The crowd was still buzzing from the final whistle, but Percy barely heard it. He had just sliced through the water, finished first, and the adrenaline still surged in his veins. Pulling himself out of the pool, hair dripping and chest rising with heavy breaths, he searched the stands.

There she was. Annabeth. Arms crossed, an eyebrow arched, trying way too hard to look unimpressed. Percy grinned, wide and boyish, the kind of grin that made people in the crowd cheer louder even though the race was already over.

He grabbed his towel from the edge and jogged over, droplets trailing behind him. Annabeth didn’t even flinch when he came up, still dripping wet, water running down his shoulders. Instead, she snatched the towel out of his hands before he could use it, standing on her toes slightly to reach his head.

“Seaweed Brain,” she muttered, starting to ruffle his hair dry.

Percy ducked his head, laughing, though he didn’t pull away. “What? Didn’t I look awesome out there?”

“You looked like a wet dog,” Annabeth said flatly, but her lips twitched. Percy caught it—just the tiniest upward curve—and it made his grin even bigger.

“Wet dog who won,” he corrected proudly, puffing out his chest.

Annabeth rolled her eyes but kept toweling his hair, like she had done this a thousand times before. “Honestly, Percy. You’d think you discovered swimming yesterday with how smug you get.”

“Can’t help it if I’m amazing,” Percy teased, leaning closer just to see her fight harder not to laugh.

Finally, Annabeth gave up trying to hide it. A small smile slipped through, soft and just for him. Percy froze for a second, his grin faltering into something gentler. It was moments like this—Annabeth smiling at him, proud in her own quiet way—that made every practice, every early morning, every ache in his muscles worth it.

“You did good,” she said finally, low enough that only he could hear.

Percy’s grin came back instantly, wider than ever. “Knew you couldn’t resist admitting it.”

Annabeth swatted him lightly with the towel, but she didn’t stop drying his hair. And Percy, dripping pool water onto the tiles, didn’t stop smiling.