The next morning, Jason, Percy, Nico, and Annabeth were acting strange. Something had happened the night before; or at least the others suspected something had happened.

Percy was obviously making an effort to be friends with everybody, but stared at his shoes between smiles. Jason seemed normal, except for the fact that he looked tired. He had obviously stayed up late. Annabeth kept studying Percy and Nico, as if there was something she thought they were hiding from her. And Nico was acting the strangest of all. He was smiling. Yes, the son of Hades smiled as he drank his pomegranate juice with his cheerios. That was another thing Nico never did; eat. He was eating, too. Despite the weirdness in the air, there was also a sense of serinity, like something had been resolved. Still, nobody could figure out what it was.

Leo

Leo watched Nico eat his cheerios. Dang, it was weird to see that guy in such a good mood.

"Hey cheery, how do you like those cheerios?" Leo asked, jabbing him in the side with the back of his spoon.

Nico winced, uncomfortable with physical contact. People obviously freaked him out, but he shrugged it off after a few moments and continued to happily eat his breakfast. It almost made Leo smile. If Nico was happy, everybody should be happy.

"Welp," Leo said, "We should be arriving at Camp Half Blood tomorrow."

"Finally," Hazel said bitterly, stabbing her fork into the table. Everyone stared at her. She looked up and realized how forceful she had sounded, and sheepishly smiled, tucking her cinnamon hair behind her ear.

"Sorry, guys," she said. "I've just been impatient to get off of this ship."

"Hey, come on, I worked hard on this thing!" Leo whined, slapping the table. Everyone grinned between mouthfuls of food. They were going home.

After breakfast, everyone dispersed belowdeck to get ready for the day. Coach Hedge took watch and Percy took Leo's place and went to help guide the ship, giving Leo enough time to ready himself for the day (for once). Leo was the last to leave breakfast, and he grabbed his army jacket and headed down to the sleeping quarters where he kept his extra clothes and toiletries. As he was walking belowdeck, he accidentally opened the wrong door and found himself in Frank's room, and instantly wanted to flee and run. Frank was sitting on the bed with Hazel sitting in his lap, and they were kissing like it was the last day they would ever live. Wow, for the quiet ones, they sure seemed aggressive.

Frank's eyes shot open and he quickly stood up, and Hazel fell from his lap onto the bed. She scrambled to get up, too.

Leo stumbled with his words. "I'm so sorry... I meant to open the other door, and I, um, I'll just be going now..." He awkwardly backed out of the room, Frank and Hazel both bright red and looking like they wanted to say something but couldn't.

Leo shut the door and ran to the end of the corridor, even though his room was right next to Frank's. He wanted to be far away from there. He leaned against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling horrible for intruding on his friends. His stomach felt tight.

The door next to him opened, and Nico di Angelo stood behind it with a toothbrush in his mouth and a quizzical look on his face.

"What's wrong?" He asked, but he said it through a mouthful of foaming toothpaste, and accidentally spat a little bit of it onto the floorboards.

Leo was still amazed that Nico was acting so cheery, and couldn't believe that he was actually initiating the conversation. Still, he was grateful, and quickly entered Nico's room, shutting the door behind him. He was sure he looked as flustered as he felt.

Nico went over to the little sink in his room and spat, then wiped his mouth on his arm.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," said Nico.

"Nah, but I'm sure you know all about that."

Nico nodded, as if to say Fair enough.

"So what did you see, then?"

Leo sighed, not wanting to further ruin the privacy of his friends.

"I don't know if I should tell you," Leo responded.

"Okay, so will you be going now?" Nico asked seriously.

"What?"

"Well if you've got nothing to be hiding from, I don't see why you need to be in here." Nico's cheerful attitude was still there, but he was being passive agressive.

Leo sighed again and took a seat on Nico's bed. "I just need to stay in here until everyone else is done getting ready for the day."

"Okay," said Nico, sitting next to him, which was weird. Since when was Nico's body language friendly? "So who are you hiding from?"

Leo blinked. "What?"

Nico sighed, as if Leo were the most incompetent person he had ever come across.

"Come on, Leo. If I'm trying to avoid someone, I wait in here for everyone else to get ready. The fact that you're doing the same thing, added to the fact that you look terrified, seems to mean you're avoiding someone. Something just happened."

"You're one to talk," Leo huffed. "What happened last night that you won't tell anyone about?"

Nico pursed his lips, and Leo caught a glimpse of the old Nico, the quiet and mysterious one who shut everyone out.

"Some information about me got out, that's all."

Leo saw something in Nico's eyes. He looked like he wanted to tell him absolutely everything and nothing at all.

"Nico, you can trust me. You seemed so happy this morning and were smiling up until this point. If that's some sort of mask..."

"No." Nico cut him off. "It's not a mask, I'm just in a good mood, okay? Something happened, and it made me feel... better. But also worse."

"So why were you smiling?" Leo asked.

"Mask," Nico muttered.

Nico

Why was Leo Valdez so annoying?

Nico wanted desperately to tell Leo about Percy. Jason, Annabeth, and Percy already knew, but if Nico had had it his way, nobody would have known, and if anyone did, that person would be Leo Valdez. Leo was outgoing, but he was also alone. Nico knew that expression, the one Leo always wore. It was Leo's mask. Leo tried to appear friendly and lighthearted, but Nico could tell he felt just as out of place as himself. That's why Nico had wanted to tell Leo about Percy, because maybe he would understand what it was like to be different. But now three people already knew, and he didn't know if he could sleep at night knowing another person knew.

Nico didn't think he was really all that into Percy Jackson anymore. He had been trying to let him go ever since he and Jason faced Cupid, but last night had been an excellent closure. He had woken up this morning feeling like Percy Jackson didn't matter, at least not in a romantic way, and that this was a new beginning. Why tell Leo and bring up old things?
Maybe Nico just wanted Leo to know that he felt this way about other guys. He wanted someone to know. But not Jason or Percy or Annabeth. Those people had found out on accident. He wanted to talk about this with someone he trusted.

He turned to face Leo. Leo had obviously been trying to keep up with his train of thoughts, but failed, and seemed more confused than ever.

"I like boys," Nico said solidly, playing with the bottom of his black T-shirt and not looking into Leo's eyes. He didn't know what to do with his hands. What did normal people do with their hands?

Leo didn't answer him.

Nico waited in silence for his reaction, but there wasn't one.

After an awkward while, Nico looked into Leo's eyes. "Leo?"

Leo looked back at him cautiously, and his eyes flickered as if he was having an inner conversation with himself. Then his eyes stopped flickering, and he grinned back at Leo.

"Dude, thats totally okay," he said, a laugh in his voice.

Nico wasn't sure he meant it. "Then why did you take so long to answer?"

"Because I felt like I should tell you something, too, just so that you'll have something on me. That way you won't feel worried that I know your secret, because you'll know one of mine."

Nico nodded slowly. That was an acceptable answer.

"Okay, so tell me who you are hiding from."

Leo shrugged, like What the heck. "Frank and Hazel," he said. "I caught them making out."

Nico smiled a little. "That's not so bad. And I promise I wont talk about it."

Leo punched his arm playfully. "You never talk."

Nico looked down at his dark shirt and jeans, feeling like he looked really dark. He didn't feel really dark, at least not now. Leo accepted him.

"Okay, I told you my secret, now fess up," Nico said.

Leo looked at him quizically. "I told you a secret already."

"But that's not your secret. Why were you acting different when you came back to the Argo II after Khione launched you into the sky? What happened?"

Leo looked deflated. "Oh. It's just... I met someone."

Nico stared at him, so Leo continued.

"Do you remember hearing anything about Calypso?"

Recognition spread across Nico's face. Leo went on.

"Yeah, well, I got stuck on her island. And as I was leaving, she, um... she kissed me."

Nico didn't know what to do. Should he comfort or congratulate him?

Leo slouched, so Nico decided to go with comfort.

"You'll figure it out," said Nico.

Leo laughed. "I'm just confused. Because something else has come up." Nico found adrenaline running through him as he realized what was happening. Leo leaned towards him, and Nico felt warm and shaky, and his heart was pounding and his ears were throbbing. Leo was going to kiss him. His lips were inches from his face, when Nico put a hand on his shoulder and stood quickly. There was a brief pause before he ran out of the room. Because it was still too soon after everything that had happened. It was all too soon after Percy.