Chapter 10

"Six months since I went away
And now you're saying everything has changed
But tomorrow I'll be coming back to you"

- Close As Strangers, 5 Seconds Of Summer

Annabeth Chase and Demigods Frontman Percy Jackson dating?

Yesterday, two of the hottest young celebs at the moment sparked dating rumours when photos leaked online of them having an afternoon out. They were both decked out in large black clothing, as trying to disguise themselves, and paparazzi pictures show them having a picnic at a park and then going for pizza at Frederico's. Chase even posted a picture of the meal on her Instagram, captioning it "the frightened look of the staff when i asked if i could stand on a chair was completely worth how brilliant this picture came out (percy would have been in it but his shirt didn't fit the colour scheme)".

This isn't the first two have made headlines about their apparent love life. The first was the infamous fall at the TCAs, after fans had been quick to notice that Jackson had helped Chase up and made sure she was okay and also that mere minutes after she had taken her tumble he fell down the stairs of the stage, and the second was at a concert when Jackson had dedicated a song "Apologise" to someone he claimed was "a cow and [you] overreacted but [you're] also pretty cool", which many fans speculate to be Chase. Then there was also the fan Q&A Jackson's band The Demigods held at a recent concert in Michigan, where a fan asked, "How do you know Annabeth Chase?" and Jackson had taken it upon himself to answer.

We have no other reason to believe these two are dating but we can sure hope they are.

Okay, so maybe they're running a little late.

It's honestly not a big deal. Percy doesn't know why Thalia is flapping so much. He considers telling her to stop getting her knickers in a twist before realizing that if he did she'd probably get her knickers and twist them right around his throat, so instead he decides to keep quiet.

It's probably for the better. Percy saw Thalia's knickers this morning and he's pretty sure they had Care Bears on them but with Thalia even Care Bears can be terrifying.

"This is ridiculous," she seethes. "You promised me, promised, that after the Teen Choices you wouldn't stay watching Netflix until five minutes before the time we're meant to leave, and now, when we have maybe the biggest interview of our lives, you do just that?"

"We weren't watching Netflix," Nico says crossly, wriggling his socks on. The van takes a particularly fantastic lurch and he slams into the door, head-first. "Ah, dammit. We were actually getting our clothes ready."

"For half an hour?" Thalia demands.

"Percy was having a crisis," Nico says. "He couldn't decide between blue or black jeans."

"Are you serious?"

Percy pouts a little, because he's not necessarily wrong but also they had blood sworn they wouldn't tell Thalia that and now he just went and broke the blood swear and Percy's not quite sure what the rules are for that sort of thing but he reckons it's something serious. Nico should sleep with one eye open, or it'll be his blood. "It only took a few minutes," he says. "And anyway, it was a good decision."

Thalia scowls down at his legs. Her fire seems to be gone, because there's nothing left to do now but pray the traffic isn't atrocious, but because she's always been extraordinarily petty she mutters, "You should have gone with the blue."

Percy rolls his eyes. He knows the black jeans were a win. He even sent a picture of them to Annabeth, who had approved.

(Annabeth: should i be worried that this isn't the first time you've sent me a random picture of a body part

Percy: the black jeans work right

Annabeth: what was the other option

Percy: blue

Annabeth: ...try the blue on for a sec

Percy: ANNABETH)

"Are we nearly there, Argus?" Thalia calls tensely to the driver.

He gives her a thumbs-up.

"Good." She settles back against her seat, her leg jittering slightly. "God, if we're late..."

"We won't be," Nico promises. "We're so early I'm getting changed in this car."

"You're getting changed in the car because we're so late."

"Tomato, tomahto." The car lurches again and Nico hits his head on the window. "Ah, crap, Argus, can you warn me?"

"You deserved that," Thalia mutters darkly.

The rest of the drive goes smoothly. Thank heavens, the traffic isn't awful, so they make it there only a few minutes late as opposed to half an hour, which was how late they had left (listen, the jeans matter was important; if what Thalia said was true and this was going to be one of their biggest interviews to date then he had to look good for it, didn't he?). Argus drops them off at the front and then drives off to find parking, and Thalia tears down the road to the office block where their interview is taking place. Percy jogs after her, and, a few feet behind him, lags Nico.

("My jeans are so tight I can barely breathe, let alone walk," Nico explains later.

Thalia eyes him. "...That's because those are my jeans, Nico."

"Ah.")

They arrive just in the nick of time. Their interviewer is talking to one of their stagehands, and when they finally spill onto set his eyes land on them and his whole face brightens. "The Demigods!" he cheers, like they're champions or something. "I thought you weren't going to show up!"

Thalia shakes his hand. "Neither did I, to be honest," she admits. "These losers took a while."

"But I look good," Percy mutters to himself. "And we arrived. So whatever."

The only person who hears is Nico, who snorts.

The interviewer's name is Tantalus ("Tarantula?" Nico says) and he's one of the hardest things for Percy to look at. He's wearing a bedazzled fluorescent orange suit with gold lapels and snakes sewn along the hems of his blazer and his trousers (they're bellbottom oh God) and he smells of expensive grass and chicken wings. He spits when he laughs and when Percy shakes his hand it's so sweaty Percy's hand comes away wet, and he's glancing at Thalia in a way Percy isn't massively fond of.

If this is going to be their biggest interview, Percy kind of pities all the smaller radio stations they've chatted to. There are an abundance of bubbly talk show hosts Percy could list that deserve the fame and recognition Tantalus has.

Also with much better fashion sense. Even his hair is disgusting.

Because they arrived so late, there isn't a lot of time to prep. Mr D comes bumbling in and tells Tantalus all the subjects and questions to avoid, and then the audience have come back from their toilet breaks and the cameras and lights are being switched on and then there's a countdown and suddenly, "You're live!"

"Hello!" Tantalus roars, and the front couple of rows cheer. Percy reckons they've all been arranged most excited to least, because the front rows look like they're about to give Tantalus a standing ovation and the back rows look positively bored. Percy feels quite the same. "Hello, yes, welcome! We are back today with special guests, The Demigods!"

The cameras pan to them. They all give tentative smiles and waves. Percy is pretty sure they're all equally as repulsed by Tantalus as he is, and he feels a surge of fondness. Great minds think alike, as they say.

"How are you feeling tonight?" Tantalus asks, leaning close. Somehow it ended up with Tantalus in his seat and from closest to furthest away from him being Thalia, Percy, Nico and suddenly Percy feels quite sick because he's leaning remarkably close to Thalia and she looks severely put off.

"Um," Percy says. "We're good, yeah."

"That's great!" Tantalus says, smiling extra wide. He bares all his teeth, like he's about to take a bite out of them. "Now, let's talk about the new album, shall we?"

They all nod.

"It's such a brilliant album," Tantalus gushes. "It's just– so full of emotion. When I listened to it I nearly cried because of how sad it all was. Was it hard to write?"

Percy opens and closes his mouth. Tantalus definitely has not listened to the album, because he doesn't think there's a sad track on there. Or at least no sad songs sad enough to make someone cry. "Um," he says, deciding not to humiliate him on live TV. "Some parts, yeah."

"Like what? What was the hardest song to write and record?"

Percy flounders and looks over to Thalia and Nico. Luckily, they get the memo. "Like Yesterday was pretty hard," Nico says.

"Why?"

Gosh, this man. Nico looks a little squandered. "Uh," he says. "Because it was– sad?"

Like Yesterday is not a sad song in the slightest. But Tantalus nods and puts a look of faux understanding on his face, as if that was the song he had expected them to mention. Thalia seems to pick up on his train of thought because when Tantalus leans forward to put a hand on Nico's knee and says, "We've all been there with break-ups" a snort escapes her that she poorly disguises as a cough.

Like Yesterday is a pretty ukulele ballad about growing up.

Clearly some of the audience members know this. Mainly the people sitting near the back. One of them actually laughs out loud.

Tantalus doesn't seem to hear this and instead barrels on. "Now, Percy," he says, changing the subject so fast Percy almost gets whiplash. He crosses one leg over the other and his trousers ride up, and Percy sees a flash of canary-yellow socks and what looks like a garish ankle tattoo of the word MOM showing through the material like a stain. "The whole world has been dying to know the answer to this question I'm about to ask."

Percy's eyebrows rise. "Oh yeah?"

He really hopes this isn't going where he thinks it's going. He quickly glances to the side to see Dionysus standing with Argus by the doors, and he doesn't look pleased. Percy had specifically asked Dionysus if he could ask all the interviewers not to mention Annabeth, because a) it's not relevant and b) he wants to have interviews that are about more than just girls, even though he would gladly talk about Annabeth 24/7 if he had the chance.

Dionysus had readily agreed. In fact, he had been the one to suggest it.

("What did I say about dating?"

"We're not dating."

"Percy."

"We're not!")

But Tantalus is grinning like he knows exactly which rules he's breaking. "What exactly is your relationship with YouTuber Annabelle Chase?"

Percy blinks. "You mean– Annabeth?"

"Of course I did!" Tantalus laughs, big and ugly, and he turns to flash the audience a wide sickening grin, like he planned to get her name wrong all along. They eat it up and roar with laughter. "So, what's the answer?"

"We're friends."

"Oh, sure."

"We are."

Tantalus nods, in that condescending way that shows he really doesn't believe Percy at all. "Right. A girl as pretty that – you need to snatch her up immediately!"

Percy forces a grin and laughs half-heartedly along with the crowd. Thalia looks unimpressed and Nico just looks uncomfortable. So much for the "biggest interview of their career". This is definitely the worst interview Percy has ever had to sit through. "Ha ha."

Tantalus beams and then moves onto Thalia and Nico. "What about you? Any action in your love lives?"

Thalia shakes her head. "Not really."

"Oh, shut up!" Tantalus pats her knee, and Percy stiffens. Thalia stares at his hand, aghast. "You're telling me no man has come to snatch you up yet?"

Thalia shakes her head stiffly. "Nope."

"I find that hard to believe. You're downright edible!"

Percy's hand twitches. Thalia gives Tantalus a look so cold it could freeze the Atlantic over – twice – but he is oblivious, giggling along with the crowd, like what he said was hilarious and not creepy as hell. "Yes, well," she says coldly. "Maybe I don't want a man."

"Right," Tantalus says, with another one of those looks. He gives the audience a cheeky smile, like he's breaking the forth wall and the rest of the characters are oblivious to what he's saying. "Women, these days. First Annabeth and now Thalia! Men, make sure to grab onto a woman tight, eh?"

The crowd laughs, but to Percy's relief some people look a bit uncomfortable.

Thalia's hand tightens. "How about we all just treat women with respect."

Tantalus laughs. "Yes, of course! But I will say, my dear, the playing hard-to-get only works for so long." He gives Percy a wink. "I say you sweep that Annabeth girl right off her feet, Jackson. She's a pretty one. Girls like her don't come around often. And hey." He shrugs with a mischievous smirk. "If you don't grab her I might have to instead."

Percy stares at him.

This seems to be all too much for Thalia. She stands up and takes her microphone pack off. "Right, I'm done," she says. "I'm not going to sit through this."

The crowd falls silent.

Dionysus steps forward from the side, his eyes wide. Nico stands up too. He seems unsure of whether to follow or stop her.

Tantalus looks completely bemused and laughs nervously. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Annabeth is nineteen years old," Thalia says firmly. "And so am I. You are forty. Don't you ever, ever, ever think about even breathing around either of us ever again, you perverted creep."

Tantalus begins to look scared. He glances to the side, where the cameras are, and makes a motion across his neck, telling them to stop rolling, and then he looks back at Thalia. "Listen, my dear, this is all a big misunderstanding," he tries, but Thalia shakes her head.

"I'm leaving," she says. She starts picking her way down the stairs. "I'm not going to sit here and let me and my friend be talked about like this any longer."

She storms out the studio. Dionysus groans and chases after her.

The audience shifts, like they're not sure if this is all staged. Tantalus looks absolutely mortified. Good, Percy thinks sagely. If you're going to talk about my potential future girlfriend like she's a piece of meat then we're going to humiliate you on TV.

Nico is wrestling his microphone pack off. He steps out of it and then scurries down the stairs too, following Thalia and Dionysus out the double doors. It's just Percy left, and Tantalus is looking at him desperately, like he's hoping Percy will save what's left of this disaster of an interview. Percy shuffles awkwardly, and then says, "Your suit is really ugly."

He runs out quickly before Tantalus can tell him that he should have worn blue jeans. He realises a few feet into the hallway that he forgot to take his microphone pack off, so, because he's infinitely petty, he darts into the nearest bathroom, rips it off and shoves it in one of the toilets.

He meets the rest of his band outside in the parking lot by their van. Thalia is leaning against it with her arms folded and cool expression on her face, and Mr D looks absolutely furious.

"Why would you do that?" he explodes.

"Did you hear what he was saying?" Thalia demands. "About me, about Annabeth? I wasn't going to sit there and pretend that that was okay!"

"You probably just ruined your career!"

"We ruined his, and rightly so! Why are you angry at me, I did the right thing! He's a creep! He's twenty years older than me! I wasn't gonna let him hit on me like that!"

"Thalia – "

"It's done, anyway," Percy says. "Just leave it, we can't change that."

"Yes, we can," Mr D says sagely. "We'll go in there, tell them to scrap the interview and not post it. We'll bribe the audience members to keep quiet."

"Actually." Nico looks a little sheepish. "All of it got broadcasted on live television."

Mr D practically explodes. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm not sorry," Thalia says harshly. "That scumbag deserved it. Mr D, you can't expect me to sit there and keep quiet when he was saying such hideous things about Annabeth!"

"Annabeth this, Annabeth that!" Mr D shouts. "That girl is causing you nothing but trouble!"

"He was talking about Thalia, too!" Nico cries. "Did you not here what he said? He called her edible. Edible. A forty-year-old man."

Finally, finally, Mr D seems to register how creepy the entire ordeal was. He deflates, but only a little. "Not a word," he spits, "about this. Anywhere. If we play it right we can paint you as heroes, speaking out against sexual harassment." (Not that, you know, that was the entire point of what just happened or whatever.) "But if you ever, ever pull a stunt like this again, you're all fired."

He issues this threat about once a week. They all roll their eyes.

"I'm serious," Mr D says. "This could ruin you. Do not speak a word of this anywhere – especially not on social media."

percyjackson: be this a lesson to you younglings

percyjackson: dont be a creep and a perve, because if you are you WILL be humiliated and live tv and you WILL get your career ruined

percyjackson: (also no he didn't listen to the album in case any of you were wondering)

He also posts a link to the livestream, just to make sure.

(Mr D can suck it.)

Annabeth calls him later that night.

They're all settling into their bunks, ready for the bus to take them to another state, when Percy's phone goes off. Nico mumbles nonsensically about how difficult it is to get sleep around here and Thalia tells him to "do it in the other room for heaven's sake, Jackson" so Percy diligently listens and slips into the back room before answering the call.

It's dark in here. The only light is from Percy's phone and the flash of street lamps every few seconds through the windows, and with a small smile Percy curls onto one of the sofas and pulls a thin blanket over his shoulders.

"Hey," he says.

"Hi," Annabeth says. Her voice is soft. "I saw the interview."

Annabeth always cuts to the chase. Percy smiles wryly at the memory of today's disastrous events. "Ah."

"That was– really sweet of you. What you did."

"I didn't do anything."

"I read your Twitter rant."

Oh. "That's a little embarrassing."

"It was sweet."

"I just– got passionate. He was so creepy. I saw him look at Thalia before the interview and I– felt so sick. He wasn't even meant to bring you up. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I'm glad you stood up to him."

"I told him his suit was ugly."

Annabeth laughs a little. "God, wasn't it?"

"It was even worse in person."

"No wonder you stormed out."

Percy smiles into the receiver. The phone line crackles with static. "I'm sorry again," he says. "For roping you into it all."

"It's fine. Bet the Percabeth shippers are going to have a field day."

"Annabeth."

"Sorry." She sighs. "I just – I felt really gross when I watched that. I saw you all did too. It was making me feel all icky and dirty when he talked about me like that. I was glad that Thalia intervened. It made me feel a bit better."

"If it's any solace, I'm pretty sure we just ripped his career to shreds."

"Good." Annabeth sighs into the reciever. "The way he just touched Thalia made me so uncomfortable I can't even tell you. Can't imagine how she felt."

"Thalia is unbothered. A bit ruffled, I'd reckon, but she's quite tough. All in a day's work for her, I guess. She felt a bit horrid at the beginning, I saw her wriggle a bit in the car on the way back, but she's all good now. I think she's just mainly pleased about how much he's getting online."

"He deserves it."

"I also shoved one of his microphone packs into a urinal."

Annabeth gasps out a laugh. "You did not."

"That one was for you. The suit insult was for Thalia."

"I can't believe you shoved a microphone pack into a toilet in my honour."

"What can I say, I'm a gentleman like that."

Annabeth hums. There's a small pause, and Percy watches the shadows run across the back wall.

"When are you getting back to LA?" she asks.

"Two months."

"Two months."

"Why?"

"I think I owe you a date."

Percy is a little embarrassed by the way he so eagerly sits up. "Really?"

"You defended my honour today against a pervy old man, it's the least I can do."

Percy smiles. "I'll wine and dine you, Chase."

"I'm looking forward to it. Now, get some sleep, rockstar. You've got a show tomorrow."

"Two months."

"Two months."

A/N hello my loves!

believe it or not this chapter was actually meant to be a nice fluffy percabeth chapter but welp things happen and it turned into this sorry pallllls

also a sidenote the song above (close as strangers by 5sos) is quite a good song about the whole percy's on tour/annabeth's not relationship shebang so if any of you felt like getting in the mood for some angsty separated percabeth i'd suggest that

(ALSO TAYLOR SWIFTS NEW ALBUM DROPPED im cheap so im waiting for next Friday when it's being released on spotify and i've heard veryyyy mixed reviews about the whole thing but im excited nonetheless because even lwymmd gets bearable after a few listens so if it's as bad as some people have said then oh well but if its also as good as some people have been saying im PUMPED because WOO TAYLOR MUSIC)

anyway

thank you all so so so much for 138 reviews! im still a little in shock that we reached 100 before chapter 10 so this is all very wonderful i love u all my babes

anyway! as always i do hope you enjoyed whatever this chapter was! please tell me your thoughts and i shall see you next Saturday xx