Piper

Piper stood at the front of the table where they all ate, with everyone gathered around it except for Coach Hedge. She had noticed Leo acting weird, too, and had decided enough was enough. They were going home tomorrow, and they had all of today and part of tomorrow morning to resolve all of their conflicts in privacy on the Argo II.

"Okay, guys," she began. "Thanks for agreeing to gather here, I honestly didn't think you would want to do this."

"Piper, you used charmspeak on us," said Annabeth.

Piper shifted her weight. "Okay, well I promise I won't do that anymore. But this is important. For a group of heroes who are great at fighting monsters, we are really a giant ship wreck."

They could hear Festus making weird noises to express his discomfort at the words "ship wreck".

"Sorry, Festus!" Piper shouted up. She glanced around the room. Percy seemed fine enough, but he wouldn't stop playing with Riptide. Nico, who was the brightest person on the ship hours before, seemed to be hiding inside of his own, personal rain cloud. Annabeth usually had a great poker face, but Piper could tell she was trying too hard to make her face look neutral. It was an act. Something was up with her, too. Then there was Jason. Jason, as in Piper's boyfriend. Not only had he been acting weird this morning, but he had come into her room late last night and said things that didn't make any sense. Something about love.

We're scared to love, Piper remembered him saying, Because to love is to become vulnerable, and we're all to proud for that sort of thing. Piper had asked him if he was talking about her, to which he shook his head. He'd briefly kissed her before he said "I just figured that out and couldn't keep it to myself." Then he'd left.

"Okay," said Piper. "Obviously, some of us-well, all of us- have been acting weird lately. If anyone wants to make a confession or tell anyone anything, now is the time to do it. We're all here, and nobody is going to judge anyone else." She put a little charmspeak into the last part, despite what she promised Annabeth. She waited for someone to speak, but nobody did. Then again, why did Piper think this would work? She was planning to say something else when Frank spoke up.

"I have to confess," he said, grinning, "that Hazel is a great kisser." He turned and kissed her, and everyone cheered, except for Leo, who was bright red.

"Yeah, and I walked in on them kissing this morning," said Leo, not looking at Hazel or Frank.

Hazel laughed. "Leo, that was no big deal. And besides, that's nothing compared to the time Frank walked in on you while you were in your underwer dancing to the Backstreet Boys..."

"FRANK! You told her? You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" Leo sounded mad, but he was grinning.

Percy let out a giggle, and then everyone else errupted into laughter, even Nico. They were all picturing Leo in his underwear holding a hairbrush as a microphone in front of a mirror listening to the Backstreet Boys and dancing.

Leo huffed. "Okay, well, count that as my confession. Except Frank and Hazel said it for me. Thanks guys." He sounded annoyed but couldn't help smiling.

Hazel cleared her throat. "Okay, well, since that was more of Leo's secret than mine, I guess I should say something now."

Piper was delighted at how well this was going.

"When I first met Leo, I liked him a lot. Because of Sammy." Everyone gaped at Hazel. They all knew there had been tension between Hazel and Leo, but they never knew that Hazel actually liked him. Frank looked uncomfortable. Hazel noticed.

"Hey, guys, that's in the past," she said in a light voice. "Besides, I've got a nice boyfriend who fought an entire city of monsters for me. I love Frank Zhang."

Everyone smiled. There was a pause, and then Percy spooke up.

"I'll go next," said Percy. "Annabeth's the only girl I've ever kissed. Which is perfect, because I'd jump into Tatarus for her."

"Percy!" Said Annabeth, obviously surprised and delighted. Percy wasn't the spontaneous boyfriend type.

The next person to speak up was the last person anyone expected to.

"While we're making confessions about the people we like or whatever," Nico began, "I... um..."

He trailed off, while Percy, Jason, Annabeth, and Leo gave him encouraging looks. He ignored Leo and continued. "Okay, well, really the only people who don't know are Piper, Hazel, and Frank."

Piper wondered what the big deal was. It was just a crush, and Nico could tell them anything.

"I'm... I'm not excactly, er... straight."

Oh. Everything made sense now.

Nico winced as if someone was about to hit him, but obviously no one did. Then Percy whooped and clapped him on the back. Everyone else smiled and cheered for Nico. Nico looked like he regretted his descision to tell them and stared at his shoes, but everyone grinned at him and tried to make him feel comfortable.

"I'm really honored that you told us," said Frank, "and we won't tell anyone else unless you tell us to."

"Yeah," added Hazel, "and if anything, we love you even more now because you trust us. And honestly, everyone here trusts you."

Everyone agreed.

"So now last night and this morning should make sense," said Percy. "Because Nico got out last night on accident, and we were trying to protect him."

"Thanks," Nico mumbled.

Leo cleared his throat. "I have to confess something, too." But just as he said that, the door swung open.

A beautiful voice said "While we're all making confessions, I think I should tell you all something."

Calypso stood in the doorway.

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