"Not again."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, pointedly sipping her cup of coffee and ignoring Piper's whine for attention.
"You're ridiculous."
"I'm not sure what you're referring to," Annabeth lies.
"Oh, so you're not sparking up an online romance with the infamous Percy Jackson?"
Annabeth hums, taking another slow sip of her drink. "I am merely responding to his message."
"Over twitter. In front of millions of people."
Annabeth snorts, staring at the phone in hand. It was true, really. Somehow, Annabeth had managed to gain quite a big following on youtube during her years spent studying at Oxford, and at some point, a guy from UCLA took an interest in her. It had been pretty hilarious, especially to the millions of people watching her every move, and she just hadn't been able to put a stop to the online flirting, which is precisely why she was flirting with a man that was oceans apart from her.
"You're never even met this man," Piper points out.
"That's what makes it fun," Annabeth says. "An online romance. Who doesn't love it?"
"I'm not saying no one loves it because this is the best thing to happen in all of the twenty-first century, but he's in California, and you're not."
"It's all fun and games," Annabeth says.
"Yeah, right."
Annabeth blinks. "Do you have something you'd like to tell me?"
"You two are practically in love with each other."
Annabeth flushes. "Are not."
"What are you typing then?"
Annabeth looks down at the thread being sent back and forth between the two popular youtubers. By this point, their entire conversation was being filled with hundreds of thousands of people having mental breakdowns, thinking the two were actually going to get together.
Not that she would mind that. No, she hadn't seen him in person, but they're practically best friends, and he's a huge sweetheart.
"Nothing."
"Lies," Piper says, snatching the phone. "Percy tweeted 'honey, I think you and I should get married.'"
"He's kidding."
"You responded, 'Come to the UK and I'll consider it.'"
"It's all just some good-natured fun."
"He responded, 'Give me a kiss?' and you said, 'Show up alive, and then we'll see.'"
Annabeth snickers, snatching her phone back. "You're reading too far into this."
"No, I'm not. You two are just in love with each other."
"You are incorrect, actually."
Piper raises an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? What about last week when he uploaded the video that was literally spent listing off the reasons you should marry him?"
"Publicity stunt. It got millions of views."
"You're in love with him."
Annabeth pinches her fingers. "Only a little bit, but no one has to know."
"Oh, honey, everyone knows."
A part of her floods with warmth. Ever since he'd first left a comment on one of her videos, their friendship had blossomed. It was just what they did — uploading videos just to tease one another and accept marriage proposals. He's probably proposed five times by this point, and Annabeth has jokingly accepted five times.
They were the unofficially-official couple as people like to put it, and it was a lovely arrangement in her opinion.
Annabeth's phone vibrates in her hand, and when she looks down, she sees Percy telling her, bought a plane ticket. on my way babe.
"Oh god," Piper groans, looking over Annabeth's shoulder as another smile breaks out across Annabeth's face. "You two disgust me."
"That's funny, considering you admitted that you were our biggest shipper."
Piper gasps. "Who told you?"
"Jason told Percy who told me."
"Betrayal."
"Precisely." Annabeth hums. "We should be going soon. I have to get another video up in two days and you promised you'd help me."
"What is it this time? Writing the perfect love letter to Percy?"
"Making a shrine to Percy," Annabeth corrects.
"You're kidding."
"I wish I was," Annabeth says. "It was his idea."
"Of course it was," Piper mutters, but she's already scooting her chair away from the table of the café and standing up. "Let's get going then, you booger."
The walk back to their shared apartment was filled with Piper's rants about a certain two careless youtubers, and the video Annabeth dragged Piper to film was no different. All things considered though, it went quite well. It might as well be a shitpost, but it was interesting enough and would have to suffice.
The video did take a lot longer to film than expected, so by the time Annabeth was finally ready to go on with the day, it was almost midnight.
"This sucks," Annabeth says, peeking out the window at the dark sky.
"It's no big deal." Piper stretches and yawns, and Annabeth thinks she may fall asleep right there. "London never sleeps so we can still go out."
"You're practically drooling already."
"We have things to do. People to see."
Annabeth scrunches her brows. "Who?"
"People," Piper says ominously. As she sits up, she looks Annabeth up and down before shrugging, which doesn't do much to help her confidence. "You look good enough. Let's go."
Piper barely gives Annabeth time to process what was happening before she was being dragged out the door. Realistically, Piper did give her like five minutes to grab a few things, but it felt like no time at all because Piper refused to say anything besides they were meeting up with some friends at a cozy diner in the middle of the city.
The walk there was a bit chilly, so as Annabeth tightens her long black peacoat around her body, she glances at Piper out of the corner of her eye.
"So," Annabeth says, sniffling and rubbing her nose to soothe the sharp bite of wind. "Would you mind telling me why we're heading to the city? We never go out late. That's, like, our motto."
"You looked cute today, and it would be a shame to waste that by just staying in." Piper grabs Annabeth's hand and laces their fingers together to swing their arms back and forth. "I must say I'm loving the white sweater and black jeans. My fashion is rubbing off on you."
"What fashion?"
"I hate you."
By the time they finally reach the diner, Annabeth's fingers and toes are numb, but the view was definitely worth it. Annabeth's surprised she hadn't ever seen this place before after having lived here for almost four years, but it's no surprise Piper knew of it. There were fairy lights strewn up around the outer portion of the restaurant, and there was gentle music flowing through the air. Even though it was cold, the image of this place was a drastic difference, and it melted the aching in her bones.
Piper leads Annabeth to a table outside, and Annabeth is hardly surprised to see Jason waiting for them. He stands up to give each of the girls a quick hug, before they all settle into their respective seats.
"You brought me here to be a third wheel? Is that what this is?" Annabeth says playfully as she sits.
"You and I both know that I'm the real third wheel here," Jason says kindly. "But maybe it's Piper, because she's the only one here who doesn't make videos."
"I don't need to because I was lucky enough to have my best friend introduce me to another youtuber," Piper says.
"You should be thanking me for your relationship," Annabeth tells the two of them. "Without me, you would've never found the love of your life."
Jason's eyes gleam. "And how about you? Have you found the love of your life?"
"I can't say that I have."
"I saw the messages between you and Percy earlier," Jason says. "It was a beautiful proposal, really."
"I try."
"When you meet him, you should consider eloping."
"That's if I meet him," Annabeth corrects.
"Of course. My apologies." Jason grins, and Annabeth is slightly unnerved. "You would make a cute couple."
"How so?"
"You two are the biggest simps for each other," Jason says.
"Told you so," Piper chimes in.
"I'm going to leave if you two brought me here just to insult me." Annabeth looks beside herself and her eyes focus on the empty chair. "Are we waiting for someone else?"
"I invited a friend, but I'm not sure where he is," Jason says. "They must be running late."
"Who is it?"
"Oh, I'm not sure if you'd know them," he dismisses.
Piper and Jason begin talking again, but Annabeth tunes them out. If she was going to be forced to sit with stranger while Piper and Jason snogged in front of them, then she would be severely unhappy.
Annabeth doesn't know what to expect, but she does know that she should be worried when Piper and Jason share a conspicuous glance with each other before heading off to the bar, under the excuse of getting them some drinks.
Annabeth groans, lacing her hands together on the table in front of her. She was definitely starting to regret this decision of joining Piper on her midnight adventure, not that it was much of a decision at all. She was dragged alongside her, and if she could go back in time, she would probably end up pushing Piper off a bridge to stop this utter boredom from taking over.
All things considered though, it's not too terrible. She might be able to drink the night away and forget all this happened, and—
"Babe!"
Annabeth's head snaps up because of the voice. It was a voice she'd recognize anywhere.
She whirls around in her chair, and right there, standing in all his glory, was Percy Jackson.
Percy holds his arms out as he approaches her, and Annabeth laughs as she stumbles up to give him a crushing hug. They stay like that for a few seconds, and it feels like it should be awkward because they'd never actually met before, but it just feels like a piece of a puzzle if fitting into place.
"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asks, grinning as she pulls away and tilts her chin to look up at him. From here, he's a lot taller than she expected, and he looks so much better in person than on camera, which says a lot.
"I'm here for our wedding!" Percy smiles cheekily, pulling her in for another quick hug before stepping back and just looking at her. She feels warm and fuzzy under his gaze. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten."
"Of course I haven't," she says, playing along. "But why are you really here?"
"I wanted to see my beautiful girlfriend."
Annabeth bites her bottom lip, holding back a laugh. "I don't recall agreeing to this."
"You agreed to marry me, so I think that means we're dating."
"Yeah, but we both know we were messing around."
Percy clicks his teeth, his eyes sparkling. "I don't know. You did respond when I called you babe, so…"
"I guess I did." Annabeth looks over at where Piper and Jason had disappeared off to. They were taking their sweet time, and suddenly Annabeth realized that it was for a reason, and that they knew all along. She doesn't know whether to thank them or punch them. "It looks like they're not coming back anytime soon."
"Yeah," he agrees. "That might be because I asked them to let me have you all to myself for a while."
"You did?"
"Of course I did." Percy stares at her for a while, and she stares back. It feels like she's known him for all of her life, and she never wants this moment to end. So long talking over the phone and sending messages through videos, and they were finally alone, just the two of them, and it was so much better than she could've imagined.
"I'm not sure what to do now," Annabeth admits as Percy takes a step closer, like he's done it a million times. Soon, his face is inches away from hers.
"I have an idea," Percy tells her quietly, his green eyes vibrant in the dim lighting of the outdoor patio.
"And what's that?"
"Go on a date with me."
Annabeth tilts her head, lips lifting in a coy smile. "I thought we were already engaged?"
"I'm still working towards that kiss," he says, and his smile is blinding.
A beat skips, and she can't help herself, and then—
"Who says you have to wait?"
Annabeth doesn't know what prompts her to step forwards, but she does anyways, and her stomach flutters when he does the same. There was just something about this situation that seems so familiar, and she trusts him, probably more than she should. But this was Percy, and she knew him. He wouldn't hurt her.
Percy's hands go to cup her face, his fingers gently tracing over her skin, cold in the London winter, and there is a blazing heat in her body. For a second, they look into each other's eyes, and then both of their eyes are fluttering shut as Percy brings her face to his and kisses her sweetly.
It's slow and gentle, and somehow, she can see a future with them. This has been building up since she first saw his kind words on her video, and it was strengthened through their twitter declarations of love and youtube proposals. She shouldn't feel like this, but she does, and that's okay.
He pulls away but his hands stay in place. His smile is so breathtaking, and it fits so well with the delicate snowflakes that started falling and the pretty glow of the fairy lights.
"What do you say?" Percy asks. "I'll take you on the date of your life."
"And then you'll marry me?"
"What's a date if it doesn't end in marriage?"
Annabeth's lips twitch up, and she brushes a strand of her blowing hair behind her ear. She really liked him, and she just knew that it would be alright. He was in Los Angeles and she was in London, and they were oceans apart, but it would be okay.
"I'm holding you to that," she says, and so he takes her hand, and leads her on the date of a lifetime.
okay a few things! if you leave a question in the reviews, chances are i answer in a pm just so you're aware! also pls be nice with comments and pms i am under eighteen and sensitive
other than that, hope you liked this one i wrote months ago and haven't looked at since! thanks for reading loves, possibly leave a review or don't it's fine! also follow me on tumblr at annabethy ;)