Work Text:
Annabeth hummed as she felt the slight rumble beneath her face, Percy’s suppressed laugh waking her from her nap. She could hear his heart beating steadily in his chest and she took comfort in such a simple sound. He was playing a video at low volume, probably so he wouldn’t wake her up. She didn’t mind though. It was nice, being like this. No monsters to fight, no assignments to do, no quests to undertake. She could picture him in her head: his eyes crinkling as he smiled at whatever dumb joke he found funny, the soft curve of his mouth, his brown hand entangling itself in her hair while his other hand held his phone.
He was beautiful. Gods, he was so beautiful. And not just in looks. He was just so good — every bone and muscle in his body hardwired to help, to care, to love. Annabeth didn’t know what she did to deserve Percy’s loyalty, his love. She was hard-pressed to admit it, but she knew she was difficult at the best of times. A wreck of a human at the worst. Her brain worked so fast she even left some of herself behind. And yet Percy saw her, all of her, and said, “I chose you anyway.”
And she chose him too. All his untapped rage and sleepless nights in bed. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she would have chosen anyone else. He was a steady presence, an anchor as she drifted weightless in the sea. Permanence was her goal and in her years of working towards it, she found him and suddenly her goal didn’t feel so distant anymore.
Percy was warm underneath her and she shifted slightly to hold him closer. Without a thought, Percy quickly helped Annabeth get comfortable, his hand reaching back up to twirl a lock of her hair again.
“Percy,” she mumbled unintelligibly into his chest.
He paused his video and then she felt both his arms squeezing her hips. He said, smiling, because she could practically hear it in his voice even if she couldn’t see it, “Yeah, baby?”
Her face felt hot all of a sudden. Still, Annabeth asked, “Do you think we’d be together if we weren’t demigods, if gods never existed?”
“I’d like to think,” he started and she lifted her head to look up at him. She probably looked like a mess, sleep lines on her face, her hair ruined by Percy’s own hands. He stopped and gave her a soft look before he repeated, “I’d like to think we’d find each other somehow.”
“Like Fate?” There was a strand of hair covering up his eyes, so she wiggled around till she moved it away from his face. Percy turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand before looking back at her. Her hand didn’t leave his face. “Like we’re destined or something?”
He shook his head and bit his bottom lip, the dip between his eyebrows scrunching up. “Not really… more like a happy coincidence.”
“In a different universe?” She raised an eyebrow. “Statistically, it would be less than a percent that we’d meet. I’d probably be stuck in some boarding school in California or Virginia and you’d be here.”
He shrugged. “We’d find our way.”
“You have a lot of faith in our alternate universe’s selves,” she said, smiling as he looked away, her hand now resting on his chest. He was getting shy. How cute. She almost forgot how she could make him bashful like that.
“Yeah, well,” he said. “One of them’s still you.”
Maybe they were inevitable, or at least he was. Her only constant amongst all the variables. She couldn’t imagine it. Another world without him by her side. Well, she really couldn’t imagine a world where the gods didn’t exist either, but it was interesting to think about.
Her love for him was so gradual that when she finally came to the realization of her feelings, she had only smiled, took his face in her hands, and kissed him softly on his wind chapped lips. Neither of them were surprised and when they told their other friends of their change in relationship, they weren't either.
“Hey,” she whispered, bringing his gaze back to hers.
“Hi,” he said.
“You’d find me too.” Percy’s eyes were dark in the dim lighting of his room. “In the other world, you’d find me too.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. He just leaned in and kissed her softly. There was something steady about the way Percy kissed, firm and slow, like the tide on a good day. Annabeth’s toes curled up as she leaned up and into him, wanting him closer. Percy’s hands settled on her hips, his large hands touching her skin, her shirt probably rode up while she was asleep.
She shivered lightly and Percy broke the kiss, his lips shiny and pink. He was grinning and she couldn’t help but giggle at him. “What?” she asked.
“I love you,” he said instead.
“I love you too.”
The declaration was easy. Simple, even. They’d said it hundreds of times before yet somehow the novelty of it all still hadn’t worn off. She really didn’t think that it would. Maybe it was because they’ve been through literal hell together, but there was something so heartbreakingly wonderful to know that her best friend was the love of her life. She might have had a shitty childhood, but it led her here. In his arms, in their bed. And maybe in another world she wouldn’t have grown up this ruined, maybe in another world the only monsters she had to deal with were other humans, maybe in the other world she had grown up better.
But maybe, in all those worlds, Annabeth still met Percy. She could be envious of the lives where her childhood wasn’t lost, but they all shared the same love. And for that, she was content with the life she had now.