The Jackson/Blofis Home

Living Quarters

Chapter 2! How do you like the story so far? This next one is Percy centric at the start, before it changes back to Annabeth.

There was no way Percy was leaving Annabeth alone, at her school, for Christmas. And he wasn't going to let her freeze to death walking there either. Before his mum could even suggest it (which he knew she would) he ran after her.

He caught up to her in the lobby, calling out her name to get her attention. "Wait, Annabeth! You can't go outside, you'll freeze! It's Christmas and there is no way my Wise Girl is spending it alone. You can stay with us, I'm serious when I say it's no problem."

"But it is, Percy. This is your first Christmas with Sally and Paul together. You're supposed to spend it as a family. I'd just ruin it," she said, looking down at the carpet. One part of Percy's mind noticed that she looked so darn cute when she did that. The other, more sensible side, knew he should be focussed on getting her to stay.

"Annabeth, you are part of the family. And you need to get used to Christmas with us anyways, one day you'll be with us every year. Why not start now?" He knew he was taking it a bit far. He always felt like he was scaring Annabeth with his big plans for the future. Maybe he should have just stayed quiet. She looked up at him, her expression unreadable. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you-"

"No, Percy, that was really sweet. I was just thinking about it. I don't have any clothes or anything with me and I'm not sure how Sally will feel having her son's girlfriend stay over. The guest room is her office at the moment and she won't let us share your bed for that long..."

"Don't even worry about it, Annabeth, we'll figure it out. Together, like we always do. So, what do you say?"

She sighed, looking at him. "I'm in."
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"And that was when I realised I had no idea what I was doing."

"It took you that long?" Paul asked, leaning forward on his hand. Percy had been talking about one of his fight stories from the summer, explaining his 'battle plans' to his step-father whilst they sat at the kitchen table. Paul looked over at Annabeth for confirmation and she nodded solemnly. Sometimes Percy could be very... obtuse.

"Percy tends to just go with the flow, and then leaves me to come and save him from danger," she joked, poking her boyfriend in the side.

"Hey!" he protested, poking her back in response. "Most of the the time it works."

"Maybe, but what if I wasn't there? What would you do then?"

"I would-I could just-maybe... I don't know!" he exclaimed. "It's not like that's ever going to happen anyways. I wouldn't let it." Sally grinned at her son, obviously proud of him. Annabeth, on the other hand, blushed. She really wasn't good at showing affection around Percy's parents. It just felt so... awkward.

They finished of their dinner, laughing at Percy's stories and occasionally a few from Sally. Annabeth liked those the most. They were always about Percy when he was little and Annabeth loved hearing about them. She loved how normal and silly they were, the complete opposite of her own childhood stories.

Come to think of it, Annabeth didn't really have much of a childhood.

Her father was barely at home, and it wasn't like her step-mother was giving her long lasting happy memories. A lot of Annabeth's best memories were the ones she shared with Percy (from when they weren't on quests or at war, of course).

Annabeth and Percy volunteered to do the dishes together, so they cleared the table and placed the dishes beside the sink. Percy would wash the dishes and Annabeth would dry them. After a few minutes of this, Annabeth felt something wet hit her arm. Her eyes flew over to the sink to find Percy flicking water at her. "Hey!" She exclaimed.

He chuckled in response. "What are you going to do about it?"

She knew exactly what she was going to do about it. She turned the tap on and pulled it out (it was one of the sinks that had a retractable tap). She pointed it at him, making him recoil in shock, spluttering in the water.

His shirt was soaked (as was part of the floor) but he still laughed. "You're on, Wisegirl!" Percy came back at her, taking the hose from her and spraying her back. She screamed, turning the tap off behind her. Percy ran over to her, tickling her sides.

She laughed uncontrollably, begging him to stop. He eventually did, claiming his win and going back to washing the dishes. It would normally be pretty quick for Percy to do the dishes, since he could use his powers. But for some unknown reason he was cleaning them by hand. "Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, Wisegirl?"

"Why aren't you using your powers to clean them? I know that's how you always do it."

He smirked, stopping the dishes and turning to face her properly before speaking. "If I used my powers, we would have been done ten minutes ago. I like spending time with you, talking and joking around together. Even if it is just washing the dishes, it's an excuse to be with you without my parents watching."

Apparently, he had noticed how awkward she felt around his parents. Annabeth smiled happily with his statement, reaching to pick up a saucepan to dry. "I like spending time with you too, Seaweed Brain." She placed the saucepan away in the cupboard, before noticing Percy hadn't started doing the dishes again. "What?" She asked, confused.

He gave her a look. The one that usually said, 'I have a plan and I have no idea if it's going to work and it could make you really mad but I'm going to do it anyways'. She got that look a lot.

Suddenly, he grabbed her face in his hands and placed his lips on hers. Annabeth was shocked for a second, but eased into it and kissed him back. Their lips moved in sync, and he tasted like fresh mint. After a minute or so, Percy went to move away. He knew his boundaries, and Annabeth didn't often kiss him for more than a minute.

Today, she was feeling brave. She smashed her lips back onto his, making him raise an eyebrow. He wasn't mad though, quite the opposite. The kiss was more passionate than the gentle ones they usually shared (the ones Sally and Paul often saw) so Annabeth was glad the kitchen and living room were separated by a door.

Percy pulled away, breathing heavily. He leaned back on the island counter, his eyes reaching up to meet hers. "Well that was a nice surprise," he remarked, smirking at her. "I always knew you couldn't keep you hands off me-"

She interrupted him by flicking him the the tea towel she was using to dry the dishes. He yelped, jumping back. "Wash the dishes!" She ordered, going back to drying like nothing ever happened. He laughed, mumbling something under his breath.

So far, Annabeth was having a great time at the Jackson home. ________________________________________________________________
That night, around 11pm, Annabeth snuck from the guest room (where Sally had cleared enough room for her to sleep) and knocked on Percy's door gently. She had had a nightmare, and didn't want to be alone in the dark night. A disheveled Percy appeared at the door, wearing only pyjama pants. Annabeth blushed a little, grateful for the darkness that concealed her red cheeks. She tried her very best not the stare at his toned abs.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, his voice husky with sleep. "What's wrong?"

"I couldn't sleep." She stated, looking up at him venerably. He nodded, yawning. He grabbed her hand without another word and lead her over to the bed, tucking her under the blanket with him.

She fell asleep in his arms, not a worry left on her mind.