Will Solace held his boyfriend up as he retched what little he'd eaten. Nico flushed the toilet and relieved Will of his duty by leaning on the sink, his face hidden.

"Are you ill?"

"No…just a nightmare." His voice sounded flat.

"Do you want a shower?"

Silence. Then, "Yes, please."

Will hurried to turn on the showerhead, and turn the water to lukewarm. When he returned from getting Nico's towel and some clothes, he was already in the shower, the curtain drawn, and silent.

"I'll leave your things here."

A pause. "Thank you."

Something cold and nasty settled in his throat as he closed the bathroom door. His tone, it was dead, lifeless. He hadn't even looked at Will, and he talked to him as if he was a stranger, with that empty politeness. He stared at the door and jumped when he heard a voice.

"Is he okay?"

It was Percy, standing there with Riptide in pen form in his hand. He had concern etched all over his face.

"He…he threw up. Said he had a nightmare. Again."

Seconds later, Jason and Leo walked in, and the girls.

It was weird, they hadn't been loud this time, Nico hadn't woken up screaming, and Will didn't have to yell to be heard. But this time they were all here, awake and worried. Perhaps they felt that this time was different, somehow sensed what Will did; that something was terribly wrong.

They all sat on their bed. Will knew he should tell them to go get some rest, but he really had no right. They were worried about their friend. He didn't think Nico realized how important he was to them.

After a while, Percy spoke up. He never could keep quiet for very long.

"You should go check on him. He's not doing anything."

They stared. "What?"

"I mean; he's just kneeling there. Doing nothing."

"You can see him?!" Jason asked sharply.

Percy blushed. "What? No. I can…sense him. Sort of."

"Dude. That's creepy."

"Says the guy that can burst into flames."

Annabeth interrupted the two boys. "Is he breathing?"

Now it was her turn to be stared at.

Will stood suddenly and opened the bathroom door. Why would she say that? His heart pounded loudly in his chest.

"Nico?"

The door closed behind him. Maybe they were used to their friends dying all the time. With being the Heroes of Olympus and all that. Okay, that wasn't fair. He knew they weren't like that.

"Will."

"Nico…are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to get out?"

"No."

"Are you almost done?"

"No."

Will sat on the toilet lid and waited. Staring at the blue curtain that separated them. He couldn't hear anything but the water slamming cruelly against the tub.

"Please come out."

"Will, I'm fine. Go to sleep."

Nico had never spoken to him like that. Not even when Will was surely being annoying. Never snapped at him like that no matter what he said. But even more than that, he had never heard his boyfriend speak like that. So…emotionless.

Dead.

"Okay."

But it wasn't okay. He wanted to rush in there and hold him closely, kissing him and telling him how much he loved him and that everything was going to be alright. He stood and closed the door behind him. To his surprise, though he really shouldn't be, they all stared up at him expectantly. He shook his head as an answer.

There was a collective sigh.

Then the son of Poseidon stood and marched behind him.

"Percy, maybe you shouldn't—

The bathroom door slammed behind him.

Nico stared down at the tiny fish someone had painted on the white tiles of the bath. He had worked very hard to clear his head from thinking, and his heart from feeling until his hands had stopped shaking and his breath returned to normal.

He had done this in Tartarus.

When the monsters had all finished trying to kill him and he had dragged his sorry carcass back under a gnarled, dead tree, when all he had to look at was burning sulfur and creatures as they burst from the ground like blisters, this was all he could do to stop himself from losing whatever shred of humanity he had left.

He was okay.

'Okay' was a loose term.

He was totally okay.

Not that he cared right now.

And Nico would have continued not caring as the small beads pelted him relentlessly, but the door opened again.

Was it Will again? He hoped not. It was hard not caring when he was around.

But no, it wasn't Will. Because right then the curtain flew open and a two strong arm took his own and pulled him to his feet. And just like that, he was thrown into the world of caring.

"P-P-Percy…w-what…"

"Geez, Neeks, you're freezing."

Percy Jackson set him down in front of him in all his naked glory. Dripping and trembling once again. To his utter horror, his knees buckled and Percy caught him. Chuckling.

"Hahaha, your lips are blue."

"Percy! I'm—

His face was burning as the idiot, oblivious to his embarrassment, pressed Nico against him with an arm around his waist as his other arm reached for the towel. Nico wanted to push him away, but he was afraid he would fall. And gods, he'd never been completely naked before anyone since he was too young to remember. But here was Percy, his former crush pulling Nico against him, way too close for comfort and acting like this was completely normal.

"Is this your towel? It's pink…so it's probably not, but I'm not one to judge…"

He'd fantasized about being with Percy ever since he met him. And yes, blooming into his teenage years with nothing but daydreams had made those fantasies not exactly appropriate. He remembered sitting on a bench in a park after hours and finding out that those fantasies made him feel good. Not just emotionally, but physically too. But he'd stopped, ashamed. And this was not a good time reminisce those daydreams.

"This one?"

"Percy, just give me a towel!"

"Fine, fine, no need to get snappy." But he was smiling as he wrapped the towel around his shoulders. He sat him down carefully on the edge of the tub, as if he was a child, or a really old man. Percy sat on the toilet lid, facing him with hands clasped and looking at Nico seriously. This made the Son of Hades feel quite ridiculous.

"Your hair is all wet."

Before Nico could protest Percy was rubbing a separate towel on his head.

"Seriously? Couldn't you just use your powers?" Nico scowled at him.

"Yeah." He admitted. "But you look so cute with your hair sticking up all over the place." Nico scowled again, blushing, and Percy grinned.

"Well…I-I should get dressed."

"Uh huh." Percy said, and the smile melted off his face, replacing it with concern. "What happened? Did you have another nightmare?"

Nico pulled the towel tighter around his shoulders, wishing it was longer. He stared down at his knees.

"…Yes."

His friend put a hand on Nico's knee. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Nico found that he was more willing to talk to Percy than to Will. Perhaps it was because Nico had already made a fool of himself many times in front of Percy, or because he wasn't as afraid of losing Percy as he was of losing Will, or maybe simply because Percy was a dork. Either way, his lips opened.

"I-I yes. I'm sorry. It was too much, I'm sorry, I was just so embarrassed and I didn't want Will to look at me, and then I felt so disgusted and sick, a-and dirty, and I just couldn't—

Percy hugged him, giving him a second to collect himself.

"I think…I was…. raped."

The arms around him stiffened.

"WHAT? DID WILL—

"Percy, no!" His face reddened and he lowered his voice, glaring at Percy who sat back down obediently. "I-In my dream."

"Oh." Percy still had that concerned look on his face, but without the shock, leaving only alarm.

"My name was… Jack. And I was drunk, walking home from some party, when I guess a guy offered to give me a ride." Nico paused, wishing he could turn off his emotions again. "H-He tied me down… on… on a bed, a-and he had a… a gun." He gritted his teeth and willed himself to stop his voice from trembling. Percy had his hand on his back, waiting patiently.

"Taser gun. Yes. It hurt. He injected me. Drugs or something. And then he…well, he put something on my…on my…" He stopped, looking at Percy uncomfortably. Percy seemed to understand and hugged Nico again, his head against the taller boys' chest.

"Back or front?"

Nico reddened. "Back." He whispered.

"Did he touch…. Jack?"

"He… he did. B-But then I woke up."

"Have you ever seen the guy that gave Jack a ride before?" Percy's tone was calm, but the muscles in his arms were tight, his jaw above his head tense. He was angry.

But why? Was he angry at him?

"...No."

"Okay. Did he tie Jack's arms?" it seemed Percy was trying to emphasis on Jack. To convince Nico it happened to somebody else. But how was that supposed to make him feel better when he had been going through it too? He could still feel the man's hand rubbing between his legs…

"No. Only his ankle. I was drugged." Nico extended his left leg and they both looked down at it, as if reassuring themselves there wasn't a rope or a chain of some sort.

But what they saw instead made Percy freeze and Nico feel a cold sliver of dread somewhere deep in his chest.

Around his ankle was something impossible to miss, and yet they had.

It was a scar, red and raw, only beginning to scar over. Nico pulled down the towel a bit to see two huge purple bruises on his chest and side.

"Nico. Calm down. Will can heal it." Percy sounded as if he was truly trying to get himself to calm down. Nico had actually been quite calm himself until Percy said that.

"No! You can't tell Will. Some ambrosia-

"Nico. You have to."

"Please Percy, don't… don't tell anyone."

"How are you going to hide that?!" The son of Poseidon looked a bit hysterical and Nico found it easier to deal with Percy's hysteria than his own rising panic.

"Percy you can't tell them!"

"Nico—

"Percy…. please!" Nice felt the tears he had been holding back flood to his eyes. He tried to raise his hand to wipe his eyes, but then returned it to grip his towel.

"Okay, okay, okay…" Percy hugged him again. "But…. We have to fix this. Promise you'll go with me to find help."

"Yes."

"Now go be nice to Will. He was worried sick about you."

"Okay."

"But don't fall asleep."

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Heyyyyy cupcakes. JI just want to let you know that your reviews mean a lot to me. I literally read them out loud to my siblings and re-read them when I'm sad. (I know. I am pathetic) But! My lord Nitro...* bows and grovels a bit*I know it wasn't exactly what you wanted, but hey, you got your Pernico moment! (and there shall definitely be more).

And… my lady, never pardon your fancy talk! For this manner of speaking is only for those of us that read gorgeousness like Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare and other old guys with wigs.

Bye. Wombats!