It all started when Leo tripped on a loose piece of rigging. He'd been helping Nico tie up the Athena Parthenos with the rest of the crew when he went to step over a coil of rope and instead stepped on it. As Leo had been expecting to step on the flat surface of his ship and not the round rope, he fell over-right onto Nico.

The son of Hades had been tying the last knot on his section of the statue when he was knocked over from behind. He landed on the ground with an oomf! and hit his head. His vision swam slightly as he tried to get up. He'd somehow been flipped over onto his back, so he should've been able to get to his feet easily. Why couldn't he get- Oh. Leo had landed on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He could hear Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel and Jason laughing around him, and it took Nico a minute to realize why they were laughing so hard. Sure it was funny that they'd been knocked over, but it was hilarious the way they had landed. At least to the other demigods.

Nico felt his face grow hot as he realized that Leo had put out his arms to stop himself from falling all the way and was now hovering over Nico like in one of those cliché romance films. One hand was on the left side of Nico's face and the other was pinning his shaggy hair to the ground, so Nico couldn't move his head.

Leo's tan face was flushed red and he muttered Spanish curses as he made to get up. That was, until ADHD intervened. "Hey, Nico, your hair is really soft."

The laughter that had just been dying down returned ten fold as Nico tried to give Leo a death glare. He failed as he was blushing, but he'd get an A for effort.

Reyna and Coach Hedge came flying down the stairs into the stables, the Praetor wielding a sword and Coach with his bat. They both stopped short and had very different reactions. The old satyr burst into laughter with the rest while Reyna only raised an eyebrow in a very 'Do I even want to know?' way.

Leo, startled by the sound of Coach dropping his bat, jumped and lost his balance, crashing down on top of Nico again. The Ghost King groaned as Leo's weight crushed his small frame.

This time, even the cold Roman Praetor had to laugh as both boys cursed and struggled to get up. Leo finally detangled himself from Nico and sat up, his face (and Nico's, for that matter,) was the color of a cherry. Half desperate to get off the topic, half actually curious, Leo couldn't help but ask, "Seriously, dude, how is your hair that soft?"

"What?" Nico's hand went to his hair. It felt like it usually did, it wasn't suddenly extra soft or anything. "What're you going on about, Valdez?"

Leo reached out and started petting Nico's hair. Usually, Leo would be terrified of Nico and would never dream of touching him, let alone petting his hair, but he couldn't bring himself to be afraid of him now.

Nico went rigid under Leo's touch. "Don't. Touch. Me." he growled softly, glaring holes in Leo's face. Leo quickly snatched his hand away, fearing that it might become detached if he didn't.

But he was persistent, and wanted to know why Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, had super soft hair. "Come on," he said, "You're all doom and gloom, but your hair is like, seriously, super soft."

Nico glared at him a little. He wasn't used to this many happy people around him, and he definitely wasn't used to people touching his hair and telling him it was soft. He was Hades kid, the Ghost King, and people were telling him he had soft hair in the middle of a war. How is that even important? He thought.

The other passengers of the Argo II were looking at the two in amusement.

"It can't be that soft," said Piper. She stepped forward and before Nico knew it, she was touching his hair too. "Oh, come on," he grumbled, standing up and pushing past everyone.

As he went back to his spot up on the mast, he heard Piper whisper, "It's like touching a cloud and kitten mixed together!"

And, that, ladies and gents, is how everyone started to touch Nico's incredibly soft hair.

A/N: How was it? The next chapter should be up soon! :D