Old and Young, Inside Out

Chapter 18

AN: Sorry this seems a bit rushed and I don't like how I wrote it one bit, but I wanted to get through this quick and back to the more crossover part of the fanfiction

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Nico wasn't sure how to feel as he led Dominic through camp. He could tell his friend didn't, either. A demigod. Why hadn't Nico ever tried this before?

"Are we going to tell Ron and them?" Nico asked as they sat on the Big House porch, waiting for Chiron to wake up.

Dominic didn't answer, his eyes on the strawberry fields.

"Dom, I'm talking to you." Nico waved his hand in front of Dominic's face. "I thought you were thinking about this for a while. Why are you acting so shocked?"

"Why am I acting shocked?" Dominic looked at him as if he was insane. "I'm a demigod, Nico. A full-blooded...one of you!"

"Actually, we're different. We're half god, half wizard." Nico grinned. "Or half witch. Whatever."

Dominic shook his head in exasperation. "I just...had convinced myself that I wasn't. But I am. And...I can finally start to understand everything that's going on in your two-part life."

"But you'll also have to learn how to fight." Nico's smile dropped. "I'll bring you here on the weekends with me. You can stay in my cabin if you want, I doubt anyone will mind. But you need to learn to fight. When you go home this summer, the monsters will be more attracted to you now that you know."

Dominic sighed. "I was just about to be happy about all of this..."

Nico patted his shoulder. "You'll get used to it. And now everything will start making sense."

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Nico spent the day showing Dominic around camp. Just as it seemed, Apollo had claimed the campers Will had brought and now claimed Dominic. It seemed like some things were finally making sense, even if they made everything more complicated.

"Are you ready to head back to Hogwarts?" Nico finally asked after dinner, his eyes on the Apollo table where Will used to sit. Dominic had kept to the Hades table with Nico despite the rules.

"Do we have to?" Dominic was looking at the Apollo table also, but for different reasons. "I...I really like it here. The food, the people. You never told me how awesome it is to be a demigod!"

Nico looked back to his own untouched plate. "It isn't awesome. You've been lucky to not see that yet, so you're just going to have to believe me."

Dominic shrugged. "Monsters can't get in here, so there's no point in worrying. I'm pretty sure I want to come here during summers instead of going home. And I need to talk to those children of Aphrodite."

Nico sighed. "Why?"

"You may be a hundred years old, but I'm not." Dominic gestured to himself with his fork. "I'm twelve years old. All this love stuff and hots for girls is confusing."

"And boys," Nico corrected.

"Yeah, and boys." Dominic accepted. "Can I go introduce myself to my siblings?"

"You want to?"

Dominic nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Nico blinked a couple of times, not having expected Dominic to warm up to camp and his new identity so quickly. If anything, it was sort of freaking Nico the hell out. "I'll see you later." Dominic stood up and walked over to his half-siblings, leaving Nico alone at his table.

Alone. He was always alone at camp, even when he brought someone new. Even when Will was there, he was off in the Infirmary. Even when Percy and Annabeth and Leo and Jason...

Alone. The only thing camp ever offered him was solidarity. And he wasn't looking for that anymore.

"Dominic!" Nico walked over to the newly claimed son of Apollo and grabbed his arm. Without a word, he shadow traveled them back to Hogwarts. The dandelion burned even more than usual at such close attempts and Dominic's struggle. When they crash-landed in their dormitory, Dominic picked up his head to look around but seemed sick at the sudden sensation the shadow travel had brought.

"What was that?" he groaned, pulling himself onto his bed.

"What do you think?" Nico grabbed onto his collarbone as the pain faded. "You fucked it up by trying to pull away from me."

"You shouldn't have kidnapped me, then." Dominic spread out on his bed. "Why'd you pull me away?"

"Because." Nico closed his eyes. "We needed to be here. You can go to camp on weekends and the summer. That will be enough. But right now, you need to be here."

Dominic glanced at him but accepted it with a sigh. "Did I go overboard?"

"A little."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just...I'm still in shock."

"I know."

"You forgive me?"

"Yeah, yeah." Forgiving and forgetting were two different things, and Nico couldn't help but dread the weekend. "We need sleep."

Dominic nodded in agreement. "Goodnight, Nico."

"Night, Dominic."