#but in the meantime it's kind of fun to have someone to make Carter flustered with

[happyk44]

Once again thinking about suicidal Percy breaking up with Annabeth while he tries to recover his mental and physical health by hiding within the safety of the Nome, and developing a massive crush on Carter in the process.

Zia subtly trying to remind Percy of his place by emphasizing that Carter is straight whenever she can. After a while of these, Percy gets the clue and holds her shoulders, like, "Zia, I'm not gonna try and steal your straight boyfriend from you. That's gross people behaviour. But I do think that we should talk about how hot he is together, and that should be the basis of our entire relationship."

He lets go and holds his hand out. She takes a moment, then shrugs and shakes in agreement. Carter now has to suffer through Percy teaching Zia how to catcall him when he walks by in his exercise shorts after teaching some of the kids, and Zia teaching Percy how to flirt with subtle and gentle words that make Carter squirm, his face burning.

After a few weeks of this, he watches them hunched over in a corner whispering. He doesn't trust it at all. And he's right not to, when a few hours later Zia starts dropping sexual innuendos with her smooth beautiful voice, stroking Carter's arm. Percy is giving her a thumbs up. She's grinning, cocky, and it reminds Carter just a tad too much of Percy and his near-manic victorious grin when he manages to catch Sadie in her own prank.

Zia pulls Carter off the couch and towards the bedrooms. As they pass through the doorway, where Percy is leaning against the wall, Carter hears a laughing, "Have fun!"

Ah. That's what they were talking about.