Bond

Demigods, by nature, were impatient people. They had to be. After all, it was exactly that fierce desire for speed, action, that saved them at the end of the day. Unfortunately, it was also the reason why trouble seemed to follow them most of the time.

Thalia was trying to be patient but minutes were passing by and Percy looked like he wanted to do anything but talk to her.

"Well...aren't you going to say something?"

He shook his head. "Nah, you should go first."

"Percy, seriously. Talk. Get it off your chest."

He shook his head, making his already messy hair messier than it was. "What you have to say matters more."

She didn't know whether to feel flattered or annoyed, but she figured one of them had to break the ice at some point. Looking down into her cup, she sighed. "My mother was an actress. She was beautiful and she was admired by many. Zeus liked her and well, that's how Jason and I came to be." she paused, in case he had questions but to her surprise, the son of Poseidon stood quiet, listening and drinking his hot cocoa, as if doing anything more would change her mind about telling him.

She cleared her throat. "For a few years, things were good. At some point though, Zeus started visiting less and less. Then she lost her job. I don't know why or how although I can vaguely remember eavesdropping onto a phone call she had with her boss and there was arguing and lots of yelling involved."

Thalia stopped again, her electric blue eyes, now resembling a storm were focused on a spot behind him, as if she was reliving everything for a second time. "She easily fell into depression afterwards. Things got bad the moment she started drinking and taking drugs. She let them all over the place and I'd have to clean since my brother was very little, and he could have taken some by mistake." This time, Thalia's gaze flickered over to Percy, to gauge his reaction.

She didn't find pity, but plenty of anger and sadness. He reminded her of how Luke had reacted after she told him. Thalia shook the thought away knowing there was no point in comparing the two. She kept going, throat tight, stomach turning upside down with dread as it always did whenever she thought of what happened back then.

"Sometimes she had small moments of guilt, usually when she was sober, so she'd try to reach out to me and Jason, tuck us into bed, cook our favorite meals and such stuff parents did for their children. One day, she suggested we organize a picnic in the backyard since it was huge because you know she used to be successful once and Zeus was adamant only the best was given to his family." her tone got slightly mocking, and she rolled her eyes in hopes tears wouldn't succeed to gather. In fact, she was doing it often now, enough to make Percy give her a worried look.

"She got drunk, again so naturally I was supposed to take care of my brother. I never minded since I loved him a great deal, and he was the only sane family member I had left." The pain and the guilt were strong, piercing her heart mercilessly but Thalia knew she had to finish, get it off her chest even. "I went back inside the house just for a moment Percy and when I returned, Jason was gone. I never found out what happened but I knew she had something to do with it, so I denounced her to the police but with no evidence to prove it, she was left free."

"Afterwards you ran away from home..." he trailed off, understanding in his voice.

She nodded. "We argued and I couldn't bear it to stay around her for much longer, not after what she did. I was able to handle the fact that she destroyed herself and destroyed my chances at having a normal childhood, but she had no right to do that to Jason." angry tears were rolling down her cheeks by now but weirdly enough, she wasn't feeling the need to hide them anymore, not in front of Percy. "That's why I don't celebrate Christmas. Now you know."

He felt like shit, for bringing up such a sore subject, for making Thalia, the least person he wanted to hurt, cry. He wasn't the reason behind her tear-smudged eyeliner, he knew but he was the one to remind her of what happened that day, to her brother.

"Gods, and I thought I used to have it bad." he murmured under his breath. Compared to Beryl Grace, Smelly Gabe seemed easy to deal with now. Pushing his guilt aside for opening that kind of discussion, he looked up from the floor, placing his mug on the kitchen table before going over to face the daughter of Zeus. He had to be there for his best friend.

"Look at me." he demanded, watching as she buried her face in her hands. Percy had always seen Thalia as somebody invincible, incapable of getting emotionally hurt or defeated. Her fierce electric blue eyes were always daring the world to come at her with everything it has got, giving off an air of unrivaled confidence, never walking with anything but sure steps, ready to meet life head-on.

Stubborn to a fault and brave to the point she even lost her life once, Percy greatly admired her. She was, without doubt, the strongest person he knew.

"Jason disappearing wasn't your fault. He wasn't your responsibility, not when you were also very young and yet, you still took it upon yourself to take care of him because that's what you do, Thalia. You love people so much that you'd do anything to protect them, no matter how bad your odds at succeeding are. I honestly don't think I could have handled that kind of situation as well as you did." he paused, gently prying her hands off her face.

His position was weird since she was sitting, and he was on the floor, kneeling in front of her but Percy refused to dwell on that for the time being. "Actually, I know I wouldn't have had." he gently wiped a tear away from her cheek with his thumb. "And I'm sorry for pressuring you."

At that moment, Thalia considered herself to be the luckiest girl in the world. For all his flaws, Percy was great at comforting people and there was just something about his sea-green eyes and their depths that screamed 'I will be there for you'. He never failed to go ahead and prove it either.

He wasn't pitying her because he knew just how much she hated that, mainly because they were alike in that aspect, but he wasn't indifferent to her anguish either. It was some sort of middle ground that worked for them.

"Don't feel bad. I'm glad I told you Percy and..." she paused, as if suddenly realizing something. She narrowed her eyes, feeling amused. "You are not planning to propose, are you?"

Feeling his cheeks drastically change color, he was up in an instant, adverting his eyes and hoping against hope Thalia wasn't going to remind him of it any chance she got. "I am sincerely sorry for the one who gets to marry you pinecone face."

He earned an electrified punch for that but watching her now, the grief in her eyes subdued and a smile on her face, Percy doesn't mind.

"I was just teasing you, gods! But all things considered, that would have been the perfect moment for such a thing."

The look he gave her made Thalia feel as if she had grown two heads overnight. "You never struck me as the girly type."

She scoffed. "Don't expect to see such a slip up anytime soon Jackson."

He smirked in response. "Wouldn't dream of it, Thals."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them, like an unspoken agreement. She was the one to break it after going to the bathroom to clean off her ruined makeup and re-do it.

"Don't think I forgot about our deal."

Percy rolled his eyes, touching Riptide inside the pocket of his pants. The action always calmed him slightly. It was a reminder that if he won against death so many times, anything else should be easy.

Suffice to say, it wasn't. Better said, he was brave in front of monsters, titans and gods but a coward in front of Thalia looking at him expectantly with those blue eyes... He shook his head, finding a nice, interesting spot to look at on the fridge.

"We fought."

"I thought we established that already."

Percy glared at the fridge. "She was being unreasonable. I know calling Annabeth that is strange, but she started the argument. I never thought her to be a jealous person and I never gave her reasons to be but apparently, spending time with and caring for a friend is wrong in her books."

Thalia hummed, deep in thought, then she asked. "How close are you with this friend?"

He didn't hesitate to answer. "Very close."

"Closer than with Annabeth?"

"I...are you asking me if I cheated too?"

Thalia jumped as if burned, shaking her head. "Zeus, no! I just...Percy, your fatal flaw is loyalty. Even thinking that you could ever cheat is ridiculous."

"My point exactly." he mumbled, a little more relaxed now that he knew she didn't think him capable of doing that.

I jumped too quickly to conclusions.

"What I was trying to say..." she began before her eyes hardened, then she blew a sigh, deciding to be blunt and just go ahead to ask what she wished to know. "Percy, do you like someone else?" then she went ahead to explain her reasoning. "You don't have to cheat to feel that and girls, especially ones as perceptive as Annabeth tend to notice these things."

"What?"

"I said..."

"I heard you."

Thalia arched a brow, feeling curious, hopeful and distressed? No, that couldn't be right. "Well?"

Before he could have opened his mouth to answer, a loud exclamation butted in:

"HEY BIG BROTHER, HEY DAUGHTER OF ZEUS!"

They looked at the image of a familiar cyclop Iris messaging them.

Percy and Thalia blew a sigh.

Tyson.

A/N: Wow, you guys can't imagine just how initially scared I was of writing this chapter and screwing up. Percy and Thalia are both complex characters, and my favorites. Both individually AND together so my struggle is, maybe, a little justifiable? I wanted to get both of them right. So that explains while I've stayed out of their heads for the most part and focused on dialogue instead which is a first since most of the time the latter is something I'm not very good at. Anyway, I will stop rambling now.

XFWY: To be honest, your review is the reason I decided to write again for this story so this chapter is dedicated to you! When I read what you wrote, it filled me with a sense of duty and made me think: "I have to continue this story, for Perlia and all its shippers!". I sincerely thank you for the compliments! I'm glad you liked it so far and I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much! *fingers crossed*

Until next time guys!