Whenever I’m having a bad day I just remember that 14-year-old Percy wore a Lion fur coat for a majority of the Titans Curse and my day gets 10x better
in which Piper and Annabeth try to build a snowman, and Percy thinks they’re ridiculous for trying to compete with kids
“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me build this snowman?”
Annabeth blinks, startled, and her eyes dart to her friend. Piper stares back at her expectantly, her mitten-covered hands filled with fresh snow. Annabeth thinks she looks genuinely offended that she isn’t helping build a snowman, but she can’t do anything except smile and laugh at Piper.
“Your glare is weak,” Annabeth calls out, but she stomps through the snow until she’s standing in front of the spot where Piper is kneeling. She pulls at Piper’s scarf blowing in the wind, and knocks her hat off into the snow too, before she lets her hand fall. “You’re adorable.”
Piper scowls and drops the snow so she can replace her hat. “You’re so unhelpful. How does Percy deal with you?”
“It does help that he’s in love with me,” Annabeth suggests. She smiles when Piper’s attempt at rolling a ball of snow crumbles between her fingers.
“Who says I’m not in love with you?”
Annabeth clicks her teeth. “How would your girlfriend react to you saying that?”
“I don’t think she’d be all that surprised,” Piper says. “Can you get on the ground and help me with this snowman?”
“I don’t think I’ll be much help,” Annabeth admits, but she drops to the ground anyway. The snow seeps through the fabric of her jeans, and it’s freezing against her knee, but she chooses to ignore that so she can attempt to begin her own base of the snowman.
She doesn’t remember the last time she actually built a snowman, and she uses that as her excuse for why she’s failing at it. The ice refuses to hold, and she tries to squeeze it softly in her palms to make it compact before rolling it in the snow, that doesn’t do much either.
“I thought you’d know how to make a snowman,” Piper says.
“Shut up.”
Piper watches, unimpressed, when the snowball crumbles again. “This is painful.”
“I don’t see you making a snowman?”
Piper grins.
“Acting as though you’re any better,” Annabeth grumbles. “I hate you.”
“What about Percy?”
“What about him?”
“Can he make a snowman?”
Annabeth pauses her desperate pawing at the ground for snow. “I don’t know? I don’t think he’s ever tried.”
“Where is he?”
“Still sleeping, probably.”
Piper grins, devious. “Wake him up.”
“What? No.”
“If he can control water, he can probably control ice, right?”
“Are you really that desperate to make a snowman?”
Piper sighs. “I have to admit, I’m a little miffed that your neighbors were able to do it.”
Annabeth glances to their right where another snowman rests. It’s not particularly impressive, only two sections to it and missing the carrot for a nose, but it’s more than they’ve been able to do.
“I refuse to let them be better, so go get your husband.”
Annabeth doesn’t move. “You’re really going to fight with two ten-year-olds?”
“Yes. They deserve to face the real world. We had to.” Piper picks up a chunk of snow that borders an actual piece of ice and throws it at Annabeth’s face. “Go get him.”
Annabeth gives her best friend a scolding look, but she’s still smiling adoringly, even as she stands in the snow so she can make her way back into the apartment. The temperature change is drastic, and her cheeks almost burn with how warm it is. Her cheeks burn for a different reason, though, when she spots Percy walking through their hallway, running a towel through his hair, having just finished a shower. His shirt is off, and it kind of distracts her from when he greets her with a smile.
“Annabeth?”
Annabeth bites her lip. “Hi.”
Percy laughs. “Hi. I thought you were going outside?”
“We were, but Piper is petty and wants your help building a snowman.”
“Like I know how to do that.” He sets the towel he’d been holding on the back of the couch before coming towards her. He tugs playfully at her coat before cupping her cheeks and giving her a short kiss. “Tell her to stop bullying ten-year-olds.”
“It’s in her blood,” Annabeth tells him, nuzzling her nose into his neck when he hugs her tightly. “She’s not going to give up.”
“Maybe we should leave her there.”
Annabeth ponders that. “Do you think she’ll notice?”
“She might, but we can lock the door and pretend we’re not home,” Percy says. He moves away, and she misses the extra warmth he’d provided. “She might not notice if she’s so busy trying to build a snowman.”
“The key word is trying.” Annabeth tracks him around the living room, and he disappears from her sight when he walks into their bedroom. She can hear him moving around. “Can you please help?”
Percy pokes his head through the doorframe, and she watches as he pulls a shirt over his shoulders. He gives her a knowing grin. “You want to beat those kids, don’t you?”
“So badly,” Annabeth says. “You know you do too.”
“Kind of,” Percy admits. He walks back towards her, and his hand brushes against her back as he breezes by to throw on his own coat. As he holds open the front door for her, he says, “We’re horrible people, aren’t we?”
Annabeth kisses his cheek as she passes by. “Definitely.”
Annabeth doesn’t think she’s ever seen Piper as excited as when she spots Percy. She’d be insulted, if it wasn’t so funny. When Percy kneels next to Annabeth, he’s close enough that his arm brushes against her.
“We’re good people,” Percy says to the two of them, “but two little girls can’t have a better snowman. That’s unacceptable.”
“Can you control ice?”
“We’re going to find out,” Percy says to Piper. “Just grab snow, and I’ll…try to keep it together?”
So it turns out that Percy isn’t great at dealing with ice. The ice sticks together better, but it’s also lopsided. Still, they manage to roll a snowball big enough that it gets to the point that they can’t move it anymore. They lay that down as the base and continue onto another snowball that somehow ends up even more lopsided. It’s okay though, because they manage to get the head on the snowman, and that automatically makes it better than the rival snowman.
Piper looks at the final snowman, concerned. “It looks…”
“Frightening?” Percy offers.
“Yeah. That.”
“At least it has a head,” Annabeth says. “Theirs didn’t.”
Percy tilts his head. “Should we add a nose to it?”
“With what?”
“I think we have a carrot.”
Annabeth quirks her lips up. “That does seem like an awful lot of effort.”
“You’re right.” He pulls her arm lightly until she comes closer to him, and he wraps himself around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. He kisses her temple before whispering, “I’m not so sure we actually won.”
Annabeth breathes. “Yeah, I don’t think so either.”
“We win in spirit,” Piper says. “Can you guys not kiss in front of me? It’s hurting my feelings.”
Annabeth pouts. “Do you want me to kiss you?”
“You know, I really wouldn’t mind that.”
Annabeth laughs.
“I helped you build a snowman,” Percy says. “No kissing my wife.”
“I’ll kiss both of you,” Piper says.
They bicker a bit, but Annabeth is focused on the snowman. It feels ridiculous, trying to outbuild kids. Maybe she is a terrible person, but Piper and Percy are there with her, so it’s alright. It doesn’t get better than building snowmen with her two favorite people.
does percabeth's dynamic and love have me in a puddle on the floor every time i think about them? yes. do i desperately wish piper and annabeth had kissed at least once? YES goddammit they were this close and totally had crushes on each other and we have so few wlw ships that make so much sense and they had more chemistry in the donut-stealing scene than anything between piper and blonde superman and remember when piper cupped her friend's face?? it--
i love shipping pjo/hoo characters as much the next person but i definitely agree that rick made all the characters way too focused on romance.
like one second they’re worrying about their imminent death and the next second they’re like “oh no i have no soulmate” BITCH YOU’RE LIKE 15. (that’s definitely not aimed at anyone in particular)
don’t get me started on reyna’s storyline and the hunters of artemis
point is we missed out on the 7+nico & reyna interacting with each other platonically and just being regular teens.
like a leo and annabeth friendship would be so fun to see! they’re smart! they had rough childhoods! frank and leo! the best bromance! basically more of hazel, piper and annabeth bc hazel and annabeth barely interacted! piper and percy supremacy! jason literally having more character than a wet ball of mozzarella! reyna HAVING FUN!
in conclusion let teens be teens, they don’t have to find their one true love right now.
can you fucking imagine the rawness, the climactic charge, the tension the ELECTRICITY of percy’s blood almost spilling in BOO and instead of it falling on the earth he catches it midair using bloodbending………
the one where he whisks her away on a surprise trip, but Annabeth is not a morning person
“Percy, where are we going?” Annabeth yawned sleepily. She writhed around in the front passenger seat until she got a good look at the mop of messy dark hair next to her.
“It’s a Sunday!” He exclaimed, eyes trained on the road. “So we’ve got the whole day…”
Annabeth frowned, she wasn’t sure they had the same idea on how best to spend what was their first free day, in weeks, together. She needed to know. And she needed to know now. In case she didn’t like whatever they were headed for, it wasn’t too late to turn the car round and head back to the city.
She loved him but he wasn’t exactly the best at planning dates. He wasn’t a planner at all — that was definitely more her thing.
“To do what?” She asked.
“Anything we want.”
“Okay… but what are we doing?”
“It’s a surprise.” Percy replied chirpily, fingers drumming against the slate grey wheel. He was practically bouncing up and down in the driver’s seat. It must be something good, she thought. It was probably something she’d like too. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been much point to this. He at least had the decency to tell her in advance when they were headed to rescue a new demigod and their hapless protector.
Annabeth shifted back in her seat so she could stare out front at the road. She supposed she could let this slide. If there was one person who knew her well, it was him. And besides, she’d trusted him countless times to save her life in the face of impending death and he’d always succeeded, so what was one surprise day-trip compared to that? Although Percy had had a lot of practice when it came to fighting monsters, she wasn’t sure the same applied here.
“Can I at least know where it is we’re-”
“Bup bup bup,” He raised a finger off the wheel — a sure indication that he wanted her to stop talking, though that never stopped her before.
“That’ll ruin the surprise Wise Girl.”
“Fine.” She sighed, squinting out the side window, watching as they passed by cars, blending in with the blur of the trees and the guard rail. The sun was just starting to rise in the left corner of the side mirror, illuminating the world in an oregold light. “Then tell me why we had to wake up so early?”
“Or why you decided to interrupt my blissful sleep at 5 in the morning—”
“I had to carry you to the car,” Percy said smugly, completely cutting her off, the faintest hints of a smirk surfacing on his handsome face.
“So technically, you weren’t awake then.”
“Oh yeah?” She shot back, eyes rolling. “Then technically what would you call it?”
“Technically I would call it sleep-walking…” He was full-on grinning now, “combined with a bit of sleep-teeth-brushing and sleep-changing—”
“That is not at all what happened,” Annabeth scoffed, she swore he was making up words now. “ It doesn't even make sense!”
“How could I have done all those things while asleep?”
“Well, if you want to get really technical...” He peeled his eyes away for a second to wink at her. “It was also with a little help from yours truly.”
“I don’t see how you could possibly think,” She slowed her words down on purpose, “I was still asleep,” biting down on each syllable, “after you literally screamed in my ear”
“Ah my dear Annabeth, technically your eyes were still closed—”
“That’s because you switched on all the lights!” She snapped.
“Technically, I had no other choice or it would be too dark to see.”
“Well, technically I wanted to choke you afterwards. And I still do now.”
He laughed. “I love you too.”
“I’m serious.” Annabeth huffed. She made it a point to pout, crossing her arms, feigning ire.
He was infuriating sometimes. How he forced her out of bed at an ungodly hour, and refused to tell her where they were going, and in spite of her behaving like a brat, he was still the same endearing Percy. The same Percy who never snapped, or shouted, or got mad at her, even when she knew she was unbearable. This was a fact she had become all too aware of and unfortunately, so was Percy. Funnily enough, it was that which frustrated her the most.
“Oh please,” He winked at her. “We both know you’re seconds away from smiling.”
“You’re impossible.” Even as she said that, she could tell she was grinning, shaking her head. But it was true: she was a complete sucker for him. “This better be worth it, Seaweed Brain.”
“Obviously!” Percy glanced sideways at her, a twinkle in those sea-green eyes. “Only the best for you, Wise Girl.”
Annabeth swore he was the only person who truly saw her, who saw through everything — all the flaws, the imperfections, the scars. And he loved her anyway.
If one of the demigods was going to develop or have tics, I vote Annabeth. She fought in two wars, was constantly under the extreme stress of a quest every year, is always losing loved ones, has extreme anxiety, went to Tartarus, and has ADHD. You’re telling me she’s never had tics before? It just makes so much sense for her and in this essay I will-
Does nobody think about how Percy -the last person you’d expect to be good at gardening- kept the moonlace Calypso gave him on Ogygia, and imagine when the seven and Calypso are hanging out at Percy’s house, like normal teens (cuz they deserve to be happy), and Calypso is just talking to everyone happily when something catches her eye - moonlace, and she points at the it and says “I can’t believe you planted it” and Percy just shrugs like it’s no big deal and replies, “well yeah, I promised”, pretending like he totally did not beg Annabeth like a million times to help him look after it properly, and made her promise she’d come over every few weeks to check he was doing it right?
Am somewhat considering creating character posters for each of The Seven to accompany my film film poster. But also that would take a hecka long time and I don't have an attention span. Enjoy scary Annabeth, tho
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