A/N: to those willing to vote, my fic is for PJO watty awards under HOO. It would mean a lot to me    :)

TUESDAY, 3rd January

"You need a hobby."

"I have a hobby."

"Nanni, being alone is not a hobby."

"It's a better hobby than pestering those who want to be alone."

If having three classes with her wasn't bad enough, now she wants us to walk us home. She's the girl, we should walk her home.

Do you WANT to walk her home?

No, I'm just saying.

"Yoga?"

"No."

"Collecting seashells?"

"Because we're surrounded by beaches."

"Collecting keychains?"

"I don't even have that many keys."

"It's to collect, not to use for keys."

"It's called a KEYchain for a reason."

When they got closer to his house, they could hear the strong barking from big shadow behind the gate.

"Hm... Nanni, I think someone dumped a dog in your yard."

He opened the gate just a little with the biggest grin he could fit in his face and let her get a look at the giant dog barking.

"This is Cerberus."

She took a moment to look at him instead of staring at the fangs dripping with saliva.

"Cerberus? Like the gate keeper from the Underworld?"

Nico looked at her dumbfounded, he wasn't expecting her to know.

"Yes, how did you know?"

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not stupid as you think I am. I pay attention to classes. Most of the time, anyway."

She wasn't a straight-A student but kept her homework up to date and even let him copy some, pretending not to see it when he did it. It saved him from the teachers more than once. He nodded to Cerberus and grinned at her.

"Well, good luck with B&E to my place now."

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Is that a challenge?"

"It's a warning."

WEDNESDAY, 4th January

Frank nodded to Nico and Niel while passing by them on the break between classes. Niel was looking at the people around them.

"Weird, the Wench haven't come to complain about how she hates us."

"She's probably busy with her other friends. She could this more often."

"I don't know, I have a feeling it's not it."

A voice on their back was way too familiar.

"Hey, Niel."

Spoke way too soon. He just had to jinx it.

She called him Niel, someone is in a good mood.

They started to turn, only to be surprised by a second girl next to Lucy.

"Wen... oh, Claire!"

Lucy was trying to hide an arrogant grin with little success.

"So, Niel, remember that we were going to see that new movie about that boy with cancer this afternoon, but unfortunately, both Nanni and I had to cancel?"

We were?

"What mov..."

Lucy stepped on his foot discreetly, but still strong enough he had to swallow a groan.

"Don't interrupt, Nanni! This is Claire, we have lockers close to each other. Anyway, I just heard that Claire's companions also cancelled. So, why don't you guys go together? After all, you both had plans to watch it today, but lost your companions. You know each other, right? What is the downside of this plan?"

Claire looked at him hopefully.

"Would you? I've been waiting for months for this movie."

Niel swallowed, looking at her like almost scared.

"Hm... eh..."

Lucy interjected for him.

"He says yes."

"Yes! Of course, absolutely. I'm at your service, I-"

Lucy stepped on his foot as well.

"I think she got the message, Barn-Niel."

Claire giggled in amusement and turned to Nico, with a smile.

"Hi! We were never officially introduced, I'm Claire, and you're Nico, right?"

Wait, what!?

Nico froze with a panicked expression while Niel's eyes narrowed.

"Nico?"

As it it wasn't bad enough, she kept going.

"Nico di Ang..."

Nico cut her off.

"Nanni! My name is Nanni."

How did she know!?

Claire looked confused for a couple of seconds, before glancing at Niel, who was looking between both, trying to read their expressions.

"OH! Oh! Sorry! Right, Nanni. Sorry about the Nico thing, I... hum... well..."

"Thought I was someone else?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

She mouthed 'thank you' and Nico resisted the urge to groan at her innocence.

Is she one of your friends?

No! I don't even know how she knows! I need to talk to Hazel.

"I'm... going to the restroom. See you guys later."

Walking away from them, he called Hazel's number, knowing texting would be a wasted effort. She answered after three rings.

"Nico?"

"A girl named Claire knew my real name. How?"

"Claire?"

"I don't know who she is, she just introduced herself to me like she knew me."

"Out of nowhere?"

"Well, Niel likes her and I think Lucy was trying to play matchmaker. It doesn't make it any less alarming."

"Do you want me to ask the others if they know something?"

"I don't know, maybe. I just wanted to warn you about her."

"That was sweet, Nico, thanks. Now go to class."

***

Lucy hit his head with an eraser for the third time. Turning angrily at her, he raised her projectile.

"How many of this do you have?"

"Just the right amount for you to answer me. Where is Hannah? I haven't seen her around today."

He wasn't fast enough to prevent her retrieving of the eraser.

"She woke up sick."

"Oh, no. She lives alone, right? Do you think I should go help her?"

"No, she said Reyna already promised to go."

"Who is Reyna?"

"Hm... a friend."

"Of who?"

"Hannah's."

"Weird, she never mentioned a Reyna before."

***

"Nanni, where the hell are you going?"

He looked at Lucy like the answer was obvious.

"Where I always go after this punishment is over, home."

"We don't have time for this, we have an operation going on right now."

"An operation?"

"Operation Crustacean Evolution is on, and we need to... quick, hide!"

She pulled him around a corner and pushed him against a wall, being very close. She put a finger over his mouth and whispered.

"Stay quiet."

What is going on right now!?

She moved her head a bit to look beyond their corner and relaxed a bit. Before he could ask what she was doing, she grabbed his wrist.

"We have a movie to catch."

"What?"

***

"Come on, Nanni, just throw the popcorn. You know you want to."

They were crouching behind the chairs, each with a small bag of popcorn, courtesy of Lucy, because she said a bigger bag is only a waste of popcorn and money.

"I don't want to ruin Niel's date."

Lucy huffed.

"This is not a date. This is a movie they're watching together and being more awkward than necessary because Barnacle doesn't know how to act around her. If we throw popcorn on them, yes, we'll be 'kind of' ruining this 'date', but at least they will have something to talk about like normal people, meaning, curse us. However, if we don't do anything, their awkwardness will definitely ruin this thing and there is no way she will accept an invitation for a second date, a REAL one this time."

In a very twisted logic, it makes sense.

She's like the Joker, justifying chaos and making us agree with her.

He did what she told him to, watching with a small satisfaction when the popcorn his its target.

"Wow, nice aim."

He gave her a smug smile.

"Thanks, I know."

"Hide!"

She pulled his head down, right before Niel could spot them, or so they hoped.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's fun."

"I meant, why you got Niel this date with Claire."

She looked at him with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You say you hate him, you both try to annoy each other as much as possible, and yet you got him a date with the girl he's addicted to."

She shrugged, looking uncomfortable.

"I don't really have a reason. I heard her talking about her cancelled plans and before I knew it, I was there coming up with a history as to Niel being free to watch it. I saw him sketching her face in class once, he's pretty obvious. And she looked really happy with this back-up plan, so why not?"

"And following them to the cinema?"

"Good or bad date, I was going to throw popcorn at them, be sure of it. Ok, my turn."

***

They left halfway through the movie once their popcorn was over. At Nanni's suggestion, they moved to a fast food restaurant near the cinema and ordered a large plate of fries with cheese and bacon to celebrate.

"You think Niel will ask her for a second date?"

Lucy answered mid-chew.

"If he doesn't, he might as well jump from a bridge. We created a perfect opportunity."

"Either the perfect one or the worse. Stop stealing all the bacon!"

"Hey, careful with that hand. You should thank me for preventing you from getting fat with all this bacon."

"It's better if you get fat, agreed."

"Bastard. I'm a growing girl, who burns a lot of calories cheerleading."

"Didn't you have practice today?"

"Not that you really care, but no. Half of the squad is away for a camp this week, so it doesn't really matter if I don't go."

I really want you to ask if Vanessa gave her any more trouble.

I can try.

Nico took a sip of his drink not looking at her, trying to not let her know how much he was interested in her next answer.

"Are you sure it's okay? Your captain looked quite... stern."

"Vanessa? Well, she came down a notch or two since some students gave her a day in hell some weeks ago."

She stayed so quiet he looked up and saw her staring at him with a knowing smile.

"You know, she almost looks at me with a little uncertainty, though I have no idea why she would think I had anything to do with it."

They kept quiet staring at each other. When he didn't admit to anything, she changed subject, with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"We need to high-five when this thing with Niel works. No! Better yet! We need a secret handshake. And something to say it in the end."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, like 'pound it' or something."

"Good job?"

"That's so boring. 'We are awesome'?"

"Lie. You're not."

Lucy showed him her tongue before stuffing her mouth with fries.

In her own way, she is awesome. And if you ever bring it up, I'll totally deny saying that.

I agree with you. And I didn't say anything just now.

"Come on, Nanni, suggestions!"

"I gave you one, you said it was boring."

"We're brainstorming here, one suggestion isn't enough. Besides, it needs to be an inner joke, or very personal. Think about you, if you had to come up with something to say just for yourself, mentally, what would it be?"

Anything?

Murder is still a crime?

Is that your choice?

My life isn't a bed of roses, usually it sucks quite a lot, so I need to remind myself of that. You?

... There is something I thought sometimes.

Sometimes... like when?

Like when I used my powers and ended up saving the day.

Did it happen often?

I don't want to say it did, because the other demigods might look...

Incompetent?

Let's just say I can do things neither of them even comes close. After all, I can summon an army of zombies whenever and wherever I want. And that is just to scratch the surface. Modesty, aside, of course. It has a price.

Which is?

Aside the energy drain? When you do things no one does, how do you fit in?

"Nanni, where are you? Come back to the land of the living."

"What about 'Underworld rules'?"

She leaned back and let it sink for a couple of seconds before asking.

"Why 'Underworld rules'?"

"Because it does."

"Sure, Kate Beckinsale is beautiful, but is it enough to say it rules?"

Nico blinked.

"Who is Kate whatever?"

"Selene, obviously."

"What the moon has to do with anything?"

"What?"

"What?"

Hm, Nico? There is a movie called Underworld, with a character named Selene. Kate is the actress.

Ah. I didn't know.

We can watch, if you want.

"Wait, what Underworld are you talking about?"

Nico opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off.

"Never mind, it's so obvious I don't know how I didn't notice. You were talking about the Greek one, right? Isn't it like Hell or something?"

He huffed at her ignorance.

"Underworld is both Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. ALL the dead go to the Underworld. And you said you were not stupid."

She glared at him, not amused by his small smile.

"Ha ha, I love your humor. Not."

You used to think 'Underworld rules'?

Well, it does. Most people probably can't see it, but I do.

Most people fear death.

Death is an older brother.

Lucy seemed reluctant to accept his idea.

"Hum... meh, that could work. Then we would need a name for our group."

"Our group?"

We have a group?

"You, me, Niel. We can even put Hannah in it, if she wants to join."

I... can't remember if I was ever part of a group.

"Why?"

"You don't like Hannah?"

"No, I meant, why a name?"

She brightened in excitement.

"Isn't it obvious? We're getting a handshake, 'Underworld rules', we can take your dog as our mascot, since he's named Cerb and all that..."

"Cerberus."

"You got the idea. We need a group name. Maybe Barnacle can give us some ideas. For now, we need to create our handshake. Let's join our ideas, let's see if any of it works"

Turns out, Nico and Nanni had almost zero experience with secret handshakes, which earned some dry comments from Lucy they responded with a flat look. Even if the final result looked ridiculous in Nico's opinion, Lucy made them practice until it almost looked natural.

THURSDAY, 5th December

Even before classes started, Lucy grabbed Nico by the wrist so they could search for Niel. When they finally did, both approached with the biggest and most knowing grins they could muster, though Nico's was mostly a smile, not so much of a grin. Niel watched both of them with suspicion. It was Lucy to break the big question.

"So... did someone get a second date?"

He kept quiet for a long time, and when their smiles were about to drop thinking the worse, he answered.

"... Yes, I did."

Lucy raised both hands with a loud 'whoop'. Nico just smiled in satisfaction.

"Nanni, handshake."

Having expected that, he was prepared to respond and not totally ruin it.

"Underworld rules!"

Niel looked between the two of them in amusement, wondering what he missed.

"What was that?"

Lucy nodded to Nico with her head, looking very satisfied.

"Our new handshake. We created after we left the mo-school. We can teach y-"

The bell rung, interrupting her. Lucy went from smug to panic in a second.

"Oh, no!"

She left running, with just a yelled 'bye' over her shoulder.

What was that?

Late for class?

"So... you created that handshake when you left... where exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you happen to have a burning passion for popcorn, Sticks?"

"I admit to nothing."

Lucy knows the prank on Vanessa was for her. Niel knows where were at the movies. Let's hope they don't know who we really are.

Niel already suspects something is wrong.

I doubt he could find out the truth. It's so absurd not even I would believe if I wasn't living it.

***

Nico left the bathroom and jumped a foot high at seeing Lucy sitting at his couch, just chilling.

She should thank the gods I can't use my powers, or an accident that didn't end up in her death would be the best-case scenario.

We can't even have peace in our home. Was Cerberus a waste of time?

"What... How did you get in here?"

She looked at him innocently.

"I used the front door, duh."

Did she poison our dog?

"But... what about..."

She grinned with crossed arms, looking pleased.

"Oh, you mean Cerb?"

"CERB?"

"Yeah, Cerberus is a big name, and since we got closer, I thought he deserved a nickname."

Nico wasn't really listening to her.

"CERB?"

"I was tempted to call him Fluffy, using the same reference of the three-headed dog."

"What?"

"Harry Potter, Nanni. Anyway, Cerb it is."

"CERB?"

"You're like a broken record."

"But... HOW?"

"Let me show you."

When they got outside and he saw exactly how she had conquered Cerberus, his hopes of being free from Lucy at his house vanished. He had thought maybe she had ran very fast while his dog was distracted, but no such luck. He remembered something Percy had told him.

Apparently, red rubber balls are his weakness in every world...

"You really need to play with him more, he's so lonely."

"You just played with him and now he accepts you?"

"I also showed him I'm the alpha. I happen to know how to train dogs."

At his puzzled expression, she explained.

"I live next to a pet shop and might have practiced a little there. As to how I learned: Animal Planet every time my brother leaves the TV on and the remote too far away. I'm too lazy to get up and go after it, so I just watch Animal Planet. It's actually really interesting. Hey, did you know that-"

He cut her off before it became impossible.

"Not interested. What are you doing here?"

She went back to his living room and raised a couple of DVDs.

"Death Note. I told you we had to watch it. But first, let's make popcorn!"

"I don't want popcorn, to watch anything or to have you in my house."

She put a hand over her heart and looked almost hurt at him.

"Wow, your luck sucks today."

"Lucy, your crazy Mania, get out of my house."

"Awn, we arrived at the phase of cute nicknames."

"What?"

"Now I need to choose one for you, let's think..."

"Lucy!"

A/N: Any idea for his nickname from Lucy? Give me your ideas, if it has an anime reference, even better.