Alright people, here comes the apology, same as always, "yeah yeah" you say, "now hurry up so I can actually read the chapter". I'm currently in the middle of my exams (I actually have one tomorrow so could probably have timed writing this chapter better) and have been quite busy, so sorry, as usual. Oh and in reply to the guest who asked why Jason wouldn't let Percy see Thalia- Annabeth and Thalia were super close and Annabeth didn't want to see Percy as he reminded her of why she wasn't there for Thalia when she was hit so Jason prioritised Annabeth seeing Thalia over Percy as they were closer. Hope that makes sense... Enjoy?

Will had made himself at home and was sitting on Percy's bed, using the back of Jason's homework to make notes. He pointed at Jason with his pencil. "Right. So, now you and Piper are in we can open our options up a little more. Piper can talk to Annabeth about girly stuff and all that which could give us an opening to..."Jason shook his head slowly and Will trailed off.

"Sorry man. Piper's not with me on this one. She's kind of mad at me actually, for siding with Percy over her and Annabeth." Will exploded (metaphorically obviously, to literally explode would be a bit of an overreaction- and very messy).

"What do you mean Piper's not here? But we neeeeeed Piper! I thought you and Piper came as a pair, like Jedward or Brangelina, or Solangelo!" Nico stopped picking fluff off the carpet and looked up, blushing as he did.

"What did you just call us?" The sickly sweet tone in Nico's voice hid none of his anger and Percy and Jason both edged away to avoid the infamous wrath of Nico Di Angelo.

"I'm lost, why's Nico mad?" Percy whispered to Jason who just shrugged and edged away even further. Will heard Percy's question and explained, taking on the same sickly sweet tone as his boyfriend.

"Nico here doesn't like our ship name. He thinks it's 'tacky' and 'predictable'," Will stood, with his eyebrows raised, hands on hips, and Percy was reminded why he used to be, well still was, scared of him.

"Yeah, that's because it is tacky, not to mention embarrassing."

"Embarrassing?! Well you were perfectly happy when it was Pernico weren't you? No complaints there."

"Whhaat?!" Nico stuttered in confusion at Will's somewhat random outburst. "That was never a thing."

"That was never a thing" Percy confirmed from his place of refuge underneath his desk.

"Well, it was kind of a thing," Jason pointed out from behind a chair, Nico threw a book at him and it hit the chair, causing it to topple backwards and fall on top of Jason, he swore quietly to himself while Percy sniggered.

"Wait Will," Nico shouted at his boyfriend's back as he stormed out of the room. Will stopped.

"This better be good, he muttered before turning to hear his boyfriend's explanation.

"Yeah it was a thing, but not a thing thing, it was a crush thing, I was like eleven. I didn't know any gay people to crush on, Percy was the closest I could get." There was a pause, "No offence Percy."

"None taken," Percy said grinning, still from underneath the desk, "did you hear that," he whispered to Jason who was still underneath the chair, "he said I was as close to gay as he could get. That's awesome, it's like I'm straight... and then some!" The whole room went quiet and both Will and Nico turned to look at Percy.

"I don't know what you saw in him," Will said and just like that the whole episode was forgotten. Will and Nico kissed and made up... Then kissed again... Then once more for luck. And then they went back to business. "Right Jason, as lovely as it is to have you onboard you are entirely worthless to me without your other half, so it's your job to get Piper on our side, she is crucial to our next move. If you want you can call on Leo for help, he has some lessons with her too." Jason nodded and gave Will a mock salute.

"Sure thing cap." The group disbanded and left Percy alone in his room. He lay on his bed and wondered whether Annabeth was really worth all this trouble. Yes, he concluded, she most definitely was.

The Next Day

"There she is" Jason winced at Leo's not so quiet whisper as Piper McLean entered the classroom with her familiar braids, combat boots and, fortunately for the longitivtiy of Jason and Leo's mission, a pair of headphones in; rendering her deaf to Leo's comments. Jason and Leo watched from the corner of the room as she went to her desk and dumped her school bag on top. She then sat down and took out her phone. Leo elbowed Jason and he stood up, ready to go and talk to Piper. He pulled at the hem of his t-shirt and took a deep breath. He was going to be calm and sensible, I mean, it's not as if it's a big deal, just taking to his girlfriend like any normal couple because that's what normal couples do and they were a totally normal couple who didn't fight over other people's relationships because that would be childish and random and totally unnecessary because they were a normal couple... But, if all else failed he had some flash cards in his pocket that he could refer to. He pulled them out surreptitiously and familiarised himself with the first couple of lines as he crossed the classroom.

HI PIPER *LISTEN TO HER ANSWER AND NOD AS SHE TALKS TO SHOW YOU'RE LISTENING* LOOK, I'VE BEEN MEANING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE SITUATION BETWEEN PERCY AND ANNABETH, LOOK I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU'RE ON ANNABETH'S SIDE AND I TOTALLY RESPECT THAT BUT I...

He looked up to see Annabeth appear at the classroom door. That wasn't part of the plan."Annabeth!" Piper took her headphones of and jumped up to give her a hug. Jason froze in the middle of the classroom and spun around.

"What now?" He mouthed at Leo.

"AbortAbortAbortAbortAbortAbortAbortAbortAbort" Leo mouthed back, at least that's what Jason guessed he said, while he frantically shook his head and waved his hands around. Jason scurried back to Leo and the two of them grabbed their school bags and jackets and dashed out of the room. Jason crawled back in five seconds later and collected up his flash cards; which had fallen out of his pocket and all over the floor as they'd been making their escape. Meanwhile Annabeth and Piper chatted on, oblivious to Jason and Leo's dramatic exit.

"So" Leo stage whispered to Jason as they walked along the corridor, "how are we going to get Piper alone?"

"Good question" Jason whispered back. There was a long silence as the two boys waited for the other one to come up with an idea.

"We could..."

"No." Jason shut Leo off before he'd even started.

"But you didn't even hear the idea!" Leo protested.

"Yes but I knew it would be terrible and stupid and probably illegal too." Leo paused and thought about this for a second.

"Ok, well, it's at least two out of those three." By now the boys had halted outside the science block, this was where they parted ways, Jason to Biology and Leo to Woodwork. They were standing in front of the building bouncing ideas off each other, each as bad as the next, when the door next to them was flung open and Travis rushed out, holding his arm out in front of him a melodramatic, one armed zombie, a girl followed behind, grinning. Jason held the door open as she went through.

"What happened?" He asked as Travis hurried towards the office.

"He was balancing hydrochloric acid on his head and it fell off and tipped all over his arm. I told him it would happen."

"Katie, do you mind? I am in excruciating pain over here." Travis wailed dramatically, Katie grinned at Jason and shrugged before running after Travis. A plan came together in Jason's mind and he turned to Leo.

"Right, meet me here in 20 minutes, find some excuse to leave woodwork or something, got it." Leo nodded slowly.

"Yeah, wait, no, yeah whatever." He didn't question Jason and wandered off in the direction of woodwork.