#post boo

They’d been arguing for ages. Will just didn’t see how Nico couldn’t love the idea. 

It would be the first time they’d been out of camp together, and there would be FREE CANDY. 

FREE.

CANDY. 

He knew that Nico had some reservations about the mortal world. It had changed since the 40’s. But that was why it was perfect for his psychological state to be exposed to it!

At least, that’s what Will had told him. 

The truth was he wanted to see Nico in a ridiculous costume. 

“You could be a vampire!” he said, yelling over the breakfast table. The table had now been dubbed the ‘Apollo and Nico’ table, as even Mr D couldn’t be so cold hearted as to sentence Nico to eat alone. 

“Definitely not! Nothing monstrous!” 

“Harry Potter!” 

“Who even is that?!”

“What about… a unicorn!” 

That just earned Will a look saying ‘I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing.’ In his mind, Will placed a unicorn horn on Nico’s head, and sniggered. 

“Stop picturing me as a unicorn you asshole!” 

“Sorry, sorry…”

One of the campers, Anna, leaned over. 

“Hey are you guys talking about Halloween?” 

Nico almost choked on his porridge, which made Will laugh even harder. 

“W-what no of course not!”

“Well… just be careful whatever it is you’re doing.” Anna’s brow creased with worry, but then she turned back to the short camper sitting next to her, resuming their debate about which types of arrows flew best. 

“What does she mean by that?”

“Don’t worry about Anna, she knows pretty much everything that goes on around here. She just wants us to be safe.”

“Well yeah but… safe from what?”

Will looked nervously over at the campers next to him, who were pretending their best to not be listening in. 

“Let’s talk about it another time.”

Nico shrugged, and went back to his food. 

“So… what are your plans for today?” the younger boy asked. 

“Well,” Will began, “I was thinking we could start your pop-culture crash course today. Or we could just go on a picnic or what about a game of-“

“I mean in terms of camp activities.” 

Will blushed. 

“Oh, yeah, those. Well I mean… basketball?” He grinned stupidly. Nico just laughed. 

***

Back in the Hades cabin, Nico sat on the bed, arms folded indignantly. 

“So… safe from what?” 

Will sat down next to him, a bit wary. 

“Well, it’s just that Halloween is when a bunch of ghosts come to camp. Dia de los muertos and stuff. I figured it was best for you to get away from all that, seeing as you’re on a strict Underworld ban.”

Will looked at Nico, trying to work out if he appreciated the sentiment or resented that Will was treating him like a little kid. 

After a long silence, Nico just said “thanks.”

And Will knew he’d done the right thing. 

***

“Who’s that?” Nico asked, pointing at a small child dressed in a white suit and helmet. 

“A stormtrooper from Star Wars.” 

“I see.”

Nico and Will walked along the lane hand-in-hand. Or, hand in mechanical claw, considering that Nico was dressed as a robot. It was cold, but dry which Will thanked his father for. He did NOT need Nico’s cardboard getting soggy. He spent at least five hours on that!

Meanwhile, he was walking along in his regular camp clothes, claiming to be a ‘surfer’ if anyone asked. 

No one asked, though. Most people just opened their doors and said ‘aren’t you too old to be trick or treating?’ 

Then they’d snatch a handful of chocolate and take off laughing. 

“What’s that one?”

“Michael Jackson. Famous singer. Sometimes black. Sometimes not.”

“Oooookay?” Nico said. 

Eventually it got late, and all of the children went inside, and all of the houses turned of their lights. Nico sighed.

“Guess we’ll have to be getting back, huh?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Thanks for doing this for me.”

“No problem. It allowed me to explain what a Hobbit and Regina George were in the same breath so I’d say it was worth it. Plus… I liked spending this time with you. Away from camp.”

They were all sitting round a campfire. Leo felt a pang of nostalgia as he smelt the smoke and heard the songs. it had been too long since he’d last been at camp. He creeped through the woods, holding hands with Calypso.

"This is so strange." she whispered. She’d been saying that a lot over the past few years. Leo laughed.

“Just wait till you meet them.”

The campers all finished the song, and sat quietly around the fire for a while. Leo felt slightly nervous, but it was overshadowed by how AWESOME it was gonna be.

He’d thought about it a lot. Him and Calypso even had a notebook that they’d kept under the cash register. “How Leo Will Break the Bad AWESOME News That He’s Still Alive”

It was filled over time with elaborate plots involving cannons and bronze dragons and show choirs singing ‘Guess Who’s Back’ as Leo descended from the sky riding a motorcycle on fire.

However, eventually they decided that the best way was the simplest. He took deep breaths. All of the campers had their backs to them. They tip-toed through the trees, around all the way to the stage. Leo crouched down.

"You ready?" Calypso asked.

"Am I ever not ready?"

"Leo, you’re the King of not ready!"

Leo smiled and kissed her quickly. "I’m ready."

I think.

***

Without thinking too much (which is how Leo liked to do most things) he vaulted over the back of the stage and fell badly on his elbow. He rolled on the ground.

"Son of a Hydra!" he yelled. The campers screamed. It was then that Leo realised that ‘creepy guy jumping from the forest’ was possibly a bad idea.

"What’s going on?" he heard a girl’s voice ask. She walked over to Leo, and grabbed him by the shirt, dragging him up to his feet.

It was then that Leo realised who it was.

"Hi, Pipes." he waved.

It was then that Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, punched Leo in the face.

***

"What were you even thinking?!" Piper paced back and forth at the Big House. "Um, ‘oh Leo everyone’s gonna be so happy that you’re not dead’?" Leo tried, nursing his broken nose. 

Piper shook her head. "Well of course I'm happy you're back but I'm also fucking furious." 

Leo didn't doubt her for a moment. 

"Three years. You let us believe you were dead for three years."

"It was my fault." Calypso piped up. "I wanted to travel, see the world. And open our shop... Leo wanted to go back to camp, he really did."

Leo nodded enthusiastically. 

"It would have taken one iris message to let us know you were alive. One. Frank blames himself, Nico's all cut up about it and god knows Hazel's cried enough. We mourned you. We gave you a hero's ceremony."

"You think I'm a hero?" Leo grinned, but Piper's look of pure rage made him stop. 

"Look, I'm sorry. I should have let you know I was okay. But, can we skip the part were you're mad at me and go straight to the part where we cry and hug?"

Piper stared at him for a moment, her jaw set. Eventually she tears formed in her eyes, and she sobbed. 

"I'm just so glad you're back." She said, hugging him tightly. 

***

"So why are we all here?" Frank asked. 

It was taken three days to get everybody together. Annabeth and Percy from college, Jason, Hazel and Frank from New Rome, Nico from wherever it is Nico goes. 

"Please don't tell me Rachel's predicted another apocalypse." Percy said. 

Leo laughed from his hiding place behind the weapons shed. Piper had decided it was best that she break the news, her being all charmspeak-y and all. 

"You have to promise not to freak out. You're completely calm."

Even though Leo was far away, and Piper wasn't aiming it at him, he immediately felt the effects of her charmspeak. His worries about how his friends would react melted away. 

Everyone stood in a trance-like state, and Piper turned around to nod to Leo. Slowly, he stood up and walked over to them. 

"Um... hey guys, long time no see?" He went for jazz hands. They didn't work. 

"Oh my god." Annabeth whispered. 

"I'm going to kill you." Frank said. 

"Piper's already tried." Leo replied. 

And all of a sudden, as if they were one person, everyone moved in for a hug. 

Nico sighed in frustration and flopped back onto the overly comfy pillow. He wasn’t used to this level of softness. I mean, the beds on the Argo II weren’t bad but comfort wasn’t exactly the main priority. Why have NICE MATTRESSES when you can have LASER TOOTHBRUSHES. At least, that’s that Leo used to-

Leo. 

Ouch.

Nico tried to distract himself the best that he could without moving his head. So, there are forty lights on the ceiling. Interesting. 

Two days straight in the infirmary, and counting. At least he now felt more substantial, but he still felt extremely fatigued. Despite all of this, Nico was itching to get moving. Ever since Percy Jackson had crashed his school dance years ago, his life had been filled with a sense of urgency. Especially last summer, where the end of the world was literally coming. He wasn’t used to not having a looming armageddon-like deadline. 

Sitting still made him stressed, and he’d been sitting for two days. 

Or, lying, since Will Solace still said that sitting was too much for Nico to handle. 

“Will can I PLEASE get something to do?” 

Although Nico couldn’t see Will, he could imagine the rolling of eyes and the crossing of arms. 

“Fine, but nothing that involved physical exertion!” 

Nico thought for a moment. 

What do I even enjoy doing?!

And then it hit him. 

“Will! I need you to ask the Amazons for something!”

Say what you want about the Amazons, but damn do they deliver fast. It was only two hours before a box of Mythomagic cards and figurines were delivered by a dark haired Amazon. 

“Thanks.” Nico said. 

“No problem.” The girl smiled, but in an odd way. 

Then she left, and that was the end of that. 

Will walked over to Nico’s bed. 

“Was that an Amazon?” his light eyebrows creased over starling blue eyes. 

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, they’re not taking orders right now. They’re taking a ‘recovery and mourning’ period.”

Nico could hit himself. Of course! How could he be so inconsiderate. He was so caught up in his own stuff (which, admittedly, was kinda important stuff) that he’d kinda forgotten that at least half the Amazons had been killed. 

He felt punched in the gut with guilt. But that still didn’t answer why they got him his cards. 

“They must really like you.” Will looked impressed.

Then Nico realised. 

“Thanks, Reyna.” he muttered, opening his Mythomagic cards. 

“What do you mean my dad’s only 500 attack?!” Will’s indignant tone made Nico laugh. 

“Well, he has +30 health! That’s important!”

“Yeah, but… 500 attack?!” 

“No offence, but he’s not exactly the scariest god.”

“Well, yeah, but… still! He has the sun. Do you know how many people he could kill with the sun?! All of them, that’s how many!” 

It was three hours later, almost noon, and Nico and Will were sitting cross-legged on the bed, with a pile of cards between them.

Everyone else in the infirmary took no heed. Will had called in a few fellow campers to take care of everyone else, and, although they made a fuss about it, they eventually gave in, leaving Will free to ‘take care’ of Nico. 

“It’s very important for his health.” He had said. 

“Look, you can play another card. How about Hypnos? That way I miss my next turn due to being asleep!” Nico offered helpfully. 

Will pouted. 

“I wanna play my dad!” 

“You’re not even wounded!” 

“I don’t care!” Will threw a pile of cards playfully at Nico. 

“Great, now I’ll have to pick those up.”

“Nonono!” Will said. “No moving!” 

Nico sighed. 

“Anyway, why don’t I play…” Will made a show out of staring at all his cards and making ‘thinking noises’. “This card!” He threw a card onto the deck and Nico’s heart almost stopped. 

His hands began shaking uncontrollably. He dropped his cards. Tears began to form in his eyes. 

Will’s demeanour changed instantly. 

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” 

Nico couldn’t keep it in, as much as he wanted to. He let out a huge, heaving sob, and he was pretty sure that everyone in the infirmary turned to stare but he couldn’t stop.

“What is it?” Will’s voice was urgent, but Nico couldn’t see him as his eyes were screwed up. 

Stop crying, just stop crying, he told himself over and over, but he just couldn’t. He was too tired. 

He felt a reassuring hand on his arm, and before he knew what was happening, he’d pulled the nearest person in for a hug. It just so happened to be Will Solace.

“Okay, okay okay, hey.” Will said. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me what it is.” He began stroking Nico’s hair gently, and Nico continued to sob. He felt ten years old again, and it was almost nice. He held on to Will tightly, as if he was scared of drifting away into the shadows again. 

Five minutes later, Nico’s breathing finally settled down. He sniffled. 

“S-sorry for that.” He awkwardly let go of Will, who’s face was still creased with concern. 

“No problem. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“It’s silly.”

“If it made you cry like that it clearly wasn’t.”

Nico glanced over to everyone else, only to discover that they’d all cleared off. It was just him and Will. They must have left when he was crying. 

“It… it was that card.” he admitted. 

“The card?” Will seemed confused. 

“That Mythomagic card. The one you played. It was Hades. He… he was the last one I needed back when I collected these things. The card and… the figuring.”

“Okay.” Will nodded as if he understood, which Nico appreciated because he was sure that he wasn’t making any sense. 

“Well… we were in this scrapyard place and there was this giant robot thing called Talos and… well there was a Hades figurine there, so my sister… I mean, Bianca not Hazel…. well she took it for me, but Talos didn’t like people stealing and…” 

At this point Nico had to stop. It was too much. He took deep breaths and felt his eyes stinging again. 

“It’s alright.” Will said. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“No I… I think I need to. Bianca decided she would help Percy defeat Talos, even though she wasn’t prepared and she… she…” Nico steeled himself. “She died. And I blamed Percy for the longest time.”

They were silent for a very long time. Idiot! No one wants to hear about your dead sister. How do you even reply to that?!

Will just nodded. “Okay. So would it make you feel better if I got rid of this card?” he picked up the Hades card. 

“No. My sister died for that card. I’m keeping it.” He took it from Will and slipped it into his pyjama pockets. “Anyway, uh… wanna keep playing?” 

Will looked at him with a glint in his eye. 

“Oh you’re on. But be warned, I’m gonna destroy you with my sun power!” 

Nico laughed.