Archive of Our Own

Percy definitely didn’t mean to interrupt his fellow praetor, but he found himself subconsciously surging forward, Annabeth meeting him in a kiss. 

Percy pulled away, studying her face. “Gods, I never thought—“

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement, and froze. 

Vaguely, Percy could feel his girlfriend’s knee on his chest, her forearm pressing into his throat. She said something and then paused, obviously expecting a response, but Percy was frozen, his mind an endless loop of Gabe. Gabe. Gabe. He’s angry. How do I get away?

Stuck in that weird headspace, he didn’t notice Annabeth frowning at him in concern until she moved back enough for him to mechanically stand up. 

He bolted. 

He didn’t have a destination in mind until his mind abruptly snapped back to the present and he found himself in the Garden of Bacchus, knees pulled up to his chest in a desperate effort not to cry. 

Gods, what would Annabeth think of him now? He’d shied away from telling her any of what Gabe did to him, barely even told Grover the full extent of it. Even his mom didn’t know. He could never bring himself to tell anyone, even though realistically he knew Gabe was long dead and couldn’t hurt him anymore. 

He was broken from the dark turn his thoughts had taken when he heard shouts of his name. He quickly placed the three voices as Hazel, Frank, and Annabeth. 

He felt warmed to know his friends and girlfriend were looking for him, and managed to quiet his thoughts enough to shout, “In the Garden of Bacchus!”

The heavy vibrations of the three sets of footsteps traveled up through his hands, grounding him further. He was fine. He was 16, he was in California, far away from that monster’s grasp. 

Annabeth appeared in his line of sight first, and skidded to her knees in front of him, being careful not to touch him. 

“Percy, is everything alright?” That was Hazel, who came up behind him. 

He whirled around to face her, and she frowned, something in his face seemingly communicating that no, everything was not alright.

Hazel sighed. "Percy, what happened to you?"

Percy shook his head slightly, not trusting himself to speak coherently. Frank placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. He must have made some sort of signal with his eyes, because she stepped back with a concerned look.

“May I touch you?” Frank asked.

"Yes," Percy whispered. 

Slowly, telegraphing his move pretty obviously, giving Percy time to pull away if he changed his mind about being touched, Frank put a hand on his shoulder. 

“You’re okay, man. You’re going to be okay." Frank crouched down, taking Percy’s hands in his. The warm, gentle touch helped ground him further.

“I can understand getting triggered by touch.“ Frank spoke softly, so neither Hazel nor Annabeth could hear him. “I had a phase when I was younger, where I was totally obsessed with psychology and common triggers that can result from certain situations. Touch triggers are common for abuse victims. Percy, are you an abuse victim?”

Percy nodded sheepishly. 

"Who do I need to kill?" Frank asked, looking murderous.

Percy flinched slightly, but he managed to recognize that Frank's anger wasn't aimed at him, and his lips twisted wryly. "No need, Frank. Thanks for the offer, but he's already dead. Good riddance."

“Good. That said, would you prefer if Hazel and I left so you can talk to Annabeth alone, or would you like us to stay for moral support?”

“Go. Please,” Percy whispered, bracing himself for Frank to get upset. 

The son of Mars just smiled, leaning in and, after a nod of approval from Percy, he hugged him quickly. “Talk to your girlfriend. We’ll see you in a bit.”

With that, Frank pulled back and threw an arm around Hazel as he stood up. "Come on Hazel, let's get back to the forum."

"Thank you guys for coming after me," Percy said quietly.

Hazel smiled. "Anytime, Percy."

The couple walked off and, once they were out of sight, Annabeth crouched in front of him.

"Can I touch you, please?" she whispered, looking heartbroken.

"Not right now," Percy murmured, only causing his girlfriend's expression to turn sadder.

"Okay," she agreed, her voice soft. "Can you tell me what triggered you? It was when I judo-flipped you, wasn't it?"

Percy nodded, reluctant to answer for fear of eliciting more anger.

Annabeth took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. "You can speak freely, Percy, I won't get angry. I actually should apologize, what I did was uncalled for and I'm sorry. Even if I didn't know that was a trigger for you, I still shouldn't have done it. I'm truly sorry. It'll never happen again, I assure you."

Percy smiled weakly. "I forgive you."

Annabeth returned his grin. "Tell me, is there anything I do that triggers you other than that? I won't get mad, I promise."

Percy looked down, playing with his fingers. "I guess... when you make fun of my intelligence. That really hurts me, because literally everyone, from old classmates to ex-teachers to my first stepfather, teased me for not being so smart. They used to call me retarded, classmates would paint the word on my locker, I even got it taped to my back a few times. I have a big issue with people making fun of my intelligence, or lack thereof. I don't like when you call me Seaweed Brain, either. I would appreciate it if you tried to refrain."

Annabeth smiled reassuringly at her boyfriend. "Done. Thanks for letting me know, Percy. Can you tell me why you froze when I did what I did? It seems like aggressive touch triggers you, do I have that right?"

Percy's lips twitched. "You know you do, Wise Girl. You've never been wrong in all the time I've known you. I froze because aggressive touch like that reminds me of my first stepfather, Gabe. He used to, um—"

Percy swore under his breath. Why was this so hard to get out? He took a breath and let it out slowly, trying again. "He used to hit me. Mom, too, but mostly me. I was a shit as a kid, you know?"

Annabeth laughed quietly. "You've mentioned, yeah. I'm so sorry, I never knew. That's horrible that such a thing happened to you."

"Yeah. Thanks for listening, Annabeth. I feel somewhat better now."

"This conversation isn't over, you know," she warned. "Come on, let's get back to the Romans. We've been gone for a while."

She offered a hand up, and Percy only hesitated a moment before grabbing it and tugging her into a hug. "Thanks."

"Anytime."