Author's Note: This fic was written for the PJO Big Bang on Tumblr, and therefore has art attatched to it, please see the official pjobigbang tumblr for more information. I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus.

For the Love of a Triangle

A small story set in the winter between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian

Part I: The Rise

"Be careful of love. It'll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong."

-Aphrodite, The Titan's Curse

"The worst part about falling for your best friend is the fact that you can't tell them, not wanting to ruin the friendship. So you're basically forced to keep your biggest secret from the one person you can tell any secret to, and that breaks you."

-Unknown

Percy III

Drew handed her invitations to the guy who had the list of names for who was allowed to get in, he looked at the two of them skeptically, but nevertheless, the invitations were real, and with a smile from the daughter of Aphrodite, the doors opened as they made their way inside Carnegie Mansion.

They walked into the ballroom together, uncomfortably arm in arm. Drew was leading him towards the center of the ballroom, where a young woman was dancing the most beautiful dance Percy had ever seen, even though it was still very much modern party style.

"That's Terpsichore," Drew whispered into his ear, pointing to the dancing woman.

She looked very different from how Percy had remembered seeing her on Mount Olympus. Instead of lose wavy hair and a chiton, her hair was curled and pinned up, and she was wearing a tight black dress, with small silk sections in the colors of the rainbow that were attached to a crystal belt and that twirled about in the air as she danced.

"What do we do now?" Percy asked, "I don't see a cherub anywhere."

"Eros looks nothing like a cherub, Percy. More like a very intimidating gentleman who is not afraid to mess your life up with one of his wicked sharp arrows. And now, we dance. This is Terpsichore's party, after all. We'd look out of place if we didn't dance."

Percy gulped, not exactly keen on the idea of dancing with Drew. Sure, they'd gotten on better terms as the day had gone on, but he didn't really want to slow dance with her like he had with Annabeth on Mount Olympus a year ago. This was partially in case Terpsichore noticed them, and partially for… other reasons.

At Percy's shocked look, Drew laughed and responded. "Don't worry, nothing like that. Just normal dancing. You have been to a school dance before, right? It's like that, except no slow dancing, and if we do, it's not the middle school rocking horse. It's kind of like a waltz step, but I'm not going to put that much pressure on you for that because I have a feeling you have two left feet."

Percy sighed, relieved, and he started to let Terpsichore's dance and the music tell him what to do. He was getting pretty into it, until he noticed a tall man with olive skin and a white tuxedo on the other side of the room staring at him and Drew. He was accompanied by a beautiful lady with dark, flawless skin, who sat next to him, whispering and giggling, her long, turquoise dress flowing in the evening breeze.

He nudged Drew. "Look, over by the stairs, there's that couple. I could have sworn the guy had wings a few seconds ago. Do you think its Eros?"

Drew's face went pale, and Percy knew he had the answer he needed. "What do we do?" He asked her.

The daughter of Aphrodite gulped, her hands shaking slightly, and blushing. "You need to pretend like you're going to kiss me."

"What?!" Percy almost yelled. "Why in Poseidon's name would I do that?"

"Look, Eros knows all about your little love triangle, and so do I. If there's anything that'll get him to reveal himself it's you adding one more person to the mix, especially if it's me. He and I… well let's say he enjoys making my life miserable. You don't actually have to kiss me, don't worry, he'll be over here interrupting things before you can even get the chance to. You do know how to kiss, don't you? Of course you do, that's all Annabeth could talk about when she thought you were dead, and oh my gods, it was so annoying."

Percy felt like his face was so red it might explode. He was not sure what made him blush more: the fact that Drew Tanaka was asking him to try and kiss her, or the fact that Annabeth had told someone about what had happened on Mount Saint Helens. It had always been something the two of them barely recognized as actually happening. He hadn't realized other people would know, much less talk about it.

Drew glared at him. "Oh, get over yourself. If it was anyone else I would ask the same thing, you don't need to worry about me getting added to your already messed up life." Percy still felt like he really didn't want to do this. "Fine." Drew started, "I'll take matters into my own hands."

And she did, literally. She grabbed his face with her bronze hands, but before anything could actually happen, a man coughed, and Drew let go of his face. Somehow, impossibly, the man in the white tuxedo was standing behind them. "Well, this is interesting."

Drew smiled a sweet smile, that Percy might've bought if her face hadn't been turning green like she was going to throw up. "Gotcha, Eros," she said, and then pursed her lips.

The god glared at the two of them, then turning to Percy. "Don't think I was going to just sit here while you two made your lives more interesting than I care to allow. Come, walk with me." He led them out of the ballroom, towards a snow-covered balcony overlooking the front lawn.

"So nice to see you again, Miss Tanaka. Although, I suppose there's no way you would've sought me out by choice after our last meeting, so tell me: By what time does Lady Aphrodite wish my return?"

Percy's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected Eros to know what their quest was, much less walk right up to them. If he really thought about it, Eros kind of seemed like some of Percy's friends from Goode, who would sneak out of the house to go to a party with their girlfriend when their parents wouldn't allow it, but always return, and pretend to be good little children for about a week, until they would do it again, and again, and again.

"What do you mean?" Percy started, "What happened with you guys? Why does Drew look sick every time she mentions your name?"

"Oh, just a little family meeting. Miss Tanaka, have you not yet told your date all the wonderful memories we've had together?"

Eros closed his hand, as if squeezing something, and Drew doubled over in pain, her eyes glassing over. Percy ran over to the daughter of Aphrodite, as she sat down in the snow, her hand over her heart.

"Tell him…" she grumbled, her eyes murderous, "to make it stop."

"Why would you want it to stop?" Eros asked, twirling the wine glass in his other hand. "These are wonderful adolescence memories, Miss Tanaka. You should be lucky you still remember yours."

Drew moved her hands from her heart to her temples, as if she was trying to push away whatever memories Eros had installed into her. "I will not experience these moments again," she shouted, her voice filled with loathing. "I'm quite different now."

Eros looked unamused. "Well," he sighed, "If you didn't want to experience these things, you shouldn't have done them in the first place."

The ebony-haired girl cringed. She had started crying now, and dark makeup was dribbling down her face with her tears. Percy could hardly watch.

"Look," Percy said, "Whatever she did, it's in the past now. It's too cruel to keep her like this."

"Ha!" Eros grunted, "Perseus Jackson, I do not think you, of all people, should be the one telling me whether or not the feelings Miss Tanaka is currently experiencing are cruel. You seem to know nothing even remotely close to these feelings. In fact, if I'm correct, you're usually the person who causes these feelings." He walked over to where Drew was sitting, putting the wine glass down into one of the tables on the balcony, and touched her shoulder, in what would've seemed like a caring move if Percy had not known exactly who he was dealing with and what their motives were.

Drew's dark eyes, which had previously been closed shot open, and an explosion of light shot out of them, creating a projected image that extended from the railing of the balcony to the roof above them, which, of course, the other mortals at the party didn't notice. "Why don't you see exactly what she's going through?"

She seemed to register Eros' words, and began to narrate for Percy. He saw in the projection a Japanese girl walking down the hallways of a school. Her eyes were downcast and heavy, her mouth set with determination, a large textbook in her arms. She looked slightly like Drew, but in all the wrong ways. If Percy hadn't spent all day with her, he might have not recognized the small birthmark on the girl's thumb, or the glint in her eyes like she knew all of your secrets.

"Is that… you?" Percy asked in disbelief. The girl in the projection was more heavyset, less confident, and her clothes were modest, at best. She wore no makeup, and her nails had been chewed down to stubs. The Drew sitting in front of him, the one who would strut with confidence around the dirt paths of Camp Half Blood, the one who, supposedly, could do perfect winged eyeliner, the one who argued with Annabeth so much about the overall importance of memorizing things written in books, textbooks or otherwise, just whimpered and nodded her head, moving the projection up and down.

"Hey, Tanaka!" a boy called out from a locker across the hallway from where she was walking. "Come over here! Johnny-boy wants to talk to you." He was definitely from New Jersey. Percy could tell by his voice, but something other than that bugged him to no end; he reminded Percy of other mortal bullies he had faced, like Matt Sloan and Nancy Bobofit.

Younger Drew looked up in disbelief, and started shuffling over to where the boy was. "Wh-what do you want, Brenson?" The other boy, who Percy had to assume was Johnny, was pulled over to where Drew was nervously standing by Brenson. Johnny popped a bubble of his gum right in Drew's face, and Drew flinched, but stood her ground, nonetheless.

"You see," Brenson started, "Johnny-boy, here, has been hearing a lot of rumors that you've got a crush on him, and you see, he's really flattered and all, but this don't look so good for him. We've got a reputation to maintain here, so we'd really appreciate it if you'd keep your stupid little ideas to yourself. Right, Johnny?"

Drew blushed as Johnny turned to look at her. In his face, he looked slightly guilty about what his friend had just said, but, if it was even possible, his words were more scathing than Brenson's had been. "I don't want you coming around me anymore, you got that, sweetheart?"

"What's so wrong with me?" Drew asked, her eyes tearing up. "It's not like you're even dating me or anything. Why get up in my face about whether or not I like you?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong with you," Johnny started, his voice shaking, "you're fat and ugly and no one wants to talk to you, or even for you to be around them. You're like a plague; if someone has you, they're isolated for weeks until they manage to shake you off. Homecoming is coming up, and no girl is going to want to go with either of us if you keep coming up and talking to me and putting stupid love notes in my locker!"

Drew's teary eyes widened as Johnny held a piece of notebook paper out in front of him, dangling it in front of her with only his thumb and forefinger, like it was garbage. "Leave us alone, honey," Brenson whispered, "because you're nothing but trash. Go back to studying your stupid books."

The light started to fade from present-Drew's eyes, and so did the projection. Percy could barely believe what he had just seen. He had no idea that boys could be that mean to girls, especially if the girl had done nothing wrong in the first place. "Getting angry, there, Perseus?" Eros asked, smirking, "Just you wait; you'll soon see all the times you've been like those boys. You have been ignorant and you don't understand all the things people go through for you. There are hearts you've hurt just as bad as Drew's—"

Drew cut Eros off, seeming not to hear the monologue that Eros had been trailing off on, "The worst part was that I didn't stop liking him. After that day, I tried so hard to get up to his standards, and he never even noticed me. That following winter was one of the worst of my life. I remember this one fight—" she stopped for a moment to sob. "There was this one fight I had with my dad that really pushed me over the edge. I had stopped doing as well in school because of how depressed I was getting, and he told me I was lazy and ugly and I didn't deserve to be his child, or my mother's. I went up to my room and cried so hard that night, resolving that I was going to become beautiful, whether or not it caused my grades to drop, because that was obviously what everybody else wanted."

Percy just stared at the Drew who was on the ground before him. He had never seen her so vulnerable before. Most demigods broke down after a battle, so he had never seen anyone cry so hard about just one memory. There must have been thousands other like it. He couldn't even begin to understand how Drew could've gone through years of torture like that, from both her peers and her parent. If anything, during his bad years at school, when he had been bullied, his mom had helped him out of it, or at least the thought of her. He wouldn't have done so well if she hadn't been on his side.

"The first time I went to go buy makeup, I remember there was this beautiful lady behind me in line, I can't recall exactly what she looked like now, and she saw what I was buying and told me it would look bad on me because it didn't match my skin tone. I cried when she told me that, and then started crying harder because everyone was staring at me crying, and the lady took me aside and showed me how to match my foundation to my skin tone and what colors looked good on me and what products to use for my hair, and then once I'd bought everything, she disappeared. I'm sure now that it was mom, but she's never come to my aid since. That's why I really volunteered to go on this quest; so maybe mom would remember who I was. Camp helped me lose weight, in case you were wondering, all that training makes it hard for anyone to stay fat for long."

"But you weren't…" Percy started, "I know what those guys and your dad said, but I just saw you there, and you weren't ugly, not even close. Sure, you looked different, but it was definitely obvious that you were a daughter of Aphrodite."

Drew looked up at him. "Oh, shut up," She growled, wiping away a tear with her bronze hand, "you're just saying that because I'm crying and guys get all uncomfortable when girls start to cry."

Percy smiled. "Nice to see you're back to your old self."

"I'd hate to break up this touching moment," Eros drawled sarcastically, "But I'm afraid I must mention that the sun will be coming up soon and you still don't have me packaged and returned to Aphrodite. The problem for you is, however, that I did not sneak out of Olympus just to have barely a conversation with the infamous Perseus Jackson. Tell me, how are your little girlfriends?"

Percy blushed, stammering. "I-I'm not…The-They're not…It's not like that."

"Interesting," the god mused. "Which one would you say is prettier? Ms. Dare or Ms. Chase? And do they know that you're currently out and about with the girl who was voted New York City and the Surrounding Area's hottest girl of the year at a party that I doubt either of them would ever take you to?"

"What kind of questions even are these?" Percy asked, before noticing that Eros now held a leather-bound notebook and a pen in his hands. "What are you doing?"

"Look, Mr. Jackson. While Lady Aphrodite enjoys making things happen, I extremely enjoy watching and recording the chaos she causes and reading them to the Olympians in my weekly report of Why Lady Aphrodite Should Be Watched More Closely Because, If We Do Not, She Is Going To Overthrow Olympus Eventually. It's quite entertaining to watch Athena's face in your bit. She gets upset no matter which girl you're with. It's almost as entertaining as Hercules Busts Heads was."

"Are you telling me you just watch random people and record their personal lives to read to the gods for their own personal entertainment?" Percy asked, outraged.

"Well I obviously didn't at one point or another, but keeping track of Lady Aphrodite's collateral damage is a great way to keep the Olympians, especially Zeus on guard. Unfortunately, they're getting quite bored with your segment, so I supposed an interview would spice things up, and Aphrodite usually likes to send her favorite playthings and one of her daughters to come and get me. I supposed it would be you. Voile; the interview comes to find me. It's quite genius isn't it?"

"You're insane." Percy felt his fists start to clench up. He was so sick of gods messing with his personal life.

"Now, now, is that any way to treat the god that you're supposed to deliver in an hour?" Percy continued to glare at him, even though Eros was chiding him by shaking his pen at him in disapproval. "Fine, I suppose I can delete your segment after this interview if you would be willing to go and find my lovely wife Psyche for me. I am afraid she does like to wander off with Terpsichore at these parties and it can get quite hard to find her. Especially when she does not like to come back with me, since Lady Aphrodite usually blames her for me running off."

Percy considered this for a moment, before looking over at Drew, who, although she had stopped crying, was still kneeling on the ground, her legs probably freezing seeing as they were lying in about an inch of snow. "Fine, but you've got to leave Drew alone too."

Drew looked up at him with a gaze of pure thankfulness and appreciation. Her dark eyes were still glistening from her tears, but she stood up and dusted the snow off of her legs and shoes. "Thanks, Percy. You're more of a hero than I'd like to admit."

"Hey, we're kind of friends now." She smiled slightly and then glared back at Eros who was scribbling away furiously in his notebook. Drew and Percy shot each other a glance and began towards the bright lights of the party, strolling inside, arm in arm.

Percy IV

They made their way back to the ballroom, where most of the guests were still dancing. The dinner part of the evening had not been announced yet, and Percy was desperate to get out of there before it did because, gods, he was not willing to sit still and eat in a formal setting, not to mention they might miss Aphrodite's deadline. He couldn't see the beautiful lady with the dark skin anywhere, though, and Drew couldn't seem to either.

Suddenly, a crowd of guys about college-age, yet still looking like socialites, crowded through the ballroom, splitting up Drew and Percy. Percy immediately freaked out; he'd only made it this far into the night because of Drew's guidance. If he had to fake it for even a few minutes that he belonged here, he was pretty sure he'd get kicked out of the party. He stepped backwards, nervous, and bumped straight into Psyche.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized quickly, but she just smiled, and straightened her turquoise skirt.

"There is no way I'm talking to that daughter of Aphrodite." She spit out the goddess's name like Annabeth would say Hera. Percy figured there was some myth behind Psyche's reasoning, but he wasn't totally sure what it was. He figured it best not to bring it up.

"Um… okay…"

"So, you've talked to my husband?"

"Yes," Percy started, remembering what Eros had done to Drew. Whatever Aphrodite had done to Psyche, he was fairly sure that it didn't qualify Drew's torture.

"He's probably agreed to come back home. Well, I will not! I am done with that crazy goddess controlling every aspect of my life. Did you know that she is not even a real goddess? She's more like a Titan, with the power she has, she deserves to rot in Tartarus with the rest of them."

Percy looked around, nervous that lightning might strike or something because of Psyche's comment, but apparently, she made them a lot, because nothing happened.

"Look, I understand, I really do, but as you said, Aphrodite's a Titan, and if you and Eros aren't home by midnight, well, we can only hope—"

"She's taken everything away from me; my family, my home, half of my sanity. The only thing I have left is Eros, and he may be at the beck and call of that wretched Titaness, but I am not!" she spat. "Did you know that she once forced me into awful, horrible situations just because she thought I was prettier than her? I'm not stupid like that wretch Arachne, I didn't ask to be beautiful, but if someone asks you if they can erect a temple in your honor because of how gorgeous they think you are, wouldn't it be rude to say no? That's not even the worst part, though, because I literally crawled through Tartarus for that demonic Titaness, and until you've crawled through Tartarus, I don't want to hear you tell me what in Olympus' name she has ordered me to do!"

Percy suddenly got very frustrated. Sure, he understood that the gods could be awful, especially to those who they did not consider as equals, but thinking like Psyche currently was would only lead to how Luke became. Percy grimaced. He wished Drew was here, or Annabeth, or someone who did not have an extreme talent for getting on the bad side of gods.

A whistle came from behind him and Percy turned around to see Drew, again green-faced, pulling Eros by the arm. Percy sighed in relief; he wasn't going to have to be mediator on this one. Still, Psyche's words bugged him. If Psyche kept thinking like that, having Eros on Kronos' side might just be even more terrifying than the current armada that Kronos had been building up.

"Ah, there's my lovely wife!" Eros sounded tired, but still glad to see Psyche, which was good for Percy, because Psyche's dark eyes were glaring at him and frankly, she was terrifying.

The couple started talking, tense whispers between two immortal faces. Percy mouthed Drew a thank you, but she was staring at the large clock in the ballroom. It read 12:15.

Percy cursed. Even if Eros and Psyche were to come with them right now, they still might be late to meet Aphrodite. He scratched his head in frustration. "Um, I hate to break things up," he started, "but we're supposed to meet Aphrodite in Central Park in less than an hour."

"Well then, we'd better get going." Psyche stated stiffly, obviously not of the opinion that they should get going. "I hope you have suitable transportation."

"I have a limo." Drew stated, glaring at Psyche with a how-dare-she look in her eyes.

Aphrodite appeared in a shower of sparkles at the stroke of one, the drama queen and center of attention as always. She was dressed in a gold, backless dress that flowed down to the grass. Finding Eros and Psyche arguing and Drew and Percy fervently glancing at one of the clocks in the park, she walked over to where the four of them stood.

"Well, I suppose you succeeded," she announced to Drew and Percy with a wave of her perfect hand. Percy thought he had never seen Drew look so happy. "After all, my most faithful attendant and his… wife are both here. By the way, Percy, my current favorite gorgeous hero, Drew's mother knows where she is. Can that be said for yours, by chance?"

Percy started freaking out. As far as Sally knew, he and Rachel should have both been back by now. She was probably worried sick. He looked to the rest of them. "Does anyone have a phone, or something?"

Drew produced a hot pink iPhone from her handbag. Percy looked at her, shocked; demigods weren't supposed to carry around phones since they attracted monsters, and yet, Drew had had one with her the entire day. The girl shrugged. "It doesn't attract monsters if it's on Airplane Mode. Be careful, though. As soon as you turn it on, every monster in the area will know we're here, so be quick and make sure to turn it back off as soon as you're done."

Percy called his mom, feeling the guilt of what he had done crushing down on him. He explained about the quest, and Rachel having to leave suddenly for some family emergency. "Drew's gonna drive me home, mom," he said, after a while of processing on both ends. "But there's a lot of traffic outside, and I think all the monsters in the area might be coming this way so I've really got to go." They exchanged the necessary 'I love you' and Percy hung up, making sure that Drew's iPhone was put back on Airplane Mode.

The traffic took more than a few hours. It was holiday season in New York City, after all, and he walked with Drew into the apartment complex, finally, at around 4 am. They weren't that tired, because when Drew's chauffeur calculated the traffic, he noted that they'd get there late whether or not they stopped at a Starbucks, which was run by a few water spirits. Percy was shocked to find that, unlike most girls he knew, Drew took her coffee black, but he would be even more shocked when he got to his apartment.