I left the four guys at the sandbox and went to meet the others. "So, how badly did they beat you up?" was the first question when I returned. "Not that much actually, I got one bad hit to my chin, but I've had worse" "And then? Did they get bored?" "No, they were defeated. I won and therefore, I now have the bullying rights in this school" The people closest to me took a few steps back. "Which I don't intend to actually use. I just keep them nice and save, and hope no one reclaims them." Everyone was silent for a few seconds before declaring my battle the 'most effective anti-bullying measure in the history of the school', which I added to my ever growing list of titles. I also got another personal thank you from Julia. "No problem. You were having trouble with bullies, so I got rid of the bullies. Simple as that" "You did that for me?" "Well, at the end it helped like half the school, but you're the reason why I even knew about the bullies, so one could say I did it for you. Well, you were the first person here who seemed nice to me." "Same for me actually. Most people here just barely tolerate me, but then you come along and just validate my experience with random facts about Greek gods." "Yeah, I've heard I'm pretty good at showing up and making everything better. Especially when it comes to my girlfriend's mental health. I wonder how she's doing right now" "And he's back to allo stuff again" "My girlfriend, Annabeth, is actually aspec, so it's not an allo relationship" "She's aspec? I feel like you've mentioned that before, but I don't remember what exactly she was." "She's demisexual." "Demisexual you say? Sounds great, Just going about your day and not being attracted to random people, especially when you know you can't have a normal relationship with them because you're aro." "I'm sure your orientation has some advantages. For example, you'll never have to worry about being cheated on and breaking up isn't an issue either. Just look at me for example, one of the most traumatic things in my life only happened because I loved my girlfriend so much. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade her or our love for anything in this world, but you get my point" "Yes, I get the point. Allos are weird." "Annabeth already told me that, except for her it was allosexuality rather than alloromanticism" "I don't think I'll ever understand what people find so great about falling in love. I've heard people describe what it feels like and every time I was like 'dude, what you're describing is a panic attack.' Why is that considered such a good thing?" "Well, in the beginning it can feel a bit like a panic attack, but there's more to it. Mostly, it's just free dopamine whenever you spend time with that person and if everything goes right, you don't even need to make an effort to have them around you because they experience the same effect." Additionally, a romantic relationship serves as a great basis for other types of connection to develop, but of course it's not an absolute necessity. I fully believe that you can have a strong relationship without actually experiencing romantic attraction. It might not be that easy, but if you really want to, I believe that you can." "Thank you. I kind of needed that" "well, I was kind of just rambling, but if it helped, you're welcome. But now I should probably get to my next class. See you later" I sprinted to the correct room and made it in just in time.
Later that day, just after dinner, I was sitting in my room and doing my homework. I had considered calling Annabeth, but I didn't want to use all my drachmas just yet. Just as I finished my last math problem, a light began to flicker above my bed. It expanded into a rainbow showing me a somewhat familiar face. "You're Fleecy, right?" "Wow, someone actually remembers me" "Of course, you saved our lives back in June." "I guess I helped. Anyways, I'm just here to inform you that you and Annabeth can now call each other for free. I've already told her and she's waiting for me to connect you" "Okay, but like, why is it free?" "Order from Aphrodite. Something about how you must not be separated" "Wow, Aphrodite is actually being sensible for once." "Then I'll connect you two now" I nodded. The window went blank for a few moments, then Annabeth's face appeared. "Hi Percy, are you alone?" "Yeah, I don't have a roommate. How about you?" "I'm in a room with Pipes." "Hi Percy" "So, how was your day?" "I beat up four guys at once and made them give up their bullying rights. So in theory, only I am allowed to bully people, but I'm way too nice to do that. What about you?" "There's this rumor that Pipes and I are dating after someone saw us making out in the bathroom" "They caught you doing what?" "Well, Annabeth had a flashback, so I had to comfort her, which looked a bit like this" Piper recreated the scene together with Annabeth. "Okay, if you don't know the context and don't look closely, it actually looks like you've kissing or worse." "Why worse?" "Because if you two were making out it would mean you're cheating on me and Jason to a larger degree than if it had only been a kiss. Also, it's possible that Annabeth's ace attitude of not liking anything sex related influenced me into thinking of making out as a bad thing." "Anyways, nothing happened between us as far as I remember. To be fair, that's not a very reliable source considering I was switched out for a while." "I was conscious the entire time and can confirm that nothing happened between me and Annabeth. I mean, she's hot-" "And my girlfriend thank you very much." "If it helps, I can assure you that Piper is not hot." "What would I have to do to change that?" Piper asked.
"First, you make someone fall in love with you. Then, you leave that person for me, which leaves them so angry that they curse me to also be left by you at some point. The next step is to make me trust you to such a level where you leaving me would be absolutely devastating. The next step is a bit more difficult: you have to force me into a terrible place and volunteer to go there with me. Of course, you need to do that without having me connect you with being forced into that place. The next step is to- to- is to- it's to make the curse- make it-" "Stop!" Piper demanded. "Why?" "You obviously cannot talk about this right now without getting very distressed" "You're right, I'm sorry" "Hey, don't be sorry. Whatever you wanted to say, it was probably very traumatizing, so it's okay to not talk about it" Annabeth nodded. "You're right, I shouldn't have forced myself to talk about it" It was hard to make out through the rainbow, but it looked like she was shivering. "Can I get a hug? I feel like that would help". Piper promptly delivered. "I guess I'll never know how to get you attracted to me." "Oh, she told me about it, and that particular scene wasn't as traumatic for me as it was for her, so I can tell you about it. If that's okay for Annabeth. Also I'm not sure if I want Piper to know" "Don't worry, it's already impossible enough." "Okay then. Annabeth?" "You can, but make it quick" "So, after following Annabeth to the bad place, you somehow make the curse come true so she'll think you left her. The last step is to cure the curse. Once she realizes that you didn't actually leave her, she should be attracted to you." "Why is this so specific?" "It's the story of how I started being attracted to Percy. Ironically, all three of my main competitors for Percy contributed to it. Rachel was the reason we were in Italy in the first place because of her prophecy, Nico told us where the doors of death were, and Calypso was the one who cursed me to lose Percy. So all these people who didn't want me being with Percy just made me love him more. Under different circumstances, I feel like they'd be upset to hear that, And Nico can be scary when he's upset. Rachel is just scary in general because she can just force us on life threatening quests and Calypso, well, she's stuck on her island so she doesn't really scare me. Anyways, as of now, two of them found someone else and the third has sworn maidenhood, so it's not really an issue anymore" "Did you just say Nico's scary when he's upset?" Piper asked. "Yeah, I mean he's usually nice, but he could probably kill any given person in a fraction of a second." "I was just asking because Nico said the same thing about you four days ago. I think the context was that if he didn't bring you along and drop you at Percy's place you'd be upset and therefore scary."
"Speaking of people who could have ended up with me, You weren't the only person being shipped with a girl you're most definitely not dating." "Oh really? What did you do to her to make people believe that?" "I was just talking to her and some bullies were like 'Looks like you finally got a boyfriend'. And here's the worst part: she's also Aspec. Before you say anything, by worst part I mean that it makes her being shipped with me especially ridiculous, not that being aspec is itself bad" "But that wouldn't prevent her from having a boyfriend" Piper said. "Not if she was asexual, but she's aromantic. She was kind of insecure about the whole thing, but I helped her with that. I told her to take that 'I'm unlovable and something's wrong with me' attitude and toss it in the trash bin." "What would that be called? Passive-aggressive validation?" "I guess you could call it that. But it did kind of work. Unfortunately, the bullies didn't like her standing up to them and wanted to beat her up, which was the reason why I beat them up." "I see you're doing great on your new school" "And so are you" "Apart from people not understanding I have a boyfriend" "I might visit you at some point to disprove them" We continued talking for a little while longer, then told each other good night and ended the call.
Annabeth
After the iris message had disappeared, I checked the time: just after 10pm. "And I still have to do my Chemistry homework. Why do I need the difference between butane and pentane?" Piper complained. "Well, it's the difference between whether or not opening a container of it and lighting a match will kill you or not because the butane will turn to gas and explode while pentane stays liquid at room temperature" "Thank you. I will remember this the next time when I'm considering lighting a match after opening a labeled alkane container" "Thought so. You know what, I'll let you copy this stuff. Normally I don't do that, but the original task was mostly copying itself, so there isn't really a learning effect I'd be depriving you of." "Thanks Annabeth, you're the best." "I know" "They call it a fatal flaw, but I think fatal annoyance is more fitting right now" "Hey, I'm trying my best to overcome it, but I have bigger issues to sort out right now. Also, I made it out, which required me to accept that there are some things I can't achieve, so I'm making progress" After Piper had copied my Homework, I checked the time once again. "Oh, only ten minutes till lights out. We better get ready for bed." After we got changed and ready for bed, there were about ten seconds left until we'd have to have our lights off. It wasn't like going a minute over the limit would get us in trouble or anything, but I was still glad we made it on time. "Okay, lights out in three, two, one" I turned our lights off at exactly the demanded time because a schedule is a kind of strategy and I like it when strategies are followed precisely. Once the light was off, the only remaining light source was a small red lamp on the ceiling, likely belonging to a smoke detector. "Good night Annabeth" "Good night Piper" "Are you alright? You sounded a bit scared I think?" "I'm alright. By Annabeth standards at least. It's just, dim red light isn't exactly ideal because-" "I know why" I didn't hear anything for a few seconds, then felt my blanket move which scared me a little bit. "Relax, it's just me" Piper said as she climbed into my bed. "You were scared, so I figured you could use a hug." "Thanks, that light is really bad right now. I feel like I could have a flashback at any point" "Just don't think about it. Wait, that's not how that works. Try not to think about a purple elephant" "And why?" "Doesn't matter, just don't think about it" "If you don't want me to think about it, why did you even mention it? Now I can't think about anything except- Oh, you didn't want me to think about anything else. That was clever." "I think I have a sleeping mask somewhere in my bag, and I don't really need it." "Can I have that?" "Sure" Piper went back to her bed, then used the light from her phone (we figured out at some point that demigods can actually use phones without attracting monsters as long as they're not connected to the internet or other services) to find her mask. With the red light blocked out, I was finally able to sleep somewhat peacefully.