Recently, Percy noticed something strange with Artemis.

It wasn't necessarily good or bad. He didn't know how to put it.

Over the past weeks, they have been spending more time than usual. Despite being Artemis' guardian, most of his time wasn't actually spent with being by her side.

This was something that he mentioned to her on several occasions since it was his duty after all. How was he supposed to protect her if he was never near her to begin with. However, the sudden mention of the topic usually gets shut down before he could say what he wanted to say.

In the end, she was his superior, and he couldn't do much if she wanted to be uncooperative.

Thankfully for him, Artemis took the initiative to work things out, so he didn't have to wait long.

Their current routine of hunting together every afternoon stemmed from the compromise that Artemis came up with to do the on-on-one teaching sessions. Although they didn't discuss about it in-depth, Percy felt that this arrangement was something that Artemis was most comfortable with. Since, he understood that she wasn't too keen about being with a male, and if there were any changes she would let him know.

At first, it was rather awkward knowing that the person that he was supposed to protect was surrounded by people who hated him. Not just him but all men.

Even that person, the person he had to protect also seemed to dislike men.

Artemis didn't show her displeasure outwardly, and she as respectful as she possibly could to a complete stranger. The truth was that the aura coming from her matched those of the other girls. At the time, it was clear to him that she was trying to be civil since this situation was not something that neither he or she had control over, and now that they were in this situation they had to work something out.

Spending more time with Artemis, in a more logical sense, was a development of the compromise they've already made, and objectively speaking this should be seen as a good thing.

He and his mistress were getting closer, which in turn means that they would be able to have each other's back without second guessing if worst came to worst. Even if Percy made Artemis' life a higher priority than his in his heart, his point still stood.

However, it felt like he was missing a crucial detail.

As much as he raked his brain, Percy couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was almost as if it would be unthinkable to him, where he would've never guessed even if someone wrote it down for him.

After a solid ten long minutes, in reality it was only a minute and a half, he was about to scrub the thought away when he had thought of a word.

Aggressive.

His mistress was more aggressive lately.

Wait no.

That didn't sound right.

Aggressive made it sound like she was going to attack him or something.

No, the word was more of something else.

Something like...

...

Assertive.

Yeah. Assertive.

"Perseus."

"Yes?"

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Glancing the profile of the person beside him, she looked as beautiful as ever.

"I was thinking about you."

It's nothing important.

The second he said that his left hand rose to his mouth, surprised that those words actually left his lips. Percy didn't actually want to say those words out loud and meant to leave them in his thoughts.

"Huh?"

Artemis looked at him, evidently sharing the same surprise that he had, but also interested at what he had to say.

Her silver eyes remained steadfast on him, seemingly demanding an answer.

Since he said it straight to her face, he couldn't just take back the words.

Something told him that he had to choose his next words carefully since Artemis seemed to be particularly determined to hear an answer by the way she was gripping his hand.

He hadn't noticed when he was walking by himself, but whenever Artemis appeared they began holding hands somewhere along the line.

"I just thinking- about how beautiful you were."

Percy looked straight ahead to avoid her eyes and to keep his cool.

He wouldn't know what to do if he saw what she thought those words.

If she would be angry or happy, he was scared of the outcome.

At first, he was able to say something about how much they had progressed, and that he was happy that things were going relatively well with the girls, and so on and so forth. But, he quickly decided against it.

It wasn't like he hated talking about such topics, but now didn't seem like the time to drop such emotionally heavy thing on her. The mood didn't advocate for that action, so Percy just said what he was thinking without much thought to it.

"... Shut up."

Her ears were slightly red, and she, too, refused to look at him.

"I meant it."

"When did you get so slick? I wonder who taught you that."

"Slick? When? Was it when I said beautiful or you?"

"Hmph. Player."

"Player? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, he asked, "Mistress?"

"..."

"Are you mad?" Percy stopped walking. "I'll apolog-"

"No. And don't."

"Then. Would you look at me?"

She was a step ahead of him and halted, standing as rigid as a plank of wood. The goddess seemed to be deliberating something.

After a long minute, it looked like she had come to a conclusion and slowly turned to face him. Artemis moved inch by inch until she was fully facing him. Her expression said that she was neutral, however her rosy cheeks were blushing profusely, betraying her attempts to hide it.

"First off. You do not call Mistress. You are my equal. So. Call me by my name.

As if on time, the wind blew past her hair, lifting it up, to create a mesmerizing scene, stunning Percy.

Just looking at her felt like a crime, so he averted his eyes.

"Ok? Percy?" She said his name softly like he heard it in a dream. Percy's breath began to quicken, his heart pounding in his chest.

What is happening?

Why am I feeling like this?

What's going on?

"Uh. Yeah. Artemis."

His gaze moved to her lips, making him involuntarily lick his own as they felt drier than the Saharan desert.

"Percy? What are you doing?"

The guardian drew a knife and looked like he was about to stab his own hand.

"Artemis. I think. I like you. A lot."

His knife began moving towards his palm as Artemis yelled, "STOP," forcefully pulling his hand away from the knife.

However, since Artemis intervened, her upper arm was now the target.

Artemis was fully expecting to get stabbed however the pain never came.

Instead, the knife simply hovered in the air with a small water disk, stopping the tip from moving.

"Artemis. That was dangerous," he said in a sober-like voice, distinctly different from before.

The moon goddess noticed this difference, and the subtle sense of distance in his voice. Looking into his green eyes, she asked, "So, did you mean those words? Like?" She moved closer to him, applying a bit of pressure onto him by slowly pushing his back up against a tree.

His eyes confidently met hers and with an unwavering gaze he said, "Yeah... I do." Artemis matched her height to be the same as his so that their eyes were leveled and neither of them had to look up or down.

"I see."

Her face moved closer to his, where he could feel her breath mingle with his own.

"M- mistress. This isn't- right."

"What isn't right?"

"We can't."

"Says who?"

"I mean. I-"

"You can't? Why."

"My master said-"

"Said what? I don't see your master anywhere around here?"

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Artemis interrupted him again.

"Who is more important to you, right now. Me? Or your master."

"... You are."

"Then? Will you listen to me? Or your master."

He looked conflicted, but he said, "I will listen to you Mistress."

Glaring at him, Artemis irritably said, "Mistress?"

"Artemis."

"Good."

"Perseus. Listen closely. You are mine. And I will not give you to any other woman. Do you understand?" the goddess whispered in his ear like a succubus luring men in.

"Yes, Artemis."

Percy involuntarily swallowed his saliva, his Adam's apple moving up and then down, thinking that maybe he had gotten himself into something that he couldn't handle.

Her head loomed over his shoulder, pulling the fabric away from his skin to make space, tickling him with her breath as her jaw opened wide.

Her bare teeth plunged into between his shoulder and neck. Her fangs dug into his skin like a beast marking its territory, making him wince in pain.

She did not hold back and bit him with as much force as possible to let him know that she would never let him go.

"You are mine and only mine."

The air stung his wounds for a few seconds before Artemis began to lick up his blood, delicately to not miss a single drop. Her tongue traced the marks on his skin as if she was admiring the work she made.

Percy took back the word he described her as. He was right before.

Artemis was not assertive. She was aggressive. Like a hunter towards its prey. And he, was the prey.

Then, she stole his lips.

His head spun with a feeling that he had never felt before.

She didn't only kiss him once, or twice, or even three times. But, she kept going until she was satisfied, raining a flurry of ecstasy upon him.

Until

T-T

Puah.

Their lips separated with an audible noise.

The both of them were panting heavily underneath the setting sun. Their embarrassment was hidden behind the guise of the earth winding down for the day.

There wasn't any "tongue action" as neither two knew was aware of such a thing. And even if Artemis somehow knew, she probably wouldn't have done it as it would have been way past her comfort zone.

Artemis was sitting on his lap with her thighs around his torso and her head pressed against his body, thinking about what she had just done. She made herself slightly shorter and allowed him to wrap her in his arms.

Her face burned with embarrassment as she recounted exactly what she did, unintentionally scrunching up his shirt while she clenched it in her fists.

Oh my gods.

What has she done?

Which demon possessed her to act like that?

"Artemis? Are you okay?" He gently asked with a concern that was much more intimate than before. His eyes were a bit absentminded, but they still conveyed his intent well enough. "Should we go back? It's getting dark." He worriedly looked up at the sky.

She followed his gaze upwards and saw the darkened sky.

The very tip of the sun barely managed to light up the surrounding earth as it continued to droop down into the horizon.

"No. Don't worry about that.

Their surroundings changed immediately, appearing in a small apartment-sized room.

Percy flinched slightly due to the sudden change, feeling the soft cushion of a couch beneath, before he relaxed, knowing that it was her doing.

"Let's stay like this," the goddess cooed. She closed her eyes and listened to the rhythm of his heartbeat.