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Their lives were incredibly different now compared to how they’d been when they were teenagers. Just a few years ago, as the spring started to melt into summer once again, Percy and Annabeth would’ve been getting ready to go back to Camp Half-Blood for another few months. But now, a few years after they had ‘graduated’ from Camp Half-Blood and now they were just weeks away from graduating from New Rome University. Unfortunately, Grover was a bit too busy with his Lord of the Wild to be able to make it to the ceremony. So, Percy and Grover had already been planning to do something together to make up for it.
Annabeth had already gotten ready for bed, and was currently sitting on top of their bed, when Percy busted into the room completely buzzing with energy, “So, right now, we’re planning to go meet up in Central Park like two ish weeks after we get back to New York,” No matter how many times she’d heard him ramble at such speeds, usually only when he was really excited about something, Annabeth could never find it anything other than utterly adorable. (Unless she had a headache, but even then Percy managed to tone down his loud excitement into whispered bliss.) “He’s not like super sure about it right now, since you know things can change so quickly, but Grover said he might be able to hang around for like a whole week.”
“Really?” Annabeth asked, getting an adorable, excited nod back from Percy, “I thought he still needed to get a lot of preservation done in Brazil?”
“He does, but,” Percy replied, dropping onto their bed beside her, “he said that they were a bit further ahead than the council had expected to be. So, as long as everything continues to go as planned, he should be able to get a bit of time off.”
As she looked at his face, which she already found incredibly attractive, but even more so when he looked as adorable as he did in that very moment, Annabeth couldn’t help herself from dropping her head down to kiss him. “Have you guys figured out what you want to do yet?”
“Mhm,” Percy replied, catching her on her way back up with another kiss, “I suggested that we go check out that museum you suggested, the Met.”
“That’s not what I said, Percy. I said that I wanted to go to the Met,” Annabeth reminded him, unable to stay even the slightest bit annoyed with him at the moment, “I said that you could ask Grover if he’d want to go to the Cloisters. Which it is part of the Met, but it’s a lot more lowkey and it’s got a beautiful garden.”
He sat up on the bed and kissed her again before Percy stood up, “So I told him about the Met Clover garden like you said, but Grover said he didn’t want to waste his time in any more museums. Plus, what could that place tell him about nature that he doesn’t already know himself?” As he’d spoken, Percy had grabbed his change of clothes for bed and walked into their bathroom, leaving the door open as he washed his face and changed into his pajamas.
“It’s Cloisters, not Clovers, Percy,” Annabeth corrected him, which was met with an eyeroll from him. “Also, just because Grover doesn’t want to go to the museum doesn’t mean you’re getting out of going with me.” That earned her a half-hearted groan from Percy, who was still in the bathroom as he was in the middle of brushing his teeth, “Okay, if you two don’t want to go to a museum, then what are you planning to do while he’s in New York?”
After he finished brushing his teeth, spat out his toothpaste and everything, Percy marched back into their bedroom as he answered, “I mean, I still want to teach him how to ride a skateboard, but Grover maintains that it isn’t something that would be useful for him to know. But that’s just because he’s totally scared of falling off. But he said that other than having dinner with Mom at least once, he didn’t really have anything too important he wanted to do.”
Other than the two years she’d gone to SODNYC, Annabeth didn’t have the most expertise about what kinds of things they could do, let alone would interest the both of them. But, that hadn’t stopped her from trying to do some research into things that at least caught her interest, and clearly weren’t much interest to Percy or Grover. Even if her research had been in vain ultimately, it had been something to fill her free time since she was already done with her classes, and it let her at least try to help Grover and Percy out. (Neither of them had ever been great planners.) Sometimes it was surprising how good of friends Percy and Grover were with each other, considering how vastly different their interests tended to be.
“Annabeth?” Percy’s hands were planted on both her shoulders, while his green eyes looked at her with so much concern it may have torn at her heartstrings, “Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m fine, sorry.” She replied, “I just, sorry, I got caught up in my thoughts.”
Much of the enthusiasm he’d been displaying all evening had seemingly evaporated in the time she’d been overthinking things, again. “What were you thinking about?” Percy asked, busying himself with needlessly fixing the pillows on his side of the bed, “Was I that boring to listen to?”
“No, Percy, you’re not, ugh.” Annabeth tried to explain, but she quickly got tripped up over her words and needed to take a second to figure out how to say what she needed to tell him. And of course, being the amazing, understanding person he was, Percy immediately stopped fussing with the pillows in favor of assuringly holding one of her hands as Annabeth finally told him, “It was, it had nothing to do with you or your plans with Grover, it was just me getting too in my head about things. Like I always do. Plus, I can never find you to be boring. There are many words that can describe you, and being with you, but boring could never possibly make that list. I mean, how on Earth could any second with you be boring?”
She took the brief opportunity to kiss him again, which was an act she never got even the slightest bit tired of doing. “Well, I am more than happy to spice up your life, Mrs. Jackson.” Percy replied, leaning in to kiss her again, but pausing briefly to add, “Just so you know, the time that I’ve spent with you hasn’t been boring either.”
“Well, we can be not boring together then,” Annabeth returned between their kisses, which caused both of them to grin until she pulled back from him, cupping the side of his face as she earnestly told him, “I love you, Percy Jackson, in ways that I can never fully express in words. Also, I don’t think you can call me that until after we’re married.”
“Wow, never thought that I’d see the day that Annabeth Chase was at a loss for words.” Percy replied with a laugh, until she shot him a displeased look, which prompted him to quickly add, “I love you too, Annabeth Chase, and I am more than pleased to be the reason you get all cute and flustered from time to time.” He, wisely, kissed her again with the brief pause between his words before Percy continued, “And, I don’t know if this is new information for you or anything, but I’m not exactly the most obedient rule follower when it comes to those stupid traditions, Mrs. Jackson.”
He was smirking a bit too much, so Annabeth kissed him again and said, “I suppose so, Mr. Chase.”