Note: I imagine Nico to look like Tyler Blackburn, Rachel Elizabeth Dare to look like Emma Stone when she had her red hair, Percy to look like an older Logan Lerman, and Annabeth to look like Reese Witherspoon.

"You really didn't have to do that… I'm fine the way I am." Nico di Angelo said in a hushed tone to the man sitting next to him on the couch.

"It's what cousin's are for! I'm sick and tired of seeing you traveling all the time. I'm sure you'll love it here in Manhattan! You're single and twenty-one, you'll have the time of your life." The other man laughed and patted Nico on the back.

"Really, Percy, thank you." Nico smiled, his white teeth looking extraordinarily white against his olive skin.

"No problem," Percy Jackson smiled at his cousin, and picked up a few papers from the coffee table in front of him. "The apartment is on the 5th floor, it has two bedrooms, one bathroom, and nice kitchen and a living and dining room." He said, as he handed Nico the papers.

"It's really awesome, and it's down the street from here right?" Nico flipped through the papers, and analyzed it all.

"Yup, oh and you remember Rachel right? Rachel Elizabeth Dare?" Percy turned to his cousin who was now completely mesmerized into the papers and details about his new living arrangements.

"Yeah, kind of… Redhead, mortal, Oracle of Delphi?" Nico barely even remembered the girl from his childhood. He remembered seeing her around camp Half-blood, and he was pretty sure he had a little crush on her when he was 14, but she was 18 at the time and never noticed him.

"Yup, that's the one. Well she's pretty much Annabeth's best friend now, and she lives in that building too, on the top floor, in the penthouse." Percy sighed, "Oh yeah, since we're talking about Annabeth I should let you know that she should be here any minute, by the way…" Percy grinned and ran his hand through his dark hair and his cousin glared at him.

"Annabeth is coming? Now? I haven't seen her for what 7 years? You didn't even give me warning!" Nico stood up suddenly, and his 6'4" frame stumbled.

"Well it's not like you need to impress her, she is my fiancée after all." Percy teased and raised an eyebrow.

"I know, I didn't mean it like that!" Nico smirked, "I just-" He was interrupted by a loud knocking at the front door. Percy stood up, and he was maybe half-an-inch shorter that Nico.

"You really have grown since I last saw you as a what, fourteen-year-old?" Percy grimaced as he walked towards the front door. "Annabeth!" Percy grinned as he let in a blonde woman, with piercing gray eyes.

"Why so surprised to see me? I told you I was coming over, Seaweed Brain…" She laughed and gave him a kiss, he blushed and shrugged.

"Not in front of guests!" He suddenly remembered Nico was standing next to the couch, unsure what to do but smiling nonetheless.

"Oh, I didn't even realize! Hi, I'm Annabeth, nice to meet you!" Annabeth extended her hand towards Nico, whom it seemed she didn't recognize.

"You're being a little too formal, like you don't even know who this is." Percy stifled back a chuckle as Annabeth's expression changed from cheery to confused.

"I do? Uh… Who is this, Percy?" She knit her eyebrows, trying to rack her memory for someone who looked like this.

"Hi, Nico di Angelo, pleased to meet you." Nico grinned as he extended his hand to shake Annabeth's. Her face went from surprised, to astonished, to excited so fast it was hard to tell which one she was experiencing. She suddenly jumped on Nico and gave him a huge bear hug.

"NICO! No way! I would never have been able to recognize you in a million years! You really have grown into a handsome young man!" Annabeth squealed in her enthusiasm.

"Ahem!" Percy coughed to be recognized.

"Oh, sorry darling," she let go of Nico and went to stand next to Percy. "I just can't believe this is little Nico, the awkward little kid at camp half-blood!" Annabeth blushed as she realized what she had said, but Nico didn't seem to mind.

"Well, I can't be 14 forever… well I can… but that's beside the point." He smiled at Annabeth, who was still debating if it was Nico or not.

"Oh wow, we have a lot of catching up to do Nico, but firstly… what are you doing in Percy's apartment?" Annabeth couldn't figure out what he could possibly be doing in Manhattan after 7 years.

"He's moving here, I found him an apartment in Rachel's building." Percy answered for Nico. Annabeth turned to Percy, smiling wide.

"That's fantastic! So I'm guessing you'll be seeing a lot of me because I practically live at Rachel's place." Annabeth carried on about how exciting it was for Nico to be back, but Nico wasn't really paying attention, he was focused on how he was going to live in such a big city. He was used to the small city life, and constantly moving. He had actually just came back to the mortal world from the underworld for a month, or two… he never kept track.

"Oh, and speaking of Rachel, she's coming over today and she's bringing movies!" Annabeth was reading a text message, "She's asking which movie to bring? Uh, I think I'll just call her." Annabeth was already putting the phone near her ear, and was waiting for Rachel to pick up.

"Hello?" Annabeth paused, "Hey, Rachel! Okay, so I think you should just bring a box of movies… Uh… just reach into your cabinet and pull out the first ten you see, we'll pick out of those!" She paused again. "No I do not want to watch any movies in French! ENGLISH would be nice!" Annabeth paused for a third time, and laughed, and then she turned to Nico and Percy and pulled the phone a little from her ear, "You guys want any specific movie? Odds are Rachel already has it." Nico and Percy both shook their heads and Annabeth put the phone back to her ear. "Yes, I said guys, as in more than one. Oh, wow, I forgot to tell you! Well we have a surprise guest! When you come over you'll get to see who!" Annabeth giggled, and she flipped the phone closed.

"She's going to be here in about twenty minutes. OH, and I forgot the bags of popcorn in the car! Hold on, I'll be back and get it. It'll just take a minute." By the time she even finished the sentence she was already out the door.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare is coming?" Nico questioned Percy.

"Yeah, she'll be so surprised to meet you. I bet she won't recognize you, like Annabeth." Percy laughed. They stayed quiet for a minute or so.

"So, what's she like? Is she still like before?" Nico kept throwing questions at Percy.

"She's a lot like before, she's still very artistic, and she practically speaks sarcasm as a first language. Oh, and she's still the Oracle, she's really pretty now, too-" He was cut off by Annabeth bursting through the door.

"It's so cold out there! It's about to start snowing. Oh Gods, I am NOT in proper clothes for snow." Annabeth moaned.

"That's weird, I'm pretty sure it's spring… Why would it be snowing?" Percy directed his question to no one in particular.

"Zeus is probably just in a bad mood." Nico suggested. They all agreed, but they couldn't help but have suspicions deep in their minds.

"So, Nico, where's your stuff?" Annabeth turned to Nico after some silence.

"Underworld…" He trailed off. "I'll just pick them up later, once I'm actually in the apartment." He grinned, and moved over on the couch for Annabeth to sit between him and Percy.

Annabeth suddenly pulled her phone out from her pocket and looked at the screen, "She's downstairs, so I'll go help her." Annabeth jumped up, and ran out the door. As soon as she opened the door, a cold gust of air entered the apartment, but she closed it just as quickly.

"Uh… should I hide or something?" Nico half joked, but inside was completely serious. He couldn't picture Rachel Elizabeth Dare now. He did a pretty good job picturing Percy and Annabeth before he saw them after seven years, but he just couldn't get a clear Rachel into his head.

Percy just laughed at Nico, and started to set up the DVD player.

Abruptly, the front door burst open and two girls entered holding a big box. Annabeth came in first, and a girl with dark red hair came after her.

Nico's jaw dropped as soon as he saw the second girl. She was absolutely breath-taking. Her hair was a deep-red, and down to her chest. Her eyes were a gorgeous green-blue, and her face was just perfect. Her bangs were in her left eye, and as soon as she dropped the big box on the table she flipped her hair to move them. Then she turned to Percy and Nico, and smiled.

"Hey Percy!" She smiled, and he just waved, without even removing his head from under the cabinet where the DVD player was being meddled with. Then she turned to Nico, and her face changed to a mystified look.

"Who's your friend?" She turned back to Percy, but kept Nico in sight. Nico couldn't help but snickered, Percy smiled, and Annabeth practically fell on the floor from laughter.

"I don't get it… What's so funny?" Rachel was getting angry now.

"Just take a guess." Percy spoke for the group.

"I don't know… some Italian male supermodel for me to photograph, or paint, or something?" Rachel realized she was wrong by Percy's loud burst of laughter and Nico's blushing.

"No, but you got Italian right…" Nico suddenly became so shy. He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't really speak.

"I don't know, Mario and Luigi had a third cousin?" Rachel sighed in defeat.

"You'll never get it, so I'll just tell you." Percy smiled. "But you'll never believe me." He grinned.

"Try me." Rachel challenged him.

"Okay… Get ready for it… it's… Nico di Angelo." Percy paused in between each word, for suspense. For a second Rachel had no response, she just tried to rack her memory for a Nico di Angelo. Suddenly she remembered who he was. And she let her jaw drop. She looked Nico up and down, and realized this was no joke.

"No way. Oh… Well… Hey Nico." Rachel stuttered. She wasn't sure what had come over her, she really was caught off guard.

"Uh… Hi." Nico smiled awkwardly at her, and he knew at that moment, that living in the same building with this girl was not going to be easy for him.