Chapter Text
It had not been a good year for Percy. Which was really saying something, considering he’d had a lot of bad years before.
It was as good as it could be, he guessed. He was living in New York with his parents and his two year old little sister, who he was quite literally obsessed with. He was going to a community college just a few blocks down from his apartment that had graciously accepted his extremely late application. On the days he had off, his stepfather had gotten him a job subbing at one of his former schools, Goode High School. He was really shocked they'd accepted him, considering he blew up the place when he was fourteen. Paul told him it would get him good experience for his own classroom one day.
Percy hated school growing up. He dreaded it every single morning of every day, dreaming about the day he would be done with it forever. Struggling with both ADHD and dyslexia made a kid feel pretty out of place in school pretty quickly.
If you told twelve year old Percy that he would end up majoring in education and minoring in special education, he would have told you he’d rather be homeless and live on the streets. School was just so difficult for him, he felt like no one understood what he was going through. He always got disregarded as the troubled kid, not the kid who was having trouble.
When it came time to decide a major, his ex-girlfriend mentioned education. Percy had genuinely laughed at the suggestion. Him? A teacher? He struggled to read his tests correctly and sit still long enough to make it through his classes, much less be the one leading them.
“I’m just saying you should think about it, Seaweed Brain,” she’d told him as she brushed back a piece of his hair. “I think you’d be great at it. Think about all of the other little Percy’s out there who are struggling the same way you did. You could be the one to finally see them, give them the help and attention in school they really deserve. You could be the person that younger you needed.”
Her words had stuck with him like a pebble in his shoe: small, annoying, but impossible to ignore. He looked into other careers after that, tried to picture himself doing literally anything else, but somehow he always circled back to teaching.
Because when the smartest person Percy knew told him something, he figured it was probably worth listening to.
He’d always had a way of trusting Annabeth’s words like scripture. The same way he’d trusted her plans blindly in the middle of a fight since they were twelve. The same way he trusted her when she said she had a plan to get them out of Tartarus alive. The same way he trusted her when she looked him in the eye and told him he was capable of more than he thought he was.
So when Annabeth said breaking up was the best thing for them, Percy believed her then, too.
He was snapped back into reality when someone gripped onto his forearm. He shook his head, reorienting to the place in time around him to see a familiar pair of blue puppy-dog eyes.
Camp. Sparring. Right.
“Earth to Percy? It’s my turn to spar you, remember?” Taylor commanded, shaking his arm back and forth. Percy laughed hollowly, swallowing while he stared at the group of young demigods in the arena in front of him. Taylor was a daughter of Aphrodite who’d taken a liking to Percy over the years. She was barely six when she’d arrived at camp a week after the Battle of Manhattan, making her only ten now. Somehow, someway, she’d coaxed Percy into a friendly sparring competition with a lot of the campers who’d just arrived for the summer. She reminded him of an older Estelle and a little bit like a younger Silena. Percy just couldn’t say no to her.
“Right. Seaweed brain moment,” He apologized, steadying his sword in his hands as the kids in the crowd giggled. He ignored the way the words “seaweed brain” made him feel like he could projectile vomit, and spoke again. “Ready when you are, Taylor.”
Taylor’s lips curved into a smile, scrunching her nose as she swung at him as hard as she could. Percy almost laughed as he blocked the shot, pushing back enough to make her try, but not enough to knock her down. Taylor was a feisty thing, one of the fiercest Aphrodite kids he knew. She had a spunk to her that a lot of her siblings didn’t have, some kind of coal under her feet to prove herself. It reminded him of a little girl he used to know.
Percy playfully swung back, gentle and slow enough for her to deflect it in time. She did, twisting her sword to jab at his stomach as he slid out of the way in time to send her stumbling forward with the force of her jab.
Taylor pouted, readjusting her grip on her sword as he shrugged to tease her. “Too slow?”
A couple of the kids laughed as Taylor huffed, blowing a string of brown hair out of her face. She swung for his neck, making Percy grin as their swords clashed. He had to give it to her, she held absolutely nothing back. He wanted to tease her about trying to impress the son of Hermes named Aaron who was watching in the crowd, but he bit his tongue. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass her, especially when she was doing the best she could.
“Get him, Taylor!”
Percy glanced to see Sophie, a daughter of Athena, standing up on her feet and clapping. He smirked, thinking she wanted to see him beat because he’d disarmed her of her sword a few sparring fights ago. He went easy on them, of course he did. But they also needed to be ready for the real world. Outside of the camp borders that some of them had yet to cross since they’d arrived, were monsters out of their worst nightmares that would never dream of going easy on them in a fight. Just because there were no major prophecies or threats of war at the moment didn’t mean they were marked safe. He wanted them to be ready, never get the full easy way out of things. The real world showed no mercy to demigods like them. He’d experienced that first hand.
Taylor went to swing again, then all of a sudden, her sword stopped mid-swing, her eyes trailing behind Percy to the entrance to the arena. He let out a hollow laugh, he’d seen this before. She was trying to distract him, get his eyes off of her while she delivered a fatal blow.
Nice try, Taylor, he thought to himself. Too bad I’ve seen every trick in the book.
He gripped his sword tighter, eyes staying locked onto her face that was beaming all of the sudden. “Good one, Taylor, but I’m not falling for it. Now, aren’t you gonna swing?”
“Ooooh,” he heard someone sing from the crowd. “It’s Percy’s girlfriend!”
Percy Jackson suddenly forgot how to breathe.
He couldn’t turn around. He couldn’t move. He was completely frozen, feeling like he was sixteen again and Kronos had stopped him in time. It couldn’t be her, could it? She was in California. She was in California. New Rome University, architecture school, almost three thousand miles away from him. She wasn’t here. She couldn’t be here.
What if he turned around and it wasn’t Annabeth?
What if he turned around and it was Annabeth?
He couldn’t decide which was worse.
It was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time.
“Percy?” A voice called from behind him.
Percy felt like he’d just been smacked in the head with the hilt of a sword. He knew that voice like he knew the sky was blue. If you put him in a room with every person on Earth, Percy was certain he could still find hers.
He knew the sound of her anger. Her teasing. The tiny hitch in her voice when she was trying not to cry. The way it went up an octave when he kissed that certain spot on her neck. He knew what she sounded like half-asleep, laughing too hard, furious at him, proud of him.
It was the same voice that was in every single one of his dreams, and the same voice that haunted every single one of his nightmares.
He lowered his sword, swallowing as he willed himself to turn around. And sure enough, standing directly in front of him, was Annabeth Chase.
He stopped breathing.
The first thing he noticed was her hair. It was straight, for some reason, and fell down to her stomach. She was wearing a gray tank-top with baggy denim overall shorts thrown over it.
Unfortunately for him, she was just as beautiful as he remembered.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Annabeth’s gaze was intense, somewhere between anger and sympathy, he couldn’t decide which.
“Hey,” Annabeth spoke again, voice much lower and stern this time. Her eyes searched Percy’s face like she was trying to read his thoughts.
“Hey,” he managed, licking his lips. He couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought to save his life. Words started flying out of his mouth. “Your, uh, your hair is straight.”
He didn’t know what reaction he’d expected, but he found himself a little disappointed when she didn’t laugh. Her hand shot up to her hair, fiddling with the ends. “Oh, yeah. I had an interview yesterday. It’s considered more professional.”
Percy nodded, but all he could think was screw professional. He adored her wild curls, it was a part of what made Annabeth so Annabeth. “Oh.”
Annabeth nodded slowly, her gaze shifting behind him. “Um, would you mind if we went and talked somewhere more private?”
For the first time since he’d laid eyes on her, he remembered that they had an audience. He cleared his throat, nodding as he turned to see all their little wide-eyes fixed on them. This was the quietest he’d ever seen them.
“Sophie,” Percy said, pointing to the daughter of Athena. “I am putting you in charge. Make sure no one gets killed and all the armor and weapons get put back up, yeah?”
Sophie nodded, grinning as Taylor went and took a seat beside her to whisper something in her ear. Both of the girls started giggling, but Percy chose to ignore it.
He nodded at Annabeth as she gave him a weak smile, turning out of the arena. He followed her, keeping his distance behind her. If his arm so much as scraped hers, he felt like he might combust on the spot.
She guided him into the armory, shutting the door behind them. Percy immediately felt claustrophobic, like he couldn’t withstand being in a small space and breathing the same air as her right now. He was overwhelmed by her sudden presence, thrown into being alone with her after not even hearing a word from her for nine whole months.
I don’t think this is working for us right now, Percy. Don’t you agree?
Of course he didn’t agree. He didn’t care if things weren’t working as well as they’d hoped with long distance or if Annabeth was incredibly busy. He didn’t care about how little they were able to talk or see each other, none of that mattered to him. He wanted Annabeth Chase, in any shape or form she was able to give.
She huffed as she closed the door, turning around to face him. She was trying to hide it, but Percy could tell how much this was bothering her too. He watched as her hand reached up to fiddle with her dad’s ring on her necklace, spinning it around the leather chord. It was a tell-tale sign that Annabeth was nervous.
He hated that he still knew her like the back of his hand.
His eyes travelled to the red coral pendant that sat beside the ring, the one he’d given to her when they were just sixteen. He forced himself to look back up into her eyes. She swallowed.
She hadn’t taken it off.
Annabeth cleared her throat, shooting her hand down from her necklace. “You are here for the summer.”
Percy thought it was supposed to be a question, but she made it sound like a passive-aggressive statement. “Yeah, Chiron asked me to help since Mr.D isn’t here.”
She just nodded, staring into his eyes blankly like her mind had travelled somewhere else. “Yeah.”
He waited for her to say something else, but she didn’t. “And you?”
“He asked me the same thing.”
Percy’s heart dropped into the sole of his beat-up New Balance shoes. At first, the idea of spending a summer at camp with Annabeth had felt exhilarating. Getting to spend time with his favorite person in the world who he hadn’t seen in nine months. They could teach together, spar together, go canoeing on the lake like they used to when they were young.
But things weren’t the same anymore. She wasn’t Percy’s to spend time with. They’d spent all of sophomore year without each other, separating their previously entangled lives and starting on a new path alone. He didn’t know what classes she’d taken this semester. He didn't know what books she’d read, places she’d travelled to, blueprints she’d designed for her studio projects. The girl in front of him was not the love of his life and his childhood best friend. It was his ex-girlfriend who he hadn’t seen since August.
“Oh,” he managed, trying to keep his voice at an even tone. “So, you are here the whole summer too?”
Annabeth let out a hollow laugh, the corners of her lips turning up slightly. “Yes, I basically just said that.”
“Well, I was just checking. You could have said no.”
“Would I have come here from California if I said no?”
“Well, no.”
Annabeth lowered her eyes, picking at the loose thread on her overalls. He noticed a couple of the baby hairs around her face were starting to curl in the humidity. “I didn’t know you would be here.”
Percy watched her, his stomach tying itself into a knot. “I didn’t know you’d be here either.”
Her eyes lifted to meet his through her thick eyelashes and he felt his entire body go numb. For the first time since she’d walked into the arena, her gray eyes were soft. Gentle. A look that made Percy melt in all of the best ways.
Gods, he thought to himself. I love you. Why wasn’t that enough?
He swallowed as he shot his gaze down to his feet, reaching into his pocket to fidget with Riptide. He felt himself struggling to breathe, needing to get out of the armory before he passed out.
“Chiron still thinks we are dating,” Annabeth said slowly, beginning to reach for the doorhandle. Percy wondered if she could tell he was struggling. “We should probably go fix that.”
He nodded a little too quickly, running his hands through his hair as Annabeth opened the door. He practically gasped when he stepped out, almost tripping on the doorframe, causing Annabeth to snort. He side-eyed her, but she just shrugged her shoulders with a small grin and headed for the Big House.
As much as it hurt to be with Annabeth, a little part of him felt whole again. Like without her, he was just a shell of himself. Like Annabeth Chase was oxygen and he’d been holding his breath for nine months.
A smile snuck across his lips as a million different emotions surged through his body.
This was going to be one interesting summer.