Happy Birthday

It was strung together perfectly. Effortlessly, almost. Yes, the gods ruled the elements and the earth, but there must have been something higher something more powerful that controlled how things just... were.

Annabeth mentally scolded herself. Thinking so existentially often caused problems, but sometimes things just flowed in her mind and trying to stop the thoughts as they wheedled themselves into existence was futile. Yet the question still stayed put: What caused things to be?

"Annabeth? Are you okay?"

She swerved around and was met with the source of the voice.

She looked up into his single calf-brown eye. "I'm... fine, Tyson."

"You stopped mixing."

Glancing down at the glass bowl filled with blue icing, she remembered what she was doing prior to her sudden interest in a currently unsolvable question. Tyson had brought up the idea, a good one, at that. He'd wanted to do something nice for Percy's birthday. Annabeth hadn't remembered the occasion, (there was a certain 'War Of All Wars' to attend to before any birthdays could be addressed) and she had thought it was a good idea, but what would they do? A cake, Tyson had mentioned. Annabeth agreed to help, and they sneaked into the kitchen to make Percy's 'present', as it was so aptly named.

"Sorry, I was-"

"Thinking." Tyson finished. "I know."

She nodded. Sometimes it was surprising how intelligent Tyson actually was. She turned back to the icing and continued mixing.

"I think Percy will like this." Tyson motioned toward the blue icing she was mixing. "Blue is his favorite color."

"I'm sure he will, Tyson."

A comfortable silence fell over the two.

"Annabeth?"

"Hmm?"

He held out the metal cake pan. "Can we put it in the oven now?"

Annabeth glanced over at the cake batter Tyson had been mixing. There were two eggs on the counter, where they should have been in the bowl; an eggshell was hanging from the edge of the bowl, and Tyson had floured everything except his hands; even though flouring his hands wasn't necessary for a cake.

Annabeth smirked. "Yeah, I think we're ready."

Tyson grinned, his crooked teeth showing, and proceeded to fill half of the pan with the batter, the other half of the batter either falling into the sink or onto Tyson's hands. He shoved the pan into the preheated oven, crumpling the metal with his huge hands.

"How long to wait?" Tyson inquired.

Annabeth shrugged. "I've never made a cake before... Twenty minutes, maybe?"

"We can clean up, then."

"I'm sure the harpies would appreciate that." Annabeth muttered. Tyson picked up a towel and started pushing the debris into the sink.

"Do you need any help?"

Tyson shook his head. "I can clean."

Annabeth leaned back against the counter and massaged the feeling back into her left hand. Mixing icing was harder than it seemed.

"I think Percy likes you." Tyson said from the trash can.

Annabeth froze, the statement taking her completely by surprise. "Um, what?"

"I think Percy likes you." Tyson repeated. "At his birthday party last year he was sad that you could not come."

"...Really?"

"Yes."

She felt the blood rising into her cheeks. "Do you like him?" Tyson questioned.

Did she like him? Well, of course she did, he was her best friend, (not including Grover and Tyson) he'd saved her life hundreds of times. But, that wasn't Tyson's question. Did she really like him?

"Yes." She blurted, unaware of exactly what she was saying.

Tyson nodded, as if he was already aware of this. Suddenly, the timer on the oven went off and Tyson rushed to the oven, threw open the door and grabbed the cake pan, not at all affected by the fact that he pan was four-hundred-and-fifty degrees. Annabeth winced, but she knew he didn't mind.

Plopping the chocolate... thing on a small plastic plate, Tyson started to spoon out the blue icing onto the dark brown mass that somehow constituted as a cake.

"Tyson-"

"Done!" Tyson announced, holding the "cake" out to Annabeth, who eyed it warily. He had stuck and lit a blue candle in the side of the cake.

She took the plate and examined the thing sitting on top of it. The blue icing had started melting in places and the cake itself was drooping a bit.

"Go! Take it to Percy! Tell him happy birthday!"

Annabeth smiled. "I will. I'll tell him we both made the cake."

"Yay!" Tyson exclaimed. "I will finish cleaning, go!"

She rushed out of the door, a warm breeze hitting her. Walking to the dining pavilion, the question she had been contemplating came back into her head. It seemed so simple, yet so complex. She moved into the pavilion and suddenly hit her, standing there, a few feet from an unsuspecting Son of Poseidon, the answer to her question just came to her.

It wasn't a matter of what caused things to be, it was who. People made their lives out to what they wanted them to be. There might have been higher powers, but the individual was the one to rule it all.

Annabeth smiled. It had finally come to her and she felt... happy.

She slid onto the bench next to him. "Hey."

"Happy birthday."

A/N: *faceplam* Okay, I don't knowwhere this came from, I just wanted to do something for Percy's birthday because it is Percy's birthday (August 18th). I made blue chocolate chip cookies for the occasion! Gods, I'm so dorky. :(