Hey guys, so here's the new chapter. I did some revision with the storyline a bit, and since Piper played like a nonfactor role earlier, I took her out completely and put her in here now. Now Jason has a little more definition as a character as well. This chapter was actually really fun to write as well. I was also thinking about changing the timeline of the story a bit, so that Thalia and Jason went out over Winter break, instead of Spring break, so I could add Piper to the school, but that would involve a lot of edits. So maybe not. I don't know. I thought about it. Anyway, new chapter. Enjoy.
Rick Riordan owns these characters.
Loud pounding on the dorm room door causes Annabeth to wake with a start. She yawns and stretches, before looking down and noticing Percy hasn't woken up from the person's insistent knocking. Groaning, she stands up and throws on the nearest hoodie – Percy's swin team hoodie. Slowing making her way over to the door, she yawns again and unlocks it. Turning the doorknob slightly, she catches a glimpse of black and blue before Thalia bursts through the door and is already at her desk, munching on her pretzels.
"Good morning Thals, I missed you too" Thalia looked up at Annabeth's words before smirking. She mumbled out her response with a mouth full of salt.
"So how was your trip? Did you get to do anything fun with mommy dearest?" Thalia laughed at her question before leaning back more in the chair.
"Nah, she spent the first few days drinking into oblivion. Me and Jase had fun going out though." Annabeth plopped down in Percy's chair as Thalia spoke, turning the bag of pretzels her way so she could eat some as well.
Thalia talked about all the things her and Jason did over the break, like go out to this club – all ages club of course – and she met this guy. She refused to tell Annabeth his name though, saying some excuse about how she'd probably never see him again so what's the point? She mentioned how after like 4 days, their mother finally stopped drinking and they went out for dinner and had one of the best nights ever.
Annabeth just watched as her bestfriend lit up as she talked. Revelling in hearing her week was all in all really good. Then she turned the ball on her.
"So how was your week Ms. Lonerladyboner?" Annabeth laughed at the nickname, having been given it the first year Thalia found out Annabeth stayed at school most breaks.
"Break was break. Homework, binge watching Arrow, nothing too big happened." Thalia looked sceptical for a second, Annabeth's heart rate sped up slightly.
"So what about hottie body over there? Is he even still alive?" She turned her head to look at who Thalia was pointing at and realized Percy was indeed still sleeping.
"Yeah he's alive. He could sleep through world war 3 and not move an inch." Thalia laughed at her remark, shoving another handful of pretzels in her mouth. "As for how he is, I don't know." Thalia looked at Annabeth expectantly. She just shrugged.
"Well did he go back to New York or anything?" Annabeth shook her head at the question, looking anywhere but at Thalia.
"Waitwaitwait. He stayed here, in your room, with you, all alone, for the entire week?" Thalia said the question slow, as if processing it herself as she asked. Annabeth just shrugged before nodding. Not trusting her own voice.
"Well did anything happen?! Come on! Give me the details." Thalia was scooting closer with the chair, leaning in expecting a feature length story.
"Nothing happened Thals." Thalia looked unconvinced, threatening to tickle her if she refused to answer the question honestly. When Annabeth didn't budge, Thalia reached out her arms and began assaulting Annabeth's sides. She screamed and laughed, trying and failing to get away from her bestfriend.
As she finally got away and could catch her breath, she heard a low chuckle from behind her. With her back to the bunkbeds, she knew exactly who laughed. Turning around sheepishly, she shot out an apology for waking up Percy.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." He chuckled again, stretching out his limbs as Annabeth sat herself back in his chair.
"Good morning Thals, how was your trip?" Thalia finally spoke up, giving him the same rundown she gave Annabeth, thoroughly keeping out the guy she met at the club.
"Sounds like you had fun. I assume Jason's in your room?" Thalia nodded her response, picking up a pretzel and breaking it into pieces before shoving bits of it in her mouth. Annabeth shot her a questioning look but Thalia just shrugged.
"Are you going to head over there for the day?" Percy stood at Annabeth's question, smiling slightly.
"Yeah, I might as well get some fun out of this break." He padded over the where she sat, leaning down so his face was lined up with hers. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Thalia looked baffled. Annabeth just shied away, looking down. Percy's hand reached out and lifted her chin up as he caught her lips with his. They kissed for a few seconds before Percy pulled away, smiling. Then he straightened, and retreated to the bathroom to get ready.
Annabeth's face was about every shade of red and pink you could imagine. She looked everywhere but at Thalia, knowing full well the question fest Percy just got her into.
"Holy shit. What happened to your rules woman?" Annabeth just shrugged, playing with the sleeves of the hoodie she wore. It smelled like Percy, sea salt and chlorine. Not entirely sure how both those smells can work, but they do.
"So wait, when did this happen?" Again Annabeth shrugged before Thalia threw a pillow at her face.
"Fine ok, it started like, Friday?" Thalia gasped.
"Like, you spent the whole week kissing and other stuff or are you talking about the Friday that legit just passed?"
"The Friday that just passed."
"Damn, I was kinda hoping for some kiss and tell stories. Or more and tell, if you know what I mean." Annabeth's face heated up again.
"Nothing happened. We've literally kissed like twice now." Thalia just shrugged.
"So you and hottie body eh? How you feel about that?" Annabeth took a minute to think about the question before sighing.
"He makes me feel safe. And happy." Thalia smiled at her words, opening her arms wide. Annabeth just leaned forward and let her bestfriend hug her.
"If he does anything wrong, or hurts you in ANY way, I will personally kick his ass. Alright?" Annabeth laughed at her words, squeezing her a little harder in response.
As they pull away the bathroom door opens slightly, a weary looking set of green eyes poking out. His eyes landed on Annabeth's, asking a silent question as he looked between her and Thalia quickly. She just giggled at him and nodded. He visibly relaxed and pulled the door completely open this time. He had on some sweats, but that was it. His exposed chest was all toned muscle, tanned skin and washboard abs. Annabeth had to admit, Percy wasn't too much of an eyesore to stare at.
And staring she was doing.
"Yo Chase, you got a little drool, right there" At her bestfriends remark, Annabeth quickly looked away, mortified. She felt strong arms wrap around her waist from behind, and then Percy was whispering in her ear ever so quietly.
"You can stare more tonight" The sultry tone in his voice when he said that caused heat to flare in every ounce of her body, filling her to the brim of awkward tension residing inside her. She squeaked out a response as he let out a lot chuckle and detached from her body. She took a minute to calm her speeding heart rate before turning around to face to two people in her room. Much to her dismay, Percy appeared to have found a random shirt he must've picked up from the floor.
"Alright, I'll leave now. Girl talk can commence." Percy blurted out after a couple minutes of awkward silence. Before he left though, he rushed over and planted a soft kiss on her cheek and smiled. "See you after Wise girl."
After his body was fully retreated from the room and the door sufficiently shut and locked, Annabeth let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Noticing it was rather quiet, she turned to face Thalia – who had finished the bag of pretzels. Now she was just staring at Annabeth with a knowing smile, not saying a word.
"What?"
"Oh nothing."
"Bullshit."
"Language young lady. I might have to call Percy back to wash your mouth out." Annabeth's face heat up like a scorching fire was behind her skin as Thalia just winked.
Silence filled the room again as Thalia just smiled and watched Annabeth struggle.
"You really like him, don't you?" Annabeth looked up at the question, pondering for a few minutes.
Yes. "I don't know." Thalia sighed at the response, standing up and walking over to Annabeth.
"Don't lie Chase, I can see it in your face. Something happened this week while I was gone. And you may not be forthcoming of the details yet, I will find out."
"What makes you so sure it was just this week something happened?" Thalia scoffed at her words.
"Because you've been ignoring him since he stepped up and tried helping you with Luke." Annabeth was getting a bit frustrated now.
"I haven't been ignoring anyone! I've been doing my work."
"Annabeth stop. I'm not the bad guy here, I'm just curious." She looked away from Thalia's face at the remark, ignoring the voice yelling at her in her head. "Something happened"
She just let out a breathy laugh, "Yeah, something did"
"Good, I just want to know if this is real so I can make the necessary arrangements to commit murder if he hurts you."
"Thank you Thals"
After a suffocating hug, they break apart and plop down on Percy's bed, reaching for the controller.
"Now lets binge watch the first season of Vampire Diaries. I need an Evil Damon fix." Annabeth just smiled, and turned on the show without a word.
-oOo-
"What's up bro?" Jason asked Percy as he emerged from the door.
"Nothing much man, how was your trip?"
"It was good. Our mom was drunk for the first few days we were there, so me and Thals just went out and explored a bit."
"Sounds like you had fun though, meet any pretty girls?" Jason's face lit up at the question, but he just smiled and looked down.
"Yeah I guess you could say that." Percy laughed, and kept prodding.
"What's her name?"
"Piper."
"That's a pretty name. Where'd you meet her?"
"At this club me and Thals went to, it was all ages. For all I know she's like 15." He let out a shaky laugh at the statement.
"Did you spend any more time with her before you left?"
"Yeah, we went out for coffee the next day. She gave me her number to text her, but I don't know man, what would I say?" Percy just shook his head smiling.
"Why not start with hi? Do it right now."
"I don't know man, what about Annabeth?" Confusion coursed through Percy for a minute before he remembered Jason's crush on Annabeth.
"About that.."
"Oh god what happened. Is she ok? She didn't do anything bad, did she?" Fear and worry were evident on Jason's features as he quickly asked the question.
"She's fine. More than fine actually."
"What do you mean?" Percy sighed at the question.
"Her and I are kind of a thing now" Percy watched as Jason's face fell.
"Oh."
"Hey man, it kind of just happened. I ended up staying here all week, and things kinda just took off." Disappointment filled Jason's face, but he physically shoved it down and smiled weakly.
"But hey, you should text Piper. Your face lit up like the northern lights just talking about her." Jason smiled a bit more genuinely at Percy's remark, sighing.
"I don't even know where she is now. Her dad moves around a lot, so for all I know she could be across the country." Percy just laughed, pointing at Jason's unlocked phone.
"Then text her, and find out. You doofus." Jason let out a shaky laugh, and moved his fingers over the screen.
"Ok done. Now we wait."
"Nope. Now we game out and kill time. I think your sister stole Annabeth for the day, so I'm stealing you." Jason laughed fully at this, shaking his head.
Just as Percy stood to turn the xbox on and grab the controllers Jason's phone pinged, signalling the message he received. He looked up quickly at Percy. Laughing, Percy just threw himself onto the beanbag chair beside Jason and grabbed his phone. Handing it to the flustered male in front of him, he continued to laugh.
"Dude just read it."
Jason let out a shaky breath before nodding and looking down at his phone. As his eyes scanned the screen a smile lit up his features, reaching his eyes instantly. He typed out a response and locked his phone again and turned to Percy expectantly. Percy just raised a brow.
"Ready to get your ass beat at Naruto?" Percy just laughed again, handing the controller to his friend.
"I figured we could finally beat Halo on legendary." Jason shook his head, and his phone pinged again. Quickly grabbing it, he read the screen and smiled again.
Oh boy.
They continued to play, constantly interrupted by Jason's phone pinging every now and then, signalling his conversation with Piper was going well. Every time it went off Percy would smile, and look at his friend. Watching him so full of life over a text message made him laugh a few times as well.
After a few hours of continuous play, and constant texts, Percy finally asked the question he was thinking for awhile.
"So whens the date?" Jason's head shot up, face tinged with red.
"uh, I don't know. I haven't asked her yet." Percy just shook his head before snatching Jason's phone.
"Hey Piper, it's Jason. Remember me? Jason hi, yes I remember you (: Oh good, how are you?" Jason tried and failed to get his phone from Percys' hands as he read out the string of messages. Laughing, he handed the phone back to the frantic Jason.
"Dude, just ask her out. Well I mean, ask where she is first. If she's within driving distance, then ask her out." Jason sighed, before typing out another message on his phone. Percy glanced over Jason's shoulder, looking at the message.
"what if she is like, in New york or something?" Percy just shrugged. Jason's phone pinged again. Jason looked down to read it, before looking up at Percy again, looking slightly happy but also nervous.
"What?"
"She's in Salt lake city for a few months."
"Dude, that's like a 2 hour drive from here. That's not that far at all." Jason smiled, before his smile dropped.
"What if she says no?" Percy sighed again.
"Why would she say no? Just ask her out." Jason looked down at his phone again before typing out a message. Percy glanced over at the clock on one of the desks in the room, it read 8:56pm. His phone pinged again, and he quickly unlocked it. Instantly his face lit up, and Percy knew she said yes.
"This Saturday, we're going out for coffee." Percy just smiled, patting Jason on the back.
"See? Nothing went wrong, so don't worry so much. Anyway, I should go. I still have a bit of homework to finish, and I have swim practice in the morning." Jason grunted in response, clearly distracted by his phone. Percy laughed, and head for the door. As he closed Jason's door, he sighed.
"Well looky here, if it isn't mama's boy." Instantly Percy grit his teeth together.
"Go to hell Castellan." He quickly crossed the hallway, ignoring whatever else Luke tried to say to him. As he got in the room, he slammed the door shut and leaned his head against it, trying to calm his breathing. He flinched as a hand was placed on his back, spinning quickly and grabbing it. Annabeth gasped.
"Shit, I'm sorry." Percy's face dropped, he shifted his hand so his fingers entwined with hers.
"Whats wrong?"
"Nothing, just an asshole trying to rile me up." Annabeth looked confused, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"God you're beautiful." Annabeth's face went red instantly, and Percy realized he said that out loud.
"Oh, my bad. I meant to say that in my head." He looked away from her face, embarrassed. Her hand reached out and moved his face to look at hers. She was smiling, eyes shining intently. Without thinking, he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips, admiring the feeling of them on his own.
"I'll be you, let's trade shoes just to see what it'd be like to feel your pain, you feel mine. Go inside each other's minds just to see what we find. Look at shit through each other's eyes, but don't let 'em say you ain't beautiful"
Annabeth smiled, tears welling up in her big grey eyes as Percy sang out the words, never looking anywhere but into her eyes. When he finished, she stood on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his.
"I love you."
