I remembered something Annabeth had told me months before, when I was trying to figure out what I could do to make up for disappearing our entire junior year.
"Look, man," I told Grover. "Juniper will forgive you. She probably doesn't want presents at all. She just wants you to be there for her. Listen to how she's feeling. Be with her."
—cotg ch 21
Annabeth threw her bag down on the floor and flopped onto the couch. "Ughh."
"Long day?" Percy asked. He still had another week before he had to start school, but Annabeth's classes had begun two weeks ago.
"The longest," Annabeth said. "Two tests and a dracaena in the girls' bathroom at lunch."
Percy grimaced. "Glad you're okay."
"Almost wasn't. The bio short answer section was brutal." She rolled over and reached her arms toward him. "Come here," she said, smiling.
He took her hand and let her pull him in, smiling back. He crouched on the floor next to her and kissed her softly on the lips, then pulled back to look at her face. "I promised my mom I'd chop the vegetables for dinner before she got home," he said, stroking her hand with his thumb. "But you sit here and recover."
Annabeth sat up. "No, I'll help. I want to talk." She stood and followed him to the kitchen. "How was your day?"
Percy sighed, opening the drawer where the cutting boards were. "Oh, fine."
"Was it?" Annabeth said. Her tone said I know you know I know that's not true. Today he had met with the guidance counselor at AHS about the requirements he'd have to meet after missing a semester of school.
"I just have a lot of making up to do," Percy said. He grabbed a carrot and focused hard on cutting it into much smaller pieces than Sally probably needed. "It'll be fine."
"Hmm." Annabeth frowned and started on an onion. "Are they going to let you graduate next spring?"
"Maybe," Percy said. "If I can pull it off." The words hung in the air with the implication Percy didn't voice—fat chance.
"I bet you can," Annabeth said, keeping her voice light. "And we'll help you, you know. We'll do whatever you need."
"Mmm." Percy methodically chopped the carrot, not meeting her eyes. Annabeth reached for him, resting her hand on his holding the knife until he stopped and looked at her.
"Hey," she said. "How are you really feeling about it?"
Percy shook his head. "I have to graduate."
"It's going to be okay if you can't do it this year, you know," she said gently. "You missed a lot."
"I know," Percy said, his voice suddenly raw. He closed his eyes. "Sorry. Didn't mean… I just. I know I missed a lot."
"It might take a while to catch up."
"Make-up work," he said. "Making up for it."
"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Whatever they call it."
"I just have so much to make up for." Percy brought his arm up to wipe his eyes with his elbow. "Whew. That onion just got me."
Annabeth looked at her cutting board. She'd only cut the onion in half, and her own eyes hadn't watered yet. She looked back at her boyfriend and put down her knife. "Why don't we get away from the onion for a sec and sit down?"
"My mom sold her book," Percy said. "She's been working towards that for so long. I've watched her work on her writing since I was a kid. For a while she didn't ever think she'd have the time to finish it, forget getting it published. And she finally did, and I missed it. I wasn't here. I didn't get to celebrate with her."
"Oh, Percy," Annabeth said, taking his arm.
"And camp. I look around camp and I barely recognize anyone, because the gods started sending in all their unclaimed kids like I asked, and I wasn't there and I didn't get to meet them. And none of them know me." He shrugged like he was embarrassed.
"They know you now," Annabeth said. "You've been around since you got back."
"And—" Percy's breath caught. He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was thicker. "I missed so much with you. We were going to spend winter break at camp together, remember? We were going to celebrate our first Christmas since getting together. I wanted to kiss you on New Year's. I had a present for you in my cabin."
Annabeth felt herself choking up. "I had one for you, too," she said.
"Remember we'd started going to that donut shop on Tuesdays when I met you after school? We were going to make that a regular thing. We were gonna see that dumb Marvel movie and get sour straws. I was planning to take you to a concert. I fought a monster on the subway one day and I thought, I can't get killed like this, I'm going on a walk with Annabeth later. And then a few weeks later I was gone, knocked out somewhere in California."
She tried for a smile. "We're together now, Seaweed Brain. We'll have a lot more winters and holidays and concerts."
"I'll make up for it," Percy said. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I'll try, I promise. I'm trying to figure out how to do it. I'll make it up to you."
She cupped his cheek and pulled him to her, kissing him. "Don't think that way," she said, leaning her forehead on his. "You don't have to make anything up to me. This is not your fault."
"I'm sorry."
"No," Annabeth said, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tightly. "You were kidnapped, Percy. You were not a delinquent student or a bad boyfriend or anything like that. You were abducted. You were hurt."
He wrapped his arms around her and rested his forehead against her shoulder. "But it screwed everything up."
"No, it didn't," Annabeth said firmly. She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I will kick Hera's ass the next time she shows her stupid face around me. If I could send her to chase fruit with Tantalus forever for what she did to you, I'd do it happily. It was her choice, and it fucking sucks. But it didn't ruin anything. You're here." She stroked his cheek. "Thank the gods—well, some of them—you're here. That's what matters. You have nothing to make up to me. Or that stupid school." She brushed a tear out of his eye with her thumb. "If they want to run you ragged with requirements to graduate by the spring, it's not worth it, okay? If you can't do it without being miserable, we'll figure out another plan."
He shook his head. "I can't fail again."
"You didn't fail," Annabeth said. "You were kidnapped, Percy. It's not your fault."
He sighed like he didn't quite believe it, but he took Annabeth's hand in his and kissed it lightly. "I love you."
"I love you," she said. "And I like us. I like us now even better than I like us a year ago."
Percy smiled. "We're a lot more banged up," he said.
"But we've grown a lot, too." She pulled away from him. "Okay, we really do need to get these vegetables chopped."
"Damn, my mom's gonna see my face and know I've been crying," Percy said, dabbing at his eyes with his sleeve.
"Nah," Annabeth said, grinning at him. "We'll just blame the onion."
thanks for reading! i'm annaethchase on tumblr.
