Percy doesn't fully understand what's going on until it's already happened. First, they were splayed across his couch, her legs draped on his lap and watching a documentary on tiger behavior. It's a blur of insults thrown and words spat at each other after that, because the world only starts making sense again when she's telling him,
"You know, maybe we should just start seeing other people, if we really don't have anything in common." And he's agreeing, ignoring his heart that's screaming for him to stop, to make things right, because there's no way he's backing down now, and she's sniffing angrily at him before turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her, leaving Percy a complete mess of raging emotions. He's at the window of the apartment he shares with Jason in a flash, and catches a glimpse of her blonde hair stomping out of the building, down the street and round the corner. He doesn't know what he's feeling, really, but he's sure it's mostly negative emotions.
He rolls his eyes, because clearly, Annabeth isn't The One. It hurts him a little, because of all the girls he's dated, he thought his roommate's best friend and he actually did share a connection. They'd also dated for nearly three years, which is a hell lot of time to invest in someone who isn't The One, he thinks, but can't fully bring him to regret dating her.
The idea of them being over, surprisingly, settles in a lot faster than it did with the other girls- He thinks it's because he'd always known she was too good for him, that in a way, he knew it had to end, but it doesn't make it any less painful. He resorts to lying on the couch and looking up at the ceiling for the next few seconds, minutes, hours- who knows? Time hardly means anything without Annabeth. He hears Jason's key in the door and doesn't look up when he hears footsteps approaching the living room.
"You're doing your I Just Got Dumped routine." Jason laughs, but Percy thinks the off white ceiling is a better subject to study than the blonde. He doesn't as much as move, and he hears Jason's laughter die down. "Oh, no." He says softly, and appears in Percy's vision, lips pulled down and brows furrowed.
"I'm not feeling like talking to human beings." Percy tells him glumly, and he sees Jason curse soundlessly.
"Not Annabeth?" He asks, and Percy has to resist the urge to flinch at the sound of her name. He's an empty abyss; he has nothing left to live for. He tells Jason so, only to have his friend roll his eyes at him. "It isn't over, man. It's probably just a fight. Now move over, there's a Bond marathon on TV."
Percy sighs, not believing a word, but giving his friend some space on the couch anyway.
"It's over. I was so sure it was her." He watches Jason flip through the channels absently.
"Percy, it's been three years. What could have possibly gone that wrong?"
"Annabeth's self centered and proud and a total jerk." He states, and Jason frowns at him.
"Whoa, buddy. Let's ease up there. She is my best friend." Percy doesn't want to apologize, so he shrugs, earning a half-hearted glare from Jason. He watches screen pointedly, hoping to avoid any kind of conversation, and to his credit, Jason is too absorbed in Die Another Day to watch Percy's entire existence crumble to nothing.
Percy doesn't understand, though. With Annabeth, everything was perfect. They'd met back in their freshman year in college, when she was visiting Jason for the weekend, and they'd clicked so easily- She was smart, and funny, and she was just a genuine person, and they'd grown to be good friends until he'd plucked up the courage to ask her out on a date in their senior year, three years ago. Things hadn't been smooth sailing, that's for sure, but he was happy with Annabeth. She didn't hide things from him or lie or pretend to be someone she wasn't.
He doesn't know what they even fought about, but he knows for a fact that he's absolutely done with her. No more Annabeth Chase, he tells himself, ignoring the way his heart feels like it's being poked with a needle. He's pulled out of his thoughts by Jason's voice. He looks over to see him on the phone, already in conversation. His brows are furrowed like they do when he's worried or thinking.
"-Are you sure? Why don't I pick you up tonight, and we can go to a movie? Oh. All right, fine. How about tomorrow?" He's saying between pauses. Percy has known Jason for years now, ever since he had to room with him in college seven years ago, and he knows that tone- it's the special one he saves for Annabeth (who, for the record, isn't a part of his life. He doesn't care). "Alright. Take care. I know, I do too. Have fun tonight." He hangs up with a sigh, rubbing his face with his palms and looks up at Percy through his fingers.
"Why won't she go to the movie with you?" He asks bluntly, and can hear Jason's muffled groan.
"She's doing something else." He says vaguely, and Percy doesn't hear the rest of what he has to say. There's blood rushing in his ear, and quite frankly, he's offended that she's going out on a date hours after they broke up. Honestly, did the last three years mean nothing to her? He gave her everything he had- He's sorry for the guy she's going out with, really, because she's so greedy, nothing seems to satisfy her.
"Your best friend is an asshole." He flashes Jason the most sarcastic smile he can manage, somehow finding the energy to get to his feet. "I'm done moping, too. I'm calling that barista from Starbucks." He announces, marching off to hunt through his receipts for the number.
It takes him half an hour, but he finally finds the bill with a number scrawled in black sharpie with a heart. He'd only kept it so he can do his accounts (He doesn't trust his bank), but he doesn't see why he can't take her up on the offer. It would definitely make Annabeth mad; she'd glared so hard at the barista when he'd got it. He doesn't know her name, so he doesn't exactly know what to say when a voice says,
"Hello?" So he clears his throat awkwardly.
"Hi." He takes a breath, wondering how to continue. "Is this the girl from Starbucks?" He asks tentatively, just as Jason enters his room. His friend shakes his head sadly at him.
"Perce, you don't have to-" But Percy cuts him off with a hand, clinging to the phone as he gets a response.
"Oh, yeah! Flat white! Percy, am I right?" Percy feels a smile growing on his face.
"Flat white. Just like my ex girlfriend." He confirms, unable to keep some of the bitterness out of his voice. The voice on the other end laughs softly, overlapped by Jason's loud sigh. "So, I was wondering if you'd want to grab some coffee with me?"
"Coffee? Really?" She asks, and he wants to smack himself in the face.
"My bad. Drinks." He amends. "Also, you didn't leave a name on this bill."
"I think drinks sound great. It's Madison." Percy smiles before saying his goodbyes and hanging up. He turns to Jason.
"You know, maybe this was fate. Maybe Madison's the one." He says dreamily. "We'll go out today, and then again next week, and before you know it, she'll be popping out my little babies. I've always wanted mixed race kid-"
"Percy. I don't want to hear about it." Jason cuts him off shortly. "Annabeth is like my sister, and honestly, I think you're being a total dick." Percy narrows his eyes at him.
"We've been best friends for nearly a decade, Jason! I can't believe you're picking her side over mine!"
"I've known her since I was four! It's not about sides." Jason glares at him, but his features soften. "I think you're acting like a total shithead. But then again, I've never been able to convince you to take my advice, so go on. It's your life." He sighs, gesturing for Percy to carry on before padding out, hands stuffed in his pockets.
Percy watches after him with a scowl. What's his problem, anyway? Shouldn't he be by his side, telling him Annabeth was no good for him? That's his job. He decides he needs better friends before pulling his t-shirt over his head.
He's got a long night ahead.
oOo
"No way! I love the Mets!" Madison says, and Percy can't help the manic laughter bubbling in his stomach.
"Get out!" He laughs, sipping his beer. "Annabeth's a Yankees fan. Those people are the worst." Something flashes for a brief second in Madison's eyes, but it's gone before Percy can decipher it.
"Yeah. The Yankees are a joke." She agrees, a little less enthusiastic. She looks away, taking a large chug of her own beer. Percy leans back in his seat, looking at her in wonder.
"I can't believe you drink beer." He says. "Do you get any better?" She raises her brows, and he realizes she doesn't know what he's comparing her to. "Annabeth only likes whiskey and rum. She thought beer was like, the Yankees of drinks. Of course, she called it the Mets, but she's just a-"
"That's interesting." Madison flashes him a bright smile, and Percy feels himself swoon slightly. She's so beautiful, he thinks. She has a set of perfect teeth, unlike Annabeth, who had the last of her four front teeth slightly crooked. He used to think it looked pretty, but that was before he'd met Madison, with her aligned teeth. Unlike Annabeth, she also happened to have curves. Annabeth was all angles and flat surfaces, but Madison had the greatest curves he's ever seen. She doesn't seem as athletic as Annabeth, which is great, because Percy doesn't get distracted by how toned her arms are when he's talking to her.
"So what do you do?" She asks, drawing him out of his thoughts.
"Oh. Um, right now?" He asks, feeling a slight blush rise in his cheeks. "I'm a bartender at Tiger Lounge."
Madison raises her brows, looking amused, but doesn't comment, so he feels the need to continue talking.
"I actually spend most of my day trying to find shelters for the homeless." He admits with a shrug. "But how many bills is that going to pay, right?"
She looks even less amused by this.
"I guess that's cool. But, is there nothing you want to achieve?" She asks quietly, and Percy frowns.
"Yeah. I want to help people. The ones who live on the streets."
"Percy, I mean," She sighs. "Is this what you want to do all your life? Serve drinks and move bums? What about your own life? Where are you going to make money?"
Percy isn't entirely sure how to take this. He's not exactly comfortable with talking about money matters, especially not on the first date. If he's being honest, he's happy helping the homeless- He doesn't like that she doesn't respect that. This is what he wanted to do, all his life, and here he is, living that dream. He takes a moment to pull his thoughts together and form a coherent sentence.
"I'm probably not?" It comes out as a question. "I don't know, this is just where I am at my life. I'm twenty-three. I've got a long time before I have to start worrying about money, right?"
Madison rolls her eyes, resting her hands on her knees.
"Really? Did Annabeth tell you that, too?" He notices a bite in her tone. "I don't know, I mean, look at me. I'm a barista, I work at the zoo on weekends, and I work shifts at a restaurant on most nights. I take this really seriously, Percy." She says.
"Why would you ask me if that's what Annabeth told me?"
"That's the only thing you heard?" She scoffs, and Percy shrugs.
"It's true. She's always said to do what makes me happy. It's just something that's really important to the two of us. Always has been." His voice gradually drops into a whisper. We really don't have anything in common, she'd said. Except the basis on which they lead their lives, maybe.
He thinks back to a lazy Sunday when they were all fresh out of college.
She'd moved from Cambridge to New York to attend Columbia for her Master's, and was staying with Percy and Jason for a while until she found a place of her own. He remembers wondering why she didn't want to go back to meet her family in California before she started school again, but she'd told him she'd rather spend it with people she cared for. Jason was out, and Percy was playing with her hair as she read a book.
"Do you know what you want to do?" She'd asked him, setting the book aside.
"Not at all. I mean, I did major in Chemistry, but I don't know what to do with it." He'd admitted, and he remembers how she sat up, cupping his face in her hands and staring so deep in his eyes, she could have been penetrating his soul.
"What about finding homes for people who don't have them?" Her tone was serious, and Percy had laughed at her.
"Yeah, what's that going to get me? An apartment? A car?"
"Happiness." She'd said simply. "And that's all you need."
He looks at Madison, who looks a little torn up as she watches him. She takes a deep breath, chest rising and reaches out to hold his hands.
"Percy, are you still in love with her?" She asks, and the words hit Percy like a ton of bricks. He loves her. It had never come up in conversation before, and they'd never said it to each other, both of them being a little apprehensive about being in a relationship at all, but it makes sense, clear as day:
He's hopelessly, irrevocably, and stupidly head over heels in love with Annabeth Chase.
And he's let her go.
"Why would you say that?" He asks, struggling to breathe.
"You can't stop talking about her, and it's just annoying." She snaps, getting to her feet. "I'm heading out. Clearly, this" She waved her arms in the space between them. "Was a mistake. Have a nice night." She walks away, and Percy makes no move to stop her, still thinking about this new revelation.
People can argue that three years is too long for someone to realize that they love another person, but it's different. They're different, it's the best thing about them. He gets dizzy when she kisses him and he can run on nothing but her laughter for days. She'll debate about absolutely anything with him, just to keep him on his toes, and he'll deliberately leave her apartment a mess to rile her up. The way she sometimes shuts him out and how she needs everything to be aligned and perfect. The way she's too chirpy in the mornings and demands he joins her on a jog, or the way she's fast asleep by twelve and can't sit through an entire shift of his. They fight and they make out and they yell and they fuck and-
He loves it. Every moment.
He loves her.
He decides to head down to her place, because he doesn't care who she's on a date with, she's the One for him and he'll be damned if he lets that slip through his fingers. He calls Jason from the car.
"I'm headed to Annabeth's." He says by means of greeting.
Just before he hears his response, he sees light flashing on his left, and turns around to see the bright white envelope him. There's the sound of tyres screeching to a halt and a blinding pain and then the light fades to complete darkness.
oOo
He wakes up to a face peering down at him. The woman is Asian and dressed in a nurse's scrub. She smiles at him.
"Oh, good. You're awake. I'll just check your pulse and let your family know. They're really worried." Percy wants to tell her he doesn't have a family, that his mother and step dad died a year ago, but instead, he decides to ask a slightly more pressing question.
"What the fuck happened?" She smiles gently at him, and he's reminded of the way his mom would smile as she patched up his cuts when he was younger.
"You were in a car accident. There was a bank robbery a block away from where you were, and they were making a run for it. Lucky for you, you nearly died and helped the police catch the criminals." She laughs, and Percy decides he doesn't like her sense of humor.
"Where's Annabeth?" He groans, but remembers that she has no reason for being here. He looks up at her sheepishly. "Sorry. I don't know why I said that. Am I good?" He nods to her finger against his wrist. She nods.
"You've been fine for the last few hours. It was only when you got in here that you weren't."
"How long have I been here?" He squints at her. He feels strangely energetic, like he's just woken up from a long nap.
"Well, they brought you in about fourteen hours ago, but the surgery took about two hours, after which you just slept." Percy opens his mouth, but she shrugs. "I'll get your wife and brother-in-law in." She walks away, leaving Percy to wonder exactly how long he's been here. Wife?
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." He looks up to see Jason smiling at him from the door, and he scowls.
"You're my wife?" He asks. "I feel like Rumplestiltskin." He grumbles, and Jason laughs, making his way to the chair beside his bed and dropping unceremoniously into it.
"I'd be nicer to me, if I were you, Rump." He smirks. "You are, after all, married to my sister." Percy frowns, but sees movement in his peripheral and looks up to see her. His breath catches.
"I'm married to you?" He squeaks, and Annabeth offers him a small smile, approaching them hesitantly, like she'd hurt him by just being near him. He feels a twinge in his heart. "Now I feel more like Steve Rogers." He jokes, looking at Annabeth's blank expression and remembering how she isn't into superheroes. "You know, go to sleep almost broken, wake up with everything I want?"
Annabeth's eyes widen and she draws back slightly when Percy realizes what he just said. He clears his throat, looking away from her. She sniffs softly, and he can't help but turn his gaze back on her. She looks like she's spent the last two days crying, with puffy eyes and dark bags under the redness. There's tear tracks running all over her face, and she's sniffing constantly.
Percy looks back at Jason, who's looking at him with worry.
"What are you guys worrying about? Annabeth, have you been crying? Jase, relax, man-" He attempts.
"You nearly died." Jason glares at him. "If I wasn't on the phone with you, who knows how long it would have taken for the ambulance to get you?"
"You were on the phone when you were driving?" Annabeth cries, and Percy flinches.
"Hey, you guys, I'm sorry. I'm all good, now, I think-"
"Percy Jackson." Annabeth moves over so she's standing impossibly close to him. He smells lemons and vanilla and Annabeth, and lets himself relax, even though her voice is anything but relaxing. "You are the world's most infuriating-"
"Idiotic-" Jason quips, but is immediately silenced with a look from Annabeth.
"Human being. I hate you." She says, voice breaking seconds before she breaks down into tears. "I thought I'd lost you, and Percy-"
"How was your date last night?" It occurs to Percy that maybe that's all they are- Friends, who care deeply for each other. Maybe she doesn't love him back. Maybe, by telling her, he's only messing it up. Maybe she's happier without him. He realizes then that, no matter how desperately he wants to tell her, to hold her and to be able to love her, he'd give it all up for her happiness. It is, after all, what she wants the most in her life, and what kind of a person would he be if he were to stop her from having it?
She's looking at him like he'd just asked her what her poop tastes like.
"What?"
"You know, yesterday. Last night. You had a date. How'd it go?"
"I said I was busy." She looks confused. "I spent the night with Silena, if you must know." She admits, cheeks coloring slightly. Percy doesn't know why he feels like the weight of the world was just lifted off his shoulders. He can't help but smile at her.
"So you didn't go on a date?" He asks, and she frowns.
"No? I broke up with my boyfriend of three years." She whispers, expression melting into a slight pout, eyes pooling again. She wipes furiously at her face. "Only date I needed was with some chardonnay."
Okay, now he feels a little like a jerk. Almost like he can hear his thoughts, Jason pipes up.
"Told you you were a dick."
"You're always around me when I don't want you to be. Go away." Percy tells him, and Jason gives him a thumbs up and a pat on the shoulder that nearly kills him. Percy grits his teeth to stop himself from screaming.
"You kids be good." Jason calls from the door. "I'm getting myself some food. God knows I need it."
Percy watches him leave, before looking back up at Annabeth, who seems to be deliberately ignoring his gaze.
"Hi." He says quietly, reaching out to hold her hand. Being able to touch her feels like going home to his mom's freshly baked cookies. He nearly sighs in happiness.
"Hi." She breathes.
"Um, I was actually headed down to meet you." He wishes he could say he wasn't blushing, and not be lying.
"Jason told me." Annabeth says, sitting down on the bed beside him. He reaches out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, and she closes her eyes, leaning into is touch. He takes the liberty to straighten out her bangs, which are all over her forehead and falling into her eyes. She draws back slightly. "Before you tell me what you wanted to talk about," She starts, taking a breath. "I've been thinking, and, well, I know that I'm the one who said we should call it quits, but- No, wait. Hear me out." She starts talking faster when Percy opens his mouth. "I still have some very strong feelings for you, and it's not going to be easy for me to be your friend. I need some time, and-" She falters.
"Annabeth, listen to me." Percy takes her hand in both of his. "I did a really stupid thing yesterday, let's not get into the details- No, don't give me that look, I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, I realized something really important." He takes a deep breath.
"I love you." He says, drawing each word out. "I have for years now, I just didn't realize it. I don't want this to end. I want to be with you, maybe marry you some day, if you're down for that, because if you aren't, I mean it's totally cool-"
"I love you too." It's a hushed whisper, and her eyes are watering and she looks like a really emotional corpse and he probably looks like a very sensitive ghost, but it's kind of perfect. "I don't know what came over me, I just- I spent all day crying to Silena, and then I don't know if I'll ever be able to see you again, and Percy Jackson you scared me." She reaches out. Poking him in the stomach. "And I love you. It took too long, I don't want to mess this up,-"
"You guys are such freaks." Jason's voice cuts her off from the door. "Stop rambling and just kiss."
Annabeth smiles, leaning over him and taking his lips in hers. He lets himself enjoy the feeling of her hair tickling his face, the taste of her lips against his, the smell of her around him, before wrapping his good arm around her waist and pulling her so she's lying on him. His shoulder is screaming in pain, but he mutes it out like he does Jason's complaints on how they're both 'So sickeningly in love' and 'need to grow some balls' and 'stop talking so much and learn how to communicate their emotions'. He kisses her back slowly, happily, and can feel her smiling into his lips as he bites gently on her bottom lip.
"I said kiss, not make out."