August 14

Nico

Over the past few days Nico had fallen into a regular schedule. He ate meals and went to classes with Percy and Jason during the day, then either had P.T. or worked on his cabin in the evenings. If he was honest with himself, the P.T. days were his favorite. He hadn't gotten Will to help him with his cabin yet - he didn't want to push his luck - but Annabeth had taken charge of recruiting volunteers, so Percy, Jason, and Piper usually joined them.

Tonight they were moving out the coffin-beds and assembling frames that were more simple and modern. They had already painted the walls - instead of red and black they were charcoal with what Annabeth called an 'accent wall' in a pale green that made the constant green fire less sinister looking. Jason and Percy had enthusiastically taken on the job of disassembling the old bed frames, while Annabeth directed Piper and Nico in putting together the new ones.

"Ok, find Panel A - no, not Peg A, Panel A - and connect it to the tapered end of the Panel C and Panel F parts you just put together - no, no Nico, this side - here," Nico sat back as she took the parts from him and rearranged them to match the diagram she had. Piper caught his eye and smiled.

Nico was glad they were all here. It had made everything go so much faster. A few more days and he'd be finished. Chiron had even let him buy a TV to mount on the wall after he'd showed up at the Big House again asking to watch a movie in the middle of the night. Nico insisted that he didn't have as many nightmares if he fell asleep to something in the background, and he suspected Chrion just wanted his privacy.

There was a knock at the door and Nico looked up, a part of him expecting to see Will. But it was a Hermes kid, holding a package. "Uh, this came for you, di Angelo."

Nico hopped up and took it, smiling to himself. Annabeth took his spot on the floor and started working on the beds by herself. Piper came over to see what the package was. Nico glanced up as he opened it.

"Uh, it's dumb," he said, glancing up at her. "It's like, a joke. But when I was ordering the TV I saw this and …" Nico took out a stuffed parrot. "See, Will was making fun of me for that shirt I was wearing during the last battle, and asked if I was going to redo my cabin to match, and…" he trailed off.

"I think it's cute," Piper said. "Why not have something up that makes you smile? Where's it going?"

Nico grinned and walked onto the porch. Piper grabbed a chair and helped him figure out how to attach the fake bird. They took a few steps back to admire the effect.

"It's perfect," she said.

Nico didn't think 'perfect' was the right word. 'Ridiculous' would've been more accurate. Rather than bring to mind Nico's floral print shirt, the parrot made the cabin look more like a pirate's house. Nico was pretty ok with that, though.

"Thanks for helping," Nico said, watching Percy and Jason through the window. They were throwing screws and washers from the old beds at each other, one just barely missing Annabeth. "I mean, all of you… with the whole cabin. Not just the parrot. If it was just me I probably would've gotten halfway done painting one wall and just given up."

"Absolutely, Nico. That's what we're here for," Piper said with a smile. "I think Jason would do anything you asked if it meant you were staying here. We're all just ready for things to be quiet and normal for a while, you know? But... if you do ever change your mind about camp, or want a break or something, you know you can come stay with any of us. Jason and I will be out in California near my dad, you'd definitely have a place to stay. Besides, I think the sun might do you good," she joked.

Nico just nodded. He was still getting used to the idea that he had so many places where he was welcome.

"Speaking of getting some sun…" Piper said, looking sideways at Nico. "I hear you and Will Solace are hanging out…"

Nico froze and stared at Piper. "Uh, what? No, I mean, I guess but… it's just to make sure I can use my powers or whatever. Physical therapy, you know."

"Nico, I just got to camp last year, but I haven't heard of anyone getting 'physical therapy' before," she said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, did you forget who I'm a daughter of? Don't try to pretend you don't like him."

Nico was about to protest but realized it would be useless. "Ok fine, yeah, but Will's like, all tall and smart and nice and blond and -" Nico paused, sighing. "It doesn't matter, anyway. He's a healer, I'm all sorts of messed up, I'm probably just a really complex project for him or something. Plus, I'm still working on how to have friends, I wouldn't even know where to start with anything more. And on top of all of that, who's to say Will's even - you know. Like me."

Piper sighed and turned to look right at Nico, who was glaring at the ground in front of the door. "Look, I don't know Will all that well, but the feel I got when we visited you the other day, is that he sees you as more than just a project. Don't write him off just yet. And don't be afraid to look for something more from someone, either. You deserve to be happy. After everything we just went through, we're lucky to even still be here." Nico could feel her thoughts drift toward Leo, how not all of them had been that lucky.

"I guess what I'm getting at, is that you've faced scarier things than a 15 year old healer," she said, smiling again. "But whatever happens with him, you should know that you can trust him. I can promise that much."

Nico looked up and smiled at her. He'd been doing his best to avoid taking a close look at how he felt about Will, but soon enough he'd run out of medically motivated reasons to see him … unless he started 'accidentally' letting his guard down during sword fighting or something so he could visit the infirmary. But Piper was right, he should be honest with himself and figure it out before long. Coming out to Percy and admitting his crush had been a bit terrifying, but he felt better once it was out in the open.

Inside the cabin, Annabeth started shouting at Jason and Percy to stop playing around and Piper and Nico glanced at each other, laughing, and headed back in before anyone had a meltdown.