Disclaimer: All characters belong to Riordan.

Leo:

"Night Valdez" Nico mumbled as he walked out of the room. Leo curled up in his blankets and tried to fall asleep. To Leo's surprise, he didn't have nightmares. Instead, he dreamed of Nico and he wasn't so sure that was better.

Leo opened his eyes and felt a hand on his shoulder. He rolled over in his bed to see Nico di Angelo sitting in his bed. What's going on here? Leo asked himself.

"Nico, what are you doing in my bed?" he asked.

Nico smiled his rare smile. "Don't ask me, it was your idea" he said.

"What're you talking about?" Leo asked.

Nico placed his hands on Leo's shoulders and leaned close. "You asked me to come here, don't you remember?" Nico said.

Leo was confused, he didn't remember asking Nico here, and frankly the whole scenario was strange. First, Nico was touching him. Nico didn't willingly touch people. Not to mention he was in Leo's bed. "No," he said "why would I ask you here?"

"I think you know" Nico said as he leaned even closer to Leo.

"What're yo-" but he was cut off by Nico's lips on his. He was shocked by Nico's boldness, but he was even more surprised at how much he enjoyed it. Nico's lips were warm against his, which was surprising since Nico always had a look of coldness about him.

That's when Leo put the pieces together.

He pulled away and looked at Nico. "This is a dream, isn't it?" he asked.

Nico just stared at him for a long time. "It doesn't have to be."

Leo sat up in his bed and looked around his cabin. He was, of course, alone. He took a deep breath and lied down in his bed, and tried to ignore his dream. Nico's words rang in his mind, "it doesn't have to be." Did Leo want it to be?

No, he told himself. I just want to be his friend. I don't want to be kissing him in my bed, that's just bonkers. He groaned and got out of bed, he needed to go check on controls. He quickly showered and got dressed. As he walked to the cockpit he tried not to think about Nico or his dream. He tried to tell himself that his dream was no big deal, his brain was just all messed up.

Leo rubbed his temples, there were too many things going on in his brain. He decided it would be best to forget about everything and focus on the ship, only that didn't last long considering when Leo opened the door to the cockpit he saw Nico sitting in Leo's captain's chair.

Nico:

Nico sat in Leo's chair in the cockpit, swaying back and forth. He figured Leo would show up eventually and for some reason Nico wanted to talk to him. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he did. He glanced around the room, it looked pretty much like Leo's cabin. Stuff was everywhere along with a bunch of food wrappers.

Nico waited for what seemed like forever until the door flew open and Leo stepped into the room. Nico turned towards him and Leo's eyes got wide. "Nico?" he said "what're you doing in here?" Nico only shrugged in response, he didn't really know the answer.

"Okaaaay" Leo said "well what're you doing in my chair?" Nico shrugged again. Leo sighed and leaned against the wall. "You're one weird dude di Angelo" he said.

"You're one to talk" Nico said.

"What'd you mean?" Leo asked as he walked over and started checking on the controls and adjusting them.

"First of all your shirt is inside out" Nico said. Leo frowned and looked down at his t-shirt, which of course was inside out.

"Um oops" he mumbled as he pulled his shirt over his head and Nico's eyes got wide. "It's just early in the morning and..." Leo started, but he lost his train of thoughts when he looked at Nico.

Nico felt his face heat up as he forced his eyes away from Leo's bare, scrawny chest. Which was really scrawny. Not that Nico had much room to judge considering how scrawny he was after the being-trapped-in-a-jar-for-months incident. But at least Nico had managed to get some muscle with all his training, but Leo on the other hands was just plain skinny.

Nico stared at his hands. He felt that a familiar feeling in his stomach, but he couldn't quite place it. It wasn't until later that night when he finally realized it was the same feeling he had when he first met Percy.

Leo:

Leo pulled his shirt back on, right side out, and Leo took note of how red Nico's face was. "Didn't your parents ever tell you it's rude to stare?" he mumbled.

Nico frowned and knitted his eye brows together. "No," he said "my mother's dead and my father is busy in the underworld."

Leo stared at the controls, even though he had nothing left to check. "Oh... I'm sorry" he said "my mom died too, when I was young." Leo had no idea why he told Nico that, he normally didn't talk about his mom. He preferred to cover his pain with humor, but something about Nico made him want to open up. Nico just seemed like he was in such constant pain and Leo wanted to let him know he's not the only one who suffers.

Nico was silent for a while. "That sucks" he mumbled eventually.

"Yea" Leo said back. "But I had like 50 foster moms so that probably equals one real mom." Nico just stared at Leo and Leo rolled his eyes. "I'm joking" he said and a small smile crept onto Nico's face.

"I've probably raised hundreds of dead mothers so that probably equals one real mom" Nico said and Leo laughed.

"Did the great Nico di Angelo just make a joke?" Leo asked. He looked at Nico to see him biting back a smile. It was nice to see Nico like this. Nico met Leo's eyes and Leo smile even brighter.

"It's been known to happen once every few decades" Nico said, not breaking eye contact with Leo. Leo hadn't noticed until now how much he liked Nico's eyes. They seemed cold, but the more you looked the more you realized how innocent and kind they were. They reflected the little boy Percy Jackson had saved 4 years ago, before all the pain and death. Which, Leo can't deny, reminded him a lot of himself. He was pulled out of his thought's by Nico's words. "Your hair's on fire again."

Leo jumped and started patting his hair. "I'm- I'm sorry" he said "I just- my mind started to wander and- Zeus I hate this. Let's just announce to the world every time Leo gets excited or nervous. Fantastic." Leo realized he was rambling, so he stopped and looked back at Nico.

"So what are you?" Nico asked and Leo gave him a confused face. "Are you excited or nervous?"

"Oh- um... both I guess" Leo said in a small voice.

"Why?" Nico responded, only now he was avoiding Leo's eyes.

Leo shrugged and tried to act relaxed, which was a joke since his hair burst into flames again. "Well you make me nervous in general and I guess excited cause..." he trailed off, not sure where he was going.

The next thing that happened surprised Leo more than watching Frank turn into a giant eagle. Nico reached over and grabbed Leo's hand. His touch was cold, and Leo almost pulled his hand away. Nico hesitantly brought Leo's hand to his chest and placed it over Nico's heart. Leo could feel Nico's heart racing, it was going so fast he thought it might explode out of Nico's chest. Nico was still avoiding Leo's eyes when he spoke. "I feel it too" he said "I'm just less obvious."

Leo smiled and bit his lip. "Wh-what exactly do you feel?" he asked.

Nico dropped Leo's hand and crossed his arms. "I don't know" he said "I just know that I feel something."

Leo smiled and bit back a laugh. "Most people have feelings" he said.

Nico rolled his eyes. "That's what people keep telling me" Nico mumbled.

"I like this side of you" Leo said "much less scary, your jokes could use some help, but we'll get there eventually."

The corners of Nico's mouth moved in the slightest way. "So you wanna, like, hang out more?" he said in a small voice. Nico avoided Leo's eyes when he spoke and Leo swore he saw him blush yet again.

"Well everyone else on this ship is paired up, we gotta band together as the lonely single guys" Leo said.

Nico glanced at Leo for a second before standing up. "Whatever you say" he said as he started to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Leo asked and Nico turned to face him.

"Uh... I don't know" he said.

Leo looked away from Nico's piercing eyes and hoped his hair wouldn't catch fire. "Y-you can stay here and hang out if you want" he said.

Nico shrugged and sat back down. Leo smiled and turned his attention back to the controls. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, he thought. Or at least he tried to convince himself it was just a friendship.

Please review and tell me what you thought! Also what the heck is there ship name? Someone help me out here!