What Happened in the Arena

I was practicing my swordsmanship in the arena at Camp Half-blood. Slashing and stabbing the air in front of, and the sides of me, as well as trying to perfect my foot work.

I could feel the sweat dripping down my back and my chest down to my abdomen.

I wanted to be a great swordsman like Percy. He was the best sword fighter I've ever seen, and I wanted to match him. Don't get me wrong, I am also a good sword fighter but I wasn't up to Percy's level, even though I had more actual experiences with fighting monsters then him, considering that I was always traveling, in danger of the monsters sensing me given that I was a child of the big three, than Percy, but he was a natural when it came to fighting with swords, and I wasn't.

So I kept training, hoping to better my skills, with sweat running down my body.

I was so focused that I didn't even hear the door to the arena open and close or the footsteps coming my way afterwards.

However, I did see the lightly tanned arms wrapping around my hands that I was using to practice. I froze, and I froze still when I felt rock hard chest and abdominal muscles on my back. And then I heard the voice, the voice that I always loved hearing, the voice that always made me happy.

"You know, it would be more affective if you held your sword this way," said Percy.

I didn't hear anything he said. I just let him guide my hands in the position he told me to put them.

"And if you stand more with a straight back, and with your knee, that corresponds with your dominate hand, bent and the other leg placed a little back, Nico."

I still didn't saying anything, or did anything. I just stood there out of shock that he was there… with me… alone.

When I didn't respond, he looked at my face over my shoulder because he was still behind me holding my arms.

"Nico", he said my name again; his breath hitting my bare shoulder and neck. This time I was glad that I was frozen because it made me stop from shivering.

I then turned my face to look at him which was a big mistake considering that our faces became mere centimeters, not even inches, but centimeters away from each other's. I turned my head back, or at least I should have, but I couldn't. I just looked at his deep sea green eyes, and this time felt his breath on my face; on my lips.

I slowly said "Yes" without letting my discomfort show.

"Are you listening to me," Percy asked.

"Yeah, I'm listening", I replied.

"Then get in the stance I just told you about," said Percy.

I just looked at him confused because I couldn't remember what that stance was, especially when his body was pressed against mine. But I said "Okay" anyway, since I didn't want him to know that his close proximity was messing with my brain.

I finally turned back and tried to remember the stance and tried to do it. I obbeasslly failed since he said, "No, no, no. Not like that, like this."

And with that everything started to get messed up.

He put his hand on my chest and shoulder and pressed hard to straighten them, then moved to my waist to steady me, which just made my shirtless body press harder against his shirtless body. Why he was shirtless, I don't know, but the next thing he did was that he kicked the back of my knee with his knee to make them bend and then put his foot over my corresponding foot to pull my other leg back, so that my legs were bending with one foot in front of the other.

I tried to pull apart from his body to lessen the touch between other bodies, but he grabbed my hip and pulled me back against his body.

At this point I was breathing very heavily and I guess Percy noticed because he said "Try to control your breathing more your panting," against my ear. Which just made me turn red, and I wasn't frozen from shock anymore so I was more aware of my surroundings, which wasn't helping the situation on bit.

"Okay, see, this is a better stance when you're fighting with an enemy. It'll give you more balance," said Percy. And the combination of his breath against by skin made me shiver, which he felt, since the next thing he said was, "Are you shivering?"

"What? Um, no, just a little cold with the breeze coming in from the open windows," I replied quickly, and then realized that I just contradicted myself.

"Oh, okay", and with that he suddenly released his grip on me and started to move away towards the windows. I already missed his contact on my skin and looked at him to compensate for the emptiness. I was him close all the windows one by one, which also closed up the possibility that anyone from outside of the arena could see or hear what was happening inside, and that realization made me blush.

Even though I knew that Percy didn't like me that way, and was too dense to see that I did like him that way, and also see, what this atmosphere suggested if two people who liked each other were part of it.