Day 24: Wednesday

He felt a body sneaking into bed behind him and allowed him to wrap his arms around him.

"Miss me?", the voice said and Nico smiled, snuggling back against him.

He felt those lips against the side of his neck again.

"Want me to stay until you wake up?"

Nico hesitated. Then he shook his head.

"It's ok.", he muttered, feeling a hand fold into his.

There was another kiss to his neck, followed by a soft nibble.

Nico chuckled quietly. It felt so nice.

"If you want me to, I'll stay."

Nico sighed. "Then I want you to stay forever."

The person chuckled behind him, pulling him closer and burying his face at Nico's crook of the neck. "Tomorrow."

Nico sighed. "I know…"

"Are you nervous?"

"A bit. You?"

"Completely. How could I not? I'm probably the one you least expect…or want…"

He sounded so...insecure.

His grip around Nico tightened for a moment and it felt as if his admirer was trying to reassure himself he was still there.

Nico started turning around and cupped his face blindly, kissing him gently.

"Don't worry…I'm not expecting anybody."

"But who would you want me to be, Nico?", the voice asked, almost urgent.

Nico sighed against his lips. "Yourself."

"Nico…"

But Nico ignored him and snuggled against his chest, wrapping his arms around him.

"Nico?"

"Good night…", Nico muttered and nuzzled his face against the person's shirt.

He kissed him on the forehead.

"Good night, my angel."

.

When Nico started waking, his admirer was still with him, arms wrapped loosely around him, his face in Nico's hair, his breathing even. He seemed to have fallen asleep.

Nico squeezed his arm lightly.

As response, there was a small noise behind him and the person shifted slightly, wrapping him in a tighter embrace.

Nico squeezed again.

The person sighed and shifted again, slowly letting go of Nico.

But then he wrapped his arms around him once more, squeezing him tightly, pressing his lips against Nico's neck.

Nico chuckled and turned his head slightly, getting the desired kiss on the lips. Then his person sighed again and pulled back reluctantly, getting out of the bed.

Nico heard some shuffling and scribbling, then he leaned over Nico again, kissing the side of his face. Nico chuckled and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Shoo with you already, you tease.", he whined and the person sighed again, walking towards the door.

Nico could hear every footstep.

He tried to focus on something else, though he couldn't deny he was damn curious.

It was so tempting.

So very tempting.

He heard his door open and close.

His heart was racing in his chest. He was half-heartedly trying to remember all the Greek gods with Roman counterparts in his head, while his ears perked up, trying to discern every little sound.

This was unfair to his admirer.

Then again, his admirer kind of was unfair to him, keeping him in the dark for so very long.

He felt so conflicted he thought he was going to burst.

But then, to his surprise, the person didn't go to any room.

He went to the left and down the stairs.

Nico sat bold upright in bed. That cheater!

Then he blushed and hid his face in his hands, ashamed of himself.

Curiosity would have gotten the better of him. Even though he knew it was important to the person, he would have still tried to find out who it was.

Damn it, it was only one day left!

He could last that much longer, right?

Nico opened his eyes, looking about the room. He hadn't unpacked his jar of fire yesterday, because Percy had wanted to massage him as soon as they put the luggage down and were left alone by Reyna, Frank and Hazel.

Maybe he should have at least unpacked that. It was quite dark here.

He looked around at the small bedside table the room had, wanting to check the time.

Instead, his gaze halted at a rectangular, thin package the size of his hand and a note leaning against it.

He smiled and crawled out of bed to turn on the lights.

The little alarm clock said 8am.

Nico frowned. Weird, wouldn't it be lighter, then?

But as he looked around at the window, he facepalmed.

The room had curtains.

Of course it was dark.

He walked over and pushed them aside, taking in the view of the streets of New Rome.

It was going to be a really good day, at least weather-wise.

Nico smiled and went back to his bedside table and his card and gift.

He flopped down on his bed, picking the card up carefully as usual.

It still was something special to him.

[Dear Nico,

only one day left to go.

I love you. I love sleeping next to you.

I love being with you.

You are a truly amazing person and I have no idea how I didn't see that before.

You changed me, Nico.

Never would I have done anything like this for anybody else in my life.

But you, you're worth it, Nico.

For you, I'd do anything.

Wish me luck with your sister by heart ;)

Have a nice 24th of December, Nico.

I hope today's gift will remind you of how great you really are.

I love you,

Your secret Admirer

P.s.: Thank you. For everything.]

Nico sighed and let his gaze travel over to the window, looking outside.

One day.

Just one day left.

His insides instantly went back into turmoil.

He was excited, to say the least. But he was also scared.

Who would it be?

How would things be once he found out who it was?

Would it be awkward between them?

Would they be together right away or were there some sort of guidelines?

Would they take it slow or would they let everything and anything happen as it went?

What would his other two friends say?

Would they be ok with him dating one of them?

They were happy for him now, but how would it be if he was dating one of them?

Would they still spend so much time together?

Would they feel like outsiders, as if they were intruding whenever they were around?

Nico didn't know.

He loved the admirer.

He made him feel good. Happy. Loved.

But by now, he saw the admirer as a completely separate person from his friends.

Would it take him some time to get used to the person being one of them?

Or would everything just fit together?

He shook his head and looked around at his gift.

'I hope today's gift will remind you of how great you really are'

Nico took the package carefully.

It wasn't heavy or anything. But it wasn't exceptionally light either.

This would be his last gift before Christmas.

He began opening it slowly, noticing how he was holding his breath.

It was a box.

Still holding his breath, he cautiously opened it.

Then he let out his breath in one long sigh, his lips splitting into a smile.

He took out the miniature Athena Parthenos.

Of course.

'Show you how great you truly are'

He closed his eyes, shaking his head, but he still smiled.

Anybody could have done that if they knew how to shadow-travel.

He turned the statue in his hands, eyeing it from all angles.

Then he turned it upside down and noticed a small engraving.

[To show you who the real hero was all along.]

He laughed. Oh gods.

He was no hero!

.

Turning the figure over and over in his hands, he started thinking of his past.

Before Bianca's death, after her death, the tasks he had taken upon himself, the things he had accomplished.

He thought of the fights he had fought and the monsters he had slain.

Of the ghosts he had questioned and the skeletons he had summoned.

Of the choices he had made and the decisions he had regretted.

Of the good things as well as the bad ones.

Of his friends and foes.

Of the challenges he had accepted and the risks he had taken.

And he realized that he had achieved a lot.

He had had a rough childhood, growing up without his parents.

Losing Bianca as soon as things seemed to turn to the better.

But he had made a stand.

He had managed to realize and control his powers, mostly by himself.

Had managed to get stronger and prove his worth.

He had urged Percy to do the thing with the Styx, making him invincible.

He had urged his father to join the battle against Kronos, thus turning the whole thing around and allowing Percy and the others to win.

He had gotten his sister back, even though it hadn't been Bianca, but Hazel.

He had found out about the two Camps and kept it secret to prevent a war.

He had gone through Tartarus for the Doors of Death.

He had made it through alive.

He had managed to stand his ground against thousands of monsters.

And he had gotten the Athena Parthenos safely from Europe to Camp Half-Blood.

.

A feeling of pride filled him. He had achieved a lot.

He might not be as great a hero as Percy or Jason, but he was Child of the Big Three.

And he was proud of being the son of Hades.

He was proud of being who he was.

Maybe not of whom he had been, but of whom he had become.

Nico smiled to himself, gripping the statue tight.

Was this what his admirer wanted to show him?

Nico got up, pocketing the mini Parthenos and went to collect his things for a nice long shower.

He was feeling great.

And tomorrow was Christmas.

.

Ten seconds after he pulled his pants up, the boys rushed in and abducted him, urging him to pick some breakfast to go and off they were, strolling through New Rome together, fascinated by their surroundings as the day before.

Then Hazel picked them up and showed them the rest of Camp Jupiter (mostly because Will wanted to see EVERYTHING) before finally bringing them to Reyna and Frank, who had been with the other Campers, making plans for New Year's Eve.

Jason was immediately taken in by the people from his old cohort, all of them overly happy to see him again. The last time he had been around had been two months ago, but one got the impression it had been years.

Percy was also included instantly and Will found quite a few of his roman siblings, getting along rather well with them.

Nico watched them, grinning to himself how openly people showed their affections for those two and welcomed Will into their midst instantly.

As it was, he could barely stop the Apollo kids from taking Will with them to the infirmary to give him a private tour and compare ideas and solutions for all kinds of medical stuff.

He was glad Will enjoyed his stay so far. He certainly seemed utterly taken in by New Rome as well.

Nico was just standing at the side, watching the commotion, when all three boys looked around to him and pulled him with them in their midst.

Trust them to not permit him to be the odd one out again.

Though he couldn't deny he liked the notion.

Until Will wrapped his arms around him from behind and nuzzled his face against Nico's neck, causing Nico to squirm in surprise, which Reyna instantly reacted to with throwing the first thing she could get her hands on – in this case, luckily not her weapon, but 'only' a wooden angel figure – and narrowly missing Will's head by inches.

That had caused both Jason and Percy to laugh loudly and other campers staring at them and Reyna in shock, while Nico just looked around at Reyna with big eyes and Will decided it was safer to let Percy sit next to Nico instead of him.

After they all had lunch together, seated in the very midst of the crowd, Nico got pulled aside by Hazel and Frank while Reyna took the boys into custody.

Nico only made a face. Was it really time for 'the talk' already?

He'd have preferred to first talk to Reyna in private before it came this far.

What if she decided to tell him? Would he want to know?

Hell yes, he wanted to know, but at the same time: ONLY ONE DAY LEFT!

He was highly doubting there was even one other person in the world, child or not, that could anticipate Christmas more than him right now.

He was practically dying to find out.

Which reminded him that he had a Christmas card for his dad, but no idea how to give it to him, as well as brownies to bake for Jason which he still had to do VERY soon.

He pointed this out to Hazel and Frank as soon as the others were gone and they instantly went with the idea, helping him getting the ingredients and working hard on the batter.

So now, Hazel and Nico were sitting in front of the oven, waiting for the tray of brownies to get done baking.

Nico was glad his sister had helped him. He would have never been able to manage this on his own.

Frank had left some time ago because a few campers needed his help with some Fauns, but he had also been a great help.

Nico was glad those two had found each other. They were so happy together and a really good match.

He could practically see them getting married and having kids.

They'd make a great family.

"Are you looking forward to tomorrow?", Nico asked her after a while, gazing at the tray in the oven.

"Oh, yes. I can't wait to celebrate Christmas with all of you. I wish Annabeth and Piper could have come as well, but they IM-ed me and said they'd be coming over for New Year's Eve at least, so it's ok. But I bet you're looking forward to tomorrow even more, aren't you?"

Nico had told her about his admirer.

He had even promised to show her his gifts later and let her try some of the candy he still had left over from yesterday.

She had already heard from Reyna and was happy and excited for him – and, judging by the way she was looking at the three possible candidates, already happily guessing away who it was.

He sighed and stared at the tray in the oven. "Well…yeah…"

"Don't worry. Everything will work out just fine."

"Hopefully."

"For sure. Those three really care about you, Nico. All of them. Who would you want it to be? If you didn't have to listen to any reason or think logically – who would it be?"

Nico sighed.

That question. He hated that question.

Because life was no fairytale. It wasn't as if he could just say 'Hey, I wish it was that guy' and the next day everything would just miraculously work out that way.

It didn't really matter what name he said. It wouldn't make a difference anyways.

At least not to the situation.

But it would make a difference to him. Because the moment he decided to say one name out loud, he would admit to have more feelings for that one person.

And that person wouldn't be his admirer. He couldn't be.

Thus, Nico would be disappointed.

And his admirer would be disappointed.

And everybody else would be disappointed.

He really hated that question.

"Oh, come on. Just say it. I won't tell anybody and if it's somebody else, I'm sure you'd still be happy."

Nico shook his head. "I…really can't say. It seems so improbable that it's any of them."

Hazel chuckled. "You think so? To me it seems more like it could be any of them."

"How so?"

"They all like you."

"Yeah, but as friends."

Hazel only sighed again and smiled, wrapping her arms around his.

Then the oven beeped. Hazel and Nico went to check whether the brownies were done.

They looked done. Dark, but not burnt and squishy but not liquid-ish anymore.

Nico took them out the oven and Hazel cut them into nice-sized bits, then they let them cool down before wrapping them up in foil to transport them to Nico's room for packing.

"So, let's go check out those awesome gifts you told me about.", she decided grinning and off they went.

Nico was just glad he had solved one problem.

.

"This is so BEAUTIFUL!", she marveled as she held up the flower in the glass case.

She had liked the other gifts as well, but this was by far her favorite.

"And it got such a beautiful meaning to it as well. Whoever that guy is, he has my blessing."

Nico chuckled. "Well, then nothing can go wrong, I suppose."

As he flopped down on the bed, he noticed a card sticking out of one of his bags.

"Oh, Hazel, do you have any idea how I could…erm…send something to our dad?"

Hazel looked up. "You got him a Christmas gift?", she asked curiously.

He hesitated, fidgeting with his hands. "Not exactly. But I did get him a card, so…"

"Aww, that's so sweet. I'm sure he'll love it. What did you write inside?"

Oh gods, he had almost forgotten about that.

Nico jumped off the bed and went over to the bag, taking out the card carefully and picking up his camera.

"I couldn't think of anything special so all I wrote was 'Merry Christmas Dad and anyone who happens to be there!', but I wanted to add a picture of…well, of us. Together."

She looked at him with big eyes. Then she beamed at him. "That's a great idea. Let's do it!"

Well, it wasn't that easy.

Especially because he had his typical 'oh-my-god-I'm-being-photographed'-face on, which meant expressionless or with closed eyes, looking exasperated.

Hazel looked stunning in all of them, though she wasn't satisfied with any.

Girls.

But then they finally managed to get a few decent shots after they had tickled each other to death and tried to be more relaxed about it.

So now they sat on his bed, staring into his mini laptop as he happily clicked around on it, zapping through the pictures and deleting the ones that weren't good enough to keep (he would take them out of the bin later, when Hazel was out of sight).

Hazel was surprised at how many pictures he had already taken, taking over his mouse at some point and clicking through the folders.

"You four really do a lot together, don't you?", she asked, smiling as she looked at one picture with the four of them on it, making stupid faces.

Nico chuckled, remembering when they took that. "Yeah, somehow we spend a lot more time together nowadays than before."

She looked at the ones of the Camp and the snowmen.

Then at the ones from Will's date.

Nico pointedly looked away. It hadn't been a date!

"Aww, you look so cute on this one!", she giggled and looked at one where he was sleeping against Will's chest.

"Yeah, yeah.", he muttered, his ears hot.

He didn't need his sister telling him he was cute. SHE was cute. Not him.

She continued looking through his pictures.

Then she found the ones from his date with Percy.

It hadn't been a date!

Then his insides filled with dread. Had he left 'those' pictures in the bin?

He remembered he had put them there but couldn't delete them. Had he left them in there or had he taken them out again? And if he did, where did he put them?

Luckily for him, they weren't in the folder Hazel was looking through.

He sighed relieved, as she clicked through some more of Jason and him. "Is everything ok?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I was just thinking I'm getting really hungry. Want to go pick something up?"

"Oh…sure.", she agreed, blinking and looking back at his laptop frowning.

But she just shrugged and let him shut it down, promising her to print her some pictures out later.

He'd still have to find a printer in this place to print out the picture for his dad as well, after all.

Maybe he should have taken his printer with him.

Nah, his friends would have killed him if he had started packing his printer as well. He had kind of raided his entire cabin already.

Well, next time he'd simply have to leave something behind…his clothes for instance.

At the thought of rather taking his printer than clothes, he had to smile. This was one stupid train of thoughts.

.

They were just out the room when the guys came back.

"Oh my…", Hazel muttered, chuckling as she took in their appearances.

They all seemed disheveled and out powered, as if Reyna had made them run lapses until they broke down.

But as they looked at him, all of them beamed.

"So, how'd it go?", he asked, feeling his lips twitch bemused at the sight of them.

They threw each other quick glances.

"Not bad, I guess. She just asked this and that…", Jason shrugged and the others nodded, though none of them would meet Nico's eyes.

He only raised an eyebrow but didn't push the topic. Instead, they decided to pick up food together, Nico intending to invite them all, but Hazel beat him to it.

And thus, they suddenly found themselves sitting in a small restaurant, happily ordering away.

Or at least they were trying to.

"Damn this Latin. I have no clue what it says. Why can't you guys write in English?", Percy complained, squinting at the menu.

"Yeah, I feel you, alright. But I decided I'll simply take whatever Nico is taking.", Will stated and Jason sighed exasperated.

"You guys are hopeless. You want to live here and make all these great plans, but you can't even read a menu."

Hazel and Nico chuckled.

Then Nico blinked.

"Eh? You are making plans to live here?", he asked, suddenly wondering where he'd been when they talked about this.

What if Percy had decided to move here alone on short notice and wouldn't go back to Camp Half-Blood with them?

What if Will would be able to arrange something and move here as well?

What would Nico do?

Would he be the only one left out again? Alone at Camp Half-Blood?

He did want to move to New Rome someday, but that was a day far off in the future...with a boyfriend...settling down to be...together...

He shook his head slightly, trying to clear his mind and get his thoughts in order.

"Yeah, this place is amazing. So we thought when Jason is done with everything he wants to set right, we'd all go here together and finish college. We should have probably asked your opinion first, though...", Will explained and they all looked at him rather uncertain.

Nico blinked. "You...want me...to come live with you...here?"

All of them fidgeted.

"Well...yeah...we thought it would be nice to have a...a normal life, for once. With all we've been through, it'd make a nice change, wouldn't it?", Jason tried tentatively.

Percy only looked at Nico hopefully.

Nico still blinked.

"But...you want ME to live with YOU, HERE?", he asked again.

For a long moment, there was silence.

Then Percy facepalmed, laughing relieved.

"Oh gods, I get it. Neeks, you had me worried there. Of course we want to live with you. We were thinking by then you'd probably have a boyfriend, so a shared accommodation is a no-go. But we were thinking of at least sharing the same apartment building and well, of course, classes in school. But yes, we want you with us. Of course we want you with us. You're the person that's keeping the three of us together after all. You think I want to spend the rest of my life putting up with Jason thinking he's better, if it wasn't for you?"

"Hey. Don't get cocky now. But yeah, of course we want you with us. How could you even doubt that?", Jason asked, looking dumbfounded at Nico.

Nico looked over to Will, who only laughed while frowning at him at the same time, which looked really weird.

They hadn't tried to leave him out at all. They were thinking in a way that automatically included him.

He looked around at Hazel, who was only smiling at him fondly and nodded expectantly towards his friends as if he was supposed to say something.

"Uh...I'd love to, then."

They beamed at him. "Then it's settled."

Nico wondered vaguely what he had gotten himself into right there.

But the thought of living close to his friends in New Rome, actually having a normal life, sounded really, really nice.

.

They spent the entire day either in Nico's room, shooting tons of pictures, or running around in New Rome and Camp Jupiter, also happily snapping pictures with anybody who wanted to – which was the entire population it seemed.

Seriously, Nico had never met so many friendly and open-minded people before. They asked random kids or couples or people in general that strolled through New Rome and – except for a fair few – all of them had agreed instantly to taking pictures as well as having pictures taken with them.

It was actually really funny.

Reyna and Frank had joined them and they managed to get some good shots of them as well, especially of Hazel, Nico and Reyna together.

All in all, it was a great day.

They found a copy-shop where Nico wanted to print out a few pictures, though this prove a bit problematic because everybody wanted between 20-30 pictures each and kept bickering about which ones were the best.

Nico could only sigh at that and printed out a picture of all of them and one with just Hazel and him and left the others to argue some more. He decided he'd put both pictures inside the card for his father, though why, he couldn't say.

How he would give it to him, he still had no idea. Maybe he would take up Hermes' help after all. He was quite certain the god would manage to get the card there, though Nico wasn't sure what he'd want in return. Plus, it wasn't exactly personal to get it delivered like that.

But at least it was an idea and thus better than nothing.

Nico sighed and flopped onto his bed.

Reyna, Hazel and Frank had left ages ago and the boys were all in their respective rooms as well. It was late, after all.

He looked around at the time. He so didn't want to go to bed.

His heart was beating loudly in his chest.

Only one more night...

Excitement and anticipation filled him, but at the same time he was so scared.

He didn't know what to do.

And he knew full well he wouldn't be able to sleep.

Would his admirer come tonight? Would he actually stay?

Would Nico wake up in the morning and be allowed to see who it was, see who was lying next to him?

Nico put his hands to his face.

Thinking of things like that only made his heart flutter even worse.

He felt like a little kid, barely able to keep still from all the anticipation.

How was he ever going to be able to sleep?

He sighed and got out of the bed, getting changed.

Somehow, he'd have to make it work.

Slipping beneath his blankets with his pyjama pants, he grabbed Mrs. O'Leary Jr. and held her tightly pressed against his chest, closing his eyes.

Only one more night.

He turned around.

Somebody stop his heart from beating so loudly!

Tomorrow was Christmas.

He turned around again.

The faster he fell asleep, the faster it would be tomorrow and he'd meet his admirer.

Nico opened his eyes.

How could he go to sleep with everything inside him being so damn fuzzy?!

He got up, deciding to waste some time on his laptop. Maybe that would make him sleepy enough to go to bed.

.

An hour later, he still wasn't sleeping. He had played all sorts of games on his laptop, then stared at his flower, looked through his photo album and even played with his Athena Parthenos, wondering what her special abilities would be if she was part of the Mythomagic figurines.

Still, he was wide awake and if anything even more agitated and nervous.

What was he going to do?

He groaned loudly, intending to just fall backwards onto his pillow, but since he had repositioned himself, he instantly toppled out of bed onto the floor. It didn't even hurt, so he just stayed there, his mind too busy with everything else.

How was he supposed to sleep, knowing it was the very last night of not knowing?

One should think he'd fall asleep faster than ever, yet his insides simply didn't want to settle down!

He stared at the ceiling. This was horrible.

He couldn't even go to one of his friends, because then his admirer might think that this friend was the one he wanted and blah.

And he doubted they'd be too happy about him disturbing their sleep, either.

It knocked on his door and next moment, all three of them stood in the doorway, looking at him questioningly.

"You ok?", Jason asked.

"What are you doing on the floor?", Will frowned.

"We heard loud noises, so we thought we'd better check...", Percy explained, raising an eyebrow at Nico, who only sighed and put his arm over his face.

"I'm ok, guys. Just...trying to sleep...", he muttered unhappily.

"On the floor?", Will asked and they all raised both their eyebrows at Nico now, who only pointedly looked away, ears burning.

He heard chuckling and next moment, all three of them were with him, pulling him up.

"Nico, you don't have to be embarrassed you're excited.", Jason laughed.

"Yeah, just think of how nervous your admirer must be. Only this night and he'll have to come out to you.", Percy shook his head, grinning.

"Want us to spend the night with you?", Will offered.

"Uh...", Nico muttered.

Spending the night with them sounded nice, but then his admirer couldn't cuddle with him, could he? Then again, Nico didn't even know whether his admirer would even come tonight.

Jason patted his shoulder and sat him down on the bed.

"That's a great idea. This is most likely going to be the last night you're single, after all. When you two are dating, there won't be many chances of all of us sleeping together anymore."

That was a fair point.

"Yeah, I also like it. I mean, we don't even have to share beds again or anything, we could just grab two more mattresses and put them on the floor and sleep on there, Neeks. That way, Will can't molest you again.", Percy suggested, making Will's head snap around.

"Excuse me? I haven't molested Nico all day!"

"Yeah, because Reyna was watching your every step.", Percy retorted, making Will scowl.

Jason chuckled. "Well, he does have a point, Will. How about we are having a real slumber party? With snacks and talking and-..."

"Truth or Dare?", Will asked hopefully.

Nico groaned. "No way, not again. You're just going to make me do weird stuff again."

"But it's fun...", Will pouted.

"Sure, I'm in if we invite Reyna, Hazel and Frank over.", Percy shrugged, grinning menacingly towards Will, who immediately flinched. "Uh...then again, we already played it twice, we shouldn't overdo it, I suppose...", the son of Apollo muttered and Jason and Percy chuckled.

Nico was still wondering whether this really was a good idea.

The three looked around at him again with big eyes and he sighed.

"Sure, get the mattresses then.", he said, defeated.

The three beamed at him. Will and Jason jumped up and hurried out of the room.

Percy got up as well, then blinked as the other two were faster than him. He looked back at Nico. "Erm...I think I'll go get some card games or something. Good?"

Nico shrugged. "Sure, that way, Will won't get a chance at persuading us to play Truth or Dare."

Percy chuckled and left as well, while Nico looked about his room, sighing.

Well, this way he'd spend the entire night with his admirer, just without the cuddling and kissing.

But therefore, he'd find out who it was...tomorrow...

He pulled his legs up on the bed and crawled over to his bedside table, where he had put the envelope with the letter and all the notes, including the scrap of paper saying 'I love you' that his admirer had placed in his hand.

He fondly looked them over, touching each one softly, his eyes hushing over bits of the text on them.

Tomorrow.

Only one night away.

He heard noises coming towards his room and put the notes down quickly, not wanting his friends to tease him.

It was Jason and Will, carrying in their mattresses and flopping them down on the ground next to Nico's bed just to then disappear again to get blankets.

Nico chuckled.

A slumber party the night before Christmas.

If anybody would have told him that on the 1st of December, he'd have laughed and thought the person was mental.

Then again, he wouldn't have believed it either that there would be a person who loved Nico and wanted to be with him and would come out to him tomorrow.

A year ago he would have also not believed anybody if they told him he'd have so many wonderful friends, a sister and a sister by heart as well as being accepted at the Camps.

Things surely did change.

He smiled to himself.

He was glad things had turned out the way they had.

And now he also realized that nothing of this would have happened had he ever made a different decision.

No matter how many 'wrong' decisions he had made, they had brought him here.

And he loved his life right now.

He was happy.

His smile widened.

"Someone seems happy.", Percy said, standing in the doorway and looking over at him fondly.

Nico chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Percy smiled and came over, sitting down next to him. "That's great. So the admirer succeeded, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he did write that all he wanted was to make you happy."

Nico smiled. "Then I guess he succeeded. He made me realize quite a few things."

Percy tilted his head, curious. "Like what?"

Nico looked up at the ceiling. "Like...gods, he made me realize so much. To make a long story short: If I had the chance to turn back the time and change anything I want, I wouldn't do it. Because no matter how many bad things happened, all of that has made this moment right now possible. And I love it. I love being friends with you guys and having a sister and Reyna. I love having a home and being accepted. It just...just feels so nice. Everything does. And I wouldn't want it any other way."

As he looked around at Percy, he noticed the dark-haired had his gaze fixed on him, watching him with this expression Nico couldn't identify.

He felt Percy's hand touching the side of his face gently, caressing his skin.

"I'm glad...", Percy breathed and Nico gazed into those sea-green eyes transfixed, noticing how his heart was beating way too fast in his chest, though he didn't really care.

He smiled at him tentatively, resisting the urge to lean against the touch.

Percy smiled back fondly.

Then the door slammed open and Will and Jason came rushing back in with blankets.

Percy pulled back his hand and put it on Nico's shoulder for a moment, squeezing it slightly before getting up and helping the boys getting everything ready and showing the sets of cards he got.

Nico sighed and looked back to his notes wistfully.

One night.

Then he'd know.

Finally.

The three looked around at him, noticing his gaze.

They threw each other meaningful glances and smiled, but decided not to comment on it for once.

.

Hours later, they were still up, sitting together on the mattresses on the floor, playing cards and eating chips. They all were tired as hell, but seemingly not tired enough to actually lie down and sleep.

Especially not Nico. He had his Christmas blanket wrapped around himself and Mrs. O'Leary Jr. pressed against his chest, dealing cards with only half-open eyes, but still he couldn't make himself go to sleep.

The others were in similar shapes.

"Gods, I so wanna know what I'm getting for Christmas from you, Neeks. Can't you give me a hint? It's almost tomorrow anyways...", Will whined and Jason and Percy chuckled, looking around at Nico, who only rolled his eyes sleepily.

"Still no."

"How can you be so cold?", he wailed.

Nico sighed. "I'm just not going to spoil your surprise, that's all. Now shush and play your card."

"But I want to know so badly."

"And I want to know who the admirer is. Am I whining around?", Nico retorted and Will pushed out his bottom lip, playing a card.

Jason and Percy threw each other meaningful glances.

"Yeah, we're surprised about that, too. All this time, you haven't even asked any of us just once. How come?", Jason asked him.

Nico shrugged. "Two reasons. One: I still can't believe it's any of you, thus I'm not suspecting any of you, thus why would I ask any of you whether it was you if I don't believe it's you in the first place. Two: You'd all have said no anyways."

"But it is one of us.", Will sulked.

"So you don't want any of us to be your admirer?", Jason asked frowning.

Both Percy and Will made a face and looked at Nico with big eyes.

Nico sighed. "I didn't say that..."

"Who would you want it to be, then?", Will asked and all three of them looked at him expectantly.

He shifted uneasily and looked down at Mrs. O'Leary Jr.

"I...don't...", he muttered, wondering how he'd get out of this.

He really didn't want to talk about this.

"Oh, come on. Are you seriously trying to tell us you haven't thought about who you'd like it to be?", Will asked exasperated.

"Well, I try not to."

"Why not?"

"Because I try not to think of you three like that. Imagine I'd say one name now. One of your names. And it's not the admirer. Then there'd be one person stunned that I think of them that way. One person that thinks he just wasted 24 days for nothing. And one person who'll either think its funny or be upset."

There was silence for a moment.

"Nah, I wouldn't think like that. If you said my name and I wasn't your admirer, I'd be flattered. If you said somebody else's name and I was your admirer, I'd still come out to you and try my luck. And if I was neither the person you wanted nor the admirer, then I certainly wouldn't think it was funny. It would be a bit awkward, though.", Will said, shrugging.

"I agree. Though, I have to add that if I was the admirer and you'd like somebody else and you'd have the chance to date him instead, I'd support you. Because I'd want you to be happy, no matter if with me or with somebody else.", Jason explained quietly.

Nico looked around at Percy, who just stared down at his hands with an odd expression, but looked up, noticing his glance.

"I know you wouldn't say my name, so there's that. Thus, if I was the admirer I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever, but still try my luck, unless you have better chances with somebody else. As Jason said, I'd also just want you to be happy.", he muttered, looking back down at his hands.

Nico made a face. "You're all idiots.", he then said, pointedly looking away.

"Nah, we just want you to be honest to yourself. You keep being considerate of a mysterious person, but you don't really take the time to find out what YOU really want, Neeks. We all know the admirer loves you and we just want to make sure you actually date him because YOU want to, not because he happens to want you.", Jason said quietly.

Nico sighed. "I know..."

Then he got up. "I think I'll be going to bed now.", he announced, making all three of them look up.

"Really? Oh, come on, Nico. We didn't mean to push you...", Jason started, but Nico held up a hand. "It's not that. I'm just really tired. I know you all mean well and are worried, but I'm fine. I don't care who of you it is going to be. I'm just glad it IS one of you. And I think each of you has the ability to make me happy in your own way. So there's that.", he explained and turned away, climbing into his bed with his Christmas blanket.

There was silence in the room for a moment.

"Wait, so you'd be ok with it being me?", Will asked excitedly.

Nico just groaned.

"But who'd make you happiest?", Jason asked quietly.

Nico sighed.

"Right now, I'd say Percy because he's not asking stupid questions.", he muttered, looking sideways at the boys, giving them one of his best glares he could muster in his sleepy state.

Percy chuckled quietly, though he still seemed upset about something.

"But...", Will started, but Nico hissed.

"Good night, guys!", he exclaimed and pushed his head beneath the pillow.

"Fine...good night, Nico...and you other weirdoes. I want to sleep next to Nico!", Will announced and Nico could hear him moving, but then there were more noises and wailing.

"No chance. I'm sleeping next to Nico. You go over there in your corner.", Jason said.

"I am not going to sleep next to Percy. He'll kill me in my sleep.", Will whined.

"I'm not going to sleep next to Will. I'll kill him in his sleep.", Percy agreed.

Jason sighed loudly. "You guys are unbelievable. Fine, have it your way."

"So I can sleep next to Nico?", Will asked hopefully.

Silence.

"No, Percy will sleep next to Nico. You will sleep next to me."

"Aww, but I swear I won't try anything."

"Guys, shut the hell up, I'm trying to sleep. And for your information, I'll be sleeping on the OTHER side of the bed, so NOBODY is sleeping next to me.", Nico exclaimed, sitting up again and glaring at the lot.

"Unless your admirer joins you in the middle of the night to do naughty things with you...", Will put in, wriggling his eyebrows.

Nico wanted to sigh exasperated, but then changed his mind, looking up at the ceiling wistfully.

"That is true. But I don't think he'll make out with me as usual when you're around. We wouldn't want to wake you, after all. But some kisses and a bit of touching wouldn't be half bad, I guess...sure, I'm in."

Will gaped at him.

Jason raised his eyebrows, a blush spreading on his cheeks.

Percy straight out laughed. "Gods, Nico, you're a jewel."

Nico winked suggestively, then rolled his eyes and fell facedown into his pillow again.

"Gods, what did I just do...", he muttered quietly, more to himself than to anybody else.

"You just showed us your naughty side, Neeks.", Jason chuckled and Nico pushed himself back up. "You do know I was only joking, right?", he asked, panicked.

All three of them laughed. Even Will, with his ears flaming red.

"Of course. But that was hella sexy. I know I'd so join you in that bed tonight.", Will exclaimed and Nico blushed.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed. Alone. Good night.", he muttered, dropping back into his pillow and pulling the blankets up over his head.

He heard chuckling but ignored it.

"Good night, Nico.", he heard someone say but didn't reply, instead turning away from the guys and closing his eyes.

One night.

A few hours.

Soon.

His heart was beating loudly in his chest, the anticipation and excitement coming back.

So soon.

He could barely wait.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/N: Soo, cupcakes, this is it

Only one day to go.

I wanted to say thank you to all of you once more for reading and liking (and those amazing reviews!)

I would have never expected so many people to like it

I'm sorry for torturing you for so long (nah, not really, you know you liked it)

Tomorrow, the mystery shall finally be solved.

Have a nice 24th December, everybody.