Percy: Did you know that if you drop a fire in the ocean it's likely to go out?

The next morning I awoke with a pair of strong, muscular arms wrapped around my waist.

"Hey, Annabeth. Wake up."

"Mmm?"

Wait. Why are we in the same bed? Did anything happen last night? And most importantly, why am I the little spoon in this situation?

"Hey, babe?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you in my bed?"

"Oh, I couldn't sleep."

She says as if that's a satisfactory explanation...

"I see."

"Percy?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

As I proceeded to get dressed (Annabeth had brought an overnight bag and is now occupying my bathroom), a thought occurred to me.

"Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are our camp shirts so ugly?"

"..."

"Annabeth?"

"Percy, we're a very forward-thinking society here at Camp Half Blood. Being such, we strongly encourage that the campers engage in a high degree of academic discourse."

"Mhm?"

"But you just touched on one of the handful of forbidden topics."

"So what? I'm just supposed to accept this orange monstrosity?"

"Since when did you start caring about fashion?"

I furrowed my brow at the bathroom door. "What? Am I not allowed to? I'm sorry for developing something akin to a sense of fashion after the war."

"You've changed, Percy. You've changed."

She's shaking her head at me in mock disgust right now isn't she? How dare her!

I felt the familiar tugging sensation in my gut.

"Ack! Percy! The toilet just spat water at me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear! I'll have Tyson look into that right away."

Muahahaha.

We eventually found Thalia and the rest of the Hunters getting settled into the Artemis cabin.

"Oi, Jackson! I knew you were around here. I could feel it. Whenever you're around, it's as if someone is giving me a spinal tap. Do you have my five bucks?"

"Damn. I was hoping you forgot," I said while slapping the money into her outreached palm.

"Thank you very much."

"Tch."

"Hey, Thals. Remember me? Your best friend? We only spent a significant portion of our childhoods running away from monsters together and falling in love with the same blonde dude."

"Oh. Hey, Annabeth. When'd you get here?"

I decided to step in at this point. "Okay okay. That's enough of mister snark for right now. Back in the box he goes. Just squeal and hug already."

Surprisingly enough, they actually complied, with the exception of the small lightning bolt that struck me.

Thalia explained that Artemis ordered the Hunters to have a nice, relaxing summer break at Camp Half Blood; a declaration that was met with a mixture of smiles and groans.

The antagonism between the campers and hunters still remains eh? Well, I guess it was foolish to think that cooperation in the War would be enough to completely erase the bad history.

*sniff sniff*

"He's here isn't he?" said Annabeth.

"Yeah."

"Who's here?"

"Sigh. I always have to assign a team to landscape the ground even after he closes it."

"Um, who's here?"

"Maybe he'll shadow travel instead of some elaborate entry."

"Hello?" Thalia pleaded.

And that's when it happened. Just as the stench of sulfurous eggs (seriously, it was like being immersed in a wet fart) became nigh on unbearable, our hero burst forth from the ground in an explosion of black flame and erroneous bones.

"Sup."

Nico di Angelo has now arrived.

"Sup, Weed for Brains and Wise Ass."

I raised my hand, "Yo."

"Is that my new nickname or something? Why does it keep coming up?" said my irked girlfriend.

"Hey, Thalia."

"H-Hey, Nico. Been a while."

"Indeed. The last we saw each other was in Quebec right? How's your ankle?"

"It's fine now. Immortality helps."

"I see. That it would..."

I watched as a few more seconds of silence passed by.

What the Hades?

"Yosh. What's on the agenda today?" I chimed in, hoping to break the strange awkwardness that developed.

Thankfully, Annabeth joined as well. "I think all we have are a couple classes today. It's not too busy yet since it's that start of summer and kids are still trickling in."

Nico was quick to the rebound. "What do the Hunters plan on doing for the summer, Thals?"

"Eh? Uh, I don't know."

That's the daughter of Zeus and First Lieutenant of Artemis for ya.

Annabeth: I find these author's notes somewhat amateurish. I mean, dialogue between the writer and the characters? This isn't 2008 anymore, bud.

Me: I find your tsundere-type character somewhat amateurish.

Annabeth: What?

Percy: I keep on telling you to watch more anime.

Annabeth: What does that have to do with it?

Me: Nothing. Thanks for reading!