A.N.= Enjoy something I cooked up in a week (3 days actually) for a Valentines Challenge. The word limit was 1000 words btw.
Meeting his first second generation goddess at the age of 13, Percy wasn't the least bit surprised. From his meeting with his father and Uncles more than a year ago, he had low expectations for the other divinities to be courteous and he certainly wasn't wrong.
The goddess Artemis was just like he had expected her to be~ reserved, stoic, pragmatic and with a general hatred for men. Although he was surprised to see that she had a soft side for children, his hope had diminished when he saw that it was only for kids below 12.
Sadly, he had missed the mark by a year when he had first met her. Disappointing, indeed.
Her rudeness at that time aside, Percy did go on the quest to save her. Although it was mostly due to one of his closest friends being taken hostage and also because Artemis' presence was necessary for the council.
A few days later under Mount Othrys, Artemis had called him a respectable man, something that was a big compliment coming from her. Apparently, his clear thinking which had led him to hold up the sky and let Artemis fight was the correct choice in her opinion and had earned him her acknowledgement.
He was glad about that.
After that, a few years of quests had led to him crossing paths with Artemis more than once. Although, none of the meetings were of much importance until after the Giants War. Partial Immortality had been thrusted in his hands before he could even protest but he had no reason to hold back from accepting, so he wasn't that miffed.
A few months fresh in pseudo-immortality, he had been approached by a certain goddess he had saved and respected. Her request was even more far-fetched, with something to do about checking how skilled her favored male ex-demigod was in hunting. Full of suspicions, he had followed her and was once again bemused to see that it was exactly what she had said it was.
A hunting match in a forest where the one who had the most kills in 1 hour…
With his sword and hydrokinesis plus his rapidly developing brain due to the partial-immortality, it was safe to say that it was a demolition for the goddess only armed in a bow and without any godly powers.
Petulant at him using his powers, she had asked for a rematch, but with bows.
The results were better left untold and Artemis had decided since then to teach him Archery. And that's where everything started.
"Hold the bow with more confidence and slowly loosen your index finger by about 2 centimeters." Eyeing his form, the goddess nodded approvingly and commanded him to shoot. Instantly, he let the arrow loose.
Twang!
The arrow flew smoothly across the range and towards the target, emitting confidence as it cut through the air. Even Percy felt hopeful for once, wondering if his months of hard work had finally paid off.
Alas, the arrow tilted to the left about 2 meters from the target, and missed the target completely. Watching the arrow pierce through a rock a few meters behind it to the left, Percy let out a disappointed sigh.
"According to mortal terms, 'You still suck at archery', Perseus." Not missing a chance to mock him, Artemis instantly fired her insults, a smirk dancing upon her lips.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh at me all you want but I will show you a bullseye soon." Grumbling back just like he would everytime he missed a shot in the last few months, he pulled the string again.
And following the previous actions, he missed the shot again, this one curving upwards and flying off to whoever knows where. Dejectedly eyeing the target which he had only managed to graze a few times, Percy couldn't help but think that Archery just wasn't made for him.
"Perseus, if I remember correctly, today is another one of those mortal festivals, right?" Reading his melancholic mood, Artemis decided to stop the lessons here for today. Nowadays, she, an immortal goddess, had been rather interested in the mortal world down below, something that Percy didn't mind.
He always got the chance to show her around, which he rather enjoyed.
"Yeah, today is 14th February, so that would be…. Yeahhhh. There's a pretty popular festival going around." Ending with a sheepish chuckle, Percy fell back on the earth, tired as he wiped sweat off his forehead.
Crouching down in front of the pseudo-immortal, the Goddess crossed her arms over her knees as she met Percy's eyes. Striking silver gray orbs met vivid sea-green as the goddess addressed the man in front of her "That's good. So, would you like to show me around once again?"
Somewhat startled at the closeness with the goddess who, for some reason, was in her 18 year old form, Percy calmed himself down before responding, not forgetting what the festival being talked about was. "Of course. There's no reason for me to disagree."
Standing up, Artemis idly noted how his voice was still rather cherry even after not being able to shoot normally even once the whole time. His optimism was another charm of his, the goddess offhandedly thought.
"That's good then." Sending him a small smile, the goddess started leaving the archery range, making the ex-demigod run a bit as he came to pace with her, his mouth already open as he engaged the goddess in another conversation.
To someone watching them from the sidelines, the two really appeared to be in a courtship, and truly, if either of the two were more honest to each other, it would have already happened.
Perhaps had Artemis admitted to knowing what the festival was about or had Percy told what it was, maybe things would progress between the two. Even that aside, had those two been honest about their feelings before, then Aphrodite might have to agonize less. But who knows?
Perhaps only the Fates do in the end.
Word count= 1000