"You cannot be serious," said Percy, through a mouthful of blue waffles, "I've known you a long ass time and I've never heard you say something that stupid."

Nico sprung to his feet, drawing a couple of stray glances from the other customers, "It's a giant robot bro, THAT YOU GET TO PILOT! In what universe does a dingy spaceship beat that?"

"Uhh, every single one, dummy."

Nico's face reddened with the anger of a compulsive nerd, "Just cause it's Star Wars doesn't mean it's automatically the best thing ever."

Indignantly, Percy shook his head, "No no no, you don't understand because you don't have your license yet. Everyone knows that piloting your own spaceship let alone the Millennium Falcon has got to be the best feeling ever." Percy finished, with an expression that indicated the argument was over.

Almost pleading, Nico turned to Jason, "C'mon man you know I'm right, help me out here.

Jason snorted in response, "I have absolutely no clue what either of you are talking about, and I really don't want to know." He focused his attention back to his omelet and continued eating with perfect etiquette, juxtaposing Percy's manners in an almost comical way. "Honestly I can't believe that you were a praetor at New Rome even if it was for like, two days," he said, spying the syrup stuck to Percy's chin.

"I dunno man, It must have been that natural charm you get from being a Poseidon kid."

"Yeah right and it doesn't have anything to do with single-handedly killing a giant and restoring the legion's eagle," said Nico, grinning

"Nahh, that stuff is small compared to my killer sense of humor" he responded, mouth somehow fuller than before.

"So why are we here again?" asked Jason.

"A perfectly reasonable question Sparky, but I don't know any more than you do, Ares loves to keep me on my toes," said Percy.

Suddenly, The air pressure in the diner seemed to rise to an unnatural height, the air pressing into Percy's skin like they were deep sea diving in the middle of New York. At the same time, every single instinct he had screamed FIGHT, and he knew that the man of the hour had arrived.

He sighed, forcing a calm expression, "Speak of the devil." Ares strode in, rocking a black leather jacket, a buzz cut, and gold-rimmed aviators, sporting enough confidence to kill a medium-sized elephant. Jason just stared at him with that annoying sense of godly awe that all the roman kids had, and Nico didn't bat an eye, seemingly unphased by the literal god of war. Bypassing any greeting, he grabbed a chair from beneath the nearest mortal and cozied up to the trio's table.

"That's no way to greet your elder, Jackson," he said, smirking with genuine fire in his eyes.

"You know I'm only here because I didn't really want you to start World War III just because you got in a bad mood," Percy said with more than a hint of reproach.

"Not like you could stop me anyways bitch boy." Percy started to respond, but Ares quickly cut him off, "Anyways, I've got a task for you guys. All I need is for you to retrieve a little something that was stolen from me, and I've even gotten you pussies a way to find it," he said, tossing a golden/bronze compass onto the sticky diner table. Jason picked up the device gingerly, studying it. "Just follow the needle and you'll find what I need; you've got twenty-four hours or I'll turn you into a snail or some other lame ass animal," Ares said in an uninterested tone. Without missing a beat, he snapped his fingers, dissipating into a swirl of fire.

"That was a little excessive," grumbled Nico, wiping crumbs off the corners of his mouth.

Even after saving the Olympians for the second time, Percy was still a glorified errand boy. I mean seriously, Ares probably left his phone in the woods and he, Jason, and Nico were following the godly version of Find My iPhone instead of playing capture the flag back at camp, and to make matters worse, he seemed to be the only one who was bothered by this. Jason was stuck in obedient quest mode and Nico was well… Nico, Percy could never really tell what he was thinking. Outnumbered two to one, Percy had been forced to go with the flow as he did most of the time. Now, he was trudging along in the wilderness of upstate New York as nightfall set in. The trio's friendly banter had died out miles ago and now the only sound that accompanied them was the distant drone of cicadas. With nothing else to take in, Percy found himself staring at Jason as he made his way through the forest, periodically scanning their perimeter while paying close attention to the compass. The longer he looked, the more frustration he felt, churning in his gut. Every movement the son of Jupiter made seemed fluid and calculated, radiating an aura of control and confidence that never wavered. Briefly, Jason bent down to examine a footprint and Percy immediately noticed the way his muscles rippled along his back as he traced the edges of an impression, the way his expression never shifted from his stoic poker face. He looked so powerful. All his life, Percy had just wanted his friends to see him as valuable outside of his fighting ability; whenever he had tried to help or take the lead, Annabeth would just laugh and tell him a million reasons why he was wrong. Even on the Argo II he never felt like he had a genuine role in the group. He was just manpower, another pawn to be used in a grand plan, a pawn that couldn't even think for himself. Jason had been both a leader and a fighter. He had everything Percy had and much more, and as the son of Poseidon watched Jason in front of him, right now, he felt another surge of emotion in his gut, this time, it was something closer to envy.

"This is the footprint of a manticore. It's fresh and I'd wager it's somewhere around here. Be ready" Jason advised in the cold, distant tone that Percy despised. Still, he found himself drawing Riptide and assuming a battle-ready stance. Beside him, Nico did the same.

"Who sent you," said a bored voice from close behind them.

Percy whipped around and found himself face to face with a giant, terrifying, manticore. By every account, the beast was a monstrosity. Lions, dragons, and scorpions were some of Percy's least favorite things by themselves, but together they were ten times worse, and the simple presence of the monster almost paralyzed him with fear. Still, he was able to come to his senses, and he nearly tripped over himself, scampering away from the manticore, Jason, and Nico right alongside him. During the demigods' panic, the beast didn't move a muscle; instead, its face had a look that almost resembled pity.

Again, it repeated the phrase, "Who sent you."

Naturally, Jason took the lead, "We don't have any business with you, Lord Ares has sent us on a quest to retrieve a lost item of his."

The manticore let out an elegant chuckle before speaking again, "Oh, then I'm afraid you do have business with me, by request of Lord Ares himself.

Despite the baffling nature of what the monster had just said, the group took it as a signal that they weren't going to leave without a fight. In unison they raised their swords and prepared themselves to attack, but at the same time, the darkness in the trees surrounding them somehow began to move and thicken, pulling tighter and tighter together. The Manticore didn't seem surprised in the slightest by what was happening and maintained its apparent expression of pity. As a last-ditch effort, Percy attempted to lunge at the monster but the darkness seemed to hold him down, and as it seeped into his skin, he felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier until he finally lost consciousness.

Jason woke to a throbbing pain in his shoulder. It wasn't alarming enough to send him into a panic, but it piqued his curiosity as he opened his eyes. Despite his body arguing that he should go back to sleep, he pulled his shirt off and flexed his shoulder, searching for a wound. At first he thought that there wasn't anything there, but as he looked closer, he found a red dot the size of a needle. A rising heart rate quickly replacing his sleepiness, he scanned the room he was in: black brick walls surrounded him in a circular chamber that disappeared into darkness far above him. Beneath him was a substance similar to packed dirt, except it was black and more coarse than it should have been. There weren't any obvious entrances or exits, and he didn't appear to be restrained by anything. He then took note that the only other people in the room were Percy and Nico, both sound asleep, both drooling, and he started to calm down. Nothing was obviously threatening him, and he didn't really see any way out of this… unfortunate situation. Regardless, Jason got up and paced the perimeter of the room, examining every fine detail in a way that would make even Terminus proud. He didn't know how much time had passed before he heard Percy's voice.

"What are you doing man?"

Startled, Jason jerked his hand off the wall and whipped his body around.

"No need to be so jumpy bro," he then put his hand over his heart as if he was reciting an oath, "I promise I'm not a giant manticore masquerading as a nineteen-year-old boy," then Percy smiled, a genuine and warm smile that could make anyone smile back.

Just looking into Percy's eyes, Jason could see the exact sort of effortless charm that he'd longed for his entire life. Being a son of Zeus, he'd always been on a pedestal, far away and isolated from everyone else. He was like a famous sculpture, meant to be admired from a safe distance but never touched, lonely at the center of everyone's attention. Long ago, he'd accepted that he would never be able to really connect with anyone and settled into his life as a permanent role model, a perfect example of a Roman. Everybody thought he had the perfect life, but he just wanted to be normal, to be able to joke and laugh alongside his peers instead of having to tell them off. And here was exactly who he wanted to be, the man that everyone loved no matter what.

"I'm just looking for an exit, instead of drooling onto the dirty floor," Jason replied, a little more bitter than he had intended.

"Now you just sound like Annabeth," Percy joked, but his eyes sharpened a little bit, squaring up Jason.

Jason didn't respond and tried to return to studying the wall, but Percy's gaze on his back was practically burning a hole in his shirt, and after a less than a minute, Jason, once again, turned around.

"What the hell are you looking at?" He had almost surprised himself with the anger in his voice.

Something in Percy suddenly broke and he stood up, his fist clenched into a ball, "What the fuck else do you want me to look at? The wall? I'm sorry but I don't remember being the one who got us into this god's forsaken mess!"

"Oh really!" Jason snapped, his face burning, "I don't remember you protesting much either." He took a step closer to Percy so they were now close enough to touch: "And you could have possibly warned us that Ares has some sort of fucking vendetta against you."

Percy reached out and grabbed Jason's collar and pulled him even closer, so their height difference was now obvious. Anger practically radiating from the two boys, Jason held eye contact with Percy, looking down into those sea green eyes.

Milliseconds before one of them would end up with a black eye, a soft but strong and almost imperceptible voice spoke, the type of voice that beckoned everyone in the room to lean in, commanding their attention, "Stop."

Nico was now standing, and when Jason broke eye contact with Percy to look at him, he finally understood why he'd been called The Ghost King. He was terrifying.

A/N: I'm sure the two people that will read this will pick up on my subtle hints of where this story is going romantically (Percy/Jason) 3. Fun fact: I'm not going to bother with how things are in the canon universe: Nico is eighteen, Percy is nineteen and Jason is nineteen.