"Hey... Y/n?" Leo calls. I walk through my cabin, which is empty today. Everyone's out and I was sick so I got to stay in, and Leo fought to stay with me because "I was needy." Or whatever. Anyway, he meets me in the middle, holding up a laptop, which he holds gently in is hands. Camp is the only place that we're allowed to use electronics, as usage outside of the protective barrier would practically be suicide.

I raise my eyebrows. "Yeah?"

He stops walking, a step or two away, and shifts his hold on the laptop so I can see the screen. It takes me a second of looking up and down the screen multiple times to finally realize what it is. When I do, my jaw drops, my eyes bug out, and I launch forward to try and take the laptop away from his hands.

Laughing, Leo jumps away, holding the device out of my reach. He runs as I chase him. "Come on Leo give it! Give it back! LEO!" Finally, laughing, he stops, letting me have the laptop. I close out of the window, slam the laptop shut, and hold it tightly to my chest. Leo's doubled over laughing and I'm mortified, face as red as blood, fresh from a wound. After a second, I whisper, "How much did you see?"

"Oh there's not much I missed," Leo remarks. I cover my face with my hand and he laughs harder.

"It's not funny, Leo!" I shout. I cut off, a coughing spurt hitting me. Leo's immediately serious. He sits up, looking at me, worried. "I'm fine," I manage as I finally swallow the last of my coughs. "So, um... what's on your mind?" I asked, looking at Leo through my eyelashes.

He gave me a very serious look, then slowly, resignedly just shakes his head. His expression is so serious and disappointed I frown, my eyes wide in worry, my heart racing. Oh shit...

Then he smiles again, winking. I glare at him, grabbing the closest pillow and chuckling it as hard as I can.
---

"THAT WAS BRILLIANT!" I shouted. Leo was still laughing hysterically next to me.

"Her face- and when you started walking- THE BOX FLEW!" Leo couldn't even form full sentences. I smiled, quite proud.

"I stood so still! Like, for hours!"

"TWO HOURS!" Leo shouted, cracking up again a second later. We were crying at this point. Oh... so much fun.

-

"YEAH!" Leo shouted, both of us laughing. I held up my hand and he highfived it. A soaking wet and severely pissed off Annabeth Chase came storming out of the bathroom and Leo and I froze.

She saw us and her eyes squinted. "RUN!" Leo screamed. We both took off, Annabeth not far behind us, screaming all kinds of profanities.

We got away. We always do.

-

Percy sat next to me, pulling one of his knees to his chest, wrapping an arm around it. "You seem exhausted," he told me, chuckling softly. I let my eyes close, my body completely leaned against a post on the dock.

"Leo and I stayed up all night planning a prank on Hazel," I explained. Percy smiled.

"Did it work?" He asked.

Through my exhaustion, I managed to open my eyes and hold up own weight, looking over at him. "Yeah! You should have seen it, Perc! She was so scared gold cane out of the ground! Leo was laughing for five minutes straight! Even Frank couldn't calm him down! JASON couldn't calm him down!" Then I was hit with exhaustion again and I leaned back against the post.

"Well that's nice... but you haven't had much sleep recently. You and Leo have been staying up through the night keeping everything in check. You keeping him up and him working.... I appreciate it, honestly. It keeps everything in check and keeps morale up. Everyone gets a good laugh at whoever' being pranked at some point. But Y/n-" he looked over at me but I could only barely hear him. I breathed evenly and heavily, battling my conscious to stay awake.

"Yeah, yeah," I barely managed to mumbled, my words muddy and slurred. "I'll get sleep don't worry. I promise... Sleep." Percy chuckled and stood, picking me up and waking a bit. I was out before we got wherever he was taking me.

When I woke up again, Leo and I were both on Leo's bed, and he was as asleep as I'd been.

-

"It's nice to meet you," I greeted Calypso before I even looked at Leo. "It's too bad that you never got to meet Leo. I think you'd have liked him." The smile didn't leave my face as I shook her hand. Everyone looked at me. Leo looked hurt. No way he'd fake die and then just not get Anyang happen to him. So I'd prank him. It's all I knew how to do. Most of the rest of the seven, who knew how'd I'd so fully suffered when Leo had left - I'd completely shut down honestly - looked at me in pity.

Whatever. I knew what I was doing.

For a whole three weeks, almost an entire month I ignored Leo. The other campers found other, short ways to deal with their anger and grief and shock and happiness of seeing Leo after they were thinking he was dead. Mine was in no short or brief. No matter how hard he tried, how hard anyone else tried, or how difficult I got, I successfully played off that he was nonexistent.

It was my best prank yet.

That all ended when my cabin was faced against Leo's cabin. Athena and Hephaestus against Poseidon and Hermes. Since the Hermes cabin was so huge and Percy was the only Poseidon kid, it actually equaled out, fair, against the two opposing cabins.

The problem was when everyone ignored me, except Leo.

Being a better fighter than Leo, I could push him off and then make a good distance to the flag before he attacked me again. No matter how close I got, no one else would fight me. It pissed me off. "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" I screamed. "Someone fight me!" I went to attack Annabeth but she just pushed me off and Leo intercepted. I went to fight anyone close, but they'd all simply push me back and let Leo slip in for them. "FIGHT ME!"

No one was listening. I pushed Leo off of me so hard that he flew. I charged at the flag, diving, grabbing it and holding it above my head. I breathed hard and when my team went to run at me, I wouldn't look at anyone, tossing some other flag then storming away. I took off all my armor and left it on the floor in the training room then booked it to the dock.

Plopping down on the edge like I always did, I put my elbows on my knees, leaning over the water, glaring at the rippling surface.

"You can't ignore me forever." I didn't respond. "Y/n I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay?! Please!" Still nothing. "Camp isn't the same without you! No one has the ideas you do, or the dedication. They can't stay away for days straight and still trek through it. No one can stand still for two hours pretending to be boxes like you did. No one has the dedication... No one's my best friend like you are. I miss you, Y/n. You're not even my best friend. You're my sister, ya know? Like... we're so close. I... I miss you."

"I wonder what that's like," I spat. "To lose someone who was your entire world. Your family. To just get over them in time for them to come back." He was speechless. Now that the act was up, I stood, turning to face him. My eyes landed on his, unwavering. "I wonder what it's like to lose your best friend, hm? Your family? What did you do it for? A GIRL?  I thought family was more important than girls."

"I didn't die! I came back!"

"I didn't ignore you for a month!" I shot back. "It's just a prank, bro."

He rubbed his face. "How can I get you to forgive me?"

I paused. I didn't think about that. "I don't know."

He paused himself, then a smile slowly, steadily grew on his face. "You know... I haven't pranked Calypso yet." I looked at him for a long time, then, ever so slowly, a smile grew on my face as well.

"Oh. It's on."

Easily said, all my pent up aggression was let loose on the poor girl in one epic prank. She was pissed, but everyone got a good, relieved laugh. The troublemakers were back. The two people so causing trouble that we gave the twins a run for their money. My own brothers, blood brothers, Conner and Travis, often found themselves bested by the prankster duo Leo and I were.

Calypso had never seen Leo so happy. He had his friends, his blood siblings, his camp, her, and his friend-sister. It was great. It was perfect.

And so peace was restored.

Or, at least, the chaos that everyone had grown so lovingly accustomed to.
---

"I know this is going to make you cringe but I think my Aphrodite Child instincts are kicking in," Piper tells me.

"No," I immediately snapped, pointing my finger at her.

"Oh come on!" Piper insisted. "Let me girl out just this once! I've been spending a LOT of time around my siblings and I've picked up some stuff! You and Leo are going out on a date! Let me make you up just a bit! I won't go overboard I promise!"

I paused a long time, glaring at her, but she won in the end. She always did. Piper's my best friend, I can't resist her charming smile and eyes light up with excitement.

-

"If you hurt her, I will personally rip off your balls and shove gem down your throat."

"Piper!"

"What? He's my friend, but you're my BEST friend. I will destroy him."

"Thanks, Piper. I really loved that mental image in my head."

"Leo don't feed the dragon, please."

"You best be careful, Leo Valdez."

"PIPER!"

"Because I swear to gods I am not afraid to -"

"JASON! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW!"

"Uh... can we go? I value my balls where they are."
---

At first, the shock on his face consumes him. And then, slowly, a chuckle erupts from him and slowly, the widest goofiest grin grows on his face and he races at me, bulldozing me in a hug. "Finally," he whispers.

I smile, patting him on the back. "Well, that's quite the welcome."
---

"Leo leave me alone!"

"I can't!"

"Why not?" I snap, turning around. My eyes demand a response and he visually melts in resignation.

"I love you."

I'm shocked. Out of all the things I expected him to respond with, THIS was not near any of them. "What?" I choke out. I don't believe him. I can't. This can't be real.

"I love you," he repeats. His sincerity is so true, I can't even lie to myself. "You don't have to love me too. But I can't stay away from you anymore. I don't care that Romans and Greeks are like, enemies or whatever. I know we don't get along, but Nico and Jason are friends. Jason and Piper are dating. Nico and Hazel treat each other like siblings. Nico and Rayna are very close, extremely so. The seven all fought together. And yeah, you're like the one person in camp Jupiter everyone fears and hates and blah blah blah but Percy isn't dangerous. And - and I love you."

After a second, I relax, a soft, slow smile lighting up my face as my eyes water. "I love you too, Leo. I never thought... But I love you too." I'd never seen the boy look happier - or more shocked - than I did now. And I'd never felt as happy myself.
---

I pulled Nico in a hug. "It's okay," I whisper in his ear. "I think it's kinda cute actually." I pull back and he looks shocked. "I know. No touchy." I out my hands up in surrender and he pauses before stepping up to me and pulling me back in a hug.

"You're one of my best friends. You can hug me." Then he pushes me away. "If you tell anyone, I swear to the gods -"

I out my hands back up in surrender. "You told me you like my brother. You can trust me, Nico." He pauses, then nods.

"Yeah. I suppose I can. You ruffle my hair though and I'll attack."

All I can do is laugh. "Aw, don't worry. I'll only do it every once in a while." He glares at me and I stick my tongue out. Nothing had changed thorough. It just didn't matter.
---

"I'm the best flier," Jason argued.

I scoffed. "No way! You WISH! I'm faster than you, J, and I always will be."

"In your dreams," Jason snorted.

Crossing my arms, I smirked. "Fine. Race me for it."

Jason's eyes slit. "Don't play with fire, Y/n."

"Being it on, Grace."

He smirked. "Fine. You brought this on yourself."

-

"Ready," Percy shouted to me and my brother, who were still in our spots, side by side. We crouched, hands on he ground, eyes focused ahead, both of us smirking. "Set!" I breathed out slowly, all muscles in my body tense. I focused as hard as I could. I WOULD win this. It wasn't an option. I'd talked too much to lose now. "GO!"

I was off the second I heard the word, shooting forward like a rocket. I didn't focus on where Jason was, but begin faster than I usually was. Pushing myself harder and harder and harder until I saw the destination in sight. I zoomed over the island like a bolt of lightning, diving onto the ground and over the finish line. Unable to stop, I zoom ahead even further, having to go back. Annabeth picks up the super camera as she seems me come back.

"I barely saw you guys pass," she tells me as Jason pulls up next to me, both of us hovering. We land clumsily, me stumbling. He catches me. When Annabeth slims down the footage, watching the clip a few times and slowing it down and more and more until she comes up with a verdict.

She looks up, ailing. "Y/n won."

I'm too tired to celebrate. Instead I just fall on my knees.

"Woah!" Jason exclaimed.

"He didn't push himself all the way," I teased weakly. Jason smiled.

"Another day, sis."

"You better bring your full game next time," I accuse him. He smiles.

"Of course."
---

---

"Why aren't you afraid of me?" Comes the soft, shy question. I look over at him.

"What's there to be afraid of? Your powers? Your parents? Well, parent. The persona you give off? Your powers aren't your personality. You wouldn't use them if you didn't have to. You're not your dad. Defiantly not. And the tough guy act you out on is because you've learned through life that's the only way to survive. To get by. You're a tough kid who's been broken by a past not many - if any at all - could survive. You're nothing to be feared, Nico."

He takes a second to let that sink in then gives me a cautious, hesitant, ridiculously small smile. I love it. "Thanks, Y/n."

"No problem, Nico. It doesn't cost me to tell the truth."
---

"I have to dress up?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Yes!" My half sister insisted. I looked at Piper and she shrugged, just as clueless.

"We're going to battle!" I screeched. "You know these clothes are going to get ripped right? Muddy?"

Everyone looked at me, horrified. I looked at Piper again.

"I'm as confused as you," she told me hopelessly. I groaned, covering my eyes.

Gods help us...