It was late. At least three or four am, which left Leo Valdez no legit excuse for being up so late. He'd considered telling the others that he'd been reading, but come on- Leo didn't read. Leo didn't really know what was keeping him up. He lay still ((quite a feat for Leo)) until he finally decided that he must have forgotten to take his ADHD medicine.
Just as he was swallowing the pills, Leo heard a soft thump. He dismissed it as the pipes shifting or some random crate falling, or something that happened often enough aboard the Argo II that it could be easily dismissed. He lay back down, forgetting the noise entirely in his sudden and profound exhaustion.
Thump.
There was the noise again, accompanied by a noise Leo knew all too well- A sword being drawn. Reluctantly Leo swung out of bed, fastening on the tool belt he'd aquired so long ago.
"Hm," he murmered to himself as he walked toward the noise. "Gimme, uh, a hammer." Leo reached into the pocket of the tool belt, producing a hammer as long as his forearm. He crept forward, his knuckles white from gripping the hammer's handle.
Leo hoped he wouldn't accidentally catch on fire; his heartbeat was already faster than he wanted it to be.
"Hey, dad, any chance you could make me NOT turn into a human torch this time?" Leo said under his breath. He hoped Hepaestus had heard.
There was a crash- something breaking, being struck by a sword- a muffled cry followed. Leo had a bad feeling he knew which blade it was.
Crash. Another soft cry, barely audible. Leo pressed his ear against the door. Yep, definitley someone in there breaking stuff.
Leo pushed the door open, hammer in one hand, the other one free in case he had to set something on fire.
"Hey, uh, if you could not break stuff, that'd be- Agh!" Leo was bowled over by some unseen force. He struggled to regain balance, and failed epicly. His hammer flew across the room. In a moment of blind panic, Leo's entire form lit on fire.
"Agh!" Leo reduced the flames down to the palms of his hands. He looked up at his attacker, finding someone he definitley had NOT expected.
"...Nico?" Leo said blankly. He must have sounded incredibly intellegent.
Nico diAngelo looked a little worse for wear. His shaggy black hair looked even more messy than usual. His grey-blue eyes were wide with terror, somehow making the dark circles below them even more profound. He was barefoot, wearing a black tank top and grey sweat pants. His black blade was in his hand. Sure enough, several things behind him were lying in pieces on the floor.
"G-Get back!" Nico stumbled backwards, his eyes fixed on Leo. "Stay away from me!" He stepped on one of the broken things- all little useless things Leo had built in his spare time- and slipped. Impulsively, Leo extinguished the flames in his right hand and grabbed Nico's arm to steady him. The simple gesture had a strange affect on Nico; a little color returned to his pale skin and all the fear drained from his expression. Leo felt the tension drain from Nico's shoulders.
"Leo...?" Nico pulled his arm from Leo's grasp. "W-why are you up so late?"
"You were up first," Leo retorted. Nico looked at the sword in his hand as if it had only just appeared there. His eyes widened suddenly.
"But...there were...like Medusa...?" He looked upset.
"Nico," Leo said gently. "there were no...ah, what are they called...um, no gorgons. Just you." Nico looked cresfallen.
"But..." He sheathed his sword and looked around the empty room. "Oh...oh." he said, souding...defeated. Leo had never seen Nico look so tired or upset before. He'd always appeared strong; maybe a little broken, but still intact.
"Nico?" Leo said quietly.
"I'm fine." Nico responded flatly.
"Nico." Leo said.
"I said I'm fine!" Nico snapped, wheeling around to face Leo, who took a wary step back. He glared at Leo, then turned and started walking away.
Why not, Leo thought.
"You were hallucinating about Tartarus, weren't you?"
Nico froze with his hand on the door handle. Leo walked up to stand by him. Nico's expression was one of pure shock.
"How...?" he managed to say.
"Because I cared enough to put the pieces together myself." With that, Leo opened the door and left. It shut with a click behind him. Leo would remember that night, he was sure of it. He knew one thing in particular would stick best; after the door had clicked shut, Leo had stood just outside, listening to Nico crying on the other side of the door.
Just a little broken, but still intact.