Sorry for the long delay! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of the next fic in the series.
One of the best things about Percy's dramatic TV interview? It meant that Piper and Annabeth weren't worried about doing the little things in public anymore. They held Percy's hands, kissed her and hugged her and nothing felt better than that.
There had been a lot of shock at the revelation at first, Percy had ended up doing a dozen or so more interviews where most of the questions were about her relationship but she was fine with that. And while some assholes still grumbled about it and name called, for the most part it had all settled down and returned to normal.
And now normal included public dates with her girls. Yeah Percy was loving that, though they'd had a much more private date the day before to Celebrate Piper's birthday, and they'd had a party at Brooklyn House.
Tristan hadn't attended, but Piper hadn't been able to dwell on it too much since Percy and Annabeth had managed to get her distracted.
And so much had changed so fast. There was everything with Luke- who was so much happier now. May had become the Oracle the moment the curse was broken. And the fragmented flashes of the future were no longer poisoning her mind.
Admitted the whole spewing green smoke and giving out prophecies thing could be creepy but hey, it was manageable.
She was still living at Brooklyn House of course, she just travelled back and forth from there and camp- and she'd be staying at Camp full time during the Summer.
Luke had been a little weary about that. He'd returned there a few times, purely to be with May but still, he wasn't comfortable there. But she'd be needed so he had no choice but to accept it.
He'd likely visit for the weekends, as Percy would be doing, though production for the new film was underway so she might have to cut down her time if she had to do her job.
Then there were Thalia and Bianca- who wouldn't be coming to camp with them when they headed there in a couple of days time. Mainly because they weren't even at Brooklyn House.
Only three people knew the exact details of what the girls were doing, and one of the three was Percy. Thalia had wanted to keep it to themselves until they found out anything knew. If they did.
They were returning to San Francisco to see if they could find Jason and Reyna. Sure it was a longshot but it was worth a try, as Bianca had pointed out, squeezing Thalia's hand in a show of support.
Percy hoped for Thalia's sake that they'd have some luck, though they probably wouldn't even be there yet. They'd only left the day before. As far as everyone else was aware Bianca wanted to get some experience on her own and Thalia had offered to go with her as back up.
It was a reasonable cover, the two girls had gotten close after all.
Percy thoughts were quickly pulled back to the present by Piper, who poked her arm. "Earth to Percy." Her voice was singsong "Hello there, anyone listening-"
"Sorry, sorry I just-"
"Zoned out." Annabeth teased lightly, "You've been doing that a lot lately Seaweed brain."
"Lot on my mind lately." Percy let out a breath, "But it was rude I'm sorry you were talking about-" Percy paused and Piper chuckled.
"We were talking about how this week's been nice. No monster attacks."
"Right, right of course. Sorry."
That was the other thing. The pain in the ass. Not that any of the monsters that came after them were that big of a problem but still. Kronos had been sending every monster he could to try and hunt her down. He only had to get lucky once after all, and the monsters would just reform so sending them after her was no great loss. The potential gain was worth it to a calculating bastard like him.
If there was one thing that was certain it was that she was Prime Target number one.
Once she started back at school she was barely able to go more than a day without some monster attacking her either on the way to, or on the way back from school- and on a few occasions in school.
So Percy should be happy like Annabeth and Piper were about the lack of monsters.
Except she wasn't sure she was. Because it had to mean that Kronos was up to something. Something dangerous that would probably bite them in the ass
"Yeah, yeah it's been awesome."
"Wow." Annabeth snorted, "For an actress you are not acting convincing right now."
"Sorry." Percy shook her head, "I- I'm just worried. About Kronos, about.. everything."
"You think he's up to something."
"I think Kronos is probably always up to something." Percy pinched the straw of her drink between her fingers, using it to stir the milkshake a little.
"Are you still beating yourself up over letting him go?" Piper asked softly. "Because Percy everyone thinks you did the right thing you know that right."
"I- I know." Percy sighed heavily. "Doesn't mean I don't feel pissed off that he managed to get away. Or that I don't feel like it's my fault he's still out there."
"It isn't." Annabeth whispered the words, grabbing her hand gently.
"Sea Star-" Piper sighed. "You know the downside to being one of the greatest heroes In the world and being respected and adored by everyone is that people start to think that you have to be perfect and you start to think it's too."
"Pipes-"
"No, no she's right." Annabeth frowned, "You're powerful and brave and everything a hero should be but no one, not even you can do everything. You had Kronos, the Ophiotaurus and Luke to think about all at the same time. And you prioritized as best as you could, and I think you made the right choices Percy."
"So do I. You usually do."
"How do you two always know what I need to here?" Percy's smile was soft as Piper smirked and leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"Because clearly we are superior geniuses."
"My geniuses- Genii… is that a word?"
"Geniuses and Genii are both right love." Annabeth snickered, "But don't strain yourself."
"Rude, I won't strain myself at all my brain is like, super big."
"Ah yes, those are certainly the words of a genius."
"… Fine." Percy huffed, "Well I suppose I can at least get by on my looks." She flipped her hair and her girls laughed brightly.
"You are ridiculous-" Annabeth was shaking her head.
"So ridiculous that you want to kiss me?"
"I always want to kiss you that's not new."
"You're very kissable." Piper nodded sagely. "Except for the times when you look almost too perfect and ethereal. Then I just sort of want to stare at you."
"Oh, oh that's true." Annabeth nodded, "That time you wore that gold dress for that photo shoot- I mean- it was something else I just- oof it was beautiful. You were beautiful."
"If I didn't know any better I'd think you guys were trying to make me blush. As if you two aren't complete knock outs too."
"Oh we are," Piper shrugged, "We know we're pretty. But we also both agree that you are a special kind of beauty."
"It's true." Annabeth nodded. "It's just something about you."
"You two…" Percy ducked her head, cheeks burning.
From the rest of the world those compliments would make her smile and thank the giver, waving them off but from her girls? They made her feel giddy and in love. And gods above but she was so so in love.
"Awe, we've left the great orator speechless."
"Annabeth I'm not a great orator, Carter is I'm-"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry are you or are you not the girl who gave multiple insanely impactful speeches six months ago?"
"I-"
"You even had my mom speechless Percy."
"It's true. You might not think it yourself but you are real convincing when you want to be." Piper declared lightly. "You speak from the heart. That's what it is."
"I just- I say what I believe."
"And it makes you so amazing Percy."
"I-" Percy let out a breath. "You both- you guys know you're pretty perfect too right-"
"Oh of course."
"I'm a literal genius, of course we know."
"We're the ultimate Poly Power Triad for a reason."
"Poly Power Triad?" Percy snickered, "What?"
"Well we can't be a power couple." Piper shrugged, "Because there's three of us. So Poly Power Triad works I think,"
"It's a bit wordy-"
"So are you-"
"Oh shush-"
"So eloquent Seaweed brain-"
"I will throw this muffin at you-"
"No you won't. You won't sacrifice your precious blueberry muffin."
"… Fuck you."
The three girls giggles filled the air around them, and they probably would have kept laughing for longer, but Percy's phone rang, interrupting them.
"Oh, let me get this." She pulled it out of her pocket, blinking when she saw- "Grover's calling me." She clicked the accept button, pressing the phone to her ear. "Hey G-man. What's
"Uh-" Grover's voice was a little nervous to say the least, "I know you're probably busy but is there any way you can get to Camp like… as soon as possible?"
"What's wrong." Percy frowned, brows furrowing.
"Uh, I'm not really- it's complicated. One of the demigods Luke recruited has shown up and… I think you need to see this. And… and Chiron wants Luke to some to see if he can help figure out what's going on."
"Grover-"
"Something happened to the guy. He's saying some… some really weird things that don't make sense but Chiron thinks something big is coming."
"Okay, okay uh- I'm out on a date right now but we can cut it short if this is that important. We'll go back and get Luke." She hesitated, "Does he want me to bring Nico and Tyson too? In case anything big is happening they're pretty good back up."
"He wants everyone." Grover sounded so worried. "All the Greeks, he wants them here. Are Thalia and Bianca-"
"I told him a couple of days ago that they were heading off on their own adventure. I can send them a message but they might not get it if they're busy."
"I- that'll have to be enough." Grover exhaled. "Thanks Percy. Bring May too."
"Of course. Are you okay?"
"Fine- I'm fine-"
"You've been looking after yourself-"
"I have. That food your mom gave me last time I visited lasted for like, two weeks while I was searching. You don't need to worry about me."
"Good. Listen we'll be with you soon okay?"
"See you soon Perce."
And with that Grover was gone and Percy sighed, focusing on Annabeth and Piper, who were both watching her with worried expressions.
"What's going on?"
"We need to go to Camp." Percy sighed, waving to the waitress and handing her a handful of cash- over twice what their stuff had been worth. "With Luke. And we should bring Neeks and Tyson. Chiron thinks something big is coming. One of Luke recruits has shown up but something's wrong with him and… and I don't even know."
"Are you okay?" Piper frowned.
"I am." Percy's expression was grim. "Not a single monster attack this week? I knew something was coming. I'm just glad the the shoe's dropping. I hate the waiting part of it all. At least if something's happening I can actually do something about it."
"We'll figure it out." Annabeth nodded. "Somehow."