Annabeth and Percy began to develop kind of a system.
He'd come to her games or she'd go to his and they'd get pictures together and act all kissy before they would go over to her place and mess around.
It happened a lot whenever they hung out. Even when they were doing homework. It really happened whenever Annabeth was thinking too much about Luke, which happened a lot more than she would like to admit.
She actually had a bit of a secret revolving around that subject. She hadn't actually stopped talking to Luke.
They were childhood friends, and they both agreed that just because they broke up didn't mean they had to throw away 18 years of friendship.
No one really knew about it, except Percy. She would bring it up time to time when they were together, mainly that they were still talking. He'd always just give her this smile that doesn't reach his eyes and nod his head to her. "That's awesome," he'd say in the same reserved tone of voice.
She kind of did it mainly to have Percy keep in mind that the two of them weren't a legitimate, serious item. Rough, she knows, but she didn't want to hurt him if she ended up leaving him. That's one wedge she was definitely willing to drive between them.
As for her and Luke...they still texted and talked fairly often. And, well...Annabeth had another secret that's actually a bigger secret. She still wasn't over Luke. She felt that her "secret" was obvious enough, though no one really seemed to know it, aside from maybe Percy. Even if they did know, they didn't ask her about it, which was fine by her.
It just...it was hard. Ever since they were little, she'd had a thing for him. From summer camp as kids to high school, she'd been into him.
She kind of thought Luke was still into her too. He definitely flirted enough with her. And it was the kind of flirting that made her blush like an idiot. She ended up texting or Snapping him a lot, even when she was with Percy.
Like now, for example. Percy was actually asleep beside her, laying on his stomach with his arms wrapped around one of her pillows.
He was shirtless, and the blanket covered little enough of his body that she could see the toned, tan muscles of his back and shoulders. His lips were parted and his dark hair was messy, and Annabeth had to admit he looked really hot. He always did.
After they'd gotten done with their, er...regular activities, he'd promptly fallen asleep beside her. With the state tournament getting closer, their coach had been having them come in early in the morning before school in addition to their regular practices for a few hours after school.
Annabeth could relate, with her coach getting on their asses as well before states. This led to the two taking a lot of naps together due to being rather exhausted from both school and workouts. This was one of those times Percy had fallen asleep on her, and she was fine with just letting him sleep.
She was busy talking to Luke anyway. Wow...that didn't sound good. Well, whatever.
They were Snapchatting back and forth, and Annabeth was trying to subtly drive home the fact that she wasn't wearing anything. Why, you might ask?
Well, she'd developed this staggeringly detailed plot to win Luke back. Even before they had broken up, he had been jealous of Percy. Maybe it was kind of cruel, but Annabeth thought that Luke would be even more jealous of Percy after he had broken up with her.
When she says she kind of disclosed her plan to Percy, she means she did so in a very indirect way. She wasn't going to come out to her fling and say "I'm using you to make my ex so jealous he'll take me back!" because that would be more insensitive than she was hoping to be.
When she told him, the two of them may or may not have been drunk out of their minds as well as exhausted as hell, and she may or may not have also not fully disclosed the plan. But, that's fine. Not really, but that's what she liked to think.
Honestly, though, her plan seemed to be working. Annabeth had posted a few pictures of herself and Percy on her story, and each time Luke seemed a bit more off. He was being a bit more flirty too, always talking about coming over and them hanging out whenever he came home next.
And whenever she mentioned Percy, he just acted jealous. He brushed it off or criticized something about Percy in whatever circumstance or picture that was mentioned.
It seemed to be working. She knew that she could get him back soon. She was so close. Percy muttering something in his sleep beside her brought her back to real life, where she was in bed naked with her current fling, it was well past midnight, and she was texting her ex boyfriend. It was only a moment later that he curled up again beside her once more and relaxed.
To anyone outside of their situation, it might have seemed cruel. But her and Percy both knew that they weren't a thing. They were just teenagers doing what teenagers do. They agreed to that at the beginning of their entire "relationship" if you could even call it that. They didn't even have a relationship. That was it. They were just having fun.
Luke sent back a picture of himself, a smirk on his lips that had driven Annabeth wild the entire time they'd been together and even before. He'd made a dumb joke about her being naked, and how she should be like that with him. She could only assume he knew it was because Percy was there with her.
She sent back one of her smirking as well, the blankets pulled up to cover her chest. 'Maybe it could've been' she sent back before she heard a small yawn from beside her.
She quickly shut her phone off as Percy shifted, moving his hands up to rub his eyes. "Mm...Annabeth?" he mumbled, his hand gently coming to rest on her arm. She could feel the roughness of his fingers even though they still felt warm and gentle. "Why...why are you awake?" His voice was raspy and deep, and she could see that his hair was a mess from the dim light in her room.
She chuckled and relaxed beside him, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. She could feel the light stubble on his cheeks when she leaned in, and it made her smile. "Sorry, babe. I couldn't sleep." He grinned a little when her lips touched his skin and he cuddled up beside her again, and it was made clear to her that he was still half asleep.
"Mm...I'm sorry," he murmured through another yawn. "Just...don't stay up too late, okay?" She couldn't help but laugh softly as she nodded. "Don't worry, I won't." She brushed her fingers through his messy hair and pulled the blankets over the two of them. "Now go back to sleep, okay? It's late."
He just nodded and gently wrapped his arms around her before he promptly fell asleep once more. She sighed in relief and set her phone down on her nightstand before she gently wrapped her arms around him.
She was worried that he had caught her on her phone. That would've been an awkward conversation. She dragged her fingers through his hair and bit down on her lower lip as she began to think.
Honestly, it was nice having him there for her when she needed him. They'd kind of honestly gone beyond a hookup. They were more of friends with benefits, with benefits that went beyond sex. Their benefits were like going on (kind of) dates, cuddling, just hanging out, and all of that good stuff.
She kept telling herself that there was no real relationship or connection between them, but she knew she was wrong. She kind of figured Percy was into her in more than just an unattached hookup kind of way. Or...she had a hunch that he felt that way.
But they'd talked about it several times, and they both agreed that they weren't committed to one another.
And...wow. That sounded really bad. It's not like either of them were just running around having sex and flirting with everyone else, but still. Whatever.
She still felt almost...guilty. Did that make sense? But...no. She didn't have to. She told him what she wanted and what she could do and he agreed. That's all there is to it. She doubted that he was actually even into her like that anyway. They were both most likely going to different colleges, wanted different things, everything. It was fine.
She was brought out of her train of thought when she heard her phone vibrate on the nightstand. Her gaze went from Percy, curled up in her arms with a sleepy smile on his face, to her phone, and back again. She hesitated before she moved her arms to take her phone, smiling as she saw a Snapchat from Luke.
What could she say? She knew what she wanted.
Percy didn't know how to feel about his situation with Annabeth. He had to admit that he really enjoyed being able to kiss her in public and hold her hand and all of the couple-ish stuff that they did together, but he was torn on whether or not to keep it going.
He really did like her, but it sucked that she didn't feel the same way back. Or...so he thought. It kinda seemed like she did, to be honest. She was always taking pictures with him and positing them and holding his hand in public and staying against his side at parties.
Even when they weren't in the public eye, when they were just at her place in her room studying, she would poke him or play with his fingers or a thousand other little cute things.
Did she feel the same way? He had no clue. He just knew that every day he got more and more into her. Everything went well for a few weeks being with her. They just hung out, did their "thing" whenever she wanted, and had a good time in general.
He didn't want to admit it but he was starting to catch feelings for her. He didn't want to, definitely, since he knew she didn't feel that way for him. Or...maybe? He was just confused, honestly.
Moving on from that, though.
Playoff season was getting closer and closer, and soon came the Shark's last regular season game against the Hemlock Huskies. They were trying for an 8-1 record to give them the best possible playoff spot, as well as to try and get the games to happen at home.
It was late in the fourth quarter with less than a minute left, and the Huskies had possession of the ball. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, if their opponents hadn't been up by 7 points. What are the odds, right?
Percy felt like every bit of him was tingling with nerves. He was on defense, and his coach had told him just one thing before he went out: "Get the damn ball."
Percy would try his hardest to do just that.
As soon as the opposing quarterback snapped the ball, he surged forward, shoving past a offensive lineman to get to the quarterback. As Percy's target noticed he was there, he tried to throw the ball away.
Percy simply leapt up, as high as he could with his arms up as high as possible, to try and intercept it. He was shocked when he felt the ball settle between his hands, and by the time he hit the grass he was running as fast as he could toward the end zone, the ball tucked firmly under his arm.
He got there without much opposition, and he felt a grin come onto his face. His teammates all ran over, whooping and cheering and slapping him on the back and the helmet, and he heard loud whistles as a time out was called by the Huskies.
Percy and his teammates jogged over to the sideline, where the head coach was standing with a smile full of pride on his face. "Nice job boys," he said with a grin before he looked at Jason. "Now, we could kick and tie it up, but I'd much rather go for the win."
At that moment, the entire Goode football team yelled in unison, and the coach just smiled. Jason just grinned and slapped Percy on the back. "Finishing move it is," he laughed as Percy nodded in agreement.
Once the time out expired, the Shark offense ran out onto the field. Percy took a momentary glance into the stands to see that every single fan was on their feet, clad in their blue and white and cheering for everyone to hear.
They'd been working on their two-point conversion plays all summer and all season, and the boys were all excited to finally bust one out.
The clock had run down to nothing, and this play would determine the game. One point behind. Here we go, Percy thought to himself.
The ball was snapped, and Percy ran behind Jason, who pitched it to him. The runningback had to give his cousin some credit, being the quarterback was a stressful job.
All the linemen either protecting him or trying to mess him up, receivers running their routes, trying to find open people at the same time as trying to evade people trying to kill him.
Thankfully, Percy's job was pretty damn easy for this play. Be made the easy pass to Jason, who was completely open on the side and ran it in for two. Percy had never heard cheers so loud.
He sprinted over with his teammates, all of them roaring and cheering as they dogpiled on top of their quarterback, who still held the ball underneath the pile of blue-clad football players.
When everyone calmed down enough to shake hands with the other team, the Sharks tackled Jason once more as the fans flooded the field. Normally there was a rule against it, but no one really cared at this point.
Percy took off his helmet and looked around, only searching for one person. Annabeth. When he saw her walking towards him, he just smiled and jogged over.
When she was close enough, she jumped and threw her arms around him, burying her face into his neck as she grinned. "Percy, that was amazing!" she said through a laugh. "You were amazing!" She pulled back and gave him her signature sunny smile before she leaned in and kissed him.
If he wasn't already on high alert, he sure as hell was now. He kissed her back with a big smile on his face, his heart pounding. When she finally pulled away, she rested her hand on his chest with a big grin.
Soon, Piper walked over and smiled, patting Percy on the back. "Nice job, Perce." She gave him a devious smile that often made the runningback nervous. "Also, unrelated, but you two are the cutest." As she was speaking, she was already showing the pair her phone, which displayed a picture of the two kissing, Annabeth held up in Percy's arms, both of them evidently smiling.
The blonde just laughed, taking Percy's gloved hand into her own. "Shouldn't you be busy kissing Jason?" she teased her best friend with a smile, though the brunette just rolled her eyes and gestured to the mess of a dogpile. "I will once his teammates are done with him."
They all laughed and Piper walked off with the promise to come back and find them after she retrieved her boyfriend. Annabeth smiled up at Percy once more, her grey eyes gorgeous as always, and pressed another kiss to his lips, stopping to mumble something into his ear.
"Before we go hang out with them, maybe we can head out to my car?" His heart skipped several beats as his face turned a harsh shade of red. He hoped she just thought it was because he was tired. "A-ah, what? Annabeth, that's way too-" He was cut off by her lips once more, and he felt like he was hopelessly trapped.
He just rolled his eyes and sighed, shaking his head. "I swear to God, if we get caught, I'm gonna kill you," he said morosely as she just smirked and took his hand. "Fine by me. Now go change. I'll be out there waiting."