ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀ ʙɪᴛᴇꜱ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴀʙᴇᴛʜ/ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ

ɪɪɪ ɴɪᴄᴏ | ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴇꜱꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɴɪᴄᴏ'ꜱ ᴍᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ

If anyone can win Too Hot to Handle, it's Nico di Angelo. Honestly, the way that these people are attracted to each other like magnets is baffling. Like he's really supposed to believe that they can't control themselves around each other?

Ugh, straight people. He eats another french fry.

"Oh, Brad, you know I'm so horny for you, but I need this money to pay for my mom's treatment!" Jenna says on the TV.

"Yeah, Jenna, and you're also so horny for Tommy and Zachary!" Nico shouts back. He reaches for the remote to change the show. Nico doesn't even have a real job and already he is so behind on his trashy reality television.

Then the timer on his phone goes off. It's just the default sound; Nico still hasn't figured out how to download songs and ringtones from YouTube.

He doesn't think he's ever going to get used to owning a real cell phone. He's still wary of the one he's currently silencing, even though he knows Leo is a literal genius. There's no need to worry now since he's within the magical borders of Camp Half-Blood, but he always wonders if bringing it on errands is a good idea. Although Leo's invention isn't supposed to attract monsters the same way that regular mortal cell phones do, Nico doesn't want to test that.

Jenna and Brad have begun to make out on the TV while Nico tip-toes to the enclosure he's built for Mrs. O'Leary's puppies. It's hard not to get excited. They're adorable.

In a couple of weeks, they won't fit in the Hades cabin, but he can't have seven untrained hellhound puppies roaming around Camp Half-Blood. Plus, the puppies are in his cabin, and that makes him the cool counselor that everyone wants to be around.

Since the war, Nico has learned that he's not so much of a loner after all; social interaction is just something that wears him out. He needs his 'me time.' It's a very healthy lifestyle.

He tosses his cold fries in the trash bin and is greeted by a pair of massive beady red eyes.

"Luna! What are you doing out? Oh, gods, how did you get out?" Nico runs to the back of the cabin and finds the other six puppies getting into trouble. Marina is chewing on one of Nico's pillows. Alfredo is throwing up on the carpet. It's bad. It's really bad.

"This nap time is over!" Nico yells and twists his skull ring frantically. "Everyone is going outside!"

Except the puppies don't know English. Nico thought it would be funny if he taught them commands in Italian. That was a terrible idea.

"Cannoli! Giu!" Cannoli does not get off of the bed.

"Raphael! Vieni!" Raphael prances over to Nico. "Bravo cane! Chi è un bravo cane?" He scratches Raphael's neck and gives him a peanut butter treat. Nico makes sure to always keep treats in his pockets for moments like these, and these moments happen often.

Nico clips a leash onto Raphael and takes him outside, or rather, Raphael takes Nico outside. He can only walk one puppy on a leash at a time because even though they're only two weeks old, they're already bigger than Great Danes. Just the other day Nico had to tell the youngest campers that they couldn't take the puppies out for walks unsupervised anymore. They seemed sad at the time, but Nico doesn't want anybody to get hurt. Besides, he's more than happy to supervise walks.

Mrs. O'Leary is waiting for Nico when he opens the garage door. Nico had to get the campers from the Hephaestus Cabin to make some major modifications to Cabin 13 when he found out Mrs. O'Leary was pregnant, the first one being the addition of a massive door.

One by one, Nico leads each puppy outside.

"Caprese! Seduto. Seduto, Caprese!" The runt of the litter sits, and Nico gives him a treat. Nico needs to find someone who'll adopt Caprese, and soon. Just like with most animals, hellhound litters often have a runt that's just weaker and can't get as much food as the others. Little Caprese is only the size of a labrador retriever. Nico admittedly doesn't know much about hellhounds, but he does know that this might be a problem.

Nico lets the puppies play outside with their mom while he goes back inside to clean up. The whole cabin smells like a wet dog. Nico worked so hard to keep this from happening.

He throws away the pillow that Marina completely destroyed and puts the other one by the door. He'd made plans to hang out with his friend Drew later today, so he'll ask her if she can fix it then.

It isn't Cabin 13's laundry day, but Nico's certain that someone else will step aside for his puppies, so he puts his sheets and pillowcases in his laundry bag for later.

"Cazzo!" Nico swears. No, no, no. This is bad. This is really bad.

This morning, he hung his suit jacket over the side of the closet so that he would remember to pack it for his half-sister's wedding.

Now it's on the floor, covered in hellhound fur.

He sets it on the pile by the door along with the pillow. Hopefully, Drew won't mind helping with that either.

"Hey, Nico! Ready for next weekend?"

Ever since the puppies were born, Nico started receiving lots of surprise Iris Messages and FaceTimes, and he's flattered that so many people want to see the hellhounds.

But this is not that kind of a surprise Iris Message. On the other line is Frank Zhang, his half-sister Hazel's fiance.

"Oh, hey Frank! Yeah, Percy and his mom and I all booked plane tickets a few weeks ago. We're flying over together," Nico says.

Frank slams his palm against his forehead. "You're telling me that Percy's mom is his plus one?"

Nico shrugs. "I think it's sweet. Besides, it's not like he has much of a choice."

"That's fair."

Nico finally gets the courage to ask: "So, this groomsman stuff... what exactly am I doing again?"

"You pretty much just have to show up to stuff. Percy volunteered to be the all-time designated driver, so just try to have a good time," Frank says. Frank's calm demeanor never fails to put Nico in a good mood. He isn't even worried about his suit jacket anymore.

"Thanks, Frank," Nico says.

"Oh, hey, Hazel told me not to make a big deal out of this, but I thought you should know that we invited Will."

Will? Why would they invite Will? They only know him because he and Nico dated, so why is Will invited?

Frank continues, "We were going to ask you first, but then we realized we kind of had to invite him-"

"Frank you're too kind," Nico interrupts. "You know you're never obligated to invite anyone to your wedding."

"Yeah, but it would have been weird because... I uh, wanted to invite Annabeth-"

"That's valid." Nico hasn't seen Annabeth in forever. Not since she moved back to California. Now he's the only counselor at camp who was on the Argo II. Even Percy rarely visits.

"Just listen to me, Nico!" Frank says. "He lives with Annabeth. Like they're roommates."

Nico winces. He'd forgotten that detail. He's also a little surprised they're still living together. "You don't think-"

"Honestly? I don't think it's like that. Leo stalked Will on Instagram and it looks like he's really busy working in a hospital," Frank says.

"Good for him," says Nico. "Did they RSVP?"

"No," says Frank. "But we're still holding out. It would be really awesome if Annabeth could come."

Nico understands. Frank really looked up to Annabeth when they were teenagers, so of course, he would want her at his wedding. For Frank's sake, Nico hopes that they do decide to come. Ex-boyfriends and girlfriends shouldn't get in the way of Frank and Hazel's big day, even though the mere mention of possibly seeing Will makes Nico's stomach churn.

He changes the subject. "So does Hazel want a puppy as a wedding gift?"