Out Of The Shadows: A Solangelo Fanfiction Chapter 32: Blessings

   A few days after Nico and Will accidentally shadow traveled to a Cheez Whiz factory, Nico made a decision.

   “So you know how I didn’t have that bad of a reaction from the shadow travel when we went to Venezuela? How I didn’t even pass out for very long that time?”

   “Yeah?”

   “Well….I was wondering if we could go somewhere…”

   Will looked at Nico. They were just finishing up archery lessons. “Okay. What did you have in mind?”

   “Umm…I was wondering if you wanted to meet Sally…”

   “Sally?”

   “I mean Sally, Percy’s mom. I’ve met her a few times now, and Percy says she really likes me for whatever reason. But, I don’t know, like a meet the parent kind of thing? I don’t know, I know she’s not my mom, and we’re not even that close, but…I first met her when I was 11. It was 6 months after Bianca died, and I didn’t have anybody. I mean, there was my dad, but he isn’t exactly an amazing parent. So I was on my own. I showed up to Percy’s house to give him an idea to stop Kronos and he invited me inside. I planned on only staying for a few minutes, you know, long enough to give him the plan, but as I went inside, I was in Percy’s house. In his bedroom! I felt really nervous, and before I knew it, Sally was making me food and talking to me and treating me like a normal human. Like I was family. Nobody had ever treated me that nicely since Bianca, and she was just so nice. Warm. I felt comfortable. Paul, Percy’s stepdad, was the same way. I felt like I was normal for once. I even felt happy. I was able to see her a couple more times after that, and it was always the same. And she even…she even reminded me of my own mother. I know that’s probably weird….”

   Will took Nico’s hands in his. “No, it’s not weird. You were 11 years old. You were all alone. And even though you didn’t even get to see her that many times, you saw her as a parental figure. Anyone who doesn’t have parents does that. Especially children. And yes, I would love to meet Sally. I’ve heard so many good things about her from Percy and Annabeth and Grover. Just let me tell Kayla to take over activities while I’m gone.”

   Soon, they were standing back near the archery range. They were a little ways away, under some trees so Nico could find a good shadow to travel in. He held onto Will’s hand and thought about Percy’s apartment in Manhattan. One moment they were standing under a tree at camp, then everything disappeared and was replaced with darkness. After a few seconds, they were standing in the middle of Sally’s living room where she was sitting with Paul, Percy, and Annabeth. They all stared at the two arrivals with wide eyes.

   Nico looked at them all. “Hi.” He said. Then everything went black.

  When Nico came to, he was lying on Sally’s couch as Will was opening up a drink. When he noticed that Nico was awake, he grinned.

   “Good afternoon, sleepy head! I was just getting some gatorade ready since it seemed to help in Venezuela.”

   Nico sat up and immediately felt light-headed.

   “Drink.” Will said, shoving the blue drink into his hands.

   After Nico was able to walk around again, Will called everybody else in and told them Nico was awake.

   Then Nico was engulfed in a hug by Percy and Annabeth.

   “It’s so great to see you, Nico!” Annabeth said.

   “Yeah! Man, I was having a lousy weekend of doing homework, but you just made my weekend better! So, what brings you to our apartment?” Percy added.

   After a few seconds of being suffocated in a hug by the 2, he pushed them off. Sally was walking over to Nico when Nico noticed that her stomach was really big. She was pregnant!

   Nico looked at Sally. “Are you-“

   Sally nodded. “I’m pregnant. Almost 6 months along now!”

   Nico smiled gently. “Congratulations.”

   Sally smiled and gave Nico a big hug. She was warm and Nico felt right at home. “It’s so good to see you, Nico. I haven’t seen you since, ah, I think it was when Percy asked my blessing to swim in the River Styx. You were 12, so that makes you 14 now?”

   Nico nodded. “So, do you know the gender of the baby yet?”

   Sally shook her head. “Nope. We decided to wait for a little while, but we were going to schedule an appointment soon.”

   “Oh. Would you like to know now?”

   Sally tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

   “It’s a son of Hades power. I can sense pregnancies and genders.

   “Wow, sure!”

   “May I?” Nico asked, about to put his hands on her stomach.

   “Of course.”

   He gently placed his hands on Sally’s stomach. As soon as he did so, he felt a kick, and he jumped back, startled.

   Everyone laughed. “It’s alright, Nico. That’s just the baby kicking.” Sally told him.

   Nico put his hands back on her stomach for a few more seconds before looking at everyone. “Any guesses before I reveal the gender?”

   “A boy!” Said Percy and Paul.

   “A girl!” Said Annabeth and Sally.

   “Well, it’s a girl.”

   Cheers broke out and everyone hugged each other.

   Once everything died down, Paul came up to Nico and shook his hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Nico.”

   “Nice to see you again, too.”

   As everyone was all talking to each other, Nico walked over to Percy and Annabeth.

   “Hey, Nico. What’s Will Solace doing here?” Percy asked.

   “That’s actually the reason I came. Um, we’re dating.”

   Percy and Annabeth grinned and gave him another hug.

   “That’s awesome, dude! You wanted to tell us?” Percy said.

   “Yeah. And you’re parents.”

   Percy tilted his head.

   “Um, I’m sorry if this seems weird, but basically when I grew up, when two people started dating, the people would introduce the family to their partner. And since I don’t really…basically, I see your mother as a parental figure.” Nico’s face was getting red from embarrassment.

   But Percy just smiled and slapped him on the back. “I have to admit, I didn’t see it coming that you see my mom like that, especially since you don’t really socialize, but neither did I see you having a crush on me. Or, for that matter, dating Will Solace. You guys are complete opposites. So is he your type?”

   Nico rolled his eyes. “Yes, I suppose he is.”

   “Percy, what did I say about dropping it.” Annabeth said threateningly.

   “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

   “Anyways, are your parents, you know, okay with it?” Nico asked quietly.

   Percy smiled. “They are. They love people no matter what. They support the LGBT+ community, and I’ve actually gone to a few pride parades with them throughout the years.”

   “Pride parades?” Nico asked.

   “Oh, nevermind. I’m sure Will will tell you about them. But yeah, they’re completely okay with it. If I were to say out of nowhere I was transgender, they would 100% support me.”

   Nico nodded. “Alright.” Just as he finished speaking to them, Sally started talking.

   Sally turned to look at Will. He was smiling, no doubt excited about the baby. “So Will, what brings you to my apartment?” She asked him nicely. Will and Sally must have already met while Nico was out.   

   Nico answered for Will. “Um, he’s here because I wanted you to meet him. He’s my…he’s my boyfriend.”    

   Without missing a beat, Sally grinned widely. “Congratulations, Nico! I hope he makes you happy.”

   Nico nodded and slightly smiled. “He does. I-I came here so that Will can get your blessing.”

   Sally looked shocked. “Y-you guys want my blessing?”

   Nico looked at his feet. “I’m sorry…”

   Sally moved his chin back up. “Don’t be sorry. I was just shocked. I’m very honored, is all.”

   Will stepped in. “Is it alright if I tell her what you shared with me earlier?”

   “I-I guess.”

   “You see, Nico lost his mother at a very young age. He actually didn’t know anything about his past until he was 12 because he got his memory erased. He lost his big sister when he was 10, the last family he had left. He also found out he was a son of Hades, not from this century, and gay. Most people only knew he was a son of Hades and some people knew about him being from a different century, but nobody knew he was gay. It was a closely guarded secret. Anyways, because of all of these things, he felt like an outcast. He had run away and his only company was evil ghosts. But then he met you. You were the one person, followed by Mr. Blofis, to make him feel like someone cared about him. It made him feel like he wasn’t an outcast. You two treated him like a normal human being. And Mrs. Jackson, you kind of remind him of his mother that died back in the past.”

   Sally had tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Nico. Percy has told me some things about you, like the time period you come from, how your mother died, your sister, and he has been recently telling me of the torture you had to go through to stop Gaea. But I am so very honored to be seen as similar to your mother.”

   “Um, I’d like to tell you guys something. I don’t want anything to be awkward, and I don’t want you and Paul to be kept in the dark. It’s true I’m gay. And I used to be in love with your son.”

   Sally smiled. “Well it always seems a lot of people crush on my son. I honestly don’t understand it, though. He’s such a sarcastic troublemaker.”

   “Hey!” Percy yelled.

   Sally laughed. “I’m just kidding, Percy. That’s alright, Nico. You don’t need to feel ashamed. And it wouldn’t be awkward anymore, because you have someone else.” She looked at Will and smiled.

   “Yeah, I’m over Percy now. I fell in love with him when I was 10, I was young and vulnerable. But once I realized I liked Will this year, those feelings finally vanished.”

   “Well, I’m so happy you told me.” 

   Sally then turned to smile at Will. “It’s clear you’re a very nice guy. I’ve heard things from Percy, as well. And it’s clear you love Nico very much, and Nico loves you very much. So I give you my blessing.”

   Will had such a wide grin, Nico thought it was going to break something in his face.

   “Thank you so much, Sally!”

   Sally hugged him. “I have made a decision. I was already thinking about this because Percy has told me what a good doctor you are, but now that I know you are so good with Nico, and that I’ve met you, I would like you to deliver my baby.”

   Will backed up, shocked. “W-what? I’m not even technically a doctor. There are so many people that are way more qualified than I am. I’ve only delivered one baby…”

   “You have? Perfect! This makes you even more qualified!” Sally grinned.

   “Are you sure you want me to do this?” Will asked.

   Sally nodded. “Of course. Like I said, I was already thinking about asking you, anyways.”

   “Alright then. I guess I’ll do it. But how will you be able to contact me?”

   “What do you mean?”

   “Technology is down at camp. I won’t go into details, but all forms of communication have stopped working.”

   Sally wrapped her arms around her stomach. “That is quite an issue. That doesn’t seem good.”

   “Do I need to head back to camp?” Percy asked a little too eagerly.

   “You are NOT going to camp, seaweed brain. You have homework.” Annabeth scolded.

   Percy sighed. “It was worth a shot.”

   “Hmm. Nico?” Sally said.

   “Yeah?”

   “You said you can sense pregnancies and baby genders, right?”

   “Which is extremely cool.” Paul agreed.

   “So would there be any way you could sense when I go into labor?”

   Nico thought about that. “I’ve never tried that before. The only pregnant person I’ve been around in the last, what, 70 or so years is Mellie the cloud Nymph, Coach’s wife. And Nymphs and Satyrs are a bit different. I can’t tell if they die. Even if I could, how would I know the feeling? Or if it was just a false alarm? What if I’m asleep?”

   “That’s all very true. But I trust you, Nico. You’ll know the feeling. And if it’s anything like actual labor, you’ll wake up.”

   “Alright. Hopefully this works out.”

   Sally clapped her hands together. “Great! Now I’m going to treat everyone to lunch with my seven layer bean dip with a side of blue cookies!”

   After they all had dinner, they all talked for a while. Will seemed to be right at home, which Nico was glad about. But Sally’s apartment just had that feel to it.

   The 2 stayed until the evening and they decided to leave after dinner. Nico felt bad about crashing their day, but Sally insisted that it was perfectly fine, and they had nothing to do anyways.

   As he was leaving, of course the 4 living there all wanted to give them hugs. He just rolled his eyes and sighed. Then, instead of grabbing Will’s hand to shadow travel, he grabbed his waist. Soon, after leaving in a dark corner of the house, they were back at camp.

   Nico knew he said he wouldn’t show affection towards Will around strangers. But at Sally’s home, they weren’t strangers. They were family.