A/N: really appreciate the comments! This is my first story so it won't be great but hopefully it will help me become a better writer in the future. This will probably be one of the only authors notes I do in the entirety of this story because I like to leave you to get immersed in the world of the story. Just know that I am reading the comments and trying to grow from your advice!

Annabeth had just admitted to Percy that he was the first person she had invited up to her roof, a fact that was currently bouncing around in his head and making him question who this girl in front of him really was.

"So what makes me so special Chase" he tried, although he was really quite curious about it.

"I don't know what it is about you but I feel like I can trust you Percy, hopefully I can." She said a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"Look Annabeth, clearly I don't know who you really are, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just start dating you" he said a bit uncomfortably. Annabeth gave him a dead stare in the eyes for about three seconds before busting out laughing. Percy was confused but couldn't help notice how beautiful and natural she looked laughing. Annabeth had begun to calm down and was rubbing tears from her eyes from laughing so hard.

"Percy, calm down. I wasn't going to ask you to date me! I was just wondering if maybe we could try at friends?" She said starting off loud and progressively getting quieter and shyer as she spoke, as though she was worried about his answer. Percy was always an open guy but he had seen the way she had manipulated other guys. He wasn't sure he wanted to be a part of one of her little games. However, Percy was quite an optimistic guy and he thought maybe, just maybe, she was really just looking for a friend.

Linebreak

Percy and Annabeth hand just climbed down from the roof when they heard a crash from downstairs. Of course it was a party so there were bound to be some loud noises, but this crash sounded pretty severe. Annabeth ran downstairs and Percy sprinted after her. When they got to the bottom of the stairs they could see a huge circle of people gathering around. Annabeth and Percy pushed their way to the front, only to see Nico and Luke on the floor rolling around throwing wild swings at each other. It seems like Luke had woken up pretty riled up and had decided to pick a fight with the first person he saw. Unfortunately for Luke the first person he saw was Nico. Currently Nico, who was bleeding heavily from his face, was on top of Luke punching him into oblivion. Percy ran in and pulled Nico off him, luckily Nico wasn't giving Percy any struggle. Luke lay groaning and rolling on the ground moaning about how Nico was dead when they got back to school.

"C'mon perce, this party's dead" Nico said deadly calm. Percy flashed Annabeth an apologetic look before following Nico out the front door. As they walked out the door Percy looked back to see Annabeth on her knees seeing if Luke was ok. He looked forward again only to see Nico had stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and said

"Hey Percy you don't know where Grover and Juniper are do you?"

"No Nico not a clue, sorry." Percy said realizing he was supposed to give them both a ride home. He was about to turn back to go look for them in the house when Nico put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't, they'll find a ride. We need to talk" Nico said before turning back and walking to the car. Percy followed feeling bad about leaving Grover and Juniper behind, but he also knew Grover lived less than a ten minute walk from where he was. Percy opened the drivers door, waited for Nico to get in, and pulled out. After about a minute of driving Percy turned to Nico and looked for the right words to say. Before he could come up with anything Nico talked for him.

"I guess you're wondering what the hell happened back there aren't you?"

"Well, uhhhh, yeah kinda." Percy said uncomfortably.

Nico sighed before starting, "listen, you know I wouldn't have done it without good reason. A little bit after we got there Luke came into the room and saw me standing there. He started going on and on about how I shouldn't be there and how Annabeth would never invite me. When I didn't leave he decided on a more...physical approach. It had only been going for a couple minutes when you showed up."

"Ok Nico. It sounds like you handled the situation as well as you could have, I've just got one question" Percy replied.

"Oh yeah? And what's that? Nico said curiously.

"How good did it feel to punch that jerk" Percy said cracking a full on grin.

"Pretty damn amazing" Nico said mirroring Percy's grin. "By the way, where'd you disappear to? I saw you walk in and then I lost sight of you. I caught sight of you going upstairs holding Annabeths hand though. Please tell me you didn't do anything you shouldn't have perce" Nico said a hint of worry in his voice.

"Don't worry Nico" Percy assured, "nothing happened, we just talked. She acctually doesn't seem like she'd be an aweful person as a friend".

"Just make sure you know what you're doing Percy, and remember that it's not likely she's only got friendship on her mind" Nico said warningly.

"Don't worry Nico, I know what I'm doing" said Percy.

The rest of the drive to Nicos house was in a comfortable silence. Once Nico was dropped off Percy returned home. He opened the door to his apartment as quietly as he could, considering it was fairly late. He was suprised to find the lights on and his mom sitting in her chair reading. She looked up with no surprise on her face, but a look of concern as she saw the blood splatters on Percy's shirt. He looked down realizing what she was looking and and opened his mouth to speak,

"Don't worry mom it's not my blood, it's Nicos".

"Oh, I see. How reassuring" she said sarcastically. "Now tell me what happened." So Percy explained about the party, leaving out anything that had to do with him and Annabeth. Afterwards his mom said she was proud of how he handled things and sent him to bed. He just knew that his dreams would be littered with images of his new friend, Annabeth Chase.