Cruel Summer. ¹

45½. you're on your own, kid

When Percy slid into the backseat of the limo, the last thing he expected to see sitting across from him was Theo.

He blinked, stared, then blinked again. Theo was unwaveringly sitting before him. But she'd just been outside! He craned his head to see out the window and back into the desert he'd just left—and sure enough, Theo was still there, having what looked like an incredibly unpleasant conversation with the god of war.

Percy was pretty sure he knew just about how that interaction was going—Theo was being much too snarky with him (which Percy never really had a problem with; he thought she always told the gods exactly what they needed to hear, even if they never liked it), and Ares was using all his strength not to blast her to bits right there using the dry desert sun.

Well, joke's on him. She was the sun.

"Percy?" The girl—who Percy was now very sure was not Theo—tilted her head forward, and when he looked back at her, it was no longer Theo, but a movie star. Compared to who she'd been before, the red satin dress and curled black hair were nothing like the naturalness of Theo's appearance. And anyway, Theo would never have worn the sleek black eyeliner that traced this woman's deep blue eyes. "I am Aphrodite."

Percy's lips formed an O. Makes sense, he thought. The movie star part—not the Theo part.

"I've been waiting for you," the goddess continued, as if Percy's silence was nothing out of the ordinary for her (which it probably wasn't). She held out a little handheld mirror, which Percy immediately took from her and held up. "Thank you, dear."

She dabbed at her blood-red lipstick pointlessly. It was already perfect. Percy's eyes flickered to the mirror in his hand, then back to the goddess.

"Why..." He swallowed. Why was it so hard for him to form a sentence in front of her? "Why... why am I here?"

"Oh, dear," Aphrodite said. She dropped her hands and the lipstick clattered gracefully into her little purse. "Still in denial?"

Outside the car, Percy could hear the muffled, angry voice of Ares growling a threat to Theo—something about the thin ice she was on. Which didn't surprise Percy one bit.

     "I don't know what you mean," Percy admitted sheepishly. Gods, why was he so nervous around Aphrodite? He'd never had much issue talking to girls he found pretty.

     "My dear." Aphrodite clicked her tongue. "Why are you on this quest?"

     A response tickled the back of Percy's mind, but he ignored it, shaking the thought from his head. "Artemis has been captured."

     "Oh, posh." Aphrodite waved a hand, then leaned in, and Percy once again found it difficult to catch a breath. "That's why the others are on this quest. What I'm asking, Percy, is why are you?"

     Again, the same reason came back to Percy's mind, and this time he could not stop himself from blurting: "I have to save Annabeth."

     A smile curled Aphrodite's red lips. "Because...?"

"Because I have to fix things with Theo."

It was as if Percy's lips were moving of their own accord, saying things he would never have uttered aloud if he had any control over his mouth.

Aphrodite grinned now, a smile that would have been creepy if it had been on anybody else's face. She clapped. "Yes! There it is. Oh, I simply adore a good, tragic love story."

Percy coughed. "Whoa, first of all, I never said anything about love. And second, what's up with tragic?"

     "Love conquers all," Aphrodite promised. She was very good at not answering questions. "Look at Helen and Paris. Did they let anything come between them?"

     "Didn't they start the Trojan War and get thousands of people killed?"

     "Minor details." The goddess waved a hand, and it was as if all of Percy's troubles were gone from his mind. "That girl out there. She's angry with you, Percy. Is she not?"

     Percy swallowed, shifting in his seat. "I don't really—"

     "And you don't want her to be upset with you," Aphrodite continued, as if Percy hadn't even said anything. "I take it you're trying to prove something by joining in on this quest uninvited, aren't you? Impress an item of your affection?"

     "No," Percy stated roughly. There was a small part of him that was blaring an alarm to shut up before he embarrassed himself in front of the goddess of love, but there was a bigger part of him that didn't like the way Aphrodite spoke about Theo. "I'm not... You're wrong."

Aphrodite's lips tugged down into a frown. "Am I? Just follow your heart, sweetie. Love conquers all!"

"But... I don't know where it's going. My heart, I mean."

She smiled sympathetically. She really was beautiful. And not just because she had a pretty face or anything. She believed in love so much, it was impossible not to feel giddy when she talked about it.

"Not knowing is half the fun," Aphrodite said. "Exquisitely painful, isn't it? Not being sure who you love and who loves you? Oh, you kids! It's so cute I'm going to cry."

"No, no," Percy said, warily. "Don't do that."

"And don't worry," she continued. "I'm not going to let this be easy and boring for you. No, I have some wonderful surprises in store. Anguish. Indecision. Oh, you just wait."

"That's really okay," Percy told her, swallowing. "Don't go to any trouble. You don't have to."

"You're so cute. I wish all my daughters could break the heart of a boy as nice as you." Aphrodite's eyes were tearing up. "Now, you'd better go. And do be careful in my husband's territory, Percy. Don't take anything. He is awfully fussy about his trinkets and trash. And send in the girl when you get out—I'm thrilled to meet her!"

VIA'S CORNER!
sorry to just drop a bomb on all yall 😋 but you wanted this chapter from percy's pov so here we are! i missed baby pertheo tbh... so young and in denial! they don't know what's in store.