Most of the girls knew about him, because Annabeth had mentioned him in passing 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, thinking about the sorts of ridiculous stories that her classmates had come up with, how they barely scratched the surface of what exactly Percy and her had been getting up to (fighting monsters never quite made it onto their lists, somehow). 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 almost instantaneously at the noise, in spite of the fact that her eyes were still droopy, and grabbed her knife out 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 slightly sweaty 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 several weeks 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. 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. She shoved her schoolwork into her bag in a messier fashion than usual, and hurriedly followed Nadia to the front of the school, where ‘the hot guy’ was apparently waiting for someone.

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 exciting ever happened.

Annabeth made her way down the steps and across the front lawn to a tall sycamore tree, under which was sat a boy. He definitely looked like Percy, on account of the slouch of his shoulders and his scuffed sneakers, 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 long time in Annabeth and Percy terms – 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.

iii.

She didn’t put down her panic attacks on her medical emergency form, but Annabeth is 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 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 clammy. She 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 a thousand bullets. Suddenly, she was back in Tartarus, back in hell, surrounded by monsters. She was blind, she’d been cursed, and she had no weapon.

She spun 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 remembered 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 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.

iv & v: percy at annabeth’s school (prom? monster attack?)