Son of Fire

Eight

"Leo?" I asked as I laid on my bunk, hearing my siblings getting ready for bed.

"What's up, Andy?" He asked then I sat up and sighed as I went to his bed.

"You were on a quest with Nico, right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, sure I was. Everyone knows about it." He said then I sat and huffed.

"What's his favorite things?" I asked and he seemed confused.

"Damn, man, I don't know. Uh, well, he's the son of Hades so skeletons and ghosts are kinda a given-"

"Are you really that close to him?" I looked at Alexis, one of our sisters, then shrugged.

"He's been pretty pissed the last few days-"

"Seems the same to me." She said then I rolled my eyes.

"You don't know him like we do, Alexis." Leo said and she shrugged then walked off.

"Leo?" I asked as I looked at him then he rubbed his chin.

"He likes his skeleton horse a lot, before it was like, dead again. I don't know how that works, but he lost it in the battle and hasn't been able to get a new one from what I can tell." He said then I nodded, laying on my elbows on his bed.

"Why do you ask?" He asked, but I shook my head.

"Guess I wanna know about him, but he doesn't open up to me." I said and he nodded.

"Nico's like that, he won't open up until you basically force him. I remember that before we all knew he was gay, Piper tied him to a chair and threatened to put makeup on him if he didn't tell. That got him to talk-"

"Wait, back up a sec." I said and sat up, facing Leo.

"Nico is gay?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, you didn't know?" I shook my head then looked at my lap.

"No, I never knew." I whispered and immediately went to my bed.

~*-*~

I walked to the Hephaestus cabin to meet Andy, but slowed as I saw Leo closing the door behind him. Usually, they closed the door when everyone was out, so it struck me as odd.

"Leo? Where's Andy?" I asked and he looked at me.

"The camp forge. He's been there all night, don't know what he's messing with. Whatever it is, he's pretty wrapped up. I don't think he even ate the dinner I brought him yesterday." He said then I looked at the forge.

"Hey, Nico?" I looked at Leo then he grabbed my shoulder.

"Andy's really trying now, give him a chance and just... open yourself to him." He said then I nodded, but went to the forge to find Andy as he went to breakfast. When I got to the forge, I stared as I saw a shirtless Andy covered in sweat, soot, and tinkering with something.

"Andy?" I called, trying to get his attention before I scared him. Except, he didn't move. I went closer then saw a bunch of gears and small poles around him.

"Andy!" I called and he jumped, turning and staring at me.

"Nico! You scared me!" He said then I eyed what he was working on, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"What-what are you making?" I asked and he cleared his throat.

"Nothing, just messing around with stuff. What time is it?" He asked then I cleared my throat.

"Breakfast." I said and he rubbed his head.

"Sorry. Let me get cleaned up, then we'll go-"

"No, if you're busy-"

"Seriously, it's okay." He said then I nodded, watching as he went to the forge shower. I looked at the mechanical pieces that were on the table then lifted one of the poles, smiling as I realized it would be a good leg for any kind of mechanical figure. I shrugged then put the pole down, going to wait for Andy outside the forge.

Andy's POV
I slid my shirt on as I walked outside then saw Nico waiting and we went towards the dining pavilion.

"Leo said you were in the forge all night, even missed dinner last night." He said and I nodded.

"Been seeing this... plan, I guess, in my head. Figured I could try and build it, make it real to get it out of my head." I said and he nodded.

"Sounds like when Leo has a crazy idea." He said then I softly laughed.

"Well, let's eat." I said then we got our food and sat to eat, but I grabbed my sketch book that Leo had given me and kept working on the plans for my creation.

Nico's POV
I watched Andy scribble and erase as he barely ate, but I noticed that the girls around here were eyeing him, mostly the Aphrodite girls.

"Hey, Andy?" He looked up at the guys then one of them smiled.

"We were gonna go play volleyball, you wanna join?" He asked and glanced at me.

"Can't, gotta finish something in the forge." Andy blatantly curved them then I looked at him confused.

"Andy, you can hang out-"

"I just don't wanna hang out with some jocks, fantasma. Besides, I wanna finish this." He said and closed his book.

"Do I have your permission to go back?" He asked and I shrugged, making him turn and run towards the forge.

"What's he working on that's so important?" Hazel asked, but I shook my head.

"Dunno." I whispered, though we were sitting with our friends about half an hour later and my mind was stuck on the small gears and poles that I had seen Andy messing with inside the forge.

"Nico!" I jumped damn near out of my skin then looked at Piper and blushed as I realized they were talking to me.

"What?!" I asked and looked up as I heard someone laughing, seeing Andy there.

"Damn, fantasma, you'd think someone put oil in your ears!" He laughed then dropped next to me, smiling as he saw my wide eyed look.

"We scare you that bad, ghost?" He asked, but I shook my head.

"Finally finish what you were working on?" We looked at Frank, but Andy huffed.

"No. I was kicked out of the forge by Chiron, said I had to go and rest before I dropped dead." He pouted then I couldn't help but think of how cute his pout was.

"Then, once you've rested, go back and finish it." Hazel said and Andy smirked.

"Planning on it, caramel cheeks." He grinned then I rolled my eyes, though I knew this was just how he was now.