A/N: This is my answer to all those terrible fics about romance. You know, Percabitch and Thalico? Reviews are loved and appreciated. Also a special treat for those special readers, my co-written oneshot with Jhakasi is up on his profile, look'im up yeah. It's a great story that leads into something amazing. Anyway; get to the good stuff.

Tainted hearts

A. Drunken nights

She was going to be drunk again. He couldn't count on his fingers how many times she'd come over his house drunk. This was the seventh — eighth — time this month; the routine was really getting old but he'd never say anything. Not that he didn't want to say anything it was just… He really couldn't take another person leaving him. Especiallynot someone that he had worked this hard to get in the first place.

The sound of shattering glass forced his attention from the small model dragon on his desk, one that was admittedly slowly starting to resemble Festus, and towards the living room from where the sound originated. With a silent sigh, he got to his feet before moving towards the living room, not really a good name for it when she stayed with him.

He entered the room and glanced around, trying to find any sign of damage. The broken window immediately caught his attention; he paused making sure not to allow his flaming temper to get the best of him. His eyes followed the trail of broken glass all the way to the figure that rested on the ground. It was obvious to him that she decided to use the window again. The sight was amusing in some ways and depressing in others. There was only one time in which Thalia Grace had the courage to fly and that was when she was drunk out of her mind.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," he grumbled through his teeth — she was more than likely too drunk to actually hear anything he was saying. Slowly he approached her, being careful not to wake her up — last time that happened he ended up getting a huge shock and rushed to the hospital in a coma. The best part of his hospital experience was listening to Thalia explain how he got struck by lightning in the first place. Well — that and how she promised to stop drinking until he was out of the hospital made those three days the best of his entire life.

He grabbed a pair of rubber gloves that he had left out on the coffee table. Once he made sure both his hands were secured under his drunken beauty, he lifted her up into his arms and slowly began the trip back to his bedroom — yet another night of sleeping on his pull out couch. Slowly she began to curl into his arms, the smell of alcohol and ozone emitting from her something Leo found intoxicating.

This routine was old but efficient; she was his whenever she couldn't go home to her family. She'd get drunk and then go see him knowing full well that he'd welcome her with open arms. He laid her down gently on his bed and sighed before pulling up the covers onto her body, his fingers dancing over her face gently. He leaned down, pressing his lips softly against hers. For a split-second, such a tiny fragment fo time, he felt a burst of hope, swearing that he felt her lips pressed back against his. There was nothing though; nothing more than his imagination playing tricks on him again.

Spinning on his heel, he was heading towards the door to allow her some peace. A low whimper from her forced him to stop in his tracks and turn to face the girl that was turning in his bed.

"Please don't leave me…" she slurred quietly. Leo was kneeling down next to the bed within the blink of an eye. Her arms extended outward towards his shirt and slowly she began pulling him into bed. Under any normal circumstances, he might've fought it but tonight wasn't any normal night. It was almost time for him to go and he needed to be with her.

Once he was in the bed with her, she slowly moved her body into his. His arms coiled around her waist and slowly he found himself believing that she loved him — why else would she come to him every time everything seemed to be going wrong?

"Thanks Luke."

His world came crashing down with those two words. They confirmed his worst fears; everything he didn't want to believe was true. These nights were nothing more than an excuse to not see Luke. He was nothing more than a cover up and strangely some how he was happy with that.

He pulled her closer, ignoring the tears that slowly started to fall from his eyes and the voice in his head telling him how wrong this entire thing was before speaking. "No problem." His eyes began to close and somewhere in the world of dreams, he dreamt she was his.

B. Sober days

The days were a lot different from the nights. During the day he was a high school senior who tried his best not to be noticed by the rest of the word. Maybe it had something to do with his heritage but he couldn't stand most people — organic life forms were a real pain to figure out. Though even if they were a pain he always had one person that he wanted to figure out no matter how much heartache it brought him.

He stepped out of the locker room and glanced around the open gym. The jocks were in their corner making jokes and talking to some of the more popular girls. His eyes locked in on two people particular — the two people that shouldn't have been talking no matter what the situation. Luke Castellan stood with his back against the wall. He ran this high school and anyone who didn't know that basic fact was stupid. Annabeth Chase stood in his arms grinning up at him like he was a shiny new car she wanted to take for a ride — or get a ride from.

Annabeth used to be the school's highest ranking student, colleges dropped at her feet begging her to apply. But somewhere during her sophomore year that all changed — maybe it was after her boyfriend, Percy, came out of the closet and started dating the school's local badass Nico di Angelo (which was something everyone saw coming). Whatever it was, her grades dropped and she started sleeping around with anything that had a pole between its legs.

He didn't have a problem with her being a slut; he didn't even mind her hitting on Luke. What pissed him off was the fact that Luke seemed to be enjoying the treatment Annabeth was giving him even though he was dating Thalia. Slowly, the two of them leaned into each and met somewhere in the middle for one of the roughest kisses he'd ever seen.

The temperature around his body had already begun to skyrocket. Flames etched around his feet and a growl rang in the back of his throat. Without so much as a second thought, he took a basketball from the ground, held it for a few seconds to allow it to warm up, and threw it across the room straight towards Luke's perfectly chiseled face. He watched the ball fly a grin on his face but like most things involving Leo something went wrong.

Luke must've really been getting into the kiss because he lifted Annabeth off the ground which caused the heated ball to smack her right in the back of the head. She screamed, Luke dropped her, and the entire gym laughed. Leo's face flattened instantly — that wasn't his target, not by a long shot.

Soon the laughter turned to silence; Annabeth had a minor concussion and was being rushed to the infirmary. Luke saw her off before turning to face the entire gym — his eyes were colder than ice; even Boreas would've been a little cold under that gaze.

"Who threw it?" he demanded, making sure to hold the basketball in his hands. Leo slowly began to head for the gym door only to have a pair of arms clasp onto his shoulders. He glanced backwards to see the grins of Connor and Travis Stoll behind him; they were Luke's bitches in every sense of the word.

"Where do you think you're going?" Connor asked. "We saw you throw the ball; lets see how Luke feels about that."

The two brothers pulled him to the middle of gym right in front of Luke. A look of disdain passed over the jock's face. "Why am I not surprised you had something to do with this Valdez?"

Leo didn't answer — he was smarter than most people gave him credit for. When a bully asked you a question, answering was the last thing they wanted. All of their questions were hypothetical.

"So tell me why you did it, Valdez. I might go easy on you if you give me a good enough excuse. You know, I'll only break one or two ribs this time." Still no answer and Luke was starting to grow impatient; the kid was going to get his assed kicked either way, so why wouldn't he just admit the reason behind it?

"Because you're dating Thalia and last time I checked Annabeth looks nothing like her," Leo spat.

Luke's facial expression changed instantly when he heard what Leo had to say. The runt had this strange obsession with his girlfriend — he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Thalia wasn't that hot.

"Thalia, that second rate whore? That's what this entire thing is about? Valdez, get over her. She's way out of your league."

Leo's eyes were boring into Luke. A wave of flames swirled around Leo's body and with a loud grunt a blast of white hot fire spiraled towards Luke's body. The jock sidestepped the flames only to have a fist rammed into the side of his face.

"You dirty son of a bitch!" Luke growled as he tried to stand up. He was half way up when a ball of fire hit him right in the chest. It didn't take long for Leo's fist to meet his nose and send him recoiling against the floor. There was a crunch and everyone in the gym knew Luke's nose was broken.

Leo glanced down at his blood stained hands before sighing to himself. His eyes wandered down to the broken shell of a jock that rested before him. Aflame flickered on his fingers and for a second he thought about sparing the poor boy. He was about to turn away when a few choice words rang in his ear.

"She's just a second rate whore."

He paused instantly allowing the flame to grow in size. His arm extended out and angled itself right for Luke's torso, with a low grunt a ball of white hot fire shot straight for the jock.

Leo proceeded to walk out of the gym to the sound of the screaming demigods, the smell of burning jock, and the satisfaction of knowing he had done something right for once. Nobody and he meant nobody insulted his Thalia.

C. Suicidal mornings

A soft breath passed between Leo's lips as he glanced down. The cold of the morning was nothing to his fiery aura — which he wouldn't need for much longer. He brought his knees up to his chest and concentrated on what he had to do. It was simple no matter how he thought about it. "Just jump Valdez, nothing to it."

Thalia had found out about the gym accident. She appeared out of nowhere while he was serving detention and gave him the beating of a lifetime. After it was said and done she thanked him for defending her but she never wanted to see him again — that was when it really started kicking in. Even after everything he'd done, after everything he tried, even after the secret love letters on a few hot nights while Luke was away at basketball camp, Thalia Grace would never be his.

The dingy red roof below him was a little more than familiar. It was in that exact spot where he confessed his love for the mighty daughter of Zeus. He laughed, remembering how dorky he was all those years ago — and then stopped when he realized nothing had really changed. Even back then he was madly in love with her. His eyes looked into the fading dark sky and a smile graced his lips.

What he was about to do took courage and maybe that's why he was proud of himself. Everything in his life had turned out so wrong: his mother's death, Festus breaking down, even Piper hating him. This would be his way of making amends for everything he had done wrong in his life. There was only one thing he wanted in the afterlife — one thing that would make a world of difference to him. After he was dead and gone, he wanted Thalia to miss him.

In his mind he knew he was being a little more than selfish. He knew she would never be his — though he would never accept that reality. Somewhere in the darkest part of his mind, he wanted her to feel the pain he'd been feeling and this was the only way he could think of to express that.

She hadn't said 'I love you' in forever, even before the incident with Luke and slowly it was starting to hurt him. There was a time when she'd say it every single night — granted she was drunk but she still said it. Those words from her where more valuable than gold.

The rising sun caught his attention and he stood to his feet, making sure to wipe off the dust that accumulated on his pants. His eyes wandered down to the concrete ground below — seven stories last time he counted With a silent prayer to Hades he jumped off the roof, making sure to freefall in the coolest way he knew how. He was Leo Valdez after all; even dying had to be a cool thing.

Thalia Grace stepped out of her house with a scarf wrapped around her neck; the cold wasn't something she was fond of. She gripped the letter Leo had written her tightly between her fingers, he was being an idiot again and it was up to her to stop him from doing anything stupid.

A body fell in front of her causing her to jump backwards. When the body hit the ground blood spattered every where. Thalia's face quivered as she made out the face of the body — she moved forward and kneeled down in next to it, her hands pressing gently onto the back of the body.

"Le — Leo?" she started quietly. Her eyes were slowly filling with tears while her hands were getting soaked in the blood of the young boy. "Why— I don't… Leo please — I need you!" She began desperately applying shocks to his body but nothing was working. "Leo, please don't leave me! You can't — you can't leave. Please. Please!" Tears began streaming down her cheeks and she screamed, gods she screamed. The one person in the world who loved her for what she was had left her; the only thing she had left at this point were memories. Those damned painful memories of the time in which he was hers — all those drunken nights she spent with him. When she was drunk was the only time she could tell him how she felt, even if he didn't believe it.

In all realism, Leo's selfish wish came true. Thalia Grace would miss him until the day she died.