Hi guys… Sorry for what feels like the 1,000,000th time about the late update. I'm trying to work on it, so hopefully after the next couple weeks (please read bottom A/N!) my updates will come more often and more consistently.
Anyways. Thanks to percabethforever6775 and gryffindorgal105 for the Follows and MisticCelestialDragon for the Favourite :)
Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO—they belong to Rick Riordan.
Annabeth's POV
After everything that had happened that night, Annabeth slept like a dog (which is to say, really heavily) until sunrise. Percy kept his arm around her middle all throughout the night—they hadn't separated since Percy had stopped carrying Calypso. Knowing Percy and how much he cared about her, he probably wouldn't let go of her, or at least let her out of his sight, for the rest of the day. Annabeth herself wasn't worried though—she was pretty sure those two eidolons had been stragglers who hadn't heard the news that Gaea had been defeated. Now, she just wanted to enjoy the camping trip… And if Percy was a little overprotective for a few days, then so be it. It just showed how much he loved her, and Annabeth loved him for it.
When Annabeth's eyes finally flickered open, the tent was illuminated with light from outside. She rolled over and picked up the watch she had lying on the floor which served as her clock. It was nine a.m. Annabeth couldn't fall back asleep, so she turned to look at Percy. He had a small line of drool running from his mouth. That brought back memories… She pulled up the hem of his shirt and wiped it away. Then she started playing with his hair. She ran it through her fingers, curled it around her pinky, and tried to smooth it out. Percy groaned and blinked a couple times. "Annabeth?" he asked.
She smiled. "Morning, sunshine."
"What time is it?" grumbled Percy.
"Nine," she replied.
"Oh," said Percy. He pulled his sleeping bag up over his head. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "In that case, wake me up in a few hours," came his muffled voice through the sleeping bag. Annabeth yanked it back down and grinned at Percy.
"Yeah, no. Get up, Seaweed Brain. I have a plan."
Percy's POV
Percy wasn't overjoyed when Annabeth pulled his sleeping bag back down—it got really cold sleeping in a tent—but as soon as he saw the mischievous glint in her eyes as she announced she had a plan, Percy forgot his chilliness and jumped out of his sleeping bag, quickly trading in his plaid pyjama pants and sweatshirt for a pair of shorts and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. When he turned around, fully dressed, Annabeth stood grinning at him, also done changing.
"Ready to go?" she asked. Percy took in her outfit: Athletic shorts, a grey sweatshirt, and her hair done up in a high bun complete with a headband. Whatever they were doing, it involved something sporty.
Percy nodded at her, feeling a little jittery. What were they doing? He let his mind wander as Annabeth led him out of the tent. The two put on their runners and Percy followed Annabeth down to the camp van.
He observed quietly as Annabeth opened the back doors and climbed in. She turned to the place she'd sat on the ride there, bent down, and—and opened it. The wooden face underneath the cushion where Annabeth had sat was a secret compartment! None of Annabeth's plans failed to amaze him.
She pulled out two large buckets, and two packages of something Percy didn't catch a glimpse of. Then she closed the little panel back up again, like it'd never been opened.
"What's that?" asked Percy in slight awe. Annabeth grinned. "You wanted water balloons. Well, I brought water balloons."
He held a hand up for a high-five, and she complied. Then he hugged her, because she was his girlfriend and he felt like hugging her for coming up with this perfect tactic of bringing along water balloons.
"Who're we gonna shoot?" asked Percy giddily.
Annabeth smirked. "Why pick one person when everyone's asleep in their tents? It'll be a piece of cake to shoot them all if we work fast."
Percy grinned. "I like the way you think."
They headed over to a tap and started filling up water balloons. The kits Annabeth had brought had this nozzle that filled up thirty balloons at a time. You just held the little device over the bucket and pulled the balloons off when they looked big enough—no tying required, because there was already a little elastic band over each one. It was a genius idea, really. Percy wondered if a child of Athena had come up with this brilliant product, because it saved them at least half an hour. Within two minutes, they had their buckets filled to the top with balloons. Annabeth grabbed something out of one of the packets—a slingshot, Percy saw—and they marched into the centre of the campsite to the picnic table with the umbrella (Rachel had set it up, saying she burned easily and wanted shade).
Annabeth studied the metal umbrella pole for a second. Then she took one end of the slingshot, tied it securely to the pole, grabbed the other side and stretched it taught. She gestured towards Percy. "Ready to shoot?"
He grinned and picked up a water balloon, setting it in the little sling. "Who should we shoot first?" asked Percy.
"Um…" said Annabeth. She scanned the tents. Her gaze stopped on one with part of the actual tent material unzipped, so it was just a mesh screen, and she pointed at it. "Perfect."
Percy quickly set his water balloon back in the bucket and ran over to the tent. He couldn't not see who they were shooting at. Inside the tent, Grover and Juniper were snuggled together in one sleeping bag, foreheads touching and sound asleep. Percy felt a little bad waking them (and he had to admit, they looked pretty adorable together) but on the other hand, ew, get your own sleeping bags, and he ran back to Annabeth.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"Grover and Juniper," he replied.
Annabeth smiled. Apparently the thought of shooting on the couple, who had been Percy's closest friends at camp (well, Grover had been Percy's closest friend—Juniper, not so much) amused her, too.
Percy picked his water balloon back up and set it in the sling once again. Then he took a few steps back, stretching out the slingshot and aiming towards the mesh screen of Grover and Juniper's tent. Annabeth studied the angle, making sure he had it perfect.
Percy moved the sling a teeny bit to the right, and Annabeth whispered, "There." Percy let go. The water balloon sailed through the air. The pair held their breaths. The balloon hit the mesh screen hard and popped against it. Percy did a fist pump and Annabeth dropped the slingshot, doing a little victory dance, as they heard Grover's goat bleat and Juniper's cry of, "What the…?!"
Percy high-fived Annabeth for the second time that day, and then picked up the slingshot so Annabeth could shoot. She grabbed a water balloon, placed it in the sling, and surveyed the tent circle once again. Percy did too. After a couple seconds, he pointed to another tent that also had the tent material unzipped so the mesh screen was showing. "There," pointed Percy. They didn't have time to keep checking who was inside the victim tent, so Annabeth aimed and the balloon flew towards the tent, once again hitting its target spot on. Annabeth had a little fit of evil silent laughter, and Percy quietly snickered.
"TRAVIS!" yelled a voice from the tent they'd just shot. Percy and Annabeth looked at each other and doubled over in laughter. "Katie and Travis!" wheezed Annabeth. Percy nodded and picked up another balloon. They had to keep going.
Annabeth grabbed the side of the slingshot as Percy aimed at the last mesh screened tent. He let the water balloon fly and, as expected, it hit its target. Percy and Annabeth high-fived again but grabbed each other's hands instead of pulling away from it.
"YO!" yelled a guy's voice. Percy sniggered, realizing whose tent it was. "Jason! Be quiet!" came a girl's voice in an attempted whisper.
Annabeth laughed, also realizing whose tent it was.
"Sorry!" they heard Jason huff angrily. "Something just got me all wet!"
"What?" replied Piper confusedly.
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. "It must've missed Piper!" whispered Annabeth incredulously. Percy nodded, his eyes widening. Then they heard it: the sound of a tent unzipping. Percy panicked and looked to Annabeth, who was also panicking. "What do we do?" asked Percy. Annabeth quickly picked up one side of the water balloon launcher. "We load it!" she whispered urgently. "That way they won't come after us. Quickly!"
Percy put a water balloon in the launcher and pulled back, preparing to release the little water bomb on whoever came after them.
The unzipping noise stopped, and Jason stepped out of his tent. The top half of his Camp Jupiter t-shirt was soaked with water, and his hair was looking nice and wet, too. "Perfect hit," whispered Percy. "Agreed," replied Annabeth in a hushed tone.
Jason started stomping towards them but stopped when he noticed Percy was poised to launch another one his way. He quickly raised his hands in the air in surrender. "Don't shoot! I want to join your attack team."
Percy and Annabeth shared a look. They hadn't thought Jason would want to join them… The two had a conversation with their eyes and came to a silent agreement: Jason was obviously trying to take them down from the inside. Plus, Percy was pretty sure Jason was only wearing boxers… And upon further inspection, Percy realized it was the lightning bolt pair Piper had held up to Jason in the photo Percy had taken of them before they'd left for camp. (Percy raised his eyebrows a bit at the sight of that, but he couldn't really judge, considering he himself had a grey pair with little turquoise tridents all over…) Anyways. They couldn't be a team of badass water balloon shooters if one of their members was wearing lightning bolt underpants.
"Fine," replied Percy, inwardly smirking, "But first… Observe your girlfriend coming out of her tent."
"What?" replied Jason confusedly, turning around to look at his tent, which Piper was not coming out of. Percy grinned deviously and launched the water balloon. It hit Jason straight in the middle of his back.
Jason turned around with an incredulous expression on his face. "Dude!" he cried. Percy shrugged. "Sorry, man. Gotta do what you gotta do."
Jason rolled his eyes and shook his head and, ultimately, went back inside his tent. Percy watched as he sent a glare at them from through the mesh screen before zipping it up so he couldn't get hit again.
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. Annabeth dissolved into a fit of giggles and Percy burst out laughing. "Nice shot," she gasped. Percy smiled and hugged her. "Thanks. Great idea," he replied. Annabeth grinned up at him. "Thanks."
The two grabbed the water balloon supplies and walked hand-in-hand back to their tent, where they hid them under a pile of suitcases, clothes and shoes. Then Annabeth reached under all the stuff and pulled out two water balloons. She gestured for Percy to do the same, so he did. Then they marched back out of the tent.
"What are we doing?" whispered Percy, confused. Annabeth smiled deviously and fixed her gaze on a tent. Percy followed her line of sight and realized she was staring at Jason and Piper's tent again.
"Oh," he said, cracking a smile. They walked as quietly as possible up to the tent. Annabeth counted down on her fingers: Three. Two. One. She unzipped the tent's door incredibly fast, and threw her water balloons at Piper, while Percy threw his at Jason. All four hit their targets spot-on. (Just because Percy couldn't use a bow and arrow to save his life didn't mean he didn't have good aim.)
After the water balloons splashed, Jason yelled, "Seriously, AGAIN?!" and Piper screeched, "Annabeth Chase! You'll pay for this!"
Percy and Annabeth decided then was a good moment to run for their lives.
Annabeth grabbed his arm and steered him in the direction of the lake. They ran until they got there, and Percy didn't stop, ripping off his shirt, slipping out of his shoes incredibly fast, and catapulting into the cool, soothing water. He popped back up to the surface with a grin and motioned for Annabeth to come in, but Annabeth raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"Percy, I'm not getting wet," she said. "It's barely ten a.m."
"I can control the water so it doesn't get you wet," he offered, mostly because he didn't want to get out of the lake but also because he really wanted Annabeth to get in the lake.
She rolled her eyes and pulled off her sweatshirt and runners, revealing a loose blue v-neck t-shirt and bare feet. She ran up to the lake and cannonballed in. Upon her entrance into the lake, Percy formed an air bubble around her and swam over, slipping inside it. Then he kissed her, and she kissed back, and the rush of the fun morning washed over him and he thought again about how much he loved Annabeth.
It was the second best underwater kiss of all time.
• • •
Jason's POV
Thanks to Percy and Annabeth, Jason was now soaked. He quickly took off his t-shirt, muttering angrily as he tried to dry off his chest and back with the dry parts of his shirt. Jason felt eyes on him, and turned around to find Piper staring at him. "What happened?" she demanded. Jason blushed. "Percy and Annabeth," he sighed. "Water balloons."
Piper giggled. "Hey!" cried Jason. "You're supposed to be on my side!"
Piper just grinned. "Yeah, yeah. I'm always on your side, Sparky. But that doesn't mean this isn't funny." Then she frowned. "Even if I am soaking wet and freezing."
Jason glared at her and grabbed a towel, attempting to further dry his body and hair, before slipping on a long-sleeved Superman shirt and looking down at his shorts, deciding what to change them to… When he realized his shorts were actually boxers.
"Gods dammit!" muttered Jason, feeling a rush of embarrassment at the thought of Percy and Annabeth witnessing him storm out of his tent in lightning bolt boxer briefs and a Camp Jupiter t-shirt, his hair ruffled and his eyes tired with sleep. Great way to keep up his status as a put-together, serious-when-it-called-for, strict-but-kind former praetor of New Rome. If Percy really did just see him wearing those underpants, Jason would never hear the end of it.
Jason quickly slipped a pair of cargo shorts on top of his boxers, then flopped back onto his and Piper's air mattress, sending Piper bouncing into the air and dropping back down onto her side. "Hey!" muttered Piper, rolling over and tackling Jason. Jason was now pinned underneath Piper, who had a murderous glare in her eyes. Jason thought he saw a bit of playfulness, too, but he couldn't be sure, and he wasn't going to dare risk making her mad a third time.
"Jason, Jason, Jason," said Piper in a scolding tone of voice. "First you wake me up, now you throw me around the air mattress by bouncing onto it? You're going to pay…" Now her eyes were more playful, but Jason still gulped nervously. Luckily, Piper leaned her head down towards his, and Jason closed his eyes right before their lips were about to make contact. But after a few seconds, he realized… Their lips hadn't actually touched.
Jason opened his eyes. Piper was still sitting on his chest, but now she was leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest and a playful smirk on her face. "Nice try, Sparky," she said with a shrug. "Sure I get pissed at Leo when he calls me Beauty Queen, but that doesn't mean I don't need my beauty sleep. Jason Grace, no kisses for two days."
Jason's jaw dropped. Never before had Piper punished him by not allowing him to kiss her. (Truth be told, he sort of thought it'd be a bit of a punishment for Piper, too… But apparently she could go without kissing Jason for a couple days. Either that, or she was a really great actress. Or maybe she was just willing to put the kissing aspect of their relationship aside for two measly days so she could get revenge. Who knew?)
"What?" Jason squeaked.
Piper grinned. "You heard me," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Now. I command you to go make me some pancakes!" she said with a grand sweep of her arm, slumping back onto the air mattress. She turned towards him. "And if they're really good, then maybe— Just maybe—" Piper said deviously, "I'll shorten the no-kisses punishment to today only." Jason's eyes widened, and he scrambled to get up and out of the tent quickly. They were on vacation! He didn't want to sit around not kissing or bonding with his girlfriend. But nooo, he had to be stupid and be a little rude to Piper. Now they weren't kissing, and they definitely weren't bonding.
On the bright side, Jason really tried his best with the pancakes. The eight he made turned out perfect, which Jason was ecstatic about.
"I approve," nodded Piper as she finished off her third blueberry pancake. "Your punishment is shortened to today only."
Jason did a fist pump. Who knew he could cook! (Well, actually, he'd gotten a bit of help from Percy, whose mom Sally cooked all the time and insisted Percy knew how to hold his own in the kitchen, but Piper didn't need to know that.)
Jason leaned in to give Piper a celebratory kiss, completely forgetting his punishment—or in other words, why he made those pancakes in the first place—and Piper slid her hand up to cover her lips, so Jason kissed her palm instead.
Piper pushed his face away, smirking, and Jason blushed. "Ah, ah, ah," scolded Piper playfully, "No kisses today, remember? Or do I already have to change it back to two days?"
"No!" yelped Jason. "I mean…" he stuttered. "Um. Sorry. I forgot."
Piper shrugged and gave him a little smile before sauntering off towards Percy and Annabeth's tent, probably to have a little chat with Annabeth about the water balloon scheme... Or how epic girls were and how good of a plan not kissing Jason was.
• • •
Jason died a little inside that day, he felt so alone. That night, sitting at the campfire with Percy and Annabeth cuddling to his left and Piper just sitting there to his right, Jason wanted nothing more than to lean over and give Piper a deep kiss. But he couldn't until the day was over…
Jason had been checking his phone repeatedly for the past two hours, wishing that time would speed up a bit already. Unfortunately, the Titan Kronos was the only being Jason knew of who could control time… And based on what the Camp Half-Blood campers who'd fought Kronos and his army the summer before had told him, Jason did not want a run-in with that guy.
Jason checked his phone for the gazillionth time that day and groaned. Only 11:27 p.m. He still had to wait another half an hour…
Suddenly, Jason heard a crack, and his head snapped up from the position it was in, lolling on his shoulder. Luckily, though, it wasn't anything dangerous, because what he saw in front of him was a bright green glow stick lighting up the darkness in front of Hazel's face.
"Guys!" Hazel shrieked. "These are so cool!" She waved her glow stick around excitedly, forming a blur of green light. Frank smiled at her. Jason walked up to Hazel, an idea forming in his mind.
"Hey, Hazel," he started, plopping into the chair next to her, which Frank had just left unoccupied so he could go to the bathroom, "Do you happen to have any more of those?" he asked.
Hazel fiddled with her hands uncomfortably. "Well, um, I kind of got it from the Stolls' suitcase?" she whispered nervously.
Jason's eyes widened. Hazel didn't spark him as someone who'd steal, but then again, Jason was about to do the exact same thing.
"Thanks," he said to Hazel. "No problem," she replied.
"Percy!" yelled Jason. "Get over here!" Percy came jogging up to Jason, who'd positioned himself outside Connor's tent (he figured Travis wouldn't keep a suitcase full of glow sticks and who knew what else in a tent he was sharing with Katie, which only left Connor).
"What?" asked Percy confusedly. Jason made sure no one was watching them, then quickly unzipped Connor's tent and hopped inside. Percy followed suit.
"Hazel got the glow stick from Connor's suitcase," Jason explained. "So grab a bunch and follow me."
Percy complied, and the two left the tent as quietly as they'd entered, Percy's arms full of glow sticks. Jason led him to the field part of their group campsite, where they were out in the open. Then Jason grabbed a glow stick from Percy and produced the ball of thin rope string he'd stashed in his coat while in Travis and Katie's tent.
"What are we doing?" asked Percy confusedly. Jason grinned at him. "Having fun with glow sticks!"
Jason quickly thread the rope string through the little hole on top of the glow stick he'd grabbed and cracked. Then he ripped it off and tied it so there was a large loop of rope string with the glow stick hanging off.
"There!" he announced proudly, holding it up so Percy could see. The guy actually frowned.
"We're making glow stick necklaces?" asked Percy incredulously.
"No, you idiot!" cried Jason. "This is just so it makes what I'm about to do next a little easier."
Jason started quickly swinging his glow stick–rope creation around in a circle. The glow stick at the end of the rope whipped around in a circle motion so fast that the light blurred together, creating a large, glowing green circle in front of Jason.
"Whoa," said Percy. "Cool."
Jason nodded and prepared for what he'd planned. He swung the rope around a few more times, faster, then when the glow stick was coming around the circle at the perfect angle, he let go of the rope. It flew high, higher, and higher into the air. Jason figured it must've been at least thirty feet up there. He threw his head back and stared at the dark, starry sky and the little green glow stick seemingly floating in it. For a moment there, Jason felt a little lost—lost in the sky, lost in the universe, completely at peace and in awe. He vaguely remembered Thalia showing him something like this when he'd been really little—before this whole demigod mess that, eventually, had turned out to be a blessing-in-disguise had happened. Then the glow stick started its descent, coming down fast, and Jason rushed to where it was falling. He managed to catch it, then turned to look back at Percy.
"Whoa," repeated Percy, eyes wide. "Cool." Neither of them had really had the chance to do something as innocent as playing with glow sticks when they were kids (besides that one time with Thalia, of course). Now that the most difficult parts of his life were over (hopefully), Jason figured it was time to make up for the years of training, seriousness and war by having some simple fun. He wagered almost every other person on this camping trip felt the same way.
Percy dropped the glow sticks on the ground, then picked one up and cracked it. The bright green light spread throughout the little tube. Percy grinned and then, instead of doing what Jason did, he snapped it in half and flung the liquid all over the place. Little droplets of glowing green chemicals flew through the air. Jason wasn't one for being sappy, but even he had to admit it looked pretty surreal. The droplets landed back onto the grass, so there were glowing specks all over the area where they were standing. Jason looked at Percy and noticed some had gotten in his hair, so his mop of crazy black hair looked even crazier, now speckled with bright green polkadots. Jason stifled his laughter at Percy's fascinated expression and glowing hair.
The two continued throwing and breaking open glow sticks, whooping and staring in awe. When all of them were used up, Jason and Percy headed back to the ring of tents speckled in green glow stick chemicals. Everyone stared at them as they sat back down. Jason noticed Annabeth give Percy a once-over with a raised eyebrow. Percy shrugged and said something to her, to which Annabeth responded by rolling her eyes and kissing him.
Jason wished he could kiss Piper already. Then he realized he hadn't checked the time in a while, and pulled out his phone, turning it on.
His eyes widened when he saw the time. 12:07 a.m.! The day was officially over!
Jason turned towards Piper, who was staring at him, grinning. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her long and hard. When he pulled back, Piper's eyes were sparkling. "Well that wasn't so hard, now was it?" she asked with a grin. Jason pulled her into a big hug and whispered in her ear, "It was really hard. Never, ever do that to me again."
He pulled back and Piper was grinning like mad. Jason blushed a bit.
Being in love and living a demigod's life were such crazy, wonderful, messed-up experiences, thought Jason as he leaned in to kiss Piper again—but he wouldn't trade this life for anything in the world.
Thanks for reading :) Please review if you have the time! I read and appreciate all feedback I get.
PLEASE READ: I'll be going to a sleep-away camp in four days, and it'll last a week. I most likely won't be able to post again before I leave so… Yeah! I have a bunch of stuff to post on Percy's birthday though (because why not I mean it's our favourite demigod's birthday!) and that's two days after I get back, so it'll be two weeks before I post again. Thanks for taking the time to read this :) (Also it doesn't really matter too much because lately I've been taking like 2 weeks to post anyways but still…)
Until the eighteenth!
–ImpulsesOfLife
