Son of Fire

Six

"So, I learned to control my powers by not being afraid of them." Nico said then I watched as he summoned skeletons from the ground.

"See? I can control them pretty well." He explained and I nodded, forcing myself not to be afraid of my fire.

"Try and do something small." He said then I opened my hand and tried to bring a small flame to my palm, managing to create a little wisp of fire.

"There you go!" He cheered then I laughed as I closed my hand, the fire going out.

"Thanks, Nico." I said and he shrugged.

"Come on, lunch." He said then we left the sword arena and went towards the pavilion. With Nico as my 'social worker', I had to sit at his table and I was allowed to eat with the others now as long as I behaved. With his ass on the line though, I planned to.

"Hey, do you think everyone is gonna hate me?" I asked as we got close, though I subconsciously stopped walking. Nico looked at me and sighed.

"Well, you kinda beat up the golden boys of this camp and the Roman camp, so yeah. You're screwed." He said and I eyed him in fear, but started laughing as I realized he was trying to calm me.

"Thanks, Nico." I said then went over and threw my arm around his shoulders, feeling him tense under me.

"Whoa, I won't-" I stopped moving my arm off him as he grabbed my wrist, laying my arm back over his shoulders.

"Really, it's okay." He said then I smiled and reached up, ruffling his hair as we walked into the pavilion. The second I stepped foot inside, everyone stopped talking and looked at me. I moved my arm off Nico's shoulders then tensed as Jason and Percy came towards me.

"Andy-"

"I'm sorry." I blurted and their eyes went wide as Nico looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Wha-what?" Jason asked and I cleared my throat.

"For-for kicking your asses, I'm sorry. I just- I got a lot of problems, I get that, but it's no excuse for what I did to you two and that big guy, Fabian or whatever his name was." I said and Percy smirked.

"Frank, his name is Frank-"

"Where the fuck did I get Fabian then?" I whispered and they laughed, which seemed to ease the tension in the room.

"Tell you what, Andy." I looked at Jason then he stuck his hand out towards me.

"You let us sword train against you in the arena, we'll call it even." He said and I smiled as I shook his hand.

"Deal." I smiled and they left, but people started talking again as Nico and I went to get food. When I sat with him, people were whispering, but Hazel smiled as she saw me.

"That was brave, apologizing to them." She said and I shrugged.

"Twink is changing me-"

"Stop calling me that." Nico said and I smiled.

"Fine, fantasma." I said and his eyes went wide as he blushed red.

"That means 'ghost' in Italian, right?" I grinned and he glared, but his blush kinda offset the glare.

"Yeah, that's your new nickname, fantasma." I smiled then started eating, but looked up as that buff girl came over.

"Hey, you're not a hell kid-"

"Talk to Chiron, sweetheart. He's given me a special exception." I said then she grabbed my shirt, but I stood and grabbed her wrist.

"Andrew!" Nico growled and I calmed down, throwing her hand off me as everyone watched, probably hoping I'd fight again.

"Please leave me alone, Clarisse. It is Clarisse, right?" I asked and she scoffed.

"Let me make this clear to you. I don't want to cause any trouble for my new friend and his sister, so leave me be and I'll do the same for you. You got questions about me, I'm sure Chiron would be happy to help you." I said then she stepped back and I sat, eating as Nico eyed me and Hazel looked upset.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause problems." I whispered, but Hazel grabbed my hand and I flinched away from her, making her stop.

"It's okay, you handled that really well." She said and I nodded, but as Nico grabbed my hand, I didn't flinch away from him.

"Thanks, fantasma." I said and he smiled.

"Welcome."

~*-*~

I watched as the Apollo cabin sang their stupid bonfire songs, but Nico looked just as bored as me in the amphitheater.

"Man, can we just go?" I whispered to Nico and he grinned, grabbing my hand. I froze as everything got darker than dark for a second, but blinked as we were suddenly on his bed in his cabin.

"What the- how-"

"Shadow travel, a trick I learned thanks to my dad." He said and I smiled as I tightened my grip on his hand.

"Thanks, fantasma. I was dying of boredom there." I said and he grinned, hitting me with a pillow.

"How do you know 'fantasma' means ghost in Italian?" He asked and I sighed.

"One of my many foster moms was a foreign language professor. She was studying Italian while I was with her, so I picked up a few things." I said and looked at the ceiling as I laid back on his bed, hands under my head.

"What about you? How do you know perfect Italian?" I asked and he shrugged.

"My mom, sister Bianca, and me immigrated here from Italy." He said then I sat up some, turning to look at him.

"When the hell did you guys immigrate that you got perfect English?" I asked and he blushed.

"Well, I'm technically eighty-eight, cause I spent time in the Lotus Hotel, which causes it's victims to stop aging entirely. What could feel like hours to someone inside, it would actually be years outside. Anyway, I immigrated here to America with my mom and sister in the 1930s, but I was born in 1932." He explained and I laughed.

"Dude, that's a fucking awesome backstory! I wish mine was as exciting as that!" I said and he looked shocked.

"You-you're not gonna make fun of me for being stuck in a time stilling spell? Make jokes about me being technically an old man?" He asked, but I looked at the ceiling again and shook my head.

"Man, you're what? Sixteen right now? Then you're a teenager, you're not some old ass man, I swear. If you want me to though-"

"No! Not after finding out what twink means, you'll make some other sexual like joke about me!" He said and I couldn't help but laugh.