Percy whistles in appreciation, wrapping his arms around Annabeth's waist from behind. "Damn, girl."
Annabeth turns her head and elbows him fondly, turning around in his arms to give him a quick kiss. Percy tries to hold it for a bit longer, but she pushes him away after a few seconds with a sweet smile.
"I know I've only seen you in this uniform, like, a million times, but it just keeps getting better and better every week," Percy says. "Drum major fits you."
"Mh-hm." Annabeth tilts her head, blatantly scanning him up and down. "Says you."
"Oh? Are you saying my uniform gets you going?" he teases.
"I'm saying it makes you a little less ugly than you normally look," she says. "Why do you think I started dating you in the first place?"
"Because I'm your best friend and you love me."
"Because you were drum major and I loved competing for you with the other girls," she corrects.
Percy sniffs. "I see how it is."
Annabeth rolls her eyes, wrapping one arm around his neck to pull him in for another kiss. She holds this one longer, and Percy can't help the smile that forms on his lips as she does so.
"You know I love you," she says, muffled against his lips. "Don't be silly."
"I'm not silly," he protests, pulling away when he hears Chiron yell at them from somewhere over his shoulder, saying something about not wanting any band babies. "Would a silly man go get you skittles from the concession stand during break?"
"Not a silly man at all," she says, playing with the silver sash on his uniform. "Unless you only get me skittles and not a sprite."
"And to think I was going to let you conduct fourth quarter," Percy laughs, looking over her head as someone dropped an instrument down the stands. "Is that what you want?"
"Yes, please."
Percy nods and places his hand on the back of her neck to drag her head closer and press a sweet kiss to her forehead before he turns around to stalk to the mess of band kids.
He was a man with a mission, dodging around the students at the football game. He was a bit surprised that there were so many people there this time, but he plows through them, wanting to get back to Annabeth before third quarter ended. The lines of the concession stand were long, and he stood there impatiently, shifting from one leg to the other. He genuinely believes that there should be some rule that seniors get to skip the line because right now, it was just filled with a bunch of freshmen who thought going to football games would get the seniors to notice them.
Well, he supposes it did, but not in a good way. More of a I-want-to-throw-this-fourteen-year-old-in-a-trashcan kind of way.
By the time he finally had the sprite and skittles in hand, it was almost five minutes later, which left him only fifteen minutes of a break before he had to be back on the podium.
He hurriedly approached Annabeth from behind, a wide grin on his face because let's face it — he was kind of in love with her — but he stopped in his tracks when he noticed a guy standing tall in front of her. There was an uncomfortable feeling building in his gut as he took in the way the unfamiliar face looked at her. Percy stood out of her sight for a few more seconds, trying to control whatever was bubbling under his skin before he made his presence noticed.
"Hey," Percy says lightly, glancing at the guy before turning to Annabeth. "Who's this?"
Annabeth's face falls at his tone of voice for a split second, and if he didn't know her as well as he did, he might not have noticed at all. "Oh, uh— this is Ethan. He's the drum major from the other band. Ethan, this is our other drum major Percy."
Alarm shoots through Percy as he notices that she didn't say boyfriend.
Ethan sticks out a hand in greeting, but Percy just stares at it, unaccepting. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows he was being irrational, but right now, all he can think about is how much he hates the way Ethan is looking at her.
"It's nice to meet you," Ethan says, retracting his hand awkwardly. "You guys had a great show. You're definitely going to be getting a superior at MPA."
"Thanks," Percy says shortly, trying to stifle the fire inside him. Ethan's eyes were still on Annabeth and that needed to end now. "We'd say the same, but we weren't actually watching your show."
Annabeth blinks at Percy, surprised. "Well, I was paying attention and I thought you guys did amazing," Annabeth clarifies.
Percy sees red. "You weren't watching their show," he says with a tight smile. "We were sitting in the back messing around the whole time, baby."
Ethan's face falls and Percy feels a twinge of victory. "Are you two dating?"
"We are." Percy's arm snakes around her waist as she stays silent. This time, there's an unreadable expression on his face, but he's too busy trying to make it known that Annabeth's his girlfriend that he doesn't pay it any attention.
"I'm sure your director loves that."
"Excuse me?"
"Having both of your drum majors date? Sounds like a bit of a mess if you ask me."
"No one did," Percy says, a glare in his eyes.
Annabeth's hand rested on Percy's back, rubbing in a calming manner. He could tell she was trying to warn him.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You brought it up."
"Actually, you did," Percy points out.
"Okay," Annabeth interrupts, turning to Percy. "We should be heading back to the stands."
Percy doesn't even try to respond, instead pointedly laces his hand with hers and turning around to stalk off, not giving Annabeth a chance to say goodbye to Ethan. He pretends not to notice Annabeth's rushed wave over her shoulder.
He had planned on going back to the stands, but last minute, he decides to walk right by it and towards the dark area behind the football field. It takes Annabeth a minute to catch up, and then she's looking at him, confused.
"Where are we going?"
Percy doesn't answer. He keeps leading her into the unlit area of the field, treading through some unkept grass. There were no students over here as he brought her behind an empty building.
"Why are you—" Annabeth was cut off as Percy pushed her against the building and settled his mouth over hers.
Percy could still see Ethan behind his eyes, staring at Annabeth in a way he shouldn't — in a way Percy found repulsive. He tried to forget it, to remember that she chose him, as he kissed her hard, pouring everything into it.
"Percy—" Annabeth breathes against him, her hands pressing to his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath her fingertips. "What's going on?"
"I love you," he says instead, his hands travelling down to settle on the backs of her thighs. He bites on her lower lip, worrying it until he catches a little sigh coming out of her mouth.
"You're jealous," she notes breathlessly as Percy trails featherlight kisses down her neck. "Why— are you jealous?"
Percy goes back to her lips. "He was staring at you," he says with one kiss to her lips. "And it wasn't in a friendly way." Another kiss.
"You were jealous," she teases, pausing as his hand palms her thigh. "But we probably shouldn't do this right here."
"Are you sure?" Percy reaches behind her to unzip her uniform's jacket. The zipper disengages silently. "You don't want my lips on your throat?" His words were punctuated by a sharp kiss to her neck. "My hand between your thighs? Are you sure you don't want that?"
"We only have five minutes before we have to be back in the stands," Annabeth protests.
"I can make five minutes work."
"Percy," Annabeth gently pushes him away. "We're in the middle of a dark field during a football game," she says, and the spell breaks.
Percy steps back to press his hands into his face. This feeling inside of him wasn't going away, and his brain is on fire. He needs to feel her beneath his fingers, to be reminded that she isn't going anywhere, but she was right. They were at a school event, and if someone was to catch them — he didn't even want to know what would happen.
"I'm sorry," he breathes.
"Hey," she says softly. "What's going on?"
"I don't like that guy," Percy admits, dropping his face onto her shoulder in embarrassment. "He was looking at you gross."
"He was being friendly."
"He wasn't," Percy says miserably. "We've met a lot of guy drum majors, so trust me when I say he wasn't looking at you as a friend."
"How was he looking at me?" Annabeth manages, stifling a laugh.
"Stop teasing," he groans.
Her hand comes up behind him to trace the small of his back. "I'm not teasing you. I just want to know what you're thinking."
"I'm thinking that he was staring at your boobs, and I wanted to punch him."
Annabeth does laugh this time, and he pinches her side. "I love you."
"You're making fun of me," he says. "Don't make fun of me."
"You wanted to have sex in the middle of an empty field during a football game," she points out.
"I didn't say that."
"You were jealous," she says again.
"I was jealous," he says. "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to be jealous or sorry. You know why?"
"Why?"
Annabeth brings Percy's face to look her in the eyes. He feels a warm feeling race down his neck as she gazed at him softly. He can feel a calm breeze blowing through the night sky, ruffling his hair. The moonlight shines on her blonde hair, making it look silver in the dark, and it feels nothing short of perfect.
"Do you remember what you said to me on senior night?"
Percy smiles, remembering their first night together. "What did I say?"
Annabeth squeezes his forearm, knowing very well that he remembered. "You said that we were forever. You're not getting away from me so easily."
"I did say that, didn't I?"
"You did, and I believed you."
"Good, because I meant it." Percy leans in close so he could see her individual eyelashes and smell her clean hair. "Forever."
And he really likes the sound of that. He can see himself in five or six years with a ring for her, and in a decade with a kid or two. He can see a family with her — a future with her — and he knows that no one person who probably plays trumpet is going to change that.
"You're stuck with me," she whispers, leaning closer and breathing slowly.
"That's not a bad thing at all," he says, closing the gap between their lips. Finally, the thought of the other kid is not on his mind. The only person he's thinking of is Annabeth, and he may only be eighteen with barely any wisdom about the world, but this sure does feel like forever.
because u people seem to enjoy the marching band au. this is not part 2! this is just a mini story I guess! part 2 is coming along and will be muuuuch longer than this lol. also i'm posting everything out of order so if u see i accidentally upload the same story twice... mind your own business