Percy (POV)

Percy was enjoying a nice date with his girlfriend when he got the news.

They were in a small diner not too far from the college campus. It was one of those rare, beautiful places that gave amazing food at an even better price. Which was very nice to their pockets, seeing how they weren't exactly millionaire demigods and ended up as broke as any other student living off Ramen Noodles and Mac & Cheese. They found an empty booth near the back that gave an open view of the place with every exit and window in sight.

Just because they haven't been attacked in a while, didn't mean they forgot any of their training. Come on, they were professionals at this point.

"Okay Seaweed brain, what do you want for lunch?" Annabeth asked as she picked one of the menu's placed in the center of the table. She scanned over her menu, eyes squinting as she tried to make out the letters. Despite them both having dyslexia, Annabeth was way better at deciphering non-greek words than Percy was. It just made him all the more grateful to have her as a girlfriend, because if he was certain that if not for her he'd have died of hunger by now.

"The blueberry and whipped cream shake for me," Percy said. Annabeth hummed, already knowing that would be his first response as she continued scrutinizing the listed food. Percy couldn't help but notice how her blonde hair kept falling over her shoulder and into her face, distracting her in a way that made her crinkle her nose in annoyance.

Adorable.

After a moment of battling her hair, she looked up from the menu. "Are we getting our regular, or do we want to try something new for a change?"

Percy's pursed his lips in thought as he stroked his chin. After a second he shook his head, "Psh, who's ever heard of trying things new. I'll take our regular."

"A cheeseburger does sound good." Annabeth agreed, eyeing the menu. Then she shrugged and put it back. "Regular's it is," They waited patiently for a waiter to notice their need of assistance, and killed the time by building a fort out of the stack of menus still on the table. A few failed structures later, Annabeth's tongue barely stuck out of the corner of her lips as she gently placed the thick paper on two supporting salt shakers. Percy held his breath, not wanting to disturb the menu support-beams near the napkin wall. Annabeth didn't usually mess with things or go out of turn when out in public, especially so she wouldn't draw attention to herself (instincts she's learned and honed ever since being hunted by monsters from age 7), but Percy was happy whenever he could draw this part out of her. It made him will special when he got Annabeth to act out (if this could even be considered "acting out")

Either way, it was so much more fun getting in trouble with a smart person than by yourself.

He didn't realize he was looking at her till her eyes met his, and she asked the obvious question between them, "What are you looking at?"

"You," he replied. A year ago he might've blushed when admitting it. But after everything they've been through, he knew he could speak his mind with her. Annabeth, Hades help her, was probably used to it by now anyway.

She gave him a soft smile, the kind that maybe melted his heart a little bit, and placed her hand on his. "Ever the romantic, aren't you Jackson," she hummed. Percy snorted. He definitely couldn't say he was the most romantic guy - but at least he tried. Although, if he were being honest, Annabeth wasn't as into the mushy-gushy romance as he was. But, hey, that way if he messed up she wasn't usually upset. Of course, that didn't stop him from trying. He'd woo the Chase off of her if he had too.

"Anyway," Annabeth said, snapping the silence between them. "I have some good news and some bad news."

"Oh," Percy said, kind of surprised. "Well I'm gonna say right off that if you're breaking up with me, then I reserve all rights to our comic book collection," she smirked and rolled her eyes at his antics.

"I'm not breaking up with you, you idiot!" she laughed. Then smiled at him coyly over their shared structure, "Besides, you'd be lost without me."

"Sure would." Percy agreed with no hesitation. And, yes, he did believe it. Annabeth has become somewhat of a homing beacon for him. He would never truly feel lost as long as she was there. "Who knows how many times you've saved my butt."

"Too many times to count," Annabeth answered. "But, hey, it's the same story here." they shared a smile, lapsing into a comfortable silence.

But Annabeth was quick to snap out of it as she scowled at him slightly, "Ugh! Stop distracting me Percy, I need to tell you the surprise."

Percy groaned. "Can it wait till we get food?" he whined. Annabeth pursed her lips, before rolling her eyes with a smile and a nod. It was in that moment that their waitress showed up. It was the same one from all the other times they've eaten here. A girl, about their age, with short black hair that went up with her jawline and warm brown eyes. She was nice enough, didn't even get mad at their structure of menus and napkin and always seemed to have a smile on her face. The only thing that dampened the relationship of her granting them food, was that she might've had a bit of a crush on Annabeth, and she definitely wasn't very secretive about it.

She smiled at her, a cross between flirty and casual. "May I take your order?" she asked, sparing a glance at Percy before her eyes were back to storm-gray ones.

"Uh, yeah, we'll have our regular Kirsty," Annabeth answered. She nodded and quickly jot down the order. Giving her another quick smile over the edge of her notepad, she said, "Coming right up, beautiful" then left with a hop in her step.

Percy huffed a little and picked at a stray napkin they didn't use for their fort. "Is it just me or does she take our order every time we're here?" he grumbled.

Annabeth chuckled. "Every time we've been here," he confirmed. But didn't comment more on it. They've had this conversation before. While it annoyed Percy, she knew that there was nothing to go off it. Besides, Annabeth knew how he felt. She wasn't ignorant of the winks the Starbucks guy sent to Percy every time she turned her back.

Despite knowing there wasn't more to say on it, she couldn't help but add, "Your cute when you're irritated," Percy looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. He held it for a little bit before breaking out of his annoyed state with a chuckle, remembering that time when she told him he was cute when he worried. Their eyes met and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was.

"That battle was so long ago." she sighed. "It almost seems like the good old days."

"I mean, excluding the blood-thirsty titan lord, his army of disgusting monsters, and manipulated half-bloods who wanted to kill us and all humanity to let chaos reign free, then yeah! I totally agree with you."

Annabeth laughed with him and reached over the table to punch him playfully in the shoulder. Too soon, the waitress was by the table, this time carrying a tray. She placed their orders in front of them, announcing, "And here you go," with a wink at Anneth. Percy, still smiling, simply grabbed their food and gave a quick, "Yep, thanks, Kristy," and dug in.

"Yep, thanks," Annabeth said. Then, as an after thought, added, "And thanks for coming here with me Percy, you're an awesome boyfriend," Percy looked up from the hamburger he was already devouring, and glanced between her and Kirsty. He took a moment to chew his food, before swallowing and replying, "No problem Annabeth. Thank YOU for being an awesome girlfriend" that part might've been aimed at Kristy "and inviting me."

Kristy rolled her eyes. "Okay, I get it, dude. Yeesh,"

"Then why do you keep doing this?" Percy demanded.

This time Kristy gave him a mischevious smile. "Hey, one day you might make a mistake and she'll be fair game. Besides, there's always the chance she might decide she likes girls too," with that, she sent Annabeth one more wink, before whirling around and sauntered back to the kitchen.

"What mistake?" Percy grumbled. "You wouldn't even be able to handle half of what we go through you little -"

"Anyway," Annabeth interrupted, taking a sip of her shake. "About this surprise. There's both a good and bad."

Percy nodded, Kristy immediately a forgotten memory, and set down his burger as Annabeth continued, "Alright, I'll start with the good news...me and you are taking a vacation to New York! I talked to the administrative board already and they're allowing us a few weeks off to go up, you know since we're both in head of our studies,"

Percy lit up with joy, especially with that last bit. He's never been at the top of a class, ever! Whenever someone mentioned it made him feel kind of smug and like he could go run a few circles around Athena yelling 'Ha ha!'. "Di Immortals, really? I've been wanting to visit my mom and the Camp since school started!" He couldn't wait to tell his mom about his ocean studies, and it'd be nice to see Paul again. The Camp sounded like Elysium at this point. He wondered if his cabin was the way he left it, or if the cleaning Harpies got to it.

"And now for the bad news." Annabeth continued. "We have to take a plane." Percy stopped his internal celebrating to gape at her, hamburger hovering half way to his mouth.

"What?"

"We have to take a plane." she repeated.

Slowly, Percy put the burger down. With a heavy sigh, he slumped in his seat casting an arm over his eyes. "Sorry mom, sorry camp, I'm afraid I won't make it this year," he mumbled near the crook of his elbow. "My girlfriend killed me. I know, I'm sorry, but there was nothing I could do. Maybe one day you'll find it in your heart to forgive her,"

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked.

"Thinking about what I'm going to write on my suicide letter. A PLANE Annabeth? Why a plane?"

She picked at her fries. "Well, since we're kind of the best students they've had in a long time, they offered to buy us plane tickets there. Professor Peakley might have had something to do about that, you know how he can be," Annabeth said.

"Curse you Professor Peakley," Percy griped.

"I know, but FREE tickets to New York Percy! It was a good deal and its the fastest way to Camp AND it's during Winter Break, which gives us more time together at Camp. Besides, it would've been impolite to decline." Annabeth reasoned.

Percy snorted. "Since when do you care about being polite," but he thought over her words. "UGH! I hate it when your right." He peeked at her under his arm. She was grinning widely, excitement lighting her eyes. He decided that that kind of made it all better.

And he could tell why Kristy found her attractive. Dang, she was hot when she wins him over with reason.

"But we're going to Camp." she sang.

That put a smile on his face. He could already feel the campfire and taste the smores and a walk along the beach with Annabeth DID sound really good. "I suppose I can try to last the plane ride," he said, "but if Zeus is angry..." the sentence tapered off.

"You're so dramatic." Annabeth laughed, but he could tell she was kind of nervous too. Most people didn't try crossing Zeus, him being King of the Gods and all, but maybe with how much they've already done for Olympus, he'd give them a bit of leeway. Hopefully.

But, hey, they were demigods. Their lives were full of life-ending risks.

"So when are we leaving?" Percy asked, returning to his normal position and picking his burger back up.

"Tomorrow afternoon."

The hamburger dropped back down. "TOMORROW! WE'RE LEAVING TOMORROW AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME THIS SOONER!"

Annabeth shrugged. "Cause I knew that if I would have told you earlier, you would have backed out last minute," she said. "Come on," she added at the look he gave her, "you know I'm right." Which she was. Which was still kind of annoying.

Percy groaned and picked up his shake, slurping up the drink inside solemnly. "Fine, fine. Let's go to New York on a plane ride, tomorrow, that will likely end up with us killed. But first, let's finish lunch. I'd hate to die knowing I never finished these fries."

Annabeth's smile was bright and grateful. "Thanks, Percy, you don't know how much this means to me,"

But he did. And, honestly, that kind of made it all worth it.