A/N: hey guys!

I'm sorry it took me so long to come back.
I came back to work as soon as the holidays ended, and since then it's been chaos.
I had literally zero time or energy to write for the last days.
either way, this chapter is a little longer and I hope you like it!
the story is almost coming to an end.
once again, thank you so much for all your support 3

~gabi

what must it be like
to grow up that beautiful?
with your hair falling into place like dominoes
my mind turns your life into folklore
I can't dare to dream about you anymore

Of course, Annabeth stayed to help with the cleaning. Just as obvious, she wasn't the only one who did. Sally and Paul went back home early, mostly because of Estelle. Then, around 1:30AM, all of Percy's friends, except from Frank and Hazel, had headed home.

By this time, Hazel was almost falling asleep while standing and Percy was basically begging for them to leave. Annabeth wouldn't lie, she was kind of wishing the two of them weren't that helpful too.

She wanted to be alone with Percy. They had a lot to talk about, something they hadn't gotten the chance to do earlier. Not that they hadn't had the time they were just busy.

Just the thought of Percy's lips on hers and his hands on her body and his hair through her fingers sent a shiver all through her body. Kissing him was... something else. She had never felt anything like that before. It was like nothing else in the world mattered apart from the feeling of their bodies touching. Even breathing seamed irrelevant for her head when they were kissing.

She could have stayed there in the sidewalk forever, leaning over Percy and pressing him slightly against the wall of whichever building was standing behind him, feeling the warmth of his mouth. But they were interrupted very disturbed, very r ed Frank.

"I, uh. Um, Percy, your mom is looking for you," he'd said.

So, they'd come back inside, and then it was all the "Happy New Years " and cheering and hugging and toasting and... Yeah, they hadn't had the opportunity to talk.

Finally, Hazel's sleepiness won and she gave Percy a long hug before heading out with her boyfriend, Percy closing and locking the door peacefully behind him. Annabeth was leaning against the counter recklessly when he turned around and met her eyes, steadily.

"So... I guess you never thanked me for saving your life," she said, somewhat defiantly.

He raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I guess I didn't ."

Annabeth pulled herself up to sit on the counter and reflected his expression, as he got closer with a few steps.

"You wouldn't want to make Sally disappointed with your bad manners ," she replied.

"No, I would not," he finally reached her and, just as he'd done earlier, grabbed a lock of her hair and put it behind her ear. He let his hand fall slowly, brushing deli cately through her shoulder and down her arm, until he held her hand, steadily. "Thank you for saving my life earlier."

She shivered by his touch, his proximity and the low whisper his voice came in.

"Anytime," she answered.

There was a quick silence before he spoke again. "You're a demigod."

"Well, I guess we both are," she said.

He stared at her for a second, in pure amusement. Then it was like the engines in his brain started to move, bringing in all his questions and confusion about the situation.

"Yeah, but how- Where..." he trailed off, meeting her eyes again , trying to transmit his thoughts and feelings.

She sighed. "I've been asking myself that same question s . Can you show me your arm?" He frowned, but raised his arm to her. "The other arm, Seaweed Brain. The one with the tattoo."

"Oh."

He set his forearm on her thighs and she trailed her fingers ligh tly through the patterns on his skin. "The trident... You're a son of Poseidon, aren't you?

"Neptune, actually. But I guess it's not wrong if you call him like that."

If her mind wasn't working a hundred miles per minute, she would've been pissed at that comment. Or, at least, confused.

"SPQR," she said, revelation starting to hit her. "That stands for-"

"Senatus Populus Que Romanus ," he completed her, his voice overlapping hers as she whispered the words. "What?"

He stared at her, confused, as she gasped and put her hand over her mouth, leaning backwards.

"Oh shit. Holy Athena, this can't be-"

"Wait- What the fuck i s happening?"

Annabeth put her hands on Percy's shoulders, as something steading to both, her shock and his confusion.

"Percy... I'm a daughter of Athena. The Greek goddess of wisdom and warcraft."

"You mean Minerva? But that's not-"

"No. I mean Athena. The Greek goddess."

He kept staring at her, confusion taking over his face, util something seemed to click inside his head and his mouth opened up. He took a step back and kept his hands away from her, almost in... disgust?

She could feel her heart drop to the ground with the gesture. Her head followed it, turning to the ground.

"You're a graecus ," he said. She didn't answer. "Shit. I knew the legends but I never thought... I don't understand. After Rome conquered Greece, I thought the gods had changed and assumed our habits and new personalities."

"I always thought they'd never changed, really. And, after Rome fell, they just migrated to the next great center of west civilization. They exist in their Greek form. I know them like that."

"Well, I know they exist in their Roman form as well."

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"There's a camp," he said, finally. "Well, actually, it's more than that. It's a community, really. We- We follow the old ways. We fight in the Legion and we worship the gods and respect their wishes and traditions."

She studied him before answering. "There's a camp for us too. It's mostly a training place. But, for me, it's also family."

He nodded.

"So," he cleared his throat. "How is it- Um, how can you be a daughter of Miner- Of Athena?"

"What do you mean how ?"

" Well , isn't she supposed to be a... maiden goddess or whatever?"

"Oh. I supposed," she blushed. "But that's not... Let's just say things happen differently for children of Athena. You don't know any children of Minerva?"

He shook his head, negatively. "They don't exist, really. It's even kind of- Uh, offensive, thinking about it ."

Yeah. Now she was sure he was disgusted by her. She really didn't know what to think exactly. There were a lot of unanswered questions in her head. She needed to talk to C hiron. She needed to understand what this all was about. She was really confused. But still, the thought of Percy finding her repulsive or hesitating about touching him brought tears to her eyes. She blinked to hold them back.

She jumped to the ground and forced herself to look at him.

"Can you take me home? I wouldn't ask, but it's late and..." she tried to pass by his side and reach her coat near the door, but he stopped her, grabbing her wrist and turning to face her.

"Annabeth," he whispered. "I really don't know exactly what all of this is about, and I don't know how we're going to solve it. There are people I need to talk and things I need to figure out to understand the situation. But I'm not ready to give up on you only because maybe we stood on opposite sides of history."

"I need to understand this, Percy," she looked up at him, eyes shining with te ars. He still held her wrist, and brought his other hand u p to brush his thumb through her cheekbone, where a tear had rolled down without her even noticing. "I feel there's more to it then we wonder. I t hink we're supposed to be rivals."

"We're also supposed to be dead," he replied, removing his hand from her face and putting it in her lower back, slowly pulling her closer, until their bodies were together. He kept pressing her to him and lowered his head to place soft kisses down her neck.

"I thought my existence disturbed you," she said, biting her lip.

He raised his head to look at her. "I just needed some time to take it in . But I believe you when you say it's different."

He leaned into her to place a kiss on her forehead, then another on her nose, following down to her cheek and the corner of her mouth.

"We need to talk, Percy," she whispered.

But when he finally kissed her lips, everything vanished from her head and all that mattered was keeping his mouth on hers for the most time possible. Unfortunately, he pulled away too soon, yet gave her no time to feel disappointed before going back to kissing the crook of her neck, her shoulder and the skin under her ear.

"I know we do," the feeling of his breath so close sent shivers down her spine. "But maybe we can ta lk tomorrow."

They kissed again, and Annabeth thought her brain might melt down.

"Hm," she hummed, between kisses. "You're right. Take me home. We can talk tomorrow morning."