Title: Falling in Love Sucks
Author: Naty (Pichitinha)
Category: Percabeth, AU, Romance, 3.610 words.
Warning: Nothing, I think?
Rating: PG.
Chapters: One-shot.
Complete: Yes.
Summary: It's not like Annabeth wants to fall in love all that easily, it just… happens. And, well, it sucks.
Note: So, you may read well aware that falling in love is not that only thing here that sucks =) (got it? yeah, my humor sucks too. Sorry) ANYWAY, it's AU, as in no gods AU, and it's divided in time stamps, being the last one the only one to have dialogue. I'd like to apologize in advance because Annabeth has a trait in this fanfic that in nothing resemble the original Annabeth, but I'd like you all to consider that, even though it's not written, here her parents are together, and really love her, and raised her in a perfect home, so she never needed to develop strength to protect herself. And, well, that's it. I hope you like it. =)
The first time Annabeth fell in love it wasn't so much falling in love as having a crush. She was, after all, only ten.
The boy was Luke and she had known him for three years by then. The main problem was that he was slightly older than her – he was seventeen. And then there was this second big problem which was the fact that he was currently dating Annabeth's best friend, Thalia, who was fifteen.
Deep down, Annabeth knew that this crush only existed because Luke had always been there for her ever since he first appeared – as had Thalia – and the both of them were the only friends Annabeth had.
That didn't stop her from tearing up when she saw them kissing for the first time – she was much too young to fully understand a relationship, but she had definitely seen people French kissing and that was it – and, that night, though not proud, she cried herself to sleep.
The second time Annabeth fell in love it was also just a crush. It was a little over a year after Luke, she was now eleven and even though it wasn't that much time, she felt much more mature.
She had just changed schools because of a financial problem and this boy – Brian – was her guide. He was thirteen, not much older than her, and was actually pretty nice considering she was new and young. He showed her the whole school and answered all of her questions, and even though she didn't want to admit, she already had a crush on him before the day ended.
Her only friends were still Luke and Thalia, and meeting this nice boy made her feel that maybe she could be friends with his friends and not be so lonely anymore – when your only two friends are dating there's only so much of time together for the three of you – so she could not stop the tearing up that happened when he said bye to her when he saw his friends coming, not even bothering to present her to them.
Still not proud of this, that night, she cried herself to sleep.
She was now thirteen and very proud of not having fallen in love again ever since Brian. It took a lot of months for her to get over him, and she really didn't want to fall in love again because falling in love sucked.
The first day of school she met this boy, Percy Jackson, and he was her age. Everything about him was totally the opposite of what Annabeth looked for in a friend, and even though her only friends were still Luke and Thalia – still together, now respectively, twenty and eighteen – she thought she could pass the chance of being friends with him, but he didn't seem to notice as he talked about something unimportant while they both arranged their lockers – side by side, the reason they met, actually.
They had a lot of classes together and she ended up stuck with him all day. When it was time to go home, she realized he was actually kind of nice and it had been a while since she'd laughed so much.
Making friends wasn't as bad as falling in love, she decided.
She was still thirteen when she fell in love again.
She was, by then, real good friends with Percy. She would go as far as to say that he was her best friend, but A, she felt bad because she knew Luke and Thalia for much longer and it didn't feel fair, and B, he had a best friend and she didn't want a best friend that didn't best friend her (deep down she knew he was her best friend no matter what she said, but she tried to shut her inner voice down).
So, one day, Percy's best friends changed into their school. It was a boy and a girl and Annabeth fell in love with the boy precisely a week after he appeared. His name was Jake and apparently he was Rachel's – Percy's best friend – cousin, and he was really creative and everything she wasn't and she was really drawn to him.
Percy was obviously interested in Rachel and Annabeth thought of how nice it would be if they got together and she and Jake got too and they were all friends going on double dates.
It didn't take long, though, for Annabeth to realize that as fast as she fell in love with him, he fell in love with Katie, a girl two years older that was very kind and talked to everyone.
For the first time in a long time Annabeth tore up at school and once again not proud, that night, she cried herself to sleep.
She was now fourteen and Percy and Rachel had gotten together. So had Jake and Katie. She watched from afar as they went on double dates and she was once again the outsider. She still held some feelings for Jake, but it was now manageable, just a minor crush.
She and Percy drifted a little apart since he started dating. Completely normal, she guessed. She knew that happened, she just never imagined him getting a girlfriend while she was single. But he still talked to her and he had this incredible ability of knowing when she wasn't ok, so he was a great help getting her to "unlike" Jake – even though he didn't know she liked him.
She sometimes missed Luke and Thalia now they were both away in college, and she missed Percy too because he had a girlfriend, and she even missed Jake and Rachel who somehow became sort of her friends too. She felt alone again for the first time in a long while, and one particular day, after neither Luke nor Thalia answered their phones and Percy said he couldn't go to her place because he had a date with Rachel and she didn't even bother thinking about Jake, she totally knew it was coming.
That night, though not proud, she cried herself to sleep.
She was fifteen and Luke and Thalia were visiting. She was beyond happy as it had been so long since she last saw them. Luke was to pick her up at school as Thalia was still home with her brother – that lived in another town with her mom while she had lived with her dad, but he was now visiting -, and throughout the whole day she was almost bouncing up her feet in excitement of finally seeing them again. She had so much to tell and so much she wanted to hear, and she all but ran to the doors when the last bell rang.
However, and damn her for not even being able to deny it, she was absolutely not ready for how absurdly good looking Luke would be. He'd always been dashing – one of the reasons she developed a crush on him when she was ten, she knew it – but right now, all grown-up, college student, twenty-two-year-old Luke… she was not expecting that. She tried, she really, really did try to keep that so known feeling from rising once again inside of her, but she knew, just like every other time, that it was useless.
And of course, that day, Luke and Thalia announced they'd be getting married.
Needless to say, even less proud than any other time, that night, she cried herself to sleep.
She was now sixteen and Percy and Rachel had broken up. Something about not really working out and her possibly being in love with someone else. However the hell that was possible when you were dating Percy.
Jake didn't hang around all that much anymore, and now neither did Rachel, so it was just the two of them.
Percy seemed really upset about the break-up, so Annabeth invited him over to a movie night, something she'd been fond of from a very young age and still treasured as something to do only with best friends, which Percy undeniably was.
The first movie had been on for no more than fifteen minutes when Percy said that he didn't want to be the heartbroken guy that mopes around, but he really didn't expect it for the first girl he ever fell in love with to fall in love with someone else, and that it sucked and he just wished he could never feel that, like her, that had never fallen in love. And more because she just wanted to let it go already than because she wanted to prove him wrong, she found herself telling about all of the times she fell in love or had a crush on guys, how every time it still hurt, how every time she'd cry herself to sleep. He listened to all of it, a little surprised, but never once he judged her or did anything other than hug and comfort her.
They stood there, half hugging and half sprawled on the floor for the rest of the movie and the entire length of the next one, not talking, just taking comfort in one another. By the end of the third movie Percy was drooling on the carpet and when she looked at him she realized she could easily fall in love with a guy like him.
Not five seconds after she realized she already had.
And because Percy was simply the best friend she could ask for and she couldn't imagine ruining their friendship over her stupid feelings and this just wasn't fair because how many times can a person truly fall in love, she cried herself to sleep that night.
She was still sixteen and it was Luke and Thalia's wedding. It wouldn't be much of a party, just a gathering for close friends, but they told her to bring a date and she asked Percy if he didn't want to go with her. He said of course with a stupid happy grin and Annabeth had to fight the butterflies in her stomach that seemed to multiply every time he even looked at her.
On the day, he went to pick her up in her house – he had gotten his driver's license and she hadn't – and she couldn't believe how handsome he was in a suit. Realizing he was good-looking came a few hours after realizing she'd fallen for him. And then she just didn't know how she never saw it before, because while he wasn't Luke-handsome, he was pretty much the definition of romance novels to good-looking guys and really, how she'd never seen that?
He said she was gorgeous as soon as he landed his eyes on her, travelling through all her length, and Annabeth could feel herself blushing and her heart beating faster, but settled for answering with "you too" before she could say anything she'd regret. They drove to the wedding and even though they talked just as always, she was tense because in a way this was all new.
When she went to compliment Thalia, her friend asked her if the boy was her boyfriend, and maybe because she blushed or stuttered a no or her eyes said I wish or all of those together, Thalia knew she liked him and told her that as soon as she got back from her honeymoon she would help her out.
The rest of the night went better than she had expected. She danced, laughed and talked with Percy, he never once left her side or glanced sideways, and for the very first time she felt that maybe she could have a chance with a boy she was in love with.
That night, for the very first time, she proudly had to fight the grin on her face in order to sleep.
Thalia had just gotten back from her honeymoon and was to meet her at school so they could go out and talk about Percy. She loved having an older friend to talk about these kind of things.
She was outside waiting for Thalia when Percy came out of school holding hands with a girl she knew was named Calypso. She looked at them, confused, because since the wedding things had been different between her and Percy, she could feel.
Thalia arrived not much after that and was walking towards her when she followed Annabeth's gaze and right then and there, Percy kissed Calypso.
Annabeth was used to tearing up at school, but not to completely crying, and that's what happened. Thalia ran to her and trying to get it unnoticed led her to her car.
That night, Annabeth didn't cry herself to sleep, but simply because she didn't sleep at all.
For the first time in all of her sixteen years of life, Annabeth didn't go to school the next day. Her eyes were puffy and red and she wasn't sure the tears had ceased.
Thalia had tried to comfort her, and she even made Annabeth talk to her a bit, but it helped nothing, in the end. Falling in love was something she was used to, having her heart broken was too. But this was a hundred times worse than ever before. She wondered if all the other had been only crushes and this was the real deal. If it was, she wished it would never happen again.
Her parents left to work knowing something was wrong with her, but knowing too that she wouldn't say it. So they let her stay at home and didn't say anything other than "stay safe".
She got up and had her breakfast, but soon after went back to her bed. Copying Percy's words – which was, obviously, some cruel action from the universe – she didn't want to be the heartbroken girl that mopes around, but she couldn't help it. Being Percy's best friend was so easy, so different from everything. That's how a relationship was supposed to be like. Easy, simple, with understanding. Like Luke and Thalia. Like her parents. Like she and Percy were even as just friends.
Sometime after noon the doorbell rang and Annabeth sighed, considering not answering and just keep reading her book. It was a stupid book, a love story where things just worked out too perfectly, but quite honestly it was what she needed at the moment. After a few seconds the bell rang again, and after five more times she knew that whoever it was – and deep down she had a guess that she immediately prayed to be wrong about – would not give up, even if they had to wait until one of her parents get back to let them in.
She got up and considered changing from her pajamas, but quite honestly he didn't deserve that.
True to her expectations she was met with him as she opened the door, his eyes going wide to the view of her. She could only guess: still in pajamas, messy and un-brushed hair, red and puffy eyes, dark circles underneath it. What a picture.
"You've been crying." He said, like she didn't know it, like any other person in the planet, knowing her or not, couldn't say it with a simple glance at her face.
"I'm not a robot." Is what she settled for an answer. She was tired. So tired of feeling this, of being rejected, of never ever getting the guy she wanted. She didn't need him to try and make things okay like a best friend would, because that would only make things worse.
"I-" He clearly didn't expect her to answer like that, but he tried to recover quickly. He took a deep breath. "I saw you leaving school yesterday. With your friend."
"Am I forbidden to leave school with her?" She raised her eyebrows. She wasn't doing the acid responses thing on purpose; she just really couldn't help it.
"Not what I meant." He said, once again at a loss of words. "I meant I saw you. Like… I saw you crying."
She sighed. "Can we not do this today? I feel like shit and I just want to be alone."
"I don't think I've ever seen you cry, Annabeth. I just wanna know what happened that made you cry so suddenly, at school of all places."
She could practically laugh at his stupidity. "Really? You need to come here and ask me?"
"What are you talking about?" He asked defensively, and she could almost see his desire to take a step back.
"I'm talking about the fact that any idiot in that school would know what happened, but you are way too stupid and dense to even consider the possibility."
"What-" He still didn't get it, and that set her off to a speech.
"I thought… Things had been so different since Thalia's wedding. I could practically feel it. I was so sure you felt the same, and you can't even… I didn't even know you knew Calypso and then when I think things are going right and maybe I'll get a chance and maybe, just maybe you'll do something, you go and prove me wrong. You just simply start dating someone else. I don't even know how you don't see it. I mean, no, that's a lie. Because you see it, you have to, there's no way you don't. I guess the mere thought is so incredibly disgusting to you that you prefer to not acknowledge it, I mean, why would you ever think of dating a girl a like me." She half snorted half sighed and gave a shallow laugh. "I'm pathetic."
His eyes were wide as plates and she felt tears forming in her eyes once again. She would not cry, she most definitely was not going to cry in front of him. Again.
"You-" He stuttered moving his hands and then stopped again, eyes still wide and mouth agape.
"I have once again fallen in love with a stupid boy that isn't in love with me. Don't look so surprised there, I finally understood that that's my thing. When the time comes I'll probably put it in my resume."
"But why… I don't understand. You like me?" He inquired completely shocked.
"I thought that was already established, Percy." She leaned against her door, too tired to hold herself and the tears at the same time.
"But why?" he inquired once again, looking confused. "You like guys like Jake and Luke and Brian. Not guys like me."
"If that's the case, I wish I'd gotten the memo earlier."
They stood there in silence for quite some time until he recovered and took three steps further, getting close to her. Not close enough for a hug, but less than an arm's length.
"You were crying because of me?" He asked silently, his voice small.
"Once again, isn't it established?"
He looked guilty. And sad. And remorseful. And a lot of other expressions that just didn't suit him. He was a smiling guy, not a frowning one. "I'm sorry." He whispered at last.
He sounded so sincere that her heart pounded and felt heavy in her chest. "You don't need to apologize. We don't get to choose who we fall in love with."
"No," he shook his head. "I mean… what you saw yesterday… that was just…" he took a deep breath to try to recompose himself. "A couple of weeks before you invited to the wedding she asked me to the movies, and I was so appalled that I said yes. But I just… I didn't want to go, so I just kept on delaying it, and then the wedding came and… and you were right, things did change, and I forgot about her completely, so yesterday when she asked if I was free and the movies were up I barely had the time to open my mouth and say that I couldn't when she just grabbed my hand and pulled out of the school. I had just told her that I was sorry and that I couldn't and I was about to kiss her cheek when she simply went all movie-like on me and turned her face! I never meant to kiss her. For real."
"You went for her cheek and she turned her face? Really? That's the best you can do?" She was breathless from the almost confession he made, but in her state it all seemed hard to buy.
"Annabeth, I mean it. And now it actually makes sense that she apologized after we saw you running away. I should've linked it."
"Ok, so you didn't want to kiss her."
"No." he replied simply, taking yet another step closer.
"And you're telling me this because…"
He opened his mouth to answer, but settled for kissing her instead.
It wasn't a long kiss. Annabeth, embarrassed even though she shouldn't be, could feel the weight of never having kissed before heavy in her shoulders. Percy didn't seem to care though, as he cupped her face with his hand and rested the other on her waist. As short as it was, though, it left them both breathless.
"Oh." Was all she could say when they pulled apart.
"I'm in love with you, Annabeth." He breathed out, foreheads touching. "I have since that movie night we had, I just didn't know how to tell you."
She half laughed and half sobbed and he kissed her again, more deeply this time.
That night, Percy texted her asking if she would be crying herself to sleep. She laughed and answered "not anymore".
Very proudly, she did not cry herself to sleep that night.
Instead, she once again had to fight a grin. Proudly.