"... really a meanie."

was the first thing Hades heard as the father-son duo arrived in the throne room.

Nico blinked as though he had just noticed the change in scenery, "Papa!" he whined, "Couldn't you have at least let me say goodbye?"

Hades raised an eyebrow, "You actually wanted to say goodbye to Hazel properly?"

Nico nodded, "Of course! She gives really nice hugs."

Hades had to admit that he was relieved that Hazel and Nico hadn't started a civil war while he was gone. They were both under the age of eighteen, but they were still two of the most powerful children he had seen in centuries. If those two didn't get along... well, it wouldn't be pretty.

Nico seemed to have a natural affinity towards shadows. He could make them bend to his will even when he wasn't thinking about it. It wasn't unusual for his children to prefer staying in the dark, but it was though the shadows themselves seemed to follow Nico wherever he went, making that place a shade or two darker. Barely noticeable, if you weren't a god, that is. Being able to shadow travel with such accuracy at the age of 10 was a miraculous feat. Nico had only dragged them both to China about 3 times! Hades wondered if growing up in the Underworld, Hades' domain, had somehow helped to increase Nico's control over his powers, it was the only explanation he could think of. How else was he supposed to explain a 10 year old being able to bend shadows to his will with a mere thought, something most of his children couldn't accomplish at 18?

It would certainly explain why Zeus forbade the gods from interacting with their children, if just spending a lot of time in their parent's domain could make demigods more powerful. Or more specifically, children of the big three. Zeus had always been paranoid, after all. He probably spent all night worrying about being overthrown.

What a Drama Queen!

And as for Hazel, well, Hades wasn't really sure how Hazel had such good control over her powers. She could summon all the precious stones and metals within a 1 metre radius just by feeling anxious. Yes, everything she summoned was cursed, but it was still impressive! Hades found it hard to believe that she had got this good by just practicing. Maybe her curse had something to do with her enhanced powers. Or the fact that she would be one of the Seven, someday.

Yeah, it was probably the second one.

Hades felt someone tug at his robes. He shook his head slightly, and realized that if Nico's grumpy face pouting at him was anything to go by, he had zoned out while his son was telling him something.

Again.

Nico pouted, "Papa! You're not listening!"

Hades winced, "I wasn't, was I? So, uh, what were you saying Nico?"

"Is Hazel really going to die?"

Hades gulped, he really didn't want to deal with this now. But he had learnt the hard way that when demigod children want answers, they really want answers.

"Yes." Hades stated bluntly, before immediately cursing himself in his head.

'Yes? Really? That's the best thing you could come up with?' He asked himself, wincing at his choice of words. He was terrible at delivering bad news. But hey, centuries of being renowned for your bluntness and lack of tact could do that to you.

Nico blinked in shock, taken aback slightly at the straightforward answer.

"Oh. That's a shame." he said with a frown.

Hades gaped at his son, "Really? That's a shame? That's all you have to say about this? You said that she wasn't a meanie! I thought you liked her hugs! Why aren't you more upset?" he demanded.

Nico shrugged, "I'm really sad that Hazel is going to die, she's actually pretty nice, you know, when she's not being a meanie. But we spent like, 10 minutes together. You just can't get very attached to someone you just met, even if that someone is your sister."

Hades sighed, Nico had a point. He decided to just be grateful that those two had parted on good terms.

"So," Nico continued, "Hazel is moving away, right?"

Hades nodded, not really sure where this was going.

"Well then, let's make her a care-package! It's the nice, neighbourly thing to do! It can have a note that says 'We'll miss you!', or something like that. It's going to be epic! You wait here, I'll go and get the art supplies!" Nico said happily, his gloom and exhaustion soon forgotten, overshadowed by the prospect of making something nice for Hazel.

Hades smiled at the sight of his 10 year old son practically vibrating with excitement as he raced up the stairs. In fact, he was so happy to see his son doing something that didn't involve homework, skeletons or ghost children that he didn't even bother pointing out that just because it took 10 seconds tops to get to Hazel's house via shadow-travel, did not mean that Hazel was their neighbour.

*******2 years later*******

12 year old Nico di Angelo barely had time to duck as the spartan warrior swung his sword at him.

At one point, he would probably have had a lot more trouble keeping up with such a fast-paced fight. But he was a lot better at sword fighting now than he had been two years ago, when he had first started out. These days, he actually won a few sparring matches against his skeletal instructor. But that never stopped the old spartan from giving him a new piece of advice every day, usually in the middle of a fight.

"You have to exploit your enemy's weaknesses!" advised the spartan as he continued to lunge at Nico, " Your form and speed have improved incredibly, I'll give you that. But you still need to be aware of your surroundings!" he said, as his skeletal leg made Nico stumble and try to regain his footing.

"Yes sir." Nico forced out. He had long since learnt that protesting about the unfairness of using a disembodied leg as a weapon would get him nothing except a lecture on seizing opportunities, and about how a real fight won't be fair.

His eyes gleamed with a manic fire as he was struck by inspiration. He lifted his sword quickly to deflect the Spartan's blow before he could disarm him, it wouldn't do to lose his sword before he could execute his plan.

He tried his hardest to look exhausted and defeated, which wasn't really hard, since he had been training for about 2 hours by now.

The spartan smirked at his slouching form, "Not so fast, di Angelo. I know this trick, you're going to disarm me as soon as I come in for the kill. You can't outsmart a spartan when it comes to battle tactics. So you see, I'm going to stay right here," he said, "right out of your sword's range, until you get up and-."

Before the spartan could even finish his smug tirade, Nico dropped down low and swiped his sword through the skeleton's legs, scattering the leg bones, and leaving a very surprised, legless spartan on the ground.

Nico grinned triumphantly as he stood back up, "Do you think that I exploited my enemy's weaknesses enough sir?" he asked innocently, "Because it seems like I knocked you off your feet, both literally and figuratively."

"Not bad." admitted the spartan, "At least these last two years haven't been a complete waste of time."

Nico rolled his eyes, he could imagined how much it pained the old skeleton to swallow his pride and admit that Nico had done something right for once.

"Now," continued the spartan, "Use those powers of yours to summon my legs di Angelo!"

Nico was about to do so when he heard a voice calling out his name.

"Nico! Come inside for a moment!"

Nico tried to hide his grin, "Sorry sir, but I've got to go. Duty calls." With that, he raced over to where his stepmother was waiting for him, leaving the old spartan to grumble under his breath about insolent boys while trying to gather up all of his leg bones.

"Hey mom!" Nico greeted cheerfully, "Did you see me? I totally aced that one, right?"

Persephone smiled at him gently, "I believe you did. You really have gotten better."

"So, why are you here?" he asked, "No offense, but you usually don't show up to my lessons."

Persephone's eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint that made Nico feel decidedly nervous, "Your father and I want to... have a little chat."

Nico gulped, this could not be good.

*******Line Break*******

"So," Hades began awkwardly, "When were you planning on telling us?"

The king, queen and prince of the Underworld were sitting at the dining table, even though it was nowhere near lunchtime. Over the years, the table had become their unofficial family conference room, even though the Palace had an actual conference room that they could use if they wanted.

Nico arched an eyebrow, mimicking one of his father's favorite expressions, " Telling you what?" he asked.

Nico actually had no idea what his father was talking about, for once. Maybe he had found out about the Underworld lemonade stand Theseus had helped him set up in the fields of Asphodel. Or maybe the furies had told his dad about the time he had snuck into the kitchen and swiped Hades' not-so-secret stash of cookies. Or perhaps his father had finally found out about the Underworld talk-show he hosted every weekend with his ghost friends, Alex and Jane.

Hades and Persephone exchanged awkward looks.

"About your... preferences." Persephone explained, fidgeting in her seat.

Nico really didn't understand what his parents were talking about, "Um, what preferences? Is this about the time I said that I liked grandma Demeter's oatmeal more than yours? Because I'm not taking it back. No offense mom, but your oatmeal tastes terrible."

Persephone rolled her eyes with a faint smile, "No, it's not about the oatmeal."

Hades cleared his throat, "You don't need to worry about facing judgement here Nico." he reassured, " We are Greek, after all. Just... speak your mind, feel free to tell us whatever you like."

Nico blinked, "Okay, you're being weird. Why would I worry about facing judgement? And what does being Greek have to do with anything?"

Hades just smiled, "Don't worry! We understand what you're going through, and we are here to help. Just, tell us how you feel."

Nico slowly rose out of his chair and started backing away, "Right now, I'm feeling very creeped out, so I'm just going to go now..."

Persephone rolled her eyes at his not-so-subtle attempts to reach the door, "Honey, we're talking about the fact that you like boys." she stated bluntly.

Nico froze, "What are you talking about?" he asked, honestly confused.

Hades glared at Persephone, "Although we weren't planning on tackling it so directly," he said pointedly, sending Persephone a disapproving look, "That is why we called you here today."

Nico sat back down, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Hades grimaced, it was probably meant to be a reassuring smile, but he wasn't really very good at pulling those off, "There, there," he said, leaning over to pat Nico's hand reassuringly, "it's okay. No one will judge you."

Nico looked and felt even more weirded out, if that was even possible, "You don't get it. I don't like boys."

Persephone smirked, "Oh really? Is that why you spend so much time listening to Achilles and Patroclus' rave on about their former lives?"

Nico spluttered, "Of course not! I don't know! Maybe? It's just, their relationship is so fascinating- gah!" he yelped, realizing what he was saying.

"I'm gay." he said slowly, as the message began to sink in, "Oh gods, I'm gay. And I didn't even know! Oh my gods I'm gay! This is fine, this is fine, this is totally fine!" Nico exclaimed, getting out of his chair and beginning to pace up and down, his hands gesturing frantically.

Hades grinned, "Told you. There's nothing wrong with being gay, son. Stay calm!"

Nico huffed, "I am calm. " he protested, "And I know that there's nothing wrong with liking boys. Why would there be anything wrong with that? I'm not panicking, I'm just a bit... overwhelmed." he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, " But how did you know that I was gay before I did?"

Persephone looked confused, "Wait, you actually didn't know until now?" she asked.

Nico nodded, " I had no idea."

Hades rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Well, this... changes things. We assumed that you knew by now, you are twelve, after all. Now, why don't we-"

"Wait," Nico interrupted, "You still haven't explained how you knew before I did."

Hades shrugged, "We're gods, and your parents. We know stuff."

Nico fidgeted awkwardly, "Okay..."

Persephone smiled brightly, "Now, why don't we talk about it? And you can tell us all about how you feel right now. It's supposed to help you clear your head."

"No!" Nico blurted out, "I really don't want to talk about feelings now."

Hades looked reluctant, "I don't know. All of the Ancient Greek parenting scrolls we read last night said that talking about feelings is necessary."

"Please Papa!" Nico pleaded, "Can we please just... not talk about that? I'm still twelve! Can't we have this conversation when I'm older?", he asked, his ears steadily turning red.

"You haven't called me 'Papa' since you were ten." Hades pointed out with a goofy grin.

"Dad!"

"Fine!" Hades relented, "We'll ignore this topic for now, but this conversation is not over young man!"

Nico sighed, "Thank the gods." he murmured under his breath, "Crisis averted."

"Excellent!", Persephone exclaimed, "Now we can talk about why everyone likes my mother's oatmeal more than mine. I want your honest opinion." she said, conjuring up a notepad and pen.

Nico exchanged an exasperated glance with his father.

This was going to be a really long day.

*******A few weeks later*******

Nico grumbled under his breath as he made his way to the throne room, "Oh no," he began, in a mocking, high-pitched voice, "It's not good enough for Mr. Jones that I aced my ancient Greek and Latin tests. Noooo, I have to ace English too.", he grumbled, "It's not my fault that I have dyslexia."

Nico was already in a sour mood when he threw open the throne room doors. But what he saw in the throne room was about to make his day even worse.

Or more specifically, who.

A.N:

Yay! 10 chapters completed!

So, any idea who the person in the throne room is?

This was mainly a filler chapter. Since Nico grew up with only gods and ghosts for company, I don't think that he would have had his 'gay awakening' yet. But Hades and Persephone would probably assume that he already knew that he was gay and was hiding it from them.

I know that canon Nico would be terrified to figure out that he's gay, but I think that since he was only about 3 when he came to live in the Underworld, he wouldn't really have been exposed to the whole 'being gay is bad' thing. Also, Hades and Persephone wouldn't just let him wallow in self-hatred even if he did think that there was something wrong with being gay. The main difference in that here, Nico has people looking out for him.

Please note that I have absolutely no experience with that sort of thing, and haven't really had a conversation like that with my parents, so I have no idea how realistic this is. I'm just making stuff up that I think would make sense for these characters.

I also know nothing about sword-fighting. Or skeletal spartan warriors.

Anyway, things are really going to start heating up from the next chapter!

As usual, please review! Reviews really make my day!

Until next time!

-Keera ⌒(*＾-゜)v