It has been an incredibly long time since I last wrote and published anything, but I was inspired by onreserve's Love Is A Fickle Beast, and my headcannons about Annabeth's sexuality, so here we are! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Title is from Girls/Girls/Boys by Panic! At The Disco.
Annabeth is ten and a half years old, and the Aphrodite girls are pretty.
Girls being pretty is in no way a new revelation for her, but when she mentions how beautiful Danielle, the head counsellor of Cabin 10, is, her older sister Karen gives her a weird look. She insists that girls don't say things like that about other girls, and Annabeth listens, and although she still thinks Danielle is the most beautiful person she has ever seen, she doesn't voice those opinions anymore. Only to Luke, who she asks tentatively one day if girls can like girls. He stares at her for a moment, and doesn't ever answer her question, but he hugs her tightly and presses a brotherly kiss to the top of her head.
Annabeth is eleven and she has a crush.
Holly is a daughter of Demeter who arrived at camp a month ago and was taken immediately under Annabeth's wing. On this particular day, they are sitting up against a tree on the outskirts of the forest. They talk, as they always do. And then, when there is a lull in the conversation, Annabeth leans over and kisses Holly gently on the lips. And instantly regrets it, as the other girl jumps up and yells obscenities in Annabeth's face before sprinting to the big house. Annabeth sits alone and cries, and Holly never returns to camp. It is better, Annabeth imagines her thinking, to risk death by monsters than to live side by side with a freak like her. And when Luke and Malcolm both ask her if she knows why the other girl left, she shrugs her shoulders and runs to the bathroom to cry again.
Annabeth is twelve and Percy Jackson has entered her life.
He is irritating and obnoxious, but she is oddly comforted by his presence, even though she hardly knows him. He was the one she was waiting for, after all, and she leaves Camp Half-Blood for the first time in five years on their quest. In the zoo truck, she talks to Percy about her life, and almost blurts out that she likes girls the way she likes boys and everything is so confusing. But she keeps quiet. She can talk about her difficult childhood and terrible family, but some things are too scary for a twelve year old to deal with, and for Annabeth, liking girls is so much harder than fighting a monster.
Annabeth is thirteen and she is still confused.
After the heartbreaking betrayal of Luke Castellan, Percy Jackson is sweet and funny and she kinda maybe a little bit likes him, not that she'd ever say it to his face. It is a relief to her, when she thinks she might have a crush on a boy, like a normal girl, but then she sees a picture of Angelina Jolie on one of her stepmother's magazines, and nothing has changed, not really. But she ignores it still, keeping it that locked box in the back of her mind. She keeps busy, joining her best friend on another seemingly impossible quest, which is just as emotionally taxing as the last. The post traumatic stress disorder invoked by travelling with a cyclops hurts. Meeting Luke for the first time after that last summer hurts. And that pang in her stomach when she lays eyes on the beauty that is Circe makes her wish she could change herself, and that hurts most of all.
Annabeth is fourteen, and she has a brochure for the hunters of Artemis.
She's been wondering about it for a while now. Perhaps joining the hunters in their romance free lives would solve all her problems. And hey, immortality doesn't sound like a negative to her. And then she is kidnapped and forced to either hold the sky on her shoulders or watch Luke die, and the decision is easily made. It is a worse pain than she has ever known, and all she can think is that she already had a burden on her shoulders, though less of a literal one, and this is all too much. And then Artemis shows up, and saves Annabeth's life, and wisdom's daughter almost decides then and there to join the huntress and her followers. But then Percy and Thalia ride in out of nowhere, bringing with them her father in his plane, and how could she leave these idiots behind? Thalia joins the hunters in the end, not her, and the look on Percy's face when he sees that he won't lose her makes her want to cry again.
Annabeth is fifteen and she doesn't know what to do with her best friend.
She has a crush on Percy. She has already accepted it, and she wonders again if perhaps she is cured of these feelings, but yet again she is caught off guard by a pretty girl and she is still the same. Percy seems oblivious to her feelings, which is both good and bad, but Rachel Elizabeth Dare knows exactly what she wants, and Annabeth is jealous. Not only for Percy's sake, although she knows deep down that he is part of it, but Rachel has everything sorted. She doesn't like girls as Annabeth does, and that is what makes the blonde so jealous she feels like she'll be sick. When Annabeth kisses Percy, right before she thinks he will die, she is proud of herself. And then she feels terrible for that fact. Back at camp, Percy is 'dead', and she feels the same, and nobody can cheer her up until Silena Beauregard waltzes into an empty Athena cabin and sits on Annabeth's bed, next to her. And kisses her once, on the cheek. Annabeth turns her head, and she feels the tears in her eyes roll down to her cheeks. And Silena says something that makes her break apart.
"There is nothing wrong with you, Annabeth."
And then with a second swift kiss, this one landing on Annabeth's lips, love's daughter leaves the cabin. And Annabeth sits in silence. Percy returns after two weeks, and Annabeth is angrier than she has ever been, but she is so, so relieved. He is alive and there is nothing wrong with her (even if there really is). And then Rachel Elizabeth Dare is involved in her life again, and nothing is okay as it was so soon before. Percy could fix this for her. If she had him, it could be so much easier to ignore the probing voice in the back of her head that tells her she is wrong. But he has a crush on Rachel, Annabeth knows it, and she tries not to resent him, but she can't quite manage it. They meet Luke again and Percy just doesn't understand that she needs him to be good. He is too black and white and Annabeth cannot deal with it without breaking down into tears. Luke is going to sell himself to pure evil, and Annabeth remembers being ten, when he didn't seem to have any problem with girls liking girls, and questions whether or not her feelings really are evil as well.
Annabeth is almost sixteen, and she has met someone special.
Clara goes to Annabeth's school in San Francisco. She is in the year above the blonde, and she is so pretty that it shocks Annabeth to even be noticed by her. And when she sees Clara crying in the library, she goes over and asks her if she can help. Clara smiles tearfully and shakes her head, and confesses that her girlfriend has broken up with her. And Annabeth's heart stops beating. Because Clara is like her, and this is so exciting. When she shyly speaks of her long repressed feelings for girls, Clara takes her hand and explains that Annabeth is probably bisexual, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Clara is gay, and she is the sweetest person, and she takes the time to help Annabeth figure herself out, and the daughter of Athena feels like this weight, pressing down on her for years and years, is gone.
Annabeth is now sixteen and preparing for the Titan war.
She is empowered and fierce; no longer scared of herself. She and Clara had briefly dated, and Annabeth felt alive, but she knew the feelings she had for her best friend were too reap to ignore. Clara understands, and is just happy that Annabeth knows who she is and that she has had a part in relieving her of her shame. When Percy arrives at camp with the news of Beckendorf's death, however, her plans of coming out to him are dashed, because she cannot make this about her when Silena is so broken and Percy has much more to concern himself with. They fight, and win, and when Annabeth says her last goodbye to Luke, she confesses that she is bisexual, quietly enough that only he hears. He smiles at her, and his eyes shine with pride, and he nods, which is enough to convey to Annabeth that he knows, and he doesn't care. It is so bittersweet and she looks to Percy and it is like they are the only two people in the entire world. And then he turns down immortality for her, and she is on top of the world. Rachel Elizabeth Dare becomes the Oracle of Delphi, and Percy is all Annabeth's. She does come out to him, two days after their underwater kiss. He is surprised, but he kisses her and tells her that he really doesn't give a shit.
Annabeth is sixteen, bisexual, and happy.