Seeing Other People

"You know what, Solace?" spat Nico, "I don't even care what your excuse is. Just leave me alone!"

"Me leave you alone? That would make a change!"

"And what's that meant to mean?"

"You. Shadow-travelling here, there, and everywhere, leaving me with no moment's peace. I could be sitting somewhere, nice and quiet, on my own, and then, there you are: 'Wiiiiill, I've hurt my finger.' 'Wiiiiiill, I've got a runny nose.' 'Wiiiiiill, I'm bored.' It's so annoying. You're just so needy. It's pathetic!"

"I'm the pathetic one? Who's at my door morning, noon, and night? 'Come to breakfast with me, Death Boy.' 'Help me with a patient, Death Boy.' 'Can I have a good-night kiss, Death Boy?' And you know I don't like that nickname. My name is Nico. Use it."

"Well - well - at least I don't view the modern world as if it's some kind of Rubik's Cube."

"What in the gods' names is a 'Rubik's Cube'? I think you make half of these references up!"

"If you ever bothered to learn about the 21st century, instead of just falling back into your comfort-blanket of 'I'm from the '40s', then you'd know. Hazel's much more up-to-speed."

"I don't need to know all your - all your junk. As far as I can see, stuffing your head with it has done you no good at all. Just squeezed out the room for any actual thoughts."

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"If you weren't, you wouldn't have to ask. You'd know that you were."

Will frowned. "Um, really? Does that make sense?"

Nico refused to consider conceding the point. "Yes. It does. You just don't understand. Don't you get how frustrating it is, slowing everything down so you understand it?"

"If I'm that much of an annoyance, then, then I think we'd be better off apart."

"Good idea. Your first for some time, Sunshine."

"Then it's over?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"I'll just go, then."

"You do that."

"I'll be in the Infirmary," said Will.

"I know where to avoid. Like that's any surprise - run along and play with your syringes."

"At least they're useful." Will leaned in close. "Unlike your stupid plastic dolls."

The air around Nico darkened. The grass wilted.

Will's hair, though, didn't even quiver as it blazed brightly in contrast. "I'll see you around," he said, turning on his heel and stalking away towards the Big House.

"Hopefully not!" called Nico after him. He turned to go back to his cabin, and noticed the small crowd of satyrs, campers, and nymphs. "What are you all looking at?" he growled.

No reply.

The ground trembled. All the onlookers rushed off to whatever thing they really, really had to get on with.

"Nico and Will - it's over! Who'd have thought that, eh?" said Jason, on an IM to Annabeth.

Annabeth winced. "I hope nothing bad comes of this…"

"Nico's stable now. He'll be fine."

"Maybe it's not Nico that we should be worried about."

"Will? But Will's so laid-back."

"Exactly. Nothing's and no-one's ever really upset him before. We'd better hope he doesn't dp anything stupid."

"What could he do?"

"Who knows? But I'm sure that a self-destructive Will would not be a pretty sight."

As it turned out, a self-destructive Will was a very pretty sight indeed. In his opinion, at least.

He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled, running a comb repeatedly backwards through his hair until it resembled a golden mist. A navy t-shirt stuck close to his body, highlighting his tall, slim frame. Two chevrons - one gold, one red - pointed towards his waist, where the lowest was cut short by the belted waistband of a pair of tight black jeans.

He bent down to check the knot of his laces, before grinning at his reflection and sauntering out of the cabin. Will was careful to avoid Cabin 13 as he headed towards the woods, fingering the little card in his pocket that he'd lifted from Nico's desk. It was only a short walk through the darkness to a clearing.

There was an orange scooter in it.

"You called?" asked Ganymede, leaning against a tree. His eyes flicked up and down Will's body.

"Yeah." Will stepped forwards and kissed him. "It didn't work out."

Hades frowned at his son's bedroom door. There were two large cracks at the hinges. That explained the slam that had echoed halfway to Elysium.

He raised his hand to the door to knock - and hesitated. It had been a long time since he'd confronted a moody teenager. He glanced at the armed skeletons nearby. No. He wasn't afraid of his son's temper. He was Lord of the Underworld.

He knocked.

A series of swear-words in a number of languages bounced back. Hades shook his head. What did they learn at that camp?

Hades pushed open the door. It creaked alarmingly, and then broke off at the top hinge. Now it slanted away from the door frame.

Inside, Nico's bedroom was rather devastated. The remains of several skeletons, too shattered to knit themselves together, littered the floor. A severed skull, with a blonde wig, rolled around to one side, a sword shoved into its eye socket.

The bed, once neatly made, was now reduced to a cocoon of black duvet, from underneath which sobs and curses flowed alternately.

"Nico…?" ventured Hades.

"Go away."

"No."

Nico stuck his head out from beneath the covers. His eyes were puffily red and his cheeks streaked with tears. He glared at his father. "Yes."

"I'm not leaving, Nico. Tell me what's wrong."

Nico made a few remarks in Latin. All of them obscene (if grammatically accurate). "Will," he spat, eventually.

"I thought it might be the boy…"

Nico buried his head in Hades' robe. The souls of the dead let out a moan of anguish: now they were going to have to be dry-cleaned.

"Don't be angry with him, Dad. I screwed this up. I -"

And that was how a conversation began that locked Hades into more father-son bonding than he'd done with any of his other children. Put together, probably…

"Can this thing go faster?" yelled Will, clinging on to Ganymede's back.

"You bet!" he shouted. "Only the other week, I was making a delivery when I accidentally came across Ares talking to Zeus and Demeter. Ares gave me such a look that I just put my foot down. I was halfway to Mexico even before I got my breath back." He twisted round to grin at Will. "Watch this!"

The scooter reared up and streaked across the sky. It was so fast that they almost seemed to be catching up to the setting sun.

Will would have pulled a face, had his head not been knocked back by the acceleration. His dad would not like any kind of competition.

In the Underworld, the queues for judgement started to back-up. Nico started on a second box of tissues.

Will hopped up onto the log. "Hi."

Nico looked at him sideways. "Hi." His lip twitched up. "It worked, then?"

Will grinned and took a notebook from his pocket. "He told me everything he knew. It turns out that he likes to show off about what he knows."

Nico kissed him. "You're such a good actor, you know."

"As are you." Will kissed Nico back, poking his tongue into Nico's mouth. They broke apart, slightly flushed. Will nudged Nico. "How did father-son bonding time go?"

Nico produced a notebook similar to Will's. "Very well indeed." He grinned. Then he grimaced. "Why we're happy about this, I don't know. It turns out that we've annoyed a fairly sizeable number of the gods with our investigations."

"Yeah… Not good." Will suddenly winced and ran a thumb around his waistband.

"What's wrong?"

"These jeans are far too tight…" With a flick of his hand, he undid the belt. "I think I've just about cut off all the circulation past my knees."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Well, you did insist on wearing my jeans."

"They were the ones I thought … the most attractive."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

Nico looked icily at Will. "Are you saying that I dress … provocatively?"

Will bit his lip and looked away, his cheeks burning red.

Nico smiled. "Good. It works."

Will snapped his head around. He couldn't judge Nico's expression. He had no idea if he was joking or not. He shook his head and stood up. "Fine. Whatever." He looked a bit guilty. "Do you think we should have done that?"

"Done what?"

"Led everyone on like that. Ganymede looked so hurt when I told him that we weren't the right fit for each other."

"He'll perk up in no time, and be off chasing someone else by tomorrow night." Nico shrugged. "We needed to know what he knew." He narrowed his eyes at Will. "Did you enjoy it?"

"No!"

Nico raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I would have done…"

Will blushed. "I suppose… He is very attractive." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But..."

"But?"

"I kept looking at him, and all I could see was you."

Nico snorted. "Don't make me nauseous."

Will pouted. "I mean it!" He winced again. "And now I really need to take your trousers off!"

"My, we should break up more often…"

At a loss for words, Will turned away from his boyfriend (and his suddenly very wiggly eyebrows) and hobbled towards his cabin.

Sorry it's been so long. Hopefully faster from now on.