Chapter Text
12 Years Old
Percy doesn't really now what he was thinking running away from his home in upper east Manhatten to the woods at the far end of New York. He knows his mom his worried about him, but he doesn't know if he could ever go back to that small, crappy, apartment.
The man his mother married was not a good person at all. He was abusive, a drunk, a smoker (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, it just made it worse because his mom told his step father to stop smoking in the house and he responded by hitting her and shoving her into the wall.)
The first time Percy realized his stepfather, Gabe, was hitting his mom was when she was talking down the hallway and she turned the corner the same time Gabe came turning the corner from the other way. She had flinched when he had almost bumped into her and raised his hand near her head.
After that day, Percy vowed to take the punches for his mother. Every drunken hit against the wall or floor. Glasses and plates getting thrown at him when he would come home from school to a drunken Gabe and his drunken friends playing crappy poker in the living room. Which smelled like shit, by the way.
This continued from when he was around four years old up until now. His mom had filed a law suit against him a couple weeks ago. But, because of how short they are on money, they can't hire a good enough lawyer.
They would've asked his biological dad for help, but he's somewhere off in Greece, rich as hell, even helps pay Percys school funds by mail, but there was no way to actually contact him.
The last straw came a couple days ago actually. He had just been kicked out of his last school after getting pissed off at one of his infamous bullies, Nancy Bobofit for throwing slices of cheese from her sandwich at his head. So he got up and and pushed her into the fountain. It's not even like he was thinking about it either, it all just kinda happened.
He came home that day, to find Gabe, black out drunk on the couch, his mother sitting on the fire escape in the rain. He would've told his mother right then and there. But seeing her there, so peaceful, so present in his life, he couldn't let his own mother face the consequences of his own actions. Having to find school after school, just because he couldn't simply behave.
So, Percy packed his things: his toothbrush, a few extra clothes, a couple of bags of chips and a few of the blue candies his mom always got him after her shift at her job. He had also wrote her a note, and left it on her bedside table:
Dear Mom,
Hi mom. I don't know when you're going to see this, but when you do, I just want to tell you I love you so much. I'm so sorry for all the pain I have caused you. Having to send me to six schools in the time frame of six years just because I couldn't behave is too much for one person who's already struggling wity money to handle.
Not to mention smelly Gabe. I wish you didn't have to marry him. I would've protected you more if I hadn't sent me off the boarding school just so I didn't have to bare the pain of his abuse.
I'll be back soon, I promise. It's nothing you did, I just think it's better for me to get away for a while, so you dont have to deal with me. Hopefully by the time I'm back, Gabe will be gone and we'll be stable enough to get me into a good school.
From your son, who loves you more than anything,
Percy.
And so he is now, a twelve year old sitting in a log in the middle of the woods in New York, clothes tattered and ripped, the chips he had packed already eaten. He had also lost his toothbrush earlier today while running from a car that was going at least fifty miles per hour on one of the side streets a few miles away from the woods.
He also really had to pee.
He grunted as he looked up the night sky. Legs bouncing up and down, wondering how much longer he could hold it.
He finally got up from the log, and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.
He looked over his shoulder to made sure no one was watching or following him before trekking deeper into the woods.
It was very chilly, it was around late November. As he shivered from the cold, he made sure to not step on any twigs or branches to not alarm any animals that might come out of anywhere, attack him and kill him.
Which was tempting...
But he promised his mom he would come home, so that he would have to put a pause on.
After walking aimlessly for a few minutes, he accidently stepped on a twig, and it snapped. Echoing loudly through the woods.
"Who's there?!" A voice screamed in the dark. Percy turned around to see who had spoken, but saw no one.
Turing back around, he took a cautious step forward, and a metal thing, that looked like a dagger flew not even an inch away from his head, embedding into the tree next to him.
His eyes widened, taking a step back, he looked to see the weilder of the weapon, but given the dark. He couldn't see a thing.
"Hey!" He said, looking in the direction that the dagger came from, stunned.
"You're lucky that was a warning shot." The voice said.
"Who are you!" The voice asked, a girls voice...
Percy squinted his eyes, tilting his head, "Why would I tell my identity to a stranger who I don't know, and can't see?"
A light shined suddenly shined in his face, momentarily blinding him. He shield his eyes with his hands, waiting a second before taking his eyes from his face, eyes still squinted to avoid behing completely blinded.
"Now that you can see me. I'll asked again: who are you?" The girl said again.
With the light, he could vaguely see the person who was talking.
She had dark skin, and doe eyes, that seemed to be. Two low afro puffs topped off with a blue beanie similar to his at the top of her head. She had on a puffer jacket with no sleeves, underneath was a long sleeves purple owl shirt with tiny holes in them. Her pants were dark green cargo pants, with boots as her shoes.
In her right hand she held a light purple back pack and in her left hand was a flashlight that was producing the light.
Percy put his hands up in surrender, closing his legs tightly together, "I'm not going to hurt you." He reassured.
The girl inched forward more so he could see her face, which has a couple scars. She seemed familiar, he just couldn't put his finger on it....
She walked passed him, shoving the flashlight into his hands. She walked over to the tree and pulled he dagger from it, shoving it into her boot.
Percy raised his eyebrows, "Doesn’t that hurt?"
When she didn't respond, he watched as she rummaged through her bag, eyebrows creased.
Percy cleared his throat in the silence. Leg bouncing, waiting for her to say something, anything.
He looked up at the night sky. Stars painting constellations, the moon hung high in the sky, shining very lightly.
"Percy," he said after a few minutes of awkward silence, the girl looked up from her bag, her arm pulling out what looked to be another flash light.
"Huh?" She asked timidly.
"My name..." Percy said slowly, wondering where exactly he was going with this. Why would he tell a stranger his name while he was on the run?
"Percy." He croaked, nodding his head.
The girl nodded, switching on her flashlight and shining it in his direction, but not in his face which he's glad for.
She was quiet for a few more moments, the crickets, and owls he could hear prominently through the silence.
"Annabeth," she said after a few seconds. Her voice was a little bit deeper than his. But it was soothing kind of, like if an owl could talk.
He nodded, ands stuffed awkwardly in his jacket, "Nice name," he complimented, looking down at his shoes.
"Thank you," she said, turning around, possibly to leave before turing back around, "Are you on the run too?"
"Huh?" Percy asked, looking up at her.
"Did you run away from home, I meant." She said, shivering slightly from the gust of wind.
"..Uh, yeah," he said, scratching the back of his neck, "How'd you know?"
Annabeth scanned over his face and his body, "'Cause, you're about twelve, in the middle of the woods in New York. Your clothes are ripped and tattered, and your hair is full of twigs and dirt."
Percy looked away and crossed his arms, looking away from her. Damn, this girl is smart.
"I would you feel if I told you this was my life style?" He said, shrugging.
Annabeth shrugged, it seemed like she was a tough one to get to talk.
Percy nodded, walking backwards, "Well... it was nice meeting you... But, I really have to pee, so..."
He was able to walk a few more feet before Annabeth called out his name.
"Maybe we should go together." Annabeth suggested, walking closer to him.
Now, Percy wasn't one to necessarily trust strangers, especially after Gabe. But, Annabeth didn't look like an abuser like Gabe, and she really didn't seem like the type to verbally hurt him.
Percy tilted his head in confusion, "You want to go together to pee in the woods?"
The girl rolled her eyes, "No! God's no!" She yelled, flashing the flashlight in his face, making Percy jerk back from the bright light.
"Ouch!" He said, covering his eyes.
"I mean," the girl said, lowering her flashlight, "There's a McDonald's just past the highway over there." She pointed to her right. Even with his flashing pointing in the direction of where she was pointing, he still couldn't see anything past the third row of the tall tree.
Percy was confused on what Annabeth said, "Huh? What does a McDonald's have to do with me?"
"Because then you get to pee in an actual toilet instead of a bush with a leaf as toilet paper." She said bluntly.
Percy readjusted the strap of his book bag on his shoulder, and stood there uselessly has Annabeth looked at him expectedly.
Annabeth rolled her eyes as he stood there confused and turned around, walking in the other direction.
"Follow if you want!" She threw the suggestion over her shoulder for Percy, "or stay in the woods, where a bear or something could easily eat you as dinner."
That seemed to startle him because he to her from where he was a tripped over an askew tree branch, falling face first into the dirt.
Annabeth turned around to look at him, a bored expression on her face.
Percy groaned as he pulled himself up onto his knees, "Thank you!" He said sarcastically, wiping the dirt off his hands, "For standing there, totally helping me."
Annabeth just stared at him like he was insane, before turing around and continuing walking. Which to him is valid, he gets those looks alot.
He got up quickly and caught up to her without tripping over any twigs this time (thank the gods), walking beside her.
Annabeth, he noticed, walks with a lot of confidence, even though she's like the same age as him and he barely has an confidence himself. He could tell she's been on the run for a bit because of her ripped sleeves on her clothes, and the scars on her face and arms.
"Good choice," she said, taking out her dagger from her boot to cut a bush that was blocking their path, "Now you won't get eaten by a bear."
Percy licked his lips as he flashed the light of his flashlight in front of him, "Thank you. But I will admit, I do have some amazing survival skills. Would've killed thr bear if it tried to eat me."
Annabeth smiled a little at that, "So you're saying you could survive a bear attack?"
Percy nodded, "Yeah, how hard could it be? I survived this long."
Annabeth laughed softly, and went quiet after that.
They made it a decent amount through the woods, with his flashlight, Percy could see the highway Annabeth was talking about.
"So..." Percy spoke, "What make you run away?"
Annabeth sighed, like she was expecting that question, "Bad Parents, you?"
"Bad parent. Even if you could call him that I guess." He said, grimacing at the thought of smelly Gabe, "But also because I thought it was better for my mom."
"Why do you say that?" She asked, kicking a stone that was in the middle of the path.
Percy took a deep breath, "I... caused a lot of trouble at school, got kicked out a lot, and my mom was already dealing with her own crap, I just thought it was better if I just left."
Annabeth nodded, "How long have you been on the run?"
Percy hesitated, "Uhm, about two weeks."
Annabeth made a noise that Percys going to assume was a impressed noise.
"How about you?" Percy asked, Annabeth didn't answer and Percy didn't push.
Soon enough they were able to get to the highway, hopping over a fence and landing on the otherside of it, onto the concrete.
Annabeth looked to her left, "This way," she said, moving quickly down the street.
"How do you intend to pay? Doesn't McDonald's beg you to buy something before you can use the bathroom?" Percy questioned, walking hastily beside her.
"Credit card." She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're like twelve, how do you have a credit card??" He asked, baffled.
"Calm down, I stole it from my dad, we'll be fine."
Percy stopped walking to look at her and annabeth rolled her eyes, looking over her shoulder to look at him.
"You stole your dad's credit card??" He asked, mouth opened so wide a fly was so so close to flying into it.
"I'm multi talented." Annabeth said, "Can we please keep walking now?"
"Right..." Percy said and continued walking.
They walked together in silence for about ten minutes until they spotted the McDonald's.
"Finally," he said, basically running the rest of the way up the street and through the parking lot. He waited by the front door for Annabeth to catch up.
"Annabeth!" He called out, getting her attention, "Hurry up!"
Annabeth picked up the pace from where she was walking through thr parking lot. When she got to Percy, he immediately opened the door, "Ladies first," he said politely, bow his head mocking. Annabeth rolled her eyes and kicked him in the shin, walking through the door with a huff.
Fortunately for them, since it was like three in the morning, there was basically no one in the restaurant. Only an old man reading a news paper in a booth and a young women sitting at one of the counters.
They walked up the the register, the women taking the orders looked up from her phone, looking at the two kids with an alarmed look.
"Hi!" Annabeth said, "Can I please get medium fries and a 10 peice chicken nugget?"
Annabeth turned to Percy, "What do you want?"
Percy thought for a few seconds before smiling, "Can I please get a blue slushie?"
The girl at the register nodded slowly, typing the order in on her kiosk.
"Thay will be $14.89." She said.
Annabeth took out the credit card from her pocket, and put it in the machine to pay.
Once she paid, Percy immediately went to ask one of the workers where the bathroom was and what the code was.
The worker gave him the information and Percy bolted, finding the bathroom was easy but the numbers on the handle were so tiny he has to use his pinky at an angle to get the code in right. When he was able to get the right code in, he opened the door and immediately went into one of the stalls.
And by the gods, that was probably the best piss of his life.
After he exited the stall, like a clean human being he went up to the sinks to wash his hands. As he did, he looked at himself in the mirror in front of him, and he looked a fucking mess.
His hair had dirt in it, his face had a couple sratches and scars. His collar bone had even more cuts, with a couple days old bruise from almost getting killed by tree branch to his neck. No wonder the women at the front looked so alarmed.
Not only was he a twelve year old walking into a McDonald's with other twelve year old her just met. But he also looks like he got ran over by a train!
He quickly cleaned his hands, and ran water over his face. He shit off the faucet and dried his hands with a paper towel before leaving the bathroom.
When he got to the front of the restaurant, he saw annabeth sitting at one of the booths closest to the window.
He took a seat across from her stealing one of the fries from off her.
Annabeth looked up and glared at him, "You stole my fry!" She said, outraged as he reached for his blue slushie.
"Guilty," he said, sing-songily, slurrping loudly at his drink.
"Do you feel better?" She asked, biting into a chicken nugget.
Percy nodded, "Very!" He said, fixing the benie on his head, "Thank you." He thanked, sincerely.
They left the restaurant and made their way back to the woods. They found a place to settle for the night. Annabeth made a bonfire with fire wood she found a couple days ago that she stored in her bag for safe keeping.
They lay on the muddled ground, looking up at the stars as the flames flickered.
"Whats with the blue?" Annabeth asked quietly, playing with a leaf.
Percy let out a laugh, "When I was younger, I was so obsessed with blue, like, embarrassingly. And I had asked my mom if anything in worlf could be blue because blue is like so hard to find in nature." He paused, reminiscing.
"And my mom said we could try to make our whole food blue. And my step father, the partial reason to why I ran away, said that it was impossible to make anything blue so we proved him wrong and made blue pancakes."
Annabeth smiled, "That sounds like a special memory."
Percy nodded, tears gathering in his eyes that he blinked away, "Yeah, it is."
Annabeth smiled sadly.
"What about you?" He asked, looking over at her, "Have any special moments with your parents before you ran away?"
Annabeth eyebrows scrunched up, "Not really. My mom left me when I was only 4 months old. Saying that I was gift to my father. But, after my father remarried my horrible step mom, they had their own kids. And to them, I wasn't a gift, I was a problem. I was pushed to the background."
She let out a sad sigh, "My father and I used to have tradions before my step mother came into the picture, but those died out when they married."
Percy looked at her face and saw the tears gathering in her eyes, before they could fall, he quickly wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into a warm a warm embrace. Something he doesn't think she's experienced in a long time.
They met eachother only a couple hours ago, and they barely know eachother. But Percy can feel something blossoming between them.