Annabeth is ready. She's come up with her battle plan, prepared her cabin, and dressed in all her armor. With her dagger in hand, the leader of Camp Half-Blood's children of Athena makes her way over to the edge of the forest. Once there, Annabeth gathers all her cabin members and leads them through their strategy one more time, saying, "Okay, guys, tell me the plan again."
"Our defensive portion of the team positions the flag at Zeus's fist," answers Malcolm.
"Right," replies Annabeth. "So then what is our offensive portion gonna do again?"
"While the defensive team hides the flag, the offensive team is going to split up into two groups, each going into two directions and meeting up at opposite ends of the west side of the creek. This is obviously where they'll hide their flag, as the creek is wider there, and they're going to give Percy as much space to use his powers as possible," replies Emily.
"Yeah, and while both offensive teams hide in viewing distance of Percy and the flag, Annabeth… uh… distracts Percy until his mind is no longer focused on protecting the flag. Then both teams suddenly charge and merge together to take down the other guard protecting the flag, while Annabeth starts fighting Percy. When he's still worried about Annabeth, we take the flag as our own," finishes Kyle.
Annabeth smiles. "Nice job, guys. I'm gonna go give another run-through to our allies quickly before we start. Start splitting up into the defensive and offensive teams we created before, and from there, the offensive portion should divide into the two teams we also made. See you in a sec!"
Once Annabeth finishes explaining her plan to Athena's allies, she heads back to her cabin members. "Okay, guys, we got this. Just stick to the plan," she says. Her siblings nod their heads in agreement. "Oh, and the other cabins know the plan now, but they'll be strictly defense. All head counselors agreed our offensive team is big enough. We want to be as stealthy as possible when we get to the creek, so less people is better. Besides, we're gonna need a lot of defensive teammates, considering we're up against Ares," she adds. All cabin members nod once again, and upon hearing Chiron's signal, they're off.
Annabeth joins Emily's offensive group, which is swinging around to the right in an effort to reach the west side of the creek. This way is faster, and Annabeth wants to beat Percy as soon as the gods will let her. After overcoming a few monsters and some very annoying Ares kids, Annabeth's group finally moves within sight of the creek. Ever so stealthily, they walk forward and hide behind a big area of thick bushes and trees. Annabeth soon spots Percy and another Ares kid guarding the flag. She'll never admit it at the moment, of course, but the daughter of Athena becomes slightly distracted herself by the sight of her boyfriend. In the early moonlight, his tan skin seems to glow , and his biceps, faintly illuminated and just visible below the sleeves of his camp T-shirt, can be seen rippling as he swings his sword around aimlessly.
Get it together, Annabeth thinks to herself. It's your turn to distract him now.
Seemingly unflustered, Annabeth steps out from behind the brush, taking care not to crush the leaves beneath her feet. Right when she's within regular talking distance of Percy and the other guard, who are currently talking to each other with their backs turned, Annabeth purposely steps on a twig just loud enough to get their attention. They spin around, alarmed, but upon seeing Annabeth's face, Percy grins cockily at his fellow guard. "Relax, man, I got her," the son of Poseidon says. His calm demeanor infuriates Annabeth, but then she remembers to stay relaxed. She is not going to let this admittedly extremely attractive moron get to her. No, she is going to stick to the plan. And when she's through with the plan, she's going to be a winner. And when she's a winner?
She's gonna shove it in her boyfriend's face.
Shaking her head a bit to rid herself of her thoughts, Annabeth starts distracting. "So, Perce, how are you gonna handle me today?" she asks. She slowly, carefully trails her hand up her side, past her hip and up to the hem of her tank top, pulling it up just a tiny bit as she goes, barely enough for him to see the tiny sliver of California sunkissed skin she's exposed. His eyes flicker there for just a fraction of a second, but she sees. She sees the way he looks at her, sees it in his eyes and in the way he licks his full lips and in the way his shoulders start to relax just a bit. He's distracted. He's letting his guard down.
Step one… complete, Annabeth thinks to herself with a small smile.
Clearly unable to answer her first question, Percy just looks at his girlfriend, who continues speaking. "I mean, we could pretend to hate each other and fight, but we could also ditch this stupid game and find somewhere else to go… alone," she purrs, simultaneously pleased and surprised at her ability to lure him in so well. His stare falters for a second, as if he's suddenly been awakened from a dream, but then the meaning of her words sinks in, and he's suddenly pulling her away from the creek to a more private area of the forest.
"Yep, someplace alone," he babbles. "Yes, yep, most definitely someplace alone. Definitely."
Annabeth tries to keep herself from falling on the ground laughing at first, but then she remembers the plan, and she knows she has to keep him where he is because she wants to fight, too. She doesn't just want to be a distraction. She wants to be in the thick of things instead of being in a secluded area somewhere. As much as she loves teasing Percy, she also loves the idea of fighting with him and then rubbing the fact that she won in his face later tonight. She wants to have an adrenaline-seeking duel with him. So she moves on to her next step.
"Hey, Percy?" she asks with the most innocent face she can muster.
"Yeah?" he replies absently.
"Actually, why don't we just stay here? I think this is a really pretty spot, don't you think?" Annabeth almost snorts at her ridiculous excuse.
"Uhhh…" Percy stares at her like a confused puppy. "But Annabeth, there are people here," he whispers adorably.
Annabeth then takes a few seconds to look over at the formerly forgotten Ares guard, who looks thoroughly humiliated and disgusted. He obviously knows what's going on, but Annabeth shoots him a fierce glare to get her message across that he is not to mess with her strategy. He flinches, evidently afraid of her, and literally turns his back on the situation. She smirks, rolls her eyes, and tries to suppress a snort. She then turns back to Percy.
"That's okay, Perce. We'll just… uh… go over there." She leads him to a small patch of moonlight in the corner of the clearing. He walks behind her, stopping short when he sees the light shining on her long, tan legs. She lets her hair slowly fall out of her ponytail, and her golden curls slide down across her back and over her shoulders. Percy watches intently, savoring the moment, his eyes wide, his mouth suddenly completely dry.
He finally steps forward, pushing her against a nearby tree trunk. He then proceeds to tangle his hand in her soft curls and smash his lips onto her in a rough, deep kiss. She grips his left bicep with one hand and skims her hands up the hard, flat planes of his stomach and chest with the other, feeling the soft cotton of his shirt beneath her fingertips. He slips his hand down to the sliver of skin she exposed earlier, his rough calluses contrasting magnificently with her smooth skin. And then she's distracted because he's just so perfect and he's finally hers…
But it's over way too soon. Suddenly there's yelling and she watches as the Ares kid gets knocked to the ground by one of her sisters. The poor guy lets out another yell to get Percy's attention, who promptly spins around with puffy, red, swollen lips and a look of utter confusion plastered on his face. Before he can realize what's happening, Annabeth knocks him over, her dagger at his throat, but he flips her over so that she's underneath him. Before he can continue, however, she hears Malcolm give a whoop of excitement as he gets a hold of the flag and crosses the creek into safe territory. Percy looks up, groans, and releases his grip on Annabeth. They both stand up, and Percy glares at her.
"How did they… What the… How come…" Percy stops upon seeing the smug look on Annabeth's face. "Wait a second," he begins, his eyes narrowing at her, "you mean to tell me you used your…" he gestures toward her, "... girlishness to take my mind off the game?"
"It's called distracting, Perce," she replies while giggling.
Suddenly Percy's eyes get wide. "You're a… You're a… You're a cheater! Annabeth Chase, you are a dirty, deceiving little cheater!"
"Percy, I didn't cheat."
"CHEATER! CHEATER! ANNABETH'S A CHEATER!" he starts yelling in a singsong voice. Annabeth lunges at him, but he's too fast, and he begins running out of the forest toward the lake. Annabeth chases after him, cursing at him while he keeps screaming to every camper in sight, "CHEATER! CHEATER! ANNABETH CHASE JUST CHEATED! CHIRON SHOULD PUT HER ON DISHWASHING DUTY FOR A WHOLE MONTH! CHEATER! CHEATER!"
All the campers roll their eyes and laugh at Percy's childish antics, but before Annabeth can tackle him, he jumps into the lake. She plunges in after him, reveling in the feeling of cool water against her skin, which is covered in a thin layering of sweat. After a few seconds, however, she feels a tug on her foot, and her boyfriend pulls her under the surface. The couple doesn't resurface for another fifteen minutes (nobody but the younger campers seems to wonder why), but when they do, they're miraculously a sappy couple again.
Later that night, when Percy kisses her before she goes into her cabin, he pulls away with a smirk on his face. "What?" Annabeth asks upon seeing said smirk.
"Oh, nothing…" he replies before walking away.
But when he's just within hearing distance of her and she's about to step inside, he makes one last remark.
"... cheater."
She's gonna kill him tomorrow.
A/N: Ok I can explain. I am sooo sorry this was posted so late. My laptop crashed over the summer, and I only got it back just in time for school, when all of the homework started to pile up. I know… I'm a horrible person for leaving this story hanging for so long… But I'm back now :) Anyway, this is the final installment for my first multi-chapter Percabeth story. Next chapter… Caleo! Anybody have any ideas for this upcoming story? If so, tell me in some reviews! Thanks!