This was birthed from the brain of BlackJacktheBoss on tumblr, and her wonderful headcanons led me to write this one-shot! You can catch all of my one-shots before they're ever uploaded on FFnet at my tumblr! Link in my profile! c:
My inspirations, besides Sophii's headcanons, were the movie, Chasing Mavericks, seashells, rotten friendship bracelets and the Mid. Californian coast line!
Restless Tides
The boardwalk at Delos was the smallest on the Isle of Olympia but by far the busiest. The wood was eroded but sturdy and curved like a gentle crescent moon around the spread of crisp white sandy beach with sea the color of aquamarine. Decades before, the natives had started the tradition of hosting surfing festivals on that very beach and now all the summer seasons were busy with surfers from all over the Isle and the Southern Californian mainland. Between the workers flocking to tap into the festival's crowds and empty all wallets and students looking for the perfect summer job, it was miraculous that Chiron hadn't chosen to hire anyone else at the surf and skate shop. Just that year, she had become the fourth ever employee despite the popularity and demand of jobs at the shop.
Granted, Annabeth lived with Chiron, after she ran away at seven when her mother died and her father remarried within the year. He was her father's Latin translator but also a very close friend of Dr. Chase's, who settled to formally sign in as her legal guardian after Annabeth refused to go back. He was like an old uncle to the locals, having moved to Delos during the summer of love, and managed the best surf and skate shop at the boardwalk. Even when commercial stores offered to spend millions buying the shop out from under him, Chiron held the place running. It was a haven. That's what made her job that much more special. She wrestled with him since she was thirteen for the job, just a little something she could do in return for him taking her in, but he always persuaded her otherwise.
"Focus on your studies," He always calmly said, patting her curly hair down, "It'll take you far, Annabeth." He was right, she knew deep down, but the chill of the crisp sea air in the morning and the tang of salt and sand that constantly hung in her hair made her want to live on Delos forever. It was like a dreamland that held her close in the mist that rolled off the sea in the winter and early spring. In the purgatory between a shitty beginning and something she was building up to be great, but just needed one more push.
The shower roared to life at six in the morning on the Saturday just before the last week until summer vacation, shaking the entire bungalow with the effort of good water pressure. The little seashell ornaments she made when she was ten clinked against each other in the misty early light and would've woken her if she weren't already up. The window seat was her favorite early morning post, from which she could watch the sunrise over the sloping hill of rows upon rows of bungalows with chipped orange and baby blue and pink paint so faded that most looked white. Beyond that was the sea, slapping the sand with a gentle hum like it was saying good morning.
Like every day previous, Annabeth was up even before Chiron but this time she swung her legs out of the window and didn't bother changing as she laid against the frame and played with the frayed woven friendship bracelets around her left ankle. Chiron was ready in less than an hour and pushed the curtain separating her room section from the living room.
"Shift in thirty." He reminded her and placed a plate of toast on her bed. Five minutes later, the old Volkswagen van grumbled and puttered off at the front of the house. Then, just as the van sounded on its way, the mist seemed to clear slowly and the light turned from crisp to the warm glow of day. The musty sweatshirt she went to bed in smelled too much like oil, cigarettes and sleep so slowly Annabeth stood to change. But first she stretched. Hands high above her head, twisting and arching and curling just like Piper taught her in those impromptu yoga "classes" she gave whenever they skipped gym.
Piper McLean was her best friend since 3rd grade, when Annabeth watched her cleanly punch a boy in the nose for calling her ugly, and they had been inseparable since. She was a wicked surfer and lived with her cousin's family most of the time because her father was a big shot traveling actor. Though she had moved to the island like Annabeth did, the natives seemed to have adopted her a bit more and she always got the flack that non-natives dreamed of when it came to surfing Delos' beaches.
Lately, Piper seemed to be hanging out with her cousin more, which Annabeth didn't care too much about because he did just transfer to their school. She was fine hanging with her work friends, Thalia and Luke, in the mean time, but they were older and in college and every time they invited her to hang out with them, it involved smoking and drinking and sitting by the skate park into the late hours of the night. Annabeth opted to stay sober most of the time, which didn't seem to bug them thankfully, but it always stunk up some of her clothes regardless of if she did or didn't.
At that thought, she stripped off the sweatshirt and t-shirt from last night, carelessly and without closing the blinds so she could watch the sunrise. Stepping out of her leggings was easy but wiggling into jeans felt too constricting for the day so she pulled on cut off shorts and the last clean shirt she owned. It was big and worn and probably Chiron's so she did the classic 'Piper tie-off' and knotted the remaining fabric at the small of her back. It took two minutes to find her phone under her bed covers and another two minutes to send a message to Piper while shoving toast in her mouth.
Piper's reply came as she was hopping around for her flip-flops and tugging on a holey grey-blue hoodie.
Pipes:
not doing much today! :) im gonna be skating w/ cuz
Annabeth finished her toast, stuffed her phone into her pocket without replying and pushed open the screen door. She had fifteen minutes until her shift, so instead of walking, she grabbed her bike.
The rusty old bike with the large handlebars squeaked for all of five feet before she pushed off and rolled down the main hill of her street toward the boardwalk. "Good morning, Dodds." She called to the mean old English bulldog that lived on the end of her street and barked as she passed.
It got humid around ten, when she was talking out the trash to the dumpster behind the store. It made the trash and Luke's cigarette smell worse than normal. "He's looking for you." Annabeth commented to the sandy blond, who gave her a hundred watt smile before he stamped out his cig.
"Thanks for giving me a heads up." Luke winked as he disappeared into the shop. Luke repaired most of the dinged up surfboards in the store, mostly by fixing up the fins and waxing out any dings or cracks. Unless they were professional boards, all of them went to Luke.
Annabeth took her post back up at the counter, cranking up the fan and bending from her spot on her stool to the counter in order to read one of the new surf and skate magazines that came in. In the earlier hours, they barely had customers. The tourists never visited until after noon, and most of the regulars were out catching early waves or making use of the uncrowded skate parks and boardwalk areas so the early shifts were pretty slow. Thalia hadn't even clocked in yet and Chiron was in the back room waxing out a pro board to the sound of the Beastie Boys when Annabeth finally stepped off her stool to grab a water bottle in the back room.
When she came back, the shop's door opened with a chime and in piled Piper. "Annabeth!" The shorter girl grinned and slapped her board on the ground in order to reach over the counter and deliver a hug.
"Oh hey," Annabeth smiled and patted the feather in Piper's hair out of her face as they hugged, "What brings you in?"
"To free you from boredom," Piper sang, "And have you fix up dear ol' cuz's board." With that, Annabeth finally noticed the boy behind Piper. He was tall, taller than her even, and looked so striking that she was surprised she didn't see him at first. Piper gasped and smacked her forehead, "I completely forgot you two haven't met yet. Annabeth, this is Percy. Percy, this is my best friend Annabeth."
So this was the son of the late mayor. Annabeth knew who he was, but hadn't known what he looked like. Apparently he went to the private school an island over until he got kicked out last year and moved to go to the same school as her on Delos. When Annabeth was younger, she would pester Chiron to tell her more of the tragedy of the mayor. Every time, he told her it was disrespectful to be so eager to know more, yet he always told her that everyone loved Poseidon and he was the best mayor Delos ever had until he sailed off on one of his monthly sailing trips and never came back. The town was distraught after losing Poseidon, since his family was one of the original natives of the island and he did his best to keep Delos free of commercial entities. Annabeth was present at the public funeral, as was the whole town, when they all lit candles on little boats and sent them out on the weirdly calm sea as a feeble but spiritual attempt to guide him back.
His son looked a lot like him. The same mop of messy black hair she'd seen in the pictures and the same creamy tan and light sun-influenced freckles, even down to the classic surfer skater shark tooth necklace. The shark tooth hung over the collar of a navy t-shirt half hanging out of a gray pair of shorts. His eyes were a deeper green and kept jumping around and checking out the shop.
"Hi." She said and raised her eyebrows when he looked at her for a couple seconds before grinning a little.
"Hey." His voice was pretty deep surprisingly.
Piper cut in. "Percy, the shop and Annabeth are super pretty, I know but we gotta save your baby." She dipped down and took the longboard limp in his hand and slapped it on the glass counter.
The front axel was chipped from one too many low cruises and the left wheel was half shattered and spinning far too haphazardly. Other than the obvious damage, Annabeth could see the frayed wood was littered with cracks and absolute wreckage from wear and tear. She gently placed her hands on the sides of the longboard and wiggled it gently. "Unstable." She muttered, "How old is this thing? It's in ridiculously bad shape."
"What?" His voice was hard and she looked up to meet his eyes.
"Uh, yeah. The axels are too loose and crummy for cruising. It's like a million years old. Aren't you rich? Couldn't you get a less shitty board?" She said, with a small roll of her eyes. There was another pause and she looked back down to inspect the longboard more.
But the pause stretched too long and she glanced back up in curiosity at the lack of an answer. To her surprise, the boy in front of her was red in the face and tense.
"Percy…?" Piper began softly, raising her hands in a passive attempt, but instead he snatched up the board roughly.
"You're an idiot. Mind your own damn business." He hissed at Annabeth before storming out of the store, slamming open the door so hard the bell let out a stressed long chime.
"Shit…" Piper whimpered and tugged on her feather like she always did when she's nervous. Annabeth glanced at her, bewildered, and as if answering her look, Piper sighed.
"Annabeth…that was his dad's board. He passed it on to Percy. You know, the mayor?"
The dread set in quickly and so abruptly it was like Piper had tossed a bucket of ice water in her face. The creeping mortified bile climbed in her belly and her face burned.
She slid around the counter with ease and took a step toward the door before glancing back at Piper. "Hold…Stay here, don't move." She said, but it sounded far weaker than she had intended. But before Piper could say anything else, Annabeth disappeared out the shop door and down past the boardwalk.
The slap of her flip-flops against the barely sizzling concrete became the rhythmic thump of footfalls against the wood of the boardwalk stairs as she descended. Scouring the beach for a mop of black hair wasn't hard when it stood out so sharply against the sand and the sun. She followed him down the stretch of the beach, past the private section to a large rock. When Percy disappeared around it, she hesitated for about two seconds before ducking behind a curtain of seaweed and following.
When she finally caught up, he was sat down on a rock a few feet in the surf with the board in his lap, staring out to the horizon. Without taking off her slippery flip-flops, she climbed the little rock path to the biggest one, trying to tame her panting from running in the sand.
"Percy." She started, but he didn't turn around.
She paused before asking, quieter, "Can I sit?"
Another pause, and he doesn't respond again. She sat anyway.
There's only so much space on the rock, so their arms brushed together when she sat down and her hair gently slipped across his shoulder before she tucked it away hurriedly. Annabeth is pretty sure there's just enough room to give them each more space, but something stops her from moving. There's an even bigger pause, where the words don't seem to come to up yet.
Apologizing was never something she was good at. But she knows how it feels to lose a parent, and how it feels for someone to be insensitive about it. Swallowing her pride, she spoke. "My mom gave me a stuffed owl when I was born. He was named Theseus because he was her favorite Greek hero but I couldn't say Theseus so I called him Thesis."
It didn't seem like a promising start to something that would end up in an apology but Percy turned just a little to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. Annabeth chewed on her bottom lip a little, keeping her eyes forward, before continuing. "She died and my dad got remarried pretty quickly. We moved and when I was unpacking, I couldn't find him. I was only six so I eventually freaked out and when my dad and stepmom came to my room, my stepmom told me she threw Theseus away."
A pause before a muffled: "…Shut up."
She couldn't help but laugh softly. "I'm serious. I threw a big fit…for like, two hours. It was the worst day of my little life. Well besides the day my mom died."
There was a longer pause. It was a more melancholy one and she wondered if this was making him feel any better in any way… But then, "Did she apologize? Get you a new one?"
Annabeth shook her head. "No, she didn't care much. My dad just said I was being dramatic."
This time, Percy relaxed his arms and looked at her fully. "You were just six."
She nodded and shrugged a bit, glancing from the horizon to him. Their eyes met and her heart sped up a bit. Percy's eyes were sparkling in the sunlight, full of something she couldn't understand and a pinch of sad too. He turned his gaze back to the horizon after a few seconds.
"…My mom was so scared when he passed it down to me," He started slowly, "She thought I was too big for it but my dad always said I would be fine. Then he'd ruffled my hair and wink and always give me a push."
Annabeth chewed on her lip again, holding herself back from placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort. The view of the horizon between the ends of the secret cove felt like it held years of secrets and feelings that bounced back and forth between the rocks like a melody. His voice was just above a whisper when he spoke again. "Mom says I have his smile."
Her heart ached at the words the boy she barely knew said and together they sat in a deep silence for a few minutes, watching the sun dazzle in the sky and shine streaks on the clear water.
With a split second decision, she climbed to her feet. "C'mon Private School," She stuck out her hand to help him up, "we're gonna fix up your board and make it look great."
His pause is a short one before he grinned and grasped her hand so she can haul him to his feet.
.
For the first half of the summer, there was always something that turned up on that board. Annabeth could always count on at least a visit a week from Percy, from his longboard to once a regular skateboard (which was so grimy she got Luke to fix it up) and a surfboard that just needed a waxing (but somehow Percy couldn't do that himself).
It happened so much that Thalia and Luke had even noticed, and teased whenever possible, especially when Annabeth would always snap up when the bell would chime on the door. Half of the time it wasn't even Percy, and that sent Thalia and Luke in peals of laughter, but the times it was, it was always met with a lot of snickering.
The tenth time Percy came into the shop, it was so hot out that his normal t-shirt was replaced with a black tank top and her normal t-shirt with a tiny gray halter top, which seemed so funny to Thalia and Luke that they spent most of the time wiggling their eyebrows in Percy and Annabeth's direction.
"Am I missing something?" Percy asked Annabeth, glancing at the two college students. Annabeth grumbled and scowled down at his board, her cheeks burning a deep red, "No, Percy, just ignore them. They're being immature."
"If you say so." He shrugged and turned to lean against the counter, shoving his hands in his pockets. Annabeth couldn't resist a glance at his face, noting his chiseled jawline even before noticing the flush in his cheeks.
"…Percy?" She started slowly, leaning over his board to get a better look at his face, "What's up?"
He cleared his throat. "Since the festival starts tomorrow, there's going to be a little…um, party of people from school and I guess the college at the beach tonight. Wanna go with me?"
Annabeth blinked. The heat of the day slowed everything but not her brain process. The smile crept its way onto her cheeks and after a while of no response, Percy glanced and gazed at her with wide eyes. "Yeah, I would love to." She breathed finally, and the smile danced all the way over to Percy's face too.
.
He didn't know how he did it, but he managed to get a semi-date thing with Annabeth Chase. It only took him, what, ten phony trips to the surf and skate shop? Piper would laugh her ass off when he finally told her, but for now the whole thing was under wraps. He just wanted to have a chill night with Annabeth, something casual and maybe a bit romantic. She was going to be at his house any time now, and he just spent the evening scourging for something to break on his board so he could visit her the next day too, hopefully early so he could get in before the festival rush of surfers and skaters.
His mom decided it was a more important date than the ones he went on before his dad passed, and even ironed his shirt for him, which was weird because they were going to the beach and it was just a t-shirt but he didn't say anything.
Percy paused in front of his mirror. Blue shirt, black shorts, black sandals. It was just a party and yeah he'd been to one before, but why did he feel undressed? Never mind that, he had to find something to break on his longboard for tomorrow. Crouching, he checked under his bed for a pair of pliers that he was pretty sure he tossed back there a couple days previous.
He was so set on finding those pair of pliers that his mom's yell of "Percy!" startled him so much he banged his head on the underside of his bed, and cussed sharply as he scrambled back and stood up. Rubbing the back of his head, he padded out of his room to the front room. "Yeah mom?" He winced, before glancing up to see his mother, holding the screen door open, and Annabeth standing there.
He immediately noticed his mother's double thumbs up. Then he fully noticed Annabeth. She looked really good, with her cream shirt and light colored jean shorts. But what really got to him was the sparkle in her eyes, and her little smile.
"Hi," She nibbled on her bottom lip like she usually did when she was faintly nervous, "you look good."
If he wasn't red already, he definitely was now. "Thanks." He managed and placed his hands in his pockets, oblivious to if he should return the compliment or not. His mother's exasperated expression told him he should, but instead he took the other route and led Annabeth back to the door by a hand on her shoulder. "Right, well bye mom," He bent over to kiss Sally's cheek.
"Bye! You two be home by midnight." Sally winked and he tried his hardest not to blush deeper as he led Annabeth out the door. As they exited the yard and began walking down the sidewalk, Annabeth turned to look at him.
Her eyebrows were raised, and her lips turned in a particularly amused expression that made his neck and ears heat up. "Your mother is funny," She began, "and interestingly enough, told me to wait while you tried to find something to break on your board."
Percy groaned instantly, and buried his head in his hands. Annabeth's laugh rang out loudly and clearly, and his face felt like someone flopped a disc of lava onto it. The laughter died to a giggle and he watched her flip-flops step a couple paces in front of him and turn back to face him. "You know, you don't have to keep breaking your poor board for us to hang out."
It was soft enough to barely be heard but it set a whole line of firecrackers up his spine. When he looked up at her, the moon had set a line of light beaming across her golden hair and made the shine in her eyes brighten tenfold. He tried to swallow down his grin, but it failed to work. It was all worth it when she began to laugh at his little struggle and they continued on to walk to the beach but this time standing close enough to brush their knuckles together occasionally.
.
The weird school at Delos was infamous for its bad attendance records, which made it a prime candidate for Percy because it was hard for him to get out of bed before nine in the morning. However, after the summer ended, he was at school earlier and earlier. It was a miracle, especially to his mom.
"This school is doing something to you." She breathed when she saw him in the kitchen eating breakfast earlier than she had brewed coffee, but Sally was wrong there. It was completely Annabeth that was doing something to him.
Suddenly school was filled with even more friends, and even more fun. He would skate with Piper biweekly like usual, but this time Annabeth would come along and watch. And with Annabeth came Reyna, Rachel and eventually Leo. He ate with them too, where before he would spend most of lunch in detention for being a couple hours late to school. Sometimes his friends from the private school on the mainland, Hazel and Frank, would come on the weekends and everyone would go to the beach to have picnics or try the rides on the boardwalk.
Sometimes, it was just Annabeth. In history class, they were partners and switched notes during study hall. She learned he was bad at Chemistry and Algebra and helped him study for tests, and in return he would help her carry her architecture magazines home from her shifts at the surf and skate shop when Chiron was staying late and couldn't drive her home.
Percy found out that she wanted to buy the closed bar near the boardwalk, because it was her mother's family's at one point, and that she missed her dad. But only the dad he was before he got remarried. He told her about Gabe, and showed her the scars. Annabeth was silent for a long time, looking at them with eyes that flashed, before she hugged him, right there, on the porch of her house.
They spent so much time at the shop together; Chiron eventually put him to work. Nothing serious, just carrying the trash out and helping unpack shipments, but it gave him the chance to sing along with Annabeth to Chiron's old Beastie Boys and Duffy records and to prove that, yes, in fact, he can do a kick flip on a board without wheels. She laughed so hard when he fell on his ass the fourth time, that Luke looked over from his waxing station and raised his eyebrows at the two of them. The nights they got off together, they took the long way home, and the school year was short and sweet.
Toward the beginning of the summer, things changed. Annabeth was always pretty to him, and a constant comfort. She was his best friend, but suddenly the way she smiled stunned him and every step she took distracted him. To the point that he wiped out at the skate park because she turned her head and all her hair swished around with her because she wore her hair down for once. It was embarrassing, but her laughter had some kind of healing element. She was still serious and snide, the same Annabeth he first met, but way different now.
.
July 12th came faster than every year previous. The light from July 11th was gone, and she was alone at her window seat, watching the moon over the surf when she heard the bush to the left of the tiny yard rustle. Annabeth didn't pay much attention, she figured it was probably just a raccoon, and continued to swing her leg out the window while playing with the bracelets on the other.
Last year around this time, she was nothing short of lonely and spent her time with people who didn't care too much. Thalia and Luke were great, but it was that much different to hang out with teenagers her age. Well, now not so much her age. She was seventeen now. Closer to the whole growing up thing, and further from the whole sitting at your window seat trying to escape stuff thing. A plink caught her attention from the side of the bushes, where the shrubs covered a small gate. Another plink, this time a rock skittered its way over the bushes and into the yard. Her heart caught and she pulled in her leg, grasping the handle of the window in case she had to slam the window shut.
After a couple minutes hand popped up around the bushes and unlocked the gate swiftly and instead of a raccoon, or a burglar, it was Percy. He scrambled up and snapped his left hand behind his back quickly when he spotted her, the other hand rubbing the back of his head as he carefully made his way to her window.
Every sense of her body perked up, her heart catching in her throat and speeding up. She tried to ignore it but it thudded with every step he took closer. There were leaves scattered in his hair and one ended up perched on his shoulder, but it twirled its way to the ground when he stopped in front of her.
"Hey." He grinned and she bit down on her bottom lip in order to avoid smiling. Glancing over her shoulder, Annabeth reached her legs out of the window and down to the tile of the yard before looking up at him again.
"What are you doing here?" She asked in a rushed whisper, standing to place her hands on his chest and push him back gently, "You're such a seaweed brain! If Chiron sees you, we're both dead."
He cut her off by placing something furry in her hands. "I wanted to be the first to say happy birthday to you." He murmured back, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. The action brushed their arms together since they were standing so close, but neither of them backed off and it made her heart beat even faster. She gazed at his face, his eyes landing everywhere but her, then looked down at the gift.
Her breath snagged and joined her heart in her throat. It was a tiny round stuffed owl, small enough to fit in her palms and as soft as a baby toy. Its eyes were big and sparkly, and its leather beak was a tiny bit crooked. All the words she wanted to say dried up and as quickly as he had handed her the gift, he spoke again.
"He's not Theseus but… shit. If I overstepped coming so late, please tell me, Annabeth. I don't want to ruin this with my stupid feelings and…" He started to panic audibly and took a half step back.
A little spark erupted in her brain, that blossomed quickly into a show of other sparks and before he could step back more, Annabeth grasped his shirt's sleeve and pulled him forward. Percy had grown since last year, but so had she, and even if the distance was a little bigger than before, it seemed so quick when she pressed her lips to his.
It was meant to be a small kiss, but she hadn't really kissed someone before so it seemed to trail on. His lips were chapped but gentle, and well, frozen in shock, so she pulled away cautiously after what seemed like a good while. Annabeth took a deep breath and stared back down at the stuffed owl in her hands.
"This is…the sweetest gift anyone has ever gotten me." She laughed gently, touching the owl's beak.
Percy cleared his throat and she looked back up at him. His cheeks were rosy and he met her eyes with a gulp. "Then," he started slowly, "will you go out with me?"
That was the real gift. With the little owl in her hands, staring up at Percy Jackson who just asked her out at 12:28 on the day of her birthday. The boy who smelled like the best parts of the ocean, who had waves in his hair, who stood on her porch and told her the darkest part of his life and still smiled a second later. Piper was typically the one who talked about fate, and the stars, and destiny, but in that moment, it felt like Percy came out of the blue and become her last tiny push. It felt like she could stay there for hours in the yard just beyond her window seat, with the sky lightening and the seashell chimes ringing softly, kissing him once for giving her the stuffed owl and kissing him twice for giving her something way more precious.
I'll be uploading a bunch of one-shot today and I have a five-shot story in the works!
Sorry for being absent so much c:
Love you all! All your reviews and favorites really make me inspired to write more!