"What did you tell Percy?" Will asked Nico as they walked towards the camp's infirmary- He looks as if he had seen a ghost.
"Maybe he did, I am the King Ghost after all" di Angelo growled grumpily to hid his blush or what truly had been going, the last thing he needed was everyone knowing that he was gay. However, he regretted his actions immediately. He promised Jason to stay in Camp Half Blood and try to make friends, until now he had been doing a perfect job: first he confessed his secrets feelings to Percy in front of Annabeth, making everything uncomfortable between the couple and him. Now he had growled at Solace, who had only been helping him since they met, and announced his place in the Underworld's hierarchy. And if there is one thing he is sure about this world, is that everyone fears the Underworlds.
"Really?! I didn't know that" Will exclaimed intrigued surprising Nico, who lifted his gaze from the floor to look at the blond with wide open eyes "What is it like? I mean, what are your responsibilities? What does it help you with?" the blue eyed boy turned to look at, the still astonished, son of Hades and flashed him a bright smile.
"Eh... well... If I see any ghost lost or in need of help I lend them a hand" di Angelo began explaining "Whenever I visit the Underworld I pass through the ghost's entry and pay Charon some drachmas so at least ten souls can stop waiting" they were already in the infirmary and Solace had started attending the dark boy's wounds.
"Is that necessary?" the blond one asked.
"What? Oh! You mean paying Charon?" the son of Hades waited for the nod of the other guy before answering "No, it's not necessary. But it would be cruel to make so many good souls wait".
"You are a very good guy Nico" Will told him. Before di Angelo could reply at the other's comment, Will demanded "Take your shirt off, I need to take a good look at all your wounds" blushing tomato red, the son of Hades obliged "Please continue".
"Well... another responsibility is that I help my father and step-mother around the Underworld. We had already changed so much about the old ways that dad used to rule his kingdom. There is no more fast lines to Asphodel, the souls that weren't neither good or bad during his life are helping around the Underworld to gain a chance in the fields of Elysium and instead of only having three judges now there are six divided into two rooms so things can go faster" Nico continued talking only to be cut off by Will again.
"Step-mother? Are you talking about Persephone? I thought she hated you!" the son of Apollo exclaimed, neither of them noticed that a small crowd had been formed around them and were listening attentively. After all there are not a lot of demigods that had face to face experience with Gods, so hearing one that work with them daily was quite interesting.
"She did hate me a little bit because my father chose my mother to have Bianca and me with her. Also, both of them had a very tight bond... dad considered mom as a little sister. But step-mother misunderstood that bond and was very jealous" di Angelo answered Solace.
"If my husband cheated on me, I would be very angry and jealous too" the blond one joked lightly but Nico didn't understand it and spoke up.
"But father didn't cheat on step-mother" every demigod, that was listening to the dark boy's story, looked at him confused "Step-mother allows dad to have demigod children with any women he choices, as long as they don't have sex. So dad take a soul from the fields of Elysium that wants to be reincarnated, mix it with his D.N.A and then put it in the womb of the chosen woman".
"Dad is..." started Will not noticing the fearful look that passed Nico's face, which he tried to hid with a deadly glare "... amazing! That really is some wicked biology miracle. You'll need to tell me more about that later" the blond demigod noticed the shock in di Angelo's face and smiled sheepishly with a light blush "What? My father is the God of medicine, there is no text of biology that explains what your father did. It's natural that I want to know more" Nico smiled a bit without noticing, Will's smile was very contagious "Wait a minute! You said that Hades never cheated on Persephone, but what about Minthe's myth?" the son of Hades threw his head backwards and started laughing hysterically. It wasn't wicked or creepy as the demigods were expecting, no it was beautiful as melodic bells. One thought went through everyone's mind as they saw di Angelo's eyes shine in amusement, Maybe we judge him wrong.
"Minthe is a beautiful nymph that Demeter sent to the Underworld so she would seduce dad into her bed, then make sure that step-mother finds out about it so she would be heartbroken and return to her mother's arms" all children of Demeter that were hearing the son of Hades tell the story blushed embarrassed at their mother's behavior "However, she met my half-brother Zagreus and they feel in love with each other. Before you ask no he isn't a son of Zeus, that myth is also wrong. Zagreus is the youngest child of dad and step-mother. Where was I... oh! Yes, another thing I so is help Thantos with the escaped souls. Because he already has enough work with bringing the souls of all the people that die each day, so I hunt down the little amount of souls that were able to escape" suddenly Nico stopped talking and began thinking about what was going to happen "Surely dad will ask me to help Thantos around now. Thanks to Gaea there are a lot of escaped souls wandering through Earth".
"Well he'll need to wait until you rest and all your wounds are healed completely!" exclaimed Will astonished at where was wandering di Angelo's mind to. He had just survived a trip through Tartarus, being trapped in the bronze jar of the Aloadae, shadow traveling the massive statue of Athena and fighting a war against the forces of Gaea. Yes, rumors run fast with demigods. Especially since there are so many Aphrodite and Hermes children around. We really went wrong with him, thought every demigod that was there hearing and thinking the same things of Will "Nico promise me that you won't use your Underworldly powers until you are healed completely!".
"I already promised you that I will let you heal me for three days, and you will but then if dad needs my help then I'll give it to him. Those escaped souls are really dangerous, they need to be caught before someone is hurt!" di Angelo stated angrily making a lot of them flinch but then look down embarrassed because they finally understood that this guy had only been helping them all along "Also, Underworldly is not a word!".
Knowing that he will not be able to convince Nico, Will decided to change the topic "You didn't told me what's so good about being the Ghost King".
"I am the most important one, not counting the Gods, in the Underworld" the son of Hades said "Also, when dad named me the Ghost King step-mother announced that I was her champion. Also, my father pays me for all the work I do for him".
"Oh, sweet Olympus!" exclaimed both of the Stoll at the same time "You are the best kiddo!".
"Yes, you are!"
"Will you teach me how to fight please?"
"Dude, you rock!"
Will Solace smiled happily as he watched Nico di Angelo blush under all the attention he had gained. Maybe now we will learn how to treat him right, the blond thought wishfully as he continued treating the wounds of the son of Hades.