Air Conditioning and Pajamas, a percy jackson and the olympians fanfic

A/N: I want to wish a HUGE happy birthday to my bff Casey! I hope you have a wonderful day, and I love you so much! Thanks for getting me addicted to The 100, and thanks for being there for me! I know I can count on you 100% of the time. And I hope this fic makes your day just a little bit better, sweetheart. I love you, and happy birthday!

(Alright, guy, make sure to head over to my tumblr if you want to talk bc that's the best way to contact me. And this fic is COMPLETE.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or anything else that you may recognize.

-3102015-

His mom always told him that he would eventually find them. She always said to never go looking for them because the second that he was least expecting it was when it would happen.

He tried to not expect it a lot.

But it was always there, in the back of his mind every second of every day. He just couldn't wait any longer.

Percy was seventeen, and almost all of his friends had already met their soulmates. They all had names that went with the letters inked onto their wrists. They all had someone that understood them perfectly and completed them and was there for them. Percy didn't have that yet.

But he did have his two, black letters AC on the inside of his wrist. Air conditioning, he always joked. They were somewhere out there, wondering what he was like and where he was.

Percy went back to waiting.

Okay, he was getting seriously tired of this.

It was two-thirty in the morning, and Percy had to go to school tomorrow. He hadn't been asleep yet, and instead, he had just been rolling around in his bed, trying to go to sleep.

It's just—he was really sad.

Like, his heart was beating too fast, and his chest was hurting a little. He was just so tired of waiting. Most of his other friends had already met their soulmates. Which, he was really happy for them, but he was just tired of staring at his letters on his wrist and wondering who AC was. He wanted to know them. He wanted to be able to look at them and smile and—

Percy knew that this was really common, especially for his age group. Though there wasn't really an "average" age where people met their soulmates, the doctors and scientists had confirmed that many people experienced these sad feelings because of the loneliness. He knew that a lot of people got too sad to handle it, so they went to a doctor and got some medicine to help curb the feelings. Of course, that came with a lot of side effects, and Percy wasn't really interested in them. He could handle it.

And it's not like he felt like this all of the time. Most of the time, he was a pretty happy guy. He just got frustrated sometimes about not having someone to talk to like most of his friends did. He just wanted his other half. He wondered if they felt like this too.

Percy took a deep breath and forced his eyes close as he pulled the sheets up around his shoulders. He would be fine in the morning.

You know, if he ever actually feel asleep.

As soon as Percy saw Jason's face the next morning, he knew.

"Oh my god, Percy," he said as he got close enough. His eyes were sparkling happily, and he was beaming. His blonde hair was windblown, like he had run all the way from his car to tell Percy.

"What's their name?" Percy asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. It was bad enough that most of his other friends had already met their soulmates, and now his best friend had found his other half. And it was great, really, Percy was so happy for him, but it wasn't fair. Percy was tired of waiting. Where was his soulmate?

"Piper McLean," Jason breathed. His blue eyes were shining, and his face was twisted into a gigantic smile. "Her name is Piper."

Percy grinned even though something inside him felt a little broken. He clapped Jason on the back and ushered him toward homeroom. He said, "That's awesome, man! Where did you meet her?"

Jason's eyes glazed over, and Percy kept his hand on Jason's shoulder to keep him from running into a wall because of his daze.

And when Jason started talking about this brown-haired girl that he met while standing in line at Starbucks that morning, he didn't stop until they were walking to their cars that afternoon.

"I'm just tired of waiting," Percy whined, dropping his head to the counter and looking up at his mom.

She laughed slightly and looked up at him sympathetically, "I know."

"It's not fair. You were younger than me when you met Dad," he said.

His mom sighed and looked back down to the oven and where she was cooking dinner. Her expression was kind of sad, but she shook it away before Percy could feel guilty about it.

"That's true, but some people aren't as lucky. But who knows, Percy, you might meet them tomorrow or five years from now," she explained. "That's the special part."

"Yeah," he grumbled. "Real special."

Percy was actually really glad that he had parked his car on the side of the road like his mom had told him not to.

He was walking back to his car (that was currently on the curb of a really popular street, oops) from dropping the water bill off at City Hall for his mom. Despite the weather being pretty crappy lately, the sun was shining, and the cold wind ruffled his black hair. He shrugged his jacket tighter around his shoulders, humming to himself as he ventured down the sidewalk.

When he turned the corner and could see his car, he hesitated slightly.

There were two girls standing on the sidewalk. They were both holding buckets, and they were talking to the people that passed by them. Percy groaned. His wallet was already empty enough, and there was no doubt that one of these girls would manage to get some money out of him. He wondered if he had time to turn around.

As he got closer, he realized that the girl with the brown hair looked familiar.

Before he could decide where he knew her from, she looked at him and smiled, hurrying over toward him and brandishing her bucket.

"Hey!" She said, smiling lightly. "I'm Piper, and we're raising money to—"

He realized where he knew her from. Jason had been showing him pictures of her every minute of every day for the past three days. He was supposed to meet her formally this weekend, but it looks like he had already beat Jason to it.

"Wait, Piper McLean?" He asked.

She raised an eyebrow, "Do I know you?"

"No, but my best friend knows you, and he hasn't shut up about you since he met you earlier this week," Percy said with a smile.

Piper finally smiled, and Percy could see why she was Jason's soulmate. She was just so bright. Jason definitely needed that.

She was still smiling when she asked, "Percy?"

"That's me," he said.

Her smile got bigger, and she tossed an arm around his shoulders. "This is so cool! We're going to be best friends, okay? I need all of the details and stories about Jason and—"

"Piper?"

They both turned their gaze to see Piper's friend looking at them with raised eyebrows. Her gray eyes were wide, and it looked like she was holding back a smile even though she looked kind of confused. Her blonde curls were pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing an outfit similar to Piper's—jeans, boots, and a long sleeve shirt with a school name that he didn't read right away.

She was really pretty. Percy was glad that she wasn't talking to him. He probably wouldn't have been able to say two words without embarrassing himself.

"Annabeth!" Piper exclaimed, dragging Percy along with her as they moved closer. "This is Jason's best friend! He was going to introduce me this weekend."

Annabeth (that was a cool name; Percy didn't think that he had ever heard it before) smiled and rolled her eyes, and god, Percy normally didn't realize that he liked someone this fast but just—wow.

"Hey," she said. "I'm Annabeth."

He tried his best to give her a winning smile, but he felt all shaky, like his lips were trembling too much for him to actually smile.

Thankfully, his voice was solid when he said, "Hi, Annabeth. I'm Percy."

"So, Percy," Piper said. "Jason talks about me a lot?"

He shifted his attention back to Piper and rolled his eyes. "There's not a word to describe how much he talks about you."

Piper laughed delightedly, squeezing his shoulder. "And what about you? Have you met your soulmate yet?"

Percy shook his head and pushed his sleep up enough so he could show them his letters. He brushed his fingers over his wrist, quickly outlining the AC before looking up at Piper. He smiled sadly, "Not yet. I'm trying to be patient, but it's not working out well."

He tried not to be embarrassed. Some people didn't like to show their letters to anyone else, but Percy had never minded. He had always been pretty open about it, showing them to anyone that asked to see. Mostly everybody had them, except for a few unfortunate people that were born without them or the people whose soulmate had died and left them with a smudged wrist instead of legible letters.

Percy's mom was like that. When his dad had died in a boating accident almost a decade ago, her letters had smudged instantly. She never covered them up, and sometimes, Percy still caught her outlining where the letters used to be.

Percy thought about his letters a lot. He wondered who they belonged to. He wondered what they would be like or what they doing or where they were going or what they were thinking about.

Most of all, he wondered when he would meet them.

A hand touched his wrist, jerking Percy back to reality.

Piper's arm had dropped from his shoulders, and she was looking down at him curiously. Annabeth was standing closer to him, and her fingers were gently wrapped around his wrist. She was staring down at his letters, and Percy was frozen on the spot when her fingers traced his AC.

"Oh my god," Piper said, but Percy couldn't hear her.

"Percy," Annabeth asked. Her voice was shaking lightly, like she couldn't catch her breath. Her gray eyes were wide when she looked up at him. "What's your last name?"

"Jackson," he muttered. He was holding his breath, and his whole body was tense.

Then, Annabeth was letting go of his wrist to push up her own sleeve. Before he could say anything, she turned her wrist over and held it next to his.

All of the breath left his body.

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth breathed, looking up at him. Her eyes were shinning, and she was smiling. She was taking his breath away even though he didn't have any left. "Oh my god. Finally. I've been waiting for forever, you idiot."

And then he was smiling, and god, he just wanted to hug her.

"Annabeth…?" He asked through his laugh. His face was hurting from smiling so big, but he couldn't stop.

She shifted closer to him, using her other hand to trace over his letters again. He was doing the same to her, and he didn't realize that he bent his head closer to hers.

"Chase," she said, still smiling. "Annabeth Chase."

"Annabeth Chase. AC." He said. He didn't even bother to hide his grin.

His name passed through her lips with a sigh, and Percy thought that he would be happy standing there and staring at her for the rest of his life.

It turns out, he was almost a thousand percent happier when he was walking down the street, holding Annabeth's hand and listening to her talk. He had never listened to anyone for that long without losing focus, but he just wanted to memorize Annabeth over and over again. And sometimes, he still felt like that wouldn't be enough.

She told him all about school. She and Piper both went to the high school a few miles away from his, and she was president of Student Council. She ran with the track team for her school (and really he should have noticed that before because good god her legs were long and her body was toned but Percy was still busy staring at her eyes. He would have plenty of time to stare at her body later). Her GPA was perfect (because of course Percy's soulmate was a fucking genius. He was so proud of her). She lived with her dad, but her parents had gotten divorced a long time ago (which still happened even if the people were soulmates—some things just didn't work out). She saw her mom sometimes, but Annabeth didn't seem like she wanted to talk about it, so Percy let the subject drop. They had all the time in the world to talk.

Which—thank god for. He wanted to talk to Annabeth every single minute of every single day. He completely understood Jason now. He had found his constant comments about Piper annoying before, but now, Percy just wanted to brag on Annabeth all damn day.

When Annabeth had decided that she had talked enough, she made him talk. He told her about school and basketball. He told her about his mom and his dad. He told her that he had spent most of his life wondering about her and when he would get to meet her.

It was an accident when he told her that he was really glad that she was his soulmate.

But she had smiled and leaned in closer to him anyway, repeating those exact words to him. Her eyes were watery, and her voice was wobbly. She kept blinking, but she gripped his hand tighter and pushed one of her curls behind her ear.

Percy had never seen anything so beautiful.

"Okay," Annabeth hummed. "Favorite… color?"

"Blue," Percy said immediately. "I'm guessing yours. Is it… Green?"

She laughed and shook her head, "Orange."

He wrinkled his nose playfully, "Really?"

She pinched his side, and Percy pretended to squirm away from her. She was still laughing, "Yes, really. Favorite food?"

Percy had just met Annabeth yesterday. They had spent most of the afternoon walking around downtown, talking. Not long after they started down the street, Annabeth's hand had slipped into his, and he hadn't let go until he had walked her to her car and watched her drive away.

They had exchanged phone numbers and all of their social media accounts before taking a few pictures together and heading home. Percy had texted her all night, and they had agreed to meet up again after school.

Now, they were sitting on a park bench, facing each other and huddling in their jackets. The wind was blowing softly, and sure, his hands were kind of cold since he had given his gloves to Annabeth, but her smile was warming him from head to toe and that's all he cared about.

They continued their questioning for a while longer, but soon, they fell into a comfortable silence. Percy kept reaching out and grabbing a strand of her hair or squeezing one of her hands in his.

When Percy reached out toward her again, Annabeth grabbed his hand from him and turned it over in both of her. She pushed his jacket sleeve up until she could see his letters, and she set her fingers on his skin.

"When I first met Piper," Annabeth started out of nowhere. She was still looking down at his letters on his wrist, and Percy still couldn't get over the fact that they stood for her name. "We were comparing letters, and I was teasing her about her JG because it was kind of hard to say, and then she told me that at least hers didn't stand for pajamas."

And if that's not proof that they're soulmates, Percy doesn't know what is.

He was laughing slightly as he pulled Annabeth's own wrist up to look at her letters. He traced his hand over his own initials, PJ, and he was smiling when he said, "That's weird because me and my mom have always joked about how mine stands for air conditioning."

Annabeth started laughing, and she leaned in closer to him. Percy had to tighten his grip on her hand to keep from leaning in and kissing her right then. He knew that it wasn't time yet, and he really didn't want to rush anything between them.

They sat on the park bench together, talking softly and trading stories until it got darker and colder, then Percy walked her to her car.

"Call me when you get home?" Percy asked, reaching for her car door handle before she had the chance to.

She nodded and smiled, stepping in closer to him and wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. All of the breath left him when she laid her head against his chest and sighed.

It wasn't long enough for Percy (but she could have stayed in his arms all day, and it still wouldn't have been long enough), but she pulled away and pressed her lips to his cheek. She must have caught his expression when she started to pull away because he felt her laughter ghosting across his jaw, and damn, she was perfect.

"Bye, Percy," she murmured against his jaw.

He was too busy staring at her and grinning to say anything. He nodded when she told him that she would talk to him later, and then she was smiling, waving, and pulling away.

Percy was on the phone with her thirty minutes later.

"I'm really nervous."

Percy looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. She was tugging on his hand and standing behind his shoulder, and even though Percy had barely known her for a week, he kind of figured that she never got nervous.

He squeezed her hand, "What are you talking about?"

She huffed, "I'm nervous, you idiot."

"Why?" He asked, squeezing her hand tighter. Holding hands had become one of their major things now, and if they were together, it was rare that they weren't grasping each other's hands or wrists.

"Because she's your mom," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes and biting her lip.

"So?" He asked. "I met your dad yesterday."

"Yeah but—" she sighed. "This is different, Percy."

He leaned against the door that he hadn't been able to open before Annabeth was pulling on him to stop. He studied her, watching as she brushed her hair behind her ear. She blinked at him once before she looked down at the ground.

He put a hand on her cheek and pulled her face up until her gray eyes met his. His voice was embarrassingly soft when he said, "Why is it different, Annabeth?"

"She's your mom, and she means so much to you," she said. He could barely hear her voice. "What if she doesn't like me? She's so important to you, and what if she hates me? What if—?"

Percy grabbed her hips (which was one of the first times he had touched her anywhere besides her hands and arms) and pulled her to him. She stopped talking, and she stared up at him.

Family was a touchy subject for Annabeth. She hadn't explained the situation with her mom yet, but Percy didn't really expect her to. At least, not for a while. Percy had gotten to meet her dad yesterday, though, and even if he did work a lot, he seemed pretty nice. He gave Annabeth everything that she needed, and he was really happy to meet Percy.

He had told Annabeth about his mom though. She was right, his mom was really important to him, but there was no way that anything his mom said would change how he felt about Annabeth.

But it's not like his mom was going to dislike Annabeth. Really, she would probably love Annabeth more than she loved him.

"Annabeth," he said. His voice was low, and he bent his head until his forehead rested against hers. And no, he wasn't breathing hard because he had never been this close to her before and he really liked it and—just shut up. "No matter what happens when you meet her, nothing is going to change the fact that you're my soulmate, and that I am going to spend the rest of my life with you, do you understand?"

She just blinked up at him before she nodded. Her hands were limp against his chest, and she crowded closer to him.

He grinned and opened the door, adjusting his grip back to her hand and pulling her inside.

"Mom?" He yelled.

But before he could get an answer, his mom was already rushing down the hall and reaching out for Annabeth and pulling her into a hug while she squealed excitedly. Percy let go of Annabeth's hand and watched fondly while they hugged. Annabeth was smiling happily, and his mom pulled back enough so she could see her face.

"You must be Annabeth!" His mom said warmly. "Percy doesn't ever stop talking about you!"

"Mom!" Percy scolded lightly. He shifted on his feet and reached out for Annabeth's hand again.

"You're so pretty, sweetheart," his mom bragged, gently smoothing her hand down Annabeth's curls. "I can't wait to hear everything, and I already pulled out some of Percy's baby pictures so we can look at them and—"

"Mom," he said warningly, shaking his head quickly. His face was probably really red. Great.

But they were both laughing already, and his mom was herding Annabeth inside the house and toward the kitchen, talking ninety to nothing already.

Percy couldn't stop smiling, and he followed behind them, grasping onto Annabeth's hand.

"Don't say it," Annabeth commanded.

Percy couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing and leaned over until his face was in hers. Over his grin and through his laughter, he said, "I told you that she would love you."

Annabeth huffed angrily, but Percy could see the grin that was threatening to break over her face. She jumped out of the car as soon as he pulled up at the curb, and Percy was still laughing as he followed her.

Dinner with his mom had been perfect. Annabeth had charmed her all the way down to her toes, and Percy hadn't been able to stop staring at her smile all night. She looked like she had had a great time, and when she had grasped Percy's hand over the table when his mom went to get desert, he had beamed at her.

He was dropping her back off at home now. They both had school in the morning, but Percy just wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet.

She must have felt the same way because when they got to the steps of her front porch, she sat down and pulled Percy down beside her.

"Thanks for letting me meet her," Annabeth said softly. She was grasping his hand on both of hers, and she was crowded close to him. She looked up at him, and her gray eyes were wide and beautiful. "I know she's really important to you."

He hummed in agreement, shifting closer to her until his shoulder was pressed to hers. He met her eyes and said, "Yeah, she is, but you're just as important to me."

"I am?" She asked, looking down at their hands.

Percy huffed a laugh and pulled her into his arms until she was pressed against his chest. "Of course you are, Annabeth. I wouldn't trade you for anything. Well, except for maybe a pizza right now."

Annabeth pinched him and laughed, burying her face in his t-shirt. "Shut up, Percy."

He laughed too, and they fell silent.

They sat on the steps for a long time, but when Annabeth started yawning, Percy decided it was time to go despite how much he would have preferred to curl up on the ground right here with her.

He walked her to the door and hugged her again, murmuring a goodbye in her ear.

When he pulled back, Annabeth grabbed a fistful of his shirt to stop him.

He watched as she stepped closer until she was right against him. She tipped her head up, and her other hand tangled with his. She waited patiently, and even though Percy was kind of oblivious sometimes, he knew what she was asking.

He dipped his head until his forehead was pressed to hers. She made a slight noise when his nose brushed against hers.

"Annabeth," he murmured. "You could have just asked."

She rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand sharply. She nudged his nose with her own and said, "Kiss me, you idiot."

So Percy let his hands slide up her arms to cup her cheek as he lowered his mouth to hers. Her lips were soft against his, and Percy sighed happily when she stepped closer to him and snaked her arms around his neck.

He pulled back because it was late, and he really didn't want to go too fast. They had forever together, and there was no point in rushing through things. They had time.

They were both smiling, and Percy pressed a kiss to her forehead and cheek before he took a step back and grabbed her hand.

Annabeth leaned forward again and pressed her lips to his quickly. She pulled back and ran one of her hands through his hair. She smiled and said, "Call me when you get home."

"You got it," Percy hummed, staring at her happily.

She laughed and hugged him one more time before she whispered a goodbye and slipped inside the front door, waving and closing it softly behind her.

Percy stood there for a solid minute smiling at the wood, and he would bet anything that she was doing the same. With a smile on his face and his heart beating too fast, he turned and walked away, leaving his other half safely behind the door where she was probably already planning to curl up in her bed to read a book.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Happy Birthday, Casey!

-SomethingMoreCreative