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Montauk always had, and always would, be one of Percy’s favourite places to visit. Not least because it was nostalgic — his mom had always brought him there as a kid, and his dad had a habit of meeting him there too, whether it be in dreams or the rare few times in real life. It wasn’t a place he ever wanted to stop visiting.
That didn’t mean it was always appropriate to visit.
Running in from the storm, he shook his hair out, droplets flying all over the place. It wasn’t often that he allowed himself to get wet like this, but there were times when it felt refreshing, when he enjoyed the feel of the rain on his skin and the salt water on his face.
He knew for a fact that his girlfriend felt otherwise.
“You could have picked any other day,” she muttered as she walked past him into the cold, dark cabin, “any other time. Any other place, even! You could have warned me about the weather, reminded me of what clothes to bring, but no.” She dropped her bag, spinning to face him. “Instead, I had to trust your instincts and just have fun and not go with my gut this one time! This one time where I’m absolutely soaked!”
And yet, even as she was complaining, Percy was still grinning, walking towards her as though she hadn’t been complaining about the rainstorm just seconds before (and wasn’t still complaining), taking her by the hips and pulling her close.
And stopping all of those complaints with a kiss.
She, predictably, melted into it, her expression betrayed when he pulled away. “That’s a terrible apology.”
“Oh, you want more?”
“I deserve more, Seaweed Brain.” She pulled out of his grip, before flicking him on the nose. “Don’t make me regret leaving the hot and sunny west coast for this misery.”
He pouted. “This isn’t misery!”
She pointed at the window. Lightning flashed outside.
He paused for a few seconds, nodding slowly. “Okay, maybe it’s a little bit of misery—”
“You’re bringing me here in the fall, Percy.”
“…A lot of misery?”
She nodded.
He cupped her face in his hands, bringing her in for another kiss. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” He shifted a hand to run through her hair. “Starting with getting you dry.”
“That would be a great start, yes.”
He knew he could get her dry with a snap of his fingers. He knew, as a good boyfriend, he should will her dry as easily as he could do for himself. But he also knew that, when she was cold and wet like this, what she wanted was not to be quickly dried — it was to be warmed all the way through. With a fire for the outside, and hot food for within.
And that was how Percy found himself trying to start a fire whilst some soup heated on the stove, his girlfriend huddled on the rug behind him with a towel and a blanket around her shoulders. Whilst starting the stove had been considerably easier and currently had a small gas fire going to heat up the soup (a soup that his mother had made for them to bring along with them, because of course she knew what the weather would be like as soon as they arrived), starting the hearth was not so easy.
“Hestia, please,” Percy mumbled as he struck another match, in an attempt to start the fire. His third attempt, to be exact. (Starting fires had never been his strong point in the “surviving outdoors” classes at camp, considering his father was the god of the one thing that put out fires.) “Come on, don’t make me look like a fool…”
“You easily do that on your own,” Annabeth retorted. “You don’t need a god’s help with that.”
Percy made a face, mimicking Annabeth’s retort, before attempting to strike the match again. And failing. “Hestia, please.”
The next time he struck it, the match lit, and Percy breathed a sigh of relief as he let it fall onto the dried kindling, the fire slowly beginning to light. Soon enough, there was a full fire going, and Percy sat back, admiring the handiwork for a few moments.
“Thank you, Hestia.”
If fire could wink, he could’ve sworn it just did.
Regardless, he shifted until he was sitting beside Annabeth, wrapping the towel and blanket around himself as well so that they were sharing it, sharing in each other’s warmth as well as that of the fire now going before them.
They sat like that for a little while, enjoying the fire and each other’s company, just relishing in the feeling of being together. And then, eventually, Annabeth spoke.
“How long until your mom’s soup is warm enough to eat?” she asked quietly.
Percy shrugged. “Maybe another ten minutes? Fifteen?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
Silence again. And then:
“You know, you could have dried us off.”
“I know.”
“So why not?”
He turned his head and nuzzled his face into her cheek, pulling a giggle out of her. “Because then I get to do this and cuddle up with you as we dry off.” He planted a soft kiss on her cheek. “And that is way sweeter and more intimate than instantly drying you off.”
She smirked at him. “Look at you with the fancy words.”
He pretended to flick his hair. “Thanks, I’ve been reading a dictionary.”
“Really?”
“No way. Have you seen the size of those things?”
And such went the rest of their night — cuddles, soup, and kisses. All by the fire.
Percy wouldn’t have given it up for anything.