Percy
When we finish cleaning up, I pack the new clothes Tyson gave me, and Annabeth pulls out a beautiful white beach dress with no back.
"Plan on packing anything?"
"My mother gave me back my laptop. I think I'll be using that credit card for a shopping spree."
"Wow, Wise Girl, is that ethical? Thought you said it was for emergencies."
"It'll be as much of an emergency as Pizza in Rome was. Besides, after saving the world twice and going through literal Hell, I think I've earned a shopping spree." I smile at her. She walks over to me and I kiss her forehead.
"Ready?"
"Ready." I kiss her and throw the pearls to the ground. A bubble forms around us and suddenly water crashes in. We kick to the surface and see we're in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the beach. I grab a laughing Annabeth and have the currents guide us to shore. As we walk onto the beach I will us and all our stuff dry.
"Percy." Annabeth breathes and I turn around. The view takes my breath away. "I've never seen a sunrise like this."
"It still is dull compared to how radiant you are." I smile and kiss her temple. She reaches one hand up and runs it through my hair, not taking her gaze off the sunrise.
"When did you get so smooth? Once upon a time you couldn't flirt to save your life."
"Once Upon a Time I never believed I was good enough for you. Or anyone else."
"Says the man who fell into Tartarus so he wouldn't get separated from me. If you're not worthy, no one is."
"For you? No one is. But it doesn't matter. I'm worthy of you for one reason only."
"Why's that?" I kiss her behind her ear.
"Because you decided I am." She turns and kisses me. Fiercely. So fierce I can't think. So deep If I Didn't just have sex with her a half hour ago I'd probably lay her down right here on the beach. When she finally pulls away I can hardly breathe.
"Perseus Jackson" she breathes. "There are so many reasons. That is one of so many. You need to give yourself more credit." I melt into her touch and her kiss.
"I'm just glad I ended up here with a girl as beautiful as the sunrise."
"Percy. You are more than enough. I love you."
"I love you too." I tell her. But I don't tell her the pang I feel at the word 'enough'. Nothing ever has been enough. How can I be enough for her? I push the thought away and just enjoy the moment holding and kissing my beautiful bride on the beach.
"Let's head inside and see the room your dad gave us." She whispers when she pulls back. I smile, kiss the top of her head, then grab her hand and lead her to the lobby.
….
The week is over way too fast. True to her word, Annabeth buys a new wardrobe. It includes a lot of bikinis and beach dresses that makes me want to drag her back to the private villa we're staying in, or to the ocean floor with an air pocket around us. Which I did. A few times. But the week goes by with a lot of shopping, spending time on the beach, a ferry trip to Santorini one day and to Athens another, getting to be here as tourists instead of on a quest. And a lot of time having sex.
For the first time in my life, I'm almost dreading going back to camp. But we have one more day. I sit on the couch watching Annabeth sleep. My beautiful Wise Girl, her brows are creased so I know she's dreaming. I really want to wake her up, but if demigods woke up every time we had a bad dream, we'd never sleep at all.
I think about what's going to be waiting for us when we get home. We could stay at camp and live in the Poseidon cabin, but that would be a long commute to Goode High School every day that would break my bank in the donuts I'd have to feed Blackjack. The most practical option is to move in with my mom and stepdad, but I don't want to do that. I want to give Annabeth our own place. Just one more year of school and then off to college in New Rome. I love the idea of staying in a safe place with her, safe from monster attacks that have plagued us since we were kids. But that also feels…wrong. As a permanent thing, anyways. We're Greek, not Roman, although the two camps could definitely learn a lot from each other. And I feel like long term I'd miss New York way too much.
Annabeth groans, drawing my attention back to the present. Looking at her, I can tell the nightmare is getting worse so I walk over and lay down behind her, wrapping her in my embrace. She relaxes a bit, but not completely. After a bit I start kissing her neck to wake her up.
"Percy?" She moans.
"Yeah." I say and squeeze her tighter. "What would you do if it was anyone else?"
"For getting this close to me in bed while I'm sleeping? Send them on an early road trip to Hades." I laugh and kiss her temple.
"That's my girl." She smiles and nestles closer to me. "Last day in Crete. How do you want to spend it?"
"Hmmm. Sex on the ocean floor was nice."
"Heh. Yeah. And seriously dangerous. I can only keep that air pocket if I can focus. You're pretty distracting."
"You kept it up last time."
"Barley! Only cause you would have drowned otherwise!"
"Which remains true. Besides, I'm with the son of Poseidon, I could never drown on your watch." she flips over and slides one arm under my neck, pulling me close to kiss her and moving her other hand down to stroke my groin, making me kiss her all the harder. After a second she stops and gets out of bed, leaving me laying down with a very stiff erection and a need that's now screaming at me.
"Annabeth!" I complain.
"Want to keep going?"
"Yes!"
"Ocean floor." She says mischievously. I look at her, still in one of my white shirts that Tyson gave me. It hangs off her body in a way that is almost painful for me to look at without touching her. She raises her eyebrows in invitation, and I decide screw it. I go and pick her up, making her laugh, and run out the door into the ocean, making an air pocket around us. Once we're deep enough that anyone who might swim by won't see us, I set her on her back on the damp sand.
"Get out of those shorts, Seaweed Brain. I need you." She says with a seductive smile. I pull my shorts off and lay down, pulling her on top of me and tickle her so she laughs.
"Don't you dare make me crash this air pocket!" I say as she gets in position.
"Oh, so you don't want me to make this the best sex we've had yet?"
"Do your worst, Wise Girl. Just be ready to kick to the surface."
…..
At the end of the most perfect day ever, we crush our pearls and kick to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island. It was night when we left Crete, but here it's still the middle of the day. We swim to shore and I will us and our stuff dry, and we start heading back to the Poseidon cabin.
"Hey! They're back!" I hear and look to see Travis and Connor in a tree.
"Hey Y'all!" Annabeth calls out. They start scrambling to climb down the tree, then both topple down, Connor landing on top of Travis. They get up quickly enough though and run over to us, one standing on either side of us, those mischievous Hermes smiles on their faces.
"Sooooo?" Connor starts.
"How was it?" Travis finishes.
"Can you settle a bet?" Connor asks. Annabeth looks at them suspiciously.
"What's the bet?"
"When did you guys like…you know…do it?" Travis wiggles his eyebrows.
"Here at Camp?" Connor smirks.
"In Greece?"
"On the Argo II?"
"Or did you guys start before Percy was Hera-napped?" Annabeth Rolls her eyes but I see her blushing.
"Pigs. Y'all are absolute pigs."
"Oh c'mon, Annabeth!"
"Can it, Stolls." I have to try to keep myself from laughing.
"Percy?" Connor looks at me pleading.
"You heard her. Can it." I answer. Connor groans but Travis smiles as Connor hands him some drachmas.
"We Didn't answer the question." Annabeth points out.
"True, but there was another bet. I bet Connor you guys wouldn't tell us." I laugh and grab Annabeth's hand. We get back to the camp center and start heading to the Poseidon cabin. We get there and unpack then change clothes. I check my watch and see it's almost 1:30, so the Dining Hall is still open. As Annabeth pulls her clothes on I smile. After a week of beautiful bikinis and beach dresses, she's changing back into cut off shorts and one of my new camp half blood shirts. I'm going to miss her dressing for the beach every day, but I'm glad to see her in this. It's familiar, what she wore pretty much every day I fell in love with her.
"You're staring again."
"Want me not to?"
"I didn't say that." She laughs as I grab her waist and pull her onto the bed with me. When we first got back from our quest we just shoved two of the twin beds together, but as a wedding gift one of the girls from the Hephaestus cabin made us a queen size, complete with a Pegasus down mattress.
"Percy! Percy, I have to finish getting dressed!" She laughs and pries herself out of my grip.
"Oh c'mon! The last thing I want you in is more clothes, Annabeth."
"Unfortunately for you, we're not in Greece anymore. I can't just go to the dining hall in a string bikini." She finishes lacing up her converse and gives me a kiss. "C'mon, Seaweed Brain. Let's go get some food."
…..
We sit at one of the tables outside of the dining pavilion with Piper and Jason.
"How have you two been since getting back?" Percy asks.
"Honestly? Restless. I'm not used to sleeping through the night without a monster attack." Piper answers.
"Nightmares?" I ask quietly.
"Every night." Jason answers. Percy and I nod.
"Sleeping together on the Zeus cabin roof helps." Piper says with a smirk. Percy laughs and Jason coughs.
"You? Mr. Roman rule follower, sleeping with your girlfriend on the roof?"
"Emphasis on the word sleeping." Jason says with a shy smile. Piper just smirks. "Anyways, I've spent most of my time in the day working on my promise to Kym. There are hundreds of gods to represent, so it's taking a good while. Once it's finished, the Romans can build it in less than a day though."
"I can help you with any of the architectural designs if you want." I tell him. He nods with a smile.
"So what are you guys planning on doing next week? End of summer and all that." Percy asks them.
"Well, now that Hedge and Mellie are working for my dad, I'm going to try living at home again. Maybe this time not get kicked out of whatever school he puts me in." She smiles, but it's a mix of hope and apprehension. "I think it'll be better now. Knowing the truth about things, It'll help me deal with it all. Not go out stealing BMWs to get attention."
"And you, Jason?"
"I'll be going between the camps. Visiting Piper as often as I can, of course." He adds with a reassuring look to her. "Benefits of having a Venitus who can travel faster than the speed of sound. Long Island or San Francisco to Malibu isn't that far of a trip anymore." Piper reaches for his hand and squeezes it, although I notice she still looks a little deflated. "But I need to work on things between the camps. Kind of as a liaison, I guess. And finish my project."
"Roman at the core." Piper says with a sigh, Jason just kisses her temple in response. "Something for which I am very proud of him." She adds.
"So, still no word from Leo?" I ask. They shake their heads.
"No, but I still believe he's alive. I can feel it."Jason tells me. About that time I hear the clip-clop of hooves and turn to see Chiron trotting up to us.
"Chiron!" I happily greet him. He smiles at me. Percy gets up and shakes his hand.
"Percy, Annabeth, if you two aren't too busy would it trouble you too much to follow me to the big house?" He asks.
"No trouble at all." Percy answers. He grabs my hand and we stand up and follow him back to the house. Once we get there, Chiron folds into his wheelchair and we all go inside to the living room.
"So I must ask, now that the two of you have decided to wed, what are your plans after summer?"
"Honestly? Not completely sure yet." Percy answers for us. "I want to finish my senior year at Goode High School. They've agreed to let me test out of my second junior year semester because I was kidnapped, so I don't have to be held back. Annabeth's been helping me study"
"We've talked about staying here at camp and going to the city via Pegasi, and we've talked about staying with Percy's mom and stepdad. We're not sure yet."
"And what about you, Annabeth?" He asks me. "Do you plan on attending High School? Getting a GED instead? Skipping it all together and just continuing to be the Architect of Mt. Olympus?"
"Well…Malcolm and I have always talked about one day starting our own architectural firm in the mortal world. For that I need the credentials of a college education. So I guess I'll find a place to enroll my senior year of high school, and go from there." I answer. He smiles.
"I thought as much. I'm glad to tell you that Paul Blofis pulled some strings and has arranged for you to spend your Senior Year at Goode High School. You'll be in their advanced Honors classes. And while I'm sure Blackjack wouldn't mind taking the two of you to school everyday, a place in the city would make this far more convenient."
"So you're saying we should stay with my parents?" Percy asks. Chiron shakes his head.
"I'm saying you should read the letter Annabeth's father left for your return." Percy grabs the letter. His face looks shocked, then he grins.
"No way." He breathes.
"What?" I ask and snatch the letter out of his hand. As I read it, my heart rate spikes with excitement. "Oh my gods! I can't believe it!"
Chiron simply smiles.
"A very generous wedding gift for sure." I barely hear him over my own thoughts. My father paid a 12 month deposit on an apartment in Manhattan for Percy and me. An amazing one bedroom, one and a half bath, with an office space, kitchen and in unit washer and dryer. I flip to the next page and see pictures of the space. It looks absolutely perfect. The office even has a full wall bookshelf.
"Percy." I breathe. He picks me up and spins me around.
"I take it the Poseidon cabin will be vacant this school year." Chiron states. "Feel free to visit anytime."