So I basically found a lot of prompts online and dared myself to write one story using all of them without making it too much of a mess. It is still a mess. Whatever.

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Home.

She was home.

So why did the halls feel so empty? Why did the vacant space feel like it was being wasted? She looked at the butterflies she had painted on the walls and could only wonder why she had painted them alone. She had used to love looking at them, knowing that everything she had accomplished was all her own. Now she wanted someone beside her, sharing every memory and sharing every moment of happiness.

The past few years, she had prided herself on being so alone, thinking that being alone meant being independent. She had called herself an independent woman, shoving away everyone else who insisted that she stop shutting herself away. She had run away from all those troubles, all the people trying to show her that she deserved to have someone, and run straight into just the kind of person that they wanted her to meet.

The kind she would fall in love with.

And oh, had she fallen.

Opening up her laptop, Annabeth sat down on her bed, stretching out. What was she thinking when she bought this bed? It was far too big for just one person. Maybe big enough for two, she thought but she pushed that line of thinking away.

She was just going to watch some music videos and then go back to bed. She had occupied herself by watching Camila Cabello's new music video for Annabeth's favorite song 'Havana'. She felt the message of the story sinking in deep- to go write your own story, find your life.

And that's when she noticed a new notification. One of the channels she subscribed to had just uploaded another video.

She nearly had a heart attack when she saw the channel name - UniPerceVerse. The most popular YouTuber ever. The British internet star that had won the affections of over seventy million people.

She clicked on it faster than lightning.

The video was titled - SUMMER ROAD TRIP: PART I XD

And she was hit with a bunch of video clips, memories made with a person she would never, ever forget. One she had initially envied but grew to love. Nearly all of the clips in there had her. Her and Percy talking, goofing off, at the beach and with their friends. She scrolled through the comments.

Perce's Nurse

'Who's the girl? I wanna be her'

Amanda Darren

'That's so cute! :) Glad you had fun!'

Not anonymous anymore

'the vacation that this man fucking deserved'

angletok

'THAT ONE BLOND GURL BE IN LIKE EVERY CLIP WHATS UP WITH THAT I KNOW THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON THERE! ! ! ! ! ! !'

Don't Look At My Profile Picture

'Don't Look At My Username'

Stuff like that was littered throughout the comment section. She went back up and watched the video again. Then, she downloaded it and saved it on a special pen drive. She watched it over and over, drowning in the memories and just remembering.

-T.T.-

Sitting on the bus, watching the green fields of Malaysia fly by, she could believe what she had done. Just left her family and one friend behind like that and took off, not telling anyone where she had gone. Fuck, when she left, she didn't even know where she was going. She just wanted to be alone and away from her parents setting her up with a bunch of guys and her best friend, Thalia, introducing her to a bunch of Thalia's own boyfriend's friends in the vain hope that she would take a liking to one of them.

The bus was slowing down and she looked ahead to see what all the passengers were getting out of the bus for and she realized they had reached their first stop.

The road trip she had booked was said to be one of the best trips around South East Asia. It lasted for two and a half months and was perfect, ended just a week before her last year of college started. She would get to see a lot of the places she had always hoped to visit, like Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, The Philippines .

She was in a mood though and wasn't really interested in whatever the other passengers were so excited about. She put her earphones in and scrolled through her playlist and put on her current favorite song, 'Havana'. It didn't have a music video (yet), but she enjoyed the song anyways.

Annabeth could tell that someone had taken the seat right next to her. She was too much of an introvert, however, and didn't even bother to look up until the person tapped her shoulder.

She looked up and saw a red-haired girl with the sun in her smile. "Hi," the girl said, "Want to be friends? I'm kind of here alone and I guess you are too. Besides- one can never have too many friends!"

The girl looked honest and trusting and Annabeth found herself giving in, nodding shyly and looking down at her shoes. The redhead smiled and stretched her hand out, "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

Annabeth cleared her throat, "I'm Annabeth Chase."

Rachel was easy to talk to, and by the end of the day, Annabeth felt like the two were old friends. Annabeth told her about why she was on the trip and Rachel told her that she was here because her parents wanted to get out of the house and stop spending every second with her paints.

That evening, Rachel texted chatting a while about their interests, Rachel asked her about why she was still single.

RED

So

Why are you single

It's not like you couldn't get a guy if you wanted

Annabeth

Why do I need a guy?

RED

Not saying you need a guy, just asking why you don't want one?

Annabeth

Cuz guys are annoying

RED

Yea no shit

Seriously, if it makes you feel any better, I don't date because I'm asexual and proud

Okay?

Annabeth

It's not like that. Guys can just be irritating gits sometimes

And they seem to only think about getting laid

And hit on me too much and get all in my personal space

and my friend just wants me to get a boyfriend like her's

The perfect, blond-haired, blue-eyed all American perfect type

And I just can't

RED

woahwoahwoah okay I get it

It's okay if you just want to be single

And I know that your friend probably just wants you to have the kind of happiness she has

Annabeth

I know

But I don't want the kind of happiness she has

-.T.T.-

The train was crowded. Annabeth didn't know how she was supposed to find Thalia there.

Thals

I'm here

Bananabeth

Where!?

There were people everywhere. Through the throng of people, Annabeth saw a girl with spiky black hair.

"Annabeth," Thalia exclaimed, throwing her arms around the blond haired girl.

People were pressing onto them from every side but Annabeth found safety in the arms of her best friend. Her only friend, at least, until two months ago.

Thalia leaned back with a glint in her eyes, "Tell me everything."

Annabeth and Thalia were at their usual hangout, a little cafe not far from Annabeth's university. Their booth was dimly lit and the place was crowded. But no one noticed them that way and it was perfect for private conversations.

Thalia listened patiently and attentively as Annabeth told a tale of a boy with the most beautiful sea green eyes and the kindest heart she had ever come across in her whole life. Annabeth told her the story of how they laughed together and smiled and had the time of their lives. And then, Annabeth told her the sad angsty part, when Annabeth cried after he left, and her heart broke.

Thalia remained mostly impassive throughout the whole story, but once she was done-

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You fell in love with my favorite YouTuber," she said her eyes gleaming. Annabeth knew she was in for a whole lot of teasing.

"Yes."

"Percy Jackson. UniPerceVerse."

"That would be correct."

"The one you told me you hated because, and I quote, 'how can someone get paid just for being themselves and talking that's not fair-'"

"Thalia!"

Thalia was shaking with silent giggles but she managed to say, "Okay, I'm done."

Annabeth knew that the teasing wasn't really but she was glad nevertheless. They fell into a comfortable silence, both of the girls devouring their french fries and burgers and coffee.

"How's Luke?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia frowned, "We broke up."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at Thalia, "Are you serious? What?"

Thalia sighed, "It's okay, and yeah, I am being serious."

Annabeth felt guilty. Her best friend had gone through a break-up and she hadn't even been there.

"Why did you break up?"

Thalia didn't seem to be heartbroken but Annabeth knew that Thalia could hide her feelings well, which is why Annabeth was picking apart every emotion on the spiky-haired girl's face as Thalia said, "He was cheating on me. But I'm okay, honestly. I just- I never want to associate with guys, like ever again."

Annabeth understood. That's how Annabeth herself felt before she had met Percy.

At this point, Annabeth could separate her life into two parts- pre-Percy and post-heartbreak.

The time in the middle just seemed like a dream that was too perfect, too good to be true. The kind of dream that is so good that it couldn't be real, and you knew it was going to end before it really started.

-.T.T.-

Rachel slid into the seat right next to Annabeth, squealing with an excited look on her face. Annabeth wasn't really sure what had gotten the girl so excited.

"What's up?" Annabeth asked, a bit unsure of the situation unfolding around her.

"Didn't you see him yet?" Rachel questioned her. Annabeth took a look at her plate and saw some pancakes. She swiped on off Rachel's plate, stuffed it in her mouth and said, "Feenhootet?"

Rachel grumbled at her to close her mouth and so Annabeth swallowed quickly. She usually wasn't that impolite, to speak with her mouth stuffed with food but Annabeth already felt super close to Rachel, which was really strange. Maybe it was because they had a lot of similarities.

Rachel said, "Look," and subtly pointed out a tall black haired man. Annabeth thought that Rachel was just pointing him out because she thought he was hot so Annabeth did him a once over. He was pretty tall and really muscular and just from the back Annabeth could tell he was probably really good-looking.

"So, he's hot, so what? I thought you don't date and all...?" Annabeth was thoroughly confused. Why was Rachel making such a big deal out of it?

It wasn't until Annabeth got a glimpse of his face that she got what Rachel was saying.

It was Percy Jackson.

"UniPerceVerse," Rachel whispered, almost as if in awe. "He's on the same road trip as us!"

Annabeth really should have picked up on it earlier. Plenty of the people on the trip were a bunch of teens fresh out of high school. They had initially been going up to that table a lot and Annabeth had been wondering about it earlier. Besides, Annabeth's best friend was an avid Percy Jackson watcher and so Annabeth had seen quite a few of his videos. She should have been able to put two and two together.

Rachel was slightly fangirling beside her and Annabeth tried her best to ignore her. She was just getting up for her second round of pancakes while simultaneously deleting all of the messages from her parents from her phone without reading them when she crashed into someone.

"Oooff!" she went tumbling to the floor.

"Oh my god, no."

She ignored the voice above her head, presumably coming from the person she had knocked into. She reached for her phone and someone was leaning down and picking it up for her.

She looked up into sea green eyes. Like, the most perfect and gorgeous eyes she had ever seen in her life. She had always thought that Percy was lucky to have such nice eyes but it was nothing to how his eyes looked in real life.

Wait... Percy Jackson.

She got up and took her phone from him, glaring at him, looking him right in those unfairly pretty eyes, "Watch where you're going!"

Jackson went from apologetic and embarrassed to looking pissed in the matter of just a few nanoseconds.

"Who, me?" he responded, and only by hearing him speak in real life did Annabeth realize how strong his British accent really was.

You see, Percy Jackson was a YouTuber. He was American, but grew up in England, explaining the accent. Annabeth did watch his video's from time to time, mostly because Thalia loved his channel. Annabeth had tried to stay away from his fans, finding them over the top, and obsessive (Thalia wasn't like that, besides, Annabeth knew half the reason Thalia watched UniPerceVerse was because she had a slight crush on one of Percy's friends- Malcolm).

What was he doing on her luxurious tour through South East Asia?

"Yes, you!" she said indignantly.

Percy huffed, "You're the one who was walking and texting at the same time? You know one of the most important parts of walking, is looking where you're going?"

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

He glared at her. His eyes went up and down her frame and his gaze lingered on her face. Annabeth might have felt more bothered if she hadn't done the same thing to him a few minutes ago. Still, at least she had the decency to do it when his back was turned.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I know you."

"Wow, that isn't creepy at all."

He shook his head and said, "I'm serious! I remember... um..." he trailed off. A few seconds later his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers, "Midtown West! We were in kindergarten together? Come on, you're Annabeth Chase right?"

Annabeth widened her eyes. What was going on? She remembered no Percy Jackson internet star in her school (albeit he wasn't famous back then, but still).

Percy was frowning, "You don't remember me? I went by a different name back then...does Perseus Ugliano ring any bells?"

And then it hit her. She remembered a chubby and mischievous little boy in her class who used to bring blue cookies every day and she would always argue with him about how blue cookies shouldn't exist. He would always fight for his mother to stay with him, but at the end of the day, he didn't want to leave.

"It's because of my step-dad," he told the teacher, sniffling and rubbing his eyes one day after school. "He's horrible. He hits me a lot when I do something and says it's my punishment for being a bad boy."

The teacher looked cautious, not sure if the hits Percy was enduring was abusive or just a normal punishment, "What does your mommy think, duckling?"

"He hits her too."

Annabeth remembered the teacher pulling aside Perseus' mother the next day. His mom left looking upset. A few weeks later Perseus left school to go to England. Annabeth never saw him again.

They had been pretty close and had quite a lot of fun together - in kindergarten your friends were mostly just based on overlapping interests. But of course, Annabeth hardly remembered. After all, who really remembered their friends from kindergarten?

Annabeth knew that Percy could see the realization in her eyes. He smiled at her.

"I knew it was you," he said quietly, "Hey, Wise Girl."

-.T.T.-

Nick

Let me get straight to the point

Are you ever gonna call him or not

He misses you

A lot

Don't you miss him?

I know you do, Rachel tells me everything

Anna, I can SEE that you're reading these

Annabeth?

Anna

Neecs

Please leave me alone

Nick

You're Here YAY

Anna

Nico, I know you want us to talk, but I can't do this

Can't be friends with Percy when he's in England

Nick

And when you're hopelessly in love with him but I guess we're going to ignore that

Hello? Annabeth? Look, you can't ignore him forever.

Anna

I saw the video

Nick

Did you?

Anna

Yeah

Nick

And what did you think?

Anna

Nick

Nick

Yeah?

Anna

I miss him. I hate this.

Nick

I know.

Anna

What should I do?

Nick

I don't know.

Annabeth sighed and leaned her head against the wall. She felt tears prick the back of her eyelids. She had tried everything to cheer herself up. She tried making more plans and blueprints for buildings. She thought of playing with building blocks with Percy when they were little.

She went out with some of Thalia's friends to a party. She thought of that one party she had been dragged to by Percy and Rachel and how much fun it actually was, but only because it was them.

She tried reading. She remembered bonding with Nico over book character's and how Percy had teased them about being nerds. She remembered the playful look in his eyes and how she had lightly hit the back of his head and he had cackled evilly, grinning and teasing them some more.

Everything she did, reminded her of Percy. It was an endless loop of forgetting, then remembering, trying again, and then thinking about him again. Unrequited love truly did take you apart like nothing else.

Stories of unrequited love pouring out of the one in love in the form of beautiful, life-taking flowers finally made sense to her. Flowers had always been a symbol of feelings and passion. To not have that feeling reciprocated was like having that very flower shoved down your throat, choking you, taking everything away. Getting rid of your feelings would relieve the pain. But who said falling out of love was that easy?

And maybe, maybe Annabeth can't walk away. Maybe in a strange sense, she likes the feeling of being choked by the flowers, by her love. Because the fact is when those flowers bloomed...

They were beautiful.

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I'm not really satisfied because this is all so self-indulgent but I'll post it anyways.

I've already finished writing the second chapter and half of the last one so they should be up soon.

I hope you like it :)

-Always One Reader