The Clock
2:04 am
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
She'd always hated the sound of the clock in the living room, echoeing throughout their house, but Percy refused to take it down. When she couldn't fall her sleep that stupid ticking noise would drive her restlessness onwards. It drove her insane.
Annabeth sat up, propping herself on her elbows. Her body was physically tired, but her mind didn't want to shut off. It kept whirring and whizzing with new ideas and odd questions and those 'what ifs' that she didn't think about during the day, and that damn clock wasn't helping.
"Whazzamatter?" A sleep-ridden voice mumbled.
"That damn clock," murmured Annabeth, looking at Percy contemptuosly.
"Mmm," he said tiredly, stilling for a moment before swinging his leg out of the bed and padding to the living room, returning moments later with the clock, "there's a switch, yanno?" Percy collapsed back on the bed, handing the clock to Annabeth.
"What?"
"For such an intelligent woman, I wonder how you didn't catch this." Awake now, Percy sat up and gently popped the back off of the clock. Flicking a small lever upward, he popped the back on once more and turned it around. Sure enough, the clock was still telling the time, the second hand ticking onwards silently.
Her mouth formed a silent 'oh'. She was always focusing on unraveling the complicated details of life, sometimes she didn't notice the simple little bits that were staring her right in the eye.
Annabeth curled back into Percy's side, the only noise now being his shallow breathing. Her eyes closed easily, revelling in the silence and warmth.