Nico stared at the door for at least 10 seconds without blinking once. He studied every aspect of the door like he never had before. The gold 510 bolted directly in the center, the dark forest green color of the door and how the paint was chipping around the edges.

With his ADHD, Nico normally would rather have been fighting a monster than standing in one place, observing a door for an extended amount of time.

But then again, this wasn't just any normal door. This was the door to Rachel Elizabeth Dare's apartment, and that gave it a whole new meaning.

Aside from the fact that this was the door of a girl he'd been pining after since the 6th grade, this door was also the gate to an entirely new realm of possibilities. Forbidden possibilities, that is.

Last week, when Rachel had stormed up to Nico, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with her purple, paint colored hands and demanded that he ask her out on a date, he was so overjoyed that he had momentarily forgotten the huge amount of baggage that this girl came with.

In his defense, he had been thinking about her constantly for nearly ten years. Plus, he wouldn't need to feel badly about visualizing Rachel in her lacy bikini back at camp all those years ago whenever he was bored and lonely.

However, the moment of happiness promptly ended when Rachel reminded him that she was the virginal host of the oracle and that wasn't supposed (or really allowed) to be having romantic relations with anyone and that they had to keep their relationship extremely secret and very low profile. Especially when the other someone in the relationship was a slightly horny son of Hades.

Nico figured he should be ecstatic that Rachel had decided to bend the rules with him, but he couldn't shake the fear of being burnt to a crisp by Apollo. Rachel had said that Apollo couldn't be watching over her ever second and that she'd handle the sun god if it came to that, but Nico didn't quite trust her. Gods had a nasty habit of being extremely jealous and completely irrational.

So when he knocked on the door of Rachel's apartment, there really was no turning back.

Almost instantly, he heard a, "I'm coming! Just a sec!" from behind the aforementioned door.

Seconds later, the door swung open and revealed an absolutely stunning Rachel. She was wearing a brightly colored dress and had makeup on. Nico couldn't recall her ever wearing either thing. He also couldn't help but notice how Rachel's bright red hair lied loosely on her shoulders, and it took every ounce of Nico's resistance not to go and run his hands through it.

Hopefully, he reminded himself, if this date goes well, there will be a chance for that type of activity later.

"You look…." Nico began, racking his brain for the right word, "Amazing." He hadn't been that lost for words since he was going through his awkward puberty-faze when he couldn't seem to say anything right.

Red erupted on her cheeks, as she said (but not without a smirk), "And you don't look too bad yourself."

Ever since they'd met, Rachel (and Percy) had a great deal of fun teasing him constantly about nearly everything he did. Whether it was about the music that he listened too, the video games he liked, or even the clothes he wore, there was always a joke from the two of them that followed. That's one of the reason's why it had surprised him so much that Rachel had wanted him to ask her out. He had always figured that Rachel was teasing him because he was younger and had a nerdy history; not because of sexual tension or anything – girls were so complicated.

"I see that you shaved that stubble of yours," Rachel said while they were in the elevator of her apartment building.

"Yeah…" Nico replied, not sure how he felt about her noticing, "I figured that it was probably time to."

Nico was never going to admit it, but he had done a lot more than just shave in preparation for this date. He had cut his hair for the first time in months so that it didn't completely cover his eyes. He had sucummed to the ultimate torture – shopping – so that he had a decent black polo shirt to wear on the date. He even had asked Percy for advice on what type of cologne to get; he lied and told Percy that it was because he wanted to impress this hot girl at work, he wouldn't dare tell Percy about him and Rachel.

Nico was shocked when Rachel didn't follow his answer with the typical witty remark. Maybe she was being a little nicer that usual because of the date.

"I made us reservations at this place that's only a few block away," Nico explained, following Rachel out of her apartment building, "I've never been there before, but Zagat gave it a good rating and it was close by-"

Nico had never been fantastic when it came to women, but he had never been this bad. He mentally cursed Hades for being the most awkward, least charming god.

Luckily, Rachel cut off his rambling by saying, "Sounds great."

They walked there in almost complete silence. Every time he snuck a glance at Rachel, he cursed himself and his inability to make conversation. Despite his secret crush, he had never been awkward around Rachel. Sure, she'd always teased him, but he'd always been ready with a somewhat snarky reply. Tonight, though, he was completely lost for words. And by the looks of how things were going, this was going to be the end of something that had just barely started.

After this date, Nico speculated, Rachel would probably be thankful that she gave up dating and would never attempt it again.

Once they reached the restaurant, Nico held the door for her as they walked in. The restaurant turned out to be a huge, loud place. On one end sat the bar, crowded with couples that looked like they were having an excellent time on their dates. The rest of the restaurant was filled with a seemingly endless amount of full tables and waiters running in circles.

The hostess seated them at a table by the window, handed them their menus with a fake smile, and turned around to greet other guests.

"The menu looks good," Rachel commented, briefly glancing up at Nico.

"Yeah," Nico replied, neglecting to mention the fact that after this meal he was going to have to spend a month living on Ramen and Mac & Cheese just to afford it.

Even though he knew Rachel bemoaned her wealthy, privileged upbringing, he'd noticed that there were a few things that Rachel had taken from her princess lifestyle, and he didn't want Rachel to think that he was totally cheap because he took her to a place where you could get two slices of pizza and a coke for three dollars.

When the waitress came to take their orders, Rachel ordered a salad and Nico ordered the cheapest thing on the menu – something that had a fancy name for pasta with tomato sauce.

Once the waitress disappeared with their orders in hand, Nico finally began some conversation. "So," he asked, playing with the tip of his napkin, "How was your day?"

"Fine," she said, showing a hint of a smile, "I began work on a new painting today."

"That's cool. What's it of?"

"It's abstract."

"Oh, those are really beautiful!" Nico said, hoping he didn't sound do enthusiastic; Nico was a bit shocked that he actually knew what that meant. Normally whenever Rachel talked about art, everyone except Annabeth would nod along clueless, hoping Rachel wouldn't realize that they had no clue of what she was talking about.

Rachel raised an eyebrow in response. Nico figured that it was the uncharacteristic burst of enthusiasm.

"What?" Nico asked.

"Do you even know what abstract paintings are?" Rachel asked, leaning forward.

"Yes."

"Sure you do, skull boy."

And that's when they went back to normal. Their normal banter surfaced, and from there the conversation flowed easily. He had never had so much fun with Rachel before; or just a girl in general, even. Someone (probably Percy) had told him that dating your friend could be really great, but he hadn't been expecting this. Maybe it was just the alcohol getting to him, but he began to feel like he was soaring – something a son of Hades rarely got to feel.

"And then I was like, 'I have to get-'" Rachel abruptly paused her story, "Oh, shit."

"What?" Nico asked, nervous. Nico knew something so good couldn't last long. The gods probably found out about their plans of secret dating, and Apollo was here to roast him on a skewer, "What's wrong?"

"Look!" Rachel said, jabbing her finger towards the entrance of the restaurant. At first, Nico couldn't see what she was pointing to. And then he saw. And while it wasn't Apollo, it was someone – more like some people – who were almost as bad. Percy and Annabeth.

"You're right," Nico replied, "Shit."

Both of them were dressed like they had just left work. Percy in his collared shirt and jeans, and Annabeth in her business suit with her blonde hair tied on top of her head.

"I don't think they've noticed us yet," Rachel said, squinting in their direction. They were talking animatedly to each other about something – probably Annabeth's work, Nico guessed – and had yet to look in this direction. "They're far enough away now that they won't realized its us, but when they're getting seated…"

"I wonder which of us they'll recognize first," Nico mused. Rachel had the fiery, unforgettable red hair, but Nico looked so similar to Percy these days he would be hard to not recognize, too.

"We have to hide," Rachel said, scanning the restaurant's perimeter. "We can't leave, because the two of them are right there."

"Plus," Nico added, "We haven't paid for the drinks."

Rachel gave him a quick glare, but then turned back to looking for possible hiding places and muttering under her breath.

Suddenly, Nico had an idea. It wasn't completely creative or permanent, but it would have to do for the moment.

"Come," Nico said, standing and grabbing Rachel's wrist.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he led her towards the back of the restaurant, "This better be good, Di Angelo, or you're going to wish you never asked me out."

Nico was about to protest and say that technically she asked him out, not the other way around, but decided it was better not to. Since Rachel wasn't actually a demigod, Nico knew she had to find other ways to express fear and anger since she couldn't use a sword to work things out like the rest of them did.

"It'll be fine." Nico said, hoping he was speaking the truth.

When Rachel finally noticed where they were heading, she began to speak up, "The bathrooms? That's your genius idea, Nico? Aside from the fact that we can't really hide in there together because of the different gender issue, either of them could just walk in and ruin everything anyway."

"Not if we're in the handicapped bathroom," Nico said, pointing to the single door at the end of the hallway.

Once they were 'safely' locked inside of the bathroom, Rachel began to speak. "How'd you know there would be a handicapped bathroom here?"

Nico shrugged, "I just guessed."

Then Rachel did the impossible; she leaned forward and kissed him. It was the best kiss he'd ever had. Rachel's lips seemed to fit perfectly with his, and when he put his arms around her waist she didn't resist. The only thing ruining what felt like a perfect moment was the constant worry that Apollo would see them and come to roast Nico. He had even forgot that Percy and Annabeth were only a few feet away, enjoying their dinner without even knowing Nico and Rachel were there.

What felt like hours later, even though Nico was sure it could only have been minutes, right when Rachel had begun to slowly unbutton his shirt, Nico could feel his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He regretfully detached himself from Rachel and pulled out his cell phone. When he looked down at the caller ID, he saw that it was none other than Percy.

He was so tempted to throw the phone onto the ground and return to making out with Rachel, but since Percy was so close by he felt somewhat obliged to pick up the phone.

"Hey, Percy?" Nico said, trying to sound like he was sitting in his apartment, bored.

"Nico!" Percy said, his voice sounding rushed and nervous, "You have to come quick! There's this-this… thing here. I need your help."

"Percy, I can't," Nico said, feeling only a little bit bad. Because of his invulnerability, Percy had very rarely asked Nico for help fighting a monster.

"Annabeth's passed out," Percy said, sadly, "She got hit pretty bad and needs my immediate attention. Please, Nico?"

Rachel mouthed, "What's going on?"

"Fine. Where are you?" Nico asked, feigning ignorance. He figured that since a monster would be terrorizing the place, everyone would be so distracted that he could slip around the side of the restaurant so it appeared that he just came in.

Percy hurriedly gave him the address, and hung up.

While trying to fix his appearance so he didn't look like he was just hooking up with a hot girl in the bathroom, Nico explained to Rachel what was going on. Her expression showed a mixture of confusion and worry.

"I'll be back… soon." Nico said, preparing to step out of the bathroom door.

"Wait," Rachel said, grabbing his hand, "Not so fast, Di Angelo, I'm coming with you."

"What? Rachel? Are you crazy? You can't!" Nico said, "Not only are you unarmed, but if Percy sees you-"

"Fuck Percy," she said, holding onto his hand tightly, "We'll just say we ran into each other or something. We'll figure out an excuse later, but I'm not going to sit by and watch my best friends and my boyfriend get pulverized by a monster."

Nico's heart jumped when she referred to him as her boyfriend. But he shoved the comment aside for later when a monster attack wasn't looming over him.

When the two of them carefully snuck out of the bathroom, both of them were shocked with what they saw. Or maybe what they didn't see.

Everything was just how they left it. Tons of people sat around tables laughing, waiters buzzed around serving food. And, obviously, there was no monster. Nor was Annabeth knocked out. Instead, she and Percy sat at a table on the opposite side of the restaurant, waving mischievously.

"Nico," Rachel said, poking his shoulder, "I think they might have seen us earlier."

"Yeah, maybe." Nico replied, still not taking his eyes off of Percy and Annabeth.

Once the shock of being set up wore off, Nico stormed towards their table in a complete rage. He was furious that they not only had seen them, but that they had tricked them, too. They had ruined what otherwise would have been an almost perfect night.

"Oh! Nico, you're here." Percy said, once Nico had made it to their table.

"Yeah, I'm here," Nico said, crossing his arms over his chest. He was happy to notice that Rachel was standing right beside him, arms folded over her chest, too. "You seem to have noticed that already, though."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a glance, "Well, yeah." Percy said, bluntly, "We were in a bit of a shock to find the two of you dressed nicely at a nice restaurant, but then you suddenly disappeared. I almost thought that maybe I was wrong and it wasn't you guys, but Wise Girl over here figured that you noticed us and probably were hiding somewhere in the restaurant.

"So we decided to prank you guys so that you'd have to come out of hiding."

"Let me guess," Rachel said, giving them one of her more critical looks, "Annabeth came up with the whole plot and stopped you from marching over to us and asking if we were on a date."

Percy and Annabeth shared another glance, before simultaneously saying, "Yes."

"Well, thanks for ruining our date guys," Nico said, grabbing Rachel's arm preparing to lead her out of the restaurant.

"We didn't mean to ruin it," Annabeth said, defensively, "We just were upset that you guys kept it a secret from us."

"It's not like we were trying to hide it from you guys in particular," Rachel argued. Nico had never really thought about it, but when it came to being defensive over their opinions, Annabeth and Rachel were pretty similar. Neither liked to be accused of something or to loose a debate. "We just didn't want it to get out or anything. If Apollo found out-"

"We know," Percy interrupted.

After that, none of them said anything for a few minutes.

"Alright," Nico said, putting his arm around Rachel's shoulders possessively, "I think we'll be off, now."

Percy and Annabeth began to protest, or something, but Nico didn't care. He pulled Rachel with him and led her out the door of the restaurant.

They walked back towards her apartment in silence for a few minutes; then Rachel finally spoke.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah? Anything." Nico replied.

"For our next date, can we just stay at my place and watch a movie and make out?"

Nico breathed a huge sigh of relief, "Definitely."

"Good."

A/N: This is my first Rachel/Nico one-shot – hopefully, if you readers out there like this one (and I get a burst of inspiration) there will be more in the future.

I also just want to thanks WindowChild for reading both drafts of this story and giving me her feedback before I published this.

Lastly, please, please review. Reviews really mean so much to me, and are greatly appreciated.