Pretty Perfect

                                    

                                          
I'm in the middle of reading during a rare moment of peace when I get the feeling that I'm being watched. I look up from my book to find Piper standing and staring at me. 
                          
"What's up, Piper?" I ask, lowering my book. She sighs and sits down next to me. 
                          
"How do you do it?" She asks. I frown, not sure what she means. There are a lot of things that I can do that others can't, she has got to elaborate. That may sound like I'm bragging, but it's just a fact. 
                          
"How do I do what?" I ask. Looking down and remembering what page I was on, I close my book and set it down on the table. I have a feeling this is going to be a long conversation. 
                          
"You and Percy. I was watching the two of you earlier. The way he adores you and you him. I don't want to use the word perfect because of course no relationship is perfect. But perfect is what it appears." She says. I understand what she is asking now. She must have seen Percy being overly affectionate this morning. What she doesn't know is how annoying he was being, actually.
                          
"Our relationship is far from perfect, trust me. Percy is a pain in the ass and I know I am one too. We argue about stupid stuff and there are times where I can't even look at him because I am so mad." I shrug. 
                          
"It's kinda hard to watch the two of you together, seeing all the things that aren't happening in my own relationship. I think I love Jason, but it's really hard to actually know him. He doesn't share anything with me." Piper frowns, looking at the ground. I feel a little bad for her. 
                          
"You have to remember that Percy and I have been through a lot together, even before we were dating. We were best friends for years. By the time we got together, I was used to all his annoying qualities and I knew practically everything about him. The only thing that really changed when we started dating is the fact that I can kiss him whenever I want." I smile. 
                          
"Jason barely ever kisses me." Piper scowls. I try not to laugh. 
                          
"Maybe he's nervous? You should have seen Percy after we first got together. He was SO nervous about everything. I was the one that kissed him first because I knew he wasn't going to do it. I mean, you and Jason really haven't known each other that long. Kissing someone can be a little awkward when you are still learning how to be comfortable around each other." I really hope I'm giving the right advice here because outside of Percy, I don't have any experience with boys. 
                          
"I guess that's true. I feel comfortable around him but maybe because he's been alone for so long he is having a harder time. I try so hard to get Jason to open up and he just doesn't. Is that a guy thing? Does Percy share things with you?" Piper asks. I think about it for a minute. 
                          
"I think that might just be a guy thing, because Jason is definitely not the only guy to do that. Percy may be the exception though because he tells me everything. Trust me, sometimes there are things you don't need to know." I give her a look and she gets the memo. 
                          
"Gods, don't elaborate please. I do not need to know Percy's deep, dark secrets." Piper offers me a half smile. 
                          
"When you have a fight with him, how do you just move past it? Jason and I argued the other day and he's still not talking to me." 
                          
"Well, I can't speak for Percy but for me, after a few days of not seeing each other, I realize that I miss him more than I'm mad at him. It's taken me a long time to learn how to let things go, and that's just something that comes with time. Trust me, Percy and I disagree about a lot of things. Neither of us are the first to admit they were wrong either which can make for some difficult conversations. You and Jason just need to give it time. You're babies, you've barely been dating." I tease her. 
                          
"Oh please, you and Percy haven't been together that much longer than we have." Piper scoffs. 
                          
"Piper, we were a couple before we even knew we were a couple." I laugh.  
                          
"Do you think I should go and talk to Jason?" She asks, nervous all of a sudden. 
                          
"The only way you're going to fix anything is to go talk to him." I say. 
                          
"Thanks for the advice, Annabeth. You would think that with Aphrodite as my mother I would be better at this, but no. I should go find him." Piper says and with that she gets up to go find her boyfriend. Speaking of boyfriends, where is mine? 
                          
I find Percy in the stables, talking to the Pegasi. I wrap my arms around him from behind, resting my cheek on his back. He lays his hands on top of mine. 
                          
"To what do I owe this lovely visit?" He asks, bringing one of my hands up to kiss my palm. I see a large bale of hay and go to sit down. I pat the empty spot next to me and he sits down too. 
                          
"Just missed you, that's all." I shrug. He slings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to his side. 
                          
"You literally just saw me at lunch." He chuckles. 
                          
"Piper came to me for relationship advice today. She wanted to know how we make our relationship look so perfect. I hope I gave her ok advice, because honestly I don't know. I think maybe it's because we're like a well oiled machine. We know each other as well as we know ourselves. Do you think we're a perfect couple?" I turn my head and look up at him. He makes a thinking face which I know to be fake. 
                          
"I don't know about us, but you're pretty damn perfect to me." He declares. I smile like only he can make me do.
                          
"I think you're pretty damn perfect too." I say softly and he leans down to kiss me slowly.
                          
Ugh I accidentally deleted the first draft of this so I had to rewrite it and I don't think its nearly as good as the original. 😭
                          
Thank you so much for 40K!
                          
Hope you enjoyed it anyway! Don't forget to vote and leave a comment!
                          
XOXO, 
                          
G