A/N: Really sorry it took so long to update, but last week my computer got a virus and now all of my documents and my computer are gone. Well, that sucked. I had this chapter mostly done but then I had to redo it. In case anyone cares, I also had the second chapter of my Niff fic and a Huntbastian one-shot almost done but now it's all gone. Super sorry Gleeks! The only good this about this is that my dad is buying me a new computer because mine is a total goner. Thanks Daddy! Anyways, on to the Thalico!

So, why was I feeling apprehensive? Oh yeah, that's right! I was about to meet the guy I've secretly (so secretly even I didn't realize it until a few hours ago) been crushing on for years on the battlefield, and we were going to be on opposing teams.

I threw my spear and shield down on the floor of Cabin One a little more harshly than what was probably necessary and plonked down next to them in frustration.

This was ridiculous. It was absurd. Nico had barely spoken two complete sentences to me since we met. We didn't even know each other. Had Aphrodite spiked my canteen?

Why was I crushing so hard? Why was he the only thing I was capable of focusing on for more than five seconds?

All I wanted to do was talk it out, preferably with someone who had a sensible head on their shoulders, like Annabeth.

No, Annabeth would only look at me like I was crazy. She'd also probably laugh at the irony, the fact that I had joined the Hunters of Artemis and had sworn off boys just to come back to Camp and have one, probably one of the most unreachable ones at that, on my mind at all times.

You can't have a crush on someone you don't know, she'd say. You're just imagining things. Besides, it's just a crush. It'll pass.

That was just the thing though, wasn't it? This wasn't just a crush.

I banged my head on the pedestal of Zeus's statue that I was leaning against, trying, in vain, might I add, to knock some sense into myself.

Well, what wasn't there to like? Nico was quiet, mysterious, one of a kind, dark, had dreamy eyes...

Holy Poseidon, I'm turning into a freaking child of Aphrodite.

Percy came running into my cabin, absolutely wrecking my train of thought.

"Come on, Thalia! We've got some Athena butt to kick!"

Percy was so annoying and stubborn, it was kind of endearing. Of course, I still had no idea why or how Annabeth put up with him for more than five minutes, but to each her own, I guess.

I surpressed a groan when Percy stalked over to me and pulled me up, rather harshly, by my arm.

"I'm coming, Percy," I tried to sound bored despite the butterflies roaming around my stomach at the thought of seeing Nico, and failed pretty miserably as my voice sounded at least an octave higher than usual. Thankfully, Percy had always been a little more ADHD than the rest of us, and he was too distracted trying to drag me out of my cabin by the straps of my armor, along with my spear, shield, bow, and quiver.

The early evening sun was still pretty hot on my face, (or maybe that was my blush) as Percy led me down to the forest. Everyone was wearing the stupid horse-hair plumed Greek helmets, Percy's team in blue and Annabeth's in red.

The only good thing about these helmets were that they hid some of my face and kept my brain from exploding.

I was hardly listening to a word Percy was saying when he was going over the battle tactics. He must have noticed, at least somewhat, because I found myself near the edge of the forest, assigned to guard a wide-open patch of land that hardly anyone ever came by in this game.

I sighed, leaning against the shaft of my spear, my shield lying face-down in the dirt. I really needed to get my act together. This infatuation was bordering obsession, I couldn't even think straight, and it was all too frustrating.

Maybe I shouldn't have left the Hunters. I really, really wanted to hate Nico for the weak, pathetic, emotional mess I was right now, but I couldn't. I couldn't run a spear through him like I did most of my other problems. I just, felt so disgusted with myself; hated feeling so unpredictable...

This is why rational girls avoid developing crushes and just let their godly parent take care of things. Though asking Zeus to vaporize Nico just to get rid of my problems wasn't especially appealing, nor was asking him to pull any strings to get me in a little closer with a boy who was supposedly some sort of cousin to me.

My heart leapt up to my throat at a sudden rustle in the trees to my left. Another thing, the way my heart fluttered or my stomach flipped whenever I thought about Nico...well, that probably wasn't even good for my health...

In the span of about two seconds, I had my spear positioned so I could throw it if necessary, my shield back in my hands and my body crouched back into a strongly defensive position. Everything was extremely tense, I could practically feel the energy of another powerful demigod, no doubt what had made the bushes across the stream move only seconds before.

In a steady voice, or at least I was trying to be steady, I disrupted the perfect silence that was thick in the air: "If you don't come out of hiding in exactly three seconds, I will aim a lightning bolt in your general direction and I really don't care where it lands."

First I saw the tips of a small pair of black leather boots. Then there were black jeans that actually looked good with the ugly orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a bronze breast plate. Pale hands peeking out from the sleeves of the black long-sleeved shirt he wore under the t-shirt, clutching a glowing black dagger. Finally, his face; most of it covered by the heavy bronze Greek war helmet, adorned simply with a red plume, his skin deathly pale (but that was normal) and his dark eyes cold and calculating.

I won't say I didn't swallow thickly when Nico stepped easily out of the trees he had been concealed in only seconds before.

"Thalia?"

My heart was racing a million miles an hour, probably faster than Blackjack on steriods. The only, and probably most idiotic thing I could have said tumbled from my lips: "Nico? What in Hades are you doing here?"

He was definitely not the same boy we rescued from that wretched boarding school in Maine three years ago.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, a small smile forming on his lips. His previously defensive stance relaxed quite a bit, arms simply hanging at his sides, not even bothering to hold his dagger up to my face. I quickly snapped my shield back into bracelet form because I knew the ugly face of a knock-off Medusa was keeping him from stepping any closer. "Why are you here? Why not with the Hunters?"

"I left," simple, dismissive, "I think the more important question is what are you doing in this part of the woods? It's no where near the flag."

My heart was going to burst out of my chest. That's all, folks! Thalia Grace, supposedly a great hero at age tweleve, was going to die from being in too close of a proximity to her crush.

At this he gave a little chuckle, and it was so sweet it made my heart race, "Annabeth sent me over here, trying a new defensive tactic. I don't think it's going to work though, because she didn't plan on me having to go through you."

My mind was racing, because this isn't the stupid thing where your friends know that you're totally obsessed with someone and set you up (though I wouldn't put it past Aphrodite to do something like that) this was just happening. Before I knew it, my mouth was acting on its own, slipping into this easy conversation with Nico, hiding the fact that my palms had gone all sweaty and there was an undeniable upset in my stomach. "Percy sent me here because apparently I was too distracted during his whole battle plan spiel, not that I pay attention usually, and set me up far away from any action so I wouldn't hurt anyone."

Talking to Nico was surprisingly easy, and it was going pretty smoothly until some idiot just had to go and set the top of Zeus' Fist on fire.

Yeah, this is really short, and yeah, not very satisfying...but its something, right? Thoughts?