This is a shorter chapter but I am making it up to everyone by doing a double update. :-)

Important thing to note... This will be yaoi (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.

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Nico POV

I was reluctant to tell anyone else how I felt about Percy. I wasn't convinced that we would be able to get Percy to fall for me but Jason refused to listen. Eventually I gave in and agreed to tell Piper, Hazel, and Frank. I trusted them with my life but I was used to hiding my emotions. I was forced to concede when Jason pointed out that if I was able to get Percy to fall for me they would figure it out anyway. I was okay with the idea of letting them figure it out on their own but he had argued that if I really wanted it to work, my best chance was to ask for help.

As much as I didn't want anyone else to know in case I failed, I wanted to be with Percy far more.

I headed to Hazels room as Jason went to go and grab Piper.

Hazel was sitting on her bed with her head on Franks shoulder. She already looked far better than she had a few hours previous but her skin still had a slight green tinge.

While waiting for Jason to show up I felt quite anxious. He had asked me if I had wanted to talk to them all separately but I had decided that I would much rather only go through it once. I could feel my ADHD kick in and I had to force myself to stand still. Whenever I got nervous I felt the need to move. It was all I could do to resist the urge to pace.

When the door opened and Jason and Piper came in, I felt myself entering a new stage of panic. It was bad enough when I had no choice but to admit my feelings in front of Jason, it was the only way that we could save Percy. To freely admit it to my closest friends, I would be forced to risk all of them rejecting me. I could feel the shadows beginning to stir in response to my mood.

"Nico, it's okay." Jason put his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me.

I pulled out from under his hand and took a deep breath. I tried to believe that they wouldn't care but it was hard. Hazel had been born in the same age as I had; we were both raised to believe that two men being in a relationship was unacceptable. I was terrified that I would lose my sister. She was the closest thing I still had to a family and the thought of her rejecting me was agonizing.

"Nico, what's wrong?" I looked up and saw Hazel looking at me. "Please tell me. Whatever it is I will be here for you."

It was almost as if she was reading my mind. The way she was looking at me gave me the strength that I needed. I knew that I needed to act quickly before I lost whatever power she had given to me. I decided to forgo any attempt at a speech. I took a deep breath and blurted, "I'm in love with Percy."

Frank and Pipers faces were identical. Their jaws dropped in surprise, and at the same moment they both asked, "What?"

I don't know exactly what I had expected Hazel to do but I had never imagined that she would smile at me and laugh. She forced herself to stand regardless of how ill she felt, and wrapped me in a hug. "Oh Nico, I already knew. Thank you for telling me."

I was floored. "What do you mean you already knew?"

She pulled back enough that she could see my face. "I saw the way you look at him. I used to think that you were in love with Annabeth but after she left, I realized that it was never her who had your attention."

I couldn't seem to make my brain accept her reaction as reality. "And you're okay with it?"

She shuffled a little but she once again met my gaze. "At first I didn't know how to react. But after a while I realized something... I just want you to be happy. It shouldn't matter who you like. You're my brother and I love you regardless."

I shook my head. I had been so terrified of her reaction; I couldn't even wrap my head around it. She started to wobble a little on her feet and I helped her back to the bed.

She laughed a little at my stunned expression. "Are you going to say anything?"

"I don't know what to say," I admitted. "I had expected you to insult me; instead you tell me your fine with the idea of me being in love with another man. I feel like I'm having an out of body experience. Why didn't you say anything?"

Hazel smiled and kissed my forehead. "Because I knew you weren't ready for anyone else to know. I wanted to wait until you told me."

I felt myself smile. I reached out and squeezed her hand. I could never have imagined that she would take the news so well. I didn't even know how to respond. I met her gaze and heard someone clear their throat. I looked around to realize that Frank and Piper were still looking at me with shocked expressions.

I nervously scratched my neck. Hazel had accepted me but I still didn't know what they thought of my confession. Piper raised her hand. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow granting her permission to speak.

"You're in love with Percy, as in... our Percy?"

I bit my lip, "Yes."

She blinked a few times before she shrugged. "That's cool."

Before I could even react to her anti-climactic response, Frank spoke. "That's fine man. I don't mind."

I looked between my two friends in shock. I had been so nervous about telling them and they were acting like it was no big deal. "Really, you don't care that I'm..." I found that I couldn't bring myself to say the word. "It doesn't bother you that I like guys?"

Piper smiled at me, "Why would it bother me? Almost every single one of my brothers is gay. Love is love, you can't control who you fall for."

Frank nodded in agreement. "You're still you, it doesn't matter who you like."

I was completely stunned. I was blindsided by how accepting everyone was being. Jason had tried to convince me that no one would care but I couldn't seem to wrap my head around the idea that this was really happening.

"The one thing I want to know," Piper caught my gaze and smiled. "Does Percy know how you feel about him?"

I felt myself blush. I wasn't positive that I could respond so I was quite grateful that Jason did it for me. "It's a long story but that's sort of what we need your help with." Our friends turned to face the son of Jupiter as he spoke. "Percy knows that Nico has feelings for him but he doesn't know how strong they are. However, in an interesting turn of events, Percy has recently begun to develop feelings for him. If Nico outright told Percy the way that he told you, I think we can all agree, he would react poorly." I watched as they all nodded their heads in agreement.

"So what do you need us to do?" Hazel asked in confusion.

Jason smiled and scratched his neck. "Well, we need a way to make Percy fall in love with Nico, and since that's not exactly either of our strong suits..."

Piper's eyebrows shot up into her hair, "So in other words, you have no idea what you're doing."

Jason smiled sheepishly at his girlfriend, "Pretty much, ya."

Hazel laughed and Piper grinned deviously. "Oh this is going to be fun."

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Frank decided that he couldn't contribute mush to the conversation so he went up on deck to help keep watch and also to ensure that Percy didn't come looking for everyone.

The four of us spent a few hours trying to brainstorm possible ideas... and by the four of us I mean Jason bouncing continuously more outlandish idea's off of me while Piper and Hazel tried to come up with the realistic ones. I admired Jason's enthusiasm but when he suggested stranding the two of us alone together in an igloo in Alaska I decided that we had better just leave the planning to the girls.

So far all they had come up with was changing the schedule around so that I was almost always working with Percy.

I learned a few things during our conversation. For example, the fact that Percy had once told Hazel that he thought I was one of the strongest demigods alive. I had also discovered that Percy's cabin was right next door to mine. I tried, and failed, not to blush at the implication in Piper's expression when she told me.

I forced an immediate topic change.

Just before we were about to give up for the evening Jason had a surprisingly good idea. "Hey I've got one," the three of us just rolled our eyes.

"Baby, we've already told you... releasing a manticore in the hold of the ship and getting Nico to swoop in and save Percy is not a good plan."

"No, no, not that... Another idea, this one is really good."

Piper and I shared a skeptical look. "Okay, what is it."

"Nico, remember how impressed he was the other day when the two of us were fighting? Why don't you two spar together? You can tell him that you want to train and when he sees how powerful you are he will once again be amazed."

I was astonished. Piper, Hazel, and I looked at each other. "That's actually a pretty good idea..."

I ran a hand through my hair and gave the golden boy a small smile. "That could actually work... Good idea Grace."