Chapter 4: Thalia & Nico
Percy's POV
Annabeth and I stayed at Camp that night because it was late by the time we wanted to leave. When I woke up the next morning, Annabeth wasn't sleeping next to me like she was last night. A second later, she walked through my cabin's door with her trademark Camp shirt, ponytail, and jeans.
"Hi Percy." Annabeth smiled.
"Hey Annabeth. Where did you go?" I asked.
"Breakfast. It always starts at 7:00. Remember?" She teased.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" I questioned.
"You're cute when you sleep. And you looked like you were having a good dream." She smirked.
"About you, but I'd rather see you in consciousness. And I guess that's a step up from you drool when you sleep." I laughed.
"You're never going to let that one go. And neither is anyone else now that you published your life." She sighed. "They teased me about that and multiple other things this morning."
"At least I haven't told them everything." I chuckled. "But if I could get some other stories to go with it, maybe I could have Rick publish the story of when Hermes sent us to Paris."
"Sounds like fun, but do you really want people to know how nervous you were that day, and then how I argued with Hermes?" Annabeth asked.
"Everyone already knows and understands my nervousness around you. You're intimidating. And it wouldn't exactly be the first time you've argued with a God." I snorted.
"But they don't need to know that Luke was the subject of our argument." Her expression turned sour.
"Even if women weren't always right, I'd still know Hermes was wrong and you were right. Okay?" I smiled.
Thunder boomed, probably Zeus doing Hermes a favor.
Annabeth smiled a little. "Oh, Thalia said she wanted to see you. I guess Artemis bought the books. Artemis liked them. But I don't know about Thalia because she didn't say much about it."
"Where is she?" I asked.
"I think she was heading for the arena." Annabeth answered.
So I got dressed and headed to the arena where Thalia was sword fighting with Jason. She won.
"I told you I was better at sword fighting." She smirked.
"But I can fly." Jason countered.
"I could fly, I just choose not to." Thalia waved it off.
"Because you're afraid of heights." Jason snorted.
Thalia jolted him with electricity.
"That's not something you should tease her about." I defended. "Besides, she was at least brave enough to face her fear."
"Hi Percy." Thalia turned to me.
"What do you want?" Jason groaned as he got up.
"I told Annabeth to send him to me." Thalia replied.
"Don't kill me. I understand if you're mad about me telling your fear of heights, what you said on the train, and a few other sensitive areas. But I just wanted to tell my story, and you were a part of it." I put my hands up to defend myself.
She studied me for a second, then she said, "I am upset that you mentioned some sensitive areas, but I get that you were only telling your story, and everyone in the stories is connected to it. But next time, just ask first before you mention sensitive information. I didn't really like reliving Melinoe impersonating my mom. But it was funny listening to myself from your point of view when we ran from the boar, and when we went to Hoover Dam. It was strange to listen to our train conversation though."
"So you won't kill me?" I checked.
"Not today." She confirmed. "Aren't you worried about Hades? He told us not to tell anyone about the quest in the Underworld."
"He hasn't said anything yet." I shrugged.
Nico walked into the arena, saw me, and turned to leave.
"Wait a second!" I called.
Nico stopped, sighed, and headed towards me.
"Bye Percy." Thalia dragged Jason with her as she left.
"Bye guys." I waved.
"What do you want?" Nico looked nervous.
I gave him a hug. He stiffened at first, but he gradually relaxed and hugged me back.
"It doesn't bother me that you like or liked me. It just surprised me at first. But it explained a couple of things." I said.
"After reading the books that had me in them, I felt bad for being so rude to you about Bianca. I realized that you couldn't have done anything to stop it, and it was the prophecy's fault. I'm sorry." Nico apologized.
"It's all good." I grinned.
He smiled at my grin. "So you don't care that I... like you?"
"No, you're still my friend. And you haven't tried anything, so it doesn't matter." I shrugged.
Nico looked hesitant, then he surprised me with a small kiss. "You can kill me now."
"Why? That wasn't a big deal. I don't like you that way though. You're lucky that Annabeth's not worried about me liking guys, or she'd be the angry one." I chuckled.
Nico smiled. "Thanks."
And then he shadow traveled somewhere. It was weird, but that's just because I'm straight. I headed off to see Annabeth.
