Speak to Piper.
The second Leo made Percy question a lot. Even though he vanished almost as soon as he arrived, it really made him think of what in his father’s name could have been different in his universe.
He went on his first quest with Annabeth and Grover, yes, then his second one with them…
Then his third one. The one with Bianca and Thalia and Grover. He didn’t like the think about that quest. It was an extraordinary tragedy, that one.
“Percy?”
He looked up. Piper was leaning in his doorway, looking at him with concern. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just fine,” he shook his head, “Just confused. And tired.”
Piper let herself in and sat down on Percy’s bed. “I know. It was all so confusing. I thought the Other Leo would have more information to give us. He was barely here a moment.”
Percy shrugged. Truth be told, he didn’t know how to talk to Leo. Not after Croatia. He could see the signs so plainly obvious now, and it pained him that Jason still didn’t know. It wasn’t like he could tell though, that would be invading his privacy. He wasn’t that type of guy. “Yeah. I wish I knew what other worldly us looked like.”
Piper laughed, “Maybe we’re all dark, brooding emos.”
Percy cracked a smile. “Probably. Where’s Jason and Annabeth, do you know?”
Piper shrugged, twirling her hair around her finger. “Leo docked. They said they were gonna go scope out the area.”
“Where are we then?”
Piper furrowed her brow. “Uh, not exactly sure. Leo won’t talk to me.”
Percy really wished Leo would stop being so openly hateful towards Piper. She was a nice girl, and it wasn’t her fault Leo had a crush on her boyfriend.
“Are you ever going to tell me about the Cupid thing?”
The question kind of came out of the left field. Percy straightened up. Could Piper read his mind or something?
“The- What?”
“Eros, you know. With Leo, You guys have been giving each other weird looks. Did that weirdo brother of mine make you guys make out or something weird like that?”
“Eww, no,” Percy said, wrinkling up his nose. “Nothing like that.”
Piper sighed, pushing her hair behind her back. “Worth a shot. You gonna tell me?”
Percy shook his head no. He couldn’t betray Leo’s faith like that, not in a million years.
“I’ll ask again,” Piper said, and this time her voice was sweet and convincingly smooth, “What happened in Croatia?”
“I… Leo and Eros kind of faced off,” Percy found himself replying, as if it were second nature, “Eros was taunting him about loving someone who will never return his feelings.”
“Who?” Piper asked, voice as steady as ever.
Percy’s throat closed up. He didn’t want to reply, but he felt as it he was going to anyways. Like word vomit. “A guy… Some guy… There was also a girl..”
“Who?” Piper repeated, “What’s his name? The guy?”
“Jason,” Percy couldn’t hold it anymore, it was like the answer was being torn from his mouth, “Your boyfriend. Jason. Leo loves him non-platonically.”
Percy let out a sigh, as if a vice on his throat had just been released.
“So… Leo’s…”
“It’s not up to you to decide what Leo is.” Percy replied sharply. Leo had made it abundantly clear after the incident he liked both girls and guys. Almost like he was trying to prove to Percy ‘hey, look, I’m not gay! I’m normal, I like girls, I swear’.
“That was gross, Piper. Gross and manipulative and you know. Do you feel better about knowing now?”
Piper’s mouth opened and closes a couple times, like a fishing out of water. “I… I’m sorry, I really am, I just needed to know… He’s my best friend and I got concerned…”
“You should let your best friend have his secrets, Piper. He wasn’t trying to intrude on your relationship ever. He wouldn’t do that. But now you’ve went and dragged me into your problems.”
Piper looked helpless. “You’d want to know if… if… I don’t know, if Nico liked Annabeth!”
“Nico isn’t my best friend.” Percy said simply, “And he’s into boys. I’d be more worried about his sister being into Annabeth.”
“Then who’s your best friend?” Piper demanded, “If they liked Annabeth, I’m sure you’d like to know.”
“He’s dead. And even if he did, I would let him tell me himself. Not force it out of him or anyone else.”
Piper seemed to grow even smaller. “I just needed to know.”
“No,” Percy said, “You wanted to know, Piper. Get out of my room.”
“I’m-,”
“Get out.”
If Nico’s day could get any worse, he’d end up dead. He was definitely a dead man now. Khione’s dumb winds were strong and they chilled him to his core. He could hear Bianca’s voice ringing in his skull. Don’t forget your jacket, Nico.
And he’d said, Bianca, we’re sailing through Southern Europe, it isn’t gonna be cold.
He wish he’d listened to her. He didn’t know how the Hades he was going to survive this fall. Maybe the water would be better than land?
He felt like he was flying, but this was much different from the time Jason brought him up in the air with him. This was intense and scary and he was eventually going to fall and die and his blood with spill and Gaea would awaken and every would say, Geez, di Angelo, could you have not fallen and broken every bone in your body and got your blood everywhere? Sheesh, the nerve of some people.
His mind was rambling with useless sentiments. His clothing might as well been nonexistent for how cold it was.
He felt the winds weakening. He thought he was falling, but just as he did, he felt unexplainably warm. And it surrounded his entire body and engulfed
him in the heat. He was pretty sure he blacked out or something, because when he came back to himself, he was laying on hard ground.
He shot up immediately, sifting sand through his fingers. He sighed a breath of relief.
“Oh, good, you’re finally up.”
Nico whipped around as quick as he could. There, right in front of him, was the most incredibly attractive man he’d ever laid his eyes on.
Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration, but this person did not play around.
He had blonde hair the color of the sun and eyes so blue Nico swore they couldn’t be natural. He was tall with tan skin, and he was wearing some kind of old-timey toga thing.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, extending a hand, “Name’s Will.”
“Uh… Hey, Will, I’m Nico,” He took his hand and tried to pull himself up, but winced at a pain his wrist.
Will immediately took notice and used his other hand to help him up. “I can wrap that for you, Nico.”
“Yeah, thanks, but,” Nico looked around. The island he was on was nearly perfect in condition, with thriving gardens and clear beachy shores. He wondered why a beautiful island didn’t have some million dollar beach home smack dab in the center of it. “Uh, who are you?”
“I’m a demigod,” Will replied, starting off towards a homey looking cave-type thing. “Child of Apollo.”
“Why are you on the island?”
“Hera cursed me here.” He said, not even turning to face Nico.
Something clicked in Nico’s mind then. He remembered the Greek myth about Will, kind of. In the stories he’d been referred to Willhelm, an amazingly talented doctor.
He was trying to refresh the memory on the story. Will did it for him.
“I was a healer. Bit of an archer.” He said, “Village bachelor. Many parents wanted me to marry their daughters, but I was spoken for. I also attracted the attention of a god,” He paused, both in his speech and step for a moment, then continued, “Zeus.”
Nico flinched. This was where Hera came in. He remembered how the myth went now.
“He tried to get me to be his. To have sex with him. I refused, of course, I didn’t want to risk Hera’s wrath. Besides, he’s my grandfather.”
Were all Greek gods so incest-y? It sickened him. “You don’t have to-,”
“No, you need to know. Can't have you wondering why some random guy is helping you,” Will said, “He became angry with me. He disguised himself as my lover, Adin, and had intercourse with me then.” He sounded very sad as he spoke, but he went on, “Hera murdered Adin before my eyes and banished me to live a life alone on this island.”
He was leaving out something, Nico knew, but he didn’t ask what it was. “I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.” Will told him, holding out an arm as an invitation into the cave.
“Still,” Nico pressed, looking around what looked to be a home. The inside didn’t look much like a cave. The walls were made up of beautiful crystals. It was floored and had a kitchen and bed and the likes. It wasn’t very big, but it was homey.
“You can take my bed. I’ll sleep on a cot.”
“Oh, no, I can’t-,”
“You’re my guest,” Will interrupted, “I intend to treat you like one.”
Nico, still unsure, said, “If you say so.”
“And I do.”
The day went by quicker than Nico would’ve liked it to. Will said that the island’s magic had gone all wonky, and he might not be able to get off for quite some time. He wasn’t as disappointed at that as he ought to have been. His friends needed him, but Will was charming and kind, and he liked it a lot on Ogygia.
“Nico? You about ready to sleep?” Will asked, peeking out of the cave. Nico had settled himself on a flat rock overlooking the ocean. He looked back at Will and nodded.
“Yeah, I’m coming, don’t wait up.”
Will stared at him a moment before stepping outside. He sat next to Nico, gaze fixing on the sunset reflecting off the ocean. It was a beautiful sight. Nico looked over at Will a moment, but quickly averted his gaze when the man started to look back.
“It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?” Will said in a hushed voice, “I’ve always liked to study constellations and star patterns, but the sunsets and rises enthrall me as well.”
His eyes glinted with the beautiful lights of the sinking sun. Nico looked over at him in admiration. He really was beautiful. The thought that Zeus trapped him here made him want to go right up to Olympus and beat the god’s ass.
“Yeah,” he found himself replying mindlessly, “it is.”
Will looked over at him and smiled, “I'm glad you landed on my island, Nico.”
Then, Will’s hand rested atop Nico's. The younger boy felt a blush darken his cheeks.
“T-Thank you…” he stuttered, pulling his hand away quickly. Will didn't look very offended though. His smile faltered some, and he scooted away from him a little, but made no comment.
When the sun on the horizon had fallen away, leaving only the moon hanging in the sky, Will stood up. “Perhaps we should get to bed.”
Nico leaped up from his seat. “Alrighty.”
They walked wordlessly back to the cave. Will pulled silky curtains over the entrance, and Nico was settling himself in his- or rather Will's- bed when he spoke up.
“You remind me of him. Adin.” And that was the last thing Will spoke before laying on the cot and presumably falling asleep.
As he lay on Will’s bed, he listened to the breathing of the man that was on the cot not too far away, he remembered what Will had not mentioned earlier. He was stuck on the island forever, yes, but he was also cursed to fall in love with anyone who ending up on it. Nico had a hard time sleeping after that.
Bianca was stressed, to say the very least. After ages of traveling with the Hunters, fighting monsters and followers of Gaea, all she wanted to do was nap. Half her time was spent worrying about her brother, and the other half was spent worrying about the Hunters.
She didn’t exactly regret becoming a Hunter, but she did catch onto Thalia’s disapproving looks when she talked about Nico. Hypocrite she was though, she had Jason.
Maybe it was the whole “swearing off boys” thing that irked her. Or maybe it was the fact that she might outlive her younger brother. Or maybe it was she simply didn’t find being a part of the hunt as cool anymore. It was a duty now, and that was all. She heard other girls gush about Artemis, but she couldn’t find the appeal anymore.
Cliche as it was, she felt like a black sheep among her peers. Could you just quit being one? Did it work like that? She sighed, running a hand through her hair. Most of her fellow Hunters were in the Artemis cabin since they were at Camp Half-Blood to help the war effort. She, however, was in the Hades cabin. Her brother’s bed was messily made. Above it was a large amount of pictures of his friends doing everything and anything. Nico was a sentimental kind of person.
There was also a large amount of him with Hazel. It pained her a little to see them. Hazel was only his half sister, but she was a more present figure in Nico's life.
She felt selfish for thinking that Nico was better off with her than Hazel. From the scarce information she received from the Argo II, she knew there was a slowly forming relationship between Hazel and the Frank guy from the Roman camp, so she secretly hoped Hazel would run off with him.
Speaking of running away…
She cursed herself briefly, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. She had a vow to Lady Artemis. And she couldn’t just leave! She knew what happened in all those Greek myths. She couldn’t be wasting her time on a boy with a stupid smile and stupid hair and stupid pretty brown eyes and stupid-
Bianca sank down on Nico’s bed. It was all hopeless, and it wasn’t even the dumb boy who was making her time as a Hunter so hard. She didn’t know how Thalia handled it, but thinking of possibly outliving her brother, watching him grow old while she was forever a teenager, brought a sick feeling to her stomach. She guessed she’d been infatuated with the idea of immortality and the prospects of all this mythological junk.
She looked over to Hazel's bed, seeking to clear her mind. The bed sheets had been replaced with floral ones, and an abundance of pillows was present on the mattress. Bianca had no clue how someone slept with so many pillows.
And, really, she tried to sympathize with Hazel! Her mother had died not even two years ago, and she'd been clueless and scared until she was brought to Camp. Even though she was a child of Hades that was relatively new born (no preservation in a casino or anything, she'd been born in 1997) she was kind of a minor figure until she stowed away on Jason, Piper, and Leo's quest.
She was a camp celebrity! Then there was the whole shebang with her being captured and put in that jar…
Whatever.
It was normally Leo who Iris messaged her to keep her updated, or at least tried to. His jokes were stupid, but her sense of humor was just as bad, so she could find herself often unable to control her giggles. He was so unwittingly charming it pained her sometimes. When nothing of particular importance was in jeopardy, they’d just mess around. She would not admit they were flirting. They'd just chat about everything and anything. Bianca enjoyed their talks a lot.
“Bianca?”
Bianca looked over at the door at her tent mate, Elizaveta.
“Hey,” she greeted, motioning inside the cabin, “come in?”
Elizaveta smiled and walked inside. “You've been kind quiet today. Everything okay?”
Bianca shrugged. “I'm alright. I just…”
“Miss him?” Elizaveta guessed, following Bianca's gaze locked on Nico's photo collage.
“A little.” She admitted. She looked over at Elizaveta. She had blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Her skin was pale and without a single blemish. Her voice was tinted with a French accent too. She could've passed as an Aphrodite girl if she hadn't sworn off men.
Elizaveta looked over at her. “You need to talk about something, Bee?”
“I’m alright, Veta. Nothing wrong.” she smiled, but she could tell it wasn’t convincing her friend.
Elizaveta had no mother nor father, and her only family was an uncle back in France. He was locked up in a mental hospital though, and had no business taking care of a child. She’d moved to America as a young girl, her parents were killed when she was twelve, and then she was in foster home after foster home until Artemis found her.
She didn’t trust a lot of people with those details. Elizaveta was very secretive, and only told people she considered very close about her life.
Bianca was honored to be one of those people.
Elizaveta arched a perfect eyebrow, “No?”
“Yeah,” Bianca said, “Just stressed.”
“You’re keeping something from me,” she said, readjusting herself so she was sitting cross-legged on Nico’s bed, “Can’t you trust me? Your meilleur ami?”
She let her shoulders hunch then drop. “I don’t know if I should.”
“Bianca,” Her name always seemed to roll off the girl’s tongue, not exactly mispronounced, but unlike everyone else’s dialect, “You can trust me with anything, you know, yes? I’m always here for you. Your secret will be safe with me.”
Bianca hesitated only a moment. “There's a boy.”
This caught Elizaveta’s attention for sure. Whatever she expected, it was not that. She looked over at Bianca with wide eyes. “A boy?”
“Yeah.” Bianca sounded meek.
“But you-,”
“Swore off boys, I know, I just don't..” Bianca swallowed thickly, “I don't want to be a Hunter anymore.”
Elizaveta looked scandalized. “All for a boy? I can't believe it. You're better than that.”
“It's not just him,” she said quickly, “It's everything. The immortality. Leaving everyone I love behind.” She picked a picture of Nico and Hazel from the collage. “You wouldn't understand.”
“No, I wouldn't.” Elizaveta agreed. “You'd have to tell Lady Artemis, but first tell me about the boy.”
“He's a son of Hephaestus.” Bianca started, “and I really, really like him, Veta.”
Elizaveta tried for a smile despite her obvious disapproval, “Leo Valdez, no? The one you’re always talking to? I can hear you two courting, it’s kind of cute, just… difficult. For you, I mean.”
Bianca pushed hair behind her ear, blushing a little. “Yeah,” she nodded, “Leo Valdez.”
Leo didn't really think he could be alone forever. At least he had Nico, right? They were both single. And even if he didn't have an interest in the boy, it was nice not to be the odd man out.
Then they picked Nico up from that dock, and he was all but drooling about the other guy he'd met on that damned island. He had to report this, of course, to Nico's sister. They had a relationship like that. It was kind of secret, their conversations, but she reported in from Camp and him from the Argo.
He was hopeless, really. What was up with him and getting crushes on people he could never be with. First his straight best friend then a Hunter of Artemis? Gods, Aphrodite must hate him a lot.
He started down the corridor to the engine room. Everything was ten times more awkward after Other Leo's appearance and disappearance. The guy was obviously better off, if his Calypso was worth gushing about. He really hated it. He, after Croatia, found himself fantasizing more and more about Bianca and less and less about Jason. Save for that weird threesome wet dream. Gods, he still felt dirty for having that.
Maybe it was because he'd got it out. Jason was someone unreachable, untouchable, someone he could admire but never really date. He and Piper were the “it” couple anyways. He liked to believe that he never really liked Jason, more so the idea of. It wasn't exactly true, but it helped him get over his crush.
Wasn't like Bianca was a better alternative though. Sworn off boys and the whole nine yards. When he'd met her, during the whole Thalia/Jason reunion, she was by far the nicest Hunter towards him. Maybe it was because of her half sister, Hazel, had tagged along, but she was kind to Leo nonetheless.
Now they frequently Iris messaged. Or at least whenever they could. Iris wasn't as at war with herself than other gods were, but even still. She said that it was for her brother’s sake, since he was joining the Argo crew and she had to stay with the Hunters, but she seemed to enjoy pointless banter too.
She was beautiful. And appreciated his sense of humor. That was a big plus.
He knew from the deepest depth of his heart she couldn’t possibly be flirting. She was a Hunter of Artemis. Immortal lesbians, that’s what he thought them to be. But he still tried to charm the girl, obnoxiously so, and he didn’t know what he thought would come of it.
So, at the same time, he was kind of glad he wasn’t stuck in Other Leo’s shoes. God, he couldn’t imagine being stuck in that prophecy. Their line didn’t involve him or Jason. To hell or earth the world must fall, and that meant it was between Nico and Hazel. Piper was the one who figured out what the line meant, ironically enough. She wasn’t even a part of the prophecy, but Jason insisted on bringing his pin-up of a girlfriend everywhere. Leo hated her.
Well, maybe he wasn’t as over his crush on Jason as he’d like to believe, but he was going to believe it anyways.
Besides, Other Leo had Calypso, and he still wasn’t over seeing his best friend as a hamster or guinea pig or gerbil or whatever that psycho turned his best friend into.
Yeah, sorry lady. Not staying with someone who’s a-okay with animal cruelty. And human cruelty, to be fair.
He sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. He needed to tell Bianca about today or else she'd worry. He made a detour and headed towards the engine room. He saw, as he walked, Piper with her hand hesitating to rest on Percy's door.
His stomach twisted as per usual when he saw the girl. It started doing that when Jason asked her out in Wilderness School, even if those memories were fake. It was a mixture of jealousy and anger and sadness. Leo hated feeling jealous, it was a horrid feeling, but he couldn't help himself most times.
She looked over at him and seemed to jump back five feet. Her eyes were wide and she looked terrified. “Hey Leo?” she said, but it came out as more of a question.
“Hey, Piper…” he looked at her in confusion, anger subsiding some at her scared expression. “You okay?”
“Yeah! Yeah!” she said hurriedly, waving her hand dismissively.
He didn't have a chance to reply before she bounded up to him and then Piper's arms were around him and her head nestled on his shoulder. She murmured some form of an apology, pulled away to look him in the eyes, and stayed quiet for a moment t before saying, “I know. And it's okay.”
Then she awkwardly peeled herself away from him and scampered off down the hall, leaving Leo to feel an onslaught of emotion that he couldn't define.