Chapter Text
The sun. Burning, unfading, shadowless. Warm.
There is a crowd – albeit small – filled with anxious freshmen, each one wondering if college is all it’s built up to be. The August sun is unobstructed, its beams heating the cobblestone square to a haze. And Percy feels dazed in this summer sun: he and his mother are in one piece each, he graduated high school, and he is attending college with a swim scholarship. It’s too much, he thinks, the bursts of gratitude between his ribs. He’s doing this, above all else, for his mother.
Freshman orientation drags on and on and on in the summer sun and Percy wants shade. High school is already a distant memory, a reminder that he was an easy target, a quiet swimmer, a near-failing student. Percy found the shadows of the school and bid his time beside Grover. College had seemed so far away, and yet, he is here, and the heat evaporates his timidness. He runs his eyes over his new classmates – people he will be spending the next four years next to – and wonders if they feel the same.
Yellow and pink and grey and blue.
This is how he first sees her.
There are sunbeams in her hair, and he sees a halo surrounding curls. She is inches taller than her friend, he registers next. Tanned, sunkissed, flushed. Her profile is sharp, and he can see the line of her eyebrow draw up as she laughs, and it’s a light sound until she lets out a snort. She and her friend collapse onto each other at this, and Percy feels his lips twitch in a grin. Infectious. California girl, if he had to guess. Bright.
The New York sun doesn’t stand a chance, he thinks.
This is how he meets her.
“Hey,” Jason, his roommate and teammate, nods over to the blonde. “Met her at Starbucks this morning, with Piper.” He nods to the brunette. “Heard she dates one of the upperclassmen. Some kid in the political science department. Bit of a hot head, according to Beckendorf.”
“Ah,” he says, nodding, raising his eyebrows and looking away. Percy was raised better than to stare, especially at girls with upperclassman, temperamental boyfriends. “I’ve had enough hot heads in my life.”
And she is suddenly here, a risen sun and warm, warm, warm smile.
“Hello,” she says, brave and beautiful and bright, “I’m Annabeth.” Flushed cheeks, sunshine, light eyes. In the sunlight, they look light blue. Her hand is lifted to her brow to deflect some of the sun, so he moves his body to block the sun from her face, and he sees that they’re actually grey. Her smile widens at the new shade.
“Percy,” he shakes her hand, and he wants to ask if the summer sun is burning her skin, or if she’s always so warm, warm, warm–
“Your hand is so warm, what the fuck,” Annabeth studies her hand, snorting again and he laughs at that noise more than anything. She looks at him incredulously, eyes owlish, as if she hadn’t meant to say that aloud.
“I was going to say the same to you,” he confesses, and he chuckles at his own honesty. He blurts out: “You’re like a human furnace.”
You’re the sun, he had meant.
It sets her off for good now, and he thinks that she must be a little crazy or a mind-reader or both because she goes bonkers with giggling. Percy feels like they’ve already been friends for years, and he has to remind himself that he just met Annabeth. And he tells himself that he doesn’t have to fall in love with the first girl he meets at college, even though she makes him feel like he’s never stood in a shadow once in his life.
Beaming, glowing, radiating.
(This is how he falls in love with her.)
.
Percy loves to swim.
It’s the only time that he can focus, that his mind and body have one task that requires his undivided attention. Breathe and move. Breathe and move. Breathe and move. It’s fast, or at least he is fast. That’s why he’s here, he supposes, on a swim scholarship. To swim, breathe and move. He loves it.
But morning practices? Fuck that.
“Dude, you have to wake up or we’ll be late,” Jason bangs on his door, which Percy thinks is very nice of him. They’ve only lived together for four days and already he’s a living alarm clock. When Jason bangs on his door for the fourth time, Percy gets up, brushes his teeth, tapping his phone screen for a couple minutes just to make Jason wait. He finally meets his roommate in the living room.
“Beck is gonna kill us,” Jason says, eyes wide. So very awake.
“Beck doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” Percy waves his hand, throws his shoes on. “But I have to get some coffee or I might drown.”
“Dude,” Jason stares at him, blue eyes wide. “Get your ass in gear.”
They walk to the closest cafe to their on-campus apartment, and walk in. It’s six in the morning, but there’s already a few customers. He sees a couple sleeping on the tables, and one huddled in an oversized hoodie by the counter.
“Two coffees,” Percy orders and looks back at Jason, who at least has the grace to throw a dollar into the tip jar while Percy pays. The barista comes back slowly, her eyes drooping.
“To not drowning,” Jason tips his cup into the air. Percy raises his own cup and grins.
“To not drowning,” they hear from behind him, and Percy realizes that the patron in the oversized clothes is Annabeth.
She has books spread in front of her, and her hair is braided under the hood. Percy doesn’t know how he hadn’t noticed her, because she’s suddenly the brightest one in the room, bulky sweatshirt or not.
“Hey,” Jason says to her, pleasant.
“You look like a goblin,” Percy tells her, because he hasn’t had his coffee yet and well, she does. A sunny goblin. But still. Goblin.
“You have dried drool on your face,” Annabeth gives back immediately, confused yet amused.
Percy grins. “Why are you here so early?”
“Piper snores,” Annabeth explains. “And I kinda like being close to coffee.”
“You think their mocha lattes are any good?” Percy gestures to the barista, who is sleeping on the counter space.
“Could be,” Annabeth nods appreciatively. “We’ve got psych at nine, don’t we? I could bring you one.” He had forgotten that they had compared schedules at orientation, that he’d be seeing her Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“You’d be an angel,” Percy laughs, and reminds himself that she has a boyfriend. An angel sun goblin with a hothead boyfriend.
“Dude,” Jason hisses, always so anxious before practice. “Beck will drown us.”
“Don’t drown on my behalf,” Annabeth laughs, waving them off. “See you later.”
“With coffee?” Percy reminds her, and if his face has a dorky smile, well, he can’t help it.
She salutes, smirking, before she goes back to her book.
(He wipes the drool off his face, she brings him a mocha latte, and he falls asleep in class.)
.
“Why are you so scared of me, bro?” Beck asks Jason. “I’m just the captain.”
“You’re the captain,” Jason repeats back, following him into the locker room. “Aren’t I supposed to be scared of you?”
“Who taught you that?” Percy asks, following behind Jason, splashing a bit of pool water into his friend’s face from his hair. “Like, specifically, who hurt you?”
“Fuck off, Jackson,” Jason whips his towel at his roommate but Percy dodges it. “Some of us were raised to be punctual and respect authority.”
“Were you a child soldier or something? No – no, Jesus, fuck, stop – “ Jason snaps his towel at Percy, who begins to slip on the tile in the locker room. Jason is relentless and for a second, Percy is actually afraid he’s gonna slip, hit his head, and die.
“Say uncle,” Jason chases him around a bench, and Percy falls against a locker.
“Fuck, Jason, I take it back. You were raised by fucking wolves or something – ow what the fuck!”
“Will you shut the fuck up?” Beckendorf snaps, and just like that, Jason stops immediately, straightening up. “Before I scare the shit out of both of you?”
“Yes, sir.” Jason nods, but there’s a wild look in his eyes when he glares at Percy. Plotting, Percy realizes. He just stares blankly back because he’s pretty sure his roommate is a child soldier partially raised by wolves or something, fuck.
The next morning, Jason doesn’t wake him up for practice. By the time he dives into the pool an hour late, Percy has to make up for it with an afternoon doing laps. Jason joins him, of course, sitting on the bench with his laptop. He raises his head here and there, gives Percy a thumbs up, and goes back to typing, shit-eating grin on his face the whole time.
(Jason, Percy thinks, is an actual fucking wolf in disguise.)
.
“Percy,” Piper waves to him from the back of the class. “Get your butt over here.”
Piper, Annabeth’s roommate. They hadn’t spoken much at orientation, but Percy feels like he’s seen her everywhere since: outside of the pool, at the cafe, around his apartment building. Each time, she roped him into something like finding her classroom or grabbing lunch.
“Buy me coffee,” she had said three days prior, on the first day of classes. She hadn’t waited for an answer, either. She had pulled him by his backpack straps into the cafe, ordered a matcha latte (“Not coffee,” he had muttered and pulled out his wallet) and sat him down at a small table.
“Hello,” Percy had said slowly once the storm that is Piper calmed down. “Fancy seeing you again.”
“How’s college treating you?”
“Since I saw you this morning?” He had thrown her a weird look.
“How’s Jason liking college?” She had clarified, grinning like the Cheshire cat and Percy laughed at her for three whole minutes before she kicked him under the table. “Help a girl out.”
“Come over and play the Switch,” he had finally offered. “So you can stop stalking me and talk to him yourself.”
“Deal,” she had relaxed, then grinned, and he hadn’t liked the look of that, “Do you really drool in your sleep?”
Percy threw a crumpled napkin at her. “Shut up. Don’t listen to a word Annabeth says.”
“Oh my god,” Piper had burst out laughing, and Percy knew he'd made a friend. “That’s both cute and disgusting.”
“That’s my brand,” Percy had leaned forward to muss up her hair, and instead of swatting his hand away, she tried to lick it which. Okay. Pretty fucking weird, but so is Percy because then he had attempted to squeeze her nose off of her face with his index finger and thumb and only then did she swat his hand away.
“I won.”
“I hope you have Mario Party,” she glowered at him. “Because I’m going to kick your fucking ass.”
“Bossy,” he sticks his tongue out at her now, setting his bag down on the table, and taking a look around. “English lit, huh?”
“Sit next to me and let me use your notes.”
“Uh,” Percy looks around, checking to see if anyone else heard her bid to sorta cheat. He doesn’t personally care, but he’s used to high school mentality. He is still learning that college students and professors don’t give a shit. “Goodmorning, I guess.”
“Hazel won’t let me use hers, that brat,” Piper explains, and she gives him a pleading smile. She even tries to blink her eyes, but all he can think about is how she had raided his fridge and flirted with his roommate and then flicked him in the ear in goodbye the last time he saw her. His sympathy is lacking, he finds.
A short girl with smooth, brown skin turns around in her seat in front of them, a levelled look on her face. “Piper, write your own notes.”
“I have ADHD,” Piper whines, and Percy grins. “It’s hard to concentrate.”
“Hey, me too! ADHD squad.” They high-five and Hazel gets a glazed look on her face.
“I’m Hazel,” she reaches her hand forward. Her hair is in tight curls, and it frames her face prettily. The guy next to her throws her a mystified look before he continues drawing on his tablet. “One of Piper’s roommates.”
“Percy,” he shakes her hand. She gives him a sweet smile. And just to piss Piper off, “Do you like Mario Party?”
“I don’t know what that is,” she responds warily, and the guy next to her can seemingly no longer stay quiet.
“I’m Leo,” he blurts out, and Hazel starts at his pressured speech. “I also have ADHD – hashtag squad – and kick ass at Mario Party.”
“Woah,” Piper is the first to speak. “I like your energy, kid.”
Leo grins, Percy grins, Piper grins, and Hazel is outnumbered.
“No one is borrowing my notes,” she hisses as their professor begins talking.
“Winner gets Hazel’s notes,” Piper leans forward to whisper between Percy and Leo. “Let’s go to Percy’s after this.”
“Dude, I’m texting my roommate Frank, what’s your dorm number?”
(Hazel kicks their asses, Piper gets Jason’s number, and Leo and Hazel and also Frank become a fixture in Percy’s life.)
.
“I already have a compost pile started in the woods,” Grover gushes over Skype, and Percy feels sad, sad, sad. “And I met the president of the sustainability club. I’m swooning. I’ve swooned. Totally fucked, probably, because her name is Juniper.”
He misses his best friend, Grover, something awful. If only he had gotten a scholarship, Percy would be upstate with his friend right now. It makes him even sadder to look up from his laptop and see Jason attempting to write his sociology paper, glasses crooked on his face. Percy wonders if there’s enough room in someone’s heart to feel so much for so many people. Surely, he thinks, these people don’t feel the same towards him.
“Bro,” Jason calls over, “did you say ‘Jupiter’?”
“Percy, let me see that brickhead,” Grover waves his hand, and Percy lifts the laptop so his best friend can see Jason huddled on the couch. “Why the fuck would her name be ‘Jupiter’?”
“Percy’s name is Perseus,” Jason blinks, like that’s a proper explanation.
“Don’t bring me into this,” Percy shakes his head. “Perseus is Greek, by the way.”
“Her name is Juniper,” Grover continues, and Percy lowers the laptop again, knowing that this will go on for a while. He grins at his best friend, visibly swooning. “Like the tree.”
“Like the tree,” Jason mutters from the couch, and Percy stifles a laugh. He wishes Grover were here most days, but he’s happy that his best friend is thriving upstate, the woods and rolling hills providing comfort.
“Tell me about the tree,” Percy stretches out on the floor, putting his chin on his hands.
Grover sighs dreamily and Jason chuckles again.
“Dude,” Percy swats at the air towards his roommate. “Have you texted Piper back yet?”
“I’ve got a paper to write,” Jason’s face reddens. “Due tomorrow.”
“Juniper makes her own soap,” Grover finally settles on a topic.
“Sustainable,” Percy comments.
“You get it,” Grover grins, and he looks like the twelve year old that Percy befriended in sixth grade. “Unlike your brickhead roommate. I miss you.”
(Jason is grinning behind his laptop screen like the brickhead he is, and Percy thinks that maybe his friends are just as fond of him as he is of them.)
.
“Dude, why are you tapping your phone like that?’ Frank asks Percy, eyebrows furrowed.
“No reason,” Percy taps the screen one last time, locks his phone and shoves it into his back pocket.
“Um,” Leo stares incredulously. “That was fucking sus.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Percy responds.
.
>Percy (0845): hey it’s percy i’m gonna be late to class lmao save me a seat
>Annabeth (0845): No.
>Percy (0846): is this because i called u a goblin that one time???
>Annabeth (0847): It’s because you invited the entire campus to play Switch and excluded me.
>Percy (0847): are u serious??? just come over after class. jason bought mario kart
>Annabeth (0850): No.
>Percy (0851): oh my fucking god you’re so dramatic please save me a seat i am bringing coffee
>Annabeth (0853): Why are you getting coffee if you’re going to be late? Hm?
>Percy (0853): priorities
>Percy (0856): annabeth??? You’ll save me a seat??
>Percy (0859): ok see u in class, where you’ll have a seat saved for me
>Percy (0910): got coffee!! Omw
>Percy (0922): wtf why didn’t you tell me that class is cancelled? I ran here
>Annabeth (0922): what’s ur dorm number i’m bringing piper :)
>Percy (0923): what the fuck
>Percy (0923): building C 205
>Annabeth (0925): bring the coffee. See u soon buddy :~)
>Percy (0926): im gonna blue shell u into oblivion
(Piper starts a massive group chat and Jason complains about it until he realizes he can just silence his notifications.)
.
Jason runs into Reyna, literally, in the quad. She holds him by his arms like he’s a small child and tells him, very politely, to watch where he’s going. Percy laughs so hard that Reyna turns to look at him and tells him, very politely, to watch who he’s laughing at.
“You’re terrifying,” he tells her.
She smiles, and her face is friendly. He likes her immediately.
“You should meet my roommate Nico,” Reyna crosses her arms. “Pretty sure he summons the dead.”
“Sounds like a charmer,” Jason sputters out. “You any good at Mario Kart?”
“As long as I get to play as Peach,” Reyna nods, “with the sport bike. 200CC or it’s not a race.”
“Woah,” Percy trips over a loose cobblestone. “I’d like to introduce you to my friend Annabeth. I think you’ll get along.”
“Can Nico come?”
“Who else is gonna bring the zombies?” Percy stares at her.
(Nico plays as Bowser, and is the most terrifying, small person that Percy has ever met. He and Reyna are immediately added to the group chat.)
.
“I’m going to call you Beth,” he decides one day, watching Annabeth pretend to sleep on the grass outside of the library.
“Your head is full of chlorine,” she says, keeping her eyes closed.
“It was that or Anna Elizabeth,” he threatens, knowing her aversion to that name.
“And seaweed,” she muses, hands crossed on her stomach. Percy rolls on his back and looks up at the sky. The clouds are puffy, and the sun is blinding. He closes his eyes and pretends to sleep, too.
It’s nice, he thinks, to lay beside her in silence. Well, as silent as it can be with the sounds of campus life around them. Annabeth had asked him to sit outside with her after class, saying that she needs to catch as much sunshine as she can before the New York winter.
Minutes pass, and it’s comfortable.
“My boyfriend Luke hates California,” Annabeth breaks the silence. He opens his eyes, watches her talk. “I met him when I was a freshman in high school. Followed him here, all the way to the East Coast.”
“Oh,” Percy says stupidly. He almost forgot that she has a boyfriend, someone that he’s never met and rarely hears about. “You wanna tell me more about him?”
Annabeth laughs nervously. ”His name is Luke. He’s a senior, studies poli sci.”
“You started dating when you were a freshman in high school?” Percy blurts out, doing the math in his head. “Uh.”
“No,” Annabeth shakes her head, and he knows she’s lying to him.
“You’re lying,” Percy points out, not unkindly. “Don’t lie to me, please.”
“You’re right,” she nods. “Sorry, it’s a stupid thing to lie about.”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “Especially since that shit can be cross-referenced on Facebook.”
Annabeth giggles at that, and he feels the sun on his arms and legs and fingertips. “You have a Facebook?”
Percy groans, shoving her leg. He has no excuse, really. Rachel made it for him years ago, and he’s pretty sure that his profile picture is of him with a toy sword.
“Add me on Facebook,” she reaches for his phone, unlocking it. “Wow, no passcode. Look at you.”
“I have very little secrets,” he says, prim, and she rolls her eyes, swiping through his apps. Percy feels his eyes widen but it’s too late.
“Tap Tap Fish, really?” Annabeth’s eyes widen at him, amusement on her face, and he eats his words. Percy tries to snatch his phone away, but she’s faster than him, rolling away on the lawn. There’s a grass stain on the back of her white shirt, and he doesn’t tell her, honesty be damned. He’s not ready to share that secret.
“How else am I supposed to get through my history pre-req?” He tries to reach again, he reaches over her torso. Her arms are outstretched in the same direction, phone just out of his grasp, a look of glee on her face. “Annabeth, don’t Tap Tap Fish for me, I wanna do it myself.”
Annabeth studies his aquarium, dorky look on her face. “Wow, you’ve put a lot of time into this.”
“My pride and joy,” he finally snatches his phone, watches the marlin swim around the volcano in the center of his aquarium. He tap-tap-taps and she watches over his shoulder. Annabeth smells like lemons and sunshine. He can feel her buzz with excitement.
Finally, Percy sighs, handing her the phone before he puts his chin on her shoulder and watches as she tap-tap-taps, driven by the bubbles and treasure rewards. She earns a new type of angel fish and elbows his ribs in her bodily excitement.
“Ooo,” she coos, taking a screenshot on his phone, sending it in the groupchat like a proud parent.
>Nico (1308): no percy
>Frank (1310): yessss tap tap
>Reyna (1310): no
>Jason (1311): percy u need an intervention. it’s not healthy
Annabeth huffs in indignation, and he watches as she grabs her own phone, typing furiously.
>Annabeth (1312): don’t be fucking rude
>Piper (1312): ok kim
Percy howls in laughter at that, her face twisted into a scowl. He presses his forehead to her shoulder. Her fucking face, he thinks. She does what she wants and he thinks she’s the funniest person he’s ever met. A couple weeks of college is all it took for Percy to find his people. He has to communicate this somehow, communicate his fondness. He grabs his phone.
>Percy (1314): fucking fuck i love all of u as much as i love that angel fish
Annabeth gets the notification and she tries to whack him, but he gently grabs her wrist and pulls her down next to him, facing the sky. She snorts, and when her phone pings with notifications, she tosses it beside her, wiggling to his side.
“I could take a nap right here,” Percy stretches his arms behind his head. The back of his eyelids are pink against the brightness.
“I love the sun,” Annabeth sighs.
“Goodnight,” he settles more comfortably on the ground, and her elbow rests on his stomach.
Percy lets the late August sun settle into his skin, and the scent of lemons and chlorine makes him feel hazy. He’s close to sleep, his chest rising and falling despite the sound of college life around him. She speaks and he feels his heart thump back awake.
“I don’t think he likes that I’m here, even though it was his idea. At college, I mean. His college.” Her voice is soft, but he can hear her conviction. His college, Percy considers, hm. Hothead.
“Did he say that?” Percy asks, opening his eyes, and she shakes her head, her own eyes shut tightly.
“I can just tell, plain as day.” And he believes her, though he doesn’t understand why she has to go through that. “He’s not happy I’m here.”
“I’m happy you’re here,” Percy says, not sure what else to say. “You give me your psych notes and you bring me coffee and you got me the angel fish.”
She laughs, opening her eyes to look at him. “I think I’m just being dramatic. It’s probably all in my head.”
“You are dramatic,” he acknowledges. “But you shouldn’t brush yourself off like that.”
Annabeth shrugs, closing her eyes again. Her hair is splayed out on the grass, and she looks older when she is lost in her thoughts. Percy wants to say more, wants to tell her that he wouldn’t be at the sun’s mercy if it weren’t for her. He feels like she’s showing a bit of herself, right here in broad daylight.
“Beth?” Percy tries the nickname out.
“Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth tries the nickname out.
“The sunshine feels nice,” he feels a slow burn on his face, a side effect of being so exposed.
“I never want the sun to set,” she responds, and he agrees internally. “I read that New York winters can be tough.”
Percy can hear the vulnerability in her voice. The changing weather, the unpredictability of being in this part of the country, a new life with new weather and new friends all under the same sun.
“The sun comes back, even when it feels like it won’t,” he promises after a beat. “That’s just New York.”
(They fall asleep and then he walks her to her dorm. Grey skies have formed as he treks home, a promise of autumn.)
.
His professor is talking about Mesopotamia and he tap-tap-taps.
>Beth (1450): are u tapping in class right now
>Percy (1451): wanna see my new percula clownfish
>Beth (1451): yes i very much do
>Percy (1452): [image sent]
>Beth (1543): [image sent]
>Beth (1543): look at my lil school of minnows !!!
>Beth (1544): come over after class and tap tap w me
>Percy (1545): can we order pizza
(Piper and Jason try to stage an intervention. Annabeth throws a slice of pepperoni at them.)
.
“Are you awake?” Annabeth whispers, nudging his side with her foot. “Percy?”
It is barely morning. There was a plan to pull an all-nighter, a chance to catch up on assignments and encourage each other. Laptops and textbooks were closed by midnight, a movie playing on the TV, and a heated debate about Severus Snape that lasted until two AM.
Percy must have fallen asleep first, he realizes, looking up at Annabeth. Hazel’s head is tucked into his side, Leo and Piper snoring across the couch, and his chest feels warm with affection for his friends.
There’s a grey morning light streaming through her living room window, and Annabeth is wearing an oversized hoodie again. Her eyes are dark, and her hair is braided. He blinks and blinks. September mornings: a remnant of bright light, a shadow just ahead, death of summer. She’s pretty, he registers, and blinks again.
“I’m awake,” he manages, voice sleepy, sitting up.
“Come with me?” Her hands are twisting in front of her, face pulled into a slight frown.
There is something wrong, he knows. Percy unwraps himself from Hazel’s arm and removes a post-it note from Jason’s forehead on his way to the door. Simp, it reads and when he shows Annabeth, she smiles and it's off. Her smile is off and the sun is only just rising but he worries that her day is already ruined.
“Can I brush my teeth first?” He asks, reaching for his bag. “Unless you have a death wish?”
“Please do,” she rolls her eyes, and he sees a better smile.
When he is ready, he finds Annabeth brushing the hair from Reyna’s face, a blanket over Nico, and a new post-it note on Jason’s forehead: P and A are getting coffee, behave until we get back.
Annabeth leads him out of her apartment, her hands stuffed into her hoodie, and her face stiff. Campus is still asleep around them, a chilled and decaying breeze. He wonders what went wrong: just last night she paced in front of all of them, face red, ranting about Harry Potter. Percy had thought that she looked alive, a red star and burning argument. Now, there is a pink sun rising and a darkening conviction. He holds the door open for her when they arrive, and she blinks at him in surprise. Percy thinks that she forgot his presence while stuck in her thoughts, their silence.
Percy waves her to sit down while buys their favorite drinks, and the barista rolls her eyes before handing them over. His face feels warm but he pushes the feeling away.
Annabeth’s hands shake when she takes a sip, her offered smile forced, eyes rimmed red in the bright light. Her phone sits on the table between them, screen down, and buzzes. Her eyes flicker to it, and it does not go unmissed. Percy’s chest fills with more worry. What happened? He wants to ask, wants to explore, but their friendship is both strong and unsteady, college and sunshine casting highlights and shadows he is still learning.
“Did you get a lot of work done last night?” She finally asks, fingers picking at her paper cup. Her phone buzzes between them.
“What happened, Beth?” Percy inquires, ignoring her evasion and his own caution. It is not the earliness of dawn that softens his voice. She does this, he learns, when she wants to talk around a topic. Annabeth can be coded and unclear and confused. Hazy, he categorizes.
Her face crumples and it’s too early for this, he thinks. The sky is pink and the dew on the grass is drowning him and Annabeth is crying. Her phone buzzes on the table between them again. A fight between a set sun and a rising sun and Harry Potter and laughter, if he were to guess. Hothead and sunshine goblin and shadows.
“Oh,” he sits back in his chair when she covers her face with her hands. Percy wants to offer a hug or a hand to hold but she is hiding in the soft glare of autumn morning light. She lets herself cry for less than a minute.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Annabeth wipes her face with a napkin. She takes a steadying breath and gives him an embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry for waking you up just to be a baby. I know you love to sleep.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Percy presses. She nods, eyes red and face pink. Annabeth is on the brink of another round of tears, he can tell and his chest hurts. “Wanna play Tap Tap instead?”
She lets out a laugh, quick and genuine. “Now?”
“Why not?” Percy shrugs and grins. “No one is gonna be up before eight anyway. They can wait.”
Annabeth studies him, and he studies her back. He won’t push her, he knows. She knows this, too, and smiles at him. She stands, gesturing to the leather lounge chairs near the window. “Think we can fit in one chair?”
Percy follows her, throwing himself down into one, testing it out. There’s enough space for her, probably, but it’d be a tight squeeze. He raises his eyebrows, questioning. Annabeth shakes her head fondly and budges next to him anyway, her legs thrown over his, his arm thrown over her shoulder. She’s close and she smells like coffee and laundry soap. Percy thinks that this is platonic, that the pinkness in his face is from the sunrise, that she is wiggling for comfort not closeness.
“Tap Tap,” she demands, not impatiently.
“Tap Tap,” he acquiesces, pulling out his own phone, and her head presses into his shoulder.
It is nice, sitting close and comfortable and warm. The espresso machine whirs as campus wakes up and spoons clank against ceramicware in the background, but they tap, tap, tap.
(The sun rises, she falls asleep against him, and he catches the barista rolling her eyes again. Annabeth wakes too soon and their friends text begging for coffee.)
.
>Percy (1214): i got a ridley turtle
>Beth (1215): pics or it didn’t happen seaweed brain
>Percy (1215): [image sent]
>Beth (1216): that’s a nice turtle but it reminds me
>Beth (1217): remember when u were in first place and i used the blue shell and u screamed
>Percy (1217): blocked
>Percy (1218): rematch tonight?
>Beth (1219): i’ll text in the gc for witnesses
>Beth (1220): (for when u lose again)
>Percy (1221): blocked
(They both lose to Hazel and they all go to a diner for dinner, renewed Mario Kart threats and fries thrown over the sticky table.)
.
“Spend the night, I guess,” Percy waves at his friends, sprawled across his and Jason’s floor. “But I’m taking the controllers, it’s three in the morning.”
“Yes, mother,” Nico mutters, settling next to Reyna on the couch, already fast asleep. Percy throws a blanket at them.
“Percy,” Leo stands and stretches before he slumps back down onto the floor. “Let me sleep in your bed.”
“No,” Frank snaps awake. “I get to.”
“None of you get to,” Percy tells them. Fuck that, he didn’t come close to first place during any race.
“Please,” he hears a muffled plea. Annabeth’s curled around an end table, her eyes sleepily looking around. “I need a real bed.”
“I need a real bed,” Percy reminds them. “Coach Hedge is running drills tomorrow morning.”
“What time?” Annabeth asks, like this is an actual debate, head tilted to the side.
“No,” he tells her.
“Eight?” She guesses. “Nine? Ten?”
It’s ten, because it’ll be Saturday. Or is Saturday. He doesn’t know so he says nothing. Percy is more concerned that she knows what time his practice is.
“I will follow you into that room,” she threatens him, and he believes her. “Piper and Hazel have already taken Jason’s bed, and there’s not an equal distribution of rest wealth around here. What kind of household is this? Are friends not welcome comfort?”
Percy stares at her, because she’s actually serious. What the fuck, he thinks. Annabeth is making a true effort to talk herself into his bed when she has no chance, dramatic speech and all.
“I wish I had the energy to argue that well,” Frank admires her from the floor, sharing a blanket with Leo, who is already asleep. “Can you throw me a pillow?”
Annabeth throws one of Jason’s sweatshirts, and Frank balls it up under his head and smiles. “Goodnight, Annabeth. Fuck you, Percy.”
“What the fuck,” he sighs aloud this time, less energy to defend himself. He should have done what Jason is doing and made camp on his bedroom floor to appease the masses.
Annabeth looks at him pointedly, and he hates the fact that she’s grinning.
“No,” Percy argues, but it’s weaker now. “There’s not enough room.”
“Sleep on the floor,” she shrugs.
“I meant for you,” Percy follows her down the hall. When she flips on his lightswitch, she jumps into bed. “Beth, I swear to god. I’ll snore all night.”
“Used to it,” she climbs under the blankets. Percy tries to tell himself that it’s a comment about Piper and not. You know. Her allegedly hothead boyfriend. He sets the Switch controllers on his desk and turns to her.
“Are you really gonna make me sleep on the floor?” He finally sighs, looking at her shit-eating grin. “This is fucked.”
“You’re fucked,” Annabeth rolls onto her side, dark circles under her eyes. “If Coach Hedge catches you slacking tomorrow.”
“I hate that you’re right,” Percy sighs, closing his eyes and deep breathing. “You’re insufferable.”
“Just trying to redistribute the wealth, that’s all,” she says sardonically, sitting up. “Just get in here and stop being a weirdo.”
Percy flips the light switch and tackles her back down. Annabeth kicks his shin before she settles comfortably. “Will you really snore?” She asks, yawning.
“Nah,” he whispers. “Try not to kick me in your sleep. I need my legs, you know.”
“You and your swim scholarship,” he feels her shake her head, strands of hair tickling his face.
“Go to sleep so I can keep that scholarship,” he pinches her arm. Annabeth swats him back. “Goodnight, you socialist.”
“Goodnight,” she says, triumphantly, and he wants to let her win and win and win.
“Tap, tap, tap,” Percy’s index finger boops her nose three times.
Annabeth giggles, quiet and sweet and soft.
“Tap, tap, tap,” she repeats, barely a whisper, finger dancing on his shoulder.
It’s bright in his room, a miniature star beside him, moon forgotten.
(He wakes up with blonde hair up his nose, Leo curled at the foot of the bed, and late to practice.)
.
“I can’t do it,” Percy bends down to put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Annabeth jogs in circles around him like the demon she is. A sunshine goblin demon.
“Aren’t you a college athlete?” She hops from foot to foot, blonde curls bouncing with every step, dancing light.
“Swimming is about speed, not endurance, fuck,” he gets out, lowering his body onto the sidewalk. He doesn’t care if someone runs him over.
“You said you wanted to run with me!” Annabeth reminds him, settling onto the ground beside him. “Remember when I said Reyna wouldn’t run with me and I was sad and you said that Reyna is just jealous that I have a better mile time than her and then Reyna said she runs for a long time and not a fast time and then you said you’d run with me for a fast time and for a long time because you’re a college athlete and I was so excited because it’s been weeks since I’ve had a good run, Percy, do you remember?”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” is all he can say to that.
He turns his head to look at her. There’s a sheen of sweat on her forehead, and he’s ignoring her running outfit because he’s not a creep. She is wide awake, exhilarated, and shining. Sweat drips into his eyes and he thinks she’s going to kill him.
“We are on mile five,” Annabeth continues and Percy’s side spasms. “It’s two miles back to campus, do you think you can do it?”
“I’m a college athlete,” Percy tries to stand before he falls back down.
She giggles at him, and it’s not mocking. It’s cute, as if she’s fond. “Wanna take a Tap Tap break?”
“Yes,” Percy exhales, lungs on fire. He grabs his phone from its holder on his bicep and scooches to sit close to her. Annabeth is dripping as much sweat as he is, hair plastered to her forehead, but he still pulls her to his side, their legs pressed together. “Tap, tap, tap.”
Annabeth turns her head to look at him, and she’s close, close, close. She smiles wide, and he can count her freckles, “Tap, tap, tap.”
(They laugh and stretch out in their gross sweat, the sun setting on the horizon and Percy forces Jason to come pick them up even though he could probably run a marathon by her side.)
.
It’s September twenty-first and the temperature dips below sixty. Annabeth suggests movie night, already wearing a cardigan in class and announcing autumn’s arrival.
>Beth (0917): scary movie night at ours tonight?
“Sure,” Percy agrees aloud, watching her text under the table as their psychology professor prattles about Pavlov.
“Save it for the group chat,” Annabeth rolls her eyes at him. He unlocks his phone again.
>Percy (0918): sure
>Jason (0920): aren’t u both in class right now couldn’t you have said this in person
Percy throws Annabeth a look. She stares back. He thinks she is pretty.
>Beth (0920): nnnnno
>Percy (0921): yes
>Nico (0922): stfu??
He kicks her ankle under the table. She kicks him back twice as hard.
He taps, taps, taps on the table. She taps, taps, taps back. Annabeth giggles under her breath and he suppresses a grin.
Percy and Jason are the last to arrive later, and Jason flicks pool water onto Hazel before she punches him.
“Gross,” she complains.
“Not as gross as that,” Percy gestures over to Jason saying hello to Piper.
“Agreed,” Leo pretends to gag, setting up his laptop to the TV.
“Where’s Annabeth?” Percy throws himself onto the couch. “I wanna show her my new starfish.”
“Annabeth!” Hazel calls. “Come socialize.”
Percy hears the sound of her bedroom door opening in the hallway, and pulls out his phone. He might have taken multiple screenshots of his new little guy, but who cares?
“Time to socialize,” Percy hears, and he does not look up, attributing the new voice to Leo mocking Hazel.
Then he hears it: Annabeth giggles, and it's guttural and breathy all at once.
Percy looks up, because he has never heard that sound from her before. He has heard her stifling laughs as he trips over his own feet. He has heard her giggle at a bad joke in class. He has heard her laugh in the dead of night, their friends sleeping around them. He has heard her giggle at herself, delirious and sleep-deprived, determined to finish an assignment. He has heard her giggle over FaceTime. Giggling, sunshine audio. He has heard it.
But Percy hasn’t heard the noise she reserves for her boyfriend, and he doesn’t hear the sunshine.
Percy straightens on the couch, alarmed and unwarned. It’s stupid, he tells himself. This is her apartment. Luke makes eye contact with him, and Percy is taken aback. Blue, he thinks first and then, critical. Annabeth’s arm is wrapped around her boyfriend’s waist, and Percy’s eyes are drawn to it before Jason stands to shake his hand.
“Luke,” the senior introduces himself.
Percy feels caught, like a Tap Tap fish in a lonely aquarium. He stands anyway, reminding himself that he knows how to swim. He stretches out his hand, but Luke beats him to the punch.
“Percy?” Luke asks, and there’s an edge to his voice that he didn’t have with Jason.
“Nice to meet you,” Percy’s mouth feels dry, and he can’t tell if he’s dehydrated or sunburnt. Maybe both.
“Percy keeps me sane,” Annabeth says after a beat, voice diplomatic. “I can’t believe it’s taken so long for everyone to meet.”
Luke shrugs, like the thought hasn’t crossed his mind, and sits on the couch, Annabeth following to his side. Percy is left standing, his phone in his hand, his little Tap Tap fish game offering bubble sounds in the quiet room. Jason throws him a concerned look, so he shakes himself out of his discomfort and sits on the floor.
“Whatcha got there?” Luke nods to Percy’s phone.
“Tap Tap Fish,” he answers, offering a friendly smile, offering his phone. Luke doesn’t take either.
Luke groans and laughs, and Annabeth freezes, a miniature sunburst shaded. “Did Annabeth get you onto that stupid fucking game? I’ve been asking her to delete it for weeks.”
Percy shrugs, looking at Annabeth for guidance. She smiles, tight-lipped, shoulders tense. He thinks about her words from weeks before.
He’s not happy I’m here.
Luke isn’t happy to be here, Percy would say if anyone asks him. They don’t.
The night goes on, autumn creeping into the apartment. Percy doesn’t move a muscle, unsure of this stranger. He thinks about his other friends, the chance meetings that have led to easiness and laughter. Luke offers no such friendliness. He won’t be coming over to play the Switch, Percy knows.
Percy wants to turn around, wants to tell Annabeth about his day, wants to ask about hers, but he doesn’t want to overstep. There’s a line being drawn, an overcasting shadow. Percy’s fingers move on their own accord the entire night.
Tap, tap, tap.
(He hears nothing in return and is afraid to name the emotion he feels in her silence.)
.
“Open up,” he hears Annabeth bark, but he chooses to ignore her, twisting under his comforter and closing his eyes. If she wants to come in and force him out of bed, he thinks, she can at least open his bedroom door.
Only she must kick it open or something, because Percy jolts awake at a loud bang and sees her standing in his doorway, hair flying about her head and a murderous look on her face. She’s also holding a drink carrier, so Percy pulls the blankets over his shoulders and starts with that.
“One of those for me?” He points to a cup, raising an eyebrow. He thinks he can smell cocoa.
“Yes, mocha latte,” she seethes, storming through his room to sit at his desk chair. Percy idly wonders how she got into his building, and if Jason was awake to let her in. He wouldn’t be surprised if she copied his key, now that he thinks about it. Annabeth hands him a paper cup before she throws herself back into the chair, crossing her arms, and tapping a foot against the floor. Her face is flushed.
Percy lets her stew for a moment, sitting up and taking a sip of his coffee. He figures he can forgive her for coming over unannounced. “Are you going to let me put a shirt on before you tell me what’s wrong?”
“Ugh,” she groans, finding a shirt on his floor and throwing it at him.
“Okay,” he gestures for her to start.
“Your stupid fucking RA,” she throws her hands up, and the morning light hits her hair, creating a halo. “He’s stupid and rude and fucking stupid, Percy. I was outside your building at seven-thirty, but he made me wait until eight. I reminded him that I have, in fact, spent the night here, but that only made him angrier. He wanted to know what right I had to do that and when I told him my right was our nine AM psychology lecture but that fucker –”
Annabeth is bright, bright, bright. Percy can only stare, can only see that she is lighting up his entire room, that her indignation is sunfire, and the feeling in his chest is from a sunbeam and he’s burning, burning, burning under her. Like a beautiful mini-furnace sun goblin.
She continues, hands flying wildly about her, but he can’t hear a single word. “He wanted my student ID, can you believe that? For wanting to drop off coffee, Percy, coffee? I didn’t give it to him, of course, I am not a fucking idi–”
“Wanna play Tap Tap?” He interrupts her, offering a warm smile
“What?” Annabeth’s hands fall, her bursting energy sapped from her words.
“Tap Tap,” he reiterates, reaching over to pick up his phone. “Tap Tap Fish?” Percy asks again when her face is blank, as if this isn’t a game they have played together for weeks.
“Oh,” she exhales, and Percy can feel a shadow. “I deleted it.”
(Only hearts in love can break, he realizes, and feels cold.)