"… To the left we have the pegasi stables. You can probably ride them later during class, so we'll just move on for now. And here we have the lava rock-climbing wall…"

Piper stops short in her explanation to cast a glance at her oddly silent charge. The redhead had been so excited earlier, nearly talking her fellow sister's ear off, regaling her with the tales of the boys she'd dated and dumped like a true daughter of the love goddess. Though somewhat thankful for the brief reprieve from Maeve's extremely shrilly voice, Piper can't help but feel a little concerned over her sister's current state. The Cherokee tilts her head slightly to find Maeve staring somewhere right ahead with a dreamy look on her face, letting out dainty little sighs from time to time. The daughter of Aphrodite furrows her brows, puzzled, and follows the redhead's line of sight.

Her puzzlement disappears into thin air upon seeing the object of Maeve's affections, leaving Piper chuckling into her palm with amusement.

She absolutely can't wait to see what Annabeth would do with this one.

Percy Jackson stands in the centre of the sword fighting arena, teaching a beginner's class as it seems, from the crowd of kids around him. The son of Poseidon demonstrates some simple thrusts and strikes, before leaving his class to practise on their own. Spying Piper in the distance, he waves and jogs over to say hello to one of his closest friends.

Piper waves back as he skids to a stop in front of them. They make small talk for a while before Percy lifts up the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. The action elicits a tiny squeak from the nearly frozen Maeve beside her, whom Piper nearly forgot was there, too absorbed with the conversation with the son of Poseidon.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention, this here, is a new daughter of Aphrodite, Maeve. I was giving her a tour around the place."

Percy holds out a hand and grins at the redhead, introducing himself enthusiastically. Piper has to cover her mouth with her hand to avoid laughing out loud at the almost awestruck expression on Maeve's face. The new camper manages to hold it together long enough to shake Percy's hand, a huge smile growing on her face.

Percy smiles back indulgently, ever the oblivious seaweed brain, and excuses himself back to his class after giving Piper a hug.

Breaking out of her daze, Maeve squeals loudly and slams question after question towards Piper.

"Oh my gosh, who was that hottie?"

"So hot ahhhhhhh!"

"He said hi to me and he shook my hand! Oh my gosh, he shook my hand!"

"How old is he?"

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

Said daughter of Aphrodite rubs her forehead with a grimace, feeling a headache coming on from her half-sister's shrill voice. Before she could remind the redhead that he already introduced himself, and there really wasn't a need to do it again, Maeve drags her towards the arena, claiming it as the next destination in the camp tour. Piper lets her half-sister drag her there, the Aphrodite in her excited to see how it'll all play out especially with the extremely scary, extremely territorial daughter of Athena in the picture.

The excitable redhead abandons Piper at the threshold of the arena, running towards the son of Poseidon in the middle of the arena. The Cherokee watches as she slams straight into an unsuspecting Percy. The redhead gets off Percy and apologizes repeatedly, running a hand over his bicep. The son of Poseidon looks appropriately uncomfortable at her wandering hands, attempting to bat them away in the least offending manner. Maeve doesn't seem to get the hint, getting closer and closer to him. At her friend's distressed expression, Piper breaks out into peals of twinkly laughter, doubling over from laughing so hard. She has really got to thank Percy – and Annabeth for that matter, for the endless source of entertainment she gets every time a newbie enters the camp.

As she wipes tears away from her eyes, her peripheral vision notices Annabeth striding unto the scene. Piper can't help but to rub her hands in anticipation, a mischievous twinkle in her features.

The blonde's known for her ingenuity and brilliance at dispatching monsters, and the daughter of Athena is equally skilled when it comes to crushing girls who didn't know better than to attempt to seduce her boyfriend.

Piper scrambles for a prime seat to watch the action go down as Annabeth calmly strides to her boyfriend's side. The Stolls and Leo apparently have the same idea, literally racing into the arena to seats near Piper, leaning forward in their seats excitedly.

"Hey Perce. Ready to go for the lake?" Annabeth's voice rings loud and clear in the arena.

Percy nods enthusiastically at his girlfriend, who doubles up as his saviour from girls most of the time, and literally pushes Maeve away to cuddle up to Annabeth, winding an arm around her waist. She delivers an equally enthusiastic kiss to the son of Poseidon's lips, twisting her hand into his inky black locks.

Maeve visibly deflates as she stares on with a pout.

Leo whistles from beside her, "Nice. The good ole pretending you don't exist strategy." A few seats away, Conner slaps a twenty into Travis's open palm, betting (and losing) on Annabeth using her dagger to scare the other girl away.

Piper has to turn away to hide her smile. Sure, she feels bad for her half-sister, along with the few million other girls, mortal and demigod alike, meeting a steel wall called Annabeth Chase in their pursuit for Percy, and leaving crying but unhurt (most of the time – Piper remembers the one time that Annabeth had to stab a daughter of Nike before she'd let go of Percy).

But if there was one romance in the world Piper thinks should never be messed with, it's Percy and Annabeth. Forget Romeo and Juliet, Percy and Annabeth are the true star-crossed lovers that overcame titans, monsters and even gods to stay together. Gods, even her mother, the goddess of love herself, usually doing her best to make love difficult for even the greatest of couples, leaves them alone.

As Piper watches Percy and Annabeth walk out of the arena with hands entwined, Percy brushes golden locks off his girlfriend's forehead and lands a gentle kiss on it. The daughter of Aphrodite smiles genuinely, happy that her two friends have finally gotten the happy ending they deserve. Sweeping her braid over a shoulder, Piper hops off her seat gracefully and goes to console the poor soul rebuffed, gently guiding the tearing girl back to the Aphrodite cabin.

Again.

(Sure, she loves her two friends together but it'll be nice if she could stop having to console crying girls all the time.)