Chapter Text
Ariadne closed the book, saying, “That was the first book.”
Percy sat up straight, “Does that mean we can go have lunch?” Seeing Hestia nod, the demigods let out quiet ‘ yippee’ s, before jumping up from where they were sat, running to the dining pavilion.
The gods looked at their children fondly. “I believe we had something we needed to talk about,” Athena started. “The mere idea that in the future, our king doesn’t listen to one of his subjects about a threat–”
Annabeth looked at the girl sitting next to her, “What do you think the last five books will be like, since we know they’re told by multiple people’s views?”
“I’m honestly hoping that they won’t involve my thoughts, but it’s likely they will,” Piper responded. “I think the Seven will most definitely be involved and – though I hope for them they won't – possibly some others might be there as well, like Reyna or Coach Hedge.” Annabeth nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think that you and Percy’s time
down there
will be there? Because it’s a big part of the quest, but feels like something we shouldn't be getting into too much.”
Shrugging, Annabeth replied, “I know logically, they probably will, but emotionally I really don’t want them to. Things happened there that I don’t even like to think about, while other, more selfish, things I just feel I want to hide for my reputation, you know?”
Piper hummed. It was getting too sombre for her at the pavilion, something she couldn’t have, so she looked over at Leo, eliciting a troublemaker smile™ from him. He raised an eyebrow, she smiled; he tilted his head, she nodded; together they stood up, picking up the food on their plates. Annabeth only knew what was happening too late, already having had a vegetarian taco get thrown in her face.
“Oh… You–” Annabeth threw her glass of water over Piper’s head, while all around them food was being thrown.
Piper pushed her bangs back from where they were stuck to her forehead from the water. “I’ll get you back!”
From a table over, Gwen was watching the two, whispering to Dakota, Hazel and Frank.
“Do you think they know,” murmured Hazel.
“Of course not,” Gwen replied. “From what I heard, neither of them have got the nerve to ever ask anyone out. I think Percy was a fluke, and only because he would never have asked out Annabeth first.”
Frank coughed, “It doesn’t sound like you have a lot of faith in them.”
“Oh no, I love them…” She trailed off. “I just think they’re both more the type of person that will wait for someone else to come to them and
ask them out
.”
“Actually,” Hazel chimed in. “I think Nico told me that Percy mentioned he thinks Annabeth and Piper like each other the other day.”
“Percy?” Dakota raised an eyebrow. “He wouldn’t know someone liked him even if they straight-up told them ‘
I like you
’.”
“But that’s the thing,” Gwen said. “His biggest thing is not knowing when others like him , he can tell everything else just fine. I honestly think that’s why he doesn’t know; because he knows about other people, why wouldn’t he notice it when directed toward himself? ”
Dakota pursed his lips, “You’re right.”
“Of course I am,” Gwen elbowed him playfully.
“We should go explore this place,” Percy told Jason.
“Sure,” Jason agreed. “What places have we not had yet?” Percy paused.
“Uhh…”
Jason rolled his eyes, “Let’s see if anyone wants to come with and maybe they’ll have suggestions.”
Percy smiled crookedly, fluttering his eyelashes, “You’re so smart.” He started cackling when Jason’s ears flushed a light pink, tugging his arm in the direction of the table Will, Connor, Travis, and Nico were sat.
“Guys!” Percy yelled as they were approaching the table.
Travis looked up, “Hey, what’s up?” Elbowing his brother in the side when he mumbled ‘the sky’.
“Not much, but we were going to ask you if you’d like to explore this place with us,” Jason told them. “We didn’t really have an idea where to start either, so I thought we’d ask.”
“Sure,” Will agreed. “Let’s just all clean up first.” He gestured to the mess around them. Percy could see some of Piper’s taco filling, his own pancakes, and – was that coleslaw ?