"Well I'm no angel but I'm willing to watch over you." – "Catch You" -Dashboard Confessional

Age 18

ANNABETH

The song, "Modest Manifesto" by Houston Calls wakes Annabeth up. She rolls over in her bed and squints in the darkness of her dorm-room as she searches for the source of the sound. Her sleep-addled brain takes a moment to realize the music's coming from her phone. A picture of her best friend, Percy, flashes on the screen. Just under Percy's wide grin is the current time: 1:28AM. Why's he calling so late? Is he okay? Annabeth feels nauseous as she thinks about all the other times Percy has called her past midnight.

Annabeth answers her phone. "Hello?" She asks.

"Can you pick me up?" Percy asks.

"Where are you?" She asks.

"I'm at the hospital." His voice shakes. "Can you give me a ride? Please? I know that you're mad at me, but I don't know who else to call."

In her panic, Annabeth had forgotten that they were in a fight. What was it about again? Ah, yes, Percy doesn't want her to date their senior friend, Luke Castellan. Percy claimed he thinks Luke's bad news even though they're all friends. Annabeth was mad at Percy because she thought he was jealous like she was jealous when Percy dated Rachel Dare their sophomore year of high school. They need to work on their jealousy issues if they want to maintain their friendship.

There was no spark between Annabeth and Luke anyway. They left their date tonight, well technically last night, deciding to be friends instead of anything romantic.

"Which hospital?" Annabeth asks.

"St. Augustine's I think." Percy replies.

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"I just thought—"

"—Don't worry about it."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten jealous. Luke's great and so are you."

"I'll be there soon Seaweed Brain."

"Okay Wise Girl."

Annabeth shoves her feet into her shoes without bothering to lace them, glad that her roommate, Clarisse is at an away-game for rugby because that means that Annabeth can turn the lights on without worrying about waking Clarisse up. Annabeth pockets her phone and grabs the essentials: a hoody, her keys, and student ID. Then she sneaks out of the dorm, trying her best to be quiet to uphold the weekend Quiet Hours and not wake everyone up who might be sleeping. She makes it outside and sprints from her dorm to the parking lot, and gets in her car as quickly as she can, nearly forgetting to put her seatbelt on.

When she gets to the hospital, she finds Percy waiting outside. He's sitting on the steps. His face is a mess. His bottom lip's busted and there's an enormous bruise forming on his forehead. He smiles when he sees Annabeth. In the dim light from the street lamps, Annabeth thinks she sees all the teeth that should be present in Percy's smile but she can't be sure.

"What happened?" Annabeth asks. She kneels down in front of Percy and reaches out to touch his face. Then she stops because they're in a fight and he probably wouldn't like it anyway.

"Car-crash," Percy replies. He takes longer than usual to answer.

Annabeth feels a jolt of adrenaline and protectiveness. Whose fault was the car-crash? Percy's or the other driver? Is Percy's car okay? How bad are Percy's injuries? Why is he sitting on the hospital steps instead of inside the hospital? Instead of overloading Percy with questions, Annabeth asks him two.

"What did the doctors say? What's injured aside from your head?" Annabeth asks.

"I got lucky. It's just my noggin. Do you remember that weird tv program for kids? We used to watch it all the time." Percy replies.

"I remember, but what did the doctors say? Do you have a concussion?"

"I think that was the word. That or contraption or condominium or commotion. Some fancy word that starts with con."

"Commotion starts with com."

Why did she correct him? He's concussed.

Percy's cheeks turn red. "Yeah, you would know. You're the smarter one Wise Girl." He smiles at her but it looks like it hurts. Maybe it does.

"Did they tell you anything important?" Annabeth asks. "Did they give you any pamphlets when you checked out? You did check yourself out; right?"

Percy hands Annabeth a piece of paper. "They gave me that when I checked out. I'm supposed to get someone to watch me for a while. Can you drive me back to my dorm? I'm tired."

Annabeth tries to use the dim streetlight to read the paper which she's sure must be full of instructions about how to take care of someone who's got a concussion, but she's freaking out and can't concentrate which is screwing with her dyslexia. "I can watch you." Annabeth says.

"Really?"

"Of course. Was there anything else?"

"Are you sure? I was a jerk."

"Yes Percy, I'm sure. Are you ready to go?"

Percy nods and winces. He stands and walks over to Annabeth.

She offers him her hand. He laces their fingers and they walk to Annabeth's car. It's a tradition for them to hold hands when the other's upset or injured. Percy started it when they were ten and Annabeth broke her ankle during a soccer game. Annabeth's dad wasn't there so Percy's mom, Sally, drove Percy and Annabeth to the hospital. Annabeth was crying because her ankle hurt so Percy held her hand. It has since become their thing.

...

Annabeth pulls out the blow-up mattress that she and Clarisse store in the shelf above their closets. It's reserved for guest-use. She blows it up, grabs one of her pillows from her bed, and throws a spare blanket on the air-mattress.

"Okay, you take the real bed and I'll take this one. Okay?" Annabeth says.

"I can take this one." Percy covers up a yawn with his hand. "You're doing me the favor. Remember? Please sleep in your bed."

"You're injured. You should sleep in the slightly more comfortable bed." Annabeth says.

"What if we shared it instead? We did when we were kids." Percy looks ready to fall over from exhaustion. Annabeth needs to look up if that's normal. She knows it's okay to let someone with a concussion sleep though which is why she's trying to get Percy to go to bed.

"We were eight the last time we did that." Annabeth points out.

"I just don't want you sleeping on the floor." Percy yawns.

"I won't be sleeping on the floor. I'll be sleeping on the air-mattress."

"That's practically the same thing."

"Okay, we can share the bed." Annabeth says.

"Good." Percy nods and climbs onto the bed.

Annabeth kicks the air-mattress aside and puts the pillow back on the bed. Then she makes sure the door is locked.

"Can I turn the light out?" Annabeth asks.

"Yeah," Percy's voice is so soft Annabeth nearly misses it.

Annabeth turns the light off and crawls into bed next to Percy. "Do you have enough room?" Annabeth asks.

"Yeah," Percy whispers.

Neither says anything. Then Percy breaks the silence. "When Mom would work late and I annoyed Smelly Gabe, he would make me sleep on an air-mattress. He would deflate it a little so I was basically sleeping on the floor. He made me swear to tell my mom I liked it if she ever saw or he would hurt her." Percy whispers.

"I'm sorry." Annabeth whispers.

"It's not your fault. You didn't make him do it."

"I'm sorry you were stuck with him for so long."

Percy doesn't say anything. Eventually his breathing deepens and Annabeth's almost certain he's asleep. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and turns the screen on its dimmest brightness setting. Then she uses the light to look at the doctor's instructions on how to watch over someone with a concussion until she falls asleep.

Annabeth wakes up to the sound of someone sniffling. Is Percy okay?

"Percy?" Annabeth mumbles.

The sniffling stops. Annabeth can feel the bed shift as Percy stops moving next to her.

"Percy? What's wrong?" Annabeth asks. She turns over in the bed so she's facing Percy.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Percy says in an uneven voice.

"You, my dear friend, are a terrible liar." Annabeth replies.

Percy lets out something that resembles a laugh and a sob.

"What's wrong Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asks.

"My head hurts and I miss my mom." Percy sniffles.

Oh, Seaweed Brain.

"I'm sorry he took her away from you." Annabeth whispers.

"I miss her so much." Percy chokes out.

Annabeth hugs Percy. He buries his face in her shoulder and sobs.

"I'm so sorry Percy." Annabeth whispers. "She would be so proud of you if she saw you now."

Percy shakes his head.

"Yes, she would. You're kind and you listen to people when they have bad days and you smile at everyone. If someone drops their bag, you help them pick up the contents. You go out of your way to make people's days. You're such a good person. Your mom would be proud of you for that."

"I was a bad friend to you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Percy. We're friends. Friends fight."

"We fight a lot." Percy sniffles.

"You were just keeping our pattern going." Annabeth replies.

Percy laughs a tiny bit and Annabeth's heart skips a beat.

"By the way, how was your date?" Percy asks.

"There was no spark." Annabeth says, knowing he'll get it.

"I'm sorry Annie,"

"You've known me since we were six. You know I don't like being called Annie." Annabeth says, unable to ignore the warm feeling that always spreads in her chest when Percy calls her that. She hates the nickname, but it always makes her smile for some reason.

"Yeah, but it always makes you smile." Percy says.

"Thanks Percy."

"Any time Annabeth."

Neither of them says anything for a few beats. Then Percy whispers, "Can we watch a movie?"

"I don't think that's good for a concussion; is it?" Annabeth replies.

"I'll tell you if I my head hurts too badly. I just can't feel my feet and need to move into a different position—like movie-watching position."

"Okay, but if you suggest we watch Lilo and Stitch one more time, you and I will have some problems, friendo."

"But it's my favorite and I have an owie head."

"You can't see because it's dark, but I'm rolling my eyes at you."

Percy laughs.

Annabeth pulls away from Percy, gets off the bed, walks to the door, and turns on the light. Then she sets the movie up on her laptop. She glances at Percy who's positioning the pillows on the bed for optimal movie-watching. He has done the same thing since they were twelve and Annabeth's dad made her keep the door open when Percy was in her room. They weren't ever going to do anything, just watch a movie-like they are now.

Percy's asleep before the montage of Nani finding a job. Annabeth's a little sad because Percy's favorite part is when David and Nani take Lilo and Stitch surfing. It's probably for the best; Percy needs the sleep. He's resting his head against Annabeth's shoulder. She knows he'll probably drool a little, but she's used to it by now.

Percy insists on taking Annabeth out to breakfast when they wake up in the morning. He's a lifeguard at their college's gym and insists on treating his friends when he can. Annabeth treats him back. She has a job at their college's library.

"Do you want to pick up your car after breakfast?" Annabeth asks as they get in Annabeth's car.

"That would be great actually." Percy says. "Can I buy you breakfast first though?"

"Hungry?"

"Oh yeah, but also, you're doing me a favor and I'd like to get to do something for you in return."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to."

"Okay Percy. Thanks."

"If anyone should be thanking anyone it should be me thanking you." Percy winces.

"Do you need any medicine for your head?"

"Sorry, it just kinda hit me."

"It's okay. I might have some in the dorm. I can run up and check." Annabeth undoes her seatbelt, glad she hadn't started driving yet so she can hopefully get Percy immediate relief. "I'll be right back." Annabeth opens the door and hops out, closing the door behind her.

She finds Tylenol in her medicine drawer. She grabs the medicine, a water-bottle, and a blanket; then she heads back to the car.

Annabeth opens the door to find Percy holding his head in his hands.

"Percy?" Annabeth asks. "What's wrong?"

"I'm dizzy." Percy says. His voice is quiet.

"I've got the medicine. It might help with the headache." Annabeth says. "Also, if you feel this bad, maybe you should stay at the dorm. I can go grab us some breakfast sandwiches from Wawa, and then you can try to go to sleep again to see if that helps."

"But I was supposed to get to do something nice for you." Percy's voice cracks.

Annabeth's heart cracks along with his voice. Being emotional is a concussion symptom, but it still hurts to hear Percy in pain.

Annabeth sits in the driver's seat and puts her hand on Percy's shoulder. He won't look at her.

"Percy, please let me take care of you. You're always taking care of me. You drag me out of the library at midnight, you buy me orange juice when I'm sick, you bring me food when I'm studying, you listen when I'm upset and need to talk about something, you do so much for me. Please let me take care of you for once."

"Funnily enough, I feel like it's always you taking care of me. Last night wasn't the first time I've called you for help after midnight. You also listen when I'm upset and need to talk about all the junk running through my head. You remind me not to take too many shifts at work. You help me study."

"Then I guess it's more of a team effort than we both thought."

Percy looks at Annabeth and manages a smile. "Looks like,"

"Let's head back to the dorm. Okay? Do you want the medicine first?"

"Yes, please," Percy answers.

Annabeth hands Percy the water-bottle and pills. Percy looks at the label, gets one pill out, hands the bottle to Annabeth, takes a swig of water, and tosses the pill into his mouth. He wrinkles his nose in disgust. Percy hates taking pills.

"What's the blanket for?" Percy asks.

"I thought you might want to press your face into it if your head hurt. There's a soft side and a cool side." Annabeth explains.

Percy hugs Annabeth. "Thank you."

Annabeth hugs Percy back. "Any time."