Okay, I couldn't stop myself from writing two chapters this evening. And yes, I know that this one is far too short. I hope the next one will be longer again. However, I just had to upload this one as well! Reviews? Ideas? Or just comments? Pleeeeease? (:

I don't own the characters!

Chapter 6

Nico POV

When she saw Will coming closer to them, Piper stood up quickly. "Good luck and be honest with him. And don't forget to tell Chiron about the ghost!" She winked at him, turned around and walked towards the dining pavilion. On her way, she greeted Will, who seemed a little surprised to see her here.

"What are you going here?" Will's tone was determinant and Nico knew that there was no way to get out of this situation any time soon. "And why are you- You look terrible, Nico!" When he looked at Nico more closely, his anger seemed to decrease a little bit. Slowly, the son of Apollo sat down next to him and Nico thought that he could see concern in his eyes. However, he could have also been wrong.

"What happened? You look like you didn't sleep last night."

Nico tried to smile at Will, but he knew that it didn't look very convincing. So he only sighed and nodded. "I didn't."

"And why-"

"I've met a ghost. Here at camp." Just like Piper, Will needed a few seconds to realize the sense behind those words. Then his eyes grew wide and he paled.

"How is that possible?"

"It shouldn't be." He replied immediately and the son of Apollo frowned. "Normally, they can't get over the borders. I don't know how she did it."

"She?"

"Her name was Maria." Nico nodded. "And she wanted to warn me. She said that darkness and war were going to come and that we couldn't escape from it, even if we wanted to."

Now an alarmed expression appeared on Will's face and he ran a hand through his hair - something he did very often when he was nervous. "Have you told anyone about it?"

"I didn't get a chance to do so. When I came out of the forest, Piper talked to me and now you're here."

Slowly, the son of Apollo nodded. Nico could see that he was trying to figure out what Maria had wanted to say, but then he sighed. "You have to talk to Chiron. This is serious."

"I wanted to do it now. Even if I doubt that he knows what the ghost wanted to say."

"But I'm sure he'll know what he can do now." Will murmured and the way he watched Nico now made him look away. "And after that, you have to get some sleep. You look terrible, Death Boy. However, I think you should eat something first. After you haven't done that yesterday evening..." Those words stayed in the air between them and a cold feeling appeared in his stomach. He didn't want to talk about last night. He hadn't thought about the things he'd said and it had been stupid to tell Will all those things.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that." He muttered and wanted to stand up, but Will grabbed his hand and stopped him from doing so. For a few moments, both boys watched their entwined hands and then they let go of each other as if their skin had been burned. Nico felt the blood running to his cheeks and from the corner of his eye he could see that the son of Apollo was a little red in his face as well.

"What was this about?" Nico asked quietly into the silence and he heard Will taking a deep breath.

"Actually, I was angry at you."

When he only frowned at him, Will sighed. "This morning, I knocked on your door about two hundred times. Normally, you open after a few minutes, but today no one was there. I thought that something had happened... Or maybe that you were angry and didn't want to see me. Then I saw you sitting here with Piper and I didn't know what to think anymore."

To be honest, he didn't know what to say right now. It would have been okay when Will was angry. Presumably, Nico would have felt the same way. But hearing that he was worried and even confused... that made the strange feeling in his stomach return. "I wasn't angry at you." He answered simply and this seemed to surprise the son of Apollo very much since he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no sound escaped.

"In fact I was angry at me."

"I think you have to explain that." Will murmured and narrowed his eyes, which made Nico sigh.

"I've already told you that I'm telling you to much."

"But that isn't a bad thing."

"For you." Nico replied immediately and swallowed. "I'm not used to tell others about my feelings. And that's the problem with you. You make me want to do it."

He didn't have to see the look on Will's face to know that he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "Death Boy..."

Nico shook his head slowly. "Don't get me wrong. I like you very much. More than everyone else I've met in my life, to be honest."

Will tried to laugh, but it sounded breathless and suddenly, Nico realized that the son of Apollo was leaning towards him. And why didn't it surprise him that he was doing the same? "You're great, you know that? And no, I don't just mean as a friend. I think now it's time for me to be honest. I won't be angry if you hate me after it and never want to see me again, but please let me finish first. I've never quite understood you, Nico. Before the war, you barely appeared here in camp and you pushed everyone away. There were people who wanted to be your friends. However, it didn't seem like you wanted any of them around you. You were always alone and there was this dark expression on your face, like you couldn't laugh or be happy. And somehow, during the war against Gaea everything changed. I can't explain it, but suddenly I felt the urge to protect you. Seeing you fading scared me very much and I didn't understood it. And when you stayed in the infirmary for a few days, I realized that you were a completely different person than I thought you were. And you became my closest friend, which shouldn't be a surprise to you. However, there was something else as well. I've never wanted to protect one of my friends as much as I want to do it with you. Sometimes, I even think that I need you to be safe. And I want you to be happy. You have a great smile, you know that? I think I've never told you... you should do it more often. And laughing as well. Oh gods, this is really awkward, isn't it?" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What I wanted to say before I started to tell you stupid things is that you're special to me, Nico. In more than one way. And you don't have to be afraid to tell me about your feelings. I'll be there for you, no matter what happens. And now you can decide what you want to do. Stand up and run away; hate me if you want to do it. Or stay here and laugh about me, it's your choice."

This was it. The butterflies in his stomach were going crazy and Nico felt like he was going to explode. He shouldn't do this, right? What if Will didn't mean that...

"And when I decide to do none of those things?" Nico asked and leaned in even more, so that their lips touched.