[ his brows raise as he grins. truthfully, she only makes it worse by trying to unflub her flub. but trouble always finds him — being a demigod often means the monsters know his scent. he's swapped aramis for calvin klein aftershave, but they can still find him. it's probably his soap. ]

[ but just as he's about to begin teasing her, she brings up the fucking otter. he's never going to live this down — and he knows it. caring a little too much about a silver, slithery thing will be his doom with a girl he only wants to impress. with the hurdles she places up for him to leap over, perhaps not realising she gives him the choice to either run straight into them and disappoint her or take to his athletic roots and pound the earth as he practically soars over them, it'd been a little too much, knowing he may cause her grief by losing her otter within the caves. with his poor state of mind only beginning to fracture into something better, and thalia and annabeth both appearing, he hadn't been as put together as he had hoped to be. it's a side of himself he doesn't want anyone to see, much less hermione. ]

[ a hand immediately hits his forehead as he drags it over his face with a groan. but he smiles, flushing slightly, perhaps even joking as he raises his brows, ] I like animals, okay? When I was five, I bawled like a little baby because I had to flush my goldfish down the toilet instead of burying him. He had seven million names. [ and hoping to see her flush even pinker, he shames her, ] You're just bringing up unnecessary trauma, Granger.