light my way to you (thalia grace x fem! oc)

chapter eight

Bella woke up to the familiar ache in her back that meant she had fallen asleep on the couch with Percy that night, probably watching some drama TV show. But when she opened her eyes, it was to find herself half on top of Thalia, who had a strong arm wrapped protectively around her waist. Oh.

Bella tried her best not to move as she settled back in on top of the other girl. She couldn't get out if she tried, with the other girl's arm trapping her in. Percy was passed out next to them on the other half of the couch, the 'Are you still watching?' sign up on the TV from when they were watching Mean Girls the night before.

She couldn't see out the windows from where she was, but her cabin was freezing, so she could only assume classes were called off for the day in favor of staying inside. No one was prepared for a midsummer cold spout, so most of the campers probably didn't have anything warmer than hoodies in their closets.

Thalia's chest moved up and down under her in a soothing pattern, letting Bella daze off. She wasn't fully asleep, but she also wasn't fully aware about what was going on around her. It was a little haze that she wouldn't mind staying in for the rest of her life, thank you very much. Gods, it was cold in her cabin. Bella shivered lightly, curling farther into Thalia's warm body.

Maybe it was time to face the... feelings Bella was having.

"You comfy over there?" Percy was lazing with half his body falling off the couch, smiling mischievously over at her. Bella lifted an arm to flip him off, careful not to shake the taller girl.

"Fuck you," She quietly seethed, making Percy fall off the couch with laughter. His knee slammed into her coffee table, which just made the boy laugh harder. Bella tried to hold in her laughter, all too aware of the girl below her.

"What are you two doing?" Oh, shit. Thalia's eyes blinked blearley up at her, before she was stuffing her face into the crook of Bella's neck, tightening her grip until the shorter girl was completely hauled on top of her. Percy snickered at her bright red face while he slipped out his phone and snapped a picture, making Bella want to throttle him. Gods, is this what having an older brother was like? Probably.

"Percy, I swear to Athe—" Bella didn't finish her sentence before Thalia shushed her, the taller girl's face still stuck in the crook of Bella's neck like a leech.

"What was that? What'll you do?" Percy taunted, grabbing for the remote, abandoned on her coffee table from the previous night. He clicked back through her apps to start up the Harry Potter movies, before getting up to look through her mini fridge.

"Do you think we'll be having a... snow day? Is that what this would be?" Bella decided—like an adult— to let Percy's taunting go. For now.

"Definitely," Percy confirmed, plopping back down onto her couch, "There's no way all of the campers just have snow gear sitting around. It's howling out there."

"Do you think the bay is frozen?" She asked excitedly, but quieted down when Thalia huffed into her neck. Bella was hoping the girl would stay in her sleepy daze so they didn't have to talk about their... situation.

"Probably," Percy hummed, already immersed into the wizarding world on her TV, "Hey, do you think wizards are real? Like as children of Hecate or something? Or like, created by Hecate?" The question made Bella snort, but she didn't answer the older boy, knowing he wouldn't hear her— he was already back to being entranced by Hogwarts.

"Are you planning on skating?" Thalia surprised her by forming a full sentence, slightly muffled by her position.

"Maybe. I have gear to wear and skates, but if the ice is all bumpy then probably not." Bella made a vague shrug gesture, trying not to jostle the girl under her. She really didn't want to think about what this could mean about their relationship, like, at all. It scared her too much to admit. Bell didn't even know if she had a word for how she was feeling, just that it felt like a pit was trying to swallow her from the inside out, ripping open old wounds as it went and leaving her brain and thoughts a scrambled mess on the side of the road. But... It also felt like running in a sunny field in the middle of summer with no one around for miles and miles, no one to watch you open your heart and soul to the universe to investigate. It felt like a black hole and the birth of a star, like a tidal wave dragging her out to sea during a beautiful sunset. It felt like life and death at the same time and it scared her. It scared her so much.