Join Us - A Pirate's Life is Best

Chapter 23 : A Walk Around Town

AN: Hey peeps. I know it's been a while, sorry about all the time I've taken off recently, but I've been dealing with a shit load of stress and other stuff. I finished my exams yesterday so I'll hopefully have more time to write again, but I'm not sure exactly where I want to go with this story, so I'll see what I'll do.
~M

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Annabeth's POV

She hated herself for it, but Annabeth couldn't help herself from staring at Percy almost the entire time they were out and about with the rest of their friends.

Her mind flashed back to an hour or so earlier, when she'd been swimming with Percy, Piper and a pod of dolphins. The way he'd smiled and laughed and looked so carefree and happy almost melted her heart.

There was no point overthinking it. She'd fallen for him. Hard.

But now, walking through the streets of Atlantis with the rest of her friends, it had started to bother her slightly, for multiple reasons.

Chief among those was the fact that Percy's father hated her mother, and therefore her as well, but also because she had accepted the fact that Percy would most likely never fall for her.

She didn't blame him for that, though. She saw the way most of the girls - and some of the boys - in Atlantis looked at Percy, girls and boys who looked much better than she did, and were most likely not hated by Percy's father.

After a few minutes of walking through the city though, Annabeth wished she'd stayed behind with Thalia and Reyna.

That wasn't due to the fact that she didn't enjoy spending time with her friends, but Annabeth didn't really enjoy the glares she was getting, neither those from the people around her age, who were most likely glaring at her because of her proximity to Percy, nor the glares she received from the older inhabitants of the island.

It took all of her self control not to glare back or lunge at them, because she did not enjoy being looked at like a piece of trash simply because of some beef the King had with her mother.

Ultimately, Annabeth decided to distract herself from them by turning her attention to her friends, and, more specifically, a certain boy with sea green eyes and raven coloured hair.

Upon closer inspection, Annabeth realised that Percy was maybe not as cool and relaxed as his face was showing. His fists were clenched slightly at his sides and his shoulders were raised slightly and tensed.

Not knowing what else she could do for him, she softly put a hand on his shoulder and felt the tension release slightly. "Hey, we're fine." She whispered reassuringly.

"I hope so. Humans are unpredictable, and I don't want to have to deal with one of these people attacking you because of who your mother is." Percy sighed, looking off into the distance. "It's happened before, a long, long time ago, with your half brother, Malcolm."

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat. Was he really worried about her, and only her? "It's cute that you worry about me, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth teased, trying to hide her blush.

Percy turned back and gave her a small smile that might have just melted her entire body. "I will always worry about your safety, Wise Girl."

"Don't worry Perce, anyone tries anything and we'll stop 'em." Piper said enthusiastically, shoving Percy's other shoulder slightly.

"Yeah, if you're not to busy staring at that blond prince with glasses." Percy replied with a scoff, shoving Piper back.

"I hate you." Piper growled, turning away to hide the blush that Annabeth had saw creep into her face.

"No, you don't." Percy replied with a chuckle.

Piper went back to Jason and Annabeth slid her hand down from Percy's shoulder and hooked her arm in his, no longer caring about the perception of the public.

As they continued walking, Annabeth noticed Percy sighing slightly, though it was a sigh of content, and wondered what it could be about, but didn't want to pester him with questions.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another girl glaring at her, and, hovering officially had enough, Annabeth fired a glare back, one so powerful that the girl stumbled and fell backwards.

"Remind me never to piss you off again, Wise Girl." Percy chuckled.

"Oh you're not off the hook yet, prince." Annabeth growled, emphasising Percy's title to show him how she was still pissed to no end that he'd kept that from her, or at least thought she was. She never really forgave anyone for keeping secrets from her.

Percy's other hand went up to scratch the back of his neck and he looked down slightly. "I- I'm sorry about that, ok? I just... I don't know, I didn't like being a prince and I was never fine with just sitting around in a castle. I much prefer to just spend my entire life out on the ocean." Percy explained.

Annabeth couldn't help but smile. "It's fine... I think. I'm not too good at the whole forgiveness thing, but you seem to be an exception."

"Jason?" Percy asked her.

"What about him?"

"He kept the whole "being a prince" thing from you as well, why aren't you mad at him."

In all honesty, Annabeth had been so taken away by Atlantis' beauty and Percy's... everything that she hadn't even remembered that Jason had turned out to be the Prince of England. "Well I am still mad about that," she admitted. "But it didn't really surprise me."

"Really?" Percy asked, raising a brow as if he didn't believe her.

"Yeah. He was the only one who never spoke badly about the King or the royal family, and he usually defended them when someone said something bad about them." She explained. "Plus, his eyes are the exact same colour as the King's eyes. Doesn't mean I'm fine with him keeping it a secret, but anyways."

"Gods, how can you be that smart?" She heard Percy whisper, causing her to blush slightly.

"Hey Perce, you think she's here?" Piper suddenly asked, gesturing to what looked like a café.

"Honestly, I hope not, because if she is, I'm dead for not visiting her earlier." Percy replied, suddenly looking slightly scared.

Annabeth felt a rush of jealousy, but decided to push it down until she found out who the person they were talking about was.

Suddenly, Eliana broke out into a fit of laughter. "Ahh, that was hilarious." She said after she'd calmed down. "But don't worry, mom isn't here right now. She'll be back soon though."

Percy heaved a sigh of relief, and so did Annabeth, though she did it silently, happy that the person they were talking about wasn't some lover he had.

"Ok, care to explain what this place is?" Jason asked.

"It's a café." Eliana replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, no shit." Leo said.

"My mom owns and runs the place, but goes back to the mainland for a month every once in a while." Percy explained. "She spends a month here and then a month on the mainland. Don't ask me how she works it out, because I have no idea."

"Your mom sounds amazing." Hazel said.

"She is." Nico chuckled. "She's basically adopted all of us."

"Any idea when she's coming back, Eli?" Will asked Eliana.

"Actually, I think she should be back tomorrow." Eliana replied.

Annabeth noticed Percy's face morph into a massive grin. "Would Thalia and Reyna be mad if we went inside without them?" He asked.

"Yes. Definitely." Calypso replied.

"Fuck it." Percy said, opening the door and leading them inside. "I'll get a message to them somehow."