Misunderstanding

There was already a lot happening in the camp with Chiron gone and Tantalus was the one who got his duties.

The cyclops hanging around Percy got claimed by Poseidon himself. And the guy who has been defending Tyson all the time didn't spare a minute to lose his demeanor. His face was enough to know that he felt ashamed to have a cyclops for a brother.

As always, Percy was a topic of discussion in the camp. Y/N would try to sympathize with him but it was of no use. Tyson had it worse right? And being his brother, Percy wasn't much of a help. He was embarrassed and like he always was, he took no regards of how the other person must be feeling.

Let's be honest, he's kind of a dick sometimes.

On the top of that it was still awkward to talk to him. Apart from small talks, Y/N found it hard to talk to him. He had other things to worry about, so she didn't really have the time to figure out a way to talk to him. Besides, it spared her from watching her friends being lovey-dovey with each other. She decided to focus on her training instead.

One morning Annabeth and Percy were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some jokers from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked him if he needed to borrow some eyeliner for his eye... "Oh sorry, eyes."

As they walked away laughing, Annabeth grumbled, "Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"He's not my brother!" he snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster."

"Well you gave him permission to enter the camp."

"Because it was the only way to save your life! I mean... I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous-"

"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, any-way?

Annabeth's ears turned pink. "Just forget it," she said. "Now, the axle for this chariot-"

"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," he said. "He saved my life."

Annabeth threw down her pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design a chariot with him."

"Maybe I should."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

She stormed off and left him feeling even worse than before. Y/N who was sitting a bit away from the both watched the commotion. She wanted to go and talk to him, but it looked like a bad time. She decided to concentrate on her small notebook instead.

"Uh...hey,"

Y/N looked up hearing the voice. It was Percy standing in front of her. He finally took some time out of his hands and decided to talk to her. But it felt like he did because technically he had no one to talk to now.

"Hey," she said, going back to work on her notebook.

"What are you doing?" He sat down beside her.

"Uh...just writing a lyric from a song. It's kind of a hobby I guess. I write lyrics of songs that....affect me the most everyday. Today it's..." she felt a bit reluctant but knowing how oblivious he can be, she decided to show him anyway.

He looked at the tiny notebook, the page decorated with designs and a lyric written in the middle. "So kind of a diary?" he asked as she took back her notebook and started drawing again.

"You can say so."

"I don't know but...are you avoiding us?"

Y/N's hand stopped, "What?"

"You aren't exactly talking to us like you used to. I mean...I thought you would be closer to Annabeth but she told me you weren't talking to her either."

"No it's nothing. I just thought...you guys have worse problems to deal with right now."

"Is it because of what I said last time?"

"Wait wha-"

"Look I...uh..didn't mean it, okay? I was just mad that you didn't tell me about my mother."

Y/N chuckled, "I guess...that's part of a reason but I thought you were mad so you wouldn't want me to contact you."

"No!" Percy said quickly, almost feeling embarrassed about how he didn't spare a second to reply her, "You were...to be honest the only one who made me feel sane in this whole camp."

Y/N laughed at his words and sighed. Finally gathering some courage, she asked, "So? First fight?"

Percy chuckled, "Well...not really."

Her eyes widened and she asked, "Ït's not your first fight? I thought...things will change after you guys made it official." The words left a bitter taste on her mouth.

"Come on, it's Annabeth and I. We are not really the most cooperative..." he stopped for a moment choosing his words correctly "..people in here." It would've been easier to just call themselves a couple, but somehow with Y/N the words bore a heavier weight.

"It's gonna work out. Don't worry..." she said avoiding his eyes and looking back into her notebook. She knew her emotions weren't strong enough to affect him now but..her eyes. She was afraid of how he might just figure it out. Crush or not, her friends came first.

And she didn't want to be the one who breaks the friendship.

"Also...I've been having dreams about Grover."

"Grover? But he's-"

"Just hear me out," Percy interrupted her and slid closer. Y/N who was extremely conscious of their closeness, refused to look back at him, and kept her eyes fixed on the notebook as he filled her in with the details.

"Even if you're in danger on the boundary

Let's cut through the wind while laughing and chatting

Sometimes run like a fool

With mistakes and in tears, we just go."

The lyrics on the page felt much more real with each passing minute with him.

[ TIME SKIP ]

The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam. Millions of birds were roosting in the trees-fat gray-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that reminded them of submarine radar.

Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers. Y/N decided to lay low among her other cabin members after getting claimed. Being on the spotlight wasn't her strong point. She worked best when she was in the shadows, barely noticeable among the others in all the chaos.

Before the race began, Percy tried to approach Annabeth and tell her about his dream but she shrugged him off by telling how he was just trying to distract her.

"Gosh how and why are you doing this?"

"Hey Harris, no 'hi' or 'goodluck' for me?" Y/N chuckled.

"Don't avoid the topic."

"Uh..if you haven't noticed, we have a race to focus on," Y/N looked at Tantalus and tried to dodge his question again.

"Fine, but we are going to talk after this. Don't act like you are okay with them, atleast in front of me."

"How...did you find out?"

"Are you kidding me? I've been spending way more time with you to not know that," he smirked and squeezed her right cheek, brushing his thumb gently by her ears with eyes full of adoration. "Good luck," he said and went back to his spot.

Y/N smiled and decided to go to her position. Annabeth was stubborn and frankly quite petty when it came to stuffs like this. Focusing her attention back on the race, she noticed how many more pigeons were in the trees now-screeching like crazy, making the whole forest rustle. Nobody else seemed to be paying them much attention, but they made her nervous. Their beaks glinted strangely. Their eyes seemed shinier than regular birds.

These birds gathering around made her task feel a bit difficult. She used trees to hide herself to sneak attack on the opponent. But that wasn't an option now, was it?