Nico

He almost went to dinner. But then he saw Annabeth and noped the hell out. I promised to bring him back some food. He explained to me that the reason he wanted to go to my cabin was because it was darker. His cabin is really bright and he needed a darker place to soothe himself.

"Where's Percy?" Jason asked once everyone else was here. "I swear I saw him earlier."

"He's probably getting extra training in," Hazel remarked, knowing what everyone else did: nothing.

"He hasn't been at the training grounds all day." Frank pointed out as Chiron walked over.

"Chiron, hi!" Some of the others said and he said hi, asked about our day. Just trying to be nice. He noticed that Percy wasn't here, but the look I gave him told him that the others don't know. It was because of Annabeth.

"Annabeth," Chiron directed his attention towards the daughter of Athena. "May I speak with you for a minute in my office?"

"To be honest," Leo remarked after Annabeth had left. "Percy's probably just jerking off to the video or something."

"Probably." Piper agreed.

"What video?" I asked them, not releasing that Annabeth told them one thing, while it was completely different.

"You don't know!?" They all made me jump at that.

"No..."

"Oh my gods," Jason shot me an apologetic look and I knew it was about them. Piper was the one that told me. "The video of Percy and Annabeth having sex. They recorded it. She didn't show us because we're in public and all. But it must've been good. He's probably jacking off to it, right?"

And as much as that pissed me off, I kept my mouth shut. They didn't know, they don't need to know.

Suddenly my phone goes off for a text. It was from Percy.

💙: Nico, I'm going to have a panic attack.
💙: She sent me a video
💙: From this morning
💙: Of us
💙: What she did
💙: She got it on camera
💙: I'm going to be sick
💙: I just threw up
💙: Has Chiron talked to Annabeth yet???
💙: Did she confess anything???
💙: I'm going in your room to lay down

Well isn't that just fucking grand? But then again, it's evidence. It guarantees that she'll have to he convicted basically as soon as the trial starts.

I responded to him.

👻: Okay, just breathe. The others said that Annabeth told them that you guys had sex and she got it on camera. I didn't correct them because I have no right to, but just relax. I'll be there in a little bit. I have Pepto bismol in the medicine cabinet of the bathroom connected to my room if you need it. I also have mints in my drawer next to my bed if you want to get that nasty taste out of your mouth. And Chiron just took Annabeth to the Big House. Just hang in there, alright?

I hit send and he responded fairly quickly.

💙: I took a mint
💙: Also, I forgot to ask earlier. Why (not that I'm going to complain) are you suddenly being really nice to me?
👻: I'll explain that when I get back. What do you want for dinner?
💙: Duck, please. If there's any left over, that is.
👻: No problem 💕
💙: 💕?
👻: It felt needed, idk.
💙: I mean that a little gay buT OKAY.
👻:💕

Putting my phone down, Percy did come to dinner now that he knew Annabeth wouldn't be here. And he didn't look like he had by crying. But he did look sick.

"Ay, Per—" Jason stopped short when he saw Percy's face. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit," Percy responded, nodding his head. "I'm pretty sure I caught the flu my mom had. Sorry for ditching earlier."

"Don't sweat it, dude," Leo insisted, "you've been busy. Was it good?"

Percy, not completely realizing they didn't know the whole sex thing was rape, didn't get what he meant.

"Was... Leo, everything tastes like shit." Percy reasoned with the son of Hephaestus, who probably thought he was dense. "I'm sick."

"Not that," Jason remarked as I kicked him from under the table. He's not going to want to talk about it. "I me— ow! What the fuck was that for?"

"Hm?" I asked.

"Just because you might not want hear about it because you're—"

"Because I'm what?" You thought we were still buddy buddy? Because were not, he kind of liked to walk all over me. He found out how we ran camp, and he didn't like it. I told him to suck it up, and he's been bitchy with me ever since.

This was normal to Leo, who witnessed this basically on a daily occurrence. Everyone else wasn't at Camp, so this was new to them. Our bickering.

Jason didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought."

It took Jason another 20 minutes to try to do it again, and by then I was done eating. I was just talking with him.

"Oh, fuck you, Grace." I told him as I got up, not wanting to deal with people finding out I'm gay like this."

As I walked away, I was going to kill that son of a bitch.

"Save it for your boyfriend, ya faggot!"

I restrained myself. I've been called many names before. Not by Jason, but in general. He'd never actually done that before. But I suppose he had to seem all high and mighty in front of his girlfriend, right? Pick on the low man on the totem pole.

"Dude, that's not—" Jason ignored whatever Percy was going to say. I wasn't even five feet away at this point in time. I could lunge.

"Oh wait!" Jason yelled after me. "That's right, you don't have one! Nobody likes you!"

I didn't care if I got kicked out of camp for it.

I went in for a right hook, and beat the shit out of him. It took Clarisse, Piper, and Thalia to pry me away from him. Because I don't know if I've ever been pissed off before. Both of us were taken to the infirmary. So Will was happy to see me need assistance. I didn't need it, but it's mandatory because I probably dislocated his jaw.

"What did you..." Will asked when he walked in to see me. "What did you do?"

"I tried not to," I insisted as I saw Chiron and Annabeth come out. I texted Percy a warning, and he said he'd come here, take the long way around.

"Try harder."

I gave him a warning look.

"Don't," I told him as he got the sterilizing pads out. "I'm already pissed off, and it's been a shitty day."

"You were fine earlier." The son of Apollo reasoned as he cleaned up the few cuts I had. One of which was on my jaw. "What happened?"

"Well, it wasn't me, I just felt bad." I explained to Will. "Percy. I just feel really bad for the guy."

"Oh, yeah, Dad told me about that." Will told me, and just shook his head. "He told you? He hasn't told Grover yet."

"He hasn't seen Grover to tell him." I filled in for him as he moved my head slightly. "I saw him on my way out and asked him about how it went for him and he looked like shit and he asked to go to my cabin."

"I can't believe she would do that." He remarked and just sighed. "Not to sound rude, but why your cabin?"

I shrugged.

"It's darker, I guess." I answered as he moved my head again, debating something. "It calms him down faster. His words, not mine."

"Makes sense..." Will said as he looked at that cut. It was the worst one, Jason got me with his knife he was using to eat with before I knocked it out of his hands. "I... You don't need stitches, but be careful. Don't get in another fight."

"I'll try."

Will let me go and I headed to my cabin. Percy was there, back in my room.  He had a small bag, and he was drawing. Something I didn't know he enjoyed doing.

"Hey," he said, "any serious damage?"

I shook my head, sitting down on the bed.

"You broke three of his ribs," Percy told me, sounding humored. "And dislocated his jaw. Also, his foot. He's going to be in crutches for a couple months."

"Serves him right."

That's when Percy realized that this was something that had actual reason behind it. It wasn't some petty fight because I don't like names.

He said he'd keep his mouth shut. He promised me that he'd keep it a secret.

He lied.

"What..." Percy thought about that for a minute, because I've never done anything like that before. Bianca would've killed me had she saw that. "What happened with you guys? I thought you were friends last summer?"

"We we're." I confirmed for him. "Or at least, I thought we were. He turned around after I got back from my dad's after Christmas and he just hated me. Started turning everything against me. He crossed a line at dinner tonight that he knew better than to cross."

"I guess I missed a lot." Percy remarked as he nudged me before asking me something I didn't have an answer to. "But um... why do you have condoms next to your mints?"

I just kind of store at him for a second, because I don't own condoms. I'm single, and I'm gay. And I mean, STD's are still a thing. But because I'm single, I don't own condoms.

"I... Don't own any condoms."

He told me to look and I swear to gods.

Hazel knew that if I'd check anywhere, I'd check her rooms for things like that.

"Hazel keeps her condoms in my room..."

Okay then.

Closing that drawer, I grabbed a mint and it came back to me.

"You draw?" I asked the son of Poseidon, who proceeded to get red in the face.

Annabeth isn't a very artsy person outside of drawing building plans. And none of the guys... I mean, Jason basically called Leo gay for getting bored and making stick figure drawings that weren't half bad one day.

So it made sense that he was expecting something bad to come out of my mouth.

"I, um..."

I peeked over his shoulder at his sketchbook. There was a few small sketches on that page, a few finished, others left. He looked like a good drawer.

"You should draw me something."

So he started to draw me and I laid on my stomach as I watched him draw me. Occasionally he would have me look at him directly, but it was... I've always wanted to be able to draw really good. I can paint half way decent. I haven't done it in a while, though.

I think what I liked about it is that he didn't make it super realistic. It was semi-realistic, but it was really cool and I liked to learn new things about Percy. He didn't have to know I liked him to give me more reasons to love him.

He tore it out and handed it to me.

"It's sort of messy, but like—"

"I hope you know that I'm keeping this forever."

I'm not joking, I went and got wall putty and put it up on my wall next to a photo of Bianca and myself because I loved it.

"I hate you." He joked with me and I gave him a smile.

"You love me."

"And we're back at it with the gay shit." Percy remarked, continuing to joke with me as I lightly punched his arm and being the dork I never realized he was, Percy overreacted and cillapses onto his back and looked at me.

"You broke my arm."

We bursted out laughing, and I helped him back up.

"You're a dork."

"You're the one laughing."

"Fair point."

I didn't realize that I hadn't let his hand go from helping him up.

"Oh, yeah!" This dork recalled and thought for a minute. He was cute like this. "So with Jason like saying what he did, why would he call you a faggot? I mean I know what it means obviously. And he was being an asshole. But like...?"

The real question is how did I manage to say it like it was nothing after beating Jason up for almost saying it to the entire camp.

I shrugged.

"Because I'm gay," I didn't even realize that it came out of my mouth. "he found out last summer by accident and I told him that I didn't want to come out yet and he was nice about it until the new year. He's been kind of a bitch ever since. I'm not exactly out at this point in—"

And then I realized that I just said that.

"What?" Percy asked me, still listening for me to finish what I had to say before he commented anything on it.

"Did I just..." I had no idea how it just came out like it was common knowledge and couldn't ruin our entire friendship. "Why am I this calm? I'm not even high."

"It's the drawing," Percy said as a joke.

"I think that might actually be it." I let him know. "Watching that put me in a trance or something. My gods."

"I mean I was joking but..."

Again, I punched his arm and he does the same fucking thing, looking at me.

"It just healed, too."

I broke out in a little fit of laughter again, and it felt good. I haven't felt this nice in... Years.

"You can twin with Jason!"

That caused him to start laughing.

He pulled me down while he was laughing and our eyes met one another and it was... I mean, on one hand it was absolutely terrifying, but on the other hand it was just breath taking. His eyes were like the ocean, but when you actually look at them, they're not green. From a distance, that's how they come off. But they're actually more blue than that.

There was this little flutter in my chest that was almost like a shock.

If I could stop time, I would. I would do it right here. While he was smiling with hope in his eyes. That's not a common sight in Demigods anymore. And he was beautiful.

There was a lot of hurt trapped inside of him, but in front of that there was hope. Praying for a better tomorrow. And I was really hoping that I'd be there for it.

Moving hair out of my face, Percy placed his hand along my neck, rubbing my cheek with his thumb. It was pointless to even fight it, and I smiled in reaction.

He kissed me. Percy Jackson kissed me.