When I came back, Percy was still sitting on his bed. "Want to come back to me?" "I'd love to, but I just had a great idea for another building and putting that idea to use is kind of my job." "Why? Out of all the possible times, why are you coming up with ideas now?" "Probably because of oxytocin" "And what is that again. Sounds like something that kills you" "No, that would be a toxin. Oxytocin is a hormone associated with love, closeness and creativity. Being close to you makes me more creative." "The universe just keeps finding more reasons to make our relationship better" "I guess what I just told you applies to almost any couple, but sure. Percabeth is already good enough without that" Percabeth! "And Annie agrees" "Who doesn't agree?" "That's probably illegal. Before the gods went silent and I was still visiting Mount Olympus regularly, I heard that Aphrodite wanted to make that an official rule, but ever since we moved to the US, godly politics have gotten a lot more complicated. Pair that with the importance of tradition and Aphrodite's general inability to do anything other than shipping people, and you get a plan that is not executed. Like, ever." "Well, we don't need laws to enforce our relationship. It's already good enough without them" "I feel like our conversation is about to enter a cycle" "Of praising our own relationship?" "Exactly"
"Okay, that would be my idea, fully designed. You can have my attention now." "I thought I already had that" "You only had like twenty percent of my attention so far. Now that I'm done with the temple, you get my undivi- okay that's a lie. I have ADHD. You get thirty percent" "Still, that's 10 percent more" "Actually, it would be fifty percent, just ten percentage points." "Please, no math. I wonder how I could get some more of your attention" Percy said, more to himself than to me.
"I feel like it's getting really warm" Percy said. "Maybe that's because you're halfway under a thick blanket and we just cuddled for ages" "Possibly. Well, it's too hot with this shirt on" He took it off. I'll be honest, the idea of being allosexual scares me a little bit. "Do I have your attention now?" "Would you look at that, the up arrow key on my laptop has a little crack in it." "Come on, am I not even a little bit interesting to you?" "Right now not really" "I can tell you're looking away on purpose" "I am purposefully looking at the laptop because it is broken, which interests me" "just admit that I'm attractive" I looked back at Percy. "Okay, you are a bit distracting, but that also won't get you more attention in the conversation" Stop thinking about him. There's kids here. "You have to put your shirt back on." "Why" "There's children here" "It's not my fault if you interpret this in a NWSF way. NSWF. NWFS. WNSF. NSFW. Now I got it. I think." He did put it back on.
"Thanks. Now I know what you meant when you told me your self-control wanted me to get dressed again last week." "I think I have your full attention now" "Probably" "I didn't think it would affect you this much." "I honestly have no idea why it happened. Maybe the twenty minute cuddle made me reach a new level of demi. Maybe Annie gave me increased emotions" Hey, don't blame me for your weird fantasies "Apparently not. Well, attraction is probably also a hormonal thing and they haven't been doing their job properly for almost two months." "How do you know that?" "If they did their job the joke you made when telling your mom about Gaia's awakening would not have been a joke" "Annabeth, I'm not an Athena kid. I don't remember every detail from a conversation I had over a month ago" "You told your mom that one of us started bleeding out of an unspecified hole. She obviously thought it was me because that's something girls tend to do, but it was actually your nosebleed. The thing is, it should have happened on that day. I don't know precisely how much time we spent in Tartarus, so it was the first of August give or take one day. That would have been normal. Plus maybe another day for some irregularity. Tomorrow, it'll be six weeks since then. So, as I already said, my hormones are kind of not working as intended. Just like the rest of my body. But at least I got to skip a few days of suffering, so that's great" "Doesn't no period usually mean that you're pregnant?" "In theory yes, but that would require us to do certain things and by the first time we even considered doing them, I was already two weeks overdue, so no worries. Unless we did anything that I don't remember, which I would have found out at some point through conversations, I can be relatively sure I don't have a little parasite in me" "A parasite?" "Well, it lives inside me and sucks up nutrients. It's living on my expense. That's almost the exact definition of a parasite." "Doesn't a parasite have to be a different species?" "Demigod, legacy, those are different" "Are they really though?" "Well, if we look at the definition of a species, individuals who can have fertile offspring, they should be the same species. But by that logic, they're also the same species as mortals, gods, titans, nymphs and satyrs. This belongs into the category of 'better not to think about it, or it might permanently damage your view of the world you live in."
"Speaking of the world, any news on your inner world" "No, I haven't been there since Dad took us to the beach. But I did make a little model of it. I asked for some help but I don't think I- Wait, I haven't actually checked" I took out my laptop and opened the communication app. I actually had a few messages, containing a few drawings of what I assumed where places in the inner world and a map that showed where those places were. "Looks like I did get some help. I'll code those places in when I have time. But maybe I should try accessing the inner world at some point. Like I said, it's been a while." Can I come out then?
Percy
"I might actually do that right now. I have a very impatient kid wanting to take my place, and if I can't stay here, I might as well try to reach the inner world. I mean, I could just try to not switch, but, okay, I don't think that'll work. By the way, Piper won't be expecting me until tomorrow morning, just thought you might want to know" A short pause followed. "Give me my knife" I didn't understand why Annabeth would ask me for the knife she already had, but decided to ask her later. I carefully grabbed the dagger from its sheath and handed it to Annabeth. She took it, which was followed by a short dissociated. She looked back up at me. "Hey Percy" "Hey. I'm assuming this is Annie." "Yeah, how did you know?" "Well, Annabeth mentioned you by name a few minutes ago and there's not that many alters who sound like this. Now I have a question. Do you know what giving you the knife was about?" "That helped in triggering me out. It reminds me of my first memory. Luke gave me this knife and told me he'd be my family. And he was my family, until…" The speed at which her voice changed from excited to a sadness no child should have to experience was insane "Don't worry, I can be your family" "Okay. But don't betray me please" "I'll try my best. Are you still sad because of him?" "A bit" "Well, Annabeth just gave me a good twenty minutes of hugs; want me to pay them back?" "Yes please" "Good, because you're really cute and not hugging you requires some serious willpower." "Then what are you waiting for?" I inched closer to her and gave her a hug. Now you probably think that our relationship only consists of cuddles and honestly, you'd be correct. But after all, physical affection is a good way to calm down and a dopamine rush is also useful at times. Okay, dopamine rush sounds like something you'd get from a drug, but I don't think we're addicted to each other. I might be a seaweed brain, but I know a thing or two about addiction. If Annabeth was addicted to me, she'd enter a state of rage whenever she couldn't get to me. That Hera thing doesn't count. Similarly, if I was addicted to Annabeth, I'd do stupid and self-destructive things like falling into… well, schist. "Percy, is something wrong?" "I was just thinking about how I'm more or less addicted to Annabeth" "Oh. Addiction is bad" "Why do you even know what that is? You're seven" "Thalia told me. Her mom was addicted to alcohol. That's why she ran away from home. Without that, I'd probably be dead" "Without my more or less addiction to Annabeth, you'd likely also be dead." "I am only alive because of addiction. Fun" "And also because you're such a strong little fighter" "I know" She slashed the air with her dagger a few times. "Be careful Annie, you don't want to cut my nose off" "How do you know I don't want that?" I don't know if you've ever been threatened by someone almost ten years younger than you, but it's not very convincing. "Because if I lose my nose, I'll be bleeding everywhere and then I'll have to clean that up and when I'm cleaning, I can't hug you" "Okay then, I won't cut it off then" "Thanks" We then did some more hugging until Annie had completely forgotten about the death of her found family. "Do you know how Annabeth is doing?" "I think she's currently in the inner world. She's probably causing some severe chaos. Did I ever tell you the story of the great Euclidean collapse?" "No" "I thought not. It's not a story Annabeth would tell. It's-" "Aaand she's quoting Star Wars" "What? it's a good movie if you are somewhat tolerant to inaccurate physics. Okay, very tolerant. So, did Annabeth ever tell you how laws of nature work in the inner world?" "Was it something about statues of scientists?" "Correct, once a statue is destroyed, the natural laws discovered by that scientist no longer apply. One person we gave this treatment was Euclid. You know, the guy who said that the shortest path is always a straight line and all that schist. We didn't like that, so we destroyed him. Annabeth somehow managed to 'accidentally' repair the statue. This momentarily broke every non-Euclidian structure in the world. We called that the great Euclidean collapse of last week." "Well, then let's hope Annabeth doesn't repair any statues today. But I think she's learned her lesson. Wait, did anyone actually tell her how the statue system works?" "Hopefully, but I'm not sure" "You seem like responsible people, someone surely told her" "Let's just hope for the best. Can you show me the school?" "Sure. This is my room. That over there is my homework" "Can I see it?" "Why not" "What even is this?" "A differential equation" "I have no idea what that is." "You have professional dagger skills but don't know 11th grade math?" "I have dagger skills at the level of a first grader that had to be able to defend herself from the age of seven on. I have math skills at the level of a first grader who is a child of Athena. That skill difference isn't DID related, I just know the things we had to know in 2001. Dagger fighting was one of them, difference equations were not. So, anything else interesting here?" "Oh, there's a lot of things" I began to show her around.
"Okay, this corridor is all dorm rooms, except the two doors at the back. Those are the bathrooms, but you already knew that. Well, at least Annabeth did. I wonder how she knew that" "Don't ask me. I didn't ask her" I showed Annie the rest of the school, including the sites of pretty much everything I had done here ever (meaning over the last 8½ days) "This is where I summoned a wave to wash away the trash" "This is where I challenged the bullies to a fight" "This is where the fight happened" "Why is there just this wood frame on the ground" "I think it used to be a sandbox, but maybe the sand was stolen. Given the social conditions of the school, it wouldn't surprise me" "We have to change that. What is a school playground without a sandbox" "Great idea, but where would we get the sand?" "A beach maybe? We're on an island, so it shouldn't be too hard to find one" "That is a good idea. I never thought that I'd find myself restoring a school sandbox. Well, I did that once, but it was a punishment for something that wasn't even my fault. Looking back at it now, it probably was my fault, but not directly" "Let me guess, you accidentally pissed off some god?" "Probably." "Then let's actually put the sand back" "There's too many people around here at the moment." "We can do it when everyone is sleeping" "But then you also need to be sleeping" "No I don't. Do I look like a kid to you?" "I mean, technically you don't look like a child, but you are one in most other ways" "I think children need more sleep so that their body can grow, but this body is old" "Seventh isn't old" "More than two times how old I am" "So, your point is?" "That I don't need to go to bed early just because I'm a little" "I'll have to ask Annabeth about that" She stared off into the distance for around five seconds, then looked back at me. "Hey, it's Annabeth. Annie can stay up longer. She doesn't need to grow anymore, so she doesn't need extra sleep" "Next time you fake a switch, make it longer. I've never seen you switch this quickly, even with the other person being co-con, which I'm pretty sure was not the case here" "dammit. I thought it would work" "It almost did. Want me to show you more of the school?" "Yes please" I showed Annie the rest of the buildings. She quite obviously shared Annabeth's love for architecture. "Annabeth would love this if she was here, but now I'm here, so I'm loving it instead. I think I'll take some pictures for her" DID surely created many weird moments, but the way Annie enjoyed the design choices of my school was almost normal (Well, normal by Annabeth standards, which to be honest isn't all that normal) safe for the child-like voice Annie had. Once Annie had seen everything, we went back to my dorm room.
So, here's the chapter. Sorry for the delay, I first had to make up my mind on whether that one scene was still PG13, but I eventually decided that it was.