It's movie night at Percy's, and Percy has news.

He's been wanting to tell Piper and Thalia about Allison ever since they arrived. Piper's been a little subdued, although Percy thinks that may be due to the all-nighters she's been pulling on her art and design project, but Thalia is as excitable as always, bouncing around like a hyper child. He's not sure when's the best time to drop the bombshell, so he keeps quiet all throughout dinner, and only opens his mouth when Thalia is squatting by the DVD player, going through all of his CDs, and Piper is squashed up next to him with a bowl of cereal.

"Guys?" he says.

Thalia doesn't turn around. "Mm?"

"I've got some news."

Piper turns to look at him. So does Thalia. She furrows her eyebrows. "What news?"

He takes a deep breath. "I found my soulmate."

Thalia's eyes almost pop out. "What?"

"That's crazy," Piper says, slightly unenthusiastically. "I never saw that coming."

"Who is it?" Thalia demands. "Is she nice? Does she go to this school?"

Percy beams. "It's Allison Cooper."

And then the room falls silent.

Thalia's ecstatic expression becomes a little pinched. "A–Allison Coper?"

"Wow," Piper says weakly. "Such a surprise."

"Your soulmate is Allison Cooper?" Thalia asks in disbelief.

Percy frowns. "What's wrong with Allison Cooper?"

Piper hurriedly cuts in before Thalia can start listing reasons. "It's not an insult, Percy," she soothes, and Percy's hand twitches because how the hell does she know. "It's just– surprising."

"Why?"

"Well." Piper looks extremely awkward.

"Allison Cooper is not your type," Thalia says. "At all."

"Oh yeah? And what is my type, then?"

"Not Allison Cooper, that's for sure. I was thinking someone a little different. Blonde, maybe. Grey eyes. Nice smile. Called Annabeth. Perhaps."

Piper sighs. "Oh, dear Lord."

Percy closes his eyes in frustration. "Why does everyone think Annabeth is my soulmate?"

Piper opens her mouth, presumably to say something kind and thoughtful, but before she can Thalia says, "Uh, maybe because she isn't a giant trashbag?"

"Allison isn't a trashbag!"

"That latex number she wore yesterday wasn't really helping the cause," Piper says, but when Percy glares at her she shoves a spoonful of cereal in her mouth and mumbles, "But I'm sure she's nice."

"Come on, Perce," Thalia says. "You can't seriously tell me you think Allison Cooper is your soulmate."

"Why not?" Percy challenges. "Why wouldn't she be? Do you think I'm not good enough for her? Oh, what a joke, loser Jackson thinks he's worthy of being the soulmate of someone like Allison Coper?"

"Don't be daft, Percy," Thalia says. "It's not like that at all, don't put words in my mouth. It's just– you two are so different. You seriously think you're gonna be able to learn to love someone who moves in eight billion different directions to you?"

"Me and Annabeth are different, too."

"Not as much as you're trying to convince yourself you are. I mean, come on, Percy. Have you ever even looked at Allison Cooper?"

Percy feels himself go hot all over. "As a matter of fact, yes, I have, actually! We bumped into each other in the hallway and we accidentally knocked each other's books out of each other's hands. On the same day that my soulmate Mark showed up."

Thalia shakes her head. "Something isn't right, Percy, and you know it."

"You're just jealous."

Piper looks up from her cereal. Her eyes flit between the two of them like she's watching a tennis game.

Thalia laughs mirthlessly. "Jealous? Of what, the fact that your terrible reasoning is going to put you in a toxic relationship that your insecurities won't let you escape? Right, that's it."

Percy stares at her. "Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"Because you've got it wrong!"

"You don't know that!" Percy cries desperately. "How could you know that? For all you know I could need someone like Allison Cooper!"

"But you don't," Thalia says, "because you need someone like Annabeth Chase. Allison isn't going to do anything for you. You think she'll give two figs about your anxiety? You'll be like a charity case."

Piper begins to look worried. "Thalia, stop it."

Thalia ignores her. That's always been one of her weaknesses: her pig-headedness just won't stop interfering. She doesn't have a filter, isn't able to process emotion until she's stretched it too far. And Percy burns. "Oh, and Annabeth will be any different?"

"Yes!" Thalia cries. "Percy, open your eyes! Look, okay, Allison Cooper probably isn't the Anti-Christ, I'll admit I was wrong, but with people like that people like you fly straight over their heads! She doesn't understand it, she can't! Yeah, okay, she'll love you, whatever, but she'll drag you out to every party she gets invited to because she wants to show you off and because you're too terrified to ever say no to anyone you'll dope yourself up on your meds until you're as high as a kite so you'll be able to stand it all and I'm not gonna sit here and watch you live your life either drugged up so badly you can barely walk or so low you can't get out of bed!"

"Thalia, shut up!" Piper shouts, terrified.

The thing is, Thalia's right. But Percy is too terrified of being run under the wheels if he stops now so he keeps tumbling downhill. "You don't know anything! I'm not four years old, I don't need to be looked after!"

"Yes, you do! You're a stubborn little brat who gets so scared of talking in public you either faint or choke, of course you need someone to look after you! And sorry to break this to you, but Allison Cooper isn't going to give you that because she can barely take care of herself!"

"You can't be so sure that Annabeth will."

"I kind of can." Confrontation isn't new to Thalia – she experiences it almost every day. She doesn't keep her mouth shut at school and that gets her into a fair number of spats with other kids who have egos too fragile to be damaged by the likes of Thalia Grace, so she sits effortlessly undisturbed on the sofa, her legs spread out, her arms propped on the backrest, because this is familiar territory to her. But she's poised, and she's alert, and Percy knows that she's never been so serious before in her life. "Annabeth has learnt. She may be a dickbag but she's not that much of a dickbag."

"I don't like Annabeth that way, though."

"Maybe not," Thalia says. "And you don't have to go with her. But please, for the love of God, wake up and see some sense. Allison Cooper is the wrong person for you."

Percy clenches and unclenched his jaw. Piper has put her spoon down and she's looking at him, almost imploringly, her wide eyes confused and expectant. Thalia looks the most relaxed, because he and Piper have spines like broomsticks, and she's just lounging on the sofa in her socks like she owns the place, but her eyes hold weight.

But she's wrong. Annabeth is not his soulmate.

Annabeth and Allison are almost complete opposites. Annabeth is the undisputed queen of the school – cold, careful, calculating. Everyone is terrified of her, of her ice court and how one look from her steely eyes can cut you into pieces. Allison is the princess, the one who comes in with the summer with a dress of daisies and a twinkly laugh. Annabeth is wrong for Percy in all the ways Allison is right.

She's wrong. Allison is Percy's soulmate and that's that.

Finally, he sighs. "Okay," he says.

He's lying.

Thalia breathes out a sigh of relief. "My God," she says, closing her eyes in gratitude. "That's the most reassuring thing you've said all week."

Percy comes to lunch with Allison Cooper in tow.

It's safe to say that absolutely no one sees it coming. As soon as he appears in the distance, Annabeth sees Nico perk up, ready to show him the same article he's shown all of them, about an alligator that climbed into a tourist boat and ate one of the passengers ("Nico that's gross" "it's interesting! Look, it even links to the Facebook page where one of them livestreamed the entire thing!"), and then he rather confusedly deflates, so Annabeth turns to see what's the matter and then suddenly her whole life flashes before her eyes.

That's Allison Cooper. Holding Percy's hand.

Thalia closes her eyes in frustration. "Literally, what did I say."

Grover glances at her, almost mournfully. "You know?"

"Know what?" Nico asks.

"Nothing," Thalia says.

The two of them walk up to the table together. Up close, Allison is even prettier. Annabeth had never really ever talked to Allison – she was one of the Girls. She wasn't by any means unpopular – she made it into all the sleepovers, and Annabeth had probably faux-confided in her at one point and she'd also probably dabbed away her steaking mascara in the toilets at a point, too (they all looked the same, all right, and she did the same thing with so many of them, so what if she gets confused). But she had never remembered her being so beautiful. She remembers the extremely beautiful ones, because they were the ones who probably could have taken the throne.

Huh. Little Ali had a bit of a glow-up. She'd almost be proud if she wasn't clinging onto Percy's hand like a piece of fungus. Honestly, how old is she, three? Does she seriously need to hold onto him at every moment?

"Percy," Piper says, her voice a bit strained. "Hey."

"Hey!" Percy plops down in his seat, and Allison gets in next to him. Annabeth almost bursts a vein because that's where she normally sits, but she doesn't think ripping out the hair of Percy's soulmate would go down very well, so she just sits there, seething. "Uh, guys. This is Ali."

Allison smiles at them, widely. Annabeth's eye twitches. "Hey! It's really nice to meet you guys, Percy's told me so much about you." She turns to Piper. "You're Piper, right? Percy's said so much. You seem great. Also, I love your hair."

Piper actually blushes. "Oh?" she says, and she seems genuinely flattered, and Annabeth wants to scream because that's so obviously a con move why is everyone so in love with her. "Wow, I mean– thank you. Yours, too."

Allison beams. Annabeth wants to break something.

Okay, so. Listen.

Annabeth isn't jealous or anything. She's quite above jealousy – thinks it's childish and mundane and irrelevant and stupid and there's really no need or space for it in everyday life. And there's nothing to be jealous of. Annabeth has seen Allison's PJ, and she's seen Percy's AC, and she knows that the universe doesn't make mistakes. If that's how it's meant to be then that's how it's meant to be.

It's just– she just can't quite shake the feeling that Allison isn't right.

Besides, even if she's wrong, it's not as if she's acting on pure impulse. Everything about this is weird. And wrong. It's just all a little funny, in that awkward forced kind of way where it's not really funny at all. Like. What kind of parallel universe is this?

Slightly sulkily, Annabeth watches Allison take a sip of her mango smoothie. A parallel universe where people like Allison Cooper sit with them, apparently.

Jason clears his throat. It's been uncomfortably quiet for a while now. "So," he says. "Allison."

Allison beams at him. God, she's so pretty, Annabeth notices with a scowl. She can see why Percy likes her. She's all glowy and beautiful and she's got long delicate fingers and pedicured toes and Annabeth kind of wants to scream because she's everything she's not and it's so unfair so instead she curls her own stubby fingers into fists and glares down at her Chucks where underneath the canvas are her own unpedicured toes and okay maybe she's a tiny bit jealous whatever, okay.

"You're Percy's soulmate, huh?" Thalia demands rudely.

Piper tries to kick her and instead kicks Annabeth.

If Allison notices the hostility in Thalia's voice she doesn't say anything. She spears her lettuce leaf and twirls it on her fork, seemingly blissfully ignorant. "It appears so," she says, and she gives Percy a shy smile that he returns and oh yes there's that funny feeling in Annabeth's stomach again.

She coughs, trying to get rid of it. Must be heartburn. Or Leo's fajitas.

Thalia laces her fingers. "What are your intentions with Percy?"

"Thalia," Percy warns. "Come on."

"It's all right, Percy." Allison rubs his thigh. She sighs and pulls at the end of her ponytail. "Well," she says thoughtfully, "I guess I just want to make him happy."

Annabeth frowns down at the table. It's so unfair. Allison Cooper isn't even unlikeable. She's sweet and funny and pretty and she's probably perfect for Percy. It even says so on her wrist.

It would be so much easier if she was a cow. If she treated Percy like crap and made fun of his anxiety and his Marks and talked down at him like he was nothing. But she doesn't. It's only been a few minutes and she seems wonderful. Annabeth can't find one flaw except the green monster sitting on her shoulder called jealousy.

She looks up. She and Jason are now in avid discussion about something or other and Percy is looking at her like she hung the stars but Thalia doesn't seem to be as smitten. In fact, it's quite the opposite. She's glaring at her like she had done something to personally offend her.

Annabeth nudges her. "Hey," she says in a low voice, so Allison won't hear her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Thalia."

Thalia huffs. She's still looking at Allison and Percy. "There's just something about her," she mumbles. "I don't like it."

She says it so solemnly that despite herself Annabeth laughs. "You say it like you're afraid she's a serial killer."

"She may as well be, with those talons. Look how long her nails are!"

"They're all the range these days. She's just keeping up with the latest fads."

Annabeth isn't sure why she's defending her.

"Something's not right about her," Thalia grumbles. "She's a two-faced sneaky little cow."

"Thalia!" Annabeth stares at her in alarm. She knows that it takes Thalia a while to get used to new people, especially when they're of the same breed of Allison Cooper (as in alarmingly gorgeous with a wardrobe of high waisted jeans and an assortment of clinking bracelets), but she's never been so venomous before.

"I'm not wrong, Annabeth."

"She seems perfectly nice."

"Yeah, yeah, so everyone's been saying." Thalia eyes up the couple again. There's something she's not telling her. "Look at her. Can you see the way she's looking at Percy? She's like a mountain lion."

"Maybe that's the way happy couples look at each other. You don't know."

Thalia scoffs. "What, looking at your soulmate like you want to tear him to bits, and not in the sexy way? Yeah, right."

Annabeth twists her mouth uncomfortably. The thing is, she almost kind of agrees, but the other thing is that Thalia being prickly is all part of her appeal. It's almost expected for her to be cold and cautious about new people. But if Annabeth starts agreeing, then she's the bad guy, and the last thing she wants is for Percy to be unhappy with her because she's a bit jealous.

Oh yeah, she admits it. She's jealous. So what. Character development.

"Do–" She pauses, almost afraid to speak. Thalia turns to look at her. "Do you think she's really his soulmate?"

Thalia sighs. "I don't know, Chase," she says. "Not really, I guess."

It's nice to hear someone else aside from Piper say it. She lets out a small sigh of relief.

Thalia notices. "You too, huh?" she says, with a mirthless laugh.

"Yeah." Annabeth hesitates, and then rolls up her sleeve. She keeps her arm in her lap so no one else sees. "I mean. I've also got this, so I'm a little biased, but it's okay."

Thalia stares at it. "Are you serious?"

"I know, I know."

"No, you don't. Can you read? You know what that says."

"I can't ruin this for him."

Thalia stares at her like she's gone barking. "Uh, yes you can? In fact, if it bothers you that much, I'd happily do it."

"He's happy, Thalia," Annabeth says desperately. "I can't ruin that for him, even if she's the wrong person. Just give him this."

Thalia looks at her for a long time. "You know," she says, after a pause, "I did think it was you at first."

"Yeah?"

"Percy wouldn't hear a word of it."

"Doesn't surprise me." Annabeth sighs. "Look, Grace. Please just– promise you won't say anything to him, okay? I know Ali isn't who you wanted for him, but he's happy, even if it will only last a small while. And I've just become friends with him. If I do this to him everything will become so uncomfortable and awkward and– I can't. I've got too much at stake."

Thalia stares at her, long and hard. She's got intense eyes, so it's hard for Annabeth to hold her gaze. She looks down at her lap.

"Fine," she says. "Fine, whatever."

The thing is, that probably would have been it.

They now all know that Percy has a soulmate. Annabeth isn't sure of many of their stances about the whole situation, but she does know that Thalia hates Allison with a burning passion and Piper is a little more civil and pleasant but feels no nicer about her. Nico doesn't seem to particularly care, because at the end of the day he shows Percy his stupid alligator article and that's what matters ("that's– actually kind of gross" "why does everyone keep saying that?") but Annabeth knows Grover isn't too sure. She doesn't think he particularly minds Allison herself so much, and it's rather just the fact that when they start to grate, like they inevitably will because they're not actually soulmates, Percy will be heartbroken, that hurts him.

But they love Percy, and everyone would all shove a chopstick through their eyeballs before they say anything about it to him.

Except Thalia.

"I'm telling you, Perce," she says, cramming salad in her mouth. "She ain't good for you."

Percy's face becomes pinched. "Would you just stop?" he asks, his voice tight.

"Yeah, come on, Thals," Jason says. "Just leave it."

"I can't," Thalia says honestly. "Not if you're going to keep driving me crazy with all this Allison talk. I told you, she–"

"Well, maybe I don't care what you think!" Percy cries. "Did that ever cross your mind?"

Annabeth knows manipulation. Percy's not doing it well. Thalia's face remains impassive; that didn't hurt her. "If your doctor told you that you've got a tumour and the only thing that would cure it would be to get an operation to have it removed," she says, "you'd sure as hell get that operation, regardless of whether or not you and the doctor are friends. I'm trying to help you not your heart stepped on, why can't you just see that?"

Percy flounders. "I'm just trying to live my life," he says, his voice almost hopeless. "Why do you have to try and control my every move?"

"Contr– Percy, I'm trying to help you!"

"Some help! All you've done is insult and belittle me like I'm a child and then tell me my soulmate is a psychotic dickbag!"

Thalia stares at him for a few moments longer before shaking her head and standing up. "Unbelievable," she says, half to herself. "Screw this, I'm not taking this anymore."

Annabeth glances over at Percy. His face is unreadable, but his hands are curled into fists on his lap. It takes almost everything in her not to reach over and straighten them out, maybe lace them with her own.

Shut up, Annabeth.

"I'll be out in the courtyard, if any of you get sick of listening to all this crap Percy's talking," Thalia says. "I'm not gonna stay here."

She starts to walk away. They all watch her go. No one rushes to stand up to chase after her, because this isn't unusual. There are always stupid spats and Thalia is surprisingly touchy and also she knows when she's about to be punched, so this is not the first time she's made herself scarce. No one's bothered. They'll all fix it, as they always do. Thalia doesn't have a filter and Percy gets a bit emotional when people yell at him, and a few tears will probably be shed but they'll hug it out after lunch and everything will be as right as rain and that's just the way things work.

This isn't uncommon. This is regular.

But then Percy looks down at his lap and mutters, "While you're out there you better start digging. Maybe you'll find a life there somewhere, buried next to your mom" and suddenly Annabeth knows this is much more than a petty fight because you don't bring up something like that in an innocent game. That's when it goes from play fighting to fighting to the death.

The entire table falls silent. Thalia freezes, but she doesn't turn around. Pride is a sickly thing. Her shoulders square, and then she takes off again, twice as fast. She's angry.

Jason stares at Percy in scathing disbelief. He doesn't say anything, but his expression is enough; shaking his head in disgust, he picks up his bag and takes off after his sister, shouting, "Thalia, wait!"

No one speaks for a solid five seconds.

"You shouldn't have done that," Piper says.

Percy sets his shoulders back, a bit uncomfortably. "Well, she shouldn't have talked crap about Allison."

Piper stares at him. "Are you serious? You think because she said something stupid about Ali you have the right to talk to her like that?"

"She's my soulmate, I'm not gonna let her treat her like that!"

"That's just Thalia, Percy!" Piper cries. "She doesn't think before she speaks! She's got no filter and sometimes that backfires but that doesn't mean she'd ever, ever say anything that would purposely hurt any of us, least of all you. That was under the belt, Percy, and you know it."

"She deserved it."

It hits them all like a smack in the face. Nico stares at him. "Dude."

"Don't be stupid, Perce, come on," Grover tries.

Percy doesn't correct himself. He stares down at his food.

Piper tries again. "Go after her," she says. "Apologise. You can't do that to your friend."

"If she was really my friend she wouldn't have said what she did."

The bomb hits and everything implodes. Piper inhales sharply.

And that's when Annabeth steps in.

"And if you were hers, you wouldn't have either," she says coolly.

Finally, he looks up to meet her eyes. She can't read his expression – he's got millions of emotions running across his face.

Piper was right – she was a bit of a psychopath, a bit of a control freak, a bit of a nightmare. And she's changed, she has. But she still knows all the tricks. An artist never forgets his trade. "If you think that's how you can get away with treating your friends," she says, "you're wrong. You of all people should know that. You can't use your sob story to poke holes in everyone else's now. We're all you have, and if you're going to abuse that and think that no matter how badly you treat us we'll stay with you because poor little Jackson he needs some support you are severely mistaken. Yeah, it's a bit of a tricky situation for you, but it's also a tricky situation for everyone else, and if you keep acting like this you're not gonna have any friends left."

Percy stares at her. He swallows, and she watches his throat move.

"I'm serious," she says. "And this is coming from me, who knows. It's lonely. You're not built for that. These guys are all you've got. Don't burn your bridges when you're on an island."

With that, she picks up her bag and stands to her feet. All of them have never looked so small like this, huddled together, with Percy as the lone outsider. They're all watching him like he's an animal who's about to spring. It's not far off. Percy is a bit like a friendly dog – he'll slobber over you too much and probably get everywhere you don't want or particularly need him to be, but he's harmless. And suddenly he shook off his fur and revealed talons.

Kitty's got claws. Who knew.

She supposes she must have always known. But Percy is known for holding everything he has close to his heart, and also on his sleeve. Why he'd intentionally frighten away one of his friends is just– baffling.

Annabeth heads out the lunch room. Whatever. It'll probably all be fixed by tomorrow. Just they wait – she knows almost as soon as they come in Percy will retreat to them with his tail between his legs. She can almost see it.

But it doesn't turn out like that.

They all join for lunch, and then they all turn, as if expecting Percy to materialize there.

He doesn't.

Later, when Annabeth gets up to get water, she spots him across the cafeteria. He's sitting with Allison, and he's got an arm around her shoulders. It hurts more than Annabeth would like to admit.

She comes back with a cup of water, and it appears everyone else at the table has noticed where Percy is, too, because they're all looking over. Piper in particular has a very special look on her face, and if it were any other circumstance Annabeth would have laughed because her angry face always happens to look like she's constipated, but she knows that really wouldn't have helped, so she zips her lip and slides into her chair.

"So that's it," Piper says. "Just like that, then. Leaving us in the dust with his glitzy new crowd."

Thalia scowls across the room at him. "Good riddance, I'd say," she mutters.

"You don't mean that."

"I sure as hell mean that. Don't look at me like that, McLean, that boy has me pissed beyond belief and I'm not gonna pretend just because he's fragile that he hasn't. We could have talked this out like adults but he ran away, like he always does."

"Come on, Thals," Grover says desperately. "That's not fair."

"What ever is?" Thalia grumbles, but she doesn't say anything more, just aggressively shoves her fork through the centre of her burger. Grover just stares despairingly at his enchilada. Annabeth knows he hates arguing, almost as much as Percy does. It's the type of vibe he's got going on. He's all about saving the wildlife and going green and peace and love and forgiveness and all that rubbish.

This must be killing him. It's killing them all. Annabeth can feel her soulmate Mark searing into her skin under her sleeve.

"He'll come back," Nico says firmly. "He always does. Besides, that girl has no substance. She's like a pack of crisps. She looks great and you kinda salivate over her for a day, and then you realise there's actually, like, nothing to her except air – or in her case, hair – get it, 'cause– like, it rhymes – so you move on and have something more worthwhile. Like a pizza."

"She may have no substance but she has boobs," Thalia says. "And that's all a straight guy really needs."

"Yeah, but this isn't just any straight guy," Grover says. "This is Percy."

Thalia sighs.

"Is Percy even a boob man?" Nico wonders. "I always thought he was an ass man."

"He's a boob man," Annabeth says. "Drew Tanaka passed us the other day with her boobs practically out and he couldn't help but stare."

"To be fair," Piper says, "neither could you."

"Well, I couldn't help it. I was so afraid she'd breathe wrong or something and they'd all just– pop out, like balloons."

"Why are we having this conversation?" Jason says. "We need to focus on the true matter here."

"Right," Thalia says. "The fact that he is now public enemy number one."

Piper gives her a look. "He's not public enemy number one."

"Yes he is. He's at least siding with the enemy, in case."

"Maybe it's for the better," Annabeth tries, but she can tell that she's not fooling anyone. "I mean, you all hated me, and now we're all friends. Maybe it'll be the same with Allison."

"Oh, I still hate you," Thalia says amicably. "I've just learnt to control my disgust."

Jason rolls his eyes. "Sure."

"But even if I did feel a smidgen of compassion towards you," Thalia continues, "which I obviously don't, because you still repulse me–"

"Thanks."

"It's my utmost pleasure. But the real thing is you're not actually that bad. Sure, at the beginning you were a menace, and every day was a new struggle to not throttle you, but deep down you're actually as awful as we had all initially expected. And I think we all knew that, and out of you and Allison you're the one who's actually had a history with doing stuff to us. Allison doesn't feel right for Percy. Whatever he thinks is happening between them in going to crash and burn and if he keeps on insisting on treating us like this it's going to be his fault that he has no friends to help him."

The bell rings.

Annabeth sighs and stands up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you guys later," she says. "Whitby asked me to see him before class, so I need to go."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't," Piper says.

"Like what, get university offers?"

There is complete silence.

And then Nico starts guffawing. He crows in delight over Piper's shocked face, as she stares at her with an expression of both surprise and humour. Her hands come up to cup her heart. "That hurt!"

"I mean, it's half true."

Piper rests the back of her hand on her forehead and slumps dramatically against Jason, who, like the good honourable boyfriend he is, soothingly strokes her hair and tells her that Annabeth is nothing but jealous.

Which isn't– incorrect, per say, in the grand scheme of things, but not necessarily about this current situation, so he's technically wrong. Annabeth tells him as much.

"Yes, you are," he says. "You're jealous because she's prettier and nicer than you'll ever be."

Piper mutters, "you tell 'em, babe" from where she's buried in his armpit.

"Whatever." Annabeth starts to walk away. "I need to go."

"That's right, Chase!" Piper shouts. "Walk away!"

"La la la!" Annabeth trills.

"Jealous!"

Annabeth laughs and heads out the cafeteria, into the hallway. She needs to head to her locker first, to collect some papers she didn't hand in the day before, but when she turns the corner to get there she sees Percy, Allison and a group of Allison's friends standing around his locker, which is only a few doors down from hers.

She swallows. She shouldn't be scared because once upon a time she had every single one of these people on a chess board, but she's not sure if she has that power anymore. Besides, Percy's there. Even if she does, even if they see her and their eyes fill with something akin to fear and respect and awe, Percy knows that she's no higher up than any of them.

She sets her shoulders back and takes a deep breath. It's just some people. She can do this.

Annabeth heads up, a little tentatively, to her locker. She's hoping none of them actually notice her, but because the universe obviously favours her so much she's only just opened her locker when she hears, "Omigod, Annabeth!"

Annabeth grimaces, hidden behind her locker door, and then closes it, smiling at everyone. "Hey."

Percy smiles at her, almost shyly. Just that enough is enough to melt her icy mood – until she sees his hand intertwined with Allison's, and then she almost tears the door right off her locker.

"We haven't spoken to you in ages!" one of the girls gushes. Lacey, Annabeth thinks. She's one of the girls at the bottom of the food chain. Annabeth never minded her – she was kind of sweet, in a way. "Where were you?"

"Careful, sweetie," Drew Tanaka says dryly. "Your desperation is showing."

Some girls titter, and Lacey recoils, her face red. Annabeth cocks an eyebrow.

"Drew," she says. "So good to see you again. Did you get lip fillers while I was gone or did they just miraculously fill out again, like they did last year before the Spring Dance?"

Someone chokes out a badly disguised laugh. Drew's eyes tighten. "How does it feel," she snaps, "hanging out with your new charity case friends?"

"Amazing. It's so wonderful not having to lower my IQ to hold a conversation now."

"And hey," Allison interrupts. "One of those charity case friends is my soulmate, so you play nice."

Some of the girls laugh, and Percy goes a bit red. Annabeth catalogues the insult, wonders why Percy didn't, but all she can do is focus on Allison. Frankly, she nailed it. She has the potential to even be as good as her. She won't, of course, because no one ever is, but she's not daft. She's taught herself how to control the strings and she'd doing a damn fine good job at it.

It makes Annabeth both weirdly proud and absolutely terrified. The difference between Annabeth and Allison is that Annabeth knows how to control it, and she's smothered it now. You can't have real genuine friends when you can play the game like that. If Allison learns all Annabeth's tricks her relationship with Percy is going to hurt even more than she initially thought.

Oh God, Percy is in the way of an oncoming truck.

Drew looks like she'd happily take out Annabeth's eyes with her long nails, but she composes herself. "Well," she says, her voice taut. "I don't really see any need for you to be here, so if I were you I'd buzz off."

"Actually," Annabeth says, "I need to get some folders from my locker. You know, to show Mr Whitby so he can help me formulate my college application. I wouldn't expect many of you to understand."

Drew almost growls. Behind her, Percy's kind face contorts in confusion. Annabeth doesn't blame him. Out on the field, she's a completely different person.

"Actually," he pipes up, a little quietly. "Can I, uh, talk to you, for a second?"

"Oh." Annabeth is quite pleasantly surprised. "Sure."

Percy smiles at Allison and extracts his hand, heading over to her. Allison doesn't appear to look very pleased, which fills Annabeth with an irrational sense of pride that she immediately squashes because no, she's his soulmate, we don't do that. Still. Percy wants to talk to her, even after everything she said yesterday.

That kind of bond can't be broken. She should have done this whole friendship gig a long time ago.

When he comes next to her she asks, "What's up?" but he just takes her wrist and leads her gently down the hallway.

"Not here," he says.

Annabeth's heartbeat quickens. What? "Okay," she says.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, Percy doesn't take her away to a secluded area to confess his undying love. In fact, it's quite the opposite. As soon as they're out of earshot of everyone, he turns to her expectantly, a kind of nervous, awkward smile on her face.

"What's up?" Annabeth asks.

"Do you like Allison?"

Annabeth reels back like she's been slapped.

"What?"

"Do you like her?" Percy says, and suddenly his smile isn't nervous and awkward anymore, it's tense and strained. It always was. This was never a happy conversation. "Don't lie to me, Annabeth, please."

"I mean–" Annabeth flounders. This is so uncomfortable, why is he asking this. "She's– nice, I guess – pretty? I mean– why?"

"Is– the way you treated them back then. Is that how it used to be?"

Annabeth smiles wryly. "That's my tragic backstory," she says.

"You're mean, Annabeth."

"It's a cutthroat game, Percy, I had to stay afloat somehow."

"By tearing them down?"

"Your precious Allison isn't much better," she says, and she's suddenly aware how sour she sounds. "Why didn't you stop her? She literally called our friends charity cases!"

"She didn't mean it."

"She was just as genuine as any of us, Perce. Come on, you had to have noticed."

"I mean–" Percy looks desperate. "Is she wrong?"

Annabeth can't believe he just said that. She gapes at him. "Percy, seriously."

"Look at us, Annabeth! She's right! We're the trash at the bottom of the barrel. We don't mean anything, none of us, except Jason, and he only stays because he's got Piper and Thalia."

"You can't be serious. Do you hear the words you're saying?"

"You know it too, Annabeth."

"I know it because I'm a mean girl, Percy, and I grew up surrounded by opinions like that. Those are your best friends. What, now that you've got pretty glamorous Ali Cooper as your soulmate with her glitzy friends you think you can drop us and say stuff like that?"

"Thalia ruined my friendship the moment she said what she said."

"And you're just hammering nails into the coffin. These guys have the sustainability of plastic. You think you'll get real friends out of them? There's a reason I had them for years and my Marks stayed grey."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe you were the problem?"

My God. "Shockingly, yes, the thought crossed my mind once or twice. But you're making a mistake if you think you'll ever get anywhere with people like this. Fine, okay. Have Allison as a soulmate, I really don't care. When you get hurt that's your fault. But don't drop your friends like this, because they're the only reliable things you have in your life and cutting them off will be suicide."

"So you don't like Allison."

She's really got nothing else to lose. "No, I'm not her biggest fan."

"Why can't you just accept I'm happy?" Percy asks softly.

Annabeth presses her lips together. "I am." It hurts to say.

"You've done a great job of showing it."

She sighs. "Look, Percy, I'm pleased for you. I am. Honestly. It's wonderful to see you so happy, it's the least you deserve." She opens her mouth, and then closes it. She's not sure if she can speak.

Percy watches her. "But?"

"Something feels wrong," Annabeth confesses. "She– she just doesn't seem right..."

Her voice trails off when she sees Percy's jaw tighten. "So everyone keeps saying," he says in a cold voice.

"It's just a feeling, Percy, I mean no disrespect–"

"Then you'd just keep your mouth shut!" Percy throws his hands up. "Everyone keeps saying they don't mean to hurt my feelings but they do, they just do, because if they didn't they wouldn't say it!"

"She just doesn't feel right for you!"

"Oh, yeah? And who is right for me, you? Get a grip, Annabeth. Out of everyone you're the least likely to be right for me."

The PJ on her wrist throbs. She cuts it out with the own beat of her heart. "I'm not saying it's me," she says, trying to keep her voice level. "Just– not Allison Cooper."

"And how do you know?" he says. "What on earth can Annabeth Chase know about feelings?"

The blow doesn't hurt as much as it should. Finding friendship has both softened and hardened her far beyond something she could ever know.

"Oh, I don't know," she says sarcastically. "Maybe the fact that she looks at you like you're a stray puppy and not a person?"

"She doesn't."

Annabeth scoffs. "Well, of course you'd say that."

Percy's eyebrows arch in indignation. "I'm sorry?"

"You're in love, Percy. You're in the honeymoon stage and you're wearing your rose-coloured glasses, and you're stuck in this world where Allison Cooper could never be bad and that she's perfect for you. Face it, you idiot, she's not good for you and you know it."

Percy is silent for a few moments. Then he says, quietly, carefully, "She's better for me than you'll ever be."

It's not meant to hurt but Annabeth thinks it's the lowest blow so far. Because she knows he's right.

But she's played this game too long to be ended like this. Fine. If he wants to play dirty she sees how it is. She strides right up to him and presses him up against the locker, crowds him in. His green eyes clear and suddenly he looks terrified, like he would whenever he got higher than her in Biology back when she still tormented Piper. "Listen to me," she says. "You were my first yellow Mark and that meant everything to me. It still does. But you've already made your feelings about me and the rest of our friends pretty clear so I'm going to have zero remorse in saying any of this, so you listen." She grabs the front of his shirt and pushes in even tighter. "If you think," she hisses, her voice dangerous, "for a second, that any of those people back there will ever love you the way your proper friends love you, you are wrong. They don't like you. They never will. You mean nothing to them. To them, all you are is Allison Cooper's new boyfriend. They don't give two hoots that you're her soulmate. I know those girls, and if you think that just because you can wear this shiny new badge of honour that they'll give you the time of day you're wrong. You're making a mistake if you cut every tie you have. In case you forgot, we're the only people you have. Those people won't love you. They won't protect you. They'll stand you, at most. You're leaving your brick house for a castle made of paper. You better think carefully about what bridges you want to burn because if you're don't you're not going to have any left."

Their faces are so close. She could kiss him.

But she doesn't.

She lets him go and he sags almost immediately, like her weight had been the only thing holding up. He looks a little pathetic like this, leaning against the wall, but the confusion in his eyes has turned to what looks like hatred and if this is what Percy Jackson wants to be then good for him, Annabeth wants no part in it.

"Piper was right," Percy says. "You are a psychopath."

The insult no longer hurts. She cocks an eyebrow. "At least I have respect for myself," she says. "Good luck to you, honestly. I wish you the best."

She walks off with her held high and pretends it doesn't feel like a bullet to the heart.

Three months later

"Hey, Perce, do you want to go to a party tonight?" Allison asks one day.

Percy purses his lips. "Ali..."

"It's just a small get-together," she says. "Possibly with alcohol. It won't be anything big."

"You know I don't do parties."

"You can barely call this a party. It's– a social gathering."

"I don't really do those either."

Allison sighs unhappily. "Do you do anything?"

He frowns, trying not to let his hurt show. "Of course I do! I just– Ali, you know I can't really do lots of people in one place at one time. It's all a bit– overwhelming. I'll probably cry, and-slash-or pass out, and neither of those are great outcomes." She doesn't look any more pleased, so he takes her hands. "I'll do anything you want, but I won't do parties."

She sighs again. "It's just– I'm proud of you, Percy. I want to show you off. If you stay an antisocial little hobbit forever I won't get the chance to do that. Besides, didn't you say something about how to overcome your fear you need to face it head on?"

"Not so head-on that I have a panic attack, Ali. If you want any change it's all baby steps. You know. Slowly. Despacito, and all that jazz. And it's not like– willing antisocialness."

"It kind of is, Percy. I mean, have you ever been to a party before?"

"That's still not willing antisocialness."

"Come on, Percy. We need to break you out your bubble!"

"I'm quite fine in my bubble," Percy says.

"Well, I'm not," Allison says. "Just this one party, Percy, please?"

"No, Ali."

He's proud of himself. Look at him, growing a backbone. He should text Annabeth.

Then he remembers that he can't, not anymore, and he almost kicks himself for thinking of her when he's with Allison, because he's alarmingly doing that a lot. It's not– it's not like it's a big deal or anything. Okay, so. Whatever, all right. He may have a teeny tiny crush on Annabeth, but it's not as if it'll ever become anything. And it'll fade, because he's found his soulmate. Apparently it's completely natural to have small irrelevant feelings for another person when you initially meet your soulmate, because you've been without them so long that of course you'll develop misguided feelings towards someone else. He's done his research, late at night, on incognito tabs, so no one will ever find out.

It'll fade, okay. He's got his happy ending. Allison is the girl of his dreams. Annabeth is just the irrelevant side-character who doesn't mean anything in this equation at all. Not one inch.

So maybe a tiny bit at the moment, but she won't in the future, okay. Of that he's adamant.

Allison sighs, but she knows that she's lost this battle. "Okay," she says finally. She goes up on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Text me."

"I'll know if you get flat-out drunk."

She just winks at him and blows a kiss as she struts off. He isn't lame enough to pretend to catch it or whatever, so he just smiles awkwardly and shoves his hands in his pockets as he watches her walk away. She's been curling her hair more recently, and whenever he sees it he's always reminded of the time he walked in on Annabeth with her straighteners, the first and only time he's ever seen her with natural curly hair.

Damn, he's doing it again. He glares at his sneakers, like it's their fault.

It's making things difficult, this whole situation. The friendship one. He hasn't really spoken to anyone since he and Annabeth argued in the hallway, and he won't admit it now because he's made his bed and now he has to lie in it but he does miss them, just a little. Allison is great, don't get him wrong, she's everything he could have ever dreamed of, but her friends are– well. Less than impressive. Percy doesn't agree with Annabeth on most fronts but he will admit, she wasn't– wrong, per say, when she said they had the sustainability of plastic. Because they do. They're about as deep as a spotting tile.

And even though Allison is his dream come true, it's difficult to navigate when you only have one person to rely on. Especially in Percy's situation, because he needs to have several people he trusts around him at all times if he wants to function like a normal human being, and he knows that sometimes Ali gets a bit narked if he's always using her as his crutch.

But he can't help it, because he doesn't have anyone else anymore.

Sometimes when he's at home he lies in his own bed and stares up at the ceiling and wonders is it all worth it? Was finding his glamourous soulmate worth dumping all of his friends – Grover, Piper, Annabeth?

He doesn't like to brood too much on it, though. Because if he does he knows at one point the word 'no' is going to flash across his mind and that may just be the worst part.

Still. He's survived this long.

And he's grown, too, in ways he couldn't before. Like, he's now able to say no to people. He's not sure if the fact that that's developed now is a good representation of his relationship with Ali, because it is true that he's had to say no to most of the stuff she's asked him to do, but it's still a valuable life skill to learn. Now when Piper asks him if he's sure he doesn't mind if she has the last pancake he can tell her no, he's not sure, and he does want that pancake.

Then he remembers that he and Piper aren't on speaking terms and this time does nearly punch himself in the face because dammit Percy just forget them.

Whatever. He's probably better off without them. That's what Ali told him. It's been three months. He needs to get over himself.

And them. Mainly them. He needs to get over them.

But also himself, because there must be something wrong with him when only three months into a relationship with his soulmate – his soulmate – he's getting an itch under his skin that he can't shake off.

"Hey, Annabeth," Piper says one night. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth frowns and rolls over. She and Piper are now nose-to-nose. "Of course, I am, why?"

"Well." Piper shuffles on her back and stares up at the ceiling contemplatively, lacing her fingers over her stomach. "I mean. This whole Percy thing can't be much fun."

"Oh." Annabeth sighs. "Well. That's just life, I suppose."

"Are you okay, though?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's not as if I actually had a crush on him or anything."

"Right," Piper says, in a voice that says she doesn't believe her at all. "Because that would be ridiculous."

"Yeah."

There's a thoughtful silence.

"I mean," Piper says. "It's not as if there's anything wrong with you having a crush on Percy or anything. You guys are soulmates."

"I don't have a crush on Percy," Annabeth says. She's not sure who she's trying to convince.

Piper hmphs and rolls over. "Well, whatever you say."

They lay in silence for a while.

"I don't," Annabeth says, in a small voice. "Have a crush on Percy."

"I believe you."

"No, you don't."

"You can really hardly blame me."

"Just because we're soulmates doesn't mean we have to like each other."

"That's kind of exactly what being soulmates means."

Annabeth sighs. "Even if I did there's nothing I could do about it, is there? He's got Ali now. They're in love."

"Love is a bit of a stretch."

"Whatever." Annabeth rolls over. "It doesn't matter."

Piper props herself up on her elbow. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Piper waits a few more seconds, before resting back down.

They both lie awake for a long time.

Percy's kind of feels like falling asleep.

Now, it's simply not that Allison's friends aren't riveting. Because they all are. Honestly. There is nothing Percy would love to hear more than the story of how last night Gary had simply great sex with a cheerleader, or how Britney got so drunk that she threw up all over Amelia's shoes and now they aren't talking because the shoes cost over two hundred dollars and they were brand new. It's just– he's gone from conversations about possible life in outer space and ethical debates about the use of toilet paper to this, and it's kind of a little jarring. And mind-numbing.

The only slightly good thing about it is Ali sitting on his other side, holding his hand. She provides a little more depth to the conversation, although that isn't saying a lot considering they're all thick as brick walls and simply discussing the colours of the rainbow would be more fascinating than them comparing latest lays.

Frankly, if she wasn't there, chatting to him about everything, he probably would have dozed off.

"Perce?" she says, and he comes out of his reverie.

"Sorry, just was thinking."

"Yes, I could tell." She smiles at him, and then squeezes his hand. "So anyway, there's this party that Nancy Bobofit is throwing tonight, and it'd mean a lot to me if you came."

He frowns. "I–I thought you didn't like Nancy."

"Oh, I don't," she says breezily. "But Nancy's parties are always incredible, and she's got a super-rich dad who pays for everything. If you get on her good side she'll invite you to the annual camping trip that she does, with, like, six of her closest friends. I went last year with Madeleine and it's, like. Super bougie."

Ah yes. The other thing.

The parties.

Percy is not a party person at all. He hates them, in fact. On his best days he's not exactly what you'd call a social butterfly, and talking and interacting with people just drains him. He finds it exhausting. Especially if it's with the type of people who attend Nancy Bobofit's parties – some are nice, because some are of the same species as Jason, who's perfect in almost way, but some require so much effort to be around without wanting to strangle someone that it physically hurts. Also, his anxiety is not a kind thing – it lingers him at all times, something Allison doesn't seem to quite fully understand yet. If he's going to go to a party he's going to need a serious crutch to lean on, because swells of new people overwhelm him, and being a crutch is a bit of a full-time job, and Allison already has one of those – talking, dancing, drinking, singing, everything that Percy can't really do.

He's managed to evade the parties up until now ("sorry, Ali, I've got homework" "my mom needs me to help her with some stuff" "uh, dog-walking?") but she's giving him The Look and he knows it's going to be increasingly difficult to get out this one.

"Please, Percy?" she begs, when she sees his hesitation. "All of my friends from Gordon Prep, the school down the road, have been dying to see you, and I'm proud of you! I want to show you off. You're special to me."

Percy's expression falters. He hates it when she does that, because she knows that he can't deny her something like that.

"Ali..." he says, and then sighs. "You know I can't."

"Yes you can!"

"Al, it doesn't really work like that. I need, like. Preparation. And months of it."

"It's a party, not a heart surgery. Come on, I'll be with you every minute. I won't leave you. You'll have loads of fun."

This is a losing battle. He sighs again. "Will anyone I know be there?"

Allison pauses. "I mean. You don't– really know a lot of people, Percy."

Touché.

"Fine. I'll go."

Allison squeals and throws her arms around his neck. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she gushes. She lets him go and beams. "Ah, I'm so happy!" She turns to the rest of the table. "Guess who's coming to Nancy's party tonight!"

One of the guys whom Percy doesn't know whoops. He glances over and sees Annabeth staring at him across the hall. When she catches him, she quickly looks away.

There was something– different in her expression. Simmering. Nostalgic, maybe. Whatever it is, it does something painful to Percy's heart, and he quickly looks at Allison again to get it to stop.

It doesn't.

(When he gets home, he crams his anxiety meds in his pocket and takes one more tablet than it instructs him to. If he wants to make it out this party alive, he's going to need all the help he can get.)

It becomes kind of a habit after that.

The first party is horrific, but somehow, he manages to keep his head up and not pass out. He tries telling Allison that it's not a situation he kind of ever wants to repeat, but because nothing bad happens she ignores him and convinces him to go to another one. And another. And another.

One night he comes home to see his mom sitting on the sofa with a book. She looks up when he comes in.

"Percy!" she says, looking relieved. "I was so worried, you didn't text me. Where were you?"

He just stares at her.

She frowns. "Percy?"

"Hm? Oh, just Ali's. Don't worry."

But she does worry, and so does he. At night he lies in his bed and stares up at his ceiling and wonders if this is even the right thing. It's not even just the parties anymore – Allison has her fingers in so many pies, she's absolutely everywhere. She knows a guy here and a couple of girls there and her friend from middle school is dating this boy who knows this man and some of the girls on the cheer squad are going out tonight, wanna come?, and Percy says no every single time, but because Percy, I love you, Percy, I'm proud of you, Percy, I want to show you off, she gets him to come to every single event as her plus one. Not everything is awful – sometimes it's nice and harmless, and they'll go out for a pizza with some of the guys from the football team, or some girls will invite them to a movie, and that's nice, and Percy likes that kind of stuff, but most of the time it's just parties and drinking and skinny dipping in ponds and climbing into private property to get high or setting fireworks off the back of cars, and he supposes he can sort of see the beauty in it all, can see why Allison likes it, but he knows he'd much, much rather stay home.

He's caught in an endless catch twenty-two and he doesn't know how to escape. If he completely ditches Allison then she might ditch him, and he can't afford for her to do that now. Not now. He's already lost so much for her, including part of himself, that if she leaves he's not sure he'll be able to cope.

But if he keeps attending all these parties he might not be able to cope for much longer, either. It's already causing his toll. He went through his Xanax twice as fast as he normally does, and he's spending most of his time either high as a kite or suffering the aftermath.

It's slowly killing him, and he kind of doesn't know what to do about it.

One of the turning points happens few weeks later at school. He got almost no sleep last night, because the party Ali had taken him to the night before had only ended sometime around 2am, and his increased dosage of Xanax has caused him to have trouble sleeping at night (insomnia is a common side effect, he's discovered, but it's only kicking in now, and Percy hates it because it's not as if he got enough sleep without it anyway), and he's dead on his feet. The Xanax has also been making him a little weaker, too, so he's trying not to crash into anything, because that would be highly embarrassing.

Also if he fell over he's not sure he'd have the energy to, like, get up, either, so that's also quite worrying.

However, it all seems destined in the end, because he's putting so much attention into not walking into any lockers or falling asleep as he stands that that he accidentally bumps into someone.

He is quick to stutter out an apology, until he looks up and sees exactly who he bumped into.

Thalia only takes a single glance at him before she's rolling her eyes, but Annabeth gets a wry sort of smile across her face. She adjusts her folders in her arms that he had accidentally knocked into disarray and smiles with one half of her face. Sympathetic, almost. At least, Percy thinks. She's still as difficult to read, as always.

"Sorry," Percy mutters, when it's clear all she's going to do is stare at him.

Thalia huffs. He wants to yell at her, cry a bit, maybe give her a hug and plead for forgiveness, but he just stares at his feet and turns them inwards.

"It's okay," Annabeth says, a beat too late.

Thalia makes a start to move forward, and Annabeth almost follows her, but she doesn't. She just tilts her head and furrows her eyebrows. "Hey," she says, almost hesitantly. "Are you, um– okay?"

Percy sniffs, a little proudly, and straightens. "Yeah, 'course."

"You look like crap."

"That's your opinion."

"My God," Thalia mutters, somewhere on the side. "Will you ever extract your head from your arse?"

Annabeth adjusts her books again, her steely eyes staring right into his soul. "Are you sleeping enough?" she asks.

"What are you, my mom?"

"Answer the question, Jackson."

Percy flits his eyes awkwardly. His grip tightens on his books. "Why would you care?" he asks, his voice small. "I thought I wasn't your friend anymore."

Something changes in Annabeth's eyes, but her resolve remains. "You were the one who made that decision, not me," she says. "But when my first ever friend starts wandering around looking like a drug addict zombie I notice."

Even Thalia's snarky smile fades now.

Percy's throat feels tight. "Descriptive," he manages.

"What's up, then?" Annabeth asks. "Girlfriend got you on crack?"

"Your standards of my soulmate really make me happy, you know."

"You're avoiding the question."

"And you're being nosy."

"Since when did you care about being nosy, Jackson?"

He stares at her, swallowing thickly. She doesn't back down.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," he says. "That's all."

She arches an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Percy knows she wants to say more than that, but then the warning bell goes. He arranges his folders in his arms, nods at her curtly, and then steps around her.

It's hard to pretend that it doesn't matter to him. He's been missing them particularly badly recently – he doesn't admit it to Ali, not anymore, because all she'll do is blame it on the medication, or remind him that he's got her now – so just this one interaction has his heart aching, because he wants them back, but he can't. He's sacrificed so much and said so many regrettable things that if he lets go of Ali to get them back he's afraid he'll just end up alone.

Piper: Annabeth said she saw you today

Piper: she said and I quote you looked like the walking dead

Piper: so as your good friend I decided to step in and take initiative

Piper: what the heck is going on perce

Piper: everyone's worried about you

Piper: you can't just cut us all off like this

Piper: percy?

Piper: percy?

Has Percy ever mentioned that he hates parties?

Because he really hates parties. He really, really hates parties.

This party is edging towards one of the worst ones he's attended yet. The music is so loud he feels his whole body vibrate with the floor and Ali's managed to coerce a cup of alcohol into his hand. He hates alcohol, always has, and he told her just as much, but she had just sighed at him, like he had disappointed her somehow, and then disappeared into the crowd with her friends.

The air is thick with marijuana and sweat, and somewhere on his left a group of kids from his Maths class are passing around a joint, and on his right Drew Tanaka and a girl with pink hair are doing shots, and it's just so overwhelming he wants to throw up, a little.

It's okay, though. He thinks. He took a lot of Xanax before he left, so his brain is still too sluggish to properly process much except that the music is loud and he's pretty sure there is some less-than-legal drug-involved activities going on. He'll be all right, he reckons.

And then some boy dances past him and accidentally bumps into him, and suddenly the contents of Percy's cup is being spilt down his shirt.

His cheeks burn in mortification. He looks up, wildly, ready to curl into a ball to hide, but the boy has already disappeared, and everyone else is too busy jumping around to song on the overhead stereos to notice. Either that, or they're drunk. Probably a nice mix of both.

Either way, it's saved Percy from being humiliated in front of an entire party and having to live in his bedroom forevermore as a recluse, but he is still standing there with his shirt soaked in beer, or whatever it was in his cup. He plucks at it unhappily, rolling his eyes a little at the misfortune – because of course it's him who gets covered in a drink, right, of course – before deciding to try and find the bathroom to wash off.

It takes a bit of navigating to find. Percy readily decides it is the latter, actually, and everyone is too drunk to do anything but slobber all over each other and dance vaguely in time, so whenever he politely stops someone and asks if they could direct him to the loos they either ignore him or throw up, so he's all on his own. Besides, all the bathrooms that he has found have been filled with snogging couples, and he's beginning to lose hope, because, like, it's Pennsylvania, and exactly how many bathrooms does anyone in Pennsylvania really have, but eventually he does find one unoccupied.

Hallelujah, he thinks to himself. He tries to switch on the tap and finds his hands are shaking too much to even get a firm hold on the knob. He frowns at them.

Maybe he's been taking too much Xanax.

After a while, he manages to get the tap on, and awkwardly stretches the hem of his shirt into the sink. He realizes the most effective way of going about things would be to, you know, strip the shirt, but there were a lot of kissing couples on that dance floor, and there are a limited amount of bedrooms and other odd places they can find to safely make out in, so he reckons that he maybe has ten minutes in here before he gets kicked out, and he does not want to be shirtless for that to happen.

However, it appears the universe quite agrees with him on that. Because just as he's dabbing at the stain on his shirt with a wad of toilet paper, he hears a voice in the doorway.

"Percy?"

He spins around like he's been electrocuted.

It's Jason. Percy isn't massively surprised – Jason is always a familiar face at parties like these. Not that Percy would really know, though, really, considering this whole 'party thing' is still rather new to him. However, it's still always so jarring to see him in situations like this. People like Annabeth and Allison wear their popularity on their sleeves. Jason has always struck Percy as just so ordinary that he always gets a jolt whenever he sees him in his natural setting.

"Oh!" he exclaims quickly. "Jason!"

"Hey." Jason sounds a little cautious. "What– what are you doing here?"

"Oh." Percy looks around so he doesn't have to look him the eye, and awkwardly pats the sink next to him. "Just– chilling."

"I meant at this party."

"Oh. Uh. Ali's– plus-one?"

"And why is Ali's plus-one camping out in the toilet?"

"Um." He looks down at his shirt. "Someone spilled beer on me."

"That doesn't smell like beer."

"It probably isn't. I don't know."

"Ah." Jason nods, a little uncertainly. "So. Parties, huh?"

Percy laughs uncomfortably. "Yeah. Who'd have thought?"

"Not me, that's for sure. I thought you didn't do parties."

"I mean. I don't, not really. These are more Ali's thing, you know."

Jason raises an eyebrow. "Then why are you here?"

"Plus-one. Like I said."

"And she's... where?"

"Probably with her friends." Percy shrugs with one shoulder. "I don't mind. It's kind of soothing."

Jason blinks disbelievingly. "Soothing."

"Yeah, sure. In a way, you know."

"A way."

"Yeah. Like. It's numbing, kind of. If you just embrace it all it's quite nice. You just feel your body kind of vibrate. S'nice."

Jason gives him one final stare. "You're weird."

"You've said."

There's a short, uncomfortable silence. Percy, suddenly feeling quite awkward, shoves his hands in his pockets and says, "Um, so, what brings you here?"

"Just some guys from the team," he says. "One of them – Brad – he found his soulmate. He's introducing us to him tonight, so I decided to tag along."

"How captainly."

"I'm happy for him. His soulmate sounds really good for him." And then he gives him this look, and suddenly Percy knows where this is going.

"Save it, Jase."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Yes, you were. Something about how Ali isn't good for me, or whatever. Trust me, I've heard enough of that from your sister, I don't need it from you, too."

"She's not wrong, per say," Jason says, but he has the decency to look a bit sheepish. "And this is kind of proof, you know."

"About what?"

"Well, you clearly don't want to be here."

Percy straightens, slightly offended. "You don't know that."

"Yes I do."

"Yes, you do," Percy admits, "but that doesn't mean Ali's a bad soulmate. We all have to make sacrifices for our soulmates. I mean, Piper's your soulmate, you should know."

"Yeah, but if Piper says no, I listen."

"It's just a party, Jase."

Jason folds his arms. Suddenly, Percy can see the football captain in him. "So, what sacrifices does Ali make for you, then?"

"I'll have you know, she makes loads of sacrifices."

"Oh yeah?"

"Absolutely."

"Give me one example."

"Uh. Oh, well, this one time, I asked if we could get frozen yoghurt, and she said yes, even though she's lactose intolerant."

Jason stares at him. "Percy."

"I mean."

"Dude."

"There are– other examples?"

"Perce, this relationship is killing you. That was fricking froyo, okay. This is about Ali putting you in a potentially hostile environment. I mean, come on, does she even know you have severe social anxiety?"

"I took my meds. Probably too much of them. I'll be okay."

"Yeah, but that's not good enough, Perce. You're driving yourself into the ground."

"You're telling me you've never not listened to Piper when she says no."

"Of course I have. But that's over dumb stuff, like movies, and who's driving who to school, and– and froyo, Percy, fricking froyo, you're allowed to do that when it comes to froyo, for heaven's sake, but if she says no over a serious issue, like me putting her into a situation that could trigger something pretty crappy, then I listen, okay."

Percy swallows. Deep down, he knows Jason's right. He knows everyone's right. Piper, Thalia, Annabeth, Annabeth, from all those months ago, she was right, but it's all come to too much now, and he can't stop. "Ali loves me. This is what makes her happy."

"Yeah, okay, she's happy, but what about you?"

"I'm happy."

The lie feels sour coming out from behind his teeth. Jason can tell.

"Come on, Percy."

"I'm serious."

"You're telling me right now, in this exact moment, you are the happiest you've ever been."

Percy stares at him helplessly. "Uh?"

"Percy."

Percy sighs and throws up his hands. "No, okay. Whatever. No, I'm not happy. I don't like any of this. I hate parties. I hate alcohol. I even hate this bathroom. What do you expect me to say? I can't admit it now. You of all people should know that. I ruined it with all of you. She's literally the only person I've got left."

"All you need to do is say sorry, Percy. You didn't kill someone."

"I may as well have. Did Thalia tell you I bumped into her the other day?"

Jason's eyes shift. "That– didn't come up."

"Right, well, big shock there. She couldn't even look at me in the eyes, Jason. I'm done. The only person who doesn't hate my guts is Ali, and even that's a stretch, because she's getting pretty flipping pissed at me because of how much I complain. I'm surprised you're even talking to me."

"You're my friend."

"Not anymore. That's all over, remember?"

Jason sighs. "You don't do yourself any favours, Percy. You did this to yourself."

"I'm aware of that, yes. That's kind of the worst part."

"Leave her, Percy. She's not doing you any good. We can fix this, all of us. We all love you, even though right now some of us are pretty irritated with you right now. And that's fair."

Percy sighs. "They won't forgive me."

"You'd be surprised."

"Not Annabeth. I said some crap."

"Can't be any worse than what you said to me and Thalia."

"Marginally." He hesitates. "I called her a psychopath."

"Ah."

"Yeah. It was, uh. One of my less finer moments."

"Well. I'm going to have to agree with you on that one." Jason hesitates. "Listen. About– Annabeth..."

Percy sighs. "She's not my soulmate, okay?"

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Right, sure."

"She's miserable, Percy," Jason says softly. "She won't tell anyone but she's hurting. Why can't you just apologise?"

"She needs to apologise first."

"And that's why you're currently by yourself, mate," Jason says. "I don't know what's happened to you but you've kind of turned into a bit of a dick."

"Right, thanks."

"I'm not kidding. You can mope about how alone and terrible you feel but you're not doing anything for yourself if you keep acting like that. Literally, what happened to you? You used to apologise for, like. Breathing."

"Then I grew up."

"Into an arsehole, yeah. Look, I'm glad you've gathered some self-respect and whatever, good for you, love yourself, but there's a line between knowing your own worth and being arrogant, okay. And you've way overstepped it. Because if you keep acting like this then I'm not sure we'll really want you back."

Percy stiffens. "Maybe I don't want you guys either."

"Probably," Jason says. "But you need us a hell of a lot more than we need you, and you being a dick isn't doing yourself any favours. Just talk to her, okay. She's miserable, and so are you, because you're both blind as bats, and if you're going to be too stubborn to do anything then nothing will ever happen."

"What about Annabeth? Why can't she be the bigger person?"

"Because that's always you, Percy. You were the one who walked away from us. You can't expect to shoot her in the shoulder and then her to be groveling at your feet."

"Well, maybe I don't want to be the bigger person this time," Percy says. "Maybe I've grown up, and I'm sick of you all treating me like a doormat who'll immediately come running back. I've changed, okay, and for the better, and if you're going to call me growing a backbone and being able to say no to people a dick move then maybe I don't need you in my life anymore."

Jason flinches, like he's just been hit. Percy can't believe he just said that – but he doesn't take it back. He wants to, but he can't.

Finally, Jason squares his shoulders. "Fine," he says harshly. "Whatever. If that's how you really feel."

"It is."

Jason scowls at him. "Have fun with your new friends." He flings open the door, and then pauses. "Oh, and don't bother contacting us again. You made your decision. I don't want to see you ever again."

And then he's gone.

It comes to Annabeth in the middle of a study session.

"Oh my God," she says.

"What, you finally solved seven b?" Thalia mutters absently, scribbling something down. "Good on you, I feel so horrible for skipping it and not laboring over it like you did, aren't you a good person, can you tell me what ten c is?"

"I'm in love with Percy," she says.

"That doesn't sound like the answer to ten c, Chase."

Piper looks up. "I got sixty-three point zero two."

"Well, I got minus eight, so I clearly did something wrong."

Piper peers over her shoulder. "Oh, you muffin, you didn't factorise. You need to divide everything by one point five so you can put it back in the brackets."

Annabeth stares at them both, her heart thumping. "I'm in love with Percy."

"How the hell do you factorise?"

"Guys," Annabeth says. "I'm in love with Percy."

"We learnt it, like, four years ago, Thalia," Piper says. "Here, I'll show it to you."

"Guys."

Thalia looks up, annoyed. "What, Annabeth?"

"I'm in love with Percy."

Piper shoots up like a firecracker. Thalia still looks unimpressed.

"Whoop-de-doo," she says. "I'm so happy for you. What's the answer to ten c?"

"You're in love with Percy?" Piper squeaks.

Finally. An appropriate reaction. Annabeth both deflates with relief and fills with anxiety. "I think so."

"Why are you so surprised?" Thalia asks.

"What do you mean?"

"You guys are literally soulmates. That's generally what soulmates do – fall in love with each other. I'd be more surprised if you didn't."

"He and Allison are soulmates," Annabeth corrects, slightly petulantly.

"Don't kid yourself, Annabeth, she's as good for him as a knife to the heart."

"Did you just realise now?" Piper asks. Her Maths book has long since been abandoned and she shuffles around to where Annabeth is sitting, curls her hand around her ankle. "How long have you been thinking about this?"

"A while."

"God, Bethie, this must be killing you." Piper's eyes flash. "You should tell him."

Annabeth's jaw drops, and slowly she pulls away. "Are you crazy?"

"Allison is going to kill him, Annabeth. You told me yourself. You said he looked like a walking zombie. If anyone is going to persuade him out of that relationship it's going to be you."

"I am the last person who'll be able to do that," Annabeth says. "Guys, are you nuts? Do you remember how badly we ended things?"

"Considering we weren't there when it happened, not really," Thalia says. "Unless you're talking about what he said to me, in which case, yes, vividly."

"No." Annabeth sighs. "You know when I had to give in some reports to Mr Whitby? I bumped into Percy in the corridor. We, uh. Had a little tiff."

"A little?"

"A large tiff, okay. We argued. I told him some crap. He also told me some crap. Called me a psychopath."

"He's not wrong."

"Thalia!" Piper admonishes. "My God, do you have any tact?"

"Just saying."

"No, you're right," Annabeth says. "I am, a bit. It just hurt hearing him say it."

"Because you're in love with him, right."

"I wasn't then."

"You still loved him," Piper says. "Even if it wasn't romantically. You guys adored each other."

"And you clearly still do," Thalia says. "Because now you're in love with him."

"But there's the problem," Annabeth says. "He's in love with Allison."

Thalia straightens, almost like she's offended. "Don't be daft, Annabeth," she says. "Percy may be dumb, but he isn't stupid."

Piper frowns. "Uh–"

"He is simply not capable of loving a girl that shallow. He's been hanging around incredible intellects like ourselves for so many years now. Their conversations must be positively snooze-worthy to him, after all the time he's spent contemplating the depth and psychology we put into ours."

"Literally yesterday you and Nico almost beat each other up because he bet you that you couldn't cram fifty Skittles in your mouth at once," Piper says.

Thalia whirls on her. "Listen, you rat–"

"But in all due respect," Piper hurries to say, "please continue."

Thalia glowers at her for a few more seconds, and then turns back to Annabeth with a hmph. "Anyway," she says. "Like I was saying. Percy can't love Allison. She's got nothing behind that pretty face."

Annabeth sighs. "See, you say that, but– Allison's smart, okay. Almost as smart as me. You think all those girls are thick as bricks, and, like, that's half true, but Ali is smart. She's gonna be able to keep up with Percy, and easily." She shrugs, a little hopelessly. This news doesn't upset her as much as it should. She's thought about it so much it's all kind of numbed her at this point. "Face it, guys. If Percy's happy, then there's nothing we can do."

"But he's not happy."

"We can't prove that."

"Sure we can." Piper folds her legs. "I actually have some news. Jason told me a while back, but I forgot. He saw Percy at a party."

Annabeth frowns. "A party?"

Thalia finishes her thought for her. "Why would Percy go to a party?" she asks. "That'd be like suicide."

"He and Jason talked in the bathroom," Piper says. Her face is troubled. "And I can say that Percy is not happy. Not as much as he convinces himself, anyway."

Annabeth sits up. "Why? What did Jason say?"

"Ali basically forced him to come. He told her didn't want to, but she spun all this crap about how she wanted to show him off and whatever, and he felt like he had to, or he'd let her down. He's literally doubled his medication so he can stand it all."

"My God," Annabeth says. "That's why he looked so bad."

"You think she does that a lot?" Thalia asks.

Annabeth laughs mirthlessly. "I didn't know she'd go that low, but now that I know she does, absolutely. Trust me. We're the best with manipulation. I just didn't know she'd stoop as low to use it on her soulmate."

"Supposed soulmate," Piper interjects.

"That's not the point." Annabeth collapses back on the sofa and rubs her temples. "If Percy thinks I'm the psychopath in this equation he's got his head on backwards."

"Precisely." Piper pokes her shoulder. "This is why you need to tell him you're his soulmate, so then he breaks it off with Allison before it gets any worse than it does. Honestly, Annabeth. We've really got nothing. He must know that Ali's crap and that's the worst part, because if he hasn't left now, then nothing will budge him. Nothing except you, though, obviously."

"I can't."

"See, you say that, but you can. Because you're a big girl and you recognize that our dearest friend is in a bit of a sticky situation that only you can remove him from."

Annabeth scowls at her half-heartedly. "Don't blackmail me."

"I'm not blackmailing you. I'm just– idealizing."

"Well, stop, it's annoying."

"Just do it, Chase." Thalia sits up and props her arm against the sofa. "What have you got to lose?"

"Everything!"

"You mean just your friendship with Percy. Which won't happen, even if it turns out he doesn't like you like that. You're both very sensible and grown-up and you'll deal with it like adults."

"Like you and Nico at lunch yesterday?" Piper asks innocently.

"I swear to God, McLean–"

"I'm sorry, you're super pretty, I love you."

Thalia seethes, but ignores her.

Annabeth shakes her head. "I won't."

"Why?"

"I can't lose this with Percy. You don't understand, Thalia. He was my first yellow Mark. He was literally my first friend! If I lose him then I've lost everything. That Mark is like, symbolic of the fact that I'm not that prickly and awful to have around that everyone I'll ever meet will hate me. If that Mark fades then that's it. Game over."

"Annabeth, your friendship is already over!" Thalia shouts, and Annabeth jerks like she's just been hit. "Can't you see that? He already hates all of us. There is nothing you can do that will make it worse. That stupid Mark is what got us into this mess in the first place. But what you can do is try to make it better, and that's by pushing some sense into that kid. Don't try and save his feelings. I'm not sure what's happened to him – that's a lie, it's Ali – but he has turned into a grade-A arsehole who is literally on the brink of oblivion and if you want to get him anywhere close to back where he was a few months ago you can't be nice to him. There's no point. He thinks he's right. You need to prove him wrong."

Annabeth stares at her. The silence drags on.

Finally, she sighs. "Fine," she says. "Whatever. I'll talk to him."

Piper huffs out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"It won't work, though."

"That's not a very positive way of thinking about things," Thalia says. "And you're welcome in advance, by the way."

"For what?"

"Well, unlike you, I am actually quite optimistic in the success rate of this plan. So obviously when you confront him about how awful Ali is he'll be like, wow, of course, leave her, end up marrying you because also at some point he realises that he's deeply and tragically in love with you the same you are with him, and you'll have lots of babies together and live happily ever after. I personally reserve spot as maid of honour."

"I thought you hated me," Annabeth says.

"Oh, I do," Thalia says. "But unfortunately, many people share that particular sentiment about me, which is honestly a shame because I feel like I have many favourable assets they're missing out on, so I have limited chances to being maid of honour. Besides, I tell you things like they are. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't do that?"

"A good one?"

"You can be the maid of honour at my wedding," Piper says. "I'll even let you wear sneakers."

"That's very nice of you, Piper, except you'll probably end up marrying Jason and he's my brother and our parents are skunkbags, one of whom, as Percy so delicately put it, is buried six feet under the ground, where I pray every day her soul rests in unease, so I'll be walking him down the aisle and I'll also probably be the best man, so I'll have to reject that. This is why I must be there for when Annabeth gets married."

"Me and Percy might not end up marrying each other, though," Annabeth says.

"Nonsense. You two are so drippy around each other I honestly feel bile rise up in my throat every time you so much as look at each other. If you don't get married I'll hate you even more then I do now."

"And you know where that starts," Piper says, with a big wink.

Annabeth sighs. "Talking to Percy."

"Atta girl," Thalia says, grinning. "You're catching on."

Percy doesn't feel good. At all.

All around him everyone is holding cups of alcohol and jumping around on the dance floor and the lights are dim and everything is purple and hazy and he kind of feels like he's going to throw up. He doesn't drink alcohol but somehow Ali coerced him into it and now he's holding a red plastic solo cup filled with something that really doesn't taste good. He had a few sips around Ali to keep her happy but as soon as she disappeared with her friends he swallowed it, felt how it burned going down his throat, and vowed to never do it again. That's where he draws the line.

He's not even sure why he's here, to be honest. Well. Ali, he supposes. That's why he's here. Because she's his soulmate, and he wants to keep her happy.

She's happy, Perce, but are you?

Percy's grip tightens on his drink.

Someone jostles into him from the side and he stumbles forward a little. He doesn't feel good at here at all. He'd be literally anywhere else. Like a cliff edge. Or the mouth of a volcano. Just somewhere that's not here.

He regrets not taking up Grover's movie night offering. They probably would have just watched all the Indiana Jones movies in order, maybe gotten Chinese, too. That's Percy's ultimate comfort zone, just sitting curled up next to his best friend, eating his sweet and sour chicken, watching probably the stupidest most unrealistic best movie series the planet has ever invented.

He'd rather be there. Not here. Here is full of half-sloshed teenagers pretending to be more drunk than they actually are jumping all over the place, spilling beer and yelling along incoherently to the loud thumpy EDM music on the overhead speakers. He closes his eyes as he feels someone else collide with his back. Grover probably would have invited Annabeth, too. Maybe Nico. They love the Indiana Jones movies. It would have been nice.

Nice. He wants nice. This isn't nice. This isn't nice at all.

In fact– oh God, no, this isn't nice at all.

He can feel the onslaughts of a panic attack begin to grip his throat and he blindly fumbles for the way out. He needs to get out now now now, or he'll drown here, and no one will be able to see him because everyone has their eyes closed and the lights are too dark to see anyway. He claws forwards, bumping into people, too many people, and they bump right into him back, and he starts to whimper because no, this isn't nice at all, he doesn't feel good, he needs to tell Ali he's leaving, he just needs to get out–

The music gets cranked up even further and the dance floor roars with approval. It's so loud that Percy can taste the noise on his tongue. It's sour and unpleasant and tastes a lot like blood and with every jolt of the ground beneath him he falls back further and further. The door is nowhere to be seen, it's just bodies everywhere, and he hates every moment of it and at this point he doesn't even care about Ali he just needs to get out because if he doesn't he's going to get into a panic attack so bad he might pass out. It's happened before, but that was at home when he had Sally to immediately whizz him to hospital, but here, here, the air is pulsing and pushing and he knows that if he faints now he'll be trampled underfoot.

He needs to get out. He can't be here anymore or he might actually throw up.

Eventually, he finds the door. He gasps and pushes it open, stumbling outside. The cool air is heavenly on his face but it also does nothing to calm him down because somehow he can still feel the bodies on him, still taste the blood from the dance floor, and the muted house track from the house behind him is only making things worse. He clings onto the fence and closes his eyes shut, telling himself calmdowncalmdowncalmdown onetwothreefourfivesixseveneight this isn't working dammit dammit –

His only last resort is Piper. Somehow, in his addled mind, he manages to pull his phone out his pocket, and he stabs Piper's contact and presses it to his ear. He's jittery and jumpy now, like he's just come down from a high, but he's still hyperventilating and he also thinks he might cry and either way he just feels crap and he needs to be back where he feels safe.

She picks up on the first ring. "Hey!"

Her voice is such a reassuring thing to hear in his haze that as soon as she's spoken Percy just bursts into tears.

"Piper," he gasps, "please, come get me."

"Can you believe the nerve of some people?" Piper asks rhetorically as she dabs nail polish onto Annabeth's fingers. "Not that I never saw it coming, because Drew Tanaka is a sneaky little vixen who has probably had her way with the janitor at some point, but like– Mr McCreedy, of all teachers?" Piper sighs a little, like the idea is just positively absurd, and because Annabeth is so out of league she just kind of stares at the purple glitter on her nails. "I mean. Mr McCreedy! He's not even fit! You wouldn't bang Mr McCreedy, would you?"

"I mean. I haven't ever really thought about it."

"That's because it's weird, isn't it? I mean. Here's the thing. I could totally understand going after someone like Mr Dawson, or Rian the Finance Manager. Because at least they're hot, you know? But, like. Mr McCreedy is forty. With a wife. And a pot belly. And Drew is like the queen of the school! I'm not even so shocked at the fact that it's, like, a student-teacher relationship more than it is the fact that it's Mr McCreedy. Do you think she's doing it for the grades?"

"Maybe."

"I'd think so. No offence to Mr McCreedy but a girl like Drew Tanaka does not go after a guy like him with intentions of just sleeping with him for the sake of it. She must have ulterior motives. I mean, the other day she rejected Luke – the quarterback, you know? – and Luke's fit. Mr McCreedy– I mean, he's a middle-aged Maths teacher. Really, what else is there to say?"

Luckily, Annabeth doesn't get to hear what else there is to say, because before Piper can answer her own question, her phone starts vibrating.

"Your phone's going off," Annabeth says.

"Yes, I noticed," Piper says. She picks it up off the floor, and then frowns. "Oh. It's Percy."

Annabeth's heart picks up. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Piper frowns a little. "I thought he was with Ali." She hesitates. "Should I answer?"

"He wouldn't have called you if it wasn't important."

"You're right," Piper says. "Oh well." She presses 'answer' and presses her phone to her ear. "Hey!"

Annabeth knows it's not good the second Piper's face crumples. "Hey, hey, hey," she says. "Hey, Perce, breathe, okay? What are you saying, I can't hear you?"

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asks.

Piper scrambles to her feet. "Shh, no, it's okay, Percy," she coos. "Breathe for me, okay, love? Breathe. Breathe." She looks at Annabeth. Her face is wild, panicked. Annabeth shoots up. "Put on your shoes, Chase, we need to go."

The girls race down the stairs. Annabeth is pretty sure she's wearing two wrong shoes and neither of them belongs to her and they're both still in their pajamas and toothpaste facemasks but they sprint for the car, leaping in like the police are on their tail. "He's at Sandy Barker's house," Piper pants, throwing Annabeth the keys. "Quick, we need to go."

Annabeth presses on the gas. The car zooms out of the driveway and down the road, and Annabeth is pretty sure she's breaking several driving laws by the way she's manically steering but she doesn't care because Percy's in trouble. They both don't have their seatbelts on and Piper is anxiously gripping the door handle like if Annabeth doesn't get them there pronto she's going to fling open the door and run. Annabeth glances at the speedometer, grits her teeth, and goes even faster.

She spots Percy at the front of the house. He's sitting on the kerb and from a normal perspective he would look relatively normal, but Annabeth recognises the after-effects of a panic attack. His face is ashen and pale and his cheeks are wet, and his leg is vibrating like it has a spring in it. Between his knees, he's clasping a red plastic cup so tightly his knuckles are white.

Piper explodes out the car the second Allison comes out the house.

They both cry, "Percy!" at the same time but Piper's the one who gets there first, getting right between his legs and cupping his face in her hands, pressing their foreheads together. Annabeth would normally think coming so close would be bad but Percy's body ripples with a shudder of relief and he collapses in her arms. Piper wraps herself around him tightly, resting her chin on his head.

Annabeth comes out the car. Allison looks mad.

"What's going on?" she demands.

Annabeth doesn't wait for anything. She yanks the keys out the ignition and storms straight out of the car, right up until she's right in Allison's face. Her years of solitude haven't taught her many useful life lessons but if there's one thing she knows how to do it's intimidation. Which she kind of needs right now, because she's in duck pajama pants and a singular Croc.

"Did you somehow forget," she snarls viciously, "that your boyfriend has chronic social anxiety?"

"What has that–?"

"Don't you dare ask me what that has to do with anything, Cooper, because if you were half as good as a soulmate as Percy deserves you would know."

Allison glances over Annabeth's shoulder and catches sight of Percy. For the first time, her face crumples.

"Oh my God–"

"What on earth were you thinking? Taking him to a party and leaving him alone?"

"I didn't know!"

"That's a big fat lie and you know it. Why would you do that to him?"

"Look, Annabeth, I'm sorry! I made a mistake!"

"That mistake almost cost you your soulmate."

Allison's face changes. "He wouldn't leave because of this."

"It's not just this, Cooper." Annabeth crosses her arms. "This whole relationship? This is unhealthy. For not just Percy. You're both unhappy–"

"Don't you dare tell me that my relationship with my soulmate is unhealthy!"

"Look at him, Allison!" Annabeth shouts, and she points. Her whole arm is trembling. "Look at him! You did that to him! Does that seem like something a healthy relationship would do to a person?"

"Oh, that's rich!" Allison shouts back. "You wouldn't know a healthy relationship if it smacked you in the face! What do you know? You think you're so good and so clean because you're no longer big bad Annabeth and you dropped us as soon as you could, but you're no better than me! How dare you tell me that my relationship is unhealthy when you were the very definition of toxic!"

"That's the difference, Allison, I've changed! Face it, you didn't give two hoots when I left you. You were just happy because you could take the throne."

"That's what your think it's about? Popularity? How sick are you?"

"What else is there?" Annabeth cries desperately. "I may have been just like you, Cooper, but you were just like me, and I ruled you for years. I know you. You may love Percy now, but you won't in ten years, because in ten years you'll have been together long enough to know everything about each other and while you may think you do you don't care about him, not really. In ten years people will stop seeing you as the cutest couple of the school or the perfect love story where the beautiful charitable girl falls for the shy underdog and they'll start seeing you as soulmates and that terrifies you."

As she speaks, she knows she's not just talking to Allison. A few metres behind, Piper's eyes glow luminous at her. She knows those words are just as much as for her as they are Ali.

Allison seethes with rage, but it doesn't faze Annabeth. That's the thing about once being at the top. All the girls who were once below her are like clockwork, tick-tick-ticking in circles, playing their parts, painting their nails. She may have never spoken to them but she knows each and every one of them from the inside out, because they're all the same. Allison is beautiful, sure, and she was always going to be first in line when Annabeth dropped, but she's no different to the girls who grovel at their feet.

Annabeth clawed her way to the top and glossed over her bloody nails until she was fit for a queen. She was once Allison. She maybe still is. But she no longer feels afraid that her reign is being sabotaged. Allison took what was left of the throne after Annabeth imploded, tried to piece it back together, sloppily. She can have the crown for all Annabeth cares.

But she can't have Percy. Percy is far, far, far more important than a superficial hierarchy of good eyebrows ever was.

But unfortunately, the difference between Allison and the other girls is that her brain works just that step ahead of theirs. Her mouth forms an 'o'. "Oh my God. You think you're Percy's soulmate, don't you?"

Annabeth's world falls sideways. She almost gasps, like she has just been punched in the throat. "Allison, no–"

"You do," Allison says, her face twisting with realization. Annabeth's heart pounds because dammit she's not wrong. "You do. That's why you've been trying to get me away, isn't it? Because you think you'll be a better soulmate?"

"Ali–"

Allison takes a step backwards, like Annabeth repulses her, like she's contagious. "You don't care about Percy's health. You just want to be right so you can take him from me. You're such a hypocrite, Chase. Giving me all that bull about how I won't love him in ten years when you're exactly the same?"

Annabeth quivers. "At least I know it. At least I'm not so much a coward that I can own up to it."

Allison laughs mirthlessly, like Annabeth hasn't even spoken. "You don't deserve Percy."

"I'm not the one who's meant to be his girlfriend and literally put him in one of the worst situations I could have."

"I'm not his babysitter, how was I meant to know?"

"Because you're his soulmate!" Annabeth shouts, and she sees Piper look up sharply. "You're his soulmate, Ali, you're meant to know things like not putting him in situations that trigger him into panic attacks!"

"I didn't know he was so fragile! I thought he could handle it!"

"Handle a party? Allison, he can barely look people in the eyes, why the hell would you think he could do a whole party by himself?"

"He should have told me no!"

"But he can't!" Annabeth shouts, and that's when Allison takes a step backwards. "Are you blind, Cooper? He can't! Do you think he's wanted to do half the stuff you've forced him into? No, of course he doesn't, he only does it because you want to, and he'd rather drug himself into borderline oblivion than upset you, and you don't even notice."

Allison doesn't respond.

"I know I don't deserve Percy," Annabeth tells her, softer, and she's finally making her retreat now. "I doubt anyone will, really. But you need to realise that you don't either."

Piper stands up. She's holding Percy's hand. The red plastic cup is lying in the gutter. Annabeth chucks her the keys and gives Percy a little smile. He returns it, shyly, a bit wistfully, and then Piper is climbing into the car and Percy is, too, but in the backseat. After a moment's hesitation, Annabeth gets in the backseat with him. She doesn't turn around to look at Allison.

It wouldn't have mattered if she had. Allison goes back to the party. Annabeth no longer cares.

The drive back is tense.

Piper is driving. Annabeth and Percy are in the backseat. Annabeth isn't sure what she should do, because she's never been around Percy in the aftermath of a panic attack, but Percy is shaking and he can't look anyone in the eye so she moves closer and puts an arm around him. He tenses up at first and Annabeth almost retreats but then he lets out a shuddering sigh and pushes closer to her, resting his head on her shoulder. Tears begin to drip soundlessly from his eyes.

He doesn't seem panicked anymore, just exhausted. It's like his flame has completely gone out.

Annabeth closes her eyes and prays to anyone who will listen for forgiveness on all the times she's caused something like this, because she knows she has. If she had known it was this bad, she would have stayed far away.

If she had known Percy, she would have steered clear to keep him safe.

Piper is the first to speak.

"Are you okay, Percy?" she asks softly.

Percy nods a little against Annabeth's shoulder. He's shivering, but it's not cold. Annabeth rests her head on top of his and she feels his whole body heave with a sigh. "I think so," he says quietly.

"Good." Piper pointedly doesn't look at him in the rearview mirror. She couldn't, anyway, because Percy isn't looking either. "Now, can I ask what the hell just happened?"

Annabeth feels Percy stiffen. "Piper, come on," she says in a low voice.

"No, it's okay." Percy shuffles around uncomfortably. "Um. I just. Got overwhelmed."

"Why were you even there? You hate parties."

Percy doesn't respond. They all know the answer, anyway.

Piper sighs. The car pulls to a red light, so she turns around in her seat. "Why do you do it, Perce?" she asks softly. "Why do you keep putting yourself through this?"

"She's my soulmate," Percy tells her. There's no heart in it. Annabeth wonders if nowadays that's all that's holding Percy to Allison. It's not two lovers holding hands anymore. It's two wrong jigsaw pieces forced into each other, two different souls handcuffed.

She doesn't look at the PJ on her wrist because she thinks if she does she might cry.

"She's a crap soulmate," Piper says. "Did you tell her no?"

Percy doesn't answer.

"Percy."

"I don't know how," he whispers. "I don't want to lose her."

"She's not good for you."

Normally Percy would fight, but he's lost all his fight tonight. "The light's green."

Piper sighs, but turns around and starts driving again.

The rest of the drive is silent. Piper stops them at McDonalds to get Percy an ice cream. She offers to buy Annabeth something but all Annabeth can think about is Allison's face, twisted in fury, and Percy's red plastic cup lying on the street, and she feels so sick she's not sure she can stomach anything at the moment so she shakes her head. Piper buys herself a box of chicken nuggets but it's clear no one feels like eating.

The box gets chucked in the bin, untouched.

Aphrodite is fast asleep by the time they arrive home. All the lights are shut off, the only one still on being Piper's bedroom from earlier, when they forgot to turn it off. They all clamber out of the car, and Piper unlocks the door quickly. Now that she's standing still and not overwhelmed by pure fury, Annabeth realises just quite how cold it is. Percy stands a little further off, not completely away, but she would only be able to touch him if she stretched her arm out. She doesn't, though. She understands he needs space.

They get inside, and Piper flicks on the light. The hallway floods with light and they all blink, a little disoriented. For the first time Percy seems to register they're wearing pajamas.

"You have ducks on your shorts," he says quietly.

"Oh." Annabeth looks down. "Yeah. I guess."

Piper rolls her eyes fondly. "Do any of you want anything?"

Annabeth shakes her head. Percy hesitates for a moment, and then shakes his head too.

Piper nods, appeased. She steps closer to both of them. She squeezes Annabeth's hand and then kisses Percy's forehead, hard, and then bids them both quietly goodnight and pads upstairs. Annabeth and Percy are left alone in the hallway.

Annabeth looks at him. "I'm making tea, do you want any?"

Percy nods, almost unnoticeably. Normally he's always one for a right natter, loves having long mindless talks, but he's withdrawn tonight, shaken and tired and also a bit tipsy, Annabeth thinks, so she leaves him be and takes it as a well enough answer. She kicks off her trainers (they are, as it turns out, mismatching, and also not hers) and heads quietly into the kitchen. After a few moments, Percy follows.

Annabeth switches on the kettle. Percy lifts himself onto one of the tall spinny chairs, hooks one of his feet around the back of it. Childish, Annabeth thinks. She doesn't point it out.

"What kind do you want?" she asks in a quiet voice. Irrationally, she feels like if she speaks in a voice louder than that Percy might just break.

"Chamomile."

She busies herself with the teabags. The kettle pops, and she pours hot water into two mugs, and then milk. She knows Percy likes four spoons of sugar, so she puts them all in, and leaves hers as it is, because she likes her tea bitter. She picks them both up and asks, "Living room?"

It's very late Thursday night and they have school tomorrow but Percy follows her in anyway.

They both collapse on the sofa. Annabeth tucks her feet underneath her and so does Percy, and she hands him his tea. She balances hers on her knee and lets it cool down, but Percy starts sipping straight away. She knows his lips are very sensitive to extreme temperatures because he can barely talk after eating a curry and he has to wait donkey's years to start on a hot chocolate but she almost understands tonight.

Sometimes it's not enough to leave. Sometimes you have to burn it off.

They sit in silence. Annabeth doesn't move to break it.

After a few moments, Percy says, in a soft voice, "Thanks."

"For what?"

He shrugs. "All of this. You didn't have to."

"Uh, I kind of did. You had a panic attack."

Percy smiles, a bit wryly. "Yeah."

They sip in quiet. It's nice. The moon shines cold and pale on the floor but it doesn't reach the sofa and Annabeth is almost glad. Wives' tales says moonlight can make you crazy. She doesn't believe it, but she's had enough craziness to last her a while. She watches it flicker on the floorboards.

She glances over at Percy. Distantly, he's gazing at a spot on the wall.

"Percy," she says softly.

"Hm?"

"Why were you at the party? Really."

Percy's eyes clear, but he doesn't look away from the wall. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

His whole body sags with a sigh. "Yeah."

She waits.

"Ali always wants me there," he says, his voice almost a whisper. "She always wants me to– to go meet this person, and be introduced to that kid from her middle school. She gets upset when I don't go. I want to make her happy."

"A relationship is about how both people feel, you know."

"I know." Percy sighs again. "I just– I don't know what to do."

Annabeth cracks a wry smile. "You already know what I'm going to say."

"That I should leave her."

"Yeah."

"I can't, Annabeth." His voice cracks, and Annabeth's heart does with it. "She's all I have left."

"You have us."

"No I don't. You all hate me. Sometimes I feel like she's only the one who cares anymore. And she just bears me. And I don't blame you. Any of you. I've kind of been a dick. I just–" He swallows and tilts his head against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. He blinks slowly. Blinking back tears, Annabeth realises. "I don't know what else to do."

"You don't have to kill yourself attending parties. That's not going to do anything but make your relationship worse."

"If I don't go it'll make it worse."

In a moment of bravery, Annabeth reaches forward and takes his hand. He looks up at her. "Then leave her," she says earnestly. Percy swallows. His eyes are glowing in the darkness. "Percy, you can't stay with someone like that just to prove a point. That's not how the world works. You're only going to damage yourself further. I mean, you saw what tonight did to you."

"If I leave her I won't have anyone left."

"You'll have us," she promises. "Come sit with us tomorrow. We'll make everything better, okay? If you apologise and if you mean it, they'll take you back. You can't live like this anymore."

Percy stares at her for a long, long time. Outside, the night yawns on, and somewhere twenty minutes away his soulmate is drinking alcohol and dancing with her friends, and here he is, shaken, terrified and alone. Annabeth silently seethes with rage and hatred for Allison. She's overzealous and explosive, and left in the debris is the shell of her supposed soulmate. He sits there, quietly, with an over-sugared tea and a girl who used to be his best friend on the sofa next to him, and there's madness spilt all over the floor in shiny silvery wisps. Annabeth waits with baited breath.

Finally, he nods. "Okay," he says quietly.

Annabeth's chest floods with relief. "Thank God," she says. "I'm so glad, Percy."

He smiles in a way that doesn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, me too."

Annabeth should think something about it, but she doesn't.

It's a mistake. Because the next day, when Annabeth is waiting at the lunch table, her eyes ready and alert, Percy walks through the doors, and she's just about to wave him over until she notices who's attached to his arm.

His hair is ruffled and two buttons on his shirt are undone. His mouth is the exact same shade as Allison's.

Annabeth almost breaks her fork in half.

After the twentieth party you begin to almost see the beauty in them.

Percy stands at the side, with his red plastic cup, as always, watching as Allison jumps around with her friends on the dance floor. It's the same old routine, honestly. Percy can't really the remember the last time he didn't spend a Friday night in a stranger's house where the music is so loud he can't hear himself think with some sort of alcoholic beverage in his hand.

In a warped, weird way, he almost kind of likes it. There's just so much thumpy pop songs they can play before they all kind of just meld into one big track with too much bass and synthesized vocals like harmonized sirens. He's learnt to drown it all out and just live in his own head for a while, just him and the stupid red plastic cup, maybe Grover sometimes, maybe Piper, most probably Annabeth.

He's learnt quite a few things at these parties. One: don't drink any alcohol. It makes him all fuzzy and uncomfortable, and it's one thing to already feel fuzzy and uncomfortable on a day-to-day basis, and scenes like this tend to make him even fuzzier and more uncomfortable, so alcohol only raises the chances of throwing up on someone.

Two: find a bathroom or empty area to just loiter in. Percy isn't a people person on the best of occasions, so if he can avoid people it just seems like the safest bet to, like, not dying. It works, most of the time, and the times it doesn't are only the times where he can't find a bathroom or closet of sorts because they're already occupied with horny teenagers doing regrettable things. So. Again, foolproof.

And then number three, probably the most important: if you feel a panic attack, leave.

Unfortunately, he knows this from experience. Lots and lots of experience. And last time was just embarrassing. He was so, so, so grateful for Piper and Annabeth, but if he wants to try do anything with his life and move on, and not just spend all his time moaning and lamenting about how much he misses his old friends he's just going to have to suck it up and avoid any situations they could possibly be roped into again.

And, because his luck is just so grand, he can feel one right now.

He almost rolls his eyes, because, like. Come on. Now?

Nonetheless, he has to follow protocol, before it really ends up bad. He puts his cup on the counter and pushes off it, starting to make his way to the door. He's levelling his breathing, four seven eight, four seven eight, like the lady at the hospital said, and he's looking forward and only forward, because if he looks anywhere else he'll get overwhelmed and start crying right where he stands, which would be embarrassing and also highly impractical. He needs to wait until he's outside for any blubbering to happen.

And then. He steps outside. And it's raining.

Wow, universe. Thanks.

The rain almost helps, in a way. It's calming and the feel of his skin and hair and clothes all getting wet gives him something that isn't the boom-boom-boom of the music from the house behind him to focus on. He takes one deep breath, two, three, four, and blinks, feels the raindrops drip off his eyelashes, and suddenly he feels grounded.

The sky is black and swallowing, and the rain is falling like metal bullets. It's cold and he's not wearing anything except a thin T-shirt but it's the most alive he's felt in a long time. He feels– floaty, almost. Ethereal.

He starts to make his way home. He doesn't bother texting Allison. She'll know. Or she just won't care.

The rain is grounding. Everything around him is black, and dark, and the only light is coming from the party behind him. He can see the reflections of the strobe lights through the windows in the puddles, but he kind of likes the darkness. It feels safer, almost. In the party the light was exposing, blinding, but the darkness is comforting. If he were any drunker he would think of it as a good metaphor for his relationship with Allison and how the brightness was actually kind of sickening after a while and how he preferred to be invisible with his old friends, but he's stone cold sober and he's not very poetic sober so the thought never crosses his mind.

He feels peaceful. He doesn't really think anything could disturb his mood.

Well. Until:

"Percy?"

Of course. Of course.

Reluctantly, he turns around. "Hey, Annabeth."

Annabeth stands in the middle of the pavement, in a yellow raincoat and a pair of cheap canvas shoes that look completely soaked through. Percy remembers that coat, and those shoes. He'd always make fun of her because it didn't have a hood, because what's the point of a raincoat with no hood, and then she'd push him into a wall and say something like what's the point of you, and then he'd probably throw something at her and they'd run off chasing each other like kids. It's just as useless now as it was back then – her blonde hair is splayed, matted, against her neck, and she's got rain running down her nose and off her eyelashes. It's dark but she stands out like a light because of her coat.

She looks warm, though. He can see the neck of her fuzzy hoodie poking out from underneath. He shivers, involuntarily.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asks. "It's raining."

"I can see that."

"Then why are you standing in the middle of it like an idiot?"

Percy straightens. "Maybe I like the rain."

"You could catch a cold."

"So could you. That coat isn't doing much for you."

Annabeth's lips twitch upwards in what could be a hint of a smile. "It's keeping me dry."

"Right, of course. Duh. I mean. Look at how dry your hair is."

"I will throw something at you."

"I dare you."

Normally she would, something small like a paper cup or pen, but there's nothing around so she doesn't. Instead, she just shoves her hands in the front pocket of her raincoat and rocks back and forth. Her feet are so wet in her shoes Percy can hear them squeak.

"So," she says. "You gonna tell me the real reason why you're just standing there like a moron?"

"I'm just chilling."

"In the rain."

"It's quite relaxing."

"Your fingers are going blue."

"Everything goes numb after a while. I couldn't tell."

Annabeth raises an eyebrow at him. She looks like she's about to say something when suddenly the door from a few houses down flings itself open and a girl in red high heels stumbles out, and throws up on the lawn outside. Music blares all the way down the street.

Percy knows he's screwed as soon as the girl passes out. Annabeth turns to him.

"Percy," she says.

"Allison wanted me to come."

"Another party?"

"They're– not so bad."

"You need to stop doing this, Percy."

"You don't know Ali like I do. I can't say no."

"You forget that I do know Ali. We were friends before."

"Before."

"There's a reason I left her behind."

"She's changed, Annabeth. And so have you. You can't seriously expect her to still be the same person she was when you two were friends."

"I kind of can." Annabeth's face takes on a wistful look. "Percy, I– I changed because I was surrounded by the right people. She's still in there, in the snake pit. If anything, she'd have got worse."

"Whatever." Percy wraps his arms around himself. He's completely soaked through. He can feel his ribs press through his thin shirt like a wire fence. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters!"

"Why? You're not my friend anymore!"

"You're slowly killing yourself. You really think I'm just going to stand here and watch you do that to yourself?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Annabeth lets out a frustrated noise and throws her hands up in the air. She looks like she wants to say eight things at once and also like she wants to punch him in the face, so she lets out an intelligible noise instead and waves her hands. "You– you dumbass, because I care about you, that's why! Because you're stuck with a girl like Allison who will do nothing but ruin you and you're running yourself into the ground and you keep denying it because you're just so wrapped up in this bubble where everything is perfect and all the pieces are falling into place and you're so deep in denial that you think she's the right one for you, when it's all wrong, and she's not, and it's ended up with you freezing your butt off in the middle of the night in the rain outside a party you clearly don't want to be at and just– when are you going to realise that you're in danger of killing yourself?"

She's out of breath. Percy thinks she may be crying.

He can't say anything. He just stands there, the rain dripping into his collar and down his spine, his mouth open, unable to speak. He just kind of gawks at her.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth mutters, furiously scrubbing at her eye with the heel of her palm. "I– didn't mean to yell."

"You're crying," Percy says.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are."

She sniffs sharply. "Just a bit."

Percy doesn't know what to say. He just stands there. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I don't know. Because you're crying."

"I'm not crying." She furiously wipes her cheeks. "Just. Rain, you know."

"Are you crying over me?"

Annabeth sighs. "Yes. No. I don't know. Yes. Because you're dumb. I mean– sorry. I'm just tired."

"You don't have to cry over me," Percy says. "I'm okay."

"Not enough, though."

"I'm managing."

Annabeth manages a watery laugh. "Oh, Percy–"

"Honestly, I'm okay. Look, I was even going home. That's responsible, isn't it?"

"You have to probably be the biggest idiot I've ever met," Annabeth says softly.

"What does that mean?"

And then she's kissing him.

Percy can't breathe. He feels like he's simultaneously been hit by a car and discovered the biggest mountain of treasure he's ever seen, and he's not sure how to quite explain it but he feels euphoric. Annabeth tastes of rain and she smells of plastic from her coat and clean clothes from her sweater and it's a bit wet because they're both absolutely drenched, and her hands just stay on his shoulders and his stay rigid by his side because holy crap this is happening, but he feels like he's ascending to heaven and he's not sure quite how to deal with it.

And then suddenly, with a broken sob, Annabeth wrenches herself from his mouth. She's properly crying now. Percy can only stare at her.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

Percy opens his mouth, to reassure her that it's okay, but he can't, and suddenly he's not quite sure it is anymore.

"I'm sorry," she says, moving backwards. "I'm so sorry."

And then she's gone. She takes off running. Her sneakers make wet sounds as they land against the pavement and Percy watches her as long as he can before the darkness swallows her up, even her fluorescent coat.

Suddenly, he's not sure he likes the darkness so much anymore. But it has made up his mind about something.

Percy texts Allison at lunch time.

Percy: hey can u meet me in mr murphy's room it's important

He knows it'll mean nothing to her. She'll show up, sure, but she'll be ten minutes late, with a smile and a flick of her bobby ponytail, because oh sorry, Percy, I just got caught up chatting to the girls. She wants him to know that he'll always come second, and he'll have to be okay with that.

But he's not. Not anymore.

Like clockwork, she waltzes in, her green dress swirling around her. Late. She blinks up at him prettily, giving him a sultry smile. Percy can only manage something half-hearted back, that probably looks a little like a grimace.

She doesn't seem to notice. "Hey," she chirps easily. "What's up?"

It's funny, how she can act so nonchalant, when Percy feels like his entire world is crumbling before his eyes. But maybe that's a good thing. She always gets catty when upset, and if his world crumbles it'll leave space for him to build a new one. Without her.

Still, his throat feels tight. "I needed to talk to you."

"Sure," she says. "Talk."

"You need to promise me you won't be angry."

She laughs. "Why would I be angry?"

"Just– promise me."

"Percy, you're scaring me."

It all comes out in a rush. "You're not my soulmate."

She cocks her eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"You're not my soulmate."

"Yeah, all right, I heard that bit," she says, and her voice sounds nasty. "I just didn't think you were serious."

She's speaking in that way that would normally make him cower and agree. But not this time. "I'm serious."

"Come on, Percy."

"You're not my soulmate, Ali. Don't pretend like you are."

"But–" She hesitates, only for a second, before she's back to normal. But Percy notices. He's got her. She's unsettled. "Percy, don't be stupid, it literally says it on your arm–"

"I'm not saying the Mark is wrong," Percy says. "The Mark is right. Just– you're not."

Everything is silent. Percy can hear his heartbeat in his ears. This is so out of his comfort zone he feels like he'd be more at home in front of a hungry tiger but his mom said something about if you can't take the heat you've got to get out of the kitchen and he can't do a relationship like this, not anymore. Ali looks like a fish out of water, her mouth opening and closing, but nothing coming out.

For a second, she actually looks panicked.

But it's only brief, because the second Percy sees it flash across her eyes her forehead creases and then she's letting out a mirthless laugh.

"No way," she says. "No way."

"No way what?"

"You think it's Annabeth, don't you?"

Everything stops. Percy feels like he can't breathe, but he doesn't respond, because something mean inside him wants to prove Ali wrong in every way he can.

"No way," she says again. "No way."

"She's better than you'll ever be."

"You're deluded," she says. "You're absolutely deluded. Annabeth is toxic. She'll tear you apart."

Annabeth said the same thing about her. But Annabeth brought him home in the rain when she owed him nothing and Allison just puts him in shark-infested waters.

"We both know it," Percy says. "You're not my soulmate, and you never were. You didn't love me."

"I loved you more than she did," Allison says fiercely. "Annabeth is nothing compared to me."

"Yeah, but you took me to parties," Percy says, "and Annabeth took me home. I said no so many times, Ali, you never listened once. Not once."

"I was trying to help you!"

"Helping me is gradually breaking me in. You don't stab someone through the gut and tell them you're building up their pain tolerance. You never cared about me. You just wanted someone to parade around so you could say you had a soulmate."

"You don't know it's Annabeth. It could be anyone."

"But it's not," Percy says. "Did you know after we started dating my prescription doubled? I had to start taking more pills. Almost every day. I took an almost lethal amount, just so I could survive. Soulmates don't do that to each other, Ali. You can't put me in situations like that after I've said no and then tell me you love me. You especially don't put me in situations like that and leave me alone."

Ali doesn't speak.

"You had to have known," Percy says. "You must have known this wouldn't have worked out."

"You're my soulmate," she argues. It's weak. She must know that Percy has already given up. "You're crazy, I'm your soulmate, not her. What has she given you that I haven't? What does she have that I don't? She's a psycho, Percy."

"Tell me honestly," he says. "Why did you agree to date me?"

"Because you're my soulmate," she says.

"I was the most unpopular kid in the whole school," he says.

"I don't care about that, Percy. You're still my soulmate."

"No I'm not, and you know it. You just liked the idea of having a soulmate – or rather, having a broken soulmate, that you could fix."

She looks aghast at this accusation, but guilty, too. Percy's hit the nail on the head.

"I didn't get with you so I could fix you!"

"Then why did you keep bringing me to those bloody parties?" he says. "Then why did you keep ignoring me? I told you, I'm socially inept, I can't do parties, I can't do people, I couldn't do you on the best of occasions, for heaven's sake, and yet you still kept bringing me!"

"I wanted to show you off!"

He laughs mirthlessly. "Don't give me that crap, Ali, you left me alone as soon as you could."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was your babysitter."

"You didn't have to be! You could have just left me at home and had the time of your life by yourself at those parties, but you kept bringing me along! And you want to know why?"

"No!" Ali says, but Percy says it anyway.

"Because you're a big fat coward, Ali, and you just wanted to fix me, because you knew that if you did that would make you the best person at school. If you didn't want to fix me, if you really loved me, you would have listened to me and left me at home, but you brought me along every time and introduced me to people, in the hopes that I would actually make friends, when you knew I couldn't. Face it, Ali, you're just as fake as the rest of them."

Ali glares at him. "You looked at me in the eyes the first time we met. What about that, huh?"

"That was an accident."

"Could do you some good for you to have more of those then."

"It's an accident for a reason," Percy says harshly. "And maybe that time was an accident that shouldn't have happened."

That was under the belt, and Percy knows it. The sick part of him thinks it's almost worth it, the way Ali doubles over, like she's just been hit.

"You don't mean that," she says.

"Yes I do," Percy says, and he really does.

There's nothing left for him here. He shoulders his bag and starts towards the door, without even looking back at her.

Then:

"Me and Annabeth are the same, you know," she says nastily, and Percy turns around. Once upon a time she used to look so terrifying. Now she just looks washed out and old. "You think I'm so evil? Annabeth was just as bad as the rest of us. Worse. I'm a saint compared to her. She won't be any better than me."

"Probably," Percy says. "But at least she has the balls to admit it."

Allison can't respond to that, so she doesn't. Percy turns around again, this time for good, and leaves.

"Did you hear?" Grover asks one day.

"No," Thalia says. "And I don't particularly care, either."

"You will about this," Grover says. He sits down, his crutches awkwardly bracing against each other. "Apparently, Percy and Allison broke up."

Annabeth sits up. She feels like she's just been plugged into a power socket. "What?"

"Explain," Piper demands.

"Don't shoot the messenger," Grover says. "It's just a rumour."

"Do you believe it?" Piper asks.

"I think so. I mean, have you seen how the dynamic's changed? Allison used to be suckered to Percy, at like. All times. Now she isn't even looking at him. None of them are. It's like he's just disappeared."

"Wow," Thalia says without conviction. "Poor Percy."

"Not really," Grover says. "He looks pretty damn pleased with himself. I mean, I don't think anyone's given him a second look today, but he looks overjoyed."

"You think they really broke up?" Annabeth asks.

"That's just the rumour," Grover says, picking up his sandwich. "But I believe it."

Piper pats Annabeth's thigh reassuringly, like she has everything under control. Before Annabeth can ask what, she cranes her neck, and then grabs a random boy by the back of his shirt.

"Hey!" he yelps.

"What do you know about Percy and Allison?" Piper demands.

The boy looks terrified. "Nothing!"

"Lies and slander," Thalia says monotonously.

Piper arches an eyebrow.

"I've been sworn to secrecy," the boy squeaks.

"I knew it," Piper says. "Tell us everything."

"I can't, I've been sworn to secrecy!"

"Who told you?"

"Drew."

"Of course," Piper says. "What did I expect. She has blackmail, doesn't she?"

The boy looks momentarily puzzled. "No?"

"Well," Thalia says. "Plot twist."

Piper pats his chest, looking almost quite proud. "Good boy. Don't send her anything incriminating, she'll use it against you. Now, since you have no nudes being threatened to be released, tell us everything."

The boy swallows. His eyes dart behind Piper, looking at everyone on the table. Nico offers a big smile, showing teeth covered in ketchup.

"I used to be Drew's best friend," Annabeth says. "You can trust us."

"No you can't," Thalia says, and Annabeth elbows her sharply.

The boy sighs. "Fine. Percy and Allison broke up. Allison's proper pissed about it, too. It's why she doesn't want anyone knowing, because Percy broke up with her."

Grover's eyebrows furrow. "Wait, seriously?"

The boy nods. "It didn't go down very well. Allison's pride's been hurt too much. She's waiting it out until she can come up with a believable story that doesn't involve Percy breaking up with her."

Annabeth's mind starts whirring.

Percy broke up with Allison.

Percy broke up with Allison.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" the boy says anxiously, taking their silence the wrong way. "Drew will cut me if she found out I told anyone."

"We won't," Piper promises. She releases his shirt and pats his shoulder. "Stay responsible."

The boy scrams.

Piper sits back down. "Well, that was a ride. Percy broke up with Allison?"

"Wow," Thalia says, for the first time genuinely impressed. "Maybe he's grown a shred of sense back."

"I can't believe this," Annabeth mutters.

"Oh, I can," Piper says. "I mean, I'm surprised, sure, but I'm so relieved. I knew he had it in him. I'm so glad he's found sense. That girl was as good as an acid bath."

"Good for him, honestly," Nico says.

"Why now, though?" Thalia asks. "Why now? He's been with her so long. Why has he only seen sense now? I mean, the only people he's really talked to since they got together were her and her bone-headed friends, and as if any of them would advise him against getting with her. They're probably equally up her arse."

"Maybe he just saw some sense," Piper says. "It can happen."

Or maybe I kissed him and threw a wrench in the works, Annabeth thinks. At first, she feels a clench of guilt, for knowing that she willingly destroyed a relationship, before she remembers that it was Percy and Allison's relationship, and it only takes one second of picturing Allison's hand on his arm on her mouth on his for Annabeth to feel completely better.

"Yeah," she says. "Totally random."

Piper gives her a knowing look. "Totally."

Everyone else is oblivious. "Well," Grover says. "At least this means that he's one step closer back to us. After all, we only started fighting because of Allison. Now that he's realised how awful she is and dumped her maybe we can all be friends again."

"Maybe," Thalia says. "If he apologises first."

"He will," Grover assures him. "He's back to the old Percy. The old Percy wouldn't let anyone treat him like Allison did. Now that old Percy's back he'll be back any minute, just you wait."

"Sounds thrilling," Piper says. "Annabeth, can I talk to you quick in the bathroom?"

Annabeth knows where this is going. "Sure."

They both stand up and start pushing through the throng of people towards the loos. Piper bodily wrestles her way through them, pulling Annabeth along behind her, and then practically throws her into the stall. There's a junior doing her makeup in the mirror, but as soon as she sees them she bolts.

Piper ignores her. She stands and puts her hands on her hips. "Explain," she says.

Annabeth plays dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What did you do?"

Annabeth sighs. "It's not that big of a deal."

"I quite disagree, I think this is a very big deal indeed. Two nights ago you said you were going to go out to buy us pancake mix and you come home crying – don't look at me like that, as if you thought the rain excuse was going to explain your red eyes – without the pancake mix, may I add, and now suddenly Percy's broken up with his psycho girlfriend. Coincidence?"

"Some would think so."

"Funnily enough, I'm not one of them. What happened?"

Annabeth sighs. "I bumped into him on the way to the shops, okay?"

Piper waits.

"We talked. I yelled." She pauses. "I may have kissed him."

Piper practically dies right there on the spot. "You WHAT?"

Annabeth is mortified. "Lower your voice, oh my God."

"No, I don't care!" Piper grabs her hands. "You kissed? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't a happy kiss. I was so angry and he was right there and I just– kissed him, and then I realised I had made a massive mistake and ran off."

"Did he kiss back?"

"I think so."

"Oh, Annabeth," Piper says.

"I know," Annabeth says. She takes her hands from Piper and folds her arms, turning away slightly. "I made such a big mistake. He's never going to want to be friends with us ever again."

"But he broke up with Allison. That has to mean something."

"Oh yeah, like what? That he's secretly in love with me? Give it a break, Piper."

Piper folds her arms. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he likes you back?"

"Shockingly, never."

"Oh, come on, Annabeth. You're really not as awful as you think you are."

"I think everyone I've ever talked to might disagree with you on that one."

"What about me? I'm your best friend. I love you!"

Annabeth sighs. "That's– that's different, Piper. You love me because you're my best friend and you don't really have standards."

"I take that personally."

"A relationship is a whole other thing. I can't do it."

"Yes you can," Piper says, and her voice is firm. Annabeth sighs. "Look, Annabeth. I know you've had some self-esteem issues in the past, because at one point you thought you were better than us and then you saw sense, and then you saw too much of it because now you think you're worse than us, but what you don't realise is that you're actually super lovely. No, don't argue with me. Look at me. You and Percy were practically married to eac– Annabeth, look at me. There we go. You were practically married. I've frankly never seen Percy so smitten with someone before."

"He went with Allison."

"And then you kissed him and he broke up with her. That means something."

Annabeth grips her elbows tightly. "I don't know."

"You're his soulmate," Piper says softly. "His initials are literally on your arm, Bethie. These things happen for a reason."

Annabeth manages a wry smile.

Piper touches her elbow. "Come on, we'd best be off. Think about it, okay?"

Annabeth nods. "Okay."

It never appealed to her that maybe Percy could like her back. Maybe their happily ever after is coming sooner than she thought.

They both leave the bathroom.

However, they don't notice one of the stalls flick open the moment the door closes behind them. Drew Tanaka struts out, her phone in her hand, with a smirk on her lips. She presses a button on her phone and holds it up to her ear.

"You're his soulmate. His initials are literally on your arm, Bethie. These things happen for a reason."

Sometimes it's just too easy. Smirking, she walks out.

"Percy."

Percy closes his locker and sees Drew leaning against the locker next to him, smiling demurely. She looks very pretty today, in a white blouse with a slightly alarming plunge neckline, and blue glittery eyeliner that kind of simultaneously dazzles Percy and also gives him a headache, but, also, like. What's she doing here. "Drew?"

"I think we should talk," she says. "Don't you?"

"Considering this is the first time you've ever willingly spoken to me, I'm not really sure."

"That's not true," Drew says.

"Yes it is."

"Yes, it is," she admits, "but I really feel like you and I could really learn something from each other, don't you think?"

He eyes her. "This hasn't got anything to do with the fact that Allison and I broke up, has it?"

Drew feigns surprise. "What, no, of course not, I didn't even know that happened, my condolences." She holds out her arm. "Walk with me?"

Hedgingly, Percy accepts. He's not quite sure what her motives are, and knowing Drew they're probably nothing short of cruel, but he's oddly intrigued. They haven't spoken enough for her to know any dirt that would properly humiliate him, so he's not afraid of that. Maybe Ali put her up to this.

God, if she starts whining to him about how cute he and Ali looked together he might just shut himself in a locker for the rest of his life.

"So," Drew says. "You and Allison broke up, huh?"

Here we go. Like clockwork, Percy thinks. "Yeah."

"Terrible shame, really," she says insincerely. "Honest, I'm truly sorry for your loss, how unfortunate, this must be a very hard time for you, blah, blah, blah. Old news. However, what I'm really much more interested in is whatever is bubbling between you and Miss Annabeth Chase, so, please, if you have anything to share, I'm all ears."

Percy stops walking. Drew pauses and cocks a perfect eyebrow.

"Annabeth?" he asks, his pulse quickening. Did Allison tell her anything? No. She couldn't have. That would have been too mortifying. She wouldn't have done that to herself. Then how did Drew...? "W–what has she got to do with this?"

"Oh, have you not heard?" Drew asks innocently, in a voice that says she knows Percy hasn't heard. "Word on the street is you and Annabeth are soulmates." She gives him a slightly judgmental overview. "Can almost see why, to be honest. You're both as tragic as the other."

"Soulmates?"

"Annabeth even confirmed it herself," Drew says. "I just thought you must have known, because, of course, everyone thought you and Allison were soulmates, but it looks like that may not be true."

"But me and Annabeth aren't soulmates."

Drew pulls a face. "Oh, sweetie." She digs her phone out her pocket. "Here, you might want to take a listen to this."

Tentatively, Percy takes her phone. Already open is the voice recorder app, like Drew had planned this whole talk out, but he doesn't even care. Robotically, he presses play, and holds the phone up to his ear.

"–what you don't realise is that you're actually super lovely," a voice says, slightly crackly with static. Percy can pinpoint it exactly. Piper. He can hear the faint buzz of noise around them and somewhere a tap is running, too. This must have been in the bathroom. He's so overwhelmed he doesn't even stop to consider the fact that Drew, like, recorded this in the girls' loos, which is not only weird but also slightly creepy. "No, don't argue with me. Look at me. You and Percy were practically married to eac– Annabeth, look at me. There we go. You were practically married. I've frankly never seen Percy so smitten with someone before."

Percy's eyebrows almost disappear into his hairline. He was that obvious?

Drew clucks disapprovingly at his expression. "Oh, chickee, you haven't even gotten to the best part."

"He went with Allison."

That's another voice Percy could detect from a mile away. Annabeth.

"And then you kissed him and he broke up with her. That means something."

Annabeth's voice is tight. "I don't know."

"You're his soulmate," Piper says. "His initials are literally on your arm, Bethie. These things happen for a reason."

And that's the moment Percy's heart stops.

Piper speaks again, but it's all a haze. Annabeth responds, and then there's the sound of a tap being switched off and then a door closing, and then a toilet flushes and there's a sharp crackle of static as Drew obviously moves her phone away from wherever she was recording from. It ends there, but Percy can almost still feel it playing in his head like a broken record.

You're his soulmate. His initials are literally on your arm.

Annabeth– Annabeth's his soulmate?

Drew watches his expression carefully. "Wild, isn't it? I know, what a rush. I literally got goosebumps simply listening to it." She takes the phone cheerfully out of Percy's hand. He just stares at her. "Well, that's all I really wanted to talk to you about. Toodles!"

She starts to strut off down the corridor, her glossy black hair like a curtain over her shoulders. It's then Percy manages to find his tongue.

"Drew."

She turns around expectantly.

"Why did you show me this?"

Drew cocks an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"I just– I don't get it. You owe me nothing. You're Ali's friend, not mine. What could you possibly get out of showing me this?"

Drew rolls her eyes. "Gosh, you really are clueless. No, Percy. Allison Cooper is not my friend. In fact, I despise her. She's irritating and her voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and the fact that some guys find her more attractive than me is simply insulting, because, I mean, just look at that nose. I know you two broke up because she isn't aware I dislike her, and I was the first person she called, because in case you haven't realised everyone in this position of school simply hates each other and I'm the closest thing she has to a real friend. And obviously I hate Annabeth, too, because her boobs are smaller than mine and she literally dresses like a nun and yet she's the hot one, but I don't hate you because your stupidity is actually quite refreshing and in a weird way almost endearing. I thought I'd help you out."

Percy isn't sure what to say. "Uh. Thanks?"

"Don't bother, I won't ever talk to you again." She whips a lip gloss out of her pocket and applies a new coat to her mouth. "Consider this a thank-you for making this disaster we call a friendship group a little less boring. It's always fun to have some naïve fresh meat, even if it's only temporary." She waves at him. "Well, toodle-oo. Go get your girl. I'm sure she's waiting in her ice castle."

Percy manages a smile. "Thank you, Drew."

"Yes, whatever."

And then she's gone.

Percy watches as she disappears down the hall in a flurry of hair and perfume. She regroups at the end with some other girls Percy vaguely recognizes from parties, who all immediately squeal, "Hey girl hey!" and Drew responds accordingly, although now she's pointed it out Percy realises just how obvious it's been all along, because Drew is surprisingly blatant with her feelings. Percy almost expects her to turn around and give Percy a small wink or something, but she doesn't, and he supposes that's fair.

They never really moved in the same way. They were just two planets in different orbits whose atmospheres brushed once.

He looks the other way, and sees Nico hobbling around on Grover's crutches down the hall, before one of them catches on someone's foot and he goes toppling forwards and head-first into the lockers. Grover bursts out in peals of laughter and Jason, the ever-sensible one, grabs Nico's shoulders and starts attempting to extract his head from the locker, and Percy's heart kind of aches because he just misses them so much.

He knows Drew told him to go for it. But before he gets Annabeth, he needs to fix some things with his friends.

He decides to do it at lunch, mainly because there's no other times in the school day where they'll all be together and he'll be allowed to speak about a subject to them that isn't Hooke's Law. Also, the room will be filled with so many people that if statistics kick in and they do reject him (the chance of which is almost scarily high) everyone will be too busy talking to each other to notice him slink into a bathroom and cry.

So. Foolproof.

He grabs his lunch from his locker and clutches it nervously in his hands. He can feel himself begin to sweat already, and he hates it, because, like, not now, but if he doesn't do this now then he never will. And this is the first step to getting his life back on track.

He swallows, and closes his locker. He can do this.

The lunch hall is already bustling when he steps in. He can pinpoint his friends exactly – they're sitting at their usual table, wedged in the corner, and they stick out like a sore thumb because of Jason's football jumper and the bright blue streak Thalia dyes into the front of her hair. They're all laughing, and Nico is gesturing wildly with his arms, and just looking at them is enough to make Percy want to jump ship and abandon the mission altogether, until he hears Annabeth's laugh from all the way across the hall.

No. He can do this.

Setting his shoulders back, he tentatively starts to make his way towards them.

They notice him when he's only a few feet away. Grover looks up first and immediately stops laughing, and gradually so does everyone else, as they see him standing there. Thalia squares up, folding her arms and setting her jaw. Of everyone, she's maybe got the most reason to be pissed. And Percy doesn't blame her. He said some crap. He just hopes this'll be enough to fix it.

He hovers uncertainly, gripping his lunch like it'll run away from him if he doesn't hold it tight enough. He can feel his palms slick with sweat. They're all watching him.

He swallows. "Um. Hi."

Thalia is the first to speak. "Hey."

She sounds cautious, civil. It's like she's talking to a stranger, and that probably hurts the most out of everything.

"Um," he says. His voice is squeaky. "Can– can I sit?"

Thalia watches him for a few moments before shrugging. "Sure. I don't care."

"Thalia," Piper says in a low voice.

Thalia doesn't respond, just stares down at her food.

Percy slides down into his seat. Annabeth is in the one next to him. He tries to balance his tray on the table but it clatters against it, and he realises his hands are shaking. He drops it when he realises and shoves his hands in his pockets, willing them to stop. It's only an inch at most but it still makes a loud noise. Nico flinches. Piper looks sympathetic.

Thalia is unmoving. With a hard look, she spears a potato. "So," she says coldly, staring Percy right in the eyes. "Where's your little girlfriend? Haven't seen her near you all day. Normally the two of you are attached at the hip."

Percy swallows. "That's because we broke up," he says.

Thalia arches her eyebrow. "Now there's a surprise," she says, her voice almost malicious. "Why? What happened? Lover girl couldn't handle the stress of babying you?"

Jason puts down his fork. "Thalia–"

But Percy is going to fight this one until he's been driven into the ground. "Probably," he says, looking her straight back in the eyes, his gaze unwavering. "After all, we all know I'm such a burden to have to deal with."

He sees a momentarily flash of guilt cross her face. It makes him feel a little more confident.

Piper puts down her fork. "Percy–"

"No, it's okay," he says. "I probably deserved that."

"Yeah," Thalia says. "You did."

"Not really, because an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind and all that jazz, but whatever, right," Grover mutters to himself. "Don't listen to me, oh no, just keep on fighting it out."

"We're not fighting," Percy says.

"You were."

"Not anymore. I'm here to apologise."

Thalia properly looks at him now. She's still cautious, which he knows he deserves, but he's adamant on making this right. "Oh?" she says.

"Yeah," he says. He stares at his muffin and considers using it as his distraction, to just pick it apart so he can only remember that and not the whole stress of actually apologizing, and then he realises that no, he deserves this. His punishment is going to be to suffer this out. "I– I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I–" He pauses. "I didn't mean it. Any of it. I was just– angry, and annoyed, and confused, and– and I'm so sorry." He looks up. "To all of you. I– I said some stuff I definitely shouldn't have. And I'm so, so, so sorry. I just, uh. Hope. You guys will take me back as a friend."

"You abandoned us as soon as you had something new and shinier to play with," Thalia says. "You can't just crawl back now that she's gone and expect us to forgive you."

"I broke up with her."

"We know," Piper says.

"You called us trash, Percy," Annabeth says softly, and Percy looks up at her. Her eyes are glitter-soft but they're hard with something else, a determination of sorts. Percy knows he's forgiven, at least to her, but he just needs to prove it. "What does that mean?"

Everyone shifts. This is the first time Annabeth's told them. Suddenly, he realises that maybe they don't know he and Annabeth ended badly.

"You're not," he says. "None of you. You are all so– so wonderful. And I don't deserve you. Any of you. I've– learnt some stuff, you know? And you aren't trash. We're all just different from each other. With Ali they were all the same. I think I like it better like this." He manages a weak smile, and he thinks that maybe his eyes are getting wet, but just a little. "I'm really sorry. For everything. I hope you guys can forgive me."

"You crying on us, bro?" Nico teases.

Bro.

"No," Percy says.

There's an arm around his shoulders. It's Annabeth. "It's okay," she says. "Welcome back."

"I'm not going to make this easy on you, Jackson," Thalia promises.

"I wouldn't have expected anything less," he says.

Thalia looks almost pleased at this. "Well, good." She picks up Piper's milkshake. "You ready?"

"Come on, I paid for that," Piper says.

Percy opens his arms wide. "Go for it."

"No, don't go for it," Piper says. "That cost valuable money–"

Thalia empties it all over his head. Everyone cheers, and Percy just laughs, not necessarily at the fact that he's just been covered in a milkshake and will now have to go the rest of the day smelling like sour cream, but the fact that he's back, and it was so, so much easier than he thought. Of course, he knows that it's not going to be that simple. There are inside jokes that he won't get, stories he won't know, and things are still going to be whacked out of alignment for a while, because you can't make up months in only a matter of seconds with a milkshake. And they're not going to let him get away with it so easily. He's going to have to earn their trust back.

But he's back, and that's all that matters at the moment. For the first time in months, he feels a genuine rush of happiness. He's going to be okay, he reckons.

It's only a matter of time.

Annabeth should have known. She thinks she was just so high off the idea of Percy being back, and not a million miles away in a different universe with a girl like a loaded gun, that she didn't pick up on the signs. Him looking at her, maybe a little too long. Being more affectionate, albeit slightly hesitantly. Lingering touches that Annabeth was never sure if she had imagined up.

It had never appealed to her, she supposes. She'd come to terms with her crush on Percy a while back, now, and the funny thing with crushes is sometimes they spin things out of proportion, so most of the stuff Percy had done had gone straight under the radar, because, like, as if was giving her those eyes in real life. It was probably some hope-fueled fantasy.

It would never happen, basically. He'd only just out of a tricky relationship with a girl he thought was his soulmate. And Annabeth knew this, still does. It's why she let those things go unnoticed, because if she hadn't she may have only broken her heart further.

Well. Until now.

They're both sitting on Percy's bed, doing homework, with a movie on in the background. Or rather, Annabeth is doing homework, and Percy is absently doodling along the margins in his binder, trying to pretend he's not watching the movie as much as he is.

Annabeth hums around the top of her pen. "You're not very subtle, you know."

"What?"

"In half an hour you've only done one question. Not even that."

"Sorry." Percy flops down on the bed. "It's just– you can't put Indiana Jones on and expect me not to watch."

"It's not even the good Indiana Jones movie," Annabeth says. "It's the Temple Of Doom. That's, like. Literally the worst one."

"That's your opinion," Percy says. "Here, what's the answer to eight?"

"You're only on eight? I'm on twenty-three, Percy!"

"Like I said," Percy says. "Indiana Jones provides as a great distraction. You could set this bedroom on fire and I wouldn't notice."

"That's slightly worrying."

He taps his pencil. "Eight?"

She sighs. "Prokaryotic cell. You're on your own for the rest, though."

"Yeah, all right."

It's almost jarring to have Percy back like this. She thinks they all felt the impact of him being gone – it wasn't like losing a limb or anything, because they're not that melodramatic (some will argue, but whatever), but his absence was notable. Annabeth could feel it in the way there was always a chair free, there was no longer a communal cookie dealer around, and in the way she would wake up and check her phone and there were no missed calls or texts from 3am about the life expectancy of moths. And now suddenly he's back, and it's weird, but it's also not, because he slotted so easily back in.

You can still see his absence sometimes, like a stain. It's there in the way Nico will reference something that Percy wasn't there to see, and how his laughter will be three seconds behind everyone's, and also in his speech, tell-tale signs of withdrawal from Xanax as he cuts back on, it the way sometimes he can't speak properly, and sometimes he comes into school with dark rings around his eyes, and how he's reaching over for something and then his hands start shaking so badly he can't do anything but frown until they stop.

Annabeth doesn't think Allison will ever know how badly she's affected him. The heartache is different, because she knows Percy fell severely out of love with her weeks before he broke it off. But he's three paces behind in their friendship, and he gets hand tremors and terrible headaches from his medication, and every time it happens Annabeth hates Allison just that bit more.

Percy insists it's fine, and that the symptoms should be fading within the next few weeks. Annabeth chooses to believe him.

They work in comfortable silence for the next ten minutes, the movie providing as soothing background noises. Annabeth is so deeply involved in her work she doesn't notice Percy staring at her, and, trying not to let her discomfort show, she says, "Quit it."

"Quit what?"

"You're staring at me."

"Oh. Sorry." Percy sounds genuinely apologetic. "It's just– you're wearing your hair curly more."

Annabeth arches an eyebrow, trying to hide how her stomach has suddenly erupted into butterflies. "You just noticed?"

"Don't be mean," he says. "It just looks nice."

"Are you saying I looked ugly with it straightened?"

"Of course not, you muppet. It's just nice to see you all natural and stuff."

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "You make no sense."

"You make no sense," Percy mumbles.

She has to roll her eyes again, because seriously.

Two minutes of silence pass again before:

"Annabeth?"

Annabeth looks up. Percy looks suddenly quite serious.

"Yeah?"

He tugs at one of his fingers. "Can– can I ask you something?"

He's going to ask you out. He's going to ask you out.

Oh my God, shut up.

"Sure," she says, trying and probably failing to look casual. "Hit me."

"You– have a soulmate Mark, right?"

Annabeth's heart almost stops in her chest.

"Uh," she says, her pulse fluttering all over her body. "Yeah?"

Her voice comes out as a squeak. She clears her throat.

"Cool," Percy says. He looks just as odd as her, like he already knew the answer. "Great."

"You're being weird, Percy," Annabeth says. Oh God, he knows, this is it. He's never going to look at her in the eyes ever again. He's going to get angry that she never told him, and then he's going to tell her that he doesn't feel the same, and then she's going to see her whole life flash before her eyes because she can't have this friendship ruined yet, not now. It's so fragile and she wants to keep it safe, and if he asks any more questions it's going to be over.

"Shut up, you're weird," Percy says, his voice kind of squeaky. "Um."

Annabeth raises an eyebrow. "Um?"

"What are the initials?"

He says it all in a rush, like he hopes that maybe if he says it quick enough she won't hear it. But she does, as clear as a bell. She just stares at him.

"What?"

"What are the initials on it?" he asks again. "Your soulmate Mark, I mean."

"Yeah, I got that," she says, a little too snippily. "Um. Just– initials, I guess. Why?"

"They're PJ, aren't they?"

That's the moment Annabeth's world grinds to a halt.

They both stare at each other. Percy looks winded, like he's just run a race, like he can't believe he just said that, and Annabeth can hear her heartbeat in her ears, can feel it in the pit of her stomach. This is it. She starts backing away, her throat already beginning to feel tight.

Rather she leaves then gets kicked out. It would hurt less.

"I'm so sorry," she says, her voice trembling. "I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

She stops. Percy still looks a little wild, but he doesn't look angry.

"What?"

"Why are you sorry?" He looks genuinely confused.

Annabeth shoves a hand into her hair. She almost wants to rip it out. "B–because! I lied to you! I've got your initials on my soulmate Mark and now you probably think every time I told you how crap Allison was I was just jealous and wanted you all to myself, which is– half true, I guess, but– wait, how the hell did you find out?"

Percy blinks. He looks a little overwhelmed, which isn't very fair because she's the one whose life is currently being torn to shreds, but then again she did just yell at him all the reasons why he should despise her, so maybe he does have an excuse. It takes him a few moments to answer, like he's still processing all her words. "Uh. Around?"

"What does that mean?" A thought hits her. "Oh God, Piper told you, didn't she?"

Percy looks panicked. "No! No, it wasn't Piper."

"Who was it? Thalia?"

"Drew?"

Annabeth almost screams. "Drew? How the–"

"Why didn't you tell me your soulmate Mark had my initials on it?"

She's still seething that somehow Drew Tanaka found out, but she supposes that's another conversation for a different day, so she slows her roll and takes a deep breath, trying to expel all her jitters and anger out. With it comes the prickling sensation of tears in her eyes, like every emotion she's felt today is coming out.

Percy sits on the bed, looking confused, upset, overwhelmed, and a little betrayed. Annabeth has to put on her big girl pants and face him. She's already caused this much panic. She can fix this.

She sighs again, and she can feel her voice waver. For God's sake, not now. "I– I don't know," she says, and her voice cracks a bit. "I– you were with Ali. I was going to, maybe, I don't know. But then you kept going on about how you'd found your soulmate, and– and you were so adamant about her, about how she– she was your soulmate. I thought maybe I'd got it wrong."

"But–" Percy pauses, like he's trying to process everything. "But you kept telling me Allison was wrong for me."

"That wasn't for me," she says. "Well, maybe a little. But Allison was bad, Percy. I knew that whatever was going on between you two wasn't going to end well. She'd hurt you. Maybe unintentionally, because maybe she really loved you, but she doesn't know how to treat people who aren't on her level. It was going to happen one way or another."

Percy presses his lips together. "If– if you had told me I wouldn't have gone with Allison."

"Yes you would," Annabeth says. "You were in love. And how was I meant to know? I thought if I said anything I'd come off jealous."

Percy exhales through his nose, something that could be interpreted as a laugh. He's still looking down at his knees. "So," he says. "You're my soulmate, then."

"Yeah."

"What do we do now, then?" He looks a bit funny. "Do we– kiss?"

"Well, of course not."

Percy looks affronted. "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we shouldn't kiss right now. Gosh, Percy, keep up."

"Why not?"

"Do you have feelings for me?"

"Of course I do."

Annabeth blinks. She was not expecting him to be so prompt. "What?"

He rolls his eyes. "Obviously I have feelings for you, Annabeth, I broke up with my girlfriend because you kissed me." He gives a funny little side-look, still watery and still tentative, but he's trying. "Gosh, Beth, keep up."

"I'll pluck your eyeballs out."

"Go on, I dare you."

Annabeth sets her shoulders back. "Well. Regardless. We still can't kiss now."

"I don't see why not."

"It's still very early on. We must wait until the time is right."

"Now seems pretty right to me."

"You just got out of a very bad relationship. It would be undiplomatic to force you into something you don't want to do."

"Okay, a, what does diplomacy have to do with anything, and b, I'm literally asking you to kiss me. That's not you forcing me. That's, like. Me forcing you, basically."

"We can't," Annabeth says. "We may enter ourselves into a relationship but we are not allowed to kiss. Not yet, anyway.

Percy stares at her. "What even are you?"

"Well, your soulmate, apparently, so you can't be rude to me. And I'm doing you a favour. You'll appreciate it soon." She brushes her skirt down. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll kindly ask you to stand up, you're wrinkling my homework."

Percy just keeps gawping at her.

Annabeth huffs. "What, Percy?"

"That's– that's it?"

"What does that mean?"

"We're– together now?"

"I mean. That's what I figured."

Percy blinks. "Just. Like that."

"I'd think so."

"Am I the first person you've done this with?"

"Keep up, Percy, we covered the whole 'Annabeth's never had friends' shebang a while ago."

"But now I'm not just your friend."

Involuntarily, Annabeth feels her face flame up. "Well. No."

Percy grins at her. "Oh, this is going to be excellent."

"You cannot use my lack of experience against me, Jackson, or I actually will pluck out your eyeballs."

Percy drapes himself dramatically against her. He wrinkles her homework even more but at this point Annabeth no longer even cares. "I'm your boooyyfrrrieeennddd," he trills. "And not just that, either. I'm your soulmate."

"Yes, yes, don't rub it in."

"I'll rub it in as much as I please." He sighs contentedly. "Oh, it finally feels like everything is falling into place. This is so wonderful."

"Has it not felt that way before?"

"Not really. I always wondered why it didn't really feel complete with Allison. I felt like a bad soulmate, in a way, because I was thinking about another girl and even when the relationship was good I still felt like something was missing." He smiles up at her. "Now I know why."

She smiles back at him, but something feels off. She hesitates, and then says, "Percy, are you okay?"

He frowns. "Yeah, 'course. Why? What's wrong?"

"It's just– you're taking this remarkably well. Almost too well."

He arranges himself so his head is cushioned in her lap. "What does that mean?"

"Considering you just got out of a pretty serious relationship with a girl you thought was your soulmate only to find out she wasn't and you had just let yourself be emotionally manipulated and toyed with for basically nothing and now you've just discovered that one of your best friends was lying to you for months and she's actually your soulmate – well, you're just very– calm about it, I suppose?"

"I mean, I guess." Percy stares thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "I–" He pauses. "The last few weeks with Allison – they were, like. I wasn't properly present, you know? I was numb. I didn't really feel much. Or maybe that was the Xanax, I don't know. Either way, I lived those weeks not all there, kind of? It felt like half of me was down here on earth, and the other half was somewhere else, in outer space. I spent a lot of time in my own head. There was lots of time to think. You learn to drown out the noise at parties, see. Find a bathroom, or a closet, and lock yourself in. Your own bubble. I thought a lot. I think I realized then that I wasn't in love with Allison. That she wasn't my soulmate. I must have known all along, but it was then that I really understood that this was just hurting me. In my head, I think, by the time I ended it with her, we were already over. I didn't feel much doing it."

Annabeth cards her fingers through his hair. He hums a little.

"You haven't said why you weren't surprised it was me," she says softly.

"That was the easy part, Beth. Ali always liked to accuse me of cheating on her with you. Drew Tanaka mentioned it sometimes, too. People expected us to get together, did you know that?"

"It doesn't surprise me."

"Yeah, me neither. At the beginning it did, because we're very different, but you're a good kind of different, you know? Kind of like Ali, but with those foam corner protectors."

"That's the biggest insult you've ever given me."

"You're also much prettier and smarter and your hair is shinier and you're much more pleasurable to be around."

"Better."

He laughs a little. "I had a crush on you forever, too."

"Did you really?"

"Of course I did. You were unattainable and mysterious and one of the only people on my level of wit and humour."

"You've just offended almost all of our friends."

"They can deal. We were best friends and I loved you for it. When me and Ali got together I was so scared at what it meant. I did research, you know. To check if it was normal to have a crush on someone who wasn't your soulmate. All the websites said it was totally normal, and it would just fade. But it didn't fade. I just kind of pegged it down to me missing you."

Annabeth smiles wryly.

"I kept thinking about you, whenever I was with her. We'd be talking and she'd say something and I'd be like oh, Annabeth would say something like that, or I'd see someone with blonde hair and be like, oh, Annabeth has blonde hair, and I hated myself for it, because I thought I was being, like. Disloyal."

"As if you could ever be disloyal."

"If Allison really was my soulmate then I would have."

"But if she really was your soulmate then you wouldn't be here right now telling me how much you love me," Annabeth says. "Would you?"

Percy rolls his eyes fondly. "No."

She thumbs a piece of his fringe off his forehead. "Well, there you go."

He beams up at her contentedly. "Can I kiss you now?"

"No."

"Aw, come on. What's a guy got to do?"

"Soon," Annabeth promises. When Percy still looks grumpy, she laces their fingers together, revels in the fact that she can do that now, and gives his hand a quick kiss. "One day we'll both look at each other and we'll know, and then we'll kiss and it will be perfect and so worth the wait. I'm not going to rush you into anything, Percy. You say you're ready but you're not. Our first proper kiss that isn't fueled with anger and frustration will be simply wonderful."

Percy sighs, but he's smiling. "You certainly keep a guy on his toes."

"I try," Annabeth says. "Now, actually get off my homework, you're properly ruining it."

"Percy, my man!" Grover cheers as Percy sits down. "I have some news for you."

"So do I," Thalia says, swooping out of nowhere and taking her seat opposite them. She smiles at them innocently, sucking the straw of her Coke into her mouth. "No one cares about anything you ever have to say."

"Lovely to see you too," Grover says. "Cheerful as always."

Thalia preens.

"No, but this is serious," he says. "Percy. Are you ready?"

Percy pauses. "Uh. I think so?"

"Good. Prepare." Grover sucks in a deep, dramatic breath. "The news about you and Ali's split broke today."

Percy frowns. "Oh, God, what did she say?"

"It's quite bad," Grover says. "Apparently you cheated on her with Annabeth."

"Believable," Thalia says. "Do you think we should take a stand?"

"No," Percy says. "I don't mind."

"Really?" Grover asks, concerned. "Percy, this isn't very good. Your social life is going to be permanently destroyed."

"I never really had one to begin with," Percy says. "And the only people I care about are you guys, who know the truth, so that's all that matters to me."

Thalia smirks at him. "That's really cheesy."

"It's true."

"Aw," Grover says. "Well, I love you too, bro."

Jason, Nico and Piper appear behind him. "Hey!" Piper says. "Did we miss anything?"

"Not really," Thalia says, sipping her drink. "Just the downfall of Percy's social life."

"Right, so nothing unusual," Piper says, taking a seat. Jason takes the one next to her, and Nico plops down next to Grover. "How are you dealing with this, Percy?"

"Well," he says. "I don't really care."

"That's the spirit," Jason says. "Besides, it's just Allison Cooper. I'm sure your social life isn't totally over."

"Oh, but it is," Thalia says. "Down in flames. Destroyed. Crumpled to pieces, practically. Allison has the school at her fingertips. Percy is dead meat."

"Gee, thanks," Percy grumbles.

"You are so welcome. But the good news is, is that we're really the only people Percy needs in his life, because we're the only people who could ever possibly live up to his expectations, seeing as we set them so high, obviously."

"Obviously," Grover says.

"So it's not completely over," Thalia says. "Not to the people who matter."

"Exactly," Piper says.

"Besides," Jason says. "I have some good connections. If you ever want to go to another party just hit me up."

"As generous and attractive that offer is, I'll pass," Percy says.

"Good lad," Thalia says. "Parties were never a good look on you."

"Have you ever been to a party before, Thalia?" Grover asks.

"Of course not, look at me. But I have more social capability in my finger then Percy does in his entire body, so if I couldn't survive I'm not exactly sure why you ever thought you could, either."

"It wasn't exactly optional."

"Excuses, excuses."

"Hey, where's Annabeth?" Nico asks suddenly, and Percy is just about to frown, because oh yeah, where is she, until he feels a hand slide across his shoulders.

"I'm here," Annabeth says, dropping herself into the chair next to him. "Sorry, Miss Wyatt kept me after class to talk to me."

Percy throws his arm around her shoulders, and presses a short kiss to her temple. "S'alright. You're here now, anyway."

"Precisely," Annabeth says.

There is complete silence.

Percy raises his eyebrows. "What?"

Grover waves his finger, almost confusedly. "You– two are– you're an item?"

"Well, yeah," Percy says.

Piper looks furious. "Since when?"

"Oh dear," Nico says. "We've woken Godzilla."

"Yesterday," Annabeth says. "Percy went down on one knee and confessed his feelings."

"That's not how it happened at all."

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Piper squawks, her voice going very high-pitched.

"Calm down, McLean," Thalia says. "You'll burst a vein."
"I'll burst you! Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"Our life doesn't revolve around you," Percy says, for no other reason then to get a rise out of her.

"Hey, don't provoke her," Jason says. "Piper, breathe."

"I'm very cross at you," Piper says. "Both of you. How could you not tell me? We've had loads of classes together today! There were plenty of opportunities!"

"Just never came up, I guess."

Piper huffs. "This is the yellow Mark situation all over again."

Percy groans and Annabeth bursts out laughing.

"I love inside jokes I'm not part of," Grover says.

"Percy's Mark turned yellow before Piper's did," Jason explains. "Piper was a little– peeved about it. Still is, apparently."

"I'm not still peeved," Piper says. "I've grown up. Matured."

"In what ways?" Thalia mutters.

"Like a bad curry," Nico says, and Thalia snorts and high-fives him.

Piper ignores them. "Well, in any case," she says. "I'm very pleased for both of you. Although I am still a little irritated that you didn't tell me."

"It happened yesterday, Piper," Annabeth says, trying to hide her fondness.

"Yeah, Piper," Thalia says. "Besides, they've, like, been practically dating since they first became friends. You should have just assumed they were an item the moment they started wandering around together. That's what I did. This is no surprise."

Piper just huffs. "Whatever."

"What she means to say," Jason says, "is that we're both very happy for you. Congratulations. You both deserve this."

"I'll say," Nico says, with a mouthful of guacamole. "You both put us through Hell and back with his soulmate Mark nonsense. You divided our ranks! It was quite Spartan. The least we deserve is for you to stay together forever."

"Let's hope so," Percy says. "I've had quite enough madness for one year." He squeezes her shoulder. "You and me against the world, then, huh?"

"Oh." Annabeth pulls a face. "About that."

Percy's smile starts to slip away. "What?"

Annabeth puts a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know how to break this to you, Percy, but– I've got a new soulmate Mark."

There is complete silence.

And then: "that was a joke, by the way," Annabeth says. "I–I don't actually have a new Mark. You can laugh."

Nico dramatically collapses against the table. "My heart!"

"You had me worried there," Percy admits.

"Too soon, Chase," Thalia says. "Too soon. We're all still sore."

Annabeth scowls at them. "You babies."

"It was a traumatic time for all of us," Nico says seriously. "I trust that you respect that."

"Just you wait," Annabeth grumbles. "One day I'll get a new soulmate Mark to spite you all."

Percy laughs, and, despite herself, Piper does, too. He's never felt so content with anything before in his life. He's got Annabeth tucked under his arm and her initials on his wrist, and he's got his friends absently chucking gummy worms at each other across the table, and through the windows of the cafeteria the sun is beginning to shine a little, too, the first bit of sun they've had in a while.

Everything is going to be okay. He just knows it.

It's a Saturday when Percy shows up randomly at Annabeth's bedroom door.

She props herself up on her elbows from her bed. "Hey," she says. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking you out," he says.

"What? Where? And why didn't you tell me about it before? I haven't even showered yet!"

"Well, then, drama queen, shower, and we'll go."

"Where?"

"That's a surprise."

Annabeth just rolls her eyes and climbs gracelessly off her bed. "Give me ten minutes."

She quickly scrubs herself down in the shower, getting off all the grease of yesterday (she and Piper had decided it would be a smart idea to watch all of the rom-coms Netflix had to offer in one day, and they had ended the day in their forth bag of family-sized Doritos, covered in popcorn grease and body odour from not having showered) as fast as she can. She dries off then wriggles into her nicest summer dress, and then steps out of the bathroom. "I'm ready."

"God, you took years." Percy grins at her. "Can we leave now?"

"If you keep that up I won't come."

"And what a shame that would be." He takes her hand. "Come on, let's go."

He doesn't tell her where they're going. Annabeth allows herself to be dragged outside. It's a nice day, with sunshine and blue skies, and she marvels at it as he leads her down the road. Normally Annabeth is quite impatient with things like this – she likes knowing when and where she's going, and she likes being in control. She rather hates surprises. But she's just so in awe of the beautiful weather and the fact that it's Percy taking her out she barely even complains once.

("For the sixteenth time, Beth, I'm not saying."

"I'm your soulmate! You have to tell me things!")

They turn down a few streets, and the glamourous mansions gradually morph into ordinary suburbs, so similar to Annabeth's old home that she almost feels a sense of familiarity. Annabeth smiles fondly as Percy leads her past gardens and picket fences, remembering what it was like to live in a place like this. Living with Piper is quite crazy, because everything is amplified. Small rose garden here? They've got almost an acre of land for rose farming. Brass doorknobs? They've got a solid gold bell.

An actual solid gold bell.

It's almost relieving to walk past these places now. If Annabeth spent any more time living in a place like that without any more glances of places like this she might just scream. She's not sure how Piper does it, frankly.

Eventually, it does get the best of her, and she squeezes his hand so he looks at her.

"Honestly, Percy," Annabeth says. "Where are we going?"

Percy stops, so she does, too. He takes both of her hands. "I recently ended a relationship because us being together wasn't good for me," he says softly. "I think it's time you fix one up."

Annabeth furrows her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

They start walking again. "Piper told me," he says. "About– about your parents. About what they were really like."

It begins to dawn on Annabeth. "Percy, no..."

"I grew up without my dad, Annabeth," he says. "I don't want you to do the same."

Annabeth suddenly realises why everything was beginning to look familiar. This was her old neighbourhood. There are all the houses she recognises, some kids skateboarding further down the street she knows from when she was little and everyone still threw housewarming parties, and, only a maybe thirty-second walk away, is her old house.

Her dad is probably in there right now. Camped out in the basement, surrounded by his aeroplane models and a crappy lamp that Annabeth used to change the lightbulbs of because he'd be so focused he wouldn't notice when they'd blow. And they'd blow often. He kept them on twenty-four seven, because the basement was all he was when he wasn't out.

Annabeth can't move. She hasn't been here in almost a year.

"I–" she stammers.

Percy smiles, a little awkwardly. "It's okay."

"Does– does he know? That we're here?"

"Piper called. Said we were coming to pick up more stuff. He doesn't know that you're coming, though."

Annabeth can only stare.

It's the house she was born in, the house she grew up in. It grew toxic because of her mother, and then she hightailed it out of there, and then it kind of went back to normal, but there were big gaping holes everywhere that they couldn't fix. Frederick didn't know how to be a dad and Annabeth didn't know how to love people, so he locked himself downstairs and she locked herself upstairs and they only saw each other in passing. But he tried, and that's what stopped Annabeth from leaving to California, because whenever they did see each other, he would reach out, squeeze her shoulder, comment awkwardly on how nice she looked in her dress, offer to paint her nails, and did, clumsily, pull one of her curls and marvel at how long her hair was growing. She would come home late and there would be a plate of pasta waiting on the side, and when she first got her period she sat and cried and Frederick avoided her like the plague until there was a quiet knock at her bedroom door and when she opened it he was there, with armfuls of pads and tampons, in all shapes and scents and sizes, and he said, "I didn't know what to get, there was just so many options."

Athena was rotten, and Annabeth will never change that opinion. And she doesn't regret moving out, because she's gained more yellow Marks in one year then she has her whole life, and she found her soulmate, and she's happy.

But Frederick made her who she was. Awkwardly, and clumsily, and a little unsurely, but he did.

It's an old house with an old man sitting inside it, and it's her old life, and she wants it back.

Annabeth takes a deep breath. "I can do this."

"Are you sure?" Percy says.

She exhales, a little shakily. "As I'll ever be."

Together, they walk up to the front door. It's still as Annabeth remembered. Nothing has changed. There are still ghostly chalk drawings on the porch and a row of pots with shrivelled plants, hanging dead, in them, that have always been there, because Athena was the gardener of them all, and when she left neither of them cared enough to clear them out.

Setting her shoulders back, Annabeth raps on the door.

"Coming!" a voice calls from behind it, and Annabeth's heart constricts, because that's her dad. "Sorry, sorry, I'll be there soon."

"Clearly your impeccable manners came from your dad," Percy says.

"Shut up."

The door flings open, and suddenly there he is. He's wearing faded corduroys and a shirt that's been haphazardly and also very wrongly buttoned up, and also a pair of glasses, and he looks just a little bit older, with a few more lines in his face, but that's all that's changed. He's still the same. The house behind him is still the same.

Annabeth is the only thing that's different. But maybe that's a good thing.

Frederick is silent for a few moments. He just stands there, blinking, like he can't quite believe what he's seeing. Finally, he opens his mouth. "Annabeth?" he asks, his voice a little shaky.

Annabeth manages a smile. "Hey, Dad."

"Oh, Annabeth." And then his arms are reaching out and engulfing her in a hug, and at first she tenses up because she doesn't think her dad has ever hugged her before, but then she sees Percy in the reflection of the windows, with his hands in his pockets, smiling awkwardly at her back, and relaxes, and hugs him back.

This is probably the only time they'll ever do this again. Annabeth should savour it while she can.

"Oh, Annabeth," Frederick says again, his voice thick. "I thought– I thought I'd never see you again. Are you okay? How have you been? Oh, my dear, you've changed, you're so beautiful."

Annabeth gives him a small smile. "I'm okay. I've been living with Piper."

"Yes, Piper! She talked to me on the phone, said she was coming to pick up some of your old stuff." His eyes well with tears again. Annabeth is a little taken aback, because she's never seen him express so much emotion before, but it's a time for firsts, she supposes. "Annabeth, I'm– so, so sorry, for how we left thigs. Your mother..."

"She's not worthy of us," Annabeth says. "She's as much my mother as she is a cantaloupe."

Percy snorts.

"But," Annabeth continues, taking her dad's hands. "You– you're my dad. And you're a good dad."

Frederick straightens. "Are you coming home?" he whispers hopefully.

Annabeth hesitates. She hadn't thought that far ahead. She meets Percy's eyes and he just shrugs, and she expected just as much, because it's her decision. And truthfully, she's torn. Athena's gone, hopefully forever. Frederick wants her back, and this is the house she grew up in.

Then again, Piper's house has become a home, too. Aphrodite is vacant but she's loving, and gives Annabeth a big hug and kiss whenever she sees her, and she buys her whatever she wants, and one day she walked in and found Annabeth frowning at herself in the mirror because was trying to let her hair go natural but years of constant ironing had killed the curl and now it was just a big frizzy mess, and she had come in with some mousse and a hair diffuser and patiently taught her how to use them.

It's senior year. Annabeth has found her soulmate, and made some of the best friends she's ever had. And they all still have bumps, because Percy had to get Piper to talk to Frederick over the phone, and Annabeth still despises most of the school's population, but they're getting there.

"No," she says. "I love you, and I'll visit as much as I can, but– but Piper's is my home now, too. You're still my dad, and I love you so much. You've made me who I am."

"I made you who you were," Frederick corrects. "You've made you who you are now. And I understand." He turns to Percy. "You– you take good care of her, you hear me?"

Percy grins, bashfully, and ducks his head. "Yes, sir," he says to Frederick's right eyebrow.

"Good." Frederick gives Annabeth a smile, weathered and tired, but a smile. "You– visit me, okay? Don't forget about your old man."

"I won't," Annabeth says. "I promise."

They don't hug again. Instead, they both just nod at each other.

"You're a brave girl, Annabeth," Frederick says. "Remember that."

Annabeth feels a lump form in her throat. She swallows it down determinedly and nods again.

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Dad."

And then that's it.

"Do you feel better?" Percy asks as they walk back down the street. "I mean, you don't hate me or anything, right?"

Annabeth laughs. "Why would I hate you?"

"It's, like. An anxiety thing. You technically didn't ask to come here, or agree to, either. And in order for me to feel relaxed about doing something it needs to have been agreed to at least eight times."

Annabeth rolls her eyes and kisses his cheek. "It was fine, Percy."

"Well." He looks very pleased with himself. "It pays to be spontaneous, then."

"Sometimes. You need to warn me in hindsight if we're doing something, though. I don't like you seeing me before I've showered. I look all grotty and everything."

"You? Grotty? Never! I've never been more attracted to you then I was when I walked into your bedroom this morning and I saw you covered in zit cream and smeared makeup with greasy hair."

Annabeth scowls at him. "You suck."

"I quite disagree, but whatever." He grabs her hand and swings it, almost childishly. Annabeth has to resist the urge roll her eyes. "This is nice."

"Holding hands?"

"Us. Together. Just chilling."

"That's generally what people do."

He knocks his hip against hers. "Don't be difficult, I'm trying to have a moment."

"Oh, sorry. Do continue to woo me."

"Thanks." They walk in silence for a few moments longer. Annabeth feels like she's in a dream. Everything is soft-coloured and the sun is pleasant and she knows she looks great in her sundress, too. "Who'd have thought it'd come to this, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Only a year ago I was terrified of you, and you were queen of the school. You and Piper despised each other, you had no friends and my life was generally the same, just minus you. Now we're dating. Not even that, we're soulmates. Soulmates, Annabeth. You and Piper are best friends and we all love each other, like one big polyamorous family."

"Don't ever use that term ever again."

Percy grins down at her. "I don't know about you, Beth, but I think this has been one of the best years of my life."

"Despite all the Allison drama?"

"Are you kidding? Especially because of the Allison drama. She was pretty awful and I regret most of the things I did but I learnt lots and lots, and now I think I love you all just that little bit more, because with her I learnt just how easy it is to despise your friends. And I don't want to ever, ever have that with any of you."

Annabeth lets go of Percy's hand, taking his wrist instead. She turns it around, so you can see the red AC inked right on his vein.

"I mean, look at us, Annabeth," he says, and she looks up at him. "We're, like. Unstoppable."

She thumbs over her Mark. "Yeah."

"This whole soulmate sham is a bit frustrating at times," Percy tells her. "And we know firsthand just how much chaos it can cause. And who knows? Maybe we'll stay together forever, or maybe we'll break up next year. But for now, I think we're infinite."

Annabeth smiles up at him. "I love you a lot, you know that?"

"I love you too, Beth."

They take each other's hands and set back home. The sun shines down on them from the tops of the roofs.

Finally, everything is perfect.

A/N and then a meteorite hit and they all died the end

kidding kidding they got their happily ever after

first off - thank you to absolutely EVERYONE who reviewed last chapter! it means the world to me that all of you liked this so much, and im so very glad that you were kind of hyped for this chapter. and thus this concludes the end of my soulmate au and WHAT a journey may i say

please tell me what you thought pals! thanks for reading so much of this all in one go haha x

notes:

- marks appear every time you look someone in the eyes.

- marks fade if you haven't had contact with the person for over a year. for example, you see your grandma, so her mark comes up blue. then you don't see her for two years. her mark fades.

- each mark has initials marked into them of the person they belong to.

- each mark is also absolutely tiny because as i was writing this i realised some people would have absolutely millions upon millions of marks but shhahHHH whatever

- they appear everywhere except the soles of your feet, the palms of your hands, your private parts and your face.

- marks are completely normal. it's as normal as someone having a nose. that's why percy was looked at a little weirdly, because he literally only has six. it's as severe as someone in our universe thing missing an eyeball or limb.

- percy also suffers with extreme social anxiety, which is why he finds it so difficult to make friends and talk to people on transport.

also:

- percy and annabeth's first kiss was on a picnic they had with all their friends. they were eating sandwiches and drinking lemonade and percy looked over and their eyes met and they knew that then was the moment they wanted to share their first kiss. thalia sprinkled crisps in their hair and nico screamed a lot.

thanks again for reading x