I hope you can change your mind. You can't always get what you want in this world."

-o-

Hazel had dinner by herself that night. Frank was away, visiting his grandmother on one of his rare weekend breaks, and Triton and Poseidon had returned to wherever it was that they spent their nights. She had sent a quizzical glance Nico's way when the bell rang for dinner, but he had just smiled tiredly and told her to go by herself, "I'm not that hungry, Haz. Just go by yourself, the maids will look out for you."

"That's not the point. You need to eat as well, have you even eaten at all today?"

"Yeah. I had crisps at the theatre. It's amazing how big of a junk food selection you can find at the opera."

Hazel sighed. Nico seemed to be in one of those evasive moods, where he defected serious questions by trying to alter the topic every time a branching statement was made. "What are you going to do about the thing that Uncle Poseidon mentioned? Are you really going to do nothing? It sounds serious."

Her brother leaned back in the grey armchair in the farthest corner of his room and sighed. "I don't know, I'll think about it."

Later that night, after saying goodnight to the bright lights of the city and drawing the heavy drapes, Hazel went to shut her door. She had to be rested for school tomorrow. But as she was about to push close the tiny slit between the door edge and frame, a black shadow shifted past in the semi-darkened hallways.

That was strange. The maids probably wouldn't be up so late, and security didn't stay around upstairs after 10 pm. Giving the clock hanging on the wall a quick glance, Hazel confirmed that it was definitely past that time, it was nearly midnight.

So who would be walking around this late? She listened to the soft footsteps as they moved upstairs. Her room was right near the stairs, so she could tell how the individual deliberately tried to soften their footfalls.

Terrible thoughts went through her mind. Was it an assassin, here to murder them? Taking advantage of the cover of night to make a move?

After all, Nico's room was on the floor above, second to the stairs. Was he being strangled to death without a sound even as she hesitated here, wondering about whether she should follow the mysterious figure or not?

"Damn my curiosity," Hazel muttered slowly to herself, as she silently moved out into the hallway. It wasn't as dark as she had thought outside, but she still stumbled on the stairs. Gods, it wouldn't help anyone if she broke her own neck and it turned out that the person had just been some maid here to do some midnight chores. Or maybe the maid was just going to put in a few hours at the gym.

Unlikely. And Frank had told her that the staff had plenty of perks downstairs in their own living spaces. She mentally listed what could possibly be attractive to someone upstairs. The food areas were on the first and second floors. The library and Hades' old office (now just referred to as the study) was also on the second floor, near the library. If anyone was here to steal information, he or she certainly wouldn't be heading to the fourth floor, there were only two bedrooms, a sitting area and a gym that probably only Frank used when he was bored. So they had to be there for Nico.

But why? And who were they?

She stepped up on to the landing and was surprised to hear calm voices murmuring from her brother's room. She shrugged. It seemed that the visitor was expected, and wanted. She went to move forwards but then thought that it would be extremely impolite to violate her brother's privacy like this. He was a grown man, and there were things that he probably did which she didn't want to know about.

But then, she heard a voice that she would easily recognise in a crowd.

Reyna.

"-heard the board wants you to get an heir?"

"You make it sound that I'm just going to plant one and then nurture it until it grows into a big healthy heir?"

Hazel pressed one eye to the crack of the slightly open door. her heart was thudding so loud that she felt the occupants of the room would hear her. But that was just fanciful thinking. The room was dimmed lit with the orange flames of the fireplace, but still much brighter than the corridor outside. They wouldn't think of looking for her, and even if they did, she doubted that they could see her.

"And how does information travel so fast to you guys? Is Frank hiding cameras in my room?" Nico was seated on the silver couch. He grinned at Reyna, who leaned again the wall nearby, arms crossed. Hazel could see the ripple of muscles as she shrugged.

"You know that would be bad for both of us. If your father or god forbid, even Thanatos, found out that you-"

"Can you please not put that into words. It still sounds strange after these few years."

Reyna gestured in annoyance, making that huffing sound that Hazel knew so well. "You never own up to your feelings, Nico. You'd rather repress them deep inside until you're basically exploding with them. It was that way with your father, and you're every bit like him. What was with that dismissal you gave me the other day? Hazel came out of the car and you made a run for it like the devil was chasing you. Am I really that embarrassing?"

Hazel was confused. There seemed to be something important here that she wasn't understanding. Nico and Reyna were better friends than they had let on, by the sound of it.

Her brother pinched the bridge of his nose. "Reyna," he said, "Don't you understanding the strange position I've found myself in. She is my sister, and you are her best friend. It just feels wrong."

"I was her best friend before, and the relationship was more certain then. Sure, you didn't know her then. And you didn't know how close you would become. Maybe she won't like it. But you are a grown man, and you can make your own decisions."

"I know I love you both. I just... I don't know."

He loved them both?

"I think about you whenever I'm not with you. I want to be with you all the time. I'm certain of my feelings. I just don't know how to proceed with them."

"The deeper a feeling is, the more selfish it makes you. I know that's true. If Hazel's mother hadn't threatened Hades that he would never see his daughter again if he brought them into the spotlight, do you think he would have just let them be?"

Nico stood and moved slowly until he stood in front of Reyna. He caressed her left cheek with a gentle finger. "Please don't be angry. I would do anything to make you happy. Just tell me."

"Anything?" In the slow flickering orange of the room, her best friend looked coy.

Their lips locked ferociously. They clung to each other for a moment, before Reyna slipped her hands from Nico's back and to the front of his pants. Hazel heard Nico moan before he slid his hands under Reyna's shirt, moving from the back to the front.

Hazel had to cover her mouth with her hands lest she made a sound of disgusted shock.

Who would have thought? She wondered in disbelief aa she tiptoed back down the stairs, trying to shake the image she had seen from her head. "I wonder who else knows about this."

-o-

Well… Well… Well….

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