Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to PJO

Over the next few months Jack integrated into camp life quite well. He was claimed the same day he arrived, something which came as a relief to Percy. He was glad his dad wasn't a god who would ignore his kids. As a son of Poseidon and the brother of the famous Percy Jackson, Jack was treated reasonably well. It seemed to come as quite a shock to him at first. Percy figured that his little brother hadn't been treated very well for most of his life, so Percy was glad to see he was getting a bit better.

There was a particular fact that relieved Percy quite a bit. He was so glad his brother wasn't becoming arrogant and generally dick-ish. He seemed to remain grounded and, for lack of a better word, normal. He remained modest and kind. He did everything he could to help his fellow campers, not because he expected something in return, but because he genuinely wanted to help. As far as Percy was concerned, he lucked out quite a bit in the brother department.

Percy was enjoying having a brother. In fact, he was really enjoying it. Jack looked up to his brother as some kind of mythical figure. Someone to respect. Someone to learn from. And while Percy protested and told his brother that he was just a normal guy, he truly enjoyed teaching him. The two were inseparable. They trained together, and they hung out together during their free time. They were family after all.

In fact, the only time Percy was seen without Jack glued to his hip, was when he was with Annabeth. Jack, even in his young age, understood that the two needed their alone time and neither was particularly pleasant when deprived of it.

Actually, things with Annabeth had never been better. They spent a lot of time together during the day. They also spent just about every night together. While this was technically against camp rules, the two were respected enough that no one really cared. They were both mature and old enough to make their own decisions.

Percy was only too happy to spend his nights with Annabeth, and not for the typical reasons a teenaged boy might want to spend the night with a beautiful girl. He had discovered that Annabeth helped him immeasurably. Her mere presence seemed to soothe him. He still often had nightmares, it seemed nothing could stop that, but she helped him calm down afterwards. She still wasn't aware of them of course. He never woke her up, telling himself that this was his own problem and he couldn't burden her with it.

Things between them had gotten so good, that even Athena had to take notice. And take notice she did. So when he approached her palace, roughly 8 months after Jack's arrival, to ask her for Annabeth's hand in marriage, she couldn't say no. She even graced him with a small smile as she gave him a ring, telling him not to "Cock it up". Comforting words from the goddess of wisdom.

Percy couldn't quite figure out how to "pop the question" though. Eventually, he figured that he would do it after the annual meeting between the Olympians and the counselors for each cabin. It was an important meeting for them to address concerns or grievances in a civilised manner and try to make life the best it could be for all parties involved. It was something Percy took quite seriously, as the well-being of demigods was an important cause to him. Especially when you take into consideration the promise he had made to Luke. When the meeting was over, Percy, Annabeth and all the other demigods went their separate ways, wanting some alone time away from camp.

Percy had asked Annabeth if she would like to go to dinner with him after the meeting at a nice restaurant in New York. She had agreed, so he made the reservations. Probably the most important reservations he would ever make. The restaurant was fancy, but Percy had asked Posiedon to foot the bill, so money wasn't much of an object for the two of them. They could simply enjoy their evening. When they had eaten their food, drank their drinks, and their ADHD kicked in, they returmed to camp. Percy then asked Annabeth if she would like to go for a casual stoll on the beach with him, she agreed of course. They walked slowly, hand in hand, until they reached the spot where they had shared their first kiss. Percy figured that was a good place to ask the most important question he would ever ask.

He looked deep into her beautiful grey eyes under the moonlight, dropped to one knee and spoke the words that scared him more than anything.

"Will you marry me ?"

He had faced monsters, titans and everything in between, yet he had never felt as nervous or as scared as he was in that moment.

Her eyes teared up, while her face broke out in the biggest smile he had ever seen. She threw her arms around his neck.

"YES YES YES"

She was screaming directly into his ear. He didn't care about her immense volume though. All he cared about was the words coming out of her mouth, or rather, the word. She said yes. She said yes.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as tight as he could while she did the same to him. They stayed like that for a second or two, before he pulled back a bit and kissed her. They stayed like that for a bit longer. When they pulled away, they separated a bit, putting just enough space between them for Percy to slip the engagement ring on her finger. Once that was done, they collapsed back into the hug.

A few minutes later, they pulled apart and headed straight for Percy's cabin. By the time they got there, they were passionately making out. Things soon escalated and they spent the rest of their night "celebrating" their engagement in the most intimate way they knew.

A/N: Quick edit of this chapter to change up its ending a little. Going to put out a new chapter some time very soon. Bit sick at the moment, so progress is slow, but I've got it all written out and I just need to edit it now. But anyway, hope you guys are staying safe wherever you are, have a good morning/day/night