i feel the need to justify myself: they're using and honda suv bc that's what we have, and i know nothing of rv's. besides, i've always found that cramped roadtrips are way more fun :)
fic title cred to fall out boy's bob dylan
chapter title cred to the red hot chili pepper's road trippin'.

Percy grunts as he flops down onto the hot sand next to Annabeth. She smiles at him and he returns the gesture, relishing the feel of the cold ocean water between his toes, against the sweltering June heat. He waves at Piper and Leo as they attempt to build a sandcastle a couple of yards away. Piper lifts her hand and waves back, instinctively, brushing what they've already built, and causing it to knock over.

"Nice job, McClean," Percy notes, stifling his laughter.

Piper scowls at him, "Fuck off, Jackson, it was your fault,"

He raises a challenging eyebrow before Leo sighs and throws a bucket at Piper's head, "You su-uck," he whines.

"Not as much as you," She mutters, but helps him start from scratch - again - anyways. Percy watches them bicker and knock down three more castles, amused, before turning back to Annabeth.

He peers over the pages of her book to look at the cover, "What are you reading?"

"A tale of two cities,"

"Huh. Never heard of it,"

"That's 'cause you don't read," she says, turning the page.

Percy stares at the shifting letters for a moment before shaking his head and muttering, "For good reason, too," under his breath.

He lays down onto the sand, closing his eyes against the blinding sun. Everything had been moving so fast lately - what with all the work being done at Camp Jupiter for the minor Gods' thrones, and with Camp Half-Blood finishing construction - Percy was constantly going back and forth between camps. It was nice to be able to see Hazel, Frank, Jason, Reyna, and his other Roman friends, but it was also nice to just be able to sit down for a moment and relax.

He takes a deep breath, inhaling the smell of Long Island beach, and the wafting aroma of lemon's drifting off Annabeth and of barbeque coming from Camp Half-Blood behind him. He's missed this - being at Camp, with friends - and it makes him nostalgic for something he's never had before. Something he can't quite put a name to. Something with all his friends, together. Something exciting and adrenaline-coursing. Something. . .

"Guys!" Percy sits up, suddenly, a grin slowly crawling onto his face, "I have an incredible idea."

"What?" Annabeth asks, suspiciously, setting down her book.

"Can we prank the Stolls again?" Piper gasps, running toward them.

"I want to come!" Leo yells, tackling her as she runs into Percy. All three of them topple over, knocking Annabeth to the ground with them.

"Get off!" She yells, but she's laughing too hard to sound very coherent, "You guys are fat!"

Percy finally manages to shove them off him, laughing as breathlessly as the rest of them, and he sits up, brushing the sand off his clothes, "No. We should have a road trip," Piper, Leo, and Annabeth all freeze from where they still lay on the ground, "Right now. We should have a road trip right now ."

"YES!" Piper and Leo yell at the same time as Annabeth yells, "Absolutely not."

The three of them look at her and she stares at them in disbelief, "You're kidding, right? We have no map, no money, we're not packed, we don't even know where we're going -"

"Okay, so we'll get a map, some money, and packed, and then we'll go through every state in the US,"

"Wh - You can't just go through every state ."

"Why not?" Piper giggles.

"Because it's - Well, I mean - Ergh, I dunno, it just doesn't make sense!"

"So?"

"So. . . no."

"Come on, Annabeth," They whine, "It'll be fun!" She shakes her head.

"Okay, how about this, if Chiron agrees, will you come?" Percy negotiates

She stares at them for a minute before sighing and picking up her book, brushing the sand off her shirt, "Fine. I guess."

"Yes!"

. .

"I'm not asking," Piper says as soon as they get to the Big House.

"Well, I don't want to ask," Leo frowns. They both turn to Percy.

"Don't look at me!"

"It was your idea," Annabeth points out.

"So? I think that means they should ask since I did all the hard work,"

Annabeth, Leo, and Piper snort shoving him through the door toward Chiron.

"Oh hello, Percy," The centaur greets as Percy approaches him, "How's everything going?"

"Uh, everything's fine. Actually, I came because," He glances back to the window where Annabeth watches, unimpressed, as Leo and Piper make faces at him. He sticks out his tongue in retaliation before turning back to Chiron, "So, this is kinda sudden, and not-at-all-planned," Yeah, he's off to a great start, "But me, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth are using our. . . demigodly rights and we're - going on a road trip."

Percy's pretty sure Chiron knows he's just talking out of his ass at this point, especially when he laughs, "demigodly rights?"

"Uh - yes," It comes out more of a question than a statement, "We'll be super responsible!" Chiron raises an eyebrow, and Percy persists, "Annabeth is coming," He reiterates. Chiron sighs and Percy knows he's about to say no, and he can't have that, "We won't take any electronic devices, and we won't stay in the same place too long. Plus, we'll bring everything we need and we'll use the camp van. Pleaseee?" Percy pleads, putting his hands together in front of him.

He's asked Chiron a lot of stupid questions before that, in hindsight, probably made him look like a dumbass, but this one - completely nonsensical and with little regard to anything - definitely took the cake.

Chiron stares at him for what feels like hours before sighing and running a weary hand down his face, ". . .I suppose,"

"Yes!" Percy pumps his fists, and rushes to the other side of the room, pointing at Chiron, "I love you, best centaur ever, thank you!"

He's about to burst through the door and tell the others the good news when Chiron holds up a finger, "Oh, and Percy?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't take the camp van,"

. .

"I've got good news and bad news," Percy says, closing the Big House door behind him.

"Uh - oh, what?" Annabeth sighs, looking like she'd rather not know the answer.

"Good news : We can go,"

"Yes!" Leo and Piper cheer and Annabeth sighs again, looking like she was already regretting her decision.

"But the bad news is we have to find our own transportation."

"Oh. How the Hades are we gonna do that?" Piper groans.

"Doesn't your dad have like fifty cars?" Leo asks, and Piper rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, in Oklahoma,"

Annabeth lets out a heavy breath, "Percy, do you think Paul would let us use his Prius?"

"Nah," He shakes his head, looking out toward Thalia's tree, and resting a hand above his eyes to shield against the sun, "They'll need it while we're gone,"

They sit, stumped, for a few moments before Percy brightens, "Hey, I've got it! Camp Jupiter! We'll need Hazel, Frank, Reyna, and Nico to come anyways , so we might as well just use the van they bring!"

"Yeah, okay," Annabeth grins, "I'll Iris-message them," She searches her pockets and, after a moment, fishes a drachma out of her pocket, "Percy? Would you mind?" She gestures to the air and he makes a little noise of understanding before creating a bit of mist from the water in Annabeth's bottle, "O, Iris -"

"Wait," Percy interrupts, grinning, "I got this," He takes the coin and tosses it in, "O, Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me, Hazel Levesque, at Camp Jupiter,"

Annabeth raises an eyebrow, but quickly lowers it as soon Hazel appears in the mist, "How - What was that?"

"I'll tell you later," Percy promises, before turning to the message, "Hey, Haze, what's up?"

Hazel blinks, surprised, but not overly so. Iris-messaging was a Greek way of communicating, but as alliances were formed between them and the Romans, they had picked up a few things, and, in turn, the Greeks had too.

"Oh, hey, Perce, nothing much. Why are you calling?"

"What, I can't just say hi every once in a while?"

Hazel blushes, "Well, yeah, 'course you can, I just wasn't expecting it,"

Percy laughs, "I'm kidding. Where's Nico, Reyna, and Frank?"

"I can go get Frank," Hazel says, "But Reyna's been busy trying to set up some even for the newcomers. A new style of War Games, or something. Oh, and Nico's doing something for Persephone, I think,"

"Man," Percy grumbles, "That sucks,"

"Guess we'll just have to do it without them," Annabeth shrugs.

"Hi, Annabeth," Hazel smiles, eliciting a wave from the blonde, "Do what?"

Piper shoots Hazel a wicked grin, slinging one arm around Leo and the other around Percy, "Get your Roman asses over here. We're going on a roadtrip,"