Piper was not really in the mood for some Percy/Annabeth drama.

It was kind of funny, really, how Percy had been the glue to unite the seven, but where were the seven when Percy needed them to reunite him with Annabeth? Not helping much, Piper guessed.
It had happened approximately two hours ago, not that Piper had been counting.

It was one of those weekends when the Romans visited, basically Piper's favorite hours of the month, because she could see Jason and be with him and cuddle and -they were seventeen for the Gods' sake!- have sex. It's not like her mother didn't approve, anyway...
That night however, the guys had suggested that they stick together for a few hours after the campfire, so they had been hanging out in Cabin One, where Jason was supposed to be sleeping, just the eight of them, as Nico was considered as part of the group as any of them, and besides, he had known Percy and Annabeth for years before the seven answered the call.

Annabeth had been trying to comb Hazel's untamed hair, while Hazel painted Piper's toenails a bright red, while Piper braided Annabeth's blond hair.
The boys had been sitting on different bunks and just talking random things and commenting the weird positions the girls were sitting in on the floor, and - how in Hades were the three of them doing that anyway?
Piper had been braiding Annabeth's hair a lot, since Tartarus.

When Percy and Annabeth had come out from the Doors of Death, bloody, filthy and terribly tired and scarred, with a broken ankle (Annabeth) and other serious injures (both) they had nonetheless taken part in the final battle in Epirus.
When it was all over, the two of them had to be taken back to the Argo II by Frank the elephant, cause they weren't even able to stand.
Back at Camp Half-Blood, after the first month of physical recovery, Piper had started wondering if they would ever really heal. They wouldn't let go of each other for more than ten minutes (just the essential amount of minutes for shower and personal hygiene), they would sit together at Poseidon's table during meals, not even Mr D would say anything, and they would, of course, be sleeping together in Cabin Three every night. No one would complain. Night was the worst part. That was when the nightmares came and the shrieking began. But they would hold each other, and slowly returned to a half-normal life.

The daughter of Aphrodite had taken Percy and Annabeth's return to sanity as a personal responsibility. So whenever Piper wasn't at class or on duty elsewhere, or didn't feel like she was intruding their privacy, she was with them. She always knew where to find them anyway. It was either the beach of Poseidon's cabin. One day she sat beside Annabeth as she watched Percy sleep, and putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder, she clasped a strand of her blond hair and had started to play with it in what she hoped was a soothing way. It was. So she had started braiding it. Annabeth's body had somehow relaxed. From that moment on, it had become Piper's habit to braid her hair. For Percy and Annabeth's sake.

Now, over two years later, there were still some moments when their gaze became distant and they had to hold on tighter to the other, there were still times when Annabeth woke the Camp with loud screams at night and Percy had to run to her cabin to comfort her, but Piper knew that they were as close as possible to ok, at least back to their true selves.

"Wanna do something?" Frank asked at one point.

"How about a game of truth or dare?" Jason suggested.

"Yeah, man. Percy must love dares," Leo said.

"Not sure what you meant, but that's fine with me," Percy said innocently.

"Oh come on, buddy. We hear camp gossip."

"If you're talking about quests-"

"Not that. I said you love dares. Gods, Annabeth I knew your boyfriend was dumb, but not that dumb!"

Annabeth had been listening absent-mindedly to the conversation, but she tilted her head at the sound of her name.

"What has he done this time?" she asked dramatically.

"He doesn't understand my elusive implications. Or maybe he's smarter than we give him credit for and he's pretending not to."

"I still don't understand what's this about," Percy said hopelessly.

"I'll get you on that one later, Perce. Now guys, do you swear on the River Styx to only say the truth and nothing else but the truth?"

They all swore on River Styx.

"Percy! Truth or dare?"

He shook his head, "I don't know what you were talking about, Valdez, but you sure scared me pretty much with that nonsense, so I'm gonna choose truth."

Leo smirked, "That's what I thought, Jackson. Here's your question. Did anything romantic ever happen between you and our dear Oracle Rachel Elizabeth Dare? If so, what exactly?"

Nico went pale. Percy immediately blushed. Annabeth looked at him, stern. Percy blushed even more.

"That's – that's not fair!" he stuttered, "That's two questions!"

"Just answer the second one, then," Leo grinned, "And remember, you swore on the Styx."

Piper was not sure Percy could blush any further, but when Annabeth clearly gave him a death glare, he did.

Nico swore in Ancient Greek under his breath.

"Annab–" Percy tried to say, but Leo stopped him, "Answer, buddy."

All eyes were on him as he stood up.

"Okay," he took a deep breath and looked directly at Annabeth, "There – there was one kiss. We were driving along South Shore and Rachel was talking about a girl and a boy hypothetically liking each other and when would the stupid guy kiss the girl and only then it hit me that she was probably talking about us and I don't know what I would've done if Blackjack hadn't landed on my ca–"

"A Pegasus landed on your car?" Hazel asked.

"My stepdad's, technically. And Beckendorf was on him, and he said it was time. So Rachel told me to slay some monsters for her and kissed me. It was very brief, I swear. Beckendorf was the only one to– wait a minute, how did you little shit find out?" he turned to Leo. "For the gods' sake, Beckendorf died on that mission! How–?"

"Must've texted Silena on the way to the Princess Andromeda," Nico suggested.

"Or maybe Rachel told someone…" Jason said.

"Well, that's sucktastic, really," Percy said, crossing his arms.

Leo smirked, "You thought nobody knew? That's surprising, since everyone–"

"The real surprising thing," Annabeth stopped him as she too stood up, "is how I'd never heard of it before." Her gray eyes shone with anger.

Okayyyy, Piper thought. She's starting to become scary.

She knew she had to try and calm her. "Annabeth, sweetheart, Percy probabl–"

"Percy and I will solve this ourselves, thank you very much," Annabeth said coldly.

"Hades is about to break loose," Frank muttered.

"Hey!" shouted Nico and Hazel together.

"Sorry guys."

"Perseus Jackson," Annabeth began. "Were you planning on ever telling me?"

"Annabeth, calm down. It's not like anything happened!" he tried to defend himself.

"That's gross, coming from you, Mr-I-Snogged-Rachel-Elizabeth-Dare!"

"Hey! Don't – Listen, Annabeth it– it doesn't matter. It was just a kiss and it happened long ago and besides, we weren't even dating back then, you can't exactly–"

"What?"

"It's not like– cheating on you or anything. You don't have the right to yell at me for–"

"Oh, now I don't have the right to be angry with my boyfriend!"

"No, you don't! You can't tell me what to do!"

"I can't believe you did that."

"Annabeth– you can't get angry about something that happened over three years ago!"

"Who says what I can't get angry about? You've been hiding it from me all these years!"

"It was nothing, I swear, just one time and Rachel dumped me shortly after anyway… and it's not like I was hiding anything. It just hasn't come up."

"I thought I had been your first kiss! but whatever –"

"You were! In the Labyrinth –"

" – it's not like you were mine, so…"

"Wait, WHAT?"

"Yeah you heard me Kelp Head!"

"Who – who was he?"

"Oh just a random bloke at the boarding school Thalia and I attended after she came back to human form, before she became a Hunter. And I'll have you know, it was great!" she shouted.

"And you talk about me hiding things! You're barking mad and completely illogical!" he shouted back.

The others' heads went back and forth watching Percy and Annabeth like in a tennis match.

"I'm a daughter of Athena, illogical your ass!"

"Oh really? In the name of the gods, explain to me why in Hades were you going around snogging boarding-schoolers if you were desperately in love with Luke then!"

"You did not just say that," she said. Her voice was soft, but made Piper's skin twitch. It was even worse than her death glare. It made Jason instinctively reach for his sword.

But Percy didn't seem affected by her killer tone. For once, he didn't back off.

"What if I did?" he asked, raising his chin as if challenging her.

Annabeth stayed quieter for a second more than Piper would have expected, her always having the right answer and all. "I am so done," she simply said. Then she stormed off of Cabin One.

Percy stood alone in the middle of the room. Ten long seconds passed.

Then Leo broke the silence with an awkward "Oops…"

Percy didn't even bother to murder him on the spot. But even if he had, Piper would not have blamed him. After all, it was Leo's fault. He had started it all with that stupid game and those stupid allusions and that stupid question.

"If Annabeth breaks up with me," he started very calmly "I am so going to drown you, Valdez"

Leo didn't have a snide retort for that. Or maybe deep down really did he care for his life just a little. Leo was never out of remarks.

The son of Poseidon crossed the room with three long strides and then he too was out.

"I'm screwed," Leo said.

Piper felt really sorry for what had happened between Percy and Annabeth, but she guessed they would have to deal with it themselves. She was of course more than willing to help if either came to her.

But they didn't.

In the shadows of the night she only saw Annabeth's curls at first. Then she noticed her whole body, sitting on the dock of the canoe lake, her hands supporting her chin. Piper motioned for Jason to keep quiet. Then, a few feet away, she saw something move behind the bushes. She crept closer to the Arts and Crafts building, not wanting to be seen. Suddenly, Percy came out of the bushes, swearing.

"Has this step always been here?" he asked to no one in particular, pulling some leaves out of his hair.

Piper fought the urge to giggle at the thought of Percy Jackson, the almighty son of Poseidon and twice savior of Olympus, tripping over a step.

Annabeth turned at the sound of his voice. Her eyes were swollen. Percy walked to where she was and sat unceremoniously next to her.

"Sure, Seaweed Brain, sit with me," Annabeth uttered ironically but still cold.

Well at least she's back to Seaweed Brain. She doesn't really wanna kill him, Piper thought.

She got the feeling Jason didn't exactly want to spy on a private moment, but she didn't really feel like leaving without knowing if those two were okay. It was not spying.

"Did you trip?"

"Yeah. Never seen that step before."

"You're hopeless."

"I know."

They fell into silence. Piper hoped one of them would eventually apologize and they'd start making out, so she and Jason could go find themselves another spot to make out and Leo would not be murdered and everyone would be happy, but of course, the two morons had to start arguing again.

"Are you at least going to say that you're sorry?" Annabeth asked.

"For yelling at you or for not telling you that a girl-who's-unable-to-date and I shared a kiss three years ago? Or maybe for being kissed in the first place? You're mental."

"Well, if you think so, I don't see why we're having this conversation at all, then," she replied as sharp as her dagger.

"I thought you might want to talk. About the random dude and the first kiss and not telling me that."

"But why would I have to tell you? Like you said, it's not like you and I were dating or anything. And it's not like you know him anyway. There would've been no point in telling you. But I know Rachel. That's the really angering thing."

"I don't see how that changes anything," he said quickly.

"It just does, okay?" she snapped.

"Let me know when you've sorted it out," Percy said before walking away.

A few moments passed. Jason looked at his girlfriend suggesting that they leave, when Annabeth suddenly uttered her name, "I know you're out there Pipes, come here."

Piper froze. How in Tartarus had Annabeth sensed her presence? She came forward and took Annabeth's hands.

"I'm sorry Jason, could you…?"

"Yeah," he simply said and walked away like Percy did a minute ago, just less angry.

"We weren't spying on you or anything, we were just looking for a make-out spot, since the others are still in Jason's cabin but then we saw you and Percy arrived and you guys started arguing and–"

"Pipes, it's okay. I'm actually glad you're here. You're kind of my best friend, you know."

"Yeah, you're kind of my best friend too."

That wasn't exactly true. Since the first time Piper had seen Annabeth in action, she had wanted to get to know her so bad. Sure, they had become friends. But all those months Piper lived at Camp Half-Blood before sailing for New Rome, she had wanted to find herself a place in the older girl's life, like she wanted Annabeth to trust her, to consider her more than just another girl from Camp. Since the first time she had seen her, she had wanted to be Annabeth's best friend. Piper had never had a girl best friend before, whereas Annabeth had. It was Thalia Grace, Jason's new found older sister. Piper had wanted Annabeth to think of her as her best friend for so long, it was actually moving to hear those words out loud.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But it's okay, mortal couples fight all the time. And I hear make-up sex is just great–"

"Piper, I don't think we're gonna have a make-up bang anytime soon."

Piper was shocked. "Annabeth, you can't possibly mean you're seriously thinking about dumping Percy. That guy is the fucking best thing that has ever happened to you! He's sweet and loyal and loves you more tha–"

"Hold on, I never said I was gonna dump him. I just mean… I need time to think about this."

"Gods of Olympus, Annabeth! Why do you Athena kids always have to overthink stuff? It's love, not the Battle of Thermopylae!"

"I know Pipes, but I just need to process the fact that he–"

"Honestly, how can you be angry at him when you've done the exact same thing?"

"On whose side are you?"

"Love is impartial. And I'll have you two to make-up before the morning. And I'll call Mom if I have to."

She let the threat hover between them. Annabeth remained silent. Good.

Then: "Aphrodite would never bother to herself for us."

"I think she may, you guys are one of her favorite couples, like ever. And even if you're right and my mom won't help, I could always charmspeak you guys into apologizing, anyway."

Annabeth sighed. "Can I just–"

"NO! Cabin Three, now!"

"You know, you're so annoying when you're in control."

"Go." She didn't even feel bad about charmspeaking her. It's not like Annabeth didn't want to go after Percy anyway, she was just too stubborn and proud to admit it. She needed a little help from Piper.

She watched Annabeth leaving and then returned to Cabin One, where the others were still chatting.

"Okay guys, I think I've solved our Percy/Annabeth problem. All of you, off to your cabins now. I'll see you in the morning, goodnight."

Leo smirked, but didn't make a single comment about Piper staying. He had created enough problems for one evening.

As everybody else went out, Piper turned to Jason. "Hey there."

"Hi again, Love."

He wrapped his arms around her as she kissed him. Jason kissed her back for a moment, then he broke away, "You didn't lock Percy and Annabeth anywhere, did you? They are willingly doing whatever they're doing right now, right?"

"Well, I might or might not have charmspoken Annabeth a bit, but it was totally her decision. Now shut up and kiss me."

She was pretty sure she hadn't put any charmspeak into that, but the way he obeyed, she might as well have.

The next morning as the two of them headed out for breakfast, not even caring if anyone saw them coming out of the same cabin, they spotted two familiar faces sitting on a bench just outside the dining pavilion.

Piper's eyes met Annabeth's and grinning, she mouthed so, how was the make-up sex?

Annabeth stuck out her tongue in response, which the daughter of Aphrodite interpreted just fine for wonderful, thanks for the tip.

Percy suddenly pulled Annabeth in for a kiss, and as she and Jason kept walking towards the pavilion, Piper squealed at the now happy couple and Jason held her tighter and whispered something in her ear.

"Pipes… your Aphrodite is showing."

AN: Hope you enjoyed it! I'm sorry for any possible grammar mistake, but unfortunately, I wasn't born a native English speaker, nor do I live in an English speaking country. This story took me a lot to write, and I would love to hear what you have to say about it!

Love,

Ginny_theQueen