Chapter 13: Desire to Admire

I'm gonna be completely honest. I updated like nothing in January and didn't notice. I haven't updated BSC since Halloween and didn't notice. I needa get back into my writing grind. But ya this ones more about the fluff so that's why 50% of it will be Percy and Artemis staring into each other's eyes.

Chapter 13: Desire to Admire

Artemis rolled onto her side on the bed of the truck to see her boyfriend near asleep, staring at the flashing lights in the sky. An intergalactic map that both terrified and amazed the human who dared send his mind towards them heavens. Like turquoise his eyes sparkled to her, radiating deadly waves that threatened to melt whatever physical being they laid upon.

So when they flicked to hers Artemis knew she wasn't gonna be for this earth too much longer. Her breath hitched slightly as though she felt guilty for being caught, and the girl couldn't tear her gaze from those sea-green jewels.

"What are you thinking about?" Percy asked. She noticed how when talking normal he had a pretty medium-toned voice, not too tenor and not too baritone. But when he whispered you'd think he had the voice of a barbarian. His quiet voice came out husky and honestly the good vibrations it gave Artemis had her reeling.

"Nothing. Just looking." She whispered back like she was trying not to wake someone. Perhaps too loud a voice would ruin their moment. "I like your eyes." She complimented, transfixed on them.

Percy smirked, his head turned to face her while his hand rested on his stomach. "I love yours." He upped the ante. This move once again had Artemis frozen, never having had someone say they loved something about her in a romantic context before.

She could definitely get used to it.

-----

"Minute left in the fourth quarter and we're down four points, you bastards!" Coach Hedge yelled at the Eris Springs Demigods. The team all kneeled or stood in the huddle drinking water or energy drinks while they got debriefed on the situations. Percy's back was hunched as he had been running all game and he was squeezing more water into his mouth every few seconds.

Honestly he felt like collapsing entirely. As the running back he obviously had to run a lot. For some reason in this game most of the plays had involved him getting the ball and sprinting rather than it being passed off to a receiver. As such he had taken the most tackles, run the most distance and had the most possession throughout the entire game.

Coach Hedge, a short and gruff mustached man pulled up his whiteboard and began drawing again. "Now listen, dung heads. This strategy will work. You idiots just need to do it right. They think we're desperate, that we'll be passing it all the way to the end zone from, uh, where were we? 30 yard. Yeah. They think we'll toss it 60 yards and finish it off with a run." He explained in his usual crude lexicon.

One of the bulkier guys on the team, quarterback Charles Beckendorf, spoke up. "Ain't that what we gon' do?" He asked, in disbelief that in this moment of desperation the coach wasn't going with the logical plays.

Hedge pointed a marker at him. "Shut up, bitch." He said, putting emphasis on the bitch like a wannabe gangster. He drew a bit more before elaborating. "Do what we did before. Beckendorf make to look like you're passing to Hunter. Jackson comes round the back and takes the ball off your hands. Instead of flanking however, you boys step aside and let him run straight down the middle. They would have primarily covered their flanks and as long as you can outrun the fatties while the team occupies the fast ones, you can make it in." He drew it up, looking at Percy to make sure he knew the plan.

The whole team collectively groaned as Coach Hedge hammered the same strategy that had been tried and failed so many times tonight. "That's bullshit. We can't rely on Jackson to outrun their team for 70 yards! Just have Beck pass it downfield to me and I'll get it. Way less distance to cover." Orion tried reasoning, in reality just seeking glory.

Percy had joined earlier in collectively expressing displeasure with the strategy, but being that he hated Orion's guts he suddenly loved the idea. Anything to keep that dickhead from scoring the winning TD.

Coach Hedge, fuming, walked a fre steps over to Orion and got in his face. "Again, shut up, bitch." He reiterated with that Coach Hedge vigor and ruthlessness. "If you wanna question my fuckin' plan then you go do your little twerk twerk with the cheerleaders, pussy!" Coach spat at the end, popping the 'p' in 'pussy'.

After no further debates the break was over and they headed back to the center. Once out of the coach's earshot Percy turned to his teammates. "Just so we're all clear, what's about to happen ain't my fault." He made sure they knew. Most agreed, some ignored him. One thing was for sure that the Demigods all hated this idea.

As the team got back into position Artemis sighed as she realized she had to get ready for another stupid dance. Also drinking a water bottle, she watched as her star player boyfriend trudged over exhausted to the 30 yard line. She had to admit, it was 100x more entertaining to watch when the running back was her very own boyfriend.

But the problem with that is in exchange for these front row seats she had to get up there with his twin sister and sing and cheer and dance and pretend like your legs and back aren't being shown off to the whole town. "Arty." She felt Aph's hand tug on her sleeve when the players began squatting down into the very uncomfortable starting position. Understanding the call, Artemis put her bottle back down next to Aph's and walked back over to the cheerleading team.

Percy bent down behind Charlie as the rest of the team got in position for an attack. They all knew the plan, but Percy felt like he was gonna pass out from all the stress. This was the final chance to make or break it, and it all came down to whether he could outrun the other white trash. Well, he could toss it off to one of the receivers like Orion, but Percy would rather lose and be dumped in a bucket of his teammate's piss.

The tackles, guards and tight end formed a protective line for the backs, building up their inner strength in order to become nothing more than a wall. By the way the other team were positioned, they were planning on throwing their whole team aside from the safeties onto the Demigods' defense, knowing they would be under pressure and if they could keep this play from them, the game was theirs. The cornerbacks out by the receivers weren't even looking at them, rather their heads were turned towards Charlie and the ball. Predictable, didn't mean it was gonna be easy.

Orion still seemingly had it in his head that because of this Charlie or Percy would throw the ball to him and he would get the victory. As previously mentioned, Percy would rather not.

Charlie began shouting the play, pausing to let his teammates steel themselves. After a second he yelled for the play to begin. Immediately it was like roles were reversed. The attackers were suddenly on defense against an aggressive defense.

The other team smashed into their lines, and Charlie feigned ignorance, jumping with the ball a bit. This had the linebackers join in while the cornerbacks completely covered the receivers. Hesitating for a moment and considering passing to Orion or the other receiver, Beckendorf eventually decided to stick with the coach's plan and handed it to a running Percy. It was their best shot.

Immediately after obtaining possession of the ball Percy felt hundreds of pairs on him all at once, but what he was worried about were 22 enemy eyes now tracking him like a sentry turret. Knowing he had a split second before they broke the attack and directed at him, Percy booked it for the gap where the absent left linebacker was supposed to be.

Seeing this the cornerback spirited away from Orion towards Percy, and the latter could see the former out of the corner of his eyes glaring and holding up his hands, demanding the ball. Shit, death or dishonor I guess. Percy thought to himself, expelling all thought of getting rid of the battle.

At the crossroads out from defense into enemy territory, Percy could see the cornerback attacking from the left and most of the enemy line coming in hard from the right. All he could do was summon the spirit of Barry Sanders and pray that he somehow broke through because the rest of his team was held back or lagging behind in general.

As these three meteors came hurdling towards each other the whole crowd held bated breath, knowing that this was the defining moment of the game. This was where victory was decided. Percy knew that too, and so did his opponents.

As they reached him Percy could feel one of their hands on his back trying to make for a tackle. The other two opponents were a bit ahead and so crossed in front of him. With no strategy in his mind aside from base instinct, for a split second Percy hopped in the air and landed on his heels, stalling in his launch towards the endzone.

This stalling was crucial, as the linebacker behind him couldn't match it and went flying past him, right into the path of an oncoming end and tackle who both promptly collided with their teammate at Mach V. The clattering of their helmets on each other had the crowd cheer while Percy's eyes widened, his path blocked by three fallen foes.

Thinking on his feet and with momentum, Percy took the risky move of hopping over the linebacker, landing on both feet and continuing. As he landed though he stumbled, just in time for the cornerback to launch himself at Percy. Whether by divine luck or just NFL-level skill, the cornerback ended up vaulting past Percy, and the latter stood back up right as the tackler was behind him, his back working to throw the cornerback behind onto the doggypile of defeated players.

The pain and stress this caused on his back from having a 193lb armored redneck supported solely by it had Percy audibly cry out. He thought for a second his back had broken, and wanted to stop and actually make sure. All he knew for sure was that he couldn't feel it, and knowing that either meant he was crippled or okay he banked his bucks on the latter and picked up speed.

Now sprinting like Forrest Gump, Percy didn't even have time for fancy maneuvers, knowing the rest of their team would be pursuing with a vengeance. All that stood in between him now and a touchdown was the gap and two safeties. He enacted a literal Flash-like running, pulling his arms up 90 degrees like he was trying to be a comic book character with every step.

The safety on his side was stuttering, unsure which way to run as he held his arms out as it appeared Percy was just sprinting directly towards him. To be fair, he was. Percy was not even gonna try and go around him, this guy was just about to feel the full force of a raging Demigod.

That initial idea of bull rushing was scrapped when the right safety came barrelling at Percy from the side much like his teammates had. Only seeing this at the last second with less than 10 yards left, Percy freaked out. The right safety went for a low tackle, aiming for his legs, and seeing this, Percy relied on his momentum and kicked his legs out to the left, keeping them out of reach. The safety slid to the ground under Percy, reaching out his arms for the Demigod's boots but missing by an inch or so. Carried by the momentum, Percy literally flew across the line past the other safety like Bruce Lee doing some sort of sideways flying kick. The other safety was so stunned he didn't even try and stop Percy, not having a good enough reaction time.

Clunk!

Percy once again audibly cried out as he hit the ground, landing at an awkward angle on his hip and the right side of his back. Realizing he was still hugging the ball to his chest, Percy spazzed out and slammed the ball down in the endzone while he lay there, waiting for a few milliseconds for any sort of immense pain to suddenly register. Unfortunately his thoughts were fuzzy due to the loud cheering of those in favor of Eris Springs High, so essentially the whole town, and the rapid footsteps of his ten other teammates.

Percy's bloodshot eyes were met by familiar faces as they took off their helmets, crouching down around him. Luke and Charlie were all up in his face which scared him and Jason still stood but looked down with a smirk. Percy knew Orion was off sulking outside of the huddle.

"You good Perce?" Jason asked his good friend who lay there on the ground looking dead. Percy suddenly realized how much everything hurt. Thankfully nothing seemed broken, but then again the last time he broke something was several ribs so really his arm could be shattered and he probably wouldn't take it seriously compared to that. Percy couldn't even utter a word. His kneecaps felt nonexistent, his hip felt like it had been pushed eight inches to the left inside his body, his back felt like all blood vessels inside it were eradicated and worst of all he was out of breath from running the whole damn field.

Percy then took Charlie's helpful hand to get back up, not sure if he would even be able to walk, but surprisingly he was functioning perfectly fine. The ball was handed off to their kicker and sure enough they scored and the game was over.

Completely ignoring the crowd and his team, Percy instead trudged over towards the Demigods' stuff, among which was an ecstatic team of cheerleaders. Rather than grabbing his water bottle or interacting with the girls, Percy booked it for one girl in particular, who also stepped out when she saw him approaching.

Noticing he was limping slightly, Percy speed walked over to his girlfriend. "I'm in so much pain." He told her, immediately grabbing her by the hips and pulling her in for a deep kiss, one of their best so far. Artemis definitely enjoyed it considering not only was it so passionate, but she was honestly turned on by the fact she was making out with the guy who won the game for the school.

Artemis' dad Zeus who had initially gone over to congratulate the kid, proud to have a star athlete as a potential future son-in-law, did not enjoy that kiss as much as Artemis or Percy.

-----

Obviously with any win comes a celebration. In rural Montana winning the first game of the football season constituted a party at someone's house. This time the party was at someone else's house whose parents were out of town for the weekend, and Artemis certainly felt more in the mood for this one than the last one.

Not only was she finally drinking in a social setting, she was getting fucking hammered. Down to her seventh drink by this point a few hours after the game, it became evident to those around her that she was a lightweight. Well, the two rum and cokes she'd tried earlier wouldn't have helped.

But in every way she was having a great time. The alcohol let her socialize beyond just her brother and neighbors, and she found herself having conversations with random people from her school. Although she had no confirmation that they could understand her speech.

So what we get druuuunk, so what we smoke weeeeed, we're just havin' fuuuun, we don't care who seeees.

Artemis swayed to the music among the crowd of drinking and chatting teenagers. A sober version of her would have found it strange how many rap songs were playing at this very redneck party, but systematic racism embedded into local cultures wasn't on the forefront of her mind at that point. What was was her smoking hot school hero boyfriend, and she was eager to go find him.

She found Percy standing inside the living room in a circle with some friends which included Aph, holding a drink in one hand and keeping his other in his pocket. She shuffled over to him wearing his blue hoodie that was a bit too large for her. One hand stuck out of the sleeve so she could grasp the red plastic cup while the other was a few inches inside the sleeve.

Percy smiled when he saw her approaching, unsheathing his arm from his pocket and wrapping it around her waist. "Hey babe." He greeted, smiling at her while she took a sip of her beer.

Artemis smiled goofily, leaning into her boyfriend. "Hiii." She slurred her word. The auburn-haired girl closed her eyes as they embraced each other, listening to Percy converse with the group. She heard some of them joke about the teddy bear he had attached to him, making Artemis smile and hug him even tighter.

She was still wearing her cheer outfit under the hoodie so the skirt barely stuck out under the length of it, making it look as though she had no pants on at all. Despite this, her drunken state meant that she hadn't even considered this, which was the primary giveaway to just how drunk she was for Percy.

Artemis pulled out of his side and looked up at him poutily. "Can we go outside?" She asked, tugging on his sleeve like a bored child. The girl wasn't into the conversation, not that she would have had enough brain capacity to contribute to it.

Percy looked at her with a smirk, enjoying just how goofy she was while drunk. This was her first time being hammered, at least around him, and honestly the entertainment value was enough to satisfy him. "Heh, whatever floats your boat." He told her normally, only a few drinks down himself. Besides he was of a heavier weight than her.

Telling his friends he'd be back later, Percy accompanied his girl through the crowd of partying teens right to the backyard of this house much to the playful jeers of his twin sister. They made it out where a few people from their school they didn't know very well were sitting out on the deck playing some game. Wanting more privacy they walked down the steps of said deck and around to the side of the house, out of earshot of the kids upstairs.

Before he could take another sip or ask her what was up Percy was thrown aback by Artemis crashing her lips onto his passionately. Harkening back to their kiss after the game, Percy smiled and kissed back, placing his free hand on her back and pulling her closer.

The two teens sucked face behind the house for a while, Artemis linking her left leg behind Percy to bring them closer. When she parts for a second Artemis breathily tells him. "I wanna do it." She said huskily with a lopsided grin not unlike his own.

Percy continued kissing her but shook his head. "Not tonight, you're drunk." He told her, being the responsible one for once. To be fair, Hela wasn't here, so the second most responsible sibling was now numero uno.

Artemis frowned and kissed back harder. "Pleease, I'm a virgin!" She said a bit too loudly thanks to her inebriated state. She tugged on his shirt as if she wanted her first time to be right then and there, unsure of what she really wanted due to the alcohol.

Percy now pushed away slightly. "Exactly. Your first time should be when we're normal. You're fucking trashed." He began to laugh, finding more humor in it because he himself was a few drinks deep.

Artemis scoffed, her face scrunched up in disgust as she backed off and punched him in the chest. "What? Ain't I good enough for the star player? D-dyou think I'm not pretty enough?" She was suddenly speaking pretty good for a hammered teen.

Percy raised an eyebrow, wondering how the hell she got to that train of thought. "What? No! Artemis, you're great." He tried to explain himself, but he was cut off by her.

"Then why don't you wanna be with me?" Artemis was on the verge of yelling by this point, and Percy couldn't help but notice how cute she looked pissed off while wearing his oversized hoodie.

Percy clapped his hands, trying to drill it into her skull. "Because you're drunk, babe. C'mon, let's go back insi-" He tried wrapping an arm around her but she quickly slapped it away and turned on her heels, storming off.

Hurt, Percy pursued the equally hurt Artemis as she walked through the backdoor into the house. "If you don't want me here then I'll just go home!" She yelled at him, the music making it so only the people around them heard.

Percy actively protested this, chasing after her. Left behind was Silena and one of the other cheerleaders. "I knew they were dating!" She snapped her fingers, having not seen their earlier kiss at the game.

Artemis rushed out the front door of the house hugging herself tight, her legs cold due to the exposed skin from the outfit. She was already insecure due to comments Drew had made about her looks the other day, saying she was the weak link of the team. Artemis wasn't usually one to take comments about her appearance to heart but with her new boyfriend had come changes in her personality. Before her looks mattered little to her, but now she felt insecure because she felt she had to sustain decent looks in order to keep her boyfriend, an irrational thought considering who she was dating.

She jogged a bit down the sidewalk away from the party house. Meanwhile inside Percy was looking for her since he had lost his shorter girl in the crowd. Walking in the living room, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. "She went out, dude." One of his friends Leo told him helpfully.

"Shit." Percy said, proceeding to thank him before booking it out the door. Looking both ways he saw Artemis at the very end of the long street, turning the corner towards the main street road. Grabbing his car keys out of his pocket, Percy rushed over to his pickup and got inside.

Starting the blue pickup, Percy began to drive down the street after her, not even contemplating how he was driving at night while technically drunk. Oh well.

Artemis shuffled down the main street hugging herself to conserve heat, not thinking about how long of a walk she had left in the dark. She just felt mad at her boyfriend, and if that meant she had to walk home, so be it.

A vehicle slowed down next to her until it was going roughly the same speed as her walking. "C'mon, get in the truck. Please?" She heard a familiar voice plead to her. Frowning, she didn't even look at him.

"Go away." She said loudly, not wanting to be anywhere near him.

Percy sighed, trying not to drift into a parked car as he trailed alongside her. "Please, Artemis. You're gonna become roadkill out here. You're drunk and walking on the highway at night." He tried reasoning with her. Artemis merely ignored him, continuing to walk in silence. "Don't make me kidnap you." He joked, flashing that signature grin.

Artemis glared at him. "Listen, just go-" She was cut off by the fact her body was now laying horizontal on the ground. Thankfully she had managed to land her head on her hands because smashing the side of her head on the pavement was the last thing she wanted right now.

Percy pulled the breaks on the truck, which wasn't hard since it was going like 3 miles an hour. Opening the truck door he got out and rushed over to his fallen girlfriend, who was pulling her face off of the ground. Helping her up, he checked her over. She had a scratch on her knee which was bleeding, so that would need a band-aid.

"C'mon, let's get you home." He said, not sure if he meant his or hers. It would be more responsible to drop her off home with her parents, but at the same time he kinda wanted to take her back to his and look after her.

Artemis was quiet by this point, so he was forced to pick her up bridal style and deliver her to the passenger seat of the truck, buckling her in before hopping back in the driver's seat.

The drive home was silent, with Artemis just sitting curled up in her seat with a blank expression on her face. Percy could tell by looking she wasn't particularly angry with him anymore, just tired and fatigued. "You look perfect, Artemis. You always do." He assured her, which brought a small smile to the teen's face.

She still didn't say anything, so Percy felt the need to clear the air with her, even if she wasn't communicating back. "I just... our first time should be special. We should both be sober. It should be... lovemaking, not two dogs rutting in the backyard. Sorry for being blunt." He nervously laughed after saying such a heavy thing.

He saw in his peripheral vision that she smiled again and nodded, obviously understanding and accepting his feelings. He knew she'd understand fully when she was sober, but she was docile for now and that was all he needed.

They reached their 'street' per say, the crossroads between their houses. Percy looked at his girlfriend. "You wanna stay at ours for the night?" He offered, to which Artemis nodded with a smile. He'd have to remember to get her to text her parents so they didn't call the cops again.

They pulled up to his house and went inside. Much like last time his parents and Estelle were all asleep, so it was just them up in the house. "C'mon, let's get a band-aid." He told her, leading her down the hallway to the bathroom. His parents' and baby sister's doors were both closed, so they didn't exactly have to tiptoe.

Percy could tell just how drunk Artemis really was when while he put the band-aid on her knee she loudly exclaimed. "Ow!" He shushed her quickly at which point she just laughed. It shouldn't have even really been noticeable since it was just a bloodied scratch, but the alcohol was rushing back to her head after the sober drive home. She seemed to have forgotten all about what had happened.

Suddenly Artemis' face fell and she plopped herself down onto her knees, not even registering the fact that she had slammed the same knee which she had audibly cried out about when it had been band-aided. Her head found itself over the toilet bowl as a sickening feeling arose in her stomach, and within a few seconds she was spraying her guts into the bowl like a fire hydrant.

Cursing himself, Percy rushed over and grabbed as much of her hair as he could, knowing what to do thanks to the amount of times he'd had to do this to Aph or Hela. He raked more into his hands until there seemed to be none left dangling in front of her face.

Taking advantage of the moment, Percy grabbed her phone off the counter and opened her dad's contact, typing out a quick text message. Crashing at Aph and Hela's tonite. He typed, noting how two texts above it she had spelt it that way.

Artemis eventually voided her stomach through her throat and stood up on weak knees. Before he could suggest they should go to bed while she was wiping her lips off, Artemis turned around and stumbled out of the bathroom.

He followed her, whispering for her to keep it down, but his girlfriend seemed goofy when drunk, much like his twin. Artemis opened the fridge and rummaged through, despite having just vomited everything from the past 8 hours out into the toilet. "Chicken!" She exclaimed excitedly, pulling out a plate of leftover pork roast.

Before she could start biting into it like it was a beef jerky stick, Percy took the plate off of her and brought it over to the chopping block. Artemis watched impatiently as her boyfriend cut the meat into edible pieces, wanting some chicken right now.

"Here, quick snack." He said, leaving her a few slices of pork roast on the chopping board while he went to put the plate away. Artemis began to dig in with just her hands, actually moaning at the first bite which definitely threw Percy off.

After she finished that Percy was ready to put her drunken ass down. "Alright, bedtime, c'mon." He said responsibly. Artemis audibly 'aww'd at this to which Percy vehemently shushed her. Nevertheless Artemis went with him when he began leading her down the hall to his bedroom.

Once inside Percy pulled back the covers and sat her down on the bed. "You don't need this anymore." He said, dragging his hoodie off of her. Artemis whined once again but actually got stuck during the taking off part and began to flail around. Laughing, Percy stopped her and properly removed it so now she was just in her cheer uniform.

Taking off her shoes, Percy got her tucked in, to which point she began rolling around trying to get comfortable. Finding amusement in this, Percy bid her goodnight and began walking over to the door. Artemis then sat up in the bed, the blanket over her head and nearly covering her eyes as she looked at him pouting. "Stay!" She asked.

Percy paused for a moment. Again, the responsible thing would be to go sleep on the couch like he planned but something inside him really wanted to be in bed with his girlfriend, even if they weren't actually gonna do anything.

Giving into desires, Percy shut the door and turned off the lights before hopping in the bed next to her. As they got comfortable they ended up on their sides cuddling each other with Artemis' legs wrapped around his. This almost instantaneously gave Percy a hardon, but Artemis didn't seem to notice. After trying in vain to break free of her hold, Percy relented and relaxed in her embraced. He'd blame it on her in the morning. Percy went to sleep not even realizing this was their first cuddle session as a couple.

Hot damn I finally updated in less than 7 days again. Everything's coming up me. Me and Bearwarrior3000 brainstormed this idea, as well as several chapters in the near and distant future. In fact, I actually don't know what chapter was supposed to come next so... ideas?

Word Count: 5282