Nico's phone had been taken away the night before, when his parents caught him talking on it at three A.M.

He hadn't been too mad about it in general (it happened before and never really lasted long), but he was still a teenager, and he still got mad at his parents no matter how little the situation was. After several eyerolls and snappy talk-backs, Hades and Persephone decided to extend the punishment for another day.

Which only fueled his teenage angst.

And it certainly didn't help when they allowed his sister to go out and have a sleepover with her friends, even though she was caught sneaking out of the house last week!

He lived in a monarchy where Bianca was its ruler.

The few nights when the Queen and her lapdogs decided to go out were always the nights when he was the loneliest, and when he felt like a loser since those nights were always the ones when he was not allowed out of the house.

He could never win.

His parents said goodbye, and his sister smiled at him as a substitute for words. Nico watched all three of them exit out the door, and grew extremely bitter when Bianca's red nails waved at him before the door shut with a tight bang.

It was extremely unfair.

Nico stomped on the stairs as he headed into his room for a three-hour sulk-fest. As he walked to the end of the hall, nearly breaching the door with 'Keep Away' and 'Danger Zone' stickers decorating it, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a door was opened slightly. The door belonged to his parents' room.

He was a good kid. He got decent grades for a person with dyslexia and ADHD, always stayed out of trouble at school, and was very obedient with his parents.

But really, you can't cut the rebellious streak that teenagers have.

The boy tiptoed into the room (though he had no need to, he was the only one home) and looked around. It wasn't unknown that this was the place where all of the things were hidden.

And there it was. His golden ticket. The answers to all of his problems. His savior for the night: his phone.

Nico rushed towards it, grasping the thing so carefully that you'd think it was a newborn baby. (In a way it was, actually, the model just came out.) He turned it on, and when the lock screen gave him light in the dark room, he lightly pressed each number to unlock it.

Him, his half-sister, and a good friend Leo greeted him when the phone loaded. He had cropped most of himself out of the picture because truthfully, he didn't care about himself. Those two mattered most to him.

He heaved a great sigh and walked into his own room, his footsteps the only things making noise as they echoed throughout the suburban castle. He laid down on his bed, going through his phone, looking for something to do. Suddenly, the phone began beeping and lagging and Nico was confused on what it was doing.

Exiting out of the game he was playing, he observed the screen and noticed that on the bottom right, right atop of his Messaging icon, that there were twenty-sevennew messages. And his phone had only been taken for a day. He pressed the icon, and wasn't surprised to see who the messages were from.

Hazel Levesque, 2:30 PM, Jan. 1st, 2014:
2:30: hey! missed u Jason's new years party. u oka?

He stared at the text, laughing quietly at the misspelled word. Oka. Hazel was still getting used to the idea of texting, since her mom thought that phones were bad for your brain (a long with television and ramen noodles), so these misspellings weren't uncommon.

His fingers danced on the phone and quickly replied, along with exiting out of that conversation.

1 down, 26 more messages to go.

He responded to fifteen more, most were multiple drunken New Year's texts from his friends and several emails from teachers about homework and what they were to do when the break returned. Blecch.

Nico didn't mind school, but it did grow tiresome, especially when everyone returned from the break and were yapping away at him about what they did or where they went, like he actually cared.

He wasn't a social person. He had his small group of friends, and that was good enough for him.

Another message popped up. And then another. Maybe seven more did until he opened the conversation and stared blankly at it.

Leo Valdez, 10:19, December 31st, 2013: 10:19: YOOOO NICO. 10:19: NICO. 10:20: NIICIO. 10:45: WHERE ARE U? 11:00: YOU'RE MISSING THE FUN.. MAN! PIPER BROUGHT BEER I THINK 11:34: NIC..OOMFG WHERE ARE YOU 11:40: WHY ARE NT YOU RESPONDING 11:43: I FEEL LIKE MY OTHER HALF HAS GONE MISSING I FEEL SO EMPTY 11:50: JASON LIVES LITERALLY ON THE OTHERSIDE OF YOU NEIGHRBORHOOD, COME ON! 11:56: i feel sick January 1st, 2014: 12:04: oH SHIT HAPPY NEW YEARS MAN

He continued to stare until it made his eyes hurt, and when he collected himself, he scrolled down to see the messages he received just moments before.

Leo Valdez, 7:05, January 2nd, 2014: 7:05: Hey! sorry for the spam last night, lol. 7:05: What's up?

Nico didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, just wanted to be by himself, but really, who can ignore Valdez? Literally. He's so persistent. But Nico didn't mind.

Nico di Angelo: I'm at home.

He got an instant reply.

Leo Valdez: ME TOO. I srsly think we have a twin thing Nico di Angelo: That's nice. Leo Valdez: What you doing? At home? Nico di Angelo: I'm talking to you. Leo Valdez: Just me? I feel so special. Nico di Angelo: Okay. Leo Valdez: Is your sister home? Tell her I said hi ;D Nico di Angelo: No, and gross. That's my sister. Leo Valdez: ? Are you home by yourself ? Leo Valdez: & dude whatever

Nico rolled his eyes and closed out the conversation. Sometimes he couldn't deal with Leo, and right now was one of those times.

He turned his phone off for a little bit, and headed downstairs, turning on lights as it was starting to get dark outside. He turned the TV on too, and flopped on the couch, watching reruns of old shows from the 40s. (For some reason, those appealed most to him, even though they were as old as his grandma.)

Soon falling asleep to the sound of The Aldrich Family, a loud knock on the door interrupted him. He shot up from his position, and looked around, dazed. He ran to the door to see who it was.

Looking through the peephole, all his saw was a mane of curly brown hair. He let out a groan, hopefully one loud enough so that the butthead on the other side would hear him.

Nico unlocked the door and opened it, staring dryly at Leo.

"Hey!" He was greeted with a smile and a bag of spicy Doritos.

Leo let himself in, already opening the chips and stuffing them in his mouth, careful not to get any on the carpet (he knew how much of a stickler Miss Persephone was about cleanliness).

Grumpy from his almost nap and from being like that normally, Nico shut the door. "What do you want?"

"Why do I have to want something?!"

"You always do."

Leo simply shrugged and made his way to the couch. "I was bored at home. You sounded bored at home. I'm here to be less-bored."

"You can't be here."

"What time are your parents coming home?" He licked the flavor off of his fingers.

"Eleven or twelve."

"Bianca?"

"She's at a sleepover."

Leo looked at him, dumbfounded. "UH, dude, it's only like 8:00. We have enough time to hang."

Nico didn't say anything else, he knew he wouldn't win this one. Instead he just joined his friend on the couch and watched him change the channel to something no one had interest in but Leo.

The time passed and it soon got late. Leo was on his last bag of Doritos and was shoving the whole bag onto his face, getting dust and crumbs all over himself.

"You're making a huge mess."

"I know." He pulled the bag from his face, shaking the crumbs out of his hair and they both watched them fall onto the couch. Nico rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen. "You need to clean yourself up." He brought back with him a napkin, and started to pick up the mess off of the floor.

"Yo, Nico, I got this. Don't break your back, grandpa." Nico's eyes rolled again as his started to get up. Leo was alsotrying to get up at the same time he was, and when they both began to stand, they collided into one another, sending both to the floor.

Nico grumbled and turned to face Leo, only he didn't have to. Leo had landed atop of Nico, and he could smell the Doritos like they were all he was able to smell.

Leo appeared frozen, his eyes looking into Nico's. "Jesus Christ, Leo, get a grip…" Leo either didn't hear him, or did and chose to ignore him. Nine times out of ten it was the latter.

After a good minute, Leo snapped out of his daze. "Oh, sorry, man." He got up and rolled back onto the couch. "Sorry."

Nico continued to pick up crumbs. "It's fine. Are you.. alright?"

"Oh yeah, fine."

"You sure?"

"Yup."

After the mess was cleaned, Nico returned to the kitchen to grab more napkins to resume picking up the living mess.

His napkin clenched between his fingers, and he sat back down in his spot. He started to pick up crumbs from Leo's curls. "I told you not to worry. I got this."

"Okay?"

"So there's no need to clean me up, baby."

What? Nico stopped momentarily. "Baby?"

Leo laughed and glanced at Nico. "I saidlike a baby. Not baby. Did you put your hearing aid in?"

Nico shook his head and stopped cleaning. Fine. he picked up each crumb from his napkin and started placing them back into Leo's hair. "Have it your way," he said.

He took his precious time cleaning the crumbs out of his hair, and when he was finished, he started rubbing his nose, claiming it itched. "It probably itches because you put Doritos dust all over it."

"Shut up."

He swiped his index finger along his nose and then began wiping it all over Nico's face, the dust almost blending in with the boy's olive skin tone. Nico didn't react, only sighed a loud, annoying, and obnoxious sigh before turning to face his friend. "That was unnecessary. Completely unnecessary."

"No, actually, it was. You're just no fun."

Nico looked straight into Leo's eyes, and reached his hand up, bring it to Leo's temples. Slowly, he connected his middle finger to his thumb and brought it forward, thumping is friend.

He didn't react, but simply just stared. "You thumped me."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

He didn't answer his question, but said, "What are you gonna do about it?"

And Leo scoffed and thumped him right back.

The two boys continued thumping each other in the forehead and face until their fingers started to cramp up. "Alright!" Nico stood up, hands in the air, "I give up. You win."

Leo stood up with him, stretching and glancing at his watch. "Wow. And it's only ten."

"What's your point?"

"We have two hours to go."

"Okay."

Nico and Leo stood face to face now, Nico with his arms crossed and Leo rocking back and forth on his feet. "SO. What do we do —"

He was interrupted by a Nico whom had furrowed brows and a concentrated look on his face. "Hold on, you have…..," he stood on his tiptoes to reach Leo's face, "a little bit..," his index finger being brought up quickly to his friend's nose, "of Doritos on your nose."

As he began to brush it away, Leo started to lose his balance. Not because of gravity or anything, and Nico wasn't that strong, but because his stomach began to twist and turn at the intimacy between the two, even if it was harmless and platonic. In fact, it seemed to him that since he met the boy, that'd been happening.

Leo tried to regain his balance, but he tripped over his own two feet and toppled into Nico, and he felt something, on his face, moist and had a nacho-ey flavor to it. And then, he felt the something tense and loosen up at the same time, like it was unsure of what it was doing.

His eyes being closed at the time, he had no clue what he was doing or what he was feeling. They opened no later than five seconds, and when they did, they were welcomed with wide brown eyes.

Nico pulled away immediately, as soon as he registered what was happening. He still remained relatively close to Leo, and the tip of their noses barely touched. He swallowed air, and the knot that was in the pit of his stomach loosened and tightened back up every second that passed by.

"Uh —"

He didn't have time to say anything else. Leo's lips were back on his and he felt callused hands on the back of his neck, thumbs comfortably resting under his ears. He responded right away, surprising even himself by kissing back. Nico had never kissed anyone before, and he didn't know what to do except mimic the moves that were done to him.

His stomach felt like it was exploding, and he found that his own hands were placed on Leo's hip bones, pulling the older boy closer until they were one whole person.

They stopped for breath maybe once, or twice, and somehow they landed on the couch, with Leo sitting in an upright position against the arm of the couch and Nico sitting in his lap.

Due to neither one having much experience in this department, the kisses were sloppy and all over the place, but they didn't care. They were enjoying it and that was all that mattered.

Nico started to unbutton Leo's shirt, running his hands over his chest and when it was completely open, Leo shrugged it off, leaving his torso exposed.

And that was when they heard the garage door open.

His parents had come home early.

The shot up and scrambled off of the couch, standing up and listening for anymore sounds. The click of Persephone's heels were audible and they could hear them coming closer.

"Shit," Leo murmured, looking around for his shirt. Picking it up from behind the couch, he shrugged it on and tried to button it up, but his fingers fumbled and couldn't find the strength.

"Go through the back do—" Nico tried to tell him, but it was too late. His step-mom entered the living room and abruptly dropped her keys, mouth agape and eyes switching back and forth between the two boys.

Leo struggled to get words out, but he couldn't find any. He just turned to the front door, and opened it with a quick wrist, only to be met by the scariest man he had known since he was a kid.

Nico's father's glare was confused as he watched the young boy shrink in the sight of him. Hades craned his neck into his home and saw a disheveled Nico and a surprised Persephone.

Then it all clicked.

When it all clicked, Leo saw it in his eyes, and squeaked a high "goodbye, sir!" and took off, running across their lawn and into the road.

Soon after he could hear the patter of dressy shoes and the billow of a long coat in the wind behind him.

a/n: hi! i really hope you enjoy the fic, it took me a while. the story is marked as 'in progress' bc i have like maybe two more to write with this cheesy plot :]] you can reach my at my tumblr [ .com] if you have any questions. :]