Another long wait, but finally, here is the next chapter of The Skull and The Flame. Thank you to anyone who faved and followed. And thanks, as always, to my brilliant beta Chromatophobe.
ObsessedwReading : Thank you :)
Neon Wish Likes Pine Trees: I'm glad that you think so. And nice jokes, they made me giggle. Here's one for you (you've probably heard it before, but oh well). Why didn't the ghost go to the dance? Because he had no-body to go with.
Bluecookiedough : Thanks, I'm glad that you like it.
Calefe : You're very welcome.
LONG LIVE BOOKS : I'm happy to hear that you think so.
HowlingRain : I find them difficult to write as well. I guess the trick is to just keep going at it and to try and put yourself in the character's shoes.
Kris Awesomeness : Nope, I can't wait to have them get together either.
Mondmaedchen : Thank you. It's really nice of you to say that. You are one of the reviewers who I really appreciate as well, I always see your name and it makes me smile.
XxTealJadexX : I'm sorry about the typos, I'm so focussed on trying to get the story done that I often make stupid mistakes. I'm glad that you're willing to read despite the errors.
As clever as Annabeth2001: I'm happy that you found it funny.
Disclaimer : HOH is still not my property. I am sadly not expecting this to change.
Nico's P.O.V
It seemed as if they stayed there in that same position, sobbing for hours, but in reality it was only a fraction of that time.
After pulling apart, both boys took a moment to compose themselves.
Then Leo was staring at him, eyes still shimmering.
"Feeling any better?" Nico nodded.
"You?" Nico asked. Leo smiled half-heartedly.
"I guess."
As they took a moment to absorb all that had just transpired they heard Hazel calling them for dinner.
Leo stretched languidly and stood up. Something in the mood had shifted. Nico felt… lighter. Not everything had been fixed, but enough had been covered to make both boys feel better.
"Come on, we best not keep them waiting. Jason'll probably come back and carry us to the dining room." He held out a tanned hand to help pull Nico up.
As Leo turned to head out of the door, Nico stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you seriously okay?" Leo's smile dropped temporarily.
"No, and I expect you aren't, either. But I am better. And I can only hope that you actually are too." Nico nodded again bashfully and Leo's bright smile returned.
"Then let's go get some grub! There's nothing like a two person pity party for making you hungry." Nico rolled his eyes as Leo grabbed his arm and began yanking him towards the dining room where the others were probably already waiting.
Nico was right: the others were already seated – even Coach Hedge was present. His plate (the only one currently containing anything) was filled with cans and an enchilada or two.
As Leo bounded in - with Nico being pulled along - Nico became aware of the mixed expressions they were receiving.
Jason was smiling openly at them, Piper looked confused and both Hazel and Frank seemed worried (though, admittedly Hazel seemed a bit more fretful than the son of Mars).
Leo appeared completely unconcerned by all of these expressions, releasing Nico's arm and casually sauntering over to the table. Nico followed and sat in the chair next to his Latino friend. Jason was on Leo's other side with Piper next to him while Hazel, Frank and the Coach were all sitting on the opposite side of the table.
"Good of you cupcakes to join us." Leo merely winked at the irate coach.
"So whose culinary delights are we sampling today?" Nico wondered why Leo hadn't just checked the schedule, though he wasn't one to judge as he hadn't thought to check either.
Frank sheepishly raised his hand. Leo groaned.
"Did you at least check to make sure that it was edible before declaring it finished?" Frank rose and glared at him.
"Hey, if you don't want to eat, then don't eat. I don't care." Frank went to the kitchen, leaving behind a second of silence before Leo's voice rang out, brimming with good-natured humour. Nico could still see the hurt on his face though.
"I knew that Frank could turn into a bear. I didn't know that he had the attitude of one." Hazel shot the son of Hephaestus a sad look before scurrying after her boyfriend to help with the food and no doubt to give him an earful about being a little too harsh.
Nico was annoyed with the shapeshifter. It had taken so much to cheer Leo up, and Frank had almost undone all of Nico's work with two sentences. By chance, his eyes met Jason's, and he could see similar emotions in the elder demigod's blue gaze, though his face also held bemusement.
After a few tense seconds that were filled with Leo toying with his cutlery, Piper and Jason apparently having a mental conversation, Coach gazing longingly at his can collection and Nico observing them all, Frank shuffled in with a plate of burgers. Hazel followed with a tray of chips. They headed around the table, giving each demigod a portion. Even Hedge got some chips, and Frank made sure to give Piper tofu burgers.
As they sat down, Frank cleared his throat hesitantly.
"Look Leo, I didn't mean to bite your head off. I was just... sort of in a bad mood."
"It's fine. Though if I get food poisoning..." The others tensed up, but Frank simply smirked.
"If you get sick then it isn't food poisoning, it's cyanide." Leo burst out laughing and the others soon joined in. Nico couldn't help laughing a bit himself – that answer had just been so unexpected.
With the mood now sufficiently relaxed, the demigods (and satyr) enjoyed their meal. They bantered back and forth, and even Nico joined in here and there.
"By the way, where's Calypso?" Nico felt a little guilty that he hadn't actually noticed the girl's absence until Leo had asked.
"Oh, she's up on the deck. She said that as she doesn't need to eat, she'll stand guard for a while."
"I guess I'll go and see how she is then." Leo stood up and walked away, pinching a chip from Nico's plate and popping it into his mouth whilst humming obnoxiously.
They all rolled their eyes in sync, except for Coach Hedge who was still chewing on a ravaged aluminium shard that had once been a coke can.
Suddenly, all eyes were on him. He wasn't used to so much attention, and he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks.
"What?" He hoped that hadn't sounded as harsh to them as it had to him. He then realised that Jason was now also receiving some strange attention, Piper and Frank were alternating their gaze between the two whilst Hazel's eyes remained solely trained on Nico.
"What's going on? What happened when you guys were out?" Nico shrunk back a little, but Jason's face remained neutral.
"Shouldn't you be asking this with Leo present?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow. Piper shook her head.
"He needs some time with Calypso." The daughter of Aphrodite's tone was fast approaching fangirl levels, so Nico sent Jason a desperate look to try and get him to derail his girlfriend before she spent an hour talking about her OTP (everyone on board the Argo understood that Piper shipped all of the couples with a frightening intensity).
"We got the sceptre, Pipes. Nothing else happened." Jason said, picking at his food.
"Are you sure? Because Nico and Leo spent a lot of time hiding in Nico's room..." Frank countered. His words sent a spark of indignation racing through Nico's veins.
"We weren't hiding! We are allowed to hang out you know!" He snapped. Frank held up his hands defensively.
"We're just worried Nico. But we understand if you don't want to talk about it." Hazel said, frowning in worry. Piper sent Hazel a look that seemed to say 'speak for yourself.' Nico relaxed slightly.
"You don't need to worry. Me and Leo sorted everything out." Nico said, trying to ignore the way Jason beamed at him when he said this. It was kind of creepy (if heart-warming) how Jason treated Leo like a little brother, and how this attitude now seemingly extended to Nico as well.
The others didn't look too convinced, but they apparently decided to let them off.
"YOU STILL KNOW MORE THAN I TELL MOST PEOPLE! WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING?" Everyone jumped as Leo's angry shouts filtered down from the deck. They all exchanged awkward looks, trying to decide whether or not they should go up and see what was going on, or whether they should just let the couple have their privacy.
Worry won out over respect for privacy as the tense shouts got somewhat quieter. They were still clearly shouting at each other, but Nico could no longer make out the distinct words.
Coach Hedge said that he was going to go watch wrestling; his job wasn't to sort out petty relationship problems. He sounded gruff and almost uncaring, but Nico could make out a glint of concern in the satyr's eyes.
When they got up to the deck, the scene before them was like a Mexican standoff.
Leo's hands were clenching and unclenching as little twists of fire grazed his knuckles. Calypso's hands were on her hips, hair whipping in the wind.
"I'm your girlfriend Leo, and I just want to help." Her voice was softer now, subdued, but Leo didn't look mollified.
"It's been sorted. I don't need your help." Calypso flinched back, as if she had been struck, and tears started to pool in her eyes.
"If you don't need my help then maybe I should just ask the Gods to return me to my island." She muttered something else, but Nico wasn't close enough to hear it.
The Titaness then raced past the others and hurried below deck, leaving Leo who was looking down at the deck.
"That was a bit harsh, Leo." Piper was obviously sticking up for her fellow female, something that Leo didn't seem to appreciate as his blazing eyes locked in on the brunette.
"Oh, of course it's entirely my fault. I'm sorry; I forgot that I can never be right." Sarcasm oozed from Leo's words. Although the boy sounded angry, Nico could see the turmoil in the fire wielder's eyes.
"Leo, I wasn't saying that. It's just-"
"-It's just nothing! Butt out!" Leo also stormed away. Nico sighed. He really hoped another therapy session wasn't in order.
Leo's P.O.V
Leo shoved down his guilt at making Calypso cry. He loved her, but she didn't need to know everything. Leo took a while to open up. He trusted her, sure, but that didn't mean that he had to just confess every secret he'd ever had to her.
He really didn't want to talk to her about the quest they'd just been on. Calypso had been stuck on her island for millennia – did she even understand what being bisexual meant?
He threw his arm over his eyes as he leant back on his bed. Then he groaned as a half-finished project dug into his back.
He was too fed up to remove it.
Calypso was one of Leo's first serious girlfriends and he really liked her, but maybe their relationship had moved a little too fast. They had only known each other for a couple of weeks when they got together and Leo couldn't help fearing that maybe it was due to the curse of the island. Maybe Calypso was doomed to fall in love with anyone who landed on her island, and it had just taken longer for her to fall for Leo because they were really incompatible.
Maybe their whole relationship was fake.
Leo quickly stowed those thoughts away. Calypso was worried about him, and his response had been a little harsh.
He just felt a bit… raw. Exposed. Nico had already known about his sexuality, so confessing in front of the son of Hades hadn't been a problem. But confessing in front of Jason (despite the fact that the issue had now been cleared up through his talk with Nico) had left him a little sensitive to prodding.
Leo knew that he owed his girlfriend an apology, and probably a brief explanation. But his sexuality was a matter for another day, one that Calypso hopefully wouldn't mind if she truly loved him.
"Brooding again? I thought that that was my job." Nico's voice was tinged with amusement, but there was an undercurrent of concern that Leo was very much aware of.
"Sorry about that. I'll leave it to you to angst away next time." Nico grinned, and Leo was relieved that the younger boy wasn't going to prod him about his argument with Calypso. He'd apologise to his girlfriend later, right now he just wanted to relax with his friend.
After all, Calypso probably needed some time to cool down as well. Speaking of cooling down…
"Want to get some ice cream?" Nico rolled his eyes.
"Are you three?" Leo stuck his tongue out. He really wanted some ice cream. Sue him.
They padded along to the kitchen. On the way, they bumped into Piper. Leo felt his smile drop, and hastily tried to adjust his face. He probably looked more constipated than neutral.
Piper's kaleidoscope eyes fixed onto his.
"Leo, can we talk for a minute?" Leo looked desperately at Nico, hoping that his eyes conveyed his SOS message, but Nico's returned look stated quite clearly that he thought that this would be good for Leo.
Leo also hoped that his eyes now conveyed the message "traitor" as Nico informed him that he wouldn't eat all of the ice-cream before sidling off nonchalantly.
Leo was left facing his honorary big sister.
"Look, Pipes, I know that I was harsh, and that I owe Calypso an apology." Piper cut him off by placing her hand over his mouth. Leo was really tempted to lick her, just because that was what he always did in situations like these, but he decided that he really wanted to get that ice-cream and he wouldn't get it if Piper murdered him in this corridor.
"No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have interfered. You can look after yourself and deal with your problems yourself." Leo hadn't expected an apology from Piper. He really thought that Piper was just going to take Calypso's side in some sort of sister solidarity.
"I'm just worried for you. I know that Calypso makes you happy, and you look so cute together." She gave him a cheeky wink, to show that she was definitely playing up the Aphrodite stereotype.
Leo's temptation won out over his restraint.
"Leo!" Piper drew back her hand and gave him a dark look.
"You should have known that I was going to lick your hand eventually. If you put your hand over my mouth then you're just asking for it." She smirked evilly, and then started ruffling his hair.
"Hey, hey, leave the hair alone." Piper stuck her tongue out and Leo copied.
"So are we alright?" Leo cursed the slight tremor in his voice. He prayed that Piper hadn't noticed it.
"Yeah. Anyway, you better hurry up if you want Nico to keep his promise of not eating all of the ice-cream." Leo nodded, and then pulled Piper in for a quick hug that evidently surprised her if the confused look on her face was anything to go by.
"See ya later, Beauty Queen." He then dashed off, heading towards the kitchen.
As he drew closer, he began hollering that Nico better have saved him some. He virtually tumbled through the dining room door on the way to the kitchen.
His giddiness was swiftly supressed as he observed the scene before him.
Nico and Calypso were both sitting on opposite ends of the table. Nico was eating his ice-cream whilst Calypso appeared to be studying the pattern of the table.
It felt even more awkward than it sounds.
I'm not very happy with this chapter. I'm sorry about the fact that it isn't very good, and for its lateness. College is a pain in the butt. And Leo acts sort of like a douche this chapter. Just remember how hard it is for Leo to open up to people and that Calypso was evidently pressing him for information. With Leo you have to wait for him to open up, you can't really force him into telling you things without a confrontation.
She's not lying. The college we go to is more like the Third Reich than it is an educational institute. You should see a return to normality in terms of update schedules for my friend, though. - Chrom