Percy

Culver City, California was beautiful. And amazing. And so was the MasterChef kitchen. It was weird to think of Gordon as a judge though.

Turns out I wasn't there to compete, though. He needed me to be tricked into being a judge. For the entire season. Because Graham couldn't.

I'm behind the door as Gordon is introducing me.

"Now, for this season we have a very special guest here as a judge." Gordon told all like 20 contestants. "Although his name isn't big in the food industry, if you keep up with the latest in performing arts, he's current a huge deal. Along with being one of my students, he is one of the most powerful demigods alive."

I was told to start walking out.

"Percy Jackson."

And yes, the now gods, aka my friends (it's a weird thought, okay?) have come out to the public. It's common knowledge now.

There were two people that seemed to know me by name. And there was a Frank Zhang here with a Hazel Levesque.

I didn't know either of them were back. But they were. And they're here.

"Percy," Christie remarked. "You debuted on Broadway this summer in The Lightning Thief. I've seen it, I loved it. You do a wonderful job in it, of course. But are they planning a sequel? The musical ends on a note of there's more to come."

I shrugged.

"I don't know," I assured them. "I'm not involved with that aspect of things. I found out about the musical when an old friend of mine called me up and said that they saw this thing at a high school and it had my name on it. I would hope so. Because there's... Well a lot happened after that summer. And like I said, it was a true story. We all went through that."

"And you survived." Gordon survived. "But it must be asked. There were rumors that Annabeth and you got together later on? She has kids?"

I saw Frank and Hazel cover their mouths, trying not to laugh.

"Um, sort of." I tried to explain to them. "I am gay, but I did agree to date Annabeth before I was comfortable with coming out. So we did go out for quite a while. But she ended up with Will, Apollo's son. They have twins."

"And Luke?" Christie added. "There were rumors about that, also. With the deal between you and Ares and then you and Zeus, there were rumors that you turned dark side and ended up with Luke."

I stifled a laugh. Sometimes I wish I would've gone to Luke's side. But I didn't. I would've never dated Luke. Not with what I knew. Or my confidence. Or the age thing. But I don't know.

"Well," I remarked. "First of all, Luke was like 6 years older than me. He about 17, so maybe 5 going on 6 years see than I was, when we first met. So I would've never even had to of been able to legally date him. I didn't have the confidence to come out. And I never had interest in Luke. He was always a sort of brotherly kind of mentor to me. But no, my boyfriend isn't introduced in the musical."

And with that, the first MasterChef challenge started. The food was... I mean some was amazing. But others... I've cooked a lot better.

Hazel and Frank were dam good, though. I'll give them that.

Now, mind you, it didn't come to my mind that this was them until after the show. So when I was getting ready to go and suddenly am tackled by both of them, it was unexpected.

"Oh my gods, Percy!" They both seemed pumped to see me. "We haven't seen you since we died! We sort of couldn't get to New York again, otherwise we would've visited. Money. We just got our phones back into unlimited. But oh my gods. How have you been?"

"I'm good." I told the couple. "Had you tried getting to New York, it wouldn't work anyways. We moved out to Minnesota in June. College and what not. But it's been forever. I wasn't even planning on doing this. Gordon called me and he was like a contestant just kidding herself we need a replacement don't bullshit me that you can't afford me. Apparently they got a replacement before I got here. But Graham couldn't be here. So yeah. Where do you guys live?"

"LA." Frank told me, nodding his head. "But is Mr. Boyfriend Mr. Fiance yet? I mean, I don't even know who you're dating anymore. But still. Living together dude. That's serious."

"No, I'm not engaged yet." I responded, rolling my eyes. "We just got settled into the house. I'm not dealing with planning another wedding. I helped my mom with here when her and Paul got married. And plus, we haven't even been together for two years. It's been a year and a few months."

Hazel had that look on her face that she realized something. And then she thought that thing was adorable. That weird sort of smile, if you get what I'm talking about.

"Aw," the daughter of Pluto remarked. "So you are still with Nico! I haven't been able to get ahold of anyone. Especially with the god thing. That's changing everything. But oh my gods. You should propose. Like soon."

"Okay," I insisted. "But I'm waiting until at least January. He's still 17. And like I said, we just settled into our house. Worrying about a wedding would be... It can wait."

Bianca

After like six months, we finally had time to go and see Nico and Percy. It was Christmas break. Percy had one last performance before his break.

So we figured, eh the hell not go watch it. I don't know, I was curious about how he first got to camp. Compared to Nico and I or Jason or Leo or any of them. I've stayed away from listening to it because I wanted to actually see it.

And it was... I was shocked before he even got to camp.

Kicked out of 5 schools in 6 years.

I would've never pegged Percy out as that kid. As the kid always got in trouble and was always in the principal's office. The troublemaker.

(AN: Anything that is said about the actual scenes in this is bullshit and I've never seen the musical, only listened to it. It's my way of working it into the story, so don't get pissed off. Thanks!)

But the uh... The song Good Kid. I actually started to cry during it. Because it's a solo for Percy. About his frustration. With himself, basically. How he's always gotten in trouble. Always gotten expelled. Nobody ever seemed to ever be on his side. Ever.

And he's just in tears as he does this. Percys an amazing actor, may I add. And he also... I mean, I know it's not real. But he's cutting during this. Going back and forth of he's got something good now.

But for how long? How long until they tell him to leave? Until he finds out his dad never wanted him neither. Until he's finally told that he's good for nothing. Which is a thought he's had for a long time.

It gets even worse when you remember that this was based off of his actual Camp Half-Blood diary that everyone was forced to have. Somebody got his and... They made this.

I just need one last chance to prove I'm good enough for someone. That hit me really hard.

I don't know. I just always thought Percy had that perfect home life, you know? Everyone else assumed the same thing.

So after this entire thing, were waiting on Percy and I'm talking to Nico about it. And he gives me a weird look when I told him that I was under the understanding that Percy was like the happiest kid at camp with the best home life.

"Like, as of when we met him." I clarified. "Not as of now. But either way... Why are you looking at me weird?"

"I don't know," my brother told me. "I haven't heard that side of that for a long time. Everyone thought that until like... Well when the rumors started going around that he was bi and then it was a lot of stuff and then he tried to kill himself. He has depression. And anxiety. Also his mom's first husband kind of abused him. So yeah. By the time we met him the guy was dead. But still. Sister killed herself. Brother ran away. He has problems."

Not sure if I should take my brother seriously, I just went with it.

"Apparently."