"It's still Halloween somewhere," I tell myself as I update on November 4th. Sorry for the late chapter, guys, I had a crazy weekend! I spent two hours trick-or-treating and got a good haul out of it, and then I watched the Addams Family movie. Speaking of which, Morticia and What's-His-Face need to get a room. And then homework bluh bluh. At least some of my assignments had to get pushed back for scholarly reasons. Plus I had a really tough Monday and just couldn't bring myself to do anything. And on Word it switches from Spanish to English randomly for some strange reason, so I keep on having to switch the language back to English.

Also, I started Supernatural on Friday, and that show wins the record for fastest on-screen death. I mean, it was only the first episode of the first season out of nine seasons, and the mom burns within five minutes. Talk about a death rate. Which is hilarious coming from me, since I read Homestuck and watch Attack on Titan, both of which are famous for their deaths. And Doctor Who.

Speaking of which, Doctor Who season finale! I feel like they could've done more with Clara, but I'm absolutely thrilled to see the Master again! And he's a she now, so that also makes me happy! Yay female villains •w• (I actually have an idea for a fic with one lol)

REVIEWS

Toolazytologin: Thanks! And Cinder is amazing! Have you read Cress yet?

Moonshroom420: He sorta deserved that? We all know that he did. And it does sound like he does! I'm also very attracted to that as well.

BalletBookworm: Thanks! The hill thing was the best thing to write lol. Well, you can look it up. I'll give you the skinny: Basically, Asperger's is a pretty mild form of autism. It was named after the dude who discovered it, Hans Asperger. It's not a very well-known disease, as far as I'm aware. Oh, cool, the Cheshire cat! I'm more of an Oz girl, due to Wicked, but Wonderland is awesome too!

Kifo Entiegon: Because FF hecks things up at times, also because I had an author note as Chapter 6 originally and then I deleted it. I don't know, I just chose someplace random. I was going to do Russia but then I realized that that might kill Jason so yeah. And I know that I said this in my PM, but it's great to meet another Aspie! My therapist said that people with AS usually have ADHD so that's where I got that from. She also said Aspies tend to have anxiety or depression disorders (though I probably won't write Will with depression because depression sucks and I love Will too much also maybe anxiety but idk). I'm sorry that you had to go so long without knowing, I found out in fifth grade after spending almost all of preschool and elementary school wondering what was wrong with me. I tend to avoid eye contact with everyone that I see, which is why I'm terrible at staring contests, and I'm a bit of a distancer too. I'm also really obsessed with those, and I have to have everything in a specific place as well. I even sit at only one seat at the table and get upset when someone else sits there. I don't like loud noises either, so I tend not to go to concerts and other things like that. Boy, I wish my parents would let me calm down like that, because whenever I try to go to my room to finally be alone after school or whatever, they always force me back out. I get nervous about meeting new people too, but oddly enough I sorta thrive in social situations. I just like to be surrounded by people and listen to conversations which is weird but yeah. I already knew that Asperger's is a form of autism, but thanks for the suggestion about looking up autism as well! I definitely will! And it did help, thanks!

Still Random: I'm still writing! I'm glad that you like my idea! The only other autism representation that I know of is a girl in the Michael Vey series according to my friend, and even then she's an autistic savant. Good news for my friend, though, since he's also an autistic savant (and he has Asperger's too). Also people say that a character in Homestuck is autistic, though I have yet to see conformation (and they probably say so because another character called her "autistic" as an insult, which is glossed over a lot and really disturbs me). Oh, thanks for that quick note. I had to look up the symptoms for Asperger's and that was listed as one of them, so I was kinda like "well I have terrible handwriting and can barely draw so yeah." HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THAT I WAS GOING TO MAKE A POINT ABOUT THAT OH MY GOD THANKS FOR POINTING THAT OUT FRIEND. HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THAT THAT WAS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS FOR MY HEADCANON. YES THANKS FOR BRINGING THAT BACK UP. And I do hope to inspire more diversity! Aha yes that line is beautiful. And also a reference to the Lunar Chronicles aha.

MegglesGG: RUN FROM THIS STORY WHILE YOU STILL CAN-Lol no, I'm happy to have a new reader! And I'm glad that you find this adorable!

Rainbowchameleon: Thanks! Jason would definitely sing that lol.

Jason: COUNT ON ME-

Nico: I will shadow-travel your ass back to that fucking mountain

Jason: ...I'm gonna go find Piper. PIPER, NICO'S THREATENING MEEEE!

Piper: Jason you should kNOW BETTER BY NOW

Readeatcook: Thanks! And you can look it up, also the short description I put in my response to BalletBookworm's review might help a bit. Wait, people have written characters with Asperger's?! Where?! What books?! And it is! Yes Jason is so nice and slightly naïve sometimes (Nico had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Nico had a little lamb, and it died). LINE BREAKS OOH-WA-HA! (Engaygement...) Ahh, I hope they do! And good luck with your tests!

Queen Ore-Sama: Well, people have been saying that I should, so I will. I'm not trying to go for them "healing" each other, just kinda Will trying to help Nico? I'm gonna write it as Will being perfectly okay with his condition, he just doesn't tell a lot of people about it. I mean, I'm fine with my Asperger's (most of the time) but I don't tell everyone I know "hey I have Asperger's." (It's more like Will forgets to tell people haha)

Also, SecretPrussianCitizen, I tweaked your request for Nico's costume just a bit because I came up with a reference to a show that I just started watching. Don't worry, he's still an angel, just not the angel that you expected.

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan does not dress up as butt-kicking female robots for Halloween. However, I do.

Warning: This chapter is the closest you guys will ever get to clothes actually being off, just so you know.

Chapter 8: Trick or Treat, Nico's Mad

Somebody was going to die.

Nico stared blankly at the clothes laid out on his bed. Somewhere along the line, he had made a terrible mistake. Maybe even several.

One of them, obviously, was listening to his friends. At their urging, Nico had signed up for some Halloween costume thing, where they gave you a costume randomly. This should've set off warning bells in his head, but, of course, it didn't.

So, now here he was, dripping wet and in nothing but a towel, staring at the costume laid out on his bed.

While he was using the shower (mercifully inside his cabin-whoever had designed it had actually done something right), someone had come in and taken all of his clothes, leaving only a few pairs of boxers and one pair of pajama pants. No note, no letter for ransom money in return for his clothes, nada. Just the boxers, the pants, and the costume.

The Halloween party for both camps was tonight, which is why Nico even bothered to get a costume in the first place. In order to get into the party, you had to have a costume. That really frustrated Nico, since all he wanted was to grab some candy and just take it some place quiet to eat it. Also maybe scare a few campers. And hang out with friends.

Wow. He still wasn't used to the thought of having friends.

So Nico had bought the costume, even though he didn't really plan on wearing it. He had actually been considering just buying a long blue jacket and saying that he was Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who. But noooo, Jason and Annabeth and Percy and Piper and Leo and Calypso and Hazel and Frank and even Reyna had insisted. He knew that Will was also doing it, which was essentially the entire reason he was even doing it.

Honestly, he had been expecting a gag costume. He was pretty sure that this service was giving everyone weird costumes, courtesy of the Stolls, Chris Rodriguez, and every other Hermes kid. It did seem like something they would do, after all. Maybe they even stole his clothing, just to make sure that he wore the costume! His guess probably wasn't that far off.

But even though he had expected a gag costume, Nico hadn't prepared himself for this level of gaggery. A devil costume? Yes. A ghost costume? Absolutely. Mummy? Vampire? Yes and yes. An angel costume? Well, who wouldn't suggest one for Nico?

It was just that, out of every angel costume that there was, why Castiel from Supernatural?

*I apologize for the reference and bring you this linebreak and POV change.*

"No."

"C'mon, Will, it's a joke!"

"Still no."

"Please?"

"My costume is fixed."

"Willlllllll…"

"Nooooooooo…"

"Just this once?"

"I already have my skeleton costume on from the delivery service, I just need to put on the mask."

"But-"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I WILL NOT BE WEARING A SKIRT!" Will shouted.

Kayla pouted. "But it's Halloween! It's a time of dressing up in awesome costumes!"

Will looked skeptically at the outfit hanging from the hanger in Kayla's hand. "You call that an awesome costume?!" he asked.

The outfit in question was a white nurse uniform with red markings. The skirt ended mid-thigh, and the top was cut low, meant to expose the breast of the girl who was wearing it. And the last time Will had checked, he was not a girl.

(A/N: Basically your generic nurse costume for teenage girls and women because I am terrible at describing clothes sorry.)

"Kayla."

"Hm?"

"I'm a guy."

"I know."

"…That's for girls."

"I know."

"I'm not a girl."

"I know."

"Are you going to say 'I know' to everything?"

"I know."

"I know that you made out with a girl from Hephaestus last week behind the sheds."

"I kno-WAIT, WHAT?!"

Will laughed. "Oh, man, your face! Hahah! I was joking, but you looked so scared-" He stop mid-laugh to stare at his half-sister. "Wait, did you?"

Kayla was bright red. "Just take the costume!" she squeaked, throwing it at him.

Will caught it, surprised. "Wha-Kayla, you know it's okay, I'm not straight either-"

But Kayla had already run out of the cabin, probably to the archery range or the infirmary. Maybe even the bathroom. Boy, she could hide when she was flustered.

Will sighed. "Okay, can someone please go get Kayla?"

"I'll do it! C'mon, Alice," Austin volunteered, grabbing the arm of the Polynesian girl beside him.

"Hey-AUSTIN, LET ME GO OR I SWEAR-"

"Brighten up, half-sis!"

"I WILL NOT-"

The door slammed shut behind them, cutting off the argument that was about to transpire.

There was silence in the cabin, until Will broke it by announcing, "Alright! We go down to the pavilion in fifteen minutes! Hopefully, Alice, Austin, and Kayla will be back by then! Remember: Don't pig out on candy, try to keep your costume all nice and neat, and no throwing toilet paper all over the other cabins! Are we clear?"

A chorus of "Yes, Head Counselor William," followed, along with one "Aw, man!" from the back of the room, the owner of the voice presumably upset over not being able to toilet paper cabins. Will made a mental note to keep an eye on that person.

"Right! So finish putting on costumes, putting on face paint or body paint, styling wigs, or whatever needs to be done! Ask for help in the cabin if you need it, because the Aphrodite cabin is probably flooded with people needing help!"

"Okay!" was the response, and everyone turned back to their previous occupation of time: Halloween costumes.

Will smiled to himself. Ah, Halloween at camp was always fun, no matter what age you were! He carefully slid on the mask and turned to look at himself in the mirror near the door. Perfect. A spooky skeleton for a spooky holiday.

"Thinking of someone?"

Will jumped at the sudden appearance of a storm trooper behind him, but then the person reached their arms up to take of their helmet and revealed themselves to be Alex. Will relaxed. "Oh, it's just you," he breathed.

Alex chuckled. "Well, who else would I be? Jolly old saint Nicholas?"

"That's December, Alex."

"Christ, I know."

"Santa doesn't give presents to the little children that take the lord's name in vain," Will teased, wagging a finger in a jokingly adult manner.

"Don't humor me, Will. So, are you?"

Will glanced back to the mirror to see Alex's large hazel eyes blinking at him. It was always easier for him to look at someone's eyes in the mirror than for real, no matter how weird others found it. "Uh, no one in particular. Just mostly thinking about Halloween."

Alex smirked. "Di Angelo?"

"Gods of…" Will sighed and facepalmed, which was rather weird when he was wearing a mask. "Can't you guys just let it go already? You're almost as bad as the Aphrodite cabin!"

"Ha! So you were!" Alex laughed.

"No, I was not."

Alex stuck out zher tongue. "Don't lie to me."

"Our dad is the god of truth, I can't exactly lie," Will pointed out.

Alex slumped, defeated. "Damn it, I thought I had you there."

"Take it easy on yourself. Although you guys really need to forget the whole thing, gods."

"Hey, we just want to see our head counselor get to fourth base!"

"And that entire sentence alone proves why you guys need to stop having an interest."

Alex rolled zher eyes, but didn't say anything. Zhe stood there for a minute or two, shuffling their feet and staring at Will, so he had to look away from the mirror. Gods, looking in people's eyes was unbearably awkward. How did normal people stand it? He barely could, even when he wasn't directly looking at the eyes themselves.

"Okay, spit it out, Alex. What do you want?" Will sighed.

"Well, um, Austin, Kayla, Alice, Aubrey, Lucas, Samuel, and I were talking…"

Will groaned. He just couldn't get a break, could he? "What."

"We thought you should tell di Angelo about your, um…condition…" Alex half-muttered the last part.

Oh. Will had nearly forgotten about the condition Alex was speaking about.

Unlike most demigods, Will wasn't born with dyslexia. He still had ADHD, sure, but not dyslexia. Now, this wasn't very uncommon, since other demigods lacked dyslexia as well. Piper and Jason were two of them, he knew, and so was Leo. He also knew that Frank from Camp Jupiter was lactose intolerant (Even though he was still slightly miffed over the singing fiasco, Will still liked the guy). And like Frank, the dyslexia had been replaced with another condition, in Will's case.

Asperger's Syndrome.

Not a lot of people knew that it existed, which came as no surprise. After all, when people talked about autism, it was mostly talked about as though there was just one form of it, and not different forms of it.

Honestly, Will didn't care much about it. It didn't bother him, and the entire cabin pretty much knew about it. He wasn't the first Apollo kid to be born without dyslexia and have another condition instead, either. Samuel was a diabetic, Aubrey was deaf, and Meredith was born paralyzed. There were also a few others around camp, although it was mostly common in Apollo children to be born with other conditions. So Will paid no mind to it, he just watched himself.

However, not many people outside his cabin knew. Cecil and Lou Ellen both did, along with Jake Mason from Hephaestus and Lexi Ariellano from Aphrodite (He also suspected that a few kids from Athena had guessed, but none of them had outright said anything about it, so he wasn't sure). It wasn't that Will didn't want other people knowing, it was just that it didn't come up in conversation much. Also explaining it was tiring, because he tended to use a lot of medical terms to describe it and it really confused everyone, but when he tried to use "scaled-down" terms, it just confused him. So he didn't really bother with telling anyone.

Will sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. You know I don't usually tell people about it."

Alex kicked the floor randomly. "Yeah. I know. We just thought you should."

"Look, Alex, if I want to tell him, I will. It's not really an issue right now, anyways. And explaining it is tiring."

"I know, I know, but-"

"Later, Alex. Besides, we've gotta go!" Will turned back around to face the cabin. "Apollo cabin!"

Everyone stopped, then quickly turned towards Will. "Yes?" Will noted that Austin and Alice had returned with Kayla, and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Kayla had slipped into her Wendy costume, face still tinted red, while Alice just sighed in annoyance and pulled on the hem of her Alice in Wonderland skirt (The irony was not lost on Will). Austin chuckled, adjusting the heavy ghost-sucking vacuum on his back from Ghostbusters. A bunk or two away, Samuel chatted excitedly while hurriedly pulling on the boot from his Captain Jack outfit. Aubrey adjusted her hearing aid and straightened her cat tail out, and Lucas sighed in annoyance, wrapping his Slytherin cloak tighter around him. Will made a mental note to talk to all of them about trying to make decisions for him.

"Are we ready to go to the pavilion?" he called out again.

"YES!" Everyone cheered, with a "Hold on!" from Meredith as she straightened her horns that were essential to her female Tavros costume.

Will waited a moment for Meredith, then announced, "All right! Here we go!" The cabin cheered, the smallest children the loudest, and when Will opened the cabin door, they all but tumbled out of it.

*Yes I am a shameless nerd who is giving the characters costumes from my fandoms. Have another linebreak and another POV change as an apology*

"Nico, is everything alright?" Hazel rapped her knuckles on the door of the Hades cabin. Even though it was pretty much alright for her to go in, she didn't want to intrude on her brother's privacy.

Nothing.

"Nico? We're all out here!" Jason called.

Still nothing.

"Can't we just go without him? This suit is heavy," Leo complained.

"No way! We already said we would all go together! And it's your fault that it's heavy," Percy pointed out.

Leo sighed. "I guess you're right."

The Seven, along with Calypso (Reyna had to go back to Camp Jupiter), were all gathered outside of the Hades cabin. The demigods had already agreed to meet up there before heading off to the Halloween party.

All in all, Hazel had to say that their costumes were great. She had convinced Frank to go with her as Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen from "The Princess and the Frog." It didn't take much convincing, since he loved the movie as well. Piper was adjusting the quiver on her back that was a part of her Katniss costume, and Jason looked like quite the Peeta. Leo had whipped up an Iron Man costume out of nowhere, and Calypso had found what she needed to be Tony Stark's girlfriend, Pepper, even though she had yet to see the movies. Percy had managed to ruffle his hair up into some sort of male updo as the Tenth Doctor, while Annabeth was his blonde companion, Rose Tyler.

All it all, their costumes were amazingly accurate, and she couldn't wait to see what Nico would be. The costumes had only been delivered that day, and she knew that the Aphrodite cabin had been basically put in charge of it, along with a few others.

Hazel knocked again. "Nico?"

"Do you have my clothes?" a muffled voice answered.

Hazel stammered, cheeks turning red. "Uh-I-No, wh-why would I?"

"Somebody took all my clothes."

Percy, Jason, and Leo burst out laughing, and Annabeth and Piper visibly shook as they tried to suppress their laughter. Frank spluttered, while Hazel had to suppress a giggle or two herself. Even Calypso laughed a little.

"It's not funny!" Nico defended himself. "All I have left is my costume, some boxers, and a pair of pajama pants!"

That only made everyone laugh harder.

Finally, Hazel gasped, "Why?"

"Someone took them all while I was in the shower. Probably to make sure that I actually wear the costume."

"Well, do you have it on?"

A pause. "No."

"O-Oh," Hazel stammered, trying to ignore the snickers that Jason, Leo, and Percy emitted. She was almost positive that they had something to do with it. Honestly, the New Rome branch of the Solangelo club was so much more mature!

"Will you SHUT UP?!" Piper complained, and all three boys muttered a "sorry."

Hazel cleared her throat. "Maybe you should put on the costume?" she suggested. "I mean, if your clothes were taken so you would have to wear the costume, maybe you should just wear it then…"

A disgruntled sound from the other door told Hazel that Nico clearly wasn't interested in her offer.

"Hey!"

Everyone turned to see Alex Smith of the Apollo cabin jog up, helmet off and short ponytail swishing. "I heard trouble. Everything alright?"

"Someone took all of Nico's clothes," Frank explained.

"Oh, sure, tell it to the world!" Nico snapped, the threatening tone of his voice barely dampened by the door.

"Oh, wow, seriously?" Alex laughed. "Man, I'd hate to be you, di Angelo. You still got a costume, though, right?"

"I'm not going to the party until I get my clothes back."

"But-Nico! You said you would come with us!" Jason complained.

"That was before my clothes got stolen, Jason."

"Please, Nico?" Calypso pleaded. "It won't be as much fun without you!"

"Yeah! Plus, the costume can't be that bad!" Frank pointed out.

Nico didn't respond.

Alex watched them all bargain with Nico for a minute or two, then suddenly snapped zher fingers. "Hang on, guys, I think I've got an idea." Zhe turned around and jogged towards the pavilion, while the others watched in confusement. What solution could Alex have possibly come up with?

It wasn't until Alex returned with an all-too-familiar person that Hazel realized what Alex was trying to do.

"Uh, hi, guys. Alex said that there was a problem…?" Will Solace asked tentatively.

Annabeth jumped in. "Yeah. Apparently, somebody took all of Nico's clothes as to ensure that he wore his Halloween costume."

"Oh. What do you need me for?"

"He won't come out until he gets his clothes back, apparently."

Will sighed. "So you need me to get him out of his cabin."

"Yes."

Will just sighed again. "You guys need to quit while you're ahead."

Hazel winced. Ah. She had forgotten that Will had found out about the Solangelo club, along with Nico. She would need to file that away for future reference.

Frank peered down at her, concerned. "You okay?"

Hazel beamed right back up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine." She took his hand to further reassure him. Frank grinned right back.

"Excuse me." Will walked up to the cabin door, squeezing past Frank and Hazel, and knocked on it Anna-from-Frozen style. "Nico?"

"If you sing even an altered version of 'Do You Wanna Build a Snowman' I will actually kill you."

"Geez, chill out. Anyways, can you just put on your costume?"

"Clothes first."

"Nico. We-that is, your friends-want you to come join us for the party. To do that, you have to put on the costume. So put on the costume."

"But-"

"Costume."

"What about my clothes?"

"I said costume."

Hazel cringed again. Will could be really harsh if he wanted to be, although Hazel felt like he shouldn't be talking to him that way. Give the guy some slack!

"…Fine."

A shuffling sound came from behind the door, and Will turned to flash everyone a quick thumbs-up. "Got it," he said, stepping away from the door so that when it opened, it wouldn't smash him against the wall and turn him into a Will pancake with Hades cabin door on the top. That would be unfortunate. Especially for the Solangelo club.

A few minutes later, full of shuffling and half-muttered curse words later, the door finally swung slowly open, and Nico stepped out in all of his Halloween-costume glory.

He wore a pale tan trench coat, almost all the way down to his ankles, and a modest brown suit underneath. It was adorned with a blue tie and a sensible pair of dress shoes. Nico himself stared at the ground, obviously in a huffy mood.

The air was silent for a few moments, until Percy burst out, "Are you Castiel?"

"No, I'm the Easter Bunny," Nico retorted.

"No, it's cool! See, we can be trench coat buddies!" Percy pointed out, showing off his with a flourish. Annabeth facepalmed.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Nico declined, and then grabbed the doorknob so he could swing the door back.

Will slammed his hand on the door. "Dude. We got you to put on the costume. So now we go to the costume party. Okay?"

Nico glared up defiantly at Will. The two boys stayed locked in their gazes for a few seconds until Will closed his eyes and sighed. "Jesus, Death Head. You've got the costume on, so you might as well make good use of it."

Nico scowled. "I hate it when you're right." He started to trudge down the porch steps.

Hazel grabbed Nico's arm. "Thank you, Will!" she exclaimed. "C'mon, Nico, let's go to the party!"

Nico rolled his eyes, but his steps lightened after that, and soon the rest of the group had joined them, chattering excitedly about the party and what they were gonna do and what kind of candy they would eat and what they would carve into their pumpkins.

Will and Alex had trailed behind, and when Hazel looked back she saw them having what looked like a furious whisper-argument. But she didn't pay much attention to it. After all, it was Halloween. Time to have some fun!

*The last linebreak and POV change and I would like to say that I'm truly sorry*

"Uh, Will?"

"Hm?" Will looked up to see who had called his name.

So far, the party had been a success. Many of the candy bowls were almost empty, and Will was positive more candy was stashed away somewhere in the Big House. Bobbing-for-apples had also been pretty successful, save for some costumes getting wet. Of course, Percy had been able to help dry them out, although he looked pretty miffed to have to.

There had been dancing when the party had initially started, and more was sure to play later. The DJ was an older son of Apollo who had dubbed himself DJ Energizer, and, damn, he could mix those tunes! Right now he was playing Halloween songs softly in the background, and everywhere you looked someone was bound to be singing along to whatever one was playing.

The person who had called Will's name was Nico, and Will ignored the beating of his heart. "Yeah?" he said.

Right now everyone was supposed to be at a carving table with a pumpkin, although small kids got a Sharpie instead of a knife. Will was planning to carve his pumpkin into a caduceus, although he wasn't sure how accurate it would be. Across the table from him, Connor chattered amiably with Lacy, who laughed as though Connor was just the funniest thing in the world. Which was far from true.

Nico slid his pumpkin into the empty spot next to Will. "What are we doing?"

Will frowned at him. "Carving pumpkins. Why?"

"Why are we carving pumpkins?"

Will stopped mid-carving and turned to squint at Nico. "Because it's Halloween…"

"Why are we carving pumpkins on Halloween?"

Will stared at him for a few moments more, then his eyes widened in realization. "You-OH! Right. The forties. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I forgot."

Nico frowned. "So why?"

"Well, to put candles in them to ward off the evil spirits, plus you can carve in cool designs. There's templates you can use, or you can create your own design."

"Where are the templates?"

Will jerked his head to a supply table near the center of the pavilion. "There should be a bunch on that table, along with a few spare carving tools when your table is out of them. I'm sure you can find something there!"

"Okay. Thanks." Nico turned and walked towards the table. Will watched him go for a few seconds, then turn to focus again on his design. As his hands worked, his mind started to wander, and it began to focus on random conversations.

"…crush on Percy?"

"Yes!"

Will glanced to his left to see a daughter of Aphrodite conversing with a daughter of Demeter a table or two away. Oh, he knew those two. Amelia and Martha. They were fond of gossip. He tried to pay them no heed. He couldn't hear all of the conversation, anyway.

"Oh…gods!"

"Yeah!"

"How long?"

"…year? Two…maybe…have to see."

"Well, Percy…beth, anyways!"

"He does!"

"But Nico and Percy?"

Will stopped. Did…did he just hear them right? Nico had a crush on Percy?

"Nico…crush on Percy…Never…guessed!"

"I know! So…unexpected! Anyways…"

But Will was no longer listening.

Percy. Nico had a crush on Percy. Nico. Had. A. Crush. On. Percy.

Will couldn't breathe. He didn't feel like breathing. Nico liked someone that wasn't him. Will wasn't the person that Nico had a crush on. In fact, he had barely given any thought to Nico having a crush before, which was funny, considering that Will himself slightly liked the boy.

And now…Will had no idea why he hadn't realized it before, but he liked Nico more than he had initially realized he had. Nico having a crush on Percy wouldn't have bothered him as much if he had only slightly liked Nico, but now it felt like the whole world was topsy-turvy, and he couldn't breathe right, and oh gods of Olympus Nico had a crush on someone and it wasn't Will. It wasn't Will. Nico didn't have a crush on Will. Nico did have a crush on Percy. Nico had a crush on Percy and not Will. It was Percy. It wasn't Will. It was Percy. It wasn't Will. It was Percy. It wasn't Will. It was Percy. It wasn't Will. It was Percy and it wasn't Will. It was Percy and it wasn't Will. It was Percy and it wasn't Will. It was Percy and it wasn't Will. It was Percy and it wasn't Will.

"Hey, I found this template, and I want to know if it's any good…Hey, Will? Will, you okay?" Someone gently shook Will's shoulder, and he turned around to see who it was.

Nico frowned up at him. "You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Despite feeling like everything was falling down around him, Will somehow managed to find it in himself to smile and crack a joke. "Yeah, and the ghost is you."

Nico rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious."

"I know I am!" Will joked. "Now, c'mon, let's get this pumpkin all carved up! After all, today's Halloween! The day of the pumpkins! What template did you choose?"

Nico gave him a weird look, but still held up the template for Will to see. He had chosen a simple one: A skull face with semi-circles for the eyes, an upside-down heart for the nose, and a squiggly line for the mouth, which was also where the skull ended.

Will nodded in approval. "Good, good! I like it! Okay, so you need any help?"

"Yeah, to get me started," Nico answered.

"Okay, so let's get started!"

Over the course of the remainder of the evening, Will acted as though nothing was wrong. He smiled, laughed, ate candy and drank soda (a rare treat in the camp), carved pumpkins, and danced and sang-horribly, he might add-to his heart's content. When asked why he was acting so happy, he just smiled and blamed it on a sugar rush, which everyone accepted. He never knew he could lie so easily, being a child of Apollo and all. Maybe he was having a sugar rush. Or a hormone rush, at least.

Yet, no matter what he did that evening, not matter the games he played or the food he ate or the drinks he drank, his heart still pounded with the painful reminder of what he had learned only a few hours ago.

Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy. Nico likes Percy.

Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me. Nico doesn't like me.

Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me. Nico likes Percy and he doesn't like me.

Nico.

Doesn't.

Like.

Me.

A/N:

Oops, my hand slipped, and I accidentally added in drama. Poor Will. Mishearing something is never fun.

SecretPrussianCitizen suggested that Nico be an angel and I suddenly thought of Nico as Castiel and I actually had to sit there and laugh for a full minute.

Supernatural is really good so far, albeit terrifying, although I have to ask: Doesn't Sam turn into a moose or something? I hear moose jokes about him all the time, so…

Also, I'm not at Castiel yet, but he ends up with Dean, right?

And I can see Apollo kids being born with more medical conditions than other demigods (because Apollo is the god of healing lol). So I gave some conditions to a few background OC's! I'll try to have them pop up more.

Also for clarification Alex is half-Mexican, quarter-Mayan, and quarter-white, and was born female. I don't know, I just feel like that needed to be typed up somewhere.

Also, time to give you guys my tumblr! I was waiting for October to end so I could give you guys my usual tumblr URL and not my Halloween one, since I change it back after Halloween. My tumblr is gamzee-makaraoni! I reblog almost everything I see, so expect a large amount of fandom! And spoilers for the fandoms I'm a part of that you're not in.

Due to popular demand, I shall now write Will with Asperger's Syndrome! I'm actually quite thrilled to, since representation of Asperger's and other forms of autism are very important to me! I'll be modeling Will a little off me in terms of personality (hey look mom im still dating nico in a way lol) and I'll also being using the suggestions that other people have been leaving in their reviews!

Ugh I really wanna babble about other story ideas I have here but the author's note is long enough as it is already so right now I don't want to because then it will be taking up a whole lot of needed space that is necessary (if that makes any sense) so I'll just babble a little bit about them in the next author's note

I mean the stories probably won't be up for a while anyways so yeah I still gotta create actual plot lines

And quick game thing: What's your favorite line for this chapter, or the story overall? Because my personal favorite is from chapter 3 so far: "Will was probably as straight as a straight angle, while Nico was a quadratic in terms of heterosexuality." If you don't get the joke, I'll explain it real fast: Quadratics are curved lines on a graph, either opening up or down. They aren't the straight lines that we normally see. Get it now? And I'm asking because Still Random has been naming their favorite lines for each chapter, and I've been realizing what a genius I am with these lines. So send in your favorites!

And I cannot express my love for "Mystery Skulls-Ghost" enough. Go check it out, you guys! It's so addicting! I've watched it at least six times!

Deranged Shadow Fangirl