Wow so like this has crept up onto me. We have one more chapter until the end of this? Isn't that crazy? This is mostly like Percabeth being a Percabeth type chapter (which we all love), so I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Twenty-ninth chapter and I'm still doing this. Idk what else to say. I don't own.
~headline: a new chapter in life~
…
Percy paces as he waits for a new car to pull up, one with Annabeth inside it. He looks out his window, which is tinted on one side, squinting to see if he's missed any new people pulling up. This is the first time they're hanging out in person since, well, everything, and of course he's excited. Unbelievably.
But he's also nervous. That too, unbelievably. See, Percy isn't perfect. That's quite obvious. There's a part of him, even so, that kind of wants to show off that facade. He feels so exposed, but also comfortable. It's strange. In a good way and a bad way. Mostly a good way. It's nice to feel normal. And it's nice to be treated normally.
Annabeth is kind of perfect. Point being: she's incredibly smart, so smart Percy feels dumb around her, she's funny, can take a joke. Maybe a little intense at times, but not in a bad way. To top it all off, she's passionate. When she talks about the things she loves, there's this starry, glazed look that comes over her eyes. It's like she gets entirely fascinated about the subjects she's talking about all over again. Percy wished there were things he were that passionate about. Music, sure, that's definitely one, but also, he'd like to have a more free-spirited subject to celebrate. Even if in principle music should be free-spirited.
His eyes widen as he sees a new car pull up and out comes Annabeth. Her hair is tied into a tight ponytail and it swings from side to side as she closes the door, waves at whoever is driving (he thinks it's Piper), and then looks up at the flat with a quizzical look on her face. Taking out her phone, she purses her lips and types something into it. Seconds later, Percy's phone beeps.
Is this creepy? Maybe a little. But she's his girlfriend. And he's so, so happy about that.
"I'm here," her text reads, "where should I go?" Okay, this one hundred percent sounds lame, but Percy lets out a little squeak. He doesn't do that. But he still does. And it's slightly embarrassing (more than slightly).
He gives her the number to his flat, which is more like a pent-house, and then rings her up. Several minutes later, there's a light knock on his door, and Percy shoves his phone in his pocket, runs his hands through his hair, looking into a mirror, and then finally opening the door.
He turns the handle and pulls it open fast smiling, no, beaming, and there she is. Looking beautiful and natural. "Hey," Percy says slowly.
Annabeth looks up at him through her lashes. "Hey, what's up?"
"Not a lot," Percy laughs, "uh, come in." He beckons her in, and she follows him through.
Her eyes widened, understandably. It is a pretty big house, especially for one person to live in. Even though he's a famous musician. "Wow. This is really big. Only you live here?"
Percy scratches the back of his neck, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Though he shouldn't. He's used to the awe, though a little uncomfortable about it. "It's a lot, I know that."
"It's awesome." Annabeth goes deeper into the apartment, walking to the kitchen. "You cook?" She asks, motioning to the different pots and pans that are scattered around.
"Not really," Percy blushes, "they're just for show." He sometimes uses them. When he's making scramble eggs out something like that. They are a little useless though. Still, capability doesn't equal skill, so he could potentially make something that wasn't horrible, though it wouldn't be great either. The pots are there just in case I Love You To Pizza's is closed.
"I don't cook either. And we're the same age, so I guess that's equal." He's grateful she says that. It proves even further she sees him as Percy without Jackson.
Chuckling, the fridge opens, and he pulls out a jug of water. "Do you want anything?"
"Do you have cheez-its?" Annabeth asks.
Percy scuttles over to the pantry, and pulls out cheez-its. He has a lot of snacks stored there, more than he'd like to admit and more than one person by himself could eat. It's good Annabeth's here for that reason and of course, many more. "What's the magic word?" He teases.
"Abracadabra." He raises an eyebrow, and she groans. "Just give me the damn snack Jackson."
"Make me." Percy challenges.
She rolls her eyes, and scoots closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. He relaxes into her arms, moving his around her back, holding the cheez-its with both of them behind it. The blonde curls on the top of her head smell so nice. Like lemons. Like home. "Are you smelling my hair?" Annabeth whispers.
"I missed you." Percy doesn't answer.
She laughs, and then pushes him away, locking her arm against his neck. "Hand over the cheeze-its."
"I thought we were having a moment!" He complains.
She takes the cheeze-its, and pops them open. "We were. And now I have my cheez-its."
He looks at her with puppy-dog eyes. "I want a hug."
"You baby." Two orange cheese crackers are shoved into her mouth and then she goes in for another hug. Percy reaches his arm back to grab the cheez-its and pull it away, but she doesn't budge. "You can't catch me that fast Seaweed Brain," she teases, now pulling away and keeping them close to her. A couple more popped into her mouth.
"How am I supposed to kiss you now?" She goes bright red. Percy likes when he does that. "With your mouth tasting all cheezy and all."
"You don't like cheese?"
Percy shrugs. "I guess I'll have to see."
She snorts. "You're disgusting."
"And you're amazing." He pulls closer to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, pulling his lips to hers. When they touch, he feels at home once again. She is home, she is… everything. It's cheesy and cliche, but this feels like it's meant to be. It feels like she's the one. And that is an unbelievably amazing feeling. More than that, he can't even put into words how much this matters to him.
As they kiss, Percy feels Annabeth tugging at his hair, and he puts his hand in hers, cupping her face and hair as they kiss even more. At one point, they're against a wall, Annabeth's back pressed against it as Percy kisses her so intensely. They break apart, breathless, hearts-pounding. He brings them together for one last peck, and then they release. "Wow," Percy shakes his head. "If every kiss is like that, we're in for something amazing Annabeth."
She smirks at him. It makes her look so gorgeous. "I don't even know what to say."
"I don't think we're supposed to." He tucks a loose curl behind her ear. "But I also don't think that matters."
"I wish this was all normal." Annabeth whispers.
Percy sighs. "The truth isn't great, but you deserve it. You deserve everything, you know that right."
"I guess." She mutters.
He takes her hand. "Annabeth, you deserve everything multiplied by a million." He sighs again. "Okay, so the paparazzi is horrible. And when we come out about this, probably after you're done with school—"
"So are we going to keep this up for that long? Keeping a secret? That sounds hard." It is hard. It doesn't just sound hard. Percy really just wants to keep her safe, and out of that scene.
His heart falls. "It's going to be hard, but it's worth it for me," hesitation comes next, "is it worth it for you?"
She pecks him on the cheek. "Of course it is. I think. I don't know, we're taking it slow, right?"
"Yes. Anything to make you comfortable."
Her shoulders relax. "Alright. How does this paparazzi thing work anyway?" A smile reaches his lips.
"They're not good. I'm not going to say individually that they're bad people, but they're a part of something that infringes on privacy, and there's not really any good way to put it. That's the truth. Um, whenever I go out, I wear sunglasses and a hat. I guess when we're out together, you'll have to do that so no one recognizes you."
Annabeth swallows. "That's a lot to ask."
"You don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's just to be safe. Tell me anytime," he swallows, because he really doesn't want to say this, "if you just want to end it. I have a lot of shit on me. Stuff that I would never want to drag you into."
"Don't worry." She says, "I— I'll let you know if that ever becomes a problem." There's a pause. "I don't think it will any time soon."
"Thank you."
"Why?"
"For doing all of this. For me. For not giving up, I guess. I got really lucky with you Annabeth." He smiles softly at her. "And I don't know what I would do if I lost you forever. You've always been one of my favorite people. And you've also always been one of the most important people in my life?"
"Always…?" She comments slyly.
He rolls his eyes. "Ever since I got to know you. In and not in person."
"I can definitely see the charm to you."
"You fell for it."
She shoves him in the shoulder. "No, I fell for your dorkiness, not for your charm." They lean closer together, almost daring each other, but their lips don't touch yet.
"That's so rude." He makes a little frowny face.
"You're so rude."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It doesn't have too." Annabeth smirks. She is one hundred percent the person that's going to own it in the future, whatever that is. A leader.
He gives her a peck on the cheek. "Do you want to try to cook something?"
"How spontaneous." She replies gruffly. He smiles. This is barely spontaneity, but he'll take it. Sounds like a complement anyway, Percy's heard girls like that.
"I think I have a pack of cake mix." Percy tells her, already getting up to head to the pantry.
Annabeth follows him, smiling slightly along the way. When he gets to his pantry, he looks in to see what's actually several boxes of cake mix. "Vanilla or chocolate?" He asks.
"Chocolate." She pauses. "Vanilla makes me queasy." Percy can't say he doesn't agree.
He laughs and pulls out the brownish yellow box. "Here we go." And then he clumsily drops the box.
Annabeth picks it up for him, still laughing, and turns it around to inspect the instructions. "One cup of water, one stick of butter, and three eggs, along with the mix is what we'll need. Since this big ol' place is all yours, do you think you could scrounge those up?"
"Yes ma'am," He salutes her. "How much time will this take?"
She squints at the instructions. "I think we want to do eight by eight," Percy is not sure what that means, "so forty four to forty nine minutes, plus prep time, so maybe around an hour?"
He first bumps her. "Plus two incapable teenagers."
"That's the fun of it." Her eyes twinkle, and Percy can't help but press a kiss to the side of her chin. This feels so domestic, makes him think of the future, his future with her possibly. Maybe it's thinking a bit forwardly, but he's a dreamer. So that's what he can do. Dream.
They manage to get everything out without breaking or mixing up anything, and Percy, thank goodness, knows how to turn all the kitchen appliances on, so he puts the oven onto three-fifty. They mix everything together in preparation, stirring the cake mix, water, and butter in a large bowl, and then beating them together for about three minutes. Then, they realize they forgot to put the eggs in, so Annabeth very haphazardly attempts to crack them without having any shells fly into the metal bowl that they're using. Then they mix it up, hoping it's not entirely ruined.
And there are no professional mixers over here. Specks fly out and onto the table (along with onto them). It isn't the prettiest sight.
"Okay," Percy wipes sweat off of his face as they finally pour the cake substance onto a baking sheet. "I think this is good."
She scrunches up her nose. "Smells kind of cakey."
"And chocolate-y" Percy points out. He brushes his hand against her cheek to whip away a stain. It feels too natural and couple-like, Percy really feels adjusted. This is going somewhere, he knows. There's still a light blush on both of their cheeks from all of this.
"Right." Annabeth takes some oven mitts in her hand and puts the container which has the cake into it in the oven, which is already heated up. "We didn't screw up too bad."
"Like I said, for two incapable teenagers, this is pretty good."
"You know," Annabeth says, "I used to forget that you were my age." She nudges him in the shoulder. "But now that I'm around you, it makes so much sense. You're so childish."
Percy does a fake little frown. "Childish? I'm famous, Wise Girl."
"That doesn't mean you don't act like a child."
A finger goes up. "Only when I can. I need to take those opportunities. I get to be more myself around you."
"I'm glad that you feel comfortable." They both lean against the counter. It's supposed to be baking for around forty minutes, so they have some time to kill.
He swallows. "Can I show you something?"
"Of course," Annabeth replies.
He holds out his hand for her to take, and leads her cautiously to his room. Even though they aren't doing anything, Percy feels so exposed with her seeing where he sleeps. He walks over to the side of his bed, and kneels, to grab the old, old guitar, the first one he had, the one he salvaged, before everything.
"It's pretty beat up isn't it?" She smiles, and then runs her hand along the side of it.
Percy smiles. "Yeah, but I love it. I don't use it on stage or in music videos, but it's the first guitar I had. The one I used in my original youtube videos. I like to think it helps me remember my innocence."
"Aren't you still innocent?"
He deadpans, "you're joking."
They stare at for a second, and then break out in giggles. "Okay, well, I guess it's just important to me. And to think that this is the first guitar you saw me play with, without even knowing, kind of makes this all feel more real. I— I'm not as charming as I come off as on camera, but I do really care. A lot. I just wanted you to know that. And I wanted you to see my old guitar too. Because it's important to me, and you're important to me."
Her eyes go from joking to loving real fast. Leaning her head against him, Percy feels warmth in that spot. "You're really important to me too Percy," she whispers.
Tracing hearts against her back, Percy breaths out a warm breath, and then presses another kiss to the side of her cheek. He can't get enough of kissing her. Wordlessly, their lips find each other once more, and touch slowly. Percy smiles against them, relishing the way it now feels so normal. The first time it was just plain intense, but now it's changed from intense to natural, normal. A couple. Not an old one, but a new one. Percy really can't wait in store for the two of them, no matter how hard that may be.
He grins again. Then he notices he's been doing that a lot lately. So many things have changed for the better, and for the worst, but ultimately, they caused this.
…
Okay, so maybe they burn the cake a little bit. But come on, when cuddling is on the line, it's completely okay. Except for the fact that it stinks up Percy's house.
The cake isn't burnt to the crisp, it's just very hard to eat. Annabeth manages to eat half a piece before giving up, and Percy gets one bite in and decides it's not worth it. What a waste of a good mix, Annabeth comments, but Percy tells her he has several packets left. They end up scratching off all the burnt parts with a knife, because the inside is still intact, sugary deliciousness. In the end, everything turns out okay.
That's how it's supposed to go. Percy doesn't want to compare their relationship to cake, but admittedly, there are a few key comparisons. He tells Annabeth this, and instead of slapping him and saying that he's stupid like some would (Nico), she rolls her eyes and laughs along with. And Percy didn't really know how he got this lucky. He's not sure how they got this lucky.
But he doesn't need to find out to enjoy this. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn close.
…
~the end may be just as good as the beginning~
I always like to add one fluffy chapter into my stories. Anyway, at the arrival of the next chapter (the last chapter!), the first chapter to The God of Deception will be posted. I would really appreciate it if you checked it out. Next chapter's author's note will have a backstory and other information. Also probably an over-emotional thank you. It's been coming for a while. Additionally, the Luke situation will be more addressed in the authors note of the next chapter. Not all relationships are going to be the forgive and forget kind, yk? People are human and have flaws, Annabeth was already having a lot of emotional conflict because of Frederick, who she hasn't forgiven, so realistically, she didn't approach it amazingly. Anyway, tysm for reading! Leave a review, lmk what you think! Until the next chapter!
TheLil'Lion