Hey there! Chapter…eight, I think. Yes. Probably eight. Anyway…this is beta read by the lovely ThatGirlWithaCat, who deserves lots and lots of thanks, and now on to reviews:
Soulmate: The term for two people drawn by 'Destiny' to fall in love and be together.
Soulmating: The science of soulmates, and the 'act' of soulmates.
Soulbond: The bond of two soulmates, encompassing the mental and physical parts.
Soullink: The physical link and/or bond of the two soulmates.
Soulshard: The spiritual or mental link and/or bond of the two soulmates.
Soulbreak: The term for the bond of two soulmates being severed or broken.
SunBear: Yes, it is too much to ask for.
YES. JASON IS HERE. Hmm…interesting…PeRcAbEtH though! *clucks tongue* XD, anyway, yes, I would also like for the Jasper/Jiper to happen, but there might be some people- I mean obstacles- I'll have to throw in along the way…hehehe, anyway. Yeah.
…hmm, uh, let me check…plus, Piper may not know Leo knows Annabeth. Anyway. Thanks!
Daughter of Sally Jackson: Yup!
PJAC0606: Annabeth took the stairs; Percy took the elevator. But they have a slight difference in timing. Thanks!
LivingInBibliomania: Thank you for all the reviews!
That's okay…yeah, few can resist the cuteness of the Mango. XD Annabeth shall blame Piper anyway. There are many possibilities with the name of 'Annabeth', yes…she probably dislikes it very much.
Yes…Percy will have to…deal with it, I guess. ;-; Thank you! Very much! And yeah…Annabeth doesn't get out very much XD
Yes…it's a very sad story. Sorry. 19 years…we shall see…hehehe…and yes, good for Piper and Tristan McLeAn.
Moop? Do I want to know? Yes…JASON and Percy and Jasper and Percabeth are all lovely things LOL. Thank you!
On a side note…if it's not the Portland International Airport or something, very, very sorry…I had to do research, and apparently the Internet isn't always reliable…
Percy's POV:
Percy waited impatiently outside of the Portland International Airport…or, as Jason had called it…PDX? Percy wasn't sure why that was. He thought it should be the PIA, but Jason had just been exasperated. Percy was just glad his cousin had actually agreed to stop being Hotshot Lawyer Jason Grace and come be Percy's Cousin Jason Grace. He needed a break, anyway. He wondered where Jason was- Percy was two hours late, because…he'd overslept, but he'd been waiting for half an hour already- and his normally timely cousin was still missing in action.
As the minutes passed, he finally relented and looked down at his phone.
My flight was delayed for two or three hours at least, apparently there's been some flooding in the airport.
Sent 2 hours ago
Silently cursing himself for not seeing it sooner, Percy got back into his car and drove to find a fast food joint or something. It would only take longer, he supposed, if he went back to New Pine Creek and then came back to the airport when Jason's flight got in, so he'd be stuck here, which meant getting something to eat and then camping out somewhere in the airport- if they even let him camp out in the airport without a ticket to anything. Relenting, he dialed Jason. How long was he going to be waiting? After all, if it was 'at least', that meant he might be stuck for a few days…he reached voicemail. Of course he would reach voicemail on the important call.
"Hey, Jason, it's Percy. Since your flight is delayed, if you could call me back soon, that would be appreciated. I don't want to be camping out in the airport for three days, so I'd like to know an estimate of when you're going to arrive. Also, do you know why the Portland International Airport is called PDX instead of PIA? It makes no sense. Anyway, I am going to go and my McDonalds order is ready. Call me back." After deciding there was probably no way that they would make his Coke blue, Percy parked in the back of the lot and ate his fries. After all, it couldn't be that long till Jason's flight got in. He hoped his dog, Mrs. O'Leary, would be okay without Percy home to take care of her while he waited for their new housemate in the airport all alone.
His phone vibrated. Jason. Percy hastily picked it up, cursing when he got ketchup on his case. Well, at least it wasn't the actual phone…that would probably be even worse. "Hello? Jason?"
"Percy," his cousin said, chill as ever. Jason was a rule-follower- always having a plan, not showing much emotion, and, well, always following the rules. Sometimes Percy questioned how the man had been a famous child actor in movies like Petals and Thorns and Murder Birds. But it made perfect sense that Jason had become a lawyer later in life, and a good, famous one, at that.
"Hi, Jason. I'm guessing your flight hasn't left yet, since you're able to call me?" Jason sighed.
"Not quite. We were about to board, and then some doofus who was probably just scared of planes said there was a problem with the left phalange, and everyone went into an uproar, it was like something out of a TV show, honestly…" Jason said, as if he actually didn't get the reference. Percy laughed over the phone.
"Dude, you do realize that was a TV show reference, right? I'm not sure how it worked…it's a scene in Friends." There was a silence. "…I'm not sure how that happened in real life, since…actually, what was this plane for?"
"…it's a plane, Perce. It was the kind that flies people. But anyway, we're taking off…well, as soon as we can get the doofus to stop being, well, a doofus," Jason said, static drowning out some of his words. "It's not a long flight, since I had a layover in Los Angeles, but I'll be there soon."
"Alright. Just, like, you know, let me eat my fries first," Percy said. "I'll see you soon." Jason laughed before hanging up, and Percy sat in silence. With his fries, of course. It would never do to forget the fries, but soon the fries were gone and Percy was alone.
He probably had some time to kill. He could wander the crummy airport shops, maybe find Jason some souvenirs. Though with all the travelling Jason had done over the course of his twenty-five year life, he probably had all the souvenirs for a lifetime. Percy didn't have anything better to do but get lost in a big foreign airport- the only time he'd ever been to the "PDX" was when he flew in and went immediately to New Pine Creek- if he managed to navigate it without fail it would be some sort of miracle.
But Jason would be here soon, and Percy was alone again.
Annabeth's POV:
Annabeth was restless. Not restless like one would be before they went to sleep, restless in the fact that she had paced throughout her apartment all day and hadn't gone to work like usual. Piper was at an audition for a local band, and Annabeth was alone.
It had been a while since she had gone out on a date, she surmised. It wasn't that she didn't have the option- it was more that she just…hadn't. After all, she was trying to find it in her to write a book, she was trying to find it in her to get through her jobs and maybe quit and actually write that book, and she was burning out. Annabeth missed dating, somewhat- it helped when the person she was going on the date with wasn't an infuriating guy who appreciated a pretty face more than he appreciated Annabeth herself- which was one of the reasons she had turned down any of the guys that had asked her out in the past two months.
There had been no noise in the apartment above hers for the whole day, something that made her wonder. Had he moved out? Was he at some job? Had he just lost interest in being an annoying dude who made a lot of noise?
Annabeth told herself to stop. This guy wasn't worth her time, and it wasn't like it mattered anyways. Yeah, she might've thought he was cute in another world- one where she was less jaded and one where he wasn't her annoying upstairs neighbor- but she obviously didn't think that now, not in this universe. And this was the only world she knew, so her annoying upstairs neighbor wasn't cute, she was just as jaded as…a piece of jade, and she was still restless.
It was four in the afternoon and one of the few precious sunny days left of their autumn- it had grown progressively colder each and every year, and of course, this one was the coldest yet. Mango had stopped taking long strolls outside, and Annabeth rather agreed with her on that part- even with the trashy heater in the apartment, inside was a much better place to be.
Just maybe not in this case. Annabeth put on a cardigan and walked outside, deciding not to be sensible just this once. Of course, not being sensible didn't pay off this time, considering it was freezing, starting to get dark, and she had no idea of where she was going, besides a general direction on the highway. She wasn't even sure which city she was going to, and whether she was in California or Oregon.
And as she drove, she thought- about Thalia, and her almost nineteen-year-coma, twenty the November after the coming one, and whether her childhood best friend would ever wake up- about Jason Grace, and whether he was really as great as Piper said, and whether she should go one day to a movie theater and see if they were playing one of those movies- Rachel and Reyna, and how they were, and whether Rachel had made her dream of being an artist and if Reyna was being crushed by stress as a governor.
She even thought a little about Mr. Percy Jackson, and whether he was as nice as Piper said, and if he actually did like her. (And she stamped down the fluttery churning of her stomach, dismissing it as being sick.) She wondered if that was still true after the exchanges they'd had, and why someone like him would like someone like her- because it was very, very true, no matter how much Annabeth despised it…that he was a little bit out of her league, and she was a little bit out of his. And she even debated hiding her soullink, and thought about not hiding it any longer, but that was ludicrous so she put it out of her mind.
After all, what if her soulmate was someone like Percy Jackson? Obviously not Percy Jackson, because that was ludicrous too, but someone just as annoying and loud and as much of a…as much of a Percy Jackson as he was, and they found each other? Percy Jackson, to her, seemed an awful lot like a believer. Just like 70, 80 percent of the entire population.
And if her soulmate was like Percy Jackson, and a believer too…well, Annabeth had a heart. And she wouldn't want to crush his…no matter how annoying and Percy Jackson-y he was.
Annabeth's mind was occupied the whole drive, but it was a nice sort of occupied- not the oh no, what did Malcolm order for coffee today?, and not where did Rachel say we kept the nonfiction books? occupied. (Even though of course she knew where they kept those nonfiction books)
And when she got home, there was a car parked in her spot. Maybe it wasn't designated as Annabeth's, but not once in the months she had lived in the building had someone been in her spot. Maybe it was an unspoken rule: that parking space is that bad-tempered blonde who lives with a cat's. Maybe it was just that everyone else parked in their own spot, and no one ever had to park in hers? It appeared that Piper was home, by the light shining through the bay window on Annabeth's floor, in Annabeth's home, and if she looked closely…she thought she could see Mango, face against the window, her head turned to look at Piper inside.
The moment was so pristine and perfect, so domestic, in Annabeth's mind that of course something, or someone would be ruining it.
As she closed her car door and prepared to go in, he came running toward her.
Percy Jackson, who she might call her archnemesis in another world…her upstairs neighbor in this one. She was startled for a second- how did he know that she'd be out here parking?- and then she realized that he was running toward a car.
The car parked in her spot.
Annabeth began to seethe. Of course it would be Percy who had parked in her spot, who else would it be? Why had she even entertained the idea that someone else would be doing that? This Percy was messing with her head- indirectly but still.
"Sorry," he called as he got closer, "I know this is like, your space but someone had taken the space I normally use and this one was the only one available." He apologized, and while Annabeth appreciated the sentiment, she was still annoyed.
"And who, pray tell, was this?" Percy did look like he was trying to apologize…though, Annabeth wasn't sure where the cheeky man had gone.
"Uh, that's the car…" Annabeth followed his gaze to…Piper's car.
"…you're excused," Annabeth said after a moment. "I have to go talk to my Einmischer of a roommate." Percy looked confused, and she did not elaborate. "…I'll see you around." She said uncomfortably, before she made to walk away, waiting for-
"Wait!" Percy looked uncharacteristically nervous. "Would you- I mean, err…would you..." he kept saying, tripping over his own words.
"Yes?" Annabeth said, amused.
Percy groaned. "You are so not making things easy." Annabeth wasn't sure why it felt like a dam had fallen, but the words that she spoke weren't forced at all.
"I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it." Percy laughed. Annabeth waited, unsure where Seaweed Brain had come from, but thinking it felt right in the moment.
"…would you like to go out with me sometime?"
Annabeth wondered what she was doing- if it was the preciousness of the last sunny day and the circumstances, right place, right time. "Sure." She walked away- but not before smiling at him.
It wasn't until she was at the building that he replied.
"WAIT! I DON'T HAVE YOUR NUMBER!" Annabeth laughed, but then she realized what was happening here.
What did I just do?
Bet you didn't see that coming. Actually, this is a Percabeth fic…but still. Bet you didn't see that coming. Your song for this chapter is I Don't Need a Reindeer by the Moody Blues, because that's right, I'm listening to Christmas music in OCTOBER. So there.