An Unlikely duo (AF/PJO/HP Crossover)

Nico pokes the bear

"Umm... sorry?" Nico winced as he watched the juvenile genius in front of him pace to and fro.

"Sorry? Sorry? That was an exclusive prototype! I understand that it malfunctioned, but did you have to stomp on it?" 

Artemis and the others had arrived at Hogwarts about half an hour ago. After getting settled back in, Artemis had immediately asked if his weird thingamabob (which was apparently was supposed to be some sort of buzzer or beacon) had worked or not. Nico had been left with no choice. When Artemis found out about the fate of his poor prototype, well.... let's just say that it wasn't pretty.

"In my defense, how else was I supposed to make it shut up?" Nico grumbled.

Artemis groaned and ran a hand through his hair, "By casting a silencing charm, or muffling it with a pillow or something of the sorts until it ran out of batteries, or literally anything except what you did!"

"You do remember that we were in a room with a huge mirror and the headmaster of Hogwarts, right?" Nico asked, rolling his eyes at the surprisingly tense boy in front of him.

"That took me five whole hours to perfect!" Artemis continued, ignoring him, as usual, "I didn't have much hope that it would be a success, but I was at least hoping to examine it and figure out what's wrong! Do you know how much that zinc coating cost? Honestly, do you think that money grows on trees?"

"Dude, you're literally a millionaire." Nico reminded with a barely noticeable smirk.

"That's not the point!" Artemis snapped, "Every penny that I use to buy resources, is one less penny that I can use to find my fa-" he stopped in his tracks. Nico suddenly felt the teasing smile slip off his face. He was no expert when it came to emotions, but he could tell that Artemis hadn't meant to say that.

Artemis took a shuddering breath, and sat down on his bed, as though he was trying to get himself under control, before he accidentally let something slip. Nico wasn't sure what to think at the sight of the normally cool and composed child prodigy reduced to a trembling, furious mess. But now, Artemis' anger seemed directed at himself more than at Nico.

"Excuse me for that," Artemis began, sounding exhausted and much quieter than before, "I have to admit that I'm feeling rather high-strung today. It appears that my prototype was flawed, so you really did me a favor by destroying it. I should have tested it in a safer and less... unsupervised environment." His expression became pained, "Also, it would be marvelous if you could just forget this entire conversation."

Nico hesitated, on one hand, he could leave Artemis alone with his thoughts like he wanted, or he could poke the bear and talk about something that he detested: emotions.

He sighed, decisions like these were a lot easier back in the days when he could avoid social interaction.

"Not so fast, Fowl. You mentioned wanting to find something." he stated bluntly, immediately wincing at his lack of tact.

Artemis stared at him blankly, with a poorly disguised frown, "Did I?" he asked innocently, although it sounded rather pathetic, to be honest.

Nico refrained from rolling his eyes. Teasing Artemis when he was in such a vulnerable state wouldn't really help his situation.

"Yes, yes you did."

Nico sat down next to him awkwardly, wondering if he was going to say something before this situation got even more awkward than it already was. 

Artemis sighed, "It's nothing important, di Angelo. I am feeling quite dandy. I require some time in solitude, if you don't mind."

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so we're on surname terms now, Fowl?"