After I read all the books in only three weeks (no, I did not catch much sleep) and have fallen in love with Valdangelo... I have tons of fanfic ideas. I started one of them today.

So for this fanfic Leo never died and never picked up that really nice lady Calpyso whom I don't dislike in any way (cough cough). He also never swore on the Styx to come back to her (just in case). Everything else happened the way it did in the books.

Anyway, I hope you like it! Please be sure to review :)

1

Nico di Angelo had come a long way.

It had been eight month since Gaea was defeated and since then Nico had tried really hard to be less anti-social and more, well, social. He lived in Camp Half-Blood and people accepted him, which had been a new feeling for him at first, but a good one. Of course Will would insist that they had always accepted him and everything else had just been in Nico's head.

Will. His first boyfriend. And also his first ex-boyfriend. Will had broken up with him five weeks ago because he was convinced Nico still had feelings for Percy. In a way Nico wished he had never come clean about that, it had done nothing but ruining his relationship with Will before it even began. He had always felt threatened by Percy.

However, a couple of hours ago Will had taken Nico aside and told him he wanted to talk to him tonight. Annabeth thought it was because he wanted to get back together with him. That's why Nico wasn't sure he would show up to their... meeting, date, whatever it was. He didn't know if he wanted to get back together.

The truth was, he was still waiting to be heartbroken because of the break-up. Sure, he was unpleased Will broke things off but mostly because he didn't think the son of Hades should get dumped. Maybe his feelings for Will weren't that strong after all and if that was the case, should he even think about getting back together with him? It wouldn't be fair to either of them.

Whenever Nico needed to think or just wanted to be alone he retreated in the woods, which was where he was now. Leaning against a tree and staring at the ground where once the entrance to the labyrinth had been. After all this time, he still knew exactly where the place was. He could almost see it, almost feel it. It was as if it helped him organize his thoughts.

Until...

"Found it." A satisfied voice pulled him out of his train of thoughts.

It was DrewTanaka, a daughter from Aphrodite. Nico didn't turn around to see what she was doing here because he simply didn't care. He couldn't help overhearing her though. Her and the friends she apparently brought.

A girl asked: "Is the potion complete now?"

"Yes. This flower was the last ingredient I needed."

"I don't know about this, Drew," said a boy. "Don't you think there's a reason this potion hasn't been used in centuries?"

That didn't sound good. Nico started to listen attentively.

"It's a love potion, idiot. What can go wrong?"

"Uh... everything? If he drinks this he falls for the first person he sees. If that's not you-"

"Leave that up to me, will you? Look, Piper McLean took everything away from me. I will punish her for that. And the best way to do that is to make her boyfriend fall in love with me. And since he refuses to do that on his own..."

I wonder why, Nico couldn't help thinking.

"Besides, mother would want me to use it. She's the freaking goddess of love after all. Tonight Jason Grace will get a girlfriend-update."

Then their voices got quieter until they were gone, leaving Nico behind with uncertainty. No love potion he had heard of had ever worked (not that he had ever gotten into that topic). Still, Drew was a child of Aphrodite, maybe she knew something he didn't. Which meant he should probably warn Jason. Not Piper. She would kill Drew in a heartbeat if she found out about her plan.

He found Jason talking to Percy at the lake and told them everything he overheard.

"A love potion?" Jason looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or panic. Percy didn't have such a hard time deciding; he suppressed laughing so bad, it looked like he was about to have an epileptic shock.

"That's what she said. She plans to use it on you tonight. I doubt it'll work but I wanted to give you a heads up anyway."

"Yeah, thanks. To think, I would fall for Drew..."

"Or worse," Percy said. "You'd fall for the first person you see... if Drew screws up – which is very likely – that could be anyone. Carisse for example. Or Tyson... or Chiron-"

"I got it," Jason tried to silence him.

"Or yourself, if you happened to look into a mirror."

Jason was staring to get annoyed. "Thank you, Percy!"

"Endless possibilities, really... hey, remind me to keep Annabeth away from you."

Nico didn't say anything but while Percy was kidding, he had a point. A working love potion could be very dangerous.

"Anyway," Jason said. "The solution here is easy. I simply won't drink anything Drew gives to me."

"Should we tell the others?" Nico asked. "In all seriousness, if it works it could turn into a problem."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Jason said. "We do that, Piper might find out and that would not end well."

"Agreed. In addition, I'd really like to see you fall in love with Ella", Percy added and ducked as Jason tried to hit him.

Later that evening Nico sat with the others at the bonfire. He still wasn't a fan of big crowds like this but he hoped that spending time around Percy tonight would make Will reconsider meeting Nico later. He still wasn't sure what he wanted and needed more time to think about it. That's why he sat next to Percy, even though it also meant sitting next to Leo Valdez.

Nico was always uneasy around him.

It wasn't that he disliked Leo. On the contrary, he liked and respected him, after all he had been prepared to die in order to defeat Gaea and Nico admired that kind of bravery.

Still, Leo's entire personality was too much to handle for Nico. A lot of half-bloods had ADHD but Leo was an extreme case. He always needed to keep his hands busy, or his mouth, or both. Nico was the exact opposite which was why he avoided spending too much time with him.

Tonight Leo was being extra annoying. He was eating exotic sweets Travis Stoll had given him and kept rustling with the bag. Also, he commented on everything he ate ("This is freaky." - "Ew, peanut butter should not be forced in the form of chocolate" - "I don't even want to know what that was.") For some reason no one else wanted to try some.

Nico ignored him as far as he could and tried to look like he was in on the conversation between Percy and Annabeth. He was pleased to notice that Will kept looking over and did not appear to be happy.

When Drew came over with three cups Piper tensed. "I wonder what she wants."

Nico and Percy shared a look with Jason, who was sitting on the other side of Leo, who didn't realize anything was going on and kept eating his sweets ("Wow that should go in mass production").

Drew stopped in front of Piper, who didn't get up. Neither did anyone else.

"I come in peace." Drew said.

I doubt it, Nico thought.

"What's that?" Percy asked and pointed at the cups.

"My peace-offering to Piper and of course Jason, because he's her boyfriend. I want to apologize for my behavior towards you since... well, since we met. I realize it was childish and insecure and I'd really like it if we could be friends in the future. Here." She gave Piper and Jason a cup and kept one for herself. Nico noted that the cup for Jason was yellow, while the other two were red. "I'd like to drink to that."

Jason looked at his cup as if he expected it to explode.

Piper didn't seem convinced but said: "I don't want any bad blood between us, Drew. After all we are sort of half sisters."

"Exactly." Drew said and raised her cup. "To peace." Piper followed her example.

("Why would someone create a grass flavor," Leo complained.)

"This is very nice of you, Drew," Jason said. "I'm not really that thirsty, though..."

"I'm not asking you to drink the whole thing. A little sip will be enough. You know, symbolically." Drew urged him.

At that moment Leo coughed. "Gods... Chilli peppers..." He grasped Jason's cup.

"Leo, don't!" Nico snatched the cup away from him but Leo had already drunken some.

And he was staring at Nico.