King of My Miserable Life

Chapter 13

"A dead end?! Are you kidding me?!" Nico hit the wall in frustration. "I climbed through this filthy excuse for a secret passage to hit a dead end?!"

Will barely held back his laughter. "Sorry for getting your hopes up, Nico."

"Ugh..." Nico laid his head in the dirt. "Now we have to crawl all the way back."

"You're the one that insisted we come." Will reminded him. "I didn't sign up for this."

"You signed up for all the stupid shit I do when you asked to date me." Nico started to crawl back the way they came. "Remember that."

Will followed, his arms full of dirt and spider webs. "It's worth it, though."

Nico smiled, knowing Will couldn't see his expression. "Good."

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"There you are!" Will ran to greet Annabeth, his nose wrinkling when he smelled the wine that seemed to have spilled on her shirt. "Where were you? I finally got Nico to sleep but he was worrying about Percy all night."

Annabeth looked up at him, having been sitting on the cot she used as a bed. "Percy and I explored the city. What's so wrong about that?"

"You got drunk." Will replied bluntly.

"And? I'm old enough, Will." Annabeth rubbed her aching head. "Though I admit, for my first time drinking I got a lot down before getting drunk." She looked up at the small window, her eyes narrowing at the thin slice of sunlight. "What time is it?"

"Almost breakfast." Will brought her a change of clothes. "I would shower if I was you."

Annabeth snatched the clothes and stood up, stretching her back. "How'd your night go? When I got in here you were sleeping with your pillow. Acting like it was Nico?"

Will blushed. "Annabeth-"

"Relax, I was joking." she moved towards the bathroom. "You're going to be late for work, you know."

"So are you." Will straightened his clothes out. "I'll meet you down there?"

"Yeah, I'll just skip breakfast." Annabeth disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Will alone in the bedroom. All the other servants had left, having gone to work the moment they woke up. Nobody dared be late on a day like this.

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Nico stared down at Percy's sleeping form, holding a glass of water as he contemplated on using it. Percy was laying on the floor of his bedroom, not even having made it to the bed. No blankets, shoes still on. A look of a drunken night gone late.

"You idiot." Nico poured the cup of water over Percy's face. "Time for your hangover."

Percy's eyes flew open, his long eyelashes holding droplets of water. He looked up at Nico, the pain of his headache starting to crash down on him. "Nico..."

"You're the one that got drunk, not me." Nico set the cup on the table. "You need to get ready. Breakfast is soon."

"I don't want breakfast." Percy covered his eyes. "I want sleep."

"Too bad for you." Nico kicked his side. "Up. You have to tell me what happened last night when we lost you."

"What's to tell?" Percy sat up, his eyes closed. "Annabeth and I stole some McDonald's, ate it, got drunk, walked back here. I don't remember much."

"Of course you don't." Nico sat next to him. "I hung out with Will."

"You have that look..." Percy had opened his eyes to look Nico up and down. "Please tell me...no..." Percy grinned. "You got with him? Nico!"

Nico quickly covered Percy's mouth. "Shut up!"

Percy started laughing, hard. "Oh god, this is amazing. Absolutely amazing! What did you do with him? Please tell me you didn't have another one night stand."

Nico wrinkled his nose. "First of all, Will wouldn't be a one night stand. Second of all, we didn't...do that. We may have kissed but that's it. Oh, and he...asked me to date him. I said yes."

Percy shook his head. "How are you always the first to find someone to date? Annabeth is...scary."

Nico started laughing, this time, his hand on his stomach. "You find her scary? You're doomed, Percy."

Percy was about to retort when a knock came at the door, rushed. "Prince Nico?" A quiet voice, timid and shy. "Are you in there, your majesty? You weren't in your room and I have nowhere else to look..."

"I'm here." Nico elbowed Percy before looking back to the door. "Come in. What's up?"

A female servant opened the door, taking a minute to bow before walking over to Nico. She handed him an envelope, the wax seal as red as blood. "That's from your father, your majesty."

"Thanks..." Nico made sure she was gone before tearing the letter open. "Let's bet on what it says."

"Probably kicking us out." Percy laid down. "My head still hurts..."

"Take a pill." Nico unfolded the paper and read it over, his lips twitching as he got further in. "Invited to a ball...after a coronation...dates needed for any guests..."

Percy perked his head up. "Ball? When?"

Nico crumbled the paper in his hands. "I have a coronation today..."

"Cool."

"Not cool." Nico scowled. "I don't want to be public."

"You'll be fine. You'll fully be a prince. Royalty's gotta be awesome." Percy rolled onto his stomach. "Now go away, I'm sleeping."

Nico let him sleep, let his feet carry him away from Percy's room. He needed to be alone.