Percy

My anxiety has literally never been higher and suddenly I learned that I hated everything about myself. Especially appearance wise.

It was a miracle that my parents didn't notice it. Yeah, I thought about cutting. But my dumbass knew that'd make it worse.

I threw on the nicest thing I owned that wasn't a suit or tux. And looking in the mirror after putting it on, I was tempted to just text Nico and say that something came up. I just couldn't...

My phone went off. Grover. I could feel another anxiety attack coming my way.

G-Man: Hey, man! Nico just left camp, he took a taxi, which gives you about 45 minutes. You getting ready?

Grabbing my phone, it almost fell out of my hand.

Me: I'm dressed and what not in that regards. But I can't do this, Grover.
G-Man: Um, yes you can. What makes you say you can't?
Me: I'm still freaking the fuck out! I'll probably be late because of an anxiety attack or something. I don't know why I thought I'd be able to handle this in the first place..
G-Man: Well, you're stuck with it now. Nico's already left camp, and he seemed excited to get out. So you kind of have to follow through with it now. But just breathe, alright? Slide one finger along the other hand. Breath in going up, breath out going down. It'll help. Just try and relax. You have about 45 minutes.
Me: Okay. I'll try that. Thanks, man.
G-Man: No problem, dude. And Nico told them that he was meeting with an old friend from when he wouldn't be at camp. So he gets the clue that you don't want to be outed.
Me: Thank gods. But yeah. I'll try to relax and finish getting ready. I'll tell you how it goes later on.
G-Man: You better. Good luck, man.

Putting my phone down, I did the thing Grover suggested and it actually called me down a lot. Which is when I received a text from Nico. So thank gods I calmed down.

Nico dateAngelo: Hey, so I got out of camp a little earlier than planned. I left like five minutes ago. Is that alright? You're not going to like die on me because you can't breathe?
Me: That's fine! And why would I stop breathing?
Nico dateAngelo: I don't know. Anxiety maybe? As much as you probably don't have anxiety, I don't know. Just breathe. I'm about 35 minutes away.
Me: Okay. Yeah, you breathe, too. I don't want to explain to my parents why I'd have to drag you here unconscious.
Nico dateAngelo: 😂😂😂 yeah that'd be pretty weird

Leaving me with a little laugh, neither of us responded after that and I spent the next half hour getting ready. In which Paul got home after about 25 minutes. He just had a meeting, I don't know why I thought he'd be gone most of the day.

"Hey, Percy, what are you—" Paul asked as I went out the living room to make sure I had money in my wallet. I don't know why. Nico said he would pay. But I suppose tip money is always good. "You're dressed up."

"Hm?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He told me. "But what's the plan for Nico staying here? He was coming today, right?"

"Yeah!" I refreshed Paul's memory. "I didn't realize you would he home this early, I would've told him to come straight here. I'm meeting him at the pizza place down the street for lunch."

After another couple minutes, I grabbed everything I needed and started walking.

Nico

I was nervous, yeah. I mean, this was a date with Percy. It was a big deal.

When I got there, it took me a minute to find him. Mainly because I'm used to seeing him in a bright orange shirt. But that wasn't what he wore today.

Oh gods no. He had this really nice button up on and it was a dark, deep green that just seemed to suit him. Then of course he had a cute little bowtie and nice pants and everything.

Seeing how nice he dressed, I was less paranoid about being just about as dressed up as he was. I just couldn't find a tie or bowtie that went with my shirt.

I let out a breath.

I'm ready for this.

I walked over to the son of Poseidon, who noticed me about five seconds before I got to him. And he flashed me a smile and my heart did a thing. But I did return the smile.

"Ready?" He asked me, and I could see that he was a little nervous, sure. But he had calmed down a lot after what I saw last night.

He was a mess last night.

"Yeah!" I told him as he was a gentleman and held the door for me going inside.

We got a nice table towards the back of the dining area, and it looked so nice and almost old timey. Like 50s old time. Not what I'd consider old time for when I was little.

Either way, it was a nice place and I thought it was suitable for a first date.

I mean, my heart didn't want to cooperate with me whatsoever. But it was okay.

We started to talk, though, and I don't know why I brought it up. But I said something about the whole text I sent earlier about him not having anxiety. It just came up.

"Oh, I have anxiety. I promise." The son of Poseidon assured me. "It's bad now..I've calmed down a lot from yesterday, but I need to renew my meds and the pharmacy wasn't open yesterday. I have to do that later today, because I will forget. But yeah. I've had anxiety for longer than I've been at camp. Nothing new."

"New to me."

"Well," Percy remarked. "Yeah. What kind of pizza do you like?"