As promised, a fluffy new Percabeth chapter posted on both Life Goes On and Percabeth One-Shots. Now, quick spoiler about this, it's about Percabeth's one year wedding anniversary and since I had them married in the summer, most likely the end of July, I thought it was time to write this idea.

(also published on Life Goes On)

So enjoy and beware of all the fluff!

---July 21---

Annabeth pushes the door to the apartment in San Francisco, California, that she's been sharing with Percy since the end of Sophomore year in college, and steps inside, shutting it seconds later with one hand while the other holds onto the hanger the dress she'd recently purchased hung from. Once her shoes are off and pushed against the wall, she ventures deeper into the apartment in search of a certain someone and finds him sprawled across the couch, papers and notes scattered around him on the floor and coffee table, his lap top plopped on his lap as his fingers lazily move around the keyboard.

Grinning in slight amusement, eyebrows arched in part annoyance, she leans against the wall that separates the entryway from the living room, she crosses her arms. "Are we going on a date or not? I thought we agreed on-" she looks over at the clock that hung on the wall above the couch. "-five-forty five? It's already almost five-thirty."

Percy lets out a string of curses as he slams his laptop shut, sitting up and collecting all his notes spread all around him, stuffing everything in his backpack in a disorderly fashion that makes Annabeth's nose scrunch up in mild distaste. Running a hand through his hair, he sets his backpack aside and stands, making his way over toward her, and pressing a feather-light kiss to her forehead. "I'm so sorry. I just got caught up in school. You see, I've got this essay due on Monday and I know it's Friday but I really thought I'd be able to get it done before you got home from shopping with Piper."

It's July, meaning he shouldn't have any homework, considering they're on summer break, but, unfortunately, Percy had failed one of his classes. Instead of retaking it the upcoming school year, he had made an agreement with his professor that he could take the class over the summer, via email, and take the next course that next year. But she couldn't judge since she'd done the same thing going into Sophomore year.

"How much did you get done?" she asks, shifting the dress in her arms as she sets her keys down on the kitchen counter behind her, looking up at him curiously.

"On my last paragraph," Percy responds, smiling proudly, and she can't help the rush of pride that flows through her veins at the mentions of his accomplishments. He's come a long way since high school, she'll give him that, and junior year of college was no piece of cake so it was remarkable how well he was doing.

"Good job. I'm proud of you." Annabeth leans up on her tiptoes and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek before dropping back down to flat feet, still grinning. "I'll proofread when we get back, alright? Even though I'm not the best speller either." They share a laugh. "Anyway, right now, we've got to get ready. You made a reservation for six."

Nodding, Percy gives her a grateful smile. "Sounds good."

She gives him another kiss on the cheek before telling him she'll change in the bathroom and heading down the hallway to their room, sensing he was following her, and slipped inside. She lets out an excited breath as she shuts herself in the bathroom after flipping the light switch on, and unzips the bag her dress was being held in. Her matching grey eyes sweep over the article of clothing, widening at how pretty, yet basic it was. Quickly exchanging her shorts and T-shirt for the dress, Annabeth took time to examine herself in the mirror, turning around all angles to get a full, good view.

It hugged her body well, and was a bit tighter than she would have liked but she'll have to blame Piper for that since she's the one who had picked it up the day before and only told Annabeth which dry cleaner to pick it up from, and she just so happened to make sure the bag it was kept in wasn't the slightest bit transparent. Besides that though, she really likes it. It's a light grey, about the same shade as her eyes, which makes her golden tan skin pop, and reaches mid thigh. The thin straps travel down to the square cut collar, which she's thankful that it's high up since she's not a big fan of showing a lot of skin in public, especially in more private areas.

Watching herself in the mirror as she pulls the elastic band away from her hair, she allows her blonde curls to tumble around her shoulders. Annabeth runs her hands through them, getting all the knots and snarls out before putting a few hair products in the light strands, making the strands of gold softer and shinier. Once her hair's all taken care of, she applies a minimal amount of makeup, only some blush, mascara, and a clear lip gloss.

After she checks herself one last time in the mirror, her fingers wrap around the doorknob and pull it open, turning the lights off on her way out, and before she leaves the room after noticing Percy isn't there, she grabs her white, slightly heeled (only like a centimetre) sandals. She makes sure to turn all the lights off in the apartment on her way to the entryway, and once she's there, Annabeth freezes at the sight of Percy, momentarily shocked at how good he looks. He's not paying attention to her, staring down at his phone, as she takes in his outfit; black jeans with a black button up shirt tucked into it, the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and, you guess it, black dress shoes adorning his feet.

He senses her presence because he puts his phone away in his back pocket and glances up at her, sea green eyes widening, and jaw dropping. Her face feels hot as she feels him watching as she puts her shoes on, and as she straightens back up, she sees his mouth opening and closing but no words escaping. She smirks. "Speechless?"

"Shut up," he mutters playfully, but his lopsided smile softens as he says, "but seriously, you're the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on. And I've met Aphrodite."

"Careful. She might be watching." She grabs her coat off one of the many hangers, tucks her own iPhone into one of the pockets before she folds it into the crook of her elbow. They live in California and it is hot most the time, but it still got pretty chilly once the sun starts to go down and the moon starts to rise, so a light jacket, such as her pea coat, is necessary almost always.

Snorting, Percy grabs his off one of the hangers and drapes it over his shoulder. "I don't care."

Annabeth hums and accepts his hand when he outstretched it to her once he's grabbed his keys out of the bowl beside the door, and leads her out of their small, but nice, apartment and into the hallway. She stops walking in front of the elevator and watches as he presses the arrow pointing down, waiting patiently for the doors to open, and when they do, he tells her to go in first so she does. "Such a gentlemen," she says, her voice teasing.

"I try," he jokes back as he presses the '1' painted onto the circular button.

They stand in silence as the elevator brings them to the first floor, holding hands, and smiling when the doors open and an elderly man and woman step inside, though they pretty much ignore them the entire time, not that Annabeth's complaining. When the doors open on the first floor, her and Percy allow them to exit first which earns them a grateful "thank you" from the both of them, and they smile as they follow after them.

The warm summer air as they leave the large building envelopes them in a hug as they walk out to the parking lot and over to Percy's blue Prius with Blackjack's hoof prints on the roof, and she chuckles as the conversation they had before even moving to California was brought to the surface. Paul and Sally had tried to persuade Percy into allowing them buy him a new car instead of taking Paul's old one all the way to college, but he had declined each and every time, saying he could live with an old car until he absolutely needed a new one. He was being so sweet, but Annabeth found it hilarious.

"You know what," Percy says once they reach his car. "We should walk."

You say that now," she sighs and looks over at the sidewalk only about five feet away but once she looks back at his face, she gives in to his baby seal eyes. "Alright. Let's walk."

They lace their fingers together, swinging their intertwined hands between them as they walk a couple blocks down to the restaurant, talking about random things such as school, family, new job applications, and much more. Once they arrive ten minutes later, Percy holds the door open ,to the most popular restaurant in their area, for her and she smiles thankfully at him in return. He follows closely behind, wrapping his arm around her waist as they come to a stop at the front desk.

A man with brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin, who looks to be their same age, dressed in a white button up shirt and black dress pants, gave them a smile. "Hello, do you have reservations?"

"Yes," Percy confirms. "It should be under Jackson."

The waiter, his name tag reads Carlos, Annabeth notices, types something into a computer, tapping his hand against the desk, then looks up seconds later. "Percy Jackson?" he asks and Percy nods. He grabs two menus, instructs they follow him, and leads them up the stairs and out to the balcony that overlooks the ocean. He sets the menus down on an empty table nearest to the building which was only a few feet away from the edge of the balcony. "I'll be back in just a moment," he informs them before heading inside.

Annabeth hangs her coat on the back of her chair before sitting down, smoothing her dress down as she does so, and Percy sits across from her. "I can't believe we've never thought to eat here before," she says as she flips open the menu, her eyes skimming over the drinks and they land on lemon sparkling water and she instantly knows that's what she's getting. " I mean look at that view." She glances out at the landscape, blue waters rippling with calm waves, sand with foot imprints everywhere, a couple people walking alongside the shore, birds flying high above, and the soft music coming from the speakers. It was... perfect. "It's beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," Percy compliments, reaching across the table to grab her hand.

"You're so cheesy," Annabeth comments, though she's smiling ear to ear.

Someone clears their throat beside them and they turn their attention back to their waiter and he flashes them another pearly white smile. "Sorry about that. We're a little understaffed," he apologizes. "Anyway, I'm Carlos and I'll be your waiter for tonight." He grabs a notepad, flipping it open, and clicks his pen, letting it hover over the lined paper. "Can I start you two off with any drinks?"

Looking over at Percy, she nods for him to go ahead so he orders himself a coke with ice because he likes to be a barbarian, though she really doesn't understand the big deal behind it. When Carlos looks at her, she orders her lemon sparkling water, adding a please to the end of it, unlike Percy had, although he had said a thank you.

"Are you ready to order or would you like a few more minutes?" Carlos asks.

"Uh, we may need a few more minutes," Percy replies, and Annabeth nods in agreement.

Carlos pockets his pen and notepad. "Alright, great! And before I go, are you two here for any special occasion?"

Percy gives Annabeth's hand a squeeze before he answers, "It's our one year wedding anniversary."

"Congratulations!" Carlos exclaims. "Well, I'll be right back with your drinks."

"Do they ask everyone that?" Annabeth asks once their waiter disappears inside, and she looks over at Percy and instinctively smiles, because she's just so happy. It's been exactly one year since they'd stood on the beach of Camp Half-Blood, saying I do and a little more than four years since she'd gotten together with her best friend.

"I would assume so," Percy responds, eyes on his menu, and Annabeth figures she should be doing the same thing, so she flips through it, reading through all the different types of foods, genuinely surprised at all the options. "They've got Mexican, Greek, American, and Italian?" he voices her exact thoughts. "Wow."

"I know," Annabeth agrees and stays on the Greek page, reading (with a bit of difficulty due to her dyslexia) through the food choices, debating between a beef gyro or Tzatziki. She looks back and forth between the pictures and decides with the gyro with a side of fries. "I think I'm going to get the Greek beef gyro," she tells Percy as she closes her menu.

Percy hums as he decides what he wants. "I think...I'm gonna get the chicken Alfredo fettuccine," he tells her as he closes his menu and places atop hers at the end of the table so the waiter can just take them without asking.

"Ah, Italian." Her nose wrinkles as the corners of her lips tug upwards in an amused smile, and she folds her arms across her chest as she leans into the chair.

He gives her a dirty look. "Yeah. So?"

"Don't be sassy," she laughs. "I was just saying you're getting Italian."

"What can I say? I was born with sass." His eyebrows waggle and she laughs.

They quiet down as their waiter reappears, setting their drinks in front of them, his notepad and pen already in hand, ready to take their orders right away. He raises an eyebrow at Annabeth, indicating for her to go first, and she straightens in her seat as she orders, "I'll have the Greek beef gyro, and can I get lettuce and sour cream on that?" He nods, jotting it down. "Great, thanks. And I'll have a side of fries."

"Alright," Carlos mutters and turns to face Percy.

"I'll have the chicken Alfredo fettuccine," Percy says then adds, "please."

Carlos nods, grabs the menus and announces he'll be back in about a half hour, and heads to another table.

"Hey, you got a fancy cup!" Percy exclaims, though it comes out more as a whine, and her eyes travel downwards to inspect the glass that holds her sparkling water.

"Percy-" she lets out a laugh and shakes her head, amused. "It looks like a glass version of those Hint water bottles. It's nothing special." She grabs her drink and pops the lid off, bringing the rim to her lips and taking a sip, eyes stinging as the fizz burns her throat. "Wow, that's strong."

Percy snorts out a laugh. "Well compared to my cup-" he holds up a regular glass you'd usually get at a restaurant with a straw poking out of the brown beverage. "-it is fancy."

"If you say so." Annabeth lifts her shoulder in a half shrug, taking another sip before placing it back down on the table, turning her face to the left so she could see the sunset. It's a beautiful mix of oranges and pinks filling the light blue sky, the sun already three quarters behind the ocean, and she takes a deep breath as a warm breeze ruffles through her curls. If she closes her eyes and thinks hard enough, Annabeth can almost believe she's at the dining pavilion back at Camp Half-Blood, and a surge of nostalgia courses through her. She loves California, don't get her wrong, but she misses her home, New York, most of all which overpowers her love for the land of milk and honey.

"Annabeth," she hears Percy say nervously and she turns her attention back over to him and took notice of his flushes cheeks and nervous stature, the hand that wasn't grasping her, tapping anxiously against the table. The sight was almost amusing, although she doesn't understand why he's acting this way.

Her finger tips push away a rebel curl from her eyes. "Yeah?"

He swallows thickly and meets her eyes. "When do you think we'll be ready for kids?"

Her eyes go round. That's not exactly what she was expecting, though she wasn't sure what she had been expecting in the first place. It was thoroughly perplexing. They had talked briefly about children as teenagers, but eventually the concept had quieted down into nothingness once college began and they reached adulthood. However, she's always known Percy wanted kids, so she's assumed it would be part of her future. Especially when, not only until their relationship reached over a year, did she come to a sudden realization that just maybe, she wanted a couple kids herself. As if the way she treats the kids back at camp, and the way Sally would very smoothly interject how good she is with kids wasn't enough confirmation as it is. But she hadn't been expecting for it to be brought up tonight.

"Um, a couple years from now?" she answers, though it comes out more as a question than an actual statement and that makes the whole situation more bewildering.

Across the table, Percy's watching her expectantly with a sparkle in his eyes, but then she believes that maybe it's just the reflection from the fairy lights tied around the railing that surrounds the balcony. "A couple year sounds good," he agrees and her chest heaves as she lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and squeezes his hand affectionately.

The silence that follows is comfortable, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore below calming, the breeze ruffling the palm trees relaxing. Around the restaurant's terrace, families talk among themselves, children giggle, and silverware clink against each other, and for some off reason, Annabeth feels the need to break the quietness between her and her husband of one year. She leans against the table, and grabs her drink, bringing it up to her lips to moisten her dry throat, before she asks, "how many kids do you want?"

Percy, who was watching two teenagers play volleyball down at the beach, looks up at her and the breath catches in her throat because he's just so handsome. The sunset reflects in his already sea green eyes, and the golden glow of the sun lights up his skin even more, and the breeze tussles his unruly raven black hair and Annabeth fights the urge to run her fingers through it. He grins his troublemaker smile she's come to love, and teases, "Why? Rethinking your choice of a couple years?"

"No," Annabeth laughs. "But, seriously, how many?"

"Three," he answers easily, not a hint of hesitation evident in his voice. "What about you?"

She peers up at the sky in thought, tapping her recently white painted finger nails against her sparkling water glass, producing a satisfactory clinking noise, and when she looks back at Percy she finds him chewing on his lip to keep from smiling. "Hey!" She complains, slapping his arm across the circular table lightly. "You're laughing at me!"

"I'm sorry!" He holds his hands up, a laugh bubbling out of his mouth. "You just looked so focused in figuring out your answer. It's not a hard question, Wise Girl."

"Well, my answer is two kids," she says and crosses her arms. "Maybe it would have been three if you hadn't laughed at me."

He chuckles again. "You're impossible."

"You're-"

Their waiter, Carlos, clears his throat as he sets their tray of food down on the small makeshift table, picking up the oval shaped plate and setting it in front of Annabeth. "The beef gyro," he announces to her then sets Percy's large bowl down in front of him as he says, "Chicken Alfredo fettuccine." Once everything's handed out, he claps his hands together. "Anything else I can get for you two?"

Annabeth looks at Percy and he shakes his head. She faces the waiter and smiles. "No, we're good, but thank you."

Carlos nods before going back inside.

"It's bigger than I thought it'd be," Percy says, peering down at her and she nods in agreement.

"Yeah..." Her eyebrows furrow in concentration as she examines the size of the gyro, figuring out how exactly she is supposed to eat that thing. Of course, she knows she's supposed to eat it like it's a burrito... but it is much larger than that. She prods the flat bread with her finger and hears Percy laugh across the table. "Well, how am I supposed to eat this thing?" She looks from her food back to Percy, eyes involuntary widening as she sees him coughing, eyes watering, as he laughs. "Are you choking!?"

He just lets out another choked cough and reaches for his coke but she swaps it out for her water, believing water (carbonated or not) may be better than soda in this situation. He takes a couple sips before he leans back into his chair, taking deep breaths. "Whew," he says with another small chuckle and her nostrils flare as she slumps back into her seat, her own heart racing out of her chest. "What a ride that was, huh, Wise Girl?"

"How did you manage to choke?" Annabeth asks, with feigned annoyance, though the corners of her lips twitch upwards in a small, amused, smile. He just shrugs, grinning that gods forsaken lopsided smile that makes her knees weaken, and all she can do is lean forward and swat his shoulder playfully. "You scared me for a second there."

"I almost die choking on my food and once my airway is all cleared out, the first this my darling wife says to me is: how do you manage to choke?" Percy jokes, his impersonation of her very poor and she slaps his shoulder again, much harder than last time, and he let out a tiny yelp, grasping onto his shoulder, as he gives her a nasty look. "And then she abuses me."

Annabeth laughs and rolls her eyes sarcastically. "I'm just curious."

"She's just curious, she says." Percy's green eyes flicker around the table like they have an audience, and she laughs harder, reaching across the table to give his hand an affectionate squeeze before letting it go to grab his knife. "I need this." She waved it in the air and Percy caught her wrist, lowering her hand to the table.

"Don't wave the knife," he chastised, giving her a serious look. "That's dangerous."

"I'm trained professionally, remember?" she tells him and cuts her gyro in half so it will be just a tad bit easier to eat. "Someone could throw me a knife across the room and I'd be able to catch it without a scratch, you know that? I could throw this thing at someone at the perfect angle so I just miss their head," she says and hands the knife back over to him.

"I don't doubt that." He grabs it carefully, holding it face down, whilst never taking his eyes of her, and cleans it with a napkin before setting it gently down on the table. She makes a face at him and he laughs, twirling a couple noodles around his fork. "You look more cute than threatening when you do that."

Annabeth scoffs as she picks up the first half of her gyro and takes a bite out of it, pleasantly surprised by the taste, and waits to swallow till she speaks, "I think if I threatened you with that knife-" she gestures to the silverware with a nod of her head. "-you'd think differently."

Percy swallows a bite of his pasta. "No, you'd still be absolutely stunning."

"Quit being cheesy."

"You like it."

"Do you think I'd admit that?" Annabeth raises an eyebrow.

"Maybe," Percy answers then changes the subject, "Is that thing even good?"

Rolling her eyes, she hands the last bite of the first half of her gyro over to him and he sets his own silverware down to grab it, holding it up to his eye level to examine it closely. "What the hades are you doing? Just eat it," she demands and he gives her a look before placing it in his mouth and nodding slowly as he chews. "Do you like it?"

Once he swallows, he reaches for his coke and takes a quick sip. "It's a bit dry"

She shrugs and dips one of her fries in ketchup, careful not to get any of the red pigment on her light grey dress, knowing that they're probably not going straight home after this and it's still too warm to wear her jacket. "A bit, but it's still good."

"Yeah, true," he agrees. A couple seconds pass before he speaks up again, "Do you want to go on a walk by the beach once we're done? I also heard there's like, live music and dancing somewhere down there as well."

Did she call it or did she call it?

"Yeah, that'd be fun."

The doors to the terrace open and their waiter comes back out, checking in on a few other tables before stopping by theirs with a bright smile painted onto his face. He has a drink that looks like Champaign in hand and he asks, "How is everything so far?"

"Good," Annabeth answers after she set the second half of her gyro down.

"Amazing," Percy tells him.

Carlos nods. "That's great to hear." Rocking back and fourth on the balls of his feet for a few seconds, glancing around a bit nervously, much to Annabeth and Percy's confusion, he finally looks back at them and quietly apologizes and doesn't give them time to question him before he raises his voice. "May I have everyone's attention please!"

Annabeth frowns and looks across the table at Percy to find him as equally confused. People around nearby tables turn to look in their direction and she wills herself not to shrink down in her seat, especially once she recognizes a group of people from her geometry math class at UC Berkeley. She looks away from them and back at Percy who shrugs when he catches sight of her knitted eyebrows.

"These two young adults are here, celebrating their one year wedding anniversary!" Carlos announces, giving them apologetic glances, and smiles widely. He lifts his glass of the liquid that resembles Champaign as the people sitting on the balcony clap. "Hears to a healthy and hopefully long relationship!"

As she raises her sparkling water to clink against Percy's glass of coke, her cheeks flush a firetruck red that would make Leo proud. When everyone shouts out for cheers, she takes a slow sip of her water, not caring when the fizz of it burns her throat, causing her eyes to glisten with unemotional tears, and she blinks them away as she sets her glass back down on the black tabletop.

Once everyone turns back to their private conversation, Carlos says, "Sorry, guys. It's like a policy to do that for any special occasion. Birthdays, anniversaries, bachelorhood and bachelor parties, you name it. It's not my favorite thing in the world but I get paid so." He shrugs helplessly and chuckles.

"It's fine," Percy says, laughing a bit himself.

"Yeah," Annabeth pipes up, the abnormal color seeping out of her cheeks. "No worries."

Carlos gives them another nod before heading back inside.

They watch him until the doors close and Annabeth looks over at Percy only to find him already watching her. A moment of silence passes between them before they both start laughing, the events of a few minutes ago setting an exciting glow to everything.

"That was so weird," Annabeth laughs, wiping at her eyes. "Never in my life-"

"I know." Percy runs a hand through his hair, still chuckling.

Pushing her empty plate aside, Annabeth leans back over the table and grabs one of Percy's hands with the both of hers and brings it up to her lips, kissing his knuckles before gently caressing them with her thumbs. She smiles behind his hand. "It's just sinking in that a year ago today, we were standing on the beach of Camp Half Blood, saying our vows." She intertwines his fingers with his and drops their hands onto the table.

"And it's still the best decision I've ever made," Percy mutters before he leans over the table and presses his lips softly to hers.

Annabeth's eyelids flutter close as she kisses him back. Her stomach ignites with the familiar sparks that come out of hiding every time Percy's lips are against hers, and she welcomes them with open arms, loving the way they make her feel warm. Her heart swells with love and when they pull away seconds later and her eyes open, meeting Percy's green ones, she whispers, "I love you so much, Percy Jackson."

As he sits back down in his seat, he says, "And I love you, Annabeth Jackson."

Her eyes sparkle as she smiles, but before she could turn into a mushy mess, she clears her throat and sits up straighter. "Okay, so, you know how we're moving back to New York next summer? Once we graduate?" He nods, eyebrows snapping together. "I was thinking that we should probably get started on looking for apartments, because once school starts back up, it won't be the first thing on our minds."

"Okay... do you want to stay in Manhattan or somewhere else?" Percy asks her.

"I kind of want to stay in Manhattan, close to your parents and Estelle," she tells him and grins when his eyes light up, obviously very infatuated with the idea. "Not in the same building thought. I love your family, don't get me wrong, but that's a bit too close, don't you think?"

Percy nods in agreement. "Yeah. Maybe somewhere a few blocks away, but do we even have enough money to buy an apartment? We're having enough trouble keeping up with the bills of the apartment we have right now."

The next words die in Annabeth's throat, because, whether she wants to admit it or not, he's right. She doesn't like that he's right, in any other circumstance, she would probably would have been okay with him being right, but not when it was about their finances. He has a job at a local cafe shop in New Rome then an internship at a near marine biology place in San Fran, and she's got a job at an architecture firm, so they make enough to pay the bills but it's petty tight. So buying a new apartment might not be possible yet.

"Uh... we have a year, and maybe we can live with your mom for a little bit," Annabeth suggests, her mind running like crazy to come up with a plan. Sally would no doubt welcome into their home until they could have an apartment, if that will be needed. Although she's pretty sure that if they limit the amount of times they eat out, how much money they spend on unnecessary items, they'll be okay to get a decent apartment. "And we just need to limit how much money we spend this upcoming year. Also, we should be looking for jobs in Manhattan and start applying before next summer."

"Annabeth," Percy interjects, his voice soothing. "We'll be okay."

She takes a deep breath and nods. "I know."

"Right now, let's just enjoy today. Celebrate us." He lifts his coke towards her.

Smiling, Annabeth taps her water against his. "To us."

"To us," Percy confirms and they both take a sip of their respective drinks.

After that, they talk quietly among themselves, their voices mixing in with the ones around them, and when her classmates from UC Berkeley pass by, congratulating her, she thanks them before endorsing herself back in the conversation with Percy. They discuss classes they're taking this August when their semester starts and which school each class is in, NRU or UC Berkeley, and Percy tells her all about the topic his current essay is on and she listens intently, making a comment here and there about what she knows about marine phycology which isn't much. She informs him about the building she's been told to design and he congratulates her on that. Eventually, their waiter, Carlos, comes back and asks if they're ready for the bill, in which they respond with an affirmative yes.

"We should get our picture taken while we wait," Percy suggests, looking out at the sunset that had turns from light pastel colors to deep, dark oranges and pinks.

"For your aesthetic Instagram?" Annabeth teases, smiling in amusement.

She knows dam well that demigods aren't typically supposed to have phones, but the older they grow, the more their scent becomes less detectable. And as bad as it sounds, the monsters will typically go for the younger demigods since their scent is fresh, unlike Percy and Annabeth's whose scents have dimmed over the years. So, just like all their friends, they had all gotten phone over the past few years after making sure it was completely sure (and Leo still installed a special chip that wouldn't allow monsters to track them) it was safe. After getting their phones, they had all downloaded apps since they're still part human, which included Instagram and let's just say... Percy kind of got carried away but gained many followers; demigods from camp, kids he went to high school with, and his college classmates which included his old roommate, and also just random people.

"Oh shut up," Percy says, turning to face her. "It's not like you don't post on Instagram."

Annabeth presses her lips together. It's true, she does post on Instagram, but not as much as Percy does. Their friends tend to make fun of both of them for it, since they both seem to use the same filters for each post, making their accounts very aesthetic, but Piper says she loves it, though she can't judge since she does the same.

"That's what I thought," Percy jokes.

This time, it's Annabeth's turn to say, "Oh shut up."

Percy laughs and stands, offering her his hand and she takes it nonetheless and follows him to the railing, that keeps people from falling twenty feet above the ground, the with fairy lights wrapped around each thin pole. She sits back as he kindly asks a woman a few years older than them if she'd mind taking their picture and she instantly agrees, recognizing them as the couple who are celebrating their one year wedding anniversary, and Annabeth's cheeks flush.

"You're in luck," the woman says as she takes Percy's phone he hands to her. "I'm actually a photographer, and photos on a phone sometimes come out better than with a camera."

"Seriously?" Annabeth smiles, because it's just their fortunate luck.

The woman nods. "I'll take a few so you two can do a few poses."

Annabeth wraps her arms around Percy's middle, locking her fingers on the other side, and she leans her head on Percy's shoulder as one of his arms wrap around her waist while the other just hands loosely at his side, and the woman quickly snaps the picture when they smile. They take a couple more pictures, one with their foreheads pressed together and eyes closed, another with their eyes opened, they take one with Percy kissing her forehead, and the last one is of them kissing. They separate, thank the lady, and head back to their table once Percy grabs his phone and scrolls through the pictures.

"They're really good. Put a few filters over them and they'll be perfect," he says once they're sitting back down at the table, staring down at his phone.

"You're obsessed with posting pictures," Annabeth tells him, taking the last sip of her water.

Percy hands her the phone. "Maybe, but you're in half of them."

"I'm flattered," she mutters as she scrolls through the pictures of herself, nodding before she hands the phone back. "They are pretty good. Maybe I'll even post one."

"Who's obsessed now?" Percy teases and she gives him a look, though she knows he's kind of true because yes, she does post a lot because she likes being noticed. "Okay, sorry, but what picture are you posting, because then I'll not post that one."

Annabeth thinks about it for a minute. "The forehead touch one, because you got to post our wedding forehead touch picture."

Percy laughs. "Okay." He pockets his phone when Carlos places the bill on the table and he slips his credit card in there before Carlos heads back inside with it.

They talk for the remaining few minutes of their dinner before Carlos comes back at gives Percy his card, letting them know they can either leave by going back into the restaurant or down the stairs of the balcony to the right, and they decided with the balcony's stairs since it leads them straight to the beach. They hold hands as she go down the steps and when they reach the beach, Annabeth slips her shoes off, letting them hang from her fingers as her coat hangs in the crook of her elbow, and she declines when Percy offers to carry it all, even though he's already carrying his own shoes he'd taken off when she hadn't been looking.

Annabeth's kicking the warm sand with her feet when Percy lets her hand go just to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, and she wraps her arm around his middle, leaning into him as they near the water.

"Have I mentioned how good you look today?" she asks him as they're walking along the shore, the small waves reaching up to tickle the bottoms of their feet.

"Hm, nope," Percy says, squeezing her waist.

"Well, you look very handsome," Annabeth says as she moves to stand in front of him, reaching up on her tiptoes so their lips were merely centimeters apart, and Percy sets his free hand on her hip to steady her as she begins to lose balance. She leans forward and kisses him, her free hand coming to rest against his shoulder, and he tugs her closer with the hand against her hips, though they pull away seconds later when background music trickles into their ears.

Percy looks at something over her head. "The dancing and music was closer than I thought."

Spinning around, Annabeth sees what he's talking about. A little ways down the beach a small band was set up near the cement stairs that lead up to a popular beach outlet mall (her and Percy had gone there a few times and it was nice, good food and clothes), and in the sand people of all ages are dancing to the music. "You want to go right now?"

"I actually wanted to go on the boardwalk if that's okay with you?" He slips his hand into hers when she nods and leads her to the wooden boardwalk on the beach that brings them right out into the ocean, little tiki bars sitting out to the sides, held up by wooden poles in the water. They walk out to the end of the boardwalk and sit down, allowing their feet to dip into the cool salt water.

She leans her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath of the salty air, relaxing against her husband. "It almost feels like we're back at Camp out here."

He presses a kiss to her hair. "You really miss New York, huh?"

"Mhm," she hums, opening her eyes, watching as the setting sun casts a warm glow upon the sparkling blue water.

"Well, I have good news for you," Percy says and she furrows her brows as she sits back up, no longer leaning against him, and she watches as he pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and hands it to her saying, "Happy Anniversary."

Annabeth takes the paper, her gaze never leaving his. "What?"

"Just unfold it." He nudges her.

"Okay...," she replies, a bit unsure, and looks down as she unfolds the piece of paper. It's blank so she flips it around and reads through the words and her grey eyes widen as she realizes it's four tickets to Manhattan. Her hand cups her mouth as she feels her eyes water with unshed tears of happiness. "Oh my gods!"

Percy laughs. "I've been doing some extra work at the cafe. We leave next weekend."

"Oh my gods," she mutters and flings herself at her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you, so much, Percy."

"You're welcome." Burying his face in her neck, he returns the hug, and rubs her back affectionately. He pulls away second later and swiftly wipes a tear of joy off her cheek and stands back up, offering her his hand. She accepts it and he helps her to her feet, grabbing her shoes and coat off the doc and handing them to her.

"You're the best," she compliments as they're back on the beach, walking toward the music and dancing, her hand tightly intertwined with his. "You got us tickets to and from Manhattan and I didn't even think to get you a gift. I must be a terrible wide, huh?" she asks, but she's smiling so hopefully she knows she's joking and not serious in the slightest bit.

He bumps her with his shoulder teasingly. "Terrible."

She scoffs. "That's not what you're supposed to say."

"Fine." Percy rolls his eyes. "You're not a terrible wife because you agreed to help me with my essay later tonight."

Annabeth hums. "Better."

"And she's the greatest wife anyone could ever ask for and I'm so lucky," he says and when she raises an eyebrow, he continues, "she's so beautiful and smart and the superior person in this relationship because I'm just a seaweed brain and I love her so much."

"Amazing." She kisses his cheek.

Percy pretends to wipe sweat off his forehead, huffing, and Annabeth laughs, punching his arm as they neared the music. The drop the shoes and coats off on the bottom step so they don't get full of sand, then (trusting the band members won't let anyone run off with their things) head into the throng of dancing people, though they stay a bit off to the side. Percy wraps his arms around her waist as hers go around his neck and they sway to the soft tune.

"I love you too," she mumbles into his neck, her head resting against his shoulder. She steps a bit closer so they're flush up against each other, closing her eyes as she feels Percy's head come down to rest on top of hers. "And Happy Anniversary to you too."

He hums against her hair before kissing the top of her head, one of his arms removing itself from around her waist so he could bury his fingers in her curls, practically cupping the back of her head, but she doesn't mind. She feels him pull her impossibly closer when one of the band members starts singing an unrecognizable song but his voice is good so she doesn't care, and she shifts her head around so she can watch other people dance. Most of them are older, she realizes and her cheeks flush, but some are around her age which calms her nerves a bit, but she still smiles nonetheless and goes back to burying her face in his neck, breathing in his ocean scent that's so intoxicating she feels her eyelids grow heavy.

They stay like that for a few more minutes until Percy wordlessly steps away and Annabeth smiles as he grabs her hand, lifting her arm above her head, and spins her around. He pulls her to him, her back against his chest, and wraps both her arms and his around her waist, swaying back and forth, and Annabeth leans her head back on his shoulder, smiling as she closes her eyes and feels Percy's soft, warm lips against her temple.

She spins her self back around so they're facing each other and stands on her tiptoes to kiss him, their lips fitting together perfectly, and she tips her head up as he tips his downward to deepen the kiss. Pulling away, they rest their foreheads together, eyes still closed, and Percy slides his hands down her waist to her hips. "I love you," she whispers.

"I love you, too," Percy mutters.

Their eyes open simultaneously and they smile.

"I feel like I can't tell you that enough," Annabeth tells him in all honesty as his eyes bore into hers softly, and she caresses his sun kissed cheeks with her thumbs.

"Me too," Percy agrees then hugs her again and she's back to practically falling asleep against him.

They sway to the rhythm of the guitars, drums, and piano's beats for who knows how much longer. All they know is that they're together and that's all that matters. Is what has always matters. They're lost in each other's presence, enjoying the warm air, the salty breeze, and the warmth of the others bodies.

When they do finally stop dancing, Annabeth opens her eyes and realizes the sun had gone down completely and the moon was shining bright in the darkened sky. Her eyes are wide in surprise, and she blushes when Percy comments on how her eyes sparkle in the moonlight and her hair seems to glow an odd shade of silver, and she pushes him near the stairs so they can grab their belongings. After checking their coat pockets for their phones and confirming they're still there, they put their shoes on, and head up the stairs to level ground.

Insisting on being a gentlemen, Percy helps Annabeth slip her coat on when goosebumps appear on her arms, and her cheeks color for the thousandth time that day, though she doesn't care since it's too dark to notice. They hold hands as they walk along the many stores of the outlet mall, though they resist on going inside any of them since they're ready to just go home, having enough fun for one night. As they pass the restaurant they'd eaten at hours before, they share yet another laugh about the announcement of their anniversary to complete strangers.

"Who were those people who congratulated you?" Percy asks.

"Oh, they're from my geometry class at UC Berkeley," Annabeth informs him, moving closer to him as some man on a bike zoomed passed them, not caring to say excuse me or sorry when the tires almost rolled over her toes.

"Did they know-?"

Annabeth bites her lip. "I don't know...maybe? It's not like I go around holding up a sign saying I'm married to Percy Jackson or anything, but-"

"You should," he says.

She ignores him. "But I do wear my rings so maybe they did know. Besides, I don't think I've ever really talked to them, maybe a couple times for like homework or a project. I don't really know them very well so-" she shrugs. "-why tell them?"

"Good point," Percy says, grabbing her by the elbow to keep her from walking distractedly into the street before looking between the roads. Once he knows it's safe, he lets her arm go and she continues to walks across the street beside him. "Nice that they stopped to congratulate you and all that, though."

"Well, that's just being polite, Percy," Annabeth says.

Percy laughs. "I'm just saying."

Silence follows and they walk along the sidewalk in the dark, the street lights providing a orange glow, their shadows having an odd blue tint on the sidewalk. Their intertwined hands sway between them, and Annabeth laughs as Percy starts humming 'Under the Sea' from the Little Mermaid, and when it starts to get annoying he only stops when she shoves him. Percy opens the door to their apartment building and she walks inside, nodding a hello to the security guard then walking up the stairs with Percy in tow. As they get to their floor, they cough when the familiar smell of weed seeps into the hallway from underneath their neighbor's door.

"How has he not gotten kicked out yet?" Annabeth asks, waving a hand in front of her as if that will get rid of the disgusting smell as Percy unlocks the door to their apartment, pushing it open and walking inside, and she follows. "I mean, there's literally a security guard downstairs."

Percy shrugs and grabs her coat when she shrugs it off, hanging it up beside his but he grabs her phone out of the pocket before and hands it to her. "I don't know. Maybe they just don't care," he says, his eyes taking on a darker tint as he turns the lights on in the living room, and she understands the meaning behind his words. His ex-stepfather, smelly Gabe, had most likely done the same thing, especially with all his beer, and not to mention his abusive nature toward both Sally and Percy.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes and follows him down the hallway and into their room where he began changing his clothes. Opening her dresser drawers, Annabeth pulls out a pair of black sporty shorts and a blue hoodie she'd found in the back of her dresser back when she had still lived with Percy and his family during high school. Thankfully it still fit her because it was no doubt her absolute favorite sweatshirt.

"It's okay." Percy sent her a smile from across the room. "I shouldn't have gotten mad like that."

"No, it's okay." She expertly unzipped her dress and exchanged it for her shorts and hoodie, sighing in comfort once she was fully dressed. "It's completely understandable." Throwing her hair up in a messy bun, Annabeth walked over to their bed where Percy was sitting on the edge of it, clad in a white T-shirt and blue plaid sweatpants, and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

Smiling, he stood. "Now will you help me with my essay?"

"I'll try my best," she laughs and follows him back into the hallway, shutting off their bedroom light on her way out. As Percy gets situated in the living room, Annabeth fills up two glasses of ice water and grabs the plate of blue chocolate cookies (Sally had sent her the recipe) she had whipped up the night prior, and brings them into the living room. She smiles at the sight of Percy sitting on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table, laptop on his lip, soft music playing on the TV (he claims it helps him think), and she sets the waters and cookies down on the coffee table, then plops herself down beside him. "Okay, what do you need help with?"

Percy doesn't take his eyes off the screen as he tells her, "The second paragraph. It sounded good when I was writing it, but now that I'm reading it over, it just sounds really repetitive, like I used to much of the same word."

Annabeth hums and holds her hands out and he places the laptop in her hands and she places it on her lap, setting her feet beside his, making sure she's far enough away from the cookies. She squints at the screen as she tries her best to read through the paragraph, the words swimming around making a small headache erupt in her forehead, but she ignores it and keeps going, and she starts to understand what Percy means. She leans back against the couch and points at the few of the words as she explains, "You're overusing conjunctions and your sentences are really long. So, instead of using 'and' for this-" she points at the sentence she's talking about. "- I think you could just separate the pairs into two different sentences."

"Oh, okay." He grabs the computer and fixes it. "Better?"

She reads through it. "Sounds better, yes. So just go through that paragraph and if you think there's a sentence that could be separated instead of using 'but', 'or', and 'and', then separate them." Her nose scrunches up in distaste. "Did you hear what I just said? 'and and'? I didn't like that."

Laughing, Percy's eyes travel through the words, his finger tips pressing into the keyboard when necessary, deleting and adding. Soon, he hands the laptop back to her, announcing he's "done" and she quickly read through it, well, as quickly as she can read through it with dyslexia.

"Okay, good, but I think you spelled psychology wrong here." Annabeth points to it and Percy rests his head on her shoulder so he can see it clearly, his warm breath hitting against her skin in soft puffs. "It's p-s-h-y.. no, wait. P-h-y... schist. Um.. P-s-y. You know what?" She leans forward and grabs her phone off the coffee table, unlocking it and tapping on the google icon, clicking the microphone and saying, "Psychology." She read the word. "It's p-s-y-c-h-o-l-o-g-y."

Percy laughs again and grabs the laptop, gaze flickering between her phone and laptop so he spells it write. He then went through his whole essay, fixing all his spelling and grammar mistakes, and soon, he just needs to finish up the last paragraph then email it to his professor.

"Where's your phone?" Annabeth asks as he's typing away.

"Uh, the coffee table?" He says, eyes not lifting from the bright screen.

She moves her feet and finds it just laying there behind his own feet so she leans forward and grabs it, quickly unlocking it so she can send the pictures to herself. Once that's done, she sets the phone back down and logs onto Instagram on her own phone, downloading the picture of her and Percy with their foreheads pressed together, eyes closed, with the sunset behind them, and puts a few filters onto it. She then writes "props to the random lady who happened to be a photographer who took this" onto the description then adds, "but happy one year anniversary, Seaweed Brain. I love you. @Persea." Then she hits post, waiting for it to show up on her account before she shuts her phone off.

"I'm done," Percy announces, "but can you read through it?"

"Yeah." She takes the laptop from him and reads through the paragraph, fixing the random errors herself while Percy does something on his phone, most likely posting a photo, and the ding coming from her phone is confirmation. She fixes the last mistake which was a missing comma and hands it back to him. "Good job."

"Thanks." He grabs the laptop and signs his name on the paper and starts emailing his professor.

Annabeth grabs her phone and sure enough, Percy tagged her in a post. She unlocks her phone and taps the Instagram icon, letting it load before going to her notification and clicking on Percy's account. She smiles as she clicks the most recent post and is surprised to find he posted more than one photo, due to the four dots below the post. She slides through them. He posted the one with her arms wrapped around him, the one where he kissed her forehead, and the one with them kissing. Her eyes travel down to the description and her grin widens as she reads it: "Thank you random woman who just so happened to be a photographer! Happy one year anniversary, Wise Girl. I love you so much. @annabethchasejackson" She likes the post before turning her phone off and snuggling into Percy.

"You're sure cheesy."

"You like it."

"Mm, yeah, I do."

I hope you guys liked it! I'm sorry if any parts sounded sloppy, I've been working on this one for a couple days now, so I could have written it early in the morning or super late at night which is not my time for writing, so I apologize for that. Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed this one and I'm hoping on the next one being up sometime tomorrow or this weekend! I'm happy to say I'm getting back into Percabeth! My Mileven depression is curing which makes me happy and sad at the same time because I know I won't be as motivated to write for them, but I'm still gonna try to update their one shot book regularly too!

(I don't know why Percabeth having Instagram accounts and posting about each other makes me feel so happy and warm inside. I don't know. But I really like it so that's a new head canon of mine that ya'll will be seeing in upcoming chapters. Just you wait.)