Disclaimer: I don't own either Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus series.

Warning: slash of the Solangelo variety (obviously), rated T.

Reyna Finds Out

"You look better." Reyna told her surrogate brother, who she hadn't seen in a few months. It had taken a while to undo the damage done to New Rome and to organize their new programs with Camp Half-Blood. This was the first time she'd gotten the opportunity to visit herself, and she was pleased.

Nico's skin wasn't nearly as deathly pale as it had been the last time she had seen him, in fact, there was a slight olive tone to his skin, reminding her that he was half Italian. He had gained some meat on his bones, too, though he was still a bit scrawny. Oh well, she couldn't expect him to gain too much weight in such a short time. The dark shadows under his eyes had nearly disappeared, too, and his eyes held a warmth that she'd only very rarely seen, so much so that they looked more brown than black.

"That's what happens when I re-discover this miraculous thing called sunlight." Nico agreed, thinking that she was only referring to his skin color. A voice behind him corrected that assumption.

"I think she means everything else, too." Piper said. "And your 'Sunlight' certainly is helping, isn't he?" The Daughter of Aphrodite smirked at Nico, but was happy for him.

"A boy, huh?" Reyna asked, grinning a bit.

"I meant literal sunlight, actually." Nico drawled, raising his eyebrow at both of them. "Vitamin D, and all that. But…think what you want. Not like I can stop you anyway." He was quick to add. Piper didn't buy it in the least, and neither did Reyna, but they let it go.

"A certain person has been making Nico get an acceptable amount of food and sleep." Piper explained to the Daughter of Bellona. "Had him promise to stay in the infirmary to rest for a few days, and is doing his best not to leave Nico alone to brood."

"I don't brood." Nico complained, ignoring the other stuff. Then he caught the disbelieving looks from his two friends. "Well…not anymore. But the reason for that isn't really related."

Okay, so it kind of was, but they didn't need to know that. After all, Nico had gotten over Percy (which was part of the reason he was so moody and depressed all the time) pretty much the moment he found Will after the battle.

"I'll have to meet this mystery man, then." Reyna said with a smirk. Nico groaned quietly, dreading that meeting. The last thing he wanted was for someone else to let Will onto the fact that he liked him.

"Sure, he's right over there." Piper said with an innocent (as if) smile, gesturing towards the infirmary. Before Nico could stop him, the two ran off, leaving him behind. He sighed, realizing that he wouldn't be able to stop him, and that it would be suspicious if he tried. Hopefully Reyna and Piper would be subtle.

Later, at the bonfire, Reyna came up to him with a smile, and said that she approved, but that she would still kick Will in the teeth if he said or did anything to hurt Nico. Nico rolled his eyes, but was inwardly relieved. Of course, if Will did ever hurt him, which he doubted, he now had one more person to worry about, including one half-sister (Hazel) and one surrogate sister (Reyna).

Promise

"Underworld spawn." The monster spat, glaring profusely at the Son of Hades. "Why do you not use your given powers to fight me? Are you so arrogant that you believe you don't need them?"

"I am using my powers, just not my 'Underworld-y' ones, as my friend calls them." Nico said calmly, analyzing his opponent. Even without using them, this guy would be a piece of cake. "I made a promise not to use my other abilities for a while."

"And why would you keep such an asinine promise?" the monster sneered, lunging towards the boy, who dodged gracefully before returning with an attack of his own.

"Well, over twenty people made me swear not too, and a few of them made me do it on the Styx." The boy said, before thoroughly kicking his foe's butt as he recounted the list in the order that they'd made him swear. "Will, Jason, Hazel, Piper, Frank, Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, my father, Lou Ellen, Cesile, Reyna, Coach Hedge, Leo when he got back with Calypso…"

He didn't bother continuing listing people, since the monster had already been turned into gold dust. He sighed, and wondered when practically everyone he knew went crazy and decided to baby him. He might be one of the youngest (sort of), but damn it, he was at least as mature as most of them (especially Percy and Leo), and he knew his limits!

Worth It

"Wait, you like Will Solace?" Percy asked, surprised. On second thought, that made sense. Right after Nico had told Percy that he had liked him but realized he wasn't Nico's type Nico had turned around and walked straight to where Will was waiting for him.

Nico paused, and then glanced down, his cheeks turning a bit pink.

"You're blushing!" Annabeth said, with her eyes wide in astonishment.

"You never blushed when you had a crush on me." Percy whined.

"Maybe you just weren't worth blushing for." Nico answered, rolling his eyes.

Annabeth cackled loudly. Nico smirked at the girl, and Percy pouted fiercely at his girlfriend, his pride wounded.

"You two are so mean to me." The Son of Poseidon said, feigning hurt.

Different

When Leo came back with Calypso, he'd had an idea of what to expect. Piper would hurt him and hug him at the same time, Jason would probably offer him a bro-fist, Hazel and Frank would be relieved that they hadn't actually helped him die (even though he asked them to), and there would be cheering.

He was right, of course, but he was surprised that more people than he would have expected had come to either congratulate him or slap him for scaring them. The latter group mostly consisted of his siblings, who then met his girlfriend Calypso. Luckily, they all got along well, and Calypso was accepted with open arms, just as Leo knew she would be.

But that wasn't as surprising as the change he noticed in Nico di Angelo. The guy honestly had creeped him out a bit, and who could blame him? It wasn't so much of who his dad was (after all, Hazel was just fine), but he just gave off this 'doom and gloom' vibe, and was always scowling and glaring.

So, when he saw him, he almost didn't recognize him. Nico was wearing color (a dark gray t-shirt, but that was more color than the usual black), only sighed and rolled his eyes when Jason was being his regular self instead of shoving him away because of the cheeriness, he actually laughed and smiled…

The list went on and on.

For a while he wondered what had changed. Was the kid really so stressed out about Gaia awakening and everything that he changed so drastically when it was over? Somehow he doubted it. From what he'd heard, Nico had been like that before Gaia, too.

At first he thought that maybe the Son of Hades had been replaced by a pod person, or maybe a robot, but when he mentioned this to Piper and Jason the two just snickered.

He could tell that they knew something, but they wouldn't tell him, and it was driving him nuts!

He even went to the Stoll twins to try and get information. After all, they were kindred spirits, and he got along with them just fine. Unfortunately, they didn't tell him either, though it was obvious that they also had an idea. They did make some odd comments and wiggled their eyebrows, though Leo had no idea why.

It wasn't until a month later that he finally found out what was up.

He was on his way from Cabin 9 to the pavilion for lunch, happy that he was about to see his girlfriend (and how could he be that lucky?) when he saw something.

At first he thought it was a monster or something. After all, the camp kept monsters stocked in the woods. But as he crept forward as silently as he could, he saw the outlines of people, and nearly screamed in shock as he saw who they were.

Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, the leader of Cabin 7. Nico was leaning against one of the trees, with the older boy leaning over him. At first Leo thought that Will was threatening the Son of Hades, but just as he was about to step in angrily, Nico laughed at something the other boy said, a genuine laugh, and Will smiled as brightly as the sun his father had domain over.

Leo was confused, but suddenly Nico leaned up and kissed the Son of Apollo, one hand pulling the other boy closer by his hair and the other gripping his shirt. This obviously wasn't their first kiss, either, as Will just smiled and wrapped his arms around Nico's waist, returning the kiss.

Oh. OH! Leo almost laughed, before realizing that getting caught wouldn't be beneficial to his continued existence. He backed away slowly, allowing his fellow campers their private moment. Nico obviously wasn't being threatened, he was just teasing (or maybe being teased by) his boyfriend.

Leo was a bit surprised that Nico was gay, but he didn't really care. Nico seemed happier than Leo had ever seen him, and Leo wasn't about to begrudge him that. He knew he would absolutely hate it if someone didn't want him and Calypso to be together.

He was just glad that he had finally found out what had caused the differences in Nico, though he was a bit annoyed that his friends hadn't just told him.

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