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The sun beat down on Percy’s neck as he gathered a pile of hay in his arms and dropped it at the hooves of a palomino horse. He breathed out a sigh, watching the mare dig in, the second the hay hit the ground.
“Someone’s hungry.” He reached out a hand and ran it across the side of her neck. Posey whinnied in delight and nuzzled her nose into his palm, “You have no idea!”
Percy laughed at her reply, before turning around to pick up another bundle of hay for the rest of the herd.
He’d been tending to the horses for the past few hours alone, the blaring heat his only company, (the horses were using him for food, and ignored him, unless he had their lunch in his arms) with the occasional camper passing by with a polite hello and nothing more.
Percy didn’t blame them, he would have done the same in their position. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a little ticked off at the lack of (human) conversation.
His ADHD was beginning to kick in, the repetition of the task getting to him. So, he did what any restless demigod would do, he uncapped Riptide and practiced sword fighting techniques.
He stabbed at the air and swished the sword in wide arcs, dodging the imaginary enemy. Percy got into the groove of it and began to swing and jab more instinctively, letting his ADHD and hyperactivity guide him through his moves.
His mind buzzed with loud thoughts of dam, you’re killing it Percy! Keep going! Yeah, that’s it, now how about a parry, then a slash!
Yo, watch out homie!
Huh. That didn’t sound like one of his own thoughts.
“It’s me, Posey! You almost rearranged my face with that swinging of yours!”
Percy looked up to see Posey, who was trotting backwards, a look of horror in her eyes. At least, that’s what Percy chalked it up to be.
“Sorry girl, I wasn’t trying to hurt you. Just practicing my, y’know, killer moves.”
She let out a whinny of disgust and turned away, flipping her mane at him, “You demigods can be such nuisances.”
Percy blinked at her retreating back, a wry smile on his lips.
“Wow. How do you manage to irritate a horse?”
He whipped his head around at that voice.
Annabeth.
She sported a breastplate over her orange camp t-shirt. Her helmet was tucked under one arm, and in her other hand, she gripped a training sword.
She was squinting her eyes at him, probably from the sun that had been assaulting him for the past five (hundred) hours.
Annabeth was the reason he was slaving away in the stables in the first place. Well, partially the reason. She was supposed to join him in the punishment, but he’d decided to take the entire blame on himself and was doing double time.
Percy’s face still burned at the thought of what they’d done. It was nothing too crazy or anything. But, obviously, if one of Annabeth’s siblings had walked into the Poseidon cabin in search of their sister, to find her spooning the only resident of said cabin…he couldn’t stop them from jumping to conclusions.
Despite Percy and Annabeth’s multiple explanations for the situation to Chiron and the rest of the eavesdropping campers, they had still ended up with ten hours out in the stables. Which would have been five each, between the two of them, but Percy, ever the self-sacrificing hero, put the whole blame on himself.
He successfully convinced Chiron and Mr. D that he had asked Annabeth to come hang out in his cabin after curfew, when in reality Annabeth had showed up unannounced.
Annabeth gestured to his sword with her own, “Wanna have a go at it against me and not the poor ponies?”
“I can’t, remember? I have five more hours of this,” He pointed Riptide toward the field of grazing horses.
“…Right.” She stared ahead, past him, observing the animals and at the same time avoiding his eye contact.
“Did you practice with anyone else, then?”
“Yup, did a couple rounds with Clarisse,” she flicked her gaze back to him.
“Clarisse? Ouch, Annabeth, how could you pick her over me?” Percy placed a palm on his heart, in mock betrayal.
“Percy, it’s only you who has beef with her. Besides, you were busy with your half brothers and sisters,”
He chuckled at that, and took a few steps towards her, capping Riptide back into a pen. She instantly froze up and looked behind her, “Relax, there’s not a soul in sight. We’re good.”
Percy also scanned their surroundings for any campers who would report (snitch on them) back to Chiron. The two of them weren’t allowed within ten feet of each other, another clause to their punishment.
Annabeth shifted her weight awkwardly, and shot him a quick glance, before looking down at her feet. She was acting as if even staring at him would get them in trouble.
“Annabeth, if you’re still beating yourself up about what happened, don’t, ‘cause honestly it was my fault in the first place.”
“What? Percy, I was the one who snuck out—”
“And I was the one who should’ve kicked you out the second I woke up that morning.”
Annabeth furrowed her brows, “You woke up before me?”
“Yeah, way before you did. But when I saw you sleeping all peacefully, I just didn’t have it in me to disturb you,”
Percy could practically feel the daggers she was throwing at him with her glare, but he chose to ignore it, “So, there, it really was my fault. I deserve my exile to these treacherous lands.”
Annabeth, almost impulsively, let out a small giggle. But she promptly interrupted the pretty sound, by dramatically clearing her throat.
“Sometimes I wonder if your head is actually filled with seaweed, because why in the world would you not wake me up, it’s like you wanted us to get caught,”
“Annabeth, why would I willingly shovel horse poop into a wheelbarrow? I opened my eyes, saw you still asleep and I closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, Malcolm was standing in the room with his jaw on the floor,”
Percy finished his spiel with a huff and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Annabeth continued the glaring into the depths of his soul she had been doing since the beginning.
The air between them was charged, the only fuel needed to start the fire was a group of kids from the Hermes cabin.
They were traipsing down the hill, towards the stables. Annabeth noticed Percy’s eyes widening, and arrived at a conclusion quickly.
She gave him one more angry look before she turned on her heel and sprinted away from him at full speed.
The whole thing seemed kind of funny to Percy now—Annabeth running away from Percy and out of the line of sight of the group of twelve year olds, leaving him standing there, frowning at nothing in particular.
Annabeth leaned against the door frame of Chiron’s office, the cap of invisibility shielding her from prying eyes.
The office was empty, but she wasn’t going to take any chances, not after the disaster that was that morning. She had no desire to relive the moment of Malcolm, one of her siblings from the Athena cabin, finding her in Percy’s bed.
Of course the whole thing was blown out of proportion and the rumors spread like wildfire after they were summoned to this very office.
All Percy and her had done was share a few kisses, barely anything past first base, but everyone had automatically assumed that it was much worse.
If Annabeth was being honest, she didn’t regret a thing…well, maybe she did regret sleeping in for too long, but other than that, she wouldn’t have had her first kiss any other way. Or with anyone else.
“Now. What I’m really here for.”
She darted to the cupboard in the corner of the office, which held all of Chiron’s personal belongings- a box filled with cassette tapes and vinyl records, a boombox, clothes, and a jar of candy— Annabeth’s purpose of sneaking into the room.
She had rummaged through it a couple of years prior, in search of a tape to blast evil birds away from camp.
At the moment, she was focused on the candy jar. It was filled to the brim with an assortment of treats - licorice, sour strips, toffee, bon bons, jelly beans, lollipops, mints, chocolate, chewing gum, jawbreakers and plethora of gummies shaped like different greek monsters and bears - you name it, it was in that jar.
Annabeth pried it open, and plunged her whole arm in.
She squeezed her eyes shut and picked a candy at random, because there was no way she was going to decide on a treat on her own. She would spend the rest of the night in the office, weighing the pros and cons of each sweet.
Her hand came out clutching the perfect option, and it was blue, just the right one for a certain son of Poseidon.
Percy fidgeted with his pen, Riptide, spinning it around and drumming it on steps of the arena, making up a rhythm.
He was staring into the campfire, but at the same time he wasn’t really focused on the orange flames. Instead his mind was racing with thoughts of Annabeth, and how he was supposed to spend a whole week apart from her.
Ten feet was a large amount of space between the two of them, especially when you compare it to the night before.
Percy’s been separated from her many times in the past few years, but this was different. Different because he now saw her company in a new light.
Something unfamiliar, but then again, he couldn’t imagine not seeing her that way - as someone to love, someone to dream of, someone to hold and kiss and - Percy was pulled out of his reverie when his eyes landed on a head of braids he recognized immediately.
Annabeth was climbing down the steps of the arena, her brown eyes piercing into his own blue ones.
She made a beeline for him, past the campers seated around the campfire.
She stopped a few (probably ten) feet away from him, hands curled into fists at either side of her body. She merely stood there, peering down at him.
The warm glow of the fire made her dark skin look gilded. She reached up with one hand and tucked a braid behind her ear. Percy could feel the attention of every single demigod in the arena shift to the pair at the bottom, near the campfire.
Annabeth hunched her shoulders, like she was going to throw a punch, but she just flung something from her hand onto him.
Percy caught it with one hand (okay, Spidey senses.) He shoved whatever it was into the pocket of his zip-up hoodie without even glancing at it.
Annabeth blinked hard at him before turning on her heel. Instead of sprinting away from Percy like last time, she slowly walked back towards the seats, past the group of kids near the campfire (who were already whispering rumors and making up theories about the two of them) and up the stairs.
Percy sat there stock still - something that rarely happened with a guy as ADHD as him - contemplating whether or not he should run after her.
Annabeth threw the door of the Athena cabin open and trudged in.
Thankfully, there was no one in there to see the absolute look of fear on her face. Her heart was hammering in her throat, and sweat ran down her temple.
That was probably the most reckless thing she’d ever done. Marching up to the very person she wasn’t allowed to be near or seen with and throwing candy at him.
Annabeth prayed that he got the message she was trying to convey. She had analyzed this from every angle - giving candy to someone is a generally accepted sign of peace and understanding, right?
Sure, Percy could have prevented this whole debacle if he’d just woken her up sooner - but then again Annabeth did understand his side of the story. And maybe she had reacted too rashly when he dropped that piece of information.
So, in a feat to make amends, she snuck into Chiron’s office, just to get Percy a peace offering.
Hopefully, Percy understood what she meant when she had attacked him with a lollipop.
Percy had no clue why Annabeth had attacked him with a lollipop, and had then continued to walk away all nonchalant.
If this was her attempt at flirting, well, it was definitely working.
After she’d left, Percy had sat there for a good five minutes just staring into the middle distance, his body temperature rising with each passing second.
To make matters worse, a couple of kids from the Aphrodite cabin were sitting behind him, and he could hear them snickering at his petrified state.
He managed to unstick himself from his place on the steps of the arena, and he had practically floated back to the Poseidon cabin in a trance.
When he finally shut the door to his abode, everything he was holding in came rushing out in one dramatic exhale.
Percy flopped onto his bed with a soft thump! Gods, why is being alive so embarrassing, he thought, miserably.
He shuffled around to lie on his back, tucking an arm under his head and another moving to the pocket on his hoodie. He pulled out a lollipop. Huh. Why would Annabeth throw this at him?
It was a blue raspberry flavored one, his favorite flavor of candy. He unwrapped it with slightly trembling fingers.
Sugar was not something he should be having right before bed, but Annabeth had given it to him and she was the smart(er) one between the two of them, so it was probably fine.
He stuck it in his mouth. Instantly, his taste buds were hit with the sweet and sour tang of the candy.
Percy laid on his bed, blue lollipop in his mouth and thoughts of Annabeth in his brain. He closed his eyes and the image of her at the campfire shimmered to life in his mind. Her braids hung loose, framing her face elegantly. The orange firelight reflected off her brown eyes, deepening them to an amber. Her brows were drawn low- she looked angry, but her eyes didn’t hold any real ire in them. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, as if she was holding back a barrage of words she wanted to say to him, but couldn’t, due to their current audience.
She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving, like she’d run a mile, though she had only walked up to him. Maybe, whatever she had been holding back was meant to be conveyed through the lollipop.
What was a lollipop ever meant to convey?
Was reading Annabeth always this complicated?
Or maybe it was because of this new addition to their friendship that made it so difficult to understand. Usually, Percy could just go over to her cabin and talk to her about it directly, but that wasn’t possible - not for a whole week, at least.
Percy removed the lollipop from his mouth with a faint pop and sat up straight.
He could sneak in after curfew. Like Annabeth had done for him. He considered the idea, staring at the electric blue candy of the lollipop.
His feet carried him towards the entrance of the cabin, he was going to do it, he was willing to risk further punishment, if only to see her again.
Percy hovered his hand over the seahorse-shaped door handle. He blinked, and the door opened. Weird. Since when did his water powers extend to controlling doors? Did Poseidon have dominion over doors now?
Before he could explore that notion, Percy was pushed against the wall next to the entrance. He could feel a strange pressure on his mouth - almost as if…a person was covering it with their hand. Which was strange, since nobody was standing in front of him, at least, not visibly.
Percy mumbled something incoherent, it came out muffled through her palm- “Annabeth?” Is what she deciphered it to be. Annabeth removed her Yankees cap and stuffed it into the pocket of her cargo pants.
Percy’s whole face lit up at the sight of her, the corners of his lips stretched up, creating those little smile lines she’d come to love.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Annabeth cut him off, with a finger to her own lips.
“What’s wrong?” Percy lowered his voice and furrowed his brows in confusion. She still had an arm on the wall behind him, so she pulled it away. Annabeth took a step backwards, casting her eyes down at her feet.
Percy noticed her apprehension, and placed a hand on her forearm, and gently pulled her closer, “Hey. Don’t go quiet on me, Wise Girl. Something’s bothering you. What is it?”
“No it's nothing - just that I’m pretty sure Mr. D has the harpies keep a lookout for us. I had to set up a plate of spaghetti in the forest so they wouldn’t follow me in here.”
She had left her half-eaten pasta on the edge of the forest and turned her back on it. The second she did, all four harpies who had been trailing her dived for the spaghetti and meatballs, fighting for a piece. So, Annabeth had just enough time to slip into the Poseidon cabin unnoticed.
“Maybe it’s best if we didn’t go through all this trouble. And, y’know. Stay friends.”
Percy blinked rapidly, opening and closing his mouth, at a loss for words. “Wait, wait. You were stalked by a bunch of harpies?”
“Yup. Dionysus has them on our backs. He doesn’t want a repeat of this morning.”
Annabeth knew that Percy wasn’t going to pretend like whatever happened in the cabin didn’t matter. Unlike her. She was ready to put it behind her if it meant the two of them could just walk side-by-side in public. What he said next wasn’t a surprise.
“So, you’re suggesting we stop, and give in to their expectations,”
“…well yeah. Percy, I know what happened last night meant a lot to you-”
“And it didn’t mean anything to you?”
Oh gods. That was not what she’d meant.
“No. No. I mean- I mean, Percy!” He let his hand fall from its place on her arm, and brushed past her.
Annabeth could feel the frustration radiating from him, with the way his fists were clenched, and head bowed. She merely watched, in horror, as he sat on his bed and buried his face in his hands.
“Percy. You know that’s not what I meant-”
“Then what did you mean, Annabeth?” He asked, voice shaking.
She took a few hesitant steps towards him.
How she wished he could read her mind, or share an empathy link with him like Grover, so he could understand how much he truly meant to her.
It was difficult for her to put it into words. Annabeth had no clue where she would even begin - Percy had always been better with words than she was. He’d say the most endearing things to her, with an intensity in his blue eyes she couldn’t quite name. Finally, he would punctuate the whole speech with a self-deprecating comment. That was just who he was. Who he’d been brought up to be: someone who saw the beauty in others, even when they couldn’t see it in themselves.
Annabeth didn’t voice any of this. She wouldn’t be able to fit all the feelings she felt for him into a couple of measly sentences.
Instead, she closed the distance between them, and peered down at the familiar head of blonde curls.
She carefully wrapped her fingers around his wrists and pulled his hands away from his face.
He was still holding onto the lollipop she had thrown at him, Annabeth plucked it from his grip and stuck it in her own mouth. Percy gazed up at her, his eyes were rimmed red - like he’d been crying.
“Hey. You’re crying, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth spoke around the lollipop.
“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are.”
“My eyes are just sweating, that’s all. I’m fine.”
“Percy, it’s okay to cry. It’s only me.”
“I’m not-” his voice faltered, and he ducked his head. Annabeth cupped his face in her hands and tilted it upwards. She swiped the tears from under his eyes, before they could trail down his flushed cheeks.
“Please, Annabeth. Tell me it meant everything to you like it did to me,”
“Of course it did, Percy. I replayed that night a thousand times over in my head. And that’s only counting this morning. I’ve thought about it a thousand more times since then.”
Percy’s expression shifted, a smile replaced his dark look from earlier, the light behind those ocean blue eyes had been restored.
Annabeth breathed in and out slowly, the sound of it louder in the silence of the night.
Percy blinked at her, eyelashes wet and clumped together. She pulled her sleeve over her hand and wiped it across his eyelids, drying them.
He sniffled quietly and swallowed - Annabeth's gaze lowered to his Adam's apple, before it flicked back up into the blue of his irises.
She traced the line of his jaw with a thumb, and brought her hand to the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair.
Percy looked at her lips, or at the lollipop in the way. He reached up and tugged it out and flung the candy over her shoulder, “Hey! That was my gift to you!”
Percy let out a small laugh, the noise was hoarse and deep - it made Annabeth’s stomach flip and the butterflies flutter incessantly.
“You can just get me a new one.” His gaze darted between her eyes and lips, as if he couldn’t decide on which was better to stare at.
Well. He’d done it first, the last time around.
Annabeth dipped her head the tiniest inch and pressed her lips against Percy’s.
His shoulders sagged the second her arms wrapped around them. He pulled her closer by the waist, the warmth of his hands seeping through the fabric of her shirt.
Annabeth’s knees weakened, she rested one on the bed beside him and pushed him down to lie on the bed, all while still kissing him.
Percy’s head hit the pillow, and the kiss broke - He was trapped between her arms, his brows furrowed and eyes squeezed shut. Annabeth took the chance to admire his features. Blonde curls laid flat on his forehead, Annabeth reached out to push his fringe back. His ears were tinted pink and his eyelashes were fanned against his freckled cheeks.
She could spend all day admiring his face, picking apart every little detail with her eyes.
Annabeth was looking at him and zoning out, her mind was racing faster than her heart.
“What are you plotting?” Percy was staring right back at her, wearing a smug grin.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, a reluctant smile blossoming on her face, “Nothing. Just wondering why you’re not an honorary member of the Aphrodite cabin.”
Percy grin melted and was replaced with a pout, “I don’t know about that. You’re more deserving of that spot. Besides, I literally only ever see your face when I look at Aphrodite, which I think is proof enough.”
Annabeth giggled softly and leaned in for another kiss.
Percy’s hand on the small of her back trailed down to her thigh, and the other found its way under her shirt. His palm was pressed flush against her bare skin - it was warm, because of course Percy Jackson’s hands were warm 24/7.
Annabeth’s arms were beginning to turn numb, so she flopped onto her side, arms still wound around his neck, fingers kneading into his scalp.
Percy scrambled to be on the top, hand slipping deeper into her shirt. Annabeth bit down on his bottom lip - half on accident - half just to see what would happen - Percy made a sound she’d never heard him make, it was so foreign, yet it caught her heart on fire.
He pulled away, and blinked at her, “I- uh- that was not supposed to happen,” he stuttered, face turning an even brighter red.
Annabeth grinned, “Uh huh, sure, Percy.”
Percy beamed back at her and ducked to press a kiss to her jaw. He peppered kisses down her neck, she sighed with each peck. Though soon, she began to miss his lips on hers - she grabbed by the hood of his jacket and pulled him towards her face.
She kissed him, and she could feel him smile into it. They kept making out until Percy was pressing kisses on every inch of her face, reducing Annabeth to a fit of giggles. He had to cover her mouth with his hand or else she would’ve woken up the whole camp with her laughter.
“We should really invest in a silk pillowcase, if this is gonna keep happening.”
Percy was propped up on his elbow, watching Annabeth as she tied her silk scarf over the roots of her braids.
“Yeah. Either that or you should try falling asleep without me by your side.”
She gave him a pointed look before letting her head hit the pillow with a soft thump!
“I thought we already decided that it’s impossible for me to do that. You know what they say - once you get a taste of paradise, you’ll never want to go back.”
Annabeth merely rolled her eyes at his made up saying.
Percy nuzzled his nose into her neck and draped an arm across her stomach, “Good night, Annabeth.”
“Good night Seaweed Brain.”
He hummed at her reply, content.
This time, Annabeth made sure to wake up at the crack of dawn, slipping out of the bed - she had to pry herself out of Percy’s arms - and donning her cap of invisibility, she tip-toed to the front door of the cabin.
She had raised her hand to open the door, when she heard a voice hoarse with sleep echo through the room.
“Leaving already?” Percy was sitting up, cocking his head to one side.
Annabeth sighed, “Yup. Don’t want a repeat of the day before.”
“I think you’re forgetting something.”
“What’s that?”
Percy raised his eyebrows, the corners of his lips stretched into a sly smile.
Annabeth groaned dramatically and marched back to the bed.
She bent down and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Goodbye Percy.” She turned on her heel, and let out an annoyed huff - though, she was far from it.
She’d never let him know that. His ego was inflated enough.
“Love you too, Wise Girl.” Percy called out to her retreating back.
Annabeth could practically hear the stupid grin on his face.