Escape from camp half blood

Chapter3

Things started off well the next day, or at least they did in Percy's opinion. Everything was going normally, which was how he needed it to be. He didn't avoid Nico, but made sure not to seek him out any more than he had back during winter break, and he spent plenty of time with Annabeth, and it seemed like she had actually started to put her suspicions that something fishy was going on with Nico and Percy aside.

Then dinner happened.

It started off smoothly, with Percy sitting by himself at the Poseidon table, Nico sitting by himself at the Hades table, and everyone else sitting with their half-brothers and half-sisters at all their respective tables, in accordance with the camp's rules. But Percy couldn't help but notice how lonely Nico looked during the meal. He'd noticed last night as well, but hadn't thought much further on it, but after the IM he'd gotten from Bianca the previous evening, Percy now started to wonder when the last time Nico had a meal with his family had been.

Sunday dinners at the Blofis-Jackson residence aside, since they were extended family, and Nico had an immediate family. He just couldn't have dinner with them because they were all in the Underworld, and everyone knew the rules about Underworld food. If you ate it, you could never leave. That kind of ruled out family dinners for Nico.

And that was sad. Percy had always loved it when he and his mother had the chance to have meals together, just the two of them, and more recently now with Paul, since he had become a welcome addition to their family. The years that they'd been stuck with Smelly Gabe had made what Percy thought of as 'real' family dinners few and far between, which might have been what made Percy appreciate them so much. But whatever the reason Percy had always thought that eating with your family was something special. And until now he hadn't really given much thought to how that didn't apply to Nico.

He was out of his seat, with his cup of blue Coke in one hand, and his plate in the other before he realized what he was doing, and where he was going. But even as he realized it, he didn't hesitate, or even think about turning around. Nico looked up in surprise, his lips actually forming an O when Percy sat down on the bench across from him.

"Percy? What are you doing?" asked Nico, looking surprised, hopeful, and anxious all at once.

"Mind if I join you?" asked Percy in return. "I don't really feel like eating alone again tonight, and you seem to have some room at your table."

"Yeah, but . . ." Nico glanced around. Several other campers had seen Percy take a seat at the Hades table and they were pointing it out to their brothers and sisters, or watching to see what this development would lead to. "It's against the rule . . ." said Nico softly, as though by keeping his voice down he might keep Chiron or Mr. D from calling them out for this infraction.

"It's not hurting anything," said Percy, trying a practical approach. "Besides, I don't think it's written down anywhere. If Chiron has a problem, or Mr. D cares enough to get off his butt and make me move, then I'll move. Until then, it's better to ask forgiveness than permission."

Nico perked up a bit, his anxiousness seeping away. "I like that philosophy."

Percy made it a point not to look Chiron's way. He didn't want to make eye contact, because Chiron might shake his head or point back at the Poseidon table, and then Percy would have to get up and leave. So it was better just to act like he didn't think he was doing anything wrong, and if anyone had a problem with it, they could come over and fix it themselves.

Besides, he knew he made the right decision when Nico immediately began filling the silence with casual chatter. Nothing too serious and none of their banned topics were brought up, but like the happy ten-year-old Percy had first met several years ago, it seemed that Nico had a lot to say. For his part, Percy was able to keep up the conversation well too. Beach week seemed like a fifty-fifty shot right now, he let Nico know, and it would probably come down to whether or not he got decent grades. And no, he didn't want Nico taking his Italian quizzes for him, because his teachers would definitely notice that a shrimpy twelve-year-old didn't belong in their classes, but setting a prism on his desk during his exam, "for luck" might be a good idea as long as Rachel didn't find out.