"Sir, sir, I had to be impolite but you need to stay out here so we can do our job. We can't do anything for your friend unless you stay out here."

"But-"

"Please do not argue with me sir!"

"I need to-"

"You do not need to, you simply want to. Now stay out here."

---

Percy woke to the gentle knock at his door and a soft "Percy?"

Percy slowly opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling above. He took in a deep breath before glancing around. A plain hospital room.

Well he figured he could have either been in hell or heaven. Hell because he was sure heaven didn't hurt this much.

Slowly he sat up, his eyes landing on Nico at the doorway, his hair falling down in front of his eyes.

"I..." Nico stared at him. "Bianca..."

Percy sat up, watching him.

Nico heaved a sigh and walked over to Percy.

"Why'd you try to leave?" he whispered, sitting down in a chair that was placed by his bed.

Percy looked down at the bed then glanced back up at Nico.

Nico held out a pen and a pad.

Slowly Percy took them, writing something down.

'Why'd you save me?' he wrote before turning it around for Nico to see. 'I was fine with dying.'

"Well I wasn't fine with you dying." Nico snapped. "You can't just quit, you can't just give up."

Percy ripped off the old piece of paper off the pad of paper before quickly writing down on a new one, crumpling the older piece into a ball and throwing it at Nico's face as he turned around what he wrote.

'Watch me.'

"I'm not letting you die! You die I die there there's that deal! IF YOU GIVE UP I'LL GIVE UP AS WELL!"

Percy threw the pad and pen at Nico and moved away from him, crossing his arms and looking away.

"No, no you look at me. Listen to me, Percy! You need to get out of this rut, and it's not as easy as it sounds but you need to try! Fight it! You're so close to the edge, you're practically hanging off of it, but hang on. Hang on for just a little while longer! You can't let go."

Percy held up the 'Watch me.' again.

"Would you stop saying that! You have a friend, you have an ally to help you. You have multiple allies now. You are not alone! If you died we would care and we'd make sure the whole freaking school, no, the whole freaking country cared! So try, just for a little while! Don't push me away. I'm here. I am here, and I'm ready to help you up. I am here for you! I will always be here! Trust me, please. I'll do anything to help you see you can trust me and that I'm here for you."

Percy glanced around, his hands gently closing around the notepad and pen again. 

'You have it so easy...'

"It's harder then it looks." Nico murmured softly.

'Doubtful.'

"Oh what do you know?" Nico chuckled softly, leaning back in his chair.

Percy blinked, pausing for a second. An idea popped into his head. A small idea. A tiny idea. A stupid idea.

Nico smirked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Percy tilted his head.

"How about... we switch places for a day? I'll see how hard it is being you, you see how hard it is being me. It'd be fun!"

'Or a total disaster.'

"Oh what do you know?"

'Is that your new catchphrase?'

"Gosh I give you a pen and a notepad and you become as chatty as a fly."

'Flies don't-'

Nico grabbed the notepad before he could finish the full note. 

"Nuh uh, you've lost your notepad privileges."

Percy took Nico's arm and started writing on it.

"N- hey!" Nico grabbed the pen and threw it in a random direction. "Now you lost your pen privileges. Whatever, I'm getting some food. Want some?" he stood up.

Percy shook his head.

"Wrong answer, the correct answer is..." Nico nodded frantically.

Percy rolled his eyes but put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Good." Nico smiled at him before heading back.

A couple of minutes later Nico returned with a whole tray of food. Part of it on his shirt.

Percy pointed to Nico's shirt.

"Food fight in the hospital cafeteria." Nico said casually, sitting down next to him. "Always good to start off with fruit or vegetables." he handed Percy a bowl full of somethings.

Percy looked down at the blue circles, slowly picking one up and staring at it.

"You gonna eat them or stare at them?" Nico teased

Slowly Percy popped the blueberry into his mouth before gradually making his way through the whole bowl.

About the whole time Nico was watching him in amusement. What was so wondrous about a few blueberries.

Once Percy was done he set the bowl down and looked at Nico.

Nico gave a small, benign smile. "You full?"

Percy nodded.

"Well, guess I can't argue for anything more. How about you stop by my house tomorrow and we can figure out how to do that switch thing. I'd say tonight buuut they insist on keeping you here longer."

Before Percy could answer a bunch of screaming came from the hallways and the door practically got knocked down.

"PERCY!" Bianca burst through the door. "WHERE IS HE- NICO MOVE!"

A girl stormed past Bianca, pushing her aside and pushing Nico out of the chair and sitting down.

She stared Percy down intently before flicking him in the forehead.

Percy quickly scooted away from her, rubbing his forehead and frowning in mock hurt.

"He's fine, Bianca you can chill!" Thalia exclaimed.

"Ow...." Bianca and Nico whined in unison.

"Oh man up you two!"

Selena smiled in amusement, helping Bianca up.

Calypso chuckled and walked over to Thalia and Nico, yanking Nico up onto his feet.

"Whew. Thanks Calypso." Nico said.

And Thalia just pushed them over again.

"Ow!" Calypso groaned. "Dangit Nico get off me!" she pushed him away and got up.

Nico yelped, getting up as he fell to try to balance himself, but he only ended up falling onto Percy.

"Ughhhh." Nico groaned, closing his eyes.

Percy patted his head.

"Oh hey guess who's coming!" Bianca grinned.

"Who?" Selena asked, sitting down in another chair in the room.

"Our step sister." Bianca hummed. "She's awesome. Hasn't been around much though..."

"...Well that was random." Thalia blinked. "Anyway, Perce, you excited to get out of here? P- Percy! Stop fawning over your boyfriend!"

Percy's head snapped to hers and he stared at her, his mouth agape.

Nico quickly sat up, falling off the other end of the bed.

"Not, boyfriend!" Nico exclaimed.

"Please you two should just get a room already." Bianca said.

"Well they had gotten a room." Thalia smirked, gesturing around them. "But we interrupted them."

"Ooh, good point, we'll leave you two alone then!" Selena hummed.

"N-no! T-that's not-" Nico poked his head above the bed, looking at all of them.

"You saying you wouldn't date Percy?"

"I- n- wait- I-" A small whine escaped his lips and he slowly sunk to the floor again.

Percy meanwhile had proceeded to sink underneath the hospital covers.

"I ship it." Selena giggled.

"Well we weren't kidding about having to go. Dance things to attend to." Bianca smiled. "Bye you guys!"

The girls all filed out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

Nico slowly looked up at Percy as he poked his head back out of the covers.

"So uhm. Tomorrow?"

Percy nodded slightly.

"Cool. I'm uhm, I'll uh... I'ma... go..."

Percy waved goodbye as Nico stumbled nervously towards the door, giving a sheepish smile before exiting the room.

---

Slowly Percy knocked on the door to Nico's house, a loud screech of 'I GOT IT' coming from inside.

But when the door opened it wasn't Nico Percy was looking at. Instead it was this frizzy haired, brown eyed girl.

"Oh. Hi." the girl smiled. "You must be Percy. Nico told me you were coming over." she held out her hand.

 "Nice to meet you." 

Percy glanced at her hand, then back at her.

Hazel blinked, smiling nervously.

Hesitantly Percy reached out and gently shook her hand before quickly retracting his own hand only a couple of seconds later.

"Uhm..."

"Hazel! Hazel I said I had it!" Nico whined as he zoomed up behind her. He froze in his tracks, seeming to grasp the awkward situation rather quickly.

"Oh, this is uhm, this is Percy. Remember? He doesn't really talk..."

Realization dawned in her eyes and she gasped, covering her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean..."

"It's fine." Nico murmured after glancing at Percy, who, didn't seem very bothered by the fact that she made such a mistake.

Hazel smiled bashfully as she lowered her hands. "Um- I uh, I guess I'll leave you guys to it then."

Seeming to gain a bit of her confidence back she patted Nico on the back and said, "Hope you score."

She smiled and waved before quickly scurrying off to another part of the house.

Percy looked at Nico, tilting his head.

"Don't... ask." Nico coughed. "Sorry, sorry, I've been keeping you out there this whole time. Come on in." he stepped aside and Percy walked inside the house, looking around.

"That was my step sister Hazel by the way. Bianca was talking about her yesterday. She's staying with us for awhile. Great sister. Little quirky." Nico smiled, closing the door behind Percy. "Come on upstairs, I'll show you what I've worked out so far."

Percy nodded, following Nico up the stairs.

Nico let Percy into his room and closed the door behind the both of them. So far he had worked out the clothes Percy was going to wear, and for his eyes he could just wear sunglasses. It was normal for Nico and the teachers usually didn't care.

This was such a ridiculous idea. There were so many flaws and holes and things that could go wrong. They'd probably fail right off the bat. But maybe... they looked similar enough to at least get away with it for about five minutes. They had the same kind of pale complexion, though Nico was sure he remembered Percy as a more tanner person. They were about the same height with Percy being an inch or so taller, and their facial structure was even kind of similar.

Percy looked at Nico questionably.

"Don't worry, I came prepared." Nico said, not realizing how that could be translated.

Lucky for Nico and his 'dignity' Percy took note of how it sounded, and he just started at Nico, waiting for him to get it.

"...What?" Nico blinked.

A smile appeared on Percy's lips and he crossed his arms in a 'really?' way.

"I don't get it! All I said was I ca- oh."

The smile on Percy's lips grew wider and he gave Nico a thumbs up.

"Well....." Nico coughed awkwardly. "I... didn't.... know..."

Percy patted his shoulder.

"...Thanks."

Percy pointed to the bag on the bed.

"...This just got a whole lot more awkward." Nico muttered. "It's stuff for hair. So we can make our hair look... like... each other's... u-um... c-can we forget this happened?"

His friend pretended to think for a moment before nodding.

"S-so uh, I was thinking we could go like, half a day or something?" Nico said. "As each other. Then like, the reason why I, you, I, well, you as I, wouldn't be talking is because I'd have this weird throat disease that you can't talk with. The uh... Larryines, no, uh.... Laryngitis!"

Percy simply nodded again.

"Is nodding all your going to do?"

He nodded again.

"Oh good Lord..." Nico picked up some notecards and shoved them into Percy's hands. "Notecards in case Jason or Leo are being idiots and you need to communicate with them."

Percy bit his lip.

"...Only problem is I don't know how to do this for tomorrow..."

"You should let Percy stay over." Bianca hummed from the doorway.

"Gah!" Nico jumped back. "Gee are you incapable of knocking!?"

"Yep." Bianca walked over. "But seriously. He can just stay in the guest room. Hazel's staying with me in my room, so Percy can stay the night and you guys can get ready in the morning. By the way this will never work."

"Shut up, it's worth a try." Nico huffed.

"You're too talkative."

"So are you!"

"I don't have to pretend to be Percy, who, by the way, is playing with the notecards you gave him."

Nico blinked and turned to face Percy, who had made a paper crane from one of the notecards.

Percy pursed his lips and slowly set the crane down next to him.

"I could so be Percy!" Nico exclaimed indignantly.

"You know the best way to describe when someone says something like you just did, indignantly or whatever?" Thalia poked her head in.

"What?" Nico groaned.

"Royally pissed off."

"Not in this context."

"Gee someone's indignant."

"I am not!" Nico crossed his arms.

"Royally pissed off." Bianca hummed, poking his nose.

"Guys leave them alone!" Selena called.

"Fine!" Thalia groaned and the girls exited the room, leaving the door open by a crack.

Nico sighed in exasperation and turned to face Percy. "Again, sorry about that. But about Bianca's suggestion..."

Percy nodded.

"Is... that a yes?"

Percy nodded yet again, for like, the fifth freaking time within the half hour.

"Oh, okay. Cool. Uh, so, guest room! Guest room! Right this way!"

Percy shook his head in amusement and followed Nico to the guest room.

Nico glanced back at Percy and smiled. Even though just the other day Percy had been in some deep trouble, it all felt... normal. Fine. Okay. For once everything seemed to be at peace.

Maybe it was because they were both high on awkwardness, but still.

And tonight, when the clock struck twelve, neither was awake to let out their screams of terror. Neither of them were awake to sob as they cut themselves up and tore themselves down.

They were both sound asleep in rooms next to each other. 

The usual monsters of the night didn't haunt their heads, no ghost of misery whispered in their ear.

Instead there was hope. There was angels. There was light.

There was blueberries.

Song: Here For You by Devin Williams [Nightcore Vers]