Chapter Text
It had been a couple of years since the Battle of Olympus, and Percy and Annabeth had moved into an apartment in New Rome. Percy was in his last year of college and Annabeth had been hired as an architect for multiple buildings in the making.
Both had side projects, if you could even call Percy’s one. He was working part-time as a waiter at a restaurant down the street that was way too fancy for his taste. It was a miracle he'd even gotten the job. Annabeth, however, was currently finishing with her project to remodel Olympus. Percy had been up there again a while ago, and he had to say that it looked absolutely unreal.
At this specific moment, Percy grabbed his navy coat, slipped it on and headed out the door. Inside his pocket, his phone lit up silently and displayed the numbers 6:47 PM, as a banner alerted him of an unread message. But Percy didn't even spare it a glance as he turned his device off. His boss had a strict no-phone policy.
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Percy’s face beaded with sweat, his eye bags poorly concealed by the makeup he'd attempted to apply during his bathroom break. It was late and all he wanted right now was to go home and slump onto his bed and sleep.
His fingertips burned as they strained to elegantly hold up the tray of drinks he was supposed to deliver to Table 9. He'd barely slept yesterday and only a couple hours the day before that and school today was unusually exhausting, as was work. Black spots dotted the gaze over which two heavy eye-lids begging to close kept blinking over. The heat in his uniform was boiling and it felt too tight, like he didn't have enough air in his lungs and not enough time to breathe.
Percy calmed his nerves and tried to control himself. One step after the other, he told himself. As he approached Table 9, he only had time to acknowledge the important-looking man in a classy business suit before his knees gave out and he crashed into the table.
The drinks spilled and splattered over the man as the tray clattered to the floor, and the table gave out under Percy's weight. He groaned and tried to push himself up, but his wrist fell limp once more as Percy felt a sharp stab of pain. He'd never felt so weak in his life.
"What is the meaning of this? You ruined my suit! It was a new one and I have an extremely important meeting to attend!"
The thumping of footsteps echoed in Percy's ears as tears burned at his eyes, which he blinked over furiously in an attempt to suppress them. He heard his manager's voice apologising over and over, grabbing him by the arm and hoisting him out the door.
"You're fired! That was the most important client we've had in weeks! You've ruined it." Percy sucked in a sharp breath as his navy bag landed on his chest with a thump. He saw the manager slamming the door, cutting off the voice of the business man. "Are you sure he's okay? He didn't look–"
Percy was sprawled out in the open air of the streets, cold concrete pressing against his back. He lay there a couple minutes to get some quick rest, his sharp breaths turning into vapour in the cold.
He then grabbed his bag and snatched a container of painkillers from the back pocket. He was tempted to swallow all of them, but he knew it would just make it worse. Taking a couple and swallowing them, he heaved himself up and walked down the road towards his and Annabeth's modest apartment.
He hadn't seen Annabeth in a while, not really. Of course, she was busy and all with her projects and work and Percy with his. She would help him, and everything that had happened recently would all disappear from his mind after a lengthy cuddle session.
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Looking up to see the blue door of his apartment, he fumbled to grasp his keys and managed to finally unlock the door as his vision doubled. Throwing his bag down on the floor, he clutched the side of his head as he walked toward the bedroom.
What time was it?
He slipped his hands into his jacket and stopped in the corridor for a moment. The screen lit up the dark hallway and Percy's eyes adjusted to light. Leo had made these special anti-monster phones for all of them.
Gods, how he missed his friends.
His blurry gaze finally cleared and he read off the numbers contrasting against his wallpaper. 00:13. It was past midnight. He'd almost tucked the device away until he noticed an unread message from Annabeth. She'd sent it this morning.
It read: 'We need to talk.'