p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Notes: Yes, I know, i've literally desapeared for years. I'm really really sorry for that :( My dumb lil brain just forgot that I have an account here too. I was only posting on AO3, but here I am again. I hope someone reads that haha. Anyway, I'll be posting some /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Holidays are wonderful, of course. Finally taking a break from stressful college, stop worrying about countless homework, go out with friends, sleep till it's late.../span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Oh, Percy, we're going to take a trip. Hadn't I told you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Silence./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Hmm...emno/em?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""He told you, Percy. You only have the memory of a goldfish", Jia interrupted with a wry smile and furrowed brows./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Another silence, shorter this time./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""But I thought…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""It's going to be two weeks, man. We'll be here before the holidays are over. Like, I'd super call you to come along, it's just that..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""emIt's just that /emmy mom is a psychotic pain in the ass who only gets things done if she has nine months in advance. Everything with her is a pregnancy." Jia interrupted again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Jia, don't talk about Mrs. Li like that!" exclaimed William./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""emJia, den't telk abelt missis. Li, bubububu/em!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Zhao finished her imitation with a grimace./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Anyway…" Johnson continued after glaring at her friend, "I told you about it that day, you know, at Mahi's mom's restaurant"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"William and Mahi started dating shortly after the movie trap. He asked her out (like an idiot, it's worth pointing out. Scott had gotten so carried away that he tripped over his own feet, landing on his butt, and somehow causing the popcorn bucket to stop on his head). Apparently, big, dumb guys were as much the Mahi type as the Thursday salami sandwich. After a short time, they both agreed to form one of the coolest relationships Percy had ever seen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Dude, I'm sure that day you didn't tell me…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Will, dear, answer me…" Zhao interrupted emonce more/em. "Since when does Percy notice anything of the world around him when he has a plate full of curry in front of him?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"William stopped to think as if he realized that this actually made a lot of sense./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Whatever," Jackson muttered after rolling his eyes, "where are you going?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""We're going to Five Ponds Wilderness. It's about 5 or 6 hours by car, I think." Zhao snorted, sounding annoyed as if the idea of spending so many hours indoors with William was the worst of tortures (and could be, especially if he ate tacos at some point; that guy was a walking fart machine). "And there's this cottage over there, near the forest. It's almost a crappy horror movie, you know. Teenagers, cabin, forest, chainsaw..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""We're not teenagers anymore, I guess", William pointed out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Oh, whatever. You're still a goofball, anyway." Jia waved a hand in contempt as Johnson made an insulting grimace. After a long sigh, he continued:/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""The point is Percy, next year you emdefinitely/em have to go with us (and bring your family too). It's gonna be awesome! It's just that this year Mrs. Li couldn't make... her emsomewhat-eccentric-plans/em including you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Yeah, that would be great, dude," agreed Jia, who shook her head as she took a bit of black nail polish off her nails./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Um, sure". Percy gave an uncertain, dismayed smile, "That would be great..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Problem is, he didn't know if he'd be alive next year. Maybe not even next month, or next week… emgods/em, Percy never knew if he could survive the emnext hour/em./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Being a demigod was hard. And being a demigod son of one of the big three was even worse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"William Scott Johnson and Jia Zhao started arguing about who would put the playlist on during the car ride. Meanwhile, Jackson sipped his Coke with dismay./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Yeah, his situation wasn't so good. But it couldn't get any worse, right?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"No. emNothing/em right./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"First, because Percy had the possibility to be alone (only with his painful and recurring thoughts) throughout his vacation, since Jia and William would be out and, well, let's just say he wasn't the most sociable guy in the world./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"His number of friends was short and sad./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Second, because he figured: emhey, I still have Mahi!/em And they weren't emthat/em close, it's true, but they were friends for sure. Maybe they could go out once or twice in case Percy had an outbreak inside his apartment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"So, when Mahi Jaheel arrived at William's parents' house on that same afternoon for a group meeting (which was almost always held there because Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had a simply emhuge/em apartment with an impressive kitchen), he thought about asking her what were her vacation plans. The opportunity for questioning came when they were both opening packages of Cheetos and pouring the contents into two large glass bowls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Oh Percy, didn't I tell you?" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Me and my parents are going to Maharashtra the day after tomorrow, we'll stay until the end of the vacation. Visiting my grandparents on my mother's side, you know? I thought I told you the day of the curry..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"It turns out that Jaheel was the daughter of a wealthy American and an Indian chef who looked like a famous model. The guy was called Bruce James. The woman was called Vahini Jaheel. Percy thought the three of them were cute together — it was like they were going to pose anytime for an interior decorating magazine or shoot a margarine commercial./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Anyway, Mrs. Jaheel's hands must have been blessed by some god (and in the world they lived in could emliterally/em be) as they made a wonderful curry — apparently so wonderful that it made him forget important details like emhey, you have a month to go crazy alone inside an apartment. Good luck!/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Last but not least, there was the damn monster trying to scalp him in a dirty alley. This was not one of Thorn's followers, who had already forgotten about him after a few days, but he was still a pain in the ass./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Jackson had passed the market and was just trying to get home, a task that seemed impossible because emno one would leave him alone for 5 fucking minutes!/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Why always a dirty alley? Why always his beautiful little head? Those monsters really had no imagination at all. /spanWhen he raised the Riptide, he had a blank mind: his only goal was to vent all his frustration./p
p class="MsoNormal"The only sentence that came out of his mouth, then, was extremely complex. Like this:/p
p class="MsoNormal""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"And he attacked./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal".../p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy wasn't the luckiest guy in the world./p
p class="MsoNormal"Of course, you've probably already sensed this from his background: being accused of stealing one of the most important artifacts in Greek mythology, being turned into a guinea pig, being used as a bargaining chip, falling into Tartarus, shrinking his favorite shirt after an unsuccessful wash... the unlucky list was quite extensive./p
p class="MsoNormal"But, mind you, having your leg injured like that just when the building was out of water due to plumbing maintenance when the beach was a considerable distance away, and that in addition to the first aid kit lacking in ambrosia (and, emuh/em, in some other basic stuff)... well, it's for few./p
p class="MsoNormal"By (almost none, emduh/em) luck, he was close to home. He felt the blood trickle down, smearing his calf and staining his jeans. He limped into the condo, gripping the brass banister as if his life depended on it. By the way, had the world always rotated that much, or was it just a side effect of the blood loss? It was hard to tell. The only thing he could think of was this: he wouldn't go to the fourth floor. No sir./p
p class="MsoNormal"He walked towards the emthird/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"After crawling up the stairs, by some miracle of the gods, he made it to his goal (mental thanks for the red hue of the carpet, which masked the bloody trail very well). He knocked the wood three times. It looked like a scene he had seen before, although this time he played another role./p
p class="MsoNormal"When his host opened the door, a Stygian sword in his hand and a murderous look on his face, Jackson felt even dizzier./p
p class="MsoNormal""I…I need help."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"…/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That was an ugly tear." Nico pointed out. He was bandaging Percy's leg, then give him an (almost-not-so-safe) portion of ambrosia. It had miraculously closed the wound to the point that Jackson didn't need sutures, though not to the point where he didn't need some fucking bandages. Great./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hmm..." Jackson moaned softly as the boy began to roll up the fabric. He decided to fill the silence before he moaned in pain again: "Since when are you so good at making bandages?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The boy gave a slight smile as if he hadn't noticed he was doing it, still not taking his eyes off his work./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, dating a healer son of Apollo even has its perks…"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hey, wait, wait, wait. Time. emBreak/em. I know, you, dear reader, must be full of questions right now. Things like "emwhat monster attacked Percy?",/em or "emwhat did Nico ask/em emfor in the last chapter?",/em maybe em"why is Di Angelo in the third-floor apartment?"/em and em"What's Mrs. Vahini's Curry Recipe?"/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Well, let's go in order: A particularly pissed-off Cynocephali, with a particularly sharp spear and a particularly bad aim, pushed Percy down that alley. Jackson managed to get free, of course, but not before he ended up destroying the entire alley, a traffic sign, a clump of purple flowers, and a partially melted strawberry ice cream. In an attempt to obliterate the demigod, Bob (yes, the fucking name of the Cynocephali was Bob. Don't question it, he didn't understand either) aimed his spear at his head. That move ended up culminating in a deep cut on Percy's emleft calf/em. Now you understand the particularly bad aim./p
p class="MsoNormal"About the second question... well, let's go./p
p class="MsoNormal"Shortly after they stopped laughing on the terrace, Di Angelo had slowly sat up. He stared at the horizon for a moment. It was dusk, and a very light drizzle made a thin layer of water on her messy hair./p
p class="MsoNormal""Percy?", he called in a controlled tone./p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy, for his part, had lain down on the floor, one arm over his eyes, as if he were going to sleep on the damp concrete of the terrace./p
p class="MsoNormal""Um?", he grunted./p
p class="MsoNormal""When I knocked on your door, you know, earlier today…" Nico hesitated for a few seconds. "What I mean is… it wasn't by chance that I ran into those monsters, Percy."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy was silent for a moment, debating whether to draw Anaklusmos at this revelation./p
p class="MsoNormal""So... what was the reason?", He chose his words carefully. He remained lying down for a few seconds, until, for lack of answers from the other, he slowly sat up. He glanced sideways./p
p class="MsoNormal"He saw Nico twirl the skull ring./p
p class="MsoNormal""Uh... I wanted to ask you something. That's why I was coming here, to see you, and I ended up running into those monsters on the way. It wasn't a bad thing I wanted to tell you. No plots, no betrayals designed to kill you or anything like that. I swear by the Styx."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy thought for a moment./p
p class="MsoNormal""Another request?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, not like the last one, but..."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What?", And whether for the oath or for some other reason hidden in his head, Percy felt emreassured/em. That's why he'd used a calm (almost friendly) tone when interrupting Nico, not his usual harsh one./p
p class="MsoNormal"Even so, the boy opened and closed his mouth a few times before taking the right amount of courage to answer:/p
p class="MsoNormal""I, uh, need an apartment."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Brief silence. Then Percy shook his head as if he understood./p
p class="MsoNormal""Uh, cool. At where?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico glared at him and raised an eyebrow./p
p class="MsoNormal""Here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wow, in Harlem too?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Di Angelo blinked slowly./p
p class="MsoNormal""Actually I was thinking more emhere/em, in the building./p
p class="MsoNormal"Now a long silence, in which Jackson processed./p
p class="MsoNormal""But emI/em live here", he finally snapped./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, I know. And so, I'll understand if you can't help me."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Silence again. Did the third one be luckier? Percy's mind, which wasn't all that adept at this sort of thing, began to swarm./p
p class="MsoNormal""Nico, I'm trying to understand…I…look, I don't know what you're getting at, man."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico sighed and drummed his fingers on the concrete floor, looking away. The drizzle was starting to stop./p
p class="MsoNormal""I know it's a difficult request, so please don't feel obligated to accept… But if you do, seriously, I'll get out of your sight and all that if you want. You won't have to deal with me or see me. I just need an apartment."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Guess what? Silence. Nico's was full of expectations, while Percy's was pure uncertainty peppered with apprehension./p
p class="MsoNormal""Why?", Jackson asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico made a confused expression./p
p class="MsoNormal""What you mean?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The older one frowned, thinking harder:/p
p class="MsoNormal""I mean, why right emhere/em?", He gestured, bringing his hands to his sides quickly, realizing that, yes, his ears were doing a good job and this questioning was real; his brain hadn't yet begun to hallucinate. He continued: "There are emseveral apartments in Harlem/em. At least one of them would suit you. So why emhere/em?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico stared at him, blushed, and finally looked away, twirling his skull ring in the process./p
p class="MsoNormal""Um…it's actually a little silly, I guess. It's just that I can't handle, uh, paperwork and all that. I thought you might be able to help me, as you are more familiar with the locals and how things work around here"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Well, of course, that made some sense. Nico didn't have some kind of responsible adult to guide him in the most basic things in life (it reads responsible emand/em alive). His only close relatives were the god of the underworld (a guy who certainly knew how to send a soul to the deepest corner of Tartarus in the snap of his finger, but who maybe had no idea what an income tax was) and a teenager who should barely have completed high school (and who, by the way, had been dead for a considerable time)./p
p class="MsoNormal"The childhood of most demigods was particularly cruel, and Nico's, even in the most meager detail, had been no different./p
p class="MsoNormal""Okay, okay, I get it. But why? Leave the camp, that..."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico cut him off with a sigh./p
p class="MsoNormal""Percy, I went to college."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Jackson's first reaction was to widen his eyes. You know, he didn't mean to beem so surprised/em. Nico was 17 or 18 years old, already at university entrance age. It's just… it felt too unreal. Seriously, Nico Di Angelo sitting in a classroom with 40 other people listening intently to a teacher talking about some German sociologist or about financial math? The same Nico who hated crowds and fled from dinners and bonfire nights? emPff/em. What a joke./p
p class="MsoNormal"At least that explained a lot, like, for example, the relatively frequent and suspicious encounters they were having in the middle of the street./p
p class="MsoNormal""It's near here, you know", continued the youngest. "There's a whole social thing that, uh... well, the important thing is that they let me in. Chiron helped me with recommendations and some documents. That day, from the printing press, I was going to present my first seminar. I was a little nervous... I think that's why we ended up fighting."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Jackson pondered./p
p class="MsoNormal""But what if you..."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Dorms?", Interrupted the son of Hades. "You don't live in one either, and we're not exactly in a Republic called Kappa-Betta-whatever-what right now./p
p class="MsoNormal"Silence (and Percy was no longer counting how many times they were silent in that conversation)./p
p class="MsoNormal""Prefer to avoid collateral damage?", he muttered at last./p
p class="MsoNormal""Avoid collateral damage." Echoed Nico, who swayed slightly before speaking again: "Look, you don't have to accept it. Really. It's just that..."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Am I your best option?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico hesitated, then shook his head./p
p class="MsoNormal""Wow. Your options must be dire, then." Percy pointed out, rubbing his eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico seemed sincere in his request; it was as if, in fact, if Percy asked, the boy would find a way to do what he always hoped: disappear. So, who knows, that wouldn't be such a bad prospect. His life would stay the same, right? No missions, no deaths, no captures of the flag, and all that combo. Just an invisible Nico. Which is why, who knows, he was so inclined to say yes./p
p class="MsoNormal"On the other hand, the most sensible answer to that question would be "emObviously/em noem. Now get out of my way and never again set foot here or even consider visiting this place, even in imagination. Shoo/em!". After all, Nico Di Angelo represented everything he had tried to get away from in those nearly two years. Why keep him around? It would be crazy. Foolish. That's why he was also so inclined to say emno/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"So, after Nico had offered him a three-day truce for him to think, Erica Olive had given him that (stupid, emstupid/em) advice about choices. Nico showed up at her apartment. Like an idiot, Percy said something like "emThat's right Nico, come live here and destroy my last sanity in the process. Sounds super fun. Hahaha. By the way, the rent is charged every 30th. Have a good night!/em". Okay, maybe not in those exact words. And, well, Percy didn't ask where the kid got his money from, if other people knew about the move, or even what course he was taking. Nothing. He didn't need to know. He didn't emwant/em to know. He was already getting into too much trouble./p
p class="MsoNormal"This brings us, of course, to the answer to the third question. What was Nico doing on the third floor? After all, he lived in camp half-blood, right? Well, yeah. Nico did live in Hades' cabin, camp half-blood, second hill on the left, thank you very much./p
p class="MsoNormal"That at least until a few days before. Now Nico was living in apartment 173, being Percy's newest downstairs neighbor. Due to the recent move, only a few cardboard boxes adorned the room they were in, apart from the two stools they were sitting on and a small iron table with the first-aid kit scattered around./p
p class="MsoNormal"And about the fourth answer, well, Percy didn't have it. But he knew for sure it was a magic recipe, one that took away anyone's sense of reality, even a super-attentive guy like him. A recipe that made him forget that he would be alone, but, above all, that he would not be that alone./p
p class="MsoNormal"When Nico glued on the last piece of tape, Percy didn't quite know what to say. emThank you/em did not look good enough. Actually, it looks ridiculous. What came out of his mouth, then, was the most random and unnecessary thing possible, which would certainly bring his regrets:/p
p class="MsoNormal""Uh… thanks", a look away uncertain. "So you… you didn't tell me what course you're taking."/p
p class="MsoNormal"emOh/em, of course. emYou're in this super weird situation where the boy who basically swore you to death as a child, helped you on a suicide mission as a teenager, and now invaded your youth life as randomly as possible (boy you never treated with due relevance, importance or appreciation needed, it's worth mentioning) are living in the apartment below yours and bandaging your fucking leg, and the smartest things you can say are /emthanksem and /emcourseem. Fuck you, Percy. Really./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico began to pack first-aid supplies into a transparent box. For a moment he drummed his long fingers on a bottle of painkillers. Then he said:/p
p class="MsoNormal""Actually, it's quite cliché." Then he raised an eyebrow. "Try to guess"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy frowned. He didn't know anything about Nico in that sense. Did the boy like to read? Maybe he liked to dissect frogs. A hobby of collecting underworld stones? Stamps?/p
p class="MsoNormal""Uh... literature?", said the first relatively intelligent thing that came to him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico snorted through his nose in a far-off imitation of laughter./p
p class="MsoNormal""History, actually. But it didn't go that far"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Obvious. History. A person who literally lived during World War II has a ridiculous penchant for history. And you say emliterature/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy gave an embarrassed laugh and hid:/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, I wanted to be nice. I thought that would be emtoo/em cliché, except… well, I do marine biology, so I can't judge anyone."/p
p class="MsoNormal""The son of the god of the seas, who literally talks to fish, does marine biology?" Impressive."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Is that irony that I hear in your voice?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico ran a hand through his hair, his smile almost imperceptible./p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh no, of course not."/p
p class="MsoNormal"It was inevitable for Percy to smile too./p
p class="MsoNormal""Right then. I hope not. I am friends with a seal who would be very angry with this type of behavior."/p
p class="MsoNormal""And what do you think it would do?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Believe me, getting hit by a flying fish can hurt a lot."/p
p class="MsoNormal"They laughed. They were silent for a moment, both with short, (un)comfortable smiles. Percy was frantically looking for anything that would stretch the conversation and make it less awkward until he caught sight of a black-covered book out of the corner of his eye. After his eyes adjusted, he managed to read the title:/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hunger games…" he whispered without noticing./p
p class="MsoNormal""What?", Nico asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy made a surprised expression as if he had just then noticed that he had opened his mouth./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ah... are you reading The Hunger Games?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh yeah. It's the second time I read it, actually."/p
p class="MsoNormal""All trilogy?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Cool. I like it a lot, but I never read the books. Have you seen the movies?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Actually, no… I hardly watch movies."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Percy raised his eyebrows./p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't like it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico grimaced thoughtfully./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, I think I like it, yes. It's just that I usually don't have a lot of time to watch. There's always something occupying me: monsters, studying... A book is easier, I believe, to carry around and read wherever I want. Even though I have trouble reading sometimes. You know how it is. Dyslexia, blah blah blah./p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, I have a lot of movies. I always make time to see some. I even have Hunger Games. Hey, how about we watch it together?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"In his defense, Jackson was too excited about movies to even think about what he was doing before he did. He almost bit his tongue after he basically invited Nico to his apartment. But now there was no turning back: even he was polite enough to realize that saying something like "emno way, I just got really excited for three seconds, but in reality, I'd just like a former fellow camper in the same environment as me if the Phlegethon freeze, so bye/em" was too rude./p
p class="MsoNormal"Nico nodded./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, that would be nice. How about today?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"emHow about never?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh yes, of course", Percy scratched his head./p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Di Angelo closed the box./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I need to pack some stuff." He vaguely pointed to the spot with a tiny smile of amusement plastered across his pale face, as if someone had whispered to him a hilarious joke he couldn't splurge on. Jackson raised an eyebrow. "I'll show up there later."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Oh, shit/span/emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;": Percy would have to make popcorn./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Que sera, sera/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Whatever will be, will be/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The future's not ours to see/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Que sera, sera/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"emspan lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"What will be; will be/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Doris Day – Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p