Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So, tell me…” Annabeth hesitated, clearly nervous, looking down at the blanket spread under them by the lake.

She looked up and met Percy’s glance, her gray eyes seeming to grow more confident as she continued.

“Did you… you know, before we got together,” Annabeth paused, then rushed out the rest of the question. “Did you ever... like like Rachel?”

Oh gods, Percy thought, a flare of panic setting in. Now it was his turn to break eye contact as he thought about what he could say to leave the lakeside later without Annabeth’s celestial bronze dagger sticking out of the weak spot on the small of his back.

Answering different types of questions from his girlfriend had become a pretty regular occurrence in the two months that they had been dating, in the two months since the Battle of Manhattan.

Each time they had hung out recently, they had begun asking each other a series of questions. They had agreed to answer these questions, which varied in depth (anywhere from “what’s your favorite song” to “what do you like most about me”), honestly, and they were limited to one question each, per day.

It had been Annabeth’s idea (of course, most ideas were). 

“I know we’ve known each other for so long now,” Annabeth had said. “But I still feel like there’s so much we need to talk about and so much I’d like to know about you, now that, you know, I plan to keep on knowing you for a long time.”

That last part had made Percy feel so warm inside that he had agreed to his girlfriend’s idea without thinking about the potential for any awkward questions.

She was also looking at him with her wide, sparkling, pleading eyes when she did, so, all-in-all, he definitely wasn’t thinking straight when he’d agreed, then got a quick kiss, then answered her first question: “What’s your favorite thing about New York City?”

That one had been easy, (the abundance of good pizza that was available, obviously), and he’d spent some of his free time since then jotting down some questions that he’d like to ask her. 

Some of them, sure, he could have just asked without the need for the whole question game. He was Annabeth’s boyfriend now, after all, and they spent a lot of time together. But it had also been nice, kind of having a reason to think about what else he’d like to know about her. She had read a book about couples communication (because daughter of Athena) and said that she thought that healthy, open lines of communication would be beneficial as they made the surprisingly easy transition from how they had treated each other as best friends to starting their relationship.

Well, the easy transition once they had gotten past the weirdness of last summer, what with the war, Luke, and, oh, right, Rachel.

Percy looked back up at an Annabeth that seemed to be waffling between eagerness and nervousness.

It was a peaceful Saturday in the late afternoon, though a bit chilly in the October wind. But that fact left Annabeth pressed warmly against Percy’s  side, so he didn’t really mind.

They had decided to spend the weekend at camp, their first time back since leaving at the end of summer. Annabeth had the weekend off from the whole “Architect of Olympus” thing, and Percy was tired from the definitely equally-taxing task of attending Goode High School.

Percy considered her question, looking at those piercing gray eyes. Looking at the face of the girl that had been his lifeline to mortality when he bathed in the Styx. The girl that had been his first thought when the gods had offered him immortality. The girl that had fought beside him since they were 12.

She couldn’t lie to her, with those earnest eyes looking back at him. Fortunately, he realized, he doesn’t want to — or have to.

“No,” he said, and the confidence in his voice surprised even him.

A momentary look of surprise crossed Annabeth’s face as he said it.

“I mean, it’s totally ok if you did. We weren’t together at the time, and I know you enjoyed spending time with her over the summer,” Annabeth said, nervously pulling at her camp necklace. 

“Besides,” she said, a smile starting to grow on her face. “I know for a fact you like me now, Seaweed Brain, so it doesn’t bother me if you did.”

Percy should have been concerned. The very mention of Rachel’s name would have been a minefield, would have caused an argument just two short months ago.

But he wasn’t. It was different now, talking to Annabeth about these topics that would have been considered taboo before. He wanted to share everything with her, even the parts that he would have felt devastated about if she found them out a few weeks ago.

“Honestly,” he began. “She’s cool. I think even you see that now,” Percy playfully poked her shoulder as he talked. “And I did and I do really enjoy her company. But, no, I don’t think I ever actually liked her. In that way. In our way.”

He pulled her closer and placed a soft kiss on her forehead as he said the last part.

“I’ll admit that I wasn’t totally sure how I felt to start with,” Percy started, Annabeth looking back up at him. “When we were hanging out over the summer.”

“I just… I needed some way to decompress, with the war and the deadline and everything. And we were… Well I know now why we weren’t seeing eye to eye-”

“Understatement,” Annabeth snorted, but her eyes remained kind.

“Well, you know what I mean,” Percy said. “But, we weren’t talking as much, or in the same way, as before. And I just needed someone to be normal with. I mean, not that she was a replacement for you or anything, because I wanted more than anything for our relationship to be normal, but, she just… let me be a kid with the whole turning 16 deadline coming up.”

“I know,” Annabeth said softly. “And, looking back, I wasn’t understanding enough. But I was just so-”

“Yes, now I know why you were frustrated,” Percy laughed. “I’m not all that bright at my best, but I was clueless when it came to feelings. You know, some people even have this nickname for me, like Algae Face or something?”

“Ooooh, that’s a new one, I’m stealing it,” Annabeth laughed.

“But, yeah, I don’t know, I didn’t really know how I felt then,” Percy continued. “But then, I had a vision of a certain someone on the banks of the River Styx-”

“I bet it was Clarisse,” Annabeth deadpanned, but her shining eyes told him to go on.

“Oh, gross,” Percy faked gagging. “But, seriously, I mean, I knew I liked you before, but, at that moment, even with everything else going on, that moment made everything just… fall into place for me. I had no doubts then.”

“You knew you had to confess your feelings for Clarisse?” Annabeth joked, but he could see a tear in the corner of her eye.

“Oh, shut upppp,” Percy whined.

They were silent for a moment, and Percy wondered whether that would be the end of the conversation. Then, Annabeth laced their fingers together and turned back towards him.

“So, you knew you liked me before that?” Annabeth said coyly.

“Maybe a little,” Percy teased.

“When did you first start liking me?”

“I thought this was supposed to be one question each?” Percy responded with a half smile.

“Oh hush, it’s a natural follow-up,” Annabeth said, lightly slapping his arm.

“That’s not in the rules.”

“I made the game up, I say what the rules are.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Hmm, what were the words?” Annabeth acted like she was in deep thought. “Oh right, ‘I am never going to make things easy on you, Seaweed Brain.’ This is one of those times.”

“Whatever,” Percy said.

He played it up, but he was definitely willing to answer her second question. Unlike a few months ago, it was much easier now for Percy to talk about his feelings for Annabeth. He had had to stop those feelings from coming to his lips so many times over the past couple of years, holding them back like a dam dam. 

The sea doesn’t like to be restrained, after all, and, now that they had no reason to be held back, Percy let those declarations of his feelings flow.

“Like I said, it was all super jumbled and confusing at the time,” Percy said, starting to blush. “But… I think I’ve liked you for a while.”

“Like how long of a while?”

“That’s another question.”

“No it’s not, it’s like… a prompt for a more specific answer to the previous question.”

“Alright, alright,” Percy waved her off and started to think.

If he was being honest with himself now, he thinks that it was probably when they were 12, at least when he began crushing on her. It didn’t really feel that way at the time, and he was immature even by 12-year-old standards, so he really wasn’t prepared to rationalize any of those feelings yet.

He remembered thinking she was pretty then, her blonde princess hair being one of his first memories of Camp Half-Blood. Remembered thinking she hated him at the start of that first quest. Remembered all the adventures of that summer, and of their conversation in the animal truck on the way to Las Vegas, when she had told him that she would fight beside him even if Poseidon and Athena fought each other.

He remembered how he carried her picture around in his notebook during seventh grade. Was that normal for friends? He remembered how she looked after Circe’s makeover, remembered holding her as she sobbed at the bottom of the Sea of Monsters after hearing the Sirens’ song. He remembered worrying over her when she was injured in the fight with Polyphemus, and he remembered the kiss on his cheek after the chariot race that summer.

He remembered the absolute terror and longing when she tumbled over that cliff after they found Nico and Bianca at Westover Hall. How he couldn’t rest until she was found when she went missing. How Aphrodite had told him he was on the quest for love, and he had brushed her off. He remembered the panic he’d felt when he briefly thought Annabeth was going to join the Hunters of Artemis and remembered her asking him afterward what he had wanted to tell her when he was panicking. 

That was it, he decided. He had a crush on her from near the moment they met. But that was when he definitely knew.

“You remember when Thalia joined the Hunters?” Percy asked.

“Yeah,” Annabeth said, then her face melted into a smile of understanding. “That’s why you looked sick. That’s what you wanted to tell me.”

“I was going to confess,” Percy said, his face reddening. “I didn’t really plan it, and I couldn’t really explain it. I just couldn’t bear the thought of you joining the Hunters. Of you swearing off… Of you leaving me.”

“But then you… You had talked to mom,” Annabeth said, remembering.

Percy nodded, then tried in his best commanding Athena-like voice, “I do not approve of your friendship with my daughter…”

“Oh,” Annabeth responded.

“Yeah,” Percy said. “And then, that summer, I was so excited to go to the movies with you. My mom kept calling it a date, and I fought back on it, but I kinda hoped it was too. And then the Labyrinth. And then Mt. St. Helens…”

Now it was Annabeth’s turn to get red-faced.

“You mean you knew you liked me, and you let me kiss you, and we still didn’t end up together?” Annabeth said in mock questioning.

“We didn’t end up together yet ,” Percy squeezed her hand. “I wanted to, you know, talk about it when I got back. But Rachel, and then Luke, and the battle… I… I was going to tell you when I was going back home at the end of summer. Everything just felt so…. complicated. And I didn’t know how.”

“I know Percy,” she smiled. “Part of that was my fault too. I just… I was just worried about the prophecy. I…” she paused and looked at him. “I’ve known for a while too. That I liked you, I mean. And with Rachel, I was just so scared that she’d take you away from me too, and I’d have no one.”

“I know,” Percy said, squeezing her into a hug.

That was one thing he definitely understood about his longtime best friend and new girlfriend. She had gone through so much pain in her life because of people she loved, people she looked up to, abandoning her. It was something he knew he couldn’t really fix. The best thing he could do was to be there for her and not become the next someone that left her. He would never.

“But hey,” He said, pulling back and looking into her eyes. “I wouldn’t change anything, even now with hindsight. We’re here now. We’re together.”

He paused.

“Even knowing for as long as I have known about magic and gods and prophecies and fate, it still seems weird to think about it all. But, I think us, you know, you and me? I think we were fated to be together. And so, yeah, it took a long time, and there were times that made me worry whether it would happen. But it did. I guess it worked out how it was supposed to. And I wouldn’t change a thing.”

That drew Annabeth closer, and she kissed him, long and slow.

They broke apart, and she laid her head on his shoulder. They both looked back at the lake.

“You know, for a Seaweed Brain anyway,” Annabeth squeezed him tight. “You do have a way with words sometimes.”

Percy chuckled. “I try.”

They sat in silence for another few minutes. The sun had started to set, and it was almost time for dinner at the dining pavilion.

Percy knew because his stomach just growled. 

“Hungry, Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth laughed, pushed herself to her feet and offered him a hand.

“How’d ya know?” Percy played dumb as he was lifted to his feet.

“I know you,” Annabeth paused. “And I’m not deaf.”

Percy laughed as they gathered the blanket they’d been sitting on, locked hands and began trudging toward the dining pavilion.

“So, what’s your question?” Annabeth asked.

Percy thought about it. Her question was about Rachel, and a similar one popped into his head about Luke. Much like Rachel had been for her, Luke had been the other figure he had worried might have captured her heart. She had told Luke as he died that she had loved him as a brother. 

Was that always the case, or was there more there before? Of course, she was so young then. Hadn’t he had silly childhood crushes too? They had chosen each other, after all, and that was all that mattered to him now. He knew he had nothing to worry about, but he was still curious to hear what she’d say. 

He considered it, but decided he’d ask that one another time. They ended on a good note tonight, and, although he was confident that he’ll be as satisfied with her answer as she seemed to be about his answer to the Rachel question, he wanted to ask it when they had more time to talk.

Instead, his growling stomach guided his next line of thinking.

“What’s your favorite food?” Percy blurted, realizing that he didn’t know that simple thing about his girlfriend. It was those types of questions too that had made him thankful for the question game. He knew so much about her, but he wanted to know as much as he could. 

“I go and get all deep on you, and your question is about food?” Annabeth laughed.

“Hey, you heard the stomach,” Percy quipped.

“Well,” Annabeth considered. “Really, it’s anything they serve here, at camp. I hear people talking about the comforts of a home-cooked meal. But, this has always been my home. At least since I was seven.”

Percy considered what to say, but Annabeth continued.

“Although…” She drew out the word. “Sally Jackson’s lasagna is starting to win me over.”

Sally’s home-cooked meals reminded Annabeth of home. Percy’s favorite meals are those his mom makes too. Percy let the idea roll around in his kelp-filled head and smiled. Maybe one day their homes might be one in the same.

After dinner, Percy walked Annabeth back to Cabin 6. They didn’t say anything, but held hands in a companionable silence, and Percy thought back on the day.

He thought about her question about Rachel. How it must have still been bothering her, at least in the back of her mind, even after two months of dating. How just the idea of Rachel was such a no-go before. How easily they were able to talk about it and how much better it felt to have everything out in the open. 

He loved that part of their relationship. They were always each other’s sounding board for all things except feelings before that underwater kiss, so it feels good to finally be able to be open with everything. 

In the year leading up to the Battle of Manhattan, when they had barely talked, had been the worst few months of Percy’s life, even without the war and the deadline hanging over his head. He had missed just sharing his life with Annabeth, and he really didn’t ever want to go without getting to talk openly with her again.

Thinking about that summer reminded him of one more thing about Rachel that he hadn’t shared with Annabeth that night. 

It felt a little like he was pulling a pin and lobbing a grenade, but, hey, honest and open is honest and open.

“Hey, Annabeth,” he said, pulling her aside from the well-worn path before they reached the cabins.

“What is it?” She asked, tucking a loose strand of her curly blond hair behind her ear as they settled behind a tree just off the path to the cabins.

“Just… one more thing about Rachel, that I forgot to mention.”

Annabeth looked nervous, but let him continue.

“I… I wasn’t really trying to hide it but I realized I never told you… But, um… she kissed me once.”

“Oh,” Annabeth said, but he thought he saw a momentary look of something else in her eyes before it turned to what looked like surprise. Was she fighting back a smile? “I mean, we weren’t together yet,” she shrugged. “I can’t really hold that against you.”

“I know, I just… I wanted to tell you, because I hate there being secrets between us. It was weird, and she kissed me before I could even react when she asked me to go on vacation with her family, and I felt kind of bad because in hindsight it probably looks like I was leading her on and-”

“Hey,” Annabeth said softly. “It’s ok. I… I’m glad you told me. But you didn’t have to, and it’s really not a big deal.”

“Hey, healthy and open lines of communication, right?” Percy said sheepishly, referencing her book that had given her the idea of the question game.

“Right,” Annabeth said with a smile. And then she pulled Percy in for a long kiss.

“Besides,” she said when they pulled apart. “I get to kiss you whenever I want now.”

“You certainly do,” Percy said, still collecting his breath. 

“And, for the record,” He said, his eyes still a little unfocused. “That other kiss didn’t feel anyyyyything like that. It was just… confusing.”

“Good,” Annabeth laughed as they resumed the walk back to the cabins.

Outside of the Athena cabin, Percy pulled her in for another kiss.

“Yeah,” he said when they broke apart. “You’re the only person I ever want to kiss again.”

“I better be,” she laughed, then turned steely, the smile vanishing and replaced with a fierce glare. She leaned up, her lips barely a centimeter from his ear.

“Don’t forget,” she said in an icy whisper, running her fingers along the small of his back. “I know how to kill you.”

Percy hoped it was mostly a joke, but, then again, if he did something to mess this up, he would deserve it. 

Annabeth’s warm smile returned, and she pulled him into a tight hug.

“See you tomorrow?”

“Can’t wait,” Percy said. They planned another lazy day at camp before they had to head back into the city for another week of school.

“Goodnight, Seaweed Brain.”

“Goodnight, Wise Girl.”

Annabeth was glad she got back to an empty cabin. She immediately found her phone and hit call on the contact icon for Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

“Hey Annabeth,” the camp’s new Oracle answered, presumably from her finishing school, Clarion Academy. “What’s up?”

“Percy just told me about you kissing him!” Annabeth shrieked.

“Oh. my. gods,” Rachel said. “That boy is bold! Did you tell him you already knew?”

Annabeth smirked. Not too long ago, she would have had to consider murdering Rachel if she’d known that she’d kissed Percy. Just consider. Probably.

But they had become fast friends without the territorial battle over Percy going on anymore. Annabeth couldn’t say whether she’d have been friends with Rachel if the battle had gone the other way, but, luckily, she didn’t have to.

They’d had a deep talk after the Battle of Manhattan, and Annabeth now knew that Rachel had also been a little confused in her feelings for Percy. She’d thought she’d liked him at first and she’d confessed to Annabeth about the kiss, but she also told Annabeth about her conversation with Percy at Olympus, how she had been drawn to him because he opened the door to her true calling of becoming the new host for the Oracle of Delphi.

Rachel had told Annabeth how she’d seen the way Percy had looked at Annabeth after she had saved Rachel in the helicopter, and that was when she’d known that Percy’s feelings were clear.

She’d accepted Annabeth’s numerous apologies about how Annabeth had treated her (not Annabeth’s proudest moments) and apologized herself for trying to come between them (“Because, of course, it was obvious you liked him,” Rachel had said. Annabeth’s face had reddened at that). 

Rachel had said she was now 100% supportive of “Percabeth” (as she’d dubbed Percy and Annabeth’s relationship). Any doubts at all Annabeth had about Percy and Rachel were completely erased with Percy’s answers earlier that night.

“I didn’t,” Annabeth said. “I was so shocked he would actually tell me that it didn’t even cross my mind. Although maybe I should. It would freak him out to know we talk about him.”

“It really would,” Rachel cackled.

Annabeth decided that it would be a little mean, especially considering how honest and earnest Percy had been in answering her question. That made her feel a little bad too, knowing that she was sort of keeping something from him, and she decided that she’d tell him tomorrow that Rachel and her had talked. That was what made her think of her question she had posed to Percy in the first place. She liked this open and honest communication thing too, and she knew it went both ways.

After she hung up with Rachel, she sat back on her bed and enjoyed the silence of the cabin.

She thought back on the evening and how good it had felt to just hear Percy talk about his feelings, especially considering how long she had wanted him to confess those feelings in the first place. She also thought about how warm it had made her feel to hear Percy allude to the possibility of a long future ahead for them. It was a little scary to think about, but also not. Especially if she and her boyfriend could have more conversations like they’d had tonight. 

She rolled over, grabbed a pen, and started jotting down more questions she wanted to ask.

Chapter Text

“Ready to go back to real life?” Percy asked Annabeth, buckling into the driver’s seat of the Prius loaned to them for the weekend by his stepfather, Paul. 

Annabeth smiled at that particular bit of phrasing chosen by her boyfriend.

For so many years, the real world, the mortal world , felt like more the exception than the rule. Annabeth had spent all of her time at Camp Half-Blood from the time she was seven until she was 12, and, even thereafter, she only left to go on a quest, to go to school or when she was kidnapped by a missile-launching French teacher and forced to hold up the weight of the sky by a mad Titan. 

Fun times.

But, for so long, camp had been her world. Her “real life.” 

But, this small escape back to camp for the weekend had felt like the departure from reality this time. Everything seemed so much different since the battle, since Luke’s death and since Percy finally dragged his brain out of the kelp long enough to realize that they both felt the same way about each other. 

She had gotten her dream job of redesigning Olympus. She had gotten her dream boyfriend (though that felt a little weird to admit, even to herself). She was just 16, but she had spent so much time worrying about the world ending (or at least her world ending), when Percy turned 16 that she hadn’t really devoted that much time to thinking about what would happen afterward, should the Great Prophecy play out in a way that let her and the Seaweed Brain actually stay alive. 

For once, she didn’t have a plan for what came next. She was 16, but she felt so adult now. She supposed it was probably due to the heaps and heaps of trauma from being raised as a child soldier. Yeah, demigod life really was something else.

So, riding with Percy — who gained the trust of his mom and stepdad enough for them to loan them the car after he drove them all to Montauk for a weekend with Paul riding shotgun — back into New York felt more normal than the usual day-to-day throwdowns with monsters and life-or-death situations. 

She could get used to that, she supposed. That line of thinking seemed like it had the potential to invite a monster attack on the way back to NYC though, so Annabeth pushed it out of her mind while answering her boyfriend.

“I guess,” she mused. “This weekend was really great, though.”

“It was,” Percy replied with a smile.

And it was. School plus Annabeth working at Olympus and living in a dorm pretty far from the Jackson-Blofis apartment meant that, even as a new couple, she and Percy hadn’t really gotten to see each other as much as they would just hanging around camp. That’s part of the reason they had made the trip back. 

They had also had a great talk. Annabeth had finally and officially buried the Rachel-resenting hatchet when she and Percy talked about that previously-undiscussed period of their relationship that had caused so many hurt feelings on both sides. Annabeth knew she had the blame for part of it, but was really glad to also move past it. Hashing things out with Percy had helped her see his perspective, and it felt a lot better that the unsaid was now, well, said. 

She’d also told him earlier that day, as they ate lunch, about her conversations with Rachel and confided that, when Percy had told her about Rachel kissing him, that hadn’t exactly been news to her.

The mortified look on Percy’s face had flashed, then dissipated, then returned as Annabeth explained that Rachel had told her about the kiss when they had gotten together to apologize to each other after the war ended. 

“I tell her everything,” Annabeth had concluded with.

“Everything?” Percy had replied with a smirk, as she knew he would. That set her up for her big finish, just as she had planned.

“Everything,” she had deadpanned, wiping all emotion from her face and looking pointedly at him. That’s what had brought back the mortified look.

Annabeth wanted this open and honest relationship too, but what was the harm in keeping him on his toes?

The beginning of the journey to the city continued in silence, as the late afternoon sun dipped and they made their way off of the farm road that led to camp and back toward the highway.

Then, Percy turned toward Annabeth with a grin.

“Question game?”

Annabeth smiled.

“You’re on, and it’s your turn first this time.”

Annabeth was pleased that her boyfriend had taken so eagerly to the game. 

Well, calling it a game felt like giving the concept a little too much credit. They simply took turns asking each other questions. What a novel concept. But, it was effective in getting them to think about what they didn’t know about each other. 

The book she had stolen the idea from had mentioned that the male in a heterosexual relationship might feel a little hesitancy in opening up to deeper questions, but she had doubted that would apply to Percy, seeing how open he had been since they had continued their years-long friendship into their new relationship. She was delighted to be proven correct, and he had come up with some good questions so far too.

Even last night’s — he had asked her about her favorite food — was effective, she had to admit, even if his always-grumbling stomach had given him the idea. It’s weird how deeply you can know someone, understand their mind on the battlefield and off, and not know something as simple as someone’s favorite meal.

Annabeth had known Percy’s favorite food was pizza, of course, but, to be fair, she thinks he made that a little more obvious than she had. Her answer wasn’t even a specific dish, and she actually had to think about it before landing on reminiscing about how camp food always made her happy. 

Though, she wasn’t too sad to be leaving camp before dinner, because Sally had promised that she and Paul would have dinner waiting when they got home. Dinner with Percy’s family was starting to become one of her favorite activities. Well, favorite activities when she and Percy had to be around other people, at least.

Percy looked just as deep in thought as she was, which happened pretty regularly, even with all the reminders about his seaweed-filled cranium. He may have to navigate some thoughts around the kelp sometime, but they came out well-formed. Most of the time.

“Ok,” he said, turning to her.

“Ok?” she encouraged.

“Last night, you asked about Rachel,” Percy started. “Whether I liked her, like, as more than a friend.”

Annabeth knew where this was going. She barely registered his words as he finished.

“So, what about, you know, you and Luke? I know what you told him on Olympus, and I know he meant a lot to you. But was it always… like, a brother-sister thing?”

Annabeth’s mind, ever-overthinking thing that it was, briefly went into a panic. She felt like she was back in her cabin, after the battle of the Labyrinth, sobbing over Luke. What had happened to him, her conflicting emotions, and how Percy had received the same news. Wondering whether she had made the right choice when he had asked her to run away. Instead, he had become Kronos. And Percy… hadn’t understood.

She felt defensive. She had been so frustrated at Percy, let it hurt their relationship at the time they had needed each other most. But, he had been tactless. For a boy with such a big heart, he had seemed… uncaring at times about her struggle with Luke’s fall.

Part of her wanted to shut down again. To shut him out to give her time to respond. But, as much as she let her emotions guide her sometimes, the logical part of her brain tried to assert control. 

This was Percy. Her Percy. The Seaweed Brain that had turned down immortality for her. 

If the four years they had known each other hadn’t been enough to show her how he felt, he’d done plenty of verbalizing of those feelings in the two months they’d been a couple. 

Sure, he had been snippy with her about Luke. 

But, gods, snippy didn’t even start to cover her reaction to Rachel.

Just as Annabeth had asked Percy about his feelings for Rachel to put to bed any of that lingering resentment, she realized that this question had to be the same for him. That maybe he was just as jealous about her relationship with Luke as she had been about Rachel. She’s sure that her question probably spurred the idea for him to ask this one.

He had been so open with her yesterday. She owed him that too.

She hoped her expression wasn’t showing any of the defensiveness that she felt leaving her body as she began.

“Well,” Annabeth said, slowly. 

She didn’t always feel the need to choose her words carefully, because the “thing to say” usually came pretty naturally to her. This is one of those times she has to pay attention. Not to hide anything. But to make sure she tells the truth in the right way.

“I guess it’s a little more complicated than what I told him,” Annabeth said sheepishly. 

Percy wore a hesitant expression, but nodded for her to continue.

“Well, to start with, Percy, he is so much older than me,” Annabeth said. “I mean, he is… was… in his 20s. I’m 16 now.”

“When he… When he and Thalia found me, I was just seven. I had no idea what was going on, just that I hated my life at home and my stepmom and wanted to run away. When they found me, he was just so… heroic. And I had never had a figure like that in my life before. And he took me in and promised me a family and protected me. And he was older, and, I don’t know, I just looked up to him.”

Percy showed no signs of wanting to interrupt, so she continued.

“Once we got to camp, and Thalia was gone, he was really all I had. And, I don’t know, when you’re a kid, you don’t even really think about ages or whatever. And I don’t think you really have a great idea either about like… different types of love. So, yeah, when I was younger, and, when he was this person that I looked up to and thought would keep me safe, it… kinda felt like I had a crush on him.”

Percy nodded, but the smile and the encouraging look didn’t leave his face. Wow, it felt good to have this conversation with neither one of them getting angry.

“But, like, as I got older, and I started to look on our relationship with more perspective, it, like, made a lot more sense. He promised me family, and that’s what he was to me. Like, that protective older brother. I think I was starting to have those realizations when… he turned.”

Annabeth swallowed hard and felt a tear falling down her cheek, but she continued.

“When he visited me at my dad’s house in San Francisco, he asked me to run away with him. And it felt like he was asking me to as, like… a romantic partner. But, by that time, I knew that I didn’t feel… that way… about him. And, you know, I don’t think it would have been right even if I had.”

The tears were definitely falling now. Percy gripped her hand more tightly and stole a look over at her as he drove. But Annabeth kept on.

“But it still was just so hard to accept that the Luke that I knew, the one that would take in a little girl in an alley and protect her, would do all those horrible things. I knew we had to fight him, but I just had to keep believing that part of him was still there, behind… Kronos.”

Percy looked at her again, a tear falling down his face this time. 

“You were right,” he said.

That’s when the floodgates really opened. Annabeth leaned onto his shoulder and sobbed. Percy had seen her cry probably more than what was healthy at this point, but this was an ugly cry. 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she felt the car pull over, and Percy unbuckled and held her, rubbing his fingers along her shoulder and through her curly hair. Another undetermined amount of time later, her tears started to slow.

Annabeth looked up to meet a face with such care, such love in it, that she almost broke down again.

“I’m sorry,” Percy said. “I didn’t mean to make you relive that again.”

“S’ok,” Annabeth managed.

“But I meant it. You were right. And I haven’t told you enough. I… I’m not proud of how I treated you about Luke. I knew it had to be hard on you. To accept what he had become. But, I was… jealous. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you or on him. I… Yesterday I told you about how long I had liked you, and part of what held me back was that I was scared that you only felt that way about Luke. And I know that’s dumb and he’s older and that you kissed me and everything. I am a Seaweed Brain.”

Annabeth chuckled lightly as he continued.

“But, you were right. He was still there. If you weren’t there, in the throne room… We would have lost. I would never have been able to hand him the dagger. I would have gone down swinging, and so would the world. I was so dead-set on you seeing him for what he was… for what I thought he was… that I didn’t see the truth. Yeah, he did a lot of horrible stuff. Part of that was Kronos, part of that was his doing. But, he made the right choice in the end. You helped him make that choice. I just want you to know that, however you felt about him at whatever time, you deserve to grieve for him. For who he was when he found you in the alley, and for who he was at the end.”

That was the second time she lost control. Annabeth didn’t really understand how she had any tears left to cry, but they came anyway. She had grieved for Luke plenty. Since his betrayal four years ago and since he had died two months ago.

But, this time, with Percy saying what he just had, it felt a little like… closure.

She cried for Luke, but some of her tears were for the person who sat, holding her, on the side of the highway. She knew how frustrated Percy had been with her. For holding on to the idea of Luke. And she never had really blamed him. 

All the logic Athena could grant a daughter of wisdom would say that there was no reason to hope for Luke to be redeemed. Yet she had still hoped. It was unfair for her to expect Percy to have shared that hope, and he didn’t. But he had trusted her. Had deferred to her with the decision in the Great Prophecy. Trusted her with “Olympus to preserve or raze.”

He had put all those months of pride and insecurity and worry aside to trust her. And now, here he was, admitting he was wrong, when all logic said he should have been right. Annabeth knew what it took for Percy to say that. For that to be his view throughout all of the turmoil Luke had put them through. 

Percy had been worried about Luke in the same way that Annabeth had been worried about Rachel. Rachel, who Percy had barely yet spoken to when they both burst out of that school orientation and Annabeth had made the split-second decision to despise her, based solely on the fact that she was with Percy. Her Percy. 

And yet, from his perspective, Annabeth might have been in love with an older guy that she had known for years and was stubbornly refusing to give him up, even while getting hit with overwhelming evidence that Luke was irredeemably evil. What would Annabeth have been like, had the roles been reversed?

She was blessed, she thought. Blessed that what had to be the world’s biggest heart had chosen her to care for. Blessed that they both had made it through the too-many trials put in front of them and had started a relationship.

The tears finally, mercifully began to run dry again. Annabeth had no idea how long they had been sitting on the side of the road, but Percy’s embrace had never left.

“Hey, Percy?” she rasped, voice hoarse, looking up to meet those kind sea-green eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you,” she said, pulling him into a hug.

Those words couldn’t and didn’t describe the depth of what she meant by them, couldn’t get across just how much he and his words and his support and just his… Percyness meant to her. She was a child of Athena, and she knew of no words that would do it justice. So she just hugged him tighter and hoped that would suffice for now.

“And,” she said, pulling apart to look back at him. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” He said, looking puzzled.

“For how I acted. For how I didn’t understand your side. I spent all that time resenting Rachel and being angry with you for something that wasn’t even your fault that I never even considered how you must have felt about Luke.”

“Hey,” he said. “I’m the one that should apologize.”

“You?”

“Yes, me. I mean, Luke was obviously important to you. I could tell that from when we first met. No matter how you felt about him, or about me, it wasn’t my place to try to convince you that you should no longer believe in him. If it had been coming from a better place, that’s one thing. And I guess it was partly that. But… I was just jealous. I wanted you to forget Luke, to give up on him. To feel like you were choosing me . And that wasn’t fair. Especially because you weren’t really choosing between us anyway. You chose me and you chose Luke, in the end. I was insecure, and I didn’t even really consider that as an option.”

Annabeth thought back to her visit from Luke. To Janus and Hera imploring her to make a decision. She had tried to run from that, because she felt that it didn’t have to be, shouldn’t have to be , so binary. She had chosen to believe in Luke at the very end. But, she had also chosen Percy. 

Annabeth would choose Percy for this . For heartfelt car conversations. For crying on his shoulder. For doing life with. Every time.

“Well, I don’t think you should have to apologize,” Annabeth told her boyfriend.

“Well, I don’t think you should have to apologize about Rachel,” Percy said.

She disagreed. But she thought Percy might say the same thing about what she had just said. 

“Well, I apologize for ruining our drive back,” Annabeth said, smiling through her tear-soaked face.

“Hey, no.” Percy looked surprisingly stern. “You never have to apologize for your feelings.”

He paused.

“Especially since it was my question that made you relive that. I… was going to ask you last night, but I didn’t want to bring it up because I was afraid it would stress you out. I… should have known better.”

“No,” it was Annabeth’s turn to reassure him. “That’s the whole point of this game. I want us to be able to talk about the hard stuff. You had a right to ask.”

Percy was quiet for a moment, then looked up at her with a grin.

“Yeah, but maybe I should wait until we’re not in the car next time. I, um, I’m not sure I really paid much attention to the road once you started crying,” Percy said sheepishly.

That would have been rich, Annabeth thought. To survive the war and the supposed end of the world, only to die in a car accident because her doting boyfriend couldn’t bear to see her cry. 

Could a car crash kill Percy? A mental image of the straw in his blue Coke in the cupholder accidentally jabbing into the small of his back formed in Annabeth’s mind, but she shook it off.

“Hey?” Annabeth looks at him.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad we talked. And I love your hugs. But please don’t ever run us off the road because you think I need one, Seaweed Brain.”

He laughed.

“No promises.”

Annabeth glanced at the clock on the dash of the Prius.

“Hey Percy, I, um, think we might have missed dinner.”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I know. But it’s ok. I’ll tell my mom that I caused my girlfriend to have a breakdown on the side of the highway. She’ll understand.”

He said it seriously, but his eyes said otherwise.

“Don’t you dare,” she said, pushing his arm away.

“Monster attack? I mean, you did look a little scary. And you grabbed my arm waaay too hard that one time, I thought you might have been attacking me…”

The nerve.

“Perseus Jackson! You know very well that I could do much more damage to you than any monster ever could, so you watch it,” she threatened.

“Oh trust me,” he said. “I know.”

She laughed. If anyone else had compared her to a monster, she probably would have already done that damage by now. 

“So, is it my turn?”

“Huh?”

“For the question game?”

“Oh! Yeah,” he smiled. “Totally forgot.”

“Good. My question is… Can we call your mom, tell her we’re running late and go get burgers?”

Percy smiled, maybe the biggest smile he had all evening.

“I go and get all deep on you, and your question is about food?” He repeated her words from the night before.

“Hey, you heard the stomach,” she shot back with a grin.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he said, grabbing her phone.

They pulled up to a fast food place a few minutes later. Percy reached for his door as Annabeth realized that she’d been crying a few minutes before.

“Hey, Percy, how do I look?”

The look in Percy’s eyes as he studied her face made her feel much better than she probably did look.

“Beautiful,” he said with a wide smile.

Annabeth flipped down the mirror to check for herself.

The skin around her eyes was red and puffy. Her eyes were bloodshot, and still-drying tears pocked her cheeks.

“Yeah, no, we’re going through the drive-thru,” Annabeth stated. “I look like you just pulled me out of Siren Bay.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not still beautiful,” Percy shrugged and kissed her forehead before backing out of their parking spot. “Still want the usual? No. 5, no lettuce and tomato with a Dr. Pepper?”

Annabeth smiled, and her chest felt warmer than her back did against the Prius’s heated seats.

“Perfect,” she said, meeting eyes with her boyfriend.

And she meant it in more ways than one.

Chapter Text

The early November evening air sent a chill through Percy as he and Annabeth walked hand-in-hand out of the movie theater.

They had gone to see a movie together on a handful of occasions already in the nearly three months they had been together. Percy knew it was a little bit of a cliché date spot, to go to the movies, but he didn’t really care. It was kind of their thing at this point. 

Being busy high school students with not much of a budget, Percy and Annabeth really didn’t have the time or money for “big romantic gesture dates,” though, with the help of Hermes, he and Annabeth had spent their one-month anniversary in Paris. So he figured that bought him a little time of mainly movie dates. But Annabeth didn’t seem to mind.

Percy had asked Annabeth to go to the movies with him a summer ago, kind of using the cover of a “friend outing” that secretly he hoped would lead to something more, but that plan had been ruined when Rachel and he had tumbled out of Goode High School with the band room on fire behind them. 

Percy had made sure to rectify that missing movie date not long after he and Annabeth had become official. 

They couldn’t really talk during movies that they watched at the theater, but they usually found some new pizza or burger place to try before or after the movie, and the way Annabeth held his hand or leaned over on his shoulder — or the one time they had shared a recliner in that fancy new theater during that mostly-empty showing, cuddling together in a seat that was just a little too small to normally fit both of them — yeah, that made it worth it.

They were walking out of a movie that Percy had honestly barely paid much attention to. It was a romantic comedy, and Percy found that he couldn’t really pay much attention to love stories these days. 

Not in the “ew, love is gross, I’d rather watch an action movie” way that he had as a kid, but the love stories they watched now just got him thinking about the girl sitting next to him. And, gods, was it easy to think about her. He thought their story was better than the one on screen anyway.

He turned to that girl, who was shivering a little in the New York wind despite the heavy jacket and scarf she wore.

Suddenly, Percy was reminded that they hadn’t done their daily questions.

“Question game?” he asked.

“Sure,” Annabeth said through a shiver and a small smile. “Go ahead.”

He figured talking would be a good distraction to keep her mind off of the cold until they got back to her dorm anyway.

“I don’t really have a great one today, but, what did you think of the movie?”

“Oh. I thought it was pretty funny,” Annabeth said. “But I just didn’t buy the chemistry between the actors. It just didn’t seem that believable. I mean, with you and I…”

Annabeth was still talking, but Percy caught sight of something 100 feet behind her, and his mind followed.

A big, lumbering dog was galloping toward them. For the briefest of moments, Percy thought that Mrs. O’Leary had come to pay him a most-likely slobbery visit.

But he quickly recognized the snarling, the different coloration of the hellhound bounding towards them. This wasn’t his friendly, shadow-traveling companion.

“Not-Mrs.-O’Leary”, loping along with its huge stride, was almost to them when Annabeth seemed to notice that Percy was distracted.

“Duck!” Percy yelled, pulling Annabeth down as the hellhound leapt straight over them and kept on running. 

A monster charging at them that wasn’t trying to attack? That was weird. The hellhound instead bounded a little further down the street and then turned down an alley. 

“That’s not a duck, Percy, it’s a dog,” Annabeth deadpanned.

Percy smiled. They had joked like this with many more monsters than this around before. What’s one hellhound to threaten the duo that helped save Olympus?

Percy was considering whether he should follow the hound when they heard a scream from down the alley ahead of them.

Percy quickly pulled Riptide out of his pocket, uncapping it as Annabeth began charging forward, knife already in hand.

“Come on,” she said. “Maybe it found a half-blood?”

“Or some mortals just tried to pet it,” Percy said. “I wonder what the mist shows them? Maybe a cuddly Corgi?”

“Well, that cuddly Corgi sounds like it may need to be leashed,” Annabeth said as they turned the corner and skidded to a stop.

They didn’t see a half-blood, or mortals. Or, unfortunately, a Corgi.

They instead saw a dead-end alley filled with monsters. The hellhound was sitting, looking eagerly at the crowd. Glaring at Percy and Annabeth were dozens of monsters. Several Scythian Dracaenae slithered back and forth on their serpentine legs. A handful of telekhines waddled forward, looking ready to strike.

Percy turned to see the entrance to the alley blocked behind them by a pair of Laistrygonian giants. 

Percy had fought ten times this many monsters at a time during the Battle of Manhattan. Plus, he still had the invulnerability of Achilles from his bath in the Styx. But the surprise ambush on a night that was just supposed to be a relaxing date with Annabeth put him on edge. And made him a little angry.

“Well done, hound,” hissed a voice, as one of the dracaenae slithered forward. “Here, assss promissssed.”

The snake-lady pulled out a large bone, perhaps looted from the body of a drakon, and tossed it to the hellhound. It again looked a little like the friendly Mrs. O’Leary as it happily began to munch on it, forgetting that it was part of a demigod ambush.

“Perccccy Jackssson,” the snake-lady turned to him. “You and your friendssss killed many of our kind during the battle.”

“That’s what they got for siding with Kronos!” Percy yelled. “If you don’t leave us alone, you’ll join them in Tartarus!”

“You boasssst, demigod,” the snake-lady said. “But there were sssso many of you before. Now, there are jusssst two. We have been watching you, waiting for you to let your guard down. We esssscaped the battle, but we want our revenge.”

“Underestimate us if you want!” Annabeth yelled. “This is Percy freaking Jackson. I’ve seen him dust more than your numbers without breaking a sweat.”

Percy briefly considered that he had stopped himself from sweating some of those times, one of those weird Poseidon powers, but he thought that pointing that fact out might undercut Annabeth’s strategy.

“Yeah, and this is Annabeth freaking Chase!” Percy screamed at the assembled monsters. “As soon as we saw you, she developed 15 different strategies that would have all of you home to Tartarus within a minute.”

Percy hoped that was actually true. He believed his girlfriend was fully capable of it.

“Your pride will be your undoing, demigodsssss,” snake-lady said, then shoved her sword forward, encouraging a charge. “Attack!”

Annabeth and Percy fell into their old, familiar fighting rhythm easily, stepping together so that they fought back-to-back, Annabeth protecting his weak spot. A telekhine waddled forward, and Percy slashed Riptide down in a deadly arc. The first snake-lady to reach Annabeth swung its sword, but Annabeth dodged at a roll and cut it down.

Then, a Laistrygonian stepped forward.

At least, that’s what Percy thought it was called. What had Annabeth called them when they had attacked his school in seventh grade?

Percy and Annabeth simultaneously leapt aside as a huge fist slammed down on the spot they had just occupied. 

“A Canadian,” Percy muttered to Annabeth, remembering her translation. “Any ideas on how to take them down?”

“Tell him maple syrup is overrated?” Annabeth joked.

Percy loved Annabeth’s confidence, but he really didn’t want their last words to each other to be a syrupy joke.

They dodged another fist, and Annabeth used the slowly-rising arm as a ramp, sprinting up to straddle the giant’s neck. It swatted at her dumbly, but Annabeth deftly avoided the swipes and plunged her dagger just behind the giant’s skull.

The giant slumped, bringing Annabeth closer to the ground, she rolled off gracefully and stood as the giant exploded into a shower of dust.

She wiped some dust off of the shoulder of her jacket and took a moment to flash a smile at Percy.

“Of course, that way works too,” she said, already sizing up the next monster.

“Man, you’re attractive,” Percy voiced his thoughts without filter, dodging an attack and stabbing Riptide through a dracaena.

“Focus, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth chided.

He couldn’t look over at her with a horde of monsters now bearing down on him, but he heard the smile in her voice. 

The battle raged on for a few minutes. They were back-to-back again, cutting and slicing at the monsters.

“Heads up!” Percy yelled, forcing a charging telekhine up and over his head with one hand while slashing at another with Riptide in his other. Annabeth threw her knife to skewer the flying monster, rolled to avoid an attack, and caught the knife as it hurtled toward the ground, its former target now just dust, fluttering to the pavement.

Their attackers finally began to dwindle, Annabeth splitting off to pursue the last group of telekhines, but the remaining monsters showed no signs of surrender. Either they really were eager to join their friends in Tartarus, or they just had a death wish.

That’s when a cold shiver ran down Percy’s spine.

He turned and immediately realized why.

A separate group of dracaenae must have been lying in wait to join the ambush in surprise, hoping to take them off-guard. 

They leapt out of the open window of an apartment building, over a fire escape and into battle. The first was already on its way down, a spear pointed straight at Annabeth. His girlfriend — his girlfriend who doesn’t have invulnerable skin — had her back turned, battling three monsters at once. She hadn’t noticed their new opponents yet, and she was about to be run through by the nasty-looking spear.

“Annabeth!” He yelled, fear setting in.

Kronos had been defeated, but time still felt like it slowed down around Percy.

No. Not happening, Percy thought. I’m not losing her this way. 

But she was too far away, the spear too close to her already.

Later, he wondered how he even had time to act.

Percy scanned his surroundings in a split second. Rainwater from the morning’s storm still puddled the ground around him.

Water. It’s saved him plenty of times before. But, now he hoped he was fast enough for it to save Annabeth.

He reacted purely on instinct. He didn’t even stop to consider that he, in fact, had invulnerable skin. He just wanted to be in between Annabeth and the spear. 

And the water made it so.

Puddles rose and pulled together to form a mini water spout. The vortex lifted Percy quickly off the ground, across the dark alley and into the path of the lead dracena’s spear.

Annabeth dusted her last monster opponent just in time to turn and see the spear slam into Percy’s stomach. 

“Percy!” she yelped.

Percy’s skin may have been invulnerable to piercing, but he imagined he now knew what it was like to be punched in the gut by a heavyweight boxer.

The spear shattered from the impact. His personal waterspout dissipated as Percy was flung out of the circle of the remaining monsters and slammed his head into one of the metal trash cans lining the alley.

Yeah, the curse of Achilles didn’t do much for mild concussions either.

Percy tried to rise, but his head was still spinning. His gut hurt so bad that he had to look down just to make sure the spear wasn’t actually protruding from his sternum. 

“Percy!” he heard Annabeth scream.

Percy’s vision swam, but he saw the vague outline of long, blond, curly hair as the body it was attached to stabbed two monsters in quick succession and rolled toward him.

“Get back!” she yelled, now standing over him. “No one touches him!”

Quickly, Annabeth reached into her jacket pocket and plopped a plastic bag with an ambrosia square on the ground next to him.

That was his girlfriend , he thought, always prepared.

There were only seven monsters left now. The hellhound, which had bored of its bone and joined the fight, one Laistrygonian and the five snake-ladies that had jumped in late and caused his latest predicament. 

Percy thought his girlfriend could probably handle herself from here, but he quickly pulled in the packet of ambrosia and bit a nibble off the end, careful not to burn up from consuming too much.

“Ssssilly girl,” the lead snake lady said. “Jackssssson is out of the fight. You have no powersssss. You will die if you do not ssssurrenderr.”

Ok. Annabeth can definitely handle the fight from here. 

That direct challenge was the last mistake that particular snake-lady ever made. 

He wasn’t sure whether it was a trick of his fuzzy vision, but his girlfriend seemed to be moving at superhuman speeds, ducking and stabbing and rolling and cutting.

By the time Percy was on his feet, his head clearing, and searching for Riptide, which hadn’t yet reappeared in his pocket, all the monsters save for the particularly boastful snake-lady had been slain.

Annabeth squared off with the last, knife raised at the throat of a being stupid enough to doubt Annabeth Chase.

“Percy, you think I got this one without you?” Annabeth risked a quick smile at him.

“I don’t know, Wise Girl, it took you a whole 10 seconds to kill the last six of them in a row…” Percy shrugged with a wink, not daring to join the fight now. 

This snake-lady definitely had a death wish. Or maybe she just knew that she could never again show her slithery trunks at a monster get-together again after being so thoroughly humiliated.

She charged. Annabeth straightened up, calmly side-stepped and swiped through the monster, leaving a final pile of dust in an alley now filled with it.

She walked over and pulled him into a hug before pulling back to examine him.

“You ok, Percy?” she asked.

But Percy was already feeling well enough to form a huge smile.

“We’re even now.”

“What?”

“We’re even. Remember? ‘So you owe me?’ After you took the knife on the bridge?”

Annabeth let out a snort of a laugh before donning a mask of mock indignation.

“Nope. Doesn’t count. I was actually cut open with a poison dagger,” She insisted. “Doesn’t count, Mr. Invincible Skin.”

“Well, I found out today that I can still get a concussion, so it’s not all sunshine and hippocampi,” Percy said. “But I saved your life either way. I still think it counts.”

“I know, Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth pulled Percy in for a hug. “Thank you.”

“That’s what we do.”

“That is what we do,” she agreed. “Now come on. I don’t want to be here for a third surprise ambush.”

They dusted off the rest of the monster remnants, locked hands, and trudged back onto the street, resuming the walk back to Annabeth’s dorm in the bitter cold.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. After the unexpectedly action-packed evening, it was nice to simply walk along in a peaceful silence.

They were nearing the door to the building when Annabeth looked over at Percy and broke the quiet.

“My turn?” she asked.

He looked at her in confusion before it dawned on him. How did she always remember where they were in the game, even when the world was falling apart around them?

Percy’s face softened into a smile.

“Yep, your turn.”

“My question is…” she started coyly. “Why do monsters always have to attack us when we’re having a nice moment?”

Percy couldn’t help the peal of laughter that burst out of him, and Annabeth joined him.

“Now that one, I don’t have an answer for,” Percy managed through the laughs. 

This was the demigod life that they — well, they didn’t really sign up for it — but it was the life they had been thrust into. Percy thought it was all worth it if he could keep on hearing the laugh of the demigod beside him.

The laughter subsided, and Percy took Annabeth’s hand.

“But, I think you’re wrong.”

“Oh?” she looked genuinely surprised. He didn’t tell her she was wrong very often. Mostly because she pretty much never was. 

“Yeah, I know, doesn’t happen much,” Percy shrugged. “But I can think of a few nice moments that didn’t involve monsters.”

He pulled her in tight and kissed her.

As Annabeth caught her breath, she smiled.

“I guess there have been a few.”

Chapter Text

Between running away from home when she was seven and spending most of her time since then either at Camp Half-Blood or traveling between camp, her dad’s house, or a quest destination, Annabeth Chase hadn’t really experienced a family Thanksgiving get-together, at least that she could remember.

She was so young when she was still at home, and neither her dad nor her stepmom were really “big family celebration” types of people, and that hadn’t really changed when she’d reconnected with them when she was 12. 

At camp, with only the few “year-rounders” sticking around into late November, the “Thanksgiving Celebration” consisted of the usual barbecue being traded out for some of those traditional holiday dishes, like turkey, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. The menu change was the only signal that anything was different, and the day passed usually without Annabeth even paying it much mind. 

You’d think that having the literal god of parties as a camp director would lead to a little more of an in-depth shindig, but Mr. D, despite being in close proximity with the demigods every day, had even less interest in improving their quality of life than the other Olympians did.

So, when Percy casually invited Annabeth to spend Thanksgiving at his family’s New York City apartment with him, his mom, and his stepdad, she had experienced some… conflicting emotions.

Annabeth didn’t consider herself a nervous person. She was a child of Athena, and the penchant for wisdom she was born with and her brain that was hard-wired for coming up with the perfect battle strategy usually steered her in a path that told her what to do.

But battle strategy didn’t go so far as to cover spending a major holiday with your new boyfriend’s family for the first time.

Sure, she’d been around Sally plenty of times before. They’d even struck up an easy rapport way back when the idea of her and Percy getting together was still just a small hope floating somewhere in the back of her constantly-overthinking head. 

She’d also met Paul a handful of times, first at the battle of Manhattan, then during a partly-awkward, partly-sweet Iris message when Percy had told his parents that he and Annabeth had gotten together. 

She had been nervous then, too, but both had looked overjoyed, and, honestly, not really all that surprised. She’d spent a handful of evenings in the Jackson-Blofis apartment since then, usually coming over to do homework with Percy.

But, still, this seemed… different. More real.

She wanted real. 

But it was also a little scary.

Annabeth had spent so much time doubting that she and Percy had a future together, thinking that he was in heavy danger of dying, if not during a mission leading up to the war, then on his 16th birthday, when the great prophecy triggered. She’d even had to spend two weeks thinking he may have been dead when they were 14, even had to speak at his funeral, before the Seaweed Brain turned up again.

But, he was still here. He hadn’t died then, and he hadn’t died when he turned 16. 

There was nothing standing in their way now. Not Rachel, and not Percy’s once stubborn unwillingness to admit his feelings for her, no matter how many signs and opportunities she gave him. And she could already sense the foundations that she and Percy were building might be the start of the one thing she desired above all else: permanence. 

Spending Thanksgiving with her boyfriend’s family felt like a pretty significant first step towards permanence. And that thrilled her. But she also couldn’t shake off the feeling that something would go wrong. 

This is when it always had before. Just when she was settling into some sort of contentedness, some knew unforeseen thing came along and wrecked it. Like Thalia turning into a tree, or Luke turning into Kronos. 

She supposed she was just overthinking it (shocker!) 

Annabeth definitely didn’t doubt Percy. His actions, going back years, made perfectly clear the way that he felt about her. His words in the three months they had been together backed up those actions too.

As long as her Seaweed Brain didn’t turn into, like, an anemone or something, she couldn’t imagine him abandoning her.

And Annabeth loved his family, saw in them the love that she had always craved from her families, first from her dad, then from the found family of Thalia and Luke as they traveled and fought off monster pursuers.

But, now that the possibility for permanence was here, staring her in the face, she was… scared to lose it? Didn’t know if it was what she actually wanted? Aphrodite was meddling in their lives again?

Annabeth wasn’t sure. But, since she couldn’t figure it out (she hated when that happened) or think of a justifiable reason to tell Percy no, she had agreed to spend the holiday with his family.

Annabeth and Percy stood in the elevator of his apartment building, empty-handed except for the 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola and a packet of blue food coloring. Sally and Paul had promised to do all of the cooking, but Percy had run the apartment dry of his favorite blue beverage, so they stopped for some more after Percy had picked her up at her boarding school dorm.

She pulled at her camp necklace as they ascended in the elevator. 

Annabeth could feel Percy’s eyes on her and could see in her periphery the corner of his mouth start to twitch, ever so slightly.

She knew what was coming, then, before it happened. 

“You don’t have to be nervous, you know,” her heart-in-the-right-place boyfriend said. “They love you.”

He knew her too well, noticing her nervous tic, just as she knew him well enough to notice that twitch that signals his preparing to speak. 

But, despite how well Percy knew Annabeth, he still didn’t understand sometimes when she needed to just think through things. 

That not everything needed fixing or constant reassurance. 

Bringing up her nervousness only made her dwell on it more. Made her worried that she was so visibly nervous that Sally and Paul would notice. Renewed the probably irrational thoughts that something would go wrong and Percy’s parents would decide they didn’t like her, that they didn’t want her as part of the family. That somehow, this too would all crash and burn.

Ugh.

She couldn’t be too upset with him for trying to help. “Trying to help” was 96% percent of Percy Jackson’s personality. 96% help, 4% kelp. That was Percy. But the kelp head couldn’t help with everything.

“I know, Percy,” Annabeth said, keeping her voice calm. “It’s just… I don’t know, it feels like a big deal, spending Thanksgiving here.”

The elevator shuddered to a stop, and Percy stepped out first and held his hand over the sliding door as she pushed past him, knowing where to go to find the apartment.

“I know,” Percy said. “But they do love you. And, other than adding Paul, we haven’t had a guest for Thanksgiving in years. I’m pretty sure my mom would cook dinner for anyone, but she’s super glad that it’s you who is joining us.”

That didn’t do as much to allay her fears as Percy had probably hoped. But the Seaweed Brain was trying. 

Maybe Sally Jackson would settle “for anyone” as a possible future daughter-in-law.

Wow, that thought didn’t help the nervousness. 

She hadn’t allowed her thoughts of the future to go that far ahead just yet. She tried to tamp down a fresh wave of panic as they approached the now-familiar door.

“Besides, she has a surprise for you,” Percy grinned at her as he knocked.

Annabeth didn’t even have time to think about what he might mean by that comment before being pulled into a warm, tight hug by a smiling Sally. Annabeth thought, not for the first time, that Percy’s hugging skills definitely came from his non-godly side. 

Paul gave her a less tight but still enthusiastic hug, and soon they were huddled in the living room, listening to Sally describe how hard it was to dye a turkey blue.

Soon, Sally whisked off to the kitchen to finish setting the table, dragging Percy along with her to help. Annabeth, after being assured by Sally that she didn’t need an additional pair of hands, took a seat on the end of the couch, and Paul removed a blue-stained apron and sank into an armchair across from her.

“Wait till you see my blue mashed potatoes,” Paul smiled at her. “They were an old family recipe of my dad’s, but I was happy to add in one more ingredient for our favorite sea monster.”

Annabeth laughed a little nervously, hoping it wasn’t too obvious.

But Paul must have clocked it. Annabeth supposed teaching nervous teenagers all day gives one a good eye for that sort of thing.

Paul leaned toward her and lowered his voice as he spoke.

“We’re so glad you’re here today Annabeth,” Paul said. “After everything he’s been through, it’s just so great to see him happy. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this, but, even Sally says it, we’ve never seen him smile more.”

Annabeth’s face reddened, and she wasn’t sure exactly what to say. 

Luckily, Paul saved her.

“Besides,” he continued. “Sally’s overjoyed to have another young lady around. Don’t tell Percy, but…” he paused and looked like he wasn’t sure whether he should keep going, but he did. “Sally has always wanted a daughter too.”

Annabeth didn’t know whether her blush was deepening, but her face certainly felt even warmer.

Still, Paul’s comments did make her feel a little better. If Percy’s parents were already considering her a kind of daughter figure, were commenting on how happy Percy was with her, maybe she could fit into this family someday.

If she wanted to. And if her and Percy made it that far. And if something didn’t ruin this good thing in Annabeth’s life too.

Ugh.

Annabeth was again rescued from having to think of a reply when a grinning Percy stepped back into the living room.

“Dinner is served!” He announced in his best posh British accent, which wasn’t very good. But Annabeth would never tell him that. She liked the way he scrunched his eyebrows together and pursed his lips whenever he pulled out the voice too much to risk never seeing that adorable sight again. 

They gathered around the table, Annabeth and Percy on one side, Sally and Paul on the other.

The turkey was, indeed, dyed blue to the bone (and was quite tasty too). The blue cranberry sauce looked a little bit like blueberry jell-o, but it tasted just as good with the blue rolls as ever. Annabeth complimented Paul on the blue mashed potatoes, and even the blue mac & cheese was delicious. 

Percy had promised her beforehand that the dish was made with cheddar cheese and dyed blue, not with actual, pungent and moldy blue cheese. Annabeth couldn’t stand the stuff, but Percy, with his preternatural predilection for all things blue, loved it.

They joked and laughed as they ate, and Sally and Annabeth took turns tossing torn-off bits of rolls for Percy and Paul to catch. Percy caught more, and Paul promised to sweep the floor later since he lost the challenge.

Annabeth’s worry hadn’t made a reappearance as Sally pulled Percy again from the table to help her deliver desserts to the table.

As they came back, carrying four dishes, she could see blueberry pie and two other delicious-looking blue confections she couldn’t identify.

The fourth stood out from everything else they had eaten so far.

For one thing, it wasn’t blue. For another, it sent her mind hurtling back to her childhood.

Some of her happiest memories with her dad, when she was young, had been when the two of them would go out to breakfast at a 24-hour diner in Richmond. He would go on one of his all-night research kicks and be unable to get to sleep until getting some more food. 

He and Annabeth would hop in the car at dawn. She would normally get scrambled eggs with bacon, and, for dessert, she would have this particular restaurant’s specialty: A super-sweet bread pudding with fresh strawberries and raspberries baked in.

The dish sitting in front of her in New York City looked so much like the one she hadn’t had in at least 10 years that Annabeth briefly wondered whether she was dreaming.

She looked up at a smiling Percy, feeling a tear drip down from her eye. 

Then, she remembered. 

The Question Game.

About a month ago, Percy had used one of his daily questions to ask her what her favorite dessert was. It had been the second food-related question her always-hungry boyfriend had asked within a week, but the eye roll that it drew out of her had been more affection than annoyance. She had had to think about it, then remembered those breakfast excursions with her dad.

“Mom put me up to it,” Percy grinned at her.

“You make it sound like an evil plot, Percy,” Sally slapped her son’s arm lightly. “I asked him what your favorite dessert was, so I could make it for you. Of course he didn’t know. I told him dessert is the key to a woman’s heart, and he should find out, for his own sake, at least. Apparently, he did. He told me the story, and I called the place up. They wouldn’t just give me the recipe and mumbled something about secret ingredients, but they described it well enough that I thought I might could do it justice.”

Sally’s face softened, and she smiled warmly at Annabeth.

“I just wanted you to feel comfortable here dear,” Sally said. “And, since you are here with us instead of with your family today, I thought it was fitting that part of your dad would be here too.”

Annabeth choked back a sob and rose to hug her boyfriend’s lovely, amazing mother.

“Thank you so much, Sally,” she said.

“Anytime, Annabeth. You’re always welcome here,” Sally muttered, still hugging Annabeth.

Annabeth beamed at Percy as she lowered herself back into her seat, eager to try Sally’s version of her favorite childhood dessert. Everything else the woman cooked was so good, Annabeth wouldn’t be surprised if hers was even better.

“I helped,” Percy said sheepishly, but with a grin.

Annabeth laughed.

“You did,” Annabeth said. “Thanks Seaweed Brain. More for having such an amazing mother than anything else.”

“Well, you’ve got me there,” Percy said, smiling at Sally. “But my pre-mission recon was vital.”

“Plus,” Percy added, stabbing his slice of blueberry pie with a fork. “I also signed off on a non-blue food being part of the menu. That’s sacrifice.”

The whole table laughed as they began to dig into their desserts. The bread pudding was so warm and sweet and delicious, and the other desserts were just as good.

They retreated into the living room after a while and continued to talk.

Paul asked Annabeth about the progress of the Olympus rebuild and told her about the latest gossip at Goode. Apparently, one of his students had claimed to have seen Percy redirect a water fountain to squirt a bully in the face as the bully was cornering a classmate.

“Being someone that strictly believes in the laws of nature and physics,” Paul had said with a wink, he told the student they must have been imagining things and blamed faulty plumbing.

After a while, Paul and Sally yawned and said that they were retreating to the bedroom to take a nap, since they were so full from dinner.

Annabeth half wondered whether it was just a cover to allow her and Percy to have some time to spend alone together, but she was grateful nonetheless.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Percy asked.

Annabeth smiled. Watching a movie with Percy was her safe space. Even if they didn’t pay attention to the movie sometimes. The dimmed lights and the flickering of the T.V. were also the backdrops for some of their best conversations, and, on the rare occasions they got the apartment to themselves for a few minutes, their best kisses (at least, of the non-underwater variety).

“Sure,” Annabeth responded.

After Percy found a suitably ignorable movie to turn on, he moved the couch cushions into the floor and grabbed a blanket. He and Annabeth sat on the cushions, propping up their backs on the front of the couch.

“So,” Percy started. “Did you like your first Thanksgiving with my family?”

Annabeth had been nervous about the day, but she didn’t have to think at all before her answer came.

“I really did,” Annabeth said. “Your family is amazing. I’m really happy that you, and your mom, have Paul now. And Sally… Well, I can see where you get your sweet side from.”

Percy looked at her, puzzled.

“I have a sweet side?”

Annabeth understood a lot of things about her boyfriend. After four years of quests and camp summers, she thought, in some ways, she knew him better than she knew herself.

But one thing that always amazed her was how unable — or maybe unwilling —  he was to see the good qualities he possessed. 

For one thing, he was very attractive, yet he seemed to treat the idea that Annabeth (or Rachel for that matter) had crushed on him as more unbelievable than the world of magic and monsters that they lived in. At least she thought she was, but she suspected she wasn’t alone. She’d seen the way some of the other girls at camp had looked at him, especially in the last couple of years.

But, for this particular bit of confusion, she thought she might see the logic.

Caring and tenderness and loyalty and support were just fundamental parts of what made Percy who he is. Those qualities must just be so ingrained in him that “sweetness” just came naturally, without thought or extra effort. Annabeth didn’t have a lot of experience with other guys their age, at least in this realm, but she had heard enough from the other girls at camp to suspect that he was pretty special in that way.

“You do, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth smiled and interlaced their fingers together. “Almost as sweet as that bread pudding. Even if you were defiling our sacred question game for reconnaissance purposes.”

“Hey,” he said with a grin. “You always have to go into a mission prepared. You taught me that one, Wise Girl.”

“I suppose,” Annabeth said, returning the smile.

They watched the movie in silence for a few minutes before Percy broke it again.

“I told you though,” he said. “They love you. Mom and I… We kind of talked about you a little after we got together. She said she knew that we would. Apparently, when I went to look for you after you were kidnapped by the Titan army, she thought it was just a matter of time.”

“A matter of years,” Annabeth joked. “But we got there in the end. But, I love your family too. It… It was really nice, feeling like a family on this day of all days.”

“You are a part of the family,” Percy said, then quickly added on. “I mean, like, you know, they thought of you that way even without us being… us .”

Annabeth suspected that “part of the family in a best friend way” wasn’t exactly what Percy had meant with the first part of the sentence, but she didn’t say anything. 

That part of the distant future that had briefly wormed its way into her thoughts earlier appeared again, but Annabeth wasn’t quite ready to think that way yet.

The last three months had been pretty stellar, but they had time. They were still building that foundation.

So, realizing she had been silent for slightly too long at that point, Annabeth changed the subject.

“But seriously, thank you,” Annabeth said. 

“For what?” a puzzled Percy replied.

“The dessert, Seaweed Brain,” she said. “Even if it was Sally’s idea.”

“Well, most of her ideas are good ones, I’ve learned,” Percy smiled.

“Smart boy,” Annabeth replied. 

During another period of silent movie watching, Annabeth’s mind wandered. 

She thought about her fears that something would mess up what she and Percy had built so far, but also about how she truly did feel loved by Percy’s family. 

She wondered what would be the next scenario her brain would come up with to cause her to worry about the future, and if that hurdle would be as easy to clear as the “first holiday with the family” hurdle had been.

Then she thought about the leftover bread pudding in the fridge. She wondered if Sally would mind if Annabeth took the rest back to her dorm when she left.

It was Thanksgiving, and, for the first time in a while, Annabeth felt truly thankful. For the boy beside her, who had been beside her for enough adventures to last a lifetime. 

For the mother that raised him to be the way that he is and for the stepfather that stepped in to provide the father figure he had been missing. For the bread pudding. And for the question game (It helped deliver her the bread pudding, so it had definitely been worth it).

Annabeth looked up at Percy, who had at one point moved his arm around her opposite shoulder and pulled her in close.

“Question game?” she asked.

“Question game.” He smiled in return.

“What about me are you most thankful for?” Annabeth asked.

“Hmm, good one,” Percy pondered. “And appropriate for the occasion.”

“I’m coordinated that way,” Annabeth laughed.

“Are you ever,” Percy replied. “Hmm. Well, for starters, I’m thankful that you stuck with me long enough for me to get a clue and for us to get together. I’m glad you didn’t wise up, Wise Girl, and go pick out someone who had less seaweed in their brain.”

“Hmm. It was tempting,” Annabeth mused. “But I’m afraid Seaweed Brained individuals are my type.”

“Thank the gods,” Percy chuckled. “But… I don’t know… All the answers I can think of are cheesy.”

“Cheesy is good sometimes,” Annabeth encouraged. “That blue mac & cheese? Stellar.”

“Right?! Mostly because it’s blue, though,” Percy agreed. 

“Well… um…” As he contemplated, Percy had the nervous look on his face that she hadn’t seen as much since they had gotten together. Like he was gathering courage to say something embarrassing. “I guess I would say…  Your smile?”

Annabeth couldn’t help but give him one, and Percy returned it right back.

“Just, when you smile, like really smile. Like when I’ve done something particularly kelp-headed,” Percy started, now looking down. “Or, like, after we kiss. It just lights up your whole face. And your eyes sparkle. Like, when I can make you smile, it’s like better than winning any battle, like I’ve just reached my goal and made you happy. And it just makes me so happy and warm and like…”

He paused as he looked back up. Annabeth was sure he must have found her face in exactly the formation he had been describing.

“Like that,” he confirmed.

That earned him a kiss and another sight at the smile.

“You do make me pretty happy, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said.

Percy didn’t say anything, just studied her face for a moment and then pulled her into a tight hug. When he pulled back, he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

“Ok, well,” Percy said. “What about you? What are you most thankful for about me?”

Annabeth thought for a moment. She was also a pretty big fan of his lopsided, troublemaker grin. 

But there was something a little deeper about this boy that came to mind. The something that made him care so deeply, for her and for others. The something that drew her eye when they were 12. The something that allowed him to shoulder the weight of the fate of the world and to save it. The something that led him to saying things like he just had said.

“Your heart.”

“My heart?” Percy smiled. “Oh, like, because it pumps my blood and keeps me alive and stuff?”

“Well, that too, I suppose,” Annabeth giggled. “But, your heart, as in your love and loyalty and care and gentleness. And even sweetness.” 

She poked him in the ribs to emphasize her last point.

“You are so selfless and caring and willing to help,” Annabeth said. “And not just with me. It was one of the first things I learned about you. One of the first things… I liked about you.”

“Ah, so you do like me?” Percy said in mock surprise.

“Whatever,” Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me take it back.”

“Too late,” Percy said. “Now I know your terrible secret.”

“Keep this going and it will be definitely be liked , as in past tense.”

“Ah,” Percy scoffed, putting his arm around her. “I happen to know that Seaweed Brains are your type. I’m not sure you could give me up.”

“Oh, I would in a heartbeat,” Annabeth’s mouth said, but the fact that she was nuzzling closer into his embrace might have betrayed her words.

She didn’t say so, but she thought she might agree with his assessment.

They fell into another period of companionable silence as they watched again the movie that they already knew a little too well. It was strange how comfortable they were sitting in silence these days, especially considering how packed with tension any term of quiet between them had been after the Labyrinth and before the Battle of Manhattan.

As she sat comfortably, Percy’s arm around her, she remembered thinking that her eyelids felt awfully heavy.

Annabeth woke to sleepily see sunlight streaming in through the apartment window. Her neck was sore from sleeping at an odd angle for…

The whole night??

It was morning.

The last remnants of sleep shook off Annabeth with a jolt as she looked around the room to see Sally sitting at the small two-seater table at the entrance to the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee.

It was morning, she was asleep in her boyfriend’s arms and his mom was there. Great.

“Sally, I am so sorry,” Annabeth said, jerking out of Percy’s arms and rising quickly to her feet.

Percy, ever the heavy sleeper unless a surprise monster attack woke him up, mumbled something unintelligible, wiped some drool from his mouth, turned over, and went right back to snoring.

Percy’s mother just smiled.

“It’s fine, Annabeth. Paul and I came back for a second helping of dessert and found you guys asleep. It was so cute we couldn’t bear to wake you. You slept all the way through the night.”

Sally laughed, and Annabeth forced a chuckle despite her reddening cheeks.

“You can stay as long as you want today, and then Percy can take you home,” Sally said.

Speaking of, she could really use an awake boyfriend right now. But Percy snored on.

“Can I get you anything?” Sally asked, then donned a knowing smile. “Any bread pudding?”

Percy was still asleep when Sally finished microwaving a serving of the bread pudding and poured Annabeth a glass of milk, so she joined Percy’s mother at the table while sending telepathic messages frantically at her boyfriend to please wake up . That should be an Athena power, she thought grumpily.

But she couldn’t stay upset while eating the dessert, which was almost as good as the night before, even after reheating.

“This is so good Sally,” Annabeth told her.

“I’m glad you like it,” Sally said. “Percy seemed to think it was the right thing to make, once he told me your story.”

Annabeth smiled and took another bite.

“I know you have your family in San Francisco,” Sally began. “But, if you ever need anything while you are here in school or at camp, Paul and I are always here for you.”

“Thank you,” Annabeth said. “That… means a lot.”

She meant it.

Declarations of love and support weren’t exactly commonplace in the Chase household.

Sally smiled at her.

“You know, I am really glad you two are together,” Sally said.

Annabeth blushed, but smiled back.

“Your son is kind of alright sometimes,” Annabeth said.

“Only sometimes though,” Sally said with a laugh. “I’m still working on getting the rest of him straightened out.”

A question popped into Annabeth’s head. It was one she felt a little embarrassed to ask, but Sally was so kind and open with her.

“Percy said that you told him that you knew we would get together one day,” Annabeth began, looking down at her nearly-empty dish. “What made you say that?”

“Oh, call it a mother’s intuition,” Sally said, a twinkle in her eye. “He’s my son. He may have thought he was being subtle, but you can’t hide much from your mother. When he told me you had been kidnapped by the Titans, he was just desperate to find you. He called me on an Iris Message, right after you were taken, asking me what to do.”

“What did you tell him?” Annabeth asked.

“Well, I knew it wouldn’t do any good to try to talk him out of it, even if I wanted to,” Sally said. “I told him to follow his heart. I knew he’d do what was best for you.”

“How?”

“Because I already knew you enough to know that you’d do the same for him,” Sally said. “I knew then that, if he did follow his heart, it would lead him to you someday.”

Somehow, the feeling spreading throughout Annabeth’s body was even warmer than the piping hot bread pudding in front of her.

Chapter Text

Percy Jackson had a problem.

Well, Percy Jackson has had plenty of problems in his 16 years. Most of them were monster- or god-shaped problems or occasionally world-threatening Titan problems.

But those problems? Well, compared to his current problem, those problems seemed easy. Unimportant. Trivial.

Because this problem’s a biggie.

Percy Jackson was in love with Annabeth Chase.

Percy Jackson loved Annabeth Chase.

Like — capital L — Loved . 

And Percy Jackson wanted to tell Annabeth Chase that he loved her.

Percy and Annabeth had been together for four great months. As he had learned during those four great months, they had both, separately, been pining for each other for years. 

Was that long enough to know you were actually in love ? Was that long enough for Annabeth to feel the same way? What would happen if she didn’t? Would she finally realize that it had been foolish to call Percy her boyfriend, realize that it was pathetic just how deeply he had fallen for her, and call it off right then and there?

See, big problem.

The worst part of it is, it wasn’t some grand gesture that led to this particular problematic realization. It wasn’t like when Annabeth had saved his life on the Williamsburg Bridge (or the several times she had saved his life before). It wasn’t like when they had kissed in an air bubble at the bottom of the canoe lake (pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time, if he had to say so).

Nope.

They were sitting in the back of his stepdad’s Prius on a Tuesday. 

Paul and Sally were driving Annabeth and Percy back to camp so that the two demigods could spend winter break there together. Both of their schools let out early for winter, and they were both so excited to spend three weeks together unimpeded by schoolwork, well-meaning but always too-present parents, or world-ending disasters.

At least, Percy hoped there wouldn’t be any of those, but, at Camp Half-Blood, you never knew.

But yeah, this realization hit him in the backseat of his stepdad’s Prius. 

Percy had just told a dumb joke. Come to think of it, he couldn’t even remember the joke now, less than a minute later.

Annabeth had giggled and flashed him a smile, her eyes lighting up in the same way that they had at probably thousands of the dumb jokes he had made in front of her after four years of quests and campfires and car rides.

Nothing seemed all that different about this particular joke or this particular laugh, aside from the realization that smacked him in the face harder than one of Poseidon’s own personal tsunamis could have as he stared at her face, saw the blond curls bouncing as she laughed.

This was love. 

He hadn’t been sure of much surrounding his feelings for years. Not until that vision of Annabeth pulling him out of the River Styx. 

But this? He was as sure of it as anything he had ever been.

He was in love. He was in love with her. He was in love with his best friend.

Percy Jackson was in love with Annabeth Chase.

And, Percy Jackson had been staring at Annabeth Chase ever since that particular fact-facing tsunami had washed over him.

She noticed.

“You ok, Seaweed Brain?”

Annabeth’s words jolted him back to reality, but they couldn’t wipe off the smile that he now realized was stretching so widely on his face that his cheeks hurt.

“Yeah,” he said, still looking at her. “Just excited to get back to camp.”

“Me too,” Annabeth smiled back. “I’ve missed it.”

“Wow, you guys are that ready to get rid of us for a few weeks?” Sally smiled back at them.

Oh yeah, Percy’s mom was here. So was Paul. There were people and locations and things in the world other than Annabeth Chase, he realized.

“We’ll miss you guys too,” Percy managed, falling back to earth a little. 

“I know, Percy,” Sally replied. “But camp is your place. We’re excited for you to be back. We’ll see you again soon.”

The rest of the car ride passed without Percy making that much of a fool of himself, at least he hoped. 

When they finally reached the farm road and saw Thalia’s pine tree cresting the top of Half-Blood Hill, Percy and Annabeth grabbed their bags, wished Sally and Paul goodbye, locked hands, and began the trek into camp.

That’s when Percy resumed making a fool of himself.

He couldn’t help staring. He couldn’t help smiling. He couldn’t help the undeniable fact that was rolling around in his head.

“What is it?” Annabeth smiled back at him, noticing his dumbfounded staring for the second time.

“Nothing,” Percy muttered, sounding unconvincing even to himself. “Just happy to be back.”

“Me too,” Annabeth squeezed his hand and let go. “Come on, I think it’s still lunch time. If we hurry, we might can still grab some food. Race you to the dining pavilion?”

“You’re on!” Percy replied, glad for the distraction.

He shouldered his bag and sprinted, Annabeth right at his side. 

They did indeed arrive in time to grab lunch. They both got food and plopped down, panting, at the Poseidon table.

It was still technically against the rules for Annabeth to sit with him at the table, but, since the two of them had combined to save the world, they seemed to get a pass these days.

They said hello to the year-round campers who came by to welcome the pair back as they ate. More than a few gave them knowing looks when asking how the fall semester had gone in New York. 

Percy had learned since the Battle of Manhattan that he and Annabeth were apparently the last two campers to realize that they had feelings for each other. 

Their relationship — or lack thereof — had been the most discussed topic in the Aphrodite cabin for years, and the Stoll brothers had been soliciting bets on when exactly the two of them would finally get together for almost as long.

That fact had made him red-faced and uncomfortable at first, but now he didn’t really mind everyone knowing that he was dating the Annabeth Chase, Architect of Olympus. I mean, sure, he had done some cool stuff too. But she was Annabeth Chase, Architect of Olympus.

Which reminded him.

Oh yeah.

He was in love with Annabeth Chase, Architect of Olympus.

They finished eating and decided to retreat to their own cabins to put away their things and freshen up before meeting each other at their usual spot down by the lake for the afternoon.

Percy kissed Annabeth goodbye at the door of the Athena Cabin, walked the rest of the way to his own, pulled the door shut, and let out a sigh.

He tossed his bag down beside his bed, a problem for future Percy to deal with. 

He fell on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, trying to clear his head. He almost wished he were facing a monster right now, instead.

Monsters were simple. 

They wanted to kill you. They ran at you, waving limbs and screaming. You slashed through them with your sword. They vanished into a pile of dust.

Boom. Easy. Problem solved.

This?

This wasn’t so easy.

Percy hadn’t prepared for this. I mean, sure, he knew that he and Annabeth both liked each other. Well, now anyway. Even that had seemed complicated just a few months ago. 

And he knew that the “L-word” was a big deal to couples, at least from what he’d seen in movies. You didn’t just throw it out there on the first date. It was a show of commitment, a sign that the relationship was the real deal.

He figured that he’d one day tell Annabeth that he loved her. It seemed inevitable, given everything they had gotten through to simply start a relationship, how deeply he cared for her once he was finally able to rationalize those feelings for himself. There had been times in the last four months that had made Percy start to wonder if it was coming sooner rather than later.

But, the epiphany that he had just had? He knew it now. There was no denying it.

It was love, and it probably had been for a while.

Actually, that might explain why this epiphany had hit him in such simple, unexpected circumstances.

It had been love for a while. Nothing had changed, really. He didn’t suddenly feel more deeply for Annabeth. The realization was just that, a realization of something ongoing. A realization of something that, given his newfound emotional clarity, seemed sort of obvious in hindsight. 

He was in love. Had been in love.

Percy found himself giddily smiling again, despite the looming problem of if or when or too soon .

He considered his options.

Outside advice? He could call his mom. But Percy suspected her advice would be some version of “follow your heart.” His heart was telling him to scream it to the high heavens, but he wanted logic.

He didn’t know of anyone at camp who he would trust with that kind of vulnerability. Grover, the closest person — or, well, Satyr — to that kind of trust, wasn’t there.

Well, there was one person at camp he could talk with anything about.

But, seeing as she was the subject of the question, that wouldn’t really work.

Still, he had experience in not confessing feelings to Annabeth. That hadn’t gone well and had delayed what could have been a long and happy relationship at this point, with the first “I love yous” left long in the past.

If only there was a way to just… ask Annabeth if it was the right time for those words…

A few hours later, he was waiting for Annabeth, already seated on the blanket he had brought to the lakeside, when he felt, but didn’t see, a presence plop down beside him as the sun began to set.

“Why the cap?” Percy asked, some of his nerves dissipating a little. It wasn’t the first time his girlfriend had arrived in his presence with her magic New York Yankees cap on.

“The Aphrodite campers,” Annabeth said, pulling off the cap, now visible and shrugging. “They cornered me when I left the cabin. They said they wanted all the details.”

Percy laughed.

“What did you tell them?”

“Drew, behind you, there’s a hellhound!” Annabeth screamed, adopting a shocked look on her face and pointing in apparent terror. 

It was so convincing that Percy half turned his head before realizing what she meant and letting out a laugh.

“They all turned around,” Annabeth said. “I put on the cap and came down here.”

“Impressive strategy, Chase,” Percy said.

“Oh, you know me, Jackson,” Annabeth replied. “I’m full of them.”

They watched the water in silence for a few minutes, holding hands, but Percy’s brain was working in overdrive.

Could he do this? Should he do this?

Was this the right time, the right way to do this?

Should he plan some big gesture, rather than simply sputtering these words to her for the first time during something as regular as sitting by the lake?

He looked over at her. Annabeth had her eyes locked on the horizon, just as she had when… Well, the last time he was psyching himself up to admit something to her.

That had gone pretty well, hadn’t it?

She had a content smile on her face, her blond hair was shining gold in the amber light of the sinking sun.

Gods, he could look at her like this forever, see that smile he loved dearly.

If he wanted to keep that smile, that face, that head of hair, that best friend, that, well, love, in his life — hopefully for a long, long time — he was going to have to do this.

Percy knew that, after this, either that smile would grow larger, or it might be wiped off her face entirely.

Percy summoned all the bravery that he could muster, imagining he was facing off with a monster instead of his girlfriend (she was much scarier, anyway, when she tried to be). And he opened his mouth.

“Question game?” 

Annabeth looked like she was jarred out of deep thought as she turned to him.

“Sure!” She smiled. “Your turn first?”

Percy briefly considered asking her to go first instead. But no, he decided. Better not to delay anymore.

This should be easy. It felt like the most obvious thing in the world. He was in love with his girlfriend. All he had to do was say so.

Well, actually, he had to ask a question first.

“So,” Percy began, trying not to betray his nerves with a shaky voice. 

He looked at Annabeth, the girl he loved, gazing again at the horizon. Saw her smile. His favorite sight on earth.

He could do this.

“How soon…” He started again, voice gaining confidence. 

“How soon is too soon, in, like, a hypothetical relationship… to tell someone you love them?”

Percy’s face was on fire. Annabeth snapped around to look at him, studying his face and wearing an expression that he couldn’t quite place.

There it is, the smile was gone. This was a mistake.

But, then, slowly it returned.

A warm smile started to spread across her face as she looked at him, pulling at the corners of her cheeks. 

Her eyes sparkled at him in the same way they had when he had turned down immortality up on Olympus.

Relief flooded over Percy. He could see it in her eyes, in her smile. 

He knew he was safe now. 

Knew he didn’t have anything to worry about. 

Knew, in that moment, that she felt the same way. Maybe even had been gearing up to say it herself.

Knew that the love of his life loved him back.

Knew that Annabeth Chase was in love with Percy Jackson.

But, with Annabeth still smiling but still silent, he could still draw this moment out a little more.

“Just hypothetically speaking of course,” Percy said, trying to keep his smile from matching hers. “I have an… academic interest in the subject, and I figured you were the person to approach with an, um, academic interest.”

“Oh,” she said with an eye roll, but still grinning widely. “Since when do you have academic interests?”

“I think you may be rubbing off on me, Chase.”

“Oh really?” Annabeth replied, smile still threatening to reach her ears. “Seems like that’s not the only way I’m affecting you…”

Percy shrugged, and Annabeth raised an eyebrow and nudged him with her shoulder. 

If that playful gesture wasn’t enough to scream “Spit it out!” to him, her next words erased any doubt.

“You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?”

Percy recognized the words.

“You’d probably kick my butt.”

“You know I’d kick your butt.”

Percy knew she wasn’t going to save him this time. To take his admission into her own hands. 

He had to actually say the words.

And that was just fine with him.

“Well, I was thinking earlier today-”

“Always dangerous,” the still-smiling Annabeth said. 

“Well, this thought was particularly dangerous, because I realized something.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Something big. But, I was worried it was too soon to have that dangerous thought. Or that… a certain someone wouldn’t also think dangerously.”

“Oh, well, you know Clarisse, she is always thinking dangerously,” Annabeth prodded him with her finger, clearly trying her best to fight back the smile but losing anyway. “Daughter of Ares and all.”

“Really, you’re going to interrupt with Clarisse again?”

“Oh, I don’t know, seemed like a dangerous thing to do,” Annabeth said coyly. “And I’m a dangerous person.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“So,” Annabeth said, taking his hand, and continuing at barely more than a whisper. “Since we are both thinking dangerously, what should we do about it?”

Percy looked around. He didn’t see any eavesdropping campers at this particular confession, but, then again, he didn’t really want to take that chance that they’d be interrupted again.

Suddenly, he stood, swooped one arm under Annabeth’s legs and cradled her back with the other, and leapt, holding her tight to his chest, into the lake.

Annabeth let out a shocked scream, but he willed the lake water to sweep around them, an air bubble forming as they plunged downward, just like he had done at the bottom of Siren Bay, and just like he had done in this very lake four months prior.

“Dangerous enough?” Percy smiled at Annabeth when they settled.

The light of the fading sun filtering in through the water from above set Annabeth’s face in a soft glow as she responded, wide eyes locked on his.

“I don’t know, I think we can get a little more dangerous.”

Percy pulled her in tighter inside their personal bubble, not a chance in the world of being interrupted.

One hand was on her hip, the other cupped her face, their noses couldn’t have been more than inch apart.

Those stormy gray eyes bored into his, wide, sparkling, and encouraging. He had to speak it, that undeniable fact. Now, looking at the face of the girl that, yes, he loved, it seemed silly that he’d even been nervous.

“I love you, Annabeth Chase.”

The words were easy, leaving his lips. Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“I love you too, Percy Jackson.”

And hearing them returned? Percy felt so warm, so full, so content.

So in love.

He bridged the small distance that still remained between their lips.

Percy thought he had already experienced the best underwater kiss of all time.

Now, it had a rival.

Percy Jackson loved Annabeth Chase.

And Annabeth Chase loved him right back.

Annabeth could get used to that.

Annabeth was sitting at the campfire next to the boy that had just confessed that he was in love with her a few hours prior. 

It was a little bit of a shock, the turn their evening had taken, but a little bit of a relief too.

The same little battle that had apparently been going on inside Percy’s head had been raging inside hers too.

Was this love? Was it too soon to admit that it was love, if it was indeed love?

Those questions had vanished into thin air as soon as the awkward, “hypothetical” question had stumbled out of Percy’s lips.

It was a fantastically Seaweed Brain way for this relationship milestone to happen, and she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

She laid her head on the shoulders of her boyfriend, the boy she loved and who loved her back. She could hear the songs going on around her, but she wasn’t paying attention to the words. Percy pulled her in tighter with the one arm he had slung around her, and she was home.

Later, Percy walked Annabeth to the door of the Athena Cabin. 

“Oh, I just realized,” Percy said. “We didn’t do your question tonight.”

“Oh,” Annabeth said. She usually was the one to make sure that both she and Percy got to ask a question each night, but she’d been a little preoccupied tonight, for some reason.

“That’s ok. It’s late. I can ask two tomorrow.”

“You sure?” Percy asked.

Annabeth didn’t really want to part with him, to head to bed alone after their earlier conversation.

But, this relationship wasn’t going anywhere. Percy wasn’t going anywhere.

They were in love. And there would be plenty of time for more “I love yous” in the future.

But Annabeth would settle for just one more tonight.

“I’m sure,” she said, pulling him into a kiss, then breaking apart. “See you tomorrow?”

“You know it,” Percy replied.

Annabeth pulled him in closer again, their noses brushing as she met his eyes.

“I love you, Seaweed Brain,” she whispered.

“I love you too, Wise Girl,” he replied with a smile.

After one last goodnight kiss, Annabeth was lying in her bed in the Athena cabin, already looking forward to hearing that new word again the next day.

Chapter Text

Annabeth Chase hadn’t heard her boyfriend say “I love you” in 91 days, 20 hours and…

She checked her phone for the exact time as she walked down the now-familiar route from her boarding school dormitory to the subway in the March chill.

91 days, 20 hours and 18 minutes.

Annabeth had kept a running tally of all the time that had passed since she had seen Percy Jackson. It wasn’t something she really even wanted to do. It just… wouldn’t get out of her head. 

Her brain was intimately and painfully familiar with reliving those last hours with him and the first few hours without him — those memories visited her in most of her nightmares — that she supposed her subconscious just decided to keep track of the time for her.

She hated her brain sometimes. 

Every time the running tally popped back into the forefront of her thought, which was several times a day at this point, it only served as a more painful reminder just how long it had been since he had been here.

Since she had seen his lopsided grin. Since she had heard his laugh ringing in her ears. Since he had sat beside her and pulled her in close. Since he had pulled them to the bottom of the lake and told her that he loved her.

Since he had kissed her goodnight and said those words to her for the second time.

“For the last time,” a small part of her mind whispered to her.

“Shut up,” she grumbled aloud, reaching the Subway station, hopping on a train and finding her usual seat. It was one along the back wall of a car, one that allowed her to keep both doors within view. If a monster attacked, she’d be ready.

If a dark-haired boy in an orange shirt came through those doors, yelled “Ha, pranked you!” and sat down beside her, she’d be ready too.

She had these stupid, illogical, nonsensical fantasies sometimes, even while actively recognizing that they were stupid, illogical, and nonsensical.

After all, Annabeth had a pretty good idea what had happened to him, at this point. 

Thanks to Hera (the stupid cow goddess) for the swap and thanks to Jason Grace for the information, she now knew it was more than likely that Percy was in the Roman version of Camp Half-Blood.

“ Without any memory of you, ” the voice, unhelpfully, said again.

“Shut up,” she, unhelpfully, said aloud again. 

She was glad this section of the subway car was empty aside from her. 

Annabeth knew she was sort of losing her mind. Knew it was unbecoming of a daughter of the goddess of wisdom to be having out-loud conversations with herself.

But she couldn’t find it much within herself to care at this moment.

She had a good idea of where Percy might be and, with the progress on the building of the Argo II coming along on schedule — according to her last Iris message with Leo — she had a good idea of when she might see him again.

But that didn’t make waiting and wondering any less frustrating and didn’t make stupid, illogical, and nonsensical hallucinations of Percy walking through the subway doors and informing her that he’d just pulled off the prank of the century any less appealing.

The train pulled to a stop, and a loud ding followed by the announcement that she had arrived at her stop pulled her back to the present for a moment.

Percy didn’t come through the subway doors this time. Maybe on the trip home? Or maybe he’d pop out from behind a dumpster between here and his mom’s apartment.

Of course, if Percy did show back up after leaving her willingly, and if it wasn’t Hera’s fault after all, that would break her heart too. 

But she’d almost take it. Closure, and the ability to recover and move on. To realize that just another thing in her life had abandoned her. She was used to that, at least. That almost would have been better than this .

Than these months of waiting with no assurance that Percy Jackson was alive, and, if he was, would even remember her. Remember four years of quests. Remember saving the world with her. Remember kisses under a volcano and at the bottom of a lake. 

Remember… That he loved her.

No. 

She had to keep hoping. She could never, would never, give that up. Not without a fight.

If she found him, and he didn’t remember her, she’d just have to kiss him until he did. 

Or bash him over the head.

Whichever worked.

As she knocked on the door to the Jackson-Blofis apartment, Annabeth realized that she probably shouldn't be thinking about taking a baseball bat to the head of the teenage boy who usually lived there. 

Then again, Sally Jackson might join her if it meant helping her son.

She was pragmatic that way.

That pragmatic woman answered the door.

Annabeth had been ready for the sight that awaited her.

Annabeth had made several visits to the apartment in the three months Percy had been gone. 

She’d made visits to share the small crumbs of news she’d gotten about Percy’s possible whereabouts. She’d made visits when she just missed Percy too much and needed a reminder that he was real, hadn’t been an elaborate fever dream designed specifically to get Annabeth’s hopes for a stable future up only to crush them once again. She’d crashed in Percy’s bed on the particularly bad days. She’d even made visits just to talk with Sally and eat her excellent bread pudding.

Every time Sally Jackson opened the door, Annabeth could see it.

A small glimmer of hope. A hesitant, yearning smile.

That maybe it would be her son at the door with Annabeth this time.

But it wasn’t. Never was. 

Sally’s hopeful smile mellowed into a somber one, but still a kind one.

“Hi Annabeth,” she said, pulling her into a hug. “Any news?”

“We still think he’s at the Roman camp,” Annabeth said. “Progress on the ship is going well.”

Annabeth had told Sally some version of this same sentence several times already. 

But admitting that she had no new news to report felt a little like giving up. So, for both their sakes, she tried to put a positive spin on her lack of news each time she visited the mother of her boyfriend. 

They were still working toward the goal, had the vague idea that they would — hopefully — find him at the Roman camp near the summer solstice when the ship was ready.

But that didn’t make the waiting, the not knowing whether he would have his memories, any easier.

On Annabeth or on Sally.

“Paul’s at a school play tonight, and he won’t be back until later.” Sally told Annabeth. “Do you have dinner plans?”

Honestly, Annabeth hadn’t thought that far ahead. Usually, she would make the trip over to see Sally after school about once a week. They would stay in the apartment and some combination of talking and crying would ensue, then she would go back to her dorm or to camp.

It didn’t really make it feel better, exactly, but she knew Sally shouldn’t have to bear this burden without Annabeth at least telling her everything she knew and everything she was trying to do to find her son.

And, it served as a reminder that yes, Percy was a real person. He had a real family and loved ones. And that Annabeth was one of them.

If he remembered her.

Annabeth fought back the lump forming in her throat to respond.

“No, not really. I figured I’d heat something up when I got back to my dorm, but I’ll be glad to not spend another meal… alone.”

Annabeth hadn’t intended the last part to sound so pitiful as it left her lips, but even she winced at the words. She wasn’t usually one to throw herself a pity party, but she just sent out a big ole invitation for that exclusive event to her missing boyfriend’s mother.

Sally teared up as she pulled Annabeth into a hug.

“Come on, it will do us both good to get out for a while,” Sally said, managing a pretty convincing smile.

Annabeth and Sally walked down a few blocks to a pizza restaurant they had both been to with Percy before.

Despite the constant reminders of happier memories with Percy sitting in the booth across from her, Annabeth managed to have a pleasant time with Sally.

They chatted about Annabeth’s classes, about how far along the renovations to Olympus had gotten before Zeus cut off access.

Just like her son, Sally listened politely and intently to Annabeth as she talked about architecture. 

She could tell, just like Percy, that Sally wasn’t really comprehending some of the finer points, but it felt good for Annabeth to get lost in talking about something she was passionate about, if just for a little while.

Sally told Annabeth about her book and how it was coming along. She’d been meeting with agents and publishers, but hadn’t yet gotten an offer yet.

After taking down a pizza between them — Percy would have been proud, though he sometimes finished them on his own — they ordered a slice of cheesecake and shared it.

“This is good,” Annabeth managed a genuine smile. “But, it’s no Sally Jackson bread pudding.”

“They could have added just a touch more sugar,” Sally shrugged, but returned her smile. “But that’s just my opinion.”

“Everyone should take your opinion as fact,” Annabeth replied, licking her spoon clean. “With most things, actually. But especially cooking.”

“That’s a high compliment, coming from a wise daughter of Athena,” Sally said.

“True wisdom is recognizing greatness when you see it,” Annabeth said.

“Well, I don’t know how wise I am, but I think you are great for….” Sally’s face fell.

“For Percy,” she finished, looking down.

Annabeth knew that their little happy bubble was temporary. That the cloud looming over both of them wouldn’t leave them for long.

“I’ll find him,” Annabeth said, more confidently than she thought possible. 

She had to. If not for her own reasons, than for the mother sitting across from her, dearly missing her only son.

“I’ll bring him back to you.”

“I know you will,” Sally said through a watery smile.

Sally paid for the meal, despite Annabeth’s protests, and the two got up to leave the restaurant.

The quick escape to a pizza dinner with Sally renewed Annabeth’s resolve a little.

Not that she had given up hope yet. Far from it. 

But as long as Percy had Sally and Paul and Annabeth and his other friends at camp — the people he loved — looking for him, they’d get to him someday.

They walked the first block back toward the apartment in silence before Annabeth decided to speak up.

“This was nice, Sally,” she started. “We should do this—”

Annabeth was cut off as the piercing sound of a thunderous roar sounded behind them.

Out from an alley behind them stomped a huge, hairy, horned form.

The bull-man wasn’t wearing the white underwear that Percy had so eloquently described after his first face-off with the monster. Nor was it wearing the battle armor it had when Percy had dispatched it easily during the Battle of Manhattan.

The Minotaur loomed over Annabeth and Sally wearing a red No. 23 basketball jersey that was way too tight. It had “Chicago” emblazoned across the chest.

“Get back,” Annabeth yelled to Sally, drawing her bronze knife.

The Minotaur had taken a few years to regenerate after Percy had killed it when he was 12.

Now, apparently, it was back after a few months. 

That tracked, Annabeth figured, considering the news that death had “stopped working properly,” probably linked to one of Gaea’s schemes.

Annabeth should have been scared, standing here, the lone demigod opponent of one of the world’s most legendary monsters.

Sure, Percy had defeated it twice, including before he had even gotten any camp training. 

But the legendary beast was legendary for a reason, had a kill count so high that it’d been lost to historical estimations long ago.

But, all that Annabeth found herself feeling was a grim satisfaction.

She couldn’t stand not taking action. Sitting and waiting, no matter if it was the logical thing to do, didn’t jive with her. 

She wanted to be out there, slaying every monster and every demigod and every giant and titan and god who got in her way until she found Percy.

Yet, she was forced to try to stay patient, to help build the ship, to sit and wait .

Her only respite were training sessions at camp, but she’d mutilated so many training dummies while taking out her frustrations that Chiron had limited her to one session — and one dummy — per week.

Here was a real, live monster standing in front of her.

Taking it down wouldn’t find Percy. 

But Annabeth didn’t care.

“Come on then,” Annabeth screamed and charged.

The Minotaur swept a huge, hairy fist at Annabeth, and she rolled behind a car in time for the monstrous hand to connect with the hunk of metal.

The monster howled in pain, and Annabeth got in a quick slash to its thigh as she darted around behind it.

Another cry of pain subsided as the Minotaur spotted her, standing on the hood of a red car.

“I thought you were supposed to be tough,” Annabeth jeered. “Come get me.”

The daughter of the goddess of battle strategy wished she could say that this boast was just part of a strategy, but that was only partially true.

She knew that, if provoked, the man-bull might charge, leaving her an opening to go in for the kill if the monster’s horns got lodged in the car.

But she also knew that it just felt good to burn off some pent-up rage by just yelling at the stupid bull.

After all, he was half-bovine blockhead, and Hera’s sacred animal was the cow, so it felt a little like screaming at the Machiavellian goddess of marriage herself.

The Minotaur didn’t take the rage bait, instead ripping the door off of another car and sending it frisbeeing at Annabeth.

She flattened against the hood of her car to avoid the projectile whizzing overhead, then rolled off to get behind the car she’d been standing on. 

If her magic New York Yankees cap had been working, this fight would have been simple. She’d slip it on and easily sneak up on the lumbering beast.

But it wasn’t. Nothing seemed to go right for her anymore.

She could keep hiding behind cars, sneaking around and striking, like she had to get the cut in on the monster’s thigh, but those superficial wounds wouldn’t do much more than make the Minotaur mad.

And all the ducking and rolling would only tire Annabeth out.

She needed to end the fight quickly.

She sprinted quickly over to where Sally was hiding. The monster began to stalk toward them, but Annabeth had a plan.

“Sally,” she panted. “The jersey he’s wearing. What team is it?”

“The Bulls. The Chicago Bulls. It’s a basketball team.” Sally stammered. “I think they played the Knicks tonight at Madison Square Garden.”

“Can monsters go to basketball games?” Annabeth asked curiously, despite the plodding monster drawing nearer.

“He’s apparently a fan,” Sally shrugged. 

The Mist must have worked wonders to distract mortals from seeing the Minotaur’s true form. Or perhaps they just thought he was a particularly realistic Bull mascot.

“Thank you,” Annabeth said, turning to face the monster. “I’ve got this. You stay safe.”

Annabeth calmly walked toward the Minotaur, bulging out of its red-and-black jersey.

“Hey, bull brain!” Annabeth chided. “The Bulls suck! The Knicks are way better!”

The Minotaur halted and snorted stupidly.

That moment of confusion — and stillness — was all Annabeth needed.

Annabeth had practiced with all types of weapons at Camp Half-Blood. She’d had plenty of time to train, so why not master all forms of combat? She’d never been that great at archery (though she was still far better than Percy), but she had gotten quite good at one form of ranged combat:

Knife throwing.

She took aim at the literal bullseye in front of her and hurled.

Her celestial bronze dagger impaled itself deep into the monster’s eye.

Before it even had a chance to howl in pain, Annabeth surged forward, grabbed the dagger and hit the ground under the beast, which had fallen from standing upright on two legs to all-fours.

She plunged the knife into the Minotaur’s heart, and the bull disintegrated into a cloud of dust above her, leaving a stretched-out jersey with a hole through the “A” in “Chicago” falling on top of her.

Annabeth threw the jersey aside, dusted herself off and returned to find Sally looking impressed.

“Maybe you ought to try out for the Knicks, throwing like that,” Sally laughed as she hugged Annabeth. “With that kind of accuracy, I’m sure you could hit a 3-pointer.”

Annabeth laughed.

The fight ended almost too soon to satisfy her frustrations, but she was glad to have at least been able to protect Sally. Though Annabeth suspected that, if there had been a shotgun with celestial bronze ammo nearby, that Sally might not have needed protection.

“When is that thing going to leave my family alone?” Sally said, glaring at the pile of dust that had attacked her and her son and caused Sally to be taken unwillingly to the underworld.

“I don’t know,” Annabeth said. “But, monsters are apparently not staying dead for very long anymore. Let’s get out of here before it decides to reform.”

Annabeth walked with Sally back to her apartment, and, after many promises that she’d be careful and watch out for more monster attacks, headed back to her dorm.

The journey back was more pleasant than the one over to the Jackson-Blofis apartment. At least, if you consider ruminating over the ramifications of a monster attack more pleasant than having the same fearful thought exercise about your missing boyfriend for the billionth time. Annabeth considered the former more pleasant, anyway.

She got back to her roommate already sleeping, so she went into the bathroom, bringing two golden drachmas and an artificial ultraviolet sun globe with her.

She turned on the shower, flipped on the globe, then positioned it just the right way so that a rainbow was refracted in the falling water.

She’d rigged up this portable Iris Message machine back when she’d spent her seventh grade year away from camp, and it had been with her ever since. She could use a humidifier or a small water fountain to accomplish the same thing, but she sometimes retreated to the shower when her roommate was around for a little more privacy. 

Her roommate had to think she was weird, especially when she would IM Percy back in the fall and the two would talk for hours in hushed tones under the cover of the sound of the falling water, but Annabeth didn’t much care. She wasn’t paying the water bill.

Annabeth tossed in a drachma and called Chiron at camp. She told him about the Minotaur attack and how quickly it had reformed. Apparently, reports were coming in from several different campers on scouting missions that some monsters didn’t even stay dead longer than a few seconds.

Great.

After another check-in on the progress of the Argo II, and giving the assurance that she’d be careful in journeying to camp to help the following weekend, Annabeth swiped through the message and readied her second drachma.

She knew this part was futile.

She’d tried an Iris Message to Percy at least once a week since his disappearance. 

It had been more like once an hour in the first few days he had been gone, but, once Annabeth realized that she would soon be fresh out of ancient Greek money at that pace, she’d reluctantly slowed.

Still, if Percy was out there, even if… Even if he didn’t have his memories, an IM should connect.

Annabeth tossed in the drachma.

“Show me Percy Jackson at the Roman camp.”

The rainbow fizzled, but, as always, nothing happened.

As always, Annabeth asked anyway.

“Question game?”

She closed her eyes and pictured his encouraging grin, imagined the scrunched-up expression he wore when he contemplated her questions.

The game was supposed to limit Annabeth and Percy to one question apiece, but, since Percy couldn’t answer, Annabeth always asked two.

“Where are you Percy?” Annabeth asked, starting to tear up. “Do you remember me?”

Chapter Text

Percy almost preferred it when he had no memories of his past life.

Well, he almost preferred it when he had almost no memories.

There had been one aspect of it that had been rock solid since the moment he’d woken up, confused and disoriented:

The name Annabeth.

He’d had the name, the idea of Annabeth as his guiding light as he tried to make sense of who he was, what was happening, and what his powers were.

Ever since Percy drank the gorgon’s blood in Portland, his memories were starting to come back slowly.

He remembered bits and pieces.

Images, seemingly unmoored from any context, floated through his mind. The ceiling of a cabin, adorned in blue and with seashell accents. A field filled with ripe red strawberries. A serene lake. The door in a messy bedroom.

The face of his mother… Sally. Yes, that was it. His Satyr friend Garfield… no, Grover! His friend Grover, who had some connection to Enchiladas. His half-brother… Tyson the cyclops.

But the trickle of vague and unconnected memories only made him more frustrated that he couldn’t quite grab hold of the full picture. Like, now that he knew what he was missing, he couldn’t stand not knowing the whole thing. 

And then, of course, there was Annabeth. 

He’d imagined her face, her smile, her laugh, and her curly blond hair. He’d had the image of her looking at him while they were underwater, her face illuminated by the setting sun as it filtered through the ripples above. Had the vaguest idea of what her hugs felt like.

But he wanted to remember all of it.

He. Just. Couldn’t.

The same frustration that had gripped him in the Portland library, when he had punched a bookshelf because he couldn’t piece together why the building might make him think of Annabeth, gripped him again.

He wanted to smash something, but he didn’t figure Frank would appreciate Percy tearing apart his grandmother’s house.

Instead, he let out a low growl of frustration and plopped back on the couch in the living room of the mansion.

“Everything ok?” said a soft voice.

Percy looked up to see Hazel standing at the bottom of the stairs, a confused and concerned expression on her face.

Percy felt his frustrations melt a little. 

He couldn’t get back to his old life yet, but he’d at least found a couple of new friends that seemed to care about him.

“Yeah,” Percy said, trying not to sound too defeated. “Just… trying to remember.”

“I’m sorry,” Hazel said kindly. “I know that must be hard. I mean, at least I can remember my old life. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”

That made Percy feel a little guilty. At least he could, if he ever remembered it fully, conceivably return to find Annabeth and the others.

Hazel had died, spent decades in the underworld, and was now ripped out of her original time and back in the real world nearly a century later. She couldn’t just go hunt up her old friends, most of whom had to be long dead by now.

Percy couldn’t imagine remembering Annabeth, all of Annabeth, but still knowing he couldn’t get back to her. To this point, he’d pretty much solely kept himself alive with the thought of returning to her.

Percy wanted to verbalize this guilt to Hazel, to insist that she had it worse. But he decided it wouldn’t do either of them any good to both be reflecting on trauma.

Instead, he recognized her gesture of comfort.

“It’s tough,” Percy said. “But I can feel things coming back. Maybe they’ll keep coming.”

“Tell me about it,” Hazel said simply.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when I want to remember something important, I tell people about it,” Hazel said. “It seems to help things stick. I don’t think Frank is going to come out of there before bed anyway, so why don’t you tell me what you can remember?”

Maybe she was right. The few details Percy had remembered had seemed to come when he was remembering some specific memory or had some outside trigger.

“Well, honestly, what I can remember is all jumbled,” Percy said. “I get like, images, or, like, impressions. But I can’t remember what they mean or what is going on around them.”

“What about Annabeth?” Hazel asked, looking hesitant. 

She had seen Percy try to contact Annabeth via Iris Message when they ran into the rainbow goddess, and she hadn’t been able to hide the pity on her face when the call couldn’t connect before Percy saw it.

“Well, she was, at first, the only thing I could remember,” Percy said. “Her name. Her face.”

“What does she look like?”

Despite himself, Percy smiled at the thought of describing Annabeth. Gods, he wanted to see her again.

“Well, she’s got blond curly hair. That was one of the first things to come back. She has gray eyes that, like, change shade sometimes. I can picture the dark, angry ones and the lighter, happy ones. And her smile. She has smiles that you can tell are like a friendly smile for people she doesn’t know well, and then she has the smile when she’s like, really smiling, and it curves into her cheeks and…”

Percy trailed off, not wanting to be too gushing in front of his new friend, but Hazel was smiling at him.

“But yeah… I know that we’ve known each other for a long time. And I get images of things that we’ve done together. We’ve been to the underworld. We battled a cyclops. One time I had to rescue…”

Percy paused, something else coming back to him.

A gray streak, in Annabeth’s blond hair. She’d gotten it while… holding up the sky! And Percy had too, when he had gone to rescue her from the Titans.

He reached up to his hair.

“Do I have gray hair?” He asked Hazel.

“Oh, umm,” Hazel said, looking puzzled but examining him more closely. “I don’t really see any gray.”

“Oh,” Percy said, puzzled. “I think… Annabeth and I both had a streak of gray hair. It was from that quest. I had to rescue her after she got kidnapped. I guess it grew out?”

“Probably,” Hazel said “How long ago was it?”

“I… I’m not sure.”

“Well, that’s probably what happened,” she said, frowning. “What other adventures did you go on?”

“I think we had to do something underground, and then we were under a volcano..”

He trailed off again, another memory seeming to unlock itself. One that he didn’t think he wanted to share with Hazel. But he could tell his face must have lit up in recognition.

“You’re remembering!” Hazel said. “I think the gorgon’s blood must be working.”

Percy returned her smile, but his mind was racing now.

The kiss under the volcano. Another at the bottom of a lake. 

The lake at… Camp!

Camp Half-Blood! That was where he was supposed to be. Where he had met Annabeth. 

He lived at the camp for Greek demigods in the Poseidon cabin.

Actually… he remembered two kisses at the bottom of the lake. Percy had… told Annabeth that he loved her!

He remembered telling her for the first time. Remembered her saying it back.

He so badly wanted to tell her again.

Hazel’s voice snapped Percy back to the present for a moment.

“I’m going to go check on Frank,” she said, smiling as if in realization that he needed a moment to continue thinking. “Then I think I’ll probably try to get some sleep. I’ll take the bedroom on the left.”

“Okay,” Percy replied. “I’ll take the other. Night Hazel. And, thank you.”

“No problem, Percy,” Hazel said. “I can’t wait to meet Annabeth.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet her either,” Percy said.

A few more Annabeth connections drifted into his mind. She got wounded in the big battle. She had been working on a big architecture project. That must have been why the library made Percy think of her.

The flashes started to slow and, as time crept closer to midnight, Percy decided that no more would come that night. 

Percy trudged up to the bedroom and sat down on the bed. For the first time since, well, he could remember, he was content. He was starting to remember more and more about his old life. Sure, he wanted it. All of it. Right now. 

But, he saw progress. It was coming back. He just had to give it time. 

The gorgon’s blood was working. He’d get there. He’d remember everything about Annabeth, and he’d be with her soon. And, if he didn’t remember, he’d track down Hera or Juno or whoever he had to and make them give back his memories.

He just had to survive this quest.

He just had to survive all the cannibal giants outside the mansion.

“Canadians,” he said aloud with a smile, thinking of Annabeth.

Then, as a thought occurred to him, he sat up with a jolt.

If his memories were starting to come back now, would he be able to send an Iris Message?

He hurried into the bathroom, got his best approximation of a rainbow set up, dug out a drachma and tossed it in.

“O Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Annabeth Chase.”

Percy waited, hopefully.

There is so much he wanted to say. So many questions he wanted to ask. 

But he really wanted to just see her again. 

He waited, but nothing happened. 

Percy swiped through the message and flopped down on the bed, crestfallen.

Percy didn’t see why the messages wouldn’t work, but he seemed to now remember that there had been a lot of times that he didn’t exactly understand what was going on.

He’d always just asked Annabeth.

“Why can’t I get to you, Annabeth?” Percy whispered the question into his pillow before finally drifting off to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Shut up Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth ordered. “Just hold me for a while.”

Percy complied, pulling her in more tightly on top of the blanket spread out beneath them, one arm around her as they both gazed down at the passing earth beneath them through the glass doors in the Argo II’s stables.

Annabeth was home.

Well, not literally. 

They were somewhere between Kansas and Georgia, though, with the land beneath them starting to become more hilly and tre-filled, she suspected they were in southeastern Missouri or maybe northwestern Tennessee by now.

But, finally, after long months of worry and absence and tears, she was back in the arms of Percy Jackson.

It’s all she had wanted. And she knew they still had a potentially world-ending apocalypse to prevent and she herself still had the Mark of Athena to follow. But, all she could bring herself to care about in this exact moment was that they, against all odds, were together again.

And, as a bonus, he remembered her. She had still been worried up until they had met in New Rome that he somehow wouldn’t have gotten his memories back. That, like Jason, he would have met a new girl at the other camp and started a new relationship separate from Annabeth.

Knowing how long it took Percy to get a clue that Annabeth had liked him, she kind of doubted he would have been able to pull himself together enough to start a relationship in the amount of time he’d been gone, but still.

She had been ready to fight. To either bash him on the head with the butt of her knife until he remembered her — or to use the other end of the knife on this theoretical new girlfriend.

But, one look at the smile he had given her as soon as their eyes had met in New Rome, the same smile that was permanently burned into her brain, told her all she needed to know.

Then, they’d rushed each other, and it was the happiest moment she could remember.

Sure, she had judo-flipped him. But that was a… loving judo flip? At least it was once he started laughing.

But now, here they were, together again, and, thankfully, alone. She couldn’t wait for them to save the world so she could be back at home in her actual, physical home of Camp Half-Blood. To fulfill her promise and bring Percy home to Sally. 

Annabeth knew they still had a huge task ahead of them, but, together again with Percy, she almost felt… at peace about it? They’d defeated Kronos and saved the world before, what was one more time? As a team, they could do anything.

It was her potential solo quest to follow the burning coin left to her by Athena that bothered her. She wouldn’t be able to have Percy, or any of the others, there with her for that one.

But she tried her best not to think about that now.

It would work out. It always had. They were going to get back home, back to Sally and back to camp.

Well, if that was what Percy even wanted anymore. 

His comment earlier about the potential for New Rome to be a more permanent destination for them had been a little… scary.

Annabeth had done her fair share of imagining her future with Percy in the few months they had dated before he disappeared, but her thoughts involving her boyfriend had pretty much all been devoted to getting him back in the time he had been gone. 

She knew that Percy was committed to her — especially after hearing how he had remembered her from the moment he woke up without any other memories and how he had turned down Reyna’s advances — but talk of settling down peacefully together was new between them. And big. 

And it was kind of what Annabeth wanted too.

Since she’d learned she was a demigod and arrived at camp, all Annabeth had wanted was to prove herself on some big quest. Now that she was on the other side, felt she had proved herself plenty already, she just wanted a break. She’d gotten four months before Percy was stolen from her and they were thrust into another world-altering quest.

Where before her pride had led her to visions of grandeur, of saving the world and being celebrated for it, now, she just wanted to get this whole Gaea thing over with so she and Percy could get back to being semi-normal teenagers for a little bit.

After that… She wasn’t really totally sure yet, just that she wanted Percy involved. And, now that they were back together and he still had his memories, those ideas for a more permanent future seemed to unlock within her brain again.

But, those ideas had usually been connected to the place they shared, the place they met, the place where all their friends lived. New Rome was… not that.

But she decided to put that out of her mind for now. She didn’t even know if New Rome would be an option after Leo’s attack, but thoughts of the future with the boy she loved were welcome right now, especially after months of not being able to think about that future.

But, thinking about her love for the boy beside her reminded Annabeth that there were a few words that she hadn’t heard him say in a while. 

And she remembered that she owed him a question.

“Hey Seaweed Brain?”

“Yeah?” he answered, looking over at her.

The fond, affectionate look on his face told her that he too might have been sitting there, drinking in the fact that they were back together.

“Question game?”

“Oh, gods,” Percy said, his fond expression melting into a frown. “I haven’t even thought about that since…”

“That’s okay,” Annabeth said, cutting him off. It wasn’t his fault.

She hadn’t forgotten, of course. She’d been asking him unanswered questions during her failed Iris Message attempts for months. But, she hadn’t been the one that lost all of their memories.

Annabeth silently cursed Hera again (for probably the thousandth time) before continuing.

“But, I bet you can remember the last time we played it?” Annabeth said, giving him a sly smile.

She hoped she was right. If Hera took away that memory permanently, she was personally tearing down the doors of Olympus to confront her when they got back to New York.

Percy looked puzzled for a moment, then a smile grew slowly.

“I do,” he said.

“Good,” Annabeth said, relieved. “Because I think I owe you a question.”

“I seem to recall that you do too,” Percy answered.

“So, like, hypothetically, if a boy disappears for a few months,” Annabeth began. “Is there a certain phrase that he would then want to say to his girlfriend when they got back together?”

“Hmm,” Percy stroked his chin, mocking deep thought. “I suppose this hypothetical question is because of… academic interest?”

“Oh, you know us children of Athena,” Annabeth responded, trying to play along. “Always wanting to learn.”

“Well, I can’t speak for all hypothetical demigods that have been kidnapped and had their memory wiped,” Percy said, slightly turning her so that they looked into each other’s eyes.

Gods, she had missed the way he looked at her with those sea green eyes when he got all serious.

“But, ever since I woke up with your name in my head,” Percy said. “There was something I knew I couldn’t wait to tell you again.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“I love you, Annabeth.”

Hearing the words after spending so much time wondering whether she ever would again filled Annabeth’s body with a warmth that had nothing to do with the balmy climate in the stables or the hum of the engine nearby.

“I love you too, Percy.”

“Even Hera could never make me forget that I love you,” Percy said, then pulled Annabeth in for a long, slow kiss.

Annabeth knew they had missed several months of these moments, but just being able to have this one, here and now, was good enough for her. 

There was so much more she wanted to ask him. So much more she wanted to know. So much they needed to talk about. So much lost time they needed to make up for. But she decided to let this quiet moment live on its own for now. There would be more time later, assuming he didn’t disappear again .

Annabeth settled her head back on Percy’s shoulder, the most comfortable she’d been since the previous December.

His warmth next to her. The steady up-and-down of his breathing underneath her. His arm wrapped securely around her.

She was home.

Before slipping into a dreamless sleep, Annabeth had just enough time to wonder whether she and Percy should go back to their cabins.

Chapter Text

“Question game?” 

The words sounded like they escaped Annabeth’s lips painfully, like she still hadn’t caught her breath even though they’d been sitting and resting for a few minutes.

Not for the first time since — well, he didn’t know exactly how long they’d been here — Percy wondered whether he and Annabeth were the first to ever do something in Tartarus.

They were sitting on the flattest portion they could find of a craggy outcrop of rocks, resting a few minutes after surviving the plunge and getting their bearings. Well, as much as a couple of demigods could get their bearings in a hellish pit designed to kill them.

The River Phlegm-a-thon (or whatever) flowed in its fiery red current a few feet away. Reddish clouds pocked the sky in the cavern above them. Well, red was pretty much everywhere. From the fiery river to the clouds to the suspiciously slimy red-and-black floor below them.

Percy had never much cared for the color red. It felt like the natural enemy of his favorite color, blue.

The capture-the-flag teams at Camp Half-Blood always donned either red or blue to denote the different teams. Percy always tried to get on the blue team and felt wrong when he wasn’t. There wasn’t much red in the Poseidon cabin. Percy associated Ares, the misogynistic man-baby of a war god, with red. Even the orange camp t-shirts were a little too far away from Percy’s preference most of the time. 

Just about the only red thing he liked was the coral pendant that now hung on Annabeth’s camp necklace. The one he had retrieved for her from Poseidon’s palace not long after they had gotten together.

So it was this red, among the sea of red around them, that Percy chose to focus on as he responded to Annabeth’s request to start what had to be the first ever couples bonding game to be played in the pit of Tartarus.

“Might as well,” he croaked, remembering how hot and sticky and painful the air — if it even still counted as air down here — was around him. When they got out of here — if they got out of here — he was going to drink tea with honey for a month straight.

“We don’t have to,” Annabeth responded, looking down.

“Oh, no! No! I want to,” Percy assured her. He hadn’t meant to sound so unenthusiastic. It was hard to manage enthusiasm here.

“I just meant… I don’t know. It’s starting to feel, you know, real. That we’re down here. Like, we’re not going to wake up and it all was a bad dream. But, yeah. I want to do the game. I feel like we should… stay positive.”

Annabeth looked at him, and he couldn’t quite place the expression on her face. Whether it was just Tartarus around her or whatever she was about to say, she looked… pained?

She broke eye contact and looked at the spongy ground as she spoke.

“Why did you do it?”

Percy wondered what he’d done wrong. 

So far, they’d plunged into literal Hell, swam in a river that made him sad, he’d killed Arachne, and they’d drunk fire water to sustain their health.

They hadn’t had time to really talk — except for about the immediate situation and surviving — yet, so Percy didn’t remember anything he could have said to upset Annabeth.

“What do you mean?” Percy said.

Annabeth looked back up at him and met his eyes, the movement loosening a tear that had been rolling down her cheek.

“Why did you let go?” Annabeth choked out. “Why did you fall with me?”

Oh.

For the very first time, the fact that he’d actually made a conscious choice to fall with Annabeth into Tartarus registered in his brain.

Because it hadn’t felt like much of a choice to him before.

As soon as that strand of silk had begun to tug her toward the edge of the pit, there had been no thought outside of catching her, keeping her safe.

He caught her on the edge of the pit, then did again as they slipped over the edge.

His fingers, he now remembered, were screaming in protest as he barely held on to that tiny ledge. He had supported his weight, Annabeth’s, and whatever force had been pulling them down on just those fingers. 

They were sore now, he realized.

But never, ever, did it occur to him to let Annabeth go.

He remembered her pleading with him to let her go. To save himself.

But that had never been an option.

In the moment, he had remembered Nico’s words about the Doors of Death. He’d made the split second decision that this was the way they would get to the doors in Tartarus. And above all, he knew that he was staying with Annabeth. 

Knew it like it was one of the undeniable facts of the universe.

The sky is blue. Two-plus-two is four. He wasn’t letting Annabeth go.

“You would have done the same for me–” Percy started, but Annabeth cut him off.

“But, it’s not fair to you,” Annabeth managed through tears. “You shouldn’t have to suffer because of me. If I had just realized, I could have cut the string–”

“Hey,” Percy cut off her words in return. He ignored the screaming of his pained body as he scooted closer to Annabeth, cupping her sooty, grimy, beautiful face with one hand and wiping a tear away with the other.

Percy stared into her pale gray eyes and found the one bit of blue that existed in this red hellscape. That soft, almost imperceptible pastel of a blue that was only visible in Annabeth’s eyes in certain lighting.

“It was never even a question in my mind,” Percy said. “I was never going to let you go. I would never, will never, let you go.”

“But Percy, what if… What if you die down here? It would be my fault.”

“Don’t you even think like that,” Percy said. “It was never a choice for me. I was staying with you. But, if it was anyone’s choice, it was my own. You didn’t make me come here. I’d rather be with you, no matter what happens.”

Annabeth sniffled, but didn’t say anything.

Percy knew there wasn’t much he could say to make this impossible situation seem bearable.

But he had to try.

“I know this place… sucks. And I know that’s an understatement before you say anything,” Percy added quickly with a smile, coaxing a small, teary one out of Annabeth. “And I know it’s going to be hard and I don’t know how we’re going to make it out of here alive. But I don’t care. I would make that choice a trillion times in a row. I meant what I said. You’re not getting away from me. Never. Again.”

Annabeth didn’t say anything, just collapsed into Percy. He pulled her into a hug and held her.

“We’ll make it out,” he whispered into her dirt-pocked mane of blond curls. “I don’t know how, but we will. We’re a team. We’ve overcome the odds before. We’ll do it again.”

Annabeth pulled back and looked at him, dried streaks of tears leaving cleaner columns running through the soot covering her face.

“What if we can’t beat the odds this time?” Annabeth asked. “That’s how odds work. If you go against the odds enough times, the math catches up to you. It has to go the other way eventually.”

“Well, that’s precisely why I don’t like math,” Percy smiled. He didn’t much feel like smiling or joking here, of all places, but he knew it was what Annabeth needed right now. 

He’d made it his life goal to make her laugh, to make her smile, long ago. Sure, saving the world was great, but not as great as seeing that smile. Knowing that it was him that made it possible. Knowing that he could make her happy.

“Math tries to tell you what to do. It tries to tell you what is and isn’t possible. And I don’t like it when people tell me what to do,” Percy finished.

Annabeth smiled. It was a small one, but it was there. 

Victory.

“Except for me,” Annabeth said. “You let me tell you what to do.”

“Well, that’s different,” Percy responded. 

“How so?”

“Well, for one, you're scarier,” Percy said.

Annabeth laughed. Victory number two.

“But I trust you. Trust that you know what’s best. Because you usually do,” Percy said.

“Usually?”

“Most of the time.”

“Well, now, I think it’s “best” if you ask me your question,” Annabeth said, her smirk evident in her voice. 

The lighthearted banter that had been a staple of their dynamic for years felt a little shallow, a little forced, when their backdrop was the foul-smelling pulsing red and black landscape of Tartarus, but Percy would take it. They had to keep their heads up somehow, despite, well, everything. They hadn’t yet been in Tartarus long, but Percy suspected it was a place you didn’t want to try to walk through in a bad mood. 

It felt like the place tried to coax that mindset out of its inhabitants, like it needed to feed on negative thoughts to survive.

If he and Annabeth were going to get out of this, they’d have to hold each other together.

Chapter Text

“Question game?”

With one look, Annabeth had been able to tell Percy was thinking the same thing she was.

Her boyfriend was pretty easy to read sometimes, even apparently when he had been trudging through Tartarus for what had to have been days at this point and was enchanted to look like a literal misty zombie.

She, Percy, and Bob the titan sat overlooking the massive valley filled with monsters, the Doors of Death a tiny prick of darkness at the end of a sea of demons and monsters and several nasty creatures she couldn’t name and didn’t want to describe.

They’d stopped for a moment after escaping Nyx’s mansion to rest, but Annabeth knew they couldn’t wait for much longer before launching into the next seemingly-impossible task before them. Annabeth couldn’t see how they were going to overcome this particular hurdle, and she could see Percy’s doubts written on his face too.

She and Percy had the death mist. Theoretically, these monsters wouldn’t be able to see them.

But there were a lot of monsters. 

What would happen once they cut the chains? Would the monsters then attack? How would they escape back to the mortal world if they were attacked?

Annabeth hated not having plans. 

They had the idea of a plan — use the death mist to sneak past the monsters to get to the doors — but she had no idea where they would go from there. 

For most situations above ground, she had read and researched enough to feel comfortable with whatever twists might be thrown into her plans. 

But there was no “Demigod’s Guide to Escaping Tartarus,” probably because they were the first demigods to be stuck in Tartarus. Annabeth supposed she’d have to write that guide if they made it out of here alive, on the off chance a future child of Athena gets pulled down into Tartarus too.

But, despite the lack of a complete plan and despite her frustration that Damasen hadn’t agreed to come with them — even despite her insistence that he was meant to as part of the prophecy — Annabeth couldn’t help but find herself feeling a little… hopeful?

They’d made it this far already, in large part thanks to Bob and Damasen, but still. She could literally see the exit. They could get out of here, return to normal life.

She didn’t know how it was going to happen, but they’d make it so.

But Percy didn’t seem to share her optimistic appraisal, based on the look on his sallow, decaying face. 

Annabeth knew it was her turn to step up. 

Bob and Damasen had both been godsends (or was it giantsend and titansend?), but she and Percy had also had to help each other make it through the long trek deeper into Tartarus without totally giving up.

Percy had done his fair share of encouraging, uplifting her when she’d battled the ever-present despair that seemed to exist in the air of this place. Like if you breathed in too much of it, you’d lose yourself into an unavoidable hopelessness. Annabeth had managed to coax a few laughs out of her boyfriend as well when she could see a defeated look start to show up on his face, despite his attempts to hide it from her.

It was the least she could do for the boy who had plunged straight into Hell with her, apparently without a second thought, and she appreciated his attempts at keeping her spirits up too, even though she could see that this place was grating on him just as much.

She saw the defeated look on Percy’s dead face again now, so she decided to use that kernel of hope she was currently feeling to take her turn as the encourager.

“Sure,” he managed a weak smile as he met her eyes and answered her request to start the game. Their game.

They normally only asked each other their questions in private, but they had a guest this time that deserved a voice.

“Bob, you can play too,” Annabeth said, looking at the white-haired, broom-wielding titan that had saved them several times, despite the fact that neither Percy nor Annabeth really had deserved it.

“What is this Question Game?” the former Iapetus asked, sitting up and disturbing the slumber of Small Bob in his lap.

“We each ask a question, and then we take turns giving our answers. Since there are three of us, we can all answer the same question,” Annabeth said. “Percy and I can go first to show you.”

“I do not have a very long memory,” Bob said. “But I will try to play the game.”

“It’s okay, Bob,” Annabeth said, trying her best to sound upbeat. “I think you’ll have an answer to this one.”

“Okay,” she said, turning to Percy. “When we get out of here, what are you most looking forward to doing back in the mortal world?”

Annabeth could tell that Percy knew that she was doing this in an attempt to cheer him up, but his smile grew anyway on his ghostly, pale face.

“Well, for starters, I think I’m going to find the nearest body of water that isn’t made out of fire or pain or sadness and jump right in,” Percy said. “I’ve never been this long without a shower before, and I feel… smelly.”

“We can tell,” Annabeth said, bumping her own misty, zombified shoulder against his.

“Tartarus is not designed for you demigods to stay for so long,” Bob said. “But the air around us does smell a little fouler than usual. But, I have cleaning supplies!”

Bob gestured at the spray bottle of blue cleaning solution at his belt.

“I think I can stand him for a little bit longer,” Annabeth laughed. “Might keep away the monsters anyway.”

“Or it might attract them,” Percy shrugged. “But I guess it’s fitting that I smell like a corpse since… you know.”

Percy gestured to his very corpse-like visage.

“We’ll get you back to the water Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said. “But what else do you want to do?”

“I want to have a hot meal cooked by Sally Jackson,” he said. “No offense to Damasen’s drakon jerky, but it’s been too long now since I’ve had my mom’s cooking.”

“Amen,” Annabeth said.

“What about you, Wise Girl, if we–”

“ When ,” Annabeth corrected. Positive attitude, Percy.

“ When we get out of here,” Percy started again. “What do you want to do?”

“Well, I also won’t say no to a shower and some of your mom’s bread pudding,” Annabeth said. “But I can’t wait to go on that date in New Rome. We’ll want to scout it out to see if we’re thinking about going to college there.”

Even looking dead, Percy’s face came alive with a smile.

She knew she’d get this reaction out of her boyfriend with those words, but they were genuine.

Annabeth had been hesitant about the idea of spending time in New Rome, but the idea of being, well, anywhere peaceful with her boyfriend was just fine with her at this point. If they pulled this off, walked through Tartarus and came out alive, they deserved a happy ending, no matter where it took place.

“You mean it?” Percy asked, his lopsided, giddy grin somehow filling her with warmth despite it coming from a zombified version of her boyfriend’s face.

“I do,” Annabeth said. “We’ll have to defeat Gaea and repair relations with the Romans first, of course, but I want to at least see the city some more. Then we can talk about college.”

Annabeth hoped her own dead face was returning his smile well enough.

“What about you, Bob?” she asked, wondering even if the titan could remember anything from before his memories were erased in the River Lethe. “What will you do?”

“I do not remember much about my time… before,” Bob said. “And I have been under the ground since I became Bob. But I remember the warmth of the sun and the light of the stars. I… would like to see them again.”

Annabeth felt a tear fall from her sunken eyes.

She hoped they could get Bob back out under the sun and the stars again.

Chapter Text

Percy had forgotten what it was like to stare upward while laying down and simply see the ceiling of his cabin in the Argo II, rather than a sky of blood-red clouds or craggy cliffs or a drakon-hide hut built for a giant.

He’d expected sleep to come easy to him tonight, his first back in the mortal world.

Percy and Annabeth had only been able to spare a couple of nights of sleep and a few hours of resting while trudging through Tartarus, and Percy could feel exhaustion in every muscle in his body each time he moved. He’d expected to hit the bed in his cabin, to pass out, and to be effectively dead to the world until his friends needed him again.

But he’d already been lying here for an hour, and sleep seemed no closer than it had when he finally had been able to collapse on the soft bed.

Even that simple comfort of a mattress felt unfamiliar right now. After walking through Tartarus and trying to find the least sharp sections of boulders to lay on — save for the one night in Damasen’s hut — the bed in his Argo II cabin felt too soft, like he was laying on a melting marshmallow and sinking right through.

He’d tried to close his eyes a few times in an effort to force himself closer to sleep.

But, when his eyes closed, the visions of the barren wasteland they’d just escaped from took advantage of Percy’s lack of sight to project themselves onto the inside of his eyelids.

He saw fiery rivers and blood clouds and hordes of monsters and the corporeal form of Tartarus himself.

He also saw Annabeth. Saw the fear in her eyes as she pleaded with him not to kill Akhlys. Saw the corpse-like appearance she’d had after taking on the death mist. Saw, this time, something go wrong. Saw her dead. Saw her left behind. Saw the Doors of Death closing, with her on the other side.

So, Percy was no longer closing his eyes.

Now that the image of a dead Annabeth was one that his brain could vividly picture, it seemed to be eager to project that horrible vision to him.

And, with that vision circulating, he started to convince himself that it had been the truth.

Percy wondered whether something inside of him had truly cracked inside Tartarus. 

He knew he and Annabeth had made it out alive. The painful reminder that they had escaped while Bob and Damasen had been left behind had also been replaying in his brain ever since the doors slid shut.

But, with Annabeth’s limp, dead form making appearances in his brain now too, Percy couldn’t stop himself from starting to blend the truth with his brain’s projections.

He tried to push those thoughts aside, thinking about the goodnight hug and kiss a very real and very alive Annabeth had given him a little over an hour ago.

At least, he thought that had been real.

He tried to picture it again, closing his eyes in an attempt to do so.

Big mistake.

What he saw instead was the Doors of Death sliding open back into the House of Hades in Epirus to reveal a sobbing Percy Jackson holding a dead Annabeth Chase in his arms.

Percy’s eyes shot open. A small part of his brain tried to tell him that the vision wasn’t real, but the larger part of his brain was now completely convinced that he’d let his girlfriend die in his arms.

The finality of it hit him like a speeding bus. Annabeth had died, and he saw it.

Except, she hadn’t, right?

They’d made it out. They were safe, or, at least not in as much imminent danger as they had been the entire time in Tartarus.

Or were they?

Was she?

Percy made up his mind. He had to see her. Had to know she was alive.

He leapt to his feet and stumbled out into the hall in his t-shirt and gym shorts, the first clean clothes he’d worn since before taking the plunge into Tartarus.

He tried not to break into a run as he went down the hall and burst into Annabeth’s room, not even pausing to knock on the door.

When he was met with the sight of an empty bed, Percy almost lost control.

He fell to his knees, and his breath began to shorten. 

He knew this wasn’t right. Knew she was alive. Knew they had escaped. But the sight of her empty bed in the real world combined with the images of her dead body flickering through his mind were a dangerous combination.

Later, he supposed his battle reflexes had kicked in, helped him stay calm in the face of perceived danger. Helped his mind perceive the true reality. 

She’d gone somewhere on the ship, that was it. He just had to find her. 

After a few minutes of heaving, his breath slowed, and he carefully got up. 

There were tears in his eyes, but he wiped them away and pushed back into the hallway. Maybe there had been a problem or an attack above deck?

Or maybe she’s dead.

Maybe Leo needed help with the ship?

Or, she’s gone.

Percy forced himself to ignore the stupid small voice whispering things he knew weren’t true in the back of his mind.

He staggered up the hall and toward the staircase that led to the top of the ship, and that’s when he heard her voice.

“Thanks, Leo,” said the shaky voice of Percy’s very alive girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, at the top of the stairs. Relief flooded over Percy like a warm blanket. She was safe. She was alright.

Annabeth, still dressed in pajamas herself, turned and started down the stairs, then froze when she saw Percy.

Percy saw dried tears in her eyes, and the sight threatened to renew his own stream of tears that had been falling since he saw her empty bed. He knew with a look she’d been having the same fears too.

“Hey, Percy,” she said softly, looking at him knowingly. 

“Hey,” Percy said, his voice coming out in the croak of someone who hadn’t spoken since crying.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Annabeth said, a little further along in her voice’s return to normalcy.

“No,” Percy said, still staring at Annabeth as if to make sure she was, in fact, alive and in front of him and real and speaking to him. “I was… coming to find you. What about you?”

“Me either,” Annabeth said, wiping her eye with the sleeve of her pajama top. “I was headed to your room.”

“But you went to… Leo first?” Percy asked, more confused than accusatory.

“Oh, yeah, I… had to ask him something first,” Annabeth said, looking down. Then, her eyes snapped up to his. “Question game?”

“Sure?” He said, unsure of where she was going.

“I saw…” Annabeth started, then seemed to decide she didn’t want to continue that thought.  “After everything, I… don’t think I’m ready to be away from you just yet. Can I… Can we sleep in the same bed?”

Percy stepped forward to meet Annabeth halfway down the stairs in a hug.

“Of course,” Percy said. “I… well, I hadn’t gotten much further than checking to make sure you were… still here. But I think I want the same thing.”

“I’m here,” she said, breaking apart to look up at him. The look on her face told Percy that she probably had experienced the same fear too.

“I’m here too,” he managed a smile. “We’re together.”

Annabeth took Percy’s hand and guided him down the stairs and back into the hall.

“You okay with my room?” Annabeth asked.

“Sure,” Percy responded. 

Annabeth pulled the door to her cabin shut behind them and clicked the lock into place.

Something clicked into place in Percy’s brain at the same time.

“Oh, but what about the table?” Percy asked. “Didn’t Leo program it to not allow anyone to go in each other’s rooms?”

The last thing either of them needed was to be trying to get over Tartarus only to be yelled at by the hologram of a screaming Satyr to “Put some clothes on!”

“That’s why I went to see him. I asked him if he could deactivate Buford’s patrol mode… at least for tonight,” Annabeth said.

“Oh,” Percy said. “You think of everything.”

“I try,” Annabeth said.

She walked toward her bunk, then paused and turned back around to face him.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Annabeth asked, then looked down, turning red. “Us sleeping together… I mean… sleeping… beside… each other.”

It seemed a little silly to have survived walking through Hell alongside his girlfriend just to feel nervous and awkward when facing the prospect of sleeping in her bed, but Percy’s face got warm too.

Percy… understood the need for a Satyr chaperone for the group of teenage heroes — especially a group that included three couples — and for Buford the table’s approximation of a chaperone now that Coach Hedge had left with Nico and Reyna. 

But he knew that he certainly wasn’t emotionally capable of breaking certain rules at the moment, and he figured Annabeth wasn’t either. But they clearly needed to be together, right now. At least until more time passed.

“Yes,” Percy said, choosing his words carefully in an attempt to avoid a similar awkward slip-up to what Annabeth had said. “I think we need to… be close to each other right now.”

Annabeth’s cheeks were still red, but she nodded, and he could tell that they were on the same page. 

Annabeth led him to her bed, and Percy climbed in. Her room smelled of her favorite lemon shampoo, something he hadn’t noticed when he’d been in the room a few minutes ago. He was sure she had used 20 times the recommended amount in her first shower since Tartarus. He’d done the same, and he thought he’d mostly gotten the smell of the place off of him.

Annabeth clambered in beside him, facing him and pulling up the covers over them both.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, stretching out her legs and intertwining her feet with his as she pulled in closer to him.

He considered. There was plenty they’d need to talk about, at least eventually, surrounding what had gone on in Tartarus. But those wounds were still so fresh. He could tell that she knew what his fear had been too, so there was no need to rehash it right now. He’d just needed to see her, to know she was alive. And here she was. And that was all he needed.

“I… I think I’m okay for now,” he said. “You?”

“Now that you’re here,” she said, snuggling her head into his chest. “I’m good for now too.”

Percy wrapped his arms around her and held her, making a silent note to thank Leo when he ran into him the next day.

It wasn’t the first time they’d be sleeping near each other. They’d fallen asleep close to each other on quests for years, and Annabeth had accidentally spent Thanksgiving night next to him on his apartment’s living room floor last fall. They’d even fallen asleep together in the Argo II’s stables on this very quest, though that felt like a lifetime ago, and they’d slept beside each other the few times they’d managed to get some sleep in Tartarus.

But, lying in Annabeth’s bed with her, alone behind a shut and locked door, just holding the girl he loved, felt… different. And like something Percy could get used to.

Despite the struggles of earlier in the night, Percy found himself smiling.

Percy kissed Annabeth’s forehead, then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“I love you Annabeth.”

“I love you too, Seaweed Brain.”

After a few minutes, Percy found the courage to close his eyes.

When he did, he still saw Tartarus, but, it was the… good parts? If there was such a thing as good parts of Tartarus.

He saw Annabeth laughing at a joke he had told while they were resting by the Phlegathon. He saw her tell him that she’d like to go on a date in New Rome. He saw her lying beside him in Damasen’s hut.

He felt Annabeth’s breath slow against his chest, and, a few minutes later, Percy finally drifted off to sleep too.

Chapter Text

“Wait, Leo was on Calypso’s island?”

Annabeth stopped Hazel as the younger girl recounted the adventures of the demigods that hadn’t vacationed in Tartarus like she and Percy had.

Annabeth had been told about the broad strokes of what had happened while she and Percy had been in the pit, but there hadn’t been much time for detailed explanations. Plus, it turned out that a lot had happened in the few days it took Annabeth and Percy to traverse the most dangerous place in the universe. Go figure.

With Percy above deck on guard duty as they sailed for Olympia and Piper still clinging to Jason’s side after he was injured in Ithaca, Hazel was in Annabeth’s room, keeping her company and filling her in more on the details of the exploits of the remaining five heroes — plus Nico — of the prophecy. 

Annabeth had noticed a more concerted effort from her shipmates to spend time with her while she wasn’t around Percy, although they hadn’t made a big deal about it. Annabeth was appreciative — both for the company and for the lack of acknowledgement from the crew that she needed company. 

Gods, Tartarus did a number on me , Annabeth thought.

Hazel and Piper had been the go-tos for Annabeth, and she suspected that Frank, Leo and Jason had been spending more time with Percy too.

“Well, don’t tell anyone, because I think only I know about it,” Hazel said, then smiled at Annabeth. “Well, anyone other than Percy.”

Percy was Annabeth’s boyfriend and therefore didn’t count as part of any “don’t tell anyone” rules. She was glad Hazel understood. And she suspected Frank was relayed most things that people had admitted to Hazel too.

“But, when that snow goddess showed up and blasted Leo off the ship,” Hazel continued. “Piper made Festus come alive and saved us, but we didn’t know where Leo went. We were trapped in north Africa for a few days, and then we went and found him in Malta.”

“I could tell something was different about him. Well… he was no longer looking at me like Sammy used to, for starters. I knew he had met someone, but he wouldn’t tell anyone at first. He told me the other night that it was Calypso. He wants to go back and find her, when we win the war.”

“Wow,” Annabeth said. 

The name brought back a lot of memories.

Of course, as soon as Annabeth had gathered the courage enough to kiss Percy Jackson for the first time under a volcano when they were 14, Percy had blown up the volcano and landed half-dead on Ogygia with Calypso. 

Annabeth had thought that Percy was full-dead for those two weeks, had even had to deliver the start of a funeral address at camp before the Seaweed Brain crashed his own funeral.

He hadn’t explained where he’d been at the time, but Annabeth had deduced it pretty quickly. Of course her most blatant declaration of her feelings for Percy at the time had been immediately followed by Percy vacationing on a picturesque island with a beautiful goddess who was cursed into falling in love with him.

Annabeth figured that turn of events must have been one of Aphrodite’s favorites in the whole “making Annabeth’s love life interesting” saga. Annabeth hated it.

Annabeth knew the myth of Calypso well enough to know it had to have been a tempting offer for Percy, feelings or falling in love aside. The ability to escape the prophecy and live a peaceful life wouldn’t have hurt either.

But still, he had come back. 

Sure, he’d come back and immediately spoken of Rachel Dare while completely skipping out on bringing up the kiss they’d shared, but still. He was an obtuse, oblivious boy, but he was the obtuse, oblivious boy that had come back to her.

Percy and Annabeth hadn’t talked about Calypso until more than a year later, after they had gotten together, and even that wasn’t a very extensive conversation. 

Since she and Percy had started dating, Annabeth hadn’t really doubted Percy’s feelings for her. She’d spent so much time before they had finally defended Olympus and shared an underwater kiss wondering how he truly felt, but his actions and words since then had made it abundantly obvious.

He plunged into Tartarus for you, Annabeth reminded herself.

She hadn’t felt nearly as threatened since last summer about Rachel or Calypso, because she knew her Seaweed Brain was, well, hers . So she hadn’t pushed him much on the subject of Calypso when they’d initially talked.

But, if Leo was bent on finding her, she figured they probably needed to talk a little more.

She wasn’t sure exactly who knew about Percy spending time on Ogygia, but Annabeth had told Piper, so she was sure word had gotten around. It was a small ship, and Leo and Piper were pretty good friends.

If Leo knew that Percy had been on Calypso’s island, and Leo was apparently in love with Calypso, that could cause some hurt feelings.

And they couldn’t afford to deal with hurt feelings. Hurt feelings hurt focus, as Annabeth had learned all to many times during quests with Percy.

Hazel finished her recounting to Annabeth and left to turn in for the night. Annabeth thought it must have been a carryover from growing up in the 1930s, but Hazel always preferred to get in bed early when she had the choice.

After she left, Annabeth pulled on a long-sleeve shirt and walked up into the night air on the deck.

She found Percy staring off into the distance over thankfully-peaceful waters. She knew he would easily be able to tell if anything was approaching from the water — part of the whole Poseideon power — but he also appeared to be deep in thought. 

As much as Annabeth teased Percy about his mental acuity when he was younger — well, she still teased him about it, but hopefully in a more loving way now — Annabeth seemed to catch him in apparent deep thought more and more these days.

Annabeth used her stealth training from camp to sneak silently towards him, then reached over his shoulders to pull him into a hug from behind, catching him by surprise.

It may not have been the wisest plan to sneak up on someone who is supposed to be on the lookout for danger, but Percy seemed to catch on that she wasn’t a monster pretty quickly.

“Hey,” he said, grasping her arm and squeezing, but not turning.

She pressed a quick kiss to the back of his head.

“Hey,” Annabeth said. “Any sea monsters so far?”

“None,” Percy said. “Seems like a quiet night.”

He reached down and rapped his fist twice on the Argo II’s railing, eliciting a metallic clang.

“Knock on wood… or, um… bronze?”

Annabeth laughed, and Percy smiled before his brow returned to its knotted-together look.

“Question game?” Annabeth asked.

“Sure.” Percy said, squeezing her arm again.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

She’d been planning to save her question to ask about Calypso, but she decided now that it was a relevant enough conversation that she could just bring it up after getting Percy talking.

“How did you know I was thinking about something?”

“Oh please,” Annabeth said. “You say I have a ‘planning something’ face, but your thinking face? So obvious.”

“I thought you said that I don’t think,” Percy smiled.

“Well, not always, so, when you do, it sticks out even more,” Annabeth returned the smile, letting go of the hug to stand beside him on the railing and wrapping her fingers through his. “So, are you going to answer my question, or do I have to call a foul?”

“A foul?” Percy looked at her in mock outrage. “Now, I know I lost my memory there for a while, but I don’t remember there being penalties in the question game.”

“Well, I hope you also haven’t forgotten that I made up the game and I make the rules.”

“Whatever.”

“Answer… or I won’t answer your questions for two straight days.”

“Oh, well in that case…” Percy trailed off, his playful grin melting into a more serious look. “Honestly, I was thinking about Calypso.”

Oh.

She hadn’t expected that.

I mean, sure, it felt like she and Percy knew each other so well at this point that they could read each other’s minds sometimes. But she had no idea what expression she could have worn to clue him in that she wanted to talk about something that specific.

Then it dawned on her.

She didn’t think he and Leo had the kind of relationship where they talked much privately yet, but they must have already talked it out. She’d come here to tell Percy that he needed to talk to Leo, but, apparently he already had.

“How did Leo take it?”

“Wait, what?” Percy looked genuinely confused.

And now Annabeth returned the look.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Then how did you know I was going to ask about Calypso?”

“I… didn’t. What were you going to ask about Calypso?”

“Well what were you thinking about Calypso?”

“What does Leo have to do with this?”

“You first,” Annabeth said, grabbing his arm and shaking off the misunderstanding with a smile. “You have to answer my question before you ask yours. Those are the rules.”

“Well… I was just thinking about how she cursed you.”

“Oh.” 

That was news to Annabeth. They hadn’t talked much about Tartarus since they escaped. The few minutes in which they fought against the Arai had been some of the toughest in a time period of pretty much only tough moments while they were in the pit. 

The blindness was bad enough, then, she had been cursed to believe that Percy had abandoned her, alone, in Tartarus. A feeling that she couldn’t shake, even though the logical part of her brain screamed at her that it would never happen.

She had finally been healed of the curses by Bob, only to see Percy pretty much on the verge of death.

They hadn’t had time to discuss the curses since, and Annabeth hadn’t really wanted to. The thought that Percy had left her, would leave her, had been worse than a lot of the terrible things she experienced down there. 

She had been just starting to accept that Percy was loyal enough to stick by her forever. Logically, she had already known that for a while, but the small voice in the back of her brain was worried that somehow, he’d go too, just like Luke. 

And then the curse had happened. She shivered at the thought now, of feeling truly helpless and alone, like Percy had abandoned her.

With a jolt, she realized that this must have been the curse from Calypso. 

It totally wasn’t Percy’s fault — the gods had imprisoned Calypso on the island and set in place her curse of a punishment — but, in a way, Percy had abandoned her, never to return.

“The one… after I was blinded?” Annabeth asked, not wanting to think about the curse again hard enough to form it in coherent words.

“Yeah.”

“How did you know it was her?”

“The Arai told me while you… couldn’t hear me,” Percy responded.

Annabeth appreciated that he had picked up on her reluctance to talk about the curse in detail.

“I just feel so bad about it,” Percy said. “Bad that I caused her to feel that way towards me. Bad that she took it out on you, when it was my fault.”

“Hey,” Annabeth said. “Nothing was your fault.”

“I mean, yeah it is.”

“What could you have done differently?” Annabeth asked. “Stayed there?”

She hoped that wasn’t what he meant. That he regretted returning to the real world. To her .

“No,” he said automatically, squeezing her hand. “I don’t know. I just… feel bad for her situation. That she had to stay there. And I know I made the gods promise to free her, but I should have made sure…”

“Hey,” Annabeth said calmly.

She was relieved that he wasn’t having second thoughts about staying on Ogygia, but that didn’t mean that his tendency to blame himself for problems outside of his control couldn’t be frustrating sometimes.

“When could you have done that? When your memory was gone? When we were sailing across the Atlantic? When we were in Rome? When we were… down there?”

“Well, I had four months before all that, and I didn’t follow through.”

“Perseus Jackson,” She took his head in her hands and forced him to look at her eyes. “You turned down immortality and then made the gods swear — o n the River Styx, mind you — that they would pardon her. As far as making the gods do something, that’s, like, the most any demigod has ever done. You couldn’t have just been barging into Olympus every day and asking for updates. You did your part. You’re just one person, no matter how great of a person, of a hero, you are. It’s the gods' failure, not yours. She had no right to take it out on you.”

Or on me , Annabeth finished in her head. She could understand why Calypso had been upset, but a curse? On Annabeth, who had committed no crime other than liking the boy that had washed up on Calypso’s island?

Percy looked away from her and stared out to the sea for a long moment before answering, still looking away.

“Is it okay if I still feel bad about it?” 

Ugh.

Percy was a frustratingly good person sometimes. 

It was part of why she loved him. Also part of why he annoyed her sometimes.

“Well, I can’t tell you how to feel,” Annabeth said. “But I don’t think you should have to.”

“She hurt you because of me, Annabeth,” Percy said, turning back to her. “I… can’t let that happen.”

“Hey. Again. Not your fault,” Annabeth said. “But, newsflash Seaweed Brain. We wouldn’t even have fallen into Tartarus if not for me, so you got hurt a whole lot because of—”

“I told you that it wasn’t your fault,” Percy cut her off. “That I would have gone with you no matter what.”

“Exactly. It goes both ways, Percy. If you won’t allow me to blame myself for literally dragging you through hell with me, then you don’t get to blame yourself for this.”

“But… It’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“I… I don’t know. But it is.”

“Percy,” Annabeth said. “I know you want to protect me. And I love that you do. But you can’t control everything. Just like it was your choice to stay beside me, I choose to stay with you. That’s how it works. We’re a team. We signed up for this.”

“Plus,” she said, catching his eye and smiling again. She hadn’t planned to have this intense of a conversation tonight, and she wanted to lighten the mood a little. “You know I can take care of myself. I beat you most of the time when we spar.”

Percy’s pained expression cracked into a small grin.

“I think it’s more 50-50.”

“89 wins for me to 53 for you.”

“You’ve been keeping track??”

She hadn’t, but the numbers she pulled out of her head sounded about right. She’d beaten him several times in a row when he first got to camp, before he had trained up.

But, she knew he’d believe that she had been keeping track.

“Yep,” she said, trying not to smile and betray her deception. “When I get to 100, you have to throw me a party.”

“I’m going to win… 47 in a row so I'll get there first.”

“Good job, Mr. ‘I Hate Math.’”

“Hey, when it’s important, I can do math,” Percy said. “I just don’t like to.”

After a moment of silence, Percy took his turn.

“So my question,” he started. “What does Leo have to do with Calypso?”

“Well,” Annabeth said, unsure of how exactly to phrase it now that they had already had a somewhat contentious conversation about the subject. She’d been excited for Leo’s sake, but now, knowing about the curse, Annabeth wasn’t sure what exactly to feel.

“Don’t tell anyone else. Hazel told me… but, while we were… gone, Leo ended up on Ogygia.”

Percy snapped his head toward her.

“Really?”

“Apparently. Hazel said he wants to go back and get Calypso after the war.”

“Wow,” Percy said, then paused before a smile grew on his face. “She said that no one is able to find the island twice. But, if anyone can figure out how to design something that can get back there, it’s Leo. Or, maybe, when the war is over, we can make the gods follow through on their promise to free her!”

Percy sounded excited — very excited — at the prospect of Calypso coming back to the mortal world from her exile on Ogygia.

Annabeth fought back a small flare of annoyance. Had he regretted his decision to come back after all, to leave her? Now that she could possibly escape her exile, was he excited about the prospect of seeing her again?

No , Annabeth told herself. He fell into Tartarus for you.

Being jealous and territorial over Percy’s history with Calypso or Rachel Dare was exactly that, ancient history. He was here now, and he’d proved his loyalty far more than anyone should ever have to. 

But still, she was curious why he was so excited.

So, trying to make it clear that she was teasing him by adopting a wry smile, she asked:

“Plan to fight Leo for her, Seaweed Brain?”

Percy paled, and his smile vanished. 

After all they’d been through, he still got a little nervous around the subject of other potential partners in their pasts.

“Oh, gods no!” He said. “I don’t want… No… I love you , Annabeth. I just meant, you know, I was feeling bad about not coming through on getting the gods to pardon her. Now we can fix that!”

Annabeth should have known it was the stupid noble reason. With Percy, it usually was the stupid noble reason.

But, now that they were talking about it, she wanted to pry a little more about his time on the island.

“Come on, peaceful tropical island with wind servants catering to your every need?” Annabeth continued to tease, hoping he’d pick up that she wasn’t upset. “You had to have thought about staying.”

“No, well, I mean…” He trailed off.

Had he considered staying?

“I mean, I thought about it,” He said. “I think that is part of the magic of the island too, that it’s supposed to be like, hard for the hero who goes there to want to leave too. I mean, I was under so much pressure at the time, with the quest and the war and the prophecy. And staying would have been…”

“Freeing?” Annabeth supplied.

“Yeah,” he said. “Like, an escape from being the hero of the prophecy. Like a get out of jail free card. A path to a peaceful life. But, I just couldn’t stay. I knew I had to see everything through.”

“Any other reason?” Annabeth asked, simultaneously admiring how much of a selfless hero Percy always was while also slightly surprised that he hadn’t named her as one of the reasons he came back. “Any certain events under Mount St. Helens have an influence?”

Percy was staring out at the sea, appearing not to have heard her.

“Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You still there?”

“What?” He finally looked back at her, confused. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Annabeth now felt a little justified in her growing annoyance. 

“I asked if I had anything to do with you coming back.” Annabeth snapped, a little more bluntly than she meant to.

“Oh, gods, Annabeth,” Percy said quickly, taking her hand. “I’m so sorry. Yes, a thousand times yes. I mean… you had just kissed me. I couldn’t stay gone after that could I?”

Annabeth must not have been hiding her annoyance very well, because Percy’s face fell.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I zoned out,” he said. “Yes, I had to come back to you. I’m so so so so glad I did.”

Annabeth believed him. She really did. But Tartarus must still be affecting her. She couldn’t find it within herself to wipe the annoyed look off her face. She knew he had chosen her. Knew that he loved her deeply. But she couldn’t help but interpret his zoned-out staring at the sea as rethinking or… maybe regret. Or maybe she hadn’t changed as much as she thought she had since the days of jealousy over Rachel and Calypso. 

Percy was used to her annoyed look. Well, he kind of had to be at this point. But they both knew that there were two different ones. 

There was the affectionate annoyed look that she gave him after a bad joke or a dimwitted moment or a bad impression of a celebrity. She knew she adopted that look a lot.

This was the other annoyed look.

“I love you.” Percy said, kissing her forehead and pulling back to look at her face. Her expression hadn’t changed.

“I love you,” he repeated, and kissed her cheek.

Still no.

“I love you.” He kissed the other. “I love you.” The corner of her eye. “I love you.” The other eye. “I love you.” Her chin.

Finally, Annabeth cracked, her smile starting to grow. Percy noticed, and pulled back. 

“I love you too, Seaweed Brain,” she said, wearing a small grin. 

“Sorry though,” he said. “I was thinking about something and I should have been paying attention. But, I… I don’t know. At that time, I knew I still had a part to play. Wanted more than anything to help save the world. And that played a role in me wanting to come back. But, I don’t know… now, after everything since then, it feels different. Like, settling down for a peaceful life sounds a whole lot more compelling than it did then, even just a couple of years ago.”

He paused and took her hand.

“So I was just thinking, that, I don’t know, if it had been you on that island, trying to get me to stay with you forever in peace, and we could escape everything together … That would have been a lot more tempting.”

The last bit of annoyance melted right out of Annabeth’s chest. She couldn’t promise that her insecurities wouldn’t worm their way into her head and cause her to have small kernels of doubt about Percy again in the future, but, if he kept saying things like that , she knew she’d be okay. 

She laid her head on his shoulder, and they both looked out across the sea.

“That would be nice, Seaweed Brain.”

She had to admit, that did sound like a pretty tempting offer right now. They’d never get something as idyllic as immortality on a private island together, but, right now, it felt a little like they were fighting to claim some version of that.

After everything they had been through, if they could just defeat Gaea, just reach adulthood unharmed, then maybe their version of a peaceful, happy ending could come true.

It wouldn’t need to be immortality on a private island with spirit servants catering to their every need.

As long as it was her and Percy, that would be okay with Annabeth.

But they had to get there first. And Annabeth remembered why she had come to see Percy in the first place. 

“Can you talk to Leo, though, about Calypso?” Annabeth said, still gazing out to sea. “If he does, you know, love her, he’ll probably feel… threatened by you if he is able to bring her back.”

“Why does everyone always feel threatened by me in these situations,” Percy asked, looking at her. “I’m just… me.”

If Percy could see himself how Annabeth saw him — like now, with his perfectly messy dark hair and his kind sea green eyes shining in the soft glow of the moonlight reflecting off the sea — he wouldn’t ask such silly questions.

“I may be biased, but ‘Just Percy’ is pretty great, you know,” Annabeth said, brushing back a loose strand of dark hair that had fallen over Percy’s eyes. “But, I mean, it’s an awkward situation in general. You can just let him know that you don’t plan to steal his girl… because you’re already head-over-heels in love with someone else that you would never even think about leaving, even if an immortal beautiful goddess is around.”

Percy laughed and squeezed Annabeth tight with one arm.

“I’ll talk to him,” Percy said. “And you’re right. He has absolutely nothing to worry about.”

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, Percy was now intimately familiar with the floor of the bathroom next to his cabin in the Argo II. 

He’d been pretty much glued to it since he and Jason had gotten back from their excursion to visit Kymopoleia.

Jason had apparently gained a purpose at the bottom of the ocean and would be making sure minor gods got their deserved recognition at both demigod camps.

All Percy got was a face-full of poison from a giant.

Everytime Percy heaved and expelled more remnants of Polybotes’ poison, he couldn’t help but think that he deserved it. 

Deserved to have been poisoned for what he did to Akhlys in Tartarus. For how Annabeth had looked at him when he did what he did to Akhlys.

If he wasn’t going to be poisoned to death, he at least deserved to relive its awful taste every time he emptied more of it up into the toilet.

It had been a long night so far, as the ship limped away from Atlantis toward Delos. Percy had been… removing more poison once every 30 minutes or so for the first few hours after the fight with Polybotes, but the rate had slowed considerably. It had been an hour and 45 minutes since…

The thought died as another wave of nausea swept quickly through Percy. 

Then, the timer reset.

As he flushed, his heaving slowed and he collapsed back onto the floor. Then he heard a knock at the door.

“Come in,” He choked through a hoarse throat, assuming that there would only be one person that would knock on his bathroom door at this hour.

His suspicions were proven correct when the blond hair of Annabeth peeked around the cracked-open door, her gray eyes studying him, full of concern.

“You okay, Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth asked, still not coming all the way into the bathroom.

“Well, not really,” Percy croaked. “My throat feels like I just drank from the Phlegethon again. I was just starting to feel like I had beaten it before…”

“I heard,” Annabeth said, looking sheepish.

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay if I come in? Or would you like privacy?”

“I mean, I’m not sure why you’d want to come in, but you can,” Percy said.

It had to smell bad in the bathroom, even though he’d been flushing away the poison, the scent of sick thick in the air. But Annabeth opened the door, walked in anyway, and sat down in the floor next to him.

“Because I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said. He saw her crinkle her nose, but she didn’t otherwise complain about the smell. 

“Well, I may kick you out if I start to feel nauseous again,” Percy said. “But thanks.”

“If you’re feeling well enough to drink something, I brought this,” Annabeth said, holding up a soda can that Percy hadn’t noticed when she entered the bathroom. It was ginger ale. He wasn’t particularly fond of the stuff, but he was grateful anyway.

“Hazel said this stuff always helps with her seasickness,” Annabeth said. “They don’t make the brand she used to drink back in the forties anymore, but she said this one was alright. So I thought it might help you.”

“If it would help,” Annabeth added, handing him the can. “I can see if our magic plates will give me some blue dye.”

Percy laughed, the action scuffing his dry throat as he did.

“I think I’ll manage,” Percy said, popping the top of the soda can. “Besides, I wouldn’t be able to see it through the can anyway.”

Percy was wary of introducing anything to his system at the moment, but, since he had gone so long last time before… needing to get rid of more poison, he thought he might could risk it.

The fizzy drink tingled with tiny pricks of pain on his raw throat, but, after a few sips, it seemed to settle his gurgling insides a little.

“We’re making pretty good progress,” Annabeth said. “Considering the state of the ship anyway. Leo said we’re about a third of the way to Delos.”

“That’s good,” Percy said. “I should be okay to take my watch later. I mean, I guess if I get sick, there’s no harm leaning over the side.”

“You’d pollute your father’s kingdom like that?” Annabeth said with a smile. “But, don’t worry about it. I’ve already told the others that I’m taking on your watch.”

“But, Annabeth—”

“Nope,” she cut him off. “You could use the rest. You can take one of mine when you feel better.”

“Well, you could use rest too, after… everything down there,” Percy said. “And after Sparta.”

“Well, I’m not the one in the bathroom floor…” Annabeth said from her position sitting in the bathroom floor. “Well, you know what I mean. But I mean it. You rest. Hopefully, if this calms down some, you can get in bed and get some sleep soon.”

“Maybe,” Percy said, relenting. He didn’t like admitting that he needed help, but he appreciated the gesture. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Annabeth said. “You’d do the–”

“Same for me.” Percy finished her sentence. “I know, I know.”

“Good,” Annabeth said with a smile. “You’re learning. Didn’t know how much more you could fit in that head, what with all the kelp and ocean facts.”

“And the knowledge that I have an awesome girlfriend,” Percy said. “I know that too.”

“Well, it took you long enough to figure out that I would be an awesome girlfriend,” she said. “But I’m glad you got there in the end.”

“Me too.”

“Oh, by the way, I had something to tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re a pretty awesome boyfriend too,” Annabeth said, smirking. “Even when you’re throwing up poison.”

“Wow, I must be pretty great to still be awesome after all that.”

“You are,” she said. “Are… you feeling up for a question game?”

Percy took another sip of his ginger ale. His stomach hadn’t grumbled in a few minutes now, and he didn’t feel like he was in imminent danger of getting sick again.

“Sure,” he said.

“Well, it was kind of about the poison,” Annabeth said, staring at the blue tile floor he was sure she’d chosen during the design process because of his love for the color. 

“What about it?” Percy asked, unsure of where she was going.

“Well, it’s just that… down there, you controlled the poison to get it away from you. And, when you were using it against Akhlys… I stopped you. And I was wondering… Did you avoid controlling that poison because of me?”

“Oh,” Percy said.

Not for the first time and not for the last, Percy Jackson recognized that Annabeth Chase knew him probably better than he did himself.

“Um… kinda. I… I just thought about what I did to Akhlys. And how badly I wanted to do it in that moment. And then I thought about the way you looked at me… and what you said. That some things aren’t meant to be controlled. I… I didn’t want to control it again. To… disappoint you again. To scare you again. It felt like I deserved it. To be killed with the poison I mean, after I did what I did. So I didn’t fight it.”

Annabeth looked down at the floor and didn’t answer for a long moment. 

Percy hadn’t been able to help worrying about what had gone through Annabeth’s mind when she had looked so terrified at his actions in Tartarus. They’d been okay, if a little exhausted and shellshocked, around each other since they got out, and she hadn’t yet mentioned anything about it.

But Percy was worried that he had damaged her trust. Made her see that he had a darkness inside him that she wasn’t comfortable with. That she was scared that he would hurt her.

Finally, Annabeth looked up and met his eyes, a tear forming at the corner of her left eye.

As it shook loose and dribbled down her cheek, Percy wiped it away. 

Annabeth seized his hand, and, despite the fact that he’d been touching the bathroom floor with it for several minutes since washing his hands, kept his outstretched hand locked onto her cheek, cupping her face.

“Listen, Percy…” she started. “I won’t lie to you. When… when you did that, it did scare me. I know better than anything that you’re a good person. And that you always want to do the right thing. But, it was just, the… anger in your face. I’d never seen it before, even against all of the terrible monsters and enemies we’ve faced. And it reminded me of… Luke.”

Percy felt like he’d just been stabbed in the gut, and it had nothing to do with any remnants of poison that still might have been in there.

Beyond everything of heroes and gods and wars, Percy knew his true purpose was to be Annabeth’s rock. To be the one thing she could count on. To be the person that would never turn on her.

And here he’d gone and reminded her of the demigod who had promised her family only to betray her. And, was she wrong to think that? Hadn’t he displayed that same cruelty to Akhlys that he’d seen in Luke Castellan.

Percy’s lip quivered, and he felt a tear drip down his face.

Annabeth wiped it away and continued.

“Percy, I know that you would never… turn, like he did. I do. And I know that that place, it brought out the worst in both of us. We were just doing what we had to to survive. But, I never thought that Luke could be that way when I was younger. And, seeing you like that… It just scared me.”

“I’m sorry,” Percy croaked, his voice hoarse with a combination of sickness and emotion.

“Hey,” Annabeth said. “But you stopped. That was the difference. Luke… he came around in the end, but I pleaded with him to leave Kronos, to return to camp for years. And he wouldn’t listen. You stopped short. Yes, it was scary. But, I know, Percy, that you would never turn. That you are good. That you would never hurt me.”

“Never,” was all Percy managed before breaking truly into tears on his girlfriend’s shoulder.

“I know,” she whispered, rubbing circles on his back. 

After Percy had recovered and wiped dry his eyes, Annabeth used two fingers to tilt his chin up so he met her kind gray eyes.

“Percy, I need you to promise me something.”

“What?” he choked.

“You can’t give up. You can’t give in like that, even if you think you deserve it. Even if it’s the noble thing to do. I need you to come back to me.”

“But, the poison–”

“Percy, there is a difference. It’s not… just controlling the poison. It was the intent. There’s a difference in wielding it as a weapon and just using the water to keep it away from you. And… it was also… In Tartarus, you were controlling Akhlys’s saliva, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” Percy admitted, feeling shame wash over him.

“Hey, you were doing what you thought you had to do to keep us safe,” Annabeth said. “It’s okay. But that… I think that’s where the line is. That’s what shouldn’t be controlled. Other… people. It feels too much like… the Eidolons possessing you or… Kronos… taking over Luke. That’s what scared me, and that’s what I don’t think you should do. What anyone should do.”

Percy was silent. He already was disgusted at himself for what he had done in his moment of darkness. But, hearing Annabeth compare it to possession? He hadn’t thought about it that way. Thought about the power he would have over people if he could simply suffocate them with their own body. Could control the fluids inside that made up a lot of the human body.

It appalled him. He immediately realized he wanted no part of it.

“I swear it,” Percy croaked. “I swear on the River Styx that I will never again control the water in anyone’s body.”

Annabeth didn’t say anything, just hugged him.

As he pulled back, Percy remembered the other promise she’d asked of him.

“Oh, and I promise, I won’t give up. I’ll always keep fighting to get back to you.”

“Thank you, Percy,” Annabeth said.

They sat in silence for a moment until Percy realized something.

The conversation with Annabeth had driven his nausea straight out of him.

“How long until you’ll have to take watch?” Percy asked.

“About an hour.”

“Okay, then my turn?”

“Your turn for what?”

Percy cracked a small smile. It was usually Percy that forgot.

“For the question game,” Percy said, then raised the pitch of his voice in his best imitation of his girlfriend’s favorite phrase. “ Seaweed Brain .”

“Oh,” Annabeth said with a laugh. “I forgot, wise boy . Yeah, go ahead.”

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever called me wise.”

“Yeah, don’t get used to it. This is the first time you’ve probably ever remembered something that I’ve forgotten.”

“Whatever.”

“What’s your question, he whose brain wasn’t seaweed-stuffed just this once?”

“Well, I’m feeling a lot better right now,” Percy said. “Will you lay down with me until you have to leave?”

“If… you brush your teeth and wash your face first… I’ll consider it.”

“I think I’ll make the sacrifice.”

When his head hit the pillow next to his girlfriend, Percy finally realized just how exhausted he was. He’d been through a lot of exertion as a demigod, but hugging the bathroom floor for hours while spitting up poison had to have been among the most tiring.

“Hey Annabeth?”

“Yeah, Percy?”

“Thank you for stopping me, you know, with Akhlys. I don’t know if I would have been able to stop myself, if you weren’t there.”

“It’s easy to forget what’s important when you’re alone,” Annabeth said. “We’re a team. We have each other’s backs, and that includes watching out for how we act towards others. How we use our godly gifts. You’d–”

“Do the same for me.”

“I’m going to stop talking if you keep finishing my sentences for me,” Annabeth said, playfully pinching his arm.

“Please don’t, I might forget that I have seaweed in my head if you aren’t there to remind me.”

“Well, Seaweed Brain , I am going to stop talking now though. You need some sleep.”

Percy thought about protesting, but the exhaustion that had swept over him when he hit the bed was making his eyelids really heavy.

Instead, he whispered.

“I love you, Annabeth.”

“I love you too, Percy.”

The words brought a small smile to his lips as he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

If Annabeth didn’t think about the potential rise of Gaea and the possible impending doom facing her and the rest of the crew of the Argo II, she could almost convince herself she was on a nice afternoon date with her boyfriend.

The sun was shining down on them as they walked the tight, winding streets on the island of Mykonos.

She and Percy were, ostensibly, scouting the island for threats. Although Annabeth had learned through years of experience that monster ambushes should never be ruled out in any circumstance, she hadn’t suspected much danger would find them on Mykonos. 

What she did suspect is that the rest of the crew shared that lack of suspicion, but they sent her and Percy to have a relaxing afternoon together under the guise of scouting because of some sort of noble notion that they “needed it” after what they went through… down there.

Annabeth was simultaneously offended and grateful when she made this realization, but neither she nor Percy had argued against the chance to get off the ship together alone.

Now, an hour or so into the scouting excursion, without any monsters in sight and with a pleasant breeze slightly shifting Percy’s messy dark hair, Annabeth was leaning more toward grateful.

“I like this place,” she said, squeezing the hand of her boyfriend. 

They’d treated the mission more seriously when they first got on the island. Percy would go first whenever they made a turn down a different street to scout for threats, with Annabeth watching his back before being given the all clear.

They’d abandoned that pretense since, locked hands and traipsed down the streets together. Annabeth was still carefully scanning their surroundings, but she found herself examining the buildings or catching sight of another pelican or seeing another couple clearly on a romantic trip together.

She hoped one day that she and Percy could go on a trip together that didn’t have to double as a monster scouting mission as they battled to stop the potential end of the world. 

What a luxury that would be.

“I do too.” Percy returned her hand squeeze. 

And then he did something that really surprised her.

“I like the architecture,” Percy stated matter-of-factly.

“Really?” Annabeth asked, probably letting a little too much of her surprise into her voice.

“Yeah. It’s cool.”

“What do you like about it?”

“Oh… Well, I don’t know. I just like how the buildings aren’t exactly the same, but they all kind of have the same theme. Like, they’re all kind of the same shape and color and the windows are all similar,” Percy said. “It just all feels… cohesive.”

“Hey Percy?”

“Yeah?”

“We spend too much time together.”

Percy laughed. 

“Probably,” he said. “I guess you’re starting to rub off on me a little.”

“Maybe, if we go to college, you can major in architecture too,” Annabeth said, half-joking. “We can be in all the same classes.”

“Well, I maybe wouldn’t go that far,” Percy said, shrugging. “Before you asked me, honestly, I was just thinking how nice it looked because of all the blue.”

Annabeth chuckled.

Of course. In the tourist-heavy area they were currently exploring, most of the doors and shutters and balconies and staircases were painted Percy’s favorite shade of bright blue.

“That helps too,” Annabeth said.

“It does.” Percy said. “But I don’t know if the architecture professors would allow me to make all my designs in blue.”

“Hey, every great architect needs a signature design.” Annabeth shrugged and smiled. “You could be a designer for… seafood restaurants… or swimming pools?”

“Childhood bedrooms for baby boys?”

They walked along the blue-lined street of the “Little Italy” section of the island until they found a restaurant on a hill with an outdoor patio. (“It still counts as scouting as long as we’re looking around,” Percy had insisted. “It’s like we’re setting up a stakeout).

After they ordered and got their food (Percy was glad they stopped somewhere that actually had pizza), Percy looked up at her and, as they locked eyes for a moment, he cracked into a smile.

The way he looked at her hadn’t exactly changed since Tartarus. He still stared at her in that same awed way that reminded her a little of how her dad’s doberman had looked at her when she was a kid. Like he was excited just by the fact that he was in her presence and that she was paying him attention.

But there was also a little melancholy in his eyes too. Like he couldn’t quite get all the way to that full spark of excitable happiness that he could before.

He was closest to it when they were together, but she could tell that he was still dealing with the effects of that place.

How could he not be? She was too, and she suspected they both would be for the rest of their lives — whether their lives lasted a few days or longer.

“Question game?” she asked.

“Okay,” Percy answered after swallowing a bite of his pizza.

“Percy, are you, like, doing okay?”

She could tell that he knew what she meant by the way his face dropped a little. They’d had to talk a little about their experiences in Tartarus since getting out just to get through the last few days. 

But, it still was a subject that neither of them wanted to bring up much or relive. Still, it hovered over them, like someone had draped a big blanket of despair and darkness over them. Here, in the sunshine on a picturesque Greek island, felt like the furthest from the dark, terrible atmosphere of Tartarus that they’d yet been since getting out. 

It didn’t feel so painful to relive bad memories in a place as nice as this.

“I mean, I’ve been better,” Percy started. “But it’s also getting better. I can go longer without thinking about that place now, or, like seeing it when I close my eyes. And I don’t have nightmares every time I sleep.”

“And what about, you know, what you told me about the poison? How you wanted to give up?”

“Oh,” Percy said. “Yeah, I… feel better since we talked. I just… The last thing I ever want to do is scare you… or make you feel unsafe. And it had just kind of been weighing on me since… since you stopped me with Akhlys. I’m… I’m good. I just want to get this war over with and take a break.”

“Besides,” he said, meeting her eyes again, his trademark determination flashing in his. “You’re a pretty good reason to keep fighting.”

He squeezed her hand and took another bite of his pizza.

“What about you? How are you doing?” he asked, then quickly added: “This doesn’t have to be my question, I know it’s against the rules to ask the same one.”

Annabeth laughed.

“See, you’re learning, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, then looked down at her pasta before answering.

“But, I’m kind of the same. I still… can’t get it out of my head sometimes. Seeing you, after you took on the curses of the Arai. How close you were to dying. And how you literally looked dead after the death mist. Or the dark and the smell and the stupid monster blisters.”

“But I’m getting a little better. I think… I don’t know if that place will ever truly leave us. It’s not designed to be seen by humans, and certainly not humans that would then try to go back to a normal life in the mortal world.”

“Yeah,” Percy said. “Like, since we came back, I’m having trouble seeing this place, like, the mortal world, as real. It feels like it’s a dream, and… Tartarus was the real world. The normal world. If that makes sense.”

“It does,” Annabeth said.

She doubted it would’ve made much sense to any other demigod, but, fortunately (unfortunately), Annabeth knew exactly what he meant, because she’d been experiencing the same thing. Like at any moment, she’d wake up and be back in the pit.

“That’s how it feels for me too. Maybe… maybe it’s just something that needs more time to heal. We just have to get used to being out.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Percy said, then cracked a somewhat-unenthusiastic smile. “Well, at least no one can tell us to ‘go to hell’ ever again. Yeah, been there, done that.”

Annabeth gave a small snort of laughter, but couldn’t help but focus on that bit of sadness in Percy’s eyes. He’d fallen in for, and because of, her. What if her boyfriend never recovered all the way to being his full goofy, snarky self because of their fall. 

It would be Annabeth’s fault.

He’d assured her multiple times that he never even considered letting her fall alone. And she believed him. It was so very Percy. The loyalty, the bravery and the stubborn insistence that, somehow, they’d figure things out and make it all okay.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t get to feel guilty. Even if it was a no-brainer of a decision for Percy to tumble into Tartarus with her, she had still been the cause of him making that no-brainer of a decision.

And he had. And, somehow, they’d lived. 

Annabeth imagined what it would have been like to have watched Percy falling alone into Tartarus. To have watched him fall, to have let him go.

Percy would have died if he’d been alone, just like Annabeth would have. And Annabeth wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she’d let him tumble to his death and she had to survive, alone.

So, suddenly, it clicked for Annabeth.

If he had let her go, she would have died, and Percy would have lived.

And, though she didn’t understand why exactly Percy had such a deep love for her sometimes, she knew he did. And, if Annabeth was gone, Percy would surely have been in a much worse mental state than he was right now, even though he would have never had to witness the horrors of Tartarus.

That was the trade. 

He’d had to suffer because of her. But he would have suffered all the more had he lost her. 

And Annabeth would have gladly taken on suffering too, if it meant saving Percy. That they could continue to be together.

It probably wasn’t the most healthy dynamic for a young couple, but, what exactly was healthy about their lives as half-bloods, fighting monsters regularly and fearing for their lives from the time they were small children? There was going to be suffering eventually, one way or another.

She didn’t exactly feel absolved of the guilt that had been nagging at her since they had tumbled into the pit, but, realizing what the alternative options were, she was glad that, at least, they were together. 

And, looking at their surroundings on the beautiful island and hearing waves crash against the shore below, Annabeth thought that there were much worse places they could be.

Well, one really obvious worse place.

But they weren’t. They were still shellshocked. Still a little melancholy and perhaps would be permanently jaded. But they were out. 

And just maybe it would get better.

As they finished up eating, paid, and stood to leave, Percy pulled Annabeth into a hug.

“We’ve got this, Wise Girl. It will get better.”

“I hope so, Seaweed Brain.”

As he pulled back, something over her shoulder seemed to catch his attention. He smiled, then looked at her.

“Okay, my turn for a question?”

“Yep.”

“Can we get gelato?”

Annabeth laughed.

“We need to be getting back to the ship anyway,” she said. “Come on, we can grab some for everyone.”

“Except Frank,” Percy said. “He’s lactose intolerant.”

“We’ll find him something too.”

Chapter Text

For the first time in what felt like months, Percy Jackson was having a good dream.

Since Tartarus, his dreams had fallen somewhere on the spectrum between mildly unpleasant and appallingly horrific torture.

Percy had grown to hope for the mildly unpleasant ones.

But, with the pit behind them, with Gaea gone for a few days, and the cleaning up of the camp to distract him, Percy found himself dreaming of the one person he always fell asleep hoping to dream about: Annabeth Chase.

Being a demigod, he didn’t just get simple happy dreams very often. Usually, it was either a convenient insight into the plans of the enemy — or one of the aforementioned appallingly horrific tortures.

And even when he had dreamed of Annabeth in the previous few weeks, it had usually been a dream about Annabeth’s death. Or Annabeth getting left behind in Tartarus. Or Annabeth being so terrified by Percy’s power that she decided she could no longer stand to be with him.

But this one? This was a good Annabeth dream.

It was nothing special. Percy and Annabeth were simply walking along the streets of New Rome. Annabeth had a New Rome University t-shirt on, and a backpack was slung over her shoulder. 

“My class this morning was brutal,” Dream Annabeth said. “We went over the material for the exam, and half of it is stuff we haven’t even covered yet. I mean, I’ve read ahead some, but I don’t know how she expects us to learn it all before next week.”

“You’ll do fine, Wise Girl,” Dream Percy replied. “You always do.”

“Maybe,” Annabeth said. “I just want to get these classes over with so I can start with the architecture courses, you know?”

“I know.”

Of course, he didn’t know. They still hadn’t had their senior year of high school, much less taken any college courses, but that fact seemed immaterial right now to Dream Percy.

They walked down the street further until they reached a sidewalk, then a fork in the path. Percy didn’t know how he knew, but he knew that one path led to Annabeth’s dorms, while the other went toward his own.

“This is our stop, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, letting go of his hand and turning to face him.

“It is,” Percy replied.

“See you tomorrow?” Annabeth asked.

“You know it.”

Annabeth leaned in toward him, swooping in for a goodbye kiss like they had shared hundreds of times, but stopped short.

“Percy!” she whispered, and Percy felt the soft touch of her hand on his arm and her warm breath near his ear.

Only, she wasn’t there.

He was lying in his bunk in the Poseidon Cabin, staring at the ceiling overhead, with early-morning light filling the empty room.

He was almost disappointed — both that he had woken up from a good dream and that he didn’t wake up to find Annabeth actually standing over him.

Gods know it wouldn’t have been the first time Percy had woken with a jolt to see Annabeth. After all, the first time he ever saw her had been when he had passed out after fighting the minotaur, then woken up to see her standing over him. Then, it had been on quests when they were younger, when Annabeth had rocked him out of sleep to take over the watch.

She’d always been fairly gentle and greeted him with a smile when waking him up, even back then, but the smiles had gotten warmer and the whispers of his name closer to his ear as she began waking him by sneaking into his cabin or his bunk on the Argo II.

He found himself thinking of a night on the ship, when a whispered “Percy” had woken him up before they had walked to the stables.

The jolting out of a dream just now had felt so similar to that night that Percy had expected to see her standing over him, just as she had that night.

Trying not to feel too disappointed at his girlfriend for not breaking the rules to sneak into his cabin, Percy tried to sit up.

Instead, his head smacked hard into something solid.

“Ow!” came Annabeth’s disembodied voice. 

Suddenly, his girlfriend appeared, taking off a New York Yankees cap and rubbing her forehead.

“Wait, did it work?”

“What?” Percy grunted, now bleary-eyed both from being just a few seconds removed from sleep and from involuntarily headbutting his girlfriend.

“My cap!” she cried, gesturing at the gift from her mother that used to turn her invisible when worn. It had stopped working at the beginning of the war with Gaea and the giants but was now, apparently, turning her invisible again. “I think I put it on before I came over here just out of habit. I didn’t even think to check to see if it was working again! I guess it was my mom’s battle with her Roman side that caused it to mess up.”

“I guess so,” Percy said, rubbing his head. Annabeth already appeared to have bounced back from the surprise smack, but Percy’s head was still spinning.

“I’m so sorry Seaweed Brain, are you okay?” Annabeth said, looking concerned.

The stars he had been seeing slowly started to dissipate, and his joy at seeing his girlfriend was starting to outweigh any measure of pain he had felt, so he cracked a smile.

“Well, next time you get ready to call me Seaweed Brain, just remember that my mental capacity may be lower because you probably just gave me a brain injury,” Percy playfully pushed her and sat up.

“Like there was any brain in there to injure.” Annabeth smiled and pushed him back, a little harder.

“Well, with whatever I do have in there,” Percy said. “I’m smart enough to know that you’re not supposed to be in here. To what do I owe this invisible intrusion?”

Annabeth stared at him.

“‘Invisible intrusion?’ Those are some big words. And poetically alliterative as well. Maybe I knocked some brains into you instead.”

“Oh shut up,” Percy said, trying not to let his face show the fact that he didn’t know what “alliterative” meant.

“Hmm.” Annabeth looked proud of herself, raising her eyebrows and cocking her head at him with a small smile.

She usually did that same little gesture every time she thought of a new playful insult to throw his way. It was so cute that Percy didn’t mind letting her get the upper hand in their wars of words. Not that he had to try to let her get the upper hand. Wars and words were Annabeth’s specialty.

“Anyway,” she said, still smiling, but a little less smugly. “I thought we could take a walk before breakfast this morning.”

Having just woken up from a dream about taking a nice walk with his girlfriend, Percy quickly agreed to the real thing, even if it was way too early.

It felt to Percy like both an eternity and no time at all since he and Annabeth had taken a quiet stroll around Camp Half-Blood.

Eternity and no time at all averaged out to around 8 or 9 months, Percy figured, though he wasn’t conscious for some of that time and had little memory for another chunk of it. Still, so much had happened since his last peaceful moments at camp that he felt justified in savoring the moment like he hadn’t experienced it for a lifetime.

He and Annabeth walked hand-in-hand down the beach, to the canoe lake, and then headed back toward the hearth at the common area in the middle of the circle of cabins, not saying much.

As they drew near, Percy’s earlier dream popped back into his head.

Walking with his girlfriend was just as nice in real life as it was in his dream, but that’s not what stuck out to him about the dream.

What stuck out was where they were walking.

“Question game?” Percy asked, gently pulling Annabeth’s hand so that she turned to face him as they reached the hearth.

As they came to a stop, Percy caught a brief glimpse of the form of a small girl in the flames of the hearth behind Annabeth.

Hestia winked at him, nodded toward Annabeth, then vanished.

Percy had once said “hope survives best at the hearth” to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth — and home.

Percy had always found it easier to hold on to hope, even when facing seemingly impossible odds, when he had Annabeth Chase next to him.

Since he found out he was a demigod, Percy had always thought of Camp Half-Blood as his home, or, at least his second home when he wasn’t with his mom in their New York City apartment.

But maybe there was another reason camp had felt like home. 

Percy looked back up at his girlfriend, the warm light from the fire illuminating her golden hair in the morning dimness.

“Go ahead.” she smiled.

“Well, I just remembered,” Percy began. “Remember what you told me, on the ship, the night after…”

“Yeah,” Annabeth said encouragingly, cutting him off before he had to actually verbalize the name “Tartarus.” She realized his hesitancy to bring up the word, and he did the same for her. 

Pretty much any pause in speech between the two these days was quickly clocked by the other as a method to avoid talking about the pit. Annabeth would acknowledge that she knew what he was talking about, and they would move on without having to linger on the pain of their past. He loved her for it.

“Well, you told me to ask you again after we beat Gaea. And, well, we beat Gaea. And this morning, when you woke me, I was having a dream.”

“Good dream or bad dream?”

Percy knew that Annabeth had dealt with the bad dreams enough to know too that there was always a high possibility of a nightmare for a demigod.

“Good one. And, well, I wanted to ask you something because I wanted to know whether this might have been, like, a see-the-future dream, or just a dream dream.”

“Well, what’d ya dream about, Seaweed Brain?”

“Well, it was about us, and we were walking.”

“I mean, that just happened.” Annabeth shrugged, teasing him.

“We were walking somewhere else.”

“In New York? To the movies? To Ragazzi’s Pizza? I’ve been missing that place since-”

“New Rome University.”

Percy hoped his suspicions were correct. What else could she have been planning to tell him related to their future when they got back home?

Still, he would feel really bad if her big reveal of an answer that could only come after defeating Gaea was, like, a surprise date, and he’d gone and ruined that by assuming she was talking about going to college together.

But, instead, like always, his worries melted away as soon as he saw a smile creep over Annabeth’s face.

“Well, Seaweed Brain, I think your dreams might have ruined the surprise.”

Percy felt his own face warm as his heart began to do somersaults in his chest. Somehow, against all odds, he’d survived the potential end of the world — twice — and he’d get to attend college with his girlfriend in the safest place on earth for demigods.

“I already cleared it with dad. I’m going to stay in New York for senior year. Someone’s going to have to keep an eye on you and make sure your grades stay up, if we’re going to go to New Rome together.”

Hearing her actually say the words didn’t help calm his soaring chest. Neither did what she said next.

“And after college… well, I talked with Frank and Reyna… and… They said that we could live there as long as we want to, I mean, if you, well… want to.”

The words “want to” didn’t really do justice for what Percy was feeling right now. 

The most they’d discussed their future together after high school were the brief mentions of possibly attending college together and the one time, aboard the Argo II, that Percy had hinted at the future he’d imagined for them when seeing the adult demigods living in New Rome.

Annabeth had seemed a little shocked by the idea at the time, but, now, here she was, basically telling him that she wanted to be part of his future in college and beyond.

And as far as Percy was concerned, “after college” might as well be forever.

Since “I want to” felt like too small of an acknowledgement, Percy instead pulled Annabeth into a tight hug, holding onto her like he would never let go.

And, well, he may never have to.

Figuratively at least. 

When he let go, pulled back, and saw her smiling face, words were still failing him.

So, instead, Percy let out a loud “whoop!”

Annabeth slapped his arm, but a wide grin split her face. Percy’s own smile was already causing his cheeks to hurt.

Movement behind Annabeth tore his gaze away from his girlfriend long enough to see Nico di Angelo stalking toward them, looking determined.

The thought of Nico yelling at him for being too loud at such an early hour wasn’t even enough to wipe the grin off of Percy’s face as the son of Hades marched toward them.

 “Hey man,” Percy said. “Annabeth just told me some good news. Sorry if I got a little loud.”

Chapter Text

“I’m not your type… Wait. So—” Percy stammered.

There were some moments that made “Seaweed Brain” as a nickname for Annabeth’s boyfriend seem a little too harsh.

This wasn’t one of those moments.

Percy just wasn’t wrapping his head around what Nico had just told them. At least enough to avoid babbling at Nico incoherently.

Nico apparently realized this too.

“See you around, Percy,” Nico said. “Annabeth.”

Annabeth felt a surge of affection for the brave boy standing in front of her. She slowly raised her hand for a high five, and Nico obliged before walking away, back toward where Will Solace was waiting across the green.

“Wait, so…”

“How many times are you gonna say ‘wait,’ Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth lightly slapped him on the arm for the second time in a few minutes.

“But…Why would he say I’m not his type?”

“ That’s what you’re hung up about?”

Annabeth really couldn’t believe her boyfriend sometimes. 

One minute, it was “Oh, I’m just Percy Jackson, why would anybody like me?” despite the fact that he was pretty incredible. The next minute, “Oh, I’m the Percy Jackson, why don’t you like me?”

It was simultaneously infuriating and adorable.

“I don’t know, it was just a shock,” Percy said, still somewhere between smiling and surprised. “But yeah, it’s cool. I’m glad that he… got it off his chest. I’m happy for him.”

Percy glanced up over Annabeth’s shoulder, then his face lit up.

“Wait, do you think he and Will…?”

Annabeth looked over to see Nico talking animatedly — or at least what passed as animatedly by Nico’s standards — with the healer from the Apollo cabin.

To anyone that didn’t know Nico, it would look like the son of Hades was simply tolerating Will’s presence. But the tiny grin he wore and the way he moved his arms slightly more than usual when talking gave something away about the boy who hardly ever visibly tolerated anyone’s presence.

Annabeth smiled. She’d rarely seen Nico smile even as much as the glimmer of a grin that showed on his face now. If he was starting to develop feelings for the son of Apollo, it would make sense for Nico to feel the need to confess to Percy what he just had. If he did like Will Solace, Annabeth hoped it turned out okay for Nico. He deserved happiness after all he’d been through since they’d found the talkative little kid at Westover Hall.

“Maybe so,” Annabeth said. “C’mon Seaweed Brain. Let’s keep walking.”

It was almost time for breakfast, and they would normally be headed toward the dining pavilion, but Annabeth steered Percy instead toward the entrance to camp.

Whether Percy was still tired or still in shock, he didn’t seem to register that they weren’t headed to breakfast.

She’d had a plan for the morning — for revealing to Percy what she’d decided about attending college in New Rome — but he’d spoiled it by having a prophetic dream of all things. 

But, she still had her question for the day, and she still had a second part of the plan to enact.

“My turn?” She asked, squeezing Percy’s hand as they walked up the path towards half-blood hill.

“What?”

Annabeth smiled.

Percy sometimes forgot when they were playing the question game.

She supposed it was his ADHD moving his brain on to the next topic or task. Her own manifestation of ADHD often worked the opposite way, as she’d hyperfixate on one thing until she saw it through, sometimes at the expense of other things she should also be thinking about.

Maybe that was just another way that she and Percy worked so well together. Her ADHD kept Percy concentrated on the important task at hand, while Percy’s kept Annabeth from missing other things going on that were worth attention too.

Though, if she was being fair, Percy definitely had an excuse for forgetting the game this time, what with all that had gone on since he’d asked his question.

“For my question.”

“Oh, right,” Percy said, smacking his forehead in a gesture that translated roughly to, “duh.”

“Well, I wanted to ask…” Annabeth began. “Now that we’re back in New York, I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to do.”

Annabeth posed her question just as they crested the top of the hill and drew level with Thalia’s pine tree.

At least this part of the plan was going to, well, plan. They weren’t far now from crossing the magical borders of camp.

Annabeth stole a glance at Percy to see his face screwed up in thought.

Most of the questions Annabeth asked Percy as part of the question game were questions that Annabeth genuinely wanted an honest answer about. For others, there was a right answer. Or, at least, the answer that Annabeth needed for her own purposes.

Like, when she had plans to enact. 

She loved enacting plans.

So, she decided to prompt him.

“Maybe someone you wanted to see?”

For another beat, Percy looked confused. 

Then, his eyes got wide, and he looked at her with recognition as they descended the hill and reached Farm Road.

“Wait, is that why we’re going out of camp? I was wondering where…”

Percy trailed off as a Prius rolled up and to a stop a few feet away.

Out of the passenger seat clambered a woman with an ear-splitting smile on her face.

It was Sally Jackson.

“Percy!” She cried.

“Mom!” Percy exclaimed, his voice cracking on the word.

They rushed toward each other, and, for the first time in months, Annabeth watched her boyfriend be pulled into one of Sally Jackson’s famous hugs.

Annabeth felt a tear roll down her cheek as a beaming Paul Blofis appeared from around the dented hood of the car.

Neither interrupted the embrace.

With a quick nod from Percy’s smiling salt-and-pepper stepfather, Annabeth knew that they both understood.

After all these months of waiting and wondering, Sally needed this. And Percy did too.

After Gaea had been defeated, Annabeth had borrowed the smartphone off of one of the Aphrodite campers to give Sally a call. Annabeth used to have her own cell phone for rare, emergency-use cases in which the chance of attracting monsters was minimal, but the phone had been in her backpack alongside Daedalus’ laptop when the bag tumbled into Tartarus. 

Sally had broken down into tears when Annabeth had told her that the quest had been successful. Gaea had been defeated, the world had been saved, and — most importantly — Percy was back home and safe.

Annabeth and Sally had then hatched the plan to surprise Percy and spend the morning together.

“Our family, back together again,” Sally had said. If Annabeth hadn’t already been crying at hearing Sally’s relief and joy that her son was alive, she would have started then.

When Annabeth suggested that she and Percy could come meet Sally and Paul after eating breakfast in camp, Sally instead insisted on bringing a meal for all of them to enjoy together. Including one particular dish.

“You brought him back safe, Annabeth,” Sally had said. “The least I can do is bring you some of my bread pudding.”

If Annabeth hadn’t already been crying at hearing Sally’s relief and joy that her son was alive or after hearing Sally refer to Annabeth as part of her “family,” she would have started then.

Percy and his mother finally broke apart, tears staining both of their faces. Paul then grabbed Annabeth’s hand, and the two outside additions to the Jackson duo joined Percy and Sally as the embrace renewed.

Annabeth wasn’t sure how much time had passed — or whose tears were whose — before the group finally pulled away from each other. 

Paul pulled out a blanket from the back seat of the car and spread it over the hood of the Prius. Sally placed four foil-wrapped breakfast burritos on the hood (one had “Percy” written in blue permanent marker), along with a plastic bag full of hash browns, some paper plates, plastic cutlery, napkins, and bottled juice. The dish of bread pudding perfectly nestled inside the largest dent made by pegasus hooves.

Sally again hugged Percy — maybe making up for another of the hugs she wasn’t able to give him while he was missing — before the four grabbed food and began to dig in.

“Tell us everything,” Sally said.

Percy began the tale, starting with waking up without much of a memory. Unlike he had when telling the story in New Rome, Percy didn’t relay to his parents that the only thing he had remembered when waking up was Annabeth’s name. Maybe he didn’t want to deal with the “Awwwww” that his mother probably would have let out.

Annabeth took over for a while when Percy reached the retelling of Annabeth and the party of demigods from Camp Half-Blood arriving in New Rome on the Argo II, though she omitted the fact that she judo-flipped Sally’s son when she and Percy had first reunited. 

Sally probably would have understood, but Annabeth didn’t want to take any chances.

As Annabeth arrived at talking about the conclusion of her solo quest and her showdown with Arachne in Rome, Percy squeezed Annabeth’s hand and took over.

“She was awesome, mom,” Percy said. “We sent the statue with Nico, and then we went on to Ithaca.”

He skipped completely past Tartarus.

Annabeth totally understood why he did it. It was something they didn’t even like to discuss among themselves just yet. She knew he didn’t want to relive it again so soon, and she figured he also didn’t want to burden his mother with the grisly horrors they had witnessed.

She also knew that, if she’d brought up the specifics of how they’d fallen in, it would look a whole lot like it had been Annabeth’s fault, and with good reason. Percy was sparing her from having to explain to his mother that Annabeth had literally put her son through hell.

Annabeth loved him for it.

There would be a time to explain everything to Sally. A later time, when the wounds weren’t still so fresh.

Annabeth finished off the events of the quest, detailing the fights with both the giants in Athens and then Gaea at camp. She told Sally and Paul about the recovery efforts, bringing the story all the way to earlier that morning.

There was still an important part left to relay, but Percy needed to do this part himself.

“Percy, you should tell this part,” Annabeth said, gesturing at her boyfriend to take over.

“Wait, what part?”

“Our walk this morning, Seaweed Brain.”

“What about it? About…”

He trailed off as it hit him. 

“Oh,” he said, looking sheepish.

It was big news to deliver to one's parents. In a way, it seemed a little cruel. Percy had just gotten back into their lives after an absence, and now he was about to inform them that, in less than a year, he intended to move all the way across the country to attend college.

Annabeth knew that Sally would want Percy to go to college. And for Percy to be happy and do what he wanted to do. But still, it was big.

Plus, wrapped up in all of it was Annabeth. She knew it was a joint decision that she and Percy had made, and that it was Percy’s idea to begin with to go to college in New Rome, but, here and now, as the news was about to be broken to Sally and Paul, she felt a little guilty for participating in a plan that would take Percy further away from his parents.

“Well,” Percy began. “In New Rome, there is a college where demigods can go. It’s within magical borders and protected and everything, just like camp. And, I thought… Well, I couldn’t help but think… That, after senior year maybe I could-”

“Percy, that’s wonderful!”

Sally cut him off and pulled him into yet another hug.

Annabeth should know by now never to underestimate Sally Jackson. If there was a caring and supporting response to any given life event, Sally was sure to show it.

“It will be so great for you two,” Sally said, pulling apart from Percy. “And you’ll get to be closer to your dad, Annabeth!”

Annabeth was shocked. Not at Sally’s point about Annabeth being closer to her family. That was one of the “pros” on the list Annabeth had made when deciding whether she wanted to commit to going to college in New Rome. (The list had decidedly more pros than cons, including the biggest one: getting to be with Percy).

But no, Annabeth was shocked because Percy hadn’t mentioned anything at all about Annabeth moving to New Rome too.

“How’d you know that I’m going too?” Annabeth asked dumbly.

Sally shrugged and smiled wryly.

“Oh, Annabeth dear, I know my son,” she said, reaching out to pinch his cheek. “College is one thing. College across the country is another. College across the country and away from you ? That was never going to happen.”

Annabeth reddened. 

Percy would normally join in on the embarrassment at hearing his mother make a comment acknowledging his care for Annabeth.

Instead, Annabeth’s boyfriend just beamed at her.

Annabeth felt the embarrassment melt away, and she returned his smile.

It had been a long time since Annabeth had truly worried that Sally would disapprove of Annabeth’s relationship with her son. 

Sally had welcomed Annabeth into her life time and time again, both when Percy was around — and when he wasn’t.

But this felt bigger. Like, the next big step, bigger. 

Annabeth had seen plenty of teenage relationships start and end during her years in camp. The majority, in fact, usually lasted a few days or weeks or months before ending.

She had always felt like her relationship with Percy would be different, but, still, they were just high schoolers in their first relationship.

But planning to move across the country together to attend college?

That was a big step. And not one Annabeth took lightly. And not one that Sally would take lightly either.

Yet, Sally was not only okay with it, but seemed to be overjoyed.

Annabeth had been hit over the head with the overwhelming evidence that Sally loved her before .

But this ? Through all the talk of Annabeth being part of the family, this felt like the declaration that the unofficial was starting to become a little more official.

So, Annabeth smiled.

She and Percy were going to go to college together.

Chapter Text

Annabeth hoped that she and Percy were going to go to college together.

She watched as her boyfriend stretched his arms as he prepared to hop in the water for his heat at his first swim meet of the year for the Alternative High School swim team.

Of course, the stretching was just an act.

Well, to be fair, most of Percy’s involvement in the swim team was also an act.

They both knew that, if he wanted to, Percy could hop in the water without stretching or warming up, channel the water around him, and swim at world-record speeds.

World-record speeds for mortals anyway.

But, seeing as it would probably be a little suspicious if he plowed through the water at double the rate that Michael Phelps could at the Olympics, Percy had agreed to play the part.

He was aiming for a respectable second place.

But, as Percy began to take his place on the platform above the pool, Annabeth found it difficult to focus on him and the meet — even with Percy stripping off his swim shirt as he readied to leap into the water.

Instead, one phrase kept swimming to the forefront in Annabeth’s mind.

“The debt you owe for existing.”

It’s what Poseidon had told Percy about the need for Percy to get three recommendation letters — from gods — to be able to attend New Rome University.

Just like when Percy had told her about the requirement, Annabeth felt a lump of white-hot anger surge through her body.

She’d quickly quelled it when she was in front of Percy.

She had been able to tell by the look on his face that her boyfriend was about to reach his limit in the amount of Minotaur dung he could take from the gods before snapping, or, even worse, giving up.

And she couldn’t have him giving up now, not when they were this close to reaching adulthood, going to college and settling down to a normal life together.

Well, as normal as possible for two demigods.

But she couldn’t risk doing something to jeopardize that semi-normal life. So, when Percy told her the news, she tried to put a positive spin on it. Tried to be encouraging.

They’d gotten good at it in Tartarus. 

Whenever one of them was getting down, getting close to losing hope, the other would step in to keep them going.

It was a dynamic formed in a less-than-ideal situation, but it was one that prepared them to meet more of life’s less-than-life-threatening situations too.

What Poseidon had told Percy… it left Annabeth infuriated. 

With the unfairness of it all. At the audacity of these gods, to do that to Percy, after all her boyfriend had done for them. 

In the last calendar year alone, Percy had helped defeat Kronos to save the world, had his memory erased and months of his life stolen by Hera, survived Tartarus, and helped defeat Gaea to save the world.

After all of that, Zeus himself should be escorting Percy to classes every day at New Rome University, with Apollo playing him music and Dionysus fanning him with grape vines.

Annabeth hadn’t said any of this to Percy when he’d told her.

But, boy had she been thinking about it ever since.

“HOOOOONKKKKK”

The sound of an air horn temporarily drove the thought out of her brain as Percy’s heat started.

Percy jumped into the water, and, Annabeth wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have seen the water reach out to pull him further along, just milliseconds before he would have met it.

Okay, Annabeth was sure that Percy was using his powers, now. 

Her boyfriend jetted through the water, reaching the midway point of the pool before finally surfacing into a normal breaststroke.

No other swimmer had even gone a quarter of the length of the pool yet.

Annabeth was going to kill her boyfriend if he got himself expelled.

Percy didn’t use his powers through the rest of the journey to the end of the pool, but his lead was so big on the others that he had flipped over, kicked off the end wall, and headed back toward the starting point by the time the second-place swimmer had reached the turn.

“Second place my podex,” Annabeth muttered, watching her boyfriend glide toward the finish.

Suddenly, the water began to churn. 

In every lane except the one Percy was in, a wave of water jetted from behind each swimmer. 

With the current behind them, the other swimmers surged forward at a much greater speed than before.

Percy continued his respectable pace toward the finish line, but, all around him, the high school swimmers powered through the water at a pace that would have put Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky to shame.

Her idiot of a boyfriend seemed to have timed it all perfectly.

The swimmer that had been a distant second to Percy caught up with the son of Poseidon just in time to reach the finish just a fraction of a second before Percy did.

Her boyfriend finished in… second place.

As the swimmers began to exit the pool, no one seemed to care that a seemingly-supernatural force seemed to have helped them along. Annabeth heard several of them chatting excitedly about setting a new personal record.

Annabeth supposed the best way to trick someone was by giving them something they wanted. It sounded a lot like what Hazel had told her about learning to manipulate the Mist.

Percy emerged from the pool wearing that same smug-looking, “proud of himself” grin that she’d seen so many times. She’d hated it, been annoyed by it, and loved it — depending on the context — over the years. 

This time, she was definitely annoyed that he’d apparently risked getting in trouble and yet another expulsion from school just to have a little fun at the swim meet. But a little part of her was also impressed that he had managed to pull it off so smoothly.

“Second place,” he said, breaking his grin. “Told you.”

“Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth chided. “If you get kicked out of school bec-”

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I honestly didn’t mean to. I wasn’t even thinking when I jumped in, and I controlled the water without even realizing I was. I just… I haven’t really gone for a swim without using my powers in a long time, and I guess it’s just natural to me at this point.”

“But,” he said, face brightening. “It worked out in the end.”

“I suppose so,” Annabeth said. 

She supposed she couldn’t really blame him for an honest mistake that he was then able to fix. It just seemed like there was so much working against the pair of them making it past senior year and into college together, with the news about the recommendation letters, that she couldn’t help but worry about every little thing that could jeopardize their future.

“Just be more careful next time. I need you in college with me.”

Percy left for the locker room to shower and get changed, and Annabeth stood at the edge of the water and waited for him as the area around the pool began to clear.

When she was younger, she didn’t much care for swimming. Then, during her first five years at camp, she practiced swimming mostly as another instrument in her survival toolkit.

These days, when she was around pretty much any body of water — whether it was this swimming pool or the seemingly-endless Atlantic when they were on the Argo II — she felt comforted. Like it was part of Percy she was with, even when he wasn’t there.

Annabeth was just beginning to wonder whether Percy felt the same way about being close to owls when a voice behind her jarred her back to the present.

“I haven’t seen you around before.”

Annabeth turned to see one of the swimmers from Percy’s school walking up to join her at the edge of the pool — the one who had won first place after Percy’s intervention.

He’d already gotten changed and wore a blue “AHS Swimming” hoodie. 

“That’s because I haven’t been here before,” Annabeth replied, trying to inject a little cold detachment into her voice.

She normally tried to be friendly — or at least give off the appearance of being friendly — around strangers, but the way that this particular stranger swaggered up to her made his intentions clear.

“I’m Derek,” he said, reaching out his hand. Annabeth considered not taking it — or using it instead to flip him into the water — but she couldn’t very well lecture Percy about making a scene and then make one herself.

“Annabeth,” she said, using the same tone of voice as she quickly shook his hand.

“Annabeth… That name sounds familiar. Do you go to school here?”

“No. I’m here to watch someone.”

Annabeth decided to use the tried-and-true tactic of mentioning that she had a boyfriend.

She hadn’t exactly been in this situation too many times since she and Percy had been dating. 

Growing up in camp, Annabeth had heard talk that she was… unapproachable? She did try to be friendly with others, but she also had to admit that, especially when she was younger, she tended to be pretty blunt and direct.

Still, as she got older and despite that supposed unapproachability, she had dealt with a few… approachers.

Annabeth wasn’t lacking in self confidence by any means — her fatal flaw was hubris after all — but she didn’t consider herself all that traditionally attractive. She didn’t hate the way she looked, but there were always those things she would notice in a mirror. How one tooth wasn’t exactly in line with the others when she smiled or how her curly hair could get too frizzy if she didn’t brush it properly.

But, being with Percy and being reminded over and over how he felt about her supposed beauty had led her to the conclusion that some people must find her attractive.

Well, if someone with the good looks of Percy thought so anyway, she must have something going for her. 

She must have something going for her enough for people like Derek to approach her, even despite the intentional unapproachability she was trying to broadcast now.

Since it would, indeed, cause a scene if Annabeth chucked Derek in the water, she decided to use the disarming tactic of mentioning her boyfriend.

If Derek were smart or respectful, he would back off. But she suspected he may not be either of those things.

“Annabeth… Are you dating someone on the team? I know I’ve heard that name.”

“Percy,” Annabeth said. “I’m dating Percy Jackson.”

In her world, that declaration was cause for awe. Percy was a hero.

But his fellow swim team members didn’t know that.

“Jackson? You are dating Jackson?”

Derek looked her up and down as he emphasized the word “you.” 

Derek was approaching “last straw” territory.

“I mean, come on, Jackson can swim, but he’s such a dork. He won’t even talk to us. Just about the only thing we knew was that he had a girlfriend, but we certainly didn’t expect that he pulled someone like-”

Annabeth had reached her breaking point and had decided that a scene was necessary.

And a scene was, indeed, made.

But it wasn’t Annabeth who made it.

She stepped toward Derek, intending to upend him into the pool behind him, but a tendril of water was already rising to snake its way around Derek’s feet.

It jerked him backward and into the pool with a giant splash.

Problem solved.

Annabeth looked around with a grin on her face, expecting a poker-faced Percy to come strolling up behind her and make some sarcastic comment. 

Instead, her boyfriend was adding to the scene by rushing toward her wearing only a towel around his waist.

“Percy? What are you-” 

She was cut off as Percy grabbed her wrist and yanked her back toward the locker rooms.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I know you can defend yourself, but I’ve been waiting for an excuse to do something to Derek since I got here. He’s the worst.”

Annabeth agreed with that assessment, but that totally wasn’t the point right now.

“That’s okay Percy, but what is going on?” Annabeth said, still being dragged along by her towel-clad boyfriend. “Where are we going?”

“In here,” Percy said, flinging open the door to the otherwise-empty locker room and dragging her toward the showers.

“Percy, I can’t go in the shower with-”

“Ah, Annabeth!”

The booming voice of Chiron, her centaur mentor at Camp Half-Blood, met her as Percy drew back the shower curtain.

In the steam of the shower, and with the lights overhead, enough of a rainbow had formed to allow for an Iris message.

Chiron beamed at her from his office at camp.

“I am so sorry for the… ah, unplanned message,” Chiron said. “Though, Percy, I did hope you would find time to put some clothes on before retrieving our Annabeth here.”

Percy reddened, and Annabeth tried not to look at how the flush traveled down Percy’s bare chest too.

“As I was explaining to Percy, Annabeth, I hated to contact you both so soon after all of your… adventures over the summer. But I’ve just received an urgent message from Rowan, one of our junior satyr protectors.”

“He’s found a demigod in the city, but they’re pinned down by monsters. Most of the campers are home for the summer, and you two are the closest to them. They need you.”

“We’ll do it, Chiron,” Annabeth said.

Percy didn’t look so pleased, but he agreed too and left to finish changing clothes while Chiron filled Annabeth in on Rowan’s last known location. 

Rowan and the new demigod had gotten accosted by monsters outside of the stadium after attending a New York Yankees game together. 

They had retreated inside Yankee Stadium and locked themselves in a bathroom in the concourse. Monsters disguised as security guards were waiting for them outside, but Rowan had managed to rig up a rainbow in the sink to contact Chiron.

One of Annabeth’s most treasured possessions was a New York Yankees cap, but she’d never visited Yankee Stadium. After they rescued Rowan and the demigod, she’d take a picture in front of the stadium with the hat on, if, you know, she wouldn't be invisible.

Annabeth said her goodbyes with Chiron and waved her hand to break the message just as Percy returned.

Annabeth quickly filled Percy in on the situation, and they headed for the subway.

“Come on,” Percy said. “Let’s go save a demigod.”

Chapter Text

Percy couldn’t stop nervously bouncing his leg as the subway sent them speeding toward The Bronx.

The situation he and Annabeth were headed into should be a piece of cake.

A couple of monsters cornering a demigod and his satyr protector?

Child’s play. Literally. He and Annabeth had been handling similar situations since they were literally children.

They’d slayed countless monsters and killed Titans and survived Tartarus, but even this relatively-minor situation made Percy nervous.

After they defeated Gaea and Annabeth had told him that they could attend New Rome University together, Percy, perhaps foolishly, had allowed himself to believe that it would actually happen.

Ever since they had started their supposedly-normal senior year of high school in New York, the universe seemed determined to throw obstacles at his feet.

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. The universe’s favorite pastime seemed to be throwing obstacles at him, but the defeat of Gaea felt like a victory that would give him a well-earned rest.

Then again, so did the end of the Titan War. 

Percy hadn’t been kidnapped and had his mind wiped this time — yet — but the news that he had to perform three whole quests before winter break in order to gain recommendation letters and get into New Rome was already difficult for him to grapple with.

Now, yet another person needed the urgent services of Percy Jackson.

He knew that was unfair of him to think. The satyr and the poor demigod, who probably was a scared kid unaware of this whole world of gods and monsters — just as Percy had been at 12 — couldn’t help it. 

And Percy genuinely wanted to help too. He’d never been one to shy away from helping someone in need.

That’s not what this was about. 

Percy was just… tired.

Tired of quests and monster attacks and emergency missions.

He was ready to turn that corner into a quiet, safe period of time in college with Annabeth. 

But the hero life just wouldn’t leave him alone.

The train slowed to a stop, and the announcement went out over the loudspeaker that they had arrived at 161st Street station.

“That’s us, Seaweed Brain.”

Annabeth squeezed his still-bouncing thigh, then rose and pulled him to his feet.

They’d gone over the plan on the ride over.

Annabeth would use her magic New York Yankees cap — appropriately — to sneak into the stadium. Security guards — real, mortal guards, not the monsters in disguise  — manned the entrances.

Annabeth would invisibly get past them, then create a distraction to draw the guards’ attention so Percy could make it in. 

As they got close to the stadium, Annabeth stopped him as she pulled her hat out of the cargo pocket on her jeans.

“Be careful, Percy” Annabeth said, giving him a quick hug before slipping her hat on and becoming invisible.

“Don’t I get a kiss for good luck, it’s kind of a tradition, right?”

Percy wasn’t over the whole demigod life so much that he couldn’t still have fun on missions. If he and Annabeth could joke (or flirt, though he wouldn’t have called it that at the time) their way through the whole Titan War and make it out alive, he supposed they shouldn’t stop now.

After a beat with no answer, Percy wondered whether a stil-invisible Annabeth had heard him.

Then, Percy felt her hand on the back of his neck and her breath close to his ear as she whispered.

“Come back alive, Seaweed Brain, then we’ll see.”

Percy smiled as he heard Annabeth’s footsteps jogging away from him.

“We haven’t moved past that, yet?” Percy joked.

“Never!” called back the disembodied voice of Annabeth.

“Love you too!” Percy shouted, getting a funny look from a passing bystander.

Percy met their eyes and shrugged before heading toward the right field gate.

He wondered what kind of monsters he’d be facing. Chiron hadn’t specified.

“What kind of a monster would be a Yankees fan?” he muttered aloud to himself, again drawing the attention of a different passer-by.

This one was wearing the same Yankees hat that he’d associated with Annabeth for more than five years. Only this guy wasn’t invisible. And he was clearly upset.

“What, and I suppose it’s better to root for the Mets?”

Percy hadn’t ever felt a particular allegiance to one of New York’s two professional baseball teams. In his experience, both sides could be kind of obnoxious.

“Nah, I like the Seattle Mariners,” Percy said automatically. He supposed it made sense. Blue. Sailing. 

His experience in Seattle hadn’t been the greatest — he’d been kidnapped by an online shopping company — but still.

“Whatever, man, they’re in last place,” the angry fan said as he walked away.

“Monsters,” Percy muttered when he was absolutely sure there was no one nearby that could overhear him.

He arrived at the gate to find it wide open and with no security outside. Annabeth must have already caused her distraction. 

Percy picked up into a jog as he entered the stadium and found an escalator to the upper levels. As he rounded the corner into the upper concourse, he collided with Annabeth.

“Hey!” she said.

“Hey,” he said back. “Thanks for the distraction.”

“Don’t mention it. There are a couple of very confused guards searching behind the concession stands as we speak,” Annabeth said. “By the way, hot dogs make great non-lethal projectiles.”

“Nice.” Percy grinned. “You’re a frank flinger.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

“Come on, Seaweed Brain, the bathroom is just ahead.”

They jogged along the deserted stadium hallway until they came to a set of restrooms. Chiron had told them that Rowan and the young demigod had locked the door of a bathroom on this level, but both bathrooms had their doors swinging wide open. 

“You take the women’s, I’ll take the men’s?” Percy suggested. 

“Go for it,” she said, slipping on her hat and entering the women’s restroom.

Percy couldn’t go in invisibly, but he did his best to creep in silently.

The stealth didn’t help him.

As soon as he entered, he felt something club him on his head, hard, from behind.

He collapsed to the floor, blinking stars out of his eyes to see that a dog-headed cynocephalus had hidden behind the door and jumped him from behind as he entered. Percy had been bashed on the head with the butt of a sword.

Before he could react, he felt big hands grab him.

A Laistrygonian giant, who was bent low to fit his frame inside the low-ceilinged bathroom, lifted Percy off the ground and pulled his hands behind his back.

“Come out, satyr, or this demigod will get a new hole in his chest,” the dog-headed demon barked, poking at Percy with a sword. There were two other cynocephali and a group of a half-dozen Telekhines backing them up.

Apparently all of the dog-headed monsters were here tonight. Maybe the Yankees were having one of those “Bark in the Park” promotional nights where dogs were allowed into the game?

Percy heard a commotion behind a stall in the back of the bathroom, and out walked Rowan and a young demigod.

The satyr looked remarkably like Grover had when Percy had first met his best friend, only he had darker hair and leaf-green eyes. The demigod behind Rowan was a girl who looked to be around 10. She had bushy brown hair and wore a too-large Yankees jersey.

“Percy Jackson?” Rowan asked, looking starstruck.

“Who is he?” the girl asked. “Is he here to help?”

“Gabbie, Percy is the hero of Olympus,” Rowan said, sounding awed. “We’re saved.”

Percy felt a twinge of annoyance at Rowan’s words.

Percy had always had a complicated relationship with the reputation he had apparently built up among the younger campers.

They treated them as if he was some sort of infallible force of power that couldn’t possibly fail. Like they had nothing to worry about because someone like Percy Jackson would always save them.

Sure, Percy had had his fair share of successes in battle, but he never felt like he deserved any sort of awe.

It reminded him of the way everyone acted around the gods. And that made him uncomfortable.

He’d given up his chance at godhood to stay human. He certainly didn’t want others viewing him in the same light as the very gods he’d actively decided not to become a part of.

He also had a difficult time dealing with the fact that his fellow campers seemed to almost assume that he would drop everything to help them.

I mean, sure, he probably would. And had.

But he also had a life and things that he cared about. People that he cared about.

A life with someone he cared about that couldn’t happen if he died facing a random monster helping a random person with a random quest.

He had always known that there was a possibility — a large one even — that he would die before reaching adulthood. Most demigods did.

But now that he was so close to escaping to a life of relative peace with Annabeth, it felt wrong to tempt fate even more by entering into life-and-death situations. 

Like those old cop movies where the officer is on his last day before retirement and gets killed out in the field.

But, even if he wasn’t particularly keen on risking his life right now, and even if Rowan expected him to waltz in here and defeat the monsters on a whim, he still had to save them now. 

To get them, as well as Annabeth and himself, out of this alive.

“This demigod won’t be saving anyone,” slobbered the cynocephalus. “We have him captured.”

“You do,” Percy said. “But, we’re in a bathroom.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” a Telekhine piped up.

“I’m the supreme lord of the bathroom.”

Like had happened on one of Percy’s first nights at camp more than five years ago, the plumbing in the bathroom exploded.

That first outburst had been unintentional, and Percy couldn’t control the deluge of water that came flowing out.

This time, the supreme lord of the bathroom was a little more experienced.

He directed the flow of the toilet behind Rowan and Gabbie up and over their head and sent it directly at the eyes of the giant holding him.

The Laistrygonian yelped with pain and dropped him.

Flipping in mid air to land on his feet, Percy oriented himself to see the cynocephali and Telekhines struggling against the tide of water that was still soaring over Rowan and Gabbie. 

Percy felt a tug in his gut as he slowed the water from coming out of the pipes running in the floor below the bathrooms. 

The monsters got to their feet at the door as the stream of water subsided.

“Some attack that was,” the cynocephalus sarcastically wailed. 

The monsters advanced on Percy, Rowan and Gabbie.

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” Percy said.

Another tug as Percy allowed the pressure that had been building up in the pipes to explode forward.

A huge wall of water hurtled at the monsters at tsunami forces, sweeping them swiftly out of the bathroom and out into the hall.

“Thank you, Mr. Jackson!” squealed Gabbie. 

“It’s Percy,” Percy half-grumbled, bristling at being addressed like an adult. “And we’re not safe yet, let’s go finish this.”

He supposed he was almost an adult, but still.

Percy and his two new companions jogged out of the bathroom to find a still bone-dry Annabeth standing at the exit.

“You knew I was here, didn’t you?” Percy’s girlfriend said, grinning. “You put a bubble around me?”

“Yep,” Percy shrugged. 

He’d directed the water around himself, Rowan and Gabbie when he swept the monsters out of the bathroom, and he’d done it for his girlfriend, who had been rushing to him from checking the other bathroom, too.

“I love you!” Annabeth said, throwing her arms around him.

“Love you too, Wise Girl,” Percy said with a laugh. “Annabeth, this is Rowan and Gabbie.”

“Nice to meet you guys,” Annabeth said, shaking their hands. “Come on, the monsters were washed out to the field.”

The group of four dashed back to the escalator, reached the field-level concourse and sprinted down the remaining bleachers onto the grass next to the third-base dugout.

The monsters were laying piled awkwardly in a big, muddy puddle on the pitcher’s mound.

Percy drew Riptide, and Annabeth pulled out the knife that she’d procured after returning from the quest to stop Gaea. 

(“A knife suits me better,” she had said, despite having an incredibly-cool drakon-bone sword).

“Do I get a weapon?” Gabbie asked.

Percy dashed into the dugout and picked up a wooden baseball bat.

“Here,” he said, handing it to the young demigod. “Stay out of the way and let us handle this, but use that for protection if they come at you.”

“Yes!” she said, swinging the bat experimentally with a wicked look in her eye.

Percy and Annabeth made eye contact.

“Ares?” Percy mouthed the question.

“Maybe,” Annabeth mouthed back.

Percy and Annabeth took off running at the monsters, who were beginning to extract themselves from the pile.

The pair reached the monsters before the giant could rise, and Annabeth took a running leap and swept her dagger downward as she fell, plunging it right into the Laistrygonian’s chest and turning it quickly into dust.

Percy cut down a Telekhine and then dodged an overhead blow from a cynocephalus before stabbing Riptide through its midsection.

Another Telekhine waddled up before being dusted by a quick slash of Riptide, and Annabeth tossed her knife straight through the head of another.

She rolled to pick it up and stab a third Telekhine as it tried an attack from behind. 

Percy whirled under an attack by a cynocephalus, stuck out his leg to trip it and allowed it to fall on his blade.

The three remaining Telekhines were still standing on the muddy pitcher’s mound. 

Percy concentrated on the pooled water, and the mud swirled around the flippers of the sea demons, trapping them in place like quicksand.

Annabeth charged forward, a swing of her dagger dusting one monster, then another. 

She stabbed through the last one, leaving just the particularly-talkative cynocephalus left.

It stood near first base, having backed up to avoid Percy’s muddy quicksand trick.

Percy charged, but the dog demon was quick. 

It sprinted away toward second base, then glanced over towards third to apparently see Rowan and Gabbie standing at the dugout behind. 

The monster rounded second and charged toward third. 

Percy chased after it, but the monster was too fast. Annabeth sprinted toward Rowan and Gabbie, but she wasn’t going to make it there first either.

Gabbie hoisted her bat, looking ready to join the fight.

“Gabbie, no!” Rowan called as the girl walked out toward the cynocephalus.

The monster leapt toward Gabbie, but the young demigod dug in her heels, shouldered the bat, and swung.

Derek Jeter couldn’t have done it better himself.

The lightning-quick swing took the monster’s head clean off its shoulders.

It flew through the air before disintegrating into dust mid-flight.

“Home run!” Gabbie screamed, her voice cracking. “Take that, dog breath!”

Percy and Annabeth got to the little slugger at the same time.

The two looked up at each other and met eyes.

“Ares.” They declared at the same time.

“What does that mean?” Gabbie asked, her wild look beginning to melt back into curiosity.

“You’ll see,” Annabeth said, putting her hand on the younger girl’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you to camp.”

“Camp?”

“Sorry,” Rowan said. “She doesn’t know anything yet.”

“Well I know that dog thing wanted to kill me,” Gabbie said. “But I killed him first.”

“You’ll fit right in, Gabbie,” Annabeth chuckled.

They hailed a pair of cabs to take them back to the Jackson apartment. From there, Percy would grab the Prius and they’d escort Rowan and Gabbie to camp.

Rowan and Gabbie piled into the back of the first cab to explain to Gabbie the new world she’d just officially become a part of.

Percy and Annabeth hung back to wait on a second cab.

“So…” Percy said.

“So?” Annabeth asked.

“I’m back,” Percy said. “Alive.”

“Oh, are you?” Annabeth smiled as she draped her hands around the back of his neck, the same way she had when they’d kissed after the Titan War.

“Consider my debt paid,” she whispered, just before she kissed him.

If Percy did have to risk his life on missions, at least this was a pretty good reward.

Chapter Text

“Mister Percy, what was it like to become invincible?” Gabbie asked

“Mister Percy??” Annabeth said with a smile, looking over at her boyfriend from the passenger seat of his stepdad’s Prius. 

“Shh. Don’t tell the others,” Percy whispered, looking dead serious. “She called me Mister Jackson earlier.”

“Oh, not a word,” Annabeth said.

And she meant it. 

Not a word.

Two words. 

Mister and Percy.

And she’d tell Piper and Hazel all about those two words the next time they got together for a weekly Iris Message.

“Well Gabbie, I don’t know what all Rowan has told you,” Percy told the younger demigod. “But it was pretty intense. I had to bathe in this river, and it was super painful. I almost died. I had to concentrate really hard on… on what made me want to stay mortal.”

Percy threw an almost-imperceptible glance over at Annabeth as he spoke. Annabeth smiled contentedly at the memory.

She’d heard lots of girls admit that they could never be sure exactly how much their significant others liked them. That sometimes even the most loyal of boyfriends did things that caused their partners to question whether they were all in. Annabeth had never had that problem. The whole “anchor to mortality” was pretty solid evidence. Along with pretty much all of Percy’s actions.

“Yeah, but what about when you were in battle?” Gabbie asked. “What was it like to fight all those monsters and know that they couldn’t kill you? How many did you kill?”

If Gabbie wasn’t a daughter of Ares, Annabeth would eat one of Grover’s tin cans.

Percy was saved from having to answer the bloodthirsty child’s question as the Prius pulled to a stop on the farm road outside the entrance of Camp Half-Blood.

“Come on, Gabbie,” Rowan said, holding the door open as the young demigod clambered out of the car.

“Where are we?” she asked. “Are we at that camp?”

“We are,” said the satyr. “Welcome home.”

After delivering Gabbie and Rowan safely to Chiron, Annabeth and Percy headed for their old familiar spot.

They held hands as they trudged through the cool air of night. A glance at the watch on Percy’s wrist told her that it was now two in the morning, but Annabeth didn’t feel tired.

The rush of a monster encounter tended to be a pretty effective pick-me-up.

“Some baseball game, huh?” Annabeth asked.

“It was,” Percy replied. “If this whole demigod thing doesn’t work out for Gabbie, she may have a future as a shortstop.”

“Oh, so she can abuse her powers in a sporting competition like you did at the swim meet, mister Percy?”

Annabeth adjusted her tone to make it clear that she was needling him.

“Oh hush,” Percy said. “I already apologized for that earlier… Gods, was that earlier tonight?”

“Yep,” Annabeth said.

The rush of a monster encounter also tended to seem like it sped up time.

“That seems like forever ago.”

They reached the edge of the lake, in the same spot they’d sat so many times that the grass was starting to wear away a little.

Percy plopped down, then took Annabeth’s hand and guided her down next to him. 

They didn’t have the blanket that they sometimes brought with them to sit on as they watched the rippling water, but, as Percy wrapped his right arm securely around her shoulder and pulled her in tight beside him, Annabeth didn’t mind so much the hard ground under her butt.

“Back again,” Percy said, letting out a sigh.

It wasn’t quite the contented sigh he sometimes made when they were relaxing together. There was a hint of something else in it too. Some stress or unease that, despite all of the pain Percy had been through, usually didn’t show on the surface when they were together.

“Back again,” Annabeth echoed

Annabeth began considering how best to ask her boyfriend what was wrong, but, before she could even choose between a direct approach or a stealthy one, Percy squeezed her shoulder to signal that he was pulling back from the embrace. 

He moved back a few inches and turned toward her. Annabeth rotated too so that they faced each other, meeting each other’s eyes.

“Question game?” Percy asked.

It seemed like Annabeth wouldn’t have to broach the subject after all. When Percy had something bothering him, he usually used his question to start a conversation about it.

That was one of the many reasons Annabeth was thankful that they had started the question game. She knew that, in a relationship, even the smallest issues could become huge if left unresolved. Gods knew that they could have saved a lot of hurt feelings if they had only had a conversation about Rachel and Luke way back when. She was glad, nowadays, that she and Percy could talk things out most of the time.

“Go ahead, Perce,” Annabeth said, trying not to get distracted by the way the moonlight reflected off his eyes, even as he wore his serious expression.

“Do you ever wonder whether this is all worth it?”

Wow. Big question. Even if Annabeth didn’t yet understand exactly what “this” Percy was referring to.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Percy said, looking like he was searching for the correct words. “Just… everything. We do so much for the gods, and it just doesn’t seem to matter. I still have to get stupid recommendation letters just to get into stupid college. And then, after everything we’ve done to save the world and our friends and camp, we can’t even go a few days without getting called in to fight monsters. It just… I don’t know… makes me question sometimes whether it’s worth fighting at all. Or whether we’re fighting for the right reasons.”

Annabeth remained silent for a few moments.

She knew she had to respond carefully. Because, in a way, she agreed with Percy. She’d been seething since she learned of the gods’ silly requirement of recommendation letters for Percy. She also felt that they deserved a break — maybe even a permanent one — from all the quests and monster fights.

But, the last part of his statement reminded her a little of the view of someone else.

With a jolt, Annabeth realized that she and Percy were now getting close to the same age that Luke was when he went on his quest, became disillusioned with the gods, and eventually fell to Kronos’s persuasive powers.

Annabeth decided on a response.

“No.”

“No?” Percy asked, looking a little shocked. “Never?”

“Percy, I agree, it is stupid that the gods are making you get recommendation letters. You’ve done so much for them, they should personally be setting you up a one-person university on Olympus itself. But, just think of all that we’ve done. All we’ve saved.”

“That’s my point, though,” Percy said. “We have done all this, and it still isn’t making a difference.”

“Not making a difference?” Annabeth said. “Percy, without you, the gods would have fallen. Kronos would be ruling the world right now, or he and Gaea would be fighting over it, one. So many of our friends would be dead. I’d probably be dead.”

“I know, but…”

Annabeth wouldn’t put up with any buts in this particular conversation, so she interrupted.

“Percy, when the gods offered you immortality, what did you do?”

“I turned it down.”

“Yes, and then what did you ask of them instead?”

“I asked them to treat their kids better. To recognize them and to not let them go unclaimed.”

“Right,” Annabeth said. “Look, Percy, you know that I don’t think the gods are perfect. Hera’s definitely not perfect, and if she ever takes you away from me again, I may tear down all of what I built on Olympus to get to her.”

Percy managed a small chuckle.

“The gods are the right side, Percy,” Annabeth continued. “I think two wars proved that. But, just because something is the better of two options doesn’t mean it's perfect. The fight doesn’t stop when the better side has won. We keep fighting to make right the things that our side does wrong. That’s what you did, on Olympus. You gave up personal glory to make things better for others. Because you knew that, even though the gods were better than the Titans, that the gods had helped cause the war by their inattentiveness to their kids. They helped create… what Luke became.”

“I know,” Percy said, looking pale. “And I definitely don’t think that Luke was right, or anything. I just… I think I’m just tired.”

“I know Percy,” Annabeth said. “I think we may have more cause to be tired of this fight than maybe any demigods in history. I’m tired too. And I’m frustrated with the situation too. It’s totally unfair. But we’ve just got to get through it.”

“I know,” Percy said, looking a little less defeated. 

“We’ve made it this far, Seaweed Brain, through so much. We walked through hell, Percy. We can deal with three recommendation letters.”

“We can.”

“We’ll get through it. And, once we do, we’ll go to college together. Safe, in the border of a magical camp with monsters unable to get in. Just us, chilling and relaxing together, with only papers and exams hanging over our heads instead of potentially world-ending threats.”

“I don’t know, papers and exams sound pretty world-ending to me,” Percy said, fully back to his silly self for now.

She knew that it was a little easier said than done. And that the odds were that some other obstacle would pop up after three letters. But they'd get through that too. They always had, and they always would. 

She hoped.

“We’ll get through that too, Seaweed Brain," she said, meaning both the future unnamed obstacles in her head and the exams.

Annabeth thought for a beat, then leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“Plus, in college, there isn’t a curfew, a rule about who can visit each other’s rooms, or parents in the next room.”

Annabeth pulled back in time to see Percy’s face redden.

“Yeah?” He said nervously.

“Yep!” Annabeth said, adopting an overly-peppy tone. “You can come over and we can do homework together as long as we want.”

Percy laughed.

Annabeth did a quick glance around to find the late-night lakeshore still empty apart from her and Percy, so she pulled him in for a kiss. She felt the laugh die on his lips as he kissed her back.

“And maybe this too,” Annabeth said, when they finally broke apart and she managed a breath.

“Definitely,” Percy said, catching his breath too.

They sat watching the water for a few minutes in silence before Percy broke it.

“Your turn?”

“Huh?”

“Hah,” Percy said. “You forgot this time, and I didn’t. It’s your turn in the question game.”

Annabeth thought for a moment, but the late hour was finally starting to catch up to her.

She fished her Yankees cap out of her pocket and turned it over in her hands.

“When you go back to your cabin,” she began. “Would you be willing to leave the door open behind you?”

“What do…” The puzzled look on Percy’s face faded as Annabeth winked at him and put on the hat, vanishing.

“Sure thing,” Percy said. “I’m sure the wind will blow it closed behind me anyway.”

As she fell asleep to the sound of Percy’s slow breaths next to her in the Poseidon cabin, Annabeth couldn't help but be excited for a future that would allow her to fall asleep next to the boy she loved.

No breaking curfews or invisibility necessary.

Chapter Text

If Percy had a nickel for every time a god bought cheeseburgers for him during a cross-country trip, he’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

This wasn’t the first time that the road trip that Percy was on with his two best friends — Grover and Annabeth — reminded him of the one they’d taken on his first quest when he was 12. (Well, Annabeth was a little more than a friend now, but still).

They hadn’t run into Medusa this time, and he hadn’t plunged to his apparent death out of the St. Louis arch (yet anyway), but, setting out on an adventure, with just Annabeth and Grover at his side, definitely evoked the nostalgic feelings of that first quest, even if it had just been mostly just driving so far.

But, this particular callback to that first quest was undeniably uncanny.

After driving out of the city and traveling on Interstate 80 all the way through Pennsylvania, they’d pulled off the highway near Youngstown, Ohio, and ducked into a fast food restaurant to stretch their legs — hooved and otherwise — and take their first real break of the trip.

They had needed to refuel the Prius, plus Grover had been slipping in the fact that it was lunchtime into every other sentence he had uttered for the previous 100 miles or so.

Percy’s stomach had begun to rumble too, so, when he found an exit that looked to have what they needed, they got off the interstate and pulled up to a Burger Baron fast food restaurant (It’s the only one they could find that had vegetarian patties for Grover) and walked in.

The familiar fast food smell hit Percy in the face as the door closed behind them, and a reaction that somehow left him both revolted and famished washed over him. He knew he was going to hate himself later, but he also knew that the greasy, cheesy burger he was about to take down was going to be soooo good.

Looking up at the menu above the counter, the trio walked up in line behind a man wearing what appeared to be a delivery driver outfit ordering at the counter.

Percy was deciding whether he wanted the “Baconzilla Burger” or the “Triple Stacker Cheesy Supreme” — or to ask Annabeth whether she wanted to get one and split both with him — when his choice was made for him.

“And, for the three behind me,” a familiar voice said, clearly boosting its volume so that the trio could hear. “We’ll have one Baconzilla Burger, one Triple Stacker Cheesy Supreme and one Reggie Veggie Burger.”

The delivery driver, whose mission was apparently to deliver food to their starving stomachs, turned and grinned at them with a wide smile.

It was none other than Hermes, the god of travelers, thieves, and, apparently, greasy burgers and fries. Looking closer, Percy now noticed the familiar “Hermes Express” logo emblazoned on his uniform jacket, the one that was just similar enough to the mortal mail service’s mark to be easily overlooked, with assistance from the mist of course.

“Hello, demigods,” Hermes said, before apparently realizing that his greeting wasn’t entirely accurate.

“And, uh, you too, Satyr,” he hastily added.

“Thanks for the recognition,” a hungrily-grumpy Grover grumbled under his breath.

“Why are you in Ohio?” Annabeth asked.

That was his girlfriend. Always asking the important questions.

The person taking orders at the counter looked a little confused — whether at the use of the words like “demigods” and “Satyr” or the apparent lack of respect for the state of Ohio, but Hermes smiled and waved his hand over the face of the cashier.

The cashier’s face went briefly blank, as if she had forgotten where she was and what she was doing, but a quick “Thank you, have a nice day” from the god of mischief put a smile back on her face.

“Come, sit,” Hermes put his arm around Annabeth and steered her to a booth further from the counter.

Percy and Grover followed, and what had to be the most unusual quartet of beings to ever gather at a Burger Baron in Youngstown, Ohio, plopped into a booth to wait for their food.

“You really ought to be more mindful, you know,” Hermes said with a grin. “The great people of the midwest don’t take kindly to folks making fun of their states.”

“I wasn-” Annabeth started to argue, but steeled the anger out of her face and went on calmly. “I was simply wondering why you were here, sir.”

Percy knew that move.

In the very few bickering arguments that he had gone through with Annabeth, she’d sometimes do the same thing, seemingly let her anger melt away and instead converse with a calm coldness.

It was scary. Percy almost preferred they get into a yelling match over who was cheating at the board game rather than her coolly picking apart his argument in a logical debate that he had no hope of winning.

“Well, I am the god of travelers,” Hermes said with a wink. “This is a cross-country road trip, is it not?”

“Well, yes,” Grover said. “But surely you don’t show up to buy every family vegan burgers when they stop for...”

Grover trailed off as their meals arrived.

The smiling cashier, without asking whose meal was whose, placed the Reggie Veggie in front of Grover and slid the Baconzilla and Triple Stacker both in between Percy and Annabeth, who were sitting side by side. Must have been part of the magic hand wave Hermes had given before. 

“Not that I’m complaining,” Grover, who had already dug in, said through a mouthful of lettuce, tomato, onion and vegan patty.

“True enough,” Hermes said. “But, I am also the herald of the gods. And with you three on a road trip and in need of a message delivery, I thought I was the perfect man — well, god — for the job.”

“A message?” Annabeth asked. “From whom?”

“ Whom?” Hermes scoffed. “ You children of Athena and your perfect grammar. You’re just like your mother in council meetings. Always with the “whoms.” It may be correct, but no one talks like that anymore.”

“Whatever,” Annabeth said, sounding agitated and clearly struggling now to maintain that calm coldness. 

“Who wants to give us a message?” she managed with a forced-sounding cheery tone.

“Well, it’s not so much a ‘message’ I guess. Not really much to it, really. And it’s actually from no one in particular.”

“So, not a message from no one,” Percy said. “Got it.”

“Well, it’s more of a warning,” Hermes said. “And, well, I suppose you could consider it being from me.”

“Warning,” Grover gasped between bites of burger. “Sounds fun.”

“Aren’t they ever?” Hermes replied cheerily, the god of mischief somehow missing the sarcasm. “It’s not anything specific. But, me being lord of travelers and all, I get an inkling for how road trips are going to go sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked. “Like how many bathroom breaks we’ll have to take?”

“No,” Hermes said, then screwed up his face, as if in thought. “Well, yes actually. There’ll be nine on this one, but that’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean?” Annabeth asked.

“Well, I don’t know specifics,” the god replied. “But I just know that you three should be prepared for this trip to go sideways.”

“Like, sideways on a map? Like west?” Grover said. “Well that’s good, right? We’re headed west.”

“Well yes and no again,” Hermes said. “I meant ‘sideways’ as in ‘off track,’ but you will definitely be heading west. And maybe a little north and south too. And then some east. And then back west.”

“Why… Why would we do that?” Annabeth asked.

“Like I said, I don’t have details,” Hermes said. “I just wanted to let you know so that you’re prepared.”

“But, prepared for what?” Annabeth said. “How can we prepare if we don’t know what to prepare for?”

“I don’t know, just stay aware.”

There was an awkward silence, so Percy broke it.

“Got it.”

“Look,” Hermes said, growing visibly frustrated. “I didn’t have to come do this. You three have done a lot for us. I thought I’d be nice, but you clearly don’t need my warnings.”

Hermes rose, muttered “Demigods are so frustrating,” and vanished on the spot.

“Satyrs are frustrating too!” Grover yelled to no one.

“Well,” Percy said. “That was ominous.”

“Very,” Annabeth said. “What do you think he meant?”

“It didn’t seem like even he knew,” Percy replied. “So I don’t know how we were supposed to know.”

“I guess we just stay ready,” Annabeth said.

Without any more ominous warnings from gods, Annabeth, Percy and Grover ate their meals — Percy and Annabeth alternating bites between their two burgers — and prepared to get back on the road.

An hour down the road from their pitstop, no major sidetracking danger or distraction had yet derailed their journey to California.

Percy had spent the time since wondering what Hermes had meant — and whether Hermes’s seemingly well-intentioned warning had done more harm than good.

As a demigod, Percy was always on the lookout for danger. It was hard-wired into him from birth, but also drilled into him over years of experience on quests. 

He knew Annabeth was the same way.

And Grover, even though he talked mostly of food and pointed out the “interesting tree formations” along the highway while driving, had an incredible sense of smell when it came to sniffing out monsters.

So, they were always, more or less, prepared for danger.

But now, with the warning of a god hanging over his head, Percy’s sense of self-preservation was working overtime.

Was that an “interesting tree formation” along the highway, or a killer tree monster?

Was that a speeding Nissan coming up next to the Prius, or was it a Mist-disguised metal rhino automaton charging at them?

Annabeth and Percy had made it through so much to get through their senior year of high school and get accepted into New Rome University, and now they couldn’t even have a simple road trip to get there without something else going wrong.

Percy was just thinking that he could use a distraction from being distracted, when Annabeth grabbed his hand and squeezed from her spot in the passenger seat.

Annabeth gave him a sympathetic look, and mouthed, “You okay?”

Percy glanced to the back seat to see Grover glaring out the window at a wooded area they were passing. He figured that bought them enough time to have a silent conversation.

“ Yeah ,” Percy mouthed back.

“ Worried? ” Annabeth’s lip moved.

“ Yeah ,” Percy admitted. “ How’d you know ?”

Annabeth pointed at her forehead.

“ Eyebrows ,” her lips said.

“You’re cute when you’re worried,” Annabeth had once told him. “ Your eyebrows get all scrunched together.”

Percy guessed he hadn’t grown out of it.

He was thinking how to continue the silent exchange when Annabeth took the conversation verbal.

“Question game?” she asked, as she had so many times before.

“Sure,” Percy responded, as he had so many times before.

“Grover, you get to play in this round.”

“Huhwhat?” Hearing his name had seemed to shake Grover out of a staring stupor.

Percy suspected that their silent conversation could have been a screaming match and Grover might not have noticed.

“Do you want to play the Question Game with us?” Annabeth asked.

“Question Game… Oh is this that game you and Percy do? The one where he asked if he could say ‘I love you?’”

Percy’s jaw dropped, and he stared at a guilty-looking Annabeth.

“It was sweet,” she shrugged, donning a “sorry, not sorry” face.

“Well, to play the usually-private game,” Percy shot an exaggerated betrayed look at Annabeth. “We just ask each other one question. You just have to answer honestly.”

“Since there are three of us, each of us can choose one other person to ask,” Annabeth said.

“I’ll go first,” Percy said. “This one’s for G-Man.”

“Ooh, this is exciting,” Grover said, fully taking his attention off of the window and leaning forward in his seat.

“You know, I’ve always wondered this,” Percy said, the idea for the question popping into his head as he spoke. “The like, wrappers and cans and metal stuff that you eat. What do they taste like?”

Grover deeply inhaled, like he was getting ready to run a race, and began.

“Well it really depends on what the wrapper or can is for. Like, the foil burger wrapper earlier? It tasted like burger and metal. Cans of soda taste like soda and metal. And the cans for soup? They taste like soup and metal. Metal is really good on its own, but it can really be elevated when paired with a good flavor of whatever was inside the metal. My favorite garbage is the wrapper from the veggie enchiladas at Favela’s back in New York. I used to go there all the time when scouting for demigods in the city. They use this heavy duty aluminum foil that really traps the juices from the enchiladas but still holds a nice, crispy texture. Sometimes, I even save a little bit of the enchilada sauce for the foil wrapping, just to get that perfect last bite.”

The way Grover described it, he almost made metal sound appetizing. Almost.

“You know, Grover,” Annabeth said, a twinkle in her eye. “I think I’m going to have to try some metal.”

“Really?” Grover said disbelievingly. 

“Oh, yeah,” Annabeth said with a tone laced with a subtle sarcasm that Percy picked up on but that Grover apparently didn’t detect.

“Annabeth, I know it sounds appetizing, but human digestive systems really aren’t equipped to break down the nutrients in aluminum cans like mine does.”

“Wait,” Percy said. “You’re saying she can’t eat a can?”

“Nope,” Grover said. “She can not can.”

“Well,” Annabeth said, still smiling. “I guess that idea got canned .

There was a beat of silence, and then Grover snorted and broke into a major goatly chuckle (which was periodically interrupted by bleats). Then Annabeth and Percy cracked up and joined him too (in the laughing part, anyway).

After a period of laughter that was definitely a little too long for the level of comedy they had just experienced — Percy supposed the road trip was already making them a little stir-crazy — Annabeth recovered her breath first.

“All right Grover, your turn.”

“Hmm,” Grover stroked his wispy goatee — which was fuller than it had been when he was younger, but, still, wispy — deep in thought.

“This will probably be a quick one, so you can both answer if you want to,” he said. “What is your favorite thing about camp?”

Percy and Annabeth didn’t glance at each other to communicate who was answering the question first, but, turns out, it didn’t matter.

“It’s home,” they both said in unison.

“Wow,” Grover said. “You guys really are in tune.”

“That’s it, though,” Annabeth said. “It’s home. When I ran away from home when I was little, I didn’t know where I’d end up. I never thought I’d find a place where I’d… be so accepted. Where I’d fit in. Camp provided that. Thanks to Chiron, and thanks to everyone there… and thanks to you guys. I’m glad I’ve reconnected with my dad and stepmom and stepbrothers. But camp is my family.”

With an almost-imperceptible tear forming in the corner of her stormy gray left eye, she turned to Percy and nodded, telling him it was his turn to answer.

As if he could top her perfect and simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking response.

“Same,” he managed. “I mean, not the running away part. But I never felt like I fit in in the mortal world either, except for when I was with my mom. But camp, you guys, you opened the door to a world that I knew I belonged to. You guys are my family too.”

Percy paused, considering whether he was done with his response, and decided he wanted to add just a little more.

“Plus, uh, it brought us together… me and Annabeth, I mean.”

Annabeth smiled, but Grover scoffed.

“Here I was thinking you meant me,” he said, clearly teasing. “I brought you to camp, you know. None of this happens without me.”

“I know, G-man,” Percy said. “I’m super thankful for you too.”

“Just not as thankful as you are for Annabeth,” Grover joked.

“It’s different,” Percy said.

“Oh yeah,” Grover said. “Waaaay different.”

Another round of laughter later, Grover leaned forward from his spot in the middle of the back seats, and threw an arm around each of Percy’s and Annabeth’s shoulders, bringing them in for a quick group hug. 

Percy appreciated it, even if it momentarily caused him to swerve the Prius into the other lane a few inches before regaining control

“All right,” he said when he pulled back. “I guess just one question left.”

“This one’s for Grover,” Annabeth said, but she was looking at Percy and smiling a partly-devious, partly sweet smile.

“When did you first think that we, like, like-liked each other?”

Percy could feel his face heating up, but Grover didn’t even hesitate.

“Oh, that’s easy. On our quest to retrieve the master bolt.”

Percy’s jaw dropped.

In the hindsight of realizing — after they’d gotten together — how long he’d had feelings for Annabeth, he’d expected his oldest friend to have probably picked up on it at some point.

But, first quest?

Annabeth seemed just as shocked as he was.

“That early?”

“Oh yeah,” Grover said nonchalantly.

With Annabeth and Percy still staring at him, mouths agape, Grover seemed to realize that they weren’t expecting that answer.

“Oh, come on, guys. You were pretty obvious.”

“I mean,” Percy said. “I’ll maybe give you, like, when we went to San Francisco to rescue Annabeth from the Titans. I guess, thinking back, I was clearly, like, hurting because she was gone or whatever.”

“Aww,” Annabeth interrupted, putting her hand over her heart in an over-the-top display of fake swooning.

“Oh, hush,” Percy said. “But first quest? She, like, hated me!”

“I didn’t hate you, Seaweed Brain. But you were a little annoying,” Annabeth said matter-of-factly.

“Please,” Percy said. “Me? You were the one that was all like ‘our parents have a rivalry, we can’t be friends.’”

“Well it was true! And you totally disrespected my mom, talking about how the people of Athens only chose her as their patron because they liked olives.”

“Well then you had to go and make going into the ‘Thrill Ride of Love’ all weird.”

Annabeth looked like she was searching for a retort, then seemed to realize that Grover was still there.

They both looked at him sitting in the back seat, a huge smile on his face.

“What?” Annabeth implored.

“And you guys think you weren’t obvious?”

“What does that mean?” Percy asked.

“This, right here,” Grover gestured at the two of them with his hands. “This little ‘always playfully arguing’ thing. You guys have always been like this.”

“I mean, just because we argued didn’t mean we liked each other,” Percy complained.

“I guess,” Grover said. “But you totally did.”

“Whatever,” Annabeth shrugged, not wanting to admit defeat.

Percy and Annabeth had pretty much admitted to each other that they had kind of liked each other from their first quest together. But grappling with the fact that they had that obviously liked each other, to other people, that early?

That was a different conversation entirely.

“Well, I was right, wasn’t I?” Grover said. “And then it only became more obvious as time went on. I couldn’t turn around without finding you guys making goo-goo eyes at each other.”

“ Goo-goo eyes ?” Percy said incredulously.

“Oh yeah,” Grover shrugged. “You guys were always looking at each other like that. Like no one else mattered to you guys but each other.”

Not an entirely inaccurate appraisal, Percy thought, but still.

“But, I knew it would happen one day. And it did! And now look at you guys. In love. Dating. Going off to college together. It was always headed this way. You guys were meant for each other.”

Percy and Annabeth were silent for a moment, but he caught her eye and couldn’t help but smiling. She returned it, but only briefly.

They both had forgotten they were supposed to be vehemently denying their mutual attraction at 12.

“Well,” Percy said, resuming the argument. “What about our empathy link? You’re tapped into my emotions. You probably only knew because of that.”

“I’ve never needed an empathy link to tell how you guys felt about each other,” Grover said. “Besides. I used to get other campers asking me all the time when you guys would get together. You didn’t have empathy links with all of them too, did you Percy?”

What a smug little goat.

But Percy couldn’t find it in himself to be too annoyed with the G-man. Or embarrassed.

It’s a funny thing. Just a couple of years ago, the thought of his feelings toward Annabeth being so out in the open, so known, so… discussed, would have made Percy blush so much that he might blend in with his orange camp t-shirt.

But he found that it didn’t bother him anymore. 

He took Annabeth’s hand, and his attention returned to the road.

He loved Annabeth Chase, and he didn’t honestly care who knew it. In fact, he admitted to himself, he kind of liked that everyone did know.

Not that he needed the validation. He knew that he loved Annabeth and that she loved him too. Nothing else really mattered.

But, it did feel nice that their love was so evident, so powerfully present that it was apparently undeniable to others. And that made Percy feel good. Like he was doing something right.

After a few minutes of silence, anxiety about the warning of Hermes crept back into his thoughts, but it didn’t bother him as much as before. 

Sure, it was ominous, and, sure, it was just one more thing that they would have to do — one more obstacle to overcome — before reaching the peace of New Rome and college. 

But, as he’d reminded himself so many times before, as long as he had his friends by his side, they’d get through it.

They always had, ever since that quest when they were 12, and they would do it again.

Through the power of their love, their friendship, they’d find a way.

And Percy didn’t even care how much that sounded like a message on a Hallmark Greeting Card.

Chapter Text

As a demigod, Annabeth had been through some pretty rough days.

She’d been betrayed by the person she once considered to be the closest to her, she’d been stabbed, and she’d even fallen into Tartarus.

In the grand scheme of things, this particular rough day didn’t seem like it should measure up to those days.

But, with Annabeth’s problems for the last year or so living in New Rome being more in the “normal people problem” variety instead of the “child soldier fighting wars with world-altering consequences” variety, she supposed she’d gotten used to a more peaceful lifestyle.

That didn’t make the day any easier to deal with.

It started when her alarm clock picked the morning of her midterm exam in Advanced Interior Design to decide not to work.

As a demigod, electronic devices tended to go haywire around Annabeth, but she always had a backup plan.

Well, she usually had a backup plan. 

Most of the time, Annabeth was a really light sleeper, and her internal sleep clock tended to wake her up at the time she needed to be awake. Her years of tuning her brain to pay attention to the smallest noises so that she would be ready to leap awake and defend camp from a midnight monster attack had paid off when she did, you know, have to leap awake and defend camp from a midnight monster attack a few times during the Titan War.

But, in the event that her circadian rhythm was out of rhythm, she had a digital alarm clock that was set to wake her up each morning

Then, in the event her backup plan failed, the backup to the backup was an old-school analog alarm clock that she’d picked up on a date at an antique store with Percy. She set it to ring each morning too, placing it beside the digital one on the nightstand next to the bed in her dorm room.

The blaring double alarms were a little loud and annoying each morning, which was why Annabeth was glad she’d been moved to a shared dorm suite that had private bedrooms after freshman year at New Rome University.

Well, they’d been loud and annoying until last night, when the analog clock had gotten knocked off of her nightstand and broken when, on a visit for dinner, Percy had tried to retrieve his bottle of water sitting beside the clock by controlling the water inside it rather than getting up to walk a few steps across her tiny dorm room.

He’d apologized a million times, and Annabeth thought it was funny more than anything at the time, but, rushing to class late after both the digital clock and her internal clock had failed to wake her up on time, she had a little less of a positive view of the previous night’s events.

She’d managed to arrive to class to skid inside as her professor was pulling the door shut, and she felt she’d probably managed at least a respectable A-minus on the exam, but she was still trying to wipe the sleep out of her eyes on her way to her second class of the day, an elective on modern literature interpretations of mythological stories.

As she was going over in her head her thoughts about the different depictions of Medusa (and trying not to get them crossed with her own run-in with the gorgon), she forgot to account for the oddly-spaced step that was three quarters of the way down the staircase leading to the English Department’s building.

Her foot stepped too far to fall on the narrow step, so, hitting nothing but air with her foot, she fell, skidding down the last few steps, skinning her knee and landing hard on her backside.

And then, in her last class of the day, Architectural History II, she’d gotten into an argument with her professor.

Annabeth had done her best in recent years to take steps to not let her fatal flaw, her hubris, get in the way of what needed to be done.

But, a tired, ticked-off, and in-pain Annabeth had a little less of a filter than normal Annabeth.

Pair that with a professor that was not only wrong, but confidently and obstinately wrong — the worst combination — and Annabeth couldn’t take it. She’d pointed out that he was wrong, he’d not responded well, they traded a few jabs in raised voices, and Annabeth had been sent out of class.

She’d stormed back to her dorm, threw her schoolbag in a corner, turned off all the lights, collapsed on the bed, and resolved to not move an inch until Percy finished up his classes. Or, at least until his break between his last two classes, when she sometimes sent him an Iris Message while he was walking between buildings.

When that time came, and wanting a glimpse of her boyfriend to improve her crummy day, Annabeth rigged up the homemade Iris Message machine she and Percy had pretty much perfected, tossed in a Drachma, and said “show me Percy Jackson at New Rome University.”

His image flickered to life in the mist in front of her.

“Hey Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, trying to keep her voice steady. 

“Hey, Annabeth,” Percy said, smiling at her briefly, but looking distracted. “Now’s not really a great time. I’m in line to order at Little Emperor’s. It’s been a crazy day, and I haven’t gotten lunch yet. I stopped to get some pizza. Can I talk to you after class?”

“Sure,” Annabeth said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

“Bye,” he said, swiping through the message, plunging Annabeth back into the darkness of her dorm room again.

Logically, Annabeth knew she had no reason to be upset at Percy.

He didn’t know anything about what had gone on earlier in the day, and Annabeth hadn’t told him.

But, much like her earlier struggles with dealing with pride, a tired, ticked-off, and in-pain Annabeth couldn’t find it within herself to think logically.

That logical side whispered to her that she’d been on numerous quests, been attacked by countless monsters and, in general, had had much more terrible days than the one she was dealing with. She honestly wasn’t sure just why today had gotten to her as much as it had.

Maybe the peaceful time living normal life as a college student at New Rome had spoiled and softened her a little.

Whatever the reason, she was upset and had been hoping for a moment with her boyfriend to help brighten the day a little, and instead he’d blown her off for pizza.

Annabeth sat in her anger and frustration and pain and waited for Percy to finish class and get to her dorm. It was supposed to be date night tonight — even as college students who spent most evenings together in the dorms or the library or a dining hall, they tried to get out and go somewhere in the city at least once a week — but, right now she didn’t feel much like moving. 

She waited and waited.

After what seemed like too long, Annabeth finally rolled over to her digital alarm clock to check the time, only to remember, of course, that it hadn’t worked that morning.

The screen was blank. She checked the plug to find it laying on the floor under the electrical outlet. 

It must have gotten unplugged last night when Percy had broken her analog clock with the water bottle stunt.

Annabeth felt a twinge of annoyance at her boyfriend for the events of the night before.

It had been funny at the time, but, knowing now what all it had caused, she didn’t find it nearly as humorous.

She left her bedroom to sit in the shared living room/kitchen area that she shared with her roommates so she could check the clock that hung on the wall.

6:15 p.m.

Percy should have been there 30 minutes ago, and they were due to leave for their date in 15 minutes.

Worry started to creep into the mix of her anger and frustration and exhaustion as she waited. What if something was wrong, and she was holed up in her room, unaware and unable to help Percy?

Before the worry could grow too much, there was a knock at the door. 6:27 p.m.

She swung open the door to see an apologetic-looking smile on her boyfriend’s face for a split second. 

It quickly faded and his face dropped.

She supposed she was wearing the emotions of the day on her face, and Percy could tell.

“Annabeth, I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, stepping inside and pulling the door shut behind him. “My class went super long, then my study group wanted to make plans for getting together on Thursday, and we were talking and time totally got away from me. I don’t know how. I’ve been super out of it today.”

“It’s okay,” Annabeth said shortly.

Again, Percy had a perfectly understandable excuse. And he wasn’t even that late. They could still head out on their date, if Annabeth had still felt like it.

That was what a rational voice whispered inside her head. Normally, that rational voice was a main source of guidance in her life. But, with all that had gone on earlier in the day, the rational voice was harder to listen to, like a whisper among a stadium of people that were screaming that Annabeth’s plans had been messed up. And she hated when her plans were messed up.

“It doesn’t sound like it’s okay,” Percy said, sounding slightly annoyed.

Annabeth and Percy very rarely got into true arguments.

When they were younger, they’d bickered a ton. Then, the whole Rachel/Luke/Titan War situation had led to a period in which it felt like they couldn’t speak to each other without blowing up.

But, since they’d become a couple, there’d been a couple of minor tiffs, sure, but she felt like they’d gotten really good at communicating with each other about anything that was bothering them long before anything could truly rise to the level of “argument.”

But, on this particular day, with these particular circumstances, it seemed like they couldn’t help themselves.

Percy’s annoyed tone was the last straw.

Before she knew it, she was ranting about her day, making cutting remarks about how if Percy hadn’t tried his silly trick with the water bottle, none of it would have happened, how he was always joking around and should take things more seriously.

Percy responded in kind, saying some slightly hurtful things too.

It was nothing unforgivable from either side, just some things that seemed to have been building and been caused to bubble over by the emotions of the day.

But, before she knew it, Percy was heading back to his dorm to let them both “cool down,” pulling the door shut a little harder than normal as he left.

Annabeth retreated to her bedroom, collapsed on the bed and immediately began regretting what she’d said. 

It was like all the emotions of the day had left her at once, her head clearing as she realized what had happened. 

Sure, she’d had an especially crummy day, but it hadn’t been fair to take it out on Percy. 

She was debating whether to burst out of her room, chase Percy down and ask him to come back and talk things out when a figure began to materialize next to her bed.

A slender feminine form took shape in front of her, seeming to solidify out of the darkness in her bedroom from the ground up.

Pale feet and legs gave way to a sleek black dress that was so dark it seemed like it was sucking in all of the miniscule amount of light filtering into the unlit bedroom. Above the slim torso and gangly, ghostly white arms spawned a frightening face with the smile of someone who seemed to have never actually felt happiness but had tried to recreate the facial expression observed from others.

The woman had blood-red lips, long, straight hair, and shining eyes with pupils the same sort of impossible black as her dress.

The form was clearly a divine being of some sort. That much was immediately clear by the aura of immense power the woman seemed to project. But Annabeth didn’t recognize the goddess.

“Did you enjoy that, Annabeth Chase?” the goddess hissed with the kind of sharp, shrill tone that immediately set Annabeth on edge.

“What, you invading my bedroom?” Annabeth said defiantly, channeling her earlier anger into her words. “Yeah, not really.”

“Fool,” spat the goddess. “I mean the argument. With your precious Percy Jackson .”

She tilted her head back and forth in a mocking gesture as she sounded out the last three words slowly.

“That was nothing.” Annabeth shrugged, still defiant, determined not to let this mystery goddess throw her off her game. “Who are you?” 

“You don’t remember me, child?” the goddess hissed.

Annabeth racked her brain. Goddess, dark dress, serial killer smile.

Suddenly, it clicked.

Understandably, she’d not spent a lot of time trying to remember this goddess. In fact, she’d spent a whole lot of time actively wishing she could forget the period of her life in which she’d met this goddess before.

Before her, in her dark New Rome University dorm room, stood Eris, the ancient goddess of chaos, strife and argument. She’d seen the goddess before when she and Percy had run into her mother, Nyx, the primordial goddess of night, while trapped in Tartarus.

“Ah, Eris,” Annabeth said. “Mommy not here with you this time?”

“Yes, it is I,” Eris hissed. “Though the Romans here at your university would call me Discordia.”

“Wonderful name,” Annabeth muttered.

“It is, isn’t it!” the goddess exclaimed.

Immortals were always terrible at picking up sarcasm.

“The humans even used my name for one of those, what do you call it... internet aggravations… or is it applications…” the goddess said, distracted. “Anyway, lots of beautiful arguments happen there. It’s great.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Annabeth said. “Is that why you’re here? To shill for app downloads?”

“No, foolish child,” Eris/Discordia hissed, seeming to remember that Annabeth was there. “Ever since you and that Jackson boy made a fool of my mother, I have been waiting for a chance to take my revenge!”

Annabeth’s heart sank. The goal for her and Percy had been to get to college at New Rome so that they could be protected from attacking monsters and live a semi-normal life. 

But the protective powers of the borders of Camp Jupiter couldn’t stop a goddess from entering the city to make their lives miserable.

“What do you mean?” Annabeth asked.

“Well, my dear,” Eris began. “I am the goddess of strife and arguments, am I not? I am, unfortunately, somewhat limited in what I can do to directly interfere with the lives of mortals. But, I can sow seeds of strife, encourage amazing arguments.”

Annabeth’s gears were turning.

“You see, all you amazing, seemingly perfect couples are so annoying,” Eris said. “You and Percy Jackson especially so. The nerve to waltz into my mother’s domain and speak of tourist traps! But, even the most loving couples have to deal with arguments and strife. It’s enough to break some of them. And that’s where I come in.”

“It’s all been you?” Annabeth exclaimed, something clicking into place in her brain. “The broken alarm clock, the fall on the stairs, everything?”

“Very good my dear,” Eris said. “You and Percy Jackson have gotten too comfortable. I’ve been biding my time, waiting for the right moment. I have put things in place to ruin your day, and I have done the same for Jackson as well. It’s like a recipe for the most delectable strife stew! Now, I have set in motion the argument that could undo your precious relationship!”

Even as miserable as she’d been today and as bad as it had felt to argue with Percy as she had, Annabeth had never even considered the possibility that it would affect her relationship with Percy. They were too strong for that, had been through too much for that.

But, Annabeth wasn’t going to tell the goddess that.

“You’re horrible,” Annabeth said. “Please don’t take him away.”

“That is not up to me,” Eris said dismissively, waving her hand. “It is as it is with every couple. I can only put the obstacles in your path, cook up the perfect scenario to lead to an argument. Though, I must admit, I did pull out all the stops for you two. Most couples get the generic tests, forgetting anniversaries, eating the last cookie, yadda yadda. If your relationship is strong enough, you will survive it. And, if not, well… Camp Half-Blood reunions may be a little more awkward for you two.”

With a cackle, Eris vanished, leaving Annabeth alone in the darkness.

Annabeth felt a mixture of relief and guilt.

She was relieved that the goddess’ grand plan of revenge was apparently only going to cause a minor spat between her and Percy. 

But still, she had apparently allowed a goddess to manipulate her into getting angry at Percy. And that didn’t feel fair… or good.

Any lingering resentment she had for her boyfriend quickly vanished. 

She was going to go see Percy and make this right.

She hurriedly put on her shoes, threw on a coat, tucked her hair into a baseball cap (of the non-invisibility variety) and rushed out of her bedroom. 

She ripped open the door to her dorm room — and ran headlong into someone.

She backed up to see her boyfriend, swollen-eyed just like she surely was, with his hand up like he was about to knock on the door.

“Sorry!” they both exclaimed. 

“No, I’m sorry,” they both responded.

Annabeth locked eyes with Percy for a moment, before he blinked, softened his face into a smile, and put out his arms. 

Annabeth stepped into his arms and let him envelop her in a hug. 

After what could have been five seconds or five minutes, Annabeth stepped back.

“But I totally need to apologize more,” Percy said.

“Well, I need to apologize too,” Annabeth said. “But it’s not actually all our fault. Come in, and I’ll explain.”

They both sat cross-legged in Annabeth’s twin bed as she explained the appearance of Eris, and how the goddess had designed both of their days to put them on edge and cause an argument.

It turned out that Percy had been through an adventure of a day too.

They were both glad to have escaped a run-in with an ancient goddess without any major consequences.

“I still feel bad though,” Annabeth said. “I took my frustrations out on you, and that’s not okay.”

“Hey,” Percy said. “It’s okay. Everyone has a bad day sometimes. I did the same thing. And I’m sorry too.”

“I guess,” Annabeth said. “I don’t know, I just hate that I let some outside force influence how I thought and acted towards you. I feel like, after all this time, I should be better than that.”

“Annabeth,” Percy said. “You are probably the closest thing to a perfect demigod to ever live. You’re amazing and smart and beautiful and the best person I know. But you’re still human. Well… half human I guess. You had a slip up under extreme pressure. Gods know that I do that all the time. The literal goddess of arguments was specifically trying to cause us to have an argument. Honestly, I would worry more if we never got into disagreements. What matters is I know how much you care about me and that you know how much I care about you. Nothing could ever change that. That’s all that matters.”

They were both silent for a long moment.

“I did find the water bottle thing funny,” Annabeth said finally. “Even if it was a totally Seaweed Brain moment.”

Percy laughed.

“Well, I wouldn’t be Seaweed Brain if I didn’t have my Seaweed Brain moments.”

“Thank you Percy,” Annabeth said. “I am sorry though. And I love you.”

“I’m sorry too,” Percy said. “And I love you too.”

Between the late hour and the emotions of the evening, they decided not to go out into New Rome for date night, opting instead to order delivery from one of their favorite pasta restaurants in town (“I owe you some apology Alfredo,” Percy had said).

While they waited for the food to arrive, they stretched out on the bed, Percy lying flat and Annabeth resting her head on his chest and putting an arm around him.

“Question game?” she asked.

“Certainly.” Percy answered.

“Are we okay?”

Annabeth didn’t actually doubt that they were “okay,” but it was nice to get some verbal reassurance sometimes. 

She’d lived a lot of her life doubting people’s commitment to staying in her life (with good reason), and old habits die hard.

“Of course we’re okay,” Percy said. “Always.”

Chapter Text

“Oh, come on,” Percy said. “After all I’ve done for you guys?”

Even after all he had done for these guys, even Percy had to admit this ask was bold.

Sure, he’d always been bold with the gods. Shortly after learning he was a demigod, Percy had challenged Ares the war god to one-on-one combat. He’d once, standing on this very same spot in the throne room of Mount Olympus a few years ago, rejected the gods’ offer of immortality and instead challenged them to become better parents.

Percy wasn’t even sure he’d be let on Olympus during the winter solstice meeting, yet here he was, begging the gods for help on his most important quest yet.

“Yes, boy, even I will acknowledge that you have performed your duties admirably,” Zeus said. “But why should any of us get involved in the trivial matter of a favor for a mortal ?” 

Duties?

Percy forced himself to count to 10 in his head before responding, a trick Annabeth had taught him for dealing with the arrogant almighty. 

It had saved him a few times from making situations worse with a sarcastic quip (though, he admitted, he couldn’t always hold himself back).

Leave it to the Olympian overlord to treat Percy’s deeds — namely, saving his precious seat of power twice now — as duties. As if, just by having the blood, or, well, ichor, of Poseidon in his veins, he was expected to put his life on the line so that the gods could comfortably lounge around, being fanned by grape leaves.

He shouldn’t have been surprised — not with the whole “debt you owe for existing” line the gods had come up with to justify his need to get recommendation letters in order to get into college.

But Percy wasn’t here to fight that battle this time. He had to focus on the task at hand. He finished counting to 10, felt some of the frustration roll off his back, and answered.

“Zeu-, I mean, Lord Zeus,” Percy began. “I do not ask for help from all of you or for a ruling from the whole council. Just those who…”

Percy glanced around the throne room. Each and every god in the place had more than enough reason to owe Percy, but he decided not to press the issue.

“Just those who would be willing,” he finished, looking at those he thought might be particularly sympathetic — Poseidon, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes… and Athena.

Zeus pondered for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively.

“Whatever,” the king of Olympus boomed. “We will hear your request. Just keep it quick. We have matters of actual import to discuss.”

Percy began the count to 10 in his head again, but it was interrupted by Athena.

“What do you wish to involving with my daughter?” Athena implored. Her gaze was as fierce and steely as always, but Percy thought he could see the ghost of a smirk on her lips as she stared at him.

“I… I didn’t mention Annabeth,” Percy said.

“Please,” Athena waved her hand dismissively, a gesture the gods must have a quota to fill for each council meeting. “You say you need a favor during the summer? You are not organized, and you are not a planner, Percy Jackson. That is why your… relationship with my daughter makes… tactical sense for you. She is the superior planner and strategizer. You would never plan something this far in advance unless it was of vital importance to you. And, included in the things that are clearly important to you, in addition to being a nuisance to the gods, is Annabeth Chase, my daughter. One can only assume that you wish to plan some grand gesture that can only be achieved through… ah, divine intervention.”

Percy stood speechless for a moment. He was used to feeling like he’d had his mind read — he was dating the daughter of Athena, who shared some of her mother’s power, after all — but never had he felt so completely and thoroughly read while giving up so little information. Like he was a flyer for a play in the park and Athena had taken one glance at him and processed the entire collected works of Shakespeare.

Because of course she wasn’t wrong.

And, of course, he had worked up the courage to come before the gods only because he wanted to do something for Annabeth.

But Athena hadn’t guessed the full purpose for his visit. Or, at least, she hadn’t yet said so.

Just like he had in this very room several times before — whether it was for battling Kronos or for turning down an offer of immortality — Percy steeled himself.

He looked Athena straight in the eyes and officially embarked on his most important quest.

“I want to ask Annabeth to marry me.”

Because of course Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were going to get married. 

Hearing his own voice declare the fact felt good.

Sure, it wasn’t the first time he’d said his intentions aloud. 

He’d discussed it with his mom (“about time,” she had said), told Grover (“you mean you aren’t already married?” He’d jokingly said before tackling Percy in a hug). He’d even risked being discovered by monsters to use a cell phone to have an awkward conversation with Frederick Chase, Annabeth’s father (“Seeing what you did to come and rescue my daughter on Mount Tam told me all I needed to know,” Mr. Chase had said).

He’d known for a long time now that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Annabeth Chase. In a life filled with twists and turns and what ifs and what abouts, she was his one constant. It hadn’t taken him long to realize that fact after they had gotten together, and it hadn’t taken long for him to start dreaming of a peaceful life, maybe living in New Rome with her.

It had quickly become a question of when, not if.

Next summer would be the summer before their senior year at New Rome University. Well… Percy’s senior year. Annabeth was on track to graduate early and would begin taking some graduate courses. 

It was a time when decisions would need to be made about life after college. Percy knew that he and Annabeth would be together no matter what — and he knew that Annabeth knew that too — but it felt important to show that commitment as they prepared for a future that, for once, had no deadlines or roadmaps. 

No deadline of a prophecy hanging over their heads, no quests to go on, and no college to attend. Just Percy, Annabeth, and the limitless possibilities of the future ahead of them.

They didn’t have to get married right away, or even in the next few years. Percy just knew that, when they were ready, he wanted marriage to be a part of those limitless possibilities.

So he’d decided the when and started working on the how, which had led him to standing in front of the Olympian council.

From most of the room came an indifferent silence to his proclamation. That, he expected.

But a few showed signs of interest.

Aphrodite squealed excitedly and shook her arms in a godly happy dance. Poseidon beamed at him and said “Congratulations, my boy.” Apollo pointed at him with both of his pointer fingers and said “my man,” with a knowing smile. Even Hera, who had plenty of run-ins with both Percy and Annabeth, grinned. Percy supposed that the prospect of a wedding was enough to help the goddess of marriage let bygones be bygones.

Athena continued her icy glare, but, finally, the left corner of her lip curled up, ever so slightly. It was the closest thing to a smile Percy had ever seen from his future godly mother-in-law.

“I approve.”

Percy felt some tension leave his shoulders.

He didn’t really need the approval of Athena, Frederick Chase, or anyone really — Percy would have walked across Tartarus a second time to marry Annabeth if he had too — but it felt good not to have to do it against the will of a goddess.

“Thank you,” Percy said.

“Yes, yes, congratulations to you and Anniebell,” Zeus thundered. “Now get on with your request so we can move on.”

Percy was so buoyant that he didn’t even need to count to 10 this time.

“Of course, Lord Zeus,” he bowed. 

“Lords Hermes, Apollo, Aphrodite?” Percy said. “Could I count on your help for just a small favor?”

The group that Percy had been counting on being open to assistance all nodded.

“And me too,” Athena said simply. “If it’s for my daughter, I want only the best. I will make sure she does not learn of your plans before… When is it you will propose?”

“On her birthday,” Percy said. “July 12.”

The morning of Annabeth’s birthday dawned cool and calm at Camp Half-Blood.

She and Percy had spent the first portion of the summer bouncing between their dorms at New Rome, her father’s house in San Francisco, and the Jackson-Blofis apartment in New York, but Percy had insisted they spend the night before Annabeth’s birthday at camp (“Part of your birthday celebration,” he’d said with a mischievous smile). 

Annabeth didn’t exactly know what to expect, but it wasn’t a hard decision to play along. She always gave Percy a hard time for his “Seaweed Brain-ness,” but even she had to admit that he was a pretty good planner when it came to dates and surprises for her.

Plus, she never needed an excuse to come back to spend time at Camp Half-Blood.

She’d been back at camp off-and-on since she graduated high school, but it felt odd waking up in her old bunk in the Athena cabin as a 20-year-old woman…

“21” she mumbled audibly to correct herself, realizing that she’d woken up on the morning of her birthday.

She rose and stretched, but found the cabin deserted despite the early hour. She glanced around and noticed a sheet of paper tented on the nightstand next to her bunk.

She picked it up to find “Wise Girl” written on the outside in the all-too familiar messy handwriting of Percy Jackson, with a heart drawn to dot the letter “i” in both words.

Annabeth smiled as she flattened out the paper to find a note written in the same handwriting:

Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

(That’s 21 exclamation marks because you are 21)

I love you, and I can’t wait to spend the day with you. We’re starting bright and early. Meet me on the porch of the big house when you see this.

P.S. I might have promised the rest of your cabin mates that they’d get autographs from “The Annabeth Chase” so that they would place this note and clear out early, so you may have to take care of that later.

Sorry, love you, see you soon, bye!

Annabeth couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as she laid out her orange camp t-shirt and began getting ready. 

She loved her boyfriend.

He was such a goofball sometimes.

But he was her goofball.

Her goofball that had promised autographs to her younger half-siblings. 

That felt a little weird to think about. Sure, she had pride in what she’d accomplished. Twice a hero of Olympus, the finder of the Athena Parthenos, a survivor of Tartarus, and the architect for the gods did sound like a pretty impressive résumé if she thought about it from an outsider’s perspective. 

But she thought back to her days as a young demigod spent idolizing the great heroes that came before her. It didn’t feel right, no matter what she’d accomplished, that the younger campers, none of whom were around during Annabeth’s days at camp, thought about her in the same way.

It also made her feel old.

As she laced her shoes and did one last check in the mirror before heading out the door to trudge to the big house, she thought about just how long Camp Half-Blood had been a part of her life now. 

She’d arrived at this place as a scared 7-year-old. Now, she was 21 and heading into her last year of college. She’d found a home, experienced so much good and so much bad, and met a whole lot of great people in the 14 years since.

The separation from camp in the last few years hadn’t stung as bad as she thought it might. Sure, it’d been a big adjustment to go further and further between visits to the location she still considered to be home.

But she supposed her connection to camp, while having something to do with the familiar cabins and serene strawberry fields, had always been more about its people.

The father-like figure of Chiron, the friends and fellow demigods, and, of course, Percy Jackson.

She never felt like she was away from home as long as she was with Percy.

Annabeth spent the rest of the walk to the big house trying to work out what Percy’s plans might be — racking her brain to think about any potential clues he might have let slip — but, as the porch came into view, her train of thought slammed to a standstill.

Lying prone on the porch of the big house was a figure in a camp t-shirt and with a familiar shock of dark hair.

“Percy?”

Percy tried to keep still as he heard Annabeth call his name, but he felt his lips crack into a smile as she jogged up the porch steps.

By the time he felt her tug his shoulder to turn him upright, he was breaking into a full-on laugh.

A panicked look on Annabeth’s face briefly turned into a slightly annoyed expression before settling on a smile.

“What are you doing?” she asked incredulously. “You. Scared. Me.”

She punctuated each word with a playful slap as she helped him up.

“Well,” he said, “First of all, happy birthday.”

He tried to pull her into a hug, but she stiffened her arms and braced them against his chest to keep him away.

“Nope. Answers, Seaweed Brain. Now.”

Percy laughed, but he knew that the fierce look on Annabeth’s face meant he wasn’t getting out of this one without an immediate explanation.

“Wellll,” he took her hand as he drew out the word. She didn’t object, so he figured that was a good sign.

“I thought for your birthday this year, it might be fun to remember some of our favorite memories together.”

“What, was this supposed to be all the times I thought you were dead?” Annabeth answered without skipping a beat.

“Well, no,” Percy said. “I thought we could start at the very beginning.”

“What do you mean?” Annabeth asked, sounding a little less annoyed. “Like, the beginning beginning?”

“Like, first time you ever saw me , beginning.”

“Wha- Oh! When you killed the Minotaur.”

“Yep,” Percy said with a smile. “I fell down here on the porch, and the last thing I remember was you, standing over me and saying ‘he’s the one.’ See, even then you knew we’d be together.”

“Whatever, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth returned his grin. “I was talking about the one that would take me on a quest.”

“Mmm hmm,” Percy hummed. “Sure.”

“Well. We’ve met for the first time. What do I have to do now, feed you nectar while you’re unconscious?”

“Tempting,” Percy said. “But no. Unfortunately we don’t have the years it would take to re-live absolutely everything. We’re on a tight schedule. But, we did spend a lot of time together at camp before leaving for that first quest.”

“Oh gods, you were so dumb,” Annabeth quipped. “You didn’t know anything yet.” 

“Well, I just needed a know-it-all teacher,” Percy jabbed back. “But, that time at camp can be represented by…”

“Getting breakfast at the dining pavilion?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’m wise,” Annabeth smirked. “And your stomach was growling.”

As they sat together, enjoying breakfast on the quiet morning, Percy felt some of the nerves bubbling in his gut dissipate a little. 

He had no doubts about asking Annabeth to marry him. In fact, it was one of the only things in his life that he never even thought about second guessing. He also had no doubts that Annabeth would say yes.

But still, it was a big life event. And a big, elaborate plan he was trying to pull off.

As Percy finished the last bite of his blueberry pancakes (and after Annabeth used the edge of a napkin to dab off a little droplet of syrup that had apparently gotten stuck on Percy’s stubbly chin), Annabeth grabbed his hand.

“So, what’s next?” she asked excitedly. “Exploding bus? Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium?”

Percy laughed.

“I think we’ll skip over those too. You’ll see.”

They walked in a peaceful silence to Half-Blood Hill, where they met Percy’s special assistant for the day.

Standing under what was once Thalia Grace’s pine tree, holding what appeared to be a smartphone, was a man dressed in tennis shoes, khaki slacks, and a collared golf shirt.

Well, the being in front of him gave off the appearance of being a man dressed in tennis shoes, khaki slacks, and a collared golf shirt.

He was, in fact, a god, dressed in tennis shoes, khaki slacks, and a collared golf shirt.

“Ah, here are my travelers,” boomed the divine being, gesturing in welcome as Percy and Annabeth got closer.

“Ummm, Hermes?” Annabeth asked. “Why are you here?”

“You, my dear, need to stop questioning everything,” the god said. “Can’t I just pop in for a visit to two of the most… accomplished demigods of the last few years without being accosted with questions?”

Hermes had visited Percy, Annabeth, and Grover in Ohio a couple of years back to buy them cheeseburgers and give them an ominous warning about the wild adventure of a cross-country road trip to New Rome that would ensue. Annnabeth and her natural curiosity had bluntly greeted Hermes then with the question “Why are you in Ohio?,” which Percy thought was a perfectly reasonable question.

“Sorry, lord Hermes,” Annabeth said, adopting the overly reverent tone that Annabeth sometimes used with higher powers. “I was only surprised by your presence.”

Percy knew it was an act for Annabeth to be so deferential to the god. But, the narcissistic natures of the gods made it much easier for them to assume everyone was groveling to them at all times, so the sarcasm usually went by unnoticed.

“Well, your… boyfriend here has roped me into assisting him with a… special request,” Hermes sounded unsure, and he looked at Percy to confirm. “Is that vague enough?”

Percy was amazed he’d gotten this far without those blabbermouths on Olympus ruining his planned surprise. He was eager to keep the conversation moving before Hermes gave up too much.

“Works for me,” Percy said quickly. “Speaking of works, how is this going to work?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked!” Hermes said with the zeal of one of those television product salesmen that Percy remembered watching as a kid. “You two are in for a special treat! You’ll be using the TRYP platform!”

“What’s trip?” Percy said.

“TRYP, that’s T-R-Y-P,” Hermes gestured to each of the four letters of the company logo that Percy now noticed on his shirt. “TRYP is the official transportation solution application of the gods! We Olympians can appear anywhere in the world we want to in an instant of course, but, sometimes we need to transport others, have food delivered, or whatever other application we need. Naturally, as the messenger to the gods, I was selected to run this service. You’ll be using TRYP today to instantaneously transport you wherever you’d like to go!”

“Wait,” Annabeth said. “We’ve been traveling the world on quests for years. You’re telling me you could have just zapped us anywhere we needed to go this whole time?”

“Ah, the top question on the app’s FAQ page,” Hermes said, pulling up the app on the phone and pointing to the first entry. “TRYP is not available to demigods on quests. Part of the whole ‘gods can’t interfere’ nonsense. It’s also only usable within the United States, so it wouldn’t have helped with that whole Gaea business. But, in times of peace, we gods are free to allow use of the service as we see fit.”

Hermes nudged Percy with his elbow. “Though, this is sort of a quest for you, Mr. Jackson, one that ends with-”

“So how do we use it?” Percy asked, cutting off the gossipy god.

“Well, you’ll use this GodPhone here,” Hermes said, handing over the device. “Don’t worry, this device won’t attract monsters like your normal mortal cellular phones. Simply enter your destination on the app’s homescreen, hit ‘go,’ and you’re off! This GodPhone 16 Pro Max Plus Squared is configured to allow you two unlimited travel today only. It will then return to Olympus automatically.”

“Cool,” Percy said, taking the device. “Thank you, um, Mr. Hermes.”

“No problem, Mr. Jackson,” the god said. “You did lay out a compelling case for my help after all.”

With that, Hermes turned on the spot and vanished.

“Wow,” Annabeth said, turning to Percy and smiling. “Divine intervention? I’m impressed. How many meals of tribute did you have to promise Hermes to get that?”

“None,” Percy shrugged. “And Hermes isn’t the only helper I’ve got lined up for today. Ready to go?”

“I’ll follow you anywhere, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, beaming at him. 

Looking into her shining gray eyes, any remaining lingering nervousness left Percy all at once. 

A lifetime supply of Annabeth Chase looking at him like that? Percy couldn’t wait to sign up.

He tapped in their first destination on the phone, hit enter, and the world vanished around him.

It took Annabeth a moment to notice that she wasn’t just in some dark void.

After the bright sunlit morning at Camp Half-Blood, her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness around her until she realized that she was… inside a metal rectangular room?

Then, some more details began to form into place. 

Hay lined the floor, and the distinct… stink of animals filled her nostrils.

Annabeth wrinkled her nose at the smell — and with a smile.

She immediately knew where her boyfriend had brought her to relive a memory. She herself had referenced this place during the quest to defeat Gaea a few years ago.

Annabeth felt as giddy as anyone probably ever had while smelling animal poop. 

Her boyfriend was a “dumb boy,” a lot of the time, but, when he put his mind to it, he really knew how to plan a big romantic gesture.

Annabeth knew that he always cared, but it was nice too when he went out of his way to show how much he cared (which was a lot). She couldn’t wait to spend the day following whatever scheme he had cooked up with the Olympians to relive some of their favorite memories.

There were a lot of parts of Annabeth’s past that she had spent a lot of time trying to forget, from her childhood to losing some of her friends during the wars to trekking through Tartarus.

But thinking back on her relationship with Percy always made her feel warm inside.

Even if her birthday celebration started out in the back of a smelly trailer, she was excited for what was to come.

“Ah,” Annabeth said. “The Kindness International truck.”

“Yeah,” Percy said. “Honestly, I had no idea these guys were still in their shady business after all these years. I just punched it in and didn’t know what would happen.”

Annabeth looked around. There were no animals currently on board. The smugglers must have been between shipments.

“We should let Grover know when we get back home,” Annabeth said. “I’m sure he’d love to lead the charge to take these guys down.”

“Oh for sure,” Percy said, then turned to Annabeth. “We won’t stay long, I know it’s… stinky.”

Annabeth laughed and pinched her nose.

“It’s alright, Seaweed Brain.”

“But…” Percy fidgeted nervously before locking eyes with her. 

Percy had this particular way of looking at her, when he was talking about their relationship or gushing over how much he loved her, that just made Annabeth melt every time she saw it. 

She’d always heard about being able to tell someone’s in love because of how they looked at their partner.

Percy had made Annabeth a believer.

“I brought you here because, like you said that night in the stables on the Argo II, that ride to Vegas was the first time we really talked. And, sure, you showed me around camp and helped me train before that, but, looking back, that’s where it felt like we first… connected. And, I know the next few years were a little rocky in terms of us talking about our feelings with each other.”

Annabeth couldn’t help interrupting with a laugh.

“Hey, you said it, not me,” she said.

“Whatever,” he laughed and quickly resumed that melting stare. “But one of my favorite things about us now is how we can communicate with each other. How we’re able to talk things out. And I think that all started here.”

Annabeth hugged him.

“I think you’re right,” she said. “I think that was the first time I called you my friend too.”

“Yep, you friendzoned me right from the start.”

“Oh hush,” Annabeth made sure he hushed by kissing him.

“Wow,” Percy grinned after the quick peck. “Kissing in the stinky animal trailer. Our 12 year old selves would be mortified.”

“Definitely,” Annabeth agreed.

“Ready to get out of the stinky animal trailer?”

“Definitely,” Annabeth agreed again.

She took Percy’s hand as he punched in their next destination with the other.

They rematerialized in a much brighter location this time, but it wasn’t one Annabeth immediately recognized.

She looked to her left to see nothing but trees, with the mid-morning summer sun filtering through the leaves.

To her right, though, a few feet away, was a cliff. 

“Where are we?” she asked, letting go of Percy’s hand while creeping a little closer to the edge.

“Well, last time we were here, we really didn’t have time to stop and take in the scenery,” he said.

That didn’t really narrow it down too much. They had been tons of places together where they had been distracted by fighting monsters or arguing or fighting other monsters.

But, as she scanned her surroundings again, the memory of one particular monster fight did snap into place in her brain. One particularly painful memory.

“Westover Hall… This is where we came to find Nico and Bianca. It’s where I was kidnapped.”

She looked again over the edge of the cliff. She remembered what it had felt like to feel the manticore, Dr. Thorn, leap over the edge and vanish with her clinging to his back.

She remembered being taken to Mount Tam and being forced to hold up the sky.

“Right, and I know that’s a painful memory,” Percy said, looking sympathetic. “Which is why I wanted to replace it with a better memory.”

Percy took her hand and looked at her with the melt look again. Something told her she would see several more of those today.

“When you disappeared… I didn’t know what to do. I drove myself crazy with worry, and I couldn’t rest until I was back with you. Until I knew you were safe. And I thought then that it’s just because you were my friend. But now, I know it was different. When mom got taken to the underworld, or when Grover was captured by Polyphemus, I would have done anything to get them back too. It just felt… different with you. I couldn’t understand it at the time, but now I do.”

Annabeth felt a tear drip down her face. 

It was partially because of how sweet her boyfriend was, but also partly because she knew exactly how he felt. It’d been the same way for her when Hera had taken him, wiped his memory, and plopped him across the country in California.

Annabeth and Percy had been dating by then, but she knew that same worry and restlessness well.

“But,” Percy said. “I don’t know if you remember, but, in Westover Hall, we were about-”

“To dance,” Annabeth finished. 

Percy smiled.

“Right,” he said. “And I know we finished that dance on Olympus, but it only feels fair that we get that dance here.”

Percy typed in something else on the phone, and suddenly they were in the dimly lit school gymnasium at Westover Hall.

The gym was empty of people except for Percy and Annabeth. She supposed they were technically trespassing, but, with an empty school gym during summer vacation, there was no one around to catch them.

While there was no one else in the gym, there were tons of decorations. Twinkling holiday lights lined the walls, and paper streamers fell like curtains around the perimeter of the cavernous room. 

It was an exact replica of what the gym looked like on the day Percy and Annabeth had been there years before.

“Help from Aphrodite,” Percy said, apparently noticing Annabeth scanning the room’s decorations. “Her magic apparently extends to school dance decor.”

Percy rummaged in his pocket before pulling out a tiny rectangular box.

“And,” he said, setting it down on a table. “I got a little bit of help from Apollo too.”

As Percy stepped back, Annabeth realized it was a music box. On it were several intricately-carved images of Percy and Annabeth smiling, holding hands, and hugging.

From the box, the first notes of a song began to emanate. Annabeth didn’t recognize it, but it was a slow instrumental with a beautiful piano melody.

Percy stooped slightly into a bow and held out his hand.

“May I have this dance, my love?”

Annabeth felt goosebumps pop up all over her arms as she took his hand. Percy was a lovable dork most of the time, but he could be romantic when he tried.

“But you are totally going to have to lead, though,” he grimaced. “If you don’t want me to cause us to trip and fall.”

Annabeth laughed.

There was the dork. But it made it more perfect that he was both.

Annabeth allowed herself to get lost in the moment, soaking in the closeness to Percy as he held her at her waist and they swayed a little awkwardly together. 

She reached up and ran her hand through the portion of Percy’s hair that had once been gray after he’d held up the sky. Annabeth had possessed the same gray streak too from her own global balancing act.

Both streaks had grown out and returned to their respective dark and blond colors a few years ago. Annabeth used to mourn that fact, feeling like a physical link between her and Percy had been lost.

But, now, standing in an empty school gymnasium slowly dancing with Percy Jackson, taking this moment of quiet with her favorite person after all they had been through together, she couldn’t imagine it was possible to feel any more connected to a person.

She didn’t know how many songs had played from Apollo’s magic music box before it finally fell silent.

“Designed to stop playing at the right time to keep us on schedule,” Percy said with a grin as he pulled away.

Annabeth almost didn’t want to leave just yet, but she was eager to see what Percy had planned next. 

“Impressive planning, Seaweed Brain.”

“I try,” he said, laughing and checking his watch. “Alright, two more really quick stops, then lunch.”

“Sounds great, Percy.”

Percy tapped in their next destination, and suddenly they were standing under one of those covered pavilions like Annabeth had seen in visits to national parks when she was younger.

She scanned her surroundings to see a huge, hulking mountain in the distance.

“Know where we are?” Percy asked.

“Ummm…” Annabeth paused, then it dawned on her. Last time they were here, they’d been underground, not above it. “Oh. Mount St. Helens.”

Percy smiled.

“Yep.”

Without another word, he grabbed her behind her back with one hand, cupped the back of her head and neck with the other, and pulled her into a kiss.

“Ha, surprised you with a kiss here this time,” he laughed as they broke apart.

It took Annabeth a moment to recover her breath.

“Well,” she puffed. “I’m not going to acknowledge that you did that for like a year.”

“Hey!” Percy said in a mocking wounded tone. “That’s actually why I brought you here. I wanted to tell you that I shouldn’t have been such a Seaweed Brain. I mean, you kissed me, and I was still oblivious. But I’m glad you stuck with me forever… even if I was being dumb.”

“You’re not wrong,” Annabeth said. “But you wised up eventually. That’s all that matters to me.”

She kissed him again, and he pulled out the GodPhone.

“Let’s get out of here before I cause an eruption this time.”

Annabeth laughed.

“Good idea.”

Percy tapped in their next destination, and suddenly they were standing in a pedestrian path on a suspension bridge.

Annabeth looked around and quickly realized where they were. 

It was the Williamsburg Bridge.

“Do I have to take a knife again?” Annabeth joked.

Percy laughed.

“Not this time,” he said. “You…”

Percy trailed off, looking deep in thought.

“Well, I was going to say that you shouldn’t have taken the knife for me in the first place,” Percy said. “But I guess I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t.”

“Only if Ethan lucked out and hit your Achilles spot,” Annabeth said, running her fingers over the small of Percy’s back that had once marked his body’s one mortal weakness.

“Well…” Percy said. “I don’t like that you ever had to go through something like that for me. But, you were right when you told me that I would have done the same for you. And that’s also what I love about us, and what I brought you here to tell you.”

“That you want me to stab you so we’re even?” Annabeth teased.

Percy smiled, but continued his earnest commentary on their relationship. For a guy that never missed a chance to joke around, Percy sure was being awfully serious today.

“That I love that we always have each other’s back. And that started from day one, when we were barely even friends. We protect each other in battle. You went missing, and I found you, and then, when I went missing, you found me. We got each other through Tartarus. I wouldn’t want anyone else watching my back for eternity.”

As Percy pulled Annabeth in for another hug, she felt a tear well up. How many times was he going to make her cry today?

“I’ll always look out for you, Seaweed Brain.”

“I know you will, Wise Girl.”

The next destination was Annabeth’s favorite spot for lunch in New York, a little bistro that sold her favorite chicken pesto panini. She hadn’t gotten to eat there in a year or two since they’d been so busy at New Rome. Percy could have taken her anywhere in the country for lunch, but she thought he chose the perfect place.

They sat at an outdoor table in the soft sunshine, Annabeth munching on her panini while Percy ate his meatball sandwich and sipped his blue Coke.

The restaurant didn’t offer blue Coke of course, but Annabeth had taken to keeping a little bottle of blue food coloring in her bag. Sometimes, when she wanted to make Percy’s day, she would mix some into whatever he was eating or drinking when he left for the restroom or wasn’t looking.

She wondered what the servers thought when they returned to see a suddenly blue beverage or barbecue sauce, but, with the way Percy’s face lit up with a grin when she did it, Annabeth didn’t much care.

They ate and chatted about the day’s events so far.

It had already been an amazing birthday celebration, but apparently Percy had a whole afternoon of plans too. 

“You’re too good to me, Jackson,” she said. 

“Ah, you deserve the world,” Percy shrugged. “Besides, I want you to remember today for the rest of our lives.”

Percy took another bite of his sandwich, but Annabeth’s gears started turning.

The rest of our lives?

It wasn’t at all uncommon for Annabeth and Percy to talk about the future like that. They both seemed to know that there wasn’t much that could mess up what they had together, and they made offhand comments about spending their lives together all the time.

She had already had several great birthday celebrations with Percy, and she thought of herself as having a pretty good memory, but she was even fuzzy on some of the details of her birthdays in the last few years.

Today had been incredible so far, but, for it to be something she remembered forever? That seemed pretty big.

She looked at Percy, nonchalantly sipping his soda.

He was an incredible boyfriend, but all the planning that he had put in for today had to have been intensive.

Plus, the gods were apparently helping him? Since when did they do anything nice just to celebrate a demigod’s birthday?

And, earlier, Percy had used the words “forever,” “eternity,” and “rest of our lives” to describe their relationship within a few minutes.

It hit her.

Annabeth began to suspect that those comments may not be so offhand after all.

“What’s got you smiling so big?” Percy asked, bringing her back to reality.

“Nothing,” she said, realizing her grin was nearly reaching her ears. “Today is just great.”

As Annabeth stared at him with her shining gray eyes and a huge smile on her face, Percy had to fight the urge to forget the rest of the day’s plans and propose right then and there in the New York City cafe.

Gods, he loved it when she looked at him like that. It made him feel all warm and healed on the inside, like he had just eaten a batch of ambrosia.

But Percy fought the urge. He’d been through too much planning to forgo it all now. Plus, he wanted to make the day and the moment perfect for Annabeth.

Once Annabeth had polished off what was left of her panini and Percy had sipped the last of his blue Coke, they were off to their next destination.

Percy and Annabeth reformed into being in a quiet, wooded area.

Before them, shrouded by tall trees, was the rock and wood ruin of an old building.

Percy had only been here once before, but he would never forget it.

“Where are we?” Annabeth asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.”

“You haven’t,” Percy said. “It’s the Wolf House.”

“Oh.”

Annabeth hadn’t been here, physically.

But Percy wanted to bring her here to tell her how present she had been in his mind, when he was here.

“I woke up here,” Percy said. “When Hera took me. I didn’t know… well, really anything. I had no idea who I was.”

Annabeth stared at him with sympathy in her eyes.

They had discussed his disappearance a little bit over the years, but infrequently, and not in much detail.

Percy had never really gotten over the weird feeling of those few weeks without his memories, and he figured Annabeth’s time spent looking for him wasn’t something she would be thrilled to revisit often.

“But,” he continued. “Even with the confusion and the fear, I did remember something.”

Percy took Annabeth’s hand.

“I always remembered your name. Your face. Your smile. You were the one thing that kept me going. I didn’t know much, but I knew I had to move forward. I had to find you.”

“And you did,” Annabeth smiled.

“I did,” Percy repeated. “Well, you kind of came to me, but doesn’t matter.”

Annabeth laughed.

“The point, though,” Percy went on. “Is that I think I remembered you for a reason. You are my direction, my guiding light in life, my person, my… everything. I forgot a lot of important things. But, I didn’t forget you. I think that’s because, even then, I knew that you were a part of me. Were a part, are a part, always will be a part. That, despite all this demigod stuff, you are my true purpose and my true focus, and nothing could take that away. Now and forever. Hera could never make me forget you.”

Annabeth wordlessly stepped in to hug Percy, and he held her tight for what could have been five seconds or five centuries.

Annabeth finally stepped back and wiped away a tear.

“I love you, Percy.”

“I love you too, Annabeth.”

“I think you might’ve set an all-time record for making me cry today, though,” Annabeth said.

Percy laughed and wiped away a drying tear from her cheek.

“Come on, you definitely won’t cry at this next stop… unless it’s because of how bad it is.”

He punched in their next destination, and suddenly they were standing in the lovely highway median that he had picked out for her.

They were in a patch of grass between the two directions of highway. There were a couple of trees, and, in the middle, what looked like two short stretches of Roman-style aqueducts intersecting each other, one running a few feet higher than the other.

Even he had to admit that this stop was a little silly. But, the actual location he’d be referencing was kind of off limits.

“Where… are we?” Annabeth asked quizzically.

“You can start crying now if you want,” Percy replied.

“Oh hush. Just tell me why there are aqueducts here.”

“Well, my dear,” Percy said, adopting his best posh accent. “We are in the lovely town of Rome, Georgia. They call this beauty of a sculpture the Porto Futurus . It’s the only Roman thing about this Rome.”

“Oh,” Annabeth said, looking curious. “We’ve never been here… have we?”

“Well, no,” Percy shrugged. “But, we’ve been to real Rome. Like, Rome Rome.”

A look of understanding swept over Annabeth’s face.

“Yeahhh,” Percy said. “We can’t leave the country and go to actual Rome, and I really didn’t want to go back there to… put us both through those bad memories.”

“Yeah,” Annabeth said, looking off into the distance and frowning.

Percy knew that this stop, and what he planned to say, would maybe bring up some of those bad memories, but he thought it was important to include a portion of those bad memories.

“I won’t keep us here and in this headspace long,” Percy said. “But, I just wanted to say that… you know… falling with you… was the easiest and best decision of my life. That place was horrible, and I know that neither of us would have made it out if we weren’t helping each other. If I had let you go, you would have been… gone. I would always, will always make the same choice for you. I’d walk through Tartarus a thousand times if it meant saving you, meant that we’d get to be together.”

Annabeth was silent for a moment, then looked up and met his eyes.

“I know. And I would too, Percy, for you.” she said. “I… I know I’ve thanked you a million times. But... thank you again.”

That was all she could manage to say, and she collapsed into his arms. They didn’t really need any more words to understand each other. Both of them had been through it together, and it was something they could never forget, no matter how much they might want to. But they got through it, together, and that was all that ever mattered.

He felt Annabeth shudder.

Alright, time to get them out of there. He didn’t want to keep the bad vibes going too long on this special day.

“So, which is worse, Tartarus, or Middle-of-Nowhere, Georgia?.”

Annabeth choked out a small laugh.

“But,” Percy said quickly. “We’re kinda close to our next destination too, so it makes sense.”

“Ok…” Annabeth said slowly, her face perked up a little as she clearly began thinking about what the next destination could possibly be. Nothing got Annabeth’s mind off of something faster than giving her a mystery to solve. That got her gears turning.

“You want to go find out?”

“Sure!”

She took his hand and squeezed, and they were off.

They rematerialized in a sunny patch of grass surrounding the hulking form of a building in front of them.

“The Parthenon?” Annabeth practically squealed.

Percy knew this place would be a hit.

Despite traveling all over the United States on quests for years — and despite the fact that they had been to the ruins of the original location in Athens — the two had still never been to the replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee.

Annabeth, despite living off and on amidst the classical architecture of New Rome and literally being the architect of the rebuild of Mount Olympus, was still a sucker for any architectural wonder — even if it wasn’t the original.

He supposed it didn’t hurt that the Parthenon was, like, the temple to her mom, Athena.

“This stop pulls double duty,” Percy said. 

“Really?” Annabeth asked, smiling nearly as big as she had all day.

“Well, today wasn’t going to be all just me blabbering on about my feelings,” Percy said. “Well… there will still be some blabbering here… but, I also wanted us to be able to enjoy our time here, taking in the sights.”

Annabeth grabbed his hand.

“I happen to love when you blabber,” Annabeth said. “But come on, this will be fun.”

Annabeth pulled him to the entrance, stopping to share a couple of facts about the building’s construction for some big expo in the late 19th century.

Percy wasn’t exactly super interested in the subject matter, but, watching how she smiled and gestured animatedly as she talked, he could listen to Annabeth excitedly explain something she was passionate about all afternoon.

Which is kind of what happened.

He followed her through exhibits of art and informational sections that detailed how the builders worked with remains of the original temple to inform their design.

Percy was half worried that, with the place being such a shining beacon of the ancient world, that the Hydra or some other monster would jump out and attack them, but no such interruption came.

They snaked through hallways on one level, and then entered a huge, open level where a giant replica of the Athena Parthenos statue loomed over everyone.

“It was in Nashville the whole time, and we didn’t just come here to get it?” Percy quipped, earning himself a playful smack on the arm from Annabeth.

The tourists milling about had no idea that they were in the presence of the demigod daughter of the goddess that had recovered the real statue, which had been lost for centuries.

After finishing up the tour and buying a souvenir magnet from the gift shop, Percy and Annabeth decided to split a soda while they spread out to rest on the grass in the vast park that surrounded the temple.

It was a little distracting to be relaxing while a giant carved nude figure of his father, Poseidon, loomed over him across the top of the temple, but he tried not to look.

“Thank you, Percy,” Annabeth said. “This was great.”

“I’m sure most people visit this Parthenon before being involved in a blood ritual to awaken a primordial goddess at the original Acropolis, but still.”

Annabeth laughed.

“That reminds me, you haven’t done your ‘blabbering’ here yet,” Annabeth reminded him, putting up air quotes around the word.

Percy had almost forgotten. To be fair, he was a little distracted. The next stop was a big stop. The stop. And he couldn’t mess that one up.

“Right,” he said. “Well, even though.. You know… blood ritual and whatnot.. There were some good parts about our visit to Athens too.”

Before she could respond, he took her by surprise, just like the time at the real Acropolis, and pulled her in for a long kiss.

There were tourists milling around close to their picnic spot, but, hey, Piper had been there to witness the previous kiss, and that hadn’t stopped him then either.

Percy had long since stopped caring about outwardly showing his affection for his future wife in public.

Just like before, Annabeth pulled out of the kiss gasping for breath.

Percy smirked.

“I just wanted to say that I sure am glad we didn’t let that Poseidon-Athena rivalry get between us. I’m so glad we made it past that and all of our adventures to get into college together.”

“...ditto…” Annabeth managed between heaves.

Percy laughed and grabbed her hand. They sat together for a few minutes, enjoying the view and the pleasant breeze cutting through the balmy summer Tennessee air.

Percy began to feel his nerves catching up to him.

He was more than confident in asking Annabeth and in what she’d say, but, this was it. No more time to delay. The big moment was coming. 

“Ready for our next stop?”

Annabeth smiled and hugged his arm.

“As long as we’re together,” Annabeth said.

Annabeth recognized their next location by sound before the flash of light that signified that their godly teleportation was taking place. 

The chatter of teenage campers not too far away, the breeze through the trees, and the gentle lapping of a lake.

They were back in Camp Half-Blood.

And, they were back in their spot at Camp Half-Blood — by the shore of the canoe lake where they had spent countless hours just sitting and talking over the years.

“Welcome back,” Percy said.

There was a very slight quiver of nervousness in his voice and on his face, something that probably wouldn’t have been noticeable to someone who didn’t know Percy as well as she did.

But then again, outside of Sally Jackson, who did?

The hint of nervousness, combined with the fact that Percy’s tour of their relationship had pretty much reached the present, told Annabeth one thing.

The moment was coming soon.

If it was soon and it was here, it would make sense. 

Percy had grand plans for this day and had taken her all across the country, so, when she realized what was going on, Annabeth had begun to wonder what huge spectacle of a proposal or what romantic locale her boyfriend would go for.

But, standing here, she realized that Camp Half-Blood would make the perfect location.

They’d traveled the world — and underworld — together, but no one location meant more to them than where they’d met, grown up, and fallen in love.

“Always glad to be home,” Annabeth said, taking Percy’s hand. 

“Want to go revisit one last memory?” he asked.

“Of course” she said.

“Close your eyes,” Percy said.

She did as he said. After a pause, she felt the strange sensation of her feet leaving the ground beneath her. 

She suspected what was happening, but kept her eyes shut tight.

Her hand never left Percy’s, and she felt them drifting forward. 

They slowed to a stop, and she felt her feet touch down on a sandy surface. 

Then, she felt Percy’s kiss on her cheek. 

“Open,” he whispered in her ear.

She opened her eyes to find them surrounded in an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. They were standing on the lake bed, with the swirling water fended off by the airtight bubble around them, controlled by her boyfriend.

When he did this, it felt like they were the only people on earth. Just Percy, Annabeth, and nothing in the world that could interrupt them.

“Ah, I remember this one,” Annabeth said.

“Well, I figured we could do with a little privacy,” Percy said. 

They stood face to face, Percy holding both of her hands between them

Studying his face, she could see the nerves growing.

It was about to happen.

And she couldn’t wait.

“Annabeth Chase,” he said, taking on that serious, melt-her-heart look again. “I’m not good with words, but I’ve taken you across the country today to try to show you just how much you mean to me.”

He paused, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“We have a lot of history together, and I’m ready to plan for our future together too.”

Annabeth felt her chest get tight, as if all the air was leaving her body, replaced instead by the flood of emotion running through her. She kept her eyes locked on the sea green eyes of Percy Jackson.

She watched as a tear formed and dribbled down his cheek.

“Here, in this lake,” Percy said. “We became a couple. And then, here, in this lake, I first told you that I love you.”

Annabeth felt numb and giddy at the same time — if that was even possible. Like her brain couldn’t interpret how happy she was, so it felt like all this wasn’t even real.

“And, so,” Percy said, his voice shaking with emotion as more tears formed.

Annabeth reached out to wipe one away.

“Do you want to play the question game?” he asked, choking out the last word.

“Always,” Annabeth said softly.

Percy knelt to one knee in front of Annabeth in their private air bubble at the bottom of the lake, pulling something out of the pocket in his jeans.

Annabeth felt like she was aware of everything around her, could see all the tiny details and wrinkles in Percy’s face and all the minute ripples in the water around them.

“Annabeth Chase,” he began.

He held up the ring and Annabeth’s heart nearly stopped. It was a beautiful celestial bronze circle inlaid with wooden accents and adorned with a shining pearl for the stone.

“Will… you…”

More tears began to slide down Percy’s face as he stammered over the words.

Finally, seemingly overcome with the emotion of the moment, he broke down into full-on tears.

He was so overwhelmed that it seemed like he just couldn’t get the words out. Seeing him like that sent two very conflicting feelings coursing through Annabeth.

For one, it made her heart soar to see just how much this moment meant to him — how much she meant to him.

But, she also saw Percy struggling to be able to do something.

What was it Percy had said earlier about what he loved about their relationship? 

They always had each other’s back. Always had. Always will.

It was time for Annabeth to prove it.

She held out her hand. He took it, and she helped him to his feet. She cupped his tear-stained face and met his eyes, feeling tears begin to drip down her cheek too.

“Percy Jackson, you’ve said more than enough to ask me. In all of your actions, and all of your words, both today and always. There’s no one I’d rather have watching my back for the rest of eternity. I can’t wait to marry you, Seaweed Brain.”

Percy guided the ring onto her finger — a perfect fit — and suddenly they were wrapped in a deep tear-soaked kiss.

Bliss.

That’s what this was.

She’d known for a long time that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Perseus Jackson.

Known probably even before they had gotten together.

And, after all they had been through together since their first underwater kiss, she knew that the “spending the rest of her life with Perseus Jackson” was probably going to happen.

But, now, there were no maybes, no probablys, and no questions.

The permanence that she’d longed for throughout her life was here, in the form of the amazing boyfriend that she was intertwined with inside an air bubble at the bottom of a lake.

Fiancé, she corrected herself. She could get used to that.

All around them, the water sizzled and popped overhead, making beautiful shapes like underwater fireworks above their bubble.

Annabeth suspected it was Percy’s accidental doing — their love manifesting in literal steaming, underwater fireworks.

They broke apart after a long moment, and Annabeth looked into the face of the man she would marry.

“Happy birthday,” he croaked with a smile after a long moment.

Annabeth nearly snorted with laughter. She didn’t know what she would have expected him to say, and she had completely forgotten that it was her birthday at this point, but she loved it.

“Best birthday ever,” she said, unable to contain her smile.

“I figured it was fair game.” He shrugged. “We got together on my birthday, we get engaged on your birthday.”

“Seems fair to me,” Annabeth replied.

They hugged again before Percy pulled back, a sarcastic grin on his face.

“When we’re married, can I call you ‘Wife Girl’ instead of ‘Wise Girl?’”

Annabeth could practically feel her corneas scraping against the back of her skull as she rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up, Seaweed Brain.”

And he did shut up.

Annabeth made sure of it, pressing her lips against those of her new fiancé in another long kiss.

Percy didn’t always enjoy being the center of attention in a social setting, but he didn’t mind it so much this time.

He and Annabeth had surfaced from the bottom of the lake to the last part of Percy’s grand plans for the day: An engagement/birthday party at Camp Half-Blood featuring all of their friends.

Grover was the first to greet them when they surfaced, tackling Percy and Annabeth in a hug and leading them to the dining pavilion, where the Athena and Aphrodite cabins had joined forces to make beautiful and intricate decorations.

A lot of old faces from their time at Camp Half-Blood had returned to celebrate. Percy lost track of time as, among countless others, Travis and Connor Stoll, Katie Gardner, Jake Mason, Butch Walker, Chris Rodriguez, and even Clarisse La Rue took turns shaking his hand, slapping him on the back, and playfully punching him a little too hard (Clarisse).

He got hugs from both Will Solace and Nico DiAngelo. With Will beaming and Nico even cracking a smile, Percy couldn’t help but wonder if those two might be next.

Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque (also another candidate to be the next engaged couple) had come from New Rome, and Leo Valdez and Piper McLean were there too. Even coach Gleeson Hedge, his wind spirit wife Mellie, and their son, Chuck, made an appearance.

Percy felt a tinge of sadness that all the Heroes of Olympus were in attendance save for Jason Grace. Jason had been gone for years, but it still hurt to think that the group of seven could never fully assemble again. Still, he was grateful to be in the company of so many friends that had been through so much alongside him.

Jason’s sister, Thalia Grace, was there, alongside her fellow Hunter of Artemis, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano.

Chiron and Mr. D were present, of course, as was Hermes, who stayed to ensure that all of the guests would safely be transported back to their homes or destinations. Poseidon and Athena each made a brief appearance — at separate times so as not to acknowledge their approval of this breach in their rivalry — to congratulate the engaged couple before rushing off to perform some godly duty or another.

And, of course, Percy and Annabeth’s mortal parents were there to celebrate too. 

Sally and Paul had been in on the plan for a long time, but still met them both with tearful hugs. Even Frederick Chase and Annabeth’s stepmother shared an emotional moment with their daughter after a lifetime of strained relations.

Percy and Annabeth spent most of the evening catching up with friends, showing off her ring (made up of the pearl — to symbolize his Poseidon lineage — and olive wood — to showcase Annabeth’s Athena side, all joined together with celestial bronze), and laughing and crying more times than Percy could track.

But, when the party died down, he was a little relieved to be alone, again, with his bride to be.

They sat by the shore of the lake, as they had so many times before, just holding hands and looking out across the water, Annabeth laying her head on his shoulder.

They didn’t say anything for a long time. 

Percy supposed they didn’t need to. Annabeth had been right, earlier. He’d said everything already. They both had.

Finally, even though they both agreed that this day should never end, they also didn’t want to celebrate their engagement by being eaten by one of the camp’s curfew-enforcing harpies.

As they strolled down the shore of the lake, an idea popped into Percy’s head.

“Hey, since I technically didn’t ask my question earlier, do I get another crack at the Question Game?”

Annabeth laughed.

“You mean popping THE question isn’t enough for you today?”

“Nah, I just have one more thing I’m itching to know.”

“What is it you’d like to know, future husband?”

Hearing that sent a pleasant tingle down Percy’s spine.

“Annabeth Chase,” Percy began, stopping her so that they were face to face again. He’d made a lot of serious proclamations of his feelings today, so he hoped this looked just like another one.

“Will you…” he paused for maximum effect, taking in the curious look on Annabeth’s face.

“Wear a blue wedding dress?”

In all his years of eliciting the conflicting feelings of humor and annoyance in Annabeth, Percy had never seen her snort with laughter and roll her eyes at the exact same time.

There was a first time for everything.

“Oh, shut up and kiss me, Seaweed Brain.”

For definitely not the first time and certainly not the last, Percy Jackson let Annabeth Chase shut him up with a kiss.