Nico hated birthdays. Especially his own.

Birthdays used to be fun for him before the he learned about the whole demigod thing. He remembered vaguely running around a sparse house with dark panelling, chasing his sister Bianca while he was blindfolded in a really unfair game of tag. Then, when Nico had eventually pounced on his sister, his mother came out, smiling. The memories of his mother were faint and dull, but he remembered wispy strands of dark hair and a single crease in her cheeks when she smiled tiredly. Their mother called them into another room for a few presents and a stale cake that Nico was sure now had cost her everything she had. And when presents were done, their mother would hug them and tell them that she wished their father could see how happy they were.

Nico scoffed. How ironic that statement seemed now. All his father saw now was a disappointment of a son who could never truly be happy. Being alone seemed to be Nico's birth right. And he was surprisingly okay with that recently.

Spending more time at Camp Half-Blood made him realise just how much he wanted to shadow travel away and retreat to Hades' realm of darkness. If he had to endure one more, "Hey, Nico! What's up?" he was going to have a fit.

His most recent birthdays mainly consisted of a dismal excuse for a celebration in his father's palace in the Underworld with his spiteful step-mother and uninterested father. He usually skulked back to his room and raised some skeletons to talk to and keep him company.

There was the one birthday, his thirteenth, that his father Hades gave him a present that could kind of be considered cool. He summoned a zombie from the ground, a French failure of a race car driver, and told Nico that Jules-Albert was to be his chauffer. He wanted Nico to be able to do things like a normal teenager and he supposed the best way to do that was to have someone to drive him to events or places. Not that Nico had anywhere to go.

In any case, Nico had started to resent his birthday. And today, his fifteenth, was no exception.

Nico wandered around the camp, through the woods and by the lake, trying like crazy to avoid Will Solace. He hadn't told Will about his birthday; he hadn't told anyone. But Nico had a feeling that wouldn't matter. Will would probably find out through some weird Apollo-child prophecy thing or something and then Nico would have no choice but to accept it was his birthday.

Nico vaguely wondered how old Will himself was. He'd never thought to ask. He looked about seventeen, but it was hard to tell with demigods. Percy certainly didn't look seventeen. He still looked like a twelve-year-old boy, but with a thinner face and a better body. So physical appearance really was nothing to go on.

Nico sat down on the beach and hugged his legs close to his body. He stared out at the lake and the sun high above it.

One of the many reasons he had grown to resent his birthday was that every day that passed took him one step further away from Bianca. Every passing day hurt him, knowing that he'd already outlived his older sister and yet he had still more days, seemingly endless days.

He heard footsteps fall lightly on the sand behind him. A demigod with lesser attuned senses wouldn't have heard. The person was obviously trying for stealth. The footsteps stopped, as though they'd realised that Nico was aware of their presence.

"You heard me, didn't you?"

Nico didn't turn around to look, but the corner of his mouth twitched; first into a smile then into a frown. "Yeah."

Will Solace moved to sit next to him on the sand and rested his elbows around his knees. He turned to look at Nico.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Nico replied. He shrugged it off and turned his face to the other side. "I'm fine."

"Then why are you sitting alone on the beach?" Will asked.

"Well, I'm not alone anymore, am I?" Nico retorted. A short silence passed. Nico sighed. "What do you want, Solace?"

"I just came to give you this."

Nico turned around and looked at the box in Will's hand. It was wrapped in black paper that was almost holographic green in the light. It had a small bow made from dark green ribbon in the corner and a card was attached to the front.

Nico stared at it. "What's this?"

"Uh, a present," Will said, his face making the duh expression.

Nico's stomach dropped. "Why?"

"Does a friend have to have a reason to get his friend a gift?" Will's expression was innocent but Nico was not about to trust the word of Will Solace. Will shook his head. "What are you complaining about, di Angelo? Just open the damn present."

Nico gingerly took the box and began pulling at the edges, but after a moment a child-like excitement took over and suddenly he was five years old again, ripping open his Christmas present like an over-eager puppy.

When the wrappings were sufficiently destroyed, Nico stared down at the box. It was some sort of electronic device but Nico had difficulty reading the words printed there. Dyslexia sucked.

Will seemed to understand. "It's an iPod." At Nico's blank return stare, Will's face became puzzled. "Are you seriously trying to tell me you don't know what an iPod is? Where are you from? The 1920s?"

"Close," Nico said. "The 1930s."

Will stared. And stared. Eventually he managed a few words. "What… What do you mean?"

Nico collapsed backwards into the sand, sighed deeply, said, "Prepare yourself, Solace," and began to tell his story of the Lotus Hotel and Casino experience. It was not a story Nico liked repeating. Since he discovered what had happened, he'd been upset that he missed so much of what should have been his life. He should know what an iPod was. He should know how to use a computer. He should know all the bands that the other campers talked about.

But on the other hand, he shouldn't know any of that. He should have seen the end of the Second World War. He should have finished school in a time where everything was familiar. He should probably be dead.

After Nico finished telling the story of his childhood, or lack thereof, Will sat silent, jaw locked and mind reeling.

There was a long silence. The air was palpable with the anxiety of one Nico di Angelo as he waited for a response. Will Solace, while annoyingly perky and arrogant, was as close as Nico had to a best friend these days, without Reyna around. If Nico had just scared him off with his life story, he wasn't sure what he would do with that.

After a lifetime and a half, Will finally breathed. He took a breath in and met Nico's gaze. He had an unreadable expression that left Nico even more anxious than before. His palms started to sweat and his heart beat a million times a minute.

"Well," Will said quietly. "I'd better teach you how to use that iPod then."

As he stood up, he extended a hand to Nico to help lift him up too. Nico took it, grateful that he still had a friend in Will Solace, and began to walk towards the cabins.

Will stopped and turned around to face Nico. His unreadable expression melted into a warm smile. "By the way," he said, "Happy Birthday."