Nico was awoken by three knocks at the door; that was the code to show it was one of the friends.
Nico sluggishly got out of bed, patting his hair down as he walked over to the door.
"yes?" he asked, opening the door to see Hazel and Frank.
"Good morning Nico, do you have time? I'd like to talk with you." Hazel asked as she looked down shyly.
"I guess, come in..." Nico said as he gestured to them to come in, stepping to the side.
Hazel and Frank walked in rather nervously, Nico closing the door behind them.
"what do you need to talk to me about?" Nico asked the suspicious pair.
"Well Hazel, do you want to ask, or do you want me to?" asked Frank.
"He's my brother, I should ask..." Hazel replied, a downcast look on her face.
"Ask me what?" Nico was starting to worry, wondering if maybe Leo told them the blackmail and they had come to confirm it.
Hazel looked up, looking Nico in the eyes, "A-Are you -"
"I'm not! Whatever he told you it's not true!" Nico blurted out without thinking.
"What? Leo didn't tell us anything, you were keeping it secret right? About you two being-"
"I swear we aren't! Who told you that about Leo and I?" Nico questioned, not letting her finish.
"I did, it just looked like you two were dating." Frank answered.
"Well we aren- wait, did you say dating?" Nico asked.
"Yes, we came here because you and Leo were acting strange towards one another, and I just wanted to ask you about it. What did you think I was talking about Nico?" Hazel replied, rather confused.
Nico didn't know how to reply, he couldn't reveal he was really trying to avoid admitting he was acting out of being blackmailed.
"What's going on?" asked a very disheveled Leo, rubbing his eyes as he slowly approached the group, not bothering to fix his clothing or hair.
Hazel stepped forward quickly, "Are you and my brother dating?"
Leo stopped rubbing his eyes, finding that shock stopped him from moving, a hard thing to do with ADHD.
This was it, confess and reveal all the blackmail, or lie further and pretend he and Leo were dating, the thought sickened Nico, he turned to face Hazel, she was so innocent and fragile, telling her what he really does for a living would break her heart and possibly his career. Nico could have always settled down and gotten a normal job, the Camps helped with that for those who survived into adulthood, but Nico wasn't one for being controlled and confined, his current life style had a price, and it only seemed to be getting bigger.
"We are," Nico answered, looking down and embarrassed.
All heads turned to face him, Leo wore a face of utter confusion and astonishment, Frank and Hazel were still testing the waters.
"But, you just said-" Frank started but Nico interjected.
"Leo didn't want to admit it, He didn't know how to tell you guys he was bisexual."
Leo started to catch on somewhat to what was happening, Nico had just revealed one of Leo's biggest secrets without even knowing, and now he was lying to cover something up, it hinged on Leo cooperating.
"Yeah... I'm sorry guys, Nico I know it was hard for you to do that for me, thanks." Leo stated in Nico's direction, he started to laugh.
"I knew you guys would accept me, but I didn't know if you would like my choice of partner so much" Leo continued.
Hazel smiled, "Who Nico decides to date is his choice. Leo, you can tell us anything, you shouldn't be so scared with us." she replied, pulling Nico and Leo into a hug.
Leo smirked while Nico shuddered at the awkwardness of the whole situation.
"So was that all you wanted to talk about?" Nico asked, trying to end it all.
"Yeah, that's it, unless Hazel had anything else to say." Frank answered.
"Nope, you two have fun, alright?" Hazel said,
"Just not too much!" Frank added.
"Too late" Leo replied, stunning everyone in the room.
"Leo!" Nico cried, Blushing, but his blush was nothing compared to Hazel's, it looked as though she was having a heart attack.
"What, you seem to have a real talent for it." Leo smirked, teasing Nico.
"Ok! Too much detail! Glad this is settled! Bye!" Frank practically yelled, quickly dragging Hazel out of the room.
Leo turned to Nico, "So, sweat-heart, you wanna fill me in?"
Nico blushed, having the term used on him, "don't call me that Dumb-ass"
"Alright, Doll"
"Leo, I'm warning you cut it out!"
"Whatever you say," Leo snickered, "Sugar".
"That's it, you're dead."