Nico

It caught me off guard when Leo almost tackled me to the ground, yelling my name. It definitely caught Grover off guard.

"Uh, hey." I returned as I saw Frank, Hazel, and Annabeth come. Piper wouldn't be here this year. They couldn't afford to send her here. "It's nice to see you, too, man."

"Hell yeah!" Leo said, probably a bit too excited and he noticed Will wasn't around. We uh... Yeah. It was nice for a first relationship, but it died. The feelings weren't there. We're still friends. So far. It hasn't gotten awkward yet. "where's... Where's you know who?"

"Uh... With new demigods, I think." I answered, shrugging. "beats me. Somewhere. We broke up, though, so don't... Don't."

"Ohhh, okay." Leo said and I'm pretty sure some people heard that. Others didn't. "I will keep my mouth shut around them."

"Thank you."

I said hi to the others, gave Hazel a hug. We all started walking around together. Catching up.

"Hey," Hazel recalled, and punched Annabeth's arm. Percy was in the Big House probably all day being it's like the start of summer. He has to meet new kids and whatever else. "How are you and Percy doing? I haven't seen him all year, outside of the funeral."

"Oh, yeah." The daughter of Athena remarked and shrugged. "We're not together anymore but like, it's fine. It's been a while and I'm over it. It's what we needed for a while and now we don't. We still talk, though, so it won't be awkward. I'm starting to think I'm too nice sometimes, though."

"Why?" I questioned.

"So Will asked me out this morning, after I got here." She said and I almost screamed. It took a lot to not open my mouth because he was always jealous of Percy and I knew he liked her but like... Bitch didn't even consult me. What the fuck. "And I don't think I like him like that, but I also don't know him that well so I said yes but... I thought he was gay."

She paused.

"I thought he had a boyfriend." Frank remarked and I almost screamed.

"Yeah, so did I." Annabeth agreed.

"He did, they broke up a while ago." I explained to them. "He's bi, it's just rare that he has a girlfriend, I think. But then again, who in this camp is actually gay? I can think of a lot of bi people but like..."

"I mean..." Annabeth tried to think about it. "I know of like one person that isn't out to people. Outside of that, Luke is dead and so is Lee. Castor died. Yeah. Everyone I can think of is dead so..."

"I can think of one person, but they're also not out." Leo agreed and I don't know how I didn't react to that one. "Well, they're sort of out. Like one foot out of the closet."

We all chuckled. At least they thought it was funny.

Weirdly enough, we ended up going to my cabin and hanging out there. Percy met us after lunch and he seemed happy to see everyone. He was in a good mood.

He had baby photos of his sister and it cured the depression that I don't even have anymore. I haven't been depressed in a long time. It's insane.

He didn't even realize I was here at first. That's what happens when I'm healthy looking apparently. People don't recognize me as easily.

Percy gave me a hug and Leo side eyed us so hard. Like, bitch, mind your own business. It's not my fault he likes me enough to give me a hug and he only gave you a high five.

"You're still here!" Percy remarked, and I smiled. "I didn't get any calls this year that you left!"

"Yeah, it's a new record." I told them and I mean, him and Grover thought it was funny. "It's amazing what happens when you stop pushing literally everyone away from you."

"Right." He agreed and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. I didn't notice it right away.

Percy had scars on his forearms. They vaguely looked like cutting scars. It kind of worried me.

We walked to campfire together, Percy and I did; after wishing Annabeth and Will good luck on their date.

Neither of us were ready for this.

"I still can't believe he likes her." Percy told me as we headed towards where the mass of older campers were heading. "Or that he got the nerve to actually ask her out."

"I mean, he talked about her all the time." I reasoned, shrugging. "It got annoying after a while. I'm proud of him for doing it but I mean, it won't last long."

"Yeah, I thought he had a boyfriend." Percy said, having missed this conversation earlier. "What happened to that? I never even got to meet the guy."

"Oh yeah, we broke up." I answered, in a faster tone, though. So he didn't catch my use of "we" at first. "Like, a while ago. When was it? January? I don't know anymore. Before Valentine's. He was a good guy. You would've liked him."

"I... Wait." Percy said, backtracking in the conversation. "What's the first thing you said?"

"That they broke up?"

"That's not what you said, though."

"I said they broke up. That's what I told you."

"No." The son of Poseidon insisted, shaking his head and I kept my mouth shut. "You said we broke up, Nico. We."

"And?"

"You had a whole ass relationship and didn't tell me?"

"Well... Yeah." I was honest, shrugging. "sorry. It was lame, we never did anything anyways. Chiron never let us leave and you can only take so many walks around this place before breakfast. You and Annabeth broke up, though. What's up with that? I thought you were going to propose to her."

"What? No." Percy clarified, shaking his head. "She saw the together forever, I didn't. I just had weird feelings after the war died and I didn't know what to do with them so I agreed to be her boyfriend. I was curious and she knew that going into it so when I figured in like October that I didn't want it she wasn't heartbroken. It's all good. We still hang out and stuff."

"That's good!" I said and thought about that. "But normally if you're curious, doesn't it go the other way around? You'd date a guy?"

"You'd think." Percy told me. "But my ass has been gay since like the third grade. Well, that's when it started. I thought that I might've been bi but no."

"Have you... Have you ever had a boyfriend?" I questioned as we joined everyone at campfire.

"Uh, yeah." He answered my question, nodding my head. "do you not remember that?"

"Remember what?"

"When Lee and I dated." Percy just threw me a curve ball. "For like... I don't know, a year and a half? We were together when we brought you to camp. And then he, you know, died."

"That's why you took his death so hard?" I questioned. "That... That makes a lot more sense now."

"Yeah." Percy confirmed for me. "that was why."

"I'm sorry." Frank said, entering the conversation as he heard a name that could've sounded like Leah. "Who was Leah?"

"Who... Lee?" Percy suggested. "Lee was one of Apollo's sons. He was my age, we dated for a while. That's why Apollo knows where I live."

Apollo, or Lester or whatever the fuck he goes by now, joins us. Sitting down next to Percy with a glass of Diet Coke, he sighs.

"You would've been such a good son-in-law."

Percy gave him a weird look, and I don't blame him.

"Why are you still here?"