ΗΑΔΕΣ (underworldly) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-01-02 19:00:00 |
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Alright. Things were cool, everything was fine, a certain Lord of the Dead’s blue flame hair was no longer burning brightly atop his head as a symbol of his righteous fury. But really, after Nico told Hades that the car was wrecked, well, it had been touch and go for awhile there. Of course, first and foremost, he was glad that his son was okay. That he hadn’t been injured, but instead, had just torn up the bottom of the poor automobile after hopping the curb or some shit - and for the love of everything, how distracted did you have to be to do that? Hades wasn’t sure he wanted to know what was on Nico’s mind but it must have been something pretty big. Or, on the other hand, it could have been an attention deficit disorder moment and - well, he knew Hazel had problems with that, it would make sense that Nico would too. Apparently the perks (or disadvantages) of being a demigod, yet Hades didn’t dream of what they did so what the fuck??! What the fuck. What. The. Fuck. The tow truck had brought the car back to the sprawling Laguna Beach mansion, Will dropped Nico off, and Hades had about eighty-thousand things related to the recently-released Inferno that he needed to be doing, but he put off all that to decide what to do next about Nico and his car situation instead. “Yep.” He examined this pile of junk that was once intact and whole - alright, it wasn’t that bad, but it’d cost a lot to repair and someone’s insurance costs just skyrocketed too. “You done tore up the bottom of your car, son.” Take a breath, hold it in, release. Parenting was so hard. *** Nico hated it when he’d watched Will drive away, wishing his boyfriend had stayed with him but at the same time he still thought he’d done the right thing in saying that he didn’t want will to stay to see whatever went down between him and his dad. Hades had been pretty obviously pissed on the phone over the car thing and he knew he’d made a pretty stupid word choice in his text. He needed to face this by himself. He was sitting down, watching his dad examine the car quietly, waiting until Hades finished talking to say anything. “It wasn’t intentional. I just misjudged a turn and...median,” he said, looking at him and then away as he ran his hand back through his hair. He’d always hated disappointing his parents and right now he felt like that’s exactly what he’d done. Disappointed his dad. *** “And you’re sure you’re fine? Or is something bugging you?” Hades asked, because it could be either one of two things - carelessness, or something deeper. Something deeper that manifested in the present moment, whatever someone Freudian would say about that shit, but he’d get to the bottom of it either way. Overall, Nico was a well-behaved spawn and everyone fucked up on occasion. He could tell the kid felt pretty bad about it though. Sighing, Hades copped a squat next to him, prepared to listen. “I mean, I thought you’d be wrecking your car much sooner, so waiting til you’re nineteen doesn’t seem bad in the scheme of things.” *** Nico gave a short laugh and rolled his eyes when his dad said he’d thought he’d wreck his car sooner than this. He gave him a small smile and then sighed, attention turning back to the earlier questions his dad had asked him. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now I guess.” He leaned back against the wall behind him, looking at his dad out of the corner of his eye. He’d been trying to avoid talking to anyone about his feelings about everything that was going on but he didn’t think that was going to be an option anymore at least not with his dad. “I don’t know who to talk to about any of it though.” *** Nico was at the age - yeah, you know, that age where life could feel overwhelming as you came into your own and began figuring out what you wanted. What mattered a few years ago probably didn’t anymore, things changed, and especially with what Hades hoped was a long future ahead of him? It could probably seem a little daunting. “Maybe a therapist?” he suggested, fingertips dragging over the mess of dark hair he had - no fire, good, he was cool. Everything was very ommmmmm. It was serious discussion time. “I mean, you could talk to me anytime you wanted - but sometimes it’s helpful to have an outsider who will listen. I know one I did a favor for, so, he owes me anyway. If you wanted me to set something up.” He was sure the guy who had the zombie horse and who Hades and Hazel got the lyrium for wouldn’t mind taking on another client. Especially someone else who dreamed of weird things. *** “I want to talk to you about all of it but…” Nico said shrugging a little as he looked at his dad. “I don’t know where to start and…” he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know the answer to some of the questions he had. “I just don’t think I could talk to a stranger about it. I can’t even talk to my boyfriend and my best friend about the things going through my head.” He admitted quietly. *** Yeah, no. What, did the kid think Hades was just going to shrug and brush this aside for another day? In kind of a ‘well, I tried’ sort of move? Not happening. This was his son, he wasn’t about to just let him suffer. “Nico,” Hades started, passing his hand over his face. Teenagers, teenagers, teenagers kept repeating in his head in a mantra - he had to remember what it had been like, once upon a time. It wasn’t easy, at least not in your own head, even if technically your older adult self would look back and think what the fuck you were so angsty about when you had a roof over your head, food to eat, and a sizeable allowance given to you by your rich Hollywood director father. But anyway. “You need to talk to someone,” he insisted. “Because this - “ A gesture around them, clearly indicating why they were here which was the wrecked car situation, “...can’t happen again. It could be worse next time, and I don’t want to even picture that. Will you at least try the therapist? That’s their job, to help you work through what’s going on in your head. And you don’t know how it will work unless you try - if it’s not your thing, then fine, we gave it a shot and can try something else instead. But I’d like for you to at least go for an initial session.” Obviously he couldn’t force Nico - he was technically an adult, after all - but it really would be healthier, in terms of tackling this. And less destructive. *** Nico bit down on the inside of his cheek, at his dad’s gesture, looking at him. He’d just gotten out of the hospital. The last thing he needed was to worry about Nico. He didn’t know what good talking to a therapist might do but if it would help his dad - he’d give it a shot. “I’ll give it a try. But...maybe some time when I haven’t killed my car misjudging a turn I can try to talk to you about some of it too?” He asked, half leaning towards his dad. *** “Of course you can. You know you can talk to me anytime.” Hades reached over and draped an arm around Nico, leaning in and giving him a hair ruffle like he used to do when the grown teenager was just a boy. Sometimes Hades still thought of him as that young boy, the kid who needed looking after. It was just a parenting thing, he assumed. They had a hard time letting go of the fact that their kids didn’t need them for the little things anymore. He made a mental note to arrange that initial therapy session while Nico was on break from university - and he really did hope it did some good. Wouldn’t be awful, to hope for something like this, even though he tended to be more cynical than not. “Anything in particular on your mind now or do you want to just come inside and eat something?” *** Nico would never admit it outloud but he still liked these moments when his dad ruffled his hair like when he’d been little. Things hadn’t been perfect but they’d been a little simpler. Or at least they’d seemed that way to him. “I never did get that snack I went out for,” he said, giving him a half smile. He needed to talk about stuff but a part of him wasn’t ready too. *** “Oh, well, then - we need to take care of that right away,” Hades stood up, executive decision made, and headed for the kitchen. With the kids home for the holidays, obviously that meant that more food needed to be bought and stuffed into the fridge, the cabinets. He’d been cooking a lot more for Meg too, whenever she came over - they tended to share that responsibility (she could make Mediterranean desserts a lot better than him, for example). And with the food stocked came leftovers, so Hades flipped the top off a Tupperware container full of homemade fried rice. They could finish this up now - maybe he’d even toss some chicken in with it. Of course, the rustling in the kitchen meant he soon heard the click clack of nails on the tile floors and here came both dogs, looking for handouts. Cerberus even tried to growl intimidatingly, but Hades just sighed at the sound of the little baby rumble. His three-headed hellhound would be back to his normal self one of these days. “Feed those starving pups and then come sit,” he instructed, opening the fridge again. “You’re home now and you can relax a little.” No need to worry about the car, what’s done was done - they’d have it fixed, and Nico could use the dream-gifted Impala in the meantime. Though if he crashed that baby, there’d be problems. Big ones. *** Nico followed his dad into the kitchen, grinning as the dogs came into the kitchen and he had to bite back a laugh at Cerberus attempt at a growl. He knelt down to pet both of them, making sure to pay a little extra attention to his greyhound so that Cesare wouldn’t start thinking he liked the other dog better. He’d been on the receiving end of his dog’s shunning enough to know he wanted to avoid it again if he could. “Will’s waiting on me back at campus tonight,” he said softly as he stood back up and went to get their bowls so he could feed them while Hades made them a snack. “So...how are things with Meg?” he asked. He might not have been living at home anymore but he wasn’t stupid, he’d noticed that something was going on there. And he liked Meg a lot - she seemed to make his dad happy and that was all he cared about when it came down to it. Not who his dad was with but that he was happy with them. *** “I’ll call for a car to bring you back tonight,” Hades said, yep, that was a perk of being in Hollywood circles. Having access to vehicles like chauffeur-driven Mercedes’ or even limos. Though that would be a little ostentatious, Nico being dropped off at school in a limo - the kids usually didn’t like that sort of stuff. “Things with Meg?” He quickly prepared some chicken to go with that rice, tossing the poultry into the frying pan with some garlic and oil after chopping it up, coating that pan and giving the contents inside a toss. “They’re good,” he chuckled. She tried to be mindful of Hazel’s space (and Nico’s, when he was home) when she spent the night, but it was mostly Hades spending the night at her apartment and then teleporting back to the mansion really early. He’d gotten used to it, after she died. Then he ended up in a coma. Both pretty chaotic events, testing their relationship - but they seemed to have come out of it okay. “You like her, right?” he asked, just to make sure, adding the rice to the pan to mix it all together. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever want to get married again, but...she’s not going anywhere.” So it was important she got along with his kids. *** Nico grinned a bit when Hades echoed his question back to him and leaned against one of the kitchen counters, watching his dad cook. “I’m glad,” he said honestly, glad that the focus was off of him. At least for the moment. “Yeah Dad I like her. I’d have said something before now if I didn’t. You seem happy with her and I’m glad of that. You deserve to be happy.” He grabbed two cups from a cabinet and poured them both drinks. He wasn’t lying. He did like Meg. It was just...there were questions in his head he wasn’t ready to answer. Or even to admit to asking himself. *** “Alright, glad to hear it. She likes all of you too, and she knows how important you all are to me.” The kids came first, no questions - for Hades, they were his everything. It might have been Meg that gave him the kiss to wake him from eternal, cursed slumber - but knowing that he was loved by her, his daughters and son, that was what saved him overall. Hades in other dreamworlds didn’t have anything like that. And he imagined Nico would have questions - about his mother, about Meg, about the way things went. Hades wasn’t perfect and he hadn’t made perfect decisions (he’d also learned that being married wasn’t for him) but he finally felt like he was in the right place now. That he could let someone be close to him, someone he loved, and who could share everything with him - he didn’t have to have his guard up all the time. He finished the snack for his hungry son, wrapping an arm around him and giving him a noogie - but it turned into a hug, and Hades pressed his lips to Nico’s temple. This kid. He was loved in infinite amounts by the Lord of the Dead. “Now, eat up. Things are going to be fine, Nico. No matter what, I want you to know that.” They’d work through the bumpy parts - life wasn’t a smooth ride, but that was alright. It was how you handled the rough patches that mattered. *** Nico wrapped an arm around his dad hugging him back, and yes even leaning against him for a minute, before pulling away to start on his snack. “I know it will be. I've got family that's got me.” He said simply. And his friends but...his dad was always there. |