While exploring a seemingly abandoned Roman mansion, Brooks comes across a set of files that may have something to do with the curse afflicting both sides.
Brooks probably should have taken the hint the last time him and Harper almost died because they left camp. That girl and her bow wielding evil sidekick should have been enough to scare him under the lake for the rest of eternity. Unfortunately for him, Brooks didn’t seem to learn from his mistakes very quickly. Which was how he had ended up back outside of the camp and strolling around the outskirts of New Rome by himself on the shores that surrounded the lake that secretly stored the Greek’s camp underneath.
Mansions stood guarding the view of the lake. Homes that Brooks could only dream of living in. Most of them stood abandoned, the war’s constant fighting took too much of a toll. Many of them were physically harmed, siding burned off or roofs completely caved in. In one spot only the foundation from what used to be a home remained. Brooks guessed that it had been completely burned to the ground. Although Brooks had spotted the mansions from a distance on multiple occasions, this was the first he had been so close to them. And it didn’t take long for his eyes to hone onto a shattered window. His instincts got the best of him. He only considered his options for about thirty seconds before he was jogging over to the oversized home and stripping his jacket off. He wrapped it around his fist and began wiping at the frame, making sure to dust off any remaining shards of glass before attempting to climb through. Once he was positive that he was safe, Brooks tossed the jacket and his bag through the hole and then hoisted himself up and into the building.
The first thing that Brooks noticed was that the place was clearly being used for something. A quick glance through the first floor told him that it looked like somebody was keeping supplies here. Maybe patrols were keeping supplies for easy access? Brooks couldn’t be sure. He moved through the first floor and eventually made his way up the steps and onto the second floor. He made his way into a bedroom and found that there was a desk sitting up against a large window that overlooked the lake. “What do we have here?” Brooks asked aloud as he made his way to the desk and started rifling through the papers. Most of it was in Roman or Greek, which Brooks could just barely make out despite the fact that his brain was apparently hardwired to know the language. And it must have been true. Because in spite of his obvious lack of any training in the languages, there were certain words or phrases that began to jump out at him and start making sense. Curse was apparent. Though he didn’t know what curse the papers were referring to. Brooks slid into the seat and started shuffling through them, wondering if any of the other pages might jump out or if he was really lucky, someone had translated English onto the pages.
From the few things that he could make out from the pages, one of them was some sort of spell. There were clearly a set of instructions and what was probably a list of ingredients but Brooks couldn’t decipher any of it. Maybe if he brought it to Wally, he would be able to figure the spell out. He hadn’t seen anybody at the camp with spells as impressive as Wally. A few pages after that and Brooks came across the sketch of what looked like some kind of ceremonial knife or dagger. He couldn’t be sure, but the detail on the hilt made it look like its use wasn’t intended for actual battle. But then again, he knew very little about Greek or Roman ways of fighting.
He wasn’t sure how long he spent trying to read those damn pages. All he knew was that at some point the sun had started to sink below the tree line and his focus was broken when he heard voices from the bottom floor of the mansion. The noise was enough to frighten him into jolting upward and slamming his knee into the desk. The talking downstairs came to an abrupt halt and Brooks knew that they had heard the noise. In an instant, Brooks was shoving all of the papers together in a hasty but semi neat pile and then stuffing them into his bag before slinging it over his shoulder. And got up and shut the bedroom door, locking it behind him before making his way back to the desk and climbing on top of it.
Brooks was just about to crawl out the window when he spotted it. On the other side of the room, resting on the top of a bag, was that knife. It had to be the same one. He hopped off of the desk and ran over to grab the knife, shoving it into his backpack before making his way back to the window. He felt around the windowsill until he found the locking mechanism and unlatched it, shoving the window open and climbing through it and onto the roof. Seconds later he was sliding down onto the balcony before finishing his final drop to the bottom floor and taking off into the forest. Hopefully someone back at camp would know more about this curse than he did.
Caspian barely heard his friend due to the pressure and pain he felt, but he was grateful someone had come to his aid. “I need to get out into the fresh air.” He gasped, still trying to crawl to the exit tunnel. Caspian was out of breath and could barely speak, but he managed a few more words. “The water is hurting me.” He then flopped back down onto his stomach from exhaustion. This was the worst feeling in the world, it felt as if the water was taking his life rather than giving him some. The water acted as a poison rather than a healer.
“Fresh air. I can do that.” Brooks breathed a sigh of relief at the words. Not that the moment was anything to be happy about, but at least it was something that he could handle. If the fresh air didn’t work and Caspian needed medical attention then the two would be in serious trouble. Though he had been so focused on what was wrong that Caspian’s next words almost went completely unnoticed by Brooks. But just as Brooks was leaning down to help Caspian back up the words struck him. The water was hurting him? How could that be? That was the exact opposite of what the water was supposed to be doing to Caspian. He helped build the damn thing. But Caspian was obviously in no shape to be answering questions right now. Brooks scooped Caspian up and flung his arm over Brooks shoulder to give him some support while he tried to help carry the boy towards the exit of the underwater camp. “Can you walk? I can probably carry you if you can’t.” Brooks was at least going to try.
Brooks made his way out of camp as quickly as he could. Luckily the path was a familiar one to Brooks now for as often as he left the camp to roam the grounds around it. Once out from under the water Brooks found a place to rest and helped Caspian onto the ground to relax. “Feel any better?” Brooks asked curiously. He stayed standing, unsure what Caspian needed from him.
Caspian had been washing his hand, partly due to the grit that had accumulated on it during the day, partly in hopes to feel something, the pull in his guts, the strength of water flow through him. At first there was nothing, just like there hadn’t been since his accident. But slowly Caspian felt something happen, hope made his heart skip a beat. This was it, he was getting his powers back. Except, he wasn’t. A second later an odd sensation occurred, which Caspian couldn’t place until he realized the sensation was a burning one. He pulled his hand back with a yelp. The burning didn’t stop and Caspian began to wipe the water droplets off on his pants. The water was ice cold, and the burn was more of an acidic one.
Seconds later his senses buzzed. He felt all the water above him at once, the pressure causing him to become lightheaded and drop to his knees. It was if the water was trying to repeal him, like two magnets with the same pole facing each other. Caspian got back to his feet and began to stumble towards the exit of camp. As he neared the exit, he tripped and fell forward into the sand of the lake. He tried to get up, but he felt too weak, the water absorbing his energy.
“Help!” Caspian let out a plea. “Please!” He whimpered. What was this? How could a world be so cruel. What had he done to deserve this fate? First, he lost a limb and lost his ability to control water, and now the water was killing him. The teen was strong willed, but everyone’s will breaks at some point, and this was the tipping point for Caspian. He tried to get back up, it was no use. He began to crawl towards the exit, pushing himself forward with his legs. “Anyone!”
The cry for help jolted Brooks awake. He had apparently fallen asleep while lying out in the grass. But in a second, he had leapt to his feet and began scanning the area for the source of the noise. His mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario. That the Romans had attacked the camp and Brooklyn was about to finally find himself in the middle of the battle long before he was ready. But no Roman soldiers marched out of the tree line and the voice that he heard crying for help seemed to just be coming from one person. It wasn’t what Brooks would consider good news per say, but it also seemed to indicate that it wasn’t evidence that the whole camp was about to die.
But that one bit of good news was crushed when he saw that it was Caspian that was crying out for help. While the two weren’t particularly close, Brooks did consider Caspian a friend and had known about what had happened to him during the fight against the Romans. Caspian had seemed to be having a rough time and Brooks felt so bad for him. And although that was enough to break someone, Brooks didn’t think that was what was wrong with him right now. Something else seemed to be wrong with Caspian and why he was lying on the ground seemingly unable to get up.
Brooks ran up to him and fell onto his knees, “Hey, buddy are you okay?” Brooks had no idea what to do or how to help when he didn’t actually know what was wrong with him. “Are you injured? What can I do? Can I help you up?”
Wally grimaced as Brooks hacked away. “Yeah, it’s kinda hard to make some potions taste good. Most just kinda have a small sweet or bitter taste, but that ones especially strong.” He rubbed the back of his neck as Brooks finished it off, and took back the flask. The blonde felt a bit of shock when Brook’s punch landed. He frowned. “Hmm, try again.” Wally looked over Brooks, realizing that he wasn’t sure if the intangibility would show. Would Brooks look phased like a ghost or would he not? “Give it another go, I’m sure it works.”
“Definitely strong. Not my favorite thing to drink.” Brooks was generally willing and able to drink or eat just about anything. He wasn’t particularly picky and, in many scenarios, he had found himself increasingly desperate. But even he never wanted to taste that potion again. Only for it to not work. Luckily, Wally didn’t seem like the type to give up and Brooks appreciated that. Because he didn’t want to give up on it either. Brooks held his arms out wide and shook them out as if that was going to change anything. Maybe it just took a little more time. He gave a heavy breath and let his body relax before throwing another punch at Wally. And this time it went right through Wally. “Holy hell it worked!”
◘ | “It’s one of the world’s greatest honours and pleasures to have your heart broken by someone like you,” Z said as he ducked under the dangling brush of a nearby tree. His fingers danced along the bark and he gave one of the leaves a soft flick of his fingers. “It’s a feature you should hold onto. The right man’s going to come along and that genuine, gummy smile of yours will turn him anew. I know that every time it’s been directed at me, I’ve certainly felt lighter on my feet.”
◘ | Verb tense usage was very important. “Used to be?” he offered interrogatively, repeated for further clarity. “Are you not much for theatre anymore?” Z may have chosen to further his career in medicine, but not a day went by when he didn’t think about what if. What if he’d gone down the second path? Where would he be now? Pouring his heart on stage for thousands of adoring fans? Would he have met Wally, subsequently leading to him coming into New Rome for shelter? Would he have even been spotted by monsters? “You’ve heard of it, then?” His interest piqued. If Brooklyn had, it was probable that he’d seen Z without even realizing who it was. He’d been a stage-dancer for nearly a year and had a few solos and lead roles toward the peak of his stint on the show. “You’ve entered strawberry levels of blush. I suppose I should thank you in advance for any images you’re coming up with. If you get any more red, I think I’ll have to admit you into the infirmary.”
Brooks couldn’t imagine anyone falling for him or his so-called gummy smile. He had always figured that he would be the one to be falling for someone else. He had always just sort of hoped that he would get lucky and the person he fell for was looking to settle. “Well I can’t really do much about the smile so I guess it’s here to stay.” He laughed nervously. Apparently, it was a good thing. If Z was telling the truth. Or maybe he was just flattering Brooks to make him feel better about himself. Regardless, it was working.
With a shrug, Brooks tried to act is if it was no big deal that he no longer acted. He stilled loved the stage. The acting and the music and the dancing, no matter how bad he was at dancing. He just hadn’t had the opportunity to be a part of it in a long time. It felt like forever despite the fact that it had only be three or four years. “I still love it. I just haven’t had a chance to be in anything lately.” He never really liked just coming out and admitting that he had been homeless for the last three years. It either forced someone to look down on him or pity him. Or both. “I’m hoping to get back to it. Eventually.”
Brooks had definitely heard of Broadway Bares. He had definitely watched it before. “Uh yeah. I’ve heard of it.” Brooks was going to explode and the embarrassment only got worse when Z commented on how red Brooks was. Was this what dying of embarrassment felt like? “I – uh – I wasn’t” Brooks couldn’t manage to get a single coherent thought out. Probably because his mind was way too preoccupied with the images stuck in his head. “I’m very embarrassed right now.” He finally admitted, hoping that it would somehow make the situation less awkward.
“You’ll make a fine demigod yet,” he said with a laugh, clapping Brooks on the shoulder. He took a step back, Riptide hanging limply in his grasp, the hard leather in his hands, his fingers slipping into well formed grooves. Pausing for a moment he smiled brightly and nodded. “You’re a demigod, you naturally pick these things up because of instincts and shit,” he shrugged, “I’ve had it my whole life and I still don’t really get it.”
His powers were great. He didn’t know what he’d do in life without them. But the truth was that the threat of constant monster attacks in his real life was what was really difficult to deal with. It was so difficult to live a normal life in the real world. “It’s way better when we’re just living together and not fighting one another. The food in this city is incredible and the university is pretty good too.” He shrugged sadly, it felt like years not months since this war had started. Every day brought some new danger, some new problem.
“We’ll play it by ear,” he replied with a shrug, “I can’t promise that I’ll always be there, but I’ll do my best.” He smiled gently and shrugged. Brooklyn was an old demigod by any comparison. More and more of them were starting to live longer, but at the same time many of them didn’t even make it that long. Brooks deserved to live a long happy life. But to do that, he needed to know how to defend himself.
Hearing that he would make a fine demigod, from Percy of all people, was a major self esteem boost for Brooks. He was thankful for Percy’s words whether or not they were the truth or if Percy was just saying them to make him feel better. Either way it was working. He remembered talk of demigods naturally picking up on fighting and other skills because…. They were part god? Brooklyn couldn’t think of an explanation for that. But he was also a high school dropout so. “Good to hear.”
“I’m looking forward to experiencing it.” Brooks had barely arrived when the tensions were reaching their high. War broke soon after and Brooks had found himself in the middle of a battle wandering off with those of similar heritage. “Pretty much ever since you saved me actually. It’s nice being around people like me.”
Brooks obviously didn’t blame Percy for not knowing how busy he may be with a war going on. Life was always random and with a war going on the unknown was even more pressing and dangerous. “I know some other people that could help me train anyways. Jason promised to help. And I’ve helped Wally with some magic stuff. That’s gotta be useful.” Brooks shrugged. He hated the idea of being a burden. He didn’t want any of these people going out of their way or wasting their time. “I’ll make sure I don’t get in anybody’s way.”
Raising an eyebrow silently, Bobbi eventually nodded. “I think intense is the best way to put it, everything in this world just seems so dramatic.” She sighed, honestly she was exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. Everything had happened so fast and the war was dragging on much longer than she would’ve thought was possible.
“Well, you’ll possibly also notice that we’re just that bit more durable than other mortals.” She’d learned that by watching the recovery of demigod warriors. So many of them should’ve been put on bed rest for weeks, if not months, and yet it took them mere days to recover. “I guess it’s the godly part of us that makes us that much more durable.” She sighed. “I try to play it safe, limit it to portions and stagger it out by patient for pain relief if necessary.” She shrugged and sighed gently. “Mostly its instinct.”
Distributing potentially combustible edible foods to injured soldiers seemed incredibly dangerous to Brooks. However; Brooks was also neither a doctor nor was he well versed in demigod anatomy or physiology. So it was fairly clear to Brooks that he should just leave it up to Bobbi to determine things and just tell him what to do.
“Being more durable definitely makes a lot of sense. I’ve noticed that personally,” He briefly flashed back to the mugging gone awry that left Brooks knifed and bleeding in an alleyway. Someone called an ambulance but hours later Brooks was moving and able to sneak out before the hospital could get an ID or give him a bill. Nothing but a small scar remained of the injury within a few days. “But good to know! Information memorized!” Brooks exclaimed enthusiastically and immediately regretted saying something like that. He would probably need to recover from that. “What else should I know?”
Nico nodded his head slightly as Brooks finally commented in agreement that he didn’t always act in a way he himself would - admitted that pretended to be things he wasn’t. “Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to be yourself.” He said simply, shrugging slightly at Brooks. “And if you don’t know enough about yourself to share, or to be yourself with others, then it’s time you learned.” He suggested. “Find stuff you like because it makes you happy, not because it’s what you think other people will expect you to like.” He offered his advice to the young Son of Hermes. “Because until such a time as you get to know yourself, and be open and honest about yourself with everything - not just your sexuality - you’ll be unhappy and you’ll be terrified about people judging you.”
He let Brooks apologize to him for something beyond his control - for something that had been caused by Nico being proud and believing himself to be capable of going anywhere in the Underworld. “And besides - from what I’ve gathered - you’ve made friends with the sort of people who wouldn’t care if you turned out to be a blood thirsty half-Titan.” He pointed out simply. “Your friends, I guarantee you, won’t give a shit about anything in your past.” He spoke with a great deal of personal experience in his voice. “Especially Jason - he’s pretty much a giant blond teddy bear, and it’s a little sickening at times.” He pulled a face as memories of numerous hugs flooded his mind, and he rolled his eyes heavily at the memories - unable to do so at Jason himself, as the Roman demigod wasn’t skulking in Brooks’ dark corner.
“I hope it is.” Nico agreed slightly at the comment about the war ending soon. “Because I’ve had enough of war to last me through all eternity.” He said somewhat darkly, sighing slightly as he looked up at Brooks once more again. “And there’s no reason for you to have to deal with a war. We were supposed to have ended things like this.” He raised a hand to grip at his own jaw thoughtfully for a long moment, sighing darkly once again before he offered a small, quiet chuckle to Brooks. “But war is war - life goes on when battle does not.” He stated honestly. “So have fun. Make friends. Find love, if you can. Because I guarantee you once this war ends, you’ll be thankful you had the chance to know people before the peace.” He bit at his lower lip. “I wish I’d done that before the first one ended.”
Nico was definitely right about Brooks being terrified of judgement. Low self esteem and anxiety might have just been trademarks of Brooks personality but he had vague suspicions that the conditions had only worsened in the environment that he had been raised in. He constantly feared judgement by those he saw as superior to him. The religious aspect of his upbringing had been particularly brutal, criticizing anything he liked that wasn’t seen as manly and providing a constant fear of never being quite enough. Sure, he escaped that when he left. But it wasn’t like New York had provided any type of comforting situation where he could do any major healing. “You’re right. Gotta rediscover what makes me, me. Should be fun I guess?” Brooks was interested in figuring out which parts of him were actually him and which parts he used as a defense mechanism.
“I have. Made friends, I mean.” He had made some good friends while here. Tayla, Harper, Wally and Blossom. He considered Percy and Caspian friends. And Jason of course. And now whether Nico knew it or not; he was officially considered a friend of Brooklyn’s. “Yeah, Jason’s a great guy. Not that I really know him that well. But I mean, I think he’s a great guy.” Don’t blush. Don’t blush. Don’t blush. “Plus, we’re friends now. So that’s cool.”
Brooks could only imagine how fed up with war Nico must be. While Brooks knew little of the recent history of the demigods, he had heard from Percy and Jason that there had been a war before this one. Including one that had just barely been prevented. Two wars including one that was stopped all within their lifetimes. And nobody here was that old. Well, apparently besides Nico but that seemed to be a special situation. “Yeah. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting when I came to New Rome.” Brooks shrugged. Because Nico was right, it was just a way of life. “I guess in the grand scheme of things, with a war happening nothing from my past really seems that important now.” But Nico had good advice. Life couldn’t stop because of the war, no matter how much it seemed like it should. “I’ll try. Thanks for the advice. And for you know, sitting here with me even after catching me with my… allergies.”
Jason and Brooklyn go on their date that Jason put together for the two.
Brooklyn had been so nerve-wracked that he had barely slept and he had been so swept up in thoughts and fears of all the things that could go wrong tonight that he had no idea how he training session with Percy actually went because he had no ability to focus. All he could think about was the date. Because Brooks had no idea what he should expect or what to wear or what to say or how to act. He had thought about the characters he had played in plays. They had gone on successful dates. For a brief moment Brooks considered pretending to be like them so tonight might not be a complete disaster of Brooks own doing, but eventually decided against it. He needed to be himself. Hopefully a much less embarrassing version of himself. Brooks made his way to their meeting spot and tugged at the sleeves of his shirt nervously. He wasn’t sure what the dress code for a date was, but Brooks didn’t own anything nice anyways. So a plain long sleeve shirt and his favorite pair of destructed pants would have to do. At least he chose to wear his newer pair of converse over the old and ratty pair he had worn the other day. When he spotted Jason, a grin instantly sprouted across his wave and he raised his arm excitedly into a wave, “Hey! Hi!” He repeated and sighed internally at himself, “I packed extra shirts. So no one will have to go shirtless.” He gestured at his book bag slung across back but then wondered why that was the conversation starter and decided to break the ice with. Brooks was so screwed.
All said and done this had been probably the most he’d had to prepare for a date ever. In the dark of night he’d dressed all in black, leaped into the sky, and shot towards the city as a dark comet. He’d waited for morning in a all night diner, keeping half his face covered by his hair before the shops opened and Jason could do shopping. He’d picked up cheese and bread and olives and cured meat; all The components to a good cheese tray before flying back to New Rome. He couldn’t do much for the date, but he’d been able to set up a pretty nice blanket fort in an out of the way corner where they wouldn’t be bothered. When he heard Brooks calling out he stood and smiled, gesturing to the worn flannel shirt he wore “I’ve got a shirt and I promise to stay in it and not to spit juice on you.” He flushed and gestured to the fort “once upon a time I’d be able to take you on a real date. But. I’ve got food and beer and movies and a blanket fort and I really hope that’s okay because… well… it’s all I’ve got.”
Brooks glanced past Jason to check out the fort that Jason had built with eye-wide admiration. He couldn’t believe that Jason had actually gone through all this work for a date in less than a day. Nobody had done something like this for Brooks in, well… ever. “This is amazing.” Brooks admitted, the amazement all too apparent in his voice as he began walking towards it. He could only imagine what a date with Jason must have been like under normal circumstances, but in some ways he almost preferred it this way. Because this was incredible. “Are you kidding? This is already the best date I’ve ever been on,” Brooks laughed incredulously and turned to Jason, “Full disclose. It’s also the first date I’ve ever been on. But that’s probably painfully obvious.” He wasn’t blind to how terrible he was at all of this. “So I apologize in advance if I say or do anything that is any more embarrassing than I was yesterday. If that’s even possible.” Brooks was definitely going to have a heart attack sometime tonight.
“This is definitely not amazing.” Jason pushed a stray hair out of his face and smiled, “Under ideal circumstances we’d be in my apartment and I’d be cooking. But. This is what we’ve got.” He held a flap of the fort open, revealing its pillow covered interior. “After you, sir.” On the inside there were pillows and blankets and a colossal tray of neatly arranged cheeses and meats and nuts and pickled things. “So. Actually. I got this idea, full disclosure, from my big brother Apollo. I’m not nearly this clever.” He sat down on a pillow and crossed his legs, pulling a beer out of a small cooler and offering it to Brooks, “If it makes you feel any better the last date I went on was with a mortal who couldn’t know about me and ended up accidentally thinking I came from a really strict religious family. She and I did not part on the best of terms so… I’m just as bad at this as you are, believe me.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, he wasn’t great with people one on one. Far better with whole armies. “So uh. I have movies. If you wanna watch one? We can put something on that doesn’t require much attention and get to know each other? Or is that just like way too fuckin cheesy and I should just shut the fuck up. I’m sorry. I swear a lot when I’m nervous.”
Brooks crawled into the fort and was once again impressed. “Well it’s amazing to me.” Though Brooks had low standards for both dates and most things in general. He was a homeless virgin after all. The idea of Apollo being Jason’s brother was enough to weird Brooks out though. “I’m uh sorry to hear that.” Brooks shrugged at the lie. If the date had gone well, the two may not be here now. “Actually, that’s a lie. I’m giving honesty a try. I’m actually really glad that date went wrong. Sorry.” He grinned shyly, hoping that he hadn’t gone too far with his comment. “I’m supposed to be the nervous one here. Plus, if you shut up then we’ll both just sit here silently and awkwardly. So, I guess we can put on a background movie?”
Jason couldn’t help but laugh, “Me too. I don’t think she and I had much of a future together anyway. Mortals and demigods. Not a great romantic mix.” He opened a beer for himself and settled onto a cushion up against the wall. “Well I think there’s enough room for both of us to be nervous up in this fort. I built it with enough room for everyone’s insecurities.” He nudged the plate towards Brooks “and if you have questions about the cheeses I made the hipster at the store give me the full rundown so I’d look smart as hell.” Jason brought the folder with all his pirated movies in it up on his laptop, “Luckily your brothers and sisters have very loose interpretations of international piracy and copyright laws. So I’ve got a ton of movies I shouldn’t. Take your pick.”
Since Jason grabbed a beer, Brooks decided to grab for one also. He had never tasted a beer before, living with incredibly religious and strict parents immediately followed by being broke on the streets didn't allow much for partying or acquiring a fake ID. Brooks popped the can open and took a small drink before immediately coughing in disgust, “Oh, that's awful.” He cleared his throat some more before going back and taking another drink of it. Still, just as awful but he was determined to finish it. Brooks settled into a spot on the opposite wall of Jason so the two could sit and face each other and accepted the offer of cheese in an attempt to cover up the taste of beer that lingered at his lips. “I really appreciate it, but to me food is food. But if you're doing to talk about your fancy cheese I will more than happily listen.” He grabbed onto the laptop and began searching through the files, trying to catch any films that may have stood out to him. Eventually, he gave him and pointed to a random file, “This one looks like something I have zero investment in. Let's do that.”
Laughing even more loudly Jason reached over and plucked the bottle from Brooks’ fingers, “I’ve got non-alcoholic options too. Since beer apparently isn’t quite your speed.” He pushed the cooler towards Brooks and relaxed back into the cushions and took a swig of his own drink, “I mean I don’t wanna bore you. If you’ve got a question I’ll reel of the shit I learned. But. This shouldn’t be a lesson in cheese.” Watching Brooks scroll through the options on his laptop Jason couldn’t help but admire the scene in front of him. Tall and handsome, Brooks’ nervousness honestly made him a little bit cuter. When he had finally made a selection Jason leaned forward to start the movie, their fingers brushing as he opened his media player. “Sorry” he murmured before relaxing back and grabbing a cracker to put some cheese on, “So. While we’re not paying attention to ‘Mirrormask’ what would you like to talk about? Since you really don’t seem like the Netflix and chill type. Which for the record I’m super on board with. I don’t rush into physical stuff.”
“Beer is fine.” Brooks answered. It wasn’t a complete lie. He did plan on finishing it and he did want to drink it. He would get past the taste eventually. “I’m not sure anything you say could bore me.” Honesty was a virtue. He kept reminding himself every time he wanted to lie to make himself seem cooler and not as much of a nervous wreck. But he was sick of lying. He Jason was the last person he wanted to lie to. He jumped slightly when their hands brushed together, eliciting an apology from Jason, “No problem. Don’t be sorry I’m just jumpy. We can talk about anything? Life? Maybe something less depressing than life?” Jason started the movie and the two settled in. Brooks reached over and grabbed some food of his own and was careful to make sure that he didn’t stuff the food into his face like an animal. “Aren’t we netflix and chilling right now?” Brooks asked, “Netflix?” He pointed at the laptop, “Chill?” He gestured to the two of them, very clearly chilling. “Do I not know what netflix and chilling is?”
“Believe me I have plenty of topics for discussion that could bore you to tears. But I’ll keep those to myself for now.” He’d forgotten how good it felt to just sit and not constantly be on edge and Jason nestled into the pillows solely for the purpose of wallowing I’m the sensation. “Life is good. Other things are good. I’m open. You live in this life long enough and you realize people don’t really get secrets they can keep to themselves for too long.” He watched Brooks eat, noting the careful way he chewed and admiring the handsome angles of his face. “Well uh…” he felt a flush creep to his cheeks, “Traditionally the phrase Netflix and Chill implies sex. So we’re just Netflix and relaxing. With food and beer and weird surrealist cinema.” He took another swig of his beer if only for the distraction it was and grinned, “But. Moving on. What do you do for fun when you’re not going on dates with trainwrecks?”
It was crazy seeing how Jason was able to remain positive despite all the shitty things that had happened during this war, including the personal tragedy that he had just gone through. It was pretty motivating, actually. To see people who had worse lives than Brooklyn’s that didn’t let it get to them. “I’m trying to be. Open I mean. I’m used to being closed off but I want to try to be an open book.” Brooks noticed that Jason was watching him and found himself mixed on whether he was embarrassed or happy about it. He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around someone like Jason, strong and passionate and… well, beautiful could actually want to go on a date with a homeless thief like Brooks. “Oh.” Brooks stated when jason informed him exactly what Netflix and chill was and his face immediately blushed, “I did not know that.” In his defense, he had never had a netflix account. “I- uh” What did Brooklyn do for fun? “I used to read a lot. Audiobooks I mean. The dyslexia makes it difficult to read actual books. But I would spend entire days in one of the public libraries listening to a book.” He shrugged, “Not very exciting I know. What about you? When you’re not too busy rescuing people and fighting Mother Earth?”
“Being open isn’t for everyone. So please don’t feel obligated to share anything you don’t want to. That being said… I don’t judge. About most things. I will judge your taste in movies and Pokémon starters but that’s about it.” He kept eating, only paying scant attention to the movie playing in the background and diverting most of his focus to the man across from him. “Books are good… and audio books are a great way for us to get around our inborn dyslexia. Me?” Jason chuckled and scratched the back of his neck, “I’m pretty damn boring.” He picked up a thin slice of prosciutto and wrapped it around some blue cheese, chewing thoughtfully. “Before this civil war I was working on my Master’s degree. I read, game a little, do cross stitch because it’s supposed to help relax me. But; I’ve been either a commander or public servant for over ten years now. I don’t get time to myself that often. Rome and its needs come first
“I want to be open.” Brooks quickly admitted. Because he did, regardless of how scared he was to do so. “I’ve never let people in and I want to be different here. Especially right now.” With you. Brooks left that part out. He wasn’t sure why. Too embarrassed maybe? “I never really watched movies, so judge away. But Charmander and Totodile.” Those were his first picks as a kid; he had never gotten the chance to play any of the later installments. “What were you getting your master’s degree in?” He couldn’t understand why Jason considered himself to be boring. Jason was by far the most interesting person Brooks had ever talked to. “I think its admirable that you’ve always been so willing to help people.” I wish I could say the same. Up until this point Brooks had still felt tense, holding his legs tightly in and his arms crossed across his chest, but now he had realized that without even noticing he had finally started to let up. His hands fell to his sides and his legs began stretching out across the fort. He was actually comfortable. “I’ve spent most of my life only looking out for myself. It’s nice to have other people to care about.”
“Well then I’m fully in support of openness,” Jason kept his voice light and his smile easy, he knew that opening up wasn’t easy, “As long as it continues to be what you want. But… Whatever you tell me stays between us. I don’t betray confidences.” His smile grew brighter by degrees and he leaned forward, offering his closed hand for a fist bump, “Charmander is the way to go! I knew you were a good person.” Another swig of his beer and Jason shrugged broadly, feeling his shoulders ripple under the soft fabric of his shirt, “Creative writing. I have my Bachelor’s in it from UC Berkley. We’ll have to see if I go back to it after this war is over.” He moved fractionally so their legs were brushing up against each other, “It’s…. Exhausting at times. I came to New Rome when I was very young and ever since then it’s been a life of public service. It was Percy who taught me that I wasn’t less of a leader if I took time to spend on myself. It’s been a hard lesson to try to learn.”
Brooks returned Jason’s fist bump and grinned to himself. Jason had this weird ability to make Brooks melt into a puddle every time he opened his mouth. The jury was still out on whether or not that was a good thing. “Nice.” College talk was weird to Brooks. College talk was all that was on his parents mind way back in Brooklyn’s sophomore year of high school. He used to view college in a positive light, an escape where he might finally be able to come out and be himself. Unfortunately, that had never happened. “Well I think once it’s over you will figure it out. And you should make the decision for you. Not anyone else.” Brooks felt Jason’s leg press against his own and half expected Jason to pull it away just as quickly. But it stayed there. And a few seconds later Brooks built up the courage move his own leg closer so they were full on touching. Brooks leaned forward, “Percy’s right. I’m glad he convinced you.” For what felt like forever, Brooks stared at the movie and pretended like he was actually understanding any of what the character’s were saying. He didn’t want to stop talking to Jason, but he couldn’t think of anything interesting to say to him. “Does it still hurt?” he finally asked, gesturing towards the scars.
Jason was realizing he’d spent the vast majority of this date so far talking about himself. Which sort of made him a shitty person, he realized. “We’ll see. The fallout of all of this is going to take forever… possibly years… to fix. The Senate will have to be removed from power… crimes judged. Executions to carry out. But… when the dust settles… we’ll see what I feel like but enough about me tell me more about you!” H fixed his most glowing smile to his face, leaning forward to grab more food, “What’s your favorite season? Thing to do on a rainy day? I wanna know the stupid stuff.” Brooks moved his leg to they were firmly touching and it made Jason’s heart swell a little bit; he hadn’t realized how lonely he’d been. The next question caught him a little bit off guard but he tried to shrug it off. “There was substantial nerve damage that nectar and ambrosia couldn’t fix… or at least I’d have had to take so much it would burn me alive instead. So… yes. It does… and it probably will til I die. But like all things… nothing a will of iron can’t handle. How’s your food?” Anything to change the topic.
Brooks got the hint. Jason was done talking about that and ready to move on to something hopefully less depressing. Though since the topic was shifting onto Brooks himself, he couldn’t make any promises. “I like Fall.” Not as much rain and a good mix between between the heat and cold of the other seasons. “I used to love the rain. I would watch it from the window or go out and play in the rain. This is embarrassing but I used to take my speaker out onto the front porch and re-enact Singing in the Rain.” He laughed at his own ridiculousness and how things had changed. He definitely didn’t love the rain anymore. “I’m so sorry. But I know you want to move on. The food’s amazing. I have no idea how you got this stuff, but thanks.” He grabbed more cheese and some of the crackers and ate more just to prove his point. Then he washed it down with another awful gulp of beer. “I don’t know what other stupid stuff you’re looking for? I like acting, I’m obsessed with plays and specifically musicals. And I used to do some shitty stuff in New York when I lived in the streets”
Lifting his beer to his lips he took a long swig as he listened to Brooks answer his questions. “Fall is my favorite too. If only because it affords me the opportunity to wear a lot of cute sweaters that I get to throw on and not do anything else with. Rock that “rugged backcountry fisherman” look. Which just caters to my laziness.” Brooks’ laugh made him smile, though the subtext of some of his comments made Jason realize exactly how much of Brooks life he didn’t know about. “I can fly, Brooks. I waited until the middle of the night when the Romans wouldn’t see me and I flew into the city to pick up supplies. I wasn’t going to make you eat terrible war rations when we were on a date. I”m slightly classier than that.” Shifting more he rested his leg on top of Brook’s, seeking to make the date slightly more intimate but not in any way that would make the other man uncomfortable. “When the war’s over we’ll go see some shows in the city. San Francisco has a great theatre scene and it’s full of demigods, which means discount tickets with great seats. Shitty things?” He left the question open-ended. Brooks could answer if he wanted to but there was certainly no obligation.
“I want to see some of those cute sweaters” Brooks laughed, happy that he was actually able to say something actually sounded flirtatious. At least he thought that it did. That’s what he had attempted. At first Brooks was impressed and happy and laughed giddily at the idea of Jason actually flying out of camp just to grab supplies for their date. But then he realized that he had snuck out of camp just for Brooks. “You snuck out of camp? Just for a date? You idiot.” Brooks smacked Jason’s leg. “Thank you, I love this. But seriously, that’s incredibly dangerous. If you had gotten killed because of me I would have-” What would Brooks have done? Probably crawled back into the hole that he had slowly began to crawl out of and never speak to anyone again. Jason readjusted his leg more and Brooks rested his arm at the end of Jason’s leg. He didn’t know what he was doing but something about all of this seemed right. “Sounds awesome. I’m in.” Brooks wasn’t sure what exactly what to disclose to Jason. “I stole a lot. It didn’t matter who from. I stole wallets. Conned people out of money.” Brooks paused, “I mugged a few people if they caught my trying to swipe cash.” Thinking of the past reminded him of street gangs. Bloody knives and desperately trying to wash his hands clean inside of a gas station bathroom. “I’ve hurt people. Physically and financially. All because I wanted to feed myself.”
“You absolutely can, as soon as it’s weather appropriate and I don’t have to spend most of my day wearing armor.” The smack on his leg made Jason laugh and he leaned forward to give Brooks’ hand a squeeze, “I promise you that I was perfectly safe. I wore all black, waited until the dead of night… nobody saw me. It was all perfectly safe and totally worth it to make sure this date went well.” He made sure he listened quietly and attentively while Brooks was talking, this couldn’t have been easy to disclose, and it was only when he was absolutely sure the other man was done talking that he started again, “my dad had this story. About an emperor who had a lion that he kept for show. He’d make a great scene of throwing criminals and dissidents into the lion’s cage where they were promptly and gruesomely devoured. One day, during cleaning, the door was left open and the lion escaped. Fearful of the havoc it would wreck the emperor commanded his personal guard to hunt it down and kill it. But when they found it, it had eaten its fill from the larder and walked peacefully out of the palace, not harming a single person.” He rubbed his thumb over the top of Brooks’ hand, “The moral of the story is; what you have to do when survival is on the line is not a measure of who you are on the inside. You lived. Everything else is in the past.”
“I’m looking forward to that.” Would the grin ever leave Brooks face? Because the longer he spent with Jason the longer he thought it was forever plastered there now and he wasn’t sad about that in the slightest. He also never wanted Jason’s hand to leave his own ever again. “That is so impressive and… hot.” Brooks spat out. A brush crept across his face but he didn’t regret saying it out loud which surprised him. And the more Jason talked the happier Brooks was that he had said every embarrassing thing that had come out of his mouth. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you. I don’t know what else to say but that.” Brooks had never talked about it to anybody. He had never had the people to talk to. He wanted to continue to have Jason to talk to. Brooks made the very conscious effort to push himself up and switch directions so that him and Jason were leaning up against the same wall with their shoulders touching, but Brooklyn was quick to place his hand back into Jason’s. “Is this okay?”
Jason felt like all he’d done all night was grin like a goddamn idiot. “I”m not impressive… though, I’ll admit, sometimes I can be pretty hot.” Brooks’ blush was cute but the happiness he could read in his face, was even cuter. Jason hoped the story had gotten his point across, that he didn’t judge, had no room for judgment, and that Brooks had only done what he needed to. He thought the message had hit home when Brooks moved over to his side of the blanket fort, sitting so close that their shoulders were touching before sliding his hand back into Jason’s again, “This is more than okay.” he murmured, moving his arm to give Brooks the option to have it around his shoulder if he wanted, “Tell me more. I know you’re cute and you’ve got good taste in seasons and starters… but I wanna know more about you.” He could feel Brooks’ body heat and it made his heart pound in his chest; so loudly in fact he was sure the other man could hear it. The movie finished and Jason put another one on, more mindless background noise… the real entertainment was holding his hand, the movie didn’t really matter.
“Well you’ve impressed me a lot tonight. And yesterday.” Brooks argued back to Jason. Brooks would probably get into a fist fight with Jason if it meant proving to Jason just how amazing Brooks saw him as being. And that was knowing full well that no situation involved Brooks being able to best Jason in a fight. Brooks was almost positive that he was going to wake up at any moment. Back in some alleyway with nothing to smile to and only to learn that the day before he had never actually walked up to Jason, just imagined the what if and passed on by. If this was just a dream that Brooks was cursed to wake up from he wanted to seize the moment. So he happily shrugged into Jason’s arm and ignored every muscle in both of his shoulders tense up after being touched. “I can’t say there’s a lot more to learn about me. I’m scared of clowns? I have this uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere, probably because I had to no other choice in New York. I have this really embarrassing crush on this guy in camp.” Thank god Jason decided to play some other random movie once that other had finished. He couldn’t deal with the silence right now.
“You should see me in my ceremonial get up if you wanna really be impressed.” Jason snickered under his breath, he knew he looked like an idiot when he had to play the part of Pontifex very seriously. He felt Brooks tense up slightly and made sure he kept his arm light on the man’s shoulder, giving him ample opportunity for escape. “Well…” his thumb traced a figure eight over Brooks shoulder, “clowns are fucking terrifying. I also can fall asleep anywhere but it’s mostly because after fifteen years as a soldier you either develop that skill or just die. Tell me about this crush though. I’m sure he’s a giant idiot.” The movie played and he sank lower into the cushions, “I have a big sister; she hates heights. I like my coffee as dolled up and girly as possible but I prefer booze straightforward and strong. There’s a hunter’s lodge in New Rome where to become a member you have to bring a trophy in; I dragged the Trojan sea serpent’s head in and threw it on the bar. Percy and I have gotten so drunk there we had to sleep upstairs in bunks. I can’t sleep without a white noise app going. I have three tattoos. I talk in my sleep. These are all stupid things that I’m sure you didn’t wanna know but now you do.”
“I hope I get to.” He wasn’t sure what type of ceremony would call for the uniform he spoke of but he figured some type of post war celebration might call for them. If that was the case he now had another reason for wanting this war to be over. “You’ve already seen about a fourth of my wardrobe” Brooks admitted to Jason. Brooks was forced to travel light in New York and New Rome had not changed his situation much. In total, he owned about five shirts, three jackets and then a pair of shorts, jeans and sweatpants. “Well, he’s ridiculously tall. Handsome. Actually a huge nerd but you can’t tell just by looking at it him. He’s nice enough, I guess.” Brooks was trying to keep things cool and lighthearted like Jason managed to do. Brooks liked to acknowledge Jason’s statements with some answers of his own, “I’m an only child.” He hoped to meet his sister eventually, “I’m sure this is painfully obvious, but I’ve never had much alcohol. Except a very small glass of champagne on New Year’s.” Brooks didn’t quite know what to say about the hunter’s lodge besides, “Woah. That’s cool.” He threw a sea serpent’s head on the table? Could he be any more of a badass? Brooks’ mind wandered to the tattoos and what they all must have looked like and he had to shake his head to clear the images from his mind. “I want to know every stupid thing about you. The only thing I don’t want to hear about are all of your other girlfriends and boyfriends.” Brooks perked up immediately, hoping that Brooks hadn’t been giving off the impression that he had been bored hearing Jason talk about himself. Quite the opposite really, Brooks had never been more attentive. He could listen to Jason talk about himself all night long.
“Don’t.” Jason pursed his lips and shook his head, braid brushing against the blankets behind him, “It’s a lot of white and gold robes, and the gold spear, and me not smiling and trying to look appropriately close to the divine. They’re hot, itchy, and I’d much rather be inside not talking to people.” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Brooks’ description of him, “He’s two of those things. Tall and nerdy. But that’s about as close to the truth as you got there.” Another smile and he pulled Brooks slightly closer, “You’re not an only child anymore. You’ve got a cabin full of siblings who will steal your shit and always have your back. OH! And my sister is immortal.” He laughed again, “What other girlfriends and boyfriends? There’s been one. A daughter of Aphrodite. We saved the world together but the early part of our relationship was a lie planted in our heads by Hera. We’re still really good friends though, so there’s that. Uhhhhhhh…” He ate some more of the food and took a sip of beer, trying desperately to think of any interesting things he could, “I speak english, greek, latin, and enough spanish to manage. All thanks to Percy and his family. After I met Percy his mom sorta took me in as another son. She’s this amazing woman who edits all my stories and makes sure I’m eating right and oh my god I can already hear her lecturing me about my eye.” He sat silent for a minute, imagining the white-hot heat of Sally Jackson’s fury, “Tell me more about you. I’ve talked enough.”
Brooks giggled thinking about the uniform. Mostly, he enjoyed picturing Jason trying to remain stoic and professional in his garb. Brooks didn’t know Jason very well yet but one thing he had picked up on was his inability to take most things seriously. He always seemed to try to remain positive even when the conversation turned dark. “I think you’re very handsome. I mean he’s very handsome.” Brooks grinned and pressed his shoulder closer to Jason’s as an attempt to nudge him. Brooks had never realized how difficult it was to nudge someone when they were already so close. He had also never thought about the fact that the children of Hermes were actually half siblings to Brooks now. He had mostly just considered them distant cousins at best. “Hm. Never thought about that. Wait, I’m sorry. Immortal?” He was never going to stop being surprised by this place. Jason’s next words only cemented that. His relationship was filled with fake memories? And most importantly, “Daughter of Aphrodite? I’m screwed.” How was he supposed to compete with the children of the goddess of beauty and love? Brooks pushed the thought from his head, instead focusing on Jason tell him about the languages he spoke and about Percy’s mom. “She sounds amazing.” Brooks was glad at least some people had different parental figures in their life. “I only speak English. Maybe some Latin, but that’s only being my parents were crazy catholics. I’m uh- basically obsessed with bread? Any type. Honestly I’m just scraping the bottom of the barrel for facts now.” Brooks loved the feeling of Jason’s fingers drawing patterns on his arm and absent-mindedly began tapping his own fingers against Jason’s leg to keep himself busy so he didn’t feel like he was going to jump out of his own skin.
“I used to be handsome. Seriously. You should have met me before the accident. I made those guys who stand in front of Abercrombie look ugly as sin.” He chuckled, drawing Brooks slightly closer, “I’m not that vain, I swear. And yes… she’s immortal. She’s not unkillable, Huntresses can be killed, but barring a death in combat, she’ll live forever. In the last War we lost some huntresses who’d been around for millenia, so, unless she does something stupid, Thalia could be around forever. Gods how I pity the world.” Another laugh and he put a single finger to Brooks’ lips, “None of that. She’s a dear friend and I know she’ll want to meet you… if it’s ever safe for the Greeks to come back to New Rome again.” Listening carefully he started to get the impression that Brooklyn was never that comfortable talking about himself. Which was fine, Jason was a storyteller, if they needed it he could fill the silence as adequately as anyone, “Well… bread is delicious, so you’ve got super good taste in carbs. Also, thanks to your demigod genetics, and the training you’ll go through here, you can eat as much bread as you like and not get fat! So… big bonus there!”
“Seriously? I think you do that now.” Brooks laughed incredulously. He couldn’t imagine any abercrombie model looking hotter than Jason did in this exact moment, sitting down in a pillow fort and cuddling Brooks. “I definitely wish that I met you before this. But it has nothing to do with your injury, for the record. I just kind of wish I could have known you longer.” Was that something someone said on a first date? Brooks was in this perpetual state of feeling like he was walking on eggshells, but he had been able to slightly lower his guard tonight. Not completely, he was still afraid of making an ass of himself. But he was willing to open up at least. “I don’t know how I’d feel about being immortal. But I’m sure she’s great. Your sister and your ex. I’d like to meet them too.” Brooks laughed. One thing he had never worried about was getting overweight or unhealthy in that sense. He had worried instead about being unhealthy from a lack of nutrition. Hopefully once this war was over and things settled down he could change that view. “I love all carbs. Like I said, I’ll pretty much eat anything.” As the conversation died off, Brooks began questioning what he was to do or say again. He should have known that no matter how much fun he was having the anxiety would still be stuck in his head. What exactly was expected out of a first date? He was quite enjoying the getting to know Jason part of the night. “So, I don’t know what to expect,” Brooks began, unsure where he was going with the sentence, “Um I don’t really do dates, as we’ve covered. What do you do on first dates? Like in your experience?” Had Brooks actually just asked him to recount his past dates to him? Dumb choice.
“Well we’ve also demonstrated that you’ve got terrible taste in men since you’re on a date with the current dumpster-fire-iteration of me. But you’re very kind.” it was so tempting to pull Brooks close, sink into the pillows and just cuddle, but for the moment Jason contented himself with continuing to rub the other man’s shoulder, “I don’t know if you’d recognize me. I changed a lot… when I gave up the title of Praetor and turned into the Pontifex. But… I’m happy you know me now.” He chose to gloss over Brooks’ comments on Thalia and Piper because he really didn’t feel like talking about his family or his former romantic interests right now. Brooks’ cautious foray into Jason’s dating past made him laugh a little, “Well… as you’ve heard, my first date with Piper was a construction Hera came up with to fill in my missing memories. So that really doesn’t count. When I went on my first date with Vivianne, well it was a shit show. We went to dinner, it was awkward, we never talked to each other again. I went out with a guy in my writing seminar a couple of times… but that wasn’t really dating that was just… uh... “ he felt his face flush crimson, “Well that was something else. This is the first real date I’ve been on in years. I’m just as bad at this as you are, possibly worse. I’m not really what you’d call a ‘people person’ at all.”
“Ha ha. Very funny.” Brooks stated sarcastically and rolled his eyes at Jason. Someday, maybe not today or tomorrow or anytime soon, but someday Jason was going to learn that this injury was not the end for him. Brooks just hoped that he would be around to see that day. “I’m happy too.” Brooks agreed. He couldn’t know what Jason was like before the rescue. He was sure that Jason was different from the Jason before the war started also. And while Brooks could waste his time upset that he hadn’t found this place long ago to meet every version of Jason possible; Brooks knew that could never happen and should just focus on getting to know the Jason that sat in front of him now. And he had to say that he was a big fan so far. He didn’t even care about the writing seminar guy that Jason was definitely avoiding defining as a fuck buddy. Okay, Brooks cared just a little bit. But he was happier to know that this didn’t seem to be that. Jason actually seemed like he wanted to get to know Brooks on a more personal level and Brooks much preferred things that way. Even if the thought of sex with him was enough to make Brooks blush. “Great. Well I’m not a people person either so at least we have that in common.” Brooks dipped his head back, resting it against Jason’s arm that still draped over his shoulders and stared at the ceiling of the pillow fort. It was comforting to know that this date was one of the firsts for Jason in a while. “Well this is going good, yeah? I mean. I think it is.”
As the second movie drew to a close and Jason started the third one he struggled to suppress the gigantic yawn that rumbled through his broad frame. “Oh gods I’m so fucking sorry about that. Yes. In answer to your question this is going super well.” He snuggled a little deeper into the soft pile he’d made and smiled broadly at Brooks, “To be perfectly honest with you it’s been awhile since I’ve been comfortable enough around someone to actually feel sleepy. If I start to doze off please take it as a compliment.” He felt a blush creep across his cheeks, “Also feel free to stay the night in here. I promise I won’t try anything and Gods know I’ve got enough pillows and blankets in here for the both of us.” The movie played on quietly for a few minutes before he turned and brushed a soft kiss to Brooks’ cheek, lingering for a moment against the warm skin before turning away again, “sorry. If that was too far. I’ve just been thinking about doing it for awhile.”
Jason actually felt comfortable enough around Brooks that he was able to doze off? In any other case a person may be offended that someone was falling asleep during a date but Brooks was practically melting into putty. Jason always seemed to know exactly what to say to make Brooklyn go weak in the knees. “I’m honored.” Brooks smiled. He was. And he couldn’t claim that he wasn’t just as exhausted as Jason looked. “Stay the night?” Brooks asked, the surprise very evident in his voice. He had never been invited to stay the night with someone before by somebody that weren’t his grandparents. But he didn’t want Jason to get the idea that he was surprised in a bad way so he quickly elaborated, “I’d love to. Honestly I don’t think I ever want to leave this fort.” Was that statement too much? Had he gone too far? Considering a few moments later Jason turned and planted a kiss on his cheek - the first by anybody other than his mother - Brooks was sure that neither of them had gone too far at any point tonight so far. “No. No. That was perfectly fine. More than fine actually. Fantastic, really. I’m glad you thought about doing it. Because I’d be way too scared to actually do that.” Stop talking Brooks. He closed his mouth and slid down against the his pillow so that he was closer to lying down than sitting up but was careful to not leave Jason’s grip. That was the last thing he wanted. He glanced over at Jason and blushed. “Now can stop bothering me while I try to watch this movie that I clearly am very invested in?”
Bursting into laughter, Jason released brooks long enough to turn off the lamp, so the only illumination was from his computer screen. He shucked off his collared shirt and burrowed deep into the blankets, rolling over closer to the other man in the process “Glad the kiss wasn’t the most offensive thing in the world.” Reaching our he pulled Brooks close again, his eyes slowly fluttering shut, “Yuh-huh. Totally invested in the movie. I’m sure you are.” It was teasing and he knew it, neither of them had paid any attention to any of the three movies they had been watching, “the way I see it you can either keep watching the movie…” another yawn and his eyes were firmly closed, “or you can get under these blankets and we can awkwardly snuggle until we fall asleep because I do most things awkwardly and maybe I’ll kiss you a couple more times.”
This was definitely something Brooks could get used to. That is, if Jason wanted another date after this was over. But he had said that it had gone well right? So that meant that Brooklyn’s chances were good. “Far from offensive.” Brooks agreed and scoffed at Jason, “I was interested in the movie,” Brooks lied, “I happen to be very into film.” It was a bad lie but that was the entire point. Brooks figured that it was fairly obvious just how into the night, and therefore Jason, Brooks was. After the two fell into darkness, save for the faint glow of the laptop screen, Jason taunted Brooks with an ultimatum. It was a pretty easy choice for Brooks to backtrack his previous statement. “Movie? What movie? I hate movies.” He decided, and happily crawled under the covers. He had no idea what he was doing when it came to snuggling or kissing. But he definitely more than willing to try.
As Brooks stated that Nico didn’t stare him, the older demigod blinked slightly at the younger one. Nico had, it was true, taken steps to tamp down his aura of fear and death when he had heard Brooks crying, and had gone out of his way to try and be helpful to the teenager, but to hear that someone who hadn’t been dealing with him for years wasn’t scared of him? That was just unprecedented for Nico. In spite of himself, a smile was tugging at his lips. “Thank you,” He replied slightly, a hint of laughter in his tone. “Not really a phrase I’m used to hearing.” He admitted a little sheepishly.
Folding his arms over his chest slightly as Brooks stated that Nico didn’t know that much about him, Nico fixed the teenager with an unamused look. “And whose fault is that?” He challenged slightly. “You’ve told me basics, details about yourself - but you’ve kept quiet about the things that make you who you are.” He stated somewhat flatly. “If you want people to like you, and to accept you, you need to be honest with them about yourself.” He chewed his lower lip, closing his eyes for a second. “I thought I’d never be happy again after I spent time in Tartarus.” He stated, broaching a very uncomfortable topic of his life for Brooks. “I was tortured for weeks by Gaea’s monsters and then used as bait to lure my friends into a trap. I was traumatized, and I was weak when I was rescued.” He started quietly. “I thought all my friends wouldn’t want anything to do with me because of how broken I was.” He sighed a bit, looking at Brooks. “My point is if you try and put on a mask, you’ll never get to have close friends. It’s been very hard to talk about what happened in Tartarus with people I’ve known for years, and when I did I felt so much better. Whatever you’re ashamed of, or hiding, or trying to pretend never happened - it’s part of you, like it or not. And your friends will accept you, warts and all.”
Gods, he was turning into Will.
“I’ll give you any look I like.” He challenged, a note of amusement in his voice as he watched Brooks blush. Letting the topic go, Nico nodded his head slightly. “It’s a rarity.” Nico admitted. “It takes a lot for them to show up.” He was wondering the same thing as Brooks. Their children were currently slaughting one another wholesale - and so far as Nico knew, not a single one of the Gods had put in an appearance to try and stop the bloodshed. As the topic turned to Will, Nico smiled slightly again. “He is.” He nodded his head slightly. “He’s absolutely wonderful, and I miss him incredibly.” He sighed slightly - feeling horrible for deceiving Will, but knowing it was something he had to do at the moment.
Brooks didn’t understand why people would be so afraid of Nico. Sure, he had that slightly emo, ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe going strong but that was hardly an indication of who someone was as a person. Of course, Brooks had never seen Nico’s powers either. And while Brooks knew little about what a child of Hades would have in regards to special abilities he could only assume they were pretty fantastical and appropriately dark considering what Hades was the god of. Plus he was supposed to be one of the stronger ones like Poseidon and Zeus and Brooks had already seen what their children could do. None of that mattered much. Brooks had seen plenty of powers since arriving and each seemed cooler than the last.
Nico wasn’t wrong in that it was Brooklyn’s own fault that others couldn’t get to know him. Brooks constantly kept himself closed off and most of that was because he feared that they either wouldn’t like what they saw or wouldn’t care about it. He wasn’t sure if he feared the hatred or disinterest more but neither were a pleasant feeling in Brooklyn’s gut. “I guess I’ve spent a lot of years pretending to be someone I’m not.” Brooks began, “I’m not really sure that I know enough about myself to share.”
“That sounds awful. I’m sorry.” He barely knew what Tartarus was. But he was willing to bet it wasn’t a beach house. From what Nico was saying it sounded pretty miserable. Coming out of that in one piece couldn’t have been easy. “It’s worth a shot I guess.”
“Well there’s nothing to look at.” Brooks lied. Trying to defend himself against the butterflies flying around his stomach at the mention of Jason’s name. It only made him feel more uncomfortable and nervous for the date to come. The last thing he needed were even more jitters. Plus, how could Brooks feel right about a date when Nico was speaking of his boyfriend that he couldn’t even see right now? It just seemed wrong. “Well, hopefully this war will be over soon and you’ll be able to see him again.”
Wally was very happy to have someone still willing to be his guinea pig in all of this. Maybe if Brooks had seem some of the mistakes Wally had made in the past, he wouldn’t be as so ready. But that’s how they all learned. He dug into his pouch that was on his hip and pulled out a translucent flask and held it in front of Brooks. “Bottoms up, man. Give it a second to take affect, then try and punch my arm.”
Maybe Brooks should have been more cautious about drinking some unknown fluid from Wally’s flask. Even though Brooks knew Wally had no ill intentions or malice towards Brooks, there still could have been a mistake or something Wally hadn’t accounted for that could do something terrible to Brooks. Like kill him. Or make him intangible forever. Or something awful along those lines. But none of those thoughts crossed Brooklyn’s mind apparently because he willingly and happily grabbed the flask from Wally and drank it down in one go. He immediately began coughing and hacking, “Ugh. That tastes terrible!” He hacked for a couple more seconds before recovering and punching at Wally. The first connected, much to Brooks disappointment and then he immediately felt bad for doing it. “Oh! Sorry! I don’t think this one worked. My arm’s kind of tingly though. So there’s that.”
Nico nodded his head slightly at Brooks’ mention of wanting people to like him. “Now there is the difference between us.” He stated simply. “Hades, for millennia, was never accepted as one of the Gods due to being feared by them. It took until I convinced him to help us and the Gods fight against a reborn Kronos for his siblings to wholly accept him - so being the Son of Hades with demigods was… difficult.” He admitted after a few moments of silence. “I scare them. They don’t like me, they’re afraid of what they’ve seen me do. I wanted acceptance, you want to be liked.” He scrutinized Brooks for a few long moments.
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t like you.” He stated simply. “You certainly seem like a good person from this conversation.” He commented as lazily and detachedly as if he had been offering his thoughts on the weather. The way Brooks started to speak about Jason made Nico’s eyebrows arch slightly, but he refrained from commenting. “He is very… caring.” He echoed for a moment, his gaze resting almost suspiciously on Brooks’ face for a long moment. “Incredibly brave and remarkably loyal.” He chewed his lower lip for a second before continuing past the point about Jason - though his mind was now painting the image for him of the one-eyed Jason and Brooks kissing. “Not all of the Gods.” He corrected slightly. “Some are actually incredibly nice if you encounter them and are honest and open about your intentions.” He spoke simply and honestly himself. “Others, not so much.” He commented, his mind focusing on Zeus’ efforts to kill Nico and Bianca that had claimed their mother’s life, and nearly their own.
“Will is my boyfriend, yeah.” He nodded a little awkwardly. “He’s - he’s back at Camp Half-Blood in New York, the Greek version of Camp Jupiter.” His tanned cheeks were darkening a little with an awkward blush. “He - he doesn’t know I’m back yet.” He stated a little awkwardly. “I’ve been away on some - ah - family business. And he thinks I’m still in the Underworld with my father. If he knew I was up here, he’d worry.” He offered a sheepish grimace to Brooks. “Or worse, he’d come out here himself to make sure I didn’t get hurt, then he’d probably get hurt.”
Brooks sat silently, listening to Nico explain Hades troubles and Nico’s own struggle for acceptance. It was more than enough to put thing into perspective for Brooks. And to make him feel like shit. In Brooklyn’s eyes, acceptance and being liked were one in the same. But he knew there was a difference. Brooks should apologize, but what was the point when the apology was going towards someone who wouldn’t want it? Nico had already shut down one of Brooks apologies. “You don’t scare me.” Brooks finally settled on. Who knew if it was the right thing to say? Brooks certainly had no practice. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me.
Brooks let a humorless laugh escape from his lips. “You don’t know that much about me.” Sometimes, Brooks couldn’t tell if he knew much about himself. He was constantly changing who he was in New York. Day by day brought on whatever personality or archetype that Brooks needed in order to eat or sleep. After spending so long pretending to be someone he wasn’t, who was to say that all of him returned when he left for New Rome? He had no idea who he was.
Brooks noticed the eyebrow moving. “Don’t give me that look” Brooks blushed. Facial expressions were something he had learned to pick up on. If he was conning someone he had to knew where he stood with them. Needed to be able to read a room. And as Nico talked more about Jason, Brooks could feel his cheeks heating up more and more. “I’m sure some of the gods are perfectly nice. If they ever show up.” Brooks welcomed the change in subject. But he wasn’t sure he believed Nico. After all, there was a war currently happening where their children were killing each other and yet not a one had dropped in that Brooks knew of. Definitely not parent of the year award.
“That’s cool. I’m sure he’s great.” The idea of Will not knowing of Nico’s returned was sad. But he could almost understand Nico’s reasoning. Trying to protect his boyfriend was admirable, especially considering how much Nico must miss his boyfriend. “I’m sorry you can’t tell him you’re here. You must miss him.” He had heard people talk of Camp Half Blood before. It was crazy to think that Brooks had spent over two years in New York with the camp probably less than an hour from him but without any knowledge of who or what he actually was.
“Perhaps we should start with Chicago. You’ve mentioned that one more than any other.” She regarded him carefully, “But I am perfectly content with watching any that I can find on my laptop.” She fiddled with the ends of her ponytail and sucked on her lip as she listened to Brooks, the peach flavor of her lipgloss staining her tongue. I can only hope that they do, she thought, and gave a small nod to Brooks in order to show her agreement. It was nice to not have to come in with a wide breadth of knowledge, although it did still make Harper feel more than a bit out of place - as though she still ought to know some more than she did in order to properly exist in the haven that New Rome supposedly was.
“Half and half, I think - though perhaps more human in many ways, just without entirely human parentage.” She wasn’t even entirely sure how one would qualify how human or how divine she and Brooks and the others in New Rome were. She certainly did not have powers like those Brooks had mentioned Jason had, and like Percy surely had given how frequently she heard his name mentioned.
“You are welcome. I always believe in the value of happiness. If we do not appreciate that, we will have nothing much left.” She took in a small breath of air. “Not that one has to be happy, I - I do not mean that, but valuing happiness as it comes is important. I am glad for you.” Another small smile crossed her lips and she reached out for his hand, holding it in one of her own. “I hope it is everything you dream of.”
She moved her hand away after only a moment, realizing how painfully still they were. “Sorry, I owe you more of a run then we are getting.” She whispered, looking over to him.
“Chicago is a great choice.” Brooks remembered begging the theater director to put the play on at his school. The two had looked into it and found that the rights to the show were not overly expensive and could be done by a high school budget. Not to mention, the abundance of female characters made perfect sense for a school with such an unbalanced level of female to male theater members. Brooks was one of just four other guys and Brooks didn’t mean to brag, but he was definitely the most talented and able to play a role such as Billy Flynn. It was a miracle that the two had convinced the school board to show it. Though the two had to edit a few scenes from the original script and downplay some of the more overt clothing options and dancing moves – the spread eagle for example – they got their play. “How annoyed are you going to be if I sing every word?”
Brooks shrugged. Truth was that he didn’t know the answer. Others certainly had more god-like abilities than Brooks possessed. Brooks was faster than most but he was barely the flash or sonic the hedgehog fast. All of his speed and ability could be chalked up to his living situation, not anything superhuman or godly. In his eyes, he was nothing more than a human with now a trio of shitty parents instead of just a duo. “I don’t really think anybody could give us a definitive answer. Even the gods.” They may even be unsure of the exact science of it.
“I don’t know what to expect, let alone dream of.” Brooks couldn’t recall any dreams about dates, though he was sure back in high school they must have happened. He was way too repressed and terrified of his sexuality to not have nightmares about men. “But thanks. Happiness is important.”
Brooks appreciated Harper’s kindness and her hand and hadn’t realized that the two were still standing motionless until Harper pulled her hand away and spoke. He had completely forgotten about the run. The two had started talking and gotten lost in the conversation. “Well I’m usually out here every morning so you’ll know where to find me.”
Nico gave a slight sigh as Brooks apologized about Bianca. “She died a while ago.” He said almost dismissively. “Right after I first met Percy, actually.” He bit down at his lower lip slightly, chewing it for a second. “She chose to be reborn. In the Underworld, those who live good, moral lives are sent to Elysium. Those in Elysium can be reborn after having their memories of their past selves wiped.” Nico looked up from his hands in his lap to lock eyes with Brooks. “I’ll never see her again.” He stated simply. “So what’s the point in apologizing for it?” He leaned back slightly, still looking at the Son of Hermes before him. “But my past isn’t important. I’m not the one you found crying.” He pointed out simply - trying to shunt the conversation away from himself and his issues.
Relatively thankful that brooks had started to open up more as Nico had asked him about being gay, the older demigod seized the opportunity to keep the conversation focused on Brooks. “But you still worry about others’ perceptions of you.” He commented, a statement far more than a question posed in response to Brooks’ insisting he hadn’t actively hidden his sexuality from anyone. “Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is come to terms with yourself.” He bit at his lower lip again, listening as Brooks told him about Jason’s reaction. “Well, Jason reacted very well when I was outed.” He commented, a note of darkness in his voice. “Kept telling me no one would think less of me. I wasn’t in a particularly … good mood, and didn’t want Jason being… his giant, blond happy self. I’d just been forcibly outed by a God in front of Jason.” He told the story with a slight twinge of bitterness in his tone. “I’d have rather done it on my own terms, but, again, the Gods can be assholes.” Nico stated flatly. “But I’ve moved past it. And I guarantee you, this -” he gestured around the dome, “New Rome or our little Greek Colony or whatever winds up at the end of this pestilential war, it’s not going to make a damn bit of difference in anyone’s mind. You just have to be willing to openly express who you are.” He paused for a moment. “I got lucky,” He stated, “Percy had Annabeth so I could detach myself easily, and then I got to know Will, and he helped me come to peace with a lot of things.” He looked at Brooks. “You’ll find someone like that.” He promised, an almost affectionate tone in his voice.
Apparently, Nico didn’t like talking about himself. Brooks could appreciate that, he was mostly the same way. He wanted to make another comment about his sister. About how Brooks apologized because he didn’t know what to say. Or that the tragedy didn’t just go away because she had been reborn or because Nico wouldn’t be able to see her again. What did Brooks know? He had no experience comforting people. The good old roman catholic way was to suppress any feelings and truck on. That had been the only part of the religion that actually seemed to stick with Brooks. Whether he had wanted it to or not. But Brooks bit his tongue and moved on. Maybe getting to know Nico was for another day.
“Of course. I want people to like me.” Brooks admitted. All he had wanted from this camp was to be liked by the people around him. He wanted to have friends and confidants and maybe even a relationship. He couldn’t do that if the people around him hated him. He couldn’t the number of times he considered putting on a show for others. Figuring out the type of person that they wanted Brooks to be and then stepping into that role for them. Just so that they wouldn’t grow bored of him and leave. “Yeah, well Jason is-” What had Brooks been ready to say? Something sappy? He barely knew Jason. He didn’t want to mention Jason being bi in case Nico was unaware. While Jason didn’t seem like the type to be in the closet or hide who he was, it still wasn’t Brooklyn’s truth to tell. No matter how badly Brooks wanted to rant and rave about the date to anybody that would listen. “something else entirely. He’s very… caring. And brave and stuff. Or whatever.” Smooth. But Brooks moved on and nodded his head to Nico’s statement, “From all the stories I’ve heard gods are the biggest assholes.” He hadn’t even met one yet. He also couldn’t claim that he had any high interest in it either. “It helps knowing I’m not the only one. So thanks.” That was the truth. It was obvious that Nico was trying to help regardless of how uncomfortable he was about it, which made Brooks feel especially thankful. “Will? Is that your boyfriend?” He certainly hoped so or this would be awkward.
Nico smirked lightly as Brooks laughed at the revelation about Percy. “He was.” He nodded his head slightly. “He ran across Circe, and - well - guinea pigs are easier to manage in the modern world than full-blown pigs.” Nico shrugged slightly as he relayed the details of Percy’s unfortunate sojourn as a guinea pig - thankful once more that he’d heard the story shortly after arriving at Camp Half-Blood years before. As Brooks stated that it made him feel better about himself, Nico nodded his head slightly. “Yes, it should. As bad as things are, at least you’re not a rodent at the mercy of a witch.” He stated almost grimly.
He definitely caught the bitterness in Brooks’ tone, no matter how much the teenager tried to act like it wasn’t something grating at him. Eyeing the teenager’s face for a few moments, and considering what Brooks had told him before, that he had lived on the streets, and Nico had a very good idea why he could hear that bitterness. “My - ah - my godly parent isn’t the best either.” He stated a little awkwardly. “He - he liked my sister better. Thought she was the competent one, the talented one. When she died, I was… well, I was all that’s left, since he’s not allowed to have children anymore. So he helped teach me to control my powers - though my stepmother hates me.” He commented, attempted to bring in a note of humor to the conversation, wondering if he dared tell the teenager. It, he figured, couldn’t hurt, could it? “But that’s just my lot in life as the Son of Hades.” He stated dryly.
His head nodded slightly as Brooks asked about 1924. His gaze was focused on the teenager as Brooks finally started to speak more, and more and more was starting to make sense to him as Brooks slowly started talking more and more. Between the veiled reference to his parents learning something about him that they didn’t like and the threat to stay and change or leave; coupled with Brooks’ comment about Percy being an admirable crush, Nico’s eyes were focused intently on the face of the other teenager, a wave of empathy he hadn’t expected to feel for the younger man dropping into his chest. “You’re gay, aren’t you?” He asked simply, still looking deeply into Brooks’ face. “I… it’s hard to try and work through being a demigod and being gay.” He said simply, the fact he was speaking from experience obvious from the sudden droop of his shoulders as he spoke. “I… I tried to deny it for years, thought everyone would use it to hurt me.” He shifted on the crate, elbows resting in his thighs as he clasped his hands thoughtfully, his left hands’ fingers lightly playing with the silver skull ring on his right hand. “You… you work past it. Just like you do as a mortal. It just takes a little longer.”
“I’m sorry about your sister.” Brooks could only imagine losing someone close to him like that. Especially when Nico was forced to live in her shadow. He wondered how she had died. If it had been connected to this war at all or if it was something that had happened long ago. Considering he was actually born in 1924 apparently, the possibilities seemed endless. Maybe she had simply died of old age. Or maybe she had been in that magical casino with him. Regardless, Brooks tried to piece Nico’s godly parent together thread by thread which wasn’t easy to do banking off of an incredibly limited knowledge of Greek mythology. But in the end it wasn’t necessary. Nico flat out told Brooks about his father being the king of the underworld. Considering the few stories Brooks did know about Hades, it made more sense why Jason had referred to Nico as being so powerful. If Jason could shoot lightning and fly and Percy could control water he could only imagine the powers that Nico must have. “That seems intense. I’m sorry, that couldn’t have been easy.” A father thinking his son couldn’t live up to his potential and a stepmother that hated him didn’t sound like an ideal situation for anybody, let alone the son of Hades.
Nico actually said that word out loud. The word that Brooks couldn’t get himself to say. At first Brooks only shook his head.” It started as an involuntary reaction, his head swaying up and down by instinct. Eventually, he finally spoke. “Yeah.” Though he didn’t seem to have much to say. “I haven’t actively hidden it from anybody.” Brooks admitted. That didn’t make it any less hard. He knew of a few others at the camp that were gay or bi. It was actually pretty heart warming to see that others existed also. It was hard to find others like him in New York. “I’ve only ever talked about it specifically with two other people.” With Harper, who knew about Jason. And that of course just left Jason himself. “Jason was really cool about it. And sweet. And welcoming. It’s nice to see people find out and not care. Or even use the opportunity to share things about themselves.” Brooks was still caught up in his head about the fact that Jason had actually asked Brooks out on a date. “Thanks. It sucked back in high school. But it’s been years. I think I’m starting to embrace it more.”
Brooks’ initial assessment of Nico would, normally, be very accurate. In spite of Will’s best efforts, Nico still harbored intense suspicions that everyone around him was afraid of him, which led to his closing himself off more and withdrawing more from normal interaction with others, in turn fueling the perception that he was a solitary loner. Well, if he was a loner, it was by necessity. He’d been joined to Bianca at the hip before she joined the Hunters, and had started on the quest that led to her death. Sighing a bit to himself, he gave a small noise sounding almost like a chuckle at Brooks’ comment about being a guinea pig.
“It could be worse,” He countered dryly. “I could be physically turning you into one, like Percy had happen to him once.” He commented somewhat detachedly, thankful that he’d heard that story from others invovled, as it always gave him some minor bit of smug satisfaction against Percy. At least Nico had only been turned into a dandelion and a corn plant. Gods, he still hated Perseophne and Triptolemus. He definitely wouldn’t be telling Brooks that one…
As the younger male mentioned that Jason had called Nico ‘incredibly powerful,’ Nico arched an eyebrow slightly. “I’m just better at controlling the powers I have.” He responded a little embarrasedly. “Most demigods can barely get their godly parents to notice them. I’ve lived with mine for years.” He chuckled a little awkwardly - trying to avoid mentioning to Brooks which god was his father for the moment. There was, after all, no really good way to admit to being the Prince of Hades and Ghost King.
He listened as Brooks gave him five sentences about himself. Frowning slightly at his provided information, Nico shifted to lean forward a bit on the crate he was sitting on. “You’re a lot more than five sentenses. And we both know it.” He stated dryly. “Let me give you five sentences about myself: I was born in 1924 and spent seven decades trapped in a magical casino. I have a dead sister who I miss every day. I scare people without meaning to. I’m one of three people to survive Tartarus as a mortal. I used to have an obnoxiously huge crush on Percy.” He eyed Brooks. “Do you think those five sentences have told you everything about me?”
“Percy was turned into a guinea pig?” Brooks asked, completely in shock but still letting a laugh escape from his lips. Reasonably he understood that Percy couldn’t have always been the incredible leader and fighter that he was today. But still, a guinea pig? “That makes me feel so much better about myself.” He remembered just a few weeks when he had helped Wally with his magic and had begun the process of turning Brooks into a cat. Wally reversed the process before it was complete but he still quite vividly remembered the feeling.
“Yeah, so I’ve noticed.” Brooks shrugged, attempting to be as nonchalant about his bitterness as possible. Brooks had never met Hermes in person. He wasn’t really sure he had any interest in ever meeting him. He had been kicked from his home and lived on the streets for almost three years. Not once had Hermes ever made an appearance to lend a helping hand. It wasn’t until Percy had saved him from a monster that Hermes finally acted like he gave a shit. “That’s cool though I guess? That you lived with them?” He noticed that Nico hadn’t shared whoever his godly parent was with Brooks. It was noticeable considering that was one of the first things people did at this camp. But it wasn’t any of his business either, he supposed.
Brooks sat mostly in a stunned silence through all of Nico’s five sentences. “Woah. 1924?” Brooks finally asked after sharing time was over. And that just barely scratched the surface of the questions running through his head. “No. It doesn’t. I get your point.” Brooks stared up at the sky to avoid making eye contact with Nico. “I was raised a theater kid in a super catholic family. One day a sick prank at school ended with my parent’s finding out something about me that they didn’t want to hear.” Just like when he spoke of his past with Jason, he couldn’t seem to spit the gay word out. And just like the time before he couldn’t figure out why the word wouldn’t come out. He accepted who he was now. He didn’t fear that. “They gave me an option to stay and change or leave. So I left.” He rubbed absentmindedly at his arms. He was suddenly itchy and needed something to do with his hands. Maybe he was allergic to talking about himself. “I lived on the streets for a few years and then I ended up here.” Maybe he couldn’t say the word, but he could at least comment on Nico’s crush. “Percy is a very admirable crush.” He had probably felt the same way after being saved by him, “I guess… I don’t know I guess I have a crush on someone in the camp too. It’s a weird feeling.” Since that silly high school crush that resulted in his outing, Brooks had never had the chance to really explore any other aspects of his sexuality or crushes. So this was all new territory for him.
