"Heeyyyyy Nico bae."

Nico jumped in surprise. Then he glared at Leo.

"I'm not your bae," he muttered, shoving a forkful of pancakes into his mouth.

Leo slung an arm around Nico. "So, what do you think is funny?" he asked, not very casually.

"Nothing," Nico said, pushing Leo's arm away. "Stop bothering me."

Leo frowned. How was he resisting Leo's charm?????

"But Nico," Leo pressed on. "You must think something's funny! Everyone has something that makes them laugh!"

"Not me," Nico said. "Leave me alone, Valdez. I'm trying to eat."

"Hey! Me too!" Leo replied. He began putting random foods on top of his pancakes, like a hard boiled egg, some toast, ketchup, an apple, a few blueberries, and some dirt from the ground.

"Dare me to taste it?" Leo asked, elbowing Nico in the ribs. Nico rolled his eyes.

"I'll take that as a yes," Leo decided, and took a huge bite of his....ummm....whatever you'd call that.

Leo regretted it immediately. He started choking on the dirt and spitting out everything onto his plate. Nico got up and left, obviously annoyed and disgusted.

"No, wait! Nico!" Leo called while pulling an apple stem from his mouth. "You haven't laughed yet!"

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Nico shoved open his cabin door and threw himself onto his bed in anger.

"What the hell is wrong with Leo?" he whisper-yelled.

"A lot," Hazel replied from her bed. "What did he do this time?"

"He ate dirt," Nico said bluntly. "He's such a moron; I swear, he'd probably take a bite out of a tree just for attention."

"And then the dryads will get him," Hazel laughed. "But he's actually a nice boy, you know. He cares about you."

"He cares about my attention, you mean," Nico said bitterly. "He's an idiot."

Hazel sighed. Leo was going to have a lot of work to do if he wanted to make her step brother laugh. Or even smile.