A/N: Hi! I'm pretty new here and this is my first time posting a story here. All constructive criticism is welcome and pardon me for my limited range of vocabulary because you'll see the same few words repeating again and again. By the way this story is set 4 years after the Last Olympian. Anyways, just enjoy! :)

A/N2.0: i'm back. this is an old fic. editing time and god it was hard.

Disclaimer: I do really wish to own the Percy Jackson series and all the characters in it, but sadly I don't. :(

Chapter 1: The Hunters' Visit

Olympus

"I'm bored, I'm really, really bored," Aphrodite complained. "There hasn't been any nice stories. No heartbreaking ones, not even one fuzzy story that could set my dead heart alight! How about…" she said as she eyed Artemis.

In the background, Aphrodite could hear Apollo snort and nudge Artemis. "Being melodramatic again, huh?"

The goddess of the hunt groaned and gave her a don't-you-dare stare at her. "You do not think of matching my huntresses or me with any hero. You do not make them fall in love with any hero. If you ever dare to touch any of my huntresses, I will throw your eternal makeup kit into the depths of Tartarus. And curse you. And if possible, turn you into a jackalope."

"Ohh, I'm so scared!" Aphrodite said mockingly. Then she thought, and DING! Artemis' words had effectively allowed her to come up what she thought could be the best idea ever.

"Thanks, Artemis!" The goddess winks at Artemis, hastily leaving.

"Wait, hold up," a bewildered Artemis called out, furrowing her brows. "Don't you dare, Aphrodite!"

Camp Half-blood

Thalia

It had been a long while since she was back.

When exactly was the last time I came back? She thought absent-mindedly, wandering back into the familiar grounds of the camp.

"Thalia!" someone shouted from behind. She turned around, finding Annabeth standing behind her. "Oh gods! I've missed you so much!" Thalia said as she gave Annabeth a warm hug. "C'mon, I'll give you a tour of the new features in camp!" Annabeth said.

"Sure, gimme a moment," Thalia said as she instructed the other hunters to move their baggage to the Artemis cabin. Then, she and Annabeth left, chatting excitedly, filling each other in about their lives and what they had planned to do.

"Umm, Annabeth," someone said as she tapped on Annabeth's shoulder. "Something cropped up in the cabin, could you follow me back there…" Her words were cut of by Annabeth. "I got it," Annabeth grumbled, "but just give me a minute or two.'

They took a little walk before reaching a black cabin with a skull on top of the door and two torches burning with green fire.

"Nico, are you in there?"

They waited.

Annabeth knocks on the door, annoyance written over her face. It was obvious that it wasn't the first time that something like that had happened.

"Nico di Angelo, if you're not coming out, I am going to smash—"

"Yes?" a sleepy Nico di Angelo opened the door.

Somehow, Nico looked a little more... different than Thalia remembered him to be. Thoughts raced through her mind.

Oh, he's grown.

Wait, what? Of course he's different, his voice is probably lower, his frame a little more filled out - in general much more... appealing than he was previously. However, the boy's pale complexion and eyebags nagged at Thalia. He looked nowhere near healthy.

Is he even sleeping well? He probably hasn't taken care of himself.

Thalia could feel her sudden surge of emotions dangerously treading the ground between a concerned friend... and something more. She quickly reined in her thoughts, shaking her head to clear her mind.

Annabeth's shrill voice helped to pull Thalia out of anymore stray thoughts, and she composed herself again.

"Nico di Angelo," she said in resignation,"I need you to help give Thalia a tour so wash up and change."

"Why me?" he grumbled.

This guy is as moody as ever, seems like a sure trait being the son of Hades and all.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry but, we..." the same girl said, her sentence trailing off. Annabeth seemed to get the rest of it and hastily said "gotta go!" before she and her cabin mate left.

"Uh, sure. Me giving a tour to pine cone face. Great. You can come in for all you like but don't scream if you get creeped out," Nico said with barely contained disdain as he went back into his cabin. Thalia was still there, her mind still up there somewhere with her thoughts about Nico. "Are you coming in or not?" Nico asked again, looking over his shoulder to glance at Thalia. "I don't want to be punished by your daddy for mistreating his dear daughter." The girl told herself to snap out of it and followed Nico into the cabin.

Nico

Once Thalia went in, he slammed the door shut and went to get his clothes. Thalia wandered around the cabin, looking at some of the things carelessly strewn across the place. Nico didn't really bother and didn't believe in organization - as long as he could find all his things, no harm in not cleaning up.

He went into the bathroom, washing up and changing into something that he hadn't worn for three days straight. Giving himself a once over, he called out to Thalia who he supposed was still intrigued by the bare possessions that Nico owned.

"Pine cone face, let's go!"

There was no answer. He looked around, only to find Thalia Grace sleeping on a black leather couch. She was curled up into a ball, and amazingly, Nico found himself staring at her.

Well… she looks way better like that. And much more peaceful too.

Seemingly miffed at himself for having thought that way about Thalia, he mumbled under his breath a soft "never mind" and went over to grab his sword, leaving sleeping Thalia in the cabin.

Not too soon after leaving the cabin, he spots Annabeth jogging towards him.

"Nico?!" she exclaims, puzzled. "Where's Thalia, and why aren't you giving her a tour?"

"Someone fell asleep in my cabin and left me nothing to do," he replied nonchalantly, swinging his sword as he strolled over to the arena.

Annabeth tsked. "Nico. You're going back now, and I mean it! Or I'm going to tell Percy about it."

Nico sighs at that. It was going to be a fun night if he had Percy going round to tell him that it would be good for him to interact with more people who were not Percy and Annabeth.

"Can't let a lady wait, huh, Nico? Better get going!" Annabeth sends him a friendly smile, heading off towards the direction of the Poseidon cabin.

In the end, Nico had to give Thalia a tour, no matter what. He somewhat reluctantly went back to the cabin and went to wake Thalia up.

"Wake up, Thalia Grace! I'll set the dead after you if you don't!" Nico (half) threatened.

Obviously, no response. She seemed dead to the world (heyyyyy that was a great one), and no amount of empty threats would wake her up.

He sat down on the floor, next to the armchair and tapped her arm with urgency. "Hey, Thalia, wake up! Hey! Pinecone face! The dead is after you!"

"Well, you could always chase them away right?" Thalia murmured hoarsely, words melting into one another.

Nico's heart seemed to miss a beat at her sleep-addled statement.

Crap, that - what was that?

"Uh…Sure," he seemed momentarily lost for words.

What's going on now? What the heck is going on? Okay Nico, calm down. Think of the possibilities.

One, I like Thalia Grace. Two, I just care for her as a friend would.

He concentrated a little more and came to a conclusion he felt he could accept.

Yeah, pretty much like that. There couldn't be anymore, could there?

He smiled and played with a lock of her hair subconsciously, his brown eyes paying attention to the little details her hardly bothered himself with. From the way she breathed to the delicate features tinged with fierce indepence. "She looks pretty in her own way. Why haven't I realised this before?" he muttered to himself, not thinking clearly. He suddenly felt his eyelids getting heavy. Watching Thalia sleep had lulled him mind, and he soon slipped into sleep.

He was eleven again.

Back to the time when he had just run away from Camp Half- blood and was alone in the woods.

Cold and lonely.

From afar, he forlornly watches the campfire from the camp blaze, slumping against a familiar looking pine tree. Suddenly, instead of the rough and sturdy bark of the tree against his back, what he felt behind him was warm and definitely nothing like a tree.

The tree had morphed into a human, Nico notes dimly. Great observation.

He turns his head back and caught sight of Thalia. Before he could respond, she bent down, and put an arm around his shoulders, her intrusion into his personal space neither intruding nor unwelcome - instead, it was a comforting presence. Nico didn't feel as lonely as he did before, like everything would be alright, just for that short moment.

The boy allowed himself to relax into Thalia's arms, and he had not felt this contented for a while. Thalia's hand brushed stray locks of hair from his eyes, gently stroking his hair, creating a calming rhythm.

What Nico definitely didn't expect was the soft press of her lips against the back of his head, and a warm feeling settled into his gut.

A/N: ok, i'll be working on this the next few days, cleaning up the character development. could make the entire story a little disjointed, bear with me :OOOOOo if any errors pls do spot it out for me, any willing beta can also pm me thanks lots of love 3