It all started with Percy passing out and waking to a pretty, blonde-haired girl who says, “He’s the one. He must be.” From the first moment, Percy appreciated Annabeth’s subtle beauty and frankness, and as the years roll by, we have all watched that grow into the kind of relationship that makes you jump into Tartarus together rather than be separated.

Who could forget the first time Annabeth called him his signature nickname? When she says, “I’ve been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain. Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you’re going to save the world, I’m the best person to keep you from messing up,” we all knew that this was just the beginning of a beautiful ship.

Then there’s this magnificent little moment, which may have been the actual launch of the good ship Percabeth,

“Are you kidding?” she looked at me as if I’d just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.
“What’s the problem now?” I demanded.
“Me, go with you to the…the ‘Thrill Ride of Love’? how embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?”
“Who’s going to see you?” But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. “Fine,” I told her. “I’ll do it myself.” But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.

Ah, memories.

Ok, sometimes we just love hearing what Percy has to say about Annabeth. Especially when he is thinking about her as he eagerly awaits another summer at Camp Half Blood: “She’d emailed me the picture after spring break, and every once in a while I’d look at it just to remind myself she was real and Camp Half-Blood hadn’t just been my imagination. I wished Annabeth were here. She’d know what to make of my dream. I’d never admit it to her, but she was smarter than me, even if she was annoying sometimes.” Awww. School boy crushes are so fun to read.

Or better yet, isn’t it adorable when Percy starts feeling a little jealous when Annabeth regales him with the adventures of her youth with Luke and Thalia? A word of caution, there’s cute jealous, and then there’s scary jealous. Thank goodness Percy never gets to the scary kind of jealousy.

“A half-blood hideout.” I looked at Annabeth in awe. ‘You made this place?’
“Thalia and I,” she said quietly. “And Luke.”
That shouldn’t have bothered me. I mean, I knew Thalia and Luke had taken care of Annabeth when she was little. I knew the three of them had been runaways together, hiding from monsters, surviving on their own before Grover found them and tried to get them to Half-Blood Hill. But whenever Annabeth talked about the time she’d spent with them, I kind of felt…I don’t know. Uncomfortable?
No. That’s not the word.
The word was jealous.

And when you’re young, there’s nothing better than that first little peck on the cheek from the person you like, and when Annabeth planted one on Percy at the end of Sea of Monsters, we were all reminded of the time we felt that same thrill, whether it was a month ago or 10 years ago.

School dances and cotillions are always good opportunities for a little teenage drama, and while there weren’t any storm outs, who could forget this little moment between Percy and Annabeth… before it was rudely interrupted:

I looked nervously at Annabeth, then at the groups of girls who were roaming the gym.
“Well?” Annabeth said.
“Um, who should I ask?”
She punched me in the gut. “Me, Seaweed Brain.”
“Oh. Oh, right.”

The Titan’s Curse had a severe lack of Percabeth moments, what with Percy running around trying to find Annabeth for a large portion of the book, but the bits we did get were even sweeter because of it. Especially this one, after Percy nearly goes apoplectic trying to tell Annabeth not to join Artemis’ loyal band of maiden hunters,

“She studied me with concern. She touched the new streak of gray in my hair that matched hers exactly – our painful souvenir from holding Atlas’s burden. There was a lot I’d wanted to say to Annabeth, but Athena had taken the confidence out of me. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
I do not approve of your friendship with my daughter.
“So,” Annabeth said. “What did you want to tell me earlier?”
The music was playing. People were dancing in the streets. I said “I, uh, was thinking we got interrupted at Westover Hall. And…I think I owe you a dance.”
She smiled slowly. “All right, Seaweed Brain.”

And I’m sure we all remember when Annabeth breaks the rules and sits by Percy at the Poseidon table. Mostly because Annabeth is not exactly the rebel-looking-to-bring-down-the-establishment type, but also because Percy was so taken aback by how close she sat to him.

“Someone else slid next to me on the bench: Annabeth.
“I’ll tell you what it’s about,” she said. “The Labyrinth.”
It was hard to concentrate on what she was saying, because everybody in the dining pavilion was stealing glances at us and whispering. and Annabeth was right next to me. I mean right next to me.

Is there a sweeter thing than the first time Percy holds Annabeth when she cries? Well, yes, his reaction to getting to hold her may be more precious than any other Percabeth moment so far in the series. His entire world seems to have shifted now that she is in his arms, and he consoles her well.

“I’ve wanted to lead a quest since I was seven,” she said.
“You’re going to do awesome.”
She looked at me gratefully, but then stared down at all the books and scrolls she’d pulled from the shelved. “I’m worried, Percy. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to do this. Or Tyson or Grover.”
“Hey, we’re your friends. We wouldn’t miss it.”
“But…” She stopped herself.
“What is it?” I asked. “The prophecy?”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” she said in a small voice.
“What was the last line?”
Then she did something that really surprised me. She blinked back tears and put out her arms.
I stepped forward and hugged her. Butterflies started turning my stomach into a mosh pit.
“Hey, it’s…it’s okay.” I patted her back.
I was aware of everything in the room. I felt like I could read the tiniest print on any book on the shelves. Annabeth’s hair smelled like lemon soap. She was shivering.

And then there is thee moment. Percy is trying to keep Annabeth safe, and he lies to her and tells her he has a plan when he has absolutely no idea what he is going to do. He sends her off to safety, but not before she plants one on him. And he can barely contain the thoughts as they swirl around in his head.

“Put your cap back on,” I said. “Get out!”
“What?” Annabeth shrieked. “No! I’m not leaving you.”
“I’ve got a plan. I’ll distract them. You can use the metal spider – maybe it’ll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what’s going on.”
“But you’ll be killed!”
“I’ll be fine. Besides, we’ve got no choice.”
Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.
“Be careful, Seaweed Brain.” She put on her hat an vanished.
I probably would’ve sat there for the rest of the day, staring at the lava and trying to remember what my name was, but the sea demons jarred me back to reality.

Oh, and you can’t talk about the infamous Mt. St. Helens kiss without at least mentioning Annabeth’s freakout when Percy arrives back at Camp HalfBlood two weeks later. It is painfully obvious that she has been wrought with worry over Percy, but the minute he arrives, she starts to yell, in good old Annabeth fashion.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Annabeth interrupted, shoving aside the other campers. I thought she was going to punch me, but instead she hugged me so fiercely she nearly cracked my ribs. The other campers fell silent. Annabeth seemed to realize she was making a scene and pushed me away. “I-we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I got lost.”
“LOST?” she yelled. “Two weeks, Percy? Where in the world-”
“Annabeth,” Chiron interrupted. “Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!”

The most symbolic and meaningful moment comes from The Last Olympian as Percy is trying to hold on to his humanity and remain tethered to the real world while bathing in the river Styx. He struggles and thinks he may not survive this daring dip when suddenly Annabeth’s voice is in his head:

“Hold on, Seaweed Brain.” It was Annabeth’s voice, much clearer now. “You’re not getting away from me that easily.”
The cord strengthened.
I could see Annabeth now – standing barefoot above me on the canoe lake pier. I’d fallen out of my canoe. That was it. She was reaching out her hand to haul me up, and she was trying not to laugh. She wore her orange camp T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tucked up in her Yankees cap, which was strange because that should have made her invisible.
“You are such an idiot sometimes.” She smiled. “Come on. Take my hand.”
Memories came flooding back to me – sharper and more colorful. I stopped dissolving. My name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth’s hand.

That beautiful moment leads to our next favorite, as, without knowing what she was doing, Annabeth saves Percy’s life by taking a knife that was meant for him.

Once she was gone, I knelt next to Annabeth and felt her forehead. She was still burning up.
“You’re cute when you’re worried,” she muttered. “Your eyebrows get all scrunched together.”
“You are not going to die while I owe you a favor,” I said. “Why did you take that knife?”
“You would’ve done the same for me.”
It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like someone was poking my heart with a cold metal rod. “How did you know?”
“Know what?”
I looked around to make sure we were alone. Then I leaned in close and whispered: “My Achilles spot. If you hadn’t taken that knife, I would’ve died.”
She got a faraway look in her eyes. Her breath smelled of grapes, maybe from the nectar. “I don’t know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where…where is the spot?”
I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. But this was Annabeth. If I couldn’t trust her, I couldn’t trust anyone.
“The small of my back.”
She lifted her hand. “Where? Here?”
She put her hand on my spine, and my skin tingled. I moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded me to my mortal life. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body.
“You saved me,” I said. “Thanks.”
She removed her hand, but I kept holding it.
“So you owe me,” she said weakly. “What else is new?”

And while we would love to just copy and paste pages and pages of their conversations together, the moment at the end of The Last Olympian after all the fighting is done and they finally have a moment of peace is by far the best moment Percabeth shippers have ever gotten from the pair. The banter, the witticism, Annabeth making fun of Percy, its got it all.

When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body.
I could’ve stayed that way forever, except a voice behind us growled, “Well, it’s about time!”
Suddenly the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted us both onto their shoulders.
“Oh, come on!” I complained. “Is there no privacy?
“The lovebirds need to cool off!” Clarisse said with glee.
“The canoe lake!” Connir Stoll shouted.
With a huge cheer, they carried us down the hill, but they kept us close enough to hold hands. Annabeth was laughing, and I couldn’t help laughing too, even though my face was completely red.
We held hands right up to the moment they dumped us into the water.
Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey – when you’re the son of Poseidon, you don’t have to hurry.
And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.

And then there was a drought of Percabeth moments. The events from the beginning of The Lost Hero separate our two lovebirds just when we were excited to see their adventures continue. And yes, we got some endearing moments of Annabeth seriously worrying about her “Seaweed brain” while he’s gone, but it just isn’t as much fun when you have to wait the length of two books to see your favorite pairing together, but at least we have The Mark of Athena.

The Percabeth moments in The Mark of Athena helped to make up for the gaping hole in our hearts created by keeping us away from our favorite pairing for two whole books. In particular, I’m sure everyone has the stable scene in their favorite Percabeth moments list.

“And,” Annabeth continued, “it reminds me how long we’ve known each other. We were twelve, Percy. Can you believe that?”
“No, he admitted. “So…you knew you liked me from that moment?”
She smirked. “I hated you at first. You annoyed me. Then I tolerated you for a few years. Then—”
“Okay, fine.”
She leaned in and kissed: him a good, proper kiss without anyone watching—no Romans anywhere, no screaming satyr chaperones.
She pulled away. “I missed you, Percy.”
Percy wanted to tell her the same thing, but it seemed too small a comment. While he had been on the Roman side, he’d kept himself alive almost solely by thinking of Annabeth. I missed you didn’t really cover that.”

Them waking up the next day is a scene all its own as Frank regales them of Coach Hedge’s impending fury at the knowledge that they spent all night in the stables together. Percy isn’t shy to admit that they kissed a few times, and Annabeth isn’t shy to scold him for making the situation worse.

When the heroes actually get to Rome and we get to see Percy and Annabeth explore the city as they try to delay the inevitable separation ahead, we get a great quote from Percy all about how he thinks his mom would want him to handle the situation, “They had a silent staring contest, but Percy didn’t back down. When he and Annabeth started dating, his mother had drummed it into his head: It’s good manners to walk your date to the door. If that was true, it had to be good manners to walk her to the start of her epic solo death quest.”

Annabeth’s solo death quest pulled our couple apart for the rest of the book, until Percy literally swoops in to save her. In the final appearance of Percy and Annabeth in The Mark of Athena we see Percy choose her over, quite literally, the world.

“Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth’s wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she thought he had never looked more handsome.
“We’re staying together,” he promised. “You’re not getting away from me. Never again.”
Only then did she understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.
“As long as we’re together,” she said.
She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above – maybe the last sunlight she would ever see. Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.”