Annabeth sighs, running a hand through her hair and stares blankly at her laptop for the fourth time this week. She's not sure if what she's experiencing is writer's block or extreme sleep deprivation but she still hates it regardless.
She lets out a long groan, runs a hand over face, stretches, shuts her laptop, and begins to skim through the messages on her phone and finds one from Piper: "Call me after you're done your documentary marathon. Found something. Might help you." She's got nothing better to do, she realizes as she looks around her room. So she calls.
"Hello?" The voice sounds strange, but it's probably because of the time of day she reasons.
"Piper, it's me."
There's a bit of shuffling on the other end before the line goes quiet and then she hears, "Piper? It's for you." And then there's more static noises and another eerily long pause before Piper says, "Annabeth! Hey. How was NOVA?"
"Who was that?" Annabeth asks warily, ignoring her question.
"...No one," Piper says breathily. "She was a um...friend. She's part of the...crew on Dad's new movie."
"Right," Annabeth says, rolling her eyes. "Okay. I need your help."
"What do you need?"
"Purpose," Annabeth says, melodramatically.
Piper pauses to contemplate her answer. "In what sense?"
"I keep trying to write something and getting stuck," she sighs. "I need...inspiration." Piper says nothing. "Well?" Annabeth prompts.
"I have something. I just don't think you'll like it."
"At this point, I'm beyond caring. Besides, beggars can't be choosers, right?" Piper hangs up. A week later Annabeth recieves tickets for a Disney cruise in the mail.
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"Piper," Annabeth all but growls into the phone.
"Annabeth," Piper echoes a little mockingly.
"What the hell? Who gave you the idea that a Disney cruise counted as inspiration?"
"You're the one who told all those little girls that 'inspiration is all around us' and that all they had to do was look for it. Follow your own advice," Piper answers flatly.
"Don't try and trick me into falling for this. You're not sending me on this cruise to help me write a book, this cruise is just another one of your 'coping mechanisms.'"
"Say what you will, you still haven't grieved your mother properly and you need to figure your shit out before you try to do anything big," Piper says calmly.
"This isn't about my mother-"
"The one thing that could be the cause of all this is your mother's death," Piper says sharply. The word death makes Annabeth flinch because all she can see now is her mother's Prius swerving off the highway and hitting the guardrails. "All I'm going to say is that your mother would have wanted this and you know it."
"You don't know anything about what my mother would have wanted, you never will, and I won't either because she's dead," Annabeth bites out, on the verge of tears. "So don't you dare try and guilt-trip me into starting a cruise on her birthday."
"Oh, Beth," Piper says, finally and it sounds so cloying sweet that Annabeth has the sudden urge to break her phone. She hangs up and chucks it at the wall instead.
She goes to her room and sleeps for the rest of the day, face pressed into the pillow. She dreams of her mother's funeral, the coffin, the car crash (all that blood)-
When she wakes up, her cheeks are wet and she can taste the all too familiar salt of her tears, and she decides she's going on this stupid cruise because whether she likes it or not, Piper is right.
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She spends the better part of the morning of her first day on the cruise staring out at the sea. Everyone must sense her gloom because everyone avoids her...except for Percy.
"It's strange, isn't it," he says, and she jumps away from the railings as if she's been burned.
She takes a while to answer, shoving her shaking hands in her pockets, and swallowing before asking softly, "What is?"
"This." She sees him gesture in the general direction of the boat out of the corner of her eye. "Having your childhood thrown in your face like this."
She turns to him then, swallows again in shock. He's handsome she thinks, with his jet black hair and greenblue eyes, dancing with mirth. "I suppose so," she says a while later, watching Mickey Mouse hand out balloons.
He laughs then, and she jumps again because it's been a long time since she's heard anyone laugh that loudly. "I was going to tell you a joke but I figured you'd ignore me."
She smiles because the teasing, laughing tone of his voice is infectious. "You figured right then."
"That's good," he says, leaning in conspiratorially. "I forgot the joke." Annabeth lets out a hoarse bark of laughter in response. She hasn't laughed genuinely in a while and it shows. She feels a strange pang of guilt for laughing on her mother's birthday and she has to remind herself that her mother always wanted her happiness.
"I'm Percy," the man says, still smiling. She notices the way the light bounces off his ink-black hair and turns it blue as she turns back to the ocean. It reminds her of her mother, her long fingers, her small slim painter's hands the way her hands used to dance over brushes as her bright-eyed gaze flitted over the model and then the canvas. Her mother would've liked to paint him, she thinks.
She glances at him briefly. "Annabeth," she responds. He gives her another one of those face-splitting grins before coming up to stand next to her, bending his tall frame over the steel railings until his hands skim the deep blue water and letting put a loud whoop that makes her laugh again despite herself.
Neither Percy nor Annabeth notices the elders gazing at them fondly as they walk past.
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When Annabeth wakes up the next morning the first thing she thinks about is her mother, as usual, the second thing is the book she's supposed to be writing and the third is Percy.
She frowns, then gets up, deciding that it's too early to try and figure out what that does or doesn't mean. She brushes her teeth, changes her clothes and walks downstairs to go get a donut and runs straight into him.
"Hi," she breathes. Her lips quirk upwards of their own accord.
Percy grins down at her. "Hey."
There's a few seconds of silence before Annabeth looks down at the floor and blurts, "Thank you."
Percy cocks his head in an inquisitive sort of way, bangs falling in front of his eyes.
"For the day on the deck," she clarifies.
His grin widens. "Thank you for the day on the deck," he responds, bowing slightly.
She laughs softly, bewildered about what she had done that day to garner a thank you. Percy glances at the ice cream in her hand. "Want some candy to go with that?"
She considers her ice cream for moment before smiling up at him and saying, "Yes," because she feels like a kid again, she hasn't felt his way in years, and she definitely wouldn't mind drawing it out for a little while longer. Judging by the way Percy's bouncing on the balls of his feet, he feels the same way.
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They don't end up getting candy. Instead, Percy drags her off into a movie theatre to watch High School Musical after she tells him she hasn't ever watched it. The theatricality of his reaction almost makes her drop her ice cream. He actually stops mid-step and asks, "Are you serious?" in a very loud incredulous whisper as if she's just confessed to committing fratricide as a child.
When she plays along and says, "Unfortunately," just as solemnly, looking up at him through her lashes, wide-eyed, he marches her into the theatre assuring her the entire way there that he'll buy her candy later and that High School Musical is "a right of passage, honestly, you won't be disappointed." And she isn't, despite the fact that Percy is an incredibly difficult person to watch a movie with; he doesn't stop moving for a second, although she doesn't do much better either.
When the movie's over he walks with her to the candy vendors and asks, "How was it?"
Annabeth shrugs. "It felt a little...fake to me."
Percy gasps as if she's personally attacked him. "It's a Disney movie, Annabeth, allowances must be made. Besides, the whole point of a Disney movie is that they are almost always ridiculously cheesy. It adds to the comedy."
Annabeth gives him a bemused look. "I suppose so."
He glances down at her sheepishly. "Are you making fun of me?"
Annabeth laughs at his attempt to look affronted. "I just didn't take you for the Disney type."
Percy gives her a strange half-shrug. "My mom likes them, so that's part of it. Also hypermasculinity is a sham, and I've always felt a strange sort of kinship with Ryan," he says thoughtfully.
It gets quiet after that, but comfortably so. Their shoulders brush and somewhere in between the candy shop and stairs leading up to their rooms, they've managed to link pinkies. The whole experience reminds her of the romance novels her mother used to read: silver moonlight and bright gazes and the soothing sounds of moving water.
He smiles at her, soft and slow, eyes alight with mischief. "Good night, Annabeth," he says, doffing an imaginary hat.
She settles for smiling back up at him. "Good night."
Then he impulsively ducks his head, and brushes his lips against her cheek. "See you tomorrow?" he murmurs.
She smiles into the dark corridor. "I think I will," she says just as softly. The moment feels intimate; sacred almost.
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She wakes up the next morning in a strange sort of haze. The first thing she sees when she closes her eyes is her mother's face. The second is Percy's face. She jerks awake and immediately picks up the phone. "Piper?" she asks, nervously.
She hears someone breathe into the phone and then call, "It's for you, Pipes," and a different person murmurs their thanks and then the sound of smacking lips filters across the line.
"Hey," Piper says, her voice rough with the echo of sleep.
"Who is that? And don't bother lying again I know you're with her...in a romantic sense that is."
Piper exhales shakily. "Okay. Um. Her name is Reyna. She's an activist. I...it's going well, so far. Dad likes her."
Annabeth grins. "Piper that's amazing!"
"Yeah," Piper says a little shyly. "I know. But," she starts, sounding a little more awake. "You called me so. Talk."
Annabeth laugh-sighs. "I met someone. Please don't-" She gets cut off by a loud squeal. "React," she finishes.
"Is it a guy or a girl?"
"A guy. His name is Percy."
"And?"
"I think it's different than it was with Luke. I mean, he definitely seems nicer than Luke." Annabeth considers Percy for a minute, then confesses, "He reminds me of Mom a little."
She hears the sound of rustling sheets. "That's...creepy. Reyna agrees. Um, maybe don't go for that-"
"No, not like an Oedipal thing. Well, I'm not a guy so I suppose it wouldn't have been Oedipal to begin with-"
"That doesn't make it any less creepy-" Piper interrupts.
"-but I meant his...manner. His personality reminds me of Mom?" She sighs. "I don't know how to explain it properly, which is weird considering I write for a living, but it's not in a creepy way."
"That's good." Annabeth hears yet another vague background noise, and when Piper says, "Reyna agrees too," Annabeth can hear the smile in her voice.
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Percy takes her to a proper candy store the next day as an apology, although Annabeth's not sure what he's apologizing for, even after his speech. "What exactly are we looking for?" Annabeth asks, looking around and following Percy aimlessly.
Percy stoops to pick up a bag of sour gummy worms. "Just...something that tastes good?" he asks, looking over at her amusedly.
"Well obviously but is there, like, a goal or an endgame?"
Percy stands up. "You didn't buy candy often as a kid did you?" he asks, sounding like he already knows the answer. Annabeth shakes her head to humor him. He hums in response. "The endgame, Annabeth, is to make sure that we consume as much sugar as possible."
Annabeth frowns. "That doesn't seem very healthy."
Percy sticks his tongue out at her, although the effect is somewhat ruined because he's not making any effort to look annoyed at all and also because he is a grown man. "Killjoy," he says, ignoring Annabeth's protests. "Trust me a huge sugar rush means a couple hours of hyperproductivity and then a four hour nap, without the negative side effects of caffeine. It'll be great."
Annabeth shrugs and picks up a packet of fudge. "Where'd you figure all this out anyway?"
"My mom used to work at a candy store," he says, picking up a bag and then placing it back on the shelf. He doesn't say anything more and Annabeth doesn't ask.
After they've cleaned out basically the entire store and shoved everything into a very large plastic bag, Percy places his hand on the small of her back and gently guides her out of the store. "Where exactly are you taking me?" she laughs, craning her neck to look back at him.
"Who knows?" he answers gravely. She has a feeling that was meant to sound cryptic but she knows him well enough to realize that he really doesn't know where he's taking her.
They end up in a viewing deck staring out at the ocean. "It looks green today," Percy comments.
Annabeth makes a sound in agreement. "Is there any significance?"
Percy half-smiles at her. "Not that I know of." He remains quiet for a few seconds. "But my father would've, apparently," he blurts.
Annabeth looks up at him intently, surprised with the amount of information he's given her about himself in the space of a couple days. "Oh," she says, making an effort not to blurt out any more questions.
"He was a sailor, apparently. He got lost right before I was born."
Annabeth says nothing as she figures what to do with this. A moment later she asks, "Do you miss him?"
She sees him shrug out of the corner of eye. He seems to think over it before answering, "I don't know. I...is it possible to miss something you've never had?" Annabeth can't come up with a proper answer to that so she remains silent. He doesn't seem to mind.
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They stop at Nassau on the last day, and for some reason she finds that she was expecting him to come drag her away. They get off the boat together and when he pulls her towards a cluster of stores she goes without question. He doesn't say anything, just wanders aimlessly through the aisles while she picks out a unusual pair of sunglasses for Piper and a fake book with an especially ornate cover for her father. She gives him a questioning look as the cashier inputs her transaction and his only response is to smile. She goes into the next store to buy something for Leo and Jason and he doesn't do anything at that store either, and at the fourth store Annabeth decides that she should probably ask him what he's doing. "What are you doing?"
Percy blinks like an owl. "What do you mean?"
"You've followed me into four stores without buying anything."
Percy shrugs. "I have nothing to buy," he answers, fiddling with the clay-bead necklace.
Annabeth squints at him. "Sure." Percy merely smilesAgain.
On their way back onto the cruise ship, he gently pulls her over to one side the deck shrinking away from an overenthusiastic Goofy welcoming people back onboard and walks into the gift shop.
Annabeth stares. "What the fuck?"
Percy buys two bags of blue jellybeans and walks out like nothing's happened. "What the fuck was all that for then?" she demands, watching as he pops a jellybean in his mouth. He shrugs, avoiding her gaze. Annabeth frowns. "You have something to say don't you?"
Percy glances around a little panickedly, then looks back down at her. "I'll...I'll come find you when you leave."
Annabeth gives him a once-over, the concedes with a nod. "Promise?"
He nods, smiling softly. "Promise," he says over the sound of the horn.
Percy finds her right as the ship finds it way to the dock and taps her once on the shoulder. "Hey."
Annabeth studies him with narrowed eyes. "Hey."
He waves a piece of paper around. "I guess this is goodbye, then."
Annabeth nods. "I guess so."
The boat hits the dock and everyone around them sways and shouts excitedly. A kid starts to cry a little. "You should keep your ticket from this. You get a discount next year."
And all at once Annabeth figures oit what this is about. She reaches up and hugs him on a whim. "I'll miss you," she whispers into his ear.
Percy hugs her a little tighter and slips something into her pocket. She feels him smile. "Me too," he says as people start to disembark. She presses one last kiss to his cheek, takes a second study him, then turns around in reaches in her pocket to see that he's given her his number and a hastily drawn smiley face.
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Message
From: Percy
To: Me
2016-07-10, 12:02 PM
see you next year?
Message
From: Me
To: Percy
2016-07-10, 12:02 PM
definitely
notes: this is a rewrite of the orginial story bc i was reading through it and realized that the writing was overdone and Not Good. thanks to maydayparade8123 for your review.
as always, please let me know what y'all think!