Monsters and a Really Cute Baby
Chapter One
It all started the night Annabeth wore that red dress…
She just had to wear the dress Silena gave her to my birthday party. I would curse the gods at that strike of luck, but uh…1 I'm just overreacting on the spot and 2 if I cursed my dad he'd cause a typhoon in South America. And no I don't want the little South American kiddies and their families to be turned into people parfait. Okay, first off I'm gonna tell you now so you don't get the wrong idea: I'm actually very happy with the way everything turned out. Now that that's done, maybe I should rewind so you know what the Hades (Sorry Uncle Hades) I'm talking about, huh? Here we go…
-REWIND ABOUT 9 MONTHS EARLIER—
Percy's POV
I stared up at the rocky gray ceiling of Cabin Number Three with the bright morning sun bouncing off the light of the window. I yawned involuntarily thinking Go away Apollo! When the sun hit my eyes, and then turned back over praying more sleep would come (What ?A hero can't be tired?) I pulled my soft blue sheets up to my ears and laid face down on my pillow with a grunt. Aah, comfy…I was starting to peacefully snooze again with the birds singing happily. Oh so that's why you're called an early bird when you like to wake up early; cuz birds like to wake up and sing early in the morning, too. That just sunk in for me. So I drifted off to sleep with the birds outside my window whistling in my ear…
Annabeth's POV
I walked quietly around to the front door of Cabin Three, tip toeing so not to wake Percy up. (Though everyone knows he's a freakishly deep sleeper, which is what the drool signifies. Ha-ha) I clutched the shiny little turquoise-wrapped present close to my side and tredded softly through the breaking sun to his door. I knew better then to knock; there would be no answer this early and I wanted it to be a surprise. I creaked the door open carefully and stepped inside. (Percy said he didn't need a lock on his door if he slept with Riptide in his pajamas pocket *eye roll*) I walked swiftly, cursing the floors in Ancient Greek for creaking so much. I stopped right in front of the bunk he slept at. I put one foot in front of the other and climbed up the little ladder to the top bunk. There he was. My Seaweed Brain…well actually I only saw a little bit of the top of his messy black head, hair made even worse (or better if you like messy-cute, which I reluctantly do) from bed head caused by his tossing and turning sleeping habits. He had pulled the covers up over him, covering most of his head, his face was plopped down head first in his light green pillow. I very very carefully pulled the covers back (I mean you would be careful too, even if he is a heavy sleeper, it's still odd to wake up and see your girlfriend staring at you) to reveal his face. His full of life ocean eyes were closed and he wore the most adorable clam expression. Accidentally, I started to stare at him. Right at him without embarrassment. (How weird)
It was his birthday today, (insert whatever his real b-day is). He'd be 18 today. I've known him 7 years. Wow. He mumbled and shook his head absentmindedly in his sleep, causing some of his dark hair to fall in his face. He shook his head again as if he was saying no, and he started to frown, his mouth pulling down at the corners. After a second, he had a full blown put going on. I laughed a little at him, just like Seaweed Brain to still pout in his sleep when he was legally already an adult. I reached over and lightly brushed the soft hair out of his eyes, to see his face better. I let my fingers linger on his face around his cheekbone. Without realizing what I was doing, I stroked the side of his face a few times with my thumb. Thank the gods no one's here, I thought. I'd probably die if someone saw me right now.
"Annabeeeeef," he mumbled, slurring off in his sleep. I jumped a little and pulled my hand back when he spoke, then realized his eyes were still closed. I may have misunderstood, but I swear I thought I heard him sleep talk my name. I smiled to myself. He yawned a little and turned on his side, facing me. I gently put my hand back on his face, starting from his forehead this time, I pulled my hand down his face ever so slowly, I did NOT want to wake him up. I did this for a few seconds and got a little lost in my mind so it took me by surprise when suddenly….his hand reached around and touched the hand I had on his face (hey I didn't know he was awake, his eyes were closed!) I gasped and pulled back a little, but after leaving his hand on top of mine for a couple more seconds he pulled me back and wrapped my hand in his, while his eyelids fluttered open and I was suddenly exposed to his blurry but always bright, sleep-filled, green eyes.
A little kid grin broke out across his face, " Mornin' Wise Girl," he said quietly, then yawned and stretched with his other arm then laid it across his chest, "Is my face really that interesting?" he asked innocently.
"Oh. I er-um- I mean," I tripped over my words too much so I just sighed and gave up, "Good morning Seaweed Brain."
He pouted again, "Early morning," he grumbled.
I laughed at his expression, "Yes well it's a special occasion."
"That requires me to be up before the sun?" he frowned. I laughed again in my mind; I knew he'd be like this.
"Actually," I started to correct him, "Apollo flew across the sky an hour ago, he's here actually, in the Big House trying to get Mr. D. to listen to his latest haiku I think."
"Why would anyone be up at…uh, what time IS it?"
I rolled my eyes, "6: 30 doofus."
"Hey!" he took his pillow out from behind his head and threw it at me. I quickly dodged it and Percy disappointedly(I guess he really wanted it to hit me) watched it hit the floor.
"Come one, stop being grumpy. Wake up," I pleaded.
"Why? You still haven't told me what the occasion is."
"Stop playing dumb, Percy."
He looked nervous all of the sudden, "I'm not playing," I laughed at this, then he realized his mistake in wording, "I- I mean, I don't know what you're talking about."
He looked sincere this time so naturally I burst out laughing; he forgot his own birthday! That's so Percy. I laughed too hard and almost fell off the ladder, but he caught me, "Annabeth, seriously, what's going on?"
"You, "Laugh, "Forgot your, "Laugh, "Own birthday!"
His eyes widened, "Oh," his eyebrows scrunched together a little, "Right. I knew that."
"Did not," I managed to say when the giggles subsided, "Anyway, come on; time to get up."
"No!" he said "It's time to try and get back to my dream." He rolled over, facing away from me and pulled the covers back up.
"You mean the dream I was in?" I said sneakily. I saw his body tense in reaction.
He didn't turn back over to look at me, "Um….no?" he said, unsure.
I laughed under my breath, "I heard you mumble my name, or something that sounded remarkably close to my name anyway."
He flipped back over quickly, "I-I wasn't dreaming about you, you-uh-misheard me I said… Annabeek , yeah Annabeek, it's my pet bird's name at home."
"You were dreaming about your bird?" I raised an eyebrow. He seemed to realize that dreaming about a bird wasn't much better than just admitting it was about me.
He bit his lip, "Uh…well- you watched me sleep!" he defended.
I flushed dark red, "Uh…yeah, sorry. We're even."
He sighed in relief, "Good."
"But why's Apollo here?" he asked with a curious expression.
"Oh, well duh, for your birthday pa-" I stopped short-it was a surprise party, "I mean for your birthday… parking pass. Yeah. His present to you is that you get to park the sun car once whenever you like." I prayed to Apollo quickly to tell him to change his previous birthday present for Percy to what I just said.
Luckily, being Percy, he was too concerned with getting to drive the sun car to notice my lame cover up for almost letting the party slip, "Really? Cool!" He grinned, and my heart skipped a beat, then I told it to stop doing that, then Percy gave me a weird look for talking to myself, then I felt majorly embarrassed again. "Uh…nothing, anyway get up! Get up!"
"No! I told you no. I don't care if it's my birthday, this is still way too early to get up. Why do I have to be up early on my birthday anyway?"
"To fully appreciate every moment of the beautiful day you were blessed with for your birthday!" I said enthusiastically, trying to persuade him to get up.
He started at me quizzically for a few seconds before deciding; he looked straight at me seriously and said, "No. "
"Please!" I had a whole day full of birthday activities for us to do. Spend the whole day together as a date sort of thing was what I had planned on.
He didn't respond; he just tried to fall back asleep so…, "PERCY JACKSON! GET UP! UP! UP! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! YOU'RE GOING TO ENJOY IT!" I shouted commands at him in his ear and he sat up in shock and screamed, "AAAAH! What the Hades , Annabeth?" He was now sitting up in his bed; mission accomplished. I shrugged and smiled victoriously, "You're up now, so come on. I have a whole day full of stuff planned for us to do."
His expression changed, his face looked kind of excited and amused, "Annabeth, you could have just said that. I'd gladly get up if I get to spend the whole day with you," he said and I looked down shyly, he was so sweet. When I looked up I saw he was blushing; obviously he didn't think about what he was saying when he said it. Of course.
"Um, what's that?" he pointed down to his present to change the subject.
"You mean my arm?" I asked, faking innocence.
"Yeah, your arm," he said sarcastically and picked my arm up and kissed it lightly, giving me goosebumps. Darn him!
"Uh…" once I remembered where I was I continued speaking, "Oh it's nothing; just your present," I teased him again.
"My present is nothing? I get nothing?" he asked, disappointed.
I laughed , "No…that's not what I meant. "
He frowned, still confused. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing; he's so cute when he's clueless…which is often.
"No stupid, I DID get you something," I smiled, "Here."
And I handed him the little package that was half of his gift; he'd get the rest later. I giggled at my thoughts and he gave me a look like 'Did Mr. D give you some of his 'special' wine or something?' I just shook my head and he reluctantly looked back at the package. He stared at intently for a moment, studying it… uh…what's he doing? God's, Percy, it's a present, it's not like there's a bomb inside it or something.
"What is it? What are you DOING?" I asked, as I watched him stroke the silk wrapping carefully with one finger.
"Well…it's just- I mean…the wrapping's so…pretty. Am I allowed to rip it open? I don't wanna ruin it if you really like the paper."
…
I laughed out loud, and bent over clutching my sides.
He got a mad look on his face, "Hey! What did I say? What's so funny?" he looked offended and that only made me laugh harder.
"No…" I gasped, trying to stop giggling, "You Kelp Head. You're just so…funny. Of COURSE you're supposed to open it! Haven't you ever had a present before?"
He bit his lip and looked sad/uncomfortable, "Well…yeah, but….me and my mom, we didn't have much money for my birthdays or anything so I didn't get too many presents," he laughed, "Well except the blue taffies she'd bring home from the old candy store…if you count that…which I SO do." He smiled. I looked down, my face burning. I felt so bad; I forgot about the whole financial situation thing when he was younger. It made me upset. I mean it's so not fair. Percy's the best person in the world; he's the bravest, the loyalist, the nicest, cutest, And FUNNIEST. If anyone deserved to be rich it was him. And of course his mom was a saint.
"I'm SO sorry Percy; I forgot…" I whispered.
I stared at my shoes until I realized he wasn't being silent and upset; it sounded like he was chuckling. I looked up and sure enough he was laughing under his breath, his eyes sparkling; they do that when he's happy, which lucky for me has been happening a lot lately.
"What?" I demanded. Woah, déjà vu; he had just been the one to ask what was funny.
"You called me Percy."
I looked at him blankly, "That's your name…"
"Not to you it isn't, "he started, "Haven't you changed my name to Seaweed Brain yet?"
I glared at him, "I was serious. I thought I'd upset you."
He shrugged, "S'okay."
"Anyway," I pressed, "Open your present."
I watched him pick the box back up from his bed and started twitching a little in anticipation making the ladder I was clinging to shake.
He gave me and odd look, "Hmmm…should I open it now or should I wait til-" he started to tease me; seeing I was obviously excited to see what he would think.
I interrupted him and hit him hard in the shoulder, and he grinned, not hurt at all (Darn you Styx!) I thought I felt the ground rumble in protest a little so I muttered a quick apology to Hades just in case you know? , "Just open your stinking gift."
"Such enthusiasm," he mocked as he tore open the blue-green parcel. He slowly took out the tan woven necklace, with ten colorful beads on it that exactly matched my camp necklace. His eyes widened and he stared at the insignificant seeming thing.
"Annabeth…" he breathed, "Is this your…? I know how much it means to you, why would you give it…?" he trailed off, fingering the beads.
I grinned ear to ear, "Turn it over."
I watched his face as he read. I'd had an almost exact replica made of my camp necklace, all the beads were on there from ever since I was seven; Thaila's tree, the minotaur, the fleece… except on the back there were words carved into each bead. On the first few years of beads-when he hadn't come yet- I wrote 'Happy Birthday, Seaweed Brain' then 'I love you' then 'From Wise Girl' then I skipped two beads. On the sixth bead it said 'I'll show you' referring to how I taught him about the world of immortals and who he was. The seventh one said 'I'll do anything for you' talking about how I sunk out of camp to help him find Grover on our second quest. The eighth,' You'll always save me'; he'd rescued me from Atlas, and he saves me each day he wakes up in the morning. The ninth one read, "I'll search with you'; meaning finding Deadulu's lab in the Labyrinth, then the last just said, "I'll fight with you'; the battle against Kronos. (A/n- I know I know this is so corny, but I just thought it was a cool idea)
He smiled a little but then frowned and scrunched up his eyebrows, "Ugh, I'm sorry. I can't really read some of it. Stupid floating letters," he mumbled.
I laughed softly and took the string of beads from him, "Happy birthday, Seaweed Brain. I love you. From Wise Girl—I'll show you. I'll do anything for you. You'll always save me. I'll search with you. I'll fight with you," I recited clearly, although I was blushing pretty bad from having to actually say it to him; I hadn't planned that.
He wore a little of a disbeliving expression, "Thank you."
"I wanted you to always have a part of me with you, close to you," I half-smiled, turning flaming red again.
He grinned at me unsteadily, "I'm glad you gave it to me," he said, then he held up the necklace to me, "You wanna help me put it on?" he winked at me and laughed. I hesitated-but he didn't seem to notice- a little shocked, because this was a bit unlike Percy, but I was okay with that so I rolled my eyes and said, "Duh."
So I climbed the rest of the way up the little ladder, plopped myself down behind him on the bed and took the necklace from him. I had a total Seaweed Brain moment (I swear-he may be rubbing off on me); I actually waited for him to hold his hair up, like girls do when they put on necklaces, because I wasn't that used to helping guys do it. Then I mentally smacked my forehead when I realized he doesn't HAVE long hair.
"What are you waiting for?" Percy looked back at me with one of those confused scrunched up eyebrow looks that I love.
I shook my head, "Sorry. Nothing, I just forgot you don't have long hair."
He raised his eyebrows, "Huh?"
"Just shut up and turn back around."
"Fine, fine," he grumbled then turned so his back was facing me again.
I lifted up the necklace and carefully put the necklace around his neck. I purposely avoided the strange tingle under the skin of my fingertips so I wouldn't drop the small rope. I briefly wondered if Thaila had somehow given me some of her zappy electric powers (again, don't blame me for the wording; Percy's rubbing off on me) (a/n- the more I use the phrase' rubbing off on me' the more wrong it sounds in my mind) because it felt like my fingers were radiating little lightning bolts wherever my hands grazed his neck. He shivered almost undetectably, but I'm a daughter of Athena- I rarely miss things, especially when I'm paying attention and I'll admit; I find it a little weird still but, I pay attention to Percy. I sat back on the bed and stared out his window. What was THAT?
He cleared his throat, "Shouldn't we be going?"
I turned back to him. He was still in his pajamas- blue boxers and black T shirt. I looked him up and down with an amused expression, "Don't you wanna get changed before you leave? But hey, if you wanna walk around camp in your aqua man boxers for all to see, it's fine by me."
He glared at me sharply, "Shut up," he grumbled. Oh grumble mumble, shut up Annabeth, I imitated him (badly) in my head.
He jumped off the bed that was about 5 feet off the ground smoothly.
"How do you do that?" I wondered stupidly.
He rolled his eyes, "So you get curious when I jump off my bed but when I killed all those monsters with riptide and freezed dried ice cream you never wondered how I did THAT?"
"That's right," I said simply, "I know how you do that. We're trained to"
I wasn't going to admit to him that he impresses me more than most people I've ever met. That Fish Face.
"Yeah or it could just be because I'm- in Apollo's words- 'too awesome to be defeated.'," he grinned a little impish grin at me.
"Of COURSE you are Seaweed Head, "I replied soothingly as I grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him out.
"Aren't you going to let me get dressed?"
"Oh yeah right," I said, so I stopped in the doorway. He just stared at me and rubbed the back of his head, "Um Annabeth, this is an experience that should normally be done alone…and with the door closed. "
I blinked. Oh. Right. No! Say it out loud you idiot. Out loud! "Oh. Right. Sorry. I forgot; you know sometimes I think you're starting to rub off on me."
Right as I said that I knew it was a mistake, knowing how literal Percy takes everything. He walked right up to me and rubbed his left shoulder against my right. It was annoying, but I still got a little warmer where he touched me. He bugs me. That kid bugs me.
"I'm going to let you be alone with your idiocy now. You don't need me crowding you." I turned and left without another word.
Percy's POV
(A/n- my caps lock button on my keyboard is being really hard to press and stupid)
That girl is very weird. Oh well, I love her. I'm ok with it. I actually kinda like it. Plus I was being weird. I know she thinks I take things too literally so I like to rub her face in it. Literally. Ha.
I looked at the door she just left through, then down at the necklace she'd given me, playing with it with my fingers I started to think. I know we'd joked around with letters like 'Love Percy,' 'Love Annabeth.' But I knew that wasn't REAL you know? So we'd never actually told each other that sincerely, not since we started dating, because of course when we were younger we thought we loved each other as FRIENDS. So yeah that's how I started my 'What the Hades is going in that head of yours Jackson?' rant to myself. I tried to pick nice clothes out to put on for my birthday, but I mean come on; I'm a guy…I don't really have 'special occasion clothes'. So I put on a pair of semi-nice jeans and the only dress shirt I have, that was a gift from my mom I think; it was black with green pinstripes, I wore one of my black sleeveless undershirts under it and decided I wouldn't bother to button up the shirt until the party that my friends were no doubt planning for me (even though I'd told them they didn't have to). I sat down on my bed for a minute, thinking...
I knew that I probably DO love her, I just didn't know if I should tell her yet. If she loved me. If she would want to hear it. We'd been going out for two years, but I don't know…she still made me nervous. I realized that that feeling would most likely never go away. I rembered what she'd told me once, "I'll NEVER make life easy for you, Seaweed Brain." Her words echoed through my mind. I was probably just making up an excuse to stall telling her because I was so nervous about it. I know-stupid. Everyone has their moments you know? Well I should probably suck it up and go out there-she's waiting for me.
She was waiting in the middle of the U of cabins. She was facing away from me, gazing at the early morning sun, all gold and pink. She looked like she was thinking about something, and I don't know why, but that made me kind of nervous. I quietly walked up behind her. I stood still once I was close to her, alternating between staring at the sky and staring at her. She didn't seem to notice me. I watched the sun rays bounce around in her hair, light and smooth. I could only see the side of her face, but it was enough. She was truly beautiful. I know most guys would say that Aphrodite was the prettiest thing they'd ever seen, but no. To me, my Wise Girl was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen and probably ever WILL see.
"Hey," I said softly, not wanting to break the assumed cone of silence she had going. She'd once yelled at me for breaking her calm, and while a strangely hot experience her yelling at me is also scary.
She didn't seem to mind, she turned around, took a breath (seemed shaky to me but hey I have ADD, that could've just been my brain raddling around) and smiled at me. I stepped up to her and took her hand, and together we walked to the Big House all the while me thinking, Damn she has a beautiful smile.
(a/n- my friend pointed out that the Big House is also a nickname for jail, so maybe there we half-blood inmates?...)