Three's A Crowd

Chapter Seven

Hazel hopped off of Festus's back with Frank's assistance. Once she was safely on the grass with her boyfriend, she stood on the tips of her toes to peck his cheek. He smiled warmly down at her.

Before he could say anything, Leo's less than pleasant voice called down to him. "What, you're not going to help me down, Frankie?"

Frank squinted against the sunlight at Leo's form still sitting on Festus. "I think you got it, bud."

Leo gasped. "How rude. And here I thought we had something goin'. You were hugging my waist pretty tight there, big boy." He winked.

"Yeah, 'cause I thought I was going to die!" Frank sputtered incredulously. "You dip her too hard on purpose! I almost couldn't hold down my lunch!"

Leo waved him off and hopped down, landing with a certain grace. "Not like that was the plan or anything . . ." He fondly stroked Festus's bronze scales, staring into his ruby eyes. "There's a good boy. Smooth sailing I'd say. Eh, Festus?"

Festus bared his razor-sharp teeth in what Hazel assumed to be a grin. What a weird relationship those two have.

Hazel turned to Frank. "You said Jason and the others were here, right?"

Frank nodded. "Should be." He looked over Hazel's shoulder to see three figures approaching them, two of which were walking hand in hand, one a head shorter than the other two. As they got closer, he recognized them to be Jason, Percy, and Nico.

At the sight of Nico, Frank grinned at Hazel. "Don't look now."

Hazel turned skeptically and brought her hands up to her mouth in a gasp. She sprinted the rest of the distance and leaped into Nico's arms. Nico caught her, surprising everyone to see that he had the muscles to do so.

Hazel pulled away and smushed a kiss on his pale cheek. "Gods, I missed you so much! How have you been? You look peckish. Have you been taking care of yourself? Eating three meals a day? Gosh, you're so thin! How are you even carrying me right now?"

Nico smiled the widest smile Percy and Jason have seen. Jason found himself smiling too. It was like a breath of fresh air.

"I'm thin, not a corpse." Hazel rolled her golden eyes before tangling herself off of him. "It's good to see you, Hazel. Frank. Leo." He nodded to the other two.

The latter sauntered over to them. "Death boy zombie dude! Looking deadly as ever! That a new shade of black I see? A bit lighter maybe? Already making progress!"

"Leo." Nico greeted. "As blunt as ever."

"Tell me about it," said Frank, joining the group. "It's good to see you, Nico. Hazel's been rambling nonstop about you all year. Worried sick. We've just never had the time to make a pit stop."

"But we're here now." Hazel gathered Nico's hands in hers, warming the ice cold flesh. "And we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"You're staying the whole summer?" Nico asked with hope.

Hazel nodded enthusiastically. "Maybe longer if we can pull it off. Now, come on! Let's go catch up, without the company. One-on-one sibling bonding time commences now!"

Hazel hooked arms with Nico and prepared to set off.

Percy spoke up before they could take a step, eyes glued to Nico. "I'll come find you later. Sound good?"

Nico nodded, a faint blush tinting his otherwise colorless cheeks. Percy was happy to see it. He flashed him a smile before Nico was swept away by Hazel.

Jason tried with everything he had to not let it bother him, but he was sad to say that it did. A lot.

Leo raised a brow, a teasing smirk on his face. "Besties with the zombie kid?"