Beach Daze (Percabeth AU)

Island Life

"Annabeth!" Percy laughs while chasing me up the hill to his dad's ranch. I could see the horses in the field from here.

I tag the fence and turn around to face him. "I win!"

"You cheated," he tells me.

"I did not!"

"You kicked my shin and then started running!"

"You said we were racing, but you never gave me any rules, Percy." He frowns.

"I can't believe my girlfriend is a cheater," he mumbles. Then he yells, "Annabeth Chase is a cheater!"

"Brother's here with a pretty girl!" A voice calls. Suddenly, a young boy with brown hair and green eyes comes charging towards us. It must be Tyson, who Percy has mentioned many times.

Percy wraps his arms around his brother. "Tyson, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth. Annabeth, meet Tyson."

"You're pretty," Tyson tells me. I smile at him.

"Thank you, Tyson. You're very handsome too." Tyson blushes and starts speeding off back towards the house.

"I think Tyson likes you," Percy decides.

"How could he not?"

Percy laughs and kisses my cheek. "Let's head around back. That's where the horses are."

He grabs my hand and leads me to a barn. The horses all let out a neigh upon seeing him, and some of them continue to whinny until he goes and strokes their manes.

He finally makes his way back to a black horse, who continues to make noise, even as Percy pets it.

"This is Blackjack," Percy tells me. "He's my horse. He's very loud and annoying." To that, Blackjack huffs and stomps a hoof.

"So he takes after you, then." Blackjack whinnies loudly, like a laugh, and begins a little prance with his front two hooves. Percy just glares at him.

"I know you're laughing at me, Blackjack. You being a horse doesn't mask that." Percy climbs over the gate to his stable and places the saddle on his back. Blackjack doesn't even move, seemingly used to Percy.

"Do you want to ride your own horse or-"

"I'll take my own."

"Want to try to prove that you're better than me?"

I smile sweetly. "How'd you know?"

He just smiles. "I'll get Porkpie ready."

"Is Porkpie fast?"

"Now why would I ever give you a slow horse?"

"Sabotage, Percy. Sabotage." He rolls his eyes but smiles at me.

"You think I'm organized enough to plan out a sabotage? Thanks, Wise Girl. That means a lot."

"I take it all back. You're a Seaweed Brain."

"You just get more and more sweet the longer I know you." I give him a quick peck on the lips, causing Blackjack to stomp his hoof and let out a whinny.

"I love you, Blackjack," Percy says with a sigh. Blackjack  almost seems to smile at him. Then, he looks at me and lets out a huff as if to brag.

"Your horse has an attitude," I tell Percy flatly. He smiles and pats Blackjack's head, just below his ears.

"I'll be back, I just gotta go get Porkpie ready so we can kick Annabeth's ass." Percy jumps back over the fence and into the stall next door.

"Wassup, Porkpie?" The horse snorts and I let out a laugh.

Finally, when Percy's done saddling both the horses up, we race out into a field and onto a trail that leads out to the ocean. I've never ridden a horse before so Percy wins, although I could tell he was holding himself back a bit to make sure he could see me.

"It was unfair," I tell him.

"You're a sore loser." He smiles and hugs me as we jump off of our horses. "It was your decision to race anyways. I think you owe me."

I give him a kiss and he happily pulls me closer to him. We kiss until I feel a nudge on my back.

I turn and I'm met with Blackjack staring at me.

"He likes me better than you," I tell him. He does his little laugh again, trotting around the area. Porkpie joins him in the trot, and soon, the two are chasing after each other as if playing tag.

Percy and I sit down under a tree, watching them run. His arm is around me and I scoot as close to him as I can.

"Percy? What happens when I go back to college?"

"You're gonna get to finish your classes so you can be an architect. Officially. Like graduate and have a jo-"

"Percy, you know what I mean."

"I don't want to talk about that. I told you that already."His eyebrows are slanted and his mouth shows no sign of a smile.

"We're going to try to make it work, right?"

He sighs. "Of course we are."

"Good. And we can visit each other?"

"During summer breaks and holidays. We'll figure it out." I rest my head on his shoulder and smile to myself. The horses continue to chase, and we continue to laugh at them.

Finally, Percy looks at his watch and realizes that it's time for dinner, so we ride the horses back to the stables side by side.

"My dad promised some good food," he says. "Which really means that Amphitrite made it."

We head towards his dad's house. Tyson sits outside on the porch waiting for us.

"Brother!" He exclaims, jumping up and running to us. Percy gives him a hug.

"Hey, Buddy. What's for dinner?"

"I don't know. I've been waiting for you!" Tyson smiles cheekily.

"That was so sweet of you to wait for us, Tyson," I say. He blushes and races off into the house. Percy and I just laugh.

"Shall we?" He asks.

"We shall." We follow Tyson into the house and take a seat in the dining room as Amphitrite brings us plates of bowtie noodles in pesto sauce which we quickly devour.

Finally, after a couple hours of board games and fun with Tyson, we head back on the jet ski, the island vanishing behind us.