Here is the second half of the double update. LOL I am really excited for this chapter. There's lots of Percico and oblivious Percy. :-) I hope you enjoy.

Important thing to note... This will be yaoi (boy-boy). Don't like? You do not have to read.

Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

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Percy POV

I was enjoying the sun of the early evening. It had been surprisingly quiet all day. Ever since the fall of Gaia, there had been fewer monster attacks. Of course that made sense as most of the monsters would still be regenerating after the final battle. The only monsters I had to fight of had been a few storm spirits and one harpy that had just become to annoying to ignore.

My ADHD was starting to kick in from doing nothing for most of the day. I was hoping that someone would come and relieve me soon so that I could go do something more entertaining. I wasn't used to having to stay in the same place for hours on end. At first it had been fun because everyone was on deck, either chatting or wobbling around. But after everyone had gone below deck, I began to get bored. I could only look at the landscape rolling along below us for so long.

I was surprised that the deck had been so empty all day. Frank had come up to keep watch with me but I missed chatting with Nico. I hadn't seen him all afternoon. I guessed that he was probably taking care of his sister as her boyfriend was on deck with me.

I liked Frank but he was being strangely quiet and kept sending me odd glances. I couldn't seem to decipher what was going on in his head.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, when I looked up I saw Jason and Nico coming on deck. I instantly felt myself smile. Jason looked at me for a moment before saying something I couldn't hear to Frank. Frank nodded and headed below deck, probably to sit with Hazel.

Nico walked towards the front of the deck before drawing his sword. I watched as he started to dissect one of the targets that we had set up for practice.

I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Jason walking up to me. "Hey, do you want a break? It's probably pretty boring standing in the same spot all day."

I winced, "You have no idea." I smiled and stepped back as the son of Jupiter took the helm. "Thanks man, I was going crazy."

Jason just laughed. "I bet."

I stood still for a moment trying to decide what I wanted to do. I was contemplating going and unpacking my bags but that didn't sound very appealing. My eyes drifted over to where Nico was now gutting a second straw warrior.

I shrugged to myself as I went to join him. Practice sounded far more fun to me that more work did.

I pulled Riptide out of my pocket and went to one of the dummies that was still intact. I felt myself moving with practiced actions as I systematically dismembered the target.

"So, on a scale from one to math class, how bored are you right now?"

I turned and smiled at the son of Hades, "Honestly? Math class sounds fun at the moment."

Nico smiled and let out a small chuckle, "You poor soul."

I laughed; it wasn't very often that I was able to see Nico this happy. I had been really worried that my confession the other day would make him feel really awkward around me. I was pleased to see that it seemed to have the opposite effect. He seemed more relaxed around me than he had in the past.

I knew that we would have to talk about everything but I was more than okay with putting off that conversation until he brought it up.

Nico tilted his head and his smile widened a little, "So are you bored enough to spar?"

I was surprised by the request. I very seldom had anyone but the Ares cabin challenge me. People tended to avoid fighting with me and Nico had never shown interest training with me before. "Are you sure?"

"Ya, I want to train and these straw targets just aren't up to the challenge."

I smiled, I loved sparing and Nico would be a worthy opponent. I would never say no to a good challenge. "I would love to."

I stepped back as we took our starting positions. "Okay, no powers right?"

I nodded to the son of Hades, "Agreed. I think the Hephaestus cabin would have our hides if we broke the ship."

He smiled as he raised his sword.

For a moment, neither of us moved.

At the same moment we launched towards each other. His sword swept towards my head. I easily blocked it as I attempted to land a kick against his chest. He spun out of the way and brought the handle of his sword down towards my head. I ducked into a backwards somersault as I rolled under the attack.

I jumped to my feet just in time to dodge the kick he aimed at my knee. I stepped into him and used the close proximity to elbow him in the stomach. He fell back a step as I tried to press my advantage. He faked a slash to the left and tried to knee me in the stomach. I barely managed to avoid the attack and I countered with a slash at his leg. He deflected it and went back on the offensive.

I tried to block all of his strikes but immediately after each attack his next move followed. He managed slip a kick past my guard that sent me stumbling backwards. Before he had a chance to press his advantage I launched back at him. I faked a swing towards his head as I brought my leg up to kick his chest. He pulled back quickly but before he could react I swung towards his sword arm. He deflected most of the blow but I felt the edge of my sword graze his shoulder.

"Di Immortals," I smiled at his cuss.

I couldn't help taunting him a little. "Ah, ah, Nico, watch your language."

Nico gave me a dark look and stepped back into the fight.

I was right, Nico was good. It had been a long time since I had fought an opponent of his caliber. He was matching me blow for blow. I felt myself panting from the exertion. I knew that I needed to end this fight soon.

I felt him land a hard kick on my shoulder. I winced at the pain. He stepped forward to press his advantage and I blocked his sword with my own. Using one of the first moves that I had ever been shown, I spun my blade and disarmed him.

Before he could react I had Riptide at his throat. He looked stunned.

I smiled at him as I lowered my sword. I noticed that he was also panting and had sweat streaming down his face.

He shook his head at me, "Really? That was a beginner disarming move."

I laughed, "It worked, didn't it? Besides, sometimes simple is better."

He reached down and picked up his sword, "I can't believe that I was disarmed by that."

I returned Riptide to my pocket. "Forget about in Nico. If I had tried to use a more advanced move you would have instantly caught on and it wouldn't have worked." I winced as I moved my shoulder. I pulled up the collar or my shirt so I could have a better look at my arm. I could already see a dark bruise forming from where Nico had kicked me. "Besides, you were amazing. My arm feels like I was kicked by a horse. Don't feel bad, that was one of the most difficult fights I've been in for quite some time."

I looked up and saw Nico blushing as he put his sword back in its sheath. I smiled, I wasn't sure as to why he was blushing but I couldn't help but think how cute it was. I looked and noticed his right shoulder. From where my sword had grazed him, I could see the blood beginning to stain his arm beneath the edge of his shirt.

"You're hurt." He raised an eyebrow at me and I felt foolish for stating the obvious. I smiled as I rubbed my shoulder. "Come on; let's get to the sick bay."

"I can make it on my own."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you could, but that's not the point. One, I hurt you so I should help. And two, my shoulder is killing me; I could use some ambrosia myself."

Nico glanced at me and looked away nodding.

I led the way to the sick bay and made him sit on the bed as I went to get bandages. "Take off your shirt."

"What?" I looked at Nico. By the way he said it you would have sworn I had just asked him to commit an indecent act.

I felt my eyebrows pull together. "I can't exactly bandage your arm with you t-shirt covering it can I?"

As I watched a dark flush covered his face. "Its fine I can do it."

I shook my head. I could not, for the life of me, figure out why he was reacting like he was. "I'm already here; I might as well help you. What would the point be in doing it yourself?"

Nico opened and closed his mouth a few times before looking away. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck as I continued to grab the bandaged I would need.

I set the supplies on the counter next to him. "Are you going to take off your shirt already or do you need me to help you with it?"

I had thought that there was no way his blush could have gotten any brighter but at my suggestion he entered a whole new level of red.

He bit his lip and pulled off his shirt. His hand instinctively tried to cover his torso and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I rubbed the back of my neck as I pulled his right arm straight so I could examine his injury.

I quickly cleaned up the blood and discovered that though the cut wasn't very deep, it was quite a bit longer than I had originally believed. I grabbed the bandages and tape to wrap his wound. The slash wasn't life threatening but because of where it was I was required to wrap his upper torso in gauze to keep the bandage from falling off.

When I had to move his other arm away from his chest in order to wrap under it, Nico closed his eyes. I smiled at his reaction. Even though I couldn't understand it, it was quite amusing. I shook my head.

As I started to wrap the bandages, I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering down his chest. I hadn't realized that I had never seen him without a shirt before. I was surprised to see that, while he was still slight, he was actually fairly muscular. Not in the huge muscles from working our all day way, but his torso and arms had obvious definition.

I felt myself blush. I was suddenly very glad that Nico had his eyes closed. I didn't think that he would have appreciated me ogling his body. I took a deep breath and tried to focus on what I was doing.

I tried to not check him out but I found that was surprisingly difficult. I couldn't stop my gaze from raking down his frame a few times.

I had found myself on multiple occasions thinking of how cute Nico was but I had never before found myself thinking of his as sexy, but without his shirt on, that's what he was. He looked older and, well, hot.

I finished bandaging his arm and cleared my throat to let him know that he could open his eyes. I turned around and grabbed some ambrosia for the two of us. By the time I had turned back around he had already put his shirt back on.

As I handed him his ambrosia, I tried to quell my strange sense of disappointment. It apparently didn't work as well as I had hoped.

Nico gave me a self-conscious look, "What?"

I blushed and looked away, "Nothing." I ate my ambrosia in hopes of ending the conversation.

It was not successful.

"It's clearly not, nothing. You're looking at me funny."

I felt my blush brighten. I really did not want to lie to Nico but I really didn't want to tell him the truth either. I looked into his dark brown eyes and sighed; I suppose being truthful is more important. "Sorry, it's just... I've never seen you without a shirt on before."

He blushed deeply and looked down, He mumbled something but I couldn't understand it.

I didn't really want to continue my train of thought. He looked upset by what I had said but I wanted to be completely honest with him. "You're... far more muscular than I would have thought."

Nico's eyes shot up to mine and I felt myself blush just as deeply as him. He sounded very confused, "What?"

I had to break eye contact, "I just never realized before..." I felt as though my face would burst into flames but I forced myself to be completely honest. "You're kind of sexy."