Author's notes: Written for the PJO Holiday Exchange on Livejournal this year. Light mature content, but nothing too bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Sense and Sexuality

Being sexy was really hard, Annabeth decided as she surveyed her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She sent an acidic glare at particularly stubborn chunk of hair that just wouldn't curl, huffed, and then reached for her curling iron to try just one more time.

She'd spent the last two hours locked up in this tiny room, taking great care to go through every step of the excessive beauty regime Rachel and Piper had shown her a few days ago, and so far, it was paying off. She certainly looked sexy, at least according to the beauty industry's standards. Her eyebrows were plucked, legs and underarms shaved, lips full, red and pouty, and eyes shaded in dark and mysterious colors. If only her damn hair would curl the right way!

There was a knock at the door and Annabeth swore, almost dropping her curling iron in surprise.

"Are you almost done in there, Wise Girl?" Percy asked. She could hear the exasperation dripping from every word. "You never take this long to get ready."

"Just five more minutes!" Annabeth called, shaking the curling iron loose and letting her hair fall into place. Perfect, at last.

Percy sighed loudly. "Five minutes. I'm timing you."

"Okay," she replied, turning to inspect the back of her head to make sure she hadn't missed any spots.

She knew her tardiness was annoying Percy, but to be fair, he was the one who had shown up twenty minutes earlier than agreed upon for their date. Percy was under the impression they were going out to dinner for their anniversary, but if things went according to Annabeth's plan, they wouldn't be leaving the apartment at all.

Tonight Annabeth Chase was determined to lose her virginity once and for all.

Really, this momentous event in her womanhood should have happened ages ago. If she'd had a normal relationship with her boyfriend – one where he wasn't kidnapped or got his memory erased or both of them didn't have to go on quests to save the world every six months – her virginity would've been long gone. But here she was, nineteen and with her V-card firmly in hand three years into a very solid and committed relationship.

She didn't blame Percy for wanting to go slow. He had regained most of his memories, but in the early months, there'd be days where he'd look at her and it was clear he had no idea who she was. Those days … they had been tough on both of them, and throwing sex into the mix probably would have made it ten times worse.

Those days were behind them though, and Annabeth was ready for a new chapter in their relationship.

"One more minute, or I'm coming in there."

"Almost ready!" Annabeth called, touching up her lipstick and tossing the tube into her make-up bag. She reached for the heels sitting on the toilet and, pausing quickly to whisper a prayer to whatever god would make sure she didn't fall flat on her face when she walked, put them on the floor and slipped them on.

She glanced in the mirror one last time, adjusting the areas that needed it, and took a deep breath. She could do this. Getting her boyfriend to ravish her could not be more complicated than executing attack plan Omega in a phalanx formation.

Could it?

She shook her head, reaching for the door handle. Confidence was key, Rachel had said, and confidence was something Annabeth had in abundance. Although why she was taking direction from a virgin Oracle who'd never ever had a boyfriend and liked to give advice taken from Cosmo just to mess with her, she didn't know.

Holding her breath, she swung the door open and leaned against the door frame, all smooth and sensuous like she practiced the night before. Percy was fiddling with his tie, an intense look of concentration on his face, and he didn't look up until she cleared her throat pointedly.

"Finally. I don't know why girls take … "

He trailed off as he got a look at her. His eyebrows knotted together, a sure sign of confusion, and Annabeth's stomach dropped down to her pointed heels. This was not going to go as planned.

"... you're not wearing clothes. Why are you not wearing clothes?"

"I thought that'd be clear," Annabeth said, trying to disguise the quaver in her voice. Standing in front of your boyfriend in nothing but a pair of heels was quite a bit more nerve wracking than facing down one of Gaia's giants, especially since said boyfriend didn't seem to like the fact that she was stark naked.

"Um," Percy protested, apparently not at all phased by her nakedness. Or turned on, apparently. "I thought we were going out to eat?"

Annabeth wrapped a finger around a curl and spun it around, just like Rachel had told her to do. She hoped she didn't get it tangled in there. "I thought we could do something else instead? Something more... intimate?"

"But I got us reservations."

Yeah, this definitely wasn't going the way she wanted it to. According to Rachel (and iCosmo/i, which was apparently full of useless bullshit), Percy should've pushed her up against the bathroom door and making out with her already. Why was he staring at her like he'd never seen her before?

Annabeth realized she had two options: she could blush like a maniac, slink back into the bathroom and ruin her make-up from frustrated tears, and make Percy feel like a jerk, therefore ruining the rest of the night. Or... or she could just imake/i him realize what she wanted.

"Screw the reservations," she said in a most unAnnabeth-like tone. She strode over to him, threaded her hands in the hair at the back of his neck, and pulled him into sultry, wanton kiss. At least she thought that was how those sorts of kisses were supposed to be described – the romance novels she'd borrowed from the library had all used the description.

If seeing her naked body hadn't gotten quite the reaction she wanted from him, feeling it pressed against him certainly did. Percy's hands snaked behind her, running up her bare back and Annabeth moaned into his mouth, causing a shudder to run through his body.

"I want you," she murmured, pulling away and glancing up at him through her lashes. "And by 'want you,' I mean have sex with you. Preferably on the bed, but anywhere else would be fine and I could keep the heels on too – "

"Annabeth," Percy interrupted with a laugh, and she blushed. Crap, she had ruined the illusion of sexy by rambling! She was doomed. "I get the point now."

"Well, I wanted to be sure! I came out naked and you certainly didn't get that hint! Sometimes your brain is so full of kelp – "

Percy interrupted her again, this time with a searing kiss that literally made her knees buckle. Good thing his broad hands settled on her ass and lifted her up; she wrapped her legs around his waist and di immortales, she could feel him, hot and hard through his jeans.

"Doesn't mean I don't want you. You surprised me," he husked, kissing down her jaw, the stubble on his chin rubbing against her neck and making her tremble. He walked backward toward the bed, all thoughts of dinner and reservations finally forgotten, thank the gods. "I'll make it up to you, promise."

And he so did.