Yeehaw I managed to update this week.
Buuuut bad news is this might be the last chapter for awhile again due to a massive plot hole I overlooked.
Chapter 15
"Why do I have to go?" Percy whined childishly. "They're your friends."
"You met them." Annabeth scoffed, her fingers tightened on the wheel of the car. "Besides, I don't want to awkwardly sit there until I can leave."
"But why did we have to dress up?"
He was pouting and he knew it. It was only a pair of nice slacks and a button up, but to Percy it felt like he was wearing a different skin. Uncomfortably, he pulled at his coat zipper as Annabeth glowered at him. A thin ice of venom pooled in her gaze.
"It's their engagement party, you Seaweed Brain." The swooping yellow glow from the street lights came and went in slow flowing waves. Bathing the cabin of the car with quick bursts of light that made her all the more intimidating. "We have to look at least presentable. Besides, I'm the maid of honor."
"That wasn't a requirement for me." Percy grumbled to himself. Disgruntled, he settled on watching the towering mansions rise and fall away on their route instead of staring her down. "Not until you cornered me and forced me to go."
"You forced me to go on that hot air balloon ride!" Annabeth sputtered. "This is NO different!"
Percy's lips drew back in distaste as defeat rolled over him in one foul move. "Ugh…. touché."
He could practically feel her eyes roll through the car.
Thankfully, he didn't need to put up with her much farther. With a turn slightly sharper than he would've done, they pulled through an arch made of intricate black wrought iron. The gates already set wide apart in a large gaping mouth.
It was like entering the pen to a beast. All around them in the dim light cast by the Victorian lamp posts lining the long driveway was a vast sea of empty lawn trimmed to utter perfection. Topiaries, hedges, rose bushes, all wrapped in rucksacks and prepared for the winter snow, were dotted elegantly up the drive and nestled next to the footpath. There in the center of it all like a dragon laying protectively over its horde stood the house. The mansion.
Sawdust brown brick cut in large blocks as if to mimic a castle. Three stories at least with a mix of classic american slanted roofs and wings that ended skyward in turrets. With the warm light that spilled from the windows and pot lights, emphasis was made on the elegantly carved brackets and gables that somehow accentuated its regal style.
There were two marble lions guarding the front door. Lions carved of pure marble. Percy had to remind himself not to gape.
"Piper lives here?" he hated how shocked he sounded. Breezy and aloof was more his style. Maybe it was something about her snotty attitude that made him want the worst for her.
"I did too, once." Annabeth said nonchalantly while unbuckling her seat. She was out of the car before Percy could erupt.
"SO YOU'RE A FREAKING PRINCESS?!" Percy chased after her, nearly slamming his sleeve in the door of the car in his haste.
With another scoff and slight eye roll, Annabeth stopped midway up the walkway to shoot him a withering look. "Does this look like a castle?"
Was she kidding? She sounded sarcastic. Did she not see it?
"Uh?" was all he could say, violently gesturing to the massive stone structure Piper used as a legal address.
"Seriously? I've seen bigger… and fancier." Annabeth snorted.
"What golden ticket did you find in your chocolate bar to end up on the bougie side of fostering?!"
Pausing again by the front door, she teased him with her mirthful eyes and flicked a perfect golden curl over her shoulder. "Pretty privilege?"
"Are you implying I was an ugly child?" Percy challenged. He tried to stand over her, but in those heels she matched his eye height too well.
She tilted her face at him, a sparkle in her gaze he couldn't break from. "There there, I thought you already came to terms with the fact that you're an ogre."
"Those are big words coming from someone who called me smoking hot literally days ago." Percy couldn't hide the smirk.
A burst of red crested her cheeks, and Percy's heart skidded at the way she stepped closer. Unwilling to back down. "Smoking hot? I said mildly attractive. Besides, at least I say what I think. I don't let my gaze talk for me Mr. Wandering Eyes."
"Wandering eyes? It's called ADHD and chronic zone out." Percy guffawed "You really think you're that gorgeous?"
"Look at me sweetheart, I'm a goddess."
Fuck yes you are.
But shit dammit throw him a trash can, she noticed. She noticed on the car ride in. Or maybe it was when she picked him up. She noticed the way his stare hitched on her tight navy blue dress, how he had to swallow hard when she shot him a rare smile. The one that brought out her evasive dimples and the cheerful glow in her eyes. The star catching effect kind. With her flawless makeup, her luscious hair, her long trim legs- dammit she noticed. She noticed!
And those lips below her playful eyes still teasing him with glee. Those full lips were painted the colour of crushed berries.
Now Percy's favourite flavour wasn't crushed berries, but he suspected that was because crushed berries didn't taste like her lips.
Smoothly, Annabeth snagged him by the collar of his shirt and reeled him in. Smiling, mocking him, triumphant above all else. His heart rammed against his throat as she held him steady.
"Hear that silence?" she said, her cheeks glowing with pink. "Your lack of comebacks mean: I win!"
Then she laughed, releasing him to his embarrassment as she strutted forward. Into the house through the massive double doors made of dark oak wood. Leaving him to gape and sputter at what just happened.
The Ocean is beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
Reproachful, he took a second to breathe it out. He couldn't feel this. He couldn't be taken by her beauty. Not now, not then, not ever.
"Pipes! I'm here!" Annabeth shouted from within the house, her heels clicking against the marble floors. Haphazardly, she tossed her coat on the banister to be collected by a butler.
Tentatively, Percy followed suit. Leaving the cold outside again as the door fell closed behind him with a jarring thump.
Inside was buzzing. Servers dodging this way and that, hisses of frying things and clinking cookware backed the distance. To his right, someone was messing with a music list, flipping through melodies over a large speaker system. Attempting to find the perfect background song.
Inside was just as impressive as outside, and Percy had only seen the hall. A tall dramatic marble staircase, richly polished. A chandelier of white crystals glittered above him. Portraits in oil paint of bored rich people lined the walls.
Shmancy. Not exactly what Percy had imagined for Piper and Jason, but fitting all the same in some strange way.
Annabeth ducked under a passing server's arm as he hurried by with a platter of something or other. The general chatter of hushed voices was overpowered by Piper's delighted cry.
"Annabeth!" She appeared around the corner and crushed the blonde in a gripping yet short lasting hug. "Please, I'm dying for your critical sharpness. I can't make up my mind on half the things these… these… PEOPLE are asking!"
"Naturally." Annabeth smiled with a fond eye roll. "You indecisive twit, did you at least settle where the caterers were setting up?"
"The dining room?"
"Was that really your decision?" Annabeth asked with a skeptical raise of her brow and a soft fold of her arms.
"Yes?" Piper sounded completely unsure of every life choice she ever made. She shuffled bashfully as Annabeth sighed in a nostalgic way.
"Well if they're already set up, there's no use in making them move. Have them circulate on the first floor only, and if they're asking about the hors d'oeuvres, tell them to stage the crab cakes. Those ones are pricey." Annabeth instructed in an authoritative manner. "The bar should be set up in the hall, and you should probably have a table designated for the inevitable gifts."
Piper exhaled dramatically and looped arms with her. Relief and gratitude lighting up her face in a thankful expression.
"What would I do without you Beth?"
"Flounder? Drown? Be buried? Lose your mind?" Annabeth offered quickly with a slightly smug grin that was worn with an ease.
"Alright, alright. I get it." Piper groaned dramatically. Rolling her eyes before she caught Percy's figure still standing awkwardly by the entrance, giving her a visible start. Percy waved nonchalantly and had to bury his smile when Piper's expression soured into a dissatisfied grimace.
She was wearing a blood red dress, fitted like Annabeth's but with a bare shoulder and a choker of diamonds Percy found rather tacky. When she walked over to him, it was the march of a commander going to war rather than a hostess greeting her first guest.
"Percy," she said tartly. "How nice of you to come."
"Seeing as I wasn't invited, I think it was nice of me to come." Percy smirked coldly.
"I brought him." Annabeth confessed nonchalantly. "For entertainment purposes only. I just know this place is going to be packed in a matter of hours, and I'd rather buffer your friends with one of my own."
"Yes," Piper agreed in the least compliant way possible. Her expression lacked the most basic elements of a warm reception. "Your friend would make a nice buffer."
"Buffer can be my middle name," Percy said coolly. "I'm great at handing out useless conversation fodder and empty compliments. Like: You look so well this evening, new dress?"
"Custom made." Piper spat back, picking up the sting in his words. "And I suppose you want me to compliment how you look back? Is that how your fodder dance works?"
"No need. Annabeth already said I'm the most smoking ho-"
Annabeth's heel landed on the toe of his shoe. Subtle enough that it was bare her shifting weight, but heavy enough that his eyes watered.
"Do you need us to help you with anything else Pipes? Any more prep? Usually you're scrambling to get things done before guests arrive." Annabeth said. Taking a precious moment to send a chastising glare in Percy's direction.
Behave.
"Oh no, it's fine. I had a few cleaners in this-"
Ding Dong. The front door chimed pleasantly. Piper's eyes widened at the sound, and a flurry of chitters went through the cluster of servers gathered in the dining room.
"Guests!" Jason appeared at the top of the stairs still fumbling with a tie. A pursed expression on his face as he gracefully descended the stairs. Sending a look of greeting cordially to Annabeth and Percy before falling beside Piper to open the door. A burst of cold air rolled through with the soft whine from the ancient hinges.
A high pitched echo of welcomes bounced around the front hall as an entire group of well dressed girls clinging to the arms of their men burst in. Congratulations, and rustling parcels wrapped in silver and white were thrust upon the engaged duo as they balanced handshakes, over smiles. Elegantly managing their guests in an effective act of teamwork.
Percy was content to just sit and watch as the coats were thrown off, and the servers came one by one to collect them and dispose of them in a spare room. He liked observing people from a distance, and finding the hidden links between them. Old friends? Just met? Couples? Family?
He loved digging out this stuff. There was always something linking them, you just had to have sharp enough eyes to catch it.
Annabeth on the other hand was pointedly avoiding every single person trying to catch her attention. From the moment the guests started sashaying in, she began her well thought out scheme of using Percy as a human shield. Literally hiding behind him whenever someone she wasn't too keen on talking to happened to catch her eye across the room while hissing at him to shut up and stop looking at them already.
All unwanted attention couldn't be avoided though, and soon she was forced into a few disgustingly mundane conversations with Percy standing obediently beside her. She responded politely enough and smiled pleasantly through the distaste that was flaring up behind her soft gaze. A sense of poise in her figure that radiated confidence despite the way she kept herself close to the exit of the room.
It wasn't long until Percy started noticing that as soon as people asked Annabeth about her own put off marriage she'd call herself rude and introduce Percy to whomever was chattering up her tree. She was using him as a buffer as she'd promised, but above all that, she hadn't told anyone that she had broken off the engagement over a year ago. It made him wonder about the relationship she had nurtured with Mr. BigMoney. How deep had it been? How did it develop? Where did they meet?
How did she not see the murderous intent behind those flashy smiles?
Always wondering. Percy sighed softly to himself in a mellow way as he stole a glance at Annabeth. Will I ever know everything there is to know about her?
It was a bizarre sort of net she had cast over him. He hadn't even realized he was ensnared until he failed his commission. Until his straight grey and white world turned to chaos.
She was his victim, now she was his friend. What an odd occurrence. What an odd power she had to make this possible.
The Ocean is mysterious.
"I've heard you're engaged as well. Congrats Annabeth. I-"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, how rude of me." Annabeth repeated the same line for the millionth time that night with just as much conviction as the first time. "Percy, this is Charlotte. We went to high school together. Charlotte, this is Percy. A good friend of mine."
Que Percy's charming smile and polite yet firm handshake. "Nice to meet you Charlotte."
"Nice to meet you too." An elegant brunette with a slight build and pair of sparkling blue eyes nodded to him cordially. Timidly she glanced at the floor after their eyes caught, and a slight blush surfacing on her high cheeks.
"I never learned what high school Annabeth graduated from." Percy started up his random chatter to do his thing and buffer while Annabeth stood off to the side with a casual flute of sparkling water nestled in her hand. Soft music jumbled with muddled voices and the crisp ring of glasses being toasted filled the background as Charlotte smiled softly.
"We went to Brooks East High. We were in poetry club together."
Percy raised an eyebrow and fought down the bubbling smirk that was fighting for a place on his face. He couldn't help but shoot Annabeth an amused yet subtle look.
"Really," He raised his tone slightly. Emphasizing his shock with an exaggerated cock of his head.
Go to hell, was written in her thunderstorm grey eyes as she delicately took another sip of her clear bubbling drink.
"What was the poetry club about? Did you just read poetry? Or..."
"Oh no, we wrote poetry too. Even attended competitions to showcase our work." Charlotte informed in a more than eager tone. A simple glitter of pride in her eyes for the past endeavors. "We even won state one year."
A hoodie. Percy considered somberly as he cocked his head at this girl. Quiet, soft and warm. She would probably be a hoodie.
"Wow." Percy sent Annabeth another mischievous glance which she pointedly ignored. "So you guys must've been good."
"Not all of us." Charlotte confessed with a bashful smile. Smoothing down the skirt to her maroon dress in a skittish sort of way. "We had good years and bad years. My work could've never even been compared to Annabeth's. She was our star member."
Percy's eyebrows shot up and he grinned at the blonde in a cloaked tease. "Ooooh really?"
He could see her growing venom lash out from behind her eyes, but she remained so calm and composed that Charlotte hardly picked up on the mood.
"Yes. She's quite the prolific writer." Charlotte continued with a tone of admiration. Shyly smiling at Annabeth to go with her compliment. Although, she was gripping her hands together nervously as if she knew the fire that lay beneath the person she was addressing.
Maybe she's been burned before.
"Was," Annabeth interjected with a cold tone. "I don't write anymore."
"Oh?... what a shame." Charlotte muttered as her eyes fell. A wary moment passed where Charlotte seemed to expect a harsher comment to follow, but nothing came.
"Do you still write poetry?" Percy picked up the conversation with a friendly smile. Trying to encourage the girl to spill more about Annabeth.
"Now and again, although I'm not very good," she mumbled with a pursed expression.
"Nonsense." Percy scoffed in good will. "You said your group made it to state one year. You had to have been good enough to achieve that."
Charlotte's cheeks broke out into a dark crimson, and she looked to the floor. "T-Thank you."
A simple death. It seemed to fit with her small form and placid attitude. She would be the type to drown… but not in the ocean, in a pool.
"So what are you interested in?" Charlotte asked rather suddenly. A sparkle of interest in her soft blue eyes.
Oh y'know, finding new ways to kill people, evading police, browsing poisons and pistols. The norm. I'm really a simple guy.
"Not much." Percy chuckled awkwardly. "I like to swim when I have the chance. Also, to annoy Annabeth to death."
"Oh… Are you the infamous fiance?" Charlotte seemed to wither back a bit. "Annabeth used to talk about you all the time back in highschool, I'm ashamed I didn't recall your name. Congratulations."
"Oh we're-"
"Hell no." Annabeth laughed despite the noticeable colour taking over her cheeks. "Not Percy. He's just a friend. It's a shame you stopped wearing your glasses Charlotte, I'm sure you still need them after jumping to conclusions like that."
"Oh I'm so sorry to assume!" Charlotte's eyes widened in embarrassment. Smoothing down her skirt again in a nervous mannerism. "Then is your-"
"Excuse me, Annabeth." Jason casually and fluidly fell into the semicircle. Effectively grabbing everyone's attention in a polite yet brisk interlude. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a few friends who'd love to meet you. Do you mind if we?..." He gestured to the hallway with his blonde eyebrows turned up.
"Uh… sure." Annabeth did not look like her answer was sure. She looked as if she had stated a strong no with her head held high and her eyes sharp and heartless. But she turned and followed him anyways as he mumbled gratitudes under his breath. Percy watched her go with just as much amusement and wonder as ever.
"She hasn't changed much." Charlotte sighed after the blonde disappeared in the mess of bodies milling around the hall. The ever busy waiters clad in white and black were twisting quickly between the thick of them with the expensive platters of food.
"Really?" Percy turned back to the small girl.
"Yeah…" Charlotte uttered. Her face conflicted as she glared at her feet. That persistent blush still stuck to her cheeks as things started to drift to the more awkward side of the spectrum.
"If… If you don't mind." She started again with a brave glance at his face. "... and I don't mean to offend you but... why are you friends with her? She can be insanely mean."
A bubble of defensive emotions rolled through Percy. He felt the urge to simply walk away from the conversation before he realized that Charlotte had no malicious intent.
She was genuinely curious. Her blue eyes said as much.
"She's got a mean exterior." Percy shrugged. "But she's a lot more than she lets on to be."
Charlotte blinked in confusion. "What does that even mean?"
Percy chuckled softly. A soft warmth in his chest as he glanced in the direction she disappeared to. Questions rocketed around his brain all over again. Particularly ones revolving around Mr. BigMoney.
"Kind of like the Ocean," he uttered in a lost manner.
.:oOo:.
Annabeth was elusive for the rest of the evening. She seemed to be trying to make a point of striking out on her own while Charlotte and he chatted about useless day to day things. Once or twice he caught Annabeth's stormy grey eyes from across the loud room and could surprisingly perceive nothing from them. It was only when Annabeth's face disappeared from the scores of expressions and smiles did he politely give Charlotte a weak excuse and wandered off. Took him a few minutes but he knew Annabeth and her quirky ways. He knew she would slink away to get some alone time, and that's how he found her in a grey tiled bathroom upstairs. Its modern design was lit with the cold night light that flooded out from an outlet by the sink.
"Abandoning me at a party." Percy leaned against the icy frame of the shower as he looked down on her chastisingly. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
The clouded glass walling her in held the effect of a million breaths of vapor puffed against its surface, but it still allowed enough light in for him to make out her face cast in a ghostly glow.
"You seemed to be getting along fine without me." Annabeth said with a slight scowl of disgust. However, she did shift positions to make room for Percy on the blue tiled floor. "I forgot how natural talking to people comes to you."
"You didn't have to talk," Percy reminded. "You could've just stood and listened in."
"Ech, how boring." Annabeth made a face before bringing a heavy glass bottle to her lips and tipping it back generously. Gripping it by its slender neck as if it could fly out of her reach at any moment.
"Are you… drinking?" he squinted at the label before gingerly maneuvering himself beside her and settling himself on the disagreeably hard floor of the shower. The door knocked closed behind him with a tumultuous bang.
"It's sparkling pear juice, don't get your panties in a knot." she huffed as she set the bottle on her lap. "It only looks like I'm drinking."
"Care to explain why you're fake drinking in a shower at your best friend's engagement party?" Percy raised an eyebrow at her searchingly. His shoulder brushed against hers momentarily as he shifted in an attempt to get comfortable.
"Because I'm bummed." Annabeth laid it out flat without a care to the wind. "Obviously I just can't wait until Jason is with Piper and I in everything we do."
He shrugged at this. "Not everything," he tried to perk her up.
"Everything," she groaned in protest. "Always trying to be friends with me. Shit, he's marrying my best friend. It doesn't mean he has to become my best friend."
Percy chortled softly to himself. A flare of warmth at his only friend and her particular ways. "Man Annabeth, you gotta give this guy a chance. He's not that bad-"
"I won't." Annabeth snapped. She fidgeted once, then tipped the bottle back to take another long draught. "Fuck, I wish this were real stuff."
Tentatively, Percy brushed his fingers over her knuckles, clenched white on the bottle. Smoothing away the stress in her hand tenderly. When her eyes met his, he tried not to betray just how curious he was about her. How this sudden state she was in caused ribbons of worry to tighten in his gut.
"Why? What do you not like about Jason?"
Annabeth scowled. "It's a girl thing."
"But-"
"Just trust me. It's a girl thing."
Her tone was so dark. Scared almost. But scared for whom? Herself or Piper?
"Soooo… Piper hates me… is that also a girl thing?" Percy tilted his head.
"Yes," Annabeth said sharply.
He wasn't going to ask any further. But Annabeth must've felt his confusion through his eyes because she sighed heavily. Looking at him like a little mouse lost in a field.
"Eighty percent of the time, girls look out for each other. It's just what we do, okay? I see all the worst sides in Jason so I can be ready to defend her if I have to, and she sees all the worst things in you for the same reason. I think all girls are a little suspicious about their best friend's boyfriends and guy friends because they know…"
Percy felt like he was missing something.
"Was she suspicious of your ex-fiance?" He asked softly.
Annabeth brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Staring at her bottle of sparkling pear juice dejectedly. "Yes."
"And…. he's the one who called a hit on you. Isn't he."
Exposing himself like this was dangerous. But he wanted answers, he wanted to clear things up.
Annabeth snapped her head back at him. A venomous look in her eyes. "How-?!"
"You've said enough… I just put two and two together."
"Of course you did," She sulked. Taking another long drink from her bottle. It was half gone already. "Maybe I should just go down and get a real bottle of champagne…"
"Everyone downstairs seems curious about him…" Percy reminded her. Half trying to deter her from picking up a bottle again, and half because he was curious too.
"Yeah, I talked him up in high school. Before we were ever dating. While I was dating other people in fact. I thought he was so great all because…" Her eyes drifted out into nowhere. The light from the nightlight slanting in through the glass door of the shower caught the structure of her face, the soft curves of her body. Her lips.
"Because?" Percy shifted closer to her.
He could feel the warmth off her shoulders, he could see the way her eyelashes fluttered in sorrowful remembrance. A tightness clenched around his chest. How much pain had he really caused her?
Sighing heavily, Annabeth let her head fall into her hands. She gripped her hair as if she were trying to yank a memory from her brain and destroy it. "His family was wealthy, I was placed with them when I was eleven, he was fifteen. He shared everything with me and I never had that before. I never had someone welcome me into their home before. Usually fosters wanted me to do something for them, take care of their younger biological kids, or clean, or they just wanted the extra childcare check I would come with. But with him… he was excited I was there. He wanted me. I hadn't felt that in so long I just… I fell in love with him just because he wanted me. Do you know how pathetic that is?"
Percy nodded solemnly. "I probably would've done the same thing."
"Augh, and he didn't even want me. Not really. He wanted my attention, my validation. He wanted me to give him the praise his parents never did and I did so happily. For seven years I followed him around like stupid dog, living off any scraps of attention he would give me. Praising him to anyone I would meet. Do you know why he agreed to start dating me? Because all of his friends decided I was super hot and made a pact to see who could fuck me first. It was a dominance thing. He was just showing his friends how wrapped around his finger I was."
He wanted to fold her in his arms. He wanted to know exactly what to say. But he wasn't equipped for this. He'd never had to comfort someone before.
"Did he try anything on you?" Percy croaked. He was scared of the answer.
Annabeth barked a laugh. "All the fucking time! Thank God I was determined to wait for marriage. Thank God I had Piper backing me during those times. Anytime he tried something I felt so damn guilty for denying him as if I thought that he was entitled to my body. I felt even worse when he screamed at me for it… and I just… I … fuck I've talked too much."
Her jaw was quivering. Her eyes were focused on a point faraway. She was masquerading bravery by speaking so openly but it had come apart. In the end she was still a girl who was afraid of death, and the man reaching out to kill her was one who'd wreaked havoc in her mind. It made her eyes glossy, it made her voice weak.
He didn't think he should touch her. Instead, he reached out gently and tugged on one curl to get her attention, just as he'd done in the diner. When she turned towards him searchingly all he could offer was a wisp of a smile. Sad, compassionate. He wanted her to know how happy he was that she trusted him.
"Ask about me," he said. "I know something about your past, so you should know something about mine. Fair?"
She swallowed, her eyes glittered in the soft light. Subtly, she nodded once. Grateful.
Just when he thought she would rip him open with a sharply witty question, exposing his secrets, she let her hand fall to his wrist. The skin on skin contact made his entire body crackle with electricity. Tenderly, she dragged his fingers up his forearm dragging the sleeve of his shirt up.
"You usually wear long sleeved shirts," she whispered. "Which makes sense, it's cold outside but I noticed some scars when I patched you up from that car accident."
He felt bare. Faint criss crosses, even lines, and little circles that peppered his skin in soft white. No matter how fast he ran away from his childhood, it followed him through the designs etched into his body.
"Where did you get these?" she asked.
"Which ones?" Percy had to keep his tone even. She was tracing the marks with her fingertips. Making his heart spin and flip and gasp at each little movement. He'd never been touched like that before. Usually he received human contact from people desperately trying to fight him off, or girls who were searching for only one thing.
He was never touched as if he were worth touching.
"These ones." She tapped twice. "These tiny little circles."
In the faint light, he had to squint to see them properly. They were so old, so faded. Nearly gone, but he guessed that was why Annabeth picked those ones first. She wanted to start at the beginning.
"My stepfather," he said, fighting the words out. "Whenever he had his poker buddies over… I was the ashtray."
"Really? They look too small to be cigarette burns."
Because they aren't.
Wasn't part of his childhood just like this? Dark? Cramped? The sound of people in the distance not caring where he was or how loud he yelled? Wasn't there a ringleader? A cruel face and a fast fist who shoved him into the closet and locked the door behind him with a devastating click.
"No!" he screamed. "No! I'm sorry! What did I do?! What did I do wrong?!"
At nine he was too small to fight back. He was too weak.
'Hey lady fingers, practice time.'
There was a strip of forest behind the home for boys. Tiny really, less than an acre but they'd shove him into the brush and count down from twenty. The four of them had bb guns and all he had was his ability to run.
But he was never fast enough.
And the caretaker called the bleeding potholes left behind in those 'practice times' mosquito bites. He was a toy, a thing to satiate the older boys need to bully.
"Percy?" Annabeth grabbed his arm. "Perce, are you okay?"
Breathing, he couldn't do it. His lungs were hitching, twisted. It felt like he had to breathe twice as fast just to soothe the need for oxygen. His vision was swimming, blurring into one large mess. Feeling like a child in that closet again, crying into his knees and wishing for his mom.
"Percy," Annabeth slid her hands up his chest. "Focus on me, okay? Just focus on me."
She turned his head. She met his eyes. She looked so scared, so concerned, so hurt by his state. Shuddering another breath, Percy let his head fall to her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Sometimes when memories come back to me I just…"
"It's okay." Annabeth cupped a hand to his head. "I didn't mean to cause-"
"BB guns." Percy said quickly. He didn't want to fail her.
"What?"
"Those scars? BB guns. I got placed in a few homes from time to time but I always ended up back at a youth home for boys. There were a few older kids there who used me for target practice."
Softly, Annabeth placed her hand over his mouth. "Shhhh, don't overexert yourself just to tell me."
"But I need to be fair," he muttered against her palm. Then he pulled her other hand and lay it against his forearm again. Making sure her fingers lined up with the four strips of pale flesh, thin and small. "One of them would heat a fork over the stove and brand me."
"Percy-"
"These ones-" the star shaped ones lay higher up on his bicep. "-were when I was a bit older. When the boys at the youth home upgraded to bows and arrows-"
Annabeth cradled him to her. Gripping him so tightly, for a moment he could scarcely breathe.
"If you're not ready, don't push yourself," she whispered close to his ear.
She was right. He wasn't ready.
There was something shifting inside him. Something dark, something old, something he'd buried with so many stones that it made his insides quiver as it struggled to break free. The longer he thought of his nine year old self, the harder it pushed against his brain. Streaming lines of panic up and down his arms.
Terrified, he retracted. Grounding himself again, he focused on the smell of soap, on Annabeth's warmth and the cold hardness that was the shower floor. But the past was haunting him. If he chose to continue forward, to embrace human life, living instead of surviving, it would emerge. Whatever it was, it would break free and potentially break him.
For now he decided to let his arms wrap around Annabeth. To bury his face in her comforting smell and let go of all those memories. Allow them to fall back into their graves and pretend they never existed in the first place.
"Percy," Annabeth shifted backwards. Meeting his eyes with an ardent tenderness. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For always trying to meet me halfway. Instead of pitying me, you open up to me and that means so much more than any empty words of condolence ever would."
Percy quipped the bare minimum of a smile. Admiring her eyes, the slope of her nose, the plush curves of her lips. He allowed himself to stay that close to her, breathing in her scent and swimming in her gaze. "You're not going soft on me, are you Wisegirl?"
"Wouldn't dream of it, you Seaweed Brain."
He didn't anticipate how quickly she moved forward. He never dreamed she would look at him like that, or cradle his neck to guide him into a kiss. Panic seared up his sternum when her pillowy lips brushed over his. A fire consuming his brain was urging him forward, forcing him even.
Bang. The bathroom door burst open. They split to opposite sides of the shower.
A man stood in the threshold, silhouetted by the light streaming in from the hallway.
"Oh… uh sorry," he said bashfully and slipped away. Leaving the door ajar.
That man is not a guest. That man is not a guest. That man is not a guest. Percy's alarm bells were ringing. Reality was smacking him hard in the balls this time. He'd spent the first half of the evening surveying the arriving people. Counting them, learning about them, combing through them to search for potential threats. He hadn't crossed paths with that man all evening.
Annabeth sat across from him, dazed, a bit confused, but looking at him hopefully. A flickering light of potential behind her searching eyes.
"I… I'm sorry… " His heart was still in flames. Every fiber of his being wanted to be back in that position, back in that closeness, hovering towards intimate and exciting. "I'm so sorry Annabeth… I don't like you like that."
He didn't wait for her reaction. He needed to track down that man, check his intentions, look for his weaknesses and if need be; make the first strike.
Thank you to all the people who reviewed last time!
Seriously lifted my spirit. Love you guys.