"Hey." I slid next to him on the bench. "Happy birthday," I reached into my bag and pulled out a misshapen cupcake with blue icing.

He stared at me. "What?"

"It's August 18th," I said. "Your birthday, right?"

He looked stunned and confused. I figured he forgot about today being his birthday- I guess his brain really is full of seaweed! "Make a wish," I said.

"Did you bake this yourself?" He asked me.

"Tyson helped."

"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," he told me, "With extra blue cement." I laughed, it was true. He blew out the candle after a second. We cut it in half and shared it, eating with our fingers. I sat next to him, watching the ocean waves as the sun slowly went down. It was hard to believe how peaceful this was right after the war. Crickets and monsters were making noise in the woods like they always had ever since I had arrived at camp half blood, but otherwise it was dead silent.

"You saved the world," I told Percy.

"We saved the world." I smiled.

"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."

"You don't sound disappointed," He realized.

I shrugged. "Oh, I don't care." Secretly I was laughing with joy on the inside, but I refused to show it.

"Uh-huh." He remarked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?"

"You'd probably kick my butt."

"You know I'd kick your butt." He brushed the cake off his hands.

"When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable… Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me stay mortal."

I kept my eyes on the orange dimming horizon. "Yeah?"

"Then up on Olympus," He said, "When they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking-"

"Oh you so wanted to." I told him.

"Well, maybe a little. But I didn't because I thought—I didn't want everything to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking…" I smirked at him.

"Anyone in particular?" I asked him, my voice timid and soft. He looked over at me and obviously noticed I was trying not to smile.

"You're laughing at me," He complained.

"I am not!"

"You are so not making this easy."

Then I finally laughed for real, and swiftly put my hands around his neck. "I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it." I kissed him. His lips on mine made my entire body feel like it was melting, like I could stay like this forever. But then a voice behind us growled,

"Well, it's about time!"

Suddenly the entire pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged us and hoisted us both onto their shoulders. "Oh come on!" Percy complained to them. "Is there no privacy?" Both our faces were bright red, but I could care less.

"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse yelled with glee.

"The canoe lake!" Connor Stoll shouted.

With a huge cheer, they carried us down, holding hands the whole time. I was laughing, and after a minute Percy started laughing with me.