Work Text:
Annabeth has a routine.
She wakes up at 6:30, brushes her teeth, changes, eats breakfast, takes the subway and walks to the architecture firm where she’s been interning for the past few months.
She takes the same train every morning, heads for the architecture firm and walks behind the same guy everyday without fail. And today is not any different. She hurries out of the subway, heels clicking on the concrete as people bustle by getting to their respective workplaces. The cold air hits her at once and she ties her scarf slightly tighter around her, looking at the ground for the familiar old running shoes of the guy she usually follows to work.
His ratty worn out sneakers were a comfort she followed when she started her first day at the firm and she’s used to following them now as she hurries to work. It’s like an indication that she’s going the right way. But what annoys her the most is that he’s always exactly three steps ahead of her and manages to beat her to the street corner and pass the light. She waits the agonising four minutes for the red man to turn green before she can cross and by that time, he’s long gone and she’s one of the millions of people in New York getting to work. Annabeth has never been a patient person and maybe her competitive side is coming out but she would love to beat this guy one day and make it before the pedestrian lights turn red.
And fine, she sort of maybe, ok, really wants to know what he looks like from the front as he walks across the street. But then she reminds herself that she sounds creepy, he could be way older and completely dismisses the thought.
She’s really only seen the back of his head, a mop of messy black hair but he’s tall with a broad frame and a slouch.
Until he shows up one day carrying a skateboard. And then she thinks he could still be in college or a bit older. Piper tells her she should talk to him and it might make the walks more bearable but she’s completely fine trailing him day after day. And besides, she needs the time to think about the firm and any new ideas she can present to her boss, Mr D who is always trying to undermine her efforts. Just one more year, and hopefully she won’t be an intern any longer.
Today, as she walks to the gates of the station where she scans her metro card, she doesn’t see the familiar shoes that have managed to walk in front of her everyday for the last two months. She frowns and checks the exit in case she’s taken the wrong one. With a thought that he’s probably fallen sick or something, she continues on walking down the street, heels clacking on the blackening concrete. The sky is filled with clouds and as she exhales, a breath of cold air is let out in front of her, reminding her that winter was near and she had to make her dreaded return home to her family soon.
She’s almost at the intersection when she hears hurried footsteps of someone running towards her. Someone must be running late, which isn’t uncommon due to the constantly late trains and people part like Moses to avoid the stranger rushing into them. She reflexively moves to the side as she doesn’t want someone to collide into her but instead a guy with black hair shoots past her and moves right in front of her, resuming a normal pace.
She’s almost too stunned to continue walking and prevent the person behind her to bump into her back. Is that the guy she’s been walking behind and did he just rush to walk in front of her when she was finally beating him after all these months?
But she looks at the ratty shoes and sure enough, it is the guy she’s been walking in front of for the last couple of months.
Just before they make it to the crossing, he turns around, sea green eyes tired, swollen from sleep but bright all the same and says, “I’ve been winning for two months. Can’t stop now. Have a good day and see you tomorrow,” he salutes, before smiling and runs ahead across the road leaving her to wait. Again.
She doesn’t even have a reply as he continues his way to wherever he’s going. He drops his skateboard to the ground and rolls away down the slope, blue shirt flying behind him, black hair ruffled in the wind.
And she’s not going to lie, he was definitely good looking for the 3 seconds she did see his face.
She was sure she was going to see him again.
She was also sure she was wearing running shoes tomorrow.
♢♢♢
Annabeth steps out of the subway, determined to beat the guy and starts walking considerably faster than yesterday and spots him walking just in front of her. And he doesn’t even have his skateboard with him today. Perfect.
Today, the cold is more biting as the buildings cover the glare from the sun and the wind threatens to blow her scarf away. She picks up the pace, dodging and weaving through people walking the opposite direction, receiving a few dirty looks as she shoves past them. Eventually though, she slides just in front of the guy, resuming a fast pace.
She turns around and smiles at him. And maybe it’s because his face is way cuter than she remembered in a dorky way and his eyes were a deep sea green today but all she could muster up was a, “I win,” before she crossed the street, leaving him stuck as the green man on the traffic light turned red. Oh, how the tables have turned.
The next day, she’s decided to keep up her guard and start a winning streak, wearing sneakers again and even though it doesn’t really match her formal attire, it’s worth it and no-one pays attention to the intern’s shoes anyway. She’s definitely ahead of him though, and she’s smugly thinking no way he could beat her.
Until the sound of wheels comes closer to her and she sees him rolling his skateboard right past her, his hair pushed back from the wind. Several people have to move out of his way to avoid getting mauled. He makes it across the road way before the pedestrian lights turn red and although he beat her, Annabeth decides that that was cheating.
The next day, Annabeth is determined to win again as she rushes out of the subway and doesn’t see the familiar sneakers in front of her, she smiles smugly to herself. She starts a half walk, half jog out of the subway for a couple minutes before she hears the familiar sounds of wheels rolling behind her. Accepting her loss, she moves to the side to avoid getting hit. Ignoring the fact that she didn’t know how to ride one, maybe she should invest in a skateboard.
He turns back and waves at Annabeth but apparently didn’t look too far ahead because just as he turns back to the front, the unexpected happens.
She watches as the skateboard rolls towards a little crack waiting for him that juts out of the sidewalk. With what she assumes panic, he tries to stop the board but the momentum has gone too far and the guy flies off, stumbling before inevitably crashing to the ground. She chuckles quietly at the sight before laughing as she jogs towards him, letting the flow of people go around them. His skateboard lies perilously upside down a few feet away. He smiles sheepishly, looking up at her and she sticks out her hand to help him up.
“I’m Annabeth Chase,” she says as way of greeting.
“I’m Percy Jackson,” he replies, grabbing her hand and pulling himself up. He picks up his skateboard and admits, “that wasn’t as smooth as I thought it would be, so truce?”
Annabeth laughs before nodding her head at him.
“Truce.”
And they start walking in the same direction together and both make the light.
♢♢♢
As Annabeth exits the station, going up the last step, wearing her heels once again, a cough catches her out of her reverie and she looks to the side and sees him standing there holding out a box of blue cookies, an arm scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, probably remembering his fall yesterday.
“Think of this as an official ending to our war?” He says dramatically before offering her the box of homemade cookies.
And maybe it’s because she hasn’t had breakfast yet and the cookies despite their weird colouring have tiny choc chips in them, she takes one.
For the next couple of months, Percy waits just outside the metro and they walk together to work. Well her to her architecture firm, and him to the aquarium where he works while he’s finishing his degree in marine biology.
They talk about anything and everything. She finds out he has a baby sister, used to be a competitive swimmer and has a weird obsession with blue food, which explains the blue cookies he gave her. When she questions him about it, he just says that blue’s his favourite colour, and that’s that.
They also talk about his weird connection to sea animals and how he can just sense what they need at any time, which she finds fascinating. They even talk about her family, her dream to build something permanent and her irrational phobia of spiders.
He’s so easy to talk to that she finds herself looking forward to her morning walks to work everyday. They also take turns bringing snacks, well in her case buying them. She tried to make a cake once and tried desperately to save it by covering it with a thick layer of blue icing but it looked more like a brick with blue cement, and probably tasted like it too.
She doesn’t even notice when they have to wait for the pedestrian lights anymore.
Piper teases her about her crush whenever she mentions Percy but at this point, she can’t even deny it.
Her heart beats faster whenever he smiles at her and her eyes are captivated with his green ones that tell so much about him. So as they walk together to work this morning, her cheeks flushed from the cold weather, she resolves to ask him out tomorrow morning. Yes, tomorrow was a Friday so if he said no, then she didn’t need to see him over the weekend. It was a good plan.
However, after a tiring day of running new ideas to Mr D and quickly filing some paperwork that needed to be done as soon as possible, she was exhausted, her thoughts the furthest away from any possible dates. She yawns as she walks out of the building and lets out a sound of surprise as she sees Percy waiting for her. He leans against the wall with one leg up, head looking out at the darkening sky at the sea of people heading home. He smiles once he sees her, looking quite relieved.
They stare at each other for a while before he speaks up not quite looking at her, “So, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner together?”
“Umm what?” Annabeth stares dumbly at him. Did he just ask her out before she could him?
“Did I take this the wrong way?” He furrows his brows and continues, “because Grover said I should stop being a coward and just ask you out already and I honestly didn't even know if you had left already and I thought I might as well wait outside and see and-”
“So Grover told you to do this?” She replies, playfully, interrupting his little ramble.
“What, no I-“ he starts before finally looking up at her and realising she’s playing with him. He blows out a breath and puts on the same grin, “You’re not making this easy for me are you?”
“I am never going to make it easy for you. Get used to it,” and with that, Annabeth walks towards him putting her hands around Percy’s neck and places her lips on his.
When they kiss, it's like they're in their own bubble. The rest of the world melts away and it doesn't matter as to who's watching. As she pulls, she smiles, her grey eyes looking into his green ones.
“So where are we going?”
“I know a place,” he replies pulling her along to who knows where. She's so happy that when they round the block, she doesn't even complain when they're stuck waiting at the pedestrian lights.