Bets, Emo Phases, Fuck Boys, and Fireworks.

°♡°

"I like this one." Feenyx shows me the photo strip after we both exit the photobooth.

"You had me in a choke hold and gave me a noogie in that photo." I deadpan.

"The more reason to like it." She smiles, batting her eyelashes at me while I glare at her. "I'm sticking this on my phone case and saving this as my phone wallpaper. I bet Tamale will be jealous if she saw this. Should I show her this picture? I think I should show her and see her reaction."

"Please don't."

"What? It's not like she'll even admit that she hates it when her boy toy is spending more time with another woman without feeling like a miserable co-dependent."

"Jesus Christ, Nyxxie."

"Don't give me that. You know I'm right."

"Whatever." I roll my eyes with a sigh.

"How come you call Toni by different names that start with T?" Sid asks.

"I'm horrible at remembering names belonging to irrelevant cunts and I do not care enough to want to remember. How your friend has the patience to deal with her on the daily is beyond me." she answers.

"I keep telling him but he never listens to me." Vinny says, making me roll my eyes. "Anyway, who wants to ride the Ferris Wheel?"

Once again I sense Feenyx tensing beside me. I look at her and see the same expression from before when Sid suggested going into the photobooth.

"Why the Ferris Wheel?" she asks.

"Why not?" he answers enthusiastically. "Everyone loves riding the Ferris Wheel."

"I doubt that."

"Wait? Don't tell me you're afraid of riding the Ferris Wheel."

Feenyx scoffs as if he'd just said the most ludicrous thing ever. "Please! I survived Hera's wrath when she caught me fucking her manwhore in his office. I'm not afraid of anything."

"The fact that you said that like it's an achievement is astronomical." Sid comments.

"I'll believe it when you get on the ride. Why don't we put a bet on it to make things interesting." Vinny proposes. "How does fifty bucks sound?"

"One hundred." She contests, folding her arms to her chest.

"One fifty."

"Two hundred."

"Two fifty."

"Sold."

They both shake on it.

"May the best person win." Vinny smirks.

I frown. I don't know why, but something thing is telling me that something might go wrong.

♡

"You could have just backed out, you know?" I tell Feenyx as we wait in line. I insisted on going with her because I don't trust her going alone. Last thing I need is her setting the whole ride on fire – literally.

"Hell no. My money and pride are at stake here." She replies. "I love Vinny, but I ain't losing to him."

"But is it really worth it?" I persist. "You looked uncomfortable with the idea when he suggested it in the first place."

"You're overanalysing it, dude. It's not that deep."

"Feenyx," I turn her around so she can look at me. "Vinny and Sid may not see through this façade of yours, but I can and I can tell that you don't want to get on that Ferris Wheel."

Her eyes narrows into an ice cold glower. "Just because you picked up small details about me and some 'abnormalies' in my behaviour doesn't mean you know shit about me. I've had my fill of bullshit from Tintin. I don't need any more of it from you."

"I'm just looking out for you!"

"I don't need you to look out for me!" she snaps. "I can take care of my damn self. You're not my friend, so save your pity for your girlfriend."

The air around us turns brittle. I swallow the throbbing lump in my throat as I stare in her glowering hazel eyes.

"Okay." I say, trying to hide the hurt in my voice.

There small twinge of regret and guilt in her eyes for a brief moment before it disappears in an instant when someone calls out for us to enter the Ferris Wheel.

Feenyx draws a breath in as she makes her way toward the cabin. She stops in at the door, briefly hesitating until she gets inside. I follow her soon after. She takes a seat. I take the seat opposite from hers.

She flinches slightly when the door of the cabin is slammed shut and the locks are secured.

She lets out a small, startled gasp mixed with a yelp and grips the seat so tight her fist turn white when the Ferris Wheel starts moving.

"Are you – "

"I'm fine." She cuts me off.

I sigh, frowning at her defensiveness.

We're silent for the greater part of the ride. Feenyx has her eyes on the view outside, avoiding my gaze. I have my eyes on her, checking how she's doing and wondering why she's pushing herself to do something she didn't want to do in the first place.

"Have you ever ridden a Ferris Wheel before?" I break the silence.

She doesn't respond to my question immediately, probably debating whether or not she should talk to me, but she eventually relents and gives me an answer, "No. I hardly go to theme parks or anywhere on Olympus."

This piques my curiosity. She's the most extroverted and outgoing person I've met, yet she's never gone out?

"Why not?" I ask.

She shrugs. "My job is pretty demanding and doesn't exactly allow me to have much leisure time unless it's my day off." She scoffs. "Even during my days off, Eros still calls me to do work for him since he spends more time in the Mortal Realm than his run his own company."

"What do you normally do?"

"Typical secretary stuff. Paperwork, answering and making calls, organising the boss's schedules, arranging meetings, making sure the employees don't fuck up and more paperwork. I also run his palace in his absence. Now I run his company in his absence."

"Sounds like you're more of a manager than you are a secretary if you ask me."

"And I get paid handsomely for it."

"Do you enjoy it?"

She finally looks at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Your job as a secretary. Do you enjoy it?"

She leans back in her seat as her eyes linger on the view thoughtfully. It's probably something she never really thought about. "Well, it's better than staying cooped up in Hephaestus's workshop on Mount Etna."

"Wow, I keep forgetting that you're not human."

She chuckles amused. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

I shrug. "Take it however you want, Nyxxie."

Suddenly, the Ferris Wheel stops moving and the lights go off.

"What just happened?" Feenyx asks.

"Not sure, but we're about to find out," I say.

"Dear customers. We regret to inform you that we're experiencing difficulties with the Ferris Wheels. But rest assured we've already called the technical team to oversee the problem. Please remain calm."

Well shit.

"What's going on?" her voice wavers a bit.

"Looks like the Ferris Wheel broke down again," I tell her.

"Wait, this has happened before?"

I nod. "Depending on how fast the tech people get her and fix it, we might be stuck here for a while."

"How long?"

I look at the ceiling. "About an hour. Probably more than that."

"How are you so calm about it. We're stuck!"

"It's not the first time this happened so – "

I'm cut off the moment I hear the sound of Feenyx hyperventilating. By the time I check her, her eyes are already wide open with panic and glowing amber and glowing lava-like veins on her face. Her hand is clutching her chest and her breathing is becoming heavier and rushed as if she's having an asthma attack.

Before I can utter a word, a light erupts from her body and her red hair takes the form of a flame that's burning like a wildfire. I'm surprised her clothes haven't caught fire already after that.

"Feenyx!" I quickly rush over to her but I maintain a safe distance from her. She pulls her legs to her chest and shuts her eyes, clutching her head and rocks herself back and forth says the words 'I'm sorry. I promise to behave' over and over again.

"Feenyx." I kneel down, placing my hands on her feet. "Hey, look at me."

She doesn't respond immediately, but she eventually lifts her head and looks at me.

"I need you to take some deep breaths for me, okay?" I tell her.

"I-I c-c-a-a-a-ant." She whimpers between breaths.

"Yes, you can. Just follow my lead okay. Breath in and count to ten. Ready. Breath in."

She draws a shaky breath in and counts.

"And out."

She releases a ragged breath out.

"That's it. Again."

We continue doing the exercise until she lets out a sigh as her breathing stabilises back to normal. The glow in her skin disappears and her hair returns to normal. Her eyes are still glowing and the lava-like veins are still visible on her tan skin, but at least she's stable.

♡

An hour passes and there haven't been any changes in our situation. I got a call from Vinny telling me that the technical people came to fix the problem. However, he's not sure how long the repairs are going to take. "You guys might be stuck up there until the fireworks start," I recall him telling him.

I look over to Feenyx. She is stable, but she's all curled up in a ball with legs pulled to her chest, her arms placed on her needs and her face hiding in her arms. Her body is shaking slightly and the grip on her sleeves is so tight her knuckles are pale.

She explained that it's difficult for her to maintain her human form when she's under a lot of stress, hence why her eyes are still glowing and the lava-like veins still visible on her face. So it might take a while for her to fully return to normal.

I've never seen her timid and small before. Not since the time I found her like this in her room before I left for work without her. She looks like a child curled up in their little corner trying to hide from something that's scaring them.

"You okay?" I ask.

"No," she mumbles. "I just want to get off this stupid ride and forget I even made that stupid bet with Vinny."

"Do you have asthma or problems with anxiety?"

"I don't have asthma or anxiety problems. I'm claustrophobic and nyctophobic." She tells me. "I hate being in small spaces especially when it's dark."

So that explains the change in her mood at the photobooth and when Vinny suggested going on the Ferris Wheel. It can also explain why she reacted the way she did when I asked her if she even went into the storage room that one time at school and why she hates taking the elevator. And that could explain why she was in that position I found her the following morning after I went into her room and turned off the light.

"Move over." I get up from my seat.

She looks up and stares at me with puzzlement lingering in her eyes as I occupy the empty space next to her. "Did I ever time Vinny had an emo phase and I was in my fuck boy era?"

"No, this is the first time I'm hearing this." She answers, still puzzled at where I'm going with this.

I take out my phone and scroll through my gallery and show the pictures. She snorts and covers her mouth at the sight.

"Oh my Zeus! Is that Vinny." She cackles pointing at the picture of Vinny.

He was wearing a black blazer with a white buttoned down shirt and a black vest inside, black pants and black combat boots. This dark hair was styled into an undercut and covered his left eyes. His nails were painted black and he had an eyebrow piercing on his right brow.

"Yep. I kept this picture for blackmail." I grin mischievously.

"You son of a Cerberus." She chuckles. "What about you?"

I scroll to the next picture of me ten years younger seated cross legged on top of the sink in my dorm. I wore a white long sleeved sweater that was rolled up to my elbows, a pair of faded denim jeans, multiple gold chains around my neck, a silver chain around my wrist and a pair of white air forces. I also work wore two small hoop earrings on each of my ears and a slit at my left eyebrow. My hair was shaved at the sides with an edge up at the left side and the top was dyed blond with red highlights. My hair was pushed back with a few strands lingering at the sides of my temple, showing off my forehead.

"Pretty cringe, huh?" I ask.

"Compared to Emo Vinny, you owned your fuck boy look." She says. "The pout is pretty cute. Wait a minute. What are you doing showing me this?"

"Telling you every crazy, cringy and embarrassing thing I witnessed since I started remembering to pass time." I tell her. "And I got plenty."

There's still confusion in her eyes, but she relents to the idea knowing that I'm going to do it either way. And so I tell her everything.

I tell her about the time Ma put Dad's colleague in the hospital after she was caught forcing herself onto him even though he rejected her numerous times.

I tell her about the time Shay paid me to dress up like her so I could go on a date in her place with one jock in her class back in high school (the look on his face when he found out I was a guy was priceless).

I tell her about the time Eloi and I accidentally broke one of Ma's fine china tea sets and how we hustled for money to replace it before she found out (she found out and let's just say that Eloi and I found the cold tiled floors very comfortable to sit on).

I tell her about the time Ma threatened this one bully and his goons in my class after I came home with a black eye.

"So you're telling me, your mama went through your bully's goons to get information on where your bully lived, destroyed his car and slashed his tires and not only beat his older brother but his mama too at the same time?" She summarises.

"Yep. That prick didn't look my way or bothered me since." I tell her.

"Wow, your mama is ghetto to the core. She singlehandedly humbled John Wick. This beats the time I squared up with the ocean nymphs." She tells me. "I gave those bitches a two-piece special and a biscuit. Bones were broken and limbs were dislocated. That's what they get for messing with my hair."

"What did they do?"

"Those ocean heifers got it wet, that's what they did. Even though my hair doesn't burn anything, it can still get put out like fire when it gets wet. I was bald all day that day!"

"Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"Relax, pretty boy. It takes a lot to make me angrier than Hera finding out about Zeus's bastard kids and Ares on a bad day combined."

We laugh before we fall into silence.

"Hey, Urie. How come you didn't ask why I never told you about – you know?" she asks.

"Yeah, asking you questions while you're distressed sounds like a swell idea," I answer sarcastically.

"Fair... but why didn't you tell Vinny about what happened when he called?"

"It's not my place to tell him something you probably don't want people to know about. And I like my lips and tongue where they are, thank you."

Feenyx laughs and I smile.

"I'm sorry." She says after her laughter dies down; her tone suddenly serious and avoids my gaze.

I blink confusedly. "For what?"

"The stuff I said about you not being my friend when you said you were just looking out for me." She tells me.

I arch an eyebrow. "Are you sorry you said those words?"

"No. Not this time. I didn't mean any of what I said. You are my friend – at least a friend who genuinely cares."

"Don't you have friends back on Olympus? What about Hermes?"

"Hermes is friends with everyone on Olympus since he's a messenger god and all." She explains. "Besides, I'm not used to anyone caring enough to look out for me let alone notice or pay attention to me the way you do. I am another one of Hephaestus's freak inventions and practically Pandora's sister in a way, so you can imagine a lot of folks not liking me because of - not that I care."

"I don't think you're a freak invention," I blurt out, making her look at me. "Just because you were created by a blacksmith doesn't make you less of a living being."

Her eyes widen slightly as they twinkle with an emotion I can't really explain until she looks away and lets out a small chuckle. "Yep, you're an odd one alright."

I smile at her. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Silence passes by until it is broken by some explosions coming from outside. My eyes widen with awe as I let out an inaudible 'wow' at the sight of the fireworks popping and colouring the dark sky. Feenyx stands up and walks over to the window, placing her hands on the glass.

"It's so beautiful." She says.

"It is." I join her. "I guess being stuck in this Ferris Wheel is worth it huh?"

"It sure is."

My gaze moves from the fireworks and lands on her. The firework explosions are reflecting in her eyes as she looks up at the sky in awe and fascination. A small smile is plastered across her face.

She looks happy – genuinely happy. No façade. No sarcastic or forced smiles. She looks genuinely happy. It's the happiest I've seen her since the first time I met her and seeing her this happy and at ease makes me wonder what is it that she's trying to hide behind her arrogant, sassy and sarcastic façade of hers.

Her eyes meet mine. "What?"

I mentally shake my head and brush off my thought as I look back at the view. "It's nothing."

What are your theories on what triggered Feenyx to be claustrophobic and nyctophobic 👀☕

Oh and here's a collage of Vinny and Urie in their Emo and Fuck Boy Era🤣🤣

Don't forget to vote and comment ♡