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Chapter Text

It was destiny that brought two young children into Chiron’s gym, that and a cancelled field trip.

The day that changed Chiron’s life had been an ugly one. Deep into October, dark grey clouds hid the sun, plunging New York into a cold and depressing darkness. The temperature wasn’t low enough yet to snow, so the weather had been switching back and forth between icy cold rains and sleeting. Chiron was grateful he spent the money to get the heater at his gym, Olympia, fixed before winter truly began in full force.

During his gymnastics days there was no such thing as a heater or air conditioning, it was sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter, with hardly any in between. Once he started his own gym, (Thank the gods for the money he received from sponsorships after his Olympic games) Chiron knew he couldn’t let his gymnasts suffer the way he had. Gymnastics was hard enough without having to battle the elements too.

His phone rang, loud and shrill, snapping Chiron out of the morning paperwork.

When he picked up, the voice on the other side was overtly perky and already speaking before he could manage “hello.”

“Hi! My name is Jessica and I’m with Ms. Bunny’s pre-school, we had a field trip scheduled for today, but the weather isn’t cooperating with us, is it possible for us to come to Olympia this afternoon instead? I already have the money and parental waivers.”

This predicament was nothing new to Chiron and he gladly accepted. Chiron would never deny a field trip of young children. Plus, the business part of him couldn’t pass up the extra cash and an opportunity for free advertising. And if one or two kids, decided they liked the sport and stuck with it for a few years, than all the better.

“Of course,” he replied, “I am always happy to help, I just have a few questions…”

They discussed how long the visit would be, how many kids would be coming (25) and how old they were (4 and 5), whether she wanted obstacle courses or a free-for-all open gym (She opted for both) and whatever concerns she had.

The conversation went quick, Jessica talked rapidly, her words all blending into each other. Chiron did have to admit, it was nice dealing with someone who got straight to the point and knew what she wanted. Lots of times these conversations lasted much longer than necessary.

“Thank you so much for your help! We’ll see you in a couple of hours!”

After he hung up, Chiron made a few calls to his part-time coaches to see who could help him corral the young children who would soon be unleashed upon his gym. Tuesday mornings were never the busiest at the gym, so Chiron figured he only needed one additional set of hands.

Luckily Luke Castellan volunteered. He and Chiron spent the rest of the morning setting up obstacle courses and making a rotation schedule for the open gym, and before they knew it white vans were pulling into the parking lot and two dozen kids were running into the Big House.

With the assistance of the teachers, Luke and Chiron helped the kids get out of their winter clothes and go over the basic rules of the gym.

Chiron could still remember the blonde girl and a dark haired boy leading the pack as they lined up to enter the gym.

At the time, he didn’t think anything of it.

To warm up, Chiron told them, as soon as he opened the door, he wanted them all to run around the blue floor 3 times.

The door was barely cracked when the girl and boy exploded into the gym, completing the first two laps before the others finished one.

During stretching, Chiron couldn’t help but have his attention brought back to those two, he had never seen such energy, flexibility and coordination in children so young.

At one point, while Luke was demonstrating a dive forward roll, he jumped onto a trampoline, straightened himself out parallel to the ground and rolled out, he stood up with a flourish. The kids stared wide eyed.

“Would anyone like to try?” Luke joked, knowing full well none of the kids in the group would be able to manage the skill, even if it was a simple one at that.

But, the girls hand shot straight up, the boys was only a fraction of a second slower.

What really caught Chiron’s attention was how fearless they were, While the other kids shrunk away, the girl wasted no time in running up to the trampoline, but instead of a dive roll, she jumped with too much power and did a front flip, landing perfectly on her feet.

Before Chiron had time to think, the boy was saying, “I can do that too, Annabeth!”

The boy replicated the same skill.

Like it was nothing.

With absolutely no formal training (that Chiron knew of).

Luke just stared at him, blinking slowly. His unspoken words conveyed perfectly clear, did that really just happen?

That was the first, but not last time that day Chiron thought he might have something special on his hands.

At the end of their trip, Chiron couldn’t resist going up to Jessica to ask the names of those two kids.

Jessica had been as cheerful in person as she was on the phone. Her blonde hair was pulled up and her face was bright red from exertion. Even though she spent her days chasing after preschoolers, it was clear she wasn’t use to this type of a workout.

Her brows drew together, a bit confused, but she answered anyways with a sigh.
“Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson.”

Chiron smiled, “They seem like a handful.”

“You have no idea, they’re non-stop. All. The. Time.”

He laughed, and handed the teacher a packet of forms and brochures. “In gymnastics, that’s a good thing. Would you mind if I gave you paperwork to give to their parents? They may benefit from a release of all that energy.”

“Of course, I’d be happy to.”

Then they were throwing kids into the white vans and driving away.

Luke walked up to him, “Do you think we’ll see those two again?”

The Fates must have smiled down upon Chiron in that moment as he said, “I hope so, I have a feeling they’ll be something great one day.”

Chapter Text

*10 years later*

Annabeth stared down the uneven bars as she visualized her routine in her mind.

Gymnastics was all about repetition. Completing a skill over and over again until you had it committed to muscle memory. Until your body instinctively knew when to let go of the bar for a release move, or where you were at in the air for a tumbling pass.

Hundreds of hours of intense training had led Annabeth to this moment.

The American Cup.

This was her debut as a senior elite. She had been counting down the days until she was 16 and eligible for this level.

Technically, she still wasn’t 16, but since her birthday fell during the season, she could still compete with the other senior level gymnasts.

Doing well today could qualify Annabeth for the National Championships, the second most important competition of the year.

If she did well at Nationals, Annabeth had a good shot at being chosen for the selection camps for World’s. The biggest competition in gymnastics, except for the Olympics.

But she couldn’t think about that yet, Annabeth was getting ahead of herself. And that was not how you won competitions. She had to focus on the moment.

Thousands of people were packed into the arena. Annabeth had never been to a meet this large. All of her past meets and qualifiers consisted of spectators that were related to the gymnasts competing. Not people who showed up because they actually enjoyed watching the sport.

It was a refreshing change of pace.

Earlier in the day, Annabeth had nailed her floor routine. Now she was about to do the same on bars.

Her favorite event.

She scrubbed at her grips with chalk making sure there was an even coating. She had already made sure the bars were chalked down to her liking as well. Annabeth was not a superstitious gymnast, however, she did prefer things a certain way, especially for bars.

Annabeth tried to ignore the anxiety taking root in her mind. It was a lot to think about. And a lot that potentially could go wrong.

What if she missed the judges raising the green flag for her to start?

What if she dropped a release move?

What if she tried her best and it’s still not enough?

No matter the level she was at or how many times she competed, there was no escaping the nerves of competition day.

Annabeth forced those thoughts away.

Like Percy always said, “there was no time for negativity.”

Just the thought of his voice helped ease her anxiety, even when he wasn’t around her best friend was always able to ground her.

Waiting for the judges felt infinite, Annabeth had no idea what they did in between routines (whatever it was, they still shouldn’t take as long as they did)

The signal finally came. She saluted. Chest out, arms up, fingers back.

Breathe.

Annabeth ran, her feet pushing off the springboard, propelling herself forwards and upwards. Her hands skimmed the low bar before they grasped the high bar.

This is where the real work began. Annabeth’s body shifted into auto-pilot.

Annabeth visualized each move in her mind as she did it. She brought herself to a perfect handstand and a full pirouette. Then she immediately connected two release moves, each one flying just as high as the previous. The last of which she’d hoped would bare her name one day.

She ignored the cheers from the audience that this part of her routine elicited. The only voices she could hear was Coach Chiron reminding her to breathe and keep her arms straight and someone else screaming “Let’s go Annabeth!”

She flipped down to the low bar, performing a series of twists and turns, before flinging herself back up to the high bar. She completed one more full pirouette before her last release move.

Her body was burning, her muscles screamed in complaint, Annabeth ignored it and pushed through. Her willpower always proved stronger than her body.

She did one more giant swing to generate momentum for her dismount. She let go, at the last possible second, flipped twice and twisted once. When her feet hit the mat, she didn’t move a muscle.

The audience roared, along with her friends and coach. Annabeth saluted the judges and made her way to the side of the floor, where spectating gymnasts and coaches watched those competing.

Chiron greeted her with a huge smile, “That was excellent, almost perfect I’d say.”

Annabeth was out of breath, all she could muster was a nod and a smile.

The other gymnasts apart of her rotation all rushed to congratulate her. Piper McLean from California was the first to reach Annabeth, telling her it was one of the best routines she had seen so far.

Considering this was the American Cup, the season’s first major meet with some of the best elite gymnasts in the entire country that was high praise.

Hazel Levesque from Louisiana radiated excitement and congratulatory remarks, she was beaming from ear to ear as she said, “That was awesome Annabeth! You make me wish I didn’t hate bars.”

From their reactions you would think they weren’t competing against each other, but Annabeth understood. When you trained and sacrificed as much as they all had, you truly appreciated something amazing when you saw it. No matter if it put someone else a couple tenths of a point ahead.

Even Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano from Puerto Rico gave her a brief nod of approval, a compliment Annabeth did not take lightly from one of her biggest competitors.

Reyna was a year and half older than Annabeth, at 17 the other girl had already been a senior elite for a year. It had been that long since Annabeth had competed against her.

When they were juniors, the two of them were always neck in neck, coming in first and second place in most competitions. During that time, they had become good friends, but fierce rivals. Annabeth was glad to see her friend again, but knew it was going to take a lot of work to beat her consistently.

Annabeth sat down on one of the plastic chairs and dug in her duffel bag for her warm up gear. Why they insisted on keeping the arenas cold enough to freeze the gymnasts asses off, Annabeth would never know.

She pulled on a jacket and pants over her leotard while pretending to ignore the ESPN cameras beginning to surround her.

Going in to their first ever televised meet, Chiron made sure to warn Percy and Annabeth about being distracted by the cameras. “They’ll swarm you after each event, the better you’re doing in the standings, the more cameras there will be,” he had said, “Make sure you pay them no attention. Stay Focused.”

Chiron had never given them a longer pep talk before a meet, he usually kept it short, he never liked making a big deal of competition days, “Just another day at practice,” was his most famous mantra.

For that Annabeth was thankful, she didn’t know how she’d react if her coach was the type to crumble under pressure.

There was a brief break until the next event, she scanned the crowd hoping to see her mom or dad, even though she knew the likelihood of that was slim. Annabeth couldn’t remember the last time her parents were in the same room let alone when they both were at one of her competitions.

Instead, she focused on the next event.

Balance Beam.

Annabeth visualized her routine.

She wouldn’t allow herself to lose concentration now, just because her mom wouldn’t stop working long enough to pay her only daughter a little attention and her dad couldn’t find the time this weekend to travel the few hours it took to get to Albany.

This was her first ever senior meet, and she intended to win and go home with the big silver trophy that came with the title.

Not having support from her parents wouldn’t deter her. Not today.

Not ever again.

Winning would guarantee her a spot at Nationals, and winning there would help her get onto the National Team and selection camps for Worlds.

The team for the World competition wasn’t decided based on the winners of a competition like most. The American Cup scores would determine the best and most promising gymnasts, who would then qualify for the National Competition, where the best gymnast in the country would be determined.

After Nationals, about twenty girls would be selected to attend a camp and from that group the United States’ National Team would be chosen to represent the United States at the World Competition.

Annabeth had to get to Rome.

Worlds would show her how she’d match up against the other gymnasts from all over the planet, so she could see what work needed to be done to ensure she brought home gold at the Olympics next year.

“Quit concentrating so hard Wise Girl, you’re gonna pull something.”

She’d know that voice anywhere. “What are you doing, Seaweed Brain? You should be warming up, Chiron will kill you.”

Percy Jackson shook his head, “Not immediately; he’ll let me compete first.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She wished she could have a laid back attitude like Percy on competition days. It just wasn’t in her nature though, overanalyzing was her specialty.

“What are you doing out here?” Percy rubbed at the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. “You know I love watching you compete. I missed floor, but from the look on my mom’s face, it was amazing.”

He smiled and her stomach dropped to the floor.

“You start in a few hours, you should go and warm up.”

He shrugged, not looking worried in the slightest, “I trust myself, I know what I’m capable of, anything extra will be over doing it.”

Annabeth envied his confidence. “Bold words, considering the winner today gets to pick the music in the gym, I’ve really taken a liking to Tibetan throat singing.”

“You’re a monster, Annabeth Chase.” But, his grin widened, making Annabeth’s stomach flip in ways only Percy could manage.

Whatever cocky thing he was about to say next was cut off by Chiron’s shouting. “Jackson, do you want to explain why you’re not in the back gym warming up?”

“I just wanted to watch a little,” he admitted, surprising Annabeth with the truth. She had expected some sarcastic remark about getting lost. “Can I stay for beam? Then I’ll warm up harder than I would have, had I been there for the full 2 hours.”

Chiron considered this, “Fine, but if you mess up on a basic skill today, you both will have extra workouts with Mr. D for two weeks.”

Percy looked horrified, and Annabeth was sure she had an identical look on her face too.

Chiron didn’t bluff, and the last thing either of them wanted to do was workout with Olympia’s psychotic assistant head coach. Annabeth punched him in the arm,

“You better not mess this up for us. I’m not training with Mr. D again, I still have nightmares.”

“Do you think that was the highlight of my life? We’ll be fine. Trust me.” Percy’s smile was pure confidence.

Chiron hurried them to the other side of the arena, where the other girls in Annabeth’s rotation had already started their two-touches. To warm up, each girl was allowed to touch the beam twice for 30 seconds max before they actually competed.

As Annabeth was setting her bags down and taking off her jacket, Percy grabbed her hand and pointed into the crowd.

“Look! There’s my mom.” He waved, adoration clear as day on his face. It was contagious, Annabeth caught herself waving just as energetically.

Sally was sitting in the first row, but she still had to shout to be heard over the crowd. “Great job sweetie, you’re looking terrific! I’m so proud of you.”

Annabeth beamed, leave it to Sally to always be there for her, especially when her own parents weren’t. She shouted back her thanks and hopped up to the platform, while Percy took a seat on the floor. Headphones already in his ears.

Annabeth got in line, while trying to visualize her routine, her mind began to wander to the other girls in her rotation. Even though they were all friends, Annabeth still needed to come out on top at the end of the day.

Balance Beam was not Annabeth’s best event, it really bothered her that she had the lowest difficulty score in the rotation. It was something she and Chiron had worked out a plan for in the coming months, and hopefully she would make major improvements by the next meet.

Piper had the most difficulty on beam out of everyone in the entire competition, but Annabeth didn’t know how consistent the other girl would be.

Piper didn’t always have a grasp on the mental part of gymnastics. She had good days and bad days. It was almost impossible to tell which was which until Piper was either sticking a difficult skill or falling multiple times in the same routine.

Hazel was a powerhouse, Annabeth had trouble figuring out how someone that small could generate so much power. Hazel’s floor routine had been amazing, and she definitely had more difficulty than Annabeth, for now, but, in terms of execution, Hazel could use improvement.

Annabeth assumed most of Hazel’s routines would be like that. There were always some coaches who focused on having their athletes throw their hardest skills, without focusing too much on the execution.

That left the wild card.

Reyna.

She had showed up to this meet with entirely different routines. Annabeth didn’t know what to think of that. From season to season, most gymnasts kept about 90% of their routines, but Reyna had changed almost everything for the American Cup.

Annabeth wanted to look at the scoreboard just to see the standings but she held her gaze tightly to the ground. If she looked now, she’d start to psych herself out and overanalyze even more than she already was.

Instead, she looked up to one of the private boxes, Annabeth could barely make out the form of her mother. But she could pick out Athena’s posture from space. Annabeth could only imagine her cold and calculating look as she watched the competition.

Most people in the gymnastics community had no clue that Annabeth Chase and Athena Parthenos, the national team coordinator, were related, let alone mother and daughter.

More than once, she wished that her mom hadn’t once been a gymnastics legend, that they could have a regular mother- daughter relationship. Instead Athena had always gone out of her way to prove that she wouldn’t treat Annabeth any differently than other gymnasts. Sometimes that meant flat out ignoring her. Other times it meant outright cruelty.

Hearing Piper’s name over the arena loudspeaker snapped Annabeth out of her thoughts.

Piper was first up, her beam routine was great, but shy of perfect. She had some minor wobbles and a big hop on the landing. It was apparent Piper wasn’t pleased with herself, but Annabeth congratulated her anyways.

So far Piper was having a good day.

Hazel went next. Her routine was well done only a few minor leg separations. The best part was her dismount, a double back with a full twist.

In the split second before Hazel’s arms came up to salute the judges, Annabeth had time to think to herself, ‘She had so much power, she could add another twist to that one day.’

The excitement on Hazel’s face once she finished was clear, Annabeth and the other girls cheered and hugged her. Percy even gave her a high-five.

Annabeth felt better knowing Percy was there, he was like a good luck charm (not that she needed luck, she preferred hard work). But, he had been there since she started gymnastics when she was 5, he’d been there through good times and the bad, through injuries and losses. There was never a time when she didn’t want him out here supporting her. She knew he felt the same way about her too.

Annabeth looked at him only once before stepping up to the beam. He winked at her, she rolled her eyes and smiled, glad to have a semblance of normalcy. Annabeth now had to wait for the green flag from the judges to signal that she could begin her routine. She took a deep breath and expelled all thoughts from her head.

No more thoughts of Percy, the crowd, her parents, what place she may or may not be in, only thoughts of a successful beam routine.

The judges finally raised the flag, Annabeth saluted and took a deep breath.

With only 4 inches to stand on, you had to come at the balance beam with the utmost confidence, anything less and you’d give away too many wobbles or balance checks, and that was the best case scenario. You couldn’t even let the idea of falling enter your mind.

Annabeth’s mount was something she stole from watching Percy on pommel horse. A series of three flares, where she swings her legs in circles around her body. It was one of her favorite parts of the routine.

Next was a tumbling pass, taking up the entire length of the 16 foot apparatus. She landed as effortlessly as she would have on the floor.

The rest was a blur, her mind stopping while her body took over. She felt herself flip, jump, turn, and twist. Somewhere in her mind, she registered the crowd cheering, somebody’s floor exercise music, the other girls screaming her name, and above it all was Percy and Chiron.

She tuned it all out.

With each stuck landing her confidence was growing and her nerves lessening. The next few elements were all solid. Nothing short of an earthquake could move Annabeth when she was this in the zone.

A beep sounded, signaling Annabeth had 10 seconds to dismount the beam before she was deducted.

Breathe.

She ran, pushed off the beam with all her strength, jumped as high as her legs could get her, half twisted in the air and flipped herself forward twice.

When her feet hit the mat, her left leg betrayed her, she took a small step forward. Annabeth had to stop herself from cringing.

She smiled and saluted.

Camera crews were the first to meet Annabeth as she stepped down off the platform, she tried to ignore them but she found out the best way to make them leave was to give a quick smile and a wave.

It was a great routine, she knew by the sound of the crowd and the looks on Piper and Hazel’s face. Even Reyna looked impressed, again.

When she got to Percy, his smile was wide, he pulled her into a rib crushing hug.

“Stop with that face, Annabeth, Do not beat yourself up because of that small step on the double Arabian. “

“That was a pretty good routine,” She admitted. Probably her best ever. Even counting practice.

Percy threw his head back and laughed, he hugged her again. “It was the best I’ve ever seen you do, I’m sorry I can’t stay for vault. If I don’t go warm up soon, Chiron’s head might spin.”

He grabbed his own duffle bag, “Thanks for watching,” she said. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, see you on the podium, Wise Girl.” She watched as he disappeared down the hallway leading to the practice gym.

She let her mind wander to the boy walking away, she found thinking about Percy during meets helped ease the anxiety of competing. It was better than dwelling on what was going to happen next, if she would mess up on her last routine, or not. Reyna’s name came over the loudspeaker, she was up last in their rotation.

As soon as Reyna began, Annabeth could tell the routine was new. She had added to her difficulty quite a bit since last time they competed against each other. She didn’t look as confident as normal. She had wobbles and balance checks on the simplest of skills. Her shoulders, which were normally squared were a little too hunched forward.

On one particular move, an aerial connected to a back tuck with a full twist, she landed with her chest too low to the beam and her feet off center.

The audience gasped audibly.

Reyna stood up too fast, throwing off her center of gravity, her arms wind-milling as her left leg shot off to the side. She was able to correct herself through sheer force of will it appeared, without falling, but it was still a huge mistake. At least a five tenth deduction.

“You got this Reyna!” Annabeth called, Hazel and Piper both joined in, calling out encouragements that Reyna probably couldn’t hear.

The rest of the routine was excellent, Reyna performed normally without showing she made a major mistake.

Her dismount was a beautiful triple twist that would have been perfect if not for a small hop backwards on the landing.

Hazel was the first to congratulate her, “That dismount was gorgeous.”

Piper and Annabeth both agreed. They talked while gathering their belongings. Reyna's coach came and pulled her away, they spoke in hushed tones.

They had about 20 minutes before their last event and they were all trying to make the time pass as quick as possible.

“So, was that Percy Jackson earlier?” Hazel asked.

Piper added, “Isn’t he almost a sure thing for first place today? Why was he out here?”

Annabeth tried her best to explain, in the quickest way possible. “Yeah, but we’ve been training at the same gym since we were kids, he’s my best friend, so we always try and watch the other compete.”

“Well, does he have a girlfriend? Reyna asked, “I bet he’d be a pretty good distraction before meets.”

Hazel and Piper laughed, but Annabeth didn’t know what to say, and thankfully she was saved by Piper switching the subject to talk about her dad’s terrible new movie.

“It’s going to be the worst movie ever made.”

“Are you just being dramatic?” Reyna asked.

Piper described the movie, in excruciating detail. “Can you believe that? Somewhere, somebody wrote a script, about a marine researcher falling in love with a dolphin and then turning the dolphin into a human. Somebody greenlit that.”

Reyna was holding back a laugh, “Fine. That does sound terrible.”

“Seriously, what’s the point having a movie star parent if I can’t meet Serena Williams or the kids from Stranger Things at premiers?”

“Maybe they’ll get Serena Williams to play the dolphin,” Annabeth said, “It’s not like she’s busy or anything.”

They laughed and were soon ushered over to vault by their coaches.

It was a bit of a blessing, ending the meet on vault. Whenever your last event was floor or beam, your body got tired, no matter how much you trained, it was inevitable when you competed all four events.

Vault however, didn’t last long, there was no 2 minute routine you had to get through, only 20 seconds.

20 seconds away from potentially winning the American Cup.

Just the thought gave her goosebumps.

While dropping off their bags, they passed Katie Gardner’s group on their way to beam with Drew Tanaka, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and Thalia Grace. They talked quickly to each other, caught up and wished one another luck.

Annabeth’s group had a short break while the other gymnasts warmed up for their apparatuses.

Vaulting was quick, the other events took about 2-3 minutes give or take, so in order for everyone to finish at the same time, those on vault had a little extra time before they began.

“After the meet today do any of you want to join Percy and me for pizza? It’s a post-meet tradition we have.” Annabeth asked. She genuinely missed seeing these girls for the past few months.

Their next meet was only about a month away, but right now it felt like years.

Hazel sighed, “Pizza sounds great, I haven’t had it in so long.”

“What would our coaches say?” Reyna said.

“That we deserve to treat ourselves.” Piper said, “They of all people know how hard we work. One slice isn’t goi-“ Gasps and cries from the crowd stopped Piper’s words dead in their tracks.

They all looked around to see what the commotion was about. It didn’t take long to find Clarisse La Rue on the ground by balance beam, grasping her right knee.

Within seconds coaches were surrounding her, Clarisse writhed in pain, her face bright red with the effort it took not to cry. After a few minutes, Clarisse’s coach lifted her off the mats and carried her off the floor.

Annabeth looked at the other girls, their mouths were wide with shock and horror. It was rare for a gymnast to have that bad of a fall during a meet.

 “I hope she can come back from that,” Reyna said.

World’s was about 6 months away, they all were striving to make the team, pushing themselves to be better. It would be devastating to potentially miss out because of an injury.

“Selection camp for Worlds are soon, hopefully it’s enough time.” Piper said, reading Annabeth’s mind.

Annabeth couldn’t imagine training as hard as they did and then getting injured and not being able to make it to the biggest meet of the year. It was one thing to try your absolute best and not make it because others were better and something else entirely to be out because of an injury.

This year, Worlds was in Rome, and Annabeth had to make the team. If she wanted any shot of the Olympics next year in Athens, Greece.

Being chosen for Worlds, however, all came down to a selection camp that would be decided sometime after Nationals next month.

“I’d hate going next after that.” Annabeth said. The others nodded in solemn agreement. A huge part of gymnastics was mental, and watching a fellow gymnast be carried out of the gym could be traumatizing at best.

When they were finally given the go ahead to start warming up vault, Annabeth forced herself to put Clarisse to the back of her mind. She hoped the other girls could do the same.

***

Gymnastics was a crazy sport.

Anyone who spent hours of their life training skills that could kill if done horribly wrong, had to have a screw loose somewhere.

To Annabeth, the craziest event was vault.

She’d sprint, full speed, toward a stationary object and hope she flung and twisted herself in such a way, that she managed to land upright on her feet. Instead of smashing her face into the vaulting table.

As Annabeth stood at the end of the runway, she only let herself think about the insanity of what she was about to do once.

Breathe.

Annabeth visualized her first vault in her mind. It would be her first time performing in a competition. She kept her thoughts positive, she would not panic. She spent days and nights training this new vault. She trusted herself. She was ready.

The judges raised the flag.

Breathe.

Annabeth saluted, and took off running.  

She did a round-off, her legs slamming into the springboard, throwing herself backwards into a back handspring. As her hands hit the table, she pushed off hard flying high into the air. She kept her body completely straight while twisting two and a half times. When she hit the mat, Annabeth stepped forward with her left leg.

She saluted the judges again, pleased with herself. So was Chiron, on the side of the floor.

“Nice work that was a beautiful Amanar.” Annabeth heard her opponents cheering much of the same.

The next vault was Annabeth’s last of the day. The whole meet, the difference between 1^st and 2^nd place could come down to this.

It was a good thing this was a vault she could do in her sleep.

The judges raised the flag, Annabeth saluted once more.

She took off running, unlike last time she’d be going forward onto the vaulting table. Annabeth pounded off the springboard trying to give herself as much power as she could get. When her hands hit the table, she pushed off with as much force as she could muster and quickly pulled her arms to her body, to help spin faster. She completed one and a half twists, laid out completely straight.

This time, when Annabeth’s feet hit the mat, she knew she wasn’t moving.

She saluted the judges for the final time and walked over to a grinning Chiron.

“You’re weird when you smile.” Annabeth said.

“Check out the scoreboard and you might forget how weird I am,” He said.

Annabeth shook her head, “Reyna still has to go, I’ll look once she’s done.”

She had never been a scoreboard tracker. Annabeth preferred to leave everything up in the air. The judges and scores were the one thing she could not control. Annabeth could have an absolutely perfect routine, but if the judges took off any points, that was their decision and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Plus, if she didn’t know where she was placed, she couldn’t worry about being a few tenths behind or a few tenths ahead. It left her to work her routines as always with no other variables involved.

“Percy’s first event is about 20 minutes after the press junket, so you’ll have to talk quickly to get to your seat in time.”

Before she could respond to Chiron, Annabeth heard the springboard and looked up in time to see Reyna land a stunning double twisting Yurchenko, only to take a huge leap forward.

Her second vault was more of the same, an excellent vault, it just needed work on the landing.

Chiron smiled, he grasped her shoulder turning her towards the leaderboard, “Take a look now.”

When Annabeth looked up, her name was first.

She stood, dumbstruck waiting for the scoreboard to change.

It didn’t.

Then she heard the announcer say her name, and she was hit by a rush of excitement like a wave, goose-bumps erupted all over her body.

She just won the American Cup.

She jumped into Chiron’s arms, something Annabeth hadn’t done since she was 5 and won her first ever medal.

Chiron hugged her tight, Annabeth was smiling and laughing, she couldn’t remember a time she had been this happy. Cameras swarmed the two of them from all sides. She should have been acting stoic, like she had been in this situation before, but she couldn’t bring herself to drop her smile and let go of Chiron. Her first ever senior meet (as a 15 year old!) and she won.

“One step closer kiddo.”

The girls swarmed Annabeth next, engulfing her in a giant hug.

 “You deserve it,” Hazel said, without any hard feelings, she had come in fifth place, which out of all the gymnasts in the nation was exceptional.

Piper hugged her again, “We need to make plans to try and train at each other’s gym; I hate only seeing you at meets.” Piper was tied for third with Katie.

Annabeth nodded, “Deal. But, it would help if you moved closer to New York.”

The other girl laughed, “Or you could move to California, you’d have a place to stay with me.”

After Annabeth pretended to think about her offer, Piper went off to talk to Thalia Grace, the second place winner of the day.

Reyna had come in fourth place. A remarkable feat considering all the mistakes she had made, usually that put you much farther down on the leaderboard.

Reyna considered Annabeth coolly, “you earned it this time Chase, but next time, your spot is mine.”

“I look forward to watching you try,” They hugged and Annabeth was shuffled off to give an interview.

As Annabeth walked away she heard Reyna call out, “I’ll be better by Nationals.”

“So will I.”

Reporters swarmed her without any organization. Everyone talked at once to the point that Annabeth couldn’t understand a single word from anyone. A woman from ESPN looking out of place in a pantsuit and high heels, stepped forward, and took control of the situation. She shoved a microphone in Annabeth’s face and began asking questions. Annabeth tried to keep it short. Handing out generic answers about acting like today was just another practice and giving 110% and any other clichés that managed to answer their questions.

“Your teammate, Percy Jackson, is set to compete in a few minutes, how do you think he’ll fair?”

For the first time during the interview, Annabeth gave a genuine reply, “If he does what I know he’s capable of, there’s absolutely no stopping him.”

“Will you watch the men compete?”

Annabeth smiled, “Of course, Percy’s mom already has a seat saved for me. We always watch together when we can.”

Annabeth looked up to where Sally was sitting, beaming with pride.

The reporter continued with a few more questions, like Annabeth’s goals for Nationals and Worlds and how excited she was to win her first meet at this level. She answered all their questions with grace and tact, just the way her mother had trained her.

Finally finished, Annabeth grabbed her bag and started to make her way over to Sally. Chiron was already with Percy, giving him final advice. It didn’t appear as though Percy was listening, he was staring straight at Annabeth an enormous grin splitting his face.  

“You did it!” he shouted loudly from across the entire gym.  

Annabeth tried her best not to look embarrassed. The last thing she saw before getting to her seat was Chiron swatting Percy with the back of his hand and repeating whatever advice he was giving before. But Percy’s eyes were glued to her, he winked, and then finally gave his full attention to Chiron. 

Sally hugged her as soon as she got to her seat, “I’m so proud of you Annabeth, you were amazing.”

“Thanks, it hasn’t really sunk in yet, I keep thinking I’m going to wake up.”

Sally smiled, “There’s no waking up from this one sweetheart, it’s the real deal.”

***

All in all, Percy’s day was going rather excellently, Annabeth thought.

He had done the best parallel bar routine she had ever seen him do. Then he had absolutely killed it on pommel horse, Annabeth had never seen an audience get so excited for an event that could put even the most dedicated of gymnastics fans to sleep.  His new routine on rings went over better than she (and quite possibly he) would have expected considering he upgraded his old routine by more than a point and completely changed his dismount.

Percy was sitting in 2^nd place, with his three best events in front of him. The smile he sent her way as he moved towards vault made her weak. She loved all aspects of Percy, but competition Percy was her absolute favorite. Anyone could tell he was completely in love with the sport, from his smile to the way he glided from event to event with excitement. There was nothing like it.

Percy was last in his group to go, Annabeth watched as he talked animatedly with the others in his rotation. She watched Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, and Frank Zhang all take their turn to warm up on vault. After each pass Percy would congratulate his opponents, and then start back up whatever topic they had previously been discussing.

On his first vault, Percy would do a double back off the table. On the warm up pass, he took a small hop to the side. She watched as Chiron gave him a bit of advice. By the time he got to the actual competition part, his vault was almost flawless.

The second vault, he had been having trouble with the blind landing and had been pretty inconsistent at practice.

Competition, however, brought the best out in Percy. As he ran down the runway, Sally grabbed Annabeth’s hand tight and turned her head away from the vaulting runway.

Percy jumped on the springboard, his hands pushed off the vaulting table, quickly flipping his body forward and twisting twice at the same time, and when he landed it was with only the slightest step forward.

She cheered and shouted his name, Sally looked up, relief plain across her face.

It had to be hard for a parent to watch, Annabeth thought. Vault was especially hard for Sally, this was the event that Percy had hurt himself on a few years back, even though Percy had put the injury behind him, Sally couldn’t.

Gymnasts tiptoed a fine line between ‘Holy shit that’s awesome’ and ‘holy shit they’re dead’ but the sheer excitement on Percy’s face had to make this all worth it for Sally.

Chiron and his competitors all congratulated him, they high-fived and patted him on the back.

He was still in second, but Percy had managed to creep closer to Octavian. There was only two tenths of a point that separated them.

“Come on Percy. You got this!” She shouted loud enough for him to hear, he turned, flashed her a smile and a thumbs up before following the rest of the guys in his rotation to floor.

Annabeth was frequently jealous of the men’s floor routines. They did 5-6 tumbling passes, something to show off their flexibility and strength, and a couple of jumps. Compared to the goofy choreography the women had to do, the men’s floor was practically easy.

This was one of the events Sally could watch completely. Even so, she tended to squirm and move around a bit in her seat. All Annabeth could do was sit close and offer her support.

Percy’s group had about 10 minutes until they were done warming up, and probably another 20 before the judges were actually ready to start. Judges loved to take their time, Annabeth wasn’t sure if they enjoyed messing with the athletes nerves or if they actually were doing something productive.

After what felt like forever, it was Percy’s turn. His routine started off great. His first two tumbling passes both ended with stuck landings, the air flairs afterwards were phenomenal. She loved to hear the crowd’s excitement whenever Percy elevated the flairs by jumping from hand to hand in the middle. (A skill he copied from break dancers in New York City) It was a move she watched him try to perfect for months, she remembered him falling on his face countless times and all the rug burns she teased him about before he finally got it right.

It was the next tumbling pass that gave him a bit of trouble. A triple twist that he under rotated, so when he landed, it was in a low squatting position. Sally squeezed her hand tight.

“That’s alright, he’s got this.” She yelled it once too, knowing Percy couldn’t hear, but it did help calm some of Annabeth’s nerves.

The next tumbling pass went over better, with only a small step on the landing. For his last tumbling pass, technically the dismount, Annabeth was pretty sure she held her breath. He landed it perfectly. He saluted the judges and practically ran off the floor to Chiron, who patted him on the back.

It was a good routine with only a few mistakes, nothing he should be unhappy with. But he was a scoreboard watcher, and he knew how close he was to first place. His group congratulated him.

All the boys in Percy’s rotation were doing pretty well actually, they were all in the top 5 so far. But, there was still one event left, and that could change everything.

Gymnastics was a fickle sport, you could be riding the top of the scoreboard for most of the competition, and one mistake could drop you down to the bottom of the pack.

Annabeth could see Octavian warming up pommel horse, while Percy would be moving to high bar, his best event. Many gymnasts crumbled under pressure, but Percy thrived on it. His best work was always done in high pressure situations. That was one of his favorite parts of gymnastics.

 She admired him for it.

Annabeth quickly tallied up the scores and did the math to see what Percy would need to beat Octavian.

15.000

That was all Percy would need to beat him, and that was if Octavian got a perfect score on pommel horse and the likelihood of that was infinitesimally small.

 A 15 flat. He could put up a score like that in his sleep. The maximum score he could get was a 16.5 that left room for a point and a half for deductions. Theoretically, Percy could fall off the high bar and still beat Octavian. But she didn’t think about that too much, for fear of putting negative energy into the air.

Percy stepped up to the bar, waiting for the judges to give him the go ahead. Sally squeezed her hand.

“He’ll be fine, Percy loves high bar,” She told the older woman.

Even so, as soon as Percy’s hands touched the bar, Annabeth stopped breathing. She talked a big game to Sally, but she was more nervous watching Percy compete than she was competing herself.

Sally’s gentle squeeze turned into a death grip. Annabeth resisted the urge to tell her how incredibly important a gymnasts hands were.

Percy’s routine consisted of a lot of high flying, fast paced release moves. Butterflies danced in Annabeth’s stomach at the very thought of what he was about to do.

The first release in his routine was immediate, a simple hop over the bar that he caught cleanly. The crowd gasped.

Just wait, she thought, it gets better.

The next release was much harder, a double front flip with a half twist. The crowd loved it, high bar was one of the most exciting events, and Percy knew how to put on a show. He pirouetted and spun and flipped himself around. At one point he did a full giant swing with only one arm. Annabeth could tell Sally was watching because every time he left the bar, she squeezed her hand tighter and tighter.

His last two release moves came up, and he caught each one perfectly.

Percy wound up for the dismount, when he let go, Annabeth had to force her eyes to stay open, Sally was starting to cut off the circulation to her hand. Percy flipped twice and twisted twice, when his feet hit the ground, there was only the smallest of steps forward.

The crowd erupted. Sally and herself included.

She just watched her best friend become the men’s American Cup Champion.

There was no way in the world that routine would score anything under a 15. It was so close to perfect. Only a few slight leg separations that they’d work on later in practice.

Chiron was grinning as he hugged Percy, he high-fived his opponents as he ran over to the area where Annabeth and Sally sat in the front row. He was out of breath as he stared up at the scoreboard. After a few minutes of anxious waiting, his score came up.

 16.000. Percy’s name jumped to the top of the leaderboard. He won by almost a full point, an almost unheard of feat.

The crowd erupted into a chorus of cheers, a group of young kids started a chant of Percy’s name.

Percy, ever the entertainer, waved to the crowd and even joined in with the chant

They locked eyes and Percy smiled as he shouted, “We did it!”

A couple of cameras began to circle around Percy, he waved to one and even though she couldn’t hear him any longer, Annabeth watched him mouth “Hi Mom!” to the cameras.

Annabeth didn’t think she had seen Percy this excited at a meet ever. Hopefully they’d be doing this all again at Nationals next month.   

Surprising both her and Sally, Percy jumped over the short platform separating the audience from the athletes and squashed Annabeth and his mom into a gigantic hug.

She ignored the cameras that rushed up to them, some from the news networks covering the meet and others from audience members. They were making a spectacle, she knew, but there was no way to stop.

They were both shaking with laughter, Percy had a giddy smile that made Annabeth’s heart melt. She didn’t think either of them had been so happy in their lives.

Hopefully, this was just the start.

Tears welled up in Sally’s eyes, “I’m so proud of you both.” Percy squeezed her hand in his, his sea green eyes staring lovingly at his mom. He was still hanging from the railing that separated the crowd from the competition floor. They silently stared at one another letting the moment and enormity of what just happened sink in.

And just like that, they were all laughing again.

***

Annabeth snuck her way back onto the competition floor to watch as Percy gave his own interview to the same woman and group of reporters she had talked to a few hours earlier. Percy was always a nervous wreck during interviews, so she hung back for moral support.

She listened to the ridiculous questions they asked.

“How does it feel to be the American Cup Champion?”

“What are your goals going forward?”

He answered their questions with only a small amount of stammering. Then the reporter asked,

“You and Annabeth Chase are two of the most dominant and youngest competitors we’ve seen at this level in years, and you both train at the same gym, what’s your secret?”

 Percy smiled, “We’ll we’re actually not fully human, we’re part Greek god.” The reporter laughed while he continued.

“Honestly though, it’s all Annabeth.” Percy motioned to Annabeth behind the cameras. “Maybe a little bit of Coach Chiron, but Annabeth has always had enough motivation for both of us. When I’m having a tough day, she picks me back up and sets me on the right track. I wouldn’t want to go through this journey with anyone but her.”

He was being modest. Percy was just as determined as she was, and had been since the minute they realized that they were both pretty damn good at this whole gymnastics thing. He was always there for her too, in some of the darkest times and worst moments of her life, Percy was there to make everything better.

The reporter smiled, “It sounds like I need an Annabeth Chase in my life.

Percy shook his head, “Sorry but, there’s only one Annabeth Chase, and I'm keeping her."

Chapter Text

“Mr. Jackson?”

Percy’s head whipped up from his desk, eyes bulging.

“Yes ma’am?”

“I’m just hoping to get a few minutes of your attention before you fall back asleep.” Mrs. Dodds was looking down her glasses at him.

Percy silently cursed himself, the only downside to a nearby competition, was that Annabeth and his mom always made him go to school the next day. To make matters worse, they had spent all night yesterday partaking in his and Annabeth’s post meet pizza tradition with a bunch of other gymnasts.

They had spent all night at the restaurant laughing and eating for as long they could bare their server’s sidelong glances. It had been a long time since he was able to hang out with other gymnasts without wearing a leotard.

It was a great night, he wouldn’t change a second of it. But then, he had to make the 3 hour drive back home. And it did not matter, that it was after midnight when Percy finally fell into bed, he was still forced to go to school the next day. He even tried to play the whole ‘I just won the American Cup’ card, which didn’t work.

“Nice try,” his mother had said, “But maybe when you’re a National Champion.”

Many elite gymnasts were homeschooled, in order to spend more time at the gym. But Annabeth and his mom always stressed the importance of a real education.

“We’re not going to be gymnasts forever, Percy” Annabeth would say.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t coach or own his own gym. When Percy thought about his future, there were only three constants: his mom, Annabeth, and gymnastics. The sport had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember, giving it up would be as easy as giving up his right arm.

So, he didn’t really see why it was important to be able to graph a parabola or understand the consequences of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.

Annabeth’s voice came firing back, “We need to have some semblance of a normal life, outside of the gym.”

He sighed, even in his own head Annabeth won their arguments.

It was at that moment, Percy realized Mrs. Dodds was still waiting for him to respond.

He said the first thing that came to mind. “Sorry, ma’am, I don’t know what came over me, this class is truly the best part of my day.”

He heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him. Mrs. Dodds looked down her nose at him, ready to pounce. But, the gods were on his side this time, because before she could reply, the bell rang. He grabbed his bag and bolted for the door.

Grover was close on his heels. “Why are you like this?”

Percy grasped the bridge of his nose, “I just couldn’t stop myself.”

“You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t give you a referral,” Grover said as they walked into their English class with Mr. Blofis. This was his favorite part of the school day, because it was the one time that Percy had a class with Annabeth and Grover.

Annabeth was waiting for them, in their normal spot in the back, her notebook already out. The bell rang and Mr. Blofis strode in, letting the classroom door shut behind him.

“Good afternoon everybody, how was your weekend?” He asked.

The class replied back in a chorus of “goods” and “alrights.” Annabeth looked to Percy a smirk on her face.

She had let her hair down, in a riot of princess curls that framed her face. How she had found time to shower, he wasn’t sure.  She was beautiful in her Junior Olympics t-shirt and old jeans.

 He smiled back, he knew without her having to say anything what she was thinking. It was surreal to go from being on the top of the nation and giving interviews to major sports networks like ESPN and NBC, to being a normal sophomore in high school.

“So continuing with our creative writing unit, I want you to write about this past weekend. Except, I want you to change the tone. Focus on one part of your weekend, if it was a sad moment, make the tone happy, if you were bored I want to feel excited when I read it. This is open to your interpretation, you have 20 minutes today for a rough draft. “

Percy looked over, Annabeth and Grover were already scribbling away, jotting down ideas for their assignment.

Percy started writing as many words he could associate with the past weekend hoping that he’d get an idea from somewhere, and before he knew it, Mr. Blofis was calling time and telling them to move on to SAT prep.

One more hour.

It was all that separated Percy from the gym.

                                                                                                  ***

Percy’s feet jittered along the grimy subway floor. Annabeth had just helped Percy finish up the last of his math homework. They had a 45 minute subway ride from Goode Academy to Olympia. It made for the perfect opportunity to finish any homework so when they got home from the gym, they could recover from the days workout and go to bed. Or so Annabeth told him almost every day, as she tried to convince him to do his homework instead of listening to music and taking a quick nap.

Normally, they wouldn’t work-out after a meet, especially one as mentally and physically taxing as yesterday, but Chiron had texted them both earlier that morning asking them to come in for a couple of hours.

“We should probably try and write our lab report for science and then we can use the same article for current events in history, but you’ll have to write your own summary, Mr. Brunner will notice if you copy mine.” Annabeth told him.

Something about her today was off, normally they’d talk more, but she was in a ‘Go Go Go’ mood that made Percy think she was trying to avoid something.

“Are you ok? You seem…” his voice trailed off, his mind trying to figure out the best way to put this. “Too focused.”

Annabeth slumped in her seat, resting her head on his shoulder. Percy felt his heart speed up. But, her next words made his blood turn to ice in his veins.

 “My mom came over to my dad’s house this morning to have a nice chat.”

“Shit.”

Annabeth sighed in agreement, “Yeah, it was rough.”

She detailed the experience for him. How her mom showed up at 7:30 already complaining that Annabeth was still asleep, even though they didn’t get home until late last night. And that they, Annabeth and Percy, had come to an agreement to skip their 1^st period gym class, since they had pretty much done the equivalent of an entire years’ worth of P.E. in just one day alone.

Athena began ranting about what Annabeth did wrong at the American Cup and what she would need to fix before Nationals. While her dad sat quietly, sipping on a cup of coffee. The only indication that he was actually listening was when Frederick stopped Athena mid rant to say:

“You won yesterday? Right?” Annabeth couldn’t tell if he was asking because he didn’t watch the meet at all and he had no idea what place she came in, or if he knew that she had won and her father was trying to figure out why Athena was criticizing her so harshly.

Then her parents had begun to fight, in earnest. Instead of listening, Annabeth had gotten ready for school.

“I doubt they even realized I left.”

“Ask your dad if you can spend the night at the apartment, we’ll have a movie marathon, order Chinese food and forget all about your parents.” They did have a strict diet they had to closely follow, but one day wasn’t going to hurt anything.

Annabeth smiled and agreed. “I’ll text my dad and let him know. I’ll tell him were working on a project.”

Percy knew she must have been in a bad mood, because normally she didn’t agree to movie nights so quickly. He texted his own mom letting her know Annabeth was going to spend the night and about the unfolding situation.

“Matthew and Bobby made me a paper ribbon and a trophy, they left them on my bed last night.”

“I bet they watched on TV, for as clueless as your dad is, he had to of watched some of it, your step monster too.” Percy was trying to reassure her, but he really couldn’t understand her family at all. 

Annabeth was the funniest, smartest, prettiest, strongest, most amazing person he had ever met. Percy felt sorry for her family because they were missing out on knowing and loving the person Annabeth was.

His own mother attended every single meet, no matter where it was at, or how much it would cost. He couldn’t imagine going to a competition without having Sally there.

“I can write anywhere, Percy and if I tell my publishers I’m going for research, they may even pay for me.” 

That’s how she justified flying around the country and sometimes even the world with him.  He knew gymnastics was expensive, she spent so much on leotard singlets, warm up gear, grips, gym fees and a whole bunch of other things Percy takes for granted, but Sally always supported him, no matter what. 

For the rest of the ride to the gym, they talked like normal, Annabeth wasn’t exactly herself, but it was an improvement. They talked about nothing and everything; the next Marvel movie coming out, what new upgrades they wanted to add to their routines (they had a lot of work ahead of them), and the weird stuff that happened at school.

By the time they got to the gym, not much of their homework was done but Annabeth was in better spirits and that’s what mattered most to Percy.

Most of the rec classes had already started at Olympia, so the waiting room was full of parents. Some were talking to each other, reading books, working on laptops, pretty much anything it took to survive the boredom.

Other parents, the crazy gym parents, were watching their kids intently, these were the people who were expecting their 5 year old to make it the Olympics tomorrow. The ones who didn’t see the dedication and hard work it took to get to the elite level, let alone the Olympics. They were the reason that the gym had to put signs up that read: “No parental coaching! Parents are not permitted inside the gym.”  And even so, there were some parents who always tried to pop their head through the door into the gym to scream at their kid to point their toes or keep their legs straight. As if their coach wasn’t already telling them that.

When Percy and Annabeth walked through the doors of the Big House, the main building of the gym where the behind the scenes happened, all eyes turned to them.

Conversation stopped abruptly.

A chorus of congratulations erupted, some even applauded. And when they finally made their way through all the parents and got into the gym, hanging on one of the walls were two huge banners with ‘American Cup Champion’ written across the top in big bold letters and huge pictures of both Percy and Annabeth on the first place podium from the awards ceremony at the meet.

They had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a gigantic silver trophy in the other, and they were grinning from ear to ear. At the time, Percy had been so ecstatic that he hadn’t even noticed all the cameras, he definitely hadn’t expected an enormous banner would be made to commemorate the occasion.

Percy broke the brief moment of silence first, “What if we had lost?”

 Annabeth said, stunned, “it hasn’t even been a full 24 hours yet.”

A voice came up behind them. “I had them expedited for you, I ordered them late last night.”

Chiron was beaming, it was apparent how proud he was. Annabeth and Percy were the only two elite gymnasts that Olympia had ever produced. Not to mention American Cup winners.

Just thinking about that was surreal and strange, like one day Percy was going to wake up and everything he accomplished would be gone.

“I even told both your parents, hopefully they’ll be by to see, I’m really proud, you two worked so hard for this.”

They both choked out a thanks, it wasn’t every day that Chiron was heartfelt, after almost a full decade under his tutelage, it was a rare occurrence.

He asked next, “How sore are the two of you?”

Percy and Annabeth responded at the same, “8.”

Walking up and down the stairs at school had left Percy’s body screaming almost as bad as his high bar routine. He couldn’t have imagined what gym class would have been like had he attended instead of sleeping in.

Chiron led them to one of the back recovery rooms, over the years Chiron had slowly added equipment for them to use. They started out with foam rollers, tubs and ice machines they used after practice each day to reduce swelling and soreness. There was even an inversion table for special cases. As Percy and Annabeth progressed throughout the years, they added in some serious and expensive hardware.

“I call using Emily first!” Annabeth said hurrying over to the EMS complex. Emily was the name they had given to the machine. It was basically a massager that you attached to sore areas. Percy wasn’t entirely sure how Emily worked, because every time Annabeth or Chiron tried to explain it, he tended to zone out. All Percy knew was that she performed miracles on his body.

“Fine, I’ll use the Leg sleeves then,”

“Call him by his real name,”

“Legolas is not his real name, I don’t think it suits him. I prefer Steve.”

The leg sleeves were the most recent addition to the Recovery Room, they had been trying to find a name for almost a week now.

“Steve the Leg Sleeves?” Annabeth was not enthused.

“Chiron, which would you rather?” Percy asked as Chiron was attaching the nodules to Annabeth’s shoulders and arms.

“Not my battle,” he deadpanned.  

Once Chiron finished with Annabeth he came over to help Percy put on the leg sleeves, they didn’t look special, more like giant ski pants. But as he felt the pulsing massages, Percy knew Steve was pure magic.

“I’m setting a timer, I have to go help Luke with his rec class real quick, if I’m not back by then, come find me, we have a couple of important matters to discuss.”

Percy was about to say something to Annabeth when he realized that her attention was focused more on her phone, a wrinkle between her brows.

A text from her dad then, if it was her mom she’d be more angry than annoyed.

“What does your dad want?” He asked once she put her phone down and looked at him.

She rolled her eyes, “You don’t know that it was my dad.”

“Tell me I’m wrong then,” Annabeth didn’t reply, and Percy needed no other confirmation to prove he was right.

Annabeth continued a moment later, “He was vague, he just said he wanted to talk to me about something. I might have to raincheck our movie marathon tonight.”

“Do you think he meant that text for you?” Percy asked, it wouldn’t have been the first time that her dad sent Annabeth the wrong message. “Maybe it was for your step mom.”

All she did was shake her head.

Almost a half hour later Chiron re-entered the room, a stack of papers in his hands.

“I got an email from USAG, they want to do an actual sit down interview with you two this week. Are you both alright with that? It will be for a short vignette that will run on TV for Nationals.”

This was one of Percy’s favorite things about his coach. He never agreed to anything without consulting Percy and Annabeth first. Chiron would never force or pressure them into anything they were uncomfortable with or didn’t want to do.

Unfortunately in gymnastics, that wasn’t always the case.

Annabeth looked at Percy, then asked, “It’ll be more organized than the American Cup interview, right? We’ll know the questions beforehand?”

Chiron agreed, and then added, “There’s something else, they are really impressed that you two aren’t homeschooled and they’d like to get some footage of the two of you during the school day and at practice to include in the vignette.”

Percy’s eyes widened. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, school as much as he hated to admit it, was the only normalcy he had in life. He loved gymnastics and that would never stop, but (he would never admit this to Annabeth or his mom) Percy liked having a place where he could decompress and didn’t have to think about gymnastics. Most of the other students at Goode Academy either didn’t know he was a gymnast or didn’t care, and the cameras could change all of that.

They discussed in depth what this could mean for them going forward and the possible consequences, good and bad.

Ultimately, they decided that the cameras could film, but only for a small part of the day. They decided that even seeing a small aspect of their lives could have a positive influence on younger gymnasts and it would be even better for kids to see that homeschooling doesn’t have to be the only option if you wanted to go elite.

“So, I’ll have them set that up for Friday morning, and the interviews at the gym in the afternoon,” Chiron was helping detach them from the equipment, Percy legs were already starting to feel a bit better.

Percy and Annabeth switched machines and by the time they were both done with the second round, Sally was texting Percy that she was at Olympia ready to pick him and Annabeth up.

On the way out of the gym, Percy stopped dead in his tracks, Annabeth so close on his heels that she ran into him.

 Percy heard two familiar voices talking and laughing with each other. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Luckily, Annabeth put it into words for him.

 “Is that Mr. Blofis… talking to your mom?” 

Percy peaked around the wall, where in fact Sally was talking to Mr. Blofis.

From where they were at, Percy and Annabeth could hear everything that was being said, but they couldn’t be seen or heard from anyone in the waiting room.

“How do you think he knew she’d be here?” He asked on the verge of freaking out.

“Do you really think he followed your mom to Olympia so he could to talk about your grades? I’m sure there’s some rational explanation for this that doesn’t involve school.” 

Percy had been waiting for the first moment in his life that Annabeth would be wrong about something, however, this was not the scenario he had anticipated.

Percy could hear Mr. Blofis saying, “He’s doing alright in class, he’s on grade level, but Percy does have the potential to do much better.”

Sally was smiling her hand resting on Mr. Blofis’ arm. “I appreciate that, it’s nice to hear some good news from one of his teachers. I’m so glad I ran into you tonight. I’ll be looking forward to this weekend.

Blofis smiled back, “So will I.”

Annabeth suppressed a laugh, “Is your mom going on a date with our English teacher?”

That was all the eavesdropping Percy could take, he grabbed Annabeth by the hand and burst into the waiting room.

Everyone was gone, rec classes had ended a half hour ago, and the only people left in the waiting room were Sally, Mr. Blofis, and a young girl in a bright pink leotard, blonde hair high in a ponytail, her attention fixated on the phone in her hand.

“Mr. Blofis, what are you doing here?” Percy’s voice was too loud to sound natural, it echoed in the empty space.

 Blofis blinked a few times, clearly startled.

He gained his composure and said, “Hello Percy, Annabeth. My niece takes classes here and my sister couldn’t pick her up tonight, so I volunteered. I will admit, I didn’t realize it was the same gym as the new American Cup Champions. Congratulations, by the way, I didn’t want to embarrass you in class this afternoon, especially after the announcement made by Principal Brown.”

Sally laughed, “Your principal made an announcement?”

“Nope, “Annabeth said cheerfully.

“He did it at lunch,” Percy said in the exact same tone.

“In the cafeteria,”

“With a microphone,”

“In front of the entire sophomore class,” Annabeth finished.

Sally was use to Percy and Annabeth finishing each other’s thoughts and sentences. Mr. Blofis was not, he had an amused look on his face as he watched the two go back and forth.

“Well your coach told me he has a couple extra of those banners that he wants to give to the school, so that might make everyone forget about lunch.”

Percy and Annabeth were horrified.

“Please tell me you aren’t serious,” Percy begged.

“Of course not” Mr. Blofis said with a laugh.

The four talked for another few minutes until Sally remembered that the main reason she was there, was to take pictures of the two gymnasts in front of their banners. Mr. Blofis politely offered to take a picture of the three of them as well. And then Sally decided Chiron needed to be in a picture too. And by the time the photo shoot was over, Percy and Annabeth were dead tired.

They said their goodbyes with only a small amount of awkwardness, considering the elephant in the room.

Percy knew Mr. Blofis had asked out his mom, and he had to of known that Percy knew, but apparently no one was going to talk about it.

Yet. He’d ask about it on the ride home. That way Sally couldn’t avoid the topic.

Sally had barely turned the key in the ignition when Annabeth’s head lolled to the side and came to a rest in Percy’s lap, and it wasn’t too long after that Percy was following Annabeth’s example.

The date Mr. Blofis and his mom had, completely escaping his mind.

The ride home was short, it seemed as though only seconds had passed when Sally was nudging Annabeth awake.

Percy walked her to the door, “Call me once you find out what your dad was talking about, I’ll sacrifice my sleep for you, so we can reschedule that movie marathon.”

She nodded, “Thanks, I’ll see you at school, tomorrow.”

But as it turned out, he would see Annabeth again much sooner than that.

***

The door to Percy’s room opened and shut loudly. Scaring him upright out of bed.

Bleary eyed, he look to his left at the clock on his bedside table that read 12:42.

Annabeth stood at the end of his bed, her face grave. Her next words, Percy never would have expected, not in a million years.

She spoke slowly, her voice showing no emotion. “My dad got a new job in San Francisco, we’ll be gone by the end of the week.”

Percy’s heart fell into his stomach. He couldn’t form words. The only thing his head could come up with was the thought:

This can’t be real.

That thought was thrown out the window when she pushed him to the side of his bed and crawled in with him. Percy knew there was no possible way he was dreaming when she pressed her body up against his and rested her head on his chest.

Percy’s heart started racing. Annabeth was his best friend, his first love, she had been since they met when they were in pre-school. She couldn’t just be leaving.

“We’ll figure something out, I promise.” He told her, determination in his voice

Percy wasn’t about to let her go without a fight.

Chapter Text

They skipped school the next day.

It was the first time Annabeth had ever done so without having a meet as an excuse.

She sat on the sofa in Percy’s living room staring directly at the rising sun. She found that looking at something bright helped keep her from crying.

All she could think about was her father’s voice.

Casually mentioning that his new job would start next week in San Francisco, as if he was saying they were moving across the street. Not across the country.

Like this news wouldn’t send her life into a tailspin.

Her whole life was in New York City, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. The thought of leaving Percy and Sally wracked her with panic. They were the only aspects of her life Annabeth knew she would never be able to replace.

When they moved, she’d have to find a new gym, get a new coach, start a new school, and make sure her grades don’t drop because the curriculum in New York had to be different from the curriculum in California.

Annabeth was about to start her entire life over.

 What if her new coach tried to change her routines?

The thought terrified her, Annabeth took pride in making her routines artistic and unique. She had certain skills that didn’t add too much difficulty to her score, but Annabeth included them anyways to set herself a part from other gymnasts. If she saw one more wolf turn or side somi Annabeth might actually lose her mind.

That was one thing she was jealous of her mom about, the difficulty during her age of gymnastics was nowhere close to gymnasts now. It was more artistry than anything else, where being unique and different was encouraged instead of today’s Code of Points where sometimes ingenuity went ignored and unappreciated.

A plan hit her like a train. She smirked.

“I know that face,” Percy walked out of the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs and two mugs of coffee. “You’re scheming. I told you, we’d figure out a way to keep you in New York.”

She loved and simultaneously hated how well Percy knew her. It made it almost impossible to hide anything from him. She didn’t want to get his hopes up, just to ruin everything later when this didn’t work.

She took a plate and forced herself to eat, “It’s not a scheme, just a shot in the dark.”

Percy rolled his hands in a ‘Go on’ gesture.

‘I’m going to talk to my mother.”

 “No.” His response was immediate. “You can’t do that to yourself.”

It was the lesser of two evils. Annabeth knew she’d have a hard time explaining that to Percy. Everything was so black and white to him. All he knew was that Athena never made time for Annabeth, and when she did, it wasn’t a pleasant encounter. Her mother was uptight at best and downright cruel at her worst.

The last meet her mother attended as a spectator at the Junior Olympics was a disaster. She knew Percy would never forgive Athena. It was a day she didn’t like to think about, Annabeth had fallen on balance beam and had come in 2^nd place in the All Around. Athena had let her know in her own special way that 2^nd place for her daughter was not acceptable. Even though it was practically unheard of to have a fall and still come in second, usually that removed a person from medal contention entirely, but reasoning like that was completely past her mother.

Athena had hurled verbal abuses at her for hours, destroying Annabeth’s confidence in herself, it had taken her months to recover. Percy had helped build her back up, he had watched her tank routine after routine, he sat with her as she cried, he told her how she had the potential to be one of the best women gymnasts ever. He tried his best to remove the negative image that Athena had placed in Annabeth’s mind.

But one thought kept circling around and around.

 If her own mother didn’t believe in her, why should she?

It was Percy and Sally who had suggested a sports psychologist. That changed her life. It had helped her get back to a competitive elite level. She had started seeing her therapist a few times a week and then as her confidence grew she was able to push back her appointments until she was going once every few weeks.

Luckily, her therapist was a friend of Chiron’s and would make frequent trips to Olympia to talk with Annabeth and Percy if they ever needed an additional session. Sometimes they even skyped or face timed.

“You could always stay here with us, they can’t just rip you away from everything you’ve worked for.” Percy was on the verge of pleading.

Annabeth turned away before Percy could see the tears in her eyes, she couldn’t bear to tell him how wrong he was.

***

Later that afternoon, Annabeth found herself, alone, in front of a bright red door. Her hand poised to knock. Her mother’s Manhattan row house towered above her menacingly.

I wish Percy was here.

But the hatred between the two was mutual. Bringing him may ruin any chance she had at staying in New York.

Annabeth waited for what felt like hours. Don’t be a chicken shit. Just do it.

She knocked.

Athena Parthenos answered, looking prim and proper in a floor length white dress. For once, her mother couldn’t hide her emotions. The last person she thought would be on the other side of the door was her daughter.

“How long have you known?” Annabeth said in lieu of a greeting.

Athena sighed, and Annabeth knew in that instant exactly what her mother was thinking.

“I’m not being dramatic.” Her parents could literally be ruining her life. How could they not see this?

“Well, nice to see you too Annabeth.” A brief pause, “I believe Congratulations are in order.”

Annabeth almost asked “For what?” but then remembered. Had the American Cup only been two days ago? It felt like years in the past.

Annabeth repeated her original question. And was given another sigh in response.

“At least come in and we can talk.”

“I have practice soon, I can’t stay long.” It wasn’t necessarily true, but not a lie either.

In response Athena opened the door farther, and gestured her inside.

Breathe.

The house was immaculate, marble floors, ornate furniture, high ceilings- the works.

Her mother sat on the couch, leaving Annabeth the settee.  “We knew it was a possibility for a couple of months. Fredrick had been in the running for this position for a while, but I didn’t think he would actually get it.”

Annabeth stared at her mother open mouthed.

Do you have faith in anyone?

Annabeth almost said it out loud. But that wasn’t going to help her get what she wanted. She let her mother continue.

“But your father told me the morning before he told you.”

Annabeth’s voice was quiet and sincere. “Did either of you think how this would affect me? A move right now could set me back weeks, if not months. I can’t afford that a year before the Olympics.”

“Despite what you may think of me,” Athena’s voice was creeping closer to her business tone, “I have been worrying about your well-being.”

Annabeth’s voice caught in her throat. Could her mother be willing to agree with her so easily?

“However, I can’t say that I’m not interested to see you try out a new gym with a more competent coach and without the Jackson distraction.”

The world went red, Annabeth could barely form words for a second. “If you actually think that, then you aren’t qualified to be the National Team Coordinator.”

She knew insulting her mother wouldn’t help but, Annabeth couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t just stand by and let Athena insult Chiron and Percy. Especially when it was undeserved. If Athena couldn’t see how talented they both were then she really shouldn’t be in charge of talent development for the entire United States.

“Chiron is the best coach that I could ever have and probably one of the best in the country, and Percy makes me a better gymnast every day, I wouldn’t be I wouldn’t be the athlete I am, without either of them.”

“You need discipline. Strict discipline, that’s the only way you can make it to the Olympics. And that’s the only point of doing this.”

“Loving the sport isn’t enough?”

Her mother’s voice was flat. “No.”

Time for a Hail Mary then. “If I can’t stay in New York, I’m quitting gymnastics.”

Her mother’s eyes narrowed, abruptly she stood up and walked away. Annabeth heard her voice trail off as she spoke.

“Then the sport will be losing one of the greatest natural talents we have ever seen.”

Annabeth waited, but her mother said nothing else and did not return to living room. She took that as her cue to leave, Athena had called her bluff and probably seen right through her.

She couldn’t just quit, not after coming this far.  

As she got to the sidewalk, Athena’s voice called after her from the top of the stoop. “It’s not my decision, per the custody agreement, you would have to get your father’s permission first, if he agrees, then I’ll consider it.”

 ***

Annabeth got back to the Jackson’s just in time for lunch, grilled chicken with brown rice and veggies. It was almost impossible to pass up all the street food on the way back to the apartment. But it was healthy food for now, even if it did take a willpower stronger than diamonds to walk past some of the food stands.

Percy handed her a class of hot water with lemon, supposedly it was good for their metabolism. He sat on the couch already in his leotard with a shirt thrown over and a pair of basketball shorts.

“I figured, we can get to the gym early today, there’s not really a point of waiting till school is over.”

Annabeth agreed and added, “Plus that’ll give me some time tonight to talk to my dad.”

She could tell that Percy was handling their potential separation by completely ignoring the possibility. He was keeping up a surprisingly positive attitude, for his sake or Annabeth’s, she wasn’t sure.

“I think today is the day,” he said.

Annabeth just stared, she knew what he was talking about, Percy had been obsessing about this for months now.

“You said that last week,” she teased him, leave it to Percy to always be able to make her smile.

“But I can feel it, I’ve been visualizing it all morning and I think I can catch it. I want it named after me, I think I can get it in time for World’s.”

A gymnast who performed a new skill, that no one else had ever done before could get it named after them, as long as they successfully performed it at World’s (or the Olympics). Percy was hoping he could finally catch a laid out double twisting double back flip over the high bar. She knew he could do it, but she wasn’t sure if he was totally ready yet.

Sally walked into the living room, a pencil behind her ear. She was in the middle of revisions for her latest book, but she had her car keys in hand, “Is he ever going to stop talking about that release move?”

Annabeth laughed, “I’m sure he’ll stop whenever he pulls his shoulder out of the socket.”

“I hear your negativity and I’m choosing to ignore you.”

Percy was all about positive self-talk, he believed that only good things came from good thoughts. It took him a long time to get to that place, but Percy always said he noticed a huge difference in his gymnastics when he stopped being self-deprecating. Annabeth was more realistic, she knew what she could do, it was about hard work, not luck. To her saying “I can do this!” to herself wouldn’t change that.

Sally pulled them out of their conversation, “If you’re fast enough, I can give you two a ride to the gym on my way to my publisher.”

***

It wasn’t often that they got to Olympia before two in the afternoon, it was oddly quiet as Annabeth and Percy went through their warm up stretches.

Chiron’s voice actually echoed throughout the gym as he called out corrections and encouragements.

“What do you all want to start with today?” Chiron asked.

Percy’s response was immediate, Annabeth already knew what it would be. They answered at the same time.

“Bars.”

Chiron nodded, “Let’s get to work,”

And they were off. Starting with a quick warm up, seeing who could do as many perfect cast handstands in a minute on bars. Missed handstands (anything less than a 90 degree angle) counted as the most deductions for gymnasts on bars. And it was Chiron’s biggest pet peeve. They had dozens of practices where Percy and Annabeth did nothing on bars but handstand drills until Annabeth thought she’d throw up. However, looking back on it, Chiron’s madness did help, they almost never missed a handstand in competition now.

 After warming up on bars, Chiron had new tasks for them, they had to complete 5 release moves in a row before they could move on to a different release move, they would have to finish their entire set of releases from their routine before moving on to pirouettes and then finally if they wanted, any new moves.  It was a routine that probably took up the first 45 minutes of practice.

Annabeth always completed her releases first, that was the benefit of only having three release moves in her routine instead of six like Percy.

While Percy was finishing up, Chiron had come to help Annabeth with a move she wanted to add to her routine soon, a hopping full pirouette out of a giant swing. That move alone could add a couple tenths to her difficulty score, especially if she added it in connection with something else. Chiron had her working pirouette drills on the floor before she took them on to the bar.

Her first attempt at the actual move, she gained as much momentum she could from her giant swing, when she got close to her handstand position, she let go, did a full spin and completely missed catching the bar.

Annabeth fell head first, straight down into the foam pit.

When she emerged, (getting out of a foam pit is the closest to escaping quicksand Annabeth ever thought she’d experience), Percy was on the ground, underneath the high bar, laughing.

 Chiron picked up a piece of chalk and hurled it at his head.  Annabeth heard him yelp in surprise and then go back to laughing.

“Alright, get back up there and try it again, I’m going to count so you can see where you need to be, make sure you spot where the bar is at, keep your eyes open,”

Then went over it a few times, Annabeth finally caught it, then Chiron made her do it a dozen more times just to make sure she had it down. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with it yet, so she knew she’d have to work on it longer before adding it to her routine. Hopefully, she’d have it for Nationals.

Next, Chiron had her work on independent tumbling drills while he went to help Percy with catching his new skill. She was conscience of what Percy was doing even though she was on the opposite side of the gym, Annabeth knew how close he was to making this skill, and she wanted to be able to cheer him on.

Percy wound up, getting as much force behind his giant swings as he could muster, he let go, flipped twice and twisted twice and his hands slapped the bar, but he couldn’t get his fingers around it. He fell into the foam pit below.

He jumped up, excited, “That was the closest I’ve ever been.”

Chiron nodded, “Then do it again, your air awareness is getting much better. You just need to have the confidence to grab the bar. Annabeth, will you record this next one?”

Annabeth agreed, they recorded themselves like this a lot, especially if it was a skill they were having difficulty with. It always helped to see what you were doing wrong. 

She grabbed her phone from her locker, as Percy wound up, she made her way over to the bars section of the gym,

“You got this Perce.”

He let go of the bar, spinning and flipping so quick that Annabeth had a hard time keeping track of where he was at, all she really noticed was the way his hands clenched around the bar. Before she could even cheer him on Chiron was already shouting and jumping up and down. Annabeth was following suit.

Percy let go of the high bar, he landed on a mat in the foam pit. He was screaming, “Yes! I did it! Over and over. He jumped up on the regular floor and started running through the empty gym out of pure excitement.

Annabeth recording on her phone the entire time.

“Do it again, and this time, try not so close to your face.”

 Percy tried his new skill ten more times, he caught half of them.

“It’s a start,” Chiron told him. He then had Percy transition over to floor with Annabeth, there they worked on tumbling passes together.

Annabeth had been trying to think of a tumbling pass she could try that would add difficulty to her routine and be unique at the same time.

“Do you think it would be possible to fit a 2.5 twist to a double back on the floor?” She asked both of them.

Percy thought about it. “You’d be cutting it kinda close, but I don’t see why not.”

Chiron smiled at her, “I only know one way to find out for sure.”

Her next turn, Annabeth tried it on a straight floor, just to see if it was physically possible for her to complete. After a few more turns, she tried it on the regulation sized floor. Annabeth asked Percy to record it, she wanted to see exactly how much space she’d have to work with.

Her first turn, she landed out of bounds. Chiron gave her one correction, “your double back needs to go up, not backwards.”

She tried it again, this time she landed in bounds, but the step backwards on the landing was out.

“Try it a few more times, I think once you get more control of it, it’ll be easier to keep it in. It might even help to do a jump out of it.”

“A front layout would be cool,” Percy added. Chiron agreed and had Annabeth start drilling that on the floor while Percy worked on his own tumbling passes. His 3.5 twist is his most inconsistent piece of gymnastics, so Chiron had him working on drills for that.

Before they knew it, Chiron was having them move to vault.

Chapter Text

Practice today for Percy was one of his most productive ever. He was trying to have a great day, it was just hard with the thought of Annabeth moving across the world looming. He even almost forgot earlier when he had landed his release move. Then it had all come screaming back.

Normally, they didn’t try to work on upgrades this much in a single practice. Usually, they ran drills a lot more instead of just trying to fling themselves into their new skills, but given the circumstances, Percy figured it was the only way for the three of them not to lose their minds.

They began warming up vault, starting with basic skills and increasing the difficulty. During a quick water break a thought came to Percy suddenly.

 “Chiron, is it too soon to start working a Dragelescu? If I want an international vault medal, I won’t win with anything less.”

Annabeth was nodding, “I feel the same with my Cheng.”

Chiron looked at the both of them, “I agree, but, I don’t want to push you too far, too soon. We’ll work some drills and maybe try throwing those vaults towards the end of the week. I’ll set up the mats, and you two should take a quick break, grab a snack and some water and then we’ll start.”

***

After practice was a solemn affair, they went through their recovery steps without saying a word, in their 10 years of training together, Percy didn’t think that had ever happened.

Usually they both complained during their ice baths or teased each other about how bad they smelled or talked about the crazy gym moms but they had been completely silent.  

Chiron spent that time looking back and forth between them. “One of you has to say something, this is so awkward its making me uncomfortable.”

Annabeth choked out something between a laugh and a sob, “But what if my dad won’t let me stay? That’s all I can think about.”

“You can’t dwell on the ‘what ifs’ it’ll drive you crazy. Focus on the here and now, then we’ll tackle that problem when we get to it.”

Percy couldn’t bring himself to say anything, he was determined to have a positive outlook on the situation, but it was hard to maintain when Annabeth was looking so depressed. 

The ride home on the subway felt longer than normal, Percy kept trying to come up with something to say but it all felt stupid and unnatural.

Finally, he decided on, “What if you emancipate yourself? I researched it a bit and I think we could manage it.” He explained the process to her and described what they would have to do for Annabeth to become her own legal guardian.

Annabeth dropped her head into her hands, he saw her shoulders start to shake.

Great, I made her cry. Percy thought.

But when she lifted her head, he realized Annabeth was laughing. The sound getting louder and louder in the otherwise quiet subway train.

I’m serious!” He said indignantly.  

“I know. That’s the funny part, if you put that kind of effort into your school work, your GPA would be better than mine.”

He bumped her shoulder with his, “Everything is going to be fine, we’ll make sure of it.”

“And what if you’re wrong, what happens to us when I move across the country?”

“We’ll FaceTime each other every day, all day. Even during school and practice. It’ll be like you’re still here. We don’t even have to be talking the entire time, but we’ll be there if the other needs something.”

“Our phones will constantly be dying.”

“We’ll buy a bunch of those portable chargers,”

Annabeth smiled for what could have been the first time that day, “What am I going to do without you?”

“Didn’t you just hear the plan? You won’t be without me. I promise.”

 “Would you visit?” She asked it quietly, as if she was nervous about the answer.

Percy almost laughed, he would travel across the world to get to Annabeth; he would jump into an active volcano for her. He’d swim across the Pacific Ocean to get to her. He could spend days thinking of horrible scenarios that he would put himself through for Annabeth.

But all he said was, “Of course, I’d visit, I’d stay so long you would be begging for me to leave.”

Chapter Text

Annabeth’s first day at her new gym did not go over well.

She was tired from all the crying, screaming, and fighting she had done the night before.

Now she was just numb.

Practice was at 8 in the morning, Annabeth’s flight landed two hours prior, a fact that her new coaches chose to ignore. She was tired and jetlagged and didn’t feel like practicing.

Great, all the fun has been sucked out of gymnastics.

She stood outside the new gym. It wasn’t anything like Olympia.

Where Olympia was charming and inviting, Jupiter Gymnastics had nothing special about it, inside could have been a dentist’s office for all Annabeth could tell.

A white nondescript building with reflective windows so no one could see in. That was it.

Annabeth couldn’t envision herself being excited to get to practice. Couldn’t see herself throwing open the door and racing to hurry up and stretch so she could get started on the real stuff. She couldn’t see herself laughing after she missed a landing on beam or hit a rough spot that flung her off the bars into the foam pit.

This place would never be home for her, not like Olympia was.

Breathe

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. Percy’s face was already on the screen.

“Just go in, Wise Girl, get it over with.”

From behind Percy came a quiet and sheepish: “Hi Annabeth,” Grover’s voice threatened to bring a new round of tears to her eyes.

Then she heard a sharp, “Mr. Jackson!” and Annabeth was quickly thrown into Percy’s backpack.

Alone, for the time being, Annabeth began to contemplate running away and joining the Circus, it was in the midst of these thoughts that the door to the gym opened. Thalia and Jason Grace leaned coolly against the door frame.

“We had a bet on how long it’d take you to come in, but then we figured if no one forced you, you’d be out here forever.” Thalia was smiling, which did help to improve Annabeth’s mood.

Which only lasted until she met Hera and Jupiter. The owners and head coaches of Jupiter Gymnastics.

They had none of the qualities that she loved about Chiron and ALL of the qualities she hated about her mother.

She wasn’t in the gym for 5 seconds before they started yelling and ordering them around. They had strict rules and routines that they were expected to obey. Nothing about this gym was laid back or easy going. This was a dictatorship.

“Don’t think we’ll take it easy on you because you just got here today Annabeth, that won’t be helping you get into Olympic shape.”

“An easy practice won’t hurt me either.” She wanted to smack herself as soon as it was out of her mouth. It was something Percy would have said, he was always the impertinent one, not her.  

Jason and Thalia’s eyes almost exploded out of their skulls. It was clear that talking out of place was not encouraged at Jupiter Gymnastics.

Plus, it was a bit of a low blow.

Jupiter Gymnastics used to be one of the best in the country. Back in their heyday, they had coached multiple Olympic Champions and even a Gold medal All Arounder at the 1992 Olympics in Atlanta.

But, ever since Jason and Thalia’s mother died, and Jupiter remarried Hera, it’s all been downhill.

They’ve been cranking out more injuries than medals lately.

Before Annabeth could apologize, Hera was smiling cruelly, “You just earned extra conditioning this week. For all three of you.”

 ***

When she got to the new house that night, Annabeth collapsed into bed, her body aching. It was 3 hours later in New York, but she called Percy anyways.

“Sorry about hanging up at practice, one of the several thousand rules is all phone must be turned off in the gym.”

Percy rubbed at his eyes, his voice was a low rasp. “They made you practice?”

“I won’t be Olympic ready next year if I rested instead of practicing today.”

She could almost hear him roll his eyes. Annabeth told him about her day. The longer she talked the more awake Percy became until he was yelling in her defense.

At one point, Sally came in looking frantic, a robe half thrown on over her pajamas.

“What’s wrong?”

All Percy did was point his phone screen at his mom.

Once she realized her son wasn’t being murdered, her tone softened, “How’s California? We miss you back here.”

Annabeth almost broke down sobbing, that was more than Athena had said to her since she had arrived. They talked for a few minutes before Sally headed back to bed.

Something dawned on Annabeth then. “Oh my gods, its Sunday did she go on that date with Mr. Blofis?”

Percy’s jaw clenched. Annabeth took that as a ‘Yes.’

“So, tell me about it! Do you know how it went?”  

Percy sighed, “He was a perfect gentlemen. He picked her up, shook my hand, pretended that he wasn’t my English teacher, and had her back before 11. She was so happy that it’s really hard to hate the guy.”

They talked until midnight Annabeth’s time, it was almost like before, when Annabeth was in a different neighborhood and not a different time zone.

“I don’t know how long I’ll last here,” Annabeth had said. “I feel so alienated. Training with the Graces isn’t so bad, but I don’t think I can get used to Jupiter and Hera.”

“What about Piper?” Percy asked, “how far is she from you?”

Annabeth was stunned into silence, in her impending and current doom, she had totally forgot that the other girl also lived in California.

“That California pollution must have really gotten to your head, Wise Girl.”

She rolled her eyes, as Percy continued, “It’s still only a temporary solution, well get you back here sooner or later.”

 It wasn’t the first time Percy had made a comment like that today, she appreciated that he was still being so positive, but she didn’t want to get his hopes up. Being in California seemed kind of permanent.

Before going to bed, Annabeth sent a quick text to Piper asking her to call Annabeth in the morning.

Piper called her immediately.

Annabeth didn’t bother to ask why the other girl was up so late, instead, she explained all of the events of the past week leading up to now. Piper patiently listened and was indignant on her behalf.

“You can’t be in California and not train with me.” Piper said matter of factly, “I’ll have my dad send his private jet tomorrow morning.”

Chapter Text

Percy was slowly adjusting to life without Annabeth.

At first, it didn’t seem real. He was so used to having Annabeth by his side, that even over a few weeks’ time, the phantom pain of her presence was still there.

Every time he walked into English, he expected her to be in her seat, ready for class to start.

Seeing Annabeth’s empty desk felt like a punch to the gut.

It was worse at the gym, he had no one to train with anymore. Chiron was trying his best to keep Percy’s spirits up, but some days it just wasn’t enough.

Last week, Percy was working on upgrading his vault. It was a skill he had only thrown a few times previously. In the middle of his Dragelescu, a double front with a half twist, Percy’s mind and body had completely blanked.

He ended up belly-flopping onto the mats.

Chiron to his credit did laugh. But he wasn’t as enthusiastic as Annabeth would have been.

Focusing on a goal, made dealing with Annabeth’s absence a little easier. The upcoming Nationals meet was the only thing helping Percy keep his composure.

He needed to be the National Champion, winning would guarantee him a spot on the National Team, which would increase his chances of being chosen for the Worlds team and hopefully after that, the Olympics.

He had to make it to Athens next year. He wanted to win gold there. Percy wanted it with a desire that he wasn’t sure he could quantify with human words. 

Plus Annabeth would be disappointed if he let up on his training because of her.

So, if he had to practice alone, for the time being, he’d deal, because eventually, Annabeth would be back in New York, and all would be right in the world. Then they’d be able to forget that this whole mess happened in the first place.

Mr. Blofis started lightly tapping on Percy’s desk, trying to grab his attention. He should have been taking a test, but with Nationals so close and Annabeth so far away, it was hard to focus on anything else.

Just as Percy was bubbling in the last answer, the bell rang, dismissing them to their final class of the day.

Percy took this as the perfect opportunity to finally talk to his English teacher. He had been trying to avoid the man all week, to his mother’s growing dismay.

Once the final student had left the room, he walked up to Mr. Blofis’s desk where he was quickly organizing their tests and getting ready for his last class.

Percy cleared his throat, “So, Mr. Blofis, I’m going to be out all next week for a competition. Is it possible that I can pick up the assignments we’ll be doing then so I don’t fall behind.” Sally had told Percy to ask at the beginning of the week, so Blofis (Paul, she had called him!) would have time to gather the work for him. But Percy kept pushing it off, so here he was Friday afternoon, the day before he left for Florida.

Mr. Blofis opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a thick stack of papers, “I think this should work, all of these assignments will help you prepare for the final exam when you return. If you need any help at all feel free to email me.”

Percy nodded, when he had asked his other teachers today, they all looked at him with minor annoyance. Some even threatened to force Percy to take their final exam during the summer. Mr. Blofis was the only one who already had his assignments ready for him and was completely chill about it all.

“Good Luck at your competition, I’ll see you next week.”

Percy stammered out a 'thanks' before leaving, Grover had been waiting outside so they could walk to their history class together.

“Can you believe this?” Percy showed his friend the papers he had just received.

Grover was confused, “That Mr. Blofis is doing his job?”

Percy had to stop himself from getting too loud, “No, that they’ve been talking about me, he was the only teacher with my assignments ready, and he’s the only teacher currently dating my mom.”

“So what, they both care about you, it could be worse.”

“It’s just weird, Grover, I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to it.”

Grover rolled his eyes, exasperated, “If Annabeth was here, she’d make you see reason.”

The bell rang, and they rushed into class before Mr. Brunner noticed they were a few seconds late.

Time seemed to crawl by for the duration of the day. The 48 minute class period stretched for hours. Instead of listening to Brunner's lecture about the Spanish American War, Percy visualized his routines, himself stepping up to the first place podium, and finally seeing Annabeth in person.

He was so focused that he almost missed the dismissal bell until Grover was pulling at him and forcing Percy out of the door.

When he got to the gym later, Chiron didn’t even let him in the building, he cracked the door just enough for Chiron to fit his head through. He asked two questions like he was asking for a password.

“Are you packed for tomorrow? Did you get more pre-tape?”

Percy answered with a cheerful, “No.”

Their plane left at 10 in the morning, the way Percy saw it, he got to sleep in an hour later than normal, so he had tons of time to pack and grab all the necessities he would need for the next week.

 Chiron rolled his eyes, “We’re doing a light workout today only, we’ll be done by 7 tonight so you can finish packing, I’m not letting you miss that plane…again.”

“That was one time!” Percy protested.

“It was twice,” Chiron, completely unenthused, was already turning his back and walking into the gym.

***

Percy didn’t think it was possible for any place on Earth to be hotter than New York City at the beginning of summer. That was until he went to Orlando in June.

The sweltering heat outside was a stark contrast to the frigid air conditioning of the Amway Center.  

Percy always arrived at the venue before the scheduled practice time, he liked to get the feel of the arena before he did anything. Annabeth always thought he was crazy, but there was something otherworldly about being in an empty arena that could otherwise fit 20,000 people, completely silent except for the sound of his own breathing.

Especially knowing that in a few days’ time, it was going to be loud and completely full of people. 

They had two full practice days in a separate gym, then podium training before the actual competition.

In one of the brief conversations he’d had with Annabeth recently, he knew they had one practice together.

He supposed it was better than nothing.

From off in the distance, he heard an ear-piercing whistle. His mom was waiting to say goodbye before he started practice for the day.

After taking in one more moment with the space that he would soon be deemed National Champion in, Percy headed to where his mom and Chiron were waiting.

Sally kissed him on the head, “If you need anything just text me, I’m going to head to the hotel and hopefully finish this latest edit of my book.”

As soon as she was out of the practice gym, Chiron started taping Percy’s ankle to get ready for the day. It was a spot that has been bothering him recently, from too many passes on floor, trying to perfect his 3.5 twist. That way soon, he could upgrade to a quad twist.

 “Can I get another on my wrist? It was hurting a bit this morning too.”

Their last full practice had Percy’s entire body aching. That’s how you could tell it was a good workout, but the constant and consistent training was almost more than he could bear. He was sore and in pain most of the time. Even at school or just lying in bed, something on Percy’s body was hurting.

However, the torment he was putting his body through would be worth it as soon as he stepped out onto the competition floor.

Voices started coming from down the hallway that led out of the Practice gym, Percy and Chiron both turned to look, hoping to finally see Annabeth.

Instead, they saw Leo Valdez and Charles Beckendorf of Hephaestus Gymnastics enter the practice area.

“Why isn’t she here yet?” Percy asked.

Chiron sighed, “We were a full hour and a half early, Annabeth will get here eventually.”

As if on cue, Jupiter gymnastics entered the practice gym, in a single file line, with matching purple warm-up gear. Percy’s heart fell into his stomach. Annabeth followed behind the Graces, he could already tell something about her was off. Her eyes followed the floor at her feet, with hunched shoulders, as she slowly walked into the gym (something he had never seen Annabeth do).

Percy could tell the moment she saw him, her entire body changed, her posture lengthened and a huge smile broke out on her face.

He jumped up, completely ignored the pain in his ankle and ran to her in a sprint faster than his vault run.

Percy knew it would cause a scene, but they hadn’t seen each other in so long, he couldn’t help himself.

Annabeth dropped her duffle bag and ran, meeting him halfway. As they embraced, he picked her up and spun her wildly, her feet kicking back and forth. Percy felt her hands ball into fists on his back. The hug she returned was a death grip like he’d disappear as soon as she let go.

Her voice shook, “I missed you so much Seaweed Brain.”

Percy had imagined a thousand different ways of reuniting with Annabeth, he had come up with a thousand different things to say. At no point did he anticipate his reply being cut off by the loud booming voice of Jupiter instructing Annabeth to begin warming up.

Her entire body changed, her face and shoulders dropped as she begrudgingly walked over to the Graces who were beginning to stretch with military-esque precision. 

It didn’t take long for Percy to notice Jupiter and Chiron's coaching styles were polar opposites. There was no talking or joking around at Jupiter Gymnastics, no competition to see who could get lower in a split or who could hold a handstand the longest.

They weren’t even allowed to talk at the chalk buckets.

On days like these, the athletes were allowed to pick where they wanted to begin, these practices were some of Percy’s favorite because they reminded him of Friday Night Open Gym’s when he was a kid. Where gymnasts were everywhere and they got to hang out and practice together.

Except for Jupiter Gymnastics. Percy had never noticed before, but they avoided the rest of the crowds, they started where the smallest groups of people were at and moved to the other apparatuses accordingly, Jupiter separating and going off with Thalia and Annabeth, while Hera moved with Jason.

Percy went to high bar first, while Annabeth went to balance beam. He worked first on getting used to the new equipment, this bar was much more flexible than the ones at Olympia, so he had to make sure not to use too much force otherwise he’d fling himself into the rafters.

He worked on his release moves a few times and then put them together in his routine. Before he moved on to a different event he wanted to try his new skill at least once. He wasn’t planning on debuting it at this meet, he still needed lots of repetitions before he had the nerve to catch the skill consistently.

As he practiced, Percy was always present of Annabeth and what she was doing. He took note as she fell again and again off the balance beam. It wasn’t Annabeth’s best event by far, but in practice, she was normally a bit more solid than what was happening currently.

Chiron winced every time she hit the mat, Jupiter gave her no instructions or pieces of advice to help correct her mistakes. He just had her get back in line silently and wait for her next turn on the apparatus.

Percy could tell this was killing Chiron, Percy and Annabeth were like his kids, Chiron had been with them since the first started, he had ‘discovered’ them in preschool. He had watched them grow up and develop as gymnasts and people. Chiron had dedicated just as much time as Percy and Annabeth had in getting to this point. Now watching Annabeth drop skill after skill and have her new coach do nothing to help her was testing Chiron’s patience even more than Percy normally did.

At one point, Jupiter completely left the practice area, leaving Annabeth and Thalia to fend for themselves.

“I’ll be right back,” Chiron said, making a beeline for Annabeth on the other side of the gym. Percy followed him close on his heels.

“It’s killing me watching the both of you,” he said to Annabeth and Thalia. “You two need to work on your arm placement on beam. They have to be symmetrical at all times, that's what's throwing you two off. Remember your confidence too, if you doubt yourself its all over. Annabeth, remember what I've taught you." 

The girls nodded, and before they could say anything a throat cleared from behind Percy and Chiron, a deep condescending voice said, “Is there a reason you are talking to my gymnasts.”

Chiron replied in the exact same tone, Percy could tell he was trying hard to conceal his rage. “Well, I’ve known your gymnast for a full decade now, and she’s been making uncharacteristic mistakes, so I figured it would be appropriate to give her a bit of guidance since it didn’t appear as though you were.”

Percy had never seen Chiron like this before, he had skipped right past his normal passive-aggressive self and went to full-blown aggression.  

Jupiter’s eyes flashed with anger but he calmed himself before speaking.

“They are elite caliber gymnasts. Two of the best the country has to offer according to the American Cup standings, they should be able to figure out how to balance on a beam at this point.

He tried to stay quiet, Percy really did, but he couldn’t help but saying, “Then what’s the point of having a coach?”

Jupiter’s head cocked to the side, he looked at Percy in disgust, like a piece of roadkill had risen and crawled itself into the gym and started speaking to the man. Jupiter completely ignored him.

 Annabeth met Percy’s eyes, despite their distance and time apart, the two of them were still able to read the other and know what they were thinking without speaking.

What’s up with Chiron? Annabeth asked.

Percy shrugged, their coach had been relatively normal up until this point. Annabeth nodded, she understood perfectly.

Meet at vault later? Percy asked.

Annabeth smiled in agreement.

Jupiter’s attention was still pointed at Chiron, “Stay away from my gymnasts.” It was almost a growl.

Their minor argument escalated much quicker than Percy would’ve thought. It wasn’t anything too serious, or so Percy had thought.

Thalia was looking back and forth between the two men like it was a tennis match.

Next to her, Annabeth looked like a deer caught in headlights. She was clearly conflicted over the love and loyalty she had for Chiron and the worry over being reprimanded by Jupiter for the few dozen rules she would break by jumping to Chiron’s defense.

So, she stood next to Thalia, her mouth opening and closing as if she had something to say but couldn’t force the words out.

Thalia held Annabeth’s hand tight. Percy was torn between feeling thankful Annabeth had someone to support her and the jealousy he felt that he was no longer that person in her life.

Jupiter turned his attention to his gymnasts. He barked out his orders, “Get ready for bars. You have three minutes to get water and grip up.” His tone garnered no disagreement.

Annabeth grabbed her duffle bag, as she began to walk towards the uneven bars on the other side of the gym, she stopped as if compelled and hugged Chiron tightly. She whispered in his ear something that Percy couldn’t hear.

Chiron smiled and kissed Annabeth on the top of her head.

It was then that Percy realized, he had been so preoccupied with himself, he hadn’t noticed until now how badly Annabeth’s separation was affecting Chiron too.

Chapter Text

Why did it have to be Jupiter?

Athena could have moved Annabeth anywhere in the world and it had to be Jupiter Gymnastics.

Chiron knew the other man harbored a twenty yearlong grudge after their own Olympic Games.

The Men’s team hadn’t medaled in the Team competition, so the only chance for both Jupiter and Chiron to medal was during the All-Around or Event Finals part of the competition. Chiron walked away with two Olympic golds, one on the High bar and the other on Floor, he also won two additional silver medals one in the All Around and the other on rings. Jupiter won bronze in the All-Around and gold on vault.

Now it seemed as though Jupiter was taking his bitterness out on another of his gymnasts.

This time was different though.

Before Annabeth and Percy had ever stepped foot inside Chiron’s gym. Jupiter had stolen Luke from Olympia, after seeing him at a Junior Elite meet, injured him, and sent back the remains of what could have been an excellent gymnast.

Luke was always Chiron’s biggest what if.

Chiron wouldn’t know how he’d handle it if the same fate was passed down to Annabeth. Luke was only at Olympia for a year, they had a good relationship, but he loved Annabeth like a daughter.

He had watched her transform from a talkative, know-it-all five-year-old to an awkward adolescent to a funny and intelligent young woman.  Chiron knew the same way that the sky was blue and water was wet, that Annabeth was meant for greatness. He wouldn’t let anyone take that away from her.

Watching from afar during practice was downright painful, Annabeth was nowhere near her normal confidence levels, and it wouldn’t take someone close to her to notice. So, he was praying to any deities listening, that both Annabeth and Percy would be able to put all this drama to the side during the meet, so they could perform normally and take home the National Titles.

Even the smallest distraction could lead to ruination.

Luckily practices had gone well, for the most part. Percy had made the upgrades he wanted and was as prepared as he was going to get. It appeared that Annabeth hadn’t regressed at all, but she certainly hadn’t made any of the upgrades that she wanted. The American Cup results were close, and he was hoping that she’d be able to pull it off this weekend too, even though he knew her competitors have been working tirelessly to try and take her first place spot.

Podium training today was the official practice session before the start of the competition. It was a time for the gymnasts to get comfortable with the equipment and space they’d be competing in tomorrow.

Chiron spent the better part of podium training giving Annabeth nonverbal notes and encouragement from afar. Luckily Jupiter wasn’t real perceptive and by the end of the women’s training, she seemed to walk taller. He was happy to see that she had finally gotten comfortable with the hopping pirouettes on bars enough to incorporate the skill into her routine. The extra tenths in difficulty would definitely help her this weekend.

Beam was going to be a problem though. That was the real worry that had settled itself deep in Chiron’s gut. These past few months had really taken a toll on the plan that the two of them had created to improve Annabeth’s difficulty and execution scores.

“She looked pretty solid,” Percy said next to him.

Chiron sighed. “It’s going to be close. Tenths maybe even hundredths of a point.”

As the men were finally allowed on the equipment, Chiron realized they were getting too distracted.

That could be their downfall this weekend.

Percy was in the middle of waiting for his turn on the high bar and all the two of them could think about was Annabeth chances.

He put his hand on Percy’s shoulder, “Look, I’m worried about her too, but we have to focus on you now ok, were going to pretend this is the American Cup and everything is as it has been for the past decade.”

As Percy stepped up to the bar he nodded, “You’re right, I have to focus better.”

Chiron snorted, “if only your teachers could hear you like this.”

“At least 3 would have an immediate heart attack from the shock of it all.” They laughed together as Chiron picked Percy up by the waist and lifted him to the high bar.

He went through a quick warm-up, performing giant swings, pirouettes, and then his release moves. Chiron providing encouragement and critiques all the while.

“Want to try the new one?”

Percy knew better than to answer. He had to keep up his breathing, and responding would be a waste of strength.  Instead, he wound up faster on his giant swings.

Chiron stepped back to spot his gymnast just in case he didn’t make it over the bar.

Which is exactly what happened.

During the second twist, Percy remained stationary in the air, instead of pushing backward. He landed on his back on the high bar which catapulted Percy backward and plummeting rapidly to the ground, headfirst.

Luckily Chiron was able to catch him before he broke his neck.

Chiron’s knees buckled under Percy’s weight. They both collapsed to the ground.

Sudden gasps erupted from the surrounding gymnasts and coaches. Many rushed to the two of them to check and make sure they didn’t require medical attention. There were even a couple of television cameras who probably caught the entire incident.

Can’t wait to see that on TV later, Chiron thought.

Between deep breaths, Percy said, “Damn, you haven’t made a catch like that since I was a kid.”

“I’m getting too old for this, so next time you try to break your neck. Just…don't.”

Still panting, Percy replied. “Noted. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

Gleeson Hedge reached down and helped Chiron up. Hedge had a huge smile on his face as he spoke to Percy. “Have you caught that yet? Cause when you do, it’s going to be Awesome.”

Percy jumped up and returned Hedge’s smile, he was speaking quickly the way he did when he was excited about something.

Chiron couldn’t make out the words Percy was saying, his heart was beating too loud. Chiron felt numb all over in anxiety.

That could have gone really really bad.

Gymnastics was a dangerous sport. Athletes only made it look easy, one misstep could cause serious life-altering injuries. Had Chiron not been paying as close attention, Percy could have been severely injured.

Chiron thanked the gods they dodged that bullet.

Luckily, Percy was not phased in the slightest, he probably didn’t notice how close he was to a potential spinal injury. Chiron however, didn’t think it would matter, Percy had always been fearless, he took every challenge gymnastics threw at him head-on. He never backed down once he set his mind to something.

It was Chiron’s favorite and least favorite thing about him.

So, Chiron was not surprised in the slightest, when Percy said, “I wanna go for it again.”

He agreed reluctantly, the day before Nationals began would not be a great time to dislocate a shoulder, but Chiron knew Percy had to do it again for his own peace of mind and to remove any mental block that may try and take root inside Percy’s head.

“Fine, but this time, you need to push yourself back more, you weren’t even close to making it over the bar.”

Percy nodded. He tried his double-twisting double backflip three more times and caught it every single time.

That helped Chiron breathe a bit easier.

They moved throughout the other rotations together with no further incident, Percy was in great form. If he performed like this over the weekend, Chiron didn’t think any of the other gymnasts could top him. No other male gymnast came close to the amount of difficulty Percy had in his routines, so long as he didn’t make any major mistakes, Percy should have this one in the bag.

At least that’s what Chiron kept telling himself, because no matter that he hadn’t competed in years, Chiron could never overcome the worry and anxiety of competition days.

“Is it crazy that I want to compete my skill tomorrow?” Percy asked him as they left the Arena.

Chiron didn’t even look at him, he didn’t want to give him any sort of gratification, “Yes.”

“I caught it 3 times in a row.” He was indignant.

“I can tell you not to do it a thousand times, but I know that will only further motivate you. However, I don’t think you’re ready yet. Especially after your fall today.”

Percy huffed and crossed his arms. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Chiron’s eyes almost exploded. His brain was about to liquefy and melt out of his ears. He stopped in his tracks. “Don’t play dumb with me kid, I know you better than that.”

Percy rolled his eyes, “I’m confident I can do it.”

“You’re willing to risk throwing away the National Champion Title if you drop it?”

Percy stopped and reluctantly Chiron turned around to meet his gaze. Percy’s jaw was set and his shoulders squared.

“Yes.” His voice was firm and unwavering.

Whenever Percy got as serious as this, Chiron knew that there was no changing his mind.

“I don’t want to argue about this now. Let’s see how you feel tomorrow.”

 Percy didn’t reply, he was frustrated, Chiron knew, but this was a risky move that Percy didn’t need to try at this point, he could win without the extra difficulty.

This was something he should save for Worlds later in the year. It’s what they had originally planned.

Plus, Chiron really wanted Percy to keep this new skill a secret. The National championship results would soon circulate around the world and gymnasts everywhere would know that Percy was the one to beat. For Worlds and potentially the Olympics.

“I’m just throwing this out there, if you compete this skill tomorrow, you run the risk of another gymnast learning it and getting your skill named after them, if by chance, they get to compete it first at World’s.” It was the only tactic that Chiron thought would work. He knew how badly Percy wanted this skill named the 'Jackson.'

It’s what all the great gymnasts before them had done, and Percy wanted desperately to be in a league with them.

“American gymnasts have already seen me throw it, you saw the cameras at podium training. There’s a good chance that people will know about it by the end of the weekend. I’d rather them see me land it in competition than think they have the chance to land my skill.”

They walked back to the hotel in silence. They were both too frustrated with the other to speak.

Plus, Chiron would rather save his breathe.

Percy would do as Percy wanted, and they would just have to deal with the repercussions together.

Chapter Text

Annabeth

Being this close to Percy and Chiron was almost worse than being on opposite ends of the country, all the close proximity did was forcibly remind her over and over what she was forced to give up.

Both Percy and Chiron seemed to be enjoying themselves, while Annabeth was putting every bit of her life energy into not looking miserable. 

Annabeth had dreamt about her first Nationals meet dozens of times, but this was never quite the scenario she envisioned. To make the situation even worse, Jupiter and Hera forbad her to even look in the direction of her old team, let alone speak to them.

Thankfully, after dinner, she was able to escape her prison guards and immediately found her way to Percy’s hotel room.

Sally opened the door and instantly Annabeth found herself being crushed into a hug.

“Mom, let her breathe,” Percy’s joking voice called out. Sally apologized and let go.

Percy then stepped around his mother and took her place in wrapping Annabeth up in a crushing hug.

She had to force herself not to cry, she couldn’t believe how good it felt to be back here with them.

How right it felt.

Before anything could be said, the door from across the hall opened and Chiron pushed the two of them into Percy and Sally’s hotel room, he shut the door behind them.

“Wait!” Annabeth began before anyone else could speak, “Can we have 15 minutes without gymnastics talk? I haven’t had a normal conversation in months.”

Chiron said, “Fine but answer this one question first, did you eat enough at dinner? Do you want us to get you something?”

Annabeth nodded, it had been a small dinner ordered for her by Jupiter and Hera.

They were still part of the archaic belief system that a successful gymnast needed to be stick skinny and starving. They often told their gymnasts what they could and could not eat and then tried to make them feel ashamed if you gained a pound or two.

Apparently they were too ignorant to remember that muscle weighed more than fat.

Annabeth had spent the entire time at Jupiter gymnastics circumventing their “diet.” They told her to cut her caloric intake in half and start a food diary where she kept track of everything she ate.

It was an unfortunate part of the sport that so many athletes were treated this way. And this was tame in comparison to some of the horror stories she had heard.

Annabeth however, refused. They could make her life difficult and give her extra conditioning and repetitions, but she’d endure.

Annabeth would not be body shamed by anyone. She loved her body, it allowed her to do amazing things. No scale or person could determine her worth, only Annabeth could do that.

Everything she was going through made her appreciate Chiron more than ever. He didn’t have the abusive tendencies that so many people in the sport believed were necessary to get to the Olympics. Chiron was of the small percentage of coaches that believed his gymnasts’ sanity was more important than the medals they may potentially win. In fact, he was of the sound mind that the better a gymnast was treated the farther they’d be able to make it.

Percy started to say, “They are the worst…” but Annabeth cut him off.

“I was promised 15 minutes.” She sat on Percy’s bed and looked to Sally, “So, how’s Mr. Blofis?”

Percy groaned and sat down next to Annabeth.

“I can’t believe we're finally in a room together without dictators controlling your every move and you want to talk about her new boyfriend.”

Annabeth smiled. Something she hadn’t done in months.

***

The previous night had been one of the best Annabeth had since moving to California.

It was also the most she had spoken since being transported across the country. Besides the short trip, she made to Los Angeles to work out with Piper. That trip, however, ended almost as quickly as it began, her coaches and mother put an immediate end to that idea.

Currently, she was not on speaking terms with her father or mother, and Jupiter and Hera weren’t exactly conversationalists, plus during practices unnecessary chatter was not allowed, so trying to form any sort of friendship with Jason and Thalia was progressing, albeit slowly.

At breakfast, the three of them ate a small plate of scrambled eggs and bacon provided from the hotel’s continental breakfast. They were watched closely as they made their plates, but once they were left alone, Annabeth went up to the buffet and grabbed extra portions, plus a few bananas, apples, and granola bars for later.

Their bodies would need fuel to get through the day and if she had to smuggle food in to make sure she wouldn't pass out by the end of the day, then so be it.

She was even nice enough to grab extra for her teammates too. They hid their snacks away in their duffle bags just in time for Jupiter and Hera to come back downstairs and start ordering them into the van that would take them to the arena.

The first day of Nationals was making Jupiter and Hera more on edge than usual. Their words which were already normally terse and cold now took on a more domineering and strict tone. As if they were peasants to their King and Queen.  

At the Amway Center, it was immediately down to business, they dropped down their bags, took off their warmup gear and began stretching.

She was intimately aware of Percy across the gym, he had gotten to the arena early, like always. Annabeth could tell that he was nearing the end of his warm-up routine. He winked at her from across the floor. He was in full-on competition mode, he radiated energy. His excitement was palpable as he talked to the athletes around him.

More gymnasts were starting to trickle into the practice floor. She watched, in envy, as Piper, Hazel, and Reyna reconnected and stretched together, joking and talking all the while.

Jupiter had selected a spot on the floor away from everyone else for Annabeth and the Graces. They were instructed not to speak to anyone, including each other.

As the morning progressed, it was without a doubt the worst start to a competition ever. Jupiter and Hera spent the entire time criticizing and belittling the three of them for the simplest of things.

Annabeth took a water break.

Jason spent too much time in his left split.

Thalia put too much chalk on her grips.

Annabeth hurdled “weird.”

Jason went to the bathroom.

Thalia smiled.

No matter what they did, it was wrong.

Once warm-ups and their short practice were over, the three of them were pulled off to the side of the floor.

Hera gave them a brief “pep” talk.

“Do not embarrass us, you all are representing Jupiter Gymnastics do not forget it. If you mess up here, you can kiss the Olympics goodbye.”

Jason and Thalia were stunned, they stood in shocked silence until Jupiter’s terse shout startled them into moving.

“Why are you still standing here? Move. Get out there, now.”

Annabeth wasn’t exactly sure where ‘There’ was supposed to be. They needed to line up for the march-in before anything else happened. This was a tradition that started off every meet, team names were called, the gymnast’s part of that team saluted, and then the National Anthem played.

Once that was finished the meet would begin.

“Have they always been like this?” Annabeth asked.

The Graces both shook their heads but it was Thalia who answered unhappily, “They’ve always been strict, but this is something else entirely, I don't know what's wrong with them.”

To Annabeth, what was happening here was simple, Jupiter and Hera were collapsing under the pressure that USAG had placed on them. They could barely handle having one elite gymnast let alone three that were all in contention for top spots in the country. Plus, the constant presence of Athena as the National Team Coordinator, now looming over their heads probably wasn’t helping either. Jupiter and Hera were trying to stay ahead of the competition and spiraling downward in the process.  

It was a sudden realization that made Annabeth think: I won’t let them take me down with them, I have to get out of here.

It wasn’t the first time the thought occurred to her, but it was the first time Annabeth felt like she truly meant it.

Her brain frantically began working out the logistics while they walked in and lined up in the middle of the floor.

How long would it actually take her father to notice that she was gone? What if-

Her thoughts were cut off by the loudspeaker calling out, “Jupiter Gymnastics”

Annabeth and Thalia stepped forward, pushed out their chests, through their arms back with fingers spread and pointing downwards.

Men’s salutes were a bit different when Jason stepped forward, he kept one arm glued to his side and raised the other straight up with fingers extended.

Then they stepped back into line with the other teams. The process continued down through the rest of the athletes.

Annabeth’s thoughts were swirling, so she only barely noticed when Olympia was called. The crowd exploded into cheers as Percy stepped forward. He saluted quickly but broke into laughter when he heard the prolonged cheers. He then waved with both hands energetically to the crowd, turning in circles, so everyone in the arena was able to see him.

Nationals as a competition was going to function differently than the American Cup. There would be no women’s competition and then men’s shortly after. To save time, men and women would be competing simultaneously. The competition was span two days, where their scores would be added together at the end to determine the National Champion.

Rotations were determined based on the results from the previous meet. Annabeth, Thalia, Reyna, and Piper, were in all together, and Annabeth didn’t want to dwell too much on the fact that they were selected to follow the full Olympic rotation of Vault, Uneven bars, Balance Beam, and Floor.

Clearly, the powers behind the National Team wanted to see how they would perform under Olympic type pressure.

It appeared to be the same scenario with Percy and his rotation too. Their two groups would be the ones to watch this weekend.

With Worlds and the Olympics so close, Annabeth knew everything that happened here today, and going forward would be scrutinized heavily.

Just go out there and handle your shit.

As long as she tried her best, no one could fault her for that. Not even Annabeth, herself.

“Psssssst.” The sound came from directly behind her, she looked all around to make sure that Jupiter or Hera wasn’t near.

She knew it was Chiron before she even turned around.

“Make sure your block is strong, your height is still higher than everyone else, but it wasn’t as good as normal.”

Annabeth turned back around. She kept looking straight ahead, but she nodded to let him know she was still listening.

“Bars and Floor were great, just remember your basics and you’ll be fine.”

He paused.

“I know beam is your Achilles heel. But face it confidently and you’ll be fine.”

Annabeth gave him a thumbs-up behind her back.

“Thalia all of that applies to you as well. Good luck you two.”

Out of her periphery, she saw Thalia smile.

"Don't forget to breathe," he added as an afterthought.

Chiron finished just as the last team saluted. Then, the lights came on and the gymnasts were directed to their first event.

The U.S. National Gymnastics Championships had officially begun.

Chapter Text

When he was younger, Percy once walked right out into a busy New York City street without looking both ways. Sally had just been able to snatch him by the arm before he was hit by a bus.

The expression on her face then was identical to the look on her face now when he walked back into their hotel room after podium training.

She had to of seen a video of his fall from earlier in the day. She only had that terrified look in her eyes when she was worried about his safety.

He didn’t say anything, nothing would be able to take her fear away. Well except for retiring from the sport but he wasn't planning on doing that any time soon. He did the only thing that would offer Sally any sort of comfort. He held his arms out to hug her. She embraced him tight, and he could feel her worry lessen, slightly.

Percy had hoped the video would begin to make the rounds during the actual competition when the TV commentators needed something to talk about. With Sally watching live she’d miss the footage completely. It appears though that Percy had underestimated the gymnastics community, there was a huge online fan base, but Percy doubted that Sally had been on Twitter or Tumblr recently, so where she would’ve seen the video was beyond him.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Percy told her, “I’m okay, really, it wasn't as bad as it looked.”

Sally knew gymnastics was a dangerous sport, she just tried her best to ignore that particular detail. They had an unspoken agreement between them where Sally didn’t ask how practice went and Percy never offered details more specific than, “Had a great day at the gym.”

She shook her head, “Don’t lie to me, you could’ve broken your neck. Percy, you could’ve been paralyzed.”

“But I’m not, everything is fine, it was an accident. I won’t let it happen again.”

“You can’t know that,” she said softly.

“I trust myself and my skills as a gymnast, I know for a fact I won’t make that same mistake again.”

Whatever Sally had been about to say next was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Sally opened it, Percy heard her gasp and watched her throw her arms around someone, who could only be Annabeth.

“Mom, let her breathe.” Sally did so almost sheepishly, Percy wasted no time in taking his mother’s place and wrapping Annabeth up in another hug. He knew their current conversation was not forgotten, only pushed to the side.

Annabeth’s hair was up in a ponytail, her face pink from exertion. She had a t-shirt and shorts thrown over a leotard and chalk all over her body.  

Her own podium training must have ended not too long ago.

Before Percy could say anything more, Chiron appeared and pushed them back into Percy’s room, shutting the door quickly behind them.

Annabeth didn’t let anyone get a word out before she put a hand up and said, “Wait! Can we have 15 minutes without gymnastics talk? I haven’t had a normal conversation in months.”

Percy’s heart broke for her, this wasn’t supposed to be how their first year as senior elite was supposed to go. They should have been together, happy, and excited for the challenges ahead. Sharing this experience to help prepare them for Worlds. They should have been growing closer but Percy had never felt so distant from Annabeth in all their lives.

He came out of his own thoughts just in time for Annabeth to let on that Jupiter Gymnastics wasn’t allowing the athletes to eat full meals.

They were the worst human beings Percy had ever come across, he went to say as much but Annabeth cut him off.

“I was promised 15 minutes.” She sat on Percy’s bed and looked to Sally, “So, how’s Mr. Blofis?”

They talked for hours, even when Annabeth’s real dinner of salmon and veggies arrived, they didn’t change course.

Over the duration of the night, the weight of the world seemed to ease off Annabeth’s shoulders.

Chiron let them stay up for longer than he normally would have for a normal meet. Once the conversation wound down and Percy and Annabeth couldn’t hide their yawns any longer, Chiron sent them to bed.

He wanted to walk Annabeth back to her room, but she assured Percy that Jupiter and Hera were always watching and if they were caught, it would blow up in both their faces and that was not what either of them needed the eve of a big competition.

Reluctantly, he agreed. He fell into bed before Sally could bring up their past conversation.

Percy couldn’t have devised a better distraction had he tried. One day soon, he was going to have to thank Annabeth for her timing.

She texted him when she got back to her room to let him know she was safe.

He replied back, “See you on the podium tomorrow, in less than 24 hours we’ll be National Champions.”

***

The next morning, Percy’s nerves woke him up before his alarm.

He was up and ready to go in no time, banging on Chiron’s door, so they could get to the gym as soon as possible.

Chiron threw open the door, plainly tired but ready to go nonetheless. By now he was used to Percy’s early morning routine. He didn’t like it, that Percy knew, but he had accepted it as a fact of life at this point.

They were the first ones in the arena. Chiron even had to talk a few employees to let them in a bit earlier than normal. Percy knew he wasn’t allowed to practice just yet, but being in the competition space always lessened his anxiety.

Percy put his headphones in and started his competition playlist.

After that, the day flew by, warmups and practicing were a blur as the morning past. Percy allowed himself only three glances at Annabeth during that time, and by the looks of it, things weren’t going well for Jupiter Gymnastics.

Before Percy knew it, the walk-in had started.

Once the announcer got to Olympia, the crowd’s cheers turned into thunderous applause.

Percy almost laughed.

This couldn’t have been for him, he thought. There had to be an even more famous person in the audience that the camera panned to. Maybe Tristan McLean was here to watch Piper.

Looking at the big screen in the middle of the arena squashed all doubt Percy had in his mind.

It was him they were cheering for. Surprised and grateful, Percy waved to the crowd with both hands. The applause loudened even further. This time, he laughed for real, before giving one last smile to the crowd and stepping back into place.

Percy missed the remaining teams being called in, he couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his heart hammering in his chest. All of a sudden the national anthem was ending and Chiron was herding him towards his first event.

Finally, The U.S. National Gymnastics Championships had begun.

Chapter Text

Gymnastics wasn’t exactly a topic that Grover was terribly knowledgeable of. Percy and Annabeth often talked about their sport in such complicated terms that Grover felt like they were speaking a different language.

But he had promised to watch Nationals on TV to support his two friends.

So there he was, on a Sunday afternoon, in front of his TV waiting for his first-ever gymnastics competition to start.

Seeing Percy and Annabeth on National Television was a strange experience.

Even stranger was seeing the number of fans they had. When the cameras panned to the crowd Grover could see many of the fans were celebrating his friends. There were kids wearing t-shirts, some with Percy on it, others Annabeth, the majority had both. Some people had created signs proudly proclaiming their love to either Percy or Annabeth. Grover’s favorite poster that he saw said ‘The Dynamic Duo’ and photoshopped Annabeth’s face onto Batman and Percy’s onto Robin.

Grover had already felt lucky to have them as friends, but seeing all this made it feel like the two of them were celebrities and he got to be one of the few people who knew them before they were famous.

As the cameras focused on the gymnasts a deep voice announced, “Welcome to the 2019 National Championships in sunny Orlando, Florida. I’m Al Trautwig, here with Tim Dagget and Elfie Schlagel. This is the final day of the National Championship of gymnastics, today two gymnasts will walk away with the honor of being crowned National champion, almost a year before the Olympics.”

The camera focused on Percy as he was in line behind another gymnast. He wore a tight shirt with ‘Olympia’ written in black cursive letters, tucked into a blue pair of shorts. The announcer, Al, continued with his monologue as Percy flipped and twisted down the floor, diagonally.

“It’s a true rarity that the United States can be this close to Athens and have two huge stars on both the men’s and women’s team who have a legitimate chance to win the overall All-Around Title. That’s Percy Jackson, a first-year senior who has taken the sport by storm, he dominated at the American Cup last month and he’s looking to repeat that success here today and use that as a building block for the success he hopes to have in Rome and then Athens. But he’ll have to battle through the previous National Champion first.”

The camera then focused on a pale-looking boy with white hair, his face was stoic and without any hint of emotions or feelings.

“That young man there, Octavian, may have something to say about it.”

The camera then switched over and Grover saw Annabeth. She was standing at the end of a blue carpeted runway, in a light purple leotard with sparkling rhinestones spelling out the letters “JG.”

The same voice continued, “Then there is our other star, Annabeth Chase, who dominated the women’s American Cup and took home the title, she wants to do the same here, but is it possible to have that same success now that she has switched to a different gym with a new coach?”

Annabeth ran down the runway jumped off a springboard and flipped herself over some sort of table.

“But we all know what the 800-pound gorilla in the room is because before these athletes get to Athens, they first have to go through the World Championships in Rome, Italy four months from now.  So here we go Tim, please tell us what we will see here in the month of June.”

A new voice spoke finally, this time much more nasally.

“Well,” Tim’s voice explained, “this is the first process for selecting the World’s team. The winners for the men and women will automatically be placed onto the National Team and will be the front runners for the Worlds Team. Before the team is named, the top 12 winners of today’s meet will go to a development camp for a few weeks and from there the Worlds Team will be chosen by the National Team coordinators. That will give the US an idea of what they will have to work with once we get to the Olympics next summer.”

The man with the deeper voice interjected, “So with that in mind, what is the mood of this arena Elfie?

A woman’s voice spoke up, “I think you can feel the seriousness in here Al, everyone wants to make it on the National Team and you can see by the intensity and concentration of the athletes here today. Only the top 12 get to the development camp and they all need to be there if they’ll have any shot for Rome.”

The camera panned to a young girl standing next to the uneven bars. Her bright yellow leotard made her black skin glow. She had curly hair pulled up into a bun. Her eyes were set in determination.

The woman’s voice introduced her as Hazel Levesque. According to the announcers, this was not her best event. That would come later in the day. Grover watched in awe as she flipped and turned and jumped from bar to bar. He couldn’t tell how in any universe this was classified as easy or why the announcers were being so overly critical. To Grover’s untrained eyes, Hazel was doing a great job.

She dismounted and landed with a jump forward.

Tim, the nasally man, said “Ah, a pretty okay routine even with that giant jump on the landing. A mistake that will cost her almost half a point. I know Hazel is happy just to get this one out of the way early.”

The cameras followed the girl as she hugged her mom, who was apparently her coach as well. A box popped up on the screen with a few numbers in it that Grover couldn’t make much meaning out of.

Luckily, Al was already explaining.

“Today’s scores will be broken down into two parts. First is the D-score or the difficulty which is calculated by the skills the gymnasts perform. Each element is given a points rating from A to H, these points are added together, bonus points are awarded for certain connections. The second part is the execution. This is out of a 10.0 and where the judges deduct points for anything less than perfection. The d-score and e-score are then added together to make up the gymnasts' total score for the event.

Al used Hazel’s score as an example. On the Screen was a box with her scores, the man explained. “Hazel’s difficulty was 5.8 added with her Execution score of 9.27, which equaled 15.07 as her Total Score, which was pretty ok, wouldn’t you say Tim?”

“Of course, Al, that was one of the best bar routines I’ve seen Hazel do, if it wouldn’t have been for that shoulder-length jump on the landing, which cost her about half a point, her score could have been much higher.”

The woman, Elfie, spoke up as the camera switched to a blonde kid standing under a pair of rings suspended from the ceiling. “Now we turn to Jason Grace on the still rings.”

Grover sat in awe as he watched Jason flip and hold his body still in poses that looked easy but from the announcer's reactions probably took more strength than Grover would ever have in his life.

After Jason’s routine, they went to a commercial break and when they returned, a camera was staring straight at Annabeth as she stood with no emotion. She rolled her head from shoulder to shoulder.

Al, the announcer began, “So, now as we switch over to Annabeth Chase, how great is this vault she’s about to do?

The other man, Tim, replied, “Well, uhh… It’s crazy what were about to see from her. There are only a handful of gymnasts in the world who even attempt this vault, it’s very very difficult but she makes it look so easy and the height Annabeth gets is just amazing. I was watching her this week during practice and she was outstanding. ”

Elfie chimed in, “To put this into perspective, her new teammate Thalia Grace, the returning National Champion, has a vault with a difficulty of 5.5, it’s a Yurchenko with one and a half twists, her max score would be a 15.5,”

While Elfie spoke, the camera followed as Thalia and Annabeth stood in line, they each took a turn practicing on the vault.

“However, Annabeth’s vault is valued at a 6.5, she can score up to a full point higher. With a 16.5 it’s absolutely ginormous."

As Annabeth waited at the end of the runway, Grover could hear young voices from the crowd screaming his friend’s name, as well as a voice that he was all too familiar with. Percy had to be close to the camera because Grover could hear plain as if he was in the next room, his friend shouting, “Let’s go Annabeth, Come on, you got this,” over and over.

Annabeth smiled and then saluted.

She took off at a sprint, quickly flipping and twisting. To Grover, it definitely seemed like more than two and a half. Annabeth landed with the smallest of steps forward.

The announcers practically squealed. Annabeth smiled from ear to ear.

“Amazing, just amazing! You will not see height like that from any other gymnast.”

“That’s for sure, Elfie,” The TV was replaying Annabeth’s vault, “watch as she explodes off the board like she’s being shot out of a cannon, as she’s twisting, Annabeth is still going up in the air and her form is absolutely perfect.”

“Stunning, absolutely beautiful. This is going to be a huge score.” Elfie said.

“Wow,” Al began as Annabeth’s score popped up, a 16.0 flat, “so far, she’s the first athlete today to reach the 16’s.”

The cameras followed Annabeth as she put on a jacket and hugged Percy, she sat down on a plastic folding chair, out of breath but still smiling.

Now the cameras switched over to Percy. He seemed laid back as he waited for his turn on floor. Everyone else Grover had seen so far, Annabeth included, had an air of nervousness. But Percy stood like he was in line at a restaurant.

Tim was speaking as the cameras waited on Percy to begin. “This is going to be great. He has a lot of high flying and difficult skills. He was looking pretty good in practice and had a good routine day one, but he has the ability to improve today.”

Percy began, tumbling down the floor and performing tricks that Grover couldn’t even begin to understand. The announcers were quiet until Percy got to his air flares.

Tim’s voice was passionate as he said to the others, “now check this out! Watch as he jumps from hand to hand on his flares, it’s just amazing! That is so difficult to do…

“And he makes it look so easy,” Elfie finished.

Grover smiled to himself, he remembered the day he was with Percy when they both saw the breakdancers doing that same trick. Percy had looked at Grover with such intensity as he said, “I wanna do that.”

Grover hadn’t thought to ask him about it afterward.

Tim’s nasally voice broke through Grover’s thoughts. “Here he goes for a 3.5 twist dismount. Can he stick it?”

Percy, in the corner of the floor, took a deep breath and ran. He flipped and twisted quickly, three and a half times to be exact, even though it still looked like way more to Grover. 

His feet hit the ground and refused to budge.

Elfie and Tim both exclaimed loudly, their voices fighting over one another. The woman’s voice was able to get out “Gorgeous! Just an incredible stuck landing. That was a great routine.”

The camera’s watched Percy intently as he put a long pair of pants over his shorts and packed up his bag as he got ready to move to the next event.

The crowd cheered as the score popped up, and the announcers made startled sounds of surprise.

16.7

Al, asked the other announcers, “Why the shock and awe?”

Tim answered for him, “That is a huge number, completely deserving. Probably the biggest one we’ll see today.”

Elfie added, “and that he scored this on floor, is incredible, usually, floor for both the men and women is where the most deductions are taken. But Percy Jackson only had 4 tenths of a point taken off. It’s going to be hard for anyone to beat him after that score.”

Tim agreed, “That’s right, Octavian had been getting closer to first place after his day one disasters but, now Percy has just blown him out of the water.”

***

As the competition continued, Grover watched the routines of other gymnasts as he waited to see more from Annabeth and Percy. In his eyes, all the gymnasts were amazing, incredibly talented, and deserving.

Why couldn’t they all just go to the Olympics?

These athletes had worked their entire lives for these moments. They all had the same ambition and goals that the announcers would not stop talking about. Like this upcoming camp and Worlds and everything that comes after. 

Grover didn't think it was fair that some of them wouldn’t be able to make it.

Percy’s pommel horse and rings routine passed without incident, it was still shocking to Grover all the things Percy could do with his body. It now all made sense why most of Percy’s waking moments outside of school were spent at the gym. He was clearly in his element here, as he high fived and hugged his competitors with an enormous smile across his face.

“And now we’ll head over to Annabeth on uneven bars.” Al’s deep voice said.

The camera turned to Annabeth who stood at a bucket meticulously rubbing something on her hands.

Tim said, “This is by far her best event. Everything amazing she’s already done is cast into shadow by this routine here. Remember when I said no one would come close to Percy’s score earlier?”

Al answered in the affirmative.

“Well, Annabeth’s bar routine with a difficulty of 7.0, is the only routine that may be able to challenge Percy’s for the highest score in the competition.”

Elfie agreed as they waited for Annabeth to start.

Finally, she saluted and began.

Her routine was everything the announcers made it out to be. Grover found himself several times holding his breath. Not out of nervousness, just sheer awe.

She started by running and jumping over the low bar to the high bar.

“Don’t be fooled by the simple start," Tim said, "here’s where it gets crazy. She’ll connect a hopping pirouette into two release moves.”

Annabeth did just that, flying so high in the air, she seemed to float.

Elfie spoke up, “the height she gets is just amazing, and that last release move has never been done before. So if she makes the world team…”

Tim interrupted her, “and she more than likely will.”

Elfie kept going as if she was used to the interruptions, “and competes that release move at Worlds, they will name it the Chase after her.”

Grover didn’t even have time to think about how cool that was, because Annabeth was quickly doing other awesome stuff, like flipping and twisting between the two bars and completing one-handed pirouettes and other moves Grover had no clue of the names.

“Get ready for the dismount,” Tim warned, “Two flips and two twists.”

Annabeth flew off the bar, flipping and twisting quickly. Her feet hit the ground with a resounding thud.

“That’s Gymnastics 101 baby” Tim loudly declared, “Fly high and stick the landing.”

Elfie kept saying over and over, “there was nothing wrong with that, it should be a 10.”

Grover could hear Percy cheering loudly, even over the roar of the crowd which was going wild. His friend started a chant of “17.0” which he managed to get the audience to join.

The score appeared, Grover noticed Annabeth steadfastly avoiding her score and her new coach that was trying to hug her, but then the camera was panning away and focusing on another gymnast.

The announcers were still talking about it, even though the cameras were on a young redhead name Rachel Dare.

16.723

“That’s a fantastic score, even though I do agree with Mr. Jackson down there, it should have been a 17. I don’t know where those deductions came from.”

The other announcers both agreed and kept discussing Annabeth and the small lead she had over Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.

They took another commercial break as they had all reached the halfway point of the competition. 

The next hour or so past by quickly, Percy had an excellent vault, but he was a little shaky on parallel bars. Annabeth had completed her beam routine without any trauma or major mistakes, even though the announcers kept mentioning how she needed to upgrade very soon. It was the event that Annabeth seemed the most nervous for. Grover watched as she took a deep breath and put her anxiety to the side so she could finish this performance.

As Annabeth competed, Tim kept commenting on all the areas she fell in practice and how this wasn’t her best event and she should have upgraded more now that she was at a more distinguished gym.

Whatever that all meant, Grover had no clue.

Even Annabeth seemed surprised when she finished without falling off.

Now, there was only one event for each of them left, and apparently, both Percy and Annabeth were great at these last ones.

Percy was up first on high bar. If this was going to be anything like Annabeth’s bar routine, Grover was already a huge fan.

As they waited for Percy to start, Al said, “Let’s take a look at Percy’s practice yesterday.”

A video clearly filmed on an Android camera played across Grover’s screen. It was of Percy going around the high bar, and letting go, but the release move seemed all wrong, Percy’s body bunched up like an accordion on top of the bar and then propelled him backward and down, head first.

Grover was horrified, he was glad they played this when he knew his friend was safe. He couldn't believe how close to disaster that was, without that man who caught Percy around the waist mere inches before he landed on his head, Grover doesn't know what would have happened to Percy. The video served as a gentle reminder that even though this all looked easy and beautiful, it was also dangerous.

“What you saw there, was Percy Jackson’s attempt at a new skill, one that has yet to be completed successfully. Tim do you think we’ll see him try that today.”

“No.” Tim said it quickly and flatly. Like it was the most obvious answer in the world. “He’s not ready, it’s better he plays it safe now with a 3 point lead and works on it more at the development camp that he’s sure to be going to, and debut his skill at World’s when he has a higher probability of landing it. After seeing him practice it this week, he’s not consistent enough.”

Al’s reply was cut off as Percy began his routine. He started with a nice jump over the bar. Then he wound up even faster and completed another release move, flipping his body in the air as he went over the bar to re-catch it.

“That Kovac was nicely done” Elfie said

Percy began to swing harder, as he tried to generate as much force as possible. Grover for a second thought that maybe the routine was over already and Percy was about to dismount. He swung around the bar with the same speed that Annabeth had when she dismounted.

Of course, Grover was wrong.

Instead, Percy twisted twice and flipped twice all while his body was completely flat and in the laid-out position.

Or so the announcers screamed as he caught his release move.

“I can’t believe he did it!” Tim and Elfie were saying excitedly.

Al said pointedly, “And what were you saying earlier, Tim?”

This completely went ignored as Percy continued his routine, pirouetting and completing one more release move that seemed basic in comparison to the last.

All the while the announcers were still going absolutely buckwild about Percy's new skill.

His dismount seemed to be the same as Annabeth’s except, he was completely laid out. When he landed, it was with a small step forward.

The crowd was deafening. Percy saluted the judges and ran off the floor in celebration. He slammed into his coach with an enormous hug, together they celebrated, hugged, and laughed at what the other was saying.

The announcers also laughed at the display, especially when Percy got back up on the platform to wave with both hands at his adoring fans. He even ran up to the closest camera and said, “Sorry mom, I didn’t mean to scare you. Oh, also, Hi Grover, I really hope you’re watching because that was really cool.”

There was more laughter from the announcers at that part, Finally, Tim said, “That right there folks, is your men’s national champion. Nothing short of a meteor strike can stop that.”

Grover couldn’t help it, he was grinning from ear to ear, just hearing his name said aloud on TV was exhilarating, he couldn’t even imagine what Percy was experiencing.

Annabeth ran over to him and engulfed him in another hug, the crowd cheered again.

They talked rapidly to each other, but the cameras were too far away for anyone at home to hear.

“This has been such an action-packed day, but we still have one routine left. If she hits it, she’s a National Champion just like her former teammate,” Elfie spoke as the cameras moved over to Annabeth now standing at the floor.

The next bit was all a blur, Annabeth and Percy had both seemed so invincible, that Grover wouldn’t have guessed what happened next in a million years.

Annabeth saluted for her final routine of the day, and her music started, an upbeat tune that got the crowd involved and could make anyone want to tap their feet too.

Her first pass was terrific, or so the announcers said. It was the second that she under-rotated, so when her feet hit the floor, her chest was too low. She couldn’t keep her balance as she fell to her hands and knees.

The audience along with the announcers all let out a dejected groan.

When Annabeth stood up, the disappointment and heartbreak on her face was undeniable. Grover could barely watch the last of it. If he had learned anything from his first gymnastics meet, it was that winners didn’t make mistakes, and Annabeth could end up another gymnast who didn’t get to achieve their dream today.

The announcers were talking about her prospective chances of keeping the lead but they made it seem like the probability of that was about the same as aliens landing in the middle of the arena and taking everyone there off into space.

As Annabeth finished and walked off the floor with her head down, Tim said, “She finished strong, but you can tell she isn’t happy. Annabeth knows that just cost her the title.”

Elfie agreed. “This just goes to show how unpredictable gymnastics can be, mistakes happen at any given time. Now we wait to see how the standings will change once we get Annabeth’s score from the judges.”

Off to the side of the graphic currently being displayed, Grover could see Annabeth sitting on the floor her head in her hands with Percy and a man Grover recognized as the man who had been celebrating with Percy only a few minutes ago. Words were being exchanged but Grover couldn’t make out anything from the distance of the cameras.

All he could tell was that Annabeth was heartbroken, this was worse than when she was telling him she was moving to California.

When the score came in, Grover watched as Annabeth’s name fell to second place and another jumped into the first spot. 

Looking closer at the scores, Grover's heart broke for his friend even further.

0.05.

That was all Annabeth had lost by.

Chapter Text

At least I didn’t fall off the balance beam.

It was the only thought running through Annabeth’s mind as she finished her floor routine. Lucky for her, her body was able to finish the routine by sheer muscle memory without any input from her brain.

Percy was the first person to reach Annabeth once she had climbed down from the platform.

He’s going to be so disappointed in me.

But by the look on his face when she got off the floor, she knew how stupid that thought had been.

To Percy, Annabeth could do no wrong.

She could commit a series of horrible crimes or quit gymnastics tomorrow and Percy would find a way to make amends on her behalf. Every Time. He was loyal to his core and she loved him for it.

He pulled her into a quick hug, knowing this wasn’t an affair she wanted broadcast on live TV for too long.

They both knew this wasn’t her best performance. She could be better. This was just a small bump on the path towards her goals. However, that knowledge didn’t do too much to fix the hollow feeling in her chest or the tears that were starting to well up.

Ten minutes of self-pity. That was all Annabeth would allow herself.

Annabeth sat on the ground to pack her belongings. Jupiter and Hera were nowhere in sight. Probably off criticizing Thalia, the only one who hadn’t medaled at Nationals from Jupiter Gymnastics.

Percy and Chiron sat on either side of her, they each took turns trying to take her mind off what just happened.

“We may as well go to Disney while we’re here.”

“Maybe this is the proof your Mother needs to let you come back to Olympia”

“I can’t wait to get some pizza and take a nap.”

“Coming in second by less than half a point with a fall isn’t bad, by World’s you’ll be blowing everyone out of the water.”

They helped to pass the time, which Annabeth was thankful for.

Waiting was the worst part of competitions, especially when you had a monumental fuck up and then had to have it thrown back in your face during awards, standing on the second-place podium with a silver medal dangling around your neck.

Luckily for her, the awards ceremony was a blur.

Annabeth was in a daze as the medals were distributed by an old man in a dark suit. She watched the man's lips move, intellectually, she knew he said something, but the whirling thoughts inside her own head were deafening and drowning out all other noises.

She held her head high like a queen and refused to allow any of her emotions to show through. She was happy for her friends, especially Piper who had come in third, they deserved this, but Annabeth couldn’t deny the sadness and regret she felt for herself.

Standing on the second-place podium, watching Reyna be awarded the gold medal, Annabeth made a vow to herself, “I will never let this happen again.”

Those words gave her a sense of purpose, something to strive for. She would never put herself in this position again.

During the men’s awards ceremony, watching Percy receive his medal actually made the numb feeling overwhelming her entire body dissipate, just a bit.

He smiled and waved to the audience, whose cheers and applause were unlike anything Annabeth had ever heard at a gymnastics meet before.

That was her best friend they were shouting for and she was so proud of him. There wasn’t a single gymnast who was more deserving than Percy. When he met her eyes from across the arena her heart almost melted right then and there.  

At that moment Annabeth promised herself she would never be apart from him or Chiron again, she was going to make sure of it. So Annabeth grabbed her phone and sent a text that would serve as the first phase of her plan to get back to New York.

 ***

They stayed an extra three days in Florida. Sally kept her word and let Percy skip school now that he was a National Champion. Since Annabeth wasn’t on speaking terms with her father and there was absolutely no way she wanted to be even remotely near the presence of Athena until development camps started and Annabeth had to, she made the executive decision to join the Jackson’s for some much-needed rest and relaxation.

They spent the first day after Nationals just relaxing at the hotel pool, letting their bodies recuperate after the strain from the previous day.

It was refreshing to just be able to sit in the pool and do nothing without any cares or responsibilities in the world.

Percy and Annabeth used this time to catch each other up on all they’ve missed during their time apart.  Gossip from Goode Academy, Grover, even what Percy knew of Sally and Blofis’ relationship.

“He asked me to call him ‘Paul’ whenever he’s at our apartment so I can separate who he is as a person from his profession. Can you believe that?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, “He’s a monster,” she said seriously.

Percy splashed her.

“Is Sally happy?” Annabeth asked.

Percy smiled wide and bright, “Yeah, she is,”

“So what’s the problem here?” She didn’t ask it in a mean or aggressive way, Annabeth truly wanted to know why Percy was so uncomfortable.

“What if they break up and Blofis takes it out on me until I graduate.”

She laughed, that was definitely not the answer she was expecting. “Mr. Blofis is too good of a person for that, now if your mom was dating Mrs. Dodds then I could see the cause for alarm.”

Percy conceded her that point. “What if he runs out on her like my dad?”

Annabeth softened, now that was more like it. “That may just be a risk you both have to take, if he does, we’ll be there to help her through it. But if you want my opinion, Blofis doesn’t seem the type.”

His voice was quiet as he asked, “What if she replaces me with him?”

She didn’t mean to laugh with Percy bearing his soul in such an uncharacteristic moment of vulnerability, but she couldn’t help it. That was such a ridiculous notion, Sally and Percy loved one another unconditionally, and no one would ever be able to come between that.

This time he flipped her off the raft she was laid out on.

“Ok, I deserved that, but think about this rationally, you’re a soon to be Olympic champion, so I’m assuming she’ll keep you around until the sponsor money runs out. Which depending on how well you do in Athens can be a pretty good amount of time.”

Percy laughed this time, “I can’t believe I missed you. And who says I want to go pro? Maybe I’ll pass on the sponsorships so I can compete in college later.

He made a good point, both of them had thought about competing in college gymnastics, but you couldn’t do that if you earned money from sponsorships as an elite gymnast. It was a decision they still weren’t 100% decided on yet.

Before Annabeth could reply in earnest, Chiron and Sally walked out of the hotel ready to relax and enjoy the Florida sun with them. They sat at a table, Sally with her computer, still trying to finish her last round of edits and Chiron looking as if he was in one of his organizational moods. Where he'd spend the next ten minutes planning the next decade of her life as Annabeth's head spun trying to keep up.

“What are you two talking about?” Sally asked.

They replied together with a smile, “Nothing.”

Chiron pushed on, skipping past any pleasantries. “Annabeth we're going to have to modify your plan for upgrades once you get back, so I want you to start thinking of the skills you want to try first.”

Percy looked at him, confused. “Is there something you know, that we don’t?”

“No. Annabeth, didn’t you talk to your mom?”

“Should I have?”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience, but I thought maybe it could be a start to getting you back to Olympia.”

Annabeth and her mother’s poor relationship was no secret, and neither was Athena’s temper. She understood where Chiron was coming from, but just being in the general vicinity of her mother would have been toxic to her mental health on a normal day but add that to coming in second place, it surely would’ve been a disaster from start to finish.

“She’s probably still too angry to be rational. I wanted to try at the end of the week when maybe a sliver of her sanity has returned.”

Chiron nodded in understanding, while Percy and Sally remained tight-lipped.

She knew her mother frustrated and angered them all. As her former coach, it was Chiron’s responsibility to look out for his athlete, that Athena had tolerated, mostly. But if Sally or Percy ever crossed Athena or got too involved in their relationship, her mother would move heaven and hell to make sure Annabeth never came into contact with the Jackson’s again. They knew from experience it was impossible to change Athena’s mentality, so they offered their support as best they could, whether it was a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent to, they always provided the unconditional love that families were supposed to.

Annabeth was so lucky to have these three as her chosen family, without them, she didn’t know what her life would be like. She more than likely would have quit gymnastics years ago, once her mother had taken all the fun away. Hopefully, she’d be back with them for good by the end of week. She didn’t want to tell them about her plan just yet, certain events had to unfold perfectly before she wanted to get anyone’s hopes up.

***

The next two days were like a dream, they spent an entire day at Disney, trying to squeeze in as many parks as possible. Percy was determined to do all four, Annabeth and Chiron both thought that may be a bit ambitious and taxing on their bodies only two days after Nationals. But Percy was determined and persistent, acting as their drill sergeant, getting their group from place to place. Annabeth used to think he only got this diligent for gymnastics but it turns out Percy took getting through all of Disney World just as seriously.

They spent the day enjoying each other’s company. The only time the topic of gymnastics came up, was Percy explaining how he needed to lose weight as he ate ice cream shaped like Mickey Mouse while they were in line for Space Mountain.

Chiron smiled like the mad hatter, “I’m gonna hold you to that Jackson.”

Sally looked worried but before she could protest or express her concerns Percy was already explaining, “It’s not like I have a body image problem or anything, I think it would just help my gymnastics be a bit cleaner and lighter. Plus for rings, if I lost like ten pounds it would be more like a thousand.”

Chiron and Annabeth laughed while Sally was clearly confused.

“What he means is at the lowest point on the rings, when pulling himself up and down, his body weight is almost 20% more.” Chiron explained.

“So if you lose ten pounds, it’s more like you’re lifting 200 pounds less,” Annabeth couldn’t help but correct him.

Sally finally relented and saw her son’s point. The less Sally knew about behind the scenes of gymnastics the better. She was a worrier and wanted Percy to be happy, healthy, and safe. She understood the necessary measures it took to become one of the best gymnasts in the world, but the idea of Percy and Annabeth executing those measures for years always wracked her with panic and dread. For everyone’s best interest, it was better to leave the work necessary to achieve their goals on the down-low.

The rest of the night happened in a rush without any further incident as they tried to make it to every ride before the park closed.

After their final ride, Thunder Mountain, they began to make the long trek back to the parking lot.

Percy asked, “Can we come back when were Olympic Champions? Maybe even go to Universal too?”

“If we come in October, we can go to Halloween Horror Nights too,” Annabeth added excitedly.

Sally smiled, “Sure, when you become Olympic Champions we’ll come back for an extended vacation.”

***

Their last full day in Florida was spent at the beach, playing in the water, building sandcastles, and relaxing.

They swam and jumped over the waves for hours, every time Annabeth had wanted to get out, Percy had begged for just twenty more minutes. The water seemed to give him the same amount of energy being in the gym did. In a different life, Percy may have been a swimmer, instead of a gymnast, training for the Olympics.

Later in the day, Annabeth and Percy laid out next to each other in the sun, while Sally and Chiron talked amongst themselves under an umbrella.

She turned to Percy, “I feel like a normal kid on vacation.”

Percy smiled, “Right? This feels weird, I can’t remember the last time we just got to hang out and do nothing.”

Annabeth agreed, “Seriously. I’m so ready to get back in the gym too, my body feels rejuvenated and ready to go.”

Suddenly, Percy jumped up unable to be stationary for any longer, “Let’s see who can do the most back handsprings in a row.” He ran down closer to the water, where the sand was more firm and easier for tumbling.

Annabeth was right on his heels.

Chiron was calling from his seat, “Don’t break anything or I’ll have to kill you both.”

***

The next day at Orlando International Airport, Annabeth’s real life was harshly thrown back in her face as her family had to split off in a different direction to get to their separate terminal. She hadn’t told them yet that she was in possession of two plane tickets, one to New York City and the other to San Francisco.

What her mother lacked in love, she tried to make up for with the use of Annabeth's own credit card.

Annabeth pulled her luggage off to the side and sat with her back up against the large floor to ceiling windows. She called Piper while she watched the planes move back and forth from the gates in a complex dance.

The conversation she would have with Piper would determine which city she returned to.

Luckily, she answered right away. Without any greeting, Piper said, “I got it all. Our Mission was a success.”

“You’re serious?” Annabeth replied incredulously. Annabeth had asked her friend for a huge and almost impossible task. But Piper was so casual about it all.

“So little faith in me Chase? I was in and out, without any notice. It’s all being currently shipped to the address you sent me.”

“I owe you, big time.” It was an enormous understatement. 

“That works out perfectly because my dad has a movie that will be filming in your city soon, so I hope you don’t mind if Hedge and I crash your gym.”

“After everything you’ve done for me the past few days, I’m sure something can be arranged.”

She ended their conversation and rushed off to the gate leaving for New York City. Annabeth quickly pushing past individuals from all walks of life, families, business people, and airport employees all the while an enormous grin on her face.

Annabeth ran up to the gate and flung her ticket and boarding pass at the young flight attendant. Clearly startled, the other woman said, “perfect timing, we were just about to finish boarding, you're the last one on.”

She thanked the woman and quickly made her way down the air bridge before anyone changed their minds and decided Annabeth was too late and wouldn’t be allowed to board the plane. When she crossed through the threshold and greeted the flight attendants, she let out a breath Annabeth didn’t realize she was holding.

Walking down the center aisle, she received a few sideways glances but not the one she was desperate to see. When she saw him, her heart began to pound.

Percy sat in the middle seat, his head leaned back, with eyes shut and headphones in his ears. Sally still typing away at her laptop must have sensed Annabeth's presence coming down the center aisle. Their eyes met with wide smiles. Chiron, who sat directly behind them raised his eyebrows as if to say, it’s about time.

She tapped Percy on the shoulder, “Is this seat taken?”

Chapter Text

All of the exhaustion and fatigue from the past ten days caught up to Percy as soon as he took his seat on the airplane. These had been some of the best days of Percy’s life, until the realization that Annabeth would have to return to California came screaming back as they separated to go to their own respective terminals at the airport.

He should have been focusing on the ten days’ worth of school work that had piled up while he was in Orlando, but he just couldn’t bring himself to concentrate on anything besides the inside of his eyelids. So with his headphones in and music blaring, Percy leaned his head back and began to fall asleep.

After what couldn’t have been too long, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. If he was lucky Percy would have fallen asleep through the majority of the flight and this was the flight attendant with snacks.

“Is this seat taken?” The voice was one he would know anywhere, in any universe. His mind was reeling, trying to search for an explanation. Percy had to be dreaming because surely Annabeth would have told him…

But when he opened his eyes there she was. Her blonde hair falling in princess curls down to her back, her gray eyes fierce, waiting for him to say something.

Percy’s mind blanked, he forgot how to form words, so instead, he tried to jump out of his seat to hug her.

But, he forgot that he was wearing his seatbelt. Percy’s body that was so graceful and poised over the weekend, was now thrown back against the seat in an embarrassing heap.

Annabeth laughed as he fumbled with the buckle. Once free he crushed his best friend into a hug, she dropped her bags and returned the gesture.

A chipper voice interrupted their reunion. “As we prepare for takeoff, I’m going to have to ask you to stow your bags in one of the overhead bins, then take your seat and fasten your seatbelt.”

They were the only two non-airline employees standing, the other passengers were all staring daggers as if they were the reason the plane hadn’t taken off yet.

Percy let Annabeth take his seat in the middle of the row, as he threw her duffle bag above their heads and took the seat next to her on the aisle.

The plane began to back away from the gate while the attendants began their in-flight safety speech. Instead of paying attention to this crucial information, the way Percy and all other rational people did in case of an emergency, his mother was shooting off questions for Annabeth.

Percy was also curious to know the answers, however, they had an entire two-hour flight for that. Plus the subway ride back to the apartment. Right now they all should have been focused on the emergency exits and the floatation devices located under the seats, amongst the other crucial safety aspects of the plane.

“Do your parents know you’re here? How’d you get on this flight? Why didn’t you say anything before?”

Annabeth took a deep breath and explained her story (Even though the safety speech was still in progress!). How she knew she had to leave Jupiter Gymnastics and concocted a plan during the practices before Nationals.

“I asked my friend Piper who also lives in California,” Her voice started off confident, then seemed to wane. She was lying about something probably for Sally’s sake. If his mother thought that Annabeth was in danger or had lied to her family, Sally would be honor-bound by the mom code to intervene somehow. “If she would stop by my father’s house and grab a few of my essentials and ship them back to New York so I could come here right away and get back to training. Sally, Chiron, I was hoping I could stay with one of you until development camps ended when I could figure something out with my mother.”

Percy held his breath waiting to see if his mother was going to buy her story. He sighed in relief when Sally said, “Of course you can stay with us. We’ll work something out as soon as we get back.”

Percy had to get the real story out of her. He was dying to know what actually was happening. He stretched his arms out dramatically and yawned loudly.

“Man, I’m so tired right now, I can’t wait to get some sleep.” He was trying to plant the seed in Sally’s mind, Percy knew she never slept well during competitions, she worried too much for that. So hopefully she’d catch some much-needed rest in the air and leave Percy and Annabeth time alone to talk.

Luckily, Sally followed suit. She yawned, put her work away, and within 30 minutes of being in the air both his mother and Chiron were asleep.

Percy glared at Annabeth, “Okay, I’d like the real story now.”

She smiled, “I’m so glad I caught myself because at first, I didn’t even think about how this would sound to your mom or Chiron.” She paused.

Percy rolled his hands in a ‘Go on’ gesture. 

Annabeth bit her lip, in a sheepish gesture that was so adorable and captivating, Percy had to force his brain to focus on her next words. “I had Piper sneak into my dad’s house and grab all my stuff to ship it to me at Olympia. I figured it’ll take them a couple of weeks at least to notice I’m not in San Francisco anymore.”

Percy stared at her in shock, his mouth wide open. At first, he didn’t know what to say, so after a moment of hesitation he settled on, “You’re a genius, and out of your mind.”

She shook her head, “I’m just desperate. I wouldn’t have lasted there for much longer. They wanted me to put a side somi in my beam routine. Can you imagine? The ugliest move in all of gymnastics in my routine. I would’ve thrown up.”

He laughed, “You don’t have to further convince me of their evilness, I’m not complaining, I just don’t want this to blow up in our faces.”

“I’ve thought this all through. Once they realize I’m gone do you really think my stepmom is going to let my dad believe it’s a good idea to haul me and all my stuff back across the country again? Plus Jupiter only talks to my mom and there’s no way she’s going to come to Olympia or your apartment to force me back to California. Especially when she knows she was wrong to send me there in the first place. It’s about 90% foolproof.”

Behind them, a throat cleared, and a gruff whisper spoke up, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of that.”

Percy and Annabeth turned their heads slowly, Chiron was clearly wide awake and poking his head through the space between their seats. “We’re just going to discuss the plan for your upgrades and that’s it.”

The plane hit a spot of turbulence, Percy’s stomach lurched as he squeezed his eyes tight in an effort to block out his surroundings. Percy grabbed the armrests until his fingers began to ache from the strength of his grip.

He forgot how to breathe as Annabeth pried Percy’s fingers from the seat and entwined her fingers with his. She knew how much he hated flying and always worked to try and ease his terror by taking his mind off the fact that they were speeding through the air at 35,000 feet with nothing to protect them whatsoever.

For the rest of the flight, Chiron and Annabeth helped distract Percy by mapping out their upcoming plans of action for any upgrades they wanted to complete before the end of the month when development camps started.

Percy didn’t realize how successful this tactic was until the plane's wheels touched down at JFK without Percy having a panic attack.

They were able to quickly exit the airport and catch a train that would finally take them home. Percy loved traveling, especially for gymnastics, but there was no feeling in the world like returning to New York City.

“Annabeth, why don’t you come home with us now, and we’ll get everything situated once you’ve settled back in and had a decent night's rest.”

Percy had been expecting this from Sally, and he was sure that Annabeth was too. Sally always treated Annabeth like the daughter she never had, but after this statement, Annabeth seemed to release a sigh of relief, as if she was anticipating just being pushed off onto someone else again.

Chiron agreed with Sally, gave Annabeth orders to be at the gym early tomorrow morning to start training, now that she had officially finished out the school year in California. Percy would catch-up after his own school day was finished. Even though he didn’t think it was necessary to attend on a Friday and have a 1-day school week, but Sally was adamant.

Before they all separated ways and Chiron headed back to Olympia, he pulled Annabeth off to the side to speak with her semi-privately. Percy was able to hear just barely as Chiron said, “When should I expect your belongings to get to Olympia?”

Annabeth smiled wide and bright, “In about 2-3 business days, don’t worry it won’t be too much.”

***

Over the next few days, Percy and Annabeth fell into a strict post-meet routine, it was a whirl of training, conditioning, and studying. The plan they created on the plane had been immediately implemented so the two of them would be even better and more consistent by development camp in the next week.

Annabeth was so determined to improve that it was a bit of a struggle for Percy to keep up. His skill that he had prematurely started calling “The Jackson” was becoming more consistent. Not enough to make Chiron comfortable, but Percy was trying his best. He had been spending a lot of time on high bar recently, his bare minimum goal for World’s was at least a medal on his best event.

The likelihood of Percy winning the All-Around gold medal at Worlds right now was slim, no amount of positivity would make him better than gymnasts who were older than him and had been training for much longer, at most he could hope for a team medal and one from the high bar. If he managed to medal on anything else, would just be the icing on the cake.

Annabeth was killing it. She was putting in 8 hour days at a minimum. Chiron some nights had to force her to leave with Percy. Her actions were borderline too hyper-focused, but he understood. It would have driven him crazy to come in second by such a small margin. Her main focus was on beam and floor, the two events that were the cause of her silver medal. Had her beam difficulty been just a little higher than it may have made up for her blunder on floor. And if she hadn’t stumbled on floor, then her low beam difficulty wouldn’t have mattered. This was a dangerous way of thinking, but Annabeth was too stubborn to actually listen when Percy told her not to push too hard. So for right now, he was watching Annabeth closely, and if he saw any alarming behavior, Percy would drag his friend back from the edge of insanity. He had just gotten her back, and he wasn’t about to let her go because of an injury or a mental block.

Having Annabeth in the gym again was like getting a severed limb back. They resumed training as if they had never spent any time apart.

Percy had to focus on floor and vault, after ripping open parts of his hands from so much time on high bar, he needed a bit of a break. Plus working on improving consistency and potentially upgrading on those events wouldn’t hurt either.

To keep practices interesting Chiron always tried to make games where they’d compete against each other. By pitting Percy and Annabeth against each other Chiron was harnessing their natural competitiveness to help both athletes improve.

They had made it a game to see who could stick the most tumbling passes. So far, it was a tie. Everything was going smoothly, nothing out of the ordinary. They were both determined to win.

Percy was actually having fun in the gym again.

After watching Annabeth land and stick a stunning double layout, it was his turn. Percy had been working on his double-twisting double back.

However, he had generated too much power from his round off- back handspring and was twisting too fast, he had lost sight of the ground and had no idea where he was in the air. Percy had to commit to the skill, he couldn’t bail out now, so he spun as hard as he could.

He was shocked when his feet hit the ground. He had a huge jump backward from all the extra force he had generated.

“Percy! That was amazing! Annabeth was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

“That was terrifying,” Despite his fear, Percy felt amped. The adrenaline pumping through his body made him feel like he could fly.

Chiron stood dumbstruck on the side of the floor. Percy couldn’t tell if he was angry or scared. Before he let his coach say anything Percy explained, “I swear I didn’t mean to do that, halfway through I realized I was pulling too hard and just kinda kept with it. How many twists was that?”

Chiron blinked a few times trying to regain brain functionality. “It was at least 4, but we can check the cameras later to be sure.”

Annabeth was smiling and clearly impressed, “Would it be crazy for you to train that?”

“Considering Percy has never even trained a triple-double, I’d say Yes,” Chiron had fully recovered from his shock and awe and had now resumed his role as the reasonable and realistic coach. “However, if we want to train smart and work up to that so you don’t burn yourself out, I don’t think it’d take much time for you to get that Perce.”

***

Just as much work Percy and Annabeth were putting in at the gym, so were their local UPS delivery drivers. Over the weekend, practically everything that Annabeth had ever owned had shown up on the front steps of the Big House.

The Big House was a large 4 story colonial-era home, attached to the gym, a large warehouse-like structure, at the first floor. That’s where the waiting rooms, one for parents to either sit and watch their child or try and ease their boredom, and the other for athletes to wait for practice to start, take a break, or complete their homework. There were also front offices, one for clerical work and the other a shop selling snacks, drinks, leotards, grips, Advil, and anything else that a gymnast could ever need.

The top 3 floors then served as Chiron’s home. No one ever was allowed up there, except for Percy and Annabeth.

They were the only exception to the rule.

Annabeth’s belongings were now taking up two guest bedrooms and part of the attic.

Chiron was slowly losing his mind. “You’re lucky I like you, or I’d charge you rent.” He had told her during their day off on Sunday afternoon.

Annabeth laughed, “I’m not living here, so you’re more like a storage facility.”

As Chiron maneuvered around several boxes piled on the floor he replied, “I’ll be sending you my bill regardless.”

Sunday was their only day off, they normally used this time to let their bodies rest, but now it served as the only time that the two of them could catch up on all the work that accumulated throughout the week.

Chiron left Annabeth and Percy as she was working on organizing her belongings and he began to finish up the last of his schoolwork from Nationals. Tomorrow was the last day to turn any of it in for credit, then all he had to do was take his final exams and he would also be done with his sophomore year.

Percy had arranged with his teachers to do that early so he could start focusing on gymnastics without any unnecessary distractions.

Annabeth finished what she was working on just as Percy was beginning his final math assignment. He had been working so much that just holding a pencil was starting to hurt the rips in his hands.

Percy had spent much of the previous night, peeling chunks of skin the size of quarters off his palms and then treating the gashes in his hands appropriately. That way, when he got back in the gym tomorrow, his hands wouldn’t be in excruciating pain. Hopefully.

He knew he had finally complained and whimpered enough when Annabeth threw a small tube of Orajel and a roll of tape his way. Percy spread the Orajel liberally over his palms to numb the pain and then wrapped his hands so nothing could get inside his wounds.

While he did so, Annabeth quickly grabbed his assignment and finished the last few problems he had left.

Percy stared agape. Annabeth offered her help often, but she never actually did the work for him.

Annabeth said, “I’m starving, and I can’t wait much longer for you to finish or my stomach will start eating itself.”

She did not have to tell him twice, Percy packed up all of his schoolwork and grabbed his gym bag.

They sped out of the Big House, calling out goodbye to Chiron as they went before he was able to give them an extra work out.

Chiron called from the front porch, “I want at least a 3 mile run from you two by the end of the day. I expect proof.”

After a few subway transfers and one quick stop at a local food truck, Percy and Annabeth finally made it back to the apartment.

Grover was already waiting for them in Percy’s living room, having been given a spare key, just so he didn’t have to wait out in the hall when they inevitably got back to Manhattan later than they anticipated.

Upon seeing her friend, Annabeth practically tackled him to the ground. Grover yelped as he tried to keep his balance.

“I’m so glad you’re here, I’ve missed you so much.”

Percy cut in before Grover could respond, “Sorry we’re so late but, someone had to organize their 25,000 leotards.” For that, he earned a light smack on the arm.

Grover was bewildered, “I missed you too.” Then almost sheepishly he added, “I watched the competition on TV, you both did great, I can’t believe you actually can do all that. You’re amazing.”

After their mini-vacation, Nationals had seemed lifetimes ago. It still didn’t seem real to Percy that he had won.  

Grover’s congratulations and praise made Percy’s head spin. It was a different sensation entirely from the strangers on the internet and his family gushing about his gymnastics. Grover knew practically nothing about the sport, and the fact that he was interested and amazed because of Percy was awesome.                         

They spent the night catching up, talking about the meet, and watching TV together. They barely noticed when Sally came home, too enraptured in their own conversations. Until someone followed her in through the door.

Mr. Blofis was standing in Percy’s apartment. Hands self-consciously shoved in his pockets.

They heard Sally say, “Want anything to drink?”

“Could you spare a cup of coffee?”

In a sickeningly sweet and flirty tone, he heard his mom reply, “I’m sure I could scrounge something up.”

Percy was about to make a fake puking gesture to make his friends laugh, but one murderous look from Annabeth made him stop in his tracks.

Grover sighed, “I’m so glad you’re back Annabeth, it’s refreshing to have someone else around with some sense.”

Annabeth laughed as she headed into the kitchen to see Mr. Blofis, Percy wasn’t going to hold anything against her, Blofis had been her favorite teacher after all.

Somehow, Annabeth made the encounter with Blofis not awkward, as she talked about her school in California, the competition in Orlando, and everything in between. Grover, the traitor even joined in leaving Percy sitting in the living room alone.

Percy had tried to convince himself to be more open to his mother’s relationship. He was happy as long as Sally was. It was just weird that the man making her happy was his English teacher, it would definitely take some getting used to, he reasoned with himself. Baby steps, Percy, progress over perfection, and any other wise words of wisdom that Chiron often spouted during practice that would apply to the current situation.

As the TV went to a commercial and Percy’s boredom grew to extraordinary heights, he decided to follow suit and join his friends in the kitchen with his English teacher by making a show of needing to tend to his injured hands.

He grabbed the tube of Neosporin on the counter and began to unwrap his bandages, revealing deep rugged gashes at the tops of his palms. They were fresh and newly ripped as of yesterday, so the gashes were a light pink around the edges. Hopefully, they would start to heal overnight, or tomorrow’s practice was not going to be fun for Percy.

It was painfully awkward at first, but luckily, Grover helped ease the tension.

“Oh my gosh, Percy, what happened to your hands?”

Rips were a part of a gymnast’s life that many people didn’t know about. Hands could only take so much swinging on bars before the skin split open. Over the years Annabeth and Percy had created the perfect rip routine. Bars being their best events, this was a necessity when they were young. Now they have the treatment of their hands down to a science.

He explained that to Grover with Annabeth jumping in to add certain details that he had left out.

Blofis watched on in amusement until his role as Percy’s teacher jumped to the surface.

“Ready for the final tomorrow? And to turn in your missing work?”

Sally looked at Percy expectantly, also curious to know the answer.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, I’ve been studying and working all day to get ready for all of those tests.”

“All of them? Tomorrow?” His teacher was clearly surprised.

Percy nodded, “Yeah, I’m crazy stressed right now but once I’m done with school I can focus on gymnastics and getting ready for camp next week, so it’ll be worth it, once it’s all done.”

Paul smiled, “Good luck then. The school work and camp. My niece is obsessed with the both of you, she made my sister tape Nationals, and they have to watch it every night before she goes to bed. She’s practically counting down the days until World’s.”

She wasn’t the only one. Since they had come back from Florida, Percy and Annabeth had acquired a significant following at Olympia. They were constantly being watched when younger athletes were training in their own classes. Rounds of applause now broke out every time Percy and Annabeth finished a bar routine or a vault. At first, it was awkward as hell, neither of them knew how to respond, were they supposed to thank these kids who felt the need to applaud them every chance they got?  Percy and Annabeth did, until they both became a bit blind to the cheers, as it faded into the white noise of the gym.

Chiron had even started using the younger gymnasts as a way to see how well Percy and Annabeth would hold up and perform under pressure. If he wanted to test a certain skill or full event, he’d have the younger gymnasts stop what they were doing and watch Percy or Annabeth. That would probably be the closest they could get to manufacturing what development camps were going to be like. It would be so embarrassing to fall in front of those kids, plus it’d feel a bit like they were letting them down. To Percy, these kids believed in both of them so much that he refused to fail them.

Even their Instagram and Twitter accounts even spiked in followers days after Nationals, it was a crazy experience to go from 10,000 followers to almost a quarter of a million. Now they were even verified as if they were actual celebrities.

However, all that seemed pretty vain and arrogant, so Percy had no idea how to respond without feeling like an ass.

Thankfully he was saved by Annabeth’s reply, “That’s so sweet, it’s so surreal that we actually have fans, I didn’t realize how many there were until Nationals. It was so crazy.”

“You guys deserve it!” Grover piped up, “Before watching you all on TV, I had no idea any of that stuff was humanely possible, let alone being done by people that I know.”

They all laughed as Sally offered them all cookies she had baked the previous day.

Those cookies had been tempting Percy since they were pulled from the oven. Everyone took one, except Percy who was still determined to lose a bit of weight.

When he explained that to his mom she said, “But I didn’t think you had started your new diet yet.” It wasn’t like Percy to turn down Sally’s homemade blue chocolate chip cookies, and he knew that she was still worried about the prospect of him trying to lose weight.

“I haven’t, Chiron has a dietician or a nutritionist coming to the gym tomorrow so we can work out a plan, but I have a heavy suspicion that staying away from sugar is definitely going to be a part of that plan.”

“I must have been gone longer than I thought because that was an actual reasonable inference you just made,” Annabeth said.

“Ha-Ha, you are so funny,” Percy deadpanned, “Actually,” he turned to look at his teacher. “You gotta blame Mr. Blofis, as much as I try to tune his class out, he still manages to force knowledge into my brain.”

Paul smiled, “All part of my job.”

When Percy wasn’t thinking about how weird this interaction was and the fact that his English teacher was dating his mom, this whole thing was pretty nice. Annabeth was right, Paul was a pretty good guy, and from this point on, Percy would try and make a much larger effort to be positive about the situation. Sally worried about so much, he may as well take one thing off her plate. Plus she deserved to have someone who treated her well.

They stood in the kitchen talking for at least another hour, but it was becoming harder and harder for  Percy and Annabeth to stifle their yawns.

Together, Blofis and Grover left, leaving Percy and Annabeth to get ready for bed. Tonight was Annabeth’s night to sleep in Percy’s bed, they had been rotating back and forth, at least until they could figure out a more permanent solution once they got back from Camp.

Annabeth hadn’t made a decision where she’d rather stay the majority of the time the apartment or the Big House, Sally was already prepared to get another bed placed in Percy’s room, or even to section off part of the living room to turn it into a room for Annabeth. Percy was hoping that she’d decide to leave her stuff at the Big House and stay with Percy and Sally in the city. He sometimes still felt like she wasn’t actually here, that this was too good to be true and he’d wake up and Annabeth would be gone. It always made him feel better when he could turn over and see her in his room, or hear her soft snores coming from the living room.

Annabeth sat on his bed, her eyes grew wide and she drew in a sharp breath.

“What’s wrong?” Percy’s panic was immediate.

“We never went for that run…”

Percy smiled, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

Annabeth and Percy had been pretty much inseparable since she had gotten back from California. Until today when Percy had to spend the entire afternoon finishing his final exams and once he got to the gym, he was immediately sent into the recovery room where he was meeting with the nutritionist about his weight loss plan.

With the music blaring in the gym, Annabeth was alone working drills on the laser beam before she mustered up enough courage to take these new skills to the low beam and then finally the high beam.

A laser beam was a flat practice beam that sat on the floor about three inches wider than a normal beam. This was one of the first steps to learning any new skill on the beam, it helped a gymnast feel comfortable and get the muscle memory for the skill down before moving to the higher balance beams.

Her goal was to do one or two of the new skills successfully on the high beam at Olympia and then save the rest for practice at development camp, that way she wouldn’t overwork herself and risk an injury.

“Was that a Switch Split Leap that I just saw?” Percy called out barely audible over the music. Walking out of the recovery room, Chiron was close behind Percy, along with a woman in a rainbow tie-dye tracksuit. Percy immediately began doing laps around the gym, while Chiron walked the nutritionist out.

“It’s starting to look pretty good right? I’m thinking about trying to connect it to a Popa, wouldn’t that be so cool, I don’t think I’ve seen that connection before.”

Percy excitedly began to discuss the prospect with her as he continued his stretching and warm-up routine.

Chiron listening quietly to the conversation was ever the realist, he looked at her like they were discussing Annabeth's upcoming trip to Mars.

He turned the music down to a more reasonable level as he said, “I’ll support you in that endeavor, but you don’t even do that connection on the floor, and you want to try the beam? We also need to make sure you’ll get connection value for it, no point in taking the risk if you won’t get rewarded.”

Annabeth knew he was right, she wished that there could be an originality bonus or the connection values actually made taking risks worth it. She couldn’t stand the same old cookie-cutter routines.

Annabeth needed her routines to be original and innovative. It made gymnastics so much more exciting for everyone involved, athlete and spectator.

“In my defense, I have landed it on the laser beam.”

“And how was your form? On the seven-inch wide practice beam?” Chiron asked with a sly grin, already knowing her answer.

Annabeth sighed. “It was gross.”

Percy piped up from where he was stretching, “But you have to land it before you can start to make it pretty.”

“Okay, let’s see your switch leap.”

Annabeth took a deep breath and performed the skill, trying her hardest to make sure her legs were split completely 180 degrees.

Percy cheered for her as she landed, “Nice!” He called out.

“Now let’s see your Popa,” Chiron instructed.

This one Annabeth needed a bit more practice with, her straddle jump was always somewhat iffy on beam, and now adding a full turn seemed crazy.

She took a deep breath and went for it. She knew instantly it wasn’t as good as her split leap. She didn’t even land with both feet on the laser beam.

Luckily though for her, Chiron smiled. “We can work with that.”

***

The rest of the practices during the week, went by quickly, they spent their mornings strengthening and conditioning their bodies, so they would be able to keep up with the selection camp training sessions. Chiron had emphasized the importance of this since according to him the National Team Training regimen was intense. They had to make a good impression on the days leading up to the competition that would determine the team for Worlds.

The afternoons were reserved for working drills for new skills and their routines. Ultimately, the end of camp would boast the most important competition of Annabeth and Percy’s life. This is where they’d both have to try and beat out some of the best gymnasts in the country for a spot in Italy. It would be the toughest matchup of their lives.

Each day left their bodies sore but stronger than the previous workout.

Their recovery time also took much longer, some nights they’d be in the recovery room for two hours, trying to heal and protect their bodies for the next days' practice.

This was the best time of the year for Annabeth, she loved pushing herself to her maximum and to see how much she could improve.

Having Percy by her side was even better, they were both determined to better themselves. They pushed and supported each other to almost their breaking points. With Chiron’s circuits and full-body exercises, Annabeth felt stronger than ever, and she knew this would not be the case if she was still at Jupiter Gymnastics.

At the start of July, they began packing and making lists of all the things they would need for Camp, which would last about a month.

They had suitcases fully loaded, so it seemed like they were going on an extended vacation.

You'll need leotards for every day, they have a strict dress code, Percy you have to wear singlets, not shirts. Make sure you have enough shorts and pants too.”

They both groaned, at Olympia, they didn’t regularly wear leotards when practicing. Only on special days leading up to a meet, just so they’d be used to it come competition time. Normally, Annabeth was in a sports bra and Nike Pro shorts and Percy was only in shorts. They loved training comfortably, but if this is what it meant to be on the National Team then that was a small price to pay.

Luckily, the National Team Training Center was located upstate so it was only a few hour drive for them, whereas other gymnasts from across the country would have hour-long plane flights.

However, on the downside, the gym, which is used for the National Team to train was Athena’s personal gym that she owned, and as the National Team coordinator, it would be the place they all trained at before any major international competitions.

It would practically be the home of the Olympic team leading up to Greece.

Together, the three of them left at sunrise, from Olympia. No spectators were allowed, even at the selection competition, so Sally had to stay in Manhattan and wait for word of both Percy and Annabeth’s fate.

Percy and Annabeth fell asleep as soon as they hit the highway, and only woke up, once Chiron parked in front of the vast expanse of the National Training Center compound.

Chiron locked the car door, just as Percy was trying to get out. Chiron turned in his seat and met both their eyes.

“One thing before we head in there. Just know, we are a united front. Always. If you’re ever uncomfortable or if you don’t want to do something or if you’re injured, you come to me first, right away. I don’t care about the hierarchy that is going to exist once we walk through those doors. You both come to me first for everything. No matter how simple. You are under no circumstances able to go alone anywhere, with anyone. Either you are together or I’m with you. Do I make myself clear?”

His voice was strong and stoic. It garnered no argument, whatsoever. The nods of their heads apparently was not enough to convince Chiron of how serious the two of them were taking his speech.

“Many of those people in there, do not have the gymnast’s best interests at heart. All they care about is winning and they will do whatever it takes and risk anyone’s health and well-being if it means even the slightest chance at a medal. I will not let them treat you two like you are expendable. Because you aren’t.”

Annabeth and Percy looked at one another, Chiron never normally spoke so openly about some of the poorer and more toxic habits of the gymnastics community, it was something they all knew existed but rarely talked about.

“Yes, Coach.” They agreed in unison, more formally, so Chiron knew that they were both taking him seriously.

He smiled, “Let’s do this.”

***

The compound of the National Training Development center was enormous. The place was set up as if it were its own city, it was probably even bigger than many of the towns in Upstate New York that they passed on their drive up.

There was one gym, about ten times the size of Olympia in the middle of the compound. Surrounding it were dozens of cabins for the athletes to stay and sleep in, like a legitimate summer camp.  Farther past was the mess hall and cafeteria, and more cabins for the coaches. Then several buildings for the different types of medical bays. Past that was a track and other outdoor equipment for the gymnasts to get in an alternative workout if they wanted. There was even a lake with kayaks, to the untrained eye, this could appear to be the Ultimate Summer Camp. But up on a hill stood an imposing and somewhat ominous modern style home with floor to ceiling Adirondack windows. It was the only thing throwing off the whole Summer Camp vibe.

Athena’s house.

Built strategically so she could overlook the athletes as they worked outside. There was no doubt in Annabeth’s mind that Athena also watched the gym cameras from the comfort of her living room to see how her gymnasts were performing when she wasn't physically in the gym herself.

For that, Annabeth was thankful. The less she’d see of her mother in person, the better. And the less likely the other athletes were to put two and two together of Annabeth and Athena’s relationship.

That was the ideal situation for Percy too, he was practically a guarantee for the World’s Team. Athena was vindictive, not stupid, so Percy would definitely make the team for Rome, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to make his life a living hell along the way. The less they saw of each other, the better.

They checked in at the main office building like they were at a resort, where they were given their room assignments and the schedule for the next month and a welcome packet with a map of the property and other important details.

The blonde woman behind the desk practically threw the packets at them, with instructions to review the documents as a team and to not be late for the first team work out tomorrow morning.

Chiron walked them over to a pavilion where they sat at a picnic table, going through the documents together.

“I knew they’d have strict rules here, but this is insane.” Percy was dumbfounded.

Everything was strictly scheduled eating, sleeping, working out, and even any potential contact with the outside world.

 If it could be regulated or monitored, it was.  

Especially, the dress code. Only leotards and they had to be from the brand GK. No exceptions.

They even had a certain assigned way to lineup before and after practice. Tallest to shortest. From left to right. Meaning more than likely Annabeth would be at the very end of the women's line, and Percy would be somewhere in the middle of the men's.

There was even a chant they were required to say after the end of each and every practice. They practiced it together, unenthused.

Chiron smiled, “welcome to the big leagues' kids, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.”

***

They got settled into their cabins, boy cabins on the left, and girls on the right.

Annabeth began to unpack in her own Cabin 6, with Percy across the way in Cabin 3 doing the same with a plan to meet at the lake in an hour.

They were both really eager and excited to see who their roommates would be for the next month. One of the best parts of gymnastics was your teammates and building the relationships with the other athletes that you would be going into battle with.

Other gymnasts would start arriving very soon, with their only stipulation being to arrive before the evening meal at 6:00.

After dinner was when the real fun would start. If they were all able to escape their handlers.

Once everything was put away, she raced over to the lake to meet Percy.

“How many beds were in your cabin? Who do you think they’ll room you with?” Annabeth asked once she found him sitting on a dock, his feet dangling just above the water.

“There was only one, that’s strange right?”

Annabeth was able to resist saying the first thing that came to her mind, which was “Yes.”

In her cabin there were three beds total, she had figured that all the cabins would have looked the same. “Is there other furniture or anything?”

Percy shook his head. “One of everything, dresser, nightstand, and all that.”

Annabeth’s brain was whirling, there was no way this was an accident, it had to be intentional on the part of Athena, for sure. Annabeth knew her mother would try and punish her for leaving Jupiter Gymnastics and California altogether. But she had figured that punishment would be for her, not Percy.

Athena and her both knew what alienating Percy from the rest of the guys could do. One of the best parts of gymnastics was the camaraderie, the support from your fellow athletes, it was what helped gymnasts get through the rigorous training sessions. Having friends to talk to and hang out with is what kept them sane.

And now Athena was depriving Percy of that, and from the sullen look on his face, he had already come to the same conclusion.

She put on her best smile, one that Annabeth knew would catch her friend’s attention, “I’m sure it’s just a mistake that they’ll fix. We got here early, they may still have work to do.”

He smiled back at her, bright and wide. It made her knees week. “You may be right. It’s probably just a big misunderstanding. Come on, let’s go look around.”  Percy stood up from the dock, grabbed her hand, and started walking off towards the surrounding woods.

She followed reluctantly.

The only downside to knowing him better than Annabeth knew herself was that she could always tell when he was lying.

***

They spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the complex, trying to get their bearings straight and seeing what other amenities the place had to offer.

It was larger than even they had realized, there was a couple of tennis courts, a volleyball court, and even an Olympic sized swimming pool with diving boards. Beyond that was a full-blown spa and sauna.

Leave it to Athena to build the most outrageous and opulent training center the World probably had to offer.

Once the time for their physical therapy sessions began to approach, they both turned back towards the main area of buildings with a promise that they would be back to use the pool soon.

This was their first scheduled activity at camp. Normally at Olympia, Annabeth and Percy went to physical therapy twice a week, for about an hour, right before practice. Their therapist resided in Manhattan, so it was an easy and quick stop before they headed to Olympia.

Now it was about 100 yards between the gym and the therapy cabin. Once finished they had about 45 minutes before they were scheduled for their first short practice.

Tomorrow was when the tough work would begin.

They arrived a few minutes early, Chiron was already there, explaining to the therapist what it was that Annabeth and Percy needed done. Quickly, they were ushered to the tables and instructed to lay down. Heating pads were wrapped around their necks and placed under their lower backs.

They were left to sit and relax for ten minutes, Chiron sat in a chair between his two athletes.

“I’m thinking we just condition today, and start in earnest tomorrow. How does that sound?”

They agreed. Conditioning and strengthening their bodies was always something Annabeth and Percy enjoyed immensely. Many coaches used conditioning as a punishment, thankfully, Chiron was never the type. So where many athletes despised the large amounts of conditioning it took to become an elite gymnast, Chiron taught the two of them to have fun conditioning so it just became another part of their training regimen.

“They’re going to massage and scrap you, then I want you to do your exercises on the stretching bar and then you can meet me at the gym. I’m going to go set everything up. If they try and do anything else or skip something, call me and I’ll be back over here immediately.”

They both nodded and shooed him away. Two therapists replaced him and began removing the heating pads from them.

This next part was simultaneously, one of Annabeth’s favorite and least favorite parts of therapy. Massages. Some days her muscles were so tight, that a massage was torture and other day’s pure bliss.

The therapist working on Annabeth was currently digging her elbows into her lower back, she sighed in relief. Percy, on the table next to her, was writhing and squirming as his own therapist worked on his shoulders and upper back. That was their normal sore spot from all the time they spent on bars. But for once, because of all her beam work, Annabeth’s lower back was killing her.

After the massages, the moved on to the astym treatment. Something else that Annabeth had a love-hate relationship with. As they kept training harder and harder skills, they needed to make sure their bodies and muscles could keep up. The therapist used an instrument that looked like a plastic ice scraper, it was rubbed up and down certain areas of their body to break up any fibrosis and scar tissue that builds up to protect the overworked muscles. That often caused inflammation and tightness, but by scraping the muscles, it broke up the tissue so it was able to be smooth and reactive.  

Finally finished, they did a few exercises with a stretching bar to warm up their newly restored muscles, then they were eager to get to practice.

The gym was unlike any other Annabeth had been in, it was massive, with two stories, and dozens of pieces of each equipment. Already, there were several gymnasts who were practicing.

Four separate floor exercises took up space in the middle of the gym. One was currently being reserved by Chiron who had built and created an elaborate obstacle course.

“This is going to be fun,” Percy smiled, “I’m gonna wipe the floor with you.”

Annabeth’s competitive nature jumped out, she smiled back sweetly, “In your dreams.”

***

Later that night, after a nice cold shower, (it blew Annabeth’s mind that Athena would spend the money on an Olympic sized swimming pool, but chose to cut corners when it came to running water in the showers.) Annabeth returned to her Cabin to find Piper and Thalia sitting on their beds talking.

Piper jumped up from her bed with a squeal, she threw her arms around Annabeth.

“I can’t believe we get to be roommates this month, this is going to be awesome.”

Annabeth squeezed her friend back.

“Thank You Thank You Thank You, for everything.”

Piper rolled her eyes, “Don’t mention it, it’s what friends are for.”

Annabeth looked past Piper to Thalia, she was the one person Annabeth was nervous to see again. After all, Annabeth did just up and disappear after Nationals without a word to her or Jason.

“I’m sorry,” her words were pathetic, she knew, but they were the only ones Annabeth could manage.

To her surprise, Thalia pulled her into a tight and fierce hug.

“I understand, really I do. I’ve thought about doing what you did for years, but I’ve just never had the courage.”

“When you finally do, we’d be happy to have you at Olympia.”

She smiled, “I may take you up on that one day, especially after seeing you all practicing today. I can’t believe how much fun you were having. I can't believe you were allowed to smile. I’m happy for you, seriously. It’s good to know, not all coaches are like my father.”

Annabeth did truly wish that Thalia would take her up on the offer to come to Olympia, her and Jason both, they had such great potential that was being squandered by abusive coaches.

Even Piper was nodding along with Thalia’s words. Annabeth was again so thankful for Chiron. He always treated them as people first and athletes second. It was something she never realized was rare until the past few months.

Chiron always made sure they were enjoying themselves at practice. Like with the obstacle course he set up earlier, it had Annabeth and Percy laughing and competing against each other but working hard all the while.

He had incorporated all kinds of stations to work on the main areas of their bodies. It certainly worked, towards the end, after jumping over mats, dragging their bodies with just their arms, flipping over hurdles, climbing ropes, and a dozen other exercises, they had to push one of the giant block mats back and forth across the floor, and then box jump onto the mat once they got to each side of the floor.

Annabeth didn’t think she’d be able to finish, her body and muscles were shaking, her lungs tried their best to draw in breath. She almost quit, until she saw Percy. He was in just as bad of shape as Annabeth, but by the determination in his eyes, she knew he wasn’t giving up. So Annabeth pushed herself to keep up, to give 150% of her will and ability to finish the course.

At the end, they both fell down, their bodies almost giving up.

“Nope, you can’t lay down yet.” Chiron told them in his always aggravatingly composed voice, “Walk it off, get some water.”

Reluctantly, they peeled themselves off the floor and followed their given instructions.

“If you thought that was bad, just wait until the real training begins.”

Annabeth had never really grasped how lucky she was to have Chiron as a coach, he never yelled, belittled, or talked down to them. And on top of that, he never let the sport get boring. Chiron always put everything he had into being the best coach possible to make sure Annabeth and Percy would attain their goals.

It was only right, that they trained with the same intensity.

A sudden and sharp knock came from the door, Annabeth at first, thought it had to be Percy, but when she opened the door it was Hazel and Reyna on the other side. She threw her arms around her friends in greeting, they both clung to her.

“We have a few hours until curfew, anyone up for a card game or two?” Reyna asked with Hazel practically jumping up and down next to her in excitement.

They agreed, quickly making room on the floor, as they played, they talked, joked, and acted just like normal kids at a summer camp.

With Percy, Chiron, and her friends all together for the sole purpose of gymnastics, this month at camp was going to be awesome.

Chapter Text

This next month was going to be terrible.

It was the only thought circling around Percy’s head as he laid in bed, listening to the sound of laughter from the surrounding cabins.

Athena hated him, this Percy knew. But he never would have thought she would be so petty.

She couldn’t do anything to harm or punish Annabeth so she had to take her wrath out on Percy.  

There was no doubt in his mind that Athena had convinced herself that Annabeth’s return to New York was Percy’s fault and that she was still better off in California, despite the fact she came in second place at Nationals.

Had she been at Olympia, that first place spot would have without a doubt, belonged to Annabeth.

However, accepting responsibility and admitting when she was wrong was not a part of Athena’s skillset, so Percy had to accept the fact that he was going to be seriously screwed over here.

But, if this is what he had to endure to keep Annabeth by his side, then so be it. As much as he loved the guys and being able to hang out with male gymnasts his own age, Percy would still choose Annabeth over them every time.

Percy was partly consoled by the fact that Athena couldn’t be openly hostile and antagonistic towards him. Her revenge had to be served in a strategic and calculated manner, because as much as Athena didn’t like Percy, and the feeling was entirely mutual, she needed him.

If he wasn’t on the World’s team that could significantly reduce the USA’s chances of medaling.

Percy didn’t want to seem arrogant or conceited, but he had to be on the Team. Even if he did awful at the selection meet, the chances of Percy being put on the team were pretty good. He had won at Nationals by more than 3 points, which in gymnastics is a huge blowout. If Percy noticed that, so did everyone else in the gymnastics community. Percy knew he was the front runner for the World’s team, the USA needed his difficulty and execution scores if they wanted to stand any chance on the world stage. That wasn’t an insult to Percy’s teammates, just a note at how great all the other countries in the world were.

It’s what made these camps so important. They all needed to get better, to improve, to push themselves farther than they ever had before. Being able to work together as a team was crucial to building the bonds necessary to form a dedicated and successful team.

The men’s US gymnastics team hadn’t exactly been successful at past World’s competitions.

There was only one US man who had won the All-Around and no US team had ever won the gold medal.

Percy hoped he could change that.

***

The first day of camp started with a skills test.

They were all separated by teams and sent to different areas of the gym where assistant coaches with clipboards documented their progress on all different types of skills. Rope climbs with arms only, 60-second handstand holds, leg lifts, pull-ups, and a whole slew of other exercises.

This showed off their stamina and endurance while also helping the National team coaches know what weaknesses needed to be addressed first.

It was a strange experience, this skills test, the coaches recording their times and reps were completely silent, they didn’t even give a nod or any indication that they had done a decent job. It was the polar opposite of what went on at Olympia.

Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron were always either calling out encouragements, trash-talking, or laughing together. The complete silence was something that Percy didn’t think he’d get used to.

It was a comfort to find that many of the others felt the same way. At lunch later that afternoon, Percy and Annabeth sat with their group of friends, talking about the earlier test, upcoming workouts, and what they were going to do for fun. That was something they were all going to need to stay sane this month.

“Sunday we should spend the afternoon at the lake,” Percy suggested. Sundays were the only day they had just one practice in the morning. The remainder of the time was given to them to rest and recuperate however the athletes and their coaches saw fit.

“That would be so much fun!” Hazel agreed, with Leo, Frank, and Piper all in agreement.

It was their friends with more strict coaches, Reyna and the Graces, who seemed uncertain. Percy supposed they’d burn that bridge when they got to it, Sunday was still a long way away.

***

After lunch, Percy and Annabeth had a pretty long break before the first official National Team practice.

“Wanna go to the pool?”  Annabeth bumped her shoulder against his and smirked. She already knew what his answer would be,

He decided to surprise her by saying, “Are you just being nice to me because your mom is going out of her way to make my life a living hell?”

“Only a little, so you better take advantage of this while you can.” Annabeth smiled wide, to let him know she was just joking.

They separated briefly to change into their bathing suits and met back up at the beginning of the path that connected the entire Complex together.

Chiron was already waiting for them at the pool. He looked small sitting alone in the stands, meant for hundreds of people. He was looking at his phone intently. The Russians and Japanese were naming their World teams today, in Percy’s unqualified opinion that was a little too soon.

They ran the risk of missing out on gymnasts who hadn’t peaked yet or gymnasts still recovering from an injury. There were several gymnasts at their camp who were injured but came anyways to get in a workout or two and remind Athena that they would be healthy soon.  

“I expected you two a little sooner,” He sat down his phone and walked down the steps so he was standing on the enormous pool deck.

Percy expected Michael Phelps to walk in any minute, this place was so massive and official.

“Any results yet, from Russia or Japan?” Annabeth asked.

Chiron shrugged, “They’re coming in slowly. We can talk about it later. We may have a coaches meeting tonight to analyze and compare scores. I’m sure Athena is already crunching numbers.”

Annabeth snorted and rolled her eyes, “She’s really gonna take it that seriously? Shouldn’t we be focusing on us? We are the only ones we can control, after all.”

She had a point, just because someone had a high difficulty score didn’t necessarily mean that person would be at the top of the leaderboard. There were plenty of other factors that went into winning.

“Do you want to be the one to try and talk sense into her?” Chiron asked with a wry smile.

Annabeth jumped into the pool instead of answering him. Percy was right behind her.

They swam exactly two laps, before realizing they hadn’t really worked up the stamina and the appropriate muscles to make swimming laps in an Olympic sized swimming pool easy.

Percy decided though, if he couldn’t be an Olympic gymnast then an Olympic swimmer would just have to do. The desire to push his body faster and farther was the same in the gym as it was in the pool. In a different life, he definitely would've been a swimmer.

They did a few strengthening exercises in the water, doing that was significantly less taxing on their bodies than if they were doing this at the gym, like the other athletes. They had even mustered up the courage to do a few flips off of the lowest diving boards

Turns out, that diving and gymnastics were pretty similar. The body awareness and control that much of gymnastics required to be successful was also needed in diving.

Except for one major difference.

“Don’t make a habit of landing on your head,” Chiron called out.

“I don’t know, Perce, you may have a promising career as a swimmer and a diver, if this whole gymnastics thing doesn’t work out.” Annabeth joked.

Chiron’s face fell, “Please don’t give him any ideas, I beg of you.”

***

They showered and changed for their afternoon workout.

Morning practices started at 8 in the morning and lasted until lunch at noon. Then they had a break until 4 pm where they’d practice until 7 at night. This left the athlete’s time for dinner, physical therapy, relaxing, or anything else they wanted to do.

Getting a small workout in at the pool was just the activity Percy needed to be pumped up and energized for the afternoon's workout.

Chiron was always overtly punctual, a trait that had been ingrained into Percy and Annabeth over the past ten years. So Percy was not surprised in the slightest when the three of them arrived at the gym before anyone else.

Normally, they would start warming up, but apparently, they had to wait for the official coaches and the rest of the team to begin.

They sat on the floor, stretching slightly. It wasn’t too long before other gymnasts entered, some sat near Percy and Annabeth to talk and others sat on the complete opposite side of the gym.

A coach in a white tracksuit from the upper floor of the gym began instructing them through their warmups. Additional coaches were spread out amongst the athletes on the bottom floor, wearing matching white outfits, they called out corrections to the gymnasts.

The boys were spread out on the back two floors, while the girls were in the front. They ran in a large circle to get their heart rates up.

Then they proceeded to be run through one of the most grueling warm-up routines, Percy had ever experienced. It started out slow, with arm circles, squats, crunches, and lunges. Then they added weights, and that progressed to press handstands, back extension rolls, jumps, and turns.

There was no resting, one move, and exercise rolled over to the next, immediately.

They were then instructed to do single standing flips, front flips, backflips, front handsprings, back handsprings, even front fulls and back fulls.

The coaches wanted to see how well they had mastered basic skills and the control they had over their bodies.

Percy loved this type of challenge, Chiron was right to try and increase their conditioning. If this was just a warm-up, whatever the actual camp workouts had in store for them was going to be intense. Percy was thanking any deity he had ever heard of when time was finally called and they were allowed a water break.

Percy’s water bottle had just barely touched his lips when the atmosphere of the room completely changed. All conversations halted and the temperature seemed to drop 15 degrees.  

Athena was here.

They dropped their bottles and rushed to line up, boys on one side and girls on the other, in order from tallest to shortest, left to right.

Annabeth at 4’9, was at the very end of the line for the women, whereas Percy at 5’3 was 4^th from the end, with only Leo Valdez and the Stoll brothers shorter than him.

He kept trying to meet Annabeth’s eyes, but her gaze was transfixed rigidly on the ground, her gray eyes hard and unforgiving.

Athena walked up and down each line, observing her gymnasts silently and methodically. She looked at each and every one of them up and down. The only sound heard was the chirping of crickets from outside.

Percy felt like a deer in headlights, or a rabbit before being grabbed by a hawk. This woman was his only chance to make the world’s team and the Olympics. But that still didn’t change the fact that Percy felt an overwhelming instinct to run away from her as fast as he could.

Up close, he could see some of the traits that Annabeth had inherited, her gray eyes, blonde hair, and tan skin. But the similarities stopped there. Where Annabeth exuded an aura of calm contentment and happiness, Athena, at all times, had a barely restrained seething temper.

Athena’s frigid and unfriendly gaze peered into Percy’s soul as she looked him up and down from top to bottom. Her lip practically curled in revulsion. Percy smiled, knowing it would annoy her more than anything.

They all stood there for what felt like hours but probably couldn’t be more than a few minutes before they were dismissed and sent to their respected apparatuses to work on their skills for the day.

Percy and Annabeth both started on the floor because it was one of only two events that were the same for men and women.

Chiron would have to jump back and forth between the two of them, the entire month. Besides the athletes, Chiron would be one of the hardest working individuals at the Training Center. He’d have to expertly split his time between Annabeth and Percy, making sure to give equal amounts of attention. This often meant that Chiron was watching whoever was working independently from across the gym, you never knew when he was watching until he called out a correction or celebrated something you just did.

Luckily, this was something Chiron had at least 10 years’ experience in, Percy couldn’t think of a time where Chiron had slipped up in his coaching duties. He and Annabeth wouldn’t have gotten as far as they had, without him.

They started off with simple skills landing onto a mat in a foam pit and increased the difficulty slowly with each pass they took. Starting with back layouts, then a layout full, then front layouts and fulls, before moving to double fronts and backs. Once their heart rates were up, and they were feeling loose they started moving on to the passes in their routines.

“So what upgraded passes do you two want to try now?” Chiron asked.

“A triple layout,” Percy said with a smile.

Chiron shot that idea down immediately. “Too dangerous right now and unnecessary.” 

It was a skill that Percy had always wanted to try. A double layout was probably the closest thing to flying that he was ever likely to experience, so by Percy’s logic, a triple would have to be even better.

 “Fine,” Percy relented, “How about a quad twist?”

“I want to work on a laid-out Double Arabian,” Annabeth said, "eventually, I'd like to do a half twist out of it, but that's probably not necessary right now."

Chiron smiled, “Sounds good, Percy, you may want to try that as well, the landing may be a bit better for your knees.

Percy agreed, sometimes blind landings from forward flips were not worth the pain.

Chiron clapped his hands together, "Let’s do it.” 

Athena watched the entire practice, she spent her time walking around and observing every athlete in the gym. Every so often she would make a comment to a gymnast or their coach.

From parallel bars, Percy watched as Annabeth bristled at the words from her mother when she was on beam, Percy would have given anything to go over there and hear what was being said, but he was in enough trouble for just existing that he figured it was probably unnecessary.

Annabeth nodded her head briefly and went back to the skill she was practicing. Chiron ran over to Athena to see what she had to stay, leaving Percy to work independently on a couple of skills he had been having trouble with.

Percy was trying to swing himself up into a handstand and then pirouette one and a half times on his hands. Each time Percy either under-rotated or messed up his hand placement.

Chiron without turning around, and still talking to Athena called out, “Percy you need more aggression in that swing. You’re going to keep struggling until you add more power.”

”You aren’t even watching! Percy protested.

“I don’t have too, quit being afraid and just go for it. Focus.”

Percy did as he was told, and was able to complete the skill successfully 3 times in a row, which was enough for Chiron to allow Percy to move on to another skill.

He wasn’t consistent just yet, but it was a start.

He eventually wanted to add it in connection with another skill for bonus points but that could only be done once he actually mastered it, which Percy figured could probably be some time during camp if he kept working on it.

Before he could get another pass in, Percy felt a cold presence behind him.

Athena’s words were sharp and short. “What is your difficulty on parallel bars?”

Percy straightened as if he was in the military. “6.0.”

“We need to improve that.” Her words came out in a blasé manner as if this feat would be as simple as crossing the street.

“Coach Chiron and I think we can get it up to a 6.2 by the end of camp utilizing connection values.”

She nodded, “That will be sufficient for now, eventually though, I’d like to see it at least a 6.4.”

Just then, Chiron materialized, having left Annabeth on the beam, “We have a plan in place for Parallel Bars, we will not deviate from that plan.”

Athena gave him a brief nod, before walking away she said, “Jackson, watch the angles of your elbows, it will help you generate more power from your swing.

She paused and took a deep breath as if Athena’s next words would pain her. “Your form on floor is excellent, I may want you and Chiron to work with some of the other men, to try and help them improve.”

Percy was stunned, when she was a large enough distance away and terrorizing Silena Beauregard, he said, “Did she just give me a valuable correction and a compliment?”

Chiron sighed, “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

***

Once practice ended, Percy and Annabeth had just enough energy to eat and then fall asleep.

It was a productive first day at the gym, working on perfecting their skills in order to ensure they both would have flawless routines by the time of the selection meet.

Over the next few weeks Percy fell into a steady routine, he’d wake up, practice, eat, and then repeat. His only interaction with the other gymnasts came during practice, lunch, dinner, and sometimes on Sunday, and even that was becoming increasingly rare.

As the practices and workouts got tougher, lunch and dinner became shorter so naps and therapy sessions could become longer.

Even the laughter at night from the other cabins was dying down. Especially as the meet to determine the World’s team crept closer and closer, the aura surrounding the Complex and all of its inhabitants was growing more serious by the day.

At this point in Camp, Percy and Annabeth were beginning to piece together and add their upgrades to their routines. They were both feeling confident about their chances of being first.

A wrench was thrown into Annabeth's plan one practice, late into camp. They were both working on vault when Athena approached.

“Annabeth, both of your vaults are sufficient but have you thought about upgrading to a Cheng?”

Chiron answered for her, “She’s only recently upgraded to the Amanar, I’d like her to keep with it until after World’s and reduce the risk of an injury.”

Athena pretended to consider these words. Athena and Annabeth both got the same wrinkle on the top of their forehead when they were about to lie.

“I understand. So, I will accept your working drills for now, and we’ll see how they progress.” She walked away and immediately began giving notes to Frank, on pommel horse.

Annabeth’s eyebrows had risen to the top of her forehead. “She’s gonna try and force me to have a Cheng by World’s, isn’t she?”

Chiron sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “It certainly seems that way.”

“I’m going to blow my knees out at Worlds if I do this.”

Percy swatted at her arm, “ma’am, you’re dimming my positivity.”

“Well, you’re not the one who is about to start drilling Cheng’s.”

He conceded her that point.

A Cheng was one of the hardest vaults in women’s gymnastics, only a handful of athletes have ever competed the skill before. And Athena wanted Annabeth to have the vault consistent enough to compete on the World stage as if it was a simple as doing a forward roll down the vaulting runway.

Chiron was already collecting the mats to set up Annabeth’s drills.

“Perce, one more Dragelescu, and then I want you to start warming up on rings.”

Practice continued with Percy working his new still rings routine, which was progressing nicely. Losing a couple of pounds had already made an enormous difference.

Still rings required insane amounts of strength. They had to lift themselves up and down and hold certain poses for a required amount of time, and flip themselves, all while trying their best to keep the rings as still as possible. Too much movement or shaking incurred extra deductions. 

He watched as Annabeth slowly began working towards her new vault, Percy could tell Annabeth wasn’t putting her full effort into the skill, she probably could have at least practiced one into the pit, but being forced to try this vault before Annabeth was mentally prepared could have dangerous repercussions. Better to take it slow, than risk an injury.

Those were the type of thoughts Percy tried not to put out into the Universe.

Every practice ended with a lineup, where Athena gave them any updates or necessary information for the next practice.  Once they were done, they had a chant they were required to say before they were all allowed to leave. The assistant coaches watched to make sure everyone was participating. 

Each gymnast answered together in a fast chorus, “Thank you Athena, coaches, National staff. Goodbye.”

It was only a little bit unsettling. 

Chapter Text

This had been one of the longest months of Chiron’s life.

Not even his own Olympic games had left his body and mind this exhausted.

He spent the entire camp, running back and forth from Annabeth to Percy to make sure they weren’t being pressured into anything by the National Team Coaches.

Chiron wished he had someone at the gym he trusted enough to help him here, but they all had their own responsibilities at Olympia in order to ensure things were running smoothly in his absence.

Even having someone else here to help would have made Chiron nervous, there was no one he trusted more than himself to make sure that Percy and Annabeth were protected from any of the potentially abusive tendencies of gymnastics.

They had spent the entirety of camp, trying to pressure his two gymnasts into upgrading needlessly.

Just because they could probably do it, didn’t always mean they should. They already had made plans for themselves as a team and didn’t require any input from others, especially those who didn’t know his gymnasts, as well as Chiron, does.

Gymnasts were often burned out by this type of pacing and Chiron refused to let it happen to Percy and Annabeth. Many people in the gymnastics community believed 16 was the peak of a gymnast's abilities, that anyone close to or in their 20s should just retire.

Chiron didn’t buy into that, they were in this for the long haul, and if Annabeth and Percy wanted to do this late into their 20s, Chiron would be there to support them and make sure they were successful.

So far, they had managed to navigate through camp without any serious incident, no injuries, no forced routine change, or any trauma from the archaic beliefs that many coaches still possessed.

Chiron heard some of the things other coaches said to their gymnasts, and his heart broke for them, unfortunately not much had changed in the culture of the sport since he was an athlete.

There was exactly one more practice left, before the selection meet. The first place winners would immediately be placed on the Worlds team, then the National Team would spend another week or two deliberating on who else should be on the team.

Once finalized, the final week before heading to Rome would be at Camp, with just the team, to fully prepare everyone for Worlds.

Only a small handful of athletes had been to a World’s meet before, leaving the US team with very little experience. They will require significant training and practice to hold their own against all the other countries in the World.

Chiron was thankful for the National Team warm-up and stretching routines because it left him with a short break, so he could mentally prepare for today’s practice and the meet tomorrow.

He was confident in Annabeth and Percy’s chances, they had both been working so hard, he knew they were front runners for tomorrow, but he still worried over their chances.

Not that he’d ever let them know that.

Practice today needed to be deliberate. He could sense the nervousness emanating from all the gymnasts at the complex. Chiron instructed Percy and Annabeth to work on the skills in their routines. They had to complete each skill three times in a row, successfully, if they fell, they had to start over.

Then they had to successfully complete each full routine once. Anything more would be too much and could be detrimental. At this point, their minds and bodies knew what to do, and the more Chiron pushed them needlessly, the more harm it could cause.

This meant that they were going to be finished with practice before the scheduled end time, which was probably going to start a fight with Athena.

Plus, he wanted them to have a decent night's rest and some time to relax. He planned on surprising them with a fire by the lake and making s’mores. Obviously, no one could know about that, because everyone but the three of them, would literally have a conniption fit and probably try and revoke his coaching credentials.

But he knew his athletes, they needed something to help control their nerves. And since fall was fast approaching he couldn’t think of a better way to bring Percy and Annabeth down to Earth.

Practice was pretty uneventful for the most part until Athena joined the three of them on Vault.

“Percy, you have to be patient, and I know that’s like telling water to not be wet. But you keep rushing it, you need to slow down if you want to stick it.”

Percy nodded, but Annabeth spoke up, “technically water isn’t wet…”

Her voice stopped when her mother approached.

“How’s your Cheng progressing?” Athena asked.

“Slowly,” Annabeth said.

Chiron nodded, “Yes, we still have plans…

Athena waved her hand dismissively, “I remember your plans, yes, but I think it’s possible for Annabeth to complete this vault at Worlds. It will prove advantageous for the Team, All Around, and Event Finals.

Annabeth and Percy had identical shocked faces. They weren’t used to anyone arguing with him or flat out interrupting him.

This was a strange hill for Athena to die on, especially since the difference in difficulty wasn’t that great, and the risk didn’t always outweigh the reward.

“We will actively try and work on it, but if it’s not consistent by worlds Annabeth won’t be performing it there,” Chiron stated.

Athena’s eyes narrowed, “Brazen to automatically assume your athletes will be going to worlds. There is still the selection process.”

Chiron instructed Annabeth and Percy to keep working on vault. He pulled Athena off to the side of the gym so he could talk to her alone.

“I won’t have you threatening either of their spots because we won’t perform a vault that you only very recently asked us to work on. I will not risk an injury so late in the year.”

Athena cocked her head to the side condescendingly, “As the National Team Coordinator, I have the utmost control of who makes the team. I can and will threaten whoever I want. You and Annabeth have been stalling her progress, she could have landed this vault days ago. The US needs to make a statement.”

“You would risk your daughter’s well-being for that statement?

Her response was immediate and without any remorse, “Yes.”

Chiron took a deep breath in order to get a grip on his anger. He had nothing left to say to her, he began thinking about the potential repercussions of completely disobeying Athena. She had to be bluffing, about 90% of him believed that.

The US teams needed Annabeth and Percy, they both knew that.

Athena’s next words made Chiron’s stomach drop. Her voice stabbed at him like a dagger, her words picked deliberately. “I have made arrangements with Annabeth’s father to allow her to remain in New York. It would be a shame if that had to change.”

***

Fog rolled in from the mountains on the morning of the selection competition. The world seemed to be completely silent as Chiron enjoyed his morning coffee at one of the pavilions.

Until the alarms started going off.

Birds took flight and deer sprung from their spots in the tall grass to escape the noise.

Percy was the first out of his cabin, he gave Chiron a sleepy nod on his way to the bathrooms to get ready for the day.

It was at least another 20 minutes until Chiron saw another sign of life, he wasn’t surprised to see Annabeth making her way to the bathrooms as well.

Chiron never intended to turn these two into morning people, it was just a beneficial side effect of their time together for so long.

He had spent the early morning hours answering emails. There were still major news networks that wanted to record a vignette with Percy and Annabeth to play at one of the upcoming meets. Chiron had wanted to get it out of the way early since Annabeth and Percy both hate interviews, but then Annabeth had been forced to leave and it had thrown everyone’s life into a tailspin, so he had decided to reschedule.

But now he was receiving dozens of emails and calls a day from producers trying to be the first ones to capitalize on the views from Percy’s and Annabeth’s fans in the gymnastics community. He’d have to talk to the two of them once this all was over to decide which network they’d go with.

By the time everyone else was finally awake and out of their beds, both Percy and Annabeth had eaten breakfast and gotten dressed.

Annabeth had even put her makeup on and everything.

Now, they waited, and waited, and waited.

Which could potentially have negative ramifications. Waiting this long often caused increased anxiety leading to uncharacteristic mistakes. It was Chiron’s job on competition days to reduce the likelihood of that occurring.

They talked, joked around, and took a walk down by the lake, pointing out the deer, rabbits, and other animals that were wandering around early in the morning.

Finally, the gym was opened by the coaches and officials.

Annabeth and Percy immediately started warming up, while Chiron went to collect the day's schedule so he’d be able to prepare for whatever torment Athena had in store for him.

The men and women would be competing simultaneously, so it would take a lot of effort to switch back and forth from Percy to Annabeth in the enormous gym.

At a normal meet, there were enough gymnasts to have a decent break between events to allow for enough time to switch back and forth from athlete to athlete. But selection camps had only the best athletes in the country, a significantly smaller group of gymnasts, making the time between apparatuses shorter.

Depending on her mood, Chiron had a feeling that she would schedule his two athletes on different events at almost the same time, so Chiron would be constantly running back and forth, and barely being able to give corrections and encouragements to Annabeth and Percy.

Looking over the schedule for the meet, that was exactly what Athena had done. Chiron tried to resist rolling his eyes, a trait he had picked up from Annabeth and Percy. He wouldn’t let Athena see that he was annoyed, Chiron would not give her the satisfaction. He was going to do his job, and make sure that Percy and Annabeth would make the World’s Team.

Once the other gymnasts began to arrive, Chiron could feel the mood of the gym change. Pivotal meets such as this always had a grave and serious tone, he hoped this feeling wouldn’t affect anyone’s performance.

Annabeth and Percy’s first event was on opposite sides of the gym. Luckily for Chiron, Annabeth would be first in the rotation and Percy last and that would switch with each rotation.

Percy was starting with pommel horse and Annabeth was on balance beam, it seemed as though Athena wanted to test their resolve by starting both of them off with their weakest event.

They both were in line for their two touches, the only practice they’d have before the competition started. Bleachers were set up on the second floor, which was strange to Chiron, usually, these events were completely closed to spectators.

But when crowds did start arriving, Chiron realized what Athena was doing. She had invited the gymnast’s families, to add to the already mounting pressure.

Families sacrificed as much as the athletes did at times, driving gymnasts to and from practice, traveling for competitions, and so much more.

Gymnasts often felt a tremendous amount of pressure to do well to make their families proud, Athena sending invites to friends and families at this point was only adding to the pressure of this being one of the most important competitions of their lives.

Chiron saw Sally enter through the gym’s front doors with two people following close behind her. Percy bolted from his place in line, he crushed his mother into a hug, exchanged a quick handshake with the teenager next to her, and awkwardly waved to the tall dark-haired man, holding Sally’s hand.

Annabeth was also hugging Sally and her entourage. Enormous smiles split across both of his gymnast's faces. It was apparent how much they had all missed each other while they were away at camp. While everyone else was looking more nervous now that their families were arriving, Percy and Annabeth seemed to relax significantly, something that Chiron was happy to see.

He whistled across the gym, signaling that they needed to get back in line and focus on their gymnastics.

They returned quickly.

Chiron waved and smiled, while Sally and her crew took their seats. He assumed that the tall man whose hand Sally was holding was, Paul, the man she had told Chiron about during Nationals. She had confided in Chiron that they had been seeing each other since Percy had first started at Goode Academy last year when he was in the 9^th grade. Sally had been conflicted about whether or not she should tell Percy, Chiron told her to do so, slowly, it would be rough at first, but eventually, he’d come around. Percy loved his mother more than anything, it would take time for him to adjust, but he would deal, especially if Sally was happy, which from the look on her face, she definitely was.

Sally tolerated gymnastics competitions, the skills Percy and Annabeth did, terrified her. It was a mother’s worst nightmare for their child to risk themselves in such a dangerous way. She always supported Percy and Annabeth despite her worry because it was evident how much they loved their sport. Her presence and unwavering support always made a difference when they were competing.

The men would start first, with 6 events compared to the women’s 4, it was necessary to make sure they finished at roughly the same time.

Chiron watched as Percy began to enter competition mode. He never saw a person get so hyper-focused as Percy did during meets. His calm and composed manner was a stark difference from the other athlete’s nervous energy.  

Not even Chiron could escape competition jitters, even more than 20 years removed from his own athlete days, he could still remember the pressure.

By the time it was Percy’s turn for pommel horse, Chiron’s stomach was in knots.

He heard Annabeth yell, “Come on Percy!” As he started, which did wonders for kicking Chiron back into coach-mode. He couldn’t show any signs of anxiety, he couldn’t let his kids down.

“Breath. Patience.” He reminded Percy.

The routine went over exceedingly well, Pommel horse was always the worse of the 6 events. Even the most die-hard of fans could fall asleep during this apparatus, which was why when they constructed this routine the way they did, Chiron and Percy tried to make it as lively as possible.

They were lucky to be getting this out of the way first.

He flared his body around, legs and body swinging to the untrained eye, wildly. But it took incredible strength and control to do what Percy was doing currently.

The only rough spot being where he spun himself around on one hand. His hand placement was a bit off, he slowed and stumbled just a bit, before regaining control and dismounting the horse.

He saluted the judges, while the crowd cheered.

Percy high fived and traded handshakes with other athletes, then hugged Annabeth.

It was a good first routine, despite the small mistake. It would definitely help Percy build his confidence throughout the day.

Being last meant Percy would now be expected to go first on the still rings. Luckily, they still had to wait for the guys on the floor to be done.

Percy grabbed his water bottle and sat down on the floor next to Annabeth.

“One down five to go.” He smiled.

“Lucky, I just want to start already, I hate waiting. I never see why we can’t all start at the same time, and just let you all finish last.”

Percy agreed, “Or they could just space you all out longer, and then we could start and finish at the same time.”

They weren’t wrong, “Well one day when the two of you are in charge, you can change all that.”

Before anything else could be said, one of the event coordinators began ushering them over to still rings. Chiron was interested to see how much better Percy would do now that he had lost a bit of weight.

It was one of the best ring routines, Chiron had seen him do recently. He was shaking less when pulling himself up into his holds and his form on his swings was magnificent.

Despite a hop on the landing, it was still a terrific routine. There was definitely some room for improvement if Percy wanted to be competitive in the All-Around Competition at Worlds.

 Luckily, they still had another month and a half to work on that.

Chiron knew that Percy had the potential to get into the top 3 of the All-Around, he could even be first, but it would take a lot of work between then and now.

He patted Percy on the back.

“I could have done better.”

Behind Percy, Annabeth was shaking her head, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. That was pretty good. You’re only going to get better from here.”

Annabeth hugged Percy one last time before she went to warm up for the balance beam. Chiron followed her, Percy still had a decent wait until he would move to parallel bars, plus Chiron knew that Annabeth’s nerves had to be off the charts currently. Starting with balance beam would do that to any gymnast, especially one who was about to debut a new-ish routine.

Her two touches were solid. Annabeth had a confident quality to her that Chiron knew would carry her to the top of the leaderboard if she kept this up.

“Square hips.” He called out, as she practiced her new leap connection. She landed perfectly like she was on the floor and not on a 4-inch wide beam, 4 feet off the ground.

That was one thing Chiron loved about Annabeth’s balance beam skills. Her skills that were consistent were rock solid, every time. There were certain elements in her routine that Chiron couldn’t remember the last time she wobbled on.

After the two touches, Annabeth was pacing back and forth with her hands on her hips. The other girls gave her a bit of room to focus.

When they were given the go-ahead to begin, Annabeth stepped up on the platform. Now the waiting began in full force.

Chiron watched as the judges organized themselves, and finally raised the green flag indicating they were ready for Annabeth to begin.

She saluted, with a huge smile.

The first part of the routine, they kept the same. Annabeth wouldn’t even consider changing her flairs mount, it was too original and gave her a decent amount of bonus points.

Then her first series, two back handsprings into a back layout were perfect. Chiron could hear Percy and the other girls cheering her on.

They called out “Let’s go Annabeth” “You Got This” and other encouragements. He knew she wouldn’t be able to hear, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. 

Her turns and jumps were all immaculate. It wasn’t until she got to her new skills, the Split switch leap into a straddle jump with a half twist, that she had her first wobble.

It wasn’t terrible for the difficulty of the connection. Hopefully, they’d still give her the connection bonus regardless of the small balance check.

Annabeth took a deep breath before continuing. The rest of the routine progressed with only a couple of other minor mistakes. Definitely, the best-case scenario for the day. They had added some tricky and difficult skills, this was a good litmus test to see how Annabeth would be able to handle the pressure.

They would clean up the routine after camp and add any extra difficulty next year, after Worlds.

Annabeth stuck her Double Arabian dismount and saluted with another huge smile. Her sigh of relief as she hugged Chiron and then waved to Sally in the stands was apparent.

Percy was cheering and shouting from the other side of the gym and then rushing over to them when in reality he should have been waiting for his turn on parallel bars.

Chiron looked to Athena, also sitting in the stands and for a brief second saw a flash of something like regret or disappointment.

But then Percy was quickly hugging and congratulating Annabeth, and she returned to the emotionless mask she always wore.

He left Annabeth to watch the other girls, while Chiron left with Percy to start warming up for parallel bars.

Every so often, he’d hear Annabeth’s voice cheer for one of the other gymnasts in her rotation group.

Chiron was too busy to watch anyone else but Annabeth or Percy perform, but he had figured by Annabeth’s loud shout of, “That’s okay! Keep Going, You got this!” meant one of the girls had fallen, But Chiron couldn’t look to see who it was now.

Instead, he watched Percy’s form. Unfortunately, his hand placements have been better.

Percy was forgetting his basics.

Which was uncharacteristic of him, especially during competitions. Chiron hoped that his nerves weren’t getting the best of him. This was probably the most pressure he’s felt ever in his career.

Once he finished with his first practice round, Chiron slowly and silently walked up and stood next to Percy.

Chiron waited for him to say something first.

“That was ugly, I know.”

“What were you thinking up there?”

“Nothing really, mainly that I didn’t want to mess up,” Percy said, sheepishly looking down at the ground.

Chiron raised an eyebrow, “And how’d that work out?”

Percy huffed, “Not great.”

Chiron placed a hand on his back, “Stay focused, be positive, and visualize your routines. Think of this as just a normal day at practice.”

Percy nodded and took a deep breath. Instantly his demeanor changed. Percy’s trademark positivity began to shine, he walked lighter and straighter.

“Do you think I’ll have time to see Annabeth’s floor?”

Chiron checked his watch and looked at the schedule, Percy would compete on high bar before Annabeth went on floor, then she would have to rush to vault where she’d be going first. If they were strategic, they should be able to swing it. Which was what he told Percy.

Luckily for Chiron, they hit a spot in the day where both Annabeth and Percy were waiting for their next apparatus. Which meant that this would be Chiron’s only opportunity to sit down for the day, which he was thankful for. His knees weren’t exactly what they used to be, especially after his multiple surgeries during his glory days. The past month was definitely starting to catch up with him.

Percy in the middle of talking to and messing around with his friends must have picked up on Chiron’s fatigue.

“You okay, Old man?”

“Please, I’m not old yet, I can still take you on, probably even beat you on high bar.”

Percy laughed, a laugh that only a confident teenager could produce.

“What?” Chiron asked, “You don’t believe me?” He wrapped his arm around Percy’s neck and rubbed his knuckles across the top of his head. They used to mess around like this during meets when Percy and Annabeth were much littler, it was always a great way to distract them from their nerves.

 Now Chiron was using this to take his mind off his own exhaustion.

Percy removed himself from Chiron’s grasp and started throwing fake punches Chiron’s way. Chiron bobbed and weaved and threw his own punches back, and eventually, the two of them were roaring with laughter.

Something that did not go missed by most of those in attendance. Some coaches looked on in distaste, others were just happy to see them enjoying themselves. After all, what was the point of all of this if they didn’t at least have a good time in the process?

Annabeth stood across the gym, hands on her hips, eyebrows raised high, and a bemused look on her face 

Simultaneously, Percy and Chiron pointed at each other, to say ‘He started it.’

She smiled, rolled her eyes, and began talking to some of the other girls in her rotation who were also staring. They all laughed at something she said and then went back to watching whoever was up on the balance beam.

Before they knew it, it was Percy’s turn to perform on parallel bars.

From the second his hands wrapped around the bars, Percy transformed into a completely different athlete than when he was warming up.

His confidence shown through with every swing, release move, and pirouette. Percy swung, and flipped, and twisted with only minimal mistakes. His dismount a double back with a full twist was almost perfect except for a step back on the landing.

Percy saluted ecstatically and ran off the floor to high five and hug the other gymnasts. Annabeth across the gym was cheering loudly, as was Sally and the others in the crowd.

“The hardest part of your day is done, only your best events are next,” Chiron told him, despite knowing that didn’t guarantee Percy would hit his next routines.

Nothing in this sport was certain. But Chiron’s worry dissipated as soon as Percy’s face lit up with excitement.

They were ready and prepared, but that didn’t do much to quell Chiron’s nerves.

He forced it aside, Chiron had a job to do. His athletes were delivering, so he had to as well.

The men had a brief break, having made it to the halfway point of the day. Chiron met up with Annabeth who was waiting for her turn to go on floor.

“Remember your basics, straight arms, generate power from your legs. You got this.”

Annabeth nodded her head. This was her first-floor routine at a meet after the Nationals fiasco. Chiron knew she wanted to prove herself.

“This is just another day at practice. You’ve hit routine after routine this week. You got this.”

Annabeth smiled, “I’m ready, I want to redeem myself.”

“You will, all the way to Rome.” She hugged him quickly, then went to talk to some of the other girls who were waiting for their turns too.

Percy met up with them, snacking on a granola bar. He probably wasn’t supposed to be over here, but Chiron wasn’t going to stop him, if he wanted to watch Annabeth’s routine during his break, Chiron saw no harm in that.

They talked and joked while watching and cheering for one of the girls currently on floor, her salsa music booming throughout the gym.

Once the music stopped, the crowd cheered and Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano walked off the floor, breathing heavily.

Annabeth separated herself from the group, leaving Percy with the other girls to watch the current gymnast performing.

She was up next and needed these remaining moments to focus herself and concentrate.

New music began, this time a classical piece by Mozart.

Annabeth didn’t watch, she was always too nervous right before her performance.

Many gymnasts and their coaches flat out refused to watch other athletes perform at all, but Chiron didn’t necessarily believe in that. They all loved gymnastics and had the best seats in the house, watching others was one of the best parts of meets.

However, right before their own routine was not a time to admire others. Annabeth’s nervous energy had to go somewhere. Annabeth started by fixing her eyes on the ground. Chiron knew she was visualizing her own routine, to help prepare herself. She even did a few quick stretches, none that were necessarily needed but took her mind off waiting. She touched her toes, crossed one arm over her body to stretch her shoulders, and rolled her head around in circles.

After what felt like hours, the music finally stopped and Thalia Grace came down the stairs, Annabeth hugged her, and stepped up to the platform herself.

She waited on the white part of the floor for the judge's green flag. This was normally the longest process of the day. Judges always took their time. That was one thing that hadn’t changed from his own gym days.

Finally, the flag rose.

Annabeth stepped onto the floor, with an elegant flourish.

Her music began, an upbeat tempo that got everyone clapping and nodding along. She danced herself into the corner of the floor in preparation for her first tumbling pass.

A double-twisting double layout landed with a small jump backward.

Landings on floor they’d have to work on before worlds. Those were deductions they couldn’t afford if they wanted to be competitive and have a shot at a medal or two.

Annabeth’s problem, which wasn’t really a problem, was that she always had tons of power, which caused her to have steps or hops on her landings.

Once they got that under control, she’d be almost unstoppable.

Maybe they could begin adding sheep jumps or split leaps after she landed to hide the steps on the landings.

Her next tumbling pass is what he was worried about, this was the one she under-rotated at Nationals.

It was not an easy pass at all, but this time Annabeth made it look like a walk in the park.

A laid out double Arabian. A skill that she went into backward, half twisted in the air, and then flipped forward twice completely laid out.

It was beautiful. Especially her stuck landing.

Percy and the others were going wild. Calling out encouragements and celebratory remarks.

She then began her jump and turns series. Beautifully and artistically, Annabeth completed her switch split jump, which lead to her triple Y turn. A move where she pulled her leg up straight so it rested against her head and spun three times quickly.

Annabeth stepped out of the turn, with another flourish, and immediately completed another double turn.

A combination that granted her extra bonus points for sheer difficulty alone.

 She proceeded with her choreography and dance, prancing around the floor with a huge smile plastered on her face.

This was the Annabeth, Chiron loved to see at meets. Floor routines were one of the only events where the gymnasts could show off their personalities and, Annabeth’s was on full display, as well as her love for the sport.

After a handstand series that led to a gorgeous butterfly kick into a dive roll, then a ring jump came the last two passes.

The first of which was her newest addition a 1.5 twist step out right into a double back with a full twist which was landed with only a small step and the last was a triple twist with an absolutely incredible stuck landing.

Even Chiron was cheering for her loudly as she saluted the judges.

He picked her up off the platform and set her on her feet, so she didn’t have to walk down the stairs.

Percy was by her side in an instant.

“I mean this with absolutely no exaggeration when I say that was High Art. Magnificent. Beautiful.”

Annabeth laughed and hugged her friend, the other girls also crowded around to hug and laugh about how amazing her floor routine was. Annabeth smiled, still trying to catch her breath.

Floor was pretty much a huge endurance test, be able to complete 4 insanely difficult tumbling passes while also jumping, running, dancing, and twisting was a lot. He was pleased to see that Annabeth, despite her fight for breath, was able to finish strong on her floor routine. 

“Normally, I’d say Percy was being overdramatic, but this time, I think he’s right.”

Percy crossed his arms, “You don’t have to sound like admitting that pains you, ya know?”

Chiron smiled, he said nothing, just pointed towards the high bar, which was where Percy was supposed to be currently.

Percy perked up like he had forgotten that he was even at a competition right now, let alone about to perform on high bar.

Which Chiron took as a positive. That meant Percy finally hit his stride and finally put his nerves behind him.

He would be first up on high bar, where Annabeth would be last on vault. They’d be cutting it close to be able to see the other compete.

Chiron ushered them both to their respective apparatus, which luckily enough for him, weren’t too far apart from each other. That significantly reduced the amount of running back and forth Chiron would have to do, until the next rotation which was on opposite ends of the gym again.

Percy, first up on high bar, stood confidently waiting for the judges to indicate he could begin. Chiron looked to Sally in the stands, he knew she hated this event the most.

Her hands clutched around Paul’s arms with her eyes scrunched uptight as she buried her head into his shoulder.

The teenager to her right was watching eagerly, excitement plain as day on his face.

Percy routine started off terrific, his high flying release moved really electrified the energy in the gym, for both athletes and spectators.

His Kovacs and Tkatchevs were perfectly executed. His issue was on the new skill, in the air, everything was fine, but catching it was where something went wrong.

Percy’s hand slipped, Chiron closed his eyes and expected to hear a loud chorus of ‘Awe’s’ and gasps from the crowd but instead, he heard startled cheers.

He looked up just in time to realize that Percy completely held on and was able to catch his release move one-handed and then complete a giant swing around the bar, still with only one hand.

Chiron let out a sigh of relief, that mistake would be a deduction, but not as costly as if he had fallen off the bar completely.

“That’s alright Perce, you got this, keep pushing!” Annabeth called from in line at the vaulting table.

Percy wound up for the dismount which he managed to land perfectly. The crowd cheered.

Normally, Percy soaked in all the praise and cheers he received from the crowd but as he walked off the platform he looked more dejected than anything.

Chiron followed him to where he sat on a plastic folding chair.

Percy was rolling and massaging his shoulder. Hopefully, it was just out of discomfort and not an actual injury. That could set them back months and throw their entire plan off track.

But before Chiron could ask about Percy’s well-being, the boy was already talking.

“I’m not hurt or anything. Just pissed. I can’t believe I made such a stupid mistake. How far out of first place do you think that can put me?”

Chiron shrugged, they weren’t displaying the athlete’s scores, so they were all flying blind with who could potentially be in first place.

He tried to reassure him, “I don’t think it will be as detrimental as you’re thinking. You didn’t hit the mats, and your instincts kicked in so it was somewhat clean.”

Percy nodded dejectedly as Chiron continued, “Keep your head up, put this behind you, and I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.”

Percy didn’t reply, just put his head in his hands, and Chiron knew he needed space. Percy was his own worst critic, mistakes like this he always took personally, no matter how small. Especially since this was Percy’s best and favorite event.

Chiron gave him some space, he’d give him about 3 minutes to wallow and hope that Percy would be able to snap himself out of it before Chiron had to intervene.

He made his way to the vault just in time to see Annabeth’s second and final practice run.

“Nice.” He told her, “Just like practice.”

Annabeth replied, “How is he?”

“About as you would expect. I’ll knock some sense into him if he needs it, but I think he’ll pull through just fine. Now you have to hit these vaults.”

She nodded and took a deep breath.

They both looked up quickly at the sound of a springboard to see Hazel land her Amanar with a massive jump forward.

Annabeth cheered in congratulations along with the rest of the gym.

Chiron focused his attention now onto his other charge. Percy was up and walking around and talking to the other guys, joking around, and offering encouragement.

Definitely back to his regular competition form, Thank the gods.

Chiron put his hand on Percy’s shoulder and squeezed, “How are you feeling?”

“Like my pride has been wounded, but that’s about it. I’m going to finish strong.”

Chiron smiled, “That’s what I like to hear.”

They had to wait for the rest of the guys to finish high bar and the women to finish their own rotation before proceeding to the next apparatus.

Annabeth was almost on deck for vault so Chiron headed back to her.

Thalia Grace’s vaults went over well. Annabeth hugged her as they exchanged places.

Annabeth dipped her hands into the chalk bucket and coated the bottoms of her feet. She took a few stationary steps as she waited for the go-ahead.

Once the flag was raised, she saluted and took off sprinting.

11 steps. That was all it took Annabeth to travel 84 feet.

Her round-off landed perfectly onto the springboard, propelling her backward. Both hands pounded off the table as she skyrocketed into the air, twisting two and a half times. Her only mishap was a step on the landing.

Chiron heard a chorus of cheers, himself included. The loudest of which was Percy.

Annabeth walked back down the runway to prepare for her second vault, slowly trying to catch her breath.

This next vault was one Annabeth had been doing for years, she could do this in her sleep if necessary.

So Chiron was not surprised when she finally took off running, jumped onto the springboard, flung herself forward onto the vaulting table, and blocked with all her might. She flew high and spun 1.5 times in the air.

Once Annabeth’s feet hit the ground, she didn’t budge an inch.

More cheers and applause erupted, the smile on Annabeth’s face was enormous. She high fived and hugged the other gymnasts on her way off the competition floor.

Chiron hugged her, “One more to go, then were another step closer to World’s.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, “You don’t know that, we can’t see the scores, I could be in second place.”

“Fine. But when you hit your bar routine, I don’t think anyone will be able to catch you.”

It was then time to change events, the last rotation for the women, and the second to last for the men.

Annabeth and Percy’s groups would be switching places with each other, the women moving to bars and the men going to vault.

A million years had felt like they had elapsed, by the time Percy was finally up for vault. Annabeth, a water bottle and granola bar in tow, stood with Chiron to watch Percy’s performance. She shouted out tips and encouragement all the while.

His first vault was a Dragelescu.

A front handspring onto the table with a double front tuck and a half twist off.

It was one of the more challenging vaults being competed in the world. This vault would be absolutely necessary if Percy wanted a vault medal or the chance to be a contender in the All-Around.

This was still a relatively new vault for Percy, but when it came down to it, he performed excellently. Almost perfect, he stuck the landing, but his legs crossed in the air, so he landed with them slightly separated.

It was a small mistake, but one they couldn’t allow to turn into a habit. They’d have to work on that later.

His next vault was one they’d been looking to upgrade eventually too but just hadn’t found the time yet.

When competing two vaults, they had to have different entries onto the table. This one would be a backward entry vault.

In several steps Percy was down the runaway, he completed a round-off and a back handspring, flinging his body backward onto the table, then propelling himself into a double pike.

This time, he landed with his feet together but had too much momentum which caused him to have a decent-sized jump backward.

The gym erupted into cheers, as Percy happily exited the platform high-fiving and hugging other athletes as he went.

Chiron quickly ushered Annabeth over to the uneven bars, where she needed to be in line for her two touches. Percy followed, knowing he had an extended break until his last event on floor.

Annabeth meticulously began working on preparing her grips. She fastened the straps and began scraping with a block of chalk to get a nice even coating.  She added water with a spray bottle and scratched at the grips with a scrub brush. Once the process was completed a couple of times Annabeth was satisfied with the outcome and it was finally her first pass on bars.

Chiron instructed her to take the first warm-up slowly. A quick jump to the high bar and back and a few pirouettes. This would help her see what else needed to be fixed on her grips or the bar in general before she began.

Finished, she went back to the bucket to add more chalk and water. On the next warm-up pass, she asked Chiron to scrub the bar and add more chalk to help her grip better. She seemed much more confident on the next pass, where she tried a couple of her release moves, all successfully.

Upon dismounting, she seemed extremely pleased with herself and eager to perform. Percy must be rubbing off on her more than Chiron thought, usually he was the overly confident one ready to show off and Annabeth was more subdued.

Annabeth, first in rotation had separated herself early from the others, in order to begin visualizing and preparing for her routine.

When the judges gave the signal, Annabeth saluted and her smile showed how excited she was. Either because it was the last event or her best, Chiron wasn’t too sure.

Next to him, Percy called out, “Come on Annabeth! You got this!”

He kept up this stream of encouragement as Annabeth mounted the bar and got to work.

Her first set of release moves were executed perfectly, as were the pirouettes, and transitions from the low to high bar. She had one more release move, a few more twists, and turns, and then she was winding up for the dismount.

A laid out double-twisting double back that she landed firmly, without any movement.

Percy was jumping up and down in excitement as Annabeth saluted the judges for the final time that afternoon.

“She has to be first? Don’t you think?” Percy asked excitedly.

Chiron hoped so, he honestly had no clue, having had to spend his time running back and forth, he didn’t have as much time to watch and of the other gymnasts. Something he would have needed to do to have any indication of the scores since they weren’t posted anywhere.

Annabeth was swarmed by other girls who had watched her routine, after finishing themselves. They laughed and hugged, and released all the anxiety they had been holding in all day.

Many girls, however, were still waiting for their turn or were sitting in distress. These must be the girls who had fallen or made a major mistake sometime throughout the day.

It would still take a couple of more hours until they knew the final results, until then Chiron knew Annabeth was still going to be a bundle of nerves. In his opinion, no one could beat her, not when she hit all four events. Her difficulty and execution were unmatched, but he could be biased, especially considering he hadn’t seen too many other routines.

They didn’t have time to think about that yet, though. Percy was already warming up floor, his last event.

Chiron headed that way, Annabeth following close behind, she stopped occasionally to hug and high-five the other athletes as she went.

On the other side of the gym, Chiron watched as Percy under-rotated his 3.5 twists.

“You’re going to have to give it a bit more power than that,” Chiron called out.

Percy shot him a thumbs up and got back in line behind Frank Zhang. He was one of the guys that they had worked with to try and help improve and refine his floor skills. From watching Frank’s one pass, Chiron could tell he had made significant improvements and upgrades from their time working together.

Frank was a great gymnast, his main strengths came from the strength of his muscles. He was a marvelous rings, parallel bar, and pommel horse worker. Percy had learned just as much from combining their workouts as Frank had.

“He’s gotta be in first right? How bad do you think his slip-on uneven bars hurt him?” Annabeth asked.

Chiron shrugged, “It’s hard to tell at this point, I have a feeling he’s in first, especially after winning by 3 points at Nationals, but I think it’s anyone’s game right now.”

Annabeth exhaled loudly, “This is so nerve-wracking.”

“1 hour, that’s all we have left,” Chiron said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, “Who are you lying to? Me or yourself?”

Chiron laughed, he wasn’t entirely sure.

Of course, Percy was the last gymnast of the day to compete. He finally saluted the judges to begin the last routine of the day.

His first pass, a laid-out double-twisting double was beautiful. His next, a double front with a half twist, was much of the same.

Coming out of the pass, Percy jumped straight up and landed on his stomach. He brought one leg forward so he was sitting in a split, in order to show off his flexibility. He held the split for a few seconds before beginning his flairs.

“Keep it up! Push!” Annabeth was cheering.

The rest of the crowd joined in as Percy leaped from hand to hand as his legs circled around his body. Percy tried to teach it to some of the other guys during camp, but none of them were able to get it. Percy made it look so easy, it was hard to believe that it took him months to finally be able to perfect the skill.

His next pass was the first mistake that Chiron noticed. A round-off to a 1.5 twist into a 3.5 twist had just a small step to the side on the landing.

Percy then immediately went into his butterfly kick into a dive roll into the next corner. The series was the same exact one that Annabeth had in her floor routine.

A tradition they started when they were young kids and just never seemed to change.

Percy had a little too much momentum on his second to last pass which led to another hop back on the landing. At least he stayed inbounds.

He stuck the dismount, a double Arabian with a half twist on the end. Chiron and Annabeth were cheering and yelling before Percy even got the chance to salute.

Percy saluted the judges and ran off the floor, his chest rising and falling with deep breaths.

He slammed hard into Annabeth and Chiron, in excitement and relief. The three of them celebrated together until Athena walked past with her assistants in tow. She shot them a sidelong glance that halted their excitement until they were fully out of the gym.

One of the assistant coaches came over on a microphone, “Athena Parthenos, the National Team Coordinator will be announcing the results shortly, please stand by.”

***

They waited…

And waited…

And waited some more.

Chiron had half a mind to order a pizza, he knew after all this time waiting, Annabeth and Percy were probably starving. He definitely was.

“You got any of those protein bars left?” Chiron asked.

Percy laughed, “You’re funny. Those were gone like an hour and a half ago.”

He could tell the crowd was getting restless too, this was pretty ridiculous considering that the only thing the National team staff should be doing was calculating the results. No major decisions were supposed to be made at this point in time.

All the athletes had congregated in the middle of the floor and were talking amongst themselves. Some coaches sat on the folding plastic chairs off the competition stage and others, like Chiron, sat on the floor off to the side of all the gymnasts.

After 2 and a half hours, Athena finally decided to grace them with her presence again. The athletes parted, as she took center stage in the middle of the floor. A man off to her right in a suit carried two bouquets of flowers and two plaques.

“Athletes, coaches, family, and friends. Thank you for being here today.” Athena said regally over the microphone.

“I have the pleasure of announcing the winners of today’s World Team Selection Competition. For the women’s competition. In third place is Hazel Levesque.”

Hazel jumped up and hugged her coach excited, despite not winning, she still had great odds of making the Worlds team.

“In second place, is Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.”

Reyna was nowhere near excited as Hazel. Second place often did that to a gymnast. Being so close to first and missing out was never a good feeling. Reyna’s coach, her older sister, Hippolyta did little to comfort the girl, they both stood stoically still and nodded to Athena as if they had just come to some sort of business transaction.

“And in first place,” Annabeth grabbed Chiron’s arm in anticipation, “is Annabeth Chase.”

Chiron’s ears were ringing as Annabeth hugged him and Percy. Cheers erupted from the athletes and crowd. Even Reyna was clapping.

She was quickly shown to Athena’s side where she was handed the flowers and the plaque. A photographer was snapping pictures until Athena waved them aside. Annabeth was then asked to stand at Athena’s right-hand side while the Men’s results were announced.

“Now the results for the Men’s competition. In third place is Octavian Caesar.”

The boy had no reaction, clearly, he was not pleased with himself.

“In second place, Jason Grace.”

Jason waved to the crowd as they cheered for him. Jupiter next to him clamped a controlling hand on his son’s shoulder.

Percy was grabbing onto Chiron’s arm now, a wide smile on his face. There was no way, with Percy’s routines today, that he could have been placed lower than third.

Despite knowing what was about to happen, Chiron was still taken aback when Athena said, “And in first place is Perseus Jackson.”

Percy in his excitement didn’t even wince at his full name. He jumped up and went through the same steps that Annabeth had.

Afterward, his two athletes embraced hard, laughing, and jumping in each other’s arms. Chiron joined in, throwing his arms around them and lifted them both off the ground. The sounds of the thundering crowd registered second to the laughter and excitement of Percy and Annabeth as their dreams of making the World team finally came true.

Chapter Text

Annabeth went through the next few weeks in a daze. They were able to celebrate their win for a bit before returning to the gym.

Immediately after the meet Annabeth, Percy, and Chiron went out for pizza with Sally, Mr. Blofis, and Grover. It was a post-meet tradition they had never faltered. 

The 6 of them spent the rest of the night laughing and celebrating together. Percy was so excited, he didn’t even have time to be awkward around Sally’s boyfriend. He even called him Paul once, which Annabeth filed away in the back of her brain so she could tease him about it later.

It was a great night and later once they had a full day of rest and relaxation, Sally let them have a small party at the apartment with some of their friends from school and the gym.

It was usually strange combining the two groups but everyone was so happy for Annabeth and Percy that there was no normal separation or general awkwardness between their gym friends and their school friends.

They had an extra day off of just physical therapy afterward to recuperate before they needed to get back to the gym full time.

There were almost two months between now and World’s and they had to make sure they were fully prepared if they wanted to have any chance of medaling in any way possible.

Worlds would have several different varieties of competitions with multiple chances to medal. They'd have to be at the top of their game in order to even come close to medaling in any category.

There was the team competition, where different countries put together a team of their best gymnasts to compete against one another, then the All-Around where the top 24 gymnasts competed against each other individually. After all of that was event finals, where the top-scoring gymnasts on each apparatus went head to head, to see who truly the best in the World was.

Medaling in the all-around was unlikely for both Annabeth and Percy, as first-year seniors, it was highly improbable that they would be able to beat other gymnasts much more experienced than they were. The Team competition or even maybe an event final would be where their best chances were at.

This was the main reason, Annabeth was actually starting to put effort into training her Cheng. As annoying and awful as it had been having her mother force her to start practicing a tough and dangerous skill, and Annabeth would never admit this out loud, but Athena was kinda right. If she wanted a shot at a vault medal or to place as a team, then Annabeth would need a skill that was highly rewarded, like the Cheng.

So vault was Annabeth’s priority, for the next two and a half months until World’s in October or until her Cheng was consistent. Whichever came first.

Luckily Percy understood, so he only complained a little when she insisted vault be the event they start with.

Practices were so much easier now that they didn’t have school to contend with. Most days, they had the full day to do whatever they wanted at the gym. But that wouldn’t last long, school was starting next month and their schedule would soon be changing.

But, for the time being, It was refreshing to not feel like their every second had to be strategically and deliberately paced. Chiron had every second of a school day practice carefully planned and there was no room to stop for anything but water and snack breaks.

Now, they had some time to mess around, while they polished up and put finishing touches on the routines they’d compete with in Italy.

They had even started pulling full days in order to get extra training sessions in. Those practices Percy and Annabeth got to the gym at 8:00 in the morning, practiced for a few hours, ate, took a nap on the mats in the gym, and then started practicing again once the rec classes started in the afternoon.

It was a glorious routine, Annabeth and Percy enjoyed and loved every minute of it, but there was still that crippling anxiety of World’s approaching closer and closer with each passing day.

“Take it one day at a time,” Chiron told them one afternoon when neither Annabeth nor Percy could seem to stay on their respective apparatuses.

Annabeth couldn’t catch a release move to save her life and it seemed Percy couldn’t land a tumbling pass to save his.

Rough practices were commonplace, mistakes at practice were normal. That was how they learned. If you were too afraid to make a mistake, then you were never going to get any better.

 It was normal for their sport. But it was completely uncharacteristic to drop almost every skill they were throwing. Chiron even stopped giving them advice on what to do. He knew they knew what to do, their block was entirely mental. For a few days, they were able to count on one hand the skills they collectively completed successfully. 

They had to break this before leaving for Worlds, or their world debut was going to be short-lived and catastrophic.

The most frustrating part of the week, finally came to a breaking point when Annabeth missed a step on her vault run, completely throwing off the sequence, instead of springing into the air, she slid on her stomach right off the table like a torpedo. She landed on a firm mat with a ‘thud’.

Percy didn’t even have the ability to laugh, the way they normally did when the other failed miserably.

Then he missed a hand on parallel bars, his momentum threw him to the side of the apparatus where he face planted. The chalk from the mats, exploded up and around Percy in a cloud that on any other day would have had both Annabeth and Chiron on the ground rolling with laughter.

Now, she just felt tired. She could see that same tiredness reflected in Percy’s eyes as he blinked the chalk out of them while remaining motionless on the ground.

“Can we grab lunch and decompress?” Percy asked not making any effort to get up. “I think I just need a break to clear my head.”

Annabeth agreed, and Chiron because he wasn’t a ruthless dictator, agreed as well.

They decided to take the subway into the city so they could have an extended break, if they kept pushing themselves like this the risk of an injury or complete mental breakdown would be far greater than normal.

“I can’t believe school starts next week,” Annabeth sighed in between bites of her sandwich.

Percy groaned, “Don’t remind me, I’m trying to pretend it doesn’t.”

“Plus there are cameras showing up for NBC’s vignette.” She added.

Percy dropped his head down into his hands, “All this stress, no wonder I can’t even cartwheel without falling over.”

Annabeth felt that. They had so much to do and so many milestones and deadlines all falling and occurring around the same time, that it was beginning to feel like too much.

She agreed with him, “Maybe tomorrow we can take a half-day. That way we can get everything done for school and then relax a little before we try and get back to the gym part-time before Worlds. We’re gonna burn ourselves out at this point.”

Percy nodded in agreement. The start of the school year was always overwhelming, and then adding in the aspect of being followed around by television cameras, even for a limited time at Goode Academy was a terrifying prospect. But one, they agreed to nonetheless. Then barely a month into school, World's began. Which would be an entirely different stressful experience on its own. 

At least they had each other, which at this point in time was their only saving grace. Annabeth couldn’t imagine going at this alone, she wasn’t sure how other gymnasts were able to handle all the mounting pressure.

They finished their food and walked around the city. Window shopping, strolling through the park and making fun of tourists as they craned their necks to look at the skyscrapers or posed for pictures in front of famous landmarks.

Feeling significantly more relaxed, they decided to make their way back to Olympia.

Chiron was waiting in the office, a cup of coffee and a newspaper in his hands.

“Ready for practice?” Chiron asked happily as if the earlier sessions had never happened.

They agreed, and explained their upcoming plans to get themselves back on track, Chiron agreed, and even threw in a few extra physical and regular therapy sessions to make sure their bodies and minds were intact and ready to endure the tough work they would be doing soon.

Before practice began again Chiron had a few parting words as they went to change back into their workout gear, “I know that World’s right now seems daunting, there’s a lot of mounting pressure and it’s overwhelming, but you two are in the best possible situation for this. And not because you are the best gymnasts I’ve ever seen, but because World’s can just be a time for you two to get your names out there. Stop putting so much pressure on yourselves. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You have the opportunity to let the rest of the World love you the way fans here in the U.S. do.”

Something clicked in Annabeth’s head.

As usual, Chiron was right. Annabeth was putting so much pressure on herself. She was drowning under her own expectations. This was a meet to get her name on the international stage and to help prepare for the Olympics. All she could do was her best, and whatever medals came attached to that, all the better.

She looked to Percy, by the determined look in his eye, and the smirk on his face, he had a similar epiphany.

They hit the gym like a force of nature.

The earlier session and beginning of the week’s mistakes and difficulties were completely erased from their memory. New life had been shot straight into their veins. They nailed every skill, completed every routine almost, if not, perfectly.

The mounting pressure was completely forgotten as they returned back to themselves and the idea of everything just being a normal day at practice.

Percy was finally becoming consistent with his high bar release move.

“I’m actually starting to see everything now, my air awareness is so much better.” He said, laying in the foam pit, after hitting the skill 5 times in a row. After days of dropping the skill, Percy looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “It’s still terrifyingly awesome, but the fear of falling has pretty much left.”

That was how Annabeth felt about her Cheng, it wasn’t anywhere near as good as her Amanar, but it was competition ready and that would have to do.

***

The cameras followed them around Goode Academy for most of the morning. Sometimes it was easy to forget they were there. Like when they got wide shots of the halls and classrooms, then it was easy to pretend they were there for someone else. But when they got close-ups of Annabeth and Percy opening their lockers, or looking at a syllabus, or greeting a friend they haven’t seen for months, then it was pretty hard to ignore.

“What a great way to start our junior year,” Percy murmured as they walked together into Blofis’ class.

They took their seats next to Grover, breathing a sigh of relief that the three of them hadn’t been separated as they had been in some of their other classes.

A cameraman followed them to get a shot of Annabeth and Percy sitting on either side of Grover.

While Blofis was going over the syllabus (The same that it had been since Freshman year), the two of them were then asked to step out in the hall to give a quick interview that would be used in the vignette. At this point, neither Percy nor Annabeth knew what would be worse, sitting through the same presentation for the third time in a row or giving an interview. The quicker this was all over, the better.

Walking out, they saw Mr. Brunner finish up his own interview with a different camerawoman. He gave a quick thumbs up and a smile as he returned to his classroom.

“At least they talked to a teacher that likes the both of us,” Annabeth said, she shuddered to think about what Mrs. Dodds would have said about Percy. She then added hopefully, “By Thanksgiving break, everyone will forget.”

Luckily for them, many of the students at Goode were used to this type of thing, they had rich fancy parents, so some weren’t fazed and went on about their day as normal. However, others stopped to stare outright, mouths agape, leaving Annabeth and Percy to feel like complete freaks.

Most of their classmates, especially those in different grade levels, had no idea about their extracurricular activity and so it must have seemed weird that on the first day of school 4 different news cameras were following around Annabeth and Percy.

Unlike their sophomore year, Annabeth and Percy had lunch with Grover. By then, the cameras were gone, having decided they had gotten enough footage of Annabeth and Percy acting ‘normal.’

Lunch was a reprieve, they had time to just hang out, especially with Grover, which they hadn’t really been able to do since their celebration party after camp.

The cameras being gone was like a weight being lifted off their chests. They were able to breathe regularly again. They sat outside, as the nice weather began to change from the intense heat of the summer to a mild and pleasant autumn.

They spent their time talking and joking around. Everything was normal until Nancy Bobofit decided she needed to ruin everything like she normally did. Unfortunately, they had gone to school with her since middle school, and she never failed to annoy them in some capacity. It was just the beginning of school tradition at this point.

“Grover, don’t you feel a little out of your depth with these two? Does it ever get boring being a tag-along or the helpless sidekick?”

Percy’s fists were clenched and he was on his feet in a millisecond. His face snarling in anger, “Shut up Nancy, and leave us alone,”

Annabeth was holding him back, mostly for show, she knew he wouldn’t hit her, but Nancy knew how to spark Percy’s anger perfectly.

Attacking and making fun of his friends, was a sure-fire way to piss him off. Which of course Nancy knew.

Nancy sighed dramatically. “Oh no, I’m so afraid,” she turned to walk away, for which Annabeth was thankful. But, at the last second, before anyone could react, she snatched Grover’s backpack, grabbed the top strap with two hands, spun quickly, and released. They watched as the bag sailed and arced its way onto the top of the covered awning above the lunch tables.

 She cackled loudly while walking back to her table with her friends who were all laughing with her. The rest of the students outside were quiet, shifting their gazes back and forth between Nancy’s group and the three of them.

“Have fun, you three!” Nancy jeered.

Grover sat there, completely silent, staring at his lunch. Refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

Annabeth felt for him, Grover usually took the brunt of Nancy’s cruelty. She always singled him out as the weakest link of their trio. Which was ridiculous.

It’s okay, Grover, we got this.” Percy told him as he put a comforting hand on his back.

Annabeth got up from the table with him, knowing Percy’s plan already.

This was a trick that Annabeth and Percy had been practicing in their free time at the gym, something they had picked up from watching the cheerleaders practice from time to time.

Percy grabbed Annabeth around the waist, and hoisted her into the air, catching her feet in his hands so she was standing upright above his head, completely level with the metal awning.

She silently cursed Nancy, she definitely had a great throwing arm to be able to get Grover’s backpack so far onto the roof. If she wasn’t on the school's track and field team, she needed to be.

Annabeth stepped onto the awning, hoping it was strong enough to support her weight for the split second she’d be up there. It certainly was a strange vantage point to see the school from, but she didn’t want to dawdle and draw the attention of the faculty and staff.

This was never a scenario covered in the student code of conduct, so Annabeth had no clue the punishment she could receive if she was caught on top of the cafeteria.

She quickly grabbed Grover’s bag and jumped off, knowing wholeheartedly and without a doubt, that Percy would catch her.

He set her carefully onto the ground. As if this was something they did every other day.

“Thank you,” Annabeth said to him as she set the bag down and resumed her lunch as nothing had happened.

“Any time,” Percy said with a smile and a wink.

Nancy’s group was no longer laughing and instead sat with several different shocked expressions.

They paid them no attention.

Thankfully, Grover was laughing as they both sat back down and resumed their lunch and conversation.

But before they could continue with their lunch, one of the senior cheerleaders, Kelly, had run up to them excitedly.

“That was amazing! How come neither of you has ever tried out for Goode’s cheer team?”

Annabeth’s eyes widened. She didn’t want to seem arrogant or rude, Percy however, couldn’t stop himself from a quick bout of laugher. One sharp look from Annabeth and he quickly quieted. “Sorry,” Annabeth said, “we just don’t have time.”

“Well, I’m the captain and I would accept you all on the team at any time without a tryout. Just let me know, this kind of opportunity doesn’t come around all the time. Can you tumble?”

Annabeth laughed herself now. “Moderately,“ She answered at the same time Percy said, “We’re decent.”

The cheerleader’s words were racing, “Then you’re probably better than at least half the team. We could really use your talent. With you, we can finally beat Yancy Academy at our major tri-county competition.”

Grover was staring at her slack-jawed, while Annabeth and Percy tried to remain polite and convince her they weren’t able to join the school's Cheer Team at this current point in time. They didn’t want to act like they were superior or like they were bragging about their abilities.

“You should tell her,” Grover suggested.

Annabeth and Percy both shook their heads. They never liked to draw too much attention to themselves at school. Today had been an anomaly that neither wanted to repeat.

Everyone eating outside was still staring confused at Annabeth and Percy, as they tried to figure out how they were able to perform their earlier stunt. Luckily for them, it appeared no teachers or administrators were there to witness.

Only by promising to think about her offer, were they able to convince Kelly to leave. Reluctantly, Kelly returned to her table of cheerleaders who waved excitedly and cheerfully at Annabeth and Percy. Though Annabeth had a feeling she wasn’t going to give up that easy.

Luckily, the cheerleaders were exactly what was necessary to help Grover put Nancy Bobofit completely out of their minds. The three of them laughed at the encounter and went their separate ways once lunch was over.

Grover and Percy walked together in the opposite direction on their way to science, Percy talked passionately about something, probably about how much he hated Nancy and the look on her face when Annabeth was up on the roof.

Annabeth knew Percy would be thinking about the other girl’s comments for at least the rest of the day. Percy was too loyal of a friend to let an insult to Grover go unchecked or let Grover think that what Nancy said had any sort of credibility. She hoped he wouldn’t do or say something stupid this close to World’s and on the very first day of school.

The remainder of this year sure was going to be interesting.

***

It was quite the adjustment adding school back into the mix, especially knowing that they’d have to be leaving for Rome in a matter of weeks.

Practices were back to what they used to be, and they both had put that horrible dark time behind them. Annabeth was starting to feel comfortable with her routines and the prospect of soon competing against all the best gymnasts in the world.

Their endurance and stamina were at an all-time high, and they couldn’t let that fall now that school had begun again.

In just two weeks, they would have a week-long session at camp with just the team and then that was it. They’d be heading to Rome. They had already bought their tickets to get there almost two days earlier than necessary for some sight-seeing and to get acclimated to the time change. Gymnastics and jet lag did not go hand in hand.

Together, Annabeth and Percy went to their teachers and explained the situation. Annabeth knew that if she left Percy to do this on his own, he would wait until the day before they left.

Luckily, their teachers were all very understanding and happy for them. Some even promised to watch on TV. Throughout the next few days, they were sporadically given work that they would be missing during the almost month of school they would be absent for.

After each practice, Annabeth would try and convince Percy to complete at least one additional assignment to try and stay on top of their work. Sally usually offered to drive them back, but Annabeth had been opting for the subway because it gave them a full 45 minutes to actually work on their assignments, because as soon as they got back to the apartment neither of them felt like doing anything except going to sleep.

They fell into a comfortable and productive routine. Taking each day, one at a time, without looking too far ahead. They made short term goals, which they changed and added to once they were accomplished.

Eventually, it was time to head to camp, back to Athena’s complex, for a week of heavy training to prepare for Rome as a team.

On the drive up, Annabeth and Percy spent their time constantly refreshing Chiron’s email on his phone to see who else made the World’s team. Athena was very tight-lipped about the final selection of the team. Gymnasts who placed 2-11 at the selection competition, were allowed to stay at Camp to prove to Athena that they deserved a chance at the Worlds team. Today was when the final decision would be made, they eagerly waited to see who they would be competing with and against.

They were about 30 minutes out from the complex when the email finally came in.

It was brief.

To: Chiron

From: Athena Parthenos

Below are the men’s and women’s Worlds team going to Rome, Italy.

Women:                                                     Men:

Annabeth Chase                                        Percy Jackson

Thalia Grace                                              Jason Grace

Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano                   Leo Valdez

Piper McLean                                            Frank Zhang

Hazel Levesque                                        Charles Beckendorf

Selena Beauregard                                   Octavian Cesar

Rachel Elizabeth Dare (Alternate)             Connor Stoll (Alternate)

They cheered loudly, excited to see many of their friends had made the team. Chiron made a ‘hmph’ noise once she read the names aloud. She had a feeling he didn’t agree totally with the decision but that would be a conversation for a different time.

“I can’t wait to see who we room with in Italy,” Annabeth said.

“You may be jumping a bit too far ahead there, you have to survive this week first. If you two thought that development camp was tough, this week before worlds will be even worse.” Chiron explained, “Last time there was 40 of you, now there’s 14, prepare for the toughest workouts and conditioning yet, and to have every moment criticized and nitpicked.”

“Luckily, it appears as though my mother has prepared me for this week, my entire life.”

She had meant it as a joke, but when the words came out they were much bleaker than she had intended.

Chiron took a deep breath, “Same rules stand. We’re going to take each day as it comes. All the way through Worlds. Also, remember, you two should be having fun, I know camp was exhausting, but at the selections meet you two looked completely out of character. Remember why we do this in the first place.”

***

The next week was the most grueling of Annabeth’s life.

She had never pushed her body to the limits they were being expected to. Each night, they fell into bed exhausted and each morning they'd wake up sore. 

But she and Percy had survived, barely. And they were all the better for it.

They had never been in better shape than they were right now. Hopefully, that would be evident in their medal count.

***

“Is it too late to opt for a boat,” Percy nervously asked as the plane taxied out to the runway.

Chiron had already leaned back in his seat. To Percy’s annoyance, since they had been specifically instructed not to do that until they were at a cruising altitude. With closed eyes, Chiron replied with a simple and terse, “Yes.”

Percy huffed and Annabeth resisted the urge to smile, she knew from experience that would do nothing to help Percy’s nerves.

Instead, she entwined her arm around one of his.

“What do you want to eat first after World’s?” She asked him. This was a sure-fire way to take Percy’s mind off the takeoff portion of the flight, the rest she’d have to improvise, hopefully, they’d be able to fall asleep and get some rest.

They’d have about a day and a half before practice started. And only two of those before qualifications began. Getting their bearings and beating the time difference was going to be crucial.

“Sleep as much as you can,” Chiron told them when they were finally at a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. “You’re going to need it, when we land, were spending as much time outside and in the sun. It’s the best way to beat the jet lag.”

His tone was of warning. “Oh no,” Percy said, “Outside in a beautiful city in Italy, that sounds awful.”

Chiron smiled, then leaned back in his seat again.

Percy hadn’t yet relaxed enough for sleep, he still had a death grip on the arm rests, and his shoulders were scrunched up to his ears. He had only just put the safety manual back in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of him.

They finally settled on a Marvel movie, and Annabeth hoped that would be enough to get Percy to forget that they were thousands of feet in the air. Halfway through, and she had finally felt him loosen up, his shoulders were no longer tight and hunched, and his head was starting to lull to the side instead of looking around at every unknown sound.

They were well over the Atlantic and in the middle of a third movie when Annabeth heard a small thud, she turned in her seat to see Percy’s head lulled to the side finally passed out.

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief, getting Percy relaxed enough to sleep was always the hardest part. She pushed up the armrest separating the two of them and rested her head against his shoulder.

 Within minutes she was asleep as well.

Annabeth awoke to a bright light in her eyes. Blinking herself awake she saw Percy opening the plane's window cover, which could only mean one thing.

They had landed.

“Look!” Percy said, pointing at the ground, “Roman ground. Finally!”

Annabeth was surprised, “We’re there already?” She had only closed her eyes and rested against Percy not more than 20 minutes ago.

“Yeah, I woke up on the decent, we figured it would be best to let you sleep more.”

 Then it hit her, they were in Italy. Gymnastics had brought her all over the world. Peru, Canada, Germany, China, Japan, Australia, and even a few others, but this was her first time in Italy. 

After what felt like years, they were finally off the plane and collecting their several sets of luggage each. They’d be here for a couple of weeks at the least, so they needed several different types of leotards. Some for practice, podium training, qualifications, team finals (if they made it), all-around finals (if they made it), and event finals (if they made it).

98% of the wardrobe they brought to Italy was leotards, with one nice outfit for a party they were invited to by the Worlds Gymnastics Committee and about a weeks’ worth of normal clothes, since that was all they’d need. They had a few days before and after the competitions to sightsee and unfortunately, that would be it, since they couldn’t miss too much school.

Annabeth was always worried that the flight would lose their luggage with their leotards in it. They were crazy expensive and a requirement for the competition.

Luckily, they grabbed their belongings with no hassle and quickly boarded a taxi that would take them to the hotel they were staying at before the rest of the team and Athena arrived in Rome. Then they’d be rooming with other, members of the team with a strict schedule.

“You have 20 minutes to put your things down and get ready for the day, then we're hitting the town,” Chiron told them, his tone implied this would be an arduous task instead of spending a day in paradise.

“Why does he make that seem ominous?” Percy asked?

Annabeth agreed, “It’s like he signed us up for a Marathon instead of traveling around a beautiful city. I can’t wait to see some of the architecture, I’ve only seen it in pictures.”

“You’re weird,” Percy said, But he was smiling wide and his eyes were soft, so she knew he didn’t mean it. At least not as an insult.

***

Chiron turned into a drill sergeant. He was more demanding now than he was during practice.

They saw what felt like the entire city in a single afternoon, stopping by all the major landmarks. The Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, and even a few different piazzas.

They spent a good 20 to 30 minutes at each place. But as the day continued, the more their fatigue grew.  

Annabeth couldn’t believe she was getting tired surrounded by all the amazing and beautiful sights, history, and architecture. But after being on a plane for more than 8 hours and then immediately hitting the ground running was a lot to deal with.

“Keep this up, we have a few more stops before we can eat again. And then maybe head back to the hotel.”

Percy was slumped against a wall, his exhaustion on full display, “Remind me why we’re doing this again?”

Chiron took a deep breath. This was the third time he had explained his reasoning. “Being out in the sun is one of the best ways to beat the time change and jet lag. I won’t have the two of you going to practice tomorrow disoriented. The rest of the team is gonna have a hell of a time getting acclimated tonight.”

Practicing and competing while jet-lagged could be very dangerous, their bodies and brains still felt 5 hours behind. Tomorrow they’d be practicing at 9 in the morning, but it would feel more like 4 am New York time. This was not the time to risk an injury, so Chiron was being extra careful and deliberate with their actions.

It was another hour before Chiron led them into a restaurant and they finally were able to sit, rest their legs, and eat.

“Thank god for Wi-Fi,” Percy said logging in.

They had taken a bunch of pictures, that they were both eager to send to Sally and post to their social media pages.

The Gymnastics community had a huge online presence, and both Annabeth and Percy enjoyed posting fun things and watching the fans speculate and freak out. It was always fun watching the aftermath of posting a video of a new skill or one they completed perfectly. Once they both won the American Cup, they received an influx of followers on Twitter and Instagram.

Now that they had officially made the World’s team, they were even more people trying to keep up with them. Which was a strange thought for Annabeth to wrap her mind around.

“This is a good one,” Annabeth said excitedly. She showed him a picture of the two of them doing handstands on the outer rim of the Trevi Fountain.  Annabeth posted that to Twitter with the caption ‘When in Rome,’ just to be cute.

Almost immediately she had a couple of dozen likes.

Percy found a great one of the two of them upside down, in the middle of a back flip inside the Colosseum. He posted his own tweet, with a simple fraction of 23/196. It was his count of how many countries they had officially flipped in.

They called Sally wanting to talk about their day and how much fun they were having in Rome, completely forgetting, for a second about the 5 hour time difference. Though, she picked up regardless.

Her voice was groggy and alert at the same time, “Is everything alright?”

Percy immediately felt terrible, “Sorry for waking you, we just wanted to say Hi and that we can’t wait till you’re here in a couple of days.”

Sally was flying over separately once the competition actually started. There really wasn’t a need for her to be there the week of practice.

They talked very quickly, and then let Sally go back to sleep.

The food arrived and Chiron pulled out his phone with their master schedule on it.

“Your practice time isn’t scheduled for the afternoon tomorrow, so we’ll start with physical therapy in the morning. The first full practice you have will be the next day. Saturday is podium training. Then Qualifications. Women on Sunday, men on Monday. ”

Qualifications were crucial. That portion was the first step to making finals. If you did poorly during qualifications then the entire meet could be ruined and you may not even be able to move forward from there.

It was one competition to determine all the others.

The gymnasts would compete individually and have their scores added with their teammates, the top 8 countries would compete against each other first. Women first and then the men. The top 24 individual scores would then compete in the All-Around after that. Then the last two days were the event finals, the top 8 gymnasts on each apparatus would go head to head, it was the only time during this meet that women and men would be competing at the same time. Thankfully, it would be the only time they had to work out a plan to see each other compete.

Annabeth and Percy had switched their mindset since the selection camp competition. They were looking forward to this meet more than anything, instead of being nervous or worried about what would happen. The anxiety was still there, it always would be, wrapped around Annabeth’s throat like a scarf, but she refused to let it control her.

Competitions were the best part of gymnastics. A chance to show off and prove themselves. And see where they matched up against the best in the world. The reigning world champion Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos, from France, was here and many other notable names, like Aliya Mustafina from Russia or the Downie sisters from England, Cheng Fei from China, and Mai Murakami from Japan amongst so many others.

Annabeth had been watching these girls for years, and couldn’t believe she was finally able to compete against them. And that wasn’t even including the girls from the US. Reyna was the reigning US national champion, who didn’t deserve to be overlooked, just because Annabeth beat her at Camp. They weren’t allowed to see the scores so, Annabeth could have beaten her by 5 points or .001 points. The more she thought about it the more she was likely to spin herself into a panic spiral.

She shook herself out of her reverie. Overthinking was going to be her downfall during this meet and she couldn’t let that overwhelm her. Annabeth put all thoughts of the competition to the side. They’d take everything one day at a time, and pretend this was just another practice. It was the only way to get through the next few days with an upbeat and positive attitude.

Whatever Annabeth and Percy’s fate would be, they’d know in just two weeks’ time.

Chapter Text

Percy was happy to see that he was finally allowed to have a roommate.

He knew it wasn’t due to any kindness from Athena. That was impossible. Instead, it seemed more likely that she and the National team didn’t have money to waste on an entirely separate hotel room just to annoy and alienate him. Especially when it didn’t seem to have worked the first time.

It had taken a few days but Jason Grace was finally starting to warm up to him. The other boy was much more reserved and had some pretty thick walls built up, but they had spent enough time together now, they were resembling legitimate friends.

Practices and podium training went by without any incident. The most challenging part of everything was trying to get used to the floor.

95% of the time, the floor was colored blue. It made it easier for the gymnasts to see where they were at when flipping and twisting in the middle of tumbling passes. In order to successfully land a pass, a gymnast needed to be able to differentiate between the walls, ceiling, and floor, so they could spot their landing. That way you didn’t accidentally land on your head.

White was one of the worst colors imaginable because it made, ceiling, floor, and everything in between blur together. And yet, for some reason, that was the exact color the Italians decided would be the best format for the floor exercise during Worlds.

Walking into the practice gym on the first day, Chiron let out an audible and annoyed groan. Percy knew Annabeth was going to want to start on vault, but this was one of the only times, Chiron had put his foot down and made a decision for them.

“We have to start with floor, you’ll need all the time you can get to acclimate properly.”

It took exactly half of one warm-up pass for them to realize how much harder this apparatus would be. They started off with simple skills, and even that was difficult. When throwing a double layout, Percy lost track of where the floor was at, he completely overrated and belly-flopped. He jumped up quickly, ignoring the pain spiking up his body. Annabeth's laughter was short-lived, she threw the same skill and underrotated landing on her back. By the end of the first practice, Percy and Annabeth were much more comfortable. It took a few days to be competition-ready, but they had managed and were ready to go.

The night before women’s qualifications, Percy’s jitters set in. He was always more nervous for Annabeth than he was himself. When he competed, Percy had 100% control over everything that happened, but for Annabeth, he was left watching helplessly.

Percy knew that she was more than capable of winning this entire competition. But still, he worried. That night, he couldn’t sit still enough to watch TV let alone sleep and he knew he was starting to bug Jason as he paced their small hotel room.

“Hey, I’m gonna go down to the pool and swim a few laps, you’re more than welcome to come if you want.”

Jason gave a noncommittal answer as Percy put on his swim trunks and sent a text to the group chat with Chiron and Annabeth.

Really, what was the point of an indoor swimming pool, if you weren’t going to use it?

Percy was already doing laps when Annabeth and Chiron arrived, Annabeth in a bathing suit and Chiron in his normal tracksuit. He sat at a table with a book.

She looked relieved as if she also was having a hard time getting her nerves under control. After a few more laps, the door to the pool area flew open.

Jason walked in, with Piper, Hazel, and Leo right behind him.

Chiron groaned, “Please tell me your coaches know you are here.” Everyone agreed except for Jason. Chiron groaned softly, then turned his chair so he was facing the wall, “I guess I just missed you come in, Mr. Grace, my book is so good, you see.”

Jason smiled, then cannonballed into the pool, while everyone else followed suit.

They spent a couple of hours just messing around. Already Percy felt invigorated and refreshed.  He was ready for anything the universe was going to throw at him.

In the middle of a game of Marco Polo, the door to the pool opened again. Jason nervously flinched, waiting to see who would enter. They paused anxiously watching their friend. None of them wanted to see Jupiter’s anger if Jason was caught having fun.

But instead of a coach, a very familiar face walked through the doors. One Percy didn’t expect to see for another 2 days.

Sally.

Percy was out of the pool and running to her in an instant. Despite the fact, that he was soaking wet, she pulled him into a tight hug. She laughed and the sound of it echoed throughout the room.

Someone else was then embracing them both, and Percy didn’t need to turn his head, to know that it was Annabeth. His entire being was set on fire as she pressed her body against his.

“You came early! “ Annabeth exclaimed.

His mother smiled, “I couldn’t miss qualifications.”

“Did you know about this?” Percy asked Chiron.

Chiron hadn’t even turned in his chair, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Percy introduced Sally to his friends, who sheepishly waved hello.

They only had about an hour before curfew so they finished up their game before drying off and heading back to their respective rooms.

“This was so much fun, I’m glad we did it, I think I may even be able to manage to sleep now,” Hazel said.

 Percy smiled, “It makes me feel way better knowing I wasn’t the only one having trouble relaxing.”

Annabeth looked aghast, “You aren’t even competing tomorrow!”

Percy was offended, “I can still be nervous!”

They bickered back and forth all the way back up to their rooms, their friends caught between laughing at the two of them wearily and joining in.

The girl's floor was one below the boys, they exited the elevator first, as Percy, Leo, and Jason continued upwards. Percy could hear Annabeth’s laughter as it traveled down the hall.

After showering and leaving out the clothes he’d wear to his practice in the morning and then later to watch the Women’s Qualifications, Percy was finally exhausted enough to fall into bed. He lay wide awake for a time, listening to Jason’s soft snores.

It was the thought of Annabeth’s face and her earlier laughter that finally carried Percy to sleep.

***

Percy just barely made it to his seat next to Sally in time to see Annabeth start her first event at Qualifications.

His practice had run a bit longer than he thought it would. With every single male gymnast competing at World’s vying for practice time, there was a lot of waiting around for a turn. Even with multiple pieces of equipment.

“Look on the Bright side,” Chiron had told him after waiting almost 20 minutes for a turn on the floor, “This is definitely preparing you for all the waiting around during the actual competitions.”

For some reason, Percy failed to see how that was a ‘bright side.’

After a while, he was able to get a decent workout in, so he was confident in himself while watching Annabeth compete.

His butt hit the seat as soon as Annabeth took off sprinting down the vaulting runway. Sally grabbed Percy’s hand tight, her worry was evident. Annabeth exploded off the table flying high, twisting and flipping in the air. She landed with the smallest step on the landing. Percy cheered, loudly. Sally joining in once she realized Annabeth was safe and unharmed.

The beginnings of meets were always the worst for his mom. She was scared all the time, but normally at least halfway through she began to relax a minuscule amount.

Despite this being qualifications, the arena was packed. Once the cheers and applause died down, Percy yelled “Come on, Annabeth, You got this,” loud enough for her to hear. She smiled in his general direction, probably unable to pinpoint their exact location in the crowd.

Her next vault was the one he was the most nervous for. The Cheng.

It was a difficult vault, one that Percy did not envy. She would half-twist onto the table, all but destroying the momentum she built up from her run, then she would have to block with all her muscle and might in order to fly high enough to twist one and a half times.

Somehow, Annabeth was able to soar to insane heights, she made that vault look simple. She could probably add another twist or two one day.

Percy envied her. He loved vault, he was great at it (maybe good enough to even medal), but his vaults never looked as effortless as Annabeth’s.

The arena cheered loudly as Annabeth saluted and walked off to high five and hug Chiron.

It was a thousand years before Annabeth competed again. Dozens of other gymnasts went in the meantime, which Percy sorta tuned out. He didn’t mean to, he loved watching other gymnasts, especially the ones at the top of their game. It was too hard of a sport to not recognize greatness when you saw it. But Percy was too nervous for Annabeth to pay any real attention. Luckily, he had his mother to keep him company, she spent the time talking about her new book and pretty much anything else to keep him occupied until Annabeth’s turn on uneven bars.

He grabbed Sally’s hand for support as soon as Annabeth stepped up to the mats. While waiting for the go-ahead to begin from the judges, Annabeth rolled out her neck and added chalk to the bottoms of her feet.

It wasn’t necessary, it was just awkward and uncomfortable waiting to begin and she needed something to do to bide her time.

Sally took a deep breath as Annabeth saluted the judges, a large smile leaping across her face.  

 Percy squeezed his mom’s hand, knowing how hard it was for her to watch. She was always torn between knowing the hard work that went into their sport and being terrified of them getting hurt. With Percy, she squirmed and clung tight, but managed to watch all of Annabeth’s routine.

Lucky for her she did. The routine was amazing, Annabeth was practically flawless. Percy was always so grateful that he could see her compete, let alone train with her.

She propelled herself from the low bar to the high bar and got to work. Her first two release moves happened one after another. She soared above the bar, catching each skill effortlessly. First a piked Tkatchev, then her own original skill that if she performed successfully during the All-Around or Team competition (whichever came first) would then be named after Annabeth.

The Chase was a skill never before attempted by another gymnast male or female. Annabeth swung hard, then threw herself over the bar, flipping herself forward in a complete rotation with her legs straddled. She caught the bar perfectly.

Percy had tried this skill once, but it had been so terrifying, he couldn’t bring himself to try again. Annabeth had first come up with this idea, because of a mistake, they were probably about 11 or 12 when Annabeth started training a straddled Tkatchev, but on her first attempt, she had somehow rotated too far forward and completely flipped herself around, landing on the mats below, confused and disoriented.

She eventually learned the straddled Tkatchev but had kept the other move in the back of her mind. Percy wasn’t at all surprised when she finally landed the skill two years later and then perfected it from there.

Once landing her release move, Annabeth immediately twisted herself down the low bar, where she was supposed to complete one and a half pirouettes.

The operative word being “supposed.”

Her hands got twisted in her handstand, but instead of falling she saved the skill by somehow adding in another twist onto the pirouette.

Percy’s heart stopped, hoping that she wouldn’t make another mistake because of the extra effort needed to save the first.

Sally gripped him tighter. “Was she supposed to do that?”

“Nope,” Percy replied, not taking his eyes of Annabeth. Once she was safely back on the high bar and into the normal rhythm of the routine, Percy added, “She may be credited with bonus points actually, a double pirouette is not easy.”

Her finally release move, a Nabieva, was the second most difficult release move, aside from the soon to be Chase, where Annabeth threw herself high over the bar enough to completely straighten herself out so it looked for a brief second that she was standing up straight, after catching it easily, she wound up with two extra giant swings and dismounted. A double-twisting double back, all completely laid out.

Her landing was immaculate, she didn’t move a muscle. Until she threw her arms back in excitement as she saluted the judges.

Percy jumped to his feet with Sally cheering in joy. Chiron on the sidelines was also cheering with many other gymnasts who watched excitedly.

“That’s My Best Friend!” Percy yelled proudly. Sally laughed.

He knew she wouldn’t be able to hear him from across the arena, with the roar of the crowd, but she still turned to face their general location, smiled, and waved.

It was the midpoint of their meet, where gymnasts were allowed a short break to get water, a snack, and go to the bathroom. Annabeth sat next to a few of the US women and a couple of other gymnasts from other countries.

He watched as she tried to have a conversation with Melanie de Jesus dos Santos, an amazing gymnast from France.

Sally took this as a good opportunity to grab some food from the concession stands. She came back not with nachos or a hot dog the way she probably would have back in the US. Instead, she returned with a personal pan cheese pizza topped with broccoli, eggplant, and corn. She also was given a small fruit salad on the side.

“Pizza?” She offered.

Despite how great it looked, and being born and raised in New York City, Percy thought of himself as a definitive expert on pizza, it probably wouldn’t have been the best thing for him right now. He knew Chiron had food set aside for him that was in line with his diet. He declined her offer, but he did start nibbling on the fruit.

Eventually, the women began moving to their next apparatus, luckily for Percy and Sally they were front and center for beam, Annabeth’s next event.

While she was warming up, Chiron walked over to the wall that separated the gymnasts from the crowd, Percy and Sally were about 6 rows back. He pointed at Percy and then flung a bag that Percy was just barely able to catch without hitting the family sitting in front of them.

“What’s that?” Sally asked.

Percy unzipped the bag.

“Lunch,” he sighed in happiness. The last time Percy had eaten was breakfast at the hotel and then a small snack during training.

He dug into the food, while he watched Annabeth take her two touches. She looked solid. He knew she was more nervous for this apparatus than all the others.

“You got this, Annabeth!” Percy shouted as she waited for the judge’s signal. He heard additional chants that spread across the arena from other spectators and gymnasts both.

She saluted, then mounted the beam with a series of flares that could’ve made the best pommel workers envious.

Percy held his breath as she flipped through her first series. It was rock solid like always.

“Square hips, even arms.” Chiron yelled from the side, Annabeth probably didn’t even process the words, but Percy knew it was helping Chiron feel less nervous himself.

 Annabeth, whether or not she heard their coach, followed his words exactly. Landing each skill with precision and grace.

Her new connection a switch leap into a twisting straddle jump was landed so expertly, the crowd actually gasped.

She flipped and twisted, with only a few balance checks, and all the while his mom had a death grip on Percy’s hand. But she kept her eyes glued to Annabeth, no matter how much she squirmed in terror.

“She’s got this,” Percy consoled as Annabeth took a deep breath before her dismount. A double Arabian. She ran and pushed with all her might, when she landed, it was off to the side and with a large step, the only notable mistake she had made.

They cheered excitedly, especially since Annabeth got to put her worst event behind her. Now there was only floor left.

And Annabeth had a pretty good lead. Out of the best gymnasts in the world, Annabeth, his best friend, was in the first.

At this point, it was by half a point, but that still said a good bit about her chances at medaling.

There was a decent-sized wait, before Annabeth’s rotation finally made it to floor and were actually ready to compete after the two touches and warming up. That was something they had to take advantage of now because during event finals, there was no time allotted for gymnasts to warm up before they competed. That was going to be the most dangerous part of the competition for everyone involved. But that was something they couldn’t dwell on now, and would just have to deal with when they crossed that bridge.

Annabeth sat on the ground, surrounded by many of the other gymnasts in her rotation. They talked and laughed together, Percy was glad to see she was enjoying herself. So many athletes made it to the level they were at but made themselves miserable in the process.

While waiting, Sally’s phone rang, Percy couldn’t see who it was but he had a suspicion of who it would be.

“Can you hear me?” Sally asked putting a finger in her ear to block out the crowd noise.

Apparently this didn’t work, so she rose and headed out to the breezeway. Percy figured he was making progress with the situation because he only got mildly annoyed at the thought of Paul and not completely weirded out.

She returned after a while. Three of the seven girls in Annabeth’s rotation had gone. Meaning it would probably be another 45 minutes until Annabeth, one of the last in the group finally went.

Meets were always an explosion of activity. Gymnasts were competing at the same time on different apparatuses, fans in the crowds were constantly cheering and screaming. All of Percy’s senses were dialed in as his body began to relax, so he could fully enjoy watching the best gymnasts in the world compete at the top of their game.

While watching and cheering for Beth Tweedle on the uneven bars, a young girl in front of Percy turned to look at him. Immediately he knew he had been spotted. There was recognition in her eyes.

She leaped over the back of her seat to stand in front of him, a sharpie in her hand.

“Percy Jackson?” She asked quietly with a lilting Italian accent.

Percy smiled and nodded, she forced the sharpie into his hands and pointed to the spot on her shirt she wanted him to sign. Once he was finished the girl nudged an older woman and handed her a phone. She hugged Percy tight as they took a few pictures.

The girl, Gabriella, he had come to learn, thanked him profusely before returning to her seat.

Sally watched a huge smile on her face. “Who would’ve thought, my baby boy, famous enough to have people asking for autographs and pictures?”

Percy tried not to blush. This whole thing still made him a tad uncomfortable. He didn’t necessarily believe he deserved all this, he was just a gymnast, after all.

Not two minutes after the girl had returned to her seat, Percy felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find a boy and his mother with a sharpie and camera in hand.

As he signed the boy's program and took a picture, Percy began to draw significant attention from other members in the crowd. Something he didn’t anticipate happening, when all he wanted to do was watch Annabeth compete.

People flocked to him, lining up on the stairs waiting for their turn for a picture. At one point the line to get to him had stretched up the aisle stairs all the way into a completely different section.

Percy didn’t exactly know how to feel. This was probably the craziest thing that ever happened to him, it wasn’t like he was a rock star or a famous actor, so it was pretty cool seeing all these people who wanted to see him. He actually had international fans who wanted to meet him and get a picture. But on the flip side, it had been about 30 minutes, and Percy knew they were getting dangerously close to Annabeth’s turn on floor. Sally watched on happily splitting her time between watching Percy and keeping her eyes on Annabeth to let him know when she was about to begin.

The line didn’t seem to be dwindling and just when he thought he’d never escape, Sally called out his name and pointed to the floor.

He had been practicing these next words in his head for at least 15 minutes, “My teammate is competing on her last event, I’ll be in the lobby after the meet for anyone who still wants an autograph or picture.”

With his heart beating nearly a mile a minute, he sat back down in his seat, not giving anyone a chance to argue or complain, thankfully no confrontation arose.

Annabeth’s floor music began. This was her last event of the day, it was make or break at this point. Team finals, All-Around finals, and Event finals, all came down to what happened here. If she made a mistake, Annabeth could plummet in the standings. Throwing her out of contention for any of the final competitions.

She was still in first, and if his math skills were better, he’d probably be able to roughly figure out what she needed to stay there. Or at least remain eligible for the All-Around.

His mind couldn’t focus on that for too long because Annabeth took her first tumbling pass. A double-twisting double layout. Percy knew she had been working on controlling her power and landings. Annabeth always had tons of power, even when they were kids.

The first time she ever tried this skill, she had over-rotated and completed three twists with relative ease.

To combat all that power, Chiron decided they would add jumps to the end of some of her more commonly overpowered passes. Not only would it help control her landings but also give a few extra bonus points.

In the months leading up to World’s, they had spent some time reconfiguring her floor routine to make sure she wasn’t too tired by the end, especially with her choreography and upbeat music.

The sheep jump out of her first pass was magnificent and did its job, there was no extra step on the landing.

The next pass a double Arabian laid out was practically flawless. Percy had been trying to convince her to add a half twist on the landing, but Chiron had put his foot down on that one. For now.

“Keep it up Annabeth! You got this!” He called out.

Sally kept constant pressure on his hand as she squirmed in her seat a bit.

She moved effortlessly into her dance, jump, and turn sequence. Which had only been altered slightly since the selections camp to help with Annabeth’s stamina to make sure she was able to finish strong. Annabeth completed her jumps and spins with absolute grace and poise. She went into her handstand series, and then their shared combination.

A butterfly kick into a dive roll. Then after one last beautiful ring jump, she backed herself into the corner of the floor, for the first of her final two tumbling passes.

How she had the energy after jumping and running and twisting to complete a 1.5 twist to a double back with a half twist, Percy could only wonder. Her step on the landing was there, but at least only minor.

 Her dismount a triple twist was perfectly executed, except for the step at the end. She danced out of the skill and landed in her ending pose at the same time the music stopped.

The crowd exploded into applause and cheers.

There were still two athletes who needed to compete after Annabeth, he watched her walk down the platform stairs and hug everyone in her general vicinity.

Sally nudged him and then waved her arms wildly trying to get Chiron’s attention. With a stroke of luck she succeeded, he left Annabeth and headed to their area quickly. Before Percy could ask his mother what she was doing she said, “Go with him, before all those people swarm you.”

He had never loved her more. He hugged her tight and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, I’ll see you back at the hotel.”

Percy hopped over the railing that separated the spectators from the athletes. He landed gracefully, with a small spot from Chiron.

“Everything okay?” He asked, having been given no context to the situation.

“As long as I can avoid some of the fans who will be waiting for autographs and pictures in the breezeway, then yes.”

Chiron laughed. His accompanying words completely unheard as Annabeth walked around the corner. He ran and engulfed her in a huge hug. He pointed at the scoreboard.

But she forced his arm down, “Aliya Mustafina still has to compete,”

“But Look,” He pointed to the score trying to show her that SHE was in first place while Aliya, probably the best Russian gymnast of her generation, was in third.

“I’ll look, once everyone has finished,” Annabeth interrupted. Percy conceded. It was one of the only things they strongly disagreed on.

Percy loved using the scoreboard as motivation. He didn’t mind watching it or the other gymnasts competing. While the scoreboard was a constant source of irritation and anxiety for Annabeth.

The music on floor stopped and a chorus of cheers erupted. It would be a few more minutes before Aliya's scores came in and the rankings were official.

Annabeth left to collect her things and congratulate the other girls in the rotation. Since this was only qualifications there was no award ceremony that would come later in the week. There would be one last lineup where the gymnasts waved to the crowd heard their official place and then left. Chiron instructed him to head out and meet them back at the hotel room so he could avoid the fans. It wasn’t that he wasn’t grateful for them, there was just no way he had time to spend taking pictures with everyone who wanted one.

Tomorrow was his own qualification day. Then the real games would begin.

Chapter Text

Ever since watching Percy and Annabeth at Nationals, and listening to them constantly talking about World’s, Grover was excited to see them compete in Rome. He was really getting into the sport now that Percy and Annabeth were tutoring him in all things gymnastics. It had felt like this weekend would never come. He had been teetering between excitement and nervousness for his friends. He knew how hard they had been working for this, but that would make it all the worse if something went wrong.

Like it did for Annabeth at the last competition Grover watched on TV. 

Grover made sure he had nothing going on this weekend so he could support and watch his friends, frantically finishing all his schoolwork Friday and canceling on the environmental organization he volunteered with so he could give the meet his undivided attention. He knew it wouldn’t be the same as when he went Upstate to watch the selections meet in person, but he knew they’d appreciate the sentiment all the same. Luckily for him, both Grover’s parents were at work, so there wasn’t a fight over their only TV.

All of a sudden Annabeth was being displayed on his TV screen.

A deep voice was speaking, he forgot the name but knew it was the same man that he heard when he watched Nationals all those months ago.

“There always seems to be one in American Women’s gymnastics. The ‘it’ girl. To some, it’s a tired phrase, but there is nothing tired about this young woman’s game. That’s Annabeth Chase and Athena Parthenos is watching her every move.”

The camera changed and was now pointing at Annabeth’s mother.

How the gymnastics world still had no idea they were mother and daughter, Grover would never know. Despite the fact that Annabeth actually had feelings and emotions, he could see her resemblance to Athena, the blonde hair, fierce gray eyes, and their stances when concentrating were eerily similar. They both stood shoulders squared, head high and confident.

The voice continued as Annabeth took a practice run on the vault.

“Up next for her, the next great chance on a World Stage to prove she will drive this team to victory here and hopefully in Athens next summer at the Olympics.”

The NBC logo popped up on the screen as the voice continued, “NBC Sports presents the 2019 World Gymnastics Championships, I’m Al Trautwig, joined by Olympic Gold Medalist Tim Dagget and Elfi Schlegel.”

The cameras panned to the competition floor where a girl stood before a blue runway. The man continued, “We begin our coverage of the women’s team final with Hazel Lévesque from New Orleans, Louisiana. Tim, are you surprised she’s on the team?”

A nasal voice spoke up, “Well, a little bit, she didn’t have the best national championships, her landings were a little sloppy, this is actually going to be only one of two events that she will compete in today. The vault and Floor Exercise.”

As Tim was speaking, Hazel took off running, she flew into the air spinning and flipping so fast Grover couldn’t even count. She landed with only the smallest of steps forward.

The announcer continued, “But she’s a dynamic athlete on this event, and that was a great vault.

The woman, Elfie, spoke for the first time, “I think Hazel has really proven herself here at the Championships because in the qualification she had an outstanding competition and as Tim said this is her strength: vault and floor. This is going to be a great score for Team USA."

A graphic popped up as the cameras followed Hazel off the floor as she pulled pants on over her leotard and received hugs and praise from her teammates. He watched as Annabeth, smiling wide wrapped her into a hug, he couldn’t hear what she said, but the team laughed together.

The score flashed and then Al was speaking again, “and her score is a 15.25. There will be 3 women on each of the 4 apparatuses, and all scores count.”

The camera panned from Hazel and he saw Annabeth at the end of the runway, rubbing chalk onto the bottoms of her feet and back of her legs.

Al continued, “And now, we get our first look at Annabeth Chase. How will she handle the world stage about a year away from the Olympic games?”

Tim agreed, “She is setting a great precedent for herself, Annabeth had a terrific qualifying competition, taking the top spot amongst all the gymnasts here this week. If she brings that momentum with her now, it’s going to be hard for the other teams and athletes to top her.”

Annabeth raised her arms in salute, then took off running.

Grover watched as Annabeth half-turned onto the vaulting table and then flew high into the air spinning and twisting so quickly, he wouldn’t have known that it was one and a half twists if the announcers hadn’t said it.

“That was a great vault,” Elfie exclaimed, “Gorgeous, just that small step on the landing.”

Tim agreed, “She’s got great power and perfect form in the air, she just needs to clean up that landing, here at the World Championships, what will separate her from the rest of her competitors is a stuck landing.”

Al chimed in, “And that she did not do, but a 15.85 is a massive score.”

The camera then focused on another girl, her brown skin a dark contrast to the bright red leotard, that every member of Team USA wore.

“If there is an American woman that has really upped her game, really buckled down, and changed the way she views the sport, it’s this woman, Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano."

As Al spoke, Reyna raised her arms in salute, then began running. She pushed off the vault flipping and twisting so fast that it was hard for Grover to keep up.

"Huge vault right here, Explosive," Elfie said excitedly.

They were right, just like Annabeth, Reyna exploded into the air, like being shot out of a cannon. When she landed, Reyna didn’t move a muscle.

“Phenomenal technique,” Tim said, “And Al, you mentioned her passion that she has and a lot of times that comes from not having the dream come true and that’s exactly what happened to Reyna in her quest to make the World team last year, she didn’t even make it to the selection camp. But look at her now, on track to the Olympic Games.”

“Definitely,” Elfie added, “It doesn’t matter what happened last year, a score like 15.7 is huge and will do wonders for this team.”

“Now let’s go ahead and take a look at the Romanian rebuilding efforts on the uneven bars,” The camera switched views to the Uneven bars, where a small girl was swinging on the bars, her white skin only a shade or two darker than the white leotard she wore.

The girl jumped between the bars without any trouble. That came on her release move. She flipped herself forward, legs together, but her hands completely missed the high bar and she landed flat on her stomach.

The look on her face of pure defeat when she got up, was hard to watch. Grover felt sorry for her, especially as the announcers tore into her.

“That was not good, a huge mistake, it’s going to be hard for Romania to get through that.”

The girl got back up and finished her routine, then sadly walked off the floor and into a hug from one of her coaches.

The announcers were still going on about the Romanian team and how they weren’t as good as they used to be, which Grover found to be a little mean.

The next girl up was Larisa Iordace, or so the announcers said. And she was Romania’s greatest chance at medaling. And the girl who may come the closest to defeating Annabeth in the All-Around.

Her bar routine was amazing. The announcers gushed and fawned all over her, which she definitely deserved.

“Athletes like Larisa, are what gives the Romanian team hope, they still have a chance for Rome. They just have improvements they need to make along the way.” Elfie said, to the agreement of the other announcers.

They switched to a commercial, and when the competition returned, Grover was being showed Percy’s face, in the crowd he was yelling something, with Sally right next to him.

The announcers explained who he was, and flashed a graphic of the men’s qualification scoring. Of course, Percy’s name was first. He had texted Grover excitedly a couple of days prior to explain the good news.

He knew the broadcast wasn’t live, Rome was 5 hours ahead of New York City, but the fact that he hadn’t received a text about the Team finals from Percy or Annabeth was starting to worry him.

Grover hoped it was only because of how busy or focused they were and not something a little more ominous.

The cameras now showed Annabeth standing in front of the bars, the announcers talked excitedly.

“Get ready for this, Bars are Annabeth’s biggest strength, and it is so exciting to watch,” Tim said.

Elfie agreed, “Yes, this is gymnastics at its finest, Annabeth’s routine is jam-packed with difficult and technical skills, with hardly any filler in between. She is non-stop.”

There was a lull from the announcers, it was quiet enough for Grover to hear Percy clear as day shout,

“Let’s go Annabeth!”

The announcers laughed, “There goes Mr. Jackson again, we talked to the two of them the other day. They told us that they just love watching the other compete, and it makes them stronger. It’s a great relationship these two have, if one is performing, the other is usually always close by.”

 The screen flashed to something else, Grover saw Percy and Annabeth on the subway sitting next to each other talking, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying as a voice-over began. Describing how they both started gymnastics together and how they’ve been inseparable ever since. The video then showed Good Academy, and Grover saw himself!

There he was on National TV, part of the background for sure, but still there. There was even a shot of the 3 of them sitting together in Blofis’ class, talking and working on the day’s assignment. The voice continued on about their balance of education and the gym and how difficult that is to get right.

This felt surreal to Grover, it was strange enough to watch his friends perform death-defying skills and be some of the best the United States and potentially the world had to offer, but seeing their lives connect with his, and the fact he was able to be a part of it all, even in a small way was pretty special.

The vignette continued with a few interviews from Mr. Brunner and Chiron, one of Percy and Annabeth’s teachers, and their coach. It ended on an uplifting and inspirational note of his friends’ likely chances and how fitting it would be for each of them to achieve a gold medal in the all-around, which apparently their chances were pretty high.

Grover’s screen switched back to Annabeth, as she raised both arms in a salute.

Tim, the announcer said, “Buckle up everyone,” as Annabeth ran, jumping off a springboard and catapulting herself forwards and up to the high bar.

Elfie spoke next, “these first two release moves are immediate and watch the second one, if she lands it successfully, it will become The Chase.”

Grover watched on nervously, she landed the first move flying high and throwing herself back over the bar, legs outstretched, she caught the bar easily, then immediately connected to the next skill. Flipping herself forward, legs straddled in a way that almost looked like a mistake, and probably took more arm strength than Grover would ever have throughout his whole life combined. She flew just as high in the air as her previous move and caught the second just as easily.

The crowd erupted, so did the Announcers.

“Magnificent! There you have it folks, The Chase, probably the most challenging release move in the World right now, the second of which, Annabeth has coming up at the end of her routine.” Tim explained in his nasal voice.

Annabeth flipped down to the low bar and performed a series of twists and pirouettes before twisting herself back up to the high bar.

There she swung quickly before throwing her body over the bar, completely straight before recatching the bar.

The announcers were speaking, but Grover wasn’t paying attention, he was too mesmerized by his friend and how amazing she was. She swung one more time before letting go entirely and flipping and twisting two times each.

Annabeth’s feet hit the ground with a great ‘thud.’ She stood still for a brief second before straightening up and saluting, the entire arena erupted in a wild roar.

The cameras panned to Percy who quite literally was screaming at the top of his lungs.

The announcers chuckled again, “That is probably the most consistent routine, Team USA has to offer, I have never seen Annabeth miss on this event, she truly has a great shot at becoming the world champion on high bar.” Elfie said.

The others agreed as the cameras followed Annabeth off the floor and towards her teammates who hugged her tightly and all excitedly congratulated her, laughing and jumping throughout the process.

Al spoke up, “This is a very tight-knit and friendly team, they are each other’s biggest supporters, which they attribute to the development camps where they spent weeks together constantly training.”

Tim continued, “And it shows here, in their performances, definitely.”

The screen changed to a young girl in a red and yellow leotard as she stood in front of the balance beam. A graphic showed her name as Deng Linlin.

“Here we have our reigning Beam champion, from the People’s Republic of China,” Al said.

Elfie added once Deng jumped onto the beam gracefully, “Her routine starts off slow, but picks up almost immediately.”

The announcers spoke, calling out the moves she was performing. They seemed to be watching with bated breath for her to make a mistake. But she didn’t, she flawlessly performed, flipping, jumping, and twisting with absolute grace and skill, with only a balance check or two that would be counted against her.

“Here she goes, setting up for the dismount, so far this has been unbelievable, China has the opportunity to have athletes place first and second on this event, Ok here she goes…” Tim’s voice got louder and more excited towards the end as Deng Linlin dismounted with a double pike,

“That was a great routine,“ Elfie stated, “Even with that hop on the landing.”

Tim and Al both agreed, “That’s going to be a good number for the Chinese.” Tim explained in his nasally voice.

Instead of waiting for the score for Deng Linlin, Grover’s screen changed so he was looking at the American women again.

They were still on the uneven bars, another girl, stood waiting. She was pretty, her long brown hair in braids and pulled back into a ponytail

Al, the man with the deep voice began speaking. “Here we have Piper McClean on the uneven bars…”

Tim interrupted, “And in the next few minutes we are going to get a real sense of what these World Championships are going to be like.”

Elfie agreed, “Currently America and Russia are neck in neck, with the US behind by .005 points, but at any moment, that can change.”

This was news to Grover, especially since the broadcast hadn’t shown any Russian gymnasts yet. Grover decided that the American news broadcasts must be pretty biased after all. Even though he loved to be able to watch Annabeth compete, Grover figured it’d probably be nice to watch a few of the other girls go, after all, they worked just as hard as his friends to get here. But what did Grover know?

In the grand scheme of all gymnastics things, very little, he had to admit.

Piper started by jumping off a springboard and directly onto the high bar.

“Piper had a pretty good qualifying round, like Hazel, she is competing on 2 events as well, bars and beam. She is not the most consistent gymnast the US has to offer, but if she hits, it will be spectacular and a huge boost for the US.” Elfie explained

Grover thought this was a little harsh, the announcers at times were very overly critical. Shouldn’t they know above everyone else that the athletes are trying their best?

Piper’s routine was going well, even though the announcers acted like she was going to fall at any minute.

She flipped and twisted and switched between the bars. It was clear that she was not as comfortable on the event as Annabeth, but she was still doing a great job.

Her release moves came up and were completed successfully, despite Tim and Elfie explaining that she caught them too close to the bar, so she destroyed her momentum for her next swings. Which would obviously be a deduction.  

Piper had lost so much steam, that her dismount was under-rotated. She landed, with a chest low, that caused a giant step forward, that more resembled a tripping motion than a step.

Grover heard the announcers and crowd as they erupted into a chorus of “Oh no’s.”

“Well,” Tim said and then paused as if searching for something good to say, “She didn’t put her hands down which would have been 8 tenths of a point, this will probably be about a half a point at least, for the stumble alone, they’ll also take off points for the hunched form when landing, this score is going to be tough for the US.”

On that note, the program went to a commercial, and when they returned it was to the standings that still had the US in second.

The cameras showed Annabeth hugging Piper, trying, Grover could tell, to convince her that everything was ok and they’d be able to bounce back from that. Annabeth seemed to be saying a few words of encouragement that would help improve her friend’s spirits.

The announcers spoke about how Piper couldn’t let her mistakes affect her mentally, because her other apparatus today was beam and that took far more concertation.

Now, the cameras switched to the Russian gymnasts, who were currently on beam. When the announcers spoke, they were a little more chipper.

Grover immediately saw why, the footage of the Russian beam routines, showed two of the three falling off the beam completely. The announcers tried to contain themselves, as they explained the number of deductions that those mistakes would cost.

The camera panned to the Russians on the side of the gym. One girl stood off to the side of everyone else, when a coach tried to hug her, she pushed them aside and walked away.

The announcers laughed as they explained that Aliya Mustafina was a Russian Gymnastics Diva.

Grover didn’t think that was too fair, why shouldn’t she be allowed to show emotions? Especially if she messed up. He didn't think she should get a title like Diva just for that.

The broadcast didn’t dwell on the crumbling Russian team too long before moving on to a few smaller countries, where they showed one or two gymnasts on an apparatus before moving on to apparently more well-known gymnasts.

“While those routines were going, here’s what the American team was up to. Balance Beam.” Al said as his screen showed him a girl with pale skin and black short hair. The name Thalia Grace popped up, she stood completely still, breathing deeply.

They showed her routine, along with Piper and a gymnast Grover hadn’t yet seen, named Silena Beauregard. The announcers made sure to explain that this was the only event that Annabeth wouldn’t be competing on today, and that was just as a precaution so she wouldn’t get too tired today or for the rest of the week. Her beam routine was apparently much improved and upgraded that she could have competed but Athena thought it best that she conserve some energy.

However, the announcers weren’t sure how consistent she’d be with the new routine, they’d definitely be able to tell later in the All-Around or event finals.

The three girls were great on beam, no one fell off completely, and there were only a few mistakes, balance checks, and form issues that counted as deductions and would have to addressed later, but the announcers did count this as one of the best-case scenarios, especially with Piper’s earlier fall.

Afterward, the standings were displayed, America was still in second, but not by much, and this time it was China in first.

Annabeth and her team would be moving to the Floor Exercise, and the Chinese Team would be moving to bars.

First up was Hazel. Her routine was great, the announcers talked about her tremendous power and her ability to throw difficult skills. However, her first two tumbling passes showed how having so much power can often be detrimental.

Her first tumbling pass landed completely out of bounds. Which was a half a point deduction. And her second pass, she stepped out of bounds, a three-tenths deduction. The rest of her routine was great, afterward though, it was easy to tell Hazel was not too pleased with her performance.

She morosely walked off the platform to hugs and pats on the back from her teammates. Reyna had switched places with Hazel and was now waiting for the go-ahead to begin.

“She needs an almost perfect routine her, for the United States to try and take that first place spot,” Elfie explained.

Reyna saluted and her music began, an upbeat salsa number. She danced, tumbled, and jumped around the floor, Grover was grasping the edge of his seat waiting to see if she would make a mistake or not.

Once finished, Tim said, “It wasn’t perfect, but that was a terrific routine that the United States desperately needs right now.”

The team celebrated on the side of the floor together, finally, Annabeth emerged from the group hug and walked up the stairs to the actual competition floor. Her coach, Chiron was close behind her, whatever he was saying Grover was unable to hear over the voices of the announcers.

“Here is the last performer of the day for the women’s team finals, and it is all riding on her shoulders,” Al said dramatically.

Tim agreed, “Absolutely, if she hits and her score is good enough, then the US will be in the gold medal spot, if not, they’d stay in second place at best, or fall to the third place.”

Grover’s stomach fell, he couldn’t imagine the pressure Annabeth must be feeling. She was way too smart to not realize that it all came down to her at this point.

As she waited, Grover could hear her teammates screaming her name and cheering for her. He even thought he could make out Percy’s voice from somewhere in the crowd.

He tried to remain positive, he had absolute confidence in Annabeth and her abilities, but his mind wouldn’t stop going back to Nationals and the heartbroken look on her face when she realized she was in 2^nd place.

Grover hoped that this wouldn’t be the case now.

When Annabeth’s music began, Grover was pretty sure his heart stopped completely.

She began by dancing gracefully into a corner as a catchy instrumental track played in the background. The cameras looked at Annabeth from the opposite corner. She took a deep breath before running, she started by flipping backward but had to of twisted halfway in midair, which Grover missed just from how fast she was moving, because she ended up flipping forward twice, her body completely laid out.

When her feet hit the floor, Annabeth rebounded high in the air into some sort of jump at the end.

“Gorgeous Dos Santos right there, absolute textbook perfection with a beautiful wolf jump at the end to tie it all together,” Elfie said.

Annabeth immediately went into another tumbling pass, a double twist into a double back, which was landed well, with only a lunging step backward.

She went into her leaps and handstand series with grace and style. Grover was starting to understand the announcers and their idiosyncrasies. When they had a lot to say, it was often bad, like there were a lot of mistakes being made or the athlete couldn’t keep their attention. When they spoke little it was often because they were stunned speechless due to the performance.

That was exactly what was happening with Annabeth. No one had uttered a word since her first tumbling pass.

They were eerily silent now as Annabeth performed a butterfly kick into a dive roll. Grover knew this was the shared skill series that she and Percy both had in their routines and had since they first began competing.

The announcers even made a note of it, that viewers at home would definitely see it again sometime soon.

Her next pass, a double back with two twists was perfect, she rebounded out of the skills into a split jump and landed without taking any sort of step.

“Just the dismount left,” Tim remarked.

Annabeth ran, her final skill of the day a laid-out double back with a full twist was landed seamlessly, with only the smallest of steps on the landing.

“Absolutely inCREDIBLE ROUTINE,” Tim’s voice was getting louder with every word he spoke until he was literally yelling.

“That was beautiful,” Elfie agreed, “It could just be enough to push the Americans ahead.”

The cameras followed Annabeth off the floor as she high-fived and hugged Chiron, then breathlessly celebrated with her teammates who laughing and screaming engulfed Annabeth into a hug. The screen then switched to a shot of Percy in the crowds screaming and cheering for his friend a graphic with his name even popped up for anyone who didn’t know who he was and was curious as to why they keep going to some random kid in the stands.

Another graphic popped up, Annabeth needed a 15.6 as her score to take first place.

“Is she capable of that, Tim?” Al asked.

Tim faltered a bit, “uhh, you know, she is, but that is a sky-high score for this event, floor has the most built-in deductions, so we will just have to wait and see from the judges since it all comes down to what they think.”

The Cameras were fixed on the American team, as they held hands and watched the scoreboard. Every so often it would switch to the Chinese women who were watching the same board, just from the opposite side of the arena in almost the exact same pose. 

Grover wasn’t even watching the TV for when the graphic popped up showing the score, instead, he watched Annabeth’s face, she would give him all the answers he needed.

After what felt like 20 minutes, but was probably only seconds, Grover was right as he watched Annabeth’s face as it lit up, she along with the rest of the team were jumping up and down in celebration, laughing and yelling all while holding hands.

Annabeth had received a 15.633. How the judges had come up with that score, Grover wasn’t sure. As the announcers explained it with excited voices, she had a difficulty score of 6.6 and had received almost less than a point in deductions.

They had won the gold medal by less than a half a point, which the announcers kept excitedly explaining over and over. It was a very small margin, but that meant pretty good odds for the gold medal in Athens.

The American women were still jumping up in down in excitement, the cameras kept panning from them to the disappointed Russian team, to a smiling and reserved Chinese team.

The awards ceremony was a lackluster affair, at least from Grover’s perspective. He assumed that the majority of it was cut back in order to save programming time for the men’s team final. Annabeth and her teammates stood on the topmost podium, with an American flag draped behind them. The two other teams stood on their own podiums, medals dangling from their necks and bouquets of flowers in their hands. Grover assumed the US National Anthem was playing, but he couldn’t hear it over the voices of the announcers who were blabbering on about something that wasn’t holding Grover’s attention well. Instead, he was in complete awe of Annabeth’s gold medal hanging around her neck.

***

After a long commercial break, the broadcast returned but with the men competing instead.

Now, Percy dominated Grover’s screen.

Al, the announcer with the deep voice was talking again.

“If Annabeth Chase is the “it” girl of American Women’s gymnastics, then here is her male counterpart, Perseus Jackson. He has very rapidly become the new face of men’s gymnastics. In a national sense, he has won every single individual competition he entered. Percy looks to continue that streak here in Rome and hopefully months down the line in Athens, but that’s a long time coming. So, Tim, Elfie, how crazy good is this kid?”

Tim and Elfie both scoffed as if Al had asked a ridiculous question.

Tim answered first, completely cutting off Elfie’s words, “There are almost no words for Percy’s skill level. In this age of specialization, few gymnasts are actually able to compete on all 6 apparatus, at least at a World Class level.”

“Absolutely, Tim,” Elfie managed to say, “it takes tremendous dedication and skill to compete at a high level across all 6 events, but what we have seen from Percy is absolutely phenomenal. He may very well go down as one of the most successful American men gymnasts ever, maybe even gymnast period.”

As the announcers talked, the cameras focused on several athletes as they tumbled down the floor exercise. He watched as a tall muscular Asian boy in a red, white, and blue leotard tumbled down the floor, he seemed to under rotate a skill that caused him to land on his butt. Percy was in the background calling out to him, probably either encouragements or ways to improve. Then Percy was up, flawlessly flipping and twisting down the floor, he landed gracefully and without incident.

Tim agreed, “And he’s young, which can often be positive and a negative thing. Percy has the youth to continue growing and improving in the sport barring an injury, however, he does lack some international experience, so we’ll see how he does in the Team Final here today before he goes on to compete in the All Around competition a bit later in the week. He needs to be able to find a balance between his high difficulty routines and his consistency, which so far since he’s turned senior, he’s done a tremendous job of. The big key here today, is can his teammates keep up with him to medal. This is a very young American team, there’s only one athlete older than 18, whereas, the rest of the teams today are in their 20’s some men who are here today are almost double the age of most of the men on the American team.”

The men’s competition went through the same formatting as the women’s, they’d show a few teams and athletes from other countries, but they were almost added in as an afterthought to the American team. Grover figured this was probably occurred all around the world, that whichever country was broadcasting was always a bit biased towards their home team.

After another commercial, the cameras were fixed on a pasty white boy with close-cropped white hair.

He wore no expression but gave off an aura of annoyance as if this whole competition was beneath him. He did not look like the rest of the team, who was excited and smiling. He was almost clinical in his expressions, that he had a job to do and was here to get it over with. The name on the graphic stated his name was Octavian.

Elfie was speaking as he waited for the signal to start his floor routine, “Here’s Octavian Cesar, the oldest member of the American team at 19, and what used to be the US’s former best chance at medaling here at Worlds and at the Olympics.”

Tim cut in, “Oh absolutely, he’s a great athlete but injuries have really marred his prospective chances, especially with the addition of Percy to the senior level, Octavian has to prove that he deserves to be on this team, the US has such a great talent pool, that he needs a tremendous competition here to regain favor with Athena Parthenos, the selector of both the Worlds and Olympic teams.

Both Al and Elfie agreed, and Octavian stepped onto the floor, raising one arm in a salute.

Grover could see how Octavian used to be the favored male American gymnast. If he hadn’t seen Percy or the others compete, Grover may have even been impressed but there was something about Octavian’s gymnastics that was different.

He seemed slower, his movements heavy. Whereas Percy and Annabeth made everything look easy, to the point where Grover could almost fool himself into thinking that he could do some of those skills, Octavian made his skills look difficult and strenuous.

Octavian’s tumbling passes consisted more of twisting than anything else, he had 5 passes and one press handstand where he showed off his strength and then was saluting the judges to signal the end of his routine.

“It was good, a decent start,” said Tim, “But in comparison, to what you will see in a few minutes, pretty lackluster, Octavian really needs to work on his execution, there were a lot of form breaks in that routine, if he plans to be in Athens, he really needs to step up his game.”

As Octavian exited the floor, Percy held out an enclosed hand, for a friendly fist bump, something that Octavian completely ignored, he walked down the steps and passed Percy as if he didn’t exist. If the announcers noticed they didn’t mention the slight. It was clear the other gymnasts were fostering a sense of comradery and friendship, while Octavian wanted nothing of the sort.

Next up, another white boy with darker blonde hair waited for his turn. Jason Grace the graphics called him. This must have been who Annabeth had been training with during her time in California.

He had a much calmer and friendly disposition than Octavian. He shifted from foot to foot nervously spreading chalk on the bottoms of his feet.

Finally, Jason saluted the judges and began his routine. Tumbling quickly and with lots of power. He had significantly fewer mistakes and deductions but Grover found his attention wasn’t completely held by the men’s floor routines that seemed much more boring when compared to the women’s. All the men had to do was tumble and offhandedly through in a strength or flexibility skill.

Jason finished his routine with a triple twisting stuck dismount that made the announcers scream in excitement.

“A fantastic routine!” Elfie exclaimed.

“And it’s only going to keep getting better from here,” Tim stated as Percy exchanged a high five and a pat on the back with Jason as they switched places.

“This is going to be something else? Isn’t it Tim?” Al asked.

Elfie answered instead, “Definitely, Percy is dynamic on this event, and it’s absolutely spectacular how he has such difficult passes but executes them with borderline perfection. You won’t see anyone here today with better form.”

Tim agreed just as Percy saluted the judges and began.

His first pass, a laid-out double-twisting double back, was sheer perfection.

“Gorgeous,” Elfie exclaimed, completely awestruck. Those were the last words spoken throughout the remainder of Percy’s routine as he left the announcers speechless.

His next pass, a one and a half twist into a triple twist, only had the smallest of hops forward on the landing.

Then instead of tumbling diagonally like Grover had seen all the other gymnasts do, Percy completed another2.5 twist up the floor, landing in another corner.

He immediately threw himself onto the floor and began his flares. In the end, he landed in a split, which made Grover cringe. He pressed himself up and into a handstand, then went into the butterfly kick series that his and Annabeth’s routine both had.

The next pass, Percy just ran and jumped off the floor with all his strength, he flipped forward twice, twisting halfway. Grover’s knees ached just watching.

Percy dismounted with a forward 1.5 twist to a double front. He saluted the judges breathing hard, but smiling nonetheless. Percy had to know how well that routine was going to score. To Grover’s untrained eye, there seemed to be only one area that the judges could take points off from, even though Grover figured that would not be the case, the judges came up with deductions and crazy specific numbers that Grover couldn’t figure out where they came from.

When Percy’s score of 15.966 came in, the arena went wild along with the announcers. The cameras turned to the crowd and found a reluctant Sally and an animated Annabeth who was standing on her seat and yelling at the top of her lungs. Then it went back to Percy celebrating with the rest of his team, even athletes from other countries couldn’t resist shaking his hand, fist-bumping, or high-fiving him. Grover was glad that his friend was finally getting the recognition that he deserved.

Grover’s mind registered the Announcers talking again, “That. Was. Outstanding.” Tim said punctuating each word. “Percy and his Coach Chiron, former Olympic gold medalist, have even gone so far as to train with a few other members on the Men’s team to help improve their floor routines. During the development camps Percy worked closely with Frank Zhang and Leo Valdez, which was clearly evident during qualifications, both gymnasts upgraded heavily, which is going to be necessary for getting a spot on the Olympic Team.”

“Absolutely,” Elfie agreed, just because these athletes are on this world's team does not guarantee them a spot on the Olympic team in just a few months. There’s plenty of American men who were left off this team who are also vying for a spot.”

On that note, the broadcast went to a commercial, leaving Grover just a bit nervous for Annabeth and Percy. He sorta believed that they were a guarantee for the Olympics, but with as great as they’re performing here, what could go wrong?

***

Grover watched in awe of the afternoon as he was shown several men from other countries in a recap compilation of all the men whose full routines weren’t shown.

During the next rotation, the British and Chinese teams were shown on vault, running powerfully and flipping and twisting an impossible number of times.

They also showed the Japanese and the Netherlands rotation on the parallel bars that made Grover rub his arms in sympathy. He didn’t understand how the guys could swing and flip several times then land with the bars under their armpits and still keep going. It looked awesome but incredibly painful.

Percy and his teammate Frank were shown briefly on the pommel horse swinging their legs wildly and spinning around with their hands. To Grover, this wasn’t the most exciting event but Percy and Frank at least made it look interesting.

The men’s competition broadcast seemed to be a bit more rushed than the women’s. There were more compilations of a partial routine as they jumped sporadically between apparatuses. Grover figured that was due to having more events to present and only a limited amount of time.

Even Percy’s routines that were all shown during Nationals was shortened here so Grover was only shown his best events with a few of the other men’s routines thrown in for diversity.

The next full routine of Percy’s that the cameras finally showed was rings. Two rings were suspended from what looked to Grover like midair. The arena the athletes were competing in was surprisingly dark in certain areas, which didn’t really seem safe to Grover.

The graphic on his screen told Grover that a boy named Leo Valdez was up first.

He was lifted up to the rings by a woman in a bandana and USA jacket and pants who quickly backed away as Leo swung his body back in forth to get momentum.

“Here is our first look at Leo Valdez today, he was brought on specifically for rings and parallel bars. He would have done vault as well, but a recent ankle injury has set him back a bit.”

Leo swung and flipped, then would hold himself still for a while before springing back into action. He must have been doing pretty well because the announcers were silent until he landed his dismount with a small hop backward.

“That was a pretty decent routine, that step back on the landing is gonna be the biggest deduction. Once he can control those landings, he’ll definitely be able to make a bigger name for himself in the Men’s American Gymnastics program,” Tim explained.

Percy was up next, the camera’s changed to him as he waited beneath the rings.

“Percy has been working recently on upgrading this routine, he told us he even went so far as losing some weight to make the holds and skills a bit easier on him, this will be the first competition debut with his new rings, so we’ll see how consistent and ready he is for this apparatus,” Elfie said.

The others went to say something else but were cut off by Percy’s salute, he took a deep breath and then was hoisted upwards by his coach.

His routine started off slow, as he pulled himself upwards doing a couple of maneuvers that probably required more strength and muscle than Grover would ever have in his life. He then brought his legs over his head and kicked out hard, flipping quickly several times.

As quick as he began, Percy stopped, holding his body in a plank position, completely parallel to the ground.

“Watch how difficult this is,” Tim said, sounding excited.

From a plank, Percy pulled his body up and over, then into a Cross Position. He held it for several seconds.

“Gorgeous” Elfie said, “The amount of strength it took to get from the starting position to the Iron Cross is enormous.”

Based on the bulge of Percy’s muscles, the veins in his arms prominent, and the slight shaking of his hands, Grover couldn’t imagine the strength necessary to complete this routine, let alone make it look easy, the way Percy was doing.

 Suddenly, he was flipping rapidly again, then letting go of the rings and flipping and twisting more, before hitting the ground with a resounding thud.

He landed in a squatting position, his arms circling around him, fighting to stick the landing. Eventually, he composed himself and excitedly saluted the judges, throwing one arm in the air triumphantly. He rushed off the competition floor to his teammates who were shouting and cheering for him.

The announcers showed the scoreboard after the first 3 rounds. Percy and the rest of his team were sitting in third place, behind the Russians and the Japanese.

After a brief commercial, the program returned showing a few gymnasts from other countries. Epke Zonderland, from the Netherlands, on high bar, the only routine Grover had seen that could even remotely compare to Percy’s. Nile Wilson, from England, on parallel bars, and Kenzo Shirai, from Japan on floor, that routine was about as amazing as Percy’s, he didn’t want to admit it but it was potentially even better. Despite, apparently, the announcer’s insistence that Percy had superior form.

Finally, the broadcast switched back to the Americans, with that one pasty white-haired boy Octavian standing in front of the high bar.

He saluted the judges without a hint of emotion, then had his coach lift him to the bar. It seemed to Grover like a decent routine, but Octavian was being torn apart by the announcers for his form, he wasn’t completely reaching his handstands, and caught his first two release moves too close to the bar so it slowed down his momentum affecting the rest of the routine.

Then on a different release move, he missed the bar entirely and hit the ground hard.

There was an audible ‘Awhh’ from the crowd.

“Disastrous,” Tim said, disappointment clear as day in his voice. “Russia, China, and Japan are on the top of their games at these World Championships, The US will not be able to medal with mistakes like that.”

Octavian was lifted back onto the bar, he finished his routine while the announcers discussed the ramifications of his mistakes on the US team.

“This has brought the Americans down to fourth, out of medal contention, they will have to be almost perfect, and have a few mistakes made on the part of The Chinese in first place, and the Russians and Japanese in second and third.”

On that note, the channel went to commercial and when it returned, it was Percy standing in front of the high bar.

“Percy Jackson may be the one saving grace for the US, especially with this routine here,” Elfie said, with Al and Tim agreeing.

Al, who Grover realized probably didn’t have a gymnastics background the way his two counterparts did. His role was clearly the host, whose commentary focused more on personal stories of the gymnasts, and general information. He explained, "Percy has the unique opportunity here to have a skill named after him, the catch, he has to successfully land it. Tim, what are the chances that he is able to coin the Jackson skill?"

“Well, Al, I doubted him once before at Nationals, and he showed me up, and after watching him in practice and podium training, even though nothing in gymnastics is guaranteed, it’s almost a sure thing.”

The camera panned into the stands where Sally and Annabeth sat, Percy’s mom clutching onto Annabeth the same way a drowning person would cling to a buoy, as a complete lifeline.

“There’s Percy’s long-time teammate, Annabeth Chase with Sally Jackson, Percy’s mom. Earlier this week, and earlier in the program, Annabeth had her own moment of glory that Percy hopes to accomplish as well. Take a look.”

Grover’s screen went to Annabeth on the uneven bars, debuting her new skill, now called The Chase.

“Look at how amazing this is, it’s a straddled tkatchev but she adds a front flip into it, extremely difficult, but she completes it with enormous height, grace, and ease,” Elfie said.

“That she does,” Tim agreed, “It’s been a long time since the US has had a bar worker as good as Annabeth, in fact, I’d go out on a limb and say Annabeth and Percy are the two best bar workers the US has ever seen.”

Al cut in next, “We talked to Annabeth about what it was finally like having a skill named after her. Annabeth’s response, ‘I’m just happy I beat Percy to it,’” The announcers laughed as the screen went back to Percy.

“Nothing like a friendly competition to push you even farther,” Al said.

That was the moment Percy saluted the judges and then jumped up to grab the high bar.

“Buckle your seat belts, folks, this is going to be a wild ride,” Tim said as Percy completed his first release move, a simple hop of the bar. He pirouetted a few times, then completed a series of release moves that had Grover jumping off his couch in excitement and the crowd going wild. A double backflip over the bar and another with a full twist.

He performed another pirouette and a giant swing only on one arm, then began swinging quickly,

“Here we go,” said Tim, “Let’s see if he can make it,”

Grover’s heart stopped once Percy let go of the bar, flipping twice and twisting twice all completely straight.

He caught the bar perfectly, the crowd and the announcers cheering excitedly.

“There it is! The Jackson!” Tim was practically shouting.

Percy wound up again, this time for his dismount, he flipped twice and twisted twice, the only noticeable issue was a small hop on the landing.

The crowd roared. The camera’s panned to Annabeth and Sally hugging and cheering in the stands.

Percy’s teammates and his coach were already waiting for him as he walked down the stairs off the competition floor to the waiting area.

They clapped him on the back in a typical cool guy hug, even some members of other countries congratulated him.

“That was Epke Zonderland, the former high bar World Champion, probably congratulating Percy on his new eponymous skill. We will more than likely see these two go head to head in the high bar event finals, a little later this week, which is going to be great gymnastics to watch.” Tim said.

Al sent them to a commercial, and when they returned, there was another montage of athletes, clearly, the broadcast was pressed for time.

He Percy, Leo, and Frank on parallel bars, then a few non-American routines as well on still rings, floor, and high bar.

Finally, it was announced by Al, “And here we move to the last rotation of the day, America sits in 4^th place, what do they need to medal?”

Jason Grace, stood at the end of the vaulting runway, as stoic as a civil war portrait. The only indicator of his actual nerves and anxiety were his hands. They were tightly balled into fists and hung awkwardly.

It was Tim who answered first, “Uh well, they need the closest thing to perfection that they have, and they may be able to get that bronze medal, they’d need an absolutely stellar performance for silver. At this point in time, with how great the Japanese men have been, there’s no way that first place is an option.”

This was a bit of a shock to Grover, they had really only shown 3 or 4 of the Japanese men’s routines, if they were doing so well, shouldn’t the majority of the routines been shown, as the US men’s and women's teams had?

“Which is a shame,” Elfie continued, “these guys have really given it there all, and if it wasn’t for Octavian’s mistakes today, they very well could be battling it out for the gold medal.”

“Absolutely” Tim agreed, “Honestly, if you would’ve asked me before the meet who may be a consistency issue, I would not have put money on Octavian, he has international experience, he’s the oldest one on the team, and he comes from a prestigious gym with a long line of successful Olympians. If he wants to be in Athens, Octavian is really going to have to get it together.”

Then Al was interjecting, “This Japanese men’s team is only going to get better. Kōhei Uchimura their star athlete isn’t even here for these World Championships, a recent injury set him back. But he told us, he will definitely be ready for the Olympic Games.”

“That’s right, Al,” Elfie said, a bit of surprise in her tone as if she wasn’t used to agreeing with him. “The US men are really going to have to put some work in these next coming months in order to have any chance of getting that gold medal.”

Jason finally saluted the judges, letting out a sigh of relief he seemed to be holding in.

He took off running, pounded off the springboard with incredible strength, springing forward, arms extended, and pushing off the vaulting table. Jason flew high in the air, piking his legs and quickly flipping forward twice.

When his feet hit the ground, it was only with a small step forward.

The announcers were ecstatic, “That is exactly what Team USA needed.” Tim declared triumphantly. “That’s gonna be a great score, even with the step on the landing.”

After the commercial break, the cameras showed a young black boy named Charles Beckendorf. He stood in the same spot Jason just had, he added chalk to his hands then rubbed it on his feet. He copied Jason’s movements exactly, saluting then taking off running.

Unlike Jason, who went head first onto the table, Charles half twisted before his hands met the vault, then propelled himself backward twice, completing one twist in the air. He landed in a squatting position, his chest low. But he held on and stuck his landing.

“Phenomenal!” Elfie exclaimed.

Tim added, “That was a Ri Se Gwang, a skill named after a terrific Korean athlete who retired only last year. This was the only event Charles was competing on at these championships, and I'll say it was worth it.”

A video overtook Grover’s screen, of Charles again, this time on the high bar from his home gym. He went for a release move, flipping and twisting, but something went wrong when he caught it, his arms couldn’t keep hold of the bar, and he fell into a foam pit below.

“That was two months before the World’s selection camp, and what you probably weren’t able to tell was that in that fall, Charles dislocated his shoulder. A devastating injury so close to Worlds.” Al explained.

Then Tim was interrupting again, “Oh absolutely, especially for Charles whose specialties lie with rings and parallel bars. He has enormous strength, but that shoulder injury really set him back. But he told us, he was determined to make the team, he was left off last year and didn’t want that to happen again. So despite that injury, he began working on improving his vault and that’s what Athena noticed and I’m sure she’s happy about her decision to put him on this team, even if it was for only one event.

They showed a graphic of the standings, The US was still in fourth, but they were inching closer and closer to the Russians in third. According to the judges, they had made their own mistakes today and were fighting tooth and nail to keep their bronze spot.

“The last routine of the day for the Americans is Percy Jackson. What does he need to bring home the bronze?” Al asked.

“Well, he needs to keep up how he’s been performing lately, he has been on the brink of perfection all day, and that’s what he needs here.”

“That’s right, his routine has the same difficulty rating as Charles’ vault, except Percy will jump forward onto the vault, flip forward twice, legs piked, and add a half twist to the end. A Drăgulescu is its name and it’s incredibly difficult, but when I saw him in practice, he made it look effortless. Hopefully, he can do it again.”

Another graphic popped up on Grover’s screen as Percy stood at the beginning of the runway, smiling and confident.

He needed a 15.75 to take the bronze. The screen panned to Annabeth, Grover almost laughed, she looked more nervous for Percy than she did during her own competition.

While Percy waited, Grover could hear the cheers and excitement from his teammates rooting for him on the sidelines.

“Let's go Percy!” and “You got this Perce!” were repeated over and over again.

The judges took ages to be ready but finally raised that green flag. Percy saluted and took off at a sprint. He did exactly as Tim explained, flipping forward twice, his legs piked and then twisting midair. He landed solidly his arms circled around once.

Grover heard a voice from somewhere yell, “Hold it!” and that Percy did, sticking his landing. He saluted and then ran off excitedly to celebrate with his teammates.

“That’s going to be a great score,” Tim said loudly. “Hopefully it’ll be enough.”

In real-time, this process probably took forever, but luckily with the help of editing and being about a day and a half behind the real competition. The scores only took a few seconds to come in.

15.855.

Then the standings were shown. Japan in first place, China in second, and the US in third.

The US team erupted in excitement, laughing and yelling. Percy grabbed Frank by the shoulders and shook him, saying something that resulted in the rest of the team laughing even harder.

“They did it! They managed to squeak on by and get that third-place spot,” Tim said excitedly.

Al continued, “The last time the US men’s team medaled at a Worlds competition was 2008, that team also went on to do pretty well in the Beijing Olympics, so hopefully these guys can follow in their predecessor's footsteps. Stay tuned for the brief award ceremony after these messages and make sure to tune in next weekend for the All-Around and Event final competitions.”

The award ceremony didn’t even last 5 minutes, it was as lackluster as the women’s. The Japanese team stood on the topmost podium, a Japanese flag behind them, then the Chinese, and the US. Percy was being handed flowers and a medal was placed around his neck. The same process was repeated for all the athletes on each team. Japan was finally awarded their medals and their national anthem was playing while they received congratulations from important-looking people in suits.

The cameras panned around, watching the interactions between all the athletes as they congratulated and waved at one another. They stood for a few pictures and that was the last shot before the NBC broadcast had a bit more to say about Percy and Annabeth.

A shot of both of them on their respective podiums came up.

Then Tim was talking, his final words before the end of the broadcast, “Get used to seeing that,” he exclaimed, “ I have a feeling this will not be the last time you see these two on the awards podium at these Championship games.”

Chapter Text

Annabeth’s body was exhausted, the week so far, had been nonstop and it was only going to get worse from here. They only had one day in between each competition before the next so she and Percy couldn’t even stop to celebrate their medals in the team final because they had to start preparing for the All Around. And whatever happened there would have to wait, because both of them scored high enough in qualifications to be in multiple event final competitions.

Annabeth made it in everything but balance beam, and Percy made it in high bar, vault, floor, and surprisingly pommel horse. She was pretty sure that was the most event finals by any male gymnast during World’s.

Most gymnasts would compete once, maybe twice throughout the entire Worlds Competition. But Annabeth and Percy were in the small group of athletes that were potentially competing 4 or more times. It was draining absolutely, but Annabeth wouldn’t have it any other way. It already separated them from their competition and it was preparing them for the exhaustion of the Olympics.

They still had a lot of gymnastics left to go, and Annabeth hoped that their bodies and minds would be able to keep up.

The respective day after each team final, Chiron allowed both Percy and Annabeth to take the following morning off to recuperate. Luckily the Worlds facilities had state of the art recovery equipment that did wonders for repairing the trauma and damage that Annabeth had done to her body. By that evening's practice, she felt like a whole new person who had only had a strenuous practice instead of a full blown meet.

Chiron had stressed the importance to the both of them about recuperating and resting. They’d be competing a lot more than others, especially since their respective teams relied on both of them quite a deal in the Team Finals and then they’d have to go and compete after only one day of rest. It was enough to lead to many potential mistakes. That was something neither Annabeth nor Percy could afford if they wanted to medal in the all-around. So Chiron was being very deliberate with their next steps to ensure they had the best chance to at least make it on the podium. 

The practice that evening was uneventful, she briefly saw Percy when he was hooked up to a pair of leg sleeves as he received a massage for his sore muscles.

She walked past him quickly on the way to the practice gym, “As soon as we get home, I’m telling Steve you used another pair of Leg Sleeves.”

Percy was so tired he was only barely able to pretend to be aghast. “Hopefully he’ll understand that my battered body couldn’t resist. I’ll take him out to dinner to make it up to him.”

That was the only interaction Annabeth was able to have before being ushered away by Chiron. Her morning and afternoon were jam packed with chores. First giving an interview with the obnoxious NBC announcers, then ESPN.  Once that was finally over she had a mandatory drug testing, then the final practice session before the all-around tomorrow morning.

Strangely, her nerves hadn’t really set in yet, she was sure they would eventually, they always did, but something about the team finals solidified her. She deserved to be here, she was prepared, and ready to do her best. Any anxiety or worry would be a waste of her energy, which was a non-renewable resource at this point.

The night before the All-Around was a blur, all Annabeth could remember was dinner, the only time that day she was able to relax. Her, Percy, Sally, and Chiron went out to a fancy restaurant near the Coliseum, Annabeth and Percy were dressed in their workout clothes, because they both wanted to save their nice outfits for the After Worlds Party that the Federation of International Gymnastics through every year once the competition was finally over. 

They received some sidelong glances, for their attire she suspected, but upon learning of their American-ness, the Italians seemed to leave them alone. Afterwards, they walked around Rome for a bit before heading back to the hotel, Annabeth and Percy managed to get back in their rooms just before curfew.   

Before Annabeth even noticed, she was waking up to the rising Italian sun, streaks of light split through her and Piper’s hotel curtains. Her roommate snored on, but Annabeth couldn’t have forced herself to go back to sleep had she tried. 

Instead, Annabeth got up and ready for the day. She was dressed in one of her favorite leotards to date. It was all black with a plunging mesh neckline and hundreds of rhinestones and crystals adorning the top. Her blonde hair, which she had braided and pulled into a tight messy bun, was a stark contrast. 

Annabeth was halfway through her makeup when Piper’s alarm went off and the other girl struggled awake. 

“Are you kidding me?” Piper was not enthused. She wasn’t competing in the All Around. There was a pesky 2 per country rule where only the top two gymnasts from a country could compete in either the All Around or event finals. 

Annabeth didn’t exactly find the rule fair. The best gymnasts should all be eligible to compete in the finals no matter what country they were from. But part of her somewhat understood, it helped give a more competitive edge to smaller countries who otherwise wouldn’t have had a shot with larger countries having more gymnasts vying for finals positions. Realistically, the majority of the US women’s team would have been eligible to compete if the 2 per country rule wasn’t enforced.

Since Piper had come in just behind Reyna, she was out of the running for the All Around. However she would be competing in the balance beam event final with Thalia. The two of them had just barely edged out Reyna during qualifications. 

“How do you look so good so early in the morning?”

“A deal with the devil a few years back,” Annabeth replied as she finished applying a simple eyeliner to her look for the day. 

Piper gasped, “I knew it.”

Before Annabeth could reply, someone knocked on their door. 

“It’s just Percy,” Annabeth answered Piper's questioning look. She opened the door, revealing Percy on the other side. 

He leaned against the door frame, a smug smirk splitting his face. 

“I’m Not Late,” Annabeth said at the exact same time Percy said, “You're Late,”

From her spot on the bed, Piper cocked her head to the side, “you two are weird.”

Ignoring her, Percy said, “I’m heading to an earlier practice session so I can watch your All Around this afternoon. You’re gonna kill it.”

“Save me and the girls a spot,” Piper said excitedly, “we can all watch together,”

“Awesome, sounds like fun, I'll see you all there. I’d wish you luck Annabeth but I know you don’t need or want it.”

She smiled, and so did he. Then what proceeded was the most awkward 30 seconds of Annabeth’s life. 

They stared at each other, completely silent. Percy seemed like he wanted to hug her, but his arms remained limp at his sides. Eventually they decided on a weird wave goodbye. What was that ? The two of them were never awkward around each other.

“Dude.” Was all Piper said. 

“What?”

“He so wanted to kiss you.”

Annabeth was dumbfounded, clearly Piper didn’t understand their friendship. “No he didn’t.”

“He was staring at your lips,”

Annabeth shook her head, “He was not. Percy's my best friend.”

Piper laughed, “A best friend who wants to kiss you.”

She didn’t know how to respond, so Annabeth worked on the finishing touches of her makeup in silence while Piper took that as her cue to continue. 

“I mean, you’re pretty lucky you know, while the rest of us don’t have any time for boys or dating, you snagged one that you train with every day, at your own gym. You have got to make sure you dance together at the FIG after party, it’ll be so romantic, right? A great story you'll be able to tell your kids about one day.”

Thankfully, Annabeth was saved by another knock at the door. Piper's declarations were a bit too much to process so early in the morning. Percy didn't actually feel that way about her, did he?

Chiron greeted them both snapping Annabeth out of her thoughts, then asked, “you ready?”

They were about two hours early, the competition didn’t officially start until 10 am. But Annabeth loved getting to the gym early and soaking in the ambiance. It always helped get her into the competitive spirit. 

“Good luck Annabeth,” Piper called as they headed to grab breakfast before heading to the gym. 

It didn’t take long before they were in the warm up area, technically she wasn’t allowed to start anything yet, so instead she sat on the floor, and pulled a book from her bag that she had been trying to finish for a while. Anything to relax before the meet and not dwell on or overthink what she was about to do. 

Annabeth would be competing against the best gymnasts in the world. Some of which had a lot more international experience and were much older than her. 

Something hit her in the stomach. A granola bar. She looked up to Chiron, the only other person in the gym with her. 

“What was that for?”

Chiron shrugged, “you were thinking too much. Remember, have fun, this is just like practice, World's is no different than the American Cup. Stay out of your head and everything will be fine.”

She took a deep breath, of course Chiron was right. Annabeth couldn’t get stuck in an anxiety spiral. She had to trust in herself to do what Annabeth knew she was capable of. She had already proved she deserved to be here in the team final and the all around would be no different. As long as she got her shit together. 

Breathe. 

Annabeth turned her attention back to her book and finally concentrated enough to actually get into it enough to forget her surroundings. Before she knew it other athletes were showing up and going through their own pre competition paces. Chiron had left for a bit to go help Percy at his practice session. He’d be back for her when she needed him, stretching and warming up were all things Annabeth could do on her own. 

Annabeth found herself falling into a comfortable rhythm. She stretched and warmed up, talked briefly with the other gymnasts and eventually Chiron was showing back up and they were heading to the walk-in ceremony. The All Around competition was beginning. 

***

Of course, Annabeth was starting with balance beam. On the one hand it was great to be able to get her least favorite event out of the way, but on the other hand she did have to start with her least favorite event. 

It didn’t help that she was in a rotation with certifiable beam queens either. She and Reyna were together along with Aliya Mustafina, Deng Linlin, Ou Yushan, and Sanne Weavers. 

Almost every one of the 5 other girls had the ability to medal in the beam final, and Annabeth was the only one in the rotation left out of that particular final.

Thankfully, Annabeth was not going first, unfortunately though, she was second. 

Normally, Annabeth enjoyed watching the other gymnasts compete, but once her nerves and worry finally set in she wasn’t able to do anything but visualize her routine again and again and again. 

Beginning with her mount. A set of flairs, her legs windmilling around her body, expertly evading the beam. 

Then was her full tumbling pass, a back handspring with two consecutive layouts. In her mind she landed it as effortlessly as she would have on a normal floor. Any time she watched tape of herself, those were her favorite beam skills only because of how effortless they looked. 

Her jumps despite not being incredibly flexible like many gymnasts, we’re all at an 180 degree angle, her head thrown all the way back on her ring jumps. Her newest series, the switch split leap to a full twisting straddle jump was landed so perfectly the make believe crowd gasped and cheered. 

Annabeth even imagined fake music from someone's floor routine playing in the background.

She had a few skills flipping forwards and backwards in connections with each other, she spotted the beam on each one and confidently landed each move. Annabeth even heard the beep signaling she had 10 seconds to dismount  or else she’d be deducted from. 

Her dismount, a double Arabian had the perfect amount of power to it. Annabeth felt in her legs how hard she needed to push off the beam, and when she needed to start twisting and spinning. 

Annabeth’s feet hit the mat with a thud that could only mean a stuck landing. 

But even in her mind, she knew her execution score wouldn’t be a perfect 10. Judges didn’t do that anymore, they always found a deduction somewhere, maybe for crossed feet or not landing perfectly upright on a particular skill. But whatever the case, Annabeth would give it her all and hope for the best. 

***

Annabeth had so much time to visualize her routine over and over that she practically willed it into existence. When her time came, Annabeth performed almost exactly as she had imagined it in her mind. There were one or two balance checks she'd have to work on later, but ultimately it was a great routine that she was proud of. 

She received a few smiles and head nods from her competitors, but this competition had a completely different feel than the team finals. Where members were working together then, now it was every athlete for themselves. Annabeth noticed a huge difference in the tone of the day, before everyone was celebrating, hugging and high-fiving, but now, the seriousness was palpable. She hoped that would change once everyone got over the enormity of what was happening.

Getting beam out of the way early was like removing a lead weight from her chest. Now all she had to do was wait for the rest of the rotation to finish and the athletes currently performing on the other events so she could move to the floor. Annabeth was happy to note that not only was she getting beam, her least favorite event out of the way first, but then she’d be getting her arch nemesis floor exercise out of the way second. Then she’d be able to end the day with her two most dependable events. 

Annabeth sat near Reyna as they both waited for the other girls in their rotation to finish. Annabeth tried to strike up a conversation, but Reyna wasn’t in a talking mood and only gave monosyllabic answers, so she eventually gave up trying. 

It was times like this she desperately missed Percy, no matter what he was always able to distract her from herself and keep her entertained. At this rate, Annabeth thought she may literally die from boredom.

“20 more minutes then we should be moving,” Chiron promised, “Let’s tape up your ankles before floor, after that everyone will probably be ready.”

Annabeth switched places with Chiron, her now sitting in a folding plastic chair and Chiron on the floor, wrapping her ankle in tape to help protect it from her floor routine. It was a lengthy process, so just as he said, by the time he finished taping both ankles, everyone had finished up and were now transitioning to the next event.

Floor was on the other side of the gym, and thankfully it brought Annabeth closer to Percy and Sally in the stands, they sat in the athlete section and had Hazel, Piper, and a few of the guys from the mens team. 

She heard Percy's voice boom as he cheered her on. She smiled and waved, thankful for her own personal cheering section. 

They took their two touches, practicing whatever skills they wanted to for 30 seconds each, which also helped them all get accustomed to the white floor. Each piece of equipment was different, they all had their own feel. This competition floor was way bouncier than the floor they were working with in the practice gym. Annabeth would have to account for that during her routine so she wouldn’t end up springing out of bounds. 

Annabeth watched as that very thing happened to Reyna during her routine, she had too much power going into her full-in, a double back with a full twist, she landed completely out of bounds, an almost half a point deduction. 

Chiron came over to her then, “You have to dial back the power, don’t let too much out, a little punch will go a long way. Try not to shoot yourself into the rafters.”

She laughed, “That or fly off into the stands.” Annabeth heard the ending of Reyna’s Latin track, and looked up in time to see her ending pose. She cheered on her friend from the side, her voice blending in with the tens of thousands in the arena. 

They hugged briefly as they switched places and Annabeth took her spot on the floor, she awaited the green light from the judges. Once she received it, Annabeth assumed her starting choreography position. 

Her music started and the world fell away. Annabeth forgot about the competition, the crowd, her competitors. 

In her mind, this was just another day in practice. 

Annabeth danced into the corner, and ran for her first tumbling pass. A round off back handspring to a double twisting double back, which she rebounded out of into a straddle jump to help control the landing. 

She landed perfectly, threw her arms up in salute and smiled before starting her next tumbling pass. A laid out double Arabian, which she landed with only a small lunge backwards. Annabeth danced out of the corner and began her leaps, turns, and jump series. 

She started with a split leap into a split ring jump, she then stopped and pulled her leg up to her head and spun twice, then lowered her leg halfway and completed a triple L turn. She under rotated a bit and had to dance out of it to try and cover up the mistake. 

Back in another corner of the floor, Annabeth took a deep breath before starting her third tumbling pass. A front 2.5 twist to a double layout. She always had tons of power with this pass, so she took Percy’s advice all those months ago and had added a front layout to the end of it. Annabeth landed with a step forward on the landing. 

She was nearing the end of the routine. Annabeth had to keep a clear head to make sure she was able to finish strong, this tended to be the time her stamina and endurance began to weaken. 

Annabeth danced out of the corner, following the beats of her music, she began her next set of choreography by walking and spinning across the floor in a handstand. Standing up she completed her butterfly kick right into a dive roll as she ended up in another corner for the dismount. 

She took a deep breath before running for the final pass, a roundoff back handspring into a double back with a full twist. Annabeth landed with a small step back before dancing out of the corner one last time and falling to the ground in her ending pose. 

After saluting the judges one more time, she exited the floor and found Chiron, a huge smile on his face and arms wide open. She hugged him back which brought her back to the present, Annabeth could now hear the cheering crowd, she quickly found Percy in the stands as he continued to shout and cheer for her, his mom sitting next to him laughing, she sent a smile his way before finding her gym bag and grabbing a drink of water. Cameras surrounded her and she pretended not to notice as Annabeth sat down, took a drink from her water bottle, pulled on her warm up gear, and removed the tape from her hands. 

The cameras insisted on watching still. Even as Aliya Mustafina came up and gave Annabeth a brief head nod and a smile. 

Annabeth smiled back and gave a quick thumbs up, since that was the best she could do with the language barrier between them. 

Reyna came and sat down next to her, “great job, Chase, that was an awesome routine.”

Still panting loudly from the exertion Annabeth nodded and managed to get out a “thanks you were great too.”

They sat and talked for a while, throughout Deng Linlin and Ou Yushan’s floor routine. The other girl must have finally beaten her nerves now that they were halfway through the meet. Annabeth was thankful, she had been needing someone to talk to, that way she could escape her boredom. 

“I'm happy we got these hard ones out of the way,” Annabeth said at one point. 

Reyna cocked an eyebrow, “speak for yourself Chase, the way you feel about beam is how I feel about bars,”

Annabeth laughed, “you could’ve fooled me,you’re always so stoic and unflinching, you compete like you’re about to go to war.”

Reyna rolled her eyes, “most days I’d rather go into battle instead of doing a bar routine,”

Annabeth laughed but was quickly cut off by a wave of gasps erupting from the crowd. 

They both looked up quickly to see Sanne Weaver, a Dutch gymnast, the last of their rotation, pull herself up from the floor off her knees. She must have under rotated a skill and wasn’t able to land successfully. A huge mistake at this stage in the game, it almost certainly would remove her from any chance of medal contention despite her amazing beam routine. 

Sanne finished her routine with a flourish and exited the competition platform, head high she tried to keep her emotions in check. She received a pat on the back from one of her coaches as she packed up her belongings to get ready to move to bars. 

Aliya was the first to hug her opponent and the rest of them followed suit, offering their support. Despite their language barriers, they each knew what it felt like to go through the heartache of messing up and ruining their chances at achieving their dreams. It wasn’t always something one should have to go through alone. 

After a brief break signaling the halfway point, Annabeth's rotation group was directed to the uneven bars. Which coincidentally was the area closest to the athlete’s and families section of the arena. Annabeth could hear Percy’s shouts and cheers plain as day. He could have damn near been standing next to her for all she knew. 

Annabeth immediately began wrapping and preparing her grips, she had it down to a science at this point but it still took a considerable amount of time to get it just the way she liked. 

“You got this Annabeth!” She heard several variations of that cheer. Many were from Percy and their crew, with Hazel, Piper, and it looked like some of the guys from the mens team. Without looking too long, Annabeth could tell, the Graces and some others with more strict coaches were not allowed to skip a day of practicing. Especially to attend a competition they weren't even competing in. 

Annabeth was grateful for the support, it gave her something to focus on besides the endless expanse of time she had to wait for her own turn on bars.

When that time finally came, Annabeth felt a huge sigh of relief. She was excited to show what she could do.  

She chalked her feet, and the back of her calves, after making sure the bars were watered, chalked, and scrapped down properly.

Once given the signal, she saluted and ran towards the uneven bars, pounding off the springboard and propelling her body arms first, up and above the low bar and onto the high bar. She casted into a handstand, and spun. She swung again, this time piking her legs as close to her body and under the bar as she continued to circle around the bar. That led to her first set of release moves, one right after another. The first, a piked Tkatchev over the bar, was the perfect move to help her generate enough swing into her next skill, now officially called the Chase in the gymnastics code of points.

That was something only a select set of gymnasts were ever able to achieve, not even her mother had a skill named for her. 

Annabeth caught the skill with expert precision, right before twisting down to the low bar. She pirouetted and spun, then leapt back up to the high bar.

Her arms were burning at this point, she was almost done.

“Keep Pushing!”

She did just that, completing her Nabieva, her final release. She caught the skill a little farther away than she liked and didn't have the momentum enough for her dismount, so Annabeth had to complete an additional giant swing after her pirouettes.

She was exhausted, Someone’s floor music was blaring in the background while everything inside her screamed to stop and let go of the bar.

Instead, she waited, and released once her body was in the prime position, flipping twice and twisting twice, completely laid out. She forced herself upright, into the stick.

“HOLD IT.”

That was Percy, clear as day, louder than every other voice in the arena, even Chiron who was only 15 feet away.

When she was convinced she wouldn't take any extra step, she straightened, saluting the judges at the same time. 

She smiled as the crowd erupted into shouts and applause. 

As she exited the competition platform, Chiron pulled her into a hug, “That was a nice recovery, remind me later to show you a replay.”

Annabeth couldn’t speak, she was too out of breath, so she smiled and nodded as she was swarmed by TV cameras, from the chalk buckets she received a thumbs up and a smile from Aliya, another excellent bar worker. She had a feeling that the ‘diva’ of gymnastics wasn’t as dramatic or moody as the announcers and reporters made her out to be. 

***

By the time they arrived at the vault Annabeth’s body was close to running on empty. She had enough fuel in the tank for maybe two vaults, luckily, she only needed to do one. 

This would be Annabeth’s last piece of gymnastics of the day, in about an hour, there would be a new World All Around Champion, hopefully it would be her.

They all took their warm up passes and two touches and now waited for the go ahead to begin, which would be at least 20 to 30 minutes. Her rotation sat on the floor, not exactly together, but not completely apart. Annabeth grabbed her phone and pulled up a translator, it was the only way to talk to her competitors. They didn't exactly have a lot of time for full blown conversations, but it was enough to congratulate each other and talk about their accomplishments of the day, Sanne and Linlin’s beam, Aliya’s bars, Reyna and Ou’s floor, this was a supportive group of women despite competing against each other.

But that was all pushed to the back burner, once they began to line up for the vault. Each athlete would only do one vault today, the only time two vaults were competed would be for the girls who qualified for the vault event final, like Annabeth. Thankfully, that wouldn't take place until the end of the week, which to Annabeth right now, seemed years away. There was still a lot of gymnastics she had to get through by then. 

Reyna was up first, standing stoic at the end of the runway, a camera in front of her, stared her straight in the face. Annabeth hated it when they did that, didn't anyone realize it made their nerves worse? She couldn't imagine the type of annoying commentary the announcers were giving at this point in time.

Reyna saluted and took off running, springing off the board and blocking hard. Annabeth noticed the other girl didn’t exactly get both hands onto the table causing her to lose precious power and momentum. Her double twisting Yurchenko was stunning albeit a little low, there would be a bit of a deduction, plus when she landed she was a little too off to the side.

The landing mat of the vault had three lines on it, one straight down the middle, and one on either side a foot or two apart. Landing outside the lines completely was a huge deduction, landing on either side of the middle line was a smaller one, and to incur no deduction at all you had to land on the exact center line of the mat. A gymnast  had to prove they had complete control over their body in the air.

Unfortunately for Reyna she landed to the left of the centerline. This was not going to be Reyna’s best score of the night. And the other girl knew it, she walked off the platform steps dejected. Annabeth knew better to try and hug her friend at a time like this. Reyna didn't need reassurance and Annabeth didn’t have time to try and comfort her, she was up next. 

Annabeth found her spot on the runway, which would give her the perfect distance for her vault. She centered herself and quickly visualized herself running and twisting and flying high. 

“Let’s go Annabeth, You got this!” The crowd continued to cheer her on, most definitely led by Percy.

She waited an eternity for the judges to be ready. With that same stupid camera pointed directly at her face. She listened to one girls full floor music and half of another. Annabeth let the audience's energy fuel her, she wouldn't be bogged down or distracted by anything. 

Finally the judges were ready, she saluted and took off at a sprint, counting the 11 steps it always took her to reach the springboard, her feet snapped down onto the board, and she half twisted onto the table, and then blocked with everything she had, flying high and twisting one and a half times. 

Annabeth landed, one foot on the centerline, the other stretched a bit farther away. It would be counted as a step for sure, but hopefully not a large one. 

She saluted the judges smiling, proud of the work she had done. Wherever her name would land on the leaderboard, Annabeth would be happy, she did everything she could today and hopefully it would be enough, and even if it wasn't she still had time to fix that before the Summer Games. 

Reyna gave her a small nod as she sat with her sister talking in low whispers. The camera’s followed Annabeth as she began packing up her things and pulling on her warm up gear. Then Deng Linlin hit a stunning Amanar and the cameras were moving on, surrounding the other girl. 

Annabeth hugged her and quickly moved out of the camera's way, she sat next to Chiron on the plastic folding chairs.

“Not much longer now,” He said to her with a smile.

“I’m not looking,” Annabeth said, knowing what Chiron was getting at. This was always a game they played. Chiron trying to get her to look at the scoreboard, and Annabeth steadfastly ignoring it. Nothing but anxiety and worry would happen if she started looking now, there were still a bunch of athletes left to perform. Aliya and Sanne both still had to vault, Melanie de Jesus dos Santos still had bars, her best event, and Ellie Black from Canada still had her floor exercise left. 

Any of them had the potential to be in the top spot of this competition. 

***

The leaderboard in the arena only showed the top 8 gymnasts, despite there being 24 athletes competing for the top three spot. Chiron had his arm around Annabeth looking up, and waiting for Melanie’s score to come in. 

Annabeth could see Percy and Sally, they weren’t too far away, she could make out their anxious faces as they waited as well. Piper and Hazel clung to each other, while Leo, Charles, and Frank watched on excitedly.

She finally decided to check out the scoreboard along with everyone else, Annabeth had a feeling this wait was going to be a minute or two.

She started at the bottom and worked her way up.

               8. Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano

              7. Ellie Black

              6. Ou Yushan

              5. Mai Murakami

              4. Deng Linlin

              3. Aliya Mustafina

              2. Melanie de Jesus dos Santos

              1. Annabeth Chase

Seeing her name at the top of the scoreboard was a punch to the gut, her vision swam and the room began to spin, Annabeth had to cling to Chiron even tighter to keep from falling over, more and more cameras began to surround the two of them, she could even see one close to where Percy and Sally sat with the rest of the US gymnasts. 

“Just breathe,” Chiron suggested, having seen her panic and surprise sink in. 

Annabeth did as she was instructed, and found Melanie across the gym, her eyes glued to the scoreboard above. 

The crowd let out an enormous roar. Annabeth watched Melanie’s demeanor slump, her coach wrapped his arms around her and she turned her face into his chest. 

Annabeth looked back up to the scoreboard, and her name was still in first. Chiron lifted Annabeth off the ground and spun her, his shouts of glee and excitement were contagious and she found herself yelling hoarse with excitement. Annabeth was the All Around World Champion, she was the best in the entire world. Those thoughts didn't feel real.

Percy had made his way to the front row, he was yelling something she couldn’t hear. She let go of Chiron and ran to her friend. She stepped up on a plastic chair and practically leapt into his arms. He caught her and shook her excitedly. She still couldn't make out his words. But what she couldn’t mistake was when he turned his head into hers and pressed his lips against her cheek. 

The crowd only got louder, flashes from cameras grew more frequent. Annabeth started laughing. She was so happy, that she’d cry if she didn't laugh, except, she had started to cry too. Enormous tears of happiness streamed down her face, while Percy squeezed her even tighter. 

Chapter Text

Percy knew Annabeth was more than capable of winning the World All-Around Title, he had known that fact since they were children, so he wasn’t the least bit surprised when she won the whole damn thing. Percy instead watched the entire meet in awe and reverence. His best friend, the person he knew better than anyone in the world, was the top gymnast across the entire globe. It didn’t just didn’t feel real.

As he stared down the floor exercise waiting for his turn, Percy hoped he could follow Annabeth’s footsteps. He rolled his head back and forth slowly, from shoulder to shoulder, not that he needed to stretch, Percy just needed to do something while he waited. 

The athlete who competed before him, Rhys McClenaghan from Ireland was petitioning his floor routines score, so Percy knew there’d be much more waiting to come. The petition process was 20 minutes at least, to Percy it seemed like a lot more trouble than it was worth. Delaying the schedule and having to pay thousands of dollars seemed like a lot for a couple of extra tenths of a point, and that was only the best-case scenario, where the judges actually admitted they had made a mistake themselves. Percy had seen the worst-case scenario happen too, he had been to meets where a gymnast had petitioned the score and the judges decided the score was too high and needed to be lowered due to missed deductions or if a skill was de-valued.

He didn’t fault Rhys taking the risk though, in a competition that was probably going to come down to literal tenths of a point, if not less than that, you couldn’t take any chances. 

So he waited as the judges re-watched the routine and paid close attention to Rhys’ form in the air, apparently the judges downgraded many of his piked skills down to tucks, which had seriously reduced his difficulty score.

Percy watched as Rhys’ name jumped up a place on the scoreboard, he and his coach celebrated excitedly on the side of the gym. The judges must have decided his form was better than they thought in real-time since he got those missing points back. It moved him slightly up in the rankings to number 4. 

Percy took a deep breath and centered himself. His time was about to come, his first event of any competition was when he was most anxious. Once he got that one out of his system he was pretty good for the rest of the day. He loved competing, thrived under the pressure, but even he wasn’t above the nerves and worries of the competition day. He took a deep breath knowing that feeling wouldn’t last too long. 

“You got this Percy!” 

Annabeth’s voice broke out over the semi-quiet gym. Rhys’s delay stopped the background music and the main announcer who called out names over the loudspeaker, making it just silent enough for Percy to hear her voice clear as day. Though Percy figured he’d be able to hear her voice over an erupting volcano. 

The judges finally gave him the green light for his routine, so Percy raised an arm in salute. 

Taking a deep breath, he took off running for his first tumbling pass.

A laid-out double-twisting double back. When Percy’s feet hit the ground, he knew immediately he wasn’t going anywhere. He registered the screaming crowd and pushed it to the back of his mind as he started his next tumbling run. 

A round off to a one and a half twist step out to a double front with a half twist. He landed that one with the smallest of hops backward. He’d have to get a handle on those landings for the rest of the routine. 

From the corner, Percy jumped up and out, landing on his stomach. From that position, he began his flairs. First windmilling his legs around his body, then in the middle, he pushed himself off the ground, flipping sideways in the air before catching himself on the ground again. He did this twice before finishing with another round of normal flares. 

Still on the ground, he brought one leg forward so he was sitting in a split. Percy raised a hand in salute to a cheering crowd. Then completed a press handstand, standing tall afterward. With a final butterfly kick to a dive roll, Percy was standing in the corner of the floor for his next pass.

Taking a deep breath, Percy ran completing a double twist into a three and a half twist. Normally, he had issues on the landing, but this time, he was perfect, he felt it in his legs as he landed and threw his arm up in salute.

His second to last pass was up next. Percy ran and rebounded out of a roundoff into a 1.5 twist, then a 2.5 twist, and finally ending it with another 3.5 twist. He landed with just the smallest step to the side. He took a deep breath and centered himself before his dismount. A piked double arabian with a stuck landing that made the crowd roar as he saluted for the final time that routine.  

He looked to the stands before he exited the floor and quickly found his mom and Annabeth cheering him on. 

This was going to be a good day.

***

Percy never intended to be good at the pommel horse, growing up it was his most hated event, mainly because he found it to be pretty boring. But Chiron had always known Percy had the potential to be a decent all arounder, so despite years of complaints and protests, Chiron refused to budge. He constructed a routine that was exciting, (at least as close to exciting as pommel horse ever was), fast-paced, and had few built-in errors. 

Percy deemed the success of his pommel abilities about 90% the routine and 10% Percy being good at it. Honestly, if any other gymnast tried out his routine, he was pretty sure they’d have had the same results he did. 

Which is how Percy found himself in third place after only two rotations. Only a half a point separated him from first place. If he continued at this rate, first place was his, as long as he had no major errors. 

Jason fist-bumped Percy as he came down the steps from the raised competition floor to the athlete waiting area, he received others from the guys in his rotation. Rhys McClenaghan, Nile Wilson from England, Bram Verhofstad from the Netherlands, and Kohei Uchimura from Japan who was currently in first place.

The other man had already won the past two world championship titles, in a row. Percy was here to make sure he wouldn’t be able to make it to a third. However, that task was a bit daunting, Kohei was a full decade older than Percy, he had been around this sport a significantly longer time. Percy figured if he did come in second, then he wouldn’t mind it being to Kohei. Here at World’s he’d learn all he could from the older guys, (he and Jason were literally the only teenagers in their rotation) and bring that to Athens. 

Still rings helped bring Percy up to second place, he was now two-tenths of a point away from Kohei. Jason sat in fifth trying to make the same come up Percy did. Rings wasn’t Percy’s best routine, but it was passable thankfully, he definitely knew what he’d be working on first after these championships. He had lost the weight necessary to make the difficulty in his new-ish routine possible, but now he had to put in the extra effort and work to make sure his execution was immaculate.

His holds were a bit too wobbly for his liking, and his transitions from one move to another could be better. Most importantly he had to work on keeping the rings still whenever he flipped his body forwards and backward. These were all small adjustments, but once he was able to combine them all together into one routine, Percy would be a pretty formidable opponent out on the competition floor.

***

The next three events were where Percy could hopefully overtake Kohei, however where these were some of Percy’s best apparatuses they were Kohei’s too. 

They warmed up, taking their two touches. Percy watched Kohei in awe, it was one thing to watch the guy on TV and another to be in his literal rotation watching from 20 feet away. 

Percy and Jason were towards the end of their rotation, meaning that Percy was lucky enough to have front row seats to some of the best gymnastics in the world. 

First in the rotation was Nile from England. The other man took off running, his feet pounded off the springboard as he rocketed himself forward and pushed himself off the table he flipped forwards twice with his legs tucked. He landed with a step off to the side, crossing the left line on the mat, incurring an additional deduction. 

Percy cheered, the way he had been doing for everyone in the rotation, and finally a lot of the other guys were starting to get on his level in the hypeman department. They worked way too hard not to have fun during these competitions. Even if they were his competitors. 

Bram completed a pretty nice Shewfelt vault, a back handspring onto the vault, and two and a half twists laid out. He landed with a small step on the landing.

Kohei was competing the same vault that Percy was, a piked Dragelescu. Percy watched extra carefully to this vault to see how he could match up against the older man. Sitting in a chair behind Percy, Chiron was doing the same thing. Sure, Percy loved to watch and celebrate his fellow athletes but he was still competitive as hell, and he wanted to win this whole thing, more than almost anything he’s ever wanted before.

The other man landed with the smallest of steps backward. An uncharacteristic mistake, normally, Kohei was rock solid.

Chiron nodded to Percy in a way that Percy knew meant, You can beat that.

Percy smirked back at his coach because he knew that too. 

Jason was up next, with the same vault as Bram. Which technically was one of the vaults Annabeth competed also (though the women’s code of points called it an Amanar), Jason soared high and twisted hard, but to Percy’s amazement, Annabeth's vault was much more explosive, and he was pretty sure he wasn't just biased, Jason didn't have as nearly as much power or height as when Annabeth competed that vault herself. 

Jason stuck his landing which had everyone in the gym cheering excitedly. It would be tough to go after that, but Percy was up for the challenge. Ready to show everyone something even better.

He waited for the green flag from the judges. Just as the flag was raised and Percy was saluting there was an enormous gasp from the audience. Percy wanted to look, wanted to know what was happening. Gasps and cries like that from the crowd were never good. But he couldn’t spare a second thought to whatever was happening around him. He needed to be focused for the next 15 seconds. 

Percy ran, pushing off the springboard, his hands hit the table and he blocked hard. Flipping forward twice with a half twist with his legs completely piked. His feet touched down on the mat and Percy fought to hold onto the stick. He held for a brief moment as he stabilized, then stood up and saluted the judges. 

There wasn’t exactly applause like he was used to. Percy immediately started to look around and found one of the Russian gymnasts, Artur Daylolyan, on the floor exercise. He was on the ground holding his leg in obvious pain while coaches and trainers surrounded him. The whole arena became eerily quiet as everyone looked on worryingly. He found his mom and Annabeth in the stands, Sally looking horrified, her mouth wide open in shock and terror, Annabeth looked on like a car accident witness, unable to wrench her gaze away. 

Percy had missed whatever happened, so he wasn’t sure how bad the injury actually was. At this point in the year, it could go either way. Worlds always marked the end of the gymnastics season, so at least now Artur would have a decent amount of recovery time. However, with the Olympics right around the corner, if it was as serious as Percy felt it may be based on the looks on the faces of the Russian team, he may not be fully recovered in time for Athens. 

Chiron at some point had made his way over and was speaking quickly to the Russian coaches, after examining the situation and talking to Artur, they joined arms and helped lift him into a makeshift basket hold to get him off the competition platform and down on the floor where a stretcher took him somewhere, presumably the medical area and then the actual hospital. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need surgery, that would almost definitely remove him from the Olympics, which would be a huge setback for the Russians.

Percy watched as Chiron patted Artur on the back and said something before heading back over to Percy. The other man's face was bright red, whether it was from pain, exertion, potential embarrassment or even just knowing the road to recovery would be long and difficult, Percy couldn’t tell.

But Artur’s well-being wasn’t really the question at the forefront of Percys brain.

“Do you speak Russian?” he asked once Chiron had returned.

His coach shrugged, “a little bit,”

In the stands, Annabeth looked just as curious as Percy.

“I guess you learn something every day. How is he?”

Chiron took a deep breath, “We’ll talk about it after the meet.”

It must be bad then, Chiron always waited until after a competition to discuss anything remotely negative. It’s why he hadn’t shown Annabeth how she was the smallest fraction of an inch away from dropping a release move yesterday. It was probably an ACL tear or something along that scale. But Percy couldn’t dwell or think about Artur, he had a competition to win.

***

 Percy cleared his mind, waiting for his turn on the parallel bars. Each other man in the rotation had a pretty good routine. He knew Jason was unhappy with his performance, and Hera, his coach, was not very compassionate when he returned to the athlete waiting area. As she spoke to him, Percy watched Jason's demeanor shrivel and shrink. 

It wasn’t a bad routine by any circumstances, just not Jason’s best. The parallel bars were tricky, to Percy it was the event that was toughest on his body. Just swinging back and forth on your hands would be rough on anyone. Percy’s hands already took a beating from high bar and rings, but his worst rips always came from parallel bars. Then when you added in flipping yourself several times and then recatching the bar under your armpits really upped the pain factor. Despite being somewhat decent at P-Bars, it was by far Percy’s least favorite event.

Plus, deductions came easy, if your swing was off, if you hit one of the bars while flipping, if your hand placement was messed up, or if you adjusted your hands at all, which Jason had done on several skills, those tenth of a point deductions really added up. 

As Percy walked up to the apparatus, he wasn't surprised to see Chiron sitting next to Jason, trying to inconspicuously give the other boy advice knowing full well his own coaches probably wouldn’t.

Jason seemed grateful as Chiron returned to Percy's side. 

“Visualize, don’t think too much, perform the way you do in practice and you got this.”

Percy nodded as he chalked up his grips and stepped up to the bars. With the go-ahead from the judges he saluted and hopped onto the bars, one hand on each allowing himself a small swing to gain momentum before the real work began.

Percy brought his legs together and pulled them up close to his face, he kicked out hard, giving himself enough momentum to complete a piked front flip. He kept with the movement of his body, swinging his legs down and then pushing himself up to a handstand where he pirouetted so he was only on one bar. He twisted to make sure his legs swung back down between the two bars.

Percy swung hard again,  flipping himself backward and twisting halfway. He ended at one end of the bars, where he swung his legs again and used the momentum to fling his body all the way to the other side of the bars. Percy twisted and pirouetted, then wound up a bit for his biggest release move, a double back, which he landed perfectly. 

His lungs were on fire and his hands were burning. All he had left was the dismount.

“Push! Keep going! You got this!”

He swung one last time, hard enough to flip forward twice in the tucked position with a full twist. When Percy’s feet hit the ground, he knew he wasn’t going anywhere. He threw both hands up in salute. 

He shouted in excitement as he exited the platform. He accepted the high fives and fist pumps from his competitors.

Annabeth and Sally were cheering in the crowd, he pointed and waved to them, knowing that was probably one of his better parallel bar routines. 

Chiron put a hand on Percy's shoulder and squeezed. “Nicely done, almost perfect I’d say.”

Percy’s eyes turned to the scoreboard. He was in second place but hopefully, this routine was enough to get him into first. He asked Chiron as much.

“It’s gonna be close to get past Kohei.”

It was a few minutes when he heard the roar of the crowd, he looked to see who was still competing. But upon finding Annabeth and his mom in the stands, they were both pointing to the scoreboard.

When he looked up again, his name was on the top. Kohei’s name beneath his, something he never really thought would happen. Percy’s stomach dropped to his feet.

“Don’t get cocky,” Chiron instructed, “You got one more left.”

He nodded, a few guys gave him a brief nod or a smile, but no one was ready to address the elephant in the room. Percy found Kohei, he was speaking to his coach, the other man’s jaw was set, he looked determined, clearly being in second was not something he had experienced in quite some time. Kohei was the previous high bar world champion, it was both their best events, Percy didn’t know what he’d have to get to remain in first.

Chiron smacked him on the back of the head lightly. 

“I can't believe I'm telling you this, but quit thinking, I know what you're wondering and that's a slippery slope, just do what you do best and you’ll be fine.” 

Percy nodded, “It's times like these I'm glad you can read my mind.”

The next hour was one of the longest of Percy’s life. He and Chiron sat by and cheered for some of the best high bar routines they had ever seen. All the while, Percy hyping himself up, this was no time for negativity. He was ready to show his skills and hopefully retain his first place spot. The pressure was mounting, as Kohei began his routine. Percy tried to resist wishing he’d make a mistake, lest some sort of karmic justice finds its way to Percy. 

Kohei was lifted to the bar by his coach and Percy’s heart stopped. This one routine was entirely out of his control, which Percy was not a big fan of.

He watched as Kohei began swinging himself around the bar, twice before he let go for his first release move, a double back over the bar, otherwise known as a Kovac. He caught it perfectly and wound up for another release move, a Cassina, a laid-out double back over the bar with a full twist. He caught that too and began pirouetting and spinning around the bar, getting into the more technical skills of the routine. Percy was mesmerized by the man’s absolute control over his body, so far Kohei had very little deductions. His legs were practically glued together and his toes were at a constant point. After his next release move, a double back tuck with a full twist, a Coleman, was when Kohei had the first and potentially only mistake that Percy could tell. He had to slow his momentum for the next skill, and he must have stopped himself too short, his elbows buckled and he hesitated in a handstand for a brief second. But that moment's pause would not be overlooked in the slightest by the judges. 

Kohei found his rhythm again, swinging himself around and performing the last of his releases, a simple hop of the bar. He wound up accumulating enough momentum to dismount. His laid-out double-double was almost perfect except for the hop forward on the landing.

Percy cheered as Kohei saluted the judges and excitedly walked off the floor celebrating with his coaches. He fist-bumped Percy on his way to his things. The crowd was still cheering for him even when he was off the competition floor. From the waiting area, he waved to the crowd happily.

“That was amazing,” Percy said.

Chiron bumped his shoulder into Percy’s, “That may be true, but he doesn’t do anything you don’t. Did you notice how similar your routines were?”

Percy didn’t but he figured it must be true, Kohei’s 3 main release moves were the most difficult by far of high bar skills and they were all ones Percy competed himself.

Chiron continued, “There’s only one thing he doesn’t have that you do.”

Percy was confused, “what’s that?”

“A skill named after him.”

Percy barked out a laugh.

When Kohei’s score came back it was a massive and insane 15.833 score.

The crowd cheered as Kohei’s name jumped to first, but the other man wasn’t celebrating yet, knowing full well that Percy still had to compete.

“You can beat that,” Chiron assured him, “You have beaten that, I'm pretty sure you did it in qualifying. So go out there, and do what you're capable of and you will be taking home the gold. I'm sure of it.”

Percy was happy to have Rhys and Jason as a buffer in between him and Kohei, it gave him time to get hyped up again. The pressure was on, and Percy thrived on it, ready to prove himself and show everyone that he was the best in the world.

Percy had pretty much tuned out Rhys and Jason’s routines, as he strapped on his grips and chalked them down roughly. The only time he was pulled away from his own thoughts and actions was when he heard an audible groan from the audience and the unmistakable sound of a reverberating high bar. Jason was flat on his stomach, he was clearly angry at his mistake as he jumped back up to the bar. 

“That’s okay, Jason! Finish strong!” Percy called. 

All he had left was to dismount, a double back with a full twist, that he stuck the landing on. He saluted stoically knowing any chances he had of medalling were absolutely gone and the wrath of his coaches would be brought down soon. 

Percy patted him on the back wordlessly, knowing no words would be able to console his friend at this time.

“You got this Perce!” 

He immediately found Annabeth in the crowd, yelling herself hoarse. He threw a smile her way and went back to waiting on the judges, only a little nervous he’d miss the judges raising the flag. A cameraman stood in front of Percy staring him down, Percy resisted the urge to smile and wave. Instead, he stared down his apparatus, ready and excited to perform.

The judges gave the signal and Percy saluted. 

Taking a deep breath, he jumped up to the bar and began circling himself around the bar. He wound up for his first two release moves, the first a simple hop and the second of which now bore his name, a laid-out double back with two twists.

Both of which, Percy caught perfectly before completing a few pirouettes, some inbars, and swinging around the bar with only one arm. 

He wound up for two more release moves, the first a double back over the bar, and the second a full-twisting double back. He caught each, then completed more pirouettes. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, he only had his dismount left, with one more giant swing for momentum, Percy let go of the bar, flipping and twisting twice.

He stuck the landing, knowing immediately that was good enough for first place. He threw his hands up and into the air, in an excited salute. He screamed in excitement as Chiron pulled him into a hug before he could get off the competition platform. Chiron shook him a bit, his coach must’ve known too.

Even if against all odds, Percy wasn’t in first place after this, he was still exceedingly proud of his performance. 

Walking down the stairs his rotation was waiting for him, even Kohei. They all congratulated, hugged, and fist-bumped one another. Not only to celebrate Percy’s potential win (technically the score wasn’t in just yet) but to celebrate the fact that they all finished and had done their best and that the next time they would all be competing in the same place again would more than likely be the Olympics. Cameras circled around them and only left once everyone had gone back to their areas to pack their things. With only a floor routine or two left, they’d be heading to the awards ceremony very soon.

While taking off his grips and removing the miles of tape from his body, Percy was glued to the scoreboard, like his life depended on it. It was only a minute or two of waiting when the score came in.

A 16.0 flat.

Percy’s name jumped back up to first, knocking Kohei’s down to second. So far, there was only one floor routine left, but it appeared as though Nikita Nagorny from Russia would keep his third-place spot.

The crowd cheered and Chiron pulled Percy into another enormous hug. There were tears welling up in his coach's eyes, but it looked like he willed them away as he grabbed Percy by the shoulders and shook him. 

He waited for the final athlete to perform, making his first place spot official. But once he was sure this wasn’t all an elaborate prank, he ran to his mom and Annabeth. Sally was crying not even trying to hold back her tears, and when she saw Percy at the wall separating the athlete waiting area from the crowd, she practically leapt at him pulling Percy into her arms. She squeezed him tight, cutting off his airways. Sally reached out an arm and pulled Annabeth into them, creating a sort of huddle.

“I’m so proud of you both, I can’t believe you’ve made it this far.”

And there was still much left to go, the Olympics had always been their endgame, previously unlikely, but now seeming like an actual possibility. 

Percy kissed his mom and Annabeth on the cheek before being escorted away by Chiron. The awards ceremony always happened quickly at larger events like this.

The podium was in the middle of the floor, the American, Japanese, and Russian flags behind their respective athletes' spots on the podium.

He shook Kohei’s and Nikita’s hands as he stepped onto the middle spot of the podium and faced the audience. A couple of cameras encircled them as old men in suits carefully picked up the bronze medal and draped it around Nikita’s neck. He was handed a small bouquet of flowers as he shook the man’s hand. The same process took place for Kohei with the silver medal and Percy the gold. As he shook the man’s hand a camera came up for a close-up shot of Percy. He smiled and waved, feeling the surrealness of this moment crash over him like a wave. 

Cameras flashed from the crowd, while the TV cameras circled the podium, Percy held his medal up close to his face, he waved to the crowd, and the cameras, beside him, his competitors were doing the same thing. 

Often at times, the awards ceremony is a bit anticlimactic, despite officially being the best gymnast on the planet, the World Championships were no different to Percy’s surprise. Once the fanfare died down, he was immediately shuffled off to give an interview with some news network.

Percy was in a daze as he offered the same typical answers to all the same questions he had asked of him at the end of all other major meets.

When the blonde woman, Andrea Joyce, finally declared the interview over, it didn’t matter how tired Percy’s body was, he practically sprinted away to find Chiron, Annabeth, and his mom. 

Before he could even begin to start looking for them, Percy was knocked sideways by an unseen force. Once he finally gained his composure, Percy was able to turn and see that Annabeth had leapt at him in excitement, jumping and clinging her body onto his. Her arms were circled around his torso, with her legs wrapped around his waist.

“WE DID IT!” Percy had never heard a better sound than her laughter in his ear. 

Then Annabeth kissed him, quickly but surely. The audience roared as they were depicted on the large screen suspended in the middle of the arena, it was the only sound that was able to blot out the sound of Percy’s beating heart.

Chapter Text

Rome had been such a whirlwind, that Chiron could barely believe it was almost over. Annabeth and Percy were coming home with more hardware than any of them had originally thought. Obviously, this was the best-case scenario, but also one of the most unlikely. They had so many odds stacked against them at the start of the year, both of them being first-year seniors, younger than most of the international gymnasts, plus add in Annabeth going to California, coming back, and the start of school only a month or so ago, and this could have gone a completely different way, yet, his athletes had smashed past every obstacle and were well on their way to stardom.

With only event finals left, they were all nearing the end of the tunnel. While he knew Annabeth and Percy were having a blast here, he also knew they were just as tired. They had put their minds and bodies through so much these past couple of weeks, that he knew they needed a bit of a break. Luckily, the FIG after party tomorrow night would be a great start to that break.

But, they needed to get there first, and hopefully with another set of medals.

A heaping sense of pride welled in Chirons chest every time he thought about what they had accomplished. It was damn near impossible for someone to win the All-Around, and the fact that both his athletes from the same gym were able to each win the gold for the men and women, was a once in a lifetime feat, potentially something that may never happen again.

Unless they did it again at the Olympics . 

Chiron allowed himself to think that only for a second before banishing the thought from his mind completely.

He was getting way too ahead of himself. Even though the World Championships before the Olympics were the closest thing they could ever get to the real Games, everything would still be different by then, all the gymnasts they went up against here would be better, there could even be some new faces who weren’t able to make it to Rome. They couldn’t let down their guard now. 

Percy and Annabeth would need that break because as soon as it was over, he was going to push them harder than he ever had before. Everyone here would be better by the Summer, so they had to work three times as hard as everyone else to keep their edge. Chiron hoped they could handle it.

***

Event finals were going to be a trying time for Chiron. The men and women competed at the same time, so he found himself in the familiar routine of having to run back and forth from apparatus to apparatus. 

Annabeth was first on uneven bars, then he had to immediately rush to Percy’s pommel horse routine afterward.

“I know you’re tired,” he told Annabeth, “This has been a lot of gymnastics, but we can't stop yet, push through it, No one here should be able to beat you.”

She nodded and smiled, still scrubbing her grips down with chalk. Chiron watched as Annabeth focused herself. She was in an interesting spot, she was first in the rotation of eight of the best bar workers in the World. It would be difficult to maintain her spot, sometimes judges became more lenient over time, the first gymnasts in an event final rotation always seemed to be judged more harshly than those in the latter half of the group.

There was one other issue Chiron found with the event final process. He had been petitioning the Federation of International Gymnastics since they made the change in the first place. To Chiron, it was one of the most dangerous and detrimental rules they had to follow.

Athletes were generally given at least one warm-up pass or two at the most during the team or all-around final. That was not the case during event finals. Gymnasts were allowed to practice in the back gym, sure, but that wasn’t the same thing as the actual competition equipment. Plus they had to wait a while in the freezing cold gym. It seemed that as the competition went on, it became increasingly colder.  

With no practice run and poor conditions for the athletes, event finals were pretty much a mess from start to finish, the winners being the athletes who messed up the least. Chiron had begged and petitioned the FIG countless times, to no avail. For the time being, they were stuck like this.

Annabeth stepped up to the bar and began to wait. Thankfully, this was her only event today, the other two would be tomorrow. The still rings final had already concluded and the award ceremony was just finishing up, which, was another weird thing Chiron didn’t like about these finals, each ceremony was held almost immediately after the athletes finished. Granting them hardly any recovery time and forcing other athletes to wait even longer. Why they couldn’t just do one big ceremony at the end was beyond him.

The anthem ended and he watched as the athletes climbed off the podium, Chiron was happy to see Frank Zhang had taken third. The kid definitely deserved it.

His attention was brought back to Annabeth, as she started to hit her legs with balled-up fists. She had to be losing feeling because of the cold. Chiron was wearing a jacket and pants and even he could still feel the chill in the air, the men were able to wear pants on certain apparatuses, but the women were only ever able to wear something similar to a bathing suit. It didn’t really seem fair to him. 

“You got this Annabeth!” Percy called from the other side of the gym, where he waited to begin the finals for pommel horse. 

She knew better than to respond and take her eyes off the judges’ table, who finally, gave the signal, Annabeth saluted and took off. 

Pounding off the springboard and leaping outstretched over the low bar and catching the high bar. She circled the bar and brought herself into a perfectly straight 180-degree handstand before completing a full pirouette. 

Then came the two back to back release moves, both flying high over the bar, thankfully and surprisingly both were caught much cleaner than in the All-Around competition, Chiron was pretty sure that close call had taken at least a year off his life, having seen Annabeth come about a millimeter away from falling from the high bar. 

“Straight Arms!” He called as she flipped down, catching the low bar expertly. 

With a few twists and turns on the low bar, she threw herself back up to the high bar. Completing a hopping pirouette once more before her final Nabieva release move. He held his breath the entire time she was in the air and couldn’t convince his lungs to draw air until her hands were firmly on the high bar again. With a single giant swing around the bar, she let go for the dismount. The thud of her feet squarely and solidly hitting the mat was music to Chiron’s ears. With only a small step back, this was probably one of the best possible outcomes for this routine. It would take a lot of work on the part of the other women if they wanted the top spot that Chiron was pretty sure Annabeth should have. 

But only time would tell. Annabeth climbed down off the platform smiling and breathing heavily. 

“Great Job, are you waiting here to watch the other routines or coming to pommel horse?”

By the time Annabeth finished her routine, there was maybe only one or two guys in front of Percy before his own pommel routine began, so they’d need to move quickly.

Annabeth looked at him like his hair had turned into snakes, “Don’t you think you know the answer to that question?” She took a sip from her water bottle with a roll of her eyes. 

Chiron smiled, “Of course I do, come on, let's go watch your boyfriend.”

Annabeth spit out the water in a surprising spray of indignation. Luckily there was no one sitting in those particular chairs she had just showered. She sputtered incoherently before finally deciding on saying, “He Is Not My Boyfriend.” Her voice got louder and angrier as the sentence progressed.

“Not yet at least,” Chiron murmured. To which he received a punch on the arm from Annabeth. Upon seeing the daggers her gray eyes were shooting his way, he added laughing, “You kissed him right in front of me, did you expect me not to say anything?”

“Yes!” She exclaimed, startling a group of gymnasts and their coaches as they passed. “You absolutely cannot talk about this, you know, minding your own business is what will keep you young.”

Chiron laughed, it was times like these that he was reminded how young the two of them actually were, she may be the best gymnast in the world, performing skills that far exceed her age limit, but when all was said and done, Annabeth was still a teenager, she had missed out on so much because of gymnastics, he wasn’t about to let her get out of being teased over a boy. Especially one she had been in love with almost as long as Chiron knew them. 

Chiron shrugged, “I’m already old, so I may as well have fun in the process.” Even though he wasn’t that old, just compared to the two of them he always felt like he had been around for thousands of years.

They stopped short of Percy where he waited, intently focused on the athlete currently on the pommel horse. The other man lost his rhythm and hand placement, he let go of the horse and dropped to the ground, defeated. Once he started again to finish the routine, Percy finally turned his attention to them. 

“Why are you wet?” Percy asked.

Annabeth grunted, “Because Your coach is the worst.” That was a thing they tended to do whenever he was able to really annoy one of them, he was no longer both of their coaches, he only belonged to the one who was left unbothered.

Chiron just smiled and shrugged, knowing without a doubt that this is the closest feeling to fatherhood that he would probably get. 

***

“Come on Perce, You Got This,” Annabeth called out as he saluted and began his first of two routines today. 

The routine started off slow, Percy shifting his weight from side to side, allowing his legs to follow. He twisted as he brought himself into a handstand, and lowered back down. He split his legs between the horse while moving his body down the apparatus.

“Good Rythym, Keep it Up!” Chiron called out. Whereas Annabeth tended to tune everything out when she was competing, Percy absorbed everything, so he more than likely heard his words and was focusing on them as he continued.

Then the routine picked up and a lot of the difficulty came into play, he spun around on only one hand, then immediately began his flairs. Windmilling his legs, while twisting and pirouetting, around the horse. Percy was moving with confidence, he was so quick on the horse, he became a blur for a brief period of time. His lines were immaculate as he kept his legs straight and glued together with toes pointed. Without slowing down, he spun and kicked hard, pushing himself into a handstand, he pirouetted 1.5 times, before landing squarely on his feet.

As he should, a pommel horse dismount was the one dismount Chiron expected to be stuck every time. After the part on the horse and bringing his body up into a handstand, it was a matter of dropping gracefully to the ground. As far as dismounts go, Pommel horse had the easiest (at least to Chiron). He had told Percy a thousand times that if he ever moved on a pommel landing, he’d have Mr. D work him in conditioning until he cried, threw up, or passed out, whichever came first. Luckily for him, Percy took the warning seriously and had always stuck the landing.

He threw his hands up in the air in celebration, the bowed in the direction of the judges to salute.

Percy rushed off the floor, receiving a clap on the back from his competitor and some of their coaches before hugging Chiron and Annabeth.

They watched the scoreboard together, Percy was literally in shock as his name jumped to first. 

“I don’t even know if I deserve that, I hate pommel horse. That be like if Annabeth was the World Champion on beam.”

 Annabeth was not impressed, “In my defense, balance beam hates me more than I hate it.”

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here, there’s still 3 more to go after you, and Kohei is one of them.”

Then even after that, they weren’t done, Percy still had floor to go, all they had to do now was wait.

***

In the end, Percy ended up taking second place. Standing on the podium, next to Kohei who received first, and Rhys McClenaghan in third. For Rhys, this was his first time medalling at these games, and the excitement showed on his face. He exchanged words with Percy as the brief ceremony ended, which made both of them laugh.

Chiron figured he knew what they were talking about. Rhys' Execution score had beaten Percy’s, but what put Percy ahead was an extra tenth of difficulty. Percy had won second by .33 tenths of a point.

They talked for a few minutes, Percy was clearly forgetting he had another event to prepare for today. Chiron let out a whistle, nothing too loud and ear-piercing but one that would grab his attention, nonetheless.

Percy’s head jerked up his eyes settling on Annabeth as she read her book, then onto Chiron who stood with hands on his hips clearly annoyed.

“Did you forget about something?” Chiron called.

He watched as Percy’s eyes widened in realization, Chiron couldn’t hear his words, but he was able to make them out clean as day.

“Oh my god… I forgot about Floor,” Percy bolted from the competition platform, leaving a laughing Rhys in his wake. 

“You have 5 minutes before we need to be in line and ready for floor, do with that what you will.”

Annabeth tossed Percy a granola bar which he promptly unwrapped and bit into as he packed his stuff into his duffle bag.

“Think I have time to go to the bathroom?”

“Hurry up,” Chiron growled. He ran off to the side gym, throwing a jacket on in the process. Luckily for the men, it was easier to stay warm since they were allowed to wear pants, another archaic and sexist rule Chiron wouldn’t mind seeing gone. Nonetheless, it was still frigid in the arena, why they couldn’t find a decent temperature for everyone, Chiron couldn’t understand.

Annabeth grabbed Percy's duffel bag and they headed over to the waiting area for the floor exercise, knowing he would meet them there. Luckily he was later in the rotation, and since he wasn’t allowed to practice beforehand, they didn’t have any pressing time constraints.

Since Artur Dayloylan had torn his ACL in the All-Around final, he was removed from all event finals and the athlete who had qualified in ninth place was put into his spot. In this case, it was Jason Grace. Chiron felt bad for the kid, he really did. It wasn’t his fault he had Jupiter as a father and coach. The boy had potential if only he wasn’t a part of a crumbling gym with a toxic culture and a horrifying set of beliefs, and the same went for his sister, Thalia. Those two could really become tough rivals for Percy and Annabeth if they were at a more qualified and competent gym. 

Jason sat alone looking nervous as anything, Jupiter and Hera were nowhere in sight. Chiron quickly glanced to Percy and Annabeth to see how they were fairing. He wasn’t at all surprised to seed the two of them on the floor talking. How they never tired of the other’s company he wasn’t sure, but Chiron hoped he’d never see that day. A Percy and Annabeth who weren’t together was a sure sign of the apocalypse.

As inconspicuously as he could, Chiron picked a seat not too far from Jason but still close enough to Annabeth and Percy to not seem suspicious.

“What are you thinking about,” he asked Jason

When he responded, the boy sounded tired and defeated, “How much I don’t want to mess up out there.”

“Does that normally work?”

Jason gave a quick bark of a laugh, with no life or humor involved, “Never.”

“Are you a visualizer? Or thinker?”

“Thinker,” he replied, “too much of one sometimes.”

Chiron smiled, he could work with that, for the next 20 minutes, Chiron worked as much with Jason as he could without actually practicing anything tangible. He gave a few pointers and corrections that he had noticed throughout the competition. Jason soaked it all in, his demeanor brightening as the minutes ticked by and he realized Chiron was actually helping him instead of berating him for what basically amounted to him being a normal teenage boy and not a mindless gymnastics robot.

Even once Percy went and completely hit his routine, to the point where he, Annabeth, and Chiron were jumping up and down in excitement. Percy’s name jumped to the first spot on the leader board and the arena went wild. Percy got back up on the platform, waving with both hands to the crowd.

However, Chiron knew there were still 3 more athletes to go until Jason’s turn, he sat back down with him and resumed their earlier conversation. They spoke for a little while longer, until there was only one athlete ahead of him.

“Hera will be here soon, thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.”

“Of course, you deserve it, my previous offer still stands. If you ever want to join us in New York at Olympia, we’d all be happy to have you and your sister.”

***

Today was the official last day of the World Championships. The last day of event finals would work the same as the first. Only, Annabeth and Percy were both competing in 2 events today.

Percy had taken gold on the floor exercise which had him on cloud 9, but his main goal was to take the gold on high bar, it was his favorite event and one he had wanted to prove himself on, show everyone he was the one to beat, even up against men who were twice his age. But that would have to wait, Annabeth’s vault final was up first, then Percy’s high bar final would be soon after that. The three of them sat together by the vault after warming up in the practice gym. 

Annabeth’s routine would come right before Percy’s so Chiron would have to rush over to the high bar as soon as her feet hit the mat on her second vault. 

When Percy and Annabeth began to get into a particularly heated debate about something was when Chiron took his cue to tune the two of them out. Instead, Chiron’s gaze turned to Jason who was sitting nearby. Another last-minute addition to the high bar final due to Daylolan’s injury.

They talked briefly, Jason seeming in higher spirits than the day before, he gave a thumbs up and a grin to Chiron.

Chiron had offered him a spot at Olympia a while ago, at the first development camp, he knew it had been a longshot, but Chiron had felt better knowing that he had at least planted the idea in Jason and Thalia’s heads, that they deserved better. 

It had seemed like forever by the time they had gotten to Annabeth’s turn. She stood at the end of the runway, adding chalk to the bottoms of her feet and shuffling back and forth to get warm. 

Chiron had spoken to her quickly, trying to keep these moments light, so the pressure wouldn’t seem overwhelming. This had been a long week of gymnastics, and after her two gold medals in the team and all-around final and her gold on the uneven bars, the whole world would be watching to see what Annabeth would do next.

“You got this,” Chiron called out just as the judges were raising the flag. Annabeth saluted gracefully and took off running.

Chiron knew something was wrong as soon as Annabeth left the springboard, she hadn’t half twisted quick enough to get her hands down flat for the block. From what Chiron could figure, one of her hands had landed sideways on the table and she pushed off not realizing the issue in time. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest when Annabeth bailed out of the skill, twisting halfway, and landing on her back. She stood up quickly saluting and practically ran to Chiron, holding her wrist at a strange angle, fear in her eyes.

The audience grew quiet and other gymnasts looked on worriedly. Chiron’s stomach had sunk to the floor, this was one of the worst times for an injury and a wrist injury would take a few weeks at least to heal, that was if she didn’t require surgery. That was a lot of time for a gymnast to have to take off, especially someone whose specialty was bars. 

His mind was running a million miles a minute, but he forced it calm, he knew Annabeth and coming off as worried or stressed would not help her now. He wrapped Annabeth in a hug, seeing her deep heaving breaths, he knew she was trying not to cry. Her mind was just as fast as his. She would be panicking at this point.

“This is not the end of the World, we’ll work through it.”

Annabeth sucked in a breath, “I think I broke it.” She had already moved past the wanting to cry stage and entered into acceptance, which was a good start.

He had started walking with her towards the medical station, so they could find out the basics of what may be wrong.

“How bad does it hurt on a 1-10 scale?”

“6.5, it’s definitely not as bad as that rib I cracked, but about the same as the time, I broke my ankle. I think I heard a crack or pop or something.”

They had finally got back to the tables when Percy burst in, his grips strapped to his hands and completely chalked. He had Annabeth’s duffle bag over his shoulder and her warm-up jacket and pants draped over his arm.

Annabeth let out a sigh of relief upon just seeing Percy, who had a kicked puppy type of look on his face. His worry was evident.

“Quit worrying about me, it’s not that bad. You need to focus on high bar.”

Shit

Chiron had forgotten completely about Percy and Annabeth’s other events, He’d have to pull Annabeth out of the floor final and make sure Percy was focused on his own routines, instead of Annabeth’s well-being. 

“How much time before your turn?” He asked. 

“Fabian Hambuchen was up when I was grabbing Annabeth’s stuff, so maybe 5 or 7 minutes, Epke should be up now.”

That was the gymnast ahead of Percy for this rotation. It was times like this Chiron wished he could clone himself or at least had someone he trusted enough to help.

“Go with him, I’ll be fine here,” Annabeth assured them.

Chiron was immediate with his response, “No. There’s no way I’m leaving you alone in the medical bay.” Too many horrible occurrences had come to light in the past few years, investigations and firings were happening still, and Chiron refused to let any of those atrocities happen to his kids. That evil doctor may be behind bars for the rest of his days and then some, but they were still finding people complicit in his acts and Chiron was not about to take any chances.

Instead, he quickly grabbed a bag and some ice, “Come on, what’s an x-ray gonna do at this point, we already know you can’t finish like this.” He grabbed a roll of bandages and ushered the two of them away, without waiting for someone with any type of medical training. 

Over by the high bar, Epke was just finishing up his routine. Chiron dropped all their stuff off in an empty spot, gave Annabeth the bag of ice, and walked with Percy up to the platform. He lost a lot of chalk so he immediately went to the bucket to reapply. He listened intently as Chiron talked.

“This is tough, I know. You have got to put her out of your mind. Don’t dwell, this is your event. You deserve this, don’t let Annabeth down by messing up on her account.”

Percy took a deep breath and nodded, “You’re Right, I got this.”

“Duh,” Chiron bumped his shoulder into Percy’s, “Just like practice.”

Percy stepped up to the bars, awaiting the signal from the judges. He cast one last look back at Annabeth, who shouted and cheered him on. Giving Percy the confidence he needed to be his best self up there. 

“You got this Percy!” Annabeth called, at the same time Chiron started noticing the cameras not focusing on Percy as he swung and let go for his first two release moves. Both were caught perfectly, the audience getting excited. 

Chiron quickly stepped off the competition floor to shoo away the cameramen wanting to get a shot of an injured Annabeth to use as headlines and something to talk about when the broadcast finally goes to air.

He made sure they were far away just in time to see Percy catch “The Jackson” smoothly and cleanly. The crowd went wild and Chiron could see Percy getting an energy boost from them. This was what Percy lived for.

He pirouetted and spun one more time for his last set of release moves, and finally wound up for the dismount. With two giant swings, Percy had generated enough momentum to fly high, twisting and flipping twice, laid out.

They’d have to work on upgrading that dismount once they got home. Chiron had just realized that “The Jackson” was pretty much the same skill as his dismount, only one he recaught the bar, the other he landed on the ground. Chiron made a mental note to add that to their mile-long to-do list. 

His feet hit the ground with a small cloud of chalk flying into the air. Percy bent his knees and spun his arms around his body once to balance himself out and then straightened up, sticking the landing. 

He saluted, then threw his arms in the air in celebration. Percy deserved to, that would probably be one of the most difficult routines Percy would ever have to do, performing almost immediately after Annabeth’s injury. Percy ran off the floor, high-fiving a couple of other gymnasts as he went. He hugged Chiron quickly before setting his sights on Annabeth.

She ran up to meet him, practically jumping in his arms, he noticed how careful she was to take care of her wrist. He wondered if it was bothering her more than she had originally let on.

Percy was so worried about Annabeth that he didn’t even notice when his name jumped to first on the leaderboard.

However, this wouldn’t be like the floor final, where they had a strong feeling that Percy would keep first. There were several Olympic High Bar medalists in this rotation.  INcluding the last two Olympic high bar Gold medal champs, in Kohei Uchimura and Epke Zonderland, and others who had placed 2nd and 3rd. They couldn’t assume anything at this point, but looking at his two athletes, he could tell the two of them were not super concerned with Percy’s placement on the podium at this point. 

They went back to the medical bay, having a bit more time to hopefully get someone with medical training to take a quick look at Annabeth’s wrist. Even though they’d probably have to go to an Italian hospital before they left just to be sure everything is alright. 

Chiron and Sally had planned to spend a few more days in Rome to celebrate. Especially since the first day they spent doing touristy things, they couldn’t really enjoy entirely because Chiron spent the whole time trying to force the jet lag away, but now they’ll have to reevaluate once they knew the true extent of Annabeth’s wrist. If she needed surgery, they’d have to get that taken care of as soon as possible so they could start the recovery process and get Annabeth out practicing as soon as possible. 

“Once we’re done here, we’ll have to pull you out of the floor final,” Chiron explained.

“About that,” she began,

All of Chiron’s panic and worry he had been holding back threatened to come crashing down. 

These kids are trying to kill me , he was able to think before she finished, because Chiron knew exactly what she’d say next. And he knew it was a dangerous and crazy idea.

“What if we reconfigured my routine so I didn’t have to use my hands.”

Chiron groaned as Percy looked on excitedly, waiting for an answer. Chiron knew he wasn’t going to give one that either of them liked. 

“I don’t think that would be wise. First, we don’t have enough time. If the floor finals were tomorrow, then it would be doable, but 30 minutes would be pushing it. Think of how often you use your hands, we’d have to change at least half of your routine. Second, you won’t have enough time to practice it even if we did completely change the choreography. Third, I’d rather not risk another injury, we have to think about the Olympics right now and how to set you on the right path for the Summer.”

There was a tense moment, where no one spoke. Chiron hoped he'd have their understanding and support, and even if he didn't, this would be one of the few times where Chiron would pull rank if he had to. Surprisingly, Percy was the first one to speak, “I think Chiron’s right, as much as I’d love to help prepare a new routine, see you perform, and win a medal, focusing on the long term may be the most important thing from here.” 

Annabeth’s eyes were shining, whether it was from ending the World Championships with an injury or from the fact that Percy had just said one of the sweetest and possibly most intelligent sentences in his life, Chiron couldn't tell. Though he did have a feeling that it was both.

It took Annabeth a few more seconds to see reason, clearly thinking over every point Chiron had just made and trying to find a way around it. “Fine,” she relented, “but we’re still going to the after-party tonight.”

Percy smiled sadly. “I wouldn’t dream of skipping it.”

Chapter Text

“Listen, you look fantastic, and as long as you sorta keep your arm behind your back or someone else in pictures, you won’t even be able to tell you have that cast on,” Piper had taken it upon herself to become Annabeths hype woman for the evening in an attempt to improve her spirits. 

Earlier, after the official end of the meet and last event final of the day, when she was finished celebrating Percy’s gold medal on the high bar, Annabeth made her way back to her hotel room. Once she was sure no one was around, she permitted herself 15 minutes to cry alone. The medical staff had confirmed her worst fear, a fractured wrist. She’d be out for 6 weeks at least. 

They had given her a preliminary cast which would be changed once she got back to the states. Chiron had probably made an appointment with their team doctor already. 

Because of her, they’d have to cut their trip short. She was excited to get out of Rome and see some of the nearby areas. She had even made a brief itinerary to follow, taking them to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Florence, Naples, Venice, and even Sicily. It was completely doable in the extra days Annabeth had figured they’d be staying. It was always a tradition whenever they had meets abroad, or anywhere remotely interesting. Annabeth and Percy were always grateful, they worked so hard and tirelessly, afterward a break in their routine was important. Some athletes and coaches didn’t believe in vacations, they thought time off would lead to a gymnast losing their skills or endurance. Luckily Chiron wasn’t that type of coach and Sally wasn't that type of a parent, and neither of them wanted Annabeth and Percy to be those types of gymnasts. 

But now, she may have ruined all of that with one stupid split-second mistake. Thankfully, she didn’t mess with Percy and his performance, Annabeth wasn’t sure how she’d deal with herself if he had got anything less than gold on the high bar and floor. Over and over again he had assured her that Annabeth didn’t need to worry about him and that instead, she should put her energy into healing. As if positive thought was going to fix her broken wrist overnight. 

And she supposed up until that fateful vault, she was having a meet that she should be proud of. Taking gold on the Team and All-Around Final as well as being the World Champion on bars was nothing short of spectacular. Annabeth couldn’t believe that when put up against all the top elite gymnasts she was better than all of them and she was proud of that, it was surreal and strange to think about. But a nagging part in the back of her brain kept bugging her about not being able to perform to the best of her ability on vault and floor. She had so many what-if moments. What if she had been better, what if she twisted faster, what if she realized her mistake immediately and didn’t try to block? Thoughts like that had been plaguing her non-stop since the previous day. Her mind hadn't even let her watch any of the other finals, it had only been replaying her mistake over and over and over.

She’d have to talk to her therapist as soon as she got home, Cynthia would have her work cut out for her this time.

***

The International Gymnastics Federation annual after World’s party was scheduled to start at 6:30, so Annabeth wasn't surprised in the slightest when there was a knock on her and Piper's door at 6:15 pm.

When she opened it, her breath was cut short. 

Whatever Annabeth was expecting on the other side of that door she didn't get. She was so used to seeing Percy in workout clothes and leotard singlets, that the sight of the Percy Jackson in a suit and tie had Annabeth picking her tongue off the floor.

Unable to think, Annabeth promptly slammed the door in his face.

Piper, looking gorgeous with only half her makeup done, poked her head out of the bathroom, incredulously. “What was that?” She sounded exasperated.

Annabeth whispered back to her, “Percy is in a suit and tie.”

“Annnd? That's the whole point of this party..”

“And he looks really really good.” Annabeth had to admit.

“Duh, what did you expect? He’s one of the hottest guys I’ve ever seen, well... except for maybe Jason Grace.” She added on as an afterthought.

Annabeth knew at that moment, her friend needed glasses. Badly. 

“What do I do?”

“Open the door! Let him escort you to the party, you're hot as hell, so is he, you two may as well go be hot together, dance, and have fun tonight. Maybe it'll go somewhere, maybe it won't. I’m not saying you have to date and get married.'' Piper returned her attention to the mirror in a huff, eager to finish her face and get downstairs. 

Annabeth thought about her friend's words, thankful to have someone around who was level-headed when it came to this kind of stuff. Dating right now would be difficult, and she definitely didn't want to think about marriage this young, but when she tried to picture Percy with some other person, dating and one day getting married, she couldn’t really envision anyone.

But yourself.

It was a sneaky part of her brain that whispered those two words, she pretended to ignore it like the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.

“Piper, he’s my best friend.” Was all she said.

With one smooth swoop of her hand, Piper expertly applied eyeliner to her other eye, she replied, “Which is exactly why this should be way easier, you two should be way past that awkward get to know you stage. You’re just thinking too much about this, take it a step at a time, and see how it goes, nothing about your friendship needs to change that drastically.”

Annabeth didn’t respond so Piper continued, “The best first step now would be to open the door and get to the party downstairs, I need 5 more minutes to put on lashes then I’ll be down too. If you need to be saved tonight, just sneeze three times in a row, and I'll come rushing to wherever you are.”

***

Taking the elevator down to the ballrooms had been a herculean effort for Annabeth. She had reopened the door and completely avoided discussing her earlier panic. 

This was Percy . Everything would be fine.

They hadn’t really spoken or looked at each other as they walked down from Annabeth’s room. It was something about the bright light of the hotel hallway. 

As soon as she stepped into the hallway, Percy looked her up and down. He seemed frozen in place, completely unable to peel his eyes away from her.

Annabeth looked great and she knew it. Years of working out had given her a figure many people would kill for. She wore a tight red dress with a plunging ‘V neckline that hugged her body and stopped at the middle of her thighs. She paired the outfit with some basic jewelry and a tall pair of heels that put her at almost the same height as Percy. 

“You look amazing,” Percy said in wonder.

She smiled and looked him over. Her stomach and heart did some sort of dance. She had seen him in nothing but shorts almost their whole lives, he practically never wore a shirt anymore, especially not at the gym or the apartment since he was just as proud of his body as Annabeth was of hers.

So why did the sight of him in a suit, fully clothed, make her react in such a way? His suit was tight across his body, perfectly tailored, the bulge of his strong and powerful muscles were barely contained under the material, his tie was cinched up high, the color matching perfectly with her dress. How they had managed that, Annabeth wasn’t sure.

She took a shaky breath and managed to reply in a hopefully normal cadence, “Thanks, you’re not looking too bad yourself.” Pressing a hand to her lower back Percy ushered her to the elevators. Despite having the entire elevator to themselves, neither of them could pull apart from the other, they remained touching in some capacity, with Annabeth pressed up against Percy’s side, and one of his strong arms holding her tight. She would have loved to have stayed like that forever, but the doors opened and the bright lights of the hotel lobby sent a shock to their system. 

The music was so loud that Annabeth if she did want to be saved, doubted Piper would be able to hear a fire alarm, let alone Annabeth fake a sneeze three times.  

Hundreds of people were packed into the ballrooms of the Hilton Convention Center. Not only were the artistic gymnasts in attendance but so were the rhythmic and trampoline gymnasts. It was a strange blending of athletes, young and vibrant, excited to have a good time, and the higher-ups of the FIG, the old men, and women who made all the decisions pertaining to their sport and the athlete’s lives.

It was these people who got rid of the one-touch rule, who forced women to wear small leotards in freezing arenas, and who messed with the code of points, far too often removing artistry or originality and putting more emphasis on the same skills and tricks. She tried not to be spiteful or bitter towards them, but she couldn’t have been sure of her actions, so Annabeth and Percy had decided to give them all a wide berth.

They joined the dance floor and moved to the beat of a Hip Hop song in Italian. They got lost in the sea of people, and a chorus of voices and different languages. Once or twice they saw a few Americans, Piper dancing with a semi uncomfortable looking Jason. Though he did seem to be loosening up by the second. Thalia spoke in the ear of a rhythmic gymnast from Romania, Hazel and Frank swaying together, Hazel standing on Frank’s feet, moving him slowly, trying to show him the ropes and how to stay in rhythm with the beat. Leo Valdez was off in a small alcove sitting near Calypso, a trampolinist from Greece, Leo seemed to be talking her ear off, but she didn't seem bothered.

After a few more songs, the music cut out abruptly and a woman in a suit was giving a brief speech. She spoke on behalf of the entire FIG about how proud they all were of the athletes and how amazing each and every one of them was. Next to her she watched as Percy’s eyes rolled back in his head and he faked throwing up, she laughed, grabbed his hand, and dragged him off towards the tables that were piled high with food and drinks. Annabeth knew the whole thing was just a charade, if FIG really cared about the athletes they’d make better decisions regarding athlete safety instead of making pointless speeches.

They stuffed their faces, completely ignoring the words being spoken, and noticed they were not the only ones fleeing the dance floor and turning towards the food and drink.

Piper and Jason approached them, both out of breath.

“How’d you manage to convince your dad to let you come? I figured you and Thalia would both be out practicing before you left.” Annabeth said.

Jason didn’t deny that the accusation was true, instead replied, “Yeah, but there were some FIG big wigs that he’d rather us meet and impress.”

Annabeth didn’t have time to be annoyed on behalf of the Graces, because the music was changing and the start of one of the best party songs of all time began.

Piper and Annabeth shrieked and Percy laughed as 'Get Low' by Lil Jon started.

An enormous cheer went up from the crowd as others began to flock back to the dance floor, excitedly jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd. Annabeth was pulling Percy towards the others when she realized Jason had a bewildered look on his face. The others must have noticed at the same time.

“Jason! Please tell me you’ve awkwardly danced to this song at a middle school party,” Percy begged.

“I absolutely have not,” he replied exasperated. As if they all should have known the answer to Percy's question.

A smile blossomed across Piper’s face, “let's go grasshopper, I have a lot to teach you.” She ushered him off and disappeared into the crowd.

Now it was Percy dragging Annabeth into the melee, as they got lost in the sea of people. For some reason, Percy seemed off, more nervous than Annabeth was used to seeing him.

“Loosen up!” She instructed, shouting to be heard over the noise of the party. She placed her hands on Percy's hips and attempted to move him better, instead he tensed up even more.

Annabeth took his hands in hers, gave them a little shake, and placed them around her, “follow me,” she smiled.

He managed to slip out of whatever stupor he was in and resorted back to his normal self, they danced close together, losing themselves in the song, but still aware enough to notice others around them. As the music continued, Annabeth watched Hazel bob by on Frank's back, Thalia grinding on that same Romanian girl, Aliya Mustafina was on the shoulders of another Russian gymnast in the middle of the mob of athletes, Jason danced with Piper and at one point completely bent over and touched his toes just as the song instructed. Annabeth couldn’t hear, but she saw her friend throw her head back and laugh.

They kept up that same energy as the song changed to a series of other crowd-pleasers, in a multitude of languages. It was loud and messy and some of the most fun Annabeth has had in a long time. For the first time in a while, she felt normal and free. It was a nice reminder that Annabeth and Percy could still feel like regular teenagers, that no matter how well known they may become in the gymnastics world, how easy it would be to just disappear for a time amongst their competitors and friends. As stressful and anxiety-inducing as these past few weeks were, she was happy to be able to blow off some steam and disappear into a crowd of people.

She danced to the point of almost exhaustion, feeling close to how she felt at the end of a floor routine. At some point, girls started removing their shoes and discarding them haphazardly on the edges of the dance floor. 

A few people came by to try and step in between them, like Rachel Dare or Carlos Yulo, but each time they sent them packing, not able or willing to split from the other. 

During the Cha-Cha slide, the night felt like it was starting to wind down, some of the older athletes had left entirely, others were mingling by the food tables, but there was still a small crowd enjoying the music. Percy took Annabeth by the hand and led her outside towards the portico and gardens. As the door shut behind them all music was cut off, throwing the two of them into a harsh and sudden silence.

They sat on a stone bench in the beautiful gardens lit up with flowing water fountains, picturesque statues, and hanging lights. Outside was completely deserted, it was only the two of them in the chill night air. Without thinking, Annabeth huddled up closer to Percy, throwing her legs over his to try and steal some of his warmth. She hadn’t noticed just how chilly Rome could get in October. She rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, feeling the rise and fall of his body as he breathed. 

The world could have ended right that second, the sky could fall or a nearby volcano could erupt and Annabeth would die happy. They didn’t talk, probably for the first time ever, neither of them had anything to say to the other. Or they just didn't know how to put it into coherent sentences. 

Too preoccupied with the body next to her, Annabeth didn’t notice she was shivering until something warm was placed around her shoulders. Percy had removed his suit jacket and given it to her, leaving him in his dress shirt and tie. She could practically see the whipcord muscle under the material, lean and long and lithe. She watched the smooth line of his nose in profile, their knuckles brushed together, another small touch of warmth in the cool night air.

She closed her eyes, taking in the sheer perfection of this moment. She felt Percy rustle next to her, and then his strong calloused hands as they found their way to her face and he gently brushed his lips with hers.

Annabeth froze as she registered the press of their lips. The world faded into static and white noise. Her brain whirled, trying to add up what any of this meant. But all she could think about was how soft and strong Percy’s lips were at the same time. No rational thought was able to make its way into her brain, so she leaned into the kiss, opening Percy’s mouth wider with hers. Annabeth’s good hand found its way into Percy’s hair, her fingers winding through his curls. He made a small sound, the only thing that broke their silence.

All too soon, she felt Percy’s lips pulled apart from hers, she felt the crisp night air hit her face, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself alone and breathless, nothing but the stone statues and the running water left to keep her company.

Chapter Text

What was he doing?

After one of the best nights of his life, he finally had mustered up the courage to kiss Annabeth and he just ran away. Technically speaking, it was his first real kiss, and to be honest he wasn't exactly sure what to do afterward. He couldn’t bear the thought of breaking apart from her and Annabeth turning him down. Telling him she only thought of him as a friend and that's the only type of relationship they should have.

So instead of facing that prospect, he ran and was still running down the street until he found himself at a small bistro. He sat down in one of the outside chairs, far away from paying customers. He just needed to catch his breath, collect his thoughts and work out a game plan, which may take a while, since it was always Annabeth's job to devise their plans moving forward.

And now he may have ruined that forever. 

Maybe they could just pretend this whole thing never happened, these past few weeks had been so eventful that he doubted it would be difficult. 

“Percy Jackson!” His name echoed down the street. 

He whipped his head around, looking for the source of the voice, fear coursing through his body.

Annabeth stood in the street, in that goddamn dress. She was so beautiful he couldn't think straight, he had barely spoken all night, he had been awkward as hell since any words he tried to form were a declaration of love. Words he had felt for a long time but knew it was best to keep locked away, but she looked so beautiful that all that was threatening to spill out. 

“What’s up?” he asked nonchalantly.

Annabeth's eyes threatened to bulge from her head. For a few beats, her mouth opened and closed unsure of what to say, Percy wasn't sure he had ever rendered her speechless before. But that only lasted a fraction of a second before she stomped over to him, hands on her hips, eyes aflame with anger.

“That’s what you have to say to me after, after...that!” Her voice was getting louder, she had a finger pointed in the center of his chest and she punctuated each word with a sharp poke to his sternum.

Percy opened his mouth to try and form a reply, but Annabeth was continuing, “You can’t just kiss someone like that and then run away.” There weren't many patrons sitting outside the bistro, but the ones there, were starting to stare, he hoped they didn’t speak English well.

“I wasn’t sure what I should do after,” he admitted.

“Literally anything but running away, Seaweed Brain. You could have held my hand, hugged me, talked to me, anything other than that.”

“So you aren't mad at me for kissing you?” His voice came out as a whisper. Percy watched her anger deflate.

“What do you think?” She kissed him and Percy’s world spun. His hands landed on either side of her jaw, stroking her soft and delicate skin. Percy couldn't tell how long they stayed like that, it could have been seconds or years, all he knew was that he never wanted to stop.

***

After breaking apart, they decided to actually sit and eat, Percy had a feeling he knew what Annabeth would want to talk about first.

“We need to figure out what this is, and what we're going to do about it…” she said. 

Percy took a deep breath, “fine, we probably should, but I think we should enjoy our dinner first, it's a beautiful night, so we should embrace it.”

Annabeth’s eyes softened and she finally relented. “Fine, but I'm not leaving this bistro until we do, you can’t escape me, Percy.”

“Now why would I want that Wise Girl?” 

Eventually, their waiter came over, took their order, and left. Being a bit later than the normal time for an Italian dinner, the food came quickly, and they ate happily avoiding the massive elephant sitting at the table with them.

Percy was the first to speak, “I don't want to lose you as my best friend.”

“I don't want that either,” she agreed. 

They were quiet again, letting the importance of those two statements sit before them. The silence seemed to stretch maybe a bit too far, and there was a real possibility of everything that had happened earlier passing without either of them addressing it again. But Annabeth seemed to be in her ‘get shit done’ mood, or had an extra boost of bravery and said, “But I don’t think I can go back to just being friends.”

Percy smiled, “ I don’t want that either.”

“You know, I love Rachel, but when she asked you to dance, I almost lost it.”

He laughed, happy to hear that her jealousy was just as rampant as his had been. Not only when Carlos Yulo, the second place floor winner from the Philippines, had asked her to dance, but anytime anyone got to see just how beautiful and amazing Annabeth was. That red dress of hers had turned heads all night long, and Percy would be lying if he said all the wandering glances hadn’t bothered him. Which he had explained to her as well. 

Annabeth laughed again, “No wonder Leo seemed terrified to look at me.”

“That one I don’t think is my doing, he might just be actually scared of you.”

They enjoyed the rest of their meal, sharing a well-deserved dessert and trying to make their evening last as long as possible. The restaurant began to close around them, so Percy paid for their dinner and they set off back to the hotel, hand in hand. 

“How about we finish out the rest of this trip like normal, and when we get back home we can re-evaluate where we want to go from here.

“Sounds perfect,” he agreed. They fell together again, in front of the hotel, neither able to break apart from the other as the sounds and sights of Rome swirled around them like a dream.

***

Percy couldn’t stop thinking about those kisses for the entire rest of the trip. Not when they went to Venice or Pisa, not Pompeii, not on top of Mt. Etna in Sicily, and not even staring up at the Sistine Chapel or anywhere else Annabeth had planned out for their week and a half long stay.  The four of them had a great time, absolutely, but some part of his brain kept replaying those kisses over and over in an endless loop. 

Unfortunately, their trip came to an end all too soon, and they were boarding a plane and heading back to New York. As they were waiting to take off, Percy was forcing everyone to turn their phones off (airplane mode was not enough to satisfy his anxiety that something wouldn’t go wrong mid-flight) when he noticed that Chiron had gotten a call from a random number, his coach was quick to decline, probably knowing Percy’s paranoia of airplanes, but had texted the caller instead. A strange development that Annabeth had also noticed since Chiron hated texting. The old man would rather get a root canal than take part in a long-drawn-out conversation over text. To make matters more interesting, when Percy tried to take a peek at the conversation being had, Chiron turned himself in such a way as to block Percy's eyes from his phone.

Strange for sure, but the small incident was put to the very back of Percy’s head as soon as the plane began moving. He gripped the armrests tightly as they began the takeoff process. Annabeth looped her arm through his, for which he was immensely grateful. He squeezed his eyes tight and only opened them once the plane evened out and the seatbelt sign was turned off. 

Annabeth went to remove her belt and Percy immediately stopped her hand, “Don’t even think about it.”

She sighed, “Percy, nothing terrible will happen to us because we took off our seat belts.”

They fought back and forth for a few minutes until one pointed look from Chiron who was trying to sleep cut them short.“You two have the same argument every time we fly, it's like I’m constantly traveling with a tiny married couple.”

Sally couldn't help but laugh and hopefully, the two adults didn’t notice the color flushing the tops of Percy's ears or the apples of Annabeth's cheeks.  

The two of them had decided to discuss the whole dating thing when they got home, but what did ‘home’ mean exactly? As soon as they got to New York? When they got settled in and had fully processed the past month? Or did being in the air heading towards home count?

Percy didn’t know, and he was nervous to ask Annabeth. He didn’t want to overwhelm her and prove that he was undateable.

They played a couple of card games while they had the daylight, which was quickly fleeting.

“Annabeth, you're missing school tomorrow morning, Dr. Conner was able to squeeze you in,” Chiron explained. They had decided to keep up with their short vacation in Italy, seeing as Annabeth's break wasn’t too bad, and that her current cast would suffice until they got back to New York. He knew as soon as they got back Chiron would try and schedule an appointment with their team doctor just to be safe, though the morning after their flight was a new record for sure.

“Think I’ll be able to get this cast off and replace it with a smaller brace?”

On the other side of the aisle, Chiron shrugged, “I think that all depends on the x-rays they take tomorrow, maybe depending on how much it’s healed while we were in Italy, which if we're lucky would be a good bit.”

Annabeth seemed satisfied with that answer, she leaned her head back to relax until Sally hesitantly asked, “Have you heard anything from your dad?” While her father was a touchy subject, Sally knew to avoid talking about Athena at all costs.

Percy was dreading the answer, he knew the likelihood of Frederick Chase actually watching or paying attention to a meet was slim, even one as large and important as Worlds. Percy assumed it reminded him too much of Athena, and truly, Percy couldn’t blame him. If the roles were reversed Percy would also want to forget all about having once been married to Athena Parthenos, but still, he couldn't imagine alienating and ignoring his only daughter to escape that trauma. Annabeth was amazing and the exact opposite of Athena in so many ways, how could her father not see that?

“I did facetime with him and my brothers the other night, they congratulated me, said they were sorry about my arm, and that was about it.”

Sally nodded, clearly sad to hear that was all Annabeth received from her family. Though Percy was in fact impressed, that was the most interaction she had had with her dad after a meet since they were 14 at the Junior Olympics. 

He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back, her head lulling to the side and coming to a rest on Percy’s shoulder. 

Percy wanted to do the same until one thought came screaming back.

“Mom!” Percy practically shouted, shocking Sally forward in her seat.

“What?” She asked exasperated.

“Remember that time you told us we’d go to Universal if we became World Champs?”

Sally groaned, leaning back in her seat.

***

They landed at JFK around 5 in the afternoon. As a group, the four of them had descended the escalators heading towards baggage claim on countless occasions. And never before had he seen such a huge crowd of people before. Based on the sheer amount of people holding signs, it had to be a celebrity, maybe a boy band member or two had just been by or would be soon. 

He was just about to ask Annabeth who she thought it would be until Percy started to notice some of their friends and staff from both Goode Academy and Olympia, and that it was his and Annabeth’s names written on those Welcome Home and Congratulations signs.

Once the crowd realized it was them moving towards them, a huge cheer went up with thunderous applause, and once the sound spread, even people not included in the crowd joined in or stopped by to see what all the commotion was. 

Percy watched as Annabeth's eyes widened in amazement. Then she took off running, towards what, he had no clue until he saw the two short identical boys running at her. Annabeth dropped to her knees and engulfed them in an enormous hug, placing a kiss on each of their heads. He saw Frederick himself, step out of the crowd and head towards his children. 

The applause continued, to Percy’s wonder. He knew they had fans, as vapid as that sounded, he just didn't realize how much support they had from the people closest to them. Especially, from the students and teachers at school, he would've figured that no one there cared this much about their extracurriculars.

As Annabeth separated from her brothers and dad, the crowd, who was still loud, got even louder, a chant of both their names erupted and echoed down the corridors. 

Percy stopped to stare, still in shock. His brain attempted to register and comprehend the group of almost a hundred people. Leading the pack were Grover, Mr. Blofis, and a young girl in a leotard that had to be his niece, along with Luke and a few other friends from Olympia. Together they held a long banner with Percy’s enlarged face on one side and Annabeth’s on the other. In the middle, it read, “We’re so proud of our hometown World Champions!”

This was the closest, the entire trip Percy had come to crying, and when he looked at Annabeth, he could see her eyes shining. Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed.

Hand in hand, they headed off to greet the crowd and celebrate with their family, friends, and fans.

They didn’t get home until almost 9 o'clock that night. They spent a few hours greeting everyone and signing autographs and having a good time with people they hadn’t seen in weeks. 

The only downside of the night was when Sally had the audacity to kiss Paul out in the open in front of everyone. Luckily for him, Percy seemed to be the only one bothered by it, so he let the issue drop. After all, everyone was there to celebrate him and Annabeth, not figure out who his mom was dating.

Chiron had already ordered pizza from their normal spot, so the four of them with Grover, Blofis, and his niece, (Percy really should learn her name sometime soon, but at this point, he was way too afraid to ask) all reconvened back at the apartment. 

There they were finally able to relax. Percy loved traveling, but there was nothing like being at home in New York City.

They all talked for a few more hours, with Lea, (thank the gods for Chiron making an effort to know all the athletes at Olympia), giving them a running commentary on the competition. Paul hadn’t been kidding all those months ago, the kid was a big fan. 

She talked excitedly, “Annabeth, the height on your vault was crazy, you go even higher than most of the guys! And your bar routines were amazing! You fly over the bars like it's nothing, I was screaming so loud when you won event gold that my mom thought I was being murdered!”

Paul smiled, “It’s true.”

“And Percy,” Lea continued, “you fly so high on high bar, I bet one day you can even do a quad back dismount!”

Before Percy could even look his way, Chiron firmly and completely unenthused said, “No.” 

“At least a triple back,” Percy was very close to begging. 

Chiron smiled, “We’ll talk about it when you get back to the gym tomorrow.”

Sally’s hand went to her chest just at hearing the conversation. Paul pulled Sally in close, she burrowed into him as they all continued to listen to Lea excitedly chatter away.

***

As Percy woke up the next morning, he knew immediately something was wrong. 

There was a sharp stabbing pain in the right of his stomach. This was unlike anything Percy had ever felt, he had broken bones, pulled, and twisted muscles, but this was something entirely different. No matter what he did, nothing made the pain go away. 

There must have been a seriousness in his face that wasn’t normally there because Sally agreed immediately to let him stay home from school. 

He managed to fall back asleep for a short while until the pain doubled in intensity. Thankfully, Annabeth was already at school, Sally had driven her, and was then going to drop off the final draft of her book at her publisher. He didn't like the thought of either of them worrying about him, surely this would all pass. It had to be from all the competing, traveling, stress, and jet lag of the past few weeks. No one could endure everything Percy had and come out on the other side without a few side effects, right?

With the idea of a nice warm shower planted in his mind, Percy tried to stand up. Then promptly fell to the ground. He couldn’t even put pressure on his own two feet without red hot agony spiking up and down his body. So he laid on the floor, in the fetal position, which was the only way he was able to find to make the pain a bit more manageable. 

He crawled to the nightstand where his phone sat on the charger, he managed to unplug it and send off a quick text message to both his mom and Annabeth.

Everything hurts, especially my stomach :(

He didn't want to alarm them too terribly, but he definitely wanted someone to come home and take care of him. 

Percy managed to half crawl and limp his way to the bathroom. The warm shower did nothing to alleviate anything and neither his mom nor Annabeth had responded to his earlier message.

So he dried off and dressed quickly, took some gymnastics-approved Tylenol, and sent a new message to Chiron.

'My lower abdomen really hurts, I can barely walk. Please help.'

Percy watched as Chiron left him on read. He didn't send back a reply, but 25 minutes later, his coach was walking through the door with two shopping bags in hand.

“You’re lucky I was in the area…” Chiron’s voice broke off as he found Percy curled up in bed, clutching his side.

Chiron’s voice trailed off, he cleared his throat and started again, “You know when you told me your stomach hurts, this isn’t what I had in mind.” He tried his best to keep the anxiety and worry out of his voice, but Percy was able to detect its presence. 

“In my defense,” Percy groaned, “I did say lower abdomen.”

Chiron checked his phone to realize that Percy was right, “I thought you were just being weird, I didn’t even think twice about your overly specific wording. I guess the ginger ale and Pepto I bought isn’t going to help.”

“I'm no expert, but I don’t think those will cure a terrible stabbing pain.” 

Chiron began examining Percy methodically, “Can you lay straight?” 

Percy spoke as earnestly as he could manage, “Chiron this is the only position I can be in where I don’t feel like breaking down and crying.”

That was all his coach needed to hear before he was picking Percy up like a literal infant and carrying him out of the apartment. He deposited Percy in the backseat of his car and began dialing Sally as they drove towards the nearest hospital. Luckily this time she picked up on the first ring.

“Meet us at the hospital,” Chiron told her in a way that was sure to terrify his mother. 

Whatever Sally said back, Percy couldn’t hear, but he was able to make out Chiron’s reply, “I think it’s his appendix.”

Those were the last words Percy remembered as the world went black.

***

He woke up to excruciating pain, as Chiron deposited him onto a bed in the emergency department. A nurse poked Percy with an IV needle in the wrist.

“You should feel a bit of relief in the next few minutes.”

Next to him, Chiron had his phone pinched between his shoulder and ear as he talked to who Percy could only assume was Sally. “Thanks, see you soon, don't worry about the meantime. Drive Safe.” Chiron hung up the phone and turned his attention to a clipboard with paperwork.

“When is she going to be here? Can we try calling Annabeth too?”

Sally will be an hour at least, she just finished up a meeting but traffic at this time is going to be a nightmare. I left a voicemail for Annabeth too. I went with her to that doctor's appointment and then she met up with her dad and brothers after.”

The pain was beginning to ebb, “I can't believe I forgot about her appointment, how’d it go?”

Chiron was filling out information on the clipboard, he answered absentmindedly. “It was good, better than I thought, those Italian doctors did a pretty good job, she’ll keep this cast for another week or two at the most, then hopefully will be able to move to a smaller brace and start working it out.”

Percy’s reply was cut off when a doctor came in and introduced himself. He touched Percy's stomach in a spot that made him yelp. “That’s definitely the appendix, though I am going to have some blood drawn and order an ultrasound just to make sure.”

The doctor was halfway out the door when Percy’s brain finally caught up to him. “Wait! Does that mean I need surgery?”

The doctor nodded, and Percy continued worriedly, a terrible realization sinking in, “I'm an elite gymnast, what does this mean for my training and workouts?” Next to Percy, Chiron sat up straighter, wondering the answer to this question himself.

He stepped back into the small room, the doctor looked at Percy’s chart again. “Oh, that's why you looked familiar Mr. Jackson, I'm sure this isn't how you wanted to spend your time after Worlds. It should be at least a month give or take before you can begin heavy lifting again.”

***

The pain meds really kicked in and Percy knocked out, sleeping through both his blood being drawn and the ultrasound.

What finally woke him up was Sally bursting through the door like a member of the FBI. She wrapped Percy up in a tight hug before he had time to blink.

“I’m so sorry I wasn't here sooner, I didn't think this was so serious or I wouldn't have gone in to work at all. I rushed over here as soon Chiron called.”

“I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to worry you, I thought I was going to be able to sleep this off,” Percy explained. 

The doctor from earlier and another woman entered the room. They introduced themselves to Sally, the woman apparently would be the surgeon who would operate on Percy eventually.

“After examining the scans, your appendix seems to be closer to rupturing than we previously believed. Were you experiencing any pain before today?”

Percy looked at Chiron, they both thought back. “Well, I mean just general pain that I chalked up to competing in elite gymnastics for the past two weeks. It was just sorta all over the place until this morning when it felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the stomach and nowhere else.”

They both nodded in understanding, but it was the surgeon who spoke, “Well it definitely sounds like all that gymnastics really hid the early signs of appendicitis and now you're at the late stage of the game, my friend. We need to operate immediately before the appendix bursts, it's a quick and relatively simple surgery, we’ll go in laparoscopically, which is safer and quicker than open surgery. Now, It still has its risks, as all procedures do, but none as bad as if we let your appendix actually rupture.”

“Do you all have any questions for us?” The doctor asked.

They all shook their heads, the three of them pretty shocked with how quickly this was all moving and the sheer amount of information that was being thrown at them.

“Good, now, I have one very important question for you that will determine how soon we can operate. When was the last time you ate or drank anything?

Percy thought back, he woke up to excruciating pain, he was barely able to get out of bed and shower let alone make food for himself. He shrugged, “Sometime yesterday,” 

They both smiled, “That's what we like to hear,” the surgeon said, “You’re pretty lucky, we have an operating room available now, so we're gonna get you prepped and ready to go.” They walked out and were immediately replaced with a nurse.

Sally followed the doctors out, probably with questions she didn't want to ask in front of Percy. This was happening so fast, Percy didn’t have the ability to process. It all felt like a TV show or movie like this was happening to someone else. His breathing picked up, which set off a few bells and whistles on a couple of monitors above his bed.

The nurse did something to stop it, and she went back to attaching things to his body and changing him out of his street clothes and into a flimsy hospital robe.

Chion grabbed him by the shoulder, “Look, we're going to deal with this, the same way we do in practice and you're learning a new skill. Step by step and trusting the people around you.” 

The nurse agreed with his coach, “right now is the easy part, you get to lay back, wait, and have all of us here take care of you. Then you’ll be on the road to recovery in no time.”

She had Chiron step out of the room, while he changed completely and prepared to have the incision site shaved. Admittedly, he didn’t think there was much that needed to be done in that department. 

Before he knew it, they were wheeling Percy’s bed out of his small room in the emergency department and towards the operating room. Sally and Chiron walked with them, his mother holding his hand the entire time. A thought occurred to him causing him to sit up straight.

“Someone needs to tell Annabeth. Mom, please call her. Can you try and get her here by the time I get out?”

Sally squeezed his hand, “I'll take care of it, I promise, just relax please.”

One of the guys helping transport him placed a soft but firm hand on his shoulder and forced him to lie back down. 

They seemed to have a great distance to travel, but at one point they stopped, and Sally and Chiron were shown the surgical waiting room.

“This is where you’ll have to say your goodbyes,” So they did, he received a huge hug from them both and he was wheeled away down another corridor. Alone.

They took a few twists and turns and came to stop at a large elevator.

“Wait!” It was a voice he’d recognize anywhere, “Please, that's my boyfriend.”

He turned to see Annabeth, running towards him, a determined look on her face that said she would be willing to physically overpower anyone who tried to stop her.

She kissed him on the cheek, “I'm so sorry I didn't answer my phone, my dad took us to the natural history museum and I put it into my bag. You’re gonna do great, everything is gonna be fine, and then we’ll rehab together, okay, and we'll be back and better in time for the Olympics, okay?

Percy was unable to respond, it registered that Annabeth was here and had just said something incredibly loving and comforting but there was one very important word bouncing around in his head, “Boyfriend huh?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and smiled. The elevator dinged and opened its doors, the transport team was doing a great job pretending to ignore their conversation. She kissed him again, this time a quick peck on the lips, ”Duh, Seaweed Brain. I’ll be waiting for you when you wake up.” 

His bed was wheeled into the oversized elevator, he watched as the doors shut on Annabeth's figure. Despite everything that was happening, there was nothing that could have made him feel better about going into surgery. He smiled the whole way to the operating room, and kept it up as the anesthesiologist inserted his IV, and even as his eyelids grew heavy and the world fell away.

Chapter Text

She was never letting Percy out of her sight ever, ever again. Annabeth went to one doctor's appointment and spent a single afternoon with her dad and brothers before they left to go back to San Francisco and Percy had to go and have appendicitis. 

They were told the procedure would last 10-15 minutes, but Sally and Annabeth had definitely been waiting at least 2 hours. Chiron had stayed the first hour or so, but apparently, there was something he had to take care of at Olympia that was outside of Luke’s capability. He promised to be back later and was out the door in a hurry. 

Eventually, a nurse came out and told them that the procedure was a success, and they were just waiting for his anesthesia to wear off, which may still take some time. They were both directed towards the room that Percy would be taken to after the surgery. It was a small empty room with only a couch and a chair, they each took a seat, and 15 minutes later, a sleeping Percy was wheeled into the room.

The ghost of a smile etched across his sleeping face.

Annabeth took the time while he slept to catch up on the last of her schoolwork she didn’t have time to finish in Rome. She was halfway through the assigned novel for Blofis’ class when Percy began to stir next to her. 

He cleared his throat and his smile widened, “Annabeth, remember that time you called me your boyfriend?”

She couldn't help but tease him, “Stop trying to look so smug, you have drool all over your face.”

Behind them, Sally cleared her throat, “When did this all happen?” 

They bristled, almost completely forgetting Percy's mom was also in the room. Not that they were going to hide this thing between them, or that they were worried that Sally wouldn't approve.

Annabeth was the first to answer, “sorta today, sorta the after-party at Worlds.”

To their surprise, Sally threw her arms in the air and cheered. “That means I won the bet Chiron and I had going. He's gonna have to buy us dinner next time we all go out.”

They stared at each other dumbfounded, “You two bet on how long it would take us to date?” Percy asked.

“Of course,” his mother replied, “Paul was in on it too, but I knew he wasn't going to be close, he may be your teacher, but he doesn’t know you two as well as Chiron and I do.”

“You’re serious?” Annabeth asked incredulously.

Sally laughed, “I bet it would be after Worlds, and Chiron said after the Olympics. Maybe it was wishful thinking on his part.”

“What did Paul think?” Percy asked.

“Oh, he thought you’d both wait till college. Now you two are dense, but not that dense.”

***

Percy had to stay in the hospital for three more days before he was released. Annabeth and Sally stayed with him practically the entire time, Annabeth only taking breaks to go to school. In the meantime, she made sure to set a schedule for Percy to follow for his schoolwork from Worlds. She had only been able to convince him to finish half of it, so these extra days had really helped. 

When she had shown up to school without him, everyone thought the apocalypse was starting. Their friends and teachers were shocked to hear about their current situation, since the majority of them saw Percy a few days ago, and he was perfectly fine then.

Goode Academy was a strange place without her best friend turned boyfriend. This must have been what it was like for Percy when she was in California. She barely managed to survive 3 days let alone 3 months. 

Percy was released on Friday, and they both missed school for the day. They all listened as the doctor gave explicit instructions for Percy's next steps for gymnastics. He couldn't do any heavy lifting for the next month, and given the way he limped around currently, Annabeth had a feeling he was fine with that. After four weeks he had another appointment to reassess his situation. It was about the same timeframe Annabeth was given for her wrist. Though, she was at least allowed to start a little bit of conditioning sooner than he was

A whole month without gymnastics. Annabeth couldn't even remember the last time that happened.

The four of them were eating lunch at one of their favorite spots, when Chiron said, “I have something that I want the two of you to consider.” He looked them each in the eye, making sure he had their attention. “With the two of you not being able to train, we’re going to have some serious work to do. And this is going to be way worse than anything you experienced at camp. So I want the two of you to think about homeschooling.”

Annabeth cringed, she knew Chiron was going to suggest this, she just didn’t realize how soon he was going to do it. 

“I know this isn’t ideal,” he continued, “I just want you to think about it, this may be our best bet in getting the two of you back into shape for the Olympic Trials. ”

***

News of both their injuries hit the gymternet the next day. Annabeth was grateful that her dad and brothers had already gone back to San Francisco, she was sad to see them go but happy she didn't have to watch her father try and navigate this situation. People obviously knew about Annabeth’s injury as soon as it happened, since of course, it occurred on a literal world stage. But how everyone had found out about Percy's surgery she wasn't sure. Now, there was a whole subset of the internet absolutely losing their minds about the two of them.

“Top of the World to Rock Bottom” one headline read.

A Twitter user posted dozens of crying emojis and then, ‘I'm literally crying right now thinking about an Olympics without Annabeth and Percy.’ Thousands of people agreed with those sentiments in the comments.

By that night, the two of them were even trending on Twitter and there were even videos on Tik Tok being posted about them and whether or not they’d be ready in time for the Games.

They couldn't peel their eyes away from the people who were writing them off, as if now making the Olympics was an even more impossible task than before.

“You two have got to stop,” Sally pleaded that night over dinner when they hadn’t pulled their eyes away from their phones at all. “Looking at all those posts and articles about you, can't be good. Those people don't actually know you. This road is not going to be easy, that I know, but there isn't a better duo to take on these next challenges, so forget about all those strangers who are acting like this is the end of the world because it's not.”

It took them until the end of the weekend to see the wisdom of Sally’s words when their anxiety and worry finally came to a point and they had to turn their phones off to keep from having full-blown breakdowns.

So instead they went for a walk in the park. Running was still pushing it a little for Percy since the force of running seemed to jar and put too much pressure on his incision sites. The fresh air and movement did wonders for returning both Annabeth and Percy back to their normal selves.

They even deleted social media off their phones and made a pact not to download them again until after their first competition back. As the world champions, they already had an automatic berth to the Olympic Trials, so if it came to that, they didnt have to qualify in a competition at a smaller meet in the beginning of the new year. 

Though Annabeth knew that Chiron would love for them to have at least one competition under their belts before getting to Trials. A first meet back after an injury was always difficult and more nerve-wracking than normal. It definitely wasn’t ideal to start off Trials like that, so she knew they were all pushing to make it to Nationals in March or the American Cup in April. Though, there may be some World Cups in late May if they weren’t ready in time, which was entirely possible. For every day they spent out of the gym, it would take double that to get back into their previous shape.

But Annabeth didn't want to think about that anymore, she had something else on her mind, as they expertly navigated through Central Park.

Annabeth grabbed Percy’s hand and entwined her fingers with his.

“So, I think we should figure out the details of our relationship.”

Next to her, Percy smiled. “Because I’m your boyfriend?” he teased.

“Are you saying that I'm not your girlfriend?” She asked.

Percy’s reply was immediate, “No!”

She bumped her shoulder into his, “then that's settled, but I think we should have some ground rules.”

“I agree.”

They both knew the most important one, “We have to keep this a secret from the gymternet and the whole fandom for as long as we can. Clearly, they overreact, so I'd rather try and keep them out of this.”

Percy nodded, “For sure, I’d love not to have a repeat of this past weekend.”

It was Percy’s turn to add a rule, “I also think at the gym, we need to pretend like we aren't dating, I feel like mixing the two can be bad. We're going to need to stay focused.”

“Agreed. Anything else?”

Percy shrugged, “Not sure, maybe we can add as we go along.”

As it turned out, nothing much in their previous friendship had changed, except now she could kiss him whenever she wanted, which as it turned out, was pretty often.

Up ahead of them, a family of tourists vacated a bench, and the two of them took their place. Annabeth snuggled in close to Percy’s side, throwing her legs over his. He wrapped one muscular arm around her and held her tight. 

They sat like that for a while watching New York City pass around them. Despite Annabeths broken wrist and Percy being down an entire organ, she felt like they were the two luckiest people in the world. 

It was Annabeth who first broke the silence, “What do you think about school?”

Percy sighed. “I guess I can be honest with you now that you’ve been upgraded to my girlfriend. Part of me doesn't want to leave Goode Academy, and I won’t admit that to anyone else. It's our only normal place away from the gym, but I'd rather go to the Olympics than have a regular high school experience.”

She smiled, “I know exactly what you mean. If I had to choose between Prom and even a chance at Athens, I'm going Athens, all the way.

“So we’re gonna do it? Throw ourselves into the madness that is virtual school?”

“There isn’t anyone I’d rather do this with than you. Though I do have an idea.”

Percy raised an eyebrow in response. Annabeth continued, “I know Chiron wants us to start with the next semester, but what if we started now, instead of the second semester, and used this month of recuperation to get ahead, that way when we get back into the gym, we can do it without worrying about school for a while. I think we can probably at least get up to Spring Break done.”

There was a determined glint in his eyes, he said, “Damn, that's ambitious, but if you're doing it, then of course I am. Mom may even be back from the office, we can talk to her and have her start the whole process, we may not even need to go back on Monday.”

“Then you can stop complaining about her dating your teacher.”

Percy groaned into her neck. Then he was kissing her there, working his way up until their lips met. They stayed like that for minutes or maybe hours, Annabeth couldn’t remember as they lost track of time in each other's arms.

***

It took a couple of tries but they finally got Sally on board with their sudden change of school. They had to call Chiron four times until he answered his phone, to both her and Percy’s shock. The two of them were practically his whole life, at least the most interesting parts what could have been so important that he couldn't answer the phone? Once they did get ahold of him, he didn’t even take a second to process Annabeths words before he agreed and hung up. Annabeth and Percy could only stare at each other in awe.

“That was weird, right?” Percy asked.

“Extremely.” Annabeth agreed. 

In the kitchen, Sally laughed, “He’s allowed to have a life outside of the two of you.”

“No, he’s not.” They both said in unison. 

Sally, probably with the help of Mr. Blofis, (and probably Annabeths parents too, though she hadn't even considered talking to either of them about this) had them accepted and enrolled in the virtual school by that Sunday and completely unenrolled in Goode Academy by Monday morning. They even had invited Grover over to break the news to the poor guy. Grover took the news well, but they did make a pact for him to come over every day after school to hang out and work on homework together.

During that time, unbeknownst to Percy, Annabeth had created a schedule for the two of them to follow, so they could attempt to completely finish the rest of the second and all of the third quarter by the time they needed to be back in the gym. They'd cut it close for sure and would really have to work hard for the next month without much sleep, but they'd be able to make it.

He was going to hate her during that time, but he’d be thanking her when they had almost three months of uninterrupted rehab and training time. 

She made them start that Sunday, following her schedule to a tee, Percy begrudgingly. 

Percy lept for his phone as it alerted him to a text message, “Saved by the bell,” His smile was wide as he added, “Chiron wants us at Olympia.”

Sally offered to drive, but Annabeth declined quickly, she wasn't going to let Percy out of work this easily, so she opted for the subway, it was a longer commute, but that time would be necessary for their schoolwork.

Percy looked at her betrayed. “You've never been this strict with us before.”

“We’ve also never been injured at the same time, this close to the Olympics before.”

He conceded her that point, and took their assignments as seriously as he could for as long as he could, which was almost 30 minutes. Not a bad stretch by their ADHD-ridden standards. By the time they reached their stop, Annabeth had finished two full assignments and Percy about one and a half. 

They had never been away from Olympia for so long. As they approached the building, Annabeth felt like she was returning home, to the place she belonged, wholeheartedly. Though, the number of spaces she had like that seemed to be multiplying, now that she was staying with Percy and Sally.

“This is so weird, I can't remember the last time we went a month without being here.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened,” Annabeth agreed.

Luckily for them, it was still early in the afternoon, so none of the gym parents were there to make a scene or anything. Annabeth couldn't even imagine how they'd react after they both not only won the All-Around at Worlds but then also injured themselves shortly after. Anyone there now would probably be families for ‘mommy and me' classes, and most of them had no idea of any sort of happenings in the gymnastics world.

But when they walked through the doors into the waiting room, what they saw through the glass windows was something neither of them could have anticipated.

There was a woman, on the uneven bars (Annabeth's favorite set of Uneven Bars!), her only discerning feature was her short black hair as she effortlessly flowed through a set of drills that Annabeth knew all too well. Drills that she had been pushed through to ensure perfect handstands.

Near there was a blond guy, on the high bar, working on his own set of drills. It had to be for a release move since Chiron was perched on top of the spotters stand on the side of the high bar, a mat in hand to break any falls.

“Are...are we in the right place?” Percy was just as confused as Annabeth.

“This has to be the Twilight Zone,” she said.

 Annabeth and Percy followed their normal path through the Athletes area, took off their shoes, and stepped out into the gym. Music played quietly. Their presence went unnoticed for a moment or two.

Until the girl on the bar gracefully dropped to the floor and the guy missed a catch on the high bar and landed in the foam pit, he quickly scrambled to get out. Chiron looked at both of them. For the first time in their lives, their coach looked sheepish and worried.

Thalia and Jason Grace stood before them with identical blank expressions across their faces.

They couldn't hear Chirons words to them, but Annabeth could imagine what he was telling them because he had said it thousands of times over the past ten years.

He told Thalia to do ten more sets of her drills and gave Jason his own sequence with the same instructions. Chiron left them to their own devices and practically ran at Percy and Annabeth

“Office please.” He ordered. They followed him wordlessly, falling into their regular chairs in front of his desk. Still in shock, she looked around the small space, wishing that feeling of home and belonging would detract from her confusion. Chiron wasn’t always great with emotions, but this room was a true testament to how much he cared for the two of them. Hanging from the walls were pictures of them all since Annabeth and Percy started at Olympia a decade ago.

Much like child actors can watch themselves grow on TV, Annabeth was able to watch herself and Percy age in the pictures on the walls. They served as a timeline, starting across from Chiron’s large oak desk, high up, were pictures of them all when Annabeth and Percy were 5 or 6. He even had a picture of their preschool class on that fateful day that began their journey so long ago. They all got older and the pictures newer as they circled around the room. Some pictures were of Percy and Annabeth together in all walks of life, at meets, the apartment, and Olympia. One of her favorites was a framed photo by the door, the two of them were around 8 or 9, they sat together in one of the leather chairs across from Chiron’s desk. Their arms were thrown around each other, both their heads were thrown back and their mouths open as they roared with laughter, though whatever they were laughing about was completely lost to her now. Others were of Chiron and one of them, some they were all together, a few even had Sally in them too. Headlines about their successes from the local papers were peppered throughout as well. The latest edition to their wall of fame was hung proudly behind Chiron’s desk, from their trip to Italy, the four of them standing arm in arm with Annabeth and Percy in the middle, all their medals from World’s hanging around their necks, the beautiful Amalfi Coast in the background. Their whole lives were spent at this gym, they spent more waking hours at Olympia than anywhere else in the world. She could feel the love in this room every time she was in there. So Annabeth couldn't help but feel that Chiron not telling them or even asking for their opinion about Thalia and Jason was a huge stab in the back.

“I owe the two of you an explanation and an apology,” Chiron began. Next to her, Percy snorted, but their coach ignored him and kept going, “We’ve always had a good thing going here, I never made decisions without your input, and I’ve always had your best interest at heart. You two are family to me, so even I must admit, this was a dick move.”

Neither of them spoke, waiting for their coach to elaborate further.

“I felt sorry for the two of them, and I'm sure you both did too. When I was helping Jason at Worlds, I offered to train him here, Thalia too. I should have mentioned something to the two of you then, but we were all so busy. And honestly, I didn't think they’d ever make the jump, I thought my offer was going to fall on deaf ears and we'd never have to discuss it. But here we are. They contacted me just as we were coming back from Italy, then everything went down with you Perce and I didn’t want to add too much pressure to what you've already been dealing with. So, I hope the two of you will understand and be able to forgive me.” 

A sinister, irrational, and scared voice whispered in the back of her mind, Now that we're injured he needs a new gymnast duo.

Had they not known Chiron for the bulk of their lives and if Annabeth didn't have the experience with Jupiter Gymnastics that she did, she may have given that accusation some credibility. But the rational part of her knew that wasn't true. Jason and Thalia needed to escape California, and Olympia was the best place to go, they had seen that firsthand at camp and at Worlds. The two of them deserved to have a caring coach who wanted the best for them. Though that did pose a unique challenge for them all. It would mean Percy and Annabeth would have to work even harder to make sure they surpassed their new teammates. They’d be able to enjoy each other's camaraderie but it would be war once they began to get closer to the Olympics and its preceding trials that would help determine the team. It's hard for anyone to do make the Olympic Trials and even more impossible to actually make the Olympic Team from there, now with 4 athletes from the same gym all trying to make the same team it was going to be all but impossible, and each pair would be trying their hardest to make sure they were the ones going to Athens. A small part of Annabeth was even grateful for this wake-up call. There was nothing that could have motivated them more than seeing Jason and Thalia in their gym, trying to take their titles and Olympic spots away.

Percy looked to Annabeth, probably coming to the same conclusion that she did.

“We forgive you,” They said simultaneously.

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief but instead of saying anything else heartfelt, chose instead, “You two really do sound like the Shining Twins when you do that.”

"What is this going to mean when we come back?" Annabeth asked, completely ignoring whatever that old man was on about.

"I don't see why anything has to change," Chiron immediately shifted out of dad mode and into his coaching role. "I've worked out a pretty tight schedule, starting with some basics, and if we stick to it, we'll hopefully get you all back to where you were at Worlds, ideally even better. Everything should stay the same," he shrugged his shoulders in what had to be a feigned nonchalance, "there's just more of you now."

Chapter Text

Percy was beginning to lose his mind. The rest of October inched by as he and Annabeth continued with her insane work schedule. If Percy tallied up the total number of hours he spent on schoolwork throughout his entire life, it would still be less than what he’d done in the past ten days. Annabeth was waking them up every day at 5:30 am, much to his dismay. T hey'd start on their assignments, eat breakfast, and proceed to work non-stop until lunch, then they started working all over again until dinner. It was an insane pace, and at times he felt like a prisoner, but anytime Percy grew frustrated all he had to do was check the countdown on the fridge. Sandwiched in between family pictures, coupons, and other junk stuck to the fridge with magnets was a small whiteboard, which scrawled in Percy’s own script said:

225 days. 

That was all that stood between them and Athens. It was an exceedingly short amount of time especially since the two of them weren’t allowed back in the gym for a few more weeks. 

They were currently on pace to be done with all their schoolwork for the quarter before Annabeth’s original goal. Percy understood why they were working so hard, especially with Thalia and Jason in their gym. But for the past few days, something about Annabeth was off.

As their scheduled lunchtime approached, Percy placed a hand on Annabeth’s as she furiously typed. 

“Come on, let's go out to lunch. My treat, pick anywhere you want to go.”

Reluctantly, Annabeth agreed, even trying to bring her computer (and his!), but Percy was insistent. Getting ahead in school would be great, but not at the cost of a mental breakdown. They needed a break, even one as short as 60 minutes.  Though Percy was going to walk as slow as possible to milk as much time outside of the apartment as he could.

“Look, the more we argue about this the longer it's gonna take us to get back to work.” Percy knew it was the only argument that could entice Annabeth to take a break. 

Annabeth huffed angrily, knowing she’d been beaten. But she held his hand on the way out of the apartment so he knew she was more frustrated than mad.

That thought solidified into a concrete fact as they walked along in silence, Percy had no idea where they were heading as he let his girlfriend lead the way. He was happy to see her stop in front of one of their favorite pizza spots, they ordered to go, and sat outside on a bench, despite the chill in the air.

Annabeth wrapped herself around him, throwing her legs over his and leaning into him, a habit Percy prayed to all the gods she’d never get rid of. They were halfway done with their pizza when he finally mustered up the courage to ask,

“Alright, so what's going on with you?”

A few minutes passed by the time Annabeth finally answered, “I feel so unproductive like I’m just wasting away.”

Percy’s heart sank, they were the same thoughts that came to him late at night. Sentiments that started off as anger then turned into something awfully close to despair. That, maybe they had already peaked and now their gymnastics careers were declining.

But their therapist's voice came to him during those darkest moments, and he repeated her words to Annabeth, though she had no doubt heard them too.

“We aren’t wasting time, we're healing.” Annabeth rolled her eyes so he continued, “Plus, we’ve been injured before, and we always manage to come back even better. Who’s to say the same won't happen now.”

Annabeth replied around a bite of pizza, “But we’ve never been this close to the Olympics before, what if it's not enough time?”

Percy shrugged in a feigned nonchalance, “Then we train for wherever the 2024 Olympics are gonna be, and we work for that, this isn’t our only chance, we’re young, we have time.”

Annabeth kept eating, she wasn’t responding, but he could see in her eyes that she was thinking hard about something. 

He continued, “And wasn’t it Chiron who told us this was a learning experience for us? That we have nothing to lose? Do I want to go to Athens? Absolutely. But if it's not in the cards, I’ll be in that gym every day till…” he paused, trying and failing to think of where the next Summer Olympics were gonna be.

“Paris,” Annabeth supplied.

“See! Who doesn’t want to go to Paris?”

Annabeth smiled, “Fine, I can do this for four more years if you do.”

“Deal, there isn’t anywhere I’d rather be than with you.”

***

As November began, Annabeth was allowed to start with minimal lower body workouts. So they moved their whole operation to Olympia. With Percy still on a strict no workout regime, he was regulated to the athletes' waiting room. Normally reserved for the rec kids waiting for their class to start, the area had a couple of plastic tables for athletes to work on homework, like Percy was doing, or eat at, after warming their food up in one of the several microwaves. They even had two fridges, one with items that could be bought and the other for storage for the athletes who brought food from home. Behind him was an enormous row of cubbies, used mostly for shoe storage, which is why no matter what type of food was eaten in here, it always smelled like feet. 

Percy’s attention was drawn away from his English work, as he watched Annabeth flip down the tumble track without the use of her wrists. 

His next doctor's appointment was in two days, where they would determine what sort of strength exercises he’d be able to start, if any. 

Percy wasn’t worried about losing the majority of his skills during this time, much of that was ingrained into his body and brain just like his name. It was his stamina, strength, and his muscles he was worried about most. He had achieved a certain level of strength from working out every day of his life, but now that had stopped he had already started to notice himself losing muscle mass, he didn't want to sound too vain, but his biceps weren’t as large and his abs weren’t as defined as they were even just a few days ago.

But if his incisions healed well and everything was looking good, he’d be able to hit the weight room with Jason and start building back his mass.

Next to him, a throat cleared and a brown finger tapped Percy’s computer screen. “Bro, we can’t eat till you finish that assignment, and I think my stomach is starting to eat itself waiting for you,” Grover said.

Percy groaned, “sorry, I was just thinking about…” He was cut off by a sharp glance from his friend, his pointed look told Percy that Grover knew exactly what he was thinking about.

He quickly bullshitted a couple of answers to finish out his final few questions on his assignment about some Ancient Greek tragedy he supposedly read.

“It’s about time,” Grover said, grabbing a greasy bag he brought with him from one of their favorite taco spots. 

Percy was supposed to keep up with his diet, but he figured he could only handle one soul-crushing practice at a time, and virtual school seemed to be his poison at the moment. Though he wasn’t being completely careless, or that would make it even harder to get back in shape when he was finally given the greenlight to workout.

They were just tucking into their food when Annabeth and the Graces burst into the rec room, in a fit of giggles. 

When Percy asked what was so funny, Annabeth replied, with an evil glint in her eye, “Sorry, Percy, it's probably something only a gymnast would understand.”

They all laughed again, even Grover, the traitor, “Looks to me like none of you want your food from the taqueria, so I guess I’ll just have to eat them all.”

“Hey,” Jason protested, “I don’t see why I’m being punished.”

“You're an accomplice,” Percy accused.

Annabeth jumped for the bag, as Percy dodged out of her way laughing. They went back in forth in the same dance for a minute or two until, Thalia snatched the bag out of his hand in one smooth movement and snapped at him, “Stop messing around, Seaweed Brain. Some of us have to get back to the gym.”

Percy didn’t let it show how much Thalia using his nickname annoyed and angered him. Only Annabeth had ever called him that, from a long-ago inside joke that Percy honestly couldn't even remember the origins of. 

For some reason, it seemed impossible for Thalia and Percy to get along, their personalities just didn’t allow it. But somehow, Annabeth seemed to take a liking to the older girl, so Percy bit his tongue, ignored Thalia, and turned his attention back to his tacos. Across the table, Annabeth winked at him, silently thanking him for not escalating the situation. 

After lunch, Thalia and Jason had to work on their own schoolwork, so they stayed back in the rec room with him and Grover, while Annabeth worked on the balance beam with Chiron. 

Thankfully, Thalia seemed to chill out after her earlier outburst and they all were able to fall into a comfortable and productive silence for a couple of hours till the other two were allowed back into the gym. Percy watched in envy as they took off their warm-up gear and began stretching again.

***

Thanksgiving was approaching by the time Percy was finally able to make some headway in the gym.  He was regularly lifting almost his pre-surgery bench presses and was pleasantly surprised with how quickly he was getting some of his skills back. 

Endurance and stamina though were a completely different story. He wasn’t able yet to get through either of his best routines on high bar or floor. Percy knew Chiron thought this was an area they all could use improvement in. He had spent the past few weeks working with Thalia and Jason on necessary basics that Jupiter Gymnastics had neglected. Now Chiron had set them all up with some individual workouts while he organized what looked to be an enormous obstacle course.

He looked over to Annabeth who had noticed the same thing as he had. Though Jason on rings, and Thalia on the tumble track hadn’t even looked Chiron's way. They would certainly be in for a surprise once the course was finished. It had been a while since Percy had seen him create on this large, their coach was not messing around with their endurance, Percy just hoped he didn't throw up at the end of this one. 

Once they all finished their current sets, Chiron instructed the four of them to meet him on the floor. 

“Now would be a great time for a water and snack break. Take 20 minutes and meet back here.”

Jason and Thalia looked confused as they stopped off into the athlete's break room, but Annabeth and Percy had made a silent agreement not to let them in on the fun, they’d save that for Chiron.

It was getting later in the afternoon, so Grover was sitting in their break room, typing away on his computer. Percy was about to call out his friend's name in greeting, but when Percy opened his mouth, it wasn't his voice that came out. Instead, he heard a small and slightly high-pitched voice say, “Grover! Back again? It's so good to see you,”

Annabeth grabbed ahold of Percy’s arm in excitement. They watched as Juniper, a level 9 gymnast, a couple of steps away from elite, hugged their friend and sat down next to him. Percy and Annabeth had just figured that their friend stopped by the gym each day because he missed them and wanted to get some work done, but now Percy knew Grover’s other motive.

Chiron pulled them away from their friend's unfolding situation, ”All right, we gotta be quick before the rec classes get here soon and mess up my hard work.”

They met in the middle of the floor, “We’ll be doing some relays today, how do you all want to do teams?”

Annabeths hand shot straight up in the air, her answer was immediate, “Boys vs. Girls.”

“Perfect. Here's how we're gonna do it, each of you will complete 5 sets, one of you will start and the next can’t begin until the first one is done. The first team to finish all their sets will get a prize, as long as you don't throw up, then you are disqualified.”

“Hey!” Percy protested, “you’ve said before that if we make it in a trash can it will still count as a win.” He wasn’t sure what the prize would be, but just the opportunity to win in general had Percy excited to compete.

Percy looked to Thalia and Jason who seemed to be in a daze, it was clear that they never trained like this before. Chiron began walking them through their course starting on the floor where two square mats sat motionlessly. They were a decent weight and just high enough to jump on without a serious risk of an injury, their first sequence was an old favorite of Chiron’s. Most of his instructions were more for Jason and Thalia’s benefit than anything else.

“First you will push the block mat back and forth across the floor, once you get back to the starting point, you will jump up onto the mat and complete a standing tuck before moving on to the next station. Which will be  handstand walks across the floor, then front punches back, then tucks back.” 

Chiron smiled, then led them to the next part of the course. A wall on the side of the gym with several rows of wooden bars they used for conditioning. “Here you will do 20 sets of leg lifts and a 30-second dead-hang, afterwards you'll climb up the ropes, with legs piked.”

Percy’s excitement and dread climbed together as Chiron continued. Percy knew this would hurt and truly test himself after these past few months, but he was just happy to be doing gymnastics at this point. Even if it could kill him. Chiron ran them through a few more sets, one on bars and two on the balance beam to test their strength, so even Percy and Jason could participate despite their brief concern and terror over the balance beam. Then a full lap around the outside of the gym. 

Once finished with his explanation, Chiron crossed his arms and looked at them with a grin, waiting for them to say anything.

Of course, it was Percy and Annabeth in unison, “Are you trying to kill us?”

“Only a little,” he teased back. “You all are gonna do great, I'll give you a couple of minutes to figure out who’s going first and how you want to do it,”

Jason and Percy decided that they would complete the full course one at a time, while Thalia and Annabeth would do each activity's full set before moving on to the next. Only time would tell which team had the better approach. 

Percy’s first lap went okay, he couldn’t tell who was in the lead, his second lap gave him a painful stitch in his side, but by the third, his entire body was on fire and screaming. Jason seemed to be in the same situation which made Percy feel a little better. By the fourth lap, Percy didn't even care about winning, he was more concerned about his survival. Just finishing this course, in general,  would feel like a victory to Percy. 

Thalia had already finished her laps around the gym, and she was currently cheering Annabeth on from a hunched position at the water cooler as she tried to catch her breath. As Jason finished his last lap, Percy began his final one, he figured with enough determination and willpower he could make his final lap around the gym coincide with Annabeth’s.

He could tell she was already starting to slow down, by the time he reached the press handstands on the balance beam, Annabeth was practically at a brisk walk. Until she saw Percy exit the building through one of the giant side doors. She picked up the pace as much as her body would allow, and so did Percy. They were doing pretty good on speed at first, until Percy's body with Annabeth right next to him, started to shut down, he couldn't keep going, couldn't keep up this pace. But his brain told him he had to keep going, so he did. Annabeth grabbed his hand whether to help steady himself or just for support he wasn’t sure, but together the two of them pulled each other over the finish line, falling to the ground as soon as they finished. Only then did Percy's ears register the cheering from Thalia, Jason, and Chiron, up until then all his life force was going towards staying alive.

Annabeth crawled closer to Percy, as they both lay in the grass, he wasn't sure which of them was first to start laughing but they probably looked like lunatics to everyone else.

Chiron's voice boomed from inside the gym, “If you can laugh that means I didn't make it hard enough, we’ve got more work to do than I thought.”

“Bring it on Old Man,” Percy called back. Annabeth's renewed laughter was music to his ears.

***

With the number of people in their circle growing by the day, Percy’s apartment wasn’t large enough to host Thanksgiving, so they decided to move their festivities to Olympia. 

Sally and Paul got to the Big House early Thanksgiving morning in order to get all the tables and decorations set up. By the time Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Jason joined them to help prepare their dinner and bake dessert, plates of appetizers were set out on an elaborately decorated table. It was so peaceful and elegant that it was hard for Percy to believe that only just yesterday there were 50 screaming children in there.

Percy and Annabeth immediately took to the appetizers scarfing down deviled eggs and part of a cheeseboard Sally had made the night before that she expressly forbid anyone in the apartment from touching, while, it had taken Chiron almost a full day to convince the other two gymnasts that eating a Thanksgiving meal with dessert wasn't going to destroy everything they had worked for. It was a sad conversation to watch take place but it reinforced in Percy’s mind just how important Jason and Thalia being at Olympia was.

By 4 PM that night, Grover and his parents and some of Paul's family had arrived, as well as Juniper much to Grover's surprise. Percy watched on knowingly as Grover stuttered and hugged the other girl.

They all stood around awkwardly introducing and greeting each other. Something must have happened to Percy recently because meeting Paul's parents and his sister didn’t send him into the tizzy it would have a few months ago.

As Sally entered the gym with a large platter of turkey, everyone quickly found their seats around the table.

They spent a wonderful evening eating, talking, joking around, and enjoying everyone's company. Their conversation strayed away from gymnastics until Paul's sister asked, “I know it's been a while but how was Italy?”

Percy was the first to answer around a mouthful of food, “it's just been so nice to be back in the chill weather, Rome was crazy hot.” 

“Oh no,”  Grover deadpanned, "how awful for you.” His friend teased as the table erupted into laughter.

***

Thankfully, December led to more productive practices. Percy was suddenly thankful for all that school work Annabeth forced him to put in because now he had the ability to spend full days at the gym without having to worry about school. 

Percy and Annabeth weren’t all the way back to their normal selves, but they were getting closer. Sally even let them stay at the Big House for a couple of days with Thalia and Jason that way they didn’t have to worry about the commute and could focus solely on practicing. They spent nights sleeping on mats in the gym, they'd stay up as late as they could muster, having a sleepover practically. It almost felt like they were back at the national team camp, except better because they didn't have Athena's watchful eye on them at all times.

They were working at a pace even Thalia and Jason couldn't keep up with, Chiron would call practice, and the Graces would head to recovery leaving Percy and Annabeth in the gym still working for another hour or two. With all their extra effort, plus endurance and stamina building, they were finally able to look toward the upgrades they had wanted to work on before their injuries. Annabeth had several on beam and floor, where Percy had a few on his least favorite events like rings and parallel bars, though those upgrades needed a herculean amount of strength, something Percy was still working on. So while he prepared for that, he worked towards upgrades on his much-preferred events, floor, vault, and high bar. He was surprised to see some of that coming quicker than he would've thought. It wasn't easy, but it was manageable.

There was one downside to their most recent hard work. They were sore as hell and covered in bruises.

Everything hurt. His back. His ribs. His entire abdomen. His shoulder. His wrists. His hands. His quads.

Percy knew Annabeth was just as sore and bruised as he was. They both were icing their lower backs multiple times a day. Plus their hips, knees, shoulders, and everything in between. 

He knew it was only a matter of time until his body got used to it again. At least Percy hoped so, right now he couldn’t imagine a future where pain after a workout didn’t exist.

That was why most gymnasts quit before they were 21, hell, quit even before they were 18. Your body’s ability to recuperate took longer and longer every year you got older, and if this was how hard it was to come back at 16, Percy couldn't even imagine the pain, if he was even just a few years older, let alone in his 20s like some of the gymnasts he competed against in Rome. 

They finished every practice these days off with a 30-minute circuit in the weight room, then an awful dip into an ice bath followed by other recovery exercises. All of which was pure torture, but they endured because they were necessary evils, or so he was told.

Annabeth had opted and convinced Percy to go a bit longer in their workout when Chiron finally cornered them.

“You two are going to work yourselves to the brink of exhaustion, take tomorrow morning off, do something fun, and then get back here in the afternoon, think of it as an early Christmas present.”

Normally, Percy would jump at an offer like this, but something in him hesitated. This time it was Annabeth as the voice of reason, “He’s right, Perce, a morning off may do us good, we can go Christmas shopping.”

Percy relented, he had forgotten all about the holiday, neither he nor Annabeth had done any preparation, and Percy had figured it wasn’t the best look to not get your new girlfriend a Christmas present.

They slept in the next day, it was the first time in months he hadn’t woken up before the sun, it was great, but a part of him chastised himself anyway, don't get used to this, we can’t get lazy now.

Annabeth had obviously formed a plan for them the night before. With their itinerary in hand, they set off. Luckily, neither of them had spent what they had leftover from being gold medalists at Worlds and being on the national team. Normally, national team money went to paying for their gym and competition fees, but the gold medal money was extra that not all national team members received.

Percy knew he wanted to save the majority of it, to help his mom or anyone be able to come to Athens with him if he actually made it, but he already knew he’d be using a portion of it for his friends and families Christmas gifts.

Annabeth already had a few ideas of what she wanted to get for her brothers and dad, so they were heading to the shops she had in mind first and Percy was hoping along the way that whatever he needed would eventually find him. 

Their first stop was an enormous toy store that when they were younger, they’d always beg to go into. They spent a couple of hours looking around, just for fun, while grabbing as much stuff for their friends and family as they could.

Percy grabbed a board game for Sally, to start incorporating into their game nights they have every so often, it was one Percy was sure she’d love. While Annabeth grabbed a few model airplanes for her dad and nerf guns for her brothers (with the hopes of them torturing her stepmother with them).

She had almost bought a drum set, now that she wasn't living with her family the thought of purchasing all the annoying toys her brothers could ever dream of was tempting. But Percy managed to talk her off that ledge, so she settled for the nerf guns and a few lego sets. 

They each found something they thought Grover would like as well as a couple of figurines for Paul's classroom they knew he’d like.

“Where do you think I can get a beach chair?” Percy asked, the idea coming to him out of nowhere.

Annabeth looked at him sideways, “It's the middle of December,” she said incredulously, “And 35 degrees outside,”

“Yeah but I just realized that by the time the Summer comes around, mom will be in her last phase of editing, and you know how she likes to hide away in Montauk and work up there, I figured a new beach chair would do her some good.”

Annabeth almost looked surprised at his idea, Percy was never the best gift-giver, but he wanted to try harder this year to show his appreciation for those around him.

“Well, we can see what we find, and just use the internet as a last resort,” Annabeth suggested as they were finally leaving the toy store. 

Percy followed Annabeth as they walked, letting her lead him everywhere she wanted to go, quickly window shopping in a store they were unable to afford, a quick look at the Rockefeller Tree, and then a stop for hot chocolate, until she came to a stop in front of a bench. “Sit” she ordered with a smile.

Confused, Percy still did as he was told. “Give me 30 minutes,” Annabeth clarified, “One of these stores has your presents in it, and I dont want you to know which, so wait out here and I’ll be back soon.”

“Didn’t we just establish that it's 35 degrees, and you want me sitting outside for 30 minutes?”

“That’s why we stopped for hot chocolate,” She said with a smirk before disappearing into the crowd of bustling people.

Now that he was alone, a panic had started to set in. W hat on Earth was he going to get Annabeth?

In past years, Percy had just got her something practical, a pair of slides for the gym, a new duffle bag, but now she was his girlfriend. 

He needed to do better.

When Annabeth finally returned Percy was scrolling through his phone after google searching “Gifts for a Girlfriend that don’t suck” still at a complete loss of ideas.

“Ready?” she asked

Percy hopped up, trying to get a peek at where the new bag she had added to her collection was from. Annabeth snatched her bags away from him.

“No peeking!” Annabeth snatched her bags away from him. “I already had it wrapped and placed in a nondescript brown bag.”

Percy huffed in mock outrage as he got up off the bench, grabbed Annabeth's hand, and waited for her to lead him towards their next destination.

***

The week before Christmas, Percy would've estimated that he and Annabeth had recovered back to about 75% of their former selves. Their goal was to be 100% by the end of January that way in the lead-up to the Olympics, all they had to do was work on upgrades and consistency.

Plus they were down to only half their body being sore instead of their entire beings, and that had to be a good sign.

While working on several sets of a few series’ on high bar, Percy heard Chiron’s loud piercing whistle from his back office.

Percy finished his last element, let go of the bar, and dropped to the ground. Annabeth, on beam, finished up her dismount and landed gracefully onto a mat, throwing her hands up in salute, trying to get back into the habit. 

Thalia and Jason on their own apparatus' looked at the two of them confused. 

“What does that mean?” Thalia asked

“Historically,” Annabeth started,

Percy finished for her, “Nothing good.”

He could count on one hand the number of times he had seen the TV actually on in Chiron’s office. It was always something that was just smashed in with all of their pictures that Chiron kept up. 

The last time was when a rogue hurricane threatened to hit the area. The time before that was a freak tornado. Percy had a feeling that mother nature was not about to be kind to them.

A news announcer’s voice boomed from the television set, clear and commanding.

“Massive nor’easter dropping more than 30 inches of snow with blizzard conditions, we expect to start seeing the effects of the storm late tomorrow night, and into the remainder of the week as we lead up to Christmas. Now is the time to prepare, as this may be the biggest storm of the season. Expect power outages and roads to be blocked,”

The screen went to a map of the city in different colors, showing the part where the apartment was and the gym in a dark blue color signifying they will be receiving more than 3 feet of snow.

Chiron muted the TV. “This is going to be bad for us. Perce, Annabeth, today may have to be your last practice for a couple of days, the storm…”

Percy tuned out his coach as he called Sally, she answered on the first ring.

He began speaking without preamble, “Can Annabeth and I stay at the gym during the snowstorm this week, we cant be out of the gym, we're so close to being back, that we can't afford to lose these upcoming days.”

“It’s a blizzard, Percy not just a snowstorm, what if the gym loses power?”

“Chiron has generators,” he answered quickly.

“Does Chiron have enough supplies for the four of you?”

“Probably not, but that’s an easy fix,”

“What does Chiron think of this?”

“He thinks it’s a great idea!”

Sally sighed, “Percy, let me hear it from Chiron.”

Percy handed his phone to his coach, he couldn't hear what Sally was saying, but Chiron was nodding, “That works for me if it does for you.”

His coach hung up the phone and handed it back to Percy, he instructed them to go finish their practice and that they’d figure the rest out as they went.

 ***

The weatherman predicted 3 feet of snow, but they got triple that. At least. It was the worst storm of Percy’s life, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for them. 

The gym's generators only held out for a few days, allowing them to get in very strategic and planned workouts. Chiron eventually admitted their idea to stay was a good one, despite having to go slow and be safe. Anytime conditions weren’t ideal, they ran a greater risk for injury and that was a setback they couldn’t afford.

So, they practiced for as long as they could as safely as they could until the lights dimmed to a point that was way too dangerous before flickering out completely. Afterward, they held up in the weight room, working on as many conditioning and strength exercises as they could handle. A few times they even turned it into a game, but Annabeth and Jason had to put a stop to that after the first two days when Percy and Thalia’s arguing had finally reached a point that no one else wanted to deal with.

Luckily, for them Sally had brought over an enormous haul of groceries and other supplies the day before the storm hit, she must've been panic buying anything she could get her hands on. It was enough to just last them all the 5 days the world seemed to be covered in snow.

“Do you think Paul’s at the apartment or your mom is at his place?” Annabeth asked one afternoon they were working on flexibility. 

Sitting in an oversplit, Percy looked up, “Are you trying to start a fight?”

All she did was laugh with Thalia and Jason joining in. Despite their frigid conditions and lack of power, Percy couldn't be happier.

***

The storm lessened a few days before Christmas Eve and Percy had finally decided on a gift for Annabeth. Chiron had given them another morning off, so he knew he had to take advantage of it now, a chance like this wouldn't come up again soon.

Percy woke Annabeth up early, she tried to protest, but he was adamant, “Come on, we gotta get your Christmas present,” 

She jumped higher out of bed than if she was vaulting. They were out of the house in record time as Percy led them down the street.

“Where are we going?” She asked excitedly.

Percy bumped her shoulder with his and squeezed her hand, “you'll see it's not too far.”

He stopped her outside of the building, the sign in bright orange letters said “Ulta.”

Annabeth looked at him confused, “what are we doing here?”

Percy laughed, “its part of your Christmas present, I am giving you however long you need in there to get anything you want, my treat. I will carry everything with no complaints and you can get anything at all. Dont hold back.”

Annabeth stared at him in shock, then lept for his arms in the middle of the sidewalk. Her lips on his were fast and erratic and he never wanted it to stop, though they were on a bit of a time crunch. 

Grudgingly he pulled away, “come on, thank me later, we have some shopping to do,”

Together they tore through Ulta Beauty, leaving more destruction in their wake, than the storm that finally lifted the day before.

She pulled him up and down the aisles, grabbing makeup pallets, skincare products, and anything else she wanted to try but hadn’t found the excuse to buy for herself. But now Percy was giving her everything she deserved.

As they stood in line, Percy holding Annabeth's basket filled to the brim, he asked, “Ready for Sephora?”

She looked at him stunned, “Are you sure? Perce, this is a lot. You don’t have to do all this.”

"I know I don't have to, but I want to, you deserve it, plus was there anything better I could've done for Christmas, if you want, you can pick a few things and I'll wrap them for Christmas Day." 

Annabeth kissed him again, a quick peck on the lips, as she led him to a tiny coffee shop full of other last-minute shoppers. They ordered drinks and eventually found a small table in the back. They forgot all about Sephora and spent the rest of their afternoon pressed together in each other's arms as they got lost in the drag and slide of each other's lips. And if they were late to practice that day, no one mentioned it.

***

They were able to take a few days off for the holidays, enough to feel energized whenever they got back in the gym in the beginning days of January. 

As he worked on the pommel horse, completing a series of skills over and over again until it was ingrained into his body and mind, a loud shrieking scream split the air, loud enough even to cut out over the music. The sound snapped Percy out of his zone, he missed a hand placement and went flying off the horse. 

He jumped up, looking at Annabeth who had to be under attack by some type of many headed creature or a giant spider. But where he thought she was on the balance beam, was completely empty until he followed the sound of more screaming to the center of the floor, where the sight he was looking at definitely confused him. 

Piper Mclean stood before them, Annabeth in the other girl's arms in a tight embrace. 

“What's up cupcakes!” Gleeson Hedge was a coach impossible to forget, besides for Chiron he was probably one of a handful of actually decent head coaches that USAG had to offer. “Hope you're all ready for us to crash at your gym for a few months.”

Chiron was perched on a tall mat to help spot Jason on the high bar, he threw himself headfirst into the foam pit.

Chapter Text

Chiron was beginning to lose his mind. And it wasn’t a gradual loss of insanity either, it was going to happen all at once. He could barely at the best of times handle two elite gymnasts, then his generosity came back to bite him in the ass when he literally doubled the number of elite athletes at Olympia, and now Piper McClean was here to add to the pile. At least her coach, Gleeson was with her, it gave Chiron an extra pair of hands and eyes, even if those hands were just as hyperactive as the teenagers they coached. 

He had been having the worst string of luck recently, he had been trapped with 4 teenagers throughout an enormous snowstorm that should've lasted for 3 days but went for almost double that, then with this new addition of Piper while her father's movie shot in the city, (FOR THE NEXT 5 MONTHS), for all the lack of peace he was getting, he may as well host the next National Team Camp at Olympia.

He froze as a different thought occurred to him. A horrible realization sank in.  Athena was not going to be pleased when she heard about his recent addition. It’s absolutely going to look like he’s gunning for her job, as he collects Elite gymnasts like a pokemon trainer. She was not going to take this lightly. Chiron hadn’t even contemplated the type of punishment he’d receive for this, but he was sure it would be coming soon.

***

Practices started to look a bit more different, and not necessarily in a bad way. Hedge was certifiably insane but he was a damn good coach who cared about his athlete. That was more than could be said for about 98% of elite gymnastics coaches.

Together they met early each morning to go over the day's plan and compare that to their weekly plan and compare that with their monthly plan. 

Then they’d start their morning with a specialized workout, on certain days it was conditioning, weight liftings, and a new one Chiron had incorporated a lot more since the arrival of Thalia and Jason was working on basic skills.

That was one of the first things he noticed about his new gymnasts that their basic skills were severely lacking and it could be seen in certain deductions or ways they completed a skill sloppily. It was a testament to how great of athletes that they were for how well they were doing despite a poor upbringing in the beginning. But it was one of Chiron's biggest pet peeves, watching an athlete without straight legs or pointed toes or missing a handstand on bars made his skin crawl. Plus correct form on basics made learning new and harder skills much easier, breaking a hard skill into smaller more basic skills was the reason that Annabeth and Percy were always able to get new skills in half the time of other athletes he had coached.

One morning, after their planning session but before the morning workout, Hedge’s voice took on an uncharacteristically serious tone, “I know were only supposed to be here for a few months, but I want just wanted to run something by you. Would you mind if we stayed until at least the Olympic Trials, everything is in this time zone, and I can’t say I'm excited to fly  back to California for Piper to get reacclimated and then need to come immediately back to the East Coast for trials and development camp.”

Chiron couldn’t blame the other man, it definitely was not a great situation to be in leading up to the Olympics, even though this would lead to the eventual exploding of his head, Chiron replied, “You are welcome to train here, as long as you need.”

Hedge switched back to his normal self as he said, “Well. then you got yourself a permanent roomie and we’ll just stay for good!”

“Until we figure out what's going to happen with the Olympics,” Chiron amended.

But Hedge pretended like he didn’t hear as he ran from the room to find his gymnast to tell her that they were never leaving and could stay forever. The chorus of cheers from the kids as they were warming up almost made him laugh until he saw how much time they had left until the Olympics and the mountains they'd all have to climb to get there.

All of the gymnasts here had the potential to be successful in Athens, but he couldn’t lie to himself, Annabeth and Percy were his priority, and right now, despite their herculean amounts of effort, they had the most obstacles to overcome, if they wanted to achieve their pre-injury goals.

150 days.

That was all that was between them and Trials. Percy and Annabeth were pretty much back to 100% but that wasn’t a whole lot of time to gain consistency and finalize the routines that would get them into the Olympics and hopefully, win gold. They’d need a day to sit down and go over routines and make sure they didn't have any weird built-in mistakes from the Code of Points and see if they could find any small upgrades that wouldn't take too much effort to get, he was pretty sure there weren't many in Annabeth and Percy’s routines, but the others they’d have to look at too. Even though Percy and Annabeth were who he was rooting for gold, he still wanted the others to do well and walk away with some medals. And if something happened that Percy and Annabeth didn’t get those gold medals, he’d rather it be one of his others athletes at Olympia.

Just as his thoughts were spiraling, into more and more work for himself, a small tentative knock sounded at the door, so quiet his thoughts almost blotted it out. 

Thalia walked in, her eyes quickly darting around the room like they did every time she came in here, to the hundreds of pictures he had up on the walls, several pictures were of gymnasts throughout the years, but the overwhelming majority of them were of Annabeth and Percy, maybe he should put up some new pictures with her and Jason too, hopefully, that would make them feel more at home and included.

He watched Thalia steel herself, take a deep breath and fix her blue eyes on him, “Can we talk…?”

***

At the end of their conversation, Thalia pleaded, “Please don’t tell anyone about this, not yet, I want it to come from me, especially Jason.”

He returned the promise, “You don't need to worry about that, take all the time you need to make your decision, and we will all be here to support you in whatever you need.”

They were cut off from any additional communication as, Annabeth  and Percy burst through the door, breathing heavily, “We have new floor pass ideas!”

Annabeth seemed to sense the energy of the room and quickly pushed Percy out before he did something Percy-like, “We’ll be out here whenever you're ready to see it,” Annabeth called over her shoulder as Percy stuttered with indignation.

Chiron turned his attention back to Thalia, “what happens next is up to you, if you want to stay in here and think, that’s up to you, if you want to keep talking and try to work out some logistics we absolutely can and The Duo will have to wait, or we can keep practicing. It’s entirely up to you.”

Thalia bit her lip, “I want to keep practicing, but later tonight, can we talk logistics?”

 Chiron nodded, “After recovery come find me here, and we'll work something out.”

He didn’t think he had ever heard a more grateful “Thank You,” than Thalia’s as she heaved a sigh of relief and burst out into the brightness of the gym.

Taking a glance around the gym, everyone was preoccupied and working hard, so he started on the floor where Percy and Annabeth were waiting excitedly.

“How insane are these upgrades on a scale of 1-10?” He asked no one in particular.

Hedge not too far away laughed loudly and answered for his athletes, “I’ll say one is a 3 and the other is a 75, but I'll let you try and guess which is which.”

Percy sputtered, “I’m feeling moderately attacked today, and I don’t know how to feel about it,”

“Poor baby,” Annabeth cooed while pinching his cheek. Though she quickly turned her attention back to Chiron, ”Mine isn't so much an upgrade as it is an improvement, I want to replace one of my 0.2 connection value passes with a different and simpler one so I can conserve some energy.”

Chiron liked what he was hearing as Annabeth continued, “what about a full twisting whip to a full in? It still satisfies the connection value requirement but I can cut out a few skills in the middle.”

“I like it,” Chiron said, “have you tried it yet?” 

“Of course, I stuck it 4 out of 10 times and landed it 7 times completely.”

“Excellent, “ he turned a weary gaze to Percy who decided to show Chiron his idea instead of talking it out like a rational individual. As Percy landed his pass, Chiron almost couldn’t believe his eyes, the fact that he hadn’t pulled a hamstring or shattered his knees was a miracle.

“Perce,…I've known you for almost your whole life, and that is the single craziest thing you have ever done in my gym.”

“Think of the connection value though!” Percy was clearly excited and Chiron didn’t want to dampen the boy's spirits too much.

“We have to be reasonable here, a double back with a half twist directly into a double twist might be one of the most difficult tumblings passes I’ve ever seen,” Hedge called out in agreement as Chiron continued, “Please let's work up to it, how many times have you actually landed it?”

Percy held up 2 fingers, “Honestly, that's better than I would've guessed, well work some drills and get to that point, and for my sanity, can we talk about these crazy upgrades before you start throwing them?”

Percy smiled, “I can agree to that if you let me try for a triple back dismount on high bar.”

Jason piped up as well, “Can I try and get in on that too?”

Chiron rubbed at his face, “Okay, fine, when you all take your afternoon break we’ll re-work our schedule.” Allowing these children to have free will and minds of their own were really throwing off his carefully made plans. Especially this close to the Olympics, most gymnasts were perfecting their routines at this point, and here they were still working on upgrades. It was a risk, but one that would hopefully pay off in the end.

***

It took about two weeks for the ball to drop. Athena had finally gotten word that a quarter of the National Team was now at Olympia and her punishment was swift and savage.

Every year, athletes were assigned to different meets to compete at, in addition to the competitions that National Team members were already supposed to attend. These were normally, international competitions, for athletes to gain exposure, experience, and really just to see how they did with international judges. 

These could be the Pan American Cup in South America, World Cup meets held throughout Europe and Asia, or even a few that ended up being in America. Normally, athletes from the same gym were all sent to the same meet, to make it easier for everyone involved.

Of course, not for Chiron this year. When the schedule dropped, his athletes were spread out all over the world. 

Annabeth, in the beginning of February, would compete in Glasgow, Scotland for the first of 4 World Cup competitions. At the end of February Jason and Piper would be in Cairo, Egypt for the 2nd World Cup.  That situation definitely sucked but it was doable. The worst of it was Percy having to go to Tokyo less than a week later for the 3rd World Cup (If Chiron wanted to give him the appropriate amount of time to acclimate). Then Thalia would compete at the end of March in Rio, Brazil for the Pan American Games.

He worried for Annabeth and Percy the most, the two of them had never competed without the other there in some capacity, even when Annabeth was at Jupiter Gymnastics they both still competed at the same meet. The two of them kept each other grounded and as anxiety free as one could be during a competition of this magnitude. Part of him knew that this wasn’t their most pressing issue, most gymnasts didn't have a teammate the way Percy and Annabeth did, and they were all fine and found a way to deal with being alone during competitions, so they would too. He just wasn’t looking forward to telling them this. 

Of course, no athletes from Olympia were selected for the World Cup game in Philadelphia which would only be about 2 hours away. Chiron didn’t have the time to dwell on his anger, he couldn’t let Athena know that he was annoyed or she’d just keep at it. So instead, Chiron did what he always did best, he put his head down, and started to work out a plan. 

He found Hedge a little later that day, “So, I don't make a habit of withholding information from the kids, but I’d rather wait until we have a proper plan in place to tell them about the international meets.”

“Athena isn’t exactly the kindest person I’ve ever met, but what did you do for her to hate you so much?”

Chiron took a deep breath, debating whether or not he could tell Hedge the truth, “If I tell you, you are sworn to secrecy.”

Hedges eyebrows rose, not expecting a serious answer to his lighthearted question. He nodded clearly curious.

“This is something very few people know in our community and I normally leave it to Annabeth to decide who knows and doesn’t but if you're going to be here with us, you need to know what you're getting yourself into.” Chiron could see Hedge getting more and more interested as he spoke. “Athena has always hated me because her daughter was enrolled at my gym and stayed here instead of going to the complex upstate, so she’s made it her life’s mission to make us as miserable as she is,”

Hedge shook his head, “Wait a second, Annabeth is Athena’s daughter ?”

Chiron nodded, as Hedge continued to ask questions, “How did she end up here then? How does no one know?”

Annabeth’s father has had full custody for as long as I’ve known her, they were here for a field trip and her dad signed her up for classes, not knowing the shit storm he had started. And really, we’ve just never said anything and neither has Athena, they don't exactly have the best relationship.”

“And everything at the beginning of the season?”

“More of Athena trying to make us miserable, Annabeth’s father moved to California, so Annabeth went too,  we were lucky that it ended the way it did.”

“She must be losing her mind right now with all of us here…” Hedge said trailing off as the thought fully hit him

“Exactly, but with literally what should be half of the Olympic Team, she can’t do much except inconvenience everyone here, hence why we need to go to Cairo now.”

Hedge rubbed at his face, “Wow, I expected a small cup of tea, but that was like a gallon-sized jug you just poured on top of my head. These next few months are going to be exhausting, but at least you all keep up the excitement around here.”

Chapter Text

“What?!” Annabeth and Percy both asked in unison.

Before practice, Chiron had called a Team meeting, which in hindsight, should’ve been the first red flag. They always had team meetings but those were scheduled for every other Monday. Normally they went over their plan, developed new ones if necessary, and talked about anything that was on their mind. So calling an extra one of these in the middle of the week should've been her first tip that he had some shitty news to share.

But her and Percy being split up for World Cup meets on different continents would not have been her first guess. 

“I know this isn’t ideal for anyone, but this is the National Team Coordinator’s decision and we have to abide by that decision.”

Annabeth was able to read between the lines, ‘your mother is upset at the current state of Olympia, and is now taking that out on us.”

A flash of anger danced across Percy’s face as he probably came to the same realization as she did, but he quickly pushed it away.

Percy grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’ll be okay, I’ll go to Scotland to watch if you come to Tokyo.”

Chiron didn’t give Annabeth time to respond, he sent the other athletes out into the gym with Hedge to start stretching and warming up. He took a seat at the plastic table in the break room, he was about to enter his Gentle Dad mode.

“With the Olympics so close, I don't think that will be the best idea. I don’t want you to have to deal with the jet lag issue twice, plus that'll be a lot of money, and we're gonna need that for Athens. I know this will be an adjustment but we’ll make it through.”

“Why do we even need to go to the World Cups? We already qualified for Trials, the US practically qualified for the Olympics because of us.” Percy asked in a huff, she could tell he was trying not to take his anger out on their coach.  

Chiron responded in his same cool and calming voice, “If you all hadn’t been injured, I would seriously consider it, but you all have some new routines and you haven't competed in almost 6 months, we need to see how you’ll score on an international scale. If there's something that international judges hate, I want us to have time to change something, and change it well, before Athens.” 

Annabeth didn’t like it, but Chiron was definitely making some sense, she squeezed Percy’s hand back, “We can do it, it's just one meet and then we’ll be back together.”

“Fine, it’s gonna be weird, but I guess most gymnasts have to go through this all alone, we can do it once. Plus we can’t let your mom win, she’s just doing it to mess with us, and I for one do not want to give her any power over me.”

Chiron smiled as he ushered them into the gym, “I’ll take it, spite is a hell of a motivator.” 

They quickly caught up with the other gymnasts in stretching and spent the next hour and a half in another of Chiron’s hellscape of obstacle courses.

It was Piper’s first time, once they finally finished and were able to form words, she asked, breathing heavily still hands on her hips, “How often do we do that?”

Thalia was the first to reply, “Too often.”

“At least twice a week, I think Coach Chiron was waiting until you got more comfortable here before throwing you into one,” Jason said

Annabeth agreed, “It's true, he lulls everyone by acting all nice and then he does that. The Monster.”

“I hear your complaints, Annabeth and it only makes me stronger,” he called back.

Percy laughed, “Was that a joke? Hedge is already wearing off on you.”

Chiron did not look too pleased with that, the look on his face said that Percy would pay later. But Hedge’s excited smile seemed to annoy Chiron even more. 

“Where are we starting this morning? Chiron changed the topic quickly.

“Bars!” It was Jason and Percy this time in unison, which was strange, though Annabeth knew they both wanted to start working their triple back dismounts.

“Ladies, are you good with that or do you want to start somewhere else with Hedge?”

Annabeth looked at the other girls, it wasn't like her to not want to start on bars, since it was her favorite after all, but it wasn’t her biggest need at the moment, and that's what she wanted to start with. “How about beam?”

The other girls agreed excitedly, just as eager to start working towards their upgrades, or in Piper’s case increase her consistency. 

Annabeth had a plan to increase her difficulty on the event, but she still wouldn't have the same difficulty as either Thalia or Piper.

They each took to their preferred beams and began warming up as Hedge instructed with simple skills with the difficulty increasing. He had them run through each component of their routines, starting with leaps and turns and ending with more acrobatic flipping series. 

In the back of Annabeth’s mind, she had registered the boys working on their dismounts in the back of her mind, they had been doing drills with Chiron, just landing in the pit, she hadn't noticed that Percy had managed to already land on the soft mat and was ready to move to mats on a hard floor.

Chiron whistled grabbing everyone's full attention, “If Percy drops this triple back, you all run a mile.”

“He can’t be serious,” Piper asked

“Oh, he is,” Thalia answered, clearly remembering the last round of pressure tests. Jason fell on a parallel bar release move and they all had to condition with Mr. D that evening. It was the Grace's first experience with Olympia’s assistant head coach, and it seemed to Annabeth that they were still traumatized. He usually dealt with rec classes and the pre-team athletes so Chiron could focus on the elites. But seeing as Mr. D was certifiably insane, Chiron loved to use the other man for the most intense workouts or punishments. They had to deal with him about once a month and that was more often than Annabeth and the rest of the team would prefer.

“No big deal everyone, I got this,” Percy confidently added chalk to his grips and scrubbed, he unceremoniously stepped up onto the box that they used as a step stool to get onto the high bar, it's where Chiron always stood to spot them and give them any pieces of advice the way he was doing now.

Percy nodded and took to the bar, spinning quickly, 

“Let’s go, Percy,” Annabeth called in encouragement

“You got this, “ Jason added 

Percy let go of the bar, flipping backward three times, his legs a bit more cowboy-ed for Annabeth's liking but he'd clean that up eventually. Practically before his feet hit the mat, Percy was already celebrating.

They all cheered with him, but mostly out of gratitude for not needing to run a mile now, though Annabeth wasn’t too concerned, if there was anything she could count on in this life it was Percy, even if it was for something as small as not letting her run a mile. 

“I feel like I can add a twist or two to that or am I crazy? Jason you gotta throw that, it was awesome.”

“Maybe I'll try a couple more drills and shoot for that tomorrow,” Jason said a little self-consciously.

Chirron nodded, “no pressure, try it when you're ready, and yes Percy that would be crazy, because if you saw your form, you would not be trying so hard to start twisting.”

That was quintessential Percy, always reaching for the next upgrade, constantly striving to do better. It’s what made him as good of a gymnast as he was, but she knew it annoyed Chiron, the perfectionist that he was, to no end.

The rest of practice went by in a blur. Annabeth put some good work in on beam, they all did really. Thalia was always a stoic and consistent presence on the apparatus which started to rub off on Annabeth in a really positive way, she didn't think she’d ever love beam, but she was starting to tolerate it a lot more. Even Piper was already benefiting from the older girl's wisdom and experience. Her session on beam didn't start off on the right track, and normally that would be a sign of how Piper's day would go, but luckily Thalia was able to talk her down and help put Piper back into the necessary positive headspace that the balance beam required. Annabeth would have to make a mental note to recommend Piper talk to their sports therapist, though she’d probably bring it up with Hedge and Chiron so Annabeth didn’t accidentally cross a line with her friend.

They ended up finishing practice a bit early, so instead of starting another session, Chiron and Hedge let them leave a little early.

“What are we going to do with our extra time?” Piper asked excitedly in the recovery room as she foam rolled out her legs.

Annabeth tried to answer from her ice bath, but could only clench her jaw as she forced herself to tolerate the cold.

“Sleep?” Thalia suggested.

“Oh, quit being such an old lady Thalia, we're in the city that never sleeps, we have to take advantage of our free time,” Percy said.

Annabeth splashed him, Percy let out a Yelp as he tried to shuffle away, though his leg sleeves made it difficult. 

Chiron and Hedge came in to talk to them briefly, giving them a rundown of the next few days and letting them know that they’re bringing on a massage therapist a few days a week to help their sore bodies recuperate. It was also a warning, with their upcoming meets and the Olympics in 6 months, days like today were going to be increasingly infrequent. 

“So what are we going to do?” Jason asked again, his gaze lingering a little too long on Piper. 

“I have to say, I've been here for a few weeks and I haven’t been able to try a lot of the food here,” Piper suggested, her eyes, found Jason who looked away a little too quickly.

“Food is always good,” Percy agreed getting up from his seat to help Annabeth out of the tub once her timer went off, “Have anything in mind, Piper? If not we have some pretty great spots.”

Thalia said, “I do put my foot down at Italian food for now, it's too heavy”

Old habits die hard, Annabeth thought. Though that Thalia was actually considering going to a restaurant mid-season showed how far she had come in repairing her relationship with food.

Piper smiled, “How about Korean Barbeque?”

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other, “We know just the place” they said together.

***

Dinner was a hit. Thalia and Percy managed to get along, Jason started coming out of whatever weird funk he was in earlier, and they were all having a great time. 

The food came quickly, which was great because Annabeth was ravenous. Little plates of different types of raw meat that they cooked themselves scattered across their table, which had a built-in stove for them to cook. Annabeth and Percy gave quick tutorials to Jason and Thalia who had never eaten anywhere like this, more and more food kept coming, soup, salad, edamame, dumplings, bibimbap, chicken, beef, pork, they had so much food Annabeth even forgot they had ordered some of it. 

Annabeth watched as Jason came out of his shell a bit more, and by extension Thalia too. He sat next to Piper, the two laughed and joked with each other, almost making the rest of them feel like they were interrupting a date. She shot a knowing glance at both Percy and Thalia, who for the first time in Annabeth's life seemed to agree that, something indeed was going on between the other two. Annabeth made a mental note to mention all this flirting to Piper the next time they were alone together. 

Their topics eventually turned back to gymnastics, the way it always did. Piper was complaining about how much time she was spending on bars, Thalia about being so sore and in pain at all times, and Annabeth about not having enough time to get everything done, when Jason looked to Percy with a conspiratorial grin. 

“I noticed you’re still trying to catch up to my rings and parallel bar difficulty,” Jason said. 

This didn’t happen often but it wasn’t unheard of for the boys to get randomly competitive with each other. Annabeth had a feeling that this started with the fact that Percy managed to land the triple back dismount off the high bar in a couple of days but Jason was still trying to gain the confidence to actually put it to his feet.

Percy was scooping rice into his mouth with chopsticks as Jason through this challenge his way, Percy paused, “That may be true, but I clearly don't need those extra points to beat you in the All Around.”

Thankfully, they were stopped from going any further, when a tall, lean man with Piper’s same brown skin and long black hair stopped by their table. It took Annabeth a second to fully recognize Tristan McClean.

Her friend quickly got up from the table and led her dad outside before he was even able to mutter a word. They must not have had much to talk about because Piper was sliding past Jason back into her seat before they even knew it.

“What was all that?” Thalia asked.

Piper rolled her eyes, “nothing new, just my dad telling me that as soon as he wraps filming here he’s going to Europe for some show.”

They didn’t press her any further, all of them got the sense that this wasn't news Piper was happy about, her smile had sunk along with her shoulders, and she seemed to be generally unenthused, so they worked on cheering her up the rest of the night,  Annabeth was even able to convince Thalia and Jason to eat dessert. It seemed to pick up Piper’s spirits by at least 2 percent,

Piper eventually called it a night, paying for their entire bill with her dad's credit card, promising them all he’d never notice.

She surprised them all by the time they left asking if they all wanted to catch a movie too, it was still early, the sun had barely begun to fall beneath the skyline. Reluctantly they agreed, something was still off with their friend, but by the time the movie was over and they found themselves all going in different directions to their homes, Piper seemed in brighter spirits, as she teased and bumped into Jason, while they said their goodbyes. Even though they’d see each other again in less than 12 hours.

Percy held Annabeth's hand as they made their way home, “Do you think she’s actually ok? I’m kinda worried about Piper, I can’t believe her dad had that kind of effect on her, she barely talked to him for 2 minutes.” 

Annabeth squeezed his hand tight, hearing the genuine concern in her boyfriend's voice, “That might be the issue, maybe a good night's rest will help her.”

***

It didn’t. 

Everyone had ups and downs during practices. No matter how good you were, there were always some workouts that made you question your commitment to the sport.

But the day Piper was having was something else entirely. 

From stretching to conditioning, she lacked her normal intensity and energy. She power walked when they we instructed to run, and cut a few exercises short, only doing one rep when they were supposed to do five.

When they moved to beam first, Hedge pulled her off to the side, he talked quietly and ushered her onto one of the low beams, presumably to not risk an injury.

Piper, normally a certified beam queen, didn't land a single skill and even tripped when just walking from one end to another. 

Hedge had seen enough, he barely even looked at Piper, just nodded towards the break room. Piper went without complaint.

They all watched in concern but ultimately had to focus on their own workouts, instead of their friend. Because at the end of the day, they were still competitors. 

Chiron and Hedge got together at one point, and all of Annabeth's life force went to trying to overhear what they were saying. She only managed to hear indiscernible whispers, however, one curt look from Chiron said more than enough, just a quick ‘mind your business’ and ‘I got this handled’ all in one go.

Piper didn’t return to real workouts for the rest of the week, she lifted weights and conditioned but didn't get anywhere near skills on apparatuses. 

Annabeth started to notice, that Piper took an extra hour for their lunch break, whenever they needed it, that was hers and Percy's timeslot with their sports psychologist, Cynthia. She hoped that Piper was starting to talk to her too, she was too good of a gymnast to let the mental aspects override the physical. 

After lunch, they switched to bars, while Annabeth and Thalia were working on drills, a sound that Annabeth had never heard in the gym before came from the boy's side.

There was a loud snap, the sound of metal clanging to the ground, and a body hitting the mats with a dense thud and a tiny screech that she knew was Percy.

Annabeth quickly finished her revolution around the bar and dropped gracefully to the ground.

Her brain tried to piece together what happened, but the sight before her was too insane to fathom. She looked to Chiron with his mouth agape, the high bar, Percy was on was no longer high, only the foundations were left standing and the rest was in shattered pieces on the ground where Percy lay.

“What happened?” Annabeth asked incredulously

Chiron seemed to gain some semblance of control, “Percy was almost impaled, he literally just shattered the steel high bar.”

Thalia and Jason seemed unsure of what to do, as there was no precedent for this and presumably Jupiter Gymnastics didn’t stop for falls, just expected their gymnasts to get up as if nothing happened.

“Please tell me someone other than Chiron saw that,” Percy said still laying on the ground

Annabeth smiled, “Chiron do you think the cameras caught that?”

Chiron ushered them all into his office, he took a seat at his dark oak desk and pulled up the cameras, specifically the one pointing at the high bar.

The cameras were less for security purposes and mostly for moments like this, where something either, funny, cool, or just needed to be seen again occurred and they wanted to be able to play it back.

Chiron quickly found the timestamp while they all crowded around his desk.

Annabeth could barely believe her eyes, there was Percy swinging around the bar like normal clearly putting more force behind his swings as he got ready for a release move, not even anything difficult when the bar split in half completely. Percy went flying in a cloud of chalk, landing in a heap luckily on the last bit of mat before the hard floor started.

“Only you could manage to break a steel bar in half, “ Thalia said with a smile, she was teasing him, but at least not aggressively.

“What was that like? Annabeth asked curiously.

Percy who had been a little too quiet finally spoke, “I immediately knew it broke when I felt and heard that snap, but I just didn't think it was possible, then after that, I just didn't want to be stabbed. I just didn't know where I was in relation to the bar so I just put my arms over my head and tried to land on my feet. There was a point where Im pretty sure my soul left my body.”

“I've never seen that in my life,” Chiron interrupted.

They played the video a few more times, still completely in awe, the last one Percy recorded on his phone and posted to Twitter as his Fail of the Day. She couldn't wait to see the gymternets reaction to it.

Chiron wouldn't let them take another break after that, he had express orders for Percy to get right back up on a different high bar and complete the same skill he was aiming for last time. He wanted Percy to prove to himself that this past fall was a once-in-a-lifetime fluke that won’t happen again. Luckily their coach's plan seemed to work, Percy got back up and threw his release move, catching it as if he was born doing it.

Annabeth let out a sigh of relief that this would turn into a funny story and video they could talk about to friends and post to their social media instead of something much grimmer and possibly season-ending.

“Can you quit falling so dramatically? Chiron asked helplessly 

Percy exclaimed, “I don't try to do this! It just happens.” Annabeth through her head back and laughed.

***

“Bring me back a kilt?” Percy asked as Annabeth continued with her failing efforts to get her suitcase zipped shut. She had tried everything and had now resorted to jumping up and down in desperation.  

“Look at this bag, there will be absolutely no room for souvenirs.” She said in between jumps. 

Annabeth and Chiron didn’t leave for a few more days but Annabeth always packed ahead, waiting until the last minute always sent her into an anxiety spiral that did not set her up for success at whatever meet she was competing at. 

“Store it in your carry-on, or Chiron’s bag, you have plenty of options to bring me back a souvenir.”

“Fine,” she relented, “but only if you help me get this shut.”

That got him moving, together they managed to rearrange some of the contents of the suitcase and then their combined weight was enough to get the zipper around.

“Takeout and a movie?” Percy asked to which Annabeth excitedly agreed, she was starving but had no energy to cook anything. Especially with Sally working late doing something with her publishing company. 

They ordered from the Chinese place down the street and let Netflix do the choosing on what they watched, Annabeth cuddled up into Percy, throwing her legs over his and resting her head in the crook of his shoulder. 

The movie wasn’t particularly exciting, so it was about 10 minutes in when their lips found each other. They didn’t stop kissing, not even for air. They were both panting, tongues tangled and hands exploring. 

That's exactly how they were found, with Percy’s hands coiling through Annabeth's golden hair and her hands working their way up his chest. Neither of them heard the front door open.

“Ok, now I feel like a third wheel. If this is all you were gonna do, you shouldn't have invited me,” Grover said smiling.

“Well, this wasn't exactly the plan..wait, you should invite Juniper over!” Annabeth said getting more excited as she spoke. A double date was just what they needed. She knew that Grover and Juniper had started officially dating recently, but they had been so busy lately that there hadn't been any time to spend with their school friend. Not like they used to. So this worked out perfectly, not only would they get to spend some much-needed time with Grover, but they would also get to know his new girlfriend, who they probably should have known better than they did, considering she was a gymnast at Olympia too. 

Grover was shocked, “so we can all make out near each other?”

“Oooooooh, so you’ve made out with her already,” Percy teased.

“I’m not answering that, though I will say that we've been dating for 3 months already,”

 That took a bit of the wind out of Percy’s sails, Annabeth knew she had the same thought it couldn't have been that long, but knew it had to be true. They both had had a one-track mind lately. They needed to try and make this right, especially with Annabeth leaving in 2 days.

“We can watch a movie or play a board game or something, it can be like a mini double date! It’ll be fun, pleassssssse, Grover.”

Grover let out a sigh, and instantly she knew that their friend was beaten by Annabeth's excitement. 

As it turned out, despite not yet being Elite, Juniper was just as competitive as Annabeth and Percy and absolutely decimated them in their first game of Catan. Annabeth pretended it wasn’t a big deal but once she knew not to underestimate the other girl, she made sure to absolutely destroy everyone in the next round.

They played a few other games after Grover begged for something that didn't involve strategy. They talked and joked and didn't even notice the late hour until Sally and Paul walked through the door at 11:00 pm. That put a quick end to their evening as Grover remembered it was a school night and Juniper had practice the next day. Annabeth promised to see him one more time before she left for Scotland and Percy and he made arrangements to watch the meet together next weekend when it would be televised. Piper and the Graces were already coming over to the apartment for it, so adding two more people was no big deal, since obviously Juniper had to come now that she was Grover's official girlfriend, and just an all-around cool person to hang out with. 

Annabeth's last day of practice came with little fanfare, in solidarity, they all wore their competition leotards so she wasn't the only one practicing in formal uniforms. Even Piper, who was finally back to her normal self, (maybe even better...hooray for therapy) joined in. 

Though instead of their normal practice routine, Annabeth solely worked with Chiron while Hedge ran the practice for the rest of them. 

Chiron had Annabeth working through her routines, practicing her trickiest series’ over and over and then putting the whole thing together just like she would during the competition. Twice, Chiron called the entire gym to a halt. The first was to watch Annabeth vault.

Annabeth asked their coach a question, “You really think I can do this?” 

Chiron’s reply was quiet but firm, “Yes, you weren’t ready at World’s, but you are now, trust it.”

This wouldn’t be her first time throwing her Cheng since she injured herself in Rome, but it would be the most amount of pressure she felt doing one since. 

Chiron called out to the entire gym, “Everyone! Please turn your attention to the vault, if Annabeth makes this skill, then you all get to skip a day of conditioning and have an open gym instead, Elites included.”

Excited shrieks came up from the rec and pre-team classes, Percy especially, he was hooting and hollering as he sat with Piper and Jason sat on one of the pommel horses. 

Annabeth silently cursed her coach, she loved and hated these pressure tests. It was a good bargain, that she wouldn’t deny, definitely one that Annabeth didn’t want to let everyone down.

The gym went quiet as Annabeth chalked up her hands and feet.

“You got this Annabeth,” Percy called

Piper was next, “Come on Annabeth”

She stood at the end of the runway, took a deep breath, and ran…all the way past the vaulting table. She had lost her nerve and missed the spot she started her roundoff at. Though as long as she didn't touch the table or didn't count if they were going by competition rules.

Annabeth quickly looked to Chiron, “Wait! I didn't touch anything, I get to try again.”

Chiron gave her a brief nod, “this is your last chance, whether you touch the table or not.”

Breathe. She instructed herself, Pull yourself together.

“Come on Annabeth, push through, you got this.” Percy’s voice helped soothe her panic and Annabeth was able to center herself fully. 

She had much more confidence in this run, and Annabeth knew instinctually, that she would make her Cheng. When her feet hit the ground after spinning impossibly fast, the gym erupted into cheers and applause, a weight had completely lifted off her chest. 

That wasn’t so bad, it definitely helped her feel better about landing it in Scotland.

During the next rotation, on beam, Chiron did the same thing, called everyone's attention, and issued a challenge to Annabeth, this time though he wasn’t nice about it.

“If Annabeth comes off this beam, everyone will run a mile either before or after practice for a week.”

The hush that fell across the gym was immediate as everyone looked at each other nervously. Annabeth would have rathered the deals been flipped…

“Come on Annabeth, you got this!” It was Percy's voice again, along with Piper and the Graces chiming in every now and then. Percy had the utmost confidence in her, so Annabeth would too.

She mounted the beam with no hesitation, clearly, some of Piper’s and Thalia's beam magic had worn off and she went through the motions of executing her routine with ease and grace. She may have had a wobble or two, but nothing overtly concerning before a large meet. Annabeth stuck her double arabian and saluted with a flourish. 

Again, the gym erupted, even louder than the first time. The younger kids high-pitched screams pierced the air, Hedge was rubbing chalk into his hands and throwing it in the air, like some sort of weird confetti. Percy ran to his girlfriend and lifted her up so she was sitting on his shoulders. He managed to get a gym-wide chant of her name going as they all celebrated. You would have thought she had won the Super Bowl and not just an extra day of fun and not having to run a mile for a week. The other athletes circled around her, cheering and congratulating her but mostly wishing her luck in Scotland. 

Chiron was trying not to smile as he said, “Annabeth, you’re done for the day, take your boyfriend and your friends with you, you all earned it.”

With a practice as good as this, it was almost easy to forget that she’d be leaving them for the next two weeks starting tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The apartment was stuffed with people, and even more food. Sally had left out a pretty spectacular display of snacks, hors d'oeuvres, dips, drinks, and desserts, taking up every available space of their kitchen counters and dining room table. Everyone sat around the TV nervously nibbling while waiting for the meet to start.

 The meet wasn't live, they were a few days behind, but all Percy had heard of Annabeth's standings was about qualifications, which went over well, she had qualified in all four events, even beam. She seemed surprised at that, though Percy had known she would. It may be her lease favorite event, but that didnt stop her from being better than the majority of her competitors, especially with the few upgrades they were able to manage in the offseason. 

The World Cup meets weren't the same as the other competitions they had competed in. There was no team or all around competition, it was just Event Finals. Athletes that scored well enough here, could make it to the Olympics even if their countries hadn’t qualified for the team portion. That wasn't a problem for them the way it was the Romanian and Brazilian teams who had a few athletes here trying to make it to Athens any way they could. Annabeth was strictly here to act like this was the All Around and see how her revamped routines would score with international judges. Plus, this was a requirement and punishment from Athena, as the National Coordinator they were at her mercy as members of the National Team for whatever competitions she wanted them to represent the US at, no matter how annoying it was to those involved. 

Sally and Paul sat on the couch grossly cuddled up next to each other, with Paul's niece, Claire, sitting on the floor at their feet, the girl practically bouncing in anticipation. Jason and Piper also sat closely together, piled into a chair that was probably so small it bordered on uncomfortable, though the way they looked at each other, it didn't seem like either cared. A fact that didn't pass Percy’s limited perception. Knowing full well that Annabeth was busy, he still snapped a quick and discreet picture of their friends sending it with the eyes emoji. Whenever she found the time, Annabeth would really get a kick out of that, Percy knew.  Thalia sat on the other side of the couch, while Hedge paced back and forth which didn't help to settle Percy's nerves. Though, he knew the man for enough time now to know Hedge was never still.

“This doesn’t feel right, I don’t think I'm cut out for this watching from home stuff” Hedge muttered.

Piper reassured her coach, “Annabeth will be alright, Hedge, she’s gonna kill it.”

They all gave their own agreements but it didn't seem to do anything to lessen the man's anxious energy.

Grover and Juniper were the last to arrive, so they ended up on the floor with Percy, they filled their plates quickly because as soon as they sat down the TV began to blare the opening sounds of the meet. 

A booming voice began:

“Welcome to Glasgow. Scotland’s largest city, this week it's been the center of the gymnastics world as we assemble at the SSE Hydro Arena to find out who is going to squeak by into Athens at the first of 4 World Cups, for those still looking to qualify for the Olympics later this year. I’m Al Trautwig alongside Tim Dagget and Elfie Schlegel.”

The camera panned around the arena  showing athletes from all over, all nervously waiting in anticipation. This was only the first of four World Cups, athletes had to perform well at all four to ensure it gave them a berth into Athens. The camera then showed an aerial shot from the top of the arena as Al continued, “This arena is lit so dramatically, and it's a perfect stage for the women’s and men’s World Cup event finals.”

The first athlete they saw on the screen was Hazel Levesque as Tim Dagget continued, “Now you are looking at Hazel Levesque, a recent member of the gold winning team in Rome and third in the World on floor. She wants to make a name for herself here and prove she's Athens worthy as the Americans try to prepare themselves for their Olympic trials coming up in a few months.”

Percy tuned out whatever annoying commentary the announcers were making as Hazel saluted, took off, and nailed her Amanar. To his untrained eye, the only deduction he could find was a big step back on the landing.

“She's powerful,” Hedge said to the room, “we're gonna need that on the team, she just needs to be able to control it, but we can work with that.”

Piper laughed. Hedge had been doing this for a while, acting like they were all a sure thing for Athens. Though Percy didn't mind, in fact he loved it. He was big on manifesting, and that was all Hedge was doing, plus trying to give Piper a confidence boost.

He tuned back into the announcers as Tim spoke for the first time, “ That was a great start for Hazel Levesque,” the feed should a slow mo replay of the vault, “she has done carbon copy like work on vaulting, this week, beautiful height in the air, a great landing with a slide back, but it's a tremendous start, I don’t see where they get any form deductions on that at all., she only has the one on the landing.”

Al asked, “Elfie, can she win this?”

Elfie took a deep breath, probably looking for a diplomatic answer. “That's going to be very difficult, I think. When you have Annabeth Chase to compete with, our World All Around Champion and likely would have been the World Champion on this event if she hadn't been injured in Rome. However, I do think Hazel will definitely be in medal contention.”

Please do not show the clip, he thought, just as they began to show Annabeth's final Cheng in Rome. Percy couldn't watch that again, so he got up for more food. Stress eating for one day wouldn't hurt.

By the time he returned, two other athletes had competed on vault, a Swiss and a Brazilian.

Annabeth was suddenly on the screen, and Percy felt his heart flutter and his stomach sink. Percy rarely got nervous for himself, but he always did for Annabeth. 

With the camera still staring straight at his girlfriend, Al, the announcer asked, “So what are the next few months going to look like for Annabeth Chase?”

“Well, it's going to be hard,” Elfie began, “she’s fresh off that injury from Rome, and starting her comeback a few months away from Athens, she has a lot of gymnastics to get through. Plus when you're on top of the world, like she is, to stay up there is even harder.”

Listening to the announcers sometimes was like reading a book Percy didn't care about. They talked and he heard the words, he just didn't have the ability or desire to process them.

“Here she goes, a really difficult vault right here,” Tim said as Annabeth began to sprint down the runway. She flew high and twisted impossibly fast, but when landing she took a big hop and then a small step after. The announcer continued, “Wow, a really great vault, but look at that face, she is not happy with that, one bit.”

He wasn't wrong, it didn't take someone who knew Annabeth all her life to tell she was pissed. It wasn't a bad vault by any means, she could just do better. Everyone knew that.

The cameras followed as Annabeth stepped down from the platform, hands on her hips, her beautiful face tight with tension and met with Chiron. They walked back to their chairs talking, but whatever was said Percy couldn't hear from the broadcast, though he could have sworn he read Annabeth’s lips saying ‘that was shit,’ to their coach. 

The announcers continued to talk, “Coach Chiron always takes the approach of trying to say something positive first before giving his feedback which works for Annabeth he told us earlier this week, which is probably what you can see happening at the moment between athlete and coach.”

Percy was astonished, “He can’t be serious, I literally heard Chiron last week threaten to sell Annabeth to the circus before they left.”

Hedge laughed, “well duh, but he can't tell that to the announcers during interviews, they’d think he was serious.”

“Are you saying he’s not? Because a few weeks ago he told me if I didn’t hit a handstand on high bar, there would be an amber alert out for me, and I’ve been terrified ever since,” Jason said.

Percy shook his head, “No, that he meant for sure, I don’t know what it is but a short handstand on bars will literally be the death of that man.”

His mother smacked him in the head, “Fine, I'm kidding, but only a little” Percy said. 

Jason groaned as Piper affectionately rubbed his back.

Percy turned his attention back to the TV just as Dagget was saying, “She’s done a lot of those vaults in competition over the past week and every single one of them has been better than that one.“

The announcers talked more but thankfully, the conversation around the room drowned most of it out, the cameras were still on Annabeth as she pulled on her pants and jacket to keep warm in the arena.

When her score popped up, Percy almost laughed.  Even with all that about it being her worst vault of the meet (and probably any meet since they were kids), she still scored higher than everyone else in her rotation.

Al seemed surprised by this as Elfie chimed in, “yes that is a good score, a 15.833, but she is capable of about a 16.0 on that vault.”

The other man was still confused, “that's interesting, because looking at it, visually, it didn't seem like the score should be that high.” There was an unasked question in there somewhere. Percy could practically hear the eye rolls from the gymnasts around the room.

Tim hesitated to answer, for what reason Percy wasn’t sure, but he finally settled on, “Right,” he laughed, “it's just such a hard vault,” and left it at that.

“This is gonna be a long afternoon, listening to these people,” Thalia groaned, biting into a cupcake. 

“I just hope they start being nicer to Annabeth, " Grover said. Percy couldn't agree more. 

Finally the cameras panned to another Brazilian waiting for her turn on the balance beam, they seemed to have sent a whole team trying with all their might to get a spot in Athens.

“Flavia Saraiva of Brazil is next on beam, and this is going to be big for her,” Al said.

Elfie continued, “The thing about the group from Brazil is they have a terrific team, a lot of positive things happening, but they've been decimated by injury and they did not earn an automatic berth, some of the women may qualify here, but if they want to earn a team spot there's another meet in April they’ll have to be successful at and any individual who does well in the event finals at the World cup can earn a spot without a team.”

The announcer finished her sentence right as the poor girl flew right off the beam, the crowd groaned in sympathy as she jumped back up and finished out the routine.

“Hopefully, she'll be able to use this as valuable experience going forward, she's got a bright future in gymnastics,” Tim said, right as the poor girl fell off the beam for the second time. 

She dismounted quickly as the other announcer proclaimed, “it's just a disappointing present right now. We’ll be back after these commercials, stay tuned.”

This time it was Sally who was shocked, “Oh my gosh, what an awful thing to say.”

As they returned from the commercial, they showed several routines in a row, a few Chinese women on bars and beam, a Canadian on floor, a Russian on bars. Half of them all had some major mistake or fall. Percy wasn't sure of the cause, maybe it was just nerves or a bad day, or the equipment in Scotland sucked, but something was in the water. 

The cameras panned to the beam, where Larissa Iordache waited for her signal, Annabeth had been obsessed with her for years, so Percy was very familiar with her accolades. He wondered if Annabeth had gotten a chance to try and talk to her yet. He didn't think she was able to  at Worlds, so hopefully she was getting her second chance, even if it was through a translator app on her phone. 

“Now we’ve got a little redemption here that needs to go on for Romania,” Al said, as Larissa began her routine.

Tim agreed, “Yes, Romania has yet to qualify for a spot for the Olympic games, this is historic, but this young lady is a contender and hopefully they can earn their spot. She is the reigning silver medalist in the All Around from the 2016 Olympics in Rio. So even if Romania does not qualify a team, you can't count her out, that's for sure.”

Elfie continued a new train of thought, “You know after Romania failed to qualify, she wasn't just crying, she was sobbing because it's unthinkable, she didn’t and neither had anybody thought that the Romanian delegation wouldn't qualify.”

They talked some more with Larissa performing in the background. Hearing all the talk about qualifying made him really soak in how lucky he was that not only did he qualify for the Olympics but the US Team did as well. Percy couldn't imagine having an extra meet in April to try and qualify as a late addition for Athens. It seemed like he wasn't the only one thinking about this because Piper spoke up.

“Could you imagine being the best in your country and already having earned Olympic medals but missing out of the next Olympics because your team couldn’t qualify.”

Hedge clearly had a different line of thinking, “I can't imagine an Olympics without Romania there. That's never happened in my lifetime at least, if gymnastics had royalty they'd be a part of it.”

Percy looked at the coach, “not sure that's quite how being royal works, but I think we get your point,” he teased.

It took a while for them to get back to Annabeth as they showed a few more routines and went to another commercial. But once they returned the cameras were all on her as she worked up her grips and talked to Chiron at the chalk bucket.

The announcers talked more about the pressure on Annabeth now that the Olympics were so close, and how that pressure was intensified with her injury, considering many people didn't think she'd recover in time.

Finally, Annabeth mounted the bars, she seemed to be in a good rhythm, as she swung and twisted. 

“Here comes her first tricky spot…Excellent as she connects those release moves and then goes straight to the low bar with some nice pirouettes, and back up she goes. Terrific.” Tim said.

“Watch how she finished each handstand and her pirouettes on top of the bar, her legs glued shut, her form is phenomenal.” Elfie added.

Percy's fists were clenched as she finished up the routine, he even jumped to his feet as she dismounted. “Yes!” He celebrated as she stuck her landing, giving Claire a high five. The young girl was even more excited than Percy watching this meet.

“That was enormous,” Tim stated, “definitely her best bar routine since being in Glasgow. I don’t think there’s anyone here who will be able to top that.”

The broadcast was now moving through athletes with greater speed, flip flopping between events and gymnasts. They in the apartment had begun talking amongst themselves, while still keeping a bit of their attention on the meet until something from the announcers had his ears prickling.

“Here is Asuka Teramoto from Japan, where gymnastics has been largely centered around the men's team. She looked really good here during the week, this could be huge, she’s doing the same vault as Annabeth Chase.”

Every head in the room turned to the TV as the other girl took off running. Percy’s mind was running a mile a minute, if athletes were gaining on Annabeth’s difficulty that meant they had a lot more work to do and doing that so close to Athens could be troublesome.

However, Percy could tell right away that even with Annabeth's poor landing, this other girl wouldn't measure up. In the split second that was vaulting, Percy didn't think she had enough force coming off the springboard to make the Cheng around. 

Asuka underrotated, her feet didn't quite make it down and she landed sitting. She pushed herself up quickly and saluted the judges.

The announcers seemed to audibly wince, Tim was speaking, “She’s such a small little person that athletes like her can't compress the springboard enough to do those powerful vaults. Asuka is capable of it, but she must have been off on her run.”

“I don’t know how I feel about athletes catching up with our difficulty,” Hedge said reading Percy’s mind, “We don't have the time to add in any unscheduled upgrades.”

Thalia was the one to try and settle their coaches' nerves, “Well We’re going to have to rely on our execution scores  to separate ourselves from the others.”

***

The announcers did not ease up in the slightest in their chatter. Percy figured, maybe they got nervous too, and as the day progressed they’d chill out. 

In fact, the opposite was true. They seemed to get harsher and harsher, no matter who the athlete was.

Annabeth was getting closer to being up on the balance beam, which sent Percy’s blood pressure skyrocketing. 

They just had to wait for the Russian who was currently on beam to finish first, the announcers tore into the poor girl, apparently she had a rough meet this time around and no one on the broadcast was afraid to say it. She landed her dismount with a step forward. 

“That was a decent routine, she’s in desperate need of some redemption, and that could be a decent start.” Elfie said as the cameras showed the girl as she hugged her coach and put her warm up gear on, he watched as Annabeth gave the other gymnast a thumbs up as she ascended the steps to the balance beam. 

Elfie continued as the cameras stayed fixed on his girlfriend, “Beam has not been Annabeth’s strong suit, it's in fact the event with her least amount of difficulty, she probably wouldn’t have even qualified for this event if it wasn’t for some uncharacteristic like mistakes from her competitors.”

“That’s right,” Tim cut in, “I asked her about it earlier this week and she said she was beyond shocked to have made it into beam finals, knowing some of the gymnasts she beat out probably deserved it more than her, but that won’t stop her from giving it her all and going for the gold.”

“Do you think she could win this event?” Al asked.

“It's not out of the realm of possibility yet,” Elfie answered, “We’ve seen a lot of errors and mistakes at this World Cup, so I wouldn't count her out as long as she has a clean routine. There were a lot of athletes this week who were great in practice and warm ups but when it came down to the real thing, they couldn’t seal the deal, so let’s see if Annabeth will capitalize off that.”

Annabeth saluted and mounted the beam, her legs swinging expertly in a set of flairs that made Percy proud. He knew exactly what would be going through her mind, she was a visualizer and would be imagining herself doing each move a split second before she did the real thing. 

Her first triple series was beautiful. Two back handsprings to a layout, she landed as effortlessly as she did on the floor. Her turns and jumps were gorgeous, she landed each steady as a rock.

“Come on Annabeth, you got this,” Percy was at work chewing his fingernails down to the quick.  

She nailed her standing Arabian, aerial, and illusion turn. Her mistake came on her front tuck with a half twist, Annabeth came down with one whole foot almost completely off the beam. Her hands hit the beam to steady herself as she fought to stay on the apparatus. The gasps around the apartment blended in with the crowd in Scotland.

The announcers even seemed to be shocked into silence for the time being, Tim spoke first, “That was pretty shocking right there folks, her grabbing the beam like that is a major deduction, I don’t know how she stayed on the beam, to be perfectly honest.”

“I think most gymnasts would have probably chosen to hope right off, but she managed to save it, which really just shows how incredible Annabeth is.” Elfie said.

Percy was shocked, “Wow they finally said something positive for a change, I just didn’t think it'd be about a mistake.”

Annabeth was already continuing with her routine, having been only about half way done. Tim continued speaking, “That was an amazing save, but still it will be a very large deduction, probably moving her out of medal contention.”

“Could the save help her score?” Grover asked the room

Piper was the first to answer, “a little bit, yes, it won't be the same deduction as completely coming off the beam, but it will be close.”

“What that save will help with more is the mental toughness she needs to finish the meet, if she had fully fallen off, Annabeth would have been so angry at herself and that's never good.” Percy said.

“That's surprisingly insightful for you,” said Thalia.

He smirked, “You think, I'd spend my whole life around Annabeth and not be able to make a good point or two?”

The little buzzer went off indicating it was time for Annabeth’s dismount. 

“Big Dismount here,” Tim said, as Annabeth completely stuck the landing on her double Arabian, causing the announcers to shout with glee, “that would've been hard to do for most people after a fall like that but I guess not for super woman right there.” 

The broadcast replayed Annabeth's mistake, the camera close up on the beam so they could all see Annabeth land and her right foot completely slip off the side of the beam. 

“Take a look right here,” Tim explained, “She lands off kilter, her food sliding off so she has to grab the beam which is a deduction, then she stands up, has a bit of a lean forward, which is another deduction.” 

The cameras panned over to Annabeth sitting on the floor, she didn't look as upset as she was after vault, though she had sorta seemed to deflate over the course of the meet. Nothing that most people would notice, but her smiles were not as wide as normal and she stared unblinking off into the distance as Chiron talked to her from off camera. Annabeth was angry at herself. This wasn't even close to her best gymnastics, though Percy had he been there would have argued that she's still doing pretty decent for this being her first meet after her injury.

When her score popped up, the announcers were almost stunned.

She was still in second place, with only a few girls left to compete.

“Woah, those upgrades are really working,” Hedge said, he may have continued but Al, the announcer was talking over him.

“See this is exactly what Tim was explaining earlier, even with the mistake, her difficulty is so high that her score puts her in second place with 3 more athletes to go.”

“And what's even crazier is that the balance beam is Annabeth's lowest difficulty score, so this may be a shock to other countries and athletes about how she hasn’t missed a step coming back from her injury and that she may still be the one to look out for in Athens.”

***

Percy and Sallys phones both went off in the middle of the broadcast. He leapt for the phone knowing there was only one person that it could be, considering most of the people he talked to were in this very room.

Plane is taking off now, see you in a few hours.

“Annabeth and Chiron are on their way home,” Percy told the room.

“Is that all she said?” Piper demanded, “did she say how she placed or anything like that?” 

Percy smiled. “Of course not.”

The room groaned and then broke out into a chorus of chatter and joking until Claire’s ecstatic voice erupted over the reverie. 

“Look, it's Hazel up on beam.”

That did get everyone's attention drawn back to the competition as Hazel mounted with a front tuck. The beam in Scotland had not been kind to the athletes, though so far Hazel was crushing it. The crowd was quiet as they watched, so much so that Percy could hear Annabeth’s voice cheering on their friend. Hazel’s form had been improved drastically and she was landing each of her skills solidly, she had a real chance of taking home the gold for this event. Though Percy knew better to say anything out loud, this was gymnastics after all. Things could go wrong at any point in time, no one was safe until you had dismounted and saluted the judges.

The announcers did not care about such superstition it seemed, as Tim said, “It seems that all the athletes who are doing the super difficult tumbling on beam have been very unsuccessful at this World Cup. Hazel has a lot of risk and reward in her routine, so far it's going beautifully, but let's just hope she can seal the deal here.”

“I can't believe he said that.” Thalia was outraged, “That's like asking the universe ‘What can go wrong?’

Luckily for Hazel though, she was dismounting before any bad luck could take hold, she landed her double back with a full twist, with a step backwards, but nothing catastrophic. The apartment cheered.

Hedge clapped loudly as he spoke, “They better give her the gold, she deserves it,” 

“That was the best beam routine we’ve seen not only from Hazel this week, but out of all the athletes on this apparatus today, there’s a pretty good chance that Hazel will take first with this performance.”

“Wow Hedge, if you get sick of this whole coaching thing, maybe you can go into commentating, I think you’d be way better than this crew.” Piper said.

The older man laughed, “Thanks Pipes, I think I’ll keep my day job for now.”

It wasn't too long before the graphic with Hazel's score was popping up on the screen, showing that she was in fact first. The camera panned over to an excited Hazel jumping up and down with excitement, and Annabeth running over to hug and celebrate with her. They cut to commercial with Annabeth and Hazel excitedly jumping up and down, hands entwined, and their raucous laughter overtaking the outro music.

There was still one event away from the end of the meet, so everyone took this as one of the final opportunities to go to the bathroom, grab more food, and really just stretch their legs. 

As Percy scooped more food onto his plate, he found himself cornered in the kitchen by Paul.

“Can we talk? It’ll be quick, we won't miss any of the competition.”

Percy’s anxiety spiked, his mind whirled with the possibilities, Paul noticing his panic quickly amended, “it’s nothing bad and nothing about school. I promise.” The older man opened the window and gestured for Percy to follow him onto the fire escape.

“If you're thinking of pushing me over, a few people will probably notice soon.”

Paul laughed, “no no, it's nothing like that,” They both shifted uncomfortably, digging both hands into their pants pockets. Paul stuttered a few times before finally deciding on, “How would you feel if I asked your mom to marry me?”

All Percy could do was stare, that had not been what he was expecting. Wasn't it a little soon for that? Didn't people get married after years and years of dating? After all, they had been dating only a little bit longer than Annabeth and him, and any time he thought of marrying Annabeth it was always many years in the future, but maybe that was just because not only were they literal teenagers but with their lives so carefully planned there wasn't room for marriage any sooner than that. Percy realized he was spiraling and making this mostly about himself so after a few moments of silence he finally decided on, “Are you asking my permission?”

“Of course, you mean everything to your mom, and I wouldn't want to do anything to put a strain on your relationship. I know you weren't always comfortable with our relationship, me being your teacher and all, so I genuinely want to know how you feel about this, especially with everything you have coming up soon. I really don’t want to give you too much extra stress. So if you say no, I’ll back off for the time being and we can talk about this in a year. Though I do want you to know that I love your mom and I think we can build a great family together.”

Percy didn't have to think for longer than a split second, he was sure Paul probably had more of his monologue planned, but Percy did think it was necessary. It wasn't hard when Paul was such a genuinely good person, “All I want is for her to be happy, and you do that. But if you hurt my mom, the wrath of the gods will come down on you.”

Paul smiled, “noted.” They hugged quickly before heading back inside, his head still reeling a bit.

He didn’t regret his answer, it was just a lot to process, and a lot of potential change. That wasn’t always his strong suit. He really wished Annabeth’s flight was getting in earlier; he needed her to talk some sense into him. 

They climbed back into the apartment, just as Sally was calling out to them, “Perce, Annabeth is about to go on floor, hurry up”

With his food in hand Percy made it back to his spot just in time to hear the opening notes of Annabeth's floor music.

Everyone in the room was watching intently, way more nervously than the rest of the meet.

“What's wrong?” asked Percy?

Piper answered first , “All three girls who went before Annabeth fell. One pretty bad too,”

“Woah, do we think it's the equipment?” There were always meets that had more mistakes than others, this one just seemed characteristically worse than most.

“Maybe,” Hedge allowed, “Or since this is the first World Cup of the season of an Olympic year, it could be nerves.”

The announcers began their speculations of whether or not Annabeth would follow in the path of the athletes before her. 

“These people are insane, how do they even have these jobs in the first place,” Percy asked, “There's no way Annabeth messes up here. I should've bet money on this, " he said as an afterthought, “wait, i’d make a killing, am I allowed to do that?”

All of the adults in the room answered nonplussed, “No.” 

Laughter echoed throughout the apartment as they watched Annabeth tumble, jump, leap, and dance so far without any incident. All she had left was her final pass, the dismount that cost her the National championship all those months ago. He knew she'd never let that happen again, so Percy was not at all surprised when she stuck the landing. Annabeth saluted with a smile and a flourish then ran off the floor. Hazel was there to greet her excitedly before her own turn on the apparatus. 

As the announcers were fawning over Annabeth's routine, Hedge looked at Percy curiously, “So how were you so sure she wouldn't mess up?”

Percy was mid-bite of a blue cookie but answered anyway, “If the announcers had done any research, they'd know what I do, which is that Annabeth has never made two major mistakes in one meet. She’d never allow it.”

***

At the end of the day, Annabeth took home three gold medals and one bronze. Hazel came home with one of each, a gold, silver, and bronze. Despite everything, it was a great day for the US women in Scotland. Their crew stayed at the apartment for hours after the televised meet, it was clear no one wanted the afternoon to end, so Sally brought out some board games, threw a movie on the TV and they all continued the fun until all the food was gone and they grew hungry again, ordering pizza for dinner.

Eventually, yawns were no longer able to be stifled and some people had school and practice early in the morning, so the night came to an end. Chiron would be back and after this meet, Percy knew his coach would be motivated to try and pick up the pace of their Olympic schedules. Annabeth would get the day off, but Percy had no doubt that the Old Man was going to put the rest of them to work. 

He tried to stay up until Annabeth got home, but as the clock passed midnight, his conscience began to rear its head. Training started at 8:30, and the coaches would be pissed if he got less than 7 hours of sleep, especially with a meet coming up. Plus Annabeth would wake him up anyway, so he may as well get a few hours of shut eye before she got back. 

Which is what happened around 3:30 am when something hit him in the stomach. He jerked awake to see Annabeth's smiling face. She didn't let him get even a groggy word out, before she was kissing him breathless.

She broke away, resting her forehead on his, she was no doubt about to say something sweet and romantic, but he couldn’t get this thought out of his head, he frantically interrupted Annabeth's words and said, “Paul wants to marry  my mom,” her eyes widened and Percy continued, “He asked for my permission, and I said Yes.” 

Percy threw himself backwards onto his bed, as if Annabeth had tortured the information out of him and she had finally relented after getting what she wanted.

Annabeth squealed, throwing herself down next to him in excitement, she rapidly fired off her own questions, “When is he going to propose? How is he going to? Can we watch? What does the ring look like? He has one already right, if not, can we go shopping with him?”

Percy's voice was very small when he answered, “I don't know… to any of that.”

“Is there anything you do know, Seaweed Brain?

Percy couldn't help himself, “That Paul wants to marry my mom.”

Even in the dim light of early morning, the look on Annabeth's face said she wanted to strangle him. Percy smiled, “I’m so glad you're home.”

Chapter Text

Thalia didn’t realize it was possible to be happy until she had arrived in New York. The longer she stayed the more she liked the prospect of being her own person. Which is why she was contemplating something Insane. The Olympics was normally a gymnasts ultimate goal, and statistically speaking it was very few gymnasts that were actually able to achieve that goal. Thalia's issue was that she had the ability but not the desire to go to the Olympics. She knew she was lucky, to be in this very unique group of amazing female athletes was something a lot of other gymnasts would kill for. But, it was never something SHE wanted. The Olympics was a goal her father had forced upon her, probably long before she was born. Glory above all else as the saying was. Sure she loved gymnastics and if her childhood would’ve been more like Annabeth and Percy’s and she grew up being loved and having fun maybe her outlook would be different. But seeing how much fun Percy and Annabeth had, left Thalia wanting something new and something all her own. She was taking a big risk, but it would be the first thing Thalia had ever truly done for herself in her entire life. 

She was going to retire from elite gymnastics and begin her college NCAA career. She had finally been brave enough to bring the topic up with Chiron a few months back. Thalia wished for the millionth time that he could’ve been her coach sooner, maybe she wouldn’t be taking such drastic measures to be happy. When she explained her situation he didn’t belittle her or yell, only responded with kindness and a willingness to help Thalia get to where she wanted to be. She almost cried in his office surrounded by photos of what could have been her life in a different universe. 

Chiron had been helping her with this plan, and without him there was no way any of it would work. She wanted to try and be a normal young adult, go to college, have fun at parties, make friends and join the college gymnastics team. She'd still be able to compete but the intensity wouldnt be anywhere as bad. Then once she graduated she could see about becoming a journalist or a broadcaster. 

Watching the first World Cup at Percy’s apartment had shown her many things, the most important being that she would be a much better analyst than the idiots currently doing that job. 

Her only problem? Telling everyone else. She wasn’t afraid, Thalia wasn’t afraid of anything really. 

But leaving Jason would be hard. He was the only person in the world that knew what she had been through, who knew herself better than Thalia did. Even with their dad she could always count on him to be there for her and vice versa. She couldn’t imagine being so far away from him, so instead of thinking about leaving her brother she’s been avoiding the situation completely. 

Which now left her in a predicament. She and UCLA had worked out an agreement. Thalia had started taking a few online classes after winter break. She’d start full time at the end of the month, but she’d start working out with the gymnastics team in one week to get to know the other girls and figure out her routines. The team was hoping she’d only miss the first few meets of the season. And in return, thank the gods, UCLA gave her a full ride.

Right now Chiron was the only person who knew she was moving back to California. Thalia was going to have to do something about that soon. She had tried to tell everyone on several occasions but each time she chickened out. 

Days passed, practices did too. Any time Thalia opened her mouth to start, something in her chest would seize, and her mouth would bob open and close like a fish. Then she’d throw herself into the workout at hand to distract from what she had to do. 

She let too much time go by that Jason and Piper's World Cup meet in Egypt came and went. She didn’t want to tell them too close to the competition and ruin his chances in case Jason let it affect him mentally. Just because she didn’t want to go to the Olympics didn’t mean that she wanted to take away Jason’s chances.

So they all piled into the Jackson’s apartment again for the second round of the World Cup.  Luckily they both had a pretty good meet, Jason took home 3 medals, a bronze on vault, a bronze on rings and a gold on parallel bars. He could’ve had a high bar medal but he dropped a release move. Thalia was happy to see that even from the broadcast Jason didn’t let the mistake get him down. If this was last year, he’d have been moping around the arena worse than a kicked puppy. Instead, he had a pep in his step that she had never seen before. Not that she’d ever admit this out loud but, it looked like that Seaweed Brain was rubbing off on her brother in a pretty productive way. 

Just last year, Thalia would never have believed that to be possible. Her father would be having a stroke right about now if he knew. Jupiter gymnastics had always viewed Coach Chiron and his athletes as public enemy number one. They were rules. Stay away, do not engage, and beat them, no matter what. Her father and step mother believed that Chiron's tactics of a fun and healthy work environment was not what it took to get to the Olympics and that only a strictly disciplined regimen would succeed.

If only Jupiter could see how wrong he was, well, he still probably wouldn’t see reason. 

It probably wasn’t only Jackson’s influence that was helping her brother. Thalia would forever be grateful to Piper for helping Jason come out of his shell. Hopefully the other girl would be able to be there for Jason when Thalia couldn’t. 

Piper did just as good in Cairo, she started off rocky with a small mistake on vault, but Piper didn't let that dictate what type of meet she had. Piper pushed through, came back and killed it on beam, eventually taking home the gold. Plus a silver medal on floor. A few months ago that would’ve been an impossible feat, but it really seemed like everyone was reaping the benefits of training at Olympia. 

Because of their insane World Cup schedule, Jason, Piper and Chiron got back early in the morning, then later that same evening Chiron had to be leaving with Percy off to Tokyo for the next. So that meant she had a very small window of opportunity to get this done. She needed to be strategic to make sure everyone heard the news straight from her.

Thalia had finally run out of time.

Time for drastic measures. To psych herself up, Thalia ran through her pre meet routine. She pulled on her favorite workout clothes, put on a full face with her signature winged eyeliner and with her music blaring in her ears, she put all worries and anxieties to the side. Thalia had work to do.

When everyone arrived at the Big House, only Jason seemed to notice something off about her demeanor. He kept checking in on her a few times throughout the morning, asking if she was okay and how her time alone was. As if he were the older sibling and not her. Annabeth may have noticed too but she was too classy to say anything at this present time. Thalia would have preferred to do this whole discussion at the end of practice, unnecessary risks were not wise at this stage in their game. But she was too afraid she’d chicken out again.

She dragged over a square mat and stood on top, like she was at a press conference as she declared, “I have an announcement.” 

“Wait wait, don't tell us, You’re retiring?” Leave it to Percy to say the most outlandish answer possible as a joke but actually be right. 

She leveled her most piercing stare at him, Thalia wasn't actually mad or annoyed, she actually had grown so used to Percy that she really did like him. Plus someone who was obviously that in love with Annabeth, who clearly returned the feelings couldn’t be all bad. But after so many months of the two of them bickering back and forth, she wasn't about to begin to mend their relationship now.

“Actually yes. I’m retiring from Elite, I’ve decided I want to go to college and compete there. UCLA has given me a full ride so I’ll be attending starting next week.  

Stunned silence. 

Jason looked at her like they had never met. His wide blue eyes as he stared at her were breaking her heart. Thalia had to look away.

“I will answer three follow up questions.” 

Surprisingly it was Percy who spoke up first, “ Why ?”

The various implications of that word were clear: why would she do this a few months before the Olympics, why after working out with them for so many months, Why would you leave your brother, etc.

“You all have helped me become my own person and shown me that I’m allowed to be happy in my own way. 

The next question was from Jason and his tone shocked her. Thalia was always the angry one, the one who was always ready for a fight. Seeing those mannerisms on her little brother seemed like a crime against nature.

“How long have you been planning this?”

“Since before the new year, I made an arrangement with UCLA where I’m taking the first few of my classes all online and I'll start in person during the next semester.”

Jason then turned his hurt and anger towards their coach. “Chiron, did you know about this?” 

The old man scoffed. “Of course. I know everything that happens around here…”  

“And you support it?” Jason interrupted. 

“I support anything that makes you all happy.” That seemed to take a bit of air out of Jason’s sails, for which Thalia was immensely grateful. 

“With the Olympics so soon?” Annabeth asked gently. The other girl was so dialed into The games that she couldn’t even contemplate that the upcoming Olympics were a huge catalyst for Thalia’s departure.

They were acting like Athens was tomorrow, and it wasn't in the slightest. There was still so much gymnastics that needed to happen before then, The World Cups, Classics, Nationals, Trials, and after that the development camp leading up to the Olympics, and after that was the Olympics themselves. And even though she knew intellectually that there was a more than 85% chance she’d make the team, Thalia felt exhausted and burnt out just thinking about all that, she didnt have the mental willpower that was needed to actually make it through the next several months. Plus, she didn't want to drag down the team or herself even farther, in the slightest chance that Thalia put herself through all that and survived to make the Olympic team. No, she had to get out now. But explaining all that to them would be like talking to a wall, her teammates were excited at the prospect of all that, they wouldn't and couldn’t understand if they wanted to be successful.

“I never wanted that, my dad did. I’m ready to be my own person and live my own life. I think gymnastics is gonna be a part of it. Just not the overwhelming majority. Maybe one day I can be a great collegiate athlete and an analyst who gets to replace the idiots people have to listen to at home, but nothing more than that.”

Piper had made her way closer to Jason, she had grabbed his hand while no one was paying attention. He was holding on to her like a lifeline. “When do you leave?” she asked.

“My first practice with the UCLA team is Monday, I’m leaving Saturday morning to get my bearings straight.” It was Wednesday, she watched them all do the quick math of realizing she only had three days left with them all.

“I think this calls for the morning and afternoon off,” Percy said looking pointedly at their coaches.

Chiron nodded, “I think so too,” he smiled wide at Percy in a way that was not at all kind, “But, Percy if you miss our flight later tonight, no one will ever find your body.”

Chapter Text

The vibes around the gym had been slightly off since Percy, Chiron, and Thalia’s departure. The rest of them were still proceeding with their workout routines with Hedge who did his best to keep their spirits up. But after months of there being 5 of them, fooling around, cheering each other on, and just generally being a group of teenagers who spent the majority of their lives together, it was pretty hard for just Hedge to try and emulate their previous energy levels.

Chiron had left extremely specific instructions for them all to follow, for literally everything. He had the feel of a first time mom leaving her baby alone with a sitter for the first time. This included Piper who technically wasn't even his athlete. But that was one of the things that Annabeth really loved about her coach, he never half assed anything.

The three of them began their morning routine with a normal endurance and conditioning circuit. They had been working themselves up to the eventual Olympic conditioning routine that Athena would implement during the training camp leading up to the Games. Annabeth was increasingly grateful that Chiron knew it, because she couldn’t imagine going through this blind after Trials. 

Afterwards they all had their own mini assignments on each apparatus, starting with the basics and ending with at least one full routine if they were feeling up to it. Chiron had even scheduled a time to FaceTime so he could see a little bit of what they were working on so he could give extra feedback along with whatever it was that Hedge was telling them. Honestly, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had found a way to hack into the gym's cameras to watch them during his down times with Percy.

They were great workouts, Annabeth was making terrific progress, she had never felt more confident in her gymnastics before, it just sucked that Percy had to be away for almost two weeks. It really should have only been about ten days, but with the lengthy time difference between New York and Tokyo, Chiron stressed the importance of arriving a few days early to give Percy more time to acclimate.

Luckily Annabeth was able to talk to her boyfriend at least once a day, early in the morning for her and late in the evening for him. He always called as he was climbing into bed and as she was getting ready for the day. They talked until Chiron, who was rooming with Percy, grew tired of listening to them banter and physically ended the call for them.

By the time Percy's meet was televised, it had felt like he had been gone for a thousand years. How they had survived the months she was in California earlier last year, Annabeth would never know.

So, they piled into the Jackson’s apartment again. Sally had opted for ordering Chinese takeout for everyone to enjoy, which really showed how close she was to finishing her current book because she had less and less time lately for anything not related to her most recent work. She was working hard to make sure it was completed before the Olympics that way, Sally would be able to attend without work getting in the way, and if it was warranted, She’d be able to celebrate with them too.

They all were situated with their plates a few minutes before the broadcast was set to start. Jason's phone rang from the settee he sat on with Piper.

“Hey everybody,” came Thalia’s voice from the phone.

Annabeth practically jumped over to the other couch, Sally right on her heels. They gave the Grace siblings a moment to catch up, but as soon as there was a lull in their conversation, Annabeth interjected, “How’s college, and your classes, and the team, when do you think you’ll compete?”

Sally and Piper were nodding along as Annabeth spoke. “Yes,” Piper agreed, “to all that.”

Thalia laughed, “Classes are good, college so far is fun, Sally close your ears,” to which the older woman pretended to in good fun, “I went to a party last night and had a great time, I've been meeting a lot of new people and making friends. Oh, I also finally finished unpacking my stuff, check out my dorm room.”

Thalia turned the camera around, showing them the minimal space she shared with one other girl named Jordan. They each had a twin sized bed and a small desk, and the smallest closet Annabeth had ever seen in her life, which was saying a lot considering Annabeth was from New York City. Above her desk was a collage of pictures from her time at Olympia, it seemed to be a miniature version of the one in Chiron's office. Behind Thalia an unintelligible voice shouted out. Thalia cursed, “sorry guys, I have to get to practice but keep me updated on how Percy does.” 

They hung up as Grover and Juniper arrived, the two seemed to be inseparable these days. Grover had even been showing up at the gym when Juniper was done to walk her home.

The couple thanked Sally for the food and sat down, as Claire, Paul's niece burst in, Paul close on her heels, a bag slung over his shoulder full of students papers he was behind on grading. He gave Sally a quick kiss as the intro music to the broadcast began to play showing an aerial shot of the arena and the surrounding area, Annabeth could just barely make out the cherry blossom trees in bloom and for the millionth time, wished she could be in Tokyo with Percy. 

This was the first time neither Annabeth nor Sally were at a meet of his and Annabeth was hoping that he wouldn't let it get to him. Where she was accustomed to her family not really showing up for her, Percy had no experience with that, he was always able to look into the crowd and know that either Annabeth or Sally was there rooting for him. But not this time. 

A deep voice began, “This is the third of four World Cups at the Ariake gymnastics center in Tokyo, Japan. Today will determine quite a lot in men’s gymnastics. Several athletes are here looking for the chance to make it to Athens in a couple months as event specialists, others are here as their first meet after injury, and some are looking for that international experience. This is Al Trautwig, alongside Tim Dagget, and Elfie Schlegal.”

Annabeth’s heart sank to her feet as the camera pulled in close to Percy’s face. Chiron must have been off camera somewhere talking, because Percy’s sea green eyes were focused intently, his black hair Annabeth could tell was eschew from his hands pulling at the ends. The muscular planes of his face were clenched.

Shit. 

Annabeth looked to Sally to see if the older woman also noticed something off about Percy’s demeanor. Unfortunately, Sally was always nervous during meets, so Annabeth was unable to tell if her apprehension was normal or if she also noticed Percy’s nerves coming through. 

Thankfully, Whatever Chiron was saying, was working, because she could see Percy visibly calming down and coming back into himself, as the announcer was saying, “The man who garners the most attention just by being him, Percy Jackson, who many speculate will become the first man from the United States to become an Olympic gold medalist in the Men’s All Around,”

Annabeth heard Hedge gasp loudly. None of them were terribly superstitious, but even so, that statement from the announcer was practically begging for something to go wrong.

The man continued, “but he’s not here to qualify for the Olympics, Percy’s already done that, so Tim, what exactly is his mission here?”

“Well Al, basically to get back out on the competition floor, to get on the podium and remind everyone, not just the US but the entire world, that he is still a force to reckon with after that non gymnastics injury took him out for a few months.”

A montage began of many of the athletes present and a brief synopsis of their story, unlike the women’s teams, most of the major countries with men's gymnastics teams had already qualified for the Olympics, so many of the athletes here were either recovering from an injury like Percy or weren’t sure if they’d make it onto their countries teams so they were trying to secure an Olympic spot in a different way. They showed Nile Wilson from England, who had just recovered from neck surgery and Heath Thorpe from Australia. That poor guy was here twofold, Australia still hadn't received a berth and his country had overlooked him for their National team, which was a prerequisite for making the Olympic Team, despite the fact that Heath was the Australian National champion. It was a weird choice their national committee had made. Percy was in a rotation with Heath a while back and grew to really like the older man, so when this news broke a while ago Percy was enraged on his friends behalf. Which of course came as a surprise to no one. They were all rooting for the Australian. 

Then the cameras switched over to a few Americans, and based on the solemn tone of the announcer, Annabeth knew it was not going to be great. 

“The Stoll brothers from America are here. There you see Connor Stoll, who will be competing alone today. The other big story of the meet being his brother, Travis.”

Jason cursed under his breath, “Oh no, this can’t be good for either of them, they're almost as co dependent as Annabeth and Percy,” 

Annabeth remembered the brothers from the development camp, they were always together and joking, you were always guaranteed a good time when they were around, she just hoped whatever the announcers were about to reveal wasn’t too bad.

“In qualifications, Tim, Travis looked as good as could be.”

The other announcer chimed in, “These qualifications were probably the best I’ve ever seen Travis look in a meet, he had the chance to qualify on at least 3 events. Routine after routine, he was powering through and sticking landing after landing. He was really making his case for his spot in Athens. But this routine right here on parallel bars, his last one of the night is where everything went wrong.”

“Oh my gosh, are they really going to show it, do we know how bad this was?” Sally, whose biggest fear for Percy was being played out for another athlete before her very eyes, asked. Voice borderline desperate. 

Luckily, Paul was there to ground her, because yes, they were playing whatever this injury had to be. Travis’ parallel bar routine started off normal, he made it through several difficult pirouettes, jumps, and flips. So much of the set had gone by that Annabeth worried that it would happen on the dismount. 

She turned back in as the announcers spoke, “I’ve never seen Travis work more cleanly, everything is done perfectly, until this skill where it all went wrong, a skill he’s performed thousands of times.”

To Annabeth's moderately untrained eye, it was definitely not the hardest skill but it was technical. Travis spun himself in a handstand on one hand, he should have brought his body down between the bars and swung out but his hands seemed to have gotten twisted.”

Tim continued, “looks like he got a little bit too high on the bar, misjudged the hand placement and a great night for him came to a terrible end.”

The woman announcer, Elfie, spoke for the first time during the broadcast, “I was about ten feet away, and I could hear a crack or a pop. This is not going to be good for Travis.”

They showed him trying to get back up on the bars with what had to be a broken hand or arm, but the pain had proved to be too difficult because Travis couldn’t make it to finish before he jumped off, saluted and made his way quickly to the medical area, his brother quick on his heels.

“Now we know Travis broke his fourth and fifth metacarpal bone in his hand, will he be able to participate in the Olympic Trials,” Al asked.

Tim was quick to reply, “No, he will not have enough time for that, his coach, if he feels Travis can make it, will petition the national team and see what comes of that. It will probably be a 4-7 week recovery and time is a precious commodity that these gymnasts will need to be in Olympic shape.”

“So we begin with Connor Stoll on high bar. And I have to tell you he’s got so many issues swirling around his brain, those two do nothing separate, it's always ‘we are going to the Olympics together,’ and not only that but they are each other's biggest supporters, they even coach each other. So this meet will be especially tough mentally, for Connor.”

Annabeth’s anxiety spiral had begun but was in full spin now as Connor mounted and began swinging through his routine. What was happening to someone she considered a friend, was quite literally her worst nightmare for her and Percy. Injuries happen all the time, it was the nature of the sport, especially at their level, when they pushed their bodies to their physical limit every day. This was just a horrible reminder that injuries could pop up at any time and ruin whatever plans they had made. No matter how good they were, it would be impossible to get back into shape after recovering from an injury so close to the Olympics. In the grand scheme of things, the timing of both their previous injuries was borderline lucky. 

Just as her mind was beginning to approach the speed of light, her phone buzzed from the table. It was her group chat with Chiron and Percy. The first message being from her coach who was clearly psychic.

We are boarding our flight. I’m sure you’ve seen the injury report by now, please don't work yourself up, we can’t afford thinking like that at this point. If you need to, call Cynthia tonight.

The message didn't do much to alleviate her worries, but she knew he was right, it wouldn't help to focus on worst case scenarios, Annabeth would definitely call their therapist as Chiron suggested, and hopefully get a quick session in with her at some point in the near future. 

Breathe. Enjoy the meet. She told herself as a message from Percy came in: Paris baby 💙

Her self talk was a start to normalizing her thinking and breathing. That, coupled with Percy’s reminder that they'd both train for the next Olympics if the worst happened, she could physically feel her heart rate lessening. And when a hand reached over and squeezed her shoulder. Sally looked at her with knowing eyes, while everyone else's focus was on the TV. With her support and Percy’s and Chiron’s apparent clairvoyance Annabeth was able to dial back her anxiety and finally set her sights on the TV just as Percy’s face appeared. 

She had missed the rest of Connors routine but was elated to see Percy ready to go on vault. 

“And here we have Percy Jackson on vault, the man of the hour, he qualified to 4 of these events and now with Travis’ injury 5. And he has the ability to medal on all of them,” Elfie explained, “he's also the most successful male gymnast from World’s in Rome and expected to be the top contender for Athens.”

 Percy saluted and began to run towards the table as the other announcer Tim continued to talk, his voice getting louder and louder as he spoke, “Huge vault here, a double front with a half twist!” 

Percy landed with only a small step forward, it was going to be a great score. The camera followed Percy for just a second, but it was enough to see him high five someone in his rotation and celebrate with Chiron before a quick montage of other gymnasts. A Russian on vault after Percy, an Italian who fell off of the pommel horse, and a Korean who had his knee rebuilt last year, on the still rings.

Another familiar face popped up, one that Annabeth was not expecting to see. The announcers introduced, “Now we get to Frank Zhang, Tim, where does he fit into the American Olympic Plan?”

“Well, he’s a very strong gymnast and he’ll show that here on the still rings, but you know, he told me this week, that he’s frequently frustrated because whenever he finishes near the top of a standing, people are always surprised. Wow, look at that,” Tim’s train of thought was cut off as Frank mounted and began his routine, “We call that a Balandin, and it takes an enormous amount of strength. He goes from a complete dead hang and pulls himself up until he’s in the inverted cross position. Incredible.” 

Elfie had picked up the other announcer's train of thought, “And Frank also has said that he loves the fact that he’s not in the limelight because that takes a lot of pressure off him, but he shouldn't be underestimated.” 

“Frank has several skills in this routine that you won’t see many other athletes doing, simply because they don’t have the strength needed to execute them properly. And so far this has been a fabulous showing. Frank sometimes isn't the most consistent of athletes, but this week in Japan he has been phenomenal.” Tim added. 

Frank continued to show off his strength, pulling himself up to certain positions, flipping himself over quickly and slowly. It really was a terrific routine so far. When he finally dismounted with a double back and two twists, he landed with a small step to the side. 

“Yes, nice job Frank!” Jason clapped, clearly excited for his friend.

Frank excitedly left the platform, Annabeth knew who he’d be celebrating with first. Plain as day she could make out her Seaweed Brain in the background, high flying and hugging the other man.

The cameras followed Frank off the competition floor as the announcers spoke again, “Only a handful of gymnasts can bring in a big score on rings, and Frank is one of them, so the US National Team will be looking at him closely.”

The screen faded to a commercial, everyone scrambled to get more food and drinks. They all fell into casual chatter even when the broadcast returned to the meet. Minus, Sally, who had her computer in her lap and was typing away. 

The meet returned with a young man standing in the corner of the floor, Al spoke first, “and here we have Carlos Yulo from the Philippines on floor exercise. They have not yet qualified a team to the Olympics so this is Carlos’ main chance to make it to Athens. He was extremely successful in the previous two world cups and he's been looking fantastic here as well. He’ll have one more meet at the beginning of next month that if he performs well there, you will definitely be seeing him in Athens as an event specialist.”

“What you are about to watch is spectacular. This young man here is probably the only person in the world with a floor routine that can measure up to Percy Jackson, the reigning World champion on the event. If Carlos makes it to the Olympics as an event specialist there will definitely be a battle for gold between the two.”

This was news to Annabeth, Carlos was at World’s, he took silver on floor but unless Annabeth's memory was foggy (which was entirely possible, a lot was happening then) she didn't remember it being so close then, so Carlos had to of  made upgrades of his own.

He saluted and ran for his first tumbling pass. He opened up with a gorgeous two and a half twist to a front double pike with a stuck landing. His next tumbling was just as perfect, a double full to a front layout. He made his way to the middle of the floor with a side tumbling pass of a triple twist that went higher than some gymnasts on vault. He showed off his flexibility in a side split and his strength by press handstanding out of it, until he was able to return to his feet. He rolled into the nearby corner for the next pass. A front layout into a front two and a half twist. Carlos landed a bit too forward causing him to step off to the side. 

Annabeth was no judge but it was so far the only deduction she was able to pick up.

“Here he goes for his last pass, this has been stunning,” Elfie said, “This is an incredibly taxing routine and he doesn't look tired in the slightest.”

His last pass was another triple twist that he stuck.

“Holy shit,” Annabeth said aloud.

Hedge nodded, “I second that.”

 “I don't remember him being that good at Worlds,” Jason sounded nervous, rightfully so.

“This is the time for upgrades kids, you lot are not the only ones making them,” Hedge said.

Grover asked, “do we think Percy can beat that?”

Annabeth answered first, “it depends on their difficulty scores, if Percy’s is higher, I think he can do it, but it’s going to be extremely close.”

The announcers were presumably having a similar conversation, but the apartment had tuned them all out amidst their panic. Annabeth and Percy had grown so used to being at the top, that the prospect of other people catching up hadn't really crossed her mind. Between Carlos catching up to Percy’s floor routine and Asuka Teramoto catching up to Annabeth's Cheng vault, they had to reevaluate the upgrades they were planning on making.

When the graphic popped up on their screen, Annabeth let out a small sigh of relief. 

“Percy has two tenths more in difficulty, so he needs his execution to be just as good as or better than Carlos’ to beat him.” Annabeth told the others, mostly for the benefit of the nongymnasts in the room.”

“I will say, if Percy has to take silver on floor at a meet, I’d rather it was here than the Olympics,” Hedge said. 

Next on their screens was a man that Percy had been fangirling over for the better part of a decade. Kenzo Shirai from Japan, he’d had a long and terrific career, that he’d already announced would be over after this coming Olympic games, if he made it, which of course Kenzo would. He was the king of twisting with several skills named after him, two of which Percy currently had in his floor routine. 

Now, he was up on high bar. Annabeth could see Percy chalking up his grips in the background. It was weird to know first hand what it was actually like competing in these events and then how they presented the meet to the audience at home.  Only eight athletes would qualify for each event, then over the course of the day, each group competed on each apparatus all at once. But on the TV they showed athletes competing in all different orders, probably to keep the audience at home from getting bored like they would if they showed 8 floor routines all in a row.

 “Here is Kenzo Shirai, the most decorated gymnast Japan has to offer. If he can successfully complete this routine it will be absolutely electric.” Tim the announcer said.

Kenzo was lifted to the bar by his coach and began to swing. He started with a simple hop over the bar which he caught, he kept swinging and pirouetting and went for his next release which was getting the announcers very excited. 

He flipped backwards over the bar twice, a Kovac, but even Annabeth could tell he caught the bar too close.

“Oh, he caught that a little close, it’s caused him to lose a little of his momentum.” Elfie said.

He tried to increase his speed but when he came to his German Giant he didn't have enough power and couldn't push up into a handstand, his back arched and he jumped right off the bar. The crowd awed in sympathy.

Annoyed, he made his way to the chalk bucket and scrapped his grips down with chalk.

“That’s okay, Kenzo, you got this,” Percy shouted from the floor.

The older man jumped back up on the bar with the help of his coach, and after completing one more full twisting Kovac and and a few pirouettes, he dismounted the bar with a laid out triple twisting double back, he saluted the bar and quickly exited the competition floor. 

Percy held out his hand for a fist bump which the other guy reluctantly returned.

Their screen suddenly showed Percy as the announcers said, “ After these commercials we'll come back to see Percy Jackson on the floor exercise.”

It was only a few more minutes before Percy's face was blown up on their screen as he awaited the signal from the judges to begin.

Al, the announcer began, “Percy Jackson the sixteen year old from New York City and the reigning world champion in the All around and this event, the floor exercise.”

Tim continued as Percy saluted and took his first pass. A laid out triple twisting double back that he stuck perfectly, “He is the cleanest guy in the world on this event, in my opinion, that was beautiful and perfectly done.” As Tim kept bragging on her boyfriend's floor abilities, he landed his second pass, a double arabian with a half twist, which he landed perfectly again. “Percy is a great lander and twister, just watch this, there’s a lot going on.”

Annabeth knew his routine about as well as she knew her own, he did a 2.5 twist right into a triple twist. Spinning so fast it was hard to keep up. He had the smallest step on the landing.

“It's the way that he lands with his shoulders up, that's what the judges are looking for. Take a look right here.” Elfie said, there was a bit of awe in her voice as she watched as Percy did another 3.5 twist into a front full.

“That is amazing,” Tim exclaimed, “and even more so that Percy does that as his fourth pass, he’s getting tired and that 3.5 is hard to control but he doesn't let that show in the slightest. Just a small tenth of a point hop on that landing.”

To her, this was a quiet part in his routine, the butterfly kick into a dive roll, but the the announcers went wild for his air flares, where he spun his body around on the floor like he would on pommel horse, but showed off his strength by jumping from hand to hand in the middle.

“That may look easy, but it's not, those air flares are so so incredibly difficult, there's a reason he's the only athlete in the world to do that.” Tim excitedly explained.

Perfect by then had landed in his split then went  into a press handstand. Now he added in an additional triple twist at the end.

“I really hope the judges will differentiate here between deductions, Carlos Yulo was very clean, but I think Percy is cleaner.” Tim said as Percy did a full in double layout to a front full.

Elfie added, “He’s actually tied for the highest difficulty here, but I think Percy's execution score will definitely keep him on top.

Percy’s dismount a double twisting double layout to a front layout he landed with a small step, nothing too major.

“Wow, incredible,” The announcers were laughing to themselves in amazement. “I love this young man, he is fantastic,” Tim said as Percy jogged off the floor to celebrate with the other athletes and Chiron.

Annabeth couldn't agree more.

***

Paul cornered Annabeth in the kitchen during a commercial, and ushered her to the fire escape. Had Percy not already told her about his asking for permission to marry Sally, Annabeth would have thought her former English teacher's behavior very concerning.

Annabeth crawled through the window, the cold night air immediately stinging her face. 

 Paul began with no preamble, “I’m sure Percy told you about what he and I discussed while you were in Scotland.” Annabeth nodded while he continued, “I wanted to run my possible proposal by you too and make sure I have your permission before I do anything.”

This had her a bit confused, and her face must have shown.

“I mean it, Sally loves you like a daughter and I don't want to ruin anything by causing this huge change, plus…”

Annabeth stopped him in his tracks. “Paul, you 100% have my blessing to do this, I've honestly never seen Sally so happy and she deserves that more than anyone.” 

Paul breathed a sigh of relief, “thanks for not making me work for that.”

“Not so fast, I do have some follow up questions.” Annabeth and Percy had been so busy lately that they hadn’t gotten around to digging for more details. “When are you planning on doing it?”

Paul smiled, “I'm not sure if my idea is any good, so I'm open to feedback, but I was thinking about at the end of her book tour, she ends at her favorite bookshop.”

Annabeth shook her head, “no notes, that sounds terrific, now show me your ring ideas.” He showed her a few pictures that had her worried, “Oh this you will absolutely need my help with, I didn’t realize you were a lost cause when it comes to jewelry.”

“I think I'll take you up on that offer, just let me know when you're free.”

There was a knock on the window, Grover was pointing to the living room, Percy must have been up again. They crawled back into the apartment, Annabeth soaking in the warmth, just to see her boyfriend jump to the high bar.

Tim was already talking about Percy, “since the moment this kid could walk, he’s been told how talented he is, how quick, fast, strong, and you will see a combination of all of that here.”

“Annabeth,” Piper was holding back her laughter, “I think this dude is after your man.”

“The announcers are really getting nicer the farther we go through these world cups,” Grover pointed out.

Annabeth would have told him that it probably helped that since this meet was later in the season the athletes had more time to prepare than they did for her meet in Scotland which was the literal first competition of the year. But, Percy was already winding up and Annabeth could no longer think clearly.

“Tim this routine is so hard,” Elfie said as Percy did his first release, a jump over the bar. “Its crazy, he can't even talk when it's over”

Percy wound up, throwing and catching perfectly, his Cassina, a laid out double back with a full twist, which he went straight into his Jackson, a laid out double back with two twists.

“Oh my gosh, incredible, he barely got his hands around that, but pulled it in at the last second, this is non stop crazy gymnastics,” Tim said as Percy pirouetted and let go for another release that had the arena going wild. He did his one armed giant and a few more turns until he wound up for the dismount.

“No one gets the crowd riled up on high bar quite like Percy Jackson and here goes his dismount. Let's see if he throws the new one.”

Sure enough he did, letting go of the bar, Percy flipped three times, incredibly fast, his feet hit the ground with such a force that he rebounded straight up, he landed in the same spot but it’d be a deduction nonetheless.

Percy saluted and ran off the floor, fist punching the air as he celebrated with some of the other guys like Frank Zhang, Connor Stoll, and Heath Thorpe, who clearly didn’t mind they were all competing against each other.

The broadcast was clearly beginning to run out of time because they quickly began to run through athletes and their routines rapid fire. Frank on parallel bars, Heath on Floor, a couple Russians Annabeth had never met on rings and vault, they even speed ran through Percy’s parallel bars as it wasn't his best routine.

“I don't really understand,” Grover said when the announcers sounded disappointed, “that looked like a great routine, what was wrong with it?”

They showed a quick replay, Annabeth let Jason take this question seeing as he was the only male gymnast here. “Watch his hands, each time they come off the bars when he’s swinging, every time that's a deduction, He should have a fluid and controlled swing. It won’t be as bad as the announcers make it out to be, my guess is he’ll still medal, just not a gold.  

Percy only had pommel horse left. But with an hour left of the meet, she figured it’d be a few minutes before seeing him again. The fact that he missed out on qualifying for rings was probably annoying him, especially after the amount of work he had put in for it, Annabeth knew it would be the first thing he worked on when he got back in the gym. If he wanted to win the All Around gold, he’d need to beef up his ring routine.

“Up next we have Nikita Nagorny from Russia on floor, he’s actually tied for the highest difficulty with Percy Jackson right now, due in large part to a pretty spectacular beginning tumbling pass.” Elfie said as the Russian waited for the judges.

Jason cursed again.

Piper looked at him sideways, “what is it? Do you know what this first pass is gonna be?”

“Rumor has it that he's been working on throwing a triple pike. He allegedly wanted to throw it at worlds, but his coach held him back.”

Nobody else was able to get a word in before Nikita was running for his first pass and proving Jason completely right. A triple pike, flipping backwards three times in a row with straight legs but his body bent at the waist forming a V shape when done correctly. This was a slightly harder version of Percy dismount off high bar. Doing it on the floor was mind boggling, it seemed like so much risk for a little bit of reward.

“Incredible! That was even better than in qualifications.” The announcers were all talking over each other, but that was Annabeth's main takeaway.

Nikita continued with his next pass, a double arabian with another step on the landing.

Paul's niece, Claire spoke up, “his difficulty may be the same as Percy’s but I don't think the execution will be anywhere close.

She said it about 5 seconds before the announcer Al. 

“Maybe it's because Percy isn't here to say it, so I have to, but Claire, have you thought about dropping out of the 5th grade and taking their job.” Hedge asked.

The younger girl pretended to think about it, “maybe one day, but first, I want to be like Annabeth.” 

Annabeth pulled Claire in for a hug, “a lot of hard work and you totally can be.”

***

Percy came away with a gold on floor, high bar, and vault plus a silver on pommel horse, and a bronze on parallel bars. That was seriously impressive, not that she’d say that in so many words, lest his ego get any bigger. He’d definitely have an issue with his performance on rings and even parallel  bars considering the only reason he qualified was because Travis Stoll had to pull out. All in all, for his first meet in months, this was probably best case scenario, not that he’d agree.

The next day their morning workout came and passed, on days like these, she normally napped at the gym then had lunch at the Big House with Jason and Piper (despite feeling like a third wheel at times), but Annabeth decided to treat herself and head back to the apartment. Percy should've been home already, but apparently they had a delay in Tokyo that led to them missing a connecting flight in Los Angeles. 

Annabeth's heart lifted as she heard the front door open, she was post nap and in the process of heating up leftovers for lunch. Percy burst into the kitchen, wordlessly pulling her into a hug, she squeezed him back, it wasn’t long until their lips found each other. They could’ve stayed like that all afternoon, but Sally, having heard the commotion from her office, came running out quickly.

They broke apart, as Sally said, “you're home!” and pulled Percy into a hug herself. “How was your flight? Did you sleep at all? Are you hungry?”

Percy answered her questions in order, “Fine, kinda, absolutely, can we please go out for lunch?”

“I won’t mind being a little late to practice,” Annabeth said looking at Sally.

The older woman looked at her phone, “I have some time that I can spare before a meeting later this afternoon, your pick Perce.”

The three of them ended up at a cafe, Sally pulled her phone out as soon as they sat down, she laughed at the message and turned her phone around so they both could see the text from Chiron, 

DO NOT LET THAT BOY SLEEP

Percy groaned, “I have heard nothing about beating the jet lag since we left LAX.”

“Well maybe you can keep me company in my meetings today, I’ll make sure you stay up so your coach doesn’t kill you.” Sally said.

“Mom, I say this with all the love in my heart, there is nothing more likely to put me to sleep than one of your book meetings.”

Annabeth tried not to laugh as Sally swatted at her son playfully.

Their food was dropped off and they all dug in, catching up quickly by talking around mouthfuls of food.

Annabeth had just finished recapping her two weeks alone, as Sally started on her own retelling. She was about to turn in the final final draft of her novel and barring a catastrophe, she should be done, soon her book tour would start, probably a couple of weeks at the least but a few months at the most, it all depended on how much demand there was for Sally across the country.

“With that being said, how do we feel about the two of you being alone in the apartment while I'm gone?”

Annabeth, mid sip of water, began choking, Percy slapped her on the back to try and help while they both looked at Sally in abject horror. The three of them were all pretty open with each other, but not to this extent. 

She regained her composure enough to say, “honestly, you can completely trust us to stay at the apartment alone, one of us can take your room and the other can keep Percy's.”

Percy agreed quickly, probably just as eager as her to get this conversation over with, “totally, everything she said, though if that idea still makes you uncomfortable, we can also stay at the Big House if you’d rather.”

Sally took a minute thinking before she responded, but right as she went to reply, her phone rang. She dug around in her bag and quickly answered. Saved by the bell, Annabeth thought.

Percy looked to Annabeth and mouthed, thank the gods.

They laughed together as Sally hung up. “Let me think on this and I’ll let you know, my meeting has been moved up, so I have to leave now.” She took out a debit card and laid it on the table for them. Call me later and let me know if you want me to pick you up from the gym.” Sally stood up only to be met face to face with a young woman, smiling wide and holding one of her books.

“I'm sorry, I really didn't want to interrupt your lunch, but would you mind signing my book and taking a picture?”

No matter how late Sally was going to be, there was no way she could turn down a fan. Annabeth took the girl's phone to snap some pictures as Sally signed her book, “Thank you so much, I can't wait for the next one,” and off she ran excitedly showing the table of people she was with her book. 

“That was weird right?” Percy asked as Sally ran to catch the train.

“No, Seaweed Brain, I know this is hard for you to believe but some people actually like reading”. They paid and tipped their waitress, who asked them for a quick picture, which helped Percy feel as though all was right in the world. 

“I cannot wait to get to Olympia, I'm so sore I think my body is going to dissolve, I was fine till that 45 year flight.

Annabeth bumped his shoulder with hers, “Well, how about we take a quick detour first,” She led him past their subway station and it wasn't long until Percy knew where they were heading.

He squeezed her hand, “I can't believe I didn’t think of this first.”

Their favorite bakery had a short line, which almost never happened. They quickly ordered a massive chocolate eclair and a blueberry danish , plus a box of macarons for everyone at the gym to share. 

Percy took a bite of his Danish, “The train better be on time, because if I can’t sit down soon, I might literally disintegrate.”

Annabeth laughed, knowing his pain, the days following a meet were always rough, especially ones after long flights, “Worse case scenario, I’ll fireman carry you.”

He contemplated that idea, “I don't think the relationship gods would allow that, it doesn’t seem very chivalrous. They’d be well within their rights to strike me with lightning.” 

By the time they made it to Olympia, Annabeth should've fireman carried him, no matter the risk of lightning damage. Hell she’d have carried him bridal style if it had made him stop complaining about his aching, failing body.

Walking through the door, Chiron was there to meet them, “Perce, massage therapist is waiting for you in the recovery room, I am playing heavy metal music to ensure you don't fall asleep.”

Percy didn't even have a retort, Annabeth and Chiron looked to each other waiting for Percy to be Percy but instead he mumbled, “Oh thank god,” and limped off expeditiously. 

Chiron hugged Annabeth quickly, “ready to get to work?”

“Are you? I know the time change is not doing you any favors,”

He waved away her concern, “ehh, I’ll be fine, but maybe if I'm feeling up to it, Ill cut practice short.”

“Now that is the wise advice I like to hear,” Annabeth offered him a cookie which he took happily.

Jason and Piper were already on the equipment by the time Annabeth started stretching. She went through her own warm up routine, as Piper noticed her late arrival, she paused her tumbling drills. With hands on her hips and sly smile said, “Lost track of time, I see.”

“Is that a new bruise on your neck that I see?”

Jason, having heard their teasing and realizing it applied to him too, lost his composure and hand placement and flung himself right off the highbar. He landed on his stomach with a loud thud.

Chiron, true to his word as always called practice about an hour early, Percy was still going through rounds of recovery when they joined in. She quickly jolted him awake, as he laid asleep in Legolas the Leg Sleeves, if Chiron saw him like this, they’d definitely be running miles in the morning. Piper and Jason were in the ice baths as Annabeth hooked herself up to Emily the EMS machine, who would electrocute her muscles into not being sore.  

Chiron and Hedge entered, bad news plastered on their faces, “while you can't run away from us, we have a few things we need to discuss.” Hedge was in his adult mode, which Annabeth took as a grim sign.

Chiron continued, “we're in the homestretch here. With only a few months until the Olympics, The National Team Leadership is asking for a lot of promotional advertisements. Commercials, photo shoots, interviews and that also includes vignettes for Trials and Athens, and all other promos for the national team. The majority of these will be mandatory, but if we figure out what you all want to do least we can maybe minimize that in the schedule.”

“I hate commercials,” Jason admitted.

Chiron nodded, “noted, anyone else?”

Percy spoke up next, “I’d love for the interviews not to suck,”

Chiron rolled his eyes, “insightful, anything else?”

It took an hour for them all to come up with a plan everyone was comfortable with and that Athena as the National Team Coordinator wouldn’t veto immediately. 

“Alright, team, get out of here,” Chiron said, then suddenly a loud crash as their coach slammed a box next to Percy.”

He jumped up breathing heavily, upon seeing Chiron's annoyed face said, “8:00 pm is a normal time for people to sleep.”

“For toddlers,” Annabeth laughed. 

The one thing Chiron knew better than gymnastics was Annabeth and Percy, so she wasn't surprised when he expertly stepped in the middle of what was sure to break out into a bicker fest. “I'm too tired to hear any of this, get out, go home and get some rest. It only gets worse from here.”

Chapter Text

Bright lights shone in Percy’s eyes, which was all for the best, because if he could see the TV cameras he’d probably be more freaked out than he already was. He could feel the barest touch of Annabeth’s arm as it rested next to his, and the bare skin of her leg brushing up against him to help give Percy something else to focus on other than his nerves. Jason and Piper were on the other side of him, Percy could see Jason messing with his microphone pinned to his shirt, while Piper kept pulling at her earrings and adjusting her hair. 

In Percy’s experience the only thing more exhausting than a full day gymnastics meet was a full day of interviews. Nationals went by without a hitch, Percy and Annabeth both took gold, doing all that over again would have been more enjoyable and much less stressful than this.

The sooner their interview was over, the better. 

Finally a woman in a pantsuit showed up, she had long black hair braided into pigtails and bangs falling over her forehead.

“Hello! Everyone, it's so great to meet you. I know you're probably nervous but we’ll get through this together, just be yourselves and this’ll be over before you know it. I'm a big fan of all of you, so I'm on your side.”

A voice from behind the screen began a countdown then called, “Action.”

The interviewer started, “I’m Emily Oyama here with Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Piper McClean, and Jason Grace, four incredible gymnasts looking to land a spot in Athens in a few months. First, I think congratulations are in order. Last weekend was Nationals, in which Annabeth and Percy took gold in the all-around final and Jason and Piper both took silver.”

They all echoed their “Thank yous.”

“So first, I wanna ask, you all seem like really good friends, how do you keep that up with having to compete against each other?”

Annabeth spoke up first. She looked beautiful. She and Piper went on a quick shopping trip this morning, when Piper deemed Annabeth's outfit, ‘cute but not fit for TV.’ When they met at the train station to get to the studio, Percy’s jaw dropped when he saw the royal blue two piece set, with a high collared top and flowy skirt, with a small bit of skin showing in between.

 “I think it does help that we are genuinely great friends and because of that we want each other to succeed, especially knowing how hard we all work in the gym. Because of that, we can be normal friends but we also know how to compartmentalize during meets and focus on ourselves while still rooting for each other to do well.”

“How did you all start gymnastics?” 

Percy looked over to Annabeth who was already smiling at him. Percy answered for them, “Annabeth and I were on field trip in preschool to our gym, we were so impressive, even then, (Annabeth's laugh was music to his ears and did wonders for reducing his heart rate) that our coach begged our parents to sign us up and the rest was history.”

Piper spoke next, “My origin story is boring, I was an energetic kid, so my dad had me in almost every sport known to man, and gymnastics was the one that stuck.”

“I’m boring too. Gymnastics runs in my family, so there was never any other option and I was just lucky that I was good at it,” Jason admitted, then added, “ I didn't mean for that to seem so bleak.”

They all laughed, “you better watch it," Piper said, squeezing Jason's arm playfully, “The gymternet is gonna be convinced you're doing all this against your will.” 

There were a few other questions asked that were not completely awful, that they were all able to answer in good fun. All in all, this was probably the best interview they’ve had to do so far, mainly because they got to do it as a group so it sorta felt like they were hanging out, just with an audience.

“Ok, so I have one last thing for you, it's a little game and the winner gets a prize. We’re gonna play ‘Who knows their teammate better?’”

At that, Piper and Jason groaned, they stood up in unison and pretended to walk away, “that's it for us, you don't need us here for this, Percy and Annabeth are gonna take this one for sure. Call us an Uber please” Piper ranted.

Annabeth grabbed onto Percy's arm as she laughed at their friends, the interviewer playfully joked back as she handed them each a whiteboard and a marker.

“Okay, I have a few questions for each of you, your teammates will write their guess down, the person with the most right answers wins our prize.”

She had to say no more to get their competitive spirits racing. They argued and laughed, answering questions like, favorite event, movie, and snack, celebrity crush, their funniest memory from the gym, plus many others, though it barely felt like they were still being interviewed, instead it just felt like fun. Surprisingly Piper and Jason were able to keep up, but once they got to the questions about Percy and Annabeth, the two of them were really able to pull away. 

At one point Annabeth was practically yelling at him, “No! No! No Percy, that is not the right answer,” Her hands were daggers in his arms and her face was about three inches from his, but he didn’t care, he was laughing too hard. “Your go to Chinese order is literally extra extra spicy Chicken with garlic sauce with extra white rice and crab rangoons, I cannot remember the last time you ordered sweet and sour chicken!” Even the camera operators were laughing at his girlfriend's outrage.

“My answer is my answer, Annabeth.” Percy said in a tone of voice that was sure to piss her off.

“No,” She said simply then looked past the interviewer to Chiron, she didn't even need to ask and he was handing her her phone. Annabeth began to scroll, “everyone standby, to prove my point for the folks at home, I’m literally about to find the last time we ordered Chinese food. Found it!” She showed it to Emily and even the camera a little bit hiding the fact that there were definitely a few hearts next to his name, the gymternet would have a field day if they found out they were together, though the fact they got this far without any gym fans knowing was beyond him. “That proves you should be wrong and I get the point.”

“Per the rules of the game, whatever I write goes and your answer does not match mine.” Percy smiled sweetly, his eyes softening.

“Fine, for the rest of your life when I am ordering, you will only ever be getting sweet and sour chicken.” Annabeth crossed her arms and turned her chair so she was facing away from him.

Emily the interviewer composed herself, “well we are running out of time, but it looks like Percy did win, so as his prize he gets to make a post on the losers Instagram's.

Immediate outrage. Mostly in good fun.

Piper was first, “I did not consent to any of this, you're gonna throw off my whole aesthetic,”

Percy was ecstatic, “those are the rules, hand over your phones.”

Despite the protests, the other three were clearly amused, and did comply. None of them were the kind of people that actually took social media that seriously. Percy knew immediately what he was going to post, it just took a bit of googling to find the perfect one for each of them.

He added, “you guys have to keep these up for at least 24 hours.” Percy passed their phones back and waited for the collective groans. 

Annabeth was indignant, “I knew you were gonna do this. I bet you're pretty pleased with yourself.” 

Percy smiled sweetly.

Piper looked at hers and said confused, “what are you? A 65 year old grandma on Facebook.”

“I'm gonna have to call my sister immediately or she’s gonna think I've been kidnapped or abducted by aliens.” Jason sighed.

The interviewer's curiosity had her finally asking, “okay, I gotta know, what did you post.”

Annabeth turned her phone around, showing the strange memes Percy had always found funny in an ironic sort of way. It was a picture of a minion then a completely out of left field quote that did not match the picture at all. Each of his friends had a different minion quote that he had posted.

“Thank you for a wonderful interview, everyone. We all had a great time and good luck to all of you next month at Classics .”

They packed up their stuff quickly and headed out, eager to get back to practice as soon as they could.

“How about some lunch? You all deserve it.”

“Absolutely, I’m starving,” Jason said.

“Great, my treat,” Chiron smiled, “I'm thinking Chinese.”

***

“Action!”

Percy struck a pose, crossing his arms and looking very seriously at the camera.

“Great!” The director said, "Can you do a couple of skills that we can get some action shots for?”

He didn’t answer, instead, just did a standing tuck, then got on the ground to do some flares, careful not to hit the green screen behind him.

“Nice, and go for your lines, now.”

“Im Percy Jackson, you're reigning World Champion and back to back champ at Nationals and Classics. Don't miss me going for more gold at the Olympic Trials, my last stop before Athens. Only on NBC.”

He repeated that phrase so many times and with so many different inflections that it began to lose any and all meaning it had originally. Finally the director seemed to be satisfied with a take and released him to his next portion of the day.

Chiron in order to get the most out of their training and competition time, decided to schedule a hell day. They’d record all promos, commercials, and interviews for the National Team. So while he filmed the Trials commercial, Annabeth was talking to an interviewer and Jason and Piper were filming what will eventually be a group promo with all members of the national team spliced together. 

He barely had time to manage a ‘hey’ to Annabeth as they were switching places.

Percy quickly changed out of his leotard and into a button down shirt and slacks Annabeth had picked out for the interview. He was led to his seat, under the bright lights he could only just barely make out Emily, the woman from their most previous and most fun interview to date.

She gave him a quick hug. “Percy, it’s so great to see you again, Congrats on the win at Classics”

Before he could reply a voice from behind the cameras began counting down and called action without so much as a chance for Percy to get his bearings straight. 

Emily started, “So first you excelled in Tokyo, taking home 3 gold medals, then you won gold in the most recent Nationals and Classics, becoming the first man to go back to back in both of those competitions. As you approach Trials next month, how are you dealing with the mounting pressure? I mean you haven't lost an All Around Final since you became a senior, last year.”

“I try not to think about the pressure of it all. I've been taking each meet one by one, and just trying to focus on each event as it comes without thinking too far ahead into the future.”

She smiled, “And how does it feel being the number one hopeful for Athens?”

“I spend a lot of time trying not to think of certain things, and that's a huge one. I’ve just been trying to go out there and compete the way I know I can, make the upgrades I feel comfortable with, and if that's good enough to get me to Athens then all the better.”

“You've been absolutely dominating though, this year's Nationals you beat Jason by 3 points and then you won Classics by 5, do you think you can keep this up?”

Percy took a deep breath, “I hope so, so far I'm trending in the right direction, from looking at my performance in Tokyo to the next month at Nationals was a huge step in the right direction and then from there Classics afterwards was even better, so I’d love for that to keep going, but I gotta be honest, I’d be happy winning by a tenth of a point if that was the case.” 

“Do you have any more upgrades up your sleeve?”

“I’ll never say never, but honestly if I bring up any more new ideas this late in the season, Coach Chiron’s head may literally explode.”

This kept up for at least 30 more minutes, it was much more subdued than his last interview with Emily. She pretty much kept asking the same few questions reworded over and over and he kept giving the same answers just switching up the wording each time. 

Now with Tokyo, Nationals, and Classics for the year behind him, everyone and their mother was excited to see if he could get the gold during trials too. If he did, that would mean he'd receive the automatic berth onto the Olympic team, which was obviously best case scenario. But he’d love to stop hearing about how he’s undefeated in the All Around. It could only be said so many times before a curse fell upon him or a pox onto his house. He wasn't very superstitious, but a line had to be drawn somewhere.

“So, I have one last question and it may not be the most professional, but, you and Annabeth, dating or no?” Percy’s stomach fell to the floor, but he kept his game face on, as Emily added to her question, “I mean, you have to see the speculation online, the edits, the gymternet as gymnastics fans have been known to  call it,  has been having a field day.”

At that Percy laughed, “Leave it to the internet to spin even the tiniest thing out of control. Annabeth and I have known each other, all our lives, and spent the majority of our waking hours together, so saying that we're close is a massive understatement, so I think that's sorta what people are seeing. And yeah we do see the edits, we have friends who teasingly send them to us.”

He hoped that answer would be sufficient.  He never explicitly said ‘no,’ so it wasn't a lie but he also did not confirm anything. Annabeth would be proud.

Emily smiled, “Thank you for your time, Percy, I can't wait to see what you do at Trials and hopefully, I get to talk to you soon.”

With that, he was ushered off to a final changing room where he was given a team USA leotard, instructed to change and then head to hair and makeup for touch ups. Here they’d do a few things for the short vignettes that will play during Trials, then tomorrow camera crews would be at Olympia to get actual footage of them at practice.

When he got to the final studio, his teammates were all waiting for him. 

“It’s about time you showed up Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth called, “We're all waiting on you.”

Percy wasn't even given the chance for a rebuttal as another director began ordering them around. 

“Jason, Percy, can you stand back to back, Annabeth and Piper, can you do the same, we're gonna get a few more images of you all before moving on, if we can get this right, you all should be out of here in 4 or 5 hours.”

Percy and his friends laughed, because that had to be a joke, they had already been here for at least 7 hours. But those on the other side of the camera didn't seem to understand what was funny.

“Oh my god,” it was Piper as they all came to the same realization. “She's being serious.”

“We're going to die here,” Jason complained as the first camera flash went off as what was sure to be an extremely long rest of the day, began. 

***

Chiron’s voice came booming into the recovery room, “they’ll be here in thirty minutes, so you have ten minutes to get out of that room and another 10 to get presentable. If I don't see you guys in the gym in 20 minutes, you'll be running a mile per minute you are late. This is our last promo before trials and I want it over quick and painless.”

A separate camera crew was at the gym earlier getting some footage from practice and the final bit of the day was their last formal sit down interview, a short one as a group and then their own individuals.

Percy pulled himself out of an ice bath, his aching body screaming. No one else needed to go dry off, so Percy quickly made his way to the room that he had been staying in since Sally’s press tour started. 

He and Annabeth had made a deal with Sally while she was away, on practice days they stayed with Chiron and Jason at the Big House but on their days off they got to relax at the apartment and stay the night there, with Percy in his room and Annabeth in Sally’s. Once this interview was over, they would head back to the apartment for the last time until Trials, which thankfully for them was pretty close by.

He ran down stairs quickly, the likelihood that Chiron actually made the run laps was slim but never off the table completely. In the middle of the floor, tall high backed chairs were being set up, along with cameras and all the other equipment that went along with it.

The National Team had sent the same interviewer, Emily, from their previous sessions over. It was most likely at Chirons' behest since they all had grown quite comfortable with the older woman.

She greeted them all with hugs as they caught up quickly and exchanged pleasantries. The producer instructed them to sit, as Emily said, “It's time to play a game again,”the proceeded to explain the rules, as basic as they were.

Emily handed them each two paddles, one with Annabeth and Percy’s face and the other with Piper and Jasons. They’d hold up each one in answer to Emily's questions about them.

“So we'll start with our first question, “Who is most likely to be late?”

Everyone turned their paddles to Piper.

She feigned surprise, “In my defense, I’m the only one who isn’t currently sleeping at the gym, so it's hard to be late when you have a 30 second commute.”

They laughed, “Can I ask a follow up question then,” Percy said, “Do you think you'd be on time if you were staying here?”

“No comment.”

Emily laughed then looked down at her cards, “ Next, who gets yelled at by coaches the most?”

Unanimously their paddles turned to Percy. “I just like pushing creative boundaries," He said.

 Annabeth laughed and grabbed hold of his arm, “That’s not true, you're just impertinent.” Percy conceded to her that point.

“Biggest sore loser?” Percy and Jason held up  Annabeth while the girls held up Percy. “Ooh,” Emily said, “a split decision.”

Percy looked at his girlfriend and smiled, “you are for sure a bigger sore loser.” 

Annabeth held her hand up in front of his face, she turned her head away, “I will not even be entertaining that idea.”

“Most likely to miss their flight? Emily smiled. Their answers were immediate. Percy. 

“It was only once!” Percy tried to argue his case

His friends answered in unison, “ It was twice.”

Who cries the most during movies?” His three friends held up his face quickly, while he was still thinking of an answer.

“Woah, okay now, It’s like a normal amount!”

Annabeth was shaking her head, “that’s not true, Chiron told me when you were going to Tokyo that you cried to ‘Sing’ on the plane. I have also seen you on several occasions hide tears during movies.” 

“Next question please,” Percy asked while they laughed.

“Biggest procrastinator?” This time even Percy couldn't deny that it was definitely him.

“Who do you go to for advice?” Everyone held up Annabeth's face while she held up Pipers.

“Most likely to go skydiving.” Unanimously,  Jason.

Emily seemed surprised, “really? Not you Percy? As fearless as you seem?”

He felt Annabeth's foot brush up against the back of his leg, she grabbed his arm for support.

“Fearless in gymnastics, sure, not so much with heights above a thousand feet.”

Annabeth corrected him, “that's pretty generous, if your apartment was any higher up I don't think you'd go out on the fire escape.”

Emily turned back to Jason, “you like heights though?”

“I love the feeling of flying, I for sure have already thought about the day after I retire I’m definitely going skydiving. Percy is obviously out but girls, open ended invitation to join, even you Emily.”

Piper laughed alongside the older woman, “No we totally should, just so we all have the story to tell and not Percy.”

Annabeth the traitor agreed with the other girl, “Think of the inside jokes he could never be apart of,”

Their interviewer threw her head back and laughed, “I’ll need the entire time from now until your retirement to think about this, so get in touch with me when that day comes and we'll see."

“Just know,” Percy told her, “there will always be a spot on the ground with me.”

She smiled, then decided to get their show back on rails by moving to the next question. “Okay, so who right now has the most unread texts?” Piper didn’t even try to deny it. Just held up her phone that showed 136 unread messages.”

Percy said, “I mean this not in a bad way, but if I ever needed to have someone bail me out of jail, Piper would be my absolute last choice.”

Piper laughed along with their friends, “that's fair.”

“Thank you for participating in our game,” Emily collected their paddles. She asked a few more questions for the group and they chatted a bit more while answering her questions about Trials next week and how everyone was feeling. Finished with that Emily and the producer gave them instructions for how the individual interviews would go, which consisted of just moving the other three chairs to the side.

Jason and Piper went first and second, it didn't seem to take more than 10 minutes for each. Before he knew it, Annabeth was hugging Emily in goodbye and it was finally his turn. Percy was bone tired, but as soon as he finished this he could get home and fall into a nice long sleep.

Emily began, “I'm here with Percy Jackson, our back to back national champ. How are you feeling now that we are a week away from Trials?”

“It almost doesn't feel real at this point, we've been working for this for so long. But I'm just ready to go out there and do the best gymnastics I can.”

“Can you believe that this time in one week, the Olympic Team will be named?”

Percy laughed, “Annabeth said that earlier today, and my head almost exploded, it seems so far away yet so close at the same time. I'm just excited to get out there and give it my all and be able to watch my teammates. I don't think any of us have ever felt so good about our gymnastics and so I can't wait to see how it all plays out and hopefully next time we talk, my friends and I will be on the way to Athens.”

***

@#1gymfan: I apologize for what I’ll become when Trials start. Block me now, I'm warning EVERYONE

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@PercabethTruther: WHERE ARE MY BABIES. SHOW THEM NOW NBC

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@AnnabethStan: Annabeth's current beam routine is night and day from last year. She killed that! 14.8!!!!

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@ungodly123: I'm never keeping up with an Olympic cycle this close ever again, WHY am I SO nervous for them all I FEEL SICK

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@jaegarlilya: Octavian shitting the bed at Trials was not on my bingo card this quad, a fall on vault at is gonna kill his chances 

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@BleeM: me watching gymnastics: oh my god that was literally flawless

                  Announcers: we’ll that wasn't the best we’ve seen from them

                  Me: ???????????

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@beamqueenmcclean: Piper is looking sooooo good today, she’s making that team if I have to force the Committee myself

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@Percysleftfoot: Oooooh Percy is out for blood, he’s making that team for sure

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@queentanaka: Drew Better get her shit together, I neeeed to see her on this team

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@Bdiangelo: I don't think enough people realize how lucky we are to be alive to see Percy and Annabeths bars

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@Jessthebeheader: Percy's mom is so cute

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@GriffyMcelroy333: Annabeth is not fucking around she looks sickening

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@angusmcdonald: Percy is always glowing and goofing around that's my babyyy

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@hildahilda: Tim saying Reyna and Piper are in a class of their own vs Everyone EXCEPT Annabeth. I know that's RIGHT

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@deltchev: What a damn save Grace

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@gymangel: ohh my god she's crying :( Rachel bb you might still have a chance

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@Annabethsinbars: 15.7!! On floor!! Nobody is topping Percy EVER

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@LovelyLevesque: There you go Hazel YES YES YES

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@valdezinator: OK LEO?? Is he about to make this team

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@murphylou: I would let Frank snap me in half if he asked

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@alltoounwell: Hazel made her connections yuuuuuhhhhhh she’s getting that specialist spot

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@PercabethTruther: Did you see them in that clip?! Friends do NOT look at each other like that, past interviews don't lie either!!!!

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@ITgirl: Beckendorf screen time!!! Possible specialist???

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@Jasonisgraced:  Fun Trials Game, take a shot every time on of the guys yells COME ON BABY LETS GO  

                     @BleeM Reply: We’d die

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@Schlabethany: really wish Clarissa and Travis were here rn

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@gymgoat: katie is totally out poor thing :(

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@USA Gymnastics: Chase as the AA winner here has her spot, well know her four Olympic teammates in a few minutes

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@USA Gymnastics: Jackson as the AA winner here has his spot, well know his four Olympic teammates in a few minutes

                   @PercabethTruther Reply: LET THEM KISS

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@groverunderwood: why am I lying in bed at 10 pm watching Trials and crying as they announce the Olympic Team

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***

Percy and Annabeth had finally quit crying.

After Worlds, Percy didn't know how much more on cloud 9 he could feel. First place at Trials and knowing that he’d be going to Athens in two months left him feeling like he was floating and would never come down. Then adding in the fact that Annabeth made it too, it was almost too good to be true. Percy could maybe believe it was a dream, if it wasn't for all the hard work, pain, and torment they had put their bodies through. Tears had fully been shed by everyone, him, Annabeth, his mom and even Chiron had all taken their turns with the waterworks. But now that he’d composed himself all he wanted to do while they waited was pull Annabeth’s body flush with his and kiss her endlessly. But that would probably out their secret so they’d just have to wait until they got home. 

Now they waited, all of the gymnasts competing sat on the floor nervously waiting for the committee to make their decisions. They said it’d be quick, but they all knew that wasn’t true. 

After what felt like hours of hugging each other in congratulations of this hurdle being completed, all the gymnasts sat on the floor, men and women both awaiting the results. The decision process wasn’t as straightforward as most would think. The teams were never just picked based on the top five in the standings. The committee had to be more strategic than that. They looked into consistency, which event they needed the highest scores on, and whose strengths and weaknesses seemed to balance each other out. It wouldn't make sense to bring gymnasts who were good at the same event, teams like that didnt do well in the team or all around final, and with the two per country rule it wasn't a winning scenario in event finals either. 

They needed depth, and Percy just hoped beyond hope that his friends would make the cut. 

Percy and Annabeth were in the middle of talking with a small group of Lou Ellen, Beckendorf, Silena, Reyna, and Butch when they were pulled away to give NBC an interview, which they promised would be quick. 

Thankfully it was Emily, who was ecstatic to see them, they hugged and talked for a minute, with her showering them in congratulations.

“You both have said that you are just normal kids for New York City, well how does it feel to be Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson today?”

Annabeth squeezed his hand and answered for them, “this is a literal dream come true, we've worked so hard for this and for so long that it seems so surreal that it's finally here. We're so excited and honored, really just the two happiest people in the world.”

“I know there's a part of you Percy that wishes he could run right up into the stands, which you have been known to do before, but what would you say to your mom right now if you could?”

Percy smiled, “Just that I love her, she’s both of our biggest supporters and has been there for us every step of the way from the hardest moments to times like this, and to finally reach this moment in our life and make the Olympic team really helps all of us realize that our sacrifices were worth it.”

“Is there a way to describe what it was like to compete in an atmosphere like this and do as well as you both did?”

They answered together, “No,” Emily laughed, and Annabeth continued for them both, “you feel every emotion, your scared, happy, nervous, then with the crowd everything was electrified and that amped everything up to another level. Its just the feeling of hard work paying off and it's the best feeling in the world.”

Percy could tell she had other questions for them but a commotion of the floor began, as the organizers were ushering the athletes backstage as the National Team Committee hastily assembled.

Annabeth and Percy didn't even wait to be dismissed formally before running to listen to the Olympic team announcement with their friends and competitors in one of the hallways backstage.

The voice over the microphone came over loud and clear, Percy watched his girlfriend stiffen as she heard her mothers voice.

"The US women’s Olympic team is as follows: "Annabeth Chase," that was nothing new, though Athena still had to pause to wait for the chorus of the crowd to die down. Annabeth was then pushed towards the floor, where she ran up quickly to receive a bouquet of flowers. She was instructed to wait as more names were read.

“Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano.” A brief pause as she accepted her flowers and cheers from the audience.

Athena continued with, “Piper McClean.” Percy started jumping up and down and screaming for his friend as she ran to the floor.

 Then, “Hazel Levesque.” The crowd cheered more as Hazel made her way onto the floor, tears flowing freely.

There was one spot left, and Percy really didn't know who it was going to, he would have bet money on the first four but the fourth spot was anyones. “Rachel Elizabeth Dare is our final spot with Silena Beuregard as the alternate.”

Athena waited for the cheers to die down and each girl to accept their bouquet. She gave a very brief speech as the Olympic Team celebrated with one another and the unchosen girls now hugged one another in sympathy as they collected their belongings.

“Now for the men, firstly is Percy Jackson.” He ran up on the floor and went through the same procedure as the women. It took a moment for the crowd to quiet, but then she continued, “Jason Grace.” Percy found himself jumping and shouting in excitement for his teammate along with Annabeth and Piper. They let Jason have his moment in the spotlight before they all were celebrating together. 

The next name read, “Leo Valdez,” then “Frank Zhang” which was a cause for more celebration and excitement. Athena paused for dramatic effect he was sure as she held everyone's attention for the final member. “Charles Beckendorf, with Octavian Caesar as the alternate. 

Athena spoke a few more words before stepping away and allowing them to celebrate and take in the moment. One Percy knew he would never forget. The crowd cheered and they all waved back thankful for the support.

 Percy found Annabeth in the crowd, her eyes shining with tears again, he pulled her into a tight hug, still unable to process that in less than two months, they'd be at the Olympics.

Chapter Text

The past month had seemed like a fever dream.  The Olympic development camp at Athena’s complex had been the most challenging experience of their lives. Chiron, known for pushing his athletes beyond their limits, had prepared them as best as he could, introducing grueling warm-ups and conditioning circuits early on. A month ago, the kids would have balked at the idea, but now they were practically thanking him for giving them a head start.

Everything at camp was designed to strengthen the athletes in every shape and form. His gymnasts had made their final upgrades here and had been working long and grueling hours to perfect their routines. During practice at Olympia, they were doing one or two routines per event, each day, but Athena had them doing upwards of ten. Combining that with the intense conditioning and pressure tests, Chiron had never seen his group of kids so sore and tired, both mentally and physically. They were spending almost as much time in recovery as they were in practice and in bed long before 10 pm which as far as he knew, Percy and Annabeth hadn't done since they were 10 years old. 

Time here was progressing quickly, and something Chiron knew was bound to happen did, his gymnasts had finally hit the point where their bodies had finally gotten used to the pain and torture and now they were just stronger and more refined. 

At the beginning of camp he tried to make a rock polisher analogy which at the time had fallen on deaf ears, but now he could tell they got it figured out. 

On their last day at the Complex before leaving for Athens, it was still hard for everyone to believe that they were about to head out for the Olympics as Olympians. It felt more like a dream they’d all wake from soon. This was the end goal for sure, but always one that felt out of arm's reach and for it to be so close now was surreal. Nerves were high, but that was something that would even out with time, he hoped. 

Chiron watched the ten athletes that would represent the country as they laughed and joked during their final conditioning circuit of camp, happy that they were able to actually feel something and live in this moment. Chiron remembered being so focused during his own Games that he blocked out any and all emotions, so by the end of it he felt like he kinda missed out on an experience that only a small percentage of the population gets to have. 

In stressful situations like these, laughter was often the best medicine. So anything that could mask the tension was a good thing, and also served as a reminder that all these high powered and talented gymnasts were just teenagers. 

In fact both teams were probably the youngest that the US has ever had in gymnastics history but after the past month, Chiron had the utmost confidence in them all. While Athena had impressed upon them the physicality of training, he had taken it upon himself to work on the mental health side of things during their time at the Complex, which Chiron hoped would prove equally as helpful once they got to Athens. 

***

“I cannot believe you convinced her to let us get there so early.” Annabeth said for about the millionth time as they boarded their plane.

The team was traveling to Athens together, normally Athena preferred to arrive about two days before practices started, but Chiron, since the start of camp had been working on convincing her to get there ten days before practice. He bet high, that way when she short changed him, they all got to Athens a week before they needed to be, right when he preferred it. That way they had a couple days to adjust to the time change and get acclimated to everything that an Olympic Host city had to offer. 

“Well when I want to, I can be just as annoying as Percy.”

“Hey, why am I catching strays like this, on a travel day of all days.” Percy whined, as he lifted his and Annabeths carry-on bags above their heads.

“Low hanging fruit,” Chiron and Annabeth said together.

Percy sat in his normal aisle seat, he glared at both of them, “It’s a good thing I love you both or I’d make this flight unbearable for you guys, and so no one can say another mean remark I am putting in my  headphones and ignoring you.” He held his hand out, waiting for Annabeth to take it. 

Traveling together, Chiron felt like a chaperone on an overnight field trip. Unfortunately he couldn't always turn his mind off so he spent a few hours just making lists over and over in his head before he decided to call for a quick coaches meeting.

This was something that he had been doing frequently at the Complex. Chiron was the most experienced coach so he took it upon himself to help guide the other younger coaches. It was something that Athena tended to just blissfully ignore. They quickly shuffled around, so the coaches were all sitting together, which the kids did not mind at all.

“So I was starting to make a plan in my head and decided that this should probably be a group thing, if that's okay with you all.”

No one argued, so over a few hours Chiron answered any of the younger coaches' questions, organized themselves for the next week before they moved into the Olympic Village, created a plan for the Village move in and even worked out a plan for which coaches would be on the competition floor when.

During the Team final there could only be one coach on the floor working with the athletes. But they were allowed to switch out coaches from event to event, so to try and keep everything fair, Chiron explained to his colleagues that it probably would be best to allow whichever coach of the gymnast had the highest difficulty on the apparatus to make sure their best gymnasts were comfortable on their best event. 

They went over a few more things as a group, like their qualification and podium training schedule plus the Olympic Village overview. He even told them all about the items he had their equipment manager buy for the kids' rooms to make their lives more comfortable in their apartments. To add even more to their plate, they had two teams of all minors which meant there were different rules for them to protect their athletes from the seedier side of the Olympic Village.

“Any other pressing concerns? I think I got enough off my chest to relax, How do you all feel?,” Chiron asked, thankful that maybe this would help him get a few hours of sleep before tomorrow's long day.

***

As soon as the plane landed and their squad was out of the airport, Chiron and his crew had hit the ground running. Several others did join, during their plane meeting he had explained his process for jet lag and welcomed anyone who wanted to tag along. Others were still stuck in the old ways, and thought it wasn’t ideal for the gymnasts who would be competing in a week. It wasn't Chiron’s place to argue with the coaches. Not everyone was ready for such radical change all at once, even if it was as simple as this.

They did make one quick stop to drop off their luggage at the hotel they’d be staying at for the week before they were allowed to move into the Olympic Village the day before the Opening Ceremony. There they changed, packed to go bags, and headed out the door before anyone could even think twice about their beds. 

Just like in Rome, Chiron planned to run these kids into the ground with sightseeing. Their first stop was The Acropolis. Here Annabeth’s eyes lit up with a spark  he had only really seen gymnastics bring out in her. She was captivated, her excitement palpable. 

They made stops at the Parthenon next, then a temple of Hephaestus, the Ancient Agora of Athens, and their final stop before lunch, the Panathenaic Stadium. 

It was their first stop of the day where Chiron really allowed them a chance to breathe and soak in the moment. Annabeth stood next to him, her eyes shining with excitement.

Leo Valdez, broke their reverie. “I recognize that you two are clearly having a nice and sentimental moment but please tell me what this is besides an old dusty stadium.”

Annabeth tried to be annoyed, but she clearly was eager to explain, “This is the site of the very first Olympics.”

The Grecian Summer felt like it was 100 degrees in the sun, but still Annabeth’s words gave Chiron chills, looking around at the group he could tell he wasn't the only one. Their chatter stopped as they gave their full attention at hand. As a breeze blew through, Chiron could imagine the chariot races, the wrestling, the track, and even the gymnasts that took place here centuries ago.

“Holy shit, that’s cool,” Percy grabbed Annabeth’s hand as they took in the scene from atop the hill their group was standing on. “ Should we burn a tribute or something for the athletes that came before us.”

Hedge perked up at that, “Yeah, I love committing arson when I get to a new country.”

“Do you think we can go inside?” Jason asked.

“Let's find out,” Chiron said as he began to walk down the hill in search of an entrance. Beyond the emotional weight behind this structure, it wasn't much to look at. Clearly renovations had been done to keep it in good order and a fairly new looking track was in the middle of the stadium. Their group followed a couple of runners inside easily enough. Apparently locals used this spot to get a quick morning workout in, which was pretty mind blowing to them all.

They took several  group pictures, a few normal ones, silly ones, and a final one with all the gymnasts in a handstand, with a threat thrown in from Chiron about not injuring themselves. If he knew his kids, they’d have those posted before the end of lunch. The majority of their conversations lately were what tiktoks they'd try and film before they didnt have the spare time to/

“Can we come back once we’ve won our medals and take an after shot?” Percy asked.

Chiron answered in the affirmative as his alarm for lunch went off. He managed to wrangle the kids away and drag them to lunch as they complained how tired and hungry they were the whole way. 

They sat down as a group of 15, the kids connecting to the wifi quickly, as the adults got off their feet and relaxed. They were just as tired as them if not more so, only they weren't able to complain quite as much because they had to set a good example. 

Their group fell into a comfortable chatter finding multiple things to talk about besides the elephant in the room. In six days practices started, podium training was in 9 days, the opening ceremonies and qualifications were in 10, and in 12 days Team Finals began. But this group of young people were taking the upcoming and constantly mounting pressure in stride, far better than Chiron ever thought possible. It seems his work prioritizing their mental health and saying phrases like,  ‘it's just another meet,' and 'just like practice,’ a million times a day had actually helped.

Finishing up their meal, the kids were excited to get to the beach for one of their last days of rest and relaxation before it became all gymnastics all the time for two weeks straight.

“Absolutely no sleeping and dont do anything stupid, ill kill anyone who injures themselves not on a competition floor,” Chiron instructed, as towels were laid out and sunscreen was applied. Percy was immediately in the water, which came as absolutely no shock at all to Chiron. What did surprise him however, was Annabeth taking a seat next to Chiron as the rest of the kids, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Charles, Piper, and Jason all joined Percy in the ocean.

“You’re not worried about shark attacks?” Annabeth teased.

Chiron laughed, “I’m too tired at this point for that particular anxiety, thank you." He knew that wasn't what was keeping her away from her friends, "So what's on your mind?”

Annabeth started, “Percy’s birthday,” Chiron exhaled loudly, that was another source of his stress, “it’s on the day of high bar finals, do you think we’d be able to do something for him?” 

“I’ve been thinking about this too, I’ll ask around and see what may be possible,” He told her, “Have you got him a present yet?”

Now it was her turn to sigh loudly, “I’ve been trying to think of something but I just keep blanking, especially after everything he did for my birthday last month.” Annabeth’s birthday had been during Camp, and Percy spared no expense, planning a day that the teams were able to come together and celebrate Annabeth, they watched movies on a massive screen in the gym, enjoyed time on the Lake, and had a massive dinner, that involved her dad and brothers as well as Sally and Paul. Normally civilians were not allowed at the Complex during camp and certainly parties were completely prohibited, but Chiron figured that Athena had turned a blind eye for her daughter's sake.

“Well, I’ve been thinking that you can surprise him tomorrow with something, we can do a half celebration then and the other half on the actual day.”

She smiled, “That's a great idea, maybe we can go snorkeling or something else touristy before everything picks up and we aren't allowed to see anything but the inside of the gym.”

He expected her to grab her phone and start scouring the internet but she remained in place, clearly arguing with herself over whether or not she wanted to bring up whatever else was bothering her. 

“Quit analyzing me,” she ordered, “I’m just thinking,”

“Well duh, what about,” he asked gently. 

It took her a minute before she replied. In fact she seemed to realize she’d be up here a while and laid herself out in the sun to catch a few rays while they talked. “The future, I guess.”

“Wow, that must be a record, not even one full day at the Olympics and you're already planning beyond.” 

“I’m just thinking about after all this, I know I shouldn't be right now, but my whole life has led up to this, and I’m confident with myself as a gymnast, I've never been so sure of anything in my life, but being here it's making think about what to do later,”

Chiron said, “I’m cursing myself for making you such an overachiever. You know most Olympians don't start to panic about this until the Games are over."

She sat up and looked at him, "Really?"

"Of course, the people here are some of the most driven and goal oriented people on the planet, that no one really has time to stop and wonder about what happens when its over, I actually already told Cynthia we'd probably need a few sessions about that once we got home, it's really easy to spiral and fall into a depression which I absolutely don't want to happen to any of you."

He watched as she processed his words, "so you aren't mad at me for thinking too much?"

Chiron laughed, "No, honestly, I’d rather you over analyze this rather than panic about the pressure of competing at the Olympics, so I'll take it for now. I know this has been your dream your entire life, and as corny as this sounds, you just set a new goal. College is just on the horizon, I can tell you’ve been thinking about that, what major are you thinking? I can see it in your eyes when we were sightseeing earlier and even in Rome last year, History? Architecture? Archaeology?”

“Architecture. For sure.”

“You know there's a pretty good college with great architecture programs and with an even better gymnastics team and someone you’re very good friends is also already on the team. Just because the elite part of your life is maybe coming to an end doesn't mean you need to stop gymnastics entirely. Unless you want to then I support you 100 percent.”

“UCLA is pretty far, and their men's team isn't as strong,”

“Percy will like the challenge, and you don't have to stay in California forever, obviously, New York will always be your home.” 

“He probably doesn't even know what he’ll major in,”

“That's what he has us for. Listen you get today to think about this, tomorrow give Percy a great birthday, and then from there on out, all I want you to concentrate on is the moment, whether it's practice, qualifications, or the damn All Around final, don't let these worries creep over.”

Annabeth agreed, then Chiron added, "one last thing, you and Percy have been extremely lucky with this whole gymnastics thing, and not because you both are the greatest natural talents we've seen in generations, but because you've always done this for fun. Not everyone gets that, just look at Thalia. So my best advice as someone who cares about you, keep going as long as its fun, as soon as its not, step away and find the next thing that excites you."

She seemed to contemplate that for a while instead of replying she gave him a quick hug that he returned before she laid back down and turned over to give the sun and Chiron her back.

He barked out a laugh, “I know you are not trying to take a nap not even a few feet away from me, get out in the water, your boyfriend is looking more like a lost puppy the longer you're over here.”

***

Annabeth was up and hauling Percy out of the hotel room Chiron was sharing with him and Jason as the sun was rising. The rest of the previous day Annabeth spent furiously planning, but by the time they all headed to bed she had an long itinerary that made Chiron wish he had put her in charge of their sightseeing jet lag day yesterday.

He had only had one job, “Dinner is set for 7, just meet us there and I’ll take care of everything.”

She thanked him and pulled a complaining Percy out the door, “this is one of my last days to try and sleep past 9,” he whined all the way down the hallway.

“It’ll be worth it,” Chiron promised as the elevator doors shut.

Now he had the day to himself and Chiron had no idea what to do to keep himself from going crazy, he at least normally had the duo as entertainment. He tried to go back to sleep in a laughable attempt, read a little, decided to go down for breakfast, talked to a few other coaches and answered their questions, and packed most of his bags since they’d move into the Village in a couple days. He checked his watch and was horrified to see it was only 11 a.m. when to him it felt like 4 p.m.

Thank goodness, for Jason and Piper who came to invite him out with them and Hedge, Piper had done some research and found some hidden gems around the area that they wouldn't get the chance to check out for the next two and a half weeks. They had a great time, some of the others even eventually joined them and before they knew it, they all needed to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. 

Annabeth had tasked Chiron with Percy’s birthday dinner celebration; he had managed to get a reservation at one of the best restaurants in the city with an amazing view. He encouraged both teams to attend, yes this was a night out for mostly Percy’s birthday but he also wanted this to sort of be their own Opening Olympic ceremony, since they wouldn't be able to attend the real one due to their practice schedule. 

By telling Piper their dinner reservation was actually 2 hours earlier, they had just enough time to get ready and get to the cable car that would take them to the top of the mountain in order to make their dinner time perfectly. 

“You lied to us,” she accused.

Chiron shook his head and said gently, “no, just you.” while the test of the room laughed uproariously. 

Her head whipped around to Jason at the same moment the waiter had appeared to show them to their table outside.

When they stepped out on top of the summit, they were greeted by a cool breeze and a view that took Chiron’s breath away. The host was still making his way towards their table but they were all frozen in shock. The city of Athens stretched out in all directions, the Acropolis standing proudly in the distance, bathed in a soft, amber light. The Parthenon, atop its hill, looked almost ethereal, a testament to the city's rich history. The sea, shimmering in the fading light, seemed to stretch infinitely, merging with the sky at the horizon. Almost a thousand feet beneath them, were people going about their day, but they could've been ants for all that they could tell. 

They sat, and others began to arrive with the same shock and awe. Everyone from the previous day's jetlag destroying session was there, which made sense to Chiron, but he was happy to see a few other faces like Reyna and Rachel. All they waited on now were Percy and Annabeth who waltzed out hand in hand not long after everyone else had gotten settled in their seats. 

“If the view up here wasn't so amazing, I’d be so much more afraid right now,” Percy said, pulling out Annabeth’s chair.

Sitting down, Annaebth said, “yeah, you all should have seen his face on the cable car up here, it was worse than when he flies.”

The table laughed kickstarting the night. Drinks were delivered, food was ordered.

They clinked their glasses together in cheers, “To Percy,” Annabeth said, “Happy early birthday.”

Chiron added next, “and to the mens and womens US Olympic gymnastics teams, this is unfortunately as close to an opening ceremony as you’ll get, so enjoy tonight, because soon the real work begins.” They laughed, and one whispered glance amongst the staff led to another and all of a sudden everyone knew who they were. A few of them even asked for quick pictures with the group before their food was delivered to which they happily obliged. 

There would be absolutely no beating the loud American allegations as the night progressed and the sun began to set. The city of Athens with its ancient ruins and modern day hustle, spread out beneath them, a mosaic of history and normal everyday life intertwined. Chiron felt on top of the world, all he could do was hope that this feeling lasted all the way to the end of the Games.

***

Shit hit the fan almost immediately upon moving into the Olympic Village. And in new completely unexpected ways that not even Chiron's stress dreams could have conjured up. 

The first day in the village was a whirlwind. The energy buzzed in a palpable sense of anticipation where excitement mingled with nerves. Flags from every nation hung, creating a colorful canopy. 

Even back in Chiron’s day the Olympic Village had the aura of a massive summer camp, where the world's best athletes got to hang out and have a good time before and after their competitions, well now that was doubly true, and it seemed to him that this was still like a summer camp but on a larger and grander scale. 

They checked in at the main building, the center of the village as shown in the map they were handed by cheerful volunteers. The sprawling complex of the Olympic Village made Athena’s National Team Complex look like a middle school. 

“So, it looks like this is where the cafeterias are at and kinda the main place to hang out.” Annabeth told Percy knowing full well he was not reading the pamphlets or the map that were included in the welcome kits that everyone received. They each received two massive bags of stuff that they hadn't even been able to scratch the surface of looking at. 

“I could eat,” Jason said at the same time as Percy’s “Let’s play foosball.”

Chiron shook his head, “We have a lot to do today, let's find our assigned rooms and go from there,”

Walking to their assigned buildings, they passed groups of athletes chatting animatedly in various languages. Many of them waved or greeted them as they went by. Chiron watched as the sheer excitement of the atmosphere soaked into his athletes as their energy increased with each passing minute. 

Percy found his pins from the welcome kit and immediately started trading with every person he came across. Pin trading was an Olympic tradition. Each welcome kit included bags of pins unique to each athlete's country and sport. As they met new athletes and coaches, everyone was encouraged to swap pins, to foster connections and camaraderie among the athletes. Percy had decided they were like Pokemon and he needed to have them all, especially the most rare.

They finally managed to find their way down the corridor of apartment blocks until they got to almost the very end, in what had to be the minors building. They passed by the security stand in the lobby and walked about a quarter of a mile before coming to Annabeth’s first floor room and found to no surprise that she was rooming with Piper who had already moved her things in. The rooms were very simple with one wardrobe and bed for each athlete and a bathroom, plus an adjoining living room.

Percy and Jason's room was about ten floors up with the same exact layout as the girls.

Jason’s phone rang, he quickly accepted Thalia’s facetime call, Chiron said a quick 'hello' then left them to talk as he made his way to his own apartment to drop off his bags and make a plan with the equipment manager to get all their accessories moved over to the athletes. There was no air conditioning here, and the beds were practically army cots, so they'd brought equipment that would make the next two weeks living here more bearable.

Hedge was already in their room, pacing back and forth, looking more agitated than a caged lion. 

“What’s wrong?” Chiron's worry was immediate.

The other man handed over his phone and Chirons stomach plummeted as he read the headline. 

“I’d like to try and keep this from them until after the first practice this afternoon and I’ll talk to Annabeth afterwards.” All he had to do was keep his athletes off of social media, which hopefully the novelty of their first day in the village and their first practice would help distract them all. 

“Whatever you need, I’m here for you,” Hedge said.

Together they headed back to the kids apartment to briefly talk over the day and hopefully steer them away from learning about this impending doom.

They made it up to the boy's apartment to find that Piper had joined the group and to hear their goodbyes to Thalia.

“What’s up cupcakes? Who’s ready for their first Olympic practice?” Hedge’s levity was a balm to Chiron’s weary soul, he had never been more grateful for the other man. 

The kids responded with excitement that Chiron had to bring down a level.

“Don’t get too cheery, be prepared for this practice to be rough, it’ll take a minute to get used to everything here so don't get discouraged.”

***

As their allotted time in the practice gym ticked down closer and closer to the end, Chirons heart rate sped up. Recovery went by quickly, and as they all headed to the dining hall together, Chiron pulled Annabeth to the side.

“Annabeth and I are going to take a quick walk, we’ll meet you all at the dining hall.” He watched as Percy perked up, then he added, “no you can't come Percy.” Chiron turned away before he could even react. Thankfully, Hedge was nudging the others towards dinner with promises of going to the arcade later, Percy looking back the entire time. 

“You're kinda freaking me out,” she said.

He walked in silence until they found a bench. He pulled out his phone and showed her the headline unable to give an introduction.

Breaking News: Rising US Olympic Star Annabeth Chase Revealed as Daughter of National Team Coordinator Athena Parthenos—Sparking Nepotism Debate

Chiron heard Annabeth’s breath hitch as she held back tears, and for that he could kill whoever leaked this. 

“I don't think we should read this,” he advised as she began to scroll.

Annabeth shook her head, “I need to know who did this.”

He conceded to her that point as he placed his hand over his phone and met her eyes. “I understand that, but I need you to know something first, whatever horrible, misguided, and vitriolic things are written in this article are 1. Not true and 2. have nothing to do with you. This is written by some lowlife trying to get clicks and notoriety without caring that there's a person on the other side. So if you read this you have to promise me you won’t let it get to you, you are the hardest working and smartest person I know. There's not a single person in Athens who is more deserving of being here than you. And if you feel that hatred creeping in, let me know immediately and I’ll have Cynthia teleported here for an in person session.”

She hugged him, holding on tight for a few minutes as she gathered herself. He pretended not to notice the tears she wiped on his sleeve. She took a few calming breaths, working through the same centering and breathing techniques they’ve practiced throughout the years. 

“I promise,” she vowed, tilting the phone towards him.

He shook his head, “oh no, for my own mental health and anger management I can absolutely not read that garbage, but please let me know if there's any libel though and we can sue for a lot of money, maybe put in a pool at Olympia or anything else you want.” 

She laughed, and it warmed Chiron’s soul. He waited as she read, even sent away a worried Percy who hovered in the doorway of the main building a few times trying to figure out what was happening. 

Annabeth stood when she was finished. 

“How bad was it?” He stood too, then started walking back towards the cafeteria. 

“Pretty rough, but could have been worse, I’d give it a 6 out of 10 on an evilness rating.”

“And the mole? I know it wasn't anyone here.”

“My stepmother. Turns out the reporter figured out who she was and started asking questions that she was apparently all too happy to answer. You were right, all they wanted was views and to start drama.”

He rubbed her back, and ushered her to the 24/7 cafeteria, offering food from all over the world. They found their table where Percy had saved Annabeth a plate. They sat and everyone else stared back. 

Annabeth and Percy's eyes met, they had some secret conversation before Annabeth addressed the table, placing Chirons phone in the middle with the screen up so the headline was visible. 

“I’m sorry I’ve kept this a secret from you all, but Athena is my mother, and a “reporter” found out and wrote a pretty fucked up article that just so happened to be published today.”

Piper was first to speak, “oh my god, that's so messed up,” She hugged her fiercely which Annaebth took in shock to realize that Piper wasn’t angry at her, she was angry for her. 

Jason just nodded in understanding, “As someone else who has an asshole for a parent, I totally understand keeping it a secret.” He joined in on the hug too.

Percy was uncharacteristically calm, as he watched this scene unfold. “How'd they find out?” His voice was low and steady.

“Guess.”

“She wouldn't.”

“She did.”

“I know she’s awful but that’s just just stupid.” 

Annabeth sighed, “It’s probably not how she sees it, she knows I'll never want to go to my dads with her ever again, and she gets the life she's always wanted, one without me. 

“Annabeth, I'll have my dad hire…” whatever Piper was going to use her father for was cut off by Chiron.

“Were gonna table this for another time, we are a team and we're gonna act like one, so, I’d recommend staying off social media all together for the next few days, and if there are any reporters or fans asking about it, we go no comment completely, actually Annabeth if you want we can draft a statement to get ahead of this if you want or we can let USAG handle it.

She nodded, “the latter please, I don't want to spend anymore energy thinking about this at all.

Hedge raised his drink, “Here Here, I’ll cheers to that.”

***

Luckily for them, it did seem that they were able to put this behind them. Chiron had already made it known to all the press outlets that they would not be answering questions about that particular topic and even opted them out of all press prior to the competition just to make sure that the pressure from the outside world that Chiron worked his ass off to keep away didn’t start to creep in.

Their second day of practice was much improved from the first as they got more comfortable on the equipment, since it was a different brand than Athena uses at the Complex.

Why she didn't have them practicing on the Olympic brand equipment before they all left for Greece, Chiron will never know.  

Finished with their first practice of the day, they had a little down time, which the kids wanted to use to relax, hang out, and meet some of the other athletes. He left them at the foosball table as he headed to grab a quick lunch and maybe nap before their later practice of the day.

That plan was abruptly ruined as Athena stopped him in his tracks, appearing almost out of thin air. 

“I'm sure you've seen what’s on social media ,” Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

“We have, and I have it handled, there’s nothing to worry about. Though we were hoping that USAG could put out a statement addressing it.”

She tilted her head, in a way that made him uneasy.

“I don’t believe that a statement by USAG would be terribly appropriate in this situation.” Her eyes narrowed in scrutiny as she stared at him, clearly convinced he was an idiot. 

“Are we not referring to the article revealing Annabeth as your daughter?”

A chill ran down Chiron’s spine as she replied coolly, “No.” 

She held up her phone showing a video on Twitter. It was of a volleyball player giving a tour of the Olympic Village, it took Chiron a second to see why this was relevant. Until the camera panned to the side, and a fleeting moment captured his attention. In the background, barely noticeable at first, a couple stood on a ground floor balcony. Their faces were obscured, but their intimate embrace and kiss were unmistakable.

The couple was undeniably Annabeth and Percy. 

Fuck .

He sprinted away from Athena, without even the semblance of a goodbye.

First he found Piper and Jason who were talking to a couple members of the USA men's basketball team

“Where's the duo?” he asked, Jason mid conversation pointed in the direction of the foosball tables and Chiron took off running.

“Is everything okay?” Piper called after him

“To be decided,”

It didn't take long to find them; their laughter and jokes were unmistakable. They were busy trading pins with a couple of Australian divers. He felt a pang of sadness and anger at having to interrupt this moment with bad news.

Percy looked up and saw him first, and having probably never seen Chiron run before, Percy was appropriately freaked out, “what's wrong now?”

“Are we on fire,” Annabeth asked.

“We need to talk,”

***

Chiron had never delivered this many devastating pieces of bad news within so short of a time span in his life. And to do it at the Olympics was really just icing on the cake. 

The two of them took what he said in stride. 

“Well we were already gonna stay off social media, guess it's just kinda a forever thing now,” Percy said.

"We made it so long without anyone knowing, and the worst part is, I cant even be mad because it was an accident!" Annabeth was starting to work herself into a panic spiral.

Chion took a breath about to monologue again about their situation but a voice from behind them called out, “Annabeth! Percy!”

He couldn't remember a time where Chiron was more happy to see Sally Jackson in his entire life. She wrapped them up in a deep hug, Chiron watched as the hurt and anger began to ebb away with just the hug alone. 

“I cant believe you're here so soon,” Percy said,

“How’d you get here so fast?” Annabeth asked

“Well, I had already moved my flight up when I saw that awful article come out, and then by the time I landed, the internet exploded with that video. How are you two dealing with this?”

Sally was only able to stay at the Village for a short amount of time, she did way better at damage control for this situation than Chiron more than likely would have been able to. He watched as Annabeth and Percy began to feel for real that this would probably be okay. It wasn’t ideal, but it won't deter them from their goals. 

“You don't owe your fans or anyone really an explanation.” Sally began, as Chiron tried to gesture to ensure she was good if he stepped away so he could tell the news to the rest of their team.

Piper and Jason had taken on a few of the basketball guys at Air Hockey, he let them keep on playing, there was no need to interrupt their fun with more bad news.

Sally’s time in the Village must have been up because soon Annabeth and Percy returned, spirits much higher as Percy called out, “We play winner!” The basketball players cheered on, happy to have the competition. “Also, does anyone have a pin they want to trade?”

“I’ll trade with you,” said one basketball player that Chiron honestly should have known. He seemed important, tall and imposing, but not having paid attention to anything outside of the gymnastics world in a decade reduced his chances of knowing most people over 6 feet tall, let alone someone who was upwards of 7 feet. “my daughter loves the two of you. I actually promised her a picture if I met you if you don't mind.” 

Annabeth and Percy happily obliged, taking dozens of pictures, once they realized how funny their height differences were. 

“If your friends ever finish playing, I’d love to get a game in with the two of you,” the older much taller man said.

Percy and Annabeth eyed each other conspiratorially, “We definitely know a way to finish this soon,” Annabeth said.

Together, in that creepy way they did, the two of them called over to their teammates, “Piper, Jason, a video of us making out hit the internet and now everyone knows we're dating.”

Piper and Jason's heads immediately turned towards them, in a way that made Chiron worry briefly about whiplash, their mouths agape in shock.  Pipers shriek of “WHAT?” came a nanosecond before their basketball player opponent sank the hockey puck into the back of the table. Even the basketball players most of which didn't know who they were, seemed taken aback with the sudden burst of gossip. 

Annabeth and Percy smiled happily at their newfound friend, “were up next.”

***

@PercabethTruther: I KNEWWWWWWWW ITTTTTTTTT

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@1GymFan: between the whiplash in finding out about Annabeth and Athena then immediately the Percabeth video, I dont think Im going to be able to make it. THESE OLYMPICS WILL KILL ME

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 @jbenm45645: I guess we can see why Annabeth really made this olympic team

            Relpy: @BLeeM: yeah idiot, because shes the best gymnast the US has to offer probably ever, Athena doesnt judge competitions smdh

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@Percysrightfoot: Quit spreading the video around, they were keeping their relationship secret for a reason, let me remind some of you weirdos that those are MINORS

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@cartwheelqueen: despite everything, Annabeth killed it at qualifications, shes coming home with ALL the golds

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@jmackattack: obsessed with how everyone in this competition looks on the verge of vomiting and then Percy is over here like THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

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@beamqueenmcclean: How can I be so happy for Piper but so sad for Reyna at the same time?????????

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@hildahilda: Everytime I watch the Olympics I get so mad I wasnt put into a sport at two months old

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@Travnation: Im at a party and nobody here knows that Annabeth and Percy are dating

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@Schlabethany: We all see the same Athena Parthenos right? If she was my mom I’d have kept that shit secret too why is everyone acting surprised

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@GriffyMcelroy333: Everytime Percy Jackson does his FTDLO an angel gets its wings like its incredible

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@murphylou: Im so glad Percy and Annabeth put the past week behind them and came out and DESTROYED qualifications

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@ungodly123: The men and women are two of the best teams the US has had in years, cant wait to watch them bring home all the medals.

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@Jessthebeheader: I was living for all the men's and women's team posts we were getting but then you all had to ruin it. I loved seeing my babies so happy.

                      Reply: @gymangel: the photos of the Olympia crew with the men's basketball team had me screaming

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@Annabethsinbars: seeing the camaraderie of all the gymnasts even though they are competing against each other has me crying

                     Reply: @BLeeM: I was crying watching Annabeth talking to Shang Chunsong and Aliya Mustafina even though none of them speak the same language, id give my first born to know what they were talking about

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@USA Gymnastics: Here are the lineups for the men's and women's teams following Olympic Qualifications. Tune in and support our athletes!

Women-

• Annabeth Chase- Team Final, AA Final, Bars, Vault, Floor
• Piper McClean- Team Final, AA Final, Beam, 
• Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano- Team Final, Beam,  
• Hazel Levesque- Team Final, Floor, Vault
• Rachel Elizabeth Dare- Team Final

Men-

• Percy Jackson- Team Final, AA Final, High Bar, Floor, Vault, Pommel
• Jason Grace- Team Final, AA Final, Parallel Bars
• Frank Zhang- Team Final, Rings, Parallel Bars
• Leo Valdez- Team Final, Rings
• Charles Beckendorf- Team Final, Vault

Chapter Text

Annabeth pulled self-consciously on her yankees cap, which did more to draw attention to her in the crowd of avid gymnastics fans than hide her like she originally intended. Piper, the daughter of a movie star, was used to being treated as a public figure that made strangers think it was okay to line up for pictures. Which was exactly what a huge group of fans were doing, despite knowing that the men's team final was starting any second. Her anxiety that was already spiking, threatened to skyrocket into unknown territories the more people hovered over her, Sally, Paul, Claire, Piper and Hedge. Her friend had done her best to get people to leave them alone. Piper unabashedly turned people away for photos and other things all the time, Annabeth was learning how to herself without feeling guilty or anxious about it, but this group of people in the arena had no shame whatsoever. Even once the first gymnasts began competing they still hovered hoping for something from them. 

They had terrific seats, in the lower bowl, in the middle of all the action, with perfect views of all six events. At first she was excited about this prospect, but now Annabeth was starting to dread their close proximity to all the fans.

Sally must have finally reached her limit. She muttered under her breath, “this is ridiculous,” then shot up from her seat and stormed past the line of people vying for their attention. She came back with an usher that forced everyone to show their tickets and seat numbers. Thankfully, anyone not sitting in their vicinity was forced to leave.  

“That was intense,” Paul said, hugging his niece tight to his side. Claire, when she had found out Paul would be coming to Athens, was determined to join him as not only the biggest self proclaimed Percy and Annabeth fan, but also the biggest self proclaimed fan of gymnastics in general. 

They eventually all got their bearings straight after a very disorienting start to the day, until Piper spotted a familiar face waiting for his turn by the parallel bars. “Look! Jason’s up next.”

The men's USA team were rotating with the Japanese team, the favored group of the day. The first Japanese gymnast had already finished his routine and now Jason was up for the US.

Annabeth could easily make out Percy’s voice along with the rest of the team as they egged Jason on as he waited for the judges.

“Let’s go Jason!”

“We got this USA!”

“Just like practice!”

With a deep breath Jason saluted and mounted the parallel bars. He effortlessly swung, flipped, pirouetted, and threw himself across the bars. His dismount, a double back with a half twist, was landed with a resounding stick.

The team erupted into cheers a split second before the rest of the crowd.

She knew there would be deductions, but as the first routine of the day, it would set a pretty terrific tone for the rest to come. 

As he high fived and hugged his other team members, Piper called out, “Great work Jason,” Somehow, Jason turned and looked directly at Piper and winked.

Piper in turn blew a kiss back.

Annabeth’s head was going back and forth between the two, like she was watching tennis instead of gymnastics. 

Luckily, the adults were caught up in some discussion and Claire was focused on one of the athletes on the floor so no one really noticed when Annabeth said, “this is a lot more serious, isn't it.”

“It didn’t start out that way, but yeah, it is now. We’re waiting to see how this plays out with you and Percy until we hard launch this thing.”

They laughed, “If you want to be in the background of a video, Percy and I would be ecstatic to help.” Annabeth said, laughing even harder. 

“Don't tempt me,” Piper said, “That would honestly be objectively one of the funniest things we could do.”

Hedge leaned over, still listening to whatever Paul was saying and said to them, “I'm happy to see you joking about this.”

Annabeth didn't know how she got to this point, but here they were. A few days ago, it seemed like the world was ending, she had wanted nothing more than the Earth to swallow her whole. Not only were people claiming the only reason Annabeth even made this team was because of her mother instead of the insane amount of hard work throughout her entire life.

If any of those people knew anything about Athena, they’d realize Annabeth didn't make the team because of her mom, she made the team in spite of her. 

For a brief moment, Annabeth felt her inner saboteur feeding on the toxic thoughts swirling in her mind. She came dangerously close to convincing Chiron to let her skip that first practice after the article was published. Against her better judgment, she had read it knowing full well that if she didn’t, the words would haunt her anyway. Now, fragments of those cruel lines replayed in her mind, words harsher than anything her inner voice had ever whispered, even on her worst days.

Annabeth’s rapid rise isn’t just a result of her talent—it’s a product of blatant nepotism.

Annabeth has been coddled and protected by her mother at every turn.

Annabeth’s connection to Athena Parthenos taints the credibility of her accomplishments.

Even if Annabeth is the best, her mother’s role inevitably raises questions about fairness and transparency. It’s a situation that needs to be addressed to maintain the trust of athletes and the public.

The author had a point on that last one. 

Thanks, however, to wonderful pep talks by every important adult in her life (none of which included any of her family members, though she found it best not to dwell on that) and her friends and boyfriend, plus an emergency session with Cynthia at 5 in the morning New York City time. Annabeth had gotten to the point where she was only thinking about this twice a day. Once in the morning and then just before she went to bed. It didn’t matter how irrational it was, no one more than Annabeth knew how hard she worked to make it to these Olympic Games, but still seeing it written down, her worst nightmares, was a tough pill to swallow.

Then as she came to grips with her new reality, another bomb went off, because why would the lead up to the actual Olympics be simple. She should have known to be more careful. But her and Percy got caught up in the excitement and aura of the Olympic Village and now they were paying the price. She couldn't even blame herself for having sheer dumb luck. Really what were the chances that her and Percy were kissing goodnight on the eve of qualifications, a volleyball player would be filming a video perfectly capturing the two of them. 

Before that, she'd been enjoying her return to social media, posting regularly on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram now that camp was over and she could actually use her phone again. It was fun, at first. The gymternet, once a lively, welcoming space, had devolved into a toxic mess. People dissected her relationship with Percy down to every microscopic detail, turning even the simplest moments into fodder for speculation and judgment. Annabeth knew they had supporters out there, but the tidal wave of negativity was so overpowering, it wasn’t worth the effort to sift through the garbage just to find the occasional positive comment or post. 

Her breaking point over all this that had Annabeth deleting her social media for the time being was when Percy’s fan girls started sending her hate for “stealing their boyfriend.” Percy didn’t even know these girls, they lived states away and some even in different countries. They’d never be in a relationship in any possibility, but here they were delusional as hell calling Annabeth a homewrecker or a slut, or most of the time something worse because they happened to also like her boyfriend as part of some type of parasocial relationship. Then there was another group actively hoping and praying for their breakup. All that mixed together had some real potential to push Annabeth over the edge. But thankfully she had Percy. And Chiron and Piper and Jason and surprisingly a few players on the men’s basketball team had some insightful advice, plus Sally and Paul and even Cynthia letting her get another appointment barely ten hours after her previous one. That had Annabeth feeling at about 99% almost back to her normal self. She hoped after watching Percy compete today and hopefully win a medal despite being underdogs would give her that final one percent she was missing. 

Claire’s voice shocked Annabeth out of her thoughts. “Let’s go, Percy!!!”

Annabeth's head snapped up and found Percy standing by the high bar. That couldn’t be right. 

“Were done with Parallel bars already?” She asked

Piper nodded, “Yes we watched it happen. Serves you right for thinking too much. Leo and Frank did great.”

The team finals for both the men and the women had a 3 up 3 count rule. Which meant the 3 best athletes on each apparatus performed and all 3 of their routines counted. Generally you saved your best athletes for last to be the anchor, which meant that she had missed the first two guys going on high bar too. 

She had zoned out for much longer than she thought. 

“How’d Jason and Charles do on high bar?” Annabeth asked, keeping her voice low. She didn’t want to panic the adults that she was having trouble concentrating today of all days.  

Piper lowered her voice to match Annabeths, “very good. No major mistakes or anything like that. They’re still pretty low on the score boards but once Percy goes I think that’ll change.”

Percy saluted, and to a normal viewer, it might seem like he was just gazing off into the distance. But Annabeth knew better, she knew his eyes were locked on her. Her heart fluttered as she watched him, feeling the warmth of pride and affection well up inside her.

"You got this, Percy!" she shouted, knowing he couldn’t hear her over the roar of the crowd. But she was sure he'd see the words on her lips and feel the silent message in her gaze, the way he always did.

He smiled as he stepped up to the bar and jumped hands clasping around the bar. Percy started to do what he did best, swing. Annnabeth could hear the team plus Chiron shouting out encouragement and praise the whole time. 

His first release move was simple, just a hop over the bar, but it got the crowd excited nonetheless. After a few pirouettes and his one armed giant swing is when the real stuff happened. First was his double back release directly into his Jackson, a laid out double twisting double back.

 He caught both perfectly. Annabeth was screaming along with the rest of the crowd. These were the moments that Percy lived for, she had never experienced a louder crowd than this. He had a bit of a slow passage before his last release move, he caught it again and then wound up for his dismount. A triple back. 

With a stuck landing Annabeth jumped to her feet in elation. Percy saluted, then fist pumping the air, ran off to quickly celebrate with the team. Even a couple of the Japanese men gave him a pat on the back or a high five. 

Annabeth smiled as she watched everything unfold, amused by the chaos around her, until she caught a glimpse of herself on the jumbo screen. She could already imagine the broadcast tagline: Annabeth Chase. Olympian. Percy Jackson’s girlfriend.  

But as she thought about it more and more, Annabeth realized there was nothing wrong with those titles. In fact, she was proud of each one. Let people talk, let them be obnoxious or judgmental, she didn’t care. Why shouldn’t she be happy that she gets to call Percy Jackson hers? Together, they would navigate whatever challenges came their way and win medals doing it. 

“Whatever realization you just came to,” Piper said, still clapping and cheering, “I support it, it seemed good.”

Annabeth smiled, “It was.”

They watched the scoreboard as Percy’s high bar score came in. The crowd roared as it did because his 15.9 pushed the USA up from 7th place into 4th. 

His score was even higher here than in qualification, which is what they needed. The team placed 4th in qualification, so they all had to do a little better if they wanted a medal.

Being realistic, they only could get gold if Japan had an uncharacteristically really bad day. But if the US hit all their routines a bit better than in qualifications, they may be able to take bronze, or best case scenario, silver. 

The Japanese team had two of the best male gymnasts of the past decade with Kohei Uchimura and Kenzo Shirai. They both were planning on retiring after this season but definitely intended to go out with a bang. The experience, age, and overall difficulty of the Japanese team made them practically unbeatable by everyone here, but Annabeth, knowing the US team as well as she did knew they wouldn't go down without a fight.

***

The next rotation brought the boys to pommel horse, which Annabeth was sure they were happy about getting this one out of the way early. The closest comparison in women's gymnastics to the pommel horse was the balance beam. Pommel had the same intricacies and nerves associated, it was just way more boring than balance beam. The first Japanese gymnast hit his routine, with only a few minor issues, she watched as Percy gave him a thumbs up as he left the floor. She heard his voice cheering on Leo as he stepped up onto the platform for his own routine. 

Waiting for the judges, Leo was himself, he pumped up his arms, trying and succeeding in egging the crowd on so they were practically rioting when he started, Annabeth and her group included.

He mounted with a scissor like motion then transitioned into circling his body around the horse with legs fully extended and toes pointed. Leo showed a great range of motion moving back and forth across the horse, which looked easy but Annabeth knew took a lot of strength and stamina. He brought his body up into a handstand, pirouetted and stuck the landing in a way that was sure to make Chiron proud.

Applause erupted and so did the guys on the floor, jumping and cheering for their friend who was sure to receive a pretty good score. 

“How often do you internally freak out that these are the Olympics?” Annabeth asked out of nowhere.

Piper didn’t even question it, “literally every second of the day. But I think that's a good thing because now it's faded into the background like white noise.”

Annabeth nodded in understanding, then added almost as a revelation, “We compete tomorrow.”

Piper laughed, “Oh my god, this time tomorrow, we’ll be more than halfway done with the Team Finals.”

Annabeth started laughing too, not feeling completely sane. They were hysterical, not even looks from the adults and Claire could stop them. The insanity of what was happening overtook them through the next routine and to Frank when the novelty of the day finally relented.

His routine was great, fast paced and effortless, Frank was visibly relieved when he dismounted without any major mistakes. 

“That was great,” Hedge said, “As long as we come away from pommel without any falls, this team is coming away with a medal, I know it.”

“I'll trust your word on that,” Piper said.

“Though I will say, it doesn't really do anything to lessen my nerves,” Annabeth said

The crowd roared as Kohei saluted the judges and began his routine. It’s hard to believe that this same man had injured himself at worlds last year and managed to make it back to the Olympics without ever missing a beat.

His routine started off fast and didn't lessen at all. He moved back and forth along the horse, showing off his flairs moving his legs almost wildly, despite being in complete and utter control. He dismounted, landing perfectly. 

As he left the platform, he high fived an almost starstruck Percy who was up next.

Frank’s coach, the oldest woman Annabeth had ever seen and apparently his grandmother, was on the floor, she playfully swatted at Percy to pay attention, he responded with a laugh as she smiled almost imperceptibly, as he waited for his turn. 

“You got this Percy!” she called out, and despite knowing there was no way he could have heard her over the rest of the crowd, he blew her a kiss in response. Annabeth could feel her cheeks redding, even though no one probably noticed. 

Hedge laughed, “Can’t wait to see that on the internet. I'm glad that the two of you are embracing this.”

Before anyone got a chance to respond, a large cry went out from the audience, they all looked around wildly to try and find what warranted that response.

Annabeth quickly found one of the Russian gymnasts on the floor who had underrotated a triple pike, and landed on his knees. He was finishing the routine now, but unfortunately a mistake like that would be extremely costly. 

“So I know it's risky karmically to ask this, but that opens up a huge door for us, right?” Paul asked.

That was so far the worst and biggest mistake of the day, granted there was still more than half of the competition left, which was plenty of time for anything else to go wrong for any of the teams here. But if everything continued as it was, “Yes, that’s a huge opening for the boys.” Annabeth stated as her mind whirred.

The Russians had qualified in second place, behind Japan, and just in front of China. But with that mistake, there was no way they’d be able to make the podium. 

Annabeth watched as this realization worked its way across Percy as well. She knew there was a part of him that felt bad for the other gymnast, but the competitor in him sensed the blood in the water and the opening they’d need to make it to that podium. 

“Just like practice!” Chiron called out as Percy saluted. He nodded at their coach just before he mounted. It didn't take long at all for Percy to get the crowd just as rowdy as Leo did. He spun around on only one hand, then immediately began his flairs. Windmilling his legs, while twisting and pirouetting, around the horse. Percy was moving with confidence, he was so quick as he moved back and forth, he became a blur for a brief period of time. His lines were immaculate as he kept his legs straight and glued together with toes pointed. Without slowing down, he spun and kicked hard, pushing himself into a handstand, he pirouetted 1.5 times, before landing squarely on his feet, flawlessly. As his feet hit the ground on his dismount, he was already celebrating knowing he wasn’t moving in the slightest.

Annabeth leapt to her feet in excitement cheering and shouting. The rest of the arena was doing the same. As Percy ran off the floor, he hugged Frank's coach, before high fiving and fist bumping the athletes around him. 

They all had fantastic routines, despite that, it was only enough for them to stay strong in fourth place. Though with rings, floor, and vault left, they only had the ability to go up from there. 

***

Once the team made it through rings, they only had two of Percy’s best events left. This was his last break of the day before the meet was over, with Leo, Charles, and Frank being the athletes chosen to compete on rings. It was the only event of the day that didn’t have either Percy or Jason competing. She knew they were probably rejoicing with their brief break.

The arena announcer's voice boomed overhead, instructing athletes to move to the next apparatus. As Percy and the rest of the group packed their bags back up and put on their warm up gear, Annabeth’s phone chimed. 

She hadn't been spending too much time on it, not only had she been inundated with all kinds of insane notifications, one post on tik tok that she was tagged in, had 200k likes by the time she deleted the app entirely. Then she was also receiving texts from pretty much anyone who ever had her phone number before, including kids from school she hadn't talked to since the 3rd grade offering her support and congratulations. However, something told her this time was different, and sure enough, she had a text from Grover. Seeing his name was a sight for sore eyes.

I have a quick question, but feel free to ignore me if you aren't up to it. I'm watching Team Finals, and just want to know how you think the guys will place? The broadcasters are being very doom and gloom.

Also, if you wanna talk to someone not about gymnastics, I'm always here :)

  Annabeth laughed and responded to her friend. They’ll be okay, without any major mistakes they'll take bronze. There’s a slim chance they take silver, it'll take a lot though. Thanks, I need it after the week I've had, how are you and Juniper?

They talked back and forth for a while, talking about all things, as promised, not gymnastics. Until he had a question, which Annabeth told him she didn't mind answering. In fact, he was almost more informed than she was since he was watching the broadcast and got to see more of the athletes up close, whereas Annabeth was so caught up in the US team that she had barely watched any of the others.

They texted for a while, all throughout the still ring's routines that went over exceedingly well. The boys’ had built an insane amount of momentum from the first half of the day and were using that plus their adrenaline to wondrous results. 

The boys were getting even more hyped up on the sideline, acting more and more like this was a college gymnastics competition and not the literal Olympics. Not that Annabeth minded, all that meant was they were having fun, which, beyond winning medals and doing your best, was a pretty important goal in her eyes. 

Unfortunately, just as well as the US team was doing, so were the Japanese, Chinese, and German teams. Even after the best ring routines of Leo, Charles, and Frank’s lives. They were still in fourth. 

But with floor and vault next, if they were going to move up in the standings, it would be on either of those events. 

Music blared through the arena as the men rotated to their next events. Annabeth watched as Percy sat in a chair, and Chiron ran up to him and began taping up his ankle.

Claire was immediately worried, so was Sally, but with Paul here (and a couple glasses of wine) she was hiding her own anxiety pretty well, though Annabeth knew it was always there.

“Is that bad,” the young girl asked.

Annabeth assured her, “not at all, he wasn't limping or anything, so it's probably just a precaution to keep him feeling good for vault afterwards, and for the rest of the week. He’s got a lot of gymnastics left.”

She happily accepted that answer and went back to excitedly chattering away as she watched the athletes begin their quick warm up exercises.

Before long, Charles was waiting for his turn to begin. With the rest of the team cheering him on the entire time. She could tell his nerves were high, his muscles coiled with anticipation. But as the judges raised the flag, his breath slowed, and for a split second, everything in him stilled. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, he sprinted forward, launching into a high-flying double twisting double back layout. The crowd went crazy as he stuck the landing, then immediately jumped back into the corner for his next pass.

Charles moved without hesitation into his next pass, a series of whips, his body moving like fluid, each flip building on the last, increasing in speed and power. His arms cut the air as he turned into an Arabian double front, with a hop forward, Charles only just barely avoided stepping out of bounds and incurring an extra deduction.

His face was set with determination as he moved into the next sequence, light on his feet, Charles connected a one and a half twist, immediately into a two and a half twist, and then a three and a half twist, landing with a step to the side.

Next came a set of flairs into a split and then a press handstand that he rolled out of back into the corner.  

He ran again, in one fluid motion he did a roundoff into a full twisting double back. His final pass began with a deep inhale. He picked up speed again, hurtling forward and leaping into the air for a triple twist. With a final snap, his feet landed solidly on the floor, his body absorbing the impact with almost perfect form. He stood tall, smiling, as he saluted the judges. Annabeth knew if he wasn't so out of breath, he'd be excitedly jumping around like his teammates and the crowd currently were.

While they waited for the next gymnast on the floor to begin, they watched a few other routines before the announcer came out to declare Charles’ score of a 15.1, a score that would do wonders to help push the Americans forward.

As the next Japanese gymnast began, Piper leaned over and asked, “can I be a bitch for a second.”

“Obviously,” Annabeth smiled conspiratorially.

“Can you imagine how much easier doing a men's floor routine must be?”

Excited, Annabeth grabbed her friend's arms, “I have literally thought that for years.”

Piper was incredulous, “I'd kill for only five or six tumbling passes and maybe a handstand.”

“Exactly, no more dancing or other goofy choreography, I don't have to worry about being on beat or anything like that, it would be incredible.”

It was clear the judges were having an issue with the last gymnasts score. Though Annabeth wasn't sure what that could be about, Shinnosuke Oka’s routine was incredible. Even though floor routines usually had the longest delays, Jason had been waiting more than 20 minutes now. Annabeth watched as Chiron spoke with him, though she couldn’t quite tell what about. Chiron wasn’t the type for motivational speeches during meets, preferring to offer practical, last-minute advice. She figured he was mostly there to keep Jason grounded, making sure he didn’t get lost in his own head during the extended wait.

Leo and Percy called something off from the side of the floor that actually managed to make both Chiron and Jason laugh.

Sally leaned over and said, “I love Chiron as much as the next person, but seeing him laughing on the floor at the Olympics is…” she trailed off trying to find the right word.

“Weird?” Annabeth supplied.

“Unnerving?” Piper tried, “I’ve been in New York for months and that may be the first time I've ever seen him smile, let alone laugh.”

They laughed, Chiron met their eyes and gave them a glare, knowing fully that they were talking about him. In return, Annabeth and Piper gave him a heart shaped by their hands. He rolled his eyes, and turned away clapping for Jason as the flag was finally raised.

Jason breathed a sigh of relief as he saluted. 

“You got this Jason!” Piper shouted as the rest of the group cheered and hollered.

He opened with a smooth series of steps, before accelerating into a roundoff that led to a series of back handsprings into a double twisting double back, he landed with a small hop backwards, luckily still remaining inbounds. 

Jason’s next pass was a full twisting double layout, which he landed solidly. Piper leapt to her feet screaming at the top of her lungs.

The next pass was a 2.5 twist connected into a double pike, with another stuck landing. Annabeth found herself up on her feet too, yelling right along with Piper and the rest of their crew.

The routine's pace shifted as Jason moved into the typical men's gymnastics floor requirement of showing off their strength and flexibility. A quick series of flairs, into a split, then a press handstand that led him back into a corner for the next tumbling pass.

His double Arabian with a half twist was beautifully executed, despite the small hop forward. Taking a deep breath, Jason got ready for his dismount, he ran, punching off the ground and finishing with a twisting double layout with a stuck landing.

The crowd cheered loudly, but no one as loud as Jason's teammates as they hugged and shook Jason in excitement. The possibility of moving into 3rd place was starting to look more and more better.

Kenzo Shirai was up next, his 30 second warm up already underway. Being at the Olympics, Annabeth had so many surreal moments. And this was another, in his prime, Kenzo dominated the floor. Percy used to make Annabeth sit and watch his routines on Chirons computer for hours. The older man had three skills named after him, skills that Percy now had in his own routine, and here they were, facing off in what would be Kenzo’s final Olympics.

Throughout the day, Annabeth had been watching Percy inch closer to Kenzo. She knew exactly what he wanted, a picture, but he seemed too nervous to ask. It amazed her that out of everything happening at the Olympics, arguably the most important competition of Percy’s life, what was stressing him out the most was asking one of his idols for a photo. She’d have to tease him about it later.

Kenzo’s routine was practically flawless, though Annabeth knew they’d find deductions somewhere. He twisted and flipped impossibly fast, he had excellent lines and incredible landings. His score would be terrific and help keep the Japanese men in first, but…

“He’s good,” Claire interrupted Annabeth’s train of thought, “but not as good as Percy.”

“I was thinking the exact same thing,” Annabeth agreed, “when they get to floor finals, I think Percy has a pretty good chance of beating him.”

Hedge added in, “Carlos Yulo though will be a different story, that's gonna be a tight battle for first.”

The crowd erupted in cheers, and Annabeth instinctively looked up to see what had caught their attention. Of course, there was her boyfriend, standing on the floor, waiting to begin his routine. Percy's eyes were locked on hers, a brief and quiet intensity behind them, as if the entire stadium had faded away and all that mattered in this moment was her.

That quickly changed as his excitement took over, because of course, this was Percy Jackson. 

He thrived in high pressure situations. The bigger the stakes, the bigger his smile and right now he looked like he was about to have the time of his life. He gave her another wink clearly saying to her, Watch This. She couldn't help but laugh, only Percy would be this psyched moments before one of the most important routines of his career. If he hit this routine, they’d take third place. If this team medaled it would be the first team to make the podium in US mens gymnastics in decades. Annabeth wasn’t sure about the exact date but she had a feeling Chiron told Percy to help light a fire under him. 

Percy stepped onto the floor, his usual calm confidence wrapped in a smirk. He saluted, a flick of his hand toward the judges, but all Annabeth was paying attention to was the way his eyes found hers in the crowd. 

Annabeth sat on the edge of her seat, heart pounding. And then with a single breath, Percy's attention was on the floor, all of a sudden he was in the air, his body blurring with how fast he was moving into his triple twisting double layout, which he stuck like it was second nature. 

Annabeth shot to her feet screaming in excitement, with a deathgrip on Piper’s arm. Somewhere in the back of her mind she even realized that Sally was also standing, holding Paul’s hand tight, but she appeared to be watching intently and fully, Percy's floor routine for the first time in years.

His second pass, was an upgrade, one that he hadn’t competed ever before, a double Arabian with a full twist, his landing was so smooth it was almost unreal.

"Wait" Annabeth was struck by a sudden thought, she grabbed Hedge's arm, "does he get that named after him? Has that ever been done before?" She wasn't as up to date with the men's code of points, and with how obnoxious Percy was leading up to his Jackson on high bar, she wouldn't be surprised if Chiron kept this from him and secretly submitted it to the FIG for naming rights.

Hedge looked guilty, he clearly was afraid to answer. "Yes" it came out almost as a whisper, "Chiron didn't want to tell either of you, because we didn't want it to become another competition between the two of you."

Annabeth was stunned, if she put herself in her coaches shoes, she couldn't quite blame them, when they got competitive, Percy and Annabeth didn't always make the best decisions.

"Does he know?" 

Hedge's voice was small, "no."

Piper spoke the words that were lodged in Annabeth's throat, "you guys know this is insane right?"

"Oh absolutely, I think I've rubbed more off on Chiron than he'd like to admit."

Annabeth didn't have long to process any of this as the roar of the crowd brought all their attention back to Percy on the floor.

He was making it all look easy, but Annabeth and all the gymnasts here knew how much this took. The hours, the exhaustion, the unrelenting pursuit of improvement and perfection. It was probably why the entire Japanese team, and dozens of other competing athletes, stopped to watch Percy on the floor.

Then came the 2.5 twist into a triple. He spun so fast it was dizzying. He took a small step on the landing, it was almost the first conceivable deduction she saw. 

His next pass was excellent, leading into the section of his routine where everything seemed to settle, and Percy got the closest thing to a break that a floor routine could afford you. He transitioned smoothly into a butterfly kick, gliding into a dive roll, a quiet moment amidst the chaos of Percy’s tumbling passes. But it was fleeting, because then came the air flares, which had sorta become his signature move as he leapt from hand to hand. The crowd erupted as he moved spinning with the kind of strength that made you forget this wasn’t the pommel horse. It was pure power, and no one in the world could do it like Percy. Annabeth couldn't help but think about the countless times she had seen him practice that move until his arms trembled, until he couldn’t lift his body anymore. And here he was, making it look like child’s play at the Olympics.

He connected that to his split and press handstand. Then Percy made his way to the corner of the floor, where he prepared for the dismount. A double-twisting double layout into a front layout. He landed with a small step off to the side. He saluted and was immediately celebrating along with the rest of the arena. 

There was no way that wouldn't put them into third place. 

“Nice work, Percy!” Annabeth screamed. 

The guys stood side by side, arms slung behind each other's backs, their eyes glued to the scoreboard, waiting anxiously for the update. In what felt like an eternity, though in actuality only a minute or two, Percy’s score flashed on the screen. The United States leapt into third place.

A wave of excitement exploded from the group and the American supporters in the stands. The team jumped and cheered, almost as if they didn't remember they had one more event to go. The announcer's voice boomed overhead, confirming the standings and calling the men to their final event.

"Way to go, boys!" Piper shouted as they passed by on their way to the vault.

Coach Hedge chimed in too. "Keep it up, cupcakes! Three more routines, then you're free to clock out."

The team shouted their thanks, tossing playful replies as volunteers ushered them toward the last and final rotation. If they did what Annabeth knew they were capable of, they’d be leaving here with a bronze, the US men's first team medal in almost 40 years.

Piper leaned over to Annabeth with a grin. "Can you imagine if we also had six events?"

Annabeth laughed, shaking her head. "I’m not even willing to entertain that thought."

***

Koji Yamamuro’s vault was incredible, so that meant it would only get exponentially better for the Japanese team. 

The Chinese team in second place moved to pommel horse. Quickly calculating Annabeth figured that they just had to have three clean routines and they’d keep silver.

Jason stood at the top of the vault runway, ready for his final event of the day. He was about to perform the same vault that Annabeth did, while the women called it an Amanar, for men, it was a Shewfell. He’d hit a roundoff onto the springboard, launching himself backward into 2.5 twists. Annabeth wasn’t worried, this was the one vault she knew they’d drilled to perfection. She was certain he’d nail it.

Jason saluted and sprinted down the runway. Just as he took off, Hedge said, “Holy shit, look, look!”

The entire group snapped their heads toward Hedge, who was wide-eyed and pointing frantically. Annabeth tried to follow his gaze, but in the confusion, she missed Jason’s vault and whatever it was that Hedge was talking about.

“What is wrong with you? I missed Jason’s vault because of that!” Piper snapped.

“You’ve seen it a million times,” Hedge said, not taking his eyes off the other side of the gym. “But what you haven’t seen is that .” He gestured toward the pommel horse across the arena.

“What happened?” Sally asked.

The jumbotron flickered to a replay: Sun Wei had slipped on one of his hand placements on pommel. He didn’t fall, but the deduction would still be costly.

Annabeth’s eyes met Percy’s from across the gym, he had seen it too. The realization hit both of them at the same time.

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team now had a real shot at the silver, something no men’s team had ever achieved before.

They would know for sure soon enough, vault was always the quickest apparatus and the one with the least amount of deductions, if they did their job right. 10 minutes was probably all it would take to determine the final outcome.

Kohei’s vault was the same as Jason’s, he performed it just as flawlessly as they saw Jason do, the other man practically made it look like he was going for a leisurely stroll through a park.

As Kohei stepped off the platform Percy gave him a fist bump and a friendly pat on the back.  She watched as he switched back and forth trying to be close to the Japanese men and cheering for Charles who was next up.

Sally laughed almost to herself noticing the same thing, that the biggest worry for Percy today was trying to get a picture with his competitors. But with both of their retirements in less than two weeks, it would be the only time Percy would get this opportunity.

Moments later, they watched Percy hand his phone to Chiron, then mimicked a camera motion and pointed at Kenzo and Kohei. Neither needed translation, they immediately agreed, smiling as they stood on either side of Percy for the picture.

“It’s about time Percy!” she called out hoping he’d hear. By the way he rolled his eyes and Chiron laughed, she’d say they definitely did.

Meanwhile, Charles stepped up to the runway, quickly chalking his feet.

“No interruptions this time, please,” Claire said, shooting a pointed look at Hedge, who only laughed and ruffled her hair.

The flag was raised. Charles saluted, then shot down the runway. His roundoff onto the table was precise, his block strong as he flipped his body backward twice and added a full twist. He stuck the landing with just a small step back.

Annabeth found herself on her feet screaming, Piper and Hedge on either side of her doing the same. The rest of the team on the floor were going crazy, Percy grabbed Charles by the arms and shook him vigorously, not even letting him catch his breath.  

Kenzo, as he passed their group, gave Charles a pat on the back, heading up the small set of stairs to the competition platform. He took a quick warm up pass and headed to the top of the runway for Japan's final routine of the meet. Kenzo would be doing a vault similar to Jason and Kohei, but instead he added an extra full twist to the skill. 

Of course, when he performed, it was nearly perfect. He was a little crooked on the mats, landing off to the right, but other than that Annabeth had no idea where any other deductions could come from. They all stood to cheer loudly, knowing they were looking at the gold medal winners of the day, rightfully deserved. 

As the applause gradually faded, the Japanese men, with their reserved demeanor, refrained from celebrating prematurely. A few gymnasts still had routines left on the floor and high bar, including Percy on vault.

But the quiet didn’t last. The moment Percy stepped onto the vault runway, the crowd erupted once again, their excitement unwavering. Percy took a quick, sharp one-touch warm-up run, causing Sally’s breath to catch. Paul gently pulled her closer, sensing the tension.

As Percy waited for the judges, he raised his arms, urging the crowd to get louder, and they responded with thunderous energy. By the time the judges raised the flag, the entire arena was on its feet. Percy saluted and bolted down the runway.

His feet hit the springboard with power, launching him forward. He blocked hard off the table, soaring high, flipping twice with his legs tightly piked and half twisted, perfectly.

Before Percy’s feet even touched the ground, Hedge's voice rang out, “That's silver, baby! That’s silver!”

Percy landed with a solid, unwavering stick, his final salute of the day met with deafening cheers. His team rushed to celebrate with him as the arena buzzed with anticipation.

They turned to the scoreboard, waiting for Percy's score. As Nile Wilson, a British gymnast completed his floor routine and Fabian Hambuchen from the German Team fell off the high bar before quickly finishing his routine, the tension grew.

“Is that it?” Claire asked softly, the question hanging in the air.

All eyes shifted to Hedge, who scanned the arena quickly. “A scary day when you’re all looking to me for wisdom, but yeah, I think that’s it.”

The moment Percy’s score flashed across the screen, he erupted, running in circles, shouting in joy, and hugging every teammate, nearby spectator, and gymnast he could get his hands on. The arena roared with him, the celebration just beginning.

The Scoreboard above them read:

1. Japan
2. The United States of America
3. The People's Republic of China
4. Great Britain
5. Italy
6. Ukraine
7. Germany
8. Russia

Annabeth was yelling so hard her vision blurred with spots, her heart pounded in sync with the thunderous cheers around her. At the end of their row, Sally was in tears, while Coach Hedge was bouncing nonstop, his excitement infectious. Piper matched his energy, jumping alongside him. Paul had Claire perched on his shoulders, both of them leaping and shouting together.

Percy sprinted toward them, but they were too high up in the stands for him to join the celebration. Instead, he cupped his hands and yelled, “We did it!” His face was flushed with triumph, his voice barely cutting through the deafening roar.

To an outsider, it might seem like they had won gold. But Annabeth knew better. Their victory wasn’t just about medals; it was about defying expectations. They were the youngest team, hailing from a country that had never even come close to winning in the team competition. No one had expected them to make any waves. And yet, here they were, second best in the world.

Annabeth formed a heart with her hands and blew Percy a kiss. “You did it!” she shouted.

Through the crowd’s roar, Percy’s voice rang out, a grin on his face. “You’re up next!”

The organizers and volunteers quickly got everyone settled and ushered the three medalling teams to the podium, each of the fifteen athletes were given a bouquet of flowers, a laurel wreath to wear on their heads, and their respective medals, which were draped around their necks. Once everyone had theirs, the flags of their countries rose behind them, and the sound of the Japanese National Anthem echoed throughout the stadium.

Once the formalities were over, the gymnasts climbed down from their podiums, shaking hands and exchanging hugs with the other teams, still riding the high of their achievement. They gathered their belongings, taking a moment to catch their breath before making their way out of the main arena.

“Think we can sneak backstage to see the team? Annabeth asked Hedge mostly.

Hedge smirked, “We’ll only know after we try, let's go.”

Their group made their way out with the masses, but when everyone else was exiting the building, they took a different direction, moving quickly through the chaotic arena. Luckily, with so much going on, they made it to the back gym without so much as a second glance. 

Jason reached them first, his face breaking into a smile as he hugged Piper tightly. She kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair, laughing softly. Then Sally stepped in, wrapping Jason in a warm, motherly hug. Over the past few months, with Thalia away, she had stepped in to look out for Jason whenever she could.

“We’re so proud of you, Jason. Congratulations,” Sally said, her voice thick with emotion.

Jason opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, a familiar voice called his name. They all turned to see Thalia sprinting toward them, her eyes bright with excitement. She threw her arms around Jason, hugging him fiercely and peppering his face with kisses.

“I'm so sorry, I got here late, I wanted to be here yesterday, but my chemistry final got messed up and then one of my flights got crazy delayed but I made it here just in time to see the majority of the meet. You guys were amazing!”

Jason, who had maintained his usual stoic demeanor throughout the day, suddenly looked close to tears. “I didn't think you were gonna be able to make it.”

Thalia smiled, adjusting the wreath on his head and tugging at his medal. “I’d never miss this, Jason. Chiron and I planned this for months. I’m so proud of you.”

Annabeth missed Jason's reply as Percy came barreling over, pausing only to hug Sally quickly before making a beeline for Annabeth. Chiron and the rest of the team trailed behind him, some of them splitting off to reunite with their own families, who had made their way backstage as well.

Annabeth barely had a chance to breathe before Percy pulled her into his arms, kissing her quickly.

“That was incredible,” she said breathlessly. “I can’t believe you guys pulled it off.”

Percy grinned, his eyes sparkling. “Oh, ye of little faith,” he teased.

They lingered together for a few minutes, athletes and families blending into one tight-knit group. Percy and Annabeth finally had the chance to meet Frank and Leo’s moms, after hearing countless stories over the last several months. Laughter and lighthearted teasing flowed freely as the tension of the competition melted away. With the day’s pressure behind them, they soaked in the moment, relishing the company. The boys had earned a well-deserved day off tomorrow, but that meant the spotlight would shift. Next, it would be the women’s turn in the team final.

“Anyone hungry?” Chiron asked, “How about some dinner?”

A chorus of agreement erupted from the group, and they began making their way out of the arena, laughing and chatting as they went.

“I can't believe they’re letting us leave with these,” Percy said looking at his medal, still in awe.

Annabeth agreed, “honestly, I am too, I figured they’d give us a placeholder and mail the real thing later, like a diploma.”

As they walked out into the night, surrounded by friends, family, and the joy of an unexpected victory, the weight of the boys' silver medals felt like just the beginning of what was to come.

Chapter Text

Percy woke up before his alarm, his body sore and stiff from the previous day's events. Looking over to his bedside table, lay his Olympic silver medal, which served as proof that the Team Finals actually happened, and weren’t just some strange dream. 

He knew Annabeth was probably already up, getting ready, and he tried to convince himself to do the same. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed his phone and sent a quick text to Chiron: Heading for a massage. You want to join?

Chiron's response came almost instantly: No. But stay alert. Let me know if anything feels weird.

With that subtle warning in the back of his mind, Percy dragged himself out of bed and quickly got dressed and ready for the day. His body screamed for rest, but he was determined to make the most of the recovery facilities available at the Village. If Annabeth was going to take her usual hour and a half to get ready, he had just enough time to squeeze in some much-needed recovery therapy so he could feel like an actual person before his All Around finals tomorrow and so he could enjoy the Women's team final today.

He half expected the massage center to be packed with other athletes, but to his surprise, it was nearly empty when he arrived. He breathed a sigh of relief. With Annabeth taking her time, Percy had an hour to kill before they could meet up for breakfast, and he wasn’t about to waste a minute of it. He would get that gold medal tomorrow, even if his brain had to overpower his body. 

After an hour-long massage, followed by a couple of rounds with the leg sleeves and an EMS complex, Percy felt like a new person. The aches and stiffness from the Team Final had all but disappeared, leaving him light on his feet as he made his way to Annabeth and Piper’s apartment.

He raised a hand to knock but paused when he heard Annabeth’s voice inside, calling out to Piper. Smirking, he leaned against the door frame, waiting. A few moments later, the door swung open, and Annabeth stepped out. She barely blinked when she saw him standing there, as if she expected it all along.

Percy extended his arm with a playful grin. "Care to join me for breakfast?"

She intertwined her fingers through his, “I'd love to, Piper just woke up so I told her we'd bring some back, otherwise there’s no way she’ll make it to the bus on time.”

They started walking, the dining hall was about a mile or so away from their apartments, so they were happy to jump in one of the self-driving “cars” that would drop them off much quicker than they could walk.

The car dropped them off just outside the dining hall. The morning air felt fresh, crisp with the promise of the day ahead. Percy could hear the quiet hum of activity in the distance, other athletes stirring, coaches prepping, the faint clinking of dishes from the cafeteria. Everything was in motion, the energy of competition buzzing in the background.

As they entered the dining hall, the smell of fresh pastries and brewing coffee filled the air. Athletes were scattered around, either chatting quietly or already diving into their breakfast. 

They reached the buffet making a tray for them to share, and one to bring back for Piper and Jason. 

Food improved things drastically, Percy was brought fully back to himself. Annabeth though was being a little too quiet, stuck in thought in her head. He’d only bother her at this point in time, so he waited for her thoughts to come to an end on their own and waited to give her support if she needed it.

Taking a bite of bacon, she finally came to some sort of epiphany as she said out loud, “I'm ready for this.” 

Percy laughed around a bite of a muffin, “well duh, you’re Annabeth Chase. This is your team and your moment, you’ve spent years fighting and training for this. There's no doubt in my mind that you're gonna dominate out there, today and for the rest of the competition.”

Annabeth smiled, then teasingly asked, “how much of that speech, expressed as a percentage, did you hear from Chiron yesterday?” 

Percy took his time with his coffee, casually tossing their trash into the bin, trying to see if he could figure out a way to not answer. “Let’s just get this food back to Piper before it gets cold.” He tried to evade, but she didn’t blink. Finally, with a resigned sigh, he confessed, “Ninety-nine percent.” 

Annabeth laughed, leaning over to kiss his cheek and Percy’s heart did a flip. Together, they headed back to the apartments. As they entered the room, Piper’s eyes immediately locked onto the cup in Percy’s hand. “Please tell me that coffee is for me.” 

To answer, he simply handed it over without a word, and Piper took a long, grateful sip, savoring the caffeine rush. “Alright,” she said, determination filling her voice. “Let’s do this.”

***

Percy and Jason dropped the girls off at the buses that would take them to the arena, a half-hour drive from the Village. Since they weren’t competing today, the boys were on a different shuttle for spectators, but they arrived early to save spots for Sally, Paul, Claire, and Thalia. 

When the group finally reunited, Thalia’s face was dark, her usual confidence replaced by something much more tense. Jason noticed first.

“What’s going on?” he asked, but the answer was already approaching, completely oblivious to the mounting tension.

Tristan McLean strolled over, acting as if he were an old friend of Paul and his mom. He greeted them with the smooth charm that had made him famous, but it made Percy’s stomach twist. He looked to Jason to see if this was something that Piper had mentioned to him, but his friend's face was ashen.  Jason clearly had no idea his girlfriend's father would be here.

“Does Piper know he’s here?” Percy asked quietly.

“Not that I know of,” Jason muttered. “We should tell the coaches, right?”

“Definitely. I’ll call Chiron, and you call Hedge.”

Neither coach answered, probably busy dealing with last-minute preparations, so Percy tried Annabeth. Nothing. Even Thalia attempted to get in touch, but no one was available. With growing unease, they sent out texts to the coaches, hoping that would be enough.

Percy knew Piper had made tremendous improvement with her mental health since coming to Olympia, that Cynthia, their sports psychologist, had really helped her get her mind right. But still, Percy worried for his friend, her biggest mental block that he had ever seen, had come from a brief encounter with her father, and since then, she's barely talked about him. He hoped that this wouldn’t derail the team final today, for all their sake, they deserved that gold medal, and hopefully the appearance of one movie star wouldn’t ruin that. 

They all piled into the shuttle, with a few other families headed to the arena and surrounding areas. Percy kept his voice low as he leaned over to Jason.

“You’re not gonna introduce yourself to your girlfriend’s dad?”

Jason shot him a look so fierce Percy half-expected lightning to strike him right there.

***

During the walk-in ceremony, Percy scanned the floor and spotted Annabeth searching for their group in the crowd. They’d been moved from their seats today after a fan frenzy the day before, so the arena staff had relocated them to an area where they'd be less likely to be bombarded. They still had a prime view of the events, even if fans nearby still couldn’t resist sneaking glances or attempting to ask for autographs.

Sally, normally so patient, looked annoyed. When she explained the situation to Tristan, he went into full movie star mode, standing up and addressing the crowd with practiced ease. “There will be no autographs or photos today,” he announced, flashing his signature smile, “please respect our space.”

Well, at least there was that. 

The ceremony continued, and when the U.S. team was introduced, their group leapt up, cheering loudly, especially when Annabeth and Piper’s names were called. The team headed to the balance beam first, led by a volunteer waving the American flag. They’d be rotating with the Chinese and French teams.

“Good,” Thalia said, her tone lightening. “At least they’ll get beam out of the way early.”

Percy knew beam wasn’t the easiest event to start with, but he had full confidence in the team. Annabeth had it slightly easier today, as the beam was the only event she wasn’t going to be competing on. Her first event would be as the floor anchor, which meant she had a lot of waiting to do, she’d have to wait for nine gymnasts on the beam and then eight on the floor before her first performance of the day. 

Percy watched as Annabeth made her way down the line of teammates, stopping at each one to offer a few encouraging words. She was calm and confident, hyping them up with a contagious energy that set the tone for the competition. When she got to Reyna, though, something changed. Annabeth’s expression tightened, her smile fading into something more serious. Percy squinted, trying to catch what she was saying, but he didn’t have to try too hard. Clear as day, he saw her mouth the words and knew what she was saying, the same as if she was yelling into his ear, “I’m getting you a gold medal.”

Percy smiled, feeling a surge of pride for Annabeth, but there was a weight to it too. His heart went out to Reyna. He knew how hard this moment must be for her. Piper had qualified for the All-Around at the Olympics, taking the second of two spots, right after Annabeth who took the first spot, but that victory had come at Reyna’s expense. Reyna had been heavily favored for that second spot, but Piper had two per countried her out of contention. 

Besides for the beam final, this was Reyna's one shot at a medal.

The two exchanged a few quiet words that Percy couldn’t quite catch. He could feel the tension between them, the weight of everything left unsaid. But then, unexpectedly, Reyna pulled Annabeth into a fierce and heartfelt hug.

Their group fell into a comfortable chatter as the crowd around them came to a hush as the beginning athletes finished their warm ups and waited for the judges to begin. It wasn’t too long that the announcer above called out the name, Kui Yuanyuan. The girl saluted, and quickly mounted the beam while other athletes across the gym also began their routines. Kui floated through her routine with excellent precision, every move sharp, every landing sure. 

“Woah,” Claire said, “She’s good.”

Percy nodded in agreement, “They all are,” he responded, “But our girls are better.”

***

As the rotation continued, and one of the French girls waited for her signal, Percy could see Annabeth stealing glances into the audience, he tried calling out to her a few times to no avail. He wouldn’t say this aloud to her, but Percy knew that finding Sally and him in the crowd, the times he was there, was a minor part of her pre meet ritual. She didn’t have superstitions, but this was as close as Annabeth got,

Something snapped Annabeth’s attention back to the competition floor, where Rachel was poised to begin. 

Sally leaned forward in her seat, letting the mundane conversation between Tristan and Paul continue. So far Percy, Jason, and Thalia were fine with passing politeness but mostly ignored his presence and he seemed to be happy returning the favor. “Are you okay?” Sally said. 

“Me?” He asked, “of course, why?”

Next to him, Jason and Thalia laughed, then added “well you're not as annoying for one.”  

Sally winked at him knowing the other teenagers were just teasing.

He admitted, “I don't know, I just have a weird feeling in my chest, I don't know how to explain it.”

Jason laughed again, rolling his eyes, “Percy, you're nervous.”

“Gross, this is what that feels like?”

His friends were not impressed, “You make it hard to be around you sometimes, but she's going to be fine, they all are.” Thalia assured him

Percy nodded, it didn't do much to lighten the weight in his chest but he figured it’d be a good start. His attention was snapped towards the beam as he heard the familiar hollow sounds of feet hitting the balance beam.

“You got this Rachel!” Yelling was already helping Percy feel better.

Rachel continued to glide smoothly through her routine, landing a clean switch leap, full tuck, and a series of aerials, her arms slicing the air with perfect symmetry. A bell sounded signaling Rachel to dismount within the next ten seconds. She did so with a double pike, sticking the landing with a grin that earned a wild applause from the team on the floor and Percy’s group in the stands. He watched as the girls hugged and high fived their friend and congratulated her on a job well done. 

1 routine down 11 to go.

The arena’s announcer echoed through the arena, signaling the next competitors on each apparatus. Reyna would be the next American up, after the Chinese and French gymnasts, they watched as she pulled herself away, knowing from months of training together that she would be beginning to visualize and talk herself through her upcoming routine. 

As they talked and joked amongst each other, floor music played in the background, and the crowd randomly cheered meaning someone on a different apparatus just dismounted. At one point, a part of the audience on the other side of the arena cried out, Percy and his crew jumped up to see what had happened only to find a Canadian gymnast named Shallon Olsen had sat down her vault. 

Finally, it was Reyna’s turn. They watched as Hedge gave the girl a few serious pieces of advice before her performance.

"You've got this, Reyna!" Annabeth shouted, her voice clear over the rising chorus of encouragement from the rest of the team.

“Come on Reyna!” Percy and Jason called out at the same time.

The flag went up, signaling it was time. Reyna took a deep breath, saluted confidently, and began her routine.

She mounted the beam with a gorgeous switch split leap. Then without hesitation went into an Onodi and a backhandspring seamlessly connecting that all into a Rufolva, a layout full twist. Except, instead of landing on her feet, Reyna executed a swing down, which she landed perfectly seated on the beam. The crowd gasped, first probably thinking she made a mistake, until it turned to appreciation. 

Percy leaned over to Jason, “Can I just say, I'm very grateful we don't have to do beam.”

Jason made a sound of agreement and nodded his head vigorously. “I have thought that almost every day of my life.”

Reyna continued, a master of grace and control, her body flowing effortlessly from one element to the next. Percy recognized the look on her face, she was calm, deadly calm. She had entered a special zone for gymnasts, where her mind had taken a back seat and her body had taken over, falling back on months and months of consistent training.

Each jump, leap, and turn was executed with precision, her connections flawless. Aerials and flips blended seamlessly as she moved across the beam with the fluidity of someone who had rehearsed these motions a thousand times. Which, she had.  

The dismount bell went off, Reyna took a deep breath and launched into her triple twist. She spun incredibly fast, making sure to get all three rotations around. She landed with a tiny step back, the smallest mistake on an otherwise fantastic routine. 

"Great work, Reyna!" Annabeth’s voice rang out, rising above the cheers of their team as they crowded around her. High-fives, hugs, and grinning faces followed in their usual post-routine celebration. Even a few girls from the Chinese and French teams joined, their shared excitement starting to break down the earlier tension, the nerves of the first rotation finally beginning to fade.

On beam, China’s final gymnast began her warm-up, while Piper, much like Reyna before her, stepped away from the lively chatter of the team. She took a deep breath, her focus shifting inward as she mentally prepared for the final routine of their rotation. Percy’s attention wandered between events, he watched a British gymnast, Jessica Gadirova, nail her uneven bars routine, Aliya Mustafina, a Russian athlete stick a solid vault, and several others executing flawless moves. Meanwhile, Thalia was animatedly sharing stories from college, her and Jason’s laughter mixing with the buzz around them, and the adults had drifted into their typical, boring conversations. Percy didn’t mind though; the atmosphere was electric, and everything felt lighter now that the competition was in full swing, the only person he really wished he could talk to about this was Annabeth. She was only a few yards away, but her focus, rightfully so, was on the team. 

Having competed just a day before, Percy knew exactly what was going through the minds of the girls on the floor, the nerves, the pressure, the drive to do better than they’d ever done. Annabeth seemed to know it too. She moved effortlessly among them, offering quick words of encouragement, a hand on someone’s shoulder, or a joke that instantly broke the tension. The girls laughed, throwing their heads back in unison as the stress melted away under her influence.

A gasp from the audience went out interrupting Percy’s thoughts. Their group was immediately on their feet along with the team down below. They didn’t need to look far, to find the French gymnast, climbing back onto the beam and quickly dismounting. Almost in tears she went to join her team who sadly consoled the other girl. Annabeth and the team quickly sat down, taking their attention away. Knowing that there was nothing they could do or say at this time to make matters better for the other team, and that included making a spectacle of what should be a semi private moment as they grieved this loss. That mistake would certainly take them out of medal contention completely. He watched as Annabeth pulled the team out of their heads, and tried to convince them to push this out of their minds completely to be mentally focused for the rest of the meet. 

Meanwhile, Piper was getting ready at the chalk bucket, her back to the beam. 

Percy looked to the Grace siblings and they knew what they had to do while the noise in the arena was moderately low. 

The three of them together, screamed out, “You got this Piper!”

Their friend smiled as she processed the words, Annabeth turned around, quickly and finally finding them in the crowd. As they continued to shout out their support for Piper. 

Annabeth's eyes found Sally quickly, his mother blew her a kiss. Percy waved excitedly and held up a heart with his hands, not caring that his every move would probably later be dissected by gymnastics fans on the internet. 

Percy could tell the exact moment that Annabeth noticed their tag-a-long. Her eyes widened and she immediately went for her cell phone in her duffel bag. Something she normally never did during meets.

The text came through quickly. You're sitting with Piper’s dad?!?!?!

He replied with the same quickness. It just sort of happened, we weren’t super thrilled about it either.  And before she could text the question that was surely in her mind, he added, Jason and I already told Chiron and Hedge. They have it handled.

Honestly, Percy didn’t even know if that was true, but he didn't want to worry Annabeth about this. Because he knew his girlfriend. Of all the things she had planned and worried over, this moment had probably never crossed her mind. Piper had barely mentioned her father since her beginning days at Olympia. So whatever was going on in Piper’s head, because surely she had to have noticed her own father at this point, Percy could only hope that their training and therapy, would be enough to pull her, and the team through.   

The judges raised the flag.

“Come on Piper, you got this.” Annabeth yelled, tossing her phone back into her bag. 

With a graceful front pike, she mounted the beam, landing without even the slightest wobble.

Her leap series came next, smooth and fluid, a full turn into a ring jump, every motion precise. Then, her acrobatic series began: front aerials into a front pike with a half twist. Piper flowed across the beam with such grace that it was hard to believe she was balancing on just four inches of wood. Each movement was executed with confidence as she flipped, jumped, and transitioned from one end of the beam to the other with ease.

By the middle of the routine, Percy and the Graces found themselves too excited to sit still. The more they watched Piper, the more their energy built, until their whole group, even Tristan, was up, jumping and shouting encouragement alongside the rest of the team.

Piper reached the end of the beam and paused for a breath, her chest rising as she composed herself for the dismount. With a sharp inhale, she launched into a roundoff and soared into her full-in dismount, a stunning double back with a full twist. Even with a small step on the landing, it was breathtaking.

The crowd erupted in applause as Piper saluted the judges, her smile bright and relieved. As soon as she made her way off the mat, Annabeth rushed forward, wrapping her in a tight hug and yelled something in her ear. 

Piper barely had any time to catch her breath, before they were being instructed to pack their things and move to the next rotation.

Next to him, Thalia groaned, “Oh man, Piper is first up on floor.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Claire asked. 

Even the adults now were listening. “Not bad” Percy started, “but also, not ideal. If they knew they were starting on beam before this morning, they probably would've changed the line up, She’s just not getting the longest break in between events.”

Thalia added, “She will at least have time to recuperate while the Chinese and French teams go.”

“Why do they get to go first? Didn't we qualify first?” Claire asked.

“It's just alphabetical in the team finals, but for All Around and Event finals there's some other way to determine the order that never makes any sense.” Jason told her. 

As they talked, the first Chinese gymnast performed, with an elegant and graceful routine, set to some type of Mozart or Beethoven music. She exited the floor excitedly, to electric applause. As the French gymnast took her warmup, Percy could see Piper at the chalk bucket preparing for her turn. Annabeth had also separated herself and began stretching for the second time that day since it has been so long since the first warmup session this morning. She sat in a pike, stretching out her hamstrings, talking to Hazel who copied Annabeth's movements.

Hazel's coach was her mom, Marie. She was the coach they had chosen to oversee the floor routines. Percy knew she wouldn’t have been Annabeth’s first choice, if given the option. Marie had a reputation for being unpredictable, hot and cold in ways that made Percy and Annabeth uneasy. It wasn’t fully abusive like some of the other coaches they knew of, but it was close enough to be unsettling. It was a mystery to Annabeth and Percy, how Hazel, one of the kindest, most caring people they knew, could have been raised and coached by someone like Marie, yet still turned out so normal. Right now, Marie was pacing back and forth nervously, her eyes sharp as the team gathered around to prepare for the floor.

The meet was in full swing now, the arena humming with energy. Athletes filled every corner, either competing, warming up, or going through their routines, each one adding to the pulse of the event. It felt like a symphony, where every flip, leap, and breath blended into a larger harmony. The soft thud of feet hitting the floor, the sharp clatter of the uneven bars, the echo of cheers and applause, it all came together, in a perfect, chaotic rhythm that Percy absolutely loved.

The Chinese and French gymnasts started and finished their routines, without incident. It wasn’t long until they heard Piper’s music began, the sounds of drums began low and then crescendoed as she completed her first pass, a double twisting double back, which she landed with a lunging step. A flute began to play, bringing a flowing rhythm that led her into a brief section of dance.   

For one of the first times that day, Percy took a look at the adults. Sally, of course, looked nervous. With her hands clasped tightly in her lap, Paul held her hands with one of his, and rubbed her back with the other. It seemed to be doing something to relieve her stress, because Sally barely squirmed in her seat, when Percy knew she was usually unable to control her body due to nerves. 

Even Tristan, always cool and composed in front of the cameras, seemed unsettled, a restless energy radiating from him that didn’t match his usual polished image. Percy knew the man did not attend many meets, he doubted the movie star even went to Rome for Worlds or knew how integral Piper was to the team or what it meant that she knocked Reyna out of the All Around final.

Jason nudged Percy with his elbow and tilted his head toward Tristan. The actor's eyes shimmered, locked on Piper as she leaped, tumbled, and danced across the floor. His gaze didn’t waver, his expression more vulnerable than Percy had ever seen. Piper had often shared with them how her music and choreography were a tribute to her Indigenous roots, a reflection of her culture. This must be the first time Tristan had seen the nod to their heritage in Pipers performance. 

As Piper’s routine neared its end, the music swelled, and her movements became sharper, more deliberate, every turn and leap filled with emotion. Her final pass, a stunning double layout, which she landed flawlessly, her feet planted firmly on the floor. The crowd erupted in applause, their group included.

Percy glanced over to the actor, his gaze still fixated on his daughter, blinked rapidly,  his jaw clenched as if trying to steady himself. When Piper struck her final pose Tristan's expression cracked. Tears slid down his cheek, which he quickly wiped away with the back of his hand, as if hoping no one had noticed.

Piper saluted and hurried off the floor, her breath still heavy from the exertion of the routine, but her face glowing from a job well done. The moment she stepped off the competition platform and down into the waiting area, her teammates were waiting excitedly. Annabeth was the first to reach her, wrapping her in a tight hug, her expression caught between pride and admiration. Piper laughed as she was swarmed, Reyna gave her a firm, approving nod while Hazel clapped her on the back, a huge grin spreading across her face. Rachel threw an arm around Piper’s shoulders and said something that made the whole group laugh. 

“That’s going to be a good score, right?” Sally asked.

Thalia nodded, “it's going to be a great score.”

“That was probably the best floor routine I've ever seen her do,” Jason added. 

Paul then asked, “so they’ll end up with a big lead?”

Percy laughed, “absolutely, think of this team, as the women's version of the Japanese men, they're winning this by a pretty large margin, as long as there are no major mistakes.”

“And still even then, they’ll win, just by one point instead of three,” Thalia added.

The excitement was still palpable as the next gymnast began her warm up. While that was happening, Maria Paseka from Russia was on vault, with probably the worst form Percy had ever seen on the apparatus, but with how difficult the skill was, she’d still receive a pretty high score. Becky Downie had just begun her bar routine, which was an amazing performance and routine that Percy was excited to watch. He had no doubt in his mind that Annabeth would be taking gold in event finals on bars, but it was just as likely that Becky would be right behind her taking the silver medal. 

Just as one of the French Gymnasts, Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos, stepped onto the floor, Percy’s stomach began to growl. Of course he had forgotten snacks. 

“Do you guys think that if I asked Chiron for a snack now, he’d kill me?” Percy could see the older man sitting not too far away, he talked to Annabeth as she stretched and had just begun to tape up her ankles.

 “Oh he’d definitely make you finish out the competition, but there's no way you make it out of Greece alive,” Sally said laughing. 

Percy returned about fifteen minutes later, juggling an eclectic mix of concession stand finds: a charcuterie plate, spanakopita, a hot dog, fries, and a tray of nachos. None of it exactly matched, but he’d wanted to cover all the bases for the crew.

As he made his way down the row, he realized with a pang that the crowd’s cheers must have been for Hazel’s floor routine, one he’d really wanted to catch.

“How’d Hazel do?” he asked, holding the food out for everyone to take.

“Absolutely crushed it,” Thalia said, still watching the floor with a smirk. “Trust me, you missed a show.”

Percy gaped, more annoyed at himself than anything. "Are you serious?"

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to have missed it, that's for sure.” she teased.

Just as Thalia went to reach for a piece of cheese from the charcuterie plate, Percy swooped in and snagged it right out of her fingers, popping it into his mouth with a triumphant grin.

She swung at him with a shriek, but he ducked, laughing as she shot him a glare.

From a look from his mom, Percy relented, and they eventually settled in, keeping an eye on the competition while also snacking away.

Percy’s attention had been bouncing all over the arena, to the Japanese gymnasts nailing their beam routines, then to the Australians powering through their vaults. But when an enormous cheer suddenly rippled through the crowd, he didn’t even need to look to know who was stepping onto the floor.

Annabeth.

He spotted her instantly, standing tall and composed, radiating a quiet confidence that somehow still left him breathless. Her hair was woven into elegant braids, coiled neatly into a bun that stayed perfectly in place, even as she rolled her shoulders and shook out her wrists, readying herself. She looked powerful, graceful, and absolutely stunning.

Annabeth waited at the edge of the floor, eyes trained on her starting mark, focus and determination in her expression. She took one last, steadying breath, her gaze flicking briefly toward the crowd. When her eyes met Percy’s, her lips turned up in a barely-there smile that only he seemed to catch. The green flag was raised, and she gracefully stepped onto the floor and saluted the judges. 

As she did he called out,with the help of Jason and Piper, loud enough so she could hear, “You got this Annabeth!”

Her music began, and she took off for her first tumbling pass a double back with a double twist that she rebounded out of into a straddle jump. She landed perfectly and Percy leapt to his feet screaming in excitement. Then was immediately going into her next pass a laid out double Arabian that ended with another stuck landing.

Annabeth then danced out of the corner, flowing with the beat of the music, she began the dance portion of her routine, spinning in handstands, jumping and leaping, all leading up to and ending with their shared butterfly kick into a dive roll.

She was nearing the end of the routine as she took a deep breath and ran for her second to last tumbling pass. A front two and a half twist to a double layout to a front layout. She landed with a forward lunge. The first misstep so far that he could find.

As she took a breath and a moments pause before her dismount he yelled to her knowing she couldn’t hear, “Push Annabeth, you got this!”

She landed her double back with a full twist with the smallest of hops back. Annabeth threw her arms up in salute to a thunderous crowd. Then excitedly hurried off the floor to celebrate with the team and coaches.

***

The teams were quickly escorted by volunteers to their third event, for the US that meant vault. The runway stretched out before them, beginning near their spots in the stands and extended all the way across to the opposite end of the arena. The girls found spots to sit and began to stretch, backs to the stands as they loosened up. They’d have a brief break before they would start warming up and competing alongside the teams on the other apparatus’ that took longer. 

As the gymnasts relaxed down below, easing into quiet conversation, they did the same in the stands, any nervous energy turning into excitement. The arena buzzed with a low hum of anticipation. 

Even Tristan started to became a normal person, he was still gushing about Piper's floor routine and what it meant to him. Percy resisted the urge to tell him, if he had come to more meets in the past, he would've known this has been her routine for at least two years. But they were all having a good time, so he didn't want to ruin it. 

After a while, the athletes began to warm up, one by one all nine gymnasts took their turn sprinting down the runway, rehearshing the precise timing and focus they’d need. Vault was a blend of speed and power, and as they practiced, the explosive energy of each pass drew cheers from the crowd, especially the US section.

Hylla, Reyna’s sister and coach offered the three girls competing on vault, Reyna, Hazel, and Annabeth last-minute pieces of advice and encouragement as the first Chinese gymnast hit a beautiful 1.5 yurchenko. Before Percy knew it, Reyna as at the end of the runway stoically awaiting her starting flag. 

“Come on, Reyna! You Got This!” They called out just as she saluted and took off running. Her round off backhandspring onto the table was textbook, as was her block that catapaulted her into the air, spinning 2.5 times laid out, which she landed with a small step to the side. 

Reyna saluted as the crowd went wild. Annabeth was first to great her with a hug, she even took Reyna by the shoulders and shook her until the older girl started smiling. The rest of the team eventually joined in moving off to the side as the next Chinese and French athletes were trying to climb the stairs to the competition platform so they could begin preparing for their own performance. Hazel after one final hug, followed her competitors to the vault also. 

She’d be competing the same vault as Reyna and when her time came Hazel performed just as effortlessly, if not better, and it seemed like almost no time at all had passed until Annabeth herself was standing at the end of the runway, the crowd already excitedly cheering for her. 

Percy watched as Annabeth took a deep breath and blocked the entire arena except the vault out of her mind. The signal was raised and his girlfriend saluted.

Annabeth took off running, punching off the springboard and half twisting she blocked off the vaulting table expertly, flying high into the air, twisting fast. Her feet touched down, and stayed there.

Percy was on his feet and screaming before her arms were up in the air in salute. Her only deductible offense was that she landed a little too far to the right on the mat, but it would still be one of the bigger vault scores of the day. 

“Great Work Annabeth! Just one more to go!” He called out to her. Percy wouldn’t have thought she had heard until she turned around after celebrating with the team and blew him a kiss.

When Annabeth’s score came in, it was huge, just as Percy had known it would be, but that wasn’t what was having him staring at the scoreboard in shock and awe and murmuring “holy shit,” to himself.

It didn’t take too long for the others to see what he was staring at, it was Thalia who said something first, “4 points ahead of second place is a hell of a spot to be in.”

That was as big of a lead that Percy had ever seen in gymnastics and it would only probably grow from there with bars being Annabeth’s best and most difficult routine. 

“So that's good?” Tristan asked almost sheepishly.

That gymnasts laughed, not unkindly. Jason was the one to answer, “Think about it as being ahead by 6 touchdowns.”

The adults froze in stunned silence for a second before breaking out into celebratory laughter. Thalia added, “I bet if you added up the amounts separating first and second from the past 10 Olympics, it still wouldn't equal 4 points. This is pretty unheard of.”

Sally squeezed Paul's hand tight, “That's incredible, I just wish that I wasn't still terrified.”

***

The crowd collectively gasped as Annabeth’s hands missed the bar, and she plummeted to the mat with a dull thud, a puff of chalk erupting around her. For a moment, the arena was silent except for the sound of her fall.

“It was just warm ups,” Percy reassured the adults seated nearby. Even though they had insider information and were seasoned spectators at this point, their faces mirrored the unease rippling through the crowd.

But Percy knew better.

Annabeth missing a release move during warm ups was almost a tradition at this point in their lives, her own strange way of getting a fall out of the way before her real routine. Sure enough, his girlfriend popped back up to her feet with a grin, brushing off the fall as someone from the sidelines shouted a teasing remark that made her laugh. 

Meanwhile, Rachel and Piper had already delivered stellar bar routines, inching Team USA even farther ahead of China in second place. The final routines of the Team Final were underway, a Russian gymnast that Percy didn't recognize was beginning her floor routine as the music sounded throughout the arena, while an Italian gymnast, Giorgia Villa, mounted the beam with determined focus. In just a few minutes, Team USA would officially be crowned Gold Medalists. The anticipation clawed at Percy, who remained on his feet while everyone else around him sat, pretending to wait patiently. 

At last, Annabeth stepped up to the uneven bars for her final performance of the day, her posture calm and focused as she waited for the judges signal.

The signal came. She saluted, took a running start and launched off the springboard, sailing over the low bar to catch the high bar. Her hands moved fluidly as she pirouetted, building momentum before her first release move. A Tkatchev. She flew high and caught the bar cleanly. Then without missing a beat, she connected her signature move, The Chase, flying even higher and executing it flawlessly. 

Her routine continued with sharp transitions, that Percy honestly knew almost as well as his own. Flipping to the low bar, pirouetting, twisting back up to the high bar, her movements a perfect balance of strength and grace. She soared over the bar on her last release move, the Nabieva, before she grabbed the bar again, her grip unshakable.

The crowd roared as she swung into her dismount. Percy felt his heart stop as she let go, twisting and flipping in the air. His brain tried to remind him that the gold was already secured and guaranteed. Team USA could survive Annabeth falling three times at this point. But his heart refused to relax until she landed.

When she did, it was with a small hop, a radiant smile, and a confident salute to the judges. The arena erupted. Percy jumping up and down was yelling louder than anyone else in their group as the rest of the team rushed to embrace Annabeth. The girls hugged, high fived, and celebrated wildly, but Percy could see Annabeth holding them back from full blown celebration, insisting they wait until the scores were official. 

Across the arena, Percy spotted Chiron on the sidelines, clutching an American flag. His expression calm and knowing, ready for the exact moment Team USA would be crown Olympic World Champions. The victory was inevitable, but the weight of the moment still hung in the air.

The arena fell into an electric silence as the final scores flashed on the screen, Percy's eyes were locked on the leaderboard as USA lit up in bold letters on the top, the gold medal position confirmed.

The crowd exploded, a deafening roar of cheers and applause reverberating throughout the entire stadium. 

Annabeth and her teammates screamed in unison, throwing their arms around each other in a tangle of joy and relief. Chiron strode onto the floor, the massive American flag draped across his arms. With a proud smile, he handed it off to the team. The Annabeth took one end while Piper grabbed the other, they ran in circles on the floor showing off their flag, smiles radiant. Then they headed to the side of the floor with reporters, together the Team spread the flag wide, then wrapped it around themselves like a cape as the team posed for the cameras on the sidelines. Cameras flashed, capturing the moment that would live on in Olympic History.

The celebration paused just long enough for the medal ceremony. They gymnasts lined up by country, their faces glowing with excitement and tears of happiness. Team China stepped up first, graciously accepting their silver medals followed by the Russians who beamed with pride as they received their bronze. 

Then it was Team USA’s turn . As the announcer boomed, “Your Olympic Champions: Team USA!” the crowd erupted again into thunderous applause. One by one, the gymnasts stepped forward. Gold medals were draped around their necks, gleaming against their white warmup jackets. A bouquet of vibrant flowers was placed into each girls hand, and finally a laurel wreath was set atop their heads.

The team stood on the podium, their emotions completely unguarded as tears streamed down their faces. The Star Spangled Banner filled the air, blending in with the roar of the crowd. Behind them, the flags of the winning teams were raised for each group, rippling in the breeze. Percy glanced sideways and caught sight of his mom, her face glowing with pride as she cried openly. Paul wrapped her up in a hug, wiping away her tears with his thumbs so she could see the ceremony more clearly. Next to them, Thalia was clinging to Jason and Claire in a tight embrace swaying back in forth to the music, while Tristan was quickly wiping away his own tears.  

Out of nowhere, camera operators swooped in, their bulky lenses and flashing lights intruding on their tender moment. The lenses zeroed in on their seats, magnifying every tear, and every smile. Percy stiffened at first, uncomfortable under the scrutiny, especially when the cameras should have been focused on Annabeth and the team. But it was out of his control so he figured he may as well take the spotlight away from the rest of the group as their tears continued to fall. Percy through his arms around the camera, much to the annoyance of the operator who leaned back to look at him with a glare. Percy grinned and pointed proudly to his shirt with the Team USA logo on it, then he held up a single finger and shouted, “Number One!” into the camera, they probably couldn't hear what he was saying but they people at home would all get the gist if they actually used this footage. And if that wasn’t enough, his mouth taking over, he pointed to the podium where the girls were finally starting to step down, he yelled to the camera, “That's my girlfriend down there, and she's just getting started!”