AN: I have written more, but the document kept getting corrupted, I had to delete it, so I made a vignette instead. History and math geeks will understand the title. And, honestly, people, how long did you think it was going to take for me to write this? I may even write more in the future.
It was also inspired from Divergent, and from the many pictures of that gender-bended couple.
(Yes, this is also a way to combat the fem!Percy/Luke/Nico/All-other-opinion-based-attrac tive-people.)
Disclaimer: Last time I checked I am a female brunette. Nice try, but I know that I'm not Rick Riordan.
Title: Disturbed Circles.
Word Count: 1K
Summary: At the age of twelve, Archimedes Chase had an archenemy, a crush, soon a quest, and an insufferable daughter of Poseidon making waves in his life. Fem!Percy/Male!Annabeth
Penelope "Penny" Jackson was a pain. Useful. But a pain.
She was insolent, brash, annoying, and refused to leave Archimedes' thoughts. It didn't help that she was a daughter of Poseidon, making her an enemy of sorts. She was also somehow going to help him, and that was going to be hard to do since she was giving him the cold shoulder because he set her up with the Ares campers. Sure, he could see her reason why, but how else was he supposed to figure out her parentage?
Archimedes found Penny at the archery spot. Her dark hair was pulled back, showing the determined look on her face as she threw a knife at a target. The knife wobbled in the air, proving that it was a weak throw, and barely scraped at the circumference of the bullseye. It joined the small collections of knives on the ground. She looked up, and waved her fist in the air. She was making good use of their Ancient Greek lessons and was using some creative insults.
The son of Athena walked closer. Once at a safe distance, he made his presence known. "Uh, hi."
Penny turned around, a second knife fell from her grasp. Her sea-green eyes bugged out. "You."
Archimedes gulped. This was not the happy reunion that he was looking for. He then thought that he was lucky that there wasn't a thing of water close to them, or there would be a repeat of the bathroom incident. He looked around to find a suitable topic, but nothing came to mind. "I… I see that you're practicing."
Penny crossed her arms over her chest, glaring. "Either say something better, or leave Archie."
"It's Archimedes," he automatically corrected her. He hated the nickname with a passion. Her glare became stronger, and he had to look away from her so that the guilt wouldn't come back. He hesitated a second too long, and then he tore his grey eyes away. Too late. Guilt flourished heavily.
Penny was tapping her foot, waiting for him to speak. She fidgeted, too.
Archimedes shuffled his feet. He supposed that he should apologize, but found it hard to do so. He was right about her being a child of The Big Three, he was right about her being important. Taking down the Minotaur and what happened at Capture the Flag showed that much. Although, he wanted to be in her good graces again, and he was only trying to help…
"I'm sorry," he said. He felt his cheeks coloring and he tugged on a piece of his curly hair. "I shouldn't have let them go after you like that."
Both of Penny's eyebrows went up to her hairline, it looked like she wasn't expecting that. She hurriedly regained her composure. "I thought we were becoming friends."
The words stung. "I… I hope we can still be friends," Archimedes admitted. He spotted the collection of knives on the ground. "I can help you."
She followed his gaze. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Positive." He grabbed another from the table and handed it to her hilt first. She took it. "I'll show you how it works."
Penny looked at the knife and back at him. She resumed her earlier position when throwing the knives and Archimedes stood close to her back. He kept a hand covering hers on the hilt, and the other steadying himself on her shoulder. His view was suddenly obscured by her gathered hair. He was only just tall enough to see above the top of head. He tapped the back of her hand. "This is right, just like you hold a hammer."
Penny stiffened when he spoke. She moved her head, accidentally giving him a face full of her ponytail. He spat some of the strands out of his mouth. Her hair smelled nice, but it tasted nothing like kiwis. "Tell me something I don't know?" she challenged.
Archimedes moved his hand to her wrist, bringing it up to an angle. He looked over her shoulder to make sure. "Keep your pointer finger up at the sky and keep your arm like this. Now look at the target, and picture something that you really hate." He heard a sharp laugh. "Is it me?"
"You wish." Archimedes wondered if she was smiling. He couldn't tell where he was standing.
"Okay, now let's bring your arm back… and throw!" The muscles in her arm jumped as they threw the knife at the target. It spun in the air and struck at the outer circle. They stood still for several seconds, staring at the knife.
"I did it," Penny said softly. "Alright!" she said loudly, pumping a fist in the air, narrowly missing Archimedes' face. She whooped again. "I don't suck at this!"
He stood back and watched her be happy.
He was going to let her have five seconds.
Then time was up.
"We need to do it again," he advised her.
He stopped Penny in the middle of a victory dance. "Wait. What?"
"How else do you want to get better?" Archimedes said. He gestured at the table. "Let's try this a few more times so that you'll be able to do it perfectly."
Penny dropped her arms that were raised in the air. He joyous expression also fell slightly, leaving her only a few expressions below amazingly happy. She was now grinning something cheeky at him. "Fine. I'll picture your face next."