i think i'm falling for you.
nico & thalia

I am trying not to tell you, but I want to
I'm scared of what you'll say,
So I'm hiding what I'm feeling,
But I'm tired of holding this inside my head.
—Colbie Caillat; Fallin For You

author's note: so i was on my way to san francisco and i saw empty fields with horses and i got this idea. but then, i realized that one moment wasn't enough so i thought five would be a better number so here i am.

disclaimer: not mine.

1.

Having Thalia over at his house had been a completely unexpected surprise. But this time, it was a surprise that Nico didn't mind receiving. Despite the fact that she had only come by for answers to the math homework—even though she claimed they would be "working together" on the assignments—it took him a couple hours to realize that Thalia didn't really want to go home.

"Shouldn't you be heading home now?" Nico inquired, looking over at Thalia before averting his gaze to the digital clock on his nightstand. It read 5:30.

Thalia gave him a leveled stare. "Do you not want me here? Is that what it is?"

She had tried to be casual with her remarks, but Nico sensed some real resentment in her tone. He raised an eyebrow at her. "No, I'm just asking you a simple question about whether or not your parents will care if you're going home tonight or not."

It took a second, but Thalia rolled her eyes while Nico took in a breath. "It's not that," she dismissed, rolling her pencil around in her hand. "I'm usually alone at home, so it doesn't matter."

There had been something in her tone that implied that further questions regarding the subject would be met with an uneasy silence and a glare.

Nico put his pencil down, allowing it to rest on the spine of his textbook. "I'm hungry," he announced, sitting up on the bed and looking over at Thalia. "You want something to eat?"

Thalia arched a fine eyebrow. "I thought you can't drive without an adult in the car."

He frowned at her. "I was talking about cooking something."

"You can cook?" Thalia inquired, an amused smile breaking out across her face. It took a second for Thalia to silence her internal laugh before she attempted at a straight face. "Sounds cool."

Nico just rolled his eyes, but he led Thalia down the hallway into the kitchen. After going back and forth on possible dinner options, they decided on spaghetti and meatballs. Thalia couldn't get through a few seconds without cracking another joke about Nico's ability to cook. Nico had glared at her and told her that he would put cheese in the spaghetti if she didn't shut up. Thalia's lip had tightened a little, but she muttered something along the lines of "touche" as she started working on rolling the meat into meatballs.

As Nico finished straining the noodles in the sink, he looked over his shoulder and caught sight of Thalia carefully wiping off some meat sauce from her face with her arm. She looked so concentrated on the subject of creating a meatball, that he realized that he really liked cooking with Thalia.

After a second, Thalia caught him staring at her, but she just grinned good naturedly when she turned to meet his gaze. He smiled back a little, but he cursed himself when his heart started to beat just a little faster.

2.

Nico never imagined his Saturday night would consist of assisting Thalia Grace take care of her little brother. He had envisioned a movie night with his best friend, eating junk food and laughing until his stomach hurt. Instead, he had been met with that apologetic look on her face, and a little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes in her arms. "This is Jason!" she introduced, trying to get Nico excited about the subject of babysitting.

As Nico was dragged into the door of the Grace household, he muttered out a "Hey," to the baby boy. Jason just smiled and giggled, and immediately grew lost in the immense number of toys that littered Thalia's apartment floor. Thalia gently pushed Nico down, with the simple instructions to play with Jason and make sure he didn't get into any life-threatening danger—which Nico didn't understand how that was possible considering that Jason was surrounded by Barney stuffed animals, but he decided against protesting.

Later, Thalia slapped him with her rolled up magazine when she caught Nico sitting on the couch with a bag of chips in his hands. Jason was in front of him, still lost in his toys.

"What was that for?" Nico demanded, standing up after making sure he didn't knock over the chips.

"You're supposed to play with him, Nico!" Thalia reminded, crossing her arms over her chest as Nico muttered something under his breath.

"I have no idea how to play with a two-year-old," Nico protested. "I came over here for movies and junk food, not for a—"

He was cut off when Thalia slapped the top of his head again with her rolled up magazine. "That's not an excuse!"

"Well, if you're so great, why don't you show me how to play with a two year old?" Nico challenged.

Thalia was about to counter his remark, but Jason's cry broke their trance. Thalia whipped her head over to see Jason, and one of his toys in his hands. The light red on his cheek was enough for them to go to the conclusion that the toy in Jason's hand had "attacked" him. The idea was amusing to Nico, but Thalia just looked concern. She kneeled in front of Jason to gather him in her arms.

Nico blinked a little as he took in the sight of Thalia standing with Jason's arms wrapped around her neck. Her hair had been tied up in a ponytail tail, and all her attention was focused on Jason, and the light smile that graced her face was enough for Nico to know that Thalia really did love taking care of Jason. The amount of care and love she put into the protection of Jason was overwhelming. She would make a great wife—

Wife? Hold up, we're not even dating.

Nico coughed loudly, and his face turned red.

3.

"So, did Thalia tell you about Luke?"

Nico awkwardly adjusted the cuffs on his jacket before turning over to study the disappointed look that was Mr. Grace. There was a silence, before: "Yes, sir, she did."

Mr. Grace shook his head. "Such a shame. Luke treated Thalia so well."

Nico nodded slowly, unsure how to respond to such a statement. "She talked about him a lot," was all he said in return.

There was another silence, before Mr. Grace cleared his throat. "Well, either way, I'm glad you're taking Thalia to the prom."

"It's the least I could do, sir."

Before Nico could move to start adjusting his already perfect tie, Mrs. Grace emerged from Thalia's room with a bright smile on her face. After greeting Nico with a hug and a smile, she announced that Thalia's prom look was completed. There was a brief drumroll by Mr. and Mrs. Grace, before the door to Thalia's room opened a little, and Thalia emerged. It took a second for Nico to drink in her whole look before his mouth almost dropped to the ground.

Thalia was dressed in a dark blue dress that touched the floor, bringing out the color in her eyes. Her black hair had been tied back in an elegant bun with the curls cascading down her face. There was something so timeless about her look, and Nico was pretty sure his eyes were the size of golf balls at that point.

Nervously, Thalia approached Nico. "You look nice," she started politely.

The words you look beautiful stopped at the tip of his tongue. Instead, he put on a polite smile and dug his hands deep into his pockets. "You look nice as well."

4.

When Thalia admitted that the picnic Nico had set up for them was "pretty cool", it took a lot in Nico not to grin and brag that it had completely been his idea. Because it hadn't, but if it impressed her would be willing to take that chance? Probably.

Thalia slowly took a sip of coke while Nico continued to munch on his sandwich, the silence between them comfortable and peaceful. Nico took that silence to lay on his back, as his black eyes danced across the sunny sky. There weren't any clouds that day, and the wind was low, but high enough to dance through their hair. Not that they minded, really.

"Hey, Nico," Thalia finally called, breaking through the silence.

Nico sat up, and looked over at Thalia. Her electric blue eyes were dancing as the wind messed through her raven black hair. "I've been curious about something."

"What?"

"I've been thinking about getting a dog, but I'm not really sure. What are your thoughts?" Nico couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Out of all the topics there was to discuss with Thalia Grace, this was not one of them. "Uh, well, I'm not really a dog person."

"You're not really an anything person, are you?"

"Uh, no, not really."

Thalia laughed a little. "Well," she started. "Forget I asked."

Nico turned over to study her with his black eyes, just to see her recovering from her laugh. There was still a smile imprinted on her face, and it was the kind of smile that made her eyes light up with happiness and made her face brighter. Nico loved that smile.

And you love her too—

Shut up.

5.

"H—Hey Thalia, are you sure this is a good idea?" Nico called nervously as his hands gripped the strap going around the horse he had mounted.

Thalia threw a look over her shoulder and grinned good-naturedly at him. "Hey, you wanted to learn how to ride a horse!"

"I didn't mean like this!" Nico protested loudly, his grip on the horse so tight his hands were starting to grow clammy.

Thalia, who was leading, frowned. "How else am I supposed to teach you?"

"Start slow!" He wailed, trying not to focus on his stomach as the horse continued to race down the empty field. "I'm really starting to question your teaching skills!"

Thalia just laughed in response, choosing to ignore Nico's insult as the horses ran across the field at top speed. Since she had taken multiple horse-riding lessons, being around horses had become natural to her.

She looked out to study the sky, while keeping her horse at bay and in control. The sun was already beginning to set, leaving behind a red trail of clouds. It was such a beautiful sight, Thalia had to slow down her horse to get a better view of it.

At the sight of Thalia slowing down, Nico frantically pulled on the reins, and almost fell off when the horse skidded to a stop. He muttered something about Thalia's teaching lessons, and looked up to see Thalia's black hair flying behind her. The sun overheard was angled in such a way that her eyes sparked when she turned around to give him that amused grin.

Instead of trying to come up with a witty comeback, he just gave her an unsteady smile and hoped the sun would block out the red beginning to dust his cheek.