Note- I would like to give a super special thank you to everyone who reviewed yesterday. I woke up this morning and found myself with a minor case of writers block. I couldn't figure out how to word what I wanted to happen next. Then I opened my email and saw 6 new reviews telling me how much they enjoyed my story. After reading them, I got a big burst of inspiration. And so, here is the newest chapter. Enjoy!

Important thing to note... This will be yaio (boy-boy). Don't like? You do not have to read.

Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes Of Olympus series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

Percy POV

I was the first one to wake up in the morning. We had stayed up late talking and laughing with each other. It was the early hours of the morning before we had finally crawled into our sleeping bags and passed out. I looked around me and saw that at some point in the night Nico had grabbed his sleeping bag and moved to the corner of the room. I sighed as I stretched my arms above me. Last night Nico had seemed even more remote than normal.

He usually at least spoke to Hazel and Jason. I tried to pull him into our conversation, but he just kept glaring at everything. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't even sure as to why he was being so anti-social in the first place. I figured it had to do with our plan. I would have thought that he would be happy to be getting rid of Jenn, but he clearly wasn't. Maybe he secretly enjoys her company? I shook my head. I didn't believe that one bit, but what else could it be?

It would make a lot more sense to me if Nico had a crush on someone. Perhaps he thought that if he was pretending to date me, whoever she was would get mad? Or maybe he was trying to find the courage to ask her out but now he wouldn't be able to? That would make the most sense to me, except for the fact that Nico was pretty much fearless. I had never known Nico to back down from anything. I didn't think that there was anything in the universe that could scare the ghost king. He had faced Tartaurus alone. If he could do that, then there was nothing that he couldn't do.

I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. I could sit there all day and never figure out what was actually going through his head. No matter what I thought he was thinking I was sure that I would be a mile wide of the mark. He never did what I thought he would do.

I got up and headed to the Poseidon cabin. We had decided last night that we would all get ready and meet back at the Zeus cabin before breakfast.

After all, we had a rumor to start.

ΩΩΩ

I was alone, pacing around the Zeus Cabin. I felt surprisingly nervous. Piper had left first to go let it slip to her siblings about our 'relationship'. We all agreed if anyone could get this rumor going, it would be the Aphrodite cabin. Jason, Hazel, and Frank had decided that they should go to breakfast early so that Nico and I could walk in alone.

"Are you ready?"

I jumped a little as Nico stepped out of the shadows. "Gods Nico, you know you could have used the door. You gave me a heart attack." Nico didn't even look at me as I spoke to him. His gaze remained firmly on the ground. I had a feeling that he was just as nervous as I was.

"Actually I couldn't have used the door. Jenn was waiting for me outside my cabin. It was either shadow travel or have her follow me."

No wonder he looks so nervous. If this works Jenn will have no choice but to leave him alone. He has a lot riding on this.

"Wow she's early. She must still be bummed about not being able to stalk you yesterday." Nico tensed up even more. I felt bad so I decided to lighten the air with a joke. "I guess it's too bad for her. Your mine now and I'm not willing to share." I gave Nico a wink.

His eyes widened and he looked down. I couldn't be sure but it almost looked like he was blushing. Huh, did I really make the ghost king blush? I smiled at the thought but then Nico gave me a dark glare. If looks could kill I would be on my way to the underworld. Guess I imagined it.

"Let's get this over with." Nico walked to the door and opened it.

I sighed. Note to self, do not make jokes. I closed the door behind us and caught up with him. The green space was already clear of campers. We were running later than I thought. I cleared my throat, "Hey Nico?" He looked at me and I held out my hand. He looked at it blankly, "If this is going to work, we have to sell it." He looked away for a moment.

I would never admit it, but sometimes he scared me. I had a feeling that if he wanted to, he would be able to kick my ass.

For a second I started to worry that I was about to find out, but he reluctantly reached out and took my hand. I felt myself blush at the contact. I looked away and moved my hand so that our fingers were entwined. I wasn't uncomfortable per say, I just wasn't accustomed to holding hands with anyone except her. Nico's hands were surprisingly strong and cool. It felt nice to hold his hand, I hadn't held onto anyone since she left.

I felt a smile creep across my face. I glanced at Nico but he seemed to be busy trying to set fire to the ground with his eyes. I wasn't sure as to why he agreed to my plan when he clearly did not want to, but I appreciated it. I guess no matter how much he does not want to touch me; he wants to get rid of Jenn more.

I looked up and saw Colleen staring at us. "Holy Hera..." Her jaw dropped as she realized I was holding hands with Nico. She looked at us and ran off towards the dinning pavilion.

I felt Nico stop. I looked at him and noticed how nervous he looked. "Hey," I stepped up close to him so that I had to look down to see his eyes. He looked around before his eyes locked with mine. His were filled with something that almost looked like fear. "What's wrong?" Nico gulped tried to step back from me. I followed his movement and used my free hand to stop him. He looked at the ground.

"It's just, what will everyone think? I mean, I know people say it's different than it used to be but..."

I felt my eyes widen. Of course! I completely forgot. I should have known why Nico hated this plan so much. People in the 40's weren't exactly well known for their tolerance. "Nico I'm so sorry. You act so normal; I forgot you were born in an age where two guys dating would have been unacceptable." Nico flinched and looked up to meet my gaze. "Listen Nico, I promise it's not like it used to be. Yes, there will be a few people who can't accept it but trust me, our friends won't care. If someone doesn't accept it then they aren't worth our time." I felt terrible. I know that this was just pretend but Nico was really upset about it. Because of my plan he was being forced to act in a way that would have been completely incomprehensible to him if he had not spent 70 ageless years locked in the Lotus Hotel. "Nico, it's not too late. We don't have to do this. I would never make you do something that hurt you."

He looked at me with an unfathomable expression in his eyes. For the first time, I truly felt like I was looking at someone who had lived more years than I would probably ever see. I saw him close his eyes and take a deep breath. "It is alright Percy. I wouldn't have agreed to it if I didn't want to. Let's just get this over with." I had the urge to hug him but I didn't think that he would be very receptive if I tried.

"Alright, come on." I turned around and gently pulled on his arm to get him to follow me.

ΩΩΩ

When we entered the dining pavilion, all noise instantly stopped. Nearly every eye turned to watch Nico and me as we walked, hand in hand, to go grab our food. I could sense how uncomfortable Nico was. I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. His eyes flashed to mine before quickly looking away. Now that I knew what was troubling him so much I felt like I would be able to help him a little bit better. I felt like an idiot for not thinking of it before. Our time was so much more accepting than his.

Just as I predicted, we didn't have anyone openly start insulting us. However we did have several incredulous glances and almost everyone was having whispered conversations that I was positive were about us. I wasn't too surprised at that though. I had been expecting it. This would be by far the biggest news to hit camp since she left. Real or not, it wasn't every day that two sons of the big three started going out.

We scraped some food into the fire for the gods. I gave Nico's hand a quick squeeze and a wink before I walked off to the Poseidon table.

I often found myself wishing that we could sit at other tables. As the only child of Poseidon, sitting by myself for every meal got fairly lonely. Today especially, I found myself wishing that I could sit next to Nico. I could see how stressed he still was. He looked like he was waiting for the insults to start. I knew that it was my fault that he was so worried. At least he had Hazel with him.

I saw her touch his shoulder before turning back to her breakfast. At her touch he seemed to relax a little bit.

I wondered as to why he reacted so differently to her touch than to mine. Every time I tried to comfort him he would tense up and pull away. I wondered if it was just because she was his sister. I had never seen Jason try to help him but I would have to keep a closer watch. I was curious to see if it was just her who could calm him.

I looked up and saw Drew walking towards me. Oh great. Here it goes.

"Are you kidding me?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Drew put her hands on her hips and gave me a disbelieving look. "There is no way that you are really going out with him."

"I beg to differ."

"Well I call bull. There is no way that you're gay, you and that Anna girl were going out for years." She raised an eyebrow like she was waiting for me to deny it.

I rolled my eyes. I had no doubt that she knew her name. I couldn't argue with her because what she said was true. But that didn't mean that I couldn't convince her she was wrong. "You're right, I'm not gay. I'm bi." I could tell that she was not going to take me at my word. My mother had always told me that you can catch more flys with honey than with vinegar and so, ignoring the self loathing, I put on a winning smile. "Nico and I have been going out for almost a week. Why else would I decline to go on a date with you."

She looked surprised for a moment but then she smiled. I nearly laughed as she took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. "Oh my gods Perce, it all makes so much more sense now. I knew there was no way that a straight, single, guy would turn me down." I ignored the bile in my throat as she put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me like we were sharing a secret. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

I shifted around so that I could see her better and in the process was able to remove her hand from my arm. "I wasn't ready to tell people yet. So Nico agreed to wait until I was."

She looked over at the son of Hades and shook her head. "What I really want to know though is why would you pick him?" I straitened up and glared at her but she didn't seem to notice. "I mean if you want a boyfriend, then, whatever. But why would you chose him? I mean your a 10, he's like a 6. You could do way better."

It took all of my limited self control not to deck her. Who does she think she is? Nico is a thousand times better than she will ever be. What right does she have to insult him? "Nico is amazing. He is incredibly powerful. He's saved my life more times than I can count. I'm lucky to have him as my... boyfriend." I nearly slipped up. I had been one second away from calling him my friend.

Drew rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Perce." She turned and walked away. I looked around and realized that everyone at the surrounding tables had been eavesdropping on our conversation. When they realized I had noticed them, they turned back around and started whispering, no doubt spreading around everything I had said.

Well that should help spread the rumour.I silently chuckled and ate the rest of my breakfast in silence, smiling at the whispers that I could hear floating through the room.