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Game night.
Once a week, Nico and his closest friends got together in the backroom of Half Blood Bar and participated in what is supposed to be a friendly competition to further their ‘bond’. However, with the general competitiveness shared within the group, the night often turned risky and unpredictable.
However, that is what makes it so fun.
On a Sunday night after closing, the entire gang of insomniatic best friends gathered inside the break room, behind a door wielding an ‘Employees Only’ sign.
“Can we just start already?” Leo complained, brushing his overgrown curly hair out of his eyes in annoyance. He sat on top of the large mahogany table located in the middle of the room, and Nico was fairly certain that he’d never seen him use the chairs that were conveniently placed around it.
“Reyna isn’t here yet. Give her some time, her shop only closed a few minutes ago.” Annabeth replied reasonably from her position leaning against her boyfriend, Percy. They both sat on the carpeted ground in the space between the table and the wall.
Leo tried again. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if we-”
“Yes, she would.” Reyna’s voice boomed from the door, cutting off the rest of his sentence.
Leo had the decency to look abashed as he turned to face her, “Reyna, hey! I was just-”
“Doesn't matter.” She cut him off again, a common occurrence for the two of them. No matter how many times she cut him off, Leo couldn’t reign in his words sometimes, Nico knew she held a certain fondness for him, just as she did Nico.
As Reyna entered the room she set a few bags on chips on the table, as well as some alcohol.
“You do realize this is a bar right?” Nico asked, one of the sensible people who actually sat at the table, along with the rest. “You don’t have to bring alcohol. We have plenty here.”
Reyna simply shook her head, a few strands of hair that fell out of her braid brushed against her face. “Chiron is a good man, but I refuse to be indebted to him for something as silly as alcohol.”
“Well,” Piper cut in loudly, as usual not bothering to catch up with the conversation, “Now that you’re here, we can start! Who’s turn is it to pick this time?” Loud groans rose throughout the room.
“It’s Nico’s turn this time.” Jason droned from Piper’s side. Several people complained at that, but Nico mouth drew into a vicious smile.
Because they could never unanimously decide on a game, they had decided to make a schedule. Each game night it was a different person’s turn, and they could pick anywhere from one to three games to play, depending on how long it took and how tired everyone was by the end of it.
“Come on, my games are always interesting.” Nico chided them with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Even Will, who sat next to him, gave him a dubious look.
Leo snorted loudly, “Yeah, interesting. They usually involve a multitude of weapons and at least two of us ends up injured.”
Nico leveled him with an unimpressed look, “You love when games involve weapons, plus you just described almost every game night we have.”
“...True.” Leo admitted reluctantly.
“So, what have you chosen this game night Nico?” Reyna, in contrast to the others, seemed excited. Unsurprising considering her strange love of condoned violence.
Nico smirked.
~~~
“I should’ve known. You’re so predictable, Nico.” Percy complained as he cautiously held a knife between his pointer finger and thumb, just as he’d seen Nico do countless times before.
Nico leveled him with an impassive glance. “And yet you didn’t. What does that say about you?” Percy opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by Leo’s impatient groan.
For Nico’s first game, he chose a simple game of knife throwing. Not only because he liked to win, but because he liked to watch the others lose miserably.
Percy sighed and reluctantly turned back to the wall from his vantage point in the center of the room. They had slid the table that had previously been positioned there against the back wall for more space. They were going to need it for what Nico had planned.
Percy stuck his tongue out slightly and squinted his eyes, pulling the knife behind his head. His arm shot forward with an impressive amount of speed, yet his aim was clearly lacking as the knife hit about a foot away from the target Nico set.
Piper cackled from her spot on the floor, far from the possible danger zone. “You’re trying to hit the target Percy!” She hadn’t done very well either, but it seemed to delight her that she at least did better than someone.
Jason had a small smile on his face, and he leaned in to whisper something in her ear. Piper laughed and smacked his arm playfully.
“I know that! And stop flirting while I’m trying to go, it’s distracting!” Percy glowered, giving his best death glare to the beer bottle sticker that they had placed on the wall as a target. He threw his second knife, yet it hit even farther than the other, eliciting laughs from a few select people.
“Your speed and strength is impressive, but you’ll need to work on improving your aim.” Reyna commented critically, having hit the mark head on during her turn.
Leo snorted at that, but quickly coughed to cover it up when Annabeth sent him a death glare. He sat on the floor, similar to the rest of them, beside Reyna. However, he actively avoided eye contact with her. Nico assumed it was because he didn’t want her to turn her critiquing on him, as she had done to most of the others besides Nico.
During Nico’s turn, he’d also hit the logo’s center.
“Alright, Will’s turn!” Nico announced loudly, pushing himself into a standing position. He stared expectantly at Will on the floor, who simply lifted his arms up and held Nico’s gaze. Nico rolled his eyes, but complied by heaving Will up.
“Alright Will you’re the last one, make it count!” Jason yelled playfully.
Percy scoffed, still annoyed from his round, “Oh please. He’ll probably do just as well as I did.” Nico wasn’t sure if he was aware that he just insulted himself.
Hazel gasped, her head snapping in Percy’s direction. “Don’t be mean to Will!”
Percy pouted and mumbled something about favoritism, but everyone turned their gaze towards Will as he laughed good-naturedly, “It’s okay Hazel.”
Nico handed him a knife, and Will casually got into position. The others playfully heckled him by wolf whistling and shouting their adorations towards him.
“We believe in you!”
“Show us what you got!”
“You can do it my sweet angel!”
That last one was Hazel. Those two were oddly close.
Though they all held an obvious respect towards Will, Nico could tell that no one expected much. Yet, as Will let the knife fly, he managed to hit the logo only slightly off center, a close second to Nico and Reyna.
There was silence for a few moments. Then all at once, the room exploded in praise and disbelief.
“I don’t know why you guys are so surprised.” Reyna interrupted their squabbling, “He’s dating Nico. Do you really think Nico hasn’t shown him how to use his favorite weapon.”
Percy pout deepened, if possible, and he buried his head in Annabeth’s shoulder. She softly pet his head, although the other’s could see the amused smirk on her face.
“Okay! So Nico and Reyna tied for first, Will second, and Frank is third.” Piper announced to them as if they hadn’t witnessed the game themselves. Then she turned expectantly towards Nico, her eyes showing determination to win the next game as she asked, “What’s next?”
~~~
“This is why we don’t like when it’s your turn,” Percy panted, “Why can’t you be more like Hazel? Her last turn she had us do a bake off. A bake off, Nico!”
“Yeah!” Hazel added her support, though her voice was strained. She did an expert dodge as she attempted to kick Percy’s feat out from under him. Sadly, they were both too fast and they continued to block each other’s attacks.
“What? Sparring is fun.” Nico defended. He was apart of the semicircle that surrounded the two, feeling slightly apprehensive about his round. He was up against Reyna, mostly because no one else wanted to. She could be scary when she wanted to be, which was constantly.
Neither Hazel nor Percy replied, both too preoccupied. While they were obviously both well trained, it was apparent that neither of them was enthusiastic with their attacks.
“No,” Piper answered for them, arms crossing over her chest, “Sparring is training. We do enough of that with Chiron, don’t you think?”
Nico sighed. Time to pull out the big guns. “ I was thinking that whoever won could pick our third game, but I guess-” He was cut off by a slam as Hazel brought Percy down to the mat, catching him unprepared with her sudden effort.
She straightened out and turned fully towards Nico, “I want to play Monopoly.”
Percy stood up and grumbled, “I only lost so quick because she caught me off guard.” He sent a glare towards Piper, as if daring her to say anything. He was obviously self conscious about being taken out so fast.
Surprisingly, Piper rolled her eyes and replied, “We know that, you dolt. You’re one of the best fighters here. Nico isn’t playing fair.” She leveled Nico with an unimpressed gaze, and he couldn’t help but wince.
Hazel patted Percy’s arm comfortingly, “We can have a rematch some other time. But right now,” she glanced at the rest of the group, “I’m playing to win.”
The sparring continued with Leo versus Annabeth, Annabeth narrowly winning. Leo didn’t seem too upset by this as he returned to his previous seat. In fact, he seemed almost proud of her.
As the two winners of their individual fights, Annabeth and Hazel sparred next. It lasted quite a while, but in the end Annabeth won by feigning a jab then attacking Hazel’s balance. Hazel pouted as she made her way off the mat, but still made a show of catching the kiss that Annabeth blew her way.
Next up was Frank versus Piper. This was an interesting match to watch, as Frank tended to be forceful with his fighting technique and Piper tended to deflect and dodge. It was almost like watching two people dancing, neither landing a punch for a solid three minutes. Finally, Frank won, mainly due to his higher experience.
The matches continued. They lasted five minutes maximum each time, though they were always close calls at the end. Jason versus Will ended in Wills victory. However, Will versus Frank concluded with Frank winning relatively quickly. Nico gave Will a quick kiss when he got back, proud of him obvious improvement.
Succeeding theirs was Nico versus Reyna. This was one that everyone was anticipating as they were arguably the best fighters, but Nico clearly preferred fighting with knives. He can still fight on his own, however without them, he wasn’t able to win against Reyna. After all, she had taught him a majority of the fighting knowledge that he possessed.
Second to last was Frank versus Annabeth. Guard versus guard, no one was surprised they both made it this far. Again, it ended up being extremely close, but Annabeth was the ultimate victor.
Annabeth versus Reyna. The final match. As soon as the sparring started, it was obvious that they held similar fighting techniques, both calculating the other’s upcoming moves carefully. After almost six minutes of fighting, both of them panting slightly, Reyna managed to catch Annabeth off guard with a surprise move. Annabeth crashed to the ground, and Nico could see Percy twitch out of the corner of his eye.
Reyna held a hand out, smiling at her warmly. She helped Annabeth up, and she retreated back to Percy’s side with a congratulatory pat on the back to Reyna.
“Reyna is the winner!” Nico announced pointlessly. Everyone clapped, no hard feelings towards one of their closest friends, only pride. The group fell silent after they were finished. Now, what they had been waiting for.
Everyone tensed as they waited for Reyna to announce her pick, expecting something exhausting and possibly violent.
However Reyna, always full of surprises, gave a kind smile and said, “I want to play twenty-one questions.”
Silence followed her answer, broken by Leo whispering, “Holy shit. I think we broke her.”
Reyna silenced him with a glance, “It is a game to strengthen friendships and understand each other’s emotions better. That is what we are here for, are we not?”
Almost as if the relief physically materialized in the air, whoops and cheers followed her answer. Nico felt it as well. He leaned back against Will’s chest, who crossed his arms over Nico’s stomach, holding him tight. Feeling Will’s lips on his cheek, Nico felt a calm wash over him as he watched his favorite people interact.
“And you call me the sap.” Will commented softly, for Nico’s ears only, referencing his expression.
“We’re both saps. It’s why we love each other so much.” Will stilled before burying his head in Nico’s neck, successfully hiding the blush that Nico knew was there.
“You can’t just say things like that.” Will complained unconvincingly, “My heart can’t handle it.”
“Hey!” A shout jolted them from their bubble, and they looked up to see their friends staring at them expectantly. Leo continued, “Save the mushy stuff for later. We’re about to start the game.”
Nico scoffed at that, knowing that they loved it when Nico and Will were affectionate in public. Still, they joined their friends with light expressions, ready to spend the next few hours contentedly chatting.