Sea Green Eyes

The Chalice of the Gods - Part One

"I'm sorry...what?!" Cressida exclaimed as she sat on the fire escape with Percy and he'd just told her about his day. "Say that again."

Percy inched away from her slightly. How he'd dreaded telling her this, but he couldn't exactly keep it from her. "So, basically, we both have a debt to pay for being born because we weren't supposed to be and therefore, are illegible for New Rome University. And the only way to attend is to complete three new quests in exchange for three letters of recommendation that can't be written by your father or mine."

"When I get my hands on Zeus-"

"But on the bright side," Percy interjected before his girlfriend was smote by the king of the gods. "Both your father and mine made such a fuss that Zeus agreed to go from 25 letters to 3 and my dad has already placed ads for us on the Olympian quest board. By the way, your photo was so much better than mine. Mine was taken inside our bathroom mirror early in the morning and yours was from Paris!"

His words seemed to dull her anger quite a bit as their feet dangled over 104th street, cars racing by stories below them as Cressida tried to picture what his picture looked like. And despite her very warranted rage and the events that happened that day, Percy was happy. It was hard not to be when he came home to her - when he was with her - when she was breathing.

"So let me get this straight. Because our fathers couldn't keep it in their pants, we have to pay the price to go to the only demigod university in the world and live the lives that we didn't ask for?"

"Pretty much."

She gave a heavy sigh, seeming to try and focus on the bright side because the latest phase in their relationship had them trying not to focus on the bad side of things. Cressida leaned over and rested her head on Percy's shoulder as he scooted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her back.

"We'll figure it out," she promised. "We've been through worse and all we need is a Completely Crazy Positive Thinking Percy and Cressida Plan."

Percy couldn't help his grin as he kissed her hair. "Yeah, that's exactly what we need."

It was then that the occasional times that someone would ask if he'd ever dated anyone else or even thought about floated into his head. And the honest answer was no. When you've helped each other through Tartarus, the deepest and most horrifying place in the universe, and you've come out alive and stronger than you were to begin with . . . well, that isn't a relationship you could ever replace, or should ever want to. Yes, they were both still shy of eighteen, but no one knew Percy better than Cressida did - or put up with him. She was beautiful, sarcastic, amazing under pressure and no one had held him together in his weakest moments the way she did and he knew that she would say the same. Because if Percy was slacking as a boyfriend, Cressida would definitely let him know real quick.

"Maybe they'll be small quests," Percy said hopefully as he rubbed Cressida's back. "Like picking up garbage on the highway on a Saturday or something."

She let out a small chuckle as she snuggled into him more. "I appreciate your wishful thinking, Fish Face, but make no mistake, both of us are getting through high school and into college together. We're going to have that future we talked about, together. Because you are staying with me."

Percy's fingers reached out to tilt Cressida's chin back slightly as he met her eyes. "Always," he promised before their lips met in a sweet kiss. And when they pulled away, they sat like that. They could've stayed that way for hours despite their ADHD. And even though Cressida had the ability to calm him, Percy loved her more when he realised that his presence, his touch, his embrace, him, was the only thing that would ever calm her down.