stress-baking | theyna

vii.

Reyna had no clue what just happened, none at all. "What the fuck did I just do?" She muttered to the empty elevator. She leaned back against the elevator's walls. "It looks like there's no going back now." Reyna sighed and rolled her head back to look at the mirrored ceiling of the elevator. It landed on her stop.

Reyna walked out of the dorms and hailed a taxi to head to Nico's. She texted him a quick "be there soon."

Stepping out of the car after paying the grumpy driver a five, she looked up at the building. It was quite obvious that Nico's dad was a funeral coordinator. The whole apartment was dark grey brick, the windows dark, ceilings sloping. It was like a haunted house, so much so, it gave Reyna the chills.

The door opened to reveal a very exasperated 17-year-old. "For the love of god, Reyna. Help me," Nico said, opening the door wider to reveal a little girl wearing a princess dress.

"Reyna!" Hazel cried, curly hair flying as she raced out the door to hug the older girl. Reyna picked her up.

"Nico tells me you're refusing to go to bed. Why is that?" She questioned, walking to the house. She went inside the doorway that Nico left open, the chills still prevalent. It's always Halloween here. Reyna walked into the kitchen where Nico was lying slumped over the marble island.

Hazel leant in towards Reyna and stage-whispered, "There's a monster in my closet!"

It took every ounce of Reyna's self-control to not ask her if it was just her older brother. "Oh my! We have to vanquish this monster!" Nico lifted his head to look at her, exhausted and exasperated.

"See, Nico?" Hazel turned in Reyna's arms to look pointedly at her brother. "Someone believes me!"

"Alright, alright," He said, putting his arms up in surrender, a small smile on his face. "Let's go destroy the demon." Reyna put a squirming Hazel down, who ran up the stairs on the right.

Nico turned to Reyna after watching Hazel. "I thought you were going to help me?"

"I am. She won't take you seriously unless you take her seriously." Reyna pushed off the island and started up the stairs. She turned back to Nico. "Coming?"

He sighed, but picked himself up from his slumped position. "Coming."

Once the trio was up in Hazel's room, the little girl immediately climbed up Reyna's leg. "The monster... It's in there..." She whispered, pointing to the slight-ajar closet door.

Reyna looked to Nico. "Get a weapon!"

He gave her a deadpan look. "I am not getti-" He looked at Hazel's scared face, and Reyna's reproachful one. "...I'll get you a weapon. How does a plastic sword sound?" Reyna nodded. He left to his room, bringing back a fake sword, and like everything else Nico owns, black. He handed it to Reyna. "Would you do the honors?"

Reyna looked down at Hazel, still clinging like a sloth to her leg. "Do you want me to kill the monster, or Nico?"

"Nico!"

Her older brother sighed, but took the sword back from his friend. Nico walked towards the closet door and put his hand on the doorknob. He pulled it open slowly, and Hazel dug her face into Reyna's thigh. Nico pulled the door open wider, and swung the sword into its darkness.

"Hazel," He said, "Hazel, the monster has vanished." She turned and looked at Nico, skeptical.

"What if you're the monster, and Nico is gone, and you're wearing his appearance-"

"Reyna, am I the monster?" Nico cut his sister off, knowing her line of thinking would only lead to absolutely nothing good.

Reyna shook her head. "This is the real Nico. The monster has been defeated by your heroic older brother."

"Yay!" Hazel hopped off Reyna's leg and ran to Nico. "You did it!" Nico put down the sword and picked up his sister.

"Is it safe in the room now?"

Hazel put her hands serenely on Nico's shoulders. "You have de-dea-" She cut her own sentence off, trying to stifle her yawn. It didn't work very well. Hazel rubbed at her eyes. "I'm tired."

It wasn't clear whether Nico was smiling at her or at her words. Nevertheless, he walked her over to her bed and set her down, tucking her in. No matter how dramatic Nico may be, he's still a great older brother.

Once Hazel was all tucked in and all but snoring, Nico turned towards Reyna, a finger on his lips. They stepped carefully out of the room and crawled their way downstairs to the kitchen. When the pair was out of earshot of the youngest trio member, Nico said, "Reyna, you're a godsend." She bowed as he opened up the fridge. "Do you want anything?"

Now, Reyna was no stranger to raiding the di Angelos' cupboards, so she asked for ice cream. Nico only gave her a pointed look but still opened the freezer for her. "We've got cookie dough or mint chocolate."

"Cookie dough, please." Nico brought out the pint and a spoon and handed it to Reyna, who was sitting at a bar stool at the island.

"Thanks for helping me out tonight," He sighed, and leaned his forearms on the cool marble. "Dad and 'Seph are out on a "date night," or something like that." He put his cheek in his palm. "How's your life going?"

Reyna stuck a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and pondered her words. "I met a cute girl."

The corner's of Nico's mouth turned up into a lopsided smile. "What's her name?"

"Thalia," Reyna smiled.

"Oooh, Reyna's got a cruuuuush." Nico mocked, pearly whites shining.

"Shut your face, Doom-and-Gloom." Nico only rolled his eyes at the ridiculous nickname and sighed. "How is your life goin'?"

Nico smiled and picked at his nail beds. "I met a cute boy."

"Do tell!" Reyna exclaimed around a mouth full of ice cream.

"His name's Will Solace. I have a couple of classes with him." He blushed.

Reyna grinned. "Looks like we're both fucked, aren't we?"

Nico chuckled lightly. "Yep. That we are."

"That sucks. I was planning on you being the logical thinker here."

"That's what I was planning for you!"

Nico was a regular at Apollo's, which was how Reyna met him. Once they started talking, they immediately clicked and found easy friends in each other.

"Tell me about this Will." Reyna teased, though genuinely interested in her friend's life.

Nico looked at his hands. "Well, take me, then find someone who's the polar opposite of me. That's Will."

"What do you mean?"

"He's tall and blond, tan with a bunch of freckles, smiles all the time, basically emits sunshine. Very contrary to doom-and-gloom over here."

"Well, you know what they say. Opposites attract, you know? Sounds like he'd be good for you."

Nico laughed. "And Thalia? What's she like?"

Reyna thought for a moment. "I think you'd like her. You both dress like you live in Hot Topic." Nico made an indignant noise, but knew the jab was in jest. "She's got these beautiful, electric blue eyes. Her black hair is in a short and spiky undercut with blue streaks. And, oh my god, she can sing amazingly."

Nico whistled. "Sounds like you've fallen hard."

Reyna sighed. "Hell yeah, I've fallen hard, and I think, so have you." She had all but forgotten the frozen treat in front of her. The two nodded, understanding each others struggle.

They spent most of the night playing Mythomagic, binge-watching Netflix and insulting each other, until Reyna decided to call it quits and headed back to her room.