[Author's Note]: This is my first Leico fanfiction so please bear with me if they may seem out of character. I don't mean it if they are.

[Disclaimer]: I do not own any of the characters in this story, or the book itself. They belong to Rick Riordan.

Thanks for Reading!

~Crys.

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How in the world did he end up stuck with this idiot? I'm Leo Valdez, Captain of the Argo II. Nico wasn't sure exactly why those words kept running through his head. Was it because he'd never actually met a pirate that would give their name out that easily? At least, not with out say something along the lines of 'Oh! You don't know me?! I'm blah blah', but Leo hadn't seemed too surprised that Nico hadn't heard of it, and it made the Italian suspicious. Nico looked back every once in a while, just to see if Leo was keeping up, or whatever the pirate was doing. Nico did not want to get stabbed in the back...or something worse happening to him.

When he looked back he could see Leo looking down at his feet, Nico continued to stare at Leo. For a pirate, Leo looked pretty cleaned up. His hair was a mess, and bits of his skin and clothes were covered in grease and oil, but other than that, he was decent. Nico stared for a few more minutes, before running into a tree. Nico stumbled back, coming close to falling if it hadn't been for Leo, who now held him by his armpits. The Italian blinked, trying to process what just happened before it hit him. He'd just run into a tree while staring at Leo...and now said Latino was holding him. Nico was more than sure if the male made any kind of flirtatious comment to him, then there was a very good chance Leo will end up with a black eye.

"You okay?" Nico pushed himself up, Leo easily letting him go after he stood completely. Nico was shocked at how much concern Leo had in his voice, and it was in a way...pleasant. Nico looked up at Leo, there wasn't a smile on his face, and his expression matched the tone of his voice.

"Yeah..." Nico mumbled as he dusted the dress off. God, he hated this dress, if he could, he would've gotten rid of it a long time ago, but he had been forced to be on the island with this on. The female pirates had not been very kind to him when they discovered he wasn't a she, but he was only happy they hadn't slaughtered him. Nico fixed his dress and began to walk again, Leo catching up to walk along side Nico.

"So, uh...I never got your name..."

Nico and Leo were hiding behind a large bush that rested behind two large trees, Nico was relieved that Leo's ship hadn't been stolen, but it was being guarded by the people who had tied the tan male up. He glanced at Leo who had a serious expression on his face, which Nico couldn't help but admire a bit. The male didn't think Leo could be very serious, but the sight before him proved him wrong. Nico's gaze looked back at the pirates, there were only two of them, but they were still a lot more muscular than Leo and himself, and Nico was slightly worried they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Who are they?" Nico wondered out loud, not really expecting an answer, but ended up getting one anyway.

"Those two are apart of a small colony of pirates that take refuge on an island about an hour away from here. Their colony are called the Titans, and they're not a group you want to mess with. They don't hesitate to kill and it's rare for them to even agree with offers." Nico looked over at Leo after he was done explaining, an eyebrow raised at him.

"You've encountered this group before I'm assuming." Nico asked, a frown on his face as he waited for Leo to answer him. The captain smirked at Nico and nodded.

"Yeah, though I've only really come across their path when I was with the crew I was on. This was the first time I actually encountered them without my frien- I mean crew mates. " He explained, Nico looking at him curiously when Leo almost said friends. He nodded letting him know that he understood the situation.

"You have a plan to get past them? From how you make them sound we wouldn't want to get in a fight with them." Nico questioned looking out at the pirates that stood there, laughing and talking. Nico couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but he really didn't want to know. He just wanted to get on the ship and off of this island, and hope he would be taken home without any trouble.

"Yeah, but there's a little problem with the plan." Leo answered, causing Nico to look at him, worry filling him when he heard the comment.

"What do you mean there's a problem? I'm sure it'll do," Nico insisted, "besides, we can work out the kinks." Nico finished, his hand resting on top of the bush that hid them.

Leo looked like he was contemplating on telling him the plan, Nico subconsciously wondering if it had anything that would involve either being hurt, or possibly left behind if not done correctly. The thought didn't reassure Nico at all, and he just silently prayed that wasn't the case.

"Uh...how do you feel about being bait?"

The plan was well thought out, and actually sort of showed Nico the smart side of Leo by how it sounded. Nico patiently stood there, waiting for Leo to give the signal for him to go out there, glancing at him nervously as he waited. When he got the signal from Leo, Nico had dusted his dress off, and wandered out to the sand, his feet were hurting from walking on rocks and on twigs, but he didn't let it get to him. He stood there, his part in this registering through his head.

"Help!" He yelled, catching the pirates' attention, one of the men huffed at the sight of Nico before looking at the one next to him obviously both beginning to ignore him. Nico huffed as he cleared his throat and yelled again. "Help me please! I'm in terrible trouble!" He wasn't even sure why he was asking pirates for help, rather this was just a cover or not, he knew this part was sure to fail. What pirate would help someone out? Well...as long as they paid them they would, but it didn't seem right to Nico that they would just help him out of the kindness of their heart. He was right too, they looked at each other, and then began to laugh loudly. Nico's eye twitched a bit in annoyances, but he kept up the appearance of a helpless woman needing assistance.

"Woman, are you mad? You expect us to help you? What's in it for us?" One of the pirates mused.

"Yeah, if you want our help it'll cost you lots." Agreed the other. Nico felt his heart beginning to race at their request for money. Nico bit the inside of his cheek, making a fist. He could seen Leo slowly making his was past them, and for this to be successful and for them to get off this island, Leo needed more time.

"I'll pay you! Whatever you want, just please help me." Nico begged, falling to his knees, his hands entangled together looking like he was praying. Trying his best to put on a good play. Leo was halfway to the boat, and Nico prayed silently that they would come up to him and 'help' him out. They did come closer, and as they made their was towards him, Nico letting his hands fall to his lap to rest there, gradually and carefully pushing the dagger on his thigh out of it's holder. They made their way forward, Nico glancing at Leo who was climbing up the ship's side now.

One of the pirates knelt down beside Nico, grabbing his face to study it. The guy was a mess. He smelled and looked ever worse up close, causing Nico to cringe a bit at it. The pirate let go of Nico's face and stood where he was, studying Nico, who now had dirt now on his chin.

"Well, brother, what do you think we should do? Should we help the maiden?" The pirate looked over towards the one still standing, Nico looking between them in a pleading manner, only hoping his acting was good enough. He looked at Leo again, who was now on the ship working at the controls, Leo looked up, their eyes meeting. He nodded, giving the sign it was time for Nico to wrap this up and meet him on the ship.

"She'd said she'd give us whatever we wanted. You think she'll open her legs for us?" Nico's heart stopped at that answer, he looked up at the pirates, a frown on his face, and instead of a look of plead for help, it held anger. There was no way in hell they were going to anything like that to him. Nico quickly moved his down, reaching under the dress as best he could while they were distracted for a minute, talking about what they would do with him. He grabbed the dagger, waiting for them to make a move before pulling it out. They advanced, which Nico didn't hesitate to pull out the dagger and hold it up as a defense.

They stopped for a minute, looking at each other again, before they started to laughed at him, both pulling out swords, and held it up in front of Nico. "What are you going to do with that, maiden? I puny knife is nothing compared to a real man's sword." Nico rolled his eyes at that comment, and just as the one who was kneeling moved forward, Nico stabbed his arm. He howled in pain, Nico taking the chance to stand up, and began to ran past them, but the pirate standing grabbed Nico's hair, pulling on it. Luckily for the male, his hair was a wig, which came off as soon as the pirate started pulling.

Nico was free from the grip, his hair was a mess, but he didn't care that it was. He needed to get to the ship. He ran as fast as he could with the dagger in his hand, the pirates cursing as they realized what was going on, and began to chase him. Nico was there first, and quickly grabbed the ladder, climbing up as fast as he possibly could. He was about a quarter of the way up when the pirates were about three feet from the boat. Nico climbed faster, reaching the top of the boat quickly, he climbed inside and began to roll up the latter. Leo beginning to start up the ship as soon as he saw Nico on the boat. The ship backed out, causing Nico to almost fall over, but he caught himself and now had the rope latter up onto the boat.

The brother pirates cursed as Leo sailed off, turning the boat in a different direction, and as soon as it was completely turned around, he put it in overdrive and took off. Nico was out of breath, gripping the sides of the ship, falling to the side and laying there exhausted.

"Fuck." Nico breathed out as he laid there, moving to lay on his back, his eyes closed. He heard a laugh, his eyes opening partially and looking over towards the captain of this ship.

"Well...at least we got away." Leo chuckled as he looked back at Nico who stared up at him, and eyebrow raised. He began to chuckle a bit as he looked back up at the sky. Yeah, at least we got away.

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[Author's Note]: Forgot to put this in the last chapter, but, don't be afraid to review! I'd love to hear what you guys have to say about the story. I also accept constructive criticism, so if you'd like to give me some of that too, then go ahead. :3