Butterflies

The first time he gets the butterflies, it's at dinner, and he's totally unprepared. Their hands both go for the hot sauce at once, and Leo goes a very blatant red at the light contact, and so retracts his hand. And so the butterflies take over his stomach.

Piper laughs at him quietly, and he kicks her under the table, a reminder to stay silent, even though his reaction is probably enough to tell the others his- their- little secret. And then he feels guilty, because he shouldn't be lying to his friends, and so he leaves the table soon afterwards to fiddle with the Archemedies Sphere in the engine room.

That's where he is when the second lot of butterflies kick in. He's cursing in Spanish at the Sphere (it isn't letting him in today) when he hears a light laugh at the entrance. He turns around to see the one person he'd rather not see (or see a lot of depending on your perspective). His cheeks go red again, and his mind sub-consciously reminds him not to burst into flame.

"What did the Sphere ever do to you?" the quiet, low voice asks him jokingly.

Leo feels the butterflies again and tries to focus. "It didn't. That's the problem." He's joking. Again. The way he always does when he's uncomfortable or nervous. Right now, he's nervous.

The figure in the doorway comes closer, shutting the door behind him.

"You ran off after dinner." Nico states. "Are you alright?"

Leo smiles and puts the sphere down. "Just fine, my dear. It's that dang Aphrodite child, making me nervous."

"Nervous?" Nico asks, coming very close to the trembling son of Hephaestus. "Do I make you nervous?"

Leo tries to look confident. "Nah. it takes a lot to scare me."

And Nico is pushing him against a wall in a way that could possibly give anyone else a heart attack. But not Leo. "You sure?" Nico asks, his hand resting over Leo's racing heart.

And then neither of them can stand the inches that separate them anymore, and they are a tangle of lips, teeth and tongue. Fire meets ice and the world flips upside down, but the two couldn't care less as of the moment. Nico is very much in control, running his hands up Leo's back inside his shirt, trailing his fingers up and down his spine.

And Leo is trying not to collapse on his knees, and is kissing Nico back with as much passion as he can muster, because it's so rare that they can ever find a moment to be alone, especially since Nico is terrified of telling anyone, Jason knows about him and that's enough, he says. Piper is the only one who knows about Leo, and it's ironic how both halves of a whole know, but are keeping it a secret.

Nico's lips have moved down Leo's neck and are currently moving at Leo's collarbone in a way that should definitely be illegal because Leo's eyelids are fluttering and he's doing everything he can to not moan aloud. As if sensing Leo's agony, Nico returns to his lips, but places Leo's hands on his waist, longing to be touched, to be searched for and found. Slowly, painfully slowly, he lifts Leo's shirt over his head, breaking their connection for an inescapable second.

And Nico's hands are wandering again, drifting over the thin layer of muscle- okay, so Leo's not the most muscular guy out there, but that doesn't stop the thrill of the touches. Nico strokes each thin scar on Leo's chest made by exploding machines and the like, which makes Leo shiver under his cold hands. To make the game even, he removes his own shirt, and sighs quietly in pleasure as Leo's hands begin their journey, and he thinks that he's got the best thing, that it's alright as long as he has his hidden times with Leo.

And then they open the door.

Stupid, stupid Nico, should have made sure it was locked. Frank and Hazel stand shocked in the doorway, staring at the tangle in front of them. Nico goes even paler and leaps back as if struck by lightening. But it's Leo who saves the moment by rolling his eyes in that sarcastic way. "Can't you see we're busy working?" he teases. "Go away, I'm trying to fix a very complicated machine with the help of my beautiful assistant." And he shuts the door in their face, locking it this time, and listens to them through the wood.