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The Stables | Saturday Night

For once, the chill in the air wasn't Nico's fault. He didn't mind it so much, but he turned up the collar of his jacket to fit in with the rest of the world right before he walked into a shadow just off the boardwalk. Sure it was a quick trip on foot, but Nico liked shadow traveling and Mrs. O'Leary didn't mind his sudden appearance in her section of the stables.

Especially when he'd brought food to share. "How do feel about tacos?" Nico asked, holding up a steaming to-go bag he'd procured from El Burrito Loco. Mrs. O'Leary's whole back end wagged in anticipation as the demigod withdrew a shiny triangle from the bag and proceeded to unwrap it. "I won't tell Percy I gave you an extra dinner if you don't."

Yeah, because he needed to worry about Mrs. O'Leary talking. For the moment at least, the only thing Nico had to worry about was her drooling on his shoulder before he could toss the tacos toward her giant hellhound mouth. Turned out his collar had a secondary purpose - keeping the slobber at bay.

[Stable open! Note: Mrs O'Leary looks like a poodle to normal humans.
ETA: The Luke parts of the conversation are NFB por favor!]

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Unsurprisingly, Percy had the same idea as Nico. Instead of dinner, though, he had a giant bone that was getting lugged in a bag that kept thumping against his back.

That bag was so ruined. Percy was making a face when he stepped into the stables, calling out, "Mrs. O'Leary?"

He hadn't even realized that Nico was there yet despite it feeling colder in the stables than outside.

Hearing Percy's voice, Nico froze, nearly losing a hand to Mrs. O'Leary's happy way of snatching food. "Hey!" Nico scolded, wiping his hand on his jeans and realizing a moment too late that he'd probably just lost his chance to sneak away undetected.

Percy stopped and made a face when he realized whose voice that was. Great. He had to deal with his cheap shot giving cousin when he just wanted to see his tank of a dog.

He stalked forward, eyes finally finding Nico's. "What are you doing here?"

Really, Percy knew the answer but that didn't stop him from asking the question.

Of course Percy couldn't use common sense or visual clues to help him figure out what Nico was doing with Mrs. O'Leary. "Taking a nap," Nico deadpanned with a roll of his eyes. "What's it look like?"

Perhaps like Mrs. O'Leary was going to steal all the food in the bag while Nico was busy looking displeased with Percy.

"I dunno, maybe I should stand still so you can throw another cheap shot at me so I can figure it out," Percy said, dropping his bag down at his feet and frowning. "That's what you're best at, isn't it?"

"Like you wouldn't have done the same." Nico was pretty damned sure Percy had as little self control as he'd displayed that day. But it seemed rather than apologizing, Nico was going to cross his arms and glare.

At least Mrs. O'Leary would appreciate that feeling of her old home Nico brought to the situation.

"Yeah, way to get us detention, Nico," Percy said, rolling his eyes. "You couldn't wait till after class to whine like a baby? That's just great."

He knelt down to unzip his bag to retrieve the bone for Mrs. O'Leary. It was the least he could do if he was going to argue with Nico in front of her.

"Hey, I asked for it to just be me. Maybe if you could've stopped yourself from being a tool for five minutes you'd have lucked out," Nico replied, so pleased that they would be spending future weekends together.

"Yeah, I was supposed to just let you hit me in the face? I should have just walked away?"

Percy dug the big, meaty bone out of his bag and winced. So gross. Mrs. O'Leary would like it but it was gross. He held it out to her and waited for her to notice.

"Would you have done that? Doubtful."

There was a reason Nico always brought people food to share. "I meant this week," Nico said, so unimpressed. "But yeah, you could've."

"I don't let people take cheap shots at me just because they're all pissy and whiny about something they don't understand."

Eventually, Mrs. O'Leary took pity on Percy and took the bone. It might not have been tacos but it was still a treat. She was a totally spoiled hellhound.

"And you don't understand so don't even try."

"You're right," Nico told him, and it might be the only time Percy ever heard those words. "I don't understand. I don't understand why you're doing something that has the potential to ruin everything you've been fighting for!"

Percy rolled his eyes and reached out to give Mrs. O'Leary a few chin scritches. Nico didn't understand and Percy didn't know why he even wanted to explain.

"This Luke isn't where your Luke or my Luke is," Percy snapped angrily. "Potential is a pretty keyword, isn't it? Maybe it won't happen. And maybe Luke will think twice now."

And maybe he liked Luke and liked being with him. Shut up.

"It's not about this Luke," Nico countered, watching Percy with his hellhound and wishing he had something to call his own. "It's about what's going to happen to you the next time you see Kronos wearing his favorite Luke suit."

Nico had a special hope for their Luke.

Percy stared at Nico and shook his head. "I know the difference. This changes nothing when I see that Luke. You think I'll hesitate? Is that what this is about?"

"Ding ding ding! Percy Jackson's figured it out!" Nico rolled his eyes again with a huff. "Dude, like it wasn't already hard to fight him. Now that you're all...involved I can't even say." And he couldn't. Apollo would kick his ass and never let him drive the sun.

Percy threw one of his hands up and shook his head. "You're an idiot. I know the differences. I've had people yell at me and lecture me about one person not being the other. You need to trust me or go on whining and making me remember how you were when I met you."

Nico was all ready to say fine, he'd had to try but he'd drop it when Percy had to call him a whiner and bring up their past.

"Don't go digging in the past, Percy. You don't know what it was like for me." If his words weren't enough of a warning, Nico's eyes flashed another.

"And you don't know how it's going to go for me so stop assuming that I'm going to risk everything just because of the thing I have with Luke," Percy snapped, laying off talking about the past for now.

"Truth is, you don't know. Neither do I. So lay off."

Nico hated when Percy had a point, but he could back off. For now. "Fine, but you know as well as I do that I had to say something. Apollo be damned, some things are too important to just ignore and hope for the best."

"Yeah, I know," Percy admitted, shrugging and rubbing his eyes. "But you should have said something. Punching me in front of a class just means I'm gonna retaliate."

"I had a lot of pent up energy and stuff that week," Nico said, looking down at one of Mrs. O'Leary's massive paws. "Sorry if I hurt your face. Not that it lasted long."

"I can't help that water loves me that much," Percy said, shrugging and giving Mrs. O'Leary head a pat. "And you weren't the only one feeling like that. It was kinda fun getting a chance to fight again."

Like Percy hadn't been busy in Nico's room that week. "Yeah. I almost miss the monsters. I haven't gotten to use any powers in a fight for a while."

Hey, it might not have been making out in the woods, Nico, but it was something.

"You could take your chances and go for a walk off island," Percy suggested. "They might smell you."

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The Stables | Saturday Night

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