I was inspired to write this fanfiction because in TBOL, Annabeth mentions Frank Lloyd Wright who is a famous American architect. For example, "'It looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright!' Annabeth said. I guess she was talking about some architectural thing" (138). After much research, I discovered and visited his most famous work Fallingwater, which is mentioned in this. I only hope that this doesn't completely bore you, because I know everyone may not be interested in architecture as much as Annabeth. (I'll try to add more action in later chapters). Nevertheless, I hope you guys like this.
For her nineteenth birthday, Percy decided to take Annabeth to Frank Lloyd Wright's, Fallingwater. And because it was located in Pennsylvania, he knew it would have to be a road trip from Rhode Island. Annabeth didn't mind, however. In fact, Percy could tell she was looking forward to it very much.
Percy, thank the gods, chose a beautiful day to go. There was a slight breeze and the sun shone down on everything, making the trees glow and the flowers perk with their color. But yet, that's not what captured Percy's attention: it was the wide smile that Annabeth had on her face. She was also switching from one foot to the other as if she was finally showing off the fact that she had ADD.
Annabeth scurried down the boardwalk once their group was called to go. Percy hurriedly followed after her, his hand slowly slipping from her grasp. He could see her gray eyes zealously taking in her surroundings. But all Percy saw so far was trees and miscellaneous foliage. Nevertheless, he imagined that this is what an excited kid would look like in a candy store.
Once they got to the actual site of the house, Percy could see why Annabeth was so interested in it. The site was a very rectangular house tucked away into the side of the mountain. The house had porches that seemed like they were floating in the air. But that's not what Percy enjoyed the most about it. Beneath the house, a stream of water, which eventually turned into a small waterfall, flowed and coursed and Percy could feel this drift throughout him. It felt refreshing. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
Annabeth tugged at Percy's sleeve in order to catch his attention. She brought him to the side of the bridge in which you could overlook the stream. Annabeth pointed to some stairs that were by the water and said:
"Wright designed those stairs so not only his clients, the Kauffmans, could gain access to the water but also to get natural air conditioning. Those stairs lead to a hatch in the living room and because of where the house sits, the coolness from the water gets blown into the room. There's also another breeze coming in from the other porch and because of both breezes, you get a nice cross breeze." Annabeth's eyes flickered to Percy's, full of expectancy. Percy shrugged before shoving his hands in his pockets.
"That's pretty cool. Must conserve energy," Annabeth smiled and rolled her eyes with a shake of her head. She always knew her boyfriend didn't have the same understanding of architecture that she did, but he could at least act like he did. To get his attention more, she added:
"I'm thinking about doing something like this for your father's temple on Olympus. Not only is this system ingenious, I think he would really like it." Her strategy worked: Percy cracked a smile and nodded.
"I think he would like it, too. I-" Percy started to say, but someone interrupted them. Annabeth turned to see that it was their tour guide. She was on the shorter side and held a wooden walking stick, she was dressed head to toe in the uniform.
Annabeth's eyebrows rose once she saw that their tour guide had straight, blond hair and blue-grayish eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight to one foot. The tour guide smiled welcomingly at everyone.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Frank Lloyd Wright's, Fallingwater. My name is Caitlin and I will be your tour guide for today. But before we go to the house I'm going to give you some information about the Wright, the Kauffmans, and the construction of the house." The tour guide drabbled on with her informational promises, but Annabeth wasn't paying attention, because she already knew all of this information.
The Kauffmans, a family who owned a large department store in Pittsburgh, comminsioned Wright in 1935 to build them a weekend and summer house in rural Pennsylvania. They originally wanted the house to face the waterfall, but they allowed Wright to build the house on the water once they saw his intricate blueprints.
To Annabeth, what makes Wright so interesting architecturally wise is that his style is "avant-garde": he started making geometric designs while other architects were still working with European-type architecture. Moreover, he also heavily relied on nature for inspiration. This is called "organic" architecture. He believed that buildings should be built from nature. That it should look like it was originally there. You could say that aside from Daedalus, Wright was another one of Annabeth's favorites.
Annabeth snapped from her usual thoughts when she felt Percy's hand sliding through hers. She looked at him and he mouthed: "Come on, we're going now". She nodded and followed him with the rest of the crowd.
She eagerly looked around once they were in the living room. She noticed that the room was spread out and open: another technique of Wrights. Her eyes ate up all of the bright colors of the pillows and rugs and couches. She also noticed the hatch that she had been telling Percy about earlier. It was painted in Wright's famous color of Cherokee red.
The tour guide drabbled on about this room once everyone collected around her in a messy circle, but Annabeth already knew all about it. She was eager to make her way out onto the porch. Percy was standing next to her and he noticed that she was slowly leaning towards the porch with interest. He rolled his eyes and took her hand, bringing her back to the group. She pursed her lips at him, but mentally thanked her for doing that. If he didn't, she would've abandoned the tour altogether.
Percy still held her hand as they moved to the kitchen area. The guide talked about the fireplace and why there were giant rocks peeking out of the floor. The reason she explained to them made sense architecturally wise, but to Percy, he thought Wright's decision was very hazardous. He knew that if he lived here, he would have most likely tripped over them. It wouldn't have mattered anyway: there was water close by.
The couple toured the entire house, which included the guest house. Percy was unhappy yet very happy that the guide was tedious in her information and facts. He was glad that they were getting their worth in money, but Percy's impatience was also running out. He couldn't wait until they were done. He knew Annabeth would be heartbroken to leave, but he would make it up to her somehow.
Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand as they walked down from the house and towards the pavilion where they first started. When Percy looked at her, she had a sad look on her face as if her time at the candy store was over, which it technically was. Percy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.
"I saw an ice cream place when we came up here," He started. "I was thinking we could go there before we leave." Annabeth looked up at him with those gray eyes. Although they looked like stone, they made Percy melt a bit.
"Sure," She sighed. Her shoulders slumped slightly. "That sounds good." He nodded and walked towards the car. But when they got there, they were surprised at what they saw. Percy's car, which was fully intact when they left this spot, was now all crumpled up.
"Um . . . Percy?" Annabeth hesitantly started to ask. She opened her mouth to ask more, but Percy interrupted her.
"What is Hades happened to my car?" He incredulously asked to no one, throwing his hands into the air. He surveyed what was his car but to Annabeth, it looked like a square of dark green metal. Glass sparkled on the ground underneath their feet. Annabeth chewed on her bottom lip and crossed her arms over her chest.
After Percy was done looking at his car, he looked at his girlfriend. Although she didn't speak, he could see the gears in her head churning, creating a plan. She smiled knowingly before she whistled with her fingers. Percy opened his mouth to question what she was doing but she held up a finger. The look she had on her face was: Wait.
Percy sighed and nodded, waiting. He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking around. But no matter how he tried, his eyes found his busted car lying on the pavement in front of him. He frowned at it but then he looked up in the sky once he saw that it suddenly got dark. He immediately grinned.
"Yo, boss!" Blackjack welcomed himself in Percy's head. His wings fluttered in the wind as he landed. "You rang?" Percy nodded and petted his loyal pegasus.
"Actually, it was the lady who did." He gestured to Annabeth with his thumb. Annabeth smiled and hastily climbed onto Blackjack. She looked down at Percy.
"We better get going, Perce. Before, you know, people start staring at us." Annabeth offered a hand down to her boyfriend. He climbed on and looked at Annabeth over his shoulder.
"And yet you're not used to that by now?" He asked her with his eyebrows raised. She smiled but shrugged and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Well, I just don't want any girls looking at you. . ." She started with warning in her voice. Percy took this as his cue to go.