A/N: Sorry, sorry sorry! I did it again! I might as well just change it to Friday updates. Sorry guys. I hope this makes up for it. It's a pretty exciting chapter ;)

Nico groggily pulled himself out of a deep sleep when he heard a raucous thumping noise. It took him a few minutes to regain enough consciousness to realize someone was knocking at his door.

NIco moaned as he pulled himself out of bed. Never before had he felt so rested. Not a single muscle was sore, nor his head splitting. He yawned as he stretched, relishing the feeling before retrieving his black tee shirt from where he had thrown it on the floor the night before.

The knocking continued, getting impossibly louder.

"Alright, alright! I'm up! Geez, give a guy a second!" He shouted as he crossed the room.

He flung open his door, about to scare away whoever decided it was a good idea to disturb him, but was left with his mouth hanging wide as he recognized the black hair and sea-green eyes.

"Nico?" Percy asked.

The son of Hades tried to answer, but his vocal chords were frozen. He couldn't shake the feeling the sense of déjà vu that crept across him.

"Nico, are you okay? I haven't seen you for weeks. And nobody has seen you today. I thought you had left without telling anybody. I was… I was worried about you."

The flesh of Percy's lip whitened as his teeth pressed into it. Watching the occurrence made Nico's déjà vu double before a flash of memory had danced across his mind.

Did he kiss Percy last night? No. That had been a dream.

Blood flushed across Nico's cheeks as the dream vividly passed before his eyes.

"Nico? Seriously, are you okay, man?"

The son of Hades shook his head to clear it before focusing on Percy again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping well lately and decided to sleep in today. Didn't think anyone would miss me."

Percy rolled his eyes but seemed to relax slightly.

"So, um… you wanna go sword fight or something? Might help you take your mind off things. And it's been awhile since we've hung out."

Nico hesitated. He knew that he should go with Percy. NIco needed to spend more time with his friends, and he shouldn't avoid Percy like he has been. It only hurts them both.

However, Nico also knew that it was a painfully bad idea to spend any alone time with Percy, especially after the intensely vivid dream he had had. His concentration would be nonexistent and he worried about embarrassing both Percy and himself by doing something incredibly stupid.

Noticing Nico's lack of response, Percy's face fell.

"Never mind, man. It's not a big deal. Just thought it would be fun."

Percy turned to leave, which sent Nico's brain into a mini panic-mode.

"Wait!" Nico said, grabbing Percy's arm then snatching it away as if burned.

Percy turned back to him expectantly.

"It's not that I don't want to Percy…" Nico began.

He swallowed roughly. Grow some balls. He already knows, so there is literally no point in lying to him. Just talk to him. You know he would appreciate it.

He knew he recognized the little voice in his head, but shook it off and focused.

"Percy, you know that no matter what we do it is going to be really awkward seeing each other now."

Percy opened his mouth to retort, but Nico quickly continued.

"And I know that it's my fault, but I also know that you are my friend. Spending time with you will be worth it. I'm just not sure I'm ready for it yet."

Halfway through the sentence Percy's face had broken into a smile, but it wilted when Nico finished.

"Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense."

Nico nodded and studied the boy carefully.

Then, Percy perked up again, the smile realighting on his face.

"What if I invited Annabeth? I mean, I guess it would still be kinda awkward, but maybe it would be easier if it wasn't just the two of us?"

The son of Hades considered this.

"Why not? I need to get out of this goddamn cabin anyway."

Percy smiled at him, which Nico shyly returned, before he turned to grab his stuff and followed Percy out the door to the Athena cabin.

An hour later, the three demigods rested at the side of the arena, sipping water helpfully provided by Percy as they regained their breath.

It had been fun, spending time with the couple again. Nico hadn't talked to either of them in weeks, and though he would never admit it aloud, Nico had missed them.

Now they sat together talking, mostly Annabeth and Percy, but they tried to make an effort to include Nico in the conversation. Though he slightly felt like a third wheel, he knew this was the best alternative.

Suddenly, Annabeth's eyes focused on something behind Nico and widened in alarm.

"What the… who in Hades is that?!" as she jumped to her feet and grabbed her knife, the boys copied her and looked in the direction her eyes were pointed to.

Nico let out a yelp when he turned.

There, resting his shoulder against the wall of the arena, was Damen, in all his glittery glory.

"Damen?"

Ignoring the stupefied looks he received from the couple next to him, Nico took a few steps closer to the son of Eris.

"Is this how all half-bloods treat their guests? Not very welcoming. I see why you're not very popular with mom."

Nico ignored him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked incredulously.

"Nico?"

Nico turned to Annabeth, almost forgetting the other two were there.

"Do you know this… guy?" Percy stumbled over the word, obviously not sure what word to use to describe the odd man.

"Yeah, he's a… um…"

"I'm a good buddy of Nico's. Yeah, we go way back. I knew him when he was just a little tyke chasing his sister around hotel lobbies," Damen said casually, inspecting his bright green and blue painted nails.

Nico flinched before daring to look at the utterly bemused looks on the others' faces.

"Seriously, man. What are you doing? Nothing is going on right now. In fact, I'm actually fucking happy. So what in Tartarus are you doing here?"

Nico ignored the hurt look on Damen's face and continued to glare at him before turning to try to give Percy and Annabeth some sort of explanation.

"Damen is a demigod. He is the son of Eris, born to the McCoys from the strife between them and the Hatfields. I guess he was born differently, like you Annabeth."

Now Percy's mouth was gaping like a fish and Annabeth's brow was wrinkled, pondering Nico's words he assumed. He decided to try a little more.

"So apparently he's drawn to people with chaotic lives, and I am apparently one of those people, so he introduced himself and explained how big of a nuisance he is and now here we are." Nico pretended he hadn't started babbling like an idiot at the end.

A heavy silence descended upon the small group.

"Well, I hate to interrupt such a warm and cozy looking gathering of friends, but I need to talk to my esteemed colleague for a few minutes," Damen said, grabbing Nico's arm and pulling him away from the others.

He turned to shoot them an assuring look so they knew he would be okay before rounding on the man to snap at him for being so rude and for being there in general.

"You still haven't told me what the hell you're doing here. And why are you showing yourself to my friends? Actually, what the fuck is going on?"

Damen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose like he was annoyed with a small child, which only acted to infuriate Nico more.

"Nothing is wrong. I just came to ask how you slept last night."

Flush immediately crept across Nico's face as he once again remembered hi dream with Percy. But after a few moments he began to remember something else. Someone else.

He looked at Damen again, his mind finally making the connection with the forgotten ending of his dream.

Then, he gripped his sword tightly and swung at the man in front of him.