Hello guys! (Short note to those who follow my stories: I'll be out of town and busy with school for possibly three weeks, but don't freak out, I'm coming back lol)
In which, college-age-Annabeth realizes she lost the coral Percy gave her and freaks out (AKA: shameless fluff)
OOO
Terror.
That was the first thing Annabeth felt.
She felt her stomach drop out like a rock as her hands frantically searched her neck and collarbones. All her fingers found was her clay bead necklace with almost fifteen years worth of camp beads. That was a feat all its own, and Annabeth was officially the oldest old timer at Camp Half-Blood. She had been coming to camp, whether a camper or a volunteer, for fifteen years now and still Annabeth could clearly remember the first time she saw the place. It made her feel like the most elderly demigod to ever exist. Which, she possibly might have been. But that didn't matter now.
Annabeth frantically lifted the papers from her desk, then looked on the carpeted floor. She looked in the bathroom and shook out the bed sheets with no luck. Panic was setting in her with a rush of adrenaline, pushing her heart beat faster and faster and faster . . .
The coral Percy gave her for their one month anniversary was gone.
The twisted pinkish rock was always there when she held up her hand and rubbed it idly, times when she was concentrating, times when she missed Percy. Oh gods, Percy.
Annabeth could picture his slightly broken and openly hurt face so well, its memory burned into her mind from all the things she had said to him over the years that she knew could never take back. This was going to kill him, just like it was killing her.
Annabeth clenched her jaw, she was not going to lose his coral. She wouldn't. How could she? Percy and her had gone to-literally-hell and back with the present hanging around her throat. So she couldn't possibly have lost it now, it was too random. It couldn't have gone far, she had only been in their apartment today, working on her midterm essay due next week. That was part of the reason she knew it was missing, because she was stressed and Percy was assisting the Romans with some sort of meeting and her fingers had just spasmed to her neck, to her coral, to her lifeline.
Annabeth stood up, swearing to herself that she wouldn't stop until she found Percy's anniversary gift, a nauseous feeling settling at the pit of her stomach.
OOO
Percy walked into the trashed apartment in the late afternoon, carrying take out and giving her a amused smile, "Lose something?"
Annabeth couldn't take the smile from his face, as much as she wanted to be honest with him, "Earlier I did, I found it."
He raised his eyebrows, taking in their surroundings. All of the kitchen cabinets were open, the cushions of the plaid couch were hanging out, even the TV table showed signs of Annabeth's ransacking, "I'm guessing our bedroom looks disastrous too?"
"I'll clean it all up." She promised, starting to close the cabinets, a flush of embarrassment coming to the surface of her skin, making it patchy with red.
He took her hand, stopping her shaking moments, and smiled that silly, crooked smile that made her fall in love with him in the first place, "Don't worry about it, Wise Girl." He leaned closer and kissed her cheek, "I'm used to living with chaos."
"I do believe you're referring to me, aren't you?"
Percy didn't answered but sat down at the table with the food, popping open a folding box with sesame seed chicken, sliding the chopsticks across the wood to her.
Annabeth sat down slowly and pulled open the noodles closest to her, "So how was the Roman meeting?"
Percy beamed and proceeded to tell her all about Reyna's captivating speech and Frank's genuine follow up to her remarks through his food, "It was amazing what a bunch of people can do when they actually listen to each other's ideas." He held his hand out, indicating they switch food boxes and Annabeth obliged, "What about you? How was your day?"
"Fine." She fibbed. Oh gods, it physically hurt her to lie to him, right in her ribs.
"What did you-" Percy waved his hand around, "-do all this for?"
"Notes from English." It stung as she buried herself deeper, "I found them though."
He snorted humorously, "Hopefully."
After eating most of the Chinese food(all of the sesame seed chicken, let's just say that), Annabeth fixed them each a small bowl of vanilla ice cream as Percy cracked his fortune cookie.
"Aha!" He announced gleefully, "It says, take more risks." Percy laughed a little, "I think I'm fine with half of the Olympians hating my guts rather than all of them."
Annabeth snorted, smiling at him as she gave him his bowl and he crunched up his cookie as a topping.
"Thanks honey."
It was so like Percy Jackson to smash up his cookie for ice cream crumbles like a kid and then the next second call her something so mature. Maybe not mature by a general standard, but from the stand point of Annabeth, who Percy first called honey on their fifth anniversary in a hotel room, comparing it to her skin while kissing her on her bare collarbones. From that moment, it became another nickname, and one often used.
She blushed at the memory like she always seemed to, and then took a spoonful of ice cream, hoping to cool down the heat in her face.
"Aren't you going to read yours?" Percy asked, nodding his head at Annabeth's fortune cookie in front of her.
Annabeth unwrapped the plastic and threw it at him for good measure, though it didn't get all the way to his side of the table, cracking open the crisp cookie and reading her fortune.
Today you will be lucky.
Annabeth frowned. Though she never really believed in cookie fortunes, that message seemed like a stab in the gut. Of course she wasn't lucky, for Hades' sake, she had lost one of her most valued possessions and then lied to her boyfriend about it.
Gods, those stupid, ridiculous fortunes. She wasn't lucky, this was terribly unlucky.
Without even realizing it, slow, hot tears had started to stream down Annabeth's cheeks, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. But not before Percy noticed.
He hopped up from his chair and went to her side, "Whoa, hey. What's the matter? That wasn't another Great Prophecy, was it? I hope not."
Annabeth knew he was trying to make her feel better, so she let out a sniffle of a laugh. She wished she could stop crying but her necklace felt too light. Her collar was starting to itch where the coral had hung.
Percy was on his knees, reaching up to hold her cheeks, "Are you stressed out over school?" He was carefully, precisely wiping her tears away, frowning in his adorable worried way.
"It's not that." Annabeth croaked, managing to stop crying but still feeling like crap. She handed him the slip of paper and he read it, slowly lingering on each word. Then again, he read it back, trying to figure out if his dyslexia had caused him to miss something.
He looked up her, confused, "But it says, today you will be lucky . . . I don't understand."
She swallowed hard, pressing her lips in attempt not to cry again. Annabeth touched her necklace, bringing Percy's focus to the space where his sweet charm used to be.
She let out a strangled sob, "I lost it."
"Oh Annabeth." He murmured tenderly, wrapping his arms around her the best he could. He didn't sound angry, but Annabeth couldn't really detect the hurt in his voice either, just concern for her.
Stupid Perseus Jackson, always taking care of everyone else before himself. But the thought didn't stop her from hugging her arms around his neck and pressing her face to his shoulder, trying not to sob anymore in vain.
He mumbled a sentence she couldn't hear and Annabeth pulled away, taking a big breath and swallowing, "What?"
He touched her cheeks again, searching her eyes and pinpointing her pain, "I said that you've saved my life more times than I can count. So don't worry about a little rock I gave you, okay?"
Her laugh was weak and broken but she still felt considerably better, "It meant a lot to me." She confessed in a whisper.
He offered a smile, "I know. But I'm still right here. I'm not going anywhere without you." Percy got that delighted, mischievous twinkle in his eye, "And next time I give you an anniversary present, it'll be an engagement ring."
Something lifted from her shoulders and something else fluttered into her chest, "Gods, you're so sappy." Annabeth complained, running her fingers in his hair because she liked to mess it up, and she liked to mess with him.
Percy grinned easily, bright green eyes shining. He touched her neck, smoothing his fingers to her skin, "You know you love it."
"Oh shut up." But she was laughing.
OOO
(And for their next anniversary, Percy kept true to his word.)