When Percy finds out that his friend Annabeth signed him up for an extra-credit camping trip, he's anything but thrilled.

That soon changes when he meets the only other two students going. He comes to like them, despite their odd little quirks.

- Eventual Percy/Will/Nico

●●●

Percy was having - what was, probably - the worst day in history. Ever. (Throughout his entire life, he seemed to repeatedly experience what felt like the worst day in history, only to be proved wrong again and again. It was year after year and each occasion was always majorly worse than the last one.)

He would go into detail, explain some, clarify what he meant, but he was just so exhausted he didn't think he could twitch his pinky finger, let alone use his mouth to talk, to form actual words instead of hushed, grumbled groans.

All Percy wanted to do right now was go home and relax: not head back over to his college campus to search for the room this meeting was going to be held in. Search, not because he wasn't aware which, because he'd already been told both the room number and the exact location, but because he couldn't remember anymore. He'd forgotten, unsurprisingly. (Percy tended to forget about things he didn't really care for. This was one of those things.)

Why did he sign up for this stupid trip in the first place, anyway? ...Oh, wait, yeah, that was it; he didn't. Annabeth did it for him.

She had apparently completed this particular course (Percy wasn't even one hundred percent sure what the course was, what it required of him, nor what he got from it) the previous year, and had decided, on her own, that it had been such a good experience. So good, in fact, that Percy just had to try it for himself the next time the oppostunity came around. Which was this year, unfortunately for him.

(If Percy had ever had good luck - which he hadn't - then this would be the point at which said luck ran out.)

Sighing, Percy mustered up every single ounce of energy he had left within himself (not a lot!), stumbling through the large metal gates to his college campus, one of his bag straps resting on his shoulder, the bag dangling at his side. He huffed, but continued onwards. Come on, he could do it - slowly, but he would get there eventually.

Though, he'd have to text Annabeth first.

×××

After sending a quick, not-so-pleasant text message to his friend, Annabeth, Percy practiced three sets of the slow inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale routine that his school counsellor, of the time, had taught him back in 8th grade. If he wasn't physically prepared, then he could at least attempt to appear mentally prepared.

(The text message Percy sent Annabeth may have been particularly ungrateful, but it was anything but malicious, and merely conveyed, again, his clear dislike for this semester's turn of events. Most of the events were, unsurprisingly, also Annabeth's fault.)

Percy wasn't worried about hurting Annabeth's feelings by sending her the text. Annabeth was not only thick-skinned, but she was also highly immune to most of the things Percy ever did or said, unlike the majority of the people Percy has met in his life. Plus, Percy had it on clear implication that whilst Annabeth had actually enjoyed this experience last year, the only reason she was forcing him to partake in it this year was because she fancied torturing him a little. A pure sadist, his best friend was, Percy thought.

With a final, shuddering, breath of preperation, Percy took a tiny step towards the - for now - closed room door, more of a shuffle than anything else, considering the fact that neither foot ever left the floor. Not even slightly.

In a lazy, flopped, way, Percy's hand reached for the shiny silver handle, pale and curved,  its design simple yet intricately mastered. With what would usually be a minimal amount of force but was this time much, much more, the door handle pressed down per Percy's hands not-so-subtle 'persuasion'.

Keeping the handle down with (what seemed like) everything that he had in him, Percy lightly nudged the chestnut-coloured door with his right shoulder. In order to get the door open, he leant with very little of his actual body weight, though it took an embaressing amount of effort on his part to do so.

The door creaked open slowly, quietly. Percy's college may be a bit of a mess sometimes (read: most of the time), unprogressive, outdated and archaic at the worst of times, but there was a reason why the place wasn't at all cheap.

Fortunately, Percy didn't have to worry about that. Sometimes, having an overeager, deadbeat dad who wished to make up for lost time gone by came in handy. When he was rich and willing to pay for your college tuition, that is.

Percy was allowed to not feel guilty over his stance on his financial college situation, because... firstly, it took his dad twelve years to so much as show his face and in the six years between then and Percy leaving for college, he had seen his dad exactly four times. One of those times wasn't even because he wanted to see Percy, but because he hoped to rekindle a dying ember of love with Percy's mother, Sally, after his divorce with Percy's stepmother, Amphitrite. Also, a second reason why Percy wouldn't allow himself to feel any guilt over this: his dad was only required to pay half of the tuition, because Percy was on this weird sort of half-scholarship.

Originally, he had been leading up to earning himself an honest, full-time scholarship, only for that particular ship to sail.

Percy had accidently disrespected one too many important scouts, not aware of who they were, why they were there, what they wanted, or in that one case, why they kept following him. His actions were bound to catch up with him in the end: one particular school, somehow, carried out a full background check on him, unfortunately discovering the many encounters with the law that Percy recieved during his early childhood, all the way up to his mid teens. Each interaction was blown out of proportion - in Percy's opinion - but the school were hearing none of it.

The following week, the scouts stopped coming, neither to interact with Percy, again, in some cases, or so much as scope him out. It was then suggested to him (by Annabeth) that the college had distributed said legal information between several other colleges that Percy was interested in. Successfully ruining his chances of getting a good college education.

Until, after months of swim meets, track meets, basketball games and talks with a small spattering of (desperate) college scouts for those sports, Percy had finally been offered a place at New Rome University in San Francisco, a mere ten minutes drive from his best friend Annabeth's house.

(He wasn't completely separated from his past, however, but Percy supposed that half a scholarship because of that was better than no scholarship at all.)

And wasn't that a nice idea; finally getting to live in the same city as his friend, and seeing her more often than during the Summer and on the first weekend of every three month period.

Annabeth's dad, Mr. Chase, worked at New Rome University, had since he was finally able to get back on his feet after leaving college freshly swaddled with a newborn Annabeth. (Percy would always refer to Annabeth's dad as Mr. Chase, no matter how many times the man pleaded for him to do otherwise. In Percy's mind, Frederick just didn't fit the man as well as Mr. Chase did.)

Annabeth, too, was also on a half-scholarship, but for different reasons to Percy.

Growing up living ten minutes from the college that her dad worked at, with a thirst for knowledge, Annabeth spent quite a lot of time there. Outside of school times, that is. For some reason. That was how deep her dedication to learning went. Percy would never understand the need. School was hard enough for him, he didn't need to do extra studying on top of that.

Over the years, Annabeth had become a familiar face at New Rome, and the majority of the faculty knew who she was on the first day, before introductions took place or name tags had been given to first year students. (It had seemed she was even on first name basis with at least a third of them. New Rome was big, so how, Percy didn't know.)

Which is why it was unsurprising that they all were already aware of her capabilities. She'd been offered her scholarship at a young age, promised by the Dean himself that if she was still such a high ability, determined, student, come her final year of high school, then she would be guaranteed immediate entry to the school.

Obviously, Annabeth was offered a full scholarship on the basis of all the funding, work, time and effort her father had put in to teaching there for all these years.

And, for some reason, once they found out about Percy's own offer, both Annabeth and her father agreed to turn down that particular offer she was given, instead negotiating for the same principles that Percy was to recieve.

Percy didn't understand why they did this, but apparently it was a Chase thing. Annabeth wanted to say she had earnt her education, whilst Mr. Chase wished to be able to provide for his daughter, knowing that soon, she would no longer allow it so much.

So the two split the costs of the required tuition, Mr. Chase paying half with the money he had saved up for this exact reason, whilst Annabeth worked every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It was 'easy money' - all she had to do was sit and tutor two seperate individuals for an hour each. And yet she was still raking in the money from it.

×××

Inside the room where the meeting was being held, the sight that greeted Percy - instead of igniting a sense of meager dread inside him - was actually kind of... sad.

What Percy had been expecting; well, it definitely wasn't this, that was for sure. It was quite the opposite, actually.

Ever since Annabeth had dropped the news on him (yesterday) that she had signed him up for this trip (nearing four months ago, when applications were first opened) Percy had spent his time imagining how this first initial planning meeting would go, forgetting to ask Annabeth what time it would be held at.

Instead of finding around 20 to 30 of the most outdoorsy, independent credit-chasers and some haughty professor with a young, too-enthusiastic TA at their side, Percy was met with the sight of a nearly completely empty room. There were only two people in the whole room, a tall blonde stood in front of a table with a clipboard, and a shorter black haired boy, slouched in his seat with his arms crossed and his fringe falling across his forehead, obscuring his, presumably, dark eyes.

There was not a credit-chaser in sight.

On second thought, perhaps there was a credit-chaser in this room, considering the way the blonde guy immediately straightened, plastering on a bright and cheery smile as soon as he noticed Percy entering the room.

After closing the door behind himself, both slowly and gently, Percy shuffled towards where the rows of seats were placed, opposite the small table.

As the blonde rushed out a happy, excited greeting, Percy took a seat, a few rows behind the silent boy after being faced with such an unwarranted death stare.

"Hello! I'm Will," the blonde said, gesturing to the other boy as he said his next words, "And this is Nico! We're so happy you could join - we honestly weren't expecting anyone else at this point. It's been just the two of us in here since one."

The information made Percy feel slightly guilty, having made the two of them wait in here alone for almost three hours. To be fair to him, he only found out about this meeting at three, and by then he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep in order to recuperate and make up for the previous night's lack of sleep.

"Right, sorry. I wasn't made aware this meeting was happening until some time after three. If I'd known before that, then I would've come over sooner."

Percy knew that was an educated lie. He sincerely doubted that if he'd known any sooner, he would have tried to get here any earlier than he had.

"It's completely fine, don't worry!" Will assured him. "We've just been hanging out in here and talking things over for the trip, so the time hasn't exactly been wasted."

In Percy's eyes, it had. After the snort from Nico a few rows in front of him, Percy guessed that he also thought as much. (Though it was soon revealed otherwise.)

"That's alright, then." Percy said instead. He may have been exhausted, but he knew how to plaster on a smile even at the worst of times. This was nothing in comparison. "It's good that the two of you found a way to be productive with your time. Sometimes we just have to adjust to our surroundings, don't we?"

Percy wondered what he was even saying.
It was Nico, this time, who spoke to Percy instead of Will, turning in his seat to look at Percy over his shoulder. His fringe still hid his right eye from view, but the movement of the head turn, thankfully, released his left eye from the dark curtains that were the long strands of his hair, slightly curved at the tips.

(Percy was right, by the way, Nico's eyes were a dark brown, gorgeous ditches of darkness.)

"Oh, yes," Nico started, one corner of his lips tilted upwards minutely, "We definitely found... ways, to be 'productive'."

Percy frowned at the boy's words, his eyebrows furrowing and his head tilting to the side unconsciously as he tried to figure out what Nico meant, tried to understand both the pause and the emphasis.

Percy focused on the glint in the boy's dark eyes, the almost unnoticeable twitch to the corner of his lips, as well as the tone of something within the boy's voice that Percy was still struggling to place.

"Wha- oh. Oh." Percy eyes went almost impossibly wide at the realisation of what the boy did mean. "Oh, right. So, you guys are...?"

Will rolled his eyes, flipping several pieces of paper on his clipboard, stopping at a particular one and gliding his finger across the page as he mumbled aloud, seemingly done with their group conversation. Though, he did continuously glance up from his clipboard, his head staying bent as he looked up at them from beneath his pale lashes.

"We're boyfriends." Nico stated, either not bothering to hide the dark edge to his tone or purposely placing it there. Percy still couldn't get over how much deeper his voice sounded in comparison to his appearance. "You got a problem with that?"

As Nico asked the question, Percy noticed Will peeking over at them again, his finger still pressed against a particular spot on one of the pages - he'd flipped it since the last one he was looking at, but Percy had no clue what was on either piece.

Percy deadpanned, already fighting off a massive grin as he looked back at Nico, though both boys seemed to subconsciously avoid making eye contact. Not even for a split second.

"Of course, not. You're literally talking to a raging bisexual." Percy rolled his eyes, then, and finally let his faux detached expression melt away some, the beginnings of a comforting smile dribbling through.

Percy heard Will swallow, and one of his own eyebrows raised in response to Nico's twitching up a few millimeters. These two were odd, Percy was starting to realise.

"Good to know."

Percy blinked, confuzzled at what the boy meant, and repeatedly yelling at himself inside his mind to not react to the sultry tone Nico spoke with, the aloofness he was slowly commiting to, or the hopeful look on Will's face. Well, there was at least a certain set to his expression that made him look hopeful.

And that was the start of it all.

(The start of the trip, of course. Not the start of anything else, no.)

×××

After that first initial meeting (which had continued on after their odd introduction - Percy had actually contributed to some of the planning, though let Will deal with most of it) there were several other meetups that occurred between then and when the trip was to actually take place.

Four meetups later, the three of them were all ready to go on this little camping trip.

At least, over the five week span between when the first meeting took place and when their trip was to happen, Percy found out what the trip actually involved, and was given several in-depth walk-throughs of how their week would go.

(Which, a week away from school and yet he was receiving an extra 30% credit, apparently. It was no wonder why Annabeth decided to do this trip last year.)

Over the course of the five weeks, Percy had met up with Nico and Will more than the four times, meeting up several times outside of school, too. At first, their conversation was mostly spattered with awkward camping talk that had no right existing outside of the delegated periods of time set by the school for this event.

(Percy was very surprised that the trip was still allowed to go ahead, considering the fact that there were only three students actually taking part in it now.)

Eventually, the awkward camping spatter fizzled out, instead replaced by shy conversation about themselves and their majors, their friends, as well as their interests and hobbies.

For example, Percy found out that Nico hated the outdoors - it was never explicitly stated, but soon became abundantly clear to him after getting to know the other boy - and he was only going on the trip for Will's sake. He wasn't looking forward to the actual camping, but was secretly ecstatic to be getting to spend some time away with his boyfriend of over four whole years. What a commitment.

Deep down, Percy doubted he, himself, could ever make such a commitment to anyone, but he had always longed to do so, had desired nothing less than the love he had observed between Nico and Will, ever since he first recognised it as such.

One thing that did confuse Percy, however, was the continuity in the advances Nico and Will carried out towards him.

They were in a happy relationship, going on nearly five years by now, and yet they had always acted kind of strange towards Percy. Even on the very first day that they met.

Percy wasn't quite sure what to think in that regard, nor did he know what to do about it.

×××

Percy huffed a short breath of laughter, otherwise composed and unaffected by both the heat and the walk.

Percy, similarly to Will, was currently the opposite of Nico at this very moment. The younger boy shuffled along behind them by several metres, his dark hair looking wet (but not) and sticking to his forehead as he panted for breath, clutching with both hands the two straps of his (unsurprisingly) black bag.

"I told you not to wear black." Percy reminded the boy teasingly, though he did more than just look back and laugh at him. Percy stopped, turned around and walked towards Nico. "It's too hot for that today."

"Obviously, he didn't listen to you!" Called Will from up front, not so much as pretending to think about coming to a halt in order to let the other two boy's catch up with him. "That boy listens to no one. Literally every item of clothing he packed in that bag is black."

When Percy glanced at Nico, the statement was confirmed to him by the hard set to Nico's jaw, as well as the sudden tenseness to his shoulders.

Percy had slowly come to admire Nico's single-minded dedication to sticking by his own beliefs and acting as a pushover to no one.

However, at times, Percy really couldn't admire some of his decisions, as commendable as his stubbornness was in the correct situation.

"Well, lucky you," Percy told Nico, walking, now, in step with him rather than several steps too many in front of him. "Annabeth packed my bag."

Nico's head turned in his direction ever so slightly, his eyebrows furrowed in bewildered wonderment as his head tilted a few degrees to one side.

"And that makes me lucky... because...?"

Percy kept forgetting, sometimes, that these two had never met Annabeth, didn't even have a clue who she was.

"Because it means I have a month's worth of clothes packed for a week long trip in any climate- I don't know," Percy shrugged, then, "Something to do with her not trusting me all that much." He explained.

"I'm still not computing."

Will, as he had done a few times already on their journey, circled back to them briefly, inputting his own opinion into the moment's conversation before strutting off ahead again, repeatedly consulting the map one of his older brother's had given to him, back from when he also completed this very activity.

"It means he has extra clothes; ones he won't need all of. He has too many, you don't have any suitable for the weather we're going to experience this week - problem solved!" 

Will walked off ahead again, then, after sending a dazzling smile to each of the other boys individually.

"You, what, then? Want me to borrow your clothes?" Nico raised an eyebrow as he asked the question, but Percy sighed good-naturedly.

"I don't want you to do anything... Other than be suitably prepared for a battle against this blasted sun. I bet you didn't even bring suncream!"

Nico went notably quieter at that point, and his steps got steadily faster.

"Nico! Oh, come on, Nico! It's basic common sense. We discussed this before the trip! Ugh, you're so lucky that Annabeth is control freak, aren't you?"

Percy quickened his steps in order to catch up with Nico, who was suddenly full on sprinting.

(Percy did nothing to stop the massive grin speading across his face as the sound of Nico's laughter soon filled the air as they ran, dodging past a startled Will and continuing on down the trail as he shouted after them, asking first what they were doing and then where they were going. Soon, though, he gave up on hoping for his questions to be answered and simply ran after them, his precious map clutched tightly in one hand.

×××

"How did this Annabeth manage to fit a month's worth of clothes, plus other essentials, in that bag?" Nico asked, referring and indicating to the not too big, but not too small, bag.

"I don't even know, to be honest. I did watch her do it, as well. Yet I still have no clue. I don't know how I'm going to pack it all up again at the end of the week."

Nico smiled reassuringly at Percy (which was something he did now, by the way), though it did drop a smidge as he took the pile of clothes that Percy handed him.

"Get Will to do it. He's good at that sort of stuff. I'd argue he may even do a better job than your little girlfriend." The grin was back again, though the curve was taunting and it didn't match his eyes; not one bit.

Percy paused in doing up the zip on his bag, glancing up at Nico questioningly, beyond confused.

"What little girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend. Never have."

Will, who had just walked over, caught the end of the conversation and decided to join in. "Wait, this Annabeth girl isn't your girlfriend?"

"Pfft, no. I mean, she's a girl... and my friend - but not like that! We've know each other since eighth grade, and been friends since tenth. Now we're besties, but sometimes she seems to think she's my mother. I reckon it's just an excuse to complain about me, though."

Neither of the boys questioned the time gap between him knowing Annabeth, and then him actually being friends with her, so he didn't bother mentioning the fact that to begin with, they both found the other insufferable and hard to be around.

"Wait, so," the same glimmer of hope that Percy remembered from the day he first met these two boys was once again reflected in Will's eyes. "You're single, then?" At Percy's slow nod, Will cheered. "Yes! Nico, did you hear? He's single."

Whilst Percy pouted, Nico rolled his eyes at his boyfriend (fondly?).

"Yes, Will, I did hear that. I am standing opposite him, after all." Nico paused, his eyes flitting from Percy to Will, and back again frantically. The action was purely paradoxical, a complete contradiction to his outer appearance, his body language, the way he was holding himself right now.

"Have you even asked him if he's interested in changing that at any point? Soon, preferably."

Nico wouldn't look at Percy anymore, instead conversing only with Will. He seemed to be talking to Percy through Will, which was rather upsetting.

Percy didn't have a clue what was going on. That seemed to happen a lot with these two.

"Oh, right, no, I haven't! How could I forget?" He turned to Percy, again, after saying his last words hurriedly. "Percy, are you willing to change that anytime soon?"

Percy thought, that if Nico wasn't too busy clutching the pile of clothes Percy just gave him to his chest, then the younger boy would likely be forced to face palm at the blonde's words.

"I mean, I'd love to change that. I've wanted to change that for years now. It's just that... no one ever seems to want to be with me. I've had enough rejections for a lifetime, at this point."

Will looked absolutely flabbergasted, and Nico didn't look much better, though he did appear much, much angrier. At first, Percy didn't hear what Nico was saying, too invested in commiting the furrowed eyebrow, scrunched nose and curled lip to memory. It wasn't until he unconsciously reached out to smooth the lines out of the space between Nico's eyebrows that he realised Will was once again speaking to him, rushing out words at way past 70 mph - if human speech was to be measured that way.

"What?" Percy asked, not so much as for clarification of what Will had said, because he didn't have the slightest clue, but as an indication for him to repeat what he just said.

"We want you. We would be way beyond happy, to be with you, Percy. If you give us a chance, we won't let you down! Promise."

Growing up, Percy had always been told his pleading eyes were something akin to a baby seal (he had only ever been told this by his mother and Annabeth, but they were also the only two people he'd ever been close to in his life - until now, that is) but his eyes had nothing on Will's, in this moment.

Percy had said it before, that Will often reminded him of a golden retriever, but the similarities were absurd at this point. Percy had to look away from Will after mere seconds, too scared that he may get lost in the deep depths of those bright blue eyes, almost unreal in their appeal.

"We're not joking, by the way, Percy. We do genuinely want to be with you. We've both felt something towards you since the day we first met," Nico didn't look too happy to be reciting something so similar to a cliche, but he powered through, "but now we both feel so much more than just any old something. You've come to mean a lot to us, Percy."

Percy looked between the two boys in awe, definitely not with tears in his eyes. No tears to be found in Percy's eyes. He wasn't emotional. What reason would he have to be emotional right now?

"G-genuinely?" Percy cleared his throat after the beginning of the word, his voice coming out a bit choked, at first. A tear finally did fall once both Nico and Will nodded, Will smiling comfortingly at him whilst Nico reached for Percy's hand, manoeuvring the tiny stack of clothes into one hand instead of both.

"Genuinely." They both replied, smiling at each other briefly when they realised they both said it at the same time, perfectly in sync.

Percy, instead of smiling with them, giggled quietly, wiping at his cheeks and the skin under his eyes. His face didn't stay dry for long, as more and more tears began to fall. God, Percy hadn't cried seriously since 5th grade, why was he crying now, all of a sudden?

Percy was a total mess. Will and Nico clearly felt bad for him, both rushing forward to wipe away the tears on his face.

When they realised that didn't work, Will batted Nico away suddenly, reaching in to instead kiss Percy on the lips.

It wasn't his first - him and Annabeth had kissed in 8th grade, despite hating each other, in order to make a point to a no-good bully - but it was by far his best. Percy really did understand what was going on with him, the tears, for some reason, fizzing out slowly as the kiss progressed, Will's large hands holding his face on either side a grounding, supportive presence.

Eventually, Will pulled away, smiling brightly at Percy before leaning in to place a sofr peck on his forehead.

"Finally." Nico huffed, simultaneously looking grumpy yet proud. Joyous, below the surface.

"Don't be jealous, Nico." Will teased smugly, reaching for his boyfriend's hand and entwining their fingers gently. "I'm sure if you ask him nicely, Percy will give you a kiss, too."

Nico didn't ask nicely, but Percy still gave him a kiss, anyway. It was just as good as the one with Will, if that was even possible.

Percy wasn't sure how long this little thing would last, but he could only hope that the answer was a long, long time.

Fingers crossed Percy didn't ruin whatever it was that this was to become.