"Reyna!"

Percy came up to Praetor Ramirez-Arellano, squeezing himself between the demigods rushing around unsure what they should do and where to go, which resulted in the crowd just wandering in circles, unhelpfully blocking Percy's path. Thankfully, the Praetor, always on full alert, caught her name in the omnipresent noise. She stopped and turned, waiting for him.

"You're not going to get out of this, if that's what you want," she said the second he had stopped in front of her.

He gave her his loop-sided smile.

"I figured. I just want to make sure you don't need help, cause I wanted to talk with Annabeth first and then with the rest from my camp. But if you need me for something, it can wait" he assured her quickly.

As usually with Reyna, it was nearly impossible to tell what was going through her head, but while she studied him with her careful eyes, he thought there was something akin to respect in them.

"No, you may go. Thank you for considering it, though" she said at least and nodded shortly.

He grinned at her, but needed no more encouragement from her. After all, she was Reyna – she wouldn't play with pleasantries just to be polite, but plainly say if there was something he could do. Therefore, a few minutes later found him with Annabeth, finally alone.

He gave her his signature, troublemaker smile, which she responded to with a smirk.

"So, you want to see New Rome?"

Romans, being Romans, quickly organized lunch on the forum with places for everyone to sit and eat. The longest took preparing food for so many people; part jumped to getting food done as they usually would, the others went to the city to steal some food from frozen families (don't judge, they have to eat something. Besides the terrifying sight of the people still as statues was enough price).

In the meantime, Percy and Annabeth made good use of their time alone.

Sadly, they knew they didn't have hours, so they agreed to meet at night. If it'll even come, that is. The time was frozen, thus they wouldn't see the night sky, most probably, but when everyone get tired, they'll call it a night. For now, the couple went back to the forum.

As they sat next to Reyna, Hazel, Frank and the Agro crew, no one commented on their flushed cheeks, swollen lips, tangled hair or slightly misplaced clothes. Although Piper and Hazel noticed their oddly bright eyes and, honestly, no one could miss how huge their smiles were.

Somehow, everyone felt better not to ask Annabeth about the impression of New Rome.

"What's up?" said Percy sliding on a seat. He gazed around the people and bumped Hazel's shoulder, upon seeing her next to him.

"Not much" she smiled.

"Tell me" he looked in turn at each Roman. "What do you know about that girl?"

Everyone turned to the girl he pointed to with his chin.

"Don't stare," said at the same time Annabeth and Reyna.

"I think it's Ramona?" said Frank unsurely, making it seem like a question.

"Indeed" nodded Reyna. "Fourth Cohort, daughter of Arcus – that's Iris for you. She's fifteen, I think, has been at camp for over a year. She was early claimed. Why do you ask?"

Percy noted many teenagers glanced at his girlfriend.

"She seems nice" he shrugged. "Just curious. I'll be back in a sec."

Everyone observed him as he stood up (geez, he'd been sitting for soo long). Instead of going to Ramona, like they expected him to, he went through the whole forum… straight into the sparse woods on the forum's side. Frank and Hazel shared curious and surprised look, Reyna raised an eyebrow, the trio stared after him confusedly, then turned to the others, and Annabeth only observed him mildly interested.

"Did he go… to the woods?" said Piper at least.

"Yep" said Frank.

"Whatever for?" Leo scratched his head, looking closely at the woods, as though expecting to suddenly find there a hidden water park.

"Who knows with him" shrugged Annabeth, standing up. "But if he's about to get into troubles, I'd better be with him" she smiled at them all, scaring the trio that had never seen her this happy before, only cranky and bitter, and went after her boyfriend.

She wished her invisibility cap from mother worked; she jogged across the forum, but as she reached the woods, she had to slow down and sneak around, what would be a lot easier while invisible.

Annabeth came to a halt. She stilled and listened.

" – really."

"Oh, shut up."

Her eyebrows raised and she walked in the direction of the voices. Percy's and some other… but familiar, too.

"But c'mon. Now maybe isn't the best time, but when it's finished, you could come for the re – "

"No, Percy. Just leave me be, okay?"

Very familiar.

"But listen, Hazel – "

"Percy, fuck off, please."

"You have really bad mouth for a thirteen year old."

Finally she saw them, standing in the shadows. And was that pizza? And chocolate cake? She was sure she'd seen it on the table a few minutes before. How did they get it?

"Nico?" she said surprised. Both boys turned rapidly, but Percy relaxed when he saw her. "How long have you been here? Why don't you come out?"

"Oh, not you too!" groaned Nico, banging the back of his head against a tree.

Her boyfriend rolled his eyes.

"He's pretty stubborn."

"And you're pretty annoying."

"Thanks."

"But why do you not want to come?" as soon as she asked, she realized the answer. "Oh, right! We're at that part. Well, you're safer here, I suppose. But you'll come later on. And tell me, when'd you get that food?"

"I won't!" protested Nico, at the same time as Percy said: "I got it."

Annabeth ignored di Angelo.

"Okay, but when? It was on the table just now, I saw it!"

"Hey, I am a troubled kid" he winked at her, explaining nothing at all.

"Right, so thanks for food and all, but you can go" put in Nico.

"I feel so loved," muttered Percy.

The younger boy glared at him. Though it seemed he knew it was hopeless to argue with Percy (that boy was too persistent for his own good) and faced the tree, crossing his arms.

"Does anyone else kno – "

"No."

"Okay…" she stared at Nico, or rather his back. Still, if she was honest, she was quite used to this by now. "But Hazel – "

"No."

The couple sighed in unison.

"She should know, she's your sister," reminded him Percy.

For a while, he didn't answer. He then moaned quietly and heavily leaned his forehead on the trunk.

"Later. Just… later."

He couldn't see it, but they both nodded. She rather understood why he didn't want to face his half-sister right now. In the story Nico was "the bad guy" – kind of – and everyone was furious at him. She didn't want to know what Hazel was thinking about it, but she was probably confused and sad and disappointed.

Percy glanced up at her and somehow she got his silent message (which was creepy). She cleared her throat, slowly backing out.

"So, I'm going to the forum. I'll see you – both of you – later."

Nico didn't react – no surprise here – and her boyfriend smiled at her relieved. He waited for her to disappear between the trees and the steps to fade. Then he turned to the younger boy.

He poked his side.

Son of Hades jumped so high in the air, Percy stepped back in surprise and snorted loudly. Cleary Nico wouldn't even consider anyone poking him, of all the things, and he almost accidentally shadow-traveled across the country. He quickly collected himself, turning to stare at Percy like "the hell, dude".

"What was that?"

"I poked you" was his simple answer.

"Why? What's wrong with you, Percy?"

The boy in question shrugged, giving him a grin. However, it soon slid from his face, a small frown taking its place. Son of Poseidon sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, and then abruptly sat down on the ground. The younger boy raised an eyebrow at him.

"I won't make you sit down, but you can, if you want to," said Percy.

Nico regarded him for a second, before slowly sitting down.

"I won't – "

"It's not about it" interrupted him Percy. "I think. I'm not sure what you were going to say. Anyways I – um, it's about what we're reading" the boy's expression flickered, like he was holding back, but Percy thought he saw an emotion resembling… worry? He couldn't be sure. "It's just – I'm sorry, okay? I know our relationship has been – er, shaky, but I kinda consider you my friend… and I'm a rubbish friend, really. I wish I did some things differently; I should've seen how the people treated you sooner and actually acted like a friend. Or did something at all. They're all so mean, but don't listen to them, they don't matter. You have friends at Camp Half-Blood, even if you don't acknowledge it, and we don't care if you can summon armies of dead or other freaky stuff. I mean – I talk to fish. Fish, Nico. We're all weird like that."

He had a feeling he was beginning to rant, so he shut up and looked at the boy for some reaction.

Somewhere in his tirade Nico's mouth went slightly ajar, but he realized and closed it, settling for just gaping wide-eyed at Percy. He expected something else entirely, that's sure, but as always, it was hard to read his emotions and what he thought about this little confession.

After a tense minute of staring at each other, the older boy waved a hand before di Angelo's face.

"Take that hand from my face" he finally said, breaking out of his daze. "That's… I didn't expect that."

"Clearly."

He glared at him, but without much passion.

"It's that… I thought you didn't like me. I'd never think you consider me a – a friend" he looked down. "After Bianca" his voice shook a little at the name." I assumed you hated me for forcing that promise on you… and how I later acted… and everything in general. I was a pain in the arse."

Percy laughed.

"That's funny, I thought you didn't like me. Y'know, for failing you… and all."

"How's that funny?"

"It's just a phrase" he rolled his eyes. A small smile crept on Nico's face and Percy realized something with a jolt. "You sarcastic little shit!"

"Excuse me?" he said amusedly.

"I've always thought you're grim and gloomy, but you're just sarcastic! Gods, you're good. My whole life was a lie!" he sighed dramatically.

"Look who's talking" snorted Nico. "You are, too!"

"But people can never tell, do they?" Percy grinned.

"Silly people" he agreed, understanding the older boy completely.

"Soo… friends?"

Nico bit his lip, nodding slowly. There was an explosion of emotions inside of him, but he did his best not to show it. They shook hands, Percy being as pompous as you could get, and decided it was time for Percy to go, or the people would start looking for him.

"Hey, listen… I'm sorry, too. My dad locking you up…"

"It's fine" son of Poseidon waved his hand carelessly. "I don't know when's another break, but we'll come here for you. And I'll take Hazel" he fixed him a pointed stare, which Nico ignored.

Soon after, he was left alone with his thoughts, cheese pizza and chocolate cake. His emotions were all mixed up and fuzzy, he couldn't really figure them out. He knew one thing, though – you don't become Percy's friend easily and he wouldn't lie about a thing like that.

So he was more determined than ever to get over his crush on him.

"What were you doing in the woods?"

"Percy, are you alright?"

"Where've you been?

"Why there?"

His friends and hopefully soon-to-be friends bombarded him with questions the second he reached the table. He also noticed with disappoint everyone was almost finished eating so was going to end up both hungry and annoyed when the people start their questioning. He sighed inwardly and smiled on the outside, sitting next to Annabeth, who hadn't batted an eye or even looked up from her pasta at his arrival. Only when he slid on the seat, she raised her gaze to him. They stared for a second at each other, smirking, then broke the eye contact and went back to their previous activities.

"What, can't I go for a walk?" said Percy innocently.

"In the middle of a meal, without a word of explanation, alone?" Reyna raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Yeah, just that" he nodded, reaching for food. When everyone continued to stare at him, he rolled his eyed. "Wanted to gather thoughts?"

"Why are you asking us?" said Reyna.

"Gods, have some trust in me, okay? I just did, it's not forbidden."

The Praetor narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't object. She decided to leave the matter, for now, however she'll find out sooner or later what he's up to.

"Fine."

"So, Percy, you'll explain everything, yeah?" said Frank when he was sure none of the Praetors were going to argue more.

Son of Poseidon groaned with mouth full of pizza (not the one he wanted, though, that one was being eaten while he was with Nico, dammit).

"Can we later?" he whined after swallowing.

"Well, if you haven't gone gods know where – "

"I get it, Reyna" he cut her off. "But I have to talk to someone yet."

"Who?" Annabeth finally showed some interest.

"Um, Ramona, was it?" he turned to the Romans and they nodded.

"Whatever for?" said Hazel.

"She seems nice" he shrugged.

"You said it already," pointed out Annabeth.

"What, you go and talk to anyone who seems nice?" snorted Leo.

"Kinda."

"Really?" Jason looked at him.

"I mean, I listened to the comments at the reading and… not all were nice" he furrowed his eyebrows, clearly bothered. "I just want to – I dunno – appreciate nice people? Just, you know, have good people on my side?"

"I think I get your point," said slowly Piper.

"Oh good, I really didn't know what to say."

"So nothing new here" sighed Annabeth, for what she received a bump in a shoulder. She pushed Percy right back, he did too, and after a minute, they almost fell off a couch, shoving each other with shoulders. The others stared at them; Reyna exasperated, Hazel, Frank and Piper in amusement, Leo laughing disbelievingly and Jason not really knowing what to think.

Finally, they pushed at the same time and howled with laughter.

"Seaweed Brain."

"Wise Girl."

"Kelp Head."

"Know-it-all."

"Fish Boy."

"Smarta – "

Suddenly Annabeth looked at him murderously, grabbed the front of his shirt and cut him off mid-sentence.

"Don't you dare, Jackson."

He stared innocently in her eyes, small grin plying on his lips.

" – sss…" he finished with self-satisfied smirk.

Before she could slay him, he slipped (okay, bolted with difficulty) out of her grasp. He ran behind Reyna, grinning like a lunatic.

"PERSEUS JACKSON, YOU DID NOT JUST – "

She stormed up to him slowly backing away. Then he had the nerve to kiss her quickly and wink.

"I have someone to talk to, don't give the Romans impression we Greeks are nuts, if you could" and with that he turned and took off.

Annabeth closed her eyes, taking deep, calming breath.

"I will not kill him. I will not kill him. I cannot kill him… no matter how much I want to. But I will not kill him" she chanted quietly to herself. She shook her head and went to her seat.

The whole table was silent. Most looked like they were holding back their laughter, but no one dared to say a thing.

"Hi."

Three heads whipped around to face Percy. He hid his nervousness under a friendly smile, waiting for some kind of response.

"Hello" said a bemused girl, the one who was supposedly Ramona. She was skinny, had strawberry blonde hair, green-blue eyes and pointed nose.

"I'm Percy – "

"No duh" deadpanned another girl, quite beautiful, with bronze skin, long curly brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes with thick eyelashes. A second too late she seemed to realize what she said and toward who. She brought a hand to her mouth, whilst her friends glared at her.

Percy sensing the girl was just tactless, but meant nothing wrong, laughed.

"Right, I just didn't want to seem rude" he grinned. "But what're your names?"

"Ramona, daughter of Arcus" she looked at him apologetically, throwing her friend a wolf stare.

"Diana, daughter of Venus" Diana smiled embarrassedly, taking a step away from Ramona.

"Andrea, daughter of Victoria" said the third girl reminded him slightly about Rachel with her creamy, freckled skin and red hair in a messy bun, but she, unlike his friend, gave off this authority vibe and had brown eyes, and sharp facial structures instead. He'd known her for a second, but he could tell she was "calm and collected" kind of person. "But why are you asking?"

Ah, and the awkward explanation part.

"I don't know, to be honest," he blurted out. "But you seemed nice and, um, understanding towards Nico" he told Ramona. "Which is rarity here."

"Oh" she looked at him surprised. "Thanks. I never had anything against him, really. Well, he's a little bit creepy, but he's not bad or anything…"

"Too bad no one sees it" he sighed.

The three shared a curious look.

"Hey, is it true you brought him to your camp?" said Ramona, quickly adding: "If you don't mind me asking."

"Yeah, it's fine, but you're gonna find out anyways soon" he motioned Reyna with his head. "She'd rather bite my head off than let me off the hook."

"Isn't she, like, mature and…"

"But she's really curious and distrustful too. And she'd get away with it anyway – you know, no witnesses, no evidence…"

Ramona just raised her eyebrows amused at the answer to her question, but Andrea cocked her head.

"Nice opinion of her you have," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Pretty good, I think. Not many people would manage that. Anyway I'm gonna go, but it was nice to meet you all. You're sitting not far from us at the reading, yeah?"

They nodded.

"What, you have some plans toward us?" smiled Diana in what you could call flirtatious way. He didn't take it seriously – he learned some children of Aphrodite (or Venus in that case) came to an agreement with their 'love stuff' side of personality, inherited after their mother, of course, and were able to flirt even with a doorknob if it was good-looking enough.

Her friends, though, cast her scandalized looks and Ramona elbowed her.

"Chill" Percy laughed. "We have daughters of Aphrodite, too, you know. But actually yeah, it would be great if you could tell me about some of the people here."

He noticed Annabeth began sneaking looks in his direction and Reyna just stared at him, most likely getting impatient but unwilling to show it.

"That's fine" Ramona waved her hand nonchalantly. "The worst one you probably think of is Jeremy…"

"You'll tell about him when we're sitting, okay?" he smiled nevertheless interrupting her, although in his defense, he had a feeling she was going to get in a rant about the guy and he wouldn't get out of listening in less than half an hour, which was definitely too long for him.

"Sure" she smiled brilliantly, not minding the disruption one bit.

"Cool, thanks. So, see you."

They all shared last 'see you's and Percy went back to the table, relieved. He had been worried Ramona wasn't all that great, but she and her friends seemed nice and genuine.

"And?" said Annabeth, this time even before he reached them. What's with them asking questions the moment he comes?

"They're all cool, as I thought. Promised me to tell a bit about people."

He didn't sit. It seemed he couldn't stay in place for long, so he didn't bother this time.

"You ready for story time?" said Leo, grinning.

"Ooh, story time, can't wait" he answered flatly.

Reyna stood up (ha! For once, he was right).

"So we better go," she said. "I think everyone already awaits it."

It was weird, decided Piper, to feel like you've had a long, busy day, but the sun on the sky told you otherwise. The task of settling on some hour turned out insane and impossible. It was bright and sunny like at noon, but it'd been that way for about ten hours – though they couldn't even tell that for sure. The time flew by and no one was capable of telling how much passed exactly.

After the 'story time' people found they were all dead tired and for the first time wondered what they were going to do with the time frozen. No clock was working. They sky froze with sun high above them. What were they supposed to do?

In the end, they choose a glass hour. Simple and working. Still, they didn't know how much time had already passed, so they decided to call it a night.

The guests would sleep in the city, in a big apartment for rent. The others parted ways to their respectable places, and only Percy, Reyna and Jason (now, that was awkward) stayed behind to escort the three Greeks to their temporary place. Along the way discussion somehow turned to the Praetorship and Piper was thankful Octavian wasn't around (the guy seriously had been getting on her nerves, especially with his inputs while Percy was talking) when Percy said he could step from his position for Jason, because it was 'no biggie' for him.

Jason refused, of course, being his noble and honorary himself.

Before the two could fight about it, they reached the apartment. It was nothing special, to be honest. Quite big, yes, so they had a bedroom each, but it was clearly arranged for renting. The walls were all in pastel colors, in the bedrooms there were only beds and wardrobes and in the small living room was just a couch. Reyna said unfortunately they had nothing else big enough for them and they couldn't allow them in the barracks, as it was strictly against the rules (Romans weren't the most hospitable lot, per see). But then Percy assured them someone was going to bring them at least chairs to sit on and a table. When Reyna was talking to Jason (Piper forced herself to look away), he whispered he got them a few other things, too, but Reyna didn't need to know.

Finally, when everything was settled, the two Praetors and Jason exited their apartment, promising to send someone in time for breakfast. Percy winked them, so Piper assumed he would be that someone. She shared a quick goodbye kiss with Jason, in opposite to Annabeth who whispered in Percy's ear, while he was kissing her jaw and neck, and took her time. Somehow, they made it look so intimate no one as much as glanced in their direction until they were finished. Then the three was alone.

For the first time she was with only Leo and Annabeth. It felt weird. Especially now that Annabeth seemed like another person – still intimidating and dangerous, but playful and fun all the same. It made Piper wonder how much a person can change.

"I'm taking this room, is it fine with you?" said Annabeth, pointing to the first room from the doorway.

As far as Piper knew, they hadn't been inside the bedrooms yet. She had a sneaking suspicion they – or rather Annabeth – was about to have a guest at night.

"Okay" said Leo confusedly. "But have you even been inside?"

"No, I just prefer to be close to exit" she lied smoothly. Ah, if not for her Aphrodite radar going off, maybe she would buy it.

"I'm taking the bigger one" Piper quickly put in, running to check which one would that be.

"Not fair!" called Leo, sprinting behind her.

She got the bigger room anyways.

"Hey" she felt a hot breath on her neck as a body sneaked in her bed.

"Hi" she said turning.

There he was, messed up hair, bright eyes, crocked grin and all. For a second she just stared and it felt like nothing happened. But when her eyes flickered down to the rest of him, she saw that yes, something did happen, and though she wasn't happy about it, she liked how it affected her boyfriend's body.

"What?" he whispered amused.

She just slid in his arms, resting her forehead against his neck.

"I missed you."

His arms slipped around her waist and back, clutching her tightly.

"I did, too" he placed his chin on her head. "You haven't changed, you know. And I'm glad, of course."

She laughed silently.

"I was afraid you would change… with amnesia and the Romans. But you didn't and I'm glad, too. Though…" mischievous smile appeared on her face as she leaned back to look him in the eye. "You did change, in a way."

"How?" adorable. He looked clueless and had honestly no idea what she was on about.

"You filled out pretty good. If that's what Roman training does – " she didn't finish as Percy started laughing, slightly flushed.

He kissed her finally and talking turned out completely useless for quite some time. Not that she minded.

"You have to watch out" she said breathlessly, breaking apart after a long while. Wait, where did his shirt go?" They can't catch you."

"I know" he sighed, but instead of getting ready to go, he brought her close to him and lay.

"It would be so easier with at least clocks working" she muttered.

"I know," he said again.

"I wonder if really that much time passed or if we were just tired emotionally and mentally."

He shrugged.

"I don't know, we haven't done that much today."

"When you think about it, we read just two chapters. It's next to nothing."

"Remember most of the time was wasted arguing, talking, eating and all."

"Yeah, a lot was spent on listening to your heroic adventures" she smirked, knowing full well how uncomfortable he felt at the 'story time'. He didn't say anything, really, and she had to tell everything, because he was trying to down-play it or skip some parts.

"Shut up" he mumbled, shoving her slightly. "I didn't ask for it."

"I know, you'd rather talk to… wait" she propped herself on an elbow. "I just remembered. Where's Nico?"

"In his barrack. I went to check on him some time ago and he said he'll wait everyone out and shadow-travel straight to his bed, so thankfully no one will notice. Then he'll shadow-travel out of it back to the woods. I promised to wake him up when it's time" Percy calmed her down.

She stared at him for a moment, a smile making its way to her face. She suddenly rolled on top of him, grinning.

"I love you" she said without thinking. Then she realized it and stilled awaiting Percy's reaction.

He froze, wide-eyed, looking as though he couldn't comprehend what he just heard. His mouth formed different letters like he wasn't able to make up his mind. He finally swallowed and laughed disbelievingly out of blue.

"I love you too, Wise Girl," he said pulling her down to him.

Hi people from Earth and the space!

I promised an update every two weeks, didn't I? So, here you go. Yeah, there's not actual chapter, but I hope you'll forgive me. I tried to make it long and look - over 4,600 words! That's almost as much as the chapters from PJO.

As always, I'll remind you SUGGESTIONS, CRITICISM AND IDEAS ARE GOOD. Feel free to write what you think, I'd be glad.

Remember to review! It motivates me to work :)

Love, Ronnie