Nico had been dreading this talk all week. Finally, he had come to terms with who he is, and now Reyna wanted to talk to him about his feelings. He considered her one of his closest friends, yet she still wanted him to do something completely irrational.

He sat in a coffee shop that the praetor had suggested. It was nice and cozy; the chairs were way too small, even for him. They had weird cushions everywhere. It was way too hipster for his taste. He got black coffee, the barista wanted to add 50 different spices and toppings to it. He had to decline, all he wanted was straight caffeine to get through this.

Reyna walked in right on time. Nico barely lifted his hand off the table to wave. She smiled. Something was up, Reyna didn't smile. Well, not that easily. She came over and gently pulled out the brightly colored chair. She sat elegantly and crossed her legs. She leaned over and rested her chin in her hand.

They sat like that. Nico looking bored to death, like always, and Reyna looking at him expectantly. Her smile hadn't faltered one bit. It was starting to annoy him.

"Well, anything you wanna talk about." You could hear the smile in her voice, and it was disgusting. Nico shook his head.

"You sure? I thought you might want to confess you're undying love for Jackson." Nico almost jumped over the table and strangled her. He tightened his hold on his coffee, the cup folding in on itself.

"Could you say that any louder?" Nico barely whispered through clenched teeth.

Reyna smirked. "You aren't denying it." Nico huffed. "Tell him. We don't want things to get awkward between the two of you, now do we?"

Nico threw his head back, dragging his hands over his face. Reyna chuckled lightly.

"It's not the worst thing, you could be in love with Octavian." Nico let out a hearty laugh. "Yeah, no one loves Octavian. Not even his mother."

"He's straight." Nico finally said.

Reyna raised an eyebrow. "Octavian? I'm not so sure about that."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Percy."

"Eh," Reyna shrugged. "Sexuality doesn't change just because of a single person."

Nico laughed at that. "You think he's straight, but only gay for me."

"You never know," she offered. "He might be. He definitely cares for you a lot. Who knows, maybe the Sea Prince is Nicosexual."

"Or maybe he's straight. Because he has a girlfriend." As much as he would like to believe her, it was just impossible.

Reyna threw up her hands. "You are no fun di Angelo. None. I'm gonna go get some coffee."

He waited for Reyna to get to the cash register to get up and leave. She would just talk about stupid praetor stuff anyway. Nico had more important things to do. Like visit Hazel. She had been bugging him about coming to see her new apartment. She just graduated high school and had moved in with Frank. Nico didn't really approve but it wasn't his decision.

He started off towards the complex. He had to admit, New Rome had everything. Schools, sports arenas, hipster coffee shops, you name it. So of course, the Greeks visited often. After the war, the two groups patched things up nicely. It had turned out that the Romans took a shining to Camp Half-Blood. They started sending their youngsters there to train, and when they got older they would move back to New Rome. It was going great.

So of course, every now and then he would run into some Greeks walking around the city. He would wave and chat a bit if necessary. But most people avoided the Ghost King, because he was the Ghost King.

So seeing Percy Jackson shouldn't have been surprising. He caught Nico's eye and waved jovially to the boy. Nico sighed and waved half-assedly. Perce ran up to him and enveloped him in a hug.

"Haven't seen you in forever!" Percy let go, still holding onto his arms so Nico couldn't escape. "Whatcha doing here?"

"Visiting Hazel. What about you?" Nico stared right into his sea green eyes, still surprised how lively they were, even after Tartarus.

Percy's smile fell a bit. "Uh, well. Things haven't been go great back home so I came to take a break. A little R and R always helps your mood right?" He seemed like he was trying to reassure himself.

"I was about to go looking for you really, ask Haze and Frank if you were in town." Percy admitted.

"Why?" Nico was genuinely confused. If he was here on vacation, why would he want to see him?

"To spend some time with you! If I'm gonna have fun, I need a partner in crime! C'mon, please?" He always had the best puppy dog eyes, like a god damn baby seal.

Nico let out a long, fake sigh. "I guess, I've got nothing better to do."

"What about Hazel?" Percy questioned.

"Already saw her, let's go." Nico turned on the spot.

Percy turned and faced the same way. "Where are we going?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't know, somewhere fun."

Percy grinned stupidly, threw an arm around the younger boy's shoulder and started off towards another great adventure.