Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading my story! It seems to be well received! Here is the next chapter!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians


Five minutes before lunch ended, MJ spoke up.

"So guys, let's meet in Home Ec after school and go from there in this impulsive plan we've made up. Percy, do you have swim practice today or baseball practice?" MJ asked him.

Percy shook his head, "nope, coach was out sick.

"Perfect. See ya guys later," MJ said as her and Nico walked away.

Jason and Piper walked off together, telling Percy they'd see him after school. And Percy made his way to sixth period pre-calculus.


RRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG

The final bell rang throughout the school, signaling the day's end. Percy made his way over to the Home Economics classroom where MJ said to meet up. He was tired from today. School had been tough and the girls that used to ask Percy out daily from before the rumor started, were now either coming up him to ask him if the rumor going around was true; only to leave angry or sad, or they would glare at him, as if he had done something wrong. Which Percy didn't understand why they were mad that Percy was dating somebody and back when he was dating Annabeth, they never acted this way. Percy went inside the classroom and saw MJ and Nico hanging out together with Mr. Fluffy, eating chocolate.

MJ took notice of him first and waved him over, "yo."

"Hey guys," Percy said as he made his way over to the table.

"Hey," Nico said dully, but then had second thoughts on whether or not he should be this mean to Percy.

"Yo, Perce, nice win you got us last competition," Mr. Fluffy praised him.

"Oh, thanks Fluffy," Percy said bashfully, he still needed to get used to people praising him.

Mr. Fluffy was a big man, in his late 40s who loved classic rock and joking around with people. Everyone loved him because he wasn't like the other teachers.

"Alright, I got work to do, papers to grade, once the other ones you're waiting for get here, MJ, ya listening? You all leave alright?"

"Yeah, yeah Fluff."

It wasn't long before Jason and Piper came in together, laughing and holding hands.

"Hey guys, did we take long?" Jason asked as soon as they reached the others.

"Uh, yeah? We've been waiting for like 10 years," MJ said sarcastically as Nico rolled his eyes.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked.

"Well, we know that you two need to practice being a fake couple and to do that, we gotta practice somewhere private so that no one else finds out," Piper once again explained the predicament Percy and Nico were in because of Percy.

"So where do we go?" Jason asked, "I would offer my place, but my step-mom's there as well as Thalia... she's visiting from college and well, you guys know how it is..."

"My place is off-limits for now as dad said I can't invite anyone over unless I get my chemistry grades up..." Piper groaned at the thought of chemistry.

"My place is out too," Nico said, "my dad, step-mom, and my sisters are all home. We can't go over there."

"Well, I got a little brother at my place, and trust me he will not leave us alone if he sees us all together. And my mom will probably make me let him join us..." Percy said.

Everyone looked to MJ who hadn't spoken about her place.

"I guess my place it is," she puffed out her cheeks, "let's go."

"Wait," Percy stopped them again, "how'd you guys get here?"

"I got my car and I'm giving Piper a lift home after we're done." Jason told them.

"I got here in my car," MJ said.

"I got here 'cause Bianca dropped me off..."

"You?" MJ asked Percy.

"I took the train here, Paul and my mom couldn't lend me their cars today."

"So, I guess you're riding with us, who do you wanna go with?" Jason asked Percy.

"Um," Percy thought about going with Jason and Piper, before he thought better of it. Not that he didn't want to, it's just that he didn't want to be a third-wheel. "I'll go with MJ."

"Cool beans, let's go," MJ half-smiled his way.

They all left the Home Ec. class, saying goodbye to Fluffy and walking to the parking lot. Jason got in his car, which was a black Range Rover, his family was well off and Percy felt just a tiny bit jealous. MJ's car was an old-school, blue convertible.

"Whoa, that's your car?" Percy asked, impressed by the mint condition the car was kept in.

"Yup, this is Rio, a 1974 mustang convertible, in mint condition and a bit upgraded thanks to my parents," MJ said proudly as she tapped the roof of her car, "I saved her from becoming scrap metal about three years ago."

"Which means you were 13? Why'd you get a car that early if back then you didn't know how to drive? And you named you car 'Rio'?" Percy asked.

"My parents thought of getting it for me at that age to help restore it in time and yeah the name definitely goes with the car, tell me no."

"Why?"

"Because of the song "Rio" by Duran Duran." MJ got in and Nico pushed the seat back so Percy could get in.

"Never heard of that song," Percy said as he made his way inside.

"You're joking?" Nico asked him incredulously.

"Nope," Percy told them.

"Okay, you're gonna hear it now," MJ said as she plugged her phone in the AUX cord she had.

"Who are Duran Duran?" Percy asked as she turned on the car and told Nico to look for the song.

"Have you heard the song Hungry Like The Wolf?" Percy nodded his head, "that's them."

The song started and Percy found he liked the amazing bass that was playing and the words were pretty good. The song finished a bit too quickly for Percy's liking, but was soon replaced by another song. The lyrics kept saying 'come and get your love, come and get you love' and Percy thought it sounded familiar.

"Hey, who sings this?" Percy asked Nico.

"Redbone: Come and Get Your Love," Nico answered.

"I like it."

"I would hope so, I can't date someone with bad taste in music," Nico teased Percy, "but yours seems to be okay." Nico smiled at Percy for once in a long time.

Percy found himself unable to look away, shocked that Nico was actually being nice to him, he smiled back, "I hope I've got good taste in music if not, then you could help me out a bit, right?"

Nico chuckled and shook his head slightly as the song continued to play. Another song came on and Percy liked the guitar and bass on this song.

"What's this one?" He asked MJ like an excited kid.

"The Boy Could Fly, by Rubylux," MJ told him the name of the song and band.

By the time that they got to MJ's house, the song was almost done but MJ didn't let it finish, and she unplugged her phone from the cord. Jason parked behind her in the driveway and they all got out of their respective cars.

"I really like your taste in music MJ, seriously, give me a list of must-hear songs that I should listen to," Percy told MJ, smiling at her.

"Will do," she smirked at him, "but it'll be a long list."

"I don't mind."

They all followed her as she unlocked her door and went inside. Once the door was closed behind them, Nico made his way to the living room with Jason and Piper in tow. Percy followed after them as MJ went up to the last step of the staircase nearby the front door, which Percy assumed led to the bedrooms.

"Yo, parents! I'm home with friends!" MJ shouted to her parents upstairs.

"Kay squirt!" Percy heard the voice of a man, who he assumed was MJ's dad.

She made her way to the living room where she put her stuff down, as did Nico, Jason, and Piper.

"Dude," MJ motioned to Percy, "make yourself comfortable. I'll be back with drinks and snacks."

Percy took off his sweater and his book bag, putting them off to the side as Nico and Jason talked about their classes. Piper was on her phone, looking at pictures on instagram. Percy looked around the living room and saw a 64" screen tv, with a DVD player and a cable box. He saw a shelf full of vinyl records and next to that, a nice looking record player. He saw an acoustic and electric guitar propped up near the wall and Percy couldn't help but stare at them for a bit. On another shelf, he saw a lot of cassettes and CDs. Percy found himself staring in wonder at the living room, it was so different then what he saw in other friend's houses and his own too. The house seemed to have a personality, and soon his eyes landed on Nico's, who was staring at him. For a moment, Percy felt self-conscious, until he saw Nico give him a small smile.

"I see you're looking at the place, like what you see?" Nico asked Percy, who nodded his head.

"This is super awesome, is this all MJ's or her parents?"

"Both, her parents love classic rock. Her dad used to play in a band as the drummer and her mom used to take MJ to his shows as a kid. MJ's parents are rockers and are so awesome." Nico told Percy.

"Dude, you have to meet them, her mom makes the best brownies! And they're super cool." Jason told him.

"Nice, can't wait to meet them."

Soon MJ came in, with a pitcher of ice tea and five cups on a tray and a few cookies and chips. She then went over and plugged her phone on the cord connected to the record player and speakers and she put on a song, playing it softly so that they could still hear each other when talking.

"Who's this?" Percy asked as he took a sip of ice tea.

"Electric Feel by MGMT. I love it," MJ said going back to the kitchen. She came back with more snacks; Swiss rolls and brownies that were baked, along with chocolate chip cookies and some sandwiches.

"Now then," MJ said as she sat down next to Nico, "let's get to business."

Jason inhaled the cookies, there was still a lot more left but the way he ate them, it seemed as though he were a starving man.

"Babe," Piper scolded Jason, "you're eating too much, save some for us."

"Sorry, these cookies are good," Jason said as he slowed down a bit.

"Now then, about your "relationship", Percy you are going to have to get comfortable around Nico. Same goes for you kid," MJ pointed her finger at Nico.

"We're the same age, no wait, I'm older than you actually," Nico grumbled as he took a bite out of the sandwiches, talk about being a great host when she wanted to be. Nico was sure it was only because Percy and Piper were here for the first time.

"Whatevs, both of you are going to have to be comfortable around each other so that it looks natural between you two. Percy, since you're dating Nico now, you're gonna need to be seen at our gigs, ya know, supporting your man and whatnot. Nico, you're going to need to be seen at Percy's swim meets now and cheer for your guy. Percy, you're going to need to be seen with Neeks as he presents his art at contests, and Nico you are going to need to be seen at Percy's baseball games, you are on the baseball team, am I correct?" MJ asked Percy, who nodded.

Percy had decided to join the baseball team last year as a junior for something to do other than swimming but now it seemed like he would be busy with practice lasting even longer than before, he was actually thinking of quitting but he wasn't so sure. He did like playing baseball a lot.

"Percy, you and Nico are going to have to been seen together, walking to class together, holding hands, waiting by each other's lockers, and having lunch together. Coming to school together whenever you can, which means Nico," Piper looked at Nico as she said this, "you are going to have come to school a lot earlier than you usually do."

"This means," Jason started speaking, taking a break from inhaling all of the food MJ had gotten from the kitchen, "starting today, you two are going to be hanging out as much as you possibly can to make it seem real. To get comfortable around each other, you guys are gonna need to bond. Which is why, I purpose that this weekend, you two have a sleepover together and bond. I don't care at who's house you guys have that sleepover at, just have it. This weekend, no arguments." Jason said when he saw Nico about to protest about the sleepover.

"Finally comes the very awkward part..." MJ paused for a moment, "...the kiss..."

Nico paled considerably and Percy opened and closed his mouth, gaping like a fish out of water.

"What?!" Both Nico and Percy said at the same time and then they looked at each other before looking away.

"I'm not saying to do it now, but Drew and some of the other girls don't fully believe that you guys are going out. Drew is literally leading a girl group that's bent on making your fake relationship known," MJ said, "so at some point in time, Drew is going to call you guys out on your relationship, you've gotta be prepared. Practicing kissing is one way to do it. Just start out with a small peck and work your way up to make the kiss believable, do it sometime this week... maybe on Sunday right after the sleepover is finished? The faster you get to practicing, the faster you guys get over the awkwardness. While in public so that Drew doesn't call you out before Sunday rolls by, kiss each other on the cheeks. If Drew questions it, say PDA."

"I don't think that's really necessary..." Jason said, not wanting Percy and Nico to kiss, not only would it make things awkward, but Nico looked like he was already struggling with this fake relationship he didn't need to add a kiss into it.

"It is," MJ insisted, "you don't know how evil girls can be, and girls being led by Drew is like ten times worse."

Nico groaned out in frustration as Percy debated internally on how stupid he was to get himself and Nico in this mess. He couldn't back out now, he had made a deal with Nico and owed him. Besides, those girls had stopped bothering him and Percy really didn't want to go back to that torture. This was his last year of high school and the year had started out so badly already.

Annabeth had broken up with him, and so many girls had thrown themselves at Percy, never leaving him alone. There was no way Percy would go back to that. He would muster through everything that had just been thrown at him, all the things he needed to do to fake this relationship and make it seem real, he would do them. Whatever it would take to make it seem plausible.

"Okay then, if this is what we gotta do, then we gotta do it," Percy said with renowned conviction, hoping to spur Nico into action seeing as he sat there motionless.

"Alright! That's what I'm talking about!" MJ shouted and clapped Percy on the back.

After that, they decided to change the subject. MJ and Nico were having a debate on Freddie Mercury from Queen and how his voice was angelic, while MJ was saying that Gustavo Cerati from the band Soda Stereo sounded just as good, "if not a little better".

"No way," Nico said as he took a bite from a brownie.

"You haven't even listened to Soda Stereo! And you refuse to do so!"

"I don't understand Spanish, so sorry!"

"You don't sound very sorry," MJ grumbled.

"Hey, MJ?" Percy asked MJ as she settled down in her seat.

"Yeah?"

"What does your name stand for?"

"My name? What, like what does MJ stand for?" MJ asked and Percy nodded, "nothing."

"What?"

"Yeah dude, my mom waited till the last minute till I was born to name me. She knew she wanted my nickname to be MJ, she just didn't know what names to use to form that name since she didn't really like some of the names that came together to form MJ. She didn't like Mary Jane, too basic, or Maria Jay, they 'Jay' was the problem. Or Maria Jose, she thought it was weird to have a boy's name as a second name and so my birth came without her thinking of a name she liked. Plus she was on drugs to numb the pain of giving birth to me. So she just named me, literally M-J. But thank god for my dad who did some quick thinking and added Eliza in my name. Can you imagine; MJ Miller? How horrible would that be? Wherever I would apply, people would have probably thought that my name was a joke."

"So... your first name is literally just two letters put together?" Percy asked her and she nodded her head. "Wow."

"I know."

"And you speak Spanish?" Percy asked her.

"Yeah, but I'm not Hispanic, my mom and dad just wanted me to learn different languages. I am half-Russian though and I can speak that too, as well as Italian."

"No way, you can speak four different languages?"

"Yup, and I'm learning French, currently. Although I stopped, but I'm getting back into it."

"Wow," Percy said, amazed by MJ.

She was awesome, pretty straightforward, had great taste in music, she could sing, and was funny, how had Percy never noticed her and tried to become her friend?

"So, you're Russian?" Piper asked with a smirk on her face.

"Oh yeah," MJ answered with her own smirk.

"Which means you can probably hold down your vodka?"

"Hon', in mother Russia vodka holds you down."

Everyone started to laugh at the joke before things settled down. Jason was talking to Percy about sports and Piper, Nico and MJ were talking about their upcoming gigs. Soon it was getting late, and everyone had to get home. Jason and Piper left before them and Percy got to play some video games with Nico. It had been such a long time since they had hung out, Percy realized he missed having Nico as a friend.

Maybe this fake relationship would help mend their friendship.


Percy and Nico got a ride home from MJ, Percy was dropped off first and somehow, Percy felt a bit happy as he made his way inside. It had been a long time since he felt he could smile somehow.

He unlocked the door to his house and called out to his mom, Sally telling her he had been at a friend's house and was home now.

He made his way into his room and put his stuff down, he wasn't really hungry as he ate all those sandwiches while at MJ's place, he opted to relax a bit before he called it a night.

His mind went back to the day Annabeth broke up with him.

"Percy... I am so sorry..." Annabeth's voice sounded weak, something Percy wasn't accustomed to hearing since Annabeth was always so strong.

"Why Annabeth?" Percy asked softly, feeling his whole world fall apart.

"Percy... I... cheated on you... with Luke... I am so so so sorry... I- wish I could take it back. The guilt has been eating me alive- Percy, I just... I can't take it back and... my feelings for you have changed..." Annabeth broke down crying. She hadn't meant to hurt Percy. She hadn't meant to cheat, it was a stupid mistake done in the heat of the moment. And in that moment, she had felt different. With Luke, she felt something she hadn't felt with Percy in a long time. Was it so bad to want to feel that again? To feel something new for someone new? To feel something so intimate?

Percy stood frozen in shock at the confession. Annabeth had cheated. She cheated on him. With Luke, his best friend. He wasn't angry... not yet. He wasn't in denial either. He knew that Annabeth was being honest... he wasn't hurt... yet. The full brunt of the truth hadn't hit him. And yet, Percy felt his heart shattering into a million pieces. After a few minutes, reality slapped him in the face, hard and he looked at Annabeth with such hurt in his eyes, she had to look away.

He walked away from her as she called out to him, telling him, pleading him to wait and hear her out. But he didn't. He wouldn't. He walked away, feeling empty, hurt, anger, desolate, despair, and betrayed. So many emotions swirled inside him like a vortex, unable to be kept in check. And then he saw Luke... and he let it all out.

They got into a fight. Which was broken up by people nearby. Luke and Percy both sported nasty bruises, but Percy left, feeling drained and tired, emotionally tired. Percy hadn't spoken to neither of them in the months after the breakup and he wasn't planning to.

Percy turned around to his side and decided to think about something else. Like the fact that Nico had been nicer to Percy in a long time. He even smiled at Percy, which made Percy happy because in truth, Percy had been a real shit friend and wanted to make it up to Nico. Maybe they could start over after this crazy rumor was put to rest, maybe have an actual friendship. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea. Soon, Percy drifted off to sleep.


MJ had dropped Nico off at his house, saying she'd pick him up early the next day for school so that he would be seen with Percy. This little plan that they all made up could work out right if they did it right. Nico would finally get know why Will broke up with him and Percy would be left alone. Nico's old feelings for Percy would not get in the way of things, Nico would make sure of that.

He made his way inside, where he found his dad, Hades di Angelo, sitting down, book in hand, sipping some wine. He looked up to see his son coming in. Hades was an attractive man for his age, with black hair like Nico's, dark brown eyes and pale skin, all just like Nico and a bit like Bianca di Angelo, Nico's older sister.

"Hey dad," Nico said as he made his way up the stairs.

"Hey kid," Hades said, going back to his book.

"Nico, dear," Nico heard the voice of his step-mom, Persephone calling to him, she was the mom of his younger sister who was a freshman at the same high school he went to, Hazel, "there's dinner if you want to eat later on, okay?"

"Thanks Persephone, I will," Nico called out to her.

Nico wasn't hungry, he was just tired. Today had been tiring as Nico thought back to what had to be done to make his relationship with Percy seem real. So many things to do and Nico had to actually bond and hang out with Percy. Not exactly what Nico wanted. The last thing he wanted was to make an actual connection with Percy and become his friend again. Sure he missed being friends with Percy every now and then, but in truth, Nico was mostly scared of getting those feelings for Percy back. He didn't want to have romantic feelings for Percy, he didn't want to end up hurt once again because Percy didn't feel the same way for Nico and he was never going to. There was no way Nico would ever go back to being Percy's friend, ever.

Percy would be kept at arm's-length when not in public. Jason, Piper and MJ had all been right, he really needed to work on getting comfortable around Percy. If not, then they would never be able to sell this. Nico really had to work on keeping his emotions in check. He really didn't hate Percy, he didn't, but Percy had forgotten about Nico and that didn't sit right with him.

For the relationship to seem real, Nico would have to talk to Percy about his pent up anger. He just had to. Nico turned over on his side and slowly fell asleep, his head hurting from the day's events.


Thank you so much for reading!