Percabeth fluff

Black Tie Family

Time placement is a few years after the war with Gaea. Also, sorry the title sucks. I totally blanked on it!

"Stop fidgeting with it, you look gorgeous." Percy tells me, as I fiddle with the bottom of my dress. He's dragging me to Paul's family reunion, though I don't know why because neither of us really know anyone on Paul's side outside of Paul. Percy met some of them at the wedding of course but I'm the plus one that only knows her date's parents. A little embarrassing if you ask me. 

"Who has a black tie family reunion?" I grumble, uncomfortable. I hate wearing dresses, you can't fight in them. I did manage to find a thigh holster for my knife though. Never know when you might need one. Percy pulls up to the fancy country club and hands the valet the keys to his beat up blue pick up. He opens my door for me, ever the gentleman. I smile at him and take his outstretched hand. He looks very handsome indeed in his black tux and green tie. The tie brings out the green in his already vibrant eyes. The reunion is being held in one of the large halls, apparently Paul has a huge family.

"Don't worry, I'll be by your side as long as you want me." Percy leans down and whispers in my ear, kissing my forehead. 

"I'll always want you." I smile up at him and we walk into the already bustling party. We are about an hour late, since Percy had to work this evening. I spot Sally sitting at one of the tables with Estelle, who is coloring on a piece of paper, and a bunch of other family members. I twist the ring on my left hand nervously, still not used to it being there. Percy and I haven't gone public with our engagement, only our parents and close friends know so far. Sally literally cried when we told her. This is the first time I've worn the ring out of the house. 

"Percy, Annabeth! Over here!" Sally waves us over and we join her and Estelle at the table. Estelle captures Percy's attention immediately, she has that man wrapped around her finger so tight. I sit down next to her, feeling self conscious as everyone at the table is looking at Percy and I.

"This is my son Percy, and this is my daughter Annabeth." Sally introduces us to the others at the table and I feel my throat contract when she calls me her daughter. I glance around, getting a feel for my surroundings. We are joined by what looks like a whole family, the man bears a striking resemblance to Paul. I would bet anything that he's Paul's brother and that the others sitting with him are his wife and kids. There's a young girl, around 14-15 and an older teenage boy, probably 19 or so. The boy is looking at me strangely.

"Annabeth, this is Paul's brother Stephan, and his wife Alexia. And their two kids, Jake and Amy." Sally introduces them. I was right. I give a small smile and nod in their direction. Looking to the left of me, I see Percy is still talking to his sister about whatever she is coloring. I have no doubt in my mind that he will make a great father one day.

"Sally, I wasn't aware that you had any other children besides Percy and Estelle." Alexia asks, taking a sip of wine. Her kids look bored, their faces mimicking how I'm feeling.

"Well, Annabeth is my daughter-in-law. Almost." Sally says, and I can hear the pride in her voice. I seriously don't know what I did to end up with a loving boyfriend-no, fiance-and an equally loving mother-in-law. Alexia purses her lips and I can see she's trying to do the math in her head. It doesn't take a genius to know how she's going to react. This is exactly the reason we haven't told many people, because they judge us on how young we are. 

"Oh really? You don't look old enough to have a daughter-in-law." Stephan steps in before his wife can make a fool of herself. I'm beginning to feel uncomfortable and Percy notices. He leans over and rests his hand on my thigh.

"You OK?" He asks.

"Yeah, just thirsty. Do you want some water?" I ask him, knowing that he will. He nods and goes back to folding the paper napkins into animals with his sister. I find the water and take a long drink. I hate events like this. Before I left home, my step mom used to make us attend her work events and a monster almost always crashed the party. There's a group of younger than I girls converged near me and they seem to be in a gushing conversation.

"Did you see that guy? Holy smokes. I've never seen him at one of these before." I overhear one of the girls and I'm pretty sure they're talking about Percy. I sigh, though it's not his fault he's good looking. I scoot closer to the group of girls under the pretense of looking at what there is to eat but really I just want to hear more.

"I think he's Paul's stepson, since that's Paul's kid he's sitting with. My mom was saying about how we're the same age. Technically we're not related...." I hear and I snort. Technically you are.

"Do you think I should go and talk to him? My mom is always getting on me to interact with others at these things." I give up on pretending not to listen and butt into the conversation.

"I heard he's taken." I say, a sarcastic smile playing at my lips. They all look up at me in surprise.

"By who?" The one who mentioned going to talk to him asks.

"His fiancee." I say with a sweet smile on my face.

"What? He's like 22."

"Well, 20 actually." I say and they all look skeptical, glancing in his direction. 

They disperse except one of the younger girls, who stays behind.

"Hi, I'm Sam. Ignore my cousins. I don't think I've ever seen you here before." She introduces herself.

"Annabeth. I'm actually not related to anyone here, I came with my date." I say as a few of Sam's cousins find Percy. They ask him to join them at their table and he agrees, probably just to be polite. This should be interesting.

"Oh, who did you come with?" Sam asks. I smile and point out Percy.

"My fiance." Sam's eyes widen when she realizes and I laugh. I can see Percy is getting uncomfortable with the attention and I decide to help him out. I grab the glass of water I'd gotten for him and I swish over, trying really hard not to trip in these damn heels. I swear, I'm going barefoot at the wedding. 

"Here's your water." I say, handing a grateful Percy his cup and sliding a hand across his shoulders. I take the seat next to him and smile up at the girls. They look down at me with clear distaste and I wave, making sure to show off the ring. I'm not one of those jealous girlfriends but I do like to make it known that he's mine. They all leave and Percy looks over at me in amusement.

"What was that about?" He asks.

"I did tell them you were taken, but they insisted on coming to talk to you." I shrug. Percy just smiles and shakes his head at me. We decide to just keep to ourselves the rest of the night, avoiding the whole family outside of the three we actually like.

So this was not my best chapter. But it's longer than some of my other ones have been so there's that. I've hit a bit of writer's block. I really love writing mortal AU's but I'm a little short on ideas. Suggestions are welcome!

Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to vote and leave a comment!

XOXOXO,

G