I know I haven't been posting much recently, but believe me when I say that I'm working on three stories at once. Hopefully, I should be able to post one of them very soon. But for now, please enjoy this little oneshot as an apology.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. All rights to Rick.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that,

you can make anything happen.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Magicians Never Reveal Their Secrets

Percy has loved magic ever since his mom hired a magician for his fifth birthday party.

He was completely hypnotized by the magician's quick hands and how he could make things disappear and reappear right in front of him. His card tricks boggled Percy's mind and when he made a dove appear from a single flame of fire, that's when Percy knew he was hooked.

From that day forward, Percy wanted to be a magician.

He begged his mother to buy him a starter kit, to which she just couldn't say no. He practiced nearly every day, learning basic tricks and illusions that made his mother beam with pride every time he showed her.

By the time his sixth birthday came along, Percy had mastered enough tricks to do his own show. He invited his three best friends Jason, Leo, and Frank for his birthday party and performed for them. Naturally, the three boys were enamoured with Percy's skill and begged him to show them how he did each trick.

But Percy never revealed his tricks to anyone. Not even his mother. After all, a good magician never reveals his secrets.

That was rule number one in The Magician's Handbook.

By the time he turned seven, Percy's mother enrolled him in a summer camp that teaches kids about magic. Now, Percy may have been young, but he wasn't a fool. He knew that money was tight and that his mom saved up all year to send him to the camp. So he made sure he learned as much as he could so that he could show her how much he appreciated everything she's done for him.

Let's just say when he got home, Percy performed his best magic show yet.

His mother pulled him into her arms and proudly stated, "You're going to be the greatest magician in the world, Percy. I just know it."

His sea-green eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Even better than Houdini?"

"Much better than Houdini," she assured him while tickling his sides until he couldn't breathe.

That same year, when Percy entered his class on the first day of school, he noticed something different. Well, more like someone different.

There was a girl. A very pretty girl.

Percy felt like someone had taken all the air right out of his lungs.

She had long, golden, curly hair that was pulled into a side ponytail. She had a cute button nose and large grey eyes that seemed too big for her face, but Percy thought they were perfect.

Before she could notice him blatantly staring at her, he quickly rushed to his seat and ducked his head. Hoping no one noticed his blushing face.

By the end of the day, Percy was sure he was in love.

The girl was named Annabeth. And she was from California. Not only was she the prettiest girl in the whole class, but she was also the smartest kid there. She answered almost every question the teacher asked and looked amazing while doing it.

And just like with magic, Percy was hypnotized.

He meant to talk to her. He really did. But it was difficult. Every time she looked at him, Percy's heart beat ten times faster and when he opened his mouth to speak, no words would come out. So he'd just blush and walk away in embarrassment as she stared after him in confusion.

His mother noticed his sullen mood when he was practicing his magic half-heartedly.

"What's wrong Percy?"

He contemplated on telling her about his crush. She was a girl after all. Maybe she knew what he could do.

So he told his mother about Annabeth. And how she's so pretty and smart and nice to everyone and how he just wishes he could do something to get her to like him too.

His mother smiled at him. "Why don't you do a trick for her?"

"A trick?"

"Yes. She'll be so impressed. At least that way, you can get her attention."

"Okay," Percy said eagerly. He racked his brain for the perfect trick to perform and quickly knew just the one.

Valentine's Day was just around the corner and Percy knew he was ready to sweep Annabeth off her feet with his amazing abilities. He had practiced his trick every day at least a hundred times. He could practically do it in his sleep. And as soon as Valentine's Day came, Percy was just bursting with nervous energy.

As per tradition, his classmates began handing out their Valentine's Day cards into each person's bag. Percy followed suit, but once he reached Annabeth's bag, he quickly put in his special hand made card along with a pack of Reese's chocolate attached to it. He knew those were her favourite because she'd eat them during lunch every other day.

Percy's card was in the shape if a purple heart (her favourite colour), neatly cut by himself (okay, his mom helped), with the following message written in dark blue crayon:

Happy Valentine's Day Annabeth! Meet me by the slide at recess.

From, Percy

He also added smiley faces, a sun, and a flower for good measure.

After they were finished, the teacher let the children read their cards during their lunch. Percy tried to see if Annabeth had read his card or not, but it was difficult since she sat all the way in the front and he sat in the back. He hoped she liked it.

As soon as the recess bell rang, Percy all but ran to the door so that he could make it to the slide before Annabeth did. Once he arrived at his destination, he rapidly got his props ready and waited.

A few minutes later, Annabeth walked toward him. She had her hair down and was wearing a simple, but pretty, red dress. Percy thought she looked like a princess.

"Hi Percy," Annabeth greeted happily, entrancing him with her wide smile and sparkling grey eyes.

"Hi A-Annabeth," he replied timidly, his confidence suddenly evaporating.

She twisted her waist back and forth, making the bottom of her dress swish over her legs. "Thank you for the card and the chocolate. I really liked it and Reese is my favourite."

He smiled shyly at her. "You're welcome."

"So, why did you want to meet me?"

"I, um, wanted to show you a magic trick."

"Oh!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I love magic tricks!"

Thank goodness, Percy thought.

He pulled out a small, plushy, red ball from his pocket and began his show. With his swift hands he made the one ball turn to two balls, then to three, and back to one. He even got Annabeth to participate by putting the one ball in her hand, closing it, and then instructing her to open it again, revealing two more balls than what she started with.

She watched him, completely fascinated as he made them disappear and reappear. He even pulled one out of her ear.

After a few more seconds of this, Percy inhaled a breath and prepared for his grand finale. He put the three balls in both his hands, squished them together, and opened them to suddenly reveal a single red rose right in front of Annabeth's eyes.

She gasped in shock as he held it out to her. And although he knew his face was as red as the rose, he said as confidently as he could, "Annabeth, will you be my Valentine?"

"Achoo!"

Percy blinked in surprise. That was not the answer he was expecting.

"I'm sorr- Achoo! I'm just really aller-Achoo-gic to roses. Achoo!"

Percy's heart dropped to his stomach. She was allergic to roses? He didn't know that! Now he messed everything up! She'll never want to be his Valentine now!

His eyes started to water over so he quickly looked away, his voice breaking as he said, "I'm sorry, Annabeth." He then bolted from the scene before he humiliated himself more than he already had and threw the single red rose in the nearest trashcan.

~oOo~

After nine years, Percy was still practicing his magic.

He even got good enough to be hired at kids birthday parties and other larger events, but never anything spectacular. He was just sixteen after all. He still had a lot he wanted to learn.

He also decided to focus on becoming a better magician rather than seek out girls like his other male classmates. Sure he'd take note of some pretty ones every now and then, but he never developed anything further than that. Girls were a distraction from his main goal. Plus, since he'd gotten into high school, not many females were lining up his door to go out with him.

Okay, really the true amount is none.

Apparently, high school girls weren't into guys who could pull long lengths of cloth out of their mouths or make a rabbit disappear.

It also didn't help that Percy didn't really know how to talk to girls. What was he supposed to say? Hey, I'm Percy and I do magic tricks?

He tried that. It didn't work well.

Another result of his lack of choices in the ladies department was that he was still hung up on one girl.

Annabeth.

God, she had gotten even more beautiful as the years passed. And Percy would silently pine for her from afar, never even considering trying to talk to her again. He tried to get over her. He really did. But every now and then she would sneak her way into his mind and the next thing he knew, he just spent ten minutes thinking about what it would be like to kiss her.

Soon it's Valentine's Day again, and Percy just wanted to get through it without thinking about his disastrous attempt at wooing Annabeth when they were kids. And even if he did try asking her out a second time, it would be all for naught. He had witnessed Luke Castellan give her a teddy bear that was nearly as tall as her, holding a gigantic heart that read Be Mine in the center of it early that morning.

He knew there was no competition between him and Luke because it's obvious who would be the winner of that showdown. Senior Quarterback vs. Junior Magic Geek. He wouldn't even stand a chance.

So he did his best to forget about it and just focus on finishing the day so that he can get back to his house and watch some Penn and Teller videos. That is, until he found the card in his locker at the end of last period.

The blue card was shaped like a heart and inside it read:

Dear Percy,

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope it has been good so far. Please meet me beside the slide. You know which one.

With love,

Annabeth

Percy read the card again. Then he looked around to make sure he wasn't being Punk'd. Did someone else do this as a practical joke? Or was this really Annabeth asking to meet him in the same place he had humiliated himself nine years ago? God, he sure hoped so because if not, he was going to get some really weird looks if he just hung around an old playground all afternoon.

So after he packed his things, he went to the playground with a heart full of hope and a gut full of nerves. Thankfully, he spotted a blonde haired girl standing leisurely by the slide. His breathing picked up the closer he got to her, but he wasn't going to embarrass himself this time.

"Percy!" She said his name happily and he couldn't help but notice the sound of relief in her tone. "I'm glad you came."

"Yeah, m-me too." Damn it, he thought he had his stutter under control. "So... I got your card."

One side of her mouth lifted in amusement. "Did you now?"

He almost facepalmed in front of her. Of course he got her card! He wouldn't be standing here if he didn't.

"Yeah, well, I liked it a lot."

She smiled wide. "I'm glad you did. Although, mine wasn't nearly as nice as yours was. And I loved how you wrote your e's backwards."

He groaned as his face turned crimson. "I was a seven! The e's were still hard for me."

She laughed. "Don't be embarrassed. I thought it was cute- well actually, you. I thought you were cute."

"Really?" Percy felt like he'd just been sucker-punched. Or maybe he'd woken up in a different dimension.

"Yeah I did. Plus, you inspired me to learn a few magic tricks myself."

His eyes widened. Annabeth Chase, learned magic tricks, because of him? This had to be some sort of dream.

"I actually had one prepared to show you. If that's alright?"

Jesus, that was more than alright. "Yes, I'd love to see it."

"Okay." She bit her lip nervously. "It's kind of short, but I wanted to do something that wows you since you're so amazing at it. I've seen you at the school's talent show and all the different things you can do, so I wanted to do something that I hope you haven't done before."

His chest warmed at her confession and he watched her intently as she put some distance between them and lit a match.

His jaw nearly dropped. No way was she going to do this trick. If she did this he was going to have to marry her on the spot. Or take her on a bus to Las Vegas and do it there. He hasn't seen this trick live since he was five years old and now the girl of his dreams was going to perform it right in front of him.

And sure enough, Annabeth transformed the singular orange flame into a beautiful white dove right in front of his eyes.

Percy was a goner.

What made the entire illusion that much better was that the bird carried a blue note around its neck saying: Percy, be my Valentine?

He couldn't control himself after that. It felt as if someone else had taken over his body because in one second, he was standing in front of Annabeth and in the next, he was kissing her.

He pulled away after a minute and watched with a goofy grin on his face as Annabeth's eyes fluttered open.

She smiled back at him. Her grey eyes shining. "So I'm guessing you liked the trick?" she asked, slightly breathless.

"I loved it. It was incredible, Annabeth."

"I'm just glad it worked. I've been practicing it for years."

"You have to show me how you do it," he insisted excitedly.

She shook her head. "Nu-uh. You know the rules. A magician never reveals her secrets."

He pouted. "What if I said please?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please with a Reese cup on top?"

She crossed her arms across her chest, the dove sitting calmly on her shoulder. "Not a chance."

"Pretty please with two Reese cups on top and a date on the side?"

She gave him a sly grin. "Make it three Reese cups and five dates and you've got a deal."

He nodded in agreement, smiling so hard his face was starting to hurt. "I think we need to consummate this deal with a kiss."

She laughed as he leaned in towards her. "Slow your roll there lover-boy. You know that if we start this, we aren't going to stop. And I need to give Daisy back to my aunt before six."

"Okay," he said reluctantly. "But I'll see you tomorrow to discuss potential date spots."

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow, Percy." She then gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and started walking away.

But before she got too far, he called out to her. "Annabeth!"

She turned and raised an eyebrow in question. "Yeah?"

"Would you have said yes? You know, when we were seven?"

Her smile lit up his entire world. "I would have said yes."

Fin.