Prompt 14: Just an idea, but awkwardly timed IMs lol, those fics always make me laugh and you are very good at capturing humor

*NOTE: I'm still closed to prompts for now, probably until at least the end of the year, as life is quite busy at the moment. But I'm trying to catch up on some backlogged requests that have been sitting there for a few months since before I closed. So, I'll have a few up over the next couple of weeks—my goal is to have them all posted before Chalice of the Gods comes along and expands canon again, ha. Again, not accepting any new prompt requests at this time—I'll see how my schedule looks in January and revisit the idea then In the meantime, enjoy the four or five coming up.

Oh, also, chapters 2 through 4 of my AHS senior year Percy and Annabeth story have also been posted. This story is written under my TraitorousHearts8 pseud, so it's a little more YA than middle-grade, but it's available to read on Fanfiction and AO3 if you're interested! The last two chapters should be up over the next week or two.

Alright, back to the prompt response!

Okay, I kind of loved this one and it was fun to do some semi-awkward IMs. Hope you enjoy!

PERCY: The Greek gods have terrible timing. For example, one once interrupted me in the shower. Long story. I'm not discussing it right now. Demigods do a little better. But sometimes, they have bad timing, too. For example, during my freshman year of high school, I was in the bathroom at my mom's apartment, going…well, doing what you do in the bathroom, when, suddenly, the air in front of me shimmered. Charles Beckendorf's face appeared a moment later. "Hey, Percy, got a question for—" he said before his eyes widened.

I yelped and swiped through the I-M.

Once I was out of the bathroom and standing near the kitchen sink, using its water to make a misty rainbow, I messaged him back.

"Uh, hey, dude," Beckendorf said sheepishly. "My bad."

"It's okay," I said, even though I still kind of wanted to curl up and die from embarrassment. "You didn't know. But, uh, let's not mention it again. Ever."

He nodded gravely. "Anyway, the reason I was calling…" and he launched into a Titan War-related question about an explosive device he was working on that could be added to the tour bus of monsters we'd received reports on.

Later, I learned that he'd rigged this device in the bus's toilet. I tried not to take that too personally. And I definitely did not ask him what had inspired the idea.

ANNABETH: Usually, I have way better luck than Percy. Which isn't actually saying much because he has absolutely terrible luck. Which probably explains why this happened. It was during the fall of my freshman year of high school, during the Titan War. I was at my dad's in San Francisco, and Percy and I hadn't caught up for a few weeks. Things had been weird between us ever since our quest in the Labyrinth that summer. But we were trying. Unfortunately, Percy chose to reach out via Iris-message…while I was in the shower.

I was washing my hair when suddenly, from behind me, I heard, "Hey, Annabeth—aagh!" I turned, hands already up over my chest, to see Percy, bright strawberry red, covering his eyes and swiping through an I-M.

I called him back ten minutes later from my bedroom, fully dressed, though my hair was still wet and tangled.

As soon as his face appeared, Percy sputtered, "Annabeth, I am so sorry—"

I held up a hand. "We will never speak of this again."

"Agreed."

A couple years later, on the Argo II, Hazel was talking about I-Ms.

"They're great," she said. "But it seems a little risky. I mean, we surprised Reyna in the baths."

The corner of Percy's mouth quirked up. "Yeah, this one time, I called Annabeth and—"

"I thought we were never speaking of it?"

"Oh yeah. So, anyway, is that a flock of harpies closing in again? I'd better go check."

After he ran off, Hazel raised her eyebrows at me. I sighed. "He called me once while I was in the shower."

"Oh." She fanned herself, an old-fashioned gesture that somehow seemed natural on her. "See? Risky."

I nodded. "For sure. Oh crap, those actually are harpies. We'd better go help him."

And that was the end of that conversation.