Word Count: 2126

          It's been two months since the quest and Adri started staying Camp Half-Blood. She adapted pretty quickly. Kind of. She was still kind of a loner. She came out to eat, visit Cabin-7 for piano lessons, go to the creek and sword fight and take part in Capture the Flag.

          She got her own cabin that she helped design. Nico hadn't been in it yet. Adri's reasoning was that it wasn't complete yet. She struck up a friendship with Leo Valdez and Piper McLean. They were often spotted going into or coming out of her cabin.

          Today, finally, Adri invited Nico to her cabin. She said it was going to be a tour. Oh, and that she also had something to tell him. Nico decided he should start getting ready, since they decided to meet up in thirty minutes. He'd never been this nervous to meet her. They were good friends and Adri saw him when he looked worse. He just instinctively knew he had to dress up today.

          How ironic, he thought. The ghost king, who never cared what others thought, who never got nervous to meet his friend, now panicking because he has nothing to wear. He decided to go to the one and only Will Solace.

          Will was Nico's ex. There hadn't been a huge fight or something. Their breakup was mutual. They still remained friends and even now, after almost a year, Will was still the person who knew Nico best.

          "Neeks, what brings you here??" Will asked, putting away cubes of Ambrosia. "Ahem... So, Adri told me to meet her in her cabin. She wants to show me around and also has something important to tell me." He paused, hesitating whether he should tell Will. "And I'm gonna guess you've got nothing to wear?" Nico paused and nodded.

          Nico led Will to Cabin 13 and Nico was ready just in time. Nico thanked Will profusely before entering Adri's cabin, at exactly 5:30 PM. She told him to let himself in. He walked in and gaped in awe.

          Adri's cabin was almost a perfect replication of her room in the Underworld. The first additions Nico noticed were the fireplace and the photos on it. The first photo was framed in a matte gold frame. It was him and Adri in the city. Nico was giving her a piggyback ride on a dare. Adri brought a camera with her and asked some mortal to get a photo of them.

          The second photo consisted Adri, Alex, Magnus and him, all partaking in a group hug. No one looked happy at first glance, since they all hated physical touch, but you could see the sparkle in their eyes when you looked closer. This frame, Nico realized, was rainbow. It oddly clashed with the rest of the decor and frames but he understood her sentiment. It was four people who were part of the LGBTQ+ club. He remembered her telling him that she was Bi.

          The third one was of Adri's mother. Nico thought she looked regal in her lilac gossamer dress, her hair pinned up in a bun adorned with small lavender flowers, like galaxies shining from her dark tresses. It was clear Adri was her daughter when you compared them now. Adri's eyes had the same sparkling quality and her face was the same shape as her mother's. The frame of this one matched the dress and flowers in the photo.

          There was one more that Nico hadn't noticed. He went closer since it was pushed more towards the obsidian walls than the other photographs. He gently picked it up. It had a matte black frame with small golden mechanical butterflies that fluttered. It was a picture of Adri, her mother and her father. Adri was grinning and looked about five. One of her front tooth was missing and she honestly looked so adorable.

          Suddenly, someone plucked the photo out of his hands. He looked up to see Adri, her hair done the same way as her mother's in the third photograph. Upon closer inspection, Nico realized she was wearing a dress that was almost an exact copy of the one in the photo.

          Adri seemed to take a double take. She took in Nico's attire. His formal, buttoned up black shirt, tucked into his skinny jeans, his sword at his side. Her eyes travelled back to his face and focused on his hair. He seemed to cut it and Adri figured it had been a few days since he had gotten it cut. It was, more or less, a wolf cut.

          Adri reached out and brushed his bangs a little. "Nico, when did you get a haircut?? How did I not notice that??" she asked, laughing at her blindness. Nico touched his hair self-consciously. He seriously couldn't believe he was nervous about speaking to a girl. Adri, in fact. "About two days ago. Why? Is it bad?" 

          Adri laughed some more. "What??!! Nooo. It suits your face. Gives you a more intimidating and mysterious look. You look good in it." "So, I didn't look good before?" Nico asked cheekily. Adri rolled her eyes affectionately. "What I meant, dearest ghost king, was that you look better than ever." Nico thought it was his imagination, but he could've sworn she just winked at him.

          Before he could wonder upon it, she took his hand and dragged him back to the front door. "Now, the tour shall begin." She steered him around, showing off her fireplace that gave off no smoke and had ghostly purple flames.

          Next was her lounging area. It sat, overlooking the fireplace. It consisted of a loveseat and an armchair set, made of dark oak with black velvet upholstery. There was a lilac woolen throw, carelessly thrown onto the armchair. In front of the loveseat was a dark oak coffee table, perfect for resting your book, mug or sword.

          Next was her sleeping area. The bed was a copy of the one in her Underworld room, just smaller. Next to the bed were two dark oak book shelves and Nico recognized a few of the books from her Underworld shelves. "They're my most favourite. A little princess is very dear to me." Adri explained, pulling it out and throwing it onto the bed. "I should reread it." she said, introspectively. Nico didn't say anything and allowed Adri to drag him to her bathroom.

          Before you get any ideas, let me tell you, behind the door, Adri was very busy showing Nico something Leo had made for her. "It's like this very cool device that shouts really rude stuff at me to wake me up and make sure I don't fall asleep in the morning."

          Nico didn't understand why she'd want that, but he guessed Adri's gonna Adri. He finally got the pluck to ask the question nagging at his mind. "What did you want to tell me?" "Huh?" Adri seemed startled by the sudden question, as she paused putting her earrings. She looked at him through the circular mirror hung on the wall. She slowly turned, clicking her earrings in place.

          "Well..." she hesitated. "It's just that," Nico patiently waited. He knew Adri took her time when revealing something important. "It's just that, today's my mom's death anniversary. And, I wanted to take you to meet her." She plucked at her dangly earrings. Nico blinked and softly smiled. He knew this must be hard for her. As happy as she seemed, he knew deep inside she still blamed herself for her mother's death. Both times.

          "Of course. When are we leaving?" Adri smiled with obvious relief. "How does 'now' sound?" "Great!!" Adri nodded as Nico suddenly hooked his arm through hers. Adri walked into a shadow and they shadow-travelled to a quiet and peaceful graveyard.

          Adri navigated through the numerous tombstones and finally stopped in front of one that read, 

In honour of

Cecilia Morte

A loving mother and bestfriend

          There was a bench more or less directly in front of the grave. Adri led Nico over and sat down. He looked at the grave, it had small wildflowers and poppies growing over it. Adri, out of nowhere, started speaking.

          "Hey mom... How you doing? Not well, I s'pose. I did, after all, severe your head." She gave a dry and brittle laugh. "Anyway, this is Nico. I brought him because I wanted you to meet him. He's nice. Respectable, blah, blah, blah. But most importantly, he's my friend. He remained so even after everything I'd done, so," she turned to him and gently held his hand. "Thank you." He smiled softly and put his free hand on Adri's free hand. "Of course."

          "Now that I've introduced you, I have something to ask you." Nico felt as if the air around him dropped a few degrees lower. "What is it?" "Welp. When I'm done with this, I'll either be ruining one relationship or I'll be ruining one and beginning another one." Nico was confused. Before he could ask what she meant, Adri began talking.

          "Nico, let me tell you a story." "What???!!" 

          "Ahem... So, when you were in the labyrinth. There was a girl. You never asked her for her name. She could summon ghosts the way you summoned skeletons and she liked you. A lot. Turns out, she still does. In fact, her affection only grew when she saw who you've become."

          "She liked that you accepted her and she knew you felt a sense of familiarity when you met her. Perhaps it was good that you didn't ask her name then. I feel like things would've gone differently if you did. So, um.. Hi, I'm Adrienne Morte. The girl from the labyrinth. The girl who liked you then and likes you now."

          Nico sat there, gaping like a fish out of water. "I- No. Adri, it, can't be..." He shot up and Adri got worried. She sighed dejectedly. "I knew it was a bad idea." she whispered to herself. She didn't mean for Nico to hear it, but he did.

          He caught her hand. "No!! It's a great idea. I, do remember you. And I did find you familiar when we met in that alleyway. How did you know it was me?" Adri took a step towards him, barely leaving a foot between them. "Hades knew I spent time with you. He appointed me, because he knew. He thought you were less likely to kill me out of curiosity or interest." She looked to the ground.

          "And what I said was- is true. I do like you still." Her voice was so small, Nico had to slightly lean in to hear her. He placed his index and middle finger under her chin and guided her to look into his eyes.

          With hands on either side of her face, he closed the gap and kissed her. The kiss itself was short, barely lasting five seconds. But it conveyed feelings words would never be able to. It conveyed a deep yearning and understanding. It conveyed acceptance. Adri pulled back in shock. Nico thought he had done the wrong thing when he felt Adri's arms wrap around his scrawny frame.

          She pulled back gently and kissed him. This kiss lasted longer and he felt Adri's permission in it. "So.. Who's gonna ask who out?" Adri asked. Nico connected their foreheads and felt his fingers brush against her lavender-shaped earrings. "Adrienne Morte, will you do the honour of being my girlfriend?" Adri connected their lips yet again. This time, they both knew what to do. Their lips moved in harmony, in a dance that only they knew. They might have been in a graveyard, but to them, it felt like heaven in that moment.

          "I hope that answers your question. But I have a question now." Nico arched his eyebrow. "Why do you taste like vanilla and mint?" "Why do you taste like chocolate and vanilla?" he shot at her, their foreheads still connected. "I don't know about the chocolate, but, the vanilla is all you, darling." Nico just knew he had gone red at the nickname. And also at the fact she somehow tasted like Vanilla, a.k.a, him.

          Adri laughed her weird laugh which consisted of snorting. But, Nico knew it was genuine. If she didn't snort when laughing, that was a cue that it wasn't genuine. Adri pecked his cheek. "Back to camp, I'm guessing?? I wanna announce it at the campfire tonight." She gave Nico a sideways glance after saying this "I mean, if you want me to. If you want to keep it private, that's alright too."

          Nico shrugged. "Whatever you wanna do, tesoro (Darling)." "Touche, di Angelo." Adri said as she held his hand and shadow travelled them back to Camp Half-Blood. 

AN: It's already 2128 words, so there will be a bonus chapter. Keep a lookout for that.

Love,

Helene