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It was mid-November, and Annabeth had never felt more content than she was at this moment.
By some gods-given miracle, Sally had let her and Percy stay at the Montauk cottage for the weekend, on the condition that they Iris-messaged her at least once every two hours. With that promise made and Percy’s new driver’s license acquired, they hit the road.
So here she was, huddled up on the couch and Percy’s head on her shoulder, drooling onto her pajama top. It was only six thirty, but it was completely dark outside. The world, which seemed so big in between the frenzy of New York City, seemed so small here. Just them. The only light in the small space was that of the fireplace and the floorlamp right beside them, bathing it in a warm illumination.
Annabeth had a book in her hands, but to be honest, she hadn’t registered a word since she felt Percy’s head hit her shoulder, the curls on his head tickling her neck with every soft breath he took. Before he had fallen asleep, he was mumbling stories about him and his mom’s visits to this very cabin while he grew up. So really, it wasn’t her fault that maybe she’d have to cram this reading in on the way home.
It scared her, really; how enamored she was with him. The thought had entered her mind at the age of twelve, and no matter how hard she tried, it didn’t seem to falter. She knew that he felt the same, but she couldn’t at all imagine that what he felt came close to how she felt. She thought about her crush on Luke when she was younger, and how fucking hilarious it seemed in contrast to what she felt for Percy. The shallow and fleeting childhood crush made up of memories and what-ifs could never compare to the reality of Percy.
They had a quilt thrown on top of their bodies, but really, it was kind of just on top of Percy’s body now, Annabeth’s right leg and arm sticking out of it. She didn’t mind, though. The cold didn’t bother her.
Her head fell onto Percy’s, eyes fluttering shut and just about to fall asleep right along with him, until she felt his head lift and turn, arm nudging hers slightly. “Annabeth,” he said, voice groggy.
“What?” She groaned, lifting her head and seeing that he was turned, she joined him too.
“It’s snowing.” He practically leaped off the couch and to the window, staring out onto the beach with a childlike wonder.
When Annabeth saw that it was, in fact, snowing, she too leaped off of the couch and to the window, bracing her hands on the windowsill when she saw the phenomenon of snow falling onto the sand, where there was already a thin sheen of snow covering the ground. “Whoa,” she breathed. “That’s so cool.”
Before she knew it, she was being tugged on the arm towards the back door. “Come on!” Percy said, stopping them short and handing her coat to her with his in his hands. “Let’s go!”
Giggles floated out of Annabeth at Percy’s excitement, and the bright smile on his face looked so, so much like the little twelve year old boy who’d been dragged into the infirmary. How could she say no?
Slipping her shoes on, she followed him outside to where the chilly air hit her so square in the face that it woke her right back up.
Percy was already ahead of her, somehow, but when he turned around and saw her a few feet behind him, he broke out into another smile.
“What?” She asked, zipping up her coat to the chin. Before she knew it, he was jogging up to where she was with a mischievous smirk on his face before he threw her over his shoulder and began booking it to the beach.
“Percy!” Annabeth screeched, hitting his back with her fists as she bursted out into laughter. “What are you doing?”
“This is what you get,” he breathed, setting her down on the sand when they finally reached near the beach. She was staring up at him, and she could see the tiny snowflakes littering his lashes and the ones scattered on the tips of his curls. “For being a slowpoke.”
She gaped up at him, narrowing her eyes. “You did not just call me that.”
“I so did.”
“Hm.”
They stared at each other for a few more beats before Annabeth tapped his arm. “Then, you’re it!”
She ran off before he could process what she said, but soon enough, she felt footsteps hot on her trail. As fast as Percy might be, Annabeth had much better stamina, which was something she prided herself on.
“You’re going down!” he shouted from somewhere behind her. Well, actually, maybe that’s what he said – she couldn’t really hear over the waves crashing mixed with the wind pumping and the blood rushing.
Two minutes later, when he still hadn’t caught up to her and she thought that he’d run out of gas, she stopped to breathe. About four inhales in, she was met with a pair of strong arms lunging onto her and falling down to the ground with her.
When she turned her head and saw that it was Percy, rosy-cheeked, breathless, and hair completely covered with snow, she burst out into laughter. After a few seconds of staring at her, so did he, and the sound of his it sent surges of warmth through her ridiculously cold body.
When they finally stumbled back inside twenty minutes later, completely soaked, shivering, but completely elated, Percy immediately went to go add kindling to the fire while Annabeth shook snow out of her shoe.
“Okay, but did you have to throw it right in my face?” Percy asked from the living room, where he was rubbing his face, which just made Annabeth giggle some more. “I didn’t know a snowball could cause so much pain.”
“Uh, for your information, I aimed for your shoulder. It’s not my fault that you turned right when I made the shot.” She shot back, joining him on the floor by the fire where Percy sat.
“Right, well maybe you should stop looking like that.” He said, gazing intently at her face, completely void of any sign of joking in his face. Annabeth’s face heated up.
“You’re a flirt, you know that?” She whispered in return, but picked up his hand and kissed it. It was freezing. In the warm light of the fireplace, where his soaking wet hair dripped onto his sweater, where his irises reflected back the flame but were also so focused on only Annabeth, he had never looked so beautiful.
When she set his hand back down, he reached back up, cupping her cheek. The coolness that emanated from his hold sent shivers through Annabeth, sending jolts of electricity through her nervous system. She leaned into it, her body seeking more, more, more.
“That feels nice,” she whispered, fluttering her eyes shut at the sensation.
He chuckled softly, tightening his hold on her cheek despite it. “Yeah, ‘cause you’re so cold hearted?”
Annabeth covered his hand with hers, opening her eyes and scooting closer so that their faces were inches apart. “Maybe for everyone else,” she said, hoping that her words were coming out as sincerely as she wanted them to.
She pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
“Not you, though.” The words came out like a breath and she pressed another kiss to the hand on her cheek, turning her head slightly. “Never you.”
He stared at her for a moment, eyes filled with nothing except for what she could describe as awe. She couldn’t tell you one other person who had ever looked at her like that, except the amount of times Percy did made up for whatever was missing – and honestly, she didn’t care about anything else at this moment.
Percy’s lips curved into the softest smile she’d ever seen in her life, and she wondered what she ever did to deserve this. Him. “I love you,” he whispered, inching his face closer to hers.
Before she could say the words back, his forehead was resting against hers, brushing their noses together. So instead of saying the words back, she let him feel them instead, pressing her lips to his. Softly, at first. Annabeth melted into it, hand falling from her own face threading into his damp curls. His hand stayed where it was, the other going to brace her back as the kiss deepened.
Annabeth pressed closer into him as he scooted back so that his back was against the couch. She crawled into his lap, letting her legs fall on either side of him and the feel of his body seep into her bones in the way they always did, except this time, it felt different. Percy’s arm instinctively dropped from her cheek and to the nape of her neck instead, while the one on her back snaked farther around her, pulling her closer in a way that would’ve made thirteen year old her short-circuit completely.
Pulling away for the promise of air, Annabeth looked down at him. His gaze was so heated when he looked up at her, lips parted and swollen. His hand came back up to her face and pulled the braids that were framing it to the back of her head before smiling again. Gods, that smile.
His thumb traced her jawline, eyes boring into her features in a way that would’ve made her want to pull a knife out if it was anyone but him. It was so reverent. He pressed a kiss there before pulling back again and whispering, “you’re unreal, baby.”
Her heart clenched, heat rushing right back to her cheeks, but she couldn’t help the soft laughter that slipped right past her lips. “You aren’t so bad yourself,” she murmured, tilting her head down to press another feather-light kiss to his lips.
His lips twitched upwards, both hands clamping back down on her waist and his smile growing achingly wider.
This time, she leaned in, capturing him in a slow, deliberate kiss that made her wholeheartedly believe that her heart could beat for no one else.
Annabeth’s senses were so heightened, she felt every soft groan that escaped him when her tongue swiped into his mouth, every molecule on her body that was touching his, every beat of her heart. It was all-encompassing.
When Percy’s lips left hers with a soft gasp and they moved down instead, peppering kisses from the corner of her mouth down to the base of her neck, she let out a sharp gasp and tightened her grip on his arm. He immediately pulled away, eyes searching her face.
“Is this… is this okay?” he asked, breathlessly. “We don’t have to.”
Annabeth almost laughed. She nodded profusely instead, hands coming back up to cup his cheeks. Even though they had never done, well, this, before, she couldn’t help the comfortability and familiarity she was feeling at the moment.
“So okay,” she reassured, pulling him in for another drugging kiss before pulling away, suddenly panicking. “Unless you don’t want to. We obviously don’t–”
She felt his laugh vibrating through them both when he kissed her again, one hand tugging at the end of his sweater. “You have no idea,” he murmured into her mouth.
–
They were laid out on the floor on top of the fluffy rug, in a position that would definitely come back to haunt them tomorrow morning when they get up. The quilt from earlier was spread across them both, but the real warmth was coming from the strong arm wrapped around her middle. And maybe the basketball hoodie she was wearing.
When she was sure that Percy was asleep again and his soft snores and breaths filled the room, Annabeth leaned over and pressed a kiss to his nose before studying his face. She brushed the curls away, completely entranced by the array of freckles that spread across his features, constellations that she wanted to explore for as long as she lived. She felt kind of nauseous at the weight of what she was feeling.
“It’s always been you for me,” she gently said, her voice barely above a whisper. She knew that he couldn’t hear her, but she liked it that way. She was so scared of the delicacy of this moment, she didn’t dare to raise her voice. “Always.”
Percy shifted in his sleep, arm tightening just slightly.