STORMS

The rain hit the roof of Nico's cabin like machine gun fire. Another noise was added to the already loud cacophony. Luckily, Nico wasn't asleep so the insistent knocking didn't wake him, but there was nothing to say he wasn't annoyed.

"What do you want at this gods forsaken hour?!" Nico yelled as he opened the door to a soaked Thalia.

"Can I come in? My Pillow Pet's going to get wet." She pushed past him without waiting for an answer. "Can I crash here? It's really loud in my cabin with all the thunder and it's hard to sleep with that creepy statue of Zeus staring at me."

"Sure you can crash here. Wait, Zeus? I thought you were in Artemis's cabin."

"Chiron makes me sleep in my old cabin to honor my father," she said. "Not that I need to honor that jerk." Thunder rumbled louder in the sky. "Oh, get over it already!" Thalia yelled at the ceiling.

"But why walk all the way over here when you could have only walked half the distance and slept with the rest of the Hunters in the Artemis cabin?"

"Because I can't admit that I'm scared of a statue and you were the first person I thought of." With that she spun around and threw herself onto Nico's bed.

"By all means take my bed," Nico mumbled.

"Well, what else am I supposed to sleep on, Corpse Breath. The floor?" Nico quickly glanced around and noticed that she was right. His bed was the only bed in the whole cabin.

"Fine." Nico walked over to the other side of the bed and layed down as far away as he could from Thalia. The space between them drove him crazy. He didn't want to be that far away from her. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and kiss her. The feeling became stronger when she started shivering.

"These clothes are soaked. I can't get warm enough to sleep." Thalia quickly got up from the bed and took off her pajama shirt and pants. Nico's heart started beating twice as fast. She's a Hunter, he thought even as he gave her a once over, taking in every inch of her. He quickly looked away as she draped her clothes over the back of a black chair.

Nico clenched his fists as she climbed back into the bed. After a few minutes of him trying to ignore her only a few inches from him, she turned over and curled up next to him. She put her head on his chest and moved in as close as she could.

"It's still really cold, Nico. Do you have any other blankets?" Thalia asked.

Nico carefully got up and got more blankets. "I've heard that when someone has hypothermia, the fastest way to warm them up is for both of them to take their clothes off."

Thalia's eyes twinkled. "If you think it'll help."

Nico stripped down to his boxers. He turned around to get back to bed and saw Thalia looking him over. When she reached his crotch, she smirked, "Is that your sword in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

Nico's face burned with embarrassment. He climbed into the bed. She snuggled over to him, resting her back against his chest and he put his arms around her. His breath came out in short ragged bursts as he tried to control himself. She turned around so they were face to face.

"Out of breath before we've even started?" Thalia smirked.

"St-Started?" Nico stammered.

"Mmmmhmmm." She leaned forward until their noses touched and then slowly, teasingly, pulled forward until her lips brushed his. His control shattered. He was all over her and didn't want to stop, but after a few moments, he reluctantly pulled back.

"But the hunt. Artemis. Your oath," Nico breathed.

"So," she whispered as she started to trail her finger up and down his chest.

"I thought you couldn't do this kind of stuff."

"I can't. Not as a Hunter, but let's say for a second I quit the Hunt," she paused. "Then I could do this."

Her lips crushed his as she pulled him closer to her, not getting rid of the space in between them fast enough. He reached behind her and undid the clasp of her bra. The rest of the night is between them.