A/N: This wasn't supposed to take this long. I got a prompt on tumblr, and it took me a little longer to right than I thought because I actually had to think about it. It is obviously to be continued.
The raft was gently deposited on the beach by the tide and Percy stepped off onto the sand of Camp Half-blood. The moon was high and the entire camp was silent – clearly it was after curfew – but Percy couldn't help but feel uneasy. Something just felt off, like it was quite the same place it had been the last time he set foot there.
"P-Percy?" A male voice interrupted his musings, and he spun around with Riptide in his hand. Standing behind him was a boy who looked to be about his age; a couple inches shorter with dark, curly hair a slight olive tone to his skin, and a slightly beat up bomber jacket that looked oddly familiar. In fact, the boy looked really familiar. If he was shrunken and his features were softer, he would look exactly like Nico. Then Percy saw the midnight black sword hanging from his waist and the skull ring.
"Nico? Shit, how did you get so… tall?" Percy had to pause in his question, he had almost said hot. But he was, he looked healthy and really gorgeous. He walked slowly closer, like he had seen a ghost, until he was standing right in front of him. His eyes searched his face, before his shocked expression contorted into one of anger and his fist flew across Percy's cheek.
"You complete asshole! Do you even know how long we looked for you? How long I looked for you?" Nico threw his arms around and his yelling switched languages and gradually grew louder as Percy stood up.
"Dude! Calm down! I don't speak Italian! I didn't even know you spoke Italian!" Percy tried to appease Nico.
"That isn't the point! The point is that you can't just show up after everyone thought you were dead for so long! I looked for you for six months! Six months, Percy! Even though I knew you weren't dead, I eventually had to give up, too!" Nico continued to rant, reverting back to English.
"What? Six months? I was only gone for three weeks–"
"You have been missing for three years. After a month you were presumed dead. I still kept looking, but Annabeth was miserable. She is going to be sooooo pissed; I had to comfort her for so long. She was miserable!"
"So, you guys are dating then?" Percy asked tentatively, he recognized the tightening in his chest as jealousy, but wasn't sure if it was of Nico, who might be hooking up with a girl that he was dancing around feelings for, or of Annabeth, who would be hooking up with Nico.
He just gave him a look that said you are ridiculous. "No. I'm gay, Percy. I came out last year. You would know, if you had been here!" He continued shouting. Percy was speechless, which was a good thing because it gave Nico time to take a deep breath and calm himself down. "Look, let's just go to the big house and talk to Chiron. He'll deal with this."
Percy nodded and followed him.