Chapter Text
The first thing Percy registers when he wakes up is a sickeningly sweet aftertaste lingering in his morning breath. It makes him gag as he instinctively kicks away the flimsy blanket clutching his body and jumps down on the cold floor automatically assuming a crouching stance. Like a built-in program, his fingers creep down his thigh searching for that deadly slit of fabric that secured his favorite trump card. But as he apparently starts groping his entire body in search of the tiniest hint of a pocket, the second realization of the day dawns on him. Well, a second realization that is pretty closely followed a third and a fourth and a fifth and Percy Jackson was officially awake and kicking. Which unfortunately meant that he had to spend at least twelve hours as a breathing, functioning, and freaking normal human adult. Or, at least pretend to because he did not want his awesome friends and his too-good-to-be-true beautiful, amazing, freakishly strong girlfriend to worry about him, or worse, to pity him.
Swallowing down his morning dose of depressing thoughts, he slowly stretched his needlessly tense muscles and walked down to the hallway dine, as leisurely as possible. He noticed that the table was bare and last night's dishes were still swimming in the sink. Well, on the bright side, it meant that no one had come over early in the day to drag his ass out in the sun or torture him by making him sit in front of a black screen TV while they ranted ways to cope with his.... multiple emotional issues.
On the sore side, it meant he had to make breakfast and do the dishes-from two meals. Well, not that things couldn't be any worse. Percy decided to keep breakfast as simple as he could so he won't have much to clean up after. That probably meant he was going to have that lame cereal Hazel had got him the last time with last night's leftover milk. While some blueberry pancakes or waffles sounded delectable, Percy was not in the mood for more chores. His body was starting to catch the numbness of lying in bed for too long, now that the sudden surge of adrenaline had abated.
He tried to pocket his left hand while he rummaged his cupboard with the other one, only to groan in frustration. He kept forgetting that his dad, Chiron, and so-called backstabbing friends had forced him to go into a weapon probation, as they called it. Not mentioning how frustrating it was to live without Riptide or any fairly sharp monster-slaying metal, Percy was slowly discovering the joys of being an ADHD child without having pockets on his clothes.
Breakfast was quite uneventful and doing the dishes even more so. The only mildly interesting thing that Percy discovered was that he was out of food. It was sort of surprising that none of the seven had actually noticed his dwindling supplies when they frequently came around last week. But apparently, the microwave pizza he had treated himself to last night had been the last one in his house and he had pretty much had "Demigod Delish!" cereal crumbs for breakfast.
Actually, he should've been the first one to notice especially last night. Well, maybe he just didn't care. Percy ran his tongue inside his mouth savoring the still slightly sweet after taste, now heavily clouded by the soury tinge of milk and raspy taste of cereal. His eyes briefly flickered to his faithful locked drawer beside his bed. The only thing he cared about is that he did not run out of that stuff....and according to last night, he still had plenty to last the month.
Percy let out an exasperated sigh as he mentally scolded himself. That stuff is the last thing you should be worried about, If anything you should worry about quitting it now before it is too late. What would your friends think, Percy? What would Annabeth think? What would Jason think? What would Hazel think?
What about Piper, Frank, Grover, and Reyna?
What would his mom think?
What would Nico think?
"Ha!" Percy thought to himself. They'd probably laugh at the fact that the great savior of Oluymus was resorting to cough syrup and sleep pills for a coping mechanism. At least the others drank booze at times- that was way more mature.
Percy clicked his tongue in annoyance. This was no time to be thinking about stuff like that, he had bigger concerns! Like he was currently defenseless to, say a revenge-crazed telkhine cult or a stray chimera lured by his scent ( They are quite easy to be mistaken as stray puppies, do not ask him how he knows) or perhaps a stalker fanboy demigod, nymph, or godling (Apparently Tartarus made him famous). Like how Rachel the oracle might gush out yet another doom of the planet prophecy. Like he was starting to have nightmares and vision seizures even when he was dead awake. Like how he might probably, maybe , teeniest tiniest possibly starve if he didn't refill his (junk)food supply.
If he were some normal person, he would go out in the open and do some mean grocery shopping.
But he was Percy Jackson.
So he did the second sanest thing. He called Annabeth Chase.
Seriously, what would he do without Wise Girl?
*** *** ***
Healing was always more painful than hurting. Percy unwittingly counted the days since they banished Gaea from her own rightful territory. It was surprisingly easy to recollect, considering Percy had always had a bad history with memories. Well, all he had to do is remember the faces and voices he heard every night, after all-not much of a memory lane there.
The TV was on and blaring America’s Got Talent where some rancher from Texas was busy showcasing his band of singing barnyard animals. There was a fast, whirring sound at the corner of the living room where his mini washing machine was finishing up the last round of washing last week’s laundry.
Frankly, if it was a distraction that he was looking for, there were plenty of options. But Percy let his mind wander back to the process of counting years.
Was it … near summer solstice when it finally happened? Yes, probably, because Nico had stopped wearing his signature aviator jacket when they went waltzing with death, er, fighting with bravery and honour. Percy’s eyes jerked towards the window before going back to staring at the TV screen again. They were in summer right now too, maybe not too far from another solstice. Which meant that… Percy silently and patiently recollected his memories… it had been five years. Five whooping glorious tears without a tell-tale omen of doom.
Okay, perhaps he was exaggerating. But after surviving two catastrophe scale universal wars and countless near hazard scale godly scuffles, Percy could not blame himself for suddenly having raised standards. Just like he could never-no matter how he tried or how much they pleaded him – come to blame himself for… attempting to cover all cracks. The weapon probation, which by the way sucked, was sort of the last straw attempt actually.
A loud siren followed by a clear sign of applause snapped his train of thoughts. Apparently, the rad rancher had now been replaced by a wannabe opera singer and the crowd was going wild. Percy squinted at the TV screen in annoyance, wishing it would shut up. The remote was just across the couch, but he didn’t feel like reaching for it. So instead, he scowled at the blushing singer who was now being praised by the trio of handsome-looking judges.
Really, Percy did not see the appeal. Sure, the kid was just nine years old, but he had started slaying minotaurs and gorgons since he was like barely twelve. So no big deal.
Luckily, before he could judge the contestant any more harshly, a sharp songbird screech stole his attention again. This time, he perked up like a cat splashed with water and almost ran to answer the door.
“Took you long enough.” He spoke with a lopsided smirk leaning on the wooden door frame. Familiar grey eyes rolled with a hint of adoration playing around their corners.
“I had to dismiss a very tempting offer to immerse myself in the kingdom of knowledge named as Alexandria Library to run your silly errands, seaweed brain, and you dare accuse me of being late? You should be thinking of ways to compensate me instead” Annabeth said with a small smirk as she made her way inside with Percy picking up the grocery bags behind her and closing the door with a soft thud.
“America’s Got Talent, Percy, really? No wonder you’re getting dumber by the day.” Annabeth crinkled her nose before flipping the channel to some science documentary. “ There, much better.”
Percy shrugged as he unloaded the white shopping bags on his once again bare dining table.
“You forgot my cereal.”
“I did not, only kids eat ‘Demigod Delish!’ and did you forget how much you whined to Hazel when she first got you one?”
Percy felt his face heat up at the unsavoury remark. It was true that he had felt his adulthood offended when Hazel bought the sugar encrusted yellowish curls of corn flakes with a goofy Roman soldier cartooned on the cover. Heck, it even came with a free action figure (The second reason he felt offended at the cereal was that he had got an Ares one). But that did not change the fact that the sugary flakes of cereal with a slight salty texture and a berryish scent tasted aeons better than the whole oatmeal with raisin and dry fruit stuff he was holding in his hands. Even the cover looked frighteningly academic. He had ditched school for a reason, you know?
“Oatmeal is tasteless, dry and naturally just plain sucks. At least Hazel’s cereal was sweet. Like really really sweet!”
“ It’s called healthy, seaweed brain, and I don’t think you should be consuming too much sugar, considering your… recent lack of activity.”
*** *** *** *** *** ***
Annabeth spoke out the last part cautiously, turning off the widescreen and casually directing her eyes on Percy, observing and waiting for her boyfriend to react. The air around them had been so care-free, so amicable, so normal, that she had unwittingly let her guard down. Even if it was only for a fracture of a second for her brain to trip, only a minuscule slip of her heedful silver tongue, she knew she had, once again, been too fast-forward.
Percy’s cheeks reddened again, this time flushing with rightful anger. His tired eyes that were twinkling with a dull light of mirth now looked like a cloud had stormed over them in a second, his natural quirky smile disappearing in a frown.
For a second, Annabeth could have sworn she was holding her breath, waiting, dreading for him to snap back in a painfully sarcastic remark. She knew her lips would once again quiver, with tears intruding the corners of her stormy eyes. She knew that this would not escape Percy’s watchful glare. She knew that he would then, throw a cruel smirk at her direction, a mocking, borderline sadistic expression that would add to the list of things that would haunt her at night until the moment sleep granted her a short, sweet sanctuary (And that was if the nightmares decided to take a vacation instead of invading her walls of fortitude). And that would be her last straw, resulting her to break down in a rant of tears and shouts and Godawful remarks that she would never even dream uttering about Percy, not even in her worst nightmares where she relived those cluster of moments from godsdamn Tartarus. Yet in the corner of her mind, she would whisper loudly, “But this is not Percy, right?” and guilt be darned until she stormed out after another heated argument ( actually more along the lines of a violent verbal war).
Of course, that did not happen all the times she visited, but she couldn’t help feeling the paranoia for the bomb to tick.
To her utter relief, that second never came.
The brief storm cloud that came over his expressions floated away like the air between them wasn’t buzzing with stativity. Percy left the unloaded goodies on his dining table and unceremoniously, she daresay casually, flopped beside her on the couch. He ran both of his hands through his sticky-looking and now slightly reddish raven hair and heaved a dramatic sigh.
“ Once a wise girl, always a wise girl, huh?”
His voice came out in a squeaky way like he had spoken through an outbreak of sudden sobs. But it was light, devoid of mockery, with the perfect dose of the sarcasm she had grown used too. And when he looked at her sideways, she saw the inkling of humour in his muddy seawater eyes.
“Well, someone has to keep you alive, dork.”
She breathed, now safe from the monsters again.
*** *** *** *** ***
If Percy said that his reactive muscles didn’t tense after hearing Annabeth say “ recent lack of actions”, he would be a big, fat liar. And he obviously wasn’t fat!
But, frankly, he was quite proud of the way he had manoeuvred his emotions and avoided another ugly spat. He was also certain that Annabeth was proud too. The way her dark, pink lips tugged teasingly around the corner as she said something only jokingly sarcastic and her grey eyes glinted with-hope? Nah, that was obviously pride. After all, Annabeth was as fatally prone to pride as he was to loyalty.
That simple gesture suddenly made him feel a lot lighter. It was a massive improvement from those sleep pills that only made his head heavier and his mind groggier with illusions of sound sleep. As if that was a thing for demigods!
But screw the pills, the empty syrup bottles, the useless groceries that had to go through painful re-arrangements. He drew himself closer to his girlfriend and gently wrapped those half-smiling lips with his own chapped bunch.
It was not one of their best kisses, by along. Shoot, It might have even been a tad uncomfortable because of how dry his lips were, but gods, it felt good. How long had it been since he last tasted her coffee flavoured lips, last felt her cold hands wrap around his necks, last saw her smile so… genuinely…after they pulled apart. It may not have been Top Ten Kisses of Percy Jackson stuff, but after all that tension between them, it felt like a small breath of Elysium. And Percy felt himself smiling back like an idiot, Annabeth’s face cupped in his hands.
“ I love you,” he said without hesitation, making her eyes shine even brighter and for that split second, everything was normal, everything was perfect.
And right dead in that moment, their vision was shattered.
Red flooded throughout the apartment and wild screeches started blaring from nowhere. It was loud, ominous, frightening and annoying at the same time. The sound of an emergency siren shaking eardrums again and again like it was going to kick him out of his spot to safety by the power of its incredible loudness.
Percy clapped his hands over his ears and glanced at Annabeth to see that she had done the same. For a second, they shared the same, cute feeling of oblivious surprise. But both of them had lived in New Rome long enough to know what the blaring red sirens meant and being demigods, it didn’t take them long to catch on.
Instantly, Percy felt his stomach sink to the bottom of its pit as waves of nausea and adrenaline fought to take control of his body.
He looked at Annabeth with a face pleading her for a different explanation, pleading her to tell him that he was just misunderstanding, that he was just overreacting. He pleaded to be wrong about what was happening. Annabeth simply looked back at him like she had just spotted a ghost and was terrified as well as stunned at the realization. The desperation scribbled over her face was a pure betrayal.
They stared at each other blankly for the time, leaving both of them hanging over a question mark none of them wanted to acknowledge. The blaring of the siren seems duller in his head with every passing second. His muscles had already gone rigid from the dual excitation and numbness.
As always, Annabeth had been the one to break the stalemate
.
“Monsters,” she deadpanned, “ We should get cover before they get to us”