Chapter Text
It had been an impromptu decision, as a lot of things in Percy’s life were. He had survived his first year at college in New Rome and he felt like he owed it all to Annabeth. Despite juggling her classes at two different schools, remotely renovating Camp Half Blood, and doing an internship in the city, she had made time to help him study. Of course, she would shrug it off and assure him it was he who had put in the work and made an effort to keep up his grades, but he knew he’d be nowhere without her in more ways than one. Even when she wasn’t tutoring him on weekday nights, snuggled up on his bed in his dorm room with her body drowning in one of his warm sweatshirts and pointedly ignoring his roommate’s snores nearby, she was his source of motivation. If he wanted a future with her, a career, a marriage, a family, a life, he needed to study and find whatever his passion was so he could keep up with her.
But he had helped her, too. She would often find herself working herself to the brink of exhaustion, forgetting to eat, sleep, and interact with other people. Percy was always there to gently nudge her into taking care of herself and maintaining a healthy eating and sleeping schedule. He was also the best way to destress after exams, not that she’d ever admit it.
The transition from high school to college had been strange to say the least, but not necessarily bad. In grade school, his main worry was trying not to get kicked out or die everyday, along with─at the bare minimum─trying to not fail his classes. But in New Rome, the university was a lot more accommodating for students with learning conditions (as nearly all demigods had at least one), and safety wasn’t an issue he had to actively worry about. He felt a security he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was a mild culture shock, but a pleasant one he thought he definitely deserved after being failed by the American education system time and time again. He was able to actually pay attention in class more and manage decent grades with some help. He was just as surprised as the next person when he found he didn’t hate learning as much as he thought he did, probably because he had some decent─and dare he say, enjoyable ─teachers now. He had also started to care enough to put more effort into his work, the days of plagiarizing papers off the internet long behind him. Well. Most of the time.
Percy hadn’t chosen a major yet, but he was debating between something marine-related (given his obvious advantages as a son of the sea) or teaching-oriented. Annabeth had always told him how good he was with kids and he liked the idea of helping a bunch of young students find their passion in the classroom. But it was also strange to think about him, the guy who didn’t pay much attention in class, the guy who did poorly in school, the guy who threw away his notes after a test, being a teacher. Annabeth assured him that he wasn’t bad at school because he didn’t care, that he did put in effort but his commitment to the demigod world and the way neurodivergent kids were treated made it harder for him to see results.
But in his senior year, he had worked his butt off studying to manage a decent score on his SATs and pass the DSTOMP, with Annabeth quite literally grounding him at times to make sure he was on top of his work. Nothing motivated him like the fear of Annabeth kicking his ass. But she was an angel when it came to helping him study, exhibiting a lot more patience than she would have if they were training. It helped that the evenings she came over to tutor ended in late-night cuddling (or more) sessions after dinner and an unhealthy dose of his mother’s blue chocolate chip cookies.
He did get homesick a lot, because he missed his mom and his sister and all he wanted to do was gather them in his arms and never let them go. But the constant reassuring presence of Annabeth next to him kept him sane. He missed his home in New York and Camp Half Blood, but Annabeth was his home more than anything else. Plus he was surrounded by his old friends from the legion and he had made plenty of new ones in his classes.
Unsurprisingly, he and Annabeth had a legend-like celebrity status, beyond that of the typical hero, given their major role in both wars. A lot of the new people he and Annabeth met either looked up to them, were nervous and intimidated, or sported not-so-subtle crushes on either (and sometimes both) of them. Percy kind of just wished people would treat him like every other normal guy. He was tired of his accomplishments as a hero commanding some kind of deference out of some demigods. Sure, he deserved respect on a basic level but he didn’t want to be worshipped. And the fact that he had briefly been praetor made the situation a little worse.
Although, he would never deny the perks of getting a free brownie or cookie once in a while from the bakery. It helped that one of the girls that worked at the bakery had a major crush on Annabeth. This led to her bringing him a lot of free baked goods which he wholeheartedly accepted. He could deal with someone having a harmless crush on his girlfriend if it meant free junk food for their movie nights. The little green monster in both of them tended to sneak out at times but it was nothing a few placating kisses, some teasing, or a hot quickie in a precarious location couldn’t fix.
It was finally summer break which meant Annabeth was only bogged down by, like, half of her commitments. She had an internship at an architecture firm in New York starting in late June, as she and Percy would be spending their summer back home. And while the Olympus renovations were winding down, the gods were always requesting new things, those fickle beings. Of course, they expected Annabeth to cater to their every whim. She supposed the only upside was the generous salary she earned from designing the palace of the gods. Her mother wanted to provide her with compensation for all the time she invested in Olympus, but the gods didn’t have a great grasp of the value of mortal money so she ended up getting a very handsome paycheck.
Which meant that she could afford to splurge on something worthwhile. It had been a while since they’d gotten to hang with their friend Grover, just the three of them like it used to be all those years ago, so they planned (“planned” being a loose term) a road trip together. Percy had traveled a lot of places, some that he had always wanted to visit, and some he really wished he never had to go to, but he had never gotten to truly enjoy any of them. The chaos and anxiety of quests paired with some kind of deadline hanging over their heads didn’t allow for much relaxation or enjoyment as they traveled across the country on their adventures. A road trip was a nice way to appreciate being in the moment and getting a chance to breathe without thinking about the next god that was going to show up asking for a favor by presenting an unwanted quest like it was some golden opportunity they should’ve been grateful to have been offered. It wasn't like Annabeth to not plan every single moment of their trip from the moment they got in the car. That’s not to say impulsivity wasn’t threaded into her DNA, but she found it satisfying to make vacation plans. However, this summer, the girl was a) exhausted, b) didn’t want to defeat the whole purpose of the trip by ruining the spontaneity, and c) had entered zero-fucks-given mode the second her last final had been submitted.
They had a vague idea of the places they wanted to hit, and Annabeth had made maybe one hotel reservation just to ensure they’d have a room when they visited some popular tourist destination, but that was as far as their planning went. All she wanted was quality time with her two favorite boys, even if it meant getting lost in the desert somewhere in Arizona.
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The sun beat down on his face, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead and catch on his furrowed brows. If there’s one thing he hated about California summers, it was the heat, compounded with the fact that NRU apparently couldn’t afford air conditioning. Percy sighed, checking his watch for the umpteenth time. He waited outside the steps of Bauer Wurster Hall, waiting for his girlfriend to finish up her symposium and meet him outside. She had already completed finals but her research required her to do an end-of-year concluding presentation to a bunch of her peers and experts in the field, which he found nerve-wracking on her behalf. He wasn’t worried for her, though. He knew without a shadow of doubt that her mind could put anyone else’s to shame. Caught up in his endless stream of thoughts about the woman who couldn’t seem to escape his mind, he didn’t notice a girl around his age walking out of the building and slowing down near the steps where he was leaning.
“Hi! Sorry, are you waiting for someone?”
Percy snapped out his daydreaming and looked over to the voice that was addressing him. The girl was dressed professionally in a black blazer and slacks, smart glasses adorning her dark eyes and a leather bag slung around her shoulders. She must’ve come from the symposium. He shuffled his feet, uncomfortable. “Uh, yeah. My girlfriend. I think she’s still in there.”
“Oh, yeah. I think a couple people are still finishing up and saying their goodbyes to their mentors, so it might take a few minutes.”
He noted that she was making an effort to make conversation with him and didn’t want to be rude, figuring it was a good way to pass time until Annabeth arrived. He nodded at her, “Thanks for letting me know. What’s your name, by the way?”
“Grace,” she stuck out a hand to shake his and he accepted, graciously. “Yours?”
“Percy,” he responded. “Nice to meet you.”
“Are you a freshman?”
“Just finished up, yeah. Not here though. I go...to a college nearby,” he said, lamely.
“Oh, nice! I’m the same year. How did you like your freshman year?”
“It was a steep learning curve, I’d say. But I think I discovered I actually liked learning interesting things, which is good. Met some great new people. And having my girlfriend around all the time definitely helped.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I think mine went pretty well, too. Besides the toll exam season and the general stressed atmosphere of this place took on me. I do have some regrets, though.”
“Like what?” he asked, partially intrigued, partially wanting to avoid an awkward lull in conversation.
“Well…,” she hesitated, clearly unsure if she should share. “I don’t know if this is something I’m supposed to be telling a stranger I just met but fuck it, I guess. I may never see you again, so maybe it’s less embarrassing than telling someone I know.”
Now he really was invested. “What is it?” Percy pressed. “If you want to share.”
“So I had─have─this massive crush on this girl in my class, practically since the moment I saw her and I’ve been trying to work up the courage to ask her out, like, the entire first semester. Then class wrapped up and I thought I had missed my chance because she wasn’t in any of my classes second semester. But then I realized she was doing research in the same department as me, so I had another chance,” Grace stopped to take a breath. “But I’m also an absolute fucking coward who didn’t have the balls to get to know her and ask her out this semester, either. And now it’s the end of the year and I don’t know if I’ll ever get that chance again and─” she spread her arms in defeat, “I’m kind of really regretting it right now because she was easily the smartest, most beautiful person I’ve ever met. She’s still in there now, actually. Probably chatting it up with some of the most renowned people in the field, considering the fact that she blew them all away with her presentation.”
Percy considered her words and he really did empathize with her dilemma. That had been him in her shoes for four summers, after all. The way she spoke about her crush also vaguely reminded him of how he always talked up Annabeth in conversation when absolutely no one asked, and he suppressed a smile at the thought.
“What about her did you like, besides that?” he asked, genuinely curious.
Grace considered the question. “I feel like she really opened my eyes in class. Not only because I would stop myself from getting sleepy by staring at her, which I know sounds weird, but you can’t blame she─she’s so pretty. Anyway, she would ask so many questions. Not even the annoying kinds of questions. They were always so interesting that they made me want to pay attention and learn something. Or maybe I just wanted to pay attention to her, I don't know. How can someone be so smart and sexy? Sorry, I'm so sorry, you didn’t ask for any of that,” she sheepishly apologized for her rambling.
Percy shrugged it off with a chuckle. “No worries. It sounded like you needed to get that out of your system. And I understand. I feel the same way about my girlfriend.” Part of him briefly wondered why the hell she hadn’t come out yet. “Seems like you really like her. Maybe you could DM her, become friends, and ask her out? Or at least work up to it? Ask her if you guys can study together in the future or something? And just take it from there?”
He felt silly giving out dating advice, especially since everything he’d said came out as a question. He didn’t know how he’d landed the most impressive woman on the planet with zero romancing skills, but he didn’t want to question his luck. He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t know what advice I could give you. My girlfriend kind of made all the moves ‘cause I was too scared to. I just got incredibly, incredibly lucky. Even if she didn’t feel that way about me, she’s just not the kind of person you'd ever want to let go of, you know? I’d want her to be a permanent fixture in my life regardless of whether she wanted to date me. Just get to know her, and if it goes somewhere, it goes somewhere.”
Grace sighed, frustrated. “I don’t think I have the balls to do even that. She’s just—so scary, beautiful, and brilliant, I feel super intimidated at the thought of approaching her.”
“It can’t be that bad, just—”
“Holy fuck,” she lightly smacked his arm insistently to get his attention. “Look! That's her! Fuck, i did not think I would stick around long enough to see her again today. Oh no, I look like a mess…” Percy tried to listen to her fretting but his mind was fixated on something else entirely as he turned his gaze to the object of Grace’s affections and his curiosity turned into understanding, and, well, desire.
“I—wow, you weren’t kidding.”
“Yeah, I know, right?” she said absentmindedly, then paused to process his statement. “Wait, I thought you had a girlfriend? I'd keep my eyes away if I were you.”
He laughed, a little guilty, but not for reasons she thought. “I don't think she’d mind.”
The stunning woman approached them and he saw Grace visibly gulp out of the corner of his eye. She stopped in front of them and a blinding smile overtook her face, one that knocked the breath of him. She looked indescribably good in her outfit─a fancy white blouse tucked into a plaid skirt and blazer, the beads adorning her neck obscured by her collar. “Perce! Thanks for picking me up, baby. And Grace! Hi! I caught a little bit of your presentation and it was fantastic!”
Grace’s eyes shifted between the two of them, visibly confused, before the sinking realization settled into the pit of her stomach. “Hi, Annabeth. You also did really great today,” she tried to get through the sentence without stuttering. She had so much more she’d wanted to say but it all died in her throat.
“Thanks, I appreciate it! Also, do you two know each other?” she asked, gaze flitting between her distracted boyfriend and the flushed girl.
“Nah, we just met a couple minutes ago while I was waiting for you. Had a surprisingly deep conversation about our feelings,” Percy answered.
“Oh?” Annabeth asked with a bemused smile.
Grace finally swallowed and cleared her throat, the word vomit coming out before she could suppress it. “Holy shit. Fuck. I just ranted about my feelings to my crush’s boyfriend. This is so embarrassing, oh my god.”
An adorable blush settled on Annabeth’s cheeks as she processed Grace’s words. “I─wait, what?”
Percy suddenly felt like a douche, unsure of what to say. Before he could speak up, Grace cut him off, turning to him. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve asked who your girlfriend was before I said all that─”
“Hey, hey, no, it’s fine. You’re good, I promise. It’s not like I disagree with anything you said.” He winced, continuing, “Sorry I didn’t realize you were talking about her. Probably should’ve clicked a little sooner.”
Annabeth cleared her throat, feeling out of the loop. “Wait...so you liked me?”
Grace squirmed under the blonde’s gaze and wringed her hands, nervously. “Uh, yeah. A lot. Sorry.”
Annabeth’s eyes softened and she put her hands on the other girl’s shoulders to assure her, “Hey, that’s nothing to apologize for. I’m flattered, really. And I would still love to get to know you─I could tell how cool you were by some of those answers you gave in class. It’s just that I was lucky enough to find my person pretty early on.”
Grace shook her head quickly. “Yeah, no. I completely understand. Sorry if this makes you uncomfortable─”
“You’re good! Don’t apologize,” Annabeth interrupted. Percy felt like he was watching a trainwreck but decided to keep quiet.
“Anyway, it was so great seeing you and meeting you,” Grace turned to address Percy with that last part. “But, unfortunately, I have to go catch my ride. I’m already running a little late.” Grace unlocked her bike from the stand and hopped on it, eager to escape the situation.
“Bye! I’ll see you next year!” Annabeth waved, heart clenching in sympathy for the girl. Grace awkwardly waved back and sped out of there faster than she had seen any human ride a bike before.
Once she was out of sight, Annabeth turned to Percy with an accusing look in her eyes. “You knew she was talking about me and you just let it happen?”
He raised his arms up in defense. “I didn’t know, I swear. I mean, I had an inkling of suspicion cause she talked about you the way I talk about you, but there was no way for me to know until you’d actually walked out.”
Annabeth crossed her arms and sighed. “Ok, fair enough. I just feel so bad. She seemed like such a sweet girl and I think this might’ve been the worst case scenario for rejection.”
He grimaced in agreement. “Yeah...can’t blame her for being head over heels in love with you, though.”
“Gods, I really hope she wasn’t in love with me.”
“From the way she spoke about you...I honestly wouldn’t put it past her.”
Annabeth groaned, leaning into her boyfriend’s chest and he immediately gathered her up in his arms, rocking them side to side gently. “I know, I know, it sucks to hurt someone’s feelings like that. But, on the bright side, I brought you a slice of blueberry coffee cake from the bakery.”
Annabeth untangled herself from his embrace to shoot him an unimpressed look. “That’s your consolation for all of this?”
“Hey, if you don’t want it, I will gladly eat it right now─”
“No, shut up, shut up, I want it.”
“That’s what I thought.”
She rolled her eyes as he smiled in satisfaction and acquiesced when he leaned down to kiss her, maybe a little too thoroughly for a public setting. Okay, so maybe another girl liking his girlfriend had gotten him mildly jealous. Sue him. Annabeth couldn’t but smile into the kiss as if she knew exactly what he was thinking, and considering her uncanny ability to read his mind, he wouldn’t put it past her.
She pulled away to his displeasure and offered him her hands. “Home?”
“Home.” He linked their hands together and grinned. He was already there.
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Annabeth sighed as she neatly folded her clothes and stuffed them into the big suitcase. She and Percy were sharing one large suitcase to save space instead of using two smaller ones. Sadly, she knew he was going to make a mess of their belongings their first night in. And she wasn’t going to bother fixing it because that required effort, something she couldn’t afford to dispense so generously at the moment.
“Babe, come here,” she waved her boyfriend over.
He glanced up at her request and groaned, knowing what she wanted from him. Still, he trudged over to where she was standing with no complaints. She had him in a chokehold and quite frankly, it was embarrassing. Satisfied, she pecked him on the lips and went to go stretch out on her bed like a lazy cat─a well-deserved break if you asked her, considering the fact that she’d done all of Percy’s packing for him.
Percy grunted with effort as he leaned his entire body weight onto the worn suitcase that looked close to bursting. “Stupid...fucking…”
Annabeth looked on with an amused raise of her brow, “Need any help?”
“Stop laughing at me,” he complained.
“I’m not laughing at you,” she assured, her earnest tone undermined by the humor lacing her voice.
He shot her a look and she let a bright laugh escape, throwing her head back. He liked the sound of her laughter too much to be bothered by her being entertained by his struggle. Little did he realize that Annabeth was being entertained by an entirely different aspect of the situation, her sharp eyes lingering on the way his shirt was pulled taut over the bulge of his biceps due to his exertion. Her eyes cut to the clench of his jaw and the fantastic view of him bent over the suitcase. Huffing, he pressed his weight onto the stubborn luggage again, gripping and pulling at the little zip with enough force to pop it off. He considered it a miracle that that didn’t happen and heaved his body off the bag, stretching his limbs and groaning as he stood.
“That was easy,” he said, plopping onto the plush grey beanbag in the corner of the room.
“Uh huh.” She humored him, “Piece of cake.”
“It’s because I’m so big and strong,” he hid his grin.
“Did your mom tell you that?” she asked innocently.
“You know damn well my mom has never told a lie in her life.”
“Except when she said Estelle was Paul’s baby.”
Percy’s jaw dropped as he stared at her indignantly. “Do not even joke about that, I swear to the gods I’m gonna kill my dad if I find out he went anywhere near my mom again.”
“Looks like we’re gonna have to stop by his palace on our little trip then.”
He picked up the nearest pillow and chucked it at her. She laughed, catching it easily and he rolled his eyes, fighting a smile. “You’re just mad I’m right.”
He did a little run and flung himself onto the bed, landing directly on top of her. A bad idea in hindsight, considering her knee was lodged against his gut and he had accidentally elbowed her boobs.
“Get off me, idiot,” she groaned, smacking his behind with her free hand.
“No.” His voice was muffled against her shirt. Eventually, she stopped struggling and relaxed into his touch. He shifted against her into a more comfortable position, her warmth spreading like wildfire down his body and settling in his heart. “I just spent ten minutes trying to get that thing to close and you did not help me once.”
“Fuck you, I literally packed all your things for you because you can’t be trusted to do it yourself. You forgot socks, soap, and your shoes.”
Percy shrugged against her. “Remembered the condoms, though,” he said cheekily.
“And you remembered the condoms,” she sighed, shaking her head fondly.
“I don’t know what to tell you, I have my priorities straight.”
“Right.”
He pinched her side and she squirmed away from his touch. “I didn’t hear you complaining last night. In fact, I’m pretty sure what I heard was the exact opposite of complaining─”
It was her turn to pinch him, and he rolled off of her, whining.
“Hey, I’m just saying─”
“Shut up and go make me food, bitch.”
Percy’s jaw dropped as he reluctantly pushed himself off the bed and made his way into the cramped kitchenette. “Is this why you haven’t broken up with me yet? Because I’m your personal chef and chauffeur?”
She scoffed. “I barely get rides from you.”
He looked up from pouring water into a plastic cup of ramen to raise an eyebrow. “I think your neighbors might disagree.” He relished in the way Annabeth’s cheeks colored at the innuendo as he put the cup into the microwave and pressed start.
“That’s enough out of you today, mister. We’re gonna go meet Grover in an hour and if you don’t tone it down by then I don’t think the poor man’s gonna survive even five hours in a car with you.”
“It won’t matter what I say, he can hear it all through the empathy link,” he flashed her an innocent grin.
“He better fucking not,” she warned, smile dropping.
“No promises.”
“I promise you I will end you if he so much as hears a single detail about─”
“Relax, relax. He won’t.” Percy paused briefly, as if reconsidering his statement. “I think.”
“Bitch─”
“I love it when you call me that,” he threw her brazen wink and she rolled her eyes, unable to stop the smile from spreading across her lips.
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do with you,” she said with a slight shake of her head as she joined him behind the kitchen counter.
“Marry me?”
“Now, why would I do that to myself?”
He pouted at her in a way her heart couldn’t help but clench at. “Why are you being so rude to me today?” He took the cups out of the microwave at the beep and slid one over to her. “It’s hot.”
“No shit, it’s steaming,” she said, twirling some noodles around her fork and blowing on it gently.
“I wasn’t talking about the ramen.” he replied with a mouthful of steaming noodles.
“Oh my gods.”
“So you said last night. Many times.”
“I am literally going to break up with you.”
“That would make for a really awkward road trip,” he pointed out. “To think you wanted to spare Grover of the sexual tension.”
“Who said you’d be coming with us if I did?”
“You’d just leave me here?” he asked, accusingly.
She shrugged, unbothered. “You have Paul’s car, I don’t see the issue.”
“Unbelievable.”
She relented with the teasing, pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek. “Come on, you know I would never.”
“Aww, you do love m─”
“I need someone to make me food in New York.”
“You know what,” he scooped her off the floor and onto the counter and she wriggled in his grasp, stepping closer to wrap one hand around her waist and the other across the nape of her neck. He tucked his head into the crook of neck and peppered the sensitive skin with kisses, starting feather-light and gradually getting more sloppy.
“Okay, okay,” she leaned back from his onslaught but he was relentless. “Enough . You’re getting your slobber all over my neck.”
“You don’t complain when Mrs. O’Leary licks your face.”
“Why are you holding yourself to the same standards as a dog?”
He went quiet for a moment, and she could tell she was going to regret what she said judging by the faintest beginnings of that ever so charming and troublesome smirk adorning his handsome face. “Because I’m your bitch.”
She laughed and reached out for him so he could crowd himself back into her space. “Cheers to that,” she murmured against his lips before capturing his smile in hers. Yeah, Grover might be in over his head.
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