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Annabeth is five years old. She likes learning the alphabet, her owl pajamas and spaghetti with a lot of parmesan.
A new family moved in next to her house, in the beautiful blue house with a brick foundation next to the big oak outside her window. Annabeth always liked that house more than hers, it was white with stone as foundation. According to her parents, the family that moved in had a boy her age. Maybe they could be friends?
For her birthday, her mom got her a round, green box and told Annabeth she could hide things in it. Annabeth didn’t know what to do with it, though.
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Annabeth is seven years old. She can read now, she grew out of owl pajamas and likes halloumi salad instead of spaghetti. Her best friend is Percy. Percy is a little shy, but Annabeth likes him anyway. It turned out Percy was born just a month after her. She and Percy have secret phones made out of metal jars and thick strings. They talk through them when one of them has to go home. They have big plans for the oak in Percy’s back yard, but they aren’t old enough to build anything in it, yet.
Annabeth keeps the drawings of the treehouse in the secret box under her bed. Other than the treehouse plans, she has a picture Sally, Percy’s mom, took last year of Percy and Annabeth when both families were on the beach. Annabeth smiles and Percy makes a funny face, not realizing he had a giant piece of seaweed on his head in the picture. The box is green, and they wrote their names on the top of it.Percy wrote his name himself.
PERCY and Annabeth
Luke, who is eight, says he thinks Annabeth is cute. Annabeth doesn’t believe him. Luke wanted to go to Annabeth’s house that day. She couldn’t, she was going to Percy’s house, so she told him so. Luke got angry and said Annabeth only likes Percy. Annabeth answered that she didn’t and stormed off.
— - — - — - — - —
They are nine years old. They like milkshakes, the treehouse they built and their new friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I write “they” instead of one of them, because they are usually attached by the hip. They have three more friends now. Grover, Thalia and Rachel. Percy likes blue like the sea, Annabeth likes gray, for some reason only she knows and thinks is logical, Grover likes green like nature, Thalia likes black, like the night and Rachel likes orange like the sun.
The treehouse is done now. It’s not really a house, more like two platforms, the fist one big enough for the two nine year-olds to lie down, and the second one a little smaller. Grover, Thalia and Rachel can also fit if they are on both platforms, but it’s usually only Percy and Annabeth there. They hang out every day, except on Tuesdays, when Annabeth has basketball, and Thursdays, when Percy swims. They communicate by writing notes and putting on the windows. Percy says Annabeth’s handwriting is better than his, but she doesn’t agree, although she thinks it’s nice he noticed her handwriting.
There are more things in the green box now. They have a small braid with little of both their hairs. More pictures of them together, one in the tree house where Annabeth hangs upside down from one of the branches and Percy is sitting on platform one with his legs swinging, talking about something without realizing the photo was taken. One of them, singing karaoke in Annabeth’s living room and one from the summer camp they went to together last summer, trying archery. Annabeth was actually pretty good at it, but Percy totally sucked. Well, the whole Camp Demigod wasn’t archery. It was inspired by Ancient Greece, so you did that kind of stuff the whole summer, well, they did normal summer camp-stuff too. They loved it.
Annabeth thinks Percy is cute. Like, who in this universe doesn’t think this nine year-old boy (nine and a half, actually!) is cute, with his sea-colored eyes, messy black hair, freckles, and dumb smile with dimples? But it’s not like she’d tell him. Are you supposed to think your second half is cute? Annabeth doesn't know, anyways.
Honestly? Percy thinks Annabeth is gorgeous. And adorable. And annoyingly smart. But overall great. He loves her blonde princess curls, storm gray eyes and the way she would scrunch up her nose when she thought about something. The way she always tried her best in things, and how she actually tried not to laugh when he told her something everybody but him thinks is stupid.
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They turned eleven this summer. They like sports, though not the same ones anymore. Percy likes swimming and skating and Annabeth likes basketball. Their favorite foods aren’t the same anymore. Percy likes pizza and Annabeth likes pasta pomodoro with extra olive oil. Even though they aren’t identical anymore, they are still best friends. They hang out in the tree house sometimes. Every year, they return to Camp Demigod. Rachel and Thalia went with them the second year, but didn’t like it. It became only Percy and Annabeth’s thing.
They made each other nicknames. Percy was Seaweed Brain, due to the piece of kelp on his head in the iconic picture on the beach. Annabeth also said his brain must be filled with seaweed every time he said something stupid. That means more than twenty five times a day. Annabeth is Wise Girl, because Percy’s imagination wasn't the greatest, Annabeth is kind of smart, and Annabeth refused to let Percy’s silly attempt at a funny nickname go.
On Wednesdays, Annabeth helps Percy with homework. He has especially problems with English, as he has dyslexia. Annabeth is learning how to bake, which means Wednesdays are officially homework and far too many snacks-day.
Percy caught a cold in September. Feeling a bit creative, he made friendship bracelets. Annabeth’s was blue and Percy’s was gray, to resemble each other's favorite colors.
On weekends, they go biking sometimes. Percy brings something Sally made, and Annabeth bakes something. They usually stop under an old maple tree, much bigger than their oak, with thick branches, perfect for climbing.
Then, they go further into the forest, to the old tree Thalia once got stuck in. That led to her nickname, Pinecone Face. Rachel's nickname isn't that creative, though. Rachel Elizabeth Dare is her full name, which makes RED her initials, and Red is her nickname. Red is also the color of her hair. Grover's nickname is Goat Boy, no one knows why, though.
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They are thirteen now. They like funny dances, jelly beans and cooking. Sports are fun, too. They keep going with the same sports as when they were eleven.
Thalia doesn’t want to hang out with them anymore. She only hangs out with a big gang of girls who named themselves “The Hunters of Artemis”, since their leader calls herself Artemis. There are about eighty girls in total, but they aren’t together all at once very often. It’s just Grover, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Percy and Annabeth left. Grover has a girlfriend, Juniper, so she is with them too, sometimes.
Percy got diagnosed with ADHD, which surprised no one and made sense to everyone. This didn’t change a lot, he didn’t need any medication for it.
This Christmas was particularly bad. Annabeth’s grandparents have never been very nice people, but this year, they yelled at Annabeth in front of their whole family. They didn’t accept Percy as her best friend, and actually thought he was distracting her from schoolwork.
“He’s a boy! You shouldn’t be with boys! And your other friends? They aren’t better! They’re distracting you from school! You didn’t get straight A’s! You need to work harder!”
Annabeth and Percy sat in the oak a while later, with hot cocoas Sally made them after realizing they would sit in the tree for a while. Percy didn’t have much to do, anyways. Sally’s parents died before Percy was even born, and Percy’s dad moved away when Percy was three, to work in Europe. Percy and Annabeth sat there until midnight, just enjoying each other’s company.
Sally snapped a photo of them, sitting there in the snow. Annabeth leaned her head against Percy’s shoulder, and Percy had an arm around her. They both were silent, but it wasn’t a silence in need to be filled. Annabeth’s coat is dark red with white details, and Percy has a blue jacket.
That photo was safe in the green box. More Camp Demigod pictures, a photo of Percy and Annabeth lying in the snow with matching scarfs Percy knitted in green, blue and gray. Yes, Percy knows how to knit. It looks kind of funny when he and Sally are knitting during the evenings.
They also went to the beach in the iconic beach photo and recreated it. They even laid a piece of kelp on Percy’s head, but it didn’t look the same.
Luke asked out Annabeth in march. She rejected him. He got mad, and tried to follow her home. Let’s just say she kicked his butt.
— - — - — - — - —
Annabeth is fourteen. She doesn’t like ice cream. She's had far too much during the last week. She doesn't like Percy. Nope. Not at all. They had a big fight. She doesn’t even know what it was about. Probably something stupid. She caught herself multiple times thinking of something while reading, almost texting Percy about it but then remembering she couldn’t.
Sure, they’ve had fights, but nothing like this. She’s pretty sure it all feels worse because of her big time crush on him. Yes, she knows the truth herself now. She won’t ever tell Percy. Ugh! She’s so stupid! She can’t talk to Percy!
She’s starting sophomore year now. Without him. They always imagined they would go to high school together. Then, they would go to college in New York, be roommates, and then be neighbors in the city while working. They planned out their whole life so their fates could be intertwined. All those images and ideas in her head of her future. Useless.
The green box is hidden. Annabeth put it in a big moving box labeled PERCY TRASH. There’s a lot of stuff in there. She just wants to hide that part of her forever. Other things in the PERCY TRASH is a rooster pillow pet, the gray and blue scarf Percy made, a dark red beanie he knitted, a blanket she had written PERCY + ANNABETH on because of no reason, her drawing note book, and a lot of books.
Piper says it’s not a very healthy coping mechanism to hide all the ugly things away, but Annabeth can’t help it. In Percy’s absence, she started hanging out with Piper McLean. Piper is actually cool, but a total romantic. Piper is on the cheer team and is generally popular, well, not exactly, but pretty high up in the status hierarchy. And she definitely knows about Annabeth’s crush. Not that Annabeth ever told her. Piper just always knew.
— - — - — - — - —
They are sixteen. They like the local coffee shop, Pandora’s Box, where Annabeth works. They hang out there an hour or two after school on wednesdays and fridays, and occasionally during the weekends. It’s a bit inspired by Ancient Greece, but they ruined their chances of making it a cozy Ancient Greece-space. Pandora’s Box is located in a strange side alley, and the inside is just white. Percy and Annabeth like it anyways, plus, the more college money you have, the better.
They don’t like the high school they go to, and they hate Luke. He tried to kiss Annabeth a month ago. And another time, a couple of months before that.
Annabeth and Percy made up two months after the fight. Nothing to worry about there.
They don’t know exactly when they got together. It just happened. No one was even a little surprised. Luke hated it, though. When he heard, he tried to tell Annabeth that he loved her, and that she deserved so much better than Percy. She said something like “Like who? Who are you telling me is better than Percy? If you suggest yourself, which I am 97 percent sure you will, that face you are so proud of will not be something to be proud of anymore.”
Piper says she felt it coming for years. Annabeth says that Piper didn’t even know them years ago. Piper answers with a “Details.” and a vague hand gesture. “You just don’t want to admit that you have been completely in love with him since you were five. Also, I call dibs to be first bridesmaid at the wedding, Annie.”
They still go to Camp Demigod, but are two of the oldest there now. When everything in your life changes, it’s nice to have something left.
In the green box, they have a photo of them at Sally and Paul’s wedding in june last year. They are all dressed up, Annabeth in a thin, green dress and small blue flowers braided in her blonde hair, and Percy in a dark blue suit, but his hair as messy as always. Annabeth is leaning her head on Percy’s shoulder. It is finally possible, now that Percy’s taller than Annabeth. They smile in the picture. You know, actual, genuine smiles. It’s not a very common occurrence, because of all the stress from school with endless tests and homework.
— - — - — - — - —
They are eighteen. They graduated from high school last year, with Annabeth as valedictorian, of course. Percy managed with decent grades, which was really good since he has both ADHD and dyslexia.
They moved from the western suburbs of New York City to an apartment in the smaller town Ithaca. They go to college with their old friends, but they know a lot of new people, too. Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, Jason Grace, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque are the (eventually) human beings they know the best. They are all a little quirky, but great in their ways.
They received a phone call from Luke Castellan a few days ago. He apologized for his harassing of Annabeth for the last ten years. He told them about his problems at home. About his mentally ill mother, and his father almost never being around, and when he was, he kept pressuring Luke about being ‘a perfect kid’ with good grades, soccer and popularity. Of course that was no excuse for Luke to kiss Annabeth without her consent, but maybe it was a teeny, tiny reason for his overall rudeness in school.
The green box is no longer in existence. Well, they have a picture of it. They threw it away since it’s worn, moldy and turned gray because of all the time it spent swimming in dust under Annabeth’s bed. They moved the photos to an album, though. They have photos of their graduation, with Percy and Annabeth kissing and wearing beautiful clothes. They also have a photo of when they started the journey to Ithaca. They are wearing t-shirts and jean shorts and messy hairstyles, ready for a full day of traveling through New York State. Piper and Grover are there too.
Annabeth, Rachel and Piper started working in a new coffee shop, Solitaire. That’s where they met Hazel. It’s decorated with light pink walls, decorated with painted flowers, playcards and the words “Patience kills. Coffee does too, but it's tastier. Choose one” painted in black, bold letters, made by a daring Rachel Elizabeth Dare in her creative-mode. The counter is made of light wood, and decorated with a dark green. The rest of the furniture is also light wood, and decorated with Rachel’s art. Together with their new friends, Grover, Piper and Rachel, they made this place so much cozier since they got to Ithaca.
While Annabeth joined Ithaca College’s basketball team and Percy joined the swimming team, because they of course have one in the small college, Piper joined the school’s cheer team. It’s an actual cheer team, and not just high schoolers cheering on some other sports teams. They go to real cheer competitions, like Daytona and The Summit. Well, they cheer on the sports teams, too. Like Annabeth’s basketball, for an example.
— - — - — - — - —
They are twenty and like each other very much. They just ended their third year of college. They are sadly too old for Camp Demigod, but they are there part of the summers as camp counselors.
Their apartment in Ithaca has three rooms, the bedroom, a kitchen and living room and a bathroom. The bedroom is painted in green, the bathroom in blue and the last room in gray, but the main kitchen wall is built with bricks, just like Annabeth dreamed of. The furniture is pretty simple, they didn’t want it to seem too tacky, well, Annabeth didn’t and Percy faked that he wanted all tackiness that exists in this and the neighboring world just to annoy her.
There are too many photos to count, but I’ll describe the best of them. Piper took a picture of them while at Solitaire a normal day after school, and they are completely oblivious to the camera, just staring deeply into each other’s eyes and being in love. As you may have noticed, Piper is their biggest shipper. She’s also obsessed with finding beauty in normal life, like the picture at Solitaire, or the one at a random karaoke bar where they discovered Percy and Annabeth are equally bad at singing.
Annabeth proposed a Saturday morning, after pancakes with (drowned, in Percy's case) syrup. It wasn't a very traditional proposal, but neither are they. No cheesy speech, no ring hidden in a cupcake, no ‘down on one knee’. She simply said
“I think we should get married. If you want to, of course. So, will you marry me?”
Percy happily agreed, and some may believe this is the end. I would say that this is the end of this story. Percy and Annabeth’s story, however, has only just begun.