Chapter Summary: Nico, according to Hazel, is an idiot at times. Reyna agrees.

notes: You are not alone. You are a part of the Olympian family. The gods have not abandoned you. Chapter XLVIII, BoO

XxxX

Nico slowly comes back to himself, an enormous domed ceiling swimming before his eyes, fading in and out of focus, and giving him the sensation he's looking at it from underwater.

A thundering sound reaches Nico's ears, but he can't feel his body enough to try to turn his head, and settles for staring straight upwards. Reyna's face rises before his eyes, and it's such a welcoming sight – safe, I'm safe now – that Nico is ready to close his eyes and slip into sleep.

"Don't you dare, Nico!" Reyna says, her eyes fierce. They seem to draw his attention like a magnet, fixing him in place. "You're more shadow than substance. Keep your eyes on me. As soon as I can touch you, I'll lend you some strength. Just don't even think of fading!"

He hears her, but finding the will to pull himself together proves harder than he wants to admit. No matter what he does, he messes things up. He'd been ready to make a go of it at Camp Half-Blood, to try to live a life for once – and then Will Solace happened – and he's just no good with the feelings Will forces him to face.

He thinks Reyna must have found a part of him to hold onto, lending him her strength. He hears the same whispering voice in his head that he'd heard when Reyna had delivered the Athena Parthenos. You are not alone. You are a part of the Olympian family. The gods have not abandoned you.

He licks his lips, feeling them for the first time in gods knows how long. He has no idea how long he's been here, pooling in a shadowy mess on the Senate House floor. Reyna smiles down at him and it's enough. He feels not-quite-whole again, but put together enough to speak. The swimming focus of his vision stabilizes.

"How long?" Nico rasps. He swallows. Reyna helps him sit up, and then takes a seat beside him, her arm around his shoulders, giving him some support to lean upon. "How long was I out?"

"I don't know. I was coming in to prepare for a Senate meeting and you were just here. Let me know when you can stand. I want you to be seen by a physician."

Just what I need, another physician.

"Right." Nico remains silent for a long time, and Reyna doesn't push him to talk.

XxxX

It's nearing noon when Nico is left alone in another damned infirmary. He sighs. He's been poked, prodded, and even X-rayed. He feels a bit like an owl with his feathers askew. He settles back on the hospital bed – this one only has one pillow – and even though he feels like he's falling apart at the seams, the scent of Will on his T-shirt is a source of comfort he doesn't want to talk about.

He lifts the front of his shirt up over his nose – probably making him look like he's trying pull off a gothic-bandit style – and breathes deeply, closing his eyes and thinking about what ifs.

And then Hazel enters the room.

"What are you doing?" she asks, giggling.

He pulls the front of his shirt back down and pushes himself up on his elbows, then winces – his arms don't feel quite as well healed as they had before he shadow-traveled. He lies back down again. "Hey," he says, holding out an arm toward her.

She rushes over and gives him a big, squishy, bent-over hug. The feel of her bouncy curls against his cheek – the scent of freshness, of growing things that clings to Hazel – makes him feel like he's home again. It's odd, though having more than one place to call home isn't such a hard pill to swallow. Hazel pulls back and finds a chair, then brings it over to sit beside him.

"So, you wanna tell me what you're doing here? Reyna says you nearly faded entirely." She's not smiling any longer. Reunion's over, now to get down to brass tacks.

Nico throws an arm over his eyes. "Do I have to?" he asks, aware of the childish whine in his voice, but too tired to deal with it.

"Does it have to do with a certain son of Apollo?"

He moves his arm to his forehead and glances at her with shadowed eyes, but doesn't say anything. He hopes the warmth spreading across his face isn't visible.

"Oh, Nico. You just can't catch a break, can you?" Hazel's comforting New Orleans accent making him want her to do all the talking. "So what happened? He try to kiss you? He touch you wrong?"

Nico groans and covers his face with his hands. "Worse," he says, muffled.

"Uh-oh. Tell me about it. I'm not gonna laugh."

Nico puts his hands at his sides. He feels better when he talks to Hazel, or even to Reyna, hell, even Jason. He can do this. He sits up, feeling a bit dizzy, but balances himself by crossing his legs and hunching so his forearms rest on his knees. He swears he hears a cricket chirp. "All right. I accidentally dream-traveled. I um – thought it was just a dream."

Hazel's eyebrows rise so high, her forehead looks like it's shrinking.

"He was dreaming about taking a shower."

She starts fanning herself with her hands.

It's a bit ridiculous, but watching Hazel overheat just hearing this much makes the whole thing seem funny instead of mortifying. "Yeah, and I, um … wasn't shy about anything. I thought it was just a dream."

"Is it hot in here?" Hazel asks. She doesn't wait for an answer, but opens the door and props it, then the window.

Nico laughs. It feels good, actually – shocking his sister – just being heard. And then his stomach drops again, like he's swallowed a stone. His smile fades.

"But when I found out it wasn't just a dream, Will was falling all over himself. He didn't know how to even be in the same room as me. I think … I think he realized how messed up I am. The way he looked … afraid. It's gotta remind him death follows me. I couldn't take it. I freaked out. I just … " His eyes are wet, damn it. He waits for Hazel to look away before swiping them with his hands.

"You didn't want to be rejected." Hazel finishes for him.

He stops, pauses. That's exactly right, but he'd not really been thinking of it that way. "Yeah."

"Nico, you're an idiot sometimes."

He glares at her. She's smiling at him. She looks smug.

"That boy is mad about you. I mean, like, doe-eyed."

Nico rolls his eyes. He rests his chin on his fist. "Whatever."

"You don't believe me?" She huffs and sits back down, fixing him with her cut-the-crap face. "I have ears, and I have eyes. Lou Ellen, from Hecate Cabin, she's one of Will's best friends. I spent some time talking to her about the Mist, and mostly, she kept bringing the conversation round to you. I asked her what was up with that, and she flat-out told me, Will's got a huge crush and wants to find out all he can about 'that hot goth kid' from Hades cabin."

The knot in Nico's gut loosens. It's an odd, tickling sort of sensation. His cheeks must be red, as Hazel smirks at him, seemingly proud of her tip-top investigative skills.

"Why didn't you tell me about that before you left?"

Hazel shrugs. "You seemed to be figuring it out on your own. Thought it'd be best to let whatever attraction was there happen organically, you know?"

"So you think he wasn't disgusted by me? I mean, this morning."

"Honey, if he asked you about the dream right after it happened, and was falling all over himself with nerves, there's no way he was disgusted. You're reading your own masochistic expectations into other people again. That's the truth."

Nico yawns. He's beyond tired.

"How's it going in here?"

He blinks his heavy eyelids. Reyna's standing in the doorway. Thankfully Hazel answers for him.

"We're just having a talk about Nico being an idiot."

He revises his thoughts about being thankful for Hazel answering.

"Haha," he says flatly. He uncurls from his cross-legged position and lies down again, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders.

"Well, your suicidal shadow-jump into the Senate House was clue enough for me," Reyna adds. Nico doesn't care. These girls are the best. He doesn't mind them giving him a hard time. He yawns again.

Hazel smooths his hair back out of his eyes, his eyelids shutting on their own. "Why not think about giving this Will Solace a chance? Tell him you need to take it slow?"

He scrunches his face up, but underneath it all, he feels ten times lighter. "'kay," he says, and allows himself to succumb to sleep.