Timore NICO DI ANGELO X OC (male)

25

"Hell no I'm not sitting around a whole day!" Leo was sitting cross legged, arms folded, on a Iris Message call with Will.
"You need to let your ankle rest! With the ambrosia and rest you should be ok by tomorrow but walking around all day is going to make it worse. Just chill for the day and you can do what you want tomorrow, ok?"
"Fine, but Nico and Mika better have a horrible time." The call ended and Leo flopped backwards, groaning. Nico and Mika sat on the other bed, trying not to laugh at him. Leo gave them both a death glare and Nico shot to his feet.
"On that note! Let's go Mika, we can go look at the art museum today and get food somewhere." Mika nodded and the two left quickly after waving goodbye to a grumpy Leo.

After making it to the museum, the boys went to the African section first, wandering around before making their way to the next area. Mika stopped after a little while, staring at an old picture of a sun dial. "Nico... the picture." Nico walked up, squinting at it, trying to see any small details Mika might have noticed. "It's moving Nico."
He looked closer and after a few minutes, Nico realized the sun had moved from one, to the next five minute mark.
"That must have been made a long time ago, or whoever made it blessed by a god or something, that's cool. I wonder what it looks like without mist."
"Mist? Remind me about that again."
"It's, well think it of misting people's eyes, it's magic that keeps mortals from seeing what goes on in our world. For example, a hellhound might look like a big bear to them. Not even most demigods can see through the mist all the time. Me and you can, because we're children of the underworld and death. I don't know why that would make us not affected at all, but it's not always a good thing."
"What do you mean? Wouldn't you want to see through it?
"Well, we both have been to Tartarus. What we saw was the full, alive thing. When Percy and Annabeth fell in. The most protected them from seeing it all most of the time, Percy only caught a glimpse once." Mika nodded, having gotten a little pale at the mention of Tartarus, having to steady himself against the wall. Nico turned away quickly, not being able to check on him, feeling a tap on his shoulder

"Excuse me boys, just wanted to check and see why you've been hanging around this corner for so long. Another visitor asked me to see what your doing, if your waiting for someone, I can help you look for them or make an announcement on the speakers to tell them where you are." A security officer in a blue polo had walked up, eyeing the two.
"Oh uh, sorry we were just looking at this piece, it's super cool. We're waiting for our, um, friend, but he just texted Mika here he's outside, so we'll get going." Nico got slightly red, not knowing how to respond. The officer eyed them even more suspiciously.
"You boys were... admiring this five dollar clock from Walmart, hmm, yeah well how about I walk you two to the door and you 'get going'." He but a hand on Mika's back and slightly pushed him to start walking. Him and Nico looked back at the painting and back forwards, realizing the officer hadn't been able to see the actual painting.

When they had gotten outside and the officer had walked away, Mika walked shakily into a side alley and squatted down. Nico walked over, swinging and arm around his shoulder and looking into his face. Mika was covered in sweat, despite the cool day, and barely breathing.
"Hey Mika, can you hear me?" He nodded, starting to shake slightly. Nico started breathing loudly, slowly taking deep breaths. After a minute or two, Mika unconsciously matched his breathing pattern, and started calming down. He relaxed his shoulders and let his head hang down.
"I'm s-sorry. I got a little f-freaked out when you talked about s-stuff," Nico silently scolded himself for talking so casually about what him and Mika were able to see in Tartarus.
"and then the guy, w-when he led us out, h-had his hand on my back- it reminded me of. You know- my back h-has the..." Nico recalled seeing the gashes across Mika's back, caused by who knows what, that had made for prominent scars, marking his entire back.
"It's ok, it's my fault for talking about something that would trigger you, I should've known better. He squeezed Mika gently, still holding him with one arm. "Let's get some food and relax a bit. What's something you've always wanted to try?"
"C-could we get something m-more familiar? Sushi's been my favorite food for a long time."
"Yeah totally! Comfort foods are always better." Nico helped him up and they set out to find a place to eat.

After getting the food, they found their way back to the hotel roof, Leo was still a little grumpy so they left him with some dinner.
"Ahh it's so good. How's your food Mika?" Nico looked to Mika, who had his cheeks full like a chipmunk. He nodded happily and looked back out over the city. "If I had a phone, I'd take a picture of you right now." Once his mouth wasn't full, Mika gave him a confused look, raising an eyebrow.
"Why? That sounds like something I'd hear if ever got a boyfriend or somethi- I mean- girlfriend- sorry haha." He stuffed a piece of sushi into his mouth and tried to look busy, cleaning up the food packaging. Nico chuckled slightly, patting his shoulder.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm gay to the core, had a hardcore crush on Percy for a few years. And I wanted a picture of you because you looked like a giant squirrel, you should've seen yourself." Mika visibly relaxed, stopping his crinkling of trying to look busy with the wrappers.
"O-oh ok. I'm bi, but I lean towards g-guys more. That why I said boyfriend. I just never have told anyone. Jenny- my mom. She would kick me out for good if she knew, so I just never said anything." Nico nodded understandingly.
"Well, I'm sure you'll find a guy or girl. And they can take as many pictures of you looking like a chipmunk as they want." Mika laughed, his cheeks getting slightly pink.

At this point it had gotten dark. He laid down, looking up at the sky, catching glimpses of stars in between clouds. After a while he fell asleep, Nico just sat, looking between the stars and the sleeping boy, before deciding to wake him up so they could go back to the room for the night.