9

Author's Note: Hey everyone! I was tempted to write a percabeth one-shot, so here it is. This is set the first summer after TLO. It has absolutely no relation to "I Settle the Score" whatsoever. This is probably the first of many projects, so I hope you guys enjoy this.

-Pandaskis

Daybreak

"Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness."

--Oliver Wendell Holmes

I woke up congested, thirsty, and unbearably early; even before the sun had risen on the day of the summer Solstice.

I took a long time to really process the thought that I was awake. The thirst burned in the back of my throat, yet I couldn't stand up from my bed. I was soon able to hear my half-brother Malcolm's infamous snoring. Besides that, the cabin was silent; so silent that if it hadn't been for the constant snores, it wouldn't have been far from ghostly. I smiled to myself; ghostly. It seemed like a weird way to describe the Athena cabin. Yet today, for some reason, it appeared that way; not quite ghostly as in scary, but eerily quiet. And calm; very calm.

My eyes slowly lifted open, and I looked around the dim room to see that the sun was beginning to rise. I was too lazy to look anywhere else but the ceiling, however.

Realizing finally that I was awake, I unintentionally turned my head to my chrome alarm clock that I had bought at the Willis Tower in Chicago. I sighed; the bright red lights on the clock told me it was almost five-thirty. Dammit; five thirty. I continued to stare at the long jagged cracks across the ceiling of the Athena cabin. My mind seemed to finally begin working after a minute or two.

Great, morning, I groggily thought to myself. I brought my hands to my face to wipe an eyelash away from my face. I hope I don't look like total crap. I considered getting up to look in the mirror, but my gaze remained fixed on the jagged crack across the ceiling. As my brain began to work more effectively, I unintentionally attempted to make sense of the crack across the ceiling. It was horizontal, and more jagged in some areas than in others. I squinted my eyes to look closer, then cocked my head to the left.

An upside-down lightning bolt, maybe? I looked again, then saw that the line was just way too crooked. I readjusted my neck, so I was looking at it dead on again. The jagged lines were almost too randomly set to make sense of; just like the rivers on a geographical map.

I guess a river…? Shaking my head, I decided it couldn't be that; now that I looked again, the lines were beginning to round out. At first, they were small and many jagged lines; then, they became bigger, and there were less of them; just like patterns in the ocean.

Waves; that's it. I smiled, and checked again. It couldn't be anything else; the lines were first small and nearly straight. Then, they became more defined, as if the wave was nearing shore and preparing the crash.

Waves, I thought. The thought made me happy, but my brain was still too asleep to make sense of why the thought of waves would make me happy. I didn't even like the ocean, for crying out loud. The air was always too salty and humid, and if you were to accidentally open your eyes underwater then you would spend hours drenching your eyes with Visine hoping to get rid of the saltwater at of your stupid eyeball. Yet for some reason though, just thinking about waves sent a streak of happiness through me. Why?

More light began to fill the room, and I gathered enough strength to turn my head and look out of the foggy window. Off on the horizon, a sliver of light began to shine through where land was separated from sky. It was too bright at first, so I squinted away from the light, but didn't turn my head. The light began to grow, until before long, I could make out the curved shape of the top of the sun.

Dawn, I thought to myself. Or, I guess you could say daybreak. The sun was rising, and an array of colors were splattered across the sky. I smiled, and realized that I wasn't at all too tired any more. My brain had kicked into full gear, and then I took note of the fact that I was more than just not tired. I was actually in a pretty good mood, which was weird since it was six in the morning. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized just how happy I was. Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I began blushing uncontrollably. I didn't want to ask myself why I was this ecstatic, but I did anyway.

Why the hell am I so happy? I thought to myself. I turned my head away from the window and back to the ceiling, where the waves were. I kept my gaze locked on the waves, and soon, flashbacks of the pervious night flowed through my head; the walk down the beach, the sweaty hand in mine, and the intense sea-green eyes staring at me…

Oh, of course I was happy; last night, Seaweed Brain told me he loved me.

My mouth twitched upward at the thought of that. Percy finally told me he loved me. He didn't view me as the friend he used to, but he loved me. The way he had said it, with such sincerity…it couldn't have been a lie. I knew Percy too well; when he said those three little words, he was telling me nothing but the barest truth. He really loved me. He loved me enough to build up the courage to say that he loved me to my face. And, better yet, that meant that all of my fears were fake. Absolutely untrue. My so called "fears" were nothing except for extreme paranoia.

I would often fall asleep wondering if Percy was sneaking around with other girls; he wasn't as innocent as he had been in the past. I couldn't say I blamed him; he's an almost seventeen. Surely he could get a little horny at times; it wouldn't be normal if he didn't. Still, I worried. I made myself perfect in front of him, hoping he wouldn't ever think twice about cheating on me, just because I didn't want to rush into anything. He always said he respected my opinion to take things slow, and he always said he felt the same way. Still, I never really believed him. Ever. It was too bizarre for someone to have so much self-control.

So, I always thought he was agreeing with me because he had everything he wanted; a relationship during the day, and someone to give him what he wanted at night. I told this to Thalia many times; each and every one of them she'd say, "Gods Annabeth, you're so paranoid. It's weird to see you like this; you're smart, and anyone with half a brain can see that Percy is obviously head-over heels in love with you." I wanted to believe Thalia, I did. But the thing was, I just couldn't. I wouldn't believe that he loved me until I heard it. Everything had always played out too well; our agreement not to rush into anything, the near-perfect dates, the even better kisses…everything just seemed perfect. There had to be a catch somewhere.

Apparently, there was a catch; he loved me. That was all there was too it, just as Thalia had said.

I giggled in spite of myself and my stupidity. Malcolm groaned, and I held my breath, hoping I didn't wake him. He just tossed and turned and finally settled down.

Seaweed Brain loves me, I thought to myself. I bit my lip to keep myself from unintentionally squealing, or doing anything else too overrated. My heart thumped and pumped and sped up; it was hard to accept the fact that Percy really felt that way. My hand went to my mouth, and I skimmed my upper lip. My hands felt like ice against my burning lips, and I felt myself grin. He had never really kissed me before like that.

I rolled over on my right side, silently thanking Aphrodite. The light around the room began to become more vibrant, and I looked out the window to see that most of the sun had now risen in the sky. Over on Malcolm's bunk, I heard him yawn. It wouldn't be long before he woke up and ruined my secret moment of happiness.

He really cares about me like that, I thought. I wondered why; it was Percy, after all. Then again, everything just seemed so right the previous evening. He had walked me down the beach in Long Island Sound, and didn't look me in the eye. He was staring at the moon. The way his face was bathed in moonlight made me bite my lip; as much as I didn't want to, I realized that I was in love with him. Despite what I had said about not wanting to rush into things, I wanted him, and I wanted him in a way that I knew would probably only ever happen in my fantasies.

His hand was clammy, yet strangely inviting as we walked together. His skin was very soft, and very warm. I felt my pulse quicken and the blood rush to my face as we continued to walk together in perfect silence. I waited for the moment to come to an end, but surprisingly, it didn't. We stayed that way; quiet and happy. For the first time in a long time, there wasn't much to say. He didn't want to be the one to break the silence, and neither did I. So, we walked, only hearing the sounds of the waves crash against the shore.

Without saying a word, he slowly began to lean towards me. I felt my heart freeze in motion, and my breath escape from me. His jet black hair brushed against my forehead, and he gently placed his lips on mine. The kiss was sweet, but a new force arose from behind his lips that I had never experienced before. Before long, he was kissing me like he never had; with grace and elegance, yet a distinct power behind it. And, being the sucker I am for good kisses, I was kissing him back. I even uncontrollably let a very, very small moan escape from my lips, and he didn't miss it. He laughed softly as he slowly pulled away, bringing his lips to my right ear.

"I love you," he whispered, quietly but very clearly.

I opened my eyes and looked into his sea green irises. I felt a lump rise in my throat, but I somehow managed to choke out, "me too."

I shuddered, returning back to reality.

Gods, I want him, I thought to myself. Damn, why did I have to tell him I didn't want to rush? Of course I knew the answer to that; I was afraid. Afraid that he wouldn't like what was in front of him, and that I would be rejected in probably the most vulnerable moment in my entire life. Afraid that once we actually got around to it, he would just stare me over, trying hard to not look disgusted or anything. Only now did I realize how wrong I'd been.

He wouldn't ever reject me; especially not if I was ready to take that next step. He loved me that much.

I looked around the room, and heard Malcolm continue to grumble in his sleep. Soon enough, he would be awake and the day would begin.

Before I hoisted myself out of bed, I turned and took a look out the window. The fog was gone, and the sun was now shining brightly overhead.

I immersed myself in the unexplainable amount of bliss that suddenly and unexpectedly washed over me; I was completely and irrevocably happy. With a new bounce in my walk and a new edge of confidence in my talk, I walked ahead of my siblings to breakfast, impatient to reach Percy. Today was a new day; no more paranoia. No more extreme conclusions; my brain was rid of the doubt that managed to build up in the last few months. I felt new; whole. I felt as though it was the best feeling in the world; the feeling of reassurance in somebody you loved, and the feeling that you wouldn't have to worry about a soap opera ending. From the direction that things were taking, it was difficult to imagine anything not working about between the two of us.

As I continued to walk up the hill to breakfast, the fog was gone, and the sun was now high overhead. I squinted as I walked, the light shining in my eyes. I felt my shirt start to cling to my stomach and chest in the humidity; it was strange that Mr. D would allow for it to be so warm and sticky. Still, I hardly took note of the uncomfortable weather. I was too driven to see Percy, and I wasn't ready to let eighty percent humidity in the stupid air stop me. As I continued up the hill, I was able to make out a small figure below one of the columns. I could only see the jet black messy hair that I had somehow learned to love. Smiling, I sped up my pace to a near jog, as Percy began to walk towards me. Unintentionally, in ninety eight degree weather, I sprinted all the way up the hill, as he began to jog down and meet me.

And, as we met at the middle of the hill, I couldn't help but just completely open up to myself and let everything out. Every ounce of happiness I had managed to build in the past hour or two now radiated from me. Feeling more powerful and confident than ever before, I proudly walked beside Percy feeling unexplainably invincible and whole.

As I walked with Percy beside me, I fell in love all over again, as I would for very, very long time.