Percy Jackson one shots

Once Again with the Feeling

As soon as she steps foot into the magnificent lobby, teeming with bright lights and kids looking around in wonder, she's being applauded. Smiling, cruise ship employees greet her and tell her to have fun. She feels like a celebrity.

;;

The thing is, Annabeth didn't want to go on the cruise.

For one, she's embarrassingly fearful of the ocean. Secondly, she has a strong aversion to people who never stop smiling. And thirdly, her dad had proclaimed that they needed a 'father-daughter getaway' where they could 'bond and remove some of the distance that had accumulated between them.' So, naturally, her dad drags her onto a Disney cruise-where everyone is constantly smiling. Annabeth almost feels sick. It's not that she spites them, really. (But she does.)

Annabeth is generally a happy person, she's just not all that excitable. So, sure, she doesn't jump up and down and screech in joy when she opens gifts at Christmastime, but that doesn't mean she doesn't like them. Smiles don't gauge a person's happiness in the same way tears don't gauge a person's sadness. Annabeth just wishes she could get more people to understand that.

It takes fifteen minutes to find their way to their room. Annabeth yanks her suitcase through the door, partially annoyed due to the fact that her dad is placing and answering numerous phone calls before they leave the country. She checks her bag again for her ID and her passport, just to make sure, and promptly pulls the sliding door that opens to their small balcony.

The glass effectively cuts off the sound of her father's voice. It's not that Annabeth hates him, but she does hate the fact that he's near constantly buried knee deep in work. The sound of the water lapping up against the sides of the enormous ship seems to quiet everything in her mind, though. She leans over the side to stare down at the concrete dock, then looks to her left and her right and-oh.

There's a boy a few balconies down from her who's leaning dangerously on the edge just as she is. She watches him look down at the water with a smile as he presses his hair against his face to keep it from flying in all directions. His hair is black and knotted horribly with slight waves, if Annabeth's eyes don't deceive her, and he has to be around her age. She can't see his eyes from this angle, but his jawline is defined and his shoulders slouch forward.

She watches as he shakes his head, as if laughing at the water. A second person joins him, a woman obscured from Annabeth's full view. She takes it as her cue to stop staring and make her way back inside the cabin.

Her dad is just hanging up the phone, and she clenches her jaw as he immediately begins keying a new number in. "Hey, Dad. I'm going to go find some coffee. Or tea, maybe. You want anything?"

"Hm? Yes, yes, that's fine," her father says, pressing the phone to his ear.

"So, coffee or tea? Something to eat?" Annabeth questions, her heart sinking slightly.

"Sure, sweetheart," he chirps with a tight smile.

"Right," she mutters, tapping her fingernails against the nearest surface. "Bye." It's a futile attempt, because her dad is already letting out a charming laugh and schmoozing whoever is on the other line.

Annabeth leaves the cabin with her key in the back pocket and ten dollars, if she remembers correctly. She asks someone in a pressed polo and a name tag with the Disney emblem where she can find a decent coffee. They send her on her way to a cafe two floors up, and Annabeth feels herself relaxing. She thinks it's ironic that she's more tense around her family than she is around complete and total strangers giving her glazed over smiles.

She buys herself a coffee. It has too much sugar, which is the general feel of her Disney cruise ship. Too many smiles, too many bright colors, too much happy, almost. She lets herself out onto the deck and watches the masses mulling around and exploring.