The red five on the digital clock flicked to six.

He squinted. Eight, three and six. Eight... 8:36am. His jaw hung open just barely, and his spit had started to fall out of his mouth onto the white sheets.

He tried to open his eyes more but he light felt like daggers digging into his pupils and his closed his eyes. It felt like seven grumpy dwarves were using pickaxes on the inside of his brain, trying to get out. His mouth tasked like a poison apple too. Probably worse.

He groaned and groped for a blanket. There wasn't one. Percy sighed and looked down. He'd fallen asleep on the covers, so he would have to get up in order to get under the blankets. Not worth it.

He was still in his clothes, and his belt buckle was digging into his hip.

Percy rolled over to look back at the clock and the nightstand. His eyelids were heavy, as they started to droop shut, but he made out a ripped piece of paper set next to the clock. His brain wasn't totally working, but he managed to read the dark letters at the top of the page.

Percy's Life Plan

Percy jerked and tried to open his eyes all the way before his body decided to punish him for opening his eyes and moving at all by making everything throb painfully even more. He squinted at the paper, as he slowly swung one leg off the bed and made the other one follow it, pushing his torso and pulsating brain along with it. He felt for the paper blindly until he felt something smooth under his fingers and grabbed it. Bringing the paper right under his nose so he could see it, clearly, he read as fast as he could manage.

Percy's Life Plan:

Decide what to do - Ask Piper

stuff he could do:

Protect ocean, how?

FBI (can't shoot a barn with a bazooka)

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency, you idiot)

Just go kill evil people with a sword (NO.)

Get out of school

Get his stuff shit together - What?

Job

Kids- 10 or 20 3 to 4

"What?" Percy groaned. He didn't remember any of this. This definitely wasn't his handwriting, it was too loopy, too nice. Who even had handwriting like this? It hurt his head to read.

"Finally, you're up," a voice said, and Percy looked up.

He was in the hotel, but it wasn't his hotel room. Didn't Reyna want to lock him out of his? The beds were facing a different direction, and the one across from him had the covers thrown to the side, and was all tangled up. And last time he checked, Sarah's suitcase was red and his suitcase was been blue, not black or covered in enough pink flowers to make him want to throw up. Also, his room didn't have Nico di Angelo standing in the bathroom door in low black jeans without a shirt, drying his hair.

"Uh, yeah," Percy managed. Nico didn't look like he had any hair on his chest. His skin rippled smoothly over easily concealed, but not to be underestimated, muscles. His skin hadn't seen sun in a long time, but it wasn't translucent, it was a healthy pink, probably from the hot shower.

Percy's made his head turn back the piece of paper before Nico realized Percy was checking him out.

"What's this?" he asked, running his thumb over the creases in the paper.

"Your life plan..." Nico said, like it should be obvious. Course it never was for Percy, and being hungover didn't help much.

"Um, what?" Percy asked again. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Nico pulled his t-shirt over his head.

"Your life plan," Nico repeated. He grinned. "Too drunk to remember?"

Honestly, Nico's reaction surprised Percy a bit. Shouldn't Nico be pissed or at least annoyed that he didn't remember anything after... Did he meet some guy named Peter...? Nico was acting weird, since when did he smile at Percy?

"Yeah." Percy looked back at the paper. It was too small to be from a binder or something, and there wasn't any lines on it. "Is this- from your sketch book?"

The bed bounced as Nico sat down next to Percy, rubbing the back of his neck with a towel. "Yup. I ripped it out and put it there after you kind of passed out, so you wouldn't forget it."

"Oh." Percy read down the list again. "You wrote this?"

Nico threw the towel toward the bathroom and focused on the paper instead of Percy. "I just wrote down what you were saying."

Percy snorted and held up the paper. "'Environmental Protection Agency, you idiot?'"

Nico grinned and chuckled. "Okay, with some notes."

Percy huffed. "When did we write this? I just remember... Peter... Pedro... Piero?"

"Yeah," Nico said, smiling as he sat back on his hands. "And I was telling you about my story..."

The story was about a group of heroes that have to save the world - obviously - but they were on the side of the devil, who wasn't a bad guy. They had to stop someone who wanted to free all of the souls in the underworld.

Nico said that was the super simple version of it, and it was really complicated, but it sounded cool to Percy.

There were five main characters, three boys, two girls. Piero the main character was gay, and he had a crush on one of the guys, named Neil, but he didn't know, and Piero didn't want him to know because Piero's family was pretty homophobic, so he pretends to like one of the girls, Mary-Anne, even though she knows he's gay and thinks he should just tell Neil.

"Anyway, I'm not sure how it's going to end yet, but I'm pretty sure someone has to die to kill the villain, but I haven't decided who," Nico finished. He closed the sketchbook and tapped the cover with his pen nervously.

"I hope ya don' kill Pedro or Neil. They sound cool, and Neil totally likes Pedro back," Percy slurred, a huge grin on his face.

Nico glanced to Percy. "Piero. And you think so?"

"Yup yup yup! I mean, you were talkin' 'bout how Peiro saved Neil and then Neil saved Peiro from the... What?"

"Dragon...?" Nico supplied for him.

"Yeah, dragon. And Neil was like, 'Don't do that again!' but he was totally sayin' 'Don't get yourself killed saving me, because I can't live without you.' Right? He totally likes him."

Nico rubbed his thumb over the black cardboard and smiled. "Um, yeah. Maybe." He hated the flutter in his chest when Percy said that.

They could hear the reception going on behind them. They had probably been out here for an hour by now. Below them after several hundred feet and down the grassy hill was the parking lot, and after that a small forest or large grove of trees sat. Above the trees rose the mountains that enclosed the wine country, with a big yellow moon dangling in the stars.

Percy smiled and closed his eyes. The silence was nice, just sitting next to someone and knowing they're there, but not feeling constantly plagued with needing to find something new to talk about. The song floated out to them on the night air, and Percy realized it was Brown Eyed Girl, and suddenly, sitting in silence next to Nico made his skin crawl, and he said the first thing that popped into his head, but Nico seemed to have the same idea.

"So you-"

"So Percy-"

They both stopped.

"You can go first," Percy said quickly.

"No-" Nico practically choked. "No, you go first."

"Oh, 'kay. So, Mary-Anne is Jason, right?" Percy asked.

Nico smiled and laughed. "Yeah, but don't tell him that. He'll kill me. Or at least get very angry and threaten to before storming away in a big fat huff."

Percy started laughing too.

"Yeah. I bet he'll figure it out once ya get published and he reads it. Be prepared to run di Angelo."

Nico turned to him, suddenly clutching his sketchbook. "Huh?"

"I said 'be prepared to run...? Cause either he figures it out or-"

"No. Not that. Once I get published?"

Percy looked at him. "Once ya get published, right? I mean those characters can't just stay in a sketchbook forever. And they seem like an awesome first book."

Nico opened the book to the picture of Neil. He hadn't shown this drawing to Percy. He'd said he couldn't really draw him yet, because whenever he did, he kept drawing a picture of Percy facing off against the manticore. Percy didn't look like the drawing so much anymore but anyone who knew Percy would see the resemblance easily.

"Yeah. I guess I can't keep it hidden forever," Nico whispered. He closed the book quickly.

Percy looked down. The empty water bottle was turned on its side at his feet. He didn't feel that drunk anymore, but he was sure he would fall over if he stood up. He felt like his blood was boiling, and no one was turning off the damn stove.

"Do ya want to know why I left, Nico?!" Percy demanded

Nico stared at him. "Um, sure-?"

"I left 'cause I was sick of bein' the hero and all the pressure to be perfect or know exactly what I want or who I want or who I should be with. I was done with all the pressure to turn out even 'greater' than I was. Can't a guy just get drunk without everyone thinkin', 'Remember what a hero he used to be?'"

"Okay?"

"And now, all I'm gettin' from my best friends is pressure to be somethin' I ain't ready to be, a mortal friend who can even see right through me and no one'll even listen to me!"

Percy fell back against the concrete. He pressed his palms to his face and groaned.

Nico just looked at him for a minute, trying to remember everything Percy had just said. 'Who I want or who I should be with...' He must have meant that dream. As much as he would want to deny it, Nico was dying to know who Percy saw. If he knew he could just squash the little evil part of him that hoped it was himself. The part that ached to comfort Percy right now. The part that thought it was possible that Annabeth and Reyna were actually trying to get Percy to admit he might like men.

To his right, Percy sighed. "Maybe I just need to disappear again. I don't know. I just- I dunno."

Without thinking, Nico spoke: "Speaking from experience: you'll just get the same problems wherever you go until you face them. It took me years to admit what I felt... for you." He swallowed, but kept going. "I did everything I could to make sure no one would ever find out, that I wouldn't have to face you. But you turned up in my dreams no matter where I went and you appeared at Camp Jupiter, the last place you should be. And then I was forced to tell Jason... And I knew I would never be able to get away unless I really ran. But when I got away from Jason, Reyna figured it out. I couldn't get away. Until they told me to just face them. And when I did I stopped feeling like something was wrong with me. I realized people were actually trying to help me and not attack me. It may sound hard to stop running, but at least think about it."

Percy sat up, leaning back on his hands. "Yeah. I guess. It's not that I'm runnin' from everythin'... I just don't know what to do. I mean when I go to college - I'm in a JC right now - and I've just been gettin' English and Math classes outta the way. But I need to start gettin' my life goin' somewhere, and my best friend can't hold up a conversation without changin' the subject to how I just needa 'face my fears.'"

Nico was silent for a while. Just blinking and soaking up Percy's words. He knew exactly what he meant. He was about to start college, in New Rome, and even though he had told everyone he was going in as an art major, he was still freaking out inside because he had finally told someone he didn't want to go to New Rome. What would Hazel think? He didn't think she would care, but he was was going to miss going to the same school as her.

Hazel knew exactly what she was going to do. She wanted to be an equestrian veterinarian, and she wanted to have a farm with some horses. She wanted a big traditional wedding with Frank. Frank wanted to be a military historian and was actually working with Annabeth's dad as intern. Frank had been bugging Nico for weeks to help him figure out how to propose to her and Nico kept telling him he should wait until she graduates from college. Nico thought Frank should let her have a normal college experience first. Then they should live together for a while, THEN he should propose. Then marriage, two kids, big house, whatever.

Maybe he was just jealous. Frank had accused him of being jealous of them awhile ago, after Nico had told him he shouldn't propose to Hazel just yet. He hadn't been on a decent date in... Ever. He just seemed to hate everyone except his friends. It was like everyone just cared about superficial things and he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a conversation on a date where he actually just relaxed. He just hated that he wanted to fall in love like everyone else seemed to do so fucking easily.

But when he really thought about it, he wasn't even sure that if he wanted marriage and kids, or if they were even a possibility.

"Yeah, I get that." He was laying on his back again with his eyes were closed.

"Wait, did I just say all of that aloud?"

"Yeah, you've been talkin' for like-" Percy check the invisible watch on his wrist. "Ten minutes."

"Oh my gods." Nico planted his head in his hands.

Percy laughed. "It's mmkay. Ya didn't say anythin' too embarrassin'."

Nico laughed nervously and accidently snorted. He froze.

Percy opened an eye. "Did you just snort?"

"NO." Nico looked away, scratching the back of his neck and hunching his shoulders.

"You did!" Percy laughed, kicking his feet up in the air as he howled.

"Gee thanks." Nico blushed and smiled over at the cackling son of Poseidon.

Nico waited for Percy to stop laughing, and finally to get his breath back. And as he did, something dawned on him.

"Wait, you're not sure if you want to get married and have kids?" Nico asked.

Percy stopped heaving and glanced up. "Um. No. Yes. N- I dunno." He sighed and raked his hands down his face. "Gods. This was just sooooo much easier when I was with Annabeth. I just didn't care about this shtuff."

Nico looked away, trying to push down the ball welling up in his throat. Percy was drunk, he probably didn't even realize what he was saying.

"You know Percy," Nico said. "Even if you ask Annabeth's advice on this, I don't think she would know what to tell you."

Percy sat up. "What do ya mean?"

I mean Annabeth's wanted nothing except to be an architect her whole life. She's already on the fast track to becoming a great one, so how could she understand your confusion?"

"Huh, I guess I didn't thinka that."

"Almost everyone has their stuff figured out, but Piper changed majors for a while, maybe you could talk to her."

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Percy sat up the rest of the way. He was smiling that really cute lopsided smile. "Now if I could just figure out everythin' else."

Nico smiled. "Why don't we just do it right now?" Nico opened his sketchbook to a black page and took the pen out of spiral metal. He read as he wrote: "'Percy's life plan.' Okay first, decide what you want to do. And you should ask Piper for help..."

"After that you came up with the rest of these things, we talked some more and we went back inside. Also you had a lot more to drink, and almost got into a fight with Travis Stoll." Nico smiled and shook his head. "I guess he and Sarah really hit it off. Then I dragged you back here and you passed out. Rachel never actually came back, but Hazel and Frank said they'd make sure she was fine." Nico took his phone out of his pocket, and started texting.

"Wow, I don't remember any of that." Percy said. "Man I gotta start drinking less at parties. Last time I drank this much I ended up-" He clamped his mouth shut and Nico glanced up from his text. "Nevermind."

"Anyway, do you need to take a shower?" As Nico stuck his phone back in his pocket, then got up and stretched. Percy could see a sliver of his pelvis as his black t-shirt rode up. "I'm going to see if I can go find Rachel. I have to work tomorrow and we should hit the road soon."

"Um, yeah. A shower sounds great," Percy said.

Nico's phone vibrated. "Great! I'll be back later, Rachel's in your room." Nico said as he headed out the door.

"Uh, okay?"

Nico rolled his eyes and flashed Percy a smile before he closed the door.

Percy looked down at the list.

"What the hell happened last night?"

Suddenly something lurched in Percy's stomach and he ran to the bathroom.

Moral of the story is don't get drunk at weddings kids!

Comments make me love ya'lls!