A/N: Well… I felt the sudden urge to do a Thalico fic as soon as I heard this song, so here it is. Not completely sure on what a "songfic" is, but this may closely resemble a correctly done one. Or a drabble; not sure. Anyways, each few sentences of the song have a small story behind it, so… yeah. The song is "My boy builds coffins" by Florence and the Machine . So, some are long, a few are super short… Hope you like it.
My boy builds coffins, with hammers and nails. He doesn't build ships; he has no use for sails.
"Are you sure you guys don't want to come fishing with us?" asked Percy for the umpteenth time, climbing into the boat. Next to me, Nico shook his head.
"Nah," he replied, a ghost of a smile on his face. "Son of Hades on the water? Not such a good idea."
"Yeah," I added, standing next to Nico. "Being a daughter of Zeus probably doesn't help, either. Plus, I have to keep corpse breath over here company so he doesn't die of boredom." Percy nodded slowly, helping Annabeth onto the boat.
"Well, you guys have so much fun, standing by yourselves," grinned Annabeth, plopping down in a seat next to Percy's. "We are going to have a ton of fun and make you both very jealous." Annabeth stuck her tongue out at me, and I replied, mocking her.
"We'll see about that," Nico muttered, and I elbowed him in the ribs.
"Not yet," I whispered, and he rolled his eyes. "Well, off you guys go!" I made a sort of shoving motion. "We'll see you later!" Percy grinned at us, waved, and made the water push their boat out into the middle of the lake. Annabeth's hair flying in the wind, I could hear her laughter as Percy made them speed around the lake from all the way on the beach. I grinned and waved at the two, Nico following my actions.
"Just smile and wave," Nico said, and I grinned.
"I love that movie."
"Huh?" Nico looked at me with a confused expression on his face. I rolled my eyes.
"Madagascar, tell me you've seen it before."
"Um… no."
"Well," I said, finally dropping my hand. "Remind me to make you watch that with me one day. But now, it's show time." I looked at Nico, who had a mischievous glint in his eyes. I grinned as well, and our plan began.
He doesn't make tables, dressers or chairs. He can't carve a whistle, 'cause he just doesn't care.
"Thalia," Nico whined, and I turned my head to look at him. "This is getting boring."
"Oh, get over yourself, DiAngelo," I replied, turning back to playing with the grass. We were lying in the woods under a tree, trying to escape an angry Chiron. Hopefully he wouldn't look in this grove, or else they'd be dead. "If Chiron finds out about the whole store thing, we're dead." For the fifth time, Nico burst out laughing.
"Honestly, that might have been the funniest thing ever," he laughed. "I mean, not luring the monster into camp, but that stupid hellhound trying to climb the tree… Oh my Gods." I tossed a playful glare at Nico.
"We're so going to be dead if he finds out it was us," he said, grabbing a piece of grass and playing with it between his thin fingers. "Can't we just find some clever way to blame the Stolls?"
"No," I sighed, stealing Nico's grass. "We did that last time, and the time before, and the time before that, and—"
"Okay, I get it," Nico groaned, leaning his head back on the grass. "I just don't want to hide out here forever." I nodded, slipping the thick piece of grass between my thumbs. I smiled as I remembered a funny thing the Hunters taught me while in was still in Artemis' little club. I blew at the blade of grass between my thumbs, and it produced a honking sound one of those obnoxious geese might make.
Nico sat up in alarm. "What the Hades was that?" I did it again, and Nico caught on. "Oh, not that again."
"I still can't believe you can't whistle with these things." I blew on it again, creating the most piercing sound I could with the grass. Nico groaned, picking up a blade in his fingers and trying to blow on it.
"Crap." I laughed, blowing it again, just agitating Nico further. "You know what? I don't care."
My boy builds coffins for the rich and the poor. Kings and queens have all knocked on his door.
I snorted with laughter from behind a tree, watching Percy and Nico sullenly giving out free cups of "hot chocolate", or, rather, dirt in water to everyone who passed by. Annabeth, standing next to me, erupted in another fit of laughter as Percy sought her out, giving her a cold glare.
Yes, if you're wondering, they lost a bet. Annabeth and I had dared both Percy and Nico not to use any of their special Demigod powers for an entire twenty four hours. It was us against the boys, and they had lost. I believe Nico's excuse was, "She was being annoying! I only summoned one!" We had made them swear on the river Styx that they would sell dirt and water as hot chocolate to passersby in New York City, right outside camp, though, until we "freed" them. It had been the same for both teams, but the boys had broken the bet first. I was glad, because I was getting antsy not being able to zap anyone when I got mad.
"Aw, look at them," Annabeth cooed as Percy gave her puppy-dog eyes. "They look so sad!" Annabeth laughed again as Nico practically shoved the liquid at someone and they went off on him. I bit my lip to keep from laughing too hard. "Should we free them yet?"
"Whatever you want," I replied, still staring at Nico and his faceoff with a random lady. "I'm going to make Nico suffer." Annabeth rolled her eyes, shrugged, then walked down the hill and right up to the table. Even up at the hill, I could hear their conversation.
"Well, hello Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, grinning and kissing a miserable Percy on his nose.
"Hi, Annabeth," he replied, forcing a grin onto his face. "Will you let me go now?"
"Hmm… Should I make you wait as long as Thalia's going to make Nico wait?" Nico groaned loudly, and I let out a laugh.
"Please, don't," Percy said, and Annabeth laughed at his begging eyes.
"Alright, you're free," she said, and Percy leapt up from his spot at the table. Nico scoffed.
"You're not going to stay with your miserable friend until his dictator frees him?" Percy thought about it for a second before answering for effect.
"No," he said simply. He made a break for the lake further down the hill, but Annabeth caught his shirt. I didn't catch what she said because by then I was trampling my way down the hill, giving into Nico's hurt face. When he saw me coming down, relief flooded over his face.
"Tha—" he began, but I cut him off.
"How do you know I'm going to let you go just yet?" I asked him, and sighed. "Now, address me properly." His mouth twisted up into a cute smile, aimed at me. I felt butterflies in my stomach and forced them down. Stupid emotions.
"Well, queen Thalia," he said, leaning against the table, and I grinned.
"That's better." I leaned on the table, my elbows amidst the cups of dirt-water. "Now, you wanted to ask me something?"
"Well," Nico said, his black eyes dancing. "I was simply wondering, your majesty, why Percy was free and I was not." My smile grew wider.
"You need simply to ask, and I will release you."
"But why would I ever want that?"
Beggars and liars, gypsies and thieves. They all come to him 'cause he's so eager to please.
I had never celebrated a "real" Halloween until that day.
Percy's mom had invited us to come hand out candy to the kids, who came trick or treating around that area, and we felt obliged to, so we did. Nico was, of course, ecstatic about the whole being able to decorate for Halloween thing. It was widely known that Nico's cabin was, obviously, the best decorated during Halloween at camp. He was lucky; all he had to do was summon a few skeletons and he was done. And that was what he did to the front of Sally's apartment building. I was pretty sure we had the best-decorated building in all of New York—besides Nico's cabin.
Annabeth and I had just gotten back from a walk around New York when Nico scared the Hades out of me.
"Gods, I wish I could draw," Annabeth was saying. We, of course, had been talking about the "poor structure" of all the New York apartment buildings around where Sally lived. We had finally switched to blueprints—joy. "I mean, like, not just blueprints or anything, but people and stuff. Like—Oh my Gods, what has he done to the apartment." I looked up at the apartment.
"Wow…" I said, looking around. While we had been out, which was a little over an hour and a half, Nico had completely transformed the place. Spider webs—which I was sure were real; much to Annabeth's dismay—covered the windows, with spiders that appeared to be trapped in the web. Corpses were doing robotic movements around the yard, the grass was yellow, and a banshee was trapped on a string and tied to a bar on the porch. Coffins were set up everywhere, and they were opening and closing with deceased soldiers half getting out each time. Then, one caught my eye.
"Hey, what's tha—" I started, but my breath hitched in my throat as the skeleton slowly came fully out of the coffin. "Why is it doing that?" It looked around, then focused its eyes on me, and began pursuing me. "Why is it…?" I repeated, but my sentence was left unfinished. I gasped, backing up, as it came at me. "Annabeth, HELP ME!" next to me, Annabeth laughed. Why was she laughing?
"Thalia, chill, it's just—" her words were cut off by my scream. I normally wasn't scared, at all, of Nico's monsters. But that was when he had them under his control. I had no idea if it was malfunctioning or coming to kill me.
The soldier stopped abruptly in front of me, fixing its gaze on me. It slowly reached its hands out, and I backed away. I started to scream, but then I felt hands wrap around my mouth. Human hands.
"Hey, Thals!" Nico turned me around, grinning. "Got you pretty good there, didn't I?" I let out my scream in a breath. That little…
I raised up my fist, which he mistakenly wasn't holding, and punched him in the face." Nico let out a yell, letting me go. I laughed, and he looked back at me, holding his jaw.
"What was that for?" he asked, exasperated. "And why are you laughing?"
"Got you pretty good there, didn't I?" I mocked him, laughing. He glared at me, his hand falling from his face. "Here," I said, tossing him some ambrosia from my pocket. "Man up, Death Boy."
The rest of the night, we threw candy at kids and ate most of what we were supposed to give them. Nico jumped out of coffins at different times, scaring the crap out of some kids. I smiled, wishing I could re-live my childhood and actually participate in Halloween like they did. Maybe dress up like a gypsy or a thief, like the younger kids. But, when Nico plopped down next to me and I threw a candy into his mouth, I was happy with the way everything turned out.
My boy builds coffins he makes them all day, but it's not just for work and it isn't for play. He's made one for himself, one for me too. And one of these days he'll make one for you.
"Hey, Nico," I said, drawing circles on the couch in his cabin. We had just watched a scary movie where a ton of people were brutally murdered by a single person for fun. It was… interesting, to say the least.
"Yeah?" he said, flipping off the television so we wouldn't have to listen to the creepy music in the credits. I thought about my words careful.
"Are you ever… well, afraid of dying?" Nico snorted, looking at me.
"Thalia, I'm Hades' son. Do you really think I'm afraid of dying?" I shrugged, looking down at the couch. Nico's face softened. "Thalia, I didn't mean for it to offend you or anything." He paused. "Thalia, are you?" I shrugged again, trying to ignore the comment. I knew this wasn't going pan out well. "Thalia?" he lifted his hand up to my chin and tilted it up. "Thalia." I bit my lip and looked into his eyes. They were softer than I was used to. They weren't smirking at me, being sarcastic or mischievous; he actually cared.
"I, just… after the movie, I can't stop thinking about it." Nico smiled at me.
"Thals, you aren't going to die today, it's okay," he said, reaching down to take my hands in his. It sent shivers up my spine. "You're going to stay right here with me." I bit my lip again. "Plus, there's no reason to be scared of dying; you'll go to the fields of Elysium anyway."
"Thanks, Nico," I said in a small voice, a small tear finding its way down my cheek. He reached up his thumb and wiped of off for me, and I smiled lightly.
"Come here," he said, pulling me closer to him. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around me. I felt like a helpless Aphrodite girl or like I was in a cliché movie. But, maybe all my life needed was a little cliché.
My boy builds coffins, for better or worse. Some say it's a blessing, some say it's a curse.
The first time I ever kissed Nico was the first day since Bianca died he cried.
It started out as a normal day. I was following Katy Garner and killing all the plants she was sprouting and laughing when she walked back and found them blasted to dust. I had a feeling she knew it was me, because I was the only one at camp who could shoot electrical charges out of my fingers. I had gone back to my cabin after I got bored, trying to find something to do. I was thinking about going to Nico's cabin when I heard the scream. I ran outside, wondering what had made the noise, when I heard it again, being emitted from Nico's cabin. I would have figured he was watching a scary movie, but he never screamed during scary movies, and it was definitely not the movie. Suddenly, going to Nico's cabin seemed like a great idea.
I ran across the way to cabin thirteen and up Nico's steps. I wiggled the door handle, then, realizing it was locked, called out to him.
"Nico!" I yelled, and I heard glass shattering. Crap. "Open your door!"
"Go away!" Nico yelled back, another miscellaneous glass object being thrown across the room.
"It's Thalia!" I yelled, and he responded with an, "I know! Go away!" I sighed, and considered my options. Really, it all came down to letting Nico break stuff, or breaking some stuff of my own. I decided to go with the latter and blasted down his door.
My proud expression turned to exasperation when I saw his cabin. The usual orderly, black cabin was in disarray. Plates from somewhere were in pieces on the floor, the bed sheets were torn off the single bed, pillows practically shredded on the ground. His dresser drawers were strewn across the floor, the clothes thrown about. I gasped, nearly dodging a plate Nico threw as it shattered on the wall.
"Nico DiAngelo, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled at him, my eyebrows creased with worry. His eyes looked as if they were on fire and his hair was sticking up in places. His eyes were red and he was breathing fast, in a panicked sort of way.
"I thought I told you to stay out of this," he spat at me, and I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth in surprise.
"Do not talk to me like that, Death Boy," I said, taking a step toward him. "I asked you a question." I took another step. "Tell me." Another. "What's." Another. "Wrong."
Even though it was harder to be threatening to someone who had a good six inches on me, I had somewhat mastered it. Nico dropped the second plate he was holding, and as it clattered to the floor, a tear streaked down his face.
"Oh my Gods, Nico!" I dragged him down to his couch, sweeping off some broken glass and clothing. "What happened?!" It obviously must have been really, really terrible, because Nico never cried.
"Someone," he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "My statue is gone." My eyes widened I let out a breath. I didn't have to ask him which statue he was talking about; I was there when Bianca retrieved the statue from the killing-machine pile. I could see why Nico was so upset.
"Oh, Nico," I said, wrapping him in a hug. Surprisingly, he hugged back. "It's okay, we'll find it!"
"But… What if we don't?" he breathed into my ear, and I frowned. "I've already searched every possible part of my cabin, someone must have st—" at the perfect time, a knock on the wall broke us apart. I turned to see Connor Stoll standing there, looking from us to the dirty cabin.
"What, Connor," I said, and he gulped.
"Well, I just came here to apologize for the… erm… wrongdoing of one of my cabin mates. It was a challenge for a new kid, to play a prank of Nico, and, well… She went a little too far, I guess?" He pulled out a black statue from behind his back. Nico's eyes lit up like fire to gasoline, but I pushed him down and stood up instead.
I walked over to Connor, giving him the most intimidating look I could muster. He gulped again, his eyes growing large. I snatched the statue from his grasp, tossing it to Nico.
"Now, Connor," I said, staring at him like he was my prey. "What to do with you?"
"I—I'm so s-s-sorry, I-I just, I was j-j-just d-deliv-vering a-a m-messag-ge." I almost lost concentration and broke out laughing at his stuttering, but I managed to keep a straight face.
"How about this, delivery boy," I spat at him, narrowing my eyes. "I swear; if you play one more, and I mean just one more trick on Nico, or me, for that matter, then I will blast you to dust, and Nico here can send you, and your entire bloodsucking cabin down to Tatarus, understand?" Connors face had been drained of color, and he nodded robotically. "Well? GET!"
"S-s-sorry!" he yelped, running down the stairs and back to his cabin. I smirked, turning to look at Nico. He was sitting on the couch, smirking.
"What?"
"Was bloodsucking the only adjective you could come up with?"
"Oh, shut up, I just got you your statue back and no pranks for at least a year." I plopped down next to Nico. "See, I told you everything would be okay." I leaned over to him and pecked him on the lips, earning a surprised expression from him. I felt a blush creep up my neck. "Sorry, that was kind of uncal—"
"Thalia," he said, putting his statue down. "Thank you." He sealed the space between us, and kissed me.
He fits them together in sunshine or rain. Each one is unique, no two are the same.
"Oh, Gods, it's the perfect day! It'll totally look real and freak the crap out of everyone!"
"Thalia, no."
"Yes!"
"No."
"Yes!"
"Do remember what happened with the last prank we did?"
"Well, that was just because those tattle-tale Demeter and Persephone girls flipped out and told Chiron it was us. Now, if we just don't let them see…"
"Thalia, NO."
"Yes!"
"Do you want me to blast you down to Tatarus so you can hang out with all the other evil monsters?" I glared at Nico. This time, he hadn't just threatened to blast me down to Tatarus, he had called me an evil monster. Now, that was going too far.
I feigned a look of hurt, which I was fairly good at, and aimed it at Nico. Nico sighed, and I turned away from him, looking as to walk out of the building.
"Gods, Thalia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"So you'll do it?"
"I never said…"
"Yeah you did, come on!" I whipped around and grabbed his arm, pulling him up to the top of camp where my tree rested.
"Thalia, why don't you just do this yourself? I can't really help…"
"Whatever. I need you as company, and maybe a few of your skeletons." We were, or I was, actually, planning to make it rain in camp. Because it never did, it always freaked everyone out. It usually meant that a monster was intruding in the camp or something like that, but this time, it was just going to be us. It was one of the more evil pranks we pulled, but it was fun because, well, we could. I figured it would scare the Hades out of a bunch of people if some dead guys came walking through camp while it was raining. We'd so be dead if anyone found out, though.
We finally reached the top of the camp, and I looked at my tree with the glimmering fleece in it.
"Ready, partner?" I asked, grinning.
"Partner," Nico pondered. "That's a new one."
"Whatever," I replied. "Let's do thi—"
"Hey Thalia!" Crap. I groaned.
"Hello, Simone." I looked at the daughter of Iris who was walking towards us. She had on a pink and turquoise striped shirt on and colored Converses that matched her chalk-dyed hair. "Why are you here?"
"Coming to check on Peleous," she replied, and I groaned. She always was up here, and I had no idea why I hadn't thought about that. "Hi, Nico. I didn't see you there." I pursed my lips as she reached down to pet the dragons head. Our plan was ruined.
My boy builds coffins, and I think it's a shame, that when each one's been made, he can't see it again. He crafts every one with love and with care, then it's thrown in the ground and it just isn't fair.
Nico was always more sullen than usual on the anniversary of Bianca's death. I mean, he was always sullen, but even more so that day.
I found him at the lake at four o'clock in the morning that day. He looked as if he was trying to skip stones or something, but instead he was just tossing them in there. I waited behind a tree until he threw a rock as hard as he could into the lake with a yell. I slowly padded across the sand to sit next to him.
"Hey," I said quietly, turning to face him. His eyes held an aura of sadness and had purple bags under them like he hadn't slept in awhile. He turned away from me and threw another rock into the water.
"Why are you here." It was more like a statement than a question. I sighed.
"Couldn't sleep, I guess. I was worried about you." He stopped in mid-throw and turned to face me.
"Really?"
"Well, duh," I laughed slowly, moving closer to Nico and snuggling up against his arm. I could blame it on the cold if he ever asked me. "Don't be so obtuse." Nico's mouth turned up into a small smile.
"Now, don't go all Annabeth on me," he said, and I smiled, cautiously leaning my head against his shoulder. I could feel his breath on my hair. "I don't know why I do this to myself every time. I mean, it's so stupid, and—"
"Nico, stop it," I said, trying to make my voice sound comforting. Being supportive really wasn't my forte; I was more likely seen bossing people into shape. But, today was special, and Nico was totally out of it, and I felt terrible. "I would do the same thing if I had lost someone the way you had." Nico nodded slowly, and I looked up into his coal black eyes. They stared out into the lake like an endless abyss. I shivered in the cold morning air and Nico put his arm around me absentmindedly. I grinned silently, focusing my gaze on something across the lake, just like Nico.
"Thank you, Thalia," he said sadly. "It's just… She was always there with me, and now she—she's down in the Underworld and I rarely can go see her. Hades isn't too keen on me messing with the dead." I nodded, keeping silent and letting him talk. "I just… miss her, you know?"
"Yes, a little," I replied. "I guess with Luke it was kind of that way. I didn't get to see him, really, after he went bad, until he… you know." Nico nodded, his hair brushing my ear. I tried to redirect my thoughts away from Luke, but they wouldn't sway, and I soon felt myself tearing up. Crap, crap, crap…
I reached up, trying to be inconspicuous, and wiped the tears out of my eyes. Nico noticed, looking at me with concern in his eyes.
"Thals," he said, turning his body to face me. "You're amazing."
My boy builds coffins he makes them all day, but it's not just for work and it isn't for play. He's made one for himself, one for me too. And one of these days he'll make one for you.
"Hey, Nico," I said, walking toward him. He was hollowing out a tree, listening to Green Day on his IPod. I could hear it. "Hey, Death Boy." I tapped his shoulder, then leaned on my foot expectantly. He took out his headphones with an annoyed look on his face.
"What do you want?"
"I just wanted to know what you were doing." I glanced down at the hollowed out tree, suddenly realizing I hadn't needed to ask him. A shiver went down my spine with his next words.
"Building a coffin."
So… They were OOC, I know, at some parts, but I personally liked it. I hope you liked this, an review, because I love reading your feedback! And, if for some reason all you readers like this, I am willing to write another chapter.