The Curse of Oenone (Daughter of Olympus II) - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

I Don't Have Any More Live Laugh Love Left in Me

Ara's absently spinning her newly acquired flintlock, Nico scowls at the scene and grumbles. "You shouldn't own a gun."

"Easy, Neeks. As much as I don't like you, you'd be a waste of bullets. Besides, Hazel said I could keep it."

The boy makes a face. "You're out of control." She huffs and spins the gun again, Nico snatches the firearm and eyes it with annoyance. "Where's the safety in this thing?"

"The safety's in place, jackass. I wasn't playing with it without making sure it's safe," she scowls. "That's the problem with you and Lily, you think I throw knives up in the air and catch them with my eyes closed. I'm not stupid."

He hands the gun back. "You're stupid if you think this is about us not believing you can do your job. For Hades's sake, you've killed more monsters in the last week than I ever thought you'd face in our lifetime! This is about your psyche."

"Why would you care about that?"

His voice comes out sharp and resentful, he pulls the words out of his chest with difficulty. "You and Lily are the only people I can call friends."

The girl stares at him. "Wow... Is that supposed to make me feel bad?"

Nico frowns. "Excuse me?"

She smirks. "You think you can't get more friends? Is that it? The campers don't hate you, you know? What they dislike is that you keep popping out of dark corners without warning—You and Lily have got to stop doing that, it's rude."

Nico's mouth opens to argue, but he seems more confused than angry. "What?"

"I think campers detest me far more than they could ever dislike you!" She snorts. "They're used to big three kids by now, and for what it's worth, Travis and Connor Stoll consider you a distant friend at the very least. They like how easily you rile me up."

Seeing that Nico is still speechless, she keeps going. "Lily and I are no exception to the rule, you could have more friends if you stopped assuming they're all against you. They think you're badass, they just don't approach because they think you don't want to hang out with them, so take a risk."

He scowls at her. "And you know all about taking useless risks, right?"

Ara smiles, unbothered by his hostility. "You know... I know why Lily's angry. She thought I'd grow to be different since I've always been the emotional one, but letting my ugly feelings out... that's not who I am. I can't release them, they're too much. I don't get why you hate me so much, though."

Nico thinks of Lily, and how she's stuck between two idiots who refuse to do anything to save themselves. "I don't hate you..." he doesn't feel like unpacking that, so he changes the subject. "If I give camp a chance, do you promise to pull some of your feelings out?"

Ara's voice comes out with amusement. "If I agree, the only way you'll escape this is if I die. Even then it's not certain, considering you're the son of Hades, and I'm acquainted with the Underworld. Making a promise to each other is like making a deal with the devil, don't you think?"

He makes a face. "Yeah, but I know which buttons to push to get you to do things, and you know mine. We can make sure the other keeps their word."

Ara sighs, knowing that's accurate. "Yeah, I think so."

"So... deal?" He reaches out to shake hands. 

Ara holds his palm firmly. "You're on. I can't wait to become more of a nuance to you."

"I can't wait to see you cry about overcooked s'mores again," he smirks.

"No one wanted to eat it! Can you imagine what that does to the self-esteem of a s'more?"