Yep, we've already got a place sorted out! Well actually we kinda already slept in each other's rooms last night, but you know what I mean," said the Latino boy as he glanced at Percy nervously and then quickly added: "I mean you don't gotta worry if you weren't expecting us to share a room tonight. We won't mind if you want to sleep by yourself tonight."
Percy chuckled quietly and shook his head. "It's okay, I don't mind sharing with either one of you. I mean, you already shared an apartment with Jason. And you've got your own room here too, so you can take your pick. Just give me a second and I'll show you around." With that, Percy disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, coming back after a few minutes to grab a pen and some paper. He wrote down a series of numbers that looked similar to the one that he had given Nico before. He then handed it to the daughter of Pluto and grinned sheepishly at her. "Here, I hope that you won't mind using this as your dorm key. Since you are going to be in the same building with us all year, I figured that it would be best if you could get it now rather than later…"
Nico nodded and grabbed the piece of paper from him. He put the number on the back of her hand for convenience sake and smiled as she tucked the note into her pocket. She took Percy's hand and squeezed it lightly. "Don't worry. You don't have anything to worry about." Then, she winked at him before letting go and heading to sit beside him at the table.
Percy laughed softly, blushing slightly as he watched her walk away. He didn't know how he felt about having a crush like this on a girl who was supposed to be his sister. Not that there was anything wrong with it; it was just unexpected. And kind of weird. At least, that was something he hadn't really experienced much of in his life. After a quick moment to calm himself and catch up on his thoughts, Percy returned to the task at hand. He pulled out a new sheet of paper and started scribbling the basic info that he needed out. Once he had finished filling the blank spaces with numbers and letters and other things of little importance, he turned to look over at the girls and found them smiling knowingly at him again. "What? Did I do something funny? I'm sorry if I did."
"Just wondering how long it will take you to start liking someone," Nico admitted casually, sipping the coffee that they had brought in along with some hot cocoa. She set the mug down and gave Percy an expectant look, leaning against the counter in front of him.
Percy groaned and buried his face in his hands, knowing very well what that question implied. "Oh gods, I thought that we were past these sorts of conversations already."
"We are, trust me," Nico assured him, patting Percy on the back lightly. "And I promise not to tell anyone that you told me about your crush. If you don't want people to know who she is, that's fine. But if you decide to start dating her or whatever… you might want to let someone else take care of telling her."
Percy frowned thoughtfully and stared into space a minute, still thinking. Finally, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah you're right. I'll keep that in mind, thanks Nico." He pushed his plate toward her when she sat down across from him, motioning vaguely towards the food. "Eat more than you think you are gonna need. Besides, I doubt my mom is gonna let me get off of cleaning the house until lunchtime, so I guess we might as well eat."
Nico giggled at his response and leaned forward to kiss his cheek briefly. As soon as she pulled back though, she went silent once more. She looked up as Percy continued eating, watching him curiously for several moments. Eventually, though, her curiosity got the better of her, causing her to speak. "So, who is this mystery lady? Is she a friend of yours?"
Percy rolled his eyes and smiled fondly. "Not exactly. Her name is Annabeth, and yes, she is definitely a close friend. That's why I wanted your help."
"Well, why does she need your help?"
"Because she doesn't always make it obvious that she knows that you're friends with me. So it seems prudent for me to keep track of who you might be talking to." Percy picked up his water glass and drained it. His expression darkened as he sighed, setting it back down heavily onto the table. "If only that stupid prophecy wouldn't come true, at least I could pretend that you two weren't friends while you pretended that you weren't trying to break up with me." He grumbled bitterly under his breath, making Nico wince sympathetically.
She reached across the table and grasped his wrist gently, turning his hand palm side up between both of hers. "I'm really sorry Percy. I never wanted to do that to you. But even though I know that you feel guilty about the whole thing, it wasn't your fault, you know." She pressed her lips together, squeezing his fingers gently. "Besides, I don't even blame you for wanting to break up with me."
The boy shook his head adamantly and leaned closer to her, dropping his voice to barely a whisper. "That's just not true. There's something I need to talk to you about."
Nico blinked, surprised by the sudden change in topic. "Okay."
He drew back from their clasped hands and stood, taking his plate to the sink. He washed and rinsed it quickly before returning to the living room. As he sat down in one of the chairs facing the couch where Annabeth and Piper sat, his nerves began to build once more. This part was always tricky to say and sometimes harder than others. But eventually, he spoke. "Uh, so I've noticed that you two haven't been spending very much time alone lately. I mean, we're always hanging out, but I'd still like you guys to meet my friend…"
A moment passed and Nico raised her eyebrows expectantly. Percy cleared his throat awkwardly and looked over at Piper, who shrugged almost imperceptibly. "Um, anyways… She's pretty cool. You guys should definitely hang out with her sometime. She's not the best at keeping secrets either, so if she tells anyone what you two have been doing behind our backs…"
Annabeth glared at her boyfriend. "You promised not to mention our activities outside the dorms anymore!"
"But I did! Don't tell me that I shouldn't have warned the people that we have to worry about what people might think if they find out. They aren't going to listen to me anyway since we already made a pact to protect our identities… which we did!"
"We didn't make any deals with whoever this 'we' person is yet," Annabeth countered calmly, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. "Besides, how am I going to explain to the rest of our classmates why there are two people inside that dorm? We have to tell them that we are staying in separate rooms to avoid attracting attention. What if someone asks? What if someone sees through us because we are wearing different uniforms? How the heck do you think that they are going to take our relationship seriously without even meeting the person that we are supposedly together with?"
Piper nodded vigorously, agreeing with their argument. "Annabeth may have a point. Even if no one else suspects us and our relationship is actually working, if someone does notice us sneaking around the place at night or during classes, everyone's gonna think that we have some sort of relationship problems that require more supervision and a couple months of training. And that is the last thing that we want them to believe. We cannot afford another war just because we were careless about the secret relationship that we keep up."
"Alright. Fine." Percy ran a hand through his hair, trying his best to contain his frustration. "We will figure everything out, but it will take time. For now, we need to focus on the most important things first. We can worry about everything else once the camp trip is done. Alright? Now we need to finish getting ready so that we can leave for our bus soon.