whispering their name like a secret + percabeth please!
thanks K! ☺️ okay, so this is future percabeth (think TLO) but with show!annabeth… enjoy! 💜
———
Camp Half-Blood was in readiness. The tension was as palpable as NYC humidity and Percy felt like he would snap in two just like the rusty deck of the CSS Birmingham under the onslaught of Charybdis and Scylla. That summer, that quest, had been a wild one, but nothing could compare to the climax of the final battle.
Percy wasn’t nervous, not really. He trusted his abilities to come up against whatever was thrown at them, but he was scared for the other campers. Their bodies were constantly in fight or flight mode, but some of them had never faced such a dangerous challenge and the thought of what they would meet was constantly running through his head and no matter what he did it wouldn’t stop.
Various scenarios were cycling, swirling as thoroughly in his head as a round of laundry in his mother’s washing machine, the shush shush shush of the water — dread — trapping him as thoroughly as a whirlpool wraps a child of Athena, or any mortal, into its deadly sea funnel.
Percy threw back the covers and sat up, pushing his hands through his hair and groaning under his breath. It was quiet in his cabin, except for the constant rush of the ocean waves that were so familiar that he barely noticed them. The sound should be calming, a counterbalance against the flow of his thoughts, but not this time.
Snatching up his jeans and sliding them on, he shoved his feet into his sneakers and slipped out the door with barely a sound.
Curfew was still being imposed but honestly, what did the counselors expect, that teenagers who were about to face battle (and perhaps certain death) would be cowed by a rule that wouldn’t even matter tomorrow.
Percy still kept his eyes peeled for harpies but he wasn’t even sure if they were any more in camp after so many had defected to Luke’s side and joined with the Titans.
The sky was clear tonight as Percy sat down on the cool sand by the water. Long Island Sound glimmered under the moonshine and stars twinkled far away in space, the faint smell of charcoal briquettes familiar as his own face in the mirror.
Orion was visible and Percy couldn’t help thinking about Artemis and the way she had honored the hunter by making him into a beautiful constellation but his loyalty had never been implicit. Perhaps he was out there still, wasting his potential on a bunch of power greedy, age-old entities who couldn’t face the fact that their time was up.
Percy sighed, even the sky continued to remind him of how their side had very little chance against such a formidable army, but they had to try.
He stood and grabbed up a rock from next to his shoe and shot it across the water, watching the ripples continue like a comet’s tail as it skipped out of view.
“Great throw.” Annabeth’s voice filtered through the air beside him and her dark braids tumbled around shoulders that appeared out of thin air, a faded NY Yankees cap gripped in one hand.
“Thanks.” He shrugged, giving her the barest glance before turning to stare at the water. Any camaraderie between them seemed strained lately and he wasn’t sure how to fix it. But there was this awareness surrounding him any time she was near now, like how he could feel the presence of the water that lapped against the shoreline a few feet away and what trickled into the groundwater
underneath their feet.
“You okay, Seaweed Brain?” Her voice was quiet, a tone that seemed normal for the atmosphere, shushed and expectant.
“I don’t know.” He offered, honestly and bent to pick up another stone. He weighed it in his hand for a moment before handing it to her. “Your turn,” he added and tried not to jerk his hand back at the soft touch of her fingertips against his palm.
It was hard enough to worry about what tomorrow would bring without worrying about her, but he knew anything he said would be taken as a lack of faith and Percy had more faith in her abilities than he did in his own. Annabeth was a veteran of the battle for lost causes and somehow, she managed to make him feel like he wasn’t one.
She weighed the stone in her hand, just like he had, struck a pose that was engineered for maximum effect and let the rock sail through the air. It impacted the water but glanced across the surface as light as a water bug landing and seemed to almost float across the water.
He was distracted from his thoughts with the wonder of her perfect throw and he laughed, shooting her a grin that didn’t hold back.
Her smile glowed when she looked up at him, the warmth of her eyes and her excitement a whole different experience from how she had first treated him when he came to camp. Then she probably would have gloated, but her attitude always held a certain fragility to it, like she was daring anyone to point out her faults, faults she knew existed all too well.
She was his best friend and somehow he had managed to ignore the depth of his feelings for her, until now. The lightness in his chest at the way she had been able to distract him so effortlessly was a complete one-eighty from the dread that had existed earlier. The worry was still there but she had helped ease his anxiety just by being herself.
“I don’t know if you saw that, but I’m pretty sure your stone is halfway to New York by now.” He laughed again, reaching forward he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and breathed in the familiar scent of Annabeth: ink, beeswax and some kind of girly lotion that he’s sure he would get a punch in the stomach for if he mentioned it.
“New York, we’ll be there tomorrow.” She murmured, her shoulders tightening slightly under the weight of his arm.
Percy pulled her closer, ignoring the awareness that shot along his nerve endings, a sensation as awe-inspiring as the pull he felt every time he used his powers.
“I know. I— uh… that’s why I was out here. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” He noticed for the first time the denim of her jacket covered a small blue tank top and matching striped pajama pants and he swallowed hard, suddenly wary of standing quite so close, but she needed the contact and to be honest, so did he.
“It’ll be dangerous.” She murmured, moving her head slightly so that he could smell another whiff of sweetness like candy.
“Dangerous is my middle name.” He proclaimed, cockily, and too strongly for some of his doubts at the moment.
“I’m pretty sure it’s not.” Her tone was dry as the Arizona desert and he congratulated himself on distracting her, just like she had for him.
“It’ll be difficult.” He towed her a little closer and she didn’t resist, her hand coming to rest on his back and he had to control his breathing.
“We’ve faced difficult before.” She replied and he pushed down the urge to tally up their so-called “wins.”
“We have.” Percy reiterated, the roughness of her jacket a contrast to the softness of her form against him.
“Percy,” she whispered his name, her vulnerability as precious as a secret, “promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“You know I can’t make promises I won’t be able to keep.” Percy answered her honestly and despite the worry, he knew that his instincts would take over during the battle and any promise he made now wouldn’t be considered tomorrow, in the thick of a vicious fight.
Her gaze was fierce and despite his urge to look away, he kept his eyes locked on hers. Brown met blue and despite the nervousness in his stomach, he closed his eyes, bending until his forehead touched hers.
“I can’t promise I won’t do anything stupid, but I’ll promise to try, for you, okay?” He hated how his voice trembled, but if he could be honest and the most himself with anyone, it was her.
“That’s all I ask, Perseus Jackson.”
“Annabeth Chase?” He asked, feeling the tenuousness of her touch as she lifted her hands to wrap around his shoulders, their bodies leaning in until they were flush against each other.
“What?” Her breath whispered across his face and he swallowed hard, knowing if he tried to do what he was thinking, impulsively, that even in this moment of tenderness that she would probably pummel him.
“Nothing. I just wanted to use your full name.” He breathed out a laugh as she sucked in an annoyed breath and pulled away, but he didn’t take his eyes off of her as she stormed away, headed back to Athena’s colonnaded cabin.
also on AO3
want one? 🍦
