Author's Note #1: I don't own Percy Jackson. This was actually pretty hard to write just cause, like Annabeth, I had no idea what to say. Also, while I was writing this, I kept thinking about Good Doctor, a Korean drama. I'm thinking of maybe doing a story based off of it with Percy and Annabeth. Maybe. It's a really adorable show, definitely worth checking out if you're okay with subtitles. Warning though, episodes are long. Sorry for the wait, you guys jumped onto this thing like it was on fire. I really don't know where the plot is going, but ideas are welcome.


Foot In Your Mouth
by: Setkia


"Sorry," he said quickly. "You're unnaturally pretty and I don't know how to deal with it." He reached out quickly and grabbed a glass from the counter, beginning to chug down its contents in order to shut himself up. And people wondered why he stayed home.


Montauk was lovely and worth the drive with pretty white sand, a collection of small houses along the water and children playing on the shore. It was clearly a family-oriented place and the sound of the waves crashing against the sand made Annabeth smile. And then the wind whipped hair into her face.

Looking around she searched for Percy, expecting him to be seated in a tall life-guard chair, wearing swim trunks and sandals with a whistle around his neck. She was slightly disappointed that he was not there. Rather he was more on the ground, standing ankle-deep in the water, wearing cargo pants and a plain blue shirt. Around his wrist was an intricately tangled and woven lanyard with a whistle, clutched in his hand. If he were to let go of the whistle it would most likely just dangle centimetres away from his palm.

Annabeth couldn't resist sneaking up behind him and jumping on his back.

The force of her sudden attack lurched him forward and he fell to the ground. He looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes widening in surprise before a wave came. She clutched onto his back and looked up as the ocean passed over her head. With sunlight streaming through the water it looked beautiful. And of course, she got water up her nose.

When the tide receded Percy stood up and Annabeth held on. It almost looked as though she was being given a piggy-back-ride.

And then she felt a sudden thumping on her back.

Annabeth turned her head to see small children surrounding them, one of which was trying to attack her.

"Let go of him!" shouted the young one, pounding harder.

Percy bent down slightly for Annabeth to get off of him and shook his head at the little kid. "Guys, this is Annabeth," said Percy, gesturing towards her.

"Perry, is she your girlfriend?" asked one of the girls innocently.

"Well, actually, yes," Percy said, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

The girls started giggling and the boys pretended to choke on their fingers.

Annabeth looked at Percy, giggling. "Did one of them just call you Perry?"

"It's not the worst name they've called me, some of them are below the age of three," Percy said. "I don't know what's so complicated, I think they do it on purpose."

"I highly doubt that."

Percy pouted and it was adorable. "They can say Presley and parsley, I think they're pulling my leg by calling me Peter," said Percy, rolling his eyes.

Annabeth swung her arms next to her side, unsure of what to say next. Percy was easy to talk to, that was sure, and you could always guarantee you weren't the biggest fool in the area as long as you were next to him, which Annabeth found nice, especially since Percy just kind of went with it, but now she didn't know what to do. She was uncertain of her next words, kind of anxious and her heart sped up in a good way.

She wanted to hold his hand. It really did feel like middle school, suddenly all flustered over something as simple as skin on skin contact, but she really wanted to hold his hand. It looked firm and stable, and actually, really, really sweaty—

"Are you nervous?"

"What?" Percy's voice raised an octave. "What are you talking about? Nervous? Me? No way!" He bit the inside of his cheek and his face turned red. "What gave you that idea?"

Annabeth laughed. He really was too cute. Part of her thought he was an overgrown child, while another thought of him as thirteen year old who was experiencing puberty for the first time.

"It's okay to be nervous," she said with a laugh.

"I'm not. Nervous." Percy took a deep breath, looking as though he was waiting for the oxygen around him to suffocate him. "Okay. Maybe a bit."

"A bit?"

"A very big bit."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I don't usually make sense around beautiful women."

Annabeth could not get used to it, the way he said compliments so plainly and obviously, as though they were facts. And the thing was, he wasn't asking for anything in return, almost like he just felt like people deserved to know that they were pretty, same way you needed to know the weather. There was no two-way communication, he wasn't expecting anything back. It was refreshing.

"I think you're exaggerating, but thanks," Annabeth said with a small smile.

Percy nodded a bit nervously, same way someone thrown off-kilter would mutter semi-confident reassurances to themselves. "So … why'd you decide to drop by? Not that I have a problem with it, I don't know who would have a problem with it, being visited by someone as beautiful as you— you've fried my brain, I can't remember my point." He flushed slightly and Annabeth giggled. When was the last time she had done that?

"Do I need a reason to visit my boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend …" Percy had the most idiotic smile on his face. "It's weird saying that …"

"Good weird, or bad weird?"

Percy smiled at her and she felt her heart stop. "Good weird. Definitely good."

Suddenly, the cry of a child rang through the beach. Percy suddenly seemed as though he was on fire, alert, eyes scanning the area around him until they locked on a little girl. There was no danger, she wasn't drowning, but her sand castle had been kicked over by a bunch of bullies, which, in the eyes of a four year old, is ten times worse than losing all the oxygen in your lungs.

Percy walked over to her, Annabeth following behind him. Perhaps she didn't know very much about life-guards that she didn't think it was his job to help the child, but Percy seemed to think it was part of his duty to stop the child from crying. He dropped to his knees next to the little girl and gave her a small smile.

"Do you want me to help you rebuild it?"

The girl wiped away tears, though that only got sand in her eyes from how much dirt and sand was underneath her nails. Percy took the towel she was sitting on and slowly wiped them away. "Does it hurt to blink?" he asked her softly.

Annabeth found that in this instance, Percy reminded her of a doctor. A paediatrician. Specifically, the paediatrician who all the children liked and all the mothers flirted with because not only was he good looking, he treated their children better than their husbands did. Percy in a doctor's coat … Annabeth licked her lips.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Three boys walked over to Percy, standing over him. They were probably preteens, a bit pudgy, glaring at him.

Percy didn't answer them. Instead he started to make the moat.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

The tallest boy, probably the leader, shoved Percy in the shoulder. Percy jolted forwards, but stayed silent, focusing instead on the girl.

"Leave him alone," said Annabeth.

"You're old," said the smallest one of the group.

"You're short," replied Annabeth.

"You're ugly."

That seemed to get Percy's attention. He looked up from the pail he was filling with sand and looked the boys right in the eyes. "Annabeth's beautiful."

The boys stared at him like he was an alien. "You're weird."

"I've been told that before," Percy said, seemingly unbothered.

"Go to your parents," said Annabeth. The girl looked slightly sensitive, the bullies who had pressumably destroyed her sand castle seemed back for more.

"You don't have any authority over us," said the leader.

"I do," said Percy. "Go back to your mothers, okay?" he asked, giving them a small smile.

"Why should we listen to you?"

"Because I'm in charge here." Did Percy just have unlimited patience that he was able to deal with them? Because Annabeth could not have done it.

"You're playing in the sand."

"So are you," Percy pointed out. It struck her once more that Percy really was the blunt type. For another thing, she realized that perhaps that was a problem with some people. Not everyone took such honesty nicely.

The boys couldn't fault Percy's logic though, with the sand squishing between their toes so they huffed and left.

Annabeth dropped to her knees next to Percy and the girl. "Want some help?"


Building sand castles was a lot more fun than she remembered. Perhaps it was because she was building them with someone. Sand castles, in Annabeth's mind, had the same right as buildings in that they could be as complex and intricate as they wanted to be and eventually the little girl got fed up with Annabeth's perfectionist actions and let she and Percy take over.

"You stole her sand castle," said Percy, trying to hide a laugh.

"So? My plan's better, it's gonna have a balcony and five floors. All the other kids will be jealous."

"You know that when high tide comes it'll be gone, right?"

"Then we'll just have to take a picture."

Percy stared at her.

"What?"

"Why are you dating me?"

Annabeth paused in the middle of determining the new perimeter (it was going to be an epically big sand castle) to brush aside a strand of hair from her face. "Well, I mean technically, we haven't been on a date yet. Unless you count this."

"Why are you going to date me?" Percy corrected himself.

"Because I like you," Annabeth said simply.

"You don't even know me."

"You don't know me any better than I know you," said Annabeth with a shrug. "Isn't that the whole point of dating? Getting to know someone?"

Percy frowned. "One of my friends told me it was to get some. What I never understood what the 'some' meant." He tilted his head to the side. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Annabeth stared at him. Was he serious?

"Sex."

"What?"

"He was talking about sex."

Percy turned red in an instant. "Um …" He looked back down at his pail, which now matched the colour of his face. "Never mind then."

"Why are you asking?"

"My friends don't believe me when I tell them I've got a girlfriend," Percy said. "I mean not that I've told many of them, but they're a bit skeptical."

"I could meet them if you want—"

Click.

Annabeth blinked.

"Did you just take a picture of me?"

"Yeah," said Percy. "Now I have proof." Suddenly he turned red. "I mean if it's okay with you— I'm screwing up already, aren't I?"

"Calm down, you're doing just fine," said Annabeth, laughing. "Though normally you don't take a picture like it's some sort of secret."

"Just fine?" Percy repeated. "Does that mean I'm meeting the bare minimum?"

Annabeth laughed. "You take things pretty literally, don't you?"

"Do you regret agreeing to this?" And Annabeth realized that despite his straight-forward way of speaking and how he seemed un-embarrassed by any of his actions, he really was uncertain about this whole relationship thing.

"No," said Annabeth with a smile. "Not even a bit."

Percy smiled and Annabeth couldn't help but think that even if Percy called her beautiful, he really was too.

Annabeth had forgotten what it felt like to be appreciated and for the first time in a long time, Luke was nowhere to be found in her thoughts.


Author's Note #2: The thank-yous.

Rampageblast: Um ... here's your food?

abcathena: Yeah, sorry, I have a certain style that may attribute towards my word count, but it's ... I don't know, I saw it somewhere and liked it, so I kept it/stole it. If you read any of my other longer stories, it really does add like 200 words to the total count.

PurplePirateofProcrascination: Thank you!

Lushihunter65: Why on Earth would I want my all-time favorite Percy Jackson couple to break up?

nerdycook24: I didn't want Percy to only be nice to Annabeth, I wanted him to be so bluntly honest that he just said what was on his mind and since Drew IS a daughter of Aphrodite, that means she's pretty. I was wondering if Percy would make that first move in asking about dating, but in the end I was like, "Nah, Annabeth's the take-charge kind of person, she'd do it", so she did.

Thundercade: Thank you! I took your comment and it inspired this chapter, so I hope it's good!

Artemis Raven Courtney: See, the thing is, I hate it when they turn a non-douchebag character into a douchebag, it hurts my soul. So I was like, "Percy is REALLY geeky, in my head and in the books I feel like he is somewhat awkward with the way he narrates and how his mind works, so let's make him so geeky, it turns to level 9000". I felt like Percy and Annabeth's chemistry in the books mellowed once they got together, I didn't get the same squeely excitement from their interactions, which I still loved, but there was just something missing, I felt like they were too comfortable with each other. In my mind a perfect relationship means that you are comfortable with each other, but you're able to do all sorts of things you'd be uncomfortable about with that person and I felt like that awkwardness of their relationship that made it so endearing was gone. Do you get what I mean?

VeryFineAutumn4869: I loved writing that list. And now I have an idea for Beautiful Moments ...

American Mayhem: I love writing relatable characters and realistic things with my own spin on it. My goal is basically to write a character who you could imagine walking down the street, because they're so realistic, maybe not with the same face but the same personality. Percy is me. I basically drew from my non-filter mind and made him say EVERYTHING that popped into his head, more or less.

Exxcaliburr: Is it wrong that I think of that THING (cause I've got no other words) from Soul Eater when I read your name? There was a huge lack of adorable- huggable-until-he-suffocates Percy stories, so I decided to cater to the needs of myself and potential readers.

percabethfantic: I do love writing, does it really show? Since you gave me your name, mine's AJ. I hope this chapter was good too.

DoomStone: Yeah, I know what you're talking about, I put it in there because ... I don't know why. I don't know how to deal with the ramifications of it, like I said, you gotta take the story chapter by chapter because I have no actual proper plans for it.

So ... what do you think? Question for the chapter: what do you think Annabeth's past is?