When We Were 'Us'

Squished Cupcakes- Percy POV

Freddie met us at the door to the garage, twisting his engagement ring.

"Well?"

I paused, glancing at Rachel. She grinned and grabbed my hand.

Freddie's expression lit up. "Fantastic! They said yes everyone!"

A cheer went up from the front of the Big House, startling both of us a little. Freddie motioned for us to follow him as he walked around to the open area in front of the building.

It seemed like the whole camp was there, excitedly talking to each other. As Rachel and I stepped into view, another cheer went up. 

"It's like a surprise party!" She laughed, grinning.

I glanced at Freddie. "How's CJ been?"

He chuckled, shrugging. "Look for yourself."

I peered through the crowd to see CJ arm in arm with a girl from one of the smaller cabins. She looked vaguely familiar, but in the way most Camp Half-Blood campers were. He saw me and waved, and I returned the gesture.

"They're very excited that you got your way, you should go see what they've got planned."

Piper burst to the front of the group as Freddie walked off. She grinned at the two of us and threw her arms out.

"C'mon, losers, come see what we put together!"

"How sweet, Pipes, glad you think of us in such gentle ways." I rolled my eyes, grinning. Piper waved me off and took Rachel's hand to pull both of us along. We made our way through the crowd, getting congratulations on all sides.

The pavilion had been decorated meticulously, blue and green streamers hanging from everything. Rachel gasped, excitedly telling Piper that she'd had a strange dream about those two colors swirling around her.

I was a little more interested in the figure I could see at the other end of the pavilion.

Chiron smiled at me as I walked across the space, sitting in his wheelchair. "It truly is nice to see something going your way, Percy."

"It is, actually. And from the gods themselves for once."

"Though I hear it wasn't easy to come by." Chiron sighed.

"It wasn't." Annabeth walked into the pavilion. Without another word, she grabbed something from the table piled high with food and walked out. 

Chiron sighed softly. "Poor girl. The two of you have been through a lot together, it can't have been easy to do that."

I crossed my arms, shrugging. "It was easy for her to cheat on me instead of talking it out first."

"Percy-"

"I'm sorry, Chiron, I know it's probably upsetting for you to see us like this but that's not something I can let go. I'm thankful that she helped Rachel and I, and I told her that already, but the way she broke my trust really hurt and I'm not going to apologize for being angry about it."

"You don't need to." Chiron said gently.

"Comet, c'mere."

I looked over at Rachel, smiling a little. She was balancing a cupcake on her head while Piper laughed. 

I drew some punch from the bowl on the other end of the table and used it to lift the cupcake off of Rachel's head. She protested loudly, then yelled as I spun the cupcake end over end and dropped it frosting first on her face.

"Oh you are dead Jackson!"

Rachel grabbed most of the cupcake off of her face and hurled it at my head. I grinned and ducked, but that meant that when she tried to tackle me I could get out of the way.

She ended up clinging to me as I stood in the middle of the pavilion, trying not to laugh.

With a loud huff, Rachel got off of me and turned away. She was met with Piper standing in front of her, a borderline malicious smirk on her face.

Rachel slowly took the cupcake that was offered to her by the daughter of Aphrodite, and I suddenly felt a wave of worry slam over me.

"Stay there, Jackson."

The charmspeak was reasonably strong, enough to keep me glued in place for a few moments, and that was all Rachel needed.

She spun around and smashed the cupcake on my face, laughing.

"Good hit."

Rachel grinned at Freddie. "Why thank you!"

"And Haley, your face looks great in blue." Freddie smirked, crossing his arms.

"Yours will too when I'm done with you, c'mere-"

Rachel wrapped her arms around my waist and kissed my cheek. "Aww leave him alone."

I looked at her, raising an eyebrow, then swiped a finger-ful of frosting off my face and smushed between her eyes.

"Percy!"