𝖦𝗁𝗈𝗌𝗍 𝖧𝗎𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋 (𝖭𝗂𝖼𝗈 𝖣𝗂 𝖠𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗅𝗈)

two

chapter two
perhaps shakespeare is not a romantic topic to talk about on a date

—NICO DI ANGELO didn't know what he was doing. he was meant to be looking percy, he was meant to be looking after hazel but instead he was making his way to a ghost hunting trip with a boy he wasn't even sure he wanted to be around. don't get him wrong, samael was kind in a way that most demigods could never be and he was had a smile that made nico want to return the action but he had a mission, he didn't have time for ghost hunting (especially with boys that made him feel that disgusting feeling in his stomach).

he wasn't even sure why he had stayed in manhattan, he had gone to sally jackson's apartment to search for possible clues as to where percy might have been when he felt a surge of power that he had decided to investigate. when he ran into will solace from camp he knew that he had been right to suspect that the power was from a demigod. he should've left then, will was there and he could handle it but he was curious.

the power surge had felt underworldly, it didn't have hades' feel of power that much he knew but it was definitely a power of the underworld. he wanted to know what it was, wanted to know who it came from so he stayed (although he did make the occasional trip to new rome to checkup on hazel).

but months into the year and neither he nor will could identify who exactly the demigod was and he was getting antsy.

'perhaps that's why i agreed to this,' nico thought to himself as he walked. 'i need to do something to calm myself and what better way to do that than by ghost hunting with an attract-interesting boy.'

it was an interesting concept, ghost hunting. nico had seen those ridiculous youtubers that claimed to make contact with the other side but he had also seen instances on those types of shows that could be truly merited as ghost interactions. he knew that samael had a show like that, one that investigates and discusses 'supernatural' instances, but he hadn't gotten around to watching any of his videos although they seemed to be pretty popular.

that thought made him wonder whether or not samael would be bringing his cameras, as far as nico knew samael recorded every attempt at his ghost hunting but again he hadn't watched the show so he couldn't be sure. for samael and nico's sake he hoped that samael wouldn't bring the cameras, with nico's luck they'd probably attract a monster or two.

"nico!"

nico's head snapped to the source of the voice, his hand instinctively going for the ring that became his sword. he relaxed upon seeing the dark brown curls of samael.

"moriarty," nico greeted coolly, walking toward the boy. "how was detention?"

samael shrugged. "better than those i've had in the past, mr prince let me read the set book for english."

nico couldn't help but grimace at the mention of the reading. reading was all ready a challenge with his dyslexia, add shakespeare's nonsense speech patterns on top of that well let's just say he wouldn't mind chucking hamlet into tartarus right in front of william's obnoxious face.

samael chuckled at nico's facial expression, "it's not that bad."

"it is when you have dyslexia and english is your third language!" nico snapped instinctively feeling defensive.

samael startled at nico's sudden defensiveness. "i'm sorry," he apologized, "i didn't know."

the tension in nico's shoulders vanished and he instantly felt bad for snapping, samael had been teasing him and he had responded unfairly. he knew he should've apologized for snapping and told samael that it was all right but nico was stubborn and he couldn't quite form the words, to admit that he was in the wrong.

"what other languages do you speak?" samael asked tentatively.

"my first language is italian," nico replied after a moment.

"i know some italian," samael said awkwardly. "if you'd like to have a conversation."

nico's lip twitched up slightly, while he didn't like it samael was definitely someone that he could enjoy the company of. in small doses of course.

—SAMAEL WAS PRETTY SURE that dates weren't meant to start with an argument. he wouldn't know of course as he'd never been on one (2nd grade lunch time with lucy lorman didn't count) but the romance books he'd read never started out with an argument.

after nico had declined on the conversation in his mother tongue samael had decided it was time to start with the hunt as he liked to start before dark and carry on into the night but first he had to go and collect a few things.

nico must've noticed that samael wasn't leading him into the cemetery because he looked rather confused, or as confused as nico di angelo can look (a raised eyebrow and a glance toward the path they were supposed to take).

"we're stopping at my house first to get some stuff," samael explained.

"you live near here?" nico asked.

samael hummed. "next to is more like." he led the italian boy to the slightly rundown house that was behind the church and beside the cemetery.

samael and nico entered through the faded red door. as the door closed behind the two a feminine voice called out, "samael, is that you?" before samael could reply (and yes it was going to be something snarky) the woman that had called out stepped out from the kitchen to meet him.

michelle holmes was samael's step mother but she and samael wore so much resemblance that people often thought she was his birth mother, add on the fact that he called her mum it was rather difficult to convince people otherwise.

she was a gentle woman who had married his mother when he was six and while it was obvious his mother loved michelle he often joked that she had only married her because of her last name, finding and the irony in a moriarty marrying a holmes hilarious.

michelle was still wearing her scrubs from work but her hair was down indicating that she was most definitely off duty. "who's this?" she asked catching sight of nico.

"this is nico, my ghost hunting partner," samael answered.

she raised her eyebrows then smirked. "oh i see, 'ghost hunting partner', gotcha," she winked at him.

samael's face flushed. "mom!" he complained.

she laughed. "sorry sammy, you know i love embarrassing you."

samael rolled his eyes, his cheeks still burning. "mom, we've talked about this."

"careful sammy, i'm the one that decides whether or not you're gonna get grounded for that email i received from the school today," michelle told him in a sing song voice.

"we both know that you love me too much to do that," samael countered.

she shrugged. "that's true." samael smiled victoriously. "but your mother has no such problem."

he groaned, knowing she was right. "where is she anyway?"

"it's her shift now so go on your little hunting trip while she's still out so that she can't ground you before then."

"she isn't that cruel." but he was pulling nico toward his bedroom anyway.

1222 words

so nico might be experiencing some slight 💫🧚‍♀️internalized homophobia🧚‍♀️💫  and samael, my baby, is an awkward little bean. did you guys like michelle, she's so fun to write.
- Jupiter (he/they)