Being next to Annabeth Chase was like experiencing Elysium and The Fields of Punishment simultaneously.

Percy wasn't sure how he could be so happy and in such hell.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, he set up his easel next to hers and spent an hour and a half in bliss. Or was it torture? And every Tuesday and Thursday, he fell more and more in love with Annabeth.

It was honestly so easy. Loving her. He loved the way her brows scrunched up when she was focused, how she gnawed on her lip out of habit, and twisted her fingers in her hair when he said something that made her blush. He loved her eyes, how stormy and intense they were. He loved her voice, how it changed when she finally relented and teased him back. Even when she was pretending to dislike him, he loved her.

And he knew she was pretending at this point.

It was obvious. Her tone was softer when she spoke to him, where it had once been hard and unyielding. When they inevitably brushed against each other in class, she didn't jerk away, and when he made faces at her she had to hide her laugh.

Gods, he loved her laugh too.

But he couldn't tell her. He couldn't hold her. He was trapped, only loving her from a distance, incapable of saying "It's me! I'm the one you've been looking for!" If Percy was being honest, he was terrified of the day she decided they would meet. Sure, she didn't appear to hate him any longer, but that didn't mean there weren't complicated feelings. It was easy for Percy to love Annabeth. But would it be just as simple for her? Would she still love him?

Did she love Seaweed Brain?

He couldn't even be sure of that.

Of course, they'd blown past boundaries together, done things he would have never considered doing with someone he hadn't seen. But that wasn't assurance that she loved him. Even so, he couldn't help when his thoughts wandered, when he imagined those smooth, long legs wrapped around his waist, or what expression she would make while he-

Stop it.

Percy groaned, resting his forehead on the work table. Annabeth wasn't in class today, a blessing and a curse. He wondered if she was sick. He wondered if he should text her.

He'd been pulling away from their texts, he knew it, but he couldn't help it. Phone calls were out of the question- every week she asked if she could reach out, and every week he came up with a new excuse. And as far as sex… it wasn't right, with him knowing and her not. She had tried to initiate, and it gutted him to turn her down, but he just couldn't. Not until she knew too.

Nothing felt right, if he was being honest.

He was worried he would ruin it all somehow, push her away before she even had the chance to introduce herself properly as his Wise Girl.

His.

Was it still okay to call her that?

"Head up, Mister Jackson, no artist ever succeeded with his eyes to the ground!" Their professor sang as he passed by, and Percy groggily lifted his head back up, staring at the sketch in front of him.

They were supposed to be drawing their partner. Which meant that even when he wasn't wallowing in his thoughts of Annabeth, even when she wasn't here, she was in front of him.

"Fine, fine, just the one!" She had laughed, reluctantly letting him take a picture of her for reference, and it had taken all of his willpower to stop from immediately making the photo his background. That would be creepy… right?

And on his easel was a rather poor likeness of her. Smiling, blonde hair pulled into a side ponytail, grey eyes looking right through him.

He wished he was better at art. Capturing her looks was easier said than done.

Before he could pick up his pencil, his phone buzzed, and he quickly swiped to his messages, eager to see what she would have to say now.

9:48AM WISE GIRL
I'm probably dying.
Please write my obituary.
Tell them I went out fighting.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. So she was sick- and an absolute drama queen about it. Just another thing to love her for.

9:49AM SEAWEED BRAIN
ill make sure they know u were valiant and brave
not feeling well, wise girl?

9:49AM WISE GIRL
Gods.
If Tartarus were an illness, this would be it.

9:50AM SEAWEED BRAIN
that bad huh?

9:50AM WISE GIRL
Come snuggle me.

How he wanted to drop everything and obey her command.

9:51AM SEAWEED BRAIN
tell me where to be and im there

9:51AM WISE GIRL
Dorm 1709

Percy froze.

9:51AM SEAWEED BRAIN
… u serious?

9:52AM WISE GIRL
Maybe I am.
Maybe I'm delirious from this damn cold.
Who could say

9:52AM SEAWEED BRAIN
u do realize u just gave me ur location, right?

9:53AM WISE GIRL
Yep.
Maybe I'm lonely.

His heart rate picked up and his tongue darted to wet his lips, mouth suddenly dry.

9:53AM SEAWEED BRAIN
lonely enough to invite me over?
to meet?
now?

9:54AM WISE GIRL
Why not

9:54AM SEAWEED BRAIN
didnt u have like
a day planned for this?
id hate to ruin that

Annabeth was growing frustrated.

Her and Seaweed Brain had barely spoken on the phone since the new year began, and their texts had been dropping off as well. She craved his attention, his words, his voice, and she hated herself for it. She had never felt so needy in her life.

With a sigh, she tugged the covers tighter around her, typing quickly once she was warm enough. The cold had come on suddenly, without warning, and with it came the crippling loneliness. Thalia had classes. Where she once may have relied on Luke, she no longer wanted him in her dorm room, and as for other friends…

She didn't trust many to see her like this.

Maybe it was reckless to give her location to Seaweed Brain, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

9:55AM WISE GIRL
Look are you coming over or not?

9:56AM SEAWEED BRAIN
i have class

9:56AM WISE GIRL
How convenient.
It's almost like you don't want to see me.

9:57AM SEAWEED BRAIN
you know thats not true

9:57AM WIDE GIRL
Could have fooled me.
If you don't want to talk to me anymore just say so.

She groaned, burying her face into her pillow. Her phone buzzed again, but she ignored it, breathing deeply and trying to regain some semblance of her rational mind.

This wasn't like her. She knew she was acting desperate, but so be it. She was desperate. Her text-friend was one of the only things she trusted to be there for her these days and now it felt like he was slipping through her fingers and she couldn't understand why.

Had she done something wrong? Something unforgivable? Had she come on too strong? Was this all a mistake?

Finally, the buzzing became too unbearable and she lifted her head just enough to peer blearily at the screen.

Incoming Call
SEAWEED BRAIN

In a flash, she sat up, wiping her face- Gods, had she been crying?! - and pressing the phone to her ear.

"... Hello?" She croaked into the phone, wincing at how her voice sounded.

He laughed, "Gods you sound like hell." His own voice was softer than usual, quiet and light instead of the strong one she was used to. She frowned.

"Are you sick too?"

"Something like that."

"You shouldn't be in class then." Annabeth sniffed, rubbing at her eyes.

"You're probably right. Listen, Wise Girl-"

"Mmhmm?"

"Have you- Are you crying?!" He sounded alarmed, more like his usual self, and she felt her face grow hot. Which may have had something to do with her cold.

"N-no!" She managed to snap out, her voice growing small, "Not… anymore."

Seaweed Brain sighed on the other end. She felt like a petulant child who threw a tantrum, or ran away- Now here came the bad news. He wasn't interested anymore, she should stop calling, it was too much- she was too much.

"Are you okay?" He finally spoke, and her heart melted.

Another deep, shaky breath and, "No, not… not really."

"What's up?"

"Aren't you in class?"

She could imagine his shrug on the other end, "I can skip it. Tell me what's wrong."

"I just-" her voice broke, "I miss you. So badly. And I feel like you're pulling away from me and- and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Wise Girl-""I know I'm a lot. I know it. And that's… that's okay if I'm too much for you." She interrupted him with a sniffle, her sinuses clogged and drippy, "I understand, just… please, please tell me instead of-"

"You aren't too much." His tone was firm, and caring, "You're never too much."

"Then… then why-?"

"Why am I being so weird?" He laughed, a dry sound, "Because I'm an idiot."

"What do you mean?" She gathered the blankets around herself, wishing their warmth would just swallow her up.

"Something… something happened and I… It doesn't have anything to do with you, I just suck at communicating." Seaweed Brain shuffled around on the other side of the line.

"Promise?"

"Promise what?"

"That it has nothing to do with me?" There was a pause and Annabeth worried at her lip.

After a moment, he sighed again, "I promise. It's a hundred percent my own thing, okay?" She could hear a soft smile in his voice, "Did I worry you?"

Her own laugh was watery, "Maybe a little bit."

"Still want me to come over?'

It was her turn to freeze. "Um… Can the answer be yes and no at the same time?"

"Sure can." He shifted, "Like, if you're seriously ready, I will drop everything and rush over there as fast as I can but…" His voice trailed off, "I don't think you're ready."

"I'm… I'm not." She admitted, flopping over, "I'm sorry, that was… stupid of me, I just was feeling so… so…"

"Lonely?" Annabeth nodded to no one, "I know the feeling."

"That, and I'm sick and it's… I'm not thinking rationally. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. I didn't help."

"No, no I should have asked, instead of assuming…" She picked at a thread on her sheet, "Thank you for not thinking I'm crazy."

"Of course, Wise Girl. You're no crazier than me."

"Look, just… forget about today. And about this whole, crazy month, I… I really shouldn't have been so needy."

"I like that side of you, though." She could hear his footsteps on tile, muffled by the distance, pacing back and forth, "It's not needy, it's sweet."

"You think so?"

"I do."

Annabeth sniffled again, "I should um. Probably get some rest."

"Probably." He agreed.

"I miss you."

"I miss you too."

Annabeth hung up before she could say any more stupid things, taking a deep breath. That was her at her worst, and he didn't run away screaming, or tell her he needed a break, or even sound exasperated- in fact, he seemed endeared by her concerns, as irrational as they were.

Trying to shove away her embarrassment and bad thoughts, she snuggled back down, closing her eyes and imagining her Seaweed Brain, as she often did.

Only this time, she could see him clearly.

He was tall, taller than her, his messy black hair framing startling green eyes, with a smile and-

She gasped, sitting straight up.

Oh no.

Oh Gods.

Why was he, of all people, popping into her head?!

She threw her covers off of her, standing and walking the length of her bedroom with a shiver. It was cold, but she needed it to clear her head, to think.

Percy Jackson had no business looking at her like that in her imagination, thank you very much. Percy Jackson had no business being in her imagination at all.

She groaned, rubbing her temples and trying to picture the faceless, amorphous being that was Seaweed Brain. But Percy only popped into her head again, clearer this time, eyes tender and fixed on her.

"This is not good." She groaned out loud, collapsing into her rolly could not be thinking about Percy Jackson like that.

She refused to.

And yet there he was, in her mind's eye, grinning that infuriating smile and laughing at her predicament.

Fuck.

Percy knew exactly what to do once class ended.

First, he stopped by the corner store just outside of campus, filling a bag with whatever he could find- soup, cold medicine, a cute mug shaped like a seahorse, it all went to checkout. The girl behind the counter flirted openly, but he just smiled politely and paid, shoving the receipt with her phone number deep into his pocket as he stepped back out into the snowy streets.

Next stop was Leela's where he ordered a piping hot herbal tea to-go and some homemade croissants, fresh out of the oven.

Last, he went to the dorms, taking a deep breath as he started down the long hall.

Percy had spent his first two semesters in this very same building, but had soon found himself missing his mom and sister and step dad too much. That, and there was something about apartments you just couldn't replicate.

His eyes scanned the doors as he passed; 1707… 1708…

1709.

She was on the other side of the door. She asked him to come over- he could knock right now, present his assorted items, and hope she didn't hate him.

Or he could do what seemed easiest.

Percy lowered the bags to the ground, arranging the tea so she wouldn't accidentally step on it, and ducked around the corner, sending a quick text.

11:08AM SEAWEED BRAIN
look outside ur door

It took a few minutes. He felt like he was standing there forever, when the sound of her lock clicking open made his breath catch. He could hear her small gasp, the rustling of the plastic bags and her door closing shut.

11:11AM WISE GIRL
Oh my Gods!
You didn't have to do this!

11:11AM SEAWEED BRAIN
i wanted to.
feel better, ok?

11:12AM WISE GIRL
I certainly will now!

He sighed, tucking his phone in his pocket. Annabeth. She was everything he wanted. She was everything. He should be in there now, climbing into bed with her, wrapping her in warm hugs, feeding her soup, snuggling her… But he couldn't. Not yet.

Soon, he reminded himself.

Soon.