A/N: I wrote this for Valentine's Day, but got delayed to post it. It's hard to not hate everything you write when you have a migraine. Plus, I had a few birthdays to plan for this past week, with little time to squeeze in to type. And I'm really slow at typing which y'all know. So this is late, but this is Percabeth, so I couldn't stop writing until I finished it.

Telepathy AU

"Hey, Percy, wait up!", I heard a voice call from behind me. I paused in my tracks and glanced back to see Leo, one of my best friends, running towards me. Or rather, he was shoving past people and getting cursed at. School had just got over and all the students were heading out, bracing themselves for the chilly weather outside. I, instead, was going back inside the school because I had forgotten my binder in my locker and I needed to take it home. Tomorrow was Saturday and I just couldn't live without my binder for a whole weekend. Besides, school was off on Monday, so I'll next be coming back to school on Tuesday. So I fought the storm of sophomores and seniors, and had just barely managed to get to the hallways, which were quite empty.

"Hey, man", I greeted him, "Do you need a ride back home or something?"

'After what I'll tell you, you'll never let me step a foot in your car', Leo thought nervously.

"What? What did you do now?", I asked, worrying if Leo had gotten himself or me in trouble. I entered the pass-code on my locker.

Leo's eyes widened and then after a flash of realization in his eyes, he breathed out a sigh and said, "Dude, you scared me. Why am I the only one who keeps forgetting that you can read minds?!"

I wanted to chuckle at his antics but his thoughts earlier had me occupied. I put my binder in my bag and shut the locker. "Spit it out, Leo. Did you get me in trouble? Did you go and tell a whole other bunch of people that I can read minds? Wait, did the teachers find out that I can read minds?"

'It's worse than that; way worse', Leo thought and shook his head at my questions.

"I... Uh, you know that Tuesday is Valentine's Day, right?", he asked me, before I could question his thoughts.

I nodded suspiciously. I hope he didn't get me a blind date. That'd suck.

"Um, Drew and her posse tricked me into hosting a 'Pay and find out if your crush has a crush on you' thing. Perce, she tricked me! She got a whole horde of girls and they were begging that I should do it. The girls wanted to find out if they'll waste their day pursuing some guy who doesn't even like them back. And that beefy guy who's a senior but is like, 20 years old, also threatened me, and you know he's Drew's boyfriend, and he'd chew me and spit me out if I didn't do what he and his bitchy girlfriend wanted, so I had to agree. I really tried-"

I cut Leo off, "Oh, that means you got yourself in trouble, not me. Thank god!"

Leo's thoughts were too jumbled up for me to focus enough to read them. Though, I could tell he was panicking and rambling even in his thoughts. I narrowed my eyes at him. If he was panicking so much, there was definitely more to it.

"Leo, what did you do?", I repeated, folding my arms.

He gulped and gesticulating wildly, he began ranting "Well, I'll be the one hosting the 'find out if your crush likes you back' thing, but I don't have mind powers, like you. And the advisor/counsellor should obviously have the ability to read minds, like you. And basically, Drew and all the girls know you can read minds, and pretty much all of them have the hots for you. And everyone knows we're such good buddies, and I'd be the only one who could convince you to do this... ", he trailed off.

"Convince me to do what?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at Leo.

'Don't kill me, don't kill me', he thought and raised his hands in front of him, like I might hit him. Then Leo said, in one breath:

"Percy, you'll be the counselor in the 'find out if your crush likes you back' thing I'm hosting."

"What?!" I exclaimed loudly and it echoed off the empty hallway.

Leo visibly winced, hands still raised. I grabbed him by his arm and shook him.

"DUDE, why'd you do that? You know I don't like showing off my powers like that! And I'd have to spend the whole day surrounded by girls!", I exclaimed, dreadfully.

Leo pulled himself out of my grip, "I told you I got tricked by Drew, man! Otherwise, I'd never put you in trouble purposely!"

I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at Leo angrily.

"You'd get paid! There are so many lovesick teenagers here! All you'd have to do is take a peek into the mind of your client's crush and tell the person sitting in front of you that their crush hates them. Simple! Or you could tell a girl that her crush is so interested in her that he wants to have 6 babies with her! Oh, that'd be so much fun! I want to be there when you're counseling, Percy!"

I thought about it. It couldn't be so bad, right? It's not necessary that all my clients would be girls, right? There are lovesick boys wanting relationship advice in Goode High, too. So there's a little less danger of being suffocated by girls only. And I'd earn some money, just by sitting in front of a desk.

Just as I was about to tell Leo that I'll do the job, the girls' bathroom door, a little farther down the hall, opened and out stepped Annabeth Chase.

A word about Annabeth Chase: unreadable. Yes, literally. She has a strong mind and she can actually stop me from reading her mind. When I'm around her, it's like she stops thinking. It frustrated me like hell when I first met her in freshman year. But she cannot (exactly) completely block me out. I've learned over these past years that I've known her that when she's excited or emotional, she lets her guard down. There have been times when she didn't notice me being close enough to read her thoughts (I can only read one's mind when he/she is within a ten feet radius) and naturally, she didn't put up her guard, so I read her mind. There were weird things going on in her mind. Half her thoughts were about homework, which gave me a migraine. But the other half of her thoughts were about... architecture. At least, I think it is architecture. She mentally sketches buildings with ultra-fashionable pillars and designed carved ceilings and her mind flashes through monuments, be it New York skyscrapers or ancient historical buildings.

But her extreme liking to architecture is only known by me. To the whole population of high school, THE Annabeth Chase is the star pupil, loved by all teachers, never scored an A- ('cause she's scoring A+ all the time), does homework regularly and isn't interested in boys. Also she isn't that friendly, but she's damn popular. Most people steer clear of her (except her best friends Thalia Grace and Piper McLean), because no one wants to be glared at by Annabeth's mesmerising grey eyes.

Okay, I'll admit it; I have a crush on her. I'm not the only one around who's crushing on her though. She's got pretty blonde princess curls and beautiful stormy grey eyes. I fell in love with her eyes back when I met her...

"Percy!", Leo shook me slightly and I realized I pretty much had been daydreaming about Annabeth, right in front of Leo. Thank god that he cannot read minds, I had been thinking about Annabeth for quite some time.

"So will you do the counseling thing? Don't think too hard, man.", Leo asked.

My eyes flitted to Annabeth, who was inconspicuously closing the door behind her. Did she overhear our conversation? The bathroom wasn't that far and since the hallway was entirely empty (well, except Annabeth, Leo and me), our voices had been echoing off the walls.

Annabeth turned towards Leo and me, and walked straight down the hall, but just as she walked by me, she... spared me a glance. She didn't smile or frown at me, just glanced at me and walked past. Oh god, did I just imagine that? Why would Annabeth look at me?! She doesn't even talk to me!

I tried to read her mind but her guard was up and I came up blank. It's really infuriating that I can't read her mind. It's even more so frustrating because I have a crush on her, and if things were simple, I could've read her mind and found out if she likes me or not.

"Oh, so that's why you went silent", Leo said, in a low voice, "'cause the girl of your dreams just walked by."

"Uhh...", I trailed off, because I didn't really know what to say.

"Dude, why don't you go and tell her that you like her? It'd be so much easier for me and our friends, who have to deal with you spacing out whenever Chase is around. Besides, if you ask her out, it'll put a rest to all those rumors about Chase and you, ever since the scandal. And that way, you'd be one less lovesick teenager in Goode High."

"Leo, don't bring up that scandal ever again", I warned.

What scandal, you ask? Well, last year, in December, we had this play to work on, for our Drama class. And...

~Start Of Flashback~

Annabeth was the President of Drama club, and I was just a lazy member. Annabeth never directly gave orders to me; hell, I don't even know if she knows I exist in her drama club. But anyway, the day before 'Grease' was to play in our school auditorium, everyone was super busy, doing last minute (or should I say, last day) chores. And I was given the job to bring out all the required props from the tiny store room, out to the backstage. I had no company because this was a relatively easy job. But it so happened that Annabeth was mutely searching for something in the adjoining room (which was a junk store room, with no space to place your feet, so she was in the doorway which connected the store room I was in and the store room she was in). The actual door of that adjoining room was blocked by several misshapen furniture, so I assumed Annabeth had come in through the store room I was in.

I awkwardly cleared my throat to let her know of my presence. She glanced at me and resumed doing her work. I stood there idly, for a few minutes, contemplating if I should start a conversation. Like always, I couldn't read her mind. So I decided to just do my work and get out of her sight, since she doesn't care about me. But in my absence of mind, I dropped the prop in my hand, on my feet.

"Ow!", I cried in pain, clutching my left foot. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Annabeth dropping whatever was in her hand. She swirled around and saw me sitting on a crate, clutching my foot and muttering curses.

"Percy!", she exclaimed and rushed to me.

"I'm okay, I'm okay! I just dropped a rod on my foot", I told her.

She raised her arm as if about to touch me, but then she gritted her teeth and stormed out of the room.

I frowned at her for a second but then went back to cursing because of the pain. I blew air on my foot which seemed stupid because the air wouldn't reach my foot. But I didn't know what to do; hell, I could barely see anything with my eyes watering.

A minute later, a blurry figure came in through the open door. I blinked several times to see Annabeth standing in front of me, cringing at the sight of me in pain. She silently knelt down beside me and placed an ice pack on my hurting foot.

I blinked through my tears again, so that I could see her properly. Her blonde princess curls were hanging out from her messy ponytail, her locks framing her face. She was wearing blue jeans and the Drama Club black t-shirt. But she looked so beautiful that I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. I kept on staring at her and at some point, Annabeth had looked up at me. I stared at her beautiful intriguing grey eyes and she stared back at me.

We didn't notice the door inching close until it slammed shut, bringing Annabeth and I out of our reverie. We snapped into reality and looked simultaneously at the closed door.

'Oh no! The door is automatic lock programmed! And it can only be opened from outside! I can't believe I am locked in this room! And with...', I heard Annabeth thinking. Then she seemed to remember me, sitting in front of her, and I could feel her mental guard going up. I frowned at her, why does she keep doing that? It's like she's challenging me to read her mind and then preventing me! Yes, I have such a big crush on her but she's just so... challenging.

Keeping my inner turmoil inside, I said, "We're... locked in. What do we do?"

Annabeth looked away from me, still holding the ice pack. "Hold this", she said, not meeting my eyes. How rude! She doesn't even look at me! What's wrong with her? Or more importantly, what's wrong with me?

I gritted my teeth at her rudeness and held the ice pack to my foot. Annabeth got up from the ground and started looking around. At first, she banged on the door, shouting out for help. When no one came, she resorted to tug open the door. She must have been focusing hard on getting the door to open, because I could read her mind.

'I knew this wouldn't work. Stupid Annabeth! A door programmed for auto-lock obviously won't open from the inside. And the key's still in the keyhole outside. There's no way I can leave through this door. Think, Annabeth, think. Find another exit! I can't stay locked in here! And Percy's here too! Oh no, is he hearing my...'

And just like that, I couldn't read Annabeth's mind any longer. She turned to look at me and then gritted her teeth and said, "Do you have your phone? We can call someone and ask them to get us out."

My first thought: That's probably the longest sentence she's spoke to me. But I shook my head, telling her that I had left my phone in my locker.

Annabeth's eyebrows scrunched up and she looked away from me. She started looking around the room. She was probably looking for an exit, like she was thinking before. I stood up to help her but she said hurriedly, "You sit there, don't move, you have a bruised foot. I'll.. I'll look for an exit."

"My foot isn't that bad. Its hurting only a little now. Let me help you", I told her.

She hesitated but then nodded silently, and walked to the adjoining room's doorway. She started pushing away the crates to make a way. I guessed that she was making a way to the door of the junk store room. I limped to her and started helping her.

We worked silently for a while. There were no words exchanged between us.

When we were halfway through the room clearing a path, I picked up another heavy wooden crate and just as I was about to stack it on top of a iron bookshelf, it slipped from my grasp and dropped onto my foot. Left foot, to be precise; yes, on the same foot which was already bruised.

"Ouch! Oh shit!"

Annabeth turned on her heel, dropping the purple drapes in her arms in the process and took in the sight of me. I made a grab for my foot but lost my balance. I was about to fall when Annabeth grabbed my arms and steadied me. She led me to a wooden ladder, a few steps away and made me sit down on one of the rungs.

"You hurt your foot again?! The same foot! I told you to sit down in the other room and not help me, didn't I? When are you going to start listening to me? You're always ignoring me!", she scolded.

"What? I'm always ignoring you? You never even talk to me!", I retorted.

"Percy, after you gained your stupid mind-reading powers, you don't even talk to me! It's like you don't even remember me!", she shouted at me.

"What are you even talking about, Annabeth?!"

And then something weird happened. I... I saw Annabeth's memory flash in front of my eyes.

I was lying on a hospital bed. I looked about fifteen and my hair was shaggy and uncombed. My head was bandaged and there was ointment on several places on my face, neck and arms.

Beside me, on a stool, sat Annabeth. I could tell it was her but she looked different. Her blonde hair was braided down her back and her princess curls were framing her face. She looked about fifteen too, but her eyes were puffed out and red. Though she wasn't crying currently, I could tell that she had been crying a lot previously.

Annabeth was holding my hand in hers, stroking my back of the palm. She started speaking to the unconscious me, "Percy, when are you going to wake up? I've been waiting so long for you to open those beautiful amazing sea-green eyes. It's been four weeks, Percy. Four weeks today, since you've gone into coma. Come back to me, you said you'll be fine." Her voice quavered.

"I miss you so much, Percy. I can't bear to live without you. Come back", she said and burst out into tears. I wanted to go comfort her but this was only a memory. It was like watching a 3D movie, my movements wouldn't matter.

And just like that, I snapped into the present.

Annabeth was standing in front of me, glaring angrily. I wanted to ask her about what she just showed me. But just as I was about to open my mouth, a tear slipped out of her eye and rolled down her cheek.

Seeing Annabeth cry in real life was... frightening. You see, Annabeth never cries. It was one thing seeing her cry in a memory but in the present, I didn't know what to do. Should I comfort her or ask her what's wrong?

"Nothing. I'm talking about nothing", she angrily wiped her tear away, "Let's just pretend this never happened. That won't be too hard for you, right? You're so good at pretending like you don't know me."

I was about to ask her if she had gone crazy but she stomped away.

I leaned against the upper rung of the ladder, dumbfounded. Annabeth knew me when I was fifteen? But I don't remember her.

Annabeth didn't tend to my foot, she came back and just dropped the ice pack beside me, on the ground. She then went back to making a path to the door of this junk store room. Without me.

I sat silently, contemplating if I should ask her about that memory she showed me. Was that even real? I'm pretty sure I had never known her, before I met her in the freshman year. But now that I thought about it, I had always thought Annabeth looked familiar.

After some time, I got back to stacking up the junk to make a path. We worked silently, side by side. Annabeth didn't meet my eyes. When we finally reached the door, Annabeth put her hand on the door handle and yanked on it.

It didn't open.

"Is it jammed?", I asked her and she gave a sharp nod in reply.

I frowned at her and then at the door. When she gave up trying to get it to open, I tried my hand at it too. But it was all in vain, as the door wouldn't budge. Then I banged on the door with my fists, shouting for help.

After a minute or two, I gave up. I limped back to the ladder and took a seat on one of its rungs.

"What do we do now?", I asked Annabeth hesitantly.

She bit her lip, "It's been well over an hour now. Somebody will come looking for us." She sat down at the doorway, joining the two store rooms, leaning against the door frame.

I nodded, "My friends didn't know that I had been working in the store room today, though."

Her eyes widened, "Neither do my friends! Oh god, they won't have any idea where to start looking! Nobody will find us!"

"But you're the leader of the club. The others will notice us missing. They know you came to the store room, right?"

"No, they don't.I-I didn't tell anyone, I was in a hurry."

"What?! Let me get this straight, neither our friends nor the members know where we are. What if they think we went home or something? They won't even look for us!"

"I never leave until everybody in the club leaves. Everyone knows that. And I left my bag backstage.", she said calmly, but I could tell she was starting to feel afraid too.

I gritted my teeth, about to tell her that she didn't need to act calm, but resorted to a quiet "Okay".

There wasn't a single word exchanged between us, after that.

Every few minutes, either Annabeth or I would get up and bang on the door, shouting for help. But no one came.

Every now and then, could hear Annabeth's thoughts.

'This hallway is so far away from the backstage. That's why no one can hear us shouting. And nobody even comes down this hallway. Oh god, dad must be worrying so much about me... No, he wouldn't even had noticed that I was not home yet. But Thalia must've called him and asked about my whereabouts. Oh no, Thalia and Piper! They'll be worried out of their minds. And if someone can put two and two together, they can make out that since both Percy and I are missing, we must be together.'

And then, she noticed me staring at her and immediately her guard went up, and I couldn't read her mind any more.

Gradually, time passed and it became dark outside. There was no window in either of the rooms but we could see darkness seep in through the ventilators.

We had been locked in for over three hours, when we heard many loud voices outside in the hallway.

Both Annabeth and I immediately sprang up and ran towards the door in the legit store room (well, I limped rather than ran). Annabeth reached the door before me and started banging on it, "Someone open this door! We're locked in here!"

I added, "Help us! Get us out of here!"

A disarray of voices responded, "ANNABETH! It's Annabeth!" and "Percy! My son is in there! Open that door!" were the most prominent.

A second later, the lock clicked and the door opened. Bright light infiltrated the room and blinded me for a moment. I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around me.

"Oh Percy! My baby, are you okay?"

I immediately hugged her back, burying my head in her shoulder.

"Yeah, mom, I'm okay", I answered and she sobbed silently on my shoulder.

I looked around to find Jason and Leo standing behind my mom. Beside them was our Principal, Mr. Jones and our English teacher, Mr. Blofis. The watchman was also with them.

A little far away, Annabeth was wrapped in an embrace with Thalia and Piper. She was telling them that she was fine and Piper was sobbing, like my mom.

When Annabeth started narrating how we had gotten locked in, I took the time to read everyone's mind.

'A male student and a female student were locked in, for over three hours. Oh god, if this news gets out, my school's reputation will be ruined!', Mr. Jones rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

'I hope both Mr. Jackson and Miss Chase didn't do anything they'd regret. Their reputations are at stake here. I hope they didn't... Oh boy, there will be so many rumors', Mr. Blofis cast worried glances at Annabeth and me, alternatively.

The watchman was wondering when he'd be able to return to his post and take a nap.

Jason and Leo's thoughts were similar; they were simultaneously thanking the gods and depreciating themselves as friends ('What a friend I am! I didn't even know where Percy was!'). I'll have to talk to them later.

Piper was mournful and thinking, 'If only I had asked Annabeth where she had been going, then I would have known she was here and she wouldn't have to be locked in for so long! Annabeth doesn't deserve a stupid friend like me!'

Thalia's thoughts were... off topic, to say the least. 'She had to endure him for so many hours. These past few years have been so hard for Annabeth already, and now this. Oh god, I hope this doesn't take its toll on her.'

ENDURE me? If anything, I had to put up with Annabeth's rudeness and endure her!

But mom's thoughts were the weirdest; 'Oh poor Annabeth. She was in Percy's presence for hours. It must have been so difficult for her, being near him and having to hold a conversation with him. I hope she's okay.'

She was thinking about Annabeth and not her son. So being the jealous person I am, I frowned at my mom.

When my mom felt my eyes on her, she realized I had been reading her mind. Annabeth had finished telling everyone how we had been locked in. Mr. Blofis cleared his throat and said, "Alright, I think we should get going. The children must be thirsty and tired. If any issue comes out of this, I'm sure Mr. Jones will handle it. Good night to you all."

My mom took my hand and smiled warmly at me, "Come on, Percy, let's go home. I know you don't like being in school, any longer than necessary."

~End Of Flashback~

"Okay, man, chill out", Leo said, "But would you do the counseling thing? Will you be the counselor? Please, buddy. I'll owe you one."

I pretended to think for a while and then said, "Okay, I'll do it, Leo", I paused for dramatic effect, "But on one condition."

Leo pouted at me, which kinda made his face look distorted.

"What now, Percy?"

"Stop calling me a counselor. I'll be giving", I put on a solemn face, "relationship advice. So I want to be called an advisor."

'The guy who fails in English loves to be dramatic. Go figure', Leo thought.

"Deal, Mr. ADVISOR."

A/N: There will be another chapter and an epilogue, if I feel like it. Originally, I didn't even plan to write that enormous flashback. But this is 4k+ and the longest I've ever written.

Leave a review! If you're confused about something, I'll clear it up.

Thanks for reading! :)