Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus

HoH spoilers

Hey guys! I'm back, and I've decided to do the alternate endings, so that should be either next chapter that that starts, or the one after, depending on how this goes! I wanted to get this chapter out earlier today, but my family wanted to watch a movie, so here I am, armed with an orange pop and my imagination. Let's see how this goes!

Chapter 8!

Percy's POV

I woke up in my cabin, to the sound of my own breathing and the saltwater fountain in the back of my cabin.

Not for the first time, I wished I had siblings to share the cabin with. It was always so empty and quiet here, and the only time that there was a reprieve from it was when Tyson was here, but he rarely visited anymore.

I got up and got ready for another slow day. After falling into that weapons rack yesterday my wound was aching more than it had for a few days.

When I finished getting ready, I went outside and to the dining pavilion like that day before.

Once again, although I wasn't surprised this time, Nico was leaning back on my table alone with everyone already to their daily activities.

Something was off today though, for some reason Nico was slouching more than usual as if he was depressed about something. It was kind of the same way he had been yesterday, except right now he wasn't talking so I could see his posture and his expressions as he looked at the ground.

"Hey Nico, what's up?"

He shrugged his shoulders, still looking at the ground "Not much."

"You ok man? You still seem a bit out of it from yesterday."

He didn't reply to that, he just gestured at my plate of food that was waiting on the table for me.

I sat down and he sat next to me, still looking down, not really focusing on anything as if he were lost in his own thoughts.

As I sat there, eating my food in silence, I realized how alone I still was. Nico had been the only source of friendship I'd had since, let's just call it the incident, and now that he was strung up on his own thoughts, I realized how alone I'd been since Annabeth left me.

… I still don't know how I feel about her anymore, there are too many emotions to pick just one, there's resentment, anger, sadness, longing, loneliness… the list goes on. I don't know what she wants either. I've seen her around as I've been going around camp with Nico, and she was always looking at me until I saw her, when she would look away. It was like she wanted to tell me something but was too scared to. Just one more person who was scared of me.

It was so frustrating, everyone seemed as if they were almost walking on eggshells around me, and the only person who was still genuinely acting like my friend was Nico, and now he was acting awkward.

I can barely stand it, and it's making me miserable.

My thoughts must've been showing in my expression because Nico looked over at me and asked "Percy, you ok?"

I looked over at him and saw concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm ok, just thinking about stuff."

"You sure?" He seemed like he was out of his mood he'd been in.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"So what—" Nico started but I heard a familiar yell coming from the hill.

"PERCY!" Yelled someone who was arguably my most similar cousin, Thalia.

"What were you thinking!? Annabeth Iris messaged me a few days ago and told me what happened and it took me this long to convince Lady Artemis (I think that's the correct title?) to let me come knock some sense into you!" Thalia shouted at me.

"Percy, what do I have to-" Nico cut her off quickly.

"Come on Thalia, this isn't the time, you have no idea what he's gone through."

She stood there silently for a few seconds and looked at the ground.

"Sorry Percy, I just… I don't like seeing my friends get hurt." She said quietly.

"It's ok Thalia." I muttered looking at my shoes miserably. One more person to add to the list of people I'd let down.

"Percy really-" Nico cut her off again.

"You should probably go," He said quietly, "maybe talk to him again later, or tomorrow morning."

"Ok." She said miserably. I could tell she felt bad about talking that way, but I wasn't in any kind of a mood to talk to her.

"Well, umm, now what?" Nico asked.

"I don't know, I might just go to the lake or the stream." I said.

"You want me to go with you?" Nico asked.

"No, I want to just think alone. I promise I won't do anything." I told him.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you later then." He said as he walked off to do whatever it is that Nico does.

Nico's POV (about time right!? I hope I do it well)

I watched Percy walk off into the forest toward the stream on his own while I just waited.

I knew what he felt like, it was hard to lose someone you cared about.

I know how painful it is, and yet, I can't help but hope that he'll see that I care for him and that maybe he'll feel something for me.

I know that it's probably a lost cause to hope for something like that but I can't help it. Ever since I met him for the first time when I was 12 I had a crush on him, and the feelings had only intensified as the years went on.

I didn't know what else to do, so I went to talk to Jason. He usually seemed like he could keep his feelings or biases out of something when he talked to someone about something, and he was the only one who knew about my feelings for Percy, because of our experience with Cupid.

I found him with Piper, as he usually was, in the arena, teaching the few Aphrodite kids who were willing to fight some new moves. (I would say sparring, but Jason against Aphrodite kids? There wasn't really much contest)

"Jason, can you come with me for a few minutes? I need to talk to you."

"Sure," he replied "What's up?"

"Just follow me." I said.

I lead him out of the arena and towards the edge of the forest where nobody would be able to overhear us.

"It's about Percy." I said.

Jason seemed to become a little awkward, but managed to get it under control quickly.

"What about him?" He asked.

"Ever since he tried… You know, I've been the only one who's been treating him normally, so he's been hanging around with me a lot." I started.

"While he was stuck in bed, we talked about everything. He told me his entire life and all that he's been through, and I told him most about mine. We know each other a lot better now, and I can tell that he trusts me more because I haven't been treating him like a freak like everyone else does in this wretched camp." I spat.

"Nico, you need to understand that most people are scared of what they don't understand, and most of them haven't lost someone. You've been through what he's going through, so you understand him, and you're not afraid of him."

"It doesn't give them the right to treat people that way, but this is all beside the point. I came to talk to you because you're the only one who knows about my… feelings." I said slowly.

He waited for me to continue.

"Since the first day he was awake, I've been his only friend, and he's opened up to me because he trusts me. I… I love him more because of it. For the last few days I can't look into his eyes without getting lost in them. I have to constantly be watching myself so I don't do something like that and make him think I'm a freak," I said, "I just don't know what I should do, so I came to ask you."

Jason thought for a few seconds then said "If it matters to you so much, tell him how you feel. The worst that could happen is that he turns you down, then at least you'll know. Besides, don't worry about him thinking you're a freak, after all he's been through I'm sure Percy won't be judging anyone."

"I guess you're right, thanks Jason."

"No Problem." He said

As he was walking back into the arena I heard Piper ask "What was that about?"

"Nothing, just talking about stuff."

At least that was one thing I could count on, Jason could keep a secret when he wanted to.

Percy's POV

After a whole day at the stream I decided that I'd better get back before people started to worry about me.

I got back towards my cabin and saw Nico leaning against the wall next to my door.

I got up to him and asked "What's up Nico?"

"Not much, but, do mind if we go in your cabin? I need to tell you something." He said, stuttering through the sentence.

Nico didn't seem upset, what could he need to tell me that had him so nervous?

"Sure." I answered, and we walked through my door into the cabin.

I closed the door and turned to see him leaned against my bed, his face more pale than usual. He looked like he was going to pass out.

"Nico, are you alright?" I asked.

He bit his lip while looking at his shoes. "Yeah, I'm ok."

We stood there in silence for a few seconds as it seemed Nico was gathering his thoughts.

"Percy, there's something important I have to tell you, but… I want you to promise that you won't freak out, or act differently because of it."

"Did something bad happen? What-"

"Just promise" He said quietly.

"Ok, I promise, what do you need to tell me?"

"Percy…" He stuttered, then took a big breath and rushed out his next words before he could stop himself, "I have feelings for you. Ever since I met you when I was 12 I had a crush on you, and it never went away. Over the years my feelings have only gotten stronger, and over these last few days, you opening up to me, trusting me, it only made them harder to ignore. I can't look at your face anymore without nearly losing myself. Percy, I want to be together, I want you and me to be us."

What? Nico had feelings for me and he…

I tried to compose my thoughts, but I couldn't get them to straighten out, and I couldn't figure out how to put my jumbled thoughts into a complete sentence.

We stood there for nearly a minute in silence while Nico stared at me, waiting to hear what I would say.

"Nico, this is a lot to take in. Especially after my.. breakup with Annabeth. I need time to think about this."

He looked at the floor like he was ashamed of himself and depressed but I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," I said, and he looked up, "this doesn't mean we can't still be friends while I get my thoughts lined out. If there's anything I've learned over these last few days is how much it means to have someone who treats you how they should, even if other people think it isn't normal. You've shown me that over the last few days, and it's the least I can do to treat you the same way."

He gave me sad smirk and said with a fair amount of sarcasm "Percy Jackson learning life lessons from a son of the Lord of the Dead? What has this world come to?"

I smiled back as I took my hand off his shoulder, "Well, you did keep me from becoming part of his domain, so I owe you." I said.

"We both need to get some rest though, pardon the pun, but you look like you've seen a ghost."

"Alright." He said awkwardly.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

He smirked "Of course."

I laid down onto my bed and thought to myself "Even more confusion and emotion to deal with? Why not."

Then I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 8! *applause* I'm sorry/You're welcome for the really long chapter compared to my others, depending on what you like! This one took a lot of time to finish up. If you don't like Nico's feelings for Percy, I'm sorry, but they're there, and they play a key role in decisions Percy is going to have to make later in the story, so even if you don't like them, or if you do, think of it as one more building block for this story! I hope you all enjoyed reading this, And I hope to see all of you in the next chapter!