AN: Happy New Year! Good luck for the next year and stay safe.

Chapter 7-

Basketball season came around, and Nico tried out immediately, loving the game with the rawness it brought. He had tried out for point guard, and before he left, the coach told him he had a really good chance of getting on the team. But Nico couldn't help but wonder if that was just because he was dying. Either way, he wouldn't know for a couple of weeks.

Will came over to his house after the tryouts, having tried out himself. Together they worked in his room on their project, finally finishing not too long after. Will than left, and the whole visit wasn't too awkward for Nico. Will hadn't mentioned anything about what happened at lunch, and seemed to leave the topic alone. But this made Nico's mind race, thinking if somebody had told Will. Would they have?

The more Nico got used to moving around, the better he seemed to feel. He knew he was still dying, and his father kept reminding him of that, but he felt amazing, better than he had in years. Yes, the pains still came at night, and he still coughed up blood sometimes, but he had more energy. He didn't feel like he was dying anymore, and that was more than he could ask for.

He could feel himself become happier, answering more questions in class and participating more. He cut his hair to a reasonable length and took more care of himself. He dressed better and less sloppier. He still smoked though, but that was alright.

His stomach cancer would kill him faster than his lungs if they were to crap out.

Nico also found a new joy in drinking water, especially since it kept him full and didn't hurt his stomach. He found himself drinking bottles and bottles of it everyday, but it was healthy for you. He didn't mind, and nobody else did.

Nico could also feel himself getting noticed more. More kids said high to him in the hallways, and they offered him a spot at their table. He always was polite to them and took their offerings, but he never really became friends with them. He was sort of acquaintances with all of them, over anything.

He wasn't complaining. He just didn't want to get close to them.

"You seem happier." Hazel commented after school one day. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"Ha ha, very funny." he smiled at her. "I'm still me, Haz. Nothing's wrong."

Hazel got her knowing look, like there was something wrong. Carefully, making sure nobody could hear, she went to whisper in his ear.

"I can smell the smoke on you." she whispered. "You aren't going to be able to hide it much longer."

She then shrank back from his, brightening up. "Want to watch a movie?"

"If you don't mind, I'm going to go to my room." Nico excused himself, running up the stairs two at a time. The one person he didn't want to find out about him smoking was Hazel. How had she known?

How would his dad handle it if he were to find out?

Nico ran to his bathroom, throwing up from sheer anxiety. His dad would hate him if he found out. He couldn't let him know, couldn't let him know….

Nico wiped the vomit off of his mouth with toilet paper and flushed the toilet, sitting quietly on the cold floor. It was too late to quite smoking now, but the hospital was sure to find out…he was so stupid to try it in the first place. Why had he let Thalia Grace give him that cigarette? In the end, it wouldn't help him one bit.

The sad thing was, sitting with worry on that bathroom floor, all he could think about was how another one would calm him down.

So he opened the window and pulled the box out.

"Nico, why does your room smell like smoke?" his father commented later that night, bringing him his medicine.

"I had the window open." Nico lied. "A woman was smoking outside, and it kind of all just came in."

"Next time, close the window." Hades sighed. "That's how people get cancer from secondhand smoke."

"I already got cancer." Nico pointed out. "It can't hurt me."

"Just because you have stomach cancer doesn't mean you can't get throat and lung cancer." Hades chided. "Those two cancers will make you feel even worse than you do. Just go to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Nico replied, waiting until his father closed his door before pushing the blankets off him and standing up out of bed. He needed to move, to get his energy out. It had just been a close call, and his heart was thumping wildly in his chest. But what his father had said gave him an idea. If the hospital was able to tell that he was smoking, couldn't he just blame it on secondhand smoke?

Thinking the plan was bulletproof, undeniably so, Nico went to bed that night without any worry. But when he awoke in the morning, he barely had time to run to the bathroom before he coughed up another pool of blood. The coughing hurt his lungs now, worse than ever, and that scared him. Was he really hurting his lungs, too?

His body was falling apart.