Percy Jackson

All things considered, it was extremely easy to sneak on board of the Princess Andromeda and find a vacant room to set up camp in for the night.

Tyson passed out almost immediately, and I don't blame him. I'm sure his young brain is exhausted.

It's still weird to think that we're technically brothers.

"Why is he with, by the way?" Annabeth asked as she got ready for bed. Ever since she came out to me at the Lotus last summer, she's seemed fairly nonchalant about getting changed around me, which I think is a good thing but I don't know how to feel about it because she's changing and sometimes I don't get a warning and accidentally see her boobs. "No offense, but he's a... You know..."

And I know that the boobs are fake and all, but they're still boobs. It feels very personal.

"Still what? New?" I responded, not wanting to have to defend my brothers existence. "I didn't want him to get hurt, but Mr. Mailman must've thought it was necessary if he summoned him."

"Mr. Mail— oh, yeah, duh." She figured, throwing some stuff in her bag. "I was going to say more that he's like, a child, but if Mr. Mailman says he has to be there, then I guess we'll figure out why. Sorry, I just..."

"Have a bad history with cyclopes? I know," I reassured the daughter of Athena that I didn't forget what she'd told me. "I promise that Tyson isn't a kidnapper or anything— like you said, he's still a kid. I'm getting used to it, too. We'll definitely get to spend a lot of time with each other this summer."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, joining me on the edge of the bed.

"Oh yeah, when your boyfriend isn't over eating your face off." And had it been the night before, I might've smiled at the joke. "Why were you out at the beach tonight anyways? I thought you were staying in cabin 11?"

But the fight wasn't that long ago, and I couldn't get it out of my head.

"Yeah, well... I guess after witnessing enough breakdowns and panic attacks, Travis no longer thinks of me then being more than mentally understood, so... Not boyfriends." I broke the news to Annabeth, who froze. "Yeah, so um... We got in a fight and I ended things and then I went on a walk and ran into his dad. It was... Weird, especially since I don't know how to feel about the gods."

"Aw, I'm sorry, Percy. I thought you guys would be a cute couple. That's shitty, though. We all have our fair share of issues, yours are just more... Visible, I guess? It's probably good that you don't bottle it all up. But what do you mean that you don't know how to feel about the gods? They're the gods."

Was Annabeth a bad person to test these waters with?

"Wh— I mean, yeah, they're the gods, you're right." I responded back, wanting to avoid a fight that I didn't have the energy to have. "I just mean like... Like so far, Mr. D is chill, but my dad and Clarisse's dad both kind of suck. Since I hadn't met him before, I didn't know how to feel about his presence."

"Oh, like personally!" But she took it in a way that I was glad didn't anger or frustrate her. "that's understandable. I was worried for a second that Luke rubbed off a little too well on you last summer— after he failed his quest, he really didn't like the gods. Like, as a whole. He didn't talk a lot about it, because of Mr. D, but there's a reason the unclaimed kids liked him so much, and that was it. I loved him and all, but he was not without flaw."

Nodding my head, I insisted that I could get that vibe from him, but that he never went into it around me.

Also, I'm definitely not anti establishment (I definitely am, and Olympus is not an exception to that rule).

After all, our goal here isn't to kill the gods— Luke may have been slightly idiotic when he took on a deal with Kronos, who does want to kill the gods, but that's not our goal.

Our goal is to make them realize that they're awful parents and to scare them enough to make them realize that if they don't change their ways, they will be killed.

Luke has found a lot of homeless, orphaned, and angry demigod this year. Some who used to go to camp, some who were at camp, and some who only knew that their parent was in New York and worked on the 600th for of the Empire State Building.

He still hasn't found Jason Grace.

He's been looking, though. That's what he spent most of his Christmas break doing before he came back to New York and ended up spending Christmas dinner with us.

"Oh, thank the gods," Annabeth responded with a sigh of relief. "you made me nervous last summer with that, you know? But it's good to know you don't want to like, destroy Western civilization. You seem tired, though, and your day was definitely longer than mine, so I'll take first watch, yeah? Get some sleep."

Just nodding my head, I agreed that I was exhausted and laid down, falling asleep before I could even get under the covers.

Tonight's dream was another update from Grover: compromising with his to be spouse about the wedding date— he got it up to seven days from five.

So, in order words, we had a week to save his ass.

Which, as long as we don't fall into some weird time trap again? I think it's very doable.

I miss my best friend a lot.

I'm going to give him the biggest hug when we find him.

•••
Annabeth Chase

I almost shit my pants when my phone started to ring a half hour into my night watch shift.

Demigods aren't supposed to have phones technically. They're basically rocket flares for monsters, but I ended up getting one this year because my dad was worried about a field trip I went on for a whole weekend with my school (as if I hadn't fended for myself for almost 6 years). It's supposed to be for energies only, being a demigod and all.

But, being a demigod, I'm the only person in my family who seems to understand that.

"Wh— Dad?" I whispered as I answered the call, not wanting to alarm the others. But both boys seemed to be dead to the world. "what time is it at home? Why are you calling? Did somebody get hurt or die?"

"Wh— no, Annie, everything's okay," my dad reassured me, calm and collected. "Sorry, I forget that there's a time difference now, I just figured I'd call and see how your first week was. I didn't wake you, did I? The boys also want to say hi, they're showing and getting ready for bed."

"O... Oh, okay." I figured, shrugging as I set my dagger next to me in case footsteps got too close to our door for comfort. "It was okay. Um... This is the first summer without Luke, which is weird, but not bad. I just miss him. And then Chiron also had to leave because somebody poisoned the camps border and we don't know who yet and it's kind of a mess, but I'm not at camp right now, so... Yeah."

"You're not at camp?" I could see a flash of panic surge through my dad when he heard that. "what do you... Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Am I... Yeah dad, I'm fine." I promised him. "I'm on a quest/rescue mission. Percy's also here, but he's asleep right now because it's super late. I'm just on first watch. Grover's in trouble, so we're going to help. Clarisse is also on a separate quest heading to the same place, but she leaves in the morning so... We'll see how it goes."

But upon hearing a certain boy's name, my dad had the audacity to raise an eyebrow.

"Ooooh, another quest with Percy?" The professor of history dated ask me. "Is he still impossible and annoying and idiotically, irritatingly attractive?"

If he wasn't a little picture in my phone, I would've punched my dad for bringing that up.

Yeah, woe is me and all that, because I somehow only develop crushes on people who I know I have no chances with. Luke? Too old for me and also basically my brother.

Percy? Well...

"Dad!" I snapped at him, but he only laughed. "it's not like that, okay? I promise that it'll never be like that."

My dad just smiled.

"Aw, sweetie, don't be down on yourself," but he took it differently than I meant. "I'm sure if you asked him out, he'd definitely agree."

"No, not like... If things were different, maybe," and I felt like an idiot talking to my dad about my impossible crushes, but here we were. "But it's not like I think he doesn't like me as a person— we're friends and whatever, but like... Percy's gay. I don't know if you remember him, or how much I told you about him, but Percy and Travis were kind of a thing last summer and then Travis was an ass and ended things super suddenly without a real reason, and then he apologized and they went on a date this morning apparently and then tonight they got in a fight so it's not going anywhere."

I paused, worried that Percy was secretly awake and eavesdropping.

After a moment without a response, I finished my thought.

"I'm pretty sure he has like, a massive crush on Grover," I admitted, watching my dad's jaw drop open. "I know, it's crazy, but I thought they were a thing last summer the first night on our quest. Percy insisted that they weren't, they just lived together for nine months because of school so he didn't mind physical touch from Grover. He hates it from almost everyone else— I don't really know why. He lets me give him a hug sometimes, though, which is improvement. He definitely has feelings for Grover, though— whether or not he's willing to admit it."

"And do you think Grover likes him?"

I groaned.

"Maybe? It was so hard to tell with Grover and I don't know if he's bi or straight or gay or what, so... Maybe I'll find out when we find him. If they like, have some dramatic reunion and something gay happens, I'll let you know. Also, have you sent my doctor's note yet?"

"I'm doing that tomorrow!" Dad promised me with a smile as I heard my little brothers run up to where he was with the phone. "your doctor was on vacation, so I just got the note after work today, but when you get back, you'll be cleared to go to whatever provider Mr. D recommends for your HRT Check in. He'll send another cycle to the camp pharmacy at the end of the month, as well. But I think two goofballs here are waiting to say hi to you before they have to go to bed."

"Anna! Hi!" Matthew said, waving as him and Bobby came into view before looking really confused. "Did somebody cut your boobs off? Where did they go?"

For reference, my brothers are only about 6 or 7 years old, the age I was when I ran away from home. They're both mortals, and their mom (my dad's wife and my stepmom) still doesn't really like me. While my brothers and my dad have been cool about the trans thing, she's been really weird and standoffish about it.

She dead names me regularly enough that it made me consider going back to camp over Christmas break.

My brothers are great, though. They don't have any memories of me when I wasn't Annabeth, so they really confused when my stepmom misgenders and deadnames me.

Also, their bedtime was before mine, so I don't know if they actually know that I'm trans.

"My— they're just in my bag, Matthew, it's okay," I promised him as I saw my dad try to hold it together and not make my brother feel stupid for asking a good question. "they come off at night because otherwise I'd be hard to sleep with them on. Silicone kind of like, sticks to things like blankets and bedsheets."

"Boobs can come off!?" Both of them asked, absolutely floored before Bobby continued. "But Mom's never taken her's off before!"

I couldn't help but smile.

"That's because her's don't come off," I tried to calm them down. "mine do because they're fake boobs, remember? That's why I have to go to the doctor every month, so that way I can eventually have boobs like mom's."

"Oh, yeah! Because sometimes Mom calls you a weird, different name," Bobby recalled, thinking to himself really hard. "so if your boobs aren't real... How do you pee?"

And I don't know how long the bastard has been awake, but even Percy wasn't able to hold back a giggle when he heard my brother ask me how I peed without boobs.

"How... Bobby, women don't pee through their boobs," I educated the two kindergarteners on basic female anatomy. "Do any of the girls in your classes have boobs?"

"Well... Just out teacher."

"Exactly." I pointed out. "The other girls in your class still have to pee, so they don't do it from their boobs. They pee just like you, but they don't have a penis. They just have two holes, and one of them is for peeing."

"What's the other hole for?"

"For little idiots like you to come out of."

"Oooooh," and unphased by what I just said, the two of them stood in deep thought next to dad. "Wait."

"Hm?" I asked.

"So if your boobs can come off," and bless their little hearts for thinking this is how it worked. "Do you also have a penis that can come off?"

Percy and my dad were trying real hard to keep it together.

"It... Doesn't come off." I broke the news, which seemed to disappoint them. "I know, it makes me sad, too. But it's bedtime, okay? For me, too."

"Okay!" They both exclaimed. "Goodnight, Anna!"

Saying goodnight back, I ended the call and could feel Percy shake from holding in the laugh.

I kicked his arm.

"I know you're awake, asshole." I insisted. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Hm? Oh, not much," Percy promised me, which felt like a lie. "just uh, enough to hear your brothers ask if your penis can come off and also to hear your dad mention a doctor's note and um..."

He sat up and looked at me.

"You're still bent on Grover and I being a thing?" He questioned as if he wasn't wearing a sweater that I know used to belong to Grover two years ago. "even after Travis?"

I rolled my eyes.

"If Travis resembles your type at all, Percy, physically," I pointed out. "then Grover is also your type. It's not my fault you guys act like newlyweds with each other."

"Okay, so? He's my best friend."

And, being related to my father, I think I'm pretty good at the eyebrow raise.

"What!?" He asked.

"He's your best friend," I responded. "You were going to sneak out of camp, which is super against the rules, to rescue him like a Prince Charming."

"I was sent on a quest, you were literally summoned by a god to help," the son of Poseidon reminded me. "Also, he asked for help! He's in a wedding dress right now, Annabeth!"

It was cute how defensive he was of the person he obviously had feelings for.

"So you're bringing rings?" I teased Percy, his face turning red. "I hope you packed nice clothes, I'll take photos on my phone if it's not dead by then."

"We're not—" he choked on his words before forcing an exhale. "We're not together, and we're not getting married. We're literally saving him from marrying a monster that would eat him otherwise. Also! Even if I had a crush on Grover— which I don't— at least it's not weird. You had a crush on Luke. Who's what? 19?"

"I... Like you've never had a crush on an older boy?"

"Not one that I actually knew." He denied. "Travis was technically older by like, a few months, but that's nothing like 6 years. It was painful watching you talk to him sometimes."

"I— I know, I never thought we'd actually get together." I gave in. "But that doesn't mean that you can't ask your crush out!"

"I don't have a crush!"

"You literally are in love with Grover."

"In what universe?"

"In the one where you leave camp without permission to go find him because you're so worried about losing him that you can't sleep for longer than an hour at a time." I answered, motioning to the clock where he could see that we only got on board an hour and a half ago. "Also, the universe where you're a walking ball of anxiety because your other half has been gone for nine months and he's one of the only people who knows how to effectively calm you down."

Percy sighed, debating if he's admit defeat.

"Okay, look," but it was hard not to laugh when he finally relented. "It was fine and normal last summer and everything was platonic and I had my thing with Travis and told nobody about it and then that ended and I was sad and Grover noticed and then on the last day of camp when we were saying goodbye he just like... Nonchalantly gave me a kiss on my forehead and we haven't talked about it since but I think about it lot, okay? It was very gentle and I was very emotional and very sad at the time, but it made me feel less sad, but still emotional because emotions are stupid."

I just smiled.

"Glad to see your able to at least address the fact that those feelings exist, Seaweed Brain," I told the son of Poseidon, who looked pretty tired again after the small defensive other. "Try to get some more sleep, alright? I'll wake you up to switch shifts in a couple hours."

"Are you sure? If you're tired I can take over."

"Percy, I'm okay," I promised him. "You're exhausted and had a very emotional day, especially after lunch. Get some sleep."

"Okay, okay," he gave in, slowly settling back in. "But if you need me..."

He was out cold.

"Goodnight, Seaweed Brain. Try not to drool all over the pillow."