Note: Posted With Permission

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

Chapter Thirteen: Revelation

"Jesus, Nico it's just was sprain! I can walk on it now, I'm tired of sitting here all day!" Percy groaned.

"I don't care," I replied, placing more blankets on top of him. On my order he was laying in our bed with his leg propped up, looking somewhat miserable because he had been there for a few days. Since the attack we, and the other cabins, had an influx of new inhabitants. Spare beds had been brought in so we were housing about twelve other guys. Silena's cabin was full of young women and packed as full as ours. The few other cabins that were still standing were fit to bursting until everything could properly be repaired, "Now, lay there while I go get breakfast,"

"Where could I go? You've got me bundled into this thing like a prison," Percy said unhappily. Maybe I was taking it a little overboard. I could hardly make him out under the pile of blankets I had piled on top of him and we had been reassured that his ankle would probably start feeling better a few days ago but, I wasn't taking any chances. Another day or two off of it wouldn't hurt. And maybe I was punishing him a little for making me worry, just a little. I kissed him quickly, chuckling to myself. If there was one thing he hated it was being confined.

"You look pretty comfortable there, Percy," Carter smiled he, Walt, Charles, the Stoll twins, a young man named Ethan Nakamura, and a few others were gathered around a table playing a card game, the rest of our new roommates were all out probably trying to get their minds off of what happened.

"Shut it, Kane," Percy growled. I laughed.

"Behave yourselves," I said with a small smile, more than half our new occupants were part of the Party Ponies (a few were Pony hopefuls) thanks to their cabin being one of the ones to burn down, and to the fact that Percy had gotten his wish after his little stunt. Now he was one of them. "I'll be back." I gave him a quick peck on the lips and was off.

Walking out of the door I heard their laughter resume, this time Percy's joined it so I knew someone else must have become the butt of their joke. I smiled to myself for a moment, heading down the stairs, and stopping to look around. If the scorch marks on the ground weren't there and the few cabins that were beyond repair weren't still smoking you might think nothing happened. We had worked hard to restore a semblance of the way the camp had looked before.

I thought about how much it had taken to just do the repairs. Supplies seemed almost endless for now; they simply journeyed into the city to retrieve what we needed. But, what about in a few years when we would have to go out of state to replenish, or then even a few years after that when we would have to go even further? I sighed because I knew that was a far way off, I was just tired. Not only had I thrown myself into helping rebuild the camp all week but when it came time to go to sleep I just couldn't. I feared the return of the Cloven, when they showed up again Percy would run off.

Maybe if I joined the Party Ponies myself I could at least watch after him, but I wasn't the kind of guy they were looking for. It would take a lot of work for me to become physically fit enough, which was all well and good, but in that time I could direct my energy somewhere else like into things I was actually good at. I wasn't so selfish as to overestimate my abilities just because I wanted to keep an eye on Percy. I would stick to helping people around the camp as best I could and I would have to trust that he could defend himself. It wasn't something I liked, but it was the truth which at times was a sour thing to swallow.

First things first, I needed to see Chiron because breakfast would be over all too quickly and then he would become swamped with other things, if he wasn't already. I wanted to take a good portion of the time he could spare because as much as I had begun to like him something inside me thought he knew more than he was telling. Making my way to the food hall I found him right where I figured he would be, sitting at one of the tables sipping a cup of coffee while his eyes scanned a book. His was the only table with no one else at it, the campers must have not wanted to disturb him, he only kept council with two people, Mr. D. and Silena, and I had only ever really seen him interacting with his Ponies but whether this was his own decision or not I couldn't tell.

Squaring my shoulders I walked over to him and sat without invitation.

"Nico," He said with a small smile, looking up from his book. "what a pleasant surprise, good morning."

"Morning," I returned, he looked so approachable. I was trying to think of how I wanted to phrase the questions I had for him in my head. "Am I interrupting?" I asked, thinking better not to assume he was doing nothing.

"Not at all, I was only reading a study on Nietzsche's philosophies," He said looking at the book one last time before closing it, his eyes warm mocha as they assessed me. "You seem to have something on your mind, though. How can I help you, son?"

I thought maybe this wasn't the best idea, accusing him of withholding information. Even if he did it was probably for the good of the camp, why would he tell us about every single problem if he and his counselors could just figure it out without worrying everyone? I sighed, "Chiron, I want to be a camp counselor," It was a split decision but the moment it left my mouth I felt it was the right one; meeting his eyes with what I hoped looked like long thought out determination I stared him down.

He smiled in a way that was both heartwarming and something else. What was that...was that pride? It spread all over his face till I had to look down at the table, I wasn't used to people my dad's age giving me such a prideful look and it made me strangely uncomfortable. I had come here thinking that I was going to stand my ground, forcing answers to things I didn't understand out of him, and here I was already losing my nerve. But, if I could get him to agree to my request maybe I could learn everything that I didn't know. Silena seemed to have knowledge about things that other people didn't, and Mr. D., well, he never really talked to anyone, not even his sons.

"What reason would you want to do that, Nico? I've got two perfectly capable candidates doing a splendid job as is," He returned.

"Because I want to be part of something in this camp too!" I told him quickly, realizing that that was true. Percy was so gung-ho about being a part of things that it must have been rubbing off on me. He was such a bad influence. I leaned forward so no one else could hear, "I want to know everything that you're not telling everyone." I said, a hard look came over his face then but he didn't speak. "I want to be able to help, I don't like not knowing what's going on and you might think that you're doing me a favor by keeping me in the dark like everyone else—"

"I would be—"

I stopped him from interrupting, "But, I can handle it! If it's a matter of security then my lips are sealed, I wouldn't dare tell anyone what was going on,"

He smiled, "Not even Percy?"

I scowled, "Not even Percy," I said gravely, seriously. "Besides, I love him but if he hears something he doesn't like he's immediately up trying to do something about it, I'll listen to you before making any rash decisions about what I think should be done." He sat back pensively, sipping his coffee and tapping his Nietzsche book.

"I see you feel strongly about this," He said after another long, drawn out sip.

"Yeah,"

"Maybe I could use another ear, Dionysus is good enough company when I need someone to drink with and reminisce but poor Silena has dealt with the breadth of my musings," He smiled again, my pulse was racing as I felt him about to say what I was hoping he'd say. "You know that it will be terribly boring for the most part?" He asked, but the optimistic look wouldn't be so easily knocked off my face. He laughed, "Alright, Nico. I'll promote you to camp counselor, which, as you've figured out is more accurately a position to know the intimate things that go on here, though I regret to inform you that the work is hard. If, at any time, you feel your work load is too much all you have to do is simply let me know and I'll take it back," I felt myself smiling.

"Thank you!" I grinned, then I remembered why I had really come here. "Okay, now that that's out of the way, who are the Cloven, really?" I asked. He finished his mug and sat it down, placing his book on top of a clipboard that had been in his lap and pulled a pencil from behind his ear.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked, looking grim.

"Of course, if they're going to attack again I think knowing who they are is key to driving them away." I replied with the same amount of seriousness in my voice.

"Then I'll tell you," He sighed. "I have no idea who they are."

"You—what?" I blinked at the anticlimactic answer and he looked away shaking his head.

"It's true, their leader is a man named Leneus, he seemed level-headed enough when he asked if his survivors could merge with us, what was that, two years ago? But, the night before they were all schedule to be brought into the camp they raided and attacked the guards we keep on the outskirts of the woods. They were probably upset that we didn't bring them in at once, but as you've seen I'm a cautious man," I remembered.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A casualty," He replied. "They killed my son." Surprise hit me so hard that I had to bite back bile, his face had gone from divulgator to stone in a matter of seconds, but for the first time I saw real pain hidden in his scholarly expression. He had suffered just as much as the rest of us and it was just now dawning on me to even ask; this hadn't been an easy transition for him, it had been easy for no one and I had to keep that in mind. No matter how big the smiles, or how loud the laughs everyone was hurting inside. "We drove them from our woods where we had let them gather while they moved their sick and elderly, and I'm sure it is to Leneus's great displeasure that we never revealed the location of the camp, but now he knows. They'll kill again, I'm sure of it, but I'll do my damndest not to let that happen."

I felt my head spinning. This is exactly what I had asked for, to know what was going on, but it suddenly seemed like a huge threat made more real by Chiron's steel hardened expression. I swallowed, "What can I do?" I asked.

His face suddenly softened and his gaze became much less intense, just like that he was aloof again but once I had seen his face contort with grief I couldn't easily forget it, "For now you can drop this topic, Nico," He said touching my shoulder in a gesture that I realized was entirely too fatherly. I thought about every look of caution, every seemingly tight-lipped action, every proud smile that I had seen on him and it was all too clear now why he had seemed so strange. He was still grieving his own child, but outwardly he looked so strong. He stood gathering up all of his effects. "We'll talk more later when I call a meeting, I'll tell Silena to notify you of when that is and you'll be given a permanent free pass when it comes to the curfew, especially if you need to tell me something directly."

"Chiron, I'm sorry," I replied.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," He said simply, his voice just the slightest bit tight.

"No, not just about your son, but I am incredibly sorry about that too. I'm sorry because I thought you weren't telling us everything because you were some crazy guy or something, and you're not. You're this really amazing guy who has a lot on his shoulders." He smiled and patted my shoulder again, each pat like a leaden weight against me, I felt horrible about conceiving such a cockamamie thought. "So thank you for being…well, amazing." I finished.

"I'm not," He said. Before I could protest he held his hand up. "I have to go, for some reason Katie Gardner can't get a patch of soil to give us any crops, I'm going to run some nitrogen tests on it," I nodded, staring down at my hands hard. "And Nico?" I looked up, "Don't be so hard on yourself, I look forward to having you around," Then he walked away.

I sighed wondering to myself if I could be any more of a horrible person and stood, breakfast was almost over. Going over to the serving line I greeted Darrin, Piper, and Lacy, the three on food duty today. After which I grabbed breakfast for myself and Percy; finding that I wasn't in the mood to make conversation I apologized and told them we would hang out later, then I made my way quickly back to our cabin.

When I opened the door I discovered two things that should have upset me but that didn't, one: Percy was out of bed with one hand full of cards and a pile of poker chips in front of him, and two: in his other hand was what looked like a rolled cigar, just about every other person gathered around the card table was smoking one as well. Now, if I hadn't just made myself feel like such a jackass I might have marched in there, grabbed that cigar out of his hand and pulled him by the collar back to his detainment, but Percy was a grown man, he could smoke if he wanted to, and I was feeling lower than low at the moment.

"Read 'em and weep boys, royal flush," He smiled laying the cards down on the table. There was a groan of consensus at the table and he smiled as he pulled the bets towards himself. I shook my head at their antics, if this was how "guy time" went then I was rather glad I'd never participated.

"Those cigars stink," I announced from the door, everyone jumped at the sound of my voice and I laughed. "At ease, gentleman." Being that the cabin had been mine and Percy's before they had all moved in we were technically the people who ran things in it, that's how things were run here. Someone would be appointed to the position of Cabin Leader, Cabin Leaders answered to Counselors and Counselors answered to Chiron.

Somehow I had been given the Cabin Leader title, which made me chuckle to myself because walking around Cabin 3 (the number of cabins we lived away from the big one that Chiron stayed in) I felt like I was in a land of giants. I was the smallest person in there, Carter was second shortest but even he slightly towered over me. So I thought it was funny that they all seemed to want to tiptoe around me, and I thought it even funnier that considering the fact that a few cabins had just burned down they were in here smoking (regardless of the fact that now they were trying to surreptitiously snuff the cigars and cigarettes out) and cavorting.

"H-hey, Nico, you're back pretty quick, huh?" Percy asked with a nervous smile. "Am I in trouble." He added quickly. I laughed, closing the door behind me with my foot.

"So much trouble," I replied. "Open the windows so that the smell airs out at least, and eat your breakfast," I handed him a plate of biscuits with slightly cooled gravy, some sausages, and oatmeal with butter that had melted into it. "Scoot over and deal me in," He took the plate and smiled as cards were dealt out.

"Have I ever told you how awesome you are?" He asked; I felt myself return with a small smile.

"Once or twice, but I can stand to hear it again," I replied.

"Hey, sweetheart," I looked up, Charlie's voice was directed towards the door. Silena stood there, a small smile on her face at his acknowledgement of her. She had on a tangerine colored blouse that bunched around her sides, outlining her slim but curvy figure well tucked into a pair of high-waisted white business casual slacks and a pair of nude colored wedges. Her hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail, a few blonde strands haloing around her face. How the hell did she look like a fashion magazine cover every time I saw her?

"Hi!" She said cheerily, marching in and placing a kiss on his lips. "Charlie, you've been smoking." She accused.

"Only a little," He said with a smile, she grabbed his arm and rubbed up to his shoulder.

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked, shaking her head causing her expertly curled waves to catch sunlight, then she leaned down and kissed him again.

"Love you," Charlie said when she pulled back.

"You'd better," She grinned, then she looked over at me. "Chiron told me you were a counselor now?" All eyes turned to me; I set what would have been a winning hand down on the table. I'd played a lot of internet poker back when the internet was kind of a big thing and I'd gotten pretty good.

"Uh, yeah," I said sheepishly.

"That's great," She said, her smile was almost relieved. "It'll be good to have someone else to talk to, Dionysus is…he's a great person, but he doesn't take much seriously."

"I'll do my best, I…I want to help around here, somehow."

"Hey, maybe you can give us the skinny, when Leena goes to those damn meetings she never tells me anything about them," Charlie said.

"I kinda promised not to say anything either," I said, finding that my hands in my lap were surprisingly very interesting. I felt Percy's eyes on me, our breakfast half forgotten, and I did not look over at him.

"Sworn to secrecy," Silena laughed. "Sorry, boys, there has to be some sort of order around this place or else we wouldn't be any better than those damn Cloven," There was a silent moment before she added, "You should meet us in the cafeteria after dinner, Chiron's decided to call a meeting to sort of induct you."

I nodded, "I'll be there," She stood to her full height and smiled again.

"Good, if any of you lazy men can be spared some roofs need repairing, and some walls need painting," She said over her shoulder as she made her way to the door, "and by "be spared" I mean let's hop to it!"

"Just let us finish this game, babe?" Charlie said, almost pleadingly, which gave me incentive to turn my hand over. There was a collective groan from the table at the sight of my cards and I felt myself grinning. "Alright, yeah, we're going," Charlie laughed standing. "Nico, you're a card shark,"

"Only a little bit," I smiled. "Play you again soon?"

"Hell no, I know when I'm beat," He laughed. "Sure, anytime." With that everyone stood and followed the bouncy blonde out of our cabin.

We got two cabins repaired that day, they weren't up to code for habitation just yet but the burnt wood had been replaced after more had been chopped and treated and waxed, new roofs had been built, it was amazing what a handful of the men and women could do. Everyone seemed to have a special talent of some kind. Truth be told I felt like an Amish person, pulling with a rope as we hauled a repaired wall up to a standing.

By the end of it my muscles were sore but it was a good burn. I was informed by one of our many workers that I'd probably be feeling it in the morning. I was feeling it right now, I could only guess what morning would bring. Chiron seemed to be his old smiling self, directing and demonstrating what he wanted done to a group of people and then moving on quickly and starting all over with a new one.

We all worked as hard as we could, and by dinner time there were two structures standing again where before it had been less that even half of one. "Good work, everybody," Chiron said. "Tomorrow we've got more to do, but for today I'm dismissing the rest of the schedule, everyone's free to do as they will," There was a whooping cheer. "As for me I'm going to retire for a little while, if anyone needs me get in touch with Silena or, our newest counselor, Mr. Nico di Angelo." He motioned to me, suddenly there was another whooping cheer and people began to applaud. I felt my cheeks become inflamed suddenly and I tried to fold into myself as much as I could, but I was the center of attention. It took a moment but the camp leader finally took pity on me, "Alright, alright, enough you're going to give him a complex. Everyone, you're dismissed,"

Conversations started springing up all around us as everyone dispersed, I looked for Percy but I saw he was engaged in a conversation all his own. I decided to leave him to it, I wanted to steal him away but he needed his guy time, that was a given.

"Hey, Angel-boy, you wanna grab a bit to eat?" I looked over, Sadie was smiling at me.

I looked over at Percy another time, and then I smiled back, "Sure, let's go." As we walked she introduced me to a girl who I had presumed was just on the way to the cafeteria.

"This is Jazmine, a mate of mine. Jaz you know Nico, everyone does now that he's a celebrity," Jazmine was an exceptionally pretty blonde girl who was about Sadie's age. I shook hands with her.

"Nice to meet you," I said blushing at the celebrity comment.

"You too," She smiled.

We stepped into the cafeteria and a mouth watering aroma of food hit our noses, my stomach growled loudly and we fell in line behind the others waiting to receive their dinner, Sadie snapped her fingers, "I've got an idea, since I haven't the slightest where you're from or anything about you, Nico, we'll go around telling exactly how we got here, all three of us." She looked as if that was a perfectly good idea, I grinned because I thought it wasn't half bad. "You first, of course," She tacked on as we moved forward.

"Okay, it started like this…" I told them my story so far. From the very beginning that started with my mother's death to the part where Percy rescued me in a Wal-Mart, though Sadie interrupted by saying, "So he's always saving you, then? Seems a bit damsel-in-distress if you ask me," To which I told her to shut up and let me tell the story. I moved on, omitting some of the heavier parts, till they were both thoroughly convinced that the world had ended just so Percy and I could be together. I laughed because it did seem that way.

"You say you went through Tennessee?" Jazmine asked, by the time I was done we had gotten our food and were seated. I nodded, "That's where I'm from, Nashville actually," Then she painted an elaborate story of being the daughter of a surgeon and having studied all her life to go into the medical field. She told us about Summers in Tennessee and about Southern Hospitality, to which I interrupted saying, "Yeah, Percy's from Texas, I've witnessed that first hand," She continued, talking about how she hadn't known her father had contracted the Mist, but he had forced her onto the first bus to New York to stay with some family, then she got the call not too long after having boarded the bus that he died. By the time she had reached New York the virus had killed off more than half of the United States. She told us how her aunt and uncle had been DOA once she reached her destination as well. Luckily they lived on Long Island, and not too long after she found herself here.

Sadie's story was pretty similar, Carter had been visiting her and her grandparents in London, he had been there for about a month before it was time for him to go back and for Sadie to visit in the States for the same amount of time with their dad. Two days before they had to go Zia—who at the time had only been Carter's friend—had shown up, Carter had promised to show her around the city. "Git," She said rolling her eyes. "The pathetic thing is that it was so obvious they'd end up together," Here a knowing smirk played at her lips. She continued to say that a few days into her arrival in the States was when it started getting bad. She too had lost her father, and her Gran and Grandad—though this was speculation because they were in Jolly Old England and she was bloody well stuck here, wasn't she? Her words, not mine. She wasn't deluding herself into believing that they were okay, she had mourned them already, but it was still unknown how they had really fared and the thought that maybe they were alive kept hope alive in her.

Her dad, her brother, Zia, and she had been visiting a museum in the area when their father had come down with the Mist, by this time it had been in its last stage and so he had died hours later. She said he had thought they were safe because it had seemed like the virus had calmed down, and yet he was one of the last casualties to catch it. She was thankful for Walt because he had found her and Carter and Zia on one of the trips outside of camp to replenish supplies.

"He likes you, you know?" I interrupted, for the first time since I'd known her Sadie blushed.

"There's absolutely no way he even knows I exist," She replied, moving what was left on her plate around with a fork. Jazmine laughed.

"I've seen the way he looks at you, Sadie, I think Nico's right," She smiled, Sadie blushed harder. She opened her mouth and I knew we were both about to get a verbal lashing when before she could speak she was thankfully interrupted again.

"Early curfew is still in effect, people, everyone back to your homes, if you wish to have an escort one can be provided," Early curfew had been instituted as a way to make sure everyone got to bed earlier so that they could rise earlier as well. I smiled because Sadie cast her eyes towards Walt's table and quickly looked away, her mind obviously racing or else she wouldn't have been so quiet. She stood up, as did Jazmine, and turned away. I could see why she liked him, he was tall, he was blond, and he had those eyes as she had put it talking about Percy.

"Goodnight," I almost laughed.

"Night," She said distractedly.

"G'night," Jazmine smiled. They took their leave; I sat there for a moment by myself watching people go. This was it. It was what I had been waiting for, Percy might have lost his curiosity the moment that he found things that reminded him of home here, but I hadn't. The only thing I had lost was my distrust of Chiron, actually I felt horrible about that still. Someone sat down at my table.

"Are you upset with me?" I looked over, it was Percy.

"Why would I be upset with you?" I asked curiously.

"We didn't eat dinner together, I figured you'd be mad about that, but when I was going to come over here to apologize earlier you were talking, so I'm sorry, I got caught up with some of the guys and I—" I kissed him for several reasons, one: he was adorable. Two: he had been thinking about me when he was with his friends, which sort of boosted the old self-esteem a little bit. And three: well, we hadn't really kissed much the entire day and I missed it.

"You're incredibly cute, have I ever told you that?" I asked him, leaning back against his body with his arms around my middle.

"Once or twice, but I could stand to hear it again," He laughed, nibbling on my ear. Then his teeth grazed over the side of my neck and I felt him tense slightly, "There's an empty cabin if you want to meet me in there after your meeting, I'll be one the guys standing outside the door to make sure no one gets in here," He whispered lowly, smiling as I looked back at him. What with our new roommates it had been a while since we had been intimate, which should have been a crime or something. God, those people were throwing us all off.

I nodded. "The cute one, got it," I smiled, then we kissed again.

"Maybe you should just skip this meeting so we can—"

"Now you wouldn't be thinking about ditching us already, would you Nico?" Chiron's deep voice broke the illusion that we were the only people left in the cafeteria. I looked over at him sheepishly and Percy broke out into a loud laugh. Dionysus and Silena sat after the accusing man had found his own chair.

"Of course not," I replied, looking anywhere but Chiron's eyes.

"Percy, if you'd step outside with Ethan we won't be long in here," Percy kissed the side of my head and stood. I watched him go, mindful of the way his hips moved in his jeans until the door closed behind him. Chiron cleared his throat again, "I'm glad you could join us," He smiled.

I turned, the image locked away in my mind, and said, "Thanks for letting me be here," then I looked around at all three of them. "What exactly is it that we do here?"

"We run the camp," said Chiron, "deciding what to do when our crops go bad, what will be needed when we journey outside of our immediate threshold of protection, general caretaking and inventory. But, most recently what to do when our enemies attack again, it's only a matter of time." He looked serious suddenly, "As you saw we have a hidden safe haven in case of emergencies but we can't be sure that they won't come with more numbers; it took almost all of our effort to hold them off this time,"

"I say that if they attack again we just open fire till not a one of 'em is standing," Dionysus volunteered from his side of the table, then he yawned sleepily. "Lot of good it does to have military trained men and women defending our doors if we don't give 'em the guns to do it with."

Silena leaned across the table to lay into him, "How many times do I have to say that answering their violence with more violence isn't going to solve anything? How do we know they don't have bigger weapons of their own, and that they're only not shooting us because we're not shooting them?"

"So we should just jerry-rig some explosives?" Dionysus growled, a vein pumping in his neck and he was suddenly purple faced. "Throw 'em until we hopefully hit one of those damn parasites?!" This had gotten started a lot sooner than I thought it would. I sat back and sank into my chair as their instant arguing became louder.

"No, I'm saying that if we can stop them before they even get to the perimeter of the camp then there'd be no need for the fighting in the first place!" Silena roared back standing suddenly to hold her ground, they were close, comically so. I could almost see them kissing if they weren't yelling in each other's faces. That thought struck me as funny, Silena, tall and graceful, kissing Dionysus who was…not so tall or graceful.

"Please be seated, you two," Chiron's calm voice wedged a chasm in the air's tension. I wondered how many times they had had this discussion, enough for it to be quickly become a shouting match, apparently. "We have another opinion I'd like to hear," He motioned with his hand towards me. "Nico, what do you think we should do in the event the Cloven attack again?"

"Uh…" They had just thrown me right in, but, I reminded myself, this is what I was here for. I let my mind run quickly, thinking out loud, "maybe we should set up traps outside of the perimeter, but let everyone in the camp know where they are so they don't get tripped," Dionysus turned his bloodshot eyes on me.

"Yeah, side with her, but if you knew any damn thing you'd know that people can get around traps, they can't get around bullets, kid. You're both just setting us up to be quartered like livestock."

"That's another thing," I added, thinking quickly now, "maybe we should make another of those safe havens, or make the one we have a little bigger so we can put more light and food and stuff in there, being down there I didn't know which way was up we were so crowded." I looked at Mr. D. who was still glaring between me and Silena, "and," I placated, "if it comes down to it maybe we could use some debilitating, but nonlethal weapons?"

"That's a capitol idea," Chiron grinned, "tomorrow I'll set some people to digging out more of that cellar and hanging more lights in there, it was a test run anyway. I'll also put some people to preserving foodstuffs in a jar," He looked around, "can we come to a consensus on this? All for?"

"Aye," Silena said, smiling at me.

"Aye," Mr. D. said, "but where's the fun in nonlethal?" Chuckling Chiron rolled his eyes and continued.

"Aye, the ayes have it then, good job Nico," I blushed. Just like that we were moving on, I'd have to wait for my second meeting to see if we ever breached this topic again. "I've looked over the plot of land we set aside for our vegetables, just like I thought the soil was a bit nitrogen depleted,"

"I'll get right on it," Dionysus said, Chiron nodded. The meeting continued like that, plans for teaching the younger children basic maths, sciences, grammar, and histories fell on Chiron's shoulders most times but a few of the other campers had been teachers in their day. We built the schedule, it stayed on a rotation of people each activity going to those best suited for it, we talked about feeding the animals, about a drop in the water pressure in the showers, bringing in clothes for the coming Winter. We talked about every menial things that was on the clipboard in front of Chiron for about an hour and a half and I felt my eyes beginning to droop.

"Alright, I think we can adjourn for the night," That brought me back to full awareness, but I found myself slouching in my chair. I sat up attentively, "Thank you, everyone, and thank you Nico for joining us tonight," Chiron smiled.

"No problem," I said stifling a yawn. Everyone stood at one time without me, some secret signal between them that I must not have caught. I was going to stand but a pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders and someone kissed my neck at the next moment. "Hi, Percy," I grinned sleepily, there was only one person who knew exactly where that tender spot on my neck was and just how to rake his teeth over it.

"You ready to go?" His arms squeezed and his fingers rubbed the upper half of my torso. I looked at the three other counselors and mouthed an apology.

"Don't be out too late, Percy, we're running drills tomorrow that you need to learn," Chiron told me, Percy smiled widely, I looked up at my boyfriend.

"I'll be there," He said and I wondered if he could look any happier. "You wanna watch me learn some drill tomorrow?" I kissed him again, trying to soak up that goofy smile by letting it permeate to my own lips before I answered.

"Sure," I laughed as he pulled me up out of the chair and began dragging me along behind him quickly. "Damn it Percy!" I yelled but I couldn't help laughing at him. "Uh…goodnight everyone!" I called over my shoulder, as Percy tugged me along.

"Good night, Nico," Silena chuckled.

"Night, boys," Chiron said, Dionysus didn't say anything, but that could have been because he was making his way to the other exit on the opposite side of the room, Silena had been right he wasn't very helpful and now he was making his way back home without so much as a see you later. We walked out the door and the cold night air hit us before we had fully emerged from the cafeteria. I could tell Fall was officially here now.

"Bye, Perce," I looked over at the handsome figure bathed in the moonlight known as Ethan Nakamura, standing still vigilant as guard. His short hair was spiked in the front, he had a jockular face with cheekbones that gave him an elongated and smooth appearance, his jaw was square and freshly shaven. His eyes were the same color as ripe coconut and slanted slightly when he smiled. He was, of course, about the same height as Percy and was slightly built a bit bigger around the chest and his arms were thicker. He was talking with Charlie who must have come to pick Silena up.

"Later Perce, Nico," Charlie smiled almost knowingly as Percy and I made our passing au revoirs. When they were out of sight I laughed as he turned, still walking, and kissed me. Then he swung us around and started humming Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On and I don't think I ever loved his silliness anymore than I did then. When we got to the still-under-construction cabin he opened the door, still humming, and waited for me to walk in before he grabbed me by the waist and held me against his body, swaying our hips back and forth. "I been really trying, Nicky," He half-sung, half-spoke as he kissed my neck. "Trying to hold back this feeling, for so long," I laughed as we danced around a blanket that he must have laid down earlier. I should have known he'd planned this. "But if you feel, like I feel, Nicky, ow," He kissed my lips. "Baby, let's get it on!"

"Oh, my God, I can't believe you!" I said, unable to catch my breath from laughing so hard. He kissed me full on the lips, once, then twice, by the third one I was kissing back, laughter forgotten though now it sat in my belly and was transformed into blossoming joy. By the fifth kiss I was swaying my hips with him, leaning my head against his chest, he was still humming but it was more subdued now, his hands were running down my back cupping my ass as we moved. I gripped the front of his pants, unbuttoning them and grinning when he stopped me. "Lay down," My skin became riddled with goose-pimples as he ran a finger down my arm and I nodded, breath catching in my throat. The silliness was over, his goofy smile had become a small, resigned thing and his eyes were cloudy in the bright moonlight, I remarked at the navy blue color they had become, touching his cheek lovingly.

We kissed again and I felt his lower half grind into mine. Had it really be so long since we'd done this? I could hear my heart beating in my ear rapidly; I could feel my body trembling for his touch. I grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, casting it to the side so that I could lay my hands on his warm flesh. I unzipped his pants and he pulled them the rest of the way off, along with his shoes, before instructing me to sit up. I did so and helped him throw my shirt off somewhere with his. When his chest was on top of mine I wrapped my arms around him, our bodies contouring to one another as if they had been specifically designed to do just that. He pulled back and undid my jeans, helping me to wriggle out of them. Soon there was warmth everywhere between us as we were separated by only the thin cotton of our respective undergarments.

He kissed me again and I kissed him back, fiercely.

We flipped over and I was on top of him now, still kissing, still tangled, I kneaded his sides while he had a firm grasp around my backside. "God…" I groaned, nipping his neck, our hip swaying now something that felt deadly because there was hardly a barrier between our nakedness. His legs wrapped around my waist and he positioned himself such that my erection was pressing against the orifice therein. He rocked his hips almost inviting me in, my clothed prick throbbed harder. "Really?" I asked and he nodded, it was a rare thing for Percy to let me top, I probably could at any time if I asked but I liked going with the flow of it and I liked giving just as much as I liked receiving. I held his legs up and pulled his boxers up and over, then did the same with my own and with nothing between us we were suddenly lost in pleasure. "Is there any…um…you know?" I asked him.

"Lube?" He smiled, "yeah," His body twisted, giving me a good look at the muscular obliques lining his sides, I ran my hand over them, eliciting a tiny shiver that caused blood to suddenly swell below my waist, my erection pounded, becoming almost painfully stiff. I ground it against Percy and he smiled over his shoulder, still rustling in the darkness looking for the lubrication. "Eager, darlin'?" He asked with a grin.

"You have no idea," I replied, smiling myself.

"Here it is," He turned back over, leaning up and popping the cap he squeezed a generous amount onto his taut entryway, then he guided my fingers letting me know exactly what he wanted. I pushed a digit inside with little resistance, I could feel him forcibly relaxing around my intrusion and he moaned. I leaned up, pressing our lips together as his legs flexed around me, and I swallowed another of his moans. Digging my finger in, then pulling it back out I repeated the motion till I felt it was okay to insert another one. I smirked down on him, knowing this is what he saw when he did this to me, his eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth was hanging open. I made sure to leave him plenty of visible bite markings all along his neck; they were glaring at me in their red glory, still slick with my saliva. His fuzzy thighs clenched and I grinned this time. I looked lower, his chest and torso were thickly decorated with curly black hair that was soft to the touch, his impressive stiffy towered, saluting in the air. I grabbed him around his base, pumping it in the tempo of my scissoring fingers. "Oh, fuck." He groaned underneath me. He throbbed in my hands, veiny prick valiantly standing up to the onslaught of my ministrations. "Fuck, Nico, goddamn it that feels—," He bit his lips and his eyes squeezed together even tighter. "Ah! Okay, okay, enough, Nicky, I can't take much more," He panted. I chuckled under my breath and pushed my fingers in deeper pressing directly into his prostate causing him to curse loudly again as his warmth clenched around my fingers.

I had him literally had him in the palm of my hand, he was so vulnerable I couldn't help but play with him just a little; it was only fair. I took a step back on my knees and hunched over, swallowing his cock down and holding onto his hip with my other hand, the one that wasn't probing him, so he wouldn't buck up and choke me. He fisted a handful of my hair and I vibrated my throat, I could taste him as precum leaked from the very tip of his bulbous headed manhood and I knew that I had brought him very close to the edge.

"Nico, shit—!" I let up on him, giving him one last lick and stroking him again.

"Yes?" I asked, kissing his lips. His eyes were dangerous now, haunted almost, lighting a flame of pleasure in my chest.

"I need you to fuck me," He said, his voice low and his face flushed. "now." I smiled again and nodded, grabbing the bottle of lube and coating myself with it. We readjusted and again he wrapped his muscular thighs around my waist, lifting his buttocks off the ground and laying back, his gaze dark and expectant. I lined up with his warm, slick hole and met his lusty stare.

"Ready?" I asked, and he nodded, then I pushed in.

I was only slightly aware of the fact that I was being dressed. I was beyond tired and the moon was rather low in the sky because it was dark all around. I was covered in a sweat that had now run cold thanks to the chill of the night and I knew that we smelled like sex but I didn't care. Percy was cooing in my ear, which I would have reprimanded him for any other time but during pillow talk I always allowed things I might not otherwise.

"Come on, Nicky," Percy whispered. "God, you rock," I felt a smile on my lips as I drifted off to sleep, not even caring that he had picked me up as he carried me back to our dorm. The world outside was cold, but I snuggled into his warmth, his scent drifting deeply into my nose as I inhaled his musk. The next thing I knew I was laying in bed and he was crawling in beside me, wrapping his arms around me. Lips pressed against the side of my head sweetly and I leaned into him. "G'night," He whispered. "I love you,"

"Love you too," I mumbled, finally drifting away. Somehow it had become an incredibly good day, and I prayed vehemently that I would have many, many more.