The Goddess of College

"No"

Percy's POV

"Woah there Artemis slow your horses," I said, grabbing her wrist and keeping her from running out and killing Annabeth like she said she would half a decade ago. By the way, I don't know why she cared so much about Annabeth hurting me. I guess she just thought it ruined her thoughts on women being pure perfection.

Anyways, I was out for the morning mainly due to classes and getting food for Lady Artemis when she woke up. Believe me, the woman can EAT. A short, boring day later, I came home to a judo flip from said goddess and then death threats to my ex.

"Sure, I would've been glad to pay up on those threats myself, but I honestly could care less. She made her decision and she'll stick with it." I said, slowly removing my hand from her shoulder.

"Trying to beat her up over something that happened more than five years ago doesn't exactly help anymore." I added, trying hard not to say the wrong thing about maidens.

The glare I got from her, oddly enough, told me I was right. It showed absolute malice and hatred, yet none of it was directed at me. "That," she said, calm as a cucumber, "is the smartest thing I've heard a man say."

"Wow, thanks!" I said sarcastically, making sure it was obvious I was kidding. "Listen Arty, I mean it. No hunting Annabeth, okay?" She started to protest, but I put my hand up and stooped her. "No," I repeated, using my best authority voice. She sighed in protest, then flopped down onto the couch angrily.

"If you're hungry," I mentioned, "I bought some food. It's over on top of the stove. Help yourself." She said thank you, then excused herself to eat everything I bought.

$50 of food, I thought, down into her stomach, just like that. Dam, I need to save up a LOT of money solely for her eating habits. Then, I realized she had stopped eating and walked over. She then said, "I'm still hungry." I just stared at her for a minute.

"That was $50 dollars worth of mortal food, and yet you're still hungry?" She nodded. I sighed, then waved for her to follow me out the door. She hesitated, then followed me closely.

I smiled, unable to hold back the grin. "What's so funny Percy," I heard a familiar someone asked. I looked over to see silver eyes staring back at me, anger written into them clear as day.

"No no, it's nothing." I responded, keeping myself from laughing any more. "It's just weird to me how close you are to me. You use to put as much distance between us as possible," I saw her get a little sad at that, "yet here you are, clinging onto me like I'm the most important thing in the world."

She smiled, a rare sight for male demigods, and said, "Well, times change. I just feel bad for you more anything." She then laughed, probably one of the most pure sounds I've ever heard. "Yeah, thanks," I muttered, pretending to take it seriously.

I saw her pout and reach for my arm from the corner of my eye. Going along with it a little longer, I moved my arm away from her and turned away completely. I then felt a soft slap on my back, followed by some giggling and small arms wrapping themselves around my waist.

Saying I was surprised would be Understatement of The Year.

I stopped moving. I was absolutely paralyzed by the feeling of a hug from the Maiden Goddess of The Hunt. I hugged her back, worried she'd let go too quickly.

We stood in the hall, comfortable in each other's arms for a minute or two. Unfortunately, she let go and looked at me, silver eyes looking into my sea green ones, looking for forgiveness.

I smiled and kissed her forehead, letting her know she was forgiven.

Oh, by the way, I should mention that it's been half of her decade as a mortal. She's grown rather fond of my presence, and I hers. Wait, did I really just freaking talk like that? Jeez, I need to talk to Zöe about that.

Anyways, we continued walking down the road towards the surprise I had for her. She grabbed my hand and I held onto it, once again getting a surreal feeling of happiness from this small gesture.

At a certain point, I turned to her and said "Okay, I'm going to cover your eyes. Don't freak out, alright?" She paled a little, but nodded. I walked behind her and put my hands over her eyes, careful not to poke one of them out.

I gave her directions vocally to a cluster of tents, each one with it's occupant outside of it. The only one I recognized was a girl with spiky hair and electric blue eyes. I smiled at her, which earned me a smile back and a thumbs up.

"Okay Arty, I'm going to move my hands okay? Relax, I can tell you're getting ready to attack whoever you see." She giggled a little and relaxed, letting her shoulders go limp. Slowly, I moved my hands away from her eyes.

She gasped and put her hands to her mouth, which I hoped was a good thing. She stood there, analyzing each one of their faces and the silvery tents they were in front of.

She then turned around and squeezed the life out of me. I squeezed back, just not as hard. "Thank you so much Percy!" I heard her exclaim, tears of happiness streaming down her face. I let her go, seeing all the looks I got from the Hunters, and pointed her over to her cabin.

Again, she surprised me with how girly she had become by squealing and running over there, pulling me along with her. When we got in, she pushed me onto the bed, sitting down next to me. She hugged me and thanked me so many times it was actually kinda uncomfortable.

"Wait," I heard her say, "how did you know they'd be here?" I smiled and responded. "I Iris Messaged Thalia and let her know where we were so she could meet up with us. She doesn't know it was me though, so don't tell her." She threw up her hands in frustration and groaned aloud.

"Why didn't I think of doing that?" she grumbled as she crossed her arms and pouted. I laughed, unable to hold it back, and hugged her again, feeling her relax under my grasp.

"Artemis," I asked, getting serious for once, "why did you decide to stay with me for half of your punishment? You could've rendezvous with anyone else, yet you decided staying with me was the best course of action. How come?" I heard her sigh and start to shake a little. Only after I heard her sobbing quietly did I realize she was crying.

I rubbed her back slowly and whispered sweet nothings into her ear, trying hard to calm her down. Soon, I felt her heartbeat slow and she breathing even out. Even sooner than expected, she was asleep with her head on my chest.

"Oh my gods," I heard a familiar voice say, "the girls are going to kill you for doing that." I was then knocked unconscious by said voice.

Hi guys! Before I start on the next part, just wanted y'all to know that this is following the time skip from the last chapter, so yeah. Also, I'm gonna try to start releasing a part every two days until this story is done.