Out of Water (Fem!Percy)

Chapter forty two

Her fingertips touched the sand, its cool temperature a stark contrast from the warm inside of her hoodie pockets. The salty air carresting her face why her long hair was held back by a nearly broken elastic, she gazed at the waves crashing onto the sandy bottom of the small hill she sat upon the air smelled of seafoam and rain and the far off street light illuminated the beach just enough to show the ocean's own preparations for the rain. She'd noticed that many people hardly took notice of how the sea's surface braces itself for the impact of the freshwater that falls from his brother's domain, the indented surface of the waves and it sudden bursts of life before the storm to come, and post the rains the way he stills, as if calmed by his brother's fury. She would usually come to this seashore alone, but for the first time she was accompanied by someone she trusted enough to show her 'safeplace' to. Her companion stood in silence taking note of whatever sort of ritual she was completing by the sea's edge. Usually he'd have been uncomfortable by now, the quiet and the darkness the new moon brought with her would have been unsettling, however, on this occasion he was more than happy to have been sitting in the cold sand as he watched the barely lit face of  his companion relax with each crash of the waves.

He watched as the ravenette slipped off her shoes and took in a breath as her feet met the sand, the coolness sending a welcomed ripple of peacefulness through her. The speedster sat waiting on the sand and the girl's hand slipped out of his own while she walked toward the water foam. He watched, mesmerized as she kneeled before the water and placed her hands flat on the sand being taken from the land by the water, her head bowed down not making a sound. The visible sprinkling of stars reflected on the dark abyss of ever changing waters, the light merely enough to make out basic figures along the shore. As the dark haired girl rose from the water and came back to her lover, a short string of words left her lips, more a mumble towards the air than to the young man that sat waiting patiently for her.

"It's going to rain." She sounded satisfied with her words, she quite liked the rain, she welcomed the tranquility that came along with the rain's reign, along with the bursts of like that came shortly after the showers.

Wally hummed in question, his way of asking how she knew. He felt it'd be wrong for him to speak and break the silence that was interrupted only by the sound of waves crashing and the melodic voice of the sea's daughter. She belonged there, he was simply brought along with her.

"You see the way the waves are moving? How it makes little ripples in the shapes of much smaller waves, barely the size of the pads of my thumb? They are like little depressions on the surface of the water, I know it's difficult to see in the dark, but it's there. When I was little I used to joke about it and tell my mom how those little imprints reminded me of little soldiers bracing for the impact of the rain. I would muse about how they were protecting themselves from the freshwater invaders who would come to dilute their salt-rich waters." She let out a light gigged not having talked bout her childish findings since she was still a child. "But if I'm being honest, I've always preferred how the ocean looks after a storm, rather than before. The water is always calm and welcoming, regardless of how shaken it would have been during the rains." At this point she was again sitting on the sand, her head now resting on the redhead's shoulder.

The couple sat, admiring the view, Wally looking more towards his girlfriend than the sea, for a while. The silence was appreciated by the two who would usually lead such hectic lives. Eventually, the shorter's predictions came true, the rain stared as a light drizzle that the two overlooked until the sudden pouring of the rain caught them off guard. An amazed and delighted laugh came from Percy who raised her hand palms up to feel the heavy drops of water hitting her hands, wiling herself to get wet. Almost like a domino effect, Wally had also stared laughing and the two stood up, embracing each other and swaying back and forth. Percy started humming a tune, the lyrics forgotten as the roar of the rain served as the instrumentation, the duo now dancing to the tune of whichever song Percy had chosen, enjoying themselves as they felt truly content for the first time in what felt like centuries.

Soon enough the rain slowed than the two stopped dancing, still in each other's arms, now each gazing into the green eyed they'd fallen for. Percy bit the inside of her cheek, gathering the courage to ask what she wanted to say. A whisper came from Percy's lips, while a droplet of rain ran down them, "Can i kiss you?" Rather than a reply, Wally simply kissed the young woman before him, somehow tender and passionate at the same time. Both the young adults cherishing the moments they would forever hold in their memories.

Eventually, the rain came to an end, as all things do, so did the kiss and the dancing and the moment. Now the new couple held each other's hands as they walked away from the now soaked beach towards the dim parking garage as they hopped into Wally's car and the two went home.

I do not own Percy Jackson or any DC content.

p.s. cue me cringing at how i cant write romance. This chapter was not scheduled, I had a mini breakdown and wrote it (not me using writing as a coping mechanism). Can I say that the sea is my comfprt character? like not poseidon, just the ocean in general? Here's my mental health taking a swan dive, hating myself and confident that everything i do bothers everyone, but thats a story for another day. I hope you liked the chapter and I will be ranting in the comments of this paragraph so yeah. I love you all, thank you for reading

Much love, Victoria <3

also the thing about the way water gets before rain is true and percy's musings are my own. i really like the ocean.