“Percyyyy! That's not a match!”

The raven haired boy pursed his lips and stared hard at the two (clearly different) cards he'd placed on the coffee table. “Hm. . .are you sure?”

Estelle Blofis huffed angrily, and the smile on her face made his stupid act worth it. “Yes, you dumbhead. You know they aren't a pair.”

Percy narrowed his eyes and gave her a suspicious look. “I don't know, Estelle. They seem pretty similar to me.” He tilted his head to an odd angle and pointed to the funny cartoon drawings of old farmers and pretty young girls on the cards. “See? They both have a nose, and a mouth, and look––two eyes each. I don't know what you're talking about.”

Estelle, who could not come up with a good retort to his logic, crossed her arms. The large plastic bracelets she wore clanked against her colorful bead necklace. (She and Sally had had a fashion show a few hours earlier. Percy knew because he had been the audience.)

“Have you beat him yet?”

Percy and Estelle both grinned widely as Annabeth's head popped around the corner from in the kitchen, where she'd been helping Sally with dinner.

“Percy's cheating,” Estelle announced proudly.

Percy faked betrayal, placing a hand on his heart––which caused his little sister to giggle.

Annabeth gasped, turning to her fiance with mock disgust. “Perseus Jackson! Cheating?” She tsked, walking into the living room while wiping her hands on a towel. The blonde plopped down next to Estelle.

The young girl immediately pointed accusingly at Percy's fake pair, looking to Annabeth expectantly.

Annabeth followed her indications. “What?”

Estelle frowned. “They don't match!”

Annabeth moved slightly closer to get a better look. “I don't know. . .it looks right to me.”

Estelle glanced between the two teenagers. “You guys are always on the same side,” she muttered.

Percy laughed and picked up his two cards. “Just teasing you, Estelle. They don't actually match, by the way.”

Estelle's mouth fell open incredulously. “Percy! I know that!”

Annabeth joined Percy in laughing this time before collecting their hands and the rest of the Old Maid deck. “Alright, let's start a new game. No cheating this time.”

Percy pouted while Estelle smiled happily in agreement. The two watched as Annabeth shuffled the large cards with ease and dealt them each an equal amount.

“You know,” Annabeth mumbled as they all observed their cards for pairs, “Bobby and Matthew would love this. They'd love Estelle, actually.”

Percy frowned at his hand––there wasn't a single match––and glanced sidelong at his younger sister. “Hey, Estelle, can you go see if Mom's making cookies tonight?”

Estelle opened her mouth to refuse, but she saw the hopeful look in his eyes and crossed her arms. “Okay, okay.” A small smirk appeared on her face and she set down four cards, face up. Two pairs.

Percy looked at them, mouth agape, as she skipped out of the room. He shook his head before turning to Annabeth, who was also scowling at her probably lousy hand.

“Did Helen ever get back to you?”

Annabeth looked up at him quickly before returning her gaze to her cards. “No.”

Percy sighed. “Why? She knows how important your brothers' graduation is to you.”

“It's okay Percy. She actually did kind of respond. . .I mean, she sent a card to congratulate us, but it's clear she doesn't care about our attendance at their ceremony. The card's on the table, by the way.”

Percy furrowed his brow and reached for her hand underneath the table. “We'll go anyways. I'm sure Paul can give us some inside details. We'll just hop on a plane and head over.”

Annabeth let out a long, pent up breath. “Thank you. I was hoping you'd say that,” she admitted.

Percy grinned and they sat in silence until Estelle came bounding back into the living room, the rest of her cards still clutched in her hand.

“Momma said ‘of course, why would he even ask?’” Estelle sat back in her spot, breathing hard from running around. “Then she told me to beat you guys so bad that you would cower in fear everytime the words Old Maid were spoken.” She snickered.

Percy laughed while Annabeth shook her head, smiling.

“I've played my fair share of Old Maid games,” the blonde told Estelle. “You're gonna have to give it your all.”

Estelle studied Annabeth for a moment, and Percy couldn't help but be reminded of his soon-to-be wife. That look––there was always a reason behind it.

Finally, Estelle shrugged. “Okay. But before that, you should work on your shuffling.”

The young girl set down her last two cards, revealing another pair of identical cards.

The two halfbloods stared at the table in disbelief. Percy winced, recognizing a large blow to Annabeth's pride.

But a smile crept onto her face, and she gathered all of the cards once more.

“Rematch!”

////\

Percy smiled.

He'd been doing that a lot lately. And he had two very special girls to thank for that.

“Annie, what was that guy's name? The one you told me about last night.”

Estelle's gentle but passionate voice filled the quiet room, and Percy glanced down at the brunette, who was buried into his left side, messing with the bottom of his shirt as sleep weighed heavily on her eyes.

Annabeth, who was on Percy's other side, answered in a similar voice. “His name was Bob.”

Percy unintentionally stiffened at the name. Gradually, though, his muscles loosened after a calming nudge from Annabeth.

“And he saved you?” Estelle yawned. “Like, for real?”

“Yep. Percy, too. He was very brave that day. Do you remember what he said, Estelle?”

The girl thought for a moment. After a few seconds, she answered in a whisper.

“‘Tell the sun and stars hello for me.’”

“Mhm. Whenever you think about him, you can just look at the sky and say hello. He's very friendly, of course.”

Percy's heart threatened to explode from the warmth inside of it. He wanted to cry, laugh, smile, and grimace all at the same time. Instead, he stared into the empty space in front of him with a wistful expression for a few long, silent minutes.

When he blinked and brought himself back to the present, both of his beloved girls were breathing softly in their sleep on either side of him, and a small smile finally broke out on his face. He planted a kiss on top of each of their heads, sending out a silent thanks to whoever decided he deserved two angels like them in his messy life.

He resolved to carry his sister to her bed a little later, after sitting in between then for just a bit longer.

And when Percy's eye caught the glint of the ring on Annabeth's finger, his smile grew even wider, the happiness inside of him bursting.

Who ever said a demigod couldn't live happy? Percy was sure proving them wrong.

a / n

oops. sorry for the long wait omg !!

let us all thank miyuthefangirl for the freaking AMAZING prompt for this one. and sorry for the wait miyu, i hope it's what you had in mind (:

and today marks one year of wattpad for me, so thank you all for reading and supporting my biggest book. i really appreciate everything.

yours in demigodishness and all that,

~ grace 💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙