A/N I'm so sorry! We had a family emergency last night and I didn't get enough time to finish yesterday. This one isn't as good because it's two in the morning and I'm falling asleep, but I'll make up for it with the next chapter! Goode To Be Back should be updated within the next few days!
Nico POV
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. This can't be happening…
"Why does it have to be me and Death Breath? Why don't Frank and Hazel go?" Ouch, feeling the love there, Thalia.
"Frank and Hazel will get distracted," Leo said with a mischievous grin, "But you and Nico won't… right?" He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively.
"Of course not." Thalia answered briskly.
"So it's settled then," Annabeth clapped her hands from her spot next to Percy, "The two of you will go."
"But we raided that gas station years ago!" I argued. For some unknown reason, Annabeth wanted us to go to the gas station at the end of the street to "re-raid" the place.
"Well then you're raiding it again," Percy crossed his arms around Annabeth. He had one eyebrow raised in one of those do it or you're fired kind of looks, but the corner of his mouth was turned up.
"I'm sensing an ulterior motive." Thalia said thoughtfully. Leo jumped off of the counter and put a hand on each of our shoulders. All those hours of lifting hammers and twisting wrenches had paid off. Leo was able to push us towards the hallway.
"Get a move on, the sun will be down in a few hours!" He snickered and shoved us down the stairs. Jason was on guard. He gave us a smirk, a salute, and shooed us out. Thalia arched an eyebrow and turned to look at me with her pretty blue eyes.
"You noticed that too, right?" I nodded. Why was my tongue so dry?
"Hard not to." I croaked. Sweating… lots of sweating… Thalia huffed and stuffed her hands into her pockets.
"Well, I guess we're going on a raid." She sighed and hopped down the steps, sidestepping some guts. As she walked away, I stared at her. In the sunlight her hair glistened like onyx, and she had that stance that said I could kick your butt.
"You coming, di Angelo?" She called over her shoulder. I coughed to try and cover the awkwardness of me staring at her.
"Course, lead the way."
Leo POV
"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" I muttered and slapped the side of the generator. It was one of the most useful things I'd fixed in this place, but it was also one of the most moody. I never told Percy about all her… er… issues. He'd tell me to stop, it's too dangerous to keep working on it, you'll blow up the building, blah blah blah.
But now I'm thinking maybe I should have listened. I groaned, wiped the oil onto my pants, and trudged upstairs to tell Perce. Man, I hoped he wasn't having a gross romantic moment with Annabeth. Awkward…
There was talking coming from Juniper's place. Oh yeah, it was lunch time. That meant we were all together. Witnesses, excellent.
I entered her suite as quietly as I could. That means I sounded like a bull standing on corn chips. Juniper smiled kindly and offered me a plate.
"It's about time, Leo. Where were you?" Jason asked, throwing a piece of cheese towards Piper.
"Duwnodaginretor." I mumbled under my breath.
"Could you repeat that?" Percy asked, cupping his ear. I chewed my lower lip.
"I was down at the generator." I admitted guiltily.
"Why?" Annabeth asked with her eyebrows pushed together in concern. I rubbed my finger around the rim of my plate.
"It's sort of on the fritz… again."
"Again?" Percy asked, the alarm sounding in his voice. I gulped. Oh boy…
"Well yeah… again. But it's ok, I can fix it!" I said hurriedly, "We just won't have water, heat, or electricity for a week or two." Percy pursed his lips. Haha, Percy, pursed. They sound similar… wow I'm ADHD.
"Leo, I really don't think you should be risking it. Who knows what could happen?" He said.
"Most of the food we find isn't safe enough to eat unless it's cooked, and it's more dangerous to light a fire every night. Plus, winter's coming soon. We're gonna need that heater." Hazel and Frank came in before Percy could reply.
"Jason, Piper, you're shift." Hazel said casually and took a bite of her bread. Piper chewed her lip and nervously.
"Alright, but don't do anything I wouldn't do." She said and hefted her knife up. Whoa, shiny… ok, ok, focus…
When they had headed down, and Frank and Hazel were filled in, Percy returned to his ranting.
"Of course it will be dangerous to you, but it'll also be dangerous to everyone else!"
"Not to mention the fact that, based on what you've said, it'll only break again in which case this process will repeat itself." Annabeth added in.
"That… was a fancy sentence." I said stupidly, "But if I don't fix it, we'll all die at some point anyways. I'm fixing it, case closed." Percy grumbled, but didn't object.
"No worries, Perce. Leo's good with a screwdriver." Grover said, patting my shoulder.
Thalia POV
"I don't see anything worthwhile in here." I said, dropping the empty gum wrapper on the counter, "You go anything over there Death Breath?" Nico popped his head out from around a corner.
"I found some lint, and what looks like a half a mouse." He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Huh, he looked kind of cute when he did that.
Wait… what?
Ok, I can admit it. Nico was kind of handsome. I mean, the dark hair and dark eyes, and the black clothes looked good on him. Plus he was into all this sick punk stuff. His sword: pure black. It was epic.
"So I guess we can head back now?" Nico said, swinging his sword in a circle. Why was he sort of… pink in the face?
"Yeah, there's no point in staying." I said, kicking aside an old piece of cardboard. Nico rubbed the back of his neck and gulped.
"So listen… um… " His voice cracked, and I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud.
"You ok there, Nico?" Ok, the pink went from a nice rosy color, to full blown cherry red.
"Peachy," He muttered, "But anyways. You see I was sort of thinking the other day… well, Jason and Piper have been together for a while now. Juniper and Grover are happy, Hazel and Frank, and now Percy and Annabeth too. It's just us and Leo." Was he getting at what I thought he was getting at?
"Uh-huh…" I crossed my arms around an arrow and tried not to smirk at him.
"And they all seem so happy and calm with each other…" Nico drawled. I rolled my eyes.
"Spit it out," I chuckled. Nico sucked in a deep breath.
"Look, here's the thing Thals…" And then he went on a rant. I couldn't exactly make out what he was saying for certain because he was stuttering so bad.
After about two and a half minutes of nonstop blabbing, I finally just interrupted.
"Cut to it, di Angelo!" I burst.
"Will you please just be my girlfriend?" He practically shouted. I raised my eyebrows.
"Gee, took you long enough didn't it?" Without further adieu, I reached forward, grabbed his collar, and pressed my lips to his.
Moved too fast, you say? One minute it's a crush the next it's a relationship? This world is different. There isn't that awkward flirting phase anymore where the girl gets her friends to figure out if the boy likes her or not, or when the boy dumps a soda on the girls head just to see what happens. Things are fast, to the point, and time is of the essence.
Annabeth POV
Oh come on… just five more minutes Leo… and then the lights went out. Just wonderful. I threw my head back and groaned.
"I was sort of in the middle of mixing chemicals, saving the world, curing the human race!" I shouted. He didn't hear me of course, Leo was down in the basement.
The sun hadn't set completely, so I was still able to see in front of me well enough to walk, but too dark for me to tell the chemicals apart. Now I would never admit this, but being in the darkness sent chills up and down my spine. It could be because the undead preferred to stay in darker places where their skin couldn't dry out from the sun. I gulped and stepped out of my room and headed towards Percy's room. He had night shift tonight, so he was probably napping. But sitting with a sleeping Percy was better than being in my room alone.
As suspected, his room was empty and his bedroom door was shut. There was shuffling sounds coming from in there. I didn't bother knocking, I just pushed open the door.
"What are you doing in he-" My voice sort of faltered when I opened the door. Percy had pushed his bed and other furnishings to the side. An old blue blanket had been laid out on the floor, in the middle of a sea of orange-lit candles. Percy shook out the match he'd lit and set it down in a glass. He turned to look at me with a grin, his eyes brightened by the flames.
"I was just about to come and get you," He said with a smirk, "I always knew you were psychic." I was still a little bit shocked from… this.
"What is this?" I asked, taking a step inside. Percy stepped forward and reached for my hand.
"We haven't really gotten to spend much time together, and I figured that since all the electricity is out anyways…" I smiled and stepped up on my toes to kiss him.
"That's really sweet of you, Percy." He grinned and pulled me down to the blanket. We lay next to each other, hands connected between us. For a while, we just sat there in a comfy silence. Of course it was Percy who broke it.
"Hey Annabeth?" He said. I turned my head to see him staring at me.
"Hm?" He blinked slowly. A light blush spread to his cheeks.
"Uh… how's the cure coming?" I raised one eyebrow.
"It's coming along, I suppose." He nodded.
"Cool, cool." I chuckled.
"What else is on your mind?" I asked.
"Is it that obvious?" He asked. I smiled and reached up to move a couple of strands out of his eyes.
"Very much so. Let it out." Percy swallowed, and took a deep breath. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and pulled me up next to him.
"I was thinking..." He started.
"Oh no, not again." I teased him. He grinned and elbowed me in the side.
"Haha, come on Annabeth I'm trying to be all romantic and stuff here."
"Ok, ok, please continue with your speech." Percy smiled, but he still looked nervous.
"Well… I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now, and I didn't know the right time to tell you exactly…" I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. That seemed to calm him just a little bit.
"What is it, Percy?" I asked quietly. He looked straight into my eyes, all the fear erased.
"Annabeth, I love you."
