The four of us walk together while Percy and Jason explain their water balloon fights. Sometimes, I just don't understand them. 

"That sounds so cool," Piper gushes, "We have to do that sometime."

"We'll do it again." Percy promises, giddily.

...

We get to the Strawberry Fields and Piper and I navigate our boyfriends to the center. There are two blankets waiting for us in the empty grass patch. I set down the large paper bag I was holding in the middle of the blankets. Percy and I take one and Jason and Piper sit on the other. The atmosphere is quiet and peaceful. Most campers eat around this time. The breeze feels nice on our skin under our t-shirts.

"So," Percy points out, "a picnic?"

I smirk, "With only the essentials."

Piper pulls out spoons for us and I pull out two big cartons of gelato. 

"Yes." Jason and Percy breathe. I got them from the Stolls. They owed me.

Percy and I dig into a hazelnut chocolate carton, not bothering with bowls. Piper convinced me we didn't need them. Next to us, they start eating lemon gelato. Piper scrunches up her face as she tastes the lemony sourness. Jason chuckles at her and then promptly scrunches his face as well when the lemon hits him. I hope Nico likes the strawberry one. I got it mainly for him, wondering if he misses Italy a lot.

"This is so good," Percy remarks, "But.." I roll my eyes. I know what's coming next. "It'd be better if it was blue."

"Seaweed Brain, how do you think I was going to get blue hazelnut chocolate gelato?"

Jason pauses, "How did you two even get gelato at all?"

Piper pushes a finger to her mouth. "That's a secret."

I wink at them.

Percy scoops another bite in his mouth before asking, "Wise Girl, what's the plan? Just eat gelato or anything else?"

"We're going to eat gelato and watch the stars." I say simply. Piper and I thought a relaxing, beautiful night would be perfect. 

"Sounds perfect!" Jason tells us. Percy nods while grinning with his chocolate covered mouth. I toss him a napkin.

 "What's wrong Annie-beth, don't want a kiss?" He asks. He puckers up his lips and leans in.

I laugh and scoff, "In your dreams. Wipe your mouth and I'll think about it."

He gives his mouth a quick swipe and leaps on me with a bear hug. I barely have time to squeak a "Percy" out and then his arms are around me. I'm on my back lying on the thick blanket and Percy's hands support him so he lays like a horizontal bar, towering over me. He's looking right down at me with a mischievous smile. "Percy.." I sigh lovingly.

He plants small kisses on my forehead, cheeks, and nose. I laugh softly and make no move for him to stop.

"Slow down on the PDA!" Piper calls out jokingly.

"Yeah, man." Jason complains.

Percy blushes red when he remembers we aren't alone and he flips himself onto his back right next to me. "Shut up." he mutters.

"You're just envious." I tease Piper and Jason.

"Oh yeah?" Piper smirks. They lean in to each other and kiss each other's lips like it's second nature. They make no effort to conceal their pleasure. Jason's hands stay firmly, moving up occasionally but never lower, and Piper's hands run passionately through his hair. Their eyes are confidently closed while they suck each others' faces off.

"Come on." Percy whines. 

 Their kiss lasts way longer than we comfortably watch. When they break away, they look at us with the same smug look. 

"Cute," I retort, "You need me to call Will? It looks like you both lost a lot of oxygen while you were in each others' faces." My response doesn't damper their mood

They lie down on their backs like us and we all fall silent. Percy pulls his arm under my head and I pull myself in closer to him. The sun is almost done setting. The sky gradually turns from a red orange to a darkening purple. Stars start to glitter above us. I hear Piper ask Jason if he recognizes any constellations. Jason murmurs about the ones he knows and their stories. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see them point in different places in the sky but they're talking too quietly to pick up much. 

I cuddle closely to Percy. I see him get more sleepy but I can't let my guard down. We're too close to the ground. And spiders.

"Hey Annabeth?" he whispers.

"Yeah?"

"There are no spiders. I checked. Don't worry." My boyfriend. My superhero and best friend in life. I look over to him in admiration.

He's looking at the stars with a difficult to read expression. It's a mixture of pride, sadness, and much more than I can interpret.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask gently. I already know. We've been through too much together to not guess each others' thoughts.

"Bob and Zoë and.. everyone else." he admits quietly. "I told the stars Bob said hello."

"Me too." I say. 

We get even closer, not letting an inch of space between us. "I'm so glad I didn't lose you forever." he whispers. 

"I wouldn't let that happen Percy." I promise, my words heavy. 

"I just want to have a normal life." he confesses, a bit embarrassed. It's the demigod's dream. Everyone wants that.

"We can make it happen." I tell him. "When we're old enough, we can explore different places to live. We could look at New Rome if you want. We can have Leo make us the best monster proof protection systems Olympus has ever seen. We could," my voice unwillingly cracks, "even start a family somewhere. 

Percy looks directly at me and I think up some excuses for what I just said. "I mean, I-I.." I sputter. 

Instead, he just looks at me with a smile and nods. "That sounds like the best plan ever. We could conquer the world together, you know that?" He hesitates before asking,  "Can I kiss you right now?"

I laugh, breathlessly, through the rebellious tears welling up in my eyes. "I love you, Seaweed Brain."

"I love you more, Wise Girl."

I climb on top of him and push my lips against his soft lips. My heart races as our lips travel around each other. We didn't want to let go of each other. In the moment, we're the only two people that exist. And he's the only person that matters to me. We break away and I go back to snuggling at his side. He caresses my hair fondly. Never moving farther, we fall asleep with no burdens on our shoulders.

He tasted like hazelnuts.