Percy Jackson

I didn't even feel bad about the whole nose bleed I got that ignited the battle once we got to Camp Half Blood and we had to fight some Romans and I found out that Octavian died.

What can I say? He had it coming for what he did to Penny.

I don't think I've ever seen Dionysus relieved me until today, though. It was very short before he returned to his usual annoyed self, but I saw it.

The sigh of relief. The look him and Chiron shared as the two of them entered the meeting room of the Big House that was over crowded with having both off season, summers, and a few Roman Senate members as well in here.

Currently, I was sitting opposite of Reyna and Frank as they're the current Praetors of Camp Jupiter, with Tyson and Clarisse to either side of me, but everyone was here, so we were already arguing.

In a weird way, though, I missed the arguing, it was more of a comfort than I expected it to be. The Roman Senate was just so orderly and calm that it felt nice to be back in the chaos.

Reyna and Frank seemed very taken back by it as half of our counsel was bickering back and forth with each other, though, and Reyna looked at me as if to ask how do you guys get anything done like this?

Which was a great question that nobody in this room could answer.

"Alright, everyone, shut the fuck up!" I yelled over the like 8 people that were going at each other right now, and saw Frank and Reyna taken back even more because I swore in a meeting, standing up. "I haven't been home in 8 months and if you guys hold me here for another two hours because you can't stop arguing, I'll make it your problem."

It shut them up.

"Thank you," I said half sarcastically. "I know we love arguing, but we just finished a battle and need to make sure we can write a truce so this hopefully doesn't happen again because frankly, if there's another rebellion based war or battle at this camp, I'm going to lose my mind. Is anyone not okay with making a peace treaty between Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter?"

"Can I give them the new camper welcome?" Clarisse asked. "That's not an objection, I'm just wondering."

"If you're willing to suffer the consequences, go crazy."

Besides that, nobody spoke up, and so we drafted up the shabbiest treaty Camp Jupiter has probably ever seen, but it was good enough for us, so we signed it and then let everyone argue and bitter as Chiron trotted his way over to me as I stood up, ready to say hi to my friends, give them a hug, and leave.

"Welcome Back, by the way, Percy," Chiron said, earning my attention. "We missed you this summer, it was odd having Cabin 3 empty again, with Tyson helping Ella in California and all. Are you feeling alright?'

"Oh, uh, thanks," I said, shrugging as a few of my friends wandered over. "And I'll manage, I just really want to go home and hug my mom and sleep in my mom."

"Understandable, she's been anxiously waiting for you," Chiron responded with a smile. "take care of yourself, okay? Can we count on you coming back next summer?"

But I don't even want to think about that yet.

"Um... Probably, but I don't... Not if there's another battle or another anything like that," I told the centaur, who seemed to understand where I was coming from, giving me a sad, sympathetic smile. "These last eight months just... On top of those few months after my birthday just... I'm tired and I need a break, so please don't call me for a quest this year. I might... I almost didn't get through this summer, I can't do more."

"You've served more than enough, Percy, I'll do everything I can to ensure that you'll have some peace," he tried to reassure me. "But please take care of yourself and tell your mother I say hello. I should mediate, though. Have a good year, Percy. Don't hesitate if you need anything from us, okay?"

Telling him I'd keep that in mind, I turned to face my friends and was immediately grabbed in a nearly suffocating hug that threatened breaking a rib or two by Annabeth.

"If you ever go missing again—"

"You'll kill me, I'd expect nothing else, Wise Girl," I told her and she smiled, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, if I somehow have my memory wiped and I'm kidnapped by a goddess again, you won't have to worry about killing me, because I'll probably kill myself first."

Clarisse punched me.

"Say you're going to kill yourself again and I'll punch you in the face next time, Jackson."

"Missed you, too, Clarisse."

Looking over at Thalia, though, who was standing a little behind Annabeth, next to Reyna, I noticed something was off and I pointed, on me, to the spot where her silver crown thingy should be.

"Where..." But she shook her head, meaning she wasn't in the hunt anymore. "Wait, did you...?"

She nodded her head.

She came out.

"Without me!?" I asked, even though that wasn't the plan for either of us to come out at the same time, and I am already out to the people that I care about.

"Well I haven't told everyone," she insisted. "also, you already told a lot of people! I've only actually told like four people."

"You... What?" Grover asked, as confused as most everyone was. "I'm missing something. Should I know this already or should I be lost right now?"

"You should be lost," Thalia reassured the satyr. "Percy's just late to the party of not knowing that I'm not in the hunt anymore."

"You..."

Almost everyone shared the same, puzzled look that they were also late to this newer

"Wh... Since when?" My boyfriend asked her. "More importantly: why?"

"Well officially, it was some random day at the like, a week ago," she figured. "You guys were gone already. I just fucked around and caught feelings, so... It took Artemis way too long to actually kick me out, though."

"You caught feelings?" Annabeth did not know about this, evidently.

Thalia nodded her head.

"For... What? Who?"

Thalia nudged Reyna, who had been talking to Piper until she was nudged to turn her attention to Thalia and us.

"Hm?" Reyna asked.

"You wanted to be the one to say it," Thalia reminded her, and it clicked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" The Praetor recalled, lighting up a little bit. "Thalia and I are dating. We started going out... Two weeks ago? Yeah, two weeks ago. Surprise."

But the more all of us thought about it, it just kind of made sense.

"So yeah, I got kicked out of the hunt," Thalia repeated. "surprise, I'm a lesbian. That's what Percy and I were talking about because he's known for like, a year now."

"And he knew because...?" Clarisse reasonably questioned.

"Oh, we had a whole conversation about how a bunch of people asked if we would or if we were dating," I told Clarisse. "The only issue with that theory, though, is that Thalia's a lesbian and I'm gay, so... Not compatible. You were close when you guessed my type last summer. Though I'm assuming you know that by now, with everyone."

"Wh... No, nobody fucking told me that you came out," but the news hadn't reached Clarisse yet. "What the fuck, dude, when did this happen, and where was I in the whole ordeal?"

"Uh, here, probably," I figured, shrugging. "I only told two— not it was a few more then that, but less than 10 people before I went missing. The plan was to come out at New Years, but I went missing right before then, so..."

I grabbed my boyfriend's hand.

"Nico and I started going out last August, but nobody knew about it besides Rachel and my mom until after I went missing," I tried to reassure her that she didn't completely miss the news. "So props, you were close. Had you known that I'm gay, you probably would've nailed it."

"You two..."

Clarisse took a second for herself and sighed.

"I'm a fucking dumbass for missing that one, huh? Come on."

That besides the matter, though, she yelled back for a few of her friends and cabin mates and before I knew it, I was getting picked up with Nico, and even Thalia and Reyna got picked up as Clarisse and her gang made their way to the lake, and threw us Nico and I in at a spot a ways away from Thalia and Reyna, who also got dunked in the lake.

Rather than rush to the top, though, Nico and I sat on the bottom for a moment and shared what is probably the best underwater kiss of all time.

"I love you," Nico reminded me, knowing it makes me smile. "I'm going to miss being able to hang out every day."

"I will, too, but that's what IM and dates are for," I insisted, giving him another kiss. "I love you, too. Mom will definitely want to see you soon, though. Plus, our anniversary is coming up! We like, lived, so we can do something really cool and fun for that!"

"Oooh, and your birthday is soon," my boyfriend recalled. "I'll definitely be over before then, though. I promise. I miss your bed. We can plan stuff then."

"Sounds like a plan," I told him as we sat there together for another minute or so. "Shall we join the others so I can say goodbye?"

He sighed.

"We shall."