PIRACY chapter 10
Four days into the week-and-a-half long journey back to the mainland, Percy was sick of Jason and Nico.
Jason had developed a weird and un-Roman habit of following Nico around, which Nico hated and led to him yelling at Jason. They were both fighting to be captain of the ship; Nico because he wasn't just a "common crew rat" and wasn't used to taking orders; Jason because, well - it was his ship.
On this day, Percy had finally untangled his limbs to prepare for the climb down from the crow's nest. He had been going up there for hours every day to get away from Jason and Nico, which he was surprised about. Percy wasn't the type to avoid anything, especially not people. Usually it was Nico who hid from social situations.
Coming to this realization up in the nest, Percy decided to climb down and talk some sense into the two - to face them, and tell them how it was.
He lowered himself down feet first and crawled down the rigging, savoring the taste of salty air on the back of his throat. Before he had even reached the bottom, he heard them.
"This is my ship, Nico, I'm the captain, not you, okay? Why don't you get that?!"
"Well, I think I should be in charge of a ship like this, I've had way more experience! I captained over thirty pirates!"
"Yeah, and look where that led you. You got shipwrecked."
"That was not my fault, your dad did it! And look at you, following me around all the time! You can't even lead yourself, much less a ship!"
"Don't try to blame this on my father! For gods' sake, Nico, this is my ship, and I am the captain. Get over it. You're being immature."
"Don't you dare -"
Percy leaped down onto the deck with a loud thump and said cheerily, "Hello, lads!"
"Go away," they said in unison, then turned their backs on him to continue arguing.
"Well, that's not very -"
"Do not, ever call me immature, ever again. I've had enough experience to be fifty."
Jason laughed harshly. "You really think that?"
"Guys -" Percy tried to intercept, taking a step forward.
"Yeah, I do. And how would you know if I wasn't? And -"
"Maybe because you're a little -"
"HEY!" Percy bellowed, shoving between them. They opened their mouths to keep verbally assaulting each other and now Percy, but he spoke up before they could.
"Shut," he looked at Jason, "up," he finished in a growl to Nico. "You both need to chill out and calm down. Now. Right now."
He glared at them.
They glared back.
Percy scowled and the boat tipped dangerously, making the other two stumble slightly.
"Listen, guys. I don't like being mean and angry. But you two are being unreasonable. We've got more than a week together and we're not gonna last more than a day if you keep this up. Jason, you need to quit following Nico around. He needs his space. And Nico," Percy turned to stare hard into Nico's blank sockets, "Jason is the captain of the ship, he owns it, and you need to respect that the way your crew respected you, 'cause not everyone is gonna just bow down to you." Nico scowled. Percy addressed both of them, trying to stay positive. "This ship and crew is gonna work together now. We can divide jobs between people, and give each other space. I think you two need a little break from each other." They nodded vigorously, glaring knives at eachother. "But," Percy added in a hard voice, "Not a break from ship life. You're not going to sit in your cabin alone and stew about the other. You're going to do something useful to humble yourself and improve your attitude. Myself included," he added at the end to keep them from biting his balls off. "Are we in agreement?"
Percy looked levelly at them, mouth tight. If they didn't agree...
"Okay," Jason said, looking less heated and slightly ashamed. Nico simply shrugged haughtily, looking away.
"Nico?" Percy said. "Are we all in agreement?" he asked again.
"Fine," he muttered after a quick glance into Percy's eyes. Percy exhaled a large breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He clapped his hands with renewed energy.
"Well, now that we've got that sorted out; who's on kitchen duty? I'm starving!"