"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0005. | THE CURRENCY OF SELFLESSNESS AND ITS RICHES
Vela decided he hated the midwest. He wasn't a particular fan of any part of America, though he did hold a soft spot for New York, because he knew places in the world that were vastly superior in beauty, culture, history, community—superior in just about every way.
Like Hôi An. Vela loved Hôi An because it gave him the chance to show off his Vietnamese and practice the language, as well as it being his favourite Safe House of his and Nico's.
Nico's favourite was theirs in Venice. Vela wondered if they might be able to go and visit their home if they were headed to Italy. Once Nico was safe from Rome, they'd likely head to the shoreline of the Meditterranean to follow it across to Greece. In that case, they might be able to stop off at Venice. Vela was sure by then they'd need supplies, and their Safe House could provide that, plus, it might be nice for Nico to visit his favourite city after everything that had happened, or would happen. Seeing Nico in Venice was Vela's secret dream that he held onto. He didn't imagine Nico hurt, he didn't imagine him in Tartarus, nor in a Giant's grasp—he imagined him in Venice, a smile on his face.
"A mile marker," Piper spotted. Vela and she had been walking ahead, clearing a pathway through the sunflower fields in the best navigated direction. With Piper having seen the sign in her blade, and with Vela's navigational skills, they made the perfect team.
Percy and Jason seemed to be hitting it off as well. Vela hadn't missed how Percy had dropped back to speak to him about a mile back and he couldn't deny, he was curious as to what they were talking about. Jason didn't much like Vela and he never really made any secret of it. The insecure part of Vela thought that the two were complaining about him to each other. But then the rational part of him recalled a time when Percy had yelled at Zeus for not paying Vela enough respect, and he hardly expected Poseidon's son to hold back about it with Jason either.
"Forty miles from the Topeka exit." He ran a hand through his hair, sweeping it back from his sweating forehead. He wished Apollo would ease off on the sun, Vela's shirt was beginning to stick to him from the heat. "That's eight miles left until Topeka thirty-two."
"Nine miles." Piper corrected. Vela looked at her. "Oh, no, eight miles, you're right." She winced. "Sorry, I think the heat's messing with my head."
Vela nodded with sympathy. "Yeah, I can't stop sweating."
Piper sent him a look. "Yeah, I can tell." She said suggestively, a grimace on her face, and Vela looked down at himself to see that his sweat had caused his t-shirt to stick and highlight the muscles on his abs and chest, clinging to his back and arms.
Vela threw his head back with a groan as he realised what was happening. He turned his head up to the sun and said, "Apollo, I'm not taking my shirt off—ease off with the sun!"
