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Annabeth bends forward, fingers tapping and sliding over keys and across the mouse pad of Daedalus's laptop as she goes clicking from window to window, definitely reading pages and pages of blueprints, ideas and notes. She didn't have as much time before the Battle of Manhattan or after as she does now, she says. Because she was searching for me, she doesn't say that part out loud but I know that's what was was going on afterwards.
So she'd brought the laptop onto the Argo II with her. Told me how she even talked to Frank about what she's found on it. Now, though, I see her rubbing her temples and keeping her eyes closed for long moments. If I go over and mess with her I can probably get her to put the laptop away. Just for long enough to rest her eyes and her brain. I come through the slightly-open door of her cabin and flop myself next to her on her bunk. "Hey, Wise Girl," I say. She closes her eyes, exhales.
"Hi Seaweed Brain," she says. And where before she might have rolled her eyes instantly or said that she needs to look at this, or immediately start talking about some of Daedalus's invention ideas, this time she hits the power button to darken the screen.
Guess I don't even have to ask, but still I do. "Wanna take a break? Can't believe I'm actually asking that," I say.
"Why, because demigods don't usually use screens?" she asks.
I shrug.
"I mean at this point, I don't think it matters. We're on a gigantic dragon boat heading to the Old Country." I do a very terrible, very vague accent that honestly sounds like that Bela Lugosi guy in some of the old monster movies Mom showed me growing up. At least I think.
Annabeth gets a look in her eyes and I know I've pushed, but then she laughs. It's great to hear. Might even be addicting. "All right, Percy." I can tell that she isn't humoring me. Or isn't just humoring me at least.
"All right! You wanna stretch your legs too?" I sit up, clap my hands, and she rolls herself to the side, twisting her torso and definitely cracking at least her shoulder.
"Sure. How long have I been in here? Oh gods"
"Hours," I say, standing up. I automatically put out my arm because she puts her palm against her forehead and sort of wavers. Not fully stumbling, but "okay, well, before we get to the spot I found, we're stopping for water and food. C'mon."
She does sigh this time but lets me pull her to the mess area, which is mercifully empty save for the snack and drink machines that were absolutely smuggled from someplace for Leo by the Stolls. He seems like the kind of guy who'd be totally fine with stealing as long as nobody got hurt, and nobody was currently using something that was taken. I thump the combination and elbow hit that drops a bottle of water as well as a Coke, and I hold both of them up to Annabeth.
"Which one first?"
She takes the bottle of water and chugs about half of it. I nod and stick the coke in my back pocket before tapping and thumping on the other machine to get a couple of packets of snacks. Annabeth raises her eyebrows as I toss her one and beckon for her to leave the area. "Okay, where are we going?"
"Someplace comfortable," I say. "You know how nice it is on the dock, and sometimes on the beach back at Camp...?"
"Yeah," she nods.
At least, when there aren't naiads flirting with you while they literally weave baskets underwater, or messenger gods trying to accost you and get you to go on quests. Okay that was just the once- well technically twice I guess, but Hermes hasn't been around since. It was like four years ago, but I can understand. I mean, I wasn't able to do what he wanted me to do. I wasn't able to save Luke, except I guess... I guess he sort of saved himself at the very end. I don't know why I'm thinking about that, about him.
Maybe because with everything that has happened since then, I understand being angry with the gods. Even though I would never go against them in a way that would split my friends into factions. I'd never do anything that could hurt Camp.
"Well I know this isn't exactly like Camp, but," I open doors, having led Annabeth through the ship, walking aft to get to the pegasi stables. They have an open-air portion just under their roof, and I'd spread a couple of blankets over the mounds of hay and straw and everything that covers the wooden floor which is set over the hull so it's flat rather than curved weirdly. Leo thought of everything, what a mastermind. He didn't think of the blankets spread in here though, that was me. And they're just in one spot, an end stall where no one is. "Ta-da! I brought my blankets, and we have drinks now, and snacks. Couldn't conjure up a lake or anything, but-"
My voice is cut off by Annabeth's lips as she gets on her tiptoes and kisses me, her hand catching my chin and tipping it just the slightest so her mouth fits softly and fully against mine. My brain pretty much shuts off, the way it always does when she kisses me. My hands go to her waist as I feel her hand that isn't cupping my chin grip onto my shoulder. I open my eyes to feel her tug on a fistful of my shirt. Her eyes are big and she starts smiling, dropping her hand from my face to catch my hand and pull on me. "This is-" she blinks rapidly, looking around the stable. She smiles, but there are tears in her eyes.
"Hey, they're clean blankets, I promise, I made sure when I got them off my bunk," I say. She laughs, but it catches in her throat almost like a sob.
"Percy..." Annabeth presses her lips together. Her eyes are full now, and she wraps her arms around my neck, whispering in a rush "- I missed you so much."
I wrap my arms around her, closing my eyes and hanging on. "You were the only person- the only THING I could remember," I say to her, my mouth against her shoulder. She gasps and holds me even tighter.
"-I was?" Her voice is small. "You didn't even - see your mom?"
I blink, my eyes widening as I think about it. My chest clenches a little at the thought. Because- I hadn't. "No. I didn't, it was just you. The same way you anchor me to my mortal life, I guess."
Annabeth moves her hand to the back of my neck, her fingers flex as she cups it and then she pulls back just far enough to look at me before she's got her mouth on mine. Her arm wraps around my shoulder, pressing on my upper back as her fingers slide up to grip my hair. I make a sound into her mouth as we kiss, our lips slotting, pressing and releasing and pressing again until we've moved so her back is pressed against the wall and then she shifts her hip, pressing forward into me. She spins us so that I'm against the side of the ship, feeling the hardness of the hull and the softness of Annabeth, but her strength and warmth supercede everything... until I notice bars of warmth around my waist. She's leapt into my arms, or actually pretty much wrapped herself around me and I haven't been paying attention. Actually I've just been thinking... nothing, only feeling her.
And then I feel something hard and cold and hear a hissing sound, which has me clutching onto Annabeth and dropping to my knees and then the floor. She gasps out a strangled sound as my right hand curls around the back of her head, the other in my pocket and clicking Riptide before I register the coke can that I'd stuffed in my jeans.
It's still in my back pocket, and the pressure of both of us against it had made it pop and do the decompression thing, or whatever it's called when the air is getting slowly let out of (or maybe into) a can of soda. I don't know exactly, I don't remember that part of math. Or was it science? I know in math we learned about cylinders.
I put Riptide away and carefully pull the slightly squashed can of Coca-Cola out of my jeans, wincing a little. "Oof. Crisis averted," I say before looking back at Annabeth and seeing her with her eyes wider than before as she stares at me. I wait for her to shove me, or yell, or something, but she starts laughing. Full-on shaking and crying laughing.
"Oh- my gods!" She chokes. "You moved so fast - what were you gonna do, cut up a Coke can?"
"Sure was," I say, breathing deeply. "I would've been sad about it too. But like I said, crisis averted." I go from the slight crouch that I'd been in to fully sit on one side of the blanket. I reach over, tap the top and pop the can the rest of the way before swinging my arm over and offering it to her. "Want a Coke?"
This sets her off again and she laughs for more than a minute.
Finally inhaling and exhaling a couple of times without dissolving into giggles again, Annabeth sniffs and wipes her eyes. "I'm good," she says "but you might want to drink it all before we kiss again so nothing gets impaled on your sword."
"At least not THAT sword," I say before sipping from the can, and Annabeth gasps out an almost-yelp, shoving me.
"Percy!"
"What?" I raise my eyebrows. THIS is when she decides she needs to shove me? Unbelievable. I grin at her, and she rolls her eyes. She clearly isn't too peeved though, because after I finish drinking there are cuddles, and more kissing, and talking until we end up tired out and so fall asleep holding each other in the stable.
Best break time ever.