Mortals meet Demigods

I Can Hear the Bells...

(Nico POV)

Y'know, I never thought I would end up happy. When my sister died and my father claimed me, I was informed of how lonely and sad other children of Hades were. Add that to my list of reasons I hated my life, right up there under the fact that I'm gay as fuck. I lived in the 30s and 40s for a long time while in the Lotus Hotel, and liking the same gender was generally not accepted. 

But now that I've come out of my shell, and closet, at camp, life is pretty fucking awesome. I mean, sure, the Aphrodite girls and their hushed whispers, pointing, and giggles when Will and I walk past holding hands are quite annoying. And, maybe I'm not a big fan of Percy hounding me about why I'm not his type. (To which I simply point at my sexy ass boyfriend and walk away.) Otherwise, my life is good. I've been with Will for 2 years, and not a day goes by without us telling each other that we love one another. 

On one particular morning, however, the Aphrodite girls simply couldn't keep their whispers at hushed tones. In fact, I don't think they were even whispering at this point. "Aren't they just so cute?" One giggled to her sister.

"I know right! I can hear the bells chiming!" 

"They're soo gonna get married soon!" Married? We're not even engaged! Di immortales, I'm not even 18 yet! Well, technically, I'm somewhere in my 90s, but, physically, I'm 17. 

"Did you hear that? We're getting married it sounds like." I said to Will. 

Suddenly, he paled and looked at me with big round eyes. "W-what?" He stuttered out. 

"I was just kidding. The Aphrodite girls sure have us stuck in their heads. I suppose it's a breath of fresh air to Percy and Annabeth, but it's getting quite obnoxious at this point, don't you think?" I said, trying to dissolve the sudden tension between the two of us. 

He weakly chuckled and let out a shaky "Y-yeah, it is." before making up the excuse that he had to go help in the infirmary because they had an influx of injured campers from last night's Capture the Flag game against the Hunters. 

That part wasn't made up. Even after having built a steady peace with the Hunters because of Thalia's station, they were still brutal during our weekly competition. But Will had told me he had taken the entire day off before our date tonight. There was no way that his siblings could have messaged him or anything about coming in. Is he avoiding me? But that doesn't make sense,  we were laughing and having a wonderful time not 20 minutes ago. It wasn't until I brought up marriage that he started to clam up. Oh no, did he think I was serious? I mean, I wouldn't mind marrying Will, but I haven't the faintest idea whether he would want to marry me, and, I mean, we're still teenagers and they're's plenty of time and-

"Hey Death Breath! Wait up!" The voice of my cousin interrupted my inner freak out session. 

I waited until she was beside me before starting to walk again. "What's up?" She asked, noticing my now unusual frown.

"I joked to Will that it sounded like we were getting married because some Aphrodite girls were giggling about it and he got pale and ran off. I think I might have made him think that I was expecting us to get married, and while I really enjoy the idea, I'm only 17 and I'm not sure why he would want to spend his life tethered to me, unless he thinks we're going to die quickly because of the strength of my scent. But if he doesn't see himself marrying me, then why does he continue to date me... Is that what tonight's date is? Is he going to break up with me? Oh gods what if-"

"NICO!" Thalia cut my rant off, "Will is not about to break up with you. But think about it, he only just turned 18 recently. To have your boyfriend bring up marriage is a little scary, even if you've considered him to be the one. So yeah, maybe you scared him, but give a little space to stop freaking the fuck out, and everything will go back to normal." She pulled me into a tight hug, something unusual for the both of us, since neither of us showed much physical affection. Nonetheless, it was comforting to hear those words and have her hug me, almost as if Bianca were here.