A/N: What's up, world? I'm JE and this my third one-shot. This is a Percabeth fic and you will not be allowed to forget that. Lot of Percabeth. Just a warning. Thanks for reading.
For once in his life, Percy Jackson had had day ahead of him entirely planned out. Except the part where he and his fiance Annabeth Chase ended up locked in vault. It had started out as a pleasent outing to enjoy the rare occurance of them having a holiday that wasn't a weekend , when Annabeth was buried in blueprints for her advanced architecture class, and Percy was cramming for the Monday morning quiz his Biology professor insisted on. No, this was a holiday that both NYU, the school Percy had been accepted to , and Brimington, the private school Annabeth had chosen over the countless others that had accepted her application, shared; Columbus Day. Although Annabeth had given him a 45-minute-long lecture about how Columbus had done nothing more than take credit for something done decades before and slaughter countless Native Americans, the day had still started out really well. No monsters had tried to mutilate them, no Gods had asked them for any crazy favors, it was too good to last. So, naturally, it didn't.
They were walking towards First Nothern Bank so Percy could withdraw some money to pay for the dinner they had reserved later that night, and to check on something in his security box.
"You go on ahead. I'm gonna check my security box, I'll be right out." Percy said, as Annabeth was making her way to the door.
"What do you need to check?" Annabeth inquired. She didn't even know why Percy kept a box here. What did he have that he couldn't keep at the appartment?
"Just something in there that I don't like not seeing for a long time. I'll be quick, I promise."
"Percy,wait. Do you mind if I stay with you? Today's been too quiet, and I keep thinking that if we sepperate, something will pop out and jump one of us."
"Annabeth, if just can't stand being away from me, just come out and say it." Percy said, earning a fairly hard shot in the arm.
"AH! Man, you really don't let up, do you?"
"You knew that when you proposed."Annabeth pointed out, gesturing to the diamond and gold ring on her left hand. The sight of that ring made Percy smile, reminding him that Annabeth had said yes when he asked her to marry him, the most singularly terrifying thing he had ever done. But, she'd said yes. She'd taken the ring, kissed him,and,well,he couldn't remember a lot more of the night. He mostly remembered smiling a lot.
"Yeah. Yeah I guess I did." he said as she started to follow him into the vault that housed all the security boxes. Percy selected the key to his box from his key ring and used it to unlock the small, metal box from it's segmented slot. Annabeth peered over his shoulder, trying to get a look at whatever Percy was so protective of, he had to constantly check on it. Percy snapped the box shut.
"Uh-uh. No peeking."
"Oh, come on. What could possibly be in there that I shouldn't see?" she demanded.
"Bootleg movies, or illegal drugs, or pictures of the second wife I have and never told you about because I figured you wouldn't be cool with it. Take your pick." Percy replied dismissively.
"Gods, you're a headache sometimes, you know that?"
"Hey, you knew that when I proposed."
"Whatever." Annabeth said, trying to fight the smile threatening to creep it's way across her face. It really did amaze her how easy it was for Percy to coax a smile out of her. She noticed a playful little grin was now prominant on her boyfriend's face."Oh, just hurry up and do your thing. I want get to the theater in time for the movie."
"Alright, just give me a second."
Annabeth started absentmindly drumming her fingers on the metal table, as she heard a loud CLANG.She whipped around to find the large, metal vault door start to engage it's complex locking system. She rushed for the door, but,as started to pound at the steel framing, she heard the final few clicks within the door, signifying that the locks were engaged.
"What just happened?" Percy asked , dumbstruck.
"The door closed and, from what I can tell, locked us in."
"Wait, what made it close?"
"These vault doors have an automated close time. They lock themselves at a designated time every day."
"How'd you know that?"
"When I was helping re-design Olympus Aphrodite had me install one on her private closet."
"Well, is there any way to get it unlocked? Hey!" Percy shouted, banging on the door," HEY! Help! Somebody! We're trapped in here!"
"Percy, that's almost a foot of metal, nobody's going to hear us. Look, the doors open every morning. We'll just wait until morning, and they'll let us out."
"Alright, I guess you're right." Percy said, slinking down to sit himself uo against the wall. "I don't suppose you're phone will have any bars here?" Annnabeth quickly checked her cell.
"Nope. Just as well. Even if we got a call in, something would probably bust the door down and give us bigger problem than being stuck in here."
"Thank you, Ms. Sunshine." Percy said, patting the ground beside him. Annabeth sat down beside him and quickly surveyed their surroundings.
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain." she said rather halfheartedly. "Anyway, we're sealed in tight. No getting out of here before morning."
"Fantastic. The one time I make the right reservations, we get locked in a vault."
"Yeah, that seems about right for you." Annbeth agreed, smileing.
"Yeah, laugh it up, Wise Girl." he replied, nudgeing her with his shoulders. She nudged him back, smile broadening. It acually wasn't too bad for a while. It got a bit cold, but they bundled together for warmth, so they stopped noticeing after a bit, then Annabeth heard an odd gurgleing noise. She shot up, drawing her knife, and tryed to find the source of the sound.
"Annabeth, calm down! It's me."
"You?"
"Yeah, I didn't eat today. I was saving for dinner tonight." Percy admitted sheepishly.
"Oh, alright. Sorry, getting locked up like this has me on edge."
"That's okay."
"Hey, Percy. You never told me where you got the reservations."
"Oh,uh, it was that new Italian place on sixth."
"Really? How?It's almost impossible to get a table."
"Oh, I just called the place and stayed on the line until they said they could get a table for us."
"How long was that?"
"I don't know, two hours?"
"Two hours?!"
"Well, you said you really wanted to try the place."
Sometimes Annabeth was truly amazed at him. Percy was always trying so hard to make her life better, to make things easier for her, to make what she wanted happen. Annabeth slipped her arms around Percy's neck and rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you Percy Jackson."
"I love you too Annabeth Chase." Percy gently pulled her back into his chest as his eyes found her engagement ring. The sight brought up a memory that still sent a warm feeling through his body. "Hey, Annabeth, do you remember the day I proposed?"
"Yes Percy, I belive I remember that." Annabeth murmured sarcasticly into his ear.
"No, I mean the whole day."
"Hmm. You mean when the movie we wanted to see was sold out?"
"Yep. And our lunch had come out burned, my car got towed for being too close to a hydrant, and it had started to rain."
"Oh, yeah." Annabeth shifted herself a bit so she could look at him."Why did you choose that day to propose?"
"I hadn't planned on doing it that day. I'd wanted to do a whole big thing. I wanted to take you to Mantauk Beach and do it there. Picnic, roses, the whole deal."
"So why didn't you?"
"Annabeth,that day should've been terrible. I should want to go back and change it completely. But I don't. That day was great, because I was with you. That made it great. When I realized that, well, I just couldn't wait any longer. I had to do it right then. I want you with me all the time Annabeth. Eveything I do means more if I'm doing it with you. You make me not want to change anything about my life, because living the life I have made it so I could be with you. And that's worth any bad thing that's ever happened to me, Annabeth. You make it worth it."
Annabeth felt tears prick in the corners of her eyes. What he said was so, so perfect. And what made it better was she new he meant it. Meant every word of it. She moved to press her lips against his, to do anything to be closer to him, but he stopped her.
"Annabeth, wait. I want to show you something."
"What?" Annabeth asked, slightly annoyed at being forced to stop. He giuded her up and over to the security box. She saw that it was empty except for six bottles. All the same brand, all the same drink, scotch. She recognized it from about a year ago. On her Twenty-first birthday Percy had bought a bottle claiming that 'If it's gonna be your first drink, it may as well be a good drink.' She remember it having a much warmer taste than she'd expected. She also remember the two of them spliting the bottle and not ever really feeling drunk. Demigods had much higher tolerance for painkillers than mortals, and that included alchohol. It had actually left her feeling sleepy.
"Percy, why do you have these?" Annabeth asked, puzzled. She turned to see Percy looking at her excitedly.
"You remember the first night we had this?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I remember you saying you'd liked it. So, the day after I proposed, I ran to the liquor store and bought six bottles. I was going to show one you on our wedding night, then I figured I'd let the rest age in here. Then, on our tenth anniversary, we'd get out another, then every ten years do it again. Make it a tradition."
Annabeth was silent for a moment, torn between touched by Percy taking the time to plan all this out and planning that far ahead, and being upset that he'd known there was somthing to drink while she had felt like her throat was burning up from drought. She could not, however , stay mad looking at the box. The fact that Percy was so sure that they would not only live for fifty years, but be together that long, made her remember why it was worth the constant threat of heartbreak to let someone in. Because those people, the ones you let in, know you in ways that can't be duplicated. Ways so personal, words aren't always needed to express love. This simple gesture, Annabeth thought, running her fingers across the smooth,clear glass of the bottles, was Percy trying to say that he wanted to be with her for the rest of their lives, something he couldn't say out loud. Annabeth understood. Not being able to say what you felt, no matter how badly it need to be said, or , in some cases, needed to be heard. She remembered always having things go unsaid, no matter how much they might've needed to come out.
She turned and silently kissed him. This time he made no move stop her, just eagarly returned the kissed. She hoped he could feel how much she loved him at that moment. Because if she tried to say it, she just knew she'd start crying. And she was sick to death of crying. They gently slumped down so that she was lying on top of him. 'Mabye that's how things will work with us.'Annabeth thought sleepily, 'We'll act to show what we can't say.' She wasn't sure when, but at some point, they detacthed themselves from each other and fell asleep.
When he woke up, Percy found Annabeth still sleeping on top of him. He was reluctent to wake her becuase, Gods, she looked cute. Her face nuzzled into his shirt, her hands grabbing fistfulls of the fabric. Not wanting to disturb her, he picked her up bridal stlye, and carried her out of the vault and the bank and to the parking sturcture where he kept the car. People were giveing him some strange looks, but he was used to it. Anyone who made eye contact, he just smiled winningly and kept walking. When he reached the car, Percy opened the back door and set Annabeth down in the back seat. He leaned foward and kissed her forehead and, he could have sworn, he a smile flicker across her face. As began to pull out, he thought maybe, just maybe, he'd get to open those bottles.