"Um, Percy, your face is on fire" "That is correct. I was gonna shave today anyways, so this is actually saving me some work" "Shouldn't you be worried about that?" "Annabeth, I have the cold of the entire ocean on my side. I have survived a volcanic eruption. I think I can handle a bit of fire. Also, it's already starting to die out" And really, a few seconds later, Percy's face stopped glowing, leaving behind perfectly hairless skin. "I just discovered a new way of shaving my face" "Perseus Michael Jackson, please tell me you're not actually considering to use this regularly" "What did you just call me?" "Stop distracting from the question" "No, seriously, you just called me Perseus Michael" I hoped the dim light hid the red color appearing on my face. "Oh, uh, you told me that that was your full name a few years ago, as a joke, but it seems I haven't been able to unlearn it. Now answer" "No wise girl, I am not actually considering that option" "Good" "Though you do have to admit that it is a rather effective-" "Shut up seaweed brain" I kissed him again, this time without setting anything on fire. I noticed that for a dinner date to be a dinner date, you'd actually need something to eat. Luckily, the plates at camp we enchanted to just magically make food appear. Percy once again participated in his favorite coping mechanism, which was blue food. I just went with some expensive leaves. I meant salad. Piper always calls it that and apparently I had picked up on it. "I wonder which coping mechanism is stranger" Percy said after we had finished eating. "You mean me having multiple identities or you putting blue food dye on everything?" "Exactly" "How did that even come to be? All I know is that it has something to do with… the guy who you don't like talking about. Sorry" "It's fine. I can talk about him. Just not like this" "And by 'this' you mean…?" "Not cuddling" "That is indeed not a great state to be talking about triggering topics. Percy got up and sat down on the floor of the boat, leaned against the back wall. I obviously joined him there.
Percy was audibly breathing in and out, probably gathering strength to begin talking. I saw him shivering a bit. Only now did I notice the cold breeze blowing over the lake. "Percy, are you cold?" I asked. "Not physically, it's just trauma. Okay, maybe I am cold" "Cause it's too cold for you here" We proceeded to sing the entire song. "At least that cheered me up a little. But I'm still cold. I think I have a solution for that though" He stuck his hand in the water and seconds later, he pulled out a large blanket. Despite coming from the lake it was bone dry, just like every other object Percy touched. He put the blanket over us and I protectively snuggled against him, taking his hand and giving squeezes.
"The story isn't actually that bad, but I…" "It's still a triggering topic and you need my emotional support?" "Yeah, pretty much that" I let go of his hand to put my arm over his shoulders. "Wrong spot" Percy said. "Right, I forgot" I moved my hand down to cover his old Achilles spot. "Perfect. So, this was quite a while ago, I think I was around four, and it went something like this.
I was sitting on the floor, working on the puzzle mom had gotten me for Christmas. "Percy, dinner's ready" Mom called. I came to the kitchen and sat down. On my plate, I saw many different foods in many different colors. I don't recall what it was. "You forgot blue" I told her. Smelly Gabe mumbled something I didn't understand. "What did you say?" I asked. "I said there is no blue food" "What about blueberries?" I asked him. "Blueberries are purple you stupid brat" Then he hit me I think. Or maybe that was one of the other times he called me a stupid brat. He did that a lot. Anyways, mom took me to the next room. "I can't let him hear me or he'll get angry, but blue food is real. Do you want me to get you some?" "Oh yeah" The next day mom came home with a bag full of blue sweets.
"And that's how a wonderful tradition started" Percy finished. "I don't think I've ever told anyone this story. I wonder why" "Because the general topic is very triggering to you and telling it anywhere other than here in my arms is just not doable?" "Probably. It's definitely triggering. I almost feel like I can still hear his voice. He's asking me where his beer went" My brain went into emergency mode. If this was the beginning of a flashback, I had to stop it before it got worse. "Don't worry Percy, I'll protect you" I turned around such that I was facing him and pulled him into a proper hug. I was now very close to his arms, which obviously weren't covered by the camp t-shirt he was wearing. I noticed that they were very attr- no, shut up sex drive, I have to help Percy now. Gods, being demisexual could be so annoying sometimes, but this was a topic for later consideration. "Remember Medusa? How you sent her head to the gods?" "Yeah, I wonder what they thought" "Do you remember what happened after that?" "I think my mom used it to turn Gabe to stone" "She did" "But then why can I hear him?" "Percy, those are all memories. He died four years ago. He's gone now. You're safe" "I'm safe?" "Yeah Percy, you are" "He's really gone. Almost slipped into a pretty bad flashback there, good reaction wise girl" Percy was out of danger, time to continue analyzing.
Being demi was annoying. I know I said that it was a blessing a while ago, but that was referring to the part where I'm not attracted to people. When I am, it's annoying. "luckily, it's only Percy" "What is only me?" "What do you mean?" "You just said 'Luckily, it's only Percy'. What did you mean?" "I said that out loud? Well, what I meant was that you're the only one I'm sexually attracted to" "I agree, that's a good thing" "We probably have that opinion for very different reasons" "My reason is that it is extremely unlikely that you'll cheat on me. That thing with Piper doesn't count" "My reason is that being attracted to more than one person is already annoying enough. If I was attracted to more people, I don't know how I'd be able to function. Luckily, the circumstances that made you attractive are rather unlikely to repeat" "What were those again?" "I think we've had enough flashbacks for today" An image of insect hair trees flashed through my vision, but I was able to ground myself again. I didn't need a repetition of that flashback from earlier. Speaking of grounding, I suddenly had an idea. "Percy, you know how you can make things dry by touching them?" "Of course, I did that like ten minutes ago" "Do you think you could do that the other way around as well? Make it so something won't give away the water it contains?" "What would you need that for?" I showed Percy my grounding hairbrush. "So, you know how you have a calming effect on me?" "Sure" "Well, that feeling comes partially from your smell, which is just the smell of the ocean. I was thinking if I got like a few pieces of seaweed and put them in this eternal water, I'd always have the smell of the ocean with me" "I don't think I can do that. I've never tried to make water act in a certain way after I stopped actively controlling it. But I'm sure your genius brain can come up with some way of keeping the water contained. Or you could try extracting the smell producing substances. I mean, there's scented candles that smell like the ocean and they don't contain life kelp" My mind was suddenly racing with ideas I'd try out as soon as I had the time. "Or you could just steal my shirt" Percy suggested. "You want me to steal from you?" "Girls steal their boyfriends' sweaters all the time, but since early September isn't exactly sweater weather, you'll have to make do with my shirt" "I'll have to admit, I did actually steal your stuff when you were missing. To be honest, I probably didn't wear anything else until your smell had faded away completely" "I'm not mad, don't worry. It's not like I needed them" "Not really. Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a date? Why are we talking about your shirts now?" "Trauma?" I retracted our conversation. "Yes, trauma. Grounding, specifically" "So, want to continue the date?" "Why not? But, like, what should we do? What do normal couples do when their lives aren't in danger" "I don't know? Something romantic probably. Love language and stuff" "What actually is my love language? I never really thought about that. What do you think?" "Probably being supported emotionally" "And that's where the problem lies. My love language cannot be used when I am not in a difficult situation. Which doesn't mean you should put me in a dangerous situation" "You mean like last Tuesday?" "Okay, that was fine. You made me really happy with that" We were silent for a few seconds. "You know, who needs proper dates when you can just sit around and cuddle" Seconds later, a cold wind blew over us, making further heat retention measures, such as cuddling, necessary.
"Forget what I said earlier" Percy said. "Your love language is just cuddles" "Which can be a form of emotional support" "That is true, you were right. Wait, no, I also said the first thing" "Shut up and cuddle me" "Fine"
While sitting there, I must have drifted off to sleep because when I opened my eyes, I was in a cave. The walls were covered in spider webs and, strangely enough, Percabeth fanart. I knew that wherever spider webs were, the spiders often weren't very far. And really, I heard quiet scuttling sounds that became louder and louder and louder until I saw a wave of spiders coming towards me, led by their mother Arachne. I was doomed. I couldn't even run away, the fear had paralyzed me.
Suddenly, I was doused in water that washed the spiders away. A figure fell from the ceiling and a bronze colored smear of light embedded itself in Arachne's back turning her to dust. "I heard you needed help" Percy said.
"Are you real?" I asked. "Yeah, I finally figured out that whole dreamscape thing. I was just walking around when I got a strong sense of Annabeth and fear from one of the dreams, so I decided to go there and see if I could help. Apparently, that was the case" "You even give me emotional support when I'm asleep. I think that's a new one" "Well, you've never needed emotional support before while in a dream that I was also in" "Even better, you used the first chance you got. Percy?" "Yeah?" "I love you" "I love you more" And then he kissed me. When he added a hug (Strangely, while hugging me, Percy seemed bigger than usual. Maybe this was a manifestation of how I was scared and he was not), everything was perfect for a moment. Then the moment ended. A drop off liquid landed next to me like a puddle of horror movie monster drool. Except it wasn't saliva. It was beer.
"He found me" Percy said. Suddenly, he seemed to get smaller and I was the one protectively holding him. "Gabe?" I asked. "Yeah. You know what I said about having figured out the dreamscape? Well, I didn't plan to go there for fun. I ended up there while trying to escape my own nightmare. Why do we both have nightmares at the same time?" "Percy, we're demigods. We have nightmares constantly. It is rather likely for us to both have a nightmare at any given night" "So, how do we get out of this cave?" I scanned the ceiling, looking for unstable spots. "Can I borrow riptide for a moment?" "sure" I threw Percy's sword up into the ceiling, making it collapse. I willed the falling pieces to not hit us. When the dust had settled, we found ourselves on the surface. Seemingly, the cave had been encased by rock that was above the surface, like an upside down bowl.
Before me was a massive creature, about giant sized. It looked a bit like a human, but inexplicably scary and evil. The only truly human feature was its face. The face of Gabriel Ugliano. (Of course I know what he looks like. More on that later) In his hand, he was holding a giant broken beer bottle. "That seems like something from a nightmare" I confirmed Percy's previous statement. "Well, time to fight" I said. "Percy?" "Yeah, uh, time to fight" His voice was shaking like crazy. "Percy, are you sure you can fight right now?" "Yes, of course" "Are you sure? You seem pretty scared and it's fine if you can't. I can handle this guy" "Fine, I can't. But I have to warn you, I almost got killed several times when running from him" "I'll be careful" This entire conversation played out during the time it took Gabe to take a single step because dream logic. I picked up my sword which I conveniently had with me and ran towards the creature. He took his beer bottle and swung it at me. Luckily, it passed right through me. Unluckily, the same thing applied to my sword and his leg. I realized something. "Percy, he's your fear. Only you can defeat him" "Oh, I'll try my best" But if this worked that way, then how…
"You fool" A familiar voice sounded. The voice of Arachne. "You thought Percy could defeat me. All he did was weaken me for mere seconds. Also, up until now I was playing nice. Now I'm not. A large hairy leg landed on the floor next to me. When I looked up, I saw Arachne, larger than ever. She was easily large enough to drive a car below her. My brain was flooded with panic. I stumbled backwards, away from Percy. I know I'm not usually the type to run away from a fight, but I was so afraid that I couldn't get a coherent though through. As long as there was just one of these monsters here, I could at least run.
I said I'd try to get back on track quickly. I never said I'd succeed