A/N: Any inaccurate info about the LOTR argument is my fault - it's been like three years since i last saw the movies/read the books. Hope you enjoy regardless!

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They soon formed a habit of some sort, him and Nico. As soon as the classes began, they both got up at the same time (which was way too early because Nico, apparently, was a morning person while Leo most definitely was not), ate breakfast together (most of the time it was cereal without milk, because usually they were both in hurry after Leo took an hour long shower to wake up properly), and left their room at the same time. They both went their separate ways, sat next to each other in the classes they shared, and spend lunchtime at the same table with Jason and Piper. In the afternoon they returned to their room, did their homework, and lately, talked. Talked about irrelevant things, talked about school, talked about feelings. Leo still wasn't quite sure just how this latest development had began. He knew when, though.

It'd been a Friday night, and Leo had been unable to sleep. Thoughts (rather unpleasant ones) kept surfacing in his mind no matter how hard he tried to suppress them, and he'd been tossing and turning in his bed until the early morning trying to get rid of them. It was around 5 am when Nico had whispered, in such a quiet voice that Leo almost missed it, "Can't sleep either?" A few minutes later they'd both been sitting with the lights on and discussing their selective insomnia, and from that the topics had escalated to almost everything else.

Now, about a week later, Leo knew all these little things about Nico he'd stored into his brain. For example, despite what his choice of clothing suggested, his favorite color was in fact blue and not black. His favorite season was fall, because summer was too hot and winter too cold, but spring was too cheery. He had one sister, though he did get an uncomfortable look on his face when talking about her so Leo suspected there was more to the story. He didn't see his father often, and his mother had died when he'd been little. He was sixteen years old now, but was aware that he looked like 'a really tough 10-year old with an emo haircut'. He didn't listen to My Chemical Romance or any of the other bands Leo had suggested, but was reluctant to tell what he did actually listen to. They had a shared obsession of the same television shows, which proofed to be an endless source of conversation. Nico didn't really watch movies, but read instead.

(That had inspired Leo to arrange a movie marathon for one weekend. He couldn't have a roommate who hadn't watched The Lord of The Rings, no matter how many times said roommate had read the books and knew, in fact, what the plot was perfectly well.)

They didn't talk about Nico's depression. Not yet, anyway. Leo was sure they'd tackle the subject at some point, but he wanted to get to know Nico better first. Or maybe he wanted Nico to get to know him better. Which, to be honest, was a new feeling for Leo. Besides Piper, and maybe to and extent Jason, no one knew the real Leo under his layers of humor and sarcasm. And yet slowly but surely he was giving Nico, a guy he'd met only about a month ago, bits and pieces of himself he didn't share with anyone.

Leo was still in the midst of deciding whether or not this new found openness was a good thing.

He hadn't really told Nico that much – he still kept his mother's death, and various other things, under cover. But at this rate he'd probably end up confessing his whole life story to Nico during one of their Late Night Shows. Which, again; was that a good or a bad thing, who knew. Leo didn't.

"Are you joking? Who doesn't like Gandalf?" Nico asked, efficiently pulling Leo from his thoughts back to the real world. He was leaning slightly towards Leo, searching his eyes as if there were something wrong with Leo's condition. Leo rolled his eyes in response. "I don't. I mean yeah, he's a cool character and all, but dude. He's such an asshole sometimes," Leo retorted and could feel the annoyance radiating from Nico more than see it.

"He's no– well, yeah, kind of. But you can't deny the fact the sacrifices himself to save Frodo and the others, right?"

"And then he comes back. It's not really a worthy sacrifice if he doesn't actually, you know, sacrifice himself. That's like, the same as Sherlock throwing himself off the hospital roof and then watching his own funeral. He didn't actually die."

"You can't compare those things! Sherlock was aware that he wasn't going to die, he had a plan. Did Gandalf have a plan? No, he didn't."

This was what Leo really, really did enjoy about they're talks – when they got into an argument about things Leo couldn't argue about with Piper and Jason, because they didn't have Leo's obsession with everything television related. He leaned against the wall, watching Nico with raised eyebrows. They were both sitting on Leo's bed, mainly because talking from the other ends of the room required a bit of yelling and it was already pretty late.

"Well how do you know? Maybe he was planning his fall and comeback all along, and just made himself look like a big hero, eh?"

"How do I–" Nico shut his mouth, pulling his best 'I am offended'-face as Leo liked to call it. It was usually followed by a smug fact that proved him right, or... "I know, because I've actually read the books, unlike some others who shall not be named." Leo grinned.

"But the books aren't really from Gandalf's point of view, are they? You don't know what he's been planning under that wizard hat."

"Well neither do you."

"Touche, my friend."

Nico smiled hesitantly, like he was afraid his face might brake if he grinned wide enough. It was a nice look on him, Leo thought. Better than the scowl, at least.

"We're friends?" He asked in a soft voice, and Leo felt something unfamiliar tug at his heart.

"Yeah," he said and felt his own lips form a smile too. "'Course we're friends, Nico. What would I do if I didn't have someone to argue about fictional things with?" He felt the tugging at his heart more clearly now, like it was a machine that'd just been turned on instead of an organ. Nico smiled a bit wider. "Yeah, you'd be lost without me wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I would," Leo said, and found himself unsure as to whether he was joking or not. That, he thought, was another thing he should figure out later. One shouldn't interrupt important Late Night Arguments with too serious thoughts. And so he steered the conversation back to Gandalf, and filed the thought under the 'All things Nico' category, and vowed he'd think about the strange feeling later. And if the thought of Nico's smile creeped into his mind more often than not, well, no one would know.

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