Work Text:
“Alright, I’ll take off then.” Leo said, checking his phone for the time.
“Sure thing, man.” Percy replied, catching his friend’s palm and pulling him into a man-hug.
Leo left waving his goodbye, leaving Percy alone in the park and wondering what to do. He could go to the library, get some work done for his classes and then check on his girlfriend. Or he could just sit in the amazing spring weather and take in the warmth of the new season. The contrast between summer and winter in San Fransisco was nowhere near as intense as New York, but Percy appreciated the sunshine nonetheless.
Though his backlog was calling his name, begging him to finish it.
‘Ugh’, Percy thought. For once, he found himself missing the clerical work from high school. Copying notes and science journals for submissions, cutting up printouts for projects that would be in the recycling bin less than an hour after his presentation, writing ‘Estelle Jackson-Blofis’ on every new book in glitter pen for his sister. Things that would constitute useful work, but not require his brain.
He missed sitting on his mom’s sofa, finishing up notes with his book on the flat armrest. His girlfriend would lay her head down on his lap and take a “10-minute powernap” that not even Zeus could wake her up from. (So what if his thighs would go numb but he would refuse to move, so what if he would brush her hair and detangle it as she slept, so what if he would find himself tracing her high cheekbones and her pretty lips, so what if he would lean down to kiss her cheek every few minutes. So what if he was a little bit in love, just like everyone else.)
The person who broke him out of his thoughts was the person who had been occupying them in the first place.
A (relatively) tall blonde head was walking through the campus park he was in, almost 15 metres away. Walking was generous actually, she was stumbling through like a drunk sailor. It was obvious why too, in her hands she held a large model of some monument that was more than half her height.
“Annabeth!” Percy called, cupping his hands around his mouth. She gave no indication of having heard him, and just kept moving, peering over the off-white of the cardboard and styrofoam she had spent all night gluing to her project.
“‘Beth!” Percy tried again, starting to move towards his girlfriend who was going farther away with every passing second. He decided to run instead, jogging towards the love of his life as he dodged the other college students who had also made this university park their hang-out spot for the evening.
Finally, after returning one soccer ball and avoiding the cheer team that were doing their rounds, he got behind Annabeth. Upon closer inspection, it became clear why she couldn’t hear him. She was on the phone with her earbuds placed firmly inside her ears, clearly frustrated as she talked to someone about structure and write-ups and other things Percy tuned out. Not only that, she was also carrying not one, but two models. One was way smaller than the other, and had clearly been balanced in the garden area of the bigger model, though it didn’t quite fit and stayed tilted on top of the tiny toothpick fence.
Percy quickly moved to support, running up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. It elicited a small gasp on her part, but the moment her grey eyes met his, he knew she was relieved. She handed him both the models gratefully, which he accepted, and then took off both the tote bags she was carrying- one looking rather heavy made of a sturdy canvas material, and the other having several rolls of what Percy was sure were important blueprints.
She took a moment to roll her shoulders, and then took the blue backpack off her shoulders as well to place on the grass. Of course his girlfriend had chosen to carry three bags and two models at the same time. At this point he wondered if his baby sister Estelle had grown out her toy cart and was willing to donate it to Annabeth.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever Michael. Listen, if you can’t finish this by then, I’m not going to have the time to edit it into the project. I will be making the credits page and I’m going to be extremely honest so you better be doing the work.” She ordered whoever was on the phone. Very hot, if Percy did say so himself.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, placing her hands on her hips exasperatedly.
“No, I’m not threatening you!” She snapped, looking at Percy with a ‘can-you-believe-this-guy?!’ sort of look. “Well, it’s not my fault you refuse to finish the work that you agreed to do!”
“J-just sort it out with Sharon, I don’t care.” She practically stabbed the earphone with a finger to cut the call and then removed them quickly. She disappeared from Percy’s eyesight as she squatted down to (probably) put her earphones inside the backpack that was leaning against her feet.
Once she was done with that, she reached forward to take her models from Percy’s hands and placed them on the grass carefully. She picked up her backpack and put it on Percy, who stood there and took it like a good porter for his girlfriend. She pulled her totebags onto her shoulder, and then made him hold both models again.
She reached forward to grab his face and pulled him down to press her lips against his cheek.
“I’m so glad you found me.” She murmured against his skin before pulling away and taking the smaller model from his hands.
“No problem.” Percy ignored the tingling on his face and chuckled at his girlfriend. If she had left his hands free at all, he would reach forward and push a strand of her frizzy, curly, blonde hair behind her ear and then bend down to kiss her forehead. But alas, his hands were full.
“You’re my hero.”
“Always.”