As Different as Night and Day

Will

Because it was Nico's turn to pick activities yesterday and I had sent him on a hunt and then thrown him a party, he got to pick out what we did today. I was quite afraid to be truthful. He could be very devious if he wanted to.

I picked the puppy up, which Nico had decided to name Sunshine, and stroked her head. She twisted in my arms so that she was on her back and waved her tiny front paws around asking for a belly rub. I happily obliged and soon Sunshine had drifted off to sleep in my arms. I smiled and gently set her down in the dog bed. I was able to get Chiron's permission to bring a puppy to camp. He made me swear on the River Styx that even though the dog slept with me and Nico, that everyone in camp would be able to play with her and I had to potty train and teach her tricks and stuff like that. So far Sunshine could sit, heel, come, and stay on command. I was working on fetching but she never seemed to quite understand the let go part.

Nico opened the door and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a kiss. I scooped him up so that now his legs were wrapped around me and I was shorter than him. He rested his head on top of mine momentarily and then planted a line of kisses on my jaw line. He stared kissing down my neck and ran his lips gently across my skin until they met mine. I literally had goosebumps. I, being the controlled person I am, moaned with pleasure. He smirked at me triumphantly and bumped his head against my cheeks like a cat would, sending another round of shivers down my spine. Then the heartless Death Boy came back and he jumped down and strutted out the door. I sighed in exasperation and gave myself a moment to recollect my suaveness and slow down my pumping heart. He was good but I, was better.

I followed behind him, daydreaming about what would've happened had he continued. I received a slap in the middle of my dream because a) we had stopped walking and b) I was speaking what I daydreamed so that when I came back to earth, I was looking at a bright red Nico. I smiled shyly at him and he flicked my nose. He then grabbed my ear and proceeded to tug me along by it. I was yelping in pain by the time we got down to the beach. He finally let go and I clutched the wounded ear and gave him kicked puppy eyes. He just rolled his eyes at me. "Kiss it to make it all better!" I whined at him
"Fine you idiot." He stood on his tiptoes to gain the extra height he needed to reach the side of my head. He paused next to my ear before gently kissing it then bopping my nose. He sprinted down the beach and I saw that he was headed towards a blanket and basket up in the shade of a tree. He reached the picnic and motioned for me to come over to him. I dashed to him, kicking up sand in my wake. He was taking out containers and containers of fruit. He smiled at me sheepishly. "I got Katie to make it when I finally managed to pull her away from making goo goo eyes at Travis."
"They are the cutest couple ever! When do you think Travis is gonna man up and ask her out?"
"My money is on Katie asking first. She just wants to be confident that he likes her before she does it."
"Ten bucks?"
"Ten dollars, two drachmas, and you have yourself a deal."
"Done" I picked up a blueberry and popped it into my mouth. "Mmmm, tell Katie thank you for me. These are delicious." I grabbed a strawberry, dipped it in the chocolate sauce that Nico had opened and devoured it along with ten others. Nico laughed. "Save some for me!" He teasingly protested. I took a strawberry and held it out to him. When he held out his hand for me to put it in, I shook my head. He tried to take it from me but I kept a tight grip on it. Finally he resigned and bit off half of the strawberry out of my hand and I ate the rest. He turned a color similar to the food he was consuming and I laughed. He took the container of strawberries from me, dipped one in chocolate and held it out for me. I gladly leaned forward to take a chunk out of the fruit but he pulled it away last second and wiped some of the chocolate on my nose. He burst out
laughing and it only died down when I threw a chocolate covered blueberry at him. I swear he must be able to slow down time because he caught it in his mouth and chewed it. I growled in frustration and he laughed again but there was no way he way he was prepared for what happened next.

I dunked two of my fingers in the chocolate and wiped them down his neck. Immediately he pulled a whip cream can out of the basket and sprayed me. It was really good whipped cream too. I grabbed up the chocolate container, stood, and dipped in my whole hand. I flung my hand in Nico's direction and saw brown lines crisscrossing his shirt. I received another layer of whipped cream but I stood my ground. Nico got up cautiously and circled in closer until I could have reached out my arm and touched him. I secretly scooped up some chocolate in my hand and flung it at him. He received a big brown splat in the middle of his shirt and roared in anguish. I screamed, no, that sounds girly, shouted "Aaaaaahhhhhh" at the highest pitch possible for a boy of seventeen years as I sprinted across camp. I ran to my room, locked the door, jumped in the shower and washed off the wonderful sweetness before changing into a clean set of clothes and running into the forest.

I stopped at a particular tree that looked dead and abandoned. I climbed its spiraling branches until I reached the top where a small shack sat. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me before placing my hand on it. I hear a whirring noise and then the confining box I was in started to move. The tree, in truth, was metal and acted as an elevator shaft into my underground lair. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a friend who's a kid of Hephaestus. I had all of my necessities here and it was also an amazing hideout spot. I really wanted to show Nico but right now it was the only place I could hide from him. I had even put his hand print into the computer so that he could come down here by himself if he wanted. I heard the elevator moving again and I figured that it must have been Wyatt showing the lair to his new best friend Violet so I went into the other room leaving Wyatt to do what he wanted. I listened as the doors slid open with a ding and heard a gasp that didn't sound like it belonged to a little girl as well as something hitting the floor and rolling. I poked my head out of the door and saw it was Nico with his jaw dropped and a can of whipped cream on the ground. I burst out laughing so hard that I fell to my knees. He looked absolutely flabbergasted! The look on his face was priceless!

He very quickly grew annoyed with me and the fact that I was laughing at him and eventually gave up waiting for me to stop because he just decided to pounce on me. I was on the floor, belly up and Nico was leaning over me with his nose centimeters from mine. I was staring in to his deep chocolate eyes and I noticed that they flickered down to my lips more than once. I gave up on waiting for him to take initiative and wrapping my hands around his neck, pulled him to me. Just as I was about to deepen the kiss, the elevator dinged and Nico leaped away like a scalded cat. Wyatt was looking at me with curiosity in his tiny eyes and Violet who was holding his hand had a look of disgust on her face. Wyatt then tapped Violet on the shoulder and gestured around the room making her stop and stare. I scrambled up and Wyatt tilted his head ever so slightly. "What were you doing to Nico?"
"Well, you see, ummmm..."
"I was saving his life." Nico had just rescued Wyatt's innocence. "He choked on whipped cream and I was giving him CPR." I mentally face palmed. All of the Apollo campers get certified in CPR first thing and even the little ones learn about it. You don't use CPR when someone is choking. I watched as Wyatt narrowed his eyes. "Did he go uncon-unconc-unconsh-unconscious or something? Because choking is when you use the Hi- Heim-heimlinck? Heimlich man-manuf-manuv-"
"Yes Wyatt, I passed out and Nico was helping me." Wyatt nodded his head as if he understood everything and tugged Violet along behind him to show her around. "Thank you for that attempt at a save."
"But I messed up."
"It's the thought that counts."
"You are so cheesy."
"I thought that was gouda."
"Wow. I applaud your idiocy."
"Hey! That's not nice!"
"I'm not a nice person"
"Yes you are, you just don't let anyone else know that you are." I smiled at him and scooped the whipped cream up from the floor. I squirted it in my mouth and offered it to Nico. He opened his mouth and I piled some in. I guided him into the room that Wyatt and Violet were in so that we could keep an eye on them. I scooped up Wyatt, spun him around, placed him on my shoulders and galloped around the room. I saw that Violet was looking expectantly at Nico and so I nudged him and gave him a look. He picked up Violet and put her on his back. He just sort of walked around the room. She was smiling and bouncing around. Wyatt decided to yell "Charge!" Right in my ear so I galloped at Nico who sped up trying to get out of my way and I saw Violet's smile widen. I kept on Nico's heels making him go faster. Finally, Violet started laughing and shrieking with joy. I slowed down and started panting. I picked Wyatt off my shoulders and slammed him into the couch. Nico had stopped so that Violet could slide off of his back to run over to Wyatt. He was still lying on the couch giggling so she jumped onto his stomach making him tickle her so that she would get off and they tumbled to the floor. I plopped down on the couch, pulled Nico into my lap and put my nose into his black hair. The smell was almost like if someone had taken vanilla ice cream and coated every single strand of hair on my Death boy's hair with it. I loved it and wished we could stay in that moment forever.