youāre welcome. youāll thank me in about however long it takes to read this.
annabeth chase walked up to the stage with her eyes gleaming, heart pounding, and her smile contagious
inside her brain, however, was a startling contrast. she was screaming, shaking, and cursing, stressed beyond belief. but not for the reason one would think.
what an ordinary person would be screaming, shaking, and cursing about if they were in her position, would be that she was about to step in front of a huge audience and attempt not to stumble her valedictorian speech that she worked ever so hard to get the chance to use
but no. this was the least of annabethās worries.
annabeth chase, who was not an ordinary person by any means, was instead screaming, shaking, and cursing about her boyfriend.
she had just got off the phone with said boyfriend approximately 9 seconds ago where she heard suspicious sounds of roaring, a faint āPERSEUS JACKSON. DIE!ā in the background, and an annoyed āFUCK OFF IM GONNA BE LATE BECAUSE OF YOUā before the call abruptly ended
perfect. just what she needed to hear moments before their high school graduation.
as she reached the podium, annabeth softly cleared her throat and forced on a smile.
she started her speech with no sign of percy.
she made it halfway through her speech with no sign of percy.
she finished her speech with no sign of percy.
after soaking in a few seconds of applause, she turned to go sit at the back of the stage around various teachers withāyou guessed it!āno sign of percy.
annabeth took her seat and was immediately congratulated by a certain teacher in a tweed jacket sitting in his wheelchair next to her.
C: beautiful speech, miss chase. truly inspirational.
A: why, i sure hope it was, mr brunner, iāve been working on it for months.
C: before you even found out you were going to be valedictorian? well, i cant say i expected less from a daughter of athena
A: aw, youāll make me blush. but really, i never wouldve even gotten the chance if it wasnt for you. thank you. for everything.
C: it wasnt anything a little mist couldnt handle. i knew how much this meant to you, especially after all thatās happened to you and percy as of late.
it was true. after everything with gaea, tartarus, and really anything regarding the prophecy of seven, all annabeth wanted was a quiet year where things could be at least a little normal.
thankfully, chiron agreed, and even decided to reclaim his retired latin teacher role and fake name in order to serve as a little more protection for percy and annabeth at school
although that didnt exactly mean there wasnt a single case of mythological mayhemāwe donāt talk about room 304. nor 128 or 221 or 512āit significantly dropped the danger levels they otherwise wouldve been in.
however, this particular day just happened to be one of the few occasions a monster was stupid brave enough to attack.
C: speaking of percy, where exactly is the boy?
A: *sigh* just dont be surprised if he shows up at the last possible second covered in monster dust.
and showing up at the last possible second covered in monster dust, he did.
almost as if on cue, the 17 year old ran from the back of the audience all the way to the stage, holding his cap down on his messy hair with one hand and clutching a cheap ballpoint pen in the other.
he skipped a couple steps or two on his way up and let out a sigh of relief that he got there in the nick of time
the audience chuckled and cheered as percy snatched his diploma and dabbed up the principalās extended hand
as he walked a few of steps to shake hands with a couple teachers, he saw her in the midst.
she had to be furious with him. he'd missed her valedictorian speech she'd been stressing about for the past month for crying out loud. so. he did the first thing he could think of to lighten her mood
annabeth extended her hand with a we'll-talk-about-this-later glare and percy sheepishly took it...
thennnn immediately pulled her towards him and met her lips with his.
the cheering got louder after that.
he could feel annabeth's lips form a small smile on his which gave him the extra boost of confidence he needed to hug her by the waist, lift her up, and even give her a little spin as they kept their lips on each other.
when he let her down and they finally broke the kiss, despite the whoops and hollers, all he could focus on were the small exhales and light giggles coming from annabeth. gods, what she did to him.
he closed his eyes as he touched her forehead and whispered an "i love you" just for her to hear before he walked off the stage.
the ceremony didnt last much longer after that with the rest of the students going by in a blur, the principal saying a few final words, and finally getting to do the much anticipated tassel turn/cap throw.
when everyone was finally allowed to mingle, percy immediately ran to find annabeth amidst the crowd.
he saw her from afar and almost had no choice but to stop in his tracks and just stare at her with the dopiest smile.
he didnt notice how stunning she looked earlier on stage with adrenaline pumping through his veins, but now that he fully took her in, percy was in awe.
her gorgeous hair was let out of the usual ponytail it was in, and her opened gown revealed a beautiful black dress underneath. she seemed to be scanning her surroundings, looking for him.
the moment she finally locked eyes with him, the whole world just stopped. an asteroid couldve hit the earth at that moment and percy wouldnt have cared. seeing her beam was like being bathed in sunlight; any and all of his worries or fears simply melted away.
they started sprinting towards each other at the same time and met in a crushing embrace. he caught the whiff of her familiar lemon shampoo and instantly felt like he was home.
āannabeth, gods, iām so so sorry i missed your speech. i know how hard you worked on it and i tried to send that monster lady back to tartarus as quick as possible, i swear i did, andāā
apparently annabeth liked the move he pulled up on the stage. really, really liked it.
when their kiss broke, she only said, ādont worry, ill do my speech for you.
their lips briefly met again.
āiāll do my speech for you over and over again, all night long.ā
āi wanna hear it all night long.ā