𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐢𝐢𝐢 - 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 (𝐚)

"My dad is a professor at West Point," Annabeth answered slowly, retaining her rage. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"He's human." Percy concluded.

"You're a genius!" Aurora exclaimed. Percy gave her a look that didn't look like appreciation. She sent it right back.

"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?" Annabeth exploded.

Percy sighed, looking defeated, like he could never win. He really can't win with Annabeth, Aurora thought. No one can.

"Who's your mom, then?"

Aurora knew Annabeth loved this question. One she herself despised.

"Cabin Six."

"Meaning?"

Annabeth straightened with undeniable pride. "Athena, Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"What about you?" Aurora raised her eyebrows with surprise when Percy turned towards her. "Do you know your mom?"

"Yeah," she answered tentatively, narrowing her eyes at the green eyed boy.

"Who is she?" He asked again, almost eagerly.

Aurora glanced at Annabeth, who immediately began to steer the conversation away. Annabeth knew Aurora, and the touchy subject. "Um, Percy, not everyone has the best relationship with knowing their—"

"Persephone." Aurora cut in firmly, staring Percy directly in his enticing eyes. Half the campers at camp didn't know whose daughter she was, she just let them assume Demeter. But for some reason, she wanted Percy to know. "Goddess of the springtime and vegetation." She raised her palm, where another flower—a rose this time—lay. "Flowers."

Percy puffed out his cheeks, nodding. "Terrifying."

"It is, actually." Aurora's voice ran cold, making the wind around them whip their ears. "She's also the queen of the Underworld."

"Wasn't she made the queen because she married Hades?" Percy countered with raised eyebrows. "Wait. She's married."

"Yeah, so?" Aurora stiffened, her light eyes flashing dangerously. Percy didn't seem to see this, however, and continued.

"But you're here. Your mom cheated on Hades?" He said it like he couldn't even fathom people cheating on one another.

Aurora let out a laugh—not a humorous one, a bitter one. "You're acting like the gods don't cheat on each other all the time. Come on, Percy. Zeus is married to Hera, and he used to have hundreds of demigod children. Poseidon has a wife, and he has thousands of little half blood heroes swimming around. You think that for women it's not the same?"

"It's just... the flower goddess?" Percy laughed almost against his will. "She just... doesn't sound very scary to me." He looked at Aurora like she couldn't be a warrior.

"I'm the best swordsman in this camp, Perseus, even better than Luke. He's nineteen, by the way. No one wields a bow better than me. No one has fought monsters like I have, no one has been through what I have. Even though they look pretty, flowers can be poisonous." Aurora's voice was like venom as she took a step closer to Percy. She didn't care that she felt like everything he said came straight from her brain. She didn't care that he was new, and knew nothing, or that he was special.

He insulted Persephone. He was lucky he was leaving their conversation alive. "Watch it before you insult my mother like that."

She walked away before he could say anything else.

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Later that day, Percy blew up a bathroom. After dinner, which Aurora had spent thoroughly avoiding a desperate Percy, Annabeth and Aurora met up in front of the Demeter Cabin, just as they had done every day for the past couple years.

Aurora wasn't there to witness the bathroom explosion, because why would she want to be after he totally insulted her and her parentage, but she heard from Annabeth, who was there, and Clarisse, who took the brunt of it. Well, it was Clarisse's fault that it had happened, so it was funny.

But Annabeth said that Percy had had his head stuck into a toilet, and then boom, all the water spewed out at the Ares kids.

When she heard, Aurora's eyes went wide. She could feel her starting to despise the boy—for being both a loudmouth and disrespectful—but she had to give him respect.

"You know what this means, right, Annie?" She gaped at her blonde friend, whose eyebrows were furrowed. "He's definitely Big Three."

"Yeah, he's the one, remember?"

"No, Annie." She grabbed her friend's shoulder, the sides of her lips tugging. "He's Poseidon."

"No. No!" Annabeth glared at her friend. She hated Poseidon, second to how much she hated spiders. It was an old grudge between Athena and Poseidon, but Annabeth stayed loyal to her mother through and through. "He's for sure Zeus. He can't be the spawn of that terrible, good for nothing, seaweed smelling—"

Aurora shook her head, glancing towards the distance, where the clueless boy wandered helplessly. "Look, I hate him just as much as you. He's annoying, he's stupid, but he's powerful. He's Poseidon. I can feel it. I just know it."

ೀ⋆｡🌷 notes ...

word count: 1901

date published: february 15, 2024