A/N: This is an AU Percabeth fic. I've been into AUs lately (so that means I will keep posting them).

I'm on Archive of Our Own now! All of my fics that I put here are going to be over there, but I will probably be using FanFiction as my default site. Which means I will post things on here first!

On a side note: How many of you read Minding Your Business? And if you did, would you like to see a sequel? There is a poll on my profile or you can leave your answer in the reviews! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Percy knew that something was up because Annabeth had barely touched her taco soup.

He knows a lot of things about Annabeth. That's what happens with your best friend. Having Annabeth around him was like breathing. He didn't know if he could make it without her being right beside him. He supposes that sounds a little dramatic, but he really doesn't care.

He had been best friends with Annabeth for the past fourteen years, and considering that he's only eighteen, she has taken up most of his life. They live across the street from each other. They go to the same school. They hang out with each other every day.

So of course Percy was going to be able to tell when something was making her upset. He could tell when she was getting sick or when she had a bad day at school or even when she was about to start her period.

He was the best friend. He was the shoulder to cry on. He was the guy that was always there with a Disney movie and a box of tampons.

Sure, sometimes it sucked. Sometimes he wished that he wasn't so deep in the friend zone that all hopes of a relationship were crumbled to pieces and stepped on. Sometimes he wished that instead of hugging her when she was sad, he could kiss her or maybe even do both. Sometimes he wished that they were together and that they were in love, but Percy took what he could get.

"Annabeth," Percy hummed as he shoveled more soup into his mouth.

She looked up from her bowl. They were sitting in Percy's kitchen, eating the dinner that his mom had cooked for them before she had left with Paul. Annabeth was wearing a pair of Nike shorts and one of Percy's hoodies. She was sitting on top of the counter while Percy was on one of the bar stools. Her legs were tucked underneath her, and her hair was pulled up into a ponytail.

"Yes?" She asked.

"What's wrong?" Percy said, tipping his head to the side.

Annabeth shook her head, and that was when Percy knew that everything was wrong.

He studied her.

She finally rolled her eyes and let out a breath, "Dad texted me and said that he wasn't coming home tonight."

Percy shrugged and got up from his chair, walking to the oven and filling his bowl again. He shrugged, "Okay. You can stay here."

"Okay," Annabeth said as she scooped some soup into her mouth. Percy could tell that she was fighting back a smile.

He laughed, "Is that all that was wrong?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, I'm glad it was an easy fix," he said as he took his seat again.

She smiled, and Percy smiled too.

Ω

The first thing Percy did when he was fully conscious was check his Snapchat.

A few months ago, Annabeth had found it on the app store, and she had finally conformed to society and downloaded it. The next few weeks, Annabeth had fallen in love with Snapchat, and ever since Percy and Annabeth were always snapping.

So after he woke up and remembered what day it was, he pulled his phone from the charger and opened the app, not surprised to find six new snaps from Annabeth. He checked all of them one at a time, laughing at the crazy faces that Annabeth had sent him.

Then, he got a new one from Annabeth, and when he opened it, he was extremely surprised to see a picture of himself in his bed, looking at his phone.

Percy looked up to see Annabeth standing at his door in her pajamas, holding her phone up.

"What the heck are you doing?" Percy asked. His voice was deep from sleep, and he was pretty sure his hair was sticking up in every direction.

She laughed and jumped into his bed with him, landing on top of his chest. She pushed her legs under the blankets with Percy's, and she curled into his side. She took his phone and scrolled through his friends on Snapchat.

"Look at my story," Annabeth said as she showed it to him.

On her story, there was a picture of him and Annabeth left from yesterday when they had gotten out of class along with the picture that she had snapped him just a few seconds ago of him in his bed, checking his phone.

Percy rolled his eyes, "I still can't believe that you love Snapchat so much."

She shrugged, and the movement of her shoulders made her slip farther into Percy's grip. "It's fun."

He groaned and rubbed his eyes, "How did you even get here? I thought that you were staying with Thalia last night."

"She ended up going out with Luke so I just went home. Sally texted me this morning when she saw me check the mail, and she invited me over for breakfast," Annabeth said.

"Breakfast?" Percy asked.

"Yep."

Percy stretched as far as he could with Annabeth on top of him, "Hmm. What are you doing today?"

Her mood changed instantly, and Percy felt her body tense. "I'm supposed to go see Mom."

He was confused. "But you've been waiting all week to go see her. I thought you were excited?"

"I guess I was, but she called me and left a voicemail, and I just don't want to go anymore," she said.

Even though it was really early, and Percy had just woken up, he had to figure out why Annabeth didn't want to go see her mom. She had been excited since her dad had told her about visiting her mom, but what could have happened that made her change her mind?

Annabeth's mom was a sensitive subject anyway. Almost a year ago, her parents had gone through an awful divorce. They had made Annabeth choose between the both of them, and if Annabeth hadn't known that her mom was moving halfway across the country, she would have gone with her. Percy tried to get her to choose whichever one made her the happiest (she would have picked her mom) but Annabeth hadn't been able to stand the thought of leaving Percy here. After Annabeth had chosen her dad, her mom had gone a little crazy. She had stopped speaking to Annabeth for a few weeks, and even texting her had been out of the question.

Percy thought it was all awful. He remembered when Annabeth had first told him that her parents were getting divorced. She had said it with a blank face and a monotone voice. It had taken Percy a few days to make her understand that he wasn't going anywhere, and when she had finally broken down, she hadn't stopped crying for hours.

What else could her mom have done to make Annabeth not want to go see her? What could she have said? Percy knew from personal experience that Annabeth was a little difficult to deal with sometimes, but she cared so much it was hard for her to give up on anything. If she was already willing to give up on her mom, what could she have possibly done?

"Well, you don't have to go," Percy said. "You can stay here with me. We could go see that new movie that you told me about."

"Yeah," Annabeth said. She didn't sound excited, which probably meant that Percy hadn't offered the right solution.

"Or," Percy rolled over so he was facing Annabeth. She had already fallen off of his chest and was curled at his side. "I could take you to see your mom. Then we could tell her that you have to help me study so you wouldn't have to stay the whole time. We could come back home whenever you wanted."

"You would really take me all the way up there just because I'm not happy about going?" Annabeth asked.

Percy knocked his forehead against hers, "Duh."

She smiled then, and Percy knew he had gotten it right this time. "Okay. But you need to fix your hair. It looks awful."

Ω

Percy was hurrying across the street. He had his hands full, and he had a backpack that was stuffed to the zipper tossed across his shoulders.

He was on his way to Annabeth's house. She had missed school today, and Percy knew that it had been a really bad day because she hadn't replied to any of his texts or calls. Percy had called her dad at lunch today, and he had told him that Annabeth had gotten in a really bad fight with her other best friend, Thalia.

So, once Percy had gotten home, he had raced inside and grabbed Frozen, one of his hoodies that Annabeth loved, and a bag of snacks that his mom had packed. After all of that, he had finally made it out of the house and across the street.

He took a deep breath and opened Annabeth's front door. He didn't even bother with looking in the living room for her—he knew she would either be in the shower or on the treadmill. She always tried to make her problems go away by ignoring them completely.

Percy walked through the living room and up the stairs. As he passed Annabeth's bathroom door, he heard the shower running, so he walked straight by and to her room. He set his backpack down on top of her desk as he kicked his shoes off. He climbed into her bed and pulled out his phone.

He was looking through his Twitter feed when Annabeth walked in and said, "Make yourself at home."

"I am at home," he said cheekily, glancing up at her over his phone.

She was wrapped in a towel, and her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head. Her eyes were stormy, and her expression was blank. Percy could tell that she had already built up her walls so it was going to take a lot of effort on his part to tear them down.

"Come watch Frozen with me," Percy said, patting the bed next to him.

"Let me get dressed," she said as she turned toward her dresser.

He didn't duck under the covers like he normally did. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and smirked, "You know, you don't have to if you don't want to. I don't mind."

"Don't get too excited, Jackson. I might have to kick you out," Annabeth retorted quickly.

Then he grinned and pulled the sheets over his head, "You wouldn't do it."

Percy could hear her changing clothes as she said, "I might today."

He probably could have asked her about the fight then, but he decided to wait until she was beside him so she couldn't walk away.

Percy heard her walk out of the room, and he sat up just as she was coming back inside. He rolled out of her bed and snagged his backpack from her desk. She was standing in front of him, watching as he searched. He pulled out his hoodie that he had brought, and he stepped closer to Annabeth.

She held her arms up automatically, and Percy pulled the hoodie over her head and slipped the sweatshirt over her t-shirt. He let his hands flutter at her waist for a few seconds until he grasped her hand and pulled her to the bed.

Percy thought he heard her sigh when he pulled her up onto his chest. He had put in Frozen when he had come in, so Elsa was already singing. Percy knew that this was Annabeth's favorite part of the movie, so he tightened his arms around her and held her until she stopped humming the words.

Annabeth got quiet, and her breathing evened out. Before she could fall asleep, Percy twisted her around so she was laying on her stomach on top of him.

"I called your dad at lunch today," he said.

"You did?" She asked. Her voice was quiet, and she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"I did. You wouldn't answer any of my texts or calls. I'm pretty sure that I even emailed you."

"I didn't want to talk," she confessed.

"That doesn't mean that you can ignore me like that though. I was scared something bad had happened," Percy said.

Annabeth looked up at him, "You were?"

"Of course I was," he said immediately. "Your dad told me that you got into a fight with Thalia."

Percy probably shouldn't have said that because Annabeth narrowed her eyes and rolled off of him. Her jaw was clenched, and she had stiffened up completely.

"And now you're going to tell me that I should call and apologize to her because she's my best friend and she's always there for me and how I should be nice to her all of the fucking time even when she is ignoring me to spend time with Luke and-"

Percy rolled over so he was hovering above her. He was close enough that their stomachs were touching, and Annabeth's chest was brushing his. If he moved his head less than half of an inch, he would have been able to kiss her. Percy didn't kiss her (he wanted to, but he didn't) and instead he bent his nose down, brushing against hers. His forehead was against hers. He had to be so, so, so, so careful not to let his lips touch hers.

Annabeth stopped abruptly, letting her voice die. She was staring at him, and her eyes were wide. She was still, and Percy could tell that she was waiting to see what Percy was going to do.

"No, I was going to come home and watch movies with you. I might have told you that I would always be here for you and that I loved you, but that would have been all I would have said unless you wanted me to do something else," Percy said. He let one of his hands brush her hair out of her face.

She blinked at him, and her eyes were watery. Before she could let her tears fall, Percy rolled back over and pulled her into his arms. She was sobbing now, and the sounds that she was making were definitely scaring him (she never really cried like this) but Percy held on to her tighter than he ever had.

It took longer than Percy expected for Annabeth to calm down. Their fight must have been awful because even after Annabeth had finished crying, she was still shaking and gasping for breath.

Percy was also a little mad. He had been friends with Annabeth for forever, and they had both met Thalia at the same time. She was a year older than they were, but that didn't stop them from having a good friendship. Sure, Thalia and Annabeth were close, but once Thalia had started dating Luke, she had been constantly blowing Annabeth off to hang out with him. Percy knew that it had been hurting Annabeth's feelings, and he had really planned on saying something to her. He really hadn't planned on everything blowing up this quickly, but he knew that he would stay here all night with Annabeth if she wanted him to.

"I texted her this morning to ask if we were still going shopping after school today, but she kept reading them and not replying. I finally called her and asked, and she told me that she couldn't go because she was going to Luke's to help him with his English paper. I got mad and said something stupid about how she had been doing this a lot lately, and she started yelling and told me that she was sorry that I didn't have anyone as important to me as Luke was to her. She basically said that she cared way more about him than she did me, and she said that she didn't want to be best friends with me anymore because I was uptight, controlling, and pathetic. And I'm just wondering why everyone keeps saying that to me. Am I really like that? Is that why no one wants me anymore?" Annabeth spilled suddenly. She pulled out of his arms and sat up, burying her face in her hands.

Percy was caught off guard with the entire story. It was like a slap to the face, and it made him even angrier. How could Thalia say that to her? And how could Annabeth think that any of it was true?

He sat up too and slipped his arm around her waist. His voice was soft when he said, "Annabeth, I hope you know that none of that is true."

"No, Percy," she said. "All of it is true. People at school say it, one of my best friends said it, god, even my mom said it. If all of those people see it then it has to be true, right?"

"Do you know why they say that?" Percy asked. He ran his hand down her arm and back up to her shoulder.

"Because it's true?"

He shook his head, "No. They say those things because they know that it hurts you. You are so awesome and so much better than they are, that they have to find some way to bring you down to their level, and hurting you is the only way that they can think to do it. You are not pathetic, uptight, or controlling. You are gorgeous and clear-headed and funny and nice and beautiful and so amazing, and I don't ever want you to listen to anyone that says otherwise. Do you understand?"

Annabeth was silent. Percy took her legs and gently twisted her around so she was facing him. He pulled her head up, and she reluctantly met his gaze.

"Do you understand?" He repeated.

"Why should I believe you?" She asked.

He pulled her a little closer and whispered, "Because I'm the only one that matters."

She just looked at him for a few seconds before she said, "You're biased."

"Hell yes I'm biased, but it doesn't matter because my opinion is the only one that you should really care about. I'm the most important," he said as he pushed his face into the crook of her neck.

She finally laughed a little (more of a giggle, really) and Percy felt one of her arms twist around his back. "You think quite highly of yourself, don't you?"

"Of course I do," he said. "You know, Thalia probably said half of the things that she did because she was jealous of me."

"Of you?"

"Yeah," Percy said into her neck. "We're way closer than you and Thalia ever were. I think that she was always jealous of us. That's probably one of the reasons that she never really liked me that much anyway. She was mad because we were always together, and she wasn't as important to you as I am."

Annabeth was quiet, and that meant that Percy had said something right.

"You really think so?" Annabeth said after a few minutes.

Percy leaned up and nodded, "Yeah, I do think so. And if she throws that in your face then she isn't worth your time."

She nodded and leaned her head onto his shoulder. They had stayed on her bed and talked for so long that Olaf was already singing about summer.

"Hey," Percy said after the song was over. "My mom is making taco soup."

Annabeth sat straight up, and she looked like she her day had just gotten tons better. "She is?"

"Yes, so let's get Frozen and go back to my house and chill," he said as he scooped Annabeth up and rolled off of the bed.

He grabbed his backpack, and Annabeth got the movie out of the DVD player. Once they were leaving, Percy forgot that he was going to tell her something, so he grabbed her and pushed her up against the door frame. He had one of his hands on her cheek, and her back was against the wall. Her eyes were wide.

"Percy?" She asked. Her voice shook.

He let his voice drop low, "First of all, I'm your best friend, not Thalia. I'm the one that's always been there for you, and I'm the one that will always be here for you. I'm here, and you're stuck with me, got it?"

She nodded, but Percy heard her breath catch.

"And I do love you," he said quickly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. (He couldn't help it.) "Now let's go eat. I'm ready to see Elsa fighting those bad guys."

Annabeth finally smiled and nodded, reaching up to press a kiss to his cheek. He hoped that he didn't blush, but his face felt red. She took his hand and said, "All right, Seaweed Brain, but if you fall asleep on me I will throw you in the floor, okay?"

Ω

Percy checked his phone as discreetly as he could. He managed to get a pretty nice picture of his face to Snapchat Annabeth even though he had his phone sitting on his thigh. He was in U.S. History, listening to Dr. Robins drone on and on about the civil war.

He jumped slightly when he felt his phone vibrate, and he opened her snap. It was a picture of her as she blew her nose. He frowned as he read the caption that said I'm going home.

She had woken up sick this morning (probably Percy's fault; they had stayed out last night, swimming in the pool. It wasn't exactly warm enough for it yet) but she had still decided to come to school. When he had walked her to her last class, her eyes had been watering and her nose had been running and she had just looked like she didn't feel good.

Percy felt awful. Sure, it had been awesome at the time (anytime that he could see Annabeth soaking wet with one of his t-shirts clinging to her body was awesome) but he should have known that one of them could have gotten sick. Swimming in March? What had he been thinking?

He quickly snapped back a picture of himself frowning with an I'm sorry!

"Percy Jackson!"

He looked up to see Dr. Robins and the rest of the class staring at him. Most of the kids were smirking at him being caught, but Dr. Robins had an eyebrow raised.

"I hope you have your phone out, and you aren't just looking at your crotch and frowning for no apparent reason," the older man said. His eyes were sparkling mischievously. Most of the teachers at school didn't mind Percy (especially since he was friends with Annabeth) but Dr. Robins actually liked him. He seemed to take every chance that he had to embarrass Percy.

The rest of the class was howling with laughter as Percy blushed a deep shade of red.

"Um," Percy stammered as he placed his phone on top of his desk. "I have my phone out."

"And what were you doing, might I ask?"

Percy hesitated before he said, "I was snapchatting Annabeth."

Dr. Robins sighed as he came closer. He held out his hand, and Percy handed over his phone. "Well, Percy, I don't get to Snapchat my wife in the middle of class and neither do you."

Percy didn't know if he meant to use the "wife" reference, but he wasn't going to argue his non-existent relationship with Annabeth right now. If he was lucky Dr. Robins wouldn't turn it into the office, and Percy could just get his phone back after class.

The rest of class passed by uneventfully (Percy thanked god; more embarrassment was all he needed now). Before he knew it, the bell rang and it was time to go. Dr. Robins smirked at him as he gave Percy his phone back, but he let him slip out of class nonetheless.

Even though the rest of history had passed by quickly, the rest of his day did not. All Percy wanted to do was go home and take care of Annabeth. He just wanted to curl up next to her and let her sleep on top of his chest until she felt better. Especially since he was the one that had made her sick in the first place!

Finally, finally, finally the clock on his phone flipped over to three o'clock, and the bell rang. Percy literally grabbed his backpack, a few of the books Annabeth might need, and he sprinted toward his car.

What made Percy even more nervous was the fact that she was probably at home by herself. Even if she had told her dad that she was sick, he wouldn't have been able to take off of work to go home and stay with her. He might have if he could, but he wouldn't have—

Wait. How did Annabeth even get home? Percy had picked her up this morning, and she had gone to school with him. Sure, it wasn't that far to their houses, but it would have felt like forever to walk it because she was so sick!

Percy hadn't made it halfway through his worrying when he got home. He parked at the curb in front of his house—his mom's car was already in the driveway—and he ran inside and dumped his backpack on the ground before he started toward the door again.

"Percy?" His mom called from deeper in the house, probably the kitchen.

"Hey, Mom," he said. "I'm going to check on Annabeth."

"Wait! Come in here!"

He frowned, but he followed her voice to the kitchen anyway. She was standing in the doorway that connected the kitchen and the living room, staring at something in the living room. She looked over her shoulder at him, and she smiled softly, beckoning him forward.

"Mom, I need to go check on—" Percy stopped abruptly when he spotted what she was looking at.

Annabeth was curled up on the couch in his comforter from his bed. He could see her blonde curls and a bit of her face that wasn't buried in the covers. She was shivering, and her breathing was heavy. There was a glass of juice and a box of tissues sitting on the floor where she could reach them, along with her cell phone and the television remote.

Before he could ask his mom how she had gotten here and how she was feeling, she pushed him into the kitchen so they wouldn't bother her.

"I was on my way home to grab some files that I forgot this morning when she called. She said that she had a fever, and she was wondering if I was busy. I went and picked her up and brought her back home. She's been sleeping ever since, but her fever hasn't gone down," she frowned and hit him on the arm. "I told you that swimming was a bad idea!"

Percy ducked away, "Yeah, it was. So you just stayed here all day with her?"

"Yes, and I need to run back down to my office, so now that you're here I'm going to go," she said. She turned away from him, "Try not to wake her up. Maybe she can just sleep it off. I should be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," Percy said as she grabbed her purse. "Mom?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Thanks for taking care of her. I was worried that she was at home by herself all day," he said.

She smiled, "You forget that she's like my daughter, Percy. I love her too. I'll be right back."

Percy nodded and listened until he heard her car door shut, and Percy assumed that she drove away.

He walked back over to the living room, studying Annabeth. Even though she was wrapped up with several blankets, she was still shivering. Percy had tried to convince himself not to crawl onto the couch with her (the last thing they needed was for him to be sick too) but the sight of her shivering and the thought that it was his fault that she was sick made him throw all other logic out of the window. Before he knew it, he was kicking his shoes off and pulling his phone from his pocket.

He took a quick selfie of him and Annabeth, posting it on his Snapchat story before he tossed his phone to the ground beside hers. He picked Annabeth up bridal style, and he sat down on the couch, leaning back and pulling Annabeth up onto of his chest until they were both lying down.

Annabeth shifted and muttered something that Percy didn't catch. She gripped his shirt in her hand, and she snuggled closer to him, sniffling occasionally. Percy tightened the blankets around them and kissed her on top of the head.

"Percy?" She murmured.

"Hey, babe," he said just as softly. He swore that the pet name just slipped out, and he hoped that she wouldn't notice. "How do you feel?"

She sighed and wrapped one of her arms around his neck, "I'm okay. We shouldn't have gone swimming."

"No, we shouldn't have, and it's my fault that you're sick. I'm sorry," he said, rubbing his hand up and down her back.

"Mmm, I know how you can make it up to me," she murmured again. Her eyes were closed, and if she wasn't talking to him right now, he would have believed that she was fast asleep.

"Just say the word," Percy said.

She let out another sigh, "Don't stop rubbing my back, promise me a Harry Potter movie night, and don't put any pictures of me on your Snapchat tonight."

Percy grinned and continued moving his hand from her shoulders to the dip in her back. "Deal. Now go back to sleep."

Annabeth coughed and tangled one of her legs with his. She didn't say anything else, but she blinked up at him before she closed her eyes again.

Percy didn't stop rubbing her back, and he snaked his other arm around her arm to cradle her to his body. He could probably arrange a Harry Potter movie night, but he was definitely going to put this on his Snapchat. It was just too cute to resist.

Ω

Percy was standing at his locker, putting his books away. He didn't have any homework tonight, so now he could take Annabeth to see that movie like he had planned on. He turned around, ready to meet her at the car, but he frowned in confusion.

Annabeth was speed-walking toward him. She had her backpack hanging off of one of her shoulders, and she kept brushing her hair back behind her ear. She wasn't crying, but Percy could tell she was upset from the set of her shoulders and the look on her face.

He didn't say anything, and when she stopped in front of him, he remained silent. She looked up at him and when she blinked Percy couldn't help but pull her into a quick hug.

When they pulled back, Percy grabbed his phone from his pocket and took a selfie of them, posting it to his Snapchat with the comment she's my world and a heart eye emoji. She watched him, but even though she didn't say anything about it, Percy could see her eyes get watery.

Percy took her hand and started walking down the hallway.

"What movies are we going to watch tonight?" He asked. Even though he had planned on going out, he knew that Annabeth would rather stay in when something was bothering her.

She shrugged closer to him, "Lord of the Rings?"

He didn't groan like he normally did. He supposed he could suffer through Frodo and a bunch of other hobbits freaking out over some jewelry if he could cuddle with Annabeth the entire time.

"Okay," Percy said. "I bet Mom would make some taco soup if we stopped and got all of the stuff."

Annabeth threaded her fingers through his and tightened her grip. She looked up at him and said, "I love you."

He smiled down at her and pressed a kiss to her temple, "I love you, too."

Even though he wasn't sure what their relationship status (somewhere in between best friends and being together) was, he didn't care. As long as he had Annabeth beside him, he would be fine. They would be fine as long as they were together.

And of course he could use Snapchat and taco soup to fix all of her problems.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review, and don't forget: What about a sequel to Minding Your Business?

-SomethingMoreCreative