AN: A little self-cross-promotion- my other current PJO/HOO story, Strings of Fate, is now up to five chapters, the latest being Hollywood!AU. The next update on that story will be Rom-Com!AU, just in time for Valentine's Day. That update will occur on Wednesday.

Frank stopped as he walked past the ice-cream store on the way home from school.

He really wanted an ice-cream.

Yeah, never mind that he was lactose intolerant.

He seriously needed ice-cream today.

It'd been a long, long day. Sophomore year was much tougher than Freshman year, class-wise anyway, that was for sure. And he'd been at school really, really early for archery training, and then there was that whole incident with Dylan, and meeting Hazel...

Frank was normally a non-violent, non-confrontational sort of guy.

(Odd, apparently, for a linebacker, and a soldier's son, but that was just the way he was.)

But when he'd seen the burly Junior (and football player, much to his displeasure) and his friends taking stuff from a tiny (at least compared to him, and Dylan) girl with really nice cinnamon-toast-coloured curls, he'd had this immense, urgent need to protect her, and before he'd really known what he was doing...

Then she'd smiled at him, and thanked him, and told him he was brave with what he thought might just be admiration in her eyes...She had gold eyes, and she was really, really beautiful ...and she hadn't laughed at him or looked scathingly at him when he'd tripped over a textbook someone had carelessly left on the floor, and he'd enjoyed making small talk with her as he'd accompanied her in her search for her brother...

(He couldn't possibly have let her wander the halls alone, especially not with the Dylan incident, so he'd escorted her around the school until she'd found her brother, who turned out to be Nico di Angelo. He'd never have guessed that, they didn't seem anything alike; sure, Nico seemed like an okay guy, and unlike almost all of Olympus High, Frank didn't mind him, but he really couldn't see the resemblance.)

He stepped inside, through the open doorway of the ice-cream shop.

A few minutes later, digging into a bowl of double-chocolate-chip ice-cream, he felt much, much better.

(His digestive system would hate him for it later, but it was ice-cream.)

He heard a certain (unfortunately familiar) voice, and froze.

'...Yeah, so then Zhang just comes up to me, and he's all like...I mean, what does he think he is? Some sort of knight-in-shining-armour?'

He glanced out the window.

Dylan was walking past, arm around a girl he recognised as Drew Tanaka, cheerleader, and one of the meanest girls in the school, surrounded by his cronies.

Frank's heart sank.

(Sure, he was kind of used to bullying. It'd gotten much better since he became friends with Jason, Percy and Leo when he'd started high school, started his growth spurt and made the football and hockey teams anyway. Still, it hurt.)

Then, he heard another familiar voice. This time, a welcome one. (Well, at least friendly, he didn't really want her interacting with Dylan or his cronies ever again.)

'I guess that'd make you the snivelling evil wizard, then. As I recall, you turned tail and ran, coward.'

Somehow, Frank didn't think that Dylan wanted to mention that part of the story to Drew, because he glared at Hazel, and he and his companions stalked off.

Hazel watched them go, and entered the store. She glanced around, her face fell, and then she noticed him, and perked up again. (That made his heart beat a little funny and his ego swell a little.)

She walked over.

'Hi, Frank. You haven't seen Nico by any chance, have you?'

He shook his head.

'Nope, sorry...though, I don't really think this is his sort of place, I mean...'

He trailed off, and immediately felt guilty. He'd kind of just insulted her brother, who seemed to mean a lot to her!

To his relief, she smiled and suppressed a giggle.

'Yeah, I know, it doesn't seem like him. But, he's well...had a rough day, and who doesn't love ice-cream?'

Frank smiled back at her.

'I could eat it all day...' He pouted. 'But I'm lactose intolerant.'

'Oh, that's awful! What a terrible curse you are afflicted with!'

He gave a half-laugh, and her eyes sparkled with sympathy and mirth.

'Well, it doesn't stop me from indulging. Every now and then anyway. My digestive system doesn't like it if...'

He trailed off. He highly doubted that she wanted to hear about his digestive difficulties. That was not something one talked to beautiful girls about. Even Leo, who continually flirted, and continually failed (he was somehow convinced that every girl he met would be the one who caused his soulmate mark to appear, it might just take a little time, even if it was supposed to happen instantly) didn't do that.

He looked up at her. She was still smiling. Apparently, he hadn't completely screwed up.

'Anyway...thanks for what you did outside. For standing up for me. Against Dylan and his gang. That'd take a lot of guts, especially after this morning...'

She blushed.

'I couldn't let him say that stuff about you, Frank. You're really brave...' Her blush grew more intense. She fanned her face with her hand. 'And, for what it's worth, you were my knight in shining armour today.'

He went bright red. (Not even blushing pink, actual bright red. Like the Canadian flag.)

Completely flustered, he rubbed the back of his neck, as he fumbled for what to say.

'Oh...um...wow...thanks...Hazel.'

They stared at each other for a moment.

She gestured awkwardly towards the door.

'Well, I've got to go and find Nico. Bye, Frank.'

She waved at him, and still pink, he waved back.

He looked down at his now very-melted ice-cream, but found he didn't really care. He had something much more important, much nicer on his mind.

Hazel Levesque. Brave, bold, kind, sweet, strong, beautiful Hazel. Whom he wanted, more than ice-cream, more than anything, to protect and impress and hold in his arms and maybe even kiss...He pushed those thoughts away. Bad Frank. Very, very bad Frank. That was inappropriate. He felt rather uncomfortable with himself. She was thirteen years old and in the 8th grade, for gods' sake! (Curse you, puberty and hormones.)

He felt his cheeks go warm again.

Which reminded him of a strange warmth he'd felt in over his heart this morning, kind of like a sort of branding, but without any of the pain, obviously...Could it be?

Eyes wide and excitement and nerves flowing through him, Frank dashed out of the ice-cream store.

He had to go home and check.

Hazel stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Her thoughts were elsewhere as she shucked off her clothes in preparation for her shower. They were preoccupied with her brother's fight with their father (it'd taken a long time, but she'd finally found him, though she'd been unable to persuade him to actually talk to the man- he was currently brooding in his room), and that brave, klutzy, kind, gentle, slightly silly, handsome football player who was lactose intolerant but loved ice-cream anyway (he was cute when he pouted) that she'd met that morning.

But her thoughts crashed back into the present time and place when she happened to glance at the mirror.

She had a mark on the left side of her chest, over her heart. A soulmate mark. About the size of a golf ball, it depicted a teddy bear holding a bow and arrow.

Her eyes widened.

It was completely obvious who her mark referred to. Completely obvious who her soulmate was.

Frank had mentioned that he enjoyed archery while he was escorting her around.

Besides, she'd only met a handful of new people today. (And there was absolutely no way Dylan or any of his cronies was her soulmate.)

She grinned. Her heart tried to tap dance again.

She was going back to Olympus High tomorrow after school, and she was going to find Frank. Her soulmate. Her heart did an extra-vigorous kerthump at the thought.

She stepped quickly over to the door, wanting to share the news with Nico. (Though, her brother was very cynical about the whole soulmates thing and relationships in general, due to his experiences. Hazel was more optimistic. Besides, it was Frank. Even though she'd only known him for less than a day, it was as clear as day that he was very different from their father. She was sure Nico would come to see that too.)

Her hand on the doorknob, she realized her state of undress.

Oops.

She reddened and fanned her face.

Perhaps taking a shower first was a good idea.

Frank grinned as he examined the mark over his heart. A dark-skinned young woman with cinnamon curls, mounted on a horse, appeared to be riding into his heart.

And that she was.

(Yeah, cheesy, but she did make him feel as if there was a horse running around in there.)

He wanted to tell somebody.

He'd found his soulmate! That was big news!

He, awkward, klutzy Frank Zhang, with the mismatched face and body, had found his soulmate, and she was beautiful and wonderful and everything he had ever hoped for and more.

But who to tell?

Leo?

No, as much as Leo was a very good friend of his, he didn't want to hear dirty jokes or flirting tips or terrible puns right now.

(In fact, he never wanted to hear any of those, but friends of Leo's couldn't escape them.)

Jason?

If he remembered correctly, the Sophomore was currently at some kind of student government meeting. He was Sophomore Class President, after all.

Percy?

Probably doing gods know what with Annabeth. The last time he'd called during their private time...he found himself rather scarred. He did not want to re-live that experience.

His grandmother?

Ugh...no. As much as he loved his grandmother, he didn't really want to talk about this with her. He could just imagine her reaction. Zhang men do not gush, Fai.

No, the only person he could imagine talking to about Hazel right now was his mother.

But he couldn't, because she was currently deployed in Afghanistan.

He really, really missed her.

Frank sighed.

There was nothing he could do about it.

His mom was away doing her job and doing her duty. Doing the right thing, the important thing.

Besides, he too had a job to do right now anyway: Calculus homework.

He didn't want to do it. He hated Calculus; the humanities were far more up his alley. Besides, at the moment, he wanted nothing more than to have his mum back and to see Hazel.

He took a deep breath.

No, he had to do Calculus homework. Besides, he didn't know where she lived, and he was not about to do some serious stalking to find out. That would probably make her think he was some kind of creep. And he really didn't want that.

He'd go find her after school tomorrow. (He had hockey in the morning.)

She's not going to disappear overnight.

AN: Yes, in this universe, the people/the gods who determine soulmate marks have a stupid sense of humour. If interested in the soulmate marks for the other characters, either ask in a review or PM me, I'll be happy to answer.