DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters, Rick Riordan does. I only own my plot and any new characters I add. And myself.

AN: This is my first Fanfic. I will update as much as I can. If possible 2 chappies a are the first 2!

I'd like to thank LuisantEtoile for motivating me and encouraging me to publish this story. Check her out! She's uber-awesome and her stories are great! I accept criticism only if it is useful. Correction in grammar or telling me certain scene is too OOC, I accept all that. But FLAMING I do not accept. Please.

FOR FLAMERS: DON'T LIKE = DON'T READ. A simple equation. MEMORIZE IT.

Happy reading! Feel free to PM me whenever you want! I love PMing and I'm a quick replier.

LONG LIVE REYNICOO!( Without the age difference of course!)

PS-I'm not posting the next 2 chapters unless I get at least 5 reviews. Otherwise I'll delete my story:(

Cuz I don't wanna write and put effort into my work and proof read it like 60 times and then I figure out no one reads. So yeah. Review please!

(This is not a threat.) (Maybe it is.) (Try your luck?)(MUAHAHAHA!) (LEAVE THE AN AND READ THE SORY!) ( Y R U STILL HERE?)

Come on seriously, read the story!

Nico collapsed onto his bed. He took a look around and smiled. Yes he smiled. It had become a habit now. He had stuck to his word and remodeled the Hades cabin. Now instead of the vampire beds, were normal black beds, with solid black covers and a graphic design of green Greek fire in the center of the sheet to match the outside fires surrounding the cabin. The walls were now black with the same Greek fire decor around the top and bottom edges and a huge replica of the same design lay on the center of the wall on both sides. The room had gone from black and blood-red to black and green. Nico shrugged. The colors went well with each other.

He was tired that day. He'd been practicing sword fighting all day and had trained new demigods how to face their fear of ghosts. It was a new program Annabeth had suggested to Chiron. Chiron had called upon Nico and given him the whole I-chose-you-because-I-know-you-can-do-this talk. Nico had agreed, but summoning ghosts really drained him. His head pounded. I mean it was bad enough having to train new demigods who were frightened by a puff of smoke, but no, he had to deal with two new Aphrodite twins for heaven's sake. Their screams could scare away the devil - and blast Nico's eardrums and skull.

Nico sighed. His thoughts wandered with him until he drifted off into a deep sleep. For Hades's sake - please no nightmares, he thought as his eyelids drooped.

Luckily for him, his prayers were answered.

Nico found himself at his father's palace in the Underworld. Whenever Nico visited this place in his dreams, it always meant that his father wanted to speak to him. Not very often.

He looked around for his father. Then he spotted him beckoning for him to come closer.

"Approach, my son. Come closer." His clear voice wrung out in the darkness and seemed warm. Nico smirked to himself. Warm wasn't an adjective usually used to describe Lord of the Dead.

"Ah, my son." Hades said. His voice sounded bitter, yet there was warmth and love in his tone.

"Yes, father. I am here. How are you?" Nico replied uncertainly. He remembered his last conversation with his father. He had asked his father what he wanted. His father had simply replied: "Can you entertain the notion that I might be here to help you, not simply because I want something?"

He also remembered his father's other words from their previous conversation: I would like to see you to be the only exception.

Nico felt a surge of love for this tall pale figure that everyone rejected ,feared and despised at the same time. So Nico smiled. He tried to look happy and content. He gave it his best shot. Let's hope he falls for this.

This time Nico was trying to have a normal father-son conversation. Not very likely, he thought.

"I'm fine, thank you. Well as fine as the Lord of the Dead can get, actually. How about you, my son? Are you happy?" Hades replied, interrupting Nico's train of thought.

"As happy as a son of the Lord of the Dead can get." Nico answered grinning.

Hades grinned back, and for a second he actually looked handsome.

"So… Do you need any help in anything Dad? Or you just wanted to say hi? Anything specific?" Nico was trying his best not to repeat their previous conversation. Boy was it hard.

Hades cleared his throat. " Actually I called on you to reward you."

Nico stared intently at his father.

"Reward me? For what?"

"Without you the gods wouldn't have been able to… fix their personality disorder problems. We would've been fighting with ourselves right now if not for you."

"But Reyna-"

"Reyna was rewarded by Athena. She was given her blessing and Bellona's blessing. You, though ,have not been rewarded by anyone so I decided to reward you, being your father and all."

"So my reward is…"

"Anything."

Nico pondered this. Anything? He could ask to become immortal and his father would give him immortality. He could become a god. Is that what I really want?, he thought, A god? No…

Then it hit him. Age. All of the seven were older than him. Reyna was older than him. Will Solace was older than him. He wanted to be seventeen. He was tired of being seen as a kid, a mere child. He had more experience in life than Dakota, son of Bacchus, who was turning eighteen.

He wanted Reyna to look at him as a friend not as a little brother. He thought about Reyna. He liked her. A lot. She wasn't too girly and fussy and she wasn't a man-eating drakon like Clarisse. But she still looked at him the way Bianca used to look at him. He wanted her to confide in him. She was really pretty. Beautiful actually. Think straight Nico… No time for daydreaming.

"Nico?"

Nico jumped. Oh, yeah. Dad, Reward, Age…He took a deep breath.

"Err..Yeah, I've decided. I want to be seventeen."

Hades looked taken aback.

"Are you sure, Nico? That's a really simple request. Nothing elaborate? A palace in the underworld, for instance? Of course it can't be as grand as mine or I'd be a laughing-stock on Olympus… I already am…" Nico's Dad was starting to think out loud incoherently. This time Nico was the one who interrupted his dad's self-pity party.

"Dad? Yeah the palace thing would be cool and all - but making me seventeen would be just fine. It would make me happy." Nico emphasized on the word happy. It seemed to be his father's weakness.

"If you insist… Your wish shall be granted." Hades didn't look thrilled by Nico's request but in a way he felt relieved. At least Nico hadn't asked for Hades's throne or anything like that.

Nico smiled. Your wish shall be granted? Seriously? That makes him sound like a fairy godmother. As long as he hasn't blasted me with a column of fire, I guess I'm safe. Oh well.

"Dad can I like, have a driver's license, too? Please?"

The warmth in Hades's eyes was replaced by black fire but it was short-lived. When the warmth returned in his eyes, Hades made a shocking discovery.

"You, my son, are one infuriating kid."

Nico grinned again. His mouth was starting to ache,now. "One of my best qualities. And I guess I'll take that as a yes."

Hades grunted in response.

"Oh, and Dad?"

"What now?" His father seethed.

"Thanks."

Hades smiled one more time, then he shooed Nico off. "Off with you, my boy. Give me some peace."

The rest of Nico's sleep was dreamless. No gorgons chasing him and no Gaia threatening him either.

In his sleep, Nico wondered what the age transformation would be like. Would he wake up as his older self or grow faster? He had no idea. Maybe I'll have a six-pack…