Heroes of Olympus Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

The Consequences of Pulling up Grass

It was incredibly satisfying, but left him lost to the conversation. He was just about to explain this confusion, when everything came into focus. Octavian puffed out his chest suddenly and said

"Thank you for bringing our concerns to light, thank you for expressing the point of the matter so clearly. I couldn't have put it better myself." He said proudly, forcibly tasking (Y/N)'s arm in a sudden handshake.

He realized what Octavian was doing, the exact thing he had accused (Y/N) of doing, making a scene for those who left the senate. Saying to the old ghosts, 'look at me. I too want to save the children, look at me, a paragon of wholesomeness.' "It's not a trick, it's the truth." (Y/N) said, Octavian nodded.

"I wholeheartedly agree!" He said a bit louder than normal so the Lares could hear as they floated past, but once they were gone, he frowned, mostly because (Y/N) squeezed his hand as hard as he could and trapped his fingers, Octavian pulled away with a hiss of pain.

Once Octavian was done nursing his hand, his façade dropped just a little and he glared at (Y/N) with disgust again, "Please do not insult my intelligence Mr (L/N). I know a ploy when I see one, and while we don't share an opinion on the matter, I've made it clear that I respect your drive."

"But let's not try and pretend that you do in fact need help with...what was it? Cartwheels? Or have any actual investment in the girl, Julia." (Y/N) was still lost. "Julia's my friend...and you just saw me failing horribly." Octavian nodded, "Yes. An excellent performance."

"But I saw you do a standing backflip over a spear less than a day ago." He said quietly, like he had caught (Y/N) in a lie, (Y/N) smiled, "Yeah, funny that...Still can't quite get the hang of cartwheels. I don't know why, I think it's because I used to have a different centre of gravity because of my wings. Or maybe I just suck." He shrugged.

Octavian grit his teeth and shrugged too, like 'well, you said it, not me' until (Y/N) asked, "Wait...weren't you unconscious by that point?" Octavian coughed and just moved on, "Well, trick or not, it worked, the vote was unanimous, the praetor has...in her infinite wisdom...allowed you to accompany Centurion Zhang and his rag tag band of misfits on their sea voyage."

The way he said 'centurion' made him sound very angry about it. The way he said the rest of the sentence made him seem like he was trying not to break out in joyous laughter at the thought of us leaving. "Oh. Sweet!" (Y/N) said. He intended to go anyway, though he had fully imagined having to stowaway again.

(Y/N) suddenly got a brilliant idea. With a smirk, he passed the bundle of grass he collected to Octavian, "Have fun without me." He winked, Octavian stood there confused for a moment, until (Y/N) gasped, "Octavian! For shame." Then he bolted away, giggling. The last thing he heard was Octavian spluttering and trying to convince Terminus that he didn't do it.

Percy's POV

Percy was glad riptide had returned to his pocket. Judging from Reyna's expression, he thought he might need to defend himself. She stormed into the principia with her purple cloak billowing, and her greyhounds at her feet.

Percy was sitting in one of the praetor chairs that he'd pulled to the visitor's side, which maybe wasn't the proper thing to do. He started to get up. "Stay seated," Reyna growled. "You leave after lunch. We have a lot to discuss."

She plunked down her dagger so hard, the jelly-bean bowl rattled. Aurum and Argentum took their posts on her left and right and fixed their ruby eyes on Percy. "What'd I do wrong?" Percy asked. "If it's about the chair—"

"It's not you." Reyna scowled. "I hate senate meetings. When Octavian gets talking..." Percy nodded. "You're a warrior. Octavian is a talker. Put him in front of the senate, and suddenly he becomes the powerful one."