Nico trudged to school, dragging his feet. Thankfully, for him, he was dressed how he liked to dress today, and he didn't plan to dress in the 'forbidden clothes' as Nico has started to mentally call them. he was feeling especially grumpy today, because, not only did he wake up to a pillow to the face, miss his breakfast, have a nightmare, get a voice mail from her, but his brain didn't seem to be letting up in his now-constant turmoil of his feelings for Percy that he refused to admit he had.

Does he really like me?

Is this all a trick?

Don't fall for him Nico, you better than that!

Don't think about him, his eyes, his face, his ass-no! Bad Nico, baaadddddd.

Shit, it's a trick. Yeah, it's a fucking trick. He's just playing with me.

Fuck fuck fuck, I'm in love with the punk-no! No you're not! You're better than that! 

All day he had been auguring with himself, and his inner-self hadn't been very merciful. He sulked into school, his mood rolling off him in waves, a warning that should anyone come near him he was not responsible for a lost limb. His mood only plummeted further when he saw Percy flirting very obviously with some guy he had never noticed before. Unconsciously, Nico glared at the boys back as he walked away, a positively goofy and giddy smile on his face.

~~~

Percy got out of his car and walked into school, repeating his plans for revenge on the bundle of temptation that was Nico. He would flirt with whoever was near -if they were attractive of course- when he was sure Nico would see. Percy would carefully judge his actions, see if he became jealous of whatever else. Percy may not have been the shiniest star in the sky, but he wasn't completely dim.

His test to see how Nico would react went brilliantly. Not only did Nico look disappointed when he saw Percy flirting -Percy felt slightly bad, but was to giddy to care- but he also glared at what-ever-his-name-was as he walked away. If looks could kill, that guy would've been dead as soon as Nico laid eyes on him.

All in all, a very positive reaction. Though, Percy was sure if Nico was in a better mood, as he was obviously having a bad day, he wouldn't have gotten such a reaction. But, the fates liked him today (lmao, as if that would ever happen to the real Percy), and it made Nico's colours show a bit more.

Throughout the day he flirted with whoever whenever he was sure Nico would see, and every time Nico's glares would get darker, and Percy would feel giddier. He was having a good day. If only Nico had worn those clothes again than this day would be immensely better.

~~~

Nico was having a horrible day, and he hadn't even gotten to lunch yet. Every time he turned a corner, there Percy was, flirting with someone different from the one before. it made his mood, self-esteem (what was left of it) spirits, and pretty much everything crumble as he watched the boy, all the while telling himself that he shouldn't care about Percy. That he didn't care about Percy.

But....then why was this effecting him so badly?

He just sulked moodily and poked at whatever his food was. He soon pushed the platter away, though, and grabbed his book out of his bag (the third book in the Splintered series by A. G. Howard) and started reading silently, quickly becoming absorbed into the story line.

He looked up silently from his book as the chair across from his moved. He shot a glare at Percy before moving his eyes back to his book. 

"Hey, Ghost King." Percy said, obviously ignoring Nico's glare and the obvious signs that Nico didn't like the company at the moment. "What are you reading?" Percy asked, voice brimming with curiosity as he tried to look as the spine of the book to see the title, the cover having been removed. 

"Nothing." Nico quickly said, closing the book and stuffing it in his bag. He would be damned if Percy found out the kinds of things he liked to read. 

Percy shrugged, fine with the curiosity in favour of having Nico's attention on him. "Oh, Nico?" Percy purred lowly. "Everyone's looking for some love but they don't know how to let it all hang out, and that's why they're solo. So, strut for me?" A blush equivalent to a tomato being tossed at his face formed on Nico's face, mostly fuelled by the anger.

"I will not 'strut' for you!" Nico said in a strangled voice. "Just because you can get all those people you flirted with today to bow down to you does not mean I will!" Nico said, the nerd vanishing.

Percy chuckled deeply. "Oh, but Nico, don't you know? It's all just a sexual game of tic-tac-toe." Percy purred, smouldering eyes on Nico. Nico huffed and got up in a jerky movement.

"I don't know what this is to you, but for me it's tutoring a student who's having trouble in class. Look, Percy, I need you to act like an adult, and that can't happen if you insist on acting five years old!" Nico whisper-shouted, face going red. Nico turned smartly on his heel and stomped away, to the library.

"Ohhhhh shit...I fucked up. Yeah, yeah that's what happened. I fucked up," Percy swore angrily. "Fuck!"

~~~

Nico was still miffed about what happened at lunch when he was walking out the doors. Truth be told, yeah, it was more than tutoring a student who was failing. It was a lot more.

But he wasn't ready to admit that.

So Percy didn't have to know that.

He sulked in a corner of the library, his mood getting worse and worse as his mind tortured him with memories of Percy flirting with random people, and what happened at lunch and other such things.

How the fuck had this all happened? 

Oh yeah. He accepted the request of him tutoring someone.

The stupidest thing he had ever done. Closely followed by fallowing Leo's insane 'Steps to Drive Percy Crazy'. Honestly, he would never forgive Leo for that one.

While in his emo corner, lost to his thoughts, he didn't notice someone sit next to him till they touched him.

Nico jumped away from the hand on his shoulder. He turned to glare at the person that dared touch him, till he realized it was a startled looking Alice. "Nico...?" she spoke softly as he sat back down, sagging.

"Damn it all to hell." Nico muttered. He leaned against Alice slightly, tears rimming his eyes.

If he hadn't had so much practice in forcing himself not to cry, he probably would have been crying a river. "What's wrong Nico?" she asked, trying to sound sympathetic and all nice-like, but she really didn't have much practice in that...area. She was more...loud noises and laughs. She wasn't really one for sappy and sad. But she could tell she needed to be sensitive right now. Now if only she could accomplish that.

"I don't want to talk about it." he muttered. He felt her nod in understanding. 

After a few minutes, Alice sighed. "C'mon, we have classes." Alice said. 

"Can we ditch, please and, like, go to your house or something?" Nico asked, looking up through his lashes. Alice almost gave in.

"...tell you what; we have the rest of our classes together, and I promise I'll stick to you so much you'll have to use super-unstuck extra to get me off." She said, puling Nico back by the shoulders. What she saw made her sorry for her friend. Nico sat, face completely heart broken, eyes brimming with tears he refused to let fall as his lip trembled ever so slightly, even with the locked jaw. She could tell how much this was hurting him, whatever it was. Though, she thought she had an idea about what it might be about. He nodded glumly, holding her hand and dragging her with him, not daring to let go even for a second. The boy could be clingy when he wanted to be.

~~~

Nico and Alice walked outside the school, still glued together. Nico looked for the red pickup truck. He spotted it after a minute, and started dragging Alice along, fully intending to wrap her up in a blanket and kidnap her for a few days, till he saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

A small crowd surrounded a space a little ways away from the pickup. Inside the small space, two accented voices argued heatedly. One Latino, one Italian. Nico dropped Alice's hand, surprising the latter, and ran off, pushing his way roughly through the crowd. 

He knew that voice but it couldn't be. Could it? Why would she be here, all of a sudden, out of the blue?

Reaching the circle, not realizing the last person he broke through to get there was Percy, he stopped dead in his tracks. His breath hitched, his whole being fixed on the person having an argument with Leo, obviously attracting a crowd.

Bianca

As the thought took over his mind, Nico's face lit up.

With anger. 

An angry gleam that made everyone take a step back came to Nico. A black aura seemed to consume him, making him feel and look like an angry god. The Italian girl, who looked almost identical to Nico, though with a slightly more mature face, gulped, and gave a weak smile.

"Hey, baby brother," she spoke hesitantly.

~~~

I will give a fucking cookie to those who got those song references.

Percy_BlackAdder, you loved it, didn't you? Yes, yes you did.