Banished

19

Artemis PoV

I stepped out of my closet clad in the dress I planned on wearing to the gala. The back was still unzipped, but Percy would handle that.

I would probably be fixing his tie because he still had trouble with it after I spent twenty minutes trying to teach him how to tie it himself.

Sure enough, he was standing in front of the mirror, fumbling with his tie.

I walked over to stand behind him and rested my chin on his shoulder before fixing his neck ware.

When I was finished, he turned to face me and zipped up the back of my dress. "You look incredible."

I kissed his cheek. "You don't look too bad yourself. Do you have any questions before we get going?"

"How am I supposed to respond if someone gets nosy about sex?" He asked.

"Technically we haven't had sex yet, so you tell them that it's none of their business and if they continue to ask you tell them that we haven't had sex yet," I explained. "Anything else?"

"Can I kiss you when we're there?" He asked.

"Yes," I replied. "Just not, say, making out in front of everyone. Brief kisses are fine."

Percy kissed me softly on the lips and pulled away.

I just stood there, trying to figure out what to say as a smile tugged at my lips.

"Alright, let's go," he said, taking my hand.

We appeared at the council room, which had been converted into a massive ballroom for the night.

Athena saw us but decided not to
approach.

Her daughter was the one who broke up with Percy, who had been nothing but incredible, so she couldn't say anything. It would be awkward if the three of us spoke either way.

Demeter walked over to me with a questioning look. She acted as a parental figure for me and was always asking if I was seeing anyone.

In other words, she would never let me hear the end of it once she found out I hadn't told her immediately when Percy and I started dating.

Of course, this was all after she decided Percy was, quote, good enough for me.

"Are you and Percy attending as friends?" The goddess of agriculture asked, glancing down at our intertwined hands.

I shook my head. "Percy is my date for tonight."

"Is he just here to help you keep suitors away or are you actually dating him?" She pried, looking over Percy in an untrusting manner.

"He's my boyfriend, Demeter. We've been together for around four months," I explained.

"We're going to talk about this later," she told me before walking away.

"That went better than I thought it would," Percy remarked. "It looks like Aphrodite is coming over to ask her version of those questions, so I'm going to go get us drinks. What would you like?"

"The cider, please," I replied, kissing his cheek. "You come right back, though. Don't leave me with her for too long."

He left to go get our drinks and I greeted Aphrodite.

"So you are sleeping with him?" She clarified.

I sighed. "Always to the point when it comes to such matters. I haven't had sex with him, if that's what you're asking."

"Why haven't you?" The goddess asked. "He's really hot!"

"Percy and I are taking things slow," I replied. "We've been dating for a few months."

"He must be getting pretty tired of waiting. That would make him much easier to seduce," she remarked.

"If you try seducing my boyfriend, I will hurt you," I said calmly.

Percy returned with my drink in hand and kissed my cheek. "You have nothing to worry about, dear. I only have eyes for you."

Aphrodite left us to go bother someone else.

"Are you alright?" I asked, noticing that he seemed a bit distracted.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "I just have a bit of a headache."