Last Night of Freedom

"I still can't believe that my brother in law looks more like me than my actual brother does."

"He's not your brother in law yet, Thalia," I sighed, dropping her bag on her bed.

"The two of you were practically married ever since you started dating, so by this point, this whole wedding thing is just fucking formalities," she shrugged, throwing open the doors to the balcony.

"I was kind of starting to think it wasn't ever gonna happen," I sighed, shaking my head as I stared out to the ocean with a pang of longing in my gut when I saw the waves resembling Percy's eyes.

"Maybe Percy should have studied law," she chuckled. "I'm still amazed he got dad's permission."

"More like bargained a deal," I mumbled.

"Right. Because you're such a princess, you have a fucking dowry," Nico snickered from the door.

"How the hell did I end up with the two of you while Percy got Annabeth?"

"Well, I remember you asking me to be your best man," Nico shrugged. "How you got stuck with Thalia, though..."

"How the hell did Percy convince dad to pay for a beach wedding in Montauk?" Thalia, my self volunteered maid of honour, asked from the balcony.

"Besides, Percy got a lot more volunteers than you did," Nico said, pointedly ignoring Thalia's question just as she had ignored mine.

"Okay, fair point," I laughed at the thought. Percy would probably have the wildest night of his life, what with Piper, Leo, and Will, all insisting on being his wedding party. "I honestly don't know if I should be insulted or relieved."

"Hey, we're gonna have a wild night too," Thalia protested. "As soon as party animal Zang gets here, I'm gonna make sure my baby brother's last night of freedom is epic."

"Party animal Zang?" I asked, raising a brow at my sister.

"Yes," she nodded undeterred. "Dad's paying for this kickass beach house, so as soon as Frank gets back from dropping his wife off at Percy's cabin, we're gonna make sure dad doesn't get his security deposit back."

"As much as I enjoy that idea," I grinned back at her. "This is the venue for my wedding reception tomorrow, so I'd rather not trash it."

"Oh, come on," she groaned. "Just one room? We can trash my room, lock the door tomorrow, and none of your guests will ever know."

"Okay, one room," I conceded

"I knew Percy was a good influence on you!" she squealed.

"That's about the last thing I'll ever call Perseus Jackson," Nico grumbled. "That would be like calling you a good influence."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Thalia protested. "I teach teenage girls to shoot arrows every day. They wouldn't let me if I weren't a good influence on them."

"You're a good archer and a good coach. I'll give you that much," Nico stated far too calmly.

"Anyway," Thalia drawled as she bounded over to her bag and pulled out an unmarked bottle of clear liquid. "Look at what I got for tonight."

"What is that?" I asked.

"Moonshine, fuckers." Nico and I shared a look.

"You're such a good influence," he deadpanned, and I snorted.

"Oh, fuck you!"

"Please don't. I have Will for that."

"Speaking of your significant other."

"You mean significant annoyance." Thalia rolled her eyes at Nico.

"Speaking of Will, do you know what they're planning for Perce?"

"Nope," Nico shook his head. "All I know is that Annabeth isn't letting them do anything in the cabin since Sally would be devastated if anything happened to the cabin."

Thalia snorted. "Like anything they do tonight is gonna be worse than whatever my bro and Percy would be doing on their honeymoon in that very cabin."

"Hey," I protested.

"You got a point," Nico nodded his agreement with my sister.

"I need new fucking friends!" I threw my hands up in frustration.

"Aw, we love you too," Thalia coed as she ruffled my hair. "Now, let's have some moonshine! Frank can catch up when he gets here."

"Yeah, as your best man, I'll make sure you can at least stand at the alter tomorrow, even if you can't remember it," Nico clapped me on the shoulder.

The thing is, I did remember. Maybe it was the nerves keeping my senses in check. Perhaps I was just too excited to fall into a drunken stupor, but by the early morning hours, Thalia, Nico, and Frank were all strewn about Thalia's room. There were feathers everywhere, from when Thalia had a pillow fight against her own shadow. Frank had a thinly drawn moustache on his lip from when Nico tried to make him Italian. I stood on the balcony, staring out at the waves, glittery silver in the light of the moon.

It was so tranquil, peaceful even. It contrasted the churning turmoil inside me greatly. I wondered if Percy was as calm as the sea was, too. Or was his stomach flipping like mine was? Maybe I could lend some of the ocean's quiet to still my nerves. That's how my feet carried me to the beach of their own accord, how I found myself sitting just out of the reach of the gentle waves lapping at the sand.

"Couldn't sleep, either, huh?" Percy plopped down next to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What? Not happy to see your fiance?" he smirked, bumping my shoulder with his own.

"I'm delighted," I bumped him back. "Just wondering what you're doing on the beach at two in the morning."

"I was planning on sneaking in to wish you happy birthday," he grinned, bumping my shoulder again. "Happy birthday, by the way. Imagine my surprise, though, when I saw you walking down to the beach just as I was about to scale the wall to your balcony."

"You were going to scale a wall on our wedding day?"

"Sure," the bastard shrugged.

"What if you fell?" I nearly screeched. "We would have had to postpone and lost all our deposits, and my dad would have killed you for that."

"Yeah," he said, falling silent.

"Something tells me wishing me a happy birthday is not the only reason you were on the beach."

"Just thinking," he shrugged, staring out to sea.

"About what?"

"If I had to relive everything I've been through, I would. Because I know it all leads to you. It made me someone you could love."

"You've always been someone I could love, Perce," I said as gently as I could. "You didn't need to suffer like that."

"But I did," he huffed a humourless laugh. "If life hadn't broken me the way it had, if you hadn't seen me in the locker room with those bruises, you wouldn't have tried to save me."

"You've never needed saving," I said, taking his hand and brushing my lips over the knuckles, scarred from countless clips on the pool's gutter. "You're like that jellyfish on your thigh, right? You'll survive, even if the world crumbles around you, you'll keep floating on endlessly."

"Jellyfish are mostly water. They almost completely disappear when they wash up, and their water evaporates. Jellyfish still need the ocean to survive, Babe," Percy smiled. "Just like I need you."

"You know I need you, too, right?"

"You'd be just fine without me..."

"Oh, shut up!" I snapped, making Percy flinch slightly. "If I didn't have you, I would never have gotten as far as I did. Every single time I hesitated, you were there to kick my ass back in gear. Starting with the semifinals in freshmen year. High school was different; highschool was safe. Everyone treated me differently because of who my father was. But then we got to college, and that didn't matter anymore. Nobody cared whose son I was. I had to do things on my own." I swung a leg across his lap, pushing him back into the sand. "I am nothing without you. That's why I'm marrying you today."

Percy bit his lip, hands falling on my thighs, moonlight glinting in his teary eyes. Gorgeous. He was breathtaking. "That's right, we're getting married today," he said, hands squeezing affectionately.

"You know its bad luck to see each other before the wedding, right?" I asked, leaning a little closer.

"You should know by now, me and lady luck don't see eye to eye, anyway," he smirked back, one hand coming up to cup my cheek. "We make our own luck, though, right?"

"Right," I answered, lips slotting comfortably over Percy's.

"Besides," Percy sniffed. "They say its good luck to cry on your wedding day. Something about shedding all your tears before you get wed, so there's none left for after," he sniffed again. "Maybe I can cancel out some of that bad luck."

I pulled away, seeing droplets sliding down his cheeks. "What are you crying for?"

"I just love you so fucking much," he said, voice cracking.

"I love you, too," I grinned, kissing him again, only pulling away when I felt a few wet drops in my neck. The moon was gone, the sky suddenly clouded thickly. Percy's eyes were my source of light in the darkness, and I found that oddly comforting.

"You know," Percy started as the rain steadily increased, "they say, rain on your wedding day is good luck too."

"Jason!" came Nico's voice through the darkness. "Jason, Annabeth's gonna kill me if you ran off, and so help me God, then I'll have to kill you, too!"

"You should probably get back," Percy chuckled underneath me.

"What about you?" I asked.

"I've been up and down this beach again and again. I can find my way back to the cabin. Annabeth's gonna start looking for me anyway," he sighed.

"Yeah," I got up, pulling Percy to his feet after me. "Guess I'll see you in a bit."

"It's all gonna change, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

"For the better," I answered. "After today, it's just you and me, and we'll take on anything. No more fear."

"End of an era, then," he said, pulling my hand up to brush his lips over my knuckles. "And the start of a new one. Love you," he whispered, before disappearing down the beach in the rain.

"There you fucking are," Nico yelled, rushing towards me as I stared at the spot where Percy had evaporated like sea mist. "What the Hades are you doing out here."

"I couldn't sleep," I shrugged. "I needed to get some fresh air."

"Well, let's get inside before your honeymoon's ruined by a stuffy nose."