And here's a little sweet, angst-filled Percabeth coming your way. Hope it'll brighten up your day! Thanks to my super cool, super awesome beta, Venillashiz.
It was sickening. Sickening to watch Connor Stoll and his girlfriend hugging and kissing like there was no tomorrow. It had begun the moment they stepped out of the Hades cabin - Alicia was a daughter of the Lord of the Dead. She was beaming so brightly, Annabeth practically had to look away in an futile to shield her eyes. Connor's arm hung casually over her shoulder, as he whispered things into her ear, making her blush and giggle. To put it straight, it was well… sickening.
"Choke-worthy isn't it?" Thalia had grunted out, her tongue sticking out and her eyes scrunched up.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You act like that all the time with Nico, I wouldn't talk."
Thalia reddened slightly. "That happened like one time and no one ever forgets it!" She glared at Annabeth, "Besides, it only happened cause they did it."
A fountain of water spurted from Annabeth's mouth. "They did it?! Like it, it?" She whirled around to glance at the lovey-dovey couple again before choking out, "Seriously?"
Thalia rolled her eyes and nodded, "Duh, can't you tell? I mean, Alicia's practically glowing and Connor's not as goofy as usual…" She trailed off meaningfully.
"Oh."
The smile on her face was a forced as forced could be and her walk was rigid as she made her way over to Alicia. Braving the waves of 'crazily-in-love' aura, she managed to detach Alicia away from Connor and pull her to the side.
"Umm… hey," She managed to say.
Alicia giggled, clearly she was still high over that. "Hi." She grinned, "What's up?"
Annabeth blushed, she opened her mouth but the words would not come out. Alicia looked at her expectantly. "…Ok, I guess I'll see you later." She started to walk back to where Connor was sitting.
"…Wait!" Alicia raised her eyebrows.
"Yea?"
"Did you guys do it?!" The words tumbled out of Annabeth's mouth before she could roll them back in. She looked up to see Alicia as red as a tomato.
"How could you tell?" She finally whispered.
"Um. Well, Thalia told me."
"Thalia knows too?!" Alicia gasped.
"Well, she said it was obvious since you guys were acting all…you know." It felt so awkward to tell one of your best friends that you knew she just had s-e-x with her boyfriend.
"Oh great," Alicia grinned suddenly. "Too late to change that I guess." She giggled slightly. "Is that all?"
Annabeth's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you don't care? The whole camp probably knows about it and you're not even worried?"
Alicia shook her head softly. "I love Connor, it's fine that the whole camp knows about that. We've just found another way to express it is all." She smiled as she walked away.
"But you guys have been together for only eight months!" Annabeth said incredulously. It had taken Percy one solid year to tell her he loved her and that wasn't even counting the time they had been tentatively liking each other.
Alicia chucked softly. "It doesn't matter how long you've been together, as long as you love each other. I mean unless you're against pre-marital sex an all. It's quite simple actually. I expected a daughter of Athena to have figured it out." She turned and walked away. This time, Annabeth didn't call after her.
She bit her lip as she made a sweeping gaze across the camp, cringing at Alicia and Connor making out, and grinning at Thalia having a shouting match with Nico and Grover, before coming to a stop a Percy.
She giggled to herself as she watched him scale the rock climbing wall. He simply climbed it without worry, thanks to his Achilles' Curse, ignoring the other suffering climber's curses and complaints.
Doesn't matter if you love each other huh? If she thought about it, they had been bordering on all their…activities lately. Percy loved her and she loved Percy, right? Annabeth sighed and grinned half-heartedly at Percy who was waving at her from the bottom of the rock climbing wall.
It didn't matter…did it?
Annabeth wanted to hit herself. She'd been avoiding Percy all day and she was sure that as obtuse and dense as he was, he was probably beginning to notice it. She had run away from him during lunch, ignored him during archery and even refused to hang out with him at the beach.
She felt so bad when she saw Percy's sad eyes; the guilt was eating at her from the inside. He hadn't done anything wrong, so why was she punishing him? His occasional glances at her during dinner were more than enough to break her and she finally went over to talk to him.
"Hey…"
Percy glanced up. "Hey." He frowned slightly. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were avoiding me today."
Annabeth looked down in embarrassment. "Yea, I'm sorry about that."
Percy grinned. "It's cool. Whatever it was, it's fixed now right?" He went back to inhaling his food.
Annabeth hesitated. "…Yea." Her smile faltered slightly as he slipped his hand into hers.
"Whoo!" Percy cheered as he clapped Clarisse on the back. "We won!" They had won yet another round of capture the flag and he was grinning like a madman.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever, it's not like it's your first time winning."
"Yea but, you see, I'm happy cause I won against you." Percy laughed as she growled.
"Invincible!" She reminded him.
"And loving it." Percy chuckled as they entered his cabin. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her closer and tilted his head down. She shivered in anticipation as his lips met hers in a passionate kiss. Percy wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her so she was level to him. Annabeth slipped one hand around his neck as the other wound through his unruly hair, messing it up even further.
As they stepped backwards, his feet hit his bed, causing them to fall backwards. Percy immediately sat up and pulled Annabeth onto his lap, once again capturing her lips. Annabeth slipped her hand to his chest, feeling his muscles ripple under his neon orange Camp Half-blood t-shirt and his heart pounding. Moving downwards, she grabbed the rim of his shirt and tugged it upwards.
Percy's eyes widened and he broke the kiss, panting as he stared at her. Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to see Percy's reaction. His shock rippled in waves towards her as they both sat in silence, their chests heaving in unison. Finally, he broke the silence.
"Annabeth…What's going on?"
She shook her head, moving to get off him. But Percy held on to her hips, gripping her tighter. "Hey, Annabeth, come on, tell me."
Annabeth looked away and muttered. "Nothing…"
"Come on tell me." Percy shook her slightly, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her eyes to meet his.
"Nothing! It's nothing!" She smacked his hands away and got off him so fast, she nearly fell. Percy immediately reached out and steadied her.
Annabeth shook his hand off. "Just…JUST DON'T TOUCH ME!" She shouted as she stormed out of the room. She slammed the door, refusing to turn around to see Percy's heart-broken face. Wiping hot, angry tears out of the corners of her eyes, she gasped as she heard him running after her.
Why was she so weak? Stupid Percy! Curse him! He made her into this emotional mess. She was never affected by this before, why should she now? What was wrong with her? Annabeth sped up, not wanting to face Percy.
As always, he caught up with her, coming to stand in front of her, his arms spread wide open, as though she might run again. His face wore a pained look but nonetheless, he seemed determined to squeeze an answer out of her.
"Annabeth, I knew something was wrong with you. Why don't you just tell me?" He moved closer to her tentatively, frowning when she took a step back.
Annabeth gritted her teeth. "Alicia!"
Percy looked bewildered, "Alicia? What's she got to do with this? Did she do something to you? If she did I-"
"She didn't! It's not her Percy…it's me." Annabeth sighed and looked up at him. Feeling twinges of pain course through her heart at his sadness, the sadness that she caused.
"I…She and Connor, they did it last night."
If he was confused before, he was lost now. "So? What's that got to do with any of this?"
"Nothing!" Annabeth shouted. "Nothing! It shouldn't have to do with any of this!" the frustration was killing her.
Percy seemed to understand something. "Annabeth? Do…do you want to?"
Her eyes widened in shock. "No! I mean yes! No…Just.. urgh!" Annabeth knelt down on the floor. "I don't know! It's just…" She looked up at him. "I love you Percy."
He smiled, kneeling down in front of her. "I love you too." He brushed her tears away. "I never asked, because I didn't think you, no, we were ready."
Annabeth looked into his eyes and shook her head, "No you're right, we aren't."
Percy pulled her upright. "Come on, I'll walk you to your cabin." Annabeth grins and brushes herself off, following after him.
As they walked, she slipped her hand into his and marveled at its warmth - Percy always could make everything better. Suddenly, the warmth disappeared and Annabeth frowned, grabbing his hand once again, only to have it slip out of hers.
"Percy? What are you doing?"
"Not touching you!"
And it's over, remember to drop a review! Thanks! :D