Early Riser: a percabeth fanfic
Annabeth Chase was known for being an early riser. Of course, as a child of Athena, this would make sense. What with all the things to do in a day, it was logical to be up early. Early are when things get done, early is just better. However, on a particular Thursday morning on the Argo II; by the time the clock had reached noon, Annabeth Chase was still sleeping.
Now for any of the males aboard the ship, stumbling out of bed at noon would be unsurprising and sadly expected. However, when their fearless leader had made no appearance, but her boyfriend, a consistently late riser, had risen nearly an hour and a half beforehand, there was a problem.
No one on the ship dared to mention that Annabeth was still sleeping in fear of being elected to wake her, and it was well known on the Argo II that the words "wake" and "Annabeth" should never be in the same sentence. This rule had been learned through an incident involving Jason's hair being singed and dyed purple after the fact, not to mention Franks' still recovering ego. This being said, all inhabitants of the ship were cramped together in the lounge area, as far from the bunking deck as possible. Granted, the lounge wasn't tiny in any way, but when there was a well-known, yet forbidden fact to mention about their sleeping leader, the lounge began to feel extraordinarily small.
Leo, who previously had been sitting on the couch summoning fire between his fingers for the past hour (this caused Hazel and Frank to become quite on edge, bring Hazel to fan herself repeatedly) finally cracked and stood up with a start, causing Frank's chair to topple over and Piper to race after him. All eyes turned to Leo, and as soon as he saw he had their attention he sat back down, the air in the room thick and seemingly stuffy. He slowly put his hand up above his head and met their eyes individually. An election was coming and all were on edge, dreading being chosen.
Leo took a breath and he prayed he wasn't signing his death certificate as he said broke the silence.
"We really need to get moving, and we can't do that without Annabeth, so…all who elect Percy Jackson say aye." The room seemed to suck in a collective dying breath and then, well, all Hades broke loose. Percy shot up and proceeded to beg for his life while many hands flew into the air, one of them hitting Frank in the face and sending him toppling over again. Leo's hand chose this moment to light his entire arm on fire, startling Jason who had been standing next to him, and singing his hair. Yet again.
It was a few minutes later, when Percy had been practically forced down the stairs by the rest of this ship, (and Frank had been righted, all over again) all but ignoring his exclamations of, "But you don't understand she is going to KILL me!" The rest of the crew might have had a little more sympathy if they knew anyone better to do the job, or if they had any other options. Alas, this was it, and their hearts were as far from warm as ice could get. Even Piper, the usual peacekeeper, was charm speaking him down the stairs with all her might, to which Percy could muster little resistance. As he reached the bottom, and saw that they were closing the door of the landing, Percy glared with all his might.
"I'll be okay, you'll be fine, Percy. You're her boyfriend; she won't castrate you or anything. Just breathe," Percy ended his inner pep talk as he reached Annabeth's door. Figuring that he was about to die, and he might as well face it head on, he walked in without knocking, and what he saw surprised him. Annabeth was certainly asleep, but she looked…different. However many years Percy had grown up with Annabeth, he'd never actually caught her sleeping peacefully; maybe fretfully on a patio chair, or shaking with nightmares in the back of a van, but not like this.
She was curled up among the sheets, holding a stuffed fish? Percy couldn't exactly see all of her face because her hair was flying in all directions across the pillow. Daring to take a few more steps closer and crouch beside the bed, he pushed some hair out of her face, enraptured by the calm, angelic expression on her features. Annabeth seemed SO different. Percy then realized, this must be what it feels like to have your heart melt. Then he remembered where he'd seen this expression before: underwater. During an awesome second kiss, where Annabeth let down her stupid guards and wore THAT same expression. Feeling like a girl, Percy tried not to let it boost his ego too much that it was HIM that could make her look like that. Without thinking, he brushed his hand along her cheek and felt a chuckle burst out of him when he realized she was DROOLING. That little hypocrite. Percy took another look at the stuffed fish, he tugged at its tag and couldn't resist laughing as it read, in handwriting he'd recognize anywhere, "My Seaweed Brain."
Annabeth didn't end up having to be woken up, as she stumbled out of slumber to see her odd boyfriend lying nonchalantly on his back , laughing and grinning like nobody's tomorrow. She made a quick glance around the room, inspected her clothing, and her hair, before starting to think of a witty greeting. Too late, because Percy had already seen her, and he scrambled off the floor and jumped on her bed, just like the kid he was.
"Percy, what are you-"
"I love you. I really hope you know that," he stated, without wavering the least bit.
Annabeth, still trying to remove the haze that comes with sleep, tried desperately to think of a response. She already knew he loved her, and he knew the same. THOSE words had already been said back in December, on a very strange day involving a Naiad fan club, Chiron giving Percy a talk, and backwards earmuffs. Ironically, that day she had woken Percy up too. However, even Annabeth couldn't deny the fuzzy feeling that rose up inside her every time he said it, especially after not being able to tell him for so long.
Annabeth knew she should be mad at him for waking her up when she was still awake four hours prior, but she just couldn't, because he was just sitting on her bed grinning at her like a lost puppy and reaching for her hand. She gave it to him, and crazily found herself smiling.
"I love you too, Seaweed Brain." And the grin that got even wider when she told him that, made hers get bigger too. "But I'm not kissing you until I brush my teeth, so stay here." With that, she hopped up and walked into her adjoining bathroom, trying not to feel self-conscious with Percy RIGHT there. While she brushed the tangles out of her hair she organized the questions that needed to be answered in her mind, and she walked out, planning to ask him what time it was and where they were and if the ship was moving and whatnot, but the minute she exited the bathroom she felt herself swept up into strong arms and spun around.
Percy was still grinning and now she didn't know why. He set her down on her bed, as he jumped on it like a puppy. He just stared at her, and Annabeth almost started to feel self-conscious before realizing that this was PERCY and there was no need to be insecure around him. He pulled her close, and before she could even prepare herself, he was kissing her and Annabeth was feeling more light headed than when she woke up. He tasted like the sea, and happiness and Percy and before she could scold herself for being a pathetic girl she was relishing in the fact that he was HERS and he happened to be a fantastic kisser. Percy pulled away suddenly, and smiled at her.
"What was THAT for Seaweed-" but before she could finish he cut her off.
"I realized today, that I want to spend every second of every minute for the rest of my life with you. In the mornings, when your hairs a mess and when you're yelling at me because, gods Annabeth, I love you SO much and you don't even know it. And whatever the average lifespan for a demigod is, which-' he cut her off as she opened her mouth to tell him. "I'm sure you know and you're dying to tell me, but please don't because you need to know this." She closed her mouth slowly and sat back on her bed. "Gods, I'd fall into Tartarus for you Annabeth! I would follow you anywhere, and it's okay if you don't feel the same way, because I know you overthink everything and you need time for these kinds of things."
At this point he had gotten up and was pacing the room, looking completely certain and determined and so completely PERCY that she wanted to cry, because people didn't say things like the things he was saying, to her. And this seemed exactly like a dream and she wondered if she had even woken up, yet somehow in her mind she was still logical and wanted to tell him his shoe was untied, but she didn't even care.
As she was about to say SOMETHING, he kept talking.
"But I just realized that in our stupid, uncertain demigod lives so few things are concrete and I think for the first time I get why you want things to be permanent." He looked up and smiled at her. "I know I'm bad with words, and not as smart as you, and all that stuff, but I don't think it matters as long as you get what I'm saying. I really truly love you, Annabeth, and uh…you're perfect, Wise Girl. You've always been perfect to me." He grinned that lopsided grin and fidgeted his feet back and forth waiting for her response.
Annabeth slowly got off of her bed, and walked over to him. She put her hands on his chest and looked up. "I will go with you anywhere, Perc. As long as we're together." Then she slowly slid her arms around his neck and he held her as close as he could.
"Don't let go, Seaweed Brain." And she felt him chuckle as he whispered back, "Not even in your dreams, Wise Girl."
Leo, Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel sat at the top of the stairs in tense silence. Jason had wisely grabbed the fire extinguisher, "in case anything accidentally catches on fire or something." It was Hazel who first heard the footsteps.
"Oh gods, they're coming! Piper do you have the first aid kit?" The doors to the bunking deck opened and Percy and Annabeth walked out hand in hand. Annabeth was grinning, as in really grinning, and Percy was just looking at her. At their bizarre looks, she laughed a reminiscently carefree laugh that few of them had heard before. "Well why are you just standing there? I left our next coordinates and plans for the trip, on the table last night, Leo."
As confused as they were, Leo's face turned white. "It's possible that I might have used those for tindering." Annabeth dropped Percy's hand as she stepped to face Leo.
"I was up all night writing those! LEO VALDEZ!" And at this, Leo wisely turned and ran, along with everyone else chasing after them. However, if you looked REALLY closely, you'd see Annabeth still smiling, and Percy laughing as he ran along behind her.
"I cannot be broken. I cannot be killed. I cannot fail. This is my identity. This is my core. I am infinite. I am permanent. I am unbreakable." ― Vironika Tugaleva