Chapter 14: A Discovery

Hi! I started this right after posting the last chapter, but I took a hiatus due to being busy and crap like that. SORRY ^v^. But IMPORTANT! I want you (before reading any more) to go listen to LoveGame by Lady Gaga. Then imagine that playing during certain parts (you'll know when). Please read and review! ^_^

Percy

Nico had disappeared the moment Percy took his eyes off him. As soon as he looked back at where the shorter boy was standing, he saw nothing. "Nico?"

"He ran off again?" Percy nodded in affirmation to the comment made by the son of Jupiter. Jason put an arm around Percy's shoulders. "Hey. He's probably in his cabin. The poor guy had quite the experience."

"I guess so. Well we'd better get on deck. Leo's still not allowed at the helm." The son of Poseidon grinned as he noticed a very specific scowl from another very specific demigod.

"Yeah yeah whatever. Two more days and I'm taking over navigation like it or not!"

Frank patted Leo on the back. "Alright alright. Just relax man."

"I guess we'd better get back in practice. In case we have to fight anytime soon." The three other heroes nodded and they squeezed into the empty room they used to train their battle skills.

Nico

The son of Hades sprinted up to his cabin and burst through the door to find a certain daughter of Bellona waiting for him. Oh god she's smiling. It was a kind of indignant smile.

"You kept me waiting."

"Oh sorry for dying."

Reyna frowned. "What? Say that again."

"I kinda died and then I was saved and then I came to you."

"Ok then. Disco stick?" Reyna stood up, looking hotter than ever, and Mr. Party Animal advanced with a grin.

Jason

The son of Jupiter leaned down and gripped Percy's hand, lifting the demigod to his feet.

"Not bad Grace!"

"Not bad yourself." Jason tossed Riptide lightly into Percy's hand. "Oh damn. I'm up against Frank now."

The son of Mars stood up with a murderous grin on his face, making Jason want to run for it. "Yeah you got that right." Jason gulped.

"H-Hey... don't hurt me too bad ok?"

The taller boy grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "Man I can't promise you that." The son of Jupiter whimpered, bringing a chuckle from Leo. Gonna have to deal with him later.

Percy clapped loudly. "Match start!" In a moment, Jason felt his back smash against the wall. He slowly slid down to a sitting position. Frank had thrown him hard into the wood wall. He slumped over and stared ahead.

The son of Mars grinned. "Well?... Jason...?" He frowned and knelt beside his former praetor. "You ok?"

"You'll pay for that." In a moment, Jason was on top of Frank, and he kept his knees on Frank's huge six pack. "Gotcha now!"

"I'm stronger than that dude." He flung Jason to the side, but the older demigod kept his position.

"And I'm the second strongest."

Finally Frank held still. "I submit. But I'll beat your ass after this is over."

Percy grinned. "Granted. Match goes to Jason."

The son of the sky god rose to his feet and helped his opponent up, pulling him into a warm embrace to ensure their friendship although they were fighting.

Leo

Percy put his elbow on Leo's shoulder. "I'll take on Leo now. Never really seen this guy fight. Except... ok maybe I have." Leo nodded and put his hands on his belt on his waist, which was (as usual) looking like a normal belt.

"Just saying, I'm not a great fighter so... don't hurt me bad." He said, raising his eyebrows.

"Got it. After all I wouldn't want to hurt my ride home."

Just a tool... being used. Hey shut up Leo you know they all love you. It's just a joke. Is it?

Jason took a few steps back and started the match. In a moment, Percy tackled Leo, who had let out a scream just as he was taken to the ground with a thud.

"Gotcha now Valdez!"

But the skinny guy wriggled his way out from underneath Percy's body, and took his place sitting on Percy, keeping him in a mount. "Sure about that man?"

"G-Get off me!"

Jason intercepted. "Match goes to—"

"Noooooooo!" Percy howled.

"... Leo Valdez."

"Leo I'll kill you!"

Leo smirked. "Uh oh better run." He got off Percy and helped him up.

"Speaking of death, where's Nico. He should be back by now."

Leo shrugged. "You check his cabin. Tell us if he's there."

Nico

Reyna grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer. Their lips were centimeters—millimeters—from touching. Then Nico pulled away and pushed Reyna lightly against his wardrobe, putting his hand next to her head as he leaned in.

"N-Nico...?" The door was open, and Percy's head was poking in.

"Wa! How much did you see?!" Reyna and Nico quickly moved to opposite ends of the room, blushing like tomatoes as Percy walked in, confused.

"Wait so... you and Reyna... wait... I'm confused... huh?"

Nico looked to Reyna and nodded with a sigh. "Yes we've been together since the war."

Percy grinned and put his arm around Nico proudly. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

Nico blushed and scowled as he elbowed his friend in the rib.

"Alright alright, but can I tell the others?"

Reyna slowly nodded, as did Nico. "They should know. They have every right."

"Ok. You two get back to..." Percy smirked.

Nico glared. "No it's fine we were just finished." Reyna affirmed with a nod. "I'll come with you." Reyna probably needs to be alone now anyway.

"Great! Leggo!" Nico winced as his overenegetic best friend pulled him toward the room with the other three heroes. As the door closed, he pulled Nico in closer. "I'm glad you... found some—"

"I swear to god Perce if you don't shut the hell—why are you smiling?!" Nico was blushing red like he had the blessing of mars.

Perce slapped Nico's back. "I'm happy for ya. But seriously. Reyna?" Percy smirked and sprinted into the room before Nico could hurt him.

Nico followed in, and all eyes were on him. Jason laughed. "Nico you're blushing."

"E-Erm..." The son of death rubbed his neck nervously and embarrassed. "Eh... there's something I have to tell you guys."

Percy grinned. "Oh do go on." Nico flashed him a look.

"I... Me... Reyna... we're... um... you know..." Jason dropped his coin on the ground. Leo dropped the wire in his hand. Frank just dropped his jaw.

Jason spoke first. "Nico and... Reyna...? Reyco?! I SHIP IT!"

Nico raised his eyebrow in surprise. He thought Jason would have hit him, you know since Jeyna might have been a thing. "Wait you're not mad? Not even gonna hit me?"

Jason stared. "Wh-What?! No! Of course not! I'm happy for you man!" Jason walked a few steps and threw his arms around Nico's body. "And FYI Jeyna was never a thing." He whispered in an undertone. when his mouth was beside Nico's ear. He pulled away and patted Nico's shoulder, smiling encouragingly.

Leo was grinning as well. "Well it's only fitting since Reyna scares people to death and your dad is death... I don't really know where I'm going with this."

"Leo I'm not sure if I wanna hug you or beat the crap outta you."

That wiped the grin off. Leo gulped. "Please choose the first option."

"Actually, I'm kinda leaning toward the other."

Nico took a step forward, and Leo scrambled back a few feet, putting both hands in front of himself. "Hey hey I saved your life!"

Nico smiled genuinely. "Come 'ere." He pulled Leo into his arms.

Finally the son of Hephaestus smiled un-mischievously. "Good luck." Nico nodded in acknowledgement.

As soon as Leo pulled away, Nico was nearly taken down by Percy who had run up to him at tremendous speed, tightly wrapping his arms around the shorter boy's chest. "Perce! You coulda killed me!"

Percy was too happy to apologize. "You didn't think I wouldn't hug you did you?! Come 'ere bro!"

Nico scowled. "I'm already here man!"

"Never gonna letchu go!"

"Ack! Please! I think I'll die then!" Percy smiled as he didn't let go and happily hugged Nico. "You done brohugging the life outta me?!"

Leo grunted in the background. "One does not simply brohug the son of death to death."

Percy grinned. "I do!" Finally, releasing his best friend, who immediately panted and gasped.

"Please try not to kill me next time you do that." Nico initially frowned, but after a few seconds, the edges of his mouth lifted into a grin, which changed into a chuckle.

"I'll try. I'm not letting you go back to Punishment."

Frank briefly hugged his girlfriend's brother—thankfully there was no awkwardness there anymore—the two guys had cleared the air recently, which had been easier since they were already friends.

Nico was first to speak since an unexplainable silence had fallen on the group. "Something wrong? It's not like anything's changed. Anyway you all have girlfriends it makes no difference if I have one. Bros before hos. Again not that she's a ho..." Leo ruffled the son of death's hair.

"We know. Anyway since we're sparring, who d'you wanna face?" Nico shrugged.

"I don't really care. I can't choose between you guys."

"Aww that's cute... close your eyes and choose."

Nico shut his onyx eyes and pointed in a random direction. He opened his eyes and saw that he was pointing at Jason. "Well Jason?"

The blonde nodded in acknowledgement, and the other three took a few steps back giving the duo space. Percy started the fight. "Ok 3...2...1...Start!"

The two boys charged at each other and met at the middle, where Nico agilely replicated the matrix move to avoid Jason's array of punches. The son of death landed a strong hit on his friend's chest, only rewarding him with a punch in the stomach. They were even up to now. Jason was grinning. "Not bad Nico."

"Back at ya." In a moment, Nico had hurled his entire body weight upon Jason, bringing the taller boy down with a thud. The son of Jupiter was taken by surprise and yelped as he fell to the ground. Nico pulled his fists back and punched Jason's chest in quick succession. Jason used all his strength to roll the son of Hades off his body, and immediately reversed the situation by putting himself over Nico, whose eyes were wide. "How—"

Jason's fists were faster than lightning, striking Nico's entire torso. Nico caught Jason's fists before he could continue beating him, and used all his might to shove the taller boy off him. Nico continued beating Jason's torso until finally, he himself had been shoved off, and the two lay side by side on the floor. Nico started laughing, and then Jason joined in. "You definitely beat me to a pulp."

"'Fraid I have to say the same.

"Ahh never knew the son of Hades could fight like that." Jason sat up, supporting himself with an elbow, and reached up with one hand. Percy quickly sprinted to Jason and grabbed his outstretched hand, pulling him to his feet. "Thanks man." Percy helped Nico up, and the two fighters sat together, exhausted as the rest of the group(Percy, Leo, Frank) chatted around, with many diminutive jokes from Leo along with death threats from the powerful son of Mars. "Nico I'm glad you moved on. You know I... I kinda feel responsible for keeping your secret since... ya know."

"Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for keeping my secret. I owe you."

"Does Percy know that I knew?"

Nico put a finger to his mouth. "Who knows how he's gonna react..."

"Also... there's something I haven't told anyone yet. About Leo. I'm gonna tell everyone but I don't know how..."

"It's ok. You can tell me."

"You know how... the hatch was opened even though we were supposed to use the hull? Before we went missing?" Nico nodded attentively. "Well we actually used the hull... the hatch was opened because Leo... tried to run away." Nico's jaw dropped.

"Say wha?"

"He was going to leave us." That seriously didn't sound like Leo.

The confused son of death glanced at the son of Hephaestus who was currently laughing at a blushing son of Mars. "Wh-Wha..." He remembered earlier that day, Leo had uncharacteristically left the group. "He... why?"

"Apparently Nemesis told him he would be the seventh wheel... and we kinda made him feel that way so... yeah. I barely convinced him to return here. And shortly after that we left to get repair stuff for the ship." So I was right... "And then we found all our stuff in the monster store where we were attacked."

"So... Leo... Wow. He's fine now right?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

"Thank the gods... I gotta apologize... on Percy's behalf too."

"Alright but not now. Don't spoil the atmosphere death boy! But hey I gotta make a new name for ya now don't I? Since you've changed."

"You sure do Sparky."

"How about... Gray... as in 50 shades—"

"Gray is fine but not as in 50 shades. Anything else. Even Gray Fullbuster."

"Alright then. It's Gray."

Ok I am so frikkin sorry I couldn't do this faster. You may or may not hate me right now but I got busy and I know it's a crappy excuse. I'll try to get back to weekly updates. Please review. ^_^