Chapter 1

★THIS STORY IS A GAY FANFICTION ★

★THIS STORY WILL NOT MAKE SENSE UNLESS YOU HAVE READ RICK RIORDANS WORKS★

FROM NICO'S POV

Important info: For this story I have chosen to differ from the path Rick had set for these characters. In my version, Nico and Will's friends do not know about them dating. (Yet...)

Nico and Will had been together for some months now, and both knew that one uncomfortable topic was bound to come up: their future together. He knew he loved Will with all of his heart, but he still hadn't officially told his friends. No matter how much he tried to convince himself they would support him, he couldn't get it out of his head that they would hate him for being gay. On this day, he was busying himself by washing dishes when there was a knock on his door. He called out, "Be there in a minute!", and quickly dried his hands. As he walked through his newly renovated cabin, he couldn't help but be satisfied with how his ideas had come together.

The coffin-like beds had been removed, and replaced with a small living area. As the only living child of Hades, he had permission from Chiron to take over the entire cabin. Now, to take up the extra room, the space had been turned into a small kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, spare bedroom, and living room. Now, as he walked through the house to the front door, he smiled at himself as he pictured how he must look: black shirt, soaked with water in the front from leaning on the counter whilst doing his dishes, messy black hair looking as if it hadn't been properly brushed in days. Hey, the life of a demigod is never easy, even if his toughest challenge in days was the burnt food stuck on his frying pan.

He opened the door, and smiled wider when he saw his boyfriend standing outside his house with his messy blonde hair and goofy smile. He laughed, and waved at him to come inside. "Sorry about the mess," he said, nodding to the half done dishes and small layer of dust that had settled on the floor. "I woke up late today and haven't been the most productive." He felt himself blush, and silently chided himself for letting his living quarters become so messy.

"This is nothing," Will responded, a lopsided grin still covering the bottom half of his face. "The Apollo cabin hasn't been truly clean in months."

Nico smiled back at him, and asked slyly, "Care to join me on the wondrous adventure of scouring those dishes of all evil known to my stomach?"

With a laugh, Will said, "I don't think so, death boy, I only came by to wish you luck on your task today."

Nico was confused for a moment, whilst he wondered what Will meant, when it suddenly donned on him. The game of Capture the Flag was tonight! Every time the Hunters of Artemis stayed at Camp Half-Blood, there was a game of Capture the Flag in their honor. So far, the Hunters had won every one they had ever played against one another. Confused again, he asked Will, "But won't you be playing too? I mean it's the entire camp against all Hunters right?"

"Nope, I have been tasked with playing doctor once again." Will said. "You silly warriors, always getting hurt."

"Hey!" Nico protested. "You're one of us too! And besides, we save the world, we aren't silly!"

"I was kidding, love. And you are very silly, but that just makes you even more amazing!" Will said. He then quickly said he had to go "get the supplies ready for you guys, I already know at least one of you is going to break something." and left Nico standing in the kitchen, blushing so much he was surprised his clothes didn't catch on fire. Will's use of the title "love" was so out of the blue, he didn't know if he would be able to get his head focused again in time for the game. He would be in charge of protecting the Camp Half-Blood flag. He still had bad feelings towards the Hunters for allowing his late sister, Bianca, to go on a quest she wasn't ready for. However, with some convincing on Will's part, he was beginning to forgive them.

He figured he couldn't finish doing the dishes now, so the next best thing was probably to train for the upcoming trip into the woods. What with all of the monsters in there, one could never be too careful. He ran to his room to change into some clean clothes, and of course brush his hair. He was letting it grow out again, so it was no longer as short. His now shaggy black hair was harder to brush, but he didn't feel like cutting it quite yet. On his way out the door, he grabbed his sword and attached the blade to his jeans. Just before he stepped off of the porch, he ran back inside to grab his hoodie.

It was his favorite hoodie; he had gotten it from a concert of one of his favorite bands, Falling in Reverse. Nico walked until he was at the sword fighting arena. He walked over to a straw dummy, and easily sliced his way through a cluster of sraw bound together in a shape made to represent an arm. After that, he moved on to another, and removed both of its arms, ending with an upward stroke so powerful the dummy's head was sliced right off. He removed his hoodie now, as the physical exertion was sure to make him heat up despite the cool weather. Knowing that this was too easy, he took the opportunity of having the arena all to himself, and began practicing a new routine of moves he was working on.

He slowly breathed out and began. At a slow, smooth pace, he began by swinging his sword above his head, and striking down an imaginary foe. Picking up speed, he lifted his sword above his head again and brought it down, stopping the blade an inch from the ground. He somersaulted forwards, and rising up on one knee, he struck down yet another invisible enemy. Still gathering speed, Nico continued to fight imaginary enemies until his shirt was soaked with sweat. Still, he pushed on. Nico was now laying on his back. He imagined he was fighting a hellhound, and he stabbed his sword straight up, and into the belly of the beast. As he got up, he noticed a small boy watching him.

He continued to physically push himself fighting these beasts until he could no longer bring himself to swing his sword again. His muscles ached for a break, and so with a sigh he spun around and began to walk back to his cabin, where he hoped to take a shower, take a nap, and grab something to eat before the game later that afternoon. Before he could pick up his hoodie from the ground where he had left it, however, the boy he had noticed earlier spoke to him. "Excuse me, Mr," the boy said. "But I was wondering, what were you fighting just a moment ago?" Nico was about to respond, chiding the boy for not realizing that there were no real enemies he was fighting, when he thought of what must be going through the kids mind.

A strange guy, wearing all black and covered in sweat, that he had never met before was fighting as hard as he could to escape something he couldn't see. He supposed it must look rather strange. "Umm…" he began. "I wasn't really fighting anything, kid. Just imaginary monsters, and such."

"Oh…" the boy said. "I guess that makes sense. I was imagining that you were fighting some epic beast that was invisible." The boy couldn't have been more than 9, but Nico suddenly realized that the kid was in Camp Half-Blood, so he had to have experienced some horrors of his own. To see him still smiling…

"Well, kid, there's plenty of imaginary and invisible beasts for you to fight in your imagination. Now why don't you go back to your cabin, huh? There's big plans coming up tonight, you better get ready!" Nico knew that this boy had potential. He could sense it like he could sense when someone was close to death. "One thing before you go, though, who's your godly parent?" Nico couldn't help but be curious.

"I dunno." The boy replied. "My momma never told me, and no one here seems to know either." Even as the boy ran away, Nico had a feeling this kid was something special. Even so, he didn't even have his name, so Nico couldn't exactly ask anyone about him.

Once Nico had returned home, he took a quick shower, and took a nap on his new(ish) bed. (It was, after all, a few months old already). As he drifted off to sleep, he thought of Will and their beautiful relationship.