Camp Half Blood: After The Last Olympian but before The Lost Hero

The air was sticky with summer humidity causing Annabeth's already curly hair to frizz. She could feel the sweat on her skin and her arms itched from bugs and passing tree branches that snagged on her with their spindly fingers. It was way too hot for an excursion in the forest. The day was far better suited for sitting on the porch of the big house drinking lemonade or swimming in the lake. That's probably where Percy was, on the lake. It's where I should be. But no. Instead a sardonic and grumpy Dionysus had sent her on this crazy errand looking for Grover. Stupid waste of time.

She hadn't worn proper shoes for walking in the forest. Her socks had slipped down her heels and she could feel dirt in the soles of her tennis shoes. There are so many better things to be doing right doing right now. She thought idly.

Finally, she came to the small clearing that hosted the Council of Cloven Elders meetings, but it was, as she had assumed, abandoned. Annabeth let out a frustrated groan. This had been her last place to look and she would now have to go back to Dionysus who was already in a bad mood.

"Annabeth?" The noise startled Annabeth who spun around to find Juniper, Grover's nymph girlfriend staring at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm asking myself the same question." Annabeth grumbled, whipping sweat off her forehead. "Mr. D sent me to find Grover, have you seen him?"

"Oh. He's not here."

"Clearly. Where is he?"

"Council business. I'm not sure where. I'm sure he mentioned it… Let me think…"

"That's ok Juniper. Gods, you'd think Dionysus would've known that Grover wasn't here! Instead he sends me on this pointless mission searching all over the damn camp looking for a satyr who's not even on the premises!"

"You don't have to yell, Annabeth." Juniper said, looking skittish.

"I'm sorry, Juniper." Annabeth apologized remembering how jumpy nymphs were. I'm not mad at you. If I'm mad at anyone it's Mr. D. Or whichever god I can blame for this damn heat. I was suppose to spend my free hour with Percy this afternoon." she explained with a sigh. "We haven't seen each other much lately with everything that's been going on."

"What's been going?" Juniper asked curiously, her tone softer now that Annabeth had calmed down somewhat.

"Oh well you know." Annabeth tried not to get too exasperated. For living in trees, nymphs were awfully ignorant to what was going on around them. "Ever since the battle we've had a huge influx of incoming campers. We've both been so busy making sure they all arrive safely and are assimilating all right. Then there's the construction of all the new cabins. And I'm supposed to be working on the Olympus building plans. Plus school starts soon and I haven't even opened my calculus book yet!" She sighed." I guess I just thought that now that we were officially a couple, Percy and I would be able to see each other more often."

"Don't you see him every day?" Juniper asked naively.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Not that kind of see, Juniper."

Juniper blushed. "Oh."

Annabeth thought back to last few weeks and how it seemed like even the Fates were against their ever getting together. Whenever she had free time, Percy was busy, and vice versa. She tried to work her schedule around his but it didn't always work out. Percy was doing his best, he really was. They would steal moments together when they could, sneaking out behind the cabins where he would pin her against the wall and kiss her until she laughed. Annabeth arranged their schedules so they could do their head counselor duties together, but that mostly consisted of talking about camp concerns and petty camper drama. They had snuck out after curfew a few times but after a close call with the cleaning harpies, they thought maybe they should stick to meetings that weren't breaking any major rules.

Annabeth sighed. "Well, thanks for your help Juniper, I should probably get back to camp though, I have cabin inspection soon."

"Alright. Annabeth? You'll get your time with Percy, just don't stress about it."

Annabeth smiled and headed back on the winding path to camp.

When she emerged from the forest, thoroughly covered in sweat and pissed off, she was surprised to find Percy waiting for her, arms crossed and a crooked smile on his face.

"Enjoy your walk?" He asked, grinning.

"I am going to kill Dionysus and when he comes back I'm going to kill him again."

Percy laughed. Annabeth frowned. "Don't you have climbing wall duty or something?"

"Nope. I do, however, have a surprise for you." She raised her eyebrows at him. Percy took her sweaty hand in his and they began to walk towards the cabins when he steered them towards the lake.

"Percy? I have cabin inspection."

"Actually, that's part of the surprise: Connor's taking over your inspection for the day. Don't ask what I had to trade him for that." He grimaced. "The other part of the surprise is this."

They had arrived at the lake and Annabeth couldn't help smiling at what she saw. A single canoe was tied to the dock bobbing up and down in response to the rippling water. Inside the boat was a picnic basket and a bottle of (really cheep) wine.

Annabeth laughed and looked up at him, smiling. "You did this for us?"

He grinned and squeezed her hand. "You've seemed really stressed lately and we haven't had any time together. I thought it would be nice to spend the whole day without anything to worry about. So I bribed Connor into taking over your counselor duties for the day, Clarisse owes me a favor so she said she would watch the climbing wall for me, and Mr. D jumped at the chance to give you a hard time and distract you while I set up all this." He grinned, clearly so proud of himself.

His expression made her laugh and she felt a strange emotion bubble up inside of her. "Come here, Seaweed Brain." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "You know I really, really like you, right?" She whispered against his mouth."

He chuckled against her lips. "Come on, Wise Girl, let's cool off." And with that he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the lake with him.

Thanks for reading!

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