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For whatever it's worth, he sees the bruise that was on her hand when she handed him her notes at the end of class, he saw the crescent marks that aligned perfectly with said bruises. He knows the signs and he hates to see it on someone he doesn’t even know.
All he knew was her name was Annabeth and she was really pretty and had some interesting ideas and opinions when it came to myths and legends.
He signed up for this class by mistake. His college advisor, Mr. Brunner, had asked him what elective he wanted to take for his junior year. That prompted a hung over Percy Jackson to look down the list and point at a random one. Myths and Legends with Dr. Minerva.
That was the last time Percy ever let himself get that wasted. It was all Castellan’s fault. Stupid hazing for Alpha Delta Phi. Percy rarely drank because of his ex-step father and when he did, it was in company he trusted. But this was a party. For the recruits of a Fraternity he wasn’t even in.
But no, his best friends were in the stupid Frat House that decided it was a good idea to get him wasted on the day before his life was chosen.
Right now, he was glad they did that. He wouldn’t have been able to meet this girl.
He had done some research on her after he first saw the self-destructive marks when they got a test back. She apparently didn’t do too good in hers or the professor's eyes. But it was a B plus! That was better than he made!
Annabeth was insanely smart, almost always getting perfect marks on her test. But on the rare occasion she didn’t, she was upset at herself. He learned that she put this pressure on herself because of the professor… who was her aunt. Her mother was some crazy genius who has earned a nobel prize or something and her father was a History professor at Harvard.
Talk about no pressure, right?
Anyway, a few days after learning all of this, she comes to one of the frat parties Castellan threw for the first football game of the year. Before he got to talk to her, some guy he’s seen at a couple parties came in and threw his jacket over her modest shoulders. Was he really getting jealous over a fucking crop top? Have you seen what some of these girls wore?
He stuck to observing her tendencies for the rest of the night. She was never alone with the guy after that. She would always reach for some girl he's seen with Grace.
She ended up leaving when the guy got mad at Luke and stormed out the frat house.
The guy obviously knew Luke, which meant Luke knew the extent of Annabeth’s relationship with the bastard. (yes, Percy has never spoken a word to the girl that didn’t involve something to do with class, but he didn’t like the look of that guy)
So, red solo cup in hand, he made his way through the crowd to his friend.
“Yo!!” his overly drunk friend commented when he saw him. Great. “It's Jackson everyone! The swimmer!”
Percy rubbed his temple, a headache forming from the comotion. He would ask Luke then get out of here. “Hey Castellan. I was-” Luke wouldn’t know anything right now. He was drunk as shit. “I was gonna head out. I got an exam in Myths and Legends Monday that I really need to study for.”
He heard some remarks about Percy studying and hell freezing over. It was true, he wasn’t going to study much, but he would look over the subject for this test. He also really wanted to get out of here and get to his apartment that he shared with Grace and Grover.
And it just so happened that Jason was probably crashing and Leo’s tonight, seeing as he was wasted and Grover was on some retreat for his Botanist club. The house to himself.
“Hey! Annie has a test in that same class!” Luke laughed, tipping his cup to Percy, “you didn’t tell me that you and her had the same class.”
Percy wanted to be confused by the connection, but he wasn’t. If Annabeth would have any nickname by Luke, it would be Annie.
“Didn’t know you knew her, she’s my deskmate. Just gives me notes when I fall asleep in class.” He shrugged. That was really the extent of their relationship as of now. Besides his background research in her, that's all he knows of her. “Say, since you know her, who's that guy she was with?”
Luke gave Percy a benevolent grin. He mentally groaned. “Does Jackson have a lady crush?”
With a hand through his hair, Percy turned on his heel and made his way to the door.
“It’s her boyfriend, so don’t catch feelings, Jackson!”
Luke’s warning pounded through his head all the way home.
---
Percy didn’t expect to see anything other than the subtle crescents on her palms. He didn’t think her boyfriend was anything but protective and maybe a bit overly jealous.
But the bruises on her wrists said otherwise.
He remembered when he was about 10 and he saw the bruises on his moms wrist for the first time. She had hid them so well up until then.
He knew the marks on Annabeth’s wrists weren’t accidental. It made him bubble with anger. She was trying to hide them with a scrunchie.
Percy scooted a little closer to her during class that day. She looked at him weirdly before catching his line of sight.
At first, she seemed to be ashamed of it, moving her arm to hide it. But he only scooted a little closer.
She looked as if she were about to chew him out for it, so he didn’t move any closer that day. But for the next week or so, the distance between them never lessened or grew.
When she came in with tears in her eyes, he knew she had given up fighting. So the distance shortened between them and she gave no look that said she was upset about it. Just continued with her work with a shaky hand.
She caught him leaving class and asked if they could talk. And they did. They didn’t talk about anything bad, mostly happy stuff. He told her about his obsession with blue food and she told him about her obsession with the yankees.
The next day she sat closer to him. (he also learned that she was ambidextrous since she switched hands half way through class).
By the time the holidays came around she had opened up about the bad stuff in her relationship and even told him that she hadn’t even told Thalia and Piper in fear that they wouldn’t understand.
Fletcher, he learned his name, had never hit her. And as good as that may have sounded, he didn’t feel relieved. If he wasn’t abusing her physically, he was doing it mentally by being a toxic douche.
“I just feel that if we aren’t arguing… then we aren’t talking. And I’m never right, always wrong and stupid for everything I say. And- I just want the guy who took me to prom…”
She cried after a particularly bad day when she showed up at their usual hang out spot.
He learned that she didn’t have anyone to spend the holidays with except for Fletcher so he called his mom and told him he wasn’t coming home this year. Besides, Sally Jackson was seeing some guy named Paul Bolfis. She needed some alone time with the guy.
Annabeth broke up with Fletcher the day Percy decided he was staying for her.
She justified it by saying that she has had enough of his toxic bullshit to her friends who believed her, but Percy didn’t.
Something happened and she wasn’t letting anyone in.
It was the day that school had ended and their entire friend group was huddled in his shared apartment, sipping on Grovers famous hot chocolate.
His eyes never left her form which was engulfed in one of his highschool swim hoodies and a quilt that Juniper had made as a housewarming gift on her lap.
While the others laughed and sang to Christmas songs with Leo dancing around dressed as a tree, she sat there, staring off into space.
It didn’t go unnoticed by any of the group members, but they just looked at him as if he could make it better. He knew that they knew Annabeth trusted him the most right now for some reason (and they had their guesses for why too) but he was sure none of them knew the real reason.
Grover got real close one time. He saw Annabeth’s hands one day while she was drying the dishes. He asked Percy about them to which the boy didn’t respond. It wasn’t up to him to tell, it was her story.
Grover knew about Gabe, even saw the real thing, seeing as they knew each other from diapers. So he knew why Percy could have been understanding if Annabeth was going through that. But even Annabeth didn’t know the extent of Gabe.
If Percy told her, then she would worry more about him than healing. He’s known her for five months and he knows that's how she would react.
“So are you really not going home this year, Jackson?” Grover asked, pulling him from the deep state of unknown he was in.
That seemed to grab Annabeth’s attention too, her worried eyes glancing at him for confirmation.
When Percy nodded, a frown appeared on her face. “Yeah, mom met this guy- our old high school teacher. I figured I would let them spend the holidays together.”
Leo and Hazel awed at that which took the attention away from him since the pair burst into laughter after. But Annabeth stood, making sure he noticed, and made her way to the kitchen.
With a shared look with his old friend, he slipped out of the living room with a couple of disposed mugs.
His back was turned to her, not wanting to see the angry face she was pulling. He didn’t want to discuss it with her, it was his choice to stay here and not see his mom for christmas.
“Look at me.”
Yeesh, she sounded angry.
“I’m washing these mugs, Blondie.”
Blondie was a nickname he used alongside Wise Girl and Beth. Blondie was the only one that made her make the face though. He loved it.
“You have to go home.”
“Can’t. Already told my mom I’m not coming so her and Paul are going down to Florida to visit his family,” he explained, taking his time with washing the dishes. It was actually his least favorite chore to do and she knew that. “Besides who’s going to be here with you?”
“I do not need a caretaker!”
Percy froze, the cup in his hands nearly dropping if he hadn't sat it in the sink. He turned to face her. Her face wasn’t filled with anger like he thought it would be. No, she looked like she was about to cry.
“Annabeth-”
“No! Don’t start this crap Percy! I’m not broken!”
Percy took a couple step towards her, his hands stretched out in front of him, gauging her reaction. When flinched away from him, then seemed to realize what she did is when he got angry.
“He hit you?”
Silence.
“Annabeth… I need you to tell me if he hit you.”
Her gray eyes finally found his and she nodded.
Christmas morning consisted of Annabeth waking him up by jumping on his bed. She had been secretly staying at his apartment. Which was easy since they were the only people of their friend group that weren’t going home for the holidays.
He honestly didn’t understand how Annabeth could be so grouchy when you wake her but still be a morning person otherwise.
She had been staying in Grover’s room (which she deemed the safest since Grover had a girlfriend). Didn’t make sense to him, but whatever.
“What?” he grumbled, trying not to let himself be affected by her beauty this early in the morning.
“It’s Christmas!” she said, shaking his shoulders as she sat in his lap. Yeah, totally not helping, Beth. “I got you something.”
He peeked through his fingers, frowning at her. They didn’t say anything about getting gifts other than the gifts they exchanged with the group. He of course got her something, that's who his mom raised him to be, but he didn’t expect anything in return.
He watched her reach over to his nightstand to grab what looked like a jewelry box. He took the chance to scoot his waist out from under her so he couldn’t chance anything. “You didn’t have to get me anything, Annabeth.”
“Of course I did.” She gave him a smile, sitting back on her knees. “You’ve become such a needed figure in my life, I honestly don’t think I could ever do the things that I’ve done without you, Percy.”
Percy couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know where his life was supposed to go, he was kind of lost before he met her. And no, she wasn’t some project for him, wasn’t something to give him purpose. But she gave him a light that he didn’t know he needed on this path. He doesn’t know how he got through college without her constant reminders of his next test.
“Hey,” he said, reaching over to make her look at him, “I’m proud of you,” he whispered to her, letting his thumb swipe over her chin. “You know that right?”
Annabeth nodded, giving him a bigger smile than before. “I know, I just want to give you something in return for everything you’ve done for me.”
He rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair as if he didn’t care that she cared for him. It honestly made his heart berst at its seams. He took the small box from her hands, looking up at her to make sure she was watching him.
She was. She was staring at his hands as if her life depended on it.
He opened it to see a necklace that had a handmade bead on it already. It was like one of those necklaces you make at camp. The bead itself was hand painted with their school logo on it.
“Because we met here… And even if we fall out of touch after we graduate, I want you and I to have matching necklaces to remember each other.” She rambled, playing with his blanket nervously.
Matching? That meant she had one. Percy smiled, pulling out the necklace and putting it around his neck. “I love it, Beth.”
She seemed to beam at the objects lying around his neck. But she didn’t dare come any closer to him. Something was on her mind and she was figuring a way to tell him.
“What is it?”
“You-” she stuttered, a dust of pink shading her cheeks as she formulated her next sentence. “You make me the happiest I’ve ever been, Percy. Truly, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”
Percy reached out to touch her cautiously. She still didn’t take well to active attempts to touch her, but it rarely happened when it was him doing the action. But he was still cautious for her sake. When she didn’t back away or flinch, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You make me happy too, Annabeth.”
She gave him a broad grin at his confession. Then it seemed to falter. What? What was going on?
“Is this what love is?”
He couldn’t stop the blood rushing to his cheeks, or the way his heart started to beat faster. “What do you think, Wise Girl?” he asked in a joking manner. He knew her question was serious.. Serious as it can get actually. But Percy didn’t do well with feelings and often tried to joke about them.
“I don’t know what love is…” she replied, looking down to her lap, playing with her fingers nervously. In the time that he’s known her, she's done that a lot when they talk about serious stuff. “I thought I knew… but-”
“I’ll show you,” he interrupted, reaching out and covering her hands, “I’ll show you what love truly is.”
She didn’t sleep in Grover’s bed after that.
At least Percy wasn’t too bad of a snorer. She was worse.
By the time their friend’s had returned to the coming semester, they had decided to act as if nothing had changed between them. Because it hadn’t really.
They just did more hand holding than usual, and maybe a bold kiss on the cheek from her part. He could tell that she wanted to kiss him (he was definitely having a hard time with restraint with her) and he could tell that she wasn’t ready to kiss anyone.
Anytime they went out, she constantly seeked his approval on what she was wearing and if he said something about it (like asking her if she was going to wear that because man- restraint is not Percy’s friend in this relationship) she would back petal and say she would change.
He knew she was healing. Because Piper suggested that they go out for a drink when they got back and she wore something on the skimper side. A tank top and shorts and some dramatic makeup that Thalia put on her.
She kissed him that night. After she told him that she felt pretty. In which he responded with you’ve always been pretty, Wise Girl.
Her grades got better the next semester. She was always pulling an A while he got lucky with a B.
When she did get a B, she didn’t freak out. She smiled and told him that she would do better on the next one.
They’re friend’s weren’t stupid. They started to pick up on their tendencies and they way Percy would always check on her first thing.
Grover and Jason began to become suspicious when she jumped into his arms when she got the Internship at Olympia Heights Inc. Piper became suspicious after she caught Percy leaving their apartment one morning. Thalia got suspicious after the tattoo Annabeth got, which he still hadn’t seen.
Annabeth was getting a little worried that they would find out.
Percy only wanted to keep it a secret so she can heal without the judgement of her friends. They didn’t mean harm, they knew that, but dating within the friend group was kind of forbidden.
It was an unspoken rule in every friend group. Not only the looks and geers that the group would give them, but what happened if they ended badly? The group would split because of the selfish bastards that started dating.
But Annabeth needed him, needed him in a way he didn’t think was possible. It wasn’t going to end badly because he would do anything to make that snort come out of her.
“Hey guys,” Piper said, settling between Jason and Leo with a hydro flask in her hand. She started doing that to make fun of Percy when the whole ‘vsco girl’ trend came about. But now it's the only water bottle that she has.
Annabeth settled beside Percy, giving him a silent smile. She seemed fine, just a little stressed from what he could tell. “How was your morning class?” he asked his girlfriend as she stole the bite of salad he had out.
She nodded, covering her mouth as she chewed. “Good.” He chuckled, sharing a look with Grover as she rushed to finish her bite. “Piper fell asleep and I had to give her my notes, but other than that, good.”
They had been hiding their relationship from their friends for an entire year now. He was shocked that they’ve kept the secret this long. So, this past Christmas they both agreed to not hide anything. They both weren’t the biggest fans of kissing in public, so they didn’t have to worry about that around their friends.
But things like that, how he didn’t acknowledge her using his fork (they’ve swapped saliva enough for him not to care anymore) or him knowing her schedule made their friends wonder if they were actually dating. None of them asked though.
Percy shook his head, “sounds like me in Myths and Legends last year.”
“That's who it reminded me of-”
“Annabeth?”
Their group looked up to the unknown voice. Well, unknown to most people. With his eyes still on his girlfriend, Percy saw her tense and refuse to look up at the stranger.
“What do you want, Fletcher?” Piper asked, a tone that wasn’t used often coming from the girl.
“I want to talk to my girlfriend,” he said, his mud brown eyes staring directly at the only one not looking at him. Percy felt a spark of anger go through his veins before he felt something else. Annabeth’s hand was in his, gripping it violently.
Annabeth still woke up in the middle of the night because of this dude. Annabeth still didn’t want to be touched by others because of this person. Annabeth was still hesitant to be around alcohol because of him.
“She’s not your girlfriend, dude,” Grover said before Percy could say something. And if Percy said something to this dude, it wouldn’t be nice. He had a lot of pent up anger for him. He didn’t know how far it would take him if he got started. Or if he could stop it.
“Oh, then who is?” Fletcher laughed and swayed in his spot. Great, the dude was drunk.
He saw Thalia start to stand, only for her brother to stop her. “She doesn’t have to have a boyfriend. She dumped your sorry ass because you were toxic as shit.” Ah, thank you Thalia. For saying what we all were saying.
“Percy,” Annabeth whispered. She must’ve been trying to get his attention for a bit because she sounded a little winded. “I wanna go.”
Percy nodded, tapping Jason in the leg to get his attention. When he saw the sharp nod of Jason and the fact Thalia was distracting Fletcher he leaned into her ear and whispered back, “we’re leaving Wise Girl. Just stay calm.”
She kept her head low as she stood from her seat slowly, obviously trying not to get her ex’s attention. And of course, when he was leading her away from the group, a hand on her back to keep her steady, is when the dumbass decided to see Annabeth.
“Oh! So you’ve decided to slum it with him then? God, I can’t believe you, Annabeth! You cheated on me with him now you’re running away from me with him?”
Percy froze and Annabeth noticed. She obviously wanted to get out of here before Fletcher said something like this. It was evident in her face as she turned back to him. “Percy-”
“That's why he did it?”
She still had yet to tell him what made Fletcher snap that night. He tried not to think about it often. He knew she didn’t want to think about it, so he never asked.
“Percy, please-”
“You mother fucker,” Percy grunted, letting go of Annabeth’s hand to run back to the intoxicated brute.
With a tumble into the grass and a few punches, he was completely out of it. This guy deserved everything that Percy was doing to him. He haunts Annabeth to this day. He hit her, he played with her mind! God help him, he was going to kill this man. Man? No, this person isn’t a man.
“Percy get off of him!”
He couldn’t tell who said it, but he was sure it was Annabeth. He didn’t listen, seeing as Fletched used Percy’s momentary distraction as a chance to give him a right hook.
“You little bitch!” Fletcher spat in his direction as he stood and looked in the direction of Annabeth.
“Don’t touch her!” Percy yelled, grabbing one of his legs and pulling it towards him. “You’re gonna wish you didn’t touch her in the first place, Asshole!”
Soon Percy was on top of him, hammering his fists into this guy’s face. But with a kick to the back, Percy was momentarily stunned, catching his breath.
Fletcher was on top of him, giving him a smirk before a fist was hammered into his nose. He was sure that it was broken. But that didn’t matter. “You’re gonna wish you didn’t say that, boyo.”
Percy used his knees to push the guy off of him and he stood, putting a few paces between him and Fletcher. Annabeth used the opportunity to step between them. “Percy, please.”
He froze, looking at her pleading eyes. She needed to leave more than this guy needed a beating. Their friends were all looking at them and Fletcher was obviously waiting to see what he would do.
This is exactly how it happened before.
He casted a glance to Grover, who was giving him that ‘you-need-to-go’ look that was mixed with the ‘you-need-to-stop’ look. He let his fist fall, reaching out for Annabeth who was walking towards him at a quick pace.
She didn’t say anything as she grabbed his arm and began walking away from the group, ignoring the concerned protest of their friends and the snickering of her ex boyfriend.
She didn’t even say anything when she opened his door, just sitting him down on the couch and moving to find the first aid kit. He sat, twiddling his thumbs as she cleaned the cuts on his face. She was quiet. She was emotionless.
“Annabeth… look. I’m sorry.” Percy looked over at her, biting his lip and hoping she wouldn’t be too mad. But she remained neutral. Like she wasn’t affected at all.
She shrugged, “it’s… fine. I’m fine.”
Percy only gritted his teeth. The amount of times he's heard that from her mouth is uncountable. And unreasonable. She shouldn’t be fine. Not after that. She should be angry and mad and furious. “Stop. Don’t do that with me, Annabeth.”
“Do what?” she questioned, her shaking hands returning to his face after she grabbed a bandaid.
“Stop! Be mad with me Annabeth! Get angry and scream! Stop being this statue with me! I did something you didn’t want me to do!” Percy huffed, pulling away from her helpful hands.
“Is that what you want?” she asked, eyebrow raised in question. At least he was getting something out of her.
“Yes.”
She stood, shaking her head, “you really wanna hear what I have to say?”
“Yes!”
“You are so stupid! I just wanted to leave! I didn’t want to be there anymore! But no, you had to get all prideful and protective and fight for me!” She yelled, her hands thrown up in exhaustion. Her gray eyes were stormy and fueled with anger that has been repressed for years. “Just like him!”
Percy froze at her angry words.
“You got hurt because of me! How do you think that makes me feel, Percy! Huh? I’ve been through this overprotective shit! I don’t need someone to fight for me, I need someone who will fight with me. I don’t need protection, Percy,” she huffed, finally looked over at him. Annabeth’s eyes were trained on him, almost like she was judging him. She seemed like she was about to back track and apologize but she straightened her posture and nodded.
“Annabeth-”
“No! Don’t apologize. We’re fighting. Like a healthy couple, Percy. Say what you want to say,” she said, slightly out of breath. Her confidence was wavering and he could tell by the shaking of her shoulders.
He stood, walking over to her. “Fine. Yeah, I punched him because of what he said. And I will always fight for you and I will fight with you, Annabeth. You can not run away from him forever and you can not keep that night a secret or it will eat you up! I don’t like you treating me like I’m him.”
They were nose to nose, both panting heavily.
“I’m not him, Annabeth.”
He’s not really sure who kissed who first, who made the move to his room, or who made the choice to lean over and grab a condom from his nightstand. What he does know is, Annabeth only in her half of the necklace is fucking hot.
Also what he knows is that they shouldn’t be doing this after a fight. But he's tired of resisting himself to this girl. And she was so hot when she was angry and worked up. Annabeth seemed to sense some of his reservations because she told him that she wanted this, that she was okay with this, that she really just wanted to feel Percy. Because she knows that Percy isn’t him.
He figured that their friends would have questions, wondering what Fletcher was talking about. But they didn’t. They didn’t ask, didn’t prod.
Annabeth was in some sort of newfound confidence and would call Percy out on his stupid shit she didn’t like. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed her finding her voice that night.
He enjoyed seeing her love herself most importantly. She couldn’t love him if she didn’t love herself. He enjoyed the way she would look at herself in the mirror and smile, thinking he wasn’t looking. He enjoyed the way she felt so adamant about her architecture, taking the criticism that her peers and/or professors gave her and turning it into a stepping stone to her dream (something that when he met her she was ashamed of).
He also loved that she knew exactly what her body liked and seemed to be confident that it was him.
It did take a while. But she was making an active effort to let him know about her feelings. He did the same, not hiding them behind jokes or walls anymore. He had been walking on eggshells around her since the beginning of their relationship (which no one had confirmed by the way) and she didn’t like it.
They worked on it. They grew together. They promised that's the way it would be. Together.
They didn’t tell anyone until summer when Hazel finally cracked and asked.
“Yeah…” Annabeth blushed, looking over at him with a happy smile. Her sweet happy smile. It felt so good to have it directed at him.
Piper was on her knees, smiling up at the pair, “when did it happen?” she asked, rubbing her hands together.
“Um… honestly? Our first Christmas,” Percy chuckled, scratching the back of his neck where the necklace (that had another charm on it- a bead of the empire state building) laid.
Annabeth chuckled with him, biting her lip (had he mentioned that he and resistance did not get along) and looking at him nervously, “Christmas Day is our anniversary. The day he promised to show me what love truly is.”
fin