The Mortal Boyfriend Experience by AndyBoy

by alkhuzamaa

Two idiots try to protect each other from the dangerous magical aspects of their double- lives without realizing that the other is just as wrapped up in crazy mythological stuff as they are. And maybe they end up falling in love somewhere along the way.

1. Ch 1

"And you promise you won't blow anything up?"

Percy laughed. "Annabeth, when was the last time I blew something up?"

"Four and a half weeks ago," Annabeth said bluntly. She was drumming her fingers on the table, her stark gray eyes fixed on him. "I was there."

"See? That's like a new record for me. I'll be fine, Wise Girl."

She sighed. "I know. I just don't like the thought of you going on a field trip without backup."

Percy grimaced. Yeah, field trips weren't exactly something he had a great history with. "I've got backup," he reminded her. "Riptide's in my pocket, I have my phone in my backpack. If worse comes to worst, I'll contact someone. But worse won't come to worst, because it's going to be okay. "

"Your phone is off, though, right?"

"Yes, Annabeth. It's exactly as off as it was the last four times you asked."

"Okay." She took a deep breath and glanced around the cafeteria. Most of the small group of assembled students were from Percy's World History class, but there were a few kids who had just shown up to see their friends off, as Annabeth had. "Okay," she repeated. "I'm sorry, Percy. I just don't like thinking about you being in danger somewhere I can't reach you."

He took her hand. "I know. I get it. But I've been doing this for years, remember? I can handle myself."

"Just...come back in one piece, all right, Seaweed Brain? I don't want to lose my best friend just because you got crushed by a falling pterodactyl fossil replication or anything."

"I promise I will not get crushed to death by a pterodactyl fossil replication," Percy said solemnly. "That would be a super anticlimactic way to go."

She punched him gently in the arm. "Jerk. Have a good field trip."

He pushed himself up from the table and shot her his best approximation of a genuine smile. "Always do!"

Their tour group consisted of classes from three different high schools, and was led by one incredibly frazzled-looking tour guide who couldn't have been older than 22. She introduced herself as Annette, and she looked like she hadn't slept in three days.

She asked each of the teachers if everyone on their rosters were accounted for, and then turned to the crowd of teenagers with an incredibly false smile firmly fixed on her face.

"Raise your hand if you're from Goode High School," she said, her voice far too peppy for the simple question. Percy did so, his hand joining his classmates' in the air. She nodded and did a quick count, before marking something down on her clipboard. "Thanks, guys! Now, can I get a show of hands for Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted?"

A jolt of familiarity ran up Percy's spine and he turned to scan the small sea of raised hands. Brooklyn Academy...somebody from camp went to that school, he was sure of it. He couldn't put his finger on who, though. He barely heard the tour guide calling roll for the third school, so occupied was he with looking at every face in the group of fifteen-or-so teenagers. Nobody familiar jumped out at him. He didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

As the very front of the groups began to walk, following Annette into the first exhibit, Percy's eyes fell on a boy at the back of the group, and his breath caught in his throat.

He had dark skin, strong hands, and carefully shaped hair. His eyes were deep and intense, like the last dying embers of a campfire. He was dressed in some strange combination of normal-teenage- boy and junior-history-professor-of-the-year clothing, and seemed to be about Percy's age. The sight of him sent a thrum of something up Percy's spine, like almost-recognition. Like seeing a face in a dream and knowing you'd never seen it anywhere before, but knowing it was a friend's face all the same.

Percy was instantly on guard. That kind of familiarity and comfort, practically rolling in waves off of the stranger...he couldn't trust that. He tapped his thumb against the pocket of his jeans, relaxing

slightly at the familiar outline of the pen that was his best and only weapon.

He and the boy were both at the back of their respective groups, and had had to hang back for an extra minute so the rest of the group could strike out first. Now they took their first step towards the tour in perfect sync.

If Percy didn't know better, he would have convinced himself the boy had been sizing him up just as much as he had been.

Somehow, they fell into step beside each other, like their bodies knew they were meant to walk beside each other before they did. The boy didn't feel like a monster, although that wasn't any indication. Percy had gotten better at spotting them, but that didn't mean they didn't still slip under his radar. Still...his instincts were going haywire around this guy.

After they stopped by the first two points of interest on the tour, neither of them speaking or looking anywhere but straight ahead, Percy risked another glance at the guy.

He turned to meet Percy's gaze instantly, dark brown eyes fixed on his own, making Percy feel as if he were a complicated passage the guy was trying to decipher.

On a split-second decision, Percy offered the guy a smile.

All the tension dropped from the boy's shoulders in almost an instant, and he shot his own grin back at Percy.

Oh, gods. That was it. His smile was like blue chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven, or a homemade quilt left to warm up on the radiator. Percy's instincts hadn't been going haywire because the guy was a monster or a demigod or anything. He was just a normal mortal. He had only reacted to him the way he had because the guy was insanely attractive.

"I'm Percy," he said, offering a hand. "From Goode."

"Carter." He took Percy's hand and shook it warmly. "From Brooklyn Academy."

Carter was screwed. Majorly screwed, unbelievably screwed, screwed beyond belief. The hot guy with jet black hair, tan skin, and eyes the color of sea glass had introduced himself to him. Percy, his name was. He said Percy . His name was Percy.

He wasn't a magician or a monster. Carter had only to dip his sight into the Duat for a moment to see that. The only other option was that he was just a normal guy, which was insane, because normal guys...didn't really pay all that much attention to Carter.

Yet Percy had stayed resolutely by his side for almost three rooms of the museum by now, and he didn't even seem bothered by the fact that Carter hadn't made any attempt at conversation. He carried himself with a relaxed confidence that was hard to come by, and his smile never quite matched his eyes. He was quiet, but his eyes were always somehow both fixed and distant, like his brain was constantly in motion. He was...the only word for it was enthralling. Something unbelievable, intense, and fascinating about this...normal seventeen-year-old guy.

"What's on your mind?" Carter blurted.

Percy turned and looked at him, as if surprised to be spoken to. Then he laughed, and his eyes crinkled, and the tiny scar that ran through his right eyebrow folded in on itself, and Carter's heart was throwing itself against his ribcage as if it were trying to shatter the bars.

"Sorry, the tour guide was just telling the myth wrong, that's all," Percy said. "I thought it was funny. Jason wasn't a demigod like Theseus or Heracles. His dad wasn't a god, he was just the king of some Greek place, Iolkos or something. Jason was fully human. That's the only reason Hera favored him. She would never have been the Argo's patron goddess if Jason were a son of Zeus, like Annette just said he was. She probably would have enchanted him to strangle himself with the fleece or something stupid and tragic like that. Jason's dad dying is kinda important to the story, though, so I don't know how Annette messed that up."

Carter found himself nodding. "I don't know a lot about Greek myths," he said. "My dad was an Egyptologist, so those myths are more my speed. But that sounds right."

"Of course it's right," Percy said. His voice had an amused lilt to it, as if he were sharing an inside joke that nobody was around to hear. "But Egyptology, huh? I know nothing about that stuff. Like, I couldn't tell you a single god's name."

"It's pretty cool," Carter said. "I've been up to my ears in it since I was born, so the novelty's sort of worn off for me, but I do still really like talking about it."

"I think the Egyptian room is included later on in the tour," Percy said. "If you let me talk your ear off about everything they got wrong here in the Greek exhibits, I'll let you tell me cool things about the Egyptian stuff."

Carter grinned. "I'd like that," he said.

"Mr. Jackson!" a voice called from the front of the group. The assembled students turned to face the pair of them in a wave of shuffling and wide eyes.

Percy winced. "Yes, Mrs. Hunter?"

Carter's eyes found the woman that had spoken. Percy's teacher, probably. She looked slightly apologetic, but plowed forward. "If your side conversation is so important, then I'm sure you can tell us what's going on in this scene?"

Percy squinted over the heads of the crowd. Carter watched him mouth some words under his breath as he scrutinized the vase they were all meant to be looking at.

His eyes seemed to take on an almost haunted look when he replied, "That's the giants born to oppose Dionysus—Ephialtes and Otis—trapping Ares, the god of war, in a bronze jar," Percy said. "He was in there for over a year."

The teacher nodded begrudgingly. "Thank you, Percy."

Percy sank back off of his tiptoes, took a deep breath, manually brought a smile to his face, and rolled his eyes at Carter. "They always call me out on this kind of field trip," he said. "Like, always . I guess I'm lucky that this time it happened in the Greek exhibit and not any other one."

Carter smiled. "You're a bit of a mythology buff?"

Percy snorted, tucking his hands into his pockets as the group set itself in motion again. "Something like that," he said.

"What's happening in that one?" Carter pointed to a broken fresco affixed to the wall. The group was walking past, so they wouldn't have time to stop, but Percy seemed to recognize the scene instantly.

His mouth twisted into a wry smile. "That's Posiedon and Athena competing for the right to be the patron god of Athens," he said. "They each had to offer a gift, and whoever gave the better one would become the patron of the city. Athena invented the olive tree. Poseidon gave them a saltwater spring. Well...the city is named Athens. You can guess how that turned out."

Carter nodded. "Olives are good," he said. "So is saltwater."

"You can't even drink saltwater."

"You can if you aren't a coward."

Carter laughed, and Percy's chest seemed to puff a tiny bit, as if with pride. That made Carter's head spin. Percy was proud of having made him laugh?

"Tell me more about this stuff," Carter said. "The Egyptian room is in the second half of the tour, after lunch. I'll wait to bore you to death until then."

"It won't be boring!" Percy protested. "My best friend is an architecture nerd. If I can listen to her talk about concrete foundations for two hours straight, then listening to you talk about actually interesting things will be a breeze ."

Carter's cheeks hurt from smiling so wide. "Thanks," he said. "People don't usually want to hear me infodump about this stuff."

"Infodump...Do you have ADHD?" Percy asked, looking suddenly intrigued and almost...wary.

"Close, but no. Autism," Carter said quickly.

Percy's shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit and he smiled sheepishly. "Neurodivergent gang! I have ADHD," he said. "And like... all of my friends do. Except for Frank. He's just lactose intolerant."

Carter laughed again, and Percy grinned as if it were the best sound he'd ever heard, and Carter never wanted this field trip to end.

Percy was having the best field trip of his life, which meant something had to go wrong very soon. Seriously, any second now, the other shoe was going to drop, and Carter was going to peel his face back and reveal his identity as a firebreathing snake monster or a ravenous bunny with venomous fangs, and Percy was going to have to turn his new friend into golden protein powder. Because Percy didn't get lucky breaks. He didn't meet normal mortal guys and hit it off with them. He didn't have normal friends. Yet here Carter was, unzipping his lunchbox on the museum stairs next to Percy, telling him excitedly about some tomb he'd visited with his father when he was younger.

He was so...human. A mortal guy who was actually interested in spending time with Percy. A friend he'd made entirely on his own, somehow.

"—which is why Egyptian depictions of humans and gods always show them with their arms and legs out like that," Carter was saying, waving around his wrapped sandwich for emphasis. "Because those images were an extension of the self. So if you died, and your depiction didn't have both of its arms showing, your body would arrive in the afterlife without an arm."

Percy was grinning, not yet bothered to open his own tupperware lunch. Carter was a nerd. He reminded him of Annabeth, and he promised himself silently that he would never let himself get stuck in a room with only the two of them. He would never be able to get a word in.

"You know a lot about this stuff," Percy said.

"Oh, that's just basic stuff. Everybody knows that," Carter said dismissively. He took a bite of his sandwich.

"I mean, I didn't. So at least I can tell my mom I learned something on this field trip." Carter smiled. "The Greco-Roman rooms bore you too much?"

"Not with you there to listen to me," Percy replied before he could think about it. Curse his brain- to-mouth filter. But Carter's smile widened, Percy's brain short circuited, all judgement flew out the window, and he found himself adding, "Since you're here, this is probably the first fun field trip I've ever been on."

Carter practically beamed. "I'm having a good time too!" he said. "I don't have a lot of friends in this class, mostly I just hang out with my sister and our friends from..." Carter's eyes flitted to the side for half a second. "Our extracurriculars," he finished.

"I get that," Percy said. He finally popped the lid off of his lunch and began to swirl the cold leftovers around with his fork to mix the sauce in. Blue spaghetti. Carter gave the food a wary look and fixed Percy with a skeptical eyebrow raise, but said nothing. Percy continued, "The only real friend I have at Goode is someone I met at summer camp. Most of my friends are there, I've never been too good at making friends at school."

"What summer camp do you go to?"

Percy forced his face to remain impassive. "Just an adventure camp for people with ADHD," he said. "Horseback riding, canoeing, climbing wall, normal stuff. I made some really good friends there."

"That's why all your friends have ADHD," Carter said. "Except the lactose intolerant one."

And wow, he'd remembered Percy's passing comment about that? It would make keeping things secret harder if Carter actually paid attention to the weird things Percy said, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling pleased that Carter had actually been listening.

"Yeah, exactly!" Percy said. "Except Frank. He's my cousin." Many-times-great-grand-nephew, technically, but 'cousin' was significantly easier to say. "He hangs out with us too."

"It's cool when you can actually manage to be friends with your family," Carter said. "Took me years to get along with my little sister, but we figured things out eventually."

"Oh, I get that ," Percy said. "When my dad introduced me to my brother, I wasn't...super kind. But I really love the guy now, and I try to make sure he knows it." He didn't know why he was spilling his life story to this guy he'd just met. What was it about Carter that made Percy want to trust him so completely? He knew what compulsion felt like, he had fought it before, Carter wasn't

charmspeaking him or compelling him to do anything. He just made Percy feel like he was actually listening.

"Yeah? How old were you?"

"Thirteen-ish? I'd actually met him at school before, but then my dad was all Surprise, Percy!

He's your half brother! And I took it kinda hard."

Carter winced. "Rough. I know a thing or two about family secrets. It's never super fun when they

come to the surface."

"What kind of family secrets?" Percy asked. Then he turned to Carter, wide-eyed. "Not that you have to tell me or anything! I just like learning about you."

It was hard to tell, because the sun was bright and casting Carter in a strange halo of gold, but Percy thought he almost saw the tiniest hint of red on the guy's cheeks. "Ah, no, don't worry. It's not a big deal! It was stuff that had to do with how my mom died, and some weird things about my dad's job. Egyptology is a far more harrowing profession than most people seem to think."

Carter was smiling, as if he were trying to tell Percy it was okay, but Percy's stomach twisted all the same. He thought back to that awful time when he was twelve and believed his mother to be dead, how I'm sorry about your mom was just about the worst thing anyone could have said to him.

"That stinks, finding that sort of thing out about your parents," Percy said finally. "My dad ditched us for twelve years, and only bothered to acknowledge me as his kid when he suddenly needed a favor from me."

"My dad tried to blow up a museum with me and my sister inside it."

"Dude, holy shit," Percy said, laughing. "That's insane! I don't think you want to get into the messed up family argument with me, though. Believe me, I'll win. My aunt literally kidnapped me and dumped me in California with actual wolves. I was officially missing for eight months."

Carter whistled appreciatively. "That stinks . Some aunt you've got. Good that you made it back, though. And I don't know about your confidence in your victory, Percy. I have some pretty wild family stories myself. My uncle accidentally got caught up with the guy who was trying to kill my sister and me and he led us straight to him, like right to our deaths. We got out, and he's chill now, but like..."

" Dude !" Percy said. He and Carter were both fighting down laughter now, just in an effort to keep the conversation going and to not devolve into hysterics. "Who was trying to kill you?"

"As I said," Carter grinned. "Egyptology is a dangerous business."

"Ten minute warning, school groups!" Annette called from the top of the stairs. "Ten minutes to finish lunch!"

"You're going to tell me about the stuff in the Egyptian rooms, right?" Percy asked. "You told me about the Greek stuff! I'm totally going to return the favor."

Good. Percy didn't want to stop talking to this guy yet. There was still so much to learn about the mystery that was Carter-from-Brooklyn-Academy. Percy could barely remember the last time he'd made a mortal friend, aside from Rachel. And, well, she was the Oracle. Not exactly removed from

his other life. Carter was someone who was entirely Percy-from-Goode's friend, not Perseus Jackson, Hero of Olympus's. And as much as he loved his demigod friends, the possibility of having someone outside of them was...really appealing. So he'd hang out with Carter more. There wasn't any harm in that.

"Didn't you say they only got to keep the parts of their body that are shown?" Percy asked quietly. Carter, who had been watching Percy's eyes, blinked, and brought his gaze back to the wall they were looking at. Percy standing beside him made Carter's neck prickle in a warm, comforting way, and he was almost a little scared to figure out why. He was choosing to ignore it, because examining it would only bring him more problems, he was sure.

"Yep, that's right."

"So why are they only ever drawn in profile, with half a face?" Percy asked. "Like I know they pulled the brains out through the nostrils or whatever, is losing half of your head in the afterlife some kind of religious thing?"

Carter wheezed slightly. "I mean, sort of? Not in the way you're thinking. If you were drawn with your whole face, it made the drawing too real. It might try to take your place in the afterlife and become you."

Percy shivered. "Wack," he said.

"Yeah," Carter agreed. "Wack."

"Oh, hey, what's going on in this one?"

Carter's stomach twisted. "Ah. That's...the gods trying out Set's sarcophagus. It's not a fun story." "Myths involving gods rarely are," Percy said. "What happened?"

"Set, the god of chaos and evil—"

"That's a little on-the-nose."

"Oh, he's not that bad. He's also the god of the desert, and of storms."

"Still waiting to hear the part where he's not that bad," Percy said.

"It's an important role," Carter said. "To have order, there must be balance. You can't have a world that's made entirely of harmony and rich earth. Chaos and deserts have to exist as well, otherwise the scales tip too far, and bad things happen."

"I mean, I don't really buy it, but sure," Percy said. "I'll pretend like I understand. What's the story?"

"So it's Osiris's birthday party," Carter said. "He's the king of the gods. The blue one, right there in the center."

"Why is he blue?"

"Why not?"

"Fair enough. Blue's my favorite color."

"Osiris is chill," Carter said. He's also sort of my dead dad right now, but I'm not planning on getting into that , he thought. "So, it's his birthday party, right? And his brother, Set, arrives with this huge sarcophagus, and is like, 'Whoever this sarcophagus fits perfectly will be the most worthy of the gods, and they will get to keep it!' And all the gods get super excited, because it's a really good sarcophagus—"

"Wait, they get excited over a coffin?"

"A sarcophagus is more than a coffin, Percy. It's a symbol of a lot of things, like status and wealth."

"So it's personalized. Like a shroud."

"I guess? I don't know a lot about Grecian burial practices." "So all the gods get super excited about this weird coffin?"

Carter smiled. God help him if he ever let Percy and Sadie in a room together. "Yes, all the gods get super excited about this weird coffin, Percy. Because Set said that only the most worthy god, or only the most powerful god, or something like that, would be able to fit into it perfectly. So they start lining up, one by one, to try it on. And it doesn't fit any of them. And then Set turns to Osiris, and is like—"

"Carter Kane! You and your friend have to stay with the group!" Mr. Sheldon called.

Carter felt his face heat. "We should get moving," he said, turning away from the images, glad to not be made to look at them any longer. He was not the biggest fan of that story.

"You'll tell me the rest of the myth, though?" Percy asked, jogging slightly to catch up.

"Yeah. Osiris lies down in the weird coffin and Set slams it shut and chops him up into tiny pieces and scatters him to all corners of the globe."

"Damn. Talk about rapid escalation," Percy muttered. He looked slightly pale. "I guess chopping up gods and scattering the pieces is a universal constant of mythology," he said with a weak smile. "That's how the Greek gods dealt with their father."

"What did their father do?" "He ate them."

Carter huffed a laugh at Percy's matter-of-fact tone. "Yeah, that'll do it," he said. They came to a stop in the next room, still lagging at the back of the tour group. "So Osiris is chopped up, and Set's king. Osiris's pregnant wife, Isis—"

"Hang on. In the last story you told, wasn't she his sister?"

Carter shrugged. "The gods' relationships to each other depend on who's telling the story and what reincarnation they're on, and they change pretty frequently. Don't get too caught up in it." He didn't plan on getting into the whole hosting business with Percy. ' Gods are weird' ought to be enough explanation for the Greek mythology buff.

Percy nodded. "Gods, man." He said it in the same tone of voice one might say 'Lawyers, man.' or 'Gym teachers, man. ' A resigned acknowledgment that the parties in question were messed up and the rest of the world just had to deal with them.

"Yeah," Carter sighed. "Gods. So Isis escapes, and she gives birth to Horus, who was, again, originally her brother, not her son. Horus and Isis get all the pieces of Osiris together—" A dark look that Carter couldn't identify passed over Percy's face, but vanished as quickly as it had come. "—and they resurrect him, but it's too late. He's already dead."

"But he's a god."

"Yeah, not like...human dead. Like god dead."

Percy nodded. "Of course. God dead." His voice was faux-serious, and his eyes were smiling, even if his mouth wasn't.

Carter punched him gently on the arm. "Yes, Percy, god dead. So Osiris becomes king of the underworld, and Horus kills Set and becomes king of the gods. That's why he's called Horus the Avenger. That's obviously super oversimplified, the real story is way more complex and long and Osiris actually dies twice in it, but I don't want to get into all of that."

"What's Horus the god of?"

"Being a pain in the ass," Carter said with a roll of his eyes, then froze. It just slipped out, like he was joking around with Sadie back at Brooklyn House. "I mean—stop laughing, Percy! I'm serious, stop! No, now I'm laughing too, cut it out, you're going to get us in trouble." Carter took a deep, steadying breath, trying to exert control over the wheezes that were racking his body. Percy had one of the most contagious laughs Carter had ever encountered. "I'm good. I'm calm. Horus is the god of hunting, falcons, war, and the sky, and he's also the patron of pharaohs."

"War and the sky?" Percy said, mirth slowly vanishing from his face. "What a lethal combination. Gods, dude, you weren't kidding about him being a pain in the ass, huh?"

Somewhere outside the museum, a distant roll of thunder caught Carter's ears. He pointed up. "Was it supposed to rain today?" he asked.

Percy glanced towards the ceiling, which had a dome of windows acting as a skylight, completely unimpressed. "Dunno," he said, voice almost bored. "I don't really check the weather. None of my business." He lowered his gaze back to Carter and grinned. "Hey, what are those things?" he asked, pointing at a clay palette. "The Egyptians sure knew how to come up with freaky monsters, huh?"

"They did," Carter said, leaning over the palette. "These ones are especially freaky though. Let me tell you the story."

It was late afternoon when Percy finally emerged from the museum, Carter still at his side. He had spent an entire day with this guy and had somehow managed not to scare him away, which was a small miracle in and of itself. The larger miracle came, however, when Carter turned to him at the top of the museum stairs and said, "Hey, can I get your number?"

Yeah, okay, best field trip ever, hands down. Carter hadn't just been hanging out with him because

he was there, or as a matter of convenience, or (gods forbid) just to be polite. He actually wanted to keep in touch.

"Yeah!" Percy said, a little too loudly. He waved off the questioning look one of his classmates sent him. "Yeah," he repeated, more quietly. "That would be awesome."

Carter beamed and handed Percy his phone, new contact already open and waiting for Percy's information. Percy was halfway through typing his name before he even had time to think about it.

"I should tell you," he said quietly. "That my family is super weird about technology. My phone is off by default, I only really turn it on when I'm expecting a call or in specific places where it's cool for me to turn it on. I'm only actually on it like...three hours a day at most. So if you text me, and I don't reply, I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you or anything. It's just that my phone is definitely at the bottom of my backpack somewhere."

Carter looked slightly disappointed as Percy finished typing his number in and handing the phone back to him.

Percy tried for a grin. "So we'll just have to see each other in person sometime really soon," he said.

Carter returned the smile. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, absolutely. I'll text you soon, just reply when you can."

"I'll be on the lookout for it."

The buses were already filling up. They were still standing at the top of the stairs.

"We should go," Carter said.

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "We should go."

Neither of them moved.

Percy breathed slowly, trying to calm his heart.

Carter's phone was still held in his hand, Percy's contact shining up at them from the screen. The world around them seemed to dull, like they were the only ones in technicolor.

A loud honk startled them both out of whatever weird trance they had fallen into.

"Shit, I think that's our final warning," Percy said. "My mom will kill me if I get stranded. Text me!" He and Carter turned and bolted down the steps in different directions, towards their buses. Percy noted, with some admiration, that Carter seemed to be used to dodging through crowds and around obstacles, and getting places quickly . It was a skill Percy himself had acquired through years of battles in deeply inconvenient places, and one he prided himself on. He reached his own bus fifteen seconds before Carter did, and caught a glimpse down the sidewalk of the boy actually vaulting himself over a garbage can to avoid a group of businessmen. He threw himself onto the waiting bus and Percy watched the doors close behind him half a second later.

Percy turned and hurried up the steps of his own bus, apologizing to the driver and teacher quickly before sinking into the only empty seat remaining, three rows from the back.

He dug his phone out of his backpack and hesitated for a moment before turning it on.

He fired off a quick text to Annabeth to let her know that he hadn't been crushed to death by a pterodactyl fossil, and another one to his mom to let her know that he was safely on the bus. He stared at the few text conversations he had for a moment longer before sighing and placing his finger on the power button, ready to turn his phone right back off.

Before he could press it, however, a familiar chime hummed from his phone and a single notification appeared on the screen.

(Unknown Number):

Hey, it's Carter from the museum. Text me back when you can, I had fun!

Percy must have looked like a lunatic smiling at his phone like he was. He had made a mortal friend. A normal friend, met in normal circumstances. A friendship made through talking about basketball and messed up families and Egyptian mythology, and absolutely nothing to do with the other side of his life.

He swiped the notification open and saved the number as Carter from the Museum . He had considered naming the contact Mortal Carter, but decided against risking the questions that name would no doubt bring.

Percy Jackson:

hey carter from the museum :) i had fun too lol i cant talk much rn but can i text you tonight to make plans to hang out sometime?

Carter from the Museum:

Yes, absolutely, I look forward to it!

Percy Jackson:

u text like an old man

Carter from the Museum:

And you text like my little sister.

Percy Jackson:

cant believe u have autocaps on in this day and age. r u a teenage boy or r u a decrepit old professor

Carter from the Museum:

I am never going to let you meet Sadie. I would never know a moment's peace. Percy Jackson:

lmaoo im sure wed be best friends. ill txt u tonight?

Carter from the Museum:

I'll be waiting!

Percy grinned and shut off his phone completely. Yeah. Pretty much the best field trip known to mankind.

Carter was sure he was still smiling like an idiot when he finally arrived back at Brooklyn house, just as the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon.

"You're in a good mood," was Sadie's greeting. She looked him over, smirking knowingly. He flipped her off tiredly. "I had a good day, the museum was cool."

" The museum was cool ," she repeated mockingly. "You insufferable nerd."

"Love you too, Sades. When's dinner?"

"Quarter of an hour," Sadie said, turning a page in her comic book idly. "Go wash up."

"Don't order me around." He ducked into his room and dumped his backpack on his bed before going to wash his hands.

Carter kept his phone on the table at dinner, face down. He had to restrain himself from checking it every five minutes, as Sadie was already giving him a scrutinizing enough stare as it was.

It buzzed, twenty minutes into the meal, and Carter snatched it off the table to stare at the screen like it was water in the desert.

Nothing, just an email from one of his father's old colleagues, who he'd been having a discourse with about the merits of artifact replications for museums. He would reply to the guy later that night. He put his phone back down, trying not to look too disappointed. It was still pretty early in the evening. He had time.

Sadie's eyes bored into him, but she said nothing.

He found himself in his room, later that night, staring at Percy's contact. On a whim, he tapped on the contact name with the intention to change it. Ordinarily, he liked his contacts to be simple. Firstname Lastname, maybe a reminder of where he knew the person from in the company tag underneath. Nicknames were reserved for people he texted often, like Sadie, Zia, Walt, and Amos. Maybe it was weird, giving Percy something like that when he'd only just met the guy, but it felt a bit more like promising himself that Percy would become one of the people he texted often. And maybe that was even more weird.

He lowered his phone onto his bed, stood, stretched, and sank into his desk chair.

He was halfway through typing an incredibly restrained response to his father's old colleague, silently congratulating himself on his ability to remain civil in the face of such genuine asshole-ery, when his phone chimed at him from his bed.

Carter practically flung himself across the room, unashamed, and seized the phone.

Blue Spaghetti Guy:

here's what im thinking. you. me. central park. ice cream. people-watching. we make up increasingly crazy stories about the people that we see, and whoever runs out of ideas and admits defeat first has to pay for burgers

Carter winced. He wasn't really supposed to go to Manhattan if he could avoid it. He still remembered Amos's warning about the place, the first night he had brought Carter and Sadie to Brooklyn House. But...well, it was just one day. And it was Percy.

Carter Kane:

That's pretty specific. Any particular reason?

Blue Spaghetti Guy:

i liked listening to u tell me those myths ig?? ur a good storyteller i mean. plus it sounds fun as hell right

Blue Spaghetti Guy:

So are u in or are you IN?

Carter Kane:

I think that sounds really fun, Percy. It just took me by surprise. I'm in. Blue Spaghetti Guy:

SIIICK ok when r u free

Carter Kane:

Can you do Saturday?

Blue Spaghetti Guy:

ye for sure, how does 1:00 sound

Carter Kane:

I'll be there. Central Park is pretty big, where do you want to meet? Blue Spaghetti Guy:

just by the bethesda fountain? we can decide where to go from there Carter Kane:

By the Bethesda Fountain at 1:00 on Saturday. I'll be there :)

Blue Spaghetti Guy:

HELL yea dude c u then!!!!

Carter collapsed backwards on his bed, smiling so hard that he could literally feel it in his ears. A friend he'd made, on his own, with no connection to the Egyptian mythological world. Someone he didn't have to share with Sadie, someone he didn't have to share his other life with. Just a guy with a penchant for blue pasta and people-watching. Yeah, Carter thought giddily, curling around the scrunched up blanket and squeezing it like it was a pillow. He could get used to having a friend like Percy Jackson.

"Annabeth, have I ever told you how much I love you and how grateful I am to have you as a friend and how much you mean to—"

"What did you do, Percy?"

"Nothing! Why do you always assume I've done something?"

Annabeth sighed and closed her physics binder. "Okay. Fine. I'll bite. Yes, you have told me how much you love me and how grateful you are to have me as a friend and how much I mean to you."

"Well, I'm saying it again."

"Thank you, Percy." She opened her binder again and tapped her eraser against one of her messy pages of notes, contemplating.

Percy leaned across the table slowly, not wanting to startle her. She was deep in thought about something, clearly, so Percy needed to be delicate.

"So, now that I've established how wonderful you are," he said.

She slammed her binder shut again, almost smushing his fingers in the process. "What did you do , Percy?"

"Nothing!" He let that hang in the air for a moment. Then, very quickly, like ripping off a bandaid, he said, "I do need something, though."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "What kind of something?"

"Pleeeease, Annabeth?" He was stretched out so far across the table now that he was practically lying down on top of it, arms splayed before him.

Annabeth straightened her back and looked down at him, unimpressed. "What kind of something," she repeated.

"You look so beautiful today, did you do something with your hair? And your earrings are the exact same shade as your eyes—"

"Perseus Jackson, I swear on Athena's name, I will punt you across this classroom if you don't get to the point. Just tell me what you want."

"I have to flake on you tomorrow."

"You what ?" Annabeth's voice was far too loud. It drew the attention of practically their entire study hall.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Percy said quickly, glancing around.

"Percy!" Annabeth said, quieter, but still loud enough to draw stares. "The project is due on

Monday, we have to work tomorrow!" "We'll get it done on Sunday!"

"That's not enough time! " Annabeth lifted her binder as if to smack him on the head. "And don't you get it into your brain that I'm going to do this thing myself, you are pulling your weight this time!"

"I will! I will! We can work all day Sunday, and I'll bring so many Twizzlers you won't know what to do with all of them, and I'll venmo you the money you need to rent that weird architecture documentary you wanted to watch, I'll even watch it with you! I'll bake like five batches of my mom's cookies! Hell, Annabeth, I'll give you an hour-long back massage or something, I don't know! Name your price."

"What," she said slowly, her eyes cold. "Could possibly be so important—" "I have plans on Saturday!"

"Yes, Seaweed Brain!" she said frustratedly. She no longer seemed actively angry, at least.. And she was back to her usual study-hall-hushed tone. "You do have plans! Working on our physics project!"

"I know, I know, I know."

"Then why are you trying to bail on me?"

"It's important, okay? I wouldn't flake on you if it wasn't important, come on, Annabeth. You know me, I wouldn't. Not with you."

Annabeth scowled down at her physics binder. Percy did feel bad. He hadn't meant to double-book himself. Something about Carter made Percy's brain go even screwier than it usually was, and all of his sense of schedule had flown out the window.

"Fine," Annabeth said finally. "You bring Twizzlers and cookies, we work all day Sunday, and I'm gonna call the massage offer an IOU."

Percy's face broke out into a relieved smile. "You are the best, Wise Girl. Seriously, I love you so much."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Annabeth said, flipping open her binder once more. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Carter's leg bounced anxiously, his eyes scanning the crowd. He didn't like being alone in Manhattan, and would probably feel a lot safer here when Percy found him.

Manhattan has other problems. Other gods. It's best we stay seperate, Amos had said. Carter had never quite puzzled out what that meant, but he had dealings with plenty of gods, thank you. He knew there were countless deities he hadn't yet encountered, gods he read about in the library at Brooklyn house, gods he hoped he'd never have to deal with. It was stupid to think that hanging out with Certified Non-Magician Percy Jackson would make him any safer from any crazed Egyptian gods that just so happened to have staked their territory in Manhattan, but Percy had been a steadying force at the museum, and Carter knew he'd feel a bit safer with him there.

Carter glanced down at his phone, where he had received a text three minutes ago.

Blue Spaghetti Guy:

like 5 min away stay put ill find u!!!

It was the final message in a brief exchange he'd had with Percy, and Carter had yet to dismiss the notification from his lockscreen.

A hand appeared on his shoulder and Carter nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Blue spaghetti guy?" a familiar voice said.

Carter turned, smiling wide. "Percy!" he said.

Percy grinned easily. "How are you, man?" He held up a fist and Carter knocked his own into it. "Not bad," Carter said. "Better now."

Percy's smile widened. "Same. But seriously, that's my contact name?" "Your lunch left quite an impression."

"May I suggest an edit?"

"Feel free." Carter swiped his phone open and pulled up Percy's contact. He passed the phone to Percy, who stuck his tongue between his teeth and tapped the delete key three times, then added two letters in the deleted word's place.

He handed the phone back to Carter, his eyes alight with something. Carter read the contact name and snorted. It read Blue Spaghetti Bi .

"Fair play," he said, tucking his phone into his pocket. "I'm more of a foods-that-end-in-O bi personally, but you do you. What am I saved as in your phone?"

"Carter from the museum."

"Well, that's boring. I expected more creativity from Mr. Let's-go-people-watching-and-make-up- stories-as-a-competition-to-see-who-pays-for-burgers."

"I'll think of a better contact name," Percy said solemnly. "And don't think you're off the hook on explaining that foods-that-end-in-O comment."

"I'll tell you if you explain the blue spaghetti."

"Will do. But first, contact names. I think I have just the thing." Percy pulled out his phone and started tapping at the screen. Carter had noticed it before, but Percy was a slow typer. Like he was

either not quite used to the technology or he was thinking very hard about the words he was writing out. Possibly both.

After a minute or two, Percy turned his phone towards Carter, smiling proudly. Carter's contact was now listed as Guy who's family keeps trying to kill him

"A little on-the-nose, but I'll allow it," Carter said, feeling his cheeks rise with his smile. He smiled a lot around this guy, he realized.

"Let's grab ice cream, I saw a stand a little ways back." Percy jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

"It's fall, are you sure you want ice cream?"

"Dude. I always want ice cream."

Percy grabbed Carter's hand and tugged him towards a pathway out of the large plaza. Carter gripped Percy's hand in return and let himself be led away.

Percy ordered blue ice cream, because it was apparently a blue food thing, not just a blue spaghetti thing.

Carter had only made the comment about foods that ended in O to be able to make conversation, and maybe possibly to slip in the fact that he was also bi. Y'know. Just so Percy was aware . No other reason. But now he felt strangely compelled to uphold it, even though that was Khufu's thing, not his. He ordered a cup of gelato.

He and Percy found an empty bench on one of the slightly-less-crowded pathways and took their seats. The gelato cup was already stinging Carter's cold fingers, and he placed it on the bench next to him briefly so he could rub his hands together and force some life into them.

When he picked it up again, Percy was watching him with some undeniably fond expression on his face.

"What?" Carter asked.

"Nothing," Percy replied. "I was just lost in thought. So. Gelato ends in an O, unless my dyslexia has once again led me astray." He raised an eyebrow at Carter.

Carter nodded. "It ends in O. The ending in O thing isn't like...a story or anything. I have this friend, Khufu, who I play basketball with. He's a really picky eater, and he only likes food that ends in O. Like Doritos, jello, gelato, flamingo, pistachios, Oreos, et cetera. It's an inside joke, I guess. I just think it's fun."

Percy's eyebrow raised even higher. "He only eats things that end in O?"

"No!" Carter forced a laugh quickly, trying to cover for it. "No, no, nothing like that. He just only eats a few kinds of food, and a lot of those end in O. We started offering him stuff that ends in O as a joke, and it snowballed from there. So now he will eat pretty much anything if it ends in O, but he's still super picky about other stuff. I don't know why. He's a weird dude." He pat himself on the back mentally for the quick cover story.

"We've all got our quirks, I guess," Percy said, although he still didn't look entirely convinced. "What's with the blue food?"

"Oh, that." Percy laughed slightly and licked a drop of ice cream that was trying to escape down the side of his cone. Carter's eyes followed the motion almost involuntarily. "My first stepdad sucked ," he said. "Like, majorly sucked. We don't have to worry about him anymore, me and my mom, but he made life pretty rotten for us for a little over ten years. He and my mom got into this fight about blue food, 'cause he thought it didn't exist. So the next day she went out and brought home every single kind of blue food she could. Since then it's turned into this like...symbol of rebellion for me, I guess. Like the impossible is possible , or don't take shit from men who smell like gym shorts soaked in piss and beer . Life advice in every bite. It just makes me happy."

Carter smiled at the faraway look in his friend's eyes, although his heart was aching at the implications of Percy's words. Even normal guys had baggage, he guessed. Even non-mythological stuff left scars. "I'm glad you don't have to deal with him anymore," he said. "Blue food is a pretty awesome way to remind yourselves of the strength you two had, even when things were rough."

Percy looked at him, surprise on his features. His half-open mouth closed into a grateful smile. "That's a nice way of putting it," he said. "Thanks. I didn't mean to like, unload my trauma on you or anything—"

"My dead father blew up a museum with me and my little sister inside it, remember?"

Percy threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah, yeah I do. Freakin' Egyptologists, man. Okay. So we're both sorta fucked up, I guess."

"We must be," Carter grinned. He took a bite of his gelato. "Now are we gonna make up some stories about some strangers or what?"

Carter couldn't help but feel a little bad. This Percy guy he'd picked up was insanely creative. He never seemed to run out of ideas about the people Carter pointed out. Whereas Carter had run out of creative energy forty-five minutes in, and had resorted to simply retelling stories from his own adventures.

"What about her?" Percy asked, pointing to a pretty woman with long blond hair and a mismatched outfit.

"She's actually asleep in her father's basement," Carter said. "He put her into a medically induced coma for her protection because she's immunocompromised and can't leave the house. But he wanted her to experience the world so he built her an android to put her consciousness into. The android doesn't know it's not actually her, and she goes about her day-to-day life genuinely believing herself to be human."

Percy let out a low whistle. "Rough. Hope she never goes down into the basement." "She will. It'll be very Cask of Amontillado ."

Percy snorted. "I hated that story in English class. Creeped me the fuck out."

"It's a creepy fucking story!" Carter said. He was so used to watching his language around the younger kids that he found himself now taking advantage of the opportunity to swear freely. He scanned the crowd and his eyes landed on a tall woman in a hijab and sunglasses. "What about her?" he asked.

"She..." Percy hummed thoughtfully. "Was born in the 1920s. She wandered into a magical hotel that holds you hostage, where time flows differently. For her, it's only been two months since she

walked in, back in the 40s. She's suffering from huge culture shock, but she's doing her best. The only reason she made it out is because one of her extended family's descendants wandered into the hotel and recognized her from the missing posters, which shocked him enough to break out of the spell the hotel puts on you, and he brought them both out. She's considering joining an all- women's dance team that swears off of the romantic company of men."

Carter shook his head, baffled. Seriously, how did Percy come up with this stuff so easily, while Carter was left relying on the insane things that happened to him and his friends. It felt like cheating, to just be retelling things. "That's insane. Where is the magic hotel?"

"Vegas."

"Oh, naturally." They dissolved into laughter.

"Hey, is your gelato any good?"

Carter silently held out his spoon in response. Percy blinked in surprise, then opened his mouth and closed it over the offered bite.

"Oh, damn," Percy said, pulling away. "That is good. Would be better if it was blue, though." "It would stain my tongue, though."

"That's the best part of blue food!" Percy protested. He stuck his ice cream cone in Carter's face. "Here, try mine."

Carter swallowed. Somehow this felt far more invasive than a bite off of a spoon. "You sure?" he asked.

"Go for it."

Carter did. It was a strange flavor, one that tasted like it ought to be Italian ice, not ice cream. But it was good anyway. He pulled away. "That's good," he said. "I'll remember that next time Sadie makes me take her for ice cream."

Percy's eyes were trained on the lower half of Carter's face. Carter frowned. "What is it?" Percy shook himself and looked up. "You have ice cream on your lower lip," he said. Carter wiped at it self-consciously. "Did I get it?"

"No, hang on." Percy leaned forward and swiped his thumb across the corner of Carter's mouth, his eyes zeroed in on the action. "There," he said quietly. His eyes rose to meet Carter's. Carter felt like he was stuck in a block of seaglass-green jello, suspended like Khufu's grapes, completely frozen. The world around him had faded away and all that was real was Percy's eyes, and Percy's breathing, in sync with his own.

A scream pierced the half-silence, and then ten more, and then the roar of a terrified crowd. Carter and Percy both whipped around to face the plaza, a little ways down the path. They shot to their feet in sync, ice cream and gelato abandoned on the bench. The horde of people was scattering, yelling incoherently, pulling out their phones, and grabbing their companions' hands.

"What the hell's going on?" Percy demanded, his entire demeanor shifting into defense mode. "I can't see anything!"

"Gang violence!" a fleeing woman screamed.

A man rushing past was yelling into his bluetooth headset, "Hello? Is this animal control?"

"Lion!" a teenager was yelling. "Escaped from the zoo!"

"911? I'd like to report an active gunman in Central Park," a woman was saying into her phone, voice shaking but tone even. "By the Bethesda. I don't see any police around."

And shit, that was just Carter's luck, wasn't it? It had to be a monster, or a god, or a rogue magician. The Duat was hiding the truth of it from the crowd, there was no other explanation for how everyone was seeing such different things.

Thankfully, there were just as many people running towards the scene as were running away. It wouldn't be hard for Carter to slip into the crowd and get in close, to assess the threat.

He turned to his left to encourage Percy to run away, to say he'd text him and find him later, but Percy had disappeared. Probably swept up in the throng of panicked people.

Carter grit his teeth and sprinted forward, dodging through the crowd with long-practiced skill. He skidded to a halt in the plaza, eyes scanning the place to find the threat.

When his eyes landed on it, Carter froze. It was monsters, a whole swarm of them, there was no doubt in his mind about that. Carter was pretty used to encountering and defeating monsters, by this point. But he had never seen anything like this, in any of the books he had read with his father, or on any of his adventures with Sadie.

They ought to be recognizable, at least vaguely. There was nothing overtly strange about them, but they unsettled him, leaving him with a cold feeling in his gut and sweaty palms.

They were small green snakes, each sporting a collar of white spines around the base of its neck. Their eyes were sickly jaundice yellow, and at least two of them were breathing fire. One of them whipped its tail across an abandoned soda cup and the thing began to melt away, like the reptiles' very bodies were coated in acid.

Carter swallowed, grit his teeth, and reached into the Duat to grab his khopesh.

His hand had just closed around the hilt when the fountain in front of him decided to take the opportunity to explode.

His focus vanished from him and his hand shot out of the duat, no sword in his grip. He stumbled backwards, staring up in awe at the massive wave of water that surged forth from the fountain.

It crashed down on the gaggle of spitting and hissing serpents, but in the process, crashed down on Carter and the gathered watching crowd as well. He was knocked over backwards by the sheer force of it and landed on his back, hard.

He spluttered and coughed, hauling himself to his feet quickly. The motion of the water hadn't been natural. Carter had encountered a couple of gods and monsters who could control water, and none of them had been particularly fun to fight. Still, he found himself hoping that was all that it was. He really didn't want to run into a water elementalist from the House just then.

"Manhattan," Carter muttered to himself, breaking into a run around to the other side of the fountain. His soaked clothes clung to him and he cursed himself for not wearing linen. "See if I ever come back to goddamn Manhattan."

He landed in front of the spot the snakes had been gathered, already shifting into a defensive stance, ready to call on his combat magic.

The snakes were completely gone. Not just washed away in the tide from the fountain as Carter and the onlookers had been, but really and truly gone. There was no sinister energy remaining, and a quick look into the Duat showed no monsters in sight for as far as the eye could see.

On the soaked pavement, a small pile of golden dust was slowly dampening. Like when you dumped milk into a bowl of brown sugar when you were baking, and the liquid slowly seeped across the surface of the sugar, darkening and solidifying it.

Carter swayed where he stood, still dripping wet, his hands itching for battle. Monsters didn't just up and disappear, especially not when they were threatening the general populace. Yet gone they were, as if they had never been there.

"Carter!" a voice called from behind him. Carter turned in time to see Percy sprinting towards him, tucking something small into his pocket. A pencil, maybe?

Percy nearly bowled Carter over with the force of his approach, and they ended up clutching each other's forearms, panic on each of their faces.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked. "I got swept up in the crowd, I thought I'd find you, but you weren't anywhere! Everyone's saying there was a rabid dog, what were you thinking running towards it? Why are you all wet?"

"I was looking for you!" Carter lied. "I thought you got dragged away in the crowd of people that had come to check it out. The fountain exploded, dude, everyone's talking about a ruptured water pipe or something!"

If there was, in fact, a rogue water elementalist or malevolent god making their home in Manhattan, Carter was completely content to stay as far away as possible. Percy didn't need to know anything about what he'd seen. He couldn't see into the Duat, he had no blood of the pharaohs. It was Carter's fault his new non-magician friend had got caught up in this.

But, he told himself, it was okay. Percy was fine. He'd run away like a sensible person. Percy had no way of knowing that Carter was the reason those things had showed up.

Maybe he ought to pull away from Percy. This might have been a bad idea. He didn't want to drag Percy into danger, the guy had been through enough, and his life was probably still safe and normal. Being friends with Carter would only put the guy in danger. Being a magician wasn't safe, and being friends with a magician wouldn't be much better. Percy didn't deserve that.

But then Percy grabbed his hand and said, "Let's get those burgers, yeah? I don't wanna be around when the cops start asking questions. I don't have the best record."

Carter wanted to ask what Percy meant about his record, but what came out was, "But we didn't finish the game, who's gonna pay?"

Percy's eyes crinkled with amusement. "Let's just split the bill," he said. "Come on. I know a really good place. And...I should probably duck into a store and grab you a towel or something."

Maybe a burger wouldn't be a bad idea. After all, Percy hadn't been hurt. Monsters had no reason to target him. Carter deserved a normal friend, didn't he? And Percy could be that friend. He would stick with it for a while longer. Really, who better to protect Percy than him, if he ever did find himself in danger? Carter made a mental note to look up those fire-breathing acid snakes when he

returned to Brooklyn House, and let Percy lead him out of the park.

Carter was already waiting outside the coffee shop when Percy sprinted up to him. He looked up from his book and smiled at him, and Percy's stomach flipped like a blue pancake.

"Percy! Almost thought you weren't coming," Carter said, standing up from the table.

"Got caught up at home," Percy said. "My mom's pregnant, so I've been making an effort to cook meals for her so she doesn't have to, but I burned the first round."

"Oh, congrats!" Carter said. "That's super exciting."

"Yeah, it's insane," Percy said, pushing the door open. "I've never had a sibling besides Tyson." "Tyson's the half-brother your dad sprung on you when you were thirteen?" Carter asked.

Percy ought to have been used to Carter remembering small details about him by now, like the guy was crazy observant, but it still made his chest spark with warmth. He and Carter had been hanging out at least twice a week at least since they met at the museum, and after that disastrous first meeting that had been interrupted so rudely by that swarm of basilisks, they had all gone really well.

Carter was...awesome, actually. Like a really cool friend. He was smart and sensible like Annabeth, but he shared Percy's impulse for risk-seeking and his sense of humor. He smiled in the same comforting way Hazel did, and he made Percy feel secure like Jason did. And beyond that, Carter was entirely himself. His eyes lit up when he got a chance to infodump about ancient Egypt or basketball, and he told stories about his sister's antics in such a frustratedly fond way that only ever made Percy want to meet the kid more.

Carter was quickly becoming one of Percy's best friends, and that felt really good. Percy felt an elbow nudge his side, and he snapped out of his reverie.

"You gonna order?" Carter asked.

Percy nodded. "Sorry, zoned out. I'll take whatever you got."

The bored-looking barista nodded and pressed a few buttons on the cash register. "Those will be ready in a moment, can I get a name for the order?"

"Carter," Carter said. "And we're paying together." He passed a credit card across the counter. "What, dude, you don't have to do that!" Percy said.

"Don't worry about it, Percy, I've got the money."

Percy frowned. Carter had already handed his card over, after all. "I could venmo you—" "Percy," Carter said seriously. "It's like four bucks."

"Right."

They found a small table by the front windows to wait for their order to be called. "How'd your history essay go?" Carter asked.

Percy hung his head backwards in his seat. "Ugh, don't remind me. I don't get my grade on that back until like Friday."

"I'm sure you did just fine, Percy."

"Yeah." Percy rolled his eyes. "Because I have such a great history with academics. Seriously, I have no idea how I'm gonna get into college."

"You'll do great," Carter said confidently.

"I wish I had half as much faith in myself as you do in me," Percy said.

"I'll just have to have enough faith for the both of us."

"Thanks, man."

Carter smiled and Percy's heart thudded against his ribcage insistently.

He was grateful when Carter's name was called and his friend stood up from the table to get their order from the counter. At least it gave him time to catch his breath.

Carter set two steaming mugs and a plate with two blueberry pastries onto the table.

Percy grinned. "Good taste," he said, drawing his mug in closer to himself.

"Thought you might like it. Dude, listen, Sadie's been driving me up the wall."

Percy leaned in. He loved hearing Carter talk about his kid sister. "What's she done now?"

"It's not what she's done, it's what she's doing ," Carter complained, stirring his coffee with his finger. Percy watched the digit trace slow circles in the mug. "She's been bugging me nonstop about where I keep vanishing off to. I didn't have any friends I hung out with before you, so now she's got it into her head that I'm in an illegal gambling ring or a forbidden romance or something. And she will not shut up about it."

Percy hid his smile with a sip of his coffee. "And you're not playing into that? Dude, go full- throttle on the gambling ring angle. Or make it a fight club. Have fun with it."

Carter grimaced. "Only problem is that she might actually believe me."

Percy sort of wanted to say, then why don't you just tell her about me , but stopped himself. They had never explicitly agreed to keep their friendship a secret or anything, but Percy had got the impression that he was just as much Carter's secret as Carter was his. Carter's double-life definitely wasn't as dangerous as Percy's, but he knew that pretty much all of Carter's friends were friends he shared with his sister, and that they only knew each other through extracurriculars. Having Carter to himself was good, at least for the time being. If they stayed friends, he'd tell Annabeth and the others about him eventually. For now, Carter was Percy's only real link to the mortal world.

He took another sip of his coffee.

Carter tapped out a quiet rhythm on the table with his fingers, his other hand bringing his pastry to his mouth. Percy's hands, both clasped around his warm mug, itched to reach over and take

Carter's. The silence that had fallen between them was comfortable and easy. Neither of them tried to force conversation when there wasn't one to be had, and that suited Percy just fine.

"Is this a date?" Percy blurted, and then slapped a hand over his mouth. Shit, shit, shit, him and his big mouth, he'd ruined everything in four words, that had to be a new record. He stared at Carter, horrified.

Carter looked at him, face blank for a moment. He mouthed the words is this a date slowly, as if trying to process, and then his eyes widened slightly. He looked down at the table and then up at Percy, as if just realizing where they were. He swallowed and smiled nervously. "I..." He laughed, then coughed into his hand, looking away. Percy was frozen. Carter tried again. "I don't know," he said. "I feel like I might...want it to be, though."

And, oh, oh, oh . All the feeling came rushing back to Percy's numb fingers, every inch of his body humming with warmth.

"Yeah." Percy's voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, his hand still hovering by his mouth. "Yeah, that would be great," he said quietly.

Carter's nervous smile turned into a joy-filled grin, and Percy's heart screamed in approval.

Before he could think better of it, he reached across the table and took Carter's hand. It wasn't the first time he'd done so, but it was different now. There was an understanding there.

Carter's hand was warm in his, and his fingers curled around Percy's as if they were meant to be there.

"Wow," Percy said softly.

Carter laughed. "Yeah," he said. "Wow."

Percy's mind was racing a mile a minute because holy shit, was there a possibility of his mortal friend, his link to the mortal world, becoming his mortal boyfriend? Because that sounded even more appealing, actually, especially if said mortal boyfriend was Carter Kane. Hanging out with Carter, the time he'd taken him to the skate park and tried to teach him to skateboard, the time Carter had dragged him to the opening of a new exhibit at a modern art museum and had tugged Percy through the building, gawking excitedly at the art—Gods, was Percy having a normal high school romance? The thought was giddying.

"If I remember correctly," Carter said, using one hand to lift his coffee to his lips. "You promised me, last time we met, that you would tell me about the school bus you blew up."

Percy let out a short breath of laughter. He and Carter had been slowly going through every single one of Percy's field trip stories. "Yeah," Percy said. "I'll tell you. I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but field trips and Percy Jackson are usually a recipe for disaster. I can't tell you how surprised I was when I made it out of that last one. Not only did I go the whole trip without accidentally locking a teacher in a sarcophagus, but I actually got something pretty good out of it." He squeezed Carter's hand gently. "That was pretty cheesy, huh."

"A little," Carter said, his voice tight and high-pitched. "But I don't mind." Percy looked up from their interlocked hands and saw that his date (his date! ) was blushing fiercely and had turned away, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He was flustered , and Percy was going to melt.

"Okay, so I'm on this field trip, right?" Percy said. "And there are these huge revolutionary war era cannons everywhere , and obviously I assume they don't really work. Like, why would they? So,

baby Percy—probably on his third or fourth school by this point, I've sorta lost track—thinks that it would be a brilliant idea to—"

A loud crash and the wail of several car alarms had Percy and Carter tearing their hands from each other and leaping to their feet. Pandemonium rained down outside, mortals scattering in every direction, some pulling out their phones, others ducking for cover. Percy's hand was in his pocket and he was halfway to the door before he even had time to think about it. Carter's hand closed around his wrist.

"Percy, wait!" Carter said. "We don't know what's going on, it could be dangerous out there!"

Percy took a step away from the door, attempting to shield Carter with his body while he tried to get a good look at what was going on out there. The commotion seemed to be coming from just out of his field of vision, down the street from the coffee shop. And it was getting closer.

"I have to find out what's going on," Percy said.

Carter grabbed his hand. His sword hand. "I'm coming with you."

Ordinarily, I'd be thrilled to have you along, Carter, but I think that getting you eaten by monsters would put a bit of a damper on our first date.

Still, Percy let Carter drag him out onto the sidewalk and down half a block towards the commotion.

Carter clambered up onto the hood of a car to get a better vantage point and Percy wanted to scream at him to get down.

"What's happening?" he asked desperately to the crowd of fleeing mortals. "Car chase," one of them said.

"A shootout!" another yelled, panicked.

"Whole stampede of wildcats," a woman practically screamed in frustration. "In downtown Brooklyn! I fucking hate New York!" She quickened her pace and was around the corner in an instant.

Percy winced at the reminder. Right. He was in Brooklyn, which wasn't strictly speaking the safest place for a demigod to be. Chiron had always been pretty closed off about the actual reason why, but the whole camp knew pretty well that they ought to stick to Manhattan if they could.

If the mortals were all seeing different dangerous things, it had to be the Mist. Which meant whatever was attacking Brooklyn had to be a monster. Great. His first date with his normal mortal possible-future-boyfriend-if-nothing-awful-happened was going to be interrupted by a monster fight.

Against his better judgment, Percy hauled himself onto the car hood beside Carter. "What is it?" he asked.

"Wildcats," Carter said, almost too deliberately, like he was making the decision as he said it. "A dowt of wildcats."

"A doubt?"

"Dowt," Carter corrected, rubbing a hand over the top of his head distractedly. "Like how you call a group of fish a school of fish. A group of wildcats is called a dowt or a destruction."

"First, you're a huge nerd for knowing that. Second, let's go with dowt rather than the second one," Percy said nervously, trying to get a closer look at whatever monsters the Mist was hiding.

Oh, gods. He had to get Carter out of there.

He had never seen the creatures before (Annabeth would probably know exactly how to identify them) but they were freaky, and they made his gut clench in visceral discomfort. Like he wasn't meant to be here, wasn't meant to bear witness to this.

He could sort of see where Carter and the frustrated mortal had gotten the wildcat thing from. After all, they were definitely at least part giant cat. Unfortunately for Percy, who was going to have to fight the things, the other part happened to be huge freaking snake . Their bodies were that of leopards, dangerously swiping at fleeing mortals and leaping onto parked cars with easy grace. Their claws dug into the metal, and some of Percy's battle scars twinged at the reminder of what claws could do. Their massively long necks and heads, however, were huge snakes, with clever eyes and razor-sharp fangs.

He wished Annabeth were here.

"Carter, we should go," Percy said. He could sneak away in the crowd like he had done last time, pretend they got separated, and find his mortal date later. They could finish their date somewhere else, like Manhattan , maybe. Seriously, if these were the kinds of Greek myths that haunted the streets of Brooklyn, Percy was glad Chiron had always insisted they stay away.

"Yeah," Carter said, his eyes still fixed on the snake-leopards. "We should go."

"Wildcats, Carter. Dangerous. Possibly deadly. We have to get out of here and let professionals deal with it." He hated lying to the guy, but what else was he supposed to say?

"Right," Carter said, turning away and leaping off the hood of the car, landing in a crouch with practiced ease. "Let's get going."

They had made it halfway down a nearby alleyway when Carter swore under his breath. "I dropped my phone," he said. "I can't afford another one. They're still like a block away, I'll be fine. You keep going, I'll be right back."

Percy started to protest but Carter pressed a swift kiss to his cheek and then turned and bolted away. And that guy could run.

Percy (his cheek still tingling where Carter had kissed it) reached into his pocket for Riptide, hoping that Carter would just assume he was lost and that this was his opportunity to get in at the monsters, but before he could uncap the pen—

A flash of golden light, so small and brief that Percy almost missed it, shone from the sidewalk. And then one of the buildings at the mouth of the alley exploded , sending Percy flying backward and slamming him into a stack of empty, rain-damaged cardboard boxes. Riptide had been blasted out of his hand, and the sword would return to his pocket soon, but not soon enough. Had Carter made it out of the way before the explosion? What had set the explosion off?

Percy struggled to his feet, his body feeling like one giant bruise. He stumbled forward, hand patting his pocket for a pen that wouldn't show up for another minute at least.

The explosion of the building had created a small mound of bricks at the entrance to the alleyway, closing him in. Percy scrambled over the crumbling wall, trying to get to a point where he could get a clear view of the street.

Carter was nowhere to be seen, damn him. The walls of the alley on either side of Percy were getting in the way of his heightened peripherals, and it was frustrating. He had to get to the monsters before anybody got hurt.

Before Carter got hurt.

The familiar weight of his pen finally appeared in his pocket, and Percy almost sobbed with relief. If he could just make it over this stupid mountain of bricks...

He forced his way to the top, once again reaching to uncap Riptide.

He didn't have to. The beasts, which ought to be still over a block to Percy's left, were hurtling past him through the air like they'd been thrown by a world-class pitcher. Percy almost fell off the pile at the sight. He actually did fall backward off the pile at what he saw next. The leopard- snakes...vanished. The air rippled around them as they rocketed away, and suddenly they were just gone.

Like they had been thrown so hard they phased straight out of existence.

He stumbled backward and tumbled off of the pile of bricks, which was not a pleasant experience.

He didn't think he was bleeding, but damn if that didn't hurt like Hades.

A face appeared at the top of the brick pile. "Percy!" Carter called, sounding panicked. "Are you

okay?"

He scrambled down the pile and was at Percy's side in an instant.

"Fucking exploded," Percy muttered.

Carter winced, almost guilty. "Yeah, I got caught up in it too." He did look sort of rough, all scraped up and covered in grime. "Are you hurt at all?"

"Nah," Percy said, accepting the hand that Carter offered him and letting himself be helped up. "I'm resilient. My friend got slammed in the head with a brick once and he and I were practically jousting the next day."

"Let me get you home," Carter said. "Can I use your phone to call your mom? I don't know if you have a concussion or not, and I don't want you to look at a screen in case you do."

"I don't have a concussion."

"Mmm. Sounds like something someone with a concussion would say. Let me drive you home, Percy."

"We didn't finish our date," Percy said, feeling sort of insubstantial. He had no idea what had happened to those monsters, and he hadn't been able to protect Carter from the explosion. He hadn't done any fighting, he had just fallen off of a pile of bricks. Some hero he was.

"Our date can be me driving you back to your mom's place and checking you over for injuries," Carter replied. "And then if you don't have a concussion I'll text you tonight and we'll schedule a second one, if you want it. It'll be a good one, we'll think of something awesome. Now give me

your car keys."

Percy stuffed his hand in his pocket and handed them over.

He really shouldn't keep hanging around Carter. Percy was a danger magnet, and Carter was a mortal. There was a reason demigods usually didn't have that many mortal friends, and that was because they became targets for monsters without the means or understanding to defend themselves. Percy didn't want Carter to end up like those horror stories of mortals who got wrapped up in half-blood business and paid dearly for it. He really shouldn't be around Carter.

But when Carter was helping him into the passenger seat, when Carter was asking Percy for his mom's address, when Carter was keeping up a stream of nearly-incoherent babble just to make sure Percy stayed awake because he thought Percy might have a concussion...Percy thought maybe he could stick around Carter Kane a while longer. A second date, maybe. One where he didn't make a complete fool of himself on a mountain of bricks.

One where they actually got to finish their coffee and pastries.

Yeah, he could take Carter on a few more dates. He hadn't gotten seriously hurt yet. Maybe it was selfish, but maybe Carter was worth it.

Four dates later (actual dates, ones that didn't get ruined by violent serpopards), Carter got up the nerve to ask Percy to make it official. And when he stumbled back into Brooklyn house that night, grinning like a fool, his mouth was still aching with the feeling of his brand new boyfriend's lips against his.

Burning to tell somebody, and knowing exactly who he owed an explanation to, Carter had knocked on Sadie's door as he passed and told her to come see him when she could.

Hey, he could admit it. He had a healthy fear of his little sister. He had seen what she could do with an explosion spell. And she managed to make even playground insults (such as chicken-man) sound exceptionally cruel. She was a master at making Carter feel like shit, and he admired it immensely . It was a very useful ability.

She sat in his desk chair now, arms folded, staring him down, looking decidedly unimpressed. "So I suppose you're finally going to tell me where you've been sneaking off to for the past month, are you?"

Carter smiled weakly. "Yes?"

"Well it's about bloody time!" She threw her hands up in exasperation. " God, Carter, I was going half-mad! I thought it might be some kind of gang, at first, but then I remembered you are the furthest thing from punk, and that you'd wet yourself at the very sight of a motorbike. So next I wondered if you weren't getting into some nasty business with the mob or some kind of gambling ring—"

"I knew you thought it was a gambling ring! You're not very subtle—"

"Well I'd given up on subtlety by that point, Carter," she said with a patented Sadie Kane Eye Roll. "I honestly thought it must have just been some nerdy study group or something, as you're

not quite cool enough to be involved in much else. But then I thought to myself that you wouldn't exactly be very secretive about that sort of thing. In fact you'd probably be encouraging all of us to go. So believe me, Carter, I've long-exhausted my options. What the hell have you been up to?"

"I've been...seeing someone," Carter said, trying to inject as much casualness into his tone as he could muster.

Sadie's eyes lit up like firecrackers. "No. Pull the other one," she whispered, almost reverently. Then she flung herself out of the chair and pushed Carter over backwards onto his bed, knocking the wind out of him. "Carter, you dog !" she said delightedly, rolling over so she was also lying on her back beside him. She gestured into the air above them as she continued to speak. "Obviously that was the first thing I thought, but I wrote it off immediately, because you, brother dear, are the exact polar opposite of smooth. You are like sandpaper . With an incredibly coarse grit. I convinced myself that that couldn't possibly be what it was! Oh, Carter, tell me everything right now or I'll blow your bed up. I'll do it, swear I will, tell me everything ."

"We were just hanging out at first," Carter said. "But then we solidified them as dates, and we made it official today."

"You're a taken man ?!" she demanded, bouncing up and staring down at him, wide-eyed. "My idiot brother, officially off the lukewarm-singles-in-your area list?"

"I am...taken," Carter confirmed, feeling a familiar dopey smile spread across his face.

"And you're infatuated ," Sadie said triumphantly, leaning a little further over him. "Look at that stupid expression, you're practically whipped ! Tell me everything about her. Right now, this instant, tell me everything. What nome is she from? Elementalist? Blood of the pharaohs? What's she look like?"

Carter smiled softly. "His name is Percy, he's not a magician, he lives in Manhattan, and he's got black hair and eyes the color of seaglass."

Sadie looked at him in shock for a moment. Then she collapsed backwards onto the bed, howling with laughter. "Oh, you poor, poor boy!" she cried. "This is heartbreaking, this is going to blow up in your face so massively—"

"It won't!" Carter snapped, sitting up. His face felt red-hot. "He can handle himself, he's good at staying out of danger! He's blown up so many of his schools that he's practically a domestic terrorist! He's not gonna get taken down by any old magician!"

"Carter," Sadie's voice was sympathetic. "You do get how your boyfriend being a domestic terrorist isn't a good thing, don't you?"

"I said practically! I just meant he knows how to handle danger, he's not going to get hurt or anything."

"And what about when he finds out about you? And magic? You can't date someone and keep it a secret forever."

"It'll be fine, he's the type of guy who would take it in stride. I'm just gonna...give it a few months before I bring it up."

"Well," Sadie sighed. "As long as you're happy, I trust your judgement. I'm awful proud of you, actually. He must have incredibly low standards."

Carter slapped the back of her head gently. "Thanks, Sadie."

"Of course, Carter. I am happy for you, you know. You've been a lot more yourself recently. He's good for you, even if this whole thing smells like disaster."

"I think he and I can figure it out."

"If anyone can, Carter, it's you. But Manhattan, though? Really?" "Sadie."

"I'm just saying!"

"Hey Annabeth, can we talk?"

"Are you finally going to tell me about the person you've been seeing for a month?"

"Yeah. His name's Carter, he's mortal, but he's really good with self defense so he's not in as much danger as a different mortal might be. We made it official two days ago."

"If you think it's safe, then I believe you. Happy for you, Seaweed Brain." "Don't ruffle my hair!"

"Don't distract me when I'm trying to do my calculus, then!"

Days turned into weeks, and Paul and Sally had to get used to Carter pretty quickly. Percy found himself bringing his boyfriend home to his apartment practically every other day, more often even than Annabeth. He got the sense that his mother knew exactly what was going on, considering she very deliberately left his door wide open any time she brought them a little plate of cookies or cut up fruit while they were studying in his room.

Carter was just as good a study partner as Annabeth, and with both of them drilling him on his schoolwork near-constantly, Percy's grades had actually started to steadily improve.

Now, Percy was sprawled on his bed, three weeks strong into his relationship with Carter. Sadie and Annabeth were still the only ones they'd told, but that wasn't because Percy was particularly afraid of any of his friends' reactions, or Paul's and his mom's. He would tell them eventually, no doubt. It was just nice having a bit of Carter all to himself, to exist as Mortal Percy Jackson with his Mortal Boyfriend Carter Kane. Carter made him feel normal, but also completely breathless and adrenaline-crazed. He was like the world's most comforting roller coaster, one that made sarcastic comments and dropped fun facts about obscure topics at random intervals.

Ugh. My boyfriend is like a roller coaster. It sounded like the kind of shitty poem Apollo would write.

Carter was on the floor, leaning against Percy's bedframe, his eyes scanning a page of the textbook. "Yeah, no," he said finally. "This is a misprint. They've got the wrong dates in here. I'm gonna google it." He pulled open his laptop and began typing something into the search bar. Percy loved watching Carter type. His dark, clever hands flashed across the keyboard so quickly they almost blurred together. He was exactly the kind of kid Percy had been jealous of in elementary school, when they had tried to teach them all to type with those awful covers that went over the keyboards and blocked out the letters.

The doorbell rang, somewhere down the hallway.

"Percy?" his mother called. "Can you get that? I'm making dinner."

"Got it!" Percy replied, pushing himself out of bed quickly and padding quickly down the hall.

He looked through the peephole, but saw nobody. Confused, he pulled the door open and looked to the left, and to the right.

And then he looked down.

"Augh!" his visitor said.

"Um," Percy said intelligently. "You're a baboon."

"Au-ungh! Agh!"

The baboon, it was definitely a baboon, was pointing into the apartment insistently. More than that, it was wearing a bright purple basketball jersey.

"The Lakers," Percy observed, letting out a short, breathy, slightly crazed laugh. "Sure, why not. That's Carter's team."

"Agh! Aghagh!" the baboon said excitedly, pointing towards Percy's mouth and then into the apartment.

"Carter?" Percy asked the baboon, completely mystified. "You're here for him?"

The baboon nodded fervently. "Agh ungh!" it said.

"Uh, Carter?" Percy called over his shoulder. "Someone's here to see you."

"What?" Carter called back. Percy could hear his approaching footsteps. "But nobody knows I'm here, I—"

Percy had stepped aside to reveal the monkey at the door.

"Khufu, what are you doing here?" Carter asked, looking suddenly panicked. "Is everything okay? Where's Sadie?"

"Agh! Ungh augh ugh!" the baboon— Khufu , apparently—said, pointing over his shoulder.

"Okay, thank you, Khufu. Perce, I gotta dash. I'm super sorry. I'll text you tonight. Khufu, I'm just gonna grab my stuff and put my shoes on, okay?" Carter turned and sprinted back towards Percy's bedroom.

Percy raised an eyebrow at Khufu. "You're the friend he plays basketball with?" he asked.

Khufu bared his fangs in what Percy hoped was supposed to be reminiscent of a friendly smile. Percy nodded. "Good talk," he said. A thought struck him. "Wait here, I have something for you." Percy turned and stepped into the kitchen, ducking around his mother.

"Who was at the door?" she asked.

"Carter's friend," Percy said, rummaging through the cupboards. "Or...pet, or something. I dunno. I'm gonna ask him about it later. Ha!" His hand had landed on what he needed. "I knew I still had this."

He kissed his mom on the top of the head on his way past, and returned to the front door, where Khufu was waiting patiently.

"Here," Percy said, holding out his hand. It was a small bag of Fritos, like the kind you threw in your lunchbox on a day you were rushing. "Frito ends in an O."

The baboon snatched the bag out of Percy's hand and grunted gleefully, then opened his mouth and loosed an impressive belch.

"That means he likes you," Carter said, approaching from behind. He was hopping slightly as he pulled his second shoe onto his foot. "I'm surprised you remembered," he said, watching Khufu ferociously tear into the bag of chips. "His diet, I mean."

"You never mentioned he was a monkey."

"I didn't say he wasn't a monkey though," Carter said evasively. Khufu barked at him, and Carter swore under his breath. "Listen, Percy, I have to get going. I'm super sorry. Remember to look up those dates, I don't trust the textbook. I'll see you soon!" He was already halfway down the hallway, Khufu sprinting beside him, by the time he finished his sentence. Then he turned away and started speaking rapidly to the monkey in hushed tones.

Percy stood in the empty hallway, staring at the corner his boyfriend had disappeared behind, for a very long time.

Carter was propped up in Percy's bed, his eyes unfocused, halfway to sleep, when a knock on the window startled him so violently that he slammed his open book into his forehead.

He turned to stare at the window, rubbing his forehead and clutching his book to his chest.

There was a girl and two boys standing in the shadows of the fire escape, looking just as surprised to see Carter as Carter was to see them.

The boy in the middle, who was pale, with dark hair and tired eyes, hesitantly tapped on the window again.

"Is Percy there?" he said, his voice muffled by the glass. Carter nodded mutely.

The dark-skinned girl with a round face and kind eyes glanced at her companions, and then stepped forward as well. "Can we come inside?" she asked.

"We're friends of his," the final boy said. His voice was a lot softer than Carter had expected to come out of a guy so large and intimidating.

"I'll...go get him," Carter said, pointing towards the door. The boy in the middle nodded, looking slightly relieved.

Carter knocked on the bathroom door. "Do you have the nail polish washed off yet? There are three kids on your fire escape who want to see you."

"Shit," Percy said. He flung the door wide and looked around the hallway, shaking his hands dry. "Who? Did you let them in? Never mind, I'll go." He kissed Carter quickly, almost absentmindedly, on his way past. They'd been together for over a month, and contact had been coming easier and easier to them.

Carter, smiling fondly, followed Percy back into his room.

Percy cracked open the window and held out his hand to help the girl inside. He apparently decided the other two were on their own, and they climbed inside with less ease.

"Uh, guys, this is Carter. He's a friend of mine."

"Hi," Carter said, feeling very suddenly like a man on trial. Three sets of intense eyes were fixed on him, and although the kids seemed nice enough, they made a very intimidating picture.

"Carter, this is Hazel, Nico, and Frank."

Carter snapped his fingers, making the connection. "Frank...your lactose-intolerant cousin Frank?"

Frank spluttered indignantly and Hazel and Percy both broke out laughing.

"Uh, yeah, that's the one. Hazel and Nico are from my summer camp, the adventure camp for kids with ADHD ," Percy said deliberately, his voice especially clear on the last few words.

Carter nodded. "Okay. Uh, what were they doing on your fire escape?"

"Yeah, good question, Carter. What were you guys doing on my fire escape?" Percy asked, crossing his arms.

"We wanted to surprise you," Hazel said sheepishly. "We only just...flew in...from California. Nico...picked us up from the airport. Wanted to see you before we dropped by camp."

Percy's face relaxed into a smile. "Gods, I forget how far away you guys are sometimes," he said, stepping forward and wrapping Hazel into a hug before pulling away and looking her up and down. "You got taller," he said. She shrugged, looking pleased with the observation.

Percy turned to Nico and hovered a hand hesitantly over his shoulder. Nico rolled his eyes and nodded, and Percy patted him on the shoulder awkwardly. "You need food? Rest? I know airports take a lot out of you."

"I'm fine until we get to camp," Nico said. "Even with two people?"

"Yes, Percy."

Percy turned to Frank and held out his arms for another hug. Frank looked disgruntled but wrapped Percy in a hug all the same. "I can't believe your friends know me as your lactose-intolerant cousin," he said.

"Only Carter knows you as that," Percy said. "I haven't even mentioned you to anybody else." Carter laughed slightly, but smiled pitying at the kicked-puppy look Frank was sporting. He was a

softie .

He turned to look back at the other two.

While Hazel was smiling, Nico was fixing Carter with a deeply strange look.

Carter shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

Nico coughed slightly, his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes still focused very firmly on Carter. "Your...father," he said, as if he wasn't even aware he was speaking. "Your father, he..."

Percy slapped a hand firmly down on Nico's shoulder, causing the smaller boy to almost buckle to the floor. "Is dead!" Percy said loudly. "Carter's father is dead , Nico. So let's not bring him up!"

"No, it's okay, Percy," Carter said, smiling at the pale kid to show he wasn't upset. "I get that a lot. You've probably seen him on the inside of a book jacket or something, he's kinda everywhere."

"R-right," Nico said quickly. "I spend a lot of time in bookstores. That must have been it. You look a lot like him."

Carter smiled softly. "Thanks," he said. "It's good to hear that sometimes. Uh, are you guys gonna stay long? I was gonna spend the night, but I can head home if you wanna hang with Percy before you visit your camp."

"No, Carter, you don't have to go—" Percy started.

"I'm not gonna impose," Carter said. "You guys should catch up. It's cool, Perce, really. I'll call tomorrow at our usual time?"

"If nothing untoward occurs," Percy said wryly.

"If nothing untoward occurs," Carter repeated solemnly. It was a sort of call-and-response thing they'd developed after one-too-many phone calls missed for family emergencies (Percy) or demon attacks (Carter).

He tucked his book into the backpack at the end of Percy's bed. "I think my sweatshirt is still in the dryer, but you can just hold onto it until I come over on Thursday," Carter said.

"You realize you're never getting that thing back?"

"I know," Carter said, grinning.

"I'll walk you to the door," Percy said.

"Oh, uh, it was nice to meet you three," Carter said, turning and waving to Percy's friends.

Hazel said, "It was nice to meet you too, Carter!" Frank waved awkwardly. Nico stood stone-still,

his hands stuffed in his pockets, staring Carter down like he was a specimen on a corkboard.

Carter tore himself away from Percy's strange assortment of friends, followed his boyfriend to the door, kissed him goodnight, and let himself out.

Percy watched his boyfriend in bemused fascination from his place across the street. He and Carter had planned to meet here and walk to the library together, but Carter had clearly gotten caught up in something else.

He and a small blond girl who was wearing what looked like beige pajamas were brandishing boomerangs at each other and yelling heatedly.

Carter knocked the pajama girl lightly on the top of the head with his boomerang and she, without hesitation, sucker-punched Carter directly in the stomach.

Okay, maybe Percy ought to intervene. He jogged quickly across the street, pausing briefly to let a car blow past him, and landing on the sidewalk fifteen feet away from the argument.

Carter was rubbing his stomach, looking understandably miffed, as the girl continued to yell at him. From the sound of her accent, she was...British? That made sense, Percy supposed. Maybe potato-sack pajamas were all the rage across the Atlantic. He believed it.

He quickly jogged up behind them, hoping to at least rescue Carter from further physical harm.

He spread his hands between them placatingly. "Heyy," he said, force-cheerfully. "Let's put the boomerangs down, maybe?"

"Percy!" Carter said. "I'm so sorry I'm late, I had to change, I was—"

" Percy? " the girl demanded, looking Percy up and down like he was a new set of beige pajamas she was considering buying. "Hmm. Well, you'll do , I suppose," she said. She stuck out her hand. "Sadie Kane, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Okay, yeah. Yeah, that made a lot more sense than her just being a random british girl physically assaulting his boyfriend with a boomerang. He grinned and took her hand. "Percy Jackson. I've heard a lot about you, I look forward to making your brother's life hell."

Sadie cackled. "Oh, I like this one, Carter. You can keep him."

"I was going to anyway. You weren't supposed to tag along, Sadie, I told you—"

"Nonsense! And miss out on this brilliant opportunity to torment you? Under no circumstances. Right, where are we going, then?"

"We," Carter said, gesturing between himself and Percy. "Are going to the library."

Percy grinned devilishly at Carter. "Change of plans, actually. I'm taking your sister out for ice

cream. You can come, if you want."

"Oh, brilliant," Sadie said. "I have so many embarrassing stories to tell you. Let me find somewhere to get changed, I look like I've escaped from some sort of low-budget karate film. Wait

right here."

She turned and ducked out of sight, presumably to find a bathroom somewhere. Percy turned to Carter to point out that the girl didn't have a change of clothes with her, but stopped when he saw his horrified expression.

"I am never again in my life going to know a moment's respite," Carter whispered. "That's it, you've met, it's over for me."

Percy let out a genuine bark of laughter and wrapped an arm around Carter's shoulders. He pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Don't worry, Carts. I'll introduce you to Annabeth sometime, she's got more dirt on me than you could possibly imagine. It'll be even then."

Carter looked at him seriously. "You'd better."

"I will!" Percy pulled away. "So, what's with the boomerangs?"

Carter looked down at his hand as if he'd forgotten he was holding it. "Oh, that," he said. "Boomerangs. Sort of a...family-wide inside joke."

Percy nodded. Carter was still fairly closed-off about the finer details of his family life, so Percy knew when not to push.

"I like Sadie," Percy said. "She's terrifying. A good quality in a girl her age. Is your stomach okay?"

Carter laughed. "Yeah. You don't really get to be an older brother without getting used to stuff like that."

Percy thought of his own incoming little sister and grimaced. "I look forward to it."

Carter held out his boomerang towards Percy. "Hey, would you put that in my backpack for me?"

"Sure," Percy said. He accepted it and immediately almost dropped it. The strange smooth surface had sent a jolt of unbelievable wrongness up Percy's arm, causing all his hairs to stand on end.

He gripped the boomerang tightly, clenching his jaw to keep from crying out. He quickly crossed behind Carter so he wouldn't have to conceal his face when he unzipped his backpack and unceremoniously dropped the boomerang inside. He shook his arm out as he used his other hand to zip up the backpack, trying to rid himself of the feeling.

Sadie joined them a moment later, looking completely different in jeans and a t-shirt and a leather jacket.

She wasn't carrying a bag. "Where'd your pajamas and boomerang go?" Percy asked.

Sadie blinked. "Uh...dropped them down the toilet," she said. "Tragic, really. Now, let's be off, I want that ice cream you promised."

The intercom by the door buzzed. Carter glanced up at it, and then at Percy. Percy was bent low over his homework, squinting in concentration.

The intercom buzzed again. "Do you want me to get that, Mrs. Blofis?" Carter asked. "It's Sally, for the thousandth time. And yes, Carter dear, that would be so sweet."

Carter stood and quickly crossed to the door. He held down the talk button. "Jackson-Blofis residence," he said.

A teenage boy's proud and bright voice said, "Hello, this is Apollo." He said it as if he were announcing that Carter had just won the lottery.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" he asked.

Spluttering from the other end. "How—disrespectful—these days—Is Percy Jackson there? I demand to speak to him."

Carter turned back into the apartment. "Some kid named Apollo asking for you, Babe," he said. The pet names were a recent addition, but it had been over two months since they started dating. The first Babe had just sort of slipped out one day and since then, the names just hadn't stopped coming.

Percy let out the longest, loudest groan Carter had ever heard in his life, and then came striding to the door.

He pressed the button to invite the kid inside. Carter raised an eyebrow. "Friend of yours?"

"Acquaintance," Percy said sourly. "I'm sorry, Hun, I really don't want you to have to deal with this guy. Do you mind waiting in my room until I get him off our backs?"

"Sure. How long do you think that'll be?"

"Knowing him? Like three days."

Carter laughed, but Percy looked deadly serious. In fact, Percy looked almost angry. "Are you good, man?" Carter asked.

Percy shook his head. "I'm retired ," he muttered. "I'm too old for this shit." "You're seventeen."

"Too old for this shit," Percy repeated. Two sets of footsteps were tromping down the hallway, getting closer to the door. Percy sighed. "Just...if he finds you and tries to talk to you, don't indulge him, just let me deal with it. But seriously, just stay out of the way. He's a lot to handle."

"Okay, dear," Carter said. He left a quick kiss on Percy's temple. When he tried to pull away, Percy grabbed his wrist and instead tugged him down to hungrily press his lips into Carter's.

"What was that for?" Carter asked, grinning widely, when Percy finally pulled away.

"Strength," Percy said. "And patience." A loud, sharp knock came from the door they stood in front of. "Now go."

"Good luck," Carter said, turning to walk back towards Percy's room.

Just as he was rounding the corner, he heard Percy's sharp voice let out a single exhausted word. "Why."

"Percy Jackson, my blessings upon you!" the boy's voice from earlier sounded out. "I am in need of assistance."

Carter chuckled and closed the door to Percy's room behind him. Percy had once told him that a lot of the kids at his camp had a weird penchant for LARPing.

The bird-esque monster had caught Percy by surprise on his way home from school, slicing his shoulder open with one of its knifelike talons as it rocketed past, heavy in pursuit of a much smaller bird—a hawk or a falcon, maybe. It barely seemed to notice or care about him, which was an incredibly alienating experience for Percy, who had spent his whole life as the most appetizing thing on any given monster's plate.

Percy would have been content to let the monster go on as it pleased, because he had a lot of homework and it didn't look like it was about to hurt any humans, but it had left a big tear in his favorite hoodie, and now it was gonna have a huge bloodstain that would take hours to wash out— so yeah, it was personal.

Percy pulled Riptide out of his pocket and uncapped it before breaking into a run, hot on the monster's trail.

He watched the smaller bird swerve into an alley and the monster make a sharp turn to follow it. He sprinted the length of the block that still remained between them, cursing that the alley blocked the monster from sight. For all he knew, there could be a homeless demigod in that alley. It wouldn't be the first time Percy had come across one.

He skidded to a halt in the mouth of the alley almost a full minute after the monster had disappeared.

He raised his sword, ready to charge in, and then froze.

A familiar profile was standing in front of him, brandishing a strange hooked sword and a boomerang, his back to Percy.

Percy's Mortal Boyfriend Carter Kane hooked the end of his sword around the monster's foot and used the bird's own momentum to send it crashing into a nearby wall.

He brandished the boomerang at it and shouted something that Percy couldn't hear, so loud was the roar of blood rushing through his ears, like the ocean in a violent storm.

A flash of golden light burst out over the monster's body and it froze in place, as if it were a paused DVD.

Carter picked the thing up by the back of its neck and hurled it directly into the air , where the air rippled around it in something like heatwaves and then vanished from existence.

Carter let out a low huff of breath and doubled over, his hands on his knees. "Hate those things," Percy heard him mutter, although it sounded like it had come from over a mile away.

The hilt of his sword slipped through his numb fingers and clattered to the ground beside him. The noise seemed deafening in the tense air.

Carter whipped around, his sword already brandished outward at Percy, and then froze. "Percy," Carter whispered.

Percy felt his face harden. He stuck his foot under Riptide's blade and kicked it upwards, catching the blade and holding it out towards Carter. "What is that," he asked, voice stony. He gestured towards Carter's sword with his own.

Carter didn't lower his weapon. "I could ask you the same question," he said after a long, tense pause.

"You are not in the position to be making demands of me, Carter Kane," Percy said icily. "If that's even your real name. What is this, some kind of sick joke? Trying to get at me for three and a half months, pretending to be my boyfriend for over two—" He cut himself off, sure that if his voice cracked like it felt in danger of doing, he would lose any intimidation points he had. He cleared his throat. "Do you know who I am?" he demanded. "I'll admit the long-con isn't a style I'm used to, but I am not the type of hero you want to mess with."

"I never pretended anything," Carter said coolly. "You're the one who let me believe you couldn't see into the Duat, who let me worry about your safety every time there was a demon attack. What nome are you with? Are you the rogue water elementalist?"

Percy shook his head. None of the words Carter was saying made sense, but Carter was speaking them as casually as if he were asking Percy about basketball strategies.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "But that wasn't mortal, what you just did. All this time, I thought you were the one normal thing in my life, and even that couldn't be true. You're a demigod ," he said, pouring every ounce of bitterness into the accusation that he could.

Carter's face dropped into a scowl. "I don't know what you think you've heard about the twenty- first nome, but we don't do that anymore. I haven't been a 'demigod' in years, and it definitely wasn't by choice the first time around. I'm no godling, dude. I just follow his path."

What the hell was Carter talking about? It was like a vocab test in a different language that Percy hadn't been told to study for. His head was spinning and he felt sick to his stomach. Once again, over and over, he'd been lied to, hurt, toyed with, schemed against. The best thing in his life had never been real.

"Are you from the other camp?" Percy demanded. "I don't know if you heard, but we made peace during the second gigantomachy. If you're trying to do away with me, you've had every opportunity. What's your game, here?"

"I'm not interested in doing away with you. Do you work for the House?" Carter asked, shifting his grip on his sword. He looked a little more uncertain, but was clearly trying to hide it. "I don't know what you're talking about, the second...whatever you said. You can see into the Duat. You have a sword. You're obviously a magician of some sort. I want answers, and I want them now. As Pharaoh of the House of Life and Leader of the Twenty-First Nome, I demand you identify yourself."

"Gods, would you stop speaking in riddles?" Percy snapped. He advanced on Carter, on this stranger he'd been calling his boyfriend for over two months. "Your father was mortal, you

showed me his books. So it must have been your mother, unless you're a legacy. That golden shit looked an awful lot like magic to me, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Hecate. Or Trivia, depending. Am I right?"

Carter shook his head, looking genuinely baffled. His sword did not lower from its defensive position, but the tension seemed to drop from his stance a little. "What the hell are you talking about, Percy?"

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked, throwing his non-sword arm outward in frustration. "I don't hang out with gnomes, I don't know what the house is, and I'm pretty sure Duat is a pokemon or something!"

Carter's eyes widened slightly. His grip on his sword seemed to slacken. "What are you, then?" he asked, almost apprehensively.

"What are you ?"

They stood there, in the alley for a moment, swords brandished at each other. Carter's eyes were trained on Percy's, and gods help him, they were the exact same eyes he'd seen looking at him over the top of books and greeting him in the mornings for months. Deep brown, sharp and intelligent, but somehow always retaining a kind of familiar softness.

Carter finally cleared his throat and straightened to his full height, letting his sword fall by his side. "I am Carter Kane," he said. "Pharaoh of the House of Life, Leader of the Twenty-First Nome. Blood of the Pharaohs, Eye of Horus, Restorer of the Throne of Fire, Banisher of Apophis, and son of the host of Osiris. Who are you, Percy Jackson?"

"You're Egyptian ." The words tumbled unbidden from Percy's mouth as the realization wracked his body. "Pharaoh, Horus, Osiris...those are Egyptian words. You're...oh my fucking gods."

Carter swallowed, his eyes raking over Percy. "What, is that a surprise to you?" he asked. "I asked you to identify yourself."

Percy let out a slightly hysterical laugh and let Riptide fall to his side. "Perseus Jackson," he said. "Demigod. Two-time hero and savior of Olympus. Half-blood son of Poseidon, champion to no god. Former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Head Counselor of Cabin Three, Survivor of Tartarus, Professional Thorn in Zeus's Side, and Supreme Lord of the Bathroom. And hopefully, after we've had a long and clearly very necessary conversation, boyfriend of Carter Kane."

He stuck out a hand towards a wide-eyed Carter, as if to shake.

Carter's eyes were wide and unseeing. Percy could practically hear the gears turning in his head, the thoughts whirring at a mile a minute.

Hesitantly, Carter's lips quirked into the tiniest smile. He took Percy's hand and shook it firmly. "I have the feeling this is going to be a long conversation. Do you want to get dinner?"

"I'd like nothing better."