The first week back was horrible. It was as though the camp was constantly on edge for another attack, one like the one last year, the battle of the labyrinth as we used to call it, which it probably was. Even more so, my two best friends were nowhere to be seen. Grover was out spreading the message of Pan's death and was trying to rally the nature spirits - he was supposed to be here today, and Annabeth - Annabeth and I basically avoided each other so it almost felt like she wasn't there. Almost.

I couldn't help but feel a twinge in my heart everytime I saw her - which didn't contrast well with the butterflies in my stomach. Last summer, I'd basically forced out the last line of her prophecy, and watched her cry off and run away. Some goodbye. I wanted to talk to her about a lot of things, tell her that I missed her, and it hurt to see her like this. Some part of me was also mad at her, mad at her for loving Luke. How could she, after all that he'd done? Couldn't she see that he was hurting her, and didn't care one bit about her? Not to mention the fact that he's basically Kronos now. But the truth was, I was jealous of him. Jealous of the fact that Annabeth cared so much for him. Loved him. And she didn't even seem to care, which didn't help my mood.

I walked back to my cabin, having quickly eaten dinner and got up before Annabeth and her siblings could finish eating. I really wanted some peace of mind. Alas, as a demigod, your desires pretty much go out the window. I opened my door to see a familiar satyr pigging out on my recyclabes.

"Grover!" He turned around quickly, a can of Coke in his hands. He quickly dropped it and rushed to give me a hug. "How's the nature thing going?"

Grover's face fell slightly. "They don't believe me, Percy. Those that do are too scared to do anything about it. I don't know what's going to happen." I nodded. The war was taking a toll on everybody, but I tried not to think of it right now.

"It'll be okay. We'll get through it - we always have." I tried for a reassuring smile, but Grover's look told me otherwise. "Perce, you okay? With the, you know.." He tried not to mention the prophecy according to which I was supposedly going to die this summer, but I appreciated his attempt nonetheless. "Yeah." I lied. "Just trying to keep my head off it."

"And Annabeth? Where's she? She's going to kill me if she finds out I was here and didn't tell her!" Grover chuckled.

"I don't know." I muttered, looking down.

"Are you guys still fighting? I don't believe it! I thought..." He trailed off, but I prompted him. "You thought what?"

"Well, I figured that since I was gone for a while, it might give you two an opportunity to get.. closer." I blushed a little, despite how sad I was.

"We're just friends, Grover." But friends don't ignore each other. "In fact, scratch that. We're not even friends. We haven't talked at all." I flailed my hands.

"Oh, I think you're way past the friends stage."

I lifted my head to look at him pointedly. "What do you mean?"

Grover sighed dramatically. "Oh, I don't know. Friends don't steal glances at each other and then go red in the face. Friends don't hug each other only to linger slightly more than normal. Friends don't hold each other and slow dance. Aphrodite doesn't show up on a quest because of a friend-"

I was growing redder by the minute. "Wh-what? I told you, it was to help us get through the junkyard!" I shouted.

"Oh, come on! For all I know, you could've kissed her and still come up with an excuse!"

I hadn't thought it was possible for me to get any redder, but apparently Grover had just unlocked my max setting. I was too embarrassed to even say anything. There was a minute of silence, and I looked up to see Grover looking incredulously at me, his eyes wide with realization.

"Oh my gods! You guys totally kissed!" He started prancing around the room.

"Shut up! We didn't!" I hissed at him.

"You. Kissed. Annabeth." He said, getting right in my face. I groaned loudly. I opened my mouth to say something convincing, but Grover cut me off. "And no, don't even try. I'm a satyr, Percy. I can't even say the words kiss and Annabeth in the same sentence without your emotions going haywire." I cursed him inwardly. I walked over to my bed and sat down with a thud, my back to him. "It wasn't even a proper kiss anyway." I muttered.

In a flash, Grover was on my bunk. "What? What did I hear?" He cooed, looking sideways so his ear faced me.

"It wasn't a proper kiss." I mumbled.

"Sorry Percy, I couldn't hear you."

"It wasn't a proper kiss." I said, gritting my teeth.

"Did ya like it?" Grover sat beside me. I flushed, thinking about how surprised I'd been that I couldn't even kiss her back. I would've almost sat there thinking about it all day if a swarm of bloodthirsty telkhines wasn't about to kill me. "Yup." I saw Grover smirking from the corner of my eye. "But it doesn't matter." I added quickly. "It was a goodbye kiss. For good luck."

"What?" Grover didn't look convinced. He grabbed my shoulder and twisted me so that I was now facing him. "Hold up. When did this happen?"

I shuffled my feet nervously. "Uh, last year. In the labyrinth."

"When.. when we separated?" I nodded, and I could feel the blood rushing to my face. "Right before I blew up Mt. St. Helens. I told her to leave, because I thought we were going to- going to die. She looked furious, and started to argue. But I didn't budge. And, and before she left, she, uh, kinda grabbed me, and, well, you know." I finished lamely. It was weird saying it out loud. I hadn't told anyone about it. Annabeth pretended like it never happened. It almost felt like a dream to me too, partly because it was so surreal, partly because it seemed to exist only in my imagination.

"Dude." Grover looked like he was having a hard time believing it. Then he smacked my head. Hard. "Ow!"

"You're an idiot!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, you heard me the first time correctly. You don't kiss a friend for luck! My gods, this is.. it's worse than I thought!" Grover was freaking out.

"But-"

Grover groaned. "Imagine if it was me there instead of you. D'you think she'd have kissed me? For luck?"

"But-But that's different!" I blurted out.

"Exactly!" Grover slapped a palm on my knee. Come to think of it, that did feel weird. It was hard for me even imagine that - it was so inconceivable I might have laughed, had I not been in this situation.

"Then.. why?" I said, looking at my newfound source of girl wisdom. Grover leaned backwards, his arms resting on my bedsheet.

"Because she thought you were going to die. And Annabeth didn't have any time to tell you how she felt. So she kissed you, hoping you'd get the message. Boy, was she wrong."

Oh. Oh. "How she felt?" I repeated slowly. "About me?" Grover nodded, a smile tugging on his lips. I groaned loudly. I felt like hitting myself. Oh, gods. I felt like a jerk. All this time I was waiting for Annabeth to say something about that kiss, and I didn't even realize that she'd be doing the same. Even more so, after she basically confessed how she felt about me and I, like the absolute Seaweed Brain I am, ignored the matter completely like I didn't even care about the fact it happened. Didn't care about the best thing that ever happened to me.

"Gods, Grover! Get me out of this mess!" I pleaded.

'Well, there's only one person who can help you." I looked at him quizzically, and he rolled his eyes. "Annabeth."

That's it. I knew what I had to do. I couldn't take it any more - all the skirting around each other, pretending that it didn't hurt. I hopped off my bed and rushed outside. Dinnertime was surely over by now. I needed answers. I was going to walk up to Annabeth and ask her as clearly as possible about the subject we'd been avoiding for almost a year. The subject I'd been avoiding. It'll be awkward, I told myself. How much more awkward could it get? I replied. Great. I'm talking to myself now.

I was on the footsteps of the Athena cabin, my heart hammering. This is it, I told myself. I knocked sharply. Twice. One of Annabeth's younger brothers, Malcolm, opened the door to welcome me. His glare told me otherwise. "Um, can I speak to Annabeth?" He eyed me for a second before shifting brusquely to allow me inside. I walked tentatively to Annabeth's bunk, feeling every pair of eyes on me. Annabeth looked at me fleetingly, but before I could figure out her expression, she quickly turned away.

I stopped right before her bunk. Her back was still turned to me. "Annabeth?" I asked, ready to jump back in case she decided to stab me. "What?" She asked, her tone harsh. I winced. "I need to talk to you."

"Why?" She replied, still looking determinedly out the window.

"I, uh- can you atleast look at me? Please?" I heard her sigh, and she turned around, meeting my gaze for a second before looking down. She looked hurt and worried. I felt bad seeing her like this, but I wasn't going to back down now.

"Can we talk?"

"We're already talking." She snapped. Leave it to Annabeth to make a comment like that.

"No, I mean," Not here, I thought. Annabeth might not kill me, but I wasn't too sure about her cabin mates. "Do you want to take a walk?" I rubbed the back of my head nervously.

She was silent for a long time. "Fine." She said, as she got up and walked out. I followed her quickly, ignoring the Athena campers talking in hushed tones as soon as we left the building. Annabeth was still walking, and I jogged to keep up with her. Neither of us said a word till she led us to the beach. I knew Annabeth came here to clear her mind and relax, and so did I. She plopped down on the sand.

I followed her example and took a seat next to her. She still wouldn't look at me, and her gaze stayed fixated on the ocean in front of us.

"I'm sorry."

I looked at her, dumbfounded. "What?! No! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that last year! I wasn't thinking, and then you were crying, and you started going away and I just left you and-"

"It's okay, Seaweed Brain. I was confused, and hurt. I hadn't still processed that Lu-" Her voice caught. "His eyes, Percy. His eyes told me it was all real, that it was happening."

"I'm sorry about him, Annabeth." I said softly.

It was silent for a while before I spoke up. I couldn't stop thinking about her prophecy, and our kiss on Mt. St. Helens. The prophecy had proved that Luke was the one she loved, but I had a nagging doubt in my mind. And I wouldn't just avoid it again. "Annabeth?"

"Hmm?"

I took a deep breath. I needed to know, I reminded myself. I thought about Grover's words, and they gave me confidence. Maybe Annabeth did feel the same way. There was no other explanation. Maybe there was, but I couldn't dwell on it.

"In the labyrinth, on Mt. St. Helens," Annabeth stiffened visibly, but didn't say anything. "Why-why did you kiss me?" I almost whispered. Annabeth turned to face me, and I nodded. I couldn't back down now.

"Because I thought you were going to die."

My heart deflated. I was wrong. It was really as simple as that. "That's it?" I managed to croak out.

"No."

I was finding it really hard to stay still now. I hung on to her every word, listening as if my life depended on it.

She continued, "I-I thought my prophecy came true. Destroy with a hero's final breath. I thought it was you. But that's not all. I-I thought the last line of my prophecy came true as well."

It was eerily quiet. I could hear us breathing over the faint sound of the tide crashing into rocky cliffs.

The last line.. lose a love to worse than death. I couldn't believe it. A part of me wanted to jump for joy, and a part of me just wanted to comfort her. However, that left no brain power for my mouth to function on.

"You-you thought you loved me." I stuttered. The realization was so profound that I didn't even blush or smile at Annabeth's confession. I was still piecing together my own thoughts.

"I know I love you." I noticed Annabeth glancing out of the corner of her eye to look at what my reaction might be, but I was still shellshocked. I might've stayed that way for a bit too long, because Annabeth got up abruptly. "Look, Percy, I'm sorry. I-I just don't want things to be weird between us. I hope we can still stay friends."

I got up quickly, shaken out of my thoughts. "What?! No! I can't be friends after this! I don't-" I said a bit too quickly, my words escaping my mouth.

Apparently Annabeth took this the wrong way, because her face fell even more than it already had, and she quickly used her hand to brush away her incoming tears., and started running towards her cabin.

"No! I mean- Annabeth!" I couldn't let her run away from me. Not again. I sprinted after her, and caught her arm, stopping her on the narrow pathway that led us to the beach.

"Annabeth-" I wheeled her around to face me. "Oh gods, I'm so stupid! I meant- I- Oh, for Zeus' sake!" I grabbed her waist and pulled her into me, our lips connecting. I felt her warm tears on my cheeks, and just as I thought I might have made another mistake, Annabeth wrapped her hands around my neck and kissed me back just as fiercely.

Kissing Annabeth without the fear of death looming over me was amazing. I daresay even nectar tasted that good. We broke apart after what seemed like an hour, and I looked into her eyes, which were still watery, but now shining with delight. She was smiling widely, and my heart almost melted. I remembered what I was about to say.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry, I know I'm so stupid, I just - I don't-"

"Yes, you are. But only I can call you stupid." She chuckled, and I couldn't help but join in.

After we finished laughing, I gave her a quick kiss. "I love you too." My face felt like a volcano, but it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Annabeth smirked, but was unable to keep the blush off her face.

"That was a nice talk." I said, as we walked back towards her cabin. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but smiled at me. I still couldn't get over the fact that she felt the same as I did.

As we reached the footsteps of the Athena cabin, I grabbed Annabeth's hand. "Are we, are you, um.."

Annabeth smiled again, and it felt great knowing that I was the one that was making her smile and go all red in the face. She looked so pretty when she blushed.

"Yes, Seaweed Brain, you're my boyfriend now." I immediately turned red, but my face broke out into a huge grin. Suddenly the door opened, revealing a smirking Malcolm. "How was the date?"

Normally, I would've blushed and said there was nothing like that, but I decided to play along. "It was nice," I told him as I leaned towards Annabeth.

"Goodnight, Wise Girl." I kissed her quickly and ran, leaving a gaping Malcolm, and an aghast Annabeth. I chuckled to myself thinking about the events that were about to unfold at the Athena cabin tonight.