Second Grade recess—Valentine's Day

"Pst, Percy!" Nico called from the bushes.

Looking around, a small, dark haired boy searched for the source of the voice. Spotting his friend, Percy ran over and hid in the bushes with him. "What?" he asked, peaking out through the branches.

Nico's face scrunched up, "Thalia is mad at me." He pouted, with his bottom lip stuck out.

"Why?" Percy's eyes searched the playground, trying to find the troublesome girl.

"Because I didn't give her valentine card in class today. I gave one to everyone but her."

"So go give it to her now." Percy replied simply, turning to Nico with a confused look on his face.

"I can't." His friend replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Clearly confused, Percy raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Nico blushed a deep red, and kicked the grass beneath his feet.

"Nico..." Percy asked expectantly.

"I can't because were best friends!" Nico said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Percy paled and his eyes widened in horror. His small hands clapped over his face and he let out a long groan. Nico gave him a questioning look, eyes wide with surprise.

"Perce?"

"I gave Annabeth a valentine's day card!" Came Percy's mumbled response.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Nico.

"How are we gonna get it back before she opens her mailbox?"

"Uh… I got it! We sneak back into Miss Samuels's room and steal it back before recess is over!" Nico replied, the utmost confidence in his voice.

"Nico, you're a genius."

Together the two boys asked to go to the bathroom and snuck into Percy's teacher's room. The desks were organized into small groups, and each one had sloppily decorated shoeboxes that had been fashioned into crude mailboxes. Each one held heart-shaped candies and store bought superhero valentines. Rushing over to his group's table, Percy quickly found Annabeth's desk and opened up her mailbox.

"Wow! Look at all this candy!" Nico's eyes practically glowed from the excitement. He hoped that a piece or two would not be missed, and went to reach for Annabeth's treats.

Shocked at his friend, Percy slapped his hand away and scolded the boy. "Nico! We are not gonna steal Annabeth's candy!"

He drew his hand back slowly. "Okay." Nico said, obviously disappointed.

Digging into the box, Percy shuffled through handfuls of poorly made card and brightly colored hard candy. "I got it lets go!" Percy held up a Heart shaped card covered in globs of glue and glitter with a little heart sucker on it.

Just as the two turned around they came face-to-face with an angry Annabeth and a furious Thalia.

"Percy why are you taking my card?" Annabeth asked, her gray eyes clearly angry. Percy could practically see her mind's gears shifting through a thousand explanations for what he was doing.

Unfortunately, his mind was not as quick at making up excuses. " I, uh…" Percy muttered, eyes dropping to the floor.

"Nico where's my card!?" screamed Thalia, her eyes becoming stormy. Her small fists balled up as she prepared to throw a tantrum.

"In my pocket." Nico said stubbornly, refusing to hand it over to his friend.

"Percy can I have it back?" Annabeth asked sweetly in the voice she reserved for when she needed to get her way. A sugary sweet smile formed on her face and she stuck out her hand expectantly.

"No!" He practically shouted, holding the card behind his back and out of her reach. " 'cause Nico says that we won't be friends anymore. Me and you!" Percy blurted out.

"Nico…" Annabeth turned to Percy's friend, who promptly attempted to duck behind a desk.

"What? I saw it on Bianca's show. The guy falls in love with the girl and messes up their friendship." He said, very matter-of-fact.

The girls giggled looked at each other and grinned.

Annabeth and Thalia leaned over and kissed Percy and Nico's cheeks and quickly grabbed their cards from the boys' hands, and ran out the door. Thalia's laughter was like thunder and rumbled down the hallway.

Once out of earshot, the girls wiped their lips off on their sleeves and made faces at each other. Thalia stuck her tongue out in disgust, "Ew! I taste like Nico!"

"And I taste like Percy!" Annabeth whined.

Squealing, they ran to the bathroom to wash the boys off their lips. "I hope I didn't catch his cooties!" the small blonde groaned.

Back in the class room Nico said one thing to Percy.

"Dude, we just got punked by a couple of girls." Nico grinned

"Wanna get them back?" Percy asked eagerly.

Nico grinned wickedly and sprinted out off the room with Percy right behind him.