"Soulmates don't determine your destiny. You do." "Really? That sounds awfully cheesy." / Percabeth.
Word Count w/o AN: 7387
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, products, or services referred to in the story.
We're right here and we're gonna write the story
Written in the stars like graffiti, can't ignore it
Light years and they'll see the comets falling
This is the moment where it all began
The Girl and the Dreamcatcher, "Written in the Stars"
Ever since he was a child, Percy had dreamed of meeting his soulmate. His mother had told him hundreds of stories about his father and their life together before he died before Percy was born. The idea of a soulmate had always resonated with him. The thought that there was someone out there, made for him, waiting for him, and only him, was something he couldn't get his head over. It seemed too unbelievable to be true.
Regardless of his disbelief, Percy found himself staring at the small heart on his wrist more often than he'd like to admit. The little mark, no matter how symbolic, gave him a sense of hope for the future. It gave him something to look forward to during the hard parts of his life.
When Percy was three, his mother remarried. His name was Gabe, and he seemed nice at first, caring for Percy and his mother, Sally, and making sure their life was pleasant. But soon enough, he began returning home smelling of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Sally tried everything to mask the smell so her son wouldn't notice, but once their apartment started smelling like a Febreze factory, it wasn't difficult to tell that something was going on.
But Percy really started taking to his soulmark when he started seeing the marks and scars that covered his mother's skin. No amount of concealer could hide the red hand marks and bottle wounds. The young boy tried his hardest to prevent his mother from getting hurt, but there was only so much that a scrawny little five-year-old could do against a tall, stocky middle-aged man.
One night, when Gabe had gone to some bar to drink and play poker with his drinking buddies, Sally sat on the edge of Percy's bed, telling him a story about his father, when Percy brought up the blemishes on his mother's arms.
"Mom? Why do you let him hurt you?" The little boy asked quietly.
Sally was taken aback by the sudden question. She paused for a second to regain her composure and let out a breath.
"So he doesn't hurt you."
Percy was so broken by her answer that he purposely began to anger Gabe to get the man's (if he could even be called that) attention off of Sally.
Every time his abusive stepfather came to hit him, Percy would close his eyes and meditate on the feeling of the red symbol on his wrist. He would focus on the future and will away the pain. After a certain point, whenever Gabe raised his hand, Percy would disappear into his own world and not feel a thing. The mark had been a way for him to find solace and comfort during the rough patches. It was a beautiful red heart, something his mother had always remarked on. Red. Most people had black hearts at his age. But his was red.
But despite his and his mother's pain, he remained adamant that the mark on his wrist would lead him to the one. Someone who would love him for who he was. And his experiences only harvested his belief in the system.
So when he was thirteen, his mother began dating his seventh grade English teacher. Their relationship grew, and the heart on his mother's left wrist turned red. The one on her right wrist remained white, and bright, to remind her that it is possible to have more than one great love in life. Which only reaffirmed Percy's beliefs. Gabe was a distraction, an anomaly, a lesson.
-Ω-
Annabeth was quite the contrary in her beliefs. She was a girl of logic, of reason. She refused to believe that anything was set in stone. Which is why the whole idea of a soulmate was so strange to her.
For years, she had heard her friends ramble on about their soulmates. She sat and listened like a good friend would, but most of it just went through one ear and out the other. Sure, the entire concept of finding a soulmate intrigued her. The mystery behind it piqued her interest but wasting so much brainpower on something that didn't seem to work seemed foolish.
She partially used her family situation as validation that there were flaws in the system. Her mother had died right after she was born and her father had remarried when she was around seven years old. Granted, her stepmother was also a widow, and had two sons with her previous husband, but that proved her point that a perfect love story didn't exist. Neither her father, nor her stepmother had two hearts. They weren't soulmates, but they loved one another regardless. Love could easily be found without some messed up system.
But being the curious person she was, Annabeth was determined to find out the history behind the system. So, at age eleven, she did.
It had apparently started centuries back, but all the records were kept and filed away for curious minds to devour. It had started with one woman in Greece. She had gone to bed one night, and the next morning she woke up and her wrist was burning and inflamed. She immediately went to the local medic but was only met with confusion. She found a black outline of a heart on the inflamed section just a few hours later, and the pain had subsided. The next day, she explained the 'tattoo' to her doctor who immediately sent her to a group of scientists. They'd discovered that the woman had a dominant genetic mutation which allowed for her to tell who her soulmate was based on the mark on her wrist. It matched common genetic traits, diseases and disorders, structural development, and so on. The accuracy was quite questionable and strange. But not many doubted the process. The mutation was quickly spread, and soon enough, close to everyone in the population had the gene.
Overtime, the system was observed carefully and a key was established. A black heart is what almost every child is born with. A red outline of a heart means a person has met their soulmate. When the heart turns purple, that indicates a person has fallen in love with someone, and it doesn't have to be their soulmate, which had turned out to be very confusing. When a person enters into a romantic relationship with their soulmate, the heart fills in red. If the soulmate dies, the heart turns white, and if they break up or divorce, the heart fades into scar.
But there was something strange about Annabeth. Her heart had been outlined red for as long as she could remember. So, she had met her soulmate. And because memories begin to form at age three, she figured she had met them before that. Which only added to her hatred for the system. What if the person she was 'destined to be with' was some random stranger she had seen in passing?
Whatever the situation may be, her emotions were unchangeable. She would find love on her own. And she was sure of it.
-Ω-
"Goddamn it, Percy! Can you not stay quiet for even a minute? Finals are tomorrow and unlike you, I have a 4.0 GPA to maintain, so I beg you to shut the hell up and sit down," Annabeth groaned in anger.
It was their Sophomore year of high school and winter break was palpable, just three days away. But they would first have to navigate through the wretched spawn of Satan, more commonly known as final exams.
"But I'm hungry. I'm a growing child, and my development will be halted if I'm not fed."
"I'm not your mother. You have a five in your backpack. There's a vending machine about three feet ahead of us. Go feed yourself and shut up."
"I feel the love Anna. It's buried deep within your cold, heartless soul, but it's there."
Annabeth rolled her eyes and turned to Piper to explain something for their AP US History test the next day. "Alright, now that he's gone, maybe we can actually get this done. Major achievements and failures of Andrew Jackson's presidency?"
"Other than the fact that he was a son of a bi-"
"Language!"
"Fine, he sent the Indian Removal Act of 1830 through Congress like the bastard he was and sent the Native Americans on the Trail of Tears in 1838. Also, he was considered a champion of the common man, white man, mind you, the racist little-"
"Okay, that's enough. Just look at the study guide and you should be fine. I've a stats test to worry about right now, so I'll savor the moment of Percy-less peace and get through this mess," she said, pointing to the stacks of paper in front of her.
"Have fun with that," Piper said, returning to her textbook.
Annabeth put in her headphones, turned on her music, and began to speed through the worksheets given to her by her kind teachers who decided to be wonderful and give them homework on the eve of their finals.
But her peace was not long-lasting. Percy returned just seconds later, his hands full with bags of chips, candy, and an assortment of other junk food.
"Annabethhhh," he sung. "I've got food and an existential crisis which I need to get off my chest. Which do you want first?"
Annabeth violently yanked out the headphones and sent a glare in Percy's direction. "Food," she motioned toward the cookie. "Also, you only had five bucks. And that's all worth at least twenty."
Percy shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say? I'm a charmer," he said smirking.
"That's disgusting. I don't need to hear anything else. Just sit and study."
"Don't you want to know about my crisis?"
"Yes. I definitely want to hear your story more than I want an A on this stats final."
"Come on, it's about soulmates."
"Then I definitely don't care for it."
"Oh great, well listen up," Percy trailed off as Annabeth put her headphones back in and turned the volume of her music to an eardrum-shatteringly loud volume.
"Okay, so she doesn't care. Piper, care to help me?"
Piper looked up from her APUSH textbook with pure joy in her eyes. "Please. I'm dying. If I have to read one more passage written by some preacher about why slavery shouldn't be abolished, I will literally kill myself with any available writing utensil."
"Oh good. The listening part of course. Not the whole killing yourself with a pencil bit. Anyway, my heart turned purple a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was a mistake, but it hasn't turned red again, so I'm super confused."
"Hey man, I'm totally down to help, but if you want me to understand you, you're gonna have to speak in English, not in soulmate."
"Alright, basically, my heart has always been red, at least for as long as I can remember, so I've definitely met my soulmate, but purple means I've fallen in love."
"So you're in love with your soulmate. That doesn't sound like a problem. It actually sounds like a good thing? I don't know man, you confuse me. My soulmark turned red and filled in the second I met Jason, so I didn't exactly have to worry about any of this."
"No, that's the problem. It doesn't mean I'm in love with my soulmate. It just means I'm in love with someone."
"What the hell? What kind of system is this? Who invented this bullshit?"
"Beats me. Maybe she'll know," Percy said, gesturing towards Annabeth.
"Probably not the greatest idea, but by all means, go ahead. Wake the beast."
Percy rolled his eyes and tapped on Annabeth's shoulder. When he didn't get a response, he yanked the earphones out of Annabeth's ears and threw them onto the table.
If looks could kill, Percy would have been painfully tortured, murdered, resurrected, then murdered again.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Annabeth asked, seething.
"I just had a question," Percy responded sheepishly.
"This better be about math, because if it isn't, I will gut you, pull out your intestines, knot them together, and put them back in."
"It's not about math. But as your best friend, I'm using my veto powers and stopping you from physically hurting me. So now, answer me this. My heart turned purple. Why? What should I do? And how did it happen?"
Annabeth sighed and put down her pencil. "You're lucky I'm done studying. My heart turned purple back when I was like 12 and that was because I watched How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days and fell in love with Matthew McConaughey. Also, if I remember correctly, your heart was purple for a whole year back in like fifth grade when you watched Saved by the Bell for the first time and went through that insane Kelly Kapowski phase. Or this could be the same thing that happened with Kassie, Monica, Julia, Shreya, Amy, Jess, Meena, Ayla, and like seventeen others. Percy, this happens to you nearly every week."
"Okay, sure, but I generally know which girl I'm in love with that week. Or with Kelly Kapowski, I thought she was my soulmate. But this time, it just turned purple. And it didn't go away."
"Oh, face it Perce. You're a floozy who's just too trusting."
"Okay, fine. But I will figure this out. No matter the cost."
"Alright Drama King. Just get back to studying your geometry if you will."
-Ω-
Percy and Annabeth had known each other for as long as they could remember. Annabeth's mother, Athena, was a stern, uptight woman who let very few people into her life. Annabeth's father had been one of these people, but the one person who actually managed to break down Athena's walls was Sally Jackson, Percy's mother. Sally and Athena had met in college and somehow managed to stay close friends after they got married and had children. Athena was there for Sally when Percy's father had died four months into her pregnancy and Sally helped Athena through her incredibly difficult pregnancy as well.
They were the closest of friends, with nothing coming between them. But only six months after giving birth to Annabeth, Athena caught a serious case of pneumonia, and with her fragile immune system, the sickness became fatal. Sally cried for days on end but realized that she couldn't let Annabeth grow up without a mother figure in her life and began treating the young child as her own.
However, Frederick was so overwhelmed with heartbreak that he couldn't bear to stay in a house that held so many memories of his late wife. He packed up shop and moved to San Francisco when Annabeth was a year old. Frederick cut off all ties with anyone he knew in New York and tried to move on with his life.
When Annabeth was five years old, Frederick was offered a job in Manhattan. With a clear head, he relocated his family back to New York. There he met Helen (again), a widow with two sons from her previous marriage. Life after love was a strange concept but it's not something you can control. They married when Annabeth was seven.
The apartment building that Annabeth lived in had a small playground within a block, and it became Annabeth's favorite spot to sit and read, away from her very loud family. A little black-haired boy with sea green eyes lived in the same building and became a regular at the park. The two would cross each other's paths once in a while but never paid too much attention to it. That was, until Sally Jackson accompanied her son to the park after her divorce had been finalized and her ex-husband was thrown in prison for domestic abuse. She sat on the bench with her book, occasionally looking up to keep track of her son's whereabouts.
Percy normally kept to himself, mindlessly playing around on the equipment, but this particular time, he began to pick a fight (verbal, not physical) with the blonde girl who was blocking the entrance to the slide.
"Hey! You're blocking the slide. Can you please move?"
"I was here first. I want to read here. There are other slides. Go on them. This is my spot."
"Come on. I said please. It's the magic word. You have to move now."
"No, I don't. Magic isn't real."
Sally heard the commotion and rushed over to see what was taking place.
"Percy, are you causing trouble for this young gi-" she paused as she looked down at the child she was referring to. She shook her head and continued chiding her son. "Be nice to this nice little lady."
"I am being nice, Mom. I said please."
Sally chuckled and looked back down at the girl. "You look a lot like a friend of mine. What's your name?"
"I'm Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. I'm six years old and can read big books."
Sally was taken aback but hid her surprise. "How wonderful, dear. Why don't you go play on the slides for some time? You can read later. This is Percy, he would love to play with you. Go ahead kids."
As the kids ran off to play, Sally took a seat on the bench and wiped away the tears pooling in her eyes. She promised Athena that she would take care of her daughter as her own, and she finally had a chance to keep that promise.
After that day, Percy and Annabeth became inseparable, and Sally's apartment became a second home to Annabeth. They were the best of friends, even if you couldn't tell at first glance. And it stayed that way, through elementary school, middle school, and even high school.
-Ω-
It was the middle of July and New York City was as muggy as could be. Annabeth, Percy, Piper, Jason, Thalia, and Nico sat in lawn chairs in Percy's apartment with three fans on full blast cooling them off during the heat wave. It was the summer before their Senior year of high school, and they were enjoying the last few weeks as much as they could.
"It's our last high school summer. This time next year, we'll all be heading our separate ways," Piper said as she spread her arms out and leaned into her chair.
"Why? Really, why must you bring that up? Let me live in the moment. Jesus Christ." Annabeth groaned.
"You depress me, McLean." Percy chimed in.
"Alright, alright. What do y'all wanna do tonight? My place? Hit the pool?"
"I love you and your house, Piper, but pools are disgusting. Like, you float around in the same water as other people? It's a huge bathtub," Thalia said in disgust.
"Here's what we're doing. We're going to Piper's house, hanging out in the basement, and watching Mamma Mia. I need me some ABBA," Annabeth commanded, getting up from her chair and marching towards the door.
"Mamma Mia, really? You picked last week." Nico complained.
"Piper's basement is air conditioned, and I promise you can sing 'Dancing Queen' at the top of your lungs without getting hit with a pillow."
"I'm in. Let's go."
Jason groaned, but followed the others to Piper's house. Her dad had been a movie star before she was born and had raked up enough cash to retire at 35. He now worked as an actuary and made almost the same amount of money, so Piper lived in a fairly large house, as she modestly referred to it.
As they got settled into their seats and queued up the movie, Percy decided to revisit an unpopular topic.
"Y'know, Mamma Mia really represents the core concept of a soulmate. How you can wait your whole life to find the one. Donna went through so many years of pain and pining until she found Sam again. It's really something."
Annabeth just rolled her eyes and continued her discussion about the newest episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine with Jason.
"I'm serious. You're the one who's always looking for 'parallels between life and art' or whatever. Like come on."
"Jeez. Percy please shut up."
"I'm making a point."
"Alright, how about this. I bet you can't go one week without mentioning soulmates."
"Fine. I'm down. 30 bucks." Percy smirked. "Easiest 30 bucks I'll ever make."
"I highly doubt that."
-Ω-
Annabeth wins.
"I win. Pay up."
Percy handed over the cash begrudgingly but pulled his hand back. "Technically, I just lost. Doesn't mean you won."
"Pay up, Jackson."
"Fine. But you still didn't win."
"I won. And you have to admit it."
Over the course of the next year, they make four more bets of the same caliber. Annabeth always wins."
-Ω-
High school graduation. It's a big day. The day you're released into the real world. Annabeth graduated with all honors. She gave a speech about her experiences from freshman year to senior year. She's nostalgic and funny. Charismatic and intriguing. Sure, the group of popular kids sat in a corner of the large room, laughing and not paying attention. But the majority of the senior class watched, taking in every descriptive, well thought out word in her speech.
She spent the entire day surrounded by her friends and family, the thought of soulmates didn't even cross her mind. Her eternal bliss was taking its shape on the most bittersweet day in the last eighteen years. She tried to forget the fact that she was leaving them all in a few months and relish the time they were spending together at the moment, but she couldn't do it. As her cap flew into the air, the tears streamed down her cheeks.
Percy and the rest of their friends cheered Annabeth on throughout the whole speech. Percy hung on to every word, watching his best friend in utter admiration. They'd be going their separate ways for college. Annabeth was heading to Ithaca to study architecture at Cornell University. Piper was heading Purdue for business. Jason was heading to the University of Chicago for medicine. Thalia and Nico still had one year of high school left. And Percy, he was heading to the University of California, Berkeley for marine biology. They'd vowed to stay close forever, but the sad truth was that their distance would very well keep them apart.
Regardless, the gang spent every last minute together. Annabeth and Percy more often than not could be found in the latter's apartment, watching movies and talking on the living room couch. And with every minute they spent, Annabeth's purple heart got darker and darker. She had always kept her soulmark covered up, religiously applying concealer.
See, Annabeth had been madly in love with Percy for years. It was the main reason she hated his soulmate blabber. She knew that he had met his soulmate years ago, knowingly or unknowingly. And she knew it wasn't her. Percy was also the kindest person he knew. He would marry his soulmate regardless of who it was. He believed in destiny, and it was just how he was programmed. Annabeth didn't want to get in the way of his happiness or confuse him, so she never told him of her feelings.
After all, they were just in high school anyway. Telling him now wouldn't do him any good. So, she just didn't. She suppressed all of her feelings, but they just grew even more. It was a heart-wrenching, gut-crushing love that you only hear about in movies. It hurt her to keep it to herself, but she couldn't tell anyone. She couldn't bear it. Only one person knew. And it was the last person you'd expect: Sally Jackson. Sally had figured it out back when they were in seventh grade. Annabeth had vehemently denied it at first, but she eventually gave in, swearing Sally to secrecy.
Sally had kept her promise, and Percy was as oblivious as humanly possible, so her secret was safe. But Annabeth was a curious person. And sometimes, she let it get the best of her.
"Perce?" she asked one day while they rewatched Finding Nemo for the hundredth time.
"Yeah?"
"Why do you believe in soulmates?"
"Ha! Do I get thirty bucks? Or is it only if I say it?"
"No, you don't, and forget about the bet. Seriously. Why?"
"I'm surprised we've never talked about it… But after my mom and Gabe divorced, she finally removed the concealer from her wrists, and I found out that she had two soulmarks. It was what you'd call an 'enlightening' moment. One of them was white, and the other had a black outline. It turned red after a parent-teacher conference in seventh grade. When she married Paul, I'd never seen her happier in her life. My mom had two soulmates and she loved them both so much. So, I held onto that. Whenever Gabe would hit me, I used my soulmark to remind me that there were enough people that loved me."
"I had no idea…"
"Hey, don't worry about it. It sounds silly sometimes. Why are you so against soulmates?"
"After my mom died, I found out that my parents had only gotten married because they were soulmates. They were both unhappy in the marriage. My dad is so much happier with Helen. I just figured that people force themselves into relationships just because they seem perfect on paper or genetically or whatever. I don't want the same to happen to me. That's why I keep my soulmark concealed."
"So you're saying not even a small part of you believes in it?"
"Nope. It would be great if I fall in love with someone and I find out they're my soulmate afterwards or something, but I don't believe in the system for myself."
"What about destiny?"
"Soulmates don't choose your destiny, you do."
"Really? That's awfully cheesy."
"Says the guy who believes his true love awaits him for their happily ever after."
"Hey! It's going to happen. Someday, I'll stand there with my soulmate, madly in love with them, and I'll say 'I told you so'." Annabeth sighed and turned her face so Percy couldn't see her reaction. "They're out there, Beth. And I'll wait for them, whomever they may be."
"Good attempt, but this time, it's whoever."
"Goddamn it, Annabeth. Let me be happy for once!"
They spent the rest of the summer doing everything they wished they'd done earlier. Everything except discuss soulmates. Annabeth went to the airport with Sally and Percy. They shared a couple of teary goodbyes and clouded promises to call and facetime every day. And with that, the two were separated.
-Ω-
Sure, over the next year or so, there were frequent calls and texts, but the exchanges slowed to once every other week or so. The 'I'm Bored' texts stopped, and they moved on. Annabeth and her roommate Reyna would hang out constantly. She had become Annabeth's new Percy. Except Annabeth wasn't in love with Reyna. And though she hadn't seen him much, other than Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a couple times during the summer, she still loved him.
It didn't stop her from dating. She had an array of boyfriends, none of which she let get too serious. Just as they began to discuss the future, she ran for the door. Percy was the same way. He dated a few girls but was never fully invested in the relationships. He figured it was because he just hadn't found his soulmate. But he never quite understood why his soulmark had stayed purple for the past seven years. Ever since his sophomore year of high school, when he first showed the purple mark to Piper and Annabeth, the mark hadn't changed. It remained a mystery to him.
Annabeth pushed her feelings down again. She didn't think she'd ever really spend too much more time with Percy in the future. He was a childhood friend, but their lives had taken them in different directions. It wouldn't have done her any good to dwell on it for any longer.
When she was twenty-four, Annabeth got a job at Perkins Eastman, a leading architecture firm in New York, and was poised to reach managerial positions within a couple of years. What Annabeth didn't know was that Percy had also gotten a job in New York.
It was a Saturday afternoon, and Annabeth had settled on the couch with her laptop and a glass of Rosé. She'd pulled a blanket over her legs and turned up her Beyoncé playlist to top volume. She began rifting through the file of contracts her boss had sent for her to review. Just as she opened up the first document, she heard a knock at the door of her apartment.
Annabeth groaned as she begrudgingly pulled off her blanket and moved to answer the door. Standing in front of her was a familiar face, one she hadn't seen in nearly three years, but familiar all the same.
"Percy?" she exclaimed, as she moved aside to let him in. "It's been so long. Come in!"
"Hey Beth. Yeah, I recently just moved back, so I figured I might as well come and say hi," Percy replied, hugging Annabeth and taking a seat on the couch.
Annabeth sized him up as she closed the door and followed her old friend to the couch. He'd somehow gotten more attractive, if that was even possible. His hair had been cut shorter and he seemed to be taller as well.
"So, how have things been? Last I saw you, we were still in college."
"It's been good. I graduated from the marine biology program and worked at a research facility as an assistant for a couple of years, but I couldn't deal with the coffee runs. I didn't work my ass of at Berkeley to block calendars and order lattes. So, I decided to just get a fresh start and come back home. I got a job at a school nearby, so the research is funded and put to good use. How about you? Still architecturing?"
"Not a word. But yeah, got a job at Eastman and having slowly been rising up through the ranks. Hoping to reach a high enough position to start pitching my own designs, but slow and steady right?"
"Eastman? Like Perkins Eastman? Damn, that's impressive. But I wouldn't put it past you."
"Well, let's hope it works out."
The two just sat with coffee and caught up for hours. They fell back into their old habits and picked up their conversation like they'd never stopped. They discussed everything: school, friends, movies, books, even pillows at one point.
Annabeth loved being back with Percy. Piper had come back to New York after school and lived only five minutes away from Annabeth, but it wasn't the same as having Percy there. Maybe it was crazy of her to think anything would happen now. But with the way that things were going, it was possible, right?
"So, Annabeth? Anyone special? Are you still with that Dylan guy?" Percy asked, moving his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner.
"Nope, just me for now. Dylan and I broke up about a week after I saw you last. I've been single for like two years now? Something like that. I like to think of myself as a born-again. And you? You and Olivia were pretty serious last time we met. You still together?"
"Nah. We stayed together for a year or so, but she was huge on the whole soulmates thing, and more so than I am, and when she saw that neither of our hearts had filled in red, and mine had been purple since I was like fifteen, she broke up with me. I was with one more girl in between, but we never clicked."
Annabeth nodded, "So your heart is still purple? On and off or just permanently?"
"Permanent. I really wish I did know who I am supposedly in love with, but at this rate, I'm just focusing on finding my soulmate."
Annabeth's face fell upon hearing Percy, but she tried to hide it. "Oh okay. That's cool."
Percy nodded. "Yeah, well it's almost 6, and I promised Piper I would stop by and pick up the shirt I left with Jason last month, so I should probably head out."
Annabeth got up and walked towards the door. "Sounds good. Now that you're in town, we should catch up again soon. For old times' sake."
"Of course. Coffee on Friday?"
"That should work. I'll see you then."
-Ω-
That night, Piper received a very strange call from Annabeth.
"Piper Mclean, you sneaky little bitch."
"I love you too."
"Whatever. Perseus Jackson showed up at my door today. Unexplained. I didn't even know he was in town. But you did, didn't you?"
"I may have known. He wanted to surprise you, so I told him where you live. He made me promise not to tell you."
"That has never stopped you before. I needed a warning or something. My apartment's a mess, I looked like a mess. I would have fixed that."
Piper laughed, "Oh honey, no you wouldn't. You would've stressed out about till the moment he knocked at the door. You also would've made approximately seventeen lists and twelve game plans. I had somewhere to be today. I couldn't have listened to you losing your mind."
"Is that really why you didn't tell me?"
"Partially, yeah. I also wanted you to be a little spontaneous. Maybe tell him how you feel…"
"If I was there with you right now, I would violently attack you with pillows."
"Calm down, you know I'm right."
"No. Nope. Definitely not. His heart is still purple. I may not believe in all this soulmate bullshit, but the purple is always right. At least mine is. There's a reason I keep it covered up."
"I could be a glitch? Wait can there be glitches? It's not technology, right?"
"I really do wonder if you and Percy were twins separated at birth or something." Annabeth laughed.
"But seriously. He's always said that he doesn't know why it's purple. It could just be some kind of mistake."
"I guess. But I'm still not telling him. We were such good friends for so long, and now that he's back, I don't want to lose him again. No matter how much I love him."
"What's the worst that could happen? He just lets you down easy and it'll be awkward for a few days. You're Annabeth and Percy. Percabeth, like the kids would say. Nothing can come between you."
"Piper, I hadn't spoken to him in three years. Three whole years."
"Yet you still picked up wherever you left off, right? Oh, and he got hotter, Annie."
"Oh my God, I know. I practically melted when I saw him. Like, I didn't think it was humanly possible."
"Right?"
-Ω-
Over the course of the next year, Annabeth and Percy became closer than they had ever been. Percy had been staying with his mom when he first moved back, but within a few months, an apartment in Annabeth's building opened up, so he moved right on in.
Annabeth went on a couple of dates with a guy she met at a local bar, but she couldn't invest herself in any burgeoning relationship. The closer she got to Percy, the stronger her feelings became.
"Piperrrrrrr, I need help."
"I can't listen to much more of this. For heaven's sake, just tell him already."
"I want to, but every time he goes out on a date and thinks he's met his soulmate, his face lights up and he can't stop gushing about it."
"Screw that shit. Just do it."
"Not yet."
But this time, Annabeth wasn't the only one with issues. Piper had become a confidant to Percy as well.
"Piper, I don't know how much longer I can keep this from her. I may have only realized it a year or so ago, but I've subconsciously been in love with her for ten years goddamnit. I spent so long trying to figure out who my soulmate was. I don't want to throw all of that time away. I still care about it. But- just… ughhh."
"So articulate. Jesus Christ, Perce. Just grow a pair and tell her. Forget about all of that soulmate crap. If you love her, don't let some birthmark stop you from telling her."
"I don't know if I can. My soulmate is out there, and if I suddenly find them after I've been with Annabeth (if that ever happens), what would I do? I can't suddenly just get up and leave because I found my soulmate. I don't want to. But if that other person has searched their whole life to find me, then how could I just ignore it?"
"Has Annabeth ever told you how her parents met?"
"I'm sure she has. I just don't think I was listening."
"Nice going. I'm sure she'll appreciate that. Anyway, they met through a website or something like that. Actually, I don't think websites were a thing then? Oh, I think it was a newspaper ad. A way for people to find their soulmates. Super old-fashioned and all that. They met and got married because they were 'supposed to'. But Mr. Chase had dated Helen before he got married, and he had loved her. It was kind of a Prince Charles and Camila situation, without the cheating and stuff."
"Who?" Percy interjected.
"So uncultured. Wow. Whatever. Basically, Frederick loved Helen, but married Athena. Eventually he grew to love Athena, and they had Annabeth. But Athena died. The same kind of thing happened to Helen. They somehow found each other again, and Bam. Married."
"What's your point?"
"Annabeth was right. You are dense. Don't just think that you're made for someone because your soulmark says you should. You choose your own destiny blah blah blah."
"Annabeth said that to me once. By the way, what color is her heart? Does she have an outline? Has she met her soulmate? Is it purple. Please tell me it's not purple."
"I don't know, Perce. She's had it covered up for as long as I can remember. She never removes the concealer."
"Piper. I'm dying. My life is over."
"Oh stop being a drama queen. Listen, if you don't tell her, it's your loss. And if she rejects you, which I don't think she will, you can just get over it and move on."
"No, you don't understand. I'm doomed. I'm so in love with her that my heart hurts. Every time I see her, I have a tiny heart attack, and it feels like my heart is being wringed out like a towel. It's painful."
"There's two of them," Piper muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing"
-Ω-
Another six months passed by. No, Annabeth hadn't told Percy of her feelings. And no, she didn't plan on doing it anytime soon. The time will come, she told herself. You'll know when it's right. She had confidence in herself. Or maybe it was fear. She wasn't quite sure.
Either way, she went about her life like normal. Wake up. Breakfast. Drive to work and call Percy. Hang up and call Piper. Work. Lunch. Work. Come back home. Hang out with Percy. Call Piper. It had become a cycle, really. She didn't quite know where she was going with this, but she knew it couldn't be good.
A sane person would probably just tell Percy. Or maybe distance themselves. But Annabeth didn't have the heart to do either. He was her best friend.
That day, Percy came over to hang out like he did nearly every other day of the week. He grabbed the closest bottle of wine he could find and followed Annabeth to the couch.
"Hey Beth, what movie are we watching today?"
"I was thinking a repeat… for old time's sake?" she said, queuing up Mamma Mia on Netflix.
"Forever and always the best movie of all time."
"You're right about that. Oh, and could you be a doll and grab the peanut butter I left in the fridge? I think it's going to expire soon, and I can't let such a hot commodity go bad under my watch."
Percy chuckled and grabbed the peanut butter from the fridge. When walking back to the couch, he saw Annabeth's phone open to a chat window with Piper.
Piper: Annabeth, u need to tell him tonite
Annabeth: I can't. It's too hard. What if it goes wrong?
Piper: it won't u'll be fine
Annabeth: I'm not going to. I'm sorry.
"Hey Annabeth?"
"Yeah," she mumbled, looking up from her phone.
"It says here you have to tell me something? Is everything okay?"
"What are you talking about?"
Percy held up the phone, open to the messages. Annabeth's face paled as the realization dawned on her.
"I-it's nothing. Don't worry about it. I was just talking about my boss at work."
"Annabeth? Your boss is a woman. Seriously, is something wrong?"
Annabeth grimaced. "Alright. There's something I need to tell you. I've waited years, but I guess I better come clean. Promise me that you won't get weird or, I don't know, never speak to me again or something?"
"Jeez this sounds bad. But no, you're my best friend. I won't do any of that. Unless you killed someone. I can't stand behind you if you're a murderer. Or if you're a cannibal. Please tell me you didn't physically hurt someone?"
Annabeth laughed anxiously. "Nothing of that sort. Listen, since I was eleven years old, I've kept my soulmark hidden. And I've never let anyone see it. Not you, not Piper. No one. When I was twelve, my heart turned purple. And unlike you, I knew why. Perce, I've been in love with you for nearly fourteen years. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you didn't feel the same way, and I know you believe in soulmates, so I didn't want to get in the way of that. So yeah."
Annabeth looked down at her feet while Percy had a mini-stroke of sorts. "You- what- how… wait, what?"
"You wanna say something, or are you just going to sit there and blubber like a fool?"
"I'm in shock. Let me live woman."
Percy took a deep breath. "Okay, well, I've been talking to Piper a lot, like a lot, over the past few years because I didn't know how to tell you. I was scared. What about my soulmate? How would you respond? I was so confused. But I'm sick of it."
Annabeth looked up in confusion.
"I'm sick and tired of looking for 'the one'. I'm sick and tired of constantly being wary of falling in love with the wrong person. You're right, Annabeth. We choose our own destinies. And I'm choosing mine. Screw soulmates. Screw fate. I love you, and nothing is going to stop me. Especially not some mark on my wrist."
Annabeth smiled, "So we've been running around and hiding our feelings for years like idiots?"
"I guess we have."
"Well, I hate to say I told you so, but… I told you so."
And with that, Annabeth pulled Percy to her and kissed him with everything she had been holding in for years.
When she pulled away, she noticed something move on Percy's wrist.
"Percy! Look!" she said, pointing to the little heart.
The inside of the heart was starting to fill in, as if some invisible force was trying to color it in.
Percy's jaw dropped in shock as Annabeth hurriedly reached for her purse and pulled out a make up wipe. She wiped of the concealer that was hiding her soulmark to see it filling in as well.
Percy caught sight of it and turned to her.
"It's you," he said, his voice filled with a mixture of joy and confusion.
"It's always been you," Annabeth replied, with a breathy laugh.
The pair just sat there, staring at their wrists in utter disbelief of their luck.
Percy pulled his newfound soulmate to him and leaned in to kiss her before quickly moving his lips to her ear.
With a low, airy voice, he whispered, "I told you so."
Hope you like that... I've been working on it for a very long time, so that's why my other stories haven't been updated as frequently. Anyway, review, follow, favorite, as always.
Love you all,
-AnnabethGinevraJacksonPotter