At least Percy thought so. It had to be 20 degrees at most out here, but the bonfire made it feel like 70. Well, Annabeth and her hot cocoa helped too.
"Hey Seaweed Brain you ok?"
And just like that Percy's mind went blank.
He raised his head to look at her and was transfixed by her gray eyes. He watched as they almost instantly covered every part of his face trying to figure out what his issue was. It's something he had gotten used to over the years. Being a child of Athena made her good on her feet and in battle. It also made it really hard to keep secrets.
"Yeah, everything's good. You worry too much Owl Head"
She gave him her spill it look which Percy knew meant he didn't have much time to think of a good excuse. Fighting the Titan Lord had been less scary than telling his best friend, and new girlfriend (still weird to think), how he felt.
Percy tried to look away while stammering out a lame throwaway reply, but Annabeth grabbed his head and moved it towards her so he couldn't focus on anything else. Smart move.
"What is it, you can tell me anything," she said with reassuring eyes.
Just as Percy was about to open his mouth, the blast of the all too familiar war horn cut through the cold air.
Percy and Annabeth locked eyes and immediately understood each other.
They ran as fast as they could to the Big House where Chiron was already waiting for them, horse legs and all. His wheelchair was lying sideways on the floor carelessly, one wheel still slowly spinning. This must be serious.
"There's been an attack in the woods," he said breathlessly. "We need every hand on deck"
And just like that Percy and Annabeth were on his back racing towards the seemingly never ending rows of larger than life trees that made up the outer woods. The night sky made them see as eternally dark and endless as Tartarus.
As they rode Percy couldn't help but think about how Annabeth's arms were wrapped around him. About how both happy and uncomfortable it made him feel. Why did he suddenly feel this way about her, they had just started dating after years of friendship.
Percy tried to take his mind off it by focusing on other things, like the constant crunches from the leaves and twigs under them breaking with every gallop or the dryness of the New York wind that was slowly but surely turning his face and bangs into icicles. He really needed to cut his hair. Annabeth would definitely approve. He found himself stuck on Chiron's back and how surprisingly muscular it was. How did Centaurs work out? Was there some kind of specially built pull up bar? Percy imagined Chiron trying to do a pull up, each of his four horse legs sticking out a different direction like some sort of abstract chandelier. The weirdness of his thoughts surprised even him sometimes.
After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at a huge crater that had leveled everything within at least a 100 meters. Percy immediately clocked the lake nearby, thankful to have it. Water always calmed him. If things got ugly he could always use it to help protect everyone and even things out. Being a son of Poseidon had its perks. Man, wait till the fish back home hear about this.
A closer look revealed a mass of something at the far end of the clearing. It didn't seem to react to any of their movements but they had to be careful. Chiron motioned for them to approach from the east while he took the west, bow and arrow at the ready.
Annabeth stopped him before they could get far. "Be careful. I don't want to lose you right when I finally tied you down. I love you"
Percy's head felt fuzzy as he gave the ingenious reply of something along the lines of "Yeah, that would suck". That is not what he wanted his lips to be doing right now.
Annabeth frowned but didn't say anything. She turned, putting on her invisibility cap, and was gone before Percy knew it. Yup, that was gonna be a fun conversation. But there was time to worry about that later. Percy had more pressing matters to deal with.
Percy grabbed his infamous ballpoint pen out of his pocket and uncapped it to reveal the 3 feet of hulking bronze that was Riptide. How it had gone from the hands of Hercules to saving the life of a 16 year old boy had always astounded Percy. Life was weird sometimes.
Years of constant training and missions has led Percy to believe he was pretty good at getting places without people realizing it, but apparently no one had told the blob. Blobby (that was the name he had settled on) shot goo so fast that Percy didn't even have time to lift Riptide before it was glued to the ground. Another shot got his feet and Chiron's. He couldn't see her, but a sudden yell told him Annabeth had been hit too.
A sudden hiss of steam came out of Blobby as it cracked open and from it arose the most beautiful person Percy had ever seen. She was a woman most of the time, but her face constantly shifted, from his history teacher Mr. Foster to his mom to an actress he had a crush on as a kid to Annabeth. Percy knew who this was and wasn't happy about it. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and being full of yourself.
"Hello Jackson. Now I know you saved the world and all, but we still have some unfinished business. Oh I do hope you'll forgive me," she said, a fake yet beautiful look of concern flashing over her faces.
"What do you want" Percy growled
"Please, that's no way to talk to a god, Jackson. I could evaporate you right here on the spot if I wanted". Part of Percy wished she would, just so he wouldn't have to listen to her stuck up pompous attitude for another second.
"You're not being honest with yourself or others and it's about time we fixed that"
Out of nowhere several pieces of goo flew out of Blobby and hit seemingly nothing until a withered baseball hat fell to the ground revealing Annabeth completely plastered to a tree. The goo started to glow and steam as Annabeth started groaning. She was good at masking her emotions but Percy could tell she couldn't take much more.
Percy willed a giant wave to consume all of them but Blobby was way ahead of him, blocking it just as fast as he was able to raise it.
"Why are you doing this" Percy said, slowly freaking out
"Because if you're not honest about who you love then you don't deserve it". It almost looked like she was enjoying this and that infuriated Percy.
"So what will it be, young hero," Aphrodite said through a grin "be true about your feelings or watch her die?"
Percy looked into Annabeth's eyes and knew what he had to do, knew what he had to say. He had been holding it back for years.
"Annabeth you're the best thing to ever happen to me. You've been there for me through every moment of my life and you're my best friend. I love you. I always have."
Suddenly the goo melted off Annabeth and his legs. More importantly off his sword arm. He quickly raised it and turned to face Aphrodite but she was already gone.
"Good job young hero" a voice in the wind whispered "maybe there's hope for you yet"
Chiron trotted up to ask if he was ok.
"Yeah I'll be good, the Gods are just dicks"
Percy suddenly tripped over his sword and fell on his knee hard. Yup don't insult the Gods. At least not in public.
He ran over to Annabeth and to his surprise she was smiling. He started to ask if she was ok but before he could even get a word out she kissed him. His mouth moved slowly against hers, pouring every ounce of affection into each moment, an electric tingle running through her body into his. He breathed against her lips and as they pressed harder he felt faint.
He pulled away slowly, his forehead resting against hers. They both just started laughing, almost uncontrollably.
"That was nice"
"Yeah it was"
"I love you"
"I love you too"
"I'm never letting you live this down Seaweed Brain"
Gods she was annoying. But Percy wouldn't have it any other way.
Chapter 2 (idk about this one, more world buildy but it feels like a worthy successor)
The worst part about Camp Half-Blood was that there were no secrets.
That was great when you single handedly save all of Olympus. Not so much when a goddess embarrasses you in front of your girlfriend.
But Percy still loved the place. He had found his true purpose here, being a guide to others like himself who had never fit in anywhere else. He had found a home. Percy sat on his bed remembering when he first got to camp. Life had been so much simpler back then. He had been attacked by a Fury before being rescued by Chiron and arriving at the Big House on horseback. His brethren. How Poseidon was the father of all horses he would never get, but the less he thought of it the better. That was all before his whole life turned into one big survival challenge. Before Kronos. Before Luke. Before Annabeth. She made it all worth it. Now he was the biggest hero in the world who was overseeing the reconstruction of Olympus and restoration of power among the gods, but he had her by his side.
Last night was a step in the right direction, but Percy still had a long way to go. He was going to give Annabeth the relationship she deserved.
A wave of water sprung from the fountain and wet his toothbrush as he took an orange camp t-shirt and matching shorts from the semi-stink pile. Time to start the day.
Whatever jokes people had come up with, he could deal with.
As usual, he was wrong.
Right outside the door was a group of way too excited first years that lost it at the mere sight of him. They were all impeccably dressed and wearing matching pink headbands that read "Luv 4 Lyfe!". Yup, definitely Aphrodite kids. Before he knew it they had him surrounded, asking an overwhelming barrage of questions.
"Did you really meet Aphrodite?"
"What eyeliner does she use?"
"Was she wearing anything by the Fates because that's sooo last season. Unless she was. She's always on that retro curve. Yeah it's totally on the comeback. Wait, was she?"
Percy pushed his way through the throng of preteens giving the occasional answer of "Yeah", "the pink one", and "I don't know, clothes aren't everything". That last one got him a look so murderous he could've sworn he was back in the Underworld.
Things just got worse from there. Worser? Who knows, he had always sucked at school. Annabeth would go crazy if she could hear him. He acted bored everytime she went off about her love of proper grammar or architecture, but really he loved how passionate she was.
Everywhere he looked there were posters, shirts, and mugs all covered with fun sayings such as "Percy Wimpson" and "His real Achilles Heel is his feelings". Ok that one wasn't bad. At the forefront of it all were Connor and Travis Stroll, weasley brothers who were capable of anything if it benefited them.
Percy was not one for attention, especially this kind.
He walked up to Connor, the smarter of the two, who was wearing a tie-dye "Aphrodite Sux" shirt with matching hat to put an end to this. They owed him for, you know, saving the world.
"Wait, aren't you guys Pro-Aphrodite?"
"We play both sides so we always come out on top"
Percy admired how crafty and fast these guys were, especially for children of Hermes. More so when they weren't using it to make his life miserable, but still impressive.
Travis ran up to them holding a poster saying "Baby Sizes now available!", breathlessly saying "Guess who just sold an entire box of archery targets to the Ares cabin". His crazed smile only grew worse when he saw Percy. "Hey Percy, sorry about all this. But you know business is business, and you're a hot item"
"Yeah I thought for sure you would have doused us by now. What's the matter, can't get it up again?" Connor said with a sly smile, nudging his arm.
"Don't tell Annabeth" Travis said.
Percy's blood boiled. Suddenly he was a kid again, feeling like he wasn't enough. Like he was a joke. He had done everything he could to move on from these feelings, but they were always there lurking in the back of his head. He clenched his fists so hard that there were a handful of startled screams from the bathrooms nearby followed by a gush of water and- well, other stuff -seeping out from under the door. Uh not again. Another reminder he couldn't afford to lose his cool. Plus it would just make the taunting go on longer. It'd be worth it to put these guys in their place but it would affect Annabeth too.
Annabeth.
This whole time he hadn't given a single thought to how she must be feeling. She was definitely going through the same torment he was.
He bought an Aphrodite Sux shirt (the quality at that price was insane) and ran back to his cabin to check the time. It was two which meant Annabeth would be studying some way too smart for him to understand thing in her cabin right now. Wait, it was two? Percy really needed a better sleep schedule. Or really any sleep schedule.
Percy ran down the greenery, brushing his teeth again for good measure. Annabeth's cabin quickly came up on the left, complete with the creepy gray eyed owl headstones that he had, slowly, grown to love. It reminded him of her.
He busted into the cabin, toothbrush and all, to the sight of Annabeth and her siblings around a table of maps staring at him. Sketches of stars and planets so complex they seemed to leap off the page covered the room.
"Hey guys what's up?"
Annabeth took one look at him and smiled. She excused herself and followed him outside.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Seaweed Brain?"
Percy was about to respond when he heard a bunch of hushed voices and giggles behind him.
"He's totally going to freeze again"
"No, he's going to be all like 'oh I loooove you, let's kiss and cry over our feelings'"
"I bet that that's how he beat Kronos, by boring him to death"
Percy looked back to Annabeth, who was struggling to not burst out laughing.
"How about we go talk on the hill?"
They walked around the top of Half-Blood Hill and basked in the sun while taking in the sweet smell of the strawberry fields down below. Percy loved how peaceful it was up here. It took his mind off everything. Up here, it was like they were the only two people in the world. Percy couldn't help but notice how her messy blond hair caught the light as it ran across her face in the warm summer breeze. She had never looked more beautiful.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing, you know with everyone talking about last night"
"Percy this is nothing, I've dealt with people treating me like a stereotypical dumb blond girl my entire life. I had to work twice as hard to prove myself, especially to become the leader of my cabin"
"And you totally deserve it. But I don't want you to go through all this just because of me"
"You're worth it. This is just temporary" Annabeth said smiling, her gray eyes staring directly into Percy's. Everything else immediately faded away. "We'll get through it. Together."
Percy's mind started to go fuzzy again, but he shook himself out of it. They were past that.
"You're right. I love you Owl Head."
"Woah is Aphrodite around here or something?"
"Shut up"
Just as Percy was going to pull the big romantic move and go in for a kiss, there was an explosion at the base of the hill to their left. The gods really weren't cutting him any slack.
Standing only steps away from them was a large black mass of fur and fangs that was indiscernible apart from its glowing red eyes. It was at least 10 feet high and just as wide, but the darkness it radiated made it seem double that. Everything it touched lost color and was engulfed in shadows. A Hellhound. This shouldn't be possible, the barrier that kept all monsters out was as healthy as ever. Then again Percy had almost become a literal god last week so who's to say what was and wasn't possible.
Before Percy could even reach into his pocket, the hellhound slammed him straight into a nearby tree. He tried to get up, but his legs buckled under his weight and his head felt like lead. He was aware of a distant pain in the back of his head but it felt a world away. The only thing he was able to register after that were flashes. Annabeth charging the hellhound head on. Annabeth sliding as the hellhound leaped on top of her. Annabeth running her dagger straight down its stomach as it bit through her arm. A flash of light and ash. Annabeth standing over him, her face a mix of fear and pain. Percy couldn't hear anything after that as he drifted into darkness.
The next thing he knew a scraped up Annabeth was next to him at the bottom of the hill feeding him ambrosia, the healing food of the gods. It was night.
"Hey you ok? Gave me a scare there"
"Yeah I totally had that under control"
"Sure you did Seaweed Brain. Besides, I owed you for yesterday"
"How did that get in here?"
Annabeth's face became deadly serious as she looked down at camp.
"Someone summoned it."