„Wake up, Percy." Soft groan escaped out of Sea Prince's lips.

„Wh't? Ann'b'th, s'th't y'u?" Huff sounded through his cabin.

„No, it's Aphrodite. Of course it's me, Seaweed Brain! Now wake up before I kick you out of your bed!" Percy groaned once again and rolled over as door slammed shut.

Annabeth and he were on quite rocky ground since their return from Tartarus. They still pretended they were madly in love, but it just got harder and harder as days passed. After all, their love was purely platonic and they were both gay – to a point.

Stifling a yawn, Percy rose up and leisurely dressed up in Greek armor. Today was the day: Romans were finally coming over for a friendly capture-the-flag game to celebrate their victory over Gaea, and as a former praetor he had to greet them. He didn't look forward to it: although Hazel and Frank were nice, that sorry excuse of an augur called Octavian got on his last nerve, and some of the senators were, if that was even possible, worse than him. And it's my birthday tomorrow, Percy thought morosely. Because of this, I won't be with my mum at home. Yeah, just a perfect birthday present.

"Perseus Jackson, if you don't hurry up I'll kick your podex from here to Camp Jupiter!" Annabeth shrieked outside his doors.

"Coming, coming!" he yelled back and rushed out, hoping that everything will end up fine. But with my luck, he snorted mentally, something's bound to go wrong.

.

"Hello, Percy!" Hazel hugged him and Frank patted him on the back.

"Hey Frank, hey Hazel." He didn't have to pretend happiness when son of Mars and daughter of Pluto were around: cheeriness radiated off of them so much, it was contagious. He stepped away, releasing Hazel. "You look good."

"Same to you, Percy." She frowned. "Something wrong?" He shook his head; unfortunately, his friend wasn't convinced.

"Percy, has something happened between you and Annabeth? Did you have a fight?" Percy chuckled nervously.

"Haze, it wouldn't be us if we don't argue sometimes. Besides, that's how our friendship started: she insulted me." Two of the Seven stared incredulously at him, but Octavian chose exactly that moment to make his grand entrance.

"Why are we even here, praetor Zhang! They're Greeks, they cannot be trusted! I say we…" Suddenly he shut up. Percy turned around and immediately found out the reason: Ghost King stood behind the augur, one hand raised and shadow tied over the prick's mouth.

"Welcome back Nico", Percy sighed in happiness. "Your dad sent you here, huh?" Ambassador of Pluto nodded jerkily.

"A little birdie told me that someone here doesn't know when to keep his loud mouth shut." Percy gaped then exploded into laughter, soon followed by Hazel and Frank.

"T-T-Tha-at-at i-is a go-o-od one", wheezed Frank as his girlfriend clutched on him. Reyna barely suppressed her smile; the same, however, could not be said for her fellow legionnaires. Their laughter was loud enough to make their Greek peers interested, and soon a small circle was formed with Greeks on one side and Romans on the other.

"Pups, enough!" Lupa ordered as she lithely jumped next to the praetors. In a record time everyone's faces were serious again while Percy, Nico and newly arrived Annabeth and Clarisse bowed to the she-wolf.

"Lady Lupa", Percy greeted. "It is pleasure to see you again." Addressed goddess grinned, and given her wolf form it gave her slightly fearsome aura.

"Indeed. It is good to see one of my pups alive even if he's Greek, son of Neptune." Percy grinned right back.

"Why thank you. I, Perseus Jackson, invite you to the Camp Half-Blood", he raised his voice and the barrier shimmered.

"Welcome, children and patron of Rome", Annabeth flawlessly continued, "to the Greek territory."

.

Chiron waited for them near the Big House, nervously pounding his hoof.

"Oh cool down Chiron", Dionysus lazily said drinking Diet Coke. "If the brats hadn't killed each other on the battlefield of Olymphos, they won't kill each other now."

"Mr. D 's right", Piper tried to ease Greek campers' nerves, adding only a hint of charmspeak into her voice. "It's not like they will anger the gods by killing either of their children. They are our guests, not the other way around."

"Here they come!" someone from Apollo cabin shouted and everyone stood at ready. Campers stood by their cabins, head counselors in the front holding cabin banners, or in case of Athena and Ares, second-in-commands. Hunters of Artemis weren't there but Thalia was, hinting on their later arrival.

The first thing they could see was a welcoming committee: Percy and Annabeth on the far left, Clarisse and Nico on the far right and in between two praetors and a...

"Is that a wolf?" Lieutenant of Artemis asked incredulously.

"She-wolf", Jason corrected, standing alone for Zeus. "Lupa, mother and patron of Rome. She's Chiron's counterpart." Chiron nodded.

"That she is." Smile spread over his face. "It has been a long time since we talked civilly, Lupa and I." Before anyone could comment, centurions, Hazel and Octavian appeared, followed by the whole Twelfth Legion.

"Whoa", Will muttered, his sentiment echoed by the rest of the campers. "I thought Percy exaggerated when he said they have about two hundred campers."

"Oh, is that my counterpart?" Rachel chirped sitting beside camp director, pointing to Octavian. She frowned. "I have to say, he does look like a teddy-slaying, backstabbing scarecrow." Greeks erupted into laughter as Romans approached.

"What's so funny, people?" Percy shouted. "Didn't we agree on being serious for once?"

"You didn't hear Rachel's commentary about Octavian!" Leo shouted back, new wave of laughter overcoming him. Percy smirked with the majority of Romans.

"Pray tell, Leo. We need some laugh here." Piper answered, seeing as everyone else was laughing too hard.

"She said, quote unquote, 'He does look like teddy-slaying, backstabbing scarecrow.'" Needless to say, the only ones not rolling around were two praetors(although both Reyna and Frank were forced to bite their lips!), Percy, Hazel, Nico, Octavian(whose blush could rival his ancestor's chariot in descend), Lupa, Chiron and Mr. D, but even the grumpy god had a small smile on his face.

.

.

After the customary tour around the camp(Romans unwillingly admitted that their Greek counterparts had good camp), half-bloods dispersed in all directions: Apollo children to the archery field, Vulcan's kids being dragged over by their Greek siblings into the forge, Aphrodite and Venus children exchanging gossip in front of Cabin 10 and Ares' kids proudly showing off their cabin to Mars'(children of war got on remarkably well, resulting in numerous jokes from others). Hermes and Mercury children shut themselves in Cabin 11 with less than harmless intentions, Demeter, Ceres, Dionysus and Bacchus kids collected grapes and strawberries with dryads and satyrs, Somnus and Hypnos' children slept in Cabin 15 as usual and Seven looked over everything with Thalia, Nico and Reyna; Lupa and Chiron could cover only so much territory.

"You know what? I actually pity Octavian now", Annabeth unexpectedly voiced.

"Why, Wise Girl?" Percy inquired, then face palmed. "Nevermind. I pity him too."

"Why would you?" Frank asked.

"Rachel", Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Piper and Leo chorused, as if it was sufficient explanation.

"Your mortal Oracle?" Reyna frowned. "What's so special about her?" Thalia gasped.

"No one told you? She's downright deadly!" Nico took over.

"She managed to nail Kronos – sorry, Saturn for you – in the eye with blue plastic hairbrush year before Battle for Othrys." Percy chuckled as son of Mars, daughter of Bellona and daughter of Pluto were suitably impressed.

"You would know, Death Breath", he teased him. Nico flushed and gave a death glare to his shorter cousin: over the eight months they hadn't seen each other, Nico finally hit the growth spurt, so they were at roughly same height.

"Not funny, Kelp Head", he complained and Thalia groaned in unison with Annabeth.

"Not this again!"

.

Hunters of Artemis made their appearance around the midday, announcing first three-way capture-the-flag in the history of Camp Half-Blood. Artemis was very pleased with work two immortal trainers and Seven with their friends had done: she praised them, while 'accidentally' slapping her half-brother on the head.

"So, Lady Artemis", Athena's daughter asked quietly, "will you fight with your Hunters?" Artemis blinked then laughed lightly.

"Of course not, Annabeth! That would be absolutely unfair." Her smile suddenly grew into dangerous smirk. "It's not like my girls cannot beat you without me." Annabeth groaned at the reminder, and Percy rolled his eyes.

"Don't remind me, Lady", he sighed. "Obviously, it's extremely bad idea to put children of Sea and Sky at the head of the same team and expect them to behave." Chiron coughed embarrassed while camp director snickered and Lupa shot them bemused look. Seeing her look Percy recounted the story of his first game with Huntresses, sending usually stoical goddess into laughing fit with her friend.

.

.

As the twilight approached, tension between three participants were high: Mercury and Hermes kids pulled off couple of pranks to ease it, but it was in vain. At least, they deserve a credit for trying, Percy thought morosely as he sat alone in his cabin. Tomorrow was his birthday: his seventeenth. He was officially one of the oldest campers around, but he was unhappy. After leading two wars, all he wanted was normalcy: instead, his deal got even more complicated. He remembered Luke's words from the first war, you're pawn to the Olympians; now he could truly understand why he felt like that. After five years of quests, two wars and one refusal of being immortalized, he valued every moment he had with his mortal family: currently, he was denied even that.

"Percy?" Annabeth peeked in. "Can I come in?"

"Sure", he said distractedly as she sat beside him on the only used bed.

"Look, I wanted to talk about breaking off." Percy whirled around, pulled out of his meditative state.

"Really?" She nodded. "No more pretending and lying to others?" She simply hugged him giving him the answer.

"I'm so glad", he murmured in her ear. "This charade went on for too long." She pulled back with slight smile.

"I know."

"So, who?" Annabeth blushed heavily as Percy guffwaffed.

"Oooh, it is already a deal? You dog, you, Annabeth Chase! Is it Kayla? Or Piper? Nyssa..."

"Stop it, Seaweed Brain!" embarrassed demigoddess hissed. "Someone might hear you!" Percy grinned.

"One of small perks of this cabin is being totally sound-proof", he bragged. "I could shout all I like, and no one would hear me. So? Spill it!"

"It's Piper..." she whispered and Percy smiled slightly. "... and Reyna."

Son of the Sea hollered loudly, wolf-whistling. "A package deal? I never knew you were such a player, Chase!"

"Well, it was only natural after Jason ended up with Leo! What about you and Di Angelo?" she retaliated and had immense pleasure of seeing Sea Prince blush.

"Okay, I have slight crush on him", he admitted subdued, "and I planned on telling him on my birthday party..."

"And you're stranded here for the next five days", she finished his sentence. "I get it." She stood up. "Damn you, Jackson, I won't look at you looking like this. Get up! You're calling Mrs. O'Leary over here and going to your mom, and I'll get that pesky son of Hades for you. Think of it as my birthday present." He smiled sadly at her, obviously not too hopeful but went over to his pet's favorite resting place beside Blackjack.

"Can you get me to my mom's place, girl?" She yipped and ran out of the stables.

You going somewhere, boss? Blackjack wondered.

"Birthday party", he answered as he mounted hell hound and threw him a sugar cube. "Not a word to anyone, okay?"

Sure, boss! Pegasus whinnied as his boss disappeared in the shadows.

In the meantime, Annabeth set off to find elusive Ghost King. She found him in his cabin, talking with his sister.

"Nico, may I enter?" she asked from the door.

"Go ahead", he replied. "I don't bite. Nor does the cabin for that matter." Daughter of Wisdom sat beside Hazel, looking directly at Nico.

"Nico, do you know what date is today?" Nico raised his eyebrows.

"17th of August, why?" Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Tomorrow's 18th. Sounds familiar?" Now Hazel raised her eyebrows, then gasped, placing her fingers on her mouth.

"Percy's birthday!" Nico inhaled sharply.

"And he planned to celebrate with Sally and Paul", he said in dawning horror. "Oh, holy shit!" He catapulted out of his seat. "Where's he?" he all but demanded.

"He already left", Annabeth informed him, smirking inwardly, "on Mrs. O'Leary. I suggest you shadow-travel over if you don't want miss anything!" she shouted after him as he ran into the shadows. When she was sure he left, she turned to daughter of Pluto.

"One quick question: does your brother love Percy?" Hazel blushed then nodded. Annabeth smirked.

"Well, isn't it good that he loves him back?" Hazel suddenly smiled evilly, and two conspirators smirked at each other.

.

.

.

Nico rushed out of shadows, only to collide with someone.

"Ouch!" Percy. Nico blushed slightly.

"Hey, Neeks", he greeted ignoring small scowl on younger boy's face. "What's up?"

"Don't call me Neeks", he grumbled, then looked closer and blushed heavily.

Percy managed to turn his whole room into the most beautiful art piece: on ceiling was painting of Olympus, on the left Atlantis, across from doors Camp Half-Blood and on the right Underworld. The paint job obviously belonged to Rachel, but the drawings were Percy's: why else would Nico had black wings not unlike Thanatos and Thalia laurel made of pine?

"Wow", he whispered, reverently touching the paintings.

"Like it?" Oh, that signature lopsided grin of Sea Prince's drove him crazy...

"Yeah", he mumbled. He looked back to Percy.

"Sorry about forgetting your birthday." Percy waved it off.

"It's cool. At least Wise Girl kick-started you into remembering." Nico shook his head.

"It's not cool", he insisted. "I forgot, and I need to make up for it." Percy's eyes shone slightly.

"Maybe a present?" he offered with a grin. Nico growled under his breath.

"I haven't bought you anything", he admitted. Then he got an idea, but he recoiled immediately.

"What?" Percy asked. "Had an idea, or?" Nico shook his head.

"You won't like it." Percy sighed.

"Nico, I don't care. You can tell you know." And here it comes, Ghost King thought amusedly as Percy turned his puppy-eyes on full blast.

"Okay, but close your eyes." He obediently closed them, and Nico leaned down slightly and kissed him.

Son of Hades nearly growled at the taste: it was salty, like the sea and absolutely addictive. Percy opened his eyes in shock, but he kissed him back, which resulted in Nico slamming Sea Prince into the wall and roughly kissing and biting his lips.

"Gods, Nico", he panted, "next time before you decide to give me a heartattack by admitting your crush, warn me, yeah?" Nico stared in shock.

"You-you-" Percy cut him off.

"Yes, I have a crush on you too, now can you kiss me again before Mom gets back with cake? I wouldn't want you to die of embarrasment."

Update 8/12/2014:

To my guest reviewer: Um, you do know this is called fanfiction for reason? Its fanfiction: besides, I have read all books published until this day. I know Percy isn't gay, but I put it in the summary: For Takara's Nicercy Summer Contest. If that isn't big enough of a clue, don't bother with leaving reviews like those.

P.S. I love you guys: over hundred views in less then 24 hours for little ol' me? Wow!