Chapter Text
Percy's downfall on the road to love is the day he moves in down the street from Annabeth.
Because the same day Percy moves in, is the same day Luke moves out, and already she hates him.
At 12, he'd excitedly barrelled out of the moving van, eager to greet the neighbourhood kids after six hours in a car with his parents, and for the most part, they'd responded back in kind. Grover had been particularly happy to have a new playmate in the same grade as him.
Everyone had greeted him warmly, and then there had been Annabeth.
Her grey eyes, already so unique, piqued his curiosity almost immediately, because he'd never met a girl with such interesting eyes before; they’d been tinged dark, stormy.
Because, as Percy had come to find out, with Percy's arrival in the neighbourhood had come Luke's departure, and the distance between a boy two years older and a girl hopelessly in love had become insurmountable.
Annabeth had been frosty, to say the least.
And despite his best efforts, worming his way under her skin, so many summers, so many camps spent together, Christmas Eves, block parties, you name it, Percy's downfall remained the same.
Luke Castellan.
Percy has never been one to play the game of jealousy.
He’s been jealous, envious so long now that he’s grown used to it.
How long have Annabeth and Luke been dating now? Four years? Maybe five?
They’d started dating in high school, right around the time Annabeth developed boobs, an ass that had him hiding during gym class and finally tamed her crazy blonde curls.
The spunk that Percy had always found cute, endearing, living to wage war just to watch Annabeth outwit him, well, other boys started finding it cute too.
They used to think she was annoying, hanging out with the boys, her knees always dirty, her hair forced into an aggressive ponytail just so it wasn’t in her way. They didn’t look twice.
Percy had always looked, though, always been a little in love, even if it was hard to admit to himself.
But he’d held back, unsure of her feelings towards him, because every speck of affection Percy got from her, would read into and agonize over in the dark of the night, well Luke got that tenfold.
So Percy had never confessed, and the day high school had started and Annabeth had walked in, her beautiful gold ringlets hanging loose around her face, just begging to be tugged on, and wearing something other than jeans and a sweatshirt, well Percy had been screwed.
Luke, two years older and well-versed in her affection, had snatched her right up before Percy even had a chance to think.
They’ve been dating ever since, and Percy has wanted to kill him ever since.
But he’s playing the long game, the game of Annabeth one day realizing she’s way too good for the asshole who ditches her every Saturday night for football practice, who won’t follow her to museums just to watch her coo over the architecture.
So here he is, jealousy is nothing new to him, it’s his every fucking day.
As if on cue, Annabeth sprints towards him from across the quad, they’d had plans to meet up for coffee after their morning classes.
She’s waving aggressively, one hand held up to her ear as she clutches her phone, and in the morning light, she’s so very pretty, those gold curls taunting him, begging to be tugged at.
It’s a privilege he’s not allowed, though, and one he’s never seen Luke take advantage of.
Bastard.
All Percy’s little ADHD brain wants to do is yank at them, run his fingers through the ringlets, they’d be so soft, would his hand get caught? How would they feel?
As she appears in front of him, he resists the urge to reach his hand out and touch them.
That would be weird… super weird and not worth the consequences.
Annabeth arrives in a flurry of movement, her hand on his arm for a quick squeeze and a bright smile while she finishes up her phone conversation.
“I’ll see you later, baby.”
Percy wants to throw up, as he hears the response on the other end of the line, Luke’s rich timbre and Annabeth’s subsequent happy little sigh.
Ugh.
She turns to him as she hangs up, “Seaweed brain, what are you up to?”
Resisting the urge to throw up his breakfast, that’s what.
He plasters on a smile, allowing her to link their arms as she drags him towards the popular campus coffee shop, “I just finished class and I desperately need caffeine.”
Annabeth grins, leaning into him, and is it any wonder he’s in love with her? When she’s doing stuff like this?
Physical affection is so deeply ingrained in their relationship that it would be weird if he called it out now, but god, is it sweet, sweet torture.
Her chest is locked tight against his arm and as usual, Percy has to recite the alphabet backwards to avoid thinking about Annabeth’s very impressive assets.
She has nice boobs and Luke is a lucky man, but sometimes he really wishes Annabeth were just a little more aware of the fact that he is a hot-blooded male, and the urge to look doesn’t just go away because they’re besties.
He very much wants to look… and feel, especially because she’s wearing a disturbingly low cut shirt and they look absolutely fantastic today.
No! Bad Percy!
No impure thoughts!
He tunes back into the conversation when Annabeth smacks him, her brows furrowed, “Have you been listening to anything I’ve been saying?”
No, he’s been having an existential crisis over her tits, obviously.
Percy shrugs, and she smacks his arm again. This time, Percy tries valiantly to keep his eyes on her face and his ears in the conversation.
They’re in the coffee shop now, that much he’s noticed.
“Sorry,” Percy jokes, “I told you I need caffeine.”
Annabeth sighs before dragging him up to the register, “Get him the largest cold brew coffee you’ve got please, and I’ll have a Grande pumpkin spice.”
Without another word, Percy pulls out his wallet, and before she can protest too much, he hip checks her out of the way.
The cashier is looking at him in amusement as Percy taps his card against the machine, “Spunky one you’ve got there.”
“Don't remind me,” Percy groans, and he can practically feel the little blonde heathen’s gaze drilling bullets into his head, and sure enough, as he turns, she’s glowering at him from the pickup counter.
She hates when he pays for things, it infuriates her in a way that has Percy paying for stuff just to see the look on her face.
She’s so fucking cute.
She gives him the silent treatment for a cool minute and a half before she reluctantly starts talking again, “You’re such a dick.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize paying for your coffee was such an asshole move, I’ll be sure to let all the other men know.”
“You never let me pay.”
“And I never will, accept it, wise girl.”
She continues to fume as their coffee orders are called out, cheeks puffed up, and grey eyes stormy, “I’ll get you back one of these days.”
He hands her the pumpkin spice latte she’d ordered smugly, “I’d like to see you try.”
And that, that scene right there, is how Rachel Elizabeth Dare enters the picture: disastrously.
She’s coming in to pick up an online order, pumpkin spice judging from the cup, just like Annabeth.
As soon as she spots him, her eyes light up, just like they have every time since that first political science course.
“Percy!”
Percy for the second time today, feels like he could throw up his breakfast, especially when Annabeth’s keen grey eyes lock onto Rachel like a heat-sinking fucking missile.
It actually feels wrong that her eyes aren’t glowing, and the whole coffee shop isn’t erupting into a mass explosion, Percy would almost actually prefer it.
“Rachel,” Percy greets awkwardly, teeth gnashed into some semblance of a smile.
This isn’t something Percy had ever wanted to occur.
Because side chicks, from Percy’s deeply rudimentary understanding of the player mentality, are not in fact supposed to meet the main chick.
And Annabeth, despite having a long-term boyfriend, is 100% the main chick.
He awaits death.
“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here, I’m just between my art courses right now, next is nude modeling,” Rachel winks, “You still sure you don’t want to volunteer.”
Percy curses Rachel’s normally endearing confidence, because there is no possible way Annabeth can misconstrue this.
No possible way he can misconstrue this to Annabeth.
Percy laughs awkwardly, feeling Annabeth fidget beside him, her fingers drumming against her coffee cup, her lips pursed tight in displeasure.
Shit, shit, shit, he has to get out of this situation and quickly.
“I’ll pass, but umm we actually really have to go, so I’ll see you later–”
“Tonight,” Rachel presses him, “Tonight, you said you were free Wednesday nights right?”
“Yes.”
Damn him and his pre-planning, damn all the stupid ADHD strategies and coping mechanisms that his mother has drilled into him!
“Tonight then,” Rachel grins before turning her gaze to the very furious blonde next to him, he can practically feel her vibrating.
Annabeth does not like being left out of the loop, and seeing as how Percy hasn’t even introduced her yet, she is probably at an all-time level of furious.
“This is umm Annabeth, my best friend,” Percy trips over his words, struggling to introduce her fast enough and even still, his infuriated blonde does not look impressed.
Rachel on the other hand absolutely beams at the introduction, probably thrilled to finally meet his infamous best friend, “Percy has told me so much about you, great to meet you.”
“You as well,” Annabeth replies primly, her hand held out for a shake, “I’m so sorry I don’t think Percy has mentioned you before.”
Rachel chuckles, “I’m Rachel, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Percy and I are,” She pauses for a moment, and the pause is truly damning, a secretive little smile on her lips, “Friends.”
The way she says the word has Annabeth smiling, all teeth, murderous.
“Of course,” His perky little blonde replies sweetly, like nothing is wrong, like she isn’t going to tear into him in a moment, “You’ll have to excuse us though Rachel, I need him for something.”
“Bye,” Rachel hums happily, “I’ll see you later Percy.”
Percy knows that he is doomed.
Annabeth is in shock.
It has to be shock, there’s no other feeling it could be.
Because Percy, her best friend, golden retriever boy, gets…bitches?
Annabeth genuinely doesn’t know what to say, she has to sit down on a park bench just to let it sink in.
Percy is looking her over worryingly, lip bitten between his teeth and a gentle hand on her arm, and when the hell did his hands get so big?
Too many things are changing, and Annabeth doesn’t like it at all.
Percy sits down next to her, awkwardly handing her coffee over, he’d taken it when he’d realized the fall risk was high.
“Was that umm your girlfriend or something?”
Percy scratches the back of his head nervously, “Or something.”
“Percy Jackson, you tell me right now or so help me gods—”
He swallows nervously, those pretty green eyes of his darting away, avoiding her gaze, “We have a thing.”
“What do you mean a thing?”
“We hang out sometimes.”
“Percy,” Annabeth huffs, losing her patience, “What do you mean?”
His eyes dart back to her, and he grumbles, “Do I have to spell it out?”
“You’re sleeping with her?”
“Surprise,” Percy mutters awkwardly, “I’m not a virgin anymore.”
Annabeth has no idea what to do with this information.
Her mind, the one asset she can always count on, constantly in motion, fixing, planning, calculating and yet now, it is blank.
An entire system reboot.
It’s not like she thought Percy would remain a sexless virgin forever, he’s a boy after all, and to Annabeth’s immense chagrin her best friend is hot, really hot, actually. When they walk around campus together, other girls look on in jealousy in a way she’s only used to with Luke.
So mentally, somewhere deep in the depths of her mind, she knew it would happen at some point.
Annabeth just didn’t think she’d have to be confronted with it quite so obviously, or quite so soon.
“Congratulations,” Annabeth forces out, eye twitching a little because she doesn’t really know what this means for their friendship.
For as long as she can remember it’s always been Annabeth, Percy and Grover. And then, as high school started and Grover switched schools, it became Annabeth and Luke… And Percy.
He’s never had a girlfriend before, and admittedly, Annabeth had been avoiding the possibility of it like the plague.
But… it’s fine.
It’ll all be fine.
She has Luke, and now maybe Percy will have this Rachel girl, and everything will be just fine.
Fine.
Is it cognitive dissonance? Absolutely, 100 % Annabeth meets the psychological definition she’d been studying in her textbook to a fucking T. Will she admit it? Absolutely not.
So, she plasters on a smile, and turns to Percy, shoulder checking him playfully, “Glad you finally got some, I was starting to think you were a lost cause Jackson.”
A small smile creeps up his lips, unsure, nervous, “Just a late bloomer Chase, what can I say?”
Percy had reservations about the idea of Rachel and Annabeth meeting, it was everything he never wanted, worlds colliding, all of that.
And yet, what is probably worse than the meeting itself, more awkward than her quizzing him about his relationship with Rachel, is probably her complete and utter indifference on the subject afterwards.
She doesn’t bring it up again, doesn’t even acknowledge it, simply goes about her day and very pointedly avoids making any plans with him for any subsequent Wednesday nights.
Percy doesn’t really know how to feel about it.
Objectively, he knows Annabeth is in love with Luke, has been since she was a little girl.
He can still remember their first meeting, how unimpressed she’d looked even as a ten-year-old, her nose turned up at Luke’s replacement.
She’d turned pointedly to Grover and said very simply, “I miss Luke,” before heading off towards her house.
Percy grew up with the knowledge that no matter what, he would always be inferior in Annabeth’s eyes, that he would never quite measure up to the handsome blonde boy that stole her heart with a crooked smile and eyes bluer than the sky.
But still, Percy had kind of expected some kind of reaction from her upon meeting his first-ever fling/situationship, whatever the kids are calling it these days.
She’d barely reacted, and simply went on with her day, and she hasn’t asked him about it since.
Percy watches her, sipping thoughtfully at his soft drink and then, as if compelled by some larger force, he kicks her shin lightly.
Annabeth looks up from her homework to glare at him menacingly, “Percy, I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Yeah, but I’m taking a break and if I take a break, that means you have to take a break.”
She looks up at him again, a scowl on her face, but she can’t hold it for long, her lips twitching up before she hits him.
“You’re so annoying.”
But she closes her book anyway, and Percy smiles, his hand reaching for hers across the table, a compulsion he just can’t break.
He steals her pen instead of lacing their fingers like he wants to, lets his touch linger just a little longer than is strictly appropriate, traces the line of her knuckles as he goes and shit her hands are so soft, beautiful.
Annabeth has always had pretty hands, soft, dainty and made to draw, to ink the designs of large buildings, coliseums, plot out structures larger than life.
He can’t help that he wants to touch them, who wouldn’t want to touch greatness?
Her eyes are soft as she looks him over, heather grey, and fuck he hates it when she’s like this, soft for him, pretty, loving. It gives him hope, hope he’s not allowed to have.
It makes him want things he shouldn’t want, makes him bolder than he should be.
Percy decides self sabotage is the best way to fight her off, when in doubt, always best for him to stick his foot in his mouth.
It’s one of his greatest strengths if he does say so himself.
“How are things with Luke?”
At this, Annabeth’s previously sweet countenance evaporates, her lips pursing up in irritation, all that cute sleepy contentedness going right out the window, just like his chance of a relaxing afternoon.
“Busy, football season, you know,” Annabeth replies curtly, snatching her hand away from his to grab another pen that she almost immediately begins clicking in irritation.
Got to love the ADHD rage kicking in.
She doesn’t say much else, just glowers murderously at the nearest bookshelf, her pen clicking out death threats in Morse code. Percy has been best friends with Annabeth since they were ten, he knows exactly which buttons to press to get her to open up, she’s like an open book to him now.
“C’mon Wise Girl, give me more than that, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” She huffs, and blissfully the clicking stops, only for Annabeth to begin drawing angry scratch marks along her notes, enraged pink lines, “He’s barely talking to me, says he has practice all the time I don’t know what to do. I’m worried there’s another girl.”
At this, Percy genuinely gawks at her, dropping his hand to the desk in affront, “Annabeth c’mon, there’s no way.”
It kills Percy in the worst kind of way to defend Luke, but it’s also just the honest truth.
Luke might be a shitty boyfriend most of the time, but he knows for sure the blonde really does care for Annabeth, even if privately Percy thinks they’ve both outgrown the relationship.
Luke cares for Annabeth in the way he always texts Percy when she has an exam, or tells him to look after her when they go out.
Luke cares, but always from afar, and Percy is always left with the actual gruntwork, the boyfriendly duties the blonde should very much be fulfilling.
Percy has no problem with this of course, he’d do it without Luke asking because Annabeth is his best friend, and he loves her, he’d always look after her.
But Percy is also uniquely aware of the fact that he is a glorified boyfriend, but without the benefits.
Example A: He’s in the library on a Tuesday night, sharing takeout and studying for an exam he doesn’t have tomorrow all so he can walk Annabeth home from the library.
And who is she going to go home to? To their shared off-campus apartment, to canoodle and spend the rest of her night with?
Fucking Luke Castellan.
And yet, here he is, comforting her about him.
As if on cue a text chimes through and Annabeth’s face lights up as she reads it, “Maybe I’m being too hard on him though, he just said he grabbed pizza for us.”
“We just grabbed burgers,” Percy volunteers blandly, and Annabeth barely looks up from her phone as she shoves her greasy brown paper bag towards him, “Here have mine, you need the protein anyway, don’t you have a swim meet next week?”
He’d be flattered that she remembered if she actually looked up from her phone.
After a minute, she finally looks up, lip bitten between her teeth in that tell-tale look, the one that screams guilt, that she’s going to ditch him in precisely 0.2 seconds for her boyfriend.
“Percy I’m really sorry do you think I can–”
“Go,” Percy tells her, and it’s painless this time as she gets up, giving him a brief hug before she leaves, “You’re the best.”
He’s left only moderately dejected in the library with food for two and studying he doesn’t need to do.
University is lonelier than he thought it would be, Percy thinks errantly, grabbing a curly fry from Annabeth’s bag.
Then he calls up Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
Might as well make it worth it.
Objectively, Annabeth doesn’t mean to ignore Grover’s calls.
His… thirty missed calls.
Her phone rings again in her hand, interrupting her studying for about the tenth time in the last few minutes, and finally, she brings the phone to her ear, “Hello.”
“Annabeth,” Grover sounds shocked that she actually picked up, and she truly has to wonder if the calls are for a good reason.
“Yes, it’s me, the person you’ve called about forty times now,” She responds dryly, and she can imagine his wince on the other side of the phone.
“Yeah sorry about that, I was just wondering if you’ve talked to Percy.”
Percy.
Annabeth frowns as she recounts the last time she saw him, their library study date last Tuesday, a week ago now, the one she’d had to cut short.
Huh, weird, she really hasn’t seen him this week.
“No,” Annabeth responds tentatively as she pulls up her and Percy’s text conversation on her computer, eyebrows knitted together as she goes over their many messages.
“He seems fine, though we’ve been talking all week, said he aced his Ancient Greece quiz because I drilled architecture into his brain,” Annabeth boasts smugly as she rereads over their conversation, a smile coming to her lips.
Seaweed Brain is killing college after all, she thinks fondly.
Grover says nothing in her ear and the frown is back on her face, “What’s wrong? Has he not been responding to you or something? Did you two get into a fight?”
It would be quite atypical if they had, it’s usually her and Percy who end up fighting over stupid shit.
Grover hums on the other end of the line nervously, “We’re not fighting per se, it’s just I haven’t really been able to get a hold of him recently, and I thought maybe you were taking up all his time, that would make sense, but evidently not.”
“What do you mean ‘that would make sense’,” Annabeth imitates Grover’s gruff baritone with a scoff, “We’re not attached at the hip, we don’t spend all of our time together. I have a boyfriend, you know.”
“I’m very aware,” Grover snarks back, a note of resentment to his tone, and Annabeth grabs her tea so she doesn’t explode at him.
Grover has never exactly been a fan of her and Luke dating, and he’s never really gotten over it.
He can suck eggs though.
“Percy is probably fine, I don’t know what you’re so worried about, he’s nineteen, not five, he’s probably just busy with swim practice, other friends you know the works.”
Annabeth tries her very best not to think of Rachel Elizabeth Dare as she lists all the things her best friend could be out doing, knowing that the redhead could be exactly what he’s out doing right now.
“That's what I’m worried about,” Grover mumbles over the other end of the line, and Annabeth sighs, “If you really want I’ll go check on him.”
“Umm,” Grover sounds unsure now, and Annabeth sighs in irritation, “Grover pick a struggle here, are you worried or not?”
“Fine, fine, don’t worry about him, I’ll just keep trying to call.”
“No,” Annabeth asserts, “You called me forty times, I’m gonna go over to his apartment and see how he’s doing.”
“It was not forty Annabeth! And no, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Percy is umm obviously busy with something, I’ll just wait until he resurfaces. It’s fine.”
Annabeth reluctantly agrees before hanging up the phone, telling her very neurotic friend to cool his jets, preaching about the art of calmness.
And then she spends the next twenty minutes glaring at her calculus homework.
Because Grover might sort of be right, she hasn’t seen Percy in exactly a week, and despite talking over text he’s made absolutely zero move to see her.
It’s very un-Percy like of him.
It’s weird.
She doesn’t like it at all.
So, because she can’t concentrate on anything else, she packs up her stuff and trudges towards Percy’s apartment with purpose.
What the hell is her best friend up to?
Percy, Annabeth finds out is studying.
But not alone.
No, to Annabeth’s immense horror she finds her best friend in the coffee shop on the first floor of his apartment building, a favourite haunt of his.
He’s snacking on a scone and staring at his political science textbook like it holds the answers to all the questions of the universe, and next to him, smiling secretively with every glance up, is a girl.
A very beautiful girl.
A girl that is far too pretty to be sitting in this dingy little coffee shop with her best friend.
She’s the kind of girl that you see on Pinterest, the girl everyone else wants to be, hair perfectly coiffed, falling in silky chocolate caramel waves down her back, like the most delicious caramel macchiato Annabeth has ever seen.
Her eyes are a dark chocolate colour, framed by thick full lashes and everything about her is so striking that Annabeth has the undeniable urge to take her phone out and snap a picture, because she simply cannot be real.
She smiles again, a hand darting out to pinch Percy’s arm, and he looks up at her with a smile of his own, one Annabeth realizes dully that she has missed over the past week without him.
Shit.
For the second time, Annabeth’s brain struggles to reboot, and she can almost hear the Windows XP startup sound in her head as her brain begins to compute the image in front of her.
The conclusion she comes to is not one that she likes, not at all.
Percy, her very innocent, very wholesome, loving best friend, might just possibly be… a player?
A whore?
Is that the right word?
Annabeth genuinely doesn’t know.
Percy laughs at something the girl says, leaning in, and she watches with laser focus as he touches her arm, how comfortably he does so, how he doesn’t move his hand right away.
The next thing she knows, said hand is wrapped around the girl’s waist and he’s leaning in to help her with something, close, so close, way too fucking close.
Annabeth is left utterly confounded as she witnesses her best friend smoothly flirt with this beautiful girl, not an ounce of hesitation in him.
He’s absolutely brimming with confidence, mouth at her ear, whispering things to her, cheeky jokes and an endless amount of reasons to touch her.
What do they say about change?
That it’s good? That it brings innovation, all that jazz?
After all, where would modern architecture be without the change brought on by mother, Zaha Hadid? What about the differences between the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the aqueducts?
So change is supposed to be good, that is well established, and hadn’t she been thrilled when she and Luke finally started dating, the best change to mark the rest of their lives together.
But as she looks at Percy, changing right in front of her eyes, all she feels is cold dread.
Her thoughts are insidious, selfish and worse than Percy deserves when he’s always so good to her. But all Annabeth can think is that he shouldn’t be touching this girl so familiarly, shouldn’t be stealing sips of her coffee, shouldn’t be doing any of these things with anyone except her.
Inexplicably, Annabeth finds herself grabbing her phone, typing in a number she knows by heart, etched into her fingertips, and before she can stop herself she’s dialing.
She can’t help it as the tone rings in her ear, she just, she needs the reassurance, the knowledge that she’s still the most important no matter how selfish it may be.
It takes two rings, and Annabeth watches with bated breath as Percy and the beautiful girl next to him both glance at his phone curiously.
Will he answer it?
She can pinpoint the exact moment he realizes it’s her because he’s snatching his phone like it’s about to burst into flame, giving the girl an apologetic smile before he’s standing up and walking away and then–
His voice is in her ear, a little out of sorts, but it’s the deep baritone she loves, raspy as he tries to keep himself quiet, “Hey.”
Annabeth practically melts, her entire mood shifting, calm now with his attention, “Hey.”
Percy chuckles on the other end of the line, and Annabeth watches as he heads towards the exit of the cafe, looking for somewhere quiet.
Shit.
She stumbles, hiding herself behind a nearby pillar and thanking the gods for structural building supports.
“What’s up?” Percy asks and Annabeth allows her guilt to catch up with her finally because what the fuck is she doing?
How needy is she? She’s calling him while he’s on a date? How very unhinged and very un-Annabeth of her, it’s actually ridiculous.
“Umm,” She struggles, “Not much, just missed you.”
This is evidently the wrong thing to say because she can hear his breath hitch, can feel how his smile has probably lit up like the sun, “Of course you did, I’m great I’d miss me too.”
Before she can help it, she’s quipping right back, “I’ve changed my mind. I don't miss you anymore, you’re too smug already, you don’t need the attention.”
“Wait–” He’s chuckling in her ear, “I do I need all the attention now tell me what’s up Annabeth?”
Damn him!
“Umm not much, I just thought we could hang out later if you weren’t busy.”
Annabeth glances around her pillar to see Percy lingering near the outside of the cafe, leaned up against his own pillar, she catches just enough of a glimpse to see him frown.
“I’m a bit busy tonight,” Percy tells her evasively, “How about tomorrow?”
Annabeth bites her lip, “I’m not sure if I can do tomorrow yet, I’ll let you know, I have a weird group project.”
Percy laughs, “With the guy from your interactive arts and media class? The one who’s always wearing suspenders?”
Annabeth groans, “Yes, that one.”
“Good luck with that Wise Girl.”
“Thanks Seaweed Brain I’ll need it.”
“Okay well I’ll let you go then,” Percy tells her and Annabeth hums into the phone line, about to say her goodbyes, only vaguely comforted by the call.
Because sure he’d picked up, but he hadn’t dropped everything for her.
And shit is she going to become that girl best friend.
Please gods no, she has to get it together.
Just before they hang up though Percy gets one last line in, one last little sentence to melt her heart.
“Hey Annabeth?”
“Yeah?”
“I missed you too.”
And then he hangs up, and Annabeth watches her best friend walk back towards his date with another girl with the biggest smile on his face she’s ever seen.
It hurts because she doesn’t know which girl the smile is for.