"I'm gonna be pissed if Will misses the Cha Cha Slide."

Annabeth starts on her third sub. "I thought you'd be more pissed if he missed your toast, but I mean, go off," she says. It's a wonder that she's so relaxed after what just happened to her. Nico wishes he could just not care like that.

Nico digs around in his pocket and retrieves his speech. Unlike Thalia, he put in the effort to type his up in the dyslexia-friendly font, and he even practiced it in front of a mirror a few times.

He's still nervous beyond belief. He's definitely not about to go off-script.

"So, who's giving the maid of honor speech?" Nico asks.

Annabeth winces. "Hopefully not me. Maybe I'll pass it off to Rachel. Speaking of, where is she?"

"I'm not sure," says Nico. "She said she was going for a walk a couple of minutes ago. I think she feels kind of weird about not being able to predict the whole Cerberus thing."

"Ah." Annabeth traces the rim of her glass with her finger.

There's a record-scratching sound and Nico's attention is pulled to the center of the light-up disco floor, where Leo has Hazel under a purple spotlight. "Alright, you single ladies!" He waves Hazel's bridal bouquet around in the air.

Nico is confused.

Annabeth throws up a peace sign and disappears under her Yankees cap.

"All the single ladies!" Leo sings at the top of his lungs.

From across the room, Calypso throws her head back and groans.

"So, uh," Hazel says into the microphone. "I guess it's tradition to throw the bouquet to everyone... what did you say this was for, Leo?"

"Whoever catches this bad boy is getting hitched next!" Leo shouts.

"Oh," says Hazel. "You go ahead and throw it, Flower Boy."

"Hazel! I'm honored!" He winds his arm back and throws the bouquet with all his strength.

Poor Baby Jason is going to have a hard time playing catch with his dad because this thing flies all the way to the back of the room, away from the group of women participating in the game.

It knocks Annabeth's sub off the table and finally comes to a stop right in front of Nico.

Annabeth reappears. "That was close. Congrats, buddy."

Nico picks up the bouquet and winds up to throw it back so Leo can try again.

"There are no givebacks! The bouquet doesn't lie!" Leo shouts.

Nico takes his stupid flowers and sits back down.

Piper skips up to the DJ booth and yells something, yet Nico still can't hear her over how loud the music is. "Shoot, Piper's probably requesting the 'Cha Cha Slide.'  I gotta find Will." He feels kind of bad leaving Annabeth all alone, but it's for the greater good. Besides, she can handle it. She hasn't even had a real drink yet, just a few glasses of water.

"Forgetting something?" Annabeth asks.

Nico reluctantly grabs the flowers and sneaks into the kitchen, where Percy, Will, and Sally are all talking in hushed voices. Will's face is red and his eyes are wide.

"Are you sure though?" he asks. "I mean, I'm flattered, but-"

Nico clears his throat.

"Nico!" Will shouts. "Uh, we were just-"

"Finishing up!" Percy interrupts. "I need to go find Leo so we can take care of the Cerberus body. C'mon, Mom."

"Good luck, Will," Sally says as Percy leads her out of the kitchen.

Will loosens his tie.

At last, Nico breaks the silence. "Annabeth ate your sub."

"Why am I not surprised?" Will asks. He unbuttons his suit jacket. "What's going on?" he asks.

"Just wondering where you were," Nico says.

"Oh, okay," says Will. "Whatcha got there?"

"Hazel's bouquet. You missed some sort of game," he says, not wanting to reveal the superstition, although Will likely knows.

Nico gestures for him to come back out into the hall. There's no way Nico's going to miss his new favorite dance.

Will stops in his tracks. "Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you about."

Oh.

"Okay," says Nico. He takes a seat on the countertop.

Will wrings his hands and takes a deep breath. "Well, first of all, there's something you should know about Bill."

Nico smirks. "I know he's not real."

"Oh! Did Annabeth tell you?"

"No. Leave it to Will Solace to name his fake boyfriend after himself."

Will's face reddens.

"I'm not mad," Nico adds. "C'mon, let's get funky."

"Wait," says Will. "There's more."

Nico takes in a sharp breath. This had better be good because, at this rate, he's going to miss the "Wobble" too.

"So, Percy's taking a trip, and since Paul works at that boarding school, he's asked me to stay with his mom."

Hopefully, Nico can hide his hopefulness. "Do you think you'll do it?"

"Well, I have to check with Annabeth, obviously, but I'm not so worried about her," he says.

"Well, congrats," Nico says. "It's pretty rare for Percy to trust other people with his mom."

"Thank you," says Will. "But I actually wanted to ask about us."

Nico hops off the counter. "Listen, I know I said I'd be happy to get back together, and I still really want to, but there's no pressure if you want to get adjusted to life in New York first-"

Will kisses him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off."

Still completely shell-shocked, Nico says, "Yeah, you're fine." He probably looks like a dopey idiot, but maybe that's not such a bad thing right now.

"Let's do it," says Will. "I mean, it'll be hard for me to get away for too long, and I probably can't do overnights, at least to start, but-"

Nico tugs him by the tie and kisses him. "Let's do it. Poco a poco."

"Poco a poco," Will repeats.

They kiss again.

"We're going to get funky!" Oh, it's on! They're playing it!

"C'mon, Will!" shouts Nico. "I gotta show you my moves!"

Will laughs and follows Nico out onto the dance floor, where they fall in line with Piper.

"Hey guys!" she says whilst clapping her hands. She flashes a knowing look.

Nico and Will follow suit.

They hop, they slide, they cha-cha real smooth, they put their hands on their knees, and they even reverse-reverse.

Nico can't wait for Will to join him in New York.

He also can't believe he pulled this off with minimal help from Drew. She's going to be so proud of Nico.

It's hard not to keep having those weird wedding fantasies. Nico's pretty sure he is going to marry Will someday, and they're going to live in or near Camp Half-Blood with a bunch of dogs and maybe even find a surrogate and have a kid or two.

But they don't need to focus on all the logistics now.

If there's anything Nico's learned in the past few days, it's that sometimes, it's best not to plan. Sometimes, it's best to take things one step at a time.

Little by little.

Poco a poco.