'Till Death : PercyxLeo Fanfic PJO

Chapter 1

"Hey, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth ruffled Percy's hair as she sat down.

"Mornin', Wise Girl," he replied, grabbing the syrup. Piper, Leo, and Jason took a seat at their table, too.

Annabeth sighed at him with a look of faint annoyance. "Are you seriously drowning your pancakes in syrup? They're asphyxiating!"

Percy just laughed. "They're better with more sugar. You'd know that if you actually ate anything sweet." Shaking her head, she went back to her eggs and bacon, and he refocused as well. But when Percy bit into the pancake, rather than being wildly sweet, it tasted like Hephaestus' toes. Except drenched in syrup.

The blob of blue pancake splattered on the plate."Ew!" Downing the entire glass of blue soda didn't help the taste stop lingering. "Ugh... Disgusting. I'm gonna puke." When the glass was once again brimming with soda, he struggled to wash down the taste. Annabeth wasn't helping.

"Gotcha! I got the cooks to put chillies in all the blue pancakes!" As she said this, a waiter spirit hurried over.

"Wait, you wanted us to add... chillies?"

At Annabeth's slow, reluctant nod, he grew more frantic. "You specifically told us to add Phlegethon water!" She cringed visibly.

"Well, yes, I wanted it to be spicy, but chillies are a reasonable..." When she trailed off, he examined the lingering taste of spice and battery acid and, to his shock, it was familiar.

"Did you really..." No way she actually... But her head hung in that telling way of hers.

"I'm really sorry, Percy. I didn't think they'd add so much, or that..."

"That what? That I'd notice? That you would hurt my feelings? Gods, I'm actually gonna puke..."

Jason looked at Annabeth. "Come on, I know you wanted to prank him but that was going way too far."

"For once, I agree with Jason," Leo added. "I know it was just a 'prank', but..."

But sometimes, pranks go too far. Sometimes, they bring back memories from bad, bad times.

Piper nodded, and said exactly what he was thinking. "Sometimes pranks go too far. Tartarus was bad, Annabeth. You were drinking liquid fire, fighting off monsters, and nearly dying. And you decided to bring back those fond, fond memories? That's really insensitive."

Clarisse saw the commotion and wandered over. "What's going on here?" Piper quietly filled her in while the waiter continued chewing Annabeth out.

"Where'd you even get the liquid fire?" Annabeth mumbled, her voice barely heard.

The waiter shook his head. "Do not try to make this about us! We know where the springs come up in the mortal world and you paid us a hefty price to get that water and stick it in those pancakes. You also didn't tell us it was for the multiple-time savior of the world." His very words made Percy tremble.

"You actually paid for that vile stuff to be shipped here?"

She bit her lip hard. "April fools?" He glared at her. Bit late for that.

Clarisse practically bit her head off. "One, it's midsummer. Two, what the hell!? This is no joke. For the moment, so-called wise idiot, please kindly eff off. As put so nicely by several books I'm sure you've read, your stench offends."

Clarisse. Had she really done something so bad that Clarisse, of all people, was chastising her? But Percy looked at her like she was his savior, and at Annabeth like the scourge of the Underworld.