A/N: So sorry it took me so so long! But now I've been inspired. So, this one is like, ridiculously fluffy at the end. :) But that is just how I roll. So, enjoy! Oh, and I will be updating my other Percabeth story really soon. :D
He pulls up to the curb, looking around. Nice, white houses up and down the street, neat, clean sidewalks, very… un-New York. He had no idea this kind of place really existed in Manhattan. Well, he did, (Manhattan has pretty much everything), but he never really thought about it. He looked up, and saw an autumn wreath on the door. Still, very suburb-y. He didn't really care, but he was surprised. He didn't really imagine Annabeth as the suburb type. He climbed out of the drivers seat, and opened the passenger side, pulling out his backpack, stack of books, and laptop. He spun around (nearly falling over), and slammed the door shut with his foot (once again, nearly toppling). He stumbled up the walkway, surrounded by patches of flowers and neatly trimmed bushes. He shook his head. This was weird. ADD kids definitely don't live like this.
He reached the door, and hit the doorbell button with his elbow. He heard Annabeth call something out ("I got it!"), and then the door opened, and there she stood. T-shirt, boot-cut jeans (she always complained about skinny jeans- but that's another story), and slightly different hued socks. She was once again slightly taller (just a mere centimeter) than him, and always liked to stand up straight, just to rub it in his face (at least, that's how it seemed to Percy).
She smiled. "Hey, Percy!"
He sort of smiled, then nearly dropped his geometry notebook, but Annabeth caught it, along with grabbing some more of his books, so that he could stand up straight. "Hey! Uh, nice place." He meant it, too; he just didn't think it matched Annabeth.
She looked over his shoulder, at the evenly cut grass and freshly raked lawn. "Yeah, sure. Here, come in." She stepped aside, and he walked in.
The entryway had a simple brown chest on one wall with a bowl containing keys and change. Tiled floor, white walls, and hooks on the other side of the wall with a letter above each hook for their initials. Under the A contained a mess of sideways hoodies and her leather jacket. He smiled. That was more like it.
"So, my room is upstairs. That's probably the best place to work, so my brothers won't bother us." She leads them through the entryway, into the living room, where the staircase was to the left and to the right was a couch and some chairs, which Matthew and Bobby were hanging off of, playing with their hand held video games. "Haha! 30000 points! Beat that!"
Annabeth sighed. "Hey, Percy's here. We're gonna be in my room, don't bother us. Okay?"
They looked up, and grinned. "Oooh, Annabeth's boyfriend!" Just as they started making smooching faces, and Annabeth and Percy's face were started to turn red (from a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance), Annabeth's step-mom walked out from the kitchen, to the right. Annabeth moaned a little.
"What are you- oh, hello, Percy! I forgot Annabeth said you would be coming over. Would you like something to eat?"
He was just saying no, thanks when Annabeth's dad came downstairs. She threw her head back and groaned. "Ugh! Hi, dad. Percy and I will be upstairs, studying." She threw a look towards her brothers. "Don't bother us." She grabbed his hand (which was quite a feat, considering the load she was carrying), and tugged him past her dad and up the stairs. He looked back, trying to apologize for her rudeness through his gaze, when she gave another pull and they fell out of sight. She was stomping down the (beige) hall, when he called her.
"Annabeth! What was that about?"
She turned around. "I'm sorry. But they would have never stopped talking. Bobby and Matt teasing us, my mom trying to be a good host, and my dad being… protective."
His brow furrowed. "But they weren't like that last time, in San Francisco."
She gave him a look that said seriously? "Percy, we weren't dating last time." She turned around, and continued down the hall.
His face took on a look of surprise, and then understanding. "Oh. Right. Still, though…"
She gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I mean it, this time." She laughed. She opened a door on the left, and she stepped in. He followed, and grinned. This was so much more like it. There were clothes in a-fairly neat- pile in the corner, a desk covered in papers and her dagger, a bookcase packed with books, and a twin sized bed shoved in the corner, as if there were so many more important things to do than sleep. This is what it should be like. She turned around, and didn't even apologize for the mess, which was oddly endearing.
"But, I've missed you. It's been a while." She walked to the bed, which was near the desk, and put his books down. He followed, and put his bag and laptop down. She turned to face him. Maybe he had grown, because now he seemed to be around even with her. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Too long." She whispered, and leaned up to kiss him. He put his arms around her waist, and pulled her to him. She tangled her fingers in his hair, and- knock, knock, knock.
They pulled apart, and she groaned. "See?" He laughed a little, although he did agree. She opened the door as she was lightly wiping her lips, and immediately locked her arm down to her side when she saw her dad.
"Oh, uh, hi, dad. We were just about to begin. We were just… saying hello." He nearly laughed again, which would have been a very bad idea, so he covered it with a cough. Yeah, friendliest hello he's ever experienced. She ignored him, looked at her dad, who had a suspicious look on his face. Percy thought it was ridiculous. Yes, he was going to kiss Annabeth. Because he's dating her. So he felt no shame.
"Um, I was just coming up to ask if you like anything to eat, or drink." Annabeth looked back at Percy, rolled her eyes, like, yeah, right, then raised her eyebrows in question. He shook his head. She turned back. "No, we're good. Thanks."
He nodded. "Okay, that's fine. If you need anything, I'll be in my study, right next door. Just to the right. A few ste-"
"Okay, dad, thanks. We got it. We'll be here."
He nodded again, and turned around. She shut the door.
"Oh, my gods. Okay, where were we?" She spun around. He walked towards her, and then she said: "Oh, right. Studying. You can take the bed." He groaned as she walked past him to her desk. "What do you want to work on first?"
He stared at the paper, his pencil hovering. He couldn't recall how to solve this one…
"Ugh!" He flopped back on the bed. Annabeth looked over. "What?"
"I'm supposed to 'convert the formula from standard form to slope-intercept form, then solve for the y-intercept using the points given.' I don't know what that means!"
Annabeth grinned. "Don't you listen in class? Standard form is a+b=c, and slope-intercept is y=mx+b, and the y-inter-" He cut her off.
"Okay, okay, everybody already knows your so much smarter than me. Can you just solve it?"
She gave him a disapproving look. "Then how will you ever learn?" He rolled his eyes. "I'll help you. Let's see…" She got up, and took the paper from him, and plopped down beside him on the bed.
"Okay, um, so you have the formula 3x+y=3.4, so you need to solve for y. first, you subtract 3x from both sides, and then you have y=3.4-3x, or y=-3x+3.4. So, that's been converted into slope-intercept, and the second part is actually a trick question:you don't need the points to find the y-intercept, because it is actually already in the equation. It's 3.4. Remember, m equals slope, and b equals y-intercept! So, there you go. Can you do the rest of them now?" He stared at the paper for a moment, then decided that he would probably be able to figure it out, so he nodded. "Okay, good. You really are a Seaweed Brain." She laughed and returned to her desk, and Percy began to work out the rest of the problems.
After a while, Percy heard Annabeth curse. "Gamoto!" He looked up as she slammed her laptop shut, and put her head in her hands. At first, he was confused, and then he heard sobs. And then he was completely lost. What had happened?
"Um, Annabeth? What's wrong?"
She lifts her head, and stares at the wall. "I can't read the damn article because of the dyslexia!" She then throws her head down on the desk, and continues to cry. At this point, he has absolutely no idea what it going on.
"But, it's not a big deal. I mean, it's never bothered you before…." He said, tentatively.
Obviously, it was the wrong thing to say, because she spins around in her chair, red eyes blazing. "Of course it hasn't. But now I'm in charge of rebuilding Olympus, and how am I supposed to design a paradise when I can't even fucking read?"
He's taken aback. She's always seemed so confident, especially now that she got this job. He thought she was overjoyed about it. He had no idea she was so freaked out.
She starts crying again, and leans down to her knees and wraps her arms around her head. He gets up. "Annabeth…" He leans down, and lifts her up. He shoves his stuff away on the bed, and lies down, with her in his arms. He strokes her hair.
"Annabeth, it doesn't matter that you have trouble reading. You can do this. You are the absolute best person for it. You will build things others could never imagine. You can do this. And I will be here for you the whole way." He looked down at her, and saw her eyes drifting closed. "I love you," is what she whispered as she fell asleep. He settled down into the pillow. "I love you too." He kissed her forehead, and closed his eyes.
As Annabeth's dad was walking down the hall, and he passed Annabeth's door, he heard nothing, and was confused. He knocked on the door. No answer. He put his ear to the door, and thought all he heard was slow breathing. He slowly opened the door, and looked around. And what he saw was his daughter lying in bed, wrapped around her boyfriend. He was about to give them a rude awakening, when he took a closer look. Her eyes were red, but their fingers were intertwined. He sighed as he realized that he couldn't be the person that she goes to with her problems anymore. Percy can, though. And it looks like he's doing a pretty good job. He softly shut the door, and walked back down the hall.
A/N: Still welcoming prompts! :)