Friends With Mental Issues (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

The Mysterious Mr. D

   After his practically heart-breaking encounters with Hazel and Annabeth, Percy didn't really feel like being a therapist anymore. It sucked, seeing these people who were so cool (sometimes) break down and cry, so he instead befriended them over the next couple of weeks.

   It wasn't all that hard, making friends here. Which kind of worried Percy, but he tried to push that aside on most days. Percy found himself talking with Grover, the guy he'd thrown a coffee cup at (on accident), during his 'breaks,' and spending a lot of time with the seven. Even Reyna wasn't that hard to talk to anymore. Well, kind of.

   "Percy, are you even trying to do your job?" Reyna scolded, placing her hands on her hips. She had just walked in on the seven and Percy playing a rather lively game of Myth-o-magic, which turned out to be Percy's favorite card game.

   He winced and the other people in the room froze. "Um... Yes?" She raised a critical eyebrow at Percy, and he winced again. "Okay, maybe not. But I don't want to be a therapist," he whined. To Percy's complete surprise, Reyna sighed, sitting down beside Hazel, who politely made room for her.

   It looked almost as if she was about to scold them, but then she sighed again, gathering some cards for her to use. "I must warn you," she said, giving them all a tired, yet devious, grin, "I am quite good at this game."

   Leo scoffed. "I bet you aren't as good as Nico. He's like the king of this game." Reyna frowned, shaking her head.

   "I don't think so." Nico, who had been lazily scanning his cards, looked up, narrowing his eyes.

   "Want to bet?" he asked, nothing but determination in his voice. It was kind of entertaining. Collectively, everyone but Reyna and Nico put down their cards, knowing this would be a one on one battle.

    "Sure," Reyna said, grinning. "What do you want if you win?" Nico thought for a second, a twinkle in his eyes.

   "Coffee. Caffeinated. Every morning. For a week. What about you?" Reyna leaned back a bit, looking up at the ceiling. It kind of interested Percy, he had no idea what Reyna might want, but he was eager to find out.

   Finally, she spoke up, surprising pretty much everyone in the group with her answer. "I want to be able to hang out here whenever I have my breaks," she said, not looking down from the ceiling. Nico didn't even look the least bit shocked. He just waved his hand.

   "You are already able to, you don't need to ask permission for that. What else?" Percy thought he saw a hint of a smile tug at Reyna's lips, and he found himself smiling, too. Reyna thought for a second longer, but shook her head.

   "There's nothing else." Nico frowned, placing his elbows on his crossed legs.

   "There's got to be something."

   "There isn't."

   "It can be anything."

   Reyna thought for another second, tapping her finger to her lips. "Fine. If you are so insistent. Behave when Mr. D comes tomorrow." There were gasps and Percy looked around, but no one seemed to understand that Chiron had barely told Percy anything about this place. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath while Nico thought it over.

   "Deal." Leo gave a screech from across the room. Along with Piper.

   "No, Nico! I want to do the Diet Coke thing to him again!" Piper yelled, looking like she might punch someone. Leo whined along with her, both of them looking like it was the end of the world.

   But Nico just ignored them. And the game began.

~~~

   Five hours later, Nico and Reyna had made a total of ten ties. And Piper kept whining every ten seconds that she was bored. Jason looked so confused throughout the entire time. Leo was watching the match intently. Frank and Hazel were playing patty-cake and other hand games related to that. Annabeth was looking at Percy, with an amused expression on her face, as Percy tried to balance a muffin on the tip of his nose.