~Hey, it's the author speaking :) Sorry, loves, but no song this chapter :( BUT next chapter there's like five so I'll make it up to you. So enjoy this little filler chapter and hopefully next chapter will be up before the end of the week...you're welcome ;) Author, out.~

Nico woke up with a start. He gasped into consciousness as he blinked his eyes open. For a few moments, everything seemed blissful and calm, until he realized that it wasn't his phone alarm that woke him. He shook his head and sat up quickly as he took in his surroundings. Everything was bright. The sun was shining on everything...The sun never shone this bright at seven am. Oh wait.

Nico hopped out of bed and opened his door to look into the hallway. He heard noise coming from the kitchen and so he walked to it. Sure enough, Leo sat at the table with nothing but his boxers on eating a bowl of cereal.

"Leo," Nico started, his eyes wide, "what time is it?" Leo shrugged and grabbed his phone from the table, showing Nico the time. '8:19.' Nico's eyes widened. "Shit! Why didn't you wake me?" he asked, turning away and running into his room. He heard Leo get up and follow him.

"Because, Death Breath, every time I attempt to wake you, you try and murder me. Sorry that I didn't feel like dying today." Nico scoffed and glared at the boy as he stood in his door still eating his cereal. Leo gave him a face and Nico rolled his eyes.

He rummaged through his drawer for something suitable; he was still wearing the day before's clothing. His hands found a black and gray flannel and black sweat pants. Immediately, he started stripping, his mind wandering elsewhere.

Why hadn't his alarm gone off? He had his phone set for seven am Monday through Friday. It should have went off. Nico slipped his arms through the shirt and buttoned the middle two buttons before stepping into the pants. He turned around and patted the sheets for his phone. Finally, he found it and pressed the lock button. Nothing happened.

"What the hell?" he muttered. He heard Leo laughing from the doorway.

"Hey, Ghostie, it's dead." Nico turned to him.

"What are you talking about? My phone shouldn't be," he trailed off as he remembered the night before. He had woken up from his nap and called Will. He had called Will and they had spent the entire night talking. He fell asleep talking to him which was why he didn't remember to put his phone on the charger which is why his alarm didn't go off. "Crap," Nico muttered. Leo smiled at him and nodded.

"Yeah." Nico turned to him.

"Wait, how did you know my phone would be dead?" Leo shrugged and scooped a spoonful of the cereal into his mouth.

"Well, I didn't. I just heard you talking all night long on it. When it got quiet, I assumed you had put it on the charger and went to sleep. When you didn't wake up at seven, I just thought you were allowing yourself to get some extra shuteye." Nico groaned. Of course Leo thought that. Nico sighed and threw the phone and his charger into his dance bag.

He shouldered the bag and walked towards the door.

"Excuse me, Leo," he said, allowing the agitation to seep through his voice. Leo grinned and stepped aside.

"Sorry, Sleeping Beauty," he said. Nico flipped him off as he headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Leo followed him and took his place in the doorway, slowly munching on his Frosted Flakes. Nico ignored him for a few moments, turning the water on and putting the toothpaste on his toothbrush.

"Can I help you?" Nico asked, shoving the toothbrush in his mouth and looking away from him. Leo stopped chewing and waited for Nico to look back at him.

"Did I imagine it, or were you crying last night?" Nico stopped brushing and stared at Leo. How could he remember that? He was halfway drunk.

"Uh," Nico started. Leo nodded his head as some sort of confirmation.

"Is it getting bad again?" Leo asked, his eyebrows raising. Nico rolled his eyes and looked away, opting to resume his brushing.

He couldn't tell Leo about the dream or what Chiron had reminded him about. He just...couldn't. All Leo would do is worry and Nico didn't want that. He was fine, really. He just had a bad day and an even worse night. But of course, that's how it always started; just one bad day, just one bad night until the bad days and nights turned into bad weeks and months and suddenly Nico wouldn't be able to breathe anymore. Nico shuddered at the thought.

"It was just a bad dream," Nico muttered, spitting into the sink. Leo squinted his eyes at him as he wiped off his mouth.

"Really? What was it about?" It was Nico's turn to squint his eyes as he made to leave the restroom. Of course, Leo blocked his way. "Well?" Nico rolled his eyes.

"Valdez, I am already late. You do not need to make me anymore late by asking silly questions. It was just a bad dream." Leo stared at him for four seconds before sighing and moving out of the way.

"Fine, don't tell me. But if I find one pill, Nico, if I see one cigarette butt, I will-"

"What?" Nico asked, his irritation getting the best of him. He knew that Leo was worried, and that he had every right to be, but he couldn't stop the words that came out of his mouth no matter how he tried. "Check me in to the hospital?" he asked, venom seeping into his voice. "Please. You can barely check yourself into an AA meeting. You don't scare me. You're freaking out over nothing. It's the damn alcohol talking-not like you'd know the difference. You're always drunk, anyway." Leo stared at him with wide eyes, his lips placed into a straight line. Then, suddenly, his lips tilted up, but his eyes stayed just as hard as they were.

"And so it begins," he whispered and turned away from Nico, heading towards his room. Nico scoffed and walked past, heading towards the door. His hand was on the door knob when he heard Leo's voice. "And don't forget your fucking keys this time!" and he heard Leo's door slam shut. Nico sighed. He turned around and found his keys on the table. He pocketed them and walked out the door.

He ran to the subway station, ignoring his grumbling stomach or his itchy skin. He'd take a shower and eat after work. It took him five minutes to get to the subway and as he jumped over the turnstile, he saw the train pull up. He grinned. It was the 8:45 train. Luckily, he hadn't missed it, or he would have had to take the 9:00 one. At least this way, he'd maybe still be on time.

The train, however, was crowded as he pushed his way in and he was forced to stand, hanging on to the metal bar above for support. A lot of people were on it, ranging from grumpy high schoolers, to old people in retirement. It wasn't necessarily loud but it wasn't quiet either. Most people had their ears plugged in listening to music, others were talking on the phone or were texting. He spotted a couple of homeless people in the corner sleeping and across from him a woman with bags under her eyes was rocking a sobbing baby. He rolled his eyes as the train pulled away. He was not in the mood for this.

His mind started to wander back to Leo. He had been exceedingly rude this morning and groaned internally at his actions. He couldn't believe himself. Leo was just being...well, Leo. He was worried about him and Nico couldn't blame him. If he admitted it to himself, he was getting bad. Bianca's birthday was in two weeks and his past was starting to haunt him again. Nico shook his head. He needed to fix it.

His hands itched as he remembered that his phone was dead. He wouldn't be able to apologize to Leo until after his phone was charged and Chiron let them take a break, which of course, was highly unlikely. They were starting the new choreography today, after all. Nico had to admit, despite his nonchalant demeanor, that he was excited for the new show. It was written by Chiron and Chiron's shows were always the best.

He sighed as he thought about what Chiron had told him about wanting Nico to be a lead. It made Nico smile inside. Dancing, he felt, was the only time in his entire life between people and relationships and his past where he wasn't a total screw up. When he had first run away from Camp Half blood, he had gotten lost and went to his father, out of all people, for comfort.

Of course, Hades had been anything but.

Nico shuddered at the memory. He had been young and naive and scared and angry. Hades had used that fire to his advantage, convincing him to do horrible things to the people that he loved. Somewhere inside him, Nico knew that it wasn't his fault. Hades had used him for his own evil doings but still, it made Nico feel guilty. If he hadn't been so angry, if he hadn't been so stupid, he wouldn't have listened to his father in the first place. Nico shook the thoughts from his head as the train pulled to his stop.

He gripped his bag and glanced over his shoulder at the young woman on her phone. It read '9:03.' Nico sighed as the doors pulled open and readied himself for a sprint.

Nico reached the building at 9:07, sweaty and out of breath. Rachel was at her desk, chewing on a pencil as she sketched something onto her notepad. She looked up at him with her green eyes and chuckled.

"Late night?" she asked. Nico groaned as he grabbed the pen attached to the desk and signed himself in.

"Blow me, Rachel," he told her, his lungs burning. The girl laughed, her voice filling up the empty area.

"Oh please. You and I both know Chiron will do a great job fucking you over without me," she told him. She tapped at her watch with her pencil. "You're late." Nico rolled his eyes and willed himself down the hall.

"No shit, Sherlock," he muttered and made his way to the stairwell.

He reached the room thirty seconds past 9:08 and Chiron was in the middle of talking with the group of dancers. Everyone was intrigued with what he had to say and was barely paying attention to him as he slipped into the room. He only caught the tail end of what he was saying.

"-and I want nothing but the best from you all. I will be choosing the leads based off of what you all show me today and next week. Everyone will know, for sure, their part by next Friday." If Nico didn't know any better, he'd say Chiron was making them audition for the leads. Chiron clasped his hands together and grinned. "Now, we're going to do a little freestyle competition." Everyone started to murmur as they broke away from the circle.

Nico ran to the wall where he threw down his bag and opened it, looking for his dance shoes. They were doing freestyle competition, which was Nico's favorite exercise. The whole idea was not thinking about what you were doing. Chiron would put his phone on shuffle and whatever song came on was the song they danced to. Sometimes the competition could be one on one or boys versus girls or anything, really. It never really mattered and no one ever planned it. The rule was no using choreographed things and basically that was it. Feel the beat, challenge someone and do what you want. Usually Chiron would just walk around and watch and often times he'd change the song before it ended or start songs in their middle.

Least to say, Nico was excited. As he slipped his shoes on and plugged in his phone, Chiron approached him. His legs glimmered silver as he put his hands on his hips. Nico swallowed and stood up slowly.

"Yes?"

"You were late," Chiron said. Nico's face grew hot. He didn't want to have to explain why he was late. Actually, he was hoping Chiron hadn't even noticed him coming in.

"I…" Nico trailed off. Chiron quirked his eyebrow. Suddenly, Nico saw a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye and then Will was there, cheesing with dimpled cheeks and bright eyes.

"Chiron?" he asked, his voice light and happy, "what exactly is freestyle competition?" Nico stared at Will with an open mouth. Will glanced at him with a grin and winked and then was back to staring at Chiron with curious eyes.

"Don't think that this is over," Chiron told him, pointing at his chest. Chiron stared at Nico for a moment longer as he swallowed and then he turned away, smiling at Will.

"I'm sorry, Will. I should have explained more…" Nico used the opportunity to slip past them and silently thanked Will for the escape. He couldn't help thinking about the night before. He had called Will and he had answered on the third ring. At first, it was weird; Nico never called people, but soon the conversation came easy.

He was just lying in his bed, his phone next to him on his speaker phone as he listened to Will talk.

"So, as you probably guessed, I am nowhere from here," he had said chuckling into the phone.

"Where are you from then?" Nico had asked lightly. He heard Will sigh into the phone.

"Georgia." Nico laughed quietly.

"Gross. It's so hot down there."

"It's so cold up here!" Will had said defensively.

"Then why'd you leave." Silence. "Solace?"

"Yeah, Nico, I'm here. I guess it was just time to go is all." Nico had nodded and turned towards his phone.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me." Silence. "Do you miss it?" Will had chuckle into the phone.

"I've only been here maybe two weeks. I ain't have enough time to miss it yet." Nico had shrugged into his pillow.

"It doesn't ever take very long to miss home," he had said quietly. Silence.

"Well, I do miss someone." Nico had perked up at that, his heartbeat suddenly getting extremely fast. He had swallowed and forced his voice to stay even.

"Who?"

"Lou Ellen," he had said. Nico sighed. Of course Will was missing some girl. She was probably extremely pretty and head over heels for Will and despite evry fiber in his body, Nico found himself feeling envious.

"Then why'd you leave," he had forced out.

"It was just time to go is all," he had said again. "Just time to go."

Nico felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around to find a grinning Octavian. Nico rolled his eyes.

"Dude, what do you want," Nico groaned. Octavian's eyes sparkled.

"I just noticed that you were late." Nico looked at him with dead eyes. "Did you have a long night?" Nico nodded.

"Yes, Octavian. I may or may not have gotten laid, but of course you wouldn't know anything about that, now would you?" Octavian grinned.

"You're right. I know nothing about being a whore." Nico blinked slowly as he felt a burning sensation in his chest and ears and suddenly, he was being pulled backwards. Nico turned around at the force and saw Will.

"What the-"

"You looked like you were about to punch that kid," Will told him, his eyes wide and concerned. Nico shrugged.

"So?"

"I just saved your ass from Chiron's wrath. I don't want to have to do it twice." Nico rolled his eyes.

"No one asked you to."

"You don't have to ask to be saved, Nico. Besides, you looked like you were going to kill that kid with nothing but your stare alone. What did he even say to you?" he asked. Nico looked back at Octavian who was grinning like crazy. Nico had the overwhelming suspicion that Octavian was the child that cut off stuffed animals' heads when he was younger and decorated his room with the headless animals. Nico shuddered.

"He was just talking shit," Nico muttered. Will touched his shoulder and Nico flinched away from it.

"Why are you touching me?" Nico asked, instinctively. Will's eyes grew wide as he chuckled nervously.

"No reason. I was just going to say it seemed like he was doing a lot more than just shit talking. But it's okay," he shrugged slightly, "you don't have to tell me." Nico narrowed his eyes at him as Will started to smile.

"Solace-"

"Alright, let's get to it," Chiron announced from the front of the room. The young adults shuffled to the space and readied themselves. Many bounced on the balls of their feet, shaking out their body and breathing deeply. Many were just waiting for the music to start, already turned to who they were going to dance against. Will grabbed Nico's arm and turned him towards him with a grin.

"What're you-"

"Come on," Will told him, chuckling. Nico shook his head.

"Have you ever even done this before?" Will grinned and shrugged.

"Let's find out, shall we?"