Hi. I've read quite a few of these now - apologies for anything in here inadvertently borrowed - but this is my first story for this fandom. Reviews greatly appreciated. I own nothing, of course.

How to Entertain a Demigod

"Will? I'm bored."

Will looked up from the grass at Nico, who was sitting, cross-legged, on a tree-stump overlooking the lake. He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

If there was one thing he now knew about Nico, it was that he was kind-of, well, needy. Not needy in a particularly narcissistic way, no. Nor did he necessarily know that he was being so – there was no other word for it – needy. Not that it wasn't quite nice that Nico now acknowledged needing things from people. And knew that other people were happy to help. And, true, it was especially nice that when Nico needed things, he usually needed them from him – that he, in fact, needed him. A need reciprocated, indeed. But, in this case, this constant need for novelty – again, it was endearing, cute, nice, and Will even liked it in Nico, but…

Just not necessarily all the time.

He was a healer, he had deep wells of care inside of him, and Nico was entitled to every drop. And he never begrudged Nico anything – nor, he suspected, did Nico do likewise with him. But it did, just now and then, and just on this one particular subject, get – sorry, Nico – a little wearing.

It was this plaintive cry of 'boredom' that got to Will. Not because of the thing in itself (who didn't get bored?), or its frequency (though Nico did bring it up quite a lot), but because Will simply didn't know what to do about it.

And that kind-of needled at him.

(And what was with the proliferation of 'n' alliteration when he was near – next-to – around – Nico?)

"Sunshine?"

It was, Will supposed, understandable. After all, when you'd had a pretty big part in saving (and – sorry again, Nico – occasionally endangering) the world between your eleventh and fifteenth birthdays, anything else would seem pretty flat. And everything else that had happened along the way.

You'd think he'd be relieved. Relaxed, even. He didn't have to deal with any of that stuff anymore. Well, for however long 'anymore' lasted, at least.

That really wasn't Nico, though. It was true that there had been a brief honeymoon period after the last battle at the camp, but that was finished, its ending coinciding with the end of summer and the departure of most of the campers. Even Percy and Annabeth had left. So here Nico was, as the autumn leaves browned and dropped from the trees, with nothing to do.

"Will!"

"Huh?" Will blinked at Nico. "What's up?"

"You've got a thoughtful look on your face. It's weird."

Will flashed a grin. "Am I not allowed to ponder, Death Boy?"

"No." Nico smirked. "You haven't the right facilities for it."

"And what's that meant to mean?" huffed Will.

"Nothing, nothing…" Nico's lips twitched. "Anyway, back to the important point. Me. Bored."

"Time would pass faster if you used verbs," said Will sweetly.

Nico gave him a sidelong look, which seemed to send a small shadow with it. It vanished the instant that Nico playfully stuck out his tongue. "Yeah. Whatever."

Will pulled himself into a sitting position, and swivelled so that he was leaning against the tree trunk. He twisted his head up and around, and batted his eyelashes. "Am I not entertaining enough for you?"

Nico laughed – always, Will thought, a thing rare, unused, and rather prone to sounding weird. This one was no exception. Even Nico looked a little surprised at it.

"I could tell you jokes…?" suggested Will. "Have you ever heard the one about the satyr –"

"Yes," said Nico, his voice flat. "Percy's told me all the jokes about Grover."

"Not all jokes about satyrs are jokes about Grover," pointed out Will.

Now it was Nico's turn to raise an eyebrow. Will didn't hold out for long:

"OK, OK, maybe they are all about Grover!"

Nico smiled for a moment, and then went back to being thoughtful.

"What are you good at?" asked Will.

Nico's expression soured. He counted on his fingers: "Killing things – usually monsters. Fighting. Attracting monsters. Moping. Travelling around the worlds. All of them. Creeping people out. Fighting, again."

"There's always training."

Nico made a derisive snort. "Against who? Without Percy here I beat everyone flat. As I think I've said: boring."

"What do you like, then?" offered Will.

Nico pursed his lips. "You." He blushed. "Sorry. Couldn't resist the opportunity to be cheesy."

Will barked a laugh. "Come on, Necro, I'm trying to help you here."

"It's OK for you. You like making people better. You're good at it. You've got your infirmary. That keeps you busy. And by the way – 'Necro'?"

Will shrugged and smiled. "Why not? As for the Infirmary, hardly anyone comes in in the winter, and even then it's usually just for a cold, and there's not that much that can be done about those."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. No real need to, either. Your immune system just has to do its job. I can supply pocket-handkerchiefs, and that's about it."

"Even so," continued Nico, "you've still got paperwork –"

Will rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Paperwork –"

"– I know you like it!"

Will blushed. "Maybe a bit…"

"A-ha!" Nico messed his hand through Will's hair. "You can't lie to me!" He deepened his voice. "I can see into your soul."

Will puffed his hair away from his face. The lack of decent hair-cuts was one of the –admittedly not that many – annoying things about Aphrodite's kids being so unattractive to monsters, and so going home, he mused.

"You could do that," he suggested.

"What, cut hair?" said Nico, sceptical.

Will stared at him. "Did you –"

"Read your mind?" Nico grinned. "No. But I've seen that expression on your face before, Sunshine. You're predictably vain."

"Well, then," said Will, pouting, "I meant going down and asking your dad for a holiday-job. He's always complaining about the queues."

"As a judge of the dead?" Nico pulled a face. "No thank you!" He affectionately rubbed the toe of his trainer against Will's shoulder. "Besides, what about you?"

"I could help?"

"You? It would be a disaster! You'd believe every sob-story. Let everyone off!"

"Well, no – maybe – would that be so bad?"

"Yes! What about justice?"

"What about mercy?" shot back Will, a smug grin pulling at his mouth.

Nico stared at him for a moment in silent thought. "Shut up."

"Ha! I knew I'd get you!"

"You know," said Nico coolly, "if you spent the winter in the Underworld, you'd come out as pale as me…"

Will made a face of feigned terror. "No!" He cracked into a smile. "There's always spray-on tan."

Nico laughed again – one more normal this time, Will thought. It had warmed up, maybe. From the dwindling rays of the October sun. Or probably just he'd had a practice go a few minutes earlier.

"No," said Nico, absently picking up a stray pebble, weighing it in his hand, and attempting to skim it across the lake. It dropped under the water with a splash. "The Underworld is not an option."

"Well, what, then?" asked Will. "We live, it seems, for once, in unheroic times." He, too, went to skim a stone. It bounced once, twice – splash.

"I'm superfluous to requirements," sighed Nico. One, two, three – splash.

"Exactly." Splash. (After three.)

"Ah, well, maybe something will turn up." (One, two, three, four, fi – splash) "Or I can improve my canasta game."

"Canasta?"

"It's what Chiron and Mr D. play, right?"

"No, Pinochle." (Five. Splash.)

"That's not the same?" (Five – almost hit a Naiad… Splash)

"Definitely not." (Six!) "Uh, we don't want to upset the water nymphs, Nico."

"Just because you're winning!" (Six – splash.)

"There is no 'winning'. But that –" Splash "– is seven. Beat that." Will beamed up at Nico.

Not taking his eyes off Will, Nico nonchalantly flicked his wrist. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven –

"Ouch!" cried Will, rubbing the back of his head. The wet stone tumbled to the ground behind him. "You shadow-travelled that – cheat!"

Nico attempted an innocent expression. It didn't really work. "Me…?"

"Yes, Death Boy – you." With that, Will's hand shot out and grabbed Nico's ankle. With a deft movement, he pulled him off the tree-stump. Nico fell on top of Will, laughing – third time not, unfortunately, the charm. The laugh was as odd as the first one. But Will didn't really have time to focus on that, as he'd rather underestimated the momentum created by Nico's movement. Off-balance, the pair of them rolled, helpless, down the bank –

"No – Will! –"

"Nico – Stop!"

Splash.

Nico would have happily lain there in the shallows with his boyfriend for ages, but Will, almost instantly on touching the water, had sprung shrieking into the air.

"Gods, that's freezing!"

Nico eyed Will, standing, dripping, on the bank. "Is it?"

"Yes! Come out of there! You'll catch a cold, and then I'll have to –"

"Be unable to do anything about it?"

Will thought for a moment. "Oh. Yeah. So – all the more reason! Out!"

Grinning, Nico got up and walked out of the water. He put his arm around Will's waist, ignoring the wet squelchiness of the feeling. "You know that that was all your fault, right?" he said, as they walked back to the cabins.

"Well, you said you were bored."

Nico laughed – almost normal – and then kissed Will. "I was really talking about a more permanent state of being…"

Will shrugged. "It was a start, I guess. Now –" (here they stopped outside Nico's cabin) "– get dry, and I'll see you later, OK?"

Nico squeezed Will's hands. "Sooner even than that, Sunshine."

The door closed, and Will padded back to his own cabin. Nico's boredom was going to require some serious thought.