A/N: Here's another Annabeth's point of view story. This is actually the first fanfiction I ever wrote, so it feels like a big deal that I'm posting the story that started my whole thing. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: All of the characters and dialogue belong to Rick Riordan.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves as I watched Percy, who was sitting alone at the Poseidon table in the pavilion. I had to go talk to him now, before he left. In…out… This was it.

"Hey," I said as I slid in next to him on the bench. "Happy Birthday." I held out the birthday cake Tyson and I had made-chocolate with (of course) blue frosting.

Percy stared at me. "What?"

"It's August 18th," I replied. "Your birthday, right?"

Percy looked stunned. Apparently, he'd completely forgot it was his sixteenth birthday.

"Make a wish," I said.

"Did you bake this yourself?" he asked.

"Tyson helped."

"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," Percy said. "With extra blue cement."

I laughed.

After pausing for a second, Percy blew out the candle.

We shared it, eating with our fingers. As we ate, I wondered what his wish was, but I was afraid to ask because I didn't want to jinx it.

"You saved the world," I said instead.

"We saved the world," he corrected me.

"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody," I said, trying to hide my feelings of happiness.

"You don't sound disappointed," Percy said.

I shrugged. "Oh, I don't care." I was trying to keep my emotions under control, but I had a feeling he saw right through me.

"Uh-huh," Percy said. Yup, I was not fooling him at all.

I had planned the entire conversation out (stupid, I know), but I guess it was going a different way than I had expected. I was just going to have to wing it.

I raised an eyebrow. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"

"You'd probably kick my butt."

"You know I'd kick your butt."

Percy brushed the cake off his hands. "When I was in the River Styx, turning invulnerable…Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal."

Stay cool, Annabeth, I told myself. I stared at the horizon, not trusting myself to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Then up on Olympus," he said, "when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking-"

"Oh, you so wanted to," I said, to see what he'd say.

"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't because I thought-I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking…" he trailed off.

"Anyone in particular?" I asked, my voice soft, but my heart thumping loudly.

Percy looked over at me, and saw I was trying not to smile. "You're laughing at me," he complained.

"I am not!" Honestly, I wasn't. I was trying to hide my ecstatic smile, because I was pretty sure I knew what he was going to say next.

"You are so not making this easy."

I laughed, and put my hands around his neck. "I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it," I said, and kissed him. I could tell he was surprised, but not upset at this turn of events.

Suddenly, a voice behind us growled, "Well, it's about time!"

All of a sudden the pavilion was filled torchlight and campers, Clarisse leading the way. They hoisted Percy and me onto their shoulders. I immediately felt embarrassed that that they'd heard our conversation.

"Oh, come on!" Percy complained. "Is there no privacy?"

"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse said gleefully.

"The canoe lake!" Connor Stoll shouted, and everyone cheered.

They carried us down the hill, but they made sure we were close enough to hold hands. Percy's face was bright red, (I'm sure mine was pink as well) and we were both laughing.

We held hands right up to when they threw us in the water.

Percy and I sunk down, and he made a giant air bubble at the bottom of the lake so we could kiss for a really long time. I'm sure our friends were waiting for us-but hey, when your boyfriend's the son of Poseidon, you don't have to hurry.

It was basically the best underwater kiss-no, the best kiss of all time.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I know it was kind of short, but I hope you liked it! If you have time to review, it would mean the world to me!