𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓! [pjo]

VII; total assholes

───total assholes

.・゜゜・───・゜゜・．

Cal passed the fuck out the moment her head hit the pillow. Of course, being a demigod, her mind was far from asleep. No...It was time for weird dreams. She dreamt she was walking along a path, breathing in the fresh air, when Annabeth appeared beside her.

    Something about her made Cal's heart sing.

    "Thank god!" Annabeth said, "I've been looking for you and Seaweed Brain for months. Are you ok?"

    All Cal could do was nod, but that seemed good enough for Annabeth.

"Smarties" Calling her that just felt right. Annabeth let out a watery laugh.

"Just stay put, okay? I can get to you quicker."

Cal nodded. "I-I love you."

Annabeth sobbed, "I love you too. Both of you."

Cal woke up with tears in her eyes. She was wrapped around Percy, her head tucked under his chin. Percy was already awake and looking at her. He frowned when he saw her tears.

    "Are you okay?" He asked, his palm cupping her cheek.

    "Yeah, I'm fine. Bad dream."

    He nodded, but he didn't believe her "you sure?"

She laughed lightly, "I promise. I'm just missing something, but--"

    "But you don't know what?" Percy asked. She nodded.

    "Yeah. I feel the same way." his eyes never left her face. She reached up and kissed him softly. Sea salt. Ocean Breeze. Coca Cola. Percy. She pulled away.

    "We should get up."  Percy pouted in return and she laughed, kissing his nose.

"Come on."

    He nodded.

    Cal sat fully dressed on her and Percy's bed, watching him rush around getting ready. She watched Dakota struggle to put on Kool-Aid stained bedsheets.

    "Ummm, do we need to wear our bedsheets? Cause there's only enough for one of us."

    Frank laughed. "No. Those are only for the centurions. Normally we wouldn't go cause we don't qualify, but because we're going on the quest we have to."

    "Yay!" Cal muttered under her breath. She wasn't liking Camp Jupiter, its rules and regulations felt weird to her. There were many rules, so many things to do to qualify to do other things. She stood up, and she didn't bump her head on the bed frame above her.

    "How do you do that?" Frank asked, coming to stand next to her.

    Cal shrugged, "I think it's my mom. Goddess of Luck and all. I think I'm just lucky." She watched Percy pull his shoes on, "Insanely lucky."

    Frank followed her eyes. "How long have you two been together?"

    She looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. and his face went bright red.

    "Right. No memories. Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck.

    Cal chuckled, "it's ok. I wonder about that too. It feels like a long time."

Percy stood up and walked over to them. He leaned toward her, "you okay?"

    She smiled softly and nodded, "I could ask you the same thing."

    He kissed the side of her head.

    At breakfast, Cal could feel everyone staring at her and Percy, muttering. She scooted closer to him.

    "This feels too weird." She whispered. He nodded, mouth full of blue pancakes.

A brown-haired boy approached them, towering over them when he stopped.

    "I'm Asher." he grinned, showing off white teeth. "You're Cal, right?"

She stared up at his brown eyes, "It's Callahan."

"Is it?" He quirked an eyebrow, pointing at Percy, "He calls you Cal. So do Frank and Hazel."

"Only friends call me that." She replied. Asher opened his mouth,

She cut him off, " we are not friends."

At this point, Percy's knuckles were white around his utensils.

Asher smirked, "why not?"

Cal stared at him, standing up. "We need to go." She pulled Percy up, who wrapped his arm around her waist. He shoulder-checked Asher as they passed.

    As they approached the forum, Cal gawked at the white marble buildings and the people milling around them. She watched as college kids walked by, waving at some of the senators. Shops were opening up, signs put out. She saw a middle-aged couple watch a toddler chase seagulls. She glanced at Percy to find him already staring at her. She felt his hand wrap around hers. She decided she liked this part of Camp Jupiter. She decided that it was okay to imagine a life with Percy and Annabeth there, getting coffee in the morning and maybe later, watching their own little one run around. She imagined what Annabeth would look like in the early morning, blonde hair glowing and grey eyes twinkling as they sat in front of a cafe.

    "All of these people are demigods?" Percy asked.

    "Some of them. Others are descendants." Hazel replied. "As I told you, it's a good place to go to college or raise a family without worrying about monster attacks every day. Maybe two, three hundred people live here? The veterans act as, like, advisers and reserve forces as needed, but mostly they're just citizens living their lives."

    Cal sighed, turning to look at Percy. He was watching the middle-aged couple with glassy eyes. She tugged him towards her, kissing his cheek when he stumbled closer.

    "Someday." She whispered into the soft skin there. He smiled lightly.

    She looked back at all of this, this secret in the middle of California. She remembered that this was all endangered, and her hand tightened around Percy. Cal wanted this place to be here when she and Percy and Annabeth needed it. They deserved it. She didn't know why, but she knew they did.

.・゜゜・───・゜゜・．

───total assholes