Percy Jackson One Shots and Short Stories

#13 - The Proposal

Chapter 13 - The Proposal
published: Monday, 1 October 2018

"Hey, Percy, what are you-OH MY GODS!" The sharp transition from Piper's normal tone to a sudden gasp evident.

"My ears," Percy groaned with a wince, though he quickly snapped the booklet shut, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

"I just saw-" Piper cut herself off as she wrenched the stapled booklet from him, ignoring his indignant protests. She flipped open the cover page and gasped.

Both pages were covered in all sorts of rings, different glimmering gems in different colours, shapes, and sizes. The price and order numbers were printed below each picture, as well as the jewels each ring contained.

"Is this-is this-"

Percy shushed her, snatching the brochure back. "Shut up," he hissed in alarm, eyes darting to Jason and Frank sitting by the counter.

Piper always came around their apartment after work - after a few years of high school and college in New Rome, Piper started her own head-hunting entrepreneurship, and the start-up had recently hit 7 million dollars in net worth - and she was fully comfortable around her friends, which meant zero privacy for everyone else.

Will was on the couch, helping Nico with some of his Math homework, the latter sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table with Split curled up in his lap.

Leo and Calypso were scheduled to get back in an hour, and he was bringing Japanese take-away, everyone's favourite. Hazel, now a student at one of New Rome's colleges, was still at practice for the local netball club, and was probably on the way over.

"You're going to propose to Annabeth!" Piper whisper-shouted, her eyes widening to the size of golf balls as she gaped at him. "How could you not tell me!"

"You never brought it up," Percy mumbled an excuse.

"Have you planned it out yet? Any romantic notions?" Piper demandes in a hushed tone. "Any main choices?"

Percy paled at her words. "Wh-what? I was just going to get a nice ring, and ask her over dinner or something."

Piper closed her eyes and resisted the urge to sigh exasperatedly. "Percy, just no."

"No?" Percy repeated confusion. "What's wrong with that?"

"Don't you remember how Frank proposed to Hazel at Montauk?" Piper reminded him. "Now that was romantic. And it was a great story to tell at their wedding last year."

Percy glanced at Frank, whose silver wedding ring was fixed firmly on his right forefinger. He and Hazel lived in a flat just down the road from this apartment - where Leo and Jason now had their own separate rooms.

"Annabeth and I have been dating for the last 10 years, Piper," Percy told her in a matter-of-fact tone. "She's in Harvard Architecture, and I'm a marine biologist. Piper, we're adults, we already live together. I'm too old for wild romantic gestures."

Piper glared at him. "Perseus Jackson, you're 26, stop acting like an elderly man. A romantic proposal might not matter much to you, but trust me, it would mean the world to Annabeth."

That got his attention. Percy wanted this to be perfect for Annabeth, and honestly, he was pretty nervous. "Okay, okay, you're the expert here, Pipes. Tell me what to do."

Piper grabbed the brochure and stuffed it into the pocket of her shorts.

"Hey, Percy and I are gonna head out for a bit, okay?" Piper called out.