The Nico di Angelo experiment

Trial A and B

The next day was a Monday, and Jason had to swallow his nerves before he could walk into the school. Piper had been trying to "get him in the experiment zone" all weekend by showing him pictures of Nico that Hazel had sent her. It didn't work. Because Nico was attractive. Like, unfairly attractive.

Jason had won the science fair three years in a row, and he was so much more nervous now than he had been the first time he'd accepted the award. It seemed like everywhere he went, one of his friends stuck their faces into his and wiggled their eyebrows, popping up from so many odd places he began to wonder if this wasn't some weird joke.

Since nearly all of them had a free period first hour, it was a never ending cycle.

When Leo popped out of a trash can and screeched "Today's the day!" Jason drew the line.

"Why are you all so pumped about me talking to Nico?" He exploded, already so done with today, before first hour even started. He guessed Leo's hypothesis was just wildly popular, aggravating as it was.

Piper batted her eyelashes.

"Maybe we think you're a perfect couple."

"I haven't said two words to him yet!" He groaned, walking away from his annoying friends. Which, as it turned out, was exactly what they wanted.

He collided with a someone while he was looking angrily over his shoulder, the clang echoing through the empty hallway as he fell flat on his butt.

He rubbed his nose and groaned, looking up to see who he'd run into while his friends chuckled behind him. He glared at them and stood up, trying not to let the room spin.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking." He apologized, extending a hand towards whoever he had run into.

"Yeah, you weren't looking." The person agreed bitterly, and he froze with their hand still clasped in his.

Nico di Angelo.

"You gonna let me up now, genius, or do I have to scale your mammoth arms?" Nico asked, face colored as Jason finally came to his senses and hauled him up.

"D-did you say mammoth arms?" He asked incredulously, but Nico only brushed off his aviator jacket and turned to stomp off, still scowling. Jason couldn't believe he'd ruined their experiment in under two minutes. This was a new low.

"Go! Go!" Leo hissed, waving his arms at Nico. Piper mouthed the name of a band at him, and he nodded.

"Um.......Fall Out Boy?" He questioned awkwardly, and Nico froze before turning around with a look of confusion on his face.

"What about them?"

"Uh....they're your favorite band. Right?"

Behind Jason, Leo smacked his head with his hand. "There goes my hypothesis."

"How could you possibly know that?" Nico asked, looking vaguely interested.

"You...uh...wore a t-shirt with them on it a few days ago. I like them, and I thought maybe we could....talk about them sometime." Jason finished lamely.

Nico's interested expression dropped, and a hostile look over took his face.

"No thanks. It's cool that you like them, though. See you around."

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Jason dumbfounded behind him.

"Well," Leo said, patting his back sympathetically, "looks like trial A was a failure."

Jason couldn't help but sadly agree.

____________

"Trial A may have failed, but it did give us valuable information." Annabeth announced, flopping into a bean bag, once again in Jason's basement. Honestly, his friends were the most free-loading people he'd ever met.