Sorry guys! I re-read my work and found some typos...
Thanks to the four people who have reviewed me so far!
Will waited a minute, sure that the door would simply not be opened, but he was wrong. Again. A pale hand that he recognised as Nico's pulled it open, and Nico poked his face out. Will stifled a gasp. Nico looked terrible, as though he hasn't slept in a week, and here looked mildly translucent, the way he did after pushing himself to hard. They're were heavy bags under his eyes.
"Will?"
So now what do I do? Any ideas, Piper? Piper?! But Piper had left Will to fend for himself. He took a deep breath.
"Uh, hi, Nico," he rubbed the back of his golden thatched head, awkwardly. "Um, may I, err, come in, please Nico?"
That was smooth, he chided himself. But Nico opened the door wider and stepped further into the cabin.
"Sure."
Will stepped inside and really did gasp this time. It seemed that Nico had made good on his threat to renovate the crypt themed cabin. The coffin-like beds (not one of Travis's best ideas, he reflected) had been replaced with queen sized versions with blood red quilts and golden frames. At each corner was a sphere twice the size of his clenched fists, inset with a glistening gemstone the size of a drachma- rubies on one bed, amethysts on another, emeralds, moon stones, sapphires, and pearls. Only two of the six beds showed signs of use, and only one looked like it had been used recently. That must be Nico's, Will realised. I can see where he's been lying from the imprint on the blankets...
He jerked his mind away from this line of thought. The old, black obsidian walls remained, but tapestries covered most of the walls. Will could see some images of Elysium, one of the Fields of Asphodel, and several depicting various punishments from Hades. Charming. The floor was inlaid with gold and something white that looked like bone, showing a spiral that started at the edge of the room and working its way to the centre. It gave the unnerving feeling of being drawn into a black hole.
He suddenly realised that Nico had shut the door, and now they were standing a meter apart, Nico looking at him, and him looking at the decor. He had to say something...
"Um! I couldn't help but notice that you weren't at... anything really, this week... And I, uh..."
Nico interrupted his train of spoken thought. "Do you want to sit down, Will?" He sounded overly polite, but at least he wasn't yelling.
Will glanced around in confusion: he hadn't seen a chair when he looked the first time. Nico clapped his white hands together, and something moved from behind a tapestry where it had been concealed. Will took a step back as the zombie emerged, but it just stood and looked at Nico- he must be controlling it.
"A couch, please Brian." Brian? Will watched in amazement as the corpse- Brian- sank through the floor, then returned seconds later holding a black velvet chaise longue with gold and bone trim. He was beginning to see a theme here.
"Dismissed." Nico snapped his fingers, and Brian returned to the wall behind the needlework. When he turned his head back to Nico, Will was startled to see the other boy swaying slightly. When he caught Will looking, he raised an eyebrow and sat- collapsed, more like- onto the cushions.
"Are you-"
"I'm fine." They were back here again, were they? Will could handle this conversion.
"Where were you this week, Nico? I looked for you!"
"I... I got out of the way."
What? it's a couple of seconds before Will realised that he said it aloud. He looked at Nico in bewilderment, and Nico examined his bitten cuticles.
"I was the only other person in- in that box. You wouldn't have chosen me to look after if there was someone else, would you?" It's a rhetorical question. "I mean, why would you? Nobody really likes me, do they?" Another rhetorical question. "They might be scared of me, and they might hate me, and they wouldn't choose to comfort me if there were others. So I was getting out of the way for you to get on- get on with your life." Nico's voice hitched, and a tea splashed onto his long fists.
Will was stunned. This was why Nico had been avoiding him? He's not ashamed of me or embarrassed- he doesn't hate me!
"How could you think that?" He asked bitterly. "I thought you- I thought you hated me! But... instead..." He sniffed, vaguely surprised to find tears in his eyes.
This time, when he wrapped his arms around him, Nico returned the hug at once, clinging to Will like a drowning man clings to a life jacket. Running his right hand over the black hair that was ticking his neck, Will smiled.
"Nico."
"Mhes?" The reply was muffled by his woollen jumper.
"I meant everything I said in that box. All of it." Nico's breathing changed subtly.
"I meant it all too. Thanks, Will. For everything."
Will smiled happily, and buried his face in the boy's hair.
Piper smiled triumphantly and withdrew her face from the window through which she had been watching the scene. Things seemed to have turned out well between the two of them. She made her way to the dining pavilion, and tucked herself under Jason's arm.
"You look happy. Something happen?"
Piper caught Annabeth's eye across the pavilion and nodded. Annabeth smiled and went back to arguing with Percy (over the worth/worthlessness of bubblegum ice cream, of all things).
"It's been a good day," Piper replied.
Hi! Will probably add another few installments soon...
This is getting long for what was originally planned as a one-shot!