Chapter Text
As soon as Percy entered the Rec Room for a meeting convened by Chiron, he felt the gloomy atmosphere. Groups of counselors gathered across the room, talking in whispers, all fearful of what was to come.
Percy looked sadly at the new counselors of the Demeter, Hecate, Nemesis, and Apollo cabins. The poor kids, in addition to dealing with the disappearance of their siblings, had to bear the responsibility that their new positions as cabin counselors demanded.
"Percy, hey!" The son of Poseidon turned around when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. It was Jason. The blond was sitting in a chair with Nico by his side, silently staring at the floor, patting him on the back.
Percy felt his breath stop for a second when his eyes found Jason's blues, watching as the scar on his lip contracted when he gave a tense little smile to Percy, who felt guilty about thinking of his feelings for Jupiter's son while every night several demigods from Camp Half-Blood disappeared without a trace , but he couldn't help but notice that even though Jason was clearly exhausted by the long nights of wakefulness around the camp. His hair was standing up—probably due to electrical discharges he released when he was stressed out—the boy was as beautiful as ever.
"Percy? Are you all right?" Jason was looking at him with worry, and Percy realized that he spent so long admiring the blond that it was noticed. Waving his hand in a dismissive gesture, Percy sat next to Jason, noticing how the blond's hand was still on Nico's back.
"I'm fine, just got distracted for a second," He smiled at Jason, who still had that look of worry on his face "What's up with Nico?"
Jason's expression changed and he looked at Nico, frowning. The son of Hadesdidn't even seem to have noticed they were talking about him, his fists clenched in his lap while he still stared at the ground.
"He's going through a hard time right now, we all are." Said Jason and Percy had to agree, but he couldn't understand why Nico was so shaken. As far as Percy knew, while nobody was hostile towards Nico after the war against Gaia, he still didn’t have many friends aside for the seven and Reyna, so none of the missing should have shaken him that much. Trying to fend off his curiosity, Percy only let out a hum of understanding, distracting himself with Chiron's entrance into the room, which silenced all the demigods present, those who were not sitting picking their seats quickly.
"Children," Began Chiron, positioning his wheelchair at the head of the Ping Pong table, "First, I would like to offer my condolences to those who have friends and siblings missing." He paused, looking around at the tired faces of the demigods.
"Where's Mr. D?" The question came from a girl Percy recognized as Holly, co-counselor of the Nike’s Cabin.
"I’m afraid Mr. D has not yet returned from Olympus. I didn't receive any news of him either," Chiron said, weighing in his voice. Everyone seemed to wither even more with the news. At his side, Percy saw Jason shrink into himself slightly.
The counselors seemed fearful and Percy assumed they were all thinking the same thing: the last time Mr. D returned to Olympus without warning, a war happened.
"The current situation is less than ideal. In two weeks, we lost half of our demigods," Everyone looked down at the memory and Percy's eyes watered at the thought of Travis, Connor and many others who were missing, "As you know, the Oracle of Delphi is no longer providing prophecies to Rachel and our communication has been cut off, so we don't know what the situation at Camp Jupiter is like."
"I volunteer to go to Camp Jupiter and find out what’s happening on their end." All eyes turned to Nico di Angelo. The son of Hades had risen from his chair and looked at Chiron with a serious expression.
"Nico?" Jason looked at Nico and his eyes seemed to be pleading, before his features hardened when Nico shook his head.
"If you're going, I'll go too" Nico seemed to want to protest, and even opened his mouth to say something, but Jason stared him down.
Percy observed the interaction with wide eyes. He couldn't let his only two remaining friends go on a dangerous journey like this without him, especially Jason.
"The three of us will go." As soon as Percy said that, all the counselors, who were already objecting when Jason announced he would go, began to protest. Jason and Nico turned to him and nodded.
"We need you here, Percy!"
"You're kidding, aren't you? We cannot afford to be without our three most powerful demigods."
"You are children of the Big Three, if anything happens to you, we're screwed!"
"Silence!" The room was silent again when Chiron pronounced himself "Nico, Jason and Percy have committed themselves to this journey and we must respect their decision." Chiron looked at everyone severely.
Percy got up from his chair and raised his hands "Look, I know you're scared, I am too, I want to find out the source of these disappearances as much as you do, but we can't do it without help and not knowing if the Romans have also been compromised. They're our allies now, and they deserve to know what's going on if it's not too late for them. We need to warn them. Maybe we will find out who or what's taking our demigods when we get there."
The counselors still didn't seem too convinced, but they calmed down, some even agreeing with Percy.
"Well, if that's all, everyone except Percy, Jason and Nico is dismissed" said Chiron, and soon the Rec Room was empty.
The centaur turned to them as soon as the last counselor left and the door was closed.
"Are you sure about that, my boys? It's a long and dangerous journey, and I'm inclined to agree with others, you're needed here."
"We're sure" Nico said, who was still standing. "We need to know if everyone at Camp Jupiter is okay." Nico didn't say, but Percy clearly heard the 'I need to know if Hazel is okay ' in his sentence.
"Yes" Percy hurried "And maybe we can find out what's causing these disappearances" At his side, Jason nodded, agreeing, and Percy felt a warm wave spreading across his chest.
"Well, the main question now is how you're going to get there," said Chiron, a contemplative look on his face.
"I can fly on Blackjack and Nico can get another pegasus" Percy said, and Jason said he could call Tempest, he always listened to him in times of need. Nico shook his head.
"No. It will be much faster if we go by shadowtravel, I can make stops along the way, I'll be fine."
"Nico, no, remember what happened the last time you abused your shadowtravel?" Jason crossed his arms and looked at Nico. If they were in a different situation, Percy would have snorted about how cute he looked, but as they weren't, Percy was worried about Nico.
"It's not the same, Jason, we're not going across an ocean this time," Nico said, and Percy already knew it was a lost cause. When Nico put something in his head, it was hard to convince him otherwise.
"What would Will say?" Jason said, but apparently it was the wrong thing to say, because Nico's expression closed completely, a gloomy look taking over his eyes.
"Will is not here, is he?" Nico's voice was low and deep "I leave tomorrow at sunrise, whether you guys come or not, that's not my problem," Nico went towards the door, but before leaving, he turned around and looked at Jason "Goodbye, Grace." Then, he turned and left.
At the end of it all, there was only one question in Percy's mind. Who was it that Jason and Nico were talking about? There was only one person Percy knew to match that name, and it was Will Solace. Could they be talking about the son of Apollo?
Percy shrugged off the thought, he didn’t have time to wonder who it was that was making Nico upset, he’d ask him later. Right now, Percy had to worry about a new mission.
Jason got up as soon as the door closed behind Nico, and ignoring Percy's questions, ran out of the Rec Room in search of his friend. He had to admit that his comment about Will had been stupid, as his boyfriend's disappearance was still a sore spot for Nico and Jason knew that. He had promised himself when Will disappeared two weeks earlier, one of the first to do so, that he would take care of Nico, both for himself and for Will.
Nico and the son of Apollo hadn't been dating for a long time, only three months, but Jason was the only one who knew about them, since Nico told him in one of their evening conversations. The two had developed a friendship after the war against Gaia four months earlier, and as both Jason and Nico had no homes to return to during the school term, they did almost everything together, from eating together and teaming up at Capture the Flag to honest conversations in the middle of the night.
That's why Jason was probably the person who knew Nico the most, possibly even more than Hazel and Will, so he should have known that making that comment about Will would be offensive, but Jason was only worried about Nico; crossing the United States by shadowtravel while taking two other people with him would be tiring for Nico, and Jason didn't want his friend to get hurt.
Leaving the Big House, Jason quickly went down the steps of the balcony and looked around the Camp, looking for Nico, but presumably the boy was nowhere to be seen.
The camp was deserted, for today no one but those assigned to patrol were outside their cabins, afraid of being taken by whatever had taken their siblings. After walking around some more, Jason finally spotted Sherman Yang, son of Ares and counselor of his cabin, leaning against the wall of the Armory, holding a spear with a hard grip, his eyes examining the surroundings in search of any threat. Jason approached him.
"Hi Sherman, did you happen to see Nico come through here? I'm trying to find him" Jason asked and Sherman frowned, opening his mouth to say something, surely thinking that maybe Nico had been taken and probably remembering of his girlfriend, Miranda Gardiner, but Jason quickly followed, "No, it’s not that, Nico’s fine, but we fought and I need to apologize"
"Well, I haven't seen him, have you ever tried to look in his cabin?"
"No, but I'm going there now, thank you Sherman" Jason gave a little smile to the other demigod, who shrugged and looked the other way, a tight look in his face. Walking away, Jason headed for the cabins, soon stopping in front of Cabin 13. Wiping his slightly sweaty hands in his pants, Jason knocked on the son of Hades’ door.
"Nico? Are you there? I'm sorry for saying that thing about Will earlier. I know it's been hard for you, it's been hard for me as well, Will was my friend, you know?" Jason sighed and leaned on the door stop "I know you want to find out what took him, I do too, so that's why I'm going with you, we'll find out what's going on and if Hazel and the others are okay. I'm sorry, I just want to be here for you. Percy is also coming along, so that’s something, right?" Jason couldn't contain the little smile on the corner of his lips.
"You're an idiot, Jason Grace" A voice came from behind, and when Jason turned, he saw Nico standing with his hands in the pockets of his aviator jacket. Jason opened his arms to his friend and Nico rolled his eyes, but took a step forward and hugged Jason, putting his chin on his shoulder.
"Are we good?" Jason asked as soon as they backed away, and Nico nodded.
"Yes, we are,"
"Great. You better come for breakfast tomorrow, I'm not going to let you go without eating something," Jason pointed a finger at Nico, who rolled his eyes but nodded, a smile on the corner of his mouth.
The next morning, Jason hesitated before knocking on Percy's door, looking both ways before doing so. It turned out that Nico wasn't the only one to fall in love with a certain son of Poseidon, because Jason couldn't stop thinking about the green-eyed boy.
It all started after the confrontation with Cupid, the god’s words to Jason echoing in his mind for a long time after that day, 'You've found true love, after all. Or do you still doubt yourself?' At that moment, Jason was still with Piper and unsure of his place in the group, too Greek for the Romans and too Roman for the Greeks, he felt like he didn't fit anywhere, and the pressure of his relationship with Piper hung over his shoulders.
The fact that Piper had those pre-established memories about their relationship made Jason feel pressured to act on Piper's expectations of what a relationship with Jason should be, but the more time he did that, the more tense he was about it and despite liking Piper very much, he felt a certain relief along with sadness when she broke up with him, although the guilt wrapped in his stomach for it.
Most people didn’t know, but Jason was a very insecure person of his own, having to grow up with the expectations of everyone at Camp Jupiter only helped to worsen his insecurity, but since arriving to Camp Half-Blood, Jason felt freer, more like himself for the first time.
After Piper returned to California to live with her father, Jason spent several of his days with Nico, trying his best to become the boy’s friend, and was surprised when his days began to be filled by Percy Jackson as well.
Percy came most weekends to Camp and stayed with his mother during the week. The boy had returned to school and was recovering the time he lost because of Hera.
When he came to camp, he and Jason spent their days doing activities together, from a spar in the arena to eating meals together, sitting at each other's table when Chiron wasn't looking. Over the next few months, Jason met Percy in a way that he hadn't before, and the two developed a strong friendship, although Jason still could not get Cupid's words out of his mind.
Did he know that Jason wasn't really in love with Piper? Being the god of love, he probably did, so he knew who Jason really was in love with, or rather who he would fall in love with.
When Jason realized his feelings for Percy, he wasn't completely surprised, he’d been slowly noticing his urge to spend time with the other boy and how his thoughts always ended up swaying towards him; how his smile grew wider when Percy was around and how he felt butterflies in his stomach. Except he hadn’t actually thought those things meant anything, Jason was just happy to have someone, to have a friend.
Still, he always stared at Percy when the boy threw his head back while laughing, felt his cheeks heating up in response to the boy’s breathtaking smiles, his hilarious jokes and the fact that Percy had absolutely no shame on doing the most embarrassing things that were humanly possible. More especially, he admired Percy’s honesty and loyalty to the people he loved.
When Jason finally had an answer to what those things meant for him, he finally understood how Nico felt, because Percy Jackson was absolutely irresistible and Jason was forever doomed to longing for the boy but not being able to be with him. He was fine with that, because as long as he could be Percy’s friend, it was enough.
"Jason, are you going to stand there all day?" Jason got startled and looked up to find sea-green eyes looking at him, those lips bent in a mocking smile "You worried me for a second, dude. I was already beginning to think I would have to take you to the infirmary to be examined.”
"Shut up, Jackson." Said Jason, trying to disguise his embarrassment and blush but to no avail.
"You look like a tomato." The older boy commented, laughing loudly when Jason punched him in the shoulder.
"Stop laughing and come help me convince Nico to have breakfast, I told him we wouldn't leave until he ate," Jason said, grabbing Percy's arm and beginning to drag him toward Cabin 13.
"You really are the mother hen of the group, aren't you? Ouch!" Percy laughed when Jason struck him once more, regardless of the looks they received from campers passing by them on their way to the Dining Pavilion.
The two arrived in Cabin 13 and together managed to drag Nico out, convincing him to eat.
"Honestly, the way you're acting you almost sound like..." Nico cut himself and stopped walking, as did Jason, who twisted his face in comprehension and passed his arm around Nico's shoulders, not noticing the look Percy sent toward him.
Jason took Nico to the Dining Pavilion and made the boy sit at Zeus' table with him and Percy, not caring that it wasn't allowed.
After eating breakfast, the three returned to their respective cabins and packed their bags.Soon, they were meeting at the top of Half-Blood Hill with Chiron and saying goodbye to the centaur.
"Good luck, boys." Chiron's expression was sad and Jason wondered how many times he had said goodbye to demigods going on their missions and never saw them again.
"It's going to be fiiiine, we’ll be back in no time." Percy said, giving Chiron a hug and telling him something Jason didn't hear, joining Jason and Nico afterwards.
"Ready?" Nico reached out to Jason and Percy, who took his hands in theirs.
"As ready as we could" said Jason and Nico nodded.
Seconds later, darkness enveloped them.