Hello. Would you mind to tell why you don't like percabeth? Personally I don't hate nor like it, just as I do with other canon pairings in general, but it'd be great to hear your perspective (if you don't mind of course)
I just ugh I really want to like Percabeth
I'm rereading Mark of Athena though, and one line caught my eye.
[...]they'd [Annabeth's feelings for Percy] grown painfully intense- like she'd been forced to withdraw from a life-saving medicine.
Now, ok, I'm willing to accept arguments of teenage longing, and even the pain of being far away from someone you love, but that line to me is kind of, I don't know, a red flag? Annabeth shouldn't be DEPENDENT on her feelings for Percy, and it by know means should be HER ENTIRE NARRATIVE.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is nothing to do with Annabeth and Percy as characters and everything to do with lazy, trope-y writing, but in Mark of Athena, it just seems so forced and Annabeth just seems sick with her feelings? I don't know, it makes me feel kind of uncomfortable with the entire situation.
(Again, I'm JUST NOW rereading MoA, so these specific examples are fresh in my mind as I write this.)
My other issue is that it seems to me that literally the only reason they're together is proximity. Annabeth lost Thalia, and then she lost Thalia AGAIN to the Hunters, and then she lost Luke. Thalia and Luke were the two most important people to her, and then Percy kind of came in during the middle, after Thalia and before Luke. They were forced together by the narrative by circumstance and fell into the habit of each other before they could really explore any other options. Percy certainly didn't feel committed to a relationship with Annabeth until The Last Olympian even though Annabeth was already committed to him.
Obviously, they mean a lot to each other, but if we're being honest the only time they've really SPENT together has been in the midst of prophecy fulfilling, life-endangering, world-saving, high stress and high pressure environments. Never really have Percy and Annabeth had to actually deal with each other AS PEOPLE; as two teenagers who have essentially zero romantic experience and a lot of baggage between the two of them. When the person you're with at the brink of death continues to be there when no one else really IS, it makes sense to want to be with them. It really, REALLY does. I'm not contesting that.
What I'm saying is that I honestly don't think Percy and Annabeth, as they are NOW have a healthy, real relationship. They're awesome as friends, closer than friends, even! But as romantic partners? I don't know - I feel like they aren't that compatible, honestly, and that (Percy especially) has a lot of growing up as a person to do, OUTSIDE being the "Hero of the Prophecy" thing, before they could be a functioning couple.
And again- none of this falls on Percy or Annabeth as characters. It's literally lazy writing peppered with cliches (expected, but still annoying). I mean, you knew Percabeth was going to be end game from Lightning Thief, but that doesn't make it the best option? Honestly, to me personally, it's boring :U
