LbN: Happy reading!

Aphrodite appeared next to her children's cabin at Camp Half Blood and walked toward the lake. She stayed cloaked. Normally, she loved the opportunity to see her children, but today was about business. She moved quickly, and found herself approaching a cabin near the sprawling lake. There was a motorcycle made of skulls parked out front. She paused near the…entryway. The son of Poseidon's cabin didn't really have a door. She could hear voices inside.

"Sweet merciful Olympus, they're reciting poetry to each other…" she muttered, entering quietly.

Percy and Nico were cuddling—fucking cuddling—on Percy's hammock. The goddess cleared her throat, and their heads snapped up.

"Afternoon," she said, trying not to smile. It really wasn't funny. "I see you've…undertaken a new…er…well, nevermind. I just wanted to check in."

"Why?" Percy asked suspiciously.

"I enjoy being in the presence of true love," Aphrodite lied, crossing her fingers behind her back. It wasn't actually a lie—she did enjoy being in the presence of true love—but she had a feeling this was less of that, and more about Eros's arrows. She'd have to ascertain how much damage had been done before she could administer the cure. "I know we've had out differences in the past—"

"Yeah," Percy scoffed. "Differences. With you and your dickhead boyfriend."

The ground rumbled a bit, and the 25-year-old rolled his eyes.

"Sorry," he muttered. "You were saying?"

"I was saying, I wanted to see if this was just experimentation or if it's real."

"Of course it's real," Nico said. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Aphrodite shrugged. "It's one of the things I can't tell. Young people are very free with their hearts and emotions."

"We are not," Percy argued.

"Should have stayed at Camp Jupiter if you wanted me to even begin to believe that. You Greek demigods are notoriously emotional. Still, it's difficult to know, sometimes. Anyway, I wish you well. I have others to visit this day."

The boys went back to their poetry book as Aphrodite left them.

She stopped at Percy's mini-fridge and opened it. She waved her hand over the bottles of water and soda, which turned pink momentarily. Satisfied, she closed the fridge door and walked back into the sunlight. Putting on her sunglasses, she pulled out her purple iPhone to look at the GodLocate app. She didn't spot Eros, which meant he was cloaked. "Going to kill him."

With a snap of her fingers, she went back to Olympus. The hall she was in sloped downward, and the golden tiles began to turn a beautiful teal color. "Annabeth's got fabulous taste…" Aphrodite muttered. That reminded her, she'd seen Athena in the complaint line earlier. Obviously she'd have to pay a visit to the young architect. "Poseidon?" she called. The door was blocked by a waterfall, and she didn't really feel like getting her hair wet.

"Tell me things have been rectified?" he asked.

Her uncle was probably the closest thing to a patient god, but she still wasn't going to mess about when it came to his favorite son. "I've placed the antidote. Your son doesn't trust me…understandably. He'll be back to normal as soon as he takes a drink."

Poseidon nodded, then winced. "Er…I think he just did. The blasphemy in my ears right now indicates that he's just realized something."

"I'll go see to the others."

"Good luck."

She went back to her apartments and (after ringing Eros's summoning bell a few more times) sat at her viewing portal. She'd been right—she definitely needed to visit the daughter of Athena.

But it looked like her own daughter was the more pressing problem at present.

"Zeus, give me strength," she grumped. "Time to visit the Romans…."