Chapter Text
● Annabeth ●
Feelings are confusing, illogical even. Annabeth hated that. She likes when things make sense.
She always struggled with relationships. Her mother has always been pretty much completely absent from her life, except from one gift, an invisibility cap. She thought there might have been a hidden message in the nature of the gift, but she chose not to dwell on that too much. It would just make her more sad. It was still a pretty useful item, so it was definitely better than nothing.
Her father never wanted her, and when he remarried and had two kids, she was the black sheep in an otherwise perfect family.
After running away at seven years old, she was completely alone. At times she regretted leaving. At least she had a roof over her head, a comfortable place to sleep and a hot food every day. But going back was not an option.
After a while she met Thalia and Luke. They were just like her, only a bit older, being twelve and fourteen respectively. They took her under their wing and traveled together. They became her new family. But unfortunately, that also had to come to an end.
They made it to camp, finally. But at the cost of Thalia's life. She sacrificed herself for her and Luke.
It was just the two of them for a while, though he had made some friends at camp. She was the youngest there, which made it a bit more difficult to fit it.
Years went by and Annabeth felt more comfortable at camp. She even became the cabin’s head councilor. She made some friends but Luke was still her closest friend. She liked him. She liked him a lot. He was always there for her. He was strong and smart. She admired him and wanted to be more like him.
Which made his betrayal even more painful.
She felt so stupid.
She should have known something was wrong. After that quest he was not the same.
Hopefully they could convince him to come back. She still liked him and hated to see him like this.
At fourteen years old she was wondering if her feelings for Luke were a crush or just a child’s admiration. It’s true that he was a lot older than her. That was probably why he never saw her as anything more than a little sister.
Her feeling became even more of a mystery, with the arrival of a certain son of Poseidon. Percy quickly became her best friend after their quest. And shortly after she started questioning her feelings for him.
Annabeth wasn’t quite sure if she wanted a relationship with either of them. Or in general. The idea felt strangely foreign to her. A little weird.
The idea of a promise of someone being there for her at all times sounded nice. Someone who wouldn’t leave her so easily. Someone permanent. But when she tried to picture a relationship, it felt odd. She’d probably prefer to be friends. But friends could leave. And they probably will. Just like everyone else in her life.
● Annabeth ●
As a child of Athena, Annabeth loves studying and learning new things. Her favourite topic was architecture. She would like to build something permanent. Something that would last a thousand years.
But she also liked learning about things she was less familiar with. One of those things were feelings.
One day Annabeth stumbled upon different sexualities and types of attraction. This was not completely new for her. Greek mythology is full of same sex couples. She never thought about it much, but while going through the different attractions, she came across one she has not heard before.
Asexual refers to someone who experiences little to no sexual attraction to other people.
Aromantic describes a person who experiences little or no romantic attraction to anyone.
Strange. How would someone even know if they fall into that category? She wasn’t even sure if her feelings for two certain someones were platonic or romantic. How would people know if they lack those feelings all together?
Out of curiosity, she read more about it. Even sneaked a peak on the internet, even though it would attract monsters.
Aromantics frequently experience confusion between platonic and romantic feelings because the boundaries between intense friendship and romance can be blurry.
Oh.
Looks like it is quite common for aromantics to confuse platonic and romantic feelings.
But surely that couldn’t apply to her. She was just young and confused with all the demigod stuff happening constantly.
Yeah, that must be it.
● Annabeth ●
Joining the Hunters. That sounded like a dream, honestly. Running around with Artemis and other girls her age, hunting monsters, being immortal. It sounded amazing. Only needing to swear off men and relationships as a whole.
Was that something she would mind? Annabeth was still not sure about her feelings and chose to ignore it. If she joined the hunters, would those feelings just go away? And what if she really was aromantic? Then the hunt sounded like the perfect thing for her, right?
But confusing maybe-maybe-not-romantic feelings aside, if she joined the hunt, she would have to leave camp for good. Her home. Her friends. Her family. Though they could leave her, and probably will eventually. The hunters would be a permanent community. A permanent family.
What should she do?
● Percy ●
Percy was never really interested in relationships. It never even crossed his mind. He was still pretty young, and he had better things to worry about, like monsters or how not to get kicked out of school again.
So you can imagine his surprise, when the Goddess of love, Aphrodite herself, showed up wanting to talk to him.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Asked the Goddess of love, while touching up her make-up in the mirror Percy held. Her voice sounded like the most beautiful melody.
“I… I don’t know,” stammered Percy.
She didn’t look up from the mirror, “Well then, why are you on this quest?”
“Artemis has been captured!” Percy said.
“Oh, Artemis. Please. Talk about a hopeless case. I mean, if they were going to kidnap a goddess, she should be breathtakingly beautiful, don’t you think? I pity the poor dears who have to imprison Artemis. Bo-ring!” Aphrodite said. Percy was a bit confused, but it was hard to think clearly to be honest.
“But she was chasing a monster. A really, really bad monster. We have to find it!”
“Always some monster. But, my dear Percy,” she finally looked up from the mirror, “that is why the others are on this quest. I’m more interested in you.”
“Annabeth is in trouble,” Percy said. It felt like the goddess pulled the words out of him.
“Exactly!” she exclaimed.
“I have to help her. I’ve been having these dreams–”
“Ah, you even dream about her! That’s so cute!” Aphrodite interrupted excitedly.
“No! I mean… that’s not what I meant.” Percy stammered, hoping the goddess would not get the wrong idea, though it might be a bit too late for that.
“Really, how boring these Hunters are! A quest for some monster, blah blah blah. Saving Artemis. Let her stay lost, I say. But a quest for true love–” she gushed.
“Wait a second, I never said–”
“Oh, my dear. You don’t need to say it. You do know Annabeth was close to joining the Hunters, don’t you?”
She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t join, right? “I wasn’t sure–”
“She was about to throw her life away! And you, my dear, you can save her from that. It’s so romantic!”
“Uh…”
“Now listen, Percy,” she looked Percy right in the eyes. He’s still not quite sure what color hers are. “The Hunters are your enemies. Forget them and Artemis and the monster. That’s not important. You just concentrate on finding and saving Annabeth.”
“Do you know where she is?” Percy asked hopefully.
“No, no. I leave the details to you. But it’s been ages since we’ve had a good tragic love story,” Aphrodite smiled innocently.
“Whoa, first of all, I never said anything about love. And second, what’s up with tragic?”
"Love has many forms. That's what's so beautiful about it. It's never that simple. Just follow your heart,” she explained, even though it still didn’t make much sense to Percy.
“But… I don’t know where it’s going. My heart, I mean,” he said.
She smiled sympathetically. “Not knowing is half the fun. Exquisitely painful, isn’t it? Not being sure who you love and who loves you? Oh, you kids! It’s so cute I’m going to cry.”
“No, no. Don’t do that,” making the Goddess of love cry was the last thing Percy wanted.
“And don’t worry, I’m not going to let this be easy and boring for you. No, I have some wonderful surprises in store. Anguish. Indecision. Oh, you just wait.”
“That’s really okay,” Percy told her. “Don’t go to any trouble.”
“You’re so cute. I wish all my daughters could break the heart of a boy as nice as you.”
That encounter left him more than confused. He wasn't in love with Annabeth. They were best friends and he wanted to save her. That didn’t mean anything. Gods could be a bit crazy sometimes. And now he had to deal with the rest of the group looking at him knowingly, even though they probably just assumed the same thing Aphrodite did.
It was true that he was quite upset when he found out that she was considering joining the Hunters. That would mean leaving the camp. Of course he didn't want that. Annabeth was his only friend there, since Grover was busy most of the time searching for pan or new demigods, and Tyson being in their dad's forges most of the time. He had some other friends too, but he would still feel alone there without her.
He noticed some teasing from others about him and Annabeth at camp, but he paid it no mind. They were just harmless jokes. Him and Annabeth were friends, and he was determined to save her.