Will

The two day trip from Long Island to California was rather uneventful. I spent as much time laying out in the sun as I could. Being a Son of Apollo, the sun has always had a nurturing effect on me. I could feel my body absorbing it's energy and rejuvenating me. Nico laid out for a little bit with me, after I made sure that he was well coated with sunscreen. He didn't burn any, but, he did get a little bit of a tan. His skin was still rather pale though. Leo spent all of his time making adjustments to the ship, unless he was doing something for his girlfriend. If she needed something, he would stop whatever he was working on and go help her.

Life below deck was another story. Nico and I were pretty comfortable in our little room. Neither of us really needed a whole lot of space and we packed pretty light. The bathroom, on the other hand, was definitely cramping our style. The shower stalls were only meant for one person to be in them at a time. We tried to squeeze both of us into one, but there was barely any room to move. Although, I'm pretty sure that we would find a way to squeeze us both in once in a while. As I scrubbed myself down, I was starting to miss my angel scrubbing my back for me. We both dried off inside the shower stall so Leo didn't accidentally walk in on us naked. It wouldn't have bothered me, but Nico was still a little self-conscious. I'm still surprised that he was walking around the ship without a shirt on as much as he had been. Of course, even with the air conditioning, it was still pretty warm below the deck.

We ate all of our meals with Leo and Calypso. He had some of the enchanted plates from camp that could magically produce anything that you wanted to eat. I think that Nico was taking advantage of it though. He seemed to be eating hamburgers and french fries quite a lot. I gave up yelling at him years ago. His metabolism was so high that he could eat anything he wanted and still never gain a pound. I still tried to keep a healthy diet and only strayed on special occasions. It was hard for me to gain any weight as well, but I wanted to keep the rest of my systems in good working order. Nico would still eat healthy foods when we ate at home, so he wasn't always eating garbage all of the time.

Nico was sitting at the table in our room just wearing his boxers. He was drinking a cup of coffee and working on a sketch in his drawing book. I was busy re-packing our bags on the other side of the room. If we were going to be in New Rome for a while, we were hoping that there would be a guest house available. Staying on the ship wasn't terrible, but, it would be nice to have our own space while we were visiting the Romans. I was just about done when there was a knock on the door. I was still in my boxer briefs, but it was getting too warm in the room for me to give a shit. Besides, with the high heat, we were all getting use to seeing each other in the bare essentials. Even Calypso was spending her time around the ship in a two piece swim suite. When I opened the door, Leo was standing on the other side. He just had a pair of shorts on that were covered in grease and the rest of his skin wasn't any cleaner.

"Hey homies," he said, "we'll be landing in about half an hour. Sorry about it being so fucking hot down here. I'm trying to supercharge the air conditioning, but it's been kicking my ass."

"It looks more like it kicked your ass then drug you through the dirt. Besides, we're fine, we like running around the ship in our underwear."

Leo glanced down at my mid-section briefly and the quickly looked back up at my face. I started to smile as what parts of his face that weren't covered in grease started to turn red.

"It's all good, I'll see you guys in a little bit then. I'm gonna go try to get cleaned up some before we land."

Leo left and walked down the hall towards the bathroom. After shutting the door, I went over to the table and put my hand on Nico's shoulder. "I guess we should get dressed then."

My black haired angel looked up at me and said, "yeah, we probably should. You know that you can see the full outline of your junk through those undies right?"

"Yup, sure do." I went back over to our bags and finished where I left off.

...

We stood on the side of the deck as the ship went over the Berkeley Hills. The view of New Rome from the air was really quite breathtaking. Reyna had asked that we fly around the city and land the ship by Camp Jupiter. She didn't want Terminus, the God of the city's border, having a fit again. The ship cleared the hills and was slowly descending over the Field of Mars. Leo had told us that the ship would land itself exactly where he told it to, but he stayed behind the controls just in case the whole time. The ship flew between the camp and the city, finally stopping beside the stables. The sails rolled back up and the arms that held the ship up came out from the sides. As soon as the ship was on the ground the air oars retracted back inside their port holes.

Leo came over to us and put his arms around his shoulders. "I told you guys she'd get us here in one piece."

"We had complete faith in your skills Leo."

Nico looked like he was trying not to laugh and I was glad that he didn't. Some of Leo's contraptions were a little sketchy, but his ship was very well built. He went off to the side of us and dropped the rope ladder down the side. Leo climbed down first with Nico and I following him. Once we were on the ground, I was kind of surprised by the lack of activity. I guess that the heat was keeping the Romans inside as well. Nobody had even come over to greet us. Leo stayed behind to go over the ship while Nico and I headed to the Principia, the headquarters for the 12th Legion. We did pass some people through the camp, but not the normal amount of hassle that there normally was. When we got to the Prncipia, Nico knocked on the door. The door opened and Jason greeted us.

"Hey guys, it's good see you both." He led us inside and gave both of us the manly one arm behind back hug. "The others are waiting in the meeting room."

He led us into the main room where the Praetor's meeting table was. Reyna was in her usual chair with with Rachel sitting beside her. Piper was sitting on the visitor's side, which was probably where Jason was sitting as well. I was expecting to see Frank here, but his chair sat empty. Once we were in the room, everyone that had been sitting got up and came over to hug us. It was nice to see all of our friends again.

"My boys," Reyna said, "I'm glad to see you both. I just wish that we could be meeting under different circumstances."

"I know what you mean Reyna, but we're still happy to see you guys too. Have any prophecies came through yet?"

Rachel replied, "nothing yet, not even a hiccup of one."

"Well, Zeus did say that he didn't know how long that it would take. Where's Frank, I was expecting to see him here?"

Reyna responded, "Praetor Zhang is currently sleeping. Since it has been so hot this summer, the Legion has been training at night and sleeping during the day. We were starting to have too many collapse from heat exhaustion. So, Frank takes the night shift and I tend to things during the day."

"That's a great idea, I don't know why the Greeks didn't do that too."

"Well," Nico said, "it might not be the safest thing for them to be running through the woods at night with weapons."

Piper started laughing, "he does have a good point there."

Reyna continued, "since it's hard to say how long you'll be here waiting, we have guest houses ready for you guys and your companions. I'm sure you'll want to get settled in."

"Thank you Reyna, the quarters on the ship are pretty good, but some privacy would be nice for a while. As for Leo and Calypso, I'm not sure if you'll be able to get him away from the Argo III."

"If he wants it, the offer will be there." Reyna said, "I have to go tend to a few matters, I'm sure Jason and Piper wouldn't mind helping with your things."

"It would be our pleasure Reyna," Piper said. "This'll give us some time to catch up."

We thanked everyone, then left with Jason and Piper. The four of us went back to the ship and Jason helped me carry our bags back down the rope ladder. Leo pretty much insisted that he needed to stay and work on some things. At least he thanked them for the offer. Jason and Piper walked with us across the road to New Rome. We all caught up with we had missed since we left the city. It was nice to be around them again, even if it was in this sweltering heat. When we got to the Pomerian Line, we were stopped by Terminus. Of course, I totally forgot that we had our weapons packed with us. Not sure how we forgot about a compound bow and three foot long Stygian Iron sword. After turning our weapons over to his assistant Julia, we continued into New Rome.

Even the streets of New Rome were quiet for this time of the day. The only people on the streets were the guards and some sweaty merchants. We walked down the familiar streets until we arrived at the guest houses. Jason led us to the first one in the row, which also happened to be the house Nico and I stayed in once before. It seemed like so long ago that our fathers had sent us on the quest for our wedding rings. Now here we were once again, waiting to go into the unknown.

....

It was around mid-afternoon and we hadn't let the house since we got here. Nico had been glued to the tv since we showered and had our post-shower activities. I think that we both missed the luxury of our joint showers together. There was a little food stocked in the house, so we just had a light lunch. Hopefully, we would be able to go out for a good dinner. In the meantime, I laid on the couch holding my angel as he watched some show on tv. Granted, we both had time to relax during the trip across the country, but, it was nice to relax in the air conditioning. Not really needing to do anything else, we laid on the couch enjoying each other's company for the rest of the afternoon.

...

It was around early evening when there was a knock on the door. Nico was passed out on the couch in front of me and I really didn't want to wake him up if I could avoid it. I slid up of the couch from behind him, making sure that his head stayed on the pillow. After getting off the couch and walking over to the door, I looked over myself too make sure that I looked presentable. I was just wearing a pair of cargo shorts, which compared to the past few days was actually over dressed for me. Opening the door, I found Hazel and Frank on the other side. Hazel ran right inside and gave me a hug. After hugging me, she spotted Nico sleeping on the couch. I tried to stop her, but she ran over to the couch and jumped on top of him.

"Ugghhh," he groaned, "what the fuck?"

"Nico, is that anyway to greet your sister?"

Nico rolled over and gave her a hug as Frank and I stood inside the door laughing. "I missed you sis."

"I missed you too Nico. We stopped by to see if you and your husband would like to join us for dinner. Since you don't know how long you'll be staying, this might be the only chance we get."

Nico replied, "yeah, that would be awesome. Could you get off of me so I can dressed please?"

Hazel stuck her tongue out at Nico before getting up. Frank and I walked over beside the couch where they were not standing. "If you'll excuse us for a few minutes, we're going to go make ourselves look presentable."

"Take your time," Frank said, "we'll just hang out here."

We went back to the bedroom and found some decent shirts to wear. It was still rather warm out, so we stayed in our cargo shorts and threw on our boat shoes. When we came back into the living room, Frank and Hazel were sitting on the couch.

"Ready to go whenever you are."

They got off the couch and we left the guest house. While we were walking, we talked about everything that happened while we were gone. Hazel was thrilled when she heard how well Nico's first art showing went. Of course, she was still mad that she couldn't have been there. The walk to the restaurant really didn't talk all that long. Although, with the heat it felt like it took forever. We ended up at The Villa Roma, which had the best Italian food that we've ever had. It also happened to be my husband's favorite restaurant. From the lack of activity on the street, I thought that they wouldn't be that busy. However, the place was packed like it always was. Luckily, Frank had a private booth in the back reserved for us.

We had to wait a while for our dinner to arrive, which was normal this time of the day. Nico and I sipped our wine while we talked to Frank and Hazel. Nobody brought up our quest and I wasn't about to start us on the subject. We were just enjoying our limited amount of time together. After our dinner came, we enjoyed our meals and nobody left any room for desert. I tried to object, but Frank took care of the check like he usually did. When we left the restaurant, we parted ways with Frank and Hazel. They had to head back over to the camp early to get things ready for tonight's training. Nico and I just ended up going back to our guest house to lounge around for the rest of the evening.

...

It was around ten when there was a knock on the door. We weren't expecting anyone to come over this evening unless a prophecy came through. Even then, I figured someone would call rather than coming the whole way over here. This time Nico got off the couch and answered the door. There on the other side stood Jason with his usual grin on his face.

"Evening guys, care to join me for a late night soak in the baths?"

Nico looked at me as if he was looking for an answer. I normally left it up to Nico if we were going to the baths or not. Being naked around other people wasn't something that I had problems with. Nico, on the other hand, was a lot more self-conscious about his body. I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled back at him.

"Um, sure," Nico said.

"Cool," Jason replied.

I got off the couch and walked over to the door. After locking up, we went with Jason across New Rome and over to Camp Jupiter. As we passed the Field of Mars, we could see the Legion practicing in the distance. They had huge flood lights set up, illuminating most of the field. It was actually a pretty sweet set up. Plus, if the entire Legion was practicing, the baths were bound to be empty. When we got to the bath houses, we walked down to the end where the officers bath house was. We had been here many times since our first time with Jason and Frank. Jason even talked Percy into joining us twice. I think that Percy was actually more uncomfortable than Nico was. However, this would be the first time that there was just three of us. Jason was one of our best friends, but, he was built a lot like me. Nico was very loyal to me, but the extra temptation always had me a little worried.

Jason unlocked the door and led us inside the locker room. It didn't take long for the three of us to strip down and wrap our towels around our waists. We followed Jason into the baths and found our showers to rinse off. After hanging our towels on the hooks coming out of the marble columns, we sat our soap on the tray under the shower and turned on the water. It didn't normally take us it that long, but the we were all pretty sweaty from the walk. After we were done, we turned off the showers and walked into the main pool still nude. We sat down in the pool on the bottom step, so the water was up to our nipples. Well, up to my nipples, almost up to Nico's shoulders. Jason sat across the corner from us like he usually did.

After soaking for a while, Jason swam over to us and squeezed in between us. Jason had sat by us before, but never right between us. His side was right against my arm and I'm pretty sure he was just as close to Nico. After a minute or two, I felt a hand on my leg and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't my husband's. Jason's hand continued its way up my thigh and towards my groin. By the time that it got there, I was already hard as a rock. He wrapped his hand around it and slowly started stroking me. I was still completely shocked that he was doing this, I didn't know what to do. I looked over to Nico, who had a smile on his face. The same thing was probably happening on the other side of Jason.

Not knowing what else to do, I reached over and found Jason's tool. He was just a little bit bigger than me, but it still fit perfectly in my hand. Soon after, I felt another hand joining mine. Now, Nico and I both were slowly stroking Jason. I was starting to wonder if this was the first time that Jason did something like this, but it was definitely a first for us.

"Guys," Jason moaned, "we need to get out of the water before we make a mess."

The three of us got out of the pool and laid down on the warm marble floor. Jason was still between us and we picked up where we left off. It wasn't long before Jason's abs tightened up and his back arched up off the floor. He started to let loose, spraying all over his torso. I had to admit that it was pretty hot and definitely turned me on. When he was done we took our hands off of him. Jason continued stroking us as we rolled on our sides toward him. After everything that just happened, it didn't take us long to add our own seed to Jason's chest. When we were done, Nico and I collapse on our backs beside Jason. We laid there catching our breath before anyone spoke.

"Sorry guys," Jason said, "I don't know what got into me, but that was fucking intense."

"Yeah, that definitely was."

We got up and helped Jason get cleaned up. After everyone was clean again, we went back to the locker room and got dressed. The three of us left the bath house and headed back home. Jason left us off at our guest house and bid us a good night. Nico and I went inside and stripped down before climbing into bed. Nico curled up to me and put his head on my shoulder like he usually did. He fell asleep as soon as he snuggled up to me. I wrapped my arm around my angel held him tight as I drifted off to my dreams.