𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟹𝙴𝟼: 𝙵𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚜

"It was one time!" Frank protests.

"I thought there was the time you pummeled into that girl on Brooklyn's defense?" Piper teases.

"I thought you were really good in that game," Hazel says.

"No, no, that was her own fault!" Frank says. "Her brother was supposed to play, but she took his uniform and snuck on the ice. Damn, I ran into her and she just flew across the rink..." He chuckles as he recalls what the New Roman Times dubbed 'Kane-Gate.'

"Aww, are you gonna cry about it?" one of the Valhalla students teases.

Grover mumbles to Juniper, "Let's get out of here."

Percy can't take this anymore. "I'm going to kill those assholes."

"No, you're not," Jason says.

"Bro, you see how they're talking to Grover and his girlfriend. That's messed up."

"Bro, I get you, but Valhalla students are unhinged. Just let this one go-"

"Hey!" Percy shouts anyway. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" He gets off the couch and marches over to the foosball table.

The guy with the green hair punches Magnus on the shoulder and points at Percy. "Come to get clapped too?"

"Pop! Pop!"

Percy crosses his arms. "Come off it, Magnus, I know you can say more than that."

"How's this?" Magnus asks. "Eat my shorts!"

"Good one, Maggie!" Green-Hair high-fives his friend.

Wait. Percy knows that guy. "Hey, you were at my Super Bowl party!"

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. I go to a lot of parties, and I get hammered at all of them!"

"Pop! Pop!" Magnus adds.

Now it's coming back to Percy. These guys came to his party with some other Valhalla students in tow and supplied beer to the Mars Coed Fraternity. That was the first time Percy met Magnus, and his... significant other, who introduced himself with his name and pronouns.

"Alright," says Percy. "Before I trash talk you, I need to know your pronouns."

The green-haired kid extends a hand. "Alex Fierro, remember? 'Cause I don't! She/her for the time being."

"For the time being..." Percy mutters. "Do you have like, a bracelet or something so I know if that changes or am I just supposed to ask every hour or so?" He reaches to accept Alex's handshake.

"Sike!" Alex shouts, pulling her hand away. "I like to keep people on their toes." She gives him finger guns.

"And you are?" Magnus asks.

"Percy," he says through gritted teeth. "He/him/his. Now, can you take this clown act back to Valhalla and leave my friends alone? Some of us are trying to study."

"Aww," Alex teases. "The nerd boy needs to study."

"Pop, pop," Magnus says sadly.

Alex rakes a hand through her unruly green hair. "I'll tell you what—if you can score on us, we'll never use your table again."

Magnus tries to hide a smirk.

This is a trick. Percy can lose some of his dignity by walking away or lose all of his dignity by playing Alex and Magnus in foosball without a teammate, but who's he supposed to ask? None of his friends have taken an interest in the foosball table for the whole hour this nonsense has gone on, so Percy's all on his own for this.