There was no dramatic breakup or anything. Percy didn't have much experience at breakups, but he was pretty sure that this one went pretty well – no yelling, no tears, no angry demanding.

He supposed it was weird for him to care so much when he was the one to end their relationship, but he never wanted to hurt her. This didn't change anything, or at least not the things that mattered. Annabeth was still the person he met at the age of twelve, the day he arrived to camp, and learned to trust more than anyone. The girl he's known for seven whole years, the one he fought alongside in every possible life-threatening situation and who backed him up in two different wars, who worried herself sick and set out to search for him when he got kidnapped by Hera. Most of all, she was still the one he thought of while the poisonous waters of the river Styx were sucking his life right out of him.

Just not the person he wanted to share his bed with.

He told her exactly that, except for the last sentence; predictably, he got stuck around the 'Just not…' part, unable to think of a way to tactfully complete his explanation.

Annabeth let out a shaky little laugh and looked at him, or rather, in his direction. Her gray eyes never actually met his own, and she soon returned to staring at the calm water.

He expected her to ask why, or maybe who, but that was probably stupid of him. She was, after all, the camp's resident wise girl. He should've known that she'd have noticed already – for all he knew, maybe she suspected it before even he did. He couldn't tell whether it was incredibly sadistic or incredibly masochistic of her when she asked him to tell her everything, but he was the one in the process of breaking her heart, so there was no place for asking questions.

So he didn't.

He told her everything from the beginning. How he used to think of Nico as something of an annoying younger brother, feeling responsible for him after Bianca's death but also getting the urge to strangle him every so often. The son of Hades was just a child at the time, and Percy didn't think about him 'that way' until much later.

He wasn't sure when exactly it happened. There probably was no specific moment to speak of, but at some point, a year or two after the war against Gaea, Percy realized bit by bit that he crossed the limit between wanting to protect the kid into just wanting him.

As dumb as it seemed to him now, back then he didn't think much of it. If you spend enough time surrounded by real-life Greek myths, it starts to take a lot to truly disturb you – parental incest, perhaps, or plain old rape, but not the idea of being bisexual. It's just that there was a difference between demonstratively ignoring that little voice in the back of your mind, dismissing the little shivers you get from brushing by that person in a hallway or something, and actually doing it.

Percy never meant to cross that line. Quite frankly, he never even considered it, and the idea that Nico might want it too never even crossed his-

Annabeth cut him off at this point, remarking in what probably should've been a teasing tone that it was just like him to 'never even consider it', and anyway, how dense must he have been to miss all the blushing and looking away Nico has been doing lately?

Apparently very dense, as Percy agreed with a laugh. He saw what Annabeth was trying to do: to ignore the issue, pretend that this didn't get her as much as it really did. The least he could do was play along. Then he added, quietly, that he never, ever considered crossing that line.

It just kinda happened.

His alleged denseness was probably the main reason. He almost automatically assumed that Nico saw him as a cousin-friend-comrade-whatever, and that being alone in a motel room in the middle of that quest last week would amount to exactly that much. Sitting on the same bed with a bunch of papers that neither of them could read without getting a headache didn't end well.

Annabeth looked at him with an expression that managed, almost artistically, to balance astonishment, disappointment and oh-my-gods-why, and asked, while trying her best to dance around the topic and never use those exact words, whether he slept with Nico.

Percy was lucky he hadn't been drinking anything that moment (That was, of course, just a figure of speech. He wouldn't actually get wet it he were to spit on himself, but it would still be pretty gross). The nineteen year old demigod almost frantically explained that nothing happened but a single kiss, and that the only reason he did it was that he had no idea what was going on at the time, and that he would never, ever – and ugh, anyway, Nico wasn't even sixteen yet, and...

…And well, he never wanted to hurt Annabeth. The only reason he told her all of this now was that he didn't think he had any right to keep it from her.

The daughter of Athena hissed something along the lines of 'like hell you don't' and stared at the water some more. Then she reminded Percy for the thousandth time or so why exactly he appreciated her so much when she said, once again in much more words than necessary, that it was still better than him pretending for her. No, of course she wouldn't want that; she just wished he'd have broken up with her first and only then went around kissing other people.

She got up from her place of the small boat and hugged him.

Then she slapped him really, really hard. And left.

As he said, the breakup went pretty well.

Nico stood in the doorway to his cabin, leaving just enough space between the black door and its frame for his face to be visible. His dark eyes were wandering back and forth from his very uninteresting shoes to the inside of his cabin; anywhere but Percy.

The older demigod thought Nico might've been avoiding eye contact with him for over a week – ever since that happened – but it was hard to tell for sure, because he's been doing the same thing. It was quite lame, really.

"What do you want?" the boy murmured. "If Chiron wants something, then-"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you," Percy said way too quickly. Here went his attempt to sound casual.

"About what?"

"You know what."

Nico considered it for a second and let Percy inside. "If it's about Annabeth, I know it was my fault, so-"

Percy cut him off. "I broke up with her," he said.

Perhaps saying it just like that was the right thing to do, because now Nico did look at him. Then again, it was sort of awkward, and the younger demigod looked more confused than happy. Probably. It was always hard to tell with Nico.

When the boy answered, it sounded almost like a complaint: "What'd you do that for?"

Percy wasn't sure what he expected. It's not like he usually decided what to say in a conversation based on how the other party was likely to react. That was a very Annabeth-like approach, and seemed a bit like overkill to him, but under these circumstances, he figured that maybe he should've given his words some thought after all.

Because now he didn't have the shred of an idea what to say. It would've been nice if he could just say 'Because I love you' without dying on the spot (Cause of death: Embarrassment). "'Cause, uh… Well, it just didn't…" Percy started incoherently.

"Didn't feel right?" Nico suggested, staring at his shoes – which were black, oh so surprisingly – once again. Percy would've paid much more notice to how cute Nico looked right now if he hadn't been busy being all embarrassed himself. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

Nico shrugged and looked even further down. His hair, just as dark as Percy's but longer, covered half of his face in a way that would've probably looked creepy to others. Not to Percy, though, because he was way too used to the kid's aura of doom. Or because he was in love with him. "Doesn't matter. I mean, I know you love her, so I'm sorry for… for messing it up. I mean, just forget about it."

And here Percy was, believing that he was dense. Then again, he was the older one by almost four years, so Nico had the better excuse. Apparently, he somehow managed to decide that it was all his fault and that he was the one who kissed Percy, ruining his relationship in the process. The green-eyed demigod was at a loss of words at the moment; Nico looked so damn adorable that he wanted little more than to hug him and make it all better.

But of course, Nico wasn't the kind of person to buy sweet-talk just like that. He wasn't the kind of person to buy any kind of talk, unless it included a threat or something. Percy leaned in instead, his lips almost-touching Nico's ear as he quietly stated: "Not. Your. Fault."

Nico shuddered, and though he probably tried to argue, all he managed to get out was a sharp breath. Percy took the fact that he didn't get punched, kicked or strangled by some lone shadow as a 'go ahead' and landed a kiss on the boy's lips.

The first time, back when they were on their routine quest, happened almost by mistake, and Percy pulled away after a single moment.

This time, he didn't have to.

He slid a hand around Nico's neck, gently pushing him against the closed door, deepening the kiss. Nico kind-of hugged Percy, his fingers tugging at the cloth of his shirt. The boy reacted far too quickly, too much, his eyes darker than Percy remembered them. Percy made a mental note to laugh about him later, but somehow, he was convinced that he wouldn't remember.

Nico looked didn't quite pull away as he asked in a muffled voice: "Percy… are you for real?"

"No," Percy said in what should have been cunning sarcasm but really wasn't, "I'm imaginary."

"Good to know. So what do we do now?"

"Whatever it is, we don't do it here. I doubt your father would be happy about it." Now that he thought about it, quite a few gods would take offense to the fact that the strongest children of Poseidon and Hades decided to hook up. He'd think about that way, way later.

Nico landed another soft kiss on Percy's lips and said, "Oh. Right. Your cabin?"

"Yeah, I think my dad wouldn't mind."