Percy Jackson had a bad habit of tripping in front of his true love. To be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault. Annabeth's gray eyes and long blond hair were incredibly distracting. He didn't see how anyone could focus on keeping balanced while she was around.
Still, even Percy was impressed by simply how much it happened. It always seemed to happen at important moments, too. Whenever he was about to convince her that they were meant to be together, something made him fall over. Then he looked silly in front of her.
He had tried to take precautions; they just never worked. Destiny wanted him to fall.
The first time it had happened, he was only twelve years old. All twelve-year-olds are awkward. Especially twelve-year-old boys. So it was excusable. Besides, at that age, he was clumsy, plain and simple. Even his parents had been so used to it they'd simply laughed it off, though they may have just been more concerned with meeting new neighbors and moving into a new house. So Percy, when asked, insisted it was just a natural reaction that didn't mean anything. He acted as though it was no big deal. He acted like it didn't affect him.
Secretly, though, Percy was, well, not proud of the way his foot caught on the edge of the sidewalk and he ended up sprawled across the ground in front of the girl he'd only just met. Especially because he was absolutely positive that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Her long blond princess-like hair and stormy gray eyes….he was upset that he'd somehow managed to make a fool of himself right off the bat like that.
She didn't seem to be very impressed, either. The girl he'd just been introduced to - Annabeth Chase - rolled her eyes and looked up at her dad, ready to leave. But now, their parents had started talking, so she turned back to Percy, clearly annoyed, arms crossed over her chest.
Percy scrambled to his feet and tried to look heroic.
She told him he looked like an idiot.
That was all right. They were meant to be. Percy could win her over in time.
At fourteen, Percy was much older and more mature. As such, he was also smart enough to know that his plan would totally have worked if he hadn't fallen.
The race wasn't even really his idea. He just went along with it. Okay, admittedly, he probably shouldn't have. Percy knew it was a bad idea. He was in school and on probation - he didn't want to get into any more trouble. His mom would be disappointed. It was Connor Stoll that had suggested it, and Percy would have shot it down, except….
If he participated in the race, it would take him across the grass, past a few classrooms, and finally down some stairs to end not two feet away from a table where a group of girls was eating lunch. And right in the middle of that group of girls was a tall blonde with gray eyes and a book on architecture.
If he won….right in front of her…
So he had to do it. He had no choice. And he definitely would have won, never mind the fact that both the Stoll brothers were ahead of him. He was about to catch up and shock everyone with hitherto unsuspected running skills. It was just bad luck that someone had left their backpack at the top of the stairs in a prime place for him to trip over it. So of course he faceplanted right in front of the girls table.
The girls exploded into giggles, nudging each other and pointing.
His cheeks burning, Percy limped away as fast as he could, cursing Connor under his breath.
As a fifteen-year-old, Percy was ready. He had consulted with his best friend Grover, during the few moments he could get the guy away from his new girlfriend. He'd chosen the perfect Valentine's Day card and bought Annabeth's favorite chocolates.
Now all he had to do was work up the courage to walk up to her and give it to her.
He could do this. Really, he could. It wasn't a big deal. It wasn't like he was asking her to marry him - he was only confessing a crush. And it was a really small crush, too. And besides - even if something went wrong, he had a quick legitimate escape. Class would be starting soon.
He had only fifteen minutes during break to confess. It would be over before he knew it. So he could do this.
Percy knew exactly where she was. Annabeth always spent her break with Thalia under a huge oak tree.
Percy took a deep breath, locked his eyes on her, and started walking, hoping the expression on his face looked more like a smile than a grimace. Grover had told him what to do to keep from being nervous.
Just don't look away from her, Percy reminded himself. Focus on her, and the rest will be easy.
Apparently, Grover had given him bad advice. Looking straight at her did work well for a while...until he tripped over a tree branch and fell face-first into a mud puddle. The chocolates and card were officially ruined and, even worse, he had managed to splash mud all over both girls.
Annabeth, he was sure, would not be impressed. Percy quickly jumped to his feet and stammered out an apology, pausing every few words to spit some mud out of his mouth.
He had certainly expected the condescending sigh that came from Thalia, but he never would have guessed that Annabeth would smile and help him to the nurse's office to clean up.
The nurse gave the couple a knowing look and agreed immediately to let Percy use a shower she had in the back room.
Annabeth waited for Percy and even walked him to class later. Percy couldn't help but think that maybe there were some benefits to tripping after all.
His fall as a sixteen-year-old was possibly the worst. By now, Percy and Annabeth had been dating for a few months. Percy wanted to be romantic and surprise her with a late-night picnic. Unfortunately, she didn't hear the pebbles knocking against her second-floor bedroom window.
The next logical step, in Percy's mind anyway, was to climb up there himself and knock. There was a pipe right next to her window anyway. People in movies did it all the time - it couldn't be that hard.
Well. That wasn't true. He was positive he would fall immediately after beginning to climb. Which was why it wasn't a big deal - the fall couldn't hurt if he was barely two feet off the ground, and then he'd be able to tell her that he'd tried to climb to her window. Girls liked that kind of stuff, right? That had happened in Romeo and Juliet.
Well….it had happened in the movie version of Romeo and Juliet. Percy hadn't paid attention to the book. It was too confusing.
Percy was more coordinated than he gave himself credit for. He managed to get nearly to the roof before he fell.
On the bright side, Annabeth heard him fall and called an ambulance quickly. She was also nice enough to visit him in the hospital and sign his casts...all three of them. Percy loved her visits. He didn't love the homework she brought with her.
But she leaned in and kissed him lightly, and Percy immediately decided that homework was okay, as long as she came with it.
Percy liked the treatment he got from her, but even so, he had no plans to try anything like that again.
Eighteen years old. High school graduation. Annabeth seemed to sense a disaster coming, and she made Percy promise to watch his step during every moment of the ceremony. And he planned to. He really did. He was fine during the long procession - he made it to his seat with no problems whatsoever.
But somewhere in between clapping for Annabeth's many, many awards and cheering as she took her diploma, Percy forgot what he was supposed to be doing. It was a long wait, anyway. His high school apparently had a lot of seniors with last names near the beginning of the alphabet.
When his name was finally called, Percy Jackson marched cheerfully onto the stage, took his diploma, and looked immediately to Annabeth in the audience, smiling brightly up at him. Was it his fault his girlfriend was so gorgeous he couldn't look away? (This was what he told Annabeth later, to try to get out of trouble.)
So Percy tripped on the stairs on his way back to his seat, tumbling off the stage in a surprisingly impressive way. He felt like he was on a TV show, hearing first the horrified gasps from the crowd, then laughter as he popped up again and waved, showing that he was okay.
Annabeth shook her head at him and brushed some grass out of his hair when the ceremony was over. She reminded him that they had already discussed this and that he was an adult now - he should be able to remember a simple thing like watching where he was walking. Percy didn't hear everything she said - he was much too busy memorizing her soft smile, in a harsh contrast to her scolding words.
He supposed he didn't mind tripping in front of her when it led to this sort of situation.
Annabeth was waiting for him in the airport when he returned from studying abroad at the age of 21. They had spent a year away from each other now, and no matter what anyone else said, Skype was NOT the same, no matter how often it was utilized.
Percy spent the whole flight in nervous anticipation and as soon as they arrived, he was the first off the plane. Percy immediately scanned the area for Annabeth, forgetting about luggage for the moment. And there she was - waving excitedly, beautiful gray eyes alight with excitement - and she was all that mattered. Percy's face brightened, and he started towards her, moving as quickly as he could without being yelled at for running. He ignored everyone else in the airport, his vision narrowing to only her.
Unfortunately, his focus on her was the reason he tried to stop on someone's foot, got his ankle hooked around theirs, and hit the floor.
It was very painful.
He tried to still be polite. The woman he'd run into was very nice about it. She apologized a lot and seemed determined to stay with him until she was sure he was all right, despite the fact that it was his fault. Percy sent her on her way as fast as he could without being rude.
Then he turned to Annabeth. Finally.
She was laughing at him. A lot. Percy was fully prepared to be offended by this, but then she kissed him, a long kiss full of feeling, and he realized he had more important things to think about.
Like how awesome tripping was.
At 23 years old, Percy was nervous. Really nervous. He'd been planning for weeks. At first he thought about making a big event out of it. He almost involved their friends. Then he decided it would mean more if he just said how he felt. So that was what he settled on.
Now he was rethinking it all over again. It was too late to change anything, though, because Annabeth had already arrived.
He knew she could tell he was nervous. She kept giving him strange looks. He tried his best to act natural through all of dinner, then pulled her out to the beach.
He had timed it perfectly, and right as the sun began to set, he turned to her and started to drop to one knee.
How it's possible to trip while doing that, Percy didn't know. But it happened, and Annabeth giggled, right in the middle of their moment. Percy might have been frustrated. Instead, in that moment, he realized how important his tripping had been to their relationship. In a split second, Percy changed his speech.
"Annabeth Chase, I can't stop myself from falling for you, but even if I could, I wouldn't want to. So what do you say to falling with me?"
Yes, there were definitely benefits to tripping, Percy decided. Even if it always made him look ridiculous in front of his true love.