Hi :D I decided to start a new fic which will be multi-chapter and, hopefully, on the longer side. Peace and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own, and never will own, Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus. All rights belong to Rick Riordan.
Annabeth's POV
Annabeth woke to the sounds of waves crashing, birds chirping, and Katie Gardner yelling rather viciously at Travis Stoll—or in other words, a rather normal day at Camp Half-Blood. It was only 6:30 a.m., but the sun was already up, and there were a few campers milling around, bumping volleyballs back and forth and sword fighting energetically. It seemed like today was going to be a good day.
Annabeth rolled lazily out of bed and stripped out of her pyjamas before pulling on a pair of worn denim shorts and a ratty old Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. She practically lived by that outfit. What demigod really needed a whole extensive wardrobe, anyway? (And Annabeth knew the Aphrodite kids—those stinking "fashionistas"—would protest strongly against that remark, but hey, you didn't really need to look fashionable when you were sword fighting and climbing rock walls spewing lava, did you?)
Annabeth yawned widely as she grabbed her dagger off her nightstand and strung it around her belt loop. She opened the door and a gust of warm wind blew in, immediately making Annabeth glad she'd gotten out of bed when she did. She turned around and surveyed the room—at least half a dozen children of Athena were still sound asleep, nestled up in their blankets. Her favourite half-sibling Malcolm's mouth was wide open, and a little line of drool was snaking its way down his cheek. Annabeth smiled and stepped outside, closing the cabin door softly behind her.
Since not everyone was awake, she decided to walk around camp for a bit to see which of her friends were already up so she could hang out with someone.
As Annabeth walked the long of the cabins, she noticed Katie and Travis on the front porch of the Demeter cabin. Annabeth looked behind them and discovered the reason Katie had been yelling earlier. The Demeter cabin, which Katie was head counsellor of, was strung from top to bottom with toilet paper.
Annabeth raised her eyebrows and looked over at Travis—resident camp prankster along with his twin brother, Connor—who shrugged innocently. Katie kept shooting him peeved glares. Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Travis butted in.
"I know what you're going to say," he stated matter-of-factly, staring at Annabeth. "And I agree. It was a great idea for me to decorate the cabin this way!", he said in shaky confidence, glancing frequently at Katie to gauge her reactions. "The West façade—well, and the North, and the South, and the… oh whatever. As I was saying, it's so bright and cushy now! And–"
Katie's face was turning red, and she glared murderously at Travis, who immediately held up his hands in defence. "Whoa, babe, don't get mad at me! I used your favourite type—two-ply!"
That did it. Katie, who was clearly infuriated, raised her hands up wordlessly. Tendrils of poison ivy sprouted from the cabin's wooden deck, slithering upwards and wrapping themselves tightly around Travis's legs before he could do anything about it. Travis yelped as Katie grew the poison ivy vines up to his waist and tightened them to the extreme. Katie just smirked.
"Next time you decide to T.–P. my cabin," Katie drawled in a dangerous tone of voice filled with extreme false-sweetness, "Remember I have the power to wrap you up in every poisonous plant you could ever dream of." Travis gaped at her confusedly. Katie never usually went this far revenge-wise when Travis pranked her or her cabin. "Think twice before you prank, babe. No kisses for a week. And have fun sitting there wrapped up in that itchy little cocoon until your equally stupid brother comes to rescue you."
With that, Katie pantomimed dusting off her hands, as if to say, Just another day taking care of Travis. Annabeth stood there for a couple seconds as Katie walked off, unsure what she'd just witnessed. Then she smacked her forehead for being so stupid. It was obvious what had just happened: The Stolls had pulled another "epic" prank on the Demeter cabin, and Katie had given the First Brother Caught a punishment. Said brother would probably start begging Annabeth to help him right about—
"Annabeeeth," whined Travis. "Help me. It's so… So… Itchy…" Travis pretended to faint, forgetting the vines did nothing to support his weight and falling over in the process. Annabeth appraised the situation in three seconds flat and turned on her heel, stalking off in the opposite direction. She had no idea why she'd even watched that pathetic little scene, when all she'd really wanted to do was find Percy.
"Anna… Beth… Help… Meeeee…" came Travis's voice from behind her, but Annabeth didn't dare look behind her. Travis could be so stupid sometimes. There was no way Annabeth would help the very same guy who'd peeked on her and Percy having a makeout session and then blabbed about it to the whole camp.
Her and Percy had been pretty embarrassed—Chiron had publicly punished them, which was humiliating for Annabeth but not as bad for Percy. Apparently it was manly for a guy to kiss his girlfriend when it wasn't allowed, but for Annabeth, who was a respected, knowledgable daughter of Athena…? Pretty disrespectful. It was against camp rules for two campers of different genders to be alone together in a cabin, but Annabeth and Percy still did it all the time (much to Percy's enjoyment). They were among the oldest at camp—it wasn't like a ten-year-old would happen upon them and then rat them out to Chiron. No, only a Stoll brother would do such a thing.
Travis yelped from the deck, but Annabeth just kept walking until his quiet complaints and nagging whines were out of earshot—He'd also taken pictures of that makeout sesh mentioned earlier.
Annabeth walked until she came to cabin number three; Poseidon's cabin, where Percy stayed all in his lonesome. She knocked three times on the door, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She heard the rustle of bed sheets and then a loud thump from inside the cabin, and then Percy mumbled, "Get lost, guys, I don't need a makeover." Annabeth stifled her laughter and knocked again, calling, "It's Annabeth."
More rustling sheets. "Oh," said Percy. "Hold on."
A half second later, the door was flung upon, revealing Percy in nothing but his boxer shorts. Annabeth blushed, staring at his abs. All that sword fighting really did do him good. Percy, as oblivious as usual, didn't catch why Annabeth was blushing until he followed her gaze down to his naked chest and smirked. "Enjoying the view?" Annabeth blushed even harder and shoved him lightly out of the way, stepping into the cabin. She considered snorting and telling him to put on a shirt, which is what she would've done if they hadn't been dating, but since she actually was enjoying the view, she flopped onto Percy's bed and stared some more. Percy's smirk widened, and he bent down to pick up a pair of sweat pants off the floor. Annabeth sat up as Percy wiggled into his sweats.
Once he was done putting them on, he plopped down beside her. "So," Percy grinned. "How's it going?" Annabeth smiled and grabbed his hand. "Good," she said. "Travis covered the Demeter cabin in toilet paper again."
Percy frowned. "Gods, I can't believe I missed it. Again." Annabeth smirked this time, bumping shoulders with Percy. "Travis is probably still out there covered in poison ivy and whining, if you wanna go see," she suggested. Percy shook his head. "Nah. I'd rather spend time with you."
Annabeth blushed lightly, and turned her face to look at Percy, who was staring intently at her. He leaned in and kissed her. Annabeth threaded one hand through his soft, raven-black hair, which was still unbrushed from him sleeping on it, and ran her other hand over his bare chest. Percy smiled against her lips, weaving one arm around her waist and the other around her back. Just then, the door flew open, and Leo stomped in, flanked on either side by Jason and Piper. A crazy grin was on Leo's face. "'Sup, guys, I–"
Leo then noticed a half-naked Percy and a wild-looking Annabeth sitting on Percy's bed, mid-kiss. "Ohhh-kay, well that was awkward," said Leo. Annabeth noticed Percy shoot him a meaningful look, like, Get lost, dude, I'm kissing my girlfriend here, but Leo either didn't notice or chose to ignore it because he continued talking like nothing happened.
"So. As I was saying… I have planned the vacation of a lifetime for us!" he cried excitedly. Percy and Annabeth broke apart, and Percy slung an arm around Annabeth's shoulders, cocking an eyebrow discreetly at her. She gave a tiny shrug which only Percy could feel, and they turned to Leo.
"A vacation?" questioned Annabeth skeptically.
Leo nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!"
Percy scrunched up his face in concentration. "Let me guess… Paris?" Leo snorted. "Pfft, Paris, rrron rrron rrron. Ah, non."
"I wish," muttered Piper. "And by the way, you have a horrible French accent." Jason shot her an apologetic glance, like, Sorry this is happening, but come on, you know Leo wouldn't plan a trip to somewhere as great as Paris.
"Guess again," said Leo, not deterred in the slightest way.
"Greece," said Annabeth.
"Nope," replied Leo.
"Spain," she tried again.
"No."
"Jamaica."
"No."
"Alberta."
"No. It's hella cold there."
"Okay… Hawaii."
"NO. You know what, I'll just tell you," sighed Leo. "We're not exactly visiting the place we're staying, but it's in Canada."
"I thought you just said Canada was 'hella cold,'" argued Annabeth.
"No, I said Alberta was hella cold. What we're doing will be somewhere else in Canada."
"Oh," shrugged Annabeth.
An awkward silence ensued.
Percy broke the silence first. "Well… What are we doing?" he asked Leo.
"Oh, right!" said Leo, snapping his fingers. "We're going… CAMPING!"
First chapter and it's not super long, but hopefully the next one will be posted pretty quickly. I'm not going to set a posting schedule though unless there's popular demand for one, because it's a lot of pressure.
–ImpulsesOfLife
