Control Freak (Chapter 37)

Quote: "In order for others to believe in you, you must believe in yourself the most."

~ 2 Weeks Later ~

"Ughhhh. The anxiety is killing me! Why did he just declare war, and then go quiet for so long!?" I complained.

Today, I was hanging out with Nico for a change of pace. He said he was on break from his duties in the Underworld, so he was spening his free time at Camp-Half-Blood helping guide the newbies. 

"Sounds like you've got enough on your plate." Nico shrugged.

The both of us were leaning against a fence by the training frounds, "supervising" some campers as they hacked away at some straw dummies. They were fine on their own, we were just here to make sure nobody kills themselves for some odd reason or something.

"You can say that again. Who delivers a threat letter and doesn't go through with it?" I threw my hands at the air at Pontus's annoying antics at this point.

"Hmph. How about every Xbox, PS4, and PC gamer under 12 years old?" Nico snorted.

"I...okay, that was a good one." I pointed out. Nico grinned cheekily, as he was no longer that little boy we dragged to Camp all those years ago.

I remember how afraid and timid he used to be. It was only until he discovered his lineage and powers did he build enough confidence to break out of his shell he had put himself in as a young kid. Now he was like the rest of the Seven, a hero, and a good friend at that.

"Anyways, I get it. Pontus must've gotten a screw loose or something." He said, scratching the back of his neck. The aquatic primoridal was on everyone's mind whether it be god or camper, the thoughts loomed over all of us.

The weird thing is, the more we thought about how dangerous things were, the more it seemed distant and far away, and as time went on, we became less fearful. Again, as said before, we aren't sure if we were being cocky or if we were stressing over nothing in the first place. We haven't gotten any leads or updates on Pontus's actions, because he hasn't done...anything.

When I fought him, he was aggressive and blood-thirsty, not the guy to wait nearly a month for war. What happened to him? I wonder...

"Tell me about it. I'm half expecting to wake up tomorrow morning and eat bacon and eggs, and half expecting the continent of Australia to be submerged under the oceans or something." I sighed, stretching my arms over my head.

"Have you tried finding out where he's hiding?" Nico asked.

"Nah, I doubt I could. The dude's probably holed up somewhere far-far away, and I can't break through his type of magic at all. It'd be like looking for an invisible pin in a haystack." I said, and I received a mixed look from Nico.

"Well, have you at least tried?" He stated in a tone that indicated like I was mentally insane  or something, so I nodded quickly.

"Of course! What do you take me for?" I crossed my arms like Piper would, making Nico loosen his gaze and give a small chuckle.

"Alright, if you say so." Nico said softly as he looked out in the distance, across the strawberry fields that stretched in the distance under the blazing sun.

His eyes were dull, which was standard for a son of Hades, but he held a certain gleam in his eye. Almost a blurred shine, like a diamond with no color. I wondered if he knew how intimidating he could look if he tried, because some of the new campers feared the son of death, only to discover that he was harmless and was addicted to card games.

"Dude...why did you just start glancing at the sky in slow motion? Did you just try to do one of those cliche tropes in real life?" I failed miserably at trying to hide a laugh, instantly snapping Nico out of his daze, and he glared fiercely at me while his face turning red in embarrassment.

"Shut it!" He whined, smacking my arm with his. It only made me laugh harder at his behavior. It was the most Nico-ish thing to do.

"Oh my gods! Just wait until Thalia and Hazel hear about this!" I said loudly, and Nico flushed like a tomato as he furiously tried to get me to stop talking. He grabbed me in a headlock I could easily escape from, but I let him have his fun.

"I swear to Zeus, if you tell any of th-" Nico whispered in a passive-aggressive tone in my ear, only to interrupted my another voice.

"Tell me what?" Hazel appeared out of literally nowhere, right behind Nico and I.

Nico paused as he looked right into my eyes, with his hands both grabbing the front of my shirt like a desperate madman. His eyes were opened wide, and he was eerily calm as he slowly opened his mouth, not looking at Hazel behind him.

"Hazel is right behind me, isn't she...?"

"Yup."

Nico took a deep breath as he turned around and his eyes met with Hazel, who was wearing a purple Camp shirt and jeans, which looked pretty good on her. She looked like she was being awfully casual today, which was nice, because Hazel wasn't exactly a battle-hardened soldier, but she was a great person at heart. Whatever she lacked in strength and tactic, she more than made up for in compassion and devotion.

"Oh hi, Hazel." I waved as I was being held by Nico.

"What are you guys talking about...?" She looked at us like a pair of idiots, which to an extent was true, and confusion was clearly present in her facial expression.

"Not much. Nico here just-" I began, but was violently cut off.

"NOOOOOOOOOTHHHHHHING. NOTHING AT ALL, RIGHT PERCY?" He screamed at the top of his lungs, not caring that some of the campers training a fair distance away started to stare at him like a maniac in disguise.

"Uh, right. Nothing. Nada. Sorry Hazel." I winked at her, but she just had this look of "what on earth have the two of you been smoking?" the entire time.

"O-okay...I was just here to ask if you guys wanted to go shopping with me." Hazel said quietly, and Nico and I both looked at each other to see if we had heard her correctly. Hazel was a really reserved person, which is why she got along perfectly with someone like Frank for example. It was very unusual for her to ask us to go somewhere like this.

"Shopping? Why not go with Frank?" Nico asked, letting go of me. Hopefully he's forgotten about what had taken place just moments ago.

"Hm? He's already at the mall that I always take him to. I was just wondering if you guys wanted to tag along for a change." Hazel said indifferently. I couldn't tell if she wanted us to go with her, or if she was doing this just to act kind.

"Won't that be a bit intrusive? Frank's not gonna like that." I said cautiously. 

"Not really. We go together all the time, and it gets stale with just the two of us. I guess he'll just have to deal with it, if you guys are coming, that is." Hazel shrugged carelessly, as if she were absolutely certain Frank would abide to her desire.

I leaned over to Nico's shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

"See, that right there, is what happens when you get a girlfriend. Piper and Hazel own Jason and Frank." I said with minimum tone, out of Hazel's hearing range.

"Oh yeah, totally. I never thought a perk of being single would be freedom." He replied in a monotone whisper.

"Say...I thought you were with Will."

"But I still have my rights."

"Oh, neato."

"Ahem." Hazel interjected, tapping her sneakers against the dirt impatiently, obviously irratated that we were talking about something she couldn't hear.

I exchanged glances with Nico, and we both simultaneously nodded in agreement.

"We're in." I said. What could possibly go wrong? Going shopping with a couple of friends sounded appealing enough, and it beat watching campers murder a couple of shallow dummies all day, so I would just let a random camper who I trust enought to keep watch over the campers.

"Wonderful." Hazel said, clasping her hands together in perfect harmony, and Nico and I followed her.

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Hazel told us the location of the mall, which was a large commercialized mall with probably hundreds of stores all packed together like sardines in a can. Nico said he'd shadow travel us here, but I didn't know he wanted to do it, so by the time he finished his sentence, the three of us were already in New York City, in the parking lot of the grand mall.

He was just a "little" sour about that.

Afterwards, we entered the huge shopping emporium, as the place was gigantic in area. I didn't think Hazel was a shopping addict, but she explained how this place had literally everything one could possibly want, or didn't even know they wanted in the first place. Tons of mortals crowded the entire place like flies around a light. I mean, New York in general was a pretty inflated place in general, so I guess this should be expected.

Hazel somehow knew exactly where we were, which surprised Nico and I, because I had teleported us randomly to the mall. It must've meant Hazel had been here many, many times before.

I prayed for Frank's future silently.

After a few minutes of Hazel guiding Nico and I through the maze of shops and kiosks asking us to buy this and that, stuff that I would never need in my entire life, but the way they advertised it made me think that I desperately needed these things, or I would die a slow death.

Do I really need an wafflemaker...?

Anyways, Hazel acted as Ariadne's thread, showing us the way throught he labyrinth. We ended up at some sort of loitering zone with benches and clearing in the center of the mall. The place was right in the middle, surrounded by roads of bystanders walking past it, and surrounded by shops galore.

I spotted a familiar face sitting on a bench on his phone.

"Oi! Frank!" I called out, waving my hand in the air. Nico and Hazel glanced at me and had an expression that showed that they were questioning bringing me along with them.

Frank looked up from his phone, looking around like he thought he had gone mad or something, until he spotted us walking towards him. At first he was looking at Nico and I like he hadn't expected us, but he seemingly shrugged it off on his own. Being the shy guy he always was, Frank just got up and joined us, giving us a quick greeting and such.

"Not that I'm upset, but shouldn't you guys be preparing for Pontus?" Frank said, right after he tagged along.

"And let you guys have all the fun? No way. Besides, it's been forever since he moved an inch, so I doubt he'll suddenly pop out right now." I reasoned, and knowing my type of luck, Pontus would choose today of all days to begin his invasion or something. Frank didn't seem to want to debate over whether I should be here, so he happily let it go easily.

"Good enough for me." He stated as we once again, let Hazel take the lead. Once we had found Frank, she started talking about her favorite stores, and seemingly knew the entire mall inside and out on the top of her head.

"I know! Let's go watch a movie!" Hazel beamed at her newfound idea. The theatre wasn't very far away, and to be honest, I was surprised to hear that a movie theatre existed in a mall, but I didn't doubt her, as I think I saw a whole store dedicated exclusively to toasters on the way here.

Nico, Frank, and I quickly exchanged looks, kind of a dudes-only thing that Hazel couldn't detect. 

"I see nothing wrong with that." I shrugged.

"Me neither."

"Same."

It's not like any of us had a choice in the matter, as usual. Once Hazel makes a decision, it is set in stone. Unlike Piper, who would scold you until you feel less than dirt, Hazel would give you this face of pure dissapointment and resentment, and it'd make you feel bad inside. I bet the both of them would make excellent car saleswomen or something. 

"Alright, let's go already!" Hazel said, locking arms with Frank, who had the look of "pls send help" all over his face, and she rushed off into the crowd of people, dragging Frank behind her. Nico and I had to start gently pushing past people, trying to be as kind as possible, but it was kind of inevitable of us to bump into people.

The mall, as said before, was even bigger than I imagined. It had about five floors, all filled with resturants, shops, rentals, fancy lights, and open spaces. I feel like I could find just about anything in this moshpit of products. I'm pretty sure I saw a Chinese, Jamaican, Brazillian, Mexican, Japanese, French, German, Nigerian, Iraqi, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Irish food places. 

Ironically, I don't think I saw a Greek one. Maybe I did, and I just didn't notice it, or maybe there was one on like the fifth floor I haven't been to, but it was ironic to say the least.

Eventually, we did manage to reach a theatre, granted it took like ten minutes pushing through human bodies in order to get there, but we got there regardless. Hazel was really enthusiastic about a new film, some sort of romance or something. I assumed it was some sort of cheesy lovey-dovey thing, and Frank and Nico had a similar impression from the cover of the movie at first glance.

Hazel literally shoved us into line for tickets, and I didn't even get the chance to summon fake-I mean magical money in order to pay, because she had already used her own powers to summon a handful of cash, way more than was actually needed.

I think it was $20 for a ticket, so about $80 was needed for all four of us.

Hazel gave the booth guy about $4500.

She told him to keep the change. I swear the dude started freaking out while inside in the booth with all the tickets. At first, I was surprised at how he didn't ask Hazel if she had made a mistake, and try to return the cash to her, but then I realized he may have assumed Hazel was rich because of her clothes and hairstyle.  

Also, I guess the fact he was probably working minimum wage had something to do with it.

Then, we got to our seats that were in the front row and the movie played after we waited a few minutes through ads and trailers. We almost forgot about soda and popcorn, but I summoned some using Hestia's blessing, so there wasn't a huge problem there at least.

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~After The Movie ~

"Wait...I don't get it." Nico said as we walked out of the theatre after two hours of watching the film. Something about a lovestory about a possessive rich guy and a young woman.

"I don't really get it either." I shifted my shoulders. It wasn't that I didn't understand what the movie was about, but I was mainly captured by how odd the movie was.

"Uh...why did she just go along with whatever he said?" Frank scratched the back of his head, and his face was a tad bit red from watching some....scenes.

"What's wrong with you guys? Didn't you see how beautiful it was? She was captivated by his love and had to overcome his carnal desires." Hazel said dreamily, as I seemed to recall her saying how much she had a crush on the actor that plays the rich guy.

"I dunno. All I know is that if I were her, I'd bounce the second I found out he was into that hardcore kinky stuff with ropes." Nico shuddered, throwing an empty bag of popcorn into a nearby trashcan.

"Same. That's pretty nasty." I nodded my head and Frank was silent because of Hazel's frowned expression at me and Nico. I really couldn't figure out why Hazel was so attracted to this film in particular, I mean it wasn't bad, but it wasn't my thing.

Unless...

"Frank, my dude, you are one lucky man to have such a wonderful girlfriend." I put my hand on his shoulder and mumbled it in his ear. I was sarcastic of course, but I just wanted to mess with him.

Frank's cheeks turned even more red.

"Not a word." He warned me, nudging his shoulder to Hazel, who was glancing at another film cover at the side. 

"These lips are sealed, old pal." I grinned at his uncomfortable posture, like he had just found out something so disturbing. It was funny because I doubted Hazel was into that sort of kinky type of play, but on the slight chance she was, I don't think Frank could handle it. He'd probably have a stroke or something.

But enough of that.

Later on, the four of us went all over the mall. I think we shopped at a clothes branded store, bought some cool looking clothes, and played games at an arcade for a while. It was a ton of fun, whether it be discovering Frank's addiction to mint-ice cream, or watching Hazel drool over the newest fashion design on display, or Nico's timid behavior around crowds. Times like these are the ones I want to continue to have, because I'll remember these for a long, long time.

The mall was just as big as the labyrinth, and we had so much excitement running around like complete morons, but gleeful morons at that. We all caught up on the newest trends of the mortal world, feeling like normal people, an average group of friends hanging out like they should. Not fighting monsters or risking our lives for survival, but shopping for luxury and comfort.

This way of life is the way it should be for all demigods.

I don't know what Pontus is doing right now, but if he's gonna go on hiatus, then I'll spend these days having the time of my life with my friends and family. It's his loss, because while he's wasting time doing Zeus knows what, the bond I'm weaving with my family is more than I need to overcome anything he can throw at me.

"I call dibs on the blueberry sundae!"

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Author's Note: So that concludes yet another chapter...Redbull + EDM Music can accomplish miracles, I'll say. 

Also, I'd like to thank every reader for the taking their time to read this Fanfiction. It's been a long, bumpy ride, and I'm thankful for the massive amount of readers that hopefully enjoyed a part of this story. I never even considered this would get 100 reads, much less 190k!

Thanks for reading!

P.S:

+1 for anyone who can guess what movie Percy, Hazel, Nico, and Frank watched.