Prompt: In MoA Percy shares his water phobia with Annabeth.
Percy woke up startled, sweaty dripping from his face, his breathing really heavy. Getting stuck in a giant fish tank did not help his stupid water phobia, and breathing normally inside of it didn't mean his brain hadn't made him dream he was drowning. He did have a seaweed brain, it was the only explanation.
He sat up and ran his hands through his face, trying to calm his fast-beating heart.
You can't drown, idiot. Stop that!
Unfortunately, internally screaming with himself didn't quite erase his fears.
He was cut off of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps outside his door. He got up, intending to find out who it was. If it wasn't Coach Hedge, anyone in the ship with trouble sleeping would be a good company now.
He was immensely surprised though when he caught sight of Annabeth's blonde hair heading for the kitchen. Finally something working out right.
"Hey, Annabeth." He whispered walking towards her.
She turned around a little surprised, but nonetheless smiled when she saw him. "Hey, Seaweed Brain. Trouble sleeping?"
"Just woke up hungry." He lied, though it wasn't a complete lie since his stomach had just made a huge noise.
She laughed. "I figured that would happen, eventually. I was actually going to make you a plate and leave it at your bedside table."
"I disappear for eight months and it turns you into a romantic girlfriend? Wow." He said with a sly grin, after passing his arm over her shoulders while they headed to the dining room. "Imagine if I disappeared for-"
She elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't even finish that sentence, Percy Jackson, because if you disappear again don't even bother to come back."
He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Sorry, just joking. Not planning on disappearing ever again."
"Good." She said with a small smile.
They sat across each other on the dinner table and immediately a plate full of blue food appeared in front of Percy – ok, maybe he was really hungry – and a glass of juice appeared in front of Annabeth.
While he ate, she told him about the visit Frank had given her earlier. She knew he wouldn't talk about this with Percy, and she really needed to share the fact that he seemed to trust her. Percy obviously smiled and said something along the lines of 'of course he trusts you, why wouldn't he' and she just shook her head, because Percy.
"So, finished?" She asked once he cleaned the second plate.
"Yes." He got up walked towards her, circling her waist and giving her a quick peck on the lips. "Are you tired? I really do feel like spending some alone time with you."
She smiled. "Not tired at all. Come on."
They walked back to his room and closed the door to stop their voices from reaching Coach Hedge's dorms.
"If Coach already got all mad over finding us at the stables he'd probably throw one of us out of the ship if he found us in here." Percy said, sitting on his bed.
"Then be quite so he won't hear you." Annabeth whispered sitting by his side and resting her head on his shoulders.
"I'm not very good at whispering, you know that." He yelled-whispered, getting her to chuckle and shake her head.
"What are you good at?" She mocked looking at him.
He grinned. "Kissing you." And to prove his point he lowered his head and touched her lips with his. She had a smile on them and he could practically feel her eyes rolling beneath her eyelids. After a while they parted and let the silence fill the room as they recovered their breaths. "See?" He asked smugly.
She did roll her eyes that time. "Anything else?"
"Yeah." His lips changed into a devilish smirk that made her raise her eyebrows suspiciously; and he lowered his head until their mouths were once again very close, whispering: "Tickling you." And before she could do anything his hands had found their ways under her shirt and were all over her belly, getting her to shriek and laugh uncontrollably. "Be quiet so he won't hear you." He mocked with a huge smile on his face.
"S-stop." She begged whilst laughing, her cheeks pink. "Please."
He did as she asked, but kept his hands on her skin. "You're not very good at being quiet either, Wise Girl."
"Idiot." She said in a serious tone hitting his arm, but with a big smile on her face. "You'll pay for that."
He snorted. "With what? You know I'm not ticklish."
She pointed her finger at him and opened her mouth to make what he was sure would be a very snarky comment, but he advanced her and once again started moving his finger beneath her shirt. She jumped and yelped in surprise, ending up in his lap – they had probably woken up everyone in the ship already – and reached her hands for anything that could help her stop him, finding his pillow. Still laughing and begging for him to stop she tried to control herself enough to hit him with the pillow, but that only made him push her closer and tickle her more. In a desperate action she pressed the pillow to his face - softly, just enough to bury his nose, but not enough to stop him from breathing through his mouth – and suddenly his hands were no longer tickling her, but rather pushing her away and before she noticed she was on the floor, landing loudly on her butt.
"Ouch!" She exclaimed while examining her wrist that had also hit the floor pretty bad.
Percy was by her side in a second. "Oh Gods, I'm so sorry!" He took her hand in his and examined her wrist himself. "I just…"
"It's okay." She took her hand away and used the other one to cup his face. "What happened? You look scared."
He took a deep breath. "It's stupid."
"Percy." She adverted him.
He got up and helped her to her feet as well before sitting again on the bed and burying his face in his hands. "I know it's not possible. I know it's irrational. But I can't… I can't help it."
"You can't help what?" She put her hand on his shoulder and used the other to lift his head, locking their eyes.
"I'm afraid of drowning." Her eyebrows shot up, surprised. "The mere idea of going underwater is getting me insane and today in the fish tank I nearly asphyxiated because I refused to try to breathe and… Nothing happened, I breathed as normally as I always have, but I still can't stop thinking that somewhere, somehow I'm going to drown and when I'm not having demigods dreams I'm dreaming of this, of drowning, of not being able to breathe."
"Percy…" Annabeth tried, but it was clear to both of them that she didn't know what to say.
"I know, Annabeth. I don't drown, I can breathe, I know that. But it's bigger than me. Sometimes when I get distracted I can practically feel my lungs contracting. And at first it was just drowning – basically it still is – but now it has sort of escalated to asphyxiating and it's horrible."
"I shouldn't have done that with the pillow, I'm sorry." She whispered, looking nervous.
"You didn't suffocate me, Annabeth, there was room to breathe. I just panicked. It's like my mind is waiting for the moment where there will be no air, like I'm on alert. Sorry I threw you on the floor."
"I've had bigger falls." She said jokingly, but they both remembered that one time she fell off of a cliff and everyone but him believed she was dead and the aura of the room just got ten times more intimate. "But really, Percy. We need to do something, you can't be scared of your own… element."
"I'm open to suggestions." He arched his right eyebrow like he was saying you're the planner.
After a few seconds, she lowered her eyes. "I don't know."
He used his hand to bring her head up. "It's ok."
"No, it's not! I'm your girlfriend and if I can't help you-"
"Annabeth, come on, don't be stupid. How do you think I'm coping? If this fear had come last week, when I was alone… I'm just glad you're here, ok?"
She sighed and hugged him. "I'm glad you're here too." She got quiet for a few seconds, and then added. "I hate Gaea."
"Yeah, me too. So we're gonna kick her ass together, ok?"
She smiled against his shoulder. "Ok."
Not much after they fell asleep, tangled together, and for the first time since the phobia began Percy didn't dream of drowning.
A/N: Well, as usual, sorry for the horrible ending, but I hope you like it anyway!