I hope you liked the recap from the previous chapter. Now, answering reviews!

JoJo: thank you! I hope you like this chapter.

And now you have...

The next chapter!


I frowned at the dark haired, dark eyed, and dark souled boy. "What are you doing here?" I asked, carefully keeping my voice neutral. "Are you done ignoring me?"

Well. So much for neutral.

Nico sighed. "I'm sorry, Miria," He walked closer to me and Will, but slowly and softly, as if we were wild animals he was afraid of scaring me; he probably wasn't afraid of scaring away Will, because one look at the blonde boy's face told me that he was confused, but definitely not scared. Once he reached me, he sat down where Will was just a bit ago, carefully keeping 2 feet away; one of his rules when we became friends. For some reason, my heart skipped a beat when I realized he was following his "friend rules". I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling.

Wait, why was I feeling like this?

Nico continued, unaware of my rapidly beating heart and smile fighting to come out. "I was angry, and I snapped at you that night. At first, I avoided you because I was angry, but then I felt guilty, but I didn't find you because I thought you were mad at me—"

"And you were too prideful to find me," I singsonged.

A smile tugged at Will's lips, but he stood up, saying, "I... have to go. Cabin counselor duties." But as he left, he smirked at Nico, making the son of Hades...

Blush?

Wait...

Did Will Solace, son of Apollo, just make Nico di Angelo blush?

Nico sighed and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, but nodded. "Yeah. I was too prideful—"

I cut him off again. "'Was'?"

Nico tossed me a playful glare, but it still made me squirm uncomfortably. "Hypocrite," he said.

I gasped theatrically. "Me? A hypocrite? What? Never!"

Nico rolled his eyes. "All right, I'm done apologizing." He glared at me, no playfulness anymore. I gulped; Nico di Threatening Angelo was back. "Don't you dare skip meals like that again. Why would you skip meals in the first place?"

"Because you wouldn't eat if I was in the dining pavilion!" I muttered.

"So?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You idiot!" I snapped. "I can't just let you starve!"

"So you let yourself starve?"

"Yes!"

Nico groaned. "And you call me the idiot,"

"Yes, I do." I took another bite of my sandwich. "You did eat, right?"

He nodded. "Of course I did. How much breakfast did you eat?"

I looked away, knowing fully well that he'd scream at me. "Like..."

"Like...?" he prompted.

"A pomegranate and an omelet," I muttered.

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I knew he was raising that skeptical eyebrow again. "The whole pomegranate and omelet?" he pressed.

"... No?"

He groaned loudly. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you were avoiding me and I know I messed up!"I snapped.

Nico rolled his eyes. "And how did you mess up again?"

"Well, my mother was there and she turned into... Well, she was trying to do something to you, like make you an emotional wreck—" I gave the raven haired boy a sharp look. "—Which you were!"

"You do realize that every one of those things Melinoe did, right? Or are you too daft?"

Ah, there were the double edged sword I knew and loved. I smiled. In his own way, he was reassuring me that I didn't do anything wrong (which I didn't, although I still felt strangely guilty), but because he was Nico di Angelo, he had to add an insult at the end. I was the same way.

How did I know all that? Well, I guess I was good at reading people. I know, it's crazy; the daughter of Melinoe—good at reading people? I guess it was a skill I got from my dad.

"Oi, Miria," Nico was smirking as he attempted to grab my attention again. I blinked as if I had just woken up from a one thousand year slumber, making Nico snicker.

"You're obviously daft, but do you realize it or not?"

"I don't know, you may need to spell it out for me." I joked.

"Fine. Melinoe came there on her own accord—"

"Because she wanted me," I interrupted.

"You're the one who was threatened by my father," he snorted.

I blinked again in confusion. "How did you know?" I asked.

My seemingly observant friend—wow, it felt so weird to call him my friend after arguing with him... But what can I say? I'm a weird girl—scoffed. "Please. I know my father. What did he threaten you about?"

Suddenly, the floor became very interesting. I mean, have you seen the fascinating lines in the wood? However, I still responded—but only because I didn't want to be killed by the temperamental idiot.

"He said that if I don't treat you well, he'll introduce me to Thanatos." I carelessly—which was obviously just a farce to anyone who knew me well—examined the extremely short nails on my right hand. And by short, I mean short; they were bitten to the nub!

Yes, I bite my nails, and more awfully than your average nail-biter. Is that a problem?

But Nico frowned. "That's stupid," he declared.

I clapped sarcastically. "Well done, Junior Holmes!"

Nico gave me a lethal glare, causing me to gulp. Again. Unfortunately, Nico saw this, and his cocky smirk came back. Wait, cocky smirk? When have I ever seen Nico di Angelo give me a cocky smirk? All of the smirks he had given me were either full of ire or dripping with sardonic humor. But they were never cocky.

"Do I scare you, Miria?" he growled, attempting to kill the smirk—and royally failing.

I scoffed unconvincingly. "You? Scare me? As if."

"Really?" He stopped trying to not smirk.

"Why would you scare me?" I challenged.

"Because I beat you every time when we spar." he deadpanned.

"I beat you once!" I protested.

He raised an eyebrow yet again. "We tied, and I ran you through with my sword."

I waved his words away, like they were pesky flies. "Details, details."

He laughed, but went back to our earlier conversation. "But it is stupid," he insisted.

"I never disagreed. But why do you think so?"

"Because you're the nicest person to me, so if you die for being you, I'd lose the nicest person to me." he explained.

I raised my eyebrows. "Is that your idea of a compliment?"

His grin seemed sheepish when he showed it. Did he ever grin at me before? I wondered.

"Maybe it is," When he sounded sheepish, he sounded so much younger, like an actual fourteen year old, not eighty-two Okay, eighty-two was a bit of a stretch; he sounded like a grieving twenty year old. Yeah, twenty makes much more sense...

"Do you want to... I don't know... go somewhere?"

I grinned teasingly. "Is that you trying to ask me out?"

He scoffed and looked away. "In your dreams, Gray,"

I smiled. "Maybe," I teased. Then, my smile dropped as I mentally face palmed; did I just say that I liked him?

But—thankfully—Nico didn't respond. Instead, he called out, "Solace! Can we go?"

"Will you make sure she eats?" Will called from somewhere in another room.

"Of course," Nico replied.

"Make sure she takes it easy?"

"Yup,"

"No shadow traveling?"

Nico exploded at that, making me jump. "I'M NOT EVEN INJURED!"

Will, however, was as calm as ever. "Just kidding, Death Boy,"

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!"

"Why not?"

I interrupted them with a snicker. "You guys are like an old married couple,"

No response. Then, Nico called out, "I'm taking her, Solace!"

"See you later di Angelo!"

Then, I followed Nico as he went outside the infirmary.


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~Sarcasticsnark13