Paul

He admitted to the entire thing. Being gay. After that, he was kind of exhausted and told me to wake him up when dinner was ready.

Not five minutes after he went to bed and River woke up, Sally got home. River was doing tummy time, and was warming up to it. Slowly but surely.

"Huh?" Sally asked in her baby voice tone, crouching down to River. "Is my little baby doing tummy time? Are you trying to lift up your head your strong little girl, huh?"

It worked because she looked at Sally and lifted her head for a solid like ten seconds. Which was a record for her. She can hold it up pretty good when she's held, though.

Sally picked her up and put her in her lap to sit up against Sally as she sat down next to me.

"Did you get to talk to Percy?" Sally asked me as she bounced River on her leg.

"Yeah!" I assured her and had to make sure she was relaxed. Sally might not of catches on like I did. I mean, you never know. "I talked to him after he got home, he's sleeping now. He was tired."

"And?"

I took River, assuring her that this was just a precaution. Percy did tell me to just go ahead and tell Sally. He didn't want to do that talk twice and I don't blame him. He rambled off a lot.

"So it's nothing like depression we far as they went." I promised my wife's placing my hand on her leg to be careful as I held River with the other one. "He's fine on those regards. What happened was that I guess Gabe constantly told him something when he was little and that was conflicting with what was going on in the now. It was frustrating him and it terrified the shit out of him."

Sally looked at me.

"Honey," Sally requested clarification. "Gabe shoved a lot of bullshit into Percy's head. You're going to have to clarify."

"He always told Percy that being gay was bad."

Sally rolled her eyes.

"All the time." She confirmed. "What about it?"

"So he told me that he knows that it's not actually bad." I tried to explain the conversation to her. "There's nothing wrong with it. He knows that we don't mind. I mean, hell, I have a dad and a step dad and a gay sister. His conflict came in that he is gay. He admitted to that. Claimed that because of how Gabe talked to him and what he told him, that triggered something in him that made him absolutely terrified to come out to anyone. So that was his problem. He was fighting the line of he knows it's not wrong but what happens if somebody takes it the wrong way. He didn't want to have the conversation again, so he probably won't say much to you. He wanted me to tell you."

It was silent for a second as Sally let that settle in. I'm pretty sure that she knew. She just never wanted to assume anything, and when Annabeth showed up she just let it go over her head.

She only had one question.

"Does he have a boyfriend?" My wife asked me. "Because he's coming over for dinner."

Percy

I felt a lot better after taking a nap, and when I woke up it was like there was a weight lifted off of my chest. Paul promised me he'd tell Mom when she got home so I didn't have to go through that again. But there was a note next to my phone when I woke up. From my parents.

Hey, we're heading to get some stuff that your mom forgot earlier. I told her so don't stress, and we're having your favorite for dinner. :) Mom said to invite your boyfriend over for dinner / the night (assuming you have one) -The Better Step Dad

I smiled at the Paul's sign off and tossed it in the trash. I had a missed call from Nico, oddly enough.

But yeah. I felt a lot better. I didn't feel as restricted anymore.

He answered the call pretty quick. Second ring. It was around 6, and we normally eat at 7 or 7:30. Depending on what it is.

"Hey," he sounded happy, which was always a good thing to know. "What's up? Sorry I couldn't talk during lunch. I called the home phone earlier and Paul told me you were asleep. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah," I assured him and it wasn't a lie. I had a smile on my face. "I just had a bad day earlier just because I didn't sleep well last night. But I uh... Paul kind of got on my ass about the whole me being quiet and what not when I got home and long story short my parents know I'm gay. But between lack of sleep and that I was just exhausted. I feel a lot better now. I didn't say anything about us just because I don't know, he didn't ask. But they're getting stuff right now and they left me this little note telling that, if I had a boyfriend, they didn't want to assume anything, but that he should come over for dinner. We're having lasagna. It's already in the oven. Probably has been for a while. And you can even stay the night if you want to."

He must've been around other people, because I heard the confusion after he responded.

"You finally told your parents?" My boyfriend asked and I confirmed it for him that they knew. "Oh my gods, I'm so proud of you. I'll be there in a little bit, though. I'll pack a small bag and head on over, alright?"

"Sounds good to me." I agreed to those plans, suddenly really giddy.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit." Nico told me and I smiled. "I love you."

Kill me now I'll die happy. But please, don't actually. I have a boyfriend and I left him, dead, once. We weren't together. But still. I felt terrible. I was able to watch that week and... He was miserable. I felt terrible that I couldn't do anything because I wasn't summoned. He didn't have the energy to summon me.

"I love you, too."