A cute one-shot about the best pairing ever, Percy and Annabeth.
Disclaimer: I am not, and never shall be, the amazing Rick Riordan.
She sat by the lake, a drawing of an improved chariot design on her right and a few small books on her left. She picked the drawing and her pencil up. She dropped them soon after, her thoughts completely pre-occupied with other matters. She sighed and picked up an arbitrary rock and threw it around in her hands for a while.
There was a weak wind but a wind none the less and it blew her curly hair to and fro. She sighed, pulled a bow from her wrist and tied it up and let out a long wiating breath. She glanced down at her drawing again. It was balanced but definetely needed some adjustments. She closed it gently and picked up her selected rock again. It was flat-ish and grey. She stood up slowly and opened her hand around it. She flicked her wrist and attempted to skip it around the lake. She failed, miserably. The rock sank to the bottom with a gentle plop.
She exhaled and picked another up. 'It shouldn't be too hard', she thought, her mind racing with possible solutions.
She tried again. It flewto her right and landed with a not-so gentle thud and she gritted her teeth.
She grabbed a few in her hand and flicked them each at a time, into the lake, each one barely skimming across the surface of the lake. She rolled her eyes and grabbed another. A heavy one and she threw it with frustration in the lake heavily. She sat back down again and tried to turn her mind to her chariot when a familiar voice piped up from somewhere around her.
"If you were trying to kill me, I suggest you use a knife or something. That last rock nearly hit me."
She looked out to the middle of the lake where her best friend, Percy, was treading water. She raised an eyebrow to his amused grin.
"Trying to skip stones?" He asked again.
"No." She replied, noting how easy it was to hear him, even though they were metres away from each other.
"Good. Because you suck at it."
She narrowed her eyes. He let out another laugh and she picked up another heavy one. He didn't realised what she was doing until she flung it full force in his direction. He disappeared underwater and she sat back down to finish her project.
She fixed the right wheel and stared at it for a few seconds, making sure it was right.
"That wasn't funny."
His presence shocked her and she semi-jumped. He smirked. She didn't look up but she did answer.
"Actually, it was hilarious. Should've videod it to put on youtube."
He stood beside her and glanced at her work.
"What's that? I didn't know we had a project."
"We don't. This is personal. And you're getting water all over it." She looked up and he placed his hands up, in a 'I surrender' pose. She looked back down at her drawing but then she heard the familiar sound of a flat rock skimming across the surface of the water. She looked up and watched him skip another across the lake. He didn't look at her but she could tell he was smirking again.
She tried to ignore it but he skipped another, then another.
"How, in the name of Tartarus, did you do that?" She demanded but he still looked away.
"What?"
He teased and she pouted slightly.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"I'm hardly going to tell the person that just chucked a rock at my head."
She stood up beside him and watched him as he flicked another.
"Here. Show me." She said again.
He looked at her.
"Magic word?"
"I'm going to hurt you in a minute."
He laughed again which she didn't find amusing. She picked another flat rock up and attempted to flcik it, mimicing his earlier movement. Another failure.
"Well that was amazing. Seriously, I should get lessons from you." He sat sown and waited for her to skip another.
She didn't, instead she sat beside him and followed his gaze out to the water.
"What do you see?" She asked but he gave another laugh.
"I'm pretty sure I can still see one of your failure rocks."
She punched him, a little harder than she expected but was amazed that he didn't even flinch.
"Show me." She said again, and stood up.
He stood up and picked up another stone.
"I'm not sure if I can pass on my expertise but I'll try." He joked and she rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling. She picked up a small rock and handed it to him expectantly. He shrugged, took it and as though he didn't even need to think about it, skipped it so that it bounced five times across the smooth surface of the lake. She exhaled, took another one and copied his movement but it fell to the fround, disappointingly.
"No. You need to flick your wrist. Like this." He demonstrated again and she watched and tried again but that stone fell again.
"Here."
He spoke and picked up another stone but this time stood behind her. He touched her right hand and pressed the stone gently into her palm. She inhaled quietly as he touched her but tried to hide it as she turned her head to desperately look for a spot in the lake. He placed the rock in the correct position in her hand. He let go but didn't move from behind her which was making her nervous.
"Flick it."
She gave him a small glance but withdrew and tried to glare as she saw his smile.
"Em, Annabeth. Today might be nice." He breathed near her ear and she bit her lip. She flicked gently. It fell again.
"Oh for the sake of Athena!" She shouted but quietened as soon as he reached for her hand with another stone but this time he didn't let go. He held her hand steadily and flicked them together. It wasn't a strong one but it skipped twice and Annabeth couldn't help a smile creeping up on her face and not just because of the skipping. She felt his hand brush against hers as he pulled his hand away ans acted completely on impulse. She took it in hers and turned around to face him. He had a mixture of confusement and surprise and she blushed slightly at her action and tried to drop his hand reluctantly but he didn't let go of hers. They both immediately moved towards each other as if to hug but they both stopped when they were centimetres away from each other. A moment of indecision passed between the two of them. Annabeth, in such situations as these, needed to think about what she was doing. She prepared to say something that'd even he wouldn't be dumb enough to overlook like 'I have to go brush my teeth or polish my record collection' but instead, Percy placed his hand carefully on her waist and leaned towards her steadily.
The moment dragged on. The moment where both of them were too afraid to continue but almost in unison, they pressed against each other and firmly placed their lips on each others. No movement, just a small peck that passed time as both of them were sceretely hoping that it wouldn't be awkward as soon as they broke.
She caught her breath as they fell apart, avoiding each others gaze until Percy spoke.
"Eh,.. You skipped it."
She litearally could not help it. The boy was so...obtuse. So infuriatingly hilarious. She burst into laughter and nearly had to clutch her stomach. He stared at her, wondering what the heck was going through her mind. He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to stop but she didn't. She continued in her giggle rampage until had to grasp her shoulders and shake her to quieten.
"How the heck is that funny?"
He asked unbelievably, but he didn't get an answer. Annabeth felt his arms on her and looked up at his face. Acting for herself, she didn't even think to think about her next action. It just happened.
Her mouth landed on his with a gentle touch. A moment flew as Percy wrapped his hands to her waist and kissed her with as much as he had. She placed a hand on his neck and replied willingly, hoping this kiss would mean much more than the last. Her hand touched experimentally at his hair as his hands stayedrigid on her waist which was both comforting and steadying.
Another break.
They didn't step away from each other like last time. Instead they stood facing each other so close that if either of them had taken a baby-step forward, they would've banged heads.
"Aren't you going to thank me? You are now able to skip stones."
"You really are an idiot, did you know that?"
He shrugged but then his playfulness returned.
"So? You just made out with an idiot if I do recall correctly."
She was taken aback by his bluntness but wasn't about to be embarrased. But before she could come up with a snappy comment, he continued.
"Anyway, you're not that much of a 'genius' if you can't figure out how to skip stones."
"Genius?"
He nodded slightly.
"Yeah, well count yourself lucky. It's not everyday you get kissed by a living, female version of Albert Einstein."
"You're much prettier." He answered grinning and took pleasure from seeing her blush. He continued.
"Well, I guess that wasn't really fair. I mean after all, I did kiss the genius too."
No matter how much her skin wanted to, she would not let it go redder.
His next comment shocked her though.
"So, would the genius do it again?" He asked and she smirked.
"Only if the idiot will kiss her back."
He laughed out loud.
"I meant skipping."
"Too bad."
And with that, two became one.
A little sleazy I know but I am phisically incapable of skipping stones. I have HUGE respect for anyone who can. I hope everyone got the last line because I don't really like describing kisses. The whole 'his tongue ventured into hers and blah blah blah' doesn't really suit me but I hope you guys enjoyed this anyway.
Toodles.
LF xoxo