I'm Special

The Key to Heaven

Food is always the key to Heaven. I feel like I'm floating, 'cause these pancakes are the fluffiest that I've ever tasted. Pancakes, maple syrup, bacon and Percy's eggs. I look over at Percy's drowned pancakes and I sneer at it in disgust. I look at him in the eye and glare causing him to glare back.

"Are you even sane? No sane person drowns their pancakes in maple syrup and enjoys it. It's unnatural." I try to reason with him.

"I'm a son of Poseidon. If I can't drown, my pancakes can't either. Case closed." He huffs out. I give him a look of disbelief, glancing at Nico and Tyson to see if they heard. Tyson nods in thought mumbling, "It makes sense."

I stare at Nico hopefully. After a few seconds, he meets my stare before pushing his plate forward. He leans forward on the table using his elbows before slowly licking his maple syrup covered lips.

And gosh was that hot!!

I gulp nervously. He was right across of me, so I got a very clear view. He leaned in closer, so close that our noses were almost touching. My eyes snap to his, which were looking at me with a slight amusement.

  "I too, think he is insane." He says with his deep husky voice. He moves back to his original position, but I stay still in a dazed and confused state.
"Huh?" I look at him again.
"Percy is not sane. I agree with you." He explains.

I look towards Percy, who is in his own world of drowning pancakes, totally ignoring the earlier scene. I push my plate away dejectedly. I just lost my appetite. Nico raises his brow in question.

"I just lost my appetite." I reply sadly.
  Percy heard this and glances at my half full— or is it half empty— plate of pancakes. He then looks at me. Then at the pancakes.

"So you've lost your appetite?" He asks cautiously. I nod sighing. He still looks at me unsure, "Are you sure?" I nod again to confirm the notion.

    Percy looks at the plate again, then at me before grabbing the plate and the maple syrup together. "I guess this is mine now. Wouldn't want to waste some good food, now would we?"

   He holds the syrup over the plate, before slowly squeezing the bottle. The syrup gushes out onto the pancakes. I eye the pancakes wearily, I can hear their tiny voices calling for me. Begging me to take them away from Percy's evil clutches.

The pancakes had nearly almost drowned when I decide to take action.
"My babies!!" I yell a bit too dramatically, drawing a few eyes. I yank the pancakes away and start stuffing my face.
Percy pouts and whines, "I thought you said you lost your appetite."

I shrug unashamed, "I changed my mind." Percy gives an angry huff, before mumbling incoherent words.

"HEROES OF OLYMPUS !!" A loud voice booms. Chiron looks around to make sure he had captured every one's attention before he continues, "I am proud to announce that the chariot races will occur on Wednesday. Three days from today. You are given this time improve and design your vehicle, with a partner of your choice." Excited murmurs slither its way into the normally dull dinning pavilion making my invisible wolf ears perk in excitement.

I look hopefully at Percy, maybe he could be my chariot partner. He sees my look and visibly deflates. He was practically bouncing when Chiron announced this, so what happened. Does he not want to be my partner that bad? Percy rubs the back of his neck uneasily, "Annabeth kinda knew about the games and asked me already." Now it was my turn to visibly deflate, "Oh."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know if you were interested. If I knew..." He trails off, looking at me with sympathy, "But, Nico can be your partner. He hardly participates in this stuff." Nico's head instantly snaps towards us as his name was called.

I look up at him expectantly, "Will you be my partner Nico? Pretty please with a chocolate covered cherry on top?" He stares at me, clenching his fist on the table.

"Fanculo!" He suddenly exclaimed startling me a bit. The sudden change of language was a bit unnerving too. "Non posso provare nessun fottuto sentimento per te! Gli dei probabilmente stanno ridendo a crepapelle proprio ora." My face, the epitome of confusion, stared at him, still expecting an answer. He was tugging at his hair, which looked a bit painful, so I lightly tugged at his hands until they eventually lay on the marble table. "Sooo...." I trail off, hinting at the question he was asked earlier. "Sure." He states coldly. He seems a bit closed off than usual causing me to frown.

I've been cracking this nut too long to stop now, dammit!!!

"So what did you say earlier?" I ask out of curiosity. I just wanted to try to start a conversation in hopes of him opening up and explaining stuff about his native language. But instead, he glares at me and slam his palms on the table startling everyone. My eyes become teary and I look down to avoid his harsh glare, muttering a 'sorry'. I could handle being physically hurt, but I hate when people yelled at me. He sighs, roughly scrubbing at his face with his hands. It's almost the end of breakfast and it's very quiet. I refrain from ways to start a conversation, afraid to strike another nerve.

Soon we are all dismissed and we all stiffly rise from our seats, the tension still hanging in the air like laughing gas. Before Nico takes a step, I run to his side and grab his arm, pausing all planned movements.

"I'm sorry about earlier. Are you still going to be my partner?" I ask worriedly. Nico looks down at me, nodding his head slowly causing me to squeal in happiness and excitement. I hugged him. He seemed a bit tense in the hug, but I ignored that detail.

"I can come by your cabin tomorrow for the chariot plans. We'll destroy everyone! Every damn person!" I say a bit violently causing Percy to pale. I smile sweetly at Nico, "See you later best friend!" Hugging Nico one last time, I skipped happily to the cabin planning to research on each and every weakness of a demigod with my Greek bible. I was also planning on taking Percy's secret stash of Oreos, but I have to concentrate.

Every damn person.

^^^^^^ Alex up above. Just imagine the green eyes and bone straight black and blue hair. That is not very easy to find. Love y'all :)