written for the pjohoominibang. i collabed with connorstolll on tumblr, she beta read this and made an amazing playlist for it!

i.

Annabeth liked her school. Maybe that made her sound strange, but she really didn't care. It was big, with beautiful buildings, high ceilings and a lot of light so that she could sketch whatever she liked whenever she wanted to. The people (for the most part) were nice too, probably because it was an all girls' boarding school and the most exciting thing that ever happened were the Friday cake sales. It was prestigious, too, and put her in a great place for starting college that fall.

Still, that didn't make up for the fact that there was no Percy Jackson at her school.

Most of the girls knew about him, because Annabeth had mentioned him to a friend and the whole thing had sort of spiralled from there – rumours about him sneaking into her dorm at night, taking her on wild midnight dates and such.

And none of that had been true.

Annabeth had laughed at the ridiculous stories her classmates had come up with, how they barely scratched the surface of what exactly Percy and her had been up to (somehow, fighting monsters never quite made it onto their lists). None of it had been even half plausible – for one thing, Percy was on the other side of the country back in New York – until one night, when she woke up to the sound of something knocking on her window.

Someone.

She froze instantaneously at the noise, in spite of the fact that her eyes were still droopy from fatigue, and grabbed a knife from beneath her mattress. She'd been even more on edge than ever since going back to school, away from the security of camp and Percy and her friends. Tartarus had affected her more than she let it show.

Annabeth swung her feet onto the floor and crept towards the window, gripping her weapon tightly. She swept aside her curtain, expecting to find a monster –

"Percy?"

Illuminated in the soft yellow light of the lamppost outside was her boyfriend. He was crouched on the windowpane, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and his orange camp t-shirt. She wondered what the hell he was doing, and opened the window.

"Hey." Percy said, all too loudly for her liking, as he climbed through the window.

Annabeth shushed him, "Seaweed Brain! D'you want everyone to wake up?" she hissed.

He only looked somewhat apologetic, "I just – sorry."

His head dropped to stare at his feet. Annabeth could hardly believe her sleep-deprived eyes.

"Are you okay?" she said softly, "What's going on?"

"I…I freaked out."

And then it clicked. Annabeth knew his mom and Paul had gone away for the weekend; Percy had told her so only yesterday via Iris Message. Which meant that Percy – who, like her, suffered from severe panic attacks – was here because he was scared.

Annabeth took his clammy hand and led him over to her bed. Her room was dark, and she switched on her bedside lamp as they sat down so that she could study him more closely.

In the months that had passed since they'd escaped from Tartarus – since the war had ended – she'd seen a change in him. He didn't laugh as much anymore. When he made jokes (and they were pretty rare) they were undermined by a cynical tone, usually something bitter, like he'd been chewing on a lemon. Physically, he looked different too – not necessarily in a bad way. She'd be lying if she said the way his hair was perpetually messier and how his green eyes darkened when he was angry didn't turn her on just a little. But his shoulders were hunched over more frequently now, like he was trying to shield himself from something, and she knew he woke up most nights in a sweat.

She lay down and he mirrored her, squishing next to each other on her single bed.

"I was down there again," he began, shifting to look at her, "Only you – you weren't." His voice broke on the last word.

"You'll never go there alone," she whispered, "Remember what I said?"

"You said together," he said the words low, like a chant, like a prayer. "You said always."

She wrapped a leg around one of his and cupped his face softly, ignoring the host of questions that she wanted to ask him – how he'd gotten to her so quickly, if he'd woken up feeling like his throat was trying to crawl out of his body. When she kissed him, it was chaste, light. They fell asleep with her head next to his and his arm around her waist. For once, neither of them dreamt of anything.

ii.

"Hey, Annabeth. Annabeth."

"What?"

She was seated in her Biology class, doodling a fish on the side of her notes as the teacher discussed the homework due for the next lesson. One of the girls who sat diagonally in front of her was twisted around in her chair to talk.

"Did you get the snapchat of the hot guy?" The girl – Nadia – asked excitedly.

Annabeth frowned. "Um, no? Don't think so?" She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, figuring that, as the class was basically over, she could get away with it.

"He looks just like your boyfriend," Nadia said. She had been in Annabeth's room just the other day to copy up some notes for a class she'd missed, and asked about Percy once she saw the picture of him that Annabeth kept on her nightstand.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. They had planned their next date for tomorrow, seeing as it was a weekend, but it wasn't unlike him to just show up out of the blue at her school, even if she hadn't received any snapchats of the supposedly hot guy. She shoved her schoolwork into her bag in a messier fashion than usual, and hurriedly followed Nadia to the front of the school.

As soon as they'd left the front doors, Annabeth realised that the boy had clearly gathered a crowd. A gaggle of girls was sat on the front steps, whilst more looked out of the first and second floor windows, taking pictures on their phones.

Seriously? she thought, and then remembered that at her school, nothing this interesting ever happened.

Annabeth made her way down the steps and across the front lawn to a tall sycamore tree, under which the boy was sat. He definitely looked like Percy, on account of the slouch of his shoulders and his blue hoodie, but she couldn't be sure from this distance.

"So? Is it him?" Nadia asked.

Annabeth gave her an amused look, but stayed silent as the two of them came towards the boy. As they approached, he looked up and locked eyes with her. Then, he scrambled to his feet.

Definitely Percy.

"Wise Girl!" he yelled, and jogged towards her. They met halfway; Annabeth's bag slid off her shoulder as she rushed over to him, and with a jump, wrapped her legs around his waist as he picked her up and kissed her.

It was a very messy kiss, but they hadn't seen each other in two weeks – a considerable amount in Annabeth and Percy terms, since they were still making up the time lost by Percy being put to sleep by Hera for months – so she supposed that the amount that their teeth were clacking could be excused as they embraced enthusiastically.

Someone behind them cleared their throat pointedly, and Annabeth broke away from Percy with an embarrassing squelch to recall Nadia standing behind her.

"So this is the boyfriend?" She said, one eyebrow raised.

"That's me," Percy nodded, "Here to borrow Annabeth for the weekend."

"The weekend?" Annabeth interjected, "I thought we were just going on a date?"

"A date weekend," Percy said, and he blushed a little, "I thought we could go to Montauk? We don't have to though, just an idea –" he rambled, but she cut him off with a small kiss on the cheek.

"I'd love to," she reassured him. He relaxed visibly, then laughed as she continued, "But you better be prepared for some revision, because I have an Algebra test on Monday!"

Nadia promptly waved goodbye at this point and Annabeth led Percy back to the school building, ignoring the looks of her classmates as she weaved her way up to the dorms.

"Funny," he said, as they entered her room, "I've only ever been through the window."

As they kissed, leaning against the closed door, she was pretty certain that her weekend date was going to be a lot more fun than school could ever be, no matter how much she (guiltlessly) enjoyed her classes.

iii.

She didn't put down her panic attacks on her medical emergency form, but Annabeth was starting to regret that decision.

It's not like she had them a lot in public, actually. Usually they were fairly minor, and happened in her room for a few moments until she could compose herself. She'd had one just the other day when she woke up in the middle of the night disoriented and thinking that the sheets around her neck was the grip of a monster, but she'd been able to shrug that one off easily.

This one wasn't so simple. It took her off guard, as she walked through the deserted corridors back to her room from the library. It was around seven in the evening, or at least she assumed it was, because that would explain the lack of people around. She was just coming up to the staircase when everything went black.

Somewhere in the back of her mind was a little sensible voice that sounded suspiciously like her mother, telling her that this was a power cut and nothing more. The louder, fear-fuelled part of her was screeching. Her breathing began to increase, her palms became sweaty. The silence seemed to stretch and grow around her, enveloping her in darkness. Annabeth clenched her hands into fists and felt around for her knife, before realising that she'd forgotten it in her room.

Stupid, stupid, a voice rang in her ears, A stupid little girl. You're going blind again, aren't you?

Annabeth wanted to scream, but before she could do anything the memories slammed into her like she'd been run over by a truck. Suddenly, she was back in Tartarus, back in hell, surrounded by the arai. She was blind, she'd been cursed, and she had no weapon.

She spun around frantically, searching for any semblance of light, and started to run. Her blood ran thick in her own ears, pulsing and beating as she stumbled. Then, she tripped, falling down what must have been a flight of stairs. The last thing she heard was the cackling of the monsters in her head.

"…and I really hope you wake up soon, because it kinda worries me a lot that I can't get here instantly when you need me…"

Her head was pounding. One particular spot on the left side felt like she'd been hit with a ballistae, but she was definitely lying in a bed, so that was something.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, squinting at the brightness. Annabeth recognised the space around her – the bed in the nurse's room at her school. In the chair next to her was Percy, who was holding her hand and looking at the ceiling as he spoke.

"…I just feel a little safer when I'm with you, actually. That probably makes me sound stupid, but it's true. Because, y'know, I love you. A lot."

"I love you a lot too," she mumbled, and although her voice was gruff, he heard her. Percy's head whipped round to look at her, and he broke into a wide grin.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed, "How are you feeling? They told me they found you at the bottom of some stairs after a power cut, I was so worried –"

"I'm okay," she said, and she remembered what had happened. "I, uh, had an attack. When the lights went out."

Immediately, his eyes darkened, and his jaw set. He knew exactly what kind of an attack she was talking about. "Shit, Annabeth. Are you okay?"

Slowly, she tried to sit up, wincing at the pain that shot through her head. Percy supported her back until she could sit upright in the bed, "Yeah. I'll be fine, just – I was unprepared. That's all."

He looked unconvinced, with his brows set in that adorably disapproving way, "I dunno, Annabeth. I feel like we should be closer together…I don't feel safe this far away from you."

"Hey," she said, pulling her hand out of his so that she could cup his face in his palms, "I'm not going anywhere. Nothing's going to happen, and you know that."

She wished she could tell him that she was safe at school – gods, shouldn't she be? Normal teenaged girls were safe at most schools – but she knew he'd never believe it, and neither would she.

"I know," he muttered, "Sorry. You're the one who's in pain, I should be comforting you –"

"If you were, that just wouldn't be normal," she joked, although she knew for a fact that she was more reliant on him than anyone else. "So let's move on, okay?"

He paused, searching her face. "Okay," he said, and leaned in to kiss her.

Even though her head was pounding and she was stiff all over, Annabeth was thankful for Percy being there for her. Her school might have been a long way away from Camp Half-Blood and her friends, but the distance didn't seem like such a big deal when he was by her side.

iv.

Annabeth was just sitting down to revise for her History final when the air to the right of her desk shimmered and solidified into an image.

"Oh, hey Percy," she said, and let her pen fall out of her hand, "How is –"

"I have a bone to pick with you, Annabeth Chase," he said grumpily.

She frowned. Percy rarely got angry at Annabeth (due to the fact that she was right about most things) and when he did, they were usually minor issues like how much syrup he should really be allowed on his pancakes, or if he had done up his armour straps properly.

"What happened?" she asked, bemused.

"Why didn't you tell me about your prom?" he crossed his arms, slouching back onto the pillows of his bed. Although the Iris Message was shaky, she recognised the area around him as his bedroom.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" she teased, and then, "I dunno. I guess I assumed you wouldn't want to go, since you aren't going to your prom."

"I'm not going to my prom because it's on Frank's birthday. Also, I've finished my homework." he said.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine, I did some of it. As in like, question one. Now stop changing the subject!"

"Sorry, sorry," she sighed, rearranging the papers on her desk, "The idea of prom just seemed kinda stupid, after all we've been through. Also the last school dance we went to didn't go so well, if you remember."

His look softened. "Fair enough. Obviously that last dance was –"

"Traumatic?" she suggested. Falling off a cliff and getting forced to hold up the sky was certainly traumatic enough for her.

"That's an understatement. But shouldn't we be trying to make new memories? Doing normal stupid teenager things?"

"You are so cheesy, Seaweed Brain."

He grinned. "Is that a yes, then?"

She snorted, "You haven't even asked me yet."

Percy stretched languidly in his bed, smiling at her. She had to resist the urge to stare at the place where his top had ridden up to reveal some of his bare chest. "Annabeth Chase." He begun dramatically, "Will you take me to your prom?"

A pause. Then, "I'll see you next Saturday, okay?" she conceded, "Wear a suit."

He was late, of course. She wasn't even surprised. The venue for her prom was the very spacious main hall of her school, and the decorators had wrapped fairy lights across the entrance so the entire place sparkled in the night. It really was beautiful, but Annabeth couldn't do anything but chew off her lipstick in anticipation.

As she watched the last of her classmates go inside, she sighed and made to follow them. Just as she turned, footsteps sounded heavily on the road.

"Before you say anything," said Percy, panting slightly, "I really did leave an hour early."

She surveyed him for a moment, from his haphazardly styled hair and shredded bow tie to his scuffed shoes.

Then, she smiled. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. You can tell me all about your monster issues inside."

He caught up to her easily since her shoes weren't exactly easy to walk in, and took her hand. His was warm and kind of sweaty, but she guessed that was what you get when you go to prom straight after fighting a monster.

"What was it?" she asked casually as they go up the stairs. She can already hear the music – loud, grating, but fun all the same – flowing through the doors.

"Scorpion," he huffed, "Everything was under control until his friends got there. Lucky there was a stream nearby to help me out."

"Lucky you're a son of Poseidon, Seaweed Brain," she teased, but pecked him on the lips all the same. Her voice softened, "I'm glad you're okay."

"So am I," he said. They entered the ballroom and she was immediately struck by the sheer number of people who were there – whether they had gate crashed or were actually invited, she had no clue. Just as they made their way towards the food table, a group of girls near the door spotted Annabeth holding Percy's hand and immediately started whispering.

She caught his eye. "I bet you're glad you survived that attack, huh?"

He tutted, "Come on, Annabeth," and with his trademarked smirk that screamed trouble, "Don't you want them to have something to gossip about?"

They certainly did. Just a few hours later, he was sweeping her across the dancefloor and dipping her so low she was sure she would fall. Percy came closer to her as she stood up straight again.

With their faces mere inches away from touching, she tugged his lower lip between her teeth, eliciting an appreciative hum from him. Then, he kissed Annabeth properly, the two of them totally ignoring the fact that they were in full display of all her classmates. For once, she was completely unaware of her surroundings; too caught up in the sensation of being with him and being safe.

"Thanks for asking me to prom," she admitted, her lips brushing against his.

His mouth curved up into a smile, eyes crinkling at the corners, "Thanks for letting me."

v.

It was coming up to the end of the year and Annabeth had to admit she was feeling a little nostalgic about leaving school, but that didn't stop her from wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

She and Percy had planned a date in the park on one particular Saturday when the forecast was supposedly good ("If Zeus messes this up, I'll kill him," Percy told her over Iris Message). Annabeth was just making her way towards the woods where Percy usually showed up when a shiver ran down her spine.

She spun around on instinct, looking at her surroundings suspiciously, but she couldn't see anything but the rustling trees and the sunlight streaming through the leaves. Frowning, Annabeth paused and decided to wait for Percy instead of going any further by herself.

It was then that she heard a yelp, a loud expletive voiced from someone who sounded just like her boyfriend, and a thump.

"Percy?" she called, and started forwards. Annabeth made her way through the trees, heading towards the noise. She brushed aside a few branches impatiently, leaped over a trunk and then –

"Nice of you to join!" Percy called. He was striking his sword at a hellhound that definitely wasn't Mrs O'Leary, and it looked like his arm was seriously hurt given how half of it was covered in what she assumed was his blood. Annabeth jumped into the fray without hesitation, seizing her drakon-bone sword from her backpack and vaulting straight onto the monster's back.

She wrestled with it as it tried to shake her off, but in reality the monster stood no chance of defeating her and Percy. Just as Annabeth felt herself slipping off, the hellhound sagged beneath her and collapsed, turning to dust.

Annabeth raised her head just in time to see Percy pull his sword out of the monster's body, give her a weak wave, and promptly fall over. She ran to him, pulling his limp body to a sitting position, and rummaged around for an ambrosia square in her bag.

"Annabeth…" he mumbled, looking up at her with squinted eyes, "I don't think I'm going to make it for our date."

She had just enough energy to muster a half-smile, shaking her head fondly and shoving some ambrosia into his mouth. Annabeth watched as Percy chewed slowly, before she handed him a bottle of water.

"What would you do without me," she wondered aloud as he downed half the bottle and spilled the rest over his bloody arm.

"Probably die," he said casually, "Or get into a lot more trouble than I'm usually in."

She helped him up and they traipsed back to her room, back through the forest and up to her school. Luckily, it was surprisingly easy to avoid her fellow students since most of them were outside enjoying the sunshine. Once inside her room, they flopped together on her bed. Annabeth bandaged Percy's arm whilst he attempted to plan an alternative date for them.

"We need somewhere safer than a school," he mused as she tucked him into her bed and then climbed in next to him.

"Camp?"

"Hardly a date, is it? They keep asking me to teach every time I go back."

Annabeth spent the next ten minutes teasing him about his prowess with a sword and how impressed the kids at camp would be if they could have seen him fight a hellhound.

"I couldn't do any of it without you, you know," he said, kissing her forehead briefly.

She thought about denying it. He was incredible, really, the extent of his powers seemed to surprise her daily. But that didn't make Percy's words any less true.

"Yeah, I know," she murmured as he held her close. It was only the afternoon, but she figured they deserved a nap.

+i.

Annabeth clutched the map in her hand as she went up yet another set of stairs. The school – not hers – appeared to be deserted, which was strange considering it was the last day of the academic year. She herself had finished the semester just a few days ago, which was why she was currently looking for Percy in the middle of his very empty school building.

Annabeth paused in the middle of the corridors, considering whether she should just cut her losses and wait for Percy back at his apartment. She checked her watch and saw the numbers glaring up at her, as if to say, Duh, Annabeth. They're all at lunch.

Smacking her forehead in realisation, Annabeth hefted her bag back onto her shoulder and turned swiftly on her heel. She really should have accepted when the school's secretary offered some help, but she was way too proud to do that. Instead, she had spent the last half an hour peeking into various classrooms and picking the locks off different lockers in the hopes of finding her boyfriend.

She followed the map to the cafeteria, and as she approached, headed towards the familiar scent of school lunches (badly made sandwiches and fries, to be exact). Annabeth took a deep breath before entering the lunch hall – it wasn't every day that she was faced with the threat of a new high school, after all.

The room was large, yet cramped: every inch of it seemed to be covered in excitable students who wore copious amounts of face paint and glitter, in honour of the end of school. Annabeth scanned the crowds for the older looking kids quickly, until her eyes fell upon a large group of rowdy students that must have been seniors, considering how half of them were practically crying over the prospect of finishing school and the other half were celebrating.

She made her way around tables and stray food on the floor, and it was then that she spotted him, sitting near the end of the table with a few of his classmates. Percy was gorging himself on a very large hamburger, and he must have sensed she was there, because just at that moment, he looked up, and proceeded to choke on his food.

Annabeth allowed herself a faint grin as Percy's friend pounded his back whilst her boyfriend's expression turned from surprise to confusion to excitement. His bright green eyes widened comically as she circled his table, and promptly hugged him around the neck.

"Hey," she said into his ear, "I missed you."

Percy swallowed his food and turned to hug her. "What are you doing here? I thought your flight was tomorrow?"

She smiled, ignoring the slight lump that rose in her throat at the sensation of being with him. Annabeth hadn't seen Percy in three weeks on account of the ridiculous number of exams she'd had to do for her college applications, and she never wanted to be apart from him for so long again. "I might have lied…I wanted to surprise you."

He kissed her briefly; she wrinkled her nose at the smell of burger on his breath but returned the gesture all the same, "You definitely did."

She was about to tell him how helpful his mom had been in getting Annabeth's plan to work when the boy sitting next to Percy poked him in the side, "Um, sorry to interrupt, but –"

"Oh, sorry!" Percy said, glancing at his friend, "Tony, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, Tony. We're on the swim team together."

Annabeth gave an awkward little wave, and squished in on the bench next to Percy. "I'm the girlfriend. Nice to meet you."

Tony gaped at Percy, then Annabeth, "So you're real? Man, we all thought he was making you up!"

Percy's response – a squawk of outrage – immediately sent Annabeth into a giggling fit that wouldn't stop until he kissed her, hard. She kissed him back eagerly, taking advantage of the strings on his hoodie so that she could pull him closer.

"Hey! No PDA!" a girl across the table yelled. It was then that Annabeth realised she had probably made a huge mistake, coming to Percy's school and facing what was basically an interrogation from all his friends, but when she thought about it, she didn't mind one bit.

Later, he pulled her into an empty classroom when the rest of his year was out on the football field, celebrating the end of school. She wondered aloud why he didn't want to join them – this had been the most normal school year he would ever have, and his last.

Percy's reply, however, made perfect sense. "I guess I never felt like I'm a part of this place. At least, not properly. The other half of me is normally at another school halfway across the country, you know."

Annabeth pressed her forehead against his and locked her hands behind his head. She was sure that at that moment, his heartbeat was synced to hers like the hands of a clock, seamlessly in unison. "I'm here now. You and me against the rest of the world, huh?"

"Isn't it 'you and I'?" he smirked. She stared at him momentarily before snorting incredulously and nodding. Annabeth let her eyes flutter shut as Percy took her face in his palms and brushed his lips against hers.

Maybe visiting Percy's school was a good idea. Sure, she was breaking a few rules (she had lied and said she was an applicant to get in) and taking him away from his school friends on his last day ever. But then again, he'd done it enough times at her school. And after all these years, the pair of them were not exactly too bothered about bending a couple of school rules to see each other.

She thought about the years to come and her lips curved upwards against his. Annabeth was building something more permanent than even a school with Percy, and she was going to love every step of the way with him.

A/N: hope you liked it! please review :)