Song Rec: "Dizzy on the Comedown" by Turnover. A sweet little song that's an easy listen. It's soft, sounds amazing, and the vocals are beautiful in their simplicity. And, it's pretty straightforward too. Another song very much about the love you feel for someone, almost to the point of pain when they're away but still realizing that you have all sorts of things to remember them by. For Percy, that might be his bike. For Artemis, the pen he'd bought while thinking of her or perhaps the silver streak in her hair. It's the small things that make love important. I think one of the beautiful things about these two is that they weren't searching for anything. And for that matter, they don't have reasons to love each other, rather they have reasons why they do. And I think that's a very important distinction. Anyway, let me know what you think.

"Looks like we're sleeping here tonight then," Percy looked out the window of their room, watching as water poured down outside, "Did someone do something to piss off your dad?"

Diana smiled from the bed, flipping through her book, "Couldn't say. I'm sure his feelings got hurt some way or another."

At that, thunder rumbled above them, causing Percy to snicker, "Right right, my bad. Forgot how sensitive his ego is. Now, what should we do?"

"Not sure," Diana said nonchalantly, "I'm sure we'll end up going out for dinner later, but until then, I'm more than content to lounge around. It'll be nice to sit for a while after all the traveling in the last few days."

"Sounds good to me," Percy said contently, shutting the curtains a little. They'd ended up getting a room that day since they'd hardly been able to see two feet in front of them, even while not driving. Apparently, the King of gods was feeling rather temperamental today, and so the two of them had called for a break. Now, normally, they would have been more than happy to set up a tent and simply relax, but there was something alluring about pretending to be ordinary travelers and simply booking a hotel room for them to stay in. It was nice, nothing crazy when compared to the one that Hades had gotten them, but nice nonetheless.

Now, they found themselves sitting around in their little room, watching as rain poured down around them. And, after having been on the road for a few days, it was rather nice to finally sit back and take a small break. Their last such occasion had been when they'd dressed up for dinner nearly a week ago.

"What are you reading?" Percy asked curiously, looking up towards the goddess as she steadily thumbed through the pages.

Diana hummed, thinking about how she'd describe it. Well, the most succinct answer was probably the most accurate as well, "Poetry. Care to join me?"

"Sure," the son of the sea hopped up off the couch and quickly joined her on the bed, leaning back against the headboard with her so that he could look at the book.
"Each chapter is its own little story," Diana explained, "So this might not make much sense to you. If you want, we can start another one?"

"No that's fine," Percy said easily, letting his arm rest behind his head, "I'm really just reading along with you so there's no need. I might borrow that when you're done with it though."

"Of course," The goddess smiled, "I think you might like it."

"Oh that's good," Percy smiled softly, letting his head tilt a little so that he could see the page a little better. The goddess, noticing this, shifted a little more so that she could make a little more space.

"Yeah, I tried writing my own poetry and all that, but I was never great at it. Honestly, I think I was better at writing, even if I wasn't great at either," Percy explained.

"This is the first I'm hearing of this," Diana perked up, "I'd love to read it if you're willing to share."

"Ah," Percy sat up and rubbed the back of his head slowly, "Heh. I'm not sure you want to. It's awful."

"I'm going to ignore that."

"No really," Percy said honestly, "This isn't a self deprecating thing. It's more so to do with how I look at the work itself right? For me, the stuff I was writing wasn't great because it was super simple. Anyone can write a few sentences and orient them slightly differently, or organize them by a certain number of syllables. That doesn't make that good, if you get what I mean?"

"I think that's a very odd way of looking at it, and I'm not sure I agree either," Diana set the book down, "I think that it has its place. It might not go down as a classic work, or something to be studied, but a lot of it comes from the intention in writing, and the emotion behind it. I think, personally, that if you properly convey the emotion, then it's good. It doesn't have to involve overly complex metaphors or be versed into complex sonnets. To me, and I don't mean to insult you when I say this," Diana made sure to explain, "It feels a little pretentious to say that simplicity isn't good. I think you made that point once when we were talking about music. Simple music has its place. Not everyone can be a great composer."

Percy made a face, "I guess. I just feel like all the exceptional poetry has those aspects of complexity that makes it stand out from the rest. That's not to say you don't bring up a good point, but can the simple stuff where someone just talks about their day really be that great? To me - and maybe I'm just hypercritical of myself - writing basic ass sentences in some arbitrary format doesn't make my poetry good. It just makes it poetry, you know? Like I said earlier, I think anyone can do it."

"I see what you mean but I still don't agree," Diana said softly, "You can break down anything into those basic blocks, simplifying it until it seems to be just that I think the truth of it is different though. There is some aspect of skill to formatting poetry and organizing things into an orderly manner that does involve skill, but I think you also have to remember that something simple isn't something bad. There are certainly places for it. And no, it may not be exceptional, but that doesn't make it bad either. Plus, you have to imagine that there are audiences for it in the same way. Not everyone wants to read something that takes an incredible level of comprehension and analysis whenever they sit down. Some just want to read something easy that makes them feel seen, or that hits that certain emotion they're looking for."

Percy was silent for a second before laughing softly, "I never win anything with you, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

He smiled, leaning into his friend a little, "You make some really damn good points. And you're definitely right about it being pretentious because I say the same thing you are about music."

The goddess let her head lean onto his shoulder as she nudged him with her elbow, "I do tend to know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah well," Percy yawned, "you're kind of cheating when your brother is the god of poetry."

"Call it what you want," Diana smiled, picking up her book again, "I call it being better."

"Yeah yeah alright," he smiled as he slumped a little, letting his body rest against the goddess.

"So can I read it?"

He didn't say anything for a moment before chuckling, "If you can find it whenever we're home, sure."

The Huntress smiled softly as she picked the book back up, "I look forward to it then."

"It's probably in my desk or something," Percy said quietly, smiling as he did, "And does this work as some sort of trade? Do I get to read something of yours?"

The goddess hummed, "You can read what Apollo has done."

"That seems a little unfair seeing as how I'm subjected to that regardless. What else?"

"What would you like?"

"Not sure," Percy smiled, letting his head lean against the headboard as his eyes shut.

It was a nice day to be lazy with the rain coming down around them while they were curled up in a warm bed with some cozy lights. What more could they ask for? Plus, Diana herself was rather warm so that was another plus, "Maybe I'll make you play me a song or something."

"That sounds interesting," Diana turned the page in her book, "Are you going to read along with me?"

Percy hummed, eyes still closed, "I'm okay. Feel sleepy."

Diana could feel him getting drowsier by the second as he twitched a little. Myoclonic jerks as she'd found out from Apollo. She'd made a point to ask him about it since Percy had done it on more than a few occasions. Still, she paid it no mind, intent on reading even as Percy's head slumped against her shoulder. No, she didn't mind it at all. Actually, she might hazard to say that she preferred it. Who knew though?

Well. She did. And she did prefer it. But nobody needed to know that yet. A certain part of her was actually quite thankful for the pouring rain. A majority, actually. Regardless, it was certainly a welcomed change to the rather muggy weather they'd been having the past two or so days. Hopefully now, it'd be a little easier to walk around and do whatever it was that struck their fancy.

Still, they were going to have to do something for dinner given that they'd yet to eat. Perhaps she could just summon something though. Then again, perhaps they could find something interesting in town, assuming Percy woke up at a semi reasonable time that was. Ah, then again, he looked so cute when he slept that maybe she'd just sit here and nap with him. There wasn't much need to adhere to mortal schedules when neither of them were mortal in the first place.

At the same time though, it was one of the aspects that the goddess cherished. Such mundane actions could not be oversold, just as she'd said earlier. The simplicity of it all was calming. Or, maybe it was because she could be herself when they were together. Part of her briefly wondered if Percy would keep the mortal tendencies when he became a god. Likely, but she also imagined he'd lose some of them too. Then again, it was hard to see him changing so drastically.

That wasn't to say he couldn't change quickly - she'd seen such changes first hand over the past year and even in the years leading up to their actual friendship, though those had been notedly less positive. Still, he'd shown remarkable progress since they'd become friends. Now, she didn't want to stroke her ego, but the goddess would have been lying if she didn't feel a little happy with his progress. Still, she would not take away from his own work and grit.

Perseus grumbled in his sleep next to her, and she had to stifle a laugh, lest she wake him up. Diana could feel his chest slowly rising and falling against her as he slept. She was happy about that. He didn't sleep so well most of the time, and so it was nice to see that he was finally resting.

And so, the two sat together, one asleep and the other reading, passing time until something struck their fancy. Diana wasn't feeling particularly motivated to move from the comfort of the bed and boy next to her. Well, man actually, but it was sometimes easy to forget that he wasn't that old. Perseus could be so childish - though notedly not to his detriment - that the goddess sometimes had trouble seeing the effects of the terrors that he'd lived through. Still, there were certainly moments that it was put on for the world to see.

He was angry at times, and quite so at that. It wasn't hard to understand really. And, while he was often angry, it wasn't in the traditional sense. Sure, there were times where he took his anger out on someone else, but most of the time, it was directed at himself. Truthfully, it made her blood run a little cold when it was directed at someone else. It was so alien to see him in such a state that she couldn't help but worry. It had yet to be aimed at her, but she was sure that it would one day turn to her, and she wasn't all too eager.

The goddess, as much as she hated to admit it, could still be rather prideful, rather bullheaded. She supposed that was one of the reasons that she liked Percy though. They both could argue about something and they could still make things work and yield when they needed to. And she liked that. It made him feel more genuine.

Regardless of that, his anger was truly something to behold. She'd seen his handiwork when it came to monsters or wrongdoers, and so far, it'd been reserved for only those sort and himself, but she worried about the day someone would push him too far. It was interesting to see that he'd inherited all of his father's temper, while also getting so much of his mother's goodwill and strong character. That wasn't to say that Poseidon didn't have strong character, but Sally was most certainly a force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be.

Maybe it was her teachings that had tempered the son of the sea, or maybe it was his natural character. Perhaps both. Still, Diana was thankful for it. There was, in all honesty, little chance that Olympus would have survived had Percy turned against them. And, even if he had, she would be one of the first to admit that he had many, many reasons to.

Truthfully, the politic of it all, the arguing of the other gods, they all tired her. All over such petty feelings and long withstanding beliefs. Thankfully, someone with the power to change things had stepped up. Interesting that that was a demigod, but she supposed the gods were too long lived, too uninvolved when it came to seeing these issues. No creature, no being, no god, could oversee such a domain, lead a people for so long without becoming complacent in some manner. And that was giving them the benefit of the doubt. If Diana was being completely honest with herself, it was likely worse than that. Her father had never exactly been the upstanding citizen one would expect the god of law and order to be.

No. Not at all. Corruption, and being in the presence of it, often blinded one to the true consequences of it all. The demigods had simply been forced to bear the brunt of it. Perseus in particular. The Huntress set the book in her hands down for a moment, taking a second to look at her companion. A very large part of her wanted to run her hands through his hair for a bit, but she stopped herself. That would be a little self indulgent, and maybe a bit too far. Still, they'd get to that point hopefully, and sooner at that. She could wait until then. Assuming he wanted that, anyway.

Diana didn't actually want to consider that, especially if the sinking pit in her stomach was any indication. Still, it was worth thinking about. Just not right now. Currently, she was much more interested in enjoying her time with her friend. And how nice it was. Sure, he was asleep, but it was more about the time they were spending. Plus, he'd already shown that he was more comfortable with her around, hence his better sleep so she wasn't going to complain.

It was nice to shirk a few responsibilities and goof off with her friend. Still though, there were a few things that the goddess wanted to tend to while she was around. She and her brother had been putting off that whole dinner for a while now, so it would probably be wise to get around to that. There were also a few things she needed to have Vulcan make for her, so she'd need to stop by Olympus anyway. Other than that though, she'd take care of most of the other pressing matters the last time she'd visited.

So far, Artemis hadn't really bothered her about swapping places, likely due to embarrassment from the last time the goddess and Percy had interacted, but Diana certainly wasn't going to say anything. She was more than happy to enjoy the freedom unintentionally offered to her.

The goddess continued her musings as Percy shifted a little next to her. Still sleeping, but it seemed that he might be waking soon. She glanced at the clock on the wall, noting that a rather surprising amount of time had passed. How odd.

"Have you been sitting there this entire time?" Percy asked softly, shifting ever so slightly while keeping his eyes closed.

"I have." Well, that'd happened sooner than she'd thought it would have, but oh well, "How did you sleep?"

Percy rolled his shoulders a little and yawned, "Pretty well. Might try to go back to sleep actually."

"Oh really?"

"Mhmm. I'm too comfortable to move right now."

"I see," the moon goddess smiled easily, "I'll leave you to it then."

The son of the sea yawned again, "Mmmm."

"Yes?" Diana laughed quietly as he hummed sleepily.

"Nothing," Percy let his head lean against her a little, "You're warm."

The Huntress suppressed another laugh, "Oh okay. Are you enjoying it?"

"Very much," Percy said sleepily, "Can we just stay like this forever?"

Oh he had no idea how much she wanted that too, "You say it like you're not going to get hungry and want to move."

"Okay well, until then?" Percy asked softly, head tilted off to the side, "Can we stay until then?"

"Okay," Diana smiled to herself, letting herself lean against him.

Since they were in a city, chances are there would be places to get food later in the night. Then again, she didn't exactly visit Nebraska all that often so she couldn't say with any certainty. It wasn't huge or anything, but it was still a city. Seemed like a college town too, so that increased their odds of having late night spots.

"What are you thinking about?" Percy's voice was soft, and she was certain that his eyes were still closed.

"If it's worth trying to drive around and find some place to eat tonight."
Percy hummed softly, "I have a place in mind."

"Oh?"

"Hermes recommended it. Wanted to try it and I think you'll like it."

"What sort of food?"

She could hear the smile as he spoke, "You'll just have to see. But, I think you'll like it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Still feel like reading?"

"I'm more than happy to, yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Percy sat up a bit more, but he didn't seem like he was ready to get up, "It's supposed to be a bookstore coffee shop kinda thing. Hermes said it was a passion project by some rich alumni from the college here."

"That sounds interesting," Diana smiled at the thought, "Would you ever do something like that?"

Percy made a small noise, "Sounds cool. It'd be pretty cool to try to design a little place or something but I'm not sure what I'd sell exactly."

"Speaking of design," Diana shifted the subject rather quickly, "Have you thought about what you want your palace to look like?"

"Uh," Percy's face answered her question.

"You probably should," Diana laughed, "But it's not permanent either so don't worry. It'll just be easier for you to get used to it if you think about a general layout and design. Otherwise, you might get odd rooms or mismatched spaces. I remember my brother had one room that tried to form in three different ways."

"Sounds like a mess."

The huntress smiled, "He had a wall cutting off a third of the room but it didn't quite form all the way to the ceiling either so it just sat there."

"What happened to it?"

"He left it there for a few years before our mother saw it and made him fix it."

"Sounds about right," Percy yawned, "Speaking of your mom, where is she?"

"Typically, she lives on Delos," Diana explained, "But occasionally in San Diego."

"Yeah because that's a perfectly normal shift."

Diana elbowed him softly, but laughed nonetheless, "Yes yes. I know. A rather jarring shift, but it makes her less isolated. I imagined we could visit her towards the end of this trip."

"Oh I like the sound of that," Percy agreed happily, "I've wanted to meet her."

"She's going to love you." Diana already did so that would be good enough for her mother too.

"I hope so," the son of the sea rubbed the back of his head.

"You're easy to love," Diana grinned at him. She was speaking from experience, after all.

"Is that so?" Percy smiled softly, "Well I hope she does. I'd hate to have my best friend's mother hate me."

"She won't," Diana said soothingly, running her hand over his forearm, "Short of you becoming a different person entirely, I doubt anything bad will happen."

"Let's not jinx it, yeah?"

The moon goddess grinned, "Are you superstitious?"

"More like I'm afraid of pissing off any gods. I know magic is a thing, you know? Who knows if I'll accidently make some god hate me."

"Knowing you," Diana nodded in agreement, "I suppose that's not wrong."

"Yeah thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Oh shut up," The huntress smiled easily, "If anyone curses you, I'll simply kill them."

"Oh I see," Percy laughed, "What a perfectly sane and normal response."

"I would hate for my best friend to be cursed by some egotistical fuck because he spoke his mind."

"You know, fair enough."

"Now if you deserved it, maybe I'd let them off."

"No you wouldn't."

"No," the roman goddess agreed, "I wouldn't. If I'm not the one doing it, nobody is."

"Sure, sure. Glad to know you have my back."

"Somebody needs to stand up for you," Diana teased.

"Oh for sure."

"Are you snarking me?"

"What?" Percy sat up and grinned at her innocently, "I would never."

"I'm going to make you sleep on the couch."

"What are we, married?"

Diana laughed, "Where did you come to that conclusion?"

"You were talking about sleeping on the couch. It's a mortal saying, especially when a wife is mad at her husband."

"Is it really?" the huntress grinned, "I never knew that."

"Well I don't imagine you were A, interacting with many married mortal couples or B, participating in such conversations."

"And it's not like my hunters or brother were ever in that situation either."

"Or your old man," Percy snickered.

"Even if he was," Diana shrugged, "I don't talk to him enough to know."

"That sounds about right."

Diana let out a short breath, "How's your mother doing?"

"She's good," Percy perked up a little, "She's wondering when we're going to visit again."

"We?"

"We are basically never away from each other. She just said we're a package deal now."

"I suppose so," Diana hummed, "Did you ever get your response from Chiron, by the way?"

"Oh, yeah," Percy paused for a moment, recalling the details of that letter, "He got back to me that night actually. Read it while you were in the shower."

"And did you get your answer?"

"Sort of?" Percy's mouth twitched, "You know how he is. He'll help, but he's not going to outright tell me so that I can learn a bit. He did tease me a bit though."

"Sounds exactly like what I expected."

"Yeah," Percy agreed, "But! It helped, I think."

"You don't sound super confident about it."

"Nope."

And really, how was he supposed to be confident about confessing to the moon?

A shorter, more transitional chapter that I felt was needed. I wanted to bulk up the Diana and Percy time a little so I figured a little bit like this might be fun. Next chapter will continue their night before continuing on after that. Unless I change my mind of course. Who knows though? Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this. I liked this chapter a lot, but it's not necessarily a super interesting one, you know? I've got some fun stuff planned coming up though. Anyway, on to the fun stuff! Oh and I'm glad people caught on about the apple thing.
To Icefire99: Thanks! Unfortunately, I've got a specific plan for that so it'll be a minute before we get to see Chiron's actual response. And love to hear that you're enjoying! To kikinder: Love hearing from you as always, and I tend to ramble a lot as well so that was part of the reason I wrote it that way. I think those are always some of the best scenes where you just let yourself get carried away and some of that natural feeling comes out. Anyway, hope you enjoy! To KanatiWaya: Haha I get you. I'm super happy to hear that you're enjoying though! It won't be too much longer hopefully but knowing me, I'll get sidetracked. Hope you continue to enjoy! To venom9973: Promise he won't! Maybe in my next story though. To 91: Not in the slightest! Glad to see you enjoyed and hope you like this chap too! To Sankarea396: You know you're the first person to point that out and I'm glad that someone finally did. You know what you read and that's all I'll say! Anyway, glad to see you're enjoying and here's to hoping I make them kiss relatively soon. To IsItReallyTho: Hey mate, you know I love hearing from you and I especially love to hear that you're enjoying and that it makes you happy! I love writing this and it makes me so happy to know that other people enjoy it! And thank you! I'm not sure I deserve that compliment, but it's very much appreciated. Enjoy! To Savien X: And thank you! Love to hear you're enjoying! To Aimlessamo: I'm glad to hear that it helped. That's actually why I started writing this. I couldn't figure out a good method and this is what I landed on. Hope you're doing better! To FrostyComparison: That's insane to me, but very, very appreciated nonetheless. I really hope you continue to enjoy! To psych1c: I understand what you mean. The reason I said that is actually because I have something similar where I go by a slightly different name than my own for personal reasons, particularly because it's hard to say, but I've always felt that someone who takes the time to actually learn it and learn who you are as a person will sort of reclaim that feeling or name if you understand what I mean? Lots of people call me by my first name, but I feel that it's a little special when people I know and trust do because it means that they've taken the time to understand it a little. Anyway, that's my bit, but I totally understand why you'd disagree. It's a very niche thing I'd imagine. To wms1911: Thanks! Glad to hear you liked it! To iNeptune: Ah thanks! It is slow, but I think that's part of the beauty of it. I feel like a lot of people rush into it, and part of me wanted to show off a different aspect of it! To McL1008: Thanks! To 21JRobbinsgshw .com: Glad to hear that you've been enjoying! And! Great news! I actually have something like that planned down the line! Hope you enjoy when it's out!

Oh, and thank you to the 1,500 people who've followed this story and all those who read! I appreciate it more than I can express! Anyway, let me know what you think!