the dark I know well;

Kole hummed a bit as Artem responded because he knew that Artem wasn’t joking all that much. If someone was bothering him, Kole knew he could ask Artem to help and Artem would take care of the problem. “Well, no one’s really been mean to me since this whole thing started. The pandemic, I mean. But that’s because I don’t really talk to anyone except the people I like, so.” So really, there wasn’t anyone being mean to him now, but he expected things to go right back to usual once this was over. Possibly worse, since the Ares campers would undoubtedly have a lot of pent up aggression to get out. He giggled after. “Okay, but consider that I love you and would never steal her. Plus, it’s not like you don’t know where I live. And you feed her. That’s very important. You also feed me, and look how well that worked out!”

“Oh… Maybe he’s just busy or she’s just always there. She’s a teacher, so…online clases.” Nine kind of hoped he was right, that Lance’s dad was a thousand times kinder than the mother. “Wait, what…?” He paused, thinking hard at all the ghosts he remembered catching looking at his boyfriend. Has anyone met his boyfriend before? Did any of them look angry at him? To Nine, they only looked passive, judging, scared…or could it ever be pity? After all, they also looked at the son of death next. “N-no, why would you think that? That’s… There are too many ghosts in New York.” Even if there was any ghost who looked at Artem with hatred, Nine was never going to let be near him.

“Rude! Lots of people are mean to me!” Though none had been in recent months, so maybe Artem had a point. He grinned at the son of Hecate though and started laughing when he saw Artem’s not-quite smile. He was glad that the other camper felt safe enough around him to smile. “Nuh-uh. She won’t leave you for me, ‘cause I won’t let her. Besides, I’m too cold to have pets! I only provide cuddles and playtime. She’ll always be your little lady. I just reserve the right to spoil her like any good pet uncle.”

“Maybe his father would be fine, though… Anyone better than her.” Nine never really bothered to know her husband, and he haven’t asked Lance about it yet. “That they avoid you? I don’t really know, but you’re not the only one in Camp and maybe the ones I’ve noticed are not brave enough… When we first officially met, it was a ghost that made me stare at you.” Nine nodded a bit. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t know… What if he goes to other relatives instead or his grandparents?” Nine would be sad if that happened, but as long as it was better than staying with Lance’s mother. The son of Thanatos pulled away to look at his boyfriend. “We could check tomorrow if you want. I’m not sure how safe it would be for us.” Nine should really learn how to check it like Artem does, so his boyfriend wasn’t doing all the work. “No, no ghosts here. I’m a ghost magnet but they keep their distance when I’m with you. No ghosts in my apartment too. I’ve put all possible shit to block them from entering.” New York is occupied by different spirits and ghosts, and Nine wanted to feel safe or have some peace here, something he wasn’t really able to do in Camp because Greek ghosts were annoying. “Can you see ghosts?”

Kole gave Artem a look that was playfully offended. “Now you’re just being mean to me.” He hummed a bit after and smiled to Artem. “I’m not too sure about that. They might be too busy laughing to go around smiting.” But that was okay, Kole didn’t want anyone to smite Artem. He laughed after. “But I want to! I just want to give her all the cuddles.”

“Though we haven’t got much choice when she takes him back.” Nine would be sad but he’ll just hope that something had changed for the better for Lance and his mother. “Security? Yeah, I guess. What kind of security do you mean? I own the lot and we used to live there until we moved closer for my stepdad’s office. Oh, and there are no ghosts.”

“She only mentioned him so I asked where the kid was, and it turns out she left him alone to buy groceries.” Nine frowned slightly. He wasn’t a parent but he knows that was very irresponsible of her. “I guess she was desperate enough to ask me to babysit him, and I won’t say no to the kid.” His fingers started to fiddle with the ends of Artem’s shirt. “Should we redecorate or something? Or we could go to my apartment instead, I’m all up for redecorating it and it’s unused.”

“Yeah, but I dunno how to do that on my own.” Maybe if Artem helped, but Kole didn’t want to take up all his time. That wasn’t fair to him. He did lean over to squish Artem again, gently. “I love you, so much. It’d be so much fun to go see Katya again. I love her, too. She’s adorable. She needs all the attention.”

Nine shook his head slightly. “No, just her at first, and then she fetched the kid at their home.” He was quiet for a few seconds, thinking. Did he need to return the kid to his mother? He didn’t really want to but he didn’t have much rights to keep the little kid here. “I don’t know, but maybe she would. That’s her son, after all.”

Kole looked at Artem for a moment and then squinted. “Fire is scary because it’s my opposite. Hot, melts ice, fast. I like campfires, but fire can be very scary to me.” Fire had its uses, but Kole preferred those uses to be well away from him whenever possible. Unless it was Artem’s fire, which was fine because Artem wouldn’t let the fire hurt him. He hummed in thought after. “That’s fair. It might be fun to spend a day or two there, but probably not much longer than that.” He liked the energy of the Hermes cabin, but he’d always been able to retreat when it got too much. Maybe it wasn’t a solid backup plan. Oh well.

Nine immediately went to his boyfriend’s arms. Hugs were welcomed or basically just any comforting physical contact would make Nine feel better, even if they were about to discuss something that could stress him out. “Ask me something then,” Nine mumbled, wanting to disappear in Artem’s arms.

Nine wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, unable to say anything else for now. He`d love to face anything with Artem, and they would really need to figure out how to help the kid. Nine pulled away and looked at his boyfriend with a small time. Together. It was wonderful to hear. “Let’s go.” The son of Thanatos took the other’s hand again as they made their way to their room. He still needed to explain, but he didn’t really know where to start so he hoped Artem would ask him what he wanted to know.

“That’s because fire is scary!” Kole protested. Sure, his ice abilities were fantastic at keeping the fire away from him, but as a general rule of thumb, fire was his opposite and he avoided it because it was mean. He blinked at Artem after. “My cabin is built of ice. I’d just make a new one. Or stay at the Hermes cabin and then build a new one.” It wasn’t really a scary thing, to think of his cabin melting because it was ice. He could fix it. Probably. Everything inside was more or less replaceable.

Nine was thankful Artem took his hand, and he held onto him as they left the kid’s room. Only then did he look at his boyfriend with tears pooling in his eyes. He had been holding it because he didn’t want Lance to see him or get worried. “Artem… Gods.” Nine took a deep breath and walked further away from the kid’s room. “I didn’t know it would be this bad,” he whispered.

The kid nodded and told the cat to follow them. Nine pointed out the rooms and the bathroom, and let the kid decide which of the two rooms he wanted. Lance had looked at Nine, then seemed to consider the distance of the rooms to the couple’s bedroom. “This one,” Lance said, going to the room which he thought was farthest from the master bedroom.

Nine just nodded and followed the kid inside, leaving the door open, though he didn’t really care much if the cat actually followed them. On his understanding, cats did what they wanted, and Katya hated him but loved Lance so he wasn’t sure what she’d do. As he helped the kid settle on the bed after Lance brushed his teeth, Nine took a quick look around the room to check if everything would be fine for the kid. “You know where to find us if you need us. Just knock, one of us will let you in,” Nine told the kid. It would most likely be Artem who’ll wake up with a knock. “Good night.”