AN: Just a short, friendship/family story between Percy and Thalia. THIS IS NOT FINISHED, NOR DO I PLAN TO FINISH IT!

~EOA


"Do I have to?" I whined, trying to push back Annabeth.

"Yes," she commanded.

"But whyyy?!" I groaned.

"You two need some cousin bonding. You don't even know what her favorite color is," she said, struggling to push me back.

"Yes, I do!" I said. She looked at me with her, Really?, glare. "It's black, isn't it?" I said. She frowned disapprovingly, and stopped pushing me. I fell backwards, landing on my butt. I gave her my puppy dog look, and she giggled, kneeling down. She kissed me softly on the lips.

"Bond for at least an hour, and you can have more," she whispered, smiling at me. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"You're so cruel," I muttered, and shuffled off towards the woods, where I knew Thalia would be. These days, she would usually be hanging near the woods. She seemed so quiet now, after the war.


I found her sitting on a tree stump, drawing on the ground with the tip of one of her arrows. I sat down next to her in silence, watching her arrow make mindless lines on the ground.

"What?" she grumbled. I didn't answer. "Stop wasting my time, Kelp Head. Whaddya want?" she asked, her cold eyes glaring at me.

"Annabeth thinks we need to do some cousin-ish bonding," I said, prepared to defend myself against any violent attacks from her. Her eyes softened for a fraction of a second, then returned to their normal hardness.

"And what makes you think I'll do it?"

"I dunno." I shrugged, shifting on the ground. "Annabeth says I don't even know your favorite color. What is your favorite color anyways? I thought you liked black," I grumbled. She laughed, which surprised me so much I thought the apocalypse was coming or something.

"I'm not emo or goth, Kelp Head. Personally, I like the color blue. Dark blue, navy blue, etcetera, etcetera," she said. I nodded.

"Err... okay."

"What?" she snapped, hearing my tone. I flinched.

"Nothin'. You're mood-swingy. One minute you're quiet, one minute you're angry, and one minute you're all happy. You confuse me sometimes," I said, shaking my head.

"Girls are complex like that. Surely Annabeth has taught you that?" she remarked. I laughed.

"It's a self-learned thing. You've got to learn these things to survive girlfriends," I said, and she smiled. "It kinda makes me wonder what she's thinking sometimes, y'know?" I asked, half to myself, half to her.

"Yeah. She was a troubled little girl when we were running." She sighed, aimlessly pulling up some grass.

We sat in silence for a while, until I asked, "So...what about that bonding?" She smiled at me, which made me nervous. Smiles from Thalia most likely means there's something wrong with her. Her smile seemed forced, like she was actually going to make an effort to know me. Shocker. "You ask me something, then you answer the same question, yeah?" I asked. She nodded.

"'Kay... er..." she faltered, trying to find a question to ask me that she wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable about answering herself. "Do you like your dad?" she asked, fiddling with a piece of grass.

I thought about that. Sure, I had a lot of reasons to hate my father, but then again, he did a lot to make it up.

"Yeah. He's okay. I mean-- y'know, I still feel angry that he wouldn't visit my mom. She's a good mom, y'know? She's had a lot of things to put her down, and her meeting my dad was like, her big break, but then-- he just left, and she was stuck with Smelly Gabe Ugliano," I said, feeling like I was rambling or something.

She nodded, satisfied with my answer. "My dad didn't do much. Y'know-- my mom's a wreck, and she got knocked up with me. 'Nuff said," she replied. I was silent, not knowing how to respond. I mean, seriously? When your friend tells you that their mom was knocked up, what exactly are you supposed to say?