Percy Jackson

So if common sense couldn't tell you, getting your brain out of quest/battle mode is not easy and not a one night sort of thing. It takes like a couple weeks to mostly be out of it. Usually I'm good by the time classes actually start.

But after practice Rome came over and my parents were ecstatic to see him but also to see us and because my mom's a team player she doesn't care about us being in a room alone with the door closed because she knows that I'm anxious and also would never do that when other people are home.

The four of us had dinner together and afterwards Mom ran to the store while Paul was doing some cleaning around the apartment, which left Rome and I in my room to watch a movie together that he insisted we watch because it came out recently and we both fell asleep like... I fell asleep during the credits because he's a human furnace and between that and the way he was playing with my hair just...

If I wasn't so tired from the lingering exhaustion, I'd probably be turned on but it's also a soft moment so maybe not.

I was just happy to be with him again and to be home so I felt safe and comfortable and luckily I was already in what I sleep in so it wasn't a big deal.

After sleeping, I didn't have any dreams but I didn't have nightmares so that was good for my standards. I just slept and then I heard my window close.

Did not open it the night before.

So naturally, I wake up because who the fuck is closing my window at such an early hour on-

"Oh, shit, sorry," but of course it was Nico. "Did I wake you up? I didn't mean to, sorry again. Um..."

Literally who else would ever consider coming in through my window. He put his hands out, though, to reveal a small bag.

"Happy birthday," the younger demigod said. "I thought you said you had morning practice so I figured now was an okay time but... Maybe I should've like, sent an IM before.*

"It's fine, it's not that early," I responded, accepting the bag. "and thanks. I kind of forgot about it in light of like, how busy it's been this week. I have practice this afternoon."

"Got it," Nico said and then noticed the whole other person who was still dead to the world. "Percy?"

"Huh?" But I didn't think about it.

"Are you..." And I could see him toss around a few follow ups to that starter but he really went strong with the one he chose. "Cheating on Annabeth?"

And then I realized that while I have a shirt on, I'm wearing boxers and Rome doesn't sleep with a shirt on and also he still has like, an arm over my legs.

"I-" I started off and closed my mouth because fuck me, man. What a way to come out. "so um, funny story, actually um... Annabeth and I aren't dating."

But naturally he looked at me like I was fucking crazy.

"Yes you are, did you get amnesia again?"

"Wh- no, my memory is fine," I reassured the son of Hades. "We're 'dating' but we're not like... We don't like each other and it's a fake relationship. It... Always has been."

"What?"

I nodded my head.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "Um, never liked each other. Her grandparents always pressure her about dating so I told her I'd be her fake boyfriend so we took some photos and... Clarisse saw us taking photos of like holding hands or whatever because her family is incriminating as all hell and then Clarisse assumed and... Well then I went missing so... Yeah. We're pretending to be a couple until she gets an actual boyfriend."

"So...?" Nico added on, motioning towards the lump in my bed because you definitely can't tell who it is from the pillows and blankets and me being in front of him.

"Oh, yeah!" I responded, also motioning at my boyfriend. "This is Rome, my boyfriend. We've been dating for like... A year and a half? It'll be two years this winter. We got to hang out for the first time yesterday since I've been back so he spent the night. We go to school together,"

"Got it," Nico responded, looking like he was processing the image in front of him. "sorry, I didn't realize that you were..."

"Gay?" I suggested and he nodded his head. "yeah I was going to come out and then the Annabeth thing happened and then it would've been weird to come out on the ship so... Now we're here. No big reason as to why I didn't come out I just... Never had the nerve to ask out crushes when I was younger at camp and then I started dating this loser and he's mortal so like... I'm more afraid to tell everyone that I'm dating a mortal than to tell them I'm gay at this point in time. Especially after like, Will and Leo. Pretty nice of them to come out before me. Also Rachel but people don't seem to know about that?"

"She's not straight?"

I shook my head.

"She's a lesbian, been out since she was like 13," I confirmed. "I think she had a thing for Thalia once. Might still."

"I could see it," Nico responded, shrugging. "Thalia can't date but... If she could. If she wanted to. Um... Yeah. I just wanted to stop in to like, say happy birthday and junk. I have to head back because like... I need to get ready for a date."

So it was my turn to get shocked.

"A date? With who?"

He looked down for a second.

"...Will."

I fucking knew he wasn't straight.

I didn't say that, but I did congratulate him on coming out enough to like, land a date. That's a pretty big deal.

Trust me, I'd know.

When I came to Rome it was a trainwreck because I was describing my emotions to him and it was a lot and telling him how I've held on to the feeling for a while and he just... He told me that I also make his stomach feel funny and his chest warm and that he liked me a lot and then we started dating and I came out to the school via us dating.

The only people that knew before were my parents and Rachel. All of whom figured out my crush before I labeled it as a crush but knew that I wanted to be around him a lot.

That lovely period of hell.

Nico left through the window, of course, and once that window closed again?

Out like a light. I was still exhausted.

Waking up to Paul telling me camp friends were here wasn't great but it got me out of bed. And me getting out of bed woke Rome up.

"Also," Paul added on. "Annabeth will be in here soon, she wants to talk to you."

Fuck.

She hasn't met Rome yet. None of them have.

I'm not out to them.

"I get to meet you fake girlfriend?" Rome asked, seemingly excited but that concept and I rolled my eyes.

"Apparently, yeah," I confirmed for my boyfriend as he stood up and walked over to me. "don't worry, I won't neglect you today."

He gave me a kiss and he's only wearing his underwear and my brain just about stopped I realized this.

"I know," Rome responded with a smug look on his face.

Giving him another kiss, we were lucky that Annabeth knocked to break us apart from each other.

"Hey, are you decent?" Annabeth asked as Rome threw a pair of my sweats on and was searching for a shirt.

"We'll continue this later," it almost felt like a threat coming from Rome.

A good threat. Sexy. But a threat.

"Uh, yeah, just let me put a shirt on!" I told her and once Rome was dressed I yelled that she was good to come in.

"Hey, so about the whole..."

Her voice drifted off upon seeing my boyfriend.

"Hi," she began. "Sorry, we haven't met. I'm Annabeth, Percy's girl-"

"Fake girlfriend, I know," he reassured her. "I've heard, I think it's really funny."

"Oh, cool," Annabeth responded. "Who... Are you? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh! My name is Rome," he introduced himself with the upmost confidence which I loved him so much for because he knows that I'm his and he's well aware that Annabeth isn't a threat.

He extended his hand out for her to shake and like, we established last year that Annabeth could know. So it's okay.

She shakes his hand and he finishes his introduction.

"I'm Percy's boyfriend."

It's rare to see Annabeth shocked or like... Baffled.

This did it, though. This completely caught her off her guard.

"I-" but she looked over to me and fuck I'm in trouble.

"And you didn't think of telling me?"

"I was going to!" I insisted. "I was going to come out and then... Everyone thought we were dating and coming out as gay while everyone thinks you're dating a girl doesn't work very well when you're a dude. Then I, you know, went missing before you were back visiting. Nobody else... Well Nico found out this morning, but nobody else has been told. My parents, kids at school, but it's never really... Come up at camp."

"Oh how did it not?"

"Because I was a coward when I was younger," I insisted. "And then Rachel finally talked me into coming out at school after she came out and... Yeah. Then Rome and I started dating and I wasn't at camp besides that one week where we started fake dating and... It just hasn't been a good time."

Nodding her head, not amused, Rome dismissed himself to the bathroom to finish making himself decent for the day and as soon as he was out of earshot she said it.

"You're dating a mortal?"

"Shut up!"

"No!" She retaliated, which its... I want to say it's fair but it's not. "I won't! What the fuck, Percy? Are you crazy? What do you tell him about anything?"

"Oh, about camp?" I responded and she nodded her head as Grover poked his head in the room, probably because he could sense the sudden hostility between us. "It's a fucking summer camp, Annabeth, so I tell him about the camp part of it. You know, arts and crafts, catch the flag, our normal activities? It hasn't affected anything."

"You were missing for 9 months!"

"And?" I didn't want to bother with that sort of criticism.

"What are you going to tell him when he asks where the fuck you went?"

"That I had amnesia for six months?" I suggested. "I probably got taken in the middle of the night, we know who did it, they're in jail, and I had amnesia. Getting back here after I got my memory took a while because I was with my bio dad who travels for work? I've been back for four days, Annabeth and didn't see anyone that wasn't my parents for the first time yesterday. He's not going to ask right away because he knows it takes me time to adjust from camp. It'll take time to adjust from that."

"Okay, but what if-"

But it pissed me off that she believed that my relationship with Rome, which has lasted longer than our fake relationship, was just going to crumble over something that we've already dealt with as a couple.

We dealt with it right before the war when I had to explain that I might be gone for a week or two because of shit with my dad.

Rome knows that my dad is a weird subject and I don't care to talk about him and he's not dying from curiosity over the dude so he just listens when I say stuff.

He doesn't pry about my dad because he watched how uncomfortable it makes me when people do it. People asking where my dad was and if I liked Paul more and just...

It was a lot freshman year when it was common knowledge that Paul and mom were engaged.

"What if my ass, shut up," I snapped at the daughter of Athena and I could care less if Grover heard or saw it. "I don't need your criticism, Annabeth, it has nothing to do with you. This is exactly why I didn't want to tell people at camp, because I knew you and so many others would freak the fuck out."

"Nothing to do with me?" She said in return, that hitting a nerve. "What about our relationship!?"

"What relationship?" I questioned her wording. "it's fake, Annabeth! It was always fake! That was the fucking deal that if you needed an impromptu boyfriend until you actually had one, you could show them photos of us or call me and I'd play the role! And either way, if I'm dating somebody, it doesn't have to change that, but if you want to act like this, I'm going to pull back my offer."

"You wouldn't."

"I would," I threatened. "Right fucking now. I don't need to deal with being called stupid and crazy by anybody, and that includes you."

"Bold words from somebody who can't manage Cs in school."

"Get out of my apartment." I snapped once more because I wanted to fight and I can't fight for a few different reasons. Physically.

"What do you mean-"

"Did I stutter? Get out."

•••
Grover Underwood

I snuck back to the living room with the others right before Percy told Annabeth to get out because he was furiois and it was intimidating.

Ever since training with Lupa, it's like his anger gets amplified when he's angry and it's just... I mean his anger is always intense but it looks intense.

He seemed frustrated but... The anger was more prominent.

Did I know who or what they were talking about?

No.

But Annabeth slammed the door when she left.

"What..." Thalia questioned because it's been a long time since I've seen either of them this mad. I don't know if I've ever seen Percy that mad and frustrated at any of us so... She must've really said something bad. "Did you hear them...?"

"Yeah um... I think they broke up," but I wasn't fairly confused about what I heard. "But also I'm not sure they were really dating? It was confusing, Percy was very angry but I didn't hear what Annabeth said to set him off so..."

"What do you mean you're not sure they were really dating?"

But I shrugged because I had no fucking clue.

Like five minutes later, Percy came out of his room and he was back in a decent mood so that was good.

"Hey, Jackson!" Clarisse said as she punched his arm. "Happy birthday. You and Annie, okay? She... Left. Slammed the door and everything."

And he really did not care.

"Nope, we're not together," Percy broke the news to the rest of us as I saw somebody else emerge from the hall that I knew definitely wasn't a step sibling so... A friend from school? I wasn't sure. "She wanted to be rude and disrespectful and I wasn't dealing with it. She can go home and get over it."

"You..." Clarisse started but we were all kind of thinking it.

Thalia was the one that said it.

"You broke up with your girlfriend on your anniversary?"

But he sighed, rubbing his hands over his face for a second, evidently not in the best of moods.

"She..." My best friend started off before changing his wording. "We weren't... Dating."

"Yes... You were," Clarisse responded, now sounding concerned because he's had amnesia before, but he didn't now. He'd be more cloudy and confused if he did. "I was there. Everyone was there, I made a lot of money that day."

Thinking for a moment, I saw Clarisse almost crack a joke about thinking too hard but even she knew to not pisj him right now.

"It... Yeah, you jumped the gun and told everyone we were dating before we could tell you we weren't," Percy told the daughter of Ares. "It... It was weird. First she kissed me which... Came out of nowhere and then she told me that she wasn't interested but she was curious how it'd feel because you guys all wanted us to date and then she went on about how she wished it'd be that easy to have a boyfriend because her grandparents are like super religious and want her to get married young so she should have a boyfriend and as a half joke I said I'd be her fake boyfriend to tell them about and she took me up on it which was fine and so we took some photos, which is what you saw. She asked me like 4 times if it was fine and wanted to confirm that there was nobody I was seeing that would get jealous and there wasn't."

"So...? What just happened?" I asked my best friend. "i heard like half of it but... It was the second half. So I don't know what she said or..."

Once again, he sighed as this other dude who's our age walked over and I think was looking to see if he recognized any of us and I think he recognized Rachel so he must go to school with Percy.

Still stood by Percy, though. He was taller, Frank's height maybe, dark curly hair, attractive. Seemed just slightly worried, but otherwise he was just calm, almost confident as he stood next to Percy.

"Yeah, so... She called me crazy," Percy told us which... Seemed at first like maybe it wasn't all of it. "And not like... It was crazy in a mean, stupid way. She could've subbed idiotic or called me a dumbass and it would've sent the same message across."

"Okay but... Why?" Jason questioned. "Are you like... Did she develop feelings and didn't tell you and you're talking to somebody else as well or...? Annabeth doesn't throw that around lightly."

He put off a half shrug.

"I don't know if she like, developed feelings," my best friend explained, calming down a bit again. "if she did, she didn't tell me so I could tell her that I'm not interested in properly dating but she..."

His voice drifted for a moment before Percy decided to address the person that we don't know here.

"This is Rome, I don't think any of you know him besides Rachel," Percy introduced us. "we go to school and swim together."

He paused again and closed his eyes for a second like he was preparing for something has to happen. He got a little bit of anxiousness when he did that, like he was nervous about us knowing Rome or something.

"We're also dating," but that explained exactly why he was anxious as soon as it came out of his mouth.

He just came out to us. Which... Can be a lot.

Even when you know that everyone is going to be cool about it, coming out can be hard because it's such a personal thing and in the society we live in, that only makes it harder.

"We've been dating for a while now," Percy went on because we're nice and didn't interrupt him when he looked like he has more to say. "um... It'll be two years rhis winter, and I was going to come out at the end of that week last year, but that's when the Annabeth thing happened and coming out as gay when everyone firmly believed that I was dating Annabeth isn't as easy as it sounds so I figured whatever, it'd come up eventually and then I went missing so..."

His voice drifted for a minute.

"Now we're here," the son of Poseidon figured. "Annabeth came to my room for whatever reason, and Rome introduced himself to Annabeth as my boyfriend because we both established last year that it was okay that Annabeth knew if she ever asked or whatever, right? And then he went to the bathroom and she looked at me and asked me if I were really dating him and if I was fucking crazy because we're dating."

And we knew what Annabeth really said by his tone: she questioned him dating a mortal.

Even though there's no rule against it.

Sure, it can make things complicated at first. But I heard him tell Annabeth what he would tell Rome if he ever did ask, and it's technically not a lie so like...

Either way, Rome doesn't seem like the type to push. Especially if they're still together after both wars.

And Clarisse...

I love Clarisse but her filter wasn't on.

"She called you fucking crazy for dating a mortal?"

And Rome's confusion was confirmation enough.

"A what?"

He doesn't know.