Chapter Text
Annabeth POV
“When I said I wanted to talk about anything else this is not what I meant” Annabeth groaned dramatically flopping back on Piper's bed.
“Hey, all I’m saying is it wouldn’t kill you to have a boyfriend.” Piper replied, looking up from her phone and placing it in her lap while she circles back and forth on her desk chair.
“Piper. We’ve been over this, no guys like me, and on the rare occasion they do, they’re just the worst. Besides! There aren’t any cute guys in our school. So even if I wanted to, which I don’t!”
Unfortunately for her, she blushes. She knows Piper is going to see right through her lie. Not that her whole statement is a lie, just that the unfortunate truth is, she does want to have a boyfriend, and as the heat that rose to her cheeks would have you believe, she has a specific someone in mind.
“There isn’t anyone I’d even consider dating.” Annabeth replies, sitting up and using her hands to prop up behind her.
“To me it sounds like you’re just making excuses!” Piper says, smiling to herself and looking down slightly, she knows Annabeth is lying, but she doesn’t want to push her friend farther than she's comfortable with tonight.
“Piper, if she doesn’t want to talk about it, we should switch the topic, the girl has had a hard enough night as it is.” Reyna chimes in from her spot on the floor, where she’s been idly listening to her two friends bicker back and forth for the past two minutes.
“Okay okay fine! I surrender for now!” Piper says, throwing her hands up in the air. “Annabeth, are you staying the night or are you heading home?”
“I probably should go home, but I really don’t wanna. I don’t know. I mean neither of them bothered to reach out to me, so I probably won’t go home until that happens. So you get more time with me!”
“Yay!” Piper says, clapping her hands together and standing up from her desk chair.
“I hate to ruin the fun, but I gotta go home.” Reyna says, clicking off her phone and getting up from the floor.
“Aw okay, well it was fun to see you, even if it wasn’t, you know, for a good reason.” Piper admits giving her friend a hug as the three of them walk to her front door.
“Thank you for coming over on such short notice. I feel bad that you did this just cause I ran away from home again.” Annabeth says, as she hugs her friend goodbye.
“Anytime. I’d do anything for you, this is nothing.” Reyna reassures Annabeth, breaking the hug before she turns the door handle to let herself out.
“Text us when you get back!” Piper calls before shutting the door firmly behind her friend.
When the door is closed, Piper and Annabeth turn to head back to Piper's room.
“Can I braid your hair?” Piper inquires.
“Duh, that’s like half the reason I even come here anymore.” Annabeth jokes
“Ugh. Rude! I am offended. You mean to tell me our friendship is a sham! Built on my hair braiding skills?!” Adding in a dramatic sigh and a gasp, and throwing her hand against her forehead, feigning offense.
“Little miss drama queen over here.”
“Hey, it’s me. What did you really expect?”
“Good point. And for the record, I’m amazing at braiding, it’s just nice to have someone do it for me sometimes.” Annabeth briefly pauses before entering Piper's room again before saying “Wait, should we grab a snack real quick?”
“Annabeth, bff, my bestest friend in the whole wide world. Why did you not suggest this when we PASSED THE KITCHEN.”
Annabeth giggles slightly before replying “It slipped my mind!”
“Alright, fine. You’re lucky I love you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.” She says as she opens the refrigerator, rummaging through it for two sodas as Piper throws some popcorn in the microwave. “I’m really thankful for you and your dad letting me stay here all the time.” Annabeth says, now sitting on the counter, feet dangling off the side, as she stares intently examining the floor tiles.
“Of course Annabeth,” Piper says, trying to conceal the sadness and concern in her voice, but it laces every syllable and Annabeth hears it loud and clear, despite Piper's best efforts. “My dad understands it, plus he thinks you’re a good influence on me so it works out. Besides, he’s rarely home anyway, so even if he did care, which I promise you he doesn’t” She emphasizes that last part, forcing Annabeth to meet her eyes “you would still have a place to go. You always have somewhere else to go. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t.” The microwave beeps, relieving some of the weight of the situation, lifting it off them if only momentarily. Annabeth hops off the counter as Piper puts the popcorn in a bowl.
“Alright, now let’s go watch some shitty movie, and you can either tell me about what happened, or sit there while I braid your hair. It’s up to you babe.”
“What would I ever do without you?” She asks rhetorically, smiling slightly while focusing her attention on the carpet beneath her sock covered feet.
The rest of the way back to the room is a comfortable silence, ascending the stairs with snacks and drinks, two friends who would give the world for each other, trying to share the weight of life before it collapses on top of them.
“You pick the movie, I’ll be right back with my brushes and stuff.” Piper says, before leaving Annabeth alone in her room. It isn’t the first time, but Annabeth surveys it as if it is the first time she's been here.
The queen sized bed, unmade, with simple white, gray, and pink bedding that Annabeth is sitting on the edge of. Across from the foot of it, is the long white dresser, six even sized drawers, various clutter and knick knacks on the top. Makeup, pencils, books, cds, you name it. The desk that sits beside it, it’s hardly used for studying, moreso for the simple gray suede desk chair and the mirror that hangs just above it. The small TV on the wall in the corner just above the desk, the LED strips that line the perimeter of the ceiling. All the garments strewn about the floor.
Annabeth envies how lived in this house feels. That her best friend has a space to call her own, one that she can leave as messy as she wants, a house she is free to roam whenever she pleases. Annabeth misses the days where she felt like she could do the same.
But before her thoughts can spiral to places she isn’t sure she's prepared to go tonight, Piper comes back into the room.
“Alright, are you ready?”
“Mhm” She nods, sitting criss cross on her friend's bed as she turns to face the TV to the old Disney Channel original she forgot she put on.
“Any texts or anything?” Piper says, brushing through Annabeth's golden curls.
“Nope. I’m not surprised honestly, they probably didn’t even notice me slip out and went to bed.”
“Well you have all your things right?”
“Yup, my backpack is by your window, and I remembered to grab my teddy bear this time. Which I’m glad you don’t think is weird by the way.”
“Girl, have you seen my closet? You could probably drown in the stuffed animals in there. It’s always a judgment free zone, you know that.”
“Oh yeah, I know that, especially considering I know way too many details I never needed to know about your personal life.” She jokes.
“Hey you’re the one who wanted to be my friend, you just have to suffer those consequences.” Piper says, parting her hair and tying up one half, as she starts the first braid.
“Something like that.”
Piper finishes the first french braid in silence, the movie in the background providing the only noise.
“Ya know, you’d think for a guy who had to try marriage again, he’d be better at it the second time.” Annabeth says dejectedly after a few minutes. Piper being well into the second braid by now.
“But I suppose when it’s the only reminder of his first marriage that is the problem, it’s not really his fault it’s going wrong. It’s mine.”
“Beth…” Piper says tying off the braid and going around her bed to face her friend.
“It is what it is. I’m about going to college and then Helen will be happy she can have a perfect little family again. I just hate that if me leaving doesn’t solve their problems, I have to leave Bobby and Matthew with all that.”
There's a short silence where Piper is trying to scramble for what to say, and Annabeth is fixating on the floor again. Looking between the space where her friend's arms are on her shoulders and the edge of the bed, at a crumpled shirt that's next to her backpack and a darker spot on the carpet.
“But here we are. I don’t know. I can’t change anything. I’ll figure it out.” She mumbles what seems to be a script of replies for when she doesn’t want anyone to truly worry about her.
“Beth it isn’t your fault-”
“Piper?” She says, cutting off her friends' reassurances, in her best attempts to change the topic.
“Yeah?”
“I guess you could say there might be a guy I’m into right now.” She tentatively admits. She doesn’t want to talk about home or the boy, but she knew what would get her friend to drop the conversation at hand, and this took up less of her brain power anyway.
“ANNABETH CHASE!!!! I cannot believe you have a crush and didn’t tell me!”
“Okay, relax. It is far too late for you to be THIS energetic.” She says, tired and out of energy, but with a smile nonetheless. She likes when things don’t have to be hard. When they can be easy and lighthearted.
“Okay I’m sorry, I’m sorry. And we aren’t done with what we were talking about, buuuuut! Tell me about this boy.” Piper flops on her stomach as Annabeth scoots back, a small smile forming on her face as she slowly and methodically tells her friend about the boy in her English class.
“... and I think that is about it.” She finishes. She didn’t spend much time talking about the boy. She figured she didn’t need to, just enough to see her friend excited. And based on her reaction she would say she accomplished her goal.
“OH. MY. GOD.”
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Percy POV
“Percy, I don't think that's ethical.” Paul says, pouring water into a mug and returning the kettle to the stove.
“But, just think about it? Please?” Percy says enthusiastically, sitting at the bar stools on the other side of the counter from where Paul is standing.
“What are you two going on about?” Sally asks as she closes the front door behind her.
“Percy wants me to partner him and his crush for a group project.” Paul tells his wife, taking a sip of his tea.
Percy sits there looking mortified. He loves his mom, he really does, but she did not need to know this. He shoves his head in his hands before his mom can meet his eyes.
“Well that is just precious!” Sally says enthusiastically. “I think you should!”
Percy is still sitting with his head in his hands. Regretting even asking Paul about this in the first place. He will never hear the end of this ever and he knows that. Especially now that his mom knows. She's on his side, but more so because it means she can tease him about having a crush.
“Okay this was a horrible idea, I’m going to bed.” Percy throws his arms up in surrender, turning around off the stool, and never once making eye contact with Sally and Paul.
He hears them quietly laughing to themselves as he closes the door to his room. He shakes his head softly, but truthfully he’s happy to see his mom and step dad so cheerful, even at his own expense.
For the first time in maybe ever he decides to try to do his homework. Plopping down on his bed with whatever it is he is supposed to be working on right now. He tries, he really does, to get this work done. He is tired of being the “problem student” and one who teachers think is dumb and unable. It’s not his fault he was born the way he was. Part of him —a greater part than he cares to admit— wishes this could stop being the edge of his world.
Percy only realizes he was getting too lost in thought and self-deprecation when his phone buzzes.
Grover: Hey man did it work? Did you die of embarrassment? Dont leave your best friend hangin here
Percy: can’t tell if it worked or not. almost died of embarrassment. left the room before the thread was cut
Grover: Good I don’t want to have to deal with that right now
Percy: paul did say that its “unethical” which is just lame. help a man out here! one of the first ways he tried to bond with me was girl problems so this is just him sticking to his word
Grover: I won't say anything but have some faith in him. I won't be surprised if you show up tomorrow and you and Annabeth are partners
Percy would love to tell you he did not blush at all reading Grover use the words “you and Annabeth” and “partners”. But then he would be lying, and we can’t have that, now can we?
Percy: okay whatever. see you tmr g man
Percy clicks his phone off before he can see Grover's reply. Not because he doesn’t care, but just because he knows what it’s going to say and he wants to try to get something done.
He shifts from his bed to the floor, sitting up instead of laying on his stomach. He stares at the page for a while, wishing the information went into his head instead of floating around it and going into the air. If he were a different person he could maybe try to make poetry or find the beauty in the way the words swirl together and fly off the page; maybe make it make sense in some way. Alas, he cannot do that. He gazes at the page for so long his head starts to hurt. He scrubs a hand over his face and tries again.
He couldn’t tell you how long it had been, but something snaps him out of the half-conscious daze he found himself in. It was the sound of a heavy bang just outside his door. Now, logically he could figure out what happened. But right now that goes all out the window in a flaming pile of garbage.
He sits on the floor trying to remember the advice he’s been given over the years for situations like these. But his head feels hot, his heart is racing, and not a single thing is making sense.
Something breathe, something breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I. Can’t. Breathe. Is all that is going through his mind.
He hears the faint sound of his parents' laughter but it seems to be getting more and more distant by the second. His vision is starting to go black and he’s losing touch of reality. This isn’t the first time it’s happened but this is a lot worse than normal.
In one glorious moment of clarity his brain says one word “nightstand”. And he isn’t totally sure how he makes it there without tripping on the mess or cracking his skull open. He isn’t even sure he stood up, just a sad attempt at knee shuffling.
He grabs the small orange bottle and tries to open it. But he can’t. He’s too shaky, his hands are sweaty, and he barely has vision right. Out of frustration, panic, and exhaustion, he throws the bottle against the door as hot tears start streaming down his face.
Later he will thank whatever power exists in the universe for the thin walls of his apartment (one of the only times he ever will), because it allows for Sally to hear the clatter of the bottle and his shaky sobs. She lightly knocks on the door in hopes of not startling him further.
“Oh honey.” Sally says when she opens the door. The sight before her is one she wishes she could say she hasn’t seen before. Percy is sitting, shaking, against his nightstand, surrounded by clothes and the mess on his floor, hugging his knees with his forehead resting on them.
She picks up the small bottle of pills as she walks over and carefully sits beside him. He isn’t a small kid by any means, but right now, he seems so small —as if all the light has been drained out of him. She puts one arm around his shoulders, and her other hand on his arm closest to her.
When his trembling slows but she knows he is still too far in his own head, she manages to get him to sit up fully. Sally hands him one of the small bottles of water he keeps in his room and one of the pills. He takes it absentmindedly.
“I’m so sorry honey.” Is how she starts. “Paul and I went to sit on the couch, and when he propped his feet on the coffee table he knocked over the books. You are still safe, I am still safe. It is all over now.”
Percy nods. The world is coming back into focus, just a little bit. They sit on his floor together for a few more minutes, until he can breathe again and muster a few words.
“I didn’t realize it was still that bad.” Sally reluctantly admits.
“Me neither” Percy replies in a small voice.
“Do you want to get up or stay here on the floor? It’s up to you.”
“Up.” They slowly stand up. Percy walks to the kitchen for a glass of water, Sally stays behind to tidy up his room a little bit.
“You okay kid?” Paul asks, flipping through channels on the TV.
“Yeah. Am now.” Percy replies as a shaky hand brings the glass of ice water to his mouth.
“Good to hear.”
Percy knows that Paul means well, he just doesn’t quite know how to feel about it. Obviously nothing will ever come between his relationship with his mom. It was forged in fires no one should have to bear. But sometimes it seems like he almost doesn’t care, even though he very clearly cares and respects Percy a lot.
The first thing he notices when he’s back in his room is that it’s a lot tidier than he left it. He makes a mental note to thank his mom later. He quickly changes and crawls under his covers. Staring out at his window, he lets his thoughts wander slightly. Although his mind was too exhausted to do much else.
The last thing he thinks before he drifts off to sleep is that he wishes things were different. He wishes he didn’t feel so alone, wishes he had someone who got him, wishes he wasn't scared by sudden loud noises, wishes he didn’t need medication to barely function.
But his true final thought is no more than a subconscious notion. A certain girl with golden curls, a smile that shines brighter than all the stars in the galaxy, gray eyes that he swears change colors.
But most of all, he just thinks about her. His mind is exhausted, he is exhausted; but yet he can’t help but drift off by thinking about the sunshine that is Annabeth Chase.