★﹐safe and sound ．﹗﹑
percy jackson x gn!reader. they both come back from a quest where user almost dies whoops. situationship-ish, friends but there's something else. what do you do when you get back? go swim ofc this is percy jackson we're talking about.
being half-bloods meant having dangerous experiences almost daily. that was something both percy and you knew far too well.
being a child of the gods was a risk on its own, solely by existing, were you in danger. if it wasn't monsters, it was the totally very much safe activities at camp. either way, there was always something trying to end you; much more during quests.
the gods loved sending their children to deal with their problems instead of solving them themselves, henche why quests existed. they tended to short heroes' lifespan—percy and you were quite lucky you managed to return from this one with just some scratches (and newly additions of trauma but that was irrelevant)
percy knew that the possibility of not returning from a quest was very much there; yet that didn't make him any less frightened. he wasn’t scared of dying himself, but rather scared of losing someone dear to him—you in this case.
you had been friends since he arrived to camp, all those years ago. you had been one of the ones who had showed him the ropes of the demigod life. you watched as he gained more and more control of his abilities as a son of poseidon, always there for him; and for that, he was forever loyal to you.
during this quest, he had been dangerously close to losing you, a thought he could not bear.
his feet dangled over the water of the lake as you sat on the deck, the moonlight shining down on the pair of you. he glanced at you, his hand almost too close to yours, subconsciously inching closer.
it was all friendly, right? like the way you had kissed him good-luck when you were fifteen and inside that labyrinth. he looked at you, and you looked back at him, those deep sea-green eyes staring into your soul. It was peaceful, it hadn't been this quiet in around a week.
“this is nice…” he muttered. “i always forget how calming this is.” he sighed and looked back at you you both should be sleeping right now, but that was the last thing percy wanted to do after a quest. after all, the only thing quests brought once he was back inside the camp barriers were nightmares.
“it is,” you agreed with him, glancing at his face, only to catch him with his gaze still glued to you. “stop staring, you creep.” you teased him, lightly shoving him on the back of the head.
“i was so not staring at you.” percy defended himself, knowing full well you had caught him red-handed. “if you don't want me to stare, i have an idea of something else we can do.” his expression soon changing to one of pure mischief.
“oh? i feel like i should be more scared of whatever you're planing than what i'm scared of quests.” you rose an eyebrow, to which he just shrugged. a beat passed, and in that very instant did you realise what percy's smirk was all about.
“don't you-” and before you even finished your sentence, the boy pulled on your arm and into the water. “perseus jackson!” you called, wiping the water off your face.
“yes?” he answered innocently, as if he had never done anything wrong in his life. you should have expected it. percy was always like this. he was like that because he cared.