So we all know what happened leading up to "pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time," but what happened during it?

*mature-ish content*

I kept a tight grip on Annabeth's hand as we crashed through the surface of the lake. We sank for a few seconds, the air bubbles escaping Annabeth's mouth with her laughter joining the ones soaring upward around us. An idea sparked in my head.

I started to swim down just as Annabeth kicked up, our interlocked hands pulling us taunt. But I had the advantage in the middle of the lake, so I tugged her against me and headed towards the muddy bottom. I could see Annabeth's eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Trust me," I spoke into the water. I wasn't sure if she knew what I said, but she understood nonetheless. She shrugged and tapped my chest insistently. "Right, right," I muttered, "I was getting there." I formed an air bubble around her head and she instantly made a big show of gasping for hair. I rolled my eyes playfully. "I wasn't going to let you drown, Wise Girl."

"I don't know," her voice slunk through the water to my ears, "it sure did seem like it." She smiled at me playfully and wrapped her arms around my neck.

Gods, I wanted to kiss her again.

With an insane amount of self control, I turned my face away from Annabeth's to search for the perfect spot. My eyes landed on an empty space surrounded by a barrier of tall seaweed. I looked back at Annabeth and jerked my head towards the patch, asking a silent question. She sucked in her bottom lip slightly, surprise written across her features. I instantly relaxed my hold around her waist, afraid I had misread the situation, but Annabeth kept herself pressed against me and nodded her head vigorously. I felt myself blush, either with embarrassment or anticipation or both. It was reassuring, however, that Annabeth also looked a bit pink. She continued to chew on her bottom lip, and it surprised me how badly I wanted to be the one doing that.

Instead of leaning forward to do so, I gripped her hips tightly and swam for the bottom. Upon reaching our new spot, I was pleased to find that it offered the privacy I hoped it would. The seaweed rose around us, high enough to block out the rest of the lake. The surface was so far away that it was impossible to discern anything above us. The quiet peacefulness of the water was soothing. I knew that Annabeth approved as well by the way one hand squeezed my shoulder and the other threaded her fingers into my hair, her thumb running along the back of my neck. I swallowed thickly.

"So," Annabeth said carefully, "how does this air bubble work? Like, if I try to kiss you, will it pop?" I laughed in response. I willed the bubble to expand, large enough that our whole bodies were enveloped. My back slid along the edge of the bubble until I was laying in the bottom of it, Annabeth pulled down on top of me. "Oh, that works, too," she squeaked. I found that rather adorable. I was painfully aware of the pressure of her body on top of mine. She was still practically cradling my head. Her face was right over mine. "It's not going to pop, right?"

"It shouldn't. Unless I get distracted." My heart rate started to increase.

She hummed in disapproval, the vibrations of the noise rattling through my chest. "I can't promise I won't distract you but I really don't want it to pop. And I'd hate to be mad at you right now," Annabeth whispered, all-but into my mouth, her nose brushing mine. I was having a lot of trouble forming coherent thoughts, but I managed to choke out,

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." Annabeth's laughter rang out in the air bubble. Then she was kissing me, and every sensation other than her slipped away.

Her lips were hot and demanding against mine, and I slid my hands all the way up her sides, from her hips, her ribs, her shoulders, her neck, and finally to cradle her face. I gently rubbed the skin under her eyes for a while, then moved one hand to cup the back of her head. I pushed her mouth farther into mine while I tangled my fingers in the base of her hair.

She settled more comfortably on top of me, pulling herself up so her elbows rested by my head, in the crook of my shoulders. She drug her fingers against my scalp and it took everything I had to not squirm. But when she straddled her legs to rest on either side of me... Gods, I never wanted to move again.

We continued on like that for a while, kissing and learning how to find a rhythm with each other. I had never kissed anyone like this, and I was pretty confident that Annabeth hadn't either. It wasn't perfect, yet it was. There was nothing about this girl that fell short of perfection, and I was amazed that I was the one to experience her this way. Every atom in my body was on fire, wanting more of her. I wanted to run my hands all over her, memorize the way she felt against me. But I didn't. I was afraid of going too far, scared of making her uncomfortable. Considering we had literally just had our first official kiss moments ago, there hadn't been time to set any ground rules. So I let Annabeth take the lead.

She ended up slowing our pace slightly, pulling back periodically to breathe. We didn't speak; every once in a while, a giggle escaped her - Annabeth Chase giggling? I grunted when she repositioned herself to lay more on her side next to me, rather than on top of me. I turned towards her body, slipping one arm under head and resting the other hand on her waist. She stroked my face gently, leaning in for another kiss. I met her halfway as she trailed her hand down, running down my throat then my sternum. She rubbed patterns onto my chest. I had never felt so content. When her hand finally stilled against my stomach, she tore her mouth from mine.

"Percy?" Her voice sounded small.

"Yeah?" My own voice sounded funny. I cleared my throat. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think..." she wouldn't meet my eyes. I started to grow nervous.

"Do I think what?" No answer. "Annabeth, if you want to go back up then we definitely can-"

"No!" she said quickly. "I mean, no, I don't want to. I don't want to at all."

"Well, okay," I responded as evenly as I could. "I don't want to either."

"But do you think we should? Do you think this is wrong?"

I can't lie, that hurt a bit. Okay, that hurt a lot. Did Annabeth think that we were a mistake? Did she regret everything that just happened? My hurt must have shown on my face, because she immediately squeezed my upper arm. "Not like that, Seaweed Brain! Gods, not like that at all, I'm sorry. Of course I want to be with you." She punctuated her point with a quick kiss, and it set my whole body at ease. "I just mean that it might be bad timing. That we might be acting insensitive. So much has gone on lately, and there's so much pain in Camp right now, and it just feels like we're ignoring it."

I pondered this as I stared into her beautiful grey eyes that were full of concern. I brushed the loose hairs of her ponytail back away from her face. I knew that it was unreasonable to think that she wouldn't still be distraught over the last few days' events, but I also had hoped she could forget about it, even if just for a little bit. I wanted to make her forget, to take away all of her pain.

"Annabeth," I started gently, "I don't think that is the case at all. You're right, there is a lot going on, and we've had some pretty bad moments. But I think that's why this is okay. You deserve to have a moment of peace, Wise Girl. A moment to be happy. This is when you get to be selfish." A tear slipped down her face, and I brushed it away. "And I promise you that everyone else thinks the same thing. Why else would they have thrown us in the lake? They weren't mad at our happiness - they were happy for us."

She nodded her head slowly, like she was convincing herself to believe me. She searched my eyes carefully. I rubbed her back, lightly, reassuringly, and she whispered, "Yeah. You're right. And you deserve to be happy too, Percy. Just because you're the most selfless person I've ever known doesn't mean you have to be selfless right now, alright?" I made a small noise of agreement, my chest growing warm at her words. But I didn't want to worry about myself right now; I only cared about Annabeth.

"What would make you happy right now?" she asked softly.

My brain went mostly numb as she scooted closer to me, pressing herself into my chest, lightly nuzzling my collar bone. She asked her question again, her breath tickling my skin, and I scrambled for an answer. I ran through the possibilities: another kiss? No, not specific enough; to stay just like this? No, no, I definitely wanted more; for her to straddle me again? Gods no, way too forward. I finally settled on the perfect request.

"I would be pretty happy if you would be my girlfriend." I was eternally grateful that Annabeth was still face down in my chest so she couldn't see my immense blush. I seriously hoped she couldn't feel how sweaty my hands were. But it was all worth it when I felt her smile.

"You want me to be your girlfriend?" I couldn't tell if she was genuinely just making sure or if she was teasing me, so I tried a different approach.

"Actually, I'd be really happy if you'd let me be your boyfriend."

She must have liked that amendment because she crashed her lips into mine. I laughed into her mouth and wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could. I reached up to tug out her ponytail as she hooked a leg over my hips, and I knew this kiss was about to get hot and heavy.

While 99.99% of me was thoroughly enjoying every minute of this time spent with Annabeth, that tiny portion of my brain wondered if we were moving too fast. Should we be more careful as we crossed the line between best friends and boyfriend/girlfriend? Should we take more time to actually learn what we were doing because we were both pretty inexperienced? Should we consider the fact that about four days ago we about ripped each other's heads off and now our tongues were down each other's throats? I didn't know, but I did know that whatever we were doing, I was enjoying it too much to stop.

I suddenly felt a weight pressing on top of my head, which didn't make a lot of sense considering I knew exactly where every part of Annabeth was and she was nowhere near the top of my head. I broke our kiss to look up and realized the air bubble had shrank to the point of just barely containing us. I took a second to assess our new position. I don't remember how or when, but Annabeth and I had become very scrunched together. I was sitting upright with my legs tucked in, Annabeth facing me in my lap with her knees locked around my hips. Our fronts were pressed together, my hands splayed across her back and hers across my chest. I looked down at her to see if she was as confused as I was. It did not seem so.

"I thought you were doing that on purpose," she said innocently. "You know, to force us closer."

"I told you I'd get distracted," I muttered, pulling her up into me to run my nose under her jaw.

"And I told you I would make no promises," she hummed, but she sounded pretty distracted herself. I danced my fingers along her back and pressed delicate kisses to her neck. This was new, but she didn't stop me, so I took that as a sign to keep going. The longer I did that, the more she melted into me, pressing her face into my hair and practically cradling me to her chest. I could feel how hot her skin was under my mouth. An almost-whimper escaped her when I moved from her neck to her collarbone, then slightly lower. She swiveled her hips ever so slightly against mine, and I couldn't help but let out a little noise of my own. I was pretty sure my heart would stop beating any moment, or I would spontaneously combust, or both at the same time.

Just when I began to notice that her shirt was starting to ride up and a brief thought about asking her if I could take it off crossed my mind, I felt something wet drip onto my head. I cursed, thinking the air bubble had finally started leaking. But when I lifted up to check, I found something much worse.

"Whoa," I yelped, my voice cracking. "Hey, hey, hey," I hushed worriedly. I gently pushed Annabeth back away from me a bit, immediately releasing her to wipe away the tears running down her face. "What's wrong, Wise Girl? I'm sorry if I went too far, I didn't mean - I mean, I would never-" but a horrible sob erupted from her, cutting me off, and she slumped against my chest. "Annabeth?" I asked timidly, seriously freaking out at this point. The last thing I wanted to do was upset her. I wasn't even sure if I should hold her.

"I - I thought," she choked, her voice muffled by my shirt, "I thought I was going to lose you, Percy."

Oh. Oh. Oh. I wrapped my arms around her shaking form, rubbing circles into her back, and kissed the top of her head. "I know, Annabeth." My own throat closed up as I thought about the dagger she took for me, the way she lay sick on that stupid hotel couch, how she collapsed in my arms on Olympus. "I thought I was going to lose you, too."

She began to sob harder, the kind of crying where it was impossible to breathe. "No, y-you don't understand-" hiccup "-you don't understand, I thought for-" hiccup "-for years that you were going to... that I would... that you w-were-" and then she started hyperventilating. I instantly willed the air bubble to grow significantly, both to give her more air and more space. I moved her off my lap to lay on her back. I placed one of her hands on her upper stomach and held her other against my own diaphragm.

"Just breathe, Annabeth, okay? Just follow my breathing. In and out... In and out." We did this for a few minutes until her breath stopped coming in gasps. Her chest still rose and fell heavily, but she seemed to be in control. I shifted so her head rested against my leg, and I stroked her hair soothingly.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, her eyes squeezed shut. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Please don't apologize," I whispered back. She reached up to hold my hand, and I pressed a light kiss to her wrist. "We can talk about it, if you want. But we don't have to."

Her eyes snapped open to reveal a fresh pool of tears. She stared intently at me, and I watched a strange emotion pass over her face: grief.

"Percy," she tried again, "I read the prophecy years ago, before I knew you." I nodded to urge her on. "I've always lived with the knowledge that the hero of the prophecy would have to," her voice caught, "sacrifice themself. So I've always - I've always been afraid..." she trailed, unable to finish her thought, so I finished for her.

"You were afraid it was me."

She nodded, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, and I wiped them away. She continued, "I've spent every single moment I've known you thinking about how you were supposed t-to-" she started breathing erratically again.

"No, no, Wise Girl, I'm right here. Deep breaths, c'mon, you're okay. I'm okay. We're okay." I scooped her up in my arms and cradled her like a baby. "I didn't die, right? I'm still here and I'm staying here."

That seemed to do a pretty good job of calming her down. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. You're still here," she mumbled to herself and pressed her face into my neck. I simply held her close.

We sat in silence for a long while, the only disruption being the occasional sniffle. I ran my thumb across Annabeth's shoulders to comfort her and she had fisted my shirt. It was calm, the first real calm either of us had experienced in days, or weeks, or maybe even months. My mind, however, was racing.

"Annabeth?" I said tentatively.

"Hm?"

"You didn't just... I mean we didn't just... the only reason we just made out wasn't because I didn't die, right?"

She sat up slowly. "What?"

"Like, I don't want this all to be just because I'm not dead and you feel obligated to make out with me."

Annabeth looked stunned. "Of course not, Percy. I made out with you because I like you. The only reason I haven't done it before now is because I'm kind of stubborn." She grinned slightly. "Or so I've been told."

I laughed a little, but I wasn't content yet. "You're sure?"

"Well, I mean, I can't pretend that I didn't stay a little guarded because I was scared to lose you." She looked at me carefully. "I was terrified, Percy, and I didn't want to hurt any more than I had to. I've spent the last few weeks miserable, so broken over thinking about how it would end..." she wiped her eyes. I felt guilty, even though I knew it wasn't necessarily my fault. "And I'm sorry for that. I know it was selfish of me." I shook my head and tried to assure her it wasn't, but she held up a hand. "But what happened here today... it wasn't just because of the prophecy. It was because of the way you thought of me to tie you to the mortal world. The way you held my hand when I was in pain. The way you protected me in the throne room. It was everything, Percy, everything about you. And I just felt it was finally time show you how I feel, because I was finally sure exactly how I feel." She finished with gentle, quick kiss that filled me with a sense of warmth. Not the same kind of intense heat as earlier, but a soothing, comforting warmth.

My thoughts were sluggish thanks to my amazing new girlfriend's heartfelt speech, but I managed to respond, "Okay. Okay, that's great. And I feel the same way about you, I hope you know that."

"I do, Percy, I promise I do." A moment of comfortable silence passed between us as we soaked each other in. "We should probably get back up there soon." Annabeth looked towards the surface but didn't seem too pleased about it.

"Or," I said slowly, "we could stay here for a little while longer." She quirked an eyebrow. "Not to make out more, I swear!" I held up my hands in surrender. "Just to cuddle, or whatever."

Annabeth laughed. "Alright, then, let's cuddle, or whatever." She tugged me down to lay next to her, resting her head on my chest and draping an arm over me. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. I took the opportunity to truly soak in the beauty beside me, studying every feature. I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that we had gotten so intimate, so close, in just one afternoon. I wanted to spend a million more afternoons with her.

I breathed in deeply, trying to memorize the moment.

"You know, Wise Girl," I said after a little bit. "I wouldn't necessarily mind making out again."

"I'm sure you wouldn't, Jackson," she said sarcastically. But she did lean up to give me one last, lingering kiss, and it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.