PERCABETH DRABBLE!!!! MAYBE AFTER THE WAR/ADULTS BUT REALLY WHATEVER YOU FEEL LIKE WRITING OK THANKS BYE
She finds him in his bed, a lump under the covers.
Annabeth is silent as she toes of her shoes and crawls across the duvet, pressing a kiss against Percy’s cheek to let him know that she’s there. The drawn blinds are causing the light of the setting sun to stripe his face. She presses her lips against the part drenched in sunlight, then moves over to the part covered in darkness.
Percy doesn’t startle. He doesn’t move or acknowledge her. He simply lies there, comforter fisted in his hands as he stares across the room. It looks like he’s staring at a poster that has been clumsily tacked to his wall, but in reality, he isn’t staring at anything.
In reality, he never really looks anymore.
Usually, when his mom lets her in, she’ll sit with him in silence, because if Percy wants quiet, Annabeth can give that to him. She’s happy to give that to him. Except today, when she slides under the covers and lies in his bed next to him, she can’t help but think that, when silence seems to become a noise of its own, there’s too much of it.
Instead of giving him space, Annabeth slides in close and presses herself against him, letting her forehead bend to rest between his shoulder blades. He’s shirtless, and his body is almost feverishly warm under the covers, but he doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable. She can feel his body moving up and down, breath slightly slower than it should be, but it’s always like that these days.
Something about the war had broken Percy in ways that neither of them can explain.
“So,” she says, “I saw Jason and Piper this morning.” Percy says nothing. “Jason’s looking into schools around Camp Halfblood,” Annabeth continues. “And Piper is enrolling with me. So we can all protect each other. And that’s good because I really think we’ll need to.”
She wants him to say something. She misses his voice. She misses the way his eyes would droop right before he kissed her– he always looked like a little kid. Like the little kid Annabeth had fallen in love with all those years ago.
He hasn’t made that face in a long time. If anything, he looks older. More drawn. He’s getting thinner, and although his skin is still tan, there’s something about him that just doesn’t sit right with her. He looks unhealthy. Like he just… doesn’t care about taking care of himself.
“Piper has panic attacks,” says Annabeth. “And Hazel and Frank have to take turns being the smiley one because… they can’t. It’s hard.” She’s desperate to show him that it’s okay. It’s okay because everyone else is broken too. “Percy, they haven’t been to hell and back and they’re still struggling.”He makes a noise of disbelief.
“Percy, you’re allowed to be broken. You’re allowed to feel damaged. But please… don’t hide from everyone else.”“I’m not hiding from you.” She’s so startled to hear his rough, gravelly voice that she nearly jumps out of the bed.
“What?”“I can’t hide from you,” he says, emotionless. “Because you’ve seen everything. And after you saw it, you were scared.”
Annabeth’s heart, pressed up against Percy’s back, begins to thump against her chest.
“I’m not scared of you,” she says, but there’s a telltale wobble in her voice.
“You are,” he says, and on the second word, his voice cracks. Wobbles like a little boy’s. Annabeth squeezes her eyes shut, remembering when it used to do that all the time. But he grew up. They grew up together. They got through it all. Only to be here. “I saw it. Saw you.”
“Percy–”“Being around them will make it worse for them,” he says quietly. “And you… you can’t stop picturing all the almosts. All the things I could have done. All the things I still could do. So maybe it’s better if I’m not around you, either.”The sun gets lower in the sky. Annabeth sees her arms become covered with the same stripes that are shadowed across Percy’s cheek.
“I’m not scared of that,” Annabeth whispers eventually. “I’m afraid of what it means for you if you do go there again. I’m not afraid of the actions. I’m afraid of where you’re going to go if you commit them. If that overcomes you. And I’m afraid that I’m going to follow you there, because sometimes I think… sometimes I think it would take a light breeze to blow me over. And knowing that you’re there too? Percy. Who’s weighty enough to pull us back?”
He turns around and faces her for the first time, eyes more alive than they have been in weeks. Slowly, he presses his forehead to hers, pulling her body flush against his and shutting his eyes.
“So we break together,” he suggests eventually.
“Dominos,” agrees Annabeth.
“Or we can not break. Those are the options.”She smiles wanly, feeling so much more exhausted. She doesn’t think they’re going to leave his room for a long time.
“Right.” Her breaths are speeding up, and she doesn’t know why. Doesn’t think she could label herself in this moment, even if she wanted to. “That’s the only thing we can do.”“Together,” Percy says quietly. “Or not at all.”
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