Happy 4th of July to any American readers today! Or, Happy Monday (or any day of the week you're reading this) to anyone else. :) This is just a quick one-shot that I wanted to put out to sort of celebrate American Independence Day, but also just as an excuse to write another Percabeth one-shot. ;) Please read it, and I hope you enjoy!
She raced anxiously towards the beach, nearly tripping on the white sand that gave way under her feet. The dunes here could be tricky to navigate sometimes. But a quick tumble down a tiny hill of sand was the last thing on the blonde's mind:
She was going on her first date with Percy.
The date had been arranged earlier that day during the weekly game of Capture the Flag. Silena and she had forced the boys into their team's jail after a mediocre run-in with a few giant ants and a bronze dragon. She'd been waiting for him to ask her all day - all week, in fact - but had given up hope after a while.
Maybe he doesn't feel the same way about me, she'd thought to herself, disappointment clouding her brain.
But then the two of them had watched as Beckendorf boldly asked Silena out to the fireworks show that night, and when the daughter of Athena had glanced at Percy's face, she'd clearly seen the anxiety written on his face. Percy was good at many things, but concealing his emotions was not one of them. That, and holding a bow and arrow the right way.
After Beckendorf had asked Silena, the blonde girl had tried to make it as easy for Percy as possible to ask her out; she'd even thrown him a compliment, which was something she rarely did for anybody! But the Seaweed Brain apparently hadn't taken the hint quick enough, for just when he'd been about to ask her, three of her siblings had shown up and interrupted them. Though she'd tried to play it cool, deep down she was afraid that her features had betrayed her utter annoyance at the disturbance.
But now, as she clambered down a particularly large sand dune, she couldn't help but laugh as she thought about Percy's face when she'd turned to him with a wink and asked, "See you at the fireworks?" Then she'd run away, leaving a very astounded and open-mouthed son of Poseidon behind her.
What was I thinking? She asked herself now, realizing with shock what she'd said to him. Usually she wasn't quite so...flirtatious. Had she been too brazen? Too bold? Or had she merely come across as pushy and bossy? Or even worse: needy?
She grimaced, squeezing her gray eyes shut in regret. The last thing she wanted to come across as was clingy. There were already enough girls at Camp Half-Blood that she knew would have loved to be in her situation tonight: skipping off to a date at the fireworks show with Percy Jackson. The only reason nobody else had asked him, whether to the fireworks or anywhere else, was because she had made it very clear to all of the female campers that if they so much as glanced at black hair on his head, she would carve out their intestines and toss them into Tartarus.
Not exactly the best way to avoid clinginess, she realized in retrospect.
But she couldn't worry about that now. The best thing to do at this point was to try to come across as confident, cool, and calm as possible. She could do that, right?
Confident. Cool. Calm. She repeated the words to herself as she came in sight of the beach; already there were more than two dozen demigod (and otherwise) couples lining the sand, laid out on blankets and towels with picnic baskets set beside them. As her eyes scanned the crowd, she recognized a few people, though it was hard to tell by the darkness setting in; the sun had nearly set already, and only a few scant rays of light were able to peek over the distant horizon. Over to her left, she spied Grover and his girlfriend Juniper, and both were leaned back, casually snacking on tin cans and bark like they were beef jerky. There were the Stoll twins, both of whom had claimed that they were going stag, though Katie Gardener was sitting suspiciously close, and she and Travis seemed to be glancing at each other more often than was necessary for mere picnic neighbors. She also spotted Silena and Beckendorf; they simultaneously threw their heads back laughing, but paused long enough to wave at her when they saw her. She waved back, and her eyes continued to travel through the throng of teenagers, picking out the familiar faces she knew. Will Solace... Her brother, Malcolm... Clarisse la Rue and Chris Rodriguez... Michael Yew... Percy Jackson.
Percy. Oh my gods.
She got one look at him, and instantly her heart started pumping at least twice the rate that it should have been going. She was also self-consciously aware of how red her cheeks were, and the fact that she was staring at the son of Poseidon much more intensely than she should have been, both things that thankfully nobody really noticed considering how dark it was. The only light at this point was the faint glow of the stars, and the dim lights on the barge where the Hephaestus kids launched the fireworks. She'd heard that it was supposed to be a full moon tonight, but there must have been a cloud blocking it.
"Annabeth!"
She froze like a deer trapped in headlights at the sound of her name, tearing her eyes away from the sky up above, and glanced at the voice who had addressed her.
"Um...hey, Percy," she said, and instantly winced at how awkward it had sounded.
Thankfully, though, he hadn't seemed to notice. Instead, he just came over to her and hugged her, a ginormous smile on his face that put her at ease and involuntarily made her grin and too. Again, she couldn't help but stare: who needed the moon for a source of light when she was able to look at his radiant smile anytime she wanted?
"I picked us out a spot over here," he said, grabbing her gently by the arm and steering her over to a big blanket spread out so close to the shore that the waves looked like they would crash down on it at any time. "I hope it's okay."
"Sure, but won't we get wet?" she asked, her nose scrunched slightly at the thought. It was a chilly night, and not that she minded a midnight swim, but there were much more preferable ways to spend her Fourth of July.
He chuckled lightly, and the butterflies in her stomach began fluttering so quickly she feared they might fly away. "What, scared of a little water, Wise Girl?"
She rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly. "We can't all be Seaweed Brains like you."
He stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same to him. He laughed again. "Don't worry, I'm controlling it so that it goes around us. This way we can get a good spot, closer to the fireworks and away from everybody else."
Sure enough, as the two of them took their spot on the massive blanket, the white waves that had threatened to crash down on them seemed to part like the Red Sea, and instead rolled lazily to either side.
Her eyes widened involuntarily, and catching sight of it, Percy laughed. "Impressed?"
She shook her head, adding in an eye-roll, although she was secretly a little impressed. His powers that came with being a son of Poseidon never ceased to both fascinate and frighten her, though both were good kinds of wonder.
Her reverie was broken through by a loud rumble, and she glanced up at the sky in concern, afraid that she would catch sight of lightning streaking through the sky. Since the Fourth of July fireworks would be canceled if even a single bolt of lightning was spotted, a thunderstorm was the last thing that she wanted to see right now.
When she saw no such thing, she turned to Percy, about to ask him whether he'd seen anything, but stopped when she noticed that he was clutching his stomach, a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry," he muttered, though he didn't sound too apologetic. "I haven't eaten for a while."
In a similar reaction that was almost worthy of movie-timing, Annabeth's stomach responded by rumbling back, and they both laughed so hard that they momentarily forgot their hunger and drowned out the sound of the crashing waves and the chattering demigods beyond the sand dunes behind them.
The moment that their giggles subsided, however, Percy rolled over to the picnic basket she hadn't noticed before, and pulled out two ready-made tupperwares containing a surprisingly decent variety of sandwiches, fruit, chips, and dessert.
"Wow," Annabeth managed to say when she was done, although her stomach was so full that she had a tough time speaking.
Percy grinned. "Is that a good 'wow', or should I be worried about undercooked chicken? I hear food poisoning takes a little while to set in, so we should have enough time to drag you back to the medic tent before they operate on you."
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she said with a laugh, punching him playfully. "I'll admit it, I was actually impressed...but don't let it go to your head," she added in a hurry, but it was too late; a triumphant grin had already spread across his face, and he'd already begun his acceptance speech.
"When I, Percy Jackson, discovered that I had managed to make a meal worthy of the Miss Annabeth Chase, I knew that my life would never be the same. Thank you for this award. I'd like to thank the Academy, my mother, my mother's chocolate-chip cookies, my stepfather, Mr. D, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Roberts, Leonardo diCaprio, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, George Clooney - "
Annabeth cut him off with a laugh. "Is there anyone in Hollywood that you don't want to thank?"
The dark-haired boy tapped his chin thoughtfully, before admitting, "Nicolas Cage."
She laughed loudly, but even that was blotted out as a ruckus arose from the dune behind them, and two dozen voices erupted into excited chatter.
Percy turned towards her, and even in the inky darkness, she could make out his fine facial features. "It sounds like they're about to start the fireworks."
"Mmhmm," she said, though she had switched her attention to another topic: a question that she'd had on her mind for quite some time, and that had practically been eating her alive from the need to know. "Percy?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, Wise Girl?" He smiled, and she felt her anxiety ease ever so slightly. She took a deep breath.
"Is this your first date?"
Slowly the smile slid from his face, and she instantly felt silly, like a little kid who didn't know how to read. Of course this wasn't his first date! He'd probably been on dozens of dates by now. It was just that she had lived at Camp Half-Blood for nearly half her life now, ever since she was seven. Percy, on the other hand, had only lived here a few years, and only during the summer; he'd never been a year-rounder like her. So the likelihood that he'd been on dates and gone out with other girls was more likely than not, a fact that put a huge damper on her spirits.
But her spirits were lifted out of their gloom when she saw Percy nod his head, and say quietly, "Yes."
She stared at him in shock, her gray eyes wide. "Really?"
He seemed surprised at her surprise, and even a little embarrassed. "Yeah. I mean, I know that's probably kind of lame. I'm almost 15 and I've never been on a date. Wow," he said with a dazed shake of his head. "That sounds even lamer out loud."
She let out a light laugh, and he glanced at her quickly. "Thanks for not being too hard on me. I know it might kind of feel like you're babysitting me, seeing as I've never been on a date before and you have. It's just that I - "
"Whoa whoa whoa," interrupted Annabeth, holding up her hands in a gesture that seemed to read stop right there. "You think I've been on a date before?"
He shrugged. "Yeah. Obviously." Then he hesitated. "You have, right?"
"No!" she cried in exasperation, and a relieved smile lit up his face.
"Really?"
"Really," she promised, and they both laughed.
"So...this is a first date for both of us?" she asked, somewhat timidly.
"I guess so," he answered with a smile. His sea-green eyes were nearly glowing with happiness. "And so far, I'd say it's going pretty well."
Slowly, he took her hand in his, twining their fingers together hesitantly, and to assure him that she didn't mind, she squeezed back gently, offering him a shy smile. Seconds later, the first round of fireworks went off: a dazzling display of lights that danced across the night sky, forming scenes from Greek myths that every camper knew. Oddly enough, many of them depicted love stories, like that of Orpheus and Eurydice, or Eros and Psyche. But the only love story that Percy and Annabeth were considered with was their own, as they lay there on that beach for several more hours, celebrating their Fourth of July in the best way possible: together.
Please let me know if you enjoyed that by showing your support either through favoriting, following, or reviewing. (If you have to choose one, review please, because your feedback helps me more than you would believe!) Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it! Have an awesome day. :)
Happy 4th of July!
Love,
~Princess Andromeda II