Clarisse La Rue

Annabeth hadn't spoken to any of us since Percy snapped at us, but I honestly could've cared less. If he wanted to know, and he did, Percy deserved to be told about the prophecy.

We'd summoned a boat full of workers thanks to a mix of mine and Percy's powers. One of my powers as a child of Ares is that I can summon soldiers from the losing side of any previous war and they will listen to me.

Which basically meant that we had a crew so we could just worry about getting to the island where Grover and the Fleece were.

Annabeth disappeared belowdeck not long after we boarded, probably to read or check out the architecture and engineering of the boat. Tyson, after giving Percy a hug that almost broke his ribs, found a spot belowdeck to continue tinkering with whatever he's been carrying with him.

I still don't know how to feel about the cyclopes. He seems... Weirdly innocent.

But then again, he's probably a child in cyclopes terms, so maybe he is actually innocent. It's hard to know. To trust what you see on the surface.

Silena told me she was going to go take a breath and maybe meditate up in the crows nest, so that left Percy and I.

The son of Poseidon was standing at the side of the boat, looking in the general direction that we were sailing in— based off the coordinates he gave the undead crew. He was messing and a little ball of water that he must've summoned from the ocean— making different shapes and forms around the pen.

And although I assumed this is something he'd have to focus to do, it seemed like his eyes were almost glossed over as he looked to the horizon.

So, knowing Annabeth wasn't about to check in any time soon, I walked over to the slightly younger demigod and leaned against the railing next to him.

"Hey, Jackson," I started when he didn't respond to my presence. The last name got his attention, and the water dropped back to the ocean. "you feeling okay? I know the prophecies are a lot to process— shits intense, am I right? You look a little spacy."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm alright with that," it sounded like bullshit, but I didn't want him to have a meltdown, so I decided not to push the matter. He sighed. "I just... Yeah. I'm... I'm worried about Grover, among other things. But I don't need to burden you with that— we're not friends after all, right? We're enemies or whatever."

"Wh... No, dude, it's chill, you can talk about it." I insisted, because I knew that his only sort of friend here was Tyson, and Tyson (no offense) doesn't have the social emotional development or understanding in order to be of any help to Percy. He's a child. "Clean slate or whatever. It's like, totally fair for you miss Grover. He's one of your only friends at camp, outside of Travis, but Travis is... More than a friend maybe?"

Percy shook his head.

"No, we went on a date, but after last summer I guess he couldn't see me as more than a walking manifestation of mental illness and I couldn't trust him not to suddenly hurt me again." He reminded me, which made me frown because I thought Travis really liked Percy. He definitely did last summer.

Percy smiled sadly.

"Yeah," he agreed with my reaction. "it was bad. But now I can at least not feel bad when I feel bad and I can also not feel guilty or stupid about missing Grover. We'll see him soon, and I know that, but..."

He sighed.

"You and Silena are friends, right?"

I don't think Percy understood how complicated of a question that was.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

We're friends but we also cuddle and sometimes hold hands and apparently (this is new) we also don't let each other do extremely dangerous and potentially life threatening things alone.

After all, this was supposed to be a solo quest.

Silena wouldn't let me leave alone, though, so if we include Grover as a quest goer once we rescue him, we have the magical 3 people needed for a quest.

"Has anything ever happened with you and Silena," but the most Percy spoke, the more I worried that he'd installed hidden mics on the two of us. "Where you like, start to do things that friends normally wouldn't do, but neither of you says anything about it because you either don't want to make things weird or you just don't know how to feel about it?"

"I... Think so? What do you mean? Did something happen with you and Travis? You said you got into a fight."

Rolling his eyes, Percy looked again out to the horizon.

"I mean that is exactly what happened last summer with Travis, but we did talk about it pretty regularly so it wasn't an issue until the end of summer," the son of Poseidon expressed. "But that's not what I'm..."

His voice drifting, he took a breath.

"Grover and I lived together for like, a year before I knew about my sperm donor," and something about Percy never calling Poseidon his dad was a little funny, but I kept it to myself. He's actually met his dad, so he's definitely allowed to have an opinion on the guy. "and so we eventually ended up being sort of touchy with each other because I don't like being touched by people when we first met, but Grover's my best friend, so I learned to trust him and like I said, fairly touchy. I'm not out to him yet because I was anxious last summer so I try not to think into it, but at the end of last summer he..."

Percy sighed.

"When we were saying goodbye on the last day, we hugged, which is normal." The young gay mess continued on. "But then he also like, gave me a kiss on the forehead, which wasn't normal and he also seemed surprised by it but neither of us brought it up and we still haven't but I think about it a lot because I don't know what it was and now we have this mental link and... And if Grover also knows about the prophecy, I don't know why he's create a mental link with me, which is a separate but also somewhat related point and I just... It's been a long year and I miss Grover but I guess I don't really know how I miss him? If I miss him because he's my best friend or like... Have you ever gone through this with Silena? Maybe it's different because you guys are girls, I don't know if it's normal for girls to be more physical in their friendships. It just reminds me of Grover and I."

I couldn't help but give Percy a saddened smile because the more he spoke, the more it became obvious to me that Percy is heartsick and definitely crushing on his best friend.

That being said, he called my ass out.

"Well... Yeah." I glanced towards the crows nest, where Silena was currently meditating. I tried to suppress a smile, but it might've snuck out. "We're definitely the same way— though Silena's never given me a kiss. We've held hands, though, so I guess that's about even? To me, it sounds like you got uh, big feelings for Grover. A crush, some would call it."

Percy sighed, seemingly stressed that I called it out.

"Is that bad?" He asked me. "Like... We're best friends. Is it bad that I... Like him?"

"Is it— No!" I insisted, but he seemed doubtful. "Seriously, Jackson, it's not bad at all. Grover's definitely not straight, either, if you're worried about that."

"That's not... I mean, I know that, he told me that he's pan." Percy responded as I saw Silena come down from the crows nest and make her way over to the two of us. "I mean more like, if it becomes weird then..."

"Oh my gods," I said, setting my sights on the younger demigod. "Percy."

"What? I'm just saying that —"

"And I'm saying that you're a walking ball of anxiety." I countered, nudging Silena. "Tell him, Silena."

"Tell— what are we talking about?"

"The fact that Percy's a walking ball of anxiety."

Silena opened her mouth, closed it again, a sighed.

"You are anxious most of the time," Silena phrased it a little softer for Percy, who didn't seem offended or surprised by the observation. "Why is this relevant to the conversation?"

Rubbing his hands down his face, Percy crossed his arms and sighed again.

I wonder when the last time he got a good night's sleep was.

Sure, it's normal for demigods to have weird, vivid dreams about things going on in the world. I get dreams probably a couple times a week. Two, maybe three nights a week.

But even when I have them, I wake up and I get some water or I go for a walk and I can go back to bed.

Percy looked like he hasn't really slept in about a month.

"Just... Stuff with Grover. About Grover? I don't know." He told the daughter of Aphrodite. "He's been gone for nine months and I miss him and for the last month until literally earlier this week I hadn't heard from him and I was worried that he died and then he showed up in a dream saying that he made a mental link, asking for help. Which is fine— I literally was going to sneak out of camp this morning if Mr. D didn't give me permission to leave. But things happened at the end of last summer that I just don't know..."

Silena glanced to me for help.

"Grover gave him a kiss on the forehead but both of them reacted weirdly to it and haven't talked about it since so Percy doesn't know how to feel about it because he has the world's fattest crush on Grover."

Silena scoffed as Percy turned more pink than I've ever seen him before.

"You did not have to phrase it like that!"

My best friend rolled her eyes.

"Grover has had the biggest crush on you since well before he brought you to camp," Silena reassured Percy, who seemed unsure about the information. "No, seriously, anyone at camp that year could vouch. He came back over winter break with Chiron and he literally did not stop talking about you the entire like, 2½ weeks he was there. Clarisse and I gave him shit the entire time. The only reason we didn't assume you two were a thing last summer is because he was adamant about the fact that you weren't a thing because you were straight. Which was a lie, I guess?"

Percy let out a breath, definitely trying to suppress a smile at the idea of Grover talking so much about him.

"From Grover? No, I wasn't out to him then." But the idea of Percy not being out sounded weird. "It's probably just an anxiety thing or a living in the real world thing, but I tread lightly when it comes to like, coming out? I think Grover knows now, via the mental link and all, but I didn't tell anyone last summer. Well, Travis, and because he's Travis' counselor, Luke knew, but... The first real chance I had to do it is when Annabeth came out to me as trans and then asked if I was gay or trans or anything, and I didn't know her well enough to feel like I could say it so I lied."

He paused.

"She knows now. Travis told her yesterday. I'm like, basically out at camp now, I guess." Percy concluded. "But did he really never shut up?"

"Oh my gods, it was almost insufferable," I confirmed for him, rolling my eyes. "for how much he talked about you, we thought you had to be related to Silena and had somehow like, charmed him without knowing it."

The son of Poseidon raised an eyebrow.

"Accidentally charmed him? What, is that what Silena did to you?"

Is that...

I'm sorry, readers, but how am I supposed to respond to that.

Please tell me now, because I didn't have a response for that. I just opened my jaw and probably looked like a dumbass because it's not like it's a secret.

I'm just bad at articulating my emotions so I've never brought it up to Silena because I'm pretty sure she knows and is just letting me stumble through my emotions like a fool or something.

After all, we cuddle a lot and I'm not the touchy type.

But that may never happen again because I'm about to melt into a puddle of embarrassment aboard the CSS Hopeless Romantic or whatever the boat was named.

I punched his arm.

"Fuck you, Jackass," I knew he was a bad comeback, but I still said it. "I'm going to go see what's belowdeck. Have fun pining or longing for your best friend or whatever."

•••
Silena Beuaguard

I just smiled as Clarisse made her way below deck, leaving me with Percy.

"Damn, Jackson, you got her good," I said, nudging him. "It's hard to get Clarisse worked up like that— maybe she'll talk to me about it tonight now that you've said something about it."

"Wh... What? You knew?"

I chuckled.

"Percy, my mother— as much as I can hardly stand her— is one of the goddesses of love." I reminded the younger demigod, looking back towards the door to belowdeck to make sure nobody else was coming. "I've known about your crush on Grover since I've met you—whether or not you knew it was a crush at that point. I can sense how people feel about each other, but it's harder to tell if they're aware of what those feelings mean. Clarisse and I have slowly become more than friends, but she's awful at talking about her feelings and with the stuff with Luke and you know what else..."

I shrugged.

"I just figured it'd be best if I waited for Clarisse to persue it." I figured, taking a breath. "And who knows? Maybe after this quest, something will happen and she'll also hate her dad or something and she'll join us. I don't know if Grover will, though. Sorry."

Looking back to the distance like he had been earlier (he's so lovesick), Percy thought to himself for a moment before responding.

"That's okay," he concluded. "after all, isn't the whole point of it that were technically not on either side? I don't want a Titan controlling the world again, but I certainly don't want things to continue as they are. Plus, I sort of have to stay with the camp for the plan."

"That's true." I agreed. "Also, don't forget what Luke said— just because the prophecy happens when you turn 16, it doesn't mean that you'll be the hero that dies. Those are two separate lines."

He flashed me a somewhat sad smile.

"I know," Percy promised me. "trust me, I wasn't upset with Annabeth because I didn't know the prophecy. I was upset because she knew it and refused to tell me about it after it was made clear that I knew there was a prophecy. Sorry that you had to see that, by the way. Annabeth and I just don't..."

"Get along? I thought you two were friends."

Annabeth definitely has a crush on him, as much as he can annoy her at times.

"We get along for like, 3 days," he explained the pattern to me. "and then something happens and we bicker and argue and one of us explodes— usually me because she's more levelheaded— and then the timer basically resets the next day. I'm sure tomorrow or even tonight she'll act like everything is fine and like we're best friends because she just wants to use me to get her mom's attention, right? It's not a sincere friendship."

I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean it's not sincere?"

Percy rolled his eyes.

"She decided that we could get along and do stuff together when I blasted Clarisse with toilet water last summer," the son of Poseidon went on. "before that, she had no problems disrespecting my boundaries and treating me like a dumbass. Even after that she continued to treat me like an idiot— she still does, as times. She came on the quest last summer because we'd need brains or whatever. We argued almost the whole time. After we got back, we talked a little, but we honestly didn't hang out much outside of activities. We didn't talk all year. Yesterday she watched me have a crisis and while she was nice about it, it just felt weird, especially knowing that she will tell anyone about other people's problems without their permission."

"Oh, yeah, she definitely told at least half of the counsel about St. Louis at the start of summer meeting before you were at camp," I informed Percy, who seemed more annoyed by that fact than anything. "yeah, Clarisse slighted her for it and mentioned to Chiron that she's been airing out laundry that didn't belong to her, but you know Chiron."

"Annabeth is his little girl," Percy conceeded my point. "Also, sorry to push you and Clarisse into the weird conversation, she just... Well no, that's not right. But the way I've seen it and then also the way Clarisse said that you and her kind of mirror how me and Grover are... I assumed you guys were like, unofficially a thing or whatever after you two were holding hands on the Andromeda. So sorry."

I shrugged.

"Somebody had to help her realize her emotions, I don't think she's mad." I promised him. "Just a little embarrassed maybe. She'll probably just get you back when we find Grover, so... Maybe just greet him with a kiss?"

Percy rolled his eyes as the sun started to set.

"Because I have the guts for that." He insisted. "You okay to take first watch tonight? I'm fucking exhausted. I got like four hours of bad sleep last night."

I smiled at him, knowing there was a secret question hidden in his request to sleep.

"Go talk to your best friend. Just let us know if he has any important updates for us, okay?"

Nodding his head, Percy made his way towards the door to head below deck.

"Only if you give Clarisse a kiss goodnight tonight." Percy insisted, and I honestly couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. "night, Silena. If you send a message, tell Luke I say hi."