"What's up Danger?"

Carlos returned to Nilsa’s clinic to find himself surprised. 

Not only was Nilsa(and the people she often hired to help her at the clinic) there, but at some point while he was away, Hermes had joined her. 

Which was a surprise in itself for Carlos, the Archer having expected a (mostly) calm return to the clinic, only to arrive to the oddest “Congratulations!” party. 

Right. The surprise of Hermes being there had caused Carlos to forget for a second why he had been away. He’d come first (no surprise there for Nilsa and Hermes) in the international competition. 

So, the two childhood friends had come together to surprise the last member of their trio upon his return to the Clinic.

Hermes was grinning proudly from where he stood in the doorway from the kitchen to the main entrance that opened to the lounge, while the only female, Nilsa, was hiding her smirk behind her red locks. 

“What the hell-”

“Surprise?” Hermes offered.

“I got that much,” Carlos muttered, looking in between his two friends, “But when the hell did you get here?!?!?”

Hermes scratched the back of his neck, “A few hours ago?” he offered rather weakly. 

Carlos had always been the “mother hen” of the trio, the one who knew everything about each of his friends, even if said friends didn’t tell each other their secrets(e.g. Nilsa’s double life).

Carlos raised an eyebrow.

“He came from his parents' house,” Nilsa answered her friend’s silent question, Carlos nodding in complete understanding. 

Now he understood why Hermes had come. 

Nilsa had always been his “shining light” in all the darkness his family held. Nilsa was the first one to accept Hermes for who he was, and Hermes was the first one to show Nilsa that people can be good(which was why she allowed Carlos in when he ended up in her life). So really, Carlos had Hermes to thank for helping Nilsa befriend him.

“How’s Ares?” Carlos asked, careful to avoid asking Hermes about his parents.

Carlos knew that Hermes did like his brother - even if he didn’t show it - he did care for the older man. Hermes liked his brother a lot more than his parents. 

Hermes’s eyes lit up comedically, “He got himself an actual girlfriend,” he smiled without knowing it.

Nilsa’s eyes widened as her head snapped around to her friend, “WHAT!?!?! You didn’t tell me that!”

Hermes’s eyes widened as the red head attempted to lunge at him, only to go flying into the kitchen cupboard as Hermes darted to the side to avoid her, “HERMES!”

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Hermes repeated as he ran around the kitchen with an angry Nilsa on his heels.

Carlos just shook his head, sighing at the sight in front of him. Those two never grew up(at least around each other).

🏍

“I’m the only one who doesn’t have a partner yet?!”

Carlos looked flagagsted as he switched between looking at Nilsa who was smirking in her red lipstick, and Hermes whose cheeks had gone a rather dark shade of red as he avoided looking at the other man in the room. 

Carlos groaned, “I need pity food,” he pouted. 

Nilsa shook her head, holding back the laughter that threatened to escape her, “You’re paying then,” she said, knowing well enough how much the archer would, and could eat.

“Welp, looks like we’re going for a walk,” Carlos jumped up from the couch, changing the subject. He definitely couldn’t afford to pay for the amount of food he would eat. 

Hermes and Nilsa laughed before following after the acher, “Where are we headed?” Hermes called after the older (by two years!) male. 

“Somewhere,” was Carlos’s vague answer. 

Nilsa rolled her green eyes, “Don’t be a pussy!”

Carlos just gave the pair a grin from where he stood, casually waiting for them to catch up, “I think that you’d rather have it than Hermes,” he smirked at Nilsa.

Nilsa just poked her tongue out at him in reply. Not denying anything. 

🏍

The three longtime friends found themselves at Jasper's tiny mall after finding themselves stuck on what to do for the afternoon.

Nilsa kept scowling at the teenagers that kept rudely getting in their way - causing a few jokes about how she was supposed to be a therapist to help their mental states - Hermes kept wanting to go into shops to try on "cool merch" that he kept spotting, and Carlos kept groaning about how hungry he was.

They ended up getting McDonald's, and finding their way to the small, rather outdated arcade that was surprisingly still around after all this time.

"Yo," Carlos grinned as he pointed to a game, "Fix-It Felix, gods that was a great game. I didn't realise it still worked!"

Nilsa snorted, "Of course you would enjoy the smashing and fixing game."

Hermes, for some reason kept avoiding looking at one certain game in particular-

"Please tell you you didn't spend your childhood playing Sugar Rush," Nilsa complained at the King of the Track.

Nilsa was getting embarrassed for them, one of her friends liked to play lolly car racing games - who could blame him, really? - and the other liked smashing and fixing games.

"So?" Hermes defended himself, "It can't be as bad as what you played as a kid!"

Nilsa raised an eyebrow at the speed-racer, "Wanna bet?"

Carlos groaned, "Don't do it."

"Don't do what?" A voice asked from behind them, making the two males jump almost a meter into the air. However, their female friend just grinned. The redhead's smile was the most genuine smile the pair of men - are they really? - had ever seen on her face.

"Alice!" Nilsa beamed, "What are you doing here?"

Alice merely shrugged, giving Nilsa a slightly shy smile, "I had some free time on my hands, so I thought I'd explore little ol' Jasper."

Carlos smirked at Nilsa who rolled her eyes at him, "You hacked Nilsa's phone," the Temple man smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at Alice.

"Forgot how annoying you were," Alice muttered under her breath, although, the smirk that danced on her lips gave her away that she had intended for him to hear her.

Carlos pouted as Hermes and Nilsa burst into laughter, "Hey! No fair!"

"I'm Alice by the way," Alice introduced herself to Hermes, holding her hand out for him to shake.

Hermes grabbed it, a grin on his face, "Nice to meet you, I'm Hermes."

"Nilsa has said a lot about you," both said at the same time, pausing to blink in surprise at each other before grinning and turning to Nilsa who was hiding her red face in her hands.

"Haha," Carlos laughed, glad that the tables had turned back onto the redhead.

"Shuttup," Nils mumbled, embarrassed. She hadn't thought that Alice and Hermes would ever meet, so she had told each one about the other.

Alice grained in amusement as Hermes joined Carlos in his laughter.

"Hermes?"

Yet another new voice joined them, making the four turn around to glance at another redhead, this time male.

Ken was basically gaping at the scene of the four adults. His dark brown eyes wide, especially when they landed on Alice.

Alice in turn looked down-right horrified at the fact that he was here. And by the looks of it, he was here for Hermes.

"Ken," Hermes grinned, sounding like the man's presence was all he needed. 

Ken shuffled slightly on his feet, not liking the situation that he and Alice were in.

Carlos merely took a step backwards, his eyes going from one pair to the other. Damn it, why didn't he have a partner yet?!?!?

"Ken, this is Carlos and Nilsa," Hermes gestured to his friends, the red haired man nodded, "And this is Alice, Nilsa's girlfriend."

Alice barely managed to hide her hate for the "man" in front of her, "We've met before," she said, her voice strained.

"Really?" Nilsa piped up, her eyes blinking in surprise, "Well, that's great!"

Alice and Ken shared a look, one that said "I want to kill you right now, but for the sake of my loved one, I'm not. But, don't think this is over" and moved on.

"So, movies?" Hermes offered, knowing that going to the movies had been on Nilsa, Carlos and his to-do list.

"Movies," Alice and Ken nodded with Nilsa.

"Whoop! Yeah let's go!" 

(Bet you can't guess who that was. 😉)

Here's Chapter Six!

I finally managed to update a book! YES!

Yeah, this turned out to be a little lame. Ah, well. Too bad. I do not really care.

Hope you enjoyed!