𝐏𝐘𝐑𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐂 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

15 - jealousy is not a good look (yes the fuck it is)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

WHEN PERCY TOOK THEM TO MEET THIS MORTAL GIRL, Elia wasn't really sure what she was expecting; but she knew it wasn't this. 

Their meeting had been arranged in Times Square, and Elia's first time seeing it definitely didn't disappoint. She felt like a child, pointing at all the lights with a smile splitting her cheeks. The billboards caught her eye, especially the ones for Broadway. (She was an Apollo kid, sue her for being a theater freak.)

As the three of them made their way toward the Marriott Marquis, Percy and Annabeth had to repeatedly grab Elia by her belt loop or hand (Percy by the former and Annabeth by the latter) to keep her from wandering away.  

Yet, when they approached the hotel they were meeting at, the three demigods froze in their tracks, staring at the scene before them with varying degrees of confusion— Elia the least to Percy the most. Annabeth just looked pissed off. 

There were multiple teens standing on a tarp were all painted metallic; silver, copper, bronze, gold. Elia's lips pulled up into a grin as she studied the group, her eyes falling to the sign at one girl's feet. For the first few moments, it looked like a whole lot of fucking gibberish, and the blonde tilted her head, squinting harder. Finally she managed to decipher it; the sign said Urban Art for Kids, Donations Appreciated. 

She, Percy, and Annabeth stood there for like five minutes, just kind of staring at the metal kids. Percy had nodded to the girl painted gold and murmured, "She's the one we're here for."

For the most part, it was kind of hard to determine what this girl looked like, since she was literally painted gold. She looked like some kind of statue that would stand in a museum, but the one distinguishing feature were her eyes, which were a bright green. But she didn't move a muscle. 

"Maybe if we push her over?" Annabeth muttered, looking peeved. 

Elia nudged her best friend, shooting her an unimpressed look. The blonde knew that Annabeth wasn't happy with the arrangement, but it didn't quite give her the right to be rude. But, if it bothered the mortal girl, she didn't show it. 

Finally, a boy dressed in silver stood from the bench of the hotel bus stop, where it looked like he'd been taking a break. He made his way through the moving crowds to the tarp, fiddling with his fingers nervously. He seemed around their age, his brown eyes warm against his silver-painted skin. 

He moved to stand in front of Elia, a friendly space between the two. "Hi, uh..." he mumbled, warm eyes flickering from her face to the sidewalk. "I— I just thought you were really pretty and I thought I'd introduce myself to see if I have a chance. I'm Joshua."

Elia's lips twitched up in a small smile. He was cute, that much was true. The boy hair was curly beneath the silver paint, and where it was smudged away on his cheeks, she could see soft freckles spattered across smooth skin. "I'm Elia," she offered with a small grin. "It's nice to meet you."

Annabeth was staring at the side of her face with knowing smirk. And Percy... if looks could kill, Joshua would be dead nine times over, twenty-eight feet under. The son of Poseidon shuffled closer to Elia, his knuckles brushing against the bare skin of her thigh, just below the hem of her shorts. 

The silver boy's lips split in a grin as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a ball-point pen. Like Percy's, an annoying voice in the back of Elia's mind whispered. Shut the fuck up, a cute boy is hitting on me. I just died, cut me some slack.