Chapter Text
Percy loved the summertime for so many reasons. He loved the lack of school assignments, no more English essays he had to stumble his way through. He loved swimming under the bright sun instead of under the fluorescent lights of his high school’s indoor pool. That particular summer though, the summer before his senior year, he was especially excited for the change in seasons because, for the first time in months, he was going to get to see his best friend again, his best friend Annabeth.
It was last year when Annabeth had very sadly broken the news that her family was moving away. Percy still remembered how miserable he’d been when she'd told him.
They managed, mostly. The time zones were difficult with Annabeth being in California and Percy being in New York, but they managed. They still talked constantly, always messaging back and forth.
Luckily, that summer, after a lot of begging, Annabeth’s family finally relented to letting her get on a plane, fly across the country, and come over for a visit. Percy didn’t have to do any begging. His mom was very enthusiastic about the idea of Annabeth staying over at their apartment.
Percy and Annabeth hadn’t actually seen each other in person since she’d moved, which was about ten months ago now. He’d kept count, obviously.
He was waiting in the lobby at the airport, pacing back and forth. The clock on the wall said it was noon now. He’d been there since eight that morning. From what Percy had gathered, Annabeth’s flight got delayed. The wait was almost unbearable.
He’d texted her about ten different times even though he knew she wouldn’t be able to see his messages until the plane landed. But, still, he hoped even just sending the texts out into the void would calm some of his nerves. It didn’t.
His nerves didn’t actually calm until, for maybe the fifth time, he glanced up. But, unlike all the other times, Annabeth was finally right there, standing a few yards away from him. The too-quick beating of his heart slowed to something heavier, more steady.
She hadn’t seen him yet, her eyes scanning the room, looking for him.
For a moment, he just watched her. The outfit she was wearing was a familiar one, just a plain shirt and some sweatpants, what she usually wore when she was trying to be comfortable. It was like she’d stepped right out of all of his memories and manifested into existence right in front of him.
Then, not able to hold it in anymore, he waved, shouting her name, knowing he was drawing attention to himself, not really caring that he was.
At that, she turned his way. If this had been before, before they’d spent months missing each other, Annabeth would’ve probably rolled her eyes and scoffed at him, pretending not to see him. Instead, she smiled and returned the wave.
They walked over to each other, meeting in the middle of the long distance between them.
Percy had always been a bit of a hugger, growing up with a mom like his that fact was pretty much inevitable. So, when Annabeth wrapped her arms around him, he returned the gesture right away, resting his head on top of hers.
That untethered feeling he’d had ever since he was forced to say goodbye to her all those months ago vanished. It was hard to feel untethered when her arms squeezed around his midsection in an almost suffocating way.
But, quicker than he maybe expected, Annabeth was pulling back from the hug.
Without any greetings, without any hellos, she immediately started grumbling, “you wouldn’t believe the guy that I had to sit next to on the plane. He had the volume up all the way on his headphones watching some stupid movie. Then he fell asleep and started snoring, like, right next to my ear so obviously I couldn’t take a nap like I wanted.” Her right hand was gesticulating as she spoke. Her left hand gripped her suitcase. “And now my head hurts and I’m exhausted.”
Percy just nodded along, happy to hear her voice when it wasn’t all crackly from the phone’s speaker, happy to see her face when it wasn’t all pixelated from the phone’s camera. The pair of them walked toward the exit, Annabeth’s pace brisk, Percy following close behind.
She pressed on, “sorry my flight got delayed by the way. I know I said I’d get here, like, four hours ago.” Then, pausing, eyes flitting around them, she asked, frowning a little, “wait. Where’s Grover?”
Percy laughed, pausing his steps just like she did. “He wanted to come but after your flight got delayed he couldn’t make it. He’s got that part-time job at the animal shelter now, remember?”
She nodded, faltering a little. “Right. Yeah. I remember.” Then, still standing in the middle of the lobby, she turned her eyes up to fully look at Percy properly. With a slight smile on her lips, a slight narrow to her brown eyes, she joked, “so I guess I’m just stuck with you for the day then?”
Percy’s eyes were turned down toward her, looking first at the smile on her face before returning the eye contact. He'd missed her a lot. Saying he missed her probably didn’t even fully cover how he felt.
With a tsk, he joked back, “I braved airport traffic for you and this is how you treat me?”
Annabeth scrunched her nose. It was a familiar expression. She was trying to hide any amusement she felt. “You drove here?”
“Mhm,” he said, grinning, grabbing the car keys out of his pocket and jingling them in front of her.
She snatched the keys from him immediately. “I’ll be taking these. Thanks.”
Percy thought about putting up a fight but he didn’t really mind.
A lot had changed in the months that she’d been gone. Percy got his driver’s license. Grover got his first part-time job. They were all growing up. It was weird to be reminded of it. Annabeth’s very presence was a reminder of it.
By the time they reached the car, Percy had offered to carry Annabeth’s suitcase at least five separate times and she’d said “no” every single time. Percy knew she wouldn’t accept the help but he liked getting on her nerves by offering it anyways.
Annabeth hopped into the driver’s side and Percy sat in the passenger. He tried not to laugh at the way she had to scoot the seat up all the way.
“Sorry we can’t all have your giraffe legs,” she told him, as she put the car in drive and started peeling out of the parking lot. “Besides, it’s not very smart to make fun of the person who’s behind the wheel.”
Percy was turned in her direction, watching, smiling, nearly laughing at every word she said. “Good thing I never said I was smart then.”
“Thankfully I’m here now. I can be smart enough for the both of us.”
At that, Percy did laugh, not really because what she said was all that funny but because of something else, just how good of a mood he was in. Annabeth was right. Thankfully, she was here now. Percy found himself agreeing with her easily.
It was a bit of a drive, a couple hours. They spent the majority of it just catching up. Percy told her all the drama she’d missed the past school year. Annabeth told him about all her new friends back in California.
She had just finished recounting her junior prom experience, complaining about the terrible music they’d played and the way the school gymnasium smelled like rubber.
“I’m still surprised you didn’t go to yours,” she told him, eyes trained on the road ahead of her.
Percy, on the other hand, was still turned, still watching her. “To my prom? Do I really seem like the type to go to prom?”
“And what ‘type’ would that be? Hm?” She flickered her eyes his way for barely even a moment, exhaling out of her nose, basically laughing.
“Oh you know what I meant. Who was I supposed to go with anyways, huh? Grover?” he asked, joking.
“People go with their friends to that kinda stuff all the time. I went with my friends.”
Percy already knew that. He remembered her video calling him after the prom was over, when she got home. He remembered feeling a little left out.
She’d been wearing a dress with her hair done up all fancy. Percy remembered that too, what she’d looked like. He’d never seen Annabeth dressed up like that before.
The Annabeth in front of him was also a little different than the Annabeth he remembered. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why that was, on what was different.
“There’s always senior prom,” Percy said, after realizing he’d been quiet for a touch too long. “That’s the one people care about more anyways.”
“Yeah and maybe by the time senior prom rolls around you’ll have an actual date you can take. Y’know, a date that isn’t Grover,” she joked.
“Doubtful.” Percy’s reaction was immediate and, also, just a touch self-deprecating.
Annabeth huffed, the roll of her eyes obvious even with the way she was still looking forward and away from him. “You never know.”
“Oh believe me, I know.”
-
Percy’s mom pulled Annabeth into a tight hug the second they walked in through the front door of the apartment.
Annabeth melted into the hug easily. The sight made the already non-stop smile on Percy's face grow even more.
“How was your trip?” His mom asked when she pulled back from the hug, eyes scanning over Annabeth like she was trying to make sure she really made it there all in one piece. “Are you hungry? Jet-lagged? Need some food? A nap? Anything. You name it.”
“I’m fine Sally, really,” Annabeth said with a laugh. Then, after a moment of consideration, she added, biting back a yawn, “though honestly a nap sounds pretty great right now.”
“Here, come on.” Percy picked her suitcase up off the floor before she had a chance to argue.
She argued anyways, reaching her hand for it. “No. Hey, gimme that.”
Percy bit back his growing grin, ignoring her, switching the hand he was using to hold the suitcase, pointedly holding it away from her. They walked in the direction of his room which was all done up for her to stay over.
Annabeth followed behind him. The familiar sound of her steps on the hardwood floor was nice. Percy could hardly believe that she was really there.
Once in his bedroom, Annabeth plopped down on the bed without even taking a second to consider it. She rubbed at her tired eyes. “I’d pretend to feel bad about making you take the couch but I’m exhausted so I kinda don’t care right now.”
“I’m sure you’ll care a lot when you have to listen to me complain about how bad my back hurts the whole time you’re here,” Percy said.
“That’s tomorrow's problem.” She got under the covers, already getting comfortable. After checking the time on her phone, she told him, voice stern, “don’t let me sleep too long. This is a thirty minute nap at most.”
“Whatever you say.”
She yawned, her eyes already fluttering shut. “Mhm. Just a little power nap.”
“Right. A power nap.”
He lingered there, watching her for just a moment. He watched the way she breathed and the way her face squished where it was laying on his pillow. Just that morning she’d been hours and hours away. But now she was right there. It didn’t feel real yet.
He’d really missed her.
It was weird. Somehow he still missed her. She was sleeping in his bed, barely even a few feet away from him, and he still missed her.
-
Annabeth had been asleep for about three hours.
Percy had internally debated about multiple times on whether maybe he should just go in there and wake her up. She had literally told him to do that. But, he knew she needed the rest. But also, contradicting that, he really wanted to spend time with her.
Ultimately, he decided that instead of waking her up, he’d keep himself busy and help his mom make dinner.
Percy wasn't actually being all that helpful. He was just standing there stirring the noodles in the pot when he remembered to do so, making sure the water didn’t spill over.
“I’m just glad to see you in such a good mood,” his mom told him, smiling as she said it.
Percy returned the smile, not talking right away. There wasn’t much to say. His mom was right. He was in a good mood, a very good mood. That much was obvious seeing as he was still smiling even while standing in the kitchen watching water boil.
Then, his mom added on, “I know you missed her a lot. You’ve been a little, well, off for months.”
The smile on Percy’s face dipped just barely, his eyes blinking in two time speed.
It wasn’t anything too dramatic, nothing too serious. But Percy had been, like his mom said, “off” ever since Annabeth had left months ago.
For the longest time, since he was a kid, Percy’s whole life revolved around his two best friends, Annabeth and Grover. Grover came along first then Annabeth not too long after. The three of them had been inseparable for years, had gone through basically everything together. So, yeah, it was weird that a part of that had been missing.
Percy wasn’t looking forward to her leaving again. It was bad enough the first time.
But, like a reminder that he really shouldn’t be dwelling on that right now, the familiar sound of Annabeth and her steps on the hardwood floor sounded through the space.
“I told you to wake me up,” she grumbled, scowling a little.
The look on her face and her presence in the room brought the grin back to Percy’s face in full force. “My bad, must’ve lost track of the time.”
“Oh sure. Lost track of time doing what exactly?” she asked, peaking over his shoulder. “Burning the mac and cheese?”
“I haven’t burnt anything. I’ll have you know I happen to manage just fine in the kitchen,” he said, pointing the spatula he was holding at Annabeth.
She just raised an eyebrow at it, stare flickering between the spatula and his face. Her lips were downturned in a pout.
Then, stealing Percy’s attention, his mom was speaking, joking, “don’t worry. I’ve been keeping a watchful eye and making sure he doesn’t burn the apartment down.”
Percy felt his face grow warm. “Oh whatever,” he mumbled, turning back to the pot of water.
From behind him, he heard Annabeth let out a laugh. It was a soft laugh probably on account of her still not being all the way awake yet. He liked the sound of it all the same.
It was a familiar sound. One that he’d heard tons of times during one of their many sleepovers they’d had when they were younger. They would stay up extra late, talking into the night and he would always go out of his way to say something ridiculous just to make her laugh.
Percy had been going out of his way to make her laugh ever since they met. That was probably one of the things he'd missed the most, making her laugh.
-
After having napped for so long, Annabeth was a bit wired for the rest of the evening. It was pushing midnight and she was still wide awake.
Percy, on the other hand, was very tired but he was hiding it well. Or, rather, he hoped he was hiding it well.
The rest of the house was quiet as the two of them sat on the couch talking back and forth.
“It was really cool of Sally to let me stay over,” Annabeth said, voice barely a whisper. “Way cheaper than staying at a hotel.”
“You’re saying that the only reason you’re staying here is to save some money?”
“Exactly. No other reason.”
Percy grinned at her, still watching her, still thinking like he had been doing all day.
Something was different. But, really, nothing was different. Annabeth looked the same as she always did. Her brown eyes still crinkled when she laughed. The skin between her eyebrows still scrunched when she made fun of him. Her mouth still turned down in a frown when he said something to get on her nerves.
“My mom would’ve probably never forgiven me if she knew you were in town staying at some random hotel when you could just be here instead,” Percy told her.
Annabeth’s expression softened a little. “I’ll have to make sure to thank her in the morning.”
Percy’s expression softened too. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve already thanked her enough for the both of us.”
For a moment they just looked at each other. Percy found himself wondering if maybe he seemed different too. Ten months was a long time to go without seeing someone. He didn’t feel all that different. Or, maybe he did. He was pretty tired so his undereye bags were probably darker than normal, maybe that’s what she was looking at.
Expression still soft, voice still a whisper, Annabeth said, “I was joking earlier, by the way. I’m fine taking the couch. I don’t need to steal your bed the whole time I’m here.”
“I really don’t mind.”
She narrowed her eyes up at him, like she was searching for something. “Fine. But if you change your mind—”
“I won’t.”
Her eyes stopped narrowing. That meant she probably found whatever thing she was searching for. “What time did you wake up this morning?” she asked, voice a lot clearer.
He grimaced, knowing Annabeth would see through any lie so he decided to not even waste his time trying to come up with one. “Like, five?”
“Percy.” Her tone was clipped, a little annoyed.
“What?” he asked, though the reasoning for her reprimanding him was obvious. He hadn’t minded waking up early at all. Annabeth had originally told him her flight was supposed to land at eight so obviously he got up in time to get to the airport at eight.
She moved to stand, scooting away from him. “You need to sleep. You’ve been awake since the crack of dawn and I’ve just been keeping you up.”
He laughed. “I promise I’m fine.” At that exact moment, his body decided to betray him causing him to yawn.
For as long as he could remember, Percy always had issues sleeping. Annabeth knew that fact very well. Even if he didn’t appreciate her cutting off their conversation so abruptly, he did at least appreciate the concern on her face.
The narrowness of her eyes came back as she told him, with no room to question it, “you’re tired. You should get some sleep.” With that, she actually did stand up, preparing to walk away.
Then, Percy did something that surprised even himself, something he didn’t completely mean to do.
He grabbed her hand.
He’d grabbed her hand tons of times, ever since they were little kids. But that time, again, something was different. The weight of her hand was the same. The warmth of her skin was the same. But, still, something was different.
Annabeth faltered slightly. A second passed. She pulled her hand away, something joking coming back to her face. “Go to bed, Percy.”
After a moment, he recovered, trying to not be bothered by how cold his hand suddenly felt without hers in it. He tried to bring something joking back to his face too. Rolling his eyes, he said back to her, voice more mopey, “fine, whatever. Goodnight.”
That, at the very least, got a little bit of a laugh out of her as she walked away in the direction of his room leaving Percy sitting alone on the couch, eyes trailing her movements.
His hand felt too cold and the room felt too quiet. Something uneasy grew in him.
He stood, walking over to where his phone was abandoned on the other side of the living room. There were a few missed messages, all of them from Grover. He’d been asking if Annabeth was settling in okay.
Percy typed out a response, pacing back and forth as he did, feeling bad about having ignored his phone for the past few hours. “Yeah, she’s all good.”
Grover’s response was immediate. “Cool! Are you guys down to hang out tomorrow?”
Percy stared at the words. For a split second, he wanted to say no and push it off until the next day instead. That didn’t seem fair. Annabeth was just as much Grover’s best friend as she was Percy’s. Percy was about to respond and say they’d totally be down to hang out tomorrow but then another message came through.
It was another text from Grover. “You’re allowed to say no by the way. If you wanna hang out just the two of you, I seriously don't mind. We can hang out the day after instead.”
There was that uneasy feeling again, almost like it was coming in waves.
The only sound in the room now that Annabeth’s voice was gone was the sound of Percy’s steps as he paced back and forth.
Then, again, Grover sent another message. “I know how co-dependent you two can be.”
It was a joke, a pretty typical one.
Percy had heard jokes like that for as long as he could remember, not just from Grover but from everybody. People would always make jokes like that about Percy and Annabeth. That they were co-dependent. That they argued like an old married couple. Usually the jokes didn’t bother him. But, unusually, that day, the joke did bother him just a little.
Before he had a second to think about it too long. Percy responded, “tomorrow works for us.”
Tacking on another message, Percy typed out the words, “but not too early Annabeth just went to bed so she’ll probably need to sleep in.”
Percy expected another joke in response, another prodding comment about how “co-dependent” they were.
Grover didn’t send a joke. He just agreed to the plans. Something about that was worse than a joke, like Grover wasn’t at all fazed by it, by how much Percy cared about Annabeth, how much he worried about things like her needing to sleep in.
Really, it wasn’t a big deal. Really, Annabeth was Percy’s best friend of course he cared, of course he worried about her.
Again, his phone buzzed. But that time it wasn’t from Grover. It was from Annabeth. “I can hear you pacing from all the way in here. Go to bed.”
Percy stalled his walking and, in the quiet and the dark of the room, he smiled. It was the same smile he always had when she texted him. But this was different from all the recent months of texting back and forth. Now she was there, in the same apartment, only a door separating them.
Percy would wake up in the morning and she’d still be there. She’d probably get up hours earlier than him even with the lack of sleep. She’d probably make fun of how messy his hair was in the morning. She’d probably hog all the syrup at breakfast.
He replied in an instant, moving to settle back on the couch, getting ready to go to sleep, “will do.”
-
For as long as Percy could remember, he had always been a bit of a vivid dreamer.
Sometimes the dreams were nightmares, sometimes they weren’t. When he woke up that morning to Annabeth glowering down at him, her arms crossed in front of her, he wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t a dream.
“It’s almost noon. You missed breakfast,” she told him.
Percy sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His stomach growled. “I missed breakfast?”
“Sure did. Sally made blue pancakes and everything. You really missed out.”
The frown on Percy’s face disappeared in an instant as he slowly blinked his eyes open, focusing on the room around him. He had a crick in his neck from falling asleep with his head on the arm of the couch. The pain didn’t bother him too much though.
Annabeth was already ready for the day. The purple shirt and the blue jeans she was wearing contrasted pretty dramatically with the pajamas Percy still had on. Percy was sure his hair looked like a mess. Annabeth’s hair, on the other hand, looked much more put together with her braids pulled back in a ponytail, a couple loose pieces hanging by her face.
Her eyes narrowed, returning the stare. “So, any fun things planned or are we just gonna camp out on the couch all day?”
The question brought a smile to his face. “What? Is hanging out with me not fun enough for you?”
“Nope, not fun at all, actually.” She was lying, that much was obvious in the way one of the corners of mouth upturned just a little.
The smile on Percy’s face grew, still a little dazed from having just woken up, still training his eyes on the way one of the curly pieces in her hair kept brushing her cheek. “Grover’s coming over.”
“When?” she asked.
Percy did some quick math in his head, trying to remember the other texts Percy and Grover had exchanged before he fell asleep, trying to remember what time Annabeth said it was. “In, like, thirty minutes?”
She huffed. “You’re ridiculous.” As she said the words, she grabbed at Percy’s hand, hauling him up from where he was still sitting on the couch. “You could’ve set an alarm, y'know. Now you only have thirty minutes to get ready and I’d really rather not be seen in public with you looking like that.” She scrunched her nose.
Percy laughed, letting himself be pulled up, letting Annabeth push him by the shoulders in the direction of his room. “Looking like what?”
“Like a family of pigeons made a home in your hair.”
“Well that's not nice.” He turned around to look down at her, not actually offended by the insult. He’d expected it so of course he wasn't offended. He tried to think of something smarter to say but he couldn’t.
Seeing her up close he noticed that her eyelashes looked darker than they did yesterday and her lips looked pinker, almost shiny. He’d seen her wear makeup before. He knew what she looked like when she wore it.
Still, any argument evaporated in an instant. Mostly because if she was going to look pretty, he should at least put in a little effort into not looking like a total slob. Partially because of something else.
She continued pushing him in the direction of his room. “Thirty minutes,” she reminded him. “Probably closer to twenty-five minutes now.”
“Right,” he said, nodding before entering his room and grabbing his things to get ready for the day.
When he turned back to the doorway, Annabeth had already walked off.
With her gone and no longer hovering in his presence, he took a moment to glance around his room. The bed was made perfectly, almost like it was in a hotel. That got a laugh out of him. Percy couldn’t even remember the last time he’d properly made his bed and he was pretty sure he’d never once folded in the corners on his comforter.
But, predictably, Annabeth had.
He appreciated it, not that she made the bed, Percy didn’t really care about that. But the evidence that she’d been there. It was weird having her back after missing her so long.
Hopefully, later, after spending some time with Grover, the normalcy would come back. Hopefully, then, Annabeth being there wouldn’t feel so different. Percy wished he could name why it felt different.
He wished he could explain why he rushed so fast to get ready just so he could go back in the living room to see her again.
He wished he could explain why, once he was back in the living room and ready for the day, he still felt like he missed her even when she was sitting on the couch right in front of him.
She moved through the apartment so easily, like she belonged there. She practically had belonged there. The apartment had basically been like a second home to Annabeth since she was little, back when they used to have sleepovers all the time. Eventually the sleepovers stopped, once they got a little older.
Percy remembered the last sleepover they'd had. They were in middle school. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were all piled into Percy’s room. Annabeth got to sleep on the bed while Percy and Grover made makeshift beds on the floor.
They stayed up too late talking like they always did. Mostly, Percy and Annabeth stayed up talking. Grover was always mean and grouchy if he didn’t sleep long enough so they had to talk in a whisper so as not to wake him.
Percy remembered a question Annabeth had asked him then, voice a whisper, “do you think it’ll be different?”
“Do I think what’ll be different?” he’d asked in return.
“High school. Being older.”
“No, no way.”
He remembered the way it felt to answer her question, he remembered how he’d gone on to promise her that nothing would ever be different. Everything would always stay exactly the same. But that wasn’t true anymore.
A lot had changed since then. Like, for example, Annabeth didn’t live a short drive away anymore. Percy didn’t get to see her everyday like he used to. Sometimes, very occasionally, they’d go a whole day not able to talk to each other. Percy didn't like those days at all.
But, that didn’t matter so much now. Now she was there, staring up at him, scowling really. “It’s only been, like, fifteen minutes.”
“Yeah?”
“You really got ready in fifteen minutes?” Then, eyes flickering from his face to his hair, she asked, “did you even bother fixing your hair?”
He missed the eye contact, now feeling a little self-conscious. “Yes,” he said, which was partially true. At most, he’d just ran his hands through it, put a little product in, and then called it a day.
“I’m gonna choose to believe you.” Her eyes turned away from his hair and back at his face.
He grinned, happy to have her looking at him, happy to hear the exasperation clear in his voice. Sure, maybe some things had changed, but a lot was the same.
Annabeth was one of his best friends, that hadn’t changed. That fact would never change.