A/N: Raise your hand if you too use writing as a coping mechanism, anywho here's a little one-shot to help deal with my quarantine problems :)

Annabeth sighed, turning over in her bed again, flipping her pillow for hopefully the last time as she glared at the clock obnoxiously lit up reading 5:23 am. She adjusted once more and stared at the ceiling. She was home for winter break - well kind of home, her dad and step-mom had invited her to join the family on their ski trip. She was somewhat regretting saying yes now. It had been fun for the first few days until a huge unexpected snowstorm hit the mountains, now the small cabin they were staying in only a 30-minute drive from the ski slopes was barricaded in. The rangers and police had told them to hang tight but it would likely take a week for them to clear the snow on the roads before they could even think about starting to clear the personal driveways.

While things between her and her dad, step-mom, and step-brothers were definitely better being stuck with them in the house had quickly started to drive her crazy, Annabeth found herself spending most of her time in her small room with very little to do which she was especially not fond of.

She was also regretting telling Percy he didn't need to come. He had offered as soon as she was given the invitation. But she had told him that he should spend the break with his family, he didn't see his mom nearly enough as it was and Annabeth knew he would miss out on spending time with little Estelle, she knew how much he loved being a big brother. Besides, after the whole "Hera kidnapping him for 7 months to save the world" last year, they had hardly spent any time apart for more than a few days, a little bit of separation never hurt anyone.

Or so she had thought, now it was hurting her very much. Now, Annabeth had never felt so alone. She rubbed at her eyes and was unsurprised to feel tears there as she pulled her hand away.

Ever since falling into Tartarus with Percy, (or more aptly, after dragging Percy into Tartarus with her,), she had developed a fear of being alone. She shuddered as she remembered being blind and walking around aimlessly searching and calling out for Percy who was always just out of reach.

Annabeth turned again and grabbed at her pillow hugging it close to her stomach as she curled into the fetal position, trying to stop the sobs from wracking her body.

She knew it was completely illogical, she had friends who loved her very much and any of them would be here for her right now if they could be but that didn't feel real to her. She rubbed her thumb over her wrist, it had been a while since she had felt this bad, this broken. She looked to where her dagger sat on her bedside table. The last time she felt like this crushed had been only a few nights before she finally decided to run away.

Once she had learned that she was a demigod Annabeth had assumed she'd die young, it was almost easier to fight when you expected you could die at any time, but now she was with Percy studying in New Rome they had a life and a future planned out. And that terrified her too. The thought that after all these years this terrible weight suffocating her could come back and she would have to live with it for a long, long life, was terrifying.

She knew it was a illogical which, as a child of Athena, only made the fear so much worse. Monsters and evil gods she could understand being afraid of those made sense, magic crushing her insides and making it hard for her to breathe or think straight that made sense. This, this feeling, was nothing really and yet it was also everything. She knew she had friends, she knew she hadn't dragged Percy into Tartruus with her, she even knew that if she tried to interact with them a little more her family would be welcoming. But knowing all that didn't help the voice in the back of her head telling her it was all a lie, that she wasn't good enough.

A small, very, very small part of her almost wished she could blame Gaea, the goddess reawakening so soon after being so hard to defeat was somehow close to being less scary then this just being a problem in her own head, one that she couldn't solve.

Demigods didn't usually keep phones on them for a plethora of reasons but because they were all going to be far away for winter break and Iris messages got pretty pricey, she sprung for a cheap flip phone and most of her friends had too.

Annabeth scrolled through her contacts, she just needed someone to talk to, to confirm that she wasn't alone. Someone to talk to and distract her and ideally put her to sleep, she cringed as she checked the time 5:57 am, none of her friends would be awake now and she wasn't even sure about different time zones any of them might be in.

Still, she knew this was the most logical way to solve this particular problem so she kept looking. Percy was the obvious choice to call but something held her back. She let the select bar hover over Piper's name, maybe charmspeak would work over the phone? Maybe she should call Frank, for some reason that guy always managed to be a comforting presence.

No, she scrolled back up to Percy, logically she knew he wouldn't be annoyed at her for calling at such a weird time, and that he would answer as soon as he saw it was her calling.

The last time she had, had a panic attack this bad was long before she knew Percy, and sure they had been through thick and thin together she still hated feeling weak in front of him even though she knew it made no sense.

Without letting herself overthink it more - uncommon for a daughter of Athena - she clicked the call now button. Immediately she felt the knot in her stomach tighten, she almost hung up but he picked up right before she could.

"Hey, babe what's up?" his voice sounded muffled and husky as it traveled through the phone.

"Sorry I didn't want to wake you," Annabeth tried to hide her sniffles but knew she'd been unsuccessful as she heard him sit up on the other end of the line, "you can go back to sleep." she hung up the phone feeling weak and stupid, sobs wracking her body once more.

It took less than a second for the phone screen to light up again, it made her feel a little better, helped disprove some of the fears her brain was shouting at her, that he would call back so quickly without a second thought. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down a little (to no avail) before answering.

"Annabeth what's wrong?" Percy's voice was soft, soothing and filled with a longing to comfort her that made the pressure suffocating her lighten if only a little.

"I just-" she didn't know how to explain - also strange for a child of Athena, "How are you?" she settled on asking him instead.

She could hear him sigh through the phone, could imagine him brushing his hair back from his face, wanting to get to the bottom of why she was crying. But she knew he would play along with her for a little bit at least and she loved him all the more for understanding.

"So yesterday Estelle got into the crayons and drew all over the walls."

Annabeth nodded, her breathing starting to even out, she realized he couldn't see her and said "What did Sally and Paul do?" she cursed the way her voice still cracked.

Percy chuckled, the sound sending a pleasant and much-needed warmth through her. "Well, she managed to make a snack out of a few of them so they were to busy worrying about that to really care about the mess."

"Will she be okay?" Annabeth asked, more because she wanted to continue the conversation than anything else, she guessed that if Percy had laughed that meant Estelle was fine.

"Yeah, they were Crayola non-toxic for this exact reason but she scared us all for a little bit. Maybe she'll have blue poop now though, that'd be interesting."

Annabeth couldn't help the small snort she let out at the thought, already feeling so much better from just the small conversation.

"Annabeth…" Percy started carefully, his voice once again soft and filled with care.

She waited for him to continue.

"What was wrong, why were you crying? Did something happen with your family?"

"No, well no that's not what's wrong." She chewed her lip trying to figure out how to explain what had made her cry, the frustration of not knowing how almost making her tear up again, some child of Athena she was, sure she could save an ancient statue from spider monster but talk about her feelings? Way too advanced for her. There wasn't really anything wrong and yet there obviously was something wrong. There was no logic to it.

"I just…" She took a deep breath. "Needed to hear a friendly voice." That wasn't a good answer but she hoped it would do for now.

There was a beat.

"Okay well then you called the right person. I'm the friendliest guy around."

"Sure seaweed brain whatever you say." She shook her head with a small smile, readjusting her pillows and settling back into bed.

"Do you want me to keep talking?" he asked after the shuffling on her end died down.

She smiled even more, gods she had the most perfect boyfriend. Without fully understanding the situation he knew just how to help.

"If you don't mind," she yawned, "and Percy… please don't hang up on me."

"Never wise girl."

She could feel the fondness in his voice settle over her like a warm blanket. She fell asleep listing to his voice and even managed to stay asleep as he left his phone on as he took went through his normal day. And it was the best sleep she had, had in weeks.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! This was my first time writing Percy and Annabeth so hope you liked my characterization of them! Please like and comment, I'm sure we could all use the social interaction lol.

*And also if you need someone to talk to for boredom or anything else my inbox is always open*

You can find me on justanotherurl-not

(or if ao3 has a dm option that idk about you can use that or whatever if you wanna talk :) )