Pairings: none

Word Count: 412 words

Author's Note: set after TLO. Platonic, which is weird because I'm a Thalico shipper. Anyway, I like it. Nico and Thalia might be OOC but not much

Summary: Thalia falls out of a tree, and Nico is philisophical (ha)

Prompt: Trees

Thalia hated trees.

It wasn't surprising. She had been a tree for close to seven, eight years? She thought it was funny, how she was frozen in time as a tree, just to join the Hunters and be frozen again when she got out.

Anyway, being a tree-not fun. Photosynthesis was just horrible. Absolute hell.

But somehow, she always managed to find herself at her pine tree sometime during the night, at least twice a week.

Its needles pricked her skin and tugged at her hair. They tangled themselves in the thick black tresses as she climbed up the branches to sit on a thick one, swallowing down her fear and ignoring her lurching stomach. Sap stuck to the back of her head as she leaned it back to rest against the trunk.

It was peaceful, tranquil, a bit of serenity in her life. Something she could depend upon to always be there. And she was fluff-ifying this, wasn't she?

Anyway, it was tranquil. Until he came. At 3 in the morning, no less. Never underdid it, the stupid King of Ghosts.

"Hey."

Thalia let out an uncharacteristically girlish shriek as she tumbled from the tree.

"Nico! What the Hades are you doing here?"

And there he was, with his ebony hair covering the cocoa brown eyes and his olive skin that had paled over time.

Right now, an infuriating grin was pressed onto his mouth.

"What are you doing Thals?"

"I asked you first."

"Aww..."

"Are you going to be that immature?"

"Says the girl who retaliates with 'I asked you first'?"

"You're pushing it..."

"Just answer the question, Grace."

"Easy with the last name, di Angelo."

"Fine, I'll be the mature one here. I'm here because I couldn't sleep. You?"

"Same."

"Lying!"

"How did you know that?"

"You just told me Thals."

"You're just getting a kick outta this, aren't you?" Thalia asked, eyeing the boy with the large grin on his face.

"Yup." Nico laughed.

"I'm here because I don't know why I'm here."

"Very specific, thank you Thalia." Nico made a fake bow.

"Shut it, di Angelo. I always come here. I'm not sure why." She explained, picking out Zoë's constellation from the twinkling stars above.

"Maybe because you feel closer to your dad." Nico suggested. "Because he turned you into a tree here."

"Maybe..."

We watched the stars for a minute.

"So what was it like being a tree?"

"What was it like being a dandelion?"

"Touché..."

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