𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

168

Hadrian had made out with a guy in the sewers of Manhattan once.

When he told Percy that, he laughed so hard, the snake king hissed. "I'm sorry- The sewers? Of Manhattan?"

"We had monsters after us, okay?" Hadrian grumbled under his breath. "And it's not like I didn't know it wouldn't last. With an unmoanable name like Alabaster, who the hell is going to fuck you?"

"How is that what you're thinking of right now?" Annabeth screwed her face in disgust, "Wait- did you say Alabaster?"

"Yeah Torrington" Hadrian tried to think of anything except the dark, putrid tunnels they were walking through, "Golden- brownish hair? Son of Hecate"

Annabeth looked at Percy, but he was a bit preoccupied staring at his shoes.

"Don't be jealous" Hadrian bumped shoulders with him, "For the record, I thought he was a bad kisser"

"Am I a bad kisser?"

"Solid 8" Hadrian hummed.

"Just 8?"

"You have no idea how much worse it could be"

"Can we go back to the part where you said you made out with Alabaster Torrington?" Annabeth waved her hands, "He was exiled after the Battle of Manhattan by the gods, last I heard, he was one of the most powerful children of Hecate"

"Still a bad kisser," Hadrian shrugged.

The snake men led them through an iron storm grate at the docks, straight into their underground lair, which smelled of rotting fish, mold and snakeskin.

The atmosphere made it hard to sing about the James dean daydream look in your eyes but Hadrian kept it up. He was glad for his friends assisting him with the singing, because he could feel himself get tired. He was going to go through Taylor Swift's entire discography with how long it was taking them.

"I don't like this place," Annabeth murmured after a while, "Reminds me of when I was underneath Rome."

Kekrops hissed with laughter. "Our domain is much older. Much, much older."

Hadrian slung an arm around her, pulling her closer as they sang, "So it goes. He can't keep his wild eyes on the road-"

"I mean, you have to wonder" Percy interrupted, "Who even gave Harry a drivers license?"

Hadrian stifled his laugh and continued singing, "Takes me home... Lights are off he's taking off his clothes"

It didn't matter what song he was singing, just that he willed the snake to listen. Hadrian's voice echoed through the tunnels. As they traveled further into the lair, more snake people gathered to hear her. Soon they had a procession following behind them – dozens of gemini all swaying and slithering.

They passed through crude stone chambers littered with bones. They climbed slopes so steep and slippery it was nearly impossible to keep their footing. At one point, they passed a warm cave the size of a gymnasium filled with snake eggs, their tops covered with a layer of silver filaments like slimy Christmas tinsel.

Hadrian and Percy exchanged disgusted looks, "I think he knows his footprints on the sidewalk lead to where I can't stop" They started a new song, "Go there every night"

More and more snake people joined their procession. Slithering behind him, they sounded like an army of football players shuffling with sandpaper on their cleats.

Hadrian wondered how many gemini lived down here. Hundreds, maybe thousands.

He thought he heard his own heartbeat echoing through the corridors, getting louder and louder the deeper they went. Then he realized the persistent boom ba-boom was all around them, resonating through the stone and the air.