Nico spent hours on his phone today. This is unusual for him since his screen time only lasts for thirty minutes (or an hour max). He never really was a tech guy, he uses his personal computer for school, and that's it. He only has his phone because his sisters, Bianca and Hazel, insist that he has to have one for communication purposes.
Tonight, though, he spent a total of eight hours on his phone since he had just discovered the wonders of online shopping. He knows what only shopping is, of course, but he was never a fan of it. To quote him, "You guys are lazy. I prefer shopping physically in stores, you don't even know if the right product will come to you!" he even convinced his stepmother Persephone to agree with his side.
However, his alliance with his stepmother never lasted when his half-sister Hazel taught Persephone that she could buy loams of soil for her garden online without exerting the effort to carry it all the way home. Since Persephone is a big fan of gardening and is very meticulous with the knickknacks of her garden stuff, she was so happy to find out that her local source of soils and seeds recently made an online account to sell their products. It was a great deal for her since she didn't have to drive five hours to buy a sack of loam. She's that passionate about her gardening. It also opened doors for his stepmother to start redecorating their house like a Pinterest board due to the stuff that the app suggested to her.
Since the betrayal, he swore that he would never get even an inch close to the dark and hellish addiction of online shopping.
It was one eerie day when he visited his favorite music shop and found out that the limited edition Maneskin vinyl he had been eyeing for a while was gone. He immediately went to the guy manning the shop to start questioning the whereabouts of the precious vinyl.
"Hello, excuse me, Austin?" he greeted as he eyed the teen's nametag that he removed from his clothes and placed them on the counter. He can understand why because it definitely did not match the aesthetic of the shop. "Yes, how may I help you?" Austin asked with a smile while finishing up cleaning his saxophone and stood up.
"The Maneskin album," he said, sounding a little like a child that got his candy stolen, so he cleared his throat and fixed his composure, "the RUSH! vinyl, the liquid-filled sleeve edition..." he continued describing his precious merchandise while pointing at the rack where it was supposed to be. "Where is it?" he inquired.
"Oh, sorry, but that was already sold," Austin responded, sounding sympathetic to his customer. "Do you not have any other stock?" Nico asked, hoping that there would be because he would definitely buy it in a heartbeat. "It was the last one, sorry" Austin confirmed his biggest sorrow "My brother bought it actually" he added now making Nico a little bit mad and very jealous that someone got to his vinyl first.
"You can buy it online, dude. Don't be gloomy, " Austin told him, noticing how Nico's mood dropped. "As far as I know there are some stocks there online, you should order right away just to make sure you don't get out of stock, you know" he added smiling to make his customer's mood lighter. "Sure.." Nico responded, thinking if he was that desperate enough to stoop down his morals for his favorite musicians.
The answer was yes. But it took him a day, though. The next day, after finding out that his precious vinyl was stolen away from him, he asked his friends to order it for him, from Reyna to Jason, Percy, Annabeth even Leo, because he really wanted to have the vinyl but didn't want to break his oath. His friends, however, all responded with, "Why don't you do it? It's easy" and laughed at his very reasonable reasoning. He decided that he didn't have friends now (for 10 minutes).
This brings us to Nico's current situation. If no one wants to help him, then he will do the dirty deed himself. First, he searched "How to buy stuff on Amazon" on Google and watched a whole 24-minute video of a step-by-step tutorial on how to do the devil's desires. After that, he followed the steps and watched as he sold his soul to the devil while typing away his address and card details. He may or may not spend eight hours browsing hell (Amazon) at looking at its contents, completely engrossed in how much stuff he can buy from this place. Gods, he even used the express shipping options because he already confided with the devil. Why not go all out, right?
He really did it all out. After his first transaction from hell and receiving his heavenly vinyl, which is actually received by their house staff, Joules-Albert, since he was at school (he bribed him not to tell a soul about the transaction). Nico decided to give the seller a five-star review. However, he noticed his cart and saw some items that he liked while browsing (for eight hours that one night). The cart was full of varied items from shoes, graphic band shirts, aviator jackets, bracelet charms, guitar picks, hair ties, stickers, and eyeliner of different colors.
He first started to proceed to check out the shoes, telling himself that he really needed a new one (he did not) and paid for it. "You need it," he assured himself, promising that it would be the last one. It was, in fact, not the last one since within the last thirty minutes, he proceeded to check out all of the items in his cart.
He was peacefully eating lunch at the mall when he received a text. Unusual, because he is with Hazel right now, and he can see his other (full blood) sister chatting with her friends on the other side of the mall about to go outside.
HERMES DELIVERY!
TN: 971528811527
Courier: WILLIAM ANDREW SOLACE, 605 475-6968.
For Cash-On-Delivery pls prepare the exact amount. Photo proof of delivery is required. Thanks, and be safe!
My packages will arrive soon. He thought excitedly. However, he remembered that no one was at their house right now. His father and stepmother are abroad for business together with Joules-Albert as their driver, and his sister and he are out. He quickly typed his request for his delivery man to follow.
You: Hello! Can you please throw my parcel?
The guy, William, responded right away.
605 475-6968: Sorry?
He was confused for a second, then read his message. Thinking how ridiculous it sounded and even imagined the guy throwing his items on the air like a madman and started smirking.
"Woah, who are you talking to, big guy?" Leo suddenly remarked. Now he has to make a cover-up, he doesn't want his friends to know that he made several transactions with the devil. "Uhm..my boyfriend?" Stupid. Now he has a boyfriend. "You don't seem sure, bro," Percy remarked, also starting to tease him. This is the star of his end because of this stupid online shopping. "We're kind of in a situationship, I don't want to talk about it." He made another excuse, hoping that his friends would be sensitive enough for his cover story. Thankfully, Jason started to talk about their PE teacher, Coach Hedge and changed the topic.
He made his attention go back to his phone to explain his ridiculous request.
You: Sorry, I meant, can you throw my parcel across my house's gate? No one's home, and I don't want my item to suddenly disappear.
William responded with a "Sure :)" to his request.
Nico insisted on going home earlier than Hazel using homework as an excuse. He immediately picked up his item across their house's gate and smiled, knowing that his courier followed his dumb request. He rated the item five stars again on the site and noticed that the eyeliners he ordered were only available for cash on delivery and were not checked out, so he did what he had to do and changed the payment option.
The same situation happened again for two weeks with the same courier, William (he even started thinking that he was already friends with his local delivery guy). Thankful that his sisters are always out and sad at the same time because his items would be squished. He is also not at their house because of practice with Leo, Piper, and Percy for a local band competition.
They were taking a break from practice when his phone buzzed again. He knows it's an automated message from the courier company, so he ignores it. But his phone buzzed for the second time, so he opened his messages and found a message from his courier.
BFF: I already threw your item, sir, but I'm worried your dog will chew them. I heard some barking earlier...
He was not worried, though. Cerberus is trained not to do that
You: Don't worry, Cerbie's a good boy. Thank you!
He received another smiley emoticon from William after that, and the David and Goliath business continued for another week.
After that week, however, it was a challenge for the raven Rapunzel and his secret parcels because his parents got home from their business trip. He checked his account and found out that there were only two items on the way. The first one is unfortunately on the same day as his band competition and the past one is fortunately on a Saturday which means Hazel is out with Frank, Bianca's at her archery practice and his parents are at work.
He was tuning his electric guitar for the competition when his phone buzzed. It was from his parents, though, wishing him the best for his competition and saying sorry because they can't attend since Persephone is sick and Hades wants to take care of him. He responded by saying that he understood and his sisters were present for him anyway.
After checking that his guitar was in tune, a familiar face greeted him while passing by. "Hey, good luck, man! I heard you're playing some Maneskin tonight. Too bad my brother would've loved your performance, " said Austin from the music shop. He smiled widely and thanked him, also still feeling salty because his brother stole his vinyl.
His phone buzzed again, thinking that it was Joules-Albert asking what time he should pick them up when he saw that it was the generated message from the courier service. He then remembered that he didn't want to be known to be associated with the devil, so he wrote another request, even more ridiculous than his usual request.
You: Hey, so.. I have another weird request for you... I'm sorry, I'll tip you big for the cash on delivery one I have 😭😭 you don't have to throw this parcel tho
BFF: No, problem! Anything for you, really
He sighed out of relief, thanking the Gods for the ever-so-kind William, and typed out his request. He smacked his head with his hand after sending it because his request must be really ridiculous he started to think William thought he was weird.
William replied with his ever-so-cute emoticon smiling when their group got called to perform next.
It was a huge surprise for him when he saw his father downstairs when they got home. He suppose he can't sleep worried about his wife. He went his way towards his father, following his sisters. Bianca and Hazel kissed him good night and went to their rooms. He did the same thing and turned his heel towards his room when his father spoke up.
"Did you forget something?" Hades asked, then sipped his tea. "Uhh.." was his only response as he scanned his area looking for an answer. He noticed that his father was intently looking at a fancy paper bag in the middle of the table he was sitting in.
"I don't think so?" was his response because he really had no idea. His father then raised his eyebrow in question as he picked up the paper bag, he didn't suppose it's Persephone's medicine that he bought because the bag was way too fancy. It was white in the first place with a golden ribbon.
"I think this is yours," his father said as he handed him the bag. "Is that from your sort of boyfriend? A situationship you youngsters call?" he added, which waked up Nico's tired and sleepy body. He is so confused and shocked by the words coming out of his father's mouth.
"What? What do you mean?" He asked, feeling weirded out by his father. "Did Hazel snitched on me?!" He asked, feeling betrayed. If you want to join this family, you need to know how to accept betrayal. "She knows too? That's too bad for Frank. The guy seemed to be scared when I asked him for updates about you, " his father cleared. Why, Frank? If you want to join this family you need to toughen up! He thought.
"Yeah, it is. Please don't scare Frank again," he replied, embarrassed and snatched the paper bag from his father to run away and hide in his room. The length he would go through to keep his secret online shopping addiction.
"And congratulations on winning first in your competition!" His father added as he made his way upstairs
He then immediately messaged William to thank him and nag a bit to the guy.
You: WHY DID YOU PLACED MY PARCEL IN SUCH A FANCY PAPER BAG? OH MY GODS
He then felt guilty that he was screaming at someone past midnight
BFF: I'm sorry that's all I got and the stores are closed already ( ＞Д＜；) You told me to put it in a paper bag, so I did
William replied, explaining
You: Yeah, you did. Thank you, btw
BFF: Always happy to do so ＼(^o^)／
Nico was suddenly urged by curiosity because William replied quickly since it was already past midnight
You: Why are you awake?
BFF: I'm celebrating! My brother's band won second in a competition
You: Oh..congratulate him for me!
BFF: Will do (^∧^)
He contemplated if he would want to tell William that he also won a band competition but chose not to. He doesn't want to pry William's attention away from his brother and sleeps instead.
It was Sunday the next day, and Nico was on his way home from jogging when he noticed an obnoxiously yellow Vespa at the front of his house that arrived.
"Can I help you?" he asked the guy on the motorbike. He noticed that he had blonde curls and the bluest eyes he had seen. It's as if the sun in the sky was a person, he even radiated warmth. "Oh, no thank you," Blondie politely replied and brought out his phone to call someone.
Nico's phone suddenly rang at the same time the blonde placed his phone on his ears. Nico then answered the call on his phone, seeing that it was his courier that us calling.
"Hello?" Nico muttered. He saw the guy on the motorbike widen. "Yes?" The guy in front of him and the guy on the call said. They stared at each other for a minute, then simultaneously said a very long "Oh."
They then both laughed at the same time feeling very light and comfortable with each other's presence. "You must be Nico then?" William asked "I thought you were some 9-year-old that is forbidden to shop online by their parents" he chuckled "I was about to scold you last night to not scream at your elders" added William.
"Yeah, I'm Nico. It's a long story, William, " he said sheepishly, then remembered why they knew each other. "You have the last of my items, I suppose?" He asked, then panicked because he saw Bianca's car approaching as she was coming home from the gym. This is bad, he thought. "Yep! You can call me Will, don't worry, we're basically friends, " Will replied.
"How much is it?" He added feeling jumpy now that his secret was near to being revealed. "I love you," Will said. Nico's heart skipped a beat at Will's words. It's not common for strangers to say big words like that, you know. "What?" The raven asked breathlessly, almost a whisper. "143? Sorry, I was messing with you. " The courier cleared, feeling apologetic for his little joke and maybe a poor attempt at flirting, maybe.
"Oh," Nico replied, then pulled out his wallet to pay. "You can keep the change," he added as he ran away to go inside his room to hide away from Bianca, to shower, and maybe to calm down his beating heart.
Nico then checked his phone after showering to see that he had a message from Will.
BFF: Hey! It was really nice to meet you, and I'm sorry for scaring you earlier. Can I treat you coffee as an apology?
You: Nice to meet you too and don't worry, it's fine but I'm not saying no to free coffee
Will: Sweet! Saturday is good?
You: Of course!
Will: See you ( ^-^)ノ∠※。.:*:・'°☆
He didn't notice that he was smiling from a small coffee invitation, but it was interrupted when he heard a very excited knock on his door. He opened it to see Hazel and Bianca giggling with sparkles in their eyes.
"Who is he?" Nico's sister asked at the same time with different passions, Hazel with a squeal and Bianca with a teasing tone. Nico sighed as he bluntly replied, "My boyfriend," and closed the door on their face.
