Demigod in Gotham

4) He Be Busy

Nico's trip with Camp Jupiter seemed to go by in a flash. After his initial explanation to Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel, he quickly fell into a routine with them. He slept on the couch in Percy's apartment rather than the legion barracks and spent his morning with the couple being drilled about heroes, villains, and random history events he missed. His afternoons were devoted to Hazel and mist training while she was off duty. And then at dinner he would catch up with Rayna. He had intended to only spend 3 days with them, but Hazel had him stay an extra day so he could get a better grasp of mist manipulation. Right before he was going to shadow travel back to camp, he got an IM from Leo saying the preliminary batch of phones were done so he rerouted to Leo and Calypso's Shop to pick them up.

Yet again, he was only going to stay a few hours and then head back to Camp for the campfire and to get some sleep, but the two managed to convince him to spend the night so he was back to sleeping on a couch. He had to admit that having the problem of too many people wanting him to stay was never one he thought he'd have. After a quick breakfast and tutorial on how McShizzle phones worked, he was finally on his way. He was so excited to be back in his own bed that he lost focus on his jump and accidentally landed right on top of the Hades table, in the center of the pavilion, right as everyone was entering for lunch.

At his sudden appearance, multiple weapons were drawn, and then quickly put away as soon as they saw it was him; except for Clarisse who threw her spear directly at his head. Nico quickly dodged, caught, and then threw it back in one fluid motion.

"Someone is still angry that I won the last game of Capture the flag." He mumbled with a smirk as he pulled his backpack off and pulled out the box from Leo. "However I think you will forgive me once you realize that I come baring gifts for all the head councilors."

Immediately the councilors rushed him, Will at the head of the pack (though Nico had a feeling it was more because of his shadow traveling than the gifts). From his position on the table he announced "Leo asked me to bring these here, the first batch of 'McShizzle Monster-Proof Phones' or 'Shizzle Cells' as he calls them." He began handing out the phones according to the sticky notes Leo had put on them. "He also told me to tell all of you that if these all work then he will be making another batch soon for the rest of the camps. Leo will be heading to Camp Jupiter later this week to give them theirs and they should be preloaded with the contact information of everyone who has gotten a phone."

"What about the Demi-Guards in the field already?" A girl in the Hacate cabin asked, whose sister had left for Chicago the week before.

"Leo already made theirs and will be delivering them by Hermes Mail or Roman Eagles as soon as he gets to Camp Jupiter." Nico waited for a moment to see if anyone had any more questions before hopping down and sitting across from Will who had already taken his place at the Hades table.

"You were supposed to come back yesterday," Will said taking a sip from his sweet tea with a splash of lemonade.

Nico nervously rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he blamed Percy for. "I was about to when I got the call from Leo and then he talked me into staying the night. Plus he walked me through how to use the phones since these things didn't exist back when I was born."

And just like that, they were back to usual. Will laughed at Nico's dark humor and Nico listened to Will rant about people being stupid and getting hurt. They were both so content being reunited that they forgot about everyone else and didn't notice the time or empty pavilion until they heard the camp fire songs and rushed to join them.

Nico went to bed that night thinking about how soon he was leaving Camp Half-Blood. Even though he had mixed feelings about Camp, he hoped he would miss it when he left; he hadn't been able to miss a home in a long time. 

~~~~~~~

The time before he left seemed to shoot by in a blur. He remembered packing and last minute study sessions with the Hecate cabin. He remembered how Will reviewed the stuff he had learned while working in the infirmary with him and showed him where everything was in the medical bag he was being sent with. How Chiron told him about the area he was going to be in and gave him the keys to the apartment. He also had a hazy memory of his father going over his cover story and the records he had made for him (though memories of gods were always hazy so he didn't know if time moving fast was to blame for that).

Before he knew it, he was standing at half-blood hill saying goodbye. To his surprise a good amount of the campers had come to see him off. After a short goodbye with Gio in Italian, the young boy promising to text him once he got a Shizzle Cell (or sPhone as most campers had taken to calling them), Nico turned to Will. As he was about to open his mouth to say something, he was wrapped in a tight hug by the blond. Nico immediately froze, unsure of what to do since he hadn't hugged anyone in a long while, but after a moment he lightly hugged back, not used to physical affection.

Will quickly withdraw. "Sorry, I should have asked. I know you aren't comfortable with-"

Nico cut him off by placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, I think you needed it."

Will beamed at Nico, his smile so bright the son of Hades felt like he should look away, and yet also like he couldn't tear his eyes away. "I'll see you when you bring someone back to camp, or you need a restock on supplies, or-"

"Solance, we have phones now. We can talk whenever we want. Plus, I'll be back to visit, at the latest, in August for Percy's birthday so don't worry too much while I'm gone."

With one last smirk, Nico said his goodbye to Chiron and then headed to Argus who was going to drive him to New York City where he would hop a train to Gotham and his new life (Though he did plan on a quick trip to see Mrs. Jackson while he was in the city since Percy had told her about his new job as a DG). 

A/N: A short chapter, but I needed a filler one before he moves in. Also rereading this has been a fever dream because I don't remember writing a lot of it. Granted, it was written during the pandemic so like... that was a fever dream. I'm editing and adding stuff as I keep going so if you have notes, lmk