King of My Miserable Life

Chapter 6

Percy sat next to Nico on the plane, his eyes fixated on the window and the clouds they flew over. It was beautiful, if not a little terrifying. They had already been flying for hours, but he knew it would be awhile until they got there. So he sat back, ate what food they gave him, and used Nico's laptop to look up more about the country they were going to.

"Ew, listen to this." Percy tapped Nico's arm to get his attention. "These common foods for them are disgusting. Everything is made of either peppers or this meat. Look at this meat. That isn't something you see here."

"Maybe it's human meat," Nico replied bluntly, but the spark in his eyes let Percy know he was joking. "I'm sure there's a McDonald's or something."

"McDonald's every day." Percy laughed. "You wish."

Nico nodded. "Yes, yes I do."

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Percy fell asleep during the tenth hour of their flight. Nico had been looking out the window over him but soon his snoring became too obnoxious, and Nico put headphones in and sat back. His jacket was wrapped tightly around him but he still shivered, his teeth chattering against each other. The Cartian guard was across the aisle on his own laptop, but he had no headphones in so he could listen out for the boy he was paid to guard.

It was the eleventh hour when Percy woke up with a start with drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. Nico had his headphones in but witnessed the scene, a small smirk on his face as he spoke. "How do you drool so much?"

"Shut up," Percy shoved his shoulder before rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Are we almost there?"

"About eight more hours." Nico huffed. "My legs are falling asleep."

"Mine have been asleep for hours." Percy stood up and yanked Nico's earbuds out. "How are you talking to me with those?"

"You're easy to read the lips off. Now give me my music back."

Percy kept the earbuds in his fist as he looked around the plane. "Walk with me to the bathroom?"

"Percy, we're literally the only ones on this flight. How are you such a child-"

"Please?" Percy questioned. He glanced towards the guard before looking back to Nico. "I need to show you...that thing...yeah, that thing on my leg. Remember?"

Nico scowled at Percy's bad excuse but stood up, kicking his legs to try and restore blood flow. "Fine, I'll check the thing on your leg." He followed Percy down the aisle and to the bathroom, eventually squeezing into the small room with him. Once they were alone Nico glared at Percy before shaking his head. "That was too obvious."

"Well, I'm sorry I wanted to talk to you without that guard listening in." Percy defended quietly. "I needed to tell you something."

"And what something couldn't wait until we landed?" Nico asked.

"The guard," Percy answered.

"Hm?" Nico looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"The guard." Percy gestured to the door. "The one sitting out there? Think about how he looks familiar."

Nico looked at him as if he was insane. "Percy, what the hell are you talking about? Are you still half asleep?"

Percy huffed. "Nico. Listen. It's been bothering me since we saw him at the airport. We've seen him before. Just look at him."

"I can't see him from in here-"

"Here." Percy got his phone out and stuffed it under Nico's nose. "I took a picture."

"Stalker." Nico took the phone and looked down at the picture. Percy had taken it when the guard wasn't looking, the man having been staring out the window. "What about him, Percy? I'm sorry, I don't see how he's familiar."

"He's our old teacher!" Percy protested. "Dr. Thorn!" His eyes widened and he clamped a hand over his mouth, glancing towards the door to see if anyone was outside it, but no noise came.

"Oh god, it is." Nico stared at the picture. "Damn, Percy. What does that even mean?"

"Your dad's been watching you for longer than we thought." Percy uncovered his mouth. "It's kind of creepy."

"Do you think he knows you're coming?" Nico asked. "I mean...do you think he'll be mad about that?"

Percy shrugged. "I couldn't care less about what he thinks."

"I don't want him to kick you out or something," Nico explained. "Like what if he doesn't want you to live there and you have nowhere to go?"

"You worry too much." Percy took his phone back. "Let's go sit back down before he thinks we're doing something weird back here."

Nico laughed. "Percy! He wouldn't think that."

"Well if he's been watching you he'll know you're gay."

"And he'll know you're my brother." Nico shot back. "He doesn't think we're doing stuff back here."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well, I still think we should go back soon. What if he thinks we're plotting against him or something?"

Nico sighed but gave in. He opened the door and stalked back to his seat, noticing that Dr. Thorn was now wearing headphone when he hadn't previously. He glanced towards Nico when he came back before looking away, taking the earbuds from his ears again.

Nico narrowed his eyes at the man before sitting down, cracking his fingers to fill the silence. Once he couldn't make them crack anymore he looked to Dr. Thorn, his eyes narrowed. "Are you the only one that was listening in to that conversation?"

"Hm?" Percy looked over in confusion before freezing when he saw that Nico was talking to the other man.

Dr. Thorn looked to Nico, a smile tugging at his lips. "I actually didn't know you were gay, Prince Nico. Seems I failed a part of my job. If your father asks, you didn't know about that yet."

"You've been reporting to my father about me?" Nico asked. "Are you kidding me?"

"I've been doing my job, Prince Nico. I do what I need to to avoid getting killed." Dr. Thorn started to type away at his laptop. "And to answer your question, he knows your friend is coming. And he isn't going to kick him out."

Nico scowled but looked away, knowing he couldn't get too mad. Like he had said, this man was doing it to save his own life.