A/N: I'm actually surprised this reached my minimum page number! I thought I'd have to cut it off at two pages, just 'cause it'd FINALLY be done, but . . . no. It hit the length! Yay! And this is the first chapter of my mass update! Y'all should be happy about that! I'm still going crazy over my new longbow . . . *smiles* It's so beautiful. Anyways, here's that chapter! Enjoy!

Percy: Hotel Room Talks Part Two

I wasn't sure what I had just walked in on, but if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn Cora and Hunter were about to kiss. That thought made me uncomfortable. Yes, it would have been awkward enough to come in to that, but it was more than that. I felt a part of me I hadn't know existed – over protective brother – come out.

I folded my arms and looked at Hunter, trying to figure out exactly what I saw and what to say. I noticed Hunter was staring at the ground as if it was suddenly interesting. He made a point of not looking at me.

I watched him for a moment longer, piecing everything together, before saying, "You like Cora, don't you?"

Hunter's head snapped up to me and he stared, uncomprehending and nervous. I had just blurted it out, forgetting about the language issue. I noticed his face was scarlet. I repeated myself, more slowly, trying to gesture the best I could. The gestures didn't really work out.

When I finally got my message across, Hunter just looked at me for a moment. Then he looked down at the ground again, as his face turned a bright shade of red, and gave the slightest nod.

I wasn't sure what I should have been feeling then, but what I did feel was relief. I didn't know why, but I just did. I felt like I had just been waiting for this to be admitted.

For a moment I stood there, watching Hunter as he avoided looking at me with a scarlet face. I found myself grinning as I sat down on one of the beds.

"You know," I said, keeping my voice low as he looked up worriedly, "I think secretly she likes you to." He stared at me and I took a moment to repeat and elaborate. His eyes widened and I noticed he was trying not to look too pleased. Hunter held it for a moment before looking at me warily.

"Tu – tu cela ne dérange pas?" He asked, gesturing hesitantly.

I shook my head once I understood. "No, I don't mind." I gave lopsided smile, half to myself. "I've no reason not to, and I trust my sister." It felt odd to say this to a kid who couldn't even understand me.

There must have been something in my tone, because he visibly relaxed without further explanation. He didn't say anything, and I had no what I ought to say. We fell into silence. I started focusing on random little things, like the movement outside on the street, the TV droning on and on.

It sounds cliché, but the TV took my attention. It was on the history channel, and showing some show that was investigating Greek artifacts or whatever. It was kind of funny to see all the misinterpretations of gods and all the facts they got wrong.

I pointed to the TV. "Did Cora turn that on?" I asked. Hunter glanced over and gave a half shrug half nod. I took that to be a 'probably'. I just nodded. That made sense. A bunch of wrong facts would be the sort of thing to make Cora laugh – why I still wasn't really sure, she just found them funny.

There was more awkward silence and I looked around for something to do. My eyes landed on the computer keyboard. Hey, we can't be traced through a public hotel connection very well.

I got up and checked out the little info-thingy-ma-bobber. What the heck, I thought, noticing a couple things listed as 'free'. I grabbed the wireless keyboard and plopped down on the bed in front of the screen.

"Good-bye boring show," I muttered, clicking a few keys and watching the screen shift from TV mode to computer mode. "Hello video game."

I don't really know what video game it was, but I didn't have to pay anything for it, and I got to blow stuff up. I wasn't complaining.

It was a little sad though when I kept dying. I just couldn't seem to get it quite right and I started getting pretty frustrated. Hunter, who had been watching me because he didn't have anything else to do, sat down next to me and gave a few commands. This time little player didn't die.

I looked at him in surprise. "Nice," I said. I held my hand up. "High five." He seemed a little hesitant but gave me one.

We kind of ended up tag teaming the game. It actually wasn't too bad, since video game controls tend to be a universal language so we didn't have to speak. It certainly made passing the time a lot less awkward.

I'm not sure how long we were playing the game for, and we only stopped when the room door opened and Annabeth made a confused sound.

I hit the pause button and looked over. "Hey," I said. "Where were you?"

She frowned. "Didn't Cora tell you?"

"Um . . ." I tried to figure out how to phrase it right.

"Whatever," she said. "What are you two doing?"

I held up the keyboard. "Playing a game."

Annabeth gave us an odd look as the door to the bathroom opened.

"Annabeth! You're – uh . . ." Cora looked over at us, very confused. Hunter said something in rapid-fire French to Cora. She blinked. "Oh." She moved into the room.

Annabeth was still looking at us. "Well?" She asked me.

I shrugged. "Video games don't require speaking."

A/N: "It felt odd to say this to a kid who couldn't even understand me." THAT LINE WAS MY BANE FOR A YEAR! *growls*

Some male bonding there. Yeah. This chapter, the next, and the previous are supposed to be, like, my bonding chapters. I dunno why . . . that's just what I felt like doing. Only three chapters of bonding though, I don't need to have Percy and Annabeth bond. They've done enough of that. Anywho. What did you guys think? Let me know via reviews, favs, and alerts!