Disclaimer – I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
PROLOUGE
Aphrodite looked down on the happenings between Percy and Annabeth and sighed.
"Will they ever just get on with it?" she asked her companion, Eros, a young man with golden hair and remarkably large muscles.
"Who cares, mother? Really, you have a thousand other things to tend to. Must you mope about them every second?"
"I don't mope, Eros. I daintily complain."
"Whatever."
She pressed her lips together, and looked back down through her opera glasses. They were sitting on a picnic blanket on the beach, staring out into the ocean. He said something to her, and she sent him a sharp look. She replied with a cutting remark, and Percy's face changed from curiosity, to hurt, to confusion, to anger. Percy said something angrily, and Annabeth got up and stormed off.
"It's just so boring. They obviously like each other, but they don't do anything about it. It's like a dog chasing its tail."
"Yes mother, it's horrible. What are you going to do about it."
Aphrodite frowned, deep in thought. Then her face brightened.
"Oh, I have a brilliant idea! What if you shoot one of them-"
"No! You know what happened last time! It's not going to repeat itself."
"But-"
"No!"
Her face suddenly changed, transforming into one of a lioness'. She roared mightily, blowing Eros' perfect locks back. He didn't even blink.
"Really, mother, I'm not changing my mind. I won't let what happened last time happen again!"
"Oh, but that was so silly. Neraudris was a foolish girl- she didn't know how to hold onto her men. And don't even get me started on Pereus…"
"No, Mother," Eros said with a tone of finality. He turned away from his mother, folding his arms across his chest and glaring out at the sunset.
Aphrodite scowled at his back, and something glinted in the corner of her eye. It was Eros' golden arrow, lying abandoned several feet away from its master. Keeping one eye on her son, she carefully pulled out a special diamond studded arrow and knocked it into the bow…