It started with their joined hands and the sunset.
It was so average, it felt so normal, nothing special. Just one friend helping out another. And yet somehow it changed everything.
"You wanna go see a movie?" Percy's voice asked immediately when she picked up the phone one Saturday, his tone excited and eager.
Annabeth couldn't help but laugh. "You could just text me like a normal person, you know."
"I didn't feel like waiting that long to hear your voice," he teased, and Annabeth giggled again, flopping backwards onto the couch. They had been doing this a lot lately—flirting a little bit, teasing each other.
Annabeth called it friendship. Piper called it sexual tension.
It had been four weeks since the prom. Four weeks, and Annabeth had stopped crying herself to sleep over Luke, deleted all the pictures of him from her camera roll and Instagram, given back the few things of his that she'd collected over the last couple of years. Even though it still hurt, and sometimes all the memories came flooding back to knock Annabeth off her feet, she was starting to get over it.
Her friends helped. Piper was always there with open arms and ice cream, boxes of tissues and endless movies. Thalia and Hazel helped too, and the four girls went around the city replacing the now bitter memories of Luke with better ones.
But surprisingly, it was Percy who helped the most. He was always there for her almost before she could finish typing or hang up the phone. He would drop everything and come to her door with his protective embrace and his faint scent of chlorine and Annabeth couldn't help but relax every time she saw his gentle smile.
She tried her best to help him, too; he had just broken up with Rachel—shouldn't he need just as much comfort as her? Perhaps, she thought, it had been more neutral on their part, not as jarring and humiliating and traumatising as what she had gone through with Luke.
Sometimes she caught Percy staring at her almost wistfully. He always looked away too quickly, and Annabeth wondered if she was reminding him of Rachel in some way. The thought always gave her a little twinge in the pit of her stomach.
"Annabeth?" Percy's voice prompted gently through the phone, and Annabeth started. She had almost forgotten about the boy on the other end of the line.
"Yeah," she mumbled, then cleared her throat. "I'm here."
"So," Percy asked, and Annabeth could hear the smile in his voice. "You wanna go see a movie today? Or tomorrow. Any day, really. I don't have a life."
Annabeth laughed, twirling a curl around her finger. "Please, I'm your life."
"Yeah," he said softly, and there was a touch of something close to sadness in his voice. "You are."
Annabeth picked at her nails, holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear. "We went to the movies last weekend; we should find somewhere new to hang out."
"You've always been the smart one."
It had stared with the coffee shop a couple weeks ago, the day they had dashed through the city streets and held hands on the swing set. The next day Percy texted her early in the morning, and after school they had gone to a movie. It had all snowballed from there. They skipped fourth period and went out for lunch. In the evenings they went to the park and to see movies, and they did their homework at the coffee shop, bonding over algebra and mugs of hot coffee.
One afternoon, he took her to the aquarium, and she got more entertainment watching him fawn over all the colourful fish and sea creatures than watching them herself. He had looked so cute, his palms pressed up against the class and a grin of childish excitement on his face, bouncing from tank to tank. She had taken his hand again that day, between the walls off water and the tiny fluttering fish.
"You're dating," Piper told her one day as they walked home from school, her tone matter-of-fact and her eyebrows raised. "You're dating Percy Jackson and there's nothing you can say to change my mind."
Annabeth kept telling her that it wasn't like that, but even she was starting to wonder now.
Percy's voice over the phone startled her back to reality again. "We have to go out, though. Like, for real this time,"
Annabeth nodded absently like he could see her. They both paused to think.
The line was silent, and Annabeth was enjoying the static she could hear as Percy thought. It was like they were on their own personal wavelength that no one else could join.
"I have an idea," Percy gasped suddenly, and Annabeth jumped, almost dropping the phone. She had started to nod off.
"What, what?" she asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"We could go to the beach! Like when we were kids, remember?"
Annabeth smiled softly, images of crashing waves and sandcastles flooding her mind. "Yeah. Yeah, I loved it there."
"Great," said Percy smugly. "It's a date. Text you the details?"
"Please," Annabeth laughed, and was answered with the soft beep of the phone hanging up. She scoffed, and dropped her phone on the couch behind her, flopping over and covering her face.
It's a date.
"So let me get this straight. You finally have a date—an actual real life date—with Percy Jackson?"
Annabeth blinked and tried not to flush, but she felt the heat creeping up her neck anyways. "I'm telling you Piper, it's not a big deal."
Piper groaned, falling backwards onto to Annabeth's bed. She narrowly avoided kicking Thalia in the face, and Thalia gave a loud exclamation of protest when Piper's socked foot swung past her nose.
"Annabeth, can we go over this reasonably?" Piper asked, her voice muffled. "Percy Jackson, who you have known since you were a baby, who you have been unofficially dating for like, a month, ask you out and it's not a big deal?"
"Well, it's isn't—"
Piper sighed. "Just tell me something honestly, babe. Do you like him?"
"I—" stumbled Annabeth. It was the question that had been swirling around her head in whirlpools for weeks. Percy Jackson. He was always on her mind, and she replayed every conversation they had over and over again, analyzing every tiny thing he said, randomly laughing when she remembered the funny bits. Sometimes she saw him on the back of her eyelids when she closed her eyes, those green eyes, that bright smile. His smile was like sunshine, she thought stupidly one day as he laughed at some unheard joke. It lit up the whole room. "I…"
Piper brought her fingertips up to her lips, her eyes wide with barely contained glee. Beside them, Thalia and Hazel were perfectly silent. "Oh my god, you do. You like him, you really do. You like him a lot."
Annabeth looked down at her feet, twitching her bare toes and examining the cracked polish as intently as she could. "Yes," she admitted softly. "I do."
"Oh Annabeth," whispered Piper sympathetically, but when Annabeth risked looking up her eyes were full of joy.
"It's really not a big deal," insisted Annabeth hoarsely. Her whole face felt hot, and she resisted the urge to fan herself.
"It sure sounds like a big deal to me," said Hazel from where she was sitting on Annabeth's bed swinging her legs and daintily licking an ice cream cone.
Annabeth scowled at her, thankful for the excuse to snap her eyes away from Piper's knowing gaze. "Until you stop eating ice cream on my clean bedsheets, you don't get to venture an opinion."
Hazel simply smirked and continued to eat her ice cream innocently.
Thalia groaned loudly. "You guys are so gross. Couples are gross."
"You have a girlfriend," Piper reminded her, nudging Thalia's head with her foot. Thalia swatted at her. "Which isn't even important right now, because Annabeth has a date and she needs us to help her prepare."
"No!" groaned Annabeth, covering her face with her hands. "Don't, please don't."
Piper picked up one long blonde curl off Annabeth's back and examined it closely. Annabeth shuffled self-consciously; she hadn't washed her hair in about four days, and it was flattened with grease and slightly matted. Piper dropped the strand and prodded Annabeth twice in between the shoulder blades. "Shower. Now."
Annabeth stifled a sigh. "Piper, you can't just…"
"You don't have much time, go, go, go!" Piper yelled, shoving Annabeth towards the bathroom door. She snatched the towel off the back of Annabeth's desk chair and tossed it at her, then pushed her out the door.
Annabeth stalled as long as she could, standing underneath the hot stream of water that dripped down her back and soaked her hair. When the water started to run cold, she finally stepped out of the shower with a resigned huff and headed towards her room, pulling her fluffy bathrobe on and tying it around her waist. Piper actually squealed when she came into the room, and Annabeth cringed. Sometimes Piper's over-enthusiasm was somewhat overbearing.
Piper dashed around Annabeth's room, collecting all the hair products she could find and hoarding bobby pins and hair ties. Annabeth looked at them anxiously. Beside her, Hazel put and arm around Annabeth's shoulder, resting her soft hair against Annabeth's neck. She had to stand on her tiptoes to do so, but her presence was warm and comforting and she smelled like cinnamon.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "I won't let Piper go too crazy on you. You're going to have a wonderful day."
And for once, Annabeth let herself believe her.
Piper and Hazel set to work. First, Piper scrunched in a few of Annabeth's hair products and dried the long, drenched curls with a diffuser. After it was completely dry, she carefully twisted Annabeth's hair into a half-up waterfall braid, letting the free curls fall long and shiny down her back.
Hazel dusted her eyelids with translucent silver, and then put swiped some peach-coloured lip gloss on Annabeth's lips. The two girls danced around her, fluffing and working diligently while Thalia sat on the bed behind them and yawned pointedly.
Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath—all the attention she was getting to her head. It shouldn't be a big deal. She didn't want it to be a big deal, but dammit, it was Percy and he was the biggest deal in her life.
When Annabeth finally snuck a glance in the mirror, she inhaled softly at the reflection. She was still undeniably Annabeth; her friends hadn't changed that. But somehow, she looked younger, prettier… more innocent. Like she hadn't seen the wrong side of the world. She was just a teenager, going on a first date.
Maybe that's all she was.
"I love it," she told Hazel quietly when she leaned over to give Annabeth a hug. "It's beautiful. I look… nice."
"For the record," said Hazel in her ear, "you don't need it."
"We need a dress," Piper called from across the room, where she was rummaging around in Annabeth's closet. "Something that screams casual. Or maybe like, pretty and effortless."
"Because this is completely effortless," said Thalia dryly from where she was lying on Annabeth's bed with her legs dangling and a comic book held over her face. Piper glared at her.
"You're not even helping," she pointed out bossily, and Thalia simply grunted in response. Piper rolled her eyes and continued ransacking Annabeth's closet, tossing old dresses that Annabeth had forgotten she had out onto the carpet.
Annabeth stood up, retying the belt of her bathrobe and wandering over to crouch by the pile of old clothes. She had never bothered to get rid of any of her old dresses, so they were all there, crumpled on her tan carpet.
Annabeth picked one up. It was the flower girl dress she had worn for Sally's wedding, and it hardly looked bigger than a t-shirt. She sniffled, just a little bit—the dress was shiny and white, with sparkling sequins and tiny silky fairy wings coming out the back. Annabeth dropped it quickly, like the silk had burned her. Too many bad things had come out of the day she had worn that dress, and the worst hadn't even happened to her. She glared at the dress.
Someone quietly crouched down beside her, and Annabeth turned her head to look, blinking quickly, her eyes stinging with tears she didn't even realize had formed. Thalia wrapped one strong, thin arm around Annabeth's shoulders, smiling at her with expertly lined blue eyes.
Annabeth got the unspoken message—Thalia understood.
Her friend grinned and picked up a dress, holding it up and showing it to Annabeth. "You wore this one to our grad in eighth grade, right?"
Annabeth nodded, dusting her fingertips lightly over the mint-green tulle. "I'm surprised you remember."
"I pay attention sometimes," Thalia huffed, and Annabeth laughed.
"I found one!" Piper said triumphantly, holding out a blue dress from the back of Annabeth's closet. It was a simple skater dress, sky blue and made of stretchy material with a soft halter top.
Annabeth picked up the end of the skirt and stared at it. "I actually have no idea where this came from."
Piper rolled her eyes affectionately. "Well it's yours, dumbass, so put it on. You're wearing it with your white Chuck Taylors, got it? And wear your pretty bra, the push-up one with the lace."
"Percy's not going to see my bra, Piper."
Thalia shrugged wickedly. "I mean, he might. You never know."
"Guys!" squeaked Hazel from across the room, and the other three laughed. Whenever anything vaguely insinuating came up, Hazel got very flustered and squeaky.
"You ready to go?" Piper asked a minute later as Annabeth pulled her socks on, and Annabeth looked up at her in surprise, quirking an eyebrow.
"Are you coming with me on my date?" she asked sarcastically, and Piper grinned.
"No, but I'm driving you there. I think Thals is coming too, right?" She glanced at Thalia, who nodded, and then turned to Hazel with her bright eyes questioning.
Hazel shook her head. "Wish I could, but I have to help Frank study for his math test," she said fondly. The other three exchanged sly smiles.
"Well it'll be nice to have you nerds along for the ride," said Annabeth, getting to her feet. "We should get going, I'm supposed to meet Percy in like, an hour."
Thalia and Piper chatted happily on the ride there, while Annabeth twisted her hands in her lap and stared anxiously out the window, watching the world fly by. What if she had misinterpreted Percy's words? What if they were nothing more than friends? She was sitting shotgun, and Thalia kept leaning over in between the seats to argue with Piper while Annabeth's mind raced. Hanging out with Percy was easy and effortless, so why was she so nervous?
Maybe it was just in the air that day.
"Do you have your phone?" asked Piper when she finally pulled into a parking spot. Annabeth had just reached for the door handle, and she sighed inwardly.
"Yes."
"Wallet?" interrogated Piper, tapping the steering wheel.
"Yes, mom." Annabeth fiddled with the door handle, and Piper beamed.
"You have fun," she said, unlocking the door so Annabeth could hop out. "Call me if you need anything at all, I'll be there as soon as I can. Be safe, babe!"
Thalia hopped out, too, so she could take Annabeth's seat in the front, and rolled down the window as the two drove away. "Use protection," she screamed before the turned out of sight, sticking her head out the window so her dark hair whipped around her face. They disappeared around a corner before Annabeth had time to retaliate.
Annabeth simply rolled her eyes and slipped her hands into the pockets of her dress, making her way through the parking lot and into the crowds that filled the beaches. The early-June day was warm, but there was a breeze coming up off the ocean, tossing Annabeth's curls and rippling the bottom of her dress. The beach was filled with people, and Annabeth heard the cheerful shrieks of children playing and the eternal splashing of the tide bumping up against the shore, steady and comforting. She took a deep breath, and wandered out into the soft sand, feeling it under her shoes. She and Percy had agreed to meet by one of the snack bars, and she bought an ice cream as she waited, staring out into the shimmering blue of the water as she licked the sweet vanilla cream.
The beach was a place of many memories. Her eyes found one of the lifeguard chairs and she watched it idly, remembering that Percy's dad—his real dad—had been a lifeguard in the summers when he was alive. She wondered which chair had been his, and she thought just maybe she could almost remember being here with them. With Poseidon and Percy Jackson, back when her life was sweet and perfect.
It had almost gone full circle, she thought with a wistful smile. Her life wasn't always amazing, but she loved it, and sometimes she thought it was almost, almost, perfect.
Percy hadn't arrived yet—Annabeth should have known better than to come early, that boy would be late to his own funeral—so she wandered out into the beach as she finished her ice cream, pulling off her shoes and socks so that she could feel the soft sand in between her toes. She waded into the water, letting it splash around her ankles and up her legs, cool and refreshing.
Something pulled at the hem of her dress, and Annabeth opened her eyes, glancing downwards. There was a tiny girl tugging at the bottom of her dress, staring up at her with round eyes. The little girl had chocolaty curls pulled back into tiny pigtails, and big eyes as green as an emerald. She grinned toothily at Annabeth, and pulled once more at the bottom of her dress.
"Hi," said Annabeth, kneeling down to face the little girl and holding her dress up so it wouldn't drag in the water. "What's your name?"
The toddler bounced and smiled widely. "Katie Gardener," she said proudly, like learning her own name was an enormous accomplishment. "I'm building a sand castel. Can you help?"
Annabeth pulled out her phone to check the time. She wasn't supposed to meet Percy for another twenty minutes. "Why not?"
She sat down on the soft sand beside the little girl—Katie—trying to prevent the soft skirt of her dress from gathering sand, then giving up and sitting down anyways. Katie's sandcastle was mostly just a lump of sand, but she seemed proud of it, and Annabeth taught her how to collect the damp sand from where the tide washed over the shore and pack it into the buckets to make perfect little sculptures. Together, they built a city, complete with a moat and little rocks that circled each tower. Katie dotted everything with tiny flowers, and eventually she found a little twig with a leaf still attached and they used it as a flag on the highest tower.
Annabeth sat back to watch the little girl after a few minutes as she bounced around, her tiny pigtails springing up and down and her laugh like the bubbles on the sea. She was beautiful, Annabeth thought, and she wondered idly what it would be like to have a little girl of her own. One day, maybe, she could have her own colourful little toddler, with the same raven-black curls and sea-green eyes and—
Annabeth stopped, blinking blankly at the sandcastle in front of her. Percy. She was imagining Percy's child.
Was that what she wanted?
Not now, of course. It was laughably far in the future. But she and Percy would make good parents one day, she was sure of it. They would try so hard to make their children's lives perfect, to reverse every mistake that had been made on the two of them.
Annabeth bit her lip. But what if they couldn't? What if they broke another batch of innocent children? She took a shuddering breath at the thought, trying to calm herself by watching Katie dump handfuls of wet sand into her little flowered bucket.
She was utterly insane. She was sixteen, and Percy Jackson wasn't even her boyfriend.
The future was so far away; she didn't have to think about it.
Annabeth sighed, standing up and dusting off the back of her skirt. She was just turning to say goodbye to Katie when someone called her name.
"Annabeth! Hey, Annabeth."
She didn't turn, because she recognized that voice. No, it wasn't. It couldn't be, not today.
"Annabeth!" it called again, and Annabeth turned with a sigh. Blond hair, ice blue eyes. Luke, jogging towards her with an eager smile on his face.
"Annabeth," panted Luke, coming to a halt in front of her. Annabeth swallowed. "Hey, this is—I can't believe this, this is great."
"What do you want, Luke?" she asked, her voice ice. He winced slightly.
He ran a hand through his hair, making the white-blond strands stick straight up. It used to drive her crazy when he did that. "Look, Annabeth, I don't—I just want to talk okay? We really need to talk. I just—have some stuff I have to say."
Annabeth looked around anxiously. Nowhere to hide. She sighed loudly, and then looked down at her brightly-painted toes. They were bare, and her shoes sat beside Katie's castle. She leaned down to pick them up. "Fine," she told Luke. "I'll give you a couple minutes. Let's—let's walk."
She started quickly, marching away in the direction of the snack bar so Luke had to jog to keep up. She was supposed to meet Percy in a couple minutes and she didn't want to be missing when he arrived—and if he arrived partway through the conversation maybe he could scare Luke away for her.
What she wouldn't give to have Percy by her side right then.
They stopped in front of a garbage can and Annabeth whirled around to face Luke, crossing her arms and giving him her best death stare. "Talk," she commanded, and he quickly obliged, staring imploringly into her eyes. She tried to match his stare as best she could.
"Annabeth, look. I made a mistake. I made a really, really big mistake, probably the worst mistake of my life, okay? I've regretted what happened every day since it did, and I regret the things I said more than anything, and I can't—I wish I could go back in time and reverse it all, but—"
"I don't," said Annabeth softly, her fists clenched tightly, and Luke blinked at her.
"What?"
"I don't," she said more forcefully, taking a step towards him. "You broke my heart, Luke, and I'm glad you did because if you hadn't I might—I might still be with you. You showed me your true colours and thank god for that, because I know who you are now and I deserve better!" She was shouting then, half blind with fury. All she wanted was to scream at this boy who seemed to think he deserved forgiveness just because he regretted something.
Luke cringed, breaking eye contact and looking down at the ground. "I know. I know you do. You deserve a million times better than me, Annabeth Chase. You deserve someone who would never consider being unfaithful even if she was—shit, even if she was hotter than Drew." He looked up at her hopefully, and she shook her head in disgust. "That's not me, Annabeth," he continued, dejected. "You know that it's not. But I promise that there is no one on this earth that will ever love you more than I did—than I do. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I won't stop loving you, Annabeth. I know—I know what I said that night, Annabeth but—I didn't mean any of it. You don't have to tell me you love me for me to know."
He smiled up at her, somewhat bashfully, and Annabeth scoffed, crossing her arms, unable to look at his face anymore. "No, Luke. You meant it, and you were right. I don't love you, and I never have. You helped me see that." She looked back at him, and felt an irrational wave of pity—he looked so crushed. She tried to make her voice gentle, and took one of his hands. "Luke, I know you think you love me, but there are so many people that are better for you. That won't make you feel like you need to cheat. You and me—whatever we were—we didn't work. Even if I tell I forgive you now, we could never work."
"You forgive me?" he asked, squeezing her hand.
It was easier than she thought it would be to smile. Closure. Isn't this what everyone dreamed of? "Yeah," she said softly. "I'll forgive you. Just promise me that you won't ever do that to another girl. Promise me you won't hurt anyone the way you hurt me ever again."
"I promise," he mumbled, staring down at his feet. He looked up shyly and gave her a small grin, swinging their still-intertwined hands slightly. "See, we work, 'beth. We could make a team. Give me one last chance, and I show you that I know better than I did, that I can make you happy."
She dropped his hand, wiping her own off on her dress and staring at him. "No, Luke. I already told you no. Besides, I'm actually here waiting for—"
He cut her off by surging forwards and pressing his lips against hers.
For a second, Annabeth was caught off guard, unable to move or breathe, unable to shove Luke away or respond to his soft lips moving against hers. Then she recovered her senses and put her hands on his chest, shoving with all her might so that he stumbled backwards off her, panting. She dragged her arm across her lips. "Luke!"
He grabbed her hands, holding on tightly as she tried to squirm away and pulling her close to him. "Tell me that didn't feel right, Annabeth. Tell me we're not meant to be."
She stared at him in disgust, and opened her mouth to respond before catching a glimpse of movement over his shoulder. She looked up.
And her heart was in her toes.
It was a cliché teen movie, and it was her worst nightmare. It was Percy, standing a few feet behind them with his green eyes wide and his jaw slack, wearing a green collared shirt that matched his eyes and tan shorts, clutching a bouquet of little pink flowers like a lifeline.
How much had he seen?
"No," breathed Annabeth. "No."
"What?" said Luke. "Annabeth?"
Percy took a step backwards, and Annabeth shook her head desperately. He took another step, and then dropped his delicate flowers, spinning around and crushing them under his heel as he walked away.
"No!" cried Annabeth, suddenly feeling like she might collapse if she tried to take a step. Right at that moment, Luke kissed her again with warm lips, and she reacted on instinct, shoving him off her and clenching her hand into a fist to ram into his jaw with enough force to send him staggering backwards.
"Get off me!" she shrieked, drawing back her fist to punch him again, and he stumbled away.
"Alright," he gasped, clutching at his jaw. "Alright, I'll leave you alone. Jeeze." He turned away, muttering under his breath. "Crazy bitch."
Annabeth barely heard him. Percy was getting away.
She started after him, stumbling on her own feet and then she was running. She paused a second later to pick up the flowers he had dropped. Apple blossoms, small and fresh and pink. They were crushed and slightly torn but she clutched them to her chest as she ran, staggering as she sprinted after Percy. Everything was foggy with desperation.
"Percy!" she called after him, and he flinched but continued walking faster. "Percy!" she tried again. "Percy!"
She was nearly shrieking, almost hysterical, and Percy finally stopped, not turning to face her.
She came to a clumsy halt, panting and shaking. For a minute she took deep breaths, trying to make the air return to the bottom of her lungs, but she couldn't. She choked out Percy's name one last time, and finally he turned to face her.
She almost wished that he hadn't.
His breathing was just as uneven as hers, short jagged breaths that sounded like something inside of him was ripping apart. His arms were by his sides, his hands clenched into shaking fists. But his eyes—his eyes were the worst. Annabeth had only seen that expression once before in his eyes, and it had been the worst day of her life. Shattered.
She held onto the crushed apple blossoms for dear life.
"What, Annabeth?" he managed, and his voice was raw. Pain flared up inside her. "What do you want? To tell me I got the wrong idea? That I bought flowers and dressed up for the wrong girl? Then what—what have we been doing for the past couple weeks? I thought this was… well, it doesn't matter what I thought."
"Percy," she panted, still unable to say anything than his name. "Percy, you don't—what you saw, it wasn't—I agreed… I agreed to talk to him. To let him—let him explain. He kissed me, Percy, I didn't want to, please don't…"
"Please," Percy scoffed, the word a humourless laugh. "I know what I saw. You could have shoved him off Annabeth, but you didn't. You let it happen. You—you wanted it to happen."
"No, no, how can you think that? He took me by surprise! I couldn't do anything!" she tried, almost sobbing. If she couldn't convince him, the world would collapse.
"You keep telling yourself that." His voice was icicles. A million degrees below freezing.
"Percy…"
"Don't think I care, Annabeth," he added quietly, and she nearly choked.
"What?"
"Don't think I care who you kiss." His voice shook like he was trying to hold back tears and make it sound like he was fine, but he wasn't. Annabeth's heart constricted. "It's fine, Annabeth. It's really fine. Whatever—whoever you're with, I just… hope that you're happy. If—if Luke makes you happy then you should…" he looked up at her, his mouth twisting in disgust, an obvious shield to hide the fact that his lips were trembling. "Maybe it's my fault. I mean—you're one of my best friends, and I thought—I thought it was more than that. I was worried about you, Annabeth, but don't think it was because I care who you're with. You and I, Annabeth?" he pointed between them with a shaking hand. "We're nothing. I guess—I guess I thought something was happening, and it wasn't. That much is obvious."
The words stung like needles, and Annabeth closed her eyes so that she wouldn't she wouldn't have to see his crumpled expression, taking deep breaths and trying to untie the painful knot that had settled in her stomach. "You know that's not true, Percy."
"Do I?"
"You do. I know it. We're a million things, Percy, we always have been, but nothing has never been one of them. We've been through so much—we went from being best friends, to enemies, to acquaintances, to friends again, and then to—to something more, just in these past couple weeks. And you… you can deny it all you want, but if you didn't care, you wouldn't be standing here." She dug her fingernails into the stems of her flowers, desperate to have something to hold onto. Percy's eyes focused on the torn petals.
He shook his head. "Annabeth, I—I thought you were a part of my future." His head was bent, and Annabeth saw the sparkle of tears on his eyelashes. "I'm—I'm sorry. I'm going to need—I don't know, time or something. I guess—"
"Bullshit," Annabeth broke in softly and Percy's voice died out. "Bullshit," she yelled and she was stepping towards Percy, her voice and her hands shaking. Everything shaking. "If I'm not a part of your future or your time, your effort, your care, why are you standing here? With me? There are a million better places to be and a million better people to be with, Percy, and you know it!" She broke off. He was staring at her like she was explosive, and she took a breath. Then she tried again, her tone quavering but controlled. "You care, Percy. If this is nothing, why do you care?" He didn't answer, and she almost felt like throwing up. "Why do you care?"
He cringed backwards, away from her. He was facing half-away from her, like he wanted to sprint away if he got the chance.
Finally, he spoke, his words low and hoarse, soft and trembling. "What if I told you it's because I'm in love with you?"
Suddenly, Annabeth's world was frozen.
And everything clicked into place.
Time stopped and the world faded, and Annabeth's feet were frozen to the ground and all she could do was stare at Percy, into his eyes like the sea in the morning that were sparkling with tears he would never let fall. Her eyes were on the swoop of his hair and the curve of his jaw and the harsh line of his mouth, and everything was falling into place.
She had a word for it. That emotion that had coursed through her veins for years, since she was a child, since she first set eyes on him. Her friends had been right—everyone had been right—and she loved Percy Jackson. And suddenly she was blinded by a rush of emotion, coursing like fire through her veins to the tips of her toes and she couldn't move or breathe.
When it cleared, the world had begun to move again, and then it was moving too fast, racing before Annabeth's eyes. Percy, her beautiful, beautiful boy, was blinking his eyes too quickly and turning away from her and all of a sudden she was terrified, deathly terrified that she was going to lose him. But all she could do was blink and swallow and watch him disappear.
"That's what I thought," he choked out, starting to turn away from her.
He took one step, then two, before Annabeth finally found her voice. It burst out of her, scorching her throat and tumbling unchecked out of her mouth.
It came out quieter than she expected, soft and full of emotion. "I would tell you I loved you too."
Percy froze. Annabeth watched as his fist slowly clenched and unclenched by his sides. She was all too aware of her breathing in her ears, fast and anxious.
Agonizingly slowly, Percy turned to face her and their eyes met. Annabeth's last fleeting thought was that she could drown in those eyes.
He took a step forwards, and then all at once he was kissing her, and the world dissolved.
It wasn't Annabeth's first kiss, not by a long shot, but it felt like the first kiss that had ever truly mattered. Her apple blossoms were crushed between them, and her shoes tumbled from her grip, thumping to the ground. They weren't kids playing at love and the kiss wasn't soft and gentle; their teeth clashed and there was spit on her chin, and it was messy and desperate. Annabeth felt heat flare in her stomach, and she had never felt anything so perfect. She flung her arms around his neck to pull him closer, dropping her flowers to rake her hands though his hair, wrapping the soft strands around her fingers and pulling him closer for more, more, more.
When they finally broke apart, gasping for air, Annabeth heard a couple wolf-whistles in the distance, but she ignored them. Percy's arms were around her waist and hers around his neck, and as she gazed into his bright eyes, swimming with happiness. The tears were still shimmering in his eyes, and they shone like precious jewels. She couldn't help the little bubble of joyful laughter that spilled out of her throat.
"You love me?" Percy asked, his eyes alight and his cheeks flushed with soft wonder.
"I love you," she confirmed softly, and the words felt so good against her tongue that she never wanted to stop saying them. "I love you. I'm in love with you, Percy. And I think that—I think that I have been most of my life." She gave a chuckle that was mostly a sob and sniffled. "Everything in our lives, since the first moment I met you, has led up to this, Percy. All of it."
Percy gently touched her cheek, chuckling quietly, and his eyelashes were damp. "You're crying."
It wasn't a question, but Annabeth brought her fingertips up to her eyes, surprised as she drew them away damp. But for once, showing emotion wasn't weakness, it was strength, and another little laugh choked its way out of her throat. Percy laughed along with her, and there was a tear on his cheek. She wiped it off with her thumb, hand trembling slightly.
"It's just… I haven't been this happy since…"
Percy's hands were still on her face, and she trapped one to her cheek with her own hand. "Since when?" he murmured.
Annabeth closed her eyes and pressed his hand closer, trying to absorb his warmth. "Since ever."
It was true; never in her life had she ever felt so gloriously happy as she did in that moment, because Percy's eyes were green and she thought he was crying a little bit, but it was perfect, so perfect.
Percy laughed and pressed his forehead to into hers. "Me neither."
Her throat released one last laugh, and a couple more tears slid down her cheeks. Percy wiped them gently away with his fingertips, leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose. Annabeth closed her eyes, warm and safe in his arms, and hoped the moment would last forever.
She leaned in to kiss him again, smiling against the warmth of his lips and the silk of his hair and the sea of his eyes, and she knew she was right.
She loved him—she was in love with him.
And she'd never been happier.
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day! I present to you: PERCABETH.
I was going to upload this tomorrow, but Rachel told me that I had to do it today because Valentine's Day and Percabeth so. Here I am. Also it is worth noting that this chapter was nicknamed "Operation Percabeth" before I came up with the proper name and my friends wanted me to keep it like that so I'm giving it a shoutout.
I. CANNOT. BELIEVE. WE'RE. HERE. The Percabeth is here to stay and there's only like three chapters left to write and ahhhh how did I get here I've been planning this chapter for about a year and a half so I do hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to my lovely Rachel for her terrific editing and suggestions, and shoutout to my dumbass friends who read the make-out scene loudly and dramatically over my shoulder as I wrote it in the school cafeteria the other day. Love you morons.
Anyways, I hope you loved it, and leave me a review for Percabeth. I do guarantee I read every review I get because I LOVE them. Love you all, and Happy Feb. 14th.
-GGW
