Work Text:
Percy (OChem)
Saturday, 9:27 AM
it’s nice to know ur never too old to get roasted by the bodega man
10:58 AM
lol sounds like ur spring break is off to a good start. what happened?
11:03 AM
i took estelle down to get more bananas, and she talked her way into getting a slice of cake for second breakfast. i told her no bc mom said no, but she made a very convincing argument
11:03 AM
and jerry heard the whole thing. so when we got to the counter he said “at least we know where all the brains in the family went, eh?”
11:05 AM
that’s brutal
11:05 AM
what’s second breakfast?
11:07 AM
like in LotR
11:07 AM
[GIF attached]
[a curly-haired boy in a cloak asks “What about second breakfast?”]
11:09 AM
who is that
11:10 AM
[shocked emoji]
11:10 AM
you’ve never seen LotR???
11:12 AM
no :P it’s my step-brothers’ favorite so i never watched it on principle
11:15 AM
i admire ur conviction but this needs to be fixed ASAP
___________
Monday 2:15 PM
this is twelve hours of screen time ???
2:17 PM
child’s play
“What are you smiling at?” Hazel asked.
Annabeth slammed her phone face-down onto the table. She was so startled she almost choked on her cereal. She dropped the spoon back into the bowl and covered her mouth, hoping Hazel wouldn’t see the milk dripping down her chin. Or her google search result for “Lord of the Rings movies,” for that matter.
“No one,” she responded, still coughing. “I’m just… uh… checking my grades. I got an 89 on my last architecture exam.”
Hazel handed her a paper towel. “Congrats! But I asked what , not who .”
Annabeth rolled her eyes and took another bite of cereal, now that she was reasonably certain it wouldn’t kill her to do so. When she didn’t say anything, Hazel started poking her arm. Repeatedly.
Down the hallway, Piper opened her door and trudged out. With a yawn, she asked, “What are we bothering Annabeth about?”
Annabeth said, “Nothing!” at the same time as Hazel said, “She won’t tell me why she’s smiling at her phone.”
“Oh that’s easy,” Piper said, moving around the kitchen in search of her own lunch. “I bet it’s Percy.”
Ignoring them was definitely the best option here. Annabeth hunkered down in her seat and focused all her energy into finishing this bowl of cereal. It seemed like a monumental effort, but it was preferable to this conversation.
“Wait, you mean organic chemistry Percy? Blue chocolate chip cookies Percy?”
“That’s the one.”
Annabeth gave Hazel a good hard shove. “I told you. It was just my exam grade.”
With a sandwich now in hand, Piper dropped into her usual spot across the table from Annabeth. “How did that go?”
“89,” she answered, and she smiled a little bit. She’d worked hard to bring her grade up after accidentally sleeping through the first midterm.
In fact, she’d been bringing her grades up in all her classes. Lately it felt like she wasn’t doing anything but homework and studying, but somehow the structure made it easier to get through the day. She always had something to do, and she usually got some kind of praise for doing it, which didn’t hurt.
For the most part, she had forgiving professors who were willing to let her make up missed exams and give her partial credit for late papers. Dr. Jacobs, on the other hand… Well there’s a reason she and Percy started meeting with Leo on Wednesday nights, and it wasn’t for his winning personality. Leo was actually good at organic chemistry. She and Percy were not. They had another midterm coming up, and if she didn’t pass it then she’d definitely have to retake the class.
Maybe she should have picked something a little easier than organic chemistry to fill her science credit.
Piper high-fived her. “Hell yeah!”
“Yes yes, we’re all very proud,” Hazel cut in, “but when I asked what , she said no one . So it’s someone.”
“Your logical prowess astounds me.”
Piper raised an eyebrow. “So it was Percy?”
Annabeth stood up and took her cereal bowl with her. “I’m finishing my breakfast in my room.”
“Breakfast?” Hazel called. “It’s the middle of the afternoon.”
“It’s spring break. I’m allowed to sleep in.”
___________
Tuesday, 4:17 AM
this movie is 3 hours long and somehow still doesn’t pass the bechdel test
Tuesday, 10:01 AM
yeah but u gotta admit it’s pretty cool
___________
Wednesday, 10:30 AM
good luck studying with leo today
10:41 AM
wait that is today, right?
11:30 AM
yeah, this afternoon
11:30 AM
and thanks, i’ll need it
11:39 AM
he’s not so bad once you get to know him
11:40 AM
usually
11:42 AM
i don’t think he likes me very much
11:45 AM
and? u don’t like him very much either
11:46 AM
he thinks i’m too intense
11:47 AM
what’s wrong with intense?
11:48 AM
i like intense
___________
Annabeth tapped her pencil roughly against the desk. She’d been working on a single equation for almost thirty minutes, and if she heard Leo say “not quite” one more time, she’s going to have to explain to a court how he was “not quite” dead in the study room when she left him there.
Leo was one of those infuriating people who somehow understood science without even trying. If it weren’t for all the times he accidentally set off the smoke alarm during labs– and subsequently failed said lab– he’d be top of the class by a mile. And because he has never once struggled with chemical formulas, he was especially shit at explaining them to other people. Their study sessions mostly consisted of Percy and Annabeth fucking up equations and Leo correcting them. And since Percy went home for spring break, it was just her fucking up the equations.
Finally, she reached the last step, then turned her notebook to show him, feeling somewhat triumphant. She was pretty sure she’d gotten it right this time.
Leo stared at the paper for several seconds. He typed something into his calculator, then stared at it some more.
“Hmm. Not quite,” he said, and Annabeth couldn’t decide if she wanted to strangle him or herself. “You’ve got it up until the second-to-last step. See?”
She groaned and took the notebook back.
Normally at this point, he would try to give her some half-hearted encouragement, like “You’ll get it after a couple more problems,” or “The study guide is always harder than the exam.” He didn’t say anything today, though. He leaned back in his chair and resumed bending a paperclip into unrecognizable shapes. Maybe he was only ever putting up an effort when Percy was studying with them. That’s alright. Annabeth wasn’t trying very hard to be friendly tonight, either.
She redid the last two steps of the problem and showed it to Leo. He just nodded in approval, a silent instruction to hurry up and finish the fucking study guide already so they could both go home.
Concentrating was next to impossible, though. Her brain was fried from looking at these numbers for so long, and it certainly didn’t help that she couldn’t stop thinking about Percy’s last text.
I like intense .
What did that mean? Was he flirting? The thought gripped her with something like panic. Dread, maybe. Or apprehension.
Annabeth liked the way things were right now. She wasn’t afraid to admit that having him around the past few weeks had made life a little easier. He didn’t take things so seriously. He was just this constant, light presence, always ready with a joke or a distraction, and he didn’t seem to care that she was always in a bad mood.
He was a good friend, and that’s what she needed to get through this semester. That’s all she needed. Thinking about anything more made her nauseous. The only thing that waited for either of them at the end of that road was disappointment.
Like a miracle, her phone buzzed on the desk, and she could take a breather to check it.
Percy (OChem)
Wednesday, 7:15 PM
estelle may or may not have just learned how to swear
7:16 PM
isn’t she like 7??
7:18 PM
5
7:19 PM
i’m gonna take a wild guess and say she didn’t learn it from her kindergarten teacher
“Annabeth,” Leo said, sounding annoyed, “some of us have better things to do over spring break than study chemical compounds.”
She cut him a hard glare, not bothering to set down her phone. “Relax, dude, I was just responding to a text.”
“From who?”
Her phone buzzed again.
Percy (OChem)
Wednesday, 7:25 PM
that… might be a reasonable assumption
7:25 PM
it’s really cute though
“Annabeth, seriously .”
“ Fine. I’m putting it away. Don’t have a cow.”
Leo glared back at her. He’d turned his chair to face her, arms crossed. “Was that Percy?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why does it matter?”
He shrugged like it didn’t matter, even though it clearly did. “You two just text a lot, that’s all.”
“Okay, and …?”
Bzzz bzzz.
They both looked at her phone. Annabeth fought the urge to reach for it. She picked up her pencil instead, pretending to work on the next problem.
Bzzz bzzz.
“Go ahead,” Leo told her, mimicking her sarcastic tone. “Check it. I bet it’s him.”
“No one’s forcing you to be here, Valdez,” she bit back. “If you’re really that bored then just leave.”
He continued to stare at her, like he was trying to decide how mean he should be. Whatever. Annabeth could handle it. She didn’t like organic chemistry anyway. She could just sign up for astrology or astronomy or whatever in the fall to fill her science credit.
Then, instead of insulting her, he said, “Percy’s my friend. I don’t like the way you’re treating him.”
She frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“He likes you, and you’re leading him on.”
That familiar hand of panic/dread/apprehension squeezed tighter around her chest. She wasn’t leading him on… was she? No, that’s ridiculous. They were just friends. Percy knew that. They all knew that.
“You know he only signed up for that Classics course next semester because you’re taking it,” Leo added. “You know that, right?”
No, she hadn’t known that. She didn’t even know he’d be in the class at all. He never said anything about signing up for it, and she certainly never asked him to.
“He’s a grown adult,” she finally answered. “And the concept of ‘leading someone on’ is sexist. Men and women can just be friends without having some kind of weird patriarchal ownership involved.”
Leo rolled his eyes hard. “Fine. If there’s nothing going on, then why does he drop everything and come running the second you ask?”
“He doesn’t–”
“He does , and you know it.”
“We’re just friends , Leo.”
“Does he know that?”
“ Yes ,” Annabeth replied, putting as much force into the word as she could without yelling. She started to pack up her stuff, more careless than usual. Her chemistry notebook would now forever have a big ugly crease on the cover. “I’m done for the night. See you Monday.”
Leo let her walk away without so much as a muted grumble. He probably had that same stupid smug grin on his face as when Jacobs announced that he couldn’t curve the exam grade because someone got a near-perfect score. Annabeth wanted to turn around and smack that grin right off his stupid face.
She didn’t do that, though, because if she was being honest with herself (which is not her favorite thing to do), she wasn’t very sure of her answer.
She just kept walking, and walking, and walking until she fumbled her way back into her apartment. Piper and Hazel were both out doing something, so at least she could barricade herself in her room and slam the door without embarrassing herself.
Bzzz bzzz.
She did not finish her study guide, and she most certainly did not check her phone.
___________
Percy (OChem)
Wednesday, 7:30 PM
uh oh. mom just found out
7:30 PM
it was nice knowing you.
Percy (OChem)
9:15 PM
how did the study session go?
9:16 PM
ik ur not leo’s biggest fan
___________
Percy (OChem)
Thursday, 12:00 PM
estelle learned another one. mom’s about ready to ban me from talking at all
1:15 PM
I HAVE BEEN PROVEN INNOCENT
1:16 PM
she learned the second one from Paul!!
3:14 PM
hey, im sorry about that “intense” comment, i promise i didn’t mean anything by it
3:31 PM
if it makes you feel any better i get called intense a lot too
Piper McClean
Thursday, 4:00 PM
u coming out of your room sometime today? hazel’s making pancakes for dinner and she promised not to burn them this time
___________
Hazel Levesque
Friday, 1:30 PM
r u home? i knocked on ur door
2:05 PM
ok ur definitely home. i can hear the criminal minds intro.
4:18 PM
if u don’t come out and eat something piper and i are gonna drag you out ourselves
4:19 PM
i made oatmeal like an hour ago
Percy (OChem)
Friday, 5:15 PM
[IMG received]
[image of two chemical formulas drawn to look like stick figures having a fight]
Percy (OChem)
7:20 PM
okay we have officially passed the 48 hour mark. what’s wrong?
9:15 PM
i get back tomorrow afternoon... pirates movie marathon?
___________
Percy (OChem)
Saturday, 5:30 PM
just got back. i’m still free tonight if you wanna talk or something
___________
Annabeth woke up to a knock on her door, which was odd, because she didn’t remember falling asleep. It was dark outside, though. She checked her phone, ignoring both of Percy’s texts. It was almost 10 o’clock at night.
Ugh . She’d be up all night now.
“Annabeth!” Hazel shouted. “Wake up and drag your sorry ass out of bed! This is an intervention!”
Annabeth would really much rather keep her sorry ass buried under the warm blankets, where she could ignore all of her problems in peace, but she knew it was useless. Piper knew how to pick their door locks. She might as well give herself a head start and find a sweatshirt.
Another knock. It was Piper this time. “It’s been days since you’ve left your room, let alone the apartment. You need fresh air. And probably a shower.”
With a sigh, Annabeth opened her door. Piper and Hazel were both standing in the hallway, looking mildly surprised that she actually opened the door of her own volition.
“What?”
Piper scrunched up her nose. “Yeah. You definitely need a shower.”
Annabeth started to close the door again, but Hazel stopped her. “I made dinner,” she said. “Stir fry. Extra ginger.”
Damn her. Annabeth could smell lingering traces of ginger from here, even though Hazel had definitely finished cooking a few hours ago. In the last few days, she’d mostly only eaten oatmeal, chips, and apples. Her stomach gurgled involuntarily, like it was coming to life to beg for a single vegetable.
“That’s what I thought,” Piper said, and took her by the elbow.
While Annabeth picked at the bowl of reheated stir fry, her roommates stared at her from across the table. Seriously. Both of them. Hazel moved her chair next to Piper’s, so they were crowded next to each other, facing Annabeth like this was some kind of interrogation.
“Alright,” Piper said, hands folded neatly together on the table. “Spill.”
Annabeth was tempted to open her mouth and let the rice fall back into the bowl, but she didn’t. “Spill what? I’m fine.”
Piper gave her a dead stare. “You’re either deflecting or delusional, both of which necessitate this intervention.”
“What she means,” Hazel tried, “is that we can tell something’s wrong. We just want to help.”
“What makes you think something is wrong? I might just be in another depressive episode. It happens. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Well for one,” she answered, “this is the first time either of us have seen you in like 72 hours. That is not normal. Second, you’re obviously not taking care of yourself. And third—”
“Third,” Piper cut in, “Percy sent me like a gazillion texts asking if you were mad at him.”
Annabeth stared down at her bowl, pushing the rice around with her spoon. “Dead dad pass. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
She felt terrible that she kept doing this to him. It wasn’t like she wanted to cut him out. She just didn’t know what to say. Every time she tried to type something out, it just sounded manipulative or whiny. She didn’t know how to explain any of that to her roommates.
“Dead dad pass denied.”
“That’s not how the dead dad pass works.”
“Yeah it is. Right Hazel?”
Hazel nodded in agreement. “Right. The people you live with are allowed to veto the dead dad pass. It’s in the fine print.”
Annabeth mumbled a few choice words about “the fine print” under her breath, taking another full bite of rice.
“If he did something…” Hazel started, but Annabeth shook her head.
“He didn’t do anything.”
Piper, ever-subtle, pursed her lips and asked, “Well then did you do something?”
“No,” she answered. Then she sighed, and a whole flood of emotions came rushing to the surface. She felt like she was choking on her words. “I don’t know. Not on purpose. I just… Am I leading him on?”
She could see her roommates glance at each other even as she stared holes into her food. When neither of them answered, she felt the need to keep explaining how awful she was.
“I know he has a crush on me,” she admitted. “I’ve known the whole time, and I’ve just tried to ignore it, but isn’t that, like, cruel or something? I like being his friend. A lot. I don’t want that to change. But what if he finds out that I knew and I never said anything?”
“ Just his friend?” Piper asked. There was a hint of suggestion in her tone, but no malice. “I’ve seen you two together, hun, and I’m not sure that’s all it is.”
Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want any more change. She couldn’t handle any more change.
“Honestly? I have no idea,” she said. The confession made her chest ache. “But if that’s selfish, then it’s probably best to just let him go, right?”
She could hear her own voice getting shakier and shakier with every word.
“That’s not selfish,” Hazel said, tapping the table with each word for good measure. “Where is this even coming from? I thought you guys were fine?”
She shrugged. “Leo said–”
“ Leo ?” Piper barked out. “You’re gonna listen to Leo ? Of all people.”
“Well he’s Percy’s friend, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, sure, but he also talks out of the backside of a horse. Trust me, I would know. I’ve known that clown since middle school. Don’t listen to him.”
“But can you honestly tell me you think he’s wrong?”
“Well…” Hazel started, earning a nasty look from Piper. “Listen, I’m not saying I agree with him, because I don’t. You don’t owe any man anything, especially not romance.”
“But?”
“But maybe you owe your friend a little bit of honesty,” she answered. “You’re having a really tough year, and he knows that. Honestly I’m kinda surprised at how supportive he’s been. He’s basically a member of your crisis team at this point. I think he’s proven that he can handle some unpleasant honesty.”
The idea that her friends were worried enough to even think she needed a crisis team made her sick to her stomach and overflowing with warmth at the same time. These people weren’t just her friends. They were her family. They always had been, but even more so now that she didn’t have much of a “normal” family left. She wiped her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, sniffling.
So much for keeping it together .
“But how can I tell him what I want if I don’t know what I want?”
Piper shrugged. “You could try telling us first.”
Annabeth considered that. On the one hand, talking about her feelings sounded about as fun as jumping blindfolded into shark-infested waters. But on the other hand… if she kept everything locked up inside, she might drown before anything gets the chance to bite. Besides, bites were survivable, right?
“Can we do that over ice cream?”
___________
Sunday, 5:30 PM
im sorry i disappeared
5:30 PM
can we talk?
___________
Annabeth thought she might have a heart attack before he even got there. She was so scared she could hardly breathe.
It’ll be fine, she told herself. He’ll understand. You just. Have. To tell him.
Outside the window of the science classroom on the third floor, she could see groups of students laying out on the green. It was only March, but they were having a rare warm evening. The sun was still clinging to the horizon, throwing its final pieces of sunlight onto campus like it might not get another chance.
Knock knock .
She turned to see Percy standing in the doorway, knuckles raised to the frame. Spring break left him looking refreshed and well-rested, and that faint, uncertain smile was just barely visible.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
He found a seat on one of the tables and leaned back on his hands, waiting.
It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.
In.
Out.
“I’m sorry I went AWOL again,” she said, and he just kept staring at her. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Well you did,” he said. It wasn’t exactly harsh, but it didn’t sound soft, either.
“I know,” she answered back, feeling less confident by the second. (Which was not great, seeing as she never felt very confident to begin with). “I was kind of spiraling, and I didn’t know what to say. Which isn’t an excuse, I know, I just… I’ll try to keep you in the loop when I’m freaking out.”
He nodded. “I’d appreciate that. But, uh… can I ask why you were freaking out?”
Annabeth hugged her knees to her chest. The classroom was so still that it almost didn’t feel real. There was tile on the floor, and plastic beneath her feet, and the soft hum of the air conditioning in the corner. Tangible. Simple. Easy to understand. Or at least it used to be. Sitting here now, with the sunset in the window instead of a clear blue sky, it felt a little bit like another world.
Focus.
“Why did you sign up for that Classics course next semester?” she asked. Before she could explain herself, she needed to know how he felt, not what Leo observed.
His eyebrows pulled together, confused. “Why does anyone sign up for a gen ed course?” he asked back. “I need the credit to graduate.”
“No, I mean, like, why did you pick that course, as opposed to any of the others?”
“Oh.” Percy sank into his shoulders– just the slightest movement. “Well I don’t really care about any of the topics, and I don’t know anyone else that’s signing up for the others. You said you were signing up for that one, and I thought we could be study partners again. Saying it out loud, though… maybe I should have asked, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. I can switch to one of the others if that weirds you out.”
“No, no, it’s not that,” she said quickly. “It’s just– I would feel really bad if… if it didn’t work out the way you expected.”
“The way I–? What are you talking about?”
Alright. Cards on the table, Chase. You can do this.
“I know how you feel about me, Percy. I’ve known the whole time. But I can’t– I’m not in a place to figure out how I feel. I really, really like having you as my friend, but it’s selfish of me to let you think I might feel the same when I have no idea, and I don’t know when I will. I care about you too much to lead you on.”
He leaned forward then, dragging his hands through his hair. He might have sworn under his breath, too, but it was hard to tell over the pounding in her ears. “Leo said something, didn’t he? Wednesday night, when you were studying?”
“. . . Leo says a lot of things.”
“Shit, Annabeth, I’m sorry, I told him not to say anything. He’s been bothering me about it since registration, but he’s an asshole and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I don’t think you’re leading me on. I never have.”
She shook her head, trying to brush off the fresh shock and convince herself that it didn’t change anything. “I should have realized it on my own. I haven’t been fair to you, and I’m sorry for that.”
“Not fair to me ?” he scoffed. “It wouldn’t be fair to you if I only hung out with you because I thought you might date me someday. I hang out with you because I like being your friend. I also like not failing organic chemistry, but it’s mostly just because I like being your friend. I didn’t really think it was a secret that I like you more than that, too, but that doesn’t mean I’m expecting anything. Honestly I kind of thought we were on the same page there, even if we haven’t talked about it. I like you, and you’re still figuring it out, and I’m fully aware of that.”
“That’s–” she tried to respond, but she couldn’t find the words. The more she processed what he said, the angrier she got at Leo– and the more she understood why she spiraled so hard. She’d been scared to find out that just being friends wasn’t enough, or that he’d give up on her after they had this conversation.
But what kind of asshole would be friends with a severely depressed, grieving person just to get a date out of it?
“That’s a good point,” she said eventually.
“I know it is.”
“I just… I don’t know if I will figure it out, and you deserve a lot more than someone who’s gonna keep making you wait. I’m barely keeping my head above water right now, I can’t–”
Percy didn’t let her finish that sentence, which was fine, since she didn’t know how it would end anyway.
“Annabeth, don’t take this the wrong way, but I knew what I was walking into. You don’t exactly give off ‘stable mental health’ vibes. I’d have to be an idiot to think I could just waltz into your life and fix everything and you’d fall madly in love with me or whatever bullshit fantasy Leo has shoved in his head.”
She wasn’t sure whether or not to be offended by that. Was it really that obvious how much of a mess she was? Given the fact that she could already feel herself tearing up in relief, he was probably right.
“If I misunderstood something,” he continued, “and it makes you uncomfortable, I get it… but you should know that I’m not gonna try anything, or convince myself that you feel a certain way unless you tell me directly. So… platonic or romantic or otherwise, I’m not going anywhere, if you’re okay with that.”
“Yeah,” she choked out. “I’m okay with that.”
Then she was crying.
Percy slid off the table and crossed the space between them. He sat in the chair next to her kind of awkwardly, one arm half-raised like he might give her a pat on the back. The instant he was close, though, Annabeth leaned into him, letting her head fall against his shoulder. After a moment of hesitation, he settled one arm against her back.
“Whatever you want to give me is enough,” he told her. “Just… Please don’t push me away when you think it isn’t.”
All she could do was nod, because it was exactly what she needed to hear.
Enough.
This is enough .
___________
Percy (OChem)
Friday, 5:35 PM
yo
5:35 PM
jacobs posted the exam grade
5:37 PM
fuck. i don’t wanna look.
5:38 PM
how’d you do?
5:40 PM
[IMG received]
[a young man toasting a beer with the caption “C’s GET DEGREES”
5:44 PM
u?
6:01 PM
?
6:02 PM
sry i was screaming with my roommates
6:02 PM
I GOT AN 85 [confetti emoji]