Will Pov

"Come on Di Angelo!"

Nico just pulls the blanket above his head and makes an incoherent sound.

I have an amazing breakfast ready for you!"

Nico deciding that that didn't need a response and stayed silent.

"It has cheesy pancakes and a raspberry smoothie."

Nico rolls off his bed, shuffles to a standing position and wraps his blanket tighter around him. I just laugh at his obvious grumpy vibes that he goes through no effort to conceal. He rolls his eyes and starts walking to the kitchenette of our apartment. We had moved in together when Nico turned 18. I had been living mostly on my own for a little bit. And I had moved to upstate New York to go to medical school at New York Medical School (creative name I know). Nico would visit me every other weekend. He had siblings to take care of since he was the head counselor. It was good for him. His younger brother Dre was amazing at getting Nico play mythomagic.

Nico sat down at the table we had in our small dining room, where the pancakes and smoothie were waiting. "What did I do to deserve this delicious breakfast?" He said furrowing his eyebrows trying to figure it out but his sleep addled brain preventing him.

"It's our seven-year anniversary!"

"Shit, I remember think about it all last night."

"It's all good I just needed to do something special after you got that reservation for 'The Grove.'"

Nico gives a little proud smile, like he's happy I'm excited. I give a smile back and then go into our room to grab my scrubs. Nico moves and follows me. How he is still wrapped in the blanket and eating pancakes I don't know. Around a mouthful of food, he says "Ouf fi rk od."

"What?"

He swallows and says "You don't have work today. I made a call to Diana explaining our anniversary and she said you could have 3 days off to celebrate."

"Do you think Diana will be okay with me taking time off?"

"Solace apparently you had 5 months of vacation time last year. It's enough time that they reset it for the new year, so you now have 3 weeks. You took all of Diana's shifts when she was out of town. You literally cooked her chicken soup took it over to her. Then went and took her shift that, mind you, you weren't even signed up for all so she could rest. You have taken care of her, so let her take care of you."

"I guess…."

"Also, I told her that if she saw you to lock the doors. And we are on spring break so no need to worry about school."

I sigh and hug my boyfriend and bury my head in his neck. "You're amazing."

He gives me my second and then smiles like he knows a secret. "Change into a comfortable outfit."

-O-O-O-O-O-

My favorite shirt is still my Camp Half-Blood shirt. Cargo pants make up the majority of my closet. There can never be enough pockets. I exited the room and walked to our hallway to put some shoes ready…. For whatever Nico had decided.

He joined me with his sword at his side. I looked weirdly at his sword. We didn't need it anymore, but old habits die hard. In fact, I had my knife strapped to my back.

"Ready", he asked.

I grabbed his hand and nodded my head.

We exited and Nico called Jules-Albert.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-

I recognized the road as soon as we got on it. It was the path I took when I was picking up Nico from camp. "Why are we heading to camp?"

"We're meeting Annabeth and Percy there."
"Why?"

He kept silent. I pestered him a couple more time and then moved on to another conversation.

We pulled up outside the hill with Thalia's pine tree. We slowly started trekking up the hill, one that had watched so many hellos and goodbyes. We reached the crest and watched the new generation of campers as well as a few old ones almost to graduating level. As I surveyed the valley that once held my entire life, I saw two people waving at us. We headed to say hi to the couple.

Nico went and hugged them fiercely. We lived mostly in the same city. Most of the year Annabeth went finished up school in New Rome. Percy lived in New York for most of it going to school there. I think they just bought a house in New Jersey where the prices weren't as steep. They also had an apartment in New Rome. Nico had been busy trying to get into a college for undergrade, so he didn't see them that much. I stood there kind of awkwardly. These were more of his friends. Then Annabeth waved me into the hug.

"How are you guys?"

"Doing good! Has Nico told you yet?" asked Percy.

"Nope. Can you tell me?"

"Annabeth wouldn't tell me."

"Well at least we'll be surprised together."

We started walking to the direct opposite side of camp of the cabins. It was a mix between the beach and the forest. While walking I saw some green colored tips of hair. "Kayla", I shouted.

She turned. She had been leading a younger camper maybe 4. Really young none the less. She sprinted over to me and hugged me tight. The camper watched us carefully and moved to Kayla.

"Hey, Kays. How is being head counselor?"

"We're you constantly this exhausted?"

I laughed a light one. "Who is this little fellow?"

"This is Antonio. He is the littlest of our cabin at 6, almost 7 years old."

"Our cabin?"

"Dad decided to claim him a little early after…. Well ill catch up to you after I drop this little raindrop at the cabin, okay? Where are you guys headed?"

"Ask Annabeth or Nico?" I shrugged.

"Well, be over by the little cove."

"Okay ill meet you there. Austin is out visiting his folks right now, but I promise well get together some time, okay?"

"Okay" I said a little disappointed. She walked off leading Antonio to the Cabin. A cabin I was no longer really apart of.

I caught up to the group who had been slowly making it over to the "cove", whatever that was. Nico's hand brushed mine silently asking if I am okay. I interlocked our fingers responding with I'm okay. He seemed to be okay with that answer for now. We walked down the beach for a second and then went around a curve which opens up to… houses?

There were a couple houses. A mix between cabin and house. Trees framed the back so when you looked towards the house it looked like we were in the middle of the forest with patches of tall grass but when you look from the house you saw a beautiful sunrise on the ocean. There are maybe 20 houses in total.

"These", Annabeth said smiling proudly, "Are the future, this is the beginnings of New Greece welcome to Romans and Greek alike. Eventually we will have colleges and a small government. We will be separate from the camp, but we will be there. We will be whole." She points to a house to the edge already sporting a wooden sign saying Will x Nico in cursive. That's when I realized all the houses had names. Clarisse x Chris, Katie x Travis, and Percy x Annabeth. "If the couples end up getting a divorce ill be setting up a form so that we can decide the next step whether they share a house or not. But" she eyed our interlocked hands, "I don't believe that will happen often."

Nico lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around my shoulders. Leaning in he whispers "We will always have a home to return to. This can be our retirement home."

We go and tour our retirement cabin. Its cute not to small and not to big. It's a blank canvas for us to paint when we are ready to. Annabeth designed it perfectly. All our needs accommodated.

I need to use the bathroom, so I tell Nico to go wait for me outside and talk to Kayla. When I exit, I witness a weird scene. Nico is talking to Kayla far away from the cabin. I can't hear what he is saying but I can tell by his body language that he is nervous and excited and talking very fast like he can't get his idea out fast enough. I also notice that an iris message is going through out the conversation. Kayla jumps into Nico's arms and hugs him tight. Literally jumping up and down. He brings something out of his jacket and shows it and slides in back in. Kayla catches my eye and stops jumping right away and says something. Nico turns with a hug smile on his face. He beckons me over. I hurry over confused and deep down a little hurt that something was being kept form me. Kayla "accidently" backs through the iris message.

"Who were you irising?"

"Oh, that was…. That was Annabeth telling us to head back to camp for some breakfast." The sun had risen to where it would be at around 7:30.

"Oh, that's alright we need to head out at around 8:30. We already had breakfast. But explain to me how Antonio is at camp this young."

"When we had the war with Gaea a couple of retired demigods went and joined the fight deciding that it would worth the sacrifice to keep New Rome going the new generation. Antionio's parents didn't make it out. The Greeks and the romans decide that we would raise most of the kids here since it was more fun based than solider based. We have him until he turns 11 and then he returns. It isn't rare actually even before the war some parents couldn't let go the dangerous side of their youth and would give their life to keep everyone safe. There always are a few orphans. I don't know how to feel about it. Parents should be there for kids but also why should teenagers die constantly. I don't know."

My brain was working at a million miles an hour. Did that mean….? No, we can't think about that possibility.

Nico and I said goodbye to everyone and got in the car. Jules-Albert wasn't there anymore so I drove. Since I have the day off let's pack quickly and head over to camp Jupiter. It will be a drive, but we can go make a trip and visit Hazel and Frank.

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

It took forever but since we had already been up early, we got there just in time for dinner.

"Hazel! Frank!"

They turned and surprise took over their faces then they rushed to me.

"How are you guys? We didn't know you were coming."

"We didn't know either. We're going to go find our rooms first and then we'll come talk to you."

We had irised Reyna earlier in our trip and had told her that we were coming. Unfortunately, she was out of town trying to negotiate with some Roman nomads, but it meant that we had her apartment to ourselves.

We met back up with Frank and Hazel who we had recently seen. We had visited earlier this year for the wedding. It hadn't been a big bang. It was more of a quiet ceremony with limited people making all the special to them.

I was in the middle of talking to Hazel about New Rome and New Greece when I realized something; "Nico, What about our reservations." I was panicking this was a big thing and I had been really looking forward to it with Nico.

"I called and luckily they had, had a cancelation on Thursday so when we get back from our trip we will go."

I sigh and give him I love you much look and then turn back to my conversation.

Afterwards I was tired and ready to go to bed, but Nico insisted we go and see the golden gate bridge for sunset.

While sitting in the car I went over Hazel's reaction to something Nico had said and how she had leaned to Frank and had told him something that made him smile very widely. Then they all looked at me who was coming back from getting a jacket just in case I go cold. I felt like I was being left out again. That they were making fun of m obliviousness or something. I assumed that they weren't talking about that, but it was still a little hurtful and disconcerting. It wasn't really anything right I was just being overly sensitive. But what if I am right. I was wrestling with this when Nico looked over and said, "What are you thinking about Sunshine?"

"I am trying to dissect what you were talking to Hazel and Frank about when I came back from grabbing my jacket and why Kayla lied to me and walked through the Iris message."

"Ill tell you when we get there okay. I know you are making a crisis situation in your head so stop take a deep breath and remember how if Kayla lied nothing bad is going to happen because she would tell it to your face."

"That's true." That line of reasoning helped stem the stream of worry.

When we got there, we had missed the sunset, but the city lights and fog made up for the disappointment. I think it might be even prettier. We stood there for a second and took a couple photos.

I watched Nico as he seemed to get more and more nervous. Then he took a deep breath. "When I came to camp you immediately tried to become my friend. When I came back to camp different then when I arrived the first time that didn't stop you from trying. When I pushed you away time and time again that didn't stop you. You let me in. You let me confide. You had pushed me to take care of myself. That I could be helpful to others. You just accepted me as is. And when I tell you that I love you, I love you because you are kind and selfless and you are always putting people before you and I admire that. So, will you please stay in my life? Will you marry me?"

"You said that this wouldn't be a crisis situation. And here I was trying to figure out if you were breaking up with me or not."

"Will I don't have an answer yet."

"Oh" I breathed out "Of course, I would love to marry you. I love you. That's why you were talking to-"

"Will" he move close to me grabbing my hands "You are rambling."

"I didn't realize it's just a-"

He kissed me. And I love him all the more, I didn't realize I could.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

Nico Pov

A nice blond woman opened the door. In all the time That they had been dating Nico had never met Will's mom.

"Are you Naomi Solace?"

"Yes." She said warily thinking the paparazzi had finally found her.

I hold my hand out hoping she doesn't see the tremor. "Hi Ms. Solace, I am Wills boyfriend, Nico.

"Oh, dear boy come in I need to know everything about you."

I don't necessarily want to talk to her that long without Will to introduce me but I walk in.

"What brings you to Texas? Anything happen to my baby?"

"Will is doing amazing. He is passing med school in flying colors." I look at my hands feeling insanely nervous. "I came because I want to marry your son." The kind of nervous where it feeling like no matter how deeply you breath you aren't getting enough air.

She softly grabbed my chin and brought my eyes to hers "My Will hasn't stopped talking about you since he met you. Even when he was angry or at the end of his fuse he has never said anything bad about you. All he says are amazing things about you. He doesn't even question his loyalty to you. I give you my permission on this regard, I want you to visit me at least once a year." I nod smiling as she goes back to bustling around. I relax a bit after realizing how stiff I am. "I assume that you are going straight back."

"Yes, but I promise we'll visit sooner then later. I hope to send you a wedding invitation sooner than later."

She smiles and shoos me away.

Ill post a wedding scene soonish. Reviews?!

~Crimsonqlayer