I do not own Percy Jackson or While Your Lips Are Still Red by Nightwish

Chapter 4 – While Your Lips Are Still Red
watch?v=9xJKI3Qu50U

"Hey, Nico," Percy said as he sat down next to Nico in the cafeteria.

Nico hummed in response and took out his sandwich. It was peanut butter.

"Did you do the paper I gave you?" Annabeth asked as she sat down next to her boyfriend.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yes."

Annabeth gave him a look. "It's important, Percy. You can't fail English!"

"I know," Percy said in a voice that meant he just wanted her to stop talking.

Unfortunately, Annabeth picked up on that, and started lecturing him on how English was an important subject and failing it would be a major setback for his college career. Nico tuned out when she started in on him about how much the final paper would count for his grade.

"Hi, Nico." he heard, and he turned around.

"Hey, Rachel," he said.

She put her tray down, filled with the healthy things that she adored and Nico thought were relatively disgusting. "Do you want to go to the carnival with me this weekend?" she asked, biting into a piece of celery and looking at him.

He shook his head. "No, thanks, Rachel." It wasn't the first time she had asked him out. But he didn't want to tell her to get lost. She was a nice person, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

She made a face at the celery and put it back on her plate. "God, couldn't these people get better vegetables?"

Nico shrugged and looked back at his sandwich. He'd had time to make one this morning, after getting no sleep the night before. It was turkey.

"How about a movie on Friday?" Rachel tried again.

"Sorry, I can't."

"Why?" she asked, trying a piece of cucumber drenched in Italian dressing.

Nico thought fast. "Homework."

Rachel raised her eyebrows and ate another piece of cucumber. "You're doing homework on a Friday?"

Damn, he thought. Of course he wasn't doing homework on a Friday! "My dad heard that I failed the math test. He's making me do my homework before anything else." He mentally patted himself on the back. Good story.

"Oh," Rachel said, and she probably would have continued if the bell hadn't rung at that moment.

"I'll see you in art," Rachel said as she stood up and carried her lunch to the garbage. Nico picked up his sandwich and put it back in his bag. As he stood up to leave he noticed that Thalia's normal table had stayed empty the entire lunch period.

By the end of the day, Thalia had decided that school was invented simply to torture kids and teenagers. When the last bell rang, she bolted from her classroom, skipping detention and going down the hallway much slower than she would have liked. All the other people getting out of their classrooms were going much slower than her, talking and laughing. She saw a number of footballs flying through the air. She fought through them with her elbows, trying to get to the door.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm. She turned and saw Nico looking at her. "We need to talk."

She tore her arm out of his grip."No, we don't." She tore her arm out of his grip and began fighting her way down the hall again.

He took her arm again and pulled her towards the wall. "Thalia."

"What?" she demanded, pulling her arm away again.

"We need to talk," he said again.

"Then talk. And do it fast."

He shook his head. "Not here."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Go away, di Angelo." The crowd had mostly gone away, and she made her way down the hall without much difficulty.

She heard him calling her name, but she ignored him and pushed open the door.

She didn't think about where she was going, she just ran. Through the school parking lot, through the streets of Manhattan.

She wished he would leave her alone. She wished he would just go away. Everything was easy when she hated everyone. But she couldn't hate him. And she didn't want him to find her and tell her again that he liked her. Because she knew that he would leave, if she didn't leave first. She was a foster kid. These people wouldn't want her after a while. And then she'd be on to the next home. Leaving Nico behind.

She found herself in the alley again, facing a brick wall. She turned around and slid her back down the wall into a sitting position, with her knees tucked into her chest. Then she rested her head on her knees and sobbed.

Nico was walking out of the school parking lot when Bianca pulled up in her car. "Hey," she said.

He looked at her. "Hey. Can you take my bag?"

"Are you going to follow her again?" Bianca asked.

"Just take the bag."

She opened the door and got out of the car. "Nico, I told you. She isn't stable."

"I know, I heard you. Just take the bag." He tried to hand her his bag, but she wouldn't take it.

"No. Come on, we're going home."

Nico dropped his bag on the ground. "Fine. Don't take the bag. Bye." He ran off. He heard Bianca calling him, but he ignored her and ran out of the parking lot.

He ran out of the parking lot, and, knowing that Bianca would follow him, ran into a little alley behind the school. He looked behind him, and saw that Bianca was stopped outside the alley. But it was too narrow, and she couldn't get through it. He turned his head forward and continued running.

He ran through the streets of Manhattan. He wondered for a while how he looked to the people around him, a teenage boy wearing all black running through the dirtiest part of the city, but he stopped caring eventually. He had better things to worry about.

When he reached the entrance to the alley, he heard crying. He looked in and saw Thalia sitting at the end of the alley with her knees against her chest, sobbing. He walked towards her slowly, stepping over the pieces of garbage. He knelt beside her.

"Go away," she said. Her voice was muffled and broken from crying.

"No," he responded. He didn't touch her, just knelt beside her.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, the silence only broken by the sound of Thalia's quiet sobs. Then Nico spoke. "Look at me."

"Go away."

"I'm not leaving. What's wrong?"

She looked up at him. Her makeup was running down her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot. But she still managed to glare at him effectively. "Fuck off, di Angelo."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." He held her gaze.

Damn, she thought. He's becoming immune to my death glares.

"Go to hell."

He didn't move.

She stood up, mopping the tears from her cheeks. "Will you just leave me alone? I don't need you! I don't want you! Just go away!"

He stood up, too. She hated that he was taller than her. "Why? You keep pushing me away, but you won't tell me why."

"Maybe I just don't want you to get close to me," she said, taking a step forward.

She was an inch away from him, her face an inch from his. For a few seconds, he froze. Then he acted on his instinct.

He kissed her.

Thalia tensed in surprise. She felt him wrap his hands around her upper arms. For a moment neither of them moved. Then she put her arms around his neck. He slid his hands down her body to rest on her waist. It wasn't until she felt his tongue run across her bottom lip that she realized what they were doing.

She pulled away and stumbled back to lean against the wall. She didn't look at him, only at the ground. They were quiet for a moment. Then she said, "We can't do this."

"Why not?" Nico asked.

She looked up at him. "I can't do this."

Nico stepped towards her. "Why?"

"Because…" she stopped.

"Because you're afraid," Nico finished for her.

She nodded slightly. "You're going to leave."

"I'm not going to leave. I swear." He took another step forward. He was close to her now.

"Everyone leaves."

He nodded. "I know. But sometimes you just have to trust that it will be okay."

"But what if it's not?" Her voice broke.

He didn't say anything, just wrapped his arms around her. He felt his shirt get wet and knew she was crying.

"Then you try again."

Sorry this chapter took so long, I had massive writer's block. Which is funny, because I took days planning out this story. You'd think I'd whip right through it. But oh well. In case anyone hasn't figured this out, these chapters are all based on a song. This one is based on While Your Lips Are Still Red by Nightwish. The URL on the top is to a youtube video for the song. I hope to have the next chapter up soon, but it might take a while. Sorry again for skipping chapter 2.