Chapter 3; 6 Months Later

Percy and Annabeth had been engaged for 6 months, and time went by in a flash. For the last half-year, the happy couple had been allowed to live in some kind of fantasy land, where everyone was always happy. It felt bizarre, but that was the truth. They spent all of their time with their friends, they planned their wedding, and they were constantly together. No matter what, they stuck together. Percy had half-expected that he would get sick of Annabeth by that point, but he found that their recent connection, was having the exact opposite effect. The more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her.

There were some issues though, which put a damper on things. Percy had enjoyed a mostly mortal upbringing. He didn't even find out about the divine world until he was 12 years old. Annabeth on the other hand had grown up with it, having arrived at camp when she was 7. That meant that Percy wanted to have a more "normal" wedding, while Annabeth wanted some more mythological accents. But that divide didn't lead to any real arguments. They had small spats, but nothing that lasted longer than 2 minutes, and they immediately had makeup sex once they were done, so neither of them minded too much. In fact, Percy was semi-positive that Annabeth was just fucking with him about some of the things she said she wanted, just so that they would fight, just so that they would make up, just so that they could have the aforementioned make-up sex. Like the time she decided that she wanted to ride down the aisle on a wild Pegasus. They discussed it for 30 seconds, concluded that they wouldn't do that, and fucked like bunnies. Even if he was right, Percy wasn't about to call her out for it.

Another issue that had cropped up since they had gotten engaged, was Jack. When he had arrived at camp, Jack had worshipped Percy as if he walked on water (which he technically could). They spent tons of their time together, every single day. But, since getting engaged and beginning to plan a wedding, Percy and Jack hadn't had too much time for just the two of them. It wasn't as if Percy had shut his brother out of his life or anything, but whenever they hung out, there was a group of them. They very rarely had one-on-one time anymore. Even in their own cabin, Annabeth was always there. She had practically moved out of the Athena cabin. Jack knew in his head that his brother getting engaged would mean that he would get busier, and he thought he would be able to handle it, but knowing something in your head, and knowing something in your heart, were two very different things that should never be confused.

Percy had never meant to lose touch with his brother so badly, but he hadn't been able to help it. There were so many decisions to make when planning any wedding, but a wedding that would serve as a decent blend of divine and mortal, was exceptionally difficult to pull off. Obviously, both of Percy's parents would be attending, as would both of Annabeth's. But that alone, raised so many complications. For starters, Annabeth's dad would surely bring his wife and their two kids, Annabeth's step-brothers, none of whom knew a thing about the mythological world. And Percy's mom had already asked to bring a few of her friends that had known Percy when he was a boy, and he really couldn't say no to his mother, so they were coming too. And, obviously, they also knew nothing about the gods. So, a good percentage of the guests had no clue about the real nature of the world around them. And the other half, was from that very world themselves. Any situation where mortals were going to come face to face with literal gods, wasn't going to end very well.

So, he was very stressed and had been far too busy to carve out a significant amount of time for his brother.

"But ok," he told himself, "it's not permanent. This wedding thing is taking up all of my time right now, but I'm sure things will go right back to normal between me and Jack as soon as it's over."

But there was a part of himself that knew that wasn't true. He knew that there would be something new to take up his time once he was married. There would always be something to keep him busy. He didn't know what that was, necessarily, but he had a very good idea about where it would be. He hadn't discussed it with Annabeth, but he could see the two of them leaving Camp Half-Blood, and moving to New Rome together.

He knew that Annabeth wanted to go to college for an absolute fact. It was a certainty, as much so as gravity. But they had discussed it a few times, and she was adamant that she didn't want to go. She was lying of course, and he knew why. For him. Percy had developed a reputation, as something of a moron. He wasn't about to complain about it though. It had taken a lot of effort to cultivate that image, and he would fight tooth-and-nail to keep it if he had to. He wasn't entirely sure why though. He didn't know why, exactly, he tried so hard to make people think he was a moron. His best guess was that it had started with legitimate reasons, and become instinct. When he started perpetuating the idea that he was stupid, he was just 6 years old. Gabe would always torture him for being smart. The concept was simply unfathomable to the giant walrus. So, Percy's answer was to make people think that he wasn't nearly as smart as he was, otherwise they would think was a freak and abandon him. He knew in his head, that they wouldn't do that, and they would still love him anyway. But knowing something in your head, and knowing something in your heart, were two very different things that should never be confused.

For the most part, playing the idiot had been working out pretty well for Percy. But he had finally reached the first drawback of the act. Annabeth was willing to not go to college because she knew that he would hate it. Which, he probably would. Just because he was a lot smarter than he let people think, didn't mean that he enjoyed school. He had hated it with a passion. He already knew all of the material being taught and had to pretend that he didn't. It got pretty tiring from time to time. But he was willing to endure however much school would be necessary, if it meant Annabeth's happiness.

He did some research about the college in New Rome and had really liked what he'd found. First and foremost, they had a fantastic architecture program, which was no surprise given how beautiful the city was. He felt like Annabeth would be more than happy there. Especially considering that their degree held a good amount of water in the mortal world, if they chose to leave the city and live in New York, or wherever else in the world. Percy had done some research about classes that he could take. His first choice would be marine biology. That would allow him to actually demonstrate himself being good at something, without giving away his true intelligence. He was a son of Poseidon, it was only natural that marine biology would be his thing. But, he found that the New Rome college had a pretty shitty marine biology program. Fair enough really, considering the lack of respect the Romans had for Neptune. He hadn't been expecting anything too great, but still. He might consider it, but he probably wouldn't go for it. One thing he found that interested him considerably, was the strength of their engineering course, which was headed by the Vulcan kids. Engineering was mostly just maths and physics, both of which came to Percy as easily as breathing. He knew he would excel at it if he chose to. He decided to keep it in his back pocket. He didn't need to commit at that very moment. Right then, he only had one commitment to make, and it was solely between himself and the woman he loved.

Nonetheless, he couldn't stop thinking about moving to New Rome with Annabeth. It just seemed like such a great idea. It seemed like their best chance to live a good life together, safe from the dangers that lurked around every corner in the mythological world. He did some digging into the city itself. What he found, astonished him. He found himself learning a lot. One of Percy's biggest concerns had been accommodation for himself and his, by that point, wife. But, he learned, as a former praetor of the 12th legion, he was entitled to a villa in the nicest part of the city. It was just sitting there, waiting for him. One day, while Annabeth had gone out with Piper, Hazel, Thalia, Reyna, and Calypso to choose a wedding cake, Percy had taken a trip out to New Rome to check out the villa. His villa. Their villa. It was gorgeous. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 and a half baths, a surprisingly modern kitchen, and all of the essentials. It was also a 4-minute walk away from a coffee shop that he happened to know that Annabeth loved, and a 12-minute walk from the college.

The more Percy found out about the city, the more excited he became about moving there with the woman of his dreams. There was nothing he wanted more. He just wasn't too sure how to bring it up to her. He knew that she would resist initially because she would think that he was just doing it for her, which he was, but he was sure that she would wholeheartedly support the idea, once he had laid out his arguments. One night, they were in bed together and Percy decided to just say it.

"Hey, Wise Girl?"

"If you tell me that you want to go again then I don't know what I'm gonna do with you!" she replied, teasingly.

Percy felt himself smirk, but he didn't let her distract him from what he had wanted to tell her.

"Don't worry, you're safe until the morning."

"Oh, thank the gods." he could practically feel her roll her eyes.

They were spooning, so he couldn't be sure, but he felt like he knew her well enough to know that rolling her eyes, would be her automatic reaction.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Ok. Lay it on me. You know, figuratively." she was smirking again.

"What would you think about the two of us moving to New Rome?" he asked.

He felt her freeze next to him. He was sure that if he listened really hard, he would be able to actually hear her mind working. Finally, she replied.

"New Rome, huh? Where'd that come from?" she asked.

"I just remembered a conversation we had about college and stuff. I know you told me you didn't want to go-"

"And I still don't." she cut him off, "Percy, I know you don't want to go, and I know you'd be miserable. I want you. You're so much more important to me than some school."

It was when she said things like that, that Percy realized just how lucky he was to be with such an amazing woman. How he got to be so lucky, he would never know. All he knew, all that mattered, was that he never let her go. He didn't like to think about what would happen to him if she left. He wouldn't survive. Not as the person he was becoming. She didn't know it, but Annabeth was crucial to making him feel like a human again. He had been in a horrible place when he had met her; still living under the thumb of an abusive madman, who took every opportunity to torture him. While that madman was long gone, he had left his mark. A mark, that Annabeth was chipping away at, without even knowing she was doing it. He put his hand on her shoulder and rolled her over so that she was facing him. Once they were face-to-face, he leaned in and kissed her. Percy wasn't very good with words, so he hoped the kiss would tell her what he didn't know how to. Based on her reaction, it did. He pulled back after a few moments.

"I love you so much, Wise Girl. And I really appreciate that. But give me a sec to explain, and I promise, you'll be convinced."

She looked slightly doubtful but didn't interrupt him.

"I did some research into the college in New Rome, and..."

The happy couple spent the next 2 hours going over every detail that would be involved with moving to New Rome. They left no stone unturned. At the start, they were doing it so that Annabeth could talk Percy out of it, but somewhere along the way, he had managed to convince her. He wasn't sure when exactly, but he had. She wasn't looking for problems anymore, she was finding solutions and working with him to make the very best out of the situation. He had told her everything he had found out about the college and the city. He told her about the villa too. Once they were done, they were both grinning ear-to-ear.

"So..." Annabeth started hesitantly, "We're really doing this?"

"You bet your beautiful ass we're doing this!" was Percy's tactful reply.

But as it turned out, that was exactly what she had needed to hear. She giggled at him, leaned in, and pecked him on the lips. Her arms went around his neck, while his settled on her hips. They took a moment to look deep into each other's eyes. They were moving to New Rome as soon as they got back from their honeymoon.