Summary: Percy's a bit superstitious and Annabeth's too busy trying to stay busy. Fate's not always cruel.
Disclaimer:I don't own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Heroes of Olympus series, or any characters I borrow from said series'. I don't own any bands, songs, movies, or books I mention.
;;;
They walked through the diner doors. Annabeth stopped in her tracks. Then, she sprinted across the restaurant shouting, "THALIA!" like a madwoman.
Percy jumped and stared at her in alarm, along with the other people in the restaurant. After they were done staring at the crazy lady, they directed their glances to him, which he returned with a winsome smile and wave. "Annie!" She and another girl shared a dramatic hug and Annabeth fired off a million questions before the girl, Thalia, raised an eyebrow at the tall, black-haired man standing by the doors. "Who are you?" she questioned, effectively cutting Annabeth off.
He cleared his throat, taking the few steps over to them. "I'm Percy."
"Okay?" Thalia had bright blue eyes that seemed to watch your every move as if she were preparing herself for snapping your neck in one motion. Her hair was cropped and dark; a few tattoos splayed across her skin here and there, a piercing on the left side of her nose. If Annabeth were to see her walking down the street, she'd steer clear, but she also understood Thalia well enough to know that she wasn't as 'hardcore' as she made herself look.
"Anyways," Annabeth said, directing Thalia's judging stare away from Percy. "I've been trying to get ahold of you forever."
The dark haired girl cocked her head to the side. "I thought I told you." Annabeth shook her head mutely. "Oh. I was in the mountains. Photography things. There were a few wolves; they were gorgeous…" Thalia kept on babbling about all of the new pictures she'd taken and how photography was seriously her career; about how she was already signed up for a million workshops, but Annabeth knew her better than that. She gave Thalia maybe a week before she quit photography and moved onto another choice career. "… I would love to go back, really." Blue eyes drifted from Annabeth's attentive grey ones to Percy's mildly bored green orbs. "Who are you though?"
"Percy," he repeated.
"That's cool," Thalia said sarcastically. "I meant, how did you meet Annie here?"
Percy smiled wryly at Annabeth who mirrored a similar look. "If you aren't busy," the blonde offered, "we can tell you over lunch."
"Incidentally, I'm free," Thalia agreed, turning to order her food.
Annabeth half-coughed, half-laughed. "Are you planning on giving her the whole 'soul mate' spiel?" she questioned the man next to her under her breath.
Percy smiled. "Why would I tell her anything besides the truth?" She raised a calculating eyebrow in response, giving him an once-over before stepping forward in line. "She's not going to hit me, right?"
Annabeth snorted lightly, shrugging. "Depends on whether or not she likes you."
"Any tips on getting her to like me?"
"Don't even look at me. Don't even think about looking at me." Percy sent Annabeth an alarmed look because how in god's name was he supposed to look away from Annabeth for an entire meal, but she just laughed. "Don't look nervous. I think she's like an animal. She smells fear."
Percy wasn't sure if he should be freaked out or really amazed by that fact, but luckily the cashier said a chipper greeting and a 'what can I get for you two?'
Right as he and Annabeth sat down with their Wendy's, Thalia shot off, "How'd you two meet?"
As casually as he could manage, Percy took a bite of his cheeseburger, nudging Annabeth and nodding for her to take the wheel. She scowled, shaking her head, and he narrowed his eyes. "I will buy you one million black cats and put them inside your house," he threatened under his breath.
"I'll put salt shakers on every surface in your house so that you have to knock them over."
"Mirrors on every inch of your walls. You know you'll break them."
"I'll buy you thirteen gifts in sets of thirteens with thirteen parts and the number thirteen written on every—single—one."
"I will put a ladder outside your door and weld it to the wall so that you have to walk under it every day."
"I will cut the roof of off your house so that you'll have to open an umbrella inside every time it rains."
"You are aware that I can hear you two, right?" Thalia asked, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, if this Percy guy whispered any louder, people in China would hear him."
"Not like they would understand. People in China don't even speak English," he snapped.
"Some do. But that's not the point." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Annabeth, where do you find these guys?" Percy was determined to not be affected by the fact that the word 'guys' was plural, but his face apparently showed his shock. "That's right," Thalia said with a nod, "don't think you're the first."
"Maybe not," Percy agreed, his voice firm. "But obviously none of those guys were permanent, otherwise they would be here. So, I'll be the first to stay."
It was deathly silent for a moment in which Annabeth stared out the window; Percy stared at the table; and Thalia cast her glance back and forth between the two of them. "All right. Seriously. Where did you meet this guy?"
Annabeth smiled like she and her friend were sharing an inside joke. She sent Thalia a questioning look, in which the dark-haired girl rolled her eyes. Percy assumed it was some weird girl-talk thing. "Traffic," the blonde said finally, daintily eating a fry. "We met in traffic."
"You're a cop, then?" Thalia questioned, directing her attention to him.
"Aspiring writer and pizza delivery man," Percy corrected lightly. Blue eyes shot over to Annabeth, conveying a bored look as though he weren't even there.
"What was all the talk about black cats and ladders?"
Annabeth took this as her cue to jump in. "Percy's superstitious."
"A lot of people are," Thalia replied with a shrug.
"No," the blonde stressed. "Percy is superstitious. As in, not a hobby or something he occasionally keeps up with."
The dark-haired girl scrunched up her nose, making the spray of freckles across it bunch up. "Odd."
"Thanks," he answered genuinely. As far as he was concerned, that was a compliment.
"And why did you keep him?" Thalia asked, talking to Annabeth.
"We kept meeting—"
"Because we're soul mates," he interjected.
"—so it was kind of inevitable," she finished, raising an eyebrow at Percy. "You didn't want to wait a little while before doing that?"
"She already hates me," he decided. "Might as well drop all the bombs before she starts to like me a little, just to hate me again."
Thalia looked a bit surprised at his blatancy. "Anything else I should know?"
He thought for a moment. "I love my mom."
The blue-eyed girl rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Wow, Annabeth, you've truly outdone yourself. Superstitious, delivers pizzas and a mama's boy. This is a new one."
"It's not like we're,"—Annabeth cast her gaze out the window—"together or anything."
"Just soul mates," she deadpanned.
"Soul mates don't have to be romantic," Percy intervened. "It can be anyone, honestly. Just someone who you connect with on a deep level, to the point that you just get each other. It's not about 'being in a relationship' or whatever. It's just… you know, knowing them, soul-deep."
"Jesus Christ," Thalia said in shock, "you really are a writer."
"What reason do I have to lie?"
The intimidating girl before him glanced him up and down, either criticizing or praising him. "He plays baseball."
Annabeth seemed to perk up. "Oh does he?"
"No, I don't," Percy put in.
"He definitely does," Thalia said. "He has the perfect body for it."
This made Annabeth laugh. "Agreed."
"Also seems like he's hit a home run?"
"Maybe," she said, cocking her head to the side. "I actually haven't asked."
"I don't play baseball," Percy reiterated.
"Lots of fans, then?" Thalia questioned.
"No," he said.
"Probably," Annabeth decided.
"Does he have a particular fan he appreciates more?"
"I don't have fans," Percy commented.
"Undetermined," the blonde said with a shrug.
"Interesting," Thalia decided, leaning back in her seat. "Very interesting." She set her sights on Percy. "I'm Thalia Grace. I'm Annabeth's best friend; we're pretty much sisters. Don't do anything stupid." She leaned over the table and gave Annabeth a quick hug, muttering some excuse about how she really needed to go and gave Percy a nod.
After she'd swept out of the room, attracting the eyes of more than one guy in the diner, Annabeth started laughing to herself. "What?" Percy asked, smiling slightly at her happiness.
"'I will buy a million black cats and put them inside your house,'" she mimicked. "Is that your idea of a threat?"
"Maybe, Annabeth Chase, but I didn't see you coming up with anything better." He shot her a look, gathering all of their trash off of the table and shoving it onto the tray.
"Really?" Annabeth stood after he did. "I thought the umbrella one was pretty creative."
"Yeah, well…" Percy trailed off as he struggled to find a suitable come back. "Whatever."
She snorted. "You loser. 'Whatever'? Are we in sixth grade?"
"That was about your level of creativity," he retaliated, holding the door open for Annabeth. She walked through it quickly and jogged to her car, jumping in the driver's seat and seemingly waiting for Percy. He shrugged, assuming she'd gotten some sort of urge to exercise, and walked at a normal pace to the vehicle.
The moment his hand touched the door handle, he heard the tell-tale click of doors locking. He bent down, meeting her eyes through the window and narrowing his eyes, mouthing insults at her. She laughed; shaking her head and shrugging helplessly at him as if to say figure it out for yourself. Percy nodded simply, standing to his full height and shouting, "Annabeth Chase is a loser!" He leaned down again, shooting her a grin. "She was also in a gang!"
Annabeth swung her door open, resting her hands on the roof of her car and laughing. "Really? You're the one who was stupid enough to believe that."
"True," Percy agreed. A moment later, he dropped down and started making his way around the back of her car. Annabeth jumped up craned her neck to see if he was hiding on the other side for whatever reason, but she realized his plan too late.
Two strong arms wrapped around her waist and tore her away from her car, spinning her in circles as he laughed right in her ear. "You fell for that, Annabeth Chase!"
"I know!" she yelled back, laughing despite herself. "Put me down!"
He stopped spinning, but only held her to his chest tighter, just high enough that her feet couldn't touch the ground no matter how she stretched her toes. "Why would I do that?"
"Because I'm going to kick you if you don't!"
In one swift movement, Percy swung her so that he was carrying her bridal style. She punched his chest, but it wouldn't have even hurt a mouse, seeing as she was way too exhausted from laughter to manage a good, strong hit. "Why would you do that?" he questioned, smiling at her stupidly.
She grinned back, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss his cheek, which startled him just enough for her to scramble out of his arms. "Annabeth Chase, one. Percy Jackson, zero," she jeered as she hurried back into her car, rolling down her window just the slightest bit so that he could hear her talk.
"Unsportsmanlike conduct!" he accused.
"Excuse me!" a third voice cut in. "You are disrupting our filming!"
Percy's head whipped around to face a group of four college-newbie aged kids. One was holding a nice video camera, pointing it away as soon as the green-eyed man noticed his filming. He saw a tell-tale red blinking light that alerting him that he and Annabeth had been recorded.
"We weren't even filming yet," a girl with tan skin said, waving off the blonde boy's comment. She tugged on a braid in her hair, smiling. "Well, at least we weren't filming our movie yet. Leo got a little bit video camera happy, it seems."
Percy smiled amicably. "It's totally cool." The boy behind the camera raised his hand as though he were supposed to be called on. Unsure of what to do, Percy pointed to him and said, "shoot."
"Well, I was," the boy said in a jokester voice. "I mean, I was shooting. As in filming. Get it?" Percy blinked. "Anyways, I was wondering if maybe we could use some of the footage?"
"Oh," Percy said, glancing at Annabeth. "Like, of… us?"
"Yeah," the boy said. He winked at the harsh looking girl. "Or me and Reyna could recreate it."
"I'd sooner die," the girl with dark eyes replied, but Percy thought she didn't look very displeased.
He looked at the college aged students, and considered the fact that they all had hopes and dreams beyond college. He wouldn't at all mind being one of the reasons they passed. "Sure. It's fine."
"Really?" the girl, Reyna, asked. "Are you sure?" Percy nodded earnestly. "Oh, that's… awesome! Do you mind giving us your names?"
He turned to Annabeth, who gave him a shrug. "Susanna and Percy Jackson." He heard her laugh behind his back, and he grinned at the four kids, waving at them all before moving to the passenger side.
Percy pulled on the handle, laughing in disbelief as he realized it was still locked. Leaning down, he gave Annabeth a look, and she relented, unlocking the door. "I think we just became movie stars," she stated, staring at the four teens. The boy with blonde hair, the original one who'd seemed upset, was speaking with grand gestures, the others nodding in agreement.
"We sure did, Susanna," Percy replied with humor. She rolled her eyes and turned the key in the ignition, backing out of the parking spot after she adjusted the air conditioning.
"I just realized," Annabeth said, "that you didn't give them my last name."
"Susanna and Percy Jackson," he explained. "I sure did."
"That gives the illusion that we're married."
"Or related," he agreed.
"Do brothers and sisters kiss each other's cheeks?" Annabeth said thoughtfully. "I might've blown our cover."
"I'm pretty sure we didn't look like siblings." He sent her a sidelong glance and she nodded. "Just a feeling."
"That probably did look very married couple-esque."
"Yeah." There was a heavy silence in which Percy tapped his hand on his knee and Annabeth appeared immersed in driving. "Why did it just get weird?" Percy blurted.
She shook her head. "I think we just ran out of things to say. That was a first."
He chuckled. "We honestly always have something to say, though." As soon as the words left his mouth, Percy jumped in alarm, his mind racing. "Um—"
Annabeth pulled the glove box open, pointing nondescriptly. "Look in there."
He shoved a few CDs aside—she was a Coldplay fan, Percy noticed with approbation—and finally came across a pen. It didn't work of course, and he scrounged for another one.
When there's a silence, it's not so much that you've run out of things to say. It's that you've settled into comfortability with the person. There's no need for words, because words just take up space in which actions could fill. Why use words to explain when they already get it? It's a waste of your breath and waste of their time. Silence with her isn't the absence of sound. Maybe it's the absence of a need for sound.
He let his eyes skim over the page, twirling his pen in his hand before shutting his notebook contently. "Cool," Percy mumbled to himself, dropping the pen in the glove box and having to try and close it three times before it stayed.
"The curse isn't gone," Annabeth noted.
"I think I'll know when it's gone. Like, I'll feel it or something. A weight lifted off my shoulders, perhaps." He stared out the window for a moment, thinking carefully to himself. "Annabeth?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I could actually be a writer?" He turned to her, waiting for an honest answer, regardless of if it was what he wanted to hear.
Annabeth bit her lip. Questions like these were hard, because there wasn't a wrong or right answer, which was what she was used to. Textbook smart? Sure. But ask her about what she personally thought? Annabeth could never come up with an answer. "I think…" She sighed, taking a right and pulling one of her feet up into the seat.
"Tell me the truth," Percy enjoined. "I really want to know."
"I don't know," she told him, "and that's my issue. I've been told that people can do anything they want, so as long as they have the right mindset. And you do, so…"
"Thanks," he said, "but I want to know what you think. Not what someone else has told you."
Pursing her lips, Annabeth stopped at the red light. "I think you could," she decided. "You, from what I've heard, can write. And as long as you can, I don't see why you wouldn't."
Her answer was inadequate; even she knew that. Regardless, Percy smiled, ruffling her hair. "Thanks, Annabe." She rolled her eyes, skimming her nails over her steering wheel. He stared out the window again, and Annabeth noticed that the silence wasn't uncomfortable anymore. Percy turned in his seat to face her, closing his eyes and leaning against the window. "I think I could go for a nap," he decided.
"Do you want me to take you back to Nico's? Or…?" She glanced at him as she trailed off, not sure if asking him over was assuming.
"I'd love to nap at your house, Annabeth Chase, if you'd have me. I think Nico's not letting me within a ten mile radius of his apartment again. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's out to lunch with this guy right now." He briefly registered her nodding out of the corner of his eye as she stopped at the red light. They were idling near a beach, and Percy could just barely see the waves falling on the shore before receding. He was reminded of the few sentences he'd scribed a while ago, the first day he and Annabeth intentionally got together at the library. "You could always be an architect," Percy said suddenly.
"What?" Annabeth asked, giving him an odd look.
"Be an architect."
"Do you know how hard it is to get a job in that industry? There's no way I could—"
"Wait!" Percy shouted, pulling out his phone. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!"
"Waiting?"
He dialed a number on his phone, calling the pizza place he worked at and immediately asking to speak to the manager. "Hey, Mr. Argie! I'm good, thanks." Annabeth watched the light turn to green, half-driving and half-eavesdropping on Percy's conversation with his boss. "No, I'm not working until Saturday, I think. Anyways, remember how last week you were saying that the place needed a new look?"
Annabeth's eyes widened in alarm and she slugged Percy in the shoulder, frantically gesturing no. "Oh," he said, his voice hitching. "You already have people willing to build; you just aren't sure what to do? Interesting."
"Percy," she whispered with a threatening tone to her voice.
"Oh, I might know someone." He glanced at Annabeth smiling and giving her a thumbs up, then tossing the phone at her. Giving him a panicked look, she caught it and answered smoothly.
"Annabeth Chase."
"I hear you might have some good ideas for a pizza parlor? We want to expand a little, not be branded as just a delivery place, if you understand?"
"Completely, Mister…?"
"I'm Joseph Argent, but people tend to call me Argie. What do you think about this weekend? You can just come in when Percy works, if that makes you more comfortable."
"That's perfect," Annabeth breathed, feeling breathless. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome. I look forward to meeting you!" Mr. Argie hung up before she had the chance to reply, and she tossed Percy's phone back to him.
"You jerk!" She glanced both ways before continuing past the last stop sign before her house. She reached out to hit him, but Percy just caught her hand and laughed gleefully.
"I got you a job, Annabeth Chase!"
She pulled into a parking spot, accidentally taking up two. "I hate you!" she exclaimed, but her smile said otherwise.
He gave her a sarcastic look, patting her cheek. "You got a job," Percy sang. "This was my goal all along!" His eyes skimmed over her face for a moment before he took his hand away and attempted to open the door.
Sadly, the handle broke off in his hand, leaving him to carry a piece of grey plastic. "Um, Annabeth…"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go get some glue, loser." The blonde backed out of the parking spaces and drove them to the nearest store, which hopefully had super glue. "Everything you touch breaks, Jackson," she teased as they walked through the sliding doors. Slyly, she stuck out her foot and tripped him.
Percy stumbled, stopping in his tracks and staring at Annabeth in astonishment. "Did you really just trip me?"
Walking backwards, she nodded. "I did, Percy Jackson." With a challenging glint in her eye, she disappeared down the next aisle. He tried to find her, but his phone vibrated with a new text message from Annabeth.
Hide and seek?
He smiled. She was definitely more mature and smart, but she would never be able to beat him in kid games; it was his forte. Shooting back a simple 'you're on, chase,' Percy leaned around the corner, searching through the small groups of people wandering down each aisle. "If I were an Annabeth," he muttered to himself, "where would I hide?"
He could be bad at reading people, but Annabeth sure seemed like the type to hide in the place he would least expect her to: the toy aisle.
She leaned past a small kiosk just as Percy strolled past her aisle, definitely with a purpose. She was twenty-three and playing hide-and-seek in a Wal-Mart, for Christ's sake, but the small adrenaline rush was inevitable. Sure, she didn't look eighteen, but in that moment, Annabeth felt like it.
Deciding to see where Percy thought she was, Annabeth wandered behind him at a safe distance. It was going fine, until he abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned around, seeing her standing right in the middle of the two shelves. With a smile, he shouted, "I found the gang leader!"
Annabeth was torn between running up to him and sealing his mouth with her hand and running away, but she decided on the latter, slipping around the corner and attempting to make herself invisible against a small stand of spices.
She was about to lean back around the corner and see if he was coming at all, but two hands covered her eyes. "I found you, Chase." Annabeth attempted to elbow him, but her attempts were all in vain when he removed his hands, tapped her right shoulder and said in her left ear: "tag, you're it," before rushing down the hallway.
The game of hide-and-seek was the first time Annabeth had felt like a teenager again since she'd became an adult. She couldn't stop laughing every time she found Percy is random places (browsing the selection of books, "testing" a grape or two, picking up a whole knocked down display of chips) and he always had the best expressions on his face when he realized he'd been found.
Eventually—and naturally—an employee asked them politely to leave, to which Percy responded by flashing his charming smile and breathlessly agreeing to leave right after Annabeth completed their original task: get super glue. She was half-laughing, half-wheezing right alongside Percy the whole time until they sat in her car and collapsed into another fit of laughter. "We're so stupid," Annabeth managed, nearly choking on air.
"Yeah, but we're young," Percy replied, inhaling deeply. "God, I haven't done anything that dumb since high school." Still smiling, he retrieved the super glue out of the grocery bag and set to work on fixing the handle.
"That was really fun," she admitted, having not really done anything crazy in her actual teen years. Annabeth had always been the one over-studying and reading classic novels from the greatest writers of all time in her moments of freedom.
Percy smiled at her, reaching out and removing something that looked an awful lot like a seahorse sticker from her hair. "How did that get there?"
"I was wondering the same thing about that," she said, pointing to a spot on his shirt. He glanced down, and Annabeth flicked his nose, nearly doubling over with laughter. "Did you just fall for that? Oh my god, you just fell for that!"
"You always look so serious!" Percy said, defending himself through his childish laughter. The door handle dried on, just a little bit crooked, but she didn't seem too concerned about it. Annabeth was too filled with the spirit of having fun to even care. Percy decided it was a good look on her.
"Still feeling that nap?" she questioned, sending him a sidelong glance, pulling into a parking with precision.
"Let's do it. Let's go inside and pass out, that way we wake up around nine and stay up all night," he suggested.
"What is there to do at nine at night besides get dinner or get drunk?" Annabeth inquired, swinging her keys around her index finger as she waited for Percy to get out of the car. "I mean, for two twenty-three year-olds, anyways."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, Annabeth Chase, you have not yet lived. You'll see tonight." Percy met her at the front of the car. "Where would you be without me?"
"Probably watching television and eating cold Chinese food," she replied honestly, inhaling deeply when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, laughing. "Drowning in self-pity." Annabeth shrugged off his arm to unlock the door, passing over the threshold and slipping off her light jacket. She briefly noticed that she didn't even try to close the door behind her on reflex; lately it was more of a reflex to leave it open for Percy to shuffle inside behind her.
He replaced his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his chest for a hug that was probably way more comfortable for him than the blond being squished against his chest. He smelled distinctly like the ocean, almost as if he bathed in salt water and the fresh air of the beach. "I got the couch, Annabe. Wake me up when you wake up."
"Who says you won't wake up before me?" Annabeth questioned after Percy released her from his bear hug. The hug had annoyed her while she was in it, but now that the show of affection was done and over with, Annabeth could honestly say that she missed it. But only a little.
He smiled, the same smile she'd seen a million times; the one that said he knew more than her, but not in a degrading manner. Almost in an 'I can't wait until you figure it out, too; until it's seared into your mind and you can never forget it' way. "Just trust me on this one."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow and nodded, giving him a two finger salute before ambling down her hallway and entering her room. She tossed her jacket on the corner of her bed, hesitating for a moment before changing into sweatpants (God knows how people managed to fall asleep in jeans) and slipping underneath her covers.
Her last conscious thought was: I hope Percy found the blankets in the corner.
;;
Annabeth had a peculiar dream.
When she woke up, she went over the scenario three times in her head before finally saying, "What the hell?" to herself aloud.
To describe it as random was an understatement. Within her realm of dreams, Annabeth had been pouring honey into her mouth, walking her new dog, and carrying a sack of potatoes. How she'd managed all of that with two hands, Annabeth wasn't sure, but the weirdest part was the end.
She'd walked into a bathroom in a store and her dream-self had planned on retying her hair. However, when she looked in the mirror, she wasn't Annabeth. She was an older version of the red-head she'd slugged when she was little, her face still baby-ish since Annabeth had a stunning lack of imagination (even when dreaming) and would never be able to guess what she looked like now. Her clothes had been splattered in paint and she was wearing an old t-shirt that said something about a swim team.
Luckily, she'd woken up after that nightmare, seeing that it was precisely 6:03 at night. Then she'd swung her legs out of bed, stretched, and trudged down the hallway to wake up Percy. She could hear him snoring before she even entered the living room, and while she made a face initially, Annabeth decided it was kind of cute when she saw him drooling. She would have expected nothing less from the Percy Jackson.
He woke up easily—which was great, since he often hinted at the fact that she'd be the one waking him up every morning—but Percy also liked to stay lying down until he was fully awake. "Percy."
"What?"
"Get up."
"I am," he said, a hint of irritation in his voice.
"I mean physically."
"Yeah? Well, I mean shut up," Percy snapped, sleepily wiping his face off. "That's a little gross."
"Just a little," Annabeth agreed with a falsely disgusted face. "What about you isn't though?"
He glared at her. "Shut up, Annabeth Chase. I am not afraid to order you one million black cats."
"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed. "I'll make coffee?"
"Thank you, milady." He stood up straight, stretched his arms to their extremities and yawned. "The nap was a bad idea. Now I'm just really tired."
"Hence, the coffee," Annabeth said, not even bothering to protest when Percy's arm fell across her shoulders.
"I'm tired," he whined, burying his face in her hair. Lemons, he noted. "Your hair smells good."
"Thanks?" she answered, raising an eyebrow and more or less dragging him to the kitchen.
After Percy had a cup of coffee in front of him, he took a sip and gave Annabeth all of his attention. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good. Weird dream though. And you?"
"I slept fine. What kind of dream?" Percy questioned curiously, listening to Annabeth attentively as she gave him a play-by-play of her dream. "So, let me get this straight," he said. "You had a dream that you were the redhead that you beat up in the fifth grade."
"Sixth grade," Annabeth corrected. "But other than that, yes."
"Interesting."
"Is there a superstition about that?"
Percy raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were starting to become interested in superstition, Annabeth Chase."
"What's with the first and last name thing?" she asked. His habit of saying both had been picking at her conscience for a while.
Percy paused in front of the coffee pot, having recently filled up his coffee cup again, his hand still poised to stir his drink. "I… don't know." He put down the spoon and stared at her. "I guess it's because… you shouldn't be known by any other name. Nicknames, sure, but you are who you are, Annabeth Chase. That, and the fact that I don't want anyone else to turn around when I say your name. First and last names are actually a great practice in order to avoid awkward moments."
Annabeth sipped her coffee, letting it warm her up as bring her closer to consciousness. "Only you would be able to make that both philosophical and very logical."
Percy grinned; a childish stupid one that made Annabeth's heart flutter a bit more than was acceptable. "It's a gift."
Her response was a bit delayed as her eyes locked on his hair, which was flat on one side and wild on the other. It was a perfect description of Percy as a person: deep and meaningful sometimes, obnoxiously impulsive and loud other times. "Right."
"Right," Percy repeated with a laugh. "We need to get something to eat."
She hummed in agreement. "What are you feeling?"
What an interesting question, he thought to himself as he fondly watched her. What am I feeling?
"Chinese?" Percy suggested, pushing the inner turmoil away for the moment. "I'm running a little bit low on fortunes."
Annabeth smiled, pouring the remainder of her coffee down the sink. "Let's do it."
"I'll pay?"
"For yourself. I'll pay for me."
"What if I want to pay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, come on, you do everything."
"Well, you planned tonight, so the least I can do is pay," she argued.
"Let me pay, Annabeth Chase!" Percy ordered loudly, slamming his fist on the counter and making the coffee pot clank a bit. He turned to her with an angelic smile and a sweet, "Please?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes at his dramatics. "If you insist."
"I wear the pants in this relationship," he stated proudly, puffing out his chest. "And I say we go eat before I die of starvation."
"Agreed," Annabeth said, scooping up the keys off the table on the way out the door. Percy filed out behind her, and she didn't even have the resistance to give him a dirty look when he opened the car door for her.
Just as she was about to get in the car, Annabeth turned abruptly. "Wait."
Percy leaned on the top of her car door, which was currently serving as a barrier between them. "Yeah?"
"Did we decide where to go?"
"Chinese," he stated.
"There's a lot of Chinese places," Annabeth pointed out. "Which one?" He paused, and Annabeth assumed it was because he was considering her question, but after a good thirty seconds, she snapped her fingers in front on his face. "Percy? Earth to Percy?"
"Uh, sorry." She noted that his face looked just a small bit redder than it was a few moments ago. "Just whatever. The first one we see."
"Are you blu—?"
"No, I'm not!" Percy said defensively. "It's just… hot outside."
"Wow, I totally believe you," Annabeth replied with an eye roll. "You really must be telling the truth."
"Don't get sassy with me, Annabeth Chase. Just because you're my soul mate doesn't mean there's not other women I could date," he attempted to threaten her.
"Go ahead." She sent him a challenging look.
Percy narrowed his eyes. "I won't. But only because I don't want to, not because you said so."
"Of course," Annabeth said, her voice saccharine. "Remind me again, why are men so stubborn to admit they're wrong?"
He laughed, and she thought maybe the sun came out from behind the clouds, despite the late hour. "We aren't. We're just stubborn to admit that women are right." His eyes scanned over her face, and his expression waned into something serious. Percy reached a hand forward—hesitantly at first, but then he gained confidence as he held Annabeth's cheek. His eyes seemed to get a faraway look, and she thought maybe she'd have to scrounge around for a pen, but Percy started talking. "It's weird," he decided, his words soft spoken and almost confused. "It's like… I miss you, but I've never known you before this. I just feel like there's something I'm missing out on with you; this huge joke I'm just not getting, and I want to. I feel like I hardly know you and yet I know you better than everyone and it's a weird feeling, Annabeth Chase. I've never missed someone who's right in front of me."
His speech paused, and he ran the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone. She was trying to avoid his gaze—lots of attention had never been her favorite thing—but it was difficult. Annabeth was twenty three years old, and getting butterflies for Christ's sake. Didn't they have an age limit or something?
Percy's eyes were still searching her face, as if trying to find the punch line of the joke he mentioned, but Annabeth did what she did best: avoided any sort of feelings. "Well, no need to miss me, dork. I'm right here." She ruffled his hair and stepped into her car, sliding in the key and letting the engine turn over. Percy looked a little confused, and maybe just a tad frustrated as he closed her door, but he sat in the passenger seat and didn't say a word.
In fact, the car ride was almost entirely silent besides the one time he'd said, "Sorry," when they both tried resting their arms on the console. He left his arm there, leaving their skin to touch and Annabeth to blush and Percy to pretend he wasn't getting high off the skin-on-skin contact. And she didn't have the strength to move her arm, because as much as she'd like to deny it, Annabeth loved being close to Percy. It gave her a sense of comfortability and safeness that she couldn't describe; it just was.
Maybe it was another weird soul mate thing. Or not.
They stopped at the closest Chinese restaurant, which was no more than five miles away from Annabeth's house, and they kept up a conversation. She tried to talk about Percy's writing, but he changed the topic. Despite his shameless confession that he wanted to be a writer, Percy was quite shy of his work. She wanted to know what he wrote in that little orange notebook; she wanted to know if her name had been scrawled across a single page (but hopefully, more than one page).
When she finally got up the nerve to ask if he'd read her something from the pages, Percy cast his gaze on the table and shook his head. "Why not?" Annabeth asked, not unkindly, just curiously.
He laughed a little, but she sensed a bit of nervousness. She was good at that—sensing emotions. Or maybe just with Percy. "I'm afraid it'll change how you see me."
"What does that mean?"
He pursed his lips; looking out the window and watching the cars zoom by. "Sometimes I'm not in the best state when I write. Sometimes I am, and I still end up writing things that I don't think I'd ever publish. The things I write in there… I'm not sure if I could read them, honestly."
"You read to me that one time, on the beach," Annabeth pointed out. "What about that?"
"I've reread that piece a million times. I usually don't go back and read my work; I write it and I'm done with it," he explained. "The thing with my dad… that feels like something that was already public, so I don't mind sharing it."
She pushed her cleared plate aside, and Percy tried to do the same, but his plate ended up on the floor. "Damn curse," he muttered, not even bothering to pick it up. He directed his gaze out the window, deciding to watch the city flicker on without him, completely unaware of how spell-bound he was by it's bright lights and constant liveliness. "Could I read it by myself? That way you didn't have to read it aloud." She knew she was being pushy, but Annabeth didn't know when to stop when she was curious about something. "I just… I want to know some things."
He looked a little puzzled when he asked, "What do you mean?"
She sighed, scratching her collarbone. "I just want to know what you write about," Annabeth half-lied. "I want to see inside the mysterious world of Percy Jackson."
"I've told you what I write about," he said, sounding contemplative. He gave her an once-over, narrowing his eyes a little before he chuckled. "You're not telling me something."
She immediately took the defensive side. "How would you know?"
"Because," Percy started, "you keep itching random parts of your body; your eyebrows, your hands, your collarbones. You're nervous. You don't have a reason to be nervous, unless you did something wrong."
"So, you're a psychologist now?"
He shook his head, pushing a pea across his plate. "Just with you."
"Because you know me oh-so-well," she said sarcastically. "We just met like what, two weeks ago?"
"Today is our twelfth day knowing each other," Percy said simply. "Annabeth Chase, you know as much as I do that not everyone likes sharing every detail." She sighed in frustration, rubbing her temples. "Just tell me what's up."
"I'm not really asking what you write about," she admitted, keeping her eyes on the cheap tablecloth. "I'm just… wondering maybe who you write about."
There was a small silence, in which Percy cocked his head to the side and stared at Annabeth with the most adoring look. "Oh," he said in realization. "Yeah, yeah, I write about you."
She kept looking down at the table and Percy was seriously concerned by how much he wanted to kiss her. "Okay."
"Okay," he repeated, hesitating three times before kicking her foot under the table. "You could have just asked me."
"It's weird," Annabeth disagreed. Percy saw that her cheeks were tinted red, and he felt like he was in high school. She made him feel young in that way, where he felt like he was just trying to get the prettiest girl in school again. It was fun and frustrating all the same, because Annabeth was the prettiest girl in school, but she was also the hardest to get.
He considered several replies before deciding on, "Time to go."
She seemed relieved to drop the topic, which Percy thought was interesting seeing as she had been the one to bring it up. "Where are we going?"
"The beach," he said simply, shooting her a troublemaker smile. "Where else?"
"It's a Wednesday night," Annabeth deadpanned. "Who's going to be there?"
Hopefully my friends, Percy thought. He hadn't been to their monthly beach bonfires in two months, having been working on each day. They always met on the 15th of every month, just to make sure they never lost the friendship they'd had in high school. "You'll have to wait and see."
"Am I going to like it? Or them?" she asked. Annabeth knew she wasn't the most charming of people, and she'd always had bad luck meeting people and making them like her.
"I hope so," was the only thing Percy said on the matter, regardless of Annabeth's endless pestering and, eventually, silent treatment.
;;
"Stay here," Percy ordered Annabeth. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave her a pleading look before jogging further down the beach, just on the other side of the pile of giant rocks. With a bit of relief, he saw the same set-up he'd seen for three years: a cooler, ten or so chairs, and a pile of blankets and, of course, a fire pit in the middle.
"Percy!" someone shouted at the top of their lungs. He recognized the voice as Nico's, and judging by the slurred word, it was safe to say that he had been drinking. "'S been forever since you've came to a fire!"
"I know," Percy answered, laughing at Nico's partially inebriated state. A few others called out their hellos, and he shook hands or exchanged hugs with each of them. "Listen, guys… I brought someone."
Connor Stoll, one out of the two tricksters of the group, leaned to the left and said, "Is she blonde?"
"Yeah, but—"
"Generally looks pretty pissed off?"
"Not really. I mean, I guess—"
"No I don't," a voice said indignantly. Percy jumped and turned around to face Annabeth who was glaring up at him.
"You do right now," he managed. "Why didn't you stay?"
"I'm not a dog," Annabeth said defiantly, deciding to take a seat in the sand rather than a chair.
"But—"
"What's your name?" Nico asked loudly. "Are you that girl Percy lov—?"
"Nico's a little drunk at the moment!" Percy shouted over him. "A lot drunk."
"Right," Annabeth said, sending him a sarcastic look.
"So… Guys. This is Annabeth," he said, gesturing to his blonde companion. "That's Katie, Travis, Connor, Grover, Nico and Silena." Percy pointed to each person individually, and she tried to memorize the names to faces. Katie looked like Natalie Portman. Travis and Connor looked the same. Grover was wearing a beanie. Nico was wearing a lot of black. Silena was… pink. Annabeth could remember that.
"Hey," Annabeth said finally, waving to them all. "I'm Percy's friend."
The very pink girl, Silena, hummed to herself. Annabeth wasn't sure if she liked the look in her eyes, but Silena smiled at her. "Nice to meet you. How'd you find this loser?" She winked at Percy as if they were sharing an inside joke and he laughed, deciding to sit down next to Annabeth in the sand.
"Well?" Percy prompted, raising an eyebrow at her. "Do you want to tell the story?" The grey-eyed girl thought it was maybe a little unfair, the way the fire reflected itself in Percy's eyes, making them look darker and more intense and completely breathtaking.
"Sure," she agreed, if only to convince herself to look away from Percy. "So… One morning I was late to work."
"And I was, too," Percy interjected.
Annabeth sighed loudly. "I thought I was the one telling the story." He swayed to bump her shoulder as a queue to 'go ahead and tell it.' "Anyways, so we were both stuck in traffic, next to each other. He threw paper balls at my car and, long story short, I met this loser."
"Interesting," Silena commented, leaning back in her seat. "Very interesting."
"Right," Annabeth said, shifting her hands and accidentally dropping one over Percy's. "Oh…" she mumbled, after a moment. "Uh, sorry." When she glanced up to meet his eyes, all she caught was the tail end of a smile, one of his indecipherable grins.
"Don't worry about it," he told her. "So, around what time did Nico start drinking?"
"Around forty minutes ago," Katie informed him. "But, you know he's never held his alcohol well."
"Yeah," Percy agreed with a laugh. "Remember that one time he—?"
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Nico yelled, giving him a petulant look. "I'll tell Annabeth about the thing."
"About what thing?" the green-eyed man asked, raising an eyebrow. He spared a glance at Annabeth, who looked just about as interested as he did.
"About how you said that you like her!" Nico sang, sounding oddly close to a kindergartner. "You have a crush on Annabe—ouch!"
At a surprising speed, Percy had taken off his jacket and sharply threw it at the (illegally) drunken man. "I did not!"
"Whatever!"
"Yeah, whatever," Silena agreed.
Percy laughed, shaking his head. "Jesus, you guys. The first time I actually bring someone to one of these things…" He looked at Annabeth. "I'm sorry about them."
She gave him an once-over, honestly wondering how true Nico's statement had been. I mean, twelve days wasn't much, but they had been hanging out a lot. Percy wasn't unattractive by any means; in fact, she would definitely classify him in the 'sinfully gorgeous' category. He wrote about her, but she didn't know what. Annabeth decided that she really, really wanted to know. "It's fine," she assured him, belatedly.
Travis—or maybe Connor, Annabeth wasn't sure—started singing a song obnoxiously, stealing away her chance to ask Percy about what Nico had said. Katie rolled her eyes and kicked the leg of the singing man's chair, grumbling a, "Shut up, Stoll," and taking a sip of her tea.
"Which one's which?" Annabeth whispered to Percy. Her curiosity was spiked again just as it had been at the diner, and she couldn't risk and inch of uncomfortability between herself and Percy if she planned on finding out the truth. Annabeth was all about tactic, and she knew the only way he would tell her is if he trusted her.
"The one in the blue is Connor," Percy said back, keeping his voice low. He chuckled. "The one on the ground is Travis."
"Twins?"
"Brothers," he corrected. "But they look so much alike, most people assume they're twins. Silena was one of my best friends in high school, just so you know."
"Right," Annabeth answered. "The wink had me thinking maybe she had a thing for you."
"Sizing up the competition?" Percy questioned with a laugh. She shot him a sarcastic look, and he bumped her shoulder again. "You're my soul mate. The one and only. No competition there, Annabe."
"You two look mighty cozy," Travis said across the bonfire. "Should I be worried that you're going to take my baby Percy away from me?"
"You have a girlfriend," Katie deadpanned, not even sparing Travis a look.
"We broke up, actually," he told her, raising his cheap beer skyward. "It's about damn time, too."
"I'll say," Connor muttered. "She was always so… clingy." Katie's nose scrunched up at that comment, her expression holding a distinct I told you so look, and Annabeth cocked her head to the side. Nico was busy alternating between a canned beer and a glass of water, but he wasn't keeping a very good balance. Four sips of beer here, one sip of water there.
"You want a drink?" Percy asked. Annabeth's turned to look at him, but he was standing up straight and looking down at her. "Don't feel bad if you don't want a beer, I usually don't drink at these either."
She nodded. "A soda is fine. Any kind."
He bowed and said, "Your wish is my command," before making his way over to the cooler. While he searched through the ice, someone hit his shoulder. "Ouch," Percy said blankly, turning to see his abuser. "Oh, hey Grover."
"So," Percy's high-school best friend started, "Annabeth, huh?"
Percy rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh. Sure."
"You like her, don't you?" Grover asked.
"Undetermined, G-man," the green-eyed man answered. "I'll let you know as soon as I do." He finally plucked a second Coke out, shaking his now frozen hand a little.
"Maybe you should find out soon," Grover suggested. "She gives you this look."
Percy tried to secretly spare Annabeth a glance, but she was staring right at him with narrowed eyes. "What look?"
"Like the look."
"Grover, stop being so vague," Percy ordered. "What are you talking about?" His heart was beating a little faster, and he wasn't positive why. It was somewhere between anxiety and 'Annabeth is staring at me intently'.
"You know I'm good with reading emotions," Grover started. Before he even finished the word 'emotions,' Percy was already walking away. He was not about to get the love talk from Grover again, just to watch him play Dr. Love with Silena like he did so many times in high school. It wasn't worth screwing things up with Annabeth.
"One Coke for my soul mate," Percy said, upon his return to their spot in the sand.
"Big spender," Annabeth replied sarcastically, accepting the drink.
"Excuse you," he said, affronted. "I'll have you know that I may now lose my hand."
"Why's that?"
"Because it's really extremely cold, and the fact that I'm not wearing my jacket anymore doesn't help. I'm sure I'll have hypothermia soon," he contemplated.
"Oh, please," Annabeth dismissed. "It's not that cold."
Percy placed his hand on the back of her neck. She jumped and made an indignant noise, elbowing him in the side as he laughed hysterically. "Oh, it's not that cold, Chase?"
"Shut up," she grumbled, rubbing the nape of her neck in order to warm it up. "It's still not cold enough to the point that you'd reach hypothermia. Plus, it's your core temperature. Not just one limb of your body."
She stared at the embers of the fire, and Percy watched her expression soften from irritated to calm. He thought it was better than watching the sun rise. "Know it all," he teased, smiling fondly.
"Illiterate idiot," Annabeth answered, without missing a beat. He laughed, leaning back on his elbows and letting the breeze from the ocean lift his hair in a million directions.
Silena observed them out of her peripherals. She wasn't dumb. She'd been by Percy's side for almost every high school heartbreak, and she knew the look he got in his eyes. Apparently, Grover noticed how distracted she was as they carried on a conversation about where a pregnant girl in their grade was now. "Yeah, and there was a Prada bag for ten dollars—"
Silena gasped loudly focusing her full attention on Grover. "Where?"
He smiled. "Thinking the same thing about Percy and his new crusade?"
"He seems serious, though," Silena mentioned, cocking her head to the side and sparing them another quick look. "Like… I don't think it's like Rachel or Calypso."
"You're the one who's all about love," Grover told her, holding up his hands. "I believe you." They both redirected their eyes to Percy and Annabeth, who were somehow sitting an inch or two closer as Percy leaned back on his elbows. Annabeth said something and he laughed, his whole face lighting up with a look that could only be described as pure admiration as he looked at Annabeth.
"Come on," Percy said, rolling up his jeans and toeing off his shoes. Annabeth blinked at his abruptness, and he gestured for her to hurry up. She copied his actions, lining up her Converse and following him as he started walking down to the water.
"Where are you two going?" the girl, Silena, asked.
"I actually don't know," Annabeth answered simply, before walking past her to catch up with Percy. She didn't mean to be rude, honestly, but she'd always hated when people looked like they knew more than she did. And Silena gave her this look that said, 'oh, I know what's coming and I can't wait.' It unnerved her.
She finally stopped at the edge of the surf, next to Percy. He had his eyes closed, almost as if he were soaking in the atmosphere of the ocean. Annabeth knew he held a certain spite for it, seeing as he was still bitter towards his dad, but she knew it was his place. In fact, she was almost sure that if he opened his eyes right now, his eyes would be the exact same color as the water kissing her toes. She wouldn't be surprised if Percy bled salt-water.
"You wanted to know what I write about you," he mentioned, after a while. "It's nice things."
"That's good," Annabeth acknowledged, admiring the freckles along his jaw. They were odd, but she'd always liked odd things.
"I was thinking that… maybe," Percy began, "you could write something for me."
"Oh… I'm not a very good writer—"
"I know," he interrupted gently. "I know what I want you to write; I've been repeating it in my mind for the past twenty minutes, really. I just want it to be written, in your hand. And you want to know what kind of things I write about you, so…" Percy breathed out, and Annabeth caught a bit of nervousness in the single breath. "Would you?"
"Of course," Annabeth agreed, without hesitation. "I just need a pen and your notebook." He reached into his pocket and extracted both items, faltering once before placing the notebook in her hand. It was the first time he'd ever let anyone besides himself hold one of his books full of his personal thoughts, and it was more than a little weird. He felt oddly vulnerable, like the books were his one thing that kept him sane, and he was handing the liability over to someone else.
Percy walked a little further up the beach and lowered himself to lie in the sand. "Use my back as a desk of sorts. Write pretty," he enjoined. "And, um… yeah."
Annabeth laid down so that she was perpendicular to him, using his spine as a desk just like he asked. "Go for it," she prompted.
"This is going to sound so weird," Percy admitted. "Saying it out loud. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's awful and very Lifetime-movie-ish."
Annabeth bit back a smile. "Then stop thinking, loser."
It's a bit difficult, Percy wanted to answer. This was probably the closest physical contact they'd had, save a few hugs. The warmth of her arms was burning through his shirt and imprinting itself into his skin, and he knew he'd never be able to forget.
"I like nights like these," Percy started softly, closing his eyes. Annabeth started writing the words, tapping his upper back twice when she was done. It easily became a system, without saying anything. "I like nights like these, where everything is showered in silvery moonlight." He halted before saying, "Night's like these make her eyes even more beautiful," in the softest tone she'd ever heard him speak in. She inhaled a shaky breath, and Annabeth wasn't sure why the moment felt so intense to her. Hearing this side of Percy, taking these thoughts and writing them down for him, it felt like she finally understood. "They're already grey," he continued, pausing in intervals for her to write, "light and calculating enough to make me lose my breath. The world looks better like this, highlights of silver and lowlights of shadows. The stars help the moon in giving the night a luminary. Out of all of them, she shines the brightest. Yes, the world looks better at nightfall, with her eyes alight and fitting in easily with the constellations in the sky. She's not perfect, god knows that no one can be, but with the dark of the night casting shadows across her face and her eyes holding the moonlight, I'd say she's damn near close."
Annabeth felt her eyes sting, which was weird, because she never cried. Especially in front of people. "Sign your name," Percy commanded gently, after a moment. She carefully scribed her name at the end of the page. And then, silence. He tried not to freak out about the fact that he was sharing something so awfully personal with someone, and Annabeth tried not to cry over Percy's words. It was by far the nicest thing anyone had ever thought of her, and she couldn't help but read it over and over. "That's the sort of things I write about you," he said after a few minutes. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Annabeth said. "Really, don't. It's sweet." Percy knew he was blushing a little, and he cursed the fact that he didn't get the 'no-blushing' gene. The quiet that followed wasn't uncomfortable, but he felt a barrier. He wasn't positive what it was or where it'd came from, but he felt it. "How are you single again?"
He barked out a laugh unexpectedly, covering his mouth and laughing lightly. "Hell if I know," Percy jested. "I think I'm pretty damn hot."
It was Annabeth's turn to laugh. "Narcissist."
"More like a realist," he countered, smirk in place. "Come on, Annabeth. You know your soul mate is pretty sexy."
"Better than some," she allowed, making Percy grin into the crook of his elbow at her stubbornness. "Maybe exceptionally better."
"Yeah, yeah," he drawled. "You're pretty too."
"Percy!" someone shouted from further up the beach.
"Yeah?" he called back, moving to stand up and accidentally causing Annabeth to fall face first into the sand. "Oh, shit, I'm so sorry." He started laughing as he helped her up though, brushing sand off her cheeks.
"Are you guys alright?"
"No, we got eaten by a shark!" he shouted, rolling his eyes. "No privacy, I tell you."
"We wanted privacy?" Annabeth questioned.
"Did we?" Percy shot back.
"Don't answer my question with a question," she grumbled. He shot her a smile before tipping an imaginary hat at her and making his way up the beach. Annabeth waited for a moment, steeling herself and taking a deep breath before lightly jogging after him.
"You two were gone for a while," Travis said suggestively. "Get sand in a few uncomfortable places?"
"You're about to get it in your eyes," Annabeth said snarkily. "Is that uncomfortable enough?"
"She's feisty," Connor commented, raising his glass to Percy. "Good luck with that."
"By the way," Percy said breezily, "we're soul mates and there is a substantial amount of evidence supporting that fact." He grinned at Annabeth, and she chuckled shaking her head.
"And here we were, plotting ways to get you two together when you were already together!" Silena huffed. "Time well wasted."
"We aren't together," Percy and Annabeth said in unison.
"Soul mates don't always have to be romantic," Annabeth continued, sitting in a chair rather than the sand. Percy sat in front of her, deciding he was worthy enough to lean back against her knees. He nodded in agreement to Annabeth's statement, pulling one knee up to his chest and asking Grover to toss him another Coke.
"Then what were you guys doing down there?" Nico asked as Katie revoked his beer and replaced it with a Capri Sun. He struggled with the straw for a second before finally figuring it out.
"Having sex, obviously," Annabeth said sarcastically, patting Percy's cheek. "Right, baby?"
He snorted lightly at the pet name. "Sure thing, sweet cheeks. Now, G-Man, what happened to my Coke?"
And they left it at that.
The remainder of the night was spent drinking and laughing and singing stupid songs, but Annabeth could only think that she hadn't been that happy in a while. Percy kept turning back to face her and say random things or pointless jokes, but it was nice. It was almost like he was letting her know that he wasn't forgetting about her.
High school stories faded into an impulsive game of truth or dare, which ended in Travis being dunked in freezing water and Silena nearly crying over the sand in her hair. Percy was dared to kiss Annabeth's feet, which made them laugh for almost ten minutes straight for no apparent reason. Annabeth figured it was a combination of sleep deprivation, and, well, everything's funnier at midnight when you're with friends. There was also a small incident in which Percy's pant leg was on fire, but it was extinguished in a hasty manner.
When Percy dozed off at three AM, she decided it was probably time to get him home before he was really asleep and she couldn't wake him up. The group dispersed, each and every one of them giving Annabeth a hug, which made her feel accepted into their crew. Grover helped Annabeth lug Percy to the car, since he was adamant about not fully waking up, and Nico said he'd catch a ride home with one of the others.
By the time they managed to get Percy into the passenger seat, he was mildly awake. He found Annabeth's keys in his pocket and handed them over, buckling his seatbelt and leaning his seat back. When she settled into the driver's seat, he reached forward and tapped her shoulder. "Hey, did you have fun?"
She smiled. "Yeah, it was great."
"You aren't just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No, really, I had fun. It was the most fun I've had in a while, actually," she confessed. He smiled sleepily at her, and Annabeth had a small girly moment in which her mind screamed, 'Jesus Christ, sleepy boys are cute.'
"I'm glad you had fun," he told her as she started her car. "They love you, you know. You fit right in."
Annabeth smiled softly with the feeling of acceptance. "Do they really think we had sex?"
Percy snorted. "Probably. I don't really care though, since they think I have sex with everyone. I don't blink when they make jokes about it anymore."
"Do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Have sex with everyone," Annabeth clarified. She braced herself for the answer and prayed that Percy wasn't some disease-ridden playboy.
"Not at all. Just with one girl, and I'd been dating her for three years," he confided.
"So they 'high school heartthrob' vibe I get from you is inaccurate?" she inquired.
Annabeth could almost hear Percy smile when he replied, "I was still the heartthrob. I just wasn't one to sleep around, you know? If that's all you did in high school, I honestly don't know what to say to you. I didn't even have time to read books; much less have sex 24/7."
"Ditto," Annabeth agreed. "Those who do it are quite talented." Percy hummed, showing his sleepy acknowledgement of her statement. "Are you staying with me, or…?"
"I didn't want to impose," Percy divulged, "but I don't really have anywhere else to go at the moment."
"It's perfectly fine," she assured him. "The Hotel A La Chase is at your service."
"Sounds fancy," Percy teased. He paused for a moment before asking, "How… how long do you think it takes to fall in love?" Annabeth shot him a confused look in vain, since his eyes were closed. "I mean… do you think it can just happen? Or does it take a certain amount of time?"
She was quiet, because she wasn't stupid. Annabeth was pretty sure it wasn't just another one of his philosophical questions. "Well, I've heard of love at first sight—"
"I don't want to hear about what you've heard," he interjected. "I want to know what you think."
Annabeth bit her lip and stared at the traffic light, waiting for a green signal. She thought about that first day in traffic and all the other coincidences along the way. She thought about Percy, and the way he saw her and wrote her. She considered the way he was kind-hearted despite all; philosophical yet clueless, and most of the time, confused. And she thought, maybe, love didn't take much time at all. "I think it depends," Annabeth decided, tapping her index fingers on the steering wheel. "It depends on the people involved and fate intervening and the things in between."
Percy sighed loudly, maybe out of irritation, maybe out of relief. He chuckled nervously, then said, "And… us?"
Annabeth's heart stopped beating for a moment and she accelerated when the traffic light allowed her to. "I think we're pretty damn close," she told him softly, copying the words she'd scrawled within his notebook.
He laughed, albeit a bit breathlessly, and he wished he would have chosen to have this conversation when he wasn't so tired. "Right. Yeah."
"You really think so?"
Percy leaned his seat forward and hesitantly reached out for her hand, holding it as though it were both familiar and completely foreign. "I don't know, Annabe. I'm guessing we'll find out eventually."
And when they finally got to Annabeth's house, and Percy held her hand all the way to the door, she couldn't help but hope they would be finding out sooner as opposed to later.
;;;