Chapter 13

"and i see colours in a different way / you make what doesn't matter fade to grey"
- bright, echosmith

"What should I wear?"

Piper hums from where she's lying on the mattress. "Put on your blue dress for a second."

"Wait, hold on," Thalia says. "You can't wear a dress on your first date."

Annabeth frowns. "Why?"

"It'll look like you're trying too hard."

"But– I look nice in my blue dress."

"Ignore her," Piper interrupts. "She doesn't know anything about fashion."

So things aren't going so well, which. You know. Is slightly worrying, considering Annabeth has a date and it's with Percy with the sparkly eyes and pretty laugh and it kind of needs to be perfect.

And Thalia and Piper aren't helping in the slightest.

All they've been doing is lounging on the sofa like two lazy kittens, making off-handed remarks that often have nothing to do with Annabeth's date. And whenever someone does make a relevant comment, like Piper with her suggestion that Annabeth should wear her blue dress, the other person almost always immediately shoots it down. It's making Annabeth feels all sorts of conflicted and they even started on her hair.

"Wear your blue dress," Piper encourages. "But Thalia's right, don't wear your heels. That would be a bit much for a first date. Do you know what you're doing?"

"No. Percy said it was a secret."

"Then you have to dress in neutral clothes, you know? Like you have to wear something that is simultaneously appropriate for rock-climbing and also a fancy restaurant."

Thalia scoffs. "If any boy took me rock-climbing on our first date I'd smack him in the face."

"Percy isn't going to take me rock-climbing," Annabeth says indignantly.

"You can never be too sure."

"Yes, I can. Percy isn't taking me rock-climbing. That's positively absurd."

"I mean." Piper shrugs. "You say that. Wait until he does."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Fine, then. Hypothetically, Percy takes me rock-climbing, and then to a fancy restaurant – which, by the way, he's probably not going to do, either. What shoes do I wear?"

"Converse," Thalia says.

Piper scrunches up her nose in distaste. "No. Your Converse are all muddy."

"I literally have no other shoes."

"You have your flipflops. And your boots."

"Firstly, we're not going to a beach. And secondly, I'm going on a date. I can't wear my boots on a date."

"Yes, you can," Piper says. "I can monogram your Lois initials into the side with pink thread so they're more appropriate."

"Yeah, no thanks."

"Just wear your Converse," Thalia says. "They're your best bet."

Annabeth chews her lip. "Are you sure I shouldn't wear my heels?"

"Absolutely," Piper says. "That's something Thalia and I can agree on. Unless Percy takes you ballroom dancing do not wear heels. Besides, you're always complaining about how uncomfortable they are."

"Well, it's a date. Pain is beauty, right?"

"Wrong," Thalia says.

"You're one to talk," Piper says pointedly. "You're wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants."

"I'd rather comfort is ugliness than pain is beauty."

Annabeth nods her head. "Okay, um. So, blue dress, Converse. Anything else?"

"No," Piper says. She pushes herself up off the couch. "I'm going to get some food."

"Good riddance," Thalia mumbles when she leaves the room.

"I heard that!"

Thalia rolls her eyes, and then pats the sofa next to her. "Come, child."

Obediently, Annabeth folds herself up against Thalia's side. Over time, Piper and Annabeth's neediness and affection must have worn her down, because now whenever Annabeth wants a cuddle and Piper isn't home Thalia only grumbles for a few seconds instead of for the entire duration. Nowadays, she's even initiating the cuddles, which pleases Annabeth immensely. She rests her head on Thalia's shoulder and Thalia fiddles with the end of her curls.

"How you holding up, kiddo?" Thalia asks. "You nervous?"

"A bit."

"You'll be fine."

"I hope so. I..." She pauses. "I really like him, Thalia."

"I know. He likes you, too."

"You can't possibly know that."

"I've met him, remember? He looked so worried, Annie, like he was scared you had been seriously hurt. Friends don't care that much."

"They could."

Thalia hums. "Besides, he said yes, didn't he?"

"What if he said it out of pity?"

"He didn't, pup. Trust me. This date will go excellently and you'll get married and have lots of babies, and you'll name them all Annabeth and Thalia and Piper and he won't be any wiser because he'll still think you're Lois."

Annabeth smiles. "Yeah."

"Say, what time is Percy picking you up at?"

"Around four, I think."

Thalia stares at her.

"What?"

"Four?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Annabeth, it's one."

Annabeth holds up her hands defensively. "I want to be prepared!"

"You got me out of bed on a Saturday before eleven to prepare for a date that's happening at four?"

"Oh, hush," Piper says, walking in the room. "Have some cake."

"I don't want any cake."

"More for me, then." Piper offers the plate to Annabeth. "Cake?"

"Yes, please."

"Don't spill any on your dress."

"I won't, Mom."

Annabeth takes a plate and a slice and starts picking at it with her fingers. These days, their meals are consisting solely of something from a can (usually baked beans, chicken or sweetcorn) and then cake. (There had been a big debate about this, actually. "You can't keep buying cake," Annabeth had said. "We need, like, proper food." "I try not to, honest," Piper had responded. "But the cake aisle comes before the aisles with all the proper food and it just always smells so good. I can't help it!")

Percy arrives at ten past four.

("Typical," Thalia had said. "Boys are always late.")

When the doorbell rings, Piper shrieks and throws the remote at the TV in excitement. Annabeth suddenly has a pit in her stomach and she stares at herself in the reflection of the window, wondering if maybe all that cake was a good idea. The dress doesn't make her look fat, does it?

"Answer the door!" Piper squawks.

Annabeth looks at her desperately. "I can't do this."

Thalia huffs. "I did not get up at nine am for you to chicken out. Come on." She drags Annabeth to the door and flings it open.

Percy is standing there, looking a little awkward. He's holding a picnic basket and for a second Annabeth is taken aback by the way his T-shirt brings out the blue in his green eyes and frankly he just looks very good and it just doesn't do anything to calm Annabeth's nerves. If anything, it only makes things worse.

"Hey," she breathes.

Percy beams at her, a little bashfully. "Hi. You, um. Look nice."

"So do you."

They stand there smiling awkwardly at each other for while. Annabeth is just about to snap out oh her reverie and suggest heading off, when Piper materialises next to her. Annabeth stares at her.

"Hey," Piper says, offering Percy her hand to shake. "I'm Tess, Lois's cousin."

"I'm Percy. S'nice to meet you."

"Yes, you too." Piper beams at Annabeth. "Now, there are just some ground rules I want to settle before you two go gallivanting off."

Annabeth is mortified. "Oh my God, no," she says. "Percy, let's go."

"No, hold on," Piper says, grabbing onto her wrist. "Rule one, Percy, please don't impregnate her."

From somewhere behind her, Annabeth hears Thalia burst out laughing. She feels her face burn progressively hotter.

"Rule two, Lois is my cousin." Piper fixes Percy with a steely stare. "That means that if you even think about hurting her I'll disembowell you and cut out your tongue. Are we understood?"

Percy nods, looking a little scared. Annabeth doesn't even blame him.

"All right." Piper sweetens up immediately. She presses a kiss to Annabeth's cheek. "Have fun."

"Bye," Annabeth all but shouts, and then she steps outside and slams the door shut. She's never been so embarrassed. She's going to slice Piper in half.

"I'm so sorry," she says.

Percy looks a little disheveled. "It's okay."

"That was so embarrassing."

"S'what cousins do best, I suppose. Don't worry, Lois. It was funny."

Annabeth takes a shuddery breath. "I want to bleach my mind."

Percy laughs. "Please don't do that." He offers Annabeth his arm. "Shall we be off, m'lady?"

Annabeth accepts and curls her hand around his bicep. He stares at her, as if he wasn't expecting her to actually do it, and Annabeth simply shoots him an innocent smile. "We shall."

They leave the apartment block, Annabeth bidding goodbye to the doorman with the friendly smile. They head down the street together

"So, what's the plan of action?" she asks.

Percy looks like he's suppressing a smile, although it doesn't work very well because his left cheek is dimpled and his eyes are glittering. "We're having a picnic," he says proudly.

Annabeth stares at him. "What, really?"

"Indeed. Prepare to get wooed, Lois Watermann."

"I mean. That all depends on how good the food is."

"Oh, it's excellent. My mom helped me make it. And my mom is a pretty fantastic cook, so."

Annabeth laughs. "Well then, I'll be looking forward to it."

They walk in comfortable silence. Annabeth hasn't a clue as to where they're going – before coming to New York she made it her duty to memorise a map of New York, so on the off chance that if someone, namely Luke (or anyone else, really; Annabeth has a lot of people who would be more than willing to kill her), kidnapped her she'd be able to work out where they were going from movement and speed of whatever vehicle she had been bundled into. However, Percy is going all over the place – instead of sticking to the main roads, the ones Annabeth has engrained in the back of her skull, he takes a sudden left and soon they're clambering through bushes. They stumble across a fence, and Percy kicks a few slats out the way and gestures to her to climb through it.

"You're not planning on murdering me, are you?" she asks. Because, like. It's really beginning to look like a possibility at this point.

Percy swears good-naturedly. "Aw, darn it. You caught me."

"In all seriousness, though. We aren't going to rob a bank, are we?"

"Yes, Lois. That's exactly what we're doing. That's why I decided to wear a bright blue T-shirt."

"Hide in plain sight, you know."

Percy turns around and gives her a look that she thinks is meant to be exasperated but is much too fond for it to be considered anything even remotely close. It lights a fire in the pit of her stomach and she thinks she just might be a little bit in love.

"We're nearly there," he says. "And then you can see for yourself that we're not robbing a bank. I need to introduce my lifestyle to you slowly, which is why this time we're robbing a house."

Annabeth laughs. Oh, if only he knew.

Percy leads her down a number of hidden paths, ducking through wire fences and sneaking around the back of a private car park. It's silly and dumb and extremely amateur compared to other places Annabeth has had to sneak into, but because she's got Percy with her, a solid reassuring warmth against her side when they have to quickly roll beneath a Benz so the man with the thin grey hair and immaculate pinstriped suit doesn't catch them illegally loitering, it makes everything so, so much better.

"You know," Annabeth says conversationally. "This was really not how I thought my first date would go."

Percy snorts. "I had to make sure I outdid all your other potential suitors."

"Oh yes, out of all zero boys who are vying for my attention."

"I'm a boy."

"You don't count. We're on a date now. You've already got my attention." Annabeth gestures as best as she can with the limited space she has. "I certainly won't be forgetting this any time soon."

"It could have been worse. I could have chosen the Mustang."

"Either way, the date hasn't even started yet and I'm already under a car."

"It's all part of my charm."

Annabeth scoffs, but she doesn't disagree.

Finally, they manage to get themselves out from beneath the car. Annabeth is honestly quite beside herself at this point. She's dying to know where Percy's taking her – at first, she had assumed it was just a park, but lying on gravel with an engine humming above you for twenty minutes really changes a person. She wonders what on earth is so special that Percy would risk sneaking across someone's private property for.

She soon finds out.

They stumble across a main road, and Percy beams at her. "Nearly there," he says. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Annabeth says. "Also very pleased I didn't wear heels."

"Yes, that wouldn't have been fun."

They walk for maybe about five more minutes before Percy turns to her with an awkward smile on his face. "This is it," he says. "It's, um. Yeah."

Turns out, it is a park. But it's not just any ordinary park. In fact, the second Annabeth walks in her breath is taken away. "Wow."

It's absolutely beautiful. It's a stretch of green that goes for hundreds and hundreds of metres in all directions, framed by a thick fringe of trees so unless you knew it was there you wouldn't be able to see it. There are daisies and daffodils dotted all over, little clusters of white and yellow, and somewhere near what Annabeth can only assume is the middle of the field there are several bigger trees with trunks the size of a small elephant.

"Oh, Percy," she gasps. "This is beautiful."

Percy gives her a bashful smile. "You like it?"

"Like it? This is incredible. How on earth did you find this place?"

Percy explains as they walk across the field. "Grover's parents are real plant people. Always have been. Some distant relative of his – I think it might be a step-great-grandfather of some sort, whatever – bought this piece of land, and it's been in the Underwood family for generations. It used to be an orchard, for apples and stuff, but something happened so it's not anymore. Grover's dad gave me permission to use it. So I thought I'd show you."

"It's amazing," Annabeth says. "Honestly. This was worth sitting beneath a car."

Percy laughs.

They decide to sit under one of big trees in the middle of the field. Annabeth goes to sit down on the grass before lets out a squawk and almost drops the picnic basket in the attempts to get her to remain standing up.

Annabeth is startled. "Sorry?"

"You can't just sit on the grass!" Percy splutters indignantly.

"Why not?"

"Because! This is a date. Your bottom deserves more than just grass."

This boy. Annabeth has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. "That's very sweet of you, Percy, but I think my bottom will survive."

"I've got a picnic blanket. Here, hold this for a second." He thrusts the picnic basket in Annabeth's arms and pulls a blanket out from one of the sides, unfolding it dramatically and settling it down on the grass. "See, you can sit on this."

Annabeth smiles and plops herself down next to him. "Wow, what a difference."

"Don't be sarcastic. At least you aren't going to have spiders crawling up and down your legs."

Annabeth's smile becomes strained. "Haha."

Percy notices. He cocks his head. "Not a big fan of spiders?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"Arachnophobia?"

Annabeth bristles. "No– no, just. We have a mutual respect for each other."

Annabeth hates admitting she has arachnophobia. Spies are meant to be indestructible, and yet here she is, her mortal weakness being something as stupid as spiders. In Annabeth's mind, if she doesn't say it, she doesn't have it. As far as anyone needs to be concerned her relationship with spiders is one of a requited, healthy fear. They don't have to know that she is deathly afraid of them.

Percy shrugs. "Fair enough. I mean, I'm dead scared of pigeons."

Annabeth stares at him. "But– you live in New York."

"Yes, that does make things a bit harder."

"Why on earth would you be scared of pigeons?"

"Have you seen their claws? If they wanted they could rip out an eye. I don't want anything capable of ripping out my eyes anywhere near me, thank you very much."

"But pigeons are so sweet."

"No, they're not. They're flying monsters of doom."

Annabeth laughs. "Whatever you say."

They settle back against the tree trunk, and Annabeth watches as Percy unpacks the picnic basket. He pulls out a number of things: a couple of cupcakes, a plate of blue cookies wrapped in cellophane, a few slices of pizza in tinfoil, some sandwiches and two bottles of water.

Percy offers her an awkward smile. "Um, I wasn't sure what kind of sandwich you liked, so I made ham and cheese. Is that– okay?"

"That's fine. I love ham and cheese."

Percy huffs out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank heavens. I was so worried."

Annabeth laughs a little and then picks up the plate of cookies. "Why are these blue?"

"Funny story, actually." Percy unwraps them and offers her one. She takes two and Percy gives her an approving nod. "When we were living with Gabe, he always told my mom that there's no such thing as blue food."

Annabeth frowns. "Uh, blueberries?"

"He always said they were purple. I don't even know where the whole discussion came from but he was adamant about it. So my mom decided to make blue cookies to prove him wrong, and it's kind of become our thing."

Annabeth marvels at him. "Your mom is awesome."

"I know." Percy chews a cookie thoughtfully. "What's your mom like?"

"My mom?" Frankly, Annabeth can't remember her real mom. She was part of the Olympus Circle, so Annabeth never saw her, and when she did it was fleetingly. She died on a mission around last year, right after she had told Annabeth all the secrets of the Inner Ring, but strangely enough Annabeth hadn't been devastated because of how little time they had spent together. Of course, she was sad. Athena was her mom, after all. But it never had an impact on her in any way, because she never knew her mom well enough. "She's cool. She works a lot, though. She's not like your mom. She doesn't bake or anything. She talks on her phone a lot."

Percy stares at her with an indecipherable look on his face. "Are you– okay with that? Do you ever miss her?"

"Sometimes, I guess. She and my dad go on a lot of business trips."

Percy squeezes her hand. "Well. You can share my mom, if you want."

Annabeth gives him a small smile. "Thanks, Percy." Then she clears her throat. "Um, should we start?"

"We shall."

Percy unwraps the pizza slices and gives her four, putting them on a paper plate. The cheese is a bit hard but it still tastes delicious, and Annabeth inhales them almost as fast as Percy does. He stares at her, shocked.

"You can eat," he says, impressed.

"Me and the other seven billion people on this planet."

Percy gives her a look that Annabeth giggles at. "You know what I mean. You devoured that."

"I'm still hungry."

"I have emergency pizza."

"Emergency pizza?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if a) you liked pepperoni pizza, b) you liked pizza or c) if you were one of those people who didn't eat much, no matter what food it was. So in case I was wrong I brought an emergency pizza. And if I was right I could eat this at home. But I was wrong, so now we have another pizza to share."

"I like the way you think. What type is it?"

"Hawaiian."

Annabeth gives Percy a look. "Percy."

"I'm sorry!"

"You like pineapple on pizza?"

"People who like pineapple on pizza are valid."

"You can go be valid on Pluto. People who like pineapple on pizza deserve to be dragged to the pits of hell."

"It's nice!"

Annabeth shakes her head, dismayed. "I was going to demand that I be your girlfriend just by the fact that you thought ahead and brought a spare pizza but now I'm at the point where I'm considering a divorce."

Percy's face goes scarlet at the word 'girlfriend' but Annabeth decides to be nice and not say anything about it. "Maybe I wanted to divorce you because you don't like pineapple on pizza," he says. "Think about it."

"Why would you divorce me for having sense?"

"Because you don't. Pineapple on pizza is one with the gods."

Annabeth rolls her eyes fondly. "We're going to have to agree to differ."

"Fine." Percy gives her a look. "But I still win."

"Whatever."

Percy pulls the second pizza out the picnic basket. "Does this mean you're not going to have any pizza?"

"No, I will. I'll just pull off all the pineapple."

"Can I have them?"

"Be my guest."

They split the second pizza in two. Annabeth picks all her pineapple off and throws them at Percy, laughing when he catches all of them in his mouth. He waggles his eyebrows at her and she giggles, nibbling at the end of her slice.

"I can still taste the pineapple," she complains.

"I'll happily eat your pizza for you."

"Hands off."

They sit in silence for a bit. Percy finishes his pizza first and then moves on to the sandwiches, carefully taking the tinfoil off and scrunching it up in a ball. He timidly takes a bite. "Lois?" he asks softly.

"Hm?"

"Did you–" Percy pauses. He looks like he's going to vomit. "Um. Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"The, uh. Girlfriend thing."

Suddenly, Annabeth isn't sure whose face is redder. Percy can't even look at her in the eye, and Annabeth feels her ears burn.

"Well." She looks down at her pizza. "Yeah, I guess."

Percy takes a sharp intake of breath. "R–really?"

Annabeth nods. The moment feels like it's balanced on the edge of a knife, and she doesn't think she can breathe properly.

"So–" Percy shuffles a bit closer. "If I asked now, would you say yes?"

Annabeth thinks for a second. "Give it a few more dates," she says finally. "I haven't been wooed yet."

"But–" Percy's face falls. "I gave you pizza!"

"One of which had pineapple on it."

"You're not going to be my girlfriend because I gave you pineapple on pizza?"

"Well. Not exactly. It's a significant factor, however."

Percy grumbles. "Outrageous."

"You better up your game."

"Oh, you better watch out. For our next date I'm going to wine and dine the crap out of you. Mark my words, you'll be my girlfriend soon enough. Then finally I'll be able to kiss you."

"You flatter me."

Percy bats his eyelashes at her. "You sure we can't have, like, an experimental kiss now? Just to let me know of what's to come?"

Annabeth laughs. "Down, boy. I need to finish my pizza."

"After your pizza?"

"No!" Annabeth takes a sandwich. "It's like ever since your confession I've flipped your Hormonal Teenage Boy switch on."

"Yes, well." Percy watches her in fascination. "You're not going to eat that, are you?"

"I can still taste the pineapple a little bit. I need to make sure I absolutely don't."

"By putting a sandwich on top of your pizza?"

"Quite right."

Percy looks at her, with something in his eyes that Annabeth can't quite place but still makes her stomach swirl. "You're really something, Lois Watermann."

A/N Hey guys!

I hope all if you liked that. if i'm being honest I think this has been my favourite chapter to write, so i hope it was at least semi-enjoyable for you guys (i wrote this listening to a playlist of the sappiest romance songs I could find so I apologise if i taylor-swifted this chapter too much) (although really who's complaining)

(thewritingmaniac the pipabelia was for you x)

also thank you so so much for 145 reviews! I'm so pleased you all like this fic as much as i do, it means so much to me. and your reviews last chapter were hand over heart probably the nicest things I've ever read. I know I say that every chapter but I appreciate you all so so much and literally every time I get a new comment I religiously read it about twelve times. Your feedback is one of the main reasons why I do this, so thank you all a thousand times over i love you all so so much xxx

Anyway, that's it for this chapter! As always, please tell me what you thought, and feel free to come say hello via pm if you want xD. I'll see you all next week! Bye xxx