chapter thirty-five: we'll be quiet again

The early-morning cold nips at Annabeth's skin as she closes the Pontiac's passenger door behind her, but then Percy's slipping his arm through hers, a pillar of warmth at her side. He's wearing a blue sweater—he rarely looks as soft as he does right now. "You ready?" he asks with a smile, nudging her. She lifts her eyes upwards to where their town's old church looms above them: a masquerade of unfeeling stone and colourful, life-imbued windows.

Annabeth hasn't been here in a long time, afraid of not being able to stomach the latent memories and cold guilt. A familiar spike of fear threatens to overcome her even as she takes it in, but she refuses to flinch. "Yeah," she decides cautiously. "I think I am."

She rests her pinky on the back of Percy's hand throughout the service. When it comes time for hymns, she's a little astounded at her near-perfect recall of the lyrics. Some habits endure, she supposes. Beside her, Percy's lilting voice is hoarse and out of tune. Still, it's nice singing with him.

By the time the service is over, the sun has completely risen. Fractured light floods through the arching stained-glass windows and across the pews. Annabeth feels content; the anxiety has been wrung from her system, and she's in laughing spirits when they head out of the church. "How was that?" Percy asks. "I know you were afraid to go, but…"

She leans a shoulder against the church's cold, stone exterior, watching the remains of the congregation trickle out through its mahogany doors. "It was perfect. I was terrified—I mean, I put off coming here for so long—but I'm not sure I had any reason to be. Apart from my dad, maybe," she amends. Gaze heavy on her face, Percy nods. "But I don't see him anymore."

"So, this helped?"

"More than helped," she admits. "I don't feel like I'm constantly avoiding it now, you know? I've faced it. Everything that happened…it doesn't matter as much. I'd have to believe in God a little more to ever start attending regular services, but at least I've squared everything with Him." Letting out a sigh, she rests her head against the stone wall. She imagines it breathing under her touch, alive with every heartbeat that's come here since it was built. "And it's sort of nice to return to my old routine. My old religion."

"I get that," he responds. "To feel like you've faced something, survived some kind of reckoning…" He trails off, but Annabeth hears the unspoken words. It's something he's no stranger to. Taking her hand, he draws careful circles on her palm with his thumb. "You could still go on occasion. To church," he adds. "You and your family used to do Midnight Mass on Christmas, right? I could come with you."

The idea is beautiful, but she's uncertain. "Only if you wanted to."

"Of course I'd want to," he argues. "I like going anywhere with you."

Annabeth rolls her eyes, but the heat that rises to the tips of her ears is probably noticeable. "Shut up," she tells him. Still, she's smiling.

With the overhead sunlight falling across his face and pooling in his green eyes, Percy looks ridiculously ethereal. She can't help but step up onto her tip-toes, pressing a reverent kiss to his jaw. With a grin, he responds in kind and leans down to kiss her properly. Every second that passes feels like home, and it takes a superhuman effort to eventually pull away. "There's something I need to tell you," he says suddenly, keeping a gentle hold on her hand. "Two things, actually. I wanted to last night, but you were tired when you got home."

Brow furrowing, she looks intently up at him. "What is it?"

He sighs, retracting slightly. "You know how I've been feeling stiff and sore for a while now? In my shoulders and back."

"Yeah."

"Well, I finally saw a doctor about it. It's not anything bad, but they told me what it is. Fibromyalgia."

Annabeth's heart thuds into her stomach. "Oh," she says softly. "Fibro? Isn't that a sort of chronic pain?"

He nods. "Yeah. There's some other stuff, but that's pretty much it. I've been given painkillers for it. They seem to help, but I doubt medication is gonna do anything for the fatigue."

She grips his hand tighter. "Thank you for telling me. It's good that you've got a name for it, okay? That you know what it is."

"I guess there had to be something," he murmurs. "After so many years."

That hurts Annabeth's chest. "Hey," she chides him, tugging him closer for a hug. "You don't need to dwell on it. You're stronger than that, okay? And you've got me."

He smiles into her hair. "You're pretty cool, you know."

She pulls back, mirroring his expression. "Not as cool as you."

"Fuck," he groans. "Are we one of those couples?"

Annabeth laughs, and the atmosphere brightens. "What's the second thing?" she prods.

A little dazed, he asks, "Huh?"

"The second thing. You said there were two things you wanted to tell me."

"Oh," he realises, and rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. "You know how I've been applying for apprenticeships?"

"Yeah."

All at once, he says, "I probably won't get into any, but I'm applying for a few in New York."

Her jaw drops. "You are? Oh, my God." Affection washes over her, and she throws her arms around him. "That would be amazing. We could—we could live together, we wouldn't have to do long-distance…" She pauses, caught in a realisation. "You don't have to follow me to New York, though. If that's the only reason you're doing this. If if doesn't feel right."

He shoots her an indecipherable glance. "It's the only thing that feels right."

And—God. Annabeth wants to shout with euphoria, to jump up and down. Instead, she kisses him again. "You'll get in. I know you will."

He grimaces. "Don't jinx it." Still, she can tell he's happy. "You'd want to live together?"

With a shock, she registers what she said in her haste. "Oh. We don't have to."

"No, Annabeth! I'd love to. That would be—so fucking amazing, I can't even describe it." He shakes his head in awe. "We kind of already do, anyway," he jokes. "You barely sleep at the estate."

"That's true," she admits. Maybe it's unhealthy to be so attached to one person, but she can't bring herself to care.

"Don't get your hopes up, though. I haven't got into a single one yet." Linking his arm through hers, he tugs her forward. "C'mon. Let's head home."

"Can I drive?" she asks hopefully. "I'm several weeks into lessons, now. Please?"

He gives her a once-over. "Only if you promise not to crash my car. It's so old, I'm not sure it'd survive another fix-up."

"I won't crash it," she smiles, thanking him with a kiss on the cheek. Together, they head for the Pontiac.

Over the next couple of weeks, Annabeth tentatively begins to research apartments in New York near her college. No decisions can be made, of course—Percy has yet to receive any news from the different apprenticeships he applied to—but her excitement for the sheer possibility of living with him overtakes her anyway.

It turns out that Percy never had to worry. He receives a call-back from not one, but two of the apprenticeships he applied for, and he doesn't stop smiling for hours afterward. "I never thought I was good enough to do mechanics, let alone engineering," he admits to her. "Even if I got accepted, I was worried I'd be too scared to go anyway."

"Why aren't you scared, then?" Annabeth asks. She's sitting on his bed with her back against the headboard. An old sitcom is playing on her laptop.

He smiles up at her from where his head's resting in her lap. "Because you'll be with me."

After that, it doesn't take long for them to find an apartment they're interested in. Still, they get into a few disagreements; while money is no object to Annabeth, it's a little more complicated for Percy. New York is an expensive city. They eventually settle on one in Brooklyn that's fairly close to Percy's apprenticeship, and Annabeth will be able to reach her classes via the subway. They'll be splitting the rent fifty/fifty. Percy seems to expect her to push back against that, and she almost wants to—it makes no sense for him to pay so much when her share will come entirely out of her trust fund—but she senses that it would hurt his pride. Besides, their friendship was always give-and-take in equal measure, and it only makes sense that their relationship should grow on that foundation too.

Annabeth turns eighteen. It's beautiful and terrifying, and July wanes into August all too quickly. Their moving date is in sight. There's a painful bittersweetness in the idea of leaving Virginia, a place that's been home for so long, but she knows it'll be good for them both. The memories she has here range from golden to radioactive; she's wanted to start afresh for a long time, but she's somehow afraid now that her blank slate is finally looming.

Leo, Piper and Jason help Annabeth and Percy move her belongings out of the estate. She's not taking much. Everything vital is in Percy's apartment, so the only things she needs from here are her nice clothes and whatever possessions she deems important: Helen's jewellery, the baroque pearl Percy gave her, old photographs of her family—including the one featuring her birth mother—and her various cameras. So far, everything fits in the back of the Pontiac, though Thalia agreed to run up some extra boxes with their things if they need her to.

Piper's dad's been away for work a lot recently. As a gesture of his support for her music career, he bought her and Shel a brand-new van for transport that can fit all their sound equipment inside. Annabeth's fairly certain guilt was Tristan's motivating factor behind the gift, but Piper's no less overjoyed by it. Having shown Leo and Annabeth the inside, she hops out and grins. "Isn't it so official?" She's wearing shorts and a vest top to combat the blustering sun. August has been scorching, and today is forecasted to be one of the hottest days of the year. The blue summer dress Annabeth is wearing feels heaven-sent right now; though it's early in the day, the cool breeze rippling past her bare legs is probably the only thing preventing her from getting sunstroke.

Leo's expression is a picture of awe. "It's so cool. You could, like, go on tours in this thing."

"That's the idea," Shel calls. Her back's turned; she's beginning to paint the van's exterior with a gorgeous blue, black and white design. When she's done with the background, she's planning to paint The Winnowers in stylised font on top of it.

Curious, Piper picks up one of Shel's cans of spray paint. Walking over to the van, she grins and shakes it. Noticing what she's doing over her shoulder, Shel drops her paintbrush and spins, taking the can of paint out of Piper's hand. "Uh—babe. Leave that to me, okay?" Setting the can down, she picks up a paintbrush and holds it out, to Piper's chagrin. "I'm gonna need you to paint the panels around the wheels."

She pouts, but gives in. "Fine."

"You, too, blondie," Shel calls. "Get to painting. Leo, you can help me mix my colours. We've gotta finish by dark."

"Why's that?" Annabeth asks, grabbing a paintbrush and the tray of white paint.

"If we paint in low light, we'll probably fuck the colours up."

"She's so smart," Piper whispers to Annabeth, wide-eyed. She barely stifles her snort.

The four of them work in tandem for a while, eventually moving on to the stencils Shel made for them. It's pretty exciting; though Annabeth's never been into art unless it was in relation to photography, she can appreciate why Shel likes it so much. It's fun, and not particularly daunting when there's so many of them working on one thing. As the morning heat intensifies into noon, Piper and Shel head inside to make them all some ice-cold drinks. Leo and Annabeth slump against a tree in the shade, admiring their handiwork. "They'll probably travel all over in this van," she muses. "Isn't that crazy?"

"Yeah," he says with a smile. "They're lucky."

She tilts her head to face him, brow furrowing. "Because they get to travel?"

"Because they're on the same path."

Annabeth frowns. "Is this about you and Nico?"

He sighs. "I guess. I just wish we didn't have to do long distance, you know? He needs to finish high school, and I'm gonna be across the county." He mutters, "I should've taken a gap year, or something."

"Hey, no," she chides. "That wouldn't be right. Would you really wanna stay in this craphole of a town just to be with him?"

He admits, "You're right—it really is a craphole."

She nudges him. "Well, you're too smart to stay anyway—you're going to a goddamn Ivy League."

At that, he cracks a smile. "I am, aren't I?"

"Fuck yeah. And if long distance doesn't work, maybe you'll meet some other cute guy."

Bursting out laughing, he slaps Annabeth's arm without much force. "Don't say that, fuck. You'll get me in trouble."

As he says it, Piper emerges from her door. She's balancing a tray of Coca Cola glasses, and there's a look of concentration as she pads barefoot down her stone steps. "Who's thirsty?" she asks, laying the tray on the grass as she sits down beside them.

They all take a glass. Annabeth exhales in bliss after taking a long sip, enjoying its coolness. "Thank God—I was about to get sunstroke."

"Same," says Piper. "And we've got a lot of work left to do on the van."

"We'll get it finished," Annabeth reassures her.

Leo chimes in, "Don't worry—you'll be able to go on your sapphic road trip."

At that, Piper laughs. "We won't be travelling until we've actually organised a tour, idiot. We're still a new band."

Annabeth's silent for a moment, contemplating what'll be like when Piper and Shel's music begins to grow in popularity. Sighing, she murmurs, "I can't believe I'm leaving for New York next week."

"The city that never sleeps," Leo says with a hint of grandeur, mixing around the ice in his drink with a straw.

"I doubt we'll be living very recklessly," Annabeth laughs.

Piper smiles, affection written into the curve of her mouth. "Seems like you and Percy are joint at the hip, nowadays," she says. There's no judgement in her voice—only understanding.

She nods, playing with the grass at her ankles. "Yeah, well. I guess we've always been like that." Heaving a quiet sigh, she looks up through the trees lilting branches and into the dappling sunlight. "It's going to be heaven. Living somewhere so exciting."

"With someone so exciting," Piper teases, then yelps when Annabeth kicks her with a laugh. "You're gonna be hundreds of miles away. I can hardly believe it."

"Neither can I," she says. "You guys are coming for Christmas, though. Right?"

Leo rolls his eyes. "'Course. Do I look like I know to microwave a turkey?"

Piper looks affronted. "Microwave a—fucking hell, Valdez."

"What?" he shoots back in defence. "I don't know how to cook!"

"You put turkeys in the oven to roast them," Annabeth gently informs him. "I'm pretty sure you can defrost them in the microwave, though."

Piper's looking at them both strangely. Annabeth opens her mouth to say something but before she can, Piper tackles them both in a hug. "I'm gonna miss you two so fucking much."

Annabeth hums and relaxes into the hug, a glowing warmth in her chest. "Love you too," she mumbles, voice muffled in the fabric of Piper's vest top. She remembers the days when their group had been just the three of them, caught up in an arms race against the rest of the unkind world.

When they pull away, Leo's eyes are damp. "God, I'm crying. What the fuck?"

She laughs wetly. "Everything's only getting better from here on out, yeah? Not worse. Better."

Piper nods, summoning a smile. "You're right. Leo's gonna get rich, I'm gonna get famous, and Annabeth's gonna get paid to take my press photos."

Annabeth gapes, whacking her arm. "Not a chance in hell. I'll be working for Vogue, you asshole." They keep laughing and talking and eventually, Shel comes out to join them with the snacks. All at once, Annabeth allows herself to believe that everything is going to be okay.

The day before she and Percy are due to set off for New York, she says goodbye to Bobby and Matthew—they've got to head back to their group home. Though she knows she'll see them again soon, being so far apart from them is going to hurt. She's left them so many times in the past.

Matthew's eyes begin to water when she hugs him tight, burying her nose in his mousy-brown curls. "I'm coming back, okay? You know I am." He nods, but Annabeth isn't certain he believes her. Still, she squeezes him one last time before pulling away. King's pawing at Annabeth's ankle, his lead wrapped around Matthew's wrist.

Bobby glowers at her, but she can tell his cold exterior is—on the most part—a facade. Instead of hugging him, she gently cups his shoulder and gives him the warmest look she can. "You two can come up to visit me as many times as you want, and I'll come back down to Virginia every few weeks. I'm not leaving you," she repeats, with emphasis.

His expression doesn't change, but he gives her an almost imperceptible nod. Without warning, he hugs her tight. "Bye, Annie." Relieved, she hugs him back.

King is still pawing at her, so she crouches down to cuddle him, heart breaking a little at the softness of his long, golden fur as she cards it between her fingers. The weight of the years they've spent apart have piled up between them. "You're a good dog, huh?" He whines as he noses into her hand. "I'll miss you," she whispers, giving him a final scratch behind the ears. Even though King's technically her dog, she can tell Matthew's bonded with him since he and Bobby went to live at the group home.

"You can take him, if you want," Matthew offers. "You might need him in New York." The unspoken words ring loud to Annabeth: You might get lonely.

Annabeth smiles quietly. Standing up, she shakes her head. "It's okay—I've got Percy to keep me company. Besides, you need him more than I do." Matthew seems thankful that she didn't accept the offer, and she doesn't blame him. Gathering the two of them into one last hug, she says goodbye one last time.

It's early morning when she and Percy set off in the Pontiac, waved off by their grinning friends with Empire State of Mind blaring on the radio. Everything of importance is in the trunk, and an extant kind of euphoria bubbles up in Annabeth's gut. Percy picks up speed, switching into the highway's fast lane. They're going to be driving for hours and catching whatever sleep they can get in the backseat, but Annabeth can't bring herself to mind. She can't stop looking at Percy, either; with tousled hair and an ever-present smile on his face, he looks effervescent. Like a fucking deity.

"What?" he asks lightheartedly, glancing at her as he fiddles with the radio's dial.

She laughs, shaking her head. "Nothing."

They drive until darkness has long since fallen, at which point Percy parks the car on a deserted hard shoulder and stretches, clicking his back. "God, I'm tired. Do you want to switch now, or sleep for a while?"

Annabeth hesitates—they've got a long way to go. Still, she can feel her eyelids drooping. She tried to nap earlier on in preparation for her shift, but was easily thwarted by her insomnia. "Yeah, let's sleep for a while," she decides.

A gleam enters Percy's eye. He glances out the window. "It's a warm night," he comments.

"I guess." Then, "Oh, no. We're not sleeping outside."

He grins. "Not outside. Just, y'know—on the back of the trunk. It'll be like that night at the machine shop."

Annabeth is instantly tugged back into the memory: lying on the hood of that bashed-in car, staring at the stars with Percy at her side. She wants to protest, but nostalgia wins over. Shooting him a long-suffering glance, she sighs. "Fine."

They grab the blankets and sleeping mats from the backseat and lay them on the Pontiac's flat trunk, laughing as they hoist themselves up. Annabeth feels for all the world like they're rebelling as they lie down, bodies close and hands intertwined. It's a clear night, and it's easier than anything to become enraptured by the stars. So far out in the middle of nowhere, the sky is a panorama of glistening silver. "I don't know how I'm not used to this by now," Percy says softly, as though he doesn't want to disrupt the moment.

"Used to what?" she asks, shifting slightly to reposition her head on his shoulder.

"Just…this. Being close. Having company." He pauses. "Feeling secure."

Annabeth smiles. "It's like a dream, huh?" she whispers back.

Wordlessly, he nods. Out of the blue, he murmurs, "I gave my mom something before we left. Visited her while you said goodbye to your brothers."

"What'd you give her?"

"Graphic novels," he says, a little embarrassedly. "The first few volumes of this series I liked as a kid."

Propping herself up on an elbow, she smiles down at him. "That Sandman series? I remember. Didn't I give you a few volumes for your birthday?"

"Yeah. I loved you because of that, back then."

Heat rises to the tips of her ears, but she refuses to let him render her speechless. "What about now?" she asks, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

He grins, looking a little overcome. "Yeah—I love you now. I'm pretty sure I always will, Annabeth Chase."

"I love you, too," she admits. Carefully, she pushes a strand of his soft, dark hair out of his eyes and kisses him. He kisses her back, fingertips light against her cheek. It's easier than anything to linger on his lips for a few blissful moments, but eventually she has to pull away. "We should sleep," she says regretfully. "We've got a long drive ahead of us."

Percy hums, and the yawn he lets out sounds like sleep incarnate. "You're probably right."

"I always am," she informs him, laying back down to curl into his warmth. "You're like a human radiator."

"And you're a human ice block," he responds, tugging her close. He mumbles, "Goodnight."

It's not even dawn before they're driving again, this time with Annabeth behind the wheel. She hasn't taken the test yet, but she's a decent driver and she's nearly done with lessons. Percy seems to trust her not to crash his beloved Pontiac, but he still tenses whenever she accidentally runs an amber light. "It wasn't red," is her usual defence, to which he always groans.

Several hours later, they finally glimpse the skyline of New York City. Annabeth gasps, gaze locking on the horizon. Percy's equally overwhelmed; to a couple of small-towners, a place so huge seems like another universe altogether. "We're going to live there," Annabeth says slowly, knuckles tightening on the steering wheel.

Percy meets her eyes, grinning. "I know. It feels like home already."

After a lifetime of driving through Brooklyn, backtracking, and arguing over the map, they eventually locate their apartment building. For now, they leave their things in the car—they're too excited to see the place where they'll be living. As they ascend the stairs, she mutters, "It's gonna be like living up in the goddamn sky."

Percy laughs aloud at that, and the sound echoes through the stairwell. At last, they reach their floor and burst into their apartment. His jaw drops as he walks into the space, taking it all in. It's mostly an open floor plan—the windows are large and north-facing, allowing swathes of sunlight to paint the white walls. There's no furniture, but Annabeth likes the idea of filling this place with whatever they want. She can't help but squeal, throwing her arms around Percy. "This is amazing. God, this is so amazing."

His hands find her waist and he spins her around, smiling stupidly. Warm light washes over them where they're standing. "I know. God, I know. I can't believe we get to live here."

"Well, believe it," she tells him. Loosely resting her arms around the back of his neck, she leans into him and begins to sway—like a slow-dance. He rests his chin on her shoulder, letting out a pent-up breath. "Do you think we're co-dependent?" she asks in time with their slow, unhurried steps.

Smiling, he shrugs. "Does it matter?"

"I guess not."

He kisses her again. "It's quieter here than I thought it'd be. It's nice. Like a little part of Virginia came with us." Annabeth can't think about anything other than Percy. Right now, she feels both infinitesimally old and painfully young. Eighteen: an age of new beginnings.

Cheek flush with the fabric of Percy's shirt, she closes her eyes and breathes out.

And cut! Oh. My God. After several months straight of working on this fic, I honestly can't believe it's over? Hopefully you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear what you thought! I'm feeling pretty emotional about leaving the world of LWTH but I'm mostly glad to be able to work on other things. The upload schedule has lowkey been hell—but at least I've gotten faster at writing lmao.

Thank you so, so much to everyone who's reviewed, kept up with and generally read this fic! You're incredible and I love you all to the moon and back. I haven't been great at responding to reviews due to how busy writing this kept me, but rest assured I'll get back to the recent ones in the next few days. I'm still working on some pjo fic behind the scenes, but for the next month or so I'll be posting some atla one-shots on my ao3 (stolen-arts) to move past the burnout from this fic haha. I'll definitely be back, so watch this space! I'm currently active on my tumblr so feel free to come chat to me over there. You can also find the aesthetic board for this fic on my pinterest, which is on my profile.

A final thank you—hopefully you're all safe and doing well. Sending love :)