A/N: As of right now I'm on track to have another chapter up next Thursday, but a bit of forewarning it's going to be an interesting chapter and have some warnings. I'm not sure exactly how many chapters are left but things are wrapping up so be prepared for things to come to an end in the next couple weeks
The door slamming isn't a good sign, neither are the heavy footsteps or long sigh Percy lets out. She twists, throwing her arm over the well worn couch and watching him shrug off his jacket. He pulls off his shoes as he walks, leaving them where they drop. Annabeth resists the urge to chide him, reminding herself that she's not his girlfriend and, as much time as she's been spending there, it's not her apartment. Percy drops onto the couch next to her like a bag of bricks, sinking into the broken in cushions.
"I'm going to venture a guess and say it didn't go well." Annabeth tilts forward, waiting for him to spill.
"Ha," he huffs, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.
Several strands wind up sticking out in odd directions, matching his day-old scruff and wrinkled shirt. Her hand instinctively moves to comb it back down but she stops herself, her fingers curling into a fist that settles back on the couch. Percy takes a deep breath, pushing himself further into the cushions.
"We're definitely still fighting and she's definitely still mad."
Annabeth waits for him to continue but Percy just stares at the coffee table.
"That's it?" she pries.
Annabeth needs more detail than that if she's going to figure out her next move.
"Well I tried to explain that it wasn't a big deal but that made her really mad. She started yelling that is was a big deal. That sleeping with someone is a huge deal for people like us."
Annabeth's mind latches onto the statement, trying to dig out what Piper had meant when she'd said that but Percy keeps going.
"And then I got mad and started yelling back that I'm smart enough to make my own choices and can spend time with whoever I want. Then…" Percy trails off, side-eyeing her and swallowing. "Then she said of course I'd say that because I've already fallen for you. Things kind of fell apart after that."
Percy's shoulders drop in defeat, as if all the hope he'd been carrying is draining away.
"Fallen for me? What, she thinks you love me?"
"I don't know, I didn't think to ask. I just argued. I probably made this worse. I'm sorry."
The tone in his voice makes her heart drop into her stomach.
"You don't have to apologize. You weren't the one that ruined her engagement by admitting to her you were sleeping with her best friend." Annabeth can't keep the pain from seeping into her voice.
"You didn't ruin her engagement," Percy says defensively. "And so what if we slept together? Why should Piper get to decide what we do?"
As crappy as the situation is, hearing Percy say that eases some of the weight in her chest, letting her breath again. She moves closer to him on the couch, until her leg brushes up against his.
"Would you still have slept with me if you knew she'd handle it like this?" Annabeth watches his reaction.
It's completely an ambush but she needs to know how he feels about this, what he feels about them. The simplest thing to do is still to end things now, to cut off their agreement and apologize to Piper. It would of course mean admitting that Piper was right, which is something Annabeth is far from eager to do but it would end the fighting. Percy and Piper would go back to being friends, Percy would probably save someone from a fire and they'd fall deeply in love like a Nicholas Sparks novel. That thought tightens her stomach until it feels like a lead weight is sitting on top of it.
"Yeah," Percy says, pulling her from imagining where Percy would be without her around. "I would. I can make my own choices."
There's something in his voice that makes it sound like he's trying to convince himself.
"Why?" He asks, turning towards her. "Do you regret it?"
His worried puppy-dog eyes come out and Annabeth has to keep herself from groaning.
"Yes, Percy. I regret it so much that I keep sleeping with you." She lets the sarcasm drip off of her words.
"So sorry for asking if you enjoy having sex with me," Percy says, mimicking her tone.
"You actually said sex, I'm proud of you."
"Whatever," he groans, using his elbow to shove her.
Annabeth smirks despite the fact she's facing a catch-22 situation here. Either she keeps up her deal with Percy and alienates Piper, or ends her deal and loses her friendship with Percy. Neither is an acceptable choice in her mind, she doesn't like choosing if she can have both options.
Percy grabs the TV remote, changing the channel from the documentary Annabeth was watching and finding something more to his tastes. After he picks out a show he leans towards her, his weight settling against her shoulder. Annabeth waits for him to say anything, do anything, but he stares straight ahead at the TV. She scans the parts of them that touching, thighs, hips, shoulders and lets the gentle pressure sink in. It startles her that this isn't new for them, whenever they're together now it's inevitable that this is where they'll end up. Any space between them is quickly closed.
She glances around his apartment, trying to figure out when exactly she started feeling so at home here. It's not that she feels she has any claim to the space, it's still very much Percy's, but she feels welcome here.
There's a nagging pull at the back of her mind, the words from earlier still being turned over by the gears in her head. Piper had said he'd already fallen for her, Piper who's been friends with Percy for years, thinks he's in love with her. The warning lights start going off, this is the thing she was worried about. They have rules about this, an agreement that things aren't serious between them. That things won't be serious between them and Percy knew that coming into this. She also has an agreement with Piper, a promise Annabeth had made that she wouldn't let things get this far and that if they did she'd end things with Percy.
The more she thinks about this, examines their relationship, the stronger that nagging pull grows. This isn't a date, it has nothing to do with Annabeth teaching Percy anything, but here they are. She's spent the day at his apartment, sitting on his couch waiting for him to get back.
That pull becomes tangible, a radiating pressure that flows down her spine and nestles itself in her shoulders. The weight that she'd managed to shed earlier comes back, settling on her ribs and stifling her lungs. As much as she wants to ignore it, to tuck it away and say it doesn't matter, a voice tells her there's more to deal with than an angry friend.
"So what's the plan?" Percy asks, his voice lighthearted.
Annabeth stares at him a second, searching for the answer to all of this. To the solution she's adamant exists, the one that will let her keep him.
"I'm not sure yet," she says softly.
Annabeth stares straight ahead as she walks, the people shoving past her are blurs that she registers but ignores. The noise of the city helps distract her, meshing together to become a white noise that her brain instinctively turns down to a low hum. It's another task for her mind to work on besides scrutinizing her relationship with Percy.
Which is the reason why she's spending her evening wandering the streets of Manhattan. She'd planned on doing this at home in the comfort of her apartment where she could take her time but there'd been too many remnants of him. His smell lingers on her pillows and sheets, his clothes lie on the floor of her closet. She tells herself she needs a clear head to handle all of this and that stepping away from him only makes her more objective. It's been a week since she's talked to him but somehow he still lingers on her skin.
She can't help but pick over their last few 'dates,' pulling them apart and examining every interaction, every word said and little touch, trying to figure out what they really are. The farther she goes back the more she sees the change in Percy. His touches linger longer, are softer, less hesitant. Everything he does screams of an intimate relationship, of something more than even a friendship. Which is a massive issue, one that should require her to cut ties and walk away but that's easier said than done.
While one part of her flags every small sign Percy's in deeper than he should be and blares a warning, another part refuses to listen. It tells her this can be shifted, steps can be taken to get things back on course. It's just a matter of shifting the dynamic again, this time away from a scenario where he confesses his love to her. Annabeth runs through what she knows of relationships and psychology, sorting through the information she's gathered for herself over the years. There's something she read once about dependency, how people often substitute one dependency for another. The answer that comes to her isn't one she wants.
The goal of this, of them starting this whole thing, was to get Percy dating ready. To prepare him for the real thing with someone else, someone that isn't as stubborn or prideful. Someone that can give him the committed, healthy relationship with a big wedding, a picket fence, and the two and a half kids he wants. To prepare him for someone that isn't her.
She can't say she deserves any right to claim him, she's the one that didn't want him, but Percy spending time with someone else, dating someone else, being with someone else is too much for her to handle. The thought of his lips pressed to someone else's, his hands on them, the small noises he makes being caused by someone else, causes her fists to clench and mind to spin. This is what causes Annabeth to admit she's made a misjudgement.
She can see she's made a shift too. When this arrangement started the questions were poised, directed at getting him used to be under the magnifying glass and comfortable with someone wanting more of him. Now, they're for her own interests. Little details she craves to know about him, things that could be played off as dating banter but are more than that. When she presses herself against him at night it's more than sex, more than the need for an orgasm. She needs him, his groans and curses. She uses her hands, her mouth, her everything to pull the little whines and whispered words from him, until it's her name on his lips.
Annabeth takes a deep breath and curses herself. If she wasn't so stubborn, so fixated on winning and having it all she could have fixed this before it came a problem. Instead of admitting what was happening and building one relationship she's nearly ruined three, but there's a way to fix this and she knows what it is. All she has to do now is convince him she's worth it.
