Nico Di Angelo's and Leo Valdez's favorite time of the year was Halloween.

Not for the free candy, or the dressing up, but for how much that festive orange and black matched their personalities and their pasts.

Leo was the orange; the color of a burning flame. The flame that had saved his friends but had killed his mother, the flame that could ignite from his fingertips with a snap of his fingers. Leo Valdez was cursed with this flaming power from Hephaestus, and it had caused him trouble ever since he was little. And he was always a flame, that brightened when people noticed him and talked to him; but dimmed when he was all alone, wishing to be apart of something else. He had always felt as useless as a white crayon. Yet still, in those rare times, his flame extinguished, leaving only the smoldering, black hole in his heart that he had to learn to deal with, until his fire came back.

Nico was the black; more black than the sky at night. Darker than a raven; darker than his hair; his clothes; and his heart. But his skin was a white, pale comparison to everything else. Nico Di Angelo kept to himself, after his sister died. His father, Hades, neglected him and turned to his dead sister who was and always will be, better than him. And the blackness that he shrouded himself in wasn't just because he was a son of Hades, but for the fact that it was the only thing that could explain him. He was the black paper that he felt no one would want to use. But occasionally, a fire lit within him, but it was never often. And when it did, he wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

Yet every Halloween the two spent together, they found that their orange and black had matched up into one. Nico was the black and Leo was the orange; the two were perfect together in every single way. Including the fact that no one even acknowledged when they started spending more and more time together.

On this Halloween, Leo and Nico had switched personalities. Nico had a match lit within him, yelling and screaming while Leo sat quietly on the couch; his flame out as the blackness of the aftermath of a fire consumed him. He couldn't even remember what they were fighting about.

"Gods dammit, Leo!" Nico yelled, surprising even himself, yet not lowering his tone. "Why would you do this, how? You can't just do that to me! You can't just run away from this like you did every other situation!"

And then Leo remembered why they were fighting. Why Nico was yelling, why Leo was on the verge of tears. It was because he had tried to run from Camp Half Blood. He hadn't gotten very far, before Nico found him and shadow travelled back to the Hades cabin, where he sat Leo down. Leo couldn't help himself, as he was falling for Nico and he was sure that the dark haired, handsome demigod didn't feel the same way. He didn't — couldn't — face the situation of telling Nico and getting rejected.

And sure, Leo had gotten rejected before by so many girls, but Nico was different. First off, he wasn't a girl. Secondly, he was beyond sexy and Leo checked him out every second he could without getting caught; and even when he did Nico winked at him (in a joking matter, he decided) and Leo turned away, embarrassed. But the most important thing, was the fact that Nico was, as cheesy as it sounds, the apple to his pie. The peanut butter to his jelly, the immortal to his gods; the Nico to his Leo. Nico was the black that helped his flame calm down just enough to be able to see clearly, and think properly.

Before he knew it, Leo was bawling. Crying so hard he could barely breathe, choked sobs escaping from his mouth that he desperately tried to hold back. "I-I'm s-sorry!" He gasped out, a strangled noise following shortly after. Though he nearly had a heart attack when Nico walked over and put his arms around him, hugging him tight.

"No," Nico whispered in his ear, and Leo tried not to but he shivered anyway. "I'm the one who should be sorry, Leo." Nico pulled back and looked Leo straight in the eyes. "I guess I... I don't know what I did to make you leave. I didn't want you to leave."

Currently, while Leo's heart was beating faster than the speed of light, Nico was having a difficult time getting his words out. How could he possibly tell Leo he was utterly in love with him, while he had just made his soulmate cry? He hugged Leo tighter, and was so relieved when he felt strong arms hug him back.

"Nico, it's okay," he mumbled. "I'm sorry I left, and I just... I guess I need you in my life," he said, on the verge of tripping over his words. "And I guess that you're my only friend who can understand everything. But I was afraid you would leave me. So I left you first."

And in that second, Nico's heart shattered, shattered until the flame died and was supposed never to come back.

"Leo I... I couldn't ever," he responded, his voice thick with emotion. But before Leo could answer, Nico had his lips against Leo's, and it felt good, and so, so right.

Gasping, Leo pulled back from the kiss. "I... I love you, Nico," he whispered.

Nico almost had tears in his eyes, he was so happy. "I love you too, Leo."

Leo leaned in again, and Nico could feel his breath against his lips. "Thank you for noticing me, Nico." Leo murmured. "I always felt as useless as a white crayon. And you, you've made me feel like I'm meant for something, that I'm here for a reason."

Smiling, Nico pulled him in for another kiss. "You just have to find someone who prefers black paper. And you know what? I do." And with that, Leo and Nico knew they were meant for each other. Everything had officially changed between them. It didn't matter anymore, that no one payed attention to them, they were just happy to be together, to love each other.

Though even when people started noticing them, they were still in their own little world. Nico knew everything about Leo and Leo knew everything about Nico. Nothing could ever break them apart, and nothing ever would.

Halloween, they decided, would always be their favorite time of the year. Leo proposed to Nico on the day, they got married on the day... And to their luck, adopting a child from the camp happened on that day. They loved, laughed, cried, experienced everything together. Halloween would always be the special day for them.

Halloween is what brought them together, and Halloween is what would never break them apart.