the ghost king

Still, Jason couldn’t hold back the grin as he thought about Hazel and Reyna. “They’re doing great! Hazel and Frank are still an almost scarily good couple and he gave her flowers randomly at least once that I saw. And she’s la centurion now - but I’m sure you heard about that. Still, I’ve never seen her walk so tall. Reyna is, well, Reyna. She’s working as hard as ever, but I think she’s starting to look forward to when she can actually muster out.”

“Exactly. But it doesn’t have to be good for you in the middle of battle to be useful. It could be just good practice for when things are going well in your life. You know, smiling. Shows you’re happy. All of that.”

Jason shrugged. The Stoll brothers rarely bothered to prank him - something about being able to call down lightning had them a little more cautious - but he knew that wasn’t the case for a lot of people. “Was yours black, or did you just convince them it had to be black to match your style? I have a feeling people wouldn’t really argue with you over it.” That might have been something Jason used to know, but he wasn’t sure. The days right before his disappearance were still fuzzy, and slight details like that were the most likely to slip through. Everything major was there, but of course, now he had a different sense of what was major and he was still working to pull everything back.

"Reyna needs to learn to take a break," he said, rolling his eyes a bit. He'd tried to teach her the value of a lazy day where all you do is read comics or play games, but she turned everything into a "learning opportunity" or a strategy exercise. He eventually got fed up and went to go hide out in his cabin. 

Nico didn't say much about that. Things were rarely going well in his life. It wasn't up until a few months ago that he could even say that he enjoyed being alive. Before, he was just waiting for a time when he wouldn't be useful so he could slip away into the shadows, never to return. But between Will, Jason, Hazel, Reyna, Coach Hedge, and hell, even Percy and Annabeth, Nico was learning that living might not be the worst thing he'd ever done. At least when there were no monsters or vengeful gods trying to kill him.

He thought back to the day he accidentally became an ambassador for Hades. "Well," he said around a mouthful of brownie, "the first one they gave me was white. I just kind of looked at them and handed it back. I told them I'd wear my own clothes. They said I couldn't, so I just went and found someone who would dye the toga for me." He shrugged. "They just kind of let me." 

People did those kinds of things to him from time to time. Let him do things that maybe others wouldn't be able to do. All because they were scared of him. Nico hated it. Sure, he kind of liked that people thought he was intimidating enough to be scared of (especially given how short he still is), but he didn't want people to be scared of him all the time. 

He chuckled and gave Nico an amused look back. “You know it also takes muscles to frown, glare threateningly, pout, snarl, anything of that nature? Its just a slightly different use. And yes, that look you just gave me counts in that.” He didn’t really see how smiling could be exhausting, but that could be more of a lack of use thing. After all, any muscle that wasn’t used regularly did get sore when you started using it again. And now he was proving Nico’s point by arguing it in his own mind. He push it aside.  

“And if I’m here, I don’t have to wear a toga to meetings, which is a lot more comfortable. As ex-praetor and pontifex I’m expected to make a good show of it, but its a lot less fun than watching the Stoll brothers play pranks before meetings start. So, obviously, there’s a whole host of reasons to be excited to be here, beyond the obvious of seeing my friends again.” 

"Though, it has been a while since I've seen them. How are they?" Nico was basically incapable of not asking about Hazel and Reyna. He loved both of his sisters (and yes, Reyna counted as one of his sisters now) very much, but making the trip to New Rome was exhausting. Especially since his shadow travel has been put on a minimum for a while.

Nico shrugged. "Your point?" he asked. "Every movement requires muscles. But not every movement is good for you in the midst of battle anyway." And Nico had put that theory to a test. Mouthing off or rolling your eyes at the wrong person was a bad idea, even for a son of Hades. Or, rather, especially for an already loathed son of Hades.

"Yeah, I guess you've got me there. The togas are awful. I just got lucky mine was black." Nico hated the togas. At least, he hated wearing them. He didn't care if other people wore them, but when he wore one of them? Nope. Bad bad bad. "And the Stoll brothers are only funny when they're not pranking you." He gave Jason a look. Nico had been at the butt of their pranks too many times for him to think they're funny. 

Nico hesitated, thinking that maybe he should let Jason go and get settled now. Surely he was tired and had better things to do than stand at the tree line and talk to Nico. It's not like they were even really discussing anything important... But then Jason offered him brownies, and really, he couldn't say no to those.

“You never know, something could have happened in all those months. Boredom can be a dangerous enemy.” 

Jason snorted, finally finding the will to dim the smile as he shook his head. “I would have thought that’s a warrior thing. Why, what did you think of first?” The Roman jokes had slowed over the last year, but Nico’s comment reminded him that it was likely those were going to go away. At least it was better than some of the Lares sneering ‘graecus’ at him. That was just awkward and significantly less well intentioned. 

He snorted. "It doesn't matter how bored I get, I'll never succumb to Leo's level. Worst case scenario, I go to the Underworld and let my father or Persephone boss me around some. That usually inspires a stroke of brilliance to get rid of my boredom." Nico didn't want to admit how many times he'd done that. The Underworld was a great cure for both boredom and lonliness. Again, not that he'd admit it.

Nico shook his head. "Not exactly. Why would a warrior need muscles in their face?" He gave Jason a look, both of his eyebrows crinkled together. Seriously... his face? Nico had plenty of muscles, but he wasn't sure any of the ones in his face would serve him well in battle. "I thought about my face hurting. Smiling is really exhausting." 

“Basically. I’ll have to give a full report to Chiron as well at some point, but there’s no rush.” Which reminded him of the bags he had dropped so unceremoniously. He took a few steps back so he could loop the strap over his shoulder, momentarily thankful that he didn’t have anything breakable in there. (You couldn’t break brownies after all, and they were safely in a tin, and beyond that it was just clothes. Which also cushioned the brownies. So it was fine).

He chuckled, running his hand through his hair as he did so. “Leo hasn’t been trying out too many of his inventions on you has he? It doesn’t look like you’re missing any important parts.” He made a show of checking Nico over as if to confirm that nothing was seriously wrong before meeting his eyes again.

He didn’t mind the others ‘annoying’ him, not when he was here. Leo made him laugh far more than he pissed Jason off, and even with their recent breakup, he and Piper were still friends. Percy and Jason always had a tumultuous relationship, but usually after blowing off some steam they were back to the friendly competition that tended to characterize their dynamic. After all, there weren’t too many other people he could fight with and be sure they were about evenly powered.

Jason thought about trying to stop the smile for half a second before giving up and shrugging. “My cheeks would probably get tired if that happened, but then I suppose the muscles would get stronger in response, so i think I can get used to it.”

"Chiron's around. You'll find him." Secretly, Nico wanted to spend as much time catching up with Jason as he could. But he knew that eventually, Jason would have to go talk to Chiron or Mr. D or would be whisked off by Piper and Percy and Annabeth... And Nico would have to share him again. These few moments, Jason was his and Nico liked that.

Probably a bit more than he should, but he was good at ignoring those feelings for better or for worse.

"Do you think I would let Valdez try out an invention on me?" Nico asked, raising his eyebrows. The only time Leo had gotten anywhere close to trying an invention on Nico, he'd slipped away into the shadows at the last second, causing a minor explosion in the Hephaestus cabin. It was actually kind of funny, but Leo didn't seem to think so.

Nico did notice how Jason's eyes roved over him. He felt like he was put on display. His entire body flared with heat, and he just willed it to not show on his face. He didn't like the feeling of being scrutinized at all... the only consolation he had was that this was Jason. Jason who wouldn't judge based on what he saw, unlike some others. 

Either way, Nico squirmed a bit, wanting to go hide in his cabin or slip into the shadows and let them take him somewhere far away. He had to remember that he'd been looking forward to Jason coming home. That put things in perspective again. 

"Of course you'd think about the muscles first. Such a Roman," Nico said, slightly teasing. He liked seeing Jason smile so much, even if it was a bit unsettling since he literally hadn't stopped smiling since Nico'd stepped out from the shadows. It was almost as if... but no, that couldn't be.

Jason burst into a full grin as soon as he heard the familiar voice, dropping his bag as he turned toward the sound. “Nico!” He had no idea how long Nico had been watching him, or if he had just snuck up on him to see how close he could get before startling him, but Jason didn’t care much either way. The important fact was that he was there.

It only took a few steps before Jason had closed the distance and swept the other boy into a huge hug. “Yeah, I just got in.” Jason gave himself a moment more before he stepped back, allowing himself to look at Nico and also give the other boy a little space. Over the past year they’d become better friends, and Nico was more comfortable with contact, but Jason was careful never to push his limits. Even hugging without asking was more than he would have done not too long ago.

“Hazel sends her love, and told me to tell you that she’s expecting you to come visit her soon, because Iris messages aren’t close enough for her to fuss over you properly. Reyna said basically the same, but there were more subtle threats involved. Gods its good to see you again Nico.” He’d stumbled his way through the most important messages to make sure that he didn’t forget, but once his duty was discharged he could admit to the thought that was mostly on his mind. Throughout, he couldn’t seem to stop grinning.

➞ Nico was caught completely off guard by Jason's assault. And that's what it was: an assault. An assault of bear-hugs and over enthusiasm. Nico tried to be mad about it, but he failed pretty spectacularly. Could you blame him? Jason was one of his best friends (holy Hades, Nico has best friends!!!) and he'd been gone for weeks.

So, Nico let Jason hug him. He might've even hugged back a little bit, but only because he missed him. The hug went on a bit longer than normal though, which made Nico start to question things. When Jason pulled back, Nico purposefully fiddled with his shirt to distract himself a bit.

"Sounds like everything is situation normal in New Rome, then," Nico said. He'd heard the same things from the girls themselves. Part of him didn't want to visit them soon just to drive them crazy, but he knew he'd be shadowtravelling out there first chance he got. He missed his sisters. 

Nico gave Jason a small smile, looking up at him. "It's good to see you too, Grace," he said. "Now everyone will have someone else to annoy all the time." Not that Nico really meant it, but he couldn't just dole out compliments without saying something sarcastic. He practically had an inability to do so. 

Jason took a deep breath as he crossed the boundary back into Camp Half Blood. He’d only been gone for a few weeks, but he still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that he could actually call this place home now. Every time he came back, there was a slight thrill of excitement which mostly counteracted the general travel exhaustion. At least this time he’d been able to keep his return quiet. As much as he enjoyed seeing everyone, he didn’t want any kind of grand parade every time he returned from his role as ambassador, pontifex, whatever the newest term was. 

Weeks!

Weeks since Jason had left on whatever new thing he had to take care of. Nico understood that he had responsibilities as Pontifex and an ex-Praetor. Really, he got it. Hell, Nico had responsibilities of his own: namely, in Hades itself. Though, he still found it odd that his dad's realm was named after him. Olympus wasn't called "Zeus." But, whatever. Far be it from him to understand the way the gods ran things. It was just his job to go along with it all.

Which is why he didn't do much when Jason left. He missed him, sure. But he had things he could be doing. He hung out with Will in the infirmary some, but that was always awkward when the other Apollo campers started asking them why they broke up. He trained in the Arena; listened to Percy and Annabeth squabble over stupid things. Iris-messaged Hazel to check up on her and Reyna and Frank.

None of that kept his attention for long though. Especially as Jason's home-coming day got closer. He might have been keeping track of the date just so he'd be the first to welcome Jason back. Nico wasn't anything if not thorough.

Which is why he is now hiding in the shadows of the treeline that grew along the boundary to camp. He was waiting on Jason to get back, but didn't want anyone to see him waiting for Jason to get back. Percy would surely start teasing him, and Will would probably go on another tirade about how Nico shouldn't hide in shadows it's not healthy. 

As soon as Jason showed up, Nico smiled. An actual smile. He found out that he can do those quite well these days, when he tries. He watched as Jason walked into camp. The son of Zeus didn't seem to be concerned with finding anyone, as he was just walking down the hill. Nico tracked him with his eyes, and was just about to go follow him when Jason turned, calling him out.