Hello and welcome into the fabulous mind of, What Love Really Means! I'm glad you could make it. This here little story you've clicked on is basically my storage room for all things Percy Jackson that don't have a place in an actual story.
In honor of my favorite demigod's birthday, the first of (hopefully) many one-shots will be focused on his past four birthdays. I hope you enjoy and leave a review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
August 18 2007
On this, thirteenth of birthdays, Percy found himself happier than he'd been in a long, long time.
He was standing in a cluttered room with peeling brown wallpaper and a hard grey floor. Cardboard boxes were stacked all around him in wonderful disarray. A few of them had their contents spilled out on the ground while others were still tightly taped shut. From the window he could hear car horns honking and the general ruckus of the city. Percy thought he smelled something burning from the next apartment over.
He smiled.
It was well known throughout the building that Mrs. Greene was a terrible cook. But that wouldn't stop her. Many people complained, but Percy had somehow become fond of the scent—or at least it was better than the stale beer and moldy cheese that would never quite be removed from their old apartment.
His mom should be back with the paint any minute and then they'd start the messy process of pulling off that ugly wallpaper and putting his new room together. Or…that was their plan at least.
Percy bent over the container closest to him and started sifting through it to find some paintbrushes.
That was when he heard it.
"Hey! Percy! Hey, can you hear me?"
The boy jumped up and in a flash he had Riptide out and was pointing it in the direction of the mystery noise.
"Whoa there! Don't cut the connection!"
It was Annabeth. She was standing there in the room with him…except she wasn't. Vaguely, Percy noticed that the wall behind her wasn't faded brown but a gentle cream color.
An Iris message.
"Oh…it's you."
"Nice to see you too!" she smirked.
He shot her a glare but the smile gave him away, "Not what I meant. But, hey…are you okay? You need any help?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine…just a little bored."
Percy raised his eyebrows, "Finally finish all those books?"
"Hardy har har."
It was Percy's turn to smirk.
"No, it's just…I feel angst-y. I'm not used to being away from camp…I feel like I should be training. But every time I try…"
"Your step-mom spazzes?"
"Well it wouldn't be so bad if my brothers didn't keep trying to steal my equipment." She glowered somewhere over the top of the IM. I don't understand why she's so freaked out anyways. Its all celestial bronze…they can't hurt themselves! But no. She keeps on saying stuff about 'giving them the wrong idea'. "
Percy was just about to crack a joke to ease the tension when the front door opened.
"Percy dear? Are you in your room? …oh."
Percy's mom appeared carrying a heavy carton of blue paint. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was staring, bewildered, at the image of the girl in the middle of the room.
"Ms. Jackson!" Annabeth said quickly, turning around as she did so, "You're looking…better."
"Oh…um…thanks…?" she looked at her son for assistance.
"Mom, this is Annabeth Chase…she helped me on my quest with Grover."
Understanding registered on her face. "Ah, I see. Nice to…erm…meet you," she said gesturing to the Iris message. Annabeth smiled back a little uncomfortably. Percy gave a feeble scratch to the back of his neck. "Anyhoo, it was nice of you to call and say Happy Birthday to Perce." Miss Jackson finished.
Annabeth looked shocked, "It's you birthday? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Never came up…?" it came out as more of a question than an answer. He blushed faintly.
Miss Jackson observed them for a second before saying, "Well I'll give you guys ten more minutes to chat before—"
"Oh no Ms. Jackson," Annabeth interrupted, "I'd better get going…I, uh…I think I hear my dad calling." She smiled sheepishly then mumbled, "Happy Birthday Seaweed Brain," before swiping her hand through the rainbow.
August 18 2008
The next year Annabeth made sure to do something special. She and Thalia got special permission that Saturday evening to leave their boarding school. From there they walked to Maryann's bakery and picked up a big cake decorated with a trident and a ship Annabeth had instructed the baker to label, The Queen Ann's Revenge.
"Remind me again, why are we doing this?" Thalia asked grouchily.
"It's his birthday!" Annabeth exclaimed impatiently.
"You'd never do this on my birthday."
"How would you know? I was never there on one of your birthdays. For the gods' sakes, the last six years you've been a…" she trailed off painfully.
"And you say I don't have tact."
Annabeth flushed, "Sorry…I—uh…sorry."
Fifteen minutes later they were standing in front of the apartment's entrance.
"Y'ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Thalia replied. She gave a sharp rap on the wooden entryway.
They waited a minute then knocked again.
"Here, let me try," Annabeth said as she handed Thalia the cake box.
Annabeth banged loudly on the door but succeeded only in making her hand red and painful.
From somewhere up the hall a smell like burning toast was issuing out the door.
"Ah! Not again!" cried an elderly woman.
Thalia sighed irritably, "Did you Iris message him beforehand to make sure he'd be home?"
"Um…" Annabeth cursed inwardly. Now that Thalia mentioned it that was some pretty poor planning. How could she've been so stupid? She checked her pockets.
"You don't happen to have any—"
Thalia set down the cake and searched her pockets as well. Luckily she didn't come up short. From her back left pocket she pulled a golden drachma.
"Here,"
"Thanks," she said. Then looking both ways to make sure no one was watching she lifted the cheap painting pinned to the wall and untaped the key hidden behind it.
"How'd you know that was there?" Thalia asked.
"Percy told me," Annabeth lied smoothly. She wasn't about to tell her that she had invisibly stalked Percy less than a year ago. She swiftly unlocked the door and pushed it open
Together they walked into the cramped living room. Annabeth turned on the light since the cake box was once again residing in Thalia's arms.
The kitchen sink, luckily enough, sat in direct view of the dimming sunlight and when you squeezed the nozzle of the vegetable sprayer the mist produce a sufficient rainbow. Satisfied, Annabeth raised the golden drachma in her hand and said clearly, "Iris, O Goddess of the Rainbow, accept our offering," then tossed the coin into the rainbow, where promptly it disappeared. "Percy Jackson," Annabeth spoke again.
Instantaneously a boy appeared. His hair was being tousled by the wind and the sound if waves crashed somewhere behind him. He was facing the other way and his head was bent forward as if concentrating on something.
"'Ey! Seaweed Brain!" Thalia called.
Percy whipped around, startled. Upon seeing them though, he smiled, and then glared at his cousin.
Thalia snickered.
"Where are you?" Annabeth shouted over the roaring waters in the background.
Percy moved aside, and into view came the sight of two dolphins; both looking thoroughly annoyed at being interrupted. Around them was an expanse of blue-green with the occasional white foam.
"Middle of the ocean?" Thalia guessed over the noise.
"Montauk," Percy said, than his eyes widened and he bit his lip as if he's revealed something he wasn't supposed to.
"Could you turn down the waves!" Thalia shouted and next second the sound had subdued and Percy was looking very, very strained.
"Better," Annabeth noted, "Now, why didn't you tell me you were going to Montauk?"
The boy looked panicked but in seeing no way out of the situation he said, "Didn't realize you wanted to know my schedule,"
It was a sarcastic comment. But the sarcasm wasn't what caused Thalia to double up laughing. Percy flinched and blushed scarlet.
"Dude," Thalia wheezed, "What's up with your voice?"
"What do you think?" he answered hotly and again his voice gave a great squeak.
Annabeth couldn't suppress the amused grin that was spreading across her face.
"No need for the rude comments, just answer the question Mr. Chew Toy: What in Hades are you doing at Montauk?"
"Ha ha," he said though he didn't sound very amused, "Mom took me out here for my birthday. Remember? It's the eighteenth." He spoke in a harsh tone as if he was afraid they were going to continue to torment him about his voice. And because of Thalia, he had good reason. She was almost crying by now.
Behind him Annabeth could hear the waves struggling against Percy. She gave her best friend a sharp kick. Thalia sobered immediately and began to nurse the quickly forming bruise.
Percy cast Annabeth a thankful look and the waters once again became forcibly calm.
"Now, what'd you guys call for," he paused as a daunting possibility came over him and he said, "You're all right aren't you?"
"Yeah, yeah. We're fine we just…" Annabeth faltered, "We were gonna surprise you with a cake from Maryann's, but you weren't home so…so…"
From the other side of the message Percy turned his cold glare off of Thalia and his eyes softened when they met Annabeth's.
"It's alright…honestly it is," he continued when she began to protest, "my mom still gets discounts at, Sweet on America, and we practically raided the shop. Believe me; I've had enough sugar to last a lifetime."
Thalia looked at him in digust, "I'll bet, you pig!"
Percy looked at her darkly, "Says the girl who ate three whole pizzas and six slices of pie in one sitting."
Thalia was so deeply angered she didn't even bother to laugh at the many times Percy's voice broke throughout the sentence.
"That's not fair! I had just come out of that—"
"Enough!" Annabeth said firmly, detecting the impending fight. Thalia let go of the argument but only grudgingly.
"Well…what are we supposed to do with this now?" Annabeth asked picking the cake up off the counter.
"What d'you mean? Let's just put the thing in his fridge and get the styx outta here." Thalia said.
"Wait…put it in my fridge…what...? Hang on…" he peered closer into the image, "is that my kitchen? How in the gods' name did you get in there?"
Annabeth's eyes widened and she cringed horribly when Thalia replied, "What are you talking about? You're the one who told Annabeth where the key was."
Percy was about to say that, No, he most certainly did not tell her where the key was, when he caught the look on Annabeth's face and said, "Oh…oh right…I forgot."
With that Thalia took the cake from her friend and shoved it into the refrigerator across the room. Then while she made her way over to the door she called, "Happy birthday Jackson,"
And with that there was a slam and Thalia was gone.
"I should probably go too…"
"Yeah probably—" he might've said more but his voice had made an especially high crack and Annabeth couldn't control the snort of laughter that followed.
"It's not funny!"
"Mhm…sure Seaweed Brain," and then almost as an afterthought she said, "Happy Birthday Perce."
Next second she swiped her hand through the mist and she was alone in the Jacksons' kitchen.
August 18 2009
This year Annabeth was a little less enthusiastic about wishing her best friend a happy birthday. Not after all that happened. Not after she'd practically confessed she loved him on top of Half-Blood Hill along with Luke.
She just couldn't really stand to look at him. Especially if he had that mortal girl over. So it was with sluggish feet that she dragged herself over to the landline and punched in his number. She'd memorized it, she realized. Then with a grimace she thought, just like how he'd memorized that Rachel's number. She glowered at her toes as the phone began to ring. On the third, ding-a-ling-ling, she heard a voice say, "Hang on Nico, let me answer this…I'll only be a second…the cake's by the sink…if Tyson hasn't eaten it all…" there was a pause and then the voice more clearly said, "Hello? Who is this?"
"Hey Seaweed Brain," she grimaced as she tried to remember when that insult became so endearing.
"Oh…Annabeth, um…hey!' he said, clearly surprised. With a surge of annoyance she wondered if he'd be this surprised if Rachel had called. Probably not.
"I was…uh, just calling to wish you a happy birthday,"
"…right," came his delay reply, "erm…thanks."
"So…you…been having fun," it sounded lame even to her but it was all that genius, child of Athena brain could come up with.
"Yeah!" Percy said a little too heartily, "We have Tyson over, and Nico just came in through the fire escape—weird, huh?—and you'll never believe who else came—"
She would never find out either (at least, not right then) because Sally called, "Percy honey, get off the phone! You have guests over. Don't be rude. You can call whoever-it-is back later."
Percy sighed, then said, "See ya Annabeth."
And with a click the line died.
August 18 2010
The last thing the two exuberant teens expected as they floated swiftly to the surface of the lake was the same crowd of people standing over them. The audience hadn't even thinned out…if anything…it thickened.
And the couple had been so sure they'd all have given up by now. But no. They resurfaced to Travis's announcement of:
"Wow! Forty-six minutes and fifty-two seconds! Wait 'till we tell your parents!" He was holding a stopwatch in his hand and Conner was guffawing by his side.
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other and made a silent agreement: The Stolls go in their sleep. Then together they scrambled out of the lake, both of them completely dry thanks to Percy's nifty Poseidon-powers.
As they looked around they realized that at least some of the campers had been busy in their absence. For the shore of the canoe lake was bedecked with a roaring campfire like the one in the amphitheater. Surrounding it in rings were old logs that had fallen in last summer's Battle of the Labyrinth. Paper lanterns hung from posts and guitars and drums were strewn around. Ready for whichever Apollo camper picked it up first. Rachel sat up front, smirking uncontrollably at them. It looked like a scene out of some camp that specialized in people other than crazy, battle-hardened, half-bloods.
Percy smiled as he was ushered over to one of the front logs—though maybe this was because Annabeth had just laced her fingers through his. The celebration lasted all night long with Chiron and—miraculously—Mr. D dutifully not noticing anything from their beds in the Big House.
Marshmallows were roasted and every camp song known to demigod-kind sung. After that suggestions for mortal songs were taken up which mainly consisted of: We Are The Champions, The Campfire Song Song, and various cheesy love ballads by Taylor Swift, requested by the Aphrodite cabin in honor of, "the developing young couple that was sure to be the cutest thing since Romeo and Juliet." Percy and Annabeth determinedly ignored their giggling but both were secretly thinking of ways to destroy them in the next game of Capture the Flag.
As the night sailed on Percy noticed how Annabeth's eyelids steadily began to droop until finally she was lying across his chest, eyes closed and a small smile playing on her lips.
And just when he was sure she'd drifted off he heard her whisper, "Happy sixteenth Percy…"
Then she was gone.
M'kay…this was a bit rushed and not heavily revised…so…sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes. I just wanted to get this out during Percy's actual birthday.
Love it? Hate it? Want to marry it? Want to break-up with it and tear its heart out then feed it to your bloodthirsty hellhound? Let me know in your review! Praise welcomed. Constructive criticism encouraged!