Hey guys! This is already posted on my tumblr, but I thought that you'd enjoy it too.
Annabeth was surprised, intrigued, and amazed all at the same time. Maybe it was the fact that Percy Jackson, a guy who is teased for doing gymnastics, would be that good at it.
So, Annabeth is one of the most popular girls at her school, has rich parents, and is very pretty. Percy, well… He's not popular. At all. He's a loser, a guy who is constantly teased and has an obsession over Panic! At The Disco. (He's hot, but Annabeth will never admit that.)
She'd gone to a gymnastics gym to book a birthday party for Bobby and Mathew, who were both turning 8 next week and they had asked a party here, because apparently a couple other people celebrated their birthday here it from what they said, it was amazing. Bobby and Matthew had also rambled on and on about their instructor, a guy who could do awesome tricks and was about Annabeth's age.
She watched out the window in the gym, awed and incredulous. Percy just did what looked like a triple flip or something, but didn't land it very well. He jogged over to the trampoline, jumping and flipping, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
"Ma'am." The owner of the gym was sitting in front of her, grinning. He was around his thirties and what looked like a proud smile was plastered on his face. He had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked like a surfer. "He's great isn't he?" The owner asked. Annabeth nodded. "He could be one of the party instructors, if you would like. Kids love him."
"Sure." Annabeth thankfully kept her voice confident.
"Alright," The owner flashed her a charming smile. He had a slight Californian accent. "I'll ask Percy if he's available on Saturday, and if he isn't, then we'll get Piper to instruct."
Annabeth had now clue who Piper was, but nodded anyways. "Thanks." She stood up from her chair and started to leave, but not before casting another glance at Percy, who was running around and doing flips and doing cartwheels.
It was Bobby and Matthew's birthday, and Annabeth was impressed. They were in the lobby and over 20 kids had come, all of them talking about how they were going to learn how to do flips and who was going push Bobby and Matthew's face into the cake.
But the hot topic was actually Percy, who apparently, had been the instructor in everyone's birthday and everyone was excited to meet him again. And some girls were a bit too excited. Since when did they speak about guys that way? They're 8 years old!
Once everyone was ready, Percy and girl who had brown hair with an eagle feather in it and kaleidoscope with the same figure as Percy, (tall, lean, and muscular) walked in and started speaking.
"Hey guys! Good to see you again!" Percy greeted. "Who's birthday is it today?"
"Ours!" Bobby and Matthew exclaimed simultaneously.
Percy's grin was crooked and it screamed that he was a trouble maker. It was, in it's own way, charming and it showed his pearly white teeth. It took Annabeth quite some time to realize that she was staring.
"Well, if it isn't the Chase brothers?" Annabeth noticed that Percy had a dimple, which made his grin all the more charming (if possible.)
Percy looked at Piper, who was also grinning, Annabeth noticed. They appeared more like best friends rather than a couple. "We better be careful, Piper. They're out to get revenge for last time."
Annabeth vaguely remembered Bobby and Matthew mentioning a fight between the kids verse Percy and Piper, saying how they were going to kick their butts the next time.
"Then we'll just have to fight back, isn't that right, Percy?" Piper smirked, and looked around, as the kids exploded into retorts ranging from, "We'll kick your butts this time!" to "You don't stand a chance!"
Percy chuckled, "I guess we could fight." Seeing the kids opening their mouths ready to shout comebacks, Percy quickly continued, "If they finish all the exercises."
The kids groaned. This time Piper calmed them down, "I know the first thing you want to do is fight, but now, we have to focus on the exercises if you want to learn how to do all of the cool stuff, like flips."
While the kids cheered, rejuvenated, Percy caught Annabeth's eye. His blueish green eyes widened in shock, before raised his eyebrows. He quickly whispered something to Piper, who nodded and started to lead the kids inside the gym.
He quickly walked over to Annabeth, his head tilted in confusion. "What are you doing here?" He asked once he reached me.
He was wearing a light grey gym shirt, the word APOLLO written in blue on his shirt. He was wearing black basketball shorts and didn't have any shoes on. His hair was as messy as always, which made Annabeth guess that he probably didn't comb it.
"I'm here for the birthday party." She told him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She wished the would've brought an elastic so she could've done her hair in a bun or a ponytail.
Seeing his still confused face (which was adorable), she quickly explained, "Bobby and Matthew are my brothers."
"Oh," Percy said. "that's why they looked familiar."
"Are you going to join us?" He wiggled his eyebrows.
"What? No!" Annabeth laughed, "I'm the 'supervisor' since my parents couldn't make it." Annabeth's tone suggested that she didn't care if her parent's didn't go to her brothers' birthday party, but it also had an underlying tone that was barely noticable, it suggested that she in fact did care.
Percy winced, apparently catching the tone. "Ouch. I didn't know parents' could stoop that low."
She shrugged, not knowing what to say. "Anyways," Percy spoke before the silence became awkward. "I don't exactly understand why you wanted me as an instructor."
She tried to hide her blush, even though she could've easily said that Bobby and Matthew had wanted him as an instructor. "I saw you doing gymnastics when I came, and you were pretty good. So I asked the owner, Apollo, if you could be the instructor." She silently gave her self a mental highfive for saying that with confidence and not stuttering once.
Percy grinned and opened his mouth but before he could say something, Piper opened the door and smiled sheepishly at Annabeth before turning to Percy. "Perce, I need your help. The kids are trying to form a conspiracy, I think."
Percy grinned at her sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "Wanna talk when they're eating cake? Piper's gonna be on a date with her boyfriend so she has to leave early, and I don't exactly want to see you on the other side of the room not being able to talk to you because it would be awkward."
"Sure." She swiftly accepted his invite to converse.
"Great." Percy declared and clapped his hands. "I'll just go now." He started walking backwards and waved at her awkwardly, before turning around and crashing into a chair.
The chair clanked to the floor and her hastily put it back where it was before blushing. "Um, sorry." He mumbled and rubbed his neck again. "Bye." He waved again and went inside the gym.
The kids practically kicked open the door, startling Annabeth, who was readin one of her favorite books, Looking For Alaska. They were screaming for cake an were all crazy, cheering and whooping.
Percy was the last to enter and he wasn't whooping like the kids. He was grinning and his hair was messier than before. He was also sweating a bit, but it wasn't very noticable.
Percy looked around for Annabeth, until he found her sitting down on one of the extra chairs, reading a book that looked like it was very old.
He plopped down next to her, tired and but still grinning. "They asked me to do a lot of tricks." He flexed, and Anabeth watched, awed as she saw his bicep muscles tense and she saw saw a bit of his stomach and oh my god is that a v-line-
"They won the war." Percy spoke and interrupted Annabeth's train of thought. It took a second for her to remember about the war and smirked.
"What did Bobby and Matthew do?" She inquired mishievously
Percy chuckled. "They were the ones that made the last move. Pretty much, whoever pushes the other's whole team into the foam pit first wins." He looked at her to see if she was following. She nodded and he continued,
"So it was down to just me, Piper had already been pushed into the pit. There were 5 kids left to push into the pit, when all of a sudden I get pushed into the pit. I look behind me just in time to see that it was Bobby and Matthew who had pushed me. Now I owe them 5 dollars the next time they come over."
He chuckled again. "It was actually quite fun, since we could run all over the gym."
There was a moment of silence again before Annabeth broke it this time. "How long have you been doing gymnastics?"
"Oh, around 14 years. Apollo knew my mother because he was a daily customer in her candy shop, and one day he saw me and asked my mom if he could teach me how to do gymnastics. Soon enough, he brings me to his gym and we start practicing."
"That's a long time." She commented. She grinned slyly. "And you still got pushed into a pit by my brothers? Yeesh, didn't know that you were that bad."
"I am so hurt now. I am crying in agony, oh please lord help me."
Annabeth laughed. "How many competitions have you competed in?"
Percy whistled, "Far more than I can count."
"Enough questions about me. What about you, I heard that you're in the school's new architecture elective."
"Yeah, it's amazing." Annabeth tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear again.
"What's your reason?"
Annabeth glanced at him confused, "What do you mean?"
Percy leaned back into his chair. "Everyone one has a reason when they want something. What is it?"
"Well, I've always had this fascination with building something permanent. You know, like building the coliseum, which has lasted for centuries? I want to build something like that, something worth to remember." Annabeth felt like she could confide in Percy, even though she never told anyone this before. It was kind of strange, Percy felt so reliable and natural.
"I understand." Percy spoke after a moment. Before they could continue their conversation, Bobby and Matthew ran up to Annabeth and pulled on her arms.
"We want cake!" They exclaimed, pulling her over to the bag where she had the cake. She didn't know how exactly they knew that the cake was there, as it was hidden in an Abercrombie bag and they hated Abercrombie and wouldn't dare opening a bag, let alone look at it.
Annabeth grabbed the cake, took the lid off, and lit the candles quickly. Percy saw what she was doing and quickly stood up. "Alright guys, time for cake!" He exclaimed and the kids gasped and all scrambled to the table.
The table was already set up, plates, cups, and chairs ready for the kids. They all sat down and waited.
Annabeth finished igniting the candles and started walking over to Bobby and Matthew. She gave them the cake and pulled out her phone.
Percy started singing immediately, the kids joining him soon, and at the very end, Percy and a couple other kids pushed Bobby's and Matthew's heads into the cake.
Everyone laughed once they came back up, their faces covered in frosting. Percy laughed particularly loud, and Annabeth teased once he walked over to her, "You've gone a bit deaf, haven't you?"
"I think blind is the correct term because I don't think I can possibly handle your beauty."
Annabeth froze while Percy grinned. Did he just flirt with me? Annabeth thought.
"Maybe." Annabeth was glad that she didn't say something stupid.
"So, um, can I get your, you know, number?" Percy timidly asked. He looked so adorable, his eyes questioning, rubbing his neck and grin sheepish.
Annabeth laughed, "You sure are smooth with your words." She teased.
Seeing his face fall as she hadn't given him her number, she rolled her eyes and smiled. "Of course I'll give you my number."
"Really?" He asked hopefully. She rolled her eyes again. "Yes, really. Here," She recited her number, which made Percy scramble to take his out of his pocket.
"Um, could you repeat that, please?" Annabeth smiled and repeated it. He saved her number and put his phone back in his pocket.
(And maybe, when the birthday party finished and she had to leave with Bobby and Matthew because it was late and everyone had already left, she might've kissed Percy's cheek.)