Title: Jason's Smile

Pairing: JasonXNico

Rating: SFW

Warning: One swear word. That's it. And it contains a few HOH spoilers.

Summary: Contains Jasper breaking up, and assumes that Cupid's arrow made Nico start to fall in love with Jason. It's my first Heroes of Olympus fic, so I apologize if they might be OOC.

Disclaimer: I don't own House of Hades or the Heroes of Olympus series.

"Hey, Piper? Do you know anything about Cupid?" Jason asked. He thought that the daughter of Aphrodite would know something about him.

Piper, who was also currently on watch for any monsters, turned her attention from the moonlit expanse of sea and sky to Jason, eyeing him warily with her kaleidoscope eyes and saying nothing. Jason couldn't blame her. He didn't talk to anyone for a while upon getting back on the Argo II, but simply gestured tiredly to the sceptre that was in Nico's possession whenever anyone asks about what happened in Split, and that would be enough to keep them from asking any more questions. They probably thought he and Nico were dead beat from fighting a monster for the sceptre, and he was determined not to let them think otherwise.

"Isn't he that little winged baby who shoots arrows at people to make them fall in love with the first person they see?" Piper finally spoke.

Jason would have cracked a smile at her stereotypical description of Cupid, but the mention of Cupid's arrows made him think back on what happened in Split just a couple of hours ago.

"Jason," Piper's clear soothing voice cut his train of thought. Jason sensed that he spaced out. He looked directly at Piper and she wore a worried expression on her face.

"You and Nico have been acting funny ever since you guys got back. I know something big must have happened in Split. Why won't you talk to anyone about it?" Piper seemed more concerned than mildly irritated this time. Jason just had to notice that cute little pout she was making, and somehow got to thinking that she really might be using some kind of Aphrodite magic on him to fill his brain with only Piper.

"Because nothing happened." Jason was surprised and a little guilty that his voice sounded harsher than he expected. He kept talking but made sure he sounded calm. "Not all demigod missions have to be exciting. I just left a note for Reyna to find and we got the sceptre. That's all." Jason averted his gaze, choosing to look at the sky that started to get cloudier.

"Okay, but why did you ask me about Cupid?" Her expression was returning to an irritated one.

"… I was just thinking about how Eros is Cupid's Greek form and how he's also a son of Aphrodite." Nice save, Grace, he thought to himself.

Piper finally smiled at this and laughed a little. "I'm related to a baby with wings," she said. Jason laughed with her and thought to himself how wrong she was.

"It's getting late. I should get back inside, see if the others need anything," Jason was already taking a step back as he said this. Piper smiled at him before repositioning her Cornucopia on her shoulder and looking back out at the sky and the sea. Jason went below deck, unaware of a pair of dark eyes watching him from the foremast.

"Leo, can I ask you something?" Nico heard Jason's voice from his hiding spot on the other side of the Athena Parthenos' body at the port corridor he shadow-traveled to. He sat hugging his knees in the small space between the statue and the corridor wall. He was aware of Leo sitting on the edge of the statue's body with an unfinished machine, and Jason standing near the contraption.

Nico suspected the son of Jupiter of revealing his secret to Piper. He couldn't hear that conversation from the foremast, but paranoia dictates he should spy on Jason. He just had to make sure he could trust the guy's word that it's still Nico's secret to share or not. Nico desperately wanted to believe that Jason didn't (wouldn't) spill his secret.

"Shoot." Nico heard Leo say. A soft click-clacking sound slowly filled the room.

He heard someone take a deep breath, and assumed it was Jason who did it. "Do you think Piper trusts me?" Jason's voice clearly softened upon speaking, as if Piper could hear him from the lower deck. Nico was pretty sure it was only the three of them (and maybe the Athena Parthenos) that could hear all this.

The clicking sound stopped. "Well, yeah. She's your girlfriend, isn't she?" A loud whirring noise came from Leo's and Jason's side of the Athena Parthenos, but thankfully didn't last too long.

"Sometimes I think she doesn't. It's like whenever I think of Reyna I suddenly become overly aware of Piper. Like maybe she's doing some strange Aphrodite magic on me to fill my head full of only her."

Hearing that from Jason made something in Nico's chest stir. It felt painfully familiar, almost like the feeling he gets when he sees Percy talk about Annabeth, only Percy never sounded like he was complaining.

"Dude, are you seriously thinking that Piper would go so far as to use Charmspeak to keep you in a relationship with her?" Leo spoke with an air of utter disbelief.

There was a pause. Nico feared that they might have known there was someone else in the room with them and decided to sneak up on him in his vulnerable and tight little spot.

"…Yeah. I pretty much think she's capable of doing that." Jason admitted. Nico held a breath he didn't know he was holding in. Judging by Jason's voice, Jason was still where he stood.

"Gods, Jason. Are you even listening to yourself? I can't believe it's youwho doesn't trust Piper." Nico thought it was time to shadow-travel outta there. This conversation was clearly none of his business.

Jason's tone was hard and a little resentful. "But Cupid told me something when we were at Split." And now that he heard those words, it was Nico's business. He'd postpone leaving until he hears everything Jason Grace had to say about what Cupid told him, and he hoped he wouldn't hear what he didn't want to hear.

A pause followed, and Nico heard Jason continue, seeing that Leo was waiting for what Jason had to say too. "He told me, You've found true love, after all. Or do you still doubt yourself?.If I'm not wrong about where I'm going with this, Cupid thinks there's something wrong with my relationship with her."

"And if I'm not wrong about where I'm going with this, I think there's something wrong with you," Leo said.

"I just think that Piper shouldn't mess with my head, especially when I think about what Reyna and I went through together. I mean, there's nothing about Reyna for her to be worried about. It's not like I was going to leave her for Reyna."

"Reyna this, Reyna that," Leo did a poor imitation of Jason's voice. "Gods, I think I'd understand if Piper really did work some Aphrodite magic on you to keep you from talking about Reyna. I'm going up there to tell her everything you just said."

Nico heard the light shuffling of clothes and the thumping of two sets of feet on the Athena Parthenos. Leo probably sat up and walked off with Jason walking after him. The footsteps ceased and Nico was guessing that Jason stopped Leo in his tracks.

"Please, Leo, this can only be between you, Nico and me. We can't let the others know that we've met Cupid at Split." And at that moment, Nico's heart almost stopped because he thought Jason knewhe was there.

"Alright, alright. Fine. But I hope you know what you're doing, man." Only one set of footsteps made its way back to where Leo was originally sitting, and the other set of footsteps grew fainter every second.

Nico shadow-traveled back to his room where the sceptre lay on a pillow. He sank down on the floor beside his bed and sighed in relief.

Nico had only one thought on his mind at that moment: Jason didn't tell him my secret.

Breaking up with Piper last night after talking to Leo wasn't as ugly as he feared. She seemed to understand his concerns about trust, but only after giving him what he thinks is a much-deserved stinging slap to the face.

Jason slept through the morning well and, upon waking up, felt lighter.Not empty. Emptiness was different because it involved losing something. He technically didn't lose Piper, since they agreed to stay friends after the breakup. It'll take a while to get over the initial awkwardness, though. Nonetheless, everything seemed fine and dandy for Jason that evening.

Until he walked out the door of his room and was greeted by the sight of Nico di Angelo leaning against the wall with his hands in the pockets of his skinny jeans. The hallway lighting emphasized the dark bags under Nico's dark eyes, and his cheekbones. Jason thought that the son of Hades would have turned more heads if his face was less gaunt.

Although Jason had told himself that he'd be friends with the son of Hades and stick up for him after what happened at Split, he didn't know exactly howto go about it. Winging it suddenly became a bit of a daunting task.

"Hey," Nico says. It was a little weird not to see Nico with his aviator jacket, but it was weirder and a lot more concerning to see the loose black shirt on the younger boy's skeletal deathly pale frame. Jason started to think that he'd even eat for Nico if he could, just to put some meat on those bones.

"Hey," he replied. Jason closed the door behind him. "Why were you waiting outside my room? Did you want to talk about something?"

"I wanted to ask if you had any ideas on how to get the sceptre to work. I wouldn't really use it until I need to, but I just wanted to hear what you think."

Jason remembered Diocletian's sceptre, whose orb seemed to send a chill down his spine whenever he looked at it for too long. "You could try asking Hazel." Jason paused. "D'you wanna grab something to eat?"

Nico continued to observe Jason with his dark brown eyes. His pale face was unreadable, and that unnerved Jason a little.

"Yeah, okay," he responded. Jason smiled and thought it was a start.

Nico found Jason's smile weird.

Not that it was an ugly or creepy smile. The Ghost King just didn't understand what Jason would smile about. It was just him agreeing to get dinner together before Jason took the night shift. Jason's smile wasn't as wide or as toothy as Percy's smiles, but it felt so sincere. Nico noticed how Jason's icy blue orbs actually looked warm when the corners of his eyes crinkle while he smiles.

That small, charming smile unwittingly made his heart skip a beat. But Nico would never admit that.

They were on their way to the mess hall when Jason decided to break the silence with a question.

"So, how's your arm?" he asked this in a hushed tone as he glanced at Nico next to him.

Nico met his gaze and looked down on his sword arm. The same arm that had been struck by Cupid's arrow. He flexed it, stretched it, and wiggled his fingers.

"S'fine. It doesn't really hurt." Nico shrugged, answering in an equally hushed tone. He looked down and saw that Jason matched his walking pace with Nico's.

He looked back up at Jason's face and noticed the little scar on his mouth twitch.

"You didn't feel any different after you got shot?" Jason didn't look at him as he asked this time.

"It hurt like a bitch yesterday, but no. I don't feel different." Which was a lie. Nico indeed started to feel different. He started noticing the littlest things about Jason just this morning, and wondered why he started to care about those little things. Nico's beginning to think that there may be some truth to the popular belief about Cupid's arrows.

The thought was also beginning to scare him.

"Huh." That was all he heard from Jason.

"…Wait, what do you mean "Huh."?" Nico raised one brow and looked questioningly at him, not caring if his voice wasn't as quiet anymore.

"What I meant was that I think it's strange that Cupid's arrow had little to no effect on you." Jason replied in a much softer tone.

Nico suddenly stopped in his tracks when they were already a couple of steps away from the mess hall. Jason looked back and saw him staring wide-eyed with his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

The Ghost King's voice was almost inaudible but definitely disbelieving as he asked, "Jason, are you expecting me to fall in love with you?"

Jason stepped closer to face him, which Nico assumed was so he wouldn't have to raise his voice in order to be heard. Jason did that endearing little smile and said, "I would honestly be fine with that if it happened," while he nodded slowly. He turned his back to Nico and walked forward, going first into the mess hall.

Nico felt his mouth open in shock, but closed it immediately and walked in after Jason.

It surprised Jason how easily he had said those last words to Nico.

It surprised Jason how he felt like he wasn't lying when he said those words.

It didn't surprise Jason, however, when he saw what little food Nico had on his plate. Just a piece of buttered bread.

He couldn't take seeing Nico eat so miserably anymore, and, since he sat next to Nico, decided to pile his untouched plate of steak and mashed potatoes onto Nico's plate.

Nico looked at Jason as if he grew a second head.

Jason's mouth was a thin line. "You have gotto eat more, man."

Hazel and Piper were at the table, too, but they refused to comment. They looked on, shocked, like: since when did Jason Grace care about Nico di Angelo's diet?Even Hazel didn't go so far as to interfere with how Nico wanted to eat.

Nico's glare seemed to lower the room's temperature several degrees, but Jason stood his ground and continued to look back at Nico with a pursed mouth and a tiredly pleading look in his eyes.

The son of Hades just sighed and picked up a knife and fork, slicing up the steak. Jason had a stupidly triumphant smirk on his face which Nico didn't fail to see and add to the list of things to sulk over for the rest of the night.

Jason got a new plate (pizza this time), and dinner went on smoothly.

Nico was up at the foremast again. He had the sceptre in his hand and his sword strapped to his belt.

Thanks to Jason continually piling food onto his plate for what he felt was the longest dinner he ever had, he felt extremely full. He couldn't remember the last time he ate so much.

But it's not as if he disliked having Jason pay attention to him. It's a little like when his sister would urge him to finish his food back then. Nico started to smile at the thought of Bianca.

His eyes spotted Jason on deck. Jason always did the night shift with Piper and Frank.

Nico then remembered being told that Jason would be fine if he fell in love with the son of Jupiter. He tried to imagine having a chance with Jason Grace. It was both a frightening and a pleasing prospect.

"Hey, Nico." Speaking of the devil…

Jason had flown his way up to the foremast and seated himself beside Nico. "Any luck with the sceptre?"

"No luck." Nico murmured. He looked over at Jason and saw him smiling that stupidly triumphant smirk.

"What's with you and that smile?" Nico scowled.

"I was just thinking that I'd have to make sure to eat breakfast with you if I want you to eat more." Jason's smirk didn't look like it was going away.

Nico could only groan as his shoulders sagged in defeat. "Grace, I swear to gods, stop feeding me too much."

Jason laughed. "Okay, fine. We'll start with one plateful and work our way up slowly." The Ghost King frowned. Jason saw this and said, "Hey, seriously, it isn't really healthy for you to eat so little. You could at least let me give you more food."

"…I understand," Nico said quietly. He took comfort in the fact that Jason cared about his wellbeing. He was even rewarded with a bonus: Jason's sincere smile. Nico could get used to seeing it a lot.