Song recommendation: "First Date" by blink-182. My personal favorite band and from one of my favorite albums of all time. It's just a fun song. It's just a song that I could hear Percy listening to and definitely one that I have him listening to in my head when he's driving or something. The song itself is about what the name entails, and its one that I could envision quite well. Percy's definitely got that awkward, sort of nervous vibe going sometimes with it coming across like he's the jumpy one, and to be fair, he probably is. Artemis has it put together while Percy sort of just stumbles through and I feel like this song is a great representation of that.
Percy awoke with a bit of a start as they passed over a particularly bumpy section of road. His eyes were wide as he quickly tried to take in his surroundings, only to find himself in the familiar front cabin. Artemis was next to him, casually driving them while listening to music. A quick glance out the window told him that it was quite late at night, but he sort of expected that.
"Eat something," the goddess said simply, gesturing towards a bag seated between them.
He blinked, head swiveling to get his bearings, "How long was I out for?"
Artemis looked thoughtful for a moment, "You fell asleep fifteen minutes after we traded seats."
Percy did a little bit of mental math, "So about seven hours?"
"Around that, yes," Artemis said casually before gesturing back towards the bag, "You should eat."
He stared at her for a second before turning to said bag for a moment. When had they gotten that? Regardless, he went for it, rummaging around to find something, "What did you get?"
"One of those fast food places that mortals love," The huntress shifted gears, both literally and figuratively, "How are you feeling?"
Percy shrugged as he pulled a small paper covered sandwich out, "Not like I was earlier, if that's what you're asking."
The moon goddess looked over at her companion. He happened to be taking a rather large bite out of his food, making her laugh, "It isn't going anywhere, Perseus."
He made a small noise before swallowing, "Yeah but I'm not sure how much time we have."
"Before?"
"Well, you said I was out for seven hours and it was only a nine or ten hour drive in total so between the two of us, we should be just about there."
"That is true, but I fail to see how the two are related."
Percy shrugged, "Then I'm just hungry."
Artemis smiled at that, "How did you sleep?"
His eyes flicked towards the gauges as he finished another bite, "I've had worse."
Artemis hummed, "You seemed restless."
"I had a few dreams," Percy said simply, purposely avoiding other details. Artemis seemed to understand as much and dropped it. He was thankful for that much, even though he could see that she was curious about it. Or maybe it was concern? He wasn't too sure, but he didn't have a chance to dwell on it as the moon goddess in question gently brought them to a stop in a patch of woods. Percy sucked in a quick breath and felt his ears pop, "You think it'll rain tonight?"
"It will not. Why do you ask?"
"I'm wondering if I need to set up a tent or if I can just sleep in the bed."
Artemis hummed as she twisted the keys in the ignition before dropping them into her friend's lap, "I imagine that either will work. It should be a rather warm night."
"Perfect," the young man grinned as he opened his door, "Uh where's the camp?"
"A few hundred feet away," Artemis said simply, appearing almost next to him as he was getting out. He jumped and nearly smacked his head against the door, causing her to snicker.
"You're the worst," Percy groaned, "I swear you do that on purpose."
She sent him a sly smile, "It is too easy not to."
Percy grumbled a little as he observed the goddess. She glimmered faintly in the moonlight and even though the moon itself wasn't that large, he could clearly see it shining brightly above them. His gaze dropped back down to the goddess in front of him. She had a small smile in place as she sat over the back wheel, looking fondly at the area around her. How the goddess had managed to get up there after scaring him but before he could even get out of the car was beyond him, but it was worth considering that she was far faster than she let on. Godly status and all that.
"Are you going to stare all night?" The goddess's teasing voice cut through his thoughts. He quickly looked away, forcing himself to not blush while the goddess jumped off. She hardly made a noise as she landed lightly, slowly standing up. Percy shook his head as she came to stand next to him, attempting to speak before stopping all together. Artemis laughed as he sighed, giving up on the attempt, "Come now. I'm sure my Lieutenant is waiting."
"After you, My Lady," The son of the sea hoped he sounded more confident than he was.
Artemis looked at him, face full of amusement, "Eager to avoid my hunter's arrows?"
Percy chuckled, "That is one reason."
"The other being?"
"I'm not sure which direction your camp is in."
"Then they have done a good job concealing themselves."
"They did learn from the best."
The moon goddess smiled as she gestured in the direction they were in, "If you expect me to dispute that, understand that I will not."
Percy chuckled at that, "Wouldn't say it if I didn't think it was true."
The goddess hummed in acknowledgement as the two made their way towards the camp. As she'd said, it wasn't far off to the point that one of the members of the night watch intercepted them less than fifteen seconds after they'd started walking. Artemis, obviously, hadn't been surprised by this, but Percy had been slightly startled as one of the huntresses dropped out of a tree right next to him. The girl in question didn't seem to notice, but Artemis did as evidenced by the way she covered her mouth with a hand.
Percy fought back the urge to groan as the girl addressed them, hoping that she didn't notice his little interaction with their patron. Regardless though, Percy wasn't all that concerned since he knew this particular huntress well enough, not only because of her legendary status as a hero, but also because she'd been one of the first of the hunt to befriend him in full. Oh, and Apollo wouldn't shut up about her when they'd last visited together. His little girl, as he'd put it, had inherited many of his skills.
"My Lady," Atalanta gave a small bow towards her patron before shooting him a grin, "Percy."
The moon goddess simply waved the girl off while Percy greeted her, "Got stuck on night watch again?"
"Volunteered actually," she shrugged, "Bring more cookies?"
Percy shook his head, "Can't say I did. Where's Thalia?"
The daughter of Apollo gave another shrug, "Should be coming back around now. Said she didn't want to miss you guys when you got in."
"I'm honored."
Atalanta opened her mouth to speak but the daughter of the thunder god beat her to it as she poked her head out of some nearby brush, "I'm sure you are Kelps. That wouldn't be your truck parked a few hundred feet away, would it?"
"It would," Percy grinned, "Why?"
"Planned on stealing it," Thalia shrugged, joining the two. Percy wasn't quite sure where Artemis had gone off to, but he could feel her presence in the camp, "Where are you going to keep it tonight?"
Percy laughed, "Plan on sleeping in it."
Thalia clicked her tongue, "That won't do. It's not really stealing it if you're in it."
Atalanta chimed in, "Depends on how you look at it. If you tie him up first, you can call it a kidnapping."
Thalia nodded slowly as she considered the logistics, "That's not a bad idea."
"Might become a homicide with the way you drive." Percy said casually, taking a step back only to bump shoulders with someone. He yelped as the moon goddess appeared out of thin air.
"I have to agree with Perseus," Artemis grinned as the two hunters laughed at the son of the sea, "Even if his joke was in poor taste."
"Hey!" Percy's voice was indignant, "I'm not wrong."
"That does not make it a good joke," Artemis shot back with both hunters watching the exchange in interest.
"Like you could have done better," Percy shot back.
The look on the moon goddess wasn't necessarily out of place, but it was more akin to the looks Diana would give him. It was that teasing, almost predatory sort of look which was always followed up by a wolfish smile. He'd seen that look on Diana's face before and he wasn't sure he liked the implications.
"I would take my Lieutenant's driving over your verse." Percy was confused for a moment, but both Atalanta and Thalia could see as the child of the sea's eyes widened moments after, and a fraction of a second before his whole body whipped towards the goddess.
"You wouldn't."
Artemis just grinned at him. He knew the look all too well. It was, after all, the same one he wore half the time, "You only ever mentioned Apollo."
The savior of Olympus felt a bit of blood drain from his face as the other two hunters looked confused. That didn't stop them from continuing to watch in interest as Percy leaned in towards the goddess a little, "Do your worst."
"As you wish," Artemis's eyes shone brightly as she tilted her head, staring at him with a foxy smile.
Needless to say, the next few minutes were chaos as Artemis recounted the story. Atalanta seemed mildly sympathetic while Thalia laughed at him, loudly and unabashedly. He imagined he'd be teased about it for the next ten years given the way the lieutenant was speaking. Eventually, it did come to an end, but not after everyone in the group had ribbed him at least a little. Artemis, seemingly finally taking pity on her friend, ushered the two hunters back to their posts.
The moon goddess had given him a small smile before disappearing herself, but not before a quick teasing comment and leaning in to bump shoulders with him. Percy imagined that she was off to do moon goddess things, so he busied himself with setting up his sleeping arrangements. He'd have to thank Artemis again for putting the storage enchantment on his gifts since it meant that he could just summon them to him, rather than having to run back to the vehicle and navigate it through the trees and tents.
His bed for the night was little more than a small mattress stored in a little box seated right behind the cabin, a pillow, and a handful of blankets all set in the bed of his truck. It wasn't cramped by any means, but there wasn't nearly as much space as he had in his bed at home. Honestly though, Percy sort of preferred this. Something about being outside under the stars just couldn't be beaten. That being said, he could have done without the southern heat attempting to melt him every other minute.
He'd packed big, fluffy blankets for when they did this up north, but the son of the sea was sure that he'd die if he tried using one of them down here. Percy regarded his bedding with a smile. Other than the heat, it seemed like it'd be a great night. Thankfully he'd packed a thin sheet so that he could keep himself covered through the night without worry of waking up drenched in sweat. Of course, he thought as he tugged his shirt over his head, it'd probably happen regardless.
See, Thalia didn't mind night watch. Contrarily, she actually preferred it, but there were just some nights that she couldn't sit still. Credit that to the temperature, or to the fact that one of her best friends was around for a decent portion of time for the first time in a long time, or whatever you wanted to, but the point stood. She was bored. Overwhelmingly so in fact. Occasionally, she'd strike up brief conversations with the other hunters during their rounds, but most of her night was spent in silence with her legs kicked up against the trunk of the tree she was in.
Unsurprisingly, one's mind tended to wander during periods of boredom. Add in the natural symptoms of demigodhood, and Thalia's mind was practically crying out for something to do. Gods knew she'd have loved to shake her cousin awake and force him to spar with her or something. Of course, she was sure that he wouldn't appreciate that, even if he wouldn't say anything about it. Then again, the moon goddess likely wouldn't have appreciated her slacking. That did raise a particular question in her mind though, but Thalia brushed it off quickly since it wasn't really her business. Yet.
When it did involve her in some way, she'd question Percy about it but as far as Thalia was concerned, he could do whatever he wanted. So could her patron for that matter. While some answers would have been nice, the Lieutenant had learned it was rarely a good idea to question the workings of immortals. For one, it was just more of a headache than she was interested in, and for two, the Huntress could handle herself better than anyone. As Nico had put it once, let the gods do god things.
Thalia let her head loll over the edge of the branch she was on. From what she could see, it'd likely be dawn within the hour, meaning that it was time for another patrol. She would have loved to lounge around in her comfortable little spot, but she was in desperate need of something interesting. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you were, she'd get just that. The initial round around camp had yielded nothing of interest. The hunters were asleep and no monsters were dumb enough to attack them. Surprises all around.
It was when she came up towards the north end of camp that she noticed something. Atalanta seemed to be staring at something, though Thalia wasn't entirely sure what. Of course, the daughter of Apollo was quick to beckon her over upon noticing her. It didn't seem urgent, but their camp's healer seemed concerned about something.
"Something up?" Thalia's voice was quiet, even as she ran over towards her friend.
"Yeah you could say that," the healer gestured over towards the blue pickup she'd been admiring earlier. Percy would never hear it, but Thalia was mildly jealous of his gift. Seriously, Poseidon took great care of his kids, "You might want to check on him."
Thalia cocked her head as she stepped closer towards the back of the bed as the wind seemed to pick up a bit. She sent a quick glance towards her fellow huntress, but Atalanta just shrugged. The two made their way over, though the daughter of Apollo seemed especially concerned for some reason. Thalia had no such qualms and marched ahead to be greeted by the sight of her cousin thrashing in his sleep, hands clenched tightly around the thin sheet covering him. It seemed that she and Atalanta weren't the only ones to notice it either as the moon goddess herself observed quietly from a distance. She tucked that bit of information away for later, instead choosing to act.
The daughter of Zeus recognized it well enough. She'd witnessed it during his short stays with the hunt, but the aftermath was always the same with Perseus Jackson ending up incapacitated. Sometimes worse. Naturally, it meant that Thalia was going to throw herself right into the fray by taking on the Herculean task of waking the son of the sea up from one of what she assumed to be his worst demigod dreams in months. As she well knew, it was quite hard to wake one up from said dreams.
But given that it was quite possibly her best friend, she had to at least try. That led her to her current predicament as she hopped up into the truck bed. The entire vehicle was shaking due to the earthshaker's child but Thalia wasn't to be deterred, even as she narrowly avoided being thrown off her feet. On an entirely unrelated note, it did remind the Lieutenant to train the newer hunters on shooting from rough terrain. Regardless of that though, it took her a moment before she could actually get to her friend. She was mildly aware of the groaning chassis as Percy's fingers dug into the metal of the bed, crumpling it underhand. Her first attempt was fruitless given that she'd done little more than shake him.
The second attempt went much the same since she was still just shaking him, albeit with significantly more force. She winced as she heard something bang loudly against the metal frame of the car. She hoped it wasn't his head but she moved on quickly. He'd never know, so she went back to work. Of course, it was on the third attempt that things started going awry. After a half-hearted attempt at rousing him, Thalia shocked him. Good news was that it worked. Bad news was that he instantly summoned a dagger into his hand and was swinging as his eyes opened.
The Lieutenant of the Hunt was more than quick enough to slam his wrist down against the bed, knocking the blade out of his hand, but she was unprepared as he used his legs to push her up and over him, sort of coiling up before snapping like spring. This sent her flying straight overhead and into the back of the cabin. She probably would have taken the blow head first, but she had instinctively drawn her shield which she used to cushion the blow. Thalia took the brunt of the impact on said item, which in turn dispersed the energy and deformed part of the truck, leaving the demigoddess relatively unharmed. She hissed out a quick breath as she rolled over towards the hood, keeping some space between the two. She hardly noticed Artemis approaching.
"Really, Kelp Head?" Thalia groaned in pain, nursing her side a little as she got to her feet.
Thankfully, this seemed to snap Percy out of whatever stupor he was in with the young man in question stumbling back a few feet, eyes wide as he processed everything around him. Of course, given that they were on a truck bed, there wasn't all that much space to move back, leading him straight off the edge. He heard the distinct sound of a huntress snickering as the dull thud of his body hitting the ground sounded out. Even Thalia attempted a quick laugh, but her ribs were still a bit sore from moments earlier so it came out as more of a wheeze.
"Are you alright, Percy?" Atalanta asked, approaching slowly along with the Huntress.
He groaned but spoke shortly after, "Yeah I'm alright."
Thalia peered over the edge and down at her cousin, "You're on the floor."
Percy gave her a weak smile, "Then I'm alright on the floor."
Artemis was quick to move, gently helping Percy into a sitting position while Atalanta asked a question, "Rough night?"
Percy shook his head a bit as he steadied himself against the moon goddess, "Yeah something like that."
The young man was distinctly aware of something wet coating one of his hands, and he didn't need to look down to know it was blood. Question was, where had it come from? Well, he concluded that that was a stupid question rather quickly. It was from his hand, obviously. But why?
"You know, if you're going to treat your poor gift like that, I'm going to have to take it away," Thalia hopped out of the back, landing softly next to him, "What's got you riled up?"
"Bad dream."
Atalanta chose to speak up, stepping up, "Seems like a bit more than just a bad dream."
Percy would have rubbed the back of his head, but he wasn't eager to get blood in his hair, "Would you accept 'very bad dream' as an answer?"
Thalia snickered while the daughter of Apollo rolled her eyes, "Not really."
Percy gave her a half-hearted shrug while Thalia spoke up, "I'm not going to have to carry you to the medical tent, am I Princess? You're bleeding on my floor."
Percy started pushing himself up, "Oh my bad, let me just not do that."
"Preferably," Thalia grinned down at him, "Out of curiosity, did you do something stupid recently?"
"Probably? Why?" Percy asked curiously.
"Other than the way that Milady is looking at you?" Atalanta asked rhetorically, gesturing over to the moon goddess, "No reason."
Percy winced when he turned to see the look on the goddess's face. He tried standing to meet her on his feet, but he sort of stumbled around as he tried. Artemis was having none of that though, instead pushing back down so that he was sitting before bringing herself around and crouching down herself. He could see the concern written across her face and couldn't help but feel a little bad as the goddess grabbed his face. After a quick inspection, she let go. Instead of having her hands return to her side, they instead dropped down to his own.
He was surprised with how gently she lifted his bleeding hand. More than that though, he was surprised to feel his wound healing as the goddess murmured something before pouring a portion of divine energy into it. Normally, small injuries would have been treated by Atalanta, but it seemed that the goddess had taken it upon herself to handle this one.
"Should I be worried that you haven't said anything?" Percy asked jokingly. The moon goddess made a small noise of acknowledgment, but otherwise said nothing as her eyes roamed over him. He could see some sort of tension in her expression melt away, but her eyes gave away nothing else.
"Well," Thalia yawned, "If you're quite done with your episode, I believe that we should finish our rounds."
Artemis turned to address her hunters, but not before giving Percy a quick order to wait in her tent. Thalia snickered, but said nothing otherwise as Artemis helped the son of the sea to his feet. He felt a little lightheaded at first, but the moon goddess was quick to wrap an arm around him to support him until he was able to stand steady.
All things considered, that could have gone far worse. In the past, there had been times where he'd woken up almost completely nonfunctional. The first one of those had been quite scary, but he'd gotten over that particular incident with Nico's help. Regardless of that though, he thought he ended up quite well off, all things considered. Sure, he was now standing around awkwardly in Artemis's tent planted firmly in front of her bed, but he'd much rather that than be incapacitated for any period of time.
Of course, some of that positivity drained away when he recalled the look on Artemis's face. Honestly, he wasn't too sure which was worse. It wasn't even like she was mad at him. If anything, she'd expressed more concern than anything. His only explanation for the nasty feeling welling up inside of him was that it was like upsetting Hestia. The son of the sea couldn't figure out why, much less explain the flush of emotion that accompanied the memory, but he was sure that he hated it.
That particular feeling reared its head as soon as the moon goddess stepped through the flaps of the tent with Percy attempting to tamp it down to no avail. The goddess only looked at him with an exasperated look though, "When I told you to wait in the tent, I did not mean stand and wait."
"Yeah but I didn't want to intrude," Percy rubbed the back of his head with his freshly healed hand.
Artemis tilted her head, arms crossed as she regarded her friend, "That is stupid."
Percy couldn't help but grin, "Never said it made sense."
The goddess hummed in acknowledgement as she moved towards him. He could see the way that she surveyed him, searching for anything of worry as she walked up, "Next time, sit down somewhere."
"There's going to be a next time?"
She rolled her eyes as she gently brought a hand up to his shoulder and pushed him down so that he was sitting, "Inevitably. You will do something stupid, or you will have another dream and we will end up here yet again. And then I will heal you, as I said I will."
Percy wasn't entirely sure how to respond as the goddess traced her hand from his shoulder down to his now healed injury, noting that his skin was rather hot to the touch. He shuddered involuntarily before attempting to respond. It came out as more of a stuttering mess, causing the goddess to laugh while gently rubbing her thumb over the small scar that hadn't quite finished healing, "Now, would you like to talk about your dream?"
"Uh," Percy's finger tapped at the bedcover, "I probably should, right?"
"It is not for me to say."
Percy sucked in a quick breath, "Guess now is as good a time as any, right?"
"Only if you are ready to talk about it."
"Not sure I'll ever really be ready to talk about Tartarus again," Percy's attempt at a joke fell flat before he even started it, but the moon goddess just nodded sympathetically while moving to sit next to him, "Do I need to say more?"
The goddess shook her head. He'd explained it well enough the first few times he'd had the dream. Interestingly, it'd been Diana who'd found out about it, but it'd happened a number of times since then as well so Artemis was familiar enough.
"It's weird right?" Percy broke their silence, speaking out of nowhere while letting himself lean back with his arms supporting him, "You'd think that after winning a war that it'd be all rainbows and sunshine."
"I prefer moonlight to sunshine, but I understand the sentiment."
Percy couldn't help but laugh at that statement. Honestly, he hadn't expected it from the moon goddess, "That might be the worst joke you've ever made."
Artemis laid back on the bed, letting her legs hang off the front, "Possibly, but you are feeling better."
"Fair enough," Percy conceded that point, "But after everything I just thought it'd be over but I'm stuck with all these scars and memories."
"Does that upset you?"
He thought for a moment before starting again, "Depends on the day, I guess. I'm glad it was me though instead of someone else. Doesn't mean that I like it though."
"And yet you wonder why you were my choice."
"For?"
"The fifteenth throne," Artemis replied simply, turning to look at him.
Percy let out a long breath before finally slumping all the way down to lay on the blanket, "You ever think that fifteen is a strange number?"
"I tend not to think about numbers as being 'strange'."
Percy rolled his eyes, even as a small smile broke its way across his face, "I mean that there are going to be fifteen olympians now instead of twelve. For years and years there were only twelve."
"If you recall, I was born during a time where there were less than that," Artemis grinned cheekily at him, "But I understand what you mean."
"I guess that's fair," Percy nodded a little, "But don't you think it's weird that now you guys are just adding more thrones?"
"Not particularly," Artemis stretched her arms above her head, "I'm sure you know that I have little care for tradition or propriety. It makes no difference to me, so long as they are of good character."
"Fair enough," Percy said. Their conversation lulled for a bit, both sitting in their usual comfortable silence. Soon enough though, it was broken as Percy fidgeted a little in an attempt to distract himself. It didn't work, so he elected to speak, "What's the plan for tomorrow?"
"I intend to throw you headfirst into your first teaching session on swordplay."
Percy groaned, "You know they're going to kill me, right? I haven't even been here a day."
"Worry not. I will personally spread the tale of your death."
He rolled his eyes, "That's so comforting."
Artemis laughed but said nothing otherwise, simply content to lay back for a little bit, eyes closed. Percy knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn't accept any arguments, not that he would have anyway. Instead, he focused on the things around them. Interestingly, the layout of the room had shifted slightly from the last time he'd been in. He wondered if that was a Diana thing, or if she'd just felt like changing it. He watched in interest as the goddess in question seemed to shift a little. Strangely, Percy thought he saw her eyebrows furrow a little as she did, seemingly directing her attention towards the tent flap, even with her eyes closed. Percy followed this to find one daughter of Zeus.
"So…" Thalia trailed off, standing awkwardly in the entrance of the tent, "Am I interrupting something?"
Percy balked for a moment as he struggled to respond, sitting up as quickly as humanly possible. Thalia's eyes snapped to him and he shrunk back a little, but this was ended shortly as Artemis spoke.
"Yes," Artemis's reply was short, though not in a harsh way. This, in turn, caused her Lieutenant to nod slowly as her eyes traveled between the two of them a few times. After a moment's hesitation, she spoke once more, already in motion.
"I'll take my leave then," she half-way called over her shoulder as she slipped back out the entrance. Percy just groaned while Artemis laid back again, eyes still closed.
"Well then," Percy trailed off, eyes still fixed on the tent flap, "Dibs on not explaining that tomorrow morning."
Well this was fun to write. Tried to make this chapter a bit lighter while still addressing some of the issues that Percy has. Threw in some fluff to just because I was in that sort of mood at the time and the next few chapters should be decently similar. This is definitely one that I'm pretty proud of.
Anyway, onto the fun stuff. To PhantomFuryJP: Glad to hear it. Always good to hear from you, and thank you for the continued support. Makes my day. To anon516: Yeah updated a bit later but I will try to let you guys know when I'm going to delay a post or something. Glad you enjoyed. I do have to say that part of the fun is making them sort of dance around each other, coming together for small periods of just having some good nature fun then going back to circling and poking at the other. Primarily, I like doing it because that's just what it feels like Artemis would do when I think about it. Anyways, love to hear that you're enjoying. I'm glad that the story is fun and brings a bit of extra happiness to your day. To OkBoomer147: Makes me happy to hear it. Slow progress is the name of the game with these characters, but I do try to spruce things up every so often. Hopefully this chapter fulfills a little bit of that. To Tri-Edge: Couldn't agree more on the mobile thing, but I do appreciate you picking out errors a lot. Always good to hear from you, and glad you're enjoying. To TomorrowCarpe Diem: Thank you! Next chapters up and I'm pretty sure I'm going to pull that trigger relatively soon. I've got a pretty specific idea of how I want it to go but I've got to get to a few things first before I do. To BlakeT1996: Thanks! Slow burns are always fun, and I really just wanted to focus on the characters. I feel like a lot of fics rush it and I just wanted to take it slow and focus on the small moments. Plus, I just like writing them dancing around each other.
Anyway, hope you guys do enjoy! Let me know. Happy reading.