She smiled and let her laugh fill the air. And she was so beautiful it hurt him, so gorgeous, so perfect, and she didn't even try. After all these years he still found little things that amused him, like a freckle in her upper lip, or a blond curl that had not been discovered yet.

And there, standing on the fire escape just outside his apartment on a very normal Wednesday evening, there it hit him. Hard. It was like he was falling down, and suddenly he had wings, large beautiful wings to carry him up, up, up... There were fireworks, hurricanes, fountains of gold, all stuck in his head – until he decided to let it all out.

"Annabeth." She looked deep into his eyes, and he could feel his heart skipping a beat. "I just realized. I love you."

Oh, how good it felt to say it out loud. Fireworks, fireworks everywhere! He wanted to smile like a madman, he wanted to spin her around until they both felt dizzy. But first he wanted her to say something.

Anything.

But she was silent for a long time, and he felt his heart aching. What if she didn't love him back? What if he had ruined all they had, all that happiness and comfort and caring?

"Percy." She took his hands to her smaller ones, still looking into his eyes with those gray diamonds someone dared to call just eyes. They were much more. They were like storm, always like a storm, no, they were the storm itself. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that so that I can say it back?"

And suddenly her arms were tightly around his neck and her lips were on his lips, she was kissing him so hard it was crushing him. And yet it felt so right, so beautiful, so perfect. He smiled, he just had to smile against her sweet lips, he just couldn't help it.

"I love you", she said, her lips still on his.

"I love you too."

He looked into those gray eyes, and it all clicked. Everything was right, this was how things were meant to be, right from the beginning of times. "I love you." He couldn't stop smiling, there was no reason to. It felt so good to say those words, it was like his life was finally complete, like everything that he had ever done wrong in his life could be just wiped away, just like that. "I love you."

She laughed while kissing him, her arms still around his neck. "I love you, Seaweed Brain, but I still think you're mental."

"Yeah, maybe", he laughed too and started to spin her around. "But that's only because I love you."