A/N

Sorry for the intense slackness of my updating … I've been kind of depressed, romantically-wise, and that isn't the sort of mindset necessary to write romantic fluff. However, I have thrust aside my own personal angst to write some LeoXNico angst.

Enjoy.

The guy behind the counter was looking at us funny. I'm not sure if his disconcerted expression was due to the fact that Leo's cheek was pressed against the glass as he whispered sweet nothings to the caramel cookies and cream, or that there was actually anyone prepared to eat ice-cream on what was possibly the coldest day in American history.

I was guessing it was a combination of both. Truthfully, I had been surprised that we could even find an ice-cream store that was open. I had expected that they'd all be closed, and therefore Leo could simply put aside this ridiculous notion that so openly defied the laws of winter food.

Admittedly, we must look a pair – Leo in his still-somewhat-grease-stained trousers, suspenders, and tool belt. His white shirt was rolled up to the elbows, revealing sun darkened, leanly muscular arms, a far cry from the vast majority of the public, who were bundled up in coats, scarves and gloves. Not that I could really comment – I was only dressed in dark jeans and a short-sleeved black shirt. I didn't have a jumper, my only one having been destroyed in the boiler room on my first night with Leo. It was however, a sacrifice I had been willing to make. If that jacket hadn't been destroyed, then there wouldn't have been any need to utilise body heat … and things surely wouldn't have progressed as they did. The coat had served me well, and died a worthy death. It's sacrifice would not be forgotten.

My attention was pulled back to the present as Leo bounded over, dark eyes wide and shining. He grabbed my hand, tugging on it impatiently.

'Come on Nico! You have to look! There's so many flavours here; what are you going to have?'

He was like a child in a candy store. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that he was a child in a candy store. Well, practically, anyway.

'I'll have rainbow ice-cream with fudge sauce and sprinkles.'

The words left my mouth automatically, and I winced. Leo's expression was perplexed, though tinged somewhat with admiration. Cocking an eyebrow, he tilted his head, curls tumbling to one side as he considered this.

'Really Nico? Can't say I pegged you as a rainbow-and-sprinkles sort of guy. I guess it's true what they say about books and covers!'

I sighed, running a hand abruptly thorough my hair.

'No, um, it's not like that. It's just … my sister used to always order that whenever we got ice-cream together. It sort of popped out automatically.'

I shied away from saying more on the matter. My sister wasn't really my favourite topic of conversation; talking about her brought back painful memories and unwanted emotions. Leo seemed to realise this, but it didn't stop him from prying a bit. I couldn't say I blamed him – all he really knew was that she had died while on her very first quest, under the care of Percy. I hadn't told him anything, about how betrayed I had felt when she joined the hunters, or even how she had died.

'Was that – are you talking about Bianca?' he asked gently, eyes understanding, as his grip on my fingers tightened ever so slightly. I nodded mutely, and he raised a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. The light-blue walls and rows of colourful ice-creams blinked out of existence, leaving only him and I. This is what happened whenever I was in his company – nothing else mattered. We could be in the middle of a store, or hidden away in a broom cupboard. As long as Leo was there was me, I didn't care.

I bent, resting my forehead on his shoulder, a breath escaping with the release of pent up emotion. Leo's hand smoothed down my hair, running through the knotted strands in which he lightly rested his chin. I could feel his heart beat speeding up, thudding rapidly against mine. My breathing hitched as my chest tightened, compelling me to force air in and out of my lungs. I snaked my arms around his waist, face still buried in his shirt. He smelt like wood smoke and engine oil and snow; I thought to myself that it was possible that there had never been a nicer smell ever in the world. He had just leant down to place a kiss in my hair when the sound of someone clearing their throat crashed into our happy little fantasy world.

Not again.

My arms felt far too empty as Leo pulled away, my heartbeat far too quiet. I watched him longingly, wanting nothing more than to be close to him, even as his face steadily reddened. However, he couldn't compete with the ice-cream salesman himself, whose face was simply a splash of red against the surrounding walls. I winced at his discomfort, as he managed to force out his stammering sales pitch.

'Um, ah, sorry … are you guys ready to, uh, ready to order?'

Leo's grin was sheepish as he nodded. 'Yeah, I'm good to go, and from the sound of things, Nico here is too.' He turned to me, expression inquisitive, sending my heart aching with yearning. Would it always be this way, torn apart whenever we got close to one another? I certainly hoped not; I wasn't sure I could take any more of this torment.

Realising he was waiting for some sort of sign that I was indeed decided, I replied with a terse nod. Turning, he drifted over to the cashier, reciting his order and then mine, in turn. When told how much it would cost, he snapped open his tool belt and reached inside to pull out a wad of ten dollar notes. The cashier seemed surprised at the sudden production of money, especially at how clean it was. I wondered what his reaction would be if Leo pulled out the chainsaw he fervently claimed he could produce. I smirked a little at the thought, watching as our frosty-cold treats were spooned into small cardboard containers. When the process was complete, Leo snatched them up and practically pranced over to me, placing the ice-cream in my left hand and grabbing my right. He dragged me out of the shop, pulling us directly past the tables collected outside.

'Hey, wait up!' I entreated him. 'Aren't we going to sit down?'

He slowed his pace somewhat, letting my hand slip through his as he replied.

'Seriously? That guy looked like he was going to go into cardiac arrest. Do you really want to endanger him further? Anyway,' he glanced back, grin wide. 'I've found a place with a far better view.'

This place that he had 'discovered' was a large, tree-strewn park, thrown, seemingly at random, into the centre of the city, a small piece of natural scenery among the towering buildings and bustling roadways. I followed Leo onto the worn path, glancing up at the trees around us. Someone had made the intelligent decision to plant evergreens, meaning that they still cast their mottled shadows over us, even at this time of year. We followed the pathway in comfortable silence, until we emerged in a small, unshaded area. A few people milled around, braving the cold. A moss-strewn fountain dominated the clearing, sputtering away as drops splashing downwards and sent ripples dancing across the surface.

'Here!' announced Leo. 'This looks good!'

Personally, I could have gone for somewhere a little more, well, private, but I did have to admit that the few weak rays of sunlight struggling their way through the cloud cover were more than welcome. Perching next to him on the fountains edge, I finally looked down at the bowl in my hand, it's little pink spoon protruding above the lip. I felt a pang of nostalgia as I gazed down at the colour-strewn mixture. This must be at least the hundredth bowl of this concoction l had seen – it was what Bianca had always ordered, ever since we were small. I could see her now, rainbow speckled tongue protruding as she rolled her eyes at me. I looked back up to see that Leo was already tucking into his, eyes closed in blissful enjoyment as he licked his spoon clean of white chocolate topping. I took hold of my own spoon, scooping a small portion of ice-cream into my mouth. It tasted like I remembered; brownies and sugar and that odd taste that only rainbow-coloured foods manage to achieve.

I was pulled from my reverie by the sound of feminine giggles. I groaned internally. Would people never leave us alone? It's not like we were even doing anything this time … eating ice-cream is perfectly innocent, if somewhat odd in this weather.

Wearily cracking open my eyes, I raised my head to see a gaggle of girls watching us, hovering under a nearby tree. They looked about Leo's age, perhaps a little younger. There were three of them, two brunettes taking the lead, while a blonde in glasses stood a little further back, a sketch book clasped to her chest. They were definitely watching us, there was no doubt about that. It felt a little weird; I'd never really gotten much attention from girls, and even when I did it simply made me rather awkward, knowing that I couldn't think about them the same way.

One of the brunettes turned and made a comment to the blonde, who nodded then began to blush furiously as her friends grasped her shoulders as she struggled and protested. They began to drag her towards us as I elbowed Leo in the ribs.

'Hey, look over there. There … uh, there's some girls heading over here. I'm not sure why.'

He glanced up, expression half interest, half simple confusion. The three females had stopped in front of us, the blond still flailing and attempting to hide behind her sketch book.

'Hello.' said one of the brunettes. I looked towards Leo, expression frantic. 'Fix it!' I mouthed. He raised his hands and shoulders, as though asking what he was supposed to do, but then relented, turning back to face our newfound companions.

'Um, hello.' he replied awkwardly, managing to make it sound more like a question than a greeting. The brunette, however, seemed happy with this, and continued with her speech.

'My friend,' here came the nod to the blonde-haired girl who had stopped resisting, and was now attempting to curl herself into a shape small enough to be contained by her notebook, 'Thinks you're cute.'

Leo snorted, expression disbelieving. The other brown-haired one, who up until now had been silent, spoke.

'No, seriously! She just said so before. We wanted to know what your name was.'

I felt a pang of jealousy. These girls didn't deserve him! It's not like they even knew him, they had no right to comment on his cuteness. I was the only one allowed to think about him that way, not anyone else! It wasn't fair! I felt like telling him not to reply, but it was too late; his mouth was already open.

'I'm Leo, I guess. And this is Nico.'

He gestured to me with his spoon as all eyes turned my way. I couldn't even bother to produce a smile, irritated as I was. They had no right to come over here and talk to him so openly.

But it only got worse.

'So …' continued the second brunette, 'Can my friend have your number?'

I whipped around so quickly that I was caught in the face by Leo's ice-cream spoon. I felt like jumping to my feet and throttling her. 'No!' I wanted to scream. 'No you cannot have his number! He may not have a phone, but even if he did, you couldn't have it!'

I was actually considering following through with this, when Leo gently placed a hand on my knee; it seemed almost as though he could sense my intentions.

'I'm very sorry.' he replied calmly. 'But I can't do that. You see, Nico here is my boyfriend.'

His boyfriend. That was the first time he had called me anything of the sort. I felt my heart speed up, skipping a few beats here and there as I struggled to contain the grin which threatened to emerge.

The two dark-haired girls looked disappointed, but, for the first time, the blonde lowered her notebook, gazing at the two of us with serious blue eyes.

'I hope he makes you happy.' she said, addressing the comment to Leo. He nodded, glancing sideways at me as a smile and a bush crept onto his face.

'Yes. Yes he does make me very happy.'

'That's good then. I'm glad.' And saying so, she took her friends' hands, leaving us together on the edge of the fountain, watching her go.

A/N

Well that's another chapter out of the way! You may have noticed (or at least I hoped you did) that the word count has upped itself a little … to over double the normal size. This is because with the amount of monologue and scene-setting I do, I can't really make that much happen in the space of only 1000 words. So from here on in, chapters will be longer … I hope that pleases some of you. Also, I couldn't resist doing a jealous Nico … he's just so cute! :)

Announcement!

In truth, this announcement has been on my profile for eons, but if you're like me, you're probably far too lazy to actually read anything people post on author profiles, so I'm just reiterating it here.

I need a Beta for this story. Rather urgently. I'm not particularly brilliant at self-editing, especially as I usually write at an absurd hour of the morning; it's hard to revise a sentence when the words are busy swimming in front of your eyes. So I'd like someone to give a second opinion, make sure my facts are right, and stop me from changing Nico's eye colour ever chapter (which is what often seems to happen). Just pointing out (no bribery. None at all) that the lucky person with this job description will be able to read new chapters before anyone else on the face of the planet, beside moi. And may also get a sneaky peek at my new fanfic, which is still under construction.

So … PM me if interested.

That is all.