The Dinosaur Test

I don't own Percy Jackson. Or a dinosaur.

Daughter of Athena, Annabeth Chase, was many things. She was smart. She was beautiful. She was silly, and sometimes got a little crazy when she was stressed out. She was devoted to her work, addicted to caffeine, and—or so she often reassured him—totally in love with her boyfriend. But not, under any circumstances, was she impetuous.

So, for fear of having a blade stuck in his chest, Percy didn't question Annabeth, favored daughter of the goddess of wisdom and battle strategies, when she peered over her laptop at Percy and, frowning a cute little scowl, asked, "If I were a dinosaur, what would I be?"

Percy laughed softly, glancing over at Annabeth as she sat at his dining room table, searching the internet for Zeus-knows-what. "Uhm," Percy thought for a moment.

Apparently, he took too long because Annabeth's frown deepened a little and she urged, "Well? . . . And could you get me a cup of coffee?"

"How about one that's addicted to coffee?" the son of Poseidon asked, starting on his significant other's beverage.

"Hey," Annabeth said in a warning tone that always made Percy feel like he was in a duel with a knife at his throat and riptide lost in a volcano somewhere. Annabeth's caffeine was not a matter to be trifled with. "You like your water, I like my coffee."

"Right," Percy said, just because Annabeth always won the argument anyway. "Water's better for you though. You're body is eighty percent water or something like that." Percy brought her a steaming mug of black coffee and bottle of creamer.

Annabeth looked up from putting cream in her coffee long enough to glare at Percy for getting his facts wrong. "It's more like sixty percent. And my body runs off C8H10N4O2 instead of H2O."

"What?"

"Caffeine."

"Oh."

"But, seriously, what type of dinosaur would I be?"

"You're still with that?"

"Yeah."

It was then that Percy had an idea—one that made his heart speed up with nerves. It was probably not the best idea and could likely turn out horrible is some way, but Percy didn't care. It was that kind of spur-of-the-moment thinking that had kept him alive countless times in battles against monsters. (It had also nearly gotten him killed quite a few times, but that was besides the point.)

Annabeth, however, was a much more dangerous creature.

With as straight a face as he could muster (without smiling awkwardly from anxiety), Percy slipped a small black box out of his pocket. He's been meaning to ask her for days, but kept chickening out (typical Seaweed Brain). And now, he was just going to go for it.

Kneeling next to Annabeth's chair (a good foot away, just in case she kicked him in the face), in his messy apartment, Percy asked, "How about a dinosaur that was engaged?" He paused and watched Annabeth's eyes widen as he opened the velvet box. "Annabeth Chase, will you marry me?"

Speechless (a rare thing for the daughter of Athena who always knew what to say), Annabeth took the ring from its soft confines and slipped it on her finger. Then, she grabbed Percy's hands and stood, pulling him up with her as she rose from her seat. Before Percy could steady himself, Annabeth threw herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him like there was no tomorrow. Unable to support the sudden extra weight, Percy tumbled backwards until his back hit the wall behind him, Annabeth clinging to his chest and raining kisses on his lips, jaw, and neck the entire time.

Smiling against Annabeth's lips after she reached his mouth again, Percy drew away enough to whisper, "I'll take that as a yes?"

"Your brain really would be full of seaweed to think it was a no," Annabeth replied, then grinned.

"So . . ." Percy said after a moment of enjoying each other's closeness. "Why the dinosaur thing?" He figured Annabeth was in a good enough mood that she wouldn't kill him for questioning her.

"Oh, it's, um . . ." Annabeth blushed. "Apparently there's this thing on the internet where only a guy who knows what dinosaur his girlfriend would be really loves her."

"Seriously?" Percy rolled his eyes and laughed. "Well, did I pass the 'dinosaur test'?"

"A-plus," Annabeth replied and kissed him again.

Dedicated to my fellow author and Percy Jackson fangirl, WalkingByMyself.

Have some Percabeth.

Dedicated to you because I thought of this the same night I came up with an amazing (and infuriating/emotion-destroying) idea for a sequel to Darkened Reality. I don't know what was going on in my brain since this mood is the exact opposite of the one the other story is likely to have.

Here's a peace offering, since I know you're going to want to kill me multiple times while reading the sequel to Darkened Reality, to be named Darkened Memories.