Work Text:
Annabeth woke up before even Percy's 6:30 AM alarm. She'd always been a light sleeper, especially since waking up at an instant could mean the difference between life or death as a demigod.
Percy, however, was a different story. Annabeth had loved that man for over a decade now (platonically and romantically), yet she couldn't piece together why he could sleep so soundly and still manage to be one of the world's hardest-to-kill demigods.
Annabeth rolled over to face her sleeping husband. She lifted her arm out of the warm covers and ran her fingers through Percy's wild black hair.
"Hey," she whispered. "It's time to get up." He, of course, remained unresponsive.
She propped herself on her elbow, and leaned down to kiss his temple. "I love you," she said softly and almost teasingly into his ear as she drew her head back.
Annabeth felt legally required to detest sappy romances and sick lovey-dovey couples, but in moments like these, she embraced the part of her that truly enjoyed being a hopeless romantic. When the sun was still under the horizon, even in the early hours of the morning, it seems appropriate to share secrets where its glaring gaze couldn't reach.
Percy's eyes fluttered, and he shifted closer to Annabeth, mumbling, "Love you too."
Annabeth smiled, and untangled herself from their blankets. "Get up, it's Monday." She stood up and stretched.
"Nooo," Percy groaned. "Come back."
His alarm went off.
"Turn it off!" Percy complained, and stuck his head under his pillow.
"Not until you get up," Annabeth laughed. She left to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she came back, she found the alarm off, but Percy still in bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Why did I have to get a job teaching high schoolers?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes. "You ask that every morning, but by afternoon you always tell me you like your job."
Percy sighed, and got out of bed.
They'd both finished their coffee and cereal by 7:00, making Percy, as usual, slightly behind schedule. He tried to leave around 7:00 to get to the high school at 7:20, 20 minutes before school started. Annabeth didn't start work until 8:00. Still, right after she kissed Percy goodbye and told him to have a good day at work, she hurried to take a shower as though she was the one who was late. As an afterthought, she yelled from the bathroom, "Don't forget to sign the apartment papers before you leave!"
"I will!" Percy shouted back.
Annabeth almost called back, "you will forget?", but restrained herself. Too much work to tease him from too far away.
Percy dumped his mug and bowl in the sink and grabbed his pre-packed lunch from the fridge (thanks to Annabeth's continual insistence that he make lunch the night before), and his work bag from the apartment door. He shoved his shoes on, and paused. Something was missing…his wallet! He spotted it on the kitchen table, but failed to notice the aforementioned apartment papers lying only a foot away.
Percy opened the door, called out one last goodbye to Annabeth (if she could hear it), and stepped out.
He closed the door behind him.
Annabeth was fully ready by 7:30. If she left now, she didn't have to worry about traffic and could take a minute in her office before starting her workday. She collected her bags and keys, then frowned at the kitchen table. The papers were still there. If they weren't signed and handed in to the landlord by 2:00, they would have to pay a huge fine. She glanced at them, and quickly noticed that Percy's much needed signatures were not present.
Annabeth groaned. She'd thought she would just hand it in before she left for work, but no! Apparently she would have to make a mad dash to the high school, and then back, and then to work.
At 7:45, Annabeth had made it to the school in what must have been a record time. She marched to the doors in her flats, and demanded security allow her admittance. They did, but she lost precious time trying to explain herself. They gave her directions to Percy's room, Room 12A, and she set off, clutching the bag with the papers in one hand, the other clenched. She passed only two teens, who glanced curiously at her but said nothing.
This was Percy's first year teaching at this particular school, so she'd only been to his classroom a couple times. Thankfully, it wasn't that hard to find.
Annabeth hesitated before the door. It was the right one; she heard the muffled voice of her husband on the other side. Peeking in the window, she saw at least 15 kids to the left, all in various stages of boredom. One glanced at her. She caught a glimpse of Percy to the right. Steeling herself, she knocked on the door. The muffled voice stopped, and the door opened a second later. Percy's eyes widened in concern and surprise. "Annabeth! Did something happen?"
Annabeth fumbled in her purse, and pulled out the apartment papers. "Please sign these," she said quietly.
Percy's eyes widened further. He glanced at the clock, then glanced at her ("she's late for work!" he thought), then took the papers and hurried to his desk.
Annabeth teetered into the room. At least 30 (if not 40) pairs of eyes were all focused on her. She almost blushed, but forced herself to remain collected. This type of attention was the sort she most disliked, but she could handle it. She would not be intimidated by high schoolers.
Percy pulled out a pen, and began to sign. "Sorry about the interruption guys, this is my wife, Annabeth, and she reminds me about the stuff I forget," he said. Annabeth could detect the sheepishness in his voice, though the students probably couldn't.
"What are you signing, Mr. Jackson?" a girl with long brown hair in the front row asked.
Annabeth raised her eyebrows at the girl's nosiness.
"Divorce papers," Percy deadpanned, without so much as looking up or breaking the speed with which he searched for each dotted line and scribbled on it.
The classroom fell dead still.
Annabeth put her hand over her eyes.
Percy looked up at his students, who were all clearly uncomfortable but also extremely intrigued by their teacher's personal life. "That was a joke!" Percy said. "They're just boring papers about apartment and adult stuff."
Annabeth physically felt the tension dissipate from the room.
Percy proudly proffered the papers to Annabeth. She raised an eyebrow, and pointed to a place where he hadn't written the date that he signed. He quickly wrote it, and handed them back.
"Thank you," Annabeth said, softly, yet somewhat sternly, and plucked them from his hands. "Sorry to interrupt you guys," she said in a louder voice, addressing the teens in the room.
Percy followed her to the classroom door (where they were still clearly in view of everyone), and whispered, "I'm really sorry I'm such a seaweed brain."
"You better be," Annabeth replied.
Percy kissed her quickly, and wished her a good day at work before closing the door and continuing to talk about biology.
Annabeth decided to head straight to work, and hand in the papers at the apartment during her lunch break.
She was 25 minutes late. Luckily, her boss didn't care that she was late one time out of hundreds of days early.
It worked out in the end, but she was still on edge for the rest of the day, and nearly screamed at at least two of her co-workers (one who had a bad habit of starting distracting small talk, and the other whose levels of intelligence Annabeth severely doubted). It didn't help that the wifi disappeared mysteriously for two hours, the printers seemingly broke whenever she wanted to use them, and an extremely important potential costumer turned down her design ideas. And her computer shut down for no reason. Twice. Without saving the last changes she'd made to the document she'd been working on.
When she burst in the door of their apartment at 5:00, she was thoroughly exhausted. Percy was making dinner, a skill which he had acquired a passion for (especially when he knew his wife would be in a bad mood).
Annabeth immediately flew straight to the couch in the small living room across from the kitchen area.
"No kiss?" Percy asked. "I'm making pasta."
"I know, Percy," Annabeth grumbled.
"I'm really sorry I forgot to sign the papers this morning," Percy apologized.
Annabeth sighed. "I know."
"You were late?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry."
She shrugged off her blazer onto the couch and shuffled over to the kitchen. She sniffed the air. "Did you make…cookies?"
Percy grinned. "Do you forgive me?"
Annabeth sighed grudgingly. "I'll get over it. Just know the stress I went through to avoid that outrageous fine."
Percy pulled her into a tight embrace, and Annabeth let herself relax for the first time since 7:50 that morning. "Sorry," he mumbled into her hair, and kissed her forehead.
Annabeth buried her face into his shoulder and breathed in the scent of tomato sauce and cookie dough. An odd combination, but not altogether unpleasant—at least not when her stomach was growling. "You don't have to say it again," she said gently, regretting her grumpiness towards him. "What you should apologize for, though, was that horrible divorce joke."
Percy laughed.