Happy New Year! Or well, Happy New Year's Eve. I hope you guys enjoyed the last installment! Because here's the next one! I loved doing this... I'm actually thinking about continuing it... Maybe start another story and have this one serve as a prequel. Idk. We'll see. Anyways... here's the final part of A Fairytale in New York.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Percy Jackson and the Olympians... Obviously since I am in no way, shape, or form Rick Riordan.

~New Years Eve~

Percy wasn't really one for going out on New Years. Especially being in New York. There were crowds everywhere and he was more of a homebody. Besides, he never really had anyone to go out with. All of his friends had dates to whatever party there was and he was always left as the odd man out. However, since Christmas Eve, he and Annabeth had kept in touch, texting each other every once in a while. Though, they haven't seen each other in person since. In fact, that night was the first time they'd be seeing each other since Christmas Eve. They were going to go to a local bar, Ambrosia, with their friends for a couple of drinks and to watch the ball drop on television. Annabeth was coming over so they could carpool.

Just as he tied the laces on his sneakers, his intercom buzzed. He clicked the call button. "Yeah?"

"It's me," was the voice on the other end. Percy immediately recognized it as Annabeth's. He smiled.

"Come on up!" He buzzed her in and finished looking his appearance over in the mirror. He wasn't normally one to really care about his outfit; he hated people who only cared about their appearance. But, he found himself wanting to impress Annabeth. Even though they'd only talked to each other through text messages, he found that they had enough in common to get a long but were different enough that there would always be surprises. Talking to her through text messages, he was able to focus on learning about Annabeth the person and not the blonde bombshell that made him want to forget about his mother's lesson on being respectful to women. Just before he got lost in thought about the grey-eyed blonde, a knock on his door brought him back to Earth. With a smile on his face, he opened the door to reveal said girl, her outfit concealed by the large dark grey coat that buried her frame, but accented her eyes. "Hey," he greeted, unsure if he should hug her or leave it at a friendly welcome.

"Hey," she greeted back.

"Did you want to come in for a bit or head out now?"

"It's still early, we can stay in for a while," Annabeth said. "Besides, I need to defrost for a bit. It's freezing out there." Percy gestured for her to enter his apartment and took her coat after closing the door behind them.

"Yeah… Welcome to the Big Apple," he said with a smirk as he hung her coat on the coat rack. He watched as she walked further into his apartment, into the living room. "Did you… uh… want something to drink? Tea? Water?"

"Tea is fine, thanks," she replied, never taking her eyes off the pictures he had on the shelf. Percy went into the kitchen and put a mug of water into the microwave and set the timer for two minutes. Setting aside a tea bag of earl grey, Percy went back into the living room. "Where was this taken?" Annabeth asked, pointing to a picture of him and his parents standing on a beach.

"Montauk. It was summer. I was five." He could feel a sad smile on his features. "It was the last summer with my dad." He picked up the frame and ran his thumb over his father's face.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked, pure curiosity in her tone.

"He was a sailor. One of his voyages took him down to Florida. While he was out, there was a storm. His ship capsized. No one was found."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. My mom found Paul eventually and I got a little brother in Tyson," Percy said putting back the picture and picking up another frame that held a picture of his eighteen-year old self, carrying a small bundle, with a huge smile on his face. "I was so excited to be a big brother." Percy looked at Annabeth as she looked at him. Their eyes locked, both of them frozen, unable to move. Percy felt himself lean forward, closing the distance between them. Annabeth was moving forward as well, meeting him halfway. Just as their lips touched, a loud beep in the kitchen caused them to jump apart. "Uh… Your tea… Right," Percy stuttered, stumbling slightly as he made his way back into the kitchen. Preparing the mug, Percy brought it back into the living room where Annabeth was sitting on the couch. He handed it to her and took a seat next to her.

It was really weird. When they were just texting, it was really easy for them to talk about anything. Now that they were face to face, starting any sort of conversation was a difficult task. "Thank you for the tea," Annabeth said, taking a sip of her tea, breaking the silence.

"No problem." Percy cleared his throat. "So… This is your first New Year's Eve celebration in New York." Annabeth nodded.

"It is. But I'm not really one for large crowds."

"Don't worry. I'm not either. We're meeting up with everyone at a local bar. Since most of the city will be in Times Square, it shouldn't be too crowded."

"Great. I think it'd be nice to be around friends to kick off a new year. Back in San Francisco, New Year's Eve was a relatively quiet affair. My family, some friends, we'd have some drinks and then watch the ball drop on TV," Annabeth reminisced.

"Well, it'll only be slightly louder here in New York." A beat. "In the bar. Times Square is a zoo." Annabeth laughed. Percy smiled, glad that he was the cause of the melodious sound. He eyed the clock on the wall; it was nearing ten o'clock. "We should probably head out, beat the rush."

"Good idea." They both stood and gathered their coats, leaving the apartment building down to the lot where Percy's car was parked.

•-•

When they arrived at the bar, Percy was pleased to see that he was right and that it wasn't crowded at all. A couple of booths and tables were filled and there were a number of taken seats at the bar. "It doesn't seem like anyone's here yet, let's grab a booth." They went over to the back of the room and sat in the largest booth, one that would surely fit their whole group. He took Annabeth's coat from her and laid it with his in the small area above their seats before joining her. "Did you want something to drink?" he asked.

"Just a glass of wine for now." Percy raised his arm, signaling to a waitress.

"Hey, Percy. What can I get for you?" she asked.

"Hey, Katie," Percy greeted with a kind smile. "Just the usual draft for me and glass of red."

"Did you want some food with that?"

"Some fried green tomatoes and fried mozzarella."

"Comin' right up. I'll go ahead and start a tab for you." Percy smiled and handed her his card.

"Thanks. And… the only people authorized to add to it are me and Annabeth here." Katie gave a knowing smirk.

"Alright," she replied, taking the card from him. "I'll be back with your drinks."

"Thanks." Percy smiled once more before turning to Annabeth. "What?" he asked in response to the look Annabeth was giving him.

"You come here often?" she asked. Percy chuckled.

"Oh, yeah," he joked. "I come here to drown all my sorrows all the time." Annabeth laughed and playfully smacked his chest. Percy smiled, enjoying how easy it was to make the beautiful girl beside him laugh. "No, I don't come here often, but my mother has been friends with the owner since they were kids and I've known Katie since middle school."

"Ahh… I see." Katie came by and handed Percy his beer mug and Annabeth's glass of wine. Annabeth took a sip. "So… Only you and I can add to your tab?"

"Yup. I don't trust the boys with my card and I have a feeling you're not the kind of person to take advantage of an innocent bystander." Annabeth laughed again.

"Now, I wouldn't go so far as to call you innocent."

Percy gasped in mock offense. "Maybe I should take back your access to my tab." Annabeth played along.

"What? No! Please! I'm sorry! I take it back!" They both broke down in laughter.

Once they calmed down, Percy pretended to be thoughtful. "I guess." Annabeth smacked his arm playfully again. "Alright! Alright! I rescind the order."

"Good." Annabeth leaned into him and Percy instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulders, loving the way her body fit perfectly into his. Even with the low murmur of the crowd around them, it was as though he and Annabeth were in their own little world, happily waiting for the New Year to come, ready to spend it together. They weren't official yet, but Percy couldn't wait until it was. All he had to do was gather up the courage to ask. There was also the little complication with Annabeth having just broken up with her boyfriend and was probably not looking for another relationship. It didn't matter to Percy, he would take what he could get for now and keep an eye out for the signals. For now, he would enjoy the bubble that they were currently in. Unfortunately, their bubble was broken by the five other couples who'd just arrived. Percy and Annabeth didn't even notice their presence until a flash shocked them back to reality. "What the..?"

Thalia lowered the Polaroid camera, pulling out the film, waiting for it to develop. "Perfect," she said.

"You don't even know what it looks like, Thals,"Annabeth argued.

"Yes I do. I took the picture." Luke, her boyfriend, who had just flown in from Connecticut a few days before after spending Christmas with his family, rolled his eyes.

"Show them the pic, Thals," he said. Thalia pulled out her sharpie pen, wrote something on the bottom, flipped it over, wrote something on the back, and handed it to them. Percy looked at the photo and smiled. Annabeth was leaning into him with his arm wrapped around her. Both of them had their eyes closed and the most contented smiles on their face. The caption Thalia had written simply said, 'Percy + Annabeth' followed by a small heart. He flipped it over and saw that the date, 12-31-2019, was scribbled into the top-left corner.

"Thalia," Annabeth gasped. "I love this."

"See?" she said smugly. "Perfect." The other four couples watched the exchange excitedly, happy that Percy had finally found someone to make him happy. Jason stepped forward.

"Alright!" he cheered. "First round is on me!" He signaled to Katie who shot him a thumbs up. The ten other people squeezed into the large booth, fitting perfectly. Thalia took the spot beside Annabeth, followed by Luke, Will (Nico's boyfriend), Nico, Hazel, and Frank. Jason slid in next to Percy followed by Piper, Leo, and Calypso. A tray of shots was placed on the table in front of them, followed by Percy and Annabeth's food.

"Hey! Awesome! Food!" Leo exclaimed, reaching for a fried mozzarella stick. Percy reached over and slapped the friend's hand.

"Uh-uh. That's for me and Annabeth. You want food? You order it," he said, picking up the plates and placing them in front of himself and Annabeth.

"Fine." Leo signaled to Katie. "Can I get an order of the fried mozzarella?" He leaned in close and said in a lowered voice, "go ahead and add it to the Jackson tab."

"I'm sorry sir, that tab is restricted. If you want, I can go ahead and start a new one for you," was Katie's reply. Leo went bug-eyed and looked over at Percy, who only lifted his beer and took a drink with a satisfied smile. Annabeth laughed. Leo grumbled before handing over his own credit card. Jason picked up a shot glass and everyone followed.

"To a great New Year with friends and family," he toasted.

"Cheers," everyone replied before downing their shots and following them up with chasers.

"Another round," Jason called, the spirits high in their group.

•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•

It was nearing midnight and Annabeth was glad she was still sober. Granted, she had a nice buzz going on, but it was something a tall glass of water could fix. She looked over to the man sitting on her left and smiled as she watched him laugh at something Leo had said. It was then that she realized it: she loved Percy Jackson. After only knowing him for a little over a week, she'd fallen head over heels for the man. It was like something out of a movie or some fairytale book. It'd taken her nearly a year before she finally said 'I love you' to Ethan but if Percy said it to her tonight, she would definitely be saying it back. She thought it'd be a while for her to move on from Ethan and not be completely traumatized with having another relationship, but getting to know Percy, he'd gotten her to forget all of the pain and hurt that Ethan had caused.

Another flash brought her out of her thoughts and to her best friend who was hiding behind her Polaroid. She'd been taking pictures all night, documenting the good times they'd been having. She pulled the picture from the slot and wrote her caption with the sharpie pen along with the date on the back. 'When you just know,' was all the caption said. Annabeth looked at the now developed photo and she could clearly see the love in her eyes as she looked at Percy. It was definitely one of her favorite pictures. Thalia gave Annabeth a smile before stowing the picture away in her purse along with all of the other ones. Annabeth had asked her earlier that night what she was planning on doing with all of them and all her best friend said was that she'd be scanning them before putting them in a scrapbook, which Annabeth was okay with, as long as she had a copy of the pictures of her and Percy.

"Hey guys," Will said, interrupting all of the separate conversations going on in the group. "The ball's about to drop." Sure enough, everyone in the bar was standing, their attention on the large projected image of New Year's Rockin' Eve on the wall as the ball dropped and the countdown reached twenty seconds. The group climbed out of their booth and stood with the crowd, Percy and Annabeth stood more toward the back, away from everyone, but still able to see the screen.

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.

Annabeth looked over at Percy just as he looked over at her. Their eyes connected.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

"Happy New Year!" Everyone shouted, cheering and whooping. Couples all kissed and everyone was wishing each other a Happy New Year.

"Happy New Year," Percy said just loud enough that Annabeth could hear.

"Happy New Year," she replied. They both leaned forward until their lips touched, moving in sync with one another. The kiss was gentle, soft and full of promise of a bright future together. They didn't even notice the bright flash, 'True Love's Kiss,' nor the one right after they pulled apart, smiling at each other, 'Happily Ever After.'

Annabeth couldn't help but think that meeting Percy, getting to know him, and falling in love with him really was her own personal fairytale. One that she never thought she'd see coming. The thought almost made her laugh: A Fairytale in New York. No one would believe it, but it happened. And, she hoped that this one did end in a Happily Ever After.

And there you have it! I'm glad we got to do this. I don't know when the next time I'll be posting but I hope my gift to y'all will suffice until then.

Let me know if I should do a full story following this storyline.

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