Solangelo One-Shots

The Carpool Incident - Nico Centric

Jason was starting to think getting his driver's license was a mistake. He and his friends had saved the world before—some of them multiple times; but nothing made it more glaringly obvious how chaotic they were than packing them all into the back of his Held-Together-By-Ductape 1998 Toyota Corolla.

"Leo, please put on your seatbelt," he pleaded.

Leo responded with an exaggerated groan. "We're packed in like sardines back here!" He gestured wildly, almost hitting Frank in the face. "I think I'm sitting on it anyway."

Piper snorted from the passenger seat. "Told you we should have put him in the trunk."

"Oh, because we'd never hear the end of that, Pipes. Great idea." He rolled his eyes. "Besides, you really want Hedge up here waving his bat?"

Piper shuddered. "You're right. I think he's eating all the cans you were supposed to recycle last week."

A glance in the rearview mirror and Jason got a glimpse of Hazel fanning her face, head leaning out the window.

"Everything good back there, Haze?"

She shook her head. Frank took one look at her and his face paled, Big-Brother mode officially activated at the sight of her.

"Motion sickness," he said, rifling through his emergency fanny pack for tylenol. "She's going to puke, do you have any—"

There was retching from the back and Jason didn't even need to look to know she'd sent the contents of her breakfast out the window and onto the blacktop of the highway.

Leo held her hair back and Frank leaned across his lap to hold her hand. Leo sighed, pinching his nose shut with his free hand.

"Trunk's soundn' kinda nice, not gonna lie."

***

Percy was infinitely thankful that his mother's van had a sunroof because Tyson just had a growth spurt.

"I could have walked," Tyson said, obviously shifting and fidgeting in the passenger seat to try and make himself smaller. "Could have shadowed there with Mrs. O'leary."

"It's January, bro, fat chance.

He was also thankful there were three rows of seating—because he had seven other campers (and a hunter) in the back. Not to mention the hellhound loping after them.

"This better be the best birthday party Nico has ever had or I'm going to lose my marbles," he said.

Will Solace rolled his eyes from the front row, Percy could feel it. He liked Nico's boyfriend but the kid had an attitude the size of a hellhound's rear end.

"I'm pretty sure this is the only birthday party Nico has ever had," he corrected.

Clovis from the Hypnos cabin and his brother Austin were both sound asleep and drooling on him, but he did have a point.

Further back his sister Kayla was trading archery techniques with Thalia, Rachel quipping in with her ideas for painting Thalia's quiver every once in a while. Something about the Hunter standard equipment being far too boring. (Percy was pretty sure she was just flirting.)

Grover and Annabeth were strewn across each other in the very back row, playing a complicated game of rock-paper-scissors Annabeth had created.

"Hydra beats Chimera!" She shouted. "I win!"

Grover huffed. "Hydra beats everything—it's rigged!"

"Not true! Riptide beats Hydra, Hydra beats Chimera, Chimera stings drakon, Drakon poisons hellhound, and hellhound beats Hydra. Sphinx beats everything."