Nico flinched away from the window as another lightning bolt darted through the sky, followed by a booming crack of thunder.

Why did it have to be lightning, if all things? He was the Ghost King, a son of Hades. He shouldn't be afraid of lightning- especially since it was Jason who was controlling it. Jason was his friend, for gods' sakes. He could trust him not to vaporise him.

Still, he shrank further into his blankets and continued his frenzied drawing, determined to ignore the storm raging just outside his window.

Another sound rang through the cabin, but this wasn't a boom of thunder. This was a gentle knock at the door.

He was about to tell whoever it was to go away, when they opened the door without waiting for a response.

Perfect.

He rolled his eyes, trying to act unbothered by the storm which had his heart racing like a hummingbird's. "What do you want?"

From the door of his cabin, Will said, "Hey Neeks."

Shit.

"Fuck you and everything you love, Solace," Nico growled, glaring at him over the top of his sketchbook.

"Okay, I guess we're doing this," Will said, putting his hands up in a surrender position.

"What do you want?" Nico asked. He didn't need anyone seeing him afraid of somethings as stupid as thunder.

"Wrong language, Ghost King. You haven't spoken a word of English since I got here," Will informed him, raising an eyebrow.

Nico cursed. That did happen sometimes, when the memories hit him too hard.

"Sorry," he said, in English this time.

"So, how come you aren't out watching the lightning with everyone else?" Will asked casually.

"Didn't feel like it," Nico muttered.

His eyes darted to the window, and he flinched slightly when thunder boomed again.

He looked back to Will, who was looking at him strangely.

"Are you afraid of lightning?" he asked abruptly.

"No, that's a stupid fear," Nico answered, a little too quickly.

Of course his luck was so terrible that Jason decided to impress everyone even more at just that moment, causing several claps of thunder to sound and the entire sky to light up.

Nico's head snapped around, and without realising it, he crawled backwards slightly.

Right into Will's arms.

They wrapped around him firmly, not letting go for anything.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked, squirming furiously. "Let me go!"

"It's called a hug, Nico," Will replied, ignoring his later command. "It's a thing that people do when they care for others and said others are scared."

"I'm not scared!" Nico protested, but he knew that it was fruitless. With Will's arms wrapped around his chest this tightly, there was no way that he couldn't feel his heart drumming a tattoo in his chest.

Will chuckled. "Sure, Sunshine."

He pulled himself into the bed, sat against the pillow and pulled Nico into a protective embrace. Nico sighed, and resigned himself to his terrible fate.

"Do you know why you're scared of lightning? Maybe if we can figure out the cause, it'll get better," Will suggested.

Nico gave him a hard stare. "This isn't a therapy session, Solace."

"Answer the question, Di Angelo."

Nico sighed. "Probably from Zeus blasting mia madre. I'm getting my memories back, which is both awesome and terrible at the same time."

Will stayed silent above him, and Nico started to wonder if he'd scared him off somehow, when Will asked, "What's that?"

Nico lifted his head from Will's chest to see what he was talking about, only to have a mini heart attack when he saw that Will was holding his now-closed sketchbook.

"That's mine, give," he said.

"Ok, chill," Will said placatingly. "But you know you can trust me with anything, right?"

Nico looked into Will's eyes, fighting a fierce battle internally.

Don't let him see it.

But he's my friend!

He'll hate you.

He wouldn't!

Oh yeah? How can you be sure about that?

Shut up. I'm showing him.

Your funeral.

Nico looked down, and sighed. He took the sketchbook from Will's hand, and opened it to the page he had had it opened to before.

Will gasped, his eyes wide as he took in the drawing before him. "Is- is that Tartarus?"

"Yeah, it is," Nico said quietly, stubbornly avoiding Will's eyes.

Slowly, he flicked to the precious page. Nico ignored every bone in his body that was screaming at him to rip the sketchbook from his hands, and let him look through the book.

"Nico, these are amazing!" Will said in awe.

"Hmm," Nico hummed, secretly disagreeing. Then, he cocked his head. "Is the thunder over?"

Will looked up abruptly. "Oh yeah. I didn't even realise."

Nico waited a few seconds, but Will did not move. "Um, so can I move now?"

"Absolutely not, Death Boy."

He hugged Nico a little tighter, and strangely, Nico was okay with that.