"Yeah, it might come across as that. I prefer the actual version. Because it's probably way cuter" "Well, we're in the actual situation right now so you know how cute it is. According to Piper, too cute. Though you of course don't know how cute the pharmacy situation would be" "You could probably get a pretty good story out of that. Let's see. A girl walks into a pharmacy to pick up her pills where she meets a cute, but also really hot, cashier" "Let's not erase my sexuality here. I wouldn't find you hot on the first trip" "Okay, she meets a cute, not hot, but she finds no one hot at first so it doesn't count, cashier. Each time she goes there, the two talk for a bit and slowly fall in love, eventually ending up together" "They/you would probably still get together faster than you two did in real life" "That's not a bad thing. Things that form slowly are often the best of their kind, like fine wine or the windmanstätten pattern" "The what?" "The windmanstätten pattern. It's a really beautiful crystal pattern that arises when you take molten iron and nickel and cool them down at a rate of about 1 degree every million years or so. Did that count as SHWA? The same thing applies to our relationship. The years of buildup have made it incredible strong, though the shared trauma might have also helped with that. I do have to admit though that for the last year or so, the relationship was pretty much ready to go and I was just waiting for seaweed brain to recognize and accept his feelings for me" "Someone should have told him. Rachel for example" Piper said, her green eyes staring Percy down. I wondered if she had done that change intentionally or subconsciously. "Percy Jackson. There appears to be some things you don't understand, so I'll explain it really slowly for you. You are attractive. Annabeth likes you. Are you following so far?" Percy nodded, seeming somewhat confused. "Because Annabeth likes you, she doesn't want you to get in any other relationships. She also thinks we like each other, which in my case is true, but that's beside the point right now. So, she sees my presence as a threat to her potential relationship with you. She's also jealous of me for spending time with you when she doesn't. That's why she doesn't like me" "You know, Rachel should have told me that. Or you, Annabeth. You could have told me you like me" "Told you? I absolutely smothered you with hints. I could have literally filled your chimney with letters and it would not have been more obvious" "Apparently it wasn't obvious enough for me, seaweed brain" "Fine, maybe I should have told you" "On the other hand, being a couple would have made the whole 'shall end his days' situation so much worse, so maybe you just hinting was the best thing. Relationships don't usually get stronger from their impending doom" "Yeah, that would have put a lot of strain on our potential relationship. But would that strain have been irrecoverable? Would our relationship suffer from having thought that you'd die" "I don't know, you're the smart one"

"Right, I guess I am the smart one. It's hard to say. On one hand, that fear is over. On the other hand, your brain sometimes doesn't care when things are over. For example…" I stopped myself. Percy's past with Gabe was something he wouldn't discuss with just anyone, so I had to get his consent first. I gave him an is-that-okay-with-you look while lightly tapping on a cigarette burn mark. Percy nodded. "Take Percy for example. He hasn't seen his abusive alcoholic stepfather in four years, and yet-" "Actually, I saw him like ten days ago during art class" "Fine, Percy hasn't suffered under his abusive alcoholic stepfather in over four years. Logically, he should have no reason to be afraid of people who smell like alcohol, right" "Makes sense" Piper confirmed. I allowed Percy to explain the rest. "One of the homeless people was apparently drunk. Well, he didn't act drunk, but I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He then gave me a somewhat rough instruction and literally my next thought was 'If I'm not careful, he will beat me' and next thing I knew, I was here, with Annabeth comforting me. She's very good at that" "Takes one to help one. Also, you're amazing as well" "I think it's less a matter of skill" Percy said. "And more so a consequence of our love for each other. The mere presence of the other one already helps a lot" "Are you kidding me? You are literally amazing. You've got the entire flashback protocol down perfectly. Who told you that stuff" "I figured a bunch of stuff out by myself. I just did things and checked how you reacted. Also Paul taught me some stuff" "Paul?" "Well, he's a teacher, so the training for his job covered the basics of how to deal with kids and he picked up some stuff from there…

Percy

I was sitting in my room, thinking about the battle I had just survived a few weeks ago when Paul called me to come to the kitchen. I came and sat down at the table, not sure what to expect. "So" Paul started. "You've been through some stuff" "Yeah. You could say that" "How is everyone dealing with that? Mentally?" "Most have learned to deal with it. We all have PTSD now I guess" "Definitely. Last week, I heard you screaming 'No one touches her' and I don't think that was for an acting class assignment" "Not really. During the battle… Someone stabbed Annabeth. My brain essentially replayed that moment. It felt so real. But you kind of helped me with it" "I did my best. I picked that up during my job training. "Could you…" I started. Could I tell Paul about this? He probably already figured it out anyways. "Annabeth sometimes gets them as well and I'd like to help her. Can you teach me how it works" "So, your girlfriend needs emotional support from you? Welcome to the club. Seriously, what Gabe did to Sally… Well, she's recovering. But sure, I'll explain it to you"

…And that's where I got the basis for everything. The rest was mostly trial and error" I explained to Annabeth" "He really went to his stepdad and told him 'hey, how do I best support my girlfriend? What did I do to deserve this boy" Annabeth asked. "Being hot" I jokingly answered. "So, my only redeeming quality is the fact that I have a hole between my legs as well as my ability to make you interested in said hole" "Now you're making it sound really weird" "It just is. But if having that is all it takes to make you stay, that's great" "It was just a joke. Apart from the fact that you are of course hot" "I know it's a joke" "Then why did you react so seriously to it?" "Because emotionally manipulating people a little bit is fun" "It's also kind of toxic" "Unfortunately, society only cares when boys are being toxic. When girls do it, it makes them more attractive" "Fine. So, you were asking what you did to deserve me. First of all, you needed someone. I think it was around the time I rescued you from mount Tam. I can't really point out what it was, but I knew that something inside you was broken" "Yeah. I've had that feeling for a very long time" "So, I realized that you were broken and someone had to fix that" "I think I could have fixed myself" "You think that about every issue" "That's true. Fine, maybe I needed you" "So, you needed someone, and somehow that someone ended up being me" "Wouldn't have wanted anyone else" "So I guess that all contributes to what you did to deserve me. Also, the constant life-saving kind of helped in making me fall for you" "So, it was essentially a combination of being attractive to you and needing help" "Yeah" "Valid reasons I guess. I think we got a bit sidetracked from the discussion of me comforting you" "Right. So, the Gabe stuff still affects me years later. The same thing would probably apply to one of us probably dying. Now the question is whether your fear of losing me would have presented itself differently if we had already been together at that time" I could tell Annabeth wanted to make a comment regarding since when I was able to take such a systematic and logical approach to a problem, but she decided against it. "For that, we'd first have to examine how exactly our connection would have been different had we been a couple back then. Firstly, our trust for each other would be relevant. I'd say that didn't really change once we actually got together. I think we've been able to connect on so many different levels that making our romantic connection official didn't change that much. On the other hand, it did change how I viewed our relationship. The fact that we were officially more than friends and not just behaving like that gave me a sense of…" "Permanence?" "Exactly" "Who doesn't love a bit of permanence?" "Not me, that's for sure. Yes, that was a double negative. So yes, I had an increased feeling of permanence. I assume having increased trust in the stability of our relationship would mean that I'd see a threat to it as a bigger threat in general. However, it would also depend on… so, to stay mentally healthy, no, let's say mentally stable, you need a few things to be in your life that your mental stability can be based on. I guess how scared I would be to lose you would depend on to what degree I have my mental stability be supported by our relationship. But of course I would only have such support if I had no doubt you'd stay alive. The reality ended up being quite the opposite of that; I did my best to stay away from you. That essentially makes the entire question obsolete. Your impending death couldn't have had an impact on our relationship because I, as a general rule, do not date people who are about to die" "We still could have gotten together before you found out about the prophecy" "Not sure if our connection was high enough for me to make any serious moves at the time I found out, but other than that, you're right… I'm just picturing how the moment I found out would have gone under those circumstances" "I feel like it would have resulted in some pretty serious hurt/comfort situations" "Percy, this is still not Wattpad" "But I can still comfort you" "Seriously you guys, if you don't stop right now, I'll die from an overdose of cute" "Just one more hug" Annabeth requested. "Fine, one more" Piper gave in. I protectively wrapped my arms around Annabeth. We didn't let go for a long time.