Heeeeeey. I'm doing a fic about Nico's insecurity and friendship with Percy and Leo's seventh wheel problem. The first chapter is about Nico of course, but I'll get into Leo soon. Maybe around Chapter 3? Please read and review! (Btw I'm probably not gonna do Perico here.)

Chapter 1: An Attack

Nico

Sitting was boring. Simply put. The restless boy grimaced and stood up, beginning to pace back and forth.

Somehow, his "bisexuality" had been discovered by almost all the ship's crew. Jason was the first to know obviously, since he had confessed to Cupid in Sparky's presence. Somehow, Piper had found out and had been slightly softer to the son of Hades ever since. Leo found out next. Nico wanted to feel resentment for Jason, but he couldn't. He couldn't blame the guy for telling his best friend. Frank and Hazel knew—gods of Olympus Coach Hedge knew!

Still, thank god that Percy and Annabeth didn't know. Annabeth he didn't care much for. Although they weren't the best of friends, he couldn't bring himself to hate the blonde. It wasn't her fault. No. She deserved Percy... much more than he did. After all, he was stupid to think of it. Percy deserved much better than a secluded, antisocial Hades kid. He deserved the likes of Annabeth. Daughter of Athena—daughter of wisdom, daughter of war. He still admired her ability. To think, to fight... to fit in.

No.

What was he thinking. When did he care about fitting in?! Oh wait... always.

He never had any friends—though Percy was the closest friend he had—he had no "personality"... correction. He had one. Just not a good one. He thanked the gods that Percy still considered him a friend.

That's what he was after all. He thought of Percy in many ways. He still had some feelings for the guy. Those were probably for life. But now, he thought of Percy as a friend... or something close. He couldn't get rid of the attraction though... he still had to tell Percy about it. Until then he would keep those feelings. He had a feeling that an outburst was coming.

All this passed through the demigod's mind as he paced around his cabin.

Suddenly he was thrown off his feet and the world was spinning. He felt himself pushed flat against the wall. As soon as he recovered his breath he tried to think what had happened. Leo. It must have been the ship. Wait. That meant monsters.

Nico took a few steps to regain his balance, then he grabbed his sword and sprinted up on deck. The scene surprised even him. The Argo II had been travelling by air and a flock of anemoi thuellai had taken the privilege of boarding the ship. He took a few moments to take in the scene. There were about thirty wind spirits on the ship (which had caused the turbulence in Nico's cabin). Almost all the half-bloods were busy in battle.

Piper had a few of them under her charmspeak. Leo was toasting them slowly but steadily. Jason was flying around summoning lightning. Of course! This was Zeus's realm, Jason would probably save them all. He watched as the son of the sky god consistently dissolved the spirits into golden dust.

Then his stomach lurched as he saw someone else. Percy. This was definitely not his realm. He watched the exhausted demigod fight for his life, Jason unable to rescue him. Percy was tired, it was quite evident. He would inevitable fall. The thought of that nearly killed Nico.

At this moment, he charged forward toward Percy with his Stygian Iron blade.

Percy

Upon seeing the son of Hades come to his rescue, Percy felt relief flood his system. He would live! Thank the gods. He watched in awe as Nico killed probably five anemoi just in the charge.

Still, he couldn't let his guard down. It wouldn't help if Nico had fought his way through to rescue him and found him dead due to carelessness. He held his own until Nico reached him.

"Are you alright?" Percy's thoughts raced. Death Breath actually cared? That was new.

"Yeah yeah. Thanks." Nico nodded in response to Percy's answer.

The two heroes stood back to back and fought off as many spirits as they could. Nico's skill with a sword had definitely improved. In fact, they at least rivaled Percy's own.

Unfortunately, while he was thinking all this, Percy had unwittingly dropped his guard. He looked back at his enemy to see a huge sword about to slice through his chest. It was too close for him to do anything to save himself. He shut his eyes tight and winced in anticipation.

When he realized that he felt nothing, the son of the sea god opened his eyes. The enemies had disappeared! It was either some kind of miracle... or it was Nico. Probably the latter.

In all this joy, Percy missed one key detail about the scene. Now his eyes fell on the body in front of him. His eyes widened in realization. The anemoi's attack... it had never hit him. He had thought Nico killed them all. He was wrong. His jaw dropped as he saw the body of the son of Hades in front of him protectively, with a huge wound right in the stomach. Somehow, the kid had managed to kill them all but he still couldn't stop the attack on Percy... so he took the hit instead.

For a few seconds Percy was in shock.

Then he screamed a single word.

"NICO!" He heard a moan in response. The boy's body started to fall backward. Percy leaped forward to catch his savior. "Nico!" he felt tears fall from his eyes as he watched the life fade from the son of death.

"Percy." Nico muttered this and then closed his eyes.

Jason sprinted over as fast as his legs would carry him. Percy looked up at the taller demigod with the expression of someone who had just lost someone. Piper rushed over. She and Hazel (who had come on deck shortly after Nico had) carried the dying boy down belowdecks.

Meanwhile, Percy felt himself sink to his knees. Tears came uncontrollably.

"It should have been me... It should have been me!" Jason picked his friend up and helped him walk over to the infirmary where Nico was lying on a bed unconscious.

Piper and Hazel were there as well, praying to Apollo to appear. After a few minutes of begging from Percy, the god of healing did appear. He ran a hand over Nico and nodded.

"The boy has sustained great pain. He will live. He has quite the strong spirit, that is certain. However, this must never happen again, or I cannot guarantee his survival." Percy nodded eagerly at Apollo's words. He would not let this happen again. Not on his life. The god disappeared with a flash of light, and left Percy to care for Nico.

Nico

Every demigod knew that dreams suck. Especially children of the Big Three. Nico opened his eyes to see Percy with his arms folded. The two of them stood in the center of Camp Half-Blood. The only real home Nico had other than the Underworld.

"This is a dream. It's not real." The hero kept trying to convince himself of this. Of course, he couldn't control his "dream-self" and anything he said was only in his head. He watched this dream version of him to see what he did.

Suddenly Percy's expression turned to one of hatred and he turned and ran from Nico, screaming unflattering things as he went.

Abruptly, the dream ended and Nico lurched up in his bed. That was what he feared most. Percy hating him.

He took a moment to take in the surroundings. He was in the ship's infirmary. Something warm was around his hand... it was Percy's hands. He turned his head to the left to see the son of the sea god sitting beside his bed, more worried than ever.

Percy

"Nico..." his voice shook as he said this.

"Percy? You alright?" Nico remembered how his friend... correction his teammate had almost had his chest sliced in half. Percy's voice broke upon hearing the inquiry. Tears streamed out of his eyes.

"Of course I'm alright! You're the one in the bed! Why the hell did you... why did you do it?!" Percy was obviously very angry at the son of Hades. Still, it wasn't like in the dream. Thank the gods it wasn't. However, Nico's throat still went dry.

He struggled to respond, but he couldn't. Percy obviously realized he had unknowingly scared the boy. His face softened. Nico managed a few words.

"You would have died..." Percy couldn't bear it any longer. He pulled the boy into a tight embrace. Of course, he also cried onto Nico's shoulder, tears of happiness that the boy was alive but also the unshed tears of fear for Nico's life. "Percy... I didn't think it would hurt you this much. Forgive me."

Percy finally stopped crying and put a light hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Don't worry about it."

Nico turned and stood up a little shakily. His stomach was bandaged heavily but it seemed the wound was all but gone. He slowly unwrapped the bandages, revealing a fully healed body.

Percy remembered when the son of death had been so painfully scrawny. Thankfully those days were over. He saw that Nico's arms were well toned and his stomach had quite the six pack. Even his chest was well developed. Nico wasn't skinny any more.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the son of Hades nearly tripped. Percy caught him and put an arm around his shoulders, holding him up. Together, they walked back to Nico's cabin.

"Thanks man... you're a good friend." Nico looked up as Percy said this. There was an awkward silence. Percy sat next to Nico on the bed. "I owe you my life." After saying this, the son of the sea god stood and walked out the doorway. "Call me when you can. I'll help you come on deck." With that he disappeared.

Nico

Nico's thoughts raced. Percy called him a friend? That was unexpected. Very unexpected. He smiled faintly. He didn't remember ever having someone actually call him their friend. Ever. His smile grew until he looked like a laughing maniac. He saw himself in the mirror and chuckled a bit. After a minute or so, he walked over to his wardrobe and put on a black T-shirt. He took of the weird hospital pants he had been wearing and instead put on his signature black jeans. He slowly put on a tight black leather jacket.

Percy

Nico was able to walk on his own to the deck. Percy's eyes widened when he saw him.

"Nico! Be careful! I told you to call me!" Percy again supported the slightly shorter boy, who was obviously looking at his feet, maybe in shame. Percy gulped. He hadn't meant to be so harsh. "S-Sorry Nico..."

Nico shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. You were just trying to help me." Percy opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn't find the words. For the second time in that day, he hugged the son of Hades.

Nico

Yup. The outburst was coming.

Again thanks for reading and please review!