(Hey, sorry y'all. Lot of stuff happening. I'll try and work on posting this stuff more often. Sorry that it's pretty short and kinda late. Leave a review on how you think it's going, what you'd like to see, all that. Thanks y'all!)
Percy woke up to the alarm on his phone, and he grimaced, cuddling deeper into his blankets. The alarm droned for a bit, and he slowly began waking up. He was quick to realize that, yeah, he was in bed with Annabeth, and that made him smile.
Honestly, he knew he was a rebound for her after Luke. He also knew that he was basically a pawn in her chess game of life where the end goal was for her to get Luke back, and he kept telling himself he was fine with it.
He got to be with the prettiest girl in the entirety of Goode High School. It's like they're best friends, though they do some extra stuff, like make out and cuddle.
He kept trying to convince himself that when she does get back together with Luke it'll be fine. They can still talk, and maybe she'll even decide that she wants something different. As in she wants to be with Percy instead. A man can dream.
As he laid there, he heard a scratching sound at the door, and he couldn't help but groan. As busy as he was, he did have two pets.
The first is an overeager Rottweiler that someone had named Mrs. O'Leary. Him and his mom had adopted her from a shelter, and they didn't bother changing her name. He did wonder what kind of person would name their dog that, though.
And the second was a black cat that his mom's alcoholic ex-boyfriend had gotten him, as a joke more than anything. He loved trying to make Percy's life miserable, so he got the kitten for him to try and pile on some more responsibility.
Joke was on him, though. One day when everyone was out of the apartment, the cat peed in the guy's shoes.
In honor of his ex-stepfather and his gambling problems, Percy had named the cat Blackjack. He and his mom were strangely the only ones who found it funny. Go figure.
He figured that the noise on the door was Blackjack, who got a little upset when his owner didn't wake up early enough to feed him. What a pig.
Percy checked his phone to see that he woke up in enough time to get ready for school, and decided to let Annabeth get a little more rest. He slipped out of bed and walked over to the door, opening it and closing it behind him as he gave Blackjack a bit of a reserved look.
The cat meowed at him annoyedly, as if to say 'Took you long enough.' Percy lifted the cat into his arms and carried him into the kitchen where his food bowl was. "Stop whining," Percy muttered tiredly.
He got him a full bowl of food, and the cat was finally satisfied. He got to eating while Percy went to get ready. He grabbed some clean clothes from his room, smiling as he saw Annabeth still fast asleep under the covers, and headed off to the bathroom.
After he completed his morning routine, he was feeling better and more alert. He walked back to his room and couldn't help but smile when he saw Annabeth sitting up in bed, looking half asleep and kind of confused.
"Hey, wise girl," he said with a grin, rifling around his drawer until he found what he wanted. As he shoved the clothes into his duffel bag he raised his head to look at her again, stifling a smile.
"Get dressed. We have to get going to school." As he mentioned school her eyes widened and she seemed to wake up a little. She cursed under her breath and hopped out of bed, combing her fingers through her hair to try and calm it down. Her curls stuck in every which way, though Percy thought she looked as beautiful as ever.
"You're coming to the game tonight, right?" He smiled at her, pausing to zip up his bag. "First game of the state playoffs. I don't know, kind of a big game," he teased her.
She rolled her eyes despite herself, smiling as she rifled through her own backpack for some clean clothes. They were playing the Eastside Pioneers - a team they'd beaten 48-7 with their second string earlier in the season.
"Maybe," she teased right back as she found some clothes, heading down the hall to find the bathroom. He finished up his nice game day outfit, which consisted of dress pants and a pale blue button down with a tie.
When she came back in, sporting some leggings and a t-shirt, she found him struggling to straighten his tie. She smiled and stuffed the clothes she slept in into her backpack before she came over, gently pushing his hands away to help straighten his tie out.
She ran her fingers down it to fix it, and her hand came to rest on his chest. She was still staring at the tie, and he was concerned she could feel his heart racing. She looked up at him, her grey eyes stormy and beautiful as ever, and his breath caught in his throat.
They maintained eye contact for a moment, her hand resting against his chest, before she leaned up to press a warm, soft kiss to his lips. He felt lighter than air, kissing her back until she pulled away not even a moment later.
The smile on her lips as she pulled back seemed sad, but it was gone before he could even blink. He wanted to ask her about it, but she turned around and started gathering her things. "We should get going, Perce. If you're late you won't be able to play tonight."
He glanced down at his watch and cussed under his breath as he grabbed his duffel bag. "Yeah, we should. I have some granola bars in my bag for breakfast," he said as he opened his door and poked his head out.
"Just the breakfast I needed," she said through a soft laugh, nudging his side with her elbow as they stepped through the doorway.
Percy's mom had the day off, so she was probably still asleep. Mrs. O'Leary slept with her, so he didn't want to be too loud and wake up the dog. Blackjack wandered down the hall and looked up at them as they walked past.
He batted at Percy's pant leg as he walked past. What an asshole. Percy just smiled and Annabeth stopped to pet the cat a little before the pair finally made their way out the front door and off to school.
They didn't really talk much the rest of the day. The usual exchanged bored glances in Dodds's class, the smiles in the hallway, but nothing more.
It was weird. Their relationship as a whole was just...weird.
At the end of the day, Percy went off to get ready for their pregame warmups. They were lucky enough to be playing the first couple rounds at home, so they did their usual pregame ritual of light early warmups, team dinner, and the actual pregame warmups.
He came into the gym to head through to the locker room and smiled as he saw Annabeth seated on the floor near the folded-up bleachers, ready to go for practice. "Hey there, wise girl," he said with a grin, slowing as he got beside her.
Her brow was furrowed and she almost looked angry at her shoes, lacing them up like she wanted to fight them. When he approached her and her eyes flicked up to look at him, he saw that deep intensity in her dark grey eyes that he usually only saw on game day, when she was in the zone during a volley.
"Hey, Percy." Her response was given with a small smile that didn't meet her eyes. He was almost taken aback, but he kept the smile on his lips as he stood there. "You doing okay? You looked like you wanted to off yourself in Dodds' class today."
Annabeth had this habit of not letting things out when she had something on her mind, something Percy was slowly trying to break down, but Annabeth was...unusually strong willed. He loved that about her, but it also made it hard for her to open up.
She nodded a bit and looked back down to her shoes, redoing the laces on her right shoe as if she wasn't satisfied with how she'd tied it the first time. Her long, thin fingers worked flawlessly to tie the laces into a neat bow.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just a lot going on right now, y'know?" she said, a slight sigh exiting her mouth near the end of the statement. "We won districts but regionals starts next week. It's just a lot of pressure."
He nodded thoughtfully, though her eyes weren't on him to see. He knew the pressure feeling well enough. "You're gonna do amazing," he assured her with a smile. It was easy to say that kind of stuff. He meant it wholeheartedly. "Just don't work yourself too hard. Relax and be the Annabeth Chase that you are. You're a legend."
Her eyes flicked up to him again, and she could see her eyes soften, a small smile play on her lips. "Your teammates and me and the guys will all be there every step of the way to cheer you on. Especially me," he teased with a grin.
A different look entered her eyes as they fell back down to her laces. She almost seemed to be contemplating retying them once more, but decided against it and stood up.
"You better get off to practice, fish face," she said with a small smile that, once again, didn't meet her eyes. "Don't want Hedge making you do more pushups in the long jump pit."
He snorted a little bit and leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Alright, alright." He started walking off, turning to walk backwards and point at her. "Have a good practice. See you tonight!"
She gave him a smile but didn't respond, walking over to a cart full of volleyballs best the wall. He turned and walked the rest of the way to the locker room, smiling to himself. Being able to make her smile when she was that distracted and stressed was one of his favorite things.
Being able to ease her mind when she was stressed was something he took pride in. She deserved it, after all. She worked harder than anyone else he knew.
The game that night happened about how everyone expected, a blowout win for the Sharks with a final score of 35-7. Percy had scored a pair of touchdowns, and even Jason notched one with a nice sneak near the end of the first half.
They had made it through the first round of the state playoffs, as expected. They made their way off the field, friends and family coming to talk to the players before they went off to the locker room.
Jason, Percy, and Frank all walked off together, talking about plays they needed to work on before the next game, and things the offensive line and other receivers needed to fix, when Hazel, Piper, and Thalia all came up.
Jason and Frank got hugs from their respective girlfriends, while Thalia just smiled. Percy glanced around, wondering where Annabeth was. He hadn't seen her during the game, but he didn't know where her and her friends were sitting. When Piper pulled back to let Thalia talk to her brother, Percy gently touched her arm with his free hand, his other one holding his helmet by his side.
"Hey, where's Beth at?" he asked, a smile on his face. He figured maybe she was in the bathroom, or had gotten held up talking to a teammate, or something else, but when he saw the reserved look in her eyes, his smile faded a bit.
"She didn't end up coming," Piper admitted, shrugging her shoulders slightly as her hand rested on his upper arm. "She said to tell you that she's sorry. She got held up by some homework." Her hand shifted off his arm, and he nodded a little bit, his brow furrowing.
"Oh, okay." He tried not to sound too disappointed. He couldn't control what she did. She didn't need to come to every one of his games.
He sighed and dragged a hand through his damp hair, pushing it back from his forehead before Thalia punched him in the chest, a grin on her face. "Good job out there, cuz'. But I thought we discussed getting ten touchdowns. Two is a little weak, I'm not gonna lie."
He couldn't help but laugh despite the circumstances, saluting her. "I'll get right on that for next week, ma'am," he joked before he wrapped his arm around her in a hug. "I gotta go change though. I feel disgusting."
She snorted and flashed him her usual mischievous grin. "You smell disgusting. All three of you." Jason just cracked a grin while Frank arched his eyebrows slightly and cocked his head down to smell himself. "Go get changed and meet us at my car. We're going out for burgers."
She slapped Jason on the back of the head before the three girls walked off, and Percy flashed Jason a smile. "Gotta love your sister, man," he said with a small laugh as the three of them began walking towards the locker room, their cleats clacking on the concrete.
They talked more about plays and blocking, and Percy felt a little better, but his mind still wandered about where Annabeth was at. She hadn't missed a game all season, even when she'd had homework.
He tried to be positive, but deep down he knew better. He just couldn't let himself think about what he already knew.