Making Plans

The sun peaks over the hillside at Camp Halfblood, hitting the Big House with a splash of light. Annabeth adjusts her sketchbook accordingly, basking in the warmth of the sun. She turns back to her sketch, fully intent on the task at hand. She doesn't look up again until she hears the soft thud of a coffee cup on the railing of the deck and feels warm arms snake around her waist.

"Where's the pool going to go?" Percy whispers in her ear, his voice still husky from sleep.

She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and leans back against the familiar body of her Seaweed Brained beau. "What makes you think this house gets a pool?" She turns to face him, her cheek grazing the stubble covering Percy's chin.

"Well, the fact that this picture is labeled Percy and Annabeth's House is a pretty clear indicator to me." He shrugs, tracing over the words with his finger.

She chuckles to herself, turning back to her rough sketch. "Here," she says, indicating the blank expanse of paper she hadn't reached yet. "The dining area will be along this wall here, which will be solidly windows with a sliding glass door, and it will lead out to a deck adjoining a saltwater pool."

Without a word, he turns her around and kisses her, his slightly whiskery upper lip tickling her face. His lips taste like orange juice and the ocean. "You're perfect, you know that, right?" He tells her as she loops her arms around his neck. She starts to play with his hair, noting how long it's getting.

"Careful, Jackson," she cautions, "you're feeding my pride."

"It's all your fault," he says, his fingers dancing on the small expanse of exposed skin at her waist. "If I weren't so loyal to the ones I love, then we wouldn't even be in this mess." His laugh rumbles deep in his chest and she knows that he's only teasing her.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Seaweed Brain," she whispers against his lips, watching the sunlight play off of the ring on fourth finger of her left hand. He kisses her again, catching her bottom lip between his teeth and tugging at it ever so slightly, his hands now planted firmly on her waist under her tank top.

"And in two months, you won't have a choice," Percy tells her after they break from the kiss. She falls against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. He complies, enfolding her in his strong arms.

She places a kiss on his bare chest. "Yes, I rather like the sound of it. 'Mrs. Annabeth Chase-Jackson,' hyphenated, of course."

He lets go of her. "Hyphenated? Since when did you decide that?" The look on his face is nothing short of dumbfounded.

"Piper and I have been talking about it for weeks," she tells him, picking up the cup of coffee he had brought her. "You get a pool, I get a hyphen."

"Those are not equal things, Annabeth," Percy argues, clearly put-out by the whole situation. "When were you planning on telling me?"

She shrugs. "The day of the wedding? I don't know, Percy. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal." She grabs her sketchpad and pencils and heads inside the house to drop off her things before heading down to the Mess Hall, where the others are finally coming around for breakfast.

"The day of?!" Percy follows her, his voice rising. "How—What—Agh!"

The bickering continues for the entire walk from the Big House to the Mess Hall, Percy protesting, and Annabeth defending.

Jason Grace, ever the lover of trouble, looks up from his cereal as the couple enters the pavilion. "What is wrong with you?"

Percy turns to see Jason sitting next to his girlfriend Piper McLean, who shares a smile with Annabeth as she pours herself a bowl of cereal. "You!"

"'Me!' what, Percy?" Piper counters, grabbing and apple from the dish on the table.

Percy sighs, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "Annabeth wants to hyphenate her name after we get married. You must have used your Charmspeak to convince her!"

The other couple laughs as Percy goes into full panic mode.

"What is so funny about this?" Percy demands irritably. The water in the pitcher on the table began to quiver slightly.

Annabeth sets her coffee cup on the table and wraps her arms around her fiancé. "You just can't take a joke, can you?"

"A joke? Annabeth!" Percy glares at the blonde in his arms. "That's not very funny, my dear fiancée."

She just smiles at him, her gray eyes full of mirth. Then, before she realizes it, he scoops her up, bridal style, and is running out of the Mess Hall and toward the beach. "Perseus Jackson, you put me down right now!"

"You just can't take a joke, can you?" He repeats, a wicked smile on his face as he throws her into the ocean.

"Oh, you're in for it now, Seaweed Brain," she yells at him as she emerges from the water, soaking wet. She runs at him and tackles him, pinning him to the wet sand. She straddles his waist, her hands forcing his wrists to the ground.

"Now this is something I could get used to," Percy says without missing a beat, causing Annabeth to blush crimson. He takes advantage of her stunned moment to flip them over. The tide washes up around them.

"You're horrible, Percy," she tells him, a smile on her face nonetheless.

"But you still love me," he says, lowering his body to hers, placing a salty kiss on her lips.

She laughs in spite of herself, reaching up to pull the boy with the messy black hair closer to her. "As long as we're together."