Chapter Text
"All I'm saying is that the gods were really, really inbred." Percy says, an incredibly irritating grin on his face. Annabeth rolls her eyes, turning to Piper as the teacher stumbles awkwardly over his question.
"Chill," Piper blows a tuft of hair out of her eyes, grinning. "We all hate Jackson."
"And yet every day, I hate him more and more." The blond rolls her eyes even harder.
"I've known you since the fifth grade, Annie," Piper is resoundingly unaffected by the glare that she's given for this nickname, "and I have a sneaking suspicion that you hate everybody more every day. It's a miracle I'm not dead yet, honestly."
Annabeth cracks a smile. "There's been a few times where I've considered it, but you're just too darn cute to smother in your sleep."
"I'm flattered."
"Mrs. Chase, do you have something to tell the class?" Their teacher, Miss Aella (a name Annabeth found hilariously ironic), crosses her arms.
"No, ma'am. Piper and I were just…" She pauses, trying to find the words that will get her out of trouble. "We were discussing the musings of our classmate."
"I see." Miss Aella's always much stricter with the other students than she is with Percy; he flustered her, so it's her weird way of asserting herself. "And what did you have to say about the musings of Mister Jackson?"
"They're stupid," Piper calls out, slouched in her seat.
"Greek Mythology is stupid with or without me," Percy shoots back, relaxed as always. "I mean, how much of it is just 'Zeus couldn't keep it in his pants, humanity's fucked for a while, somebody dies, the end'?"
"Percy!" Miss Aella calls, but she's ignored.
"Greek mythology is fascinating, asshole, and the rest of the class shouldn't have to suffer through your moronic chatter just because you aren't competent enough to appreciate it!" Annabeth yells. She doesn't snap much, but when she does, it's scary.
"Oh, so fascinating." Percy's yelling, too, but he doesn't seem strained at all. The grin's yet to leave his face. "Your real life being boring doesn't make this shit interesting. It's just a bunch of stories about the gods, throwing their weight around and ruining things for everybody else!"
"God, you are such an idiot!"
"An idiot with a life outside of ancient Greece, at least."
It's very unlike Annabeth to be violent. Despite her tendency to get in trouble, she rarely gets into anything serious—she knows how to control herself, knows when to pull herself in.
That all goes out the window when she throws a book right at Percy Jackson's stupid, smiling head.
"Both of you, detention, after school!" Miss Aella yells, silencing the whole class. The whole class, of course, except for Percy.
"That's completely unfair! I'm the one who just got a book thrown at me!" He protests.
"You provoked and insulted Miss Chase, and you used language entirely inappropriate for a classroom setting." Straightening her jacket, the teacher turns back to the board. "Come to my classroom after school. Now, back to the creation of Aphrodite…"
.
"I can't believe idiot Jackson landed me in detention." Annabeth huffs, pushing her curly hair out of her face angrily.
"Look on the bright side," Jason smiles, grabbing Piper's waist and laughing as she bats his arm away. "Piper and I are going out anyways, so you would've just been third wheeling."
"Great." She rolls her eyes as they stop in front of Miss Aella's room. "Wish me luck."
"Just don't kill him," Piper grins. "You might get more detention time if you do."
"You always give the best advice, Pipes." Annabeth sighs, opening the door and walking in.
"There's little miss sunshine," Percy says as soon as she walks in, not helping himself in the homicide department. "Oh, sorry. I should probably watch my mouth—who knows how many books you have on you?"
For a concerning moment, Annabeth wants to laugh, but the moment passes quickly. "Shut up, Jackson. Where's the teacher?"
"Faculty meeting," He grins. "She's gonna be gone for like an hour or two. Told us to sit here and think about the consequences of our actions."
"She's not very good at this detention thing, is she." Annabeth says, not looking at Percy, taking out her phone and putting in her headphones. She plans to spend the duration of this time ignoring him.
Of course, he manages to ruin Annabeth's plan by doing something that can't help but distract her: staring at her. Very blatantly. She can only tell through her periphery, and instead of wondering why he's staring, Annabeth can't help but think that he's almost intimidating when he isn't smiling. Not in a scary, he's-gonna-kill-me way. More like—god, she hates herself for saying this—a model. Like somebody who you know is out of your league. Not that she'd ever even want to be in his league. Just…there isn't anything wrong with thinking that Percy's attractive.
Annabeth is so caught up in staring straight forward and ignoring him, she doesn't notice that he's moved to the seat right next to her until he taps her shoulder. Reflexively, she jabs him in the chest with her elbow.
"Dangerous with or without a book," Percy groans, smiling again. She's almost relieved. "I'll make sure to remember that."
"Jesus, you scared me," Annabeth sighs, her face reddening slightly. Percy grins wider. His expression isn't quite as annoying when she can see his eyes; they're really, really green, sea green, and look much more genuine than his smile did on its own. "I study Judo."
"You're a lot cuter when you're blushing than when you're glaring."
And the smile goes right back to annoying. "Why are you over here, Jackson?"
"I wanted to know what you're listening to," He explains, raising his hands defensively.
Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Foster the People."
Percy's eyebrows are always arched when he's smiling, but they stay up as his expression gets a bit more serious—not a serious as it was a moment ago, but backing away from its annoying norm. "I love that band."
"Yeah, everyone loved "Pumped Up Kicks" in 2011," She says dismissively.
"I'm incredibly offended." Percy slaps a palm against his chest dramatically, and this time Annabeth can't help but laugh. "My favorite's "Call it What You Want", actually."
"I'm listening to that right now," She admits, her face growing hot again.
"You should blush more often."
"Do you want me to kick your ass for the third time today?" Annabeth challenges, though she blushes harder. Percy grins for the thousandth time, and for the first time, it doesn't make her feel the need to punch his pretty white teeth out.
"That wouldn't be ideal." He looks down, his black hair falling over his face, and for a moment, Percy looks almost bashful.
"You know, you're cuter when you blush, Jackson." She laughs again, holding out a headphone. "Want to listen?"
Percy takes the headphone, his grin returning. "Sure, that'd be cool."
"Why aren't you listening to anything? Forget your headphones?" Annabeth teases. She feels an awkward need to start a conversation now, uncomfortable with the strange intimacy of sharing headphones with somebody she basically assaulted earlier that day. His expression makes her feel even more antsy than before.
"Don't have one," Percy answers, not quite breezily, staring straight forward.
"Oh." And now Annabeth is bright red. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"It's fine," Percy says, facing her with a smile, one much softer than anything else she's seen. "You didn't know. It's no biggie."
Annabeth stares at him, eyes wide. His face grows serious, very quickly; she has the sudden urge to hide.
"Huh. I always thought your eyes were blue."
Annabeth feels like dying. "No…no, they're gray, yeah."
"Like a storm cloud." Percy drums his fingers against the desk. "It's funny."
"What is?" She asks, trying to gather herself. Annabeth Chase is many things—a fighter, a talker, a Greek mythology buff—but a stutterer had never been on that list.
"You're pretty even when you aren't pissed off." He says simply.
"Um…thanks?"
The song changes before Annabeth can pause it.
"Owl City, nice," Percy nods, turning back to stare at the board. If she didn't know any better, she might say that he looked embarrassed; it makes her feel guilty.
"You're really pretty too," She says suddenly. He turns back, one eyebrow raised, and Annabeth feels like kicking herself. "I mean, pretty in a guy way. Your eyes are nice and green and your hair looks really soft and your lips are super pink, and—I'm going to shut up."
Percy laughs. "Thanks."
"I'm an idiot." Annabeth says, biting her lip. "If you could just, like, forget the past ten seconds, that would be great."
"Like I'd ever forget a compliment like that, wise girl."
Looking up with an eyebrow raised, Annabeth laughs. "Wise girl? Where did that come from?"
"I don't know." Percy shrugs. "The whole braniac thing. Owl city. Your hair's even curly, like they always made gods in ancient Greece. When you put it together, you bear a very striking resemblance to Athena."
"Fair enough." The girl replies. "I feel like I want a nickname for you, now. All I have now is idiot."
"Well, I'm definitely an idiot," He agrees, too quickly, too amiably, and it makes Annabeth feel guilty. "But I can't help you anywhere else, really. I'm boring."
"Seaweed brain," She says suddenly, grinning at her breakthrough. She's even prettier than Percy thought she could be with a smile like that, but he doesn't say anything this time.
"Where did that come from?" Percy runs a hand through his hair, smiling back.
"Your shirt." Annabeth points out his swim team shirt. "Idiot, swimming, sea green eyes…"
"Poseidon, huh?"
"Not as bad as Zeus."
The conversation lulls there, and the two sit for a while, listening to Annabeth's music. When he isn't looking, she switches the playlist; she has some angrier songs on her phone, and she'd rather he didn't hear them. They're silent, in fact, for the rest of detention, up until Miss Aella finally enters the room, as frantic as always.
"Sorry I couldn't be here—wait, you're in detention, I shouldn't be sorry—the faculty meeting went long. Um, right, so, anyways." The teacher is already gathering her things to leave, but she spares a second to look at the two in a way that's not quite authoritative. "Did you two get over your differences? Realize the consequences of your actions?"
"Yes, ma'am, we sure did." Annabeth nods.
"Oh. Okay, good, you two can leave."
In the hallway, Percy stops Annabeth. "Still want to beat me up, wise girl?"
She's clearly surprised that he's continuing the conversation. "Kind of, yeah."
Percy laughs. "Guess I can't ask for too much. Anyways, are you busy on Friday?"
"No," She answers hesitantly, still remembering his comments about her social life earlier. "Why?"
"I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out."
"Why? So I can find a new way to hurt you?" Annabeth teases.
"While that would be great," Percy says, "I'd prefer we just talk. You're fun to talk to."
She does her damndest not to blush, but it doesn't work very well. "That would be cool."
"Cool," He pulls a pen from his pocket and starts scribbling something on Annabeth's arm.
"I thought you didn't have a phone," She says before she can think about it.
"Still don't," Percy laughs, smiling at her blush. "This is my email."
"Oh." Annabeth bites her lip, looking down.
"You should really look in to getting some sort of permanent blush. It looks really good on you, wise girl."
"Thanks, seaweed brain." She rushes away.
"See you fourth period!" Percy calls cheerfully after her.
-
They didn't end up hanging out. Annabeth had sent an email—nothing too desperate, just casual, not even asking anything about plans. He didn't respond.
She'd spent the entire weekend in embarrassed regret, feeling worse and worse as time slipped by without a reply. By the time she got to fourth period, Monday, she didn't even look at him. Didn't even know what she was thinking, really. Idiot Jackson was still just Idiot Jackson.
In the past month, Annabeth has gotten really good at pretending that detention never happened. Rolling her eyes with Piper every time he makes an unnecessary comment, feeling a constant urge to hit him, convincing herself that their little seconds of eye contact were nothing and meant nothing.
Typical stuff.
"These stories really are fascinating." Miss Aella wrings her wrists. "And you all don't seem to be appreciating them, so I've decided to assign a project."
Groans ring around the room, but Annabeth allows herself a quiet excitement. Projects have always been her favorite part of school.
"A group project." The groans turn into the quiet shuffle and chatter of friends making eye contact and silent agreements to partner up.
"Gee, Annie, wanna work with me?" Piper asks, and Annabeth turns around to face her with a mocking grin.
"Why do I get the feeling you mean 'wanna do all of the work and put my name on it'?" She scoffs with a grin.
Piper shrugs. "Gimme a break, I'm dyslexic."
Annabeth throws a ball of paper at her. "I'm dyslexic too, babe, so I don't know if you can use that card with me."
"You're like, the smartest dyslexic I've ever met. That shouldn't count." The brunette protests, but her whining is interrupted by Miss Aella clearing her throat.
"Before you get your hopes up," She says, an unsteady authority in her face, like she's bracing herself. "I will be assigning partners."
The groans return. "You'll be writing a, um… a modernized short story based on a myth. The myth, you get to choose. Just…I mean, if you all choose the same myth, I'll, I'll grade that myth a lot harder so…try to be creative with what you choose."
Though she looks like she's anticipating a reaction, nobody says much of anything.
"Right, ah, partners." Miss Aella starts rattling off names. Annabeth listens in the way of somebody only looking for their own name; she is aware enough to give Piper a smirk when the girl's paired with some burnout almost as bad as—
"Annabeth Chase with…Percy Jackson."
Annabeth, in all of her kindness, only smirked at Piper's unfortunate partner. In return, her friend decides to give her the biggest, evilest grin she can manage. For the first time in a month, she locks eyes with Percy for more than two seconds. Her insides twist. He's grinning, too, like they've had this whole thing planned.
"The project is due, um, Monday, so I suggest you make plans fast."
"It's Friday now! You're seriously only gonna give us the weekend to do this?" Piper complains, earning an almost intimidating look from the mousy teacher.
"Yes, I am." The teacher folds her arms. Students flood out of the room the instant the bell rings,
Annabeth does her best to rush out of the class. Unfortunately, her best being significantly hindered by a dragging, Friday afternoon Piper, and she isn't fast enough to be out of earshot when Percy hollers, "Hey, wise girl!"
Reluctantly, she turns and faces him. "Yes?"
He's annoyingly unbothered by her. "So, project. Your place on Saturday?"
"Do we have to talk about this now? Can't I just, I don't know, email you?" Annabeth isn't even sure if she had a reason to say this—after all, it's clearly a more embarrassing situation for her than him—but Percy almost seems to flinch.
"I'd rather get the plans set now, and we don't see each other for the rest of the day. So are you free on Saturday?"
"Yeah, after eight, I have work. Why does it have to be at my house?"
"Parents don't let me have friends over."
"Since when are we friends?"
"Gosh, are we not?" Percy slaps a hand against his chest. He's wearing his swim team hoodie again, Annabeth notices.
"Whatever. My house at eight is good, see you then." She rushes out, walking away and reuniting with Piper.
"Wise girl?" Piper has an eyebrow raised the second Annabeth reaches her.
"Please, don't ask."
Annabeth taps her fingers aimlessly on the keys of her laptop; not with enough pressure to actually type, but enough to make sounds that distracted her from the fact that it's eight and Idiot Jackson's going to show up any minute. Not that it's a big deal. She's been trying to figure out what myth they were going to cover; the Wikipedia page was just so big.
"Oh, um, the myth…um, you get to, um, choose," She mimics, slamming her computer shut and falling back onto her bed.
"Nice impression," A voice comes from the door. "Though I think you were a bit heavy-handed with the stuttering."
Bolting up, Annabeth turns pink. "Um, hi."
"See, that's more realistic. Hi," Percy says, already wearing his infuriating smile. "Your mom let me in. Nice lady."
"Really? That's news to me." There's an awkward, unbearable moment where he looks at Annabeth like he expects her to say more. She doesn't.
Percy runs a hand through his hair. "So, the project."
"You can come in, you know," She says, opening her computer back up. "Unless you're a vampire or something."
He laughs, walking further into the room, sitting at the edge of her bed. Annabeth can't help but blush a bit more. There's about an inch between her feet and his legs—not that it matters. "Any ideas for what myth we're going to do?"
"I was kind of hoping you had some?" Annabeth replies absently, looking down to the screen. Maybe if she doesn't look at him, it'll make everything less awkward. "The Wikipedia page for this sucks."
"Um…creation of Aphrodite?"
"Kronos gets his balls cut up, forms Aphrodite from sea foam?" She raises an eyebrow. "That's not gonna be very easy to modernize."
"Touché, wise girl. Heracles?" Percy smiles.
"Too long, I think. Nice on the Greek pronunciation, though."
They sit there in silence for a second.
"I got it!" He says suddenly, grabbing Annabeth's ankle. She squeals and kicks, and he laughs for a second before he's on the floor.
"God, I'm so sorry!" She tries, but she's laughing so hard that it's difficult to breathe. "I thought we established that I'm violent when I'm surprised!"
It's so funny that, for just a moment, she's forgotten that she's supposed to forget about detention.
"Whatever, wise girl, you just like knocking me around." Then again, it isn't like Percy ever tried to.
Talk about mixed messages.
"What was the idea?" Annabeth says suddenly. This is too confusing for her, much too weird, and awkward, and something she'd rather not have to handle.
"Oh." Percy props himself up, but stays on the floor. Whether this makes things more or less uncomfortable is difficult to tell. "Medusa?"
There's a beat of silence. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds kind of cool. How would we modernize it though?"
"The gods could be, like, all super famous on social media or something," He grins up at her as he says this, his green eyes brightening, and it's kind of adorable. "And when Athena catches her with Poseidon in her temple, she uses her fame to ruin Medusa and send a bunch of haters after her calling her ugly, or something."
"You can sit on the bed, you know," Annabeth says suddenly, tucking a curl behind her ear.
"Oh, can I? I wasn't sure, what with the whole kicking-me-off thing." The sarcasm is enough to make Annabeth blush. "I'm surprised you don't have a desk, by the way."
"There's too much pressure when I'm at a desk. Like I have to get stuff done. I don't like being forced into things."
Like this project, perhaps, but they both ignore that idea. Pushing himself up, Percy gets back on the foot of the bed.
"Anyways, that's a really interesting idea, but why would Athena attack Medusa over Poseidon? Insta-famous or not, she wouldn't really have a temple for them to hook up in."
"Maybe Athena and Poseidon are secret lovers?" Percy suggests teasingly, raising his eyebrows.
"That's ridiculous," Annabeth shoots back. "Those gods have never had any romantic involvement in any mythos, ever. We can't change something that big."
"How forward thinking of you."
"Do you want an A on this? Because I'm pretty sure we'd end up with points deducted for historical inaccuracy."
"For somebody who had no problem hurling a book at me, you're quite the stickler for rules."
At first, it was embarrassing, but now Percy's constant teasing seem more mean than anything. She glares at him, and he puts his hands up, smirking in a somehow apologetic way. "Maybe Athena and Poseidon had plans," Annabeth suggests, looking away from the boy. "Not a date, just something they had to do together, like planning a surprise party, or doing a project, and Poseidon bailed on her to be with Medusa."
Percy gives her a look, and it's just as intimidating as she remembers; like he's picking her apart, like he can see everything she's trying to hide. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"
"Sorry, what?"
"Coming up with an idea for the project." He says, putting that annoying grin right back on his face, and it's as if nothing happened. Annabeth wishes she had a book. "Surely not anything to curse dear Miss Aella about, right?"
"Right."
The process of actually writing the story is surprisingly painless. Being in close quarters with Percy Jackson? Not so much. She thought the "no big deal" eye contact was a big deal from across the classroom, but it's an absolute nightmare while they're inches away. On her bed, for god's sake.
"We should totally give Medusa green hair." Annabeth says, eyes glued to the laptop screen. "I mean, the story's basically done, but it'd be a cute detail to add."
"Nice," Percy chuckles. "I can't believe how fast that went by. What did that take, an hour?"
Even though she's been staring at her computer, she hasn't actually bothered to check the time. "Oh my god, it's one in the morning."
"Seriously?" Percy asks, and the alarm in his voice finally gets her to look over. He groans, eyes wide, and runs his hand through his hair. "Shit."
"Do you have a curfew or something?" Her ADHD makes time move fast like that sometimes, but it doesn't bother her much anymore; time doesn't play a very big factor in her life.
"I—no, I don't, but I don't…" He sighs. "I walked here."
Annabeth doesn't want to be concerned, but she can't help it. "Are you gonna be okay getting home?"
"My mom's asleep by now; I don't want to wake her." Percy stands up, pulls another hand through his hair, and starts pacing. It's the most Annabeth's ever seen him care, a world away from his usual easygoing demeanor. "I'll just have to walk, I guess."
"It's too late for you to walk home," She insists before she can think to stop herself. Before she can think of what his other options might be, or if he even has any other options. "I mean, it's too late for me to drive you, so…you can stay here, I guess."
Percy takes a moment to stare at her. His expression is as serious as it was that day in detention, and Annabeth does her best to keep from being unnerved. The stress falls from his face, albeit hesitantly, and he sits back onto Annabeth's bed in a resigned way.
"You can use my phone to leave your mom a message, if that makes things better."
"That...yeah, that would be great, thanks."
As if Annabeth hasn't witnessed enough (completely overwhelming) sincerity from Percy already, listening to him on the phone with his mother almost kills her. He sounds soft, and kind, and genuinely sorry, all of the things that Idiot Jackson should never be. She isn't sure if she loves it or hates it.
"Is it okay that I'd be staying here?" He asks once he's off the phone. Finally feeling tired, Annabeth yawns as she nods.
"It's not like we're doing anything wrong. We just lost track of time doing that project, my parents'll be fine with it." Probably. She isn't sure, actually, but there's not much else to be done about it.
Percy looks uneasy, but nods in response anyways.
"I need to go shower, but I mean…make yourself at home."
By the time Annabeth's back, he's lying down on her bed, staring up at her ceiling; the lights are off, and the star stickers on her ceiling give a faint green glow. He jerks up when he hears the door open. "Sorry."
"It's fine," She says in a tired voice, sitting next to him. Her long, blond hair is still damp, but neither of them mind.
They sit there in silence for a while, but it's not the same uncomfortable one from earlier.
"You never responded to my email."
There's not really a reason to say this. Nothing to remind her of it, no need to get it out of the air. Maybe that's the perfect reason to bring it up.
"I haven't really had access to a computer for a while."
No shame in his voice, no awkwardness, just stating facts. It's refreshing.
"I just thought it was a joke you were pulling, or something."
It's not so dark that she wouldn't be able to see him, but she almost doesn't want to look.
"Why would you think that?"
"You're Idiot Jackson. It just seemed like something you would do."
"The beautiful ones are so cruel." Percy says, and damn if she can't feel the smile in his voice.
"Gee, you think I'm beautiful?" She laughs back. Hopefully the teasing hides her sheepishness like the darkness hides her blush.
"Yes."
It's so simple, so out there, that Annabeth wishes she could disappear. "Oh."
"You really are, you know." He lets that hang in the air. "The first time I saw you, I thought you looked like a princess."
"Really?" He sounds like a little kid, and she can't help but laugh. "I thought you looked like an idiot."
"Most people do."
Nothing feels quite as bad as the person you just insulted agreeing with you. "I mean, I did at first. I never really looked at you until detention, last week."
"And once you got a good stare at me, you thought I looked like what? An imbecile? A freak?"
"I thought…I thought you were so handsome, it kind of scared me."
Annabeth's built up the nerve to stare at him in the near-dark. She can't make out the finer details, like the pink of his lips and the green of his eyes, but the big picture is still there—the straight path of his nose, his dark eyelashes fluttering. The streetlight from outside peeks through her window and lights up his jawline; it looks strong enough to be a weapon, too serious to be a part of somebody as playful as Percy.
He turns to face her, and their eyes lock. Annabeth feels her breath catch, her heart panic, and everything seems to freeze. "You think I'm scary?"
"That's not the right word," She swallows hard. "More intimidating, I guess."
"I think you're scary."
"What? Why?"
"Because you're so real about everything. Every time you glare at me in class, I can't help but feel bad, like I'm disappointing you, and like that's the last thing I want to do. Because I can't get you out of my head, and I don't really mind."
Annabeth gets a sudden urge to reach out, to just touch his arm, and because it's one in the morning and he's right there, she does. Touching him is worse than the eye contact (and a thousand times better).
"If it makes you feel better," She says, somewhere in her voice a surrender, "I can't get you out of my head, either."
Percy puts a hand on her face, and instantly, it heats up. In any other scenario, he'd comment; now simply isn't the time. Annabeth doesn't protest, not even when he starts to trace her features with his thumb. Over her brow, skimming down her nose, across her cheekbones, around the lines of her lips, electrifying her skin inch by inch. His hand falls to her chin and they sit for a moment. "Annabeth?"
"Yeah?" She asks quickly, her mind in a daze but her skin fully awake.
"Would it be okay for me to kiss you?"
There's no way she'd be able to make a sound, let alone form words, or sentences, so she nods, praying to whatever gods might be out there that she's gotten the message across.
Then he kisses her, and Annabeth learns what it feels like to die. It's gentle, and quiet, and fantastic in a thousand little ways. She isn't sure if her eyes are closed, or if everything's just gone black. Not that she'd mind either way.
One second she's curling her fingers into Percy's dark hair, and the next, her legs are around him, his hands on her waist. It doesn't feel explicit; it's not even occurred to her that she's in her room, kissing a boy her parents don't know is still there, sitting on his lap. It feels comfortable, and right in a way that life's never felt.
Time passes before their lips part—a long time, but not nearly long enough—and they sit like this, foreheads touching, eyes still closed.
"That was...nice," Annabeth whispers.
"Yeah," Percy agrees, a bit breathlessly. "It was."
"I'm gonna go to bed now, I think."
"Good idea."
"Good night, Percy."
"Good night, Annabeth."
-
When Annabeth wakes up, Percy's gone. First, she's glad that neither of her parents saw him. Then, she wonders if any of it even happened. A breeze floats through the room, and she nestles into her blankets a bit deeper.
What if she dreamed it all? As much as she hated to admit it—god, how she hated to admit it—it wasn't impossible for her to dream up something like that. It honestly seems more impossible for it to have been real. Annabeth shivers, pulling her comforter up to her neck.
Percy telling her she was beautiful? That he was scared of her? That he couldn't get her out of his head? Percy Jackson kissing her, sleeping in the same bed as her? Definitely impossible.
The wind gets more aggressive, and Annabeth casts a glance at her bedroom window. The window she always leaves closed at night.
It's open, just a crack.
"Shit."
By the time Annabeth's brushing her teeth, she's nearly come to terms with it. She made out with Percy Jackson. Not-so-Idiot Jackson. The dumbass in Greek Mythology. There's not enough there for it to be concrete, not yet, but the abstract is there. Maybe if she gives it a few hours—
Her phone lights up with a call from Piper, and she's grateful for the distraction.
"Hey, Pipes, what's u-"
"Oh my god, Annabeth, I know you just had your project with Idiot Jackson and you probably need three rants and a therapy session to get over it, but that has to wait because you need to get your ass over here right now!"
"What?" She almost has whiplash from Piper's manic words.
"Get over here!"
"Where is here, Piper? Have you taken your meds yet today?"
"Yes, actually." For an lone second, the girl on the other end is calm. "Here is Jason's house! Here is where you need to get right fucking now! Come on!"
"Okay, okay!" Annabeth can't help but laugh. "I'll be there in ten minutes."
.
As Annabeth knocks on the door to Jason's apartment, an odd feeling of nervousness settles over her.
The door swings open, and Thalia, Jason's older sister, is standing behind it. This must be the reason Piper was so excited over the phone. "Hey, kid!"
"Thals!" She wraps the older girl in a hug, smiling. "How've you been?"
"I've been good, punk."
Taking a second look at Thalia's dark hair, dark makeup, and dark…well, everything else, Annabeth laughs. "Yeah, I'm the punk here."
"Watch the attitude," She warns, grinning and gesturing Annabeth into through the door.
The entire apartment is a mess. Jason and Thalia's parents aren't around much, but Jason's quite possibly the neatest guy in human history; it only looks this bad when his sister's in town.
"So are you the reason that Piper was so hyper over the phone?"
"I don't think even god can claim to be responsible for how hyper that child is, but I'm not the spark that set her off this time."
"Well then what…" Annabeth dies off as she comes to the living room doorway.
He's sitting there. Right there, in Jason's living room, on the couch. Like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed. If Annabeth didn't know how to feel this morning, if she thought what happened last night was unbelievable, if she thought everything was going to change before…this is where it gets a million times worse.
"Annabeth!" Luke grins, standing and wrapping her in a hug.
Is she hugging back? It's hard to tell. He smells the same, like metal and soap. He's still taller than her by about five inches, and his eyes are the exact same color she remembered—hyper-saturated, overwhelmingly blue. It doesn't matter that Annabeth's not hugging back. Luke holds her, and she feels small and contained. Like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed.
"Luke! You're—you're back!" She can't keep the disbelief out of her voice. "God, I…why didn't you tell me you were coming back? How are you? Forget you, how's Oxford?"
"Calm it with the questions, officer," Piper calls. She's sitting on the same couch that Luke had been sitting on; so is Jason. Annabeth didn't even notice at first.
"It's been three years!" It's a bit overwhelming for the girl. "You've barely even called!"
"Gosh, Annabeth, so needy," Luke teases, still smiling. She blushes, and the other three laugh.
"I just figured you'd forgotten about me around all of those beautiful British girls," She shoots back, trying to recover, trying to keep herself from sounding like the whiny ex-
"How could I possibly forget about my gorgeously precocious girlfriend?"
Like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed.
They'd started dating when Annabeth was in the seventh grade. Luke was a sophomore in high school, and she had been the luckiest (and coolest) girl in the entire middle school. It sounded like a joke—after all, he was the best friend of the sister of the boyfriend of the best friend—but to them, it never was. Maybe he got made fun of for dating a girl almost five years younger than he was, but Annabeth was never around when it happened. He always told her she was worth the jokes.
The two weren't perfect, but the best relationships weren't supposed to be. Fighting meant you cared about each other. Luke cared about her more than anybody ever did.
.
"I'm home!" Annabeth calls, walking through the door. They'd been at Jason's apartment for a few hours, but Thalia left for work, and the project still hangs over Piper's head.
Her stepmother's right by the entrance, lips pursed. "Well, you were out for quite a while."
"Hi, Mrs. Song-Chase," Luke smiles, passing through the doorway. He made the decision to come home with her in the interest of catching up. The frowns fades from the older woman's face when she notices him. She's always liked Luke— more, probably, than she'll ever like Annabeth.
"Luke!" She laughs. "When did you come back to the states?"
"Flew back in this morning," He responds. "I couldn't waste any more time away from your daughter."
"Step-daughter," Mrs. Song-Chase corrects, managing to keep her grin from fading too much. "Honestly, I'm not sure what you see in the little troublemaker."
They both laugh, but Annabeth casts her eyes down. She's not joking, not really, and everybody knows that.
"Well, I don't want to get in the way." As she leaves the room, Annabeth notices that she doesn't bother giving her a disparaging look. She didn't look at her at all, actually, but it's still a nice change.
They head to her room. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Annabeth laughs at the coincidence; two boys in her room in less than twelve hours. She pushes that away as fast as she can.
"So," Luke says, lying down on her bed, putting his hands behind his head. "Cheat on me much while I was in England? Different boy every night?"
She turns beet red. "Of course not."
He sits up against the wall, his expression falling just a bit. "Such a liar." A small smile rests on his face as he shakes his head. "You're too beautiful to have been alone all three years I was gone. And you're too smart to think you could convince me otherwise."
"I'm serious-" Annabeth protests.
"It's okay, I forgive you. Stop lying."
There's a beat of silence, and then she laughs, partly in disbelief and partly in relief.
"I mean, it's not like it matters, now that I've come back." His smile grows into a grin, and he holds out a hand. "C'mere."
Annabeth knows what this means, knows that she really has been forgiven, and she goes to sit with him on her bed. His embrace is familiar, and so is his kiss; overpowering and minty and not quite warm. She starts crying, just a little bit, but that's familiar, too.
.
"Annabeth, Percy, I'd…I'd like to s-speak with you after class." Miss Aella calls out right before the bell rings.
Annabeth curses under her breath. Her number one focus today—yesterday, too—has been to avoid eye contact with a certain Poseidon look-a-like, and thanks to a month of practice, she's been very good at it. In fact, she's yet to look at him.
Reluctantly, she walks towards the desk, careful to refrain from looking at Percy. Even though he's looking at her. Even though Annabeth can feel her cheeks heating up, even though she knows he can see the flush on her cheeks, even though she kind of wants to hear what joking comment he has about it.
"I…I read your assignment, y-yesterday." The teacher says once the classroom has emptied.
Was it too campy? Did she think it was plagiarized? Was it not what she wanted?
"It was—it was lovely. You two really, you really understood…what I was asking f-for here."
Percy nudges her gently with his elbow, and Annabeth would bet money he has a cocky expression on his face.
"Thank you, ma'am," She says, smiling. "It was really fun to write."
"It was actually all my idea," He adds, and Annabeth turns to shoot him a glare.
Shit.
Percy looks exactly the same. Not that it would make any sense for him to look different, but...still. A thousand things have changed—it's unfair that he doesn't. His grin is of the usual, sarcastic fare; his eyebrows are propped up in their usual arch; his eyes…
Never mind. Something has changed. Percy's eyes have some light behind them, but there's something else there. A bit of confusion, maybe. A question. It's enough to make her look away. "He's just kidding. Obviously, we worked together on it."
"A-alrighty, then." Miss Aella pushes up her glasses jumpily. "Well, I—I wanted to…to ask if you all would want to read it to the class."
"Oh, um-"
"We'd love to," Percy answers before she can get anything else out.
"Great! Th-that's, ah, great." She's clearly happy that there's no resistance. "You…you can go now."
Annabeth bolts as quickly as she can—that is, as quickly as she can while looking casual.
"Wise girl!" He calls out, but she keeps going. "Annabeth, wait up!"
He's not going to give up, so Annabeth decides to, in the interest of saving time. "What's up?"
"What's up?" Percy asks, the confusion finding its way into his voice. "You've looked at me, like, once in the past two days."
"I just," She bites her lip. "…does it matter?"
There's definitely some hurt in his eyes. "I mean, kind of. To me."
"Oh." Annabeth's caught off-guard by the honesty. It reminds her of Saturday night, which is disarming in itself.
"Shouldn't we, I don't know, talk?"
"Talk about what?"
"You know."
She bites her lip harder and casts a glance towards the cafeteria. It's full of people now, yelling and laughing, and Annabeth would give anything to disappear into the crowd right now.
"…my boyfriend came back to town. Yesterday."
Percy's eyes widen. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend."
To be honest, she didn't exactly, either, but now that he's back it doesn't matter. "He was in England for three years."
"Oh, I'm sorry. We can just—we can just act like nothing happened, then. You're really cool, and I don't want to make things weird." He says, giving a sheepish smile.
"That's really nice of you, actually. It would be great if we could do that. See you around," Annabeth smiles. "Seaweed brain."
She walks away before she can see him smile back.