Disclaimer: I have no rights to the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan has given a small liberty for us to use his characters unofficially on this site and that is all it is. Fan-fiction.
Set right after Titan's Curse. Nico's run away. Percy, Annabeth and Grover realise the truth of his father which has to be kept a secret. Annabeth finds out another truth about Percy which upsets her for some deep reason.
Note – This story does not intend to marginalise gays or lesbians in any way. I have tried to portray them in a light which is realistic as how the world is. Please put away all ill-conceived notions you may interpret. They are not true.
.
Annabeth woke up in a sudden shock as though somebody, a certain blue eyed blond, had tried to push her off a tall haunting cliff. Or a bed.
She sighed, brushing away tendrils of her hair which had come out of the messy braid. Blinking rapidly and rubbing her eyes, she realised that the dreams wouldn't stop unless she immersed herself into an activity which would employ her full attention.
It was close to six in the morning and freezing. Her blanket was wrapped around her as she dragged it slowly through the dark room filled with snoring siblings. Peeping through the window, she noticed two tree nymphs chatting in low voices across the arena, three demigods up and about (though she couldn't recognise them in the dim light,) two satyrs inspecting the ground in front of the Big House (Annabeth winced at that – the crack caused by Nico's surge of power was too daunting) and Chiron sitting on his wheel chair on the porch of the building, reading a magazine.
Wasn't it too cold to be roaming around outside? Annabeth shivered a bit, but then made up her mind to be the first at the archery grounds. Killing cardboards and leather was her favourite way of starting the day. Other than beginning a new contemporary architecture book, or course.
In ten minutes, she was stomping across camp, nodding at Chiron along the way. As expected, she was alone in the archery area of the camp.
Though it was slightly cloudy, the sun was able to shine through all the way when her stomach complained of hunger. Annabeth was sweaty but not too weary since shooting arrows didn't take up as much strength as all out sparring. She notched her penultimate arrow between her fingers, adjusting the grip against the bow. Breathing out slowly, she realised and then smiled in a grim fashion as the arrow head embedded itself dead centre of the target. Twelve times in a row.
"BOO!"
Annabeth shrieked and jumped. Someone had shouted into her ear and she whipped out her knife swinging it towards the would-be-victim.
Percy leaped back. (Of course it was him, who else could be so stupid as too disturb someone with sharp, pointy objects.)
"Whoa! Calm your cooties, Wise Girl!"
She glared at him. And then it melted into a smile. Really, it was hard for her to hate him for long. They were friends. Companions. Platonic.
"Cooties?" She asked, slipping her knife back into its sheath. Percy sighed and stepped forward, grinning sheepishly. He looked fresh and bright, possibly just out of the showers. Annabeth felt slightly self-conscious. She was sticky and probably even smelled.
"Don't know, just slipped out. So, what're you doing?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes and gestured around them. Percy flushed as he took in the sight of several targets with arrows in them. "It's conclusive, Percy. You're waterlogged."
"Hardy har har. How long have you been here, murdering innocent red, white and black boards?"
"Since six."
Annabeth drew her last arrow, bending her face away from him.
"Couldn't sleep, huh?"
She expected pity. But she heard empathy in his voice. Looking up, she tried to analyse his face for dark circles. His eyes looked tired but, he seemed better than she felt.
"You too?" She asked. He shrugged, turning away to look at the Big House. She saw Chiron flipping through a couple of pages in his tabloid, but knew that he was actually paying the campers more attention. They turned back and Annabeth readied the arrow and her bow.
"There's something I have to do – er, say. I mean, it's just..."
Annabeth lowered her bow to look at him. Percy seemed flustered, his gaze focused on his shoes. He sounded... off.
"What's wrong?"
He hesitated. In that second, Annabeth saw horrifying visions of Luke at the brink of death, Thalia being overpowered, Nico running into the rising army, the Oracle prophesising terrible truths and Percy not being able to choose –
"Nothing's wrong, but it's so not... I mean, it has nothing to do with Nico or the Gods, it's just me."
Honestly, he looked scared. Annabeth wanted to reassure him and so took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled at that but immediately wiped it out.
"Percy, whatever's the problem, we can deal with it. Spill your cooties."
He laughed and shook his head. "I earned that one. It's not a problem. I don't believe that. But I just don't know what to do."
She waited for him to gather his thoughts. He rubbed his face, flicked his fingers, kept breathing through his mouth and watching around them, as though searching for anyone spying on them. He looked so nervous that she kept her bow, arrow and quiver down on the grass and pulled on his hand. He tensed but then relaxed.
"Don't judge me."
Annabeth glared at him. "I can't do a thing unless you tell me. What's the not-problem?"
Percy huffed. "Annabeth, give a guy some space. I'm gay."
!
!
!
About a million thoughts rushed into her head. It was like seeing him in a different light. Like Percy turned into someone else and was not him but at the same time, it was him. He watched her and Annabeth took note of how his eyes darkened for a second before each blink.
It wasn't supposed to change anything. There was nothing wrong with that! She shouldn't judge him for that. So he liked boys. She liked boys too. Guys were wonderful to look at, funny to be with, slightly dumb but charming in such an oblivious way that she loved to sit with and talk about nothing in particular all day long.
But this was not how it should have been, her mind screamed.
-How was it supposed to have been?-
Any other way, not like this!
-There's nothing to be done about it.-
Aphrodite's playing. She's laughing in a very evil voice.
-I'm being silly. Percy's still my friend. That won't change.-
Annabeth swallowed. That's why he had told her. What would she have done if she realised that she liked girls? May be hide for a while, because a majority of the human population were not like her and there were people who wouldn't understand. But she would have wanted to confide it with someone. Someone trustful. Someone like her best friend.
Thalia?
-No, stupid! I mean Percy!-
Her heart was beating fast when she realised she had to say something.
"You're right. It's a not-problem. Do you want to talk about it?"
Percy shook his head fast, staring at her wide-eyed. She felt a bit surprised too. May be it was because she never usually took too much stuff with a pinch of salt but now...
"Cool." She forced out. Giving him a strained smile, she continued. "Let's wrestle on the mats today. I'm tired of seeing Clarisse pummel your butt all the time. That's my job."
.
It didn't matter. It really didn't.
But even then, Annabeth couldn't help but stare at Percy longingly from her table, during breakfast. He sat alone, like usual, but kept making funny faces for a new undetermined camper seated at the Hermes table. The little girl kept giggling and looked a lot better than when she had seen the orientation film and had flipped out.
Orientation.
Annabeth pushed the base of her palm into her eye, rubbing furiously and feeling out of control. She wanted to do something physically violent but it just didn't make sense to her.
She had nothing against what Percy had revealed. That was not it. She hated herself was her warring emotions which seemed to be as difficult to hold as the sky.
Annabeth dug her fork into her sausage, taking a huge bite out of it and chewing so viciously that her cabin mates stared at her. She had an idea of why she felt like this. She didn't like it, because whatever the turnout was, it would all be a moot point.
She could not like Percy.
Like like him.
As in crush on him.
Percy crossed his eyes and let his tongue slip out to the side and tilted his head. The newbie laughed. He looked cute.
She hated herself.
.
"Annabeth?" Malcolm said cautiously. Annabeth was bent over one of her sketches of the 'Empire State Building part 2,' revising a few details, a demented expression on her face. None of her half siblings had the guts to ask her to move from her perch right in front of the door. Why she was sitting there, no one knew.
She didn't look up when he called her name. Malcolm turned around to see everyone else gesture him to get her attention. It was the morning after the great reveal, as Annabeth had taken to call it in her head. People from the other cabins wondered why none of the Athena kids had stepped out. It was close to eight in the bright morning and there were a number of hungry demigods in cabin six, too scared to approach their furious head of the cabin.
"Let's just climb out the windows." One of the campers suggested in a low voice. Another one rolled his eyes.
"You might fit through the bars, tiny. But we won't."
"Annabeth." Malcolm called again, his voice going up. She didn't even twitch.
He turned around but then closed his eyes, planning for the finale. He reached in a snatched her pencil out of her grip.
"Hey!" Annabeth protested, getting up and glaring at her brother.
Everyone else, rushed past her, heading for either the showers, bathrooms or the pavilion. Malcolm tossed Annabeth her pencil and folded his arms, to shoot his own glare back. They were silent for a few minutes until the ADHD took over.
"You've been acting pretty weird since yesterday. What's the deal? I mean, you've put off your usual activities, forgot to coach the newbies in Monster Theory, spent only an hour on training, that too, wrestling with just Percy and then missed dinner altogether. You never mess up your routine! And now, what the Tartarus are you doing to your Empire State blueprint?"
Annabeth stared at Malcolm. He'd never actually raised his voice to her.
"Jeez... I go off course for a day and you freak out. Nothing's wrong. I was just sorting some stuff. And I haven't been doing anything to my blueprints..."
Annabeth trailed out as she saw the number of scribbles and doodles all around the building that she had been scratching unconsciously. Upon closer inspections, they all seemed to be epithets about a certain son of the sea god.
She groaned. Malcolm waited.
"It's... nothing. I mean, like I said, I'm sorting –"
"Did you fight with Percy? You seemed okay when you were on the mats with him."
"Malcolm, it's nothing. Alright? It's my stuff. You can stay away from it."
"Annabeth..."
"It's girl stuff! Go away!"
And the conversation was done with but not forgotten. Her brother gave her a soul searching look, but Annabeth had turned away, dumping her papers and sketches into her drawers, locking them and stomping out.
She hurried past the crowds gathered for breakfast, jogging through the cabins and reaching the forest. Her stomach was empty but Annabeth couldn't focus on food. She kept walking through the green, the noise of camp fading out slowly.
Had she acted so out of character the previous day for Malcolm to be worried? She had personally thought that her behaviour had been normal. She hadn't raised her voice too much, she hadn't glared at many people...
Maybe Malcolm had spotted a tell of hers.
Annabeth frowned, kicking a couple of stones into the tiny stream that trickled past her. She stopped when she reached Zeus' Fist. The rock pile was high and curved towards the ground offering some shade to the ground. There was a peculiar lack of canopies around this part of the forest where the number of trees were lesser. She trudged towards the shade and sat down with an undignified 'plompf!'
But really, what was the reason for her moodiness?
Unfortunately, Annabeth knew the answer all too well.
She liked someone who would probably never like her back. Like that. In that particular way which seems to be the only way this world is run by.
Annabeth buried her face in her hands, folding her knees. Percy was her friend. Her best friend and she was his worst friend. This was not right. She could not be like this.
But it hurts! Annabeth took in a ragged breath. It felt terrible to have unrequited feelings. She looked up and stared at the bright sunlight illuminating the trees' bright leaves and few fruits that hung in the middles. She saw a clump of flowers growing around a large tree which stood out in the distance. That must be one very self-happy dryad.
She wondered how Percy was now. How did he feel about all this? She doubted if he had told someone else about it. Maybe his mother; Percy'd never be able to keep something this big from Sally. They were far too close.
Grover? Possible. But what if he liked the satyr? Would he told him them?
Annabeth blinked at that. She felt a little silly, but the more she thought about it, the more it made the pain dull. Would Percy and Grover be – what was the word Aphrodite's daughters used? – cute... together?
Annabeth craned her neck backwards and leaned against the rocks. No, she decided. Percy and Grover seemed better as good friends. Besides, Grover had a girlfriend. And Juniper would strangle the boys if they even considered it.
Who else was he close to?
Annabeth stopped at that thought. Percy had been hanging out a lot with the Stolls. Was it because he liked one of them? Both?
She shuddered. No, Travis liked Katie far too much to go for anyone else, even to annoy her. But Connor was on the market.
For a second, her mind battled on her own feelings, the potential relation between Percy and Connor, the subsequent events that could determine the result of the love triangle.
She paused. Love triangle? No, she just liked Percy. And he and Connor were far too young to be in love. Right?
Her groan was rather loud and it echoed slightly. She left the forest immediately.
Annabeth ran towards the dining pavilion hoping for some morsel left. Her stomach was growling and she was able to snatch a sausage roll before the plates and leftovers started to disappear. She grabbed an apple in the nick of time, praying that she could last until lunch.
On her way to the Latin basics class, she spotted a sight that made her heart stop for the shortest of seconds.
Percy was leaving the Hermes cabin, looking back and waving happily at whoever was inside (Annabeth bet her apple and half eaten sausage that it was Connor.)
He looked bright and completely free of any possible love demons that could have infested him. Annabeth watched as he made his way down to the archery range, whistling (actually whistling!) He looked as though he wanted to skip along the way. His eyes were shining and his head turned at that moment and caught her gaze.
"Hey, Annabeth! You're not gonna believe this!"
He ran towards her and Annabeth squashed down the pain that was threatening to be manifested into burning tears. No way, there was no way she was going to be angry and sad about something that made Percy so joyful as though nothing could be wrong. As though there was no hanging swords of Damocles over everyone's heads.
"Hi." She managed to force out when he was a couple of feet from her. He grinned, showing his teeth, lips stretched almost from ear to ear.
"You look constipated."
Annabeth glared at him. Oh, he thought he was so funny was he?
"You look disgustingly happy." She retorted.
He didn't seem put down by the fact at all.
"Yeah. Well, I just saw a funny thing. I was in the Hermes cabin –"
"What were you doing in there?" Annabeth blurted.
His smiled lessened. "I was just about to say that. You okay, Wise Girl? You look really really uber uptight about something."
Annabeth chewed on the sausage which tasted bland now. She tried to swallow, but her throat didn't seem to work.
Percy looked a little wary but continued nonetheless, "Um, you know Marny? The new girl at camp. Her dad hadn't claimed her yet, so I was just trying to cheer her up and she showed me a couple of magic tricks. They're not completely magic or anything, but they looked really good –"
"Illusions." Annabeth fought her roll down and nodded for him to keep talking.
"We were just fooling around and then Marny did this trick, her hands were so fast, but she actually stole Connor's wallet, watch and shaving cream. Did you know Connor shaves? Twice a month!"
Annabeth stared at him, trying to see if he was excited about the act of shaving (one of the symbols of a boy finally growing,) a little girl being able to steal from the master prankster himself (clearly Hermes' daughter,) or because he was with Connor. Most classes were right after breakfast, so nearly everyone would be occupied; but what were Connor and Percy doing? Just helping the new camper or something else?
"Must have been some trick." Annabeth muttered. Percy smiled. His previous enthusiasm dying down to a pleasantness that only he could exude.
Annabeth looked down at the apple she had and then, to keep the situation from becoming awkward, she said, "How did Connor react?"
Percy looked happy again. "He stared at her like she had three heads! It was hilarious! It's not every day that you get to see someone pull a fast one over a Stoll."
"Marny's probably a daughter of Hermes." Annabeth nodded. Percy shrugged and looked back at the Hermes cabin as though waiting for someone.
Could she just ask him? Could you just ask someone if they had a crush? Annabeth looked at him, too innocent and perfect, just her height, with shoulders only a bit broader than hers, wearing the same camp t-shirt as she did (everyone wore it, but Annabeth still considered it unique,) they both sported the same kind of grey hair, from above the crown; the strands looked silver under the sun and it seemed to say how they were off the same league.
"Where were you? I couldn't find you at breakfast so I thought you were on a killer spree of poor targets."
Annabeth shrugged hoping to look blasé. She did not want Percy to know anything about her problems. He must have been under enough pressure trying to come to turns with his own not-problem. "Just took a walk to clear my head. Were you lost without me?"
Percy nudged her elbow with a sly look. "Oh definitely. Let's skip Latin class and plan for Friday's Capture the Flag, huh?"
She smiled, a genuine feeling arising in her. This word play was familiar to her and helped to keep her grounded. They were good at being friends.
.
Another two days passed and Annabeth found herself at an impasse. Her chest was burning with emotions warring through her mind and she kept seeing Percy getting along with Connor more and more. She'd watch them race up the rock climbing wall, team up for canoe races, lose to all the tree nymphs at foot racing but laugh it off. She saw them spend time with Marny, the new camper who was claimed recently by Hermes, enjoy her little sneaky antics and the most shocking thing was that no one else seemed to notice it.
Nobody saw that Percy and Connor were spending so much time together. Nobody suspected a thing. And Annabeth hated herself for becoming jealous of Connor for something the three of them did not have control over.
Did Connor know about Percy's not-problem? Or was Seaweed Brain just testing the waters to see how Connor would react?
What was it about the son of Hermes that attracted him in? The short curls? The mischievous look in his eyes? The pranks he pulled? Height? Chest hair?
For an irrational moment, Annabeth actually looked down herself and cursed her womanly aspects that were just maturing. She was losing it.
She turned away from the duo who was chatting next to the trunk of swords. The hall was filled with second year campers that Annabeth would be supervising for the next hour and a half and she could not lose her credibility as smartest child of Athena in the current generation. She grouped them by height and started out with the basics of warming up exercises.
A bit of stretching and groans from the kids, helped her to concentrate on the activity at hand and away from the green eyed boy she wanted to make-out with.
She stumbled in her movements but quickly regained posture. 'Make-out?' What the Hades?!
Annabeth shook her head and called out, "Okay, now we're going to start with defence tactics. The general movements. Face your partners and I'll give you the signal."
There was a lot of rushing as people ran for their friends and Annabeth automatically looked for Percy over their heads.
Her heart stopped for the second time that week.
Connor had put his arm around Percy's shoulders and was whispering into his ear. Their faces were so close that if one of them leaned in a few inches...
Resentment sprouted in Annabeth. If she had admitted her feelings to Percy before he came to his own realisations, everything would have been different. May be they could even have been going out by now.
Annabeth looked back at the expectant campers and ordered half of them to attack while the other half to defend. All the while, she held back her tears.
.
The next night, she found herself sitting quietly in Team Red, not offering much advice in the Capture the Flag game. Chiron had made Ares Team fight against the Hermes Cabin and Clarisse had won over too many Athena campers for her cabin to even think of choosing Team Blue. So here she sat, wearing a red plume over her helmet, bronze breast plate, her shield and staring at her knife. As if her heart wasn't already heavy enough.
"Three decoy groups!" Clarisse barked, separating three people out for each group. "You six will head north-east and the others will head west towards the Blue team. Distract as many of them as you can and spin them in circles. Malcolm, Judith and Tracy will guard the river and make sure that Jackson or anyone else do not get too close. Gordon, Lou and Fanny will guard our flag, while Carla, Annabeth and I will be the backup guards. The rest of you, Sandra and Tyler will be leading the group to get their flag. Head through the North-west side, cross the third decoy team and sneak under their guards, alright? Improvise on group formations after you get into the situation. Any doubts?"
Nobody had doubts. The sky was getting darker since it was December and the wind was cold. The small fire they had lit in the centre of their meeting flickered. Clarisse kicked mud onto it and stamped the embers out, yelling everyone to get into their respective positions.
Chiron blew into his conch shell, the sound echoing into the trees and going right through their ear-drums. The forest fell silent immediately as though waiting for the epic battle. Annabeth watch as about 80% of their group disappeared into the growing darkness and she shifted her shield up her arm.
After a while, she heard clashes of metal against metal and battle cries from, 'For Apollo!' to 'Holy Hades!' and 'My Nails!'
Annabeth stood up straight as she heard a faint sound of leaves crunching close to their territory. Clarisse and the other turned towards the same direction. Annabeth suddenly looked behind them and saw one of the Blue Team campers with a fart arrow.
"6 O'clock!" Annabeth cried as the arrow hit the ground and expelled thick yellow smoke. She held her breath but the stench seemed to permeate even then. Eyes watering, she saw Clarisse body slam the poor boy right into a shrub of thorns but at the same time four others vaulted into the clearing, their cheeks puffed up with clean air.
Annabeth raised her shield and pushed against two girls, one of whom brought her spear up to knock the plate away. Annabeth dodged and quickly threw the shield to ward of the others from heading for the flag.
One of the Stoll brothers, she didn't know which one (but suspected unfairly that he was Connor,) leapt over her and ran for the flag.
Fanny shrieked and ducked, effectively tripping him into a face plant while Annabeth rushed to incapacitate him.
Someone ran into her so hard she tripped and fell, her knife slipping out of her palm. She brought her leg up to kick the newcomer in the chest and roll away towards her shield which was just a few feet away. But the same person kicked it away and she looked up to glare at him while realising that it was Percy.
He looked apologetic but continued to trip another of her teammates.
He was helping Connor.
And then, the unmeasured hurt gave way to unexplainable anger and envy. She vaulted back onto her feet and pushed Percy with both her hands.
As expected, he turned, his sword outstretched and in normal circumstances, it would have only hit her protected chest, but Annabeth bent low and swung her legs to flip him onto his stomach. She ran and threw her entire weight on Connor's body, a few inches away from the flag. They hit the ground hard and she heard him groan.
There was a loud sound of cheers as she heard Malcolm whooping. She saw them running back towards them, the large blue flag with the insignia of the Apollo cabin clutched in his grip.
She heard Connor sigh. "Did you have to do that, Chase? It hurt!"
"Sorry." Annabeth said, not sounding sorry in the least. She got off him feeling satisfied at the physical aggression she had displayed against the two people she had been obsessing about for five days. It wasn't exactly right, but it made her feel calmer.
During the celebration and dinner, she smiled flatly at everyone when they congratulated her on taking down several people in the span of a few minutes. Malcolm was the hero of the game for the night, but everyone was praising the both of them along with Clarisse.
To aggravate herself, she sat next to Percy during the sing along. To her annoyance, Connor was on the other side of him.
"Hey." Percy said, munching on his marshmallow. She smiled when he looked as though he had no hard feelings for attacking him.
"Hey." She said back. The Apollo cabin started a new song which was more of a ballad on Lord Pan. She twisted her on marshmallow, watching it turn golden brown.
"Can I be part of your team, next week?" Percy asked, munching. Connor snorted at that. Annabeth smiled brazenly and nodded. "Sure? What about your new best friend?"
Percy looked confused for a second before turning towards the Stoll brother in question who smirked. "Oh, Percy ain't my best friend, Annie girl. He's your best friend. Although he is my boyfriend, so you'll have to put up with the two of us from now on."
Percy coughed as he gave him a wide eyed look as though he hadn't wanted that information to be public.
Annabeth dropped her marshmallow. The anger boiled up again and she needed a way out. Of course, Connor. Of course, not her. She was a stupid girl. He was a lucky boy.
"That's nice." Annabeth said as casually as she could while taking a bowl of popcorn from the front row. She glared at the flames which turned dimmer, confusing everyone.
"That's nice, she says. Really Annabeth?"
She turned to chew Connor a new one but stopped when she saw his arm over Percy's shoulders, again. And they simply looked back at her.
The fight went out of her when she saw how relaxed they were. What kind of a friend was she?
"Fine. You two are absolutely adorable. When's the wedding?" It took all of her effort to say it in a voice that didn't quiver.
Percy blushed at that but Connor laughed.
Annabeth gave a grudging smile. She could be his best friend. No one else would have that honor. And it was her pleasure.
.
How much ever she tried to lull herself to sleep by listening to her siblings' snores, it didn't work. She stayed awake for the better part of two hours before deciding that she was probably never going to get over Percy.
Was this how a crush worked? Would she ever move on? It was just a feeling. A burning all-consuming feeling which could take over a person's mind and soul like a parasite until nothing was left but rotting flesh buried alive in the ground.
Lack of sleep did not result in a sane state of mind.
Annabeth grabbed her jacket and tiptoed out of her cabin.
She decided to make her way to the ocean. May be she could meet a harpy on the way and get salvation from the hurt. Her masochistic side was showing.
Her crappy sandals were not made for the beach but she dragged her feet until she reached a soft place, dry enough for her to sit without much interruption. The freezing wind and spray of the wild sea waves made her want to go back to the comfort of her comforter but Annabeth sat there, a stubborn will taking a hold of her mind, as stubborn as her will to not stop loving Percy Jackson.
Loving?
-Oh shut up-
Annabeth closed her mind for a minute, preferring to bask in the ridiculous weather and glow of the moonlight. Artemis must be proud at her reigns since the moon was nearly full and looked to be craterless.
The scattered clouds were receding from their stations which they had taken up to give a dark foreboding sense of danger during the Winter Solstice. May be the next night would show a clear sky full of stars and the moon.
She drew herself closer inwards to fight against the bitter winds. She started to change her mind. It was too cold. December was not a time to lay about outside in the night.
Annabeth would have left if it wasn't for the shadow figure walking towards her from a distance. She stopped to look at the person, trying to determine if it was a god or a demigod or a monster.
No wait, monsters couldn't come in right? Probably a god. Not many would be as crazy as her to be in a frigid cold zone like the sea.
She idly wondered what god would want to drop by when the person came up closer and her eyes widened.
"Luke?" She blurted in disbelief.
The person stopped walking. Annabeth stared at his right hand which was in his pocket and the left which was simply dangling about. That was the way Luke would sometimes stand when he wasn't sure of what to do.
He started towards her again and then she saw the moon light fall upon his face. Her cheeks flared up.
"Hi Percy." She mumbled.
Percy had a solemn look in his eyes, almost sad, as he sat down beside her. Annabeth turned away, her hopes dashed.
"I don't understand how you can think he's still alive." Percy whispered. He turned to look at the ocean.
"It's a gut instinct." She answered shortly.
They were quiet until a cloud passed over the moon, darkening the surroundings considerably. Annabeth shuddered and Percy grabbed her hand.
A heat spike went up her arm. It burnt her but in such a good way that it could not have been appropriate for two friends at all. She pulled her hand away and closed in on herself.
"Sorry." Percy said. He sounded incredibly sad. She wanted to hug him.
"No, it's okay. Just that... um, it's cold." Annabeth said lamely. Duh, it was!
"Why are you here anyway, Percy? It's stupid. Aren't you cold?" She exclaimed trying to cover up the awkward moment.
He looked at her incredulously, "Look who's talking! You were here first! I saw you sitting here from my cabin window and decided to join you."
She moaned and turned away. Percy's cabin was closest to the ocean. He had a huge view of the beach from the windows. Why didn't she remember that?
The wind whipped by again and she rubbed her palms together to create heat. "I wanted to be alone."
Percy rolled his eyes. "The cleaning harpies would have found you in under fifteen minutes flat. It's winter Annabeth, why do you even want to be outside? It's dead cold."
"Not too cold for you apparently." She snapped. Percy was in camp shirt and old slacks. He didn't seem uncomfortable.
"I'll give you the reason for my super power against the freezing weather." Percy said, whispering like a conspirator. "I am the son of Poseidon, the God of seas! The sea happens to be twenty feet away from us! A miracle, isn't it?"
She hit his shoulder, but had a grudging smile on her face. Percy just grinned. He slung his arm over her shoulders and drew her close to him. Annabeth started.
"You're cold." He said.
"Percy! Don't – ugh! Get your hand off!"
He looked surprised. "But your cold."
"And you have a boyfriend."
He stared at her for a second before removing his arm. He looked close to depressed now.
"What's with the mood swings?" She asked, rubbing her upper arms.
"Connor." He replied. Annabeth stared before questioning, "What about him?"
Percy looked like he wanted to panic but then he just looked up and then at her. His eyes looked large and made her want to pat his cheek and comfort him.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth."
She blinked. "For what? You haven't done anything. If anyone was weird, it was me. I've been the worst friend –"
"No, you don't understand."
"What don't I understand? Admit it, Percy. I haven't been spending enough time with you. I know I was wrapped up in my own head but I had so much –"
"Annabeth –"
"I should apologise –"
"It's not what you think –"
"I should have been with you –"
"I lied to you."
The wave crashed so close to them that they were almost drenched by the spray but Annabeth couldn't be bothered by that at the moment. His voice rang like a steeple bell, loud and sonorous, breaking her ear drums.
"What?" She whispered. " Lied to me? About what?"
Percy looked like he was in pain. He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling on it. Looking at the sand he said in a low voice, "I lied about my... my not-problem. It doesn't exist."
"Your what?"
Percy threw his hands up. "You want me to say it straight? Fine! I lied about being gay. I'm a very heterosexual being. I did not tell you the truth. I deliberately lied straight to your face. Please don't kill me too slowly."
The words ran through her mind dully like molasses. It didn't make sense at first. Why would he do that? It wasn't something to joke about. She had been a wreck for days because of him.
She glared at him, "Why would you do that? Did it seem funny to you? Percy, there's a line between a joke and being downright terrible. It's not right!"
She stood up, feeling herself well up with tears of frustration.
"I'm sorry! I'm so so so sorry, Annabeth. I wasn't being mean to anyone. It was just a bet. I was supposed to tell you on Monday, but you were acting so different and evasive, it scared me! I thought you couldn't handle it, I mean –"
"A bet?! I – you thought... who did you make the bet with?"
Percy hesitated. Then he caught Annabeth's eye and spilled, "Travis and Connor. They thought it would be funny to see me act like that. They thought you'd tell everyone in camp about me being gay but you didn't so Connor wanted to see your face when he said he'd be my pretend boyfriend. He'd thought it would be funny. It was a harmless prank! I swear, Annabeth. I didn't know you'd be so hurt about it!"
Annabeth exhaled loudly. She should have felt happy that her chance of being with him was now very real, but it was now that she had felt even lonelier and farther from him. He lied to her as a joke. What kind of person would do that? How could Percy even think of making fun of her and the whole concept of sexual orientation. It wasn't right to be so offhand about it. It was a real problem because the world held so many close minded people.
"You know, by playing that harmless prank, you were indirectly making fun of all homosexuals. I didn't think you could be so mean. Guess I was wrong. And no, you're not going to be on my side for the next Capture the Flag game."
She turned and left, hoping that he didn't hear her sob.
.
Saturdays were days that had slightly less intensive courses as compared to the rest of the days. There were no theory classes except for a retelling of all Greek myths which was more of a fun class than anything else. A couple of hours were spent on arranging a physical race course which was always held on Sundays. It included participants racing against the tree nymphs, canoeing, rock climbing, arranging small pieces in the right battle formation as required and small sparring matches.
Percy was rather quiet and distant and people had started to notice him. He was usually the one who lifted others' spirits, but seeing him withdrawn steered the others uneasily. Many wondered if it had anything to do with the upcoming war, or some new conflict with the gods, but Annabeth noticed how Percy kept his distance from Connor and Travis who looked wary themselves.
Annabeth wanted to believe that she could hold her head high because she knew the truth, she knew that she was right. The three pranksters who were avoiding everyone had been careless and she had been right to push them off their high pedestals.
But she felt sad herself. She felt betrayed but that could be taking it a step too far. Percy thought it was a joke, so should she have been so harsh on him? Was that right? She didn't even listen to the real reason of why he had decided to do something like that. The Percy she knew wouldn't have made fun of anyone so cruelly. Not even if he was in a life threatening situation.
She watched as he arranged the long boats in order and in a straight line right next to the bank of their small river. He was the one in charge of that aspect for the race so he could not participate this week. It didn't even look like he wanted to.
No, he looked like he was ready for a five year bed rest.
Annabeth looked down at the ropes she was fastening for the beginners at the rock climbing obstacle. She was standing pretty close to the lava, which wasn't a very good idea, but she could bring herself to move away. She was too wound up thinking about Percy.
"Hey, Annabeth?"
She turned around and saw Connor and Travis standing behind her, looking slightly abashed.
As they should.
"What?" Her voice sounded frosty.
One of the brothers kept his mouth shut but the other said, "Look, Percy told us that you know and you don't approve –"
"Don't bother apologising." Annabeth turned back to the ropes pulling the sailor knots at the right height.
"We're serious, Annabeth. We didn't mean for it to be so bad. It was supposed to be a silly little joke, but when it actually happened, it didn't sound so silly."
"Then why didn't you stop when you realised it wasn't right? Was it a matter of your nonexistent humility?" She muttered.
They were quiet and she did a good job of ignoring them until she was done with her ropes. Swinging the excess onto her shoulders, she turned around and pushed past them but Travis (or maybe Connor) caught her arm. She pulled it away giving him a harsh look.
"I know that you're super mad at us and we deserve it but don't blame Percy." Travis said, his voice sounding strangely comforting.
Annabeth stared at him and then at his brother. "And why not?"
Connor gave an exasperated look, "You can't really believe that he would've wanted to do something like this! It took us a while to convince him and that was after we had blackmail material over him. "
She stood there for a minute, letting the meaning seep in. "Did you force him to lie to me?"
It was clear that the two boys were about to face the heat.
"Um... not exactly..."
"You have one minute to explain before I leave you hanging by the weakest ropes above the lava."
"We thought you'd be able to take a joke!" Travis yelped. "Especially one that comes from Percy! It wasn't supposed to go on for days. We wanted to get it over with within a few hours just to see how your reaction was. It was no big deal! But we didn't even see much of you, you kept disappearing and then reappearing in other places."
Annabeth tried to keep her breathing steady. She had been ducking in and out of her schedule on the day Percy had told her the lie. She couldn't stand her emotions overflowing her meagre being and left for the forest for reprieve.
"So, you're blaming me?"
The Stolls looked frightened. Good. "NO!"
Annabeth folded her arms. "And what about the blackmail material you have on Percy?"
They stumbled over themselves trying to explain. "We might have seen him in a pair of Finding Nemo boxer shorts which were absolutely ridiculous!"
Travis gave his input when Annabeth's glare hardened. "But we can easily forget it."
"You'd better. Or I might just visit River Lethe –"
"Whoaa! Annabeth, don't go too far! I swear, we will never tell another soul about the whole affair. It's gone from our heads. I promise!"
"Yeah, me too. Whoosh. Gone. Jeez, I don't even know what we're talking about."
"Yeah, no clue."
She narrowed her eyes. "What makes you think I'll let you off so easily?"
With those words, Travis and Connor started to sweat. "Um, how – how about... we'll owe you!"
Annabeth rolled her weight onto one leg.
"We'll both owe you! And Percy! Two each for you! Any kind of favor!"
That was actually a good deal. She didn't want to turn the experience into a purely personal reward so she said, "And no more games like this."
Travis nodded. Connor piped up, "What about Dr. Seuss games?"
Annabeth's glower sent them running and she felt a little proud that she could do that.
And then her mood plummeted when she turned and saw Percy trudge up to his cabin, trailing a fishing net which seemed to be caught in his jeans belt loop. It left mud marks all over the back of his legs and made strange criss-cross patterns on the earth.
She wondered if what the Stolls had said was right. Or had they been trying to fool her again. If anyone would have asked her before, she would've confidently said that Percy wasn't so much of an idiot to play stupid pranks.
Last night she was so hurt, it felt like a heart break. But then she had realised that it was a trust break.
Are you sure you haven't been overreacting?
She flinched. No, she had all the right to freak out. Percy was her best friend and he'd lied to her about something serious. What should she do with that? Stay away from him?
You're not strong enough for that.
May be let him spend time with her in a very diplomatic way.
May be.
Annabeth threw the ropes down in their spot outside the Hephaestus Cabin and headed for Percy.
Was it possible that she had overreacted?
It hadn't been to affect her directly. But sexuality was a major issue in the world. People insensitive enough to crack jokes about it intentionally or unintentionally upsetting others were wrong to do so. Even if it was a close friend.
Percy was more than a close friend and he looked really repentant and Annabeth cursed herself for being such a softie when it came to matters based on Percy Jackson.
.
Percy takes one look at Annabeth that he's half way to being forgiven and that gives him enough energy to give her a rib crushing hug and a slew of apologies.
Annabeth decides that their friendship is worth any kiss that she'd been dreaming of with him.
.
Of course, we know it's different in the future.