Title: Some are Beautiful
Author: WhimsicallyAwkward
Summary: Hazel knew he was good-looking, but it had never hit her this way before. To where her heart fluttered and her cheeks flushed. But it was much more than that, he was Percy Jackson, and he was beautiful, inside and out.
Beta: Nope, no beta. All me. I triple check my work before I post it, but mistakes still slip through. So inform me of any glaring mistakes, but not simple ones please.
Disclaimer: No, the last time I checked, my name isn't Rick Riordan, and Percy isn't mine. I'm making no profit and this is purely for entertainment.
A/N: Okay, I should really be focusing on my other stories, but this popped into my head, and nagged until I wrote it out. This ins't a Percy/Hazel romance, if that's what you came for, although there is a lot of ogling on Hazel's part. :)
This takes place when Frank, Hazel, and Percy have crashed in her old house to clean up after their disasterous experience with the sinking mud.
Holding out for a Hero - Ella Mae Bowen. I find this to be a good song for this oneshot. It's a beautiful song.
pg. 432 - 433 (hardback book)
The window craeaked open. Frank climbed in, triumphantly holding some shopping bags. "Success!"
He showed off his prizes. From a hunting store, he'd gotten a new quiver of arrows for himself, some rations, and a coil of rope.
"For the next time we run across a muskeg," he siad.
From a local tourist shop, he had brought three sets of fresh towels, some soap, some bottled water, and, yes, a huge box of wet wipes. It wasn't exactly a hot shower, but Hazel ducked behind a wall of greeting card boxes to clean up and change.
Gosh, he was gorgeous.
It's the first thing she thinks when she emerges from behind the wall of boxes, and it makes her cheeks flush and her heart pound.
She finds herself staring at him.
She can't see his face - hidden behind his wayward black hair - but she sees smooth skin stretched over the flat, hard muscle of his chest and arms. He's looking down, scrubbing at the mud hiding his tantalizingly tan skin from her eyes.
She can hear her heart pounding, and only hopes the boys don't. She is sure the front of her shirt is fluttering, and she almost, almost looks down to check. She doesn't though, because she is momentarily enraptured.
Her breath taken by the beauty in his corded arms, the curve of his strong shoulders, the tone of his chest. Lean, hard muscle built by years of fighting, and lifting, and working.
His hair is wet, and muddy still. Sticking out in every direction with its jet-black color - except for the one gray strand that she still hasn't asked him about.
His jeans are slung dangerously low on his narrow hips, weighed down by mud. The reminder of his near death experience makes her frown, but she's distracted again, because he's stretched his arm across his body to rub at more mud, and she watches the muscles flex with movement.
And his skin is so warm appearing. Tanned by hours in the sun, and ridiculously appealing.
His shoulders shake with movement, and it takes her a minute to realize he's laughing. Laughing at something the boy next to him said.
Hazel blinks. Blinks again. There is something rushing in her ears, and she feels hot, and she wants to snap out of it, but then he looks up. Looks up at her.
Sharp cheekbones, ski-jump nose, messy black hair draped over his forehead; Just barely hanging over the tips of his eyes.
His eyes. Have they always been that green? Deep and beautiful. Like…like the ocean, she thought.
The ocean, with its changing tides and roaring waves. Strong, and endless, and beautiful.
And he wasn't just beautiful - though he was that - but powerful, and strong. So strong.
She pictured him as she'd seen him when he fought. His head high, and the lethal - but beautiful - Riptide grasped in his hand. All glinting light, wicked and terrible.
Power, and dominance just radiating off of him. She remembers when she met his eyes. Remembers them as dark and turbulent. Promising death to those who opposed him.
Now, he was standing tall, his lips quirked at the corners in amusement, arms hanging loosely at his sides. Even in relaxation he appeared dangerous. Confident and like a hero.
When she looked at him she was comforted, because he was so good, and she almost let herself believe that with him, and people like him, on their side, they could win this war.
She also felt hot when she looked at him. Hot and flushed.
Yes, he was gorgeous. She'd always known he was good-looking. With the mischievous grin and the daring eyes, but this was the first time she ever found herself simply staring at him.
Maybe it was because he was shirtless.
"Hazel? Are you okay?"
Frank.
She snapped her eyes too him, her ears ringing and her cheeks flushing with even more blood.
What was wrong with her?
He was her friend. Roughly four years her senior - technically. Potentially the answer to her problem, and more like an older brother than a love interest.
But she could still hear rushing in her ears, and feel the blood pooling in her cheeks.
"Are you alright?" That was Frank again.
Hazel shuffled her feet. "Uh…yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"Are you sure?"
That was Percy.
Her eyes snapped back to meet his. He was looking at her in concern while he absently scrubbed at his hair.
A beat passed.
"Yes. I'm fine. Been a long day."
Percy's face cracked into a grin, his eyes shining even brighter. "You've got that right."
Hazel smiled shakily back at him. Then she make her way over to sit next to Frank.
Frank smiled at her. "You clean up nice," he said teasingly.
She rolled her eyes.
Now that the moment had passed, Hazel could actually think. She could hear over the pounding of her heart, and she felt rather mortified.
Gods, she had been practically swooning. Blankly ogling Percy Jackson in front of his and Frank's face.
She stared down at her shoes, her cheeks flaming.
She just hoped that her mouth hadn't been hanging open. Hoped for the sake of her dignity.
Frank's shoulder brushed hers, and the familiar tingles ran from the spot of contact through her nerves.
This reassured her. Her heart still fluttered when Frank looked at her, butterflies still existed in her stomach.
She liked Frank. Liked him so much. And Percy was like a brother to her. But he was of no relation and when she walks in to sexy sexy Percy in low slung jeans, she has a right to be a girl and stare.
And it was just something about him. More than his looks, more than even his charisma. A mystery, an inner power that spoke to all girls. She was sure more than a few women had fallen for his heart-warming smile.
Poor Annabeth must have a time keeping them away from him.
This makes her smile at first, but then she frowns, her eyes darting over to Percy again.
She hopes they can find them. It's a sudden rush of feeling through her. She wants so badly to get Percy to his other friends, his family.
Because he is so good, and he deserves it. Deserves to have people he loved by his side.
Because sometimes when she looks at him, his eyes are sad and wistful, his shoulders slumped.
Because when he says Annabeth, his lips turn down and his eyes darken.
After they finished this quest, she thinks quietly(if they did), she was going to do everything in her power to help Percy remember the details of his life. And to get his family back to him. Because except for Frank and her, he was taking on the literal world alone. And no one should be alone.
Hazel stood slowly, walking over to Percy as he scrubs at his face so hard his cheeks turn pink.
He looks up at her as she stops in front of him, and grins self-consciously.
She wordlessly holds out her hand, lips quirking up.
"You've still got mud in your hair. And on your neck. And on your back. Want some help?"
Percy blinks at her before laughing. It's beautiful, and contagious, and she thinks he should laugh more often. Then she's laughing back, and she can hear Frank chuckling behind them.
"Yeah, that would be nice."
He hands the bar of soap and the box of wet ones, ducking down to make it easier for her to reach his hair. She's still having to crane up though, so he rolls his eyes and plops down, muttering something about short people.
Frank laughs, and Hazel smacks Percy, her eyes shining.
Percy has done a rather bad job attempting to clean away all the mud on his back. Its scattered about, still caked on in places like between his shoulder-blades and the small of his back.
"Jeez, Percy. You did a horrible job. You would think with those long arms of yours you'd be done in a second."
Percy turns his head to glare at her, and Hazel notices - with amusement - a small glob of mud above his right eye.
Hazel gently wipes it off with a wet wipe, while Percy grins sheepishly, turning back around.
"There's just so much of it. And it's really caked on."
Hazel laughs a bit, and continues to scrub his hair clean.
She reaches the gray bit, her fingers hesitate, and words spill out of her mouth before she can stop them.
"Do you remember how you got this?"
Percy turns toward her, "Hmm? Got what?"
Hazel lifts the long gray streak to where he can see it. "This? I highly doubt you were born with a random slash of gray, and your roots are gray too, so it isn't dyed in."
Percy's brilliant eyes focused in on it, his fingers coming up to take it from her.
Frank spoke up, "Yeah, I have too. You're like Rogue in the X-men. Although, somehow I doubt you were kidnapped by Magneto."
Percy chuckled softly, and Hazel blinked. She wanted to ask what a Magneto was, but she thought better of it.
"No, it wasn't Magneto. But…I wasn't born with it either. I think…I don't know."
His eyebrows screwed together, and his eyes darkened in frustration.
Hazel kicked herself. All she'd done was make him upset.
"It's okay Percy, don't worry about it. I was just -"
"No, I can kind of remember. It has something to do with Annabeth…and Artemis."
"Artemis?"
Percy looked over at Frank. "Yeah, she's the Greek God of -"
Frank was flushed, "Oh, I know that, but…you've hung around Artemis?"
Percy grinned a little bit. "Yeah, a couple of times I think."
"But doesn't she like…hate guys?"
Percy considered. "She does, but I'm pretty sure I saved her once…so she owes me. In fact, I think me saving her has something to do with the gray in my hair."
He made an exasperated sound, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Really, Percy. Don't try to hard to remember. I was just curious. I can live without knowing."
"No, I want to remember. The more I think about it, the more I can remember, so keep asking me questions."
Frank walked over, and sat down closer to them.
"Alright, umm, Why did Artemis need saving?"
Percy didn't answer for a minute. "She had been captured…yeah, she was being held prisoner, and they sent the girls on a quest to find them."
"Annabeth?" Hazel asked gently.
"No…no it wasn't Annabeth, but why? Why wasn't it Annab…she wasn't there. Annabeth wasn't there because she…she'd been taken, too."
Percy's eyes widened. "Yes, she'd been taken, too. And, and I had to find her. Had to save her, and they wanted to leave me behind."
Frank asked the question next. "Who wanted to leave you behind?"
"The Hunters, the Camp, everyone. They wanted to leave me, when Annabeth was missing. Like I would sit on my ass when she was in danger."
"What'd you do?"
"I…I followed them. On a Pegasus, I believe."
Hazel had taken over the role as questionnaire. "Did you find her?"
Percy nodded, "We did. She was with the Titan, and a guy named Luke."
"Titan?"
"Yeah. He was the one who'd taken Annabeth and Artemis. His name is Atlas. He took them because…because he needed them to, to, um, needed them to -"
Percy shook his head roughly, and he threw his fist at the floor in frustration.
Hazel jumped, but she kept washing his back in soothing motions, and she spoke softly.
"Atlas is the Titan who holds the Earth up right? The Gods cursed h -"
"Yes! You're a genius, Hazel. He needed them to hold the sky up. Annabeth took it from Luke, and Artemis took it from Annabeth."
Percy paused, then he swung towards Hazel, his eyes wide and excited. "That's how this happened," he said, pointing to his gray hair.
Hazel blinked. "How did it happen?"
"Annabeth has a gray streak in her hair, too. It's from the strain of holding the sky. Artemis didn't get it, but Annabeth and I did because we're just demigods. We're mortal, and not meant to bear the weight of the sky."
Frank was the one who spoke now, his voice laced with disbelief. "Wait, you held up the sky? When did that happen?"
Percy gestured impatiently. "We were fighting Atlas, but he was too strong for us. Too strong for me." He looked at them sideways, "Back then at least."
Percy shook his head, "Anyway, we needed Artemis, but she was caught holding up the sky, so I took it from her. I couldn't have held it for more then ten minutes, but I can remember how, overwhelming it was. I can remember it pressing on my shoulders."
Percy jumped up excitedly, yelling, "I can remember it!"
He bounced on the balls of his feet. "I'm remembering more and more now. I think it was that Gorgon's blood. It's healing my, well my memories, I guess."
Percy grinned at Hazel, before taking two long stridesto stand before her. He reached out, and hugged her close.
Hazel stammered, and blushed, her hands waving awkwardly. All she could think about was the heat from his skin, and the lean muscles pressed against her.
"Thanks for that, Hazel. For helping me remember."
He was still hugging her, his arms circling her. He had his face pulled back. All Hazel could see in the world were the brilliant green eyes of the Son of Poseidon.
Her tongue felt thick, and her belly had butterflies, but she stuttered out a strangled response.
"Uh - it's- uh nothing. Just was, um, just - just curious."
Percy only smiled, a flash of white against tan, and then he'd released her, the warmth of his chest gone.
He turned towards Frank, and Hazel thanked the Gods for small favors, because it gave her a chance to compose herself before Percy noticed that she was swooning over him.
"Thank you, Frank. I needed that."
Frank waved him off, "No problem, man. You're going to remember it all anyway."
Hazel cleared her throat. "He's right, you know. Now, get over here and let me see your hand."
Percy's smile turned into a small grimace as he looked down and flexed his right hand.
He walked over towards her, sat in front of her with his hand held out. "It's not that bad."
Hazel snorted. She pulled the bloody appendage towards her gently, letting it rest in her lap.
Three of his knuckles were split. They were already turning blue, and the knuckle of his middle finger swelling.
"Not that bad, huh?"
Percy sighed, "I know, it was stupid, but I wasn't thinking. And I was so mad, you know? This is my life that I can't remember. Events that have made me who I am, and I don't know most of them."
"You're going to remember Percy."
"I know I am, but its more than that. It's the fact that they were taken from me. It's the fact that months of my life have been stolen forever."
Hazel poured water on his hand. Then wiped the blood off the long knuckles with the dirty towel, and she looked around for something to wrap it with.
"I know that, Percy. And I'm mad for you. I'm so mad at Juno, because you're the last person who deserves this. You've been through so much, I mean, did you listen the story you just told us? And I know that you have done even more than that."
Hazel met his eyes, "You are so good Percy, so good. And I'm going to fight with you, hell, I'm going to fight for you, to get you back to your family. Get you back to your friends, your camp, your life."
Hazel squeezed his good hand. "To Annabeth."
Frank shuffled in the background, scratching his head. "Yeah, the same from me, Percy. You can count on us."
Percy swallowed. "Thanks guys. But I want you to know, you're my friends too, now. And we've all got to be together to fight this war, so no matter what happens, the Greeks and the Romans have to be - if not friends - civil. So I may not get to see my other friends for a while, but it'll all be worth it in the end, and I'll still be with you guys. You're my friends too."
Hazel, overcome with emotion, just nodded.
Frank handed her a cloth he found from some box, and she made to wrap it around Percy's knuckles.
She was so filled with tenderness for him, for Percy. She wanted to protect him, to hide him away from all the monsters of the world, and at the same time she knew that she could hide behind him. Have him protect her instead of her protecting him.
Because even as he sat with an almost vulnerable look to him, she knew that he was strong. Strong, and good, and loyal.
Hazel eventually got his hand bandaged up, and the rest of the mud off him. When she did, Percy unfolded his long frame and made off. He snatched his shirt up and pulled it on.
Hazel watched him. Muscles sliding under smooth skin. Shoulders set, chin high, eyes clear.
Hazel smiled, and decided, Percy Jackson is a beautiful person. Inside and out. A beautiful hero.
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A/N: Well, then. I hope you enjoy this cute little one shot. I'm glad I wrote it, as I really wanted to write something involving Hazel and Percy. Anyway, I hope the grammar is not to horribly slaughtered. Remember, I am an absolute horrible writer when it comes to distinguishing between 'to' and 'too'. And I will sometimes mess up with my 'your' and 'you're', or my 'there' and 'their'.
Anyways...Please don't favorite without leaving some kind of review. Just a simple 'love it' will suffice. Reviews make me smile. :)