I feel like I have big news to share! Well, Bragi and I talked...well we talked the entire day yesterday, I'm not sure if he realized that. Anyways. We ended by talking about this fic. Got some epic ideas coming your way. I guess the fic got a little bigger. Though, a part of what we talked about was already sort of an idea of mine for the fic. I mentioned it in an earlier A/N. Anyways, it's really intersting and I can't wait to get to that part. Oh, and if you missed it, I snapped fluff bunnies neck, so I don't know how fluffy this will be anymore :P. Just kidding, sort of. Anyways, I suppose we can do some shout outs.

Nyx Calliope: He got scared. Have no fear, though! I'll offer you a tissue, before they all get used due to my earlier statement. Thank you, that means a lot.

Dark Lord Morgoth: Ha. I like your joke. Haha. Nico was just being a pansy. He should have stood his ground and kissed Percy again. Ha. I like you, Morgoth. You can be my General in the war that is to come. I actually ask myself this question a lot. I feel it has something to do with fluff. Perhaps that readers have been spoiled? I'm not really sure. I actually ended up writing because my needs of Percy/Nico had stopped being met, this was when Hitome-Chan started vanishing for long periods of time. Well, now it seems he's just gone. I mean, yes, I do find stories I like on here, but I am very picky with what I read. Especially since I've been working with Bragi, my expectations in what I read is higher. I actually was in another fandom and I took one look at the first few paragraphs and hit the back button. I can name pretty good authors that I like in this fandom, for the most part they are my reviewers as well. Like, I usually mention to Veerayne how I love their story. I seem to have gotten carried away. I tend to ramble.

Reining: Haha. I think I managed to push the ending farther away. Yes well, I like you are an intelligent fangirl. I learned that lesson in the disclaimer the hard way. Thank you. I like my sense of humor too. It entertains me. Yes, Percy does. Well, perhaps now, but keep in mind that Nico did betray him twice in the past. Then lie to his face that one time. But yes, Nico has had time to grow up since then.

Veerayne: You gave me what I wanted finally! Their sexy make-out times made me all flustered. Well, Percy would need to hop a plane and go to Half-Blood to get Nico. Yet! He just needs a...push. If anything, Nico is still Percy's best friend. Not to mention, Nico's been his support after the breakup. Something I'm sure Percy will keep in mind when his mind starts to wander ;).

DarkLove: Yea. I'm just shortening your names. It means we've bonded. I do that to people I like. I think Dark Lord Morgoth will become Morgoth next time around...sorry got side-tracked. Ahem. Thank you! I finally update for you, and only for you. Don't let Amber see this or she will tell.

xPercyx:Thank you! Also, don't you hate it that won't let you use the less than sign. I can't do my favorite face :(. Yes, Nico grew some balls and went for it. The seed was planted in Percy's pretty little head and that's all that matters. Mwhaha. Octavian.

Allwrong4life: Surely Octavian isn't up to anything ^.^ Don't pay any attention to him. That being said, I have taken liberties and matured Octavian.

HeyItsAmber: I love that story :(. Question on yesterdays review. Why is Bragi violent? So, did I pass Goddess with 17? By that, using a cliff for a cliffhanger.

Miette in the Rain: Surely he just wants to help, right? ^.^ I know. I just want to cuddles him. It's like a flower. The seed was planted. Now all we have to do is wait. Oh, and it needs to be watered. Ha. Only Bragi and I get that. Though, it is actually helpful to you if you knew what I meant.

Luckyducky: He did. Can't say he didn't try. He just needs that push...into Nico's arms. Actually, the who to push him part was sort of what Bragi and I were talking about yesterday. Why wouldn't you want to trust someone that stabs stuffed animals? I'm sorry T.T

Guest: Thank you! I shall try. I'm sure he will eventually. Hopefully. If Nico doesn't screw up.

Make-It-Now: Hate is such a strong word. Though, I've gotten it a lot since I published chapter 17 of A Tale of Love and Thrones. Short by my standards. Happiness is boring. True love and happiness is like a journey. It's all about getting there. And how you get there. Though, I think Percy's going to come to a several way split road. Only one leads to Candy Mountain...wait...wrong thing.

I'm going to try to fight the urge to put in a CSI Miami one-liner at the end of this. No promises. Haha. I saw this weird thing today. Apparently there is some kind of 'Occupy Fanfiction' thing? I don't know, I just ran across it earlier. I guess that's all for now. Let's move on to the story.

Warning: Today's drawing is a cow set on fire as it runs screaming from its barn...

Disclaimer: The next drawing can be something with Percy and Nico naked in Percy's bed.

Chapter 6

Percy was shaken awake by Reyna. He blinked a few times, looking around the room. He sat against the wall in the exact place he had watched Nico vanish. He peered up at the other praetor with droopy eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and he was sure it showed.

"Percy? What are you doing on the floor?" Reyna asked with concern. She held out a hand and helped Percy up. Percy groaned and stretched, his back popped loudly.

"Nico ran off last night. I think he headed back to Half-Blood," Percy mumbled.

"Everything alright?"

Percy let his shoulders slump and he sighed. "No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Percy shook his head. "Not right now, I'm still trying to take in what happened."

"Alright, well, I'm here if you need me."

Percy gave her a bright smile. "Thanks, Reyna. Would you mind if I went to see my mom today?"

Reyna hummed to herself and shook her head. "No, I think I can hold things down here. Take some time off and go see her."

Percy pulled Reyna in for a hug, causing her cheeks to darken a little. "Thanks, Reyna. You've been great the past few days. I know I've taken a lot of time off, but...you know, life's been rough."

Reyna brushed it off. "It's really no trouble at all. Take all the time you need. You've worked your butt off around here, and I think you earned yourself some off days." She turned around and walked to the door. She gave Percy a final look once she reached the doorway. He gave her another bright smile before she shut the door behind her.

Upon the door closing, Percy's smile turned into a frown. He let his shoulders slump again as he dragged himself into the bathroom. He needed to get cleaned up. Maybe his mother could shed some light on things. She could probably give him some advice on both Annabeth and Nico. He clearly didn't know what to do. He felt he had handled both situations poorly.

After he was done with his shower, Percy dried off and went to his bedroom to find fresh clothes. He threw on the first things he found and headed for the door. He strolled through camp, heading for the exit. Hazel ran up to him, a frown firmly set on her face. "What did you say to my brother?" she asked firmly. "He came to me last night and had me pack his things, and this morning he was gone. What happened last night?"

Percy groaned and ran a hand through his dark locks. "I didn't do anything, Hazel," Percy reasoned. "I was talking to Nico in my house, and the next thing I know, he's kissing me."

Hazel's eyes widened at Percy's statement. "He actually kissed you? I thought he was just going to go tell you how he felt."

Percy looked at her oddly. "Did you know he liked me?"

Hazel began fumbling, opening and closing her mouth a few times. She cleared her throat and managed to reply. "I mean, he might have mentioned it."

"How long?"

Hazel shrugged. "He never told me."

"Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't he just tell me?"

"He was scared you would hate him." She paused and looked up at Percy. "Do you hate him?"

"No!" exclaimed Percy. "I couldn't hate him for something like that."

"Well how do you feel about it then?" Hazel asked curiously.

Percy frowned. "If you're asking if I like him back, the answer is no."

Hazel blinked at him. "Are you sure? You seemed...never mind."

"I seemed like I what?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." She tossed Percy a wave and jogged off before he could question her further. Percy kicked at the dirt and spun around to continue on his way out of camp.

Nico stared up at the ceiling of his cabin for probably what was pushing three hours. He had returned from picking up his things and collapsed on his bed. He wasn't crying. He had stopped crying an hour ago. After crying all last night, and then two hours today, he figured he was all cried out. What had he been thinking? Nico covered his eyes with his palms. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," he chanted.

Maybe he should go torment some of the Aphrodite girls. They could suffer for their mother tormenting Nico in his love life. He had informed his father last night that he wanted all Iris messages from Percy blocked until he decided otherwise, a request his father didn't mind granting. His father had stopped hating Percy back during the Giant War, however, that didn't mean Percy was his father's favorite person. So, he was happy to grant Nico's request. Though, he did mention something about a pomegranate, but Nico had brushed that off.

How was Nico supposed to face Percy again? He had shoved Nico away like he was disgusted. Would Percy be angry with him? Would Percy be awkward around him from now on? Would Percy even want to see him again? Nico knew he had screwed up, but there was no going back and fixing it.

Suddenly, Nico's door flew open. Nico bolted up into a sitting position as Clarisse marched into his cabin. "Well, looks like the rumors are true, you're back early from your vacation," she said snidely. She took a seat on one of the many empty beds in the Hades cabin.

"What do you want, Clarisse?" Nico asked through gritted teeth.

"I just came to see if the rumors about you sucking face with Jackson were true?"

Nico's eyes widened. "Who-Who told you?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? It's the talk of the camp today." Nico groaned and fell back on his bed. "I always pegged you for the gay type."

Nico shot her a glare. "Really not in the mood for it, Clarisse. How about you drop your bad girl act and act like a civilized human being?"

Clarisse grunted and crossed her arms. "Just giving you a heads up for when you head out."

"Why?"

"Well, let's see...who might be upset to learn that someone was trying to make the moves on the boy she just broke up with?" Nico's face paled.

"Sh-She knows?"

"Like I said, talk of the camp. Well, that and this other rumor that has been going around."

"What other rumor?" Nico asked with curiosity.

"People are just talking about how Annabeth and Jason have been spending a lot of time together."

Nico blew at his bangs. "That's not really news, they work together. There's nothing going on there. Besides, Jason is dating Piper."

"I'm not putting it past Jason," Clarisse scoffed. "He led Reyna and Piper on until he found out he couldn't be praetor anymore. Besides, the past few days, they've been spending more time together."

"It's probably nothing," Nico mumbled.

"People are saying it's why she broke up with Percy."

"No, they were just so far apart. Sh-She wouldn't leave Percy for Jason."

"You sure? He's here and Percy's not. He might be Roman, but he's pretty attractive and charming when he wants to be."

"Not as much as Percy," Nico mumbled.

Clarisse laughed. "So you do have a thing for Jackson!"

Nico growled at her. "Get out!" Nico ground out.

Clarisse rolled her eyes and stood with a grunt. "Whatever, death boy. Make sure you scream extra loud when Annabeth finds you, I'd like to watch." Nico glared at her as she made her way out and shut the door behind her. Nico collapsed on his bed once again. He picked his pillow up and covered his face, letting out a muffled scream into the pillow. He didn't deserve this. Why did his life have to suck so much? Nothing could go his way, could it?

Nico's stomach growled. It must be close to lunch time. He rolled himself out of bed, straightening out his clothes. He drug his feet on the floor. Slowly raising a hand, he opened the door. He let out a long groan from the bright sun. He scowled up at the sky. Couldn't they have cloudy skies today?

As he made his way towards the pavilion, people kept staring at him. They would whisper quietly to themselves as they watched Nico pass. By the time he reached the pavilion, Nico was grinding his teeth to keep himself from opening the earth to swallow every last one of them.

He stomped over to his table where he plopped down, burying his face in the table. When Nico looked up, he found Annabeth glaring daggers at him. He shot her a dirty look back, telling her he wasn't in the mood for her. It did no good, however, as she only continued to glare at him.

Not in the mood to deal with her, Nico looked down at the food on his table as it appeared before him. Standing up, he went over and scooped some off to his father. "Could you pour a jar of dirt on Aphrodite for me?" Nico mumbled to the flame, in the hopes of his father fulfilling his request.

Sally pulled Percy into a hug upon him entering the house. She pulled him down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Mom!" Percy said, pulling away.

"I'm not done making up for the lost time with you yet, Perseus," she informed him. "You might be grown and taller than me, but you'll always be my little boy." She led them into the kitchen where she began making cookies.

"Mom, you really don't have to make me anything."

She waved him off. "Nonsense. It's no trouble at all." Percy placed his hand on his palm as he watched his mother begin to bake. "So, was there something you wanted to talk about, or did you just come to visit?"

Percy pouted at her. "I can't just come to visit?"

"I'm just saying, that you usually come over for motherly advice, or words of wisdom from Paul."

"Well, you hadn't dropped by camp, so I figured I would come to you."

"And?"

Percy frowned. "And to tell you that Annabeth broke up with me."

Sally stopped what she was doing. She pulled Percy into a hug and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh Percy, I'm so sorry. What happened? I thought things were going well?"

Percy let out a long sigh. Sally let go of Percy and went back to baking. "So did I, but I guess I didn't see what was right in front of my face." He tried sticking his finger into the batter, but Sally swatted it away. "I seem to be doing that a lot lately," Percy mumbled.

Sally raised an eyebrow. "So, how are you taking it?"

"I feel like crap. I don't know what I could have done, though. I had responsibilities here, I thought she understood that."

"Maybe she did, sweetie. Maybe she just wants a break until you two can be together again."

"I don't know," Percy said with a sigh. "She seemed pretty set on it. Octavian said something that bothered me, though."

Sally frowned. "What did he say?"

"He heard that she might have become interested in Jason."

"Do you believe that?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, it's possible, but like I said, I never see things coming apparently."

"You don't seem so broken up right now."

"Well, I was. I actually cried for a while, but Nico came to visit and he helped cheer me up."

"Oh, Nico came to visit? Is he still at camp? You should have brought him over. I haven't seen him in a long time."

Percy ran a hand through his hair. "Yea, well, that's something else I wanted to talk about."

Sally arched an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"Well, Nico sort of...he kind of...Nico kissed me."

Sally didn't seem surprised. "How did you take it?"

"I was shocked. I didn't see it coming. I had no idea he even had a crush on me. Maybe I was too caught up with my breakup to even notice it." Sally didn't say anything. She took the platter of cookie dough and slid it into the oven. "What? You're not saying anything. The breakup surprised you, but you don't seem shocked at this."

Sally just shrugged. "I'm not. He used to follow you around like a lovesick puppy, I had my suspicions."

"Why am I always the last to figure this stuff out?" Percy mumbled.

"Perhaps you didn't want to see it."

"I don't have an issue with Nico being gay." Percy shrugged. "It's not a big deal. It doesn't even bother me that he likes me. I was just caught off guard, that's all."

"How do you feel about him?" Sally asked.

"What do you mean? He's one of my best friends." Sally smiled at Percy. "What?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Maybe you should think about it," Sally said with a smile. She pulled Percy in and kissed his forehead.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sally looked over at the timer. "Oh look, the cookies are done."

Nico stood up from his table and tried to sneak off, he figured Annabeth would try cornering him and didn't want to face her. As he snuck down towards the cabins, however, his wish wasn't granted. Her firm grip grasped his shoulder, spinning him around to face her. Her stormy grey eyes burned into him. "I let you take a break from around here, and you repay me by going after him the moment we breakup?" she whispered so only they could hear, but Nico could hear the anger in her voice.

"Annabeth, I-I didn't mean to," Nico fumbled.

"I knew you liked him, I just knew it, but I let it be because I didn't think you would ever actually try anything."

"I-I didn't mean...I-" Nico was cut off by Annabeth's palm colliding with his cheek.

"How could you do that to me? Did you take advantage of him? We just broke up, Nico. You knew he would be upset. You took advantage of his emotional state to get what you wanted."

Nico rubbed his cheek. His eyes turned into a glare as his gaze returned to Annabeth. "What do you care?" he said, raising his voice. "That's not the only rumor going around, you know? There's a juicy one about you and Jason going around as well."

Annabeth frowned at him. "And they are all false."

"Are they?"

Annabeth crossed her arms. "Unlike you, I do not do things like that. I wouldn't betray Percy like that. I am not interested in anyone right now."

"How could you break up with him anyways?" Nico finally began yelling. "How could you let him go? He's perfect. He's everything I want, but can't have. You, however, had him, and decided you didn't want him anymore! What is wrong with you? Percy is the nicest guy on this planet, and you just threw him away!"

"I didn't throw him away!" Annabeth yelled back. "You try being so far away from someone you care about! He was supposed to be in love with me, but his job as praetor came first. I tried to accept that, but it was hard, Nico. I don't expect you to understand."

"I do understand, Annabeth. I understand that if I were you, I would have done everything I could to be with him. I would have gone to be with him."

"He and I both have responsibilities. His were supposed to be here, but obviously things change. I'm done talking about this," Annabeth stated. She spun around and marched off. Nico didn't care to watch her go, just turning around and continuing to his cabin. Screw camp activities, he was going to lock himself in that cabin for however long it took for him to start feeling better.

He slammed the door behind him. He locked it and kicked off his shoes. He walked over to his bed and collapsed on it, once again yelling into his pillow. Couldn't things go his way for once? He didn't understand how his life could suck this bad. He had wanted this so badly, but he knew he couldn't have Percy. He always knew that. He had just been kidding himself to even hope for otherwise.

I love you, Sally. You understand what's happening. How dare Annabeth slap Nico! She must be tarred and feathered. This story always has shorter chapters than the rest of my stuff. I'll see about making them a little longer in the future. Not a whole lot happened this chapter. I was just showing you guys what is going on in their heads. Percy is not very good at realizing things like this, remember that. Nico's feelings took him by surprise. Not to mention he's not thought about being with a guy. This is a process, a very delicate one. I also find it amusing that most of you don't trust Octavian. Anyways, I suppose that is all for now. I shall see you next time.