The sun was beginning to sink below the city landscape when Annabeth finally heard the door slam shut somewhere beneath her. Two heavy pairs of feet stomped down the hall, followed by quicker, quieter footsteps, and the sound of a young boy's laughter. Crap. She had forgotten that they would be coming home. Why did they have to live here too? Couldn't she spend a little more time here with Percy? She wasn't ready for him to leave yet, but she was also wasn't particularly anxious to bring him downstairs so that he could meet the rest of her family. Why, she couldn't exactly say. Perhaps because the last time Percy had had a proper conversation with her dad had been 3 years ago, when he had had to break the news that his only daughter was missing and in danger. That could not have been good ice-breaker.
"Well." Annabeth huffed a sigh and slammed the laptop shut. Feigning nonchalance, she heaved herself up, then held out a hand to Percy. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. Let's go meet my parents." Percy grinned a devilish grin that made her heart ache, and grabbed the hand she extended towards towards him.
"Sure. In a minute though." With that, Percy yanked her back down onto the floor. She landed in a messy heap of tangled hair and flailing limbs, right into his arms. "Nope, Wise Girl," He said as she struggled to regain control. His were words choked with laughter. "Not going down quite yet." Annabeth tried for a face that suggested she was tired of her boyfriend's antics, but it didn't work. It was obvious that she wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with Percy for a few more hours, and so soon, she was laughing too, laughing so hard that her stomach hurt. And soon after that, as if they were dancing to some strange, obscure routine where they tried to extinguish all the pain through each other, they were kissing again, slowly growing drunk, going mad on the passion and frenzy as they drowned in the storm of feelings. Was it possible to get intoxicated on love, or on pain? Or what about when they struck together? That was certainly what was going now. All the lines, all the rules of emotion were blurring, until all there was was an onslaught of feeling. Love itself was becoming an oxymoron, taking the hand of terror. Passion was grasping firmly onto pain. And fear now came with valiance.
Annabeth could have stayed there all night. All week, forever, if not for the pounding of feet on the stairs, and a child's cry, yelling her name. "Annabeth?" It cried. "Annabeth!" Too late did it register that her brother was coming to look for her, and so they didn't break apart until the door had slammed open and Bobby stood on the threshold, surveying the scene before him. "What the...?" He focused more closely on Percy. "Who is that?"
"Oh, umm..." Annabeth scrambled up, desperately sweeping her tangled locks back from her face. She was aware of the red flush that was slowly creeping up her face, and of Percy behind her, grinning with unmasked amusement, his eyes glinting with a trouble-maker's glint. She kicked him with her heel. "Well, Bobby, this is Seaw- Percy. Yeah. Percy- my boyfriend. Percy, this is Bobby, my half-brother." She was still pushing back her hair and rubbing her hand over her face, flustered. She begun to wish that the floor would just open up and let her fall through. No. No. How could she think that? It only transported her back to that nightmare, to hell. No. She wouldn't think about that now.
Bobby smacked his head in a I should've guessed sort of way. "Of course you are!" He muttered, getting out his words around a smirk. Then, with a villain's smile, he turned and yelled down the stairs, "Guess who Annabeth brought home guys!" Annabeth shrieked, her face now brighter than a London phone box.
"Bobby!" She yelled hurling with all her might the first thing she found on her desk. It was a rubber. How frightening for her brother. Ducking the projectile flying with deadly aim at his face, her brother turned and darted down the stairs. His laughter was still ringing in Annabeth's ears as she stared at the threshold, fuming.
"Hey," Percy put his arm around her shoulders. "I want to meet them." Annabeth snorted.
"Gods of Olympus, you really don't," She groaned, but grabbed his hand nonetheless, and guided him downstairs.
When Annabeth nudged open the kitchen door, Bobby appeared to be in the middle of an animated and descriptive retelling of the events upstairs. Seeing this was almost enough to make Annabeth change her mind and flee. She was starting to turn around, already desperate for the safety of her bedroom. Maybe she could for just hide under the covers and pray no one would notice her, like a kid who had eaten all the candy and was waiting to get caught. They would forget about this in an hour, and she could go back to her sad, boring life where she ran over in her mind again and again moments of a truly eventful, tragically horrifying summer. But no. Already, Percy was gently spinning her around, pushing her against t hedoor, and a step closer to her dad and his family. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door. All heads turned towards her.
Annabeth trudged into the room, Percy behind her. Silently, she sank onto the sofa. All eyes were on her, and she squirmed under the attention. How odd, that she, Annabeth Chase, could crawl through Tartarus, lead two wars and hold up the sky, but once her family- Her dad's family were all looking at her, she felt as if the weight of all these gazes were pushing her down, down, until she dissolved. Percy nudged her gently. Annabeth cleared her throat.
"So." She gestured beside her. "You've heard about him. Now you get to meet him. This is Percy Jackson. My boyfriend." Bobby and Matthew grinned and wiggled their eyebrows behind their parent's back. Annabeth glared at them.
She found it embarrassing, she supposed- the whole thing with her brother finding them. She wasn't sure why, but it felt like too much of an invasion of her privacy, an intrusion into her life. In this small, crowded house, it was rare that she got her own space, so that in the few moments when she could afford to live her own, private life, to be interrupted was an insult, a blatant indication that no one gave a damn about her. After what was surely just a moment, but what had stretched into hours for Annabeth, he father stood up and shook hands with Percy. They exchanged a few words, none of which Annabeth heard, nor cared about. That moment of contact between Percy and her dad had finally broken down a dam of built up nerves, most of which she hadn't even realized she was harbouring. It wasn't normal to get so worked up during situations like this, but then again, they were demigods, weren't they? Nothing was normal for them. Part of her was along the lines of I can't believe you ever even worried about this. But another, smaller part, argued back that It's not like I haven't lost Percy before. Any, any slim chance that he could be taken away, and it would, without fail, freak her out completely. But for now, she supposed they were okay.