Hey everyone! Guess who has another update ready for your reading pleasure? Lol I really loved writing this update because, well you'll see but it's a change from school and the rink all the time! I know some of you were expecting me to write about school the following week for the Tridents team now that they're champs but instead I did a little time jump (I swear when do I not do a time jump? Haha). But I hope you guys like it! It's very cute and light-hearted but also has hints of seriousness in it. Also, please keep reviewing guys cause I'm getting less per update and I really hope that doesn't mean I've lost some of you guys :( Alright I'll stop rambling!
Review Responses:
Cinder Luna: I'm so glad you like my story! I love when I have figure skaters or hockey players who read it! Thanks for pointing that out. I actually went back and changed it so all fixed! Biggest fangirl freakout huh? Well I'm happy to hear it! Thanks for all the support!
lilly (Guest): Haha yeah I love writing Sally as a big Percabeth shipper! Just wait until you read this chapter! Thanks for the info, I might just take you up on that offer. But you can always PM me too! I love when I get them and I always respond pretty fast when I have the chance! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own
"Mother your son has arrived!" Percy shouted jokingly while trying his best to sound formal. He stepped through the front door to the apartment carrying his hockey bag in one hand while the other held the hand of his blonde-haired girlfriend.
Annabeth smiled at his ridiculous behavior, following him quietly through the door and taking her shoes off to leave them by the front entrance after he did. She placed her figure skating duffle down next to his much bigger hockey bag before resuming the action of interlacing her fingers with Percy's and leaning against him lightly as they walked side by side into the apartment.
The two of them had just come from practice at the rink. Percy's practices were very laid back now that the state finals game was over, but the team still practiced all year round. Lately the practices had been more of way for the team to bond even further than they already had. They mainly just acted like idiots skating around the ice and playing scrimmages. Percy wasn't complaining though, it was a way for him to spend as much time as possible with his teammates before he had to leave them for college next year.
An uncomfortable feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. Percy and Coach Hedge had been meeting with college scouts for the past few days. He felt like he should be overjoyed that colleges were taking an interest in him and wanted him for their university teams but lately all he felt was sad whenever the topic was brought up. He would be leaving his teammates on the Tridents team, his close friends, his mom, Annabeth… Gods things had been going so well with her. He didn't even want to think about having to leave her come next fall. He knew she was probably getting scholarships from schools left and right for academics and figure skating. Annabeth never really talked about it much, but he knew she was, his girlfriend was a talented genius. The two of them hadn't discussed the matter much but he knew they should. Right at that moment though all he wanted to do was spend some quality time with his mother and her.
"Hey, you ok?" Annabeth whispered softly, noticing the troubled expression on his face. She stopped in her tracks and tugged on his hand to get his attention.
He turned to face her, staring directly into her eyes. He nodded and gave her a small smile. She didn't look fully convinced but smiled back nonetheless as he led her further into the apartment.
Annabeth's practices had been rough. With the National competition being only a week away, Christina was working her extra hard. The routine they had prepared was going to be another very personal performance for Annabeth. It was also going to be her hardest one to pull off but like Christina had told her, the judges liked to see skaters who took risks instead of playing it safe. Percy's practices still ended an hour before she was finished but her boyfriend stayed behind to wait for her each and every day. She gave up on telling him he didn't need to wait for her because he never listened. One time he'd attempted to sneak into the rink she was practicing on to watch her, but Christina had gone full beast mode and chewed him out, claiming that Annabeth couldn't afford to have any distractions. His face was priceless, Christina could be terrifying when she wanted to be.
After that incident the couple decided to just stick with meeting up after they were both done. Sometimes they went on small outings when they didn't have much homework to finish after practice. Their favorite was simply going up to the roof of the rink and staring aimlessly at the stars in the nighttime sky. At least that was her favorite, Percy seemed to enjoy going to IHOP and ordering a huge stack of pancakes for them to share after enduring a long and exhausting practice.
That night however, Percy had practically begged Annabeth to go home with him because his mother had been nagging him non-stop since the state finals game five days ago telling him that he should bring Annabeth around. She agreed after taking one look at his pleading face and that led them to where they were now, at Percy's apartment in search of Sally Jackson.
They found her a second later hastily preparing what Percy assumed was dinner on the kitchen counter. She stared down at the food, humming quietly to herself as her back faced them. Percy placed a finger to his lips as he looked at Annabeth. The blonde nodded in understanding.
"Hey mom." He greeted casually as they entered the kitchen.
"Oh, Percy you're home!" Sally Jackson said happily while still keeping her back to them. She seemed to be cutting something on the cutting board.
"Did you not hear my loud announcement as I walked through the door? Gods mom, you know they say hearing is the first thing to go." He replied sarcastically. He could tell she was glaring at him without even seeing her face.
"Haha very funny. I guess I was just too busy trying to learn this new recipe for dinner." She said, now sliding the chopped-up greens into a saucepan.
"Listen can you grab the-" She picked that moment to turn around and face them. Her eyes lit up at the sight of his girlfriend and Annabeth smiled in return.
"Hi Sally." She greeted politely.
Mrs. Jackson wiped her hands hastily on her apron before approaching the two of them and pulling Annabeth into a warm embrace.
"Annabeth!" Sally Jackson stated excitedly while the blonde released Percy's hand and returned the bone-crushing hug.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Percy commented once the two women pulled apart. Sally barely paid him any attention, staring at the grey-eyed girl excitedly.
"Well this is a surprise!" His mother said.
"Is it really mom? You've only been begging me to bring her every second of every day since the game." Percy stated coyly. Sally glared at him and Annabeth laughed, they had a very interesting relationship.
"I hope that means you're staying for dinner?" The older woman asked hopefully. Annabeth nodded and Sally beamed at her.
"Perfect!" Suddenly, she got a worried expression on her face. "Oh no, but I'm trying out a new recipe! Percy you should've told me she was coming tonight I could've made something I knew was good instead of risking it with something new! Now we won't know till-"
"I'm sure whatever your making will be as delicious as the last time I had your cooking Sally." Annabeth said, effectively cutting off the older woman before she could worry any further.
Sally Jackson sighed and smiled gratefully towards her. She then turned towards her son for probably the first time since he'd gotten home.
"If you ever break her heart I swear to god Perseus-"
"I'm not planning on it jeez mom!" Percy held his hands up in surrender. His mother had been giving him a murderous look to which he was genuinely terrified of. He looked like a little kid who got caught stealing something from the grocery store. Annabeth stifled a laugh when she saw his frightened face but he caught her.
"Oh, you think that's funny do you?" He asked, turning to his girlfriend and raising an eyebrow in question. Annabeth immediately noticed the glimmer of mischief in his eyes and started shaking her head back and forth in protest but he was already approaching her.
Before she can move, he hugs her from the side and starts tickling her. She lets out screeches of laughter and tries desperately to get out of his hold but he's too strong. She thrashes back and forth, laughing loudly and leaning forwards a bit so her hair fell like curtains around her face.
"N-no, no Percy! I-I can't-t breathe! And you're all s-sweaty!" She shouts while scrunching her nose cutely. He hadn't showered after practice yet because he was planning to when he got home. Annabeth showered at the rink before they left since she wasn't headed home. Percy chuckled, enjoying the moment a little too much.
Sally Jackson smiled at the two of them. She hadn't seen her son so happy in a long time. Annabeth was truly bringing out the best in him. They were so different but that's what made them so great together. Percy was turning into a better man and she would be forever thankful to Annabeth for causing that change. She could see how much the two cared for each other. If she didn't know any better, she'd say they were in love. They just didn't know it yet.
Finally, after he figured Annabeth had been punished enough, Percy stopped his tickling assault. The figure skater breathed deeply, catching her breath from all the laughing she'd been doing. He smirked triumphantly.
"Well now that we've settled that. Is there anything I can do to help with dinner mom?" Percy asked innocently as if he hadn't just tortured his girlfriend for the past five minutes. Sally rolled her eyes.
"I'll be fine, but I suggest you go take a shower before the food's ready. I'll keep Annabeth company."
Percy huffed but then agreed halfheartedly. He knew his mother wanted Annabeth all to herself. It was probably so she could tell her all kinds of embarrassing stories from his childhood. Leaving them together was madness but he knew he needed to shower.
"Ok, ok I can take a hint."
He hurriedly leaned over to give Annabeth a peck on the cheek. "Whatever she tries to tell you, I was an angel as a child ok?" He whispers into her ear before pulling away completely.
Annabeth laughed, not believing for a second that a young Percy was as innocent and pure as an angel. He stormed up the steps three at a time, trying to shower as fast as possible so the two women wouldn't be alone too long.
When Percy got back downstairs it was way worse than he thought it was going to be.
Annabeth grinned before pointing at another photograph in the seemingly endless photo album. "When was this?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, that was the first time we ever went to the fair together. Percy won a goldfish at one of the carnival game stands. I believe he made the fish's first name Golden and his last name Fishy." Sally explained, smiling to herself as she stared at the picture of a four-year-old Percy holding up a plastic bag while pointing at it proudly and giving the camera the widest smile.
Annabeth laughed out loud. "So, the goldfish's name was Golden Fishy?"
Sally laughed in response. "Yes it was. I'd never seen a boy so happy to have a fish in his life."
Annabeth continued flipping through the photo album consisting of old pictures from her boyfriend's childhood. Sally was seated next to her at the kitchen table as they waited for dinner to be finished cooking. The grey-eyed girl had to admit that Percy was absolutely adorable as a little kid. Even as a baby having those sea-green eyes probably made everyone melt from cuteness.
"Now this one I consider pretty important. I'll give you one guess why." The older woman spoke up while tapping a photo on one of the pages.
The image was of a young Percy wearing a green and blue hockey uniform. It was taken while he was standing on the ice, helmet and stick in hand. His cheeks and nose were stained red from the cold air but he was smiling happily towards the camera lens, a look of complete bliss upon his face. It took Annabeth only a second to realize the significance of the photo.
"This must've been after his very first hockey game." The blonde knew she'd gotten the answer right when Sally smiled and nodded in her direction.
"Right indeed. He started out on a youth league called the Tidal Waves when he was six. After seeing how happy he was after playing in that first game I knew hockey was going to be a permanent part of his life." Sally stared at the photograph, looking lost in her thoughts. It was obvious how much she cared for her son. Annabeth could only dream of having a mother who was supportive of her skating and wasn't so keen on making her out to be the 'perfect daughter'.
Sally flipped through the next few pages, casually stopping when she wanted to point out a specific picture or Annabeth was curious as to what the story behind something was. They paused again when Annabeth pointed to a picture containing four kids. From left to right there were two that had electrifying blue eyes, one with dark brown irises, and the last one on the right side had sea green orbs. It looked like the photo was taken at the beach because the ocean was in the background and they were all wearing swimsuits. They all looked around the same age, Annabeth would guess about nine years old.
"Ah yes the four cousins. Jason, Thalia, Nico, and Percy. We went down to Montauk beach for the day and these four spent the entire day either swimming in the ocean or building sandcastles. Quite a fun afternoon."
Annabeth's finger hovered over the picture. They all looked so happy. She wondered why Thalia hadn't told her much about how close they all were as kids. She could only assume it was because of how much she used to complain about the hockey skaters when they were rivals.
"I owe you a big thank you Annabeth." Sally spoke up suddenly, causing Annabeth to snap back to reality and turn towards her.
"For what?" She asked confusedly.
Sally cast a grateful look towards her. "Ever since he's gotten to know you better, he's become his old self. I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but you've truly had such a big impact on him. For a while I didn't think I was going to get my son back. He was always going out a night to who knows where, getting in to trouble and doing god knows what. I could tell he was involved in the wrong crowd at school. We didn't talk like we used to and it killed me. You make him happier than I've seen him in a long time. That boy's been through a lot, we both have. I'm sure he'll tell you the full story when he's ready. Overall though, thanks to you I've finally got my Percy back."
Mrs. Jackson was nearly in tears by the time she finished. Annabeth found herself wanting to cry and she didn't even know why. Others had mentioned how much she changed him including Percy himself, but hearing Sally express her gratitude had the biggest impact on her. She wondered what Sally meant by the 'full story'. Had there been more than losing his father to a shipwreck? She figured it was best not to bring it up at the moment.
"He makes me really happy too. You've raised a great son Sally, he just got a little lost along the way that's all." Annabeth replied softly.
This time it was Annabeth who leaned forward to pull the older woman into a comforting hug. Sally returned it whole-heartedly. They broke away after a few moments and Mrs. Jackson blinked back the tears in her eyes as they flipped through the next couple pages of the photo album. She smiled at some pictures of Percy losing his first tooth and of him sleeping soundlessly in the car during a road trip.
The two of them burst out laughing when they reached a picture of a five-year-old Percy dressed as a single piece of ravioli with red tomato sauce for Halloween. He was looking at the camera using his adorable pouting face and Annabeth could only assume that Sally had just finished telling him that she wasn't going to give him the recipe for the pasta dish. She couldn't believe he'd gone as far as dressing up as ravioli for Halloween to get the famous Jackson ravioli recipe even though that's what Sally had told her all those nights ago at dinner. Seeing it with her own eyes made it ten times funnier.
Of course Percy emerged down the stairs following that moment. He heard loud laughter coming from the kitchen table. He immediately jumped to the conclusion that his mother was telling Annabeth a funny story from his past. He quickened his pace, practically sprinting to the kitchen area.
His eyes observed the scene before him and he froze. It took him only a few seconds to connect the dots. His mother. His girlfriend. An open photo album. Laughter. Oh, this was bad. It was very very bad. Way worse than just telling a story. Annabeth had seen photo evidence of the various stages of his childhood.
The two women ceased in their laughter when they saw him enter. There was a moment of silence before he saw Annabeth break down into hysterics again after casting one look at him. He wondered which picture they were on. He approached them carefully, glancing down to see the picture on the page. He wanted to die of embarrassment when he saw it. The dreaded ravioli Halloween picture. Definitely not a highlight from his past. He used one hand to slam the photo album shut but it wasn't much help. The damage had been done. He was seriously going to have a talk with his mother later. Meanwhile, his girlfriend was still clutching a hand to her stomach and trying to calm down.
"Mom! Are you serious?! I leave for ten minutes and come back to this? I mean just look at her, you broke my girlfriend!" He was still very red in the face from embarrassment.
At that point Sally Jackson had stopped laughing and was instead innocently smiling up towards her son as if she had done nothing wrong. She got up from the table to return the photo album and check on the food cooking on the stove. A couple minutes later Annabeth had finally managed to stop laughing and stood up from her seat.
Percy scratched the back of his head nervously as he tried to figure out what to say. Annabeth approached him, the smile on her face bigger than ever.
"Listen Princess I-"
He tried to argue but she interrupted him by placing a finger to his lips. Before she could lose her courage, she boldly leaned up to capture his lips with hers.
Percy was caught off guard, not expecting to receive that reaction from her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his eyes shut and his hands snaked around her waist to pull her closer. Her lips were soft and gentle against his own. He kissed her back just as delicately, neither one of them deepening the kiss because it already said so much. She smiled into it and started playing aimlessly with the slightly damp hair at the nape of his neck. He would never get tired of kissing her.
Annabeth pulled away after about ten seconds and he stared at her in a complete daze before she spoke. "You were and still are a complete dork Hockey Boy, but you were also annoyingly cute as a kid."
"Are you saying I'm not still cute now? Cause I'll have you know, I'm freaking adorable!" He argued, keeping his hands firmly on her waist. She giggled and continued absentmindedly tugging at his damp hair.
"You're absolutely ridiculous." She muttered before pulling him into a warm embrace. Percy had no idea why she was being so affectionate all of the sudden, but he was loving it.
He hugged her back tightly and buried his face into her blonde curls. The smell of her shampoo almost made him forget about what he had been so embarrassed about. Key word: almost.
It wasn't until he saw his mom turn around from plating their dinner that he remembered. He cast her an evil glare from over Annabeth's shoulder and she had the nerve to just look pleased with herself. She put the three plates of piping hot penne rose on the kitchen table while the two teens embraced. Percy resumed his action of burying his face within his girlfriend's hair.
The hockey player's mother hummed happily to herself.
Score one for Sally Jackson.
What did you guys think? I can't believe how fast I managed to write this. Let me know how you liked the competitive relationship between Percy and his mother and the relationship between Sally and Annabeth as well! There's more to come of that so you'll just have to wait! Also what about the dreaded start of college in the near future and what's Percy's last secret? Told you guys there's still something he hasn't revealed about himself ;) Lastly, let's not forget about the Percabeth fluff! Review and let me know cause the more reviews I get per update, the more motivated I am to write and edit new chapters! Love you guys!
P.S: I'm currently looking for more Percabeth fanfics to read on this site cause I feel like I've read tons and I can't find any more that really spark my interest or are super well-written (I didn't mean that as an insult! I'm just picky lol) So review and let me know some good ones! Hopefully I haven't read them already because I'm literally at the stage of rereading my favorite stories for the fourth time! I NEED SUGGESTIONS! Preferably AU's. Thanks!
REVIEW, REVIEW, AND REVIEW!
-M