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strawberryyivy · 2 months

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— Lovesick Denial

;; ₍ # ₎ ⁀➷ Clarisse La Rue x Reader

─ Jealousy and bitter denial, not really a good combo, is it?

cw ཿ⠀ violence (nothing bad, promise ♡︎), nicknames (clarisse calls you princess, but no pronouns are used), jealousy, denial, high key toxic! clarisse, partially proofread. 2.5k words.

ପ a/n ; requested! lowkey hating this layout right now, but can’t come up with anything better at the moment </3 This took longer to post than I wanted to because I’ve been so busy. Lowkey lost motivation near the end. I hope you enjoy anyway, I might make a part 2.

Irritated. It was the first word that came to mind with how you felt when it came to capture the flag. You gripped your weapon tightly as you roamed the forest, jumping at the slightest sound. You grumbled curses under your breath, you were alone and seriously disadvantaged. You were annoyed, but most of all stressed. Normally, you would have wandered off—finding a decent hiding place until the unsavory game reached its conclusion, but unfortunately for you—Annabeth didn’t really give you the chance this time.

You sigh softly to yourself, tired of aimlessly walking through the forest. You lean against a nearby tree, hoping to rest a bit to replenish some of your energy. Your weapon was held loosely in your hand as you naively let your guard down. It was quiet, perhaps too quiet. The birds’ endless chatter was oddly soundless as the only thing that could be heard was the wind brushing through the tree’s leaves and… footsteps?

A spear pierces the tree’s trunk harshly, narrowly missing you. You jump, your body tensing as you stumble back a bit. You raise your weapon in defense, looking at the spear lodged into the tree before easily recognizing its craftsmanship. Your fingertips brush along your cheek, the small look of disbelief is quickly replaced with irritation as you see the fresh blood. You shoot her a small glare as she slowly approaches you with a smug look on her face.

“You know, it’s pretty dumb to be trying to take a nap out here, princess,” Clarisse mocks with a teasing tone of voice as she stops just a few feet away from you. The amused look on her face only grows once she notices you grow more irritated by her presence. She pulls back her spear, examining its sharp blade before looking back at you with a rather threatening smile.

You lower your weapon, your brows still furrowed slightly in annoyance. If there was anything you hated more than capture the flag—it was Clarisse, the notorious favored daughter of Ares. You’ve only had a few encounters, all of which you consider a displeasure, but if there was one thing you were known for, if not your antisocial personality, it was your smart mouth.

“Aww, I didn’t pick you as the type to care about my wellbeing,” You mock her tone, a clearly irritated smile resting on your lips as you made it clear you were in no mood for her teasing antics.

Clarisse scoffs, scowling softly as if almost genuinely offended by your words. If she was being honest with herself, she was. But, of course, the stubborn daughter of Ares would never admit to it, “I don’t.”

“Then why say something?” You retort, your tolerance really hitting its breaking point. The heat was starting to get to you more than you thought.

“Because,” Clarisse takes a step closer towards you, a small spark erupting from her spear. Her gaze is cold, calculating like a predator watching its prey. It irritated you, but also made every hair on your body stand on edge.

You subconsciously take a step back, trying to maintain some distance. Clarisse smirks at this before abruptly attacking you. It was a single strike, but its weight was as heavy as her pride. You barely managed to block on time, staggering back as you were completely caught off guard.

Clarisse smiles tauntingly as she continues her slow approach. She’s toying with you. You hold up your weapon, ready to parry her next attack. Your guard is up, but so is your anxiety. Clarisse was never known to go easy—especially in a game like this.

But something felt off about this interaction.

Your brows furrowed in confusion. Nothing about Clarisse’s actions made sense to you. She had a game to win, a flag to capture. Yet, she was wasting valuable time to toy with you. Not only that, but she was alone—usually she’d have at least one or two of her siblings with her. This didn’t seem like some regular bullying stunt—no, this felt personal.

“What’s with the confused look, princess?” Clarisse teases, that taunting smile never leaving her lips. She attacks you again, this time more viciously like she’s aiming to hurt you.

You narrowly block the attack, but not completely avoiding the damage. A small cut is left on your upper arm, you click your tongue in annoyance as you glance down at the new wound. You glare up at her, irritated.

“What’s the point of this?” You asked before finally delivering an attack of your own. It’s not as harsh or vicious as Clarisse’s, but the attack has enough weight to it, making it obvious you’re no longer taking this confrontation carelessly.

“Does there have to be a point to this?” Clarisse chuckles, easily blocking the attack. You don’t miss the way she subtly avoids the question, but she doesn’t give you much time to think about it much. She returns the strike, much more vicious than the last two.

This isn’t the first time you had to defend yourself against Clarisse. You’ve witnessed and experienced Clarisse’s fighting style first hand. Despite her hotheaded temper, she fought with pride, but most of all with reason—in her own right, of course. Her attacks are always cold and calculating, strike with purpose and aim to prove something.

So, why did her attacks feel so different? With each strike you blocked—or avoided—the next one felt more angrier and vicious than the previous. Like she was actively trying to kill you, but not at the same time. This felt like more than just some bullying stunt to you, it felt like she was desperately acting in defiance to something. Something close to a personal struggle, perhaps?

Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. The fight was already lost.

You wince as your weapon broke, your own blade turning against you, cutting your skin. Clarisse wastes no time, electricity cracks from her spear as she follows up with her next attack. She hits you in the abdomen, sending you flying a couple feet away.

The wind is knocked out of you as you roughly hit the ground. You cough harshly, quickly trying to pull yourself to your feet. You mumble a few curses under your breath, your muscles sore and your legs weak. When you struggle to stand, you allow yourself to collapse completely to the ground.

“Don’t tell me you’re giving up now,” Clarisse seems amused, the mocking tone of her voice sounding more like nails on a chalkboard as she lowers her spear. You feel a small headache beginning to form, whether it was from irritation or your harsh landing didn’t really matter to you.

You don’t even have the energy to retort, rolling over on your back tiredly. Fatigue hit you like a truck, and the pain was certainly no help. Your lack of response makes Clarisse worry a little. She holds her spear loosely in her hand, as she glares at you softly.

She opens her mouth to speak, but stops as you hold up your finger in response. She scowls slightly in irritation, but says nothing as she gives you a moment to gather yourself.

“You avoided my question,” You say, a little breathlessly. Your tone was rather blunt as if stating a fact.

Clarisse scoffs, looking away for a moment before responding, “I did not.”

“You did,” Your response is quick as you look over at Clarisse, nonchalantly.

She simply rolls her eyes before quickly changing the subject, “Are you going to continue laying there all day or—”

“You know that doesn’t sound like a bad idea…” You mumble, genuinely taking it into consideration. Your whole body ached and you weren’t really in the mood to get up just yet. Especially considering how you know you’ll be hearing an earful from Annabeth for disappearing so quickly into the game.

Clarisse chuckles, shaking her head in disbelief at your nonchalant attitude. A blaring horn breaks through the small silence and the sound of cheers follows—which is no doubt the blue team’s victory. A third win in a row.

Clarisse's grip tightens around her spear as she looks out into the distance in annoyance. You look at her for a moment before rolling your eyes, deciding to hold your tongue. You’ve already taken more of a beating than you liked.

You sit up, groaning at the dull ache of your muscles. Clarisse looks back at you, watching as you struggle a bit to stand, “Need some help?”

You pause, giving her a look of bewilderment as it took you a moment to realize she was being genuinely in her request. Never, in all your years of being at Camp Halfbood, did you ever hear Clarisse genuinely offer her help to anyone, “You serious?”

It was a genuine question, but your skepticism only irritated Clarisse, making her scoff before placing her spear away. She doesn’t even bother to retort with a harsh insult before walking towards you. She kneels down with her back turned towards you and you realize she’s actually being serious. You looked over her shoulder, your confused daze being met with a small irritated scowl. Too nervous to decline, you hesitantly wrapped your arms around her shoulders as her hands gently gripped your thighs. She carefully stands up, making sure you are steady and comfortable on her back before adjusting you a bit.

Your grip around her tightens a bit, holding her rather close, a little fearful that she may drop you. She oddly doesn’t comment on it, which leaves you with more questions with still zero answers. You truly had no idea what was happening. With every minute, Clarisse surprised you more and more. You wanted to protest, question—anything really—but was left rather speechless as she carried you all the way to the infirmary.

You felt the eyes of your fellow campers, by the looks on their faces they shared the same thoughts of disbelief as you do. Their curious stares and gossiping whispers don’t last long with Clarisse’s silent glare. With deathly shivers being sent down their spine, they quickly go back to minding their business, saving the gossip for later.

You, on the other hand, can only hide your face in embarrassment. The unwanted attention made you want to crawl into a hole, and you knew your friends would have a world of questions of their own. You just hope the attention won’t last long.

────

It did. Although their gossip quieted over time, their curious stares—borderline judgmental—continued to linger behind you. Everywhere you went, no matter how hard you tried to blend into the background—you could always feel at least one pair of eyes watching you. They picked and pried you apart, curious to know how you—a rather dull, outcast—caught the attention of the violent, prideful daughter of Ares.

You were an outsider, never cared for pride or glory. Alway in the background, taking great care to never stand out in a crowd. You were never a loner, but you weren’t exactly ‘known’ either. Average at best was the best way to describe you, but you never seemed to mind. In fact, you enjoyed it.

The life of a demigod was something you never enjoyed nor asked for. A quiet, content life was more of a goal of yours than anything else—anyone with two eyes and a brain could see that.

So, how? Why? What did Clarisse see in you?

Those seemed to be the most common questions when it came to you these days—unspoken, of course. Due to Clarisse’s temper, no doubt. Her anger and aggression has been at an all time high. Losing weeks of desserts due to recent outbursts was definitely not helping.

You took extra care to avoid her, and in turn, she did the same. Though, that only irritated her more. She was frustrated and confused. She had an idea of why she felt the way she did, but she was far too stubborn and prideful to acknowledge it. She wanted to ignore it, to smother the feeling until it withered into ash.

Of course, you were no better either. The same thought peeked into your mind, but you were quick to dismiss it. The simple thought—jokingly or not—of Clarisse even possibly thinking of you at all seemed impossible to even consider. Your friends were no help either, talking your head off with their own suspicions and delusions (as you put it).

So, when someone approached you, a camper known for his boldness and idiocy, it was hard to miss the way your blood went cold. A vicious sense of danger washed over you, your sense heightened. You could barely focus on the words he was saying to you as your eyes subtly scanned your surroundings.

You didn’t have to look for long, your eyes met her cold glare and your whole body went frigid. You knew that look well, you’ve seen it before, but never did you think you would see it directed towards you. It was a sort of jealousy, but felt so much deeper—almost a yearning.

“Hey? You listening?” His voice broke you from your trace, you realized you held Clarisse’s gaze for a few seconds too long. You look back at him with a forced, polite smile before nodding.

You hummed softly in acknowledgment as you tried to ignore the way Clarisse’s knuckles seemed to turn white as her glare hardened out of the corner of your eye. The poor boy didn’t seem to notice the look of worry on your face, too blinded by his own ego. He took your smile and desperate maintenance of eye contact as a sign of interest, which only fueled his rambling. Too bad you weren’t really listening to any of it.

Clarisse watched from afar, her gaze never drifting from you—her siblings are quick to notice her anger, but aren’t quite bold enough to say anything about. One, however, smiles mischievously as she follows Clarisse’s line of sight. She sees an opportunity to cause some form of entertainment, a plan that will also help Clarisse relieve some of her anger.

She smirks as she whispers into Clarisse’s ear, her tense form relaxing as a small, bone-chilling smile makes its way onto her lips. She looks away for a moment, considering the plan for a moment before nodding. A small chuckle leaves her sibling’s lips before she leaves, quick to put the plan into motion.

Clarisse looks back at you and you make eye contact once again. Only this time, the smile on her face fills you with a small sense of dread. You’ve known Clarisse long enough to recognize the cruel look in her eyes. She’s planning something. Something that would ensure at least one person is ending up with a broken bone.

You knew you would be an idiot if you continued to deny it any longer, and Clarisse slowly became aware of the same. A quiet realization, one that neither of you will acknowledge just yet, but one you’re both aware of no less.

She likes you, way more than she would like. And you had no idea how you were going to handle it.

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