(She remembered after the war, when the legion came back to their home, and several New Romans wept and embraced them. Reyna had been cradled by a woman she didn’t know, who blubbered that they were so young. They had blood caked on skin and armor, limbs flanked in unnatural directions, and bruises as dark as the night. Her Legion felt tough, but in the arms of several parents, all felt small.)

 Nico di Angelo was no different. Like Reyna, he had few in his family and trusted almost no one. Jason taught Reyna to trust the legion, to trust her brethren who were also outcasts in the mortal world. The campers who were raised in New Rome were no different. They were there to assure others that being a demigod was normal—unless you were a Son of Hades. Reyna hated how that was the exception because Nico was the most loyal friend she had.  

 She tried to voice that opinion once, but Nico shot her down. The more people that noticed him, the more eyes that were watching. He was content with his small circuit of Hazel, Frank, Reyna, and occasionally Jason.

 Who was the center of Nico’s universe at the moment. Not in a good way, either.

 Across from her, Nico’s hand balled into a fist over Argentum’s head. His eyebrows furrowed together, lips tight to keep emotions at bay. He was upset. She didn’t know the reason why, yet, but Reyna knew that Jason’s constant worrying didn’t put Nico at ease.

 Reyna sighed softly, her hand curled precisely over a pen.

 When she looked up, Reyna was met with wet eyes.

 “He’s trying to set me up with others,” Nico murmured. “Other guys.”

 Her eyebrows furrowed together. Reyna watched as Nico glared at the ground, unsure of what to say. Nico confided in her with a lot; several things that he couldn’t to Hazel or Jason. But it didn’t mean she was better at comforting him.

 “That’s what you wanted,” she said steadily. “Isn’t it?”

 He waited, before reluctantly shaking his head. Nico sucked in a breath, but it didn’t look like it helped any more. Then a tiny, miserable laugh fell from his lips. “I want to not ruin every relationship that I come across.”  

 “You haven’t ruined your relationship with me,” Reyna said quietly. “Or with Frank, or Hazel.”

 Nico’s hands quaked. He lowered his head and buried his face in his palms, and Reyna knew that this was a stance Nico took when everything else around him made no sense. He looked little, and frail, and nothing like a fearsome image of death.

 Standing to her feet, Reyna glided toward him and ran a hand smoothly across his spine. Nico once compared her to both Artemis and to his sister, Bianca. Fierce, and noble, and caring. But Nico and Reyna weren’t emotional people. Reyna locked that away with the little girl back in Puerto Rico, and Nico did after his sister died.

 Yet Reyna knew never to walk away from some who needed help. It was what Jason taught her, and what she was going to teach Nico.

 “You don’t have to say the words out loud.” Reyna slowly reached up until she could squeeze the Son of Hades’s shoulder. She watched Nico take in a faint breath before those dark eyes latched onto her own. “Not to me. But maybe to him. He’ll understand.”

 “He won’t—”

 “Jason spent half a year after the war trying to gain your trust. He left everything, even Camp Halfblood to find you. He won’t abandon you because you love hi—” Reyna stopped herself, knowing it wasn’t her place to vocalize. She chewed on her lip before coaxing Aurum forward. Both mechanical canines hummed contently and nudged at Nico until they were touched. “He considers you a close ally. One of his best friends, like I do. I think you would hurt him if you ran away from him.”

 “You don’t know that.” Nico glared at his toes, eyebrows furrowing.

 “I do.”

 They both flinched as Jason’s voice filled the room. Nico faced away from the door once he caught sight of the person he was trying to run away from and Reyna stared at her old companion head-on.

 Jason looked less than confident. He looked tired and haggard, and Reyna assumed that he searched everywhere for Nico (which meant, across the country. She didn’t understand these powerful demigods sometimes.) However, Reyna knew Jason knew Nico’s habits well. If anything, Jason put space between them so Nico could think, without Jason’s presence wearing him down.

 “I was just—I know you visit her a lot. Hey, Rey.” Smiling weakly, Jason ran a hand through his own hair and shook his head with dismay.

 “Hello.” Reyna slowly ushered Nico to his feet even though he didn’t want to budge.

 Undeterred, Jason slowly made his way across the room and stood parallel to Nico. Nico let Jason grab him by the wrist and slowly glided to his feet. Jason thumbed a teardrop as it fell down the contour of Nico’s cheek, catching it sweetly, and quietly urged Nico to look at him.

 “You know I would never,” Jason whispered quietly, but strongly, “want to hurt you. Right?”

 Nico said nothing, at a loss for words.

 Reyna took it as her cue to leave the office. She squeezed Jason’s bicep carefully and smoothed out the bangs over Nico’s face before walking towards the door.

 “Talk to each other,” she said. It wasn’t an order, but she hoped it motivated them to clear the air between each other.

 Aurum and Argentum followed after her, barking happily as she plucked an imperial gold Frisbee from a bookshelf and decided to find Annabeth and have a picnic.

 Before Reyna shut the door, she saw Jason hold Nico close and murmur soft words in the latter’s ear.

 They’d be fine, she assured herself.