Eleven |Nico

What the fuck was Will thinking. I knew he was an idiot, but this? Come on.

Wait. Nevermind. I know what he was thinking. 'Oh hey, my name is Will and I'm an idiot, so I shouldn't consult anyone before chopping off nearly all of my hair.'

Fuck.

Doesn't he know I like to play with his hair? I have made the mistake of trying to run my fingers through his new 'do'. For all of your sakes, don't. It's like a prissy cactus took over his brains or something. I'm pissed.

"Will," I said, "I'm pissed."

"Nico," he said, "I'm an idiot."

Okay fine. That's not what he said. It was actually a whole bunch of whining. 'It was so hot! I was dying! Have you SEEN how thick my hair is! You could raise chicklets in it!' and 'I didn't know how the setting on the razor worked! Have you seen that thing! It looks like Darth Vader's breastplate! Besides, I assumed it was going to give me hair like Jason's.'

Because apparently as soon as something has stainless steel trim on black plastic it looks fancy and that just screams flying boy-priest.

I started to pity him, though. Maybe I had been mad but everyone else was laughing their asses off. Someone even called him Buzz Lightyear, which made no sense, because his hairline is hella straighter than he is.

I thought he was taking it well, too. He was laughing with everyone else and agreeing with them. Even for the Buzz Lightyear thing.

Next thing I know he's in my cabin, almost in tears, because of how dope the Hermes kids' roasts had been. (They were pretty dope. And I don't say that lightly. The word 'dope' is practically banned from my vocabulary.)

"Will, it'll be fine," I promised, "your hair will grow in again soon."

"I know - I know it's just so frustrating and I didn't think people would be that mean. The aphrodite cabin refused to help me, too."

"Well, to be fair, you can't really do much with it."

His eyes started to water.

"WOAH, hey, don't worry about it, okay? I love your hair. I think you look cute," I lied, placing my hands on his hips.

He cracked a tiny smile. "You are so lying."

"What? No." I joked.

He sighed, giving up. His forehead leaned against mine. "I love you so much," he whispered.

"I love you, too," I nearly laughed.

His hands worked their way up my back, and I shivered a little. "I'm going to miss you so much when you go."

A stone dropped in my stomach. Oh yeah. The trip. Ideally, it would only take two days to get everything Chiron wanted. But you never knew once you were outside the camp borders.

"I'll be fine, you know that."

"Promise me," he whispered. His hands brought themselves to rest at the small of my back. His breath tickled me.

"I can't do that. I don't know the future."

"Well then promise me you won't do something stupid."

His lips brushed against mine now, and both of our eyes were closed.

"That I definitely can't promise."

I thought we were going to kiss, when he sucked in a breath through his teeth and pulled away. That bitch.

"Oh gods, I bet you're going to do something stupid."

"Hey!" I protested. "I will not!"

"Oh yeah?"

"I'm not a total imbecile, you know. Remember? I'm one of the poor souls who managed to cart the Athena Parthenos across half a continent and the Atlantic Ocean!"

"I don't believe you. You're going to do something stupid and end up getting hurt."

Okay, now I was starting to feel upset. "I will NOT!" I said, this time more forcefully. "In fact, I BET you that I won't get hurt at all!"

Will raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!"

"And I get to name the price if you lose?"

I spluttered, "Fine."

A mischievous grin covered his face. Hades on a high, what had I done?

"You have to chop your hair off, too." he immediately named.

"What? I am not doing that!"

"You have to now! It's too late!" his eyes were shining. I thought he was too far gone.

"No! No, no, please!" I begged. Not a high point in my life.

"I don't know... are you willing to bargain?"

"Yes," I spoke desperately. And quickly. As I said, not a high point.

"Kiss me, and you have to grow out your hair instead."

Relief passed through me. Though I am confident in my skills, destroying my hair and becoming a laughingstock with Will was definitely not something I was willing to risk. No offence, Will.

"Oh thank Zeus," I murmered, "Deal."

So he kissed me. I won't go into details, for your sake. It was a very long kiss. And he woke up in my cabin the next morning. Oops.

I spent another day with Will before I went off with Lou Ellen and a kid from the Hermes Cabin. His name was Despero. I tried not to laugh.

Anyways, we were doing pretty good, just picking up a few supplies the camp had run short on.

Ever since the great Patrol Harpy Chaos after Geaea's Rising, a lot of our magical helpers were really hesitant to help out with some things. For example, summoning freezies. And pretty much any food that didn't grow at camp. Chiron sent us for the food, but everyone knew we had come for the freezies.

Needless to say, we got a lot of freezies.

We settled down for the night after our success at the grocery store. We deserved it. That was a long walk. (Sadly, we were not allowed Argus' car. He seemed pretty ticked we would even consider using it for anything besides quests.)

I plugged into my music, set up bed, and was all like Ooh, Donuts.

Sadly enough for me, that meant my back was turned on the battle and I couldn't hear Despero at all when he yelled 'Look Out!'

That was an embarrassing walk home. It was even more embarrassing when I feinted upon arrival, and was forced into the medic cabin against my will.

***

"Fuck..." someone whispered. Ah, yes, the sweet comforting words I always needed. Hasn't my Doc ever heard of bedside manners? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that wasn't it.

I was waking up, I realized. Unfortunately. My dreams could have been of more use to me. But in waking my senses were sharpening and moulding into feelings.

For example, I was feeling like my side might explode. No biggie. Just searing pain.

I definitely underestimated that gryphon.

The other person started whispering again, and this time I couldn't make it out. I opened my eyes. Just below where my hands extended, a freckled tan boy with terribly short hair was praying.

"Will?" I whispered. He glanced up, and tears started to well in his eyes.

"Nico?"

"Yeah. Why are you so freaked out?"

Wil just hugged me, scooping up my back to hold be up in his arms. I wouldn't have complained, really, except my ribs must have been allergic to sitting all of the sudden. "Ah - ow!" I gasped.

"Ohmygosh I'm so sorry," he said frantically, putting me down as gently as he could.

"Will, calm down. It's not like I was going to die or anything. It's just a few broken ribs."

"I am so pissed at Lou Ellen. Why wasnt she protecting you better? And Argus can suck it, too, for that matter. What kind of demigod councellor-slash-chauffeur doesn't drive people places?'

"I'm pretty sure Percy was lying about him being the camp chauffeur."

"Still!" he whined.

"Will, honestly, I'm okay. Calm down or something."

He gripped my hand with both of his. "I know. I know. You're safe. I can take care of you."

"I don't need to be taken care of," I grumbled.

Will shook his head, knowing that was untrue, but didn't argue, knowing THAT would just end in turmoil.

"Do you need anything?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Great. And how did you get hurt, anyways?"

I assumed it was for medical record or something. "I got distracted by donuts..." I said shamefully.

"Ha!" he cheered.

I must've looked flabbergasted, because Will started laughing as soon as he looked at my face. Who the fuck laughs at someone on their deathbed?

My face paled. The bet. I forgot about the bet. The whole gryphon thing had been so unfocused that I just...

"Oh my gods," I squeaked.

"Yes!" Will grinned.

"No!" I gasped.

He continued to hollar, and probably would have stooped if a patient in the other room (who sounded suspiciously like Clarisse) didn't yell at him to shut up.

"Just you wait, this is going to be awesome," Will exclaimed quietly.

"It better fucking not be," I pouted.

"It will, trust me," he said, digging around in a bag I hadn't noticed.

"Will..." I hesitated, "what are you doing?"

"Well, before you arrived back at camp, I finally managed to convince the aphrodite ladies to give me some hair tonic."

"Will, no-" I pleaded.

"Will, yes! I may have to go on a date with one of them -"

"You WHAT?"

He ignored me. "And trade for one of your shirts-"

"Excuse me?"

"Relax, you have like thirty."

"Will-!"

"BUT," he pulled out a small glass tube filled with pinkish brown liquid. "I got it. And GUESS WHAT. I am more than willing to give it to YOU for your new hairstyle."

"Thanks," I mumbled sarcastically.

"You're welcome," he winked. Gods, I hate him.

***

"I can't believe you're making me do this," I said bitterly, hobbling up the steps. Walking was now a *fun* combination of trying not to trip on my hair and keeping my stomach inside my body. (Thanks, gryphon.)
Alas, now that I had been officially discharged from the hospital, Will had arranged a small party for me, to 'welcome me back' or whatever. I knew he just wanted to watch everyone react to my disasterous state.

"Gods, my hair weighs a ton now. When all this is over I am so cutting it off."

"After," he agreed.

"And it's so fucking hot! I'm dying, and it's past dinner time. The sun is setting."

"Your hair reflects it so good," Will chimed in. He was waiting patiently at the door of the Poseidon cabin, where they had decided to host the thing.

"Shut up," I hissed, finally reaching the top step.

"Ready?" he asked me. At least he was sort of polite.

"Sure," I nodded, preparing myself.

He opened the door. To begin with, no one noticed, all too busy chatting. I had stepped up to the frame by the time Hazel saw me.

"Jesus?" she joked. I glared at her.

Percy heard her and turned around, then squinted through the light, momentarily confused. "Mom?"

I rolled my eyes, sighing in the most exasperated way I possibly could. "Come on, guys it's not that-"

"Dad?" Leo cut in, using the sexiest voice he could muster. That asshole. Everyone burst into laughter, including Will, who grabbed my waist to steady himself.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I shouted to no one in particular, who happens to also be the only person who listened to me.

This party took forever.

Heh. Sorry, I'm getting frickin lazy with my writing. But I figured you guys deserved it, and I'm in the *middle* of a HUGE writing project right now. (More on that later? ;)

Hope you liked it! Comment prompts for more :)