Percy Jackson was having a mental breakdown.
If you were to ask him, he would have said everything was fine. He was a demigod; everything was always fine. However, if you just took the time to just study him one day, you'd notice the signs. His eyes were constantly flickering to lock gazes with empty patches of air, his smile seemed just a tad bit strained, and every so often his eye would develop a twitch. And the worst part was, it seemed completely random and unconnected to everything else.
The rest of the crew was worried.
At the moment, the Son of Poseidon was in his room, reading. The book was in Ancient Greek, which of course negated his dyslexia, and it detailed all known facts about demigod powers. He was veritably engrossed in the book, so much so that when Jason knocked on the door, he didn't even glance up.
"Come in!" the raven-haired boy called, flashing the Son of Jupiter a grin before returning to his book. "Hey there, flying bug zapper. What's up?" he asked, his eyes still scanning the pages, and Jason bit his lip before getting to the point.
"Perce, the crew's worried about you. These last couple of days you've been really distracted. You randomly stare off into space, you've, ah, developed a nervous tic, and now you're rocking back and forth while you read," he said frankly, and Percy blinked before looking down at himself.
So he was.
"It's worrying, and a little bit creepy, so we wanna know if anything's wrong," Jason concluded, worried himself, but he was barely acknowledged by Percy. The boy had gone back to his book.
"Okay, now that's just rude," Jason groused in annoyance, stepping forward and plucking the book out of his hands, "What are you even reading about that's so interesting, anyways?"
"Blocking my powers out," the now-annoyed Son of Poseidon snapped, taking a swipe at the book, but Jason held it out of reach and eyed him with speechless incredulity.
"Why?!" the blond questioned after finding his voice again.
The slightly-insane demigod blushed, averting his eyes and biting his lip. "Nothing you need to worry yourself about," he assured unconvincingly, making another grab for the book, but Jason put it behind his back.
"I think I do need to worry, because it's obviously something that's making you tear your hair out. C'mon Perce, we're worried," he implored, and with the worry and concern shining in his eyes, Percy felt his resistance crumbling.
"Fine. But...don't laugh," Percy made him promise, and at Jason's nod averted his eyes in embarrassment.
"I...I can, uh…" Percy began awkwardly, then sighed in annoyance and continued, "I can sorta kinda.." quieting down to a mumble halfway through.
"Pardon?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow, and Percy huffed
"I can sorta kinda..." he repeated hesitantly, but once again it was lost to mumbling.
"Speak up, Jackson!" Jason ordered, annoyed, and though he wasn't praetor anymore his voice still held authority.
"I can sense when you guys shower, okay?!" he barked in embarrassment, color flooding his cheeks as Jason stared incredulously, "I can feel the water, running through the pipes, and falling through the air, and streaming d-down your b-bodies..,"
Percy blushed even more furiously as Jason began snickering. "C-can you now?" he got out through his laughs, making Percy blush even more.
"Yes, I can. And you wouldn't be laughing if it was you," he said hotly.
"Pretty sure I would," Jason said with a grin, but with an angry glare, Percy explained further.
"The water makes outlines of you guys. It's like having silhouettes acting everything you do in there," he said primly, and Jason's expression promptly turned to one of surprised embarrassment. "Exactly!" Percy yelled triumphantly.
"Can't you just...I dunno, ignore us? Read a book, play a video game?" Jason asked with a blush, sounding sort of desperate.
"Sometimes, but then it'll flicker across my mind and I won't be able to distract myself again," Percy admitted, and Jason gave an exasperated sigh.
"Great. Now I'm gonna be self-conscious in the shower," he moaned, sitting down on Percy's bed and burying his face in his hands, and with a quick glance at the door Percy patted a hand on his back in comfort.
"At least it's not Leo that can sense it," he said, and Jason's head shot up, staring at Percy in mortification before he groaned and flopped onto his back.
"You can hear that? Like, through the vibrations of the water or something?" he asked in a resigned sounding voice, but Percy blinked in confusion.
"What? No, that's ridiculous. We can hear that through the thin walls," he said bluntly, and Jason groaned even louder before he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.
Suddenly Percy stiffened, then flopped back next to Jason. "Great," he moaned, "Someone's turning on the shower,"
Jason felt his lips quirk, but he forced the smile back and asked, "Is it really that horrible? I mean sure, you know more about us than you ever wanted to, but you'll get used to it. Like, 'oh, Leo's taking a shower. Good to know'."
"Most of you, yeah," Percy agreed, turning his head to look at Jason slightly as he admitted in embarrassment, "But there's...a certain person..."
"You mean your 'stormy-eyed seductress'?" Jason asked with a smirk, and at Percy's gaping look he advised, "Perhaps you should put a lock on your book."
Percy flushed and smacked Jason on the arm, protesting, "That's private!"
"So're the things you draw," Jason said airily, "I mean really. What would Annabeth say if she saw how you draw her?"
"Probably something along the lines of 'KILL IT, KILL IT WITH FIRE'!" Percy said sadly.
Then suddenly his eyes flickered closed as he shuddered, letting out a sort of small whimper. Jason stared at him in concern and slight embarrassment as the Son of Poseidon regained his wits, explaining to Jason in a slightly rough voice, "It's Annabeth taking a shower."
"So?" he asked in slight confusion, and Percy twitched a bit.
"So, every drop of water in that bathroom is an extension of my senses! It's like having a thousand fingertips running down her body but not being allowed to touch!" he explained hotly, glancing every few seconds in the direction of the bathroom, but when Jason still looked skeptical he explained further, "Imagine having Leo sprawled out right in front of you and not being allowed to even look."
"Oh dear Gods, you poor boy," Jason sympathized loudly in sudden understanding, reaching out and pulling Percy to his chest as if to protect him from his own powers. Percy merely raised an eyebrow and gently extracted himself from the son of Jupiter's grip, smiling slightly at his teasing grin.
"What's wrong!?" Nico demanded as he burst into the room with his Stygian iron blade drawn, stopping in confusion as he saw only a completely calm Percy and Jason.
"Everything's fine, Nico. Percy's just antsy over his powers," Jason explained smoothly, tactfully keeping Percy's particularly attuned sense of Annabeth out, but it didn't seem to matter.
"Finally realized he can sense us in the shower, did he?" Nico asked with a smirk, trying to hold himself back from snickering, but he was unable to at Percy's flabbergasted expression.
"How do you know about it?" Jason inquired curiously, and he gave him a wide grin.
"Persephone asked me to record his reaction," he admitted, going over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room and plucking a camera from its place there. He dropped it into his pocket as he admitted casually, "It seems Aphrodite's been...whispering to her about things."
"Yeah, well, that's not all. There's a certain person that gets to him more than the others..." Jason hinted, flinching back as Percy smacked him on the arm, but Nico only looked confused for all of half a second before understanding flashed smugly across his face.
"You mean his 'stormy-eyed seductress'?" he asked with another snicker, and once again, Jason burst out laughing at Percy's mortified expression.
"How do you know about that?!" the poor boy demanded in a high, hysterical voice, and Nico raised an eyebrow at him.
"You should hide that book of yours better," he advised conversationally, and Percy fumed, twitching slightly.
"Something happening? I could sense the feelings of bloodlust from the crow's nest," Frank explained from the door, and at Nico's raised eyebrow added hastily, "I got Piper to cover for me 'til I get back."
The eyebrow went back to its original place.
"Percy can sense us in the shower and is getting all worked up about a certain person he can't ignore," Jason explained shortly.
Before Percy could add anything, the shape shifter asked in amusement, "You mean his 'stormy-eyed seductress'?"
"Does everyone know about that?!" Percy exploded angrily, but Frank merely shrugged.
"I dunno about them, but my stepmom is Aphrodite. Dad sometimes lets a few things slip when he's arguing with himself," he told them.
Percy twitched at this news, asking in a voice full of barely-controlled anger, "Do they usually argue about me?"
Frank, ironically oblivious to Percy's near-warlike state of mind, replied, "Oh yeah, all the time. Ares proposes killing you at least three times a day, but dad always tells him no, Athena and Minerva would murder them both at the same time for taking away Annabeth's little flame."
Jason raised an eyebrow and Nico snickered once again, but Percy merely grew even more angry. "Great. Now deities other than Aphrodite are messing in my love life," he groused, glaring at the ceiling in aggravation, "Next thing you know I'll get locked in Hephaestus' forge."
"Hold on, back up," Nico interrupted suddenly, turning to assess Frank with a critical gaze, "Annabeth's little flame?"
The child of war froze, looking incredibly like a deer caught in the headlights as Jason and Percy pinned him with their gazes as well. Sighing in resignation, he admitted, "Yeah. Aphrodite told him that she's even more crazy for Percy after that whole thing with Tartarus, but she won't admit it. Even to herself."
"What? Why not? She was all for him before all this stuff with Gaea started," Jason asked in confusion, and Frank glanced over his shoulder as if the daughter of Athena would be standing right there behind him. When it turned out she wasn't, he leaned in a little and lowered his voice.
"Something about a dire curse whispered in her ear."
Percy stared at him a second longer, then calmly got to his feet.
"And just where are you going?" Nico drawled as Percy scooped up some clothing from his dresser and made his way to the door.
"I feel like a shower," he said over his shoulder as he left the room.