"Percy? I'm home." Annabeth shouted into the apartment.
"It's just me home right now, dear." Sally Jackson yelled back, from the kitchen. "How was your day?"
Annabeth collapsed on the couch in the living room. She was exhausted. She had barely slept the last few nights because she had the flu, except she couldn't miss any school, because she couldn't afford to make up the work. Today had been especially taxing. She'd taken three tests, most likely failing the ones in Math and English. She honestly just wanted to watch some Supernatural with Percy and fall asleep on him. Unfortunately, she'd had to stay after school to tutor an underclassman in architecture. She had hoped Percy would be home when she arrived, but she knew that he would be hanging out with the swim boys until late. So she contented herself with a little whining to Sally.
"Sally, I'm actually going to die." Annabeth said, her voice sounding like sandpaper.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. If it makes it any better, Percy called and said that he'd try to get home early. And, I'm making soup in the kitchen. The heroes of Olympus deserve my mother's famous chicken and rice soup." Sally said this from the kitchen, at the end entering the room with a towel in hand. She smiled sadly at Annabeth. Annabeth had transferred from sitting on the couch to lying down curled in the fetal position, trying to fight off her flu.
"I shouldn't have let you go." Sally put a hand on Annabeth's forehead. Sally frowned. Fever, just as she had feared. This was a really sick girl.
Annabeth moaned. She honestly felt like she could be dying. She had been slashed, kidnapped, starved, punched, pummeled, kicked, heartbroken, stabbed, poisoned, some at the same time. This was honestly worse than any of that.
Annabeth rolled off the couch and slumped into the kitchen. She pulled the cold medicine and the aspirin down from the medicine cabinet above the sink. She took a dose of each and sat back down on the couch that she had decided was her new favorite place in the house.
"Take a quick nap, and then we'll have a bit of dinner. Percy and Paul will be home and we can watch a movie or some show you kids watch." Annabeth nodded in response to Sally's sage advice. In seconds she was dead asleep.
Fifteen minutes later, Percy walked into the front door, smiling at his cell phone.
"Annabeth?" He said, looking mildly alarmed at her crashed out on the couch. Sally whipped around the corner to the kitchen, a finger to her lips. She beckoned him into the kitchen.
"What's up with Annabeth?" Percy said at a low volume. His jocular smile was gone, replaced with a face that Sally had never seen, but she seemed to recognize as his battle face.
"She has the flu. Haven't you noticed that she's been a zombie all week? Come on, even Paul noticed." Sally raised her eyebrows, mildly surprised with his behavior. He was generally so perceptive when it came to Annabeth. Sometimes a bit too perceptive.
Percy blushed. He had noticed, but had thought it was something else completely. He felt ashamed that she'd been suffering all by himself. He'd always just assumed that she was superhuman and just didn't get sick.
"Well you must have had a theory. Out with it." Sally raised an eyebrow. She knew her son well enough to read all that from his face. Percy sighed. He mumbled some indistinguishable sounds, eliciting a doubtful look from his mother.
"I thought she was on her period." Percy could honestly not say it any faster. Sally smiled, her sea colored eyes laughing silently.
"Percy, it's not that bad. Honestly, you know her pretty well. Do you honestly think you could have missed that on your quests? In tartarus?" Sally smiled kindly at her hormonally confused son.
"Mom, I really don't wanna know. Until it affects me, I really think that might be Annabeth's personal issue." Percy was really trying to speak softly now, because he thought he'd heard her waking up in the next room over.
"With that attitude, it might never affect you," Sally said with a laugh. Percy blushed.
"Percy?" Annabeth croaked from the next room over. Percy walked out of the room with a look that read 'do not say a word'.
"How are you feeling?" Percy asked softly, stroking her hair. She smiled. "I'm actually feeling quite a bit better. And your conversation with your mother made me smile." Her pointed look made Percy blush right to the roots of his hair.
"Come here," He said as he scooted her between his legs on the couch so she was propped up by his chest.
"That was very smooth, Percy." Annabeth said, smiling over her shoulder, leaning her head against the couch. Even after her rejuvenating nap, she still felt drained and sick.
"You know me, Mr. Smooth." Percy quipped, snatching the remote from the coffee table and flipping on the TV. "The swim guys were all making fun of me because I was leaving early to make sure you were alright. Explains why I'm the only one with a girlfriend." She smiled, meeting her gray eyes to his green. She was silently celebrating her victory. He one again had proven how much she meant to him.
"Sally?" Paul said as he entered the apartment. "In the kitchen," She responded. Paul shot a wink at Annabeth and Percy on the couch before going into the kitchen to see Sally. A few moments later Sally shouted for them to wash their hands and get ready for dinner.
Percy got up and helped Annabeth up, her head obviously spinning. He knew he had better keep his mouth shut, but even though she was gorgeous, she looked like crap.
"You have the face." Annabeth said, raising an eyebrow. Percy faked a smile and decided to play dumb.
"What face?" He smiled crookedly, hoping that her heavily medicated brain would lose the topic. Percy was no expert on women, but telling them they look like they're dying didn't sound good, even to him.
"The 'EW she looks like crap but I don't want to say anything' face," Her eyes never left his face as she said this. Percy cursed internally. He knew he was a terrible liar. Crud muffins. He was going to have to tell her.
"You're looking a bit sickly, that's all." Percy let his genuine concern show, hoping she would let it go. Thankfully she did, and pulled him into a tight hug as a result. "Thank you for being here, Percy. I couldn't ask for a better best friend. Or boyfriend." Percy smiled and pulled back.
"That said, I'm not kissing you for a while because I'm really sick." Annabeth smiled while Percy practiced his fake pout.
They washed their hands and went to sit at the kitchen table. Sally served everyone bowls of soup, and they both began eating with haste. Even sickness couldn't curb Annabeth's unladylike appetite. Under the table, Percy and Annabeth had crossed ankles, assuming that Sally and Paul wouldn't notice. After everyone had finished, they both got up to put their plates in the sink, and Percy went to the bathroom that they shared to shower first. Sally pulled Annabeth aside as Paul left to read the news in the couch.
"How are you feeling?" Sally asked, putting a hand on Annabeth's forehead. Annabeth smiled sadly.
"A bit better. I think I'm going to bed early though. I don't wanna be sick for the weekend." Sally nodded.
"Annabeth, I hope you know that you're like my second child. If you're having a problem, you know you can come to me, right?" Annabeth smiled, of course she knew that. Sally had been a better mother than her stepmother had ever been. And Sally let be with Percy, even though they lived together, which most people found sketchy.
"Of course I know that Sally. And poor Percy! I had trouble keeping in my laughter this afternoon. He's such a boy." Annabeth loved living with another woman so she could just be a girl sometimes, but now Percy was 18, and should really outgrow his awkwardness around all things girly.
Sally smiled and said, "Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed. Don't bother showering, because there is no way I am letting you leave your bed tomorrow morning. I will not be caught being a second rate mother again." Annabeth smiled and did a mock salute before shuffling down the hall to her bedroom. She pushed the door open and shut it behind her, locking it, as to avoid another uncomfortable encounter with Percy like the Pajama Incident. She changed into her pajamas, unlocked her door and lay down on her bed with a book.
Percy opened the door to Annabeth's room, putting a hand over his eyes and smiling.
"Permission to look Ma'am?" He asked with a chuckle. Annabeth laughed, "Permission granted."
He naturally was just in basketball shorts, because he didn't sleep in a shirt. He sat down next to Annabeth on her bed. He frowned and ran his hand through her hair.
"How you doing?" He asked with concern. She smiled wickedly.
"Much better, seeing as you aren't wearing a shirt." He winked at her and grabbed her hand, squeezing it, smiling attractively, or so he thought.
"Poor baby. She's all sick and can't kiss people. That is true hardship." He put his hand to his forehead dramatically and pretended to faint onto the pillow next to her on the double bed. She rolled over and kissed him on the nose. He pretended to be horrified.
"You're going to get me sick!" he said with alarm. "And shockingly, I don't mind, because my girlfriend is in a tank top that is probably not as high cut as she thought it was." Percy smiled devilishly, throwing her a wink.
"Oh I know exactly what you can see, mister." She scooted towards him and leaned her forehead on his. He smiled, deeply enjoying where this was going.
"All yours. If you wanna get sick over a kiss, it's all yours. I'm not going to argue." And with that Percy decided that sick was worth it if he got to spend more time with Annabeth. He snaked his arms around her waist and she smiled, tipping her chin up. He kissed her solidly, warming her to the core, in spite of the chill her fever was giving her. They were actually quite enjoying themselves when Sally walked down the hall and called "Perseus Jackson! Annabeth is sick. Let her get better."
They pulled apart reluctantly, staying very close to each other. Percy and Annabeth smiled at each other.
"So worth it."