A/n: Originally done for a Leico contest. I decided to finish this. So, here you go. This is set post-Blood of Olympus. It is obviously an AU. How many (implied, unrequited, or otherwise) pairings can you spot? If you can spot them all, I'll be willing to write something for you.

Disclaimer: Zeus has forbidden me from owning Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus.

Warning: Major character death and mutilation.

There's the heavy drizzle of rain as it pattered around the battlefield, drenching the people in a steady stream of rain. Leo would have sworn up and down that he'd prefer to feel fire rather than the rain, but that certainly hadn't seemed like a good idea anymore. He scuffs the tip of his shoe in the mud, streaking it up along the sides without really noticing. He tightens his hands into fists. Once. Twice. He can still feel the unnatural heat radiating that pooled into his palms, the cool whispering fires disappearing from his hands altogether. His breathing is shallow, cool and raspy breaths as he tried to calm himself.

The war is over. They've fought and beat Gaea's army - for a price. Leo brushes his dark and damp hair out of his face so that he can see, rain splashing down the side of his face. At least, that's what he'd tell people if they asked. His shirt is soaked, along his waist, soaked enough for him to shiver and wince at the same time. He cups his side, feeling the blood pool into his palms messily. The adrenaline is pouring out of him in rivets of red and crimson, the color of life and quite quickly, he knows that he's going to die if he doesn't get help soon.

He staggers, tripping over limp bodies and crashing down. Leo reaches out, trying to stop himself from falling completely onto the bodies but his scrapped palms give way and then he finds himself too tired to stand up properly. He sags onto them like a rag doll, breathing in the coppery scent of blood and sweat, and then he finds himself crying.

It's Jason who pulls him up and away from the bodies. Leo doesn't even flinch when he feels the slight snap of electricity race through him, even though it leaves his hair on end - literally - and makes him weak in the knees. Leo wants to throw up because Jason only has one arm, the muscles visible through the stub as he's straining to dragging the son of Hephaestus behind him towards where the straggling survivors are.

Leo wants to scream, he wants to scream so loudly and throw up and cry because it's over, but they're all dead. He can see it in the way they look at him as he's dragged by Jason towards the medical area. He wants to feel lucky, he really does, because it looks like he's the one who took the least amount of damage. He wants to feel lucky, but he doesn't, because maybe missing limbs or death would be easier than this. Jason's good arm grips Leo's bicep tightly and then Leo snaps, a sharp and unwanted feeling bubbling up in his chest and he's laughing hysterically. He'd probably be looked at weirdly if most of the people there had working eyes, that is. Jason peels back his hand and slaps Leo loudly, the sudden force making Leo rock back on his heels and fall back, and stare up blinking at the son of Saturn. Jason doesn't look sorry.

"We have no time for your hysterics, Leo," Jason says, using his hand to clasp onto his shoulder stump, the loud slap of a hand again and blood splattering sounded and for a moment, Leo respects that the blonde doesn't cry out - it certainly looks like it hurts. It sends Leo off again and it takes all of Jason's self-restrain to not murder the elf-eared boy with his bare hands - hand, he corrects himself - right then and there. Jason leans down and roughly grabs Leo by the front of his soot-seared shirt and begins to drag him again, half-dragging and half-shoving him along. "Leo, please," Jason's voice is strained and tight, which makes Leo shut up and follow politely behind the other demigod like a obedient dog. Leo doesn't bother to grip his wound and sob to himself about the gaping hole anymore.

The Roman draws back a curtain flap and motions with a quick nod of his head for Leo to go inside. He doesn't like what he sees. He wants to throw up and cry all over again, because it reeks of death and despair and everybody's either dying or dead in here. The few Hermes demigods that are still alive don't spare Leo a glance and instead wrap bandages around the wounds and limbs that could be salvaged. Leo notices distantly a red-clothed demigod begin to saw off a limb because it's charred and burnt and unable to be used.

He almost misses it when Jason walks past him to a body that's coated with a sheet that's stained with blood. Leo doesn't want to know who it is.

He isn't sure what catches his attention - a rustle of sheets, the fixing of a wrap - but it catches his eye. He swivels on his heel slightly, glancing around the tent and noticing a figure in the corner that's watching him. The son of Hephaestus couldn't deny that his heart sped up in selfish joy when he saw the Ghost King.

"You're alive," Leo sobs out, clenching his soaked palms into fists before uncurling them, an unsettled spark racing through his open hands. His chest is clenched and tight and maybe it's wrong, but he's undeniably happy. "You're alive. Gods be good, you really are - ... h-how?" He doesn't notice it when he moves over towards the son of Hades, but he's there in a matter of hurried strides. He's hugging Nico so quickly that the other boy didn't have time to react except for a guttural groan of protest. He isn't sure that he knows how to react. Reyna and Nico are supposed to be dead - they all watched them be speared like kabobs for Gaea's blood sacrifice. Then all hell broke loose - literally.

Leo's still hugging Nico tightly when he hears a muffled murmur come from the young King.

Something causes Leo to stiffen, because he knows there's more to the story than that. He draws back from the hug, actually stopping and staring at the young King. The boy is wrapped heavily in bandages that most of which is already soaked in blood. Leo stares, and Nico shuffles, his dark locks of hair spilling across his brow and over his visible eye. The other half of his face - no, wait, head - is wrapped heavily in bandages, covering his mouth and his nose as well, barely enough room visible. The small of his waist is wrapped heavily as well. He isn't wearing a shirt. Leo's eyes snap up to Nico's face, when he notices the bandages move slightly where Nico's mouth is. Leo raises his hands to remove it when Nico catches them, the look in his dark brooding eyes causing dread to flutter in the fire-wielding demigod's heart.

"Nico?" the demigod only responds by tilting his head but Nico doesn't meet his gaze. That's when Leo knew that something was utterly and horribly wrong.

Nico doesn't answer him.

He doesn't answer him for a long time.

"They were good warriors," Annabeth is saying. Leo isn't paying attention to her, his gaze unfocused as he stares blankly ahead at the pyres, "but above all, they were great friends. They wielded blades like they handled situations; you could count on all of them." Her grip is tight on the torch, he notices. He only counts three fingers and a thumb on that hang. The fire was reflecting in her dark eyes, "They fought until the very end - not for themselves. But for us. May the Gods preserve them and grant them peace."

She leans forwards with robotic moves and torches them. The fires reach high into the sky, mounting towards the clouds. Zeus casts dark clouds to blott out the sun for them, but it doesn't rain. Leo watches Annabeth, watching her sharp features soften and her eyes darken despite the pale lashes that gently pat against her cheeks like butterfly kisses. Her skin is washed out and pale, even more so than Nico's. There's a fresh scar slicing through one of her eyebrows, just barely scraping her eyelid and instead curving up onto her forehead and through the tips of her hairline. It's thin enough that it didn't need a bandage; only a thin paste that coats it like glue. Her pale and cold eyes don't leave the fires for a long time, not until she notices Leo looking in her direction. She lifts her chin, a defiant expression crossing her face briefly. Leo feels Nico move from beside him, and Hephaestus' son realizes that Annabeth was staring at Nico, rather than at Leo.

The dark-haired boy glances over at the Ghost King, watching his expression morph from beneath the bandages, but it's too dark to tell what he was really feeling; he hadn't been the best at keeping his emotions inside, as Leo's noticed. "It's okay, Nico," the fire-wielder tries to say soothingly, because something dark and gloomy crosses in the younger's eyes that's bothers the older. He grabs onto Nico's hand and the young boy doesn't protest. (He never protests anymore, Leo has noticed.) Leo twines his fingers with the other's and finds Nico staring at it as if he's never heard of such a thing happening. Leo doesn't let go of Nico's hand.

But the next time he looks at the younger's face, he notices how damp Nico's face bandages are. He knows it's not from blood or rain, but he makes no comment about it. He only holds Nico's hand all the tighter after that.

"Are you going to leave again?" Leo asks Nico one day. It's only a few days after the funeral pyres were lit; Nico was staring at the mess ad the ashes that blew everywhere around camp. They had been burned at camp, the amount of campers dwindling down to only a quarter of what they were before. Even the Romans were there. Nico doesn't move his gaze from the pits until Leo swings an arm around his shoulders and hugs the boy on one side. When Nico doesn't react, Leo propels his arm to swing the Ghost King around so that he's facing him. The bandages had only been removed by one of the sons of Hermes, but Leo wasn't around for any of that. He doesn't know what Nico looks like beneath the bandages, but he isn't about to pressure the poor boy. Nico doesn't say anything.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Leo prompts, frowning slightly in surprise, his eyebrows arching up in surprise, his scarred palms resting gently on the younger's shoulder. Nico says nothing and Leo lets it go.

Leo woke up in the middle of the night four days later, walking into the trees to take a whiz and is walking back when he hears voices coming from within the medical tent. The bodies had been cleared out, but the others who suffer from severe and minor wounds are still inside. He recognizes the voice as Jamie's, one of the older Hermes demigods. Leo pauses, brushing aside the flap a bit to watch the two darker haired boys inside the tent. Nico's back is to him, but he could tell by the posture and the folded bomber's jacket nearby that it's his. Jamie is patting something on Nico's face, and the younger doesn't so much as clinch at the visibly wet cloth.

"You need to clean this out," Leo hears Jamie scold, his pale honey-brown eyes shining brightly by the dying fire nearby. He could see that the boy - who was more or less Leo's age - had been scarred as well, fresh wrappings wound around his wrists and hands and across the bridge of his nose. Leo notices how misshaped Jamie's nose is beneath the folds and he cringes in surprise; he decides it's probably broken. Of course, Jamie would snark about other's well being when his own nose was broken. "It'd probably be easier if you had somebody else to do it for you," he continues when he finishes wrapping up Nico's face.

Nico only shrugs and turns to grab his bomber jacket and by then Leo has left. (Leo doesn't know it, but Nico saw him.)

The Hephaestus cabin was burned down during the war, but Leo could salvage a few of his tools before he turns to Nico, who's trailing after him like a puppy. The shadows hang off of him in strips, peeling away and sewing themselves back on him but he doesn't leave. Leo smiles at him and gently takes Nico's hand and they start to head towards the Hades' cabin. It's the only cabin that's still standing without a cave in. He suspects that some people are talking about that, coming to bad conclusions. But the demigod tries not to listen; he's only worried for Nico.

He tries not to pay attention to how cold Nico's hand is in his own.

He helps Nico collect his things (which isn't much) and throws them in the bag where some of his own clothes were. "Is there anything else you wa-...?" -want to take with you? He's about to ask, but he turns around from Nico's drawer and sees the young boy fingering a snowglobe gently. The object inside is of two poorly made wolves, the snow moving around inside as the young boy picks it up. We are stronger together than we are alone. It says along the plain base of the globe, but it's scrawled in sharpie, but Leo could tell that it was rubbing off from over the years. Toss it out, a part of him wants to tell Nico. Keep it. Says another. "You could take that with us, if you want." He adds after a moment, frowning slightly. Nico turns his head ever so slightly to stare at the other demigod, before something flits across his eyes in a moment before something beneath Nico's face wrap moves and for a moment, Leo could have sworn the other was smiling.

Neither of them so much as flinched when their fingers brushed when Nico passes the globe to Leo and their finger brush. Leo lets a smile slip when Nico turns his back, and opens his bedside drawer and pulls out a hunk of misshapen sapphire and slips it into his bombers jacket, and pulls out a necklace with a dog tag named simply as Bianca. Leo can only watch when Nico slips on another name tag that reads as Hazel before he slips it around his neck, along with his Camp HalfBlood necklace.

Nico turns around and grabs onto Leo's wrist, half-dragging half-pulling the other boy out of the door. The shadows are bleeding heavily in the cabin, but Leo tries not to notice. Nico doesn't stop walking but is still dragging the son of Hephaestus with him, his sneakers annoyingly bright despite his dark attire, one shoe a different color than the other. Leo is watching the other move his feet, noticing the bright annoying toxic green and the orange pumpkin from Halloween half-covered by the other's skinny jeans that loosen around the hems of his pants. The pants a bit big on Nico, he notices, because the other has to roll up the hems of them so that the backs don't drag into the mud. Leo watches to see which foot Nico steps with. Orange. Green. Orange. Green. Orange. Green. Orange. Green. Wow, Nico's got tiny feet. Orange. Green. Orange. Green. Hop. Orange...

"I think," Leo finds himself saying the words before he even thinks them. No, no, what are you doing, stop. You're going to mess things up. "Maybe we should stay with Jason and Piper." Nico's feet stop, his orange shoe lifted off the ground and in one fluid movement, he sets the foot down and swivels on his heels, pivoting as if he were a baseball player. Leo blinks in surprise at the sudden motion and reels back, his heels digging in the mud. Leo could feel the wet and gross paste seeping into his wrecked shoes, soaking his socks but he doesn't bother stepping away from the mud. Leo's ADHD kicks in when he notices a sparrow fly over towards the lake, which is closer than Leo originally thought.

Nico pats his own chest, just below the dangling names on his necklace, drawing Leo's attention. Leo quirks up an eyebrow. "Your ... heart." Nico rolls his visible eye and puts his index and middle finger together and makes it represent a gun and pretends to shoot himself in the face. Leo snickers at that.

Nico tries again, pointing to himself after pretending to be dead for at least ten seconds. "You," Leo says, not quite sure what Nico's getting at. Nico nods before pointing to his knee. "...knee..." Nico nods, then pauses, then shakes his head and puts his hands in front of him and slowly spreads them farther apart. "...kneeeeeee.." Leo tries again. Nico smacks his own head and in winces in pain, causing Leo to lurch forward in surprise. Nico quickly makes a motion that looks like he's fondling the air, causing the tips of Leo's ears to flush. Nico then pretends to roll something out and tosses it into the air just like a - "-pizza! ... Were you kneading the dough?" Nico nods and Leo pats himself on the back for a job well done. He barely catches Nico flipping up two fingers in the peace symbol. "Two." Nico taps his temple. "Brain! ... Thought?" Nico pauses, then shrugs. Then does something with his hands like looks like he's mushing everything together.

"You ..." Leo pauses, running through in his head what Nico had been doing. "You need to think." He says matter-of-factly and Nico nods after giving a eyeroll. "Well, why didn't you say so?" Nico stares at Leo before the auburn-haired boy skuffs his shoe in the mud and glances away. "..Er, right. Sorry. Why are we at the lake then?" Then, he answers his own question, "The lake helps you think? Why?" Nico only shrugs and points at the shore, where the water laps at the sand. Leo stares, not quite sure he understands.

But Nico is already moving, and he sits down, and Leo sits down next to him. They sit there, just listening to the other breathe and the gentle sounds of the ocean while Nico looks out across the lake. They sit like that for a good fifteen minutes before Nico nods, and Leo glances in confusion at the other boy. "What?" Nico digs his finger in the sand and begins to write,

I will go with - the water washed it away and he begins again - I will g - the water washes it away again and Nico breathes heavily through his nose in a huff before he continues - with you to - the water again - Jason's and Piper's.

Leo smiles and gets up, swinging their bag across his shoulder and holding out a hand to Nico to get. "Let's go then," he says, his voice gentler and smaller, as if he's speaking to china glass that could shatter at any sound. Leo can't help but notice how perfectly their hands fit together.

The noise of the subway outside of their windows is near deafening, but Leo can still hear the clang of pots and pans from within the kitchen. Jason is leaning against Leo, his blue eyes vacant as he stares up at the ceiling in disinterest. "Has Nico talked to you, yet?" he asks, not moving his eyes from the pale pastel ceiling. The silence is the only answer he needs. He tilts his head slightly to stare at Leo before sighing and shaking his head. Jason doesn't pressure Nico, Leo notices. (The way they act around each other .. it's like they both know a secret.)

(Leo isn't sure that he wants to know.)

Leo is staring at the stove with an unimpressed expression when Piper walks in.

"What has it done to you?" she asks, furrowing her dark eyebrows and frowning. She's leaning on a couple crutches and for a moment, Leo raises his eyes to her. (He can't help but notice how much taller she is than him, even if it's only by an inch or two.) Just below her knee is completely scarred tissue to the point of immobility; there's a loose wrapping around the wound, starting from just below where her shorts ends. (Leo knows it's unlikely that it'll heal.)

Leo shrugs before saying, "I ... I'm not very good at working the stove." Unwanted memories of fire surfaces before he shudders and looks away when he notices Piper's pitying look.

"It's okay," she says, shifting one of her crutches to the other side to put her hand on Leo's shoulder. "Nico could probably make spaghetti for us."

"Yeah," is all that Leo says, even though he doubts that Nico would be willing to do such a thing.

(Leo's right, but only because they couldn't find Nico.)

Leo,

I got these parts for you. Jason and Piper would probably want working limbs again. I know you can do it.

I'll be gone for a while. Don't bother looking for me,

Nico

Leo digs the screwdriver into the plated metal with great expertise, twisting and turning it until the metals become bolted tight. The flexes them and make sure that they resembled human limbs before leaning back and admiring his work, oil-greased hands smoothing down the folds of his jeans, the ridges in his scarred palms sending brief flashes of unease through him before it's gone.

(Leo has to admit that Nico chose good pieces.)

They had to call a Hermes demigod to sever Piper's leg off. (It was as messy as it sounded.) Leo had been asked to use his powers to seal the wound shut so that way it was scabbed over and healed properly. (Leo couldn't do it; he couldn't stand using his powers ever since ...)

After all is said and done, Leo places the limbs onto Piper and Jason and they smile at him like the gods sent him to them. (Leo doesn't think so.)

(There were no problems with the replacement limbs for a long time.)

"Leo, did you pay the bills?" Jason is standing in the doorway, and had tosses a wrench at Leo to get his attention.

"What?" Leo scrunches his face in confusion, chewing on the inside of his cheek in frustration and in confusion.

"...We got a notice from the apartment complex manager saying that we're two months late."

"Oh.. No, I paid for it last month; I put the money on the counter."

Jason looks unphased for a moment before turning on his heel and hollering loudly, "Piper! I told you shouldn't have touched that money!"

A few days later, they get another notice of eviction - pay up or get out. They've just started to pack when they get another letter, saying that the money was payed in advance for the next three months. When asked, the manager only looked at them as if they were idiots and stated that, "Obviously, it was your roommate. No, not you. That shady looking one - yeah, the short and moody one. Insisted on paying it himself, said he was paying you back. Wouldn't let me look at his face, though. Odd little fellow."

(It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Nico had paid the bills.)

Leo is chewing the inside of his cheek when he hears the door open. (It's becoming a bad habit of his, to the point of it actually bleeding and the assistance of a Hermes demigod being required.)

He leaps to his feet but it's only Jason.

(Leo tries not to be too disappointed, but if his just newly torn open cheek has to say anything about it, then he's definitely worried and disappointed.)

Leo is walking through the rain. (He almost makes a joke about how most of the dramatic scenarios happen when it's raining.) The water is seeping into his shoes, his bright yellow rain jacket doing little to repel the water. His lemonade pink umbrella helps more, though, so he grips it in his hand and splashes in the water unintentionally. A low rumble sounded before a car sped past, splashing Leo from head to toe. Blinking through the water he shakes his head quickly, trying to fling his hair out of his face to no avail. He kicks at a rock and when he steps back down, it squelches with a dissatisfying noise. Leo grimaces when the water soaks his sock inside his shoe. He pushes open the gate, and steps inside.

He stops short when he notices the lone figure in front of the tomb. Leo's pace quickens and he continues to hurry along, a loud cry rising in his throat. He swings the person around and begins to say, "Nic-" when he notices it's Annabeth.

"Hey, Leo," she says, her voice quiet and her gaze dark and clouded. Leo's arm drops as if he was suddenly stung. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Jason said that I could find-" he stops short and swallows the disappointment back. "... he told me to come here." He continues, "Maybe it was a mistake."

Annabeth smiles bitterly and replies, "It's okay. I know who you're looking for." She turns to the tombstone, and shakes her head slowly. "He's at my place, actually." She makes a noise that sounds somewhere between a choke and a sob and a hysterical laugh, "He's been there for a while, actually."

"Why?"

She turns to him for a moment and says quietly, "To talk about Percy." Then she turns again and kneels, setting the necklace of shells and pearls down on Percy's grave and they don't talk again for a while.

Leo,

I know what you did.

Go away,

Nico

Leo rapt his knuckles on Annabeth's door and it swings open quickly, and there stands Nico. Leo is hugging the son of Hades too quickly for the other demigod to shadowtravel out of there.

He doesn't let go for a long while.

(He doesn't ever want to.)

(He doesn't know why.)

Dear Nico,

Please stop avoiding me. I know you're entering the house and leaving again when I'm there. Please talk to me.

From Leo

Leo,

No.

Nico

Dear Nico,

Please talk to me. Piper's worried. Jason's worried. I'm worried. Don't make me start this house on fire.

From Leo

Leo,

Stop writing me notes.

Nico

Dear Nico,

It's the only way to get you to respond. Don't make me get Annabeth over here.

From Leo

Leo,

You are an asshole.

Nico

Dear Nico,

I'm getting Annabeth tomorrow if you don't start talking. Please, Nico, we're all worried and I haven't properly thanked you for those mechanic parts yet. Maybe you'd like something in return?

From Leo

Leo,

Leave Chase out of this. You just thanked me. Besides, you can't get what I want.

Nico

Dear Nico,

Well, it seems to have gotten you talking! (The threat about Annabeth, not the other thing.) Why do you call her Chase, anyways? And no! I have definitely not thanked you yet! I want to do it face-to-face. Oh, I'm sure that I could get whatever you want! No matter what, I'll help you get it.

From Leo

Leo,

Her name is Annabeth Chase, stupid. She doesn't have a problem with it. Yes, you've already thanked me. Now shut up. You really are intent on paying me back, aren't you?

Nico

Dear Nico,

Oh. I knew that! And don't call me stupid. :( Fine. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou. :) Yes, of course! Now, what do you want?

From Leo

Leo,

I want you to bring Percy back.

Nico

They don't send each other notes for a week after that. (Leo says it's because he didn't know a suitable response. But maybe it had something to do with the painful pounding in his chest..)

Dear Nico,

I'm sorry.

From Leo

Leo,

I know.

Nico

Leo begins to sketch aimlessly, one night, after their note exchange gradually begins to end. (He won't admit that he actually enjoyed the non-spoken conversation.) His hand is smoothing along the paper that is free of creases, the pale lighting in his room providing enough light for him to see by. The notes are usually kept in his design book, and right now they're strewn across his desk along with his sketches. (He can't explain why he kept them.) Leo gets up and turns, walking out of the room to grab a scrap of metal he left outside. He walks back inside and stops dead in his tracks, his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline when he notices Nico standing there, shadows shortening and lengthening around him. Nico hasn't noticed Leo yet. The demigod can't help but notice how scary (beautiful) Nico looks in the dim lighting.

Hades' son is leafing through their notes, and Leo finds himself smiling because (Nico's mouth is twitching and Leo almost swears that he sees a smile) this could be his chance to startle the son of Hades like the other had done countless times. But Leo finds himself rooted to the spot, unable to tear his gaze from Nico. The younger demigod pats his own chest and his eyebrow twitches again, which is a signal that he's trying to hide back a smile. (It's almost cute.) Nico sets downs the papers and shadow travels out of there.

(Leo swears that he didn't remain standing there for a good ten minutes, imagining Nico happy.)

Leo,

I have a favor I need of you,

Nico

Dear Nico,

What is it? :)

From Leo

Leo,

I need to get something from Chase's,

Nico

Dear Nico,

You mean Annabeth's? Yeah, sure, see you on the 26th at 8?

From Leo

Leo,

(It's scratched out but legible.) You don't know how much thi

I really apprecia

I never got to thank yo (It seems like Nico has given up on scratching the words out and instead writes,)

That's fine. I'll see you then,

Nico

Nico had insisted on going into the house alone, without Leo, but after five minutes of the younger (older?) demigod being in Annabeth's apartment, the fire-wielding demigod heads inside.

He stops outside a partially closed door, a sliver of light just visible along the floorboards. He can catch parts of what they say. (Or rather, what Annabeth is saying and what Nico isn't.)

"No, don't worry about it. It's nice to - ... to - ... to really find someone who would appreciate it. His mother didn't ... didn't exactly want it. She insisted for me to have it. It's better if you take it, though."

Leo can see Nico through the crack in the door. He looks small and pained, almost causing Leo to barge into the room and wrap up the small boy. He sees Nico take something from Annabeth.

Leo hears footsteps and he begins to back up, so that he could bolt for the door and pretend he hadn't been inside or to pretend that he's just walked in. But Annabeth's words stops both Leo and Nico.

"You really loved him, didn't you?" Her voice sounds broken and yet it sounds more sure than ever before. "Don't try to deny it, I know." There's a soft intake of breath from Nico's side and Leo bites his lip.

"He loved you too - in the same way that you loved him." Leo furrows his brow in confusion, not quite sure if he's understanding anything anymore. "He was going to ... I knew he did, Nico. He didn't think you loved him back, he didnt know. But it's always your name that he says in his sleep - not mine. He loved you in a way that he didn't love me. I think, that if he knew, he would have ran after you instead."

There's a soft sound, so gentle and so sad that it doesn't take Leo long to figure out that Nico's crying. But amongst it, the mute boy tries to laugh. Somehow, he must have said something because Annabeth looks at Nico with a wet face.

"I know," Annabeth agrees. "But Percy was always our seaweed brain."

Then something clicks in Leo's head and he stumbles back. The first thought that comes to his head is (how is he supposed to compete with Percy?) of the shock of Nico and Percy's not quite unrequited relationship and then of (oh gods...) how much pain Nico (and Annabeth) are going through. How are they going to move on after that?

(Leo's chest hurts.)

(It hurts alot and his cheeks are wet.)

(Is he crying?)

(He must be.)

(Leo pushes away the truth, not quite able to face it just yet.)

Leo rushes towards the door quicker than Hermes with his winged shoes when he (thinks he) hears Annabeth and Nico's shoes heading towards the door.

They walk home in silence. Leo tries not to point out that Nico's visible eye is red-tinted from tears.

Leo collapses into Jason when Nico disappears when they arrive home. He's gripping Jason tightly and Jason doesn't even blink. "Oh, Leo," Jason sighs, reacting after a moment to hesitantly hug the shorter boy.

"I love him," is all Leo says, and Jason shushes him.

"I know, Leo, I know."

Leo hangs out with Jason long after he stops crying.

They never talk about it after that.

It's almost two months later when Jason approaches Leo, who has started to coop himself up in his room. "You know," he says, "there are people who care about you."

Leo doesn't look up at him.

"There are people who love you," Jason tries again. Leo doesn't realize just what exactly Jason means until he leaves. He glances up in surprise, his eyes hollowed and full of realization, but Jason is already gone.

Dear Nico,

I need to ask you something.

From Leo

Nico stands in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, his eyes weary and tired as he watches Leo. The brunette hastily tries to leap out of bed, his mechanical book tossed to the side.

Nico almost looks amused before his face slips back into the nuetral expression. He tilts his head, confusion written in his eyes when Leo explains.

"I want to see what you look like without the bandages," Leo says, uncertainly.

Nico's eye widens and he fingers the half masked portion of his face before he steps back and shadowtravels out of there. Leo doesn't see Nico for a month after that.

There's a gentle tap to Leo's shoulder and he turns, his eyes wide and his shoulders tense before a smile split his face. "Nico," he sighs in relief, but before he can say anything more Nico grabs onto Leo's hand and brings it up to the side of his face, hoping that Leo got it.

"W-What?"

Nico's eye flashes for a moment before he frowns and shadow teleports a notebook there. He scribbles down,

You wanted to see my face.

Leo wants to stop Nico but curiosity gets the better of him. When the bandages fall away, Nico's face is so deformed that Leo can't stare at him for too long. When he looks back, he can see that Nico is disappointed (and oh, so horribly scarred).

Nico looks like he's been through hell and back. (In a way, he has.)

Half of Nico's face is scarred over deeply, the marks dug deep in the sides of his face, he's missing an eye and looks almost exactly like the Phantom of the Opera. (Leo is afraid that it was him who caused it. Heat, pain, the smell of burnt flesh ... what had he done?) (Leo doesn't ask and Nico doesn't tell him. Leo already knows it's his fault.)

Leo glances over at Nico but instead does the first thing he can think of to comfort him and (it's wrong, oh so wrong) kisses him.

Nico tenses up but doesn't move, doesn't object, doesn't shove him away. There's a horrible confusion in his eye, but other emotions to.

"You're still beautiful to me," Leo chokes out, because it's the sensible thing to do.

For first time in a long time, Nico smiles.

It feels like some sort of mutual, unspoken agreement that they must spend every moment together. They never left the other's side for the most part. Jason and Piper seemed to notice but they said nothing.

Leo,

Thank you,

Nico

"We should get our own apartment," Leo suggests one day.

Nico raises his eyes and frowns, before hesitantly nodding. Leo can't help but smile.

Piper helps them pack up and Jason sees them off.

To Leo,

Talk to Nico. You'll be surprised at what he tells you.

(I know about your relationship. It's okay. It's good to see Nico to smile for once.)

From Annabeth

It's been two years since the war, and Leo isn't quite sure if Nico and him are boyfriends. He probably should have asked. (Really, he should. Piper had asked about it. Maybe Leo felt pressured by it, too, especially with Jason and Piper getting married next year. Leo wasn't sure if it was to keep Jason's sanity, or Piper's.)

Nico has stopped wearing the bandages, but he won't (can't) speak. Leo doesn't pressure him and instead comforts him during the nights when he wakes up screaming. (Leo isn't sure how or why he can scream when he's mute but he doesn't question it too much.)

The dreams have started to fade and finally they fall into a routine. Leo has many doubts about himself (and their relationship), about if his Hephateus training in the demigod camp was worth it (Nico wrote that it was), or if he was ever good enough (he was).

Leo stares across the table at Nico, sunlight streaming in through the window next to the table, his dark hair highlighting in the sunlight. The sad, lonely look in Nico's eyes hadn't gone away, only dimmed, and he actually started to smile in Leo's presence. Leo congratulated himself on that. Nico ran his hands over the newspaper, mouthing the words to himself.

Leo munches loudly on his toast but Nico pretends not to notice. (Leo notices that Nico looks older now, older than most people he knew. Which made sense, the guy was nearly a hundred years old, in a weird way.)

"Nico," he says, around a mouthful of toast, as if suddenly becoming aware of something.

Nico looks up, sets down the paper and looks at Leo patiently. (Leo once asked why Nico read it. Nico had only sadly replied that it was that he once last track of time, and didn't want to loose it again.) Leo realizes just how beautiful Nico is, even with the scar. (Leo doesn't have a scar, save for a few harmless and barely noticeable ones. He almost feels ashamed because of it.) Leo swallows, sets down his toast and leans forward.

"You're beautiful," he says, clearly, calmly, even though his nerves are becoming hot wired just by the thought. (Leo is almost certain that Percy would have told Nico the same thing.) Nico rolls his eyes and picks up the paper again. (Leo knows that he isn't Percy, that nobody could match up to Percy. Besides, Nico loved Percy in a way that he never loved Leo, even though he does. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.)

"I love you," he tries, instead. He notices that Nico doesn't tense up like he normally does. Leo, irritated, yanks the paper out of Nico's hands and instead says, "I'm in love with you, Nico." Nico just stares blankly at him before a shy smile creeps up onto his face and he begins to shake his head. Leo, defeated, is about to lean back down in his chair. Gods, he feels (broken) ashamed of himself.

But then Nico opens his mouth and says in that perfect, quiet voice of his, "I know." The shock of hearing Nico speak almost gives Leo a heart attack. (Anybody can have a heart attack at any age, he consoles himself.) But not as much as when Nico leans over the table slowly, tauntingly, to kiss Leo gently on the cheek. Stunned, Leo sinks back into the chair.

Nico fishes a note out of his pocket and slides it across the table before reaching over and crumpling the newspaper and begins to read it again. It takes a couple minutes until Leo gets the nerve to open the note. There are only four words that send a shiver down the demigod's spine.

I love you too.

Leo glances up and (remembers Annabeth's note about Nico surprising him with what he says) smiles. He notices the gentle upward curve of Nico's lips. Leo is almost surprised to see Nico's eyes trained on him instead of the newspaper. The gentle sunlight streaming in through the window lit up Nico's soft brown eyes.

(Leo doesn't need to ask if they're boyfriends anymore. He knows the answer.)

Leo leans across the table and Nico sets down his newspaper obediently and leans forward too.

When they kiss again, it feels like he's coming home.

(And Leo's never been happier.)