Disclaimer: Characters belong to Rick Riordan. Lyrics by the Arctic Monkeys. Storyline is mine.

Secrets I have held in my heart

Are harder to hide than I thought

Maybe I just wanna be yours

I wanna be yours, I wanna be yours

Wanna be yours, wanna be yours, wanna be yours

5 years later…

I grumble and look over to the clock, realizing that Percy has reached a new low, exactly 45 minutes late to our date. The waiter looks at me, obviously too sad to kick me out of the restaurant and give the table to one of the many couples waiting in the reception area. I finally give up, reaching for my wine glass and chugging the rest of the dark red liquid before reaching for my purse and starting to stand up.

Then he rushes in, eyes frantic and searching around the restaurant for me. I just continue to stand, feeling a little wobbly in my heels after 3 glasses of wine and start to walk right past him before he sees me and blocks my way out of the restaurant.

"How nice of you to grace me with your presence…" I grumble.

He takes my hand and raises the other to the waiter, stopping him from picking up the scraps of what should have been our dinner. He pulls me over to the table and sits me down before pulling out the chair across from me, unbuttoning his suit and sitting down.

Ugh I love how well he fills that damn suit… and how he rolls up his sleeves and I can see the ink on his skin. And how he unbuttons his shirt just a bit before commanding the waiter to bring another bottle of wine and to bring us new food. The waiter just nods and whisks the old plates away, averting eye contact with me.

"Listen, if I weren't so tipsy, I would let you enjoy dinner on your own like I was just about to."

He smiles at me like I'm just too cute for him to understand and I scowl at him in response.

"Now you absolutely have a reason to be pissed right now and I'm so sorry, although that probably doesn't mean much at this point."

I raise an eyebrow and restrain myself from rolling my eyes. "No, it's really fine that you showed up almost an hour late to our anniversary dinner but it's whatever. Truly."

He just chuckles a little bit and thank the waiter when he brings back fresh plates of food and a whole other bottle of wine for me to choke down. I start to fill my glass to the brim before Percy snatches the wine away and out of my reach. "No more. I want you to remember tonight, if possible."

That pisses me off and I start to get up again before his hand grabs mine and he links our fingers together. "I'm sorry I'm late, we were closing on a deal for the new parlor in Miami."

His words don't surprise me, as his chain of tattoo parlors span the U.S., the earnings buying us an incredibly comfy penthouse in Manhattan.

"Okay," is all I say, wanting to piss him off as much as he is pissing me off.

He just grins and links our fingers together. We finish our dinner in silence, our fingers never leaving each other and after he pays the bill for the second time he grabs my bag and helps me into my coat. His arm wraps around my waist and he ushers me into a waiting car, closing the door behind us.

"How was work?" he asks.

I don't respond and he grabs my chin, looking deep into my eyes, then setting a soft kiss on my lips. "How was work?" he asks again.

"It was fine." In reality, it was amazing, seeing as my firm got the project for the new wing of the MET, but I wasn't letting him know that.

"Just fine. Interesting."

"Yup," I respond, not willing to give him anything, especially not a peek at the expensive ass lingerie I rushed to buy after work just to surprise him.

He keeps grinning and grabs my neck, rubbing his thumb on the owl tattoo just behind my ear, pressing a kiss on it.

It was his first ever tattoo. I can't help but be proud of where he took that, and how much he has grown in the past six years.

We drive right past the penthouse and I look at him, suspicious. "Where are we going?"

He just smiles and keeps rubbing his finger on the delicate skin behind my ear.

When we finally pull up to the airport and we get whisked through security, somehow ending up in a private jet that I'm pretty damn sure we can't afford. Well, we can but we shouldn't.

Percy turned a few tattoo parlors into a whole business, and it's not surprising that we constantly see him all over social media, his handsome face making women of all ages swoon over 'America's Sexiest Bad Boy Businessman.'

I sit in a chair and put my purse on the seat directly next to him, giving him no choice but to sit on the couch across the plane. He just keeps smiling, the fucker, like he knows some secret that I don't. I roll my eyes and give up, deciding to head back to the bedroom to catch up on sleep since I won't be productive anytime soon.

He follows me and I slam the door before he can come in, locking it. I know he can probably easily get a key so I strip down and crawl under the covers before he comes in quietly and does the same.

He grips me around the waist and pulls me back into his chest, breathing me in and pressing a kiss to my neck. Fucker.

.::.

I wake with a pretty mild hangover all things considered. I know I'm in a hotel room of some kind, the curtains drawn tightly closed to prevent any wretched light from filtering in.

The door to the bathroom creaks open and my boyfriend steps out wearing just a towel low on his hips. He smiles when he realizes I'm awake and presses a kiss to my head before picking up the phone and whispering something in some indistinguishable language. He makes an affirmative sound and hangs up before giving me his full attention.

"How do you feel?"

I cough and glare. "Like a flaming dumpster."

He laughs at this and drops his towel, quickly slipping into boxer briefs and pulling a pair of nice pants over them.

"Well, into the shower with you, we have some stuff to do today."

"No thanks, this bed is pretty comfy."

He just smirks and scoops me up before heading to the bathroom. "I would have waited and joined you in the shower if I wasn't afraid of castration. Room service is on its way up, we should probably eat something before we go."

I grumble and get into the shower, letting the water loosen the tense knots in my back from my short coma. The only inkling I have of where we are is that my smartwatch claims it's around four in the afternoon. I finally jump out and wrap one of the plush robes around me, heading back to the main room.

Percy reads the newspaper and sips on his coffee. I look at the cart of food sitting in the corner and my stomach growls at the smell. I take a warm pastry of some sort and pour myself a cup of coffee before sitting down and devouring it. When I'm done I look over to find a gorgeous navy dress laid out with a pair of matching heels. I take that as my cue to put them on and before I can even try to zip it up myself, Percy comes over and does it in one smooth movement before setting both of his hands on my hips. "Beautiful as always," he murmurs in my ear.

"Where are we?" I finally ask.

"The one place you have secretly always wanted to come but have never been."

I think hard and can't come up with a solid answer before he opens the curtains and I get a gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower and a Parisian sunset.

I gasp and look over at him. "You brought me to Paris?"

He nods and takes my hand, "Yes and we have to go now if we want to make our reservation."

I blindly let him lead me downstairs and through the cobblestone streets. I barely have any time to take in my surroundings before we reach the edge of the Seine River, where a little dock leads down to glass ceiling boat.

I'm immediately suspicious but still follow him down into the boat, where a table for two is set up and ready. He pulls out a chair and I sink down into it and I get a weird sense of deja vu as he does the same thing as yesterday and unbuttons his suit coat. He speaks slightly broken French to the waiter and he nods, dipping into the back to serve us dinner.

When our plates are empty and our champagne glasses keep magically filling up, I stand and head out onto the deck holding the railing. I hear music filter in from the main cabin, but I can't distinguish exactly what it is.

I lean on the railing, looking out over the City of Lights, the City of Love. One of the most architecturally unique and magnificent places on Earth. I may have mentioned once how much I've wanted to come here, as cliche and stereotypical as that is. But we've already seen Dubai, Berlin, Singapore. The one place I've been itching to come is Paris and the fact that he remembered such a small conversation makes tears spring into my eyes.

I feel him come up behind me and I see his hands rest outside of my body on the railing. I think back to that first night when we kissed on the railing until we were so blissed out we couldn't think straight anymore. As if he can read my thoughts he grabs my hip and pushes it, turning me around to face him. The same hand reaches up and softly touches my face like I'm his favorite piece of art. The reality is I'm stronger than I've ever been and the man he is today is not even comparable to the boy I met on that strange night. He's been through hell and back, and I'm proud to say I've been with him through it. I was there when he almost overdosed after another short and painful breakup. I was there when he confessed that he was addicted to stuff more hardcore than I could even imagine. I was there when he was struggling in rehab, depending on his art to get him through the painful months of solitude. I was there when he finally opened his first business with the small amount of money we both put together to make his dream come true. I'm here now that we are two people who are complete on our own but stronger together.

I see this all reflected in his green eyes, staring down at me with so much love and adoration. His hand slides down my neck, his thumb rubbing softly on my collarbone, just the way he knows I love. He whispers softly, "Can I kiss you?"

I feel so choked up, seeing our sad past turn into light and beauty. I just nod and he gives me the smallest smile, one that says 'I don't know how I got so lucky.' Our lips barely graze each other before he separates and turns around, rubbing his face. I'm confused, a little hurt by the action.

I hear him whispering to himself quietly and I can't help but stare. He finally turns around with something in his hand. His eyes shine beneath all of the lights and he slowly lowers himself down to his knees right in front of me. He takes my hand and I'm still confused.

"I've come to realize how much of a broken mess I was.. And I can honestly say that I wouldn't be standing here, I wouldn't be alive if you hadn't come into my life. The words necessary for me to thank you and the words necessary for me to describe the love I feel for you don't exist. But I'm going to try my best."

He lays his forehead on my thigh and continues to grip my hand. My other hand immediately goes to his hair. I can feel tears welling up but I try to keep them at bay.

He sighs before continuing, "The truth is you have given me everything in life. You've picked me up from rock bottom, you've given me love, you've given me life. You are the light in my life. Without you, I would still be struggling and tripping in the dark."

I can't control the tear that slips out and I just let it fall, let it leave a little streak down my face.

"I remember once you talked about how a relationship would never be able to survive if each person isn't able to be okay on their own. A relationship can't truly be successful without both parties fighting night and day to be their best selves, but not only for the other person, for themselves too. The ability to love someone else can only be healthy if you love yourself. All of these things I've learned from you."

He finally looks up at me, fiddling with something in his other hand. "Because of you, I'm in the place to give you the best relationship possible, one where we continue to challenge each other to be better. I've looked at you every single day for years knowing that you are meant to be my wife, the person that I promise to love and wake up to every single morning. And that's what I'm promising you today. I promise you that I will be there every single step of the way and I will always love myself so that I can give you the love that you deserve."

I cover my mouth not in surprise but just in an attempt to keep my emotions controlled. My heart is beating so hard and I feel like I can't breathe, choked up by the myriad of emotions I'm feeling. I feel happy, proud, excited, anxious to start my life with this man. I'm ready.

"I'm just… hopelessly gone on you. You're the only person I want to grow old with, Wise Girl."

My eyes are completely wet at this point, happy tears pouring down my face.

"So will you? Marry me, that is…"

I nod furiously, pulling him up and throwing my arms around him. "My fucking God, yes. I love you so much Percy Jackson."

I feel his hand on my hair, the other tightening around my waist in an attempt to get as close to me as possible.

"You had to have know I've just wanted to be yours from the start," he whispers in my hair. "Even when I was just a tough ass and was trying to protect you."

"And all I want from this day on is to be yours too," I respond.

THE END

A/N: I just want to take a moment and thank all of you for reading along with me through this entire thing. Your support and love never ceases to touch me, make me find the motivation to keep writing. This album was one that brings back a lot of memories and is super meaningful to me, and it was just amazing to be able to write a story based on the myriad of emotions it brought out of me. Love you guys and I'm so blessed to have you guys on my side.