𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢 - 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞? 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 (𝐚)

A few minutes later, the four were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas. Aurora couldn't help but long for a life like that, acting as if it was a normal day at a normal time in a normal place.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

Percy looked like he didn't know what to say, but managed, "We, um, want to order dinner." As Aurora noted earlier, Percy, by nature, was not a liar. 

"You kids have money to pay for it?" The waitress looked like she would rather be anywhere else than there. And, given the extent of Aurora's knowledge about what the average American worker made in an hour, the waitress was completely valid for that.

Grover's lower lip quivered. Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger. Percy's brood indicated that he wanted to start a fight, his sea green eyes darkening as he glared at the lady. He might've not thought he looked terrifying, but when Aurora examined his face, he was for sure a Big Three kid, with no doubt about it. His face was striking and chiseled, and she could hear roaring waves as his jaw set in annoyance.

Aurora opened her mouth to attempt sweet talking to the waitress (a skill Silena had bribed her with learning in exchange for a makeover) when a rumble shook the whole building.

All conversation in the diner stopped. An intimidating man sat on the motorcycle the size of a baby elephant that had pulled up to the curb. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh.

Aurora's heart dropped to where her food should've been. It was Ares, the god of war. She looked sideways at her dark haired questmate, who was glowering already. With Percy's stupidity and attitude, Aurora knew the family reunion was not going to fare over well.

Ares was all muscle, with red wraparound shades, and the cruelest, most brutal face Aurora had ever seen. Aurora could see what Aphrodite saw in Ares, because the man was handsome, but cruel. He had the bad boy trope nailed to a tee, and his bike was to die for. Like, people actually died for it. Human flesh covered the motorcycle seat, where leather or canvas could've been.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place.

Ares answered for the demigods and satyr with his booming voice, "It's on me."

He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"

Ares pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.

"Are we really going to let him pay for us, Shark Boy?" Aurora hissed, grabbing Percy's elbow. As much as she hated to admit it, she felt fear radiate her body. That was just the presence of Ares, she guessed.

Look, Aurora was all for food. She never skipped a meal. She could never stop loving to eat, ever. It was her and Connor's favorite past time together. But if the food was being handed to them by someone from her mom's side of the family? She definitely didn't trust it.

"Why not?" Percy asked, eyeing the god in front of them. Gods, Percy really didn't know who the biker was, and it was going to kill them.

"Jackson, 'you are not the exception. You will never learn your lesson!'" Aurora stared at him with a pointed gaze, sighing when Percy just blinked back at him. "Foolish One? Gods, you're so uncultured."

"What are you talking about?"

"We just don't have the best track record with hamburgers and mythical stuff, Perseus." Aurora added, waiting for Percy to get it. He never did. His mind still on food, Percy shrugged, allowing Ares to slide into their booth, which was way too small for him, crowding Annabeth and Grover against the window.