How He Fell in Love

Chapter 1

Disclaimer. I unfortunately own nothing but the plot.

Nico di Angelo stood silently at the edge of the forest. He watched as the Argo II rowed into port, and Festus blew fire at the people gathered at the dock, waiting for the mechanic to come down.

Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, and Jason Grace looked at the big boat with hopeful faces. They all wanted Leo Valdez to be happy, and he had gone to find the goddess Calypso, whom he had been in love with since the War against Gaea. Hazel and Frank were at Camp Jupiter, smoothing over any more rough edges they might have.

Nico would be down there but he didn't exactly want Leo to get the wrong idea and think they were friends.

The gang plank lowered silently, and Leo trudged down. He had curly black hair, slightly pointed ears, and angular, elfish features. He looked a little sad, and for some reason Nico wanted to comfort him, but he quickly shook that thought away as Leo walked right by the four who had been waiting for him. He didn't say anything, didn't even change expression. He just walked right by.

He walked into the woods, but he didn't see Nico, who watched him go, most likely to Bunker 9, and went to go see the others.

"What's wrong with Leo?" He asked when he got close enough, interrupting whatever Annabeth had been saying.

They turned to him and Annabeth exclaimed, "Perfect!"

Nico took a step back. "Umm...what?" He said uncertainly.

"We need you to shadow-travel to Bunker 9 and make sure Leo's okay. Find out what happened, please?"

"Please, Nico." Said Piper. "We need your help."

Nico looked at the four of them, who were all wearing identical faces of worry, except Jason looked a bit more worried for his best friend.

Nico sighed, took another step back, and disappeared.

---

Leo stood over his desk that was cluttered with little mechanical bits and pieces. He didn't really know what he was building, but he knew that he wasn't really paying attention so it wouldn't be as cool as it could be. After a second he realized he was building a mini helicopter out of the metal scraps around him. When he was done, it was still pretty cool, even if he hadn't really been paying attention.

He heard a sound behind him, and spun around, throwing the helicopter with the little strength he had.

The intruder yelped and ducked as the helicopter soared over his head, the blades spinning as it rose higher in the air. Leo glared at it for a second, then looked at the person, his expression turned to surprise as he looked at him straightening up. He had shaggy black hair, black clothes, a silver skull ring, and he was pale with dark circles under his eyes.

"Nico?" He asked in surprise. "What are you doing here, di Angelo?"

"Checking on you." He replied, walking closer, looking around the Bunker. "Nice place you got here."

"Thanks. Why are you checking on me?"

"Because they figured you wouldn't let anyone in, so they sent me, cause I don't need to be let in. I can shadow travel in."

Leo laughed, but it sounded different. His laughs usually sounded happy, and usually brought smiles to others faces.

"Your not very good at faking laughs."

"I don't know, been doing it for nine years I thought I had it down pretty well."

"What?" Nico asked, looking at him.

Leo's eyes widened and he said, "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah. What are you talking about, Leo?"

"Do I have to tell you? Really?"

"Yeah. You do. What's wrong?"

He looked at him, he looked sad, and Nico was surprised at the broken look in his brown eyes.

"It happened when I was eight."

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Hope you like it. Peace out.