Background info: AU, all humans, Percy/Annabeth and Annabeth/Luke

This was some old thing I found lying around and thought hey, since I don't know if I'm going to come back, why not leave this for you guys as a final present.

So here it is.

"Hey, babe," he says, wiggling his eyebrows as he slings one arm over her shoulders. "Wassup?"

"Nothing much, really. Don't you have a lecture now?"

"Actually, I do, but I had to come see you," he says, laughing when she pushes his shoulder.

"Go for that lecture Luke. Your teacher won't appreciate you being late again."

"Aww," he says, hugging her closer, tucking a blonde curl behind her ear. "I can't go without three words. Baby, c'mon?"

There's a sort of instinctive flinch to her that makes his heart ache. He looks at the eyes he knows hers will meet.

Sure enough, Percy Jackson is staring at them and she is staring right back. They keep like this for a while, Percy's eyes angry as they dart from his arm around her shoulder and him nosing into her hair.

He knows Annabeth's trying to reassure him with her eyes that it's okay, she loves him, she doesn't love Luke, and apparently it works when the tension in Percy's shoulders falls away.

So he decides to ruin the lovesick expression on both their faces. "Baby?" He prompts.

Annabeth knows what he wants her to say, and so she does, unaware he knows that her eyes are on Percy when she says, "I love you." Then Percy's tension resumes, more obvious than before, and his shoulders are rigid when Luke presses a quick kiss to Annabeth's cheek and darts around the corner. He sinks against the wall and peeks back.

They are alone in the empty hallway.

Percy's eyes turn calm and he relaxes when Annabeth buries her head in his chest and he runs soothing fingers through her hair. "Okay?" She asks as she pulls away.

Percy smiles gently at her. "Okay."

They walk down the hallway together, fingers entwined, and Luke can't help the pain in his chest that rises up and robs him of breath even though he's known for weeks, ever since the very first touch began.

They don't know he knows and he doesn't want them to.

He wants them to play him and laugh and dump him on the ground, his heart torn out and stomped on if it means that he can see Annabeth's smile a little longer and if it means he gets to kiss her pink lips a few more times.

He comes up to her desk during English and throws a casual arm around her. From the corner of his eye, he can see Percy Jackson's head snap over like a string drawn tight. Annabeth jerks up at his distress and it hurts that Annabeth's reacting more to Percy Jackson's distress than to him.

It's like he's a puppeteer and they are puppets under his control.

He tightens his grip, whispers into her hair some gibberish he knows she isn't listening to, and watches.

Percy Jackson's hand clenches and Annabeth tenses.

But he's used to it, so it's easy to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Hey, Annabeth, let's go to that new café for lunch, how 'bout it?"

Annabeth shrugs and he knows it's nothing but an excuse to get his arm off her shoulder. "I don't know, let me think about it…"

"Oh c'mon," he whines, tugging on a blonde curl. "You've barely spent any time with me recently…"

Annabeth looks panicked and guilty for one second and he knows he's got her. "Sorry, sure, I'll go."

He smiles. "It's okay."

"Hey, Annabeth? You free for a movie next week Thursday?"

Annabeth's stormy gray eyes are clouded over, dull and exhausted, when he meets them with his own.

"I don't think I am, Luke. Sorry."

"It's okay," he says, trying not to show the stabbing pain that shoots through him. "Then maybe earlier? Wednesday?"

She shakes her head. "Sorry, there's a lot of things going on in my life now. Maybe next time?"

"Sure," he agrees easily, even though he knows there won't ever be a next time.

He spends next Thursday alone at home with only his parents for company. His eyes sting when he blows out his birthday candles in one huge breath.

He spots them at a cinema the next day.

They are in front of him, hugging and kissing and Luke knows he should feel anger, anger that Percy Jackson has his hands all over something that is his but all he feels is a sort of pained acceptance.

Annabeth was never his.

That he has known all along.

He isn't eavesdropping, honestly, he isn't, but Percy's voice is serious and kind of pained when he asks, "Annabeth, when will you leave him?"

Annabeth doesn't reply for a long time, choosing her words carefully when she says, "Soon."

'Him' refers to Luke Castellan, the boy with a hopeless crush on the girl who loves Percy Jackson.

He gets out of line, no longer feeling like watching anything.

They hang out at her house the next week, Annabeth texting as Luke just stares and takes her in. Even after so many years, he can't get over how beautiful Annabeth is.

Her blonde hair hangs in curls, her grey eyes determined and focused, fingers flying as she texts.

He knows it's rude, but he hugs her closer and peeks over her shoulder.

He knows she won't notice. She never does anymore.

It's Percy.

Of course it is.

That ridiculously wide smile on her face is a product of Percy too.

He lets Annabeth go, shifting to his side of the couch.

Annabeth finally looks up. "Is everything okay, Luke?" She asks, spotting the way his fingers tighten at his sides, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

He lies. "Yeah."

She returns to her texting and Luke turns back to the movie on the screen, tired of hurting.

Annabeth is lying on his couch, eyes far away and distracted. He knows her mind's not on the Notebook, but instead on someone else.

It's not hard to guess who.

And he's bitter, bitter that it had taken oh so long to get Annabeth to finally pay attention to him, and here waltzes in Percy Jackson and his charming smile, and Annabeth's a goner.

It's not fair.

Percy should have taken as long a time as he did to make Annabeth look at him.

And he knows, oh he knows, love is fickle and beautiful and brutal, and it isn't their fault, but the lump in his throat persists day after day, week after week.

"Hey," he pouts, tapping her arm lightly. "What's the deal with Percy Jackson anyway? You seem close to him recently, baby, I'm jealous."

He knows he shouldn't do it, shouldn't play with her like that, but it feels good to watch the panic light up and her smile drop and now you know, Annie, now you know.

Her voice doesn't tremble, the superb actor she always is, when she says, "I don't know what you're talking about, Luke. Percy and I are just friends."

Luke inwardly smirks, seeing the perfect opening, and he makes his eyes big and innocent when he says, "I never said you were cheating on me, Annie. I just said you guys seemed really close recently. Unless…"

Annabeth's eyes close off. But he knows her too well and spots the underlying tension to her shoulders and the way her voice trembles slightly with nerves when she tells him, "I'm not cheating on you, Luke."

He resists the urge to shout, "Liar!" in her face and hides the hurt. "Of course you won't, Annie. I trust you."

He turns away and hopes she feels guilty.

Now you know.

He hugs her closer and kisses the top of her head. "I love you," he whispers.

She doesn't hear him. Of course she doesn't. She's too busy staring at Percy Jackson and his green eyes and Luke is tired of feeling pain.

Annabeth's skin is warm under his palm. Her hair smells of strawberries and lemons.

Luke wants to climb into her skin, be as close to her as humanly possible.

"Baby, I love you," he repeats, nudging her closer.

"Huh?" She replies, her voice distracted and her eyes not on him.

He knows it's nothing but instinct when she tells him, "I love you too."