Title: Fearless

Pairings: Percabeth (Percy/Annabeth)

Word Count: 1,152

Inspiration: "My hands shake, I'm not usually this way. But you pull me in and I'm a little more brave. It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something. It's fearless." –Taylor Swift

Annabeth took a deep breath.

She was standing just outside Camp Half-Blood's dining pavilion staring at Percy Jackson's back and clutching a homemade cupcake in her sweaty hands. Far off in the distance she could see Grover and Juniper holding hands and most likely—hopefully—talking, their bodies silhouetted by the setting sun, blazing in fiery colors.

She wished she had that courage to do that with Percy. Apparently her fearlessness on the battlefield didn't apply to situations dealing with…love. Plus, just being near Percy now was awkward, and if she was wrong about how he felt…well, it could send their already strained friendship to Tartarus. There was no way she could have misread what happened that morning though, the way he had looked her, it had stolen her breath away and made her dizzy.

She could almost hear Clarisse yelling at her to not be a wimp, and she gritted her teeth. If Clarisse LaRue could admit her feelings for a guy, then so could Annabeth Chase. Annabeth wiped her palms on her jean shorts and crossed the pavilion over to Percy.

He was alone in the pavilion, sitting silently at his stone table. He looked peaceful staring off into the distance; his eyes were soft and his body was relaxed. Annabeth realized with a start that she hadn't seen him look like that in forever. With the war going on, there wasn't much time to relax, and, she admitted it, she probably wasn't the best person to be around in times of stress and preparation.

Something about seeing him like that; light, happy, free…and handsome, shot through her like a rush of adrenaline. She slipped up behind him and sat down on his left side. It felt forbidden, sitting there. Sure, there was no one else in the pavilion and she had ignored the rules before to sit next to him, but this time was different. What she wanted to talk about was personal, and quite frankly, embarrassing. She felt as if there were eyes on them, even though she knew that was impossible.

"Hey…happy birthday."

She held up the huge cupcake in front of his startled face, revealing the tips of her fingers were stained with blue icing and chocolate cake crumbs.

He stared blankly at her and she felt a surge of panic. It had to be his birthday; the prophecy had come true that very morning.

"What?"

"It's August 18th," she said, trying to hide the nervous tremor in her voice. "Your birthday, right?"

The shocked expression on his face showed she was right, and he was just being a Seaweed Brain. She resisted the impulse to roll her eyes at him.

"Make a wish," she urged.

"Did you bake this yourself?" Percy asked suspiciously.

"Tyson helped," Annabeth admitted.

"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick with extra blue cement."

Annabeth let out a short burst of laughter, and Percy smiled at her. It felt good to laugh with him again, she realized.

After a second, he blew out the striped candle. They split it in half and ate it with their fingers, smearing their face and hands with sticky icing and crumbs. They both looked like idiots, Annabeth thought.

The sound of the ocean mixed with cricket's chirps and the rustling of monsters in the woods were the only noises.

"You saved the world," Annabeth stated.

"We saved the world," Percy, always the gentleman, corrected.

"And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won't be dating anybody."

"You don't seem disappointed."

Annabeth gave what she hoped to be a careless shrug of the shoulders. "Oh, I don't care."

"Uh-huh."

She raised a pale blonde eyebrow. "You got something to say to me Seaweed Brain?"

"You'd probably kick my butt."

"You know I'd kick your butt."

He brushed his hands together, wiping off the cake crumbs. "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable…Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the mortal world, that made me want to stay mortal."

He wasn't really saying what she thought he was saying, she reasoned. She was just sleep-deprived and delirious. Still, she avoided looking at Percy, in case he saw what was in her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Then up on Olympus," he continued, "When they wanted to make me into a god and stuff, I kept thinking—"

"Oh, you so wanted to."

She turned to him now, smiling, to find he was the one looking away. "Well, maybe a little. But I didn't, because I thought—I didn't want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking—"

He broke off, his voice cracking.

"Anyone in particular?" Annabeth fought to keep the excitement out of her voice, to remain stoic. Percy glanced over and frowned when he saw her grin.

"You're laughing at me," he whined.

"I am not!"

"You are so not making this easy."

She couldn't help but laugh—at his expression, his tone, the truth in his words—and she took the leap. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

He stiffened, then relaxed, as she said, "I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it."

Then she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. She felt him jolt at her sudden movement, and then he was kissing her back, and she was drowning in the sensation of kissing Percy Jackson that she barely noticed when a familiar voice rang out.

"Well, it's about time!"

Percy and Annabeth jerked away from each other as the pavilion flooded with torchlight and obviously eavesdropping campers. The Aphrodite cabin was giggling and squealing, their friends looked happy and kind of exasperated—Annabeth couldn't fathom why—even Clarisse was smiling broadly.

The mob of demigods surged forward and lifted the slightly embarrassed teenagers onto their shoulders.

"Oh, come on!" Percy exclaimed. "Is there no privacy?"

"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse cried out.

"The canoe lake!" Connor shouted.

The campers cheered and rushed down the hill. Annabeth laughed and glanced at Percy who was blushing. She smiled at him and reached out to offer her hand. He gripped it in his much larger one and held tight. Catcalls and wolf whistles rang out from the group below them as their fingers entwined in a way that friends didn't.

They continued holding hands until they hurtled toward the dark lake water. They splashed under and sank, hopefully dousing a few of the nosy campers above. An air bubble quickly expanded around them, and with a touch Percy dried off Annabeth's sopping wet clothes.

Before she could thank him, he had pulled her right onto his lap and they were kissing again, as if the world were about to end.

And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.

A/N: Here's my other new one-shot! Hope you liked it!

If you like Mark of Athena rants, read on...

So, I read spoilers, and I'm basically a big, blubbering mess right now, but apparently big, blubbering messes write fic faster.

Anyways, the ENDING. OMG. I can't wait until October 2 (and I can't even get it until AFTER school!)

I just... Percabeth is so adorable and Jason is such a jerk (yes, I'm a Jayna fan, whatever) and I love Reyna SO MUCH and... I could write so much more but I won't.

Anyways, hopefully I'll update my other stories and add more one-shots soon. (Mark of Athena will hopefully have TONS of fic inspiration!)

Yours in demigodishness and all that,

~WizardMuggle~