Nico woke up to a body on top of him and hair tickling his face. He wrinkled his nose and batted the hair away. Will—of course it was Will on his chest and crushing him—groaned quietly and burrowed his nose into Nico's shoulder.

Nico stared at the ceiling sleepily for a few more moments, his hands resting on Will's back, so the other boy didn't topple off. He wanted to let Will sleep as long as possible, especially if the sun hadn't woken him up this morning.

He turned his head to see the time—it was earlier than he would've liked but possibly manageable—and spotted an object wrapped in dark paper on his nightstand. He looked past it to squint at the calendar that hung across the room, wondering what the occasion was. Annabeth had gotten him the calendar after he completely lost track of all time and had asked her why it was so cold in September ("Nico, we're in December.")

He could just manage to make out the crossed-off days and the dates, and his eyes widened when he saw what day it was.

Will must've felt him tense up or something because he raised his head to peer at him with bleary eyes.

"What is it?" He asked, and Nico tore his gaze away from the calendar to stroke his hair.

"It's nothing." He said quickly, but Will was smart even half-asleep, and he looked in the calendar's direction. Nico saw his eyes widen and he looked back at Nico with a suddenly awake smile.

"Neeks! It's your birthday!" He said, and Nico had to look away from his bright grinning face with a little shrug.

"It's not a big deal." He muttered. He hadn't celebrated his birthday in a long time.

Will's eyes got even wider. "What?" He exclaimed, already scrabbling upright and Nico groaned as the duvet was ripped off him. "Of course, it's a big deal!"

Will was pulling jeans on over his boxers and Nico didn't even have time to complain that Will had now worn those boxers for a whole day and night now before a burgundy hoodie was being thrown at his face.

"C'mon Neeks, we have loads to do!" Nico picked the hoodie up and narrowed his eyes at it.

"Will this is your hoodie." He pointed out and Will gave him a smirk over his shoulder before he pulled one of the shirts he kept in the bottom drawer of Nico's chest of drawers over his head.

"That hadn't stopped you before." Will countered and Nico couldn't really argue against that. It was one of his favourite hoodies for sheer comfort and warmth.

He changed his top quickly while Will ducked into the bathroom and was still sitting sleepily on his bed when he reappeared.

"So what are we doing?" He asked, reaching out for Will to hold him and hopefully drop back off to sleep. He'd slept through the majority of his birthdays before and even with Will beside him he didn't really want to celebrate it.

"It's a surprise!" Will declared and stepped away. Nico groaned again but followed him. Will reached back to hold Nico's hand and for once Nico didn't pull away.

XXX

At breakfast Will didn't even complain when Nico drank the most over-the-top milkshake he could command. His eye was twitching as Nico added whipped cream, a flake, sprinkles and three different types of sauce on it. A few other Apollo campers seemed mildly concerned too, except Sammy the youngest camper at the table who quickly made his own when he saw Nico's.

Percy threw himself at Nico when he saw him, wrapping him up in the biggest hug possible and Nico felt his ribs squeeze together.

"I'll give you your present later on!" He told him, which Nico took to mean 'I forgot your present in my cabin and I don't want to admit it!'

His feet had left the ground when Percy put him down and the older boy leaned down for a shoulder pat like the hug wasn't enough and murmured: "How are you feeling?" in his ear where the Apollo campers couldn't hear.

Nico shrugged, not looking at Percy as he sipped his milkshake again.

When he glanced at him a few seconds later, Percy was looking at him sympathetically, like he knew why Nico didn't want to celebrate his birthday.

It didn't feel right, not without Bianca or his mother or even Jason. His drink soured in his mouth and he put it down staring at the table top.

He felt Will's foot gently nudge his under the table and he managed a small smile at his boyfriend.

Percy patted his shoulder one last time and smiled at him sadly. "It gets easier." He said gently, and Nico nodded mutely.

He felt Percy leave and a few minutes of not looking up from his milkshake Will slammed his hands on the table.

After apologising to the demigods around him, some of which had pulled out weapons at the loud noise, he leaned down to Nico.

"You're not moping all day." Will said, in possibly kindest way. Nico looked up at him, waiting for what he was going to stay next before beating his argument down and moping all day. "We're going out and you're having fun."

Nico… Nico didn't really have the energy to argue so he drank as much of his milkshake as he could stomach and stood. Percy waved at him as he left the room and he even managed a small wave back, before turning to catch up with Will.

"Where are we going?" he asked Will, but he only shook his head and refused to reply.

He wouldn't even tell him the location, so they had to take the bus all the way to the mystery location, although they did stop for a McDonalds on the way much to Will's dismay.

"Do you know how much sugar is in that?" He asked Nico when they were back on the bus. Nico took an obnoxiously load slurp of his strawberry milkshake.

"Nope. But taste how good it is," He thrust the straw towards Will who took a small sip and rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later, he asked for another sip.

XXX

When they finally got to the big mysterious place, Nico's eyes widened.

"A funfair!" He exclaimed, seeming like the fifteen-year-old he was for once and not some weary and aged war veteran.

"We have to go on that and that and that." His finger stabbed wildly at the three tallest, scariest rides.

Will laughed and prayed Nico would change his mind before Will himself had to go on them.

"Whatever you want, babe." He said with a fond look.

XXX

Two sticks of candyfloss, three stomach-churning rides and Will almost being sick over a small child later, Nico tugged Will to a Ferris Wheel.

Will could've cried in relief. He paid for two of them to get on a cart and leaned his head on Nico's shoulder as soon as they were a safe distance off the ground.

"I've had a really great day." Nico said softly, his eyes fixed on the far horizon. Will peered up at him and made an attempt to kiss his cheek.

"I'm glad. It's been…" Will thought of the ride which had gone faster than mortally or immortally possible and of Nico's grinning face as Will howled. "Fun. Yeah, lots of fun."

Nico snorted, obviously remembering the same events and turned his head to see Will properly.

"Thank you for doing this for me." Nico added, his eyes skirting away from meeting Will's.

Will reached for his chin and gently tilted it so Nico was actually looking at him. "This is the least I can do for you. I'll do anything you want if it makes you happy."

Nico's cheeks flushed a dark red and Will's eyes softened. "You deserve it." He finished quietly.

Nico hugged him suddenly, lunging at him from across the cart which rocked wildly. Nico's face was buried in his shoulder and Will could feel his breath ghosting against his collarbone.

"Thank you." He said breathlessly, and Will's heart broke just a little as he reached around to hug Nico just as tightly.

They stayed like that for the whole ride, until they finally had to get off and head back to the camp.

As they were leaving the fairground, Nico gasped loudly.

"Oh Will." Will turned around quickly, fearing an attack but when he followed Nico's gaze he could only see a massive flamingo. Nico was already running towards it, and Will followed, not wanting to lose his small boyfriend in the fair.

The flamingo was bigger than Nico, just about, and it was simultaneously the ugliest and best thing Will had ever seen.

"How much to win the flamingo?" Nico demanded of the woman running the stall and she grinned at him, evidently spying a customer.

"One bullseye." She nodded at the dart board behind her and Nico whirled around to Will.

"You know when you said you would do anything for me?" Nico asked sweetly, and Will groaned.

"I meant in more of a…" he trailed off at the excitement in Nico's eyes and nodded in defeat.

"Darts is basically archery, right?" Nico asked, and Will winced.

"Well, Nico not… Not really." He paid for three darts, but he knew if Nico wanted him to he would pay for a hundred darts.

The first one he threw didn't even stick to the board and the second was a few places off. The third wasn't too much better but he was getting closer.

The women grinned again as she pocketed more of Will's money.

The fourth, fifth and sixth dart didn't get much better, but he would've definitely won a game against the Stoll's' with the points he was racking up.

Nico clocked the money they were spending and stepped away from 'Fluffy' as he had dubbed the flamingo two darts ago.

"Hey Will, it doesn't matter too much, I couldn't even keep it in the cabin." He said, with a tone of defeat in his voice and Will slapped another five-dollar bill on the counter.

"We need Fluffy." He said simply and threw another dart. It was off by just a hair and the frustration that came from missing seemed to guide the next dart directly into the middle.

Nico punched the air with a big grin on his face and the woman helped him pull the pink monstrosity off the peg.

Nico was struggling to hold the massive bird even with both arms but refused to let Will hold it.

Luckily this time they didn't need to go by bus on the way home and Nico just hooked his arm through Will's when they were out of view of the fair workers and goers and they appeared in the camping green just before it grew dark.

"Now where the hell am I meant to put this?" Nico muttered as he opened the door to his cabin.

"Surprise!" Yelled the twenty-odd monsters gathered in Nico's cabin.

Nico didn't not have his sword on him, but he did have a five-foot-tall flamingo and a Will next to him, so he did the obvious thing in the circumstances.

He shadow-travelled to the best place he could think of in the spilt-second of utter terror of opening the door and being ambushed, and they appeared in the shadow of the Big House.

Nico checked that Will was next to him even though he was holding his hand and jumped to his feet.

"Will, quick, monsters- "Something was wrong. Will was curled over onto himself and shaking and Nico's eyes widened. How could've they have gotten Will? He was in front and the cabin green was empty of monsters.

"Will!" Nico said urgently, prying his fingers under Will's chin to see his face. Will lifted his face with tear-wet eyes.

Will was laughing.

Nico felt like he was missing something big.

"What? What's the matter?" Nico demanded. Will reached for him for a hug and pressed his face into Nico's torso.

"Nico, babe, never change." Nico was antsy with confusion and frustration now and Will wasn't helping.

"What's wrong?" he said, hands in a fist and Will made an effort to stop laughing.

"They're not monsters. It's the Seven and some others. We wanted to throw you a party and Percy insisted it was a surprise."

Nico would happily melt into Underworld and even down to Tartarus as Will explained the situation.

"I don't like surprises." He reminded Will, but it sounded childishly and stupid. Will was still sniggering, and he reached for Nico's hand again, squeezing it gently.

"If you take us down there, I won't tell them you thought they were monsters."

They were outside the Hades cabin again, still on the floor before Will could blink. He was still laughing, and the urge only increased as Percy peered out at them with a stupid party hat on his head.

"Where did you guys go?" He asked, as Nico brushed himself down indignantly.

"Nowhere." He said moodily, and Percy scooped him up in a hug.

"Happy birthday Nico!" Percy cried, and Will saw the smile Nico wiped off his face as Percy let go of him.

The other demigods were filing out into the green, all waving and chatting to Nico although only a few dared to hug him.

Percy appeared suddenly with a purple party hat and snapped it on Nico's head and dodged the shove Nico tried to give him with a laugh.

Will watched from a distance but smiled at the sight of Nico looking so happy. The edgelord wasn't quite smiling but he looked relaxed, not concerned or upset. He felt bad for laughing at him, but really, he felt like he was pretty justified.

As he watched his boyfriend, Nico turned around, obviously looking for him. When he saw him, he reached out a hand with a rare smile.

Grinning back at him, Will stepped forward to take his boyfriend's hand, hoping for a better year for both of them.

Still got one more chapter to do but if you don't want to read (probably bad) smut then this is the end for you!

Thank you for reading and for sticking around for the overdue 17 days! I hope it was worth and I had a lot of fun writing this and seeing all your lovely comments!

Thanks for reading and please check out my other stories!

Fez.