Prompt: Person A finds something in their bed (something they're scared of) and can't sleep in it anymore, so they go to person B to sleep with them.
Title: What's the Plan?
Summary: Based on this prompt: Person A finds something in their bed (something they're scared of) and can't sleep in it anymore, so they go to person B to sleep with them. / Children of Athena hated spiders. Annabeth wasn't an exception. / Fluff, Percabeth, ONE-SHOT
Notes: Can be read as a standalone. Takes place during the Trials of Apollo series, assuming that Apollo's quest takes a few years to accomplish. Percy and Annabeth are in their second year of college in New Rome, with Jason on his first.
Eight years ago, Percy never would have expected that he would live to be sixteen.
Or seventeen.
Or eighteen.
Or nineteen.
But now here he was. In New Rome. Attending college.
Percy still wasn't exactly sure how he had managed to pass high school (he had the vague memory of lots of screaming, gummy bears, Annabeth, and frustration). But he had done it. He had persevered and accomplished his goal (thank goodness the Romans offered him a full scholarship, cos he didn't think he would have survived trying to pass both the SAT and the DSTOMP while juggling a job). Not only that, but he was also on his second year of college already and going strong. Life was good.
So you can understand how he would have a mini heart attack when he dreamed of a place he had never been to.
There was that one quick second – the timespan of a heartbeat – where he feared the worst. Not another major prophecy. Please.
Luckily for him, the Fates seemed to have moved on to someone else (going by the names of Meg McCaffrey and Apollo). So all Percy got was the glimpse of a god (he wasn't sure which one, but either Annabeth or Nico would know) who stared at him for a second in utter confusion. "You're not Meg McCaffrey."
Percy shuffled, sticking his hands into his pocket and fiddling with Riptide. "Nope. Not a girl, as you can see."
"You're not Apollo, then, are you?"
"Do I look like I'm Apollo?" Then, since the god was still holding that confused look, Percy clarified. "I'm Percy Jackson."
"Oh," the god said. "You."
Percy wasn't exactly sure whether to be pleased or offended. The dream began to dissipate before he could make up his mind. The god still stood in the middle of the field, wind blowing the robes around him, but he was going blur. "Wrong dream," the god explained, and then he disappeared.
So Percy woke up – not with another prophecy (thank gods) but instead to the sound of someone (it sounded a lot like Annabeth) yelling his name. He blinked blearily. "Wha? Annabeth?"
"About time," her familiar voice came through. "I've been trying to reach you for about five minutes."
Percy tried to discretely wipe away the trail of drool at the corner of his mouth. He cleared his throat, finally spotting the Iris Message at the foot of his bed. "Annabeth? What's going on? Where's the emergency?"
"There's no emergency, Seaweed Brain. I'm outside your door, though, so let me in before I freeze to death out here."
It took Percy a while for his brain to process that Annabeth was indeed waiting outside the door, but Annabeth was gone before he could ask her exactly why she was outside his dorm. Thus, he could do nothing but reluctantly get out of bed, putting on the pair of shorts he had flung on his chair some time before bed. He didn't bother with a shirt, knowing it would take too long to comb through his mess of a closet, not to mention make too much noise.
For college dorms, the ones at New Rome were surprisingly big and spacious. Four people shared a dorm (for now, it was him, Jason, and two other Romans), with each getting their own small-but-cozy-and-private room. The rooms stood on both ends of the living room, each two rooms sharing one bathroom (he and Jason shared). There was a kitchen too, if you wanted to use it, but there was also a cafeteria at the first floor opened at all hours, should they want to eat there. Overall, it was pretty luxurious. Too bad they didn't allow the opposite sex to share a dorm. But of course, that rule wasn't really enforced anyway.
So Percy didn't need to worry much about waking his dorm mates up as he shuffled around his room for the light switch, but he did need to stop himself from cursing aloud when he stubbed his toe on the coffee table. Leo had come by just the other weekend, and oiled the door hinges for them, so it was relatively easy to unlock the door for Annabeth to come in.
And come in she did – clad in her pajamas, along with a small bag of what appeared to be the necessary essentials such as a toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as a towel and a 3-in-1 bottle of soap. It looked like she was planning to stay a while. She pecked him on the cheek, striding into Percy's dorm, her feet soundless. "Took you long enough, Seaweed Brain."
He trailed her into his room, regretting not having enough time to brush his teeth before meeting her. "Wise Girl, what are you doing here?"
She had managed to wrap herself in his blanket, somehow finding a spot on his cluttered desk to place her desk. "Spiders," she admitted after a while. "I found on in my bed."
He stared at her for a while. Children of Athena harbored a deep fear of spiders, having roots all the way back in Ancient Greece (it was a long story). Annabeth herself had never had the fondest experience with spiders as a child (another long story, this one to do with her stepmother), but she had faced her deepest fear a few years back, when she embarked on her quest to retrieve the Mark of Athena (again, a long story). Even so, though, Annabeth had never liked spiders.
Percy gave her a soft grin, nudging her leg for her to make room for him on the bed. "Makes sense," he commented. "They are vicious creatures."
"Too true," she mumbled against his chest.
"Want me to vanquish them with Riptide tomorrow?" he offered, before she fell asleep on him.
There was a beat of silence, and Percy feared that she was already asleep, before she replied. "No, not yet. We've got to go to the store to buy some insect repellent. And then strip the whole bed. The sheets have to go to the wash. Spiders do lay eggs, you know. I'll draw up a plan for you tomorrow."
Percy hid his grin in her hair, because Annabeth was the only person he knew to make an elaborate plan for ridding her bed of spiders. "Maybe we should have Leo cook up some sort of contraption to trap the spiders before they reach the bed some time," he suggested. "Have the Hecate kids cook up a potion of some sort as well."
"Hmm," she agreed. "Not a bad idea. You do have some good ideas every now and then, Seaweed Brain."
Percy chuckled, his chest filled with something that made his heart swell whenever he saw Annabeth. "Excuse me? You clearly don't appreciate this fine piece of ingenuity."
She punched him on the shoulder in retort. "Just go to sleep, Percy."
"Right. Whatever you say, Wise Girl."
The next morning, Jason would enter the room to wake Percy up for breakfast, only to leave it quietly, leaving the sleeping couple in peace. Annabeth spent the next three days in Percy's room, drawing out battle plans while Percy sat on the bed, fondly watching her claim his desk as her own. Later, when his mother called to see how he, Annabeth, and Jason were holding up, he would send her his selfie of them. In the picture, Annabeth was pointing to something on a paper, explaining the finer bits of the plan to Jason, who nodded seriously. Percy took up the front, making a silly face while wearing Jason's glasses.
Despite Annabeth's protests, Percy printed out the picture as well, with the caption, "There was a spider in her bed" to stick on his wall.
