A/N: Sorry taking ages to make a second chapter. I'm discontinuing this story, since now the final book is out, inconsistences and all that fun stuff. But most importantly, WILL SOLACE. Forget JasonxNico, WillxNico is where the party is at! I'll post what I've written already, but no more is on the way. I may write a WillxNico story, but I don't really know.
Also I don't really use this website much anymore, I find Archive of Our Own so much more usefully, so I've pretty much moved there under the same username.
There was a pause. "Wait, what?" Nico asked in astonishment. His whole life he had thought he was the only one. He had never really believed it was normal in 'modern day'. Someone else, like him? He was having a hard time understanding it. Especially with someone he knew. "What about Piper?"
Nico couldn't understand Jason's facial expression. "To be honest, I don't know. I mean, I really like her. I can't imagine living without her." Nico felt his heart drop with disappointment. "But… the more I think about it, I realise everything I did out of love, was love as a friend. I think maybe, it just confused me into thinking it was actual love because when I first met her, she believed that we had always loved each other. She's beautiful, but I've never felt any physical sexual attraction. I never really thought about the possibility that maybe I'm gay." Jason concluded.
"So what does that mean, for us?" Nico quietly muttered, to which somehow Jason understood.
"I… don't want to hurt Piper. Telling the truth would crush her." Jason answered sadly. There was another pause as both of them entered deep thought.
"You know I don't exactly feel comfortable with people knowing the truth about me either…" Nico started, sparking Jason's interest. "Maybe we could keep this a secret?" Nico asked shyly.
Jason thought Nico looked adorable when he was worried and tried not to show it. Hell, Nico always looked adorable. "I like that idea, at least until we figure out another way." Jason confirmed.
Nico paused in thought before responding. "So we're like secret boyfriends?" Nico asked sceptically, as if this really couldn't be happening, it was too hard to believe and it sounded totally ridiculous. "Haha, yeah. You make it sound so dramatic." Jason clarified jokingly.
Nico accidently let out a smile before checking the time. It was getting pretty late. "If you like… you can stay the night here? If you want, I mean?" Nico offered shyly.
"How could I reject a strong and confident offer like that?" Jason laughed. "I'd love to, Nico. Every second being with you makes me happy." Nico cringed at that statement.
"Don't get mushy, Grace." Nico whispered, although he felt the same way Jason felt.
Jason had awoken to a shirtless Nico, standing in front of his wardrobe. Everything inside was black, or near black. Jason's eyes studied Nico's torso. It was painfully skinny. He hadn't really put on that much weight, he should have looked a lot better by now. At least near normal again.
"You need to eat more." Jason mumbled from his just awoken state. Nico quickly grabbed a T-shirt and covered his torso. "It's nothing." Nico snapped quietly. Nico was glad when Jason seemed not to argue with him, he felt insecure about himself and mentally scolded himself for letting Jason see.
Jason got up and stretched. "I'm heading back to my cabin to get dressed and all." He sleepily mumbled as he headed to the door. "See you at breakfast." He stated, almost as if it was a question. Nico nodded. Jason smiled and left.
Jason stared at his own wardrobe now. He amused himself with the difference. Coincidently, nothing was black, he'd have to change that. After changing his clothes, there was a knock on the door, he walked over to answer it. "Hazel?" Jason sounded surprised as Hazel stood there shyly.
"Hey Jason, you probably didn't know this, because he's a total goofball…" Jason was amused by Hazel's use of 'goofball'. "…but it's Nico's birthday tomorrow and the last time he celebrated it was when he was with his sister. I wanted to change that, I hate seeing Nico feeling so alone." Again Jason was amused by her choice of words. If only she quite the truth about how 'alone' Nico used to feel… until last night. He unintentionally smirked until he realised Hazel was looking innocently up at him.
"Great idea, did you get the others involved too?" Jason asked.
"Mostly. Frank, Leo, Piper and Annabeth have already offered to help and after you I was about to ask Percy." Hazel and Jason glanced at the Poseidon Cabin nearby. Jason cringed slightly at the mention of Percy. He wasn't sure that he and Nico were exactly in his… good books right now. He couldn't exactly tell Hazel why, so he didn't mention anything.
"We're going to meet at the campfire after breakfast." Hazel finished.
"Sounds good, I'll be there." Jason smiled. Hazel nodded.
"Thanks, Jason. It means a lot to me that you're helping him." He smiled up at him before turning around and heading towards the Poseidon cabin, amusing Jason. If only she knew half of it.
Hazel continued on to the final Cabin. Back at Camp Jupiter, she knew her brother hurt but only on the quest did she really notice how deep that pain was. She saw how when the rest were having fun, he wouldn't allow himself to enjoy it, no matter how much he really wanted to. Something was eating away at him. She knew about Bianca. She knew how it tore it in half and how that wound was still open in the air for infection of depression but it seemed Nico was too afraid to let anyone in and complete him once again. She was determined to change that. She planned that this party would be small, as Nico wasn't exactly a 'people person', so just the people he may have come to trust a little more: Jason, Piper, Leo, Annabeth, Percy and Frank. He'd known Percy and Annabeth the longest, so they'd be the most important ones there.
Hazel approached the Poseidon Cabin and was about to knock when she heard muffled raised voices inside, she couldn't make out what they were saying but it was clearly Percy and Annabeth's voices. Were they having an argument? Hazel was unsure whether to step in, or if it would be better to come back later?
"You did WHAT?" Annabeth shouted furiously at her boyfriend.
"You don't understand, seriously!" Percy defended.
"What don't I understand? Nico came in here, tried to open up to you and you chased him away?! You won't even tell me what Nico said, so of course I don't 'understand'!" Annabeth hissed.
"It's embarrassing. I don't know who more for, me or him!" Percy yelled back.
"I know you, this isn't you." Annabeth sighed.
"What do you mean?" He blinked obliviously.
"I mean, the Percy I've always known never turned his back on his friends, ever. I think you should apologise to him." Annabeth finished she opened the door to see Hazel there, who looked just about as shocked as Percy. Annabeth suddenly remembered the reason why she'd come here, she'd wanted to make plans for Hazel's party for Nico. "Hazel! Please, come in." She said with an obviously fake smile, as if to get a point to Percy, she was not happy.
"I uh, I can come back later? If that would be better?" Hazel offered weakly.
"No, no, now is fine." Annabeth insisted as she led Hazel inside. She put her hand on her shoulder. "Hazel here is organising a birthday party for Nico tomorrow, as no one has celebrated it before, we want to prove to Nico that we want him around. Don't we Percy?" Annabeth told Hazel's lines for her.
"Uh… sure?" He nodded feeling awkward.
"Good. We're meeting after breakfast at the campfire. Be there." Annabeth stated before taking Hazel's hand and going off with Hazel to breakfast.
When they were out of earshot from the cabins, Hazel looked up at Annabeth with concern, what had that just been about? Hazel didn't really need to express her thoughts in words as Annabeth already figured out what Hazel was thinking. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm not… that's not me. I'm sorry." She said swallowing her pride. "It's just, I never really thought about Nico much until yesterday when you spoke about him. I've always just brushed him off into the shadows and I never really noticed; now I feel really bad, he had no one. People are saying he had a crush on me and I never cared about him." Annabeth's voice nearly faltered.
"Annabeth. It's okay. The party will make everything better, it'll bring him into the group and he'll realise he can trust us and doesn't need to run away anymore." Hazel smiled at her. Hazel's smile was infectious.