Pairing: Percy/Annabeth
Category: Percy Jackson & The Olympians
Rating: PG-13 [For swearing]
Summary: Rick Riordan never mentioned Annabeth's birthday. I knew. Oh, I checked, trust me. Five books, a thousand something pages and a million and one words? Oh, I checked. (Small edits made, August 2, 2010).

Another Story

What a cheesy ending.

And through five books, a thousand something pages and a million and one words that I had to torture myself through ... not one page mentioned Annabeth's birthday. The series was honestly totally and completely about me, me, me, a bit about Nico, me, a little bit about Annabeth, and then me. Oh, and don't forget Luke. How could we ever forget Luke.

I hate that guy.

I know he helped me save the world and stuff, and he's a hero and blah, but I need someone to hate right now and I have no soft spot for Luke so he will be the guy I hate.

Or maybe I should hate Grover because he started this whole issue.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Ew. Dirty. Wincing, I got up and finished my cup of coffee. It's Saturday but Annabeth, being a perfect little darling Athena-child, has this volunteer thing to feed homeless people on 53rd Avenue. I don't know if that street's even real.

I cricked my neck a little bit, waiting for the crack before getting up and stretching completely. I didn't bother cleaning up the cup of coffee I'd just used and abandoned the mug and my series on the dining table. Let Annabeth find them and scold me. I need a shower.

After stepping in and taking a shower, I walked into the bedroom to get out some clothes with a towel wrapped around my waist. While I looked through my drawer, I heard the front door open. Oh, Annabeth's done being Superwoman.

"Percy? Are you home?" I heard her call.

"I'm in my room," I called back, "Oh! Don't come in! I'm changing!" I quickly added. I heard her laugh softly from a safe distance.

"Don't worry, Seaweed Brain. I'm in the kitchen. I'll get lunch ready, alright?" Such an Annabeth. She gets really motherly sometimes and it's weird to me, but hey. You learn to adapt right? I threw some jeans on (October calls for jeans, not shorts) and slipped on a simple t-shirt before walking to the kitchen while rubbing my head with the towel.

"Why don't you just command yourself to be dry like you always do after a shower?" Annabeth asked, looking up from the food she was making next to the stove. She didn't live in this apartment (yet) but after an hour of spending time in the kitchen with my mom, she knew every inch of this house. She could have passed as part of the family. Which she kind of is, says my mother.

"Oh, yeah." I muttered and willed my hair to dry itself. I shook my head, similarly to a dog, making sure that no drops of water were left. I'm sure my cheeks were splotched with a slight splatter of red. It's not usually like me to forget about my powers. Annabeth smirked at me and rolled her eyes. Then she gasped lightly. I almost didn't hear it.

"Oh, I have to get something." She wiped her hands on the kitchen towel that hung by the entrance to the kitchen before walking to the dining room where she always drops her bag on the table after getting home from somewhere. I looked at the towel in my hands and realized I didn't really need it anymore. Sighing, (I'm being such a depressed person right now...) I walked back into my room, into the bathroom, and hung the towel.

Then Annabeth called my name.

I walked back outside and into the dining room. She had her back towards me and I couldn't see what was in her hands.

"What is it?" I craned my neck to see whatever she could be holding. Please let it be tickets to the basketball game. Please, please, please. I need something happy right now.

"What are all of these doing out here?" Annabeth whipped around with the copies of The Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse in her hand. Ahh, shit. Forgot about those.

"Um... I was... um..." I stumbled over my words, something I was really skilled at, "Look, there's a perfectly good reason why they're all out on the table."

"And what could that reason be? I thought you said you weren't interested in these! You even said that you were a little creeped out." Okay, she had a point. I was creeped out at first. But I needed the research!

"The research to what?" Annabeth asked. Oh, damn, did I just say that out loud?

"Um... nothing. Nothing. At least... nothing important." I think I need to practice speaking a little smoother. Is it just me or am I being painfully obvious about hiding something?

"Percy. You're obviously hiding something." Oh, it's not just me, then. "I know you better than you know yourself." Unfortunately, I think that's true. "What's up? Oh. No way." Annabeth looked like she just discovered my darkest and most embarrassing secret in the world (and the funniest thing for her) and hopped onto the table.

"Were you looking yourself up and priding yourself about your successes in these books? I mean, I know they really happened and I know Rick Riordan got every single moment correct, but, isn't that a little too cocky and self-centered, even for you?" Annabeth leaned forward and smirked as she teased me. I glared at her.

"I am never, ever, going to be a cocky asshole. I promised you that, didn't I? I'll always be a Seaweed Brain." I walked away from her, making sure that I didn't look back. Trust Annabeth to make me feel a little less than smart. Flopping myself onto the couch near the table, I sighed with the couch. Aw, jeez, I need to lose weight, this thing just exhaled ten extra seconds than I did.

"Percy?" Annabeth frowned at my mood. I'm sorry, okay! Boy PMS!

I sighed before beginning my explanation, "I was just ... trying to find out when your birthday was. With everything we'd gone through in camp, there was never enough time ... to ask. Or I'd forget to ask or just when I'd remember to ask, then a quest would come up or you were somewhere else. And I just... need to know." I sighed.

Okay. Why the hell is Annabeth smiling at me? This isn't funny!

"What?" This girl has the most horrible timing! "Do I look worried again? Are my eyes scrunched up and 'cute' again?" I asked sarcastically. Annabeth laughed to herself. I rolled my eyes and leaned back in the couch.

"So, when's your birthday?" Annabeth flinched. Oh. Come. On. More bad news?

"It's today..." she whispered. For a moment, my Heart completely stopped moving but then I saw what could only be the ghost of a smirk on her face and scoffed. I willed Heart to start beating again and knocked my shoulder against Annabeth's.

"No, it's not."

"Okay, fine. It's June 9," she answered.

"Six-nine? Sixty-nine?" I asked, still incredulous. Annabeth snorted, apparently finding the innuendo appropriate for the situation, which it was NOT. The little lying pervert.

"Annabeth, honestly. I need to know!" I think my voice was a little too loud for 12:30 in the afternoon but this was not funny.

"Okay, Percy, calm down!" She smiled and brushed a strand of hair away from my face.

"It's December 25," she said quietly. I narrowed my eyes.

"Okay, if this is another joke, I swear, I'm storming out of this place-"

"No. This is real. My dad said it was the best Christmas of his life. Just ... getting a daughter. He told me once that he really wanted a daughter and that Christmas, he got the best present in the world." She sighed, and had a faraway look on her face. I called it the Remembering Face. "I don't know if I believe that though." I glanced at her sideways. Something was misplaced here. Her story felt wrong. Her position looked wrong. The way she was telling the story... made it not believable. The look in her eyes was all wrong.

"You lie," I said, frowning at her. Annabeth's eyes snapped to me.

"What? Percy, no, I'm telling the truth." I scoffed.

"Liar. You have your Remembering Face on. I know you. Your Remembering Face is only when you think about Luke, Camp, and those days when you were a runaway. When you think about your Father and his side of your family, then you have your Do-I-Really-Have-To-Do-This? Face and you always, always have a little frown on your face." I flicked her temple lightly to indicate the truth. Annabeth's mouth dropped into a little 'o' signifying that she was definitely shocked. And I think I just revealed how much time I spent scrutinizing her face.

"Did you just reveal how much time you spent looking at my face?" she asked. Maybe. I grimaced but shook it off, standing up.

"Forget it. You know what, Annabeth, if you don't want to tell me, then don't. But I will find out one way or another because this is, by far, the stupidest problem I have ever had to face."

"Percy, it's just a birthday. Why is this so important to you?"

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"It's my birthday, my business, it's not even that important to me, so why is it so important to you?" I think she's angry now. She stood up, probably to make herself look more threatening (psh, I laugh in your face, Annabeth) but years of growing gave me about a thirteen inch advantage over her.

"Because!" I threw my hands up to emphasize the evident problem. For a daughter of Athena, she was being a tad slow right now. "Because it's your birthday, Annabeth! Right now, that makes it the most important thing to know! Do you know how useless and frustrated I felt when I realized I didn't even know? I want to be good to you, Annabeth. I want to treat you like royalty and give you flowers every day and those chocolate covered strawberries you like so much every Friday while we watch reruns of Alias or Friends or the newest episode of Bones 'til the sun rises." Annabeth suddenly looked scared because of my outburst but I couldn't stop now. That would just make things awkward.

"And when it's Valentines Day, I want to take you to Paris, to the Eiffel Tower or the Big Ben in England, or the Colosseum in Rome, or the Parthenon in Greece and make it special for us. For you." Breathe, Percy.

"And when it's Christmas, I want to give you the best damn books and everything you'd want and maybe even something stupid that you're just going to throw away anyway, but I wanna give it to you. And dammit, Annabeth, I need to know your birthday because when the day comes, I want to serve you breakfast in bed after you wake up." That's cute, Perce.

"I want to hear you laugh about how I burnt some of your food and later, I want to spend the rest of the day with you at Tulley's © where I'll ask Ralph to close it for the day just so we could be together alone." I took another breath. Ranting's proving to be pretty difficult for me. I don't think thoughts have travelled this fast in my head before. "If I'm going to be your boyfriend, if I'm going to be your somebody-to-love, I want to be perfect or at least the closest to perfect for you, because that's what you deserve. I want to give you that and knowing the day you were born might just bring me closer to that." I inhaled slowly, realizing just how much I'd unveiled about how in love I was with my girlfriend.

Let me just make sure everyone knows that we're still in our first years of college. Both nineteen years old. Well, at least I am. I don't know if she is, 'cause I don't know when her damn birthday is. Annabeth was planning to live in the university's dorm, but I was planning to ask her to just live with me. I mean, her university's just a ten minute drive away from here, and mine is just fifteen.

But yeah. I love her. I love Annabeth Chase.

And I don't even remember when I found out. Just one afternoon, I'd passed out from fighting monsters a little too much for the day and my invulnerability got the best of me. When I woke up, she was nursing me back to health and she was just... there. But being there was all I'd ever needed in someone. I know it was kind of a process where at twelve years old, I started feeling strange tingly things throughout my body and then at fourteen, some creepy redhead girl started stalking me and then at sixteen, Annabeth and I finally got together. But through all of that, I think I fell in love.

Ahh, what am I saying? Annabeth's talking to me right now.

"Percy?" Her voice was wavering. I think my speech made her tear up a little bit. Who am I kidding? I'm tearing up a little bit, too. Gods, I'm starting to believe that there is such thing as Boy PMS. Maybe I'm gonna get my period next week.

"Percy? Did you hear me? November 14. That's my birthday. Check my ID, call my Dad, ask whoever you want. November 14." She leaned in and cupped my face in her hands. I think my heart just stopped for a while there before it started again. Dammit, Heart, you better keep working or I'll never be able to do all the things I just said I wanted to do.

"You know, Seaweed Brain? You can be such a sap sometimes." She was seriously crying right now, but the red that rimmed her eyes made her look a little bit more than gorgeous, "And it makes things harder for me to keep up this Wise-Girl equilibrium."

What?

"But you'll always be my sap. And you're already perfect for me. You don't need to be anything or anybody else. You don't need to do anything. Even if everything you just said you wanted to do sounded really nice." She took a deep breath and looked away, apparently a little bit moved and exhilarated at the idea of such luxuries.

"But I want to." I sound like a little kid. A cute little kid who whines about wanting to do stuff. Annabeth actually smiled at me as if I was one. She thinks I'm cute. Score!

"I know you do." Annabeth released my face and brushed away her tears before chuckling and looking at me. I rubbed the back of my neck (that's it?) and began to pile up the books Master Riordan wrote for me. She began to walk past me towards the kitchen but turned around.

"Wait. Here," she said. I turned my face towards her just in time to catch the kiss she gave me. (Ahh, so that's not it. There's more!) The kiss was sweet and fervent and promising and everything I prayed I'd get in the coming years. I clutched her waist, hoping that I wouldn't melt or collapse under the energy of the kiss. I thought girls were supposed to be the ones whose knees bent from kisses or who melted into puddles or whatever. Not the guys or the sons of Poseidon. Jeez, this was embarrassing. She released with the soft smack of the sound of our lips separating. Where the hell did she learn to do that?

"C'mon. Lunch is getting cold." She smiled softly and let go of me before I could say or do anything and walked back into the kitchen to finish up whatever she was making. Inside my chest, Heart was vibrating like there was no tomorrow and I don't know whether the vibrating was for finding out Annabeth's birthday or that insane kiss she just gave me. Or maybe it was both. I willed Heart to die down a little and to calm down. This was way too much coronary action for a guy at my age. I'm going to die before my thirties.

Still a little shaken from the wrath of Annabeth Chase, I admit, I stuffed the five books back into their proper places in the bookshelf before realizing that November was just a little less than a month away. Aw, damn, what do I get her?

Then I remembered. Now I have to figure out a way to actually do all those things I just said I wanted to do.

Crap.

And ahh, finally, a story written in less than a week! That's usually an accomplishment for me. ^^ The first person point of view was so fun for me to write and I'm glad to be sharing it with everyone! This fic was just sauntering around in my mind after wondering when the bloody hell Annabeth's real birthday was. Don't ask why I chose November 14 as her birthday in this fic, it was really random, she seems like a End-of-Fall, Beginning-of-Winter kind of person so please don't kill me if Rick Riordan releases the date of her birthday during an interview about "The Lost Hero." Which was, by the way, fabulous! The best part was when a certain guy (who had the tattoo of a rainbow on his bicep) said, "Her boyfriend. Percy Jackson."

And of course, who is he talking about? Anna-banana-Beth! o.O Yeps.

Anyway, just to clarify, Grover asked Percy what he was getting for Annabeth's birthday, Percy freaked out and blew up on Grover, who ran away immediately. Percy and Annabeth are both in their first years of college, Annabeth is turning nineteen, Percy is already nineteen and a few years back, Nico discovered the series while he was in Borders and thought it was hilarious so he bought all five books for Percy. He's in high school at the moment. And … I think that's it. No sequels to this story, I think. Unless I'm feeling creative. ^^

So thanks for reading, I'd appreciate some reviews, suggestions, comments, blah, blah, blah, anything! Am I a First-Person POV writer or not? ^^ Things like that. Whatever you say, though, may the gods be with you. =p

~blue