Annabeth is starting to regret going on this buisness trip.
A bad storm. A hotel mishap. That’s the unfortunate situation that’s caused Annabeth to be stuck with him— Percy.
Her bastardly co-worker and dare she say rival. Annabeth’s first red flag of him should have been at their first meeting; when he drove his car into a puddle past her in the heavy rain and caused her new suit to be ruined. Her second red flag should have been when he didn’t save the elevator door for her— on the same day!— when she was already running late on her first day on the job.
(Her friends call her petty. She is.)
“This is humiliating.”
Percy, ever the gentleman he is, instantly darts towards the bed and tosses his bags onto the blinding white covers. His face tells all— he isn’t the least bit concerned about the hotel’s poor management as he rests on the bed.
A clap of thunder strikes outside the window.
“Aw, hey now,” Gods it’s like he’s teasing her— “Sharing a room can’t be so bad. It’s just one night.”
“Why do you sound happy?” Annabeth scoffs, “Nevermind. It doesn’t matter. You can take the bed.”
Percy sits up, leaning on his elbows for support. Some strands of his hair stick to his forehead, and he handsomely brushes them out of his eyes. (Ew. Ananbeth would rather quit her job than admit that Percy is handsome.)
(Still, though. A lot of her co-workers fawn over Percy for a good reason.)
(Ew.)
“Where will you be sleeping, then?”
“The...” She pauses, scanning the room. “Floor?”
“I don’t think—“
“Anyways, since we got separated from our co-workers,” She sucks in a sharp breath, “I called them. We’ll be meeting them tomorrow morning at eleven, I think.”
“Sure, but really, the floor is kinda—“
Another clap of lightning.
“—Dirty, don’t you think?”
“I can get a blanket. And shower.” Says Ananbeth with a hint of disgust. It’s obvious she’d rather sleep anywhere but the floor.
“...Sure.” Percy narrows his eyes at her. “Would you like to take the shower room first?”
She dismisses the fact that Percy may be trying to be kind to her. “I’m more of a morning shower person.” Annabeth deadpans.
“Suit your self,” Is all Percy says before grabbing a towel and heading into the dingy bathroom.
If Annabeth started to regret going on this trip in the past thirty minutes, she’s starting to regret a whole lot more now.
She likes to think of herself as a mature person. She’s a little competitive, sure, and a smidge petty — but aside that, she's a calm, composed person.
But her composure is starting to wear thin.
"My eyes are up here, you know," Percy grins.
"Wasn't looking." Annabeth flicks her eyes away, face flushing with heat.
Dear God. Is this some crappy fanfiction?
With nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips, Percy rummages through his suitcase for what Annabeth hopes are clothes. His... mediocre black hair is matted to his... average, totally not gorgeous face, and the blonde currently has a death grip on her poor phone in hopes of not letting her mind loose as a stray water droplet runs down hus chest. It may be a little to late for that.
Percy makes a poor attempt at muffling a laugh.
Annabeth grits her teeth. He knows what he's doing.
"It's getting late." She says into the silence as Percy ever so slowly puts on a shirt. Annabeth tries to keep her gaze away. "I say we sleep as soon as possible."
"Good idea," Percy yawns, stretching his arms above his head, "Are you sure you want to take the floor?"
She nods, fiddling with the hem of her oversized pajama shirt. "I have a blanket on the floor and everything. I'll be fine."
Ananbeth gestures to her little makeshift bed— a pile of blankets and pillows made hastily. Not her best work, she'll admit, but it'll suffice.
"Alright, then," He crawls into the bed, "Gnight."
The lights go out— along with all the electricity in the building.
Suddenly, it feels a lot more colder.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
It's so warm, is the first thing Annabeth notices as she wakes up. It's not cold, or chilly, not in the slightest. Just warm. The sun is shinning through the blinds, too.
Her shoulders aren't nearly as stiff as she thought they would be the previous night. If anything, she feels refreshed— not like she needs coffee to function first thing. It feels nice.
But, gods— why does she feel so heavy?
And why is her pillow moving?
She groans, having her attempt at getting up. Her arms seem to be stuck under the unusually heavy pillow. Her face— which is buried into the pillow too— feels flushed with heat. Annabeth doesn't exactly recognize this scent, but it smells fresh. A bit musky.
"Mnn..." A voice groans softly into the crown of her head, "Five more minutes."
What the hell.
"Wha— Percy!?" Annabeth jolts out, eyes growing as wide as saucers, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Huh? Oh—" At this, Percy realizes what he'd been doing— basically spooning her in a cuddle. How humiliating. How embarrassing. "S-Sorry! I thought I was still dreamin— I mean. Forget it." Almost comically, his face is a bright shade of red.
"Whatever," Annabeth hisses, "Why am I in your bed anyways?"
Percy looks up, running his hands over his face with embarrassment. "You.. looked cold and uncomftorable on the ground, so I made some space. I swear put a pillow or something between us! You probably kicked it off the bed."
She scoffs as she looks at the scattered pillows on the ground. "Me? That was probably you."
"It doesn't matter right now." He says, yawning, "If it helps, you are a very good cuddler. Ten out of ten experience."
(The feeling is mutual.)
Annabeth only blushes harder. "I should go back to sleep."
I don’t know how many of my old friends are on tumblr still, but I recently reopened an in-progress Chapter 3 of my old fic and got inspired again to write. So here’s a little bit of it under the cut. I was just really happy with some of the Adrien + Plagg banter I was writing.
Also stay tuned cause I’m probably going to finish this chapter and post it??? Sometime in the near future??? Hope everyone’s been safe and healthy! And taking care of yourself, self-care is important.
--
Context: Adrien is 22 years old. He’s a fresh college graduate and got his father to agree to him starting as a regular ol’ intern at his company. Of course, Marinette is also an intern at Gabriel’s firm and finds herself placed into the same department as Adrien!! Adrien is a bit of a mess though since he’s now a “normal person,” who doesn’t have personal stylists or anything like that anymore, so he’s a bit of a fashion disaster right now. Doesn’t know how to tie a tie, doesn’t know how to do his hair, doesn’t know how to iron his shirt, etc. Marinette’s there to save the day though after coincidentally meeting Adrien on her way to work. She asked Adrien to wash out his hair in the bathroom (it’s a single-stall) while she sneaks around to get hair wax, a new shirt, and what-not. Shenanigans and banter occur.
--
Adrien looked into the mirror and sighed, “Looks like it was pretty noticeably bad, Plagg.”
His kwami broke free from his shirt pocket. “What did I say? You should’ve trusted me with the tie instead of watching those online videos.” He crossed his arms.
“Your ‘tie’ looked more like a noose.”
“What’s the difference? Take a piece of fabric, tie it around your neck, loop it around a few times.” He sighed dramatically. “Listen, Chat Noirs weren’t the most noble people, I might’ve gotten some knots mixed up here and there.” Pause. “But whatever you have on your neck right now is far from either.”
“Okay! Okay!” Adrien pulled the tie off from himself. “It’s gone now, happy?”
“I can’t wait to see the craftsmanship that Mawinette will bring to make that tie into a piece of human fashion. That girl’s a keeper y’know, I should’ve made her Chat Noir.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty great.” Adrien smiled, remembering the many times his friend saved him from everyday disasters. A slight blush came to his cheeks.
Plagg suddenly appeared in his field of vision. “She still likes you, you know that right?”
“S---She what?” Adrien rolled his eyes and recoiled his head, placing his hands on his waist. “No way, Plagg! After all this time?”
“Oh, so you don’t know?” With a giant smirk on his face, he rubbed himself against Adrien’s arm. “Then why were you getting all cuddwy and bwushy with her on the twain?”
“It was embarrassing!!” His face was red. “Lots of people, being shoved into a tight space, I was still sweaty from running to the station, it wasn’t a… a thing, it was just awkward…. Plagg, I don’t even have feelings for Ladybug anymore, no way Marinette still thinks of me like tha-”
“You’re telling me that you don’t have eyes on Bugaboo? HAHAHA that’s precious. Whatever you say~”
“It’s the truth! What would she ever see in a guy like me anyway!!”
“She wouldn’t see anything in you now when you’re looking like that.”
“Plagg!!”
“Don’t yell at me, that’s mean!! You better wash your hair before Mawi comes back though~ Good luck.”
