Author's Note: Ah! Another day, another set! And once again, thank you to EpsilonHeta13 and Athenachild101 for trying! :) Good guesses guys, really good!

Last chapter's theme: Lessons

Green-eyed Graybles 3

"Don't I get a kiss for luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?"

1

"Happy Anniversary!" Annabeth said, untying his blindfold with fumbling fingers. Before Percy could look at surroundings, however, he already turned to his girlfriend and began kissing her face. He knew how hard she worked when it was her turn to arrange their dates, and they usually had a blast—compared to the cosy pizza and DVD rental dates Percy managed anyway.

In his suit and in her dress, he felt as if they were ready to conquer the world in their fancy pants, and smiling, he finally faced the venue and gestured at the place.

"It's wonderful, Anna—" he froze midsentence, staring wide eyed and open mouthed at the 5-star sushi restaurant Annabeth managed to reserve for them.

Percy ran outside without another word, leaving Annabeth confused and startled out of her mind.

He was in the corner behind the dumpster, sobbing and crying into his fists. He had his arms around his knees and his head bent down, and he was whimpering.

There were so many fish in there—dead, raw, fish bodies that seemed to call out to him, asking him for help. One or two fish usually didn't bother him, but there were millions in there: fish, squid, crabs, octopi, sea urchins, sea horses…

He felt like a baby.

An arm wrapped around his shoulders and soft lips kissed his cheek. She didn't make fun of him one bit.

They ate in McDonald's for their second anniversary, and they had a blast.

2

"Percy—" Annabeth mumbled, clutching the inflatable ring that would carry her down the giant slide. They had such a wonderful time at the waterpark today, wading in the wave pools, running through artificial waterfalls, lounging in the lazy river, seeing her gorgeous boyfriend without a shirt on for a very, very long period of time…

The fact that Percy could control water was a bit unfair—in their splash fights she was immediately overpowered and she didn't even know why she would attempt having a breath holding contest against him—but he made up for it with air bubbles at the bottom of the high dive and the mini whirlpools he made for the little kids when the waves were turned off.

Now they were on there about to end the day, finishing off a beautiful afternoon with an adrenaline rush, spinning through a long, dark, waterslide.

However, Annabeth didn't like it when she was kept in the dark—when she didn't know what was coming.

"I—I can't," she tried to say, but Percy just nodded beside her and smiled. He took one of the double floaters discarded by the side and hopped on the platform, patting the space in front of him.

"Come on," he smiled. "I'll hold you the whole time—I won't let go."

And they jumped in together, falling into the dark, seemingly bottomless pit.

3

"Okay, hold on, I gotcha," Percy grinned, clutching the metal railing at the sides of the large ice rink.

Annabeth rolled her eyes—it was mid-December now, and just the right amount of cold for the roofless ice-skating rinks to open. Being his baby seal self, her boyfriend thought it would be fun for them to try it out. She tagged along eagerly, despite being a little nervous—although she lived in New York most of her life, Annabeth never really had the time, nor the money to go ice skating, so she didn't really know how.

Being the event planner, she expected Percy to be an all knowing master of the trade. At the same time, ice was made of water—and Percy could walk on water. Putting one and one together, she deemed the late afternoon very romantic.

But Percy didn't know how to either.

"Gods, Seaweed Brain," she grumbled, gripping her boyfriend's forearms. They were wobbling and shaking at the knees, trying to steady themselves on the slippery ice. It wasn't easy. "Why did you tell me you didn't know how? I would've read up on it or something—"

He cut her off with a kiss, pausing their ice wobbling attempt, and Annabeth felt her cheeks flush.

"I think it's more romantic," Percy shrugged and whispered against her cheek. "This gives me an excuse to hold you all night long."

"Well," she breathed, nuzzling his neck. "If you put it that way… as long as we don't break our butts."

4

Ironically, one of Percy's greatest fears was

drowning.

He always hated those nightmares—the ones that usually flashed him back to that night in the nymphaeum where for once in his life, he almost suffocated on—on, on… water. Water that gave him power, water that left him fearless and invincible, water that sharpened his mind, his body: thickened the blood that ran through his brain.

Water he could control with blinks and command with breaths.

For once, it garbled his passageways, blocked and jammed his throat until his lungs burst and his mind was dying dying

Death by water.

For once, water had failed him—his genes, his powers, the godly blood that ran through his veins could not control and tamper with his element. He'd never felt so powerless—so weak. His life was being sucked out by the very thing that gave him life

he couldn't control anything

He was one big, muddled mess that was worthless useless meaningless he could not live without water he could not die in water water he was dying in

r—

Percy sat up with a jolt, gasping and choking on his own saliva. He was trying so hard to get dry, using his blankets to scrub scrub scrub off the water, the salty tears that ran down the sides of his face and onto his arms. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't live, he was screaming for air, for dryness, for anything—

Then hands, soft dry hands were wiping his face, caressing his hair. A sweet, sweet smell pressed up on his shirt and his nostrils were cleared. Soft, warm lips were kissing his face, touching his temples and his wet cheeks, calming and comforting his chest and clearing them of the illusion of asphyxiation. Strong arms wrapped around his shaking shoulders, and her cheek was pressed against his.

Percy was drowning himself in his sleep again.

With shaking, gentle hands, Annabeth held his face until he calmed down—until his powers would once again bend under his will. She was the only one who could get him out of these fits, she was the only one who could wake him up when he was busy forcing down pools of tears and sweat into his throat—Annabeth.

She was the only thing he had left.

She was the only one that gave him power—sweet, unadulterated power that took nothing and gave everything.

She was the only one in this world that left him fearless and invincible; Annabeth, the one person left in all the worlds that he trusted with his life, his soul—that would never, in any of his breaths, betray him—was now the only thing that made him braver without fear.

Annabeth sharpened his mind, his body: she thickened the blood that ran through his brain with her touch, her kisses and her smile—

"Y-you're okay, Seaweed Brain," she whispered against his ear, gently brushing down his hair.

"You're okay."

Annabeth has been his water for quite some time now.

5

"Annabeth," Percy said from the foot of his king bed, bouncing on his heels. He was grinning ear to ear with his cheeks flushed and his ocean smell fresh from the shower. "Nothing much to do today. I was just gonna pick some strawberries—"

"They're in the drawer," she sighed distractedly, typing away on her silver laptop. Her hair was dishevelled and her eyes bright, her longs legs bare and laid out behind her on his sheets.

However, much to his dismay, this was not due to his doing.

"Wha—" he ran a hand through his hair. "I just wanted to know if you'd like to come with—"

"A banana will do fine."

"A banana…? No, I'm trying to—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see him in a minute."

"I'm asking you out to pick—"

"I'll fix it later."

This always happened. She'd be so caught up in whatever work she was doing that any word coming out of Percy's mouth ended up a muddle in her head. He tried so hard not to mind—she was always patient with him anyway, and he supposed that it was his turn to return the favour. Nevertheless, it always hurt him when she was like this, like he wasn't even important enough for her attention.

They were in this point in their relationship—where Percy was jealous of inanimate objects.

Huffing, he decided it was one of those days. He just shrugged on his armour and ran his hands through his hair—maybe it was a sword-fighting day after all.

Percy paused by the door to watch her scribble some notes on a notebook and tuck in the pencil behind her ear. He could never stay mad at her—She was too heart-wrenchingly beautiful in his goldfish t-shirt and adorable when she concentrated, he could never muster enough frustration to stay angry. His smile was inevitable.

Annabeth was his weakness, and whatever got her attention didn't matter.

"I'll see you later," he called out, about to open the door.

"I love you too, Percy," she replied, eyes never leaving the lit screen.

He froze in his tracks.

His weakness indeed.