Percy Appears Conveniently in a Shower

The first thing he saw was Octavian's head sewn on a teddy bear.

"Arrgh!" Percy jolted awake, not quite sure whether he hoped the dream was prophetic or not. "Woah…"

The nearer they got to Greece, the weirder the dreams got. Last night it had been Jason in a cupcake costume doing a fandango with a very stony-looking Athena. Well, maybe the stony Athena hadn't been too weird. She probably had it in for him some way or another, what with him dating her daughter and leaving her statue in the hands of a Roman, a child of Hades and a psycho satyr.

Percy got up, really not wanting to return to Octavian the Minotaur teddy. He could relieve someone of watch duty. Maybe Annabeth was up too – he hoped she was still doing alright from their stint in Greek Hell.

"Hey Frank." The huge guy was munching on a bun, crumbs trailing on his chin. He munched more prolifically in welcome. "Anyone need relieving? I'm done with sleeping."

"Yeah," Frank said and swallowed. "I could do with a kip; had to keep turning into an owl to stay awake. You know those things can turn their heads 180 degrees?"

Percy nodded.

"It's creepy. Anyway, see ya!"

The dark ocean was beautiful at night. Percy always felt a delicious rush this close to his father's domain, like the water was passing feel-good vibes some of Chiron's more distant relatives might be proud of.

"What's this?" Percy jerked as a knife pushed against his throat. "A demi-god caught off his guard?"

"You always catch me off-guard, Annabeth." He grinned and pushed the hand away to pull her into a hug. "How're you doing?"

"Fine. As always." She'd always say that too.

"You know, we could find a dark corridor or something…" For some reason, maybe the dark, maybe the entrancing sea, Percy felt really lascivious, hungry for pleasure, to kiss and take. But Annabeth looked at him like he'd just suggested they go back to Tartarus.

"Guard duty, Percy?" She tapped his chest with her blade. "What if someone attacked? We'd be distracted and the other guards probably outnumbered if we left."

"Yeah, I guess." Seriously? Jason could handle it. Leo could handle it. Hazel could barely handle her dinner, but that was normal. He and Annabeth hadn't had any real time alone since…Gods, since he'd disappeared from the Greek Camp. It pretty frustrating. Yeah, they'd spent 24/7 with each other, dying in Tartarus. But being mostly starved, dead and poisoned was not exactly a prelude to anything remotely sexy. Not that he wanted to take it too far yet, but by Aphrodite's pretty ass, there were definitely some experiences he wanted to have before he met his untimely, premature, yet completely predictable, death.

"Well we could just stay here…" He looped his arms around her waist and chest pulling her against him.

"Percy, there's a time and place," The stormy-eyed daughter of Athena smacked the hand sliding into her shirt, like he was a dog and was trying to eat its master's dinner. A stab of offense twisted in Percy's gut, killing his mood.

"Ok." The silence that followed was almost awkward. Annabeth had never been one to get super kinky in the bedroom. Maybe it was because she was the daughter of Athena and all that. She was the type for romantic love – walking along the beach, kissing underwater, being wined and dined and joked with, kissed but rarely pleasured.

"Well, I guess you shouldn't stick around me too long – I'm just horny at the moment." Percy grinned, but neither his heart nor dick was in it. Disappointment coiled in his chest. Yeah, the warm cosy love had been fine a year or so ago. But now he kinda wanted to explore more... sexually. It was horrible, all this desire burning up in him with nothing to take it out on but himself, on the odd occasion he was alone. But it was also horrible feeling like he wanted more than Annabeth. He shouldn't want more than Annabeth. But this relationship wasn't exactly the raging sex life the Greek component in him craved; his drive seemed to be as annoying as the ADHD and dyslexia had been at school. Come on - she'd pulled him through Tartarus, she was a heroine. Without her…Percy's mind wandered to Nico as Annabeth pecked his cheek in goodbye. Nico had traversed that horror alone, in a state worse than Percy's version. If he and Annabeth were heroes for making it, Nico was twice the hero they were.

"Hey Annabeth," Percy called after his girlfriend, an idea suddenly sprouting in his head. "I might go take a shower. I think I'm too -"

"Distracted to guard?" Most girls would take that as a compliment, but Percy could see she viewed it as a humorous weakness. Was it a weakness? Even if it was, it didn't really make him feel any better about himself.

"Uh, yeah." Another knife of doubt plunged into his stomach. Did she actually want him as a boyfriend or just some sort of friend with the odd benefit?

Ok, he did want to talk to Nico. The son of Hades had seemed even more angry and down the last time Percy had seen him and if they were going to very likely die in Athens, he didn't want to go out without straightening things. Little did he know how very not-straight the events of the future would be.

He checked his back pocket. They kept a store of coins for Iris messages in the ship and he'd swiped a few in case of the odd griffin or boat-explosion emergency. Righteo. A shower would give him the water-spray he needed, and then he wouldn't be lying to Annabeth either.

"Nico di Angelo…errr…Camp Half-Blood?" Percy guessed as he tossed in the coin. Would they have made it back by now? Immediately, an image swam into view…what…It was Nico, half-naked, unbuckling his heavy skull belt.

"Er, Nico?" Percy noticed the guy had replaced the skinny, gaunt appearance with a lean, muscular look. A wash of unexpected heat trickled over him. Was Percy only noticing now that the softer edges of youth had been chiselled away to reveal a rather, well, good looking guy?

"Shit!" Nico took a step back, eyes wide. Since when did Nico swear? "Percy, what in all Hades are you doing in my shower?"

"Erm…" Somehow his thoughts had blanked out. "Hazel wanted to talk to you," He blurted. What in Olympus, Percy? "Can you shadow-travel here sometime?"

"Hazel?" Nico's pitch eyes narrowed in suspicion, guarded. "Why didn't she just message me?"

The words seemed to say 'why you?'

"She's sick, real sea-sick and couldn't." What the heck was he doing? "But you should come right away."

Nico sighed and then picked up his AC\DC shirt from the tiles. "Where are you?"

Percy gave the co-ordinates, heart racing. Why was he lying to get Nico here? Was a minor god possessing him for a convoluted reason to get Nico on the ship? It didn't feel like it. he guessed he...just really wanted to talk to the kid.

"Er, don't come to her room, she wanted to stay higher in the boat." Percy improvised. If Nico turned up at Hazel's room asking what she wanted, then he'd look like a complete idiot to everyone. Gods, he felt like a complete idiot. "She's in my room."

A black look flashed across that defined pale face, and Percy swore he could feel the room chill even at this distance.

"What is she doing in your room?" Those black-yellow eyes were flinty. Percy son, that had probably not been the best thing to say.

"Um, Frank just took her there, I don't know!" He shrugged, lying his demi-god ass off. Obviously, he didn't have the talents of Hermes-kin because Nico still eyed him with distaste. The last thing Percy wanted was Nico getting jealous of him and any closeness with Hazel. Not that there was that much really.

"On my way." Nico's tone was steely and he shrugged the shirt back over those lithe, muscular shoulders. Percy felt a strange pang of disappointment when the cloth hid the flesh. This guy had obviously been working out. Why did he care so much?

Twenty minutes later and Percy was in a doze filled with Nico in stilettos. He'd just propped himself up on his bed and waited, anticipation keeping him awake until exhaustion mastered it.

"Where is she?" Holy Hera's cows! Percy had his hand on his sword before he even recognized Nico's low voice. When had this guy's voice broken? Maybe he'd broken it yelling at his dad.

"Who, what -" Percy glanced at Nico and then remembered. Zeus' pants. He had some explaining to do.

"Where is my sister, Jackson." Nico's voice grated and it felt like the son of Hades was building a physical wall between them.

"Erm…I lied." He tried a comic smile, but Nico raised a dark eyebrow. "She didn't want to talk to you, in fact, she doesn't even know you're here. I, um, kinda wanted to talk to you."

"You called me all the way here, after lugging that two-ton statue halfway across the world with no rest and my sister doesn't even need me?" Nico snarled. "Why then, do you feel the need to call me like a fucking dog?"

Percy flinched at the unexpected curse. "I wanted to talk to you. We didn't part on good terms and you're a good friend, Nico."

"If I'd have known you wanted to talk to me, I would have stayed away." The black-haired demi-god muttered, and suddenly Percy felt both hurt and offended.

"Nico, what in all Olympus have I done to make you so angry with me, huh?" Percy ranted hotly, blood racing. "All you do is scowl and act like ice around me and I'm just trying to be nice. What do you want from me? Huh?"

Nico didn't meet his gaze for a moment, but when he answered his voice was softer. "Just stay out of my way. That's all I need."

Percy felt like slapping him for a second, but the strange Greek part of his brain stopped him completely. He had an impulsive urge to grab those hunching shoulder and kiss some sense into that kid. The conflict ended up in him giving a slight twitch and probably looking like a mad harpy. He didn't really want to kiss Nico, did he? No. Just...stress was getting to him, that was it.

"No, I won't, because you don't get it. I care about you." Yeah, he did. No matter what weird images his brain was filtering through at the moment. His mind felt hot with something like battle-rage, but less angry. He felt reckless, like the frustration at everything – Annabeth, himself, Gaia, Nico, the ridiculous expectations of the gods and this whole war – was clawing to vent.

"I need to sleep. And then I'm going back to Camp-Half Blood." Nico finished sharply, glancing around, anywhere but Percy's eyes.

"Take my bed, I'm not using it."

"No." The reply was almost too quick. "There are spare quarters downstairs."

"No – no, not anymore." Another lie! Why was he doing this? "Leo expanded some machinery. Only the essential rooms are left."

Nico's jaw twitched and Percy could tell he was clenching his teeth. What was so wrong with his bed?

"I won't be in here, I've got guard duty." The rush wasn't passing. In fact, heat prickled down his spine as he looked at the slender figure in his dimly lit room. What the Hades was happening with him? Was he sex-mad or feverish or something?

"Fine." Nico said flatly, but it sounded like 'get out'. What had he done to rub this guy up so wrongly? The sentence in his head gave him a mental image that made his cock give an unexpected twitch. What would Nico look like fully naked? What would kissing be like with a guy? Different? What noises would Nico make, if any? Annabeth was pretty quiet, which kind of made him feel insecure of his abilities, he saw in hindsight. Percy, a logical voice warned. What in the name of Poseidon are you thinking?

He had a girlfriend. A wonderful girlfriend. And Nico certainly didn't want anything like that – he was still dosing Percy with slicing retorts. He'd probably punch him to Bemuda if Percy kissed him. And he didn't fancy ending up in the Sea of Monsters again.

"K. I'm sorry for calling you pointlessly." Percy, for the third time that night felt unsatisfied, both by the fact he hadn't managed to clear up their spat and his sexual aggression.

"Yeah." Nico's eyes were glassy with exhaustion. Percy left the man to sleep, but as he walked out, he had a sudden urge to look back through the window into his room. Nico was sitting on his bed, face in his hands, murmuring to himself. His back was huddled in a dejected kind of way and Percy swore he was trying to control his breathing. What was up with Nico? Was he sick or just humongously tired? He turned away, puzzling it over. Hazel was safe. The other demi-gods were safe. Maybe Hades was grumping at him? Nah, they'd made their peace. What the heck was wrong?

A/N: Hello and welcome to the new updated version of this fanfic! If you liked the older version, I still have it on file and can send it to you, but hopefully it has improved c: I'd love to hear feedback! :)