Summary: Frank and Nico have a meeting to discuss something rather important to both of them: Hazel. But Frank can't help but feel fear whenever he's around Nico Di Angelo.

Beyond the Underworld

Frank wasn't scared of many things-or people. Sure, he had an aversion towards stingrays (even though he could turn into one), and Jason and Percy sometimes did overpower him in battle, but Frank wasn't scared of any of them. However, when he was standing face-to-face with the extremely powerful, Stygian-iron wielding, overprotective, and scary brother of Hazel, he was desperately trying not to pee his pants out of fear.

Nico Di Angelo was the ultimate scary guy, in Frank's opinion. In the beginning, when he first met him, he saw a lanky, pale-faced kid with no muscle whatsoever. But as the journey progressed, and Nico's health improved, Frank slowly began to realize that the son of Hades was not a person to be messed with. With one scowl or glance from him, Frank felt the desperate urge to crawl up into a ball and huddle in a corner. So when Nico summoned him to the Mess Hall of the Argo II at 1:00 in the morning, it was no surprise that Frank thought that he was massively screwed.

"Come on, Frank", Di Angelo's voice rose out from the shadows, "Don't be shy." Frank could have sworn that he saw a grin on his face. "You are so very, very screwed." Frank said to himself over and over again. He wished he could have said otherwise, but his mother told him never to lie to himself, so that was just what he was doing. He followed Nico around the Argo II, down the stairs, into the Weapons Room that Leo had turned into his "everything-that-is-pointy-and-dangerous-goes-here" room. Nico propped himself up onto a box labeled "MACHETES" and twirled his black iron sword around his hand. Frank took in an involuntary gulp. He did not like where this was going.

"Sit down, Frank." Nico spoke out, glaring at him. Frank quickly obeyed, propping himself onto a rusty stool nearby. The two stared at each other, Nico's onyx eyes mixing in with Frank's chocolate ones. Frank studied them, but found no emotion in them. Just a pair of immensely black eyes twinkling in the darkness of the night. "Are you scared of the dark?" He heard the son of Hades ask him. "No, no!" Frank quickly murmured, "Not at all." Nico grinned widely. "Good," He glanced at his sword, "It will make this a whole lot easier." Frank felt the need to back up and jump off of the ship, but his legs were frozen. Nico glanced at him, and sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you, Frank, relax." Frank didn't know why, but his words did not make him relax. It kept him on-edge. Nico jumped off of the box and plopped himself down next Frank. "I just want to talk to you about Hazel."

"I know that you two are "in love" or whatever," Nico started, "But, I want you to know that Hazel means a lot to me. So, if anything happens to her, it's going to be an issue." Now, he was glaring right at Frank, and Frank was too frightened to return the glare. All he could see in Nico's eyes were fear: his fear of losing Hazel. "D-don't worry, Nico," Frank stammered, "I won't let anything happen to her." Nico attempted to smile back at him. "I know that, I really do. But I want you to know that Hazel's innocence means a lot to me, and I don't want you to be held accountable for taking her innocence away from her before she's ready." It took Frank a couple of minutes to realize what Nico was talking about, but when he did, he nodded his head with full understanding. Nico's eyes suddenly got darker, and he towered over Frank, despite being four inches shorter than him. "If I do find out about you taking away Hazel's innocence before she is ready, or if you do so without consent, you will be in huge trouble with me. And people who land in trouble with me, don't usually like where they end up."

Frank knew that Hazel meant a lot to her brother, and vice-versa, but he knew inside of his heart that he wouldn't do anything without Hazel's permission. For some reason, that gave him confidence. He stood up, and Nico did too. "Don't worry about it, Nico. I'm not that type of guy." Nico grinned. "Great. We don't have any problems there, now do we?" "No way." Frank returned the grin. They both shook hands before Nico stood up and began walking out the door. Frank almost exhaled a sigh of relief, when Nico turned around and stared Frank down. "Remember Frank Zhang: I know everything, and I can be anywhere, I want to be whenever I want to be. And if I see you doing something that isn't right, well, you'll end up somewhere beyond the Underworld. That I can guarantee." He smiled once more before leaving. That time, Frank actually did pee his pants.