Chapter 19

Percy and Sally arrived at where Hades stayed with Nico. They lived in a nice neighborhood, a quite decent house. Percy was a little surprised but he followed his mother behind as they went up to the front door.

Sally had rung the doorbell and she glanced at Percy."You feeling okay, kid?" Sally asked, ruffling Percy's hair.Percy's nose scrunched up."A little nervous." Percy said. "But I'm fine."Sally smiled at Percy, but her attention was brought to Hades as he opened the front door.

"Hello." Hades said, giving Sally and Percy a small smile."Hi Hades." Sally smiled at Hades.Hades had stepped aside and Sally went inside first. Percy followed behind and Hades shut the front door, locking it."Sally, if you just go down right ahead, it's the living room and I set out some biscuits, and I'll make coffee for us in a moment. Percy, you'll have to follow me to Nico's room." Hades said as Sally and Percy took off their shoes.

Percy looked to his mother and Sally smiled. "Just come down if you need anything." Sally stated. "Mmh." Percy hummed. Percy faced Hades and he smiled at his uncle. "Lead the way!"

Hades turned towards the staircase and Percy followed behind Hades. Percy glanced and saw his mother already went ahead to make her way to the living room. Percy took a look at the wall by the staircase, seeing a couple of photos.

Percy stopped on a step as he saw a picture of a older women and a girl who looked like a younger version of the older woman next to her. Percy stared at the picture. "That's Maria and Bianca." Percy nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked over at Hades. Hades kept his gaze on the picture Percy was looking at.

"Bianca was the spitting image of her mother. Nico resembles her quite a bit too." Percy glanced at the picture. "... They look beautiful." Percy said quietly. "Mmh... Come along now." Hades said, continuing to make his way back up the stairs. Percy continued to follow behind Hades after another moment.

They made it up the stairs and Hades walked along the hall, making his way towards one of the closed doors and he gently knocked on the wooden door. Percy stood behind Hades, waiting for something. Percy heard a quiet 'come in' and Hades opened the door slowly.

Hades looked in and Percy managed to get a peek in, seeing a young boy sat on the floor, shuffling about some cards in his hands. "Hey Nico." Hades said, his voice quite soft. "Percy's here."Percy saw how Nico glanced over and Nico saw Percy. Percy gave Nico a smile and Nico looked away.

Hades let out a soft sigh and he looked to Percy, seeing that he was a little confused. "I assure you, he's excited about this, but Nico just needs to get used to you. It took him a little while before he befriended one of his friends in school." Hades said. "Just go in there and sit by him. I'll check on you two in a bit, okay?" Percy nodded at Hades. Hades then left once he glanced over at Nico again.

Percy fiddled with his hands before he entered Nico's room, gently shutting the door behind him. Percy made his way over and he sat down on the floor across from Nico. "Soo... hey. I'll properly introduce myself, I'm Percy." Percy smiled at Nico. Nico continued to shuffle about the cards in his hands before he looked at Percy."...Nico." Nico said quietly before looking back at his cards.

Percy crossed his legs and he glanced around the room. Nico's walls were a dusty purple colour, and he had a few posters up. It seemed like Nico liked some rock and metal bands.

"Woah, Nirvana? You're automatically cool!" Percy gasped at one of the band posters in Nico's room. "I love Nirvana, me and my mom always play it when we're baking." Nico blinked as he looked up at Percy. "Really?" Nico raised an eyebrow. Percy looked at Nico and nodded, smiling. "Yeah! And is that a Green Day poster? I know someone who likes that band. She's pretty punk rock too!" Percy exclaimed. Nico nodded slightly and Percy felt his smile grow, glad that Nico seemed to be slowly warming up to him already.

"What are those cards? I've never seen them before." Percy said, pointing at the cards in Nico's hands.Nico looked down at the cards and he set them down onto the floor, gently pushing the deck towards Percy. "Erm, Mythomagic cards. It's based off of Greek mythology." Nico answered. "I don't really need to shuffle them but... I get bored sometimes and I need something to fiddle around with."

Percy picked up the cards. "Greek mythology? That's cool. I have a friend who knows all about Greek mythology. I'm sure you'd get on well." Percy said, looking through the cards in the deck. "I'm named after a Greek hero, Perseus."

"Oh! The one who slayed Medusa's head?!" Nico gasped, looking at Percy. Percy looked at Nico and saw how his eyes widened and seemed to shine brightly. Percy grinned. "Yep! But my mom mostly named me after him because he had a happy ending." Percy said. "That's cool." Nico smiled at Percy. "Yeah? Glad you think so." Percy smiled back.

"So, you wanna explain to me how this game works?" Percy handed the cards towards Nico. "Uh, yes! It's the best game in the entire universe! It's a little complicated but once you play it a couple of times you'll get it! Look, once I tell you the rules, we can play a round, if you want?" "Oh, I'm very interested in playing a round once I wrap my head around the rules and how it works. Lay it on me, Nico!"

Nico enthusiastically began to explain the rules and the basics of the game to Percy. Percy listened intently, smiling and asking for Nico to repeat himself if he got lost at any point. Percy was glad Nico instantly became so talkative and comfortable once Percy asked about this strange game.

Percy was happy that his family grew a little larger ever since his uncle contacted his mother and he agreed to meet his cousin.

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Word count: 1064

A/N: Okay, technically I should make Thalia and Jason Percy's cousins too, but it makes sense for them to not be cousins for the plot, especially since Percy already knows of Thalia and Jason hasn't been introduced in this fic. So in this universe, only Percy and Nico are cousins!