MOONLIT [Discontinued]

Feelings and Friends: "Count On Me"

But you'll never be alone
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
I'll hold you when things go wrong
I'll be with you from dusk till dawn
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Artemis POV

When I saw the fight between him and Gration, I was dumbstruck at his willingness to die to protect us. As soon as Father flashed out, I couldn't resist the urge to hug him tightly and did just that. I lost myself in the warmth of his body as I thanked him and he hugged me back. Why did he treat me differently? I have always mistreated males then why did he overlook it? I thought. I had started to think I indeed was a cold-hearted bitch like Heracles said so I asked Perseus. When he pulled back almost immediately, I almost cried thinking he too thought of me that way. But then he lifted my chin and forced me to look directly into his trident eyes. What he told me made me cry with happiness. He did manage to see past my cold nature. He did see through my inner self.

It took all my willpower to not confess my feelings for him right then and there. That was for another time. Yes, I would confess, I had embraced my feelings for him but now was not the right time. But what if he didn't share my feelings, I thought sadly but pushed away the thought. So instead I settled for hugging him even tighter as I cried in his neck and asking him to be my best friend. Now my hunters were not exactly what you would call friends, sure they were close to me and meant a lot to me but they more like my followers, the only one I could call a friend was Zoe, but Perseus would be a friend that one would confide into and vice-versa. Soon I felt myself getting very comfortable in his embrace, his warm body soothed me. At that moment, I didn't care if crying made me look weak. I cried harder when he promised to never leave me alone willingly and he hugged me tighter, closing whatever little gap that was left between us. Even though my chest hurt because of being pressed up against him too hard, I loved every moment of the hug. As I felt every inch of his body on mine, I found that I never wanted to leave his warm embrace ever. He made me feel whole, he completed the part of me that always felt empty. He had tried that earlier and I was desperate enough to believe him. But Perseus was the real thing, my missing part.

We stayed like that for a long time. The feeling of his body on mine was incredible but all good things must come to an end. I gently pulled back as he wiped my tears away. He somehow managed to bring out my childish side. I thought for some time before pecking his cheek and called him what came to my mind whenever I heard his name. Percy. Yes, Perseus was too long a name, Percy was better. But when he called me Missy, I was caught off guard. I had not thought of that. My brother and sometimes Aphrodite called me Arty, and I hated that nickname. But then Percy calls me Missy. Arte'mis' to 'Mis'sy was his reason. That made me feel different but in a good sense.

I flashed ourselves a little further away from camp. Percy looked at me quizzically.  I shrugged, "Well I decided we could talk a little before returning to camp. There's always a chance that the hunters may eavesdrop on our conversations." He nodded and smiled at me as we started walking towards the camp. "So tell me about yourself" I asked. "Missy, you already about me" he whined like a child. I was surprised how fast he had adapted to being a friend rather than being a subordinate.

"No dummy, like what color you like, what food you like, etc" I said, giggling at his antics. "Oh" he said sheepishly "Well I like the color blue. And my favorite food is roasted steak. I love to go to the beach and see the sunset. Also, I love to cook. There you go, happy?" I smiled widely. There is nothing better than getting to know your friend better. What others do not know about me is that I loved to, no scratch that, I yearned to know about others' secrets. But I decided it was too fast for him to tell his secrets and that I would have to tell him about me first to make him trust me. But then I realized something he said.