A/N: Their first fight! They made up too easily, of course, so it's fluff, but still, Annabeth gets jealous;) Read and review!
Percy breathed easy as he propelled himself across the pool, not going too horridly fast, but not too slow that he threw the race. He won by that much, and as he pulled himself out of the pool, smiling at the team mate he'd beat in the scrimmage, he didn't consider the fact that, while swim team held open practices so others could come in and watch, people actually would.
He walked over to where the rest of the team was waiting. Paige Collins, a petite blonde in his grade and on the swim team, was waiting by the starting point. The swim team captain, Mason, was standing at the side.
"Good job, Percy," he said, smiling. "Paige and James, you're up next. Winner goes against Percy and winner of that race goes against me."
Percy smiled. "Good luck, Paige," he muttered.
"I don't need luck." She winked.
Percy shrugged and walked back to join the rest of the team as he waited for the final race. Mason blew the whistle and James and Paige shot into the water, racing towards the opposite end of the pool. When Paige won, she wandered back over to him, smiling.
"I guess it's just you and me, then, Jackson," she said. She crossed her arms. "Think you can beat me?"
Boyish stubbornness and pride overwhelmed him. "Oh, I know I can."
Paige took a step closer, ran her eyes up and down, sizing him up as competition…and secretly enjoying the well muscled view he presented. Strong, but slim and with a swimmer's build, and utterly handsome. Dark hair that often fell in his eyes, green eyes that seemed to dive into a girl's heart and made it thump faster and faster. Lips that looked kissable, arms that could hold a girl tightly and never let go…
"Wanna bet?"
"I can't take your money. That'd just be rude."
"Sounds like Jackson's scared."
"Never."
Paige took one final step closer. They were almost touching. Percy towered over her, staring down. They were meeting each other, gaze for gaze, staring each other down… And Percy was oblivious to what she was thinking. He was thinking it was friendly competition. But the girl with the curly blonde hair and grey eyes that was standing by the doorway knew what the petite swimmer was thinking.
Her heart hammered. He wouldn't. He wasn't. He couldn't be.
"Seaweed Brain," she whispered to herself. And then louder. "Seaweed Brain."
Percy turned. Smiled. "Annabeth!"
She crossed her arms, glaring at Paige. She noticed. Whispering to Percy, Paige asked, "Who's she?"
"Um, my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I'm his girlfriend," Annabeth hissed, stepping forward. She forced a smile to her lips when Mason caught her eye. "Hi, Mason, I need to borrow Percy for a moment."
Mason sighed. "Take 5, everyone."
Annabeth stood in front of Paige and Percy, frowning.
"Annabeth, this is Paige, my friend on swim team; Paige, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth." Percy swallowed tightly, sensing this conversation was about to take a turn for the worst. Annabeth was staring at the girl clad in a tight one-piece swim-suit. "Annabeth, what are you doing here?"
"I…came to surprise you."
"You got me. I'm surprised."
"Why are you flirting with her?"
Percy looked shocked. "I-I'm not! Annabeth, I wouldn't—we wouldn't—she wasn't—"
"Are you blind?" she hissed. "She was throwing herself at you."
Paige blushed, but fury overtook the embarrassment. "Hey! I—"
"Annabeth, I wasn't—"
Annabeth put up a hand up to stop him and turned to Paige, smiling sickly sweet. "Would you excuse us?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'll see you later, Percy. If you're still alive." Paige walked away, towards her bag where her water bottle was, leaving the couple.
"You really are a seaweed brain. She was throwing herself at you. The getting closer, the running her eyes over you, and did you hear her? 'Sounds like Jackson's scared,'" she imitated in an annoyingly falsetto voice.
"We were about to race, Annabeth! Will you just calm down? I wasn't going to do anything but race!"
She crossed her arms. "And what if she did?"
"She wasn't—"
"You're blind! It took you months to realize I liked you, almost years! Even at the labyrinth, with the line from the prophecy, you didn't know! And at the fireworks… My gods, Percy, you're so utterly oblivious. She—"
Percy groaned in frustration. "Fine, Annabeth, if you wanna fight about some girl that means nothing to me, then let's do it. Go ahead. Get it all out. Yell, scream, hit me."
"Percy, Paige, you're up!" Mason called.
Annabeth opened her mouth and Percy leaned forward, kissing her. She pushed him away after a second. She didn't kiss him back. "Don't try to pretend we're not gonna fight about this when you're done."
Even so, Percy leaned forward again and kissed the top of her head.
"Go, Seaweed Brain," she said grumpily.
Paige gave Percy a little finger wave. Annabeth fumed.
Wait, be smart about this, Annabeth. If she senses weakness she'll jump in and take him. Wait until you're out of her range before you rip his head off.
Mason blew the whistle and Percy glided under the water. He pushed through the chlorinated water with ease, keeping an eye on Paige. He stayed even with her for the first half, starting backing up at the last, and shot ahead, winning by a few feet at the last second. Percy knew it wasn't luck. He had lulled her into a sense of security but backing off, and he had used his powers. But still, he won.
Mason clapped him on the back. Percy nodded at him, turning towards Paige. She was still in the pool, at the edge, breathing heavy. He offered her a hand. Smirking, she took it…and yanked him into the pool again.
He surfaced, laughing, but a quick look down made him realize he forgot something. Quickly, he let himself get wet, hoping the brief second that the water hadn't affected him wouldn't be noticed. Paige smiled at him as she hoisted herself out of the pool.
"Good race, Jackson."
"Not bad yourself, Collins."
"Paige," she said.
"Percy," he offered. They shook hands and Paige, once again, gave him a once over.
"Listen, I didn't mean to get you into trouble with your…" Paige glanced over to Annabeth who was leaning against a wall, watching them, a mixture of sadness and anger on her face. "Um, girlfriend."
"It's not your fault. She's overreacting. You and me…we're friends. Teammates."
Paige forced a smile. "Sure. But, um, if you're ever interested in dumping the baggage, you know where to find me." She winked at him. "Call me, sometime, will you?"
Percy had a painfully embarrassing Rachel flashback. "Um…" Feeling once more like one of Apollo's sacred cows—slow, red, and dumb—he didn't speak.
"Percy, you and me, let's go." Mason was watching him and Paige with a quirk of an eyebrow. As Percy approached, he grabbed his shoulder. "What are you doing? Annabeth looks like she's about to kill you."
"I…I don't know. I didn't realize Paige was…flirting with me."
Mason rolled his eyes. "Wow. You need to get out more."
"Nobody flirts with me."
"Some girl flirts with you every day. Annabeth's lucky you don't realize it."
"But I wouldn't—"
"Tell her, not me."
After the race, which Percy let Mason win, but only by an inch, he ran over to Annabeth. "Okay, go ahead, yell."
"You idiot!" she shouted, punching him in the arm.
"Annabeth, you know me! I would never cheat on you, I would never flirt with another girl, I would never even consider—"
"You didn't care that I was intimidated by her! You went right on talking to her! You blushed when she spoke!"
"Good gods, Annabeth! I may be dumb, but I'm not dumb enough to flirt with some other girl, and I was too dumb to realize she was flirting with me, so can you just drop it?" Percy put his face in his hands. "I'm tired of it, Annabeth. You need to trust me!"
"How am I supposed to trust you when I see this?"
He put his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Annabeth, when are you going to learn that the only girl I want is you?"
She looked down, blushing slightly. "But…I can't stop these girls from hitting on you, so I have to stop you from egging them on. I mean, come on, Percy. You're…" She gestured to his chest. "You're…you. You're Percy Jackson. Do you think when we get to camp the Aphrodite girls are just gonna leave you alone because you're with me?"
Realization flooded him. "Do you…do you think you're not good enough for me?"
Annabeth hurriedly brushed a tear from her cheek, but not before he saw it.
"Come here," he muttered, pulling her into his arms. "I may be Percy Jackson, but you're Annabeth Chase. Apollo boys, Hephaestus boys, Hermes boys… I'll be kicking butt all summer when we get back." She buried her face into his chest. "We saved the world, Annabeth, but how could that possibly change how I feel about you?" His arms tightened around her.
"I-I don't know. I just… I thought maybe once you saw how many other girls there were…how much prettier the other girls were—"
"None of them are as pretty as you," he insisted, interrupting her. "I'm the luckiest guy in the universe because I have you…and you go to an all girls' school. Once other guys realize how incredible you are… We both have the same fear, Annabeth. We just have to learn to trust each other, to believe that the other won't go looking for something different…unless…we're positive this isn't what we want. And I'm positive that this is."
Annabeth kissed his chest. "Me, too."
He kissed the top of her head and held her. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to say, "I love you," but held it in. He would tell her when he was sure she was ready to say it back.
"That's all for today, guys! Tomorrow after school, again. See ya."
"I'll go change and we'll go get dinner together, okay?" he asked, leaning back. She nodded, smiling softly. He kissed her forehead. "One second."
He wandered into the boy's locker room and changed quickly before grabbing his backpack and heading back to the pool area. Annabeth was leaning against the wall, staring at the water. Mason was still swimming laps but everyone else had gone inside.
"You ready?" he asked, sticking out his hand.
Annabeth smiled and opened her mouth to answer, but her eyes flicked to something over Percy's shoulder. He was about to ask her about it, but Annabeth pulled him close and kissed him passionately. Pleasantly surprised, he wrapped his arms around her tightly and lifted her off the ground, spinning as they kissed. When they broke apart, they were flushed and grinning.
"We should end every fight with a kiss like that," Percy muttered.
And behind him, Paige Collins walked away, having witnessed the passionate kiss. They were in love with each other. Everyone seemed to be able to see it but them.
A/N: :) Review because it was cute and you got to think about the glorious Percy Jackson in a speedo… ;) And no, of course I didn't name Paige after some slutty chick in my grade! What? Psh…
Love always and forever,
E. M. Zeray