"Annabeth, come on, hurry up!"
"Just another minute!"
"Honestly, Wise girl, you don't need any of that rubbish on your face! Get out, already!" A very frustrated Percy Jackson rapped – well, more like banged - on the bathroom door, his impatience growing with every knock.
"Annabeth, we're gonna miss the movie!"
"Okay, okay... just 10 more seconds!"
"10, 9, 8..."
"You know I didn't mean that literally, seaweed brain."
Percy, ignoring her, continued counting. Once he reached zero, he called out again. "Okay, Annabeth, get out now!"
"Just one mo-"
"I swear to the gods, I'm gonna break down the door. I don't care if this is my mother's hou - oh... oh wow." Percy's speech faltered as Annabeth pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out.
The knee length strapless dark blue dress was made to fit her curves perfectly, and clung to her slender body. The camp necklace was strung around her neck, along with the pendant Percy had given her, and was resting against her collarbone is the most arousing way possible- okay, off track.
She wore none of that 'rubbish' on her face, which was already beautiful as it was - according to Percy - and for once, she had left her blonde curls open, and they cascaded down her bare shoulders. Her feet were clad in silver heels, created especially to match her thundering grey eyes.
This was a special occasion, after all. It had been a long time since they had been able to go on a proper date. And being a demigod, you could never be sure when that chance might come again.
However, Annabeth wasn't dressed so beautifully by choice. Given her way, she would have probably pulled on a new shirt and a pair of jeans. Casual wear.
Oh no, she had a certain daughter of Aphrodite to thank for this. And whoever invented Truth or Dare too.
Hardly noticing Percy's hanging jaw and wide eyes, Annabeth glanced at her watch. "You're right, Percy, if we wanna make this movie we better leave now." She looked up, and a slow, adorable blush began to spread across her face. "Gods, seaweed brain, stop staring!"
"Wha - oh, yeah, you're right," Percy said, grabbing Annabeth's hand and pulling her towards his bedroom door.
They made their way down the stairs, and opened the apartment door. "Mom, we're leaving," called Percy as they stepped into the empty corridor.
"Sure, honey! Have fun!"
Quirking an eyebrow pointedly at Annabeth, Percy lowered his voice. "We sure will."
Annabeth blushed.
They climbed into Paul's Prius, Annabeth in the passenger side. Percy had ensured that the first thing he had done since they had gotten back from the giant war was to get a licence.
-oOo-
Some time later, Annabeth and Percy sat together on the soft comfortable cinema seats.
"Thanks a lot, seaweed brain. You got us here 20 minutes earlier."
Sure enough, the trailers were still playing, and the seats weren't even beginning to fill up yet.
"Uuuh... sorry?" Percy scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "But this movie is supposed to be really cool."
"Yeah, sure," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Like watching a Disney movie beats a lot of other stuff we could be doing right now." She raised her eyes brows pointedly, and Percy smirked.
"I never said that," Percy objected. "I just wanted to take a break from everything. Besides..." he slid his warm, familiar hand into her's, "we haven't spent any time together in a while."
Annabeth sighed. It was true. Everything was supposed to be a walk in the park since the giant war had ended, but nooo. They were demigods. Of course not.
During the remainder of their stay in camp half blood, Chiron had decided to make her, Percy, Jason and Piper in charge of different training programs. Annabeth was also in charge of redesigning some of the places in camp, while Leo was leading the team of builders in reconstructing them, along with Calypso. And of course, Athena just had to remind Annabeth that she was responsible to completely redesign Olympus itself.
Not that she wasn't thrilled, of course. She was absolutely ecstatic. But there really wasn't anything else she need piled onto her already overflowing plate.
So now, a time period which was supposed to be filled to the brim with sleeping in, relaxing dates, recovering from serious emotional trauma, and spending time with the love of her life had been turned into torture.
"Oh, look, the movies starting." Percy's excited voice interrupted her thoughts, as the lights began to dim, and she rolled her eyes.
"Percy, it's just a movie."
He gasped dramatically. "How dare you?! I've been waiting for this sequel for forever! Its Finding Dory!"
"But sti-"
"Shush."
Annabeth widened her eyes in mock offence. "Did you just shush m-"
"Shush."
Annabeth sighed and sat back in her seat. This was gonna be a long night.
-oOo-
"Percy," Annabeth whispered. "Percy."
No reply. Percy was sitting back in his seat, hands folded on his lap, his expression the gravest she had ever seen him wearing.
"Percy," she hissed, frustrated. "Seaweed Brain, listen to me." She reached out and shook his arm, trying to receive his distracted attention.
"What?" Percy asked loudly, annoyance lacing his voice.
"Sshhh." Annabeth could hear angry murmurs behind her at the untimely disturbance. "I'm bored."
"Sucks. I'm not."
"Percy," she moaned, pulling childishly at the Ys and trying to keep her voice low. "Let's get out of here."
"What?" Percy asked indignantly and turned to her, his expression holding nothing but shock, and a sheer layer of hurt. "Why the heck would you want to do that?"
He was getting too loud. Two people hissed angrily in unison from the seats behind them. Out of curiosity, Annabeth turned to see who was getting so pissed off by her oblivious boyfriend's carelessness.
Sitting on the two seats directly behind them was an elderly couple. Their expressions were filled to the brim with pure annoyance.
They old but beautiful woman was dressed in a embroidered silk robe, decorated in owls, while her partner wore a robe of the most startling yet mesmerizing sea green (which were exactly like Percy's eyes, Annabeth noted), with a single trident on the left sleeve.
But what astonished Annabeth most was the arrogant way they sat. Like royals. As if everyone else was below them. It seemed familiar, somehow...
"Percy, please let's go!" However, using Annabeth's distraction to the full advantage, Percy had turned back to the cinema screen. "Percy, come on!"
"Why?" Percy questioned, eyes still focused on the movie.
"Because this thing is so boring! Like seriously, there are a million other things we could be doing right now. A date doesn't always have to be a movie."
Percy looked as if he was about to cry. His lower lip wobbled, and Annabeth sighed inwardly as he pulled on the adorably unbearable 'baby seal face', and she was aware that she'd already lost.
"Fine, fine, we can stay," she sighed grudgingly. "But I would much rather be making out in the back of the Prius."
At that comment, the furious couple shushed them again. This time, Percy noticed, and turned to look. "Aren't those people too old to be at a movie like this?"
"Yeah, and like we're eight years old," Annabeth snorted. "We shouldn't be at a movie like this either. We're 17."
"Fine, if you wanna leave your poor, lonely boyfriend who you say you love with all your heart and who has been waiting for this movie for years, be my guest. Ditch me. Go on." He crossed his arms and sat back on his seat, and sighed, pouting. "Goodbye. I love you too. Go watch Mockingbird part 2, if you want. It's on screen 4. You can buy some caramel popcorn if you wa-"
Then Annabeth kissed him. And he shut up.
Their lips moulded together. She knew they shouldn't be doing this, but it was too dark for anyone to notice anyway, and they were, fortunately, siting near the top. Besides, what else did humanity expect two immensely hormonal teenagers in love to do when they entered a cinema to watch a movie appropriate for five year olds?
Lips moving together in sync, Annabeth sighed into his mouth and laced her hand around the back of his neck, while the other was positioned on the armrest, keeping her steady. She pulled him closer.
Hopefully, if her plan succeeded (like it always did), Percy would be so caught up in kissing her, plus being eager for more, that he would forget about the movie and they could escape this torture.
Finally, finally, they pulled away, gasping for air, careful to keep their heavy breathing low. It was a miracle no one else was in their row, or they'd have been caught for sure.
"Its Mockingjay, seaweed brain," she murmured, as their breaths mingled together, and she was just about to dragl him back in when she felt something lightly hit the top if her head. She jumped, startled out of her peaceful reverie.
Pulling back slightly, she struggled to get her rapid heartbeat under control in preparation for launching into a full expedition to find what could have possibly fallen onto her. Extra precautions were exceedingly necessary, if slightly stupid, in a demigod's life.
"What?" Percy's breath fanned her open lips, their faces still extremely close, noses almost touching. His voice was breathless and husky from lack of oxygen.
Then Annabeth decided the precautions could be saved for later. They were two of the most powerful demigods in the century, weren't they? They were part of the seven Heroes of Olympus. They were partly responsible for defeating Gaea herself. Not to mention Kronos, which everyone seemed to keep on forgetting.
They could handle a lone monster in the cinema. Piece of cake.
So she went back to kissing him, smashing her soft, smooth lips to his. They lost track of time after that; they could only register the taste on each other's lips, the feeling of combing their hands through the other's hair, knotting their fingers into the tangles.
There was a certain thrill to making out at the back if a cinema. As if they could be caught at any moment - and they knew that, they knew the risks, but they still did it. Annabeth liked this feeling of breaking the rules every once in a while.
That made her think of the stable night, and she smiled into Percy's eager mouth.
The chill ran down her back before it hit her head again. She shuddered slightly at the eerie feeling, and this time it was anger, not fear, which made her pull away.
"What the hell...?" Annabeth murmured in confusion as she let go of her boyfriend and felt around on her head.
"What?"
"Something hit me," she whispered back.
"It's good to know what my hotness and kissing skills combined can do to you. It gives you hallucinations." Percy smirked smugly.
"Shut up, seaweed brain," she hissed. "I swear, something hit me." Bewildered, Annabeth felt around her seat and lap, seeking the cause of the abrupt rude interruption. Her fingers found something small and sticky on her lap, and she picked it up gingerly, bringing the object close to her face, struggling to see it through the dim visibility.
She was holding a piece of caramel popcorn.
Furious, she spun around to look at the two following rows. No one was looking at her apologetically, so it wasn't an accident. Which meant somebody had done it on purpose.
Immediately, Annabeth turned her focus to the elderly couple. She was overflowing with suspicion. However, they looked completely nonchalant. And not the overdone nonchalant which convinced you that they were trying to use reverse psychology to avoid looking guilty, either.
They were either immensely talented actors, or the movie must be really engrossing.
Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Annabeth slowly turned back to the screen.
"Well?" Asked Percy from next to her, amusement literally dripping from his tone. Annabeth was certain it was taking all of his will power to not burst out laughing right there, given the fact the situation wasn't very funny. Rather shocking to her. "Did you find the culprit responsible for committing the unthinkable crime of throwing a freaking piece of popcorn at her Majesty, Annabeth Chase?"
"Where did the all mysterious vocabulary appear from, Jackson?" She rolled her eyes.
"Oooh, using second names now, are we?" Percy quirked his eyebrows. "I'm terrified." He paused for a moment, and then, as if catching on a little late, added: "Chase."
It was all Annabeth could do to stifle her laughter. Huffing, Percy sat back in his seat, arms crossed, sulking. For a while, they sat together in silence, Annabeth half dead from boredom and Percy occasionally sighing or gasping dramatically at the events occurring on screen. And then it became too much for her to handle. She snapped.
"Oh my gods, Percy, please let's get ou-" Her carefully controlled voice was interrupted by the outraged voice of the elderly woman behind them. "Be quiet!" she hissed. "Or else I'll complain to the staff about you two!" As she sat back in her seat, with the man next to her shaking his head, Annabeth distinctly heard her mutter angrily: "Honestly, kids that age at a movie like this..."
Annabeth had a hard time hiding her uncontrollable smile. Had they looked at themselves lately?
She doubted it.
"Percy," she tapped his shoulder impatiently. "Percy."
Reluctantly, he turned to her, and she was surprised to see his startling sea green eyes filled with ushered tears.
"Seaweed Brain, a-are you crying?"
Wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, without even bothering to deny the terrible truth, he sniffed pitifully. "It's just... it's so touching." He glanced at Annabeth, and noticed her eyebrows raised sceptically. "Well, I can't possibly expect someone like you to understand!"
"Oh, and what does that mean?" Annabeth whispered, as challenging as ever.
"Well, you're not exactly the most sensitive person ever..." Percy trailed off doubtfully, realising his deadly mistake too late.
"Excuse me?!"
"That's it." The woman's harsh voice interrupted their peaceful argument (peaceful compared to their other fights. At least this one had no relation to throwing heavy objects and screaming hysterically). "Come on, you're getting out of here with us."
"Oh, thank the gods," Annabeth whispered fervently as she got up and walked down the aisle, side stepping stray items littered around.
"Nope, definitely not 'thank the gods," Perry hissed into her ear. "I'm gonna download that awesome movie and make you watch it with me at home."
Rolling her eyes, Annabeth followed the couple towards the exit, with Percy trailing behind. She was surprised to see the strength the couple portrayed as they briskly walked down the dark aisle. She fully expected them to be slow and unstable, or at least using a walking stick. But they even put two completely healthy 17 year old teenagers to shame.
Annabeth exited the cinema double doors to walk into the dimly lit lobby. The couple walked a few more steps, and Annabeth, cautious as ever (they could be monsters in disguise) realised with brewing suspicion that they were leading Percy and her into a tiny hidden section carved into the back wall. Annabeth was aware of the valuable chamber due to the fact Percy had decided to make that their official hiding place, during the minimal previous dates they had been on.
Then the woman stopped and turned towards them, and Annabeth couldn't bite back her gasp.
The woman's eyes, invisible in the dark cinema but fully visible here, were the exact same ones Annabeth saw gazing back at her every time she looked into the mirror. Or at one of her siblings.
She was staring into the thundering eyes of Athena, goddess of Wisdom. Plus part time mom. Percy stiffened next to her as the realisation hit him (a little too late, of course).
"What in the world were you doing?" The sharp voice of the goddess cut through the quiet.
Annabeth opened her mouth, but her mind was unfortunately blank. And just as she was about to start apologising profusely, her eyes landed on the man standing next to the monster in front of her.
It was the future 70 year old version of her boyfriend.
"Posei - Poseidon?" She spluttered helplessly.
And then it hit her like a slap on the face. "You-you guys were spying on us?"
How had she not seen it? It was embarrassingly obvious. The owls on the cloaks, the royal manner, the unmistakable trident on the sleeve? It was stupid how she hadn't realised it sooner.
"It was her idea!" Poseidon pointed at Athena.
"Oh, shut up," Athena turned to Annabeth. "I just wanted to check how the sea spawn was treating you, just in case it was necessary to blow him off the face of the earth and then turn him into a tea cup."
"Um, why a tea cup?"
"Be quiet, son of Poseidon." Athena said angrily. "I have my reasons. They are obviously way beyond your intelligence for you to realise what they are." She stood up straighter, emitting the air of superiority Annabeth usually possessed. "Another reason why you cannot be with my daughter."
"Because our IQs don't match?" Annabeth sighed. "Seriously, mom?"
"Yes, seriously, Annabeth."
"That's one of the reasons why I am with him, actually, mom."
"I don't care," she brushed off the comment. "But I still don't like this arrangement."
"Mom, he fell into Tartarus for me!"
"And I must say I have never seen a more idiotic act if stupidity."
"I didn't fall in with her because I'm stupid," Percy's angry voice finally interrupted. "I fell in for her because I love her."
Annabeth felt her heart expand in her chest. She knew it was the truth, of course, and he had said it to her many times already. However, no matter how many times he said it to her, showed it through the adoring kisses he gave her every day, through the way he gripped her hand as they walked, when he whispered it into her ear when he thought she was asleep... she could never get tired of it. Butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach every time she heard those words from him.
"W-what?" Athena's jaw dropped.
"I couldn't bear to lose her." He paused and his fingers found Annabeth's, and squeezed lightly. She squeezed back.
Athena appeared thoroughly bewildered, and for once, had been rendered speechless.
"Son," Poseidon started, his expression filled with awe. "So what you're telling us... is that you fell into a place - a place death would be heaven in comparison - because..." He swallowed. "Because you love her?"
"Yes," Percy replied, unblinking. "Isn't that enough?"
"Your love for my daughter is so strong that you fell into Tartarus for her?" Athena's mouth was hanging open in shock, as if the idea had never occurred to her before. "You were willing to give up your sanity for my daughter?"
"I would be giving it up if I had let her go."
Annabeth couldn't control the wide smile which spread across her face. Gods, she loved him.
"Annabeth," Athena turned to her. "You believe this?"
She felt the wave of disgust roll through her before she could stop it. "Of course I do! How can you possibly not?" The red hot anger attacked her. "Why would he fall in for any other reason?! Why? Come on, mom, tell me why!"
Athena remained quiet, which was pretty smart in itself, according to Percy.
"It's because he loves me, mom! Isn't that obvious?" Annabeth rolled on. "He's the only reason I got out of their alive. And I could promise you, if our roles were reversed, I would have done the same for him." She paused for breath. "I would have fallen in for him without a second thought, mom. Isn't that enough for you?" She said quietly.
Athena observed them both impassively, her beautiful face void of any emotion, her eyes dark and calculating. Then she sighed. "Yes. Yes it is." She focused her gaze on Annabeth. "I'm sorry, child. Forgive me. I just..." she swallowed nervously, as if building up the courage, "I just don't want you - after everything you've been through - I just don't want you getting hurt again."
Somehow, Annabeth knew this was her mother's way of saying sorry. Sorry for all of the hardships she had suffered in her life. Sorry for not being there for her all the time.
"Mom," Annabeth whispered. "Keeping me with someone - someone I love so much it hurts - is the only way you'll be protecting me. Trust me on that one."
Athena nodded tersely and stepped back. "I do." She turned to Percy. "Make sure you never hurt her."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Percy promised.
"Or I will turn you into a tea cup," she threatened menacingly. Percy chose not to reply to that one.
"Oh, and mom?" Annabeth asked as Athena turned to walk away. "Do us a favour, and keep Hera in line."
Athena grinned slightly. Just a small smile. "Will do. And you, son of Poseidon. Make sure you never call my daughter insensitive again." With that, she swept around and walked away, her cloak flowing behind her.
Poseidon stared at them awkwardly for a few seconds, but then his face broke into a warm, proud smile, his eyes twinkling. He patted Percy on the shoulder. "Good job, son." He winked, and then he was gone.
-oOo-
"Well," Annabeth began as they walked back towards the car, their fingers still intertwined. "That was interesting."
"Would be more interesting if we had gotten back in time to finish the movie."
"Sorry, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, her heart light. "We can watch it when we get home, ok?"
Percy glanced at her, slightly astonished. "What made you so nice?"
"Careful, Seaweed Brain. Or my mother might just appear in the middle of the road."
Percy scoffed. "So? I have you here to protect me." They walked in silence it a couple more steps, enjoying the cool breeze. "At least now we know who was throwing popcorn at you. What do you think dad was congratulating me for?"
"For scoring such a awesome girl like me," Annabeth replied happily. "Oh wait, not girl – legend."
"I'm serious."
"So am I." Annabeth smiled, and then saw Percy's expression. "Okay, fine, he might also have been congratulating you on getting past my mother with all body parts still intact. But I bet you anything, my first idea was true too."
"I learnt a long time ago," Percy stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, pulling Annabeth closer. "Never bet against Annabeth." Then they kissed, and kept on walking.
-oOo-
I know some of you wil think that that was one of the worst fanfics I have ever done. I certainly do! And I give you my deepest apologies for scarring you people forever. :(
Well, as crappy as it is, I didn't want to just delete it and know I suffered a dozen headaches for nothing. So thanks for reading.
But at least I tried. That's something.
I'm not even gonna tell you to review. It's that bad.
Oh, and btw, for those of you who don't know yet, THE RELEASE OF FINDING DORY HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED FOR 2016!
*party popper explodes*
*confetti everywhere*
*up beat music starts playing*
*random people throw rose petals*
*everyone partys*
:DDDDDDDDD BE HAPPY PEOPLE! CELEBRATE!