A/N: WARNING: THERE IS SO MUCH ANGST IN THIS CHAPTER I CAN'T EVEN. I figured out where I actually want to go with plot for this fic, so I got really excited and started writing a bunch and then it started going downhill until suddenly I'd written Bianca's AU death…

So yeah. Kind of a heavy chapter. And there isn't actual cuddling. But there's build-up to the cuddling. So, I hope you like it. Please review!

This chapter is dedicated to the Valdangelo shipper guest who reviewed the last chapter. Your review made me very very very happy :D :D :D

Okay, chapter time. Gahhh I hope you guys like this, I'm all ljasldkfjasdkl about it cause I'm bad at angst. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Four

For a minute or two, Nico just sat on the couch gasping for breath, clutching his chest and trying to slow the flow of tears running down his cheeks. Then, as his mind realized that he'd been dreaming and was now awake, he leaned back into the cushions and squeezed his eyes shut, shaking with silent sobs. His heart raced, pounding hard against his chest, as his mind replayed the dream over and over in his mind- the taunting jeers, the crack of the gunshot, Bianca's scream as she fell.

Nico jumped up from the couch and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to force the memory out of his mind. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called number 1 on his speed dial, pacing and trying to steady his breath as the phone rang.

Eventually, Annabeth answered, sounding annoyed and exhausted, "Nico, it's 4 AM."

"Please…" Nico gasped, too busy freaking out to form complete sentences. "Need… Can I…?"

Annabeth sighed. "My dad's still awake, working on one of his old planes. You can't come over."

Nico frantically ran a hand through his hair. "Annabeth, please, I- I can't, I'm f-freaking out, I need-"

"You're at Percy's house," Annabeth reminded him. "Go talk to him."

"I can't!" Nico snapped, then realized he was being kind of loud for four in the morning and sank back onto the couch with a shaky sigh. "Annabeth, you don't understand," he whispered, his hands shaking as he held the phone to his ear. "Percy doesn't know- I can't-" his voice broke, and he dropped the phone onto the couch, putting his head in his hands and allowing himself to cry freely, not bothering to worry about Percy or his parents waking up, or Annabeth deciding he was a childish idiot and hanging up.

"Nico?" he heard her voice through the phone. "Calm down, okay? It's gonna be all right. Just… talk to Percy, okay? I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow."

The line went dead and Nico was left in silence, trying to control his sobs, miserable and terrified and alone and wanting nothing more than-

"Nico?"

That. Wanting nothing more than that.

He slowly raised his head and was somehow unsurprised to see Percy standing in the doorway of his bedroom, leading to the living room, staring at Nico with a look of exasperation and concern.

"Percy…" Nico said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Um, did I… wake you up?"

After studying him for another moment, Percy shook his head. "No, I was awake. Are you okay?"

Nico nodded, taking a shaky breath. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. You should… you should go back to sleep."

Percy didn't move. "Nico… about what I said earlier… about us not being friends… I mean, if you need me," he winced at his own words, "I mean, if you need help, you can… talk to me… you know?"

Nico nodded again. "Thanks."

Percy watched him for a little bit longer, then turned and went back into his room.

Once the door was closed, Nico sighed. He hadn't wanted Percy to see him like that, but at least his presence had distracted Nico from the nightmare. He held back another round of tears as he realized going back to sleep could summon another one.

Suddenly, Nico's phone chimed with a text. He picked it up and saw that it was a message from Annabeth:

So… turns out my dad fell asleep in his plane. Call me if you need to talk, okay?

Nico smiled thankfully, but put his phone away, convincing himself he'd be fine.

He'd barely had his eyes closed for two seconds before he sat up again and called Annabeth.

"Sorry I hung up on you," she said as greeting. "Crying people freak me out."

Nico chuckled humorlessly. "Sorry. I kind of lost it."

"Reasonably so," Annabeth justified. "You feeling better now?"

Nico shrugged, even though she couldn't see him. "A little bit. I'm still too scared to go back to sleep though. Can you just… I don't know. Stay up for a bit?"

"Of course," she replied, though reluctantly. "Do you… want to talk me through it?"

Nico had often been told that talking about nightmares made them less scary, but he'd never actually tried out the cliche. It had always seemed easier to keep the fear to himself and force himself to ignore it. But talking was at least better than making Annabeth listen to him breathe.

"Yeah, actually," he told her. "I think that'd be really helpful. Thanks, Annabeth."

Percy shut his bedroom door behind him and leaned against it with a sigh. His plan to comfort Nico hadn't exactly worked, considering Nico was stubborn as hell and hadn't wanted his help, but there was no way Percy could go back to sleep after seeing Nico in such a harsh state.

Despite what he'd told the younger boy, Percy had been fast asleep, dreaming about the Swim Team finally winning the championships, when Nico crying out in his sleep had woken him.

Percy knew Nico had nightmares often. Normally, he would've ignored the exclamations and gone back to sleep, but there was no way he could ignore his ex-best friend crying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over again, followed by, "It's my fault you're dead."

And he'd tried. He'd sat up in bed for a good five minutes, listening to Nico hyperventilate, and sob, and talk to Annabeth about his problems. Rubbing his face tiredly, Percy realized that if the last few days hadn't happened, Nico would've talked to him about his problems.

After a minute or so of just standing there feeling sorry for himself, Percy started back towards his bed, but then something Nico said outside caught his ear.

"I was dreaming about Bianca."

Percy froze, his breath catching in his throat. He'd assumed that had been the subject of Nico's latest nightmare, but still… In the four years since Bianca's death, Percy had never once heard Nico talk about her.

Knowing he was going to regret it later, Percy pressed his ear to the door.

"I've been avoiding the junkyard for… years," Nico was saying, presumably on the phone to Annabeth (Percy wasn't jealous. Nope, not jealous at all). "And yet… I could see it perfectly… The barbed-wire fence that Bianca cut her hand on as she climbed over. The '68 Chevy truck that had been flipped upside down, and the wheels were still spinning. I could see the untouched Mythomagic set that Bianca tried to bring back to me, before it got crushed and… and only the Hades figurine remained…"

Tears blurred Percy's vision as he listened to Nico's soft, lilting voice. He leaned closer to the door so he could hear better and closed his eyes, letting the tears fall down his cheeks as he thought back to the worst day of his life- February 3, 2010.

Now, Percy had spent the last four years convincing himself that it wasn't his fault, and convincing Nico that it wasn't his fault, but in reality, if Percy hadn't been friends with such idiots, Bianca di Angelo would still be alive.

It had started as a simple prank, an initiation into Percy's somehow popular friend group. Ever since Percy and Annabeth had found the abandoned junkyard freshman year, each new student wishing to climb the popularity ladder had had to climb over the fence and take something.

It hadn't been Percy's idea. He'd disapproved of it from the start. But he'd taken a ballpoint pen from one of the endless junkpiles. And then Annabeth had dug up an old Yankees baseball cap. And one thing had led to another, until Bianca was climbing over the fence, Percy and his friends watching from a few feet back.

The haphazardly strung together barbed wire that served as a fence had been jutting out even more dangerously than usual, and Bianca had barely climbed three rungs up when she cried out and pulled her hand back from the fence.

"Bianca?!" Percy had exclaimed, stepping away from his friends when he saw the bright red blood slowly seeping through her fingers.

But she'd just waved him away (he wished she hadn't) and insisted, "I'm fine, just a cut," continuing to climb the fence, though with her right hand fisted.

When she reached the top, Bianca had glanced back at them- at Percy nervously frowning, Annabeth gesturing impatiently, Zoë and Thalia glaring at each other and not paying any attention to the world around them, and Grover grinning excitedly like he was watching a hero in an adventure movie, not a twelve-year-old girl. Percy should've stopped her then. He should've called out to her that getting to the top was initiation enough and she needed to get down from there before she got herself killed.

But Percy had stayed quiet, had given her a thumbs-up. And Bianca had jumped down from the fence, landing gracefully inside the junkyard, and his friends had cheered, and Percy had clapped along, smirking proudly. He should've stopped her.

Bianca had immediately spotted the Mythomagic set, had pulled away the other assorted objects around it, hadn't noticed the pistol she blindly grabbed, hadn't known it was loaded…

"The bullet hit her side, making her stagger backwards," Nico concluded, his voice hoarse from the strain of holding back tears. "She… she would've survived the shot. But she hit the upside-down Chevy, and it-" Nico's voice broke and he took a minute to take shaky breaths before opening his mouth to continue.

"It fell sideways, shoving her into the dirt, rolling on top of her, and crushing her and the figurines, leaving her dead," Percy slowly finished for him, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

Without even thinking about it, Nico hung up on Annabeth and stared at Percy, noting tear tracks on the older boy's cheeks. "Did I-" he began, but Percy cut him off.

"How did you know all that?" When Nico frowned in confusion, Percy elaborated, "All those details about when Bianca died? You weren't even there."

Nico shook his head. "It… was just a dream. I wasn't-"

"Did Annabeth tell you?" Percy continued. "About the cut on her hand? Or the type of truck it was? All I ever told you was that-"

"There was an accident, and there wouldn't be a body to bury," Nico quoted, averting Percy's gaze. "I remember what you told me."

Looking more than a little uncomfortable, Percy asked, "So how did you…?"

Nico shrugged. "I really don't know, Percy. Like I said, it was just a dream. I didn't even think it was real, I mean, it happening exactly like that…"

"No," Percy muttered, and Nico could feel the boy staring at him. "No, that is… exactly how it happened… Nico?" he then asked, sounding like he was trying not to change his mind. "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight? It might be more comfortable for you…"

Nico reached for the cord around his neck and fiddled with the Hades figurine strung on it- the dark statue that Bianca's dead hand had been found clutching, the only way the police had been sure the crushed bones were hers.

Not trusting himself to speak, he nodded.

And that was how Nico di Angelo found himself awake, staring at the ceiling at 4:30 in the morning, in the same bed as Percy freaking Jackson.

It would take some more time to discern whether that was his dream come true, or his worst nightmare. For now, it was awkward, at best.

And yet… it felt right.

A/N: And posting before I chicken out. Hope you liked it, please review!