I AM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE /sobs/

HERE YES OKAY MORE UPDATES SOON I PROMISE

pls accept my apologies in the form of fluff -Banna

It'd been about two months since Annabeth had read to him the first time Percy woke from his coma. Since then, the two had been finding themselves together a lot more than usual. Sometimes, after class, Annabeth would come and read to him again, bringing different books and stories. Other days, they would watch television or movies, Percy respectively sitting in his bed, and Annabeth in the chair. They'd sometimes go for walks around the hospital, Annabeth filling in blanks of Percy's knowledge of the time he was…away.

He was incredibly grateful. Not because she seemed to make him happier than normal when she was around. But because he never really had a friend before. Sure, he had Grover, but he felt more like a brother to Percy than his friend. They'd always known each other. But Percy was always so socially inept. But talking to Annabeth just felt so easy, like he'd known her for so long.

Percy tried really hard to separate his memories as a demigod from his real life, but it's easier said than done. In his alternate universe, Annabeth was the girl he fell in love with. He sometimes had to suppress the urge to touch her, or to not smile at her dumbly whenever she bickered back to him, or even to kiss her soft, pink lips. To her, Percy was really just a patient in a hospital she met. To him, Annabeth was so much more.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Percy and Annabeth were walking through the part of the hospital that had paintings and photographs hung up on a wall. It reminded Percy of a gallery in a museum, and it was the only part of the hospital that didn't feel like the actual hospital. Percy now used a cane to get around, his legs still weak and stiff from all the years of immobility. It was a step up from his walker, that was for sure.

"Sharks aren't actually killer creatures, Percy." You could practically hear her eyes roll in Annabeth's voice.

"Bullshit! When have you ever heard of a friendly shark? They are death traps." he said, making their way to a bench that sat facing the wall of artwork.

"They're not predatory. Only when they feel endangered."

"That's not what I saw on Sharknado ."

"Yes, because a film that put sharks in tornados has really gotten all their facts together." This time, she really did roll her eyes, taking a seat next to Percy. They sat in silence for a while, staring at the photos in the wall in front of him. The art had no real connection to anything, and seemed quite random, but that's kind of exactly why Percy liked it. It was calm chaos.

A few minutes passed, when Annabeth spoke.

"Percy?" she said, her voice quiet and nervous that made Percy's brows draw in concern to look at her. She was looking at her lap.

"I was researching…about comatose patients and, well…" she was muttering. Percy moved his head to look at her eyes, forcing her to look at him. "Yeah, and?" he said with a small laugh, trying to ease her tension.

"I read that sometimes comatose patients have really vivid dreams, and that's why they don't wake up. They think their dreams are a reality." she started, and Percy sat back against the bench. His mind flashed to Camp Half-Blood, and the world of mythology he thought was real. He never really talked about it with anyone besides Dr. Bruner, but something compelled him to talk to Annabeth. He wanted to tell her everything about everything. He nodded.

"Yeah, that's it was kind of like for me." he said.

Her eyes lit up. "Tell me about it."

Percy let out an exasperate sigh, and let his mind think. Turning to her, he gave her a pleading look.

"You have to promise not to make fun of me."

"I won't."

He held out his hand. "Pinky promise."

Annabeth looked at him, to his extended had, and then back to him. Realizing he was serious, sighed and hooked her pinky with his. "I promise."

Percy smiled his incredibly goofy smile and brought their hands up to his mouth, kissing his thumb.

Annabeth stared in horror.

"Why did you just do that?" she asked.

"It's how you pinky promise. You have to do it."

"No way. No."

"Fine, I won't tell you my story." He teased in a tuned voice, a wicked smile growing.

"I hate your smile." She mumbled under her breath, and quickly brought their hands to her to kiss her hand. "There."

It was a moment before they moved their hands from each other, and Percy's every-glowing smile faded away.

He told her everything: about the camp, about the timespan, how real it felt. And even how everyone from the hospital seemed to find their way into his dreams.

"So…was I in your dream?" she asked quietly. Percy felt so vulnerable, looking at her. He nodded. "Yeah, you were." He said, and contemplated saying the next part. "We, we were kind of in love."

He'd never seen her eyes grown so wide. "What?!" she asked.

"Don't take it so offensively, geez. You kissed me first."

To Percy's surprise, Annabeth did something he didn't expect: she was laughing. If she had been laughing about something else, Percy might have fallen in love right there and then; the way her eyes crinkled at the sides, and how she would cover he mouth with her hand to keep from making noise. "You said you weren't going to make fun of me." He huffed, looking away from her.

"No! No, I'm not. I'm not making fun of you, I swear." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's just, it's…" she looked dazed, and then shook her head, frowning. "It's nothing. I'm sorry."

It was quite for a beat, the tension between them thick and heavy. He looked at he through the corner of his eye, the way her hair was formed in a messy bun, but somehow looking so perfect as it sat on the top of her head. Her eyes were a clear color of grey, blue tinting the edges. The thing about her eyes, that Percy noticed, was that they were never one color. They seemed to turn to a different shade of grey every time he looked at them. She blinked, and Percy realized that he was staring at her, in complete daze. He quickly looked away, back at the wall.

Silence. And then, "What was dream Annabeth like?" She asked, so quietly he almost missed it. But he could feel the smile tugging at his lips as he turned on the bench to face her.

"A lot like you, actually. Same personality, same brute and rude attitude." he teased, and Annabeth punched him in the arm. Like, a real punch. He would have appreciated her not holding back if he hadn't been the target. He brought his hand up to his shoulder. "Good thing I'm already at the hospital." He muttered, expecting her to laugh. But she was looking at her lap, like she was upset. And something tugged in Percy's chest, making him want to make sure she never looked like that again.

"She was incredibly caring and sincere when she didn't even know it, kind of like you. And she crazy intelligent," he said. "Wise. Just like you."

Annabeth had looked up from her lap, staring up with her lips slightly parted, a string of colors flooding her eyes. "So," she said, chewing at her bottom lip. "Does that mean you like me, too?"

It didn't sound like a plea. It sounded more like it was a question she just wanted the answer to. And it was strangely familiar. Familiar as in, the girl he'd been in love with in his head. Percy thought back to what Dr. Bruner said when he asked him about mixing his dream with reality. He had told him that his feelings were pure, apart from the life he'd imagined the past few years. And though he may have loved the daughter of Athena, he liked regular Annabeth just the same. Because, in a way, she was the same.

Percy didn't remember exactly when he started to lean toward her, but their lips pressed together were the result of that. He expected Annabeth to retreat immediately, but when he felt her lips separate slightly against his, he realized that this might be something she wanted to.

His hand had slipped in her hair, his thumb brushing at her cheek to keep her close to him as they kissed warm, soft, and innocent. It wasn't a kiss searching for heat or depth. It was itself, just a kiss.

He pulled back a few moments later, hand retreating back to his own lap, and Annabeth's eyes had become stormy, with specks of green and blue all around.

"We should head back to the rehab ward before my mom gets here and causes a scene at my empty room," he said, heaving himself up from the bench, cane in hand. He looked down at Annabeth, still sitting down, her lips parted and her face blank. Percy rolled his eyes.

"I hope you aren't going to keep making that face whenever I kiss you. It's a real turn-off."

She blinked twice, and gave him a scoff, her face flooding with rage as her cheeks tinted pink. She stood up abruptly, crossing her arms. Percy flashed her a shit-eating grin.

"That's the Annabeth I know. " He turned around, walking back down the hall, his pace slower than average because of his cane. "Come on, wise girl."

She followed.