Percy awoke with a start, bolting upright in bed. Beside him, Annabeth groaned.

No, she wasn't supposed to be sleeping in Cabin Three, but Mr. D didn't know about it and none of her half siblings would dare snitch. Besides, both Percy and Annabeth slept better with the other by their side. It helped with the nightmares, but didn't eliminate them.

"You alright?" Annabeth asked in a groggy voice.

Percy gasped for air desperately and tried to calm his trembling hands. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you, Annie."

She smiled at the nickname and pulled him back down on the bed. Percy gratefully curled into her warmth and squeezed his eyes shut while Annabeth ran her fingers through his hair soothingly.

"Drowning again?"

"Yeah."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Ok."

Silence over took them for a moment, before Percy piped up again. "Just distract me, please."

Annabeth shifted and said, "Want me to read to you?"

Percy smiled against her and nodded. She sat up and propped pillows up behind them. It was comforting, though it felt a little childish, for Percy to be read to. Nostalgic even.

Annabeth grabbed her book off the glass nightstand. The table shone in the moonlight, gently illuminating the shells inside the surface.

Flicking on a light, Annabeth began to read.

"Mr. and Mrs. um," she paused, "Dur- Dursley?" Annabeth said, almost in question. As if Percy could correct her.

Shrugging and smiling bashfully, Annabeth continued, "Off, sorry of, number four, Private- I mean Privet- Drive, were proud to say that they were- gods of Olympus, what does that say? -Perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

"Annie-" Percy cringed at himself. It was so hard to remember that she was dyslexic too. She seemed too smart for that. Maybe it was stereotypical of him to think that, but it was true. "You don't have to. I'm fine. It's fine."

Annabeth humphed. Her eyebrows scrunched in concentration. "No, I've got this. I can read. I'm not stupid."

"That's not what I meant-" Percy tried to correct himself, but the damage was done. His stubborn girlfriend would not give up.

"They were the last people you'd expect to be, erm, evolved involved in anything strange or my... me..." Annabeth silently beat herself. She wasn't a kindergarten. Why couldn't she figure out one stupid word? Greek made so much more sense. Those letters stayed in place unlike the ones dancing before her on the page. "Mysterious! Because they just didn't hold, wait what? Oh, no, that's right. With such nonsense."

Two sentences done. Annabeth looked to Percy with a triumphant grin that he weakly returned.

"Annabeth, really. It's alright. You don't have to be the best at everything," Percy started, putting his hand up as she tried to interrupt him. "You're perfect. To me anyway. I love you, but don't torture yourself."

He left off the "or me" though he tacked it on in his brain.

"I just," Annabeth sighed, "I don't know. I just want to be..."

Everything you deserve? A better girlfriend? The best? Perfect?

None of them sounded right in Annabeth's mind. She let her words end there.

Percy scooted closer to her, if that was possible, and brushed his thumb over her cheeks turning her to face him. "Hey. It's ok. There's other ways of distracting me, y’know."

He smirked and closed his eyes, moving in to kiss her. Annabeth turned her head just as Percy's lips made contact with her cheek. Not his intended target.

"I saw something about green overlays helping, but I haven't had a chance to get one. It's supposed to reduce visual stress or something? I don't know. Maybe I should-"

Percy shut her up by nailing her on the lips. Annabeth was stiff for a moment, but took very little convincing to melt into the kiss. Her hands found his hair and disappeared within it while Percy pulled her body onto his. He'd happily suffocate and drown if it was in her kiss.

They broke apart, gasping for air, and Percy moved to kissing her cheek, neck, and collarbone. When they kissed, Percy knew nothing, but her. He didn't hear the footsteps or Annabeth's frantically whispered warnings. He didn't pay any attention to her reaching across him and scrambling for something on the table. He didn't even notice that someone had walked in until their guest shouted his arrival.

"Percy! Brother!"

A black haired head popped out of the sheets faster than one could say, "Zues."

Tyson smirked and winked- blinked? -at Percy. "You kiss a lot when you dream."

Percy's face turned as red as a harpy's wings.

"It's alright, brother!" Tyson laughed heartily. "I won't tell your Annabeth." He tried to wink again. "Bro code."

Percy glanced beside him in confusion. Annabeth had vanished. So had her Yankies cap. Tyson thought Percy had been making out with her in his dreams, but had ended up making out with a pillow. Lovely. Clearing his throat, he awkwardly stuttered, "Uh, bro code? Wha- what's that?"

Tyson sat down on his bunk, clearly pleased to know something that Percy did not.

"Your friend teached me when I saw him sneaking into the pretty cabin. He had lots of shampoo." He put a hand beside his mouth and cast a glance side ways as if sharing top secret information. "But it was not just shampoo. There was dye in it."

Tyson burst into a fit of giggles and Percy felt Annabeth's invisible form squirming out of bed as quietly as possible. Suddenly, Tyson's face fell.

"Oh no," the cyclops buried his face in his hands. "I broke bro code."

"What the heck is bro code?" Percy asked in exasperation.

In perfect imitation of Connor Stole, Tyson said, "What happens between the bros, stays between the bros."

"Oh." Percy managed. "Thanks."

"But it did not stay between the bros!" Tyson wailed. "I am not a good bro!"

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "Tys, it's alright! I'm your bro! It stayed between the bros, don't worry about it."

The Cyclops sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

"O- oh, you're right!" His goofy grin returned and he started to say something else, but was cut off by high-pitched screaming that undoubtedly came from Aphrodite's cabin.

Percy and Tyson exchanged a glance.

"Uhhhh..." Percy said. "I don't want to be caught in the middle of that mess. I'm going for a swim!"

Percy slipped out the back door, ran across the dock, and dove into the sea. The cold water sent a shock through his system that would've woken up his entire body if he weren't already awake. Almost like unmuting the TV only to find out that the volume was all the way up.

Immediately, he was hounded by schools of fish and a cacophony of "Lord!"

Percy smiled at the sea creatures, but spared them no time for chatting. His mind wandered back to Annabeth, as it often did, and her heartbroken expression when Percy had told her she didn't have to keep reading. He never wanted to see it again, certainly not because of him.

Propelling himself forward by bending the currents to his will, Percy scoured the sea floors, picking up the biggest and smoothest pieces of sea glass he could find.

Green films were good for reading, he recalled and the dark green glass would probably work just as well. Annabeth wanted so badly to be able to read better and Percy wanted so badly to give her the world. For now, he'd just give her the glass.

A tiny pebble caught his eye. It was smooth and gray with flecks of blue, green, and amber. Unextraordinary, but too pretty to be left where no one would see it. Percy was no rock collector, but he was willing to make an exception. He slipped it into his pocket and swam to shore.

"Annabeth!" Percy's face broke into a grin when he saw his girlfriend sitting on the beach.

She looked up from the sand where she'd been drawing a replica of the colloseum in the tiny granules. "Hey."

Percy, who'd allowed only his hair to get wet, plopped down at her side and shook his head like a dog. Annabeth put her hands up and punched him in the arm, but laughed.

"I don't know if it will work, but I found these for you," Percy began, pulling the shards from his pocket. "I guess you can slide it over the words to make a filter or something, I don't really know."

"Oh my gods, Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed. Her gray eyes flicked from the sea glass to Percy and back again. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "That's so thoughtful of you, thank you!"

Percy grinned and hugged her back. "Tyson can probably do some forgery to put them together and smooth 'em out so it's more like a bookmark. He owes me that."

Annabeth blushed. "I don't think that word means what you think it does."

"Which one?"

"Forgery."

Percy's dark eyebrows knitted together. He shrugged and threw his hands up in defeat. "Whatever."

Annabeth just shook her head, but found it obnoxiously endearing.

"What's this?" She asked, holding up the little gray pebble that had fallen from his pocket when he'd been getting out the sea glass. Her fingers flicked over the smooth surface.

"Oh, nothing. Just a rock I thought was pretty." Percy's face reddened and he looked away.

"Why?" Annabeth studied him, amusement painted over her features.

"Why what?"

"What makes it pretty?"

He shrugged again. "Reminded me of your eyes."

Annabeth jutted her bottom lip out. "Aww! Percy, that's so adorable!"

"But it's mine," he said quickly and snatched the pebble up.

She kissed him on the cheek. "Luckily for me, I already have something the color of your eyes."

She held a shard of sea glass up beside Percy's face. "Perfect."

"Just like you," he said.

"Perseus Jackson! When did you become such a romantic?"

He shrugged and put his arms around Annabeth's waist. Percy pressed his forehead to hers. "When I met you."

Their lips connected.