Chapter Text
Annabeth POV
Piper found her one quiet morning, looking out at the water. For weeks, Annabeth had felt better by the ocean, but hadn’t remembered why except that the memories of the green eyed boy were stronger there. She felt safer there.
Piper’s approach was nervous and Annabeth straightened up. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I—” Piper sighed. “Rachel asked me to talk to you about something, but maybe this isn’t the right time.”
Rachel asked… Percy . Annabeth swallowed her fear. “I don’t think you’re going to find a good time and now seems good enough. What’s up?”
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Annabeth wasn’t able to approach Percy until the next night. It was Percy and Hazel’s watch, the two of them on opposite ends of the boat keeping watch. Percy frowned slightly when she approached. “You should be sleeping.”
“We need to talk.”
Percy raised an eyebrow. “Fairly sure those are the four scariest words from a girlfriend.”
Annabeth snorted. “You’re not getting away from me any time soon. You know that, right?” She had started joking but the second sentence had turned genuine.
Now Percy looked confused. “Yeah… What’s going on?”
“I’m not mad.”
Percy crossed his arms. “Annabeth, did you find a pamphlet with all the scariest things to say as a girlfriend?”
“No, I—Ugh.” Annabeth was botching this already. She decided to just cut to it. “Rachel told me about Olympus.”
Percy just blinked at first. “What?”
“Rachel told Piper who told me about, well, about what you did while I was gone.”
And there. He caught on and she watched as that classic Percy Jackson mask slid on his face. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want her to see how ashamed and angry he was, but unfortunately for him Annabeth had remembered every Percy detail she had ever learned, and there were so many.
“And?” Percy asked, tense.
“And… I’m not mad.”
“So you said.”
Annabeth sighed. She and Percy were made for each other, she knew that, but admittedly this was an area they had little experience of handling smoothly. “I think we should talk about it.”
Percy turned and glared at the ocean beneath them. “It didn’t work. Nothing happened. Nothing to talk about.”
Annabeth started to glance up before she remembered there were no gods in a position to help her. Quietly, she asked, “And what if it had?”
“What?”
“What if it had worked and you got to Olympus? What would you have done next?” Percy just continued to stare at her, eyes narrowed in confusion. “If you had seen Zeus and he had refused to help? What would you have done then, Percy?”
“I hadn’t really thought it that far through, Annabeth. I don’t know if you heard, but my usual planner was AWOL for a while.” His tone was biting but Annabeth didn’t let it get to her. He was feeling vulnerable and guilty and was lashing out, which would only increase his guilt later.
“That’s kind of my point, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth asked gently. “I’m not sure even you are realizing the gravity of what you did.”
Some of his stone mask slipped and Percy’s eyes became a bit pleading. “ For you .”
Annabeth nodded. “What did my mom tell you? That you’d sacrifice the world to save a friend?”
Percy turned away from her again. “You’re calling me Luke.”
Now here was a landmine of a conversation. Annabeth didn’t think they’d ever had a conversation about Luke without arguing. “I’m saying,” Annabeth began carefully, “that before Luke was Luke , he was just an angry demigod who felt used and neglected by the gods. Are you telling me that description doesn’t fit you?”
Now Percy stood up straight and turned to face her fully. The storm was full in his eyes and she had seen plenty of warriors and monsters cower at that glare, but Annabeth held her ground easily. Percy was hurt and scared. “You’re saying I’m destined to become him.”
Annabeth kept her voice calm. “No. This isn’t a conversation about destiny. This is a conversation about choices. What’s done is done, but next time—”
“ Next time ?” Percy spat. His sneer turned particularly vicious. “What are you planning for here, wise girl.”
“Wisdom’s daughter walks alone,” Annabeth recited and it took all her willpower to try not to act terrified. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure Percy could read her as well as she read him. His expression softened.
Her voice was almost a whisper as she said, “Luke lost Thalia and I think that was the last straw, long before the failed quest.”
Percy shook his head. “I’m not having this conversation.”
She was losing him fast and grabbed his wrist, ripping off the bandaid. “You can’t burn down Olympus just because I’m not there to stop you.” Percy twisted, looking all the more enraged until she added, “That’s not fair of you to put on me.”
At that, Percy wilted. “I don’t mean— I didn’t want—” Percy pulled at his hair and Annabeth gave him the time to find his words. Stuttering Percy was good. It meant he was trying to actually communicate and was hopefully done lashing out. Finally he released a heavy breath. “I don’t want to be that person,” he said, and Annabeth wasn’t sure she had ever heard his voice sound so small. “I’m sure that’s not the only thing Piper told you. I wasn’t exactly the most welcoming camp leader. I got in fights at camp, at school. I got—” Percy dropped his head further, diving deeper into his shame. “I got expelled, Annabeth.”
All the while, Annabeth had been running his hands through his hair, but at this she dropped her hand to the small of his back. He tensed, his eyes finding hers. “She told me,” Annabeth confirmed. “She also told me that you helped Leo build the Argo II. Worked on the blueprints and everything.”
Percy frowned, confused, like he couldn’t see the connection. “I mean, sure—”
“She said that you gave Jason some good advice before the quest, that you took them to meet Sally, that when camp really needed you, you were there, and when you weren’t at camp you were looking for me. Percy, you did good.”
Percy looked close to crying there and tore his eyes away. “You would’ve done better. And that’s an awful thing to say because being left behind is awful and I never, ever want you to ever feel left again but— You just, you would’ve done so much better. Lead better, worked on the ship better, just been better. Been less of an asshole to everyone.”
Annabeth moved her hand back to his hair and he leaned into her touch. “I don’t know, Percy. I’ve been through a lot of shit these past few weeks and I still think you got the raw end of the deal. I think, like usual, you’re not giving yourself enough credit. Besides, I’m not surprised the curse of Achilles was making you act even more impulsive than usual. I just… I need you to be aware of how it’s affecting you and should anything happen—” Percy’s stare turned hard again but Annabeth continued, “I don’t want you burning anything down in my name. I don’t care… I don’t care where I am,” Annabeth didn’t necessarily want to vocalize the hypothetical of her dying, but she hoped Percy was picking up on it. From the tensing of his jaw, she guessed he was. “I don’t want that, okay? Percy?”
He stared at her before moving forward, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that was nowhere near the gentle timid kisses they mostly had been doing by the time Annabeth had been taken. This was new and deeper and Annabeth didn’t expect the sound that came out of her throat. Percy pulled away, his eyes even more wild than usual after kissing her.
“Please don’t ask me to make that promise.”
Annabeth cupped his face with her hand. “I’m sorry, Percy. But I need you to promise me and I need you to mean it. I need you to promise that if something happens, you won’t take it out on the gods.”
He hesitated for a very long time and Annabeth was genuinely frightened of what would happen if he wouldn’t make the promise. Finally, he dropped his eyes. “I promise.”
“Percy—”
“I promise on the River Styx,” he grumbled.
Annabeth grabbed his face and brought it back to eye level. “Hey, I’m proud of you. You did really good while I was gone. I’m so proud of you.”
Percy was kissing her before Annabeth could decide if the tear in his eye was going to fall.
It was a good thing no monsters attacked that night. Percy and Annabeth weren’t keeping much watch on anything but each other that night.