❛ 𝘚𝘞𝘌𝘌𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘕 𝘍𝘐𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕 ❜ ― percy j. ❀

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ❛ 012 ❜ 𝘋𝘈𝘐𝘚𝘠 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘙 𝘉𝘖𝘠!

"look, belle, i'm sorry about shoving you in the stairwell. even hearing myself say that sounds really bad, but i just- i knew you'd never agree, and there wasn't enough time, and you were really hurt so i-" percy's ramble got cut short when daisy launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso. percy stumbled on his words and hugged the girl back. her head was on his shoulder, facing his neck and he leaned his head down to rest on top of hers

he hated to admit how good it made him feel, that she cared about him.

daisy hated to admit how casual he seemed about it. but she also hated how her tight hold on him made all her exhausted feelings from the poison go away.

"so..." grover said, annabeth clearing her throat. percy looked up and smiled at his friend. "you're not as dead as we thought you'd be"

daisy lifted her head from his shoulder and loosened her arms, pulling away from the hug. percy's arms seemed to stop her from stepping away from him for a second, but he let his arms drop to her sides. just in case she fell.

they didn't care to admit to themselves they wanted to stay like that.

"surprise"

"what happened?" grover asked. annabeth reached out for daisy, the girl shaking her head "i'm fine now" she whispered

"short version, we need to go to santa monica." percy said. the three of them gave him confused looks

"what, like now?"

"my father's gonna meet me there. he's gonna help us"

grover widened his eyes a bit, "okay. uh, just one problem with this plan. the police think that we crashed an amtrak train and then did...that" his hand waved to the arch behind him

"th-the cops are after us?"

"yeah" the satyr nodded

"isn't that gonna make it hard for us to get on a train? or a bus? or really anything you need a ticket for?"

"i could try and use my charmspeak?" daisy offered

"no!"

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they totally should've let her use her charmspeak. because walking for mile after mile was exhausting

"hey, guys. i think this quest might be harder than we thought" percy started. daisy looked at him dumbly, "nothing gets past you, sunshine"

"i've been thinking. i didn't steal the master bolt. you guys didn't steal the master bolt. we're pretty sure hades has the master bolt, but he couldn't have stolen it himself. i mean, we don't even know who actually stole the thing. or why, or how deep this goes" he stopped, looking at each of them

"i'm the last person to realize this, aren't i?"

"yeah," daisy nodded. this might have been the smartest percy had been all week

"okay, so...maybe when we started, my head wasn't fully in this, but since the river..." he shook his head, pausing "it all feels different somehow. he saved me. my dad" well he sure sounded hopeful. "i guess i just really never thought that's something he'd do for me. so maybe i gotta take things more seriously now"

"car!" grover said quickly, looking behind them. the three looked behind them as well

"it's a bike, grover" daisy sighed, patting him on the shoulder "just let it pass, come on" daisy tapped the two boys on the shoulder, rushing behind the barrier with annabeth

"i'm saying, we're not just trying to retrieve a thing. i think we might need to be detectives here, too"

"yeah.." daisy cut him off, looking at her shoes and muttering something to annabeth

percy looked at her, "why are you being weird with me now? i thought that wasn't gonna happen"

"um...i'm not being weird" daisy shook her head

"yes, you are." she looked at him. her eyes looking over his face as she shook her head again. "you've been weird since we left the arch"

daisy looked away from him without answering

"oh... i get it" he started, grover leaning forward to see daisy better. "it doesn't have to be a thing, you know. that you hugged me"

her head snapped toward him with a shocked look, "that's what you think this is?"

he nodded with a confused look, "i mean, i l...um, we're better friends now. that seems like a thing good friends do" grover shrugged once percy turned to him "at least i think they do.."

"i saw the fates" which seemed to shut him up. "at the arch, i saw the fates. atropos cut a piece of thread"

"and that's bad or...?"

"the fates weave the life strand of every living thing. when you see a string cut-" always count on grover with the facts

"it means one of us is gonna die." daisy cut him off. percy looked at her again

"we're all gonna die eventually.." she slapped his arm

"it means soon. it's a warning. an omen"

"okay. guys, we need to talk about this whole fate thing. three old ladies with a ball of yarn can't know what's gonna happen. what i choose to do changes what's gonna happen, and i can choose to do anything i...want" the engine of the motorcycle stopped behind them

"need some help?" it sounded distant. the four looked over the barrier

"beg pardon?" grover asked the biker

"i asked if you could use some help"

"nope. no. we're- we're good. appreciate you asking, though. so long" grover rambled. the four sat back down

"you don't seem too good"

annabeth peaked her head over, "we don't want anything from you"

"you sure?" he laughed "because you guys are so behind schedule" well that sure confused them. they paused for a moment, standing up and facing the man

"i mean, summer solstice is just a few days away and as much as i'd love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin, i feel like, maybe, i wanna give you a hand"

"cousin?" percy asked

"ares" annabeth sighed, looking at her friends

"you must be athena's kid. always gotta be the wisest one in the bunch" ares said, daisy laughed a bit. annabeth look at her and she covered it up with a cough

"why would you help us? how do you even know about what we're doing out here?"

"because i'm doing exactly the same thing as you. zeus sent all of his kids out looking for the master bolt, too. listen, dummies, i'm hungry. there's a halfway decent diner up the road. if you want my help, you'll meet me there. but don't dawdle. won't wait forever" he put his sunglasses on, nodding at them before starting the bike engine and riding off

"that's my cousin? what kind of family is this?"

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╰☆☆ meira's notes! ☆☆╮

AWKWARD PRE-TEEN ROMANCE!!!