100 reasons to love our lives

Pitch black rooms

Will

My heart trembled in fear whenever I thought of what lay before me.

Celine knocked on Nico's door and commanded: "Neeks! Come out!"
I rubbed my hands and returned Kathy's sympathetic smile with a crooked one. She seemed to sense what was up, but just like me, she couldn't say no to Celine.

There was a little rumble, then, the door unlocked. "You are too early", he greeted us. "Almost half an hour."
"Nice to see you too", Yassy meant and gave him a quick hug. He looked flattered by that, his cheeks had a hollow shade of red to them as he looked over to me. "But now for real", he said. "What's the benefit of being thirty minutes too early?"
"We can eat beforehand", Celine meant. "You don't even have your shoes on!"
"Yeah, because you are too early", he meant. "Come in."

We stepped into the room. Nico now gave me a short hug, his lips softly pecking my chin.
Kathy went over to the sword shards. "That's a wicked cool set of night lights", she acknowledged. "Thank you", Nico said.

Yassy, humming silently, looked over to the room side of Simon; a colorful contrast to my boyfriend's black-and-white aesthetic.

Celine, however, looked at Nico's blankets. "You are a whole lot of an emo, huh?", she teased. "Do you own anything colorful?"
He shrugged and sat down on his mattress, slipping his shoes on. "I have my boyfriend", he said. "And my jacket is brown."

"That doesn't count. You definitely need some color in your life", she snorted and he shrugged. "Maybe. You still didn't tell us which movie we're going into."
"It's a secret", she grinned. "You'll enjoy it, don't worry. Now, hurry up!" She threw his flight jacket at him. It wasn't the first one he got; that jacket had been completely destroyed at the journey with Reyna. But it looked similar; it even was a few numbers too big, just like the first jacket had been.

He stripped it on and then jumped to his feet. "Where do we eat?", he asked.
"Nowhere", Celine said.
"But didn't you just..."
"We'll pick something up on the way. Now hurry, slowpokes!"
Kathy chuckled. "Calm down, Ceecee."

But we all followed her outside.

Celine technically had a seat in the subway, but she preferred to jump around in our wagon instead. Neither Nico nor I did mind: we were used to hyperactive beings. For half a decade, we have been surrounded by demigods; one fidgety young adult was almost restful.

Nico had buried his face in the curve of my neck, breathing slowly, his eyes closed.
"Are you okay?", I whispered into his ear.
"Not really", he answered, just as silent as me. "Do you remember what happened the last time we went out to see a movie?"
"Yes, I do", I confirmed and looked out the window.

That catastrophe - including skeleton groupies, human movie watchers with the worst cold ever and a broken screen - happened shortly after Tartarus.

"But it was four years ago. We are more stable now", I said, more to myself than to him. "I know", he whispered and then exhaled deeply.

He was so calm. The therapy session today really seemed to have helped him; I had recognized his jumpiness the last weeks. "I'm just happy that I'm not alone", he murmured and nudged his lips against my jaw.

Kathy now hissed: "Celine, can you sit still for two minutes?!"
"You can't blame someone for moving, couch potato", she responded and spun around a pole, jumping over the seats. "I'll have to sit still for two hours, and the wagon is empty."
Kathy rolled her eyes. "I'm buying the tickets, alright?"
"Wait, Kathy knows?", I asked. "I thought it would be a surprise?"
"I know too", Yassy sighed. "And I don't agree with the choice. But I was outnumbered."