𝑻𝑶𝑮𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 ⁽ᵖᵉʳᶜʸ ʲᵃᶜᵏˢᵒⁿ ˣ ᵒᶜ⁾

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨, 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙤𝙮?

PERCY

THE WATER WAS BEGINNING TO COOL AROUND THEM, the steam no longer rising from the surface.

But Lana remained nestled into the seat beside Percy, legs brushing his beneath the water, her eyes occasionally flicking to him like she was still thinking about it. About him.

They started talking again. Nothing heavy. Nothing that threatened the bubble around them.

Favorite snacks. Weird camp stories. Percy confessed that he'd once mistaken a dryad for a scarecrow in the strawberry fields and got smacked with a rake.

She nearly snorted soda through her nose laughing.

And when the night air began to creep in, raising goosebumps on her arms and making her teeth chatter just slightly, the son of Poseidon finally said, "Okay. Time to get out before we turn into frozen shrimp."

She gave him a look. "Speak for yourself. I'm like... half defrosted lasagna."

That made him laugh as he climbed out and wrapped himself in a towel before handing her one. "Fine. But even lasagna needs to get out before it gets soggy."

She rolled her eyes at him but followed him back inside.

They should have said goodnight. They should have gone their separate ways, crawled into their beds, and let the high of the evening drift into dreams.

But neither of them moved toward their rooms.

"I'm not tired," Percy admitted, toweling off his hair, eyes following her as she lingered near the kitchen island.

"Me neither," she said, hugging her towel tighter around her. "But I don't know what else there is to do."

And that was when the idea hit him.

"Go shower," he told her with a spark in his eye.

She blinked. "What?"

"Go shower. Meet me in the living room after."

"Why?"

"You'll see," he said, grinning.

She gave him a suspicious squint, but eventually nodded and disappeared into her room.

The black haired boy showered in record time, threw on sweatpants and a hoodie, and started gathering every single pillow, blanket, towel, and spare chair he could find.

Lana later came out wearing an oversized gray T-shirt and flannel pajama shorts, her curls drying in tight ringlets and her glasses perched on her nose.

"What... is happening?" she asked slowly.

He looked up from where he was tying a sheet to the curtain rod. "We're building a fort."

She blinked. "A fort?"

"Yeah. You said you never really got to do dumb stuff as a kid, right? No forts. No pillow wars. No late-night scary stories. I figured... why not now?"

Her expression softened so quickly it stole his breath.

"Percy..."

"Don't say thank you yet," he said quickly. "Wait until you see the structural masterpiece we're about to create."

She laughed and it made his chest feel too small.

Together, they constructed the most uneven, chaotic, wildly unstable pillow fort known to man. But she looked at it like it was the best thing anyone had ever made for her.

And that made Percy feel like he could take on the gods and win.

Inside, they sprawled out across the floor, surrounded by all of the candies in the pantry, a half-melted chocolate bar from the minibar, and two cans of cherry Coke.