Once Tyler and I made it to the infirmary, Trevor helped me right away. There wasn't much he could do since I was having tummy issues. He just had Tyler lay me down on a cot and put a cold compress on my forehead. After I was all set, Trevor gave Tyler some cream stuff for his black eye and an ice pack. Tyler ended up occupying the cot right next to mine so we could chat. You know, about the weather and Nico beating us up.
"I'm so sure he didn't mean to hit you, Deadly. Sometimes he just gets so angry," Tyler said with one eye. I thought it was kind of funny how Tyler was trying to get me to forgive Nico, even after he gave him a black eye. "Don't make excuses for him. I mean, look what he did to you, there's no excuse for that," I said in monotone. I unfolded the towel drenched in cold water and put it over my eyes. The lights in the infirmary can be blinding. "I'm not making excuses for him. Our dad causes him a lot grief and every once in awhile he snaps." I started nibbling on my bottom lip. I stopped when it started bleeding.
"How does your dad cause him grief," I asked skeptically. Tyler laughed maliciously, "Our dad hates us. Every birthday present we've ever gotten has been from Rachel. I doubt he knows when our birthdays are. We just say they're from our dad so people won't pity us. Nico gets the worst of it, though." I folded my hands on top of my stomach. "How," I asked in the calmest manner that I could. "You wanna know how? Hades is taking away one of the few things that Nico loves, forever," he answered in a more than obvious pissed off tone. "Which would be what," I scoffed. "You," he exclaimed angrily.
I bolted upright which caused the towel to fall from my eyes. My eyes didn't hurt, surprisingly. I'm becoming more like a goddess by the minute. "Tyler, I get that Nico might have feelings for me but he doesn't love me." Tyler rolled his eyes, "You have got to be kidding me." Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, "What?" Tyler threw his ice pack on his cot and gripped the side of the cot. "I can't make you believe that he loves you but I can make you believe that our dad hates Nico the most out of all of his children." I took a deep breath and shook my head. "Fine," I said indifferently. "Hades knows how Nico feels about you," he began, "so he's making Nico be the Best Man."
I did a double take. Why would Hades do that to someone? I mean it's not surprising and I'm sure he has his reasons. Oh, would you listen to me? I can't believe I even thought that. Why am I making excuses for Hades? Maybe because I'm marrying him in two weeks but why am I marrying him? Sure, I had a crush on him when I was younger because he's the badass that got kicked off Olympus but what about now? Why did I say yes? Why didn't I think this through? Hades will make a good husband, I guess. What is going on with my head? Does my brain have PMS or something? Ugh, now I have a headache.
"Why are you even marrying my dad," Tyler asked. I snapped back to reality. "I'm not sure," I answered honestly. "You're not sure? Then why'd you say yes? You're just going to marry him for the hell of it," he asked. "Tyler, I have my reasons, okay?" Tyler shook his head, "No and how can you even marry my dad? What about Persephone?" Oh yeah, what about her? "I don't know," I answered meekly. "Your marriage won't be valid if he doesn't divorce her, you know that, right?" I snorted at the boy. "He's gonna cheat on me anyway, so what does it matter if our marriage is valid or not?" Tyler gaped at me for a second.
"Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you doing this to Nico," he asked with pure confusion. I decided to come clean to Tyler. After all these years, I finally realized that he's not a monster. "Alright, look, I'm a goddess. My dad, he's Ares. I'm going to be around forever and Nico's not," I took a deep breath, "and maybe I don't deserve Nico, even though he just hit me, I know he didn't mean it. Maybe all I get is the idiot that got kicked off Olympus."
All of a sudden Nico was standing at the edge of the cot. He had his arms crossed against his chest and he was smirking. "Did I hear you right," he asked cockily. "Depends on what part you heard," I teased. His face switched to serious. "Do you think I'm too good for you?" I felt my cheeks heat up and palms get sweaty. He just had to hear that part of the conversation, didn't he? "Well, I….um…." Nico smiled a real, genuine smile. I never though I'd ever be able to see that.
Trevor stopped by to check up on me. "You're gonna need these," he said before handing me a container of Ice Breakers. I scrunched my nose, "Why?" Trevor shrugged his shoulders, "By the looks of it you two will be making out anytime now and you threw up twice in the past half hour." Everyone laughed and I wish I could have frozen that moment in time. Not because it was perfect, but because I was happy.