One Shots feat. PJO, Irondad, and More!

Human Shield (PJO)

Day 4! haha i totally kept up with these :)

Percy awoke to the sound of the the horn blowing for breakfast. 

He groaned unhappily, curling into himself. He subconsciously pulled his pillow over his head in a futile attempt to block out the noise. He sighed happily when quiet fell upon him again, the only sound in the cabin being that of his fountain and his breathing. 

He had just about fell back asleep when it hit him.

He woke to the sound of the the horn blowing for breakfast. 

That meant he missed the morning wake-up, which meant he was going to be late. Again, which meant either Annabeth or Chiron was going to kill him. Slowly, painfully, probably. Or they weren't going to let him eat breakfast. OR they were going to give him extra chores.

He wasn't sure which option was worse. 

He cursed, jumping out of bed- or at least, he tried to. His feet tangled in the blanket, and after a few unbalanced attempts at righting himself, he ended face down on the ground.

"Ow," he grunted tiredly to himself. 

The teen rolled over with a groan, before pushing himself to his feet. He grabbed a shirt from his overflowing dresser before throwing on a pair of khakis, just barely slipping on his tennis shoes- which were tearing away at the soles, he definitely needed a new pair- before throwing open his cabin door. 

When all was said and done, he arrived out of breath at breakfast nearly ten minutes late. He had definitely, completely finished offering. The entire camp was seated, eating happily- or as happily as they could with a seven am wake-up. 

He slumped, a colorful word on the exhale when Dionysus appeared behind him. Percy jumped, the god's presence having caught him off-guard.

"Late again, Perry," Mr. D sniffed, blase.  The wine god looked him up and down, his expression unimpressed by all regards. "I do believe that would make that the fourth time. This month."

The demigod opened his mouth to defend himself before a pudgy hand waved him off. "I don't care about your petty excuses. Go, before I lose the small, dwindling self-control I'm exercising over the terribly potent  desire I have to turn you into floundering blubber."

Too tired to think of a decent comeback, Percy went. He smiled sarcastically at the teasing comments when he went alone to brush some of his scrambled eggs into the fire. 

Dad, he thought, I pray Annabeth doesn't kill me for this.

Whether the prayer worked or not, when he weaseled his way in next to her (he was forever grateful Chiron did away with the assigned seating based on cabins- after everything that had happened, everyone need everyone's support, and it was a rule that seemed unnecessary and somewhat cruel), she was surprisingly... fine. 

"Good morning," she said with a cheeky smile, eyeing his hair. 

He winced. "Good morning?"

She met his eyes, shaking her head with a laugh. She had her curls in a low pony-tail, and they bounced with the movement. "You look ridiculous." She reached out and tried to smooth down his hair, but it was no use: without gel, there was no taming the black waves. 

"I got ready in five minutes, give me a break."

"Your shirt is inside out. And backwards."

He looked down, blushing when he realized she was right. "Oops."

She took a bite of her own food- some yogurt parfait concoction. "How was your night?" she asked levelly after swallowing. 

"Really good, actually," he answered honestly for once. "What about you?"

She glanced down at her breakfast and shrugged noncommittally. "It was alright. Just one bad one, but I fell back asleep pretty easy afterwards."

He frowned. "How bad?"

She waved him off. "I was fine, I wasn't telling you to make you worry. Eat your food."

He didn't need to be told twice. He had almost finished when Annabeth glanced around quickly, before pulling out her phone.

"Don't let Mr. D catch you with that," he laughed.

"Your mom sent me a picture," she responded, to which he groaned. 

"Don't tell me it's another baby picture-"

"Shh, it's a poem, let me read."

He glanced at her suspiciously as she continued to read, jumping back in mild offense when she laughed, covering her mouth. "Oh my gods, Grover needs to see this," she said to herself, quickly jumping up from the bench.

Percy reached for her arm. "I want to see!" he whined, but she was already gone. 

He watched through narrowed eyes as he watched her jog over to where Grover was sitting with Juniper and a few other satyrs- he usually sat with them at lunch and dinner, as did their other friends. Breakfast was always solely for Percy and Annabeth, given no one could ever expect how their nights had gone; if both were grumpy and tired it was best to leave them to themselves.

It took only a minute for her to return, Grover following with a grin on his face. 

"What?" he demanded. "What did my mom send you?"

"She's at that writing conference, right?" Annabeth met his eye. "So this one guy wrote this poem that she read, and she asked me who it reminded me of."

"Is it about me?" he grovelled, to which Grover nodded. 

"Here," she said, handing him her phone. 

The Tempest

Let me be clear, cross me and you

will find I can be kind and forgiving.

I've always advocated empathy and

understanding and avoid negativity

wherever I can. But wrong my friends

 or family and all of my values and

virtues will be thrown to the wind.

     Hurt someone I love and I

become a hurricane. 

~ Beau Taplin

i just wanted to publish this even though it's not even finished but i like it anyway :)