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Annabeth was used to spending the day after her birthday dealing with a hangover, not her actual birthday. But her birthday had fallen on a Monday and Piper and Malcolm couldn’t get time off work for that week and instead she had spent the last three days bar hopping in Boston celebrating her bachelorette party with her friends while Percy had been enjoying his bachelor party in Lake Ontario courtesy of Rachel’s family yacht.
She wasn’t sure at what time they had arrived in NYC the previous night. All she knew was that currently her head was killing her, her mouth felt like sandpaper and there was a high probability she was going to throw up if she left the bed. After Tartarus and being cursed by the Arais the idea of blackout curtains had never been appealing, until now. The room was bright, oh so bright and that was not helping her headache, she was trying to grab a pillow to cover her face when she heard the door opening.
“Oh good, you're awake.” She heard Percy say. “Do you want to be miserable in bed or do you want to be miserable in the living room?”
She managed to move to a sitting position without throwing up. “I want my head to stop killing me.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I have Gatorade and Advil with me,” Percy said, sitting on the bed next to her. He offered her both items and she gladly accepted. “I’m heating up some Menudo for you. Ma dropped it off yesterday saying you might need it today.”
“I am never drinking again.” It was a lie, she knew it and Percy knew it. But she was definitely never drinking like that again, she was sure the mead Magnus had gifted her would have killed them if they hadn’t been demigods.
She could hear the laugh in his voice. “Better being hungover now than after our wedding, I guess.”
“Valid,” Annabeth said slowly. “I don’t want to feel like shit after our wedding night.”
“Well, I'll try my best for it to not suck.” Percy joked, making Annabeth laugh and then cry out in pain.
“Don’t make me laugh when my skull is being pulled apart.”
“I can’t help the fact I’m hilarious.” He kissed her forehead. “I'll bring you the Menudo when it’s ready, birthday girl.”
It had taken a balanced breakfast of Menudo, coffee, blue Gatorade, extra-strong pain medicine, and a cold shower to bring her somehow back to life. The remains of the ‘future Mrs. Jackson ’ temporary tattoo on her forearm being the most prominent reminder of the crazy weekend she had. And by three pm she found herself sitting in her favorite Italian restaurant nursing a coke and eating olives while waiting for the main dishes to arrive.
“Today could have been our wedding day,” Percy said, winning a snort from her. “Just saying.”
“It would have been funny, our dating anniversary is your birthday, and our wedding anniversary would be mine.” Annabeth took a sip of her drink and Percy laughed.
They had joked about it while trying to decide on a wedding date. They knew they wanted it to be in summer and that their reception would be at Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth had teasingly said they should just get married on his birthday and Percy had brought up her birthday in response. And then they had agreed on July 31, she wasn’t sure who had brought it up first but it was between their birthdays and it just felt right.
He took her left hand in his and started playing with her engagement ring. “Nineteen days.”
“I can’t believe how time went by so fast,” she said softly.
“Planning a wedding will do that.” He smirked at her but then he scrunched his face in that adorable way she loved. “Do you think things are going to change between us?”
“After getting married?” Annabeth started chewing an olive while thinking about her response. They had been officially living together for three years and had a joint bank account and bills they were both responsible for. “I don’t see why they would, besides all the legal stuff related to the marriage.”
“One thing will change though.” Percy brought her hand to his lips. “I will get to call you wife. ”
She couldn’t help but giggle, the joy of Percy using the word wife to refer to her was something indescribable, it was like she was sixteen again when he would ask her to sneak into the woods so they could make out. “We're going to use husband and wife so often everyone is going to hate us.”
“We saved the world twice before we graduated high school, I feel like we deserve to be obnoxious about it.”
“Oh!” Annabeth exclaimed happily. “Another thing that will change: we'll have matching rings!”
“Oh yeah! I need to ask Tyson if they're ready.” Percy looked at his left hand. “It'll be weird wearing a ring.”
“You get used to it, most of the time I forget I’m wearing one.”
Before Percy could reply their waiter was back bringing them their lunch, the smell of her pasta was so delicious it made her realize she was starving.
“That’s so rude of you.” Percy finally said after they thanked the waiter.
She laughed at him. “Shhh, let’s just eat our food, Seaweed Brain.”
***
“How is that pretty smart head of yours doing?” Percy asked her once they were done with the gelato they had for dessert and were waiting for the check.
“Ugh, the Menudo was a lifesaver. Remind me tonight to tell Sally she is a gift from the gods.”
Percy snorted. “Will do. And speaking of presents, are you ready to hear about yours?”
Annabeth looked at him with confusion. Earlier Percy had told her lunch would be on him, so she had assumed this was her birthday present. “But you're paying for lunch?”
“I mean yeah I am, but that’s not what I mean.”
“I thought we had agreed on not getting presents this year.” With their engagement dinner, bachelor(tte) parties, the actual wedding plus their honeymoon, they had decided to skip birthday presents this year. Yes, she did have a reminder on her phone to make reservations for his favorite ramen place for his birthday, but that was different just like he was gifting her this lunch.
“You're going to love this, trust me.” Percy took his phone from the table and sent her a picture, grinning the whole time.
She looked at the picture once, twice, and couldn’t understand why Percy was so happy about it. “Why did you send me a picture of fried chicken?”
“What!? No.” He took her phone from her hands to stare and it before giving it back to her. “Annabeth, that’s not food, they're dogs.”
Annabeth squinted at her phone and yes, he was right, those were definitely dogs. “Oh! I see it now. I still don’t get it.”
“They're Goldendoodle puppies, they belong to one of Paul’s students that he tutored, he got into his first college choice and they're offering a puppy to Paul as a thank you.” Annabeth’s eyes widened and a smile started to appear on her face, finally understanding what he was implying. “You know they can't have pets in their apartment and Paul knows we've talked about getting a dog…”
“Oh my gods.” Annabeth laughed happily. “Are we going to have a puppy?”
“They're currently six weeks old, which works perfectly for us because that means we can pick the puppy after we get back from our honeymoon.”
“We're going to have a puppy!”
“Gods, you look radiant right now.” Percy smiled at her, that happy goofy smile. “So, I take it you like your birthday present?”
“I fucking love you so much.” She raised herself from her seat and leaned down to kiss him.
“We need to work out our schedules with Paul to see when we can go with him to see the puppies so we can choose one.”
“Remind me to also tell Paul he is a gift from the gods.”
“Good thing he is also going to be at their apartment tonight when we go for dinner and your birthday cake.”
“Is it bad that I want to go to Petco to see dog stuff?” Annabeth asked him, she knew she had the biggest smile on her face but she couldn’t help it. She had been wanting a pet for so long and she couldn’t believe she was so close to finally having one.
Percy laughed and booped her nose. “I mean, today you decide what to do, birthday girl.”
“Maybe we can even pick up a dog toy.”
“Let’s be real, we are absolutely getting one.”