Darkness & Sea Go Hand-in-Hand [Hiatus]

7

When Percy woke up in an unfamiliar place, of course his first instinct was to fall out of bed, tangled in blankets.
When he recovered himself, he shoved his hand in the pocket which Riptide rested, preparing for the unexpected.

But what he saw instantly melted his panic and guard;
On the other bed laid Nico, wrapped in the thick blankets, his hair messier than usual, his eyelids fluttering slightly as he dreamt, and his lips parted slightly.

Best thing to wake up to, in Percy's opinion.

He scanned around the room. It seemed like a normal every day hotel room. But after all his tricky adventures, he wasn't sure it was that.
Resting his hand on his Ballpoint Pen Sword and guarding again, he slowly crept to the shut white door, looking over his shoulder at Nico to make double sure nothing was wrong, and opened the door.

Annabeth was resting on the couch, eating a slice of pizza as she scanned a large piece of paper; upon closer inspection, Percy saw it was a map of the U.S, with a small map of Texas to New Mexico in the corner.

"Morning, Sleepy Seaweed." Annabeth said, tracing a line on the map to Mexico.

Percy, rubbing an eye, scanned the room.
"Where are we?" he asked, the last thing he was able to remember being their car trip.

She wrote something down on a notebook next to the map and took a bite of her pizza.
"A hotel near the edge of Texas. We had to stop and rest. And Nico was too tired. I'm shocked he was able to carry you."

Nico? Carried him?
Sure, Nico was stronger than he looked. But the kid was still looked like one of the skeletons he would raise up!
He had to admit, the image of Nico carrying him was kind of pleasing, despite his bony figure.

"Okay, tomato face" Annabeth said, nudging him. "Go eat. Albert got us pizza, it's sitting in the kitchen."

Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Tomato face?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"You're blushing like crazy, Percy."

Only now did Percy realize how warm his face was.
"Dam it..." he mumbled, scrunching his face, as he walked into the kitchen.
As he ate some pizza, he'd asked Annabeth if anything happened while he was asleep.

"Not much," she had replied. "Me and Nico just chatted a bit, I stayed awake until we got here, Nico carried you like you were his bride-" she chuckled a little at this as Percy blushed again. "-and the last thing I remember is blacking out on the couch while Nico carried you into there."

As Percy slurped some of the stringy pizza cheese, he looked at the door.
"At least he's getting some sleep right now. Gods, he needs it. Have you seen how dark those circles around his eyes are! Once this is all over. whether he's at camp or not, I'm making sure he gets the sleep he needs."

He now noticed Annabeth biting her lip, trying hard not to laugh.
"What?" Percy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing" she said, shaking her head. "It's just funny seeing you fret over him. You are most definitely head over heals in love with him! I'm shocked Nico can't see that."

Percy blushed more, eating his pizza in silence.

After a little while, the bedroom door open, revealing a half awake Nico rubbing one of his eyes, his other eye nearly hidden behind his bedraggled hair.
Gods, Percy couldn't stop himself from thinking about how cute that was...

"Good morning," he tried to say, but it came out as a more sluggish "g'murnin."

Pizza in hand, Percy said "Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty!"