I am so, so sorry for how late this is. I know I keep making excuses, but I really have been busy lately due to my Spanish speaking exam. I hope that this chapter makes up for it.

Neon Wish Likes Pine Trees : Yay, I'm glad to entertain then.

ObsessedwReading : Thank you :)

Mondmaedchen : I hope that you enjoy the other stories. And I'm glad that Leo didn't come across like a douchebag.

Epiphany Aria Grace : Thank you so much, I'm so glad that you think Leo's portrayal is accurate. I really do want to keep their reactions in character. And I will never judge anyone for loving angst as I love it as well. I'm glad that you liked the bit with Coach Hedge, I love the little moments of concern he has in the books. Lately I seem to be failing at updating whilst doing college work L so you shouldn't really thank me. Is home-schooling fun, by the way?

LONG LIVE BOOKS : I'm glad that you didn't mind waiting considering that it's taken me weeks to update, and I do hope that you enjoy it.

Kris Awesomeness : I hope that's not a problem. I'm trying to set it up so that a relationship between the two in the sequel will be realistic.

The funky she-wolf 33415 : I usually only do that with my sister because my friends would probably kill me for it J

TryMe626 : Thank you, and I'm sorry for taking so long to update.

MakaylaCO : Ah, I'm sorry for leaving it in such a tense way for so long. Please forgive me.

Kaidas : Thanks, it means a lot for you to think that my writing is good. And no matter how long it may take me to update I will not be abandoning any of my HOH stories.

Disclaimer : It is called Fanfiction, emphasis on the Fan.

Nico's P.O.V

Nico was happily eating his ice cream in the dining room, fully intending to pretend no drama had just occurred unless Leo needed to talk about it, when Calypso came into the room, eyes holding an ageless sadness.

With a sigh, he lowered his spoon back into the chocolate treat, clinking it against the bowl to signal to Calypso that the room was occupied.

The girl's unfocussed eyes finally seemed to come into focus, and they latched onto his own for a moment before she glanced away.

The depth of pain that he saw there made him recoil, aware that until Leo had befriended him, his own eyes had held a similar gaze.

As much as Nico was awful at social interactions, he had a feeling that he could maybe help the Goddess. And if he helped Calypso, maybe she'd make up with Leo, and the son of Hephaestus would be cheerful again.

"Are you okay?" He inquired, trying to make his tone sound less awkward than he actually felt. The girl sent him a smile, though it was tinged with a deep sadness. Also, the usual weird vibe that Nico got from the girl was seriously bugging him. Something about her set the son of Hades on edge, and he wasn't sure exactly what it was.

"I'm fine. Is… is Leo… fine?" Nico ate another spoon of ice cream before replying, hoping that it would fortify him for this conversation.

"He should be, if he makes it up with you that is." Calypso drifted over to one of the chairs (that hadn't been pushed in due to the demigods' haste in trying to defuse the argument on deck after eating) and perched on it, or more accurately, perched on the air above it as she couldn't actually touch anything.

"I hope that is possible." The girl appeared to be biting her lip (Nico had so many questions about the girl's current ability to interact with the world, but he shoved them down for later).

"Look, it's definitely possible." Calypso looked up, and Nico was horrified to see tears swimming in her eyes. He couldn't deal with a sobbing Goddess, he barely knew how to deal with a sad Leo!

"Is it? I seem to keep messing up now that I'm onboard the ship with him. This was so much easier on the island..." Calypso trailed off, tensing up. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" The question was rather blunt, but Nico had to ask it.

"I don't know. I've never really, you know, had a relationship with someone quite like Leo." Nico's hackles rose at this sentence, perceiving it to be a jab.

"What do you mean, someone like Leo?" Nico ground out, eyes plainly stating that this answer best please him or Calypso would be in trouble, even as he dipped his spoon back into the bowl. Nico was a son of Hades, his glare was top notched even if he was clutching a spoon full of chocolate ice cream The Goddess' eyes widened minutely, as if realising exactly how that last statement had come across.

"I didn't mean it to be a bad thing! I mean that I've never had someone so willing to sacrifice everything to save me, yet be so unwilling to tell me anything about themselves. Even Percy's stupid hero complex..."

"Percy? As in Percy Jackson?" Nico had leant forwards, eagerly examining her face, hoping that he'd understood her wrong, spoon paused halfway to his lips. Though a Percy with a stupid hero complex sounded a lot like the boy he loved.

Calypso's cheeks reddened slightly, and her eyes turned to study the tabletop.

Nico was about to demand a response when Leo came stumbling into the dining room, yelling that there best be ice cream left, that Nico better had saved him some.

Then the smile was wiped off of Leo's lips as he observed the uncomfortable scene before him.

Leo's P.O.V

Leo's very finely honed fight or flight response was screaming at him to get his dumb butt into motion and leave the room before he messed up his relationship with Calypso even more than he already had, but the braver part of Leo dug its heels in and refused to allow his legs to move.

Well, refused to let him move out of the door anyway. He needed the good stuff to get through this.

Trying to appear nonchalant, Leo sauntered over to Nico's side of the table, swiping the younger boy's spoon and taking a big mouthful of soothing chocolate ice cream. It was good ice cream, and Leo moaned his appreciation.

"Gods, I don't know how Frank continues to exist without being able to taste this deliciousness." Nico was glaring at him slightly, though he still looked surprised at Leo's sheer audacity.

"You stole my ice cream!" Nico almost sounded like the child that he was, and Leo laughed softly, but he joy was interrupted by a small cough.

He slowly spun on his heel to face Calypso, dropping the spoon back into Nico's bowl, ignoring the son of Hades' disgusted look.

"Um, Leo-"

"Look, Calypso-" They both started to speak at the same time, and both stopped as they realised that they were effectively just talking over each other.

Nico made a sound of exasperation.

"You two need to actually talk one at a time if you want to fix anything." Leo frowned at him.

"Thanks Nico, great advice, I hadn't thought of that." Nico glared back.

"You robbed some of my ice cream and then put the spoon back in the bowl. You deserve all of my sarcasm."

"Oh, come on dude, it's not like I'm diseased or anything!" Nico rolled his eyes and muttered something that was probably highly offensive and that Leo chose to ignore as he moved to face Calyspo again.

"Look, Calyspo, we really do need to talk." His girlfriend nodded mutely, before flicking her eyes towards Nico.

"Do you want to your room to discuss this?" To be perfectly honest, no. Leo much preferred having Nico around, the light banter between them helping to ease his nerves, but he understood that Calypso didn't really know Nico and that this conversation should really be private. Plus, Nico was making a shooing motion with his hands that had Leo rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me grab some ice cream and then we can go and talk." The brown haired beauty that was his girlfriend nodded, and Leo shuffled of to the kitchen in search of his frozen treat.

Nico's P.O.V

As soon as Leo had disappeared into the kitchen, Nico rounded on Calypso.

"Later you will tell me what you meant by Percy and his stupid hero complex." His voice was frostier than the ice cream on the table, and he felt a sliver of regret for the harsh order when Calypso shivered, the sadness in her eyes seeming to increase.

"Okay." Her voce was soft, directly contrasting the tone he had used, and Nico squirmed, not knowing whether or not he should apologise for using that particular tone of voice.

Nico was once again saved from a sensitive situation by Leo as the older boy walked through holding a bowl of chocolate ice cream, drenched in sauce and coated in toppings.

The son of Hephaestus walked to the door, before glancing over his shoulder.

"See you later Nico." He called before walking into the hallway, already beginning to devour the sugary mess in his bowl. Calypso shot him one last infinitely sorrowful glance before following her boyfriend.

Nico's head fell to the table with a soft thump, narrowly avoiding his ice cream bowl.

Thinking about Percy hurt his heart, and thinking of the son of Poseidon possibly being involved with Calypso worried him greatly.

After all, heroes only left Ogygia once Calypso had fallen in love with them. That meant that if Percy really had ended up on Calypso's island, then the Goddess had fallen in love with him. He wondered how Leo would feel if he knew about that.

Leo was insecure enough as it is, Nico just knew that the older demigod would doubt his relationship with Calypso if he found out that she had previously been in love with Percy.

Nico steadfastly tried to ignore the twinge of his own heart at even more proof of just how unobtainable his crush was. Even if Percy didn't have Annabeth (Nico internally snorted at that, like there would ever be a problem between the power couple, this thought turning bitter as Nico remembered where the two heroes currently where) plenty of other girls would be willing to date someone like Percy. And any of those girls would have more of a chance with Percy than Nico ever would.

Heart heavy, Nico remained motionless, head resting on the table as emotional exhaustion overtook him, stealing his awareness and leading him into the darkness of his own mind.

Nico awoke a couple of hours later to Leo's shining chocolate eyes gazing at him mirthfully.

"Enjoying your snooze there Mr Ghost King?" Nico jolted up at that, glancing around in a bit of a daze.

"How long was I asleep for?" He questioned his grinning friend.

"Well, I can't be sure as I was talking with Calypso in my room for a few hours so I don't know hen exactly you fell asleep, but judging by the amount of melted ice cream in that bowl, the lovely pattern on your face and the fact that you are in the same seat that I left you in, I'd say about four hours."

Leo's cheeky grin didn't erase the shock Nico felt at hearing this.

"Seriously?" Leo nodded, grin fading a little as he seemed to become aware of Nico's discomfort.

"You okay?" The tanned boy asked as he flopped into the chair next to Nico. Nico had a feeling that any attempt to lie wouldn't be received well right now considering all the bonding moments they'd been having lately, and decided to answer as honestly and plainly as he could.

"I feel like I haven't slept in days." Leo's face creased at this, smile fully dropping as a more thoughtful look took over.

"Stress does that, I guess." The older boy said after a few moments, and Nico nodded in agreement. He mentally tried to calculate what time it was. The demigods had had their meal around six, and the events after that had lasted no more than an hour, so if he'd been sleeping for four hours than it was probably around eleven.

He groaned, sitting up straighter and rubbing at his face, hoping that the mark from the table had faded away by now. That was then he remembered that Leo had mentioned talking to Calypso.

Nico snapped his head towards his friend, eyes scanning him for any hint of distress. When Leo only stared at him inquisitively, Nico also remembered the fact that Leo had been smiling when he woke Nico up.

"How did your talk with Calypso go?" Internally, Nico winced at this less than delicate phrasing , but Leo seemed to take no offence at his rather direct manner. In fact, the boys lips once again turned up, this time radiating pure joy rather than the mischief displayed earlier.

"We sorted everything out." The boy beamed, and Nico felt his own mouth twitching into a grin. This grin became a little forced when Nico recalled the fact that he would have to talk to Calypso at some point to clear up this whole Percy issue. He had a feeling that Calypso hadn't talked to Leo about it, because Nico didn't think that Leo would be so relaxed if he learnt that Calypso may have once been in love with Percy.

"That's great, Leo." Nico stood up then, eyebrow twitching as some of his joints cracked, protesting the fact that he had fallen asleep in a chair and leaning on table. Although Nico would have believed it to be impossible, Leo's grin actually seemed to grow more after that.

"Thanks, bro," the Latino then stood up as well, grabbing Nico's discarded ice cream before continuing, "though I may have to hold a grudge because of how much ice cream you've wasted."

Nico shrugged apologetically, even though the twinkle in Leo's eyes betrayed that the boy was teasing him.

"Come on, let's ditch this in the sink and then we both should probably head to bed." As they abandoned the dish to be dealt with later, Nico's mind flashed back to the situation of Percy and Annabeth, feeling awful as he remembered his earlier bitter thoughts when he knew that the two were literally in hell right now. That was if they weren't already... No! Nico cut himself of there. He would have known if either of those two had died, he would definitely never be able to miss feeling Percy's death.

Still, cold dread sank into his bones, and Nico found himself grasping Leo's sleeve just before they could part to head to their own rooms.

As they had traversed the ship's hallways, they'd remained relatively silent, not wanting to wake any of their friends and not actually needing to speak in order to enjoy each other's presence. But Nico needed to ask this question.

"Leo, do you think Percy and Annabeth are okay right now?" Regret flooded his system as Leo paled, eyes turning sad. Yet Leo perked up almost instantly after this.

"Of course they are! They are some of the most powerful, smart demigods in the world. They are definitely going to be okay, and as soon as we meet up with them they'll probably get offended that we ever doubted them." Nico smiled wanly at his friend's words.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Leo winked at him, and Nico smirked back.

"Don't get too cocky, me saying that your right isn't going to happen too often." Leo shook his head gleefully.

"Don't be jealous just because I'm awesome."

"Awesomely idiotic." Nico felt his smile becoming more genuine as he walked away, leaving Leo sputtering behind him.

"Night." He called back, laughing quietly as he heard Leo grudgingly reply with a "goodnight, death breath".

Leo's P.O.V

Leo's smile dropped as soon as Nico had walked away, and he laid his head on the wall, cushioned by the crook of his elbow.

Gods, he best be right about Percy and Annabeth.

So, I'll try to update a bit less sporadically, though I'll probably be updating more later on in June as I not only have my eighteenth birthday coming up, but I also have my A level exams. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that I'll be able to update this again soon.