DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJO/HoO or anything you may recognise.
It's a new one, the anchor- To remind him to stay grounded despite his success. He traces the dark ink on the inside of his forearm gingerly in the morning light. It's been a week out of rehab, and Percy Jackson is happy, for the first time since forever, and, well, yes. It's partially because of a girl.
She's not just any girl- Not the kind Percy's used to, at least. She's the kind of person that reminds him of who he is; not just a smoked up junkie who's sold a couple of albums, and he thinks he really, really likes her.
He shoves his sheets off his body, hoisting himself up to sit upright, and rubs his eyes sleepily, letting out a huge yawn. He gives the muscles in his back a good stretch and hears the satisfying crack that he knows grates on Annabeth's nerves and reluctantly gets on his feet. He wants so desperately to call in sick and just skip going to the studio today, but he knows how many people he'll disappoint by doing that, so he forces himself into the shower. He doesn't think he can handle those upset looks any longer.
He's just out of the bath when his phone rings, Jason's face flashing on the screen. Still not completely ready to face the day, Percy lets out a tired sigh as he answers his manager's call.
"'Morning." He yawns into the phone.
"You're still at home." Jason's voice is clipped, and while Percy knows he's not angry at the moment, there's no guarantee that it's going to stay that way, so he pulls on his jeans, looping his belt around his waist as fast as he can. "You're supposed to be here in ten minutes, Percy. Leave soon." He sounds a little tired, for which Percy automatically feels guilty. He wriggles into a polo and grabs his keys and an apple on the way to the door. Argus, his chauffer for whom Percy is extremely thankful for, is already waiting on him, and doesn't need to be told twice to step on it.
"Honestly, Percy." He says from the driver's seat as they wait at one of the million traffic lights in Los Angeles. "It's like you're getting even worse." Percy only rolls his eyes. He's known Argus for years now, and they'd grown to be quite close.
"At least I'm going." He argues, to which Argus snorts.
"You're only doing it because you don't want Annabeth to get upset."
"I'm still going, aren't I?"
oOo
The tabloids are going insane, and Percy runs his hand through his hair in frustration. He's never let anything they say get to him before, and he's given them a lot to talk about- With the drugs and the partying and the rehab, he's only of their favorites to gossip about, but this is particularly annoying, because, okay, yes, he went out with her, and yes, things got a little frisky last night, but he couldn't go through with it, and having these headlines in his face feels as if they're all telling him, 'you're a dork- you can't sleep with one girl? What a joke.' And he hates it.
He lets out a growl, flinging the paper across the room. Annabeth's sitting in the loveseat across him, legs crossed over each other and lips pursed. She's got a strange expression on, that Percy can't completely decipher, and she didn't speak through his entire tantrum- Not even to try to calm him down like she usually did- which was enough for Percy to know she isn't happy. He scowls up at her.
"What are you looking at?" He snaps, and feels a little guilty because she looks a little hurt by his tone, but he can't help it. It's her fault, after all- If she wasn't so beautiful and pure and perfect, his life would've been the same- Parties and girls and needles- and everything would've been fine. She ruined his entire life by just existing, and honestly, Percy isn't sure whether he's happy or upset about it. She shakes her head slowly, all hurt dissolving into something stone cold that causes a shiver to run down Percy's spine. He averts his eyes because he can't stand to see the storm brewing in hers.
"Nothing at all, Jackson." Her voice is dead calm, but Percy flinches. She's the only one he's ever really let use his last name, and it's only because of the way she says it, with her Californian accent, but she's almost spitting it out now. She gets to her feet, smoothening her pencil skirt, and walks across the room, heels clicking against the wood. "Give me a ring when you're done being a jerk." She smiles sweetly over her shoulder before disappearing, and Percy watches her leave, before letting out another growl.
He doesn't know why he did it, really. He knows he's in love with Annabeth- He has been for over a year now, since well before rehab, but he's never felt the need to work for it before. Annabeth, she's different- She's not sucked into his fame or his voice or his body or his money, and it makes his life so much harder- He wonders if she has any idea what she does to him.
He hasn't aways been a player, really. Back in high school, most of the girls didn't want to be caught dead standing with Percy Jackson, the weird guy with the blue streak in his hair who wears nothing but black. Most of the girls except one, that is.
She was head cheerleader, so he never understood why she still hung out with him, even if they did used to back in primary school. He'd ask her every once in a while, when they were lounged in her large living room watching Jennifer's Body, or something equally gory that Annabeth had absolutely no interest in. The only response he'd ever get from her is a roll of the eyes and a 'Because you're my best friend, Seaweed Brain', and Percy'd always found the answer satisfactory. He'd let it slide, turning back to the movie and occasionally shooting popcorn at her.
He sometimes can't believe he lives so close to Annabeth Chase, and that she still treats him like he's her best friend, despite all he's put her through. His finger trails over the little AC he's got engraved on his collarbone that's hidden under an intricate bird that he'll probably never let her see, because of everything permanent he's got on his body, Annabeth Chase is by far the most important.
oOo
He hates going to therapy, because Dr. Levesque makes him go back to the times before rehab, when his life had little meaning or direction.
"You call it a dark time." She says, her voice soothing, and Percy relaxes slowly into his bean bag chair. "Why?" He takes a breath. He's well past trying to refrain from speaking, and over the months, he's even gotten comfortable around Dr. Levesque.
"I-I don't want to go back there." He stutters. "Please don't make me." His fists clench unconsciously, and she breathes out lightly.
"Percy, you've been evading this for months. Stop pushing it away. Talk about it." She urges.
"Please, don't make me." Percy begs, his face screwing up because the memories are so painful.
"Alright, we'll try again some other time." She resigns. "Tell me about one of your tattoos."
He's told her about so many of his tattoos before, he doesn't remember which ones he's already exhausted. He rolls up his sleeve so he can show her the little camera on the skin where his forearm ends. He clears his throat, and keeps his eyes trained on the tattoo.
"This one's a camera." He says unnecessarily. "Annabeth bought me a camera for Christmas in junior year of high school." He thinks back to the time. "She used to work at this bookstore- She must've been saving up for months, and, well. It's a beautiful camera. I still have it." He's slowly letting Dr. Levesque into his life, and he feels a little insecure about it, but Annabeth's always told him that Dr. Levesque was only here to help him.
"You're always talking about Annabeth. Want to tell me more about her?" One of the other things he's always avoided was Annabeth- He doesn't think he'll be able to stop if he started. He tells Dr. Levsque so.
"We have time. Who is this Annabeth?" She pushes, and Percy takes a moment to think about it.
"I don't know." He finally admits, and his shrink (Fine, she doesn't like being called that, he knows) frowns at him, asking him to elaborate. "She's my best friend." He says, the words taste bitter as he says it. "Has been since we were six. She's been around through almost everything, and, well, she's special." He shrugs.
"What does she do?"
"She's an architect." Percy can't help the pride in his voice, nor can he stop from gushing. "It's funny. That was one of the first things she told me about herself. We were six, man, and she borrows my green crayon, and I ask her what she's doing, and she's like 'I'm making a city- When I grow up, I'll build a city, brick by brick.' And here she is, twenty one years later, following through." He beams, and Dr. Levesque looks a little surprised, but he doesn't lame her. He's never smiled at her, much less outright grin. "She's like, a work of art, you know? Nobody sees that, though." He sighs sadly, and she nods, as if she understands.
"Is she the one you keep saying helped you through rehab?" She presses.
"I fell into the deepest pits of hell, Hazel." He hopes she doesn't mind that he read her name off the placard on her desk, but she smiles like she appreciates it, so he goes on. "I lost control and I kind of just lost myself somewhere along the way. And you know what? She was there. With me, she was there. She didn't give up on me, didn't throw her arms up and walk away- It would've been so easy, to leave me there. She didn't. She inspired me to be a better person, it's hard to explain."
She doesn't ask him to, and he doesn't.
oOo
Percy remembers the day he overdosed like it was yesterday. It was halfway through Thalia Grace's album success party- He remembers how desperate he was for his heroin, how he could barely make it to the bathroom, how he was frantic for his needle. He remembers deciding to fill in a little more- Not much, he promised himself, and he remembers how the world turned yellow, red and then grey before he blacked out.
The first thing he saw when he woke up in the hospital was Annabeth's hair, and then he could focus on her face, and wished he couldn't- Her eyes were puffy and red and looked nearly lifeless. Her tearstained cheeks were swollen, her lips an unhealthy red. She was wearing a t-shirt and leggings that were crumpled. She didn't notice him, she just sat on the chair beside his bed, staring out of the window, her knees tucked under her chin, and she was shaking, teeth chattering. He wanted so badly to reach out for her, but he couldn't. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think straight, so he closed his eyes, drifted off to sleep again.
Percy doesn't want to ever see Annabeth in pain again- Never again, and he knows that he's probably hurt her the most. He hears the key in the lock, and Annabeth appears seconds later, her eyes a little red and brimming with tears, but the only thing Percy can register is the angry red mark on her cheek. He knows he needs to learn to control his anger, that it's lead him into trouble before, but with Annabeth looking so close to breaking before him, he really doesn't care.
"Who was it?" He asks her quietly, and she shakes her head.
"Can I stay over toni-?" She asks, but Percy cuts her off.
"Was it Ryan?" She doesn't respond, but she averts her eyes and that's all the confirmation Percy needs. He's already out of the door, ignoring her cries for him to stop. He's standing in front of the door of the apartment that Annabeth and her boyfriend of three years shared, and barely gives the other man any time to respond before throwing a hard punch at his jaw. He backs the blonde man up against the wall, locking his arms so he can't move.
"How dare you." He needs to remind himself that killing people is illegal, and, in Annabeth's opinion, inhumane- Meaning she'll never forgive him if he killed Ryan. "How fucking dare you, motherfucker." He settles for punching his nose instead, feeling a sort of sick pleasure at the sound of the other man's cry of pain. "You-" He kicks him in the stomach. "Hit-her." He finishes, accenting each word with a kick. He releases his hold on Ryan, letting him crumple in pain before him. "If I find that you're ever in the same room as her, I'll have you hurt in so many ways." He threatens, aiming one last punch at Ryan's face, sure to give him a black eye before leaving.
Annabeth's standing downstairs, a little out of breath, and Percy guesses she ran all the way. She looks up at him, her expression hurt, and Percy shakes his head.
"No, don't." He tells her. "Not when someone hurts you." He doesn't want to listen to her talking about how you treat everyone nicely, no matter how terrible they are. She must understand why he's so angry, because she looks like she's going to argue, but closes her mouth and nods tightly. They walk to his car in silence.
They don't speak much that night. He insists that she sleeps in his bed, but she tells him she doesn't want him on the couch because of the injury on his back, so they end up getting under the sheets with a safe distance apart that Percy so desperately wants to close. Ten minutes later, he knows she's wide awake, just as he is, and he turns on the lights because he can't handle it any longer. He doesn't know what to say, so he wraps his arm around her and pulls her gently into his bare chest. She doesn't say anything, only silently lets her fingers glide over the swirls on his arms.
"This one is my favorite." She tells him softly, and he looks over her head to see her pointing to a little bird in flight, and Percy smiles. He moves his arm a little and carefully raises her t-shirt to expose the slimmest strip of skin at her hip. She's got only two tattoos, he knows, and one is the same bird that they'd gotten a week before she left for college. He traces the cool skin and she curls further into him. He closes his eyes, inhaling the scent of lemons, and he feels her fingers intertwining with his before he's fully asleep.
oOo
His songs are all about her. He can't stop writing about her. This one in particular, he's really proud of- And generally, Annabeth is the first one to listen to them, but he hesitates this time. What if she finds out? The words are loaded with emotion, and it's deep enough to know that it's meant for someone. It's obvious he's in love with this girl, even to him, and he isn't sure how Annabeth will receive it.
He gets around to doing it, eventually, mostly because she annoys him constantly, and when he strums the last of the chords, she's looking at him, lips slightly apart and eyes shining. She smiles softly, and Percy feels his life slow down suddenly.
"It's beautiful, Perce." She whispers. "It really, really is."
He can tell she means it, and he scratches the back of his neck. "I was wondering, the chorus would sound great with a woman backup, and I know you've got a great voice-"
"No way. I'm not a singer." She laughs, but Percy insists until she lets out a sigh. "Alright, fine. If I mess up, you're going to have to find someone good." She looks a him pointedly, and he smirks. They settle into a comfortable silence until she speaks up. "When did this all start, Percy?" She asks him softly.
"I don't know." He admits. "I remember this one fourteen year old telling me she thinks I'll be great at this, pushing me to play at a small bar back home, and well, here I am now." He grins. He shows her his ink on his forearm, the one with the word 'Blue' printed neatly, after the bar he'd played at before getting discovered.
She beams at him.
"I'm so proud of you, Percy." He can't help but pull her into a hug, burying his nose in her neck.
"Wouldn't be here without you."
oOo
It's really clichéd, he knows, but he asks her to marry him on her thirtieth birthday. He has to tell her six times that he isn't joking, that the ring is real platinum, and that he really does love her before she starts taking him seriously. Then she passes out.
He laughs a little, but he's not surprised- They never did date, after all. How could she have expected it? He shows her his AC tattoo when she wakes up, and she runs her fingers over it over and over again. He watches her look at it with fascination, until she looks up at him.
"Are you sure?" She asks him doubtfully, and if he didn't already know she was in love with him, he'd have definitely backed out of this by now. But his mom's already let the cat out of the bag, and he can't believe he let it go on for so long when he could have had her all those years ago. He nods confidently, and she takes a breath before slipping the ring onto her finger. "Okay, fine, let's get married." She says in three breaths, like she's trying to convince herself.
He finally, finally kisses her, after years of waiting, and it's just worth it.
That day, he gets a little sun on the nape of his neck, because Annabeth is his sunshine.
oOo