'Sup, guys. Thank you for the reviews and favorites!
This chapter is in Percy's POV. Nico doesn't really appear until the next chapter. Hope you're cool with that. But worry not, there's gonna be an overload of Nico cuteness next time he appears. I swear it on the River Styx, and I swear it on my troth!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN PJO OR HOO.
Percy was peacefully taking a dump when a rainbow materialized in his bathtub. "Hey, Percy!" someone shouted.
He turned in surprise and instantly wished that he hadn't, because at that moment, he was face-to-face with the shimmering forms of a jittery satyr, a grave-faced blond dude, a sleepy-looking Latino boy, and Frank Zhang.
Apparently, the goddess Iris wasn't big on personal space. Even having your own personal bathroom and no cabin mates didn't guarantee a lot of privacy.
For a minute, they all just stared at each other. Then Frank blinked. And suddenly, all Hades broke loose.
"What the hell, guys?" Percy yelled. He grabbed a wad of toilet paper and covered himself, nearly falling off the toilet as he did so. He glared at them, looking like he wanted nothing more than to drown his friends with his unflushed toilet water.
"Uh…hey, Percy!" Grover said, looking just as embarrassed. He tried to break the ice by making small talk. "What'cha doing?"
"WHAT," Percy thundered, "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?" His friends jumped back in abject terror. Only Jason stood his ground, his eyes steely with determination.
"Percy," Jason said calmly, "you've got to stop this."
The son of Poseidon threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, wow, this is just awesome. First my girlfriend dumps me, and now my friends want to meddle with my pooping. I'd like to know what you'd do, Grace, if you spent the entire night eating burritos!"
"TMI, man," Leo said with a grimace.
"I was depressed, okay?"
Jason was unfazed. "Not about your pooping, man. You just keep doing that. I meant you have to stop your moping. You've been in there for a week! You'd need to get out of your cabin sometime."
Percy huffed. "Look, man, I really doubt that you'd want me around, being all sad and lonely and everything. I thought I was doing you guys a favor by staying away. I just need some time." He calmed down enough to manage a smile. "I'm okay. Really."
"I think it would be better if you spent more time outside," Jason said carefully. "We miss you, man. And look, Frank's here. Don't you want to see Frank?"
"Hi, Percy."
"Hey, Frank." Percy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, guys. I appreciate…whatever the hell this is, but right now I just want to be alone. I promise I won't kill myself or anything."
"We were scared that you hacked your wrists with Riptide," Leo said. "Or, like, drowned yourself in the bathtub or something."
Percy snorted. "You know I can't drown, right?"
"Oh, yeah." An awkward silence ensued. Percy sighed. "I guess I do want to talk about it," he admitted. "But can that conversation wait? Like, when I'm actually wearing pants?"
"I'm not wearing pants, either!" Grover interjected, trying to break the tension.
The dark-haired boy shook his head, looking slightly disturbed. "Good to know, G-man."
"Well, when do you want to talk about it?" Jason persisted. "And for gods' sakes, can you clean up in there?" He pointed at an empty box of Twinkies on the edge of the sink. "Were you eating in the bathroom?"
"Sorry, Mom," Percy said sarcastically. "Can you just give me a minute to wipe my butt and everything?"
"Fine," Jason returned. "But after that, you're coming with us. We'll be waiting outside your cabin." And with that, the son of Jupiter ran his hand through the message, cutting their connection. Percy wondered why the heck he didn't think of doing that in the first place.
He cleaned himself up and stood before the mirror.
Percy guessed that he did look pretty damn horrible. His longish black hair was standing straight up, there was a new zit waving hello on his forehead, and he smelled like the Minotaur's armpit. He peeled off his shirt and sniffed himself. Whoa. Not getting wet was a sorry excuse to not bathe.
"Percy!" Jason called from outside.
"Give me a minute!" Percy yelled. "I haven't showered in a week!"
"Um, okay. Gross, man. We'll be back in ten minutes, okay?"
Ten minutes was enough time to manipulate the water into cleaning himself completely. Ten minutes was also enough time to brood over Annabeth Chase, his now ex-girlfriend. As if he hadn't been brooding over her for days now.
Annabeth was actually very mature about breaking it off with him. She told him that she needed more space. She told him that she would always love him, no matter what, but that seeing him was always reminding her of their time at Tartarus.
"I just need to heal,Percy," she had said, her large gray eyes brimming with tears.
What was supposed to be a fun night of Monopoly, Yahtzee, a six-pack of Coke, and an entire platter of burritos was ruined as he beheld his girlfriend's heart-wrenching expression.
He hated seeing her cry. He had reached over to brush the wetness from her eyes, but she pulled back, shaking her head.
"But…I thought you said that everything was okay, as long as we're together," Percy said frantically, trying to pull her back to him. His numbness was slowly melting into grief. "Was that all a joke to you?"
"Of course not!" she cried. "I love you, you idiot! But right now, I just—" She broke off, lowering her head. "I've been having a lot of nightmares, Percy."
"So have I," he shot back. "I'm scared, too, you know. We need to be there for each other, Annabeth. But now you're leaving me. Why?"
"Remember what happened with Akhlys?"
Percy's face went ashen. "Are you saying that you're scared of me?"
"No. I love you," she insisted. "I'll always love you, Seaweed Brain. But after what we've been through together, I think we need some time apart. To grow. We're still practically children, Percy. I want to be free."
"From me."
Annabeth shook her head. "From Tartarus," she corrected.
"Good to know that being with me is Tartarus for you," he muttered darkly.
She held his hands firmly, her eyes never leaving his. "I love you," was all she said. He didn't doubt her words, even though they were breaking his heart. She held him silently, and they cried together in his cabin. She had kissed him lingeringly, one last time, whispering her good-bye as she went back to the Athena cabin.
The day after, she had left for New Rome.
Percy exhaled as he put on a random pair of jeans. He didn't blame Annabeth. Actually, after angrily destroying most of his cabin and screaming at random objects, and then devouring a Roman army's worth of burritos in his despair, he did kind of understand where she was coming from. Maybe they were moving too fast. Demigod or not, Percy was still just a seventeen year old guy.
That didn't make it hurt any less, though.
"Hey, Perce?" This time it was Grover's voice from behind the door. "You ready?"
Percy took a deep breath. "Yeah. I guess." He slipped out of his cabin and allowed himself to be surrounded by his friends. He let them pat him on the back reassuringly and exchanged manly bro-hugs.
The son of Poseidon felt like crying again, but thankfully he didn't. The last thing he needed was yet another awkward incident with these guys.
Percy cleared his throat after Zhang released him from a massive bear hug (in which he got so into it that he actually turned into a bear) and flashed his friends a small grin. "Hey. Thanks, you guys. Really."
Jason patted him on the shoulder. "Anytime, man. Chiron's letting us go for the day. We can go anywhere you want—although you might want to bring a few weapons, in case our demigod stink sends monsters into a frenzy."
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but it would be awesome if that di Angelo dude was here," Leo mused. "He can shadow-travel us to, like, Vietnam or someplace."
"Where is Nico, anyway? I kinda miss the little guy." Percy frowned when he noticed Jason looking at him strangely. "What?"
Jason stirred. "Uh, nothing, man." He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. "That's true, though. I haven't been seeing Nico lately."
Frank didn't seem to notice their conversation. He was literally bouncing with enthusiasm, which would have been kind of cute if the guy didn't tower over everyone and was ripped with muscles. Or was a terrifying grizzly bear a mere few seconds ago. "This is neat," he declared. "I've never been on a guys' night out before! I wish we brought Hazel with us!"
"It's noon, Zhang," Leo pointed out. "And are you saying that Hazel is a guy?"
Frank glared at Leo. Leo's curls went limp as the giddy little boy turned into a menacing son of Mars. "Shut up, Valdez," he said gruffly. Then his face split into a huge smile as he thought of something. "Can we play video games? Grandmother never let me play."
"Can we stop for enchiladas first?" Grover interrupted. "I haven't had lunch yet."
Percy groaned, holding his stomach. "No more Mexican food for me, thanks."
"Right. Don't want you pooping on everything," Leo teased.
The boys left the borders of Camp Half-Blood, laughing and messing around.
And then Nico di Jackalope showed up, and their little rendezvous took a nosedive for the weird.
Bromance for the win!
Evidently, I'm deviating a bit from the events of Blood of Olympus, even though this story is set after Gaea's downfall. But yeah, mostly it's the same, except for the lack of Solangelo—which is a pairing that I love, except I haven't gotten over Nico's overwhelming love for Percy yet.
Yeah…and please review. Thanks a bunch!