Solangelo One Shots

Happy Birthday, Nico Di Angelo!

Before I start this, I just want to say that I don't know the exact date of Nico's birthday. I know it's somewhere in January and I heard it was January 24, so that's the date I'm using for the purpose of this story.

Nico's POV

The camp was quiet, even for the winter months when there were barely twenty campers roaming the grounds. As I walked around the seemingly abandoned camp, snow drifting silently to the ground, I didn't spot a living soul in sight. There were no campers gathered around the fire pit, and I couldn't see any dryads poking their heads out of the snow covered oaks. To me, at least, it seemed like I was the only person around.

I had seen people earlier this morning. Just after breakfast I had been talking to Will, who hadn't acknowledged my birthday whatsoever, even though he had been rambling about doing something special about it for the past week. However, after lunch he, as well as the rest of the camp, had vanished, leaving me alone in this winter wonderland of snow and birthday loneliness.

I wandered over to the Apollo cabin, hoping to find Will curled up on his bunk, reading one of his medical magazines or practicing his stitches on the teddy bear that he never told anyone he had. I pushed open the door, hoping to find Will, but all I found was a half eaten apple and a handful of unmade bunks. I ventured in, hoping to find Will in the back of the cabin, but there was no one there. The cabin was as empty as the rest of the camp.

I ambled out of the cabin, searching around for a hint of human life. The only movement was the snow slowly continuing to fall on the ground. My eyes wandered to my cabin a couple hundred yards away, and I considered going inside and going back to sleep. But somewhere, I still harbored a hope that I would find Will. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the infirmary, standing out against the white landscape. The LED lights were on, shining out from the large windows. I peered through the windows, hoping to see any movement, but I didn't detect anything, although the infirmary was a decent sized building. Somewhere inside of me was the hope that I would find Will inside, waiting to wish me a happy birthday, so I started over to the infirmary, hopeing to find my boyfriend.

I found the infirmary empty when I pushed open the door. There were no occupants in the cots around the room, and there were none of the healers bustling around the room like they usually were, bandaging a sprained ankle or curing a cold. The infirmary was completely, depressingly, empty.

I knew I shouldn't bother checking in the back. If anyone was in the building, there would have been noise other than the creaking of the floorboards underneath my own feet. But I went to the back of the infirmary anyway, pushing back the curtain separating the main part of the infirmary from the break room. There was no one there. I let the curtain fall back into place, leaving the infirmary with my head hanging low.

I wasn't sure what to do. It was clear that everyone in the camp had seemingly vanished, leaving me alone. Once again, my eyes traveled to my cabin, light pouring out of the window. I was about to walk past my cabin until I was hit with the realization that I had turned my lights off before I had left for breakfast. Suspiciously, I drew closer to my cabin. When I was a few yards away, I heard a thump and a muffled "guys, he's here!" I nudged open the door, revealing my friends frozen in position, holding streamers and half blown up balloons. On a table in the middle of the room was a big sheet cake big enough to feed the twenty or so people in the room that read Happy Birthday Nico in chocolate icing letters. I could spot my friends scattered around the cabin. Percy was on the left side of the room, an ocean blue balloon hanging out of his mouth, the air slowly leaking out. Reyna was holding a ladder up for Hazel, who was pinning multi-colored streamers on the ceiling. Standing in front of me was Will, holding a carefully wrapped box and looking stunned. His mouth had completely dropped open, and he was staring at me as if I had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"Nico!" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you all day," I responded, still looking around my cabin in awe. It was a miracle to me that this many people would help plan what seemed to be a surprise party. "You know, recruiting the entire camp to help you and leaving me completely alone isn't the most subtle."

"I know," Will blushed. "But I wanted your sixteenth birthday to be special. You've never really had a birthday party before." He glanced around the cabin at the decorations hanging on the walls. "And sorry for the mediocre decorations; we didn't have that much money." A surprised look overtook his face when I hugged him fiercely, standing on my tiptoes so that I could properly give him a soft kiss on the lips.

"I think it's amazing," I told him. Sheepishly he glanced away, handing me the box he was holding.

"I also got you something," he said. He was anxiously watching me open it, clearly worrying whether I would like it. Obviously he didn't know that I would like whatever he got me, just because it was from him.

It was a teddy bear. It had a wide smile on its face, and the sun that was stitched onto its stomach was just peeking out of an orange knit Camp Half Blood sweater, complete with the black lettering and pegasus on the front. "I made the sweater myself," Will said, still staring down at the floor. "I know it's not the best, but I wanted the bear to represent me. So that I could be with you, even when I'm not. Do you like it?" Once again, I wrapped my arms around Will, drawing him in for a longer kiss, my amazing gift dangling from my hands.

"It's the best present I've ever gotten. Thank you." I could feel the entire camp's eyes on us which, at this time of year, consisted of about twenty people, until Jason held up a piece of cake on a cardboard plate.

"Who's ready for some cake?" he called. Everyone cheered and started to crowd around Jason and Annabeth, the cake cutters, vying for a piece of the cake. Will looked at me, smiling.

"You know I'm going to force you to eat that cake, right?" he grinned. "Even if I have to shove it down your throat?"

"I know," I smirked, wrapping my arm around his waist. "And that's why I love you."

The harpies had conveniently forgotten to do their rounds that night, so when it started to get dark, the party started to gravitate toward the beach. Eventually, Frank was playing the cha cha slide on an old boom box that Piper had brought, Leo trying to teach Apollo how to dance, Apollo claiming he had not been alerted when such a majesty had been created. Will and I had found a rock to settle down on, and were watching the action happen from our own little corner of the universe.

"Thank you for everything," I murmured, leaning my head on Will's shoulder. Little Will was wrapped tightly in the crook of my arm, enjoying the pleasantly cool weather, Percy's birthday present to me.

"Of course," Will smiled, kissing me gently on the forehead. I could hear the dj say take it back now, y'all from farther down the beach. "You are my boyfriend, after all, and I would do anything for you. I love you."

"I love you, too," I sighed, watching small waves crash against the sandy beach. Percy and Annabeth were swimming, Percy's powers keeping them safe from the cold. Piper and Jason were walking silently on the beach, holding each other's hands, and Hazel and Frank were gazing up at the sky, miraculously free from any storm clouds that had been there that afternoon. "This was amazing," I said. Will smiled, pulling me tighter into his embrace.

"Happy birthday, Nico Di Angelo."

Hi guys! I hope you liked that little one shot inspired by my birthday on Wednesday :). Also, has anyone else finished the Trials of Apollo book? I thought it was awesome!

Nina