Leo Valdez

Piper and I had watch together that night, and it was a weird breath of fresh air because Jason is gone so we don't feel the need to involve him, even though I at least always felt weird having to involve him.

It didn't take long to figure out he was vaguely homophobic and racist after we picked up Percy, Hazel, and Frank. He treated Percy like an absolutely dumbass most of the time, even though I think he's the most experienced demigod on the ship, and he was also just uncomfortable with him and Percy but totally fine with Hazel and Frank being affectionate.

"You doing okay?" I asked Piper, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, Thalia's hotter anyways,"the daughter of Aphrodite insisted, which made me smile. "what? It's true. I was going to break up with him once we got back to camp, anyways."

"You were? I... I mean, I get why, but why?"

"Well I was pretty sure that I was a lesbian last fall," Piper explained, which... Made a lot of sense, actually. "And the only thing that changed was Hera changing my memories so... Do you know if Annabeth is bi?"

I fucking knew it.

"Not a clue, but I can guarantee you that Percy or Grover would know." I figured, really hoping the answer is that she is bi or something like that because I watched Piper, from a distance, develop a serious crush on Annabeth, and I wanted it to happen. "The three of them were super close, remember?"

Slowly nodding her head, Piper figured that now would be an excellent time to go ask the demigod and satyr about their best friend since our shift only started 15 minutes ago, so it's still bright out.

Watch doesn't have to start until it's dark. We had time.

Walking down to what I thought was Nico's room, but Piper said was Percy's room, we lightly knocked and then opened the door to make a connection that I think I knew two months ago when we first boarded the ship:

Nico and Percy share a room.

By choice, it's actually really cute. I'm so glad they had each other down in Tartarus.

They were both asleep, though, and considering what they just went through, we figured we could keep it that way for the night and ask in the morning, assuming Grover doesn't know.

Luckily for us, Grover was awake in his room, looking like he was doodling something, I think. That or writing something.

"Come in!" Grover called out as we opened the door. "Oh, hey guys! What's up? There's not another bird trying to peck away at the boat, is there?"

"Is- no, no birds so far," I reassured the satyr, really hoping those birds aren't around Greece like they were in Italy. "We have a very random question that we were wondering if you had an answer to because Percy's the only other person I think that would know but he's already asleep."

"Oh, yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Is Annabeth bi?" I asked, which definitely wasn't what he was expecting. "I know she used to like Percy for a while, but... Do you know?"

Thinking to himself, Grover looked around I don't think at anything in particular, racking his brain.

"Um... I can find out, I guess I don't know," the satyr answered, shrugging. "Percy's the only real crush I really knew that she had because she liked him for like two years before asking him out and getting rejected. I can IM and ask. It's what? Noon there?"

He paused.

"Can I ask why I should find out?"

Neither of us responded, and he looked at me, and he looked at Piper, and I think he connected the dots.

"Got it," Grover said. "I'll call her and let you guys know."

•••
Annabeth Chase

Nothing like having to prepare for battle without three very important people here because there's a lot of Roman kids that don't like us, apparently.

It's just been a stressful summer, though. Everyone is relieved to know that Percy's alive and that he even has his memories.

But we didn't even get time to breathe. We found out that the battle wouldn't be here and that we wouldn't have to fight it, that it was just a job for those going to Greece.

And then we got the warning from Reyna. Who, thankfully, doesn't agree with those trying to incite this war between the two camps. She called us like a week ago to warn us that they're assembling some militia and she's trying to strike it down, but it's hard to know exactly who's involved and she's just one person so it's hard to get them to listen.

She was here now, Reyna was, for a peace meeting, basically, that was taking place tomorrow. There was a group of us hanging out between activities and lunch: Rachel, Thalia, Clarisse (it's weird to think that I don't hate her anymore), Reyna and myself, when we received an IM.

Who was it actually for? It was anyone's guess, so we answered it and I at least was delighted to see Grover in what must be his room on the Argo II.

"Grover!" We all said and he smiled. "What's up?"

"Hi!" Grover said back, seeming taken back by the amount of us here. "Um, it's been a busy day. Percy and Nico are back and alive and as fine as they can be and Jason's gone, so."

"Jason's gone?" Reyna and Thalia both asked. "Wh... What happened? Is he on a side quest?"

Grover let out a mix between a nervous laugh and bleat, looking away for a second, which felt like bad news.

"Oh, no, there wasn't a quest," the satyr clarified. "Leo uh, threw him overboard, actually, but he can fly so he'll live. It's been a day, like I uh... Like I said. Also, don't ever let Percy and Jason be in the same room."

"I thought you said Percy and Nico got back today," Clarisse said what we were thinking. "What happened in the like, what? 6 hours since they've been back? Is Percy okay?"

"Aside from some bruising, Percy's fine," but that wasn't reassuring to hear about Percy. "Jason... I think Jason might have a broken bone or two, I'm not sure. I wasn't on the ship when it happened, but from what everyone told me when I got back and they'd been separated is that Percy was cooking food, this pissed Jason off, they traded words, Jason spat at him, they got in a fist fight and later on Jason went on a rant that was a little racist, which pisses everyone else off, so Leo kicked him off the boat and yeah."

He took a breath.

"Anyways," he continued. "It's been a while since I've seen Percy that mad, but that besides the point. I called for a reason."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose your drachmas wouldn't be limited," I figured. "What's up? Besides the update that the others are back."

"So, and this might be kind of weird to ask, so sorry, I'm just a middle man here and I've been sworn to not tell who I'm asking for," Grover prefaced, which had my interest. "But I was asked earlier today if you were bi, Annabeth, and I told them that I didn't know because you spent so much time crushing over Percy that he's the only person I've ever seen you fancy. I also told them that I'd find out, though, so... Are you?"

"You sent an IM?" I responded. "You used real drachmas to ask me if I like women?"

"I also had the update about Percy and Nico being back," Grover reminded me. "This just pushed the call up from tomorrow morning to tonight."

It feels weird to answer that question, though, because like...

I don't know. The group I'm with makes it feel weird because half of them can't even date, so I feel bad talking about it.

Sure, Clarisse has Chris, but that's it.

"So?" Grover asked again. "Women, yes or no?"

"I... Sure?" But I've never put a ton of thought towards my sexuality before, especially growing up here where most people seem to be at least a little gay so it's not a big deal to label yourself. "I'm not like, opposed to dating women but I haven't had a crush on one recently so... Is that a good enough answer?"

"If it's not they'll have to settle with it," Grover confirmed. "anyways, I have to get ready for bed. Night guys! Tell juniper hi and that I miss her for me!"

Saying goodbye, the call evaporated and then it was just us again.

"Well that was weird," Thalia figured, standing up. "I'm going to go beat up some dummies. See you guys at lunch."