Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.

Percy locked the door to his room, making sure he and Nico wouldn't be disturbed. His mom and Paul would never understand. Well, Paul might – but he'd have to keep up appearances in front of his wife.

"We're finally alone, Nico," Percy said quietly.

Nico sat on his bed, looking pale and skinny but excited. "I can't wait," he whispered.

Percy knelt beside his drawer, rummaging through underwear and socks until he found it. He held it up for Nico to see. Nico grinned, bouncing slightly on the bed.

"Want me to help you unwrap it?" Nico asked.

"No, I've got it," Percy said. He gazed at Nico, the silence hanging charged and full of tension between them.

He took it out of its wrapper and stared at it for a moment. "I've never seen it this close before," he confessed.

"Me neither," Nico said.

"So we're both new at it?"

"Looks like it."

"This might be awkward."

"Things are always awkward with you, Percy."

"Gee, thanks."

Percy put it in, and the two boys got to it.

Sally and Paul sat in their room, both staring wide-eyed in horror at the laptop.

"Oh. My. Gods," Sally said.

"I..." Paul found he'd lost all words.

"We let them share a room, Paul! What if this happens?" Sally gestured desperately at the screen, where words describing a scene of unimaginable horror decorated a benign white background. Fanfiction. Sally rued the day she ever discovered it.

"I..."

"I'm going to go check on them!" Sally exclaimed. She practically tore out of the room.

Once she got to Percy's room, she was horrified by the pants and gasps that came from it.

"Harder, Percy!" she heard Nico whisper-shout.

"I'm coming!" Percy replied.

Using the emergency keys stored on top of the door frame, Sally opened the door.

"Stop, Percy!" she shouted. "This isn't right!"

Two guilty boys stared at her.

"Mom," Percy said awkwardly. "This...this isn't what it looks like."

He and Nico held game controllers in their hands. The wrapper from a game disc lay discarded on the ground. On the TV, what looked like hordes of green-skinned monsters attacked two muscular warriors. Suddenly, Game Over oozed across the screen in red letters.

"You didn't hit the boss hard enough and now we lost!" Nico complained.

"Well, I was trying! You were the one who ran away from the fight like a coward!"

"And who was the one who tried to follow?"

"What was I supposed to do, take them all on by myself?"

"Boys!" Sally said, hiding her relief and embarrassment with anger. "It's almost two in the morning! What do you two think you're doing?"

"Sorry, Mom," Percy said sheepishly.

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson," Nico said.

Sally sighed. "Well, I guess it could've been worse." How could she have doubted her baby like that? Fanfiction. Ruining relationships. She swore to herself never to read it again, knowing though that she would never keep that promise.

Sally sighed again and left the room, leaving behind two mystified boys.

"What was she sighing about?" Percy asked Nico.

"Who knows?"

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