In a lot of movies, you'll see people on crazy dates, and you're like, 'No one would ever do that! - Zooey Deschanel
"Luna, do you know what you're doing?" asks Percy, a smile on his lips.
A warm and fuzzy feeling wells up from somewhere within as he watches Artemis at the ticket booth, so very clueless in her attempt to bring him out for a date. She doesn't respond, transfixed as she is, trying to understand the display board of movie showtimes.
Just when he thinks he couldn't love her any more than he already does, she goes and tries to do something as cute and heartwarming as this.
Hopefully he's proven wrong.
Regularly.
Gently, he pulls her from the front to let others standing behind them to get their tickets waving away the bemused cashier. "What's the problem, Moonbeam?"
She glares at him (of course, how dare he accuse her of being imperfect?), before reluctantly admitting, "I must profess I have no idea what any of these will be about, and whether they would be suitable for a date."
Percy chuckles, earning himself another displeased, reproachful glare. "When's the last time you even went to the movies?"
Left hand tapping at her thigh, she takes a quick glance at their surroundings before whispering, "A few decades? Perhaps a century. I occasionally enjoyed a bit of theater, but movies were of such terrible quality … I heard they're now in color, like television?"
Percy raises an eyebrow, and Artemis, perceptual as always, rolls her eyes and answers his question before he can ask it. "I don't watch television, but it's hard to avoid learning the basics about them when they're scattered across Olympus and modern cities."
"I suppose," admits Percy, grinning in amusement even as Artemis jabs him in the upper arm in retaliation for his enjoyment of the situation. "How'd I not notice that you didn't know any of the popular movies or basic pop culture stuff, before?"
He takes her hands before she can punch him again or continue with her nervous tic. It was such a small thing, but he's increasingly suspicious that there's a connection to Artemis tapping on things and her doubting herself. "Alright," he says, bringing her close, smiling roguishly as he notes her blush, "Long story short, whatever movie we watch, as long as we both enjoy it, should be fine. I don't really like horror movies or super cheesy movies, so there's that if that helps."
She nods slowly in understanding, face still flushed but eyes locked on his. So, he continues. "There're two big releases that are probably worth watching right now. The newer one is The Avengers, which is based on comic books by Marvel—there's a lot of hype for that one. Lots of famous movie stars, lots of movies leading up to it, whole big cinematic universe."
He glances back to Artemis, who is obviously a little lost. "Lemme guess, you never even noticed comic books?"
She shrugs eloquently, dismissively. "Are those the sources of such strange monikers as Superman or Wonder Woman or Batman I've heard in recent decades?"
Percy smirks. "Close enough. It should be a fun little adventure story. The other big movie is The Hunger Games—it's based on a book, or so I've heard. I don't know about the weird name, but apparently, the main character is a girl who's good at hunting?" He laughs again, seeing her face immediately sour. "Too close to home? Avengers it is, then."
He steps up to the cashier and snappily buys two tickets for the next show (in ten minutes, how convenient!), before herding in his slightly lost girlfriend. Five more bucks out of his wallet and a big bag of popcorn later, they're sitting in two (pretty decent for how late they arrived) seats in the half-packed screening room.
It's then where Percy observes Artemis more comprehensively again, to find her squirming ever so slightly in discomfort in the cheap faux velvet of her seat. Smiling softly, he takes her hand. She flinches ever so slightly as he does so—wow, she must be distracted, definitely out of her element—before relaxing and leaning into his side, head resting on his shoulder. That same warmth bubbles up again, and he tilts his head to rest on hers.
"I was supposed to be in charge of the date," she mumbles dejectedly, as the trailers peter away. "You've already asked me out on all the other ones, I just wanted to …"
He turns to kiss her forehead, softly, gently. "By all means, I would love that." Her hand grips his all the harder, and she turns to ensnare his mouth with her own. Her other hand rises to caress his cheek, even as the kiss becomes a little more … rough and involved.
Percy pulls away, delighted. "Of course, next time just pick something to do that you're comfortable with—don't follow whatever stupid advice you found online."
He laughs as Artemis half-heartedly attempts to dig her elbow into his gut.
Worth it.
There was a certain appeal in movies, Artemis supposed, as she walked out of the theater two hours later, hand in hand with Percy.
She didn't quite understand the whole of the story—why exactly were Norse gods involved? And she was missing the context of their backstories from previous movies, according to Percy. A whole set of movies about why Iron Man had a metal suit and why Captain America was from World War II and why the Hulk turned big and green.
Otherwise, though, the plot and pacing of the movie were quite candid. There was a dearth of interesting and dynamic characters that bounced off each other, generating believable conflict. The colors were somehow more varied yet less vivid, though that downside held no candle whatever illusory "special effects" thing (as Percy called it) that were used to destroy New York. It was very realistic, Artemis had no idea mortals could do such a thing.
"That was … enjoyable," she began, carefully disposing of the now empty popcorn bag. "Though it wasn't exactly …"
"Your thing?" completed Percy, as if he read her mind. She shook her head. "Hm, I felt like you enjoyed it though. You were plenty interested in the movie—was it just being in theaters, maybe?"
"Perhaps?" It had been a little claustrophobic, as large as the theater was. Dark, loud, oppressive, foreboding, it had been all too discomfiting. Psychologically, it was as if it was trying to immerse her in the movie. Which, at second thought, made sense. It was just that she preferred to be aware of her surroundings, and the movie had tried to rob her of that.
And then there had been the audience factor—when actually taken in by the narrative, edging out her unease with the venue and presentation, other watchers had giggled or exclaimed or cried out!
The only reason she hadn't got up and left was for the sake of her companion, who, judging by his current mood, had liked the movie a lot more than she did.
"Maybe we can try renting a movie to watch back in the apartment? To see if you like it any better."
Maybe she would, but … "How, exactly? We don't own a television."
"Laptops can play DVDs. Did you not know that?" Percy chuckled in response to her blush. "So you can Google dating advice, but don't know all that your laptop can even do yet?"
She scowled. "Well, blame mortal technology for growing so quickly. I still remember when electricity became the new thing."
"Oh, aren't you so proud of your age-" He let go of her hand to dodge her punch. Laughing one last time, he stepped in close and hugged her tight.
For a moment, she resisted, before letting the tension from the uncomfortable experience flow out her body.
Sometimes she wondered how Percy understood her so well.
"C'mon," he murmured into her ear. "Let's not leave tonight on a bad note, yeah? How about we go get something to eat?"
"Ice cream," she decided, extricating herself. It was hard to leave his warm embrace, but she wanted chocolate chip cookie dough. "I'm paying."
"Aw, seriously?" he whined, as she began dragging him to New Rome's best creamery. "You don't let me pay for anything except our dates!"
"Well, I took you out on this one, so I was supposed to buy the tickets, was I not?" She rolled her eyes.
"And you pay all the taxes and the apartment and our health care and-"
Artemis used a tried and true method to shut him up: she kissed him. And after a few seconds of token protest, he gave up and returned her kiss with equal fervor.
Eventually, she pulled back, the both of them out of breath and just a bit dazed.
"Just let me pay, you big baby."
And that was that (with a cherry on top).