Chapter 2

When Percy woke up the next morning, he felt better than he could ever remember feeling. His bed was softer, the chirping birds sounded better, and he was sure the sky was blue-er. He couldn't actually see out of his window, but he was willing to bet that it was. And best of all, he had Annabeth pressed against his chest. Her hair was in his face, and she was lying on his arm - which had made it go numb - but he didn't care. He was so glad she was with him.

She was still asleep, but he could tell that she would wake up soon enough. Her breathing was changing like it always did when she was just about to wake up. He figured another minute, and she would be awake. He decided to help her along slightly. Her arm was outstretched next to his, so he wrapped her - comparatively small - hand in his, while his other hand wrapped around her waist, and he leaned over slightly to nip at the side of her neck, right along the sweet spot he knew that she loved. She let out the most contented sigh he had ever heard in his life. The type of noise made him want to do nothing but love her for the rest of his life. It scared him slightly that she had that kind of power over him, but he was willing to deal with it.

It wasn't very long before she woke up. Another 20 seconds or so. He could tell that she was awake when her breathing pattern shifted fully back to normal, and she started responding to him far more consciously. He could read her like an open book. It took her a moment to adjust to being awake again, but she turned around to face him as soon as she did. Her eyes were still closed, but she was smiling at him in that lazy morning way. 

Finally, her eyes opened. Annabeth had wonderful eyes. They always seemed slightly brighter in the morning than they did throughout the day. He wasn't completely sure why, but he had a private theory. He liked to think that it was because she retained some sort of innocence in the morning before being exposed to the outside world. It was like her world consisted of him, herself, and nothing else. There were no outside responsibilities, no obligations, no threats. Just the two of them. That mood only lasted for a minute every morning, but it easily made it his favorite part of the day.

Her smile only widened when she saw him. He didn't realize it at the time, but his own smile did the same. The mere sight of her could bring that out in him. That was something else he loved about her. She brought her hand up to rest on the pillow between their faces. Her eyes darted down to the ring on her finger, and her smile only widened further. She was so beautiful when she smiled. Her eyes went back up to him. The bedsheets only went up to Percy's waist, so she could see all of his scars, some of which he had collected during his years fighting in wars and going on quests, and others that had been given to him by his former stepfather, Gabe. She traced each of them with her eyes, almost like she was committing them to memory, even though she'd seen them dozens of times before. Percy had a mixed relationship with his scars. He tried not to hate them, just on principle. They were a part of him, there was nothing he could do about it, and they weren't going anywhere. Sometimes, however, he couldn't help but loathe the sight of them. Annabeth never showed any disgust over them though, as he had once feared she would. She said they were a badge of honor, and he should be proud of them. While that was highly unlikely, he could appreciate the sentiment.

Once she was done with his cars, her eyes trailed up his neck, to his face, where she stared straight into his eyes. She didn't say a word, but she might as well have spoken paragraphs. He knew what she wanted to tell him. And she knew what his answer was. She leaned over to him and kissed him softly. The morning breath situation wasn't very good, and he was sure it was a problem for him as well. But at that moment, he couldn't force himself to care, and he was sure that she couldn't either. Before very long, the gentle kiss evolved into a stronger one. Not long after, the very few clothes they had been wearing, went flying off.

Sometime later, Annabeth was asleep again. They had just woken up, but after the activity, they had just engaged in, she needed to sleep again. It was fair enough, they had consumed a lot of energy. But Percy was the exact opposite. He couldn't have been more hyper. He was practically buzzing. He was hungry though, and he was sure Annabeth would be too - when she woke up. Percy decided to head down to the dining pavilion for some breakfast before they stopped serving it for the day. A glance at his watch told him that it was almost 12 - the official cutoff for breakfast. 

He got dressed in his most casual camp clothes and left his cabin. He was sure that he looked like shit, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He never did, really, but he found that it was important to blend in. And blending in meant looking like everyone else, so he typically made sure that he only wore clean clothes, combed his hair - not that it made a difference - and showered. But on that particular morning, he did none of those things. He hadn't showered since he had gotten ready to meet Annabeth the night prior, his hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and the clothes he was wearing were from 3 days ago and were supposed to be in the laundry. They didn't stink or anything, but they looked horribly creased. His mother would have a heart attack if she saw them. He gave no shits. Annabeth was in his cabin, in his bed, waiting for him. He didn't care about appearances. He was allowed not to care for a day, especially that day.

He got to the pavilion and grabbed two plates before loading them with food until they were spilling over the sides. He was starving, and he knew Annabeth would be too. They'd had dinner at the fancy restaurant, courtesy of Poseidon, but since eating they'd had a night full of excited, celebratory exertion, which they continued in the morning, and Percy was willing to bet that they would do the same thing once Annabeth was awake again. They were going to need to load up on calories. 

Percy loaded one of the plates with all kinds of fruits and vegetables and nuts and bread and cheese. That was for Annabeth. He loaded the other plate with sausages, bacon, hashbrowns, eggs, and toast with some strawberry jam. That was for himself. Annabeth was constantly on his case about his diet. It seemed to frustrate her greatly that Percy could eat the way he did, and not care. Annabeth, like most demigods, was a health nut, and if he tried to bring her a breakfast dripping with fat - much like his - then she may well try to murder him with her bare hands. Percy was the proud exception to the trend among his fellow demigods. There were very few who followed his diet. When Percy had first arrived at camp, his eating habits hadn't been an option. But, since he had played a massive role in two major wars, the gods and Chiron decided to let him eat as he pleased. So they expanded the menu offered by Camp Half-Blood, which Percy was very happy about.

He walked over to the bonfire and sacrificed a portion of Annabeth's food to her mom, then a portion of his food to his dad, and another small portion of his food to Athena.

"Lady Athena," he thought, "thank you again for your blessing to marry your daughter. I'm sure you already know, but she said yes! I won't make you regret your decision."

It might have been his imagination, but he thought he felt a vague sensation in his chest. It was extremely mild, but he imagined that it was Athena acknowledging his prayer. He turned around and was hit by a realization. He had a class to teach in 20 minutes. He wanted to eat breakfast with Annabeth, and then get back into bed with her. Teaching a class of younger campers how to fight with swords, hadn't been on his agenda. He could figure a way out of it, surely. He scanned around the pavilion, looking for someone who could teach the class instead of him. He spotted Jack, alone at the Poseidon table. He was staring straight at Percy, hoping to find out why he had asked him to spend the night in the spare room at the Big House. The brothers had gotten pretty close over the time Jack had been at camp, so Percy tried to send Jack a look telling him that he would explain later, and to be patient. Jack got the message and seemed to reluctantly agree. Percy sent him a grateful nod and went back to his search for someone to take over his class. 

He found Jason and Piper at the large circular table in the middle of the dining pavilion, which the camp had set up for the heroes of the Second Great Prophesy to eat together at mealtimes. Unfortunately, most of its 10 seats were often vacant.

The seats were supposed to be for Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Reyna, Nico, and Thalia. But Nico's seat was usually empty. Since he had been born around World War 2 but had been in a virtual coma since then, he felt like he wanted to catch up on the world. He spent most of his time traveling around the world, seeing how much things had changed. But he returned to camp often enough, because he wanted to spend time with Will. Reyna's seat was rarely filled because she was the praetor of Camp Jupiter, so she had responsibilities there. After the war was won, Frank had been appointed to be the praetor opposite her, because Jason gave up the title to be with Piper at Camp Half-Blood, and Percy did the same thing for Annabeth. So Frank's seat was also vacant most of the time, along with Hazel's. She had chosen to stay at Camp Jupiter with Frank and had gotten a seat on the Senate of New Rome. She was also in charge of training Camp Jupiter's newly formed cavalry. They were both happy with their new lives and had dinner with everyone else at Camp Half-Blood whenever they could. Once he had rescued her from her island of captivity, Leo and Calypso had chosen to travel the world, much like Nico. They sent postcards from wherever they were and exchanged messages now and again. They were happy too. Thalia's seat was empty most of the time because she was always with The Hunt.

That meant that, of the 10 seats, only 4 were regularly filled. That had led to them all becoming extremely close. The two couples had become excellent friends, with Percy seeing Jason as a brother and Piper as a sister. He knew that Annabeth saw them the same way, and Jason and Piper had the same opinion of them. The whole dynamic made meal times pretty fun.

Percy made his way over to the table, to Piper and Jason. The two demigods were wrapped in each other's arms, clearly content with one another. The two had gotten engaged themselves only recently, so they were living in bliss. They saw him coming and gave him bright smiles, though Jason's was slightly forced. Percy knew why, of course. Jason was the only person that knew about Percy's plan to propose to Annabeth (aside from Athena and Poseidon, and Hephaestus, he supposed), and Percy had begged him not to tell Piper, who doubtlessly would have let it slip to Annabeth. Jason and Piper were the type of couple who never kept anything from each other. They would talk about anything and everything. Strictly speaking, telling Jason hadn't exactly been on purpose. Jason had walked in on Percy with the ring Hephaestus had given him. But knowing that the blonde had recently proposed to his own girlfriend, Percy asked him for help in choosing the right moment to propose, the right way to phrase it, and so on. Jason's help had been invaluable, right up until Percy went completely off-script.

From what Percy could tell from looking at them, Jason had managed to keep his mouth shut. Piper looked pleased to see him, but not in the "over the moon" way that he knew she would be, had she known what had happened. 

"Hey guys, how ya doin'?" he said as he reached them. 

"Great! So it went well last night?" Jason said.

Percy mentally facepalmed. As much as he loved him, the guy couldn't tell a decent lie to save his life. It was somewhat tragic. Piper shot the two boys a questioning look.

"Last night? What was last night?" she asked.

A glance at Jason told Percy that he was about to come undone. He had just been asked a direct question by his fiancee, and he had no time or space to come up with a lie. On the exact opposite end of the spectrum to Jason, Percy was a brilliant liar. He had discovered the secret to the best lie, years prior. It was to simply tell the truth. Or at least, an altered version of the truth. It allowed the liar to keep the basic details straight, while only changing whichever choice facts were necessary. But the best lie in the world would do nothing if it was told unconvincingly. There were dozens of tiny factors to consider when lying, but most people weren't at all aware of them. Percy had learned them all at age 5. He had been forced to hide the constant abuse at the hands of his stepfather from his mother, and all of his school friends, for years. That unfortunate fact of his life had led to him becoming a master of manipulation. When telling a lie convincingly, one had to keep the tone and volume of their voice consistent and their gaze level. One had to keep from blushing or blinking too much or too little. And finally, one had to make all of the micro-expressions one would make if telling the story genuinely. It was all very complicated, but practice made perfect, and Percy had had plenty of practice.

"Oh, me and 'beth had dinner last night, and I'd asked Jason for advice on where to take her," he replied easily.

It was the best version of the truth he could tell under the circumstances. It was a lie of omission. Percy and Annabeth had in fact had dinner. Percy had in fact asked Jason for advice on where to go. He just omitted from Piper the fact that he had proposed and Annabeth had accepted. Jason shot him a look of appreciation, but Piper caught it. Jason truly was as subtle as a brick. Piper's eyes narrowed at them.

"Oh really? Dinner?" she said, raising an eyebrow. 

But Percy had nothing to worry about. He was a good liar and Piper wasn't the best interrogator. He would be just fine.

"Yeah. Dinner."

"Where did you guys go?"

"This little Italian place in the city. It was really nice."

"What did you eat?"

"Well, 'beth had the carbonara, and I was at an Italian restaurant, so naturally, I had a pizza."

"How did you guys afford it?"

"I asked my dad to foot the bill; he agreed."

"Why? Was it a special occasion?"

"I just felt like taking my girlfriend out for dinner. Why, is that illegal?"

Piper took a second to think about what he had told her. She had really been hoping to catch him off-guard with something, but he had been pretty smooth with his answers. 

"Alright, I'm sorry. I believe you. Anyways, did you want something?"

"Oh, yeah. I was kinda hoping to spend the day with Annabeth, but I'm supposed to teach a class in 20 minutes. I was kinda hoping that you guys could take over if you aren't too busy?" he asked hopefully.

Piper smiled and looked over at Jason. The two confirmed with each other that they didn't mind taking over the class.

"Sure Perce, we've got it covered," Jason replied, with Piper nodding in agreement.

"Thanks, guys. I owe you one."

He was just about to pick up his and Annabeth's food and walk away when he heard his name.

"Hey Perce, hold on a sec," Piper said.

"Yeah?"

"Why?" she asked

"Why what?" was his brilliant response.

"Why did you want to spend the day with Annabeth? Like, why today of all days?"

Percy didn't have much of an answer to that. The truth was that he wanted to spend all day with her because they had just gotten engaged, but obviously, he couldn't tell her that. He thought quickly and came up with something. He leaned in towards Piper and Jason and spoke quietly; as if he was about to divulge national secrets.

"Can you keep a secret?" he whispered to them.

Piper and Jason exchanged glances before Piper nodded to him, which meant she was either lying through her teeth, or was totally unaware of how bad she was at keeping secrets. He looked around as if he was making sure no one could hear them.

"Look, here's the deal. I'm gonna propose to Annabeth tonight," he whispered to them.

The effect was immediate and massive. Piper gasped and brought a hand up to cover her mouth. Jason looked shocked, but that was because he hadn't expected Percy to say that, since it was so close to the truth. Piper recovered from her shock first.

"Are you serious?" she whispered urgently.

Percy took another look around the pavilion, before nodding to her gravely. Inside he was laughing his ass off, of course, but Piper didn't need to know that.

"It's true. That's why I want to make today perfect for her, you know? Make it the best day ever. I'm gonna pop the question tonight at dinner; here in the pavilion. What do you guys think?"

Piper's response was to shoot up like a bullet and grab him in a bear hug. Jason still looked slightly shaken, so Percy winked at him to ease him down a little bit. It worked, and Jason relaxed slightly and chuckled a little. Eventually, Piper released him and sat back down with Jason.

"Have you got a ring?" she asked.

"Yup. I spoke to Athena last night, to ask for her blessing and all; anyway, she gave me it, and then I asked Hephaestus for a ring. It's in my cabin right now." he said, before an idea came to him, "You know, actually, I was gonna propose to her last night at the restaurant, but I chickened out a little. That's why I asked my dad to float the bill for the nice restaurant, you know?" 

He figured he might as well add to the lie he had told previously. Piper gave a small squeal, so he guessed that she bought it.

"Wow, that's so amazing! Don't worry Perce, I'm 1000% sure that she'll say yes. You guys are totally meant to be. Good luck, honey! You're gonna do great!" she encouraged.

"Thanks, Pipes. See you guys at dinner tonight!"

And with that, he picked up his and Annabeth's food and walked back to his cabin. When he got in, he found that she had woken up, but only recently. Probably less than a minute ago. She still looked groggy and confused that he was gone. 

"Hey. I brought food," he said softly. 

Annabeth immediately perked up at the mention of food. She sat up, and Percy gave her her plate as quickly as he could. He learned long ago that it wasn't smart to stand between his hungry girlfriend and a plate of food. 

"Fiancee" he corrected himself, "It's not smart to stand between my hungry fiancee and a plate of food." 

They ate in peaceful silence, except for her traditional complaints about the contents of his plate. Once they finished, Percy put the plates on the dresser and Annabeth turned to look at him teasingly.

"So," she said, "What do you want to do now?" she asked, in a faux innocent voice that she knew turned him on, to no end.

He pretended to think about his answer for a moment, while his eyes scanned down her figure. She was wearing one of his T-Shirts, and nothing else. He knew that for an absolute fact. His shirt came down to her mid-thighs because he was a lot bigger than her. He stood at a respectable 6'2, while she was only 5'8. A decent height, but utterly dwarfed by him.

Percy was a pretty observant guy, so he noticed that she was checking him out while he had been doing the same thing to her. His T-shirt was pretty tight, and he knew she loved how it clung to his figure like a second skin. She snapped out of it and pretended to suddenly notice that he had been staring at her smooth legs. 

"Why Mister Jackson! What, may I ask, do you think you're looking at?!" she said, pretending to be outraged.

She crossed her arms over her chest, which made her - already glorious - breasts look all the more spectacular. She knew what she was doing. He was absolutely certain of it. She was starting to grin. She was having trouble keeping up the act, such as it was. He decided to ditch it entirely, leaping at her and pinning her to the bed, while she gave an excited squeal. In no time whatsoever, whatever clothes they had been wearing were gone, and they spent the next few hours of their day going at it like bunnies. Eventually, they collapsed in his bed, holding on to each other for dear life. Then, they watched some TV and chatted mildly. They were happy.

Percy wondered if this was how normal people spent their time. He liked it. It was kind of a shame that he had to settle for the brief windows into their world that he got, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. But their cozy, peaceful atmosphere came crumbling down around them when Annabeth had a thought. 

She got a glint in her eye that Percy was more than accustomed to. She was thinking about something. Something totally random that had just occurred to her. Then, suddenly, she shot out of bed and started scrambling around his cabin. Percy, with the training and reflexes of a seasoned demigod who had lived through 2 wars, assumed that she was reacting to some kind of threat. He jumped out of bed as well, and crouched into a defensive position, scrambling for a weapon. He would have had access to Riptide, his magic sword which had been enchanted to appear in his pocket whenever he lost it, but he was naked at the time and thus had no pocket for Riptide to appear into. It was only then, that he looked at Annabeth and found that she wasn't fighting anything, but putting on clothes frantically. He took a moment to think about why she was desperate to cover herself but came up empty. So, he risked looking stupid and asked her.

"Umm... Wise Girl? What are you doing?" he asked tentatively.

"Percy we were supposed to teach a class HOURS AGO! I completely forgot, we're SO LATE!" she screamed, throwing pants at his face.

For a split second, Percy panicked too, before he remembered that he had asked Piper and Jason to take over, so they were fine. In his relief that there was no threat or danger of some kind, he sagged down and collapsed back in bed. Apparently, it would have been a wise move to tell Annabeth about his request to Jason and Piper before sitting back down on his ass, because she was not happy to see him relaxing when she thought they were late. Her answer was to leap over to him so that she was straddling his chest, her arms on either side of his head, and a wild look in her eyes.

"What the FUCK are you DOING? WE'RE LATE!" she screeched, mere millimeters from his face.

She could get really worked up from time to time. But on the plus side, she looked really adorable when she did. Her face got all red, and her hair went wilder than it ever was, under normal circumstances. He was incredibly tempted to kiss her at that moment but decided to wait until she lost the near-murderous look in her eye, and her complexion returned to normal.

"Wise girl, I already asked Jason and Piper to cover for us. We're good, relax," he said soothingly.

Annabeth froze above him. She blinked.

"Really? When?" she asked.

"They were in the pavilion when I got us breakfast," he replied, chuckling.

Finally, she relaxed. She rolled off of him, to the side and let off a small laugh. They spent a little more time relaxing at his cabin before they got ready for dinner. They were nearly at the pavilion when Percy stopped.

"Your ring," he said

"What about it?" 

"Give it to me."

"What? No takesie backsies," she said, clearly poking fun at him.

Percy rolled his eyes, "No one knows we're engaged, remember? If you walk into the pavilion wearing an engagement ring, that's gonna give it away a little bit, don't you think?" he replied calmly.

She took a moment to process that. Not that in and of itself, but the fact that Percy had thought of it, and she hadn't. She knew that her new fiancee had a reputation of not being a particularly bright person, but every now and then, something would happen that would make her question whether or not he deserved it. There were brief moments where she would get the impression that he was a lot smarter than he let on. She wasn't sure why he would hide it if he really was smarter than he let people know, but she suspected it had something to do with the scars that he didn't like talking about. She still didn't know where they came from, but she had a few guesses, and none of them were fun for her to think about. She wasn't sure if that was the case or not, but she was ok with it either way. She loved him, whether he was a secret genius or a total idiot. She loved him. That was all that mattered.

She slipped the ring off her finger and gave it to him. She had only had it for a day, but she already felt strange without it. She already missed it a little bit. Percy slipped it into his pocket and then took her hand in his. Together, they walked the rest of the way to the pavilion. When they got there, Annabeth was delighted by a surprise Percy had arranged. The center table, which was normally only occupied by 4 people, was almost entirely full. Everyone was there, except Thalia, and they had dragged over an extra chair for Calypso, who was sitting next to Leo, and another one for Jack, whose chair was placed next to Percy's. They had all come for dinner because Percy had asked them to. He hadn't told them why exactly, he had just told them that they had news.

Piper and Jason looked especially excited. Jason knew he was seeing his two best friends for the first time as an engaged couple. Piper because she thought she was about to see Percy propose.

Annabeth saw that everyone was there, and her eyes widened in surprise. She was still for a moment before she broke out in a grin so wide, she nearly swallowed her own head. She darted forward to hug everyone at the table. Percy stood back for a moment, while she hugged them all in turn, and then did the same thing. Once they were done, and they had all sat down, Annabeth turned to Percy.

"Did you do this?" she asked, blown away.

"Of course I did. I want everyone here tonight." he said as he kissed her hand, "But it looks like we're still missing someone." 

Jason chose that moment to speak up.

"Yeah, she Iris-Messaged me a few minutes ago. She should be here soon."

Percy nodded. It was Frank who spoke up next.

"So Percy, what's the special occasion?"

"You'll just have to wait for Thalia, Zhang. I'm not going over it twice," he said jokingly.

They spent the next few minutes casually catching up. Percy and Annabeth were excited to hear everyone's news. They all liked to keep in touch with each other, but it was much better to hear everything directly. They were all interrupted when Thalia made an entrance into the pavilion by shocking Leo so hard he flew off of his seat. Annabeth immediately got up and ran over to her oldest friend and wrapped her in a hug. They hadn't seen each other in far too long. They spent a minute talking where they were before they remembered that they were supposed to be with a group, and returned to them. Leo glared at Thalia as she approached, but she stuck her tongue out at him with a grin, and apparently, he decided that he respected her attitude towards it, because he just grinned back at her. Thalia and Annabeth sat down, and the entire group exchanged greetings. 

After half an hour of casual chit-chat, Percy decided it was time. He glanced over at Annabeth and squeezed her hand to get her attention, which had been on Hazel as they spoke about New Rome. She turned around to look at him, and he tried to convey his message with a look. She caught his meaning and nodded with an ecstatic smile on her face. Percy gave her hand another squeeze and then stood up.

"Guys, I've got something important to tell you all. I asked you all to come here tonight because Annabeth and I have some news for you."

Annabeth stood up next to him. He slipped his hand into his pocket and took the ring out. He reached around and gave it to her behind her back. She slipped it on without anyone seeing. 

"We're engaged!" they yelled together, as Annabeth swung her hand around to show everyone the ring on her finger.

Immediately, all of their friends erupted in joyful shouts, congratulating them both. They were enveloped in a massive group hug, both of them laughing. Piper looked monumentally surprised since she thought he would be proposing then and there, but he explained later that he had just told her that so that they could spend the day together. She understood and hugged him some more.

The rest of the night went by, with the entire group laughing and joking the entire time. Throughout the evening, everyone made a toast to the happy couple, congratulating them, and wishing them both the best. Jason, Frank, Leo, Nico, and Jack were all trying to get themselves chosen as the best man. Percy said that they would all be groomsmen anyway, so it didn't really matter who was the best man because they would all be up there with him, but they were having none of it. The spirited competition gave the night a pretty funny mood though, so no one was complaining, and they weren't taking it too seriously anyway. 

Eventually, the pavilion had to be closed for the night, so they were forced to leave. But none of them had even scratched the surface yet, so they went out and bought some drinks, and brought them down to the beach, where they built a big bonfire and sat around in groups, and kept chatting about their lives. By 5 o'clock in the morning, they were pretty tired, so they snuck back into Camp Half-Blood and went to their respective cabins. Everyone from Camp Jupiter had decided to spend the night there, and Thalia flipped a coin to decide if she should sleep in the Artemis cabin or the Zeus cabin. In the end, she went with Artemis. And Percy and Annabeth went back to his cabin. They were tempted to just go to sleep but decided not to. They were young, and they were newly engaged. They had no time for sleep.