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Percy watched sadly as Nico sat down in Jason’s lap, the older demigod pressing a kiss to his temple, both of them smiling at that.
Annabeth had died in Tartarus and Percy was trying to deal with it, along with his own burden of Tartarus, and also deal with the crush he’d developed on two specific demigods. Jason and Nico.
Percy now knew how Nico must’ve felt when he saw him and Annabeth together. It really hurt, watching the men you loved with each other and you could only sit and watch, not wanting to interrupt. They were perfect together. He would never try and break that up. They would never need to know his feelings for them. After all, it wouldn’t matter soon, anyway.
Percy would be gone soon.
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He’d planned it, actually. He figured that’s what hurt him the most, planning his own death. He’d decided to jump in the River Styx in the only place where it touched the mortal world. Some paradise island somewhere. It was surreal that that’s where it was. But also fitting, for the son of Poseidon. It was by the ocean.
Percy looked up at the sky, swallowing down tears. He closed his eyes before moving to step forward. He heard his name being called before someone pulled him away from the bank.
“No!” he all, but screamed. “No, Jason! Let me go! Let me go!” He fought against him, but Jason wouldn’t let up. Finally, he slumped against the son of Zeus, exhausted. He hadn’t eaten in a few days or gotten enough sleep. Nightmares had haunted every second of sleep he had managed to get. He couldn’t take it anymore. And because Jason wouldn’t let up, he cried instead. Sobs wracked his body hard, to the point he could barely breathe as he cried.
“Sh, it’s okay Percy,” a new voice soothed. Nico. A light kiss was pressed to the top of his head. “You’re okay now. Everything’s gonna be okay.” That’s when everything really hit him. He’d tried to kill himself.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I’m sorry.” Jason ran a hand through his hair, gently massaging his scalp.
“You’re okay, Percy,” he murmured. “You’re okay now.”
They would make sure of it.
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“Percy, can we talk now?” Jason asked, sitting beside the son of Poseidon on the couch. For the past month, they’d been dancing around the subject, just trying to get Percy back into good health. And it was working. He was getting better. Slowly, yes, but better. Nico and Jason had started to see a lot of improvement over the past few days. He’d started to actually eat and sleep on his own, instead of them having to prompt him multiple times before reluctantly doing it.
“We really need to talk about this,” Nico said, softly. “Please, tell us where things went wrong.” Percy turned his head down. He really didn’t want to tell them that his breaking point was seeing them happy together. They’d probably hate him for it. “Percy, we just want to help.”
“I-it was j-just T-tartarus a-and Annabeth.” He absolutely hated that he’d started to stutter. As soon as he’d started talking again after the accident, the stutter was there. It made him feel weak and vulnerable and he didn’t like that. It reminded him of Tartarus and how he couldn’t save Annabeth. It was really hurting him more than it should’ve.
“Are you sure that’s all?” Jason asked. He didn’t answer. The other two didn’t push. If he needed time, they would give him time.
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“Hey,” Leo murmured, pulling Percy into a hug. He’d just gotten back from visiting Frank and Hazel in New Rome. He didn’t even know Percy tried until he got back and Jason was ranting worriedly about the son of Poseidon. He pulled away, but kept a hold of his hand. “Let’s go talk for a minute.”
They left Jason and Nico downstairs and went upstairs to the room Percy had been staying in. Technically, it was the attic, but Nico used it as a bedroom. For now, he was letting Percy use it. He felt he might want at least a little privacy. And he could sleep with Jason, anyway.
Leo sat down on the bed, Percy sitting down beside him. For a minute, they just sat there. Percy rested his head on Leo’s shoulder. The younger demigod wrapped his arms around him. It had shaken him a little to hear about Percy. The two had become like brothers on the Argo II and they didn’t want to see each other hurt. It pained Leo to see Percy so broken. And he wasn’t really sure what to do.
“Was this about Jason and Nico?” Leo finally asked. Percy closed his eyes, turning to bury his face in Leo’s chest. “I’m sorry. I know how that feels, Percy.”
“But they d-do l-like y-you,” he stuttered out. “They l-liked y-you a-all a-along.” Hazel and Frank had admitted their feelings to Leo a few months after the war. After Leo had locked himself in Bunker 9 because he felt unwanted and unloved. Now, Percy was pretty much going through the same thing, except worse. He’d taken it to another level entirely.
“And how do you know they don’t like you?” he asked. Percy swallowed down the tears.
“They’d n-never w-want m-me, Leo. I’m b-broken.” Leo closed his eyes now, trying to compose himself. Percy was really hurting now.
“I was, too, Percy. Frank and Hazel helped me through it. And even if they don’t return your feelings, they still want to help. We all do. Can you let us help you?” He sniffled and nodded a little. Leo pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
He would make sure Percy was okay.
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Percy had decided to go home once Leo had gotten back. They’d both decided it’d be best for him, and he wanted to see his family again. He knew his mom could help him get through everything. She would always be there for him.
That was a year ago.
The next summer, Chiron asked Percy to come back and train the demigods. Nico and Jason were good at it, but they couldn’t teach everyday, all day. They needed one more person. And that person just so happened to be Percy. Nico and Jason didn’t know that, though. They were in for a surprise.
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“The new instructure’s supposed to be here today,” Jason commented, wrapping his arms around Nico’s waist from behind. They’d just gotten out of the shower and changed and Jason didn’t want to leave the cabin just yet.
“Yeah,” Nico replied. “You think it’s someone we know? Maybe, he asked one of them to come back.” Jason hummed a little, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s neck.
“We should probably go for breakfast, so we’ll be ready for class.” Nico sighed and nodded. He turned back to his boyfriend and leaned up for a kiss. They both missed Percy and wondered what had become of him. His parents had moved up into the mountains and they hadn’t seen him since he left. Leo gave them regular updates, but it didn’t appease them. They needed to see to believe, but they never went. Percy needed time to heal, without them. They couldn’t take away the time he had with his family.
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“Have you seen him yet?” Jason overheard Will saying to Piper. “He’s completely different. Almost like nothing ever happened.
“Seen who?” Jason spoke up, stepping into the infirmary. He’d come to check up on one of the kids who had been injured the day before and was still residing there. The two demigods looked up when he came in. Will glanced at Piper, who looked back at Jason.
“Percy. Chiron invited him back to camp to help you guys with classes. He’s here.” He had to tell Nico.
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“Kelp Head!” Percy turned to see Thalia there. She grinned and hugged him tightly, happy to see him. “I heard all about what happened.” She shoved him away. “Where have you been, you idiot?”
“Home,” he replied. “I needed to be with my family.” She sighed.
“I wanna be mad at you,” she grumbled. “But I can’t.” She punched his shoulder. She calmed down a little bit. “So, you really are doing better now? You look a lot better.” He nodded, taking a deep breath.
“Yeah. I mean, even though something bad happened, it’s like it was good that it happened. I feel so much better after all of this and I’ve come to terms with everything. I just feel like everything’s fallen into place now. I don’t know. Now, I feel like I’m just rambling.” She smiled and shook her head.
“You’re not rambling. And it’s good to see you so happy. Make sure you talk to Nico and Jason. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to discuss.” Percy let out a breath as she watched her walk away. There would be a lot of talking.
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“Staff meeting,” Will said, running into the arena, where Percy had just finished teaching a class. “We’re already late. We gotta go.” They both ran back to the Big House and quickly made their way up to the room with the ping pong table. Percy was glad to see that everyone still gathered around it for meetings. It was a good taste of home. His old home, at least.
“...I’ve never seen anything like it,” Malcolm was saying. Percy glanced inside at a screen that was showing a monster. A huge, furry monster with one eye and claws. It was almost cute, if it didn’t have blood on its claws and dripping from its fangs. “I even asked my mother after you showed the picture to me and she had no idea what it was either. It’s like it doesn’t even exist, which isn’t possible.” He kept rambling for a moment as Percy considered what to say.
“I know what it is,” he finally spoke up, stepping into the room. Will had already joined the others, so it was just him in the doorway. Everyone looked back at him. “I saw it. In Tartarus.”
“What is it?” the son of Athena asked, wanting to know everything, just like all his siblings and mother.
“The bane of Chaos,” he explained. “It was created when he was. It’s been dormant for millenia. It woke up when we were there. It’s what killed Annabeth. Tartarus explained what it was. It woke up for a war. Against Chaos.” Silence settled over all of them.
“You mean, there’s gonna be another war?” Clarisse finally asked. He shrugged.
“I don’t know. It could be a long time until it gets out of Tartarus. It could be another hundred years before it gets here. There’s no way to tell.” There was nothing left to say. If there was another war, it could be catastrophic. Especially if it was a war including Chaos. These beings were ancient and powerful. Fighting them would be dangerous and hard. They just had to hope that it wouldn’t happen in their lifetimes. None of them wanted to go through another war.
“Percy, I’d like to speak with you about this for a few minutes. Everyone else is dismissed.” Percy felt a little put out as he watched all of the counselors leave, all looking miserable. Maybe he should’ve saved it to just tell Chiron, though he knew they would’ve had to tell everyone else eventually. He wished he’d never known. Or just never gone to Tartarus. That would’ve fixed everything.
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“You need to relax,” Piper told Percy when he’d walked into his cabin later. “And I have just the thing. Meet me at my cabin in an hour. Wear something better than that.” Percy looked down at what he was wearing. “Just better,” the daughter of Aphrodite stated before walking past him.
“Well, that was weird.”
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An hour later, Percy met Piper at her cabin, wearing better shorts and a nicer shirt. She smiled when she saw him and looped her arm in his, starting towards the beach.
“What are we doing, Piper?” he asked, as they neared the beach. She just smiled wider and continued walking until they got to a picnic blanket where Nico and Jason were waiting, smiling as the two of them walked up. Percy looked back at Piper. She just pushed him a little bit forward, called a goodbye, and ran off. The ravenette turned back to the other two.
“Hey,” Jason greeted. “It’s been a while.” He nodded.
“Yeah. It has been.” He glanced out over the water before looking down. “I guess, I should thank you. For saving me.” Nico stepped forward to take one of his hands, drawing his gaze. He smiled at the raven-haired demigod.
“We wanted to help you. And we’ve really missed you.” Jason stepped forward to take his other hand.
“Leo told us he thought you did that because it was hard on you seeing us together after Annabeth died. And that you liked us.” Percy felt his face burn with embarrassment and looked away. Jason wasn’t gonna have that, though, and moved the other’s head back to look at him. “You were with Annabeth then, so we didn’t want to say anything, but we’ve both liked you even before that.” Feeling a bit of confidence, the son of Jupiter leaned down to kiss the shorter demigod. He smiled as he pulled away.
“So,” Nico spoke up. “Do you wanna be our boyfriend?” For a moment, Percy just looked between the two of them. He’d really wanted this for a long time, but maybe he should consider it for longer. Finally, he smiled.
“Yes.” Whatever happened-with or without the war-things were going to be okay. They were together now. That’s all that mattered.