Prompt 3 options: How Grover, Chiron, Sally, etc. discovered the romance, the first time they make out, the 3 going to New Rome, a day as a camp counselor, or stories that take place well before TLO

*Okay, I decided to go with a little bit of a day as a camp counselor, set post-BotL, pre-TLO (and there's a bonus scene at the end regarding Sally, post-TLO )*

I couldn't find Annabeth. True, things had been weird between the two of us ever since the Battle of the Labyrinth and the end of our quest a couple weeks ago, so we'd both been kind of avoiding each other. But I figured that today was the one day she'd be way more mad if I didn't find her than if I did.

I'd spent the morning doing my regular camp counselor duties. Unfortunately, that had included kitchen patrol because the Poseidon cabin had scored last in inspections. I said Silena was too picky at inspections, wanting everything to be pretty. No one had agreed with me. So, I was stuck cleaning up after breakfast, which extra sucked since I was currently the only one in the Poseidon cabin; Tyson was back in the undersea forges for the week. The lava spray guns the harpies used made me extra nervous now, after my experience in Mt. St. Helens.

Luckily, I managed to escape with only a very minor burn on my finger. Then I grabbed the package I'd set carefully by the door, far away from the water and lava, and headed out the kitchen door. Morning activities were in full swing. The Hephaestus cabin had arts and crafts time, so they were making their usual elaborately designed machines. The Aphrodite cabin was down at the lake, doing canoe races, although some of them, like Drew Tanaka, appeared to just be tanning. Hermes cabin was running relay races on the climbing wall; as I passed, I saw Connor Stoll rolling on the ground, trying to put out his burning shirt. I thought about dousing him, but his shirt had already stopped burning and was now simply smoldering, so I figured he'd be okay. Over on the archery range, the Athena and Apollo cabins were competing. That should have been super unfair to the Athena cabin, but some of their campers were almost as good with calculating velocity and angles as the Apollo campers were with their natural talent. However, I didn't see Annabeth. And, despite my lucky shot against Geryon earlier this summer, I had no desire to go near the archery range. Although, I probably needed to burn a thank you offering to Artemis and Apollo for that shot.

I finally found Annabeth in the empty dining pavilion, still seated at the Athena table, absorbed in Daedalus's laptop. Its screen gave her face a faintly blue tint.

Interrupting her was risky, so I kind of stood there awkwardly until she said, "Hey, Percy," without looking up.

"Hey." I shifted from foot to foot. "Are you busy?"

She pursed her lips, then shook her head. "I could take a break," she admitted, scooting her laptop back. She gave me a small smile, which I figured was a big win, and said, "What's up, Seaweed Brain?"

Remembering what Athena had told me back in December on Olympus, I was a little hesitant to sit at the goddess's table, but I decided to take the risk. I perched myself on the very edge of the bench beside Annabeth—but not, you know, too close. When no thunder rumbled and I wasn't immediately incinerated, I figured Annabeth's mom was giving me a pass. For now.

"How's it going with that thing?" I asked, nodding at Daedalus's laptop.

Her eyes lit up. "It's amazing. There are so many different designs and inventions—I could probably spend the next hundred years, literally, going through them."

"That sounds…fun. For you, anyway."

"I told Beckendorf about some of the designs. We might try to collaborate on making some of Daedalus's inventions for real. Like there's this shield—"

Thunder rumbled overhead. I leapt up from the Athena table like my butt was on fire. Because I really didn't want it to end up that way.

"Uh, sorry. I don't think your mom likes me sitting at her table."

Annabeth looked like she was fighting back a smirk. "Want to walk down to the dock instead?"

"That would be great." I tucked the wrapped package I'd brought under my arm.

We sat at the end of the dock on the canoe lake, dangling our feet in the water. Farther out, the Aphrodite kids were squabbling. Someone had flipped Drew Tanaka's canoe, dunking her, which was apparently a huge ordeal because it had gotten her hair wet. Drew clearly was not happy about it. Silena was trying to mediate, but looked a little stressed.

"Should we help?" Annabeth asked, looking out at the lake.

"I don't think they'll listen to us," I said. "But I can always try to separate them with a wave or something if it gets really ugly."

"That works," Annabeth said. "So, did you have a reason for coming to find me, Seaweed Brain?"

"Maybe." My neck felt hot, but I handed over my clumsily wrapped present that I was suddenly wishing I'd taken more care with wrapping. "This is for you. Happy birthday, Annabeth."

She took the present, looking surprised, then said quietly, "Thanks, Percy."

I waited nervously while she unwrapped it. It was a book about Frank Lloyd Wright, who was a famous architect. Annabeth had mentioned him a few times, so I hoped I wasn't too far off track. I'd asked my mom to order the book, then she'd mailed it to camp for me. I'd been a little worried it wasn't going to show up on time; it had only arrived yesterday. I'd had to ask Silena for wrapping paper. Her knowing look when I said it was for Annabeth made me feel embarrassed and I'd hurried to get out of the Aphrodite cabin as quickly as possible.

Annabeth's face when she unwrapped the book made it all worth it, though. "Oh my gods, Percy! This is so cool." She looked up at me then, her smile as bright as the summer sky. "How did you know I like Frank Lloyd Wright?"

I shrugged. "You've mentioned him a few times. Didn't you say the house at the Triple G Ranch looked like a Frank Lloyd Wright?"

"Yeah, I did." Annabeth studied me for a moment, then she leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Thank you."

I tried not to look too pleased. "You're welcome."

We sat there quietly for a minute while Annabeth flipped through her book, pausing on different pages like she was reading a couple of lines.

Finally, I asked, "So, how's your birthday going so far?"

"Pretty good. My siblings woke me up by singing 'Happy Birthday' to me this morning."

"That sounds like a terrifying way to wake up."

Annabeth laughed, which was good to hear. "It kind of was. But they meant well."

We talked for a few minutes about nothing important. Definitely nothing quest or war related. It felt nice to just hang out, like we used to before things got weird this summer.

"I finally got to lead a quest," Annabeth said after talking about how it had been a crazy year, between going to school with Thalia in Brooklyn, then getting kidnapped by Atlas, then the quest this summer. "I just wish I'd done a better job with it. I always…" her voice trailed off as she bit her lip, then she said in a rush, "I always thought I'd be better at it. More of a natural."

"I thought you did great," I said truthfully. "This was a tough quest. Like you said, some of our other ones have been more logical. This one was all over the place. Literally. I mean, we walked from Long Island to San Francisco in a day. And then ended up in Texas a couple hours later. Who could plan for that?"

"But I should have been able to." Annabeth gripped her book more tightly, her knuckles turning white. "If I don't have a clear plan, who's ever going to follow me on…anything?"

"I'd still follow you."

Annabeth looked taken aback. Then, in a small voice, she said, "You would?"

"Definitely. I'd follow you anywhere."

The words were out of my mouth before I could think about them. I felt the back of my neck heat up again. But it was true. I trusted Annabeth more than I trusted anyone else. Even if she didn't know all the details, I knew she'd always come up with some kind of a plan.

Annabeth's ears were red. But instead of saying anything, she laid her book gently down beside her on the dock. Then she reached over and took my hand. I summoned my courage and lightly squeezed her fingers. She returned the pressure.

We sat there for a while, holding hands at the end of the dock, watching the Aphrodite kids use their paddles to fling water at each other, not saying much. But I was reminded of the time we'd shared a dance on Mount Olympus, the music a little sad, but a little hopeful, too.

Okay, and then for fun, another part of the request was about first make out session and also Sally finding out—so I decided to combine the two lol

Sally was pleasantly surprised when Percy asked if he could invite Annabeth over for dinner. He had only been home from camp for a few days, and Sally knew Annabeth had flown back to the city to move into her dorm room, after going home to San Francisco for a couple of days to pack her things. Sally hadn't seen her since the kids had come out of the elevator in the Empire State Building at the end of the war, so she was looking forward to catching up. Especially since she hadn't seen a lot of Annabeth this summer, with Percy spending a lot of time hanging out with Rachel. Not that that was a problem. Sally liked Rachel, too. But she had to admit that she'd missed seeing Annabeth around.

Paul would be home in an hour. He was currently at Goode High School, getting his classroom ready for school to start next week. Percy was in the living room, playing a video game. Sally knew she needed to start dinner soon, but she was currently back sitting at the desk in her bedroom, jotting down a few quick ideas she'd had about the next chapter in her novel. She wanted to get them down on paper before she forgot about them. So she heard the knock on the apartment door, but didn't think too much about it, since she was still absorbed in her book. Which meant that it was a huge surprise for her, when she headed back out into the living room, to find Annabeth now sitting on the couch with Percy.

Actually, Annabeth sitting on the couch wasn't the surprise.

The surprise was finding the two of them sitting on the couch making out.

"Oh," Sally said, her initial reaction to stumbling on this scene.

Percy and Annabeth broke apart like they'd been shocked with Zeus's lightning bolt.

"Oh shi—um, sorry, Mom," Percy said, his face bright red.

Annabeth looked mortified. "Oh my gods. Sorry, Ms. Jackson!"

Sally just stood for a moment, processing. Then, she exhaled and said, "Finally."

Leaving the two teenagers gaping at her, she headed into the kitchen to start dinner, a slight smile on her face.

*Because Sally was totally one of the first Percabeth fans.*