"Dude, you are so whipped."
"I'm not whipped, Grover. I saved the world twice, and I'm my own man. I just so happen to love pleasing my girlfriend."
"There's a difference between pleasing her and doing everything she says, Perce."
"Agreed," adds Jason, who is sitting across from Percy and Grover. Jason is on a temporary leave from Camp Jupiter, as he and Piper have decided to spend half the year at each camp in an effort to spend more time with each other. Although he should technically be sitting at the Zeus table, Chiron has been letting him sit with Percy and Grover at the Poseidon table. Jason is too lonely at Zeus's, especially with his girlfriend having to sit with her siblings. Besides, Percy and Jason deserve at least a little freedom after the second prophecy was completed.
Percy cranes his neck in an effort to catch a glimpse of Annabeth in the midst of all the blonde hair and grey eyes at the Athena table, but before he can attempt to pick her out, he sees a mop of curly brown hair out of the corner of his eye. The son of Poseidon looks over at the Hephaestus table in front of him and immediately recognizes Leo Valdez amongst his siblings, sniggering at Percy, who raises his eyebrows at the teenager's expression. Leo just laughs. He must've overheard the conversation going on between the other three, for he motions toward the slice of olive pizza Percy summoned on his plate for Annabeth. "I agree with Jason and Grover, man. You do everything for that scary girl."
Percy scowls at Leo, who chuckles in return. The son of Poseidon then proceeds to scan the Athena table, where he finds Annabeth helping a younger sister clean up some spilled soda. Once they're finished, Annabeth goes back to eating while reading her book. Percy smiles to himself before walking over to her and silently putting the pizza on her plate. It takes her a minute to realize what he's done, but she finally looks over at her plate. She smiles, turns around, and gives Percy a quick peck. "You know, Seaweed Brain, you're getting pretty good at this whole 'boyfriend' thing. You didn't have to get pizza for me. I could've just asked for it myself," she says happily.
"Well, I wanted to out of the unselfish goodness of my heart, and by 'pretty good,' do you mean I'm becoming a master?" At this, Annabeth rolls her eyes and gives him an affectionate glare. He quickly gets the message that he's said to much and laughs quietly while walking away. At the same time, Annabeth chuckles to herself a bit, thinking about how stupid yet adorable her Seaweed Brain can be.
As Percy gets back to his seat, Chiron stomps with his hoof, quickly silencing the energetic demigods. All cabin members (except Travis, who is currently trying to get Katie's attention by throwing grapes at her) look at Chiron, who says loudly, "Although expected to arrive later this week, one of our seven heroes of the last prophecy, Percy Jackson, has come back to camp for the summer. As a celebration of his return, I propose a game of capture the flag tonight at eight o'clock. All cabin members must be present. Be prepared with armor and weapons, as usual. See you at eight!"
While the Aphrodite table starts whining, the Ares table begins shouting violently with pleasure, and the Athena table members start planning, Percy makes his way over to Annabeth again. She looks up at him, smiles evilly, and says, "So, Perce, are you ready to get your butt kicked tonight? 'Cause there is no way I'm letting you win."
"You don't wanna be on my team? Wow, I'm wounded," Percy replies sarcastically.
"Oh, c'mon, you know as well as I do that they'll never let us work together. We're just too good as a team."
"Yeah, I know. Too bad, though. I mean, I'm gonna beat you anyway, but…"
Annabeth scowls and hits him playfully before turning around and walking back to her cabin. Percy sighs as he thinks about how she's definitely going to beat him, although he'll never admit it. He smiles, thinking of the excitement ahead, and shouts over to Annabeth, "Hey, when I beat you, maybe we can make up at the lake after the game!"
She chuckles to herself, never stopping to turn around, but he knows she's heard him. Oh, this is gonna be fun, he says to himself, before walking back to his own cabin.