"so what exactly am i doing again?"
annabeth sighs. "for the last time; you're going there and pretending to want in on whatever coeus is doing. you have to make them believe you hate your father. after we finish training the team, we'll play it out the exact same way we played it last time, when we pretended aqualad turned."
i nod. "got it. well, wish me luck." with that, blackjack takes me up north. after asking around, i find my way to a giant ice fortress in the middle of nowhere—perfect for a titan of the north. i take a deep breath before knocking on the colossal doors.
they open by themselves. i follow the halls until i find what must be the throne room. on the enormous throne sits coeus. i walk up to him and kneel.
"hello, my lord. i am percy jackson, daughter of poseidon." i do my best suck-up voice.
"ah, yes. i expected you. i assume you come to serve?" he asks. his voice fits him perfectly—ice cold and emotionless. i nod. "rise." i feel so stupid. but if i want to earn his trust, i have to follow orders.
—
two weeks later
—
i'm cleaning the dirt off of the icy walls when i hear the sweet sound of annabeth's voice through the comm in my ear. "they're all set, perce. we just need to get everyone in place and we'll be all set." i mutter something about how i should've just handled it on my own. "percy, you know you can't just do that."
"yeah, yeah. whatever. let's just do this." it takes a little while, but eventually, everyone's in place to intercept coeus in gotham, exactly where i found out he'd be going.
finally, the titan preps his chariot and hops in. he swiftly travels to gotham, his followers in tow; by followers, i mean the hundreds of ice people he's created. a little lazy for a titan, if you ask me.
as soon as he steps foot on the ground, i yell, "now!" my teammates spring into action, fighting off his ice henchmen. annabeth and i start for him. almost immediately, he knocks annabeth out with an ice block. dick appears at my side.
we work like a machine. swiping left and right, covering each other, all with next to no communication. we've been apart for some time, but we still work like a well-oiled machine. soon enough, coeus is back in tartarus.
the demigods head back to camp after saying some goodbyes. the team retreats back to the cave. suddenly, it's just us.
dick takes me outside. "i have something to show you," he tells me.
he leads me to a small clearing. a large blanket lays in the middle of it. i give him a confused look. "what's this all about?"
he lowers himself onto the blanket and pats the empty space beside him. "come here. just lay on your back and look up."
i do as he says. immediately, i'm astonished. the entire sky is lit up from the stars. you can even see the milky way.
"there's been a lot of stuff going on lately. i realized i don't want to do any of it alone. without you, i mean," dick starts, propping up on his elbows to look at me. "you know i love you, but i don't think you understand how vital you are to me. so this isn't necessarily a marriage proposal, because i have no idea how our relationship will change. all i know is that i cannot, will not live without you. so percy jackson, will you be with me for the rest of our lives, in any shape or form?"
the smile on my face stretches my lips thin, making my cheeks sore. "of course. dick grayson, will you stay in my life?"
he responds with a nod. "i love you, percy."
"i love you, dick."
together, we fall asleep under the stars.
cyclone and nightwing.
percy and dick.
seaweed brain and wonder boy.
