So the side-fic I told you about has been posted. It's called A Memorable Conversation.

As for this chapter, I based the surprise Percy planned for Nico off of what I did for my fiancée. (Though, I was his girlfriend at that point) The day we moved into our first apartment, we had no furniture. So I improvised. :-) We still have pictures of it. He loved it, so I thought Nico would too.

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

It's amazing as to just how quickly people can fall into a routine. Nico and I had been officially dating for four days and already we had established a pattern.

The crew members allowed us to switch around the schedule again so that we were always working together. We would spend the entire day talking about seemingly random, useless things. Truth is, even if the answers didn't really matter, I still wanted to learn everything there was to know about the son of Hades.

Every night, Nico would come to my room and we would spend a few more hours simply holding each other and chatting. Nico had to shadow travel for our evening talks. Frank and Hazel seemed to have taken it upon themselves to make sure we both slept in our respective rooms. Nico thought it was rather ridiculous but I thought that it was cute. I liked that his sister cared so deeply for him that she was willing to lose sleep just to make sure that he acted properly, not that it wasn't occasionally annoying...

Hazel seemed to realize the flaw in her plan on the second night out from New Rome. Nico had only just left when she snuck into my cabin to ensure that I was still where I was supposed to be. Ever since then, the person on guard duty had been sneaking into our rooms a few times a night. Nico had almost been caught out of bed several times but he always managed to travel back to his room just in time.

I was excited for us to get back to camp. Hazel would be heading back to New Rome with Frank and Jason. Once she was gone, Nico would no longer have to sneak around like we were committing a crime. That was one major plus about not having to share a cabin with any siblings.

For once, Nico and I weren't working together. I had switched shifts with Piper earlier so that I could have time to set up the surprise I was preparing for Nico. I dropped the pile of stuff that I was carrying and went about setting it up in the way I wanted to. I felt a little ridiculous but I was fairly certain that Nico would like it.

As soon as Nico's shift ended, both of us had the rest evening off. We had already done our guard duty earlier. I had grown to love the Argo 2 even more than I had in the past. The ship, to me, had become the place where I discovered my love for the son of Hades. We would be back to camp by early tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to create a memory with Nico that would symbolize its importance to our relationship. I gave his surprise one more glance to make sure it was exactly how I wanted it to be before I went off to find my ghost king.

I just hoped Nico would like it.

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Nico POV

Jason had just relieved me from watch when Percy found me. I was a little upset with him. Over the last few days I had grown used to spending our shifts together. Work never really felt like work when I was spending time with the son of Poseidon. I was a little hurt when I found out that he had switched shifts with Piper. Not only had I lost spending the morning with him as he was on watch but when I came to relive him he disappeared below deck. I didn't want to believe that he was already bored of my but I couldn't completely rid my brain of the thought.

The sea prince leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, "Hey Nico."

I frowned at him. "Hello Percy."

Percy looked surprised as he raised an eyebrow at me. "What's with the frown?" I shrugged. I didn't want to explain my insecurities to him. He blinked in confusion before he flashed me a hundred watt smile. "Are you mad at me?" I didn't change my expression and he took it as a conformation. Percy laughed. "Come on my ghost king, I have something to show you that will make you feel better."

I was more than a little confused but I decided to just go with it. Percy led me below deck. I was walking down the hallway behind him when he turned around to face me.

"Okay, I'm going to cover your eyes."

I tilted my head in confusion, "Why?"

Percy shook his head with a chuckle, "Simple. I have a surprise for you. Don't worry; I will make sure you don't run into anything."

He stepped behind me and wrapped one arm around my waist while his other covered my eyes. I was a little nervous to lose my sense of sight but I trusted Percy with my life. He led me down to the lowest level of the ship.

When we stopped he leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "No peaking."

I was tempted to look anyway but I figured if Percy had go out of his way to surprise me, the least I could do was wait for him to tell me I could look.

I hear him moving around for a few minutes before he came back and wrapped both arms around my waist. "Okay, now you can look."

I opened my eyes and I felt myself freeze. We were in the stables of the ship. In the center of the room, on the glass floor, he had spread out a blanket. He had dragged in an empty cooler for a table and used what looked like one of Pipers scarves for a tablecloth. He had brought plates from the mess hall and already had them filled with chicken, coleslaw, and potato salad. I wasn't certain where he had gotten them, but he had placed candles all around the room. The candles cast the room in a soft glow.

It reminded me of the date the Aphrodite cabin had arranged for us. His surprise was completely improvised, yet somehow that only made it sweeter.

I felt a smile creep across my face, "You did this for me?"

I felt Percy nuzzle his face into my hair, "Of course. Tonight's our last night on the Argo so I wanted to make it special. What do you say my ghost king, will you go on a date with me?"

I felt my heart stutter in my chest. I turned around. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him down into a kiss. I tangled my fingers into his hair as I pulled him even closer to me.

Eventually, I had to pull back for air, "I would love to go on a date with you my sea-prince."

The smile that he gave me made me feel as though I was the only person in the world. He took my hand and pulled my over towards our makeshift picnic. We took our seats and he grabbed a can of pop. He winked as he opened it for me, "I found the Hephaestus Cabin's hidden stock of snack food."

I laughed as I took a sip. The cups in the dining hall may have been able to make any drink you asked for but for some reason, pop tasted better out of a can. Percy opened his own can and took a sip before he picked up his fork and started eating.

I took a bite of the chicken and smiled at my boyfriend. "So this is why you switched shifts with Piper."

The son of the sea god looked at me with a slight smirk, "Yep. I knew that I wanted us to have our first official date on the same ship where we got together. I asked Piper to switch shifts and when I told her what I wanted to do she agreed. She even lent me our fabulous table cloth."

I smiled at the thoughtfulness that went into the date he had planned. I reached out and took his hand. "Thank you Percy. This is wonderful."

He smiled as he raised my hand to his lips. He gave my knuckles a quick kiss before he leaned his head onto my hand. "I'm glad you like it. I'm sorry for not telling you earlier what I was up to. I wanted it to be a surprise."

I shook my head and gave him a tentative smile. "It's alright. I'm glad you kept it a secret. I love you."

"I love you to my ghost king." No matter how many times he said that, my heart still stuttered.

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Percy POV

I would have thought that, after so many weeks of talking with one another, we would have run out of things to tell each other. That didn't seem to be the case. There were always a few more questions. We finished our dinner and I grabbed the pillows I had set off to the side. I relaxed against them while Nico laid his head on my chest. I had one arm around his shoulders while I ran my fingers through his hair.

Holding Nico in the glow of the candlelight made me think about our non-date. I was holding him exactly as I did then. It felt so similar, yet so different. At that point in time I wasn't aware of my feelings for him. Even if I had been, I would have denied them. I hadn't been ready to face the idea of being in love with someone. I shook my head in amusement. I could not believe that I had been so blind to how I felt about him. Now that I had faced them, my arms around the son of Hades simply felt right.

I sighed in contentment as I tightened my grip on the beautiful boy in my arms. I felt Nico tilt his head so that he could look at me. He gave me a smile. "What are you thinking about?"

I leaned down and kissed his forehead, "I'm thinking that this is probably the most amazing first date in the history of the world."

I watched as he tried to keep a blush from his face. I wasn't certain if I had gotten better at reading his emotions, or if he had simply gotten worse at hiding them. "I would have to agree with you."

I moved the hand that was running through his hair to caress his cheek. "I can't believe how lucky I've gotten."

He was unable to keep the blush from his face at that. I wet my lips. The slight pink tint to his cheeks made him look especially tantalizing. "Shouldn't that be my line? I'm the one who has been in love with you for years."

I chuckled and rolled us over so that he was laying on the pillows while I was leaning over him. I leaned in and gave him a soft slow kiss. I could never get enough of the taste of his lips. I felt him shiver and forced myself to pull back. I leaned my head into the crook of his neck and placed a feathery kiss onto his pulse point. I could feel his heart beat spike. "Nope, it's definitely my line."

I felt him run his fingers through my hair. He tilted my head up and pulled my mouth back to his. I shuddered when I felt him run his tongue hesitantly along my lip. I smiled as I parted my lips to deepen the kiss.

I used one hand to angle his head while I used my other hand to trace slow circles on his side. I was more than a little lost to the pleasurable feeling of his lips against mine when I had to break for air. We were both panting when we pulled back. I leaned my forehead against his as we tried to get our breathing back under control.

I nipped lightly at his lip before giving him a soft kiss. I opened my eyes to look at him and sighed. "As much as I would like to stay here with you all night, it's getting late."

Nico frowned and pulled me even closer. "What if I'm not ready to let you leave yet?"

I laughed and brushed my fingertips against his cheek. "It's up to you. I will gladly sleep down here if you'd like. However, just remember, if we don't head back to our rooms soon Hazel will come looking for us."

The son of Hades gave me a sad sigh and nuzzled his head into my chest. "I suppose you're right, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

I smiled and stole another kiss before I sat up. "Trust me; I don't want to go either. Tonight was too perfect. I don't want it to end."

I put out the candles and walked Nico to the door of his cabin. He glanced at me and we shared a smile. I knew that we were both thinking of the end of our last 'date'. I leaned in and gave him a soft, sweet, kiss. "Good night my ghost king, I love you."

"Good night my sea prince, I love you too."

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I slept in late. I didn't have to be on deck until the afternoon. By the time I finally rolled out of bed and got a bite to eat, everyone else was already on deck. I smiled at Nico as I went to take over the helm from Jason.

I steered the ship while everyone got everything ready and cleaned for when we landed. If we didn't return the Argo 2 in perfect condition we would never be allowed to borrow it again.

Ryan was sitting in the crow's nest on watch when he called down. Everyone gathered on the foredeck to watch as Camp Half-blood appeared on the horizon. We watched as the camp grew larger and larger. Nico came to stand beside me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I put my arm around his shoulder. I was so excited to be back. No matter where I went, coming back to camp always felt like coming back home. I pressed a quick kiss to his lips as I pulled away. I needed both hands in order to land the ship.

We decided to land on the lake. I set the ship down and barely caused a wave, though that might have had something to do with being able to control the water. I sailed the ship up alongside the dock and Jason flew down and tied it off.

I saw the campers gathering at the end of the dock waiting for us. I didn't pay them any mind as I helped Frank to lower the gangplank. We began to disembark. Nico and I were the last ones off the ship. He stood up and kissed my cheek as he took my hand. I walked down the dock without really seeing it. My entire attention was focused on the boy who held my hand.

Which is why I was surprised when he froze with a look halfway between shock and agony. I immediately stood a little straighter and spun my attention looking for the threat. I was so positive that it was going to be a monster that it took me a minute to find what he was looking at.

Standing at the end of the dock, with a look of astonishment on her face, was Annabeth.