The days passed. Even quickly, if Percy was bold enough to say so. And then, at the end of two weeks, Jia and William returned from their horror movie vacation, and within three more days, Mahi would arrive smiling from her stay in India.

At that moment, everyone was sitting in Percy's living room (a miracle? No, much more than a miracle, for sure. Not even Mr. D would be able to conjure up such a delusion. Having all his friends gathered in his house was just as likely the honesty of a politician or the existence of a printer that does work). The TV was on some channel that was showing a cooking competition while they went over the latest things.

"And then," Jia continued to chatter, "this idiot rolled his ass on the way down because he tripped over a root, and I filmed it! Look, look!"

She shoved the cell phone into Percy's face, where the video of William falling down a path and then stumbling to his feet was started. Her friend raised a face full of mud and grass, as the camera blurred and Jia Zhao's unmistakable high-pitched laugh sounded in the background, reaching the end of the video. It was really funny, actually. They all laughed, and after the girl had recovered from her laughter, they continued the stories.

Apparently, Zhao had faced a spider the size of his palm, everyone had fished, William climbed a tree, they made fires, heard a weird bird, roasted spoiled marshmallows, swore they saw a bear, and more.

On other hand, Mahi had an impressive collection of Maharashtra's photos.

"And here," she would say, "is Shaniwar Wada, in Pune. Pune is like a cultural capital, you know? Anyway, this palace is simply incredible. They say that after sunset it is haunted."

Percy had seen too many hauntings for a single lifetime. Even so, he decided to ask what they looked like.

"Oh, I don't know. I preferred not to stay to find out."

After they had talked more about the locations (Bund Garden, the Aga Khan's palace, Raja Dinkar Kelkar and a few more whose names Percy struggled to understand but at some point could only hear scrambled letters), the question was finally asked:

"And you, Percy, what did you do?"

He had a very strong urge to spit out a nothing. Absolutely nothing. For some reason, he didn't want to tell his friends that he and Nico had watched a staggering amount of movies and that they weren't feeling all that weird about each other, even though they didn't talk much other than plots, actors, and tracklists. Not that it compared to seeing bears or visiting haunted palaces, of course.

He had 2 reasons for this and, by the way, the two made Percy equally nervous.

The first one was that he would get tired of trying to explain.

It sounds ridiculous, I know, but he would have to invent crazy stories to explain the whole trajectory of Nico and him, and why they bear with each other and then hate each other, then bear with each other, and then don't talk to each other and, now, return to the stake of bearing.

What would he say? Was he going to repeat the lying blah blah blah he'd told Jia? Cause that just explained until a certain point. And then, what? Percy would have to summon up more and more ideas. And what ideas? To boil down the battle against Gaia to a fucking car accident or his journey to the far reaches of Tartarus to a dispute over a staggering discount on a flat-screen TV on a particularly furious Black Friday? It didn't even seem close enough. And on top of that, he didn't remember all the words he'd said to his friend. That's right: goldfish memory.

And in the end, it would be difficult. Too much. Just thinking about it made Percy feel tired, and if you ask the object of such tiredness, the answer is likely to be everything. And this problem of having to invent stories, repeat them, detail them, not forgetting a measly detail... Well, it didn't seem so inviting to him, being just another nuisance on his extensive list of thorns in Percy's side.

The second reason was that it would end up provoking teasing and sneering and giggling that he wasn't in the mood to deal with right now. You see, his friends weren't a bunch of assholes, let alone like that phrase certainly made them out to be. It's just that if you have a group of friends, you know this is normal. Anything is a laughingstock and considering the first joke Jia made about Nico at that print shop, he knew exactly where she was going to take her awkward relationship with the boy.

After all, saying nothing, absolutely nothing would sound suspicious. The solution, then, was to be evasive, generalist – to speak, but without saying anything.

"It was easy. I got a part-time job at a coffee shop, the one with the fruit muffins. I went to visit my mother and my little sister (by the way she is huge, you guys must see her). I also watched some movies, walked around... Anyway, the usual. Nothing special." He looked away and paused briefly for his friends to absorb the useless information. Yeah, Percy was good at this lying face-to-face thing (or stalling, whichever you prefer). The last step was to divert attention away from himself and onto someone else's lap: "At least nothing as amazing as Pune. Mahi, let me see that picture of your parents again? I'm pretty sure there was a ghost waving goodbye in the background..."

Percy would later discover that his small oversight would also become a thorn in his side in the long run. But for now, that was what he could do.

...

And then Nico disappeared.

It was as if, with the arrival of his friends, the boy didn't think it was worth spending time with Percy anymore. And honestly, it looked like they'd come back a few houses in that weird game.

There was still a week and a half to go before the start of the third semester and the return of his university suffering. And his friends, well, they acted like they had to make up for every second they were away.

That was the thorn in his side: every day, around three or four in the afternoon, there they were, ready to drag him along on any completely random walk. It was as if they felt that Poseidon's son's plight was sad in some way. Two weeks without your friends and without leaving the house for something really fun or different? Well, then he clearly needed to be carried up and down like a six-year-old.

Percy liked it, of course. At least in part. The other part was getting tired and wanted so badly to hide under his covers to never be found again. But that routine lasted for four whole days; That was until someone knocked on his door.

...

It was about nine in the evening. Percy had just woken up from a particularly terrible nightmare. He had tried to sleep earlier, around eight-thirty, because that excessive attention from his friends was exhausting along with insomnia that stabbed at him in the middle of the night.

In his nightmare, he was back in Tartarus. For some reason, a shapeless being, as black as the midnight, was behind him. This being screamed in a high-pitched tone, both terrifying and irritating. He sounded distant and muffled.

Meanwhile, Percy was forced to drink as much of the Phlegethon as possible. He didn't know why, nor who was forcing him, although he had a hunch it was the blackish unknown being. The liquid burned down his throat, destroying him from the inside out, as if every molecule, every fucking cell were on fire. The screams didn't help, and he was increasingly aware of it. He was straining to move, feeling the sweat beading on his forehead, but his muscles seemed to have become useless. He felt them bound and mechanical, like a machine, so he couldn't stop his automatic movements of cupping his hand into the river and drinking all the liquid he could muster between them. His eyes didn't have the strength to water, nor his throat to scream in despair. And although he was fully aware that it was just a dream, his real eyelids wouldn't open at all. He was still struggling to move some parts of his body.

Only at the end of that, Percy manage to vaguely understand what the being was saying:

"Drink, drink it all, Perseus Jackson! And maybe, if you go through the pain of swallowing the whole river of fire, I may give you back what you were incompetent and careless enough to lose!"

He managed to open his mouth to protest, after much effort; the necessary strength was abysmal, his jaw aching like hell. Percy wanted to say I didn't lose it!, but he just couldn't. Because, deep down, those words were real. He was incompetent, careless, idiotic, lacking the strength or powers even to protect something he loved. So, what was the point of protesting? Wouldn't it be better to just give in to what the being was saying?

Then, just then, he woke up. He was breathing in hard gulps, and his throat still felt like it was burning. His body was wet with sweat, and his hands were shaking. He hoped he hadn't screamed.

Now he was leaning against the marble kitchen counter, feeling the characteristic chill in his belly that came like a balm to the heat of nervousness. Percy chewed on a piece of dark chocolate (not his favorite, but Mahi had given him some and he didn't want to waste it) while he waited for the coffee to brew. Someone had told him to stop drinking coffee at night because he was getting dark circles and his sleep was getting worse, but he didn't listen. His feet were bare, and he was only wearing old boxers and a pair of sleep shorts. He felt terrible, sweaty, sore and scared.

When the knocks sounded, he was startled.

Then part of him thought of Nico.

He was used to hearing surprise knocks and there being the tangle of black hair and dark memories. And even if he now had the distance he craved, it would also be nice to have someone who understood his problems. So, with great hope, he went to answer the door.

He opened the door with a mechanical movement, while already saying

"Hi, Nico, I..."

But the phrase died there. It wasn't Nico, of course. Thin white hair — no, not the thick black hair —, invaded his view.

Mr. Jansen was looking at him with concern.

"Hi, son. Are you okay?"

Percy blinked, still disoriented.

"Uh, oh…" Some part of him wanted to say what are you doing here?, but decided that would sound too rude. His neighbor was still staring at him. Percy, seeming to have a snap that brought him back to reality, mumbled something like:

"I mean, er, do you want to come in? There's coffee, my friend gave me lots of chocolates too, I..."

"No, no need, hm... It's just that I heard screams coming from here. Your screams."

Oh, sure. He had screamed. Of course, yes. Percy didn't even know why he expected to have a second of peace when he was clearly a fucking demigod. It was just what he needed, to start scaring his neighbors.

"Hmm, gods… Sorry, Mr. Jansen. It was nothing. I just had another one of those nightmares. When I'm tired they seem to get worse."

The middle-aged man looked to the side, seeming to ponder what he would say next.

"Look, Percy, I already said that you can count on me. And you have your mother and your friends. If this place bothers you, we can let you stay in our spare room for a week or two, I mean, we just want the best for you."

Percy blinked slowly.

"Oh no, no, Mr. Jansen. I swear, it's okay, I just... I need to rest or focus on something else, it's just... I don't know. It will pass, it's okay. I always get over it. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, boy. It's ok." And the man seemed quite sincere to say so.

He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. Sometimes Percy thought he was replacing Jansen's son, who if he wasn't mistaken, had moved to Japan a few years ago and didn't see his family as much as they would have liked.

An awkward silence lasted for a few seconds until Jansen said:

"What... do you dream about? No need to say if you can't, son."

"Uh, well..." Percy needed to lie, but he also felt he owed his friend the truth, for his gaze was livid with concern. He took a deep breath and continued. "Hm, sir, this is going to sound crazy, actually. A few years ago, I... I went to Greece. Me and, um, my family. And then there was this big accident, where I and one other person got really hurt, we almost died. On this trip, we ended up... ended up learning a lot about Greek Mythology. I think it stuck in my subconscious, I guess. In my dreams, I am surrounded by Greek things, be they gods, places, monsters, or people. And, always, each of them seeks to destroy me. It doesn't matter how."

Percy swallowed, hoping it made sense to Jansen, who blinked a few times.

"You're not as crazy as you think, you know. I once read that our subconscious minds project strange things to us, as if, you know, they link facts together into something new, and that's where dreams come from."

The facts were not disconnected, of course. But Mr. Jansen didn't need to know that part. So, the younger just shook his head.

"I think so..."

After this awkward but somehow affectionate conversation, the older man shook his hand, wished him good night and left.

Percy, after closing all the latches, leaned back against the marble again. His head was still racing —, and he was still afraid to sleep.

...

This, of course, was a prelude to what would happen in twenty-four hours.

He was leaving the house to go to the market. Jackson swore that Key food should survive only by his constant purchases of coffee and ice cream.

He was whistling some music. He wasn't sure if it was a lullaby or some weird Jia's song —, maybe something in between. He was locking the door when a voice sounded in the hallway.

"Hey."

He got scared. He gave a little hop (not that manly, if you ask me), then looked toward the stairs.

When he saw di Angelo's black hair, the first thing he thought, strangely, was the elevator. Percy took a quick look at the machine, which had a white paper taped together with thin duct tape and scrawled red letters: "Maintenance. Please use the stairs." It was probably the third time that year alone, by the way.

The boy stared at him as if he was waiting for something. Seconds later, Percy realized that perhaps what he expected was a normal greeting between humans.

"Uh, hi. Hi Nico." An awkward and perhaps unnecessary wave. "What brings you here?"

Percy felt like an NPC in some game. What brings you here, really? All that remained was to offer Nico a mission.

"Oh, well, I came to talk to you. Is it a bad time? I see you're leaving; I don't want to get in your way..."

"No, it's alright. I, like, just go to the grocery store, so no problem". Percy cleared his throat and put his hands on his hips like a mother, continuing. "So, hm, talk to me. What do you want?"

Nico scratched his head.

"I was going to tell you that, uh… So first I wanted to explain that I stopped coming these days because you seem pretty busy, so I didn't want to bother you, yada yada yada". He waved his hand.

Percy stared at him in confusion for a few seconds. The youngest quickly amended:

"Hm, I'm not a weird stalker, I mean, it's not like I have binoculars watching you from across the street and jotting down your movements in a notebook. I kind of only came here twice at night, and since I knocked and no one answered, I assumed you might not be home, you know... so I decided to give you a break. I thought you were… tired." He shrugged. Percy opened an expression of understanding.

"Oh, all right. I... It's okay. My friends have been dragging me around a lot, even though I haven't been in the mood lately... they're pretty persistent.

He rubbed a hand on his jeans for no apparent reason —, he just didn't know what to do with them, really. He stared at Nico for a moment. Black blouse, dark wash jeans, skull ring, aviator jacket, hair pulled back halfway. Jackson thought Nico had a wardrobe just like a children's cartoon character, like Fred from Scooby-Doo. The only thing that was different about Nico was his eyes, which looked less tired.

"Anyway, I came to ask you something that might be weird, I don't know." Nico was looking down at his feet and had his hands in the pocket of his aviator jacket. "But anyway, I wanted to know if you wouldn't want to go to the cinema with me one of these days? It's just that he released a new movie from... Marvel, I think? I've never seen any of them, and I wanted to go see them and understand what the appeal is. Everyone keeps talking about it, you know? MCU-Universe-That, Spider-Man-This, The-Avengers-Other-Stuff, so I thought it might be cool. Or at least it can't be that bad."

Percy was silent for a few seconds, until he shook his head and said,

"Of course. When?"

Don't ask why. By the gods, don't ask.

"How about Saturday? In the afternoon."

"Saturday, the day after tomorrow? Yeah, it looks great. Excellent. We meet there at the entrance of the building then. How about, uh, like three o'clock?"

Nico shrugged.

"Sounds good."

...

They were eating ice cream, sitting on the benches of a playground on the corner of Percy's building.

Well, actually William was standing with his sneaker propped up on the corner of the bench. Mahi was sitting in a straight, elegant pose, and Jia was slouching as if she were on the couch at home watching football. Percy, for his part, was staring at his sundae as if it had said something particularly offensive.

"…and that's it, folks. You must save me," Mahi grumbled, "I really don't want to go alone."

"But you won't be alone." Jia pointed out, taking a very sizeable piece of her chocolate ice cream.

"Well, being surrounded by a bunch of people at least twenty years older than me, whose only normal words seem to be 'business, money, contract' isn't exactly what I'd call companion." She retorted thoughtfully.

"You know I'm coming with you, baby." William gave an ok with his right hand and gave a half-ice cream smile, which made his girlfriend smile back, looking less worried.

Jia rolled her eyes, because... Well, she was Jia. But even she couldn't resist her friend's charm and their cuteness for so long.

"Okay, okay, I'm going too. Fuck. There will be free food, right? Let it be clear that this will be the reason for my presence. Just that. What clothes do I have to wear? Because if it's a party dress, we're in trouble."

Mahi clapped her hands in excitement.

"Excellent! And you, Percy? You will too, won't you?"

"Hmm?''

Of course, there was the small detail that Percy hadn't heard a damn word of that conversation, because... Let's just say he was very distracted.

"Are you going with us to the party?"

"Uh… What party?"

Jia rolled her eyes again.

"The party that's been the talk of the last ten minutes, you golden fish head, and in rich details!"

"Oh". Percy blinked a few times. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"It's a waste of time to talk to Percy while he's got a huge sundae in his hand, it's like chatting with a rock, you know." William commented.

Well, Percy wasn't exactly distracted by the food. Sometimes he wasn't sure why, but his mind seemed to float (there was no better term than that, he'd already looked it up in his head). It was as if his body was present, but his mind was elsewhere. He had once found himself staring at the living room wall, static, for about half an hour. It was a time when he abstracted from the world without his own consent. His friends didn't notice, for example, but he was staring at his melting sundae glass like an idiot, and not exactly eating it.

"Oh yes. Of course, I heard, yes". He lied, of course. "Sorry, I'm just a little… tired."

Well, yes, in theory, he had heard everything but as if he were inside a damn fishbowl.

"So, can you go?" Mahi asked with wide eyes full of hope.

At least Poseidon's son had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Can you, uh, summarize the thing for me, like real quick?"

This time, they all rolled their eyes. In short, Mahi had to go to a party on Saturday, held by her parents, in order to increase the family business. They intended to open four more restaurants and found their own brand of some kind of cookie, which was a hit with customers. Jaheel was not at all in the mood to go to the party "alone" and was trying to convince her friends to go with her, otherwise, she would "die of boredom and probably cry huddled in the bathroom", in her own words.

"Saturday?"

"Yeah!" His friends said together.

Percy looked away and scratched his head.

"Actually I... I have a couple other plans, so I don't think I can do it. I'm sorry, Mahi."

Jia looked at him with laughable disbelief.

"Couple of plans?"

"Um, yeah."

"You never have plans," Mahi commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Ouch?", answered Percy.

"And what plans, young man?" William sat on the bench next to Percy, leaning toward him, and put an arm around his shoulder. Finally, the one who rolled his eyes was Jackson.

"I'm just going out with Nico."

"Who is Nico?" Asked Mahi. William also looked confused, raising an eyebrow. Jia was the only one who displayed an expression of understanding. Percy sighed wearily and opened his mouth to begin explaining. It was what he feared coming to fruition. But Jia looked into his eyes and, seeming to sense that tiredness, she began to say:

"Remember that boy I mentioned, who was with Percy when I found him at the print shop? On the movie day. It's him. An old friend from summer camp, right?"

Percy, feeling grateful, nodded in confirmation.

"Yep. Summer camp."

...

Percy was two minutes late when they bumped into each other on the stairs. Literally.

As they rubbed their shoulders at the sudden thud, Percy said:

"Hi, Nico." And he gave a slight, awkward nod.

"Hey, Percy." He blew a strand of hair out of his face, looking away quickly.

After a few awkward seconds of hesitation (because if there weren't a few awkward seconds of hesitation it wouldn't be them), they said at the same time:

"Let's go?"

And when they faced each other, they each wore an amused look, even if without obvious laughter. So together they walked down the steps.

"So lemon boy and me, we just gotta get along together

I'll help him plant his seeds and we'll mow the lawn in bad weather

It's actually pretty easy being nice to a bitter boy like him

So, I got myself a citrus friend"

Lemon Boy — Cavetown

Final notes: Ps: I used the expression "a thorn in it's side", equivalent to "Stone in the shoe" (pedra no sapato) in Portuguese. But I really don't know if I used it correctly hahahaha, sorry)