Boys in the Wild

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Hi guys, just want to let you know that this is going to be a little series, maybe two or three parts, so keep an eye out for the second part! Also, sorry this is up a day late, I went camping(ironic) and didn't find out I wouldn't have service to post until we got there.

Nico's POV

"Everyone has their bags?" Mr. Brunner asks, clapping his hands and staring around at the group of high schoolers, dark circles ringing the space underneath their eyes and shoulders slumped. Percy is falling asleep on Nico's shoulder and Nico shakes him awake, nodding dully as an answer to Mr. Brunner's question. When no one responds Mr. Brunner frowns, crossing his arms over his chest and taking another step, moving closer into the group of tired students.

"I said does everyone have their bags?" His question is met with a tired mumbled yes, thoroughly unenthusiastic. "Anyone forget anything else? Pajamas, toothbrush?"

"I forgot that at your mom's house," Leo calls out, giggling despite the light punch he gets from Piper. Nico keeps glancing at the door to the school, the bus parked outside and the engine running. He's tired of this, the constant questions that make him feel as if he's back in middle school. They're high school juniors, and they just want to get on the bus.

"I'm going to assume that you're all set, considering the lack of answers." Mr. Brunner sighs, rubbing at his eyes and grabbing onto his own duffel bag. "If everyone's all set, you can get on the bus." It's a mad rush as the students who had been practically asleep moments before fight each other tooth and nail for the coveted back seats that really aren't that great anyway, besides the ability to draw on the back window for the cars behind them to see.

Nico and Percy walk slow, sleep still clogging their systems and making them lag behind the others. Mr. Brunner follows them, dragging his duffel behind him and hiding a yawn behind his hand. Nico doesn't know how he's going to manage to handle a hundred and fifty high school juniors for a week after the other teacher called out with an aptly timed illness. Nico knows he couldn't.

"Who's in the rest of our group?" Nico asks as they slip into the front seats of the bus, their duffel bags weighing heavy on their laps.

"Uuh," Percy says, leaning his head on the back of the seat and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I think that singer kid. Austin. Oh, and Will Solace." Percy lifts his head up from the back of the seat, grinning. "Hey, isn't Will the kid in your history? The one you always talk about being cute? The one with the bi flag on his backpack?" Nico feels his face flush and he crosses his arms over his chest, fighting back a smile.

"Maybe."

"Dude now's your chance! Honestly, the same gender room placements aren't fair. Annabeth is on the next floor."

"You wanna trade being able to have your girlfriend in the same room as you for years of oppression?" Percy's face goes red and he picks at a string on his duffel, twisting it around his finger.

"I'll stop talking now." Nico smiles at him, pushing his feet up against the back of the seat in front of him and sinking down. The scenery whizzes past leaves of orange and red and yellow blending together until it's just one fall-colored blur. The bus smells of hot coffee and cold mornings and Nico burrows deeper into his sweatshirt, pulling up his hood so that his face is covered in shadows. He's comfortable, despite the bumpiness of the bus and the loud sound of chatter. Maybe a week of staying in cold cabins and doing activities with people he barely knows won't be as bad as the upperclassmen made it out to be.

"Seriously, though," Percy says. "You should go for him. He's cute. Like, I'm not gay, but I'd hit that. Don't know how Annabeth would feel about that, but I'd still hit that."

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