"Nico," someone called from above him.

It was early in the morning. A little too early. Nico didn't need a watch or even look outside to know that.

"Nico, are you asleep?"

"No, I'm pretending to die." He groaned and blinked his eyes open. "What in Hades' name is your problem?"

He was suddenly faced with two blondes, one was Will and the other was a little girl somewhere around six years old. The girl was giggling, causing the tray in her hands to shake. Will noticed this and took the tray out of her hands. Both of them were in their pajamas.

"I brought you some breakfast," Will said as he laid the tray of food on his lap. He bent down to the size of the little girl and gave her a high five. "Thank you, Kelly. Now, run back to the cabin before someone notices you're gone. I'll be back later."

Kelly nodded. She then turned to beam a smile at Nico and happily skipped away.

"That was my half-sister by the way, the youngest in cabin seven." Will sat down on the bed beside his and continued, "That kid has a major crush on you, you know? She thinks summoning zombies is cool. She heard me get up and started following me around. I didn't have the heart to send her back."

"She's um... cute," She reminded Nico about himself back when he first met Percy. He had been so amazed by how he handled that manticore. Did he really use to think that Percy was the greatest thing since sliced bread? Looking back, he realized how ridiculous his feelings for him used to be. He pushed his thoughts back and focused on Will. "But why didn't you just wait for me to actually wake up before bringing me breakfast? I'd appreciate you not disrupting a little girl's sleep... and mine."

Will smiled. "I devised a diet plan with the Demeter cabin's head counselor. Trust me, this is going to prevent you from blending in with your skeleton friends."

"And how is waking me up at this hour going to help me gain weight?"

"Don't question my genius," he said, pointing a finger at him. "I'm the doctor, not you. Although, I'm not sure if I got it all. Miranda's great but ask her about nutrition and she starts rattling off about the food pyramid."

Nico looked down at the tray, his stomach appreciating the sight. It had a bit of everything. He couldn't see where the diet plan was in all this but he was grateful. He wondered if Will had chosen it for his sake because he didn't know what his preferences were.

"That cinnamon roll has my name on it though," he said, before taking the pastry and biting into it. "Eat up, man. I went through a lot of trouble with the wood nymphs to get those."

"I didn't ask for any of this," Nico pointed out.

He licked his fingers and said, "Stop complaining and just eat, capisce?"

"I'm a real Italian, so don't 'capisce' me, Solace."

Nico shoved a forkful of scarmbled eggs in his mouth as he tried not to look like an emaciated vagrant finally getting a taste of real food. It was quite a lot of food. He didn't know if he could get through all of it and of course there was the added pressure of being watched.

"Miranda said to gain all that weight back, you have to eat more often. She also said something about protein and iron so I guess that means more meat. That's the bacon but since I don't want you to die of a heart attack I got you some-"

"Will," he said, catching his attention. "I get it. It's not like I have an eating disorder. I just went a long time without eating."

"Yeah, what have you been doing, anyway? Besides jumping from country to country. Didn't you have time to eat at all?"

Will didn't know what he was asking. No one got to tell him that Nico fell into Tartarus and then got stuck in a bronze jar for days with only pomegranates sustaining him. Nico thought it was better that way, that only a few people knew about Tartarus. He didn't expect himself to talk to anyone about it. He couldn't even tell his sister everything.

"Europe doesn't accept drachmas," he joked.

"Care to talk about your adventure? I've been stranded in the infirmary and no one is telling me things anymore. I tried to ask Percy what happened but I got the feeling that he wasn't telling me everything. I asked Piper and Jason but they only told me what I already knew."

Nico looked at him, his blue eyes gleaming with curiosity. "That's just it. Reyna, Coach Hedge, and I shadow travelled across Europe and fought monsters."

"Besides the shadow travelling, that can't be that bad."

"What?" Nico asked, outraged. He knew that this would happen. Once again, no one cared that he just attempted a dangerous feat just to save them all.

"I'm trying to understand what happened to you. Come on, you weren't there when they took on all those giants. You're not even-"

"Part of the prophecy?" he completed. "You don't know what I've been through."

"I'm sorry," he gently said.

"Look, I've done what you've said," Nico showed him the empty tray. "And now I'm tired. I'm grateful for everything but if you could just leave me alone that would be great. Come back or whatever, I don't care. I just want to be alone."

"But Nico I wasn't saying that-"

He cut him off. "I get what you're saying. Just do me a favor and leave already."

They stared at each other expressionlessly. Will took a sharp inhale and walked away without another word. He didn't even look back as he shut the door behind him. Nico fell back on his pillow with a hand to his chest, feeling the erratic drumming of his heart. What he was feeling was not easy to clarify. The larger part of him told him that what he did was right, that he should stop doing whatever it was he was doing before his feelings for Will delved any deeper. However, the rest of him, the part that was closed off and had just recently reopened, told him otherwhise.

He understood one thing though. No matter what Jason or even Will Solace said, he was never ever going to fit in. His efforts were unrewarded. It wasn't like he was asking to be immortalized. He wasn't Percy, who had an unexplainable need to become the hero. But it wouldn't kill to be recognized from time to time. That would never happen because he was the creepy son of Hades that was born eighty years ago.

He looked outside the window and saw that the sun was starting to rise. He covered his face with his blanket and decided he would just sleep the second and third day away. Whether he got a decent night of sleep wasn't his choice though. Sometimes, he would wake up in cold sweat from nightmares of the things he'd seen in Tartarus. He could almost feel the sulfurous air choking him, showing him how his mother and sister died.

Nico sat up on his bed, panting for air. It seemed like he fell asleep for an hour because the sun was already out and so were several other campers.

"Tartarus, huh?"

He blinked a few more times before Percy's face came into focus. "Um... yeah."

"Annabeth gets them too, but I guess your dreams are much worse."

"You've been there longer than I have," Nico pointed out.

"Still, you were there alone. That's terrifying, man," he said. Percy sat on the edge of the bed, his hair dishelved and there were traces of syrup on his mouth, telling Nico that he just had breakfast.

"So," Nico started. "Are you here to talk to me about what I said to you? I told you Percy, it's over now."

"No. But honestly, I was a bit shocked but it's all cool," he said. "You see, Will Solace went up to me and Annabeth yesterday and asked about what happened. I realized that even with Annabeth, I couldn't bring myself to talk about it with the people around here. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine. It's just the dreams, they won't hurt me anyway."

"Annabeth's coming over. She thought maybe, the three of us should talk about Tartarus. You know, as a way to move on. Like a demigod support group. It should be... fun, I guess."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fun."

A few moments later, Annabeth walked in. With her new set of clothes and her hair down, Nico would have thought she was a regular teenager but as she got closer, her stormy eyes said otherwise. She sat next to Percy and interlaced her fingers with his. Jealousy stabbed him but it wasn't because of either Percy or Annabeth.

"Hey Nico," she said cheerfully. "Still can't shadow travel?"

"I can but I'd dissolve into thin air if I tried."

She chuckled. "I was just by the Athena Parthenos. She looks like she loved being there. Shadow travelling with a forty-foot statue isn't a walk around the park. I mean, you got it here without a single scratch."

He was never going to tell her about the time it laid sideways across a Roman temple in Portugal.

"I think we should start. Nico needs his rest," Annabeth said.

"Hi, my name is Perseus Jackson and I went to Tartarus," Percy said, gaining a hard punch on the shoulder from Annabeth. "Sorry, I was just trying to lighten things up."

After a short couple's argument, they gave Nico a look asking him to begin. Nico shook his head and said, "Me? Why should I be first? You're the ones who wanted this."

"Yeah but you were the first one there," Percy said.

Annabeth shot Percy a look that said, watch it. "Alright, ladies first."

She began talking about how they fell and what it felt like. Soon, the three of them were speaking, solemnly but still speaking. Even Percy couldn't sneak a joke in between their discussion. They spoke about what they heard being whispered in their ears, the monsters that they encountered before that suddenly became ten times stronger and the dreams they had. When they thought everything had been spoken, Nico breathed out and decided to tell them one more thing.

"When the two of you fell down there, I could feel your lives draining dangerously low and then you'd be okay for a while but it just keeps on repeating. I-I could even feel where you were. It was maddening. It felt like I was there too."

Both of them were shocked by his revelation. They knew Nico could sense the dead and track a person he knew in the underworld but they didn't know it was the same for Tartarus. The couple looked at each other, a worried expression on their faces, and seemed to communicate wordlessly.

"Nico, I'm so sorry," Percy said. "I knew I asked a lot from you when I told you to lead them to the House of Hades, but I didn't know this."

Annabeth shifted closer to Nico, leaned down and placed a kiss on his cheek. "You're a real hero, Nico."

"You don't have to say that, Annabeth. I'm not part of the prophecy."

"True but you didn't have to be. You could have been a normal," she paused. "Well, as normal as a demigod could be but you were always there, helping us defeat Kronos and now Gaea."

Nico just nodded. At first, he did it to make his father proud of him but there was a something inside him that told him that Percy needed his help. He and Annabeth were the first demigods he met and he cared for them. It was only then when he realized what he sought to gain from all of it. He lost his sister almost too quickly and he didn't remember his mother that much. Nico wanted a family. That's probably why he accepted Hazel easily. He found something similar to that in his friends.

He remembered eating blue birthday cake at Percy's fifteenth birthday. Annabeth and Percy didn't treat him like an outcast. They didn't even treat him like a child trying to blend in with the big kids.

"Having a 'we survived Greece' party without us? Not cool man," Jason said, coming in with Piper.

Piper held up an assortment of food and smiled. "It's not from the cornucopia but it's good."

At one point, when they all started laughing, Nico joined in. He could have sworn that Piper took a double take. They talked about Leo but they didn't let themselves dwell on his death. Leo wouldn't want that. He'd find them all down in the dumps and be like, step aside, peasants, Leo Valdez, life of the party is here.

The door opened again. At that point Nico was fairly sure that his heart stopped beating for a few seconds before restarting as if he had just outran a pack of werewolves again. Will Solace headed towards them.

"Hey guys," he said. "These aren't in your approved diet plan, di Angelo."

Piper stood up suddenly. "Jason, we have to go. We have a thing, remember?"

"What thing? We don't have a-" Jason said before Piper whispered something in his ear. He looked at Will before switching his gaze over to Nico. He nodded in agreement. "Yeah that thing! We totally have to do that thing now, Pipes. Percy, Annabeth care to join us?"

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth questioned.

Jason turned to face Percy. "Come on, man. I'd totally beat you at that thing."

Percy laughed and said, "If I knew what that thing was, I'm pretty sure I'd beat you, Grace."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's do that thing!" Piper said as she ushered a confused Annabeth out. "Bye Will. Bye Nico, get well soon!"

Nico stared after them. Piper, being the daughter of Aphrodite, must have sensed something. He groaned as he watched Percy and Annabeth listening to Piper intently outside the window. They disappeared before he could see their reactions.

"What was the thing they were talking about?" Will asked.

"No idea," Nico lied smoothly. "What are you doing here, Solace?"

"I came here to apologize. Nico, I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I was insensitive. I-"

Nico cut him off. "What are you blabbering about?"

"You were in Tartarus," his voice shook, as if he still had a trouble believing that. "I didn't know. I'm sorry. What I said was wrong."

"Who told you about that?"

"I overheard it from Percy and Annabeth earlier. I wasn't spying or anything, I was just there, checking the Athena Parthenos out," Will explained.

Nico nodded. As he felt Will's hand on his shoulder, he shrugged it off and tried to ignore him.

"You have to talk about it some time, you know?"

He sighed. "We were talking and then you just had to show up."

"Well, I'm sorry," Will said. "I'm sorry that I care about your health."

"You don't have to!" Nico said exasperatedly. "No one asked you to-"

"To what? To care? Do you think I wanted to be this way? My life would be a million times easier if I didn't think about you. But I do and I didn't get to choose that."

Complete silence fell on them as Will took a small step back, complete shock overcoming his face. He hadn't meant any of it to slip out. Nico couldn't believe what he said either, but he kept his face blank. Will looked like he was internally murdering himself, as he ran his hand through his blonde hair. Then he straightened up and looked at Nico again.

"You know what? This isn't my problem anymore. It's yours," he said, pointing at Nico.

A dangerously bright light radiated off of Will's body. It was like he was blinding him with anger.

"If you just let people understand you-" his voice drifted off, the light around him shining brighter and brighter. "No, I think I do understand you. You're the type of person who's desperate for affection but when someone blatantly gives it out, you push them away. You're so stuck up in your self-pity party that you just don't see when someone is genuinely interested in you."

Will stopped, his shoulders untensing as the light got dimmer. They didn't speak but by the satisfied gleam in Will's eyes, Nico realized he knew that he was right. After a moment, he stormed out the door.

Nico let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. The two other demigods who shared the infirmary with him stared, startled and a bit dazed from sleep. When he turned towards them, they averted their eyes in a pathetic attempt to pretend they weren't watching.

With a frustrated growl, he hid beneath the covers, ignoring the pain from his injuries and pretended to be asleep the rest of the day.

Hey! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited! I didn't even think anyone would read it! Still think it's cute? I'm quite unsatisfied with this chapter. Nico was hard to write.

I always send a pm to everyone who has reviewed so if you have questions or simply want to fangirl over Solangelo, please review!

Thoughts? Favorite lines?