When Sally Jackson had given birth to her baby boy she wasn't surprised to find a faded blue trident shaped symbol on her son's right wrist. The very tip of the shape reached almost to the palm of his hand and the base stopped at the middle of his forearm, right besides a dark brown freckle.

His father, Poseidon as he was nicknamed, had had a symbol similar to his, though it was located on the back of his hand and was the prongs were a stormy green that twisted around each other like a whirlwind of design. Sally had worn that symbol for years, but it faded to only a faint outline when her beloved never returned from a trip at sea.

Her own symbol started just behind her left ear and worked its way all the way down to her collar bone with twists and curves lacing down the back of her neck. It was a string of royal blue beads that was so lovely and delicate, and so very interesting to look at. Her symbol was strong and prominent, nothing like her son's light one.

His symbol was just as interesting as her own. It was marbled with fainter and fainter blues. It's edges glowed in minty rays. It was beautiful. No other word could describe it.

Sally knew something so beautiful should be cherished. She knew that whoever was to wear her son's symbol would be as beautiful as it, if not more. She knew her little Percy was going to have a love so radiant it would withstand anything, even being lost at sea.

The first day of third grade Percy met what would be his life long best friend.

She was the only student in the room that hadn't laughed at him as he struggled to read a simple line of text from a first grade reading level book.

Heat was simmering in his cheeks, red crawling through every inch of his face. It was embarrassing enough that the words jumped off the page and twisted and turned so he couldn't make sense of them in their floating state, but to have to read those words aloud to a whole classroom was torture in itself.

He felt hot pricks in the back of his eyes, tears threatening to come when he saw the blonde across the room give him a determined nod of her head as if to say "keep going, you're doing fine."

He gave a slight motion of his head and continued to stumble and stammer over the current paragraph. When his turn was over he breathed a much needed sigh of relief and flashed the girl a friendly smile in thanks. He hadn't cried reading and he owed her much for that with her small encouragement.

After class she approached him with perfect poise.

"Annabeth Chase." She greeted him with a firm handshake like a business woman thrice her age. Her gray eyes did not linger for a millisecond off of Percy's own green eyes.

"Percy Jackson." Percy mumbled back after the shock of the formal greeting wore off. "Thanks for not laughing at me." Percy added on

Annabeth cocked her head.

"Why would I laugh? I can't read either."

This took a moment for Percy to process because she seemed so smart it was hard to believe she had the same problems as Percy.

He was going to say something else when Annabeth began to say something about how it was nice to make "acquaintances" with each other, though Percy hadn't a clue what the word even meant when his mind wandered off.

He got lost in her brewing eyes and how the steels and charcoals danced around and around as the fluorescent school lights flickered.

"Percy!" The young girl snapped.

He shook his head to rid himself of the distraction.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked for your home phone number so my father can call your parents so we could get together over this weekend. I mean, if that's okay with you." She said a slight red starting to tint her cheeks.

Percy nodded happily, oblivious to Annabeth's minor embarrassment and scribbled his phone number on a scrap piece of paper (it took him 10 minutes to get the order right, but when he did, he was very satisfied).

"Yeah! You should come over my house, my mom makes the best blue cookies!" Percy's face split into a massive grin and his eyes went starry at the thought of his mother's cookies.

Annabeth scrunched her little nose.

"Blue cookies?" She said with a favorable amount of distaste.

Percy nodded enthusiastically.

"They're super awesome!"

Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again as a silver Lexus approached the parent pick-up station in which the duo was standing.

"Well that's my dad. I'll see you soon!" With that Annabeth waved good bye and skipped to the car, lilac lace dress bouncing around her.

It was only then that Percy noticed a symbol on her ankle, but before he got to see what it was, she had already gotten the car door closed.

—–

The first time Percy and Annabeth hung out together was at Percy's small apartment. True to his word, Percy's mom, Sally, made blue chocolate chip cookies.

Annabeth held the cookie in her hand a safe distance away from the rest of her body.

"Are you sure these are okay to eat? It's not poisonous, right?" Annabeth asked inspecting the cookie, turning it over and over and over.

Sally laughed from her spot on the couch in the other room. She looked up from her book to see Percy taking a gigantic bite from his own cookie.

"See? All good." Percy said through a mouthful of food which made Annabeth scrunch her face in disgust.

Sally chuckled to herself.

"Percy." Sally said in a reprimanding tone. "It's not polite to talk with your mouth full in the company of a lady."

Percy was about to speak again, but with one look from his mother chewed the cookie thoroughly and gave an over exaggerated swallow to show he was done.

"Sorry mom!" Percy said with a bright, childish smile.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Annabeth."

Percy turned in his chair so he was facing Annabeth once more.

"Sorry, Annabeth" He said in a more gentle tone.

"It's okay." She giggled.

They didn't know it at the time, but they'd have many more times like this. Always they hung out at Percy's house. Annabeth's dad was hardly ever home so it was just the nanny to occupy the very, very large home. Annabeth preferred the Jackson's much more than the blonde hair, uptight nanny she was stuck with daily.

—–

The second time Annabeth came over to the Jackson's, Percy asked about her symbol.

"Oh, you mean my owl?" Annabeth asked innocently.

"Yea! I saw it on your ankle one day after school. I have a trident. It's a lot like my dad's symbol. At least that's what my mom said. I never meant my dad though. He's lost at sea and-" Percy never got to finish what he was saying when Annabeth interrupted.

"Percy, you asked me about my symbol." She said with slight annoyance, she loved to talk about her symbol. It was something she was extremely proud of with it's elegant shimmery wings and how the owl looked as though it was in flight.

"Oh, yea!" Percy's enthusiasm wasn't the least bit deflated.

Annabeth rolled up the jeans to just above her ankle. Her legs were skinny making her ankles even skinnier and very knobby. The bones bulged at awkward ankles waiting for more weight to be added.

"See, it's an owl. A barn owl to be specific. It looks like it's in flight and if I move my foot the right way the wings will look like they're flapping." To prove her point she began shaking her ankle in a funny dance.

Percy couldn't take his eyes of the design. She was right about it looking like it was flying. The wings seemed to ever so slightly swing up and down as if it were going to fly right off her ankle into the starry night sky. He was so purely mesmerized by it. The color, well colors of the owl were exact to the shades in Annabeth's eyes. The owl had large mechanical eyes with iris shaped like metal gears. It was very fascinating.

"Did you know owls are the symbol of Athena? She's the Greek goddess of wisdom. They called my mom Athena because of her owl symbol. I don't know what it looked like. She died after having me. I guess it's a lot like you and your dad." Annabeth said bringing Percy out of her state.

"Do you want to see my symbol?" Percy asked with huge eyes. Annabeth always had interesting facts to share with him. She was much smarter than the average nine year old.

Annabeth giggled.

"What?" Percy asked defensively.

"I see your symbol everyday, Seaweed Brain." She explained and it was true. Percy's symbol was right out in the open for anyone's eyes. The only time you couldn't see it was if he was wearing long sleeves and that was hardly ever.

"Seaweed Brain?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nodded as if the simple gesture was enough to answer the question.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl." Percy shrugged in response, knowing his nickname for her was much lamer than her's for him.

"So are you gonna show me your symbol or what?" Annabeth asked after silently approving the nickname she had been given. It wasn't too bad in all honesty.

"I thought you said you see it everyday."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Well you can still show it to me."

So Percy did. Annabeth inspected the blue trident just like she did the cookie.

"Yours is very light." Annabeth remarked.

"I know."

At that moment Sally walked into the room the kids were playing in with a bowl of chips for the pair to snack on.

"What are you two rascals talking about?" Sally asked placing the chips on the floor and then sitting down between the two.

"Our symbols!" Percy said happily, scooting over to be closer to his mom.

"Oh?" Sally raised an eyebrow. "Do you guys know the story of our symbols?"

Annabeth shook her head along with Percy.

"Well come closer and I'll tell you guys." The kids inched closer so they were huddled around Sally, impatiently waiting for her to get on with the story.

"When a person is born they have a special symbol on some part of their body that is unique to just them." Percy and Annabeth nodded, they already knew this part.

"When that person grows up and has the chance to fall in love another symbol will appear on their body. The symbol of the one they love. Now this new symbol might fade over time if their love weakens or the other dies, but it will never go away because one cannot completely eradicate love. See the trident on the palm of my left hand?" Sally pointed to the symbol with her other hand. "This was the symbol of Percy's father. Ever since he was lost at sea it began fading, but it's still there just like my love is for him." Sally said noticing the interest and delight in the faces of the two. She was glad the story kept them entertained, it could be hard to do that with two ADHD kids.

"That was beautiful." Annabeth whispered, wondering who's symbol she would carry someday.

—–

Percy and Annabeth had been inseparable for most of their lives. Throughout the years of their friendship they had multiple sleepovers, Disney movie marathons, water balloon fights, and late night talks about what they were going to do in the future and classmates they really, really didn't like.

Annabeth became a constant resident at the Jackson household. After her father married her nanny and they had twins when Annabeth was ten she liked to spend even less time at her home than when her nanny was just her nanny and not her step-mother.

Sally became like a mother figure in her own right. She took Annabeth on shopping trips when her dad was away for business, rented chick flicks and popped popcorn for girl nights in, and helped Annabeth in any way she needed as she grew up.

Though once they hit high school the sleepovers became less frequent, there were no new movies to watch, and both of them always had an overload of homework. Their friendship was slightly strained, but nothing they couldn't get passed.

It was the middle of sophomore year and the duo was lounging on Percy's bed. Annabeth had her feet across Percy's lap, Percy had his eyes locked on the screen of his phone, brow furrowed in concentration as he played a new app, and Annabeth had her head nose deep in a book.

Annabeth put down the surprisingly heavy paperback and blew a tuft of hair out of her eye. Both her and Percy were sixteen now, both had their driver's license, and both still were dazzled by their symbols.

"So, I was talking to Rachel today." Annabeth started.

Rachel was one of their good friends they met in eighth grade. She was a mellow girl, extremely talented in art and had a head of fiery red curls. Her symbol was a larger green, blue, and red splatter on her right cheek covering some of the mass of freckles that scattered across her face.

"Mm-hmm." Percy said not really listening.

Annabeth kicked him lightly in the ribs to grab his attention.

"Hey, listen to me, Seaweed Brain."

Percy exited out of the game, shut his phone off, and looked up at his best friend whom was still resting her long legs on him.

"What is it, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth finally sat up from her position and instead sat cross legged on the black, cotton comforter.

"As I was saying, I talked to Rachel today." Annabeth said twiddling her thumbs.

"What about Rachel?" Percy propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Annabeth with some suspicion. Percy had a bit of a feeling that Rachel might just like him and not in just a "friend" way.

"She was talking about Homeocming coming up. You should ask her to go with. You guys could double date with me and Luke." Annabeth said trying to sound nonchalant, but failing at doing so.

That was another thing that happened, Annabeth started dating a boy in the grade above him. His name was Luke Castellan and she started dating him in her freshman year. Percy wasn't so sure how he felt about that.

He sighed, "I don't know, Annabeth. I don't like her like that and I really don't want her to get the wrong idea. She's one of my good friends."

Annabeth let out a defeated breath.

"I figured you'd say that. She really likes you, you know? You should give her a shot. You haven't even ever had a girlfriend." Annabeth said.

"Yea well maybe I haven't found the right person yet." Percy looked at Annabeth. The way he looked at her so… meaningful made Annabeth a bit uncomfortable. His sea-green eyes were a window to his being and Annabeth refused to look through.

She shifted in her seat, "Taking her to homecoming would still be nice."

—–

Percy ended up not even going to homecoming, but instead stayed in with his mom and watched reruns of their favorite sow together. So when he got a call from a sobbing and practically incoherent Annabeth saying she was on her way over he was already up getting out a pair of pajamas for her and anxiously pacing in front of the door.

A small, weak knock came from the front door and Percy immediately leaped to swing it open. Standing there in her gold sequined dress, blonde curls falling everywhere was Annabeth with tear stains and tears still flooding from her eyes. Despite all that she still looked beautiful, at least to Percy anyways.

Percy pulled her right into a hug, she gripped his gray sweatshirt and sobbed into his shoulder. He rested his chin on the crown of her head and rubbed soothing circles into her back.

"What's wrong, Wise Girl?" It pained Percy to ask the question so much that it came out in a hoarse whisper. He never wanted to see Annabeth upset like this.

"L-Luke." Annabeth blubbered out. She felt Percy's grip tighten his grip on her, his large biceps filling with tension.

She pulled back from him and shook her head rapidly.

"No! Percy it's not like that! It's not his fault." She didn't sound like she was lying, but the tears told him otherwise.

"What did he do?" Percy asked softly.

Annabeth sighed tiredly.

"Can we go to your room?"

Percy nodded and led her to his room. They sat on the same bed that they sat on just days ago when they were talking about Rachel and double dating and everything was good.

"Do you want to talk?" Percy asked in that same soft, soothing tone.

Annabeth waited a moment to respond, gathering up courage she barely had.

"He- He had someone else's symbol on him." She said, suppressing tears.

"Oh, Annabeth." Percy pulled her into another tight hug.

She curled into his side still shaking with sobs.

When her cries began to cease she pulled herself from Percy like letting go of an anchor.

Wiping at her eyes to dry them she said, "I'm not mad at him. I know one can't help who they fall in love with. I just wish he told me sooner."

"Me too, Annabeth. Me too." Percy said placing a kiss atop her head.

—–

It was one more day until Percy and Annabeth started their junior year of school. They were both seventeen now and many of their classmates dawned a symbol that wasn't their own.

The pair found themselves lounging on Percy's bed like they've done so many times before. It seemed that the most important moments and conversations happened on his black comforter.

The scene was just like that day in their sophomore year when Annabeth suggested that Percy ask Rachel to homecoming. Annabeth was laying across Percy, Percy had his eyes glued to the screen of his phone, and Annabeth had her nose in a book. They were comfortable like this.

Percy looked up from his screen.

"Hey, Annabeth." He said.

"Yea?" She didn't look up from her book and her eyes continued to flick across the worn and yellow pages.

"No, I need you to listen to me." He said, letting her know that what he was about to say was important.

She put down the book, moving her flowered book mark between the pages she was on and locked her gray eyes onto his green.

"What is it, Percy?"

He breathed in a little then said, "I'm not doing swim this year."

Annabeth was shocked. Percy loved the swim team, heck his favorite activity was swimming. It was hard to even get him out of the water once he was in it. But now that Annabeth thought about it… She didn't remember going swimming once this year with him. It had always been with her other friends like Rachel or Hazel or Piper. Never with Percy.

"Why? You love swimming and you're the best on the team." She was still in a state of shock, Percy would never quit the swim team. It had to be a prank, but he didn't sound like he was lying…

Percy casually shrugged.

"I don't know. I just don't think it's for me."

Annabeth knew he was lying by the way his words wobbled slightly. She wondered why he was keeping the real reason from her.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain. Don't try to lie to me. What's the real reason you're quitting?"

In the blink of an eye Percy took a defensive position. He cleared his face of emotion so it was a blank slate and hunched his shoulders forward.

"I'm not lying. I just don't want to do it, okay?" His voice took on a fierce edge warning Annabeth she was treading into a danger zone.

She shrugged, trying to keep things from escalating as she knew they could with Percy.

"Alright if you don't want to tell me the real reason, you don't have to." She said, picked up her book and continued reading.

Percy grunted and went back to playing his app.

The atmosphere in the room was no longer comfortable like before, but was filled with traces of awkwardness neither of them could deny.

—–

Annabeth had been on her way home from the debate club meeting when she remembered she had accidentally forgotten her winter coat at Percy's the other day. She figured she'd just stop over and grab it, knowing it was supposed to get cold that night and she had to grocery shopping for her family in the morning.

It was midterm week of their senior year and since Annabeth had gotten hers over in the first two days of the five she had plenty of time to spend with her friends. Things had been a little tense between them since junior year and Annabeth couldn't figure out why, which bothered her to almost insanity. Percy was her best friend, but lately he'd been acting more distant and just plain out weird at times like he was intentionally putting space between them. Still, they hung out like old times and nothing could change that.

She pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building she's been to a million times since she was nine. Already the weather was getting to near freezing and she rubbed her arms trying to stay warm to during the walk to the front doors of the building.

As she opened the doors to the stairwell leading to his apartment Annabeth was greeted with a blast of hot air. She sighed contently, rubbing her hands and cherishing he soon to be gone heat. She took two steps forward, back into the cold familiar air of Percy's building.

Her black boots clicked and echoed as she walked up the deserted, dimly lit stairwell. She smiled as she pushed open the door to his floor, red worn carpet meeting her feet.

She checked her watch. It was four o'clock, nobody would be home now. Sally was working at the candy shop and Percy had to stay after for detention (that boy couldn't hold his tongue to save his life). She pulled out the key to the apartment that Sally had given to her years ago. It was bronze in color and Annabeth painted the top with purple nail polish.

The door opened easily and Annabeth entered the apartment like it was her own home (it practically was anyways). Just as she closed the door a person came out from the bathroom. More specifically, the shower.

It wasn't the fact that Percy was wearing only a towel around his waste that made Annabeth stop dead in her tracks. It wasn't even the shock that someone was at the apartment. It was what was on Percy's glistening wet chest that made both Annabeth and Percy wide-eyed, staring at each other like thieves caught in a robbery.

Right over his heart was a silvery owl with wings stretched out so it looked like it was flying. Right over his heart was Annabeth's symbol.

Percy gulped and took an intake of breath.

"Annabeth." He said dumbly.

Annabeth didn't say anything for a while, silenced by fear and shock.

"What's on your chest?" She asked, her voice five octaves too high.

Percy looked down where Annabeth's symbol laid on his chest.

"Annabeth let's not talk about this right now, just let me get dressed."

Annabeth nodded wordlessly, taking a seat on the sunken in couch. The couch they had watch movies on, slept on, grew up on.

When Percy came back fully dressed in a blue t shirt (that was just too tight for Annabeth's liking) and jeans, Annabeth still couldn't take her eyes off the spot where her symbol was tattooed on her best friend's skin.

Percy sat on the couch, a respectable distance away from Annabeth herself. Neither of them spoke for a long, long time. It was Percy who first interrupted the deafening silence.

"Look, Annabeth let's just ignore this. Pretend it never happened." His deep, scratchy voice was anxious. His knee was bouncing up and down, up and down. He was looking in the exact opposite direction that Annabeth was sitting in.

A sudden hot white anger bubbled inside of Annabeth. How could Percy say to ignore something like this? Something so life changing?

"Ignore this? Forget it happened?" Annabeth was seething through her teeth. She was so angry and irritated with Percy for thinking she could just ignore this.

"How can I ignore that my best friend is in love with me!" Annabeth jumped, hands balled into tight fists.

That was a mistake. Now Percy was upset.

"Yea, well I've had to deal with it for the past year!" Percy got off the couch too, and his face was only inches from Annabeth, red with anger. The whole situation was one gigantic mess.

Annabeth took a step back, regaining her rationality at his statement. He's been in love with her for a year. A whole year and he'd kept this from her.

"Is that why you quit the swim team? Why you've been shutting me out?"

"Yea well I can't really go around shirtless at a swim meet when my best friend's symbol is on my chest." Percy spat, more mad at himself than Annabeth.

Annabeth felt a rush of panic hit all her nerves. Hyperventilation was only seconds away. Confrontation wasn't on her favorite things to do list and knowing her best friend is in love with her made a wave of nausea come over her. Her brain couldn't process the information right now. Her moment of rationality was gone to the wind.

"I- I think I need to go." Annabeth said as fast as she could while she grabbed the forgotten coat and sprinted out the door.

—–

It wasn't until the last day before school after the midterm break that Percy and Annabeth talked again.

Percy was laying on his couch absentmindedly flipping through channel after channel. He had been in a blah state ever since Annabeth found out he was in love with her, and not just that, but for over a year. Sally knew what was going on and sympathized for her son, but wanted the two to make things up. Annabeth was like her daughter and she missed her just as much as Percy did.

Percy's phone began to ring. He picked it up off the coffee table to see it was Annabeth calling him. Her contact name, Wise Girl, flashed on the screen along with her princess curls and a laughing smile. Percy braced himself for the conversation before pressing the accept button.

"Hello?" Percy asked, trying to control and level his voice.

"Hi." Annabeth's voice was so small and delicate, Percy wanted to reach through the phone, wrap his arms around her and protect her from the world (even though she could handle herself just fine).

"What's up?" His voice caught in his throat.

"Can I come over?" She sounded desperate, almost vulnerable.

Percy was taken a bit aback by the question. Annabeth was always welcomed at his house no matter what was going on between them. She never needed to ask.

"Yea, of course." He found himself nodding along as if she were there to see.

"Ok, I'll be there soon." With that Annabeth hung up.

Annabeth arrived at the apartment far faster than speed limit should allow, but Percy didn't mind. When he opened the door she stood in the hallway, bundled in layer after layer of clothes. Her already rosy cheeks were frost bitten red and she was shivering like a chihuahua.

"Hey." Percy said.

"Hi."

She stepped in and stripped of her coat, gloves, hat, and scarf leaving her black shirt, jeans, and socks.

"Is you mom home?" She asked.

Percy shook his head.

"No, she had to cover a friend's shift at the candy shop."

"Oh."

An awkward moment passed between the two. Awkward moments never used to happen with them. They meshed too well together for awkward.

"Do you want to go to my room?"

Annabeth nodded like that was exactly what she wanted.

The two went into his room and sat on the bed that they'd sat on thousands of times before. But this time was different. Annabeth wasn't laying across Percy. Percy wasn't on his phone playing the hottest new app and Annabeth wasn't reading a book. Instead they were sitting on the edge of the bed, not touching or even looking at each other.

This time Annabeth broke the silence.

"Can I- can I see my symbol?" She finally looked up at him, her nervousness starting to fade away, replaced with the determined and sometimes scary Annabeth that Percy had fallen in love with.

Percy nodded and took off his shirt, placing it on the bed. It'd be a lie to say Annabeth didn't notice his defined muscles or the way his biceps flexed as he took the cotton over his head.

Just like magic, Annabeth's symbol was on his chest, branding Percy as in love.

Annabeth took her small fingers and gently swept over the design she was so familiar with. Percy inhaled sharply as her skin grazed his. Annabeth snatched her hand back quickly.

"Sorry." She said.

"It's fine." He wouldn't look her in the eye.

Another silence lapsed between them. Annabeth broke it again.

"Percy, I need you to take off my shirt." Her face was dead set and serious.

"Um, Annabeth, I don't- I don't think that's a good idea." Percy stammered as his face bloomed beet red.

Annabeth realized how forward the command was and what alternative meaning it held. She rolled her eyes as she too gained a blush.

"I didn't mean like that. Gods, Percy." She scoffed, hoping her embarrassment wouldn't show.

"Oh, um okay." Percy said, still unsure. He grabbed the ends of Annabeth's shirt and pulled it over her head.

Once the piece of fabric was off she stood from the bed and turned around.

Across her whole back was a giant, faded blue trident. Across her whole back was Percy's symbol.

Percy gasped.

"When?"

"I noticed it after I got home the day I saw my symbol on you."

Percy stood from his seat and began tracing the lines of his symbol on Annabeth's back. His touch made her shiver.

"May I?" Percy asked fiddling with the clasp of her bra.

Thinking it over, she nodded.

He undid the clasp to look at the symbol in full.

"It's beautiful." He said in awe.

Annabeth quickly clasped her bra again and put back her shirt after a few seconds. She only wanted to show him the symbol, not all of her skin. It just had to wind up right there across her whole back.

She turned around to Percy who was also fully dressed.

"So you're in love with me?" He asked as if the giant trident wasn't proof enough.

Annabeth nodded.

"And you're in love with me." She said.

Neither of them knew when the space between them started to decrease, but soon enough their lips found each other and their hearts finally felt whole.

"I love you." They both whispered at the same time.

Percy was in love with Annabeth and Annabeth was in love with Percy.