Chapter Eleven
"Soulmates are muses. The people in your life you despise, disrespect, and desire the most."
-Coco J. Ginger
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Percy feels like Death.
He wakes up with an aching neck and an inclination that today will not be a very good one.
But he gets up anyway; grumbling and yawning and hissing at the light, but he's up nonetheless.
When he walks into the living room, Jason is leaning on the counter sipping a cup of coffee, and Nico sits on the couch, eating cereal and watching The News.
"God, Nico, why are you watching that so early?" Percy sits next to him, shoving his hair out of his eyes to see what Aphrodite has to offer them at seven in the morning.
"Now," the glittery show host says with a sickening smile. "As you all know, our favourite topic of discussion on our show here, right now, is Percy Jackson and the mysterious unknown tale of his soulmate."
Nico snorts. "Sounds like a fantasy novel."
Percy would smack the back of his head, but he's too tired to move, and he has a feeling that if he did, Nico would 'accidentally' pour his entire bowl of cereal all over Percy.
"Well, today, since we don't have much more information yet, we'll be doing a recap on everything we've learned." She clears her throat. "Percy Jackson is an Olympic swimmer with two silver medals and one gold in his possession, so as we all should know, Mr. Jackson has to show off a considerable amount of skin. But, something that has been neglected to show is his soulmate marks." A series of pictures show up of Percy at his swim meets, in not much clothing but a small speedo. Some pictures show him after competitions with a towel around his waist and his smiling cousins at his sides.
Nico yelps into his cereal. "Look, Jason! We're famous! Aphrodite knows who we are."
Jason glances up and sees a picture of the three of them posing after Percy won his gold medal. "Neat. Mom will be proud."
The screen goes back to Aphrodite's face and Nico shooshes Jason. "Well, we can certainly say that Percy has some attractive friends," she winks.
Nico chokes on his cereal.
Aphrodite continues. "Though, of course, our main concern is whether or not Percy Jackson has a soulmate. In rare cases, people are simply born without soulmates, or sometimes their soulmate dies and the mark fades. So that brings us to this, Percy Jackson, if you're watching, save us the dramatics, honey. Tell us about your soulmate." She flashes a smile and the channel changes to a car commercial.
Percy stands up and rubs the sleep from his eyes. "I certainly won't be doing that."
Jason shifts awkwardly in his position, putting his phone down and avoiding eye contact, he asks, "What did you say was your soulmates name, again?"
Percy makes a face at his cousin and digs through the fridge for the milk. "I didn't, actually. How did you know I know her name?"
Jason sips his coffee. "I guessed. So, what's her name?"
Nico snorts from the couch, "If you're trying to be inconspicuous about something, then I'll have you know, you're failing miserably."
Percy picks out some Frosted Flakes from the cupboard. Smiling, he says, "Her name is Annabeth."
It feels strange on his tongue, being the first time he's said it out loud, but he likes it more than any other name.
Jason smirks. "Nice name."
Percy frowns at his oddly acting cousin.
Nico, though, spits out his cereal. "Her name is Annabeth?"
Percy nods.
Nico throws his head back and laughs loudly. "That's awesome!"
Jason smirks.
Nico laughs.
Percy wants in on the joke.
He starts creating his cereal. Of course, the Frosted Flakes first, then milk. "What's so funny? Do you guys know someone named Annabeth?" He hopes the desperation in his voice isn't as desperate as it actually is.
Nico stops laughing, though he sniggers into his cereal. Jason shrugs and sips his coffee. "Maybe, sounds familiar. But then again, I've met a few people named Anna and Beth, so…"
Nico drinks the milk out of his cereal bowl and Percy has to look away so he doesn't throw up. "How was your date last night, Jason? I was asleep when you got back," Nico states. He puts the bowl on the coffee table and disappears from the cousins' sight as he lays down on the couch.
Jason snorts. "Yeah, I saw you asleep on the couch."
Nico rolls his eyes. "How was your date?"
Jason shrugs, an odd expression on his face. "It was nice."
Percy quirks an eyebrow. "Nice?"
He shrugs again. "Well, she's great, you know. Super smart and funny. Beautiful, too. The straps on her shoes, the diamonds on them, were falling off-"
"If you're gonna complain, don't even say anything," Nico interrupts.
Jason sighs. "It was perfect. She is perfect."
"But…" Percy prods.
"Reyna Ramirez."
Nico groans. "Forget about her, oh my god!"
Percy rolls his eyes and faces Jason. "So what about your soulmate?"
Jason, wide-eyes, gestures wildly, he bursts out: "Piper is not Reyna!"
"Obviously," Nico grumbles.
"She's not my soulmate."
"What does that matter, Jason?" Percy starts eating his cereal, fed up with Jason's inability to explain himself.
"You have to end up with your soulmate. It's honestly a lost cause if I just date Piper when the person who I'm made to be with is out there."
Nico sighs from the couch. "You're the lost cause here, Jason."
Percy sighs, putting his spoon down to face the blond. "Do you like Piper?"
Jason nods. "Yeah, a lot."
"How much?"
"A lot."
Percy sighs. "That's not what I was asking. Jason, how much do you like Piper?"
"Ten out of ten."
Nico laughs. "He's supposed to be in law school! God, Jason."
Percy rolls his eyes for probably the eighth time that morning. "How far do you want to take things with Piper?"
Jason sighs. He runs his hands through his hair and bows his head for a minute before looking up and saying, "After just the one date?" He laughs. "Gods, I wanna marry her."
(line break)
It's a Saturday, so Piper and Annabeth don't leave the apartment for anything.
They wake up on their small balcony outside. Annabeth feels positively hot because not only is she wearing sweatpants and a blanket, but for some reason, the sun beams down warmer than any other day in February.
Annabeth sets up The News as Piper gets coffee. Aphrodite recaps Percy Jackson's soulmate business and Piper playfully whistles when the pictures of him come up. Though, she swallows it when a picture of Jason, Percy, and Nico pops up. Piper sips her coffee and hums. "I would take one fully clothed Jason over a thousand almost naked Percy Jacksons anyday."
Then after Aphrodite finishes her small recap, the channel changes to a car commercial. "Do we have anything to do today?" Piper asks.
Annabeth leans back and thinks. She went grocery shopping the other day, work and classes don't start up again until Monday, so they don't have anything to do. Unless they decide to be productive and get the mail, but that's unlikely. Annabeth stays quiet, though, drinking in the atmosphere. Piper scrolls on her phone, the t.v. is muted during the commercial break, the entire apartment smells like early morning fresh air and rich coffee. The arm of the couch is uncomfortable as she lays on it, but she isn't bothered enough to move.
"No," Annabeth says, a content smile on her face, "we don't have anything to do today."
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Around noon, Annabeth gets a message from her soulmate.
Her and Piper are watching the end of Into the Woods because right after is yet another Harry Potter marathon and they aren't going to miss that for the world. They lay on the couch, each of their feet in the others lap, a blanket laying over it, and a bowl of hot popcorn on top of that, untouched. (They're saving it for the movie.)
You ever wonder if we've run into each other before?
Annabeth frowns. She picks up the pen laying on the coffee table and responds: Not until now.
She thinks. If they do live in New York, it's a possibility they've run into each other, though, with her luck, Annabeth highly doubts it. Her life isn't a cute, romantic love story.
What do you look like?, he asks. She writes him back, because she figures that it's only fair to tell him what she looks like since she knows what he looks like.
I have blonde hair. Grey eyes? I have no idea how tall I am, maybe an inch taller than average.
She writes small enough to leave space for his response, though none came.
Annabeth doesn't think much of it, he's probably busy, though he's acting a bit oddly.
(line break)
After the whole waffle-fiasco, Percy doesn't have the inspiration to leave the apartment. Both Jason and Nico had left hours ago for work, leaving Percy to fend for himself.
Percy goes into that state of boredom where everything that normally seems extremely interesting, is all of a sudden mind-numbing. He's not sure exactly what to do at this point, so he writes to his soulmate in his dark bedroom and eventually (and accidentally) falls asleep.
(line break)
hello hello there
i feel so evil for this chapter and i'm not even sorry
but i am very very very sorry because i can't do review responses this chapter, unfortunately this week has been very busy and last night i was turning in my history essay at 11pm and i thought that maybe? getting a little bit of sleep would be nice? so i apologize for that
no worries, i will respond to all your reviews next chapter. pinky swear
anyway
things are heating up! jason knows, but didn't tell percy????? hmmmmmmmmmmm... and now nico knows too? whaaat?
like i said i feel so evil for this chapter and you guys don't even know
anyway have a great day!
(that was a bit cynical wasn't it?)
- Leigh