Happy birthday Deathboy

It's a relatively normal January morning and camp is carrying on as always, but everything stops when zombies suddenly appear out of nowhere and everyone starts to panic, all but two that is.

"I thought we talked about raising the dead in the middle of camp?"

"It wasn't me!"

…

Nico woke up that morning with a strange feeling at the back of his mind; he wasn't sure what it was until he looked over at his nightstand and the clock that also told the date.

7:00 a.m. January 28

Nico groaned and pushed his face into his pillow. "Oh gods please no…"

Now he knew what that feeling was, it was dread. He just wondered what would happen today and what the others would think, maybe if he found an excuse to leave camp no one would have to know and he'd be safe.

But he knew that he couldn't get permission to leave on such short notice like this, it's not like he was going on a quest or anything…

Maybe he could just sneak out, just shadow travel away before anyone found out. But where would he go? If he went to Camp Jupiter or New Rome it would just be the same there, if not worse.

He was considering a jump to China when there came a knock on his cabin door and he knew he was stuck here.

Great…

Nico let out a sigh and got out of bed and headed over to his door to see who was bothering him at this time of day, though he already knew since only one person would think to bother him so early in the morning. "Why are you here so early Solace?" he asked the son of Apollo that was standing in his doorway while he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

Will on the other hand just had a smile on his face. "Morning sleepy head, I just came by to see if you wanted to walk with me to breakfast this morning."

Nico peered past the blond boy. "What about the rest of your cabin, aren't you supposed to walk with them to breakfast?" Nico asked as he raised an eyebrow at him.

Will's freckle dusted cheeks and the tips of his ears turned red. "Well yeah, but with your mood disorder I thought it would be best if I walked with you, you know since you'll be sitting with us anyway. I already sent the others ahead to the dinning pavilion." Will said and he went back to smiling, though a little more bashful than before.

Nico pretended to take a moment to think about the offer before accepting. "Alright, but let me get dressed first, I just woke up before you got here."

Will nodded. "Sure thing, and bring a jacket, it's cold out this morning."

Nico felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Sure thing." And with that he shut the door and went to get dressed and ready for the day and whatever awaited him.

…

When he was ready to leave he put on his jacket and joined Will on the front steps of the Hades cabin and together they headed to the dining pavilion to join the others.

Once they arrived they got their food and made their offerings to the gods they went and sat down with the rest of the children of Apollo at their table.

Nico sat with cabin seven now ever since Will had diagnosed him with a mood disorder that caused him to summon zombies when he was lonely and depressed. It had scared the other campers so now Nico had to sit with others to prevent it from happening again, and since Will was his doctor they had agreed that it was best that he sat with him. There hadn't been an incident for a while now so it seemed to be working.

"So any plans for today Nico?" One of the kids at the table asked him, they always tried to include him which was nice but today he didn't really feel like sharing much.

"Uh not really." He said as he went back to picking at his food, sure he was hungry but that sense of dread that something was going to happen today kept his appetite down and he didn't feel much like eating.

And what do you know, he wouldn't need to wait long to find out what that something would be.

Suddenly the ground started shaking and cracks appeared, and confused campers ducked under tables or just screamed not sure what else to do, the screaming only grew as a hoard of zombies crawled out of a fissure in the ground and started crawling and walking towards the dinning pavilion.

The only ones not panicking or looking for a place to hide were Will and Nico as they stood there at the Apollo table, though hiding seemed like a good plan Nico thought, what with the death glare that Will was shooting his way.

"What did I tell you about summoning the dead in the middle of camp di Angelo?" Will said in a stern tone as Nico's mouth opened and closed like a fish until he could manage to get the words out.

"It wasn't me, honest!" he said as he looked back and forth between the zombies and Will and wanted to shadow travel anywhere but here, but the damage was already done so he let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay fine, what is it this time?" Nico asked really annoyed now.

Will was confused by that, but then he noticed that Nico wasn't talking to him but to the zombies that had approached their table where only they stood now, seeing as how everyone else ran for cover as far from them as they could get.

The zombie standing closest to the table made a strange clicking noise but clearly Nico understood what it… said? Because he replied.

"Why can't he ever just do something normal?"

The zombie made more clicking noises.

"Yeah fine, I'll go say thank you later, just please leave now, you're freaking people out."

A few campers poked their heads up from below the tables they had hidden under when the zombies showed up, none of them had actually seen the son of Hades talking with the dead before. Commanding sure, but not conversing.

"Nico… what's going on?" Will asked feeling just as confused as the rest of them.

Nico put his face in his hands feeling completely embarrassed now. "Gods this is so embarrassing…"

The zombies placed something on the table and then they all vanished and the ground closed up and everything went back to normal once again.

Quietly the rest of the campers slowly left their hiding places and came over to see what it was the zombies had left on the table and Nico lowered his hands but his face was still bright red. He reached forward and lifted the card that sat on top of the box that the zombie had placed in front of him; he opened the card and read it quietly to himself.

Don't worry it's safe to share with your friends. Come by later so that I can wish you a happy birthday in person.

Hades

Will being taller than Nico and standing next to him had been able to see the note and his jaw dropped. "It's your birthday?!"

The other campers looked just as surprised and when they saw what was in the box no one knew how to react, inside was a beautiful birthday cake big enough to share with everyone there and then some. Written in icing on the cake was the message Happy birthday Nico.

Nico couldn't respond, by now even his ears were burning red so he just nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have gotten you a present." Will said and Nico looked at him confused.

"What? Why?"

Now it was Will's turn to look confused again. "Because that's what you do for someone on their birthday, you get them a present and celebrate with a birthday party."

"I don't have birthday parties." Nico said and his words were met with cries of shock from the other campers.

"What?!"

"No parties?"

"You're getting one now!"

And soon everyone was talking about things to do that day to celebrate Nico's birthday and make it one that he'll never forget.

"Looks like you don't have any say in the matter now." Will laughed and Nico couldn't help but laugh too.

"I guess not." he smiled as he saw how excited everyone was. "Well then, anybody want some cake?" he asked and a cheer roared from the other campers.

"I guess I should try and get a hold of some people or they'll be mad at me for not inviting them." Nico said as he and Will sat together once again. Nico didn't want to think of how upset Hazel or Reyna would be if they weren't invited, not to mention the hurt expressions that Percy or Jason would give him if he didn't invite them either.

"At least there will be plenty of cake." Nico said as he looked at the piece that now sat in front of him.

He almost fell out of his seat when Will leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. Nico's face heated up and he placed a hand to his cheek as he stared mutely at Will with wide eyes.

"Well, I didn't get you anything so I hope that will do." He was blushing as well as he gave Nico another bashful smile. "Happy birthday Deathboy."

Nico couldn't stop the smile that took over his face. "Thanks Sunshine." And he sent out a silent thanks to his dad for spilling his secret to the whole camp as he sat just a little closer to Will.

Please let me know what you think!