Autors Note,

Hey guys this is my first ever fanfiction (other than a few short head cannons from my facebook page adminning days) hope you enjoy! please review constructive criticism will be lovingly embraced. This will be a multichapter fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Hero's of Olympus and all the characters are Rick Riordans property.

(my inspiration for this story came from WElaine21's story the art of falling in love which you should totally check out i hope i didn't copy you too much!)

A Royal Pain in the Ass Chapter 1

If Annabeth wasn't currently occupied with being in a state of complete and utter irritation she might take the time to answer the knocking on her bedroom door, and the soft but slightly exasperated calls of "Annabeth just tell me what happened.". However, she was currently using all her will power to stop herself from violently destroying the dainty white gold tea set that sat on the table across from her. She walked over to the window and placed her arm on the cool glass, leaning her forehead on her forearm. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly in an attempt to calm down. Apparently her parents had forgotten to mention in the last 17 years that they had arranged for her to marry some foreign prince the day she was born. She knew she was a princess, and she wasn't under any delusions that when she did marry, it would be an agreement that benefitted her kingdom. But she thought her parents could at leats do her the courtesy of letting her choose the prince she married.

"Annabeth, you know very well that I'm capable of breaking this door down, so open up before we have a lot of explaining to do to some very angry parents." Annabeth cracked a smile as she remembered the unforgettable time Thalia had helped her break into the wine cellars on her sixteenth birthday. She turned away from the rain sodden gardens outside her window and walked over to the door, unlocking it and opening it to allow the other princess to enter her room, and promptly walked over and fell face down on her bed.

"That bad huh?" Thalia commented as she sat down next to her friend. Annabeth just grunted in response as Thalia let out a small laugh. Annabeths anger had simmered down now and she was left with a horrible churning feeling in her stomach as she contemplated what her future held. A loveless marriage, probably to a prince she'd never met where she would live her life out in an unfamiliar castle and in all likelihood never see her friends or family again.

"Well are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to tickle it out of you?" Thalia teased, Annabeth let out a small burst of a laugh against the soft white embroidered cover of her bed. She then turned only her head around and looked up at her friend. "Arranged marriage." she said finally "Apparently it's been organized since the day I was born."

Thalias face dropped "You're kidding! 17 years and they didn't tell you? I mean the fact that they even organized it in the first place is bad enough keeping a secret for 17 years and giving you hope that you might actually get to marry someone you wanted to marry?" Thalia shook her head.

"I've been trying to think of the right words to describe how much I hate them. the only ones that have come close so far are treacherous, lying, manipulative bastards."

"Yeah, yeah that sounds pretty good." Thalia agreed smiling and moving to lie down net to her friend on the bed.

"I mean I always knew I would have to marry some pompous prince, and i'm not stupid enough to believe I'd find love, but I always imagined a marriage with someone I enjoyed being around at least." Annabeth said, turning her head back into the doona. Thalia gave her a sympathetic look.

"Hey, we'll figure something out." she said and playfully shoulder nudged her friend "You're not alone on this one, you'll never be alone when I'm around to get you in trouble."

Annabeth walked into breakfast the next morning with an air of tactfulness about her. She sat down at her usual seat, to the left of her father who sat at the head, grabbed two pieces of toast, prepared by the maids and began to go about breakfast as if today was just like any other… that was of course until her father tried to talk to her.

"Annabeth dear could you pass the pitcher of orange juice?" Frederick Chase said with a polite if slightly overdone smile. Annabeth just looked up at him with malice in her eyes.

"Oh sorry I thought you'd arranged to have it there because you weren't planning on drinking any." She then began attacking her eggs while trying to hide the small smirk on her face, feeling happy that she could get even a little bit of revenge on her parents.

"Now Annabeth I know this may take some time to get used to but you have to understand that we did it in your best interests." Frederick countered, again pulling out the very obviously fake and only somewhat sympathetic smile.

"The best interests of the kingdom you mean." Annabeth said trying to control the anger that was again bubbling up inside of her, "Don't think for even a second that I don't know why you did this." Annabeth said as she placed her fork and knife purposely on her plate, "I know that whichever prince you've picked out will be the one that best strengthens our ties with another kingdom or helps our financial situation. You'll have given absolutely no regard to whether he has any personality or whether he will care for me because lets face it, you don't care for me either. That's why you arranged this at birth, so you could use me as a pawn in the game you all play and then get me out of your hair without even a notion that my feelings might have been thrown in the mix somehow."

Her eyes were filling with tears now so she turned her head to the side and blinked rapidly. She would not cry in front of her parents, that was something that she stopped at age seven, when she realized how loveless her parents and their marriage was. When she realized that she would never be comforted or given attention if she did show emotion.

"Excuse me I'm not feeling very hungry this morning." Annabeth choked out with a heavy voice. She then wiped her mouth with a napkin and did everything she could not to run out the door before her tears came.

"Annabeth." Her father called his voice weak. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something to comfort her, he always did, tried to make an effort that failed dismally. He closed his mouth again and instead seemed to regain his composure.

Her mother sat there through all of this, stern faced as always. "You will be meeting him at the summer solstice ball next week. I very much hope that you will have grown out of your childish ways by then and will be the accommodating polite princess we brought you up to be."

"Yes, mother." Annabeth practically spat and then proceeded to exit the room, making sure to slam the door behind her.

"So they still haven't told you who he is?" Thalia asked from Annabeths bed as she sat at the vanity with her maid doing her hair.

"Nope." Annabeth said, popping the p. "Or which kingdom he's from. Guess I'll find out tonight though." The maid finished pinning up Annabeths hair and curtsied once, earning a polite smile from Annabeth before she left the room.

"Yes, I was hoping the guest list for the ball would narrow down the options but it seems your mother has invited the every kingdom in the country. Even Uncle Poseidon is coming, and you know how sketchy Athens relationship is with Olympia." Thalia said standing up from the bed and walking out the door as Annabeth signalled for her to go first.

"Percy is coming tonight?" Annabeth groaned. Percy, the prince and sole heir to the throne of Olympia, was one of the only princes Annabeth had ever talked to, as he was Thalias cousin. And while he seemed like a nice and relatively interesting guy he had a habit of getting on Annabeths nerves all the time, and their conversations usually dissolved into snarky remarks.

"He's not that bad." Thalia pointed out as the two girls made their way towards the ballroom, Annabeth adorned in a white silk gown with gold embroidery her golden hair in a swirling bun at the back of her head, Thalia in a deep blue dress her dark hair twisted eleganty into a knot at the base of her neck.

"I suppose he does at least have a personality." Annabeth agreed "But he's still a royal pain in the ass." Thalia chuckled loudly at that, and several of the passing courtiers to look up at the princesses with mild looks of disapproval.

"Well, I cant say I disagree." Thalia replied, grinning at Annabeth.

The girls reached the grand white doors that lead into the ballroom and nodded to the doorman who opened the doors for them. He stepped out to announce their arrival to the quickly growing crowd of people already in the hall.

"Presenting her highness princess Annabeth Chase of Athens and her highness Thalia Grace of Olympia." The crowd clapped swiftly as the two made their way down the elaborate marble staircase adorned with velvety red carpet. Almost as soon as the girls reached the base of the stairs Annabeths mother approached them and pulled Annabeth away. She shot a look back at Thalia who gave her a sympathetic one in return and a half hearted thumbs up.

"Now the Jacksons have come down specifically for this occasion and I expect that you will act like a princess and not make them rethink their decision to have you marry their son." Athena said in a chastising tone. Annabeth didn't really hear anything her mother had said after "the Jacksons". Percy. He was her fiancé to be. The seemingly nice and intelligent man whom she had no chance of getting along with. She was more screwed then she thought.

Annabeth tried to swallow and found that her throat was dry. She wondered if maybe she could ask to grab a drink and slip off to delay the meeting with Percy. But that's all it would do, delay the inevitable.

She looked up and saw Percy standing with his mother and father behind him. They weren't very far away at all and Annabeth realized too late that she didn't have time to think. What should she say? How she should act? How was she was suppose to marry a man she couldn't even get through ah a conversation with before they both resorted to snarky comments. And then they were there standing in front of Percy and his parents as they looked at Annabeth, smiling kindly. Annabeth decided the best thing to do would be to adopt a modest and polite attitude and hope it came off as real.

"Annabeth it's been so long since we've seen you, you've certainly grown into your looks, you look beautiful in that dress!" Sally exclaimed seeming genuinely happy and bringing a smile to Annabeth's face.

"Thank you Queen Sally, it's a pleasure to see you again." Annabeth's didn't even have to pretend to be happy, Percy and his family seemed to give off an unavoidable happy aura that infected everyone around them.

"You're fairing well I hope Athena?" Poseidon asked politely.

"Very well thank you." Her smile was so unauthentic you could have drawn a better one on with a crayon, "Now why don't we let Annabeth and Percy go off and talk by themselves, I'm sure they've got a lot to catch up on." Athena hinted not so subtly and walked off with the monarchs of Olympia saying something about the wine.

Annabeth's heartbeat sped up again as she realized that she was alone with Percy, would he ask her now? Was he as angry with his parents as she was with hers? "I-" Percy started only to be cut off by Annabeth not a second later.

"Before you say anything lets get this straight, we both know what the situation is and I don't think avoiding it is going to help at all. This isn't exactly my idea of a perfect situation but I still think we should try and get to know each other before we get married." Annabeth said authoritatively. Percy was half smiling half smirking at her.

"I see you're the same Annabeth, straight to the point no time for pleasantries."

Annabeth smirked back at him, "I see you're the same Percy always the charmer." She replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"I agree though, our parents are the worst people in the world but we can't stop it now so we may as well give it a go. And besides, were both intelligent mature people I'm sure we can get along if we try." He smiled warmly at her now and instantly she felt so much more comfortable with her situation, he felt exactly the same way and he was going to be there for her the whole time. "And, hey, I'll make you a deal, no proposals for at least a month and not until we've spent a reasonable amount of time with each other." Percy held out his pinkie as an invitation for her. She smiled and shook her head at the childishness of a pinkie promise but when he wiggled it she reached forward and linked her finger with his.

"Deal." She said decidedly and looked up at him to see him smiling. Maybe, she thought. Just maybe, she could grow to love this man.

This chapter is now edited hooray!