Piper McLean

A few seconds after he walked away, what he said made sense and I had a moment.

He's not even going out with a girl.

It's Percy.

Which just means that Frank was right. In that Percy is gay or bi or something along those lines, and like the dumb idea I had last year, it was true.

I said it once to Leo as a joke. That Percy and Nico fight so much they might as well get married and be the old married couple. They probably like each other.

It was a joke.

I didn't even realize either of them were gay or bi or whatever.

But I respected what I imagine they wanted, due to what happened at lunch with Angel, and I didn't say anything during dinner.

The others were sort of freaking out, though. Waiting for Nico to send them photos.

I knew we wouldn't get any. But again, I kept my mouth shut.

It's not my place to out either of them.

But in the middle of campfire, I get a message from Nico. A photo. And they're not back yet. But honestly, the photo made up for how long they've been gone.

It was cute, okay?

Nico 💀: [image]
Nico💀: Oh shit, sorry! That was supposed to go to Percy.

Piper: Don't worry, it's fine. I kind of figured it out after you left my cabin. I won't say anything, though. Have fun 😉

Nico 💀: thanks....?

And I didn't say anything. Of course, everyone was talking about it. Nico having a girlfriend and all. But it was actually Frank that said it after Jason had been real quiet.

"You've been really quiet, Jason," Frank said to my boyfriend, which caught him off guard. "Aren't you excited? You're like Nico's best friend."

Jason shrugged.

"I guess," he didn't seem into the whole Nico having a girlfriend, though. "I mean, good for him. If it works out, I guess it's good, I just-"

"Jason," Leo gave him a warning glance, which confused everyone. "Don't."

"I'm just saying," Jason actually argued with Leo, which was unheard of. We didn't know how to respond, because they were very vague. "It's not that hard, Leo. I've been telling him that for a year. Nobody gives a shit."

"Jason, you literally have no way to say if it's hard or not." Leo was willing to argue over it, though. "Just let him do his own thing. It's not your problem. And you're not doing it for him. If somebody else finds out from you, you do realize he'll probably kill you?"

Like shit, I didn't think we had any tension in the group outside Percy and Nico. Which, I mean that's gone now.

What's such a big deal that Leo bothers to stop Jason? How personal? And I mean, I think they're talking about Nico. But who's to say it's not about Percy?

It's hard to assume.

"Has he even talked to you about it?" Jason got defensive. "You don't even talk to him, Leo! You barely know him. Don't talk about shit you don't know about!"

"I think I'm pretty fucking qualified to talk about it," the son of Hephaestus insisted, just getting pissed off. "Just because I don't remind you about it every 10 seconds doesn't mean it doesn't apply to me. Guess what? I went through it, too, Jason. Don't tell me I don't understand what he's going through. I know exactly what it's like and it's terrifying and it's the last thing you want to deal with."

"It shouldn't be such a fucking-"

"So sit down," Leo wasn't letting him finish because he wasn't done. I don't think I've ever seen him so fired. "And learn to shut the fuck up. You're not doing this to him."

He uh... He shut up.

"Anyways," Grover changed the subject, thank gods. "Do you guys want anything for the city? Percy just texted. They'll be back like... Right after campfire? Yeah, probably 10, 15 minutes after campfire."

Figuring the date would be extended this way, we gave him a pretty sizable list. A few things for each of us.

But the rest of dinner was sort of awkward to say the least.

•••
Leo Valdez

I'm not sorry for yelling at him. He knows better than to out Nico. Nico's already mad at him for just suggesting he could have a boyfriend. This would kill him.

Of course, Frank and I have arts together after dinner, and I'm just kind of pissed off. It doesn't happen often, but he stepped over that line and yeah.

"You uh..." He remarked, being it's just us right now. Most kids skip. I find painting relaxing, so I don't mind coming. "You got kind of mad tonight."

"Mhm."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Frank was trying to help, but he just didn't get what it was about. Which is fine.

"Frank," I started off, putting my brush down. "I appreciate the offer and all, but the point is to not talk about it. It's not my place to talk, either. It should be coming from somebody else that isn't Jason and I won't say who because then everyone will ask and I don't wish that upon them."

"So it's like a secret?"

"Mhm."

"And Jason almost told everyone what it was?"

I nodded my head.

"So it's kind of a big deal?"

"I wish it wasn't, but stuff like this, especially in a friend group, is always a big deal." I explained without telling him what it was. "Truthfully, I shouldn't know. I found out because Jason told me about it yesterday and yeah. I didn't tell them that I knew because I've warned Jason that I other's find out, Jason's fucked. By either of us, he's a dead man. You don't do that. It's like... It's like walking up to a homophobic person and telling them that I like guys. You don't do that, that's not how it goes."

"Ooooh," Frank seemed to understand where I was coming from. "Okay, I get it. If I hear Jason say anything big to me or Hazel or anything I'll let you know."

•••
Frank Zhang

I had ideas, mainly involving Percy being gay or bi or hell, he could be trans and I wouldn't be able to tell. Either way, Percy's my friend.

Jason and Piper were over that night. We all got this gift package yesterday and we wanted to split it because we shared the price. So we we're going through it, just talking bullshit.

Piper brings up the argument. While we're in Hazel's cabin. Nico isn't back yet.

"What was it about?" Hazel asked after Piper brought it up.

"Oh my gods," Jason was a lot more peeved than Leo was. Leo wasn't kind of quiet and containing himself. Jason was very openly annoyed. "It's so dumb. Just because Leo can't accept the fact that Nico's gay he thinks that you guys and Percy and the others shouldn't fucking know. Like everyone won't find out anyways, because I highly fucking doubt the date is going well, assuming he didn't ditch her because he's gay. Like just because he doesn't-"

As we all go into shock, I pull out my phone and step out of the room. Figured I could at least call him.

•••
Leo Valdez

I held my breath when I saw Frank was calling. I was with Grover and Annabeth. Just hanging out before campfire. The others were hanging out for something from yesterday.

"Leo?" Annabeth questioned and I put my finger up and answered the call.

"Frank," I said, hoping this wasn't for what I thought it was for. "Hey, what's up?"

"Well, I'm with Hazel and then Piper and Jason," he filled me in on the situation, sounding like he was working through some stuff right now. "And uh... The girls brought dinner up."

"Yeah?"

"Nico's on a date with a girl?"

"Yeah?"

"And he's gay?"

I could feel my other hand start to get warmer and I could feel the smoke. Literally.

I hung up the phone.

"Leo?" They asked me and I glanced over at them for a moment, knowing I needed to calm the fuck down. "What happened?"

"He's such a dumbass," I told them. "I... I'm going to kill him."

"What... Jason?"

I nodded my head.

I really don't remember much after that, I was that infuriated. But fists were thrown.

That's all I'll say.