Hey guys! *drumroll please* This is the LAST chapter! *sobs* Well, there's going to be n epilogue which I will probably post on Wednesday so be looking out for that, but yeah. I had a huge amount of fun writing this section. Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks to all my lovely reviewers, favoriters (is that even a word? who cares) and followers. :) You guys seriously are the best!
Now onto the story! Tell me what you think in the reviews. ;)
• One year later •
"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth swatted him away from her, grinning. "There are customers behind you. And you have snow in your hair. And – "
He shut her up with a kiss from across the counter. The other people in line either smiled knowingly or looked annoyed. Annabeth could see that Seaweed Brain didn't care a bit either way.
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
They had been dating for a year now. In fact, their one-year-anniversary was today, and Seaweed Brain had come by the busy coffee shop to pick his girlfriend up for a special date – something they could rarely afford, both of them being fresh out of college and still just establishing themselves in the realm of potential jobs.
Annabeth had graduated NYU with a bachelor's degree in Architecture. She was hoping to move closer to the city eventually for more job opportunities, while Seaweed Brain, on the other hand, had already been promoted to a bigger aquarium near the NYC. He too would be moving in the future.
But he won't yet, she thought as she apologized to an impatient business man waiting for his coffee. Because of me. Seaweed Brain was waiting until they could save up the money to move together. She felt guilty, almost, knowing that he could have gotten numerous jobs by now, but he always brushed her concerns off with a couple of kisses and cuddles.
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
A few minutes later, Piper replaced her at the counter, and Annabeth gratefully accepted a steaming cocoa, grabbing a blue one for Seaweed Brain as her eyes drifted over the bustling shop, looking for her boyfriend. Another Christmas season had come around, and the constant stream of tourists had her legs feeling like jello.
"Over here!" he called, standing by the door. Annabeth handed him his blue cocoa, shrugged on her coat and gloves, and took his free hand as they exited the shop.
The snow crunching under their boots, Annabeth was content to simply walk in silence. Well, not silence, really – faint strains of Christmas carols drifted from open shop doors, tourists chattered and laughed as they passed on the crowded sidewalk, and cars rolling down the snow-dusted street honked and waved at friends and neighbors.
Seaweed Brain put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him as they strode briskly. Annabeth relished in the warmth, wondering again how she could have lived before she met him. He was literally her other half, her person.
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
Grinning with a secret mischief, he opened the door of the small diner. Annabeth laughed, realizing that this was the diner they had gone to exactly one year ago, that amazing night when they had talked until three in the morning, waiting out the storm. The flurries of snow around them, thankfully, showed no sign of growing.
The diner was busy in the growing dusk, dinner hour. Annabeth was glad that Seaweed Brain had called ahead and told them to reserve them a table. The waitress, one of Annabeth's friends, Katie Gardner, led them to a table in the far back corner, where the din of tourists in the front was dimmed.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" Katie asked them as they sat down.
"Well, I had some cocoa from the shop, but it's gone, so I'll have another cocoa," Annabeth told her friend, smiling.
"Yeah, I'll have the same. But blue."
Katie laughed – all their friends were now well familiar with Seaweed Brain and his unusual taste for blue food. "Coming right up. You guys tell me what you want when I come back."
They thanked her and made small talk – just little things, then the subject changed to their first date. Annabeth sighed happily, remembering it. Funny, it seemed like just yesterday. Time certainly had flown.
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
They ordered burgers – the same ones they had the year before – talking, smiling, laughing. Laughter was a given in their conversations. Seaweed Brain always knew what to say, even if Annabeth had had a bad day. She loved that about him, too.
And, she realized during a funny story he was telling her, she knew everything about him. Well, not everything – you couldn't learn everything about someone even if you had a lifetime to do it (though she would try if she had the chance). But the little things: like how he loved beanies but hated snapbacks, or how Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid were his favorite movies, or how he would only drink orange juice if it had the pulp. Or like how the tiny blue specks in his green eyes caught the light when it was dark out, and how he would run his hands through his black hair when he was nervous, and how his throat moved when he sipped and the edges of his nose crinkled when he laughed. Because everything, everything about him was normal and yet so unique. Just another person to the random outsider, but to her, ten thousand times more beautiful than she had ever seen. Because he was hers.
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
Seaweed Brain ordered dessert for both of them. She scolded him but smiled, and she could tell from his face that he knew she had wanted it.
He excused himself while they were waiting to make a trip to the restroom, and Annabeth was about to do the same when he thrust his cup of cocoa – why were his hands shaking? – to her and said, "Can you hold this for me?"
She nodded, wondering why he couldn't just have left it on the table, but with Seaweed Brain, she never knew.
Annabeth sat down again, twirling the cup in her hands and watching the blue, creamy liquid within swirling, when suddenly her finger caught on something on the bottom.
She held the cup above her head in curiosity. Her breath caught as her eyes glazed over a ring, scotch-taped to the bottom. The scribble above it – Seaweed Brain's signature chicken scrawl – read:
I want to build something permanent with you.
Realization hit her like a truck, and she didn't even realize there were tears streaming down her face until she tasted the salt in her mouth. She dumped the rest of the cocoa into her own empty mug, the blue liquid sploshing around the edge and running down the sides, in her haste to untape the ring on the bottom of the cup.
Annabeth held it out, examining it, crying, laughing, sobbing, really. Not a diamond – a black pearl, lined with tiny red stones that almost looked like coral.
It was stunning. She couldn't breathe.
And then suddenly there was Seaweed Brain, appearing out of nowhere, down on one knee, laughing at her reaction, asking her to marry him.
The world stopped for a moment. Just one, but it was enough to last Annabeth a lifetime.
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
And then it had started again and her vision was spinning, and she was laughing through her tears and throwing her arms around the guy that she knew, without a doubt, she could spend the rest of her life with. With her Seaweed Brain, because he was her person.
Forever.
"Of course I'll marry you, Seaweed Brain," she said into his ear, hugging him for all she was worth.
"Percy."
She pulled back, laughing and brushing away her tears, too distracted to comprehend what he had said. "What?"
(Did she mention that she loved him?)
"Percy," he repeated, his smile growing. "My name is Percy Jackson, and I love you more than you'll ever know, Annabeth Chase."
And then, of course, she kissed him. Kelp Face. Seaweed Brain. Percy Jackson.
Her fiancé.
Because real love stuck around.
And Annabeth was pretty sure they'd already started building something permanent.
(Yeah, she'd mentioned that she loved him, but she'd repeat it the rest of her life.)
Okie dokie! Love it? Hate it? What did you think of the moment Percy actually told her his name? (finally cough cough) So anyways, I hope you all really enjoyed it! Please leave a review and be looking for the epilogue pretty soon!
WM
