Hate to Love (Valdangelo)

Secrets

Nico was woken up by the slamming of a door.

He groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes and groaning as his spine cracked in certain places. He step like the dead for once. No nightmares.

He was slightly suspicious.

But mostly thankful.

As he stood up, he glanced at the mirror standing in the corner of the room. The bags under his eyes had almost completely faded, only the barest crease still indented into his face. He looked back to the floor where he shed his clothes.

He changed into the normal black skinny jeans and black shirt, and topped it all off with his aviators jacket.

He turned to the bed once more, and discovered why he slept so soundly that night.

A small sound left Nico's lips. He was in Leo's room. The bed must've smelled like Leo, reminded him of Leo. It made sense; the only other time he'd slept that soundly lately was when he was in Leo's arms.

He heard a door slam again, and he was reminded if the reason he woke in the first place.

He ran out the door, nearly slamming into the center of his thoughts.

"Nico?" Leo's arms wrapped around Nico the second he fell into him, keeping Nico from crashing his nose into the floorboards below.

"This is proof against your story, Leo." Piper grinned, crossing her arms. Both boys blushed violently. Nico could already tell where she was going with this.

Leo's arms flew to his side, and Nico jumped back onto the wall.

"No, wouldn't you do the same if someone crashed into you?" Leo feebly argued.

"Uh huh," Piper didn't was not convinced in the slightest. "That's why you're blushing." The look on Piper's face became even more smug, now that both boys were trying to deny it.

Nico stopped mid-sentence, figuring it was hopeless. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, after all. Even though she was the complete opposite of her other siblings, Nico still figured she could practically smell love from a mile away.

He put his hand on Leo's shoulder. Leo looked down at him, whatever retort he had for Piper fading into the air.

"Just stop. There's no way we can convince her otherwise." Nico said. Leo sighed and turned back to piper.

"Okay, alright, fine, it's true. We're dating. For like a day now. And we don't want people to know." Leo have her a pointed look, and she clapped her hands once.

"I knew it!" she practically squealed. Her eyes widened when she realized what she said, how she said it, and just what that meant. Leo opened his mouth with a grin tinting his features. "Don't," Piper closed her eyes, her pointer finger in the air. "Even say it, Valdez. Don't even say it."

Leo chuckled.

Piper's eyes opened again. This time they were pointing directly at Nico. He suddenly felt nervous.

"Now, I know you're the main reason you both aren't saying anything to anyone. I hope you know, even if it's just on this ship, no one's going to judge you. This is the twenty-first century. A lot has changed. Gay–" Nico made a mad gesture, "shh!"ing her. She rolled her eyes and talked quieter. "Gay marriage is legal in several states. People really don't care. Love is love. And if they have a problem with it, screw them. Not to mention they'd have at least six demigods chasing them down, mortal or not."

Nico smiled, the speech somehow making him feel a tiny bit more confident.

I've really got to stop hanging around Leo so much... He thought.