Argo, My Love

by TheSoggyBug

Oneshot. When Leo suggests "demigod bonding," nothing good could possibly come out of it. So when the seven demigods come together for a terrifying game of Truth or Dare, what could possibly go wrong? Besides being embarrassed for the rest of all eternity, that is. Collaboration between me and my best friend, Kassy. K-plus for frightening mental images.

Howdy diddly, y'all! This is a collaboration that my friend, Kassidy, and I did when we were bored. It's a little OOC and weird, but we nearly killed ourselves laughing, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well.

Disclaimer: We don't own any characters or ideas or anything from Rick's books. Honestly, guys.

oOo

Night had fallen and almost all souls on the Argo 2 were fast asleep. Percy stood at the bow of the flying warship, hands in pockets, lost deep in his own thoughts as the quarter moon swelled in the sky. Soft, thin wind whipped his messy black hair around his face, but he didn't try to keep it from his eyes; there wasn't much to see anyways.

All around the ship below was a large sheet of sea, absolutely nothing peaking from its still surface. Not even a stupid sea monster. It almost made Percy nervous to be standing at the bow alone while everyone slept. The world was too calm. What if another giant freaking bird picked him up and sent him to the Romans? Even worse, what if it dropped him straight on Octavian? He'd seen what Octavian did to his panda pillow pet. He was just hoping that he didn't look like he had stuffing in him.

"Hey, Percy!"

Leo's voice sounded from behind Percy, and he turned to see his fellow demigod standing a ways off, holding a handful of dim fire. It illuminated his face in a way that kind of creeped Percy out.

Leo ran up next to him, a grin on his face that meant nothing good. "I couldn't find you in your room."

"…You went into my room…looking for me?"

"I have an idea." Leo's face was so bright with excitement—and it wasn't because his nose caught on fire again. "Round everyone up and meet me in the stables."

"Wait, Leo—" Before the son of Hephaestus could dash off again, Percy grabbed his wrist. "It's the middle of the night. Why the Hades do we need to meet in the stables?"

"Just trust me, man. It's about time we had a little fun."

With that, Leo took his flaming nose and excitement back across the deck and out of sight.

Fun? Percy thought. The words "fun" and "Leo" together was like having Ares over for a tea party. Disturbing and in no way pleasant.

Percy jammed his hands into his pockets, grumbling and shuffling his feet like they were300-pound bricks. His life, because of Leo's idea, was being put in jeopardy. The last time he woke up Annabeth from a deep sleep she almost suffocated him in a headlock, which probably made Poseidon embarrassed that his manly son could be beaten by a girl in less than five seconds.

He stood in front of her door with grim amusement. He hadn't actually seen her sleep since the stables, which was a totally awesome sleep-over, if you asked Percy.

Curling his fingers into a fist, he knocked at her door in the "Eye of the Tiger" rhythm. Man, did he love that song. Before he could knock the chorus, however, the door opened with a painful creak.

"'Eye of the Tiger,' man? Really?" Jason's eyes were bloodshot and his short blond hair was fuzzed-up with bedhead. He did not look amused.

Blood rushed into Percy's cheeks and he scowled. "Jason. Oh. I thought you were… Never mind."

There was a terrifically awkward silence, in which Jason's expression changed from "not amused" to "you-have-five-seconds-to-leave-before-I-shank-you".

"Uh…" Percy cleared his throat. "So, Leo just told me to wake everyone and meet up in the stables."

"For a mandatory demigod meeting, I'm taking it?"

"Uh… Something like that."

"What do you mean 'something like that'? Is anything on fire?" Jason asked.

"No," Percy told him

"Are there any monsters?"

"Nope."

"Gods?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Romans?"

"Still a no."

"Then I'm going back to bed." Jason turned to go back into his room.

"Leo's going to have to come and get you himself, and he's not going to be happy!" Percy called after him.

Oh well. He can do what he wants. Now to find the real Annabeth's door, and hope to the gods Percy didn't walk in on something he didn't want to see.

"Percy, I swear to Zeus, if you don't tell me why on Earth you woke me up for one of Leo's little games, I will judo-flip you off this boat."

Percy cringed at her tone. Annabeth was really grumpy when she woke up, but at least he wasn't put in a headlock again. Annabeth looked…stunning when she answered the door, it almost startled him.

She had on a grey button-up PJ shirt that looked like she'd frantically thrown it on since it was crooked and half of the buttons were undone over a coffee-stained white tank-top, with a nice pair of blue plaid pajama pants. Her messy hair made Percy feel like his stomach was full of butterflies.

How come he couldn't be as attractive as she was after being woken up like that?

They made their way down hallways of noise and darkness, until they finally got to the stable door. Thankfully, everyone that I'd woken up before Annabeth was still there, sitting in a circle on the glass floor, circles under their eyes and in pajamas.

Hazel was wearing a matching set of fleece pajamas and had fallen back asleep on Frank's shoulder (Frank didn't look too awake, either). Piper was in a too-big T-shirt, draped across Jason's lap, and even though she looked just as tired as the rest of them, she made it look really good.

Percy and Annabeth sat between Frank and Jason, completing the circle. Except there was one problem: Leo wasn't there.

"Please don't tell me he went back to bed," Jason said, rubbing his eyes and glaring into the dark. "If he did, I'm throwing him overboard."

Piper and Hazel woke slightly, rubbing their eyes as well and huffing.

"You wouldn't throw him overboard," Piper scolded, hitting her boyfriend lightly on his chest, making Jason jump.

"You're right: I am." Annabeth crossed her legs and folded her arms up like she meant business. For a moment, Percy could have sworn she had charmspeak, because Jason looked at her and simply nodded like she was going to tackle him if he said otherwise. His girlfriend frightened the son of Zeus AND Poseidon.

The sudden sound of a slamming door made everyone straighten up—well, everyone except for Frank. He was fast asleep.

"Hey, hey, hey! You guys actually showed up! Great!" Leo stumbled towards Jason, scooting him aside with his shoe so he could sit. He did so, flopping clumsily and sitting on Jason's hand in the process.

It was pretty funny seeing Leo hopping up and down from getting shocked in the butt.

So, when Leo came in, three of them immediately started complaining to him, but Annabeth's sharp voice cut through their squabbling.

"Everyone shut up."

Everyone did.

Annabeth turned to Leo with threats in her silver eyes. "Valdez, I hope your reason for waking us all up at midnight is pretty damn good."

Strangely, to that, Leo's expression turned a little down and disappointed. He frowned at the circle of irritated half-bloods. "Hey, now, I didn't mean to—"

"It's midnight!" Annabeth threw her hands up into the air.

The little frown on Leo's face was replaced by his usual sneaky grin. That was more like him. "Gods, Annabeth. Don't get your panties in a twist. I was just thinking, you know…we're all kind of…distant with one another. And…the view is fantastic down there." He pointed down through the glass, but all there was was darkness. "I thought maybe we could all hang out when there wasn't monsters or anything attacking. Just hang out."

"'Hang out'?" Piper, who straightened up, said. "Like what, Leo? You wake us up in the middle of the night, drag us to the stables to hang out? Doing what?!"

Leo pulled a flashlight out of his tool-belt and flicked it on, holding it under his chin dramatically. "Ghost stories?"

For a moment, no one said anything.

The silence in the room was so strong that waves from the ocean a few hundred feet below them could be heard. Leo kept the flashlight under his chin, looking around expectantly, like he was waiting for someone to jump up and yell, "Egads! He's a genius!"

"…Ghost stories? Leo's, that's bad taste, man. We were hijacked by ghosts." Percy couldn't help but laugh a bit. Leo must've been one brave dude, waling up a bunch of demigods in the middle of the night to tell ghost stories.

"Oh. Well…yeah…. What about horror stories?"

"Leo, if you haven't noticed, our lives are horror stories." Jason tried rubbing the sleepiness from his blue eyes again, a light spark falling from his hand. From the way he looked, he was about to explode, which Percy thought was totally possible: kids of Zeus are expected to explode into a ball of sparks in Percy's mind, don't ask him why.

Frank was glancing around at all of the angry faces in the circle of demigods, a look of panic on his face. "Uh… Leo's right, you know. We all need some quality time… Plus, I like horror stories."

Frank was Frank. He didn't like horror stories.

He turned his baby face towards Leo, like he wanted him to continue or at least say something a little more convincing.

Percy knew Frank was only agreeing for the sake of the tension between him and Leo.

"I'll tell a horror story," Jason offered, but the tone of his words meant that it was not actually a generous offer. "Once upon a time an annoying son of Hephaestus woke a handsome young demigod up at midnight to spend time with him, and the handsome young demigod zapped the son of Hephaestus with his sexy lightning skills and he fried up. The end."

There was a pause.

Leo pretended to think really hard in confusion. "…So, who's the handsome young demigod?"

Despite the fatigue in the circle, everyone burst out laughing.

"Fine, then." Leo crossed his legs. "No swapping scary stories, then. So…what?"

"Truth or dare."

They all looked at Piper.

She had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Let's play 'Truth or Dare'."

The other six immediately agreed. Stupid charmspeak.

Hazel patted a sleepy Frank's shoulder. "So, who should start?"

Percy leaned back on his hands, letting Annabeth lean on him. "How about the idiot that dragged us down here in the first place?"

Leo nodded vigorously, as if approving, an elfish grin growing on his face. "Sounds good, except… Percy first."

Everyone looked at Percy and laughed again. Even Annabeth smiled. He felt his face get warm.

"I'm not going first." He wasn't dumb.

"Aww, come on, Percy." Annabeth nudged him in the chest with her elbow. "Just go."

Percy sighed and shifted his girlfriend in his lap. "Fine. Umm…Hazel. Truth or dare, I guess."

She clapped her hands in excitement, her eyes shining as bright as the sun—Frank loved those eyes so much. "M-Me? Ooh… I don't know… Um… Tru-Truth?" She looked at Percy like she was awaiting the best question in the world, making Percy feel under pressure.

Percy wasn't good at this stuff at all. He felt like he was about to crush her hopes of anything intelligent ever coming from him.

"Uh… What…it your favorite color?"

Hazel looked at Percy like he just killed her cat.

"…Purple. I like Purple."

"Oh. Cool… I like blue."

"Yeah, I know."

"Right."

Frank was covering his mouth in order to contain his laughter. Oh gods, he was terrible at this game.

"Now you go," Percy told Hazel after the awkward pause.

Hazel took a long time deciding. Then she adjusted the buttons of her PJ shirt while looking at Piper. "Piper? Truth or dare?"

The other girl brushed a bit of her choppy hair behind her ear and swallowed nervously. "Um…Dare."

The tension and attention in the group sharpened tenfold.

Everyone except Hazel help their breath, because Hazel was too busy to be excited. She grinned and squirmed and thought, as though getting to dare Piper to do something was the greatest privilege ever.

Jason leaned across his girlfriend to Hazel. "You should make it something really embarrassing."

Piper smacked his arm, but Hazel just laughed.

"Well…I-I guess, okay. I dare you to…" A twinkle appeared in Hazel's caramel eyes. "I dare you to kiss Jason. On the cheek. In front of us."

Silence.

Really? That's her version of "very embarrassing"? Percy and Annabeth smooch in front of everyone all the time.

Percy remembered how Hazel was fanning her face when Coach Hedge was chewing them out for spending the night in the stables, like it was the biggest conspiracy since Frank's missing ham sandwich, which Percy was pretty sure Leo ate. It kind of made sense why she thought that was embarrassing, since back in her day it wasn't common for kids to do that. At least, that's what Percy thought.

"Oh…Oh, Hazel. I cannot believe you're going to make me do that!" Piper cupped her hands over her cheeks giddily. She was an amazing actress. "Can I use a chicken?"

Percy knew that Piper was trying her hardest to make it convincing, and from the way Hazel looked, it was working. Hazel had a look on her face like she her dare was the best in the world, so brilliant and embarrassing, and she was embarrassed to watch, but it was so brilliant. Her fists had balled up so her knuckles turned white.

It reminded Percy of Nico when they'd first found him: happy an innocent.

"C'mon, Piper! No chickens!"

Jason looked at Piper with playful disappointment on his face. "I'm not too ugly or gross, am I?"

"You're a knockout," Percy reassured him with a wink, making everyone in the group laugh even harder.

Maybe the whole idea of "bonding" wasn't so terrible after all.

Of course, Piper wasn't really against kissing her boyfriend on the cheek. When she did, Hazel blushed and let out a giggle into her hand. At least she was happy. Both Jason and his girlfriend had happy bits of pink in their cheeks, but they'd kissed before and it was no big deal.

"I guess it's my turn now." Piper thought for a moment and she slid her pretty dark eyes from person to person. Then they stopped at Leo. He was wearing his usual sneaky smile. If anyone could break his usual invulnerability to embarrassment, it would be Piper.

"Leo, you're looking awful smug over there. Truth or dare?"

Leo didn't waste a second saying, "Dare. Bring it on, Beauty Queen. Hit me with your best shot."

There was a stillness while Piper thought. She tapped her chin in a way Jason found adorable, and even straight out of bed she looked like a supermodel.

Finally, she spoke. "Well, Leo, do you know how to belly dance?"

Annabeth smacked her hand onto her face, but everyone else hooted.

Leo pretended to think hard. "If you count that four-year belly dancing university I recently graduated from, then I suppose I do."

Obviously, he was joking.

Sitting up straight and using the sweetest charmspeaking she could muster, Piper dared Leo, "Well, then, you wouldn't mind giving us a little performance, then, hm?"

Leo's eyes kind of glazed over. "Uhh…Dance?"

"Pretty please belly dance for us, Leo. I dare you."

The charmspeak was so thick and sugary that Percy found himself wanting to stand up and belly dance for Piper. Only Annabeth seated on his lap held him down.

Despite it surprisingly un-fazing Leo, Piper's dare was hilarious. Leo tucked in the bottom of his PJ shirt into his collar Brittany Spears-style and waved around his fingers, which had their tips lit on fire.

Percy hadn't known that Leo Valdez, genius son of Hephaestus, could belly dance. Neither did anyone else, apparently. They were laughing so hard they couldn't breathe, and clapping and cheering and wolf-whistling. Hazel's face was redder than her cherry pajamas.

Where Coach Hedge was and why he hadn't already come down was beyond Percy. He was just glad that everyone was having a good time. It wasn't easy fighting evil monsters and giants in love with Hostess treats.

"Oh my gosh, Leo. That was so terrifying." Hazel was covering her eyes with her hands, her head cuddled into Frank's shirt. "I'm going to have nightmares for weeks."

Frank, obviously, had the mental image of Leo's belly dancing far in the back of his mind, only being preoccupied with Hazel's frizzy hair. In his face.

Percy was glad they had finally gotten together, even though the image really would give him nightmares.

"Aw, come on, dudes and dudettes! It wasn't that scary!" Leo fiddled with his shirt clumsily, his messy mop hair hanging in his face. "I mean, could you imagine if that was Hedge? Oops!" The front of his T-shirt caught on fire from his hands, burning a hole as large as a fist on his chest. "Darn it, this was my favorite shirt… I gotta remember to turn off my HOT hands!"

Annabeth was rubbing her temples with her head shaking. Leo was such an idiot sometimes. It was a wonder how Leo Valdez, the village idiot, built the very ship they were sailing on. Not as surprising as the fact that he didn't have a girlfriend yet.

"Okay, everyone." Leo clapped his hands together. "Guess whose tuuuuurn it is! Let me give you a guess. It starts with an 'L' and ends with an 'eo Valdez'!"

Piper held up a finger to say something.

"—DING DING DING DING! YOU GUESSED IT! Leo Valdez."

Jason immediately woke up a little more, anxiety poking at his head. Only he, Annabeth, Frank and Percy hadn't been chosen yet. That meant one of them was about to become the victim of Leo's frightening antics.

Of course, Jason never had fantastic luck.

To choose him, Leo pointed a finger gun at his friend and fired, making an explosion sound with his mouth. "Truth or dare."

"Oh, gods…" Jason sighed, leaning back and crossing his ankles in front of him. "The dread hour is nigh. Truth."

"No, no, you can't do truth."

"What?" He looked indignantly across the circle. "Why?"

"This is a dare game."

"Since when?"

"Since five minutes ago."

"That's bull and you know it." Jason turned to his girlfriend. "Tell him, Pipes."

Piper was trying to contain laughter. "It's totally a dare game." She was as eager as everyone else to see what torture Leo had in store.

Percy and Frank were having a riot.

"You heard the girl. Dare or daaare?" Leo shook his hips around at Jason, earning him a weirded-out face. Why was he still standing up?"

Jason threw his hands up in the air. "Do I have a choice?"

"Dare, then." The son of Hephaestus danced around his friend for a few seconds, thinking. "You're perfectly straight, right?"

"What kind of question is that?" Jason pointed to Piper, who was snuggled up against him again. "Duh. I have a girlfriend."

"Swear on the River Styx you'll preform this are to the best of your abilities. Oh, and act like you like it."

"You're really worrying me, Leo." He and his girlfriend exchanged looks. If straightness had anything to do with this dare in any way, it couldn't be good.

"Swear!"

Heaving a sigh, Jason complied. "Fine, I swear. Just tell me what it is already."

Leo was grinning like a sugar-high squirrel, tapping his fingers together impishly. This kid was as crazy as Kronos at Christmastime. Percy wasn't sure exactly what that entitled, but it sounded pretty crazy.

"I…double dog dare you…Jason Grace…to…"

"Yes?! Spit it out!"

"Dun da-da DUNNNN! I DARE YOU TO ACT GAY WITH PERCY." He made a strange dance position towards Jason, a kick and a swirl… It would have made Michael Jackson proud.

Jason stared open-mouthed at Leo. Annabeth and Piper's faces were completely blank. Hazel looked like she was about to die (no pun intended), and Percy looked like someone just ran naked in front of him and insulted his mother.

"…W-What…" Percy managed out, his green eyes the size of dinner plates. "Hades no! You can dare him to be gay, but not me."

Jason closed his mouth and gave Percy a long stare. "…Too good for me, Jackson?"

"No! I'm just not going to do it! Besides, Annabeth wouldn't' want me to do that… Right Annabeth? Right?"

She turned her head towards Percy in a playful sneer.

Uh-oh.

Percy didn't like that face.

"Why is the world against me?" He threw up his hands. "It's not even your turn anymore! You can't dare two people at once! It's Jason's turn!"

Jason was trying hard to control whatever emotion was swelling inside of him, turning his face beet red, and he turned to Percy. "If I have to do this, I'm dragging you down with me, Jackson. I-I mean…dear?"

"But…But I have a girlfriend!"

When that was said, Annabeth smirked and scooted away from her boyfriend. "Not tonight, apparently. Go on, now. Why don't you two get comfortable? Everyone else is."

Percy was going to kill Leo. Or Jason. Or both. Gods, did they seriously have to do this?

He looked unsurely at Jason.

Jason winked.

Percy gulped.

Leo was laughing his butt off.

Hazel looked like a crime was about to occur.

Suddenly, Jason hopped up from his spot and made his way towards Percy, his blond hair swept to the side like he was a Teen Vogue supermodel. He held his arms up in front of him.

"Away we go, my love! Come into my arms!"

Really? Percy thought. If this guy ever wanted to at least pretend to court him, he'd need to be a lot better than that. Percy sighed. Might as well play along.

"Oh, Jason," he said in falsetto, his voice catching a little. "Of course I will!"

Percy jumped up and landed in Jason's arms, making him stumble forwards.

Frank was laughing so hard he turned into a goldfish, scaring Hazel half to death.

Oh gods… Jupiter was definitely face-palming with Poseidon right about then. Their manly hero sons were acting as gay as… Percy didn't even know.

"AWAAAYY!" Jason yelled as he ran out of the stables, carrying Percy bridal-style along with.

All the other demigods could hear after them was Percy yelling, "Wait, why am I the woman?"

After they left, there was a long silence. No one knew whether to laugh more or start crying.

From the hallway, out of the blue, a bellow came. A frightfully familiar bellow.

"WHAT IS THIS?!"

Then Jason and Percy walked back into the stable—one still holding the other bridal-style with impressive poker faces. Coach Hedge followed behind them, his club jabbing into Jason's back.

Upon seeing the rest of the demigods there, Hedge's facial hair quivered with anger.

"All…seven…of you…out of bed…without supervision… PERRCCCYYYY JAAAAACCKSOOONNN."

Percy was so startled he tumbled out of Jason's arms and hit the floor next to Hazel, who looked like she was still in the middle of a heart attack.

Whiskers trembling and hooves stomping furiously, Coach Hedge took his club and poked Percy's chest with it. "First you and smartass over there—" he pointed at Annabeth, "—sneaking out at night to…to…for… Well, I understood you and her, but this?!"

Jason and Percy exchanged yet another uncertain look.

"What can you say?" Leo snickered. "They're meant for each other."

"You're not helping." A sharp zap and the smell of burning hair filled the air when Jason hit Leo.

Frank—who'd changed back into a person—couldn't help but snicker at Leo's brown curls spiking up at the electric zap Jason gave him. After all the wise cracks he'd been giving everyone, he wouldn't be surprised if Percy and Jason summoned a rainstorm in Leo's bedroom while he slept.

He'd have to make a mental note to pull them aside and make a friendly request. No one laughs at Frank Zhang for turning into an iguana. Well, actually, everyone on the whole ship did…but Leo laughed the most.

"Uh…Coach Hedge… No one was snuggling or anything…" Hazel nervously fiddled with the hem of her puppy pajama shirt, a radiance of adorable innocence waved off. It was kind of hard for Percy to believe she was a child of Pluto. She was so innocent and uncreepy-like… Not the kind of person you'll always have to worry about playing with dead people behind your back like Nico.

"We were just playing a game…"

Coach Hedge stared at her like she'd bonked her head on something really hard. Hedge totally wouldn't go all kung-Fu on Hazel, would he?

"Oh, yeah? A couple of TEENAGER games? If I've had any experience from games that teenagers play… What I saw out there was unacceptable. All I could imagine while you two were passing was Zeus carrying Poseidon bridal-style, and it was NOT the prettiest sight."

"With all due respect, sir…" Jason started, arms crossed and a sarcastic smirk on his face, "I don't think that even Jupiter—no offense intended—has enough strength to carry Neptune. Too heavy."

Percy shot a death glare at Jason. "It's muscle," he retorted, "sweetie pie."

Annabeth and Piper got up to their respective boyfriend's sides, both of them wiping leftover tears of laughter from their eyes.

This was total blackmail material for the leaders on the ship.

Coach Hedge's face resembled a furry tomato, weird bleating noises coming from the back of his throat. He was a ticking goat bomb.

"HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT THE GODS LIKE THAT, GRACE. If they were in the right state to blast you out of your shoes they would, boy. TWO HUNDRED PUSH-UPS."

Everyone looked at Piper with pleading eyes, silently begging her to charmspeak them out of that mess.

Piper cleared her throat and protectively out both arms around one of her boyfriend's own arms. "Coach Hedge, we were j—"

"I don't want to hear it, Prissy." Hedge pulled the two apart and snorted. "No charmspeaking your guardian. I'm giving each of you thirty seconds to get back to your cabins or you're all getting fed to my pet drakon."

Everyone scattered, and not one person bothered to tell the coach that they didn't even have a drakon.

Hazel and Frank shuffled to their own separate cabins, offering each other weak "good nights" before closing themselves off to finish their night's sleep.

Jason gave Percy a discreet fist-bump and called Leo a bad name in Latin (Leo cackled and vanished), and then went off to bed, followed by Piper.

Piper rolled her eyes at Percy and said, "That was terrifying. Amusing, but terrifying. Have a good night, you two." She waved at the two remaining teens, yawning, and left.

Soon, it was just Percy and Annabeth left, walking in the hallway. Coach Hedge had stomped back to his own quarters, so they were alone. Only sounds of the ship remained.

The soft noise of waves echoed below the ship, wind rushing through the ninety ores carrying them through the clouds, humming machinery and flapping sails and quiet creaking of the Argo 2's walls. It was like a sailors' lullaby. It made Percy feel completely at ease, walking in the dark with Annabeth's hand in his.

He wasn't even annoyed that she was the one who doomed him to the Jason dare. In fact, by tomorrow, it would just be something to laugh at, a memory made. Whenever he and Annabeth were alone and holding hands or kissing, it made him feel the world was, for once…right. Gaia and her immeasurable amount of forces didn't even exist right then, just him and Annabeth, the way it should be.

"My gods, that was the best truth or dare game EVER. I've never played a game that interesting…"

Annabeth briefly rested her head on Percy's shoulder as they walked, her blond curls brushing against his cheek.

"I've never really played truth or dare before," Percy admitted.

Annabeth paused, turned her head off his shoulder to look at him, her grey eyes peering into green. "You've never played truth or dare? Not with friends or relatives? At all?"

Percy shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have the heart to tell her (again, if he remembered correctly) that he didn't really have any friends other than Grover and his demigod buddies. Of course, he had Rachel, but it wouldn't be a good idea to mention her at that moment.

He'd seen other people play, but he never joined in, and as far as family went, it was dangerous to play so much as an "I Spy" game with Tyson, let alone truth or dare.

For a few seconds, there was a pause.

Annabeth walked besides him with a suppressed smile, and then bumped her hip against his. "…That's strangely adorable…"

"Sure, sure." Percy squinted into the dark and a little twinge of disappointment settled inside of him because they'd arrived at Annabeth's cabin.

There was yet another pause.

"Well, we should get out of the halls before Hedge comes around again. I'll see you tomorrow. After giving Annabeth a small kiss on the cheek, Percy turned to leave.

"Wait—Perce."

When he turned back, Annabeth had one of her unsure faces on.

She rubbed one of her elbows with the opposite hand, brows furrowed slightly in hesitation. "I guess you can…you can stay with me in my cabin if you want. For tonight."

That was quite a proposal, Percy thought.

"...Like...Stay? All night? With you?"

"No, Seaweed Brain. I was talking to Coach Hedge, who is clearly here and totally my boyfriend."

"Oh...good. I was afraid you might be talking to me. Cuddling with girls gives you cooties."

"Percy!"

Percy held his hands up in defense, a playful smirk playing on his lips. "Okay, okay...but what if Coach Hedge finds us?"

She leaned herself against the door with her arms crossed, her blonde eyebrows in an annoyed furrow. "...Is he here?"

"No."

"Thennnn...Why aren't you in my bed yet?"

Percy's face was an insane shade of scarlet. "...That sounded pretty bad, you know."

Annabeth grabbed his hand and all but dragged him into her cabin and locked the door behind him.

He admitted, the whole thing was suspicious, but Percy trusted Annabeth. Maybe she did make a reference to him being in her bed, and maybe she did lock the door behind them, but Annabeth—being Annabeth—probably meant nothing other than to sit ten feet from him reading a book.

"Finally…out of sight…"

"Uuuh, Annabeth…"

Annabeth turned her head towards Percy, a hint of mischief in her eyes. She didn't break eye contact with him as she unbuttoned her gray shirt, only leaving her coffee stained tank-top.

Oh gods… Was she going to try to pull a move? Oh man…She was looking at him like she was a starving cat and he was the most delicious mouse she'd ever seen. He tried forming words, but he couldn't. All he could manage out were "uuhs", "nugh," and "mnnahn."

"Stop looking like such an idiot and wipe your chin: you're drooling again."

Percy, still blushing madly, hastily closed him mouth and wiped his chin, but never let his eyes off of Annabeth.

She crossed her arms. "So are you going to just stand there all night or—"

"You're really weirding me out, Annabeth!" Percy said, cutting her off and making an exasperated noise in the back of his throat. "Can you stop looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow, which only made the painfully sexy look on her face even sexier.

"Just stop! Just…Just…" Letting another exasperated noise from his throat, Percy gesticulating angrily. Then he let out a long sigh. "You realize there's only one bed in your cabin?"

"Yeah. So?"

"What?! But…that means we have to be in ONE BED."

"Yeah…?"

Percy stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, blinking, and then coolly wiping his hair out of his eyes. "Oh. Okay…Wait, no! We can't…Coach Hedge…"

Annabeth raised herself up with her elbows off her bed, her eyebrows raised and a sly smirk on her face. "Percy, you're worried. That's cute…" She pulled her blanket over her body and scooted over into the other side of the bed. "You afraid of cuddling with me? Even after the stables?"

"Of course not! No, I, uh…" Clearing his throat, Percy inwardly smacked himself on the forehead. "No, I'm not."

"Then why are you still standing in front of the door staring at me like an idiot, hm?"

"Uhh…"

"Get over here, Percy."

"…Okay."

Still feeling a little worried and self-conscious, Percy shuffled his feet over to Annabeth's bed and kind of peered at it suspiciously before sitting down on top of the covers next to her.

For a few seconds they just sat there. Annabeth was scowling at the side of his head with a really annoyed look on, and he just stared at his hands.

"For the love of the gods, Percy." She rolled her eyes, "Get comfortable; lay down with me. It's cold in here."

Percy laid down on her bed, and as he did so, a wave of sweet lemony shampoo scent wafted from the pillows. Automatically, Annabeth tucked her feet in and curled up against him, using his shoulder as a pillow and wrapping an arm around his waist.

A few minutes passed, and she lifted up her head to look at him. "Are you holding your breath?"

Percy let out the breath he was holding and tried to scoff convincingly. "No."

She eyed him, and then rested her head back down. "You're so strange sometimes, Seaweed Brain…"

He laughed, finally adjusting to his situation, all awkwardness gone. He didn't feel safe going to sleep in her bedroom with them cuddling like that…but they needed their alone time, RELATIONSHIP time, and it seemed like the only chances they got were when they had to break Coach Hedge's rules.

…Ah, well. Hedge's rules were insane anyways.

Percy decided to just ignore that and just go with it, settling next to his girlfriend and pulled the blankets up to her chin.

Like that, the two drifted off into a warm sleep to the sound of waves crashing hundreds of feet below them.

oOo

Hot dog, man. That's some wacky stuff. So, thanks for a'reading our fanfiction, and hopefully you didn't wet your pants as much as we did when you read it.

WE VALUE YOUR points REVIEWS, RANDOM CITIZEN.

By the way: Leo says hips don't lie.