Off Of My Chest

What happens when two best friends are also secretly in love with each other? Awkwardness. Angst. Maybe even a little Anger. It'd be nice to just admit your feelings.

That, unfortunately, is much easier said than done.

I - Better Than Being Over It

In which Annabeth is ranting about her latest (small) crush, and Percy relates more than she realizes.

Mortal High School AU | Third Person

Percy

"It's just so hard to tell a person that you have a crush on them, you know?"

As they often are on Friday nights, Annabeth and Percy were curled up on a couch in Percy's living room. Annabeth was spilling her feelings and Percy was there to support her, and so everything was right in the world. Well, almost everything.

"If something scares you, but you think it would also make you happy, you should probably do it," Percy replied. It was rather ironic; here he was telling Annabeth to admit her feelings, and yet he had been unable to admit his own for the past four years. It was different in his case, he supposed, since his crush was a rather important part of his life.

As luck would have it, Percy Jackson was in love with his best friend.

"You know you always say that, right?" Annabeth replied with a sigh. It was true, after all; whenever she had even an inkling of feelings for someone, Percy always encouraged her to go after them.

"Well it's true. If you think something will make you happy, you shouldn't give up on it." Once again, Percy couldn't help but shudder at the irony in his words.

Unless you're already happy and you don't want to ruin it, he thought to himself.

"Not to be rude or anything, but I don't think you fully understand what I'm feeling like now. You've never even had feelings for a person."

Percy couldn't help but feel his heart drop at Annabeth's words, but he also can't blame her; for all she knows, he doesn't have an ounce of romantic feelings in him. It'll have to stay that way, too, lest she find out his true feelings and gets uncomfortable with their friendship. He can't deny it doesn't hurt, harboring feelings for his best friend, but he'd much rather keep a strong friendship than risking losing everything.

Being blue is better than being over it, I guess, Percy sighed internally. He'd heard that in a song once.

"I think he's a pretty good guy. I mean, I don't know him all that well, but he just seems like a nice person."

Yet another Friday, yet another small crush for Annabeth. It's not that Percy hated these times – any time with Annabeth was a good time for him – but he wasn't exactly fond of hearing her talk about other guys.

I'm a nice person too, Percy thought to himself. He won't say it out loud, of course, and so he says what he always says on Friday nights.

"If you really think it'll work out, I say go for it."

It hurts to say that, but it's what he has to do, right?

"But that's the thing, Percy, I don't know if it'll work out," Annabeth replied. "You know as well as I do that I like to have a solid plan, but you can't just plan these things out. Not that you'd know or anything."

Percy stiffened at those last words. He realized that Annabeth's words probably sound harsher than she had meant, but he couldn't help but feel a little angry. It's not as if he's ever explicitly told Annabeth that he doesn't like anyone, he's just never mentioned that he did.

"Believe it or not, Annabeth, I do know. More than you'd think, by the way." Percy recoiled at his own words; they definitely came out harsher than he had meant.

"What does that mean?" Annabeth sharply replied.

"Nothing, nevermind, it's not a big deal." Percy tried to retreat, but he knows he's already entered dangerous territory. And an angry Annabeth isn't often a good thing.

"Not a big deal? Not a big deal? Here I am, spilling my heart out to you, and you've been keeping secrets from me?"

Percy couldn't help but get even angrier. You have no idea how much it hurts to keep this from you, he thinks. Of course, that's not what he says.

"It's not like that! Besides, it's really not a big thing, I doubt you'd even care."

"Even care? Of course I would care! YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND, SEAWEED BRAIN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D THINK THAT POORLY OF ME!" Annabeth burst out.

"That's not at all what this is!" Percy exclaimed. "You know that I think the world of you, Wise Girl." I don't just think the world of you, you are the world, he says silently.

Annabeth pauses, and starts to settle down. Percy knows she's still upset, but he's glad their fight hasn't escalated.

"And I think the world of you too. But I also think I'll call it a night now. I'll see you at school, Percy." Annabeth murmured, and with that she grabbed her bag and headed out the front door.

Percy definitely felt blue for the rest of the weekend.

Annabeth

"Believe it or not, Annabeth, I do know. More than you'd think, by the way."

Annabeth couldn't stop thinking about Percy's words. It hurt to think that Percy Jackson, her best and closest friend for years, was holding secrets from her. It hurt even more to know that Percy was indeed capable of having romantic feelings for a girl.

A girl that wasn't Annabeth.

Annabeth wasn't sure when she'd fallen in love with Percy. But she knew for sure that he was special. It would never work out, of course; they were best friends, and the truth of her feelings would cause a rift between them. It's why she tries to distract herself with other boys at school. It never works, though, and every Friday night, when she's snuggling up with Percy, she can't help but feel sad that they'll never go further.

And now that there's someone else? It's like a punch to the gut.

He's still my friend though, she thought to herself. And I'll always be in his corner. Just like he's always been in mine.

But that's in the future. And right now? It hurts.

Percy

Mondays tend to suck.

No one really likes school. Even Annabeth, the smartest person in Percy's world, can't deny that coming back to classes after two days of freedom isn't great.

This Monday, however, was exceptionally sucky. Percy's was going to see Annabeth for the first time since Friday night, and they were definitely going to talk about it. Percy wasn't too excited, because he only saw things going one of two ways:

He maintains his lie, Annabeth doesn't forgive him, and their friendship is lost forever.

He tells the truth, Annabeth doesn't feel the same way, and their friendship is lost forever.

There are probably other things that can happen, but Percy was too anxious to think about them.

In fact, he was too anxious to realize that Annabeth was now standing in front of him, while he looked blankly at the wall like a dazed idiot.

"Hey Seaweed Brain."

Percy flinched; he really wasn't ready to have this conversation, and the whole Monday morning thing wasn't helping.

"Um, hello? Earth to Perseus Jackson?"

What the hell am I going to say? He thought to himself. He's really panicking now, but a single thought pops into his mind.

"If something scares you, but you think it would also make you happy, you should probably do it."

Maybe it was finally time to take his own advice. Time to stop feeling blue.

"Percy, are you even in there?" Annabeth asked, a look of worry growing on her face.

"Sorry, yeah, I'm good – I was just thinking. And uh, I think I owe you an explanation about -"

"Percy, it's fine, really. I'm not upset anymore." Annabeth interrupted. Percy almost considers dropping everything, but he knows he has to keep going.

"No, Annabeth, it's not fine. I kept a secret from you, and I shouldn't have, and I owe it to you to explain why."

Now or never.

"The truth is, I do have a crush. A big one in fact. I'm probably even past the whole crush stage. I'm probably madly in love. But the reason I never told you is that I couldn't. Believe me, I wanted to tell you from the minute I realized how I felt, but it was too big of a risk. I mean, you've said it yourself. It's just so hard to tell a person that you have a crush on them."

Annabeth

"It's just so hard to tell a person that you have a crush on them."

The gears in Annabeth's head were spinning so fast they could have flown right out. There she was, ready to suppress her feelings for her best friend once again, only for him to drop an absolute bombshell.

He liked her too. Her Seaweed Brain. Who she loved so much. Loved her back.

For the first time in Annabeth's life, she was speechless. So she did the only thing that made sense – she planted her lips onto his. Unexpected perhaps, and yet Annabeth could feel her heart flutter when she felt Percy return the kiss.

"Thank the gods," she heard Percy mutter as they finally pulled away. "I didn't think you'd like me back."

"I don't like you, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth replied. "I love you."

Annabeth pulled Percy into another kiss, and time seems to stop. For the first time in a long time, everything feels right.

Sure, they end up being late for their homeroom. It doesn't matter though, nor does anything else, because they're finally together.

Author's Notes:

- Not gonna lie, this didn't turn out as good as I hoped it would. I guess that happens with your first ever story, but still, I would've liked it to feel less rushed.

- The title was meant to be a bigger theme in this story (bonus points if you know where it's from), but that fell apart near the end.

- I'd like for this to be the first in a series of one-shots, but I really don't know how frequently I'll be able to write more pieces. I'll try my best though. I can't guarantee any further pieces will be as long as this one (this was way longer than I thought it would be), but again, I'll try my best.

Thanks for reading! – JRDD0904