Percy shifted Nico so that his head rested in the crook of Percy's elbow. Percy tapped all around Nico's face to try and get him to wake up. "Nico, wake up," he said in a singsong voice. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of Nico's limp head bobbing back and forth.

Finally, Nico stirred awake. "I just had the weirdest dream," he mumbled, rubbing his face with both hands to wake himself up. After a few seconds, his hands dropped to his sides, revealing Percy's face leaning over him just a few inches away.

"Hey Nic'," Percy laughed.

Nico closed his eyes again, and his face flushed such a deep red that it was still noticeable in the dim light. "So it wasn't a dream, was it?" he groaned, covering his face with his hands, this time to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh, so you dream about me?" Percy gave him a playful, suggestive look.

"Oh please, you wish," Nico snapped, separating the fingers covering his eyes to glare out at Percy.

"Tough talk from a guy who just fainted in my arms."

"Oh yeah!? Well-" Nico froze, finally becoming aware of the position he was in. He looked down and took notice that he was reclined over Percy's lap. He stuttered over the next few words before shoving himself away and rolling out of Percy's lap.

Percy fell back laughing, "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" He said mockingly with a pout on his face.

"Shut up! It's your fault! You were the one who kissed me!"

"Well, it was your idea!" Percy teased.

"You said on the cheek!" Nico hissed.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, who knows," Percy shrugged, playing along, "But what I do know is that you have bad aim."

Nico tried to respond again but was too flustered to form any words, opting instead to stammer incoherently.

Percy's laughter slowly subsided, and he stood up from the ground, offering a hand to Nico to help him to his feet. "Hey, man, I'm sorry. I'm just messing with you."

Nico took Percy's hand, still scowling, and stood up beside him.

"Let's call it a night," Percy suggested. "Seems like our plan is a bust."

Nico nodded silently.

"Get some sleep. See you tomorrow. Good night," Percy said, ruffling Nico's hair.

As Theseus completed his nightly walk through the camp, the tranquil evening was disrupted by Will's voice hissing in the shadows, startling him. Initially, he froze in his tracks, but after realizing that the voice was not directed at him, he snuck away to watch from afar. It wasn't hard to guess what was happening; Percy and Nico were always hanging around together, and Will's jealousy was well-known around camp.

Theseus watched the scene unfold, and finally, Will stormed away, leaving Percy and Nico alone. Bad idea, Theseus thought, compelled to stay and saw what happened next. Satisfied with the latest developments, he slipped away, following the same path that Will had taken moments ago, careful not to be seen by Percy.

Theseus quickly caught up to Will, approaching him silently and tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. Will whipped around in surprise.

"What- Theseus?" Will sputtered. "What do you want?"

"More importantly, I have something you want."
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Will rolled his eyes.

"It's bad news, I'm afraid, but it's only fair that you know," Theseus drawled, putting his arm around Will's shoulders conspiratorially.

Will shoved Theseus's arm away in irritation. "I'm not really in the mood for this right now. Just spit it out."

Theseus held up both his hands defensively. "Hey, I'm on your side. I'm just trying to look out for you, man. But I get it. It's been a rough night already. We're all tired. I understand if you don't want to hear what I know about Nico."

"What about Nico?" Will demanded, suddenly interested now that Nico's name was involved.

Theseus smirked. "I thought you might be interested in what I have to say."

Will grabbed Theseus roughly by the collar. "Tell me what you know."

Theseus was unfazed by Will's aggression, staring him straight in the eyes as he answered, a mischievous grin on his face. "Percy kissed Nico."

Will shoved Theseus away with a scoff. "Yeah, right."
Theseus shrugged. "Believe what you want. I saw it happen with my own two eyes."

A few moments passed as Will considered what Theseus had said. At first, the idea had been laughable, absurd even, but the longer he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, and the more the image made Will's blood boil.

Taking notice of Will's inner turmoil, Theseus stepped toward him. "Don't worry," he said, patting Will's shoulder supportively. "Here's what we're going to do about it."

Percy sat at the bottom of the lake. It was nearly three in the morning, and the light from the crescent moon barely reached him under the water. The darkness suited him just fine; he had been tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep after returning to his cabin. The water always calmed him, so he felt like it was worth a shot.

There was so much on his mind that he didn't even know what part of it was keeping him awake. On top of drama with Will and avoiding Theseus, he hadn't spoken to Annabeth since his outburst at the campfire two nights ago. He couldn't remember the last time things had gotten this bad between them, and he certainly couldn't recall an argument going unresolved for this long. Percy was used to being the first to apologize and patch things up, but this time, he was determined to wait for Annabeth to make things right.

"Crap, how long has it been?" Percy wondered aloud.

"About two hours," said a voice from behind him, and he turned rapidly to see one of the Naiads poking her head out of a rock crevice. "Get off my lawn, you cretin. Go to sleep."

"Sorry, geez," Percy mumbled and pushed himself up off the floor of the lake, stirring up a cloud of sand in his wake. The Naiad coughed obnoxiously, waving a fist at him angrily.

Percy hoisted himself out of the water onto the deck, making his way back to the cabin to try once again to go to sleep. He had only taken half a step inside, however, when he felt hands firmly grip around both his wrists, pinning them behind his back and roughly forcing him to his knees. Before he could cry out in alarm, another set of hands shoved a cloth into his mouth, rendering his voice completely muffled. It was only then that he was able to see who had ambushed him.

"Look at the world's greatest hero, so easily conquered," Will scoffed. Percy guessed that he had been the one to gag him but was unable to crane his neck to see who was holding him captive. He started squirming to escape the hands still gripping his wrists but made no progress. In response to his struggling, Percy was yanked backward, inertia forcing his head back so that he was staring straight into the sea-green eyes of Theseus. In the dim light of the cabin, it was like staring into the eyes of his own evil twin. Of course, he's behind this, Percy thought.

"Looking for me?" Theseus smirked. Percy didn't respond. Theseus continued, tilting Percy's head back to face forward. "Tonight isn't about me, though. But Will here has a lot he wants to discuss with you."

Unable to speak, Percy chose instead to glower at Will unflinchingly.

Will stared back, his face beet red with poorly concealed anger, his fists clenched, white-knuckled, at his sides. "You think you own this place, that you can do whatever you want without consequences, huh? I warned you. I told you to stay away from Nico. But no! You manipulated him. You turned him against me. And now you go and kiss him?!" He choked back a sob and attempted to cover it up with a cough. He turned away to recollect himself, and at that moment, Percy yanked his left shoulder forward in an attempt to escape once more.

"No! No, I'm not finished!" Will shouted, his fury turned toward Percy once more. "You sit there, and you listen to what I have to say to you." A delirious chuckle emanated from Will's throat. "You know he loves you, right?" he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why not me? Why is it always you? Nothing I do would ever stack up to the amazing Percy Jackson. I! Love! Him! But I can't measure up. What do you have that I don't?!"

Percy kept staring at Will but felt Theseus suddenly stiffen behind him at hearing Will's outburst.

"What are you waiting for?" Theseus said after a few moments of silence, his voice a dangerous purr. "Hit him."

Percy's eyes widened just in time to see Will's fist flying at his face. The impact sent him reeling to the side, and Theseus let go of his wrists, allowing Percy to go sprawling out onto the cabin floor.

Theseus dusted his hands off casually. "Job well done, Solace."

"I'm not finished yet," Will snapped and lunged at Percy again, snatching the collar of his shirt in one hand and winding back for another punch with the other. Blind with rage, Will rained hit after hit on a defenseless Percy. The gag fell out of Percy's mouth, now covered with blood, but he didn't try to call out. He grew numb to Will's fists, his head lolling back and forth with every punch. Part of him felt like, in some roundabout way, he deserved this. No amount of stress could account for how he'd been treating everyone recently––lashing out, saying such hurtful things to Annabeth, who was always supporting him, putting Nico and his relationship at risk. This wasn't him.

Little by little, Percy noticed his vision going dim, the surrounding cabin fading slowly out of focus. If he'd had trouble sleeping before, this sure was one possible solution. He braced himself for one more hit, but it never came. He squinted up, barely able to make out Theseus restraining Will's raised fist.

"Enough," Percy heard Theseus hiss, and that was the last thought his tired mind registered before everything went dark.

My head is pounding. Why is it pounding? Why can't I remember anything? Why is it so dark? Oh.

Percy opened his eyes. The ceiling of his cabin loomed over him, only slightly illuminated from the sliver of the morning sun peeking over the horizon and reflecting over the surface of the lake.

Am I on the floor?

He quickly pushed himself up into a sitting position, immediately regretting the movement when his vision clouded over and pain engulfed his body. He pressed one hand to his forehead in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain while he waited for his vision to return. After a few seconds, he could see more clearly, and the initial wave of discomfort began to fade. He took the opportunity to stand slowly, bracing himself against the wall. Once he felt stable enough on his legs, he made his way carefully to the bathroom, using the cabin's wall as support.

Percy flipped the light switch on, finding himself unrecognizable in the mirror. The first thing he noticed was his crooked nose and the dried trails of blood leading from it. His left eye was swollen nearly shut, and a small gash had opened below it on his cheek. Another stream of dried blood flowed from his bottom lip, which was split and swollen.

He couldn't bring himself to be angry. Instead, he felt defeated, worn down by the recent events, and it all came out in a single word. "Damn."

He turned on the sink and splashed some water on his face, washing off most of the dried blood and tinting the basin pink. Unsatisfied with the results; however, he decided to take a shower, letting the warm water soak into his body, allowing it to heal itself. He felt the swelling go down in his face, and the cuts cinched themselves back together. His nose remained broken, and he was unable to banish the blood pooling under the thin skin of his under eyes. He tried again, focusing all his energy on his nose, to no avail. The second attempt depleted any energy he had left, and he realized when he got out of the shower that his lip still bore the small vertical cut he had noticed earlier.

"Good enough," he mumbled and trudged back to collapse on his bed, exhausted.

The next morning, Percy sat at the Poseidon table for breakfast, hiding his bruised face as best as he could under the tilted visor of a Camp Half-Blood baseball cap. He stooped his head even lower into his Lucky Charms when he saw Nico approach the table and sit down across from him.

"Hey, Perce. So I know our plan was a bust, but I think if we try it one more time, it just might work. We had some," Nico paused, trying to figure out the best way to describe it, "distractions, but I think if we stay focused on the plan, we should be good."

"Mhm," Percy hummed, not once looking up at Nico.

"Is that a yes?" Nico leaned his head down in an attempt to catch Percy's face, "What's with the hat? You never wear hats. Is this going to be a recurring thing? If so, please rethink it."

"Yeah, sounds good, Nico."

Nico pressed his lips together in thought. "Is everything alright? Did something happen?" He lowered his voice and leaned across the table.

"No, I'm fine," Percy snapped. "Nothing happened."

Nico growled under his breath and lunged his arm forward, snatching Percy's hat off of his head. He pulled back just before Percy could reach out for it.

"Hey! Nico!" Percy shouted, his damaged face now exposed.

Nico froze at the sight of Percy's face giving Percy enough time to steal back his hat and place it on his head. "Nothing happened, my ass," Nico hissed. "Who did this to you?!"

"Nobody! I was being stupid and wasn't paying attention," Percy shot back in a low tone. He couldn't bring himself to tell Nico the truth. It was bad enough that Percy already drove a wedge in Nico and Will's relationship. He was better off not knowing.

"Not even you are stupid enough to break your own nose on accident," Nico insisted. "You may not want to tell me what happened, but I'll find out on my own."

"Nico, stop. There's nothing to find because nothing happened."

"Was it Theseus?" Nico pestered. "Was it Will? Annabeth?"

"Nico!" Percy barked.

"Fine!" Nico stood up from the table, "Don't tell me! I'll figure it out myself," he grumbled before storming off.

"Fine!" Percy shouted after Nico, getting up from his seat and backhanding his cereal bowl off the table, causing it to shatter on the floor.

A wave of stunned silence washed over the dining pavilion as the other campers craned their necks to see what was going on. Annabeth stood up from the Athena table and approached Percy cautiously. They hadn't properly spoken since their confrontation at the campfire, but she couldn't wait any longer for him to come to her. When he made no attempt to shoo her away, she reached out and gently took one of his hands in both of hers, causing him to look up at her in surprise. His appearance shocked her, and her stomach tied itself into knots, but she made an effort not to show her reaction on her face.

"Let's go talk," she said, quiet enough so that only he would hear, hoping that he wouldn't resist. Without a word, Percy nodded.

Percy flopped down face first into his bed as soon as they reached the Poseidon cabin, turning his head slightly to avoid most of the bruises. He hadn't realized how tired he was from the previous night until he laid down, and he was more than happy to use fatigue as an excuse to avoid speaking first. He had allowed Annabeth to remove him from the pavilion, but he needed her to make the first move, so he knew where they stood. Annabeth sat at the foot of his bed, staring out the window as she collected her thoughts.

"So…" Annabeth started, turning her body to face Percy, "I wanted to apologize for everything. I know you weren't involved in the bathhouse incident. I also forgive you for the things that you said to me at the campfire, so you don't have to apologize." Annabeth could hear a muffled sigh coming from the front of the bed.

Percy felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest, and he could finally breathe for the first time in days. Even before their fight, Percy had felt overwhelmed by the series of strange circumstances surrounding Theseus's arrival at camp. In the midst of all the activity, he hadn't realized how much he had missed Annabeth. Here she was, and she wasn't upset with him, even though he wished she would be. He hadn't allowed himself to dwell on their argument, but his cruel words from that night suddenly came flooding to his memory, and he was bridled by guilt. Sure, he didn't have to apologize, but he knew that he should. With some difficulty, he rolled over and heaved his sore body into a sitting position on the bed facing Annabeth.

"No, I do have to," he insisted, staring into her soft grey eyes. "I'm sorry for what I said to you, Annabeth. I don't have an excuse. I shouldn't talk to you like that."

"I forgive you," she grinned, playfully shoving his shoulder. "But remember that for next time."

Percy chuckled. "Yeah, don't worry about that wise girl."

"Didn't think I had to." She laughed with him for a moment before their fun died down, and they just sat staring contentedly at each other. Finally, Annabeth spoke up again. "So, are you going to tell me what happened to your face, or what?"

Percy furrowed his eyebrows as he contemplated her question. They were back on speaking terms now, but he was still unsure how much he could trust her with more altercations between him and Theseus, considering how dismissive she had been of him in the past. Finally, he answered, "You don't want to know."

Annabeth nodded, not allowing her face to betray her annoyance at his answer. "Just don't put yourself in any unnecessary danger, okay?" she said gently. "I'm here for you if you need help." Considering Percy's recent preoccupations, she assumed that his bruises had something to do with Theseus and the enigmatic rivalry they had formed with each other. As reluctant as she was to get involved in Percy's paranoid antics, she wanted him to know that she didn't want to fight with him anymore.

Percy leaned towards her until his lips were mere inches from hers and smirked. "No promises."

Annabeth rolled her eyes in response. She'd missed this Percy. She leaned forward, closing the gap between them in a kiss.

Man, did I miss this, Percy thought to himself.

Nico wanted to make amends. He knew that Will went to work in the infirmary right after breakfast, so he would have to hurry to catch him. Even with this in mind, Nico couldn't bring himself to approach Will without first getting his thoughts in order. Suddenly he caught sight of Will walking toward the infirmary, and deciding now was the only chance he would get, he called out to him and waved him over.

Will paused for a few seconds before reluctantly walking over to where Nico had been pacing outside the dining pavilion. Will stared stone-faced at Nico and didn't say anything. The tension between them made Nico even more nervous; Will seemed way more upset than he had expected him to be.

Nico took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and began to recite what he had planned to say. "Will. I'm sorry." He paused for a few seconds, waiting for some sort of acknowledgment that Will was listening but got nothing. He continued, "Uh. I'm sorry I yelled at you and made it seem like I didn't appreciate you and that I liked Percy better than you and- what happened to your hand?" He interrupted his own train of thought when he saw Will's knuckles which were bruised and covered in cuts.

"Nothing," Will muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and out of sight.

"Bullshit," Nico shot back. At that moment, the pieces fell together. "You attacked Percy, didn't you?"

"What if I did?" Will shrugged.

"You fucking idiot!" Nico snarled, forcefully shoving Will back. "To think that I was about to apologize to you! Listen very carefully. Because I'm only going to lay this out for you once. I'm no longer the easy prey I once was, and if you go up against me, and if you ever touch Percy again, I will make sure you end up in the worst part of hell."

"Go ahead, make my day," Will growled.

Nico stifled one laugh, then another, until he couldn't hold them back anymore, and he burst out laughing, loud crazed peals of laughter. The ground beneath them began to vibrate, almost imperceptibly at first, and building until Will stumbled backward to regain his footing. Nico was unfazed.

"Oh, man," Nico brought one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, but his unhinged smile did not fade. "I can't wait for you to die. I've got big plans for you."

The ground between them split on Nico's final word, looking like a gaping mouth inviting Will to jump on in. Will felt chills go down his spine, unable to speak as his air of bravado evaporated. He watched as Nico turned and started walking away. After a few moments, though, he stopped and faced Will one last time.

"In case this wasn't clear enough, we're done."