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Nicky Hemmick, son of Luther and Maria Hemmick. Biologically the son of only Maria Hemmick, but what a scandal that would be if it were to ever get out. Nicky didn’t even know for sure who his “real” father was until he was 20; all he knew was that it was some Greek God. And because he didn’t know he spent most of his summers, up until that dreaded year in conversation camp hell, at Camp Half Blood in the Hermes cabin. One of the longest reigning champs of being unclaimed and living till he was 20.
In some weird way, he understood why he hadn’t been claimed until he was 20 but it still fucking sucked. Knowing that neither his earthly parents nor godly parent wanted him. His godly parent claimed it was “safer” that way and he supposed it was. He wouldn’t be the child of prophecy if he lived past 16. And given that his 16th birthday was in a conversation camp, he can’t really say he’s all too happy with being “protected.”
Nicky couldn’t really say with certainty that he was safer not knowing or knowing, Kronos hadn’t even been awakened yet when he turned 16. It was very clear after that that he was no child of prophecy, that honor belonged to his little brother Percy, and their brother Tyson was the biggest sweetheart and helper on quests. He even personally made Nicky’s weapon, which he loved. But he was also not a child of prophecy, even though he was technically a demigod child but he was a cyclops and the fates were semi-kind enough to leave him out of the prophecy.
There were also the two unfortunate wars that Nicky could not fight in. Not that he wanted to, but he had lost so many friends and siblings to both wars. Not that Percy or Tyson or Triton died, but all the unclaimed demigods that he had grown up with. Most of them were now dead or missing. His older brother Luke, the man that came to camp with little Thalia and Annabeth, before losing Thalia at the border, before falling into the horror of just wanting his father to acknowledge him more than a passing glance. Nicky understood why he had sided with Kronos, and maybe if he had still been at camp he would have joined Luke’s cause.
But he wasn’t. He hadn’t been to camp since he was 14, and had only come back to the states to take care of his younger cousins. Maybe not by blood but they were his family, even if both have tried to stab him several times and Andrew held a knife to him at least thrice a week. But hey! It was no longer multiple times a day. Progress!
He had visited and been visited by his brothers several times since coming back to the states, he loved getting to know them and their families. He was even invited to holidays and birthdays with the Jackson family, not that he was able to take them up on said offers. Maybe once or twice he had been able to but taking care of the twins became his top priority. Leaving his fiance and life behind in Germany, never leaving the twin’s side since Andrew was medicated, the guilt he felt and still feels is immeasurable.
Nicky was always inadequate and unable to protect those he loved and still loves. It made him sick to his core. They were always protecting him. Those men outside Eden’s were actually monsters but Andrew can’t see through the mist and all that rage in his tiny body and he nearly beat them to death. Nicky was glad that he didn’t but he felt so much guilt that Andrew even did anything at all, he shouldn’t have even taken the kids there at all. He should’ve left them at home that night, and all the nights before that but he didn’t like letting them out of his sight for longer than 5 hours. He was so afraid that something would happen to them or that they would do something to each other or themselves. Gods his life was a mess.
Nicky was incapable of anything. He was not skilled enough for his godly father to pay much attention to him, which was given to Poseidon’s other children. He was somehow lucky to be in the good graces of his step mother Lady Amphitrite and his elder brother Triton. Though like his godly father, he would never be enough or perfect enough for his mortal parents. They were good parents for the first 14 years of his life, a bit neglectful and strict but good. After he came out to them…that was a different story. One he barely survived. And one he didn’t tell anyone in his family. He had told Neil but it seemed like the kid needed to hear some of Nicky’s “bad” history for him to not hate Nicky for everything that he was. The kid didn’t even know him! He just knew what Nicky put out there. That’s all anyone but Erik and the dead campers knew.
The Minyard Twins of course knew he had some half siblings and had met Percy and Tyson once, neither of them liking his brothers but his brothers adored the twins and their violent tendencies, finding it amusing. Apparently they reminded Percy of the Ares kids when he first arrived at camp. Which was alarming to say the least. The Ares kids were the best to hang with back in the day, he didn’t understand what happened to them. They’re dead. The treacherous voice in the back of his head told him but he pushed it away like he always did. He didn’t want to think about it.
Right now his thoughts were focused on how the Jackson-Blofis were going to handle being around the other Foxes family members in the players’ families section of the stands. They were an eccentric bunch and with delinquent family members a part of a D1 College Exy Team and they had the personalities to match. He was sure that Renee’s adoptive foster mom, Stephanie, would get along great with the Jackson-Blofis family but he couldn’t be sure. And Percy was bringing Annabeth along with him and while he did tell Tyson that Ella or any of his friends could come, he politely declined. Saying that Ella and his friends weren’t too comfortable surrounded by so many mortals and were nervous to come. Which was completely understandable. Monsters and humans didn’t usually mix.
He was also afraid of how the twins would react, he hadn’t told them that his brothers and their family were coming to the game this Friday. Nicky was more than a bit afraid of their reactions to that than anything that could happen during the game. He understood that it was important to Kevin and Neil, even Jean by extension, because there would be some representatives from the Moriyama’s watching and assessing. Assessing what? He couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to anything. He tried, he really did, but his focus was elsewhere. His anxiety really was a bitch.
Every demigod had a fatal flaw and Nicky felt as if he had several but his was his inability to trust.
Nicky trusted one person fully with everything that he was, is, and will be. Obviously it was Erik but his inability to trust those around him and let people in is what had inevitably led him to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents. But he so desperately tried to trust people, looking past all the red flags and all that they did. It was weird he knew that, he wasn’t able to trust people and let them in but at the same time seeked validation and a place/person to put his trust in. There was just no one he could bring himself to be himself with.
The twins along with Kevin and Neil were staring at him with annoyed confusion, Andrew looking a step away from slapping him. “What the hell Nicky?” Aaron snapped at him, literally and figuratively, his fingers inches away from Nicky’s face. “Stop speaking in some weird fucking language and staring at the wall. The fuck is wrong with your head?”
“What?” He blinked at them in confusion.
“The fuck were you mumbling about?” Aaron spoke to him as if he were a child, which wasn’t not how he normally spoke to him but the tone of his voice still sucked.
“Oh! Just thinking about my brothers and how I can’t wait to see them on Friday and my darling little step sister.” Honesty was the best policy here.
“You what now?”
“Brothers?”
“They’re coming to the game.” Andrew’s statement caused the three remaining Monsters to stop speaking over each other and the rest of the Foxes who were pretending to not be listening in to stop pretending and blatantly be listening in.
“Yup!” He popped the “p”. “Gave the family tickets and Percy is bringing his girlfriend and Tyson is coming solo and Percy’s mom and step dad and little sister will also be coming. We’re going out for lunch tomorrow and then spending the rest of the day together before they head back to New York Sunday morning.”
“Since when did you have brothers?” Neil and Matt asked, Matt looking a bit startled and then laughing because he spoke at the same time and words with Neil.
“Focus Matt.” Dan elbowed him in the side.
“Right.”
Nicky laughed and nodded. “Yeah. I have several half brothers on my bio dad’s side of the family. Luther isn’t my biological dad, I was conceived out of wedlock.” He fake gasped and laid a hand against his head. “Tragic isn’t it?”
“Not really. Fucking hate Luther.” Neil grumbled and there were resounding sounds of agreement heard from everyone, including Nicky.
“Have you met your dad?” A nice blunt question.
“Allison!”
“What? It’s a legit question!”
“Not said like that it ain’t.” Matt chimed in before Dan could respond.
“Well how else are you supposed to ask?” Kevin asked, a little lost.
“Well-”
“Why’d you invite them?” Andrew said cutting off the chaos of the Foxes.
“Cause I wanted to.” Nicky said and stretched out, a few vertebrae popping as he did so. With a groan he looked over to Andrew. “Please try not to cause any problems Andrew, I’m asking nicely. Estelle is going to be here and she’s barely 3 years old, I don’t want any of you to traumatize her.” He pointed a finger at all the Foxes, including Wymack and Abby.
“If you didn’t want to traumatize her, why’d you invite her to an exy game?” Aaron raised an eyebrow. Fair question. “They can get rough and it's not like the crowd has ever been shy about expressing their opinions.” Even more fair.
“I trust Sally and Paul and what they decide to and to not take their daughter to. And Tyson is going to be there as well, and he always brings extra sound canceling headphones and shades.”
“Is he autistic?” Renee asked, sitting next to him.
“Yeah. Neurodivergent runs in the family.” He nods. “Me and my brother Percy both have ADHD and Dyslexia. We both go to the same summer camp for kids that suffer from both and more. Well I used to go there up until I was 14 and Percy started to go when he was 12 and still does. He met his girlfriend there. Sweet girl, don’t startle her though because she has a killer judo flip.”
The Foxes looked around confused and some were mouthing “judo flip” to each other. “Why’d you stop going?”
“My parents.” He answered. And to everyone there it was an answer, they knew what happened on Thanksgiving so stopping him from going to a summer camp was more than feasible.
However Renee understood what he was really saying. He told her a little bit about the conversion camp he had been sent to, they had discussed much of their relationship with the church and their histories and struggles they had with it. But every Sunday the two of them would go to church together then out for lunch. It was a known fact that the two spent their Sunday’s mornings together but it wasn’t really talked about. The seniors didn’t like the fact that Renee was friends with Andrew, so they much preferred to ignore her friendship with Nicky. Even though Nicky himself desperately wanted to be friends with the seniors.
She placed a hand on his leg and her head on his shoulder. “Well I for one can’t wait to meet them. I do wish that you told me you had dyslexia, would’ve given me a better understanding during our monthly book club meetings as to why your notes were in a notebook and not in the book itself.”
He laughs before resting his head on hers. “I supposed it would make some sense. I usually play an audiobook with it or have the book in German or Greek. I can read in those languages better than I can English.”
“Since when could you sp- read Greek?” Neil asked. Smart with his words too. Damn him.
“Always. It’s something I had to learn due to the conditions set by my bio dad for Luther and Maria to keep playing house with me.” He shrugged, it was no big deal. Poseidon hadn’t had that be a condition of his, given that he wasn’t a part of his eldest mortal child’s life until four years ago but who’s keeping track of that? Annabeth and Percy for one. Especially Percy. He even checks to make sure the two of them talk at least once a week. Once Nicky hadn’t been able to call and Percy practically stormed his doorstep with Annabeth and Grover to make sure he was okay. Apparently Poseidon had told Percy, on their weekly call, that he hadn’t heard from Nicky that week. Which led to his door being stormed down and one of the worst interactions the twins had with Percy to date.
“Can you speak it as well?” Kevin asked, pulling up a charge and sitting across from Nicky and Renee.
“Yup! And I can speak and read in Latin as well.” He practically let out a purr when Renee started to run her fingers through his hair, causing him to relax into the couch. “I’m a certified polyglot.” He winked at Kevin and did finger guns. “I’m very talented with my tongue.”
“Oh my god.” Aaron groaned and reached to throw a couch cushion at Nicky but was stopped by Andrew.
“Not with Renee next to him.”
“Fine.” He dropped the cushion and glared daggers at his cousin. “Just stop with the disgusting comments. You’re engaged for fucks sake.”
Allison gasped and pushed Nicky off Renee and shook him by the shoulders. “You got engaged?” She shrieked.
“Happily.” He laughed as he was shook back and forth in the blonde’s excited grasp.
“When?”
The Foxes original conversation had spiraled out into discussing everyone’s different relationships and then classes. They were eventually kicked out by Wymack and all went for dinner that night together as a team. It was such a fun night with the whole team getting along, Andrew mostly kept to himself adding the occasional comment or two to the conversation or just to stir the pot. It was such a fun night that Nicky didn’t really expect the “jump” the four Monsters he called his family would pull on him when they got back to the dorms.
Unlocking the door to the dorm he shared with Andrew, Kevin, and Neil he was a bit surprised to see Aaron joining them and not going into the dorm he shared with Matt. Nicky was hoping that next semester he could room with Matt as well, maybe then he could get some real sleep without the two exy junkies and their keeper coming in and out of the dorm each night well after midnight. That was a nice thought.
Humming, he dropped the keys into the bowl by the door and took off his shoes before pulling out his phone and plopping down on the bean bag. He was about to text in one of his family group chats, he had about seven of them (don’t ask, it was just better that way), the one that had his godly family, when Neil snatched the phone out of his hand and tossed it to Andrew.
“Hey!” He squawked in protest and moved to stand up but Neil only pushed him down and sat on a bean bag across from him. “What is this?”
“When were you going to tell us you were inviting them to the game?” Andrew asked as he sat down on the couch, not bothering to look at Nicky as he was scrolling through Nicky’s phone.
Nicky rolled his eyes and leaned back into the beanbag. “I was going to tell you today, they had just confirmed it with me this morning that they would be coming. I invite them to every game, but I know that they’re busy people and can’t come to most of them. Happy they could come to this game though, even happier Tyson’s coming too.” Nicky then started to hum a campfire song he used to sing at Camp Half Blood.
“And so is Annabeth.” Andrew said and tossed Nicky’s phone to Aaron who looked at what was on the screen before turning it off. “You always invite her too?”
“Of course. She’s Percy’s forever person.” Obviously.
“Of course she is.” He could practically hear Andrew’s eye roll from here.
“I would say you were jealous but let’s be real, Annabeth is far scarier than Neil and could easily kill everyone in this room. Wait! Maybe you are jealous! They have known each other since they were 12.” And before he could say more he was cut off.
“Nicky.” Stupid condescending Neil and his stupid condescending tone of voice and his stupid vice captain status.
Rolling his head around, he sighed before forcing himself to sit up and look at Neil. “What? Everyone else invites their family to games, why can’t I?”
“No one in this room has family outside each other, Katlynn and Wymack aside.” He cut off Aaron and Kevin before they could say anything. “It’s good that you have brothers but you can’t keep secrets from us like this. And no,” he raised his hand, cutting Nicky off. “You kept it from the rest of us by omission. You have to tell us these things, no more secret families. Or family secrets. We already have had enough drama and pain to last more than a lifetime between the four of us, if you have something that you haven’t told us that’s preventable or that could affect us, any of us, even you, you have to tell us.”
Nicky huffed and patted his knees with his hands before standing up and heading into the kitchen. “Hold still, I’ll be right back. Easier to explain with an example.”
Being a demigod was hard enough, harder to explain to mortals who can’t see through the mist. And knowing his family, the four monsters in the living room, they would be weary of anything he said. Which wasn’t out of the ordinary for them, Nicky often rambled and talked about things they thought were crazy. So if he had proof and was able to demonstrate and show them that he wasn’t crazy and was telling the truth they might believe him. They would for sure would be pissed off at him for keeping it a secret but he did it to protect them and he hoped they understand.
Grabbing a glass from the cupboard he turned on the water and filled the glass up nearly to the top before pulling it away before shutting it off. Using his hydrokinesis to move the overflow into the plants in the window. Taking a deep breath he tried to steel himself for the next part. Dear Amphrtire and Poseidon please help me get through this.
“Alrighty.” He stepped back into the livingroom and gained the attention of the four men. “What do you know about Greek Gods?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Aaron asked, moving to look at Nicky, gaze following him as he moved to sit in front of them, placing the glass of water on the coffee table.
He sat down on his heels and looked at the glass before up at all of them, silent for a minute before answering. Not that he wanted to be silent, he tried to speak but stopped and started several times. The right words not wanting to form. “Well…Greek Gods are real. I know that sounds absolutely crazy, don’t talk just let me explain. Please.”
Nicky looked at each one of them with pleading eyes, his normally brown eyes now a glowing ocean green. Kevin took a step back in shock, nearly tripping over Neil and falling backwards, but said redhead caught him before he could fall and dragged Kevin to sit across from Nicky on the floor. Neil himself sat at Andrew’s feet, Andrew then leaning over his boyfriend, making the pair feel somehow more intimidating as they stared down the eldest. Aaron had moved to sit on the couch beside Andrew, Nicky’s phone still in his hand. “Christ you four look scary.” Wrong thing to say apparently as Andrew’s impassive gaze hardened.
“Alright, alright. So the Greek Gods are real, so are some other pantheons, but the one we’re talking about is the Greek ones. Sometimes, said Greek Gods, come down from Olympus or wherever they reside and fall for a mortal. Either through a relationship or a one night stand. And sometimes, after the gods do the dirty tango with a mortal, a child comes of it. Those children are called demigods, I am one of them.
“Sounds crazy I know but I can prove it to you. Just let me finish my explanation. Martha had a last night hurrah before she got married to Luther, because of that one night, I came to be. I technically only have half the DNA I should have if I was a normal human. A god's DNA doesn’t really show up through normal means or testing, doesn’t really show up ever. Other than magical and supernatural means, so it really can’t be tested. The summer camp I used to attend is for Greek Demigods, both year round and summer only campers. I was one of the unclaimed campers, meaning my godly parent didn’t claim me. So I stayed in the Hermes cabin, all unclaimed kids did, as he is the god of travelers and what not and somehow we fell under his cabin’s domain. Now because of Percy, all the gods have to claim their kids.
“It’s also how I can understand Greek and Latin, specifically Ancient Greek.” He sighed and flicked the glass of water, wincing a bit from the pain. “Now proof.”
Nicky looked at the water in the glass and started to lift it out. Twisting it into a fox that he sent running through the air around Kevin and Neil before circling back around the couch and back into the glass. “Hydrokinesis. One of the few things I inherited from my father.”
Kevin looked sick to his stomach, Neil’s expression mirrored Aaron’s, that of shock and distrust, while Andrew looked like the cat got the cream. Nicky trusted that look on his cousin’s face the least. Andrew’s expression reminded Nicky of a man who won the lottery and struck gold. Andrew was planning something with this and he was scared of what that meant for himself and his brothers. Mostly himself. Percy and Tyson can take care of themselves, Nicky is a pushover and everyone knows it.
“So your real dad is a god?” Neil was the first to speak after several minutes of silence. During which Nicky just kept making shapes and creatures out of the water; it was either that or nervous tapping or talking, the latter two options would only serve to piss them off, making water shapes was the safest option and the option that cemented Nikcy’s words in truth.
“Yup. God of the Sea, Poseidon. Didn’t actually know it was him until I came back to the states for you two and he was kinda forced to acknowledge me due the war- and don’t ask about it. Either of them, but thankfully both are over and done with.” Nicky rushed out then took a deep breath to speak again but Andrew spoke next.
“He didn’t acknowledge you until you were 20?” The joy that was once in his face was no longer there and his tone became sharp.
“It was safer that way.”
“Bullshit.” Aaron and Andrew spat, they shot each other a glare then glared back down at Nicky.
“Not bullshit, there was a prophecy from the oracle and since I was no longer 16 I could no longer be the child of prophecy. No risk of destroying Olympus or saving it. Percy ended up the child of prophecy and saved Olmpus. Twice. But now he’s off to college with Annabeth in California and Tyson lives with Poseidon in the sea palace. Thalia joined the Hunters and stopped aging, there was Bianca but she died, and Nico is the youngest of us. Jason doesn’t count since he’s Roman, nor does Hazel but she was still dead at that point.” Now Nicky was rambling.
“Who’s us? And the rest of the people you just mentioned.” Kevin asked, he had not looked away from Nicky’s eyes since he sat down. Kid was a bit freaky at times.
“The other children of ‘The Big Three’.” Nicky made air quotes around “The Big Three.” “The children of Zeus, Hades, and Posiedon. There was an old prophecy from the late 40’s saying one of their kids would end up destroying or saving Olympus and they made a pact to not have kids, only Lord Hades kept his end of the pact. Don’t ask, I’ll explain later.” Aaron and Neil looked like they wanted to say something and Kevin was just confused.
“Oh and no one but those you share a godly parent with at camp is considered a relative. Gods are…they’re weird to say the least. So none of us consider each other cousins or half siblings or aunts or uncles or-”
“Okay we get it.” Damn Aaron was snappy today. He should go to bed soon, Nicky figured the kid still had homework to do and it wasn’t like they hadn’t gotten back to the dorms until after 10pm.
“Right! Anyways, we don’t really consider each other related unless we are siblings. Then some of us call each other cousin or sibling because of the type of relationships we form. Like in the Hermes cabin, I considered and still do consider them to be my siblings.” Even though those of my time are now dead. “I also have a little sister Clariesee, she’s a daughter or Ares and has been a year rounder at camp since she was about seven.”
It was easier to think about those that were still around versus those he lost and hadn’t seen in over ten years. Too much pain and too much guilt. Too much. Too much. Too much.
Nicky was starting to hyperventilate. All the time he had lost with his siblings, all the people that he didn’t know to mourn or learn of their loss until years later. Unable to be there for them when they needed him. He could’ve prevented Luke from going crazy. He could’ve talked him out of hatred for the gods. Tried to talk him into giving them a purpose as one of the eldest campers there, maybe how they could keep on living and protecting others. He- he…he should’ve been there.
Water splashed in Nicky’s face breaking him out of his spiraling thoughts. It was much needed and helped clear his head.
“I needed that.” He took a deep breath and whipped the water out of his eyes before moving it back into the glass, which was right in front of Neil. “Thanks Vice.”
“Go to bed Nicky.” Andrew ordered, he was leaning back into the couch and looked relaxed. “Neil, Kev, and I are leaving soon and you like shit.”
“I’m heading back to my dorm too. I got homework to do.” Aaron said and stood up. He walked over to Nicky and crouched down. “We are going to have a long talk in the morning about all this and why you kept it from us. But it’s late on a Tuesday night. So go the fuck to bed.” Then Aaron stood up and left the room.
Sighing he nodded and stood up. “I’ll clean up then head to bed.”
Nicky reached for the glass but Neil grabbed it and moved it away from him. “Go to bed Nicky, we’ll take care of it.”
There was no fight left in Nicky, only exhaustion. So he nodded and headed off to the bedroom, where he quickly changed into pjs, sent a quick text to Erik and crawled into bed. He knew the twins would ask a billion questions and be even bigger little shits then they already were. Nicky was happy at how well the conversation went with them and sent a grateful prayer to his father and stepmother. He was bitter about not having any scent or strong abilities or anything that his siblings did. He was jealous that other than knowing he was a demigod, he didn’t really possess any demigod traits outside of the ADHD and Dyslexia. He could only control a bit of water and he could breath under it and sure it healed him and made him feel safe, but that only really happened once he turned twenty and the apparent “lock” Lady Amphitrite put on his godly side was loosened a bit.
She was there the night he was conceived, apparently having a wild threesome with his very Catholic mother. He didn’t want to think about it. But once Poseidon and Amphitrite had learned of Maria’s pregnancy they knew it was Poseidon’s child and not Luther’s. So to protect the child Lady Amphitrite hired Hecate to seal away Nicky’s godly side as much as she could.
The only way for the seal to fully break was for Nicky to spend more time than he currently had in the underwater palace of his father and stepmother. And while he was close with his elder brother Triton and practically talked to him daily, and the palace was utterly beautiful, Nicky currently couldn’t leave the twins. They were his responsibility and he would put them above all else. They knew that and they like to extort that fact.
Demigods don’t dream and when they did it was technically visions and messages from the gods. Those were miserable at the best of times and absolutely horrible at the worst. So of course that night and he went to sleep he was dreaming.
The water was dark and cold. Nicky was floating, suspended in the water. The cold water. The cold water that felt so, so good. He just wanted to close his eyes and become one with it. To let the water take him. Oh how he wanted it to take him.
Cold comfort and safety of the water made him sleepy. Wasn’t he already asleep? Where was he? Last he knew he was on land. Maybe he was wrong. He was wrong quite a bit. And this water was so perfect. Cold and dark. And the current wasn’t too rough or fast, it was at a resting tempo, like a heartbeat. If he didn’t know any better he would say that the sea itself was a living being. But the sea was his home. One that he had finally returned to. He didn’t have to worry about school anymore, or the twins, the twins were safe if he was in the sea. And Erik had to be close by, just above the surface. He was home. He was safe.
“Nicholas.” A woman’s voice called out to him. Her voice sounded so pleasant and safe. Safe like the ocean. “Nicholas.” She called again, this time sounding closer.
“Nicholas.” The hands that were suddenly touching his face caused him to open his eyes and look at the woman. She was beautiful. Her blue skin was like the ocean near Crystal Rivers, Florida. Oddly specific but that’s where his mind went to. She reminded him of his happiest times in the water. Nicky and the twins had gone to Crystal Rivers and spent a long weekend at the beach, it was the best vacation he had with them.
“Oh my boy.” The woman, no. The goddess murmured. “You will be coming home to me soon. Your two boys along with the angry one’s two pets. The redhead and brunette with the face tattoo.” She added, seeing the clear confusion on Nicky’s tired and relaxed face. “I will see you soon, my child.” The goddess leaned forward and kissed his forehead.
The dream shifted from one of comfort to one of terror. He was lying down in a white room. The cabin’s interior walls were all painted white, even the floor. All the furniture and furnishings were white as well. The straps holding him down were the only pop of color in the white room, besides himself. He so desperately wanted to make a joke about how racist this felt. A hispanic teen being held down, strapped to a bed in an all white room. The camp really took no color seriously but it seemed like they were too cheap to get white straps to go with the all white theme.
A man in all white hospital garbs and mask walked over to him, pushing a stainless steel cart carrying an assortment of white colored tools, and those that weren’t were stainless steel. White needle tools with the tip and needle part itself are stainless steel. And the tasers, of the fucking tasers. No. No no. Don’t pick that up. Please no. Fuck!
Nicky screamed in pain as the man took the taser and held it against his side and wouldn't let up on the button. It hurt. It hurt so fucking much. He needed to get out of here. He wanted to go home. He needed his momma and poppa. He needed the pain to stop. He needed to be the perfect son. He needed to be normal. He needed to like girls. But he couldn’t. They were too soft and scary and he couldn’t bring himself to be attracted to them. He just wanted to be normal.
But he couldn’t be. No matter how hard he tried, Nicholas Hemmick would never be normal.
“Stop! Stop! Please just stop!” Nicky screamed, thrashing and trying so desperately to escape his bindings and this horrible nightmare. He wanted it to “stop!”
Crying and thrashing, screaming for it all to stop, one of Nicky’s legs actually kicked something. And that something groaned and threw something wet at Nicky. Water. It was water! Thank the gods.
Gasping Nicky shot straight up and blindly grasped at whatever or whoever was closest.
“Nicky. Nicky. You’re okay. You’re okay.” That voice was so desperately familiar and he tried to place it. “In.” The voice breathed with him. “Out. In. Out. There you go Nicky. There you go. You back with us now?”
Nodding, Nicky looked up at Kevin who was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at him. Neil was standing at the end of the bed in front of Andrew. Nicky figured he had probably kicked Neil and Kevin was better at calming Nicky down during a panic attack than the psycho boyfriends. Not that any of the Monsters knew that Kevin calmed Nicky down during panic attacks but they certainly did now.
It took several minutes for Nicky to fully calm down from his nightmare and be able to speak again. “Sorry, it was just a nightmare.”
“Don’t apologize.” Kevin reassured and handed Nicky a bottle of water.
“Does this happen often?” Neil asked. Nicky sent him a tired and confused look. Was he talking about the nightmares, the panic attacks, or Kevin comforting him? “The nightmares.” He specified after a beat silent confusion from Nicky.
Nodding, Nicky took a drink of the water. “Every now and then, it’s why my room in Colombia has a bit of soundproofing. Not too much to where I can’t hear you if you scream or need me, but enough padding to keep most of my jarring nightmare screams quiet. It’s quite nice.”
Andrew let out a huff and moved past and pushed Kevin back, sitting right next to Nicky. Close but not touching. “Want to talk about it?”
“No more secrets.” Nicky said firmly. “No more me keeping things from you. It was a demigod’s dream. Either we don’t dream or something or someone wants to communicate with us. During my cool down just now the first person to visit me was Lady Amphitrite, my father’s wife and Queen of the Sea. She was telling me that we would be going home soon.” He smiled at that and created a mini replica of his father’s and stepmother’s palace.
“What do you mean by home?” Andrew asked the question he, Neil, and Kevin were thinking.
“To the palace.” He said as if it was simple. “She’s waiting for us to come. All of us.” Nicky looked away from the palace and at Andrew with wide hopeful eyes. “You, Aaron, Kevin, and Neil. She waits for all of us. It was so nice…”
Nicky didn’t notice the silent exchange between the three men as he went back to molding the water, creating different rooms in the palace.
“And who was the second person to visit you in your…demigod dream?” Neil asked.
Nicky visibly soured at that and the water he had been manipulating into beautiful scenes balled up and appeared like a stress ball being clenched. “Yes.” Nicky nodded. “The second thing to visit me was one of my old memories from the conversion camp. I-that one I don’t want to talk about or go into.”
“And you don’t have to.” Neil said with a nod. “Now let’s all get to bed. Let us know if you need anything, we still got a few more hours before morning practice. Get some rest.”
Nicky nodded and leaned back against his pillows. “Yeah. I’m sorry for waking you guys up. Goodnight.”
“Don’t apologize.” Kevin said and crawled up to his bunk atop Nicky’s. “Goodnight. We have lots of running to do in the morning.”
Nicky groaned and let out a string of curses in Ancient Greek before laughing. “Goodnight Kevin.”
He only got a grunt in response. Nicky smiled as he got comfortably back under his covers and into the pillows. Closing his eyes, he was thinking of what the next day would bring and then the game on Friday. He hoped his brothers and the Jackson-Blofis family enjoyed the game.