Summary: Because, unfortunately for Percy, cravings change.

Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians nor the characters mentioned.

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Annabeth's offensive, Percy decides. Completely and totally offensive as she waltzes around the kitchen in one of his old t-shirts from their college years; it's his favorite one, too, the one that's faded with a distinct coffee stain from a date he and Annabeth went on. It falls about mid-thigh, and he assumes she's pulled on an old pair of jean shorts underneath. She's swaying just the slightest bit as she grabs items from the fridge and moves to the burners. "Breakfast?" he asks hopefully, standing behind her as she works at the stove. He leans his head on her shoulder and kisses her neck, which makes her laugh and shrug her shoulders.

"You know that tickles," she chastises, shooting him a look. He snorts at that, kisses her cheek instead, and squeezes her tightly before moving to get a glass of orange juice. He smells bacon not a moment later.

"Funny how you never say that when we're in bed," Percy mentions, giving her a grin when she whips around, an appalled expression overtaking her face. "What? Is the bacon gonna hear us or something?"

Tossing a dishtowel at him, Annabeth blushes. "Some things should just go unsaid."

He hums, sipping his juice. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Like anything related to our… bed life."

"Sex life," Percy corrects, waggling his eyebrows at her. She throws the salt shaker at him this time, but he catches it easily, flipping it open and closed.

"Don't be so vulgar," she tells him. Her cheeks are a light rose—the exact same color they are when he slips his hands underneath her shirt to feel the perfect hourglass curve she possesses. It's one of his favorite looks on her. Something about her innocence is awfully endearing. (Then there's days where she's the one shoving him into the bedroom, where she dominates every kiss and reminds him that just because she gets flustered, doesn't mean she's always pristine and pure.)

He rolls his eyes good-naturedly, knowing that she doesn't truly care. "Says the girl in my t-shirt and not much else," he mumbles, wrapping his arms around her again. "We both know that you love when I kiss your neck. Don't lie to yourself."

She continues making breakfast, still embarrassed over what she often distastefully referred to as 'dirty talk', and he keeps his lips pressed against her shoulder. "It feels good when 'in the moment,'" she says, after a few moments and one accidental sharp elbow to his side. "It just kind of feels weird when you do it randomly."

He presses his face against her cheek, smiling from ear-to-ear in his early morning affectionate phase. He's practically a kitten when he wakes up, constantly yawning and begging you to never leave the bed for the sake of warmth. "Whatever. I'm sure you want me to all the time, but you just won't admit it."

"Whatever helps you sleep," Annabeth dismisses.

"You aren't on that list," he says lowly, laughing right in her ear, kissing her neck again. She closes her eyes tightly and almost wants to fake a second elbow to his stomach, but she ends up leaning her head to the right and giving him better access. "There we are," Percy mumbles against her tan skin. "All of a sudden you like it."

Annabeth needs to push him away, but Percy's breath is hot on her neck and God, she loves this boy with everything she has. "Because we were talking about it," she says softly, scratching his scalp lightly with her free hand. He hums happily in response, making her smile just a little. "I just remembered how nice it could feel, I guess."

"Craving my kisses, Annabeth?" Percy teases, nipping at her skin. She slaps his side; it's too early in the morning and they both have work. There's hardly enough time to launch one of those escapades. He laughs against her skin, not helping in the slightest as she suppresses a delighted shiver.

"Go get ready," she says emotionlessly, shaking her head. "Christ, get out of this room."

Her voice wavers a little, and Percy smirks, leaning forward to capture her lips properly. "Yes ma'am," he replies, exiting the room.

Annabeth leans against the counter, almost wanting to whine about how hot her fiancé is. In fact, she feels like she could write a well-developed essay about the unfairness of his existence, all green eyes and messy hair and muscles that are toned without being too showy. "Too early," she mutters to herself as a reminder, pulling back the heaps of attraction she feels for him. Annabeth places a few more pieces of bacon in the pan.

She finishes cooking breakfast, scowling the whole time, so deeply that Percy has to kiss it away when he returns.

"Tonight, okay?" she says lightly, her eyes taking on a lighter shade of grey. It's almost playful and definitely painful, seeing as he needs to walk out the door within the next five minutes. It could mean anything—a movie night, a nice evening spent cuddling, an outing with some old friends—but Percy has an idea of what she means.

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"Babe," Annabeth says, as soon as Percy picks up the phone. "I need your help."

He hums distractedly as a reply, gathering papers off his desk and shoving them into a file he'll have to go through later tonight. "Yeah? What's up?"

He hears a bit of static then a content moan on the other side of the line, making him drop his pen and stop breathing for a few moments. "God, this ice cream's good. But anyways, I'm having… a craving."

Percy, who was leaning underneath his desk to pick up the dropped pen, hit his head violently on the wood. "Ah, fuck!"

"I hope you don't plan on using that language around our child."

"Actually, that's what I… uh…" Percy swallows, glad that they were on the phone rather than face to face. Sure, he typically lost his elegance when speaking with Annabeth, but this moment was exceptionally uncomfortable. "You said 'craving,' and I just… you're pregnant, like five months, so we can't, right?"

"Can't buy me Doritos?" Annabeth questions, confused. "The doctor didn't say anything about that."

"Doritos," he repeats slowly, not comprehending. "What do Doritos have to do with us—?" He stops talking altogether, the blood rushing to his face as he realizes that she means a different craving altogether. Percy almost feels like smacking his palm to his forehead. Out of all the parenthood books he's managed to sit through for the sake of their child, he hadn't been able to pick up on the fact that she was craving a food as opposed to a sexual endeavour. "No, no, no," Percy says quickly. "I can."

"What did you…?" Suddenly, Annabeth goes quiet, then all he can hear is obnoxious laughter through the line. Blushing again, embarrassed at his utter lack of husband-soon-to-be-father skills, Percy gathers his belongings.

"It's not that funny," he grumbles, sending the secretary a tight smile. He enters the employee lounge, clocks out, and walks all the way out to his car before Annabeth finally ceases in her laughter. She still releases a few chuckles as he sighs in both annoyance and mortification at his assumption.

"It really is though," she tells him, and he hears the smile in her voice. "Did you really think I wanted to have sex? On a Monday night? While five months pregnant?"

"Well," Percy says, downcasting his eyes, "you used to call me all the time and mention a craving. Trust me, it wasn't for food." Even on Mondays, whether you admit it or not, he adds silently, sending his windshield a cocky smirk. She'll always be astoundingly out of his league, but the fact that he has her in some ways gives him the slightest amount of arrogance.

Annabeth tuts, and he imagines her resting an old book on her growing belly. Her voice is challenging when she speaks again. "You say that as if I'm a whore, Jackson."

"Not a whore," he says, laughing. "Maybe a little eager—"

"Oh, hush, like you weren't," she teases. "It's your fault anyways."

"Why's that?" Percy questions, beyond glad that they were still themselves, through it all. They were still flirting like obnoxious middle schoolers, even at the ages of twenty five and twenty six.

"Because you're hot," Annabeth tells him, all for the sake of stroking her husband's ego. He hears her teeth clank against metal as she takes another bite of her ice cream. "Hurry up and get home. I need Doritos."

"Will do," Percy replies with a sigh. "Love you."

"Yeah, yeah," she says, and he smiles from how happy she sounds. "Love you, too."

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FIN