DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Roshani Chokshi, Shannon Messenger, and Rick Riordan.
happy (late) valentine's day everyone, and happy (late) birthday, aru! ik, ik, its a couple days late. i was sorta busy. sorry everyone! anyways, in this oneshot, percy and aru and sophie already know each other, and are just meeting up for a valentine's hangout. fyi, it'll be in aru and aiden's pov's.
(edit 8/17/2023: it was like feb 18 when i first published this . . .)
Aru's POV
"Hey, Sophie! Hey, Annabeth!" I said through the group call. I had called them to ask if everyone could meet up for a Valentine's Day get-together. Sophie was an elf, although she said she didn't know Galadriel. Sad. Annabeth was a demigod, the daughter of Athena.
"Hey, Aru!" Sophie and Annabeth chorused.
"How're you two doing?" I asked.
"Good," came Sophie's reply, and after that, Annabeth with a "Fine. Percy and I just got back from capture–the–flag, which was pretty easy."
"Sounds fun," I agreed, popping a Swedish Fish into my mouth. "Anyways, do you two want to meet up for Valentine's?" I asked.
"Sure; you all can come over to camp," Annabeth immediately volunteered.
"Ok! On my way—right after I hail my friends and call them over," Sophie said, then left the call.
"I'll be there in a few seconds. I need to gather the rest of the Potatoes." I flashed a light out my bedroom window straight at Aiden's. He opened the window and flashed back, signaling that he was there.
"WIFEY! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" I hollered across to him.
"COMING!" he replied, then closed the window.
Back in the call, Annabeth commented, "Jeez, that was loud. Also, why do you keep calling yourself the 'Potatoes'? I never got to ask you that. And why 'Wifey'?"
"Ask Brynne when we get there. She has a whole list prepared for you. And I'll explain 'Wifey' later." Downstairs, the bell rang. "Ok, then, see you there, Annabeth! Bye!" I disconnected the call, then raced downstairs to meet Aiden.
"Heeeeey, Wifey!" I said, rolling into his arms.
"Hi, Shah. Why'd you call me over?" he asked as he kissed the top of my head.
"We're going to Camp Half-Blood to meet up with everyone for Valentine's," I replied.
"Oh, yeah, that reminds me . . ." Aiden pulled a tiny box out of his pocket. It was yellow with small golden lightning bolts. When I opened it, there was a small golden necklace with a lightning bolt pendant. "Happy Valentine's, and happy early birthday."
"It's so pretty! Thanks, Aiden!" I said, giving him a hug. He pulled the necklace out of the box and clasped it around my neck.
"It looks even more prettier on you than in the box," he said, effectively making me blush.
"Anyways, do you want to go portal-hopping?" I asked. "We need to rally up the rest of the Potatoes." I lowered Greg's trunk and stepped through, making way for Aiden to squeeze in. We then first appeared at Mini's.
There was an open window, through which I shouted, "Hira and Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez! Get to the museum right now!"
Then we went to Brynne's. She was outside doing something, so Aiden yelled, "Brynne Tvarika Lakshmi Balamuralikrishna Rao! Get to the museum right now!"
Next, we arrived at the twins'. I called, "Nikita and Sheela Jagan! Ask your parents and get to the museum right now!" It was at this point I realized we used the same speech for everyone. Oh, well. It's just words. No one's gonna notice.
"Well, let's go back, shall we?" asked Aiden, then quickly made his way to the nearest portal.
I rolled my eyes. "Not gonna work, Wifey. We're getting Rudy as well."
He groaned. "Fine, fine. But make it quick."
"These visits are quick," I countered.
"Whatever. Let's go."
When we got to Rudy's palace, Aiden aggressively knocked on the door. When Rudy answered it, Aiden loudly whispered, "Rudy I–don't–know–your–last–name! Get to the museum right now!" Then we left, leaving Rudy to come alone.
Once everyone was gathered in my room, I gave them the news. "Guess what? We're going to Camp Half-Blood for a Valentine's meet-up! The elves will be there as well." Everyone was super happy, since we hadn't visited them in a long time.
Suddenly, Aiden's phone rang. It was Annabeth. He left the circle to go talk, leaving us to plan.
Aiden's POV
Annabeth's calling me. Weird. Normally she just calls Aru, but whatever. I pick up the call and move away.
"Hi, Aiden," Annabeth's voice said on the phone. "Is Aru with you?"
"No, why?" I asked, curious.
"Ok, good. Just use your charmspeak—"
"It's called smoldering," I corrected.
"Whatever. Use your smoldering to put Aru to sleep, then call me back. Oh, and the party starts at 5. Bye!" Annabeth ended the call.
I frowned. Party? I thought it was just a meet-up. Oh, well. I'd learned to trust Annabeth's decisions the hard way . . .
——Flashback to capture-the-flag——
"Aiden, go left. I'll go right," whispered Annabeth. "That way, it would be easier to surprise them."
"If the goal is distracting them, why can't I go right?" I asked.
"Well, Clarisse is on the right, and I know her way better than you do. Plus, the flag is on the left."
"But you're better at planning! So you can plan to get the flag, you know."
She rolled her eyes. "This is planning."
"But still!"
"Fine, fine. If you want to get pulverized by Clarisse, be my guest." She shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you!" Then she ran off into the trees, to the left.
I heard footsteps to my right, so I quietly tapped the leather bands on my hands to unsheathe my scimitars. I made my way into the clearing on the right, then swung my blades out, only to find no one was there. Sighing in relief, I started walking towards the direction of the flag.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a spear crackling with electricity flies towards me and pins me to the ground by my shoulder sleeve. I yelp at the precision. I could tell it wasn't Aru, though, since this spear was silver, and it had way less power than Vajra. (Don't ask how I know that. I'll just say there was a little electrocution incident . . .) A girl almost like Brynne, with muscles and everything, walks out from behind a tree.
"This is why you always listen to Annabeth," she snarls. "But good thing you didn't!" She grinned evilly. I recognized her as Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares.
I hear a cheer from the direction of . . . Oh, gods. My body filled with dread. That was the direction of our flag.
And a few minutes later, I had to face a very angry Annabeth.
——End of flashback——
I shuddered, remembering her expression. Yup, definitely trusting that girl. She is way scarier than most monsters. So I texted the Potatoes minus Aru:
🎂 PARTY PLANNING 🎂
wifey_acharya: guys, look away. smolder coming through. and plz don't ask.
Once I made sure everyone read the text, I tapped into my apsara powers. My reflection on the screen of my phone told me a light breeze ruffled my hair, and a soft glow illuminated my eyes. I strode back into the room and placed my hands on Aru's shoulders.
"Aru, look at me." I waited until Aru was staring into my eyes. "You're feeling very sleepy." She subconsciously nodded along. "The meet-up is at 5, and you have 3 hours, so you're now going to go to sleep." Aru's eyelids immediately began to droop. Soft snores escaped her mouth, and she fell limp in my hands.
I eased her onto the bed and kissed her forehead. "Sleep well, Shah."
I told everyone to clear out and closed the door, but I swear I heard her mumbling in her sleep. "Aha . . . kill him . . . and him . . . turn Aiden into a monkey and make him dance . . ." Excuse me, WHAT?!
I shook my head to clear it, then face-timed Annabeth. "She's down."
"Good. Is everyone else there?"
"Yup."
"Turn the phone around so I can see everyone, then." I did as she asked. "Ok. So lemme get this straight. Tomorrow is Ms. Swedish Fish Queen's birthday, right?" Everyone snickered at the name, but we responded and told her, "Yeah."
"What do you guys feel about organizing . . ." Annabeth explained the details, and our eyes widened as she went on.
"So . . . are you all in?" she asked after she summarized the event.
"Yes, of course!" replied Brynne. "I call being in charge of food."
"And I'm the photographer!" I chimed in.
"I'll be music," Rudy added.
"I'll be entertainment," said Hira.
"I'm decorating!" called out Nikki.
"I'll be the guest–welcomer," Sheela suggested.
"I'll clean up," Mini volunteered. Everyone stared at her. "What? Someone has to do it."
"Sure, then," I said. If Mini says something, it's better to not argue. Otherwise she does her I'm–The–Daughter–Of–The–God–Of–Death–Respect–Me thing. *does anyone else realize that "daughter of the god of death" is also DOTGOD?
Annabeth smiled. "Great. I guess everyone has their work cut out for them. Get here by 3 so we can start setting up," Annabeth said.
"What about Aru?" I asked. "What if she wakes up?"
"Don't worry. I've asked Clovis to keep an eye on her and keep her asleep." Looking at the confusion on our faces, she explained, "He's the son of Hypnos, god of sleep."
"Ah. Ok. Well, let's get going, Potatoes. It's 2:45 already. We'll see you there, Annabeth." I ended the call and opened Greg so we could all get to Camp Half-Blood.
When we got there, we found Annabeth and her boyfriend waiting at the entrance of the portal, which was a closet door in Percy's cabin.
"Hey, guys," he casually greeted us.
Annabeth, however, practically dragged us out to the dining pavilion, saying, "We don't have a moment to lose! Let's start already!"
As we were hanging up the streamers around the pavilion, the elves appeared in a shower of gold. "Sorry we're late!" Sophie apologized.
"It's 3:01, Sophie. You have nothing to apologize for," Annabeth assured her. I rolled my eyes. Then how come she dragged us out here?
Soon, we finished the dining pavilion. Brynne, Hira, and Biana left to go bake Aru a cake; Sophie and Linh went to decorate the cabins; Grover, Juniper, Piper, and Hazel left for the Big House; Connor, Travis, Keefe, and Dex started on pranks for the party; Mini and Rudy ran around, sanitizing everything and everyone; Nikki and Sheela visited both decorating groups, shouting out tips for placement of decor; and finally, Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Frank, Leo, Calypso, Nico, Will, Reyna, Fitz, Tam, Marella, and Wylie all left to set up a surprise at the beach. I ran back and forth between all activities, helping in any way I could. *aiden being an ammamma >>>
Soon, it was 4:45. "Is everything ready?" Piper asked, addressing all the demigods, elves, and Potatoes gathered around her. "Everything has to be perfect. It's Aru, after all. We can't—LEO DROP THE SWEDISH FISH!" Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the impish boy, who was currently in the process of opening a bag of Swedish Fish.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. Piper just sighed and replaced the opened bag with a new one, much to his delight. Leo gobbled up the opened bag in record time. But of course, no once can beat Shah.
Suddenly, Annabeth came running over. "Clovis said he can't keep Aru asleep for much longer. She's gonna wake up at like 4:50."
I checked my watch. 4:49. "Oh—" I unleashed a volley of curse words that shall not be repeated, prompting Mini to yell, "Language, Wifey!"
The Potatoes made a mad dash back to Percy's cabin, me in the lead. We threw open the closet door and jumped through the portal. We landed on the floor in front of Greg, the clock on the wall reading 4:50. Phew. Just in time.
Upstairs, we heard some rustling. Aru's probably awake, and we couldn't screw this up. Concentrating hard, I prayed to Urvashi. Masi, please don't let Aru find out. We need something to make sure she doesn't get suspicious—
Suddenly, I felt something cool rest against my skin. When I opened my eyes and looked down, I saw that I was now wearing an emerald green shirt with dark blue jeans and a black denim jacket. I looked around the room and saw that everyone else had also been dressed up, courtesy of my aunt. *i'm not going to describe each and every person's outfit. (i'm too lazy.) use your imagination.
I heard the bedroom door creak open, so I looked up. Aru had opened the door and was now making her way downstairs, rubbing her eyes. When she saw us, she paused, then ran the rest of the way downstairs.
"What happened? Where'd you go? How'd I fall asleep? What time is it?" she asked rapidly. "Also, Wifey, you look amazing."
"Thanks, Shah." I smiled. "Oh, and FYI, 1. Nothing happened, we just went home. 2. You fell asleep, so we decided to go home and change. 3. I don't know, you just randomly fell asleep. 4. It's 4:50."
"Oh, good. The thing is at 5, right?" Aru let out a relieved sigh when I nodded. "Good." Then her eyes skipped over everyone's new outfits. She pouted. "I want something that looks good, too."
Nikita sighed, then reached into a bag hanging from her side, which I hadn't noticed before. "Here. Go put this on." She handed Aru a set of clothes.
Aru's face brightened. "Thanks, Nikki!" Then she raced upstairs to try on her new clothes.
Aru's POV
As soon as I closed and locked the bedroom door, I unfolded the clothes and laid them out on the bed. The top was a cute pastel yellow crop top with a bottom tie. On the front, it had a golden lighting bolt in the middle. The jeans were light blue and ripped in places.
I quickly changed into it, then brushed light makeup across my face. I braided my hair a little loosely, then let it rest against my shoulder. In the reflection of the mirror, I saw my backpack near my bed. I walked over to it and looked through it until I found what I was looking for. I fished out the lipstick-shaped tube and opened it. Immediately, a silvery glow enveloped me, and my hair lifted off my back. I stood like this for some time, then closed it. "Happy early birthday to me," I whispered before opening the door and running downstairs.
I tumbled into Aiden's arms as I missed the last step. "Whoa, careful there, Shah!"
"Oof, thanks, Wifey," I mumbled as I righted myself.
"You look beautiful," Aiden commented, staring at me. "The outfit goes well with your necklace."
I blush and smile. "Thanks, Aiden!" I gave him a peck on the lips. "Let's go now, shall we?" I was about to open the portal when my phone ping-ed. I checked it.
3MUSKETEERS
W1S3G1RL: Sorry, guys. The thing has been pushed to 5:30. Chiron called us over, and it's taking forever. Everyone's been here ever since you left.
I frowned, then read out the text. "What does she mean by 'since you left'?" I asked, jabbing at the online keyboard.
3MUSKETEERS
lightninggurl: wdym "since u left" ???
W1S3G1RL: Oh, sorry. I meant ever since you and Sophie left the call.
Ohhh. "Never mind, I figured it out." I did the math. "3 hours and 55 minutes?! That's a long time!"
3MUSKETEERS
lightninggurl: 3 HRS AND 55 MINS?!?!? GURL DATS A LONG TIME
Aiden's POV
My phone ping-ed as well.
🎂 PARTY PLANNING 🎂
W1S3G1RL: WE FORGOT SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!
W1S3G1RL: Can you leave Aru there with someone and come here please?
wifey_acharya: sure 👍🏽
"Aru, why don't you, Hira, and Brynne go make something to bring?" I suggested. Brynne happily dragged them both off, having read the text as well.
As soon as they were gone, I opened the portal to CHB. Once we all got there, Annabeth was frantically shouting, "UGH! HOW'D WE FORGET THAT? UGHHHHHHHHHH!"
Percy was trying to calm her down. "Annie, it's fine. You texted the others, right? They'll come here in time!"
"But what about the Potatoes? They have Aru!"
"They'll manage. They're smart." He began singing. "You need to calm down! You're being too loud!"
Annabeth paused. "That," she said, "was horrible."
Percy smirked. "But it at least worked, right?"
"Fine, whatever—Oh, hey! You made it! I like your outfits," she said to us.
"Thank you," said Rudy. "It was my idea." Beside him, Nikki snorted. "Yeah, right."
"Well, what did I say?" Percy asked.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "That was this once, Seaweed Brain."
"Whatever. I still got it right!"
Mini laughed. "You two are so cute when you argue! Anyways, why'd you call us here?"
Annabeth started yelling again. "WE FORGOT TO CAMOUFLAGE THE DECORATIONS!"
"Oh—" I launched into another verse of the curse words song. Mini said—you guessed it—"Language, Aiden!"
"What are your ideas?" I asked Annabeth.
"Well, I was thinking about asking the Hecate cabin to help with their magic, and asked Sophie to bring the illusion elf they mentioned. What about you?"
Mini grinned, happy to use her powers. "I can cast an illusion with Dee Dee here," she said.
"Great!" Annabeth clapped. "Luzia Vacker, the illusionist, is working on the Big House, and I've asked the children of Hecate to start, hoping they get through all the cabins soon. They're doing Cabins 11-20. Would you like to do 1-10?" Annabeth asked us.
"Sure," I said. We ran to Cabin 10. I started taking pictures, and Mini solidified them into illusions. Inside was our friend Piper, to whom we waved.
Next was Cabin 9, Leo's cabin. We repeated the same procedure to this cabin, and all the others. Soon, we reached Cabin 3, Percy's cabin. We left it for the end so we could go directly back through the portal.
"Bye, Annabeth," I said. "See you soon!" Then we all tumbled through the portal back to the museum.
Inside, I heard yelling and laughter coming from the kitchen. Brynne, Hira, and Aru came downstairs holding bags of food. "All done," Brynne announced.
"Great," I smiled. "Let's get going! It's 5:25 already!" I opened the portal, and we all stepped through.
Aru's POV
We arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Everyone seemed to be waiting at the dining pavilion.
"Hey!" I called out. We made our way over and sat down at the table with our friends.
"I brought the food," Brynne said, piling the bags onto the table.
"Wow, I know you cook good, but not this good," Keefe remarked. "How'd you do all this in such a short time?"
Brynne shrugged. "I'm just amazing, I guess." Everyone laughed.
Suddenly, the table became super quiet. Everyone's eyes were focused on me. "Um, guys? Is everything ok?" Then the world turned black.
Not in a bad way, if you're wondering. More of someone-covered-my-eyes-with-something kind of black. "Hey!" I exclaimed, but no one responded.
"Calm down, Shah," came Aiden's voice from somewhere behind me. I could here small scuffles here and there, as if everyone had gotten up and were walking around.
A flash of light made me blink. Someone had removed my blindfold. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I saw everyone standing in front of me holding a banner that said Happy Birthday, Aru Shah!
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARU!" the demigods, Potatoes, and elves screamed all together. They dropped the banner, and behind it was a table filled with piles of Swedish Fish. I may or may not have squealed.
"Oh my god, thank you, guys!" I shouted. I ran to the table of Swedish Fish, then opened a bag. I then began walking around, saying, "You get a Fish. And you get a Fish. And you get a Fish. And the rest is for me!" The last comment made everyone laugh as I practically inhaled the remaining Swedish Fish in the bag.
Music started playing behind me. Not the normal kind of music. The sounds of rain gently falling around you, the whisper of the breeze weaving in and out of the trees, the rustle of grass as wind blows it around. Rudy's music. I turned around and saw him holding two sapphires, an emerald, and a ruby, eyes close in concentration.
When the song ended, everyone clapped. Annabeth whispered something to Aiden. He nodded once then ran off to who knows where. "Ok, everyone, time to move on to the games," Annabeth called out. I had a suspicion she was the organizer of the event.
During the party, we played Pin–The–Tail–On–The–Hellhound (I won), Truth or Dare, Two Truths and a Lie, and a lot of other party games. Hira also created a game: How Well Do You Know Each Other? She would turn into someone, and their boyfriend/girlfriend had to guess who was real and who was the imposter by asking them questions and telling them to do certain things. Everyone got it right! (No surprise.)
Soon it was 9:00. "It's late," I told everybody. "Should we start leaving?"
There was a twinkle in Annabeth's eyes. "Not yet," she said, leading everyone to the beach. I was once more blindfolded, but Aiden took my hand. "This way. No, not there! Here! Aru, watch out!" After a lot of struggling, we finally made it there.
Aiden counted down. "3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ." Then he ripped off my blindfold, revealing a huge setup. There was a gigantic board, decorated with pictures of me and my friends. At the top, it read, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MS. SWEDISH FISH QUEEN! In front of the board was a table holding large 5-tier cake, probably made by Brynne. There was a stack of presents under the table. Off to the side, there were some boxes, but they were closed, so I couldn't see what was inside.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone shouted again. There probably was dust in the air, since my eyes were watering.
"You guys really made all this for me?" I asked, astonished. "I can't thank you enough!" I went through the group and gave everyone a hug, while muttering, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou."
"Oh, but you haven't seen the actual show yet," Leo remarks with a smirk.
"Wha—" I began, but I got blindfolded. Again.
A few minutes later, Aiden removed the blindfold. The display was moved way, and fireworks the size of a door lined the beach. Leo lit the fuse, and the fireworks launched into the air with an ear-splitting BOOM!
The sky was filled with color, displaying fun moments with my friends. There was the one time Brynne dropped an egg on my hair. Once when I "accidentally" dyed Percy's hair blue with Annabeth while he was sleeping. Another time, when we went sledding, and Juline, Dex's mom, made snowballs using her Froster powers and launched them at us. It was pretty amazing. And that night, we slept at Camp Half-Blood.
3618 WORDS! MY LONGEST CHAPTER YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok so ik its late and all but still. I DID IT! hopefully you all enjoyed reading it! please vote, comment, and follow!
(edit 8/17/2023: somehow i'm too lazy to change the a/n's but not too lazy to add this . . . go figure.)
–╰•🌟🌟𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕪𝕞𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕕𝕠𝕝𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕟🌟🌟•╯