Percy Jackson: The Cursed Hunter

A/N: I just pulled my ultimate waifu (based on looks, there's a different one for story) in my favorite gacha game of all time. I am so pumped right now, so here's a happy chapter for y'all.

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Four Months After Their Cohabitation Started:

"What are your thoughts on me?" I asked him one day, whilst he had been training.

I still honestly didn't know how such an... interesting training hall had appeared in my mansion, but it did seem like Shalom was very, very in tune with the workings of this training hall.

I had obviously let it be, curious for the most part, because it did give me more of a peek into Shalom's previous life.

At first, I had thought that Hades had just made a really shit mistake by forgetting to bathe Shalom's soul in the River Lethe before sending him into the reincarnation cycle.

Yet, Shalom had revealed to me, willingly, that he had actually come from a separate timeline entirely.

Wherein, immediately after hearing this news, I had tackled him down to the ground whilst using charmspeak on him.

It had not been... the best moment within our relationship, but he couldn't blame me for suddenly having an existential crisis, right?

A month later, to this present moment, and he still hadn't spoken a word to me since that incident.

Yes, I should apologize, yes, I was being selfish, and yes, I had been a bitch to do that.

But hey, I was used to getting what I wanted, especially from a man.

Here I was though, trying to build a completely different relationship with a man than any I had ever had before.

Looking up at him, my eyes soon filled with hope as he opened his own eyes and stared straight into mine.

For some reason, seeing his mouth open up towards me once more after a month made a gush of happiness fill my body.

"You're a whore, a narcissist, and a self-centered asshole through and through, spoiled into getting everything you ever wanted due to your... unique skillsets." He eventually said, a cold tone inhabiting his voice.

And, his words had hurt, had hurt me deeper than he would ever know, but I knew that, in all honesty, those words all did describe me.

I held his gaze though, ready to defend myself, because I truly had tried. I knew that he knew about my efforts, and honestly, I didn't know what I had to do now anymore.

'Honestly, do I really need to do this anymore? I should just smite him right now and go back to my old w-'

I begin to think thoughts that I truly didn't mean, because I could never bring myself to do such things, and I was glad that he interrupted me at the moment he did.

"But that was the old you. Sure, facets of that self of yours pop up from time to time, but you really are trying to change, aren't you?" He asked me, straight to my face, his own adorned by a gentle, warmth-filled smile; a far cry from his previous frigid expression.

"You're trying so hard... for me, no?" He said, his voice almost a whisper, as he dropped his head down and stared into his lap.

Hearing this, my heart leapt... no, it soared. A smile couldn't help but crack open on my own face.

Oh, how much I wanted to just tackle him to the ground right then and there and embrace him, but I knew that this was as far as I could get, for now at least.

In this moment, I just needed to make things right, to bring our relationship back on track.

Then, we would be able to eat breakfast and dinner together, enjoy daily life with each other, and talk with each other late into every evening once more.

Bringing my head down to stare at the floor that created the space between us, I muttered the golden words, the words that I should have told him so long ago.

"...I'm sorry."

I expected to be met with a acknowledging silence, maybe a polite response, or perhaps a gradual warming up to my presence again.

I, however, had not expected to sense him walk over to me, who was sitting down on the floor of the training room, before wrapping my entire upper body into his embrace.

The side of my head pressed up against his chest, whilst his chin laid on the crown of my head, sending shivers down my spine.

"Thank you." He whispered, as I felt his eyes closing, his breathing calm and steady. I realized then that he had become a pillar I was drawn to, a pillar I could lean on.

I let out a shuddered breath, as tension that I had been holding in for a full month was released from my body.

Our endless conversations that stretched across days, the playful banter that we got into with each other, his constant presence next to me...

Even though we had only known each other for nine months, it seemed to me like it had been years.

Our friendship... it was something worth salvaging.

It was only after a minute that I realized that golden tears had been streaming down my face.

He was, surprisingly enough, notably concerned for me, as he pushed the two of us apart before trying to wipe the tears away, a worried look on his face.

Seeing this, a bright smile bloomed on my face, piercing through the streams of tears.

As my cheeks were cupped in his hands, with him still trying to wipe away my tears with his thumbs, only one thought occupied my mind.

'I...'

'...should've done this so much earlier.'

With that, I slipped past his arms and collided into his chest once more, this time though, for a different reason.

We found ourselves on the ground (well him on the ground whilst I was laid atop him), yet neither of us could think of us as being in an intimate position.

As I looked up at him and he looked back, I stated, no, declared that,

"I really am such an idiot, aren't I?"

His face quickly morphed into an expression of mock shock, causing me to playfully slam my fist down on his body.

"Did Aphrodite... the Goddess Aphrodite, just admit that she was an idiot?"

I stared at him menacingly, yet couldn't bear to keep the act up as we both burst into laughter at the same time.

Ah, I would never get tired of that soft, soothing laugh.

I truly had made a great friend... hadn't I?

Honestly, I had been super pissed off at her when she had done that.

Like, I could work with her mind reading Goddess powers bullshit because that was something that was second nature to her, like knowing how to bring food up to your mouth.

Yet, using charmspeak on me?

The god's be damned, but she had violated several of my basics rights that day.

I would be lying if I said that she hadn't lost my trust that day, because she had, as she forced me to tell her things I would have told her anyways (if she had only asked) before she, surprisingly enough, realized that she had made a mistake halfway through and had run away from me in a fit of panic.

Why had I stayed then, despite her... infraction?

During the first week, I had refused to even be in her presence, disappearing from rooms whenever she tried to walk into them.

Yet, she had still made her presence known to me, and it had all been so... endearing.

After the first few days, she had realized that I would leave anytime she was within eyesight of me, so starting the second week, she had completely disappeared from my site too, respecting my space.

And, she had always made sure to leave what she had found to be the foods I enjoyed the most on the dining table every morning when I awoke and every evening when I left the training hall.

I still remembered slightly smiling whenever I saw the food she whipped up for me, and I also couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt due to the singular portion that sat there.

Again though, I was not going to yield on such matters. A healthy relationship went both ways, at least, that was what I had heard in my previous life, and I found myself wanting such a relationship with her.

Ah, I guess that that answered the question that I had proffered above. Sorry about going slightly off topic.

But yes, my relationship with her was probably the first genuine relationship since I had been a child in my previous life.

After having been drafted into the program at the age of 8, all the befriending, seducing, and "intimate" relationships I had engaged in had purely been to further an end goal.

Yet here, with her, I was unshackling myself from those burdens, allowing a purer form of myself into the limelight.

Yes, this was probably a result of the parts of my personality that had been influenced by the Boy, but it wasn't like I hated these changes.

This was a new world, and I truly did want to try and leave my past behind me.

Thus, I'd be damned if I didn't give our relationship a second chance. We both weren't perfect (although I would like to point out that gods should be perfect), and forgiving the other's mistakes was a part of a healthy relationship.

Well, at least that was what I had heard when I had been studying for my job.

She, a god, had tried to change for me though. She, a god, had cried for us. She, a god, had apologized to a mortal.

I'd be a bastard and a hypocrite if I didn't accept her apology.

As long as it was a two way street, I'd forgive her as many times as I needed to...

...as long as she would do the same for me.

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A/N: What do y'all think? I'm trying so hard to ram it in that they are good friends not lovers, but I do know that there is a fine line between being best friends and a couple. How did y'all think I did? Was it clear enough, or did I go too far over the line?