[3] 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 ― p.jackson, l.valdez

010.

「010. date night in hell 」

HOLDING PERCY'S hand was not supposed to be romantic in hell. in fact, nothing should be deemed even slightly romantic hell. not in a place with monsters that could kill them easily. not with a place of poisonous atmosphere, or treacherous landscapes with its pits, cliffs and jagged rocks. not unbearable heat. things like that weren't meant to be romantic. but stupidly, being with percy just made everything... romantic. gods, she was such a sap. and if the weirdness of finding hell romantic wasn't enough for barbie's brain, there was plenty of other things she could say: what the fuck? to.

i mean, there's always the fact they had to drink spicy fire water to stay alive (which shouldn't have been possible. but it was). there's also the fact they were attacked by a gaggle of donkey-legged vampires who were led by a cheerleader, the same barbie had killed two years ago. and if that wasn't enough, there was also the fact they were rescued by a titan janitor names bob who had einstein hair, silver eyes and wicked broom skills.

and sure, after the initial shock sort of weared off... she wasn't that afraid of the titan. but she still had some sort of logical reasoning for being a bit scared. if the past few years hadn't showed it enough, barbie didn't have a stable and positive though process or mindset when it came to titans. most of them had either tried to kill her or... nope- they'd all tried to kill her. or her friends. or her boyfriend. or... y'know- the entire world (looking at you, kronos!) and just cause mass destruction. so yeah, not a good view on them.

but bob was different, nicer. and he even showed them the way. they followed bob through the wasteland, tracing the route of the phlegethon as they approached the storm front of darkness. every so often they stopped to drink the firewater, which kept them alive, but barbie wasn't so happy about it after the first few times. her throat felt like she was constantly gargling with battery acid. her only comfort was percy and annabeth.

annabeth, who'd hooked an arm with barbie's and who's sometimes give her a i know- this place is fucking weird look which was oddly comforting before looking ahead, probably in the same amount of pain (if not more) as barbie. percy on the other hand, well he just had to make everything romantic. perhaps it was the fact he didn't remember her after the first few weeks of their reunion after not remembering her for months, but he took every passing moment as an opportunity. he'd squeeze her hand, smile and sometimes murmur a compliment into her ear. he was probably just as scared and miserable as she was, they both were. but she adored the two of them for trying to make her feel better.

"bob knows what he's doing," percy promised.

"you have interesting friends," annabeth murmured.

"bob is interesting!"' the titan turned and grinned. "yes, thank you!"

the big guy had good ears. they'd would have to remember that.

"so, bob ..." barbie tried to sound casual and friendly, which wasn't easy with a throat scorched by firewater. "how did you get to tartarus?"

"i jumped," he said, like it was obvious.

"you jumped into tartarus," annabeth spoke, sounding not so convinced. "because percy said your name?"

"he needed me." those silver eyes gleamed in the darkness. "it is okay. i was tired of sweeping the palace. come along! we are almost at a rest stop."

a rest stop. wherever bob was taking them, she hoped it had clean restrooms and a snack machine. she repressed the giggles. yes, she was definitely losing it. barbie hobbled along, trying to ignore the rumble in her stomach. she stared at bob's back as he led them towards the wall of darkness, now only a few hundred yards away. his blue janitor's coveralls were ripped between the shoulder blades, as if someone had tried to stab him. cleaning rags stuck out of his pocket. a squirt bottle swung from his belt, the blue liquid inside sloshing hypnotically. she remembered briefly percy's story about meeting the titan. thalia grace, nico di angelo and percy had worked together to defeat bob on the banks of the lethe.