This is part two of a double date with Percabeth and Fierrochase! Απολαμβάνω!
~~~WARNING: PERCABETH FLUFF OVERLOAD~~~
Magnus's PoV
I thought about Alex as we soared above the roofs of Boston. She clung to me from behind, her chin resting on my shoulder, her breath tickling my ear. She smelled like Tizer and limes. Her arms were wrapped tightly around my waist. I longed to glance back and watch her soft green locks dancing in the wind, but I didn't want to fall off of the Pegasus.
Since we had been dating (only a few days) we hadn't done much of the physical-contact-type thing. Neither of us were big on that. But Alex was different. She was...I don't know, special.
Yeah, that Kvasir's mead really left its mark on me. I'm practically Shakespeare. But despite my lack of talent for description, Alex seemed to tolerate me, and I was grateful for that.
But really, all I wanted was for her to open up. She constantly maintained a cool, calm demeanor, but I knew somewhere inside she had feelings.
Alex loved to cover up her pain, excitement, love, and passion with stinging insults and exasperating sarcasm, but I'd seen her let her guard down. Every now and then, something resembling a heartfelt sentiment would slip through, and I'd get a glimpse of a different Alex.
That was the Alex I wanted to meet.
I felt an incessant tapping on my shoulder. I snapped out of my stupor. I realized that we had reached manhattan. "Were here, dork." Alex said over my shoulder.
We landed somewhere in Central Park. I hopped off the horse and held my hand out to Alex. She took it and dismounted, alighting on the grass much more gracefully than I had. Alex scanned the sky above us.
"So when are the other two gonna show up? Where'd they go anyway?" I shook my head, laughing softly. "Knowing Annabeth, they're conspiring against us. And knowing Percy, he's doing whatever Annabeth is telling him to."
I wobbled over to a park bench and plopped down. I was still feeling dizzy from our flight. Guido waited patiently beside the bench, content to snack on mouthfuls of grass.
Alex settled next to me and we looked out across the park. I spotted a little girl playing with her baby brother. They looked so innocent and happy. Then something occurred to me. I turned to Alex.
"Do you ever get sad about the fact you'll never be able to have kids?" She looked taken aback by the question. She paused for a moment. Finally, she responded, "Yeah, I guess I do. There's so much that we'll miss out on because we'll never be adults."
I nodded. "I think about it all the time," I said. "We'll never get to legally drink, we'll never get drivers licenses, we'll never go to college, and we'll never have kids. We are gonna spend the rest of eternity training to die." I said bitterly.
Alex looked up at me and held my gaze. "I won't mind it so much as long as you're there with me," She said quietly. I smiled and put my arm around her. She leaned into my shoulder and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly.
We stayed like that until Percy and Annabeth finally descended from the sky, their hair blowing in the wind. I don't know what the mortals saw, but nobody seemed to notice two demigods spiraling down through the air on a winged horse.
They dismounted and approached us. My cousin smiled. "Are you guys ready to go?" I held up a finger. "Wait a minute, what errand did you have to run?" Annabeth jerked her head at Percy. "Seaweed brain is such a Mama's boy that he insisted we visit his mom, stepdad, and baby sister."
Percy pouted. "I am NOT a Mama's boy." Annabeth smirked. "I respectfully disagree." Alex cleared her throat. "So, if you don't mind, I'd like to know what we are doing today."
Annabeth and Percy still hadn't told us anything about their plan for the date. They shared an excited look, and the afternoon sun glinted mischievously in my cousins eyes.
Finally Annabeth said, "Okay, I'll tell you. Ultimately we are going to the observation deck on the Empire State Building, but we have some stops to make along the way." I groaned "More secret errands?"
She laughed. "It's not a secret. We're going out to dinner first. Then we have an appointment at a garden statue thrift shop." Percy's eyebrows shot up. "A what? I didn't know about this."
Annabeth giggled. "It's a surprise, seaweed brain. Don't worry, you'll love it." Percy shrugged, glancing at the sun. "It's about 6:00 now, are we ready for dinner?" Alex nodded and I smiled. "Let's go."
Percy's PoV
We ate dinner at this little cafe that Annabeth picked out. I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, and it was really good.
Before that day, I didn't really know Magnus and Alex very well, but I was missing out. They're both really cool and funny. I had a lot of fun that night.
At first I was a little apprehensive about Alex being gender fluid and all, but it wasn't as awkward as I thought. Don't get me wrong, I'm not homophobic at all. I respect LGBTQ. I just wasn't sure what to expect.
All night, Alex was tearing up straw wrappers and dropping pieces in Magnus's hair while she pretended to stretch. He couldn't figure out why the three of us were laughing every time Alex yawned and stretched her arms. He ended up finding them just as we left the cafe, and he shook them all out of his hair.
He got revenge on Alex by sticking a napkin on her back that said "Honk if you like pizza." We walked down the street towards the garden statue thrift shop. Alex figured it out after four honks and ripped the napkin off her back, glaring at Magnus. But I couldn't help noticing a twinkle in her eye.
After another few minutes of walking, we arrived at the shop, cleverly named 'Lawn Statue Thrift.' Annabeth took my hand in hers and led me inside, Magnus and Alex tagging along behind.
Annabeth half-walked, half-dragged me across the shop so fast I could barely take it all in. Statues, gnomes, and plastic flamingoes ogled me from all directions. The floor was carpeted, gray flecked with random blue spots. It looked like a giant moldy cake with blue sprinkles. The walls were a painfully boring shade of beige, and were completely bare.
By the time we reached the customer service counter at the far end of the store, I was out of breath. As I took a moment to control my breathing, Annabeth rang the little silver bell.
After a few moments, a large, potbellied man lumbered out of a door marked "Employees Only" and stood in front of us. The name tag on his shirt read "Greg." His face was pudgy and flushed, like he had just run a marathon.
He was dressed in a stained white tank top and brown khaki shorts. I will spare you a description of his bare legs. You don't want to hear it. His mouth was hidden behind a scraggly red beard that was easily as long as my forearm. He was completely bald, and his shiny scalp was adorned with colorful tattoos.
His voice was gruff and strained, like he was constipated and was very angry about it. "Can I help you?" Greg rumbled. Annabeth spoke up. "Yes please. I have a package being held for Annabeth Chase."
Greg grunted something that sounded like "Be right back," and lumbered off to retrieve the package. He returned a moment later with a cardboard box under his arm. It looked big enough to carry a pineapple, or a small pumpkin.
A red sticker was plastered on the top. It took me a moment to make out the word on the sticker. "damaged." Then I noticed the sharpie writing on the side of the box. "The poker player." That's odd. I thought. I feel like I've heard that before.
Annabeth accepted the box from Greg and handed him a couple of rolled up five-dollar bills, which he set to work on counting. Once he was satisfied, he retreated back into the Employees Only room.
Annabeth produced a pair of scissors from her left jeans pocket and held them out to me. I wasn't surprised. It's seen so many random objects come out of that pocket, I was beginning to suspect it was magic.
"What is it?" I asked. She snorted. "Just open it, seaweed brain." Alex and Magnus stood behind her, watching with interest. I ran the scissors across the tape and sliced the in half. When I opened up the box, a wide smile spread across my face.
I suppressed a giggle. Sitting in the bottom of the box was the petrified face of my favorite stepdad, Gabe Ugliano. His head had been detached from the rest of his stone body. He looked as ugly as ever. Apparently the statue had been broken, and the head had been shipped back to New York.
Years ago, the severed head of Medusa had found its way into my Moms apartment in Manhattan, and she'd used it to turn her abusive boyfriend into stone. She named him "The Poker Player," sold the statue, and got quite a lot of money for it.
I turned to Annabeth. She gave me a knowing smile and raised her eyebrows. I laughed. "Oh my Gods, Annabeth, seriously?" She laughed too, and that's when I saw Alex and Magnus's faces.
They were utterly clueless. They looked so confused. That put me over the top. I started laughing and couldn't stop myself. I clutched my stomach and chuckled until it hurt.
I looked over and saw Annabeth doing the same, her eyes shut tight, giggling uncontrollably. After a few moments we both recovered and Annabeth explained to Magnus and Alex about the statue. Pretty soon they were smiling, too. I wiped mirthful tears from my eyes.
"Okay, I don't think I've laughed that hard since Hoover Dam." That got another bout of giggles out of Annabeth. "Oh, I wish I'd been there. I would have given anything to hear Zoe say dam," she said, a smile in her voice. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and gave her a peck on the forehead.
When we finally collected ourselves, I taped the box back up and the four of us headed to the door. We stepped outside and made our way back to the park, where our Pegasi stood waiting.
Annabeth and I climbed up onto Blackjack. She wrapped her arms around my waist like she always did. As Magnus and Alex soared into the sky above us, I said without turning around, "I love you, Wise girl."
Annabeth leaned into me. She smelled like vanilla. "I love you more," she whispered. I smiled. "Love you most."
Hey, readers. Sorry for taking so long to update, I've been really busy. Yes, I know this was super long. Like, crazy long compared to my other chapters. 1,910 words, to be exact. There will be a part three, so stay tuned. I will really try to update sooner, but I can't make any promises. Hope you enjoyed this!