Everyone is born with a tattoo. It's how the world works and no one questions it.
The tattoo can be of anything, really. A picture, a word. It can be anywhere, also, from the back of your neck (like Annabeth's) to the curve of you ass (like Thalia's). The one consistent thing about all of these tattoos, is this: someone in the world has exactly the same one in exactly the same place.
This person is your soulmate.
Since day one, Annabeth has known she was going to marry Luke Castellan. The moment Annabeth was born (Luke was three) their mothers, upon spotting the matching tattoos, had been planning their wedding.
Three years later they'd started "dating", which mostly consisted of their moms taking cute pictures of them and them kissing each other, not really understanding much of what was happening. It changed a little as they got older. The intensity of the seriousness of their relationship grew larger as each year passed. It was easy to maintain their relationship because they were neighbors, and were always together.
They went to school together, hung out together, made friends together, had dinner together, did everything together. They were meant to be together, so their moms made sure they were just that.
Together.
Now, Luke is twenty-one, and Annabeth is almost, almost eighteen. Their wedding is in three weeks, on her birthday, and things could not be better. She got into Yale, Luke is progressing through the ranks of his dad's delivery company, and Annabeth is being trained as an Ameritech architect already.
Life is good. Life will be great. Everything is planned.
And then, everything explodes. Annabeth Chase becomes supremely fucked over.
Nobody told her her tattoo could change.
Annabeth is walking through the doors of a quaint little coffee shop when it happens. There's a strange burning on the back of her neck, right where her tattoo is placed.
"Ow," she hisses quietly, but as soon as the burning sensation appeared, it's gone, just like that. She hopes her tat is okay. She really likes it, always has. It's an owl imprinted inside the outline of a tortoise shell. The little legs and head stick out, and Annabeth has always found it adorable.
Her hand leaves the back of her neck, which is covered by her blond curls, and she continues on her walk toward the counter.
A smiling face greets her, and she admits, the boy is cute, probably her age, with messy dark hair, sea-green eyes, and ridiculously tan skin, even for someone in Cali.
"What can I get you?" He asks, and she adjusts her leather messenger bag slightly. He smells good, like roses and ocean.
Cut it out, Beth, she thinks to herself, you're getting married in three weeks. No need to be stupid and cheat now.
"Coffee, black," she says, and he quirks up an eyebrow.
"Intense," he comments, and proceeds to click away on the register until he figures out the cost.
"Three dollars and eighty-eight cents, m'lady," he says, flashing a smile, "And congratulations. Might big ring, you got there." She smiles, and looks down at the engagement ring, big and bright on her finger.
"Thank you." He winks at her, and turns around. She's surprised to see his tat, right in the same place as her own, except his is bigger. It's a heart made of water (the lines of it are wavy, and there are visible bubbles), and inside is an owl that looks much like Annabeth's own. She rubs her neck subconsciously.
As he goes to fulfill her order, she moves out of the line and waits. When he gives it to her, she thanks him, and leaves, a little deterred by the sight of the boy's tattoo in the same spot as her own. It's odd, really odd, because Annabeth has never seen another tattoo like hers, ever. She shakes her head.
Forget him, she thinks, you're getting married.
Butterflies fill her stomach and she gains a little bounce in her step, completely forgetting about the coffee shop boy.
"Hey Beth!" Thalia exclaims when Annabeth wanders into the woman's flower shop. She doesn't look the type to own such a thing, with her choppy dark hair and blue streaks, weird obsession with black clothing, and music tastes, but she good at it. Really good. Beautiful flowers bloom all around, and the shop has an easy-going, pastel feel to it that Thalia somehow managed to accomplish despite her obvious opposition to it. Annabeth accepts a welcome kiss from her best friend, and Thalia leans back, looking her up and down, "Are you ready?"
Annabeth grins brightly, "Been ready."
"I bet," Thalia says, "I swear, when I meet my S.M. we're getting married on the spot. I've waited long enough." Annabeth giggles and follows Thalia into the back room, where they sit down in comfy chairs and Thalia cracks a beer while Annabeth drinks her cooling coffee.
"Drinking on the job?" Annabeth asks, and Thalia shrugs.
"I'm my boss, and as my boss, I say drinks all around!" They both giggle, but Annabeth is cut short as her tat begins to tingle, a vaguely ticklish but still uncomfortably feeling that makes her frown. "You okay, babe?"
"Yeah… I think so…" Annabeth trails off, reaching her fingers to touch the spot. She sweeps her hair to the side, "Can you look at my tat for a sec?" She turns around, and flinches when she hears Thalia gasp.
"H-holy shit!"
"What?" Annabeth asks when she feels Thalia, suddenly right behind her, run her fingers down the spot.
"Annabeth, we need to see a doctor. Right now."
"Wha-"
"Trust me. We're going. Now."
"Rare," Dr. C says, "Very, very rare."
"What's rare?" Annabeth asks, "Seriously, someone tell me what's going on."
"Well, ma'am-"
"Don't tell her!" Thalia exclaims, standing up out of her chair, "Doc, it'll ruin everything. You have to just-"
"It's my tattoo!" Annabeth exclaims, "What. Is. Going. On?"
"Miss, I'm afraid to say, but it looks like it's… changed." Annabeth literally feels her heart freeze in her chest. What? That's impossible. Fucking impossible. No way. This had to be some cruel joke.
"Changed?" She asks, suddenly breathless.
"Changed," Dr. C repeats, "It's rare, but it happens, my dear," Annabeth turns to face him, "On some occasions, fate doesn't get things right the first time. I know this is very hard for you. I've been seeing your family a long time and-"
"I-I'm supposed to be with someone else?" Annabeth asks, her heart suddenly going from stopped to beating a mile a minute.
"Miss, I-"
"I'm supposed to be with someone else?!" Annabeth asks, more forcefully this time.
"I- well… yes, Annabeth."
Anger flares inside her, and she feels like crying. Her stomach is curling in on itself and she doesn't know what to do. It's like her whole world, her whole planned-out life is crashing down around her and she can do nothing to stop it. She slides off the examination table, grabs her jacket and storms out.
Fuck.
"Annabeth!" Thalia's pounding on her bedroom door, but Annabeth is too upset to even barely acknowledge her. What is she supposed to do now? Everything was planned, every question had an answer. She knew what was happening, but now it feels like she can barely grip on reality.
She hates not knowing.
She hates not knowing what her tat looks like now. In the same way she's dying to know she also doesn't want to know, wants to curl into a ball, wants it to go away. What if she matches Travis or Connor, or Jason?! Oh hell, she doesn't want to be with Jason.
She wants Luke.
Tears roll down her cheeks and she curls even deeper into the numerous pillows adorning her bed.
How is this happening?
"Do you… do you wanna know what it looks like?" Thalia asks from outside her door. Annabeth lets out a sob.
"No!"
She wants it to look like what it's always looked like. The tortoise, the owl. She wants her old one back. She needs it back.
"It's pretty," Thalia says, "It's really pretty. I never liked that old tortoise anyway."
"Shut up Thalia!"
"Alright, okay. Just…. I'm here."
Annabeth proceeds to sob. What the hell is she going to do?
It's three days later that she finally lets Thalia snap a picture of her new tattoo. She's been dodging Luke, and her mother. Neither her, Thalia, or Dr. Chiron have mentioned a word to anyone else, and Annabeth is glad for that. She doesn't need her mother finding out, or her dad, or Luke.
She can play it off. She knows she can. Get married, have kids, leave her hair down. If she just pays attention, doesn't slip up, everything can be okay.
Thalia hands her the phone, and Annabeth's heart sinks when she sees the new tattoo. Her stomach starts to curl.
She's seen it before.
A heart made of water, around an owl, much bigger than her last tat.
Coffee shop boy.
Two weeks until the wedding, and Annabeth has spent entire days with Luke, and he's still oblivious, calling her beautiful, telling her how excited he is.
Her heart sinks deeper into the depths with every single word he says.
"Annabeth Elizabeth Castellan," Luke sighs. They're lying next to each other on Annabeth's bed, staring at nothing, enjoying each other's company.
"Luke Evan Chase," Annabeth teases with a giggle. He scoffs.
"Um, hell no."
"Hell yes!" Annabeth exclaims, "Admit it, it sounds great."
"I like Beth Liz Castellan better." Annabeth rolls her eyes.
"Whatever. Doesn't matter I guess.."
"I'd hope not."
Annabeth sits in a booth, hours later, nervously stirring her coffee. She's been sitting here staring at the boy for almost an hour. She doesn't know what to do. How does she start a conversation?
Hey! Yeah, you! I got your tattoo on my neck but I'm engaged to someone else. Surprise!
Annabeth snorts.
"That's not very attractive." Annabeth starts and looks up. Coffee shop boy is right there.
"You wouldn't know attractive if it slapped you in the face," Annabeth retorts, surprised at how easily she could reply. She doesn't usually insult Luke, even playfully. Her mom always made her be a lady to him, because of their inevitable marriage and life together.
Inevitable. If only.
He laughs, a sweet and easy laugh, and sits down across from her, "What do you want, blondie?"
"First of all, what? Second of all, never call me blondie. Ever."
"Well, blondie-" she glares, "You've been sitting there for fifty minutes staring at me, so the least I can do is come over here and say hi." Annabeth flushes. He's got her there.
"Your…. name," Annabeth says, "Your name."
"Percy," he answers, "Well, actually, Perseus Alan Jackson, but Percy works fine. Your name, m'lady?"
"Annabeth Elizabeth Chase." He blinks rapidly and raises his eyebrows.
"Say what now? It would take me like, eighty-five years to spell all that out!" Annabeth frowns, and he blushes, "Sorry, I have dyslexia and ADHD. Not a great match, really." He gives a sad smile.
"Hey, just means you work a helluva lot harder all day," Annabeth says with a shrug, "What else could you tell me about you, Perseus Alan Jackson?"
"Nothing right now," he says, getting up, "But I'm off in thirty. If you stick around, which you might as well because you've been here this long already, we can take a walk. Sound like a plan?"
"Sounds like a plan," Annabeth agrees, and he leaves to get back to work.
The thirty passes quickly for Annabeth, who ignores Luke's insistent text messaging and Thalia's numerous phone calls, and she and Percy go for a walk around Cali.
She learns a lot about him, like how he likes the color blue, lives in a small apartment with his mom, and despite his two very distracting mental illnesses, is getting pretty average grades in school. He's hoping to get an athletic scholarship to get into college because he and his mom aren't doing the best, but they get by. Also, his favorite color is blue and he really like chocolate chip cookies.
He's a little childish, a kid at heart, which for Annabeth is almost endearing.
He learns some about her. How she and her family live the good life, she's an architect in training, and she has a 4.0 GPA. She tells him all about Luke and their engagement, and he listens easily. She talks to him about Thalia and about her flower shop, and tells him about a lot of her family history, that of which she finds insanely interesting, and maybe he doesn't but he still listens.
"Sorry if I'm boring you," Annabeth says in the middle of her spiel about the Norwegian portion of her family, "I talk a lot."
"It's okay," he says with a smile, "I don't like to talk much cause a lot of the time I sound like an idiot. Your voice is soothing." She blushes.
"I…. I don't think you sound like an idiot." He smiles at her, a bright and genuine smile that's almost lopsided, and makes her heart flutter.
"Thanks, Beth."
"I'm so fucked," Annabeth moans as she invited herself into the back room of the flower shop. She collapses into a chair as Thalia snuffs out her cigarette, because she knows Annabeth hates those things.
"Is this just hitting you now?" Thalia asks, "You've been fucked since last week."
"But now it's worse," Annabeth says, "His name is Perseus Alan Jackson, and he's poor, and he's cute, and he works at Gina's-"
"The new coffee shop downtown?" Thalia asks, "You met your new soulmate?!" Annabeth nods, and covers her face with her hands.
"What am I supposed to do?!" Annabeth asks.
"I thought you were going to hide it. Just marry Luke."
"I was, but isn't that…. what if there's someone else for him?" Annabeth asks, her hands leaving her face, "I can't just deprive someone of their soulmate!"
"Worst comes to worst," Thalia says, "We get Luke's new soulmate and yours and get them together. Boom, problem solved." Annabeth shakes her head. Thalia sighs, "Tell ya what. I'll keep Luke busy, you hang out with this Percy guy a bit more, and then make your decision. But if you ask me, the loaded boy you've loved all your life beats out the poor coffee shop guy you met last week."
Annabeth bites her lip.
Does he?
One week. One messily week is all Annabeth has to make a decision.
But right now, that's the least of her worries.
"Stop stop stop!" She screams, running away as fast as she can. Percy's got a water balloon filled with whip cream, and there's no way he's getting anything else on her after the maple syrup. That shit is never going to come out of her hair.
"No no no!" Percy replies, and hurls it. The balloon smashes into her back and sends whip cream flying everywhere. Annabeth screams and turns around, charging Percy.
"Oh fu-"
They both go down on the sandy beach, laughing and tumbling towards the water. They've quickly become something along the lines of best friends.
They hit the cold water with a splash and Annabeth squeals and springs off of him. He laughs and gets up, pushing her into the water. She goes under, and comes up, hair sopping wet.
Her tat is exposed to him.
Suddenly, his laughter stops, and when she realizes what's happened, she whips around, eyes wide.
"Y-you have….." he trails off, of knowing how to finish his sentence.
"I- I can explain," Annabeth says, "Don't be mad." Percy has a sinking look on his face, a combination of shock, anger, and sadness. Annabeth decides she never wants to see that look on his face again. She spills everything, taking Percy's hand and dragging him to the beach so they can sit and have a civil conversation about it.
When she's finished, there's a restless silence, until he finally speaks.
"You should marry him."
Her jaw drops. That was definitely not what she'd been expecting. Maybe tears, anger, something else. Anything else.
"Wha- what-?"
"Marry him. He's rich, I have nothing to offer you," Percy stands up, "I'll text you later, Beth."
He leaves here there on the beach, feeling lost and a little teary. The last week has been… it's been unimaginably wonderful. She feels a freedom with Percy she never felt with Luke. She can be herself. Her true self.
She… she loves that.
She loves his smile, and the way he listens. He loves how he fights for himself, how he works and still finds the time to study as hard as he can with his mental ilnesses. He loves that he's so childish, so carefree, so young.
Annabeth grew up way too fast, and she knows it now.
She loves that he doesn't really have a plan. He just goes with the flow, like the boats ride the waves of the ocean without a care in the goddamned world. Drifting, floating freely.
And she's been with Luke for so long, she's forgotten what real love feels like. Did she ever really know? She didn't get to meet her soulmate in an exciting way, she'd already known him.
Destined to be. Always together.
She wanted the excitement. The originality.
The love. The real love.
"I love you," Annabeth says as she watches Percy disappear along the beach, "I love you. I want you."
Of course, he doesn't hear. He won't hear.
She blew it.
Annabeth stares at herself in the mirror.
"Are you sure you want your hair down?" Athena, her mother, asks her, tugging at honey-blond curls. Annabeth nods, but doesn't take her eyes off herself.
Her dress is gorgeous, sweet-heart neckline, lace across her arms just above the neckline, a tight bodice and a flowing skirt. Her hair is down around her shoulders, her face is slathered in make-up, and her feet hurt already from the heels she's wearing.
Pretty hurts.
"Yes, mom," she says, shooing her mom's hands away, "If I can have some time with Thalia, that would be great."
"Yes, of course," Athena says, and hurried out of the room, probably to bother someone else. Most likely yell at some people for placing the chairs facing South instead of North. She's a control freak.
"You're doing the right thing," Thalia says, joining Annabeth in the mirror. Her dress is long and black, although the theme color is pink. Thalia wouldn't be caught dead in something pink. Ever.
"I…." Annabeth trails off. She doesn't know what to say. She's not, she's really not. She doesn't love Luke.
"You'll be great," Thalia says reassuringly, "You're about to marry the man you always wanted to marry, complications aside." Annabeth nods, ignoring the lump in her throat. "C'mon. Eveyone's waiting."
Walking down the aisle feels like the longest walk of her life down a dark, spirally tunnel. She sees Luke there, smiling at her. She sees her mom, proud as ever. She sees everyone watching, staring. Her chin lifts, chest juts out.
Just like we practiced. Just like every model wedding they'd been having since she was six. Walk, listen, repeat the vows, kiss.
Honeymoon, kids, retirement.
A plan. A grand plan.
Somehow, she makes it to the alter, and gives Luke the brightest smile she can possibly muster up.
Fake. It's all fake.
"Before we proceed," the pastor says (a formality. Why would anyone object this perfect marriage), "If anyone objects to the marriage of soulmates Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan, speak now or forever hold your peace." Annabeth presses her lips in a thin line, tight together to stop herself.
But if there's one thing Annabeth Chase does best (besides getting good grades, acing pretty much every test that's been given to her, being a stud at most sports, etc, etc.), it's correcting people.
"Th-there's a flaw to your statement," she says, so quietly almost nobody hears her, but Luke turns, surprised. Annabeth clears her throat and speaks louder, "There's a flaw to your statement." This time the whole chapel hears her, and the crowd starts to murmur.
"Annabeth don't-"
Annabeth ignores Thalia, "Soulmates. We're not.. we're not soulmates." There's a collective gasp through the crowd. Luke looks shocked enough to shit himself. Annabeth would giggle at his facial expression if she were not so terrified of what she's doing right now.
"But our tattoos-"
"Don't match," Annabeth finishes. She brushes her hair off her neck and turns to show them, "It's rare… but… my tattoo changed." Luke is gaping like a fish, Thalia is slowly backing towards the nearest exit, and Annabeth's mom looks about as angry-red as a tomato. Annabeth turns back around and hands Luke her bouquet, "I'm sorry… but there's something I have to do."
If running down a crowded sidewalk in a wedding dress is not the most difficult thing Annabeth's ever done, she has no idea what is. Thankfully, she abandoned her heels on the stairs of the chapel, along with her veil, and left friends and family to call after her in anger/confusion. People were looking at her like she was crazy, and the astounded stares did not stop when she entered the coffee shop.
Percy's working the counter, like Annabeth had hoped, and he looks up when she enters, only to drop the coffee pot he was holding. The glass shatters at his feet and he jumps, startled. Thankfully, it was empty.
The noise quiets the entire cafe.
"I can't get married," Annabeth says to him.
"Y-you have to," Percy replies, tearing his eyes from hers, which start to water when she realizes he might hate her.
"But I don't want to!" Annabeth exclaims, "You showed me a life I didn't know existed. A me I'd never met. I want to be that girl, Perseus. I want to… I want to be your girl!"
"You're not my girl!" Percy snaps, slamming his fist down on the counter, "You have a fiancé."
"Percy," Annabeth says, a rebellious tear escaping her eye, "You're my soulmate." Percy looks up at her, and it seems he's crying, too. He vaults the counter and walks towards her, wiping his eyes to no avail.
"B-but he has money… a-and you deserve everything that he can give you. I can't… I can't give you… anything." Annabeth takes his hands into hers, and stands on her toes to kiss his tears away.
"I don't care about his money, or his stuff," Annabeth says, "I will be the richest, luckiest, happiest girl in the entire world… as long as we're together." He smiles at her, that lopsided grin that Annabeth pretty much loves at this point.
"As long as we're together," he repeats, and pulls her into a hug.
The cafe erupts into applause and cheers.
And then Percy's boss starts yelling because he broke the coffee pot.
The couple pulls away laughing, and Annabeth kisses his cheek before he moves to clean up his mess.
That's one way to find your soulmate….
-End-