"Do you want to hear my standard answer?" Annabeth asked "I'll take the summary version" "I'm grateful" "Good for you. I mean that in the least passive aggressive way possible. I'm just happy that you have things in your life to be grateful for" "Yeah, that's kind of a new thing for me, as I might have mentioned a few times" "Just once or twice. But seriously, you've been through so much schist that you absolutely have the right to acknowledge that all you want. I won't stop you" "That's nice. Quick question, when was the last time we cuddles for a reason that wasn't either of us feeling particularly bad?" "Too long ago" "Well in that case..." Annabeth slid closer to me on the bench and leaned against me. "We got sidetracked again. You wanted to tell me about when I went missing" "Right. So, I was angry and barely sane enough to not kill the gods. As you might know, I'm not so good at handling my emotions, but there is one thing I'm very good at: turning anger determination. Pair that with hope and desperation, and you get an Annabeth that vastly overestimates how much work she can handle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're supposed to get 8 hours of sleep per week, right?" "Please tell me you're joking" "Partially. I was getting a few hours of sleep per day, but it definitely wasn't eight" "Annabeth, why did you do that to yourself" "Because getting stuff done is easier than dealing with your anger and it also helps with, you know, getting stuff done. And don't tell me that that's an unhealthy coping mechanism because I know it is and also it didn't have any long lasting consequences so it's fine" I gave Annabeth my best that-was-not-okay-look. It wasn't that good.
"I was fine, okay, I lied, I was dying inside" "Because I wasn't there" "Because you weren't there" Annabeth confirmed. "Well, mostly because Hera did something that angered me deeply and that thing just happened to result in you being gone and a warship needing to be built, but that way it sounds cuter" "Here's the thing: I'm here now" "You know the best thing about having been at a low place. Even being slightly above average seems like a high. Simply the fact that you are here now makes me so happy I could cry. Okay, maybe not that, I already cry enough from being sad or scared, but very happy nonetheless" "You know what would make this even better?" "No, what is, seaweed brain?" "A kiss perhaps?" "Perhaps" I followed my suggestion and kissed her. While doing so, I levitated some water above us, making this technically an underwater kiss. Unfortunately, I lost focus and the water splashed on our heads. I saw Annabeth's face flicker into an annoyed state for a split second before returning to normal. That was a bit strange, Annabeth usually wasn't this cautious about showing emotions around me normally. I decided to test something. But first… "I think I'll clean this off" I said once the kiss was over and made all the water float away back to the pond. "I just remembered something. I still have this presentation due soon and I was wondering if you-" "Could help with it? Of course. What do you need?" Something was definitely off here. Sure, Annabeth was always a people pleaser, but this was extreme. "But I can also do it myself" "It's okay. Gotta make myself useful" "I don't care if you're useless" "I just don't want you to leave me" Oh, so that was where the problem was. It actually made quite a bit of sense. If there was anything that could worsen Annabeth's abandonment issues, it would be what she had just done. Talk about when I had left her. "That is a completely valid fear right now" when I reached for her hand, she clutched mine so hard it almost hurt. She was not going to let go of me now. It reminded me of how much she had made sure we'd stay together back in New Rome. At least she refrained from- "Would it be inappropriate if I judo flipped you right now?" "I was also just thinking about that. The problem is that you'd have to let go of my hand for that" "Right, I forgot about that" she said, sounding not at all suspicious. After just looking at the water for a while, we got up, still holding hands. Suddenly I felt a strong pull in my left shoulder and a fraction later, I was lying on the grass. Annabeth was kneeling next to me, still holding my hand. "You were wrong" she said. "Why are you so strong?" I asked. "Like, I could probably throw you down, but not while touching only your hand. Where'd you get the strength for that?" "Ten years of 'If I don't train hard enough I'll die" did the trick"
"Why didn't I date someone less badass?" "Well, someone has to be strong enough to save you from… mostly yourself" "Am I really this hard to handle?" "Not for me. Because I'm badass" "Sure you are. That's why you'll have no problem handling this" I uncapped riptide, making it shoot out right in front of my face.
She had no problem handling it. She raised her dagger and deflected the blade, almost disarming me. "Is that all you can do?" she asked, sounding bored, if not annoyed. "No, I can do this" I took Annabeth's invisibility cap (she hadn't asked back for it after breakfast) and put it on. "Great, you're invisible. I can do that to. Well, I could if I had my cap" l noticed that it wasn't sitting on my head properly (though that didn't really matter because no one could see me anyways) so I let go of Annabeth's hand in order to have both hands free for adjusting it. When I looked back at Annabeth, I realized that I had made a mistake. An expression of fear spread over her face. I quickly took her hand again and yanked (yes pun intended) the cap from my head. Helping her through the memories of me not being there would probably be a lot harder when she couldn't see me. Annabeth clasped her hand around mine. Since my thumb was the only finger I could move, I used that to trace the side of her hand. I had no idea what state she was currently in, but helping her to stay grounded couldn't hurt. Have I ever mentioned how strong Annabeth is? I mean physically. So, let's say you grab someone with both your arms, then you'd probably be able to pick them up and push them down to the floor. When Annabeth had first seen me again earlier this summer, she'd achieved the same thing, except she was only holding my wrist. With that same strength, she now pulled me closer and barely stayed up when I almost crashed into her. I have no idea how she'd done it, but we were now facing each other. She was looking scared, but I had no idea what she was seeing, me or some flashback scenario. She put out her arms for a hug that I of course granted her. "Don't leave me again" Annabeth commanded. "I won't. I promise. How are you feeling?" "Bad. I can see you again, that's good. It looks nice here considering where we are" Okay, either 'where we are' referred to school or she was partially in a flashback.
"Where are we?" I asked. "I'm not sure. I think we were in a weird forest, but now we're in school I think" "That's good. We were in the forest. That is in the past. Now, in the present, we are not in the forest. We are at your school, okay?" "Okay" "Just focus on that. And on me. On the fact that I'm here" "Right. You're here. That means you didn't leave me" "That's right. You're doing great" "So I'm not in the forest of curses. We're at school" "Right" "That was a close one. Could have been a really bad flashback, but it ended being not so bad and I almost didn't cry" "But only almost" We stood there in silence for a few seconds, or minutes, I have no idea, taking comfort in each other's presence. "So, you acknowledge that I got lucky this time" Annabeth said. From her voice I could tell the conversation was about to go in a critical direction. "Uh, yes" "Well, that then means that it's usually worse and-" She took a short break and when she continued, her voice was a lot quieter, confirming my suspicion. "and I'm not sure how much longer I can take it" I understood what Annabeth was talking about. Sometimes, the memories just got too much. "Yeah, the brain can be annoying. Whoever designed that thing really Zeused up" "That would be my mom" "Oops. Sorry Athena. You did a great job making the brain traumatizable" "I think you just saved your space on the 'people I'm 99.99% sure I won't let my daughter date" "What do you mean, saved the space? What else would I have gotten?" "The 100% list. I'm pretty sure my mom only tolerates you because you keep me alive enough to do her bidding and go on life-threatening quests which lead to even more life-threatening misadventures, which brings me back to my point of horrible memories"
"Well, your mom might have done a great job at making the brain traumatizable, but she also gave it the ability to heal from trauma. Do you know what that means?" "No?" "It means things will get better. When was the last time you had a flashback of, okay, I probably shouldn't name any specific trauma right now. Just some older trauma. Pick one" "I guess I'll take the oldest one. The last time I remembered the spiders was… ten days ago. The school put me in a room that resembled my childhood bedroom, so I unfortunately had to move to a different room" "So you moved in with Piper" "That is indeed what happened. Maybe you're right. Ten days since that flashback. And before that I got almost a month since the second most recent time would have been the day you got to meet Annie. Maybe you're right, I used to get flashbacks of that event more or less on a daily basis. It really is getting better. But right now, it sucks" "Hey, remember what you said about not crying?" I joked. "I do. I don't think it's true anymore" "Not really. Let me help you with that" I touched her face and the tears running down her face disappeared. "Percy?" "Yeah" "This is probably the cutest thing you do to me" "Then I guess I'll keep doing it" "Please. I know that logically, you're just removing water from my face, but it does actually make me feel better. I know it's stupid" "If it's stupid and it helps, it's not stupid" "Thanks" Annabeth released me from the hug, but kept holding on to my hand. "It should be time for lunch by now" "Then I guess I'll be going invisible again" "No. I don't think I can take that" "Okay, next idea" "You can't come in and I'm not going anywhere without you. Time to find out how good my friends really are"
Piper
Really Annabeth? I know how much you love architecture and I know how much you love Percy, but still, how long can showing someone a school take? Because I think four hours is a bit excessive.
After the two of them went off to do whatever they wanted to do (no, I'm not implying anything. I'm sure Percy and Annabeth are very well behaved), I decided to go back to my room. On my way there, a guy approached me. "Oh, you must be Piper" he said. "Yeah, how'd you know?" "Your smell. It's pretty strong" I glared at him. Was he meaning to say that I smelled bad? His eyes seemed to be looking for an escape route. Eyes? No, eye. "Oh, you're… then never mind. Annabeth told me about you" "She almost killed me and then told me to stay away from her and Piper. Since you're seemingly a demigod and therefore a potential victim, I assumed that was you" "And you were right. So, any specific reason you're talking to me?" "No, I just wanted to confirm my suspicion. Oh, and maybe tell Annabeth to try being a bit less… intense" "You were trying to kill her" "Fair point. Then maybe I'll see you later" "Bye"
I went to my room without any more encounters. I was about to start working on a presentation that was due in a few days, but then I looked out the window and got distracted thinking about the school. Considering it was a smart-and-rich-people-school, it was pretty nice. I knew they had another one of those over in Brooklyn, Drew had told me about it. Apparently everyone had passed out during a party a few years ago. The school blamed it on spoiled punch, Drew blamed it on 'Gods or the mist or something I don't know. It doesn't have to do with fashion, so I don't care, though I did hear something about a shoe', I blamed it on Drew's perfume. Seriously, that stuff smells about as good as ammonia. According to Drew, no one in the school was more annoying than a certain Sadie Kane, which immediately made me sympathize with her. With Sadie, not Drew. But that was another school's business, my business was working on that presentation. I took a random book and tossed it in the corner, then decided that picking it up again was extremely crucial. I was instantly filled with the urge to do anything but pick up that book, even if it meant working on that dam presentation.
My plan worked and in about three hours, I procrastinated the whole thing into existence. After that, I decided to make some girls question their sexuality. And no, this didn't go against everything I stood for. I didn't like people who used their good looks to seem more attractive. I was using them to cause chaos. That's way better. I wondered what Jason would think about this. I'd probably be able to convince him that it wasn't exactly cheating, so there was no reason for him to even care. When I was about to leave, someone knocked on my door. It was Annabeth and she was holding hands with Percy.