Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Ooh, ooh, ooh

-Lucky, Jason Mraz

The next morning dawned slowly.

Just like when we were back at Beast, the sun would creep into the bed, warming our feet and slowly waking us up. I normally wake up first, but this morning Percy was up first, propped up on his elbow, his other hand playing with my hair.

"Hey," he whispered, leaning down to peck my lips.

I was still in a blissful haze, so I just hummed and rolled in his arms, throwing my leg and arm over his torso and upper thigh.

Then I got a sudden bolt of soreness, a deep ache that hurt and felt good at the same time.

He must have seen my wince because he frowned a little and massaged my hip with his hand.

"Sore?"

"A little. We really didn't go gently that third time."

His lips cocked up in a smile but then he was rolling out of the bed to my protest, before he scooped me up in his arms.

I shrieked and threw my arms around his neck, even though I knew he wouldn't drop me.

He carried me into the large bathroom, resting me gently on the side while he leaned over and worked at filling up the tub. I shamelessly stared at the gold perfection of his skin.

"Are you checking me out?"

"Don't be shy, it's nothing I haven't seen before."

I reached around him and grabbed the shower gel I saw in the corner, pouring a liberal amount under the facet and in the jets until bubbles were everywhere.

"We need to get you a rubber duck."

"Why the hell do I need a rubber duck?"

"Their one job is to bob in the bathtub with you and keep you company, what kind of people would we be if we didn't let them do their job?"

Percy just shook his head at me and then turned around to help me into the tub before settling down behind me. He lifted his foot up and poked the facet to turn off the water.

We were in a little bubble utopia; I spun around from him so my back was resting on the other side of the tub, our legs overlapping at the knees. He gave me a questioning look before I motioned for him to turn around.

He did, and I rubbed some shampoo into his hair, taking care to run my fingers through it thoroughly. Then I used the removable shower head to rinse it out. The whole time I was doing this, he arched into my touch like a cat, and a deep, happy purring sounding noise resonated through his chest.

We switched places and he ran his fingers through my hair, untangling the knots and rinsing out the curls. His fingers traced the single gray curl I had near my ear and pressed a kiss to it.

"How badly do you think that Luke is going to hurt me when we get back for defiling his innocent baby sister?"

I laughed at that visual he gave me.

"He'll be angry, you might get the shovel talk, but you'll be fine. Luke knows when to be overprotective and when to be calm."

Percy dropped a kiss to my shoulder and then nuzzled my wet skin.

"Do you want to call and say we'll be here longer or do you wanna go back today?"

"Nah, let's stay here for a while. I love everyone dearly, but I like that we're alone right now."

I could feel his lips turn up in a smile from where he still nuzzled my shoulder.

"Good. I plan to go through that whole box by the time we go back."

I smacked his shoulder, but he just laughed and placed a soft kiss on the underside of my jaw.

"Come one. Let's rinse off and then I'll show you my mad waffle-making skills."

"Like those huge, size of your head and bigger kind of waffles you make in a waffle-maker?"

"Yes, no dinky little Eggo Waffles in my house."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Baking with him was interesting to say the least.

Percy never measured anything. He just threw approximations in, and it drove me nuts. I loved measuring out things and making sure it was exactly enough.

And of course, he dumped blue food dye into the batter, so when the waffles came out they were a bright blue.

Whipped cream went everywhere, along with strawberry jam. Percy had made some pretty overt innuendos of what parts of my body he would want to eat whipped cream off of.

Needless to say, after we had finished our meal we christened the kitchen island.

And the kitchen table. And the wall leading from the kitchen to the stairs. And then in the bed, after we managed to stumble up.

We were lazy that entire day. We watched movies together, didn't even bother to put on clothes. Sometimes we would venture out to get food, and to take showers together, but all in all we never really left the bed.

Thalia and Apollo had blown up our phones at the 24 hour mark, and so did Luke. I felt bad that we had gone incommunicado, but I mean seriously…this was a big milestone for the two of us.

That night, we took sleeping bags and huge pillows downstairs to the large greenroom so we could look up to the stars. And since it was our last night together alone, we didn't just have sex.

It was slow, long, languid. The kisses were soft, slow. We took out time exploring each others bodies, and when we fell, we fell together, faces so close together I could see every pore and eyelash on his face.

And there, under the stars and on top of all the soft pillows we had accumulated, he whispered he loved me against my skin and I could have sworn I melted right there.

Two months later, I would look back at this night and realize that it was the night, that was the moment, when my life changed forever.

oOoOoOoOoOo

The moment Percy and I walked through the front door of Beast two days after his birthday, Apollo and Thalia blasted the speakers that were hidden all throughout the room for parties and such.

And what song did they play?

Akon's "I Just Had Sex."

Luke was laying on the couch with his hands over his eyes, and Nico and Rachel were dying of laughter. I was thankful that Beckendorf and Silena weren't going to be back for the rest of the summer, because Silena would have just made everything so much more awkward with her penchant for turning innocent words sexual.

Percy groaned and threw our duffles over by the stairs, making sure to keep a firm grip on my hand while we walked across the slippery entry way.

"Remind me why I like you guys?"

Thalia didn't say anything back, just rummaged through my bag and pulled out the box I had tried to burry under clothes I hadn't worn.

"Holy shit! You went through three quarters of the box!"

Luke let out another long groan, like his ears were bleeding.

I blushed so hard I was surprised my body didn't go numb from all the blood rushing to my face.

Percy buried his face in my curls. I wished I could hide my face as well.

Apollo whistled long and low. Nico stuffed his knuckles into his mouth to try and keep the laughter from spilling over, but Rachel just laughed as hard as she could.

Luke finally spoke up in a slightly sickened voice, "Please, if you want to tease them, then do it when I'm not in a ten mile radius."

I slipped away from Percy and curled up next to Luke on the couch, putting my head on his shoulder like we had when we were younger. Luke automatically shifted so his arm was around my shoulders.

He whispered so only I could hear, "You guys were safe, right? And he didn't push you into anything?"

I blushed, but I felt a little touched at how willing Luke was to talk about this, even though it was clear he would rather be anywhere else.

"Yeah. It was…perfect Luke. Don't worry."

Two days later and the teasing had finally died down.

Percy and I were sitting on the deck in the afternoon, an umbrella keeping most of the sun's rays off our backs. I was fiddling with my guitar and he was strumming his own, a notebook and pencil to his left.

Out of the blue though, Percy said, "How would you feel covering a song with me?"

The boys had their own YouTube/Vevo channel, an official one where all of their music videos were put up. Then they had their own personal one, where they would post covers of other songs and teasers of new ones, sometimes acoustic versions.

"Which song?"

Percy didn't answer, just started strumming familiar chords to me and I had to laugh.

"Lucky" by Jason Mraz had been one of the first songs I had learned to play on my guitar. I had always loved the simplicity of the acoustic version, and apparently Percy did as well.

"Want to get Thalia to film this for us?"

"Ehh, better get Apollo. He's better at the computer tech than she is."

So within three minutes, Apollo was setting up the camera so that it was getting a shot of Percy and I framed against the ocean. I had put on a better shirt - hey, I was going to be on the internet! - and sat down cross-legged. Percy plopped down next to me, pecking my temple jokingly.

"Okay lovebirds, you're on!"

We goofed around at first, just playing chords. Then Percy started strumming for real, belting out, "Do you hear me, I'm talking to you! Across the water, across the deep blue ocean under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying."

Taking my cue, I started up a little more quietly than him, "Boy I hear you in my dreams, I feel our whisper across the sea, I keep you with me, in my heart, you make it easier when life gets hard."

And on and on like that we went on, smiling and strumming in unison. It was a surreal experience singing with someone who clicked so well with my voice.

Percy became a cheese ball when the lines, "And so I'm sailing through the sea, to an island where we'll meet, you'll hear the music fill the air, I'll put a flower in your hair," and he reached behind him to pick up a flower from the beach and then pop it behind my ear. We both laughed, adding more sound to the music, making it more personal.

And when the music was wrapped up, Apollo just said in lightly-disugised awe, "I never thought I would see the day when all I had to do was shorten a video to post it online. That was perfect!"

I blushed at the praise.

"Do you want them to know who you are Annabeth?"

I cast a questioning look over to Percy and he just shrugged.

"You can introduce yourself as Luke's sister and not have to say anything about us if you don't want to. Most of the fans know that Luke has a sister, so it might be nice for them."

He sounded nonchalant, but I could see the hidden emotions in his eyes; my answer to this question was going to mean a lot to him.

"We can tell them who I am as far as Luke's sister, but let's keep us on the down low for a little while. I like being able to walk in public and not get mobbed by paparazzi."

Percy's eyes cleared, and I didn't know what to think; was he afraid of being saddled in public with me? Had he been afraid I wanted to deny being with him because I was ashamed of him? As if.

It didn't seem like a good time to ask the question, so I just let it go.

Luke and Nico, who had some point drifted outside to see us, joined into the conversation now.

"You might still have paparazzi following you because of Luke."

"Yeah, well, familial relationships don't sell as much as romantic ones in tabloids…unless it's a scandal."

Luke laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders.

"I don't think our relationship has any scandals in it."

"It almost did when I thought you were wearing my clothes."

"WHAT!?" Came the unanimous cry, Rachel and Thalia now joining the mix.

Luke blushed so hard even his scar darkened a little.

"I had taken your clothes so I knew what size to buy! I didn't know what else to get you for a gift!"

"You could have wrote it down, not carry my pants and shirts all through the mall."

"You know what, then you can just take whatever crap gift I get you this year then!"

More laughter, but I pressed a kiss to his cheek and whispered, "Love you too bro."

Nico chimed in then, "The guys and I did have a question to ask you and Thalia though."

Thalia shot me a look, her eyebrows raised a little. I shrugged; I had no idea what they wanted to ask us about.

But I swear, if it was about Percy and my sex life again, I was going to club someone. Or stuff sand down their pants. Or both.

Percy's eyes dawned with comprehension and he face palmed, groaning out, "I can't believe I forgot to ask you!"

"Ask me what?"

Nico continued, "They're going to start recording their second album the end of this summer, hopefully get some recorded and then have the entire thing out by Christmas or the New Year. We wanted to know if you would like to collaborate on it with them?"

Thalia and I barely exchanged a glance when we both screamed out at the top of our lungs, "YES!"

Seagulls further down the beach took off in flight, and the others laughed at our excited tones.

"Good to know. Come on inside, we have some sheet music drawn up already for about two or three songs."

And then the rest of the day was spent babbling over the papers, music demonstrations and laughter when impromptu lyrics - "And they went through half a box of condoms in three days!" "I'm going to kill you!" - sprung out.

It was a nice moment, laughing with my brother and friends and my perfect boyfriend. It was almost like I could pretend that we wouldn't be going our own separate ways in a week.

I refused to let that sobering through ruin our mood though; if I was going to do something I loved, and if I was going to enjoy these moments, then I needed to push these thoughts out of my head.

Little did I know I would pray months from now that those were the only sobering thoughts I would have for a long, long time.

A/N: Hey guys, I'm still alive! I'm sorry this took so long to post, but in Chapter Fourteen is when things get seriously serious, and I'm so excited! I cannot tell you how excited I am though, if I'm being honest. Like, honestly.

Okay, so, please keep leaving feedback! It means a lot! And the next chapter should be out within the next ten days, I hope! I'm gonna be busy with NaNoWriMo in November, so please be patient with me!