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When Percy Jackson first met Grover Underwood, he really did not think anything would come from it.
He had been through the motions before. Go to a new school, make a few new friends, and then lose it all because of a freak accident that he would inexplicably be blamed for.
So, upon his arrival at Yancy, Percy made the decision not to get attached to whoever his roommate would be. He would not be able to endure another farewell to a friend in a few months when things inevitably boiled over.
Of course, when he walked into his dorm room, and saw Grover nervously shifting his own belongings around, looking just as terrified as he felt, Percy really had no choice but to claim the other boy as his best friend.
Two days later, it began.
While getting ready for class, Grover had held up one of their uniform jackets, looking at it with a furrowed brow. “Is this your jacket or my jacket?”
Percy stared at it, cocking his head. “Is there a name written inside?”
“Nope.” Grover replied, and he watched as Percy picked up the other jacket that had been tossed on the floor, and for a moment, the two boys simply stood, staring at the identical jackets.
Finally, Percy snorted, and Grover bit back his own laugh. “I genuinely have no idea.”
“Well, then we’ll just have two communal jackets.” Grover said, pulling on the jacket in his hands.
That was it.
Never again did Percy and Grover even think to officially define which jacket belonged to which boy.
It began extending, after that day, to the other clothes that they owned, primarily jackets. They were picked up off the floor, or off of whatever chair was the designated coatrack, and pulled on without any thought whatsoever.
During his weekly phone call with his mother, Sally had suggested, half-jokingly, that they write their names, and Percy had refused vehemently. He had shyly admitted to his mother that it was fun.
Percy found himself thinking that he was lucky. He had one friend that he cared deeply about, and he got to share jackets with him. His luck seemed to have finally let up, and he was having a good streak.
It wouldn’t last, a stubborn part of him insisted, but Percy would enjoy it while he had it. Then, to his shock, it continued.
A few months later, the cycle of clothes-stealing pulled Annabeth into orbit, and the tangle of emotions in Percy’s chest seemed to instantly settle when he pulled out one of the photos she had sent to him of her travels with her dad.
Annabeth, standing in front of some sort of monument (she probably wrote about it in her letter, which Percy would read at least five times to memorize her handwriting for completely platonic reasons), and she was wearing a t-shirt that very clearly had “Yancy Academy Athletics” on the front.
Percy’s mind went blank.
Absently, his wrist twitched, and the beaded bracelet he had been wearing every day caught the light.
He had found it in his backpack after unpacking from his quest at home, and had been confused. It was only when he caught sight of the small owl charm on the bracelet that he realized who it belonged to, and his face had turned so red that Sally had put a hand to his forehead to see if he had a temperature.
Percy had put it on his wrist without a second thought.
That was different, though.
(Little did Percy know that Annabeth had not even realized that she had put on the shirt. She had not realized it until her father asked, with innocent curiosity, where she had gotten the shirt, and she had looked down. The upside-down words made her instantly flush, and she managed to stammer out that she thrifted it while in the city.
The gods themselves would not have been able to pull the information that it was her best friend’s shirt out of her.
Annabeth did remember, however, where it came from. Percy had been unconscious from the pit scorpion sting, and she had needed some sort of comfort. Her older brother had betrayed their home, and her best friend nearly died. She had gone into the Poseidon cabin without a second thought, and had grabbed the first shirt she saw in Percy’s backpack. She had shoved it under her pillow, and only pulled it out to hug it to her chest. It smelled like the sea, and somehow chocolate chip cookies, and Annabeth treasured it.)
Part of Percy was thrown off by Annabeth coming into his and Grover’s little tradition, but his heart felt unbearably warm at the thought of his two best friends wanting to share their belongings.
When Grover disappeared, the following summer, he had been wearing one of Annabeth’s camp shirts beneath Percy’s denim jacket. Percy knew because, when he had started packing for camp, he realized that his jacket was missing, and could not help but laugh at the thought of Grover stealing it from his cabin before he had officially left.
When it came time for them to sneak out of camp to go find Grover on their own, Percy grabbed the jacket Grover had left behind, a zip-up hoodie, and Annabeth was wearing one of Grover’s bracelets.
(Neither discussed the fact that Percy had Annabeth’s bracelet on his wrist, or that, beneath her own hoodie, Annabeth wore the faded Yancy shirt.)
Part of Percy was worried, a tiny, bubble of anxiety and fear, that when Thalia returned, he would lose Grover and Annabeth.
They had, of course, known Thalia before they had known him, and both of his friends had held the daughter of Zeus in such high regard that it was difficult for Percy to feel as though he actually measured up to her.
Grover waved to him from where he sat with Dionysus, and Percy grinned, wide and bright, when he saw that Grover still had not returned the jacket, and had it thrown across his lap. His eyes, of course, found Annabeth next, and his cheeks burned when he spotted her in his Meriweather Prep sweatshirt that he had stashed away in his backpack.
(He couldn’t really talk, honestly. Percy knew he was wearing one of Annabeth’s architecture-themed t-shirts that her father had bought for her the summer prior as a sort of celebration of her coming home.)
Annabeth beamed at him from her seat at the Athena table, and Percy beamed back, and all felt right in his heart.
When Annabeth fell over the edge, Thalia felt like her heart had plummeted into her stomach.
Her little sister was suddenly gone, and all that was left was her, Percy, and Grover. Thalia did not speak much to Percy.
The son of Poseidon (her cousin, her mind supplied, but Thalia pushed that thought away) seemed to wander aimlessly around camp when they returned. She watched as the other head counselors, people she had not entirely gotten to know in the few months she had returned to life, immediately orbited Percy, faces fraught with worry as he spoke quietly with them.
The daughter of Ares, Clarisse, was the most attentive, though Thalia could tell that she was attempting to hide it behind rivalry and snark.
Malcolm, Annabeth’s brother that Thalia had gotten to know a bit, approached Percy a few days before the questing team set out. One of his hands was closed around something as he grabbed the son of Poseidon’s arm, and Thalia watched as Malcolm handed Percy whatever he had.
She caught sight of a glint of gold, and a leather cord, and her stomach twisted slightly. Annabeth’s camp necklace.
She had not been wearing it when they went to find the DiAngelo siblings, having left it in the Athena cabin for safekeeping.
She watched as Percy inhaled sharply, and squeezed Malcolm’s arm, saying something that she could not hear. Malcolm immediately pulled him into a hug, and the two walked off together.
Thalia felt off-kilter.
The morning they left for their quest, Percy approached Grover, holding a jacket in his hands.
Grover immediately dropped the backpack he was prepping to put the jacket on, and he and Percy hugged tightly. When they separated, Grover tapped the necklace that Percy wore, and his friend huffed out a laugh.
It was strange, but Thalia did not bring it up.
When Percy officially joined their quest, she noticed that he was wearing a D.A.R.E. shirt beneath his hoodie, and she had noticed Grover’s happy little smile when he saw it.
Thalia focused on the quest, focused on bringing her little sister home.
When they found Annabeth, Grover immediately pulled his jacket off, wrapping it around her shoulders. Thalia’s heart melted at the sight, suddenly brought back to a time when Annabeth was only seven, and they were on the run, their own little family.
Percy approached the two, and took the necklace he had been wearing off, carefully tying it around Annabeth’s neck, and she gave him a warm smile.
When they returned to camp, after going to Olympus, and after Nico disappeared, the Hunters stuck around for a little while.
With Thalia as their new lieutenant, the hostility that always seemed to hang over the two groups was slowly beginning to disappear, and there was a new level of camaraderie forming between them all.
It was at the final campfire, before the Hunters left, when Thalia got a good look at how Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were together.
It was a cool night, being in the middle of December and all, so everyone was bundled up.
Percy sat on the edge of the fire, wearing a pair of purple sweatpants that were just a little too long on him, and the D.A.R.E. shirt beneath his flannel. Grover was sitting beside him in a shirt that Thalia could immediately recognize as one of Annabeth’s camp shirts (the little doodles of owls around the sleeve cuffs made her heart clench).
Annabeth joined them a few minutes later, wearing a faded t-shirt that read “Yancy Academy Athletics” on the front, and she put herself on Percy’s other side. He automatically removed his flannel, and tossed it in her lap, and Annabeth grinned as she slid it on over the t-shirt. Percy rolled his eyes, but stayed happily between his two best friends as they devolved into a conversation that somehow only they could keep up with.
Thalia looked towards the other counselors, eyebrow raised, to see if they had any explanation, but their expressions nearly made her start laughing.
Malcolm had his head in his hands, hair gripped in his fingers, while Castor and Pollux sat on either side, patting his back comfortingly. Travis and Connor were whispering furiously to each other as Katie hid her laughter behind her hand.
Clarisse, Silena, and Beckendorf were sitting together, talking between themselves, but shooting glances towards the trio by the fire every few seconds.
Thalia’s eyes went back to them, and Grover was looking at her with a tired, fondly exasperated expression on his face, and he held out his hands in a “What can you do?” gesture that almost made the laughter burst out of her.
Percy and Annabeth emerged from the lake to the whoops and whistles of the head counselors. They both blushed brightly, but grinned back at their friends, their hands entwined. Travis and Connor began to tease them as they all began to make their way back towards the cabins and Annabeth laughed as Percy flicked his hand, splashing their group of friends.
Everyone yelped and scattered, and Percy tugged Annabeth’s hand, pulling her towards the Poseidon cabin.
Her cheeks went hot as he pulled her through the doors, and released her hand to go towards his chest of drawers. Annabeth stood at the front of the cabin with a small smile, feeling surprisingly unsure of herself.
They had been together alone multiple times before, but this time was different.
This time, their feelings were out in the open, and it was no longer just two friends spending time together. They were, in fact, now approaching the relationship that Annabeth could happily admit she had been thinking about since they were twelve-years-old.
Percy made a happy noise, and pulled something out of his drawers.
He approached Annabeth, his eyes shy and soft as he held out the sweatshirt.
“Here.”
Annabeth’s eyes widened slightly.
This was not anything new between them.
Sharing clothes, trading jackets and shirts and bracelets. They had done it since they were twelve, with Grover mixed in. It was a part of their friendship, exchanging things, clothes circulating between their little trio until they inevitably forget the original owner.
This felt different.
Annabeth took the sweatshirt, looking at the Montauk label on the front, and she looked back up at Percy with a slightly larger smile. He ducked his head down with quite possibly the shyest smile she had ever seen on his face.
“Thanks.”
When she pulled the sweatshirt on, something settled between the two, and Percy beamed as he watched Annabeth wrap her arms around herself, relishing in the feeling of the soft sweatshirt that still smelled like her boyfriend(!!!!!!).
When they reemerged from the campfire, Grover approached them, took one look at the sweatshirt she wore, and raised an eyebrow.
“I’m assuming that one is off-limits for me?” he asked, and Percy snorted.
Annabeth pulled her best friend close leaning on his shoulder as Percy put his arms around them both. “This one, yes. Everything else, that’s free game.”
Grover hummed thoughtfully. “Challenge accepted.”
Annabeth laughed, and life was wonderful.
In the few months between Percy’s birthday and December, Annabeth could wholeheartedly say that things in her life had never felt more perfect.
Everything was peaceful. The war was over, and while the grief over Luke’s death still settled in her heart, Annabeth was able to Iris Message Thalia when they were both feeling down, she could visit Percy whenever she wanted, and her relationship with her father, stepmother, and little brothers was actually growing stronger by the day.
Annabeth had never felt more settled in her life, and she knew Percy and Grover felt the same way.
They were actually able to spend time with each other without looking over their shoulders.
They went out for smoothies together, spent time in parks and at camp together. Grover had been telling the truth.
He accepted the unnamed challenge with vigor, and appeared each day in a different shirt that belonged to either Percy or Annabeth.
Percy had taken to wearing Grover’s jackets and Annabeth’s shirts, and beneath the sweatshirt Percy had given her, Annabeth wore one of her boys’ shirts.
It was a perfect, wonderful few months, and Annabeth cherished every single moment that she was able to just spend time with her favorite people.
Then, it came time to determine what she was going to give Percy for Christmas. Of course, seeing as they had been friends for so long, they had exchanged Christmas gifts before. Small, little things that were usually more of a joke than anything else. Annabeth wanted to do something special.
It was their first Christmas as a couple, their first without the threat of danger hanging over their heads.
Annabeth talked to Mikayla, one of her half-sisters who specialized more with their mother’s gift of embroidery than anyone else in the cabin. Her sister had been more than happy to take the blank blue sweatshirt Annabeth had given to her, and promised for it to be finished by the beginning of December.
Annabeth never got a chance to give it to Percy for Christmas.
She still remembered how it felt that morning.
Annabeth had approached the Poseidon cabin when Percy had not emerged for breakfast. She assumed he slept in, relishing in the quiet of camp, with so little people around for the holidays.
She had knocked on the door, and upon hearing no response, had entered, a greeting already on her lips.
She received no greeting back.
Percy’s bed was messy, which was not unusual, but he was not in his bed. He was not standing on the small dock attached to his cabin, nor was he sitting on the floor talking to Tyson through the fountain.
He was gone.
Annabeth looked around, frantically calling for her boyfriend, her best friend. She could feel the tears start to fall down her cheeks as she finally burst out of the cabin.
Hearing her shouts, the head counselors instantly descended upon the Poseidon cabin, and they all quickly came to the same conclusion as Annabeth.
Percy, their leader, their friend, their brother, was gone.
She and Grover clung to each other’s side in the few days following Percy’s disappearance, and Annabeth didn’t think she or Grover wore a single piece of clothing that did not belong to Percy during that time.
They essentially divvied up his clothing, and Annabeth tried not to cry when she pulled on the eternally faded Yancy t-shirt, the shirt that had started everything for her.
In a cruel twist of fate, Mikayla finished the sweatshirt, and silently left it on Annabeth’s bed, where she found it the evening after discovering Percy was missing.
Annabeth put it on that day, and rarely took it off. When she and Grover went to see Sally, to tell her what had happened, Sally gave Grover one of Percy’s jackets that he had left behind, a sad smile on her face as Grover immediately put it on.
Annabeth often found her fingers tracing the embroidery that Mikayla had put on the sleeves. The symbols of each cabin at Camp Half-Blood decorated the sleeves, and whether on purpose or not, the symbols for the Athena and Poseidon cabins sat, respectively, on the left and right wrists. Annabeth’s hand often rested on the gold trident, her thumb rubbing at the soft thread when she had quiet time to herself, just sitting and thinking about where Percy was.
They would find him, and Annabeth and Grover were determined to smother their beloved son of Poseidon in as much love as they were capable of giving.
When they had been packing up the Argo II to go to New Rome, Jason, Piper, and Leo had watched as Annabeth meticulously set up the cabin room that would no doubt become Percy’s bedroom once he joined them.
It was identical in setup as all the others, but Annabeth and the other head counselors had clearly spent time trying to make it as personalized as possible.
On the walls were photos, some with all of the head counselors together, some with teeny-tiny Percy and Annabeth (those made Leo cover his face and try to take normal breaths because how was he supposed to cope with the girl who terrified the shit out of him looking that adorable as a kid?), some with Percy and a tall, dark-haired woman they had been told was Sally Jackson, and some simply of the camp.
Curiously, before they had officially set sail, Grover Underwood had approached Annabeth holding a pile of clothes.
Jason, Piper, and Leo did not know much about Grover. They only knew what Gleeson had told them, how he was blessed by Pan, and a satyr of high importance. They later found out from the rest of the counselors that Grover was also Annabeth and Percy’s closest friend, and, prior to Percy’s disappearance, it was highly rare to see the three not hanging around each other.
It was still strange, however, watching as Grover handed Annabeth a worn-looking Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a baggy zip-up hoodie. She had smiled sadly, and the two had hugged impossibly tight before Grover bid them all farewell and good luck.
Jason, Leo, and Piper had not said anything, but they could not help but notice that Annabeth set the clothes on Percy’s bed where he would hopefully eventually sleep, carefully folded.
The only time the three saw Annabeth in anything other than the embroidered blue sweatshirt that she had been wearing over the colder months was when they officially began preparing for their descent into New Rome. Annabeth had put on a normal Camp Half-Blood shirt, and there was a small stack of friendship bracelets on her wrist that were no doubt made at camp. One had green beads with some kind of leaf charm, the other had blue beads and a fish charm, and another had a mix of green, blue, and grey charms that Piper remembered seeing a matching one on Grover’s wrist when they have bid farewell to the other members of Camp Half-Blood.
After the shitshow that was retrieving Percy, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang from New Rome, Annabeth had pushed her boyfriend into going and changing into something comfortable for the night sail through the stars to their first destination. Percy had looked at Annabeth with impossibly bright eyes, but he nodded, and disappeared belowdeck.
He reemerged wearing the worn t-shirt Grover had handed Annabeth, which now had visible designs of trees and flowers all over it, and the hooded jacket that had fraying sleeves and small bleach stains.
Annabeth’s face went soft the moment she spotted him, and she made a beeline to him. She took one of his hands in hers, and slid on a bracelet that matched her green one, an identical multi-colored bracelet, and one that was made of grey beads with an owl charm. Percy let out a shake sigh, and wrapped his arms around Annabeth, pulling her close and pressing his face into her hair. Annabeth clung back to him, her cheek against his shoulder as they simply stood in silence at the rail of the ship, looking out at the sky.
It was hard not to see the way that Percy and Annabeth seemed to orbit one another, completely understanding the other’s needs without any words having to be spoken.
The other members of the Seven thought they understood Percy and Annabeth and their relationship, but it was only when the battle was over, and everything settled at Camp Half-Blood, that they realized it was only the beginning.
When they returned to camp, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, and Hazel watched as Percy and Annabeth were instantly folded into Grover’s arms, the satyr holding his two friends as tightly as he could. He said something, quiet and inaudible to everyone except for Percy and Annabeth, and the couple laughed, wrapping their arms around the other figure in their trio tightly.
At the campfire the following night, when Greeks and Romans were finally mixing together and getting to know one another, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover sat together in a tangle of figures, sitting as close to each other as possible, and in an amalgamation of different clothing.
Percy wore a pair of sweatpants that had “San Francisco” emblazoned on the side (Piper remembered seeing Annabeth wearing a pair identical to those during the months prior to the Argo II departing for New Rome), he wore a National Parks t-shirt, and pulled on the blue sweatshirt Annabeth had rarely taken off during his disappearance. Annabeth wore a faded Yancy Academy t-shirt and a pair of faded cargo pants, and Grover wore a shirt that had “Goode High School” written across the front.
Their wrists were still decorated in the same bracelets, but it was at that moment that the other members of the Seven realized that the trio had matching bracelets, with each person wearing a bracelet that represented the other two.
In addition to the shared clothes, Annabeth and Percy were wearing each other’s camp necklaces. Annabeth’s fingers kept brushing against the probatio tablet hanging between the beads on Percy’s necklace, and Percy occasionally tapped the piece of coral that was on Annabeth’s necklace.
Jason glanced at the other head counselors, who were gathered around them, laughing and talking, and he poked Thalia, who was leaning against his side. His sister looked at him with warm eyes, and Jason couldn’t help but smile before nodding towards the tangled trio. “Are they…?”
“Wearing each other’s clothes?” Thalia finished with a laugh. Jason nodded, and the head counselors all exchanged looks of amusement and fond exasperation.
Clarisse, who held Chris’ hand on her lap, rolled her eyes. “They’ve been like this since Jackson’s first summer here. Apparently, him and Grover started it when they were in school together, and Annabeth got pulled into it.”
“Do you remember what it was like when they weren’t dating?” Katie snorted, shaking her head.
Pollux’s eyes widened. “Oh gods, yes.” He looked at the son of Athena sitting beside him. “I think Malcolm almost pulled his hair out during those months.”
Malcolm reached out to hit Pollux blindly on the arm, making Connor yelp and dramatically dive between them to protect his boyfriend. “We had to deal with them for another three years before they finally got together.”
“Them sharing clothes didn’t help.” Thalia added helpfully.
Hazel cocked her head, but there was a small, soft smile on her face as she looked towards her cousin. “Wait, so they were doing this before they were a couple?”
“I think it’s just their friendship.” Chris explained. “Like, even before Percy and Annabeth became a thing, it was always Percy, Annabeth, and Grover together. They’re inseparable, honestly.”
Though their tones were joking, the other members of the Seven could tell that the head counselors looked at the trio with nothing but affection, and that they cared about them deeply.
Clarisse shivered in a dramatic way. “The few times they were separated, things ended up escalating.”
“They’re not allowed to be separated.” Travis supplied helpfully to the group.
Nico grinned slightly from where he was sitting between Reyna and Will, a rare expression on his face. “I remember the winter that Annabeth was kidnapped.” His eyes lit up slightly, and Thalia covered her mouth to hide her laughter, clearly knowing what he was going to say. “I think I saw Percy wearing Annabeth’s necklace every single day, and he was definitely wearing her sweatshirt.” Malcolm groaned again, burying his face in his hands. Nico nodded, looking at Will who was also trying not to laugh. “Grover was just the same. I think the same Annabeth shirt was passed between the two every day.”
“We can hear you guys talking about us.” Percy called from where he was sitting.
“Good!” Clarisse shot back, and Percy flipped her off with a grin.
The trio shifted, over the course of the evening, and it was hard not to watch them to, simply put, attempt to merge into a single being.
They moved to sit on the steps of the pavilion as the younger campers went off to bed, talking quietly with each other. Annabeth was sitting a step below the two boys, and her head was resting on Grover’s knee while her arms were wrapped around Percy’s legs. Grover was now wearing Percy’s sweatshirt, and was leaning against Percy, their hands clasped tightly between them. Percy’s hand was resting on the hands Annabeth had around his legs, and Grover’s other hand rested on Annabeth’s head.
Their conversation was punctuated occasionally by quiet laughter, the trio’s eyes bright with joy, as though surviving the end of the world was just another chapter they’d already processed together.
If, the following morning, the trio emerged from the Poseidon cabin with Grover and Annabeth clearly clad only in Percy’s clothing, and Percy happily clad in things that clearly belonged to Grover and Annabeth, no one said anything.
It was normal.
It was their friendship.
It was who they were.
They were Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, and they wore each other’s clothes. It was as simple at that.