A/N: Well some lovely people who have reviewed my story lately have inspired me to continue this story! Hope you enjoy! (Big shout out to my reviewers! Also to the reviewer who recommended italics instead of bold thank you for telling me that since it's hard to notice but I think I will leave it this time since it was used in anger and that I would prefer it to be a bit jarring. I will keep that in mind for when I write anything other than angry scenes and especially when I'm writing Annabeth's POV. Thank you so much for the constructive criticism!)

Luckily, school ended almost immediately after his meeting with Mr. Brunner. If he was being honest with himself, Percy was more than a little embarrassed of losing his temper so easily.

Not really losing his temper in general though. He did that often enough, but it was justified. There was a good reason…Well at least it seemed that way to him. He couldn't even make up a good excuse of why he lost it so quickly over something so small without sounding ridiculous. If it sounded stupid in his head, Percy didn't even want to imagine what it would sound like out loud.

Now that it was time to head home, he had two options. Take the bus and head home or take the bus and check on Nico. Percy didn't like spending any more money than he had to, for obvious reasons, and the easiest route was to head to Nico's, stop there, and then take another bus to his house. It took longer to get home using that route and dealing with his friend would definitely take more than a few minutes.

His mother would worry.

Texting was for emergencies only.

His stepfather would be furious.

Percy wasn't having a good day.

Nico would probably need him though, he had a hard time since his sister died. Best case scenario, Nico actually was sick. Worst case scenario, well he could think about that when it happened. Sighing, Percy made the decision to stop by Nico's.

When the bus arrived at the stop, he couldn't help giving a slight cringe. He lived in a pretty bad neighbourhood but Nico's was ten times worse. Druggies littered the sidewalks and leaned against dingy buildings, small unorganized but still frightening gangs hung out and glared at passerby's, trash and graffiti marked almost every available flat surface and wall and everyone there would looked like they would not hesitate to pull a knife or a gun on you if you so much as looked at them the wrong way. So Percy did the smart thing, as he always did around here, and let his gaze sweep, but not lock and kept his walk quick, but slow enough to be leisurely. The trick for this type of neighbourhood was to look unintimidating but not intimidated.

He made it to the building without any trouble and then took the stairs to the third floor two at a time. He always took the stairs. He hated elevators. They seriously sucked. You were put in a small moving box with random people and had to hope that you weren't the unlucky few that got stuck there. The idea was enough to make him feel claustrophobic. Something that he rarely ever felt.

When he arrived at Nico's apartment door, he didn't bother to knock. He had a key somewhere in his bag and a few hair pins he swapped from somewhere or other to serve as lock picks but as usual, the door was unlocked. He cringed at the sight. He was messy, but he had nothing on Nico. Takeout containers on the floor with leftover food gathering mold. Clothes strewn out carelessly here and there. Cracked jewel case CD's decorated the floor. Percy stopped to pick them up and place them back into their respectful pile on top of his beloved CD player. Nico loved his CD's , Percy felt obligated to clean that mess up for him. The rest, well, you couldn't pay him enough money to get near that nightmare. Uh uh, no way in hell. Try again buddy. He may not be the brightest crayon in the box but he wasn't that stupid.

"Nico!" He called out.

…

No answer.

"NICO!"

"whhaat?" a sleepy voice with a distinctly annoyed tone called back.

Percy followed the sound of his voice, he found Nico lying on the couch in his room. He had dark circles under his eyes, deathly pale skin and a slightly dazed look on his face. Just like that, Percy was pissed again.

"Really?! Are you fucking kidding me." He spat.

Nico flinched away. He didn't bother asking Percy why he was yelling at him. He knew why. He was using drugs again.

Percy suspected as much when he saw that Nico was missing from school, but it still disappointed him. What really got to him was that Nico didn't think it was all too big a deal until Percy got to him. The green-eyed boy ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't get so worked up. I'm fine, it's fi-"

"No, it isn't! Just because it's nothing hardcore, doesn't make it okay. Just because they're prescription drugs doesn't make it safer!"

"Would you rather I try out coke or meth?" Nico spat, giving up on calming his friend down.

He knew he made the wrong choice when Percy's sea green eyes got cold, like the ocean before a storm.

"Just because you can afford it doesn't make it okay either" He spoke loudly, slowly, coldly.

Nico cringed a little at that. He knew that money was a sore spot for Percy and him. Percy was always struggling for money and hating every bit of it and Nico always had an abundance of it. The only difference was even though his family was poor, Percy and his mother loved each other. Percy wouldn't trade her for the richest mother in the world. He resented his lack of money, but whatever he had came from his mom's hard work and he cherished it. Nico's money came from his stupid father. He had a lot of it but he hated it. He liked symbolically spitting in his father's face by buying a shitty apartment in a shitty part of town and spending as little as he could. He wanted to make his father look bad. He technically still had custody of him, but after Bianca… well he let him move out for a while. He didn't visit though. He didn't call. He didn't text. He didn't send an e-mail. He didn't care. No one really did. Except Percy. And Nico was even driving him away…

A/N: Well there's a short chapter to get me back in the groove of things! A lot more action and dialogue coming up in later chapters! I just want to introduce the characters, their relations, their struggles, etc. It is AU right? Anyway, the chapter will be getting longer than this one. At least a thousand or two more words to each chappie. Thanks so much and please review! They motivate me soooo much! 3