"What are you reading?" Leo said loudly over Nico's shoulder that made the son of Hades jump on his seat and accidentally dropped his book. Leo picked it up from floor despite Nico's attempts to avert Leo's attention from the book.

"That's no-nothing! Just something given to me by the girl I dated!" Nico stuttered as he felt his face heat up. Leo rolled his eyes at his fellow demigod and read the pamphlet: "Dating Tips for Demigod: Winning a Mortal or a fellow demigod's heart". Leo paused for a moment and turned his head to Nico, with a twisted grin forming on his face.

"I never thought you would actually read a book filled with dating tips! Our little devil is growing up!" Leo cheered and Nico buried his face in his palms to hide from the judging glances of other guys who were also in their well deserved break.

"Just- Give that back to me!" Nico snapped and Leo waved the pamphlet in front of the son of Hades' face.

"You see? You even wanted it back" Leo mocked and Nico tried to slap it away from Leo's hand, but the son of Hephaestus quickly moved it away from Nico's reach so that he could make fun of the demigod a little longer.

"Hey! A girl gave me that!" Nico protested as he continued to take it from Leo's grasp. The fire user scoffed at this.

"I'm not stupid, you know. It read "fellow demigod" and I don't think normal publishers of such book will include giving dating tips to Theseus."

"Fine!" Nico stomped and crossed is arms over his chest, " Eros left that pamphlet on the floor once I got out of my last date and I got the urge to pick it up. Happy now?"

"I'm absolutely satisfied" Leo grinned as he threw the pamphlet to Nico who barely caught it in his hands. Leo left to get some soda in the vending machine, leaving Nico standing alone in the corner of the room. Nico cursed inwardly as he averted his gaze to his left. At that moment, he saw a blonde dude with neon purple tuxedo standing in front of him.

"J-jason?" Nico said the name as if he was the last person in this world he wanted to see.

"Forgive me for this, dude" Jason stated as he began to get something from his coat.

"Wha-?" Nico was about to say, when in a blink of an eye Jason sprayed a perfume on Nico. Nico furiously waved his hand in front of him, trying to stow away the harsh smell. Wait, is that women's perfume?

"What the hell?" Nico cried out loud. He gave Jason a disbelieving look before looking down on himself disgustedly. Jason's eyes blinked open, but his hand is still covering his nose.

"Woah! This is the place for men! Who sprayed a lady's perfume?!" someone from the crowd yelled and was followed by other grunts.

"Nico! It smells like Aphrodite here! Hey! Jason! You're here!" Leo said in a cheerful tone with soda cans placed in his hands. He stopped halfway through his way to the two.

"Don't start any-" Nico warned but Leo cut him off

"Damn! The scent got a lot stronger here! Who-" Leo stopped before realizing the situation. With Jason's arm still stretched out in front of Nico while holding a perfume bottle, there's no doubt about it. The smell obviously came from Nico Di Angelo himself.

"Nico!"

"Leo!"

"Uh… Jason?" Jason butted in, earning a glare from the two.

"What the fuck did you do to me?! Did Aphrodite order this?!" Nico said furiously, while Leo remained still, waiting for what will Jason's response will be.

"Aphrodite said that I should spray you some. She told me to get a perfume in the trunk of her car. Giorgeo- something, was it? I don't know. Since there are lots of bottles there, I just decided to pick anything up. And what do you know! It's a -uh- Givenchy perfume! " Jason explained while scratching his head.

"That's it! After all of this I will send you to the pits of Tartarus!" Nico raised his voice and Leo tried to calm him down.

"Hey, maybe other girls would love that! Uh, anyway, how long will the scent last?" Leo asked Jason.

"From what Piper told me before, Givenchy perfume lasts for a whole day at least…"

"What?! A day?! You can't be serious!" Nico screamed and Leo restrained him from clawing Jason's face off.

"Haha… I guess you have to live with that for a day" Leo stated uneasily

"I'm really sorry, dude. Perhaps I can treat you a sorbet sometime? So that I can catch up after what I have done to you?" Jason said apologetically

"There is no fucking way-" Nico began but Leo was now stowing both of them away from Jason.

"Goodness! Look at the time! We have to go to our dates now, Jace! Ladies don't like late birds!" Leo called out and Jason waved goodbye to both of them.

Jason looked at his watch and sighed.

"I guess I'll treat him two bowls of sundae then…" Jason said to himself as he heads back to the corridor.

xXxXxXxXx

"Okay Nico, keep your cool" Nico calmed himself down once his in front of the door. But the image of Jason and his wicked bottle of trash keeps on spinning in his head. He despises Jason for spraying that liquidated filth contained in a beautifully adorned bottle. But still, his fatal flaw of bearing grudges is not really taking effect on this matter, maybe because in his inner self he's convinced that all of this is just some screwed up joke.

"Here goes nothing" Nico turned the knob and opened the door. What kind of girl will he be dating now?

We can tell he already saw the girl sitting there, but our dear Nico just stood by the door, frozen in shock. His face became a lot paler than usual; imagine what that would look like. And his hands became sweaty, despite the well conditioned room. He felt like his heart skipped many beats and the room was filled with cold silence. It's like fear itself was crawling through the white walls and wooden floors.

"Hmm… The room kind of smelled bad suddenly when you got here. I don't know what it is but it definitely reeks Aphrodite" the girl commented as a twisted grin played on her face. Her electric blue eyes looks like it literally paralyzed Nico on his spot.

"THALIA?!" Nico screamed. The girl nodded in her recognition. She was wearing a plain black tee with a goth looking girl printed on it. Her jeans were frayed, which Thalia considers as her own style. Raven black hair were like all over her head, as if she was electrocuted.

"Yes, you saw me. What? You can't stand there forever you know. And why are you wearing a woman's perfume?" Thalia said passively as Nico wearily sat on his chair.

"Blame your brother for that. More like it's Aphrodite's idea in the first place"

"Okay… I guess I have a hint of what happened…"

"You do know you are the last person I want to see in this place. Why are you here?" Nico inquired as soon as he recovered from his mental shock. Thalia looked at him, bemused.

"You do know this is a date, right? Ask me questions about myself, cousin" she said sweetly. Nico looked at her in disbelief.

"Something's off" he thought miserably, though he decided to play what game Thalia intents to play on him.

"Right, what are your interests?" he asked casually

"Well, I like baking cakes, planting flowers, fixing my hair, shopping for dresses, mellow music and what else? I guess that's it" she smiled sweetly, which obviously is faked and strained.

"Really now? Don't fuck around, Thalia" Nico said, bemusedly. And Thalia roared into laughter.

"Alright, I love rock, punk stuff, anything black… You get the picture" she finally said and Nico rubbed his temples.

"Glad that's over. Now, back to the real deal, why are you here?"

"Mainly because Artemis sent me to claim a demigod here, more likely protect and bring her in as a Huntress"

Nico raised a brow. Now that's an odd way for Artemis… Sending her chief huntress in a speed dating in order to protect a demigod in here? Isn't it supposed to be satyrs doing that kind of job? And if ever Thalia's supposed to take her, why not bring her to camp first?

"Why not take her to camp first if she's a demigod? Isn't that the traditional way of doing anything? I mean Artemis usually gets her demigod huntresses once they get to camp right?"

Thalia leaned on her chair, her expression became dead serious.

"That's what I have been wondering about… Maybe this girl is so special that Artemis decides to take her in too quickly… In fact, even the goddess herself seems to know little about her..."

"So, how do you intend to get to her?" Nico asked

"Well, I was hoping I could get her once I get out of this damned room. Our breaks are only in this room, I can't get to her during those times." Thalia looked around the room disgusted.

"Maybe if I got the chance to date her, I might get her back to the camp immediately"

"Or you can just simply bring her to me"

"But she's a demigod! She's supposed to be at camp!"

"I know that! But it's against Lady Artemis's orders!"

Nico decided not to argue anymore, getting himself inside this hellhole that goes by the name speed dating is bad enough. And it seems like he was going to the brink of going to a race against the Huntresses to get that demigod. He has his own problems, like two names that were the root causes of everything, Aphrodite and Eros.

"I guess I have to beat you to it. Demigods are supposed to be on camp" Nico stated and Thalia sighed in exasperation. He is stubborn alright; maybe Lord Hades is like this in some ways.

"You're on, skull head" Then the bell rang, telling the two of them that the date is over, "I do not know what Lady Artemis is up to, but whatever it is, it's my duty to do whatever she wishes, as long as it's for the greater good"

"Bring it on, pinecone face" Nico sneered and was about to stand up when Thalia gripped his wrist.

"Don't tell Leo you dated me," her grip became harder and Nico flinched, "I will enjoy beating the hell out of him later"

"Umm… what has he done to you?" Nico dared to ask

"A prank that he will soon regret he did" Thalia said dangerously low as she let go of a silenced Nico Di Angelo.

Nico shakily made his way up to the door. His hand turned the knob and Nico pushed himself outside of the room.

"Leo is so gonna have it" Nico whispered to himself. As if on cue, Leo appeared from the other room. He looks like he was having a blast. Well, he will literally have a blast once he gets past through this door.

"Yo Nico! How's your date?"

"It's good! Really good! I, uh, just have to and use the bathroom…" Nico assured with a fake smile plastered on his face as he walked through the corridor. Leo shrugged and opened the door as soon as Nico turned his back on him. The son of Hades swore he heard a scream from that room.

EVALUATION SHEET

Date number:

#5 Nico Di Angelo

First Impression:

I really don't explain things in detail. Mind if I write down a few words? Anorexic, an emo wearing pink stuff, and reeks Aphro- wait, reeks a woman's perfume.

Things in common:

Maybe our sense of fashion and love to black objects. Other than that, I guess we are polar opposites in some ways.

Did you have a great time?

Yeah, I really, had a great time

Do you feel a connection?

Fuck no

Overall impression:

He's a walking corpse, 'nuff said

Do you ever want to see this guy again?

Hmm… I guess I'll see him in the Underworld