Annabeth
Percy did see correctly and I did keep my arm around Piper while hanging up. "What exactly are you doing?" She asked. "Symbolizing how you are worthy of protection from triggers" "Not exactly what I'd consider a fitting reason for that gesture, but it's cute so I'll let it pass" We were silent for a few seconds, then I slowly pulled my arm away. "Could you… leave it there" Piper asked. "I liked that" "Sure. Maybe we should sit down on my bed for that though" Piper sat down on the bed. I grabbed my computer, changed it to single hand mode, then sat down next to Piper and put my arm back around her shoulder. "Like this?" "Yeah. Being protected is not a feeling I've ever paid much attention to, but it's actually not that bad" "Are you possibly jealous of what Percy does to me?" "You mean your intense cuddling session on Saturday evening?" "For example" "Maybe a little bit. Like I said, I've never thought about the feeling of being protected" "It's an amazing feeling, especially if you have the truckload of trauma that I have" "But it's still a good feeling, even if you only have a… normal car load like me" Piper leaned against me. If Percy was here, he'd probably complain. Not because he'd consider it cheating or anything, just because this made Piper seem really hypocritical for calling Percy and me too cute. And he'd be right about it, Piper and I were extremely cute right now. I'd like to tell you that we had a deep conversation about our views on feeling safe like I often had with Percy (not that topic in particular, just whatever topic we came across), but I had a new design idea for Olympus and spent the rest of the evening implementing it into blender with just my left hand. We only stopped for a few minutes to get dinner and then get changed, then got right back at it. Eventually, it was time for lights out. "I guess we'll have to separate now" I told Piper, but she didn't respond. When I moved, she fell backwards onto my bed, already asleep. I was already too tired to carry her to her own bed and waking her up seemed to mean, so I decided if the bed was large enough for Percy and me, it would suffice for Piper and me as well. I turned off the lights and quickly fell asleep as well.
As per usual, I was woken up by my alarm a while before Piper and I used the extra time to, you guessed it, work on my Olympus design. I did that until Piper woke up as well, which was barely in time for her to get ready before breakfast. After that, I went to my first lesson which I unfortunately didn't share with Piper. We actually didn't have any shared lessons that day, so we weren't able to reunite until the lunch break. "Remember yesterday when you said there was a reason you had too hands?" "Yeah" "Back then you obviously meant one for me and one for Percy, but a bit later, it came into play differently; one for me and one for the laptop" "That's true. Just sitting next to you didn't give my ADHD enough stimulation. At least you seem to have enjoyed that" "Oh, definitely. I've seen you being protected by myself and Percy so much, and I've never stopped to consider if I'd like that as well. Considering my childhood, well, I think we've discussed that before"
Of course I knew what Piper was talking about. One of our first conversations, just a few weeks after Percy had disappeared. I thought back to that day.
We'd been talking about how my attachment style and perception of safety had been screwed by having been homeless for a while when Piper contributed her own story
"You know, I might have grown up with a roof over my head, a pretty luxurious one at that, but there was still an aspect of safety that I lacked. My Dad… he didn't take much time for me and my Mom… Well, gods will be gods" "Same actually. That's at least one thing we have in common. How'd your dad react when he found out?" "Found out what?" "Who your mom was" "He never knew. He still thinks she was just a regular human" "My dad found out before I came to be, but I guess if you plan on having a child without being pregnant or ever doing the thing" "Why aren't you just saying the word? I mean, you have a boyfriend so it's obviously not a foreign thing to you" "But it is" "So, you've never…" "Nope. We're kind of diverging from the point here. As I was saying, my mom told about her identity and the nature of Athenian reproduction quite early on, which did not prevent me from coming into existence. He was not a big fan of that happening. He didn't see me as a daughter, he saw me as someone he was unfortunately responsible for. Wow, even just saying that hurts me" "That's pretty much what happened to me as well. Dad never really had time for me. He got his assistant to babysit me 24/7, but it just wasn't the same" "Well, that's something to bond over: never feeling the love of either parent" "Yeah. We got mommy issues" "And daddy issues" We looked at each other for a while. I'd gotten a bit said during the conversation, but tried my best to hide it. Then I realized Piper was probably doing the same thing and dropped my mask.
"You look like you need a hug" I told her. "If anything, it's you that needs one" Instead of responding, I just wrapped my arms around Piper and she did the same back to me.
"That was an interesting conversation" Piper said. "It was. It was also the first time I got to comfort you" "Yeah, that was a nice feeling, which brings us back to the original conversation. Turns out we both lack the feeling of being protected. We should definitely do that again some other time" The bell interrupted our conversation and we had to go separate ways again.
In the afternoon, we met back up in my room. "You know what time it is?" I asked Piper. "No" "Time for me to try and fix my crippling abandonment issues by iris messaging Percy" "How about we sit down in the same position as yesterday and see if Percy gives a seaweed brain response" "That, Piper, is an excellent idea" I put the prism on the table and we sat down on the floor. I put my arm around Piper's shoulders like yesterday and said Percy's name. As expected, his dorm room appeared. "Hey there wise girl. How's it- have you been sitting there since yesterday?" "No we haven't" Piper responded. "We just found the thought of you asking that exact question very amusing" "Also, we found out that Piper is just as, uh, protection starved as I am. Her dad never really cared. I mean, my dad cared for my wellbeing so little that homelessness was the better option, but that doesn't make it better for her and I won't pretend it will" "So, you enjoy being protected as well, am I hearing that right?" "Yeah. I mean, who doesn't like that?" "There's probably a lot of people who grew up too sheltered and being protected gives them a feeling of being weak or not in control of their own lives anymore" I remarked. Percy and Piper ignored me, which was honestly valid as I hadn't really contributed anything to the conversation other than giving a detailed response to a rhetorical question. "Anyways" Percy said. (Yes, that counts as ignoring) "If you like it too, I'm sending you a big brother hug" "Big brother?" "I mean we both like the same girl, so we're basically siblings in law, right Annabeth?" "If anything, she'd be your yourself in law, but that doesn't make sense, so I'll let sister pass. Also, you're really stretching the concept of in-laws, but once again, I'll let it pass because it's very cute" "Why do you get to decide that?" Piper complained. "Uh, because I'm the smart one, also I'm kind of the leader" "You're the leader?" Piper asked. "You have no idea how much power I have over you, right?" "I'm not sure what you're talking about, unless you mean that you could say certain triggering sentences, in which case Percy would beat you up" "Don't worry, that wasn't the plan" Piper said and after that, I don't think I'm capable of telling the story properly. Percy?
Percy
I watched as Piper took Annabeth's chin, waited to give her a chance to withdraw her consent to being touched, then turned Annabeth's head towards herself. "Hey Annabeth" She said. "I heard you like me" Instantly, Annabeth's face turned bright red. In that condition, I'd also be unable to recall a story. "I, uh, maybe" She stammered. "How did you… can you…" "I would tell you to stop" I told Piper. "But Annabeth has given me the death glare a few to many times so I don't really care" "Annabeth tried to complain, but she was still way too flustered to string together a coherent sentence. "I should probably stop now" Piper told Annabeth after a while. "Because you probably have a few essential organs that are running low on oxygen because the blood that is supposed to be supplied them is busy elsewhere. Piper looked away from Annabeth and she slowly came back. The blood in her face went back to where it was supposed to be. Annabeth took a deep breath."I… did not know you could do that. I think I almost passed out from hypoxia" "I didn't know I could do that. It probably will also only work for people who like me as much as you do, which is no one else except perhaps Jason"
"That, uh, sucks for Jason. Sorry, my brain is still a bit undersupplied with oxygen. Give me a minute" Annabeth collapsed onto the floor. Since she was already sitting, I wasn't too concerned about her. In terms of the collapse itself, it was simply the most effective method of getting oxygen to the brain, both because sitting uses up energy and because your head is lower so your heart won't have to work that hard to get your blood there. My disconcern was confirmed by Annabeth giving us a thumbs up from the floor. "I know Annabeth is gonna kill me for this" I started "but that was hilarious to watch" "You're right" Annabeth said and finger gun shot me. "But I also didn't like to see you suffer" "Correct answer" Annabeth sat back up. "By the way, when was the last time you talked to your parents? Because for me it was yesterday" "I can't really do that without celestial bronze shielding and iris messaging isn't possible because he doesn't know about the mythical world" "For me it was when we visited him, so two weeks ago tomorrow. I mean, I've gone for longer without contact, but I should really try to reestablish that connection.
Piper
"You want to reestablish a connection" I asked. "With the people who treated you so badly that homelessness was the better choice?" "I'm giving them another chance, even if it's just for me to heal. Just holding a grudge on them for the rest of my life… Well, Luke was pretty good at holding grudges and we saw how that ended" "Yeah. With trauma for you" "With trauma for me. And the rest of camp. But it also led to an interesting moment with my dad. So, Kronos had taken me, Percy, Thalia and Zoë hostage and my dad just showed up on his camel and shot the monsters" "His… camel?" "Camel Sopwith. It's a plane" "Hey, am I still needed here?" Percy asked. "If you don't mind staying on, I'd like that" "Of course my dear" he said. "You know you can just say no to her" I said. "I could, by why would I do something that she dislikes if it doesn't benefit me? That would be stupid and mean" "I agree" Annabeth commented. Don't just cause harm to people" I choose not to comment on the fact that Annabeth had agreed to a statement that mostly served herself because her knife was within reach. Don't worry, I'm not actually concerned about that, Annabeth is pretty chill when she's not triggered.
"So, your dad actually saved your life?" "He did. Considering how much was at play that evening, he probably saved the entire world that day. I don't think I've ever told him that. Though it will probably just make him even more obsessed with Camel Sopwiths. He can talk for hours about their significance to the battle of Ypern. I know that because I've listened through all of it. 2 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds"
"Please tell me you had a clock to look at and didn't actually count the time" "Don't worry, I didn't" We kept talking for a few more minutes. Eventually, the signal for dinner came and Percy and Annabeth said goodbye to each other and Annabeth hung up. "So, are you gonna call your dad now?" I asked after dinner. "That won't be possible" Annabeth explained. "He always works long shifts on Tuesdays. By the time he's home, it'll already be lights out for us" "That's a long shift" "Not if you consider that he's three hours behind us. He usually comes home at like seven thirty, but over here, it'll be too late already" "Makes sense. Speaking of going to bed, is there a reason I woke up in your bed this morning?" "We were sitting on my bed and you just fell asleep. I didn't want to wake you up nor carry you over to your bed, so you had to stay where you were" "And where did you sleep?" "In my bed" "Just roommates doing what roommates do" "It's a good thing the boys can't see us right now" Annabeth said. "Well, Percy forgave a kiss, so this'll be harmless" "You're forgetting that when we kissed, I was black out drunk, and Percy is extremely forgiving of things done under the influence" "We'll just tell him that we got drunk again" "He knows me too well to believe I'd ever get drunk again. I told him how much I hated it the last time" "I still don't get why you disliked it so much" "That's because you have a singular integrated personality" "What does that have to do with anything?" "Imagine a law is passed that allows every US president currently alive to come back into the white house and rule together. Now imagine the same law is passed in a country that's had the same leader for decades, the UK for example. One of these two countries is going to encounter a lot of problems while the other one will be just fine. This law represents getting drunk" "Oh, that makes sense. So, you're just not gonna drink again?" "I mean, whenever I'm around Percy or will be around him in the next few hours, I can't drink anyways, plus it's not a pleasant experience at all, so why would I?" "Then I'll have to get drunk alone I guess" "That sounds a bit sad if you say it that way. Why not stay sober together?" "That does sound better. Want to cuddle like yesterday?" I had no idea where that question had come from, but Annabeth instantly agreed. "I'm assuming you want to be the protected one?" Annabeth asked. "Only if you don't" "My day's been pretty good, I don't need an external source of safety, so it's cool with me" I came over to Annabeth's bed and sat down next to her. This already made me feel a bit more protected. She then put an arm around my shoulder, which made the feeling even better. I'm not sure how it happened, but suddenly, my upper body was in her lap and she was leaning over me. After a while, we were interrupted by the lights out warning. "Hey, are you gonna sleep in your own bed tonight?" Annabeth asked. "I probably should" We separated and each went into our own beds. We then put our daggers on the night stand as per usual. "Good night Annabeth" "Good night Piper"