Things Are Not What They Seem

Part 16: A Good Day

(This whole rest of the story will be fluff and that's very yay)

I remember being shaken awake at like 4am, and I was EXHAUSTED. I wanted to slap Nico. Then I saw that he was still in his boxers, and smiled at how cute he looked.

His smile in the darkness, he seemed so happy. I don't know why, but I liked it.

He was holding a small box, and it smelled like cookies.

Oreos. Maybe that's why he's so happy.

"What are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep, after I woke because of a nightmare. I couldn't sleep funnily, not because of the nightmare, but because of you."

I felt myself blush. Me? I was flattered.

"I love you too."

I kissed him lightly, and hugged him too. He almost dropped the Oreos on accident because of that.

I giggled, and pulled him outside, so we could do whatever, maybe eat some Oreos.

"Let's sit in the grass and stare at the stars."

We sat in silence, and then he handed me an Oreo and I ate it, slowly, savoring the cream and cookie. It was delicious, and I ate about 5. He ate a good few too, and we watched the stars, for what felt like hours.

There were many beautiful stars, all shining, and twinkling in the dark blue night sky. It was absolutely stunning.

We saw one shooting star, and I made a wish to die with him, live with him throughout his life, no matter how long it would be.

It was just a flash, a streak of a quick and fading brush, painting a star across the sky.

The whole setting was really great, I was outside in the cool air, I was cuddling with Nico, eating some cookies, and watching the stars.

I would've sat their for hours but, nah.

We stayed until it got light, and then went back in to sleep.

We slept cuddled up against each other, snuggling together.

We woke up a few hours later, completely rested, and ready to do something, anything. So we decided to get dressed and go for a walk in the woods.

It was now bright, and we had a snack along the way since we were not very hungry because of the Oreos. We ate an apple and a granola bar each, and got out.

The camp was actually pretty busy today. Lots of noise and talking could be heard in the distance, but Nico and I stayed away from it. We walked towards the woods, smelling the fresh morning air.

We walked hand in hand, and his hand felt perfect in mine, and we walked towards a river in the forest.

The woods were huge, and easy to get lost in. But they were beautiful. Green trees that were browning and turning all colors like orange and red, the musty smell of wet mulch, the noises of branches snapping and breaking into little pieces, and all kinds of things.

It made it interesting, to know that the forest was alive, and felt alive.

I enjoyed all of it, and as soon as we came up on the river, I noticed something.

The trash.

It was obvious at the start that of course the forest wasn't perfect, some people just decide that it really doesn't matter if it's just one piece of trash, be it a bubblegum wrapper or a piece of plastic left over from peeling it off a water bottle, but if everyone thinks that....then it will become a problem.

That's what happened here.

The river was full of trash, and you could see it was not full of life, not because of the fall that was on the way, but because of the fact that nothing could live there because of all the trash.

We decided to do something about it.

It was just terrible seeing such a lovely stream filled with sorrows that will never be removed, because this place is abandoned and unused.

Nobody comes here to swim because it is not deep enough.

Nobody comes here to see nature and its beauty that it keeps in secret.

Nobody comes. So we had to do something.

We walked back to get gloves and a trash bag from the Hades cabin, because Nico is kind of secretly nuts about it...he loves nature a lot. It's cute, seeing him stare in awe of a butterfly, and take pictures of small trees that are growing slowly.

He smiled as we walked back, and I knew he was happy about the whole thing. Being with me, cleaning the forest, and being good to everything and everyone.

We got there, and got to work.

Plastic bottles, old lighters, soda cups, we saw it all. Everything broken, everything used, everything beyond repair.

It was a wasteland, of stupid things.

We cleaned it all.

Made sure not to get hurt on any of the bits of glass, and metal too. We were very safe about the whole thing.

Once we finally finished after a lot of hard work, we went to go get some lemonade, and sandwiches from Hazel who was proud of us for helping out.

She smiled and we took it and ate by the river we finished cleaning.

It was now our little spot, and I was happy about it. Now it was sparkling clean, and we filled it with joy instead of rubbish.

I sighed happily as I sipped my lemonade.

"That was amazing."
"I know right! You were so helpful!"
"You were too! You helped me so much."

I kissed him, softly, and it quickly ended and I said.

"You were amazing."
"T-Thank you...I love you too!"

We sat there, by the river, relaxing with a cold glass of lemonade in hand and a turkey and cheese sandwich in the other.

Life was good.