Leo

I don't really remember the first time I saw Nico Di Angelo.

I wasn't particularly concentrating at that point – I was rather preoccupied by the giants trying to kill me.

It's just a vague flash of a memory, a dark looking boy, skinny. A boy whose eyes had the look of someone who had been to hell and back.

In a way, I guess, he had been.

It was only later, once all the action was over, that I finally got to appreciate him.

He was thin, and almost as tall as me, despite the age difference. His hair was dark and thick, and it plagued him with a single lock that constantly fell into his dark blue eyes. Coupled with the ghostly pale skin and fierce scowl that had taken up permanent residence on his face, there was no doubt about who his godly parent was.

Not that it was love at first sight or anything. I mean, he was pretty darn attractive, but if I fell head-over-heels for every good looking guy we met, most of the inhabitants of this ship wouldn't be safe.

Excluding Hedge, of course.

In fact, my original reaction towards Nico Di Angelo was that his looks were his only redeeming feature. I mean, yeah we'd just rescued him from being trapped inside a giant glass jar with nothing to eat but a single seed a day, but that doesn't give you an excuse to be an asshole.

Though from what I'd heard back at camp that was his usual state of being.

The kid kinda just ignored everyone, only spoke to Hazel and Percy, and even that was only when he had too; he didn't exactly endear himself to the rest of the crew. I know Frank made an effort to be friendly, what with Hazel being his girlfriend and all, but Nico must have some sixth sense for ulterior motives, and all Frank's attempts at friendship went unfulfilled.

Me, I wasn't even going to bother trying.

Which is probably why I was the one he chose.

It wasn't planned. The night it happened I had slept badly, haunted by the nightmares that had been my constant companions since my encounter with Gaia. I had headed up topside to talk to Festus, in an attempt to calm myself down. Unfortunately, I wasn't the decks' only inhabitant that night.

I stopped when I came to the top of the staircase, arrested by the sight of Nico standing at the edge of the ship, leaning so far over I was sure he was going to fall at any moment. His dark hair was pulled wildly by the wind, and the thick material of his black aviator jacket shuddered with the gusts.

I took another step on deck, and the planks of wood creaked slightly under my weight. Even though the sound was barely audible, Nico whipped around, dark hair flying.

'What are you doing here?' he growled, even more defensive than usual.

I swallowed. To him, I must appear to be sneaking around, spying, most likely.

'I couldn't sleep – I was coming on deck to get some air.'

He had turned his head again, so that his face was barely visible in the dim light which illuminated the deck. 'I-I couldn't sleep either.'

He looked back at me, and in that moment, I caught a glimpse of silver running across his face. My mind instantly assumed the worst. What if Nico was an android? Or what if he wasn't even the real Nico at all, but instead a robot decoy placed among us by the giants as a trap? What if –'

But as he raised his hand to swipe furiously at his eyes, the truth became all too obvious.

Nico was crying.

Nico Di Angelo, who never showed any emotion. Who wouldn't open up to anyone, not even his almost-not-really sister. He was crying.

Yeah, I was kinda stunned.

'Uh- are you okay?' I blurted out, then instantly regretted it. If he was going to tell anyone what was wrong, it certainly wouldn't be me.

Once again, he surprised me.

'Oh it's nothing really .. Just – it was my sister's birthday today …' he trailed off, blushing furiously and scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his hands.

I felt supremely awkward, but I didn't want him to stop talking now. If he did, who knew when the next time his mouth opened would be.

'Your sister … Is she a demigod? I don't remember seeing her at camp.'

He hesitated, and I could sense this was a topic he didn't really want to talk about, but I stayed silent, expectant, and eventually he began talking once more.

'Yeah, she's a child of Hades, like me … but she's not at camp anymore; she joined the Huntresses a few years ago.'

I did the math in my head. A few years ago … Nico would have been super young, only eleven or twelve. It'd be hard to be left by your only sibling at that age.

'So you wouldn't see her much then. Oh! But hey! We met the Huntresses a while back! I might even have seen her. What's her name? Is it Phoebe? I know it can't be Thalia, or else you'd be related to Jason … I don't really remember anyone who looked like you.'

'Oh, no, you wouldn't have seen her.' he quickly replied.

I wasn't sure how he could be so certain, but it was obvious that this was a vein of conversation he didn't particularly want to dwell on, so I shrugged and let it go.

The silence stretched out awkwardly until I cleared my throat and gestured towards the control room.

'Well, ahhh – I was just going to go check that everything is going okay with Festus, so …'

Nico looked intrigued. The last of the tears had dried away, and though in some places his face was still marked with silvery streaks, he didn't look quite as sad as before.

'Who's Festus?' he asked.

I smiled, and couldn't help but let a short laugh escape.

'Oh, I forget that you haven't been with us from the beginning. Festus is the boat. Well, sort of. He used to be a giant metal dragon, but he was destroyed by Gaia's army. We ended up using him as the figurehead for the Argo II, so I usually refer to the ship as Festus.'

His brow furrowed adorably as he frowned. 'Festus? In Greek doesn't that mean … happy?'

I grinned again. This kid wasn't that bad. And shadowed by the darkness, a contrast of black and white, he was looking even better than usual.

'Yeah. Yeah it does. I'm gonna go make sure everything's in working order. Do you … do you want to come to?'

I was blushing slightly as I made this offer, and could only hope that the tan colour of my skin would hide that fact. Nico, unfortunately for him but not so much for me, didn't have that advantage. He flushed pink and ducked his head to study his boots as he accepted my offer.

'Yeah … I'd like that.'

I beamed at him, unusually pleased.

'Alright than. Follow Captain Leo. The maintenance room is right this way …'