Drowning In You
Chapter 16: Clueless

Nico strained against the seat belt that laced his chest, a long, drawn out yawn etching from his throat loudly. He hated falling asleep in a car. It always left him aching, more tired, and aggravated than usual. Despite that, he had also leaned on his broken arm, the bones and muscles throbbing through the thick white cast. It felt like someone had gently begun hitting his wrist with a hammer, the blows becoming stronger and stronger with each strike until the pain was unbearable. Leaning upwards, Nico eased away from the window, looking out with eyes half lidded and lips open in a pursed curiosity.

He didn't realize it at first, but the car was now in park and Luke was drawing the door open for him. Once again he was faced with the dilemma that had begun when he broke his arm: everyone acting as though he was helpless. Various times had people done the same things for him: opening doors, carrying his backpack, helping him up stairs, waiting for him to shatter as though he was made of glass. It was all the same. Everyone saw him as helpless. The week would have been perfect to him if it hadn't been for that. Bianca and his father were now being lenient to Nico in every way possible. He was allowed to sleep later, no chores, lay around all day. It didn't matter what it was, but they were so easy going about it that it almost frightened Nico. He was afraid of becoming invincible. He was afraid of having no rules around his family. He needed something to rebel against after all. After about a day or two of this, Hades and Bianca once again came down with new rules, hitting harder than ever before. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere by himself, he couldn't cook by himself, he couldn't carry anything that was too heavy, he couldn't hang out with his friends after school, and he couldn't blah, blah, blah…..none of it matter anyways. He didn't listen to any of it.

Stepping out of the car, literally shoving Luke out of the way, Nico moved across the hard, gray sidewalk, eyes fixated on the house before him. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. Even with the beating, overwhelming heat, Nico knew the blood pulsing under his skin was abnormal. It was stinging, burning, and seething. The anger in his chest pushed his blood to roof, sending it to a boiling point.

"You alright?" Annabeth said as she stepped up behind the younger boy, placing both hands on his shoulder and rolling them back and forth. Nico gave a sigh, giving in to the pleasant feeling of Annabeth's hands on his tense arms. If it had been a week earlier Nico would have rejected the feeling, still having that pit of anger burning in the center of his stomach. Instead the two had had a quick revival of their friendship, Annabeth apologizing from the bottom of her heart and him simply nodding in response.

"I'm fine. This doesn't bother me." Nico admit with a shrug, groaning as Annabeth took her hands away and rejoicing when they were replaced. Leaning back against the girl he allowed himself to be propelled up. Annabeth grinned, knowing how easy it was for her to merely hold the smaller boy. Nico was around 5'8' and weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds (smaller that he probably should have been) and with a smaller build Nico was beyond thin. He was scraggy and scrawny, but he still looked nice. He may have had a skeletal form, but Nico was handsome.

"I hope there is no trouble between you and him. I know he hasn't been good to you and you haven't been good to him, but you all need to just put that behind you and get on with it. Besides, I'm sure we'll have a hell of a time at the beach together." Annabeth added the last part with enthusiasm, but Nico saw through the sugary coat of fake optimism easily.

"I think I would rather worry about you and Percy tearing each other to shreds." Nico chided slickly, giving the girl a snide grin. Annabeth returned his smile and followed with a shake of her head.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them as Annabeth glanced over towards Percy's front door. The heavy wooden door swung open in one slight movement exposing Percy who stood there with his mouth open in a daze and glancing around his street as though he had stepped into the twilight zone. A light blue messenger bag was slung over his shoulder in frumpy manner, the strap sliding down his arm slightly.

As much as Annabeth didn't like it she knew that Percy was coming with them. Thalia and Grover couldn't help themselves when they invited him. After all he was one of their best friends. It wasn't really that she didn't like Percy personally, even after he broke up with her. She was more concerned for Nico.

"Hey, you guys." Percy breathed out quickly, the single exhale bringing upon a wave of discomfort through the group. There was a moment of silence between them as Grover etched forward, engulfing his friend in a one sided hug and pulling an easy smile.

"What's up?" Grover murmured under his breath, eyes looking at anything besides Percy. Nico observed the two of them with close factor, watching how they both held their breath as they spoke, knowing that everything was more awkward now than it usually was, "Are you ready to go?"

"Actually we may have to wait a while." Percy admitted with a look of embarrassment and guilt. Grover's lips pursed in concern as he realized the damper of his best friend's mood and the sudden change in the other's attitude. It didn't seem right at first, however, Grover didn't press for further detail, respecting his friend's privacy and hoping that eventually the answer would make its self-clear. He knew that Percy would respect the fact that he wasn't acting like his usual self, raking for any scrape of information and trying to spill out his secrets. Grover wasn't the best at knowing when to hold back, when to leave something alone.

After a few moments of complete and utter silence, followed by shared glanced between Thalia and Grover as well as Percy and Nico, Luke decided to break the hush, "Can we just go? I mean I understand if that you're waiting for something, but we reall-"

Luke was cut off by the vicious slam of Percy front door followed by the over enthusiastic, "Helllllooooooo!"

"That's what I am waiting on," Percy called as he motioned towards the door and boy walking down the sidewalk. Thalia simply shook his head as she realized that now her only salvation and act of peace was going to be destroyed once again by her idiot of a brother.

"Jason? What are you doing here?!" The hiss dripped with rage as Thalia flung herself forward, pulling on her black tank top and bra strap as she moved while the garment was forced downwards by the shocking, jerking action. Grover gave a rugged smile at the girl's roughness.

"I came here for a party. Now who's ready to hit the beach?" Jason spoke the words in a jumble and single breath, the speech coming out in a barely understandable manner, "I now have Percy's shorts on and a beach bag and I am ready to have some fun."

"Those are your shorts?" Nico questioned off handedly to Percy, trying his best to at least register some form of acquaintance to the other boy.

"Yeah," Percy backed up to where he was standing beside the smaller form. Looking down at Nico, giving a brief smile, Percy continued, "I didn't really give him permission to come along. He just grabbed a pair of my shorts from my closet, one of my messenger bags, began filling it with towels and sunscreen, and claimed he was going with us."

"He needs your permission to go? Really?" Nico asked in a way that sounded almost persecuting. Percy looked down at the lithe boy with a look of embarrassment, skin stinging with a blush as though someone had scraped a hot iron along his chest. It was that aching feeling, that sinking feeling, that made Percy's head spin and Nico simple questions were leaving him in a state of complete and utter breathlessness.

"No! No, that not it! I just-" Percy stammered as he began to discontinue even the slightest inch of doubt that lurked in the recesses of Nico's mind. There was no reason for Nico to even assume that there was anything going on between him and Jason.

"Never mind, Jackson." The simple strike was cut clean and quick by Nico's lashing words. Holding up his one good hand, a look of slight amusement appearing on those pale, chapped lips, Nico gave a snort of indignity. With a brisk flick of his head and nod, the younger moved away, tuning into the conversation between Jason and the rest of the group as he caught up on the current events.

"So in our big circle of friendship we have…," Jason quickly cleared his throat, looking around with a gentle smile. Thalia gave a grunt of irascibility as she shot her brother a glance, elbowing him in the chest harshly. Jason gave her a look of indignity before sticking his tongue out in a childish manner, "Anyways, we have me- who is just a tag along. Luke (sigh), Annabeth (double sigh), Thalia (triple sigh), Grover, Percy, and…..Nico."

"Plus we have to pick up that boy Leo from his house. Nico invited him." Luke quirked into the conversation, his voice still seething a little with anger at how obvious Jason was being about his distaste with some of them. Luke had heard of people sighing when speaking of another person that they loathed, but he had never met a person who stopped their sentence to say "sigh", "double sigh", and "triple sigh". Shaking his head vaguely Luke didn't understand why the other couldn't just sigh instead of saying the words sigh. It would have been much simpler and less blatantly obvious that he was disappointed with the crowd of travelers.

"Leo?" Percy questioned in disgust. He hadn't meant to speak, but the words slipped from his lips like a cry in the wind. Annabeth and Grover both turned to the boy, however, no one else seemed to hear him. In a way, the boy wished that Nico would have heard, but even if he did Percy knew he would have just ignored the jab.

"So, do you all want to get going?" Thalia asked, punching her brother out of the way as she trudged towards Grover's car. Everyone else seemed to follow her example, everyone except Percy who was still hung up on the Leo matter.

"Leo's coming with us?" Percy asked once more as he shouldered his messenger bag. This time no one seemed to bother with him. Instead everyone just clambered back to their cars: Luke, Annabeth, and Nico in one car. Thalia, Jason, and Grover in the other. Standing tensely in place, feet digging into the soft dirt, Percy refused to move with his mouth pursed in a thin line and arms crossed over his chest. After a moment of no one even acknowledging his existence Percy grumbled, a sigh and heavy footsteps following, as he clambered towards Grover's car, pulling himself into the seat and buckling up."Fuck today." Percy murmured under his breath, rolling down his window and glancing at the car behind them. From his position in the back seat Percy could clearly see Nico sitting in the back seat of Luke's truck as well, fumbling one handedly with his phone. It was kind of fun to watch actually, noting the way he almost dropped the phone a few times and was getting frustrated. He was a sweet boy after all and in Percy eyes nothing could be more adorable than a blush, burning Nico who was ready to unleash hell on anyone who crossed him. Any little thing would cause the boy to start smoking and now, with the obvious aggravation of his cast, Percy was just waiting for the explosion.

"Beach time!" Luke called as he swung a towel at Nico, pulling the boy close before letting him go. Already the other was aggravated with how the day was progressing. Not only was he getting sun burnt, but god knows how long it would take to get all the sand out of his hair. Leaning over Nico shook his head and allowed the fine, tiny grates to shuffle to the ground. Annabeth should have known that it was a bad idea to dump a bucket of sand on someone. The argument that Nico "needed a little more cheer" didn't qualify as a reasonable answer in his opinion.

Shifting back and forth on his feet Nico felt a slight pain etch its way up his back.

He thought falling asleep on the way to pick Percy up was bad, but it didn't even compare to the ride to the beach. Nico wasn't sure how much time had passed or how long it had taken to get there, but he did know one thing: a few hours of lying on a healing broken arm could leave your bones feeling like goo and every part of you hurting like a bitch. At that point he was grateful that Luke was opening car doors for him. After all with his aching muscles and tiredness he would have probably fallen while trying to slink his way out of the car. He wished that at some point anyone would have woke him up so he could have at least moved off his casted arm, but, even when Leo climbed in beside him, Nico was left to sleep. He didn't know how he was going to swim while feeling like such crap, but he would cross that bridge when he got there, which turned out to be this exact moment.

Now that they were all at the beach and everyone had changed clothes (Nico being clad in a pair of ebony swimming trunks, no t-shirt, and one of those waterproof sleeves made to wear over casts) the rest of the group seemed ready to swim, but Nico was feeling uneasy about the entire thing. Something told him that today wasn't going to go according to plan.

"Did you just say bitch time?!" Grover inquired with a sly grin, raising one eyebrow as though he was now interested. Luke spat out a vivid laugh before shaking his head.

"Close enough." Was the simple answer given to Grover as Luke shoved the boy out of the way, bumping into Annabeth as well and nearly knocking her to the ground. Luke flopped down into the shallow water, his flat stomach and chest smashing into the wet sand and ground with force as he rolled over, allowing the water to barely wash over ear level. He grinned up at them before giving a short response, "It's cold."

"Shit! Is it?" Annabeth asked with a look of dismay as she tossed her flip flops from her feet and set them beside Luke's backpack.

"You know….there is a way to get over the feeling of cold water." Thalia inquired as she stepped up behind Annabeth. The other girl narrowed her eyes coldly, feeling uneasy about Jason's sister. Despite her weariless of the girl, Annabeth decided she would take whatever advice Thalia could give. After all Nico trusted her so that was good enough for Annabeth as well.

"How?"

"Like this." Thalia cried before shoving Annabeth harshly, knocking her off her feet and watching as the girl splattered into the cold, gritty sand below. Grover, Thalia, and Nico all laughed at the other's misfortune, finding even more amusement in the fact that huge clumps of sand were now plastered to the back of Annabeth's orange bathing suit.

"Bitch." Annabeth called up to Thalia in a light hearted exchange. In a curtain of movement Annabeth had clutched onto Thalia's thin arms, whirling her around powerfully and tossing the girl down into the deeper water, listening as she splashed and smashed against the stinging ground and water. Within moments Annabeth had flopped in beside her, salty water lapping against the beautiful beach as though it was glass shattering against the ground.

"Whoa! Shit! What are you doing!?" Nico sputtered out as Leo and Grover grappled for his arms, Grover taking one arm and Leo holding him by the side, dragging him forward and ripping his feet through the scratch sand. With a hiss of exasperation and irritation Nico looked out at the lapping water that moved closer and closer towards him, threating to drown him with each movement. With a twist of sudden strength, Leo and Grover heaved the smaller boy upwards, shoving him out into the water and watching as he tumbled below the surface.

The water was like ice through his veins. Wires of chilling pain cut through his defenses, slipping under his skin and grinding against his muscles until they bleed. Nico would have rather pulled out his teeth then deal with the cold- it was something that left him breathless and gasping for the brief release of oxygen. In this tumbling cloud of hazy liquid, Nico struggled upwards. In a moment of weakness he could tell which way was up or down, which way was left or right. Underwater there was no right direction. It was just a jumble of spinning colors seen through shattered glass. Dragging himself upwards, grappling for something that wasn't there, Nico felt as though he was slinking through Jell-o.

"Yes!" Grover immediately splashed Nico as he came up for breath, taking a quick glance at Leo with pride. Him and the other boy must have been pretty proud at their handy work.

"That was pretty good." Leo nodded in agreement. With a simple glide and a long exhale of breath, Leo came around behind Nico, wrapping gentle arms around the smaller boy waist and bringing him closer. Burying his face into the once puffy curls of ebony locks Leo nuzzled his face into Nico's hair, a warmth spilling through his chest as though he had been lite at his core. With a simple shove of his better arm, Nico hauled Leo out of the way.

"Sorry," Leo apologized with a look of innocents, now realizing how much he had caused the boy to be in discomfort. With a simple raise of his hand he surrendered, silently acknowledging the fact that he would no longer get close around Nico. A nodded passed between the two with a striking thankfulness.

"So after we swim for a while what do you guys want to do? I mean we could drive around, go eat….." Leo asked as he leaned back in the water, trying his best to change the subject after an awkward moment before losing his balance in an instant and sinking below the vivid, clear aqua waves. Jerking back up out of the liquid, moving jaggedly as though he had been shocked with a Taser, Leo looked over at Grover, shaking droplets of water from his hair and shooting a grand grin.

"We could get high!" Grover offered as he lay back in the water, floating gently along the waves.

"That's such a great idea! Just imagine it!" Jason nodded vigorously as he popped into the conversation, closing his eyes and acting as though he was smoking a joint. Placing his fingers to his lips he drew them back quickly and made a loud exhaling noise. Rolling his eyes he did his best to look out of it, "Whoa."

Grover laughed obscenely before mimicking Jason's own actions, "Whoooaaaa!"

The two boys leaned back, flopping around in the water as Luke, Annabeth, Thalia, and Leo laughed vividly. Nico didn't necessary laugh, but he did snort, his grimaced transforming to a faint smirk. He would admit one thing about his friends: They were all idiots, but they were his idiots. After a moment of watching his friends swim around in the water, splashing each other, hitting each other, laughing with each other, Nico began to laugh way louder than he normally did. It was a nice laugh, not cruel and secluded like usual.

There was a choking gasp as Nico's voice was cut off, a strangled sound etching through his throat as he was pulled backwards once more. This shock came harder than the first, now knowing Leo, Grover, Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth (the only people who would dare touch him) sitting before him evidently. He felt himself begin to sink, pulled under the water in a jerking manner, the deep, cold liquid wavering up his mouth and clamping down on his nose. Struggling to find his footing again and stand up, Nico swirled around in place, facing the person behind him with a look of hatred.

"What the hell?" He concluded as he surged towards Percy, eyes flickering with a glint of anger and betrayal. He swung his good arm around, trying his best to stay afloat. Without an ounce of hesitation or awkwardness Percy grappled for Nico's bare shoulders, being careful not to touch his broken arm or the waterproof sleeve. He pulled Nico forward, holding the boy close to his chest before gently whispering into Nico's ear.

"We really need to talk. Now." Percy's voice was low and gentle as he place a soft kiss against Nico's temple, pulling back before shoving away from the boy. In a blur of movement Percy was gone, swimming away quickly back to shore. Nico, however, was left there in awe. He couldn't believe or comprehend what had just happened. He didn't understand why that had happened. Before he even realized it Nico was sinking, water filling his lungs quickly as he stopped moving in shock. Drawing himself back up, Nico looked on at Percy who was now on the shore, standing there bare back and dripping wet as he waited for the younger boy to meet him.

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