𝑻𝐇𝐄 𝑵𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒━━ 𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘯𝘢𝘱

30

"do you think george is going to like living here?" i asked nick, quietly. we were laying in bed, admiring the way our new room was coming together quite nicely.

"i hope so," nick said.

"do you think he would like it more if i weren't living here? i know dream has waited ages for this to happen, and i don't want george to be uncomfortable with me being here when he's trying to hang out with you guys." ever since the news of george's arrival, i had worried about whether he would see me as an intrusion or be comfortable with me also living here.

"thalia," nick said, turning on his side. "you've lived here as long as i have. you are the heart of this whole house. george will love having you here, just like dream and i do."

i turned that over in my mind as i wrapped the blanket around me more. after a long moment of silence, i said, "thanks nick."

"now go to sleep. you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow," he mumbled, already almost asleep.

i smiled to myself. nick could easily pull all nighters, so it was always a surprise to me how easily he fell asleep. normally i would lie awake for ages, unable to shut my brain off. tonight, however, was different. the steadiness of nick' breathing lulled me to sleep easily, and i ended up sleeping really well for the first time in a long time.

i woke up early and decided to cook breakfast for the three of us. it had been far too long since one of us actually cooked breakfast, and it happened to be my favorite meal of the day- besides lunch and dinner of course- so that made it even more of a tragedy.

i didn't have to be at work until later that morning, so i thought it would be good for us to enjoy breakfast together. as soon as i was done cooking, i yelled for the boys to get out of bed. in minutes, they were blinking sleep from their eyes in front of me.

"thalia," dream said slowly as he eyed the food, "have i ever told you that i absolutely adore you?"

"yes but it's always nice to hear again," i said with a little laugh.

as we started eating, nick bumped his shoulder against mine. "so why you'd cook breakfast today?"

"because i wanted to," i replied.

dream raised an eyebrow at me as he took a long sip of his drink. "thalia, you know that nick and i know you better than anyone else. which is how we both know that you made us breakfast because this is the last morning where it's just going to be us three and you're worried about how things are going to change."

nick nodded along then added, "yeah, you're totally trying to preserve one last perfect memory in case everything goes wrong when george comes, which it won't."

i rolled my eyes at that. "i hate you guys."

"but you know we're right," dream pointed out.

"maybe. anyways i have to get to work now. take care of the dishes please, bye!" i laughed as their grumbling about doing dishes followed me out.

the day at the office went smoothly and quickly, thankfully. when i made it back home, nick and dream had cooked dinner and set up for a movie marathon in the basement. i ended up falling asleep on the couch, along with nick and dream.