I don't own Percy Jackson, Green Day or City College of New York. I do own Mrs. Stanley, Ms. Meyers and Clara.

Terrible

"Hey."

Percy grinned and leaned down to kiss his girlfriend. "Hey yourself."

Annabeth gave him a stern look. "Did you finish your essay for Latin?"

"Yes, mom," Percy said, rolling his eyes. He took her hand and they started walking into the school.

"How was the meet? I'm so sorry I couldn't come, but my dad…"

"I get it," Percy interrupted. "And hey, if you don't wanna come see your boyfriend win first place out of the whole state in the 500 medley, that's your decision."

"You won in the 500 medley?!" Annabeth threw her arms around Percy's neck. "Congratulations!"

Percy grinned and kissed her again. "You better be coming to nationals."

"Promise."

They started walking again. "How was your weekend?" Percy asked, smiling down at her.

"Actually it wasn't bad. Well, Saturday was, I guess. I had to help my dad empty out all the camping stuff. We never use it, but dad likes to pretend we do." Percy laughed. "Thalia came over yesterday."

"And you survived?"

Annabeth smacked his arm. "Thalia's my best friend, be nice."

Percy lifted his hands in surrender. "Yeah, and Nico's mine, but you're gotta admit they can be pretty insufferable."

"Only when they're around each other."

He gave a humorless chuckle. "First day back, how much you wanna bet they're already arguing?"

"Five bucks."

"Ten that it's something stupid."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Of course it's something stupid. Why are we betting on this? We both know they'll be arguing and we both know it'll be about something stupid."

"Speak of the devils!" Percy said as they rounded the corner. Nico and Thalia were standing next to their lockers arguing, as usual. Thalia looked like she was about to hit the black-haired boy in front of her.

"I didn't say that!" Nico all but yelled.

"Yes you did!"

Percy put a hand on Thalia's shoulder, gently pulling her backwards. "What are we talking about?"

"Your friend is a fucking idiot."

"I didn't say that Nigeria borders Egypt!"

Seriously? Percy thought. This is what they're arguing about? But he didn't say anything.

"That's what you said, di Angelo."

"No, I said that Niger borders Egypt."

Thalia's mouth fell open. "Are you seriously that stupid?"

Percy squeezed his eyes shut. She absolutely shouldn't have asked that.

"You know what, don't answer that. I know you are."

And really, they should have seen that one coming.

"Do you want to check a map?" Nico asked. "I've got one. Niger borders Egypt."

"You carry around a map of Africa? And you still think that Niger borders Egypt?"

"Because it does!"

"No it doesn't, Nico," Annabeth interrupted. "Give me that map, I'll prove it."

Glaring at Thalia, Nico went down on one knee and started pulling out pieces of crumpled paper from his backpack. Thalia snorted. "No wonder you're failing all your classes."

"I'm not failing all of them," Nico mumbled, his head still half buried in the backpack.

"Oh, I'm sorry, no, you're not failing study hall."

"Found it!" Nico pulled out a folder, opened it, and waved a (surprisingly flat) piece of paper. "See?"

Annabeth took the paper and looked at it for a moment. Then she groaned. "Nico, you labeled these wrong. Look," she pointed to the country Nico had labeled as Niger. "This is Libya."

Nico's face went red, and Thalia started laughing. "I told you!"

"Oh, shut up!" Nico snapped. "I'm sorry I'm not a fucking genius."

"Yeah, but you've gotta be pretty stupid to mix up Niger and Libya."

"Oh, as if you're any better," Annabeth snapped. "Now both of you go to class." They glared at her, but headed down the hall without another word, Thalia shoving Nico along the way.

"God, I'm so sick of them," Annabeth said as she and Percy made their way in the opposite direction.

Percy put an arm around her shoulder. "We both know it's just sexual tension, anyway."

"…Thalia Grace."

"What?" Thalia looked up. The class started laughing, Nico the loudest of them all.

Mrs. Stanley huffed a sigh. "Not paying attention, as usual. I was saying that you'll be doing a project on a body part with a partner. And since you've so helpfully volunteered…" she smirked and held out a small brown basket filled with folded pieces of paper. "Come on."

Thalia stood up and walked to the front of the room. "Take a paper," Mrs. Stanley ordered, shaking the basket a little. Thalia reached in and pulled one out. "What does it say?"

"The p…" She stopped. Were they fucking kidding? She wasn't doing a project on this with anyone.

"Well?" Mrs. Stanley prompted. Thalia swore she would strangle that woman if she ever got the chance.

"The penis."

The class burst into laughter again. Mrs. Stanley glared at them all until they quieted. "Go sit down, Thalia."

Thalia did so, and Mrs. Stanley announced a few more partners. When she was finished she set down the basket. "You'll have two weeks to finish this. We will be working in class, but I suggest meeting with your partner outside of school at least once. You will be presenting this to the entire class…" I'm presenting a project about the penis to the class? "…and I expect at least a page of writing, as well as pictures…" Shit. "…and facts. You have until the bell to work."

The other students started standing up and getting together with their partners, but Thalia just sat at her desk, waiting for someone to come to her.

She prayed to all that was holy that she wasn't working with Nico di Angelo, but apparently the universe hated her, as he came to stand in front of her desk.

"We have to do a project on the penis," he stated, staring at her, his hands in his pockets.

She gave him a patronizing smile. "Good job, di Angelo. You can hear."

"Apparently you can't. 'What?'" he said in a very bad imitation of Thalia's voice.

"That didn't sound anything like me."

He glared. "Let's just start." He pulled up a chair and sat in it backwards, with the back facing Thalia and his legs straddling it.

"I'll go get computers," Thalia said. She stood up and came back a few seconds later with two laptops.

"What are we even looking up?" Nico asked while they waited for their laptops to turn on.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "What is our project on?"

"God, why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Treat me like I'm an idiot?!" His voice rose with each word.

"Because you are one!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are, di Angelo." Nico opened his mouth to protest, but Thalia cut him off. "Remind me, who was it who thought that Niger was next to Egypt?"

"It was 8:00 in the morning when I did that map!"

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You did the map? That desperate, huh?"

Nico turned bright red and clenched his fist. "That's not…"

"Excuse me!"

The two of them looked up to see Mrs. Stanley standing next to the desk, her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing. "Both of you outside with me. Now!" she commanded, and Nico and Thalia scrambled to stand up and get out the door. Mrs. Stanley had been in the air force before she had become a teacher, and it showed when she got angry.

Mrs. Stanley shut the door after reminding everyone else that she could still hear them, and turned to glare again at Nico and Thalia. "I put you two together because I think it will help you stop fighting."

Nico snorted and Thalia muttered, "Like that'll ever happen."

"It better," Mrs. Stanley snapped, "Because if it doesn't I swear I will fail both of you. And then you'll have to go through summer school. Together."

Thalia and Nico glared at each other, and Thalia breathed out sharply through her nose. "Fine," she growled through clenched teeth.

Mrs. Stanley looked expectantly at Nico. He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Can we at least change our topic?" Thalia asked, begging and whining at the same time.

Mrs. Stanley shook her head. "That was your fault, I didn't pick that for you." She held up her hand against their protests. "I don't want to hear it. Now both of you get back in there, the bell's about to ring."

"Trust you to pick something like that to study," Nico grumbled as they walked back into the classroom.

Thalia clenched her fists to keep from hitting him.

This was going to be a long two weeks.

What the hell am I doing here? Thalia asked herself. Her fist was poised to knock, but she wasn't sure she should.

Maybe it was the solid black door that made her feel slightly apprehensive, or maybe it was the fact that she was standing outside Nico di Angelo's apartment because she needed to work on a project about the penis for school and try not to kill him in the process.

She decided not to open with that when she met his parents.

Taking a deep breath Thalia rapped three times on the door. A few seconds later it opened to reveal a man who looked to be in his late forties. He was glowering. "There's a door bell for a reason," he said in a dark tone.

"Hades!" a woman inside scolded. She appeared behind the man. Her hair was dark, but it was tinted with red highlights and Thalia couldn't quite tell if they were natural or not. Her eyes were blue, not quite dark and not quite light. She was smiling. "Hi, sweetheart, are you selling cookies?"

Thalia raised her eyebrow. She had gotten the right house, right? "No," she said. "I'm looking for Nico di Angelo."

The woman hummed, looking her up and down. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Persephone, and this is Hades. We're his parents."

Wow, Thalia thought, no wonder he's so dysfunctional.

"You look like his type," Persephone said thoughtfully. "He's never brought one of his girlfriends over before."

"I am not dating that idi…him." She cut herself off before she said something to insult his parents. "We're doing a project for school together."

"Oh, what's it on?"

Thalia cleared her throat. This had been a really bad idea. She shouldn't have come.

"Just let the girl in," the man (Hades) said. Thalia nearly kissed his feet in gratitude (nearly). "Niccolo!" he called over his shoulder, opening the door wider to let Thalia in. She suppressed a snort. Niccolo?

"What?" Nico called from somewhere above them.

"There's someone here to see you."

Thalia heard thumping and Nico appeared in the kitchen. He stopped when he saw her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Niccolo!" Persephone reprimanded. "Don't use words like that!"

Her voice was starting to get on Thalia's nerves. It was a little like a rusty bell: beautiful but grating to the ears at the same time.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Come on," he said. He turned around and waved Thalia forward. She didn't look at his parents as she followed him.

He led her up the stairs to a room with gray walls covered in posters. There was a mattress sitting on the floor with gray blankets and a black pillow with a skull-and-crossbones on it. A small bookshelf sat on the other side of the room. A lamp was tipped over next to the pillow and a book sat next to the lamp. At the foot of the bed sat speakers connected to an iPod, a phone being charged, and a laptop. The floor was bare, splintering wood. It wasn't a particularly inviting room.

"Nice room," Thalia commented.

Nico laughed. "Yeah, well, Dad's a mortician and Persephone doesn't work, we don't have a ton of money." He shrugged. "I like it, actually. It feels kinda like a cave."

"Looks like one, too."

He motioned for her to sit on the mattress and she did. "So why are you here?" he asked, sitting in front of her.

"We have a project to do, remember?"

He wrapped his arms around his knees. "How could I forget?"

She grinned. "Hey, look at us, having a normal conversation."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Way to ruin it, Grace."

Thalia smirked and glanced at the posters on the walls. "You like Green Day?" she asked, looking at him.

"Don't you dare say anything, Grace, Green Day is amazing."

She nodded. "Best band ever."

Nico's mouth fell open. "You listen to Green Day?"

Thalia rolled her eyes and pulled up her sleeve to show her Green Day bracelet. "Really? I wear this every day."

"Well I'm sorry I don't look at every little bit of your outfit every single day."

"I'm not saying you have to look at every single bit, I'm just saying maybe you could be a little more observant!"

"It's under your sleeve! I don't have x-ray vision!"

"I don't always wear my sweatshirt, di Angelo."

"Yes you do!"

Thalia put her head in her hands. "I can't believe we're arguing about this."

Nico scoffed. "You started it."

And of course there was no one there to stop them, so they spent the next ten minutes saying "No I didn't" and "Yes you did" until Thalia said, "God, what are we, five?"

"I'm not. I don't know about you," Nico replied.

"Oh, please, di Angelo, if anyone here is five it's you."

"I'm older than you!"

"By six months!"

"I'm still older than you."

"And yet, you're still a child."

Nico gave a condescending laugh. "'And yet'? You've been spending way too much time with Annabeth."

"And you've been spending too much time with Percy, which explains why you're such a philistine." She paused, then groaned and put her head in her hands. "God, I have been spending too much time with Annabeth."

"So why do you have so much trouble with Trig?"

She picked her head up and glared at him. "Because Annabeth's not in Trig."

"Of course not. She's too smart for that," Nico said, chuckling.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "She's in Calculus."

"So why the hell is she dating Percy?"

Thalia laughed. "Ragging on your best friend, now?"

"Just because he's my best friend doesn't mean I can't say he's an idiot." He pointed an accusing finger at her face. "And you were just ragging on your best friend, you can't talk."

"I was saying good things!"

"You were being mean. And I didn't even say anything about Percy!"

She scoffed. "You implied that he was stupid."

"He is! Well, he can be."

"Ha!" Thalia exclaimed. "That was mean. I just said that she's not in my class."

"Yeah, but you made it sound like a bad thing."

"It's not a bad thing! It's just kind of annoying that she's s much smarter than me."

"That doesn't take much, Grace."

"Oh, please, di Angelo, I'm smarter than you. I know where Niger is."

Nico groaned. "God, we aren't really going back to this, are we? I told you, it was early, I was half asleep."

"Didn't your teacher check it?"

"I have Ms. Meyers, she never checks anything."

"So is your vision blurry or something? You couldn't see the map?"

"I have dyslexia!"

"So do I, but I can still read maps."

Nico put his face in his hands. "Why did I let you stay? God, this was such a bad idea." He stood up and turned around, running a hand through his hair.

"Your mom wouldn't have let you make me leave."

He whirled around, and though Thalia had seen Nico glaring before, this seemed different. Normally the glare was annoyed, fed up with whatever it wad that they were talking about. This one held real anger. "Persephone in not my mother," he growled.

Thalia put her hands up in surrender. "Fine, sorry. The evil lady who you obviously have a problem with wouldn't let you make me leave."

Nico shook his head and sat down on the bed next to her. He picked up the laptop, opened it, and pressed the power button. "Lets just work on the project."

Thalia reached into her pocket and pulled out a flashdrive. "Here," she said, handing it to him.

"What is it?" But he took it and plugged it into the computer.

"A virus that will kill your laptop."

He tore it out and Thalia burst out laughing. Nico scowled at her. "That wasn't funny, Grace."

"That was pretty funny."

"Maybe for you."

"Yeah, but I'm the only one I care about." She hit him on the arm. "God, di Angelo, lighten up."

"Okay, are you high or something?"

"Only a little bit." Nico raised an eyebrow and Thalia rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, di Angelo. Relax, it's just our project."

Nico plugged the flashdrive back in and entered his password, muttering about stupid annoying girls and something in Italian that Thalia didn't understand.

She snorted. "Nice background."

He looked up from his Nightmare Before Christmas background and glared. "I didn't invite you in so that you could make fun of my computer."

"Invite me in? You didn't invite me in at all!"

"And you wonder why!"

"No I don't, I know exactly why. Because you're a bastard."

"So why did you come here if you knew I wouldn't let you in?"

"I was hoping your parents would be a bit nicer than you!" she snapped.

Nico snorted.

"I guess I should have remembered that everyone is nicer than you!"

Her voice had risen but she wasn't quite yelling yet.

"At least I'm not a fucking porcupine!"

"A porcupine? What?"

"Prickly!" He waved his hands at her as if that made his point.

She stared at him for a moment. "Idiot," she breathed out, shaking her head.

"Oh, original, Grace. Is that the only word you can think of for me?"

"How about infuriating?"

"I'm infuriating? Do you hear yourself when you're talking, or is it just noise to you?" He fisted his hands in his hair. "God, you're so…"

"So what?" Thalia demanded. "Go on, finish that sentence."

"So…" he trailed off, just staring at her. Why hadn't he ever noticed how…how…hot she looked when she was yelling at him?

"You can't even finish that insult? God, di Angelo, you're so pathetic."

Without thinking he lunged forward and pressed his lips against hers. One hand went to the back of his neck and the other to her waist to pull her closer. She froze for a moment, then put her arms around his neck, one hand in his hair and the other gripping the collar of his t-shirt. He licked her lips and she parted them, letting his tongue sweep around her mouth. She tasted like chocolate and peppermint.

They broke apart, breathing heavily. "Not so pathetic, huh?" he asked.

Her pupils were dilated as she stared at him. Then she leaned back. "That was a terrible idea."

"Terrible," Nico agreed, taking his hands off her. She stood up, readjusting her shirt and running a hand through her hair to try to tame it.

"That will never happen again. Ever."

He nodded. "And Percy and Annabeth can never know."

"Oh, God," she groaned. "Okay, I'm leaving now, you can keep the flashdrive, we'll talk in school." She turned without another word to him and left.

Nico fell back on his mattress on the floor. That had been a terrible idea, it would never ever happen again. He hated her. He'd hated her for as long as they'd known each other. And she hated him. He should wipe that memory from his mind.

So why the nagging feeling that he wanted it again?

"Oh, God, don't tell me they're at it already," Annabeth groaned as she and Percy walked into the school. They could hear the distant sounds of shouting even from the front doors.

"Wow, 7:15. I think that might be a new record," Percy remarked.

"…had to do it!" Thalia was screaming as Percy and Annabeth rounded the corner.

"So you automatically blame me?!"

"Who else?!"

"The Stolls, you idiot!"

Thalia gave a harsh laugh that almost made Percy want to turn around and run. "They wouldn't do it, trust me."

"Right, because you're so terrifying that they won't dare risk your wrath?"

"Because last time they did something like that they ended up hanging from the roof by their underpants."

A few of the spectators (there were always spectators for Nico and Thalia's fights, sometimes Percy suspected they sat there and waited for the two to come by) laughed, but Thalia threw glares at all of them and most of them ran away. The ones that didn't stared at their shoes as if they had suddenly become the most interesting things in the world.

"I don't give a shit who did it, I didn't." Nico gestured harshly to himself. His eyes were like smoldering obsidian. Percy had never seen him so angry.

This fight seemed different somehow. Something was…off.

"Fine, name one person other than you or the Stolls who would do something like that."

Nico threw his hands up in the air, turning slightly. When he spotted Percy he pointed. "Percy," he said, waving him forward.

"Percy wouldn't do that!"

"I didn't say he would, I was telling him to come over here!"

"Then why didn't you say 'Percy come over here'?"

"Because he got it when I waved at him!"

"And why would Percy know who did it?"

"Who did what?" Percy interrupted.

Thalia turned to him. "Someone put a stink bomb in my locker."

So that's what the smell was.

"Sparky here," Nico said, gesturing to Thalia, "thinks that I did it."

"You did!"

"No I didn't! I'm not ten!"

"That's debatable, di Angelo."

"You wanna check? Get my fucking DNA or something, it'll tell you how old I am."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "DNA doesn't do that, idiot. Don't you watch Bones?"

"Why would I watch a TV show about some stuck-up, annoying lady when I see it anyway every time I look at you?"

"Sorry, I forgot, you like to watch a show about people who shoot at zombies."

Nico gritted his teeth. "They're not zombies, they're walkers, and The Walking Dead isn't just about the people who shoot at them."

"And Bones isn't just about a stuck-up, annoying lady. Who, by the way, doesn't act anything like me."

"No, you're right, she's smarter."

"And the zombies are smarter than you."

"Walkers!"

"Whatever!"

"Shut up!" Annabeth shouted, startling the two arguing seniors enough to make them stop. "No one cares about The Walking Dead except you, Nico. And Thalia," she turned on her best friend. "You and I are the only ones who care about Bones. And you're never going to convince Nico that it's better because he's a stubborn little twit," she ignored Nico's indignant "Hey!" and Thalia's snort, "so shut up and go to class. God, will you two ever get along?"

Nico's muttered "Probably not" was drowned out by Thalia's resounding "NO".

"Good, now that we've gotten that out of the way, you can go. Have fun," Percy said, waving them away. They turned and walked down the hall together towards Health class. "There's something going on," Percy muttered.

Annabeth snorted. "What was your first clue?"

Percy shrugged. "They just need to get over themselves and fuck each other. Everything will be okay after that."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at his language and tugged at his sleeve. "Come on, Seaweed Brain, we're late to class."

God damn it, Nico thought, rifling through his bag frantically. He was standing in the middle of the hallway trying to find his keys.

He threw the bag down on the floor and threaded his fingers into his hair. He'd had the worst day he could remember ever having, all because of what had happened the day before. He should never have kissed Thalia. It had ruined everything.

He picked up his bag and went into the bathroom. Leaving his bag by the door (no one was at the school, it was after hours, and he didn't have anything worth stealing anyway; if they wanted to steal his French textbook, they were welcome to it) he locked himself in one of the stalls and sat on the toilet.

He hadn't been able to concentrate at all that day. Thalia was in two of his six classes, and of course they'd had to work on their project together in Health that morning. It had been the most awkward time of his life. He could hear people around them wondering why they weren't fighting, why they were just sitting there working quietly. After their fight that morning they hadn't spoken at all.

He hadn't told Percy about the kiss, he didn't plan to, but he couldn't help thinking that maybe it hadn't been such a bad idea.

Nico took a deep breath, stood up, and unlocked the door. He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment, then picked up his bag and walked out of the bathroom.

Across from the bathroom something caught Nico's eye. Someone was in the gym. He crossed the hall and peered through the window. It was the gymnastics team. Which he'd completely forgotten that Thalia was on. But there she was, doing a series of back flips in a black leotard and black shorts. She ran behind the group in front who were doing something that looked a bit like a cheerleader's pyramid and disappeared from Nico's view. A few seconds later she was back, being lifted over the top of the pyramid and landing in front. As soon as she landed she dropped into a split, and everyone froze.

Nico let out a low whistle. He hadn't known how good she was. He never went to any of their performances or competitions. He might have to start going.

He shook his head and turned around. He had to go home. He'd borrowed Persephone's car so he could stay after school to make up a test, and she couldn't go to yoga until he got back. He stepped forward and noticed something on the floor.

Grinning, Nico bent down and picked up his keys. They must have fallen out of his bag when he was having his little fit earlier.

He took one last glance at the gymnasts behind him, and walked out to his car.

Nico didn't speak to Thalia all week. Even in Health class every morning they didn't say anything, didn't even look at each other. Well maybe Nico had glanced up at her a few times, and maybe he had thought about that Saturday, about the kiss, but there certainly hadn't been any sort of feeling in his stomach or his chest, and he certainly hadn't thought about doing it again. They were enemies. Nico might even have said mortal enemies if he was feeling dramatic. He wasn't going to be the cliche idiot who hated the girl until he kissed her in a fit of rage and realized how beautiful she'd been the entire time.

Okay, maybe he was already that cliche idiot, but he didn't think she was beautiful, so he wasn't completely hopeless, right?

Right?

Fuck, he was so screwed.

He wanted to wallow in his own self pity for the weekend, but Thalia had a gymnastics competition and there was an after party that she was dragging Annabeth to because she said that Annabeth spent too much time with her nose in a book. Percy had agreed to go so that Annabeth would go too, and he'd even promised to convince Nico to go with them. Percy's idea of "convincing" was showing up at Nico's apartment an hour before the party and telling not Nico but his parents (who were convinced that Nico spent too much time listening to loud music in his room, which he probably did) that they were going to a party and that there would be no drinking or drugs whatsoever, promise. Which was a complete lie and his parents knew it, but for reasons that Nico really didn't want to speculate on they let him go anyway (it had been a while since they'd had any alone time). Nico spent the first half an hour arguing with Percy – he hated being in places with lots of people. Finally he gave in, changed his clothes, put on his eyeliner (in the bathroom, he hated it when people watched him – he was okay with people seeing it on him, just not with them watching him apply it) and spent the car ride thinking of creative ways to escape.

An hour later he had to admit that the party wasn't quite as bad as he'd thought it would be, although he decided that it was partially because of the two beers that he'd had. He was sitting in the corner nursing his third beer and watching everyone else dancing – if it could be called that. He was pretty sure Annabeth wouldn't be standing up in another hour or so, even though she'd only had about as much as he had. He wouldn't have been surprised if this was her first time drinking, or maybe she was just a really lightweight. Percy was drunk, too, in fact everyone was.

"Hey Dead Boy!" Nico suppressed a groan and turned to see Thalia grinning at him. She sat down next to him. "Why are you sitting here? It's a party, dance!"

He laughed. "Do I look like the dancing type to you?"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Everyone's the dancing type when there's alcohol involved." She stood up and grabbed one of his hands. "Come on," she said, dragging him to the dance floor.

He tried to protest, but she had a death grip on his wrist and managed to pull him into the crowd of people. She took his other wrist, raised both hands above her head, and started swaying back and forth to make him dance. Nico couldn't help but laugh.

"See, this isn't so bad," Thalia insisted.

Nico rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond when someone bumped into Thalia and knocked her on the floor. "Yeah, okay, I'm taking you home," he said, reaching down to help her up.

"What? Why?"

"Because you're drunk and I don't want to think about what you'll do when you're drunk. Plus it gives me an excuse to get out of here."

After a few tries and a lot of giggles he managed to get Thalia off the floor and wrapped one arm around her waist to make sure she didn't fall over again. They'd gotten to the coat room (yes, the house had a room just for coats, and it was about the size of Nico's bedroom, which was good because there were a lot of people there) when Nico remembered that he'd ridden with Percy and his car wasn't there. He turned to Thalia, who was putting her coat on. "How did you get here?"

"Annabeth picked me up from the competition and gave me a ride."

"Awesome," he muttered. He pulled out the pen and pad of paper that he always kept in his pocket (he needed good doodling material in case of boredom) and wrote Percy a quick note.

I took Thalia home, take Annabeth's car. Or call a cab so you don't get killed.

– Nico

Then he slipped his coat on and took Percy's keys out of Percy's jacket pocket. "Let's go," he said, turning back to Thalia. He went to put an arm around her waist again but she slapped him away, insisting that she could do it.

"Okay, but if you fall again I swear to God I will pick you up and carry you."

Thalia rolled her eyes.

When they were in Percy's car and driving Thalia said, "I don't want to go home."

Nico sighed. "What do you want to do?"

"See a movie!"

"What?"

"Oh, come on, it's Saturday. Isn't the casino playing Alice in Wonderland tonight?"

"Why the hell would I know? I never go to the casino."

"They are," Thalia said as if that decided everything.

"Fine, but only if it's the Tim Burton one."

She scoffed. "As if there's another one worth seeing."

"That one isn't worth seeing," he muttered, but kept it to himself, partly because he knew it would make her mad and he didn't want to deal with that, and partly because he knew it wasn't really true. Any Tim Burton movie was worth seeing.

They arrived at the casino, and sure enough Alice in Wonderland was about to start playing. Nico bought the two of them popcorn but refused to buy Thalia any soda, just bottles of water, and they went to take their seats in the balcony. No one ever went to the balcony, it was hot and stuffy, but Nico liked it because it was empty and Thalia didn't really care.

When the movie was over Nico led Thalia out to the car. "I still don't want to go home," Thalia said as they stood in the parking lot.

Nico gave an exasperated sigh. "Thalia, it's midnight, my parents are home. You can't come with me and I want to go home."

She shrugged and replied, "So drop me off at Annabeth's."

He raised an eyebrow. "She went to a party with her boyfriend and got drunk, do you really want to interrupt them?"

Thalia wrinkled her nose. "Never mind. What do you want…" But Nico had tuned her out. He was too focused on her lips to pay attention. They had been dark red and the beginning of the evening. Now the color had faded slightly, but combined with the thick eyeliner and black eyeshadow that she was wearing (but no blush ever, Nico was half convinced that she was a vampire) it looked perfect. The few beers that he'd had must have kicked in because he really wanted to…

Fuck, what the hell was he doing?

But Thalia was pressed against his car and his hands were on her and her fingers were hooked into his belt loops, pulling him closer, and he really didn't give a shit if he shouldn't be doing this because he wasn't about to stop.

He wasn't sure how they made it into the back of his car, but he was really fucking glad that they'd parked in the back lot and there was no one else there. He was also completely ready to take back every bad thing he'd ever said about the stupid truck that his father had gotten him, no matter how much he hated it.

"This is a terrible idea," Thalia breathed, grabbing at his shirt as he lay down on top of her and attacking his lips again.

Nico moved from her lips to her neck. "Terrible," he agreed, panting.

But neither seemed to care when their clothes began to come off.

Thalia didn't open her eyes when she woke up. She wasn't in her room. Whatever she was sleeping on was too hard to be her mattress – no matter how hard her mattress may have been – and she couldn't feel the weight of her zebra striped blanket. And it was too cold, especially for the end of May.

Where the fuck were her clothes?

Oh, hell.

She opened her eyes. She'd been hoping it was a dream, hoping that she'd passed out on the floor of her room while getting undressed, even if she hadn't had nearly enough to drink for that, or she'd slept with some other boy, or hell, she'd gotten mugged.

But no, she was lying in the back of a truck with Nico di fucking Angelo lying next to her mostly naked, with the exception of the boxers that he must have slipped on after she fell asleep. She sat up and reached for the bra that was lying next to her. She found her pants and underwear with ease, and decided she didn't want to spend time looking for her shirt. So she picked up the black and red Green Day shirt that obviously belonged to Nico and climbed out of the car without waking him up.

When she got outside she looked around and realized that it was still dark, and she was standing outside the casino miles away from her house with no way home. Sighing, she pulled out her phone and pressed number three on her speed dial.

"Yeah?" came the groggy voice a few seconds later.

Thalia chuckled. "Hangover?"

"It's four o'clock in the morning, what could you possibly want?" Annabeth asked.

"I think I'm a slut."

"Oh God no, Thalia!" Annabeth exclaimed from the other end of the connection, suddenly completely awake and all remnants of her hangover gone. "You're a wonderfully amazing person. Don't ever say that about yourself."

Thalia smiled and leaned against the wall of the casino, feeling as though she might be about to cry. It felt like a while since someone had told her that. "Thanks. Are you busy?"

"I'm never too busy for my best friend. Even if my head is killing me."

"Take some aspirin. And then I really need you to come pick me up, I'm at the casino."

One of the many things that Thalia loved so much about Annabeth was that she never ever ever asked questions if she could tell that they didn't need to be asked, and this was one of those times. She promised to be there within fifteen minutes and made it within twenty, but Thalia didn't comment because it was four-thirty in the morning and Annabeth didn't have to do any of it.

"So why do you think you're a slut?" Annabeth asked when they were one their way.

Thalia rested her forehead on the window. "I slept with Nico."

"Nico di Angelo?"

She closed her eyes. "Yes, Nico di Angelo. I had sex with Nico di Angelo last night. After the party."

"Thalia, it's okay," Annabeth said, putting a hand on Thalia's leg but not taking her eyes of the road. "You were drunk, it happens. It's called a one night stand for a reason."

"No," Thalia moaned, putting her hands on her face and leaning her head back against the headrest. "No, I wasn't drunk." Her voice was slightly muffled. "I just had a few shots."

Annabeth was silent, and Thalia almost felt like she was going to cry. "Well, it's not going to happen again, right?" she asked finally.

Thalia nodded.

"So was he good?" Annabeth asked, breaking the silence.

Thalia smacked Annabeth on the arm, and Annabeth laughed at the blush creeping up her best friend's face. Apparently he was.

There was a slight throbbing in Nico's head as he woke up, but compared to other hangovers he'd had it wasn't bad. And he didn't feel any urge to throw up, so that was a plus.

He opened his eyes and squinted at the bright light of the sun. As his eyes adjusted he realized that the light was not from the sun but from an orange streetlight outside his car window. The sun had yet to come up.

Nico sat up and looked around. He was in his boxers in his car in the parking lot of the casino. He leaned his head back against the window and groaned when he remembered what had happened the night before. He'd fucked Thalia. His father was going to kill him. Thalia was going to kill him. Percy was going to kill him. Annabeth was going to kill him.

They'd have to beat Nico to it.

Then he chuckled. It might have been a terrible idea, but the night sure as hell hadn't been terrible. No where near.

Fuck, what was he thinking? This was Thalia. He didn't like Thalia, and he definitely didn't like sleeping with her.

He scowled and told the little part of his brain that suggested that he might be lying to himself to shut up.

Although that thing she did with her tongue…

No.

He picked up his phone and dialed Percy's number, searching for his clothes with his other hand. He had found his jeans and was muttering "Fuck, where the hell is my shirt?" when Percy answered.

"What?" Percy asked. His voice was thick, and Nico had a feeling it wasn't with sleep.

"Sorry, I can't find my shirt."

Percy groaned. "If you called me because you can't find your shirt…"

"No," Nico interrupted. He stopped looking and put a hand to his forehead.

"Everything okay?"

Nico shook his head, then realized Percy couldn't see him. "No."

"What happened?" Percy sounded more awake but no less sick.

"I was taking Thalia home, and then she didn't want to go home so we went to a movie, and then we were in the parking lot and I didn't mean to do it but I was half drunk and…"

"Wait," Percy broke in. "Wait, did you fuck Thalia?"

"Yes," Nico moaned, banging the back of his head against the car window.

Percy laughed. It sounded more like a cackle. "Finally."

"What?"

"Nico, we've been waiting for you two to get together since seventh grade."

"We're not together!" There was no squeak to his voice, really. "We were both drunk…"

"You liked it."

Nico stopped. "No," he said, but he couldn't even convince himself. Percy laughed, despite his throbbing head and churning stomach.

"She's hot."

Nico groaned again. "Shit, I'm so screwed."

"No you're not," Percy said, still chuckling. "Not unless you didn't use protection."

Nico didn't say anything, but his stomach dropped to his feet.

"You did use protection, right?"

More silence.

"Shit, Nico, tell me you did."

Nico snapped his phone shut. It didn't matter, right? It would be fine. He was clean, she was clean, it would be fine.

God, he hated her so much. Everything was easy until she came along. With her black hair and terrifying electric blue eyes and perfect hips and god damn it, what the hell was he thinking?

No, actually, he hated Mrs. Stanley. Of all the people to partner him with, it had to be Thalia? Was the woman out of her mind? Of course, Nico had never been convinced that Mrs. Stanley actually had a mind, but this was taking things to a whole new level. And on the penis. They were never going to finish that project, and they both knew it.

But he had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that he had slept with Thalia fucking Grace. And he might have actually enjoyed it.

Actually, it wasn't the fact that he might have actually enjoyed it that bothered him so much. He was a teenage boy, if he hadn't enjoyed it he would have been worried. The problem was that he was now completely sober, he knew exactly who and what he was thinking about, and he wanted it again.

He banged his head against the window again and moaned.

"We need to talk."

Nico turned around to see Thalia standing behind him. Yeah, he knew they did. That didn't mean he wanted to.

But he just nodded. Thalia grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the janitor's closet. Behind him he could hear Percy laughing and saying, "Don't kill him Thalia!" Thalia flipped him off without turning around and slammed the door behind them.

Nico was seriously going to kill his best friend. His father was a mortician. He could make it look like an accident.

But at the moment Thalia was staring at him with an expression that he couldn't quite read. "What do we do?" she asked finally.

"We don't need to do anything," Nico responded. "We were both drunk, it was a mistake. No one's going to find out anyway."

She shook her head. "I wasn't."

"You weren't what?"

"Drunk."

Nico stared at her. "Seriously?" he said in a monotone. She nodded. "So…why? Did you…want it?"

Thalia gave a scathing laugh. "Don't get excited, di Angelo. I was a little drunk."

"So that's a no."

"That's a no." She looked down for a moment. "Or a maybe."

"Which is it?"

She looked back up and glared at him. "I don't know, okay?! What about you? Did you want it? You were sober enough to drive!"

"I don't know." That shut her up. "I didn't really think about it. If you'd asked me two days ago I would have said no. But now…" He sighed, "I don't know."

She stared at him for a few seconds. "We're supposed to hate each other." It came out as a whisper.

Nico shook his head. "I've never hated you. Sometimes I think I do, but I don't."

"You always act like you do."

"Thalia, you drive me up a fucking wall sometimes, but I don't hate you."

Thalia turned around and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. She didn't hate him either. Actually, he was one of the only people she could have a conversation with. Well, not so much a conversation. But most people in the school didn't like her, whether because she mouthed off to them or because they didn't like the way she dressed or the way she acted. The only people who really did like her were Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth was Thalia's best friend and they talked all the time, but Annabeth was really smart and sometimes it was hard for Thalia to keep up. Percy was always with either Annabeth or Nico or practicing for some sport team or another. There were a few people in some of Thalia's classes who would talk to her, but most of them were complete idiots. It was like talking to a brick wall. Thalia supposed that was how Annabeth felt with most everyone.

But Nico was smart, but not too smart. He was interesting. He wasn't afraid of her. And she liked it. She liked him.

Even if he did drive her stark raving made sometimes.

Making a split second decision Thalia turned around and pressed her lips to Nico's. Almost immediately he put one hand on the small of her back and used the other to spin her around and press her against the wall. She clutched the back of his collar in her fists and moaned when he nipped at her bottom lip.

A few minutes later they came up for air, both panting heavily. "This is a terrible idea," Nico gasped. His forehead was pressed to hers.

Thalia didn't answer, just leaned up to kiss him again.

Thalia sat on the couch, her head in her hands. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't possible. She didn't want to be one of those girls.

A knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts and she wiped her eyes and sniffed once before going to answer it. Standing outside the apartment that she shared with her mother (who wasn't there at the moment, thank God) was Nico. They'd been…well, they weren't really sure what they were doing, but they'd been doing it for about five weeks. They hadn't told Percy or Annabeth. Mostly it was just making out, with some talking in between. They weren't really dating, but both knew that the other wasn't seeing anyone else.

"Hey," Nico said as he stepped through the door. "What's up? Your text sounded kind of urgent."

Thalia twisted her hands, not quite sure how to say it. She debated bringing him over to the couch, making him sit down, but decided it would be better if she just told him.

"I'm late."

He stared at her. "Late for what?"

She rubbed one hand up and down her face. "What do you think?"

Nico frowned. He really didn't know what she was talking about.

"I went to the drug store and got a test," she continued. She moved her hand away from her face and looked up at him.

After a moment his expression cleared and he went white. "Oh," he said in a small voice. "That kind of late."

She nodded. "The test was positive."

Nico turned around and walked across the living room. He put his hands in his hair, then turned around to face her. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know."

He was silent for a moment, staring at her and thinking. "It's your decision. You're the mother."

"I'm not keeping it."

"Okay. So you can get rid of it or give it up."

Thalia's legs suddenly felt like they were going to collapse, and she went to sit down on the couch. She put her head in her hands. A second later she felt a hand on her back, rubbing small circles.

"I don't want to get rid of it or give it up."

Even though she was only eighteen and this was a complete mistake, she wanted to keep the baby. She knew it was stupid, but she wanted to prove that she could be a better mother than her own mother was. And there would be time for that later, but she knew that if she killed it or gave it up for adoption she would never be able to forgive herself, because it would be like she'd failed it before it even got a chance.

"You have to choose one, Thalia."

He was trying to be strong, she could hear it in his voice. He wanted to break down. But he wasn't, for her, and she couldn't quite figure out how they'd gone from hating each other to this in a little over a month.

"I don't want to kill it or give it up. But I can't do it by myself."

"Is that what you think is going to happen?" She looked up at him. "I'm not leaving. It's your choice, but if you keep it then I'm staying."

Thalia shook her head. "You can't. You're going to college."

"I don't have to…"

"Yes you do," she interrupted, and her tone left no room for argument. Nico was the first person in his family to go to college. He'd already gotten accepted to the City College of New York, and his father was so proud. He couldn't give up on that now.

Nico sighed. "Do you want to keep the baby?"

Thalia was silent. She did. But she knew she couldn't do it on her own. "You have to go to college…"

"Do you want to keep the baby?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said quietly.

"Then you're coming with me."

She looked at him like he had three heads. "Are you out of your mind, di Angelo? I wasn't accepted. I didn't even apply."

"You don't have to go to school. I was already planning to rent an apartment, you can move in with me."

Thalia stared at the wall in front of her. They'd only been doing whatever it was they were doing for about a month, and they still fought. But although she would never, ever, ever admit it, she really did like him. And this was the best option. For her and the baby.

She turned around and kissed him lightly. After a seconds or two she pulled back and nodded.

"Okay."

Five Years Later

"Daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy," four year old Clara chanted as she ran through the art exhibit, darting between people's legs and narrowly missing one of the caterers. Her mother followed close behind, trying to keep up. Unfortunately, she wasn't nearly as small as Clara.

"Hey, little girl," Nico said as Clara attached herself to his leg. She looked up at him and grinned.

"Hi!" she chirped. Nico reached down and picked her up just as Thalia finally made it through the crowd.

"I thought I told you to stay with me," she said, putting her hands on her hips and giving her daughter a stern look. She had been mortified when she realized how good she was at looking like a mother, but Nico had just laughed and told her she was the sexiest mom he'd ever met.

Clara laughed. "Daddy," she said, as if that explained everything.

"What can I say?" Nico spread the one free hand he had. "I attract the ladies."

Thalia rolled her eyes and leaned up to kiss him. "You can have her. She's been driving me crazy all day."

"She gets it from you."

"No, she gets it from you."

Clara had her mother's pale, pale skin and her father's dark hair and eyes. Thalia had refused to let them tell her the gender before Clara was born, so Nico had been convinced it was a boy and Thalia had been convinced it was a girl, which was just another thing to argue about. Nico had laughed at the name Clara for a girl, but as soon as he'd seen her for the first time he looked at Thalia and said, "Clara," as if that settled everything. Which for Thalia, it did. So her name became Clara Maria Bianca di Angelo. They hadn't been able to decide who to name her after, Nico's mother or his sister, and Thalia had looked him in the eye and told him that she was never having another one for as long as she lived, so he'd better choose. Instead he named her after both. It fit perfectly.

"God, I am so glad you came," Nico said, kissing her again. "I thought I was going to have to sit through these idiots alone."

The idiots in question were the wealthy, well-dressed, champagne-drinking people wandering around the exhibit, admiring the photographs and talking about boring things like politics. As much as Nico loved taking pictures, he hated having to deal with the people who liked looking at them.

He'd graduated after three years with a degree in Photography. He'd changed his major three times; first it was General Visual Arts, then Painting, then finally Photography with a minor in Painting. One room in their apartment was covered in tarps and easels and a hundred different shades of green, and another was for developing his photographs.

They still fought, but along the way the frustration had somehow given way to love. Shortly after Clara's 2nd birthday Nico had proposed. They'd gotten married at midnight on Halloween. Thalia's dress had been black, they'd all been barefoot, the ceremony had been outside, and it had been raining. Instead of wearing real rings they'd each gotten tattoos on the ring fingers of their left hands. Both had a thin band and a skull.

"Well, I don't hate you that much," Thalia replied. She grinned and turned around. "I think these outfits get worse and worse every time."

"Yours is good." Nico put a hand on her back just above being inappropriately low. Thalia was wearing a black dress that hugged her top very nicely, loosened just a tiny bit at her waist, and went to her knee. The collar was high but there was a hole about an inch below it that showed off just enough to be teasing. The dress had no sleeves.

"I didn't try to drown myself in sequins." She picked up a glass of champagne from one of the passing caterers and indicated one woman in a dress that looked a bit like a floor length, sapphire disco ball.

"Or feathers," Nico added, pointing at a woman wearing a light pink dress covered in what could possibly have been several chickens.

Thalia laughed and turned to her husband. "We're terrible people."

"Terrible influences," Nico added. He leaned down to almost touch her lips.

She nodded. "Terrible," she whispered, and kissed him.

Okay, I know this idea has been done a million times, I know it's completely cliche, and I really don't care. I wanted to do my own, I really like the idea of people who hate each other getting together.

This took me about a month, I think. I've been saying I was going to post it for a few weeks, and now I finally have, and I am so happy. Now I have another one-shot to work on, as well as two multi-chapter ones.

I think there is a lot more swearing in this story than I've used in other ones. I'm not sure if that's a turn off to anyone. My opinion on swearing is that it's okay as long as you're not doing it just to do it. If it fits with the character, then it's fine. I know a lot of people who will write things for school and the teacher will say swearing is okay, so they'll swear just for the sake of swearing in school, and it's stupid.

Another turn off I'm afraid of is the M rating coupled with the romance label. I don't write porn. I felt like there was enough adult themes to warrant an M rating. I don't know if you agree, I know a lot of people only rate things M if there's explicit sex. I'm not one of them.

I know a lot of FanFiction authors take requests, I thought I might give it a shot. So if you have any requests just PM me and I'll get back to you. Thanks!

I uploaded the first chapter of a new story today, it's called White Rose. It's an AU Thalico story. Nico and Thalia meet in Kindergarten on the playground, they become friends right away, but when he introduces her to his sister he realizes that he's the only one who can see her. Not romance as much as angst and sadness.

Review!