This story is a part of the Birthday Story Extravaganza. Give me enough time and I'll put a link on my profile to a list of all fifteen BSE stories! Review a "Happy Birthday" and get my eternal appreciation.
I don't post in the PJO fandom very often, so I don't have much to say here. This is a party of my BSE, short, sweet, and to the point. I haven't had the opportunity to read Blood of Olympus yet, so please no spoilers, just in case. I turned fifteen today!
ENJOY!
Annabeth didn't know where the apples were coming from. All day long, whether she was training, reading, sparring, swimming, running, teaching...apples. From every direction, of all different kinds, sizes, colors, and flavors. Every hour on the hour...apples. Somebody was throwing apples at her.
At first she'd thought it was and accident, or an experiment gone wrong.. An apple or two flying at her head certainly wasn't the scariest thing she'd ever faced, and hey, Annabeth got some free fruit out of it. But as the day dragged on and the apples continued to fly, Annabeth was fed up. She'd had enough of this.
The blonde daughter of Athena stormed down to the Big House to place a complain with Chiron. She hadn't done it sooner only because she was twenty three, gods knew, and honestly, she should be able to handle on little apple prank by herself. She faced down angry Gods, angry Titans, angry Giants, and the Earth herself (angry, naturally), but one little prankster with an obsession with apples, and she was coming up with nothing.
The culprit remained free after a couple hours of Annabeth trying to catch them, and an entire day of them tossing apples her way, so Annabeth decided to bring it up with Chiron. To, one, make sure that it wasn't just a curse gone wrong and nobody had bothered to tell her, and two, to be positive Chiron didn't know who'd been causing the apple crisis in the first place.
"Hey Wise Girl," a voice she very easily recognized called out to her. "Think fast!" Annabeth turned just in time to catch whatever Percy had throw at her out of the air. He had a big, goofy grin on his face, and Annabeth glanced down at the object in her hand. Her eyes widened.
"Are you-did you, but-you..." Annabeth scowled, brow furrowing, as she held up the shiny red apple. "Are you the one who has been tossing apples at me all day?"
Percy shrugged, smiling guiltily. Annabeth frowned in his direction. "Why would you throw apples at me all day? Do you even know how annoyed I've gotten?
Percy smirked, like he was sure he'd just made a very clever joke to which there was no comeback. "You know, in Ancient Greece, throwing an apple at a girl would upset her for an entirely different reason."
It took a moment for Annabeth to understand what he meant. When she did, her mouth dropped open and her eyebrows shot upwards. "Really, Percy/" she asked, smiling despite herself.
Percy nodded, gesturing to the apple she still held in her hand. "You don't even want to know how much trouble I had to go through to get a ring in that without bruising the entire thing. Let's just say it involved money and magic, and over two dozen ruined apples."
Annabeth gave off a surprised laugh and strode the distance between her and Percy quickly. Her arms went around his neck as his encircled her waist, pulling her a little closer. She smiled and leaned in, pressing their foreheads together. "Yes," she whispered against his lips. "The answer is yes."
UNTIL NEXT TIME!