So... I know I posted this story, and I continued it as a long, story, with chapters and all that, but I think I really like it as a one-shot, and I do much better with one-shots, not actual stories.
So, I'm posting it as a one-shot again. I'll keep the original up if you want to read it, but I really doubt you will because it's REALLY sucky, I'm not joking, so don't go all "Aw, but it's so good!" I get too much of that from my "friends" anyways.
So anyways, this might be really sucky because I wrote it a year or two ago... sooo... I apologize for the crappiness.
Anyways, with that, here is the story.
Disclaimer: Hell, yeah, I'm Rick Riordan. Because, you know, I like to just derp out on Fanfic and not write real books.
Percabeth One-Shot: The Reasons Why I Love You
PERCY'S POV:
This was it. Am I too chicken? No! Don't think that way, man! I walked over to Annabeth's cabin and opened the door. It was only she—alone in her cabin—and man, was she beautiful! Everyone was out playing Capture the flag, and getting ready for tomorrow. Annabeth was crouched over a desk working on a design for Olympus. We got permission from Chiron that we could spend some time together that night. We never had a lot of time together, so he made and exception.
"Wise Girl?" I sat down beside her. She looked up and pecked me on the cheek. During the duration of two years—since the kiss on my birthday, I never started the kiss between us. I let Annabeth take it away—so I knew she wanted to kiss me back. I didn't want Annabeth to think I was one of those guys—I didn't want those things—desires. I wasn't a selfish guy. Most guys at my school just looked at girls, made-out with them, and then dumped them. I hated that. The girls always clung to me, hoping I would cheer them up, take them in, but I turned them down. I was truthful to Annabeth, and it was going to be that way.
"Seaweed Brain," She said turning back to her work. I watched her draw the sunglasses onto an Apollo statue, then the leather jacket. She was such a good drawer. If it were I drawing the plans, it would look like a stick man with a big torso.
"Are we heading to the beach, or what?" I said rubbing the back of my neck.
"Sure after this plan," She sketched a few more things, and I waited. When she was done she put down the pencil and turned to me.
"Ready?" I put out my hand for her to take, and of course, being the Seaweed Brain I am, I yanked her up. She laughed. She laced her fingers through my hair and she placed her forehead on mine, making me bend a little bit. I was finally taller that Annabeth by about three inches. Our lips almost touched, but we both pulled away at the last moment when Malcolm charged in. His eyes widened when he looked at us. We both blushed and pulled away immediately.
"Sorry! Just forgot my shield! Malcolm ran in and grabbed a large plate of celestial bronze. "Uh, just continue! I was never here…" Malcolm said backing out of the room. We both laughed at ourselves as I took Annabeth's hand and we headed to the beach.
"No I don't! Take it back or I'll punch you!" Annabeth raised her fist.
"Well you do! Especially when you eat cake!" I said raising my hands in surrender.
"Oh! You are in for it!" Annabeth got up, pulling me up too.
"Please! Don't!" I said as I was laughing.
"You wish!" She said. I thought she was about to punch me, but she did the opposite. She pulled me closer to her, and crashed her lips against mine.
"You're being feisty tonight!" I said pulling away.
"Well, there isn't a lot of time I get to spend with you Seaweed Brain!" She said sitting down on the blanket I brought.
"Annabeth? I need to know one thing." I said slipping my hand into my pocket. I gripped the box and pulled it out, making sure she didn't see.
"Yeah? What's that?" She said leaning back.
"I've got to ask you while you are sitting on…" I looked around. "This log!" I pointed to a piece of large drift wood sitting about ten feet away. I got up and Put out my hand for Annabeth to take. She glad fully took it and I helped her up.
There were so many thoughts running through my mind all at the same time. Most of them were negative. What if she says no? What if she gets nervous and doesn't tell me for a long time? What if she doesn't feel the same about you? The last one was obviously wrong, but all of the thoughts were just popping up, making me even more nervous. I sat her down on the log and she just laughed like she was having fun—obviously in a good mood. That was a good sign. She always made me feel better when she was in a good mood, so I hope this was one of those times.
"Percy! What is the meaning of this?" She said looking up at me suspiciously. I sat beside her. I had been rehearsing this moment for about a month. She just turned eighteen last month, so she was old enough for me to pop the question.
"You know I love you," I said pointing out the obvious.
"No, duh, Seaweed Brain!" She said punching me in the arm.
"Yeah, well I do! I just want to make that clear!" I said. She rolled her eyes.
"What's up?" She looked at me.
"Well, I always want it to be like this—you know. You and me—together." I grabbed her hand. This was it. This was the time. I looked deeply into her eyes, and Annabeth's jaw dropped when I pulled out the box from behind me. I opened the small box with the ring I got Leo to make me. Two months ago I had ordered it from him. It was a celestial bronze band, with, if I do say so myself—a dazzling owl and trident sharing the front. Engraved on the inside of it, the words: 'To Annabeth my love'.
"Annabeth, will you be my wife?" I pronounced the words like it was butter—like I said it everyday practicing.
"Percy—I…" Annabeth was speechless.
"So? What's it to be?" I looked up at her. She was killing me here. Her eyes made it look like she was going through all the possibilities that could happen if she said yes or no. She stared at the ring, and then to me—back and forth until she made her answer.
"Seaweed Brain! Athena, forgive me! Yes! Oh, Percy, yes!" She threw her arms around me and I laughed when we flew backwards into a pile of sand. She pecked me hard on the lips. I kissed back. She unwrapped her arms and I picked up the ring.
"Need help?" I said. I was kidding. Of course, the guy always puts the ring on the lady's hand.
"Seaweed Brain, just put it on," Annabeth stuck out her left hand and I put it on her fourth finger. It fit her perfectly—almost like it was made for her finger.
"Percy?" She said putting her forehead on mine.
"Wise Girl?"
"I love you," Annabeth said leaning in for another kiss.
"I… love… you… too," I said in-between kisses.
"Are you going to tell everyone?" I said. I wondered if Annabeth would actually be so excited to tell all her friends.
"Maybe… But you'd have to be by my side—we would tell them together!" She said.
"That sounded very corny!" I said. She glared at me, but her face softened.
"Yeah, but I'm your corny!" She said. You know, she was right.
"I know. I love my corny!" I said. Annabeth rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time and smiled.
"Yeah, well that was cheesy,"
"Yeah, but I'm your cheesy!"
"You do not expect me to say 'I love my cheesy', because your hope is lost,"
"Whatever." I said. She kissed me again. I heard Chiron's horn, but we didn't move. Who cares about rules when you're kissing your fiancée? We sat in silence after that and watched the sun set. I couldn't have imagined this moment to be any better. I never wanted to ask her in a restaurant, or a date. I wanted it to be somewhere special—somewhere we can come in fifty years to celebrate this moment again. And I was glad it was at camp, because in fifty years—I knew I could trust Chiron to keep camp safe.
"I want to stay here forever…" Annabeth leaned back on the log, and pulled the blanket over both of us. I leaned back with her and put my arm around her. We watched the water as the Naiads were splashing around and giggling from the distance. "But Curfew is in ten minutes." Annabeth put her head on my chest. She let out a sigh and I closed my eyes to the sound of her breathing. The next thing I knew, I was asleep, and Annabeth was too.
I woke up with a start when I was shaken awake. Annabeth was shaking my shoulders. I looked at her, but I could only see her silhouette.
"Hey, Annabeth-soon-to-be-Jackson Chase!" I sang with a groggily voice. Then I realized something Chiron would not be happy with. We were still on the beach, and the sun was rising. I saw Apollo's sun car very far away in the distance zooming across the sky.
"Oh-no! No! We did not! Is it morning?" I sat up really quickly.
"Yup! And Chiron is not going to like it!" Annabeth dusted off her shirt and I helped her up as I got up.
"We better get back to our cabins before everyone wakes up," I grabbed the blanket and folded it up.
"I know! I hope Malcolm isn't up. He is a really early riser!" Annabeth grabbed my hand, and we tried to sneak to our cabins.
ANNABETH'S POV
We were in so much trouble.
Last night had been the best night in a million years! I got engaged, and I stayed with Percy the whole time. I mean, what could get better than that? Unless all that happened and I got a really nice architecture job, and Athena accepted Percy and me, nothing could've been better.
"Percy thanks for last night. It was great!" I said as we approached my cabin from behind.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure when we're married, there'll be plenty more nights like that," Percy squeezed my hand, then he kissed me… Good morning.
"Now get to your cabin!" I said walking off.
I sat down on my bed and curled up in my blankets. I sat there and thought about the night and stared at my finger. The ring was so beautiful. The owl had diamond eyes that stared at you, and the trident looked so real, that it almost looked like it was life size. I couldn't actually believe I was marrying the guy I had fallen in love with since I was about fourteen. Sure, I'd known him since I was twelve, but I never started liking him until four years ago. I had just realized he was the man for me. He was the one I wanted to spend my life with. There was no doubt about it. He was perfect. We matched like a pair—he was the humor, and I was the brain.
I pulled my covers over me and I closed my eyes. I sighed and fell asleep with a smile.
My sister Paige shook me awake. She looked down at me and smirked.
"So?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. I looked out the window and saw the light shining in. I then looked around the room. All of my siblings were already dressed with a few stragglers who were struggling with their clothes.
"What time is it?"
"8:00! You slept in thirty minutes! Now get up!" Paige pushed me off my bed and looked at my clothes.
She looked at me up and down. "Why are you dressed?"
"I got up a little early, and decided to get dressed, then lost track of time. I guess I fell back to sleep." I pulled a comb through my hair and threw a hair elastic in my hair, holding it tightly in a tail at the back of my head.
"Oh. I thought you might have…" She obviously remembered last night.
"What? No!" I lied.
"Good!" Paige plopped on her bed and Malcolm walked out of the washroom.
"Annabeth! Good! You're up! Could you make your bed?" He pointed to me and I immediately got to work.
We heard Chiron's conch horn from the dinning pavilion, and the younger campers started barging out of the cabin—pushing their way to the food. I stayed in the room a few moments longer trying to pull on my shoes. Malcolm waited for me.
After a while, he turned to me. His face showed no expression.
"So... Annabeth." He said. I nodded. "I know what you did last night," Malcolm sat beside me and looked at my hand.
"Oh… It's not what you think," Gods... did he really? I looked back at Malcolm and he looked happy. He usually was very protective of me and treated me like a real little sister. I respected him of that, and knew he would treat me like a nice brother. I thought he would be mad for me staying out all night.
He shrugged. "You stayed out with Percy. Didn't you?" He lifted an eyebrow. Ashamed, I nodded. His smile only got bigger.
"You're not mad?" I was confused. He laughed and held my left hand.
"Congratulations!" He held out my hand and admired the ring. "This!" He shook my hand, "This is why I am not mad!" He smiled.
I hugged him and he squeezed me. "Gods, I was so scared to tell anyone." I sighed.
Malcolm nodded, agreeing. "No problem."
"Thanks." I hugged him and he patted my back like a socially awkward penguin. I have never really given Malcolm a real, big hug.
"You're welcome. You know, if I had to choose anyone from camp for you, it would be Percy. I'm glad you know that too." Malcolm said as I pulled away.
"We should get to breakfast. We don't want everyone waiting!" I said as I got up. "Oh, and Malcolm?"
"Yeah?"
"Can this be our secret for a while? Percy and I want to announce it when we're ready,"
"Sure thing Annie," He ruffled my hair and I gave him a glare.
"Don't. Call. Me. Annie!" Only Thalia could call me that. "Oh my gods! Thalia!" I just remembered about her.
"What? What's wrong about Thalia?"
"No! Nothing is wrong, but I just want her to know—a little earlier before everyone else!" It was too bad that The Hunters of Artemis weren't coming back for another week.
"Oh. What are you going to do?"
"I guess she can't know yet, unless I could IM her, but I have no clue where she is!" I really wanted Thalia to know. It wouldn't feel right to not tell her before.
"We can try after breakfast with Percy. Maybe we can get a hold of her somehow. We'll figure out a way," Malcolm was so supportive. I couldn't say he wasn't my favorite brother, because he was.
"Thanks Malcolm,"
"Now let's go eat!"
Percy's POV
I sat down at my table and searched the room for Annabeth. I couldn't see her at her table with her siblings, or at the counter getting food. I sat at my table and looked one more time before eating my eggs.
I got to eat all my eggs when her and Malcolm walked in and headed for the counter. She looked in my direction and made eye contact with me. She smiled and gestured towards Malcolm and shook her hand. I got her message and I nodded. She nodded back and I winked at her and she turned around. I looked over at the Athena table, which were all staring at me with evil glares. I put my hands in surrender and they turned away all rolling their eyes and digging in. I smiled one more time before eating the rest of my breakfast.
After breakfast, I put my dished in the kitchen and then caught up with Annabeth. I walked behind her for a while until I wrapped my arms around her waist. She nearly jumped out of herself, but turned around and her face softened.
"Hey! You scared the jeebers out of me!" Jeebers? Really?
"I didn't even know you had jeebers! I hope not all of them got lost!" I said teasingly.
"Ha-ha, very funny!" She said leaning in for a kiss. I softly kissed her lips and pulled away. Practically the whole camp stopped and stared at us. Haven't they seen two people kiss before? I hated not having privacy. Everyone was gawking at us, except for Malcolm who was smiling from ear to ear.
"Let's go somewhere else," Annabeth said backing up and grabbing my hand.
"Sure," I said willfully gripping Annabeth's hand. Her hand was so soft and it was so small compared to my large hand.
"How about we go to the amphitheatre? No one will be there," Annabeth suggested as we got out of earshot. I nodded and winked at Annabeth as she smiled at me.
"What?" Annabeth said. Did I do something wrong?
"What do you mean?"
"You're acting all weird. Winking at me and," She held out my hand in front of us. "You're swinging our arms. This is unusual,"
"I'm engaged to the most beautiful girl at camp, and I love her. Why can't I act happy and free spirited?" I looked into her playful eyes.
"Just wondering." She said sitting down on a stone platform. I followed her example and sat beside her.
For a few minutes, we just sat there in silence listening to other campers cleaning their cabins or just hanging out. I decided to break the silence.
"Annabeth, why did you choose me?" I just had to know. It was bothering me this morning, and I wanted to know.
"Because I love you," She said squeezing my hand.
"No, Annabeth. Why out of all the boys at camp, why me? Why were you the one nursing me back to health when I came here when I was twelve?"
"Percy, I didn't choose to be the one to be there by your bed. Chiron needed someone to look after you, and no one wanted to be there, so I said I would." Annabeth didn't make eye contact with me, which bothered me more.
"So our friendship wasn't voluntary?" (A/N: I'm not completely sure if R. Riordan explained this in his books, but I couldn't find it so, yeah.)
"No. Not completely. I volunteered to be with you, if that helps." Annabeth looked up at me that time. I could see guilt in her eyes.
"You know what, forget it. It was a stupid question. I didn't mean to make this awkward," I put my arm around her shoulder and let her lean into me.
"No, it was a good question. I knew it was bothering you. You deserved to know," She seemed calmer now, and I was glad.
"Thanks Wise Girl." I pulled her tighter to me and she buried her head in my chest.
She slowly lifted her head and looked up at me. "Seaweed Brain? Why did you choose me? Well, obviously Aphrodite's scarf had a small effect on you six years ago, but, why me?"
"Well… Aphrodite's scarf is one story, but you are just so amazing. You're always teasing me, and I love that. All the girls I meet always try to flirt with me and compliment me, but I don't like that. I like the way you don't worry about others around you. You're always so confident. Even though I haven't known you since you were seven, I still know you were one Hades of a child." She laughed. "I also love your laugh. It's the most beautiful sound in the world—other than you voice, of course." She raised her eyebrows, but I continued. "And you don't cover up what is most beautiful. You never wear make-up. You know true beauty. The way you smile and your hypnotizing eyes. If you and a child of Hypnos tried to hypnotize someone, you would win. I could get lost in those beautiful grey storms. And most of all," I looked Annabeth in the eyes. "I love everything about you. No other person could ever meet up to you. Knowing you makes my standards higher for everyone I meet. I love you Annabeth, and I want you to know that. I love you with me soul, heart, and mind. I can't stop thinking about you," She looked at me. She had tears in her eyes and she smiled. It was the biggest smile in the universe.
She slammed her mouth against mine and she kissed me. Her arms snaked around my neck and pulled me towards her. I was a little shocked at first, but I kissed back. She pulled away gasping for air and breathing heavily with me the same.
"Maybe you're not such a seaweed brain after all, Percy. That was the best thing someone has ever told me in my life. Percy I love you. Not just because you said that, but to tell the truth, I love you so much right now, I could die," She kissed me and I returned it. Man I love her. I don't think I could tell her how much I loved her. A million times wouldn't be enough, and I think she knew that.
"Percy, I can't wait to live my life by your side," And with that, it was the first time I started the kiss…
You can review if you want. That would be muchly appreciated.