Annabeth was excited. She had it all planned out, the arrival, the movie, the dinner, and the goodbye. Annabeth didn't have many things, but she always, always, had a plan.
For once, she was looking forward to being normal. A nice normal romantic night with her boyfriend. If only she knew how wrong she was.
Percy was very nervous. He's fought side and side by countless companions in countless scenarios in which death was a very likely situation. He'd killed hundreds of monsters. But faced with a date with his very beautiful girlfriend? Terrified.
He could face down Kronos. Easy. Give him a date? Hopeless. Percy had never been on a normal date, and he knew that Annabeth was a freak for plans. One slip up, and he was done for. He had never once in his life had normal.
Annabeth was so proud. She rarely had time to dress nicely, and she couldn't wait to see Percy's face. She looked at the time, than at her schedule, and she knew it was go time. Though she dressed up, she didn't forget to conceal her dagger, just in case.
She hopped in a taxi and paid the driver, giving him the directions to Percy's place. On the way there, she kept nervously checking the schedule making sure things don't go wrong.
Whoa, why am I so nervous? It'll be fine! She had absolutely no idea why, but she had a feeling akin to nervousness, which is very rare for her. She had it all figured out.
Percy checked the time. She should be here soon. Needless to say, he was pretty proud of himself, he'd dressed nicely and he was fairly excited to see Annabeth again. Feelings of nervousness was pushed to the back of his mind as images of his beautiful girlfriend flooded his mind.
He was so excited to see her, he was startled when there was a knock on his door, and he jumped up like a cat.
He ran to the door, and he opened it, smiling widely. "Hey, Annabeth! I've missed you" he said, hugging her.
She hugged back, enthusiastically, her smile threatening to break her face. "Hey, Seaweed Brain, I missed you too."
After letting go of her, but not before smelling her wonderful lemon scented hair, and he stepped back. That's when he noticed what she was wearing. Percy honestly was not very fashionable, and if you asked him what she was wearing was called, he'd have no answer. Actually, that's not true. He'd have called it beautiful.
She looked at him and giggled. "Something wrong, Seaweed Brain?" She asked, and he was acutely aware of the fact that he was staring at her for far too long, with a stupid grin on his face and wide eyes.
There was an audible plop as his mouth closed, and he quickly recovered. "You look.. Beautiful, Annabeth." He said with a crooked grin that made her knees weak, and her cheeks burn with a painfully obvious blush.
"Thanks, you don't look to bad yourself, Percy." She managed to say. It was Percy's turn to blush, and Annabeth thought he looked so cute like that. "Well, let's go." She said, gently encouraging him to take the lead.
"Err, right, of course." Percy stuttered, grabbing Annabeth's hand gently and walking down the sidewalk until a taxi could be found. After getting a taxi and asking to head to the local theater, he turned to her.
"Any movie in specific you'd like to see, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, with that blasted crooked grin that got her every time.
Used to it now, however, she quickly answered. "I was thinking, and I heard a lot about the new Beauty and the Beast that should be up." To her surprise and delight, he didn't even object.
"Alright, sounds great." He replied, just happy to see her again. Unfortunately, the traffic was very heavy, and Annabeth was starting to get worried. She was twiddling her thumbs and chewing on her lower lip, which were sure signs of it.
"Hey, the theater's not too far, wanna hop out and just walk? It might be faster at this rate." Percy said, smiling.
Annabeth looked up. "Sure, why not?" They told the driver, and Percy gave him a small sum for the ride. Getting out of the car, Percy grabber her hand again, surprising Annabeth with his actions, usually he didn't take the initiative.
"Maybe we'll even see what the holdup is." Percy said, sounding interested. Unfortunately, about five minutes later, they did see the holdup. There was some kind of accident.
"Well, we'll have to keep walking I guess." Percy said apologetically. Looking over at her however, he realized she was shivering. The cold didn't bother him much, but she was wearing a dress, and he assumed that it must have been very cold out for her.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I forgot how cold it was. Here, take this." Percy said, smiling as he put his jacket over her shoulders.
"Thanks." she said shortly, hugging the coat to her. She was grateful for the jacket, but she was annoyed at the lack of traffic. Percy struck up a conversation with her about architecture however, and all worries were thrown out the window as she excitedly explained all the plans she'd made.
He smiled, and loved the excited look she got in her beautiful stormy gray eyes. Before they knew it, they were at the theater. Walking up to the booth, the booth worker smiled "What movie will it be for you two kids?"
"Two for Beauty and the Beast." Annabeth answered with a similar smile.
Percy pulled out his wallet at the same time that she opened her purse. Noticing it, Percy quickly said "Hey, this one's on me."
"It wouldn't be fair though, you paid for the taxi." She argued.
Percy sighed. "Yes, but I have the money, and I'm happy to pay for a movie with my beautiful girlfriend."
Annabeth blushed, and smiled. "Alright, Seaweed Brain." As Annabeth and Percy went to enter, he noticed the booth worker wink at him. Percy smiled. Rushing to hold the door open, Annabeth smiled, and said thanks.
As they arrived in the movie and quietly chatted, Percy couldn't help but appreciate the time and effort she put into this. He hoped he was doing alright, he was trying his best, but this was his first date.
As the movie began, they quieted, and he looked held her hand as they watched.
Annabeth was delighted "Oh, I love Emma Watson! I love the whole movie! That was great, thanks Percy!" She practically gushed.
Percy chuckled a little bit at her antics, and was proud of how he had done.
After discussing it a bit, they decided to walk to a restaurant that wasn't too far from the theater. As they walked though, Percy had a feeling he was being watched. He tapped Annabeth and told her, and she agreed. They subtly looked around, and Percy spotted it. A young woman was following them, and they decided to cross the road. If the woman was still following them, they knew there was a problem.
As they crossed the road, the saw the woman following the same path. "This is bad." Percy stated, ignoring how obvious his statement was.
"I will not let her ruin our date, let's keep going, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth stated determinedly.
After a while though, with the woman still following them, they decided to confront her. Pulling into a corner, Percy nervously stuck his hand into his pocket, gripping Riptide.
The woman turned the corner and smiled, but it was a strange smile. It wasn't human, yet it was eerily beautiful. Percy couldn't help the feeling of desire that rushed through him.
She stepped forward, more hissing than speaking. "You know you want to kiss me, boy." The worst part was, Percy did. At the moment he felt Annabeth move beside him, sharply kicking his ankle.
He yelped and turned to her, staring into those stormy grey eyes he loved so much, and he knew that he was being manipulated. He would never love anyone else, Annabeth was his soulmate, and at that moment he knew that his love for her was forever.
"No. I don't. You're nothing but a demon." Percy said vehemently, pulling Riptide from his pocket and uncapping it. He turned to her and smiled, seeing she had her dagger in hand.
"Together." He said, simply, but it meant so much. They did everything together. The fought together, and they would die together, be it tomorrow or in 50 years.
Annabeth smiled, understanding his meaning, and they stepped forwards. The demon hissed, and lunged. It was fast, very fast. It leaped towards them, teeth bared, and he realized it was an empousa. Like the kind who attacked him at Goode High School on Orientation day.
Together, he and Annabeth stepped ducked and slashed at the empousa. It was very fast though, and manage to slash at Percy with her claws. Percy grunted in pain as she had manage to get a light scratch on his chest. It was nothing however, and Percy readied himself to swing again. As he raised his sword however, he was beat to the punch. Annabeth yelled, and leaped forward, stabbing at the empousa. The empousa look was one of shock and pain as she turned to gold powder.
Annabeth rushed back to Percy checking to make sure his wound was fine. After she realized it was, she sharply turned away from him.
"Annabeth, what's wrong?" Percy asked, startled by her strange behavior. As he capped Riptide and placed it in his pocket, he heard sniffling. With a start, he realized Annabeth was crying. That never happened. Now he was really scared.
"Are you okay, did she cut you?" He asked, panicking.
"No! I'm fine! I only had my date ruined by a bloodsucking demon!" She practically yelled, and Percy instantly felt bad. All the planning that had gone into the date, he understood her pain.
"Hey." He whispered as soothingly as he could, spinning her and hugging her. "I'm sorry, I really am, I know you wanted a nice normal date, and I'm so sorry I couldn't give that to you." He said forlornly.
She sniffled and twisted out of the hug backing away and glaring at him "Why can't we have fun for once! Why can't we have normal?!"
He looked at her sadly, and quietly replied. "I don't know. I hate it too, believe me, Wise Girl."
She was about to start ranting, and Percy did the one thing he could. He stepped towards her, gently put his hands on her face, and he puller her into a time-stopping kiss. Looking back on it, Percy actually swears time did stop.
Once he was out of breath, he pulled back. She was about to talk and he put his finger over her lip and said "Annabeth, I love you." It was less of him telling her, and more of a simple fact that he knew instinctively. "I knew it as soon as I broke free from the empousas charm. I saw your beautiful intelligent grey eyes that I love so much and I just knew that it was forever."
Annabeth looked at him with tears in her eyes, and a deep red blush painting her cheeks. "Percy.. That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me.. I love you too. You're right, when you looked at me with those handsome sea-green eyes, and said 'Together'. Tonight has been perfect, though not normal. Who cares, we never have been normal." Annabeth said, letting out a watery chuckle.
"Who needs normal, anyways?"
OK, that was a lot of fun writing. I put a large amount of work into this, and I'm absolutely delighted with the results, Much more fun than No Time, heh. Don't judge me for the movie selection, it was the only one I could think of at the time, seeming as my sister kinda is obsessed with it. Also, sorry for lack of specifics regarding the restaurant and movie theater, I don't live in or even near New York City, I have absolutely no idea what kinds of places they have there. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! As always, write a review and tell me what you think, and have a great weekend!