For Slytherin Buttercat, I hope you like it!

Word Count: 1,139

Girls In Love

Mary had noticed the Lieutenant of the Hunters back when she had first become aware of the mystical world, back when everyone had still thought her to be a boy.

Even back then, it had been anything but hard to see how pretty she was. And her sense of style only improved the whole thing; not only in the sense that it gave a sense of her attitude. It wasn't hard to tell that it was very her.

Something Mary had only been able to dream of at that time. She was barely able to grasp the fact that it was now a reality. She could now dress the exact way she wanted to.

That alone was worth thanking the gods for.

Mary noticed Thalia—that was the Lieutenant's name—grinning at her during her (successful) attempt to be included in the Hunters of Artemis.

It hadn't exactly made the thing easier, instead giving her another reason to worry. Was that a malicious grin or an encouraging one? In her experience, these things were only divided by a very fine line that was easy to overstep.

But when she was accepted and Thalia still grinned at her, it made victory just a tad sweeter.

If a girl like her could see Mary as the girl she was despite the fact that her body did not agree (yet), then so could everyone else.

That's all that there was about it. Really.

Mary noticed the fact that their vow to stay away from boys did not mean staying single quite early into her stay with the Hunters.

As in she walked in on two girls snogging on her second day.

It perplexed her for a second before she remembered that she was no longer in her small Southern village.

What she was seeing was completely normal. It was fine. Just like her being a girl was. The things she had learned as a child, that only heterosexual relationships were acceptable, couldn't be further from the truth.

And that amazed Mary more than anything else had in a while.

Mary noticed that Thalia had a nice laugh. And a nice smile. Not to forget that she was pretty—her style was excellent and there was no way anything else could possibly be a better choice for her. And smart—a wonderful tactician. And so brave—also loud mouthed, but was there a real difference between those two?

Holy shit, yes, Mary definitely had a crush on Thalia. There was no doubt about that whatsoever. She is so very gay—which she had only recently realized was a good thing.

But that was fine, girls could date girls, after all. It shouldn't matter if one had been born in the body of one, right?
Right?

Mary noticed that once she had figured out her crush, her behavior altered.

She also realized that that stemmed more from the fact that she had realized that she was staring and that it was rude.

What she didn't consider was the fact that her friends—friends who actually saw her as the girl she was and wasn't that wonderful—would notice the difference.

"Are you alright, girl?" Ekhlas, asked as she adjusted her hijab.

"Yeah!" Vanessa added, "I haven't heard anything about how amazing Thalia is for three days and I'm starting to worry."

"Shut up!" Mary replied, throwing a pillow at them.

Mary eventually noticed that Thalia looked at her a few times as well and then looked away the second she realized that Mary had spotted her.

Could it be that...?

No, It couldn't be. Not possibly. Thalia could not possibly be as interested in Mary as she was in her.

Vanessa took her aside at one point. "Mary, girl, you seriously need to ask her out. I physically can't stand the tension any longer."

"Are you sure?" Mary questioned. "Ekhlas didn't say anything."

"Ekhlas wouldn't know sexual tension if you were to hit her in the face with it. Which you totally are, by the way. She's just that kind of ace."

"Ace?"

"Asexual. Someone not interested in sex," Vanessa elaborated. "I keep forgetting you're not familiar with all the terms yet. You're making awesome progress tho. And now get your girl"

Mary noticed that her palms were sweaty as she went to ask out Thalia. She realized that she was breathing faster—almost hyperventilating, but not quite—and that she could hear her own heart beating in her chest—or was that just imagination? It was certainly noticeable.

She took a deep breath and stepped into the Lieutenant's tent.

"Mary," Thalia said happily. The glee in her eyes had to be real. "Come in! Is there any way I can help you?"

"Y-yes." Mary nodded. "I was wondering if, well, if you would like to, y'know…"

Goddamnit, she had to continue speaking! This pause was getting awkwardly long at this point.

"Go out with you? Please tell me you were going to say that, because I'd really like you to say that," Thalia replied in a single breath.

The two of them smiled pretty much nonstop for the next week.

Mary noticed that not many things changed after she and Thalia got together.

Like, sure, they did couple things like going out together, no longer attempting to hide their staring, and just spending a lot of time together in general.

But apart from that, not much changed. Vanessa continued to tease them and Ekhlas still had no idea about anything even remotely sexual.

She did start cooing whenever Mary and Thalia were planning something especially romantic.

Which was surprisingly frequent, really. Compared to the relationships the people around her back in her High School had been in, this was so much better. They never fought in front of others for one. Another thing was that neither of them expected anything from the other after doing a nice thing.

It was good.

Mary noticed that the man that she had first come out to in Camp Half-Blood was her Thalia's cousin only when they were standing next to each other.

Apollo, her father, had something to say to Artemis and the man-Percy, apparently-accompanied the god for some reason. Mary didn't know any more and, quite frankly, it was none of her business.

"So you're the girl who stole my cousin's heart," Percy noted upon his arrival, likely seeing their interlocked hands. "I'd give you the shovel talk, but I'm well aware that there wouldn't be anything left after Thalia would be done with you. So I'll skip that entirely." Then he focused on Thalia. "Got a thing for Apollo's line, eh?"

The god in question had long since disappeared, Thalia, however, glared at Percy. "Shut up, Kelp Head."

"Love you too, Pinecone Face," Percy replied with a playful grin.

And wow, never before had Mary been as honored to be a part of this family.