This is actually my first Percabeth story so go easy on me, but if you do like it I not only would like to hear that from you in the reviews, but I also have many Solangelo one-shots and stories and you can find those on my profile page.
This irony should probably make you fall over laughing- this morning my sister decided to make blue pancakes, she's not even that big of a PJO fan, or really one at all, and didn't know about this story I wrote, she just really wanted to make blue pancakes. And then I told her about it and her mind was blown- and the picture for this story is of her pancakes.
This is the finally to my one week of postings. BTW- IT IS MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SINCE THE FIRST THING I POSTED ON THIS WEBSITE. Just wanted to thank all of you from the bottom of heart, which is half melted from all of the amazing comments and reviews I've gotten over the months. As of 12:09 PM EST today- I have received a total of 45,865 views for all of my stories in total. I love you guys, and you're the ones that make me want to write so much, so this one's for you.
Previous Postings for this week:
Opposites Attract- Chapter 2
Will Solace is Handsome as Hell- Chapter 3
Timid to the Point of Awkward- Chapter 1
Broken Down Once Again- Chapter 1
Hunters Meet Demigods, Demigods Meet Hunters- Chapter 4
Chemistry- Chapter 1
Percy POV
Now I'm not usually one for bookstores, just because of one little thing. All they sell is books. I'm not fond of stores selling shredded trees with writing in them. Especially with my dyslexia. It's hard enough reading the things I need to like menus and street signs, but to pile on unnecessary things like The Complete Encyclopedia of Greek Monsters is ridiculous. I swear, that thing weighs more than my cousin Nico.
The reason I passed by one so often though, was because of my job at a little bakery down the street from it. One rainy morning I was walking by and happened to glance through the window. My heart practically stopped. Standing alone behind one of the registers was a girl. She looked about my age, nineteen or twenty. Golden curls stretched past her shoulders and when she turned my way I noticed her stormy grey eyes before she looked back down at the paper she was writing on.
She looked sort of sleepy even though it was seven in the morning and the cute way she yawned pressed its way into my mind. I glanced at my watch to see if there was time to go inside. Shist. It was 7:18. I was late.
I ran the rest of the way before walking through the back door of the shop to the smell of pastries and bread. It was the best smell in the world, except maybe rivaled my mom's blue chocolate chip cookies and the ocean.
I sighed in relief when I noticed my boss wasn't there yet. Just a word of warning: my boss can be very scary. I quickly put on an apron and began kneading dough. By the time my boss returned I was elbow deep in the sticky mass.
"You're late. By six minutes," my boss said in her angry voice, arms tightly crossed.
"It's raining outside. It took forever to get here," I tried to explain.
"Yeah. Right. Uh huh," my boss said.
"Aw, come on Thals," I said, pouting.
"You and your stupid seal eyes Kelp Head," Thalia groaned, "How am I ever supposed to stay mad at you!"
"You're my cousin," I said with a grin, "you can't stay mad."
"Just get back to work," Thalia said, grabbing some oven mitts and pulling a tray of blueberry muffins out of the oven.
I guess I forgot to mention, I work for my cousin Thalia. She's almost 26 and owns a shop called Blue Skies Bakery. She won't admit it, but profits since I came have almost doubled for two reasons. One: I convinced her to make almost all of the pastries blue, which seems to be a big draw, especially when it comes to our blue cream puffs. Two: my mom let me have her blue chocolate chip cookie recipe since she loves Thalia and would do anything to help her business thrive.
In one week we can sell up to 3,000 cookies, and sometimes more depending on parties and holidays. We've become a local icon here in New York City. Yet Thalia takes all the credit. I mean, she does do all the paperwork and everything else that requires, well- intelligence. But all of the pastries are mine, as are some of the breads, which people seem to really enjoy so on occasion Thalia is forced to admit I do help out, even if she's always calling me Kelp Head.
As I continued through my daily routine of breads, cookies, scones, and muffins, I couldn't get the blond from the bookstore out of my head. I'd been dreaming of what a smile from her would be like. Probably warm and inviting.
"Percy! You're burning the caramel sauce!" Thalia yelled at the smoking sugary liquid in a sauce pan.
"Shist!" I shouted as I emersed the pan in a sink full of water.
"Are you okay Percy? You seem distracted or something," Thalia asked, worried.
She had no idea.
Annabeth POV
The day I first saw him it was rainy, like teardrops falling from the sky and mourning the recent fight I had with my father. He wanted me to stay in California despite my love of NYU and New York architecture. So here I was- going to NYU off of scholarship money, with a job on the side to help. My gaze flittered to the window, and all I saw was his dark hair and sea green eyes as he ran past the window.
The single look from him was enough to hook me. I just had to find him. I had to see him again. He held this aura of mystery that I just couldn't figure out with only a glimpse. How I was going to find him again though was unbeknownst to me. Maybe he regularly walked by the book store. Or maybe I would never see those gorgeous eyes of his again. For now though, the image was imprinted into my mind. I looked back down at a building I had begun drawing on a piece of scrap paper. Before I knew it, I was sketching his eyes and his hair, trying to imagine just what his face would look like.
That was the rest of my day in between helping customers before I walked back to my dorm, which was only a few minutes away, at the end of my shift. After forgetting my umbrella that morning, I was soaking wet when I walked back into my dorm room, where my roommate Piper was sitting on her bed and watching Netflix like she did every Saturday afternoon, but this time she was nibbling on strange cookies. What makes them strange you ask? Well, they were a vibrant shade of blue.
"Oh honey, you look half frozen," Piper said in a worried voice.
After I dried off and changed into a set of dry clothes with a fuzzy blanket wrapped tightly around me, I sat next to Piper on her bed where she was halfway through an episode of Supernatural. She held of the box of cookies and I took one wordlessly before biting into it.
"Oh my god," I said, my mouth still full of cookie, "this is amazing. Where are they from?"
"My boyfriend, you know Jason," Piper said, and I nodded because he came over quite frequently, "well his sister owns this little bakery on campus so he gets free stuff all the time. Actually, I think it's just down the road from that book shop you work at."
"Really?" I asked. "I should stop by sometime. Is everything from there so… colorful?"
Piper laughed, "To my knowledge it's just most of the pastries that are blue."
"Aww," I pouted, "So I can't get blue cinnamon raisin bread?"
"I guess you'll just have to go and see," Piper answered, "By the way, Jason's cousin also works there."
"And?" I asked, not seeing the point.
Piper turned her head to look at me and smiled, "He's hot."
I groaned in response and pressed my face into a pillow.
"Look, I know the last one, the med student, didn't work out, but I swear I didn't know the guy was gay. On the bright side I set him up with Jason's cousin and they're going strong now," Piper said.
I whipped my head up to look at her, thinking she was trying to set me up with the same guy.
Piper blushed and rushed to fix her mistake, "I mean his other cousin. I swear, this one is totally straight."
I glared at her, "What are your ulterior motives?"
"Think about it," Piper said smiling, "If I end up marrying Jason and you marry his cousin then we'd practically be sisters."
"You'd be my husband's cousin's wife," I corrected. "So my cousin-in-law I guess?"
"Same difference," Piper said jubilantly.
I groaned and shoved my face back into the pillow as Supernatural continued to blare in the background.
The next day I began my shift at the same time. Seven o'clock sharp. Despite the fact that no one wants to buy books at seven in the morning. Shortly after, as I was glancing through the large windows of the shop, I say the same guy from the day before. Raven black hair and sea green eyes.
He stopped outside to look in and I saw a slight smile on his face when his gaze hit me. He gave a small wave, and I couldn't help but wave back and smile as well. A deep blush began to spread through my face.
Percy POV
After waving at the beautiful girl in the book shop on the second day, I couldn't help but feel all giddy inside. By the third one I wanted to go introduce myself, but Thalia was already waiting on me, so I settled for a quick wave on my way by, which she reciprocated in what I can assume was a happy manner, but it seemed slightly shy. After I finished my shift, I walked back past the book shop, but the pretty blond girl was nowhere to be seen.
The fourth day I did the unthinkable. I left early for work in order to linger by the book shop a bit before having to go meet my cousin. Once again it was a bit dreary and drizzly, enough so that the windows were covered in condensation and rain droplets. I could see the girl looking at me from inside the shop and took a leap of faith. Painstakingly, I wrote my my name backwards on the window in the condensation and water droplets and pointed to myself, though I was quite sure that the e was backwards. I could tell she was laughing, but it was adorable and I had finally gotten to see that smile I had been daydreaming about since day one before continuing to walk down the street.
This time I had been smarter, and instead of trying to go back after my shift, I walked back to the store during my break. Luckily, by this time it had stopped raining. Stuck to the window from the inside of the bookstore was a piece of paper, and written on it was a name: Annabeth. I glanced inside to see the blond girl helping a customer at the register, but she looked up at me with those calculating, stormy grey eyes and smiled widely before returning to her job.
I had returned to work with such a cheery attitude that Thalia said she'd slap the smile off my face if I didn't get rid of it.
"Seriously," she said, "did you do drugs or something? I'm not judging, just wondering."
"Only if love's a drug," I responded as I moved some cupcakes from the kitchen to the glass display case.
"Oh god," Thalia gagged, "Don't get all poetic on me. I get enough of that crap from di Angelo's boyfriend."
"Sorry," I muttered, "Don't know what came over me. It's just- I met the most beautiful girl in the world."
"Aaaand now he's turned into a romantic," Thalia told no one in particular. "Did you at least ask her out on a date or something?"
"Well, umm," I tried to explain, "We didn't actually speak."
"What do you mean you didn't speak!" Thalia exclaimed.
"Well she was working and I had to get back here quickly to work on the cream puff filling!" I yelled back, still beating the filling with a whisk.
"Forget the god damn cream puffs and go get that girl!" Thalia shouted, ripping the whisk out of my hand.
I didn't need to be told twice. I ripped my apron off and began to run. My feet pounded on the pavement as I weaved in and out of the crowds milling the streets of New York City. Stopping by the door, I tried to catch my breath, taking one deep one before stepping inside and walking over to the cash registers.
"Is Annabeth here?" I asked someone tentatively.
"You just missed her. Her shift ended," the guy, who's name tag said Malcolm, responded, "I'm sure if you ran you could catch her."
"Thanks," I said quickly before running back outside.
I fervently searched the crowds, hoping to catch a glimpse of her curly blond hair or startling grey eyes. It was all to no avail though. People rushed around to do whatever it was they needed to do, but Annabeth wasn't visible in the masses. Dejected I made my way back to the bakery.
"You idiot with kelp for brains!" Thalia yelled, smacking my arm every other syllable. "Why didn't you chase after her?"
"She had already left!" I responded, having just told her my tale, and rubbing my now sore arm.
"And you didn't chase after her?" Thalia scoffed, "Men."
This, of course, coming from the lesbian. I looked at her, knowing that despite this there was no winning an argument with her. If it got too intense she'd put you in a headlock and noogie you into submission. I knew from experience.
"You get her number within a week or so help me I will tell Jason's girlfriend," Thalia said.
"You wouldn't," I gasped.
The look she was giving me told me that she would though. After meeting Jason's girlfriend Piper a few times, it was easy enough to figure out that she had an affinity for putting people in relationships, or at least nudging them towards each other. Otherwise it's possible that Nico would still be wallowing away in some dark corner of the campus library. Now he was dating a med student that was his complete opposite, but Piper was a miracle worker because somehow it worked out perfectly. Although he was pretty sure she had tried to set up the same guy with her roommate before she set him up with Nico.
If Piper somehow got wind of Percy's situation she would convince Percy to go down there and she'd follow him the whole way, and afterwards analyze every word and movement he made. One time she'd even made a powerpoint for Thalia with everything she did wrong or right with her date. All you need to know is that Piper was finding flour in her hair for a week. And don't even ask where she kept finding cinnamon. From that moment on she stopped using power points, but the criticism kept coming.
"Fine," I muttered, "I'll do it."
"Good," Thalia nodded, looking content with herself, "Now these cream puffs aren't going to pipe themselves."
I got to work putting the cream puffs together, thinking about how i was to get this girl's number.
Annabeth POV
"Now why did I lie to that nice boy," Malcolm asked, glancing down at me as I crouched behind the checkout counter.
I stared up at him with wide eyes before answering softly, "I haven't dated anyone in almost two years and I sort of freaked out and didn't know what to do when I saw him outside the window."
"You do realize he's going to come back tomorrow right?" Malcolm said.
"I know," I told him, "but next time I'll have help."
A loud squeal of happiness was the first response I received when I finished telling Piper what had happened.
"Ow. Very loud," I said covering my ears.
"Sorry," Piper said, her voice still very high pitched, "This is just so exciting."
"But what about Jason's cousin or whoever it was you wanted to set me up with?" I asked.
"Oh forget him," Piper said, "This is so much better. More romantic."
I sighed, knowing there was no way out of this or out of confronting the cute dark haired guy.
"So what's tonight's pastry?" I asked, seeing a little blue box with the Blue Skies Bakery logo on the top.
"Cream puffs," Piper said, reaching over to open it up, "Messy, yet delicious."
"You lucky duck," I answered, "always getting free food from your boyfriend."
"Yeah," Piper agreed, "the only thing that would make it better would be if Jason was the one cooking it."
Both of us started to laugh, recalling what had happened the last time Jason had attempted to bake. By the time the fire department had arrived, he had been standing there half covered in in baking soda, though whether or not he had used too much in his baking endeavours or to put the fire out, was unbeknownst either of us, and he refused to spill.
"Genetics wasn't kind to him in that area," I said, still laughing, "Somehow his sister got all the baking skills."
"Well I'm not dating him for his baking skills," Piper said, "Although the fact that he gets me free pastries all the time doesn't hurt. So tell me more about this guy. If he hot? Like on a scale of 1 to Zac Efron."
"I'd say about a greek god," I replied.
"No way," Piper said, her tone implying that she wanted me to go on.
"He has these deep sea green eyes and raven black hair, with a tan that almost puts Will's to shame. And the body," I said. "It's like some force out there is trying to burn me."
"He sounds sooo hot," Piper said softly, a dreamy look in her eyes. "It's settled, I'm coming to work with you tomorrow."
"You'll do no such thing," I replied, horrified. "I told you all of this in confidence, in the hope that you would help me, not ruin me."
"Oh come on, it'll be fine," Piper said. "Besides, I don't have any morning classes tomorrow."
I groaned, leaning back on my bed.
"Fiiine- but say a single word to him and I will stab you with my compass," I said.
"The north or south side?" Piper said, and I shifted my gaze over to her, "Or we can mix things up and do the east side."
"You know that's not the kind of compass I mean," I told her, "I meant my drawing one that ended up embedding in my wall last week."
"Yeah," Piper said, pointing at a badly patched up hole in the wall next to my desk, "By the way, for an architect you suck at plastering."
"That's why I'm designing the buildings, not actually building them," I told her.
"Cream puff?" Piper asked chuckling.
"I'd love one," I answered.
"So what's his name?" Piper asked as we walked towards the bookstore together the next morning.
"I'm not telling you," I scoffed, "You'd just get Leo to do a background check on him."
"Pretty please?" Piper begged, "With a cherry on top? Even just the first name?"
"All I know is his first name," I replied, "And I know you can still find out everything about him with just that."
"You do realize that at some point I'm going to find everything out whether you want me to or not," Piper said.
"And that day is not today," I told her as we arrived at the bookstore.
Percy POV
"Jason, I only sprained my knee," I tried to explain to him, "It's nothing. I could've just walked."
"Dude- you're my friend, there's no way I'm letting you walk that far with an injury," Jason replied as he continued to drive.
"You're just feeling guilty that you you're the one who prompted Leo to make such a ridiculous machine," I said, staring out the window.
"At least we know it works," Jason answered with a weak chuckle.
"Yup," I said, "No intruders in your room. And no more Stoll brothers with pranks either."
"Why would you want to walk anyway?" Jason asked, changing the subject, "You used to complain about it all the time, but in the past week- nothing."
"No reason," I said, hiding my tracks. "It's just nice and peaceful. Time to clear my head ya know?"
"Like you have anything to clear," Jason said with a smile.
"Shove off," I said, pushing him despite the half smile on my own face. "What about you? Any plans today? Isn't your six month anniversary with Piper coming up or something?"
"Yeah- next week," Jason said, his face paling. "I still have no idea what I'm going to do. Maybe a picnic in the park?"
"Sounds great," I told him, "I'm sure she'll love it. Heck- I'll even make you a pie if you want."
"Really? Thanks man," Jason said, the color slowly returning to his face, "Just nothing blue."
"Do you want the pie or not?" I said, "Because all I do is blue. When was the last time you walked into the bakery."
"You're right," Jason relented. "I'll make you a deal- you can make the crust blue if it isn't a blueberry pie."
"Deal," I said, "I'd shake your hand but I'd rather not crash."
"Smart," Jason said, chuckling.
"Was that a compliment?" I mocked gasped.
"You're right," Jason responded, "I take it back. You're an idiot."
"That's it," I said, "I'm retracting your dessert privileges. No more free stuff."
"Aw come on dude," Jason whined, "You know I give that stuff to Piper. Remember what happened last time I cooked?"
I began to chuckle, "Okay, I don't want that happening again. You nearly destroyed the dorm's kitchen. But if I find you taking any macarons then I'm telling Thalia."
"You think I'd try that with her in the state?" Jason asked.
"Well she is your sister," I explained, "She'd only half kill you. Not completely kill you."
"Not risking it," Jason told me as he parked behind the bakery in its small parking lot.
When we walked through the back door we were greeted by a flour covered Thalia who was putting a tray of bread in the oven.
"Hey Jason," she said when she saw us step inside, me limping as I followed Jason, "What the hell happened to you Jackson?"
"No hello?" I asked, but she just held to her question, "Leo."
"I swear he's going to kill someone with one of those contraptions some day," Thalia said, starting a batch of muffins. "You can still work can't you?"
"My hands are fine- it's just my knee," I explained.
"Then get to work slacker," Thalia pushed. "You too Jason- work or get out."
Jason chuckled as he made his way towards the front of the shop at the same time the bell from the front door began to ring, "Okay big sis, I'll get out of your way. I'm just going to grab some cookies and I have to meet up with Piper later anyway."
Annabeth POV
"-to Annabeth. Come in Annabeth," I heard Piper saying as she waved her hand in front of my face.
"Sorry what?" I responded, looking away from the store windows for the first time in a while.
"You okay?" she asked, leaning against the the counter next to me, "You had that little crease between your eyebrows that you get when you're really concentrating."
"Yeah I'm fine," I said, "It's just, he's not here yet."
"It's only what- 7:23? I'm sure he'll come," Piper said, trying to comfort me.
"But he's always here by at least 7:20. What if something happened? What if he got hurt? What if he decided he doesn't like me and started taking a different route?" I spouted, worrying.
"Calm down Annie," Piper interrupted my rant, "Maybe it's just his day off or something. Maybe he got a ride to wherever he goes."
"You're right, you're right," I mumbled, "I'm just overreacting."
Piper chuckled beside me, "Wow Annabeth, I've never seen you like this before. You must really like this guy."
"But I haven't even spoken to him," I grumbled. "What if he has a terrible personality?"
"He noticed you. Therefore he can't have a terrible personality," Piper said.
I groaned and leaned my forehead against the counter.
"Maybe I should just give up right now before it gets worse," I said.
"That's it. We're going somewhere," Piper said, pulling me upright and turning to Malcolm who was just walking in from the back with a box of new best sellers, "Hey Malcolm, can you hold the fort down for a little bit? Annabeth needs someone sugary to pick her up- I mean something sugary."
"Sure," Malcolm said, putting the box down on the display table.
"Thanks!" Piper shouted, tugging on my arm and dragging me out the door and down the street.
She continued to pull me along until a few blocks later she paused, shoving me towards a bright blue door. Above it was the name of the shop in a delicate scrawl that took me a few seconds to decipher with my dyslexia: Blue Skies Bakery.
"Hey is this-" I started.
"Thalia's bakery? Yup," Piper finished.
"So when you said 'someone sweet' by accident…" I implied.
"Jason and Thalia's cousin? I've met him a few times," Piper said, "I think you two would really hit it off. Not only is he the one that bakes most of the things Jason gives me, but he's hot. Not my type, but he sorta reminds me of the guy you told me you were crushing on."
A few steps through the door as the little bell attached to the door was still ringing, Jason came out from the back finishing a conversation with someone.
"-later anyway," he said, still facing away from me and Piper.
"What's going on later?" Piper asked innocently, causing Jason to jump in surprise and turn around.
"Piper!" he sighed, a bit relieved, "I was just telling Thals that I had to meet you later."
"Speaking of meeting," Piper said, lowering the volume of her voice a tad, a smile spreading across her face, "I wanted-"
At that moment Thalia came out from the back, "Annabeth! Piper! Hey guys! I heard the doorbell but I didn't expect you two to show up. How are you?"
"Hey Thals," I greeted her with a smile.
"Hi Thalia," Piper said, "I just brought Annabeth over to meet your cousin."
"You mean-" Thalia said, pointing towards the back with wide eyes as Piper nodded, but Thalia shook her head, "Not gonna happen. Annie's too smart for him."
"But they'd make such a cute couple," Piper pouted, "and- wait, Jason why are you even here?"
Well that was a bit of a delay, I thought.
"Oh- uh, one of Valdez's inventions caused Jackson to sprain his knee, so I gave him a ride," Jason explained.
"Aww- that's so sweet," Piper said, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and pecking him on the cheek.
"Okay, I'm not suggesting anything is going to happen, but can I at least meet this Jackson guy?" I asked, drawing attention to myself.
"Fine," Thalia relented, "Kelp Head! Get your ass out here!"
Nobody's POV
Percy sorta limped his way out from the back, supporting himself using one crutch, and not wanting to bother with two of them. Annabeth nervously fingered the ring on her necklace in the opposite room.
"I was in the middle of the… madeleines…" Percy said, his voice faltering when his eyes fell upon Annabeth.
The breath Annabeth hadn't realized she'd been holding was slowly released as she set her own eyes on Percy, glancing quickly at the crutch and knee brace. It explained why he hadn't walked past the store this morning. Piper looked between the two, soaking up their reactions and the joy inside her bubbled up to the brim.
"Annabeth," Percy breathed at the same time Annabeth softly said, "Percy."
Oh my gods. How the hell did this get so long. Well, I guess it goes without saying that is the end of the story, so no continuations. Sorry.
Out of curiosity I looked up Blue Skies Bakery- apparently it's a real place, BUT I did create the name myself first- because blue for Percy and skies for Thalia since she's the daughter of Zeus. AND omg I found the most perfect Percabeth song- Stand By You by Rachel Platten. Just listen to the words- they fit perfectly.
ALSO- After a suggestion from my sister I've decided to take on a Beta Reader- this person will read my pieces before they are posted for grammatical mistakes and tweaks to the story. In order to get this position you must love PJO, especially Solangelo since I write a lot of that, as well as being able to deal with me personally. NECESSARY- you need a gmail so that I can share my writing with you, and if possible, a skype for communication, speaking of which, I live on the east coast of the US, so if time zones could sorta coincide slightly, but can go a little bit farther to include the west coast. UPDATE 6/28- I HAVE A BETA READER NOW, SORRY TO TROUBLE YOU.
I have received a few responses as to this request, but I'm still placing it out as to get all the possible candidates, so don't worry if you've already messaged me, I have seen it and taken you into account.
And I got a request from someone for superheroes- so if you're reading this, just wanted you to know that I've already been trying to write something for that, so I am on the case!