Author's Note:
Just a little one shot I decided to write c:
Follows and comments are welcomed like Nico at the end of The Blood Of Olympus.
Chapter 1: Tactics
Ever since the war with Gaea ended, Nico di Angelo had never been happier. He had friends. The other campers actually acknowledged his existence. But most of all, he wasn't the feared son of Hades who everyone avoided.
The dark haired boy no longer spent countless hours alone, dwelling on his past in his lonely cabin, wondering why no one bothered to communicate with him. Instead of being forced to walk alone, he now had friends to accompany him.
Around this time last year, Nico would have been locked up in his cabin, completely isolated and cut off from the rest of the modern living world. Now, instead of being the terrifying child of death, Nico was known as the beloved hero of the war who taught sword fighting to the younger demigods.
The fifteen year old Italian boy watched as his two students, Alison and Eli, spared against one another. Alison was a ten year old daughter of Apollo and Eli was an eleven year old son of Aphrodite.
Alison lunged forward and knocked the sword out of Eli's hand, winning the match.
"Yes!" the little blonde girl cried.
"Great job, Ali!" Nico cheered.
Eli congratulated Alison before running over towards Nico.
"Nico!" he whined. "Will I ever be as good as Ali? It's not fair, I'm older than her, so I should be better! Right?"
Nico chuckled and ruffled the devious boy's light brown hair.
"That's not exactly how it works, kid," Nico explained. "Ali's been a camper here for almost three years now, so she has a lot more experience. You just got here last month! I promise that in a few months, you'll be able to take on Ali."
"Or maybe not, Pretty Boy," Ali joked, a light giggle escaping her lips.
"Whatever, Miss Sunshine Face!" Eli shrieked.
Oh dear gods, Nico mumbled to himself. They remind me a lot off…
"Hey Nico!" Alison cried, ripping Nico away from his thoughts.
"What is it, shorty?" the chocolate eyed boy asked sweetly.
The short blonde girl quickly approached Nico, grabbed the hem of his black skull shirt, and pulled him down to her level. Her dark blue eyes filled with wonder.
"What is that on your neck?" she asked curiously.
Nico felt a dark blush spill across his face. There was no way he was going to explain to his boyfriend's little sister where that mark came from!
"Yeah!" Eli added. "It looks like a huge bruise! Did someone hurt you?"
The young boy drew his sword and stood before the Italian teenager. Nico snickered at the sight of the eleven year old in over sized Greek armor, a long Celestial bronze sword, and a helmet that was four sizes too big. He had a flashback to his first week at camp, and how much of an idiot he must have looked like.
"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle," Nico replied.
"What do you mean?" Alison questioned, her beautiful blue eyes growing wide.
"Well, you guys know that I'm a child of Hades, right?"
The two kids nodded eagerly as Nico desperately tried to come up with an interesting lie.
"Well!" he yelled dramatically, opening the ground with his left hand and pulling out his Stygian iron sword with his right. Three zombies rose from the Underworld, surrounding the Ghost King and peaking the interest of Ali and Eli.
"Cool," Eli whispered.
"I was in the Underworld one day, and a group of zombies started attacking me!" he continued, decapitating a zombie in the process. Nico darted forward and stabbed another zombie in the heart, leaving only one left.
"As we were fighting," Nico explained, slashing his sword fiercely and striking the zombie across the chest with the butt of his sword. "I got bit by one of the zombies!"
Nico lunged forward one last time and stabbed the zombie in its throat, turning the monster into gold dust and sending it back to the Underworld.
"That was awesome!" Alison exclaimed.
"I wanna learn how to fight like that!" Eli hollered, waving his sword in the air.
"I promise I'll teach both of you how to fight like that, as long as you don't tell Will what you just saw! According to his doctor's orders, I'm not allowed to summon a wishbone right now, let alone a group of zombies!"
"Okay, Nicky," Alison giggled happily.
"You and Will like each other a lot," Eli remarked dreamily. "I think my mom wants your relationship to be really special, like Achilles and Patroclus."
Nico grinned from ear to ear, happy that he had his favorite son of Aphrodite's blessing.
"So," Ali stated, circling Nico like a hawk. "That mark you have is from a zombie?"
"Yup," Nico said confidently.
"Awesome!" she chirped. "I have to go tell Santana!"
"Wait, Ali!"
Nico tried to call after the young girl, but she and Eli were already racing away from the arena to look for the ten year old daughter of Hecate.
After the war with Gaea, all the gods and goddesses began leading all of his or her children to Camp Half-Blood. As a result of that, a bunch of younger campers were popping up all over the county, the youngest being a four year old daughter of Tyche named Marina.
Oh well, Nico told himself. They're only going to tell one other kid. It's not a big deal.
And with that, the son of Hades made his way to the dining pavilion, completely unaware of the chaos that was soon to come.
He sat down at the hero's table with Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, and Calypso.
"Neeks!" Percy and Jason screamed in unison.
Nico rolled his eyes at the endearing nickname.
"Has anyone seen Will?" he asked, his beautiful dark eyes scanning the surrounding area for any sign of his boyfriend.
"Not since this morning," Annabeth answered.
"Here comes the sun," Leo sang softly, wiggling his eyebrows ridiculously. Calypso smacked his shoulder while Piper and Jason snorted.
It was at that moment Will snuck up behind the dark haired boy, wrapped his arms around his thin waist, and sat down next to him.
Nico stomped on his foot and Will winced.
"What are you doing?" Will asked, pain evident in his musical voice.
"I'm walking on sunshine," Nico deadpanned seriously.
The table erupted into a roar of laughter and Leo was banging his hands against the table.
"Classic, classic," Leo gasped between breaths.
Will opened his mouth to protest, but nine year old Zack (Annabeth's half brother) and eight year old Taylor (daughter of Ares) stormed up to the hero's table with looks of bewilderment plastered across their faces.
Both of the children took sword fighting lessons with Nico, and they absolutely adored him, like all the other younger campers did. Some of the girls (and even a few of the boys) would never admit it, but they had crushes on the son of Hades.
"Nico!" Zack beamed brightly. "Is it true you got a cool bite on your neck because you fought a zombie?"
All the color drained from Nico's face. Percy was as oblivious as ever, Piper and Annabeth were smirking, Jason was shooting Will a death glare, Calypso had no idea what was going on, and Leo was laughing like a maniac.
"Is that true, Nico?" Jason asked in his big brother tone.
Dammit, Nico chided.
He smiled down at Taylor and Zack.
"It's true," he affirmed.
The two kids squealed and ran away, probably to confirm the rumor that was circulating around camp among the younger demigods.
"A zombie bite, huh?" Piper chuckled.
"I don't get it," Percy said dumbly.
Before Nico could jump away, Jason reached across the table and shoved the hair off of Nico's neck. On the left side, right below his ear, was the supposed zombie bite. It took up most of his neck and was a dark purple color.
"Jason!" Nico hissed.
"Holy Hera!" Percy cried. "That was one aggressive zombie!"
Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply.
"It's not a zombie bite, Seaweed Brain!" she clarified. "It's a hickey!"
"Oh. Ohhh. Ohhhh," Percy said.
Nico's face turned red from embarrassment.
"That's it," Jason sighed. "I tried to be a reasonable big bro, but this is where I gotta put my foot down. Nico, Will, you guys can't be alone in a cabin anymore. If you guys wanna hang out past eight o'clock, one of us has to be there with you."
"Jason!" Nico complained. "I'm not a little kid, I can take care of myself! And I do not need your permission on when I can and can not see my boyfriend!"
"Nico's ri-"
"Silence, zombie!" Jason interrupted.
Leo fell to the ground in a fit of laughter and even Annabeth couldn't control herself anymore. Calypso cracked a smile as Piper fanned her face.
"Hey, zombie," Piper called. "Could you pass me a napkin?"
"Me too, zombie?" Annabeth asked sweetly.
"You guys are sooo annoying!" Nico groaned, slamming his head against the table.
"Great," Will said. "You broke my boyfriend."
"If you keep touching him like that, he won't be your boyfriend for long," Jason remarked.
"Shut up, Grace!" Nico screamed, his voice muffled. "You swear like you're my father!"
"Someone has to look out for you!" Jason countered.
Nico stood up, grabbed Will's hand, and dragged the son of Apollo away towards the Hades Cabin.
"Jason," Piper charmspoke. "Leave them alone. I know you're only trying to protect Nico, but Will really does like him. Just leave it alone, okay?"
The son of Jupiter grumbled and reluctantly sat back down next to the Native American girl.
~Page Break~
"I am so, so sorry about them," Nico said.
The short boy threw himself onto his bed, unable to meet Will's gaze. The son of Apollo laughed and plopped himself next to his boyfriend.
"Don't worry, I don't mind at all," Will explained. "Jason's just trying to protect you, and I totally understand that."
"But I don't need his protection!" Nico protested.
"Then what do you need, angel?" Will asked softly.
Nico blushed and felt skeletal butterflies bash around in his stomach.
"Another zombie bit would be nice," he whispered.
Will wrapped his arms around Nico's thin pale waist and brought him closer. Nico lied flat on his back as Will glided above him, his soft pink lips running along Nico's neck.
This is going to be a fun night, Nico smirked to himself.
The End
Haha, that ending was such a tease x'D
Sidenote: Does anyone watch Death Note, AKA the anime that's taken over my life? I've been considering making a PJO/HoO/Death Note fanfic, but I want to know if anyone would be interested.