Dancing With Death | Percy Jackson

one

"oh —hello, perseus! a lovely morning to you," a voice chirped happily beside him, and the boy groaned in response, his face hitting the pillow as he dreaded his morning — or tried to. it seems that the "lovely morning", and the call of his full name from the person beside him, made his day less dreadful. "i was about to have my breakfast. however, now that you are awake, i have chosen to stay and wait for you!"

with a nod, percy merely pushed himself from his bed, still half-awake and ready to go back to sleep. but, he'll have to get moving since it is rue that he's with. "hold on, i'll just put on my shirt and change my pants."

"then i will wait for you here," rue patted on her own bed, the smile never leaving, "do not worry, i will not leave you behind."

"i know," percy sighs, but not of annoyance, but... kind of because he knows. he knows that every time rue speaks, it was nothing but pure honesty.

like that one time where rue said that she's terrified of the lake and percy took her canoeing because he doubted her. it was safe to say that percy would now take rue anywhere but the lake, lest she wanted to use it as a hangout spot of theirs. which was only when they would throw rocks the furthest — he also took not e of how it was one of the girl's favorite games of hers.

or that one time where he took her to the forges and she told him that she was good at making weapons. and — oh look, she was. the children of hephaestus (you know, the god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans — that god?) even greeted and asked rue what she'll be making.

literal children of a blacksmithing god asking rue, (who we know isn't a child of hephaestus) what weapon she'll be forging. apparently she was a regular in the forges.

only then did he realize why they seemed to hate him (he never knew why — well, only up until that point). when percy came to camp, they thought he "stole" rue from them, seeing as she wasn't in the forges all that much and was seen with percy almost everyday.

he didn't blame them, he'd be pissed if his best friend suddenly went with another guy.

as he finished fixing his hair, shirt and his pants, percy was ready to go.

he returned, and rue was still in the same place as she was before, only with her hands free from the book she was reading earlier. she still has her glasses, but percy didn't feel the need to tell her that. she looks nice with glasses, he thought.

"oh look, loverboy is back," at a ghost's amused words, rue immediately whipped her head towards percy, who only gestured to the exit. he was done and they needed to eat before the cabin inspection starts.

"valentine, are you seriously teasing her?" sophia, who managed to overhear the conversation from across the room, asked the smirking brunet who scowled at the words of a hunter.

"thou- he is the son of lord anteros. that is to say, it is no surprise that th- he will be acting like that." the hunter, philomena, commented, receiving an incredulous look from patton who stood just beside her.

"sexist much?"

"may i ask how it is sexist, when i am merely saying what is true?" philomena rose a brow, as if challenging the son of polemos. he considered her words, before backing off with a grumble of annoyance, knowing that she was true. children of anteros are much like the children of aphrodite when it comes to love, no lie there.

"phee, are you coming with me?" pallas, (twin of sophia and daughter of athena), walked in front of the younger blonde who was confused, "i want to see the look on their faces when they realize that one part of the cabin is dirty as fuck!"