A/N: Hey, guys. I'm kind of sad at the moment, so I'm gonna keep the author's note short. I just got an email from my school literary magazine, telling me they couldn't accept the story I submitted. Apparently it needs "plot" and "characters with motivation". :P Anyway, it made me sad but I'm okay. I still think it's a good story (and it doesn't need plot, it's a oneshot!) but apparently the older people at my school do not agree. If you'd like to read it and let me know what you think, please let me know because positive feedback is just about the best thing I need right now.

But let's not think about that for now. Here's the next chapter. It's sort of a filler chapter because apparently I suck at plot (sorry guys. I'm in a bad mood). This chapter's basically Percy and Nico discussing their problems and being angsty. But I hope you like it anyway, sorry for my angsty A/N, and please review letting me know what you think :D

Also, for any readers of my other fic, Oh, Nico, I am working on the 50th Chapter Spectacular, but I received almost 100 OC submissions, so it's gonna take me awhile…

Okay now I'm done talking. Please review!

Chapter Six

"So the girl next door we've seen everyday for the last ten years is actually Bianca?" Percy clarified as her boiled water for dinner.

Annabeth nodded from her seat on the couch. "That's usually how reincarnation works."

Percy frowned. "Do you think Luke was reincarnated?"

"Oh, yeah, Luke was reborn years ago," a voice suddenly spoke. Percy and Annabeth both jumped in their attempt to locate the intruder- Percy even reaching for the lethal pen in his pocket- only to see Nico di Angelo leaning casually- though tensely- against the kitchen wall. "Now he's sixteen, living in Vegas. Pretty sweet. By the way, am I the only one who thinks it's awesome that the gambling age in Vegas is now twelve? I'm thinking of taking Adrianne for Christmas."

Percy and Annabeth stared at him, Riptide half-uncapped in Percy's hand. Nico shifted uncomfortably. "Come on, guys. I was trying to make our reunion less awkward- you're not exactly helping."

Slowly, but surely, Percy put Riptide back in his pocket and turned back to the stove. "Hey, Nico. Where've you been?"

Nico visibly relaxed and, even though Annabeth was still staring at him, continued he casual conversation. "Oh, you know. Down in the Underworld, hanging with my dad…"

Percy nodded as he reached up to grab the spaghetti from the cabinet above the stove. "That's good. You guys are getting along?"

"Yeah," Nico realized, genuinely surprised. "Dad's been really… human about this whole thing. And, like, Persephone's being… like, nice to me… It's really weird…"

Percy and Annabeth exchanged nervous glances as Percy poured spaghetti haphazardly into the pot. Nico frowned, his hand instinctively reaching towards his sword. "What? Did I miss something else?"

Percy cleared his throat awkwardly. "No, Nico. It's just… after you… disappeared, Jason and I kinda gave your dad a hard time."

"Gave him a hard time how?" Nico asked, confused.

Percy ran a hand through his hair. "We stormed his palace. With multiple warships. And our entire camps. And Mrs. O'Leary. And, like, half the centaurs of the world."

Nico's eyes widened in shock and, frankly, horror. "You did what?! What were you thinking?! My dad could've blasted you!"

"Honestly, Nico," Annabeth spoke up from the couch. "I don't really think your dad cared." Nico glared at her, forcing himself not to feel hurt.

"Not like that," Percy hastily assured him. "We just mean he was really busy. After the Giant War, he had a lot to do to fix up the whole Doors of Death issue. And then I'm sure it was hard hiding from the other gods that he'd put you back in the Lotus."

"So basically he neither had the time nor the energy to fight us when he wasn't gonna give us the answers we wanted anyway," Annabeth concluded.

Nico nodded slowly. "Oh. Okay."

"So now that you're back, your dad might be feeling a little bad about the whole thing," Percy explained.

Nico shook his head. "It's not his fault. I made him swear not to tell anyone."

Percy averted his gaze and started stirring the spaghetti with a fork.

Nico narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "Percy, what are you doing? Give me that!" He abandoned his hiding place against the wall and grabbed the fork from Percy's hands, tossing it into the sink and grabbing a large plastic spoon instead. "Who trusted you with Italian food?"

"Annabeth," Percy informed him. "But… only because I wouldn't let her get up from the couch."

Nico nodded. "Probably a good idea. Stir this." He handed Percy the spoon and disappeared into the shadows, only to reappear five feet away by the couch. "Annabeth, Percy and I need to talk. Can you, like, take a nap or whatever pregnant people do?"

Annabeth blinked, looking tiredly up at him. "Sure, Nico. I'll do that."

"Thanks." Nico shadow-traveled back into the kitchen and this time shut the door behind him, leaning against it casually as he watched Percy stir the pasta. "Percy, can we talk?"

Percy glanced over at him. "Yeah, of course. What's up?"

Nico shifted awkwardly. "About last night… I'm, uh, sorry I kinda ran out on you guys."

"It's not your fault, Nico," Percy assured him. "I'm sorry I… freaked out on you."

"Yeah… was that… I mean do you…" Nico shook his head. "Do you freak out like that because of me?"

For a few minutes, there was silence, as Percy cooked and Nco watched him, until the son of Poseidon finally spoke. "I don't know if you remember… but you and I weren't exactly on the best terms when you left. So when you didn't come back… and we couldn't find you… and we thought you were dead…" Nico shifted uncomfortably. "Anyway, I knew you weren't easy to kill, so I thought… I thought maybe you'd…" Percy cleared his throat awkwardly and took another moment of silence to stir the pasta.

"I blamed myself, is the point," Percy continued. "And then I was kind of out of it for a couple years. I had nightmares, a lot, so I stopped sleeping and then I started to get angry really easily- I'm sure Annabeth almost dumped me at least twice-" That got a chuckle out of both of them, but Percy's smile soon faded. "I would go out of my way to find monsters to kill, even when I was hopelessly outnumbered. Things just sort of… snapped…"

Nico crossed his arms, hugging his chest. He didn't want to imagine what his friend had gone through because of him.

"I have a therapist now," Percy told him. "A son of Bacchus I met in New Rome. He's been helping, and especially now that you're back… Anyway. I've been getting better."

Nico nodded. "That's good. And you don't… I mean, you're not… mad at me?"

Percy's grip tightened on the plastic spoon, but the timer beeped before he could reply and he needed full concentration to prepare the pasta the way Annabeth liked it.

Sometime in between draining the pasta and making the sauce, Nico disappeared from the kitchen, which honestly didn't surprise Percy.

The son of Hades had never been good at confrontations.

As Percy and Annabeth ate dinner that night, Percy continued to do what he'd been working at doing for the last 15 years.

He tried his hardest not to think of his cousin.

Meanwhile, Nico di Angelo appeared on the fire escape outside Adrianne's bedroom, and watched his sister sleep, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

Nico sighed, turned away, and sunk back into the shadows to wait until she woke up.

A/N: Hope you liked it. I'll try to update sooner next time, but I'll be spending the next six months writing scenes for each OC I was given :D

So, see you soon. Please review, and tell me your favorite TV show that no one else has seen. Mine is The Goldbergs.

Btw, my answers to the last questions, my dream role is Elphaba from Wicked, and the fictional universe I'd want to live in is either PJO or the universe I'm attempting to write a novel in.

K bye everybody. Please review!