InsaneJournal

Current mood:	pensive
Entry tags:	active: freddy freeman, active: nico di angelo

Freddy & Nico
WHO: Freddy Freeman & Nico di Angelo
WHAT: Bonding while watching laser tag.
WHERE: Some laser tag place.
WHEN: Backdated to two Sundays ago (9/1)
WARNINGS: Mentions character death
SPOILERS: Percy Jackson through Mark of Athena. Shazam stuff mentioned is my own head canon.
STATUS: Completed via GDOC.



Laser tag, Nico decided, was kind of weird looking. It vaguely reminded him of various training games at Camp Half-Blood, and, to a lesser extent, Camp Jupiter. There was definitely more organization at the Roman demi-god camp than there was here, but, somehow, it reminded him of it anyway. Despite that, it looked like it could be fun, even if he wasn’t really sure about the laser guns. Would they work with him? Technology was definitely different here than at home. Still, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to play. He was fine watching the others, his stomach flapping as he approached the table he and Freddy had taken over.

“They had fries and onion rings,” he said, setting two paper trays on the table as he sat down across from the other boy. “There were other things, but I thought this could be a good start? Oh.” He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a handful of napkins and packets of ketchup, depositing them next to the food. “I didn’t know if you wanted ketchup…” He trailed off, taking one of the fries and putting it in his mouth, if for nothing else than something to do.

Freddy had fun reading comics with Nico at “their” park earlier that day so he was glad to continue hanging out while other friends played laser tag. “Yum,” he said, grabbing an onion ring. He swallowed the fried goodness and chased it down with soda. “Thanks, good choices.” He glanced in the direction of the game area. “Are you sure you don’t want to play?” He didn’t want to keep Nico from something fun just because his disability made laser tag (at least as it currently stood) impossible.

Nico glanced over to where the others were running around, trying to shoot each other with lasers. He could understand why some people found fighting simulations fun, and he didn’t think this looked unfun. But… He shook his head, glancing back at Freddy. “It kind of reminds me of various training exercises from my world. At the Greek and Roman camps. They don’t have lasers, but similar concept.” Though he was pretty sure this was less dangerous. “More swords and spears.” He shrugged a little, taking another one of the fries. “Plus, I’d rather watch. It’s fun to watch.” And it was, because how else could you see the way people ran around looking silly if you were in the middle of it trying not to lose?

Freddy nodded his agreement. He was used to people watching; he did spend a lot of lunches alone back in his reality. He cocked his head, a thoughtful expression crossing his face, to look at Nico. “Could people get hurt in those exercises?” He asked. Nico’s world fascinated him, but it also seemed like there was an awful lot of risk involved for demigods.

Nico shrugged again. Wasn’t there risk in everything, he wondered as he looked around the laser tag facility. If he were at home, just being here would probably be a risk. And here? Well, this place may not have had monsters and giants and other creatures trying to kill him, but it had its risks. He’d experienced them first hand. Still, sitting there at the table, he thought the risk was smaller than if this were a place in his world.

“Yeah,” he said, not seeing a point in not answering truthfully. “But people can get hurt doing lots of things.” How many people had random, mundane accidents every day? Nico didn’t know, though he assumed it wasn’t too small a number. “Gym class can be dangerous,” he added, thinking about how in fifth grade one of the other boys got hit with a stray baseball. “But that’s what they’re there for, I guess. To help you learn how not to get hurt.” Or so he assumed. He hadn’t really participated in too many of those events at either camp, and he wasn’t sure he was upset about being excluded from those activities. Or the sing-alongs. He was definitely not a sing-along sort of guy.

Freddy made a face at the mention of gym class. “Know what? Gym might be scarier than all that,” he said with a laugh. “Half the time I had to sit out and the other half? I was picked last. Who came up with such a stupid class, anyway?” He grabbed a fry and dunked it into the ketchup. “I think this is the longest we’ve hung out,” he added. “It is cool.” He hadn’t meant to say so much. Nico likely thought he was dumb now. He flushed and glanced down at the table.

“Gym’s a stupid class,” he agreed. He didn’t see the point of it, even if he supposed physical fitness was important. And he didn't want to take it. Why did people need to grade you on your ability to dodge a ball or climb a rope (which he could do quite well, but that wasn’t the point)? It was just another excuse to make people feel awkward about themselves.

“Oh,” Nico said, slipping his hands into his lap. “I think so, too.” He twisted the silver ring on his finger, looking from Freddy to the food on the table. Then he glanced up again. “To both, I mean. That it’s the longest, and that it’s cool.” Because it was. It was also strange. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent so much time around someone who wasn’t related to him when it didn’t have to do with trying to keep the world from falling apart. It was definitely different, but not a bad different.

Freddy couldn’t help breaking into a huge smile. “Good,” he said. “That we agree, I mean. Not about gym. Like it would suck if you just felt bad for me and like you had to hang out with me and…I mean it is good we agree about gym too.” He was yammering on again, but couldn’t help himself.

Nico furrowed his brows a little, watching Freddy. “Why would I hang out with you if I felt bad for you? Why would I feel bad for you?” That didn't make sense. People might have felt bad for him, but Nico wasn’t someone who wasted his time on someone out of some sort of pity. If he’d hurt someone, he’d try to make it up to them, but that wasn’t pity. That was… something else. But being around someone because he felt bad for them? That wasn’t something he did.

“I… like your company. I like spending time with you,” he added, looking down at his lap. He twisted his ring again, wondering if he could just slip into the shadows and disappear for awhile.

Freddy made things weird. He just knew it. Like always. “Me too,” he agreed quickly, not bothering to answer about why someone would feel sorry for him. He thought it was obvious; besides, he didn’t want to dwell on the fact kids his age usually avoided him, bullied him, or talked to him out of pity. He ate another onion ring to buy time. “Is your ring special?” He asked, hoping to change the subject.

Immediately his fingers stilled, and he stared at the silver skull ring. The few spirits who’d followed him into the laser tag place suddenly found somewhere else to be, though Nico doubted Freddy could see them. (Then again, maybe he could. There were stranger things in this place than someone else seeing ghosts.) Talking about Bianca still hurt. Years later, and it still hurt. He didn’t know if it would ever lessen. Maybe if he’d gotten more of that closure adults talked about, but how was he supposed to do that when she’d decided to be reborn?

“My other sister gave it to me,” he said quietly, still not looking up. “Her name was Bianca, and it was the last thing she gave me.” Before going on that stupid quest. Before dying. Before leaving him. As much as he wanted to still blame stupid Percy Jackson, he blamed himself more. She’d left him without the other boy’s interference (or lack thereof), and he only had himself to blame. “She died a long time ago,” he added, quickly grabbing his own cup of soda and taking a sip, if only for something to do.

Freddy just kept putting his foot in his mouth. He felt awful for making Nico relive that in the middle of the busy food area. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. He hesitated before reaching out to tap Nico’s shoulder. “Do you want to go...I don’t know, somewhere quieter?”

“It’s okay,” Nico said with a little shrug. It wasn’t like Freddy had known. How could he have? He glanced over at him at the feeling of the tap on his shoulder, thinking for a few seconds. The noise wasn’t bad, wasn’t overwhelming, and he’d begun to get used to things being not entirely quiet. Still, he nodded at the suggestion. “Yeah. That’d be nice.”

“Cool.” Freddy hoisted himself up with his cane and grabbed garbage off the table with his free hand. He crossed the few steps to the trash can and discarded the garbage. “Ready?”

Nico had the distinct feeling that maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned Bianca. He hadn’t said much, but maybe it was still too much. Even so, he stood and brushed his hands on the front of pants, though they weren’t really dirty. Then he grabbed his drink and nodded, adding a “Yeah, let’s go. Lead the way,” to keep things from turning into some kind of weird, awkward silence.

Once they were outside, Freddy turned to Nico. “Um, I didn’t mean to ask you something too personal. Like sometimes I just talk and it keeps coming out and I don’t stop, especially when I am with people I am comfortable around and I’m just sorry if I said something wrong.”

Shaking his head, Nico glanced over at Freddy. “You didn’t know. Not unless you can read minds.” He hoped Freddy didn’t have any kind of latent telepathic ability. He knew he wanted superpowers, and he knew he got them at some point in his future, but he wasn’t sure he wanted his mind read, even if Nico knew it might not be something he’d do on purpose. “And it’s hard to talk about,” he added with a shrug, glancing away. He held onto his drink cup with both hands to keep from fidgeting. “I know I’m a child of Hades, but, sometimes, death isn’t easy to talk about.”

“Hey, yeah.” Freddy spoke softly. He hesitated, but eventually reached out to place a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “No one really wants to talk about that, you know. It doesn’t matter who your dad is. It is hard. I don’t really talk about my family...my bio family, I mean. And you don’t have to. Unless you want to.” He gave Nico the smallest hint of a smile.

Nico resisted the urge to pull away at the touch. It wasn’t Freddy so much as it was the touch itself. He couldn’t explain it; he just didn’t like being touched. But he knew some people were touchy. And he knew not all touches were bad. And he didn’t want Freddy to think he was reacting to him, so he kept his instincts buried, allowing the other boy to place his hand on his shoulder. He nodded a little bit in response to his words, deciding not to say he had no trouble talking about death in general. It was just those that affected him directly, the death of those he knew, that he didn’t like talking about.

“If you ever want to, just so you know, I’d listen,” he said, looking back at Freddy. “Talk about your bio family, I mean. But you don’t have to.” Still, he wanted Freddy to know that if he ever wanted -- or even needed -- to, he was willing to listen.

“I don’t really remember them,” Freddy admitted. “My parents were in a boating accident.” He gestured toward the cane. “That’s how this happened.” He shrugged. “I lived with my grandfather for a bit, but he...well, you know, he passed. After that? I was in and out of foster care until Rosa and Victor took me in.” He spoke frankly because it felt like those things happened to someone else. He didn’t know his parents outside a few photographs and he barely remembered his grandfather. His earliest memories involved foster families, which were not always happy ones. He felt like his life started when Victor and Rosa accepted him. It was the longest home he had and he believed they loved him. “Anyway! Do you want to go back in or…?”

Nico nodded a little as he listened. He didn’t really know what to say, but he wasn’t sure the information was something that really required much by way of commentary. Sometimes, he’d found, such things didn’t. But he did look at Freddy to let the other boy know he was listening.

“We can,” he said after a moment, taking a sip of his drink. “We don’t have to, though.” He wasn’t really feeling especially committed to either staying or going at the moment. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or not, but he had other things on his mind. “We can always slowly head back to the apartments if you want?”

“Sure.” Freddy wondered about the “slowly” part of Nico’s statement. He also hoped he hadn’t put the other boy off with all his rambles. They spent a long time together that day so Freddy wondered if Nico “overdosed” on him. He’d have to give him a few days to recover from “Freddy time,” he thought.

“Okay,” Nico said. He took another sip of his drink before starting to lead the way back to the apartments.