Hazel 5/5

About an hour after they split, Nico and Will met Hazel in the main part of the Hades Cabin. "Are you ready?" Nico asked an excited Hazel.

"Definitely."

The trio made their way to the pavilion where the campfire would take place. "What have you been doing for the past hour?" Nico asked his sister.

"I went to find Piper and we just hung out for a while. What were you two working on?"

"We are making our own trapeze routine!" Will said enthusiastically.

"We already learned some tricks so we are just putting them together." Nico said, hiding his excitement better than the son of Apollo.

"I want to do it for a talent show here sometime." Will said, giving Nico a glance.

The son of Hades sighed as if they had had this conversation before. "No, we are the only people that even know we can do it."

"Which is why we could show everyone!" Will said, even though he knew that he wouldn't win this argument and he frankly didn't mind.

"No, there is a reason why you two are the only people that know."

Will didn't reply because they had arrived at the pavilion. Nico led the way to where Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo were sitting. Nico sat down next to the wall, Will beside him and Hazel next to him, but close enough to the rest of their friends so she could move between the two groups easily.

Each day a different cabin was in charge of the campfire. Today it was the Dionysus' cabin and the two kids there, Pollux and Geminga (a new camper), were in a partying mood. The first song to be played was "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake.

Nico watched as all of the demigods around him (there were a few exceptions, like Clovis from the Hypnos cabin) started jumping up and waving their arms around like the lunatics they all are. Will jumped up and held his hand out trying to get Nico to dance with him. "So just dance, dance, dance, come on," Will sang in time with the music.

"Will, I really don't-"

"But you dance, dance, dance and ain't nobody leaving soon so keep dancing," Will sang, cutting off Nico's protests. Will gripped Nico's wrists and pulled him up. Then started moving Nico's arms around in time to the music, still singing.

Nico let his arms go limp and allowed Will to move his arms around, not helping at all. Will grinned and rolled with it, dancing through the whole song.

When the song ended, Nico sat back down and Will plopped down beside him, slightly out of breath. "Tell me you enjoyed that,"Will said.

Nico shrugged. He had kind of maybe a little bit liked the feeling of Will's hands wrapped around his wrists – not that he would admit that.

Then the next song, Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon started. Will didn't try to get Nico to dance with him this time because of his less-than-enthusiastic response to the last one. Instead, Hazel came over and held out her hand to her brother. Nico took it and stood up willingly, if a little reluctantly.

Will watched as they clasped hands and spun around in a circle in time to the music. Will tried not to feel disappointed that Nico would dance for Hazel, but not for him. There were a couple of reasons why Nico felt more comfortable this time. First, this was Hazel. Everyone knew the son of Hades has a big soft spot for his sister. Secondly, the dance style this time is a lot different than what Will was doing. Hazel and Nico spun around fluidly instead of jumping around like a maniac like Will had been.

Then Hazel dropped one of Nico's hands and held it out for Will, an invitation to join them. Will didn't hesitate. He jumped up from where he was sitting on the bench and grabbed Hazel's offered hand and took Nico's gently.

The three of them spun around in time to the music, at one point the only thing keeping them from falling down was their connected hands. Will could hear Nico and Hazel's laughter and was struck by how similar they sounded. They both had an element of happiness and innocence – despite what they'd been through.

Will was trying to sing along with the lyrics, but he kept cutting himself off with his own laughter.

As the song's tempo slowed and stopped, the trio also slowed down and stopped. Will was very dizzy by the end and went to sit down again. He leaned his back against the wall and sat with one leg on each side of the bench.

When the dizziness dissipated, Will noticed that the sun was going down and it was starting to get cold out despite the big orange fire in the middle of the pavilion. He wrapped his arms around himself and glanced at Nico, who had sat down in front of him. Nico was hugging himself as if he was cold too. "Nico, are you cold?"

Nico looked at him, then at himself, then he must have decided there was no point in pretending. "Yeah, maybe a little."

Will held out his arms. Nico scooted a little closer, but Will wasn't satisfied. He leaned forward, wrapped his arms around Nico's torso and leaned back again so he was resting his back on the wall again and Nico's back was resting on Will's chest. Will ignored the way Nico tensed up when he touched the younger boy and left his hands clasped, resting on Nico's stomach.

The two stayed like that as the next song started. They watched as their friends tried to teach Hazel the actions to the demigod song about Grandma putting on her armor.

Will could feel Nico start to relax after a minute and thought about how many things could have gone wrong in the past year. The Seven could have failed on their quest to defeat the giants, Nico could have failed in bringing the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood, Reyna could have refused to help the Greeks, Nico could have melted into a pile of darkness after bringing the statue, and a million another things could have gone wrong.

But it didn't.

It turned out fine.

Like always.

Hazel's voice brought Will back to reality. "Will, is Nico asleep?" The song had ended and Hazel was sitting on the bench next to Will's right so she could talk to Will easily.

Will glanced down at Nico, which was a little hard to do since Nico's head was just below Will's chin, but he managed to get a glimpse of Nico's closed eyes and felt his steady breathing. Will glanced at Hazel and nodded, trying not to make too much movement. How Nico managed to fall asleep with all of the screaming/singing demigods, Will didn't know.

Hazel smiled. "You know, he must feel really comfortable around you." Hazel said after a moment. Will gave her a questioning glance and unconsciously tightened his grip on the younger boy. "There are not a lot of people that Nico feels comfortable enough to fall asleep in the same room with, let alone fall asleep on. Have you noticed that he tries not to sleep around other people unless he absolutely needs to? I am surprised he feels okay with sleeping at the campfire with so many other people around. Maybe we are far enough away from everyone else?"

Will looked around. They weren't very far from the large crowd of people. Maybe Nico was just so exhausted he couldn't stay awake any longer.

The next song started. "Gotta go!" Hazel said as she left to join the others.

Will watched as everyone else danced around like lunatics. It was weird; usually he was one of those people dancing the whole time, not caring how late it was or who saw him, but this…this was nice too…


"I still think we should take Nico to the Hades cabin and then come back to take Will to the Apollo cabin."

"Nah, I say we just leave them both here. They look content enough."

"Well, I say we take our boy Nico to the Hades cabin and leave the Apollo cabin to come get Will." A voice that Will recognized as Leo's said. Gee, thanks. Will opened his eyes to see Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, and Hazel standing above him and Nico, who was in the same position as before, still sleeping on Will. It was still dark out and most of the other demigods had left the campfire already.

"Hey, Will, you're awake." Hazel said. "Do you want to help us carry Nico to the Hades cabin?" Will wondered how they would bring Nico all the way to the Hades cabin without waking the son of Hades up. His confusion must have showed on his face because Hazel continued.

"Nico is naturally a very deep sleeper, so he probably won't wake up. He trained himself to wake up to certain things like the sound of a sword or knife being drawn or the sound of an enemy's footsteps. How he can tell the difference between friends' footsteps and enemies' footsteps in his sleep, I will never know."

"Alright," Will said, hooking his arms underneath Nico's to help lift him up. Percy and Annabeth each took one of Nico's legs while Piper and Leo helped support the smaller boy's body. Hazel walked around them, making sure they wouldn't trip on anything. Will tried to keep Nico's head cradled on Will's chest to keep it as still as possible.

When they reached the Hades cabin, Hazel held the door open and the demigods shuffled inside and laid Nico on his bed. With that job done, most of the demigods left, leaving Will and Hazel, who went to the bathroom to change into her pajamas.

Will took a blanket off of an adjacent bed and threw it over Nico and tucked him in, making sure that the son of Hades would be comfortable. When Hazel came back out of the bathroom, she was wearing emerald green silk pajamas and sat on the empty bed across from her brother. Hazel smiled. "Thank you."

Will nodded absently, looking at Nico. Then, not caring that Hazel was watching, Will leaned down and kissed Nico's forehead. A small smile spread across Nico's face and when Will turned to leave, he found himself being hugged by the daughter of Pluto. "You are the best," she whispered.

"Th-thank you?" Will wasn't sure what to say, but when he left the Hades cabin and was on his way to his own bed, the truth hit him. He had just kissed Nico! Sure, it was on the forehead, but still. He actually kissed him!