| Obvious | Percy x Nadia |

03 "We're friends now, right?"

(I try not to put messages at the beginning of the chapter but, from now on i'm gonna have my autocaps off so lower case intended 💗)

- the four of them caught a train with the intentions of sleeping on it until they arrived at their next destination. the only problem was that there was 1 bunk bed.

grover and percy agreed that annabeth and nadia could sleep on the bunks and they would take the floor.

nadia's worst fear was heights so she slept on the bottom bunk.

she was just starting to fall asleep when she heard a loud exhale coming from the floor followed by a quiet "you awake?" percy sat in silence for a second before the girl he was asking responded.

"sure." she whispered, just to where he could hear her.

"you knew thalia pretty well, right?"

the question lingered in nadia's ear before she had enough courage to respond.

"yes." she exhaled.

she knew the blonde boy was curious, so was she, but now she wished he wasn't. thalia was her 'soft spot.' anybody could tell you that.

"what was she like?" percy asked, knowing he was treading water.

"why?" as much as she wanted to, nadia couldn't avoid his questioning.

"well, she was the only forbidden kid before me, she must've dealt with the same stuff, right?"

"she was brave." nadia answered "she knew she was forbidden, she just didn't care. thalia was hard on us, hard on annabeth. she didn't care for her right away. you had to earn it with thalia." the more nadia talked about her the more she wanted to cry.

"do you think that's why annabeth gives me a hard time?"

"maybe." nadia shrugged unknowing.

"i've got to say, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. the way you guys all talk."

nadia furrowed her brows and shifted her body to face toward percy, eager to listen. "the way we talk?"

"gotta burn an offering to get a parents attention. gotta beat up on clarisse just to get my father to admit he's my father. it's not supposed to work that way. people who are close to you aren't supposed to treat you that way."

nadia sighed. she was aware of how good percy's mom was. he wouldn't know how unfair everything is.

"my dad..." she took a deep breath. "...had more children. not with aphrodite, but with another women. my step mother was annoyed by how 'different' i was from my half siblings. she convinced my dad to feel the same way about me..." she paused. "he didn't love me anymore so, i ran away. that's when i met luke and thalia. i was 7. i havnt seen my dad since. it's not just the gods percy. it's everyone. but at least with the gods you know the rules. as long as you show them respect nothing bad should happen."

before percy could respond, although he didn't know what to say anyway, grover was awakening. (most likely from the two talking)

"are you awake?" percy asked the satyr.

"well i am now, thanks." grover groaned.

"he's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough sleep." annabeth chimed in.

looks like percy and nadia had woken up the rest of the group.