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Annabeth’s heart felt heavy, but honestly this was expected. She had decided to stay with her dad and his family to try and patch up their relationship even further after the Giant War.
She wasn’t entirely sure at first because she didn’t want to be separated from Percy so soon after… Tartarus, even if it had already been two months. But Percy had insisted and encouraged her to go after the twentieth time her dad asked if she would come live with them, promising that they would Iris Message each other every day. (They took some time to work out a specific time considering that the time zones would be different.)
But now she regrets letting Percy convince her.
Annabeth had casually let it slip during dinner. Her step-mom had yelled at her in anger, saying that the twins were too young to “hear about all that bisexual nonsense propaganda”.
And so here she was now, packing up her things once again.
After some careful consideration, she pulled out a drachma, and set up her rainbow. “Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Percy Jackson in New York.”
The mist shimmered to show her tired partner.
“What’s wrong?” Percy immediately asked when they noticed her expression.
“It’s just,” Annabeth sighed. “I guess I got too comfortable with them and told them I’m bi… they didn’t take it well. So I’m leaving.”
“Wait, what?” Percy’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I got yelled at. Apparently my step-mom is one of those people who think kids are ‘Too young to know.’” Annabeth sighed.
“Hmph, next time I see them I’m going to give them a piece of my mind,” Percy grumbles, crossing their arms. “I will educate them so much that-”
Percy continued listing threats.
“I was also told, ‘Well, what about your boyfriend? He won’t like that about you,” She says in a mocking voice.
Percy laughs. “They do know I’m bi too, right? And that I’m genderfluid?”
Annabeth puts the last of her things in her bag and closes it up. She smiles to herself, knowing that she’ll see Percy face-to-face soon.
“Annabeth, if you’re leaving, please go to Camp Jupiter instead of making it all the way back here by yourself,” pleads Percy as if they knew what she was thinking. “I’ll come there and pick you up.”
Annabeth sighs. “Fine, I’ll go call them right now.”
“Hazel should be free,” Percy informed her. “Stay safe, Wise Girl. Love you!”
“Love you too, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth called back before the Iris Message ended. She quickly pulled out another drachma.
“Show me Hazel at Camp Jupiter,” Annabeth requests.
A surprised Hazel fades in.
“Oh, hey Annabeth!” Hazel greets. “I wasn’t expecting you to call at this time, how are you?”
“I’m going to Camp Jupiter,” Annabeth says, straight to the point.
There was visible confusion on Hazel’s face that soon shifted to concern. “You were staying with your family, right? What happened?”
Annabeth wasn’t really sure if she should tell her. It’s not that she doesn’t trust Hazel, it’s just that she hadn’t told anyone else in the Seven about her sexuality other than Percy. Grover, Chiron, Thalia, and Clarisse were the only others who knew.
She’d just been rejected from her parents, Annabeth didn’t know if she could take one of her friends not accepting her so soon after what had just happened.
Hazel was born in a time where being gay wasn’t as acceptable as it is now. How would she react?
But Nico had come out as gay recently, and Hazel completely supported her brother. So maybe she would support Annabeth.
Whatever. It doesn’t matter if Hazel supports her or not. It doesn’t matter that her parents don’t support her. Annabeth is bisexual and nothing will change who she is.
“I’m bi,” Annabeth says, confidence in her voice.
Annabeth watched in hidden nervousness while Hazel processed her words.
“And?” Hazel asked, confused. “Sorry, that sounded a little mean, which was not intended. I appreciate you telling me. You know I’ll always support you, right? But what does that have to do with needing to come here?”
In hindsight, maybe Annabeth did sort of blurt that out randomly without context.
“I came out to my parents,” Annabeth explained. Hazel let out a small, oh . “It didn’t go well. I was going to make my way back to Camp Half-blood, but Percy said to head to Camp Jupiter first.”
Hazel nodded. “Percy’s right, it’s dangerous to head all the way there on your own.”
“I’ve done it before,” Annabeth mumbled quietly, crossing her arms.
“I’ll talk to Frank and Reyna, there should be a place ready for you to stay when you get here,” Hazel assured Annabeth. “Someone will meet you at the entrance if that sounds good.”
“That sounds great, thanks again,” Annabeth says.
“No problem,” Hazel replied. “And again, thank you for telling me about your sexuality. Y’know, Percy came out to me and Frank on our quest.”
“Really?” Annabeth asked, intrigued. “Percy never told me. How’d it go?”
Hazel smiled. “At the time, Percy was still struggling with their memories. We were out on sea, and after a while, Percy just randomly yelled,’OH! OH MY GODS, I’M GAY! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!’”
Annabeth brought her hand to her mouth, trying (and failing) to stifle her laughing. Yep, that sounded like Percy alright.
“Did I mention it was the middle of the night ,” Hazel giggled. “Imagine getting woken up and hearing that?”
It wasn’t hard for Annabeth to imagine that at all since someone, cough Percy cough , had once ran into her cabin at three in the morning (how they managed to not get caught by the harpies, Annabeth never knew), and had told her that they were genderfluid. Apparently, they were doing some late night pondering and ended up deciding at that moment that they should come out. Her cabin mates had been woken up during Percy’s coming out and they were not happy about that, but they did accept Percy.
“Percy then explained to us about being bisexual and genderfluid, which then led to a long lesson about the community seeing as I,” Hazel gestured to herself. “Did not know a thing about it at the time. After that, I could tell that Percy was a bit upset with Juno because she made them forget an important aspect of their identity.”
Annabeth scowled. That seemed about right. Yet another thing to add to the Reasons why I hate Hera list.
Annabeth faintly heard footsteps approaching her door.
“I gotta go,” Annabeth informed Hazel. “Thanks so much for your help!”
“Of course,” Hazel replied. “I’ll always be there for a friend.”
The Iris Message ended.
Annabeth hastily pulls on her jacket and zips it up, seconds before the door opens. Instead of her parents standing there like she had expected, it was her two half-brothers.
“Are you leaving again?” Matthew asked.
Annabeth nodded.
“But it’s night!” Bobby protested.
“I can’t stay here anymore,” Annabeth told them. “But I’ll be okay.”
“I think it’s cool that you’re bi,” Bobby whispered. Matthew nodded his head in agreement.
“Take this before you go, I got it in school during pride month,” Matthew said as he handed her a rainbow pride pin.
Maybe even if she wasn’t able to reconnect with her parents. She still was able to connect with her brothers, and maybe that made visiting this hell worth it.
“I always knew you were a fruit.”
Okay, maybe not.