A/N: Thanks so much for all the positive reviews! It means a lot to me to hear that the story's gone over so well (so far)! Thay23, you wouldn't happen to be Mr. D in disguise? I don't think anybody else would call Percy 'Perry'! XD I'm just kidding around :P Anyways, I'm on the second-last day of a vacation from work, so I don't know how frequently I can update once I'm back! Enjoy!

Percy's POV

There was about an hour left until lights-out when Clarisse and I ducked out of the party, which was beginning to die down. Hands linked, I led her down to the docks and we took our shoes off and sat at the edge of the pier with our feet dipped in the water.

"So, what does this mean for us, Clarisse?" I asked, breaking the comfortable silence we were in.

She sat there for a moment, her dark hair being blown around by the soft breeze rolling over the lake.

"I don't know, Jackson, is tonight gonna be a one-time kind of thing?" she asked, focusing her attention on me.

I thought about it for a second. I thought about the way we interacted before today. I thought about the way we interacted at the party. The talk we had in the closet.

"No Clarisse," I answered finally. "I don't want it to be a one-time kind of thing."

She smiled, "Good."

She leaned over and kissed me chastely.

"I wanna show you something," I said, smiling.

She nodded, and I ensured she was holding my hand, and I pushed myself off the pier, taking her with me, which elicited a yelp out of her. As we were entering the lake, I willed an air bubble around us, which kept us completely dry.

Clarisse opened her eyes once she realized she wasn't soaked and submerged. She gasped as she looked around, seeing us at the bottom of the lake.

"This is my favourite spot in the whole camp. The bottom of the lake. I come here when I need to find some peace, to think some things over. It's so… calming. I don't need the air bubble when I come down here, I can breathe underwater, but I wanted to show you this spot and, you know, not be completely soaked," I said, chuckling bashfully at the end.

She chuckled with me as she looked around, still marvelling at the landscape around us.

"This is amazing, Percy," she said in awe. She turned to face me, "Thank you so much for showing this to me. I can see why you come down here. This must seem like an escape for you, from the surface world, the expectations… You can just come down here and forget about the prophecy for just a little bit."

"That's exactly what this place means to me," I whispered.

We looked at each other in the eyes.

"It's crazy, we were always at each other's throats before today, always giving each other a hard time, but little did I know how well you get me," I told her. "You read me so well, and I feel like I'm playing catch-up, because I'm starting to see this whole other side to you. This whole other side that's just absolutely amazing, that's sweet and caring, insightful."

She looked down, bashfully. With my free hand, I reached forward and lightly tilted her chin up to re-establish eye contact.

"The more and more I find out about you, the more I'm starting to fall for you. It's not just 'oh, I see this other side to you and that's the only part I like', no! I find it connects beautifully with the person I've known all along, and it's like I've just been looking at light through a filter. The light's seemed pretty nice through the filter, and then you take away the filter that was only showing you so much of the true beauty of the light."

"Wow, didn't know you were such a poet, Percy," Clarisse teased, but still blushing substantially. "Careful, you might just go and steal some girl's heart with those slick words."

"Well, if it's yours, then my conscience won't weigh so heavily on me for the crime," I quipped, before swooping in to kiss her.

"And here I thought I had you all figured out, Percy, and now you pull out this super suave romantic other side of you!" she said with admiration.

I shrugged jokingly.

"Ooh, and now I've stumped the great Perseus Jackson! Never has a comment been made in his presence without him quipping in some way or another, especially when it concerns him!" she said overdramatically.

Some of the inhabitants of the lake had heard the disruption and came to inspect and I could hear their chuckling in my mind.

"You know, I think being submerged this long is making you talk nonsense," I said, willing the bubble up to the surface and a small wave to carry us back to the pier.

"Oh, please, Jackson, you just didn't want me to embarrass you in front of your fish friends!" she teased.

"Shut up," I complained jokingly, playfully nudging her with my shoulder.

"Was that supposed to be a hit, Jackson?" Clarisse challenged incredulously.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"You better hope it wasn't, because that was downright pathetic! A three year old could hit harder than you!" she taunted.

I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms.

"What?" she protested, seeing my stance. "Just because we're dating doesn't mean I'm gonna take it easy on you!"

"Oh, we're dating, are we?" I challenged (jokingly), smirking slightly.

She began blushing furiously. Gotcha!

"Uhm, well, I guess, uhh, I assumed that with the um, kisses, and the hand-holding… thing, that, uh-" Clarisse floundered.

"Clarisse," I said, putting two calming hands on her shoulders. "I'm just making you squirm, that was mean of me."

That awarded me a solid punch to the shoulder.

"Don't you dare pull that kind of stunt, again Jackson, or I'll kick your ass so hard, it'll hurt for you to walk for a week," she threatened, and I could tell she meant business.

"I've already gone through that," I dismissed.

"Would you like to make it two?" she inquired.

"Nonononono!" I responded hurriedly. "I'll stick with the week."

She nodded her confirmation.

"So, Clarisse-" I started, only for the signal to go off, signalling the rapid approach of lights-out time. "I'll walk you back, I guess."

We walked (quickly) back in silence, and once we got to the steps leading up to the Ares cabin, we stood face to face, our hands linked.

"I had a really great time tonight Clarisse, thank you so much," I said sincerely. "Would you do me the honour of officially being my girlfriend?"

She grinned widely.

"Of course, Jackson. Tonight was great, I'd like for it to happen more often!" she said, extending slightly on her tiptoes and capturing my lips in hers.

We stayed like that for a minute before she pulled away.

"Goodnight, Percy," she breathed, looking into my eyes one last time before heading up the steps to her cabin.

"Goodnight, Clarisse!" I called out.

Once the door closed (after she'd snuck one last little look out, as if to make sure I was still there, and-indeed- real), I jammed my hands in my pockets and made my way back to my cabin, whistling as I went. I got back to my cabin in the nick of time, as I heard the signal for lights-out just as I'd stepped into my cabin. Whew, close call.

I quickly changed into pajamas before flopping down onto my bed, with thoughts of a certain daughter of Ares running through my mind.

******THE NEXT DAY******

Percy's POV

I woke up and went through my daily prep routine with a little bit of a bounce in my step. Just as I'd stepped out of my cabin to head out to the pavilion, I heard a gruff voice behind me.

"Wait a sec, kiddo. I gotta have a word with you."

Oh, gods. Ares. This couldn't be good. He and I already had our own little rivalry going on, and now I was gonna be dating his daughter?! The words "Recipe for disaster" came to mind.

"What can I do for you today, Lord Ares?" I asked.

"Well, for starters, take a walk with me."

I followed Ares, who was appearing in the biker outfit I'd grown accustomed to. He brought me to the pier, far enough away from the morning proceedings of the campers so as to not be noticed.

"I basically came to make myself clear on some ground rules I'm setting if you want to date my daughter. I realize that what you and I got is between us, and that I have no say in choosing my daughter's love interests, no matter how much I may hate them."

I nodded along to what he was saying.

"First off: you will not hurt my daughter."

"Uhm, Lord Ares?..." I began, immediately seeing a slight loophole.

"Oh, I don't mean physical damage, sea brat, I mean that if you break her heart, I break your skull."

"Noted," I gulped. I'm normally not afraid of the guy, but I really didn't want to challenge him when he was in this kind of mood.

"You will not, under any circumstances, have any kind of sex-related stuff going on with her out of wedlock!"

I began spluttering.

"You will treat her nicely as long as you two are together," Ares declared.

This one I gave an impatient, knowing shrug. Of course I'm damn well going to be nice to her!

"And lastly, you stay faithful to her! You so much as let a nail hang out of line; I'm coming for you, Capische?"

"Sir, yes sir," I replied nervously, even throwing in a salute for good measure.

"Good. Glad we could see eye to eye," he said, a menacing edge still present in his voice as he clapped me on the shoulder, then walked a few feet away before vanishing in a small mushroom cloud explosion.

****A FEW HOURS EARLIER****

Clarisse's POV

I woke up earlier than I normally would, and grabbed some clothes and the necessary toiletries for the day and headed to the girls' bathroom. Once I got ready, I noticed a greenish-blue glow filtering in from outside through the mesh windows just below the roof.

I left the cabin to investigate, and came face to face with Poseidon.

"Good morning, Clarisse," he said cheerfully. "Care to go for a walk?"

"Good morning, Lord Poseidon. I'd be honoured to accompany you," I replied, bowing slightly.

Gods, I thought, this must be to do with me and Percy!

He took me on a path that brought us to the opposite shore of the lake from the pier where Percy and I went last night.

"You're probably wondering why I've come to talk to you, Clarisse," Poseidon said as he took a seat on the shore and beckoned for me to do so as well. He kicked off his sandals and dipped his feet in the water.

As he sat there, I couldn't help but marvel at how much he reminded me of Percy. Or maybe rather how much Percy reminded me of him, seeing as how Poseidon been around a few millennia more than Percy.

"I'm gonna guess it has to do with me and Percy?" I hazarded, knowing quite well that there was perhaps the most microscopic of mathematical chances of it*not* having to do with Percy and I.

"Right you are, Clarisse," he responded.

He looked out over the lake, adopting another expression reminiscent of Percy, a look of peace as he surveyed the calm waters.

"I want to wish you two the best of luck and the greatest happiness in your relationship. Only thing that I ask of you is that you two refrain from any kind of pre-marital sexual activities."

I began to blush furiously, which did not go unnoticed by the god.

"Sorry, it just had to be put out there. Best that you know the sort of rules I set for the two of you, and know them clearly. Luckily, I just have the one. Now, your father on the other hand, will most certainly be much more strict with his rules for the two of you," he said, a slight mischievous glint appearing in his eyes.

I laughed a little bit, "I'll keep that in mind, Lord Poseidon."

"Good," he said, turning around and grabbing his sandals, before turning back to the lake and diving in, but not before sending a mischievous wink over his shoulder.

I looked into the water but could not see Poseidon anywhere.

With that, I got up and made my way to the pavilion. I waited for the rest of my cabin to come before I grabbed my food, and as I was eating it, I saw Percy arrive out of the corner of my eye. He walked by and slowed down quick enough to plant a quick peck on top of my head, which got me blushing and had the rest of the cabin giving me mischievous/teasing looks.

Once breakfast was done, I met up with Percy and we linked hands as we made our way to the stadium for weapons training.

"So, I had a little chat with your dad," I said, after we'd greeted each other.

"Oh, really? Because I just had a conversation with yours! That's why I was a little late to breakfast," Percy explained.

"Oh dear," I said, expecting what was to come.

"Yeah, he basically said 'don't break her heart, stay faithful, and um, no sex… stuff…'" he finished, embarrassed.

"In those exact words?" I teased.

"No," he said, ashamed.

"Well, if you must know, my chat with your dad basically consisted of him passing on his well-wishing, and he may have mentioned something about the, um, no sex… stuff…" I said, grinning widely.

It took Percy a second to realize that I was making fun of him with my wording.

"Hey! Cut it out!" he protested.

"You beat me fair and square in hand-to-hand combat at the arena, and I'll quit bugging you about it!" I challenged.

"You're on, my warrior princess!" he said, as he took off toward the arena.

"Ugh, so corny!" I called out after him.

It's a good thing he didn't turn back, or he would've noticed me blushing.

A/N: Aaaaaaand that's it for chapter 2! I've already got some ideas for chapter 3 so chances are I'll get that pumped out tomorrow so that I can give you guys at least that much before my opportunities to sit down and write become significantly more scarce what with work. Anyways, thanks again for reading, live out loud, everyone! :)