mild hoh spoilers. percy annabeth fluff don't you love eeet

disclaimer: i ain't rick yo

She knocks on the door as softly as she can.

Before, she would barge right in and wake him up herself. But she doesn't want to frighten him. They both frighten so easily now.

The gentle rap, rap, rap of her knuckles on the door is enough to cause her to flinch. Her ears echo with the sound. She glances at her knuckles as she knocks, still scabbed over and aching. Her memory flashes with a picture of punching an empousa square in the face and throwing dirt in her eyes. Of course, this brings on fighting other enemies, drinking fire, feeling hopeless, walking through hell, tired and hungry and—

The door swings open.

"Percy," she breathes. Her voice is low and comes out in a cracked whisper.

He says nothing, just reaches forward to place a hand on her back and guide her into his room. The other passengers on the Argo II are sleeping; they shouldn't talk in the hall.

She sits down on the edge of his bed. With her head between her knees, she tries to breathe normally.

"Bad dream?" Percy murmurs. Annabeth just nods silently.

He walks over to sit beside her and his thumb rubs gentle circles on her back. They stay like this for a while.

"You stayed," she finally says. "In my dream. You said you were right behind me. The doors closed and you weren't there. You stayed to push the button." Her voice rises, but it's raspier. "You made me go, you made me go without you."

She can't stop the dream from coming back. Annabeth remembers the dream with startling clarity as she explains it to Percy.

He was fighting alongside her. They were fighting, and they were losing. Something came at Annabeth from her left. She wasn't prepared. Her entire body was flung into the air. She exploded in a burst of pain and she remembers hearing a scream. Her gut told her it was her own. Her shaking hand flew to her side and came back covered in blood. She fell, but she didn't stay down long. Percy, where's Percy? Annabeth dragged herself to her feet. Percy called her name and the next thing she knew, he was at her side. "Go," he pointed her in the direction of the doors. "Now!"

"Come on," she gripped his hand and started toward them.

"No, no, I have to tell Bob to hold the button. I'm right behind you. Go!" He screamed.

Her heart sank, but she nodded. She stumbled toward the doors, clutching her side. She had to knock a few carnivorous horses out with her sword, but she managed to hurl herself inside. When at last she turned around, Percy wasn't there. She searched until she located the back of his head, right next to the doors. She heaved a sigh of relief, which hurt. "Percy!"

His head whipped around. He was fighting one handed; the other was reaching out of Annabeth's line of sight. "Annabeth, you have to go!"

The scene around them had taken a turn for the worse. Bob was nowhere to be found. Damason was still fighting Tartarus, and failing. The pieces clicked together.

Percy was holding the button. He was staying.

"What do you think you're doing? Get in here!"

He swatted away an arai with the butt of his sword and cringed. "I'm sorry, Annabeth!"

"Dammit, Percy, you said! You said we'd never get separated again!"

The doors were closing.

"Be safe, okay? Save the world for me." Percy smiled painfully, but Annabeth could only scream. She threw herself at the doors, trying to pry them open wider, but they wouldn't budge. They kept closing until they were closed completely.

This was the worst part of the dream. Thinking she lost him forever. Her wailing bounced off the walls of the tiny space. She kicked the doors, smacked them, used her fingernails to force them apart, and screeched so many F-bombs that she lost count.

Her heart cracked clean in half. Alone. She was alone now. She had to do this, to face her friends and Gaea and her entire life alone. No more Percy. Poof. Gone.

But he promised her! He promised that she would never get away from him. Never again.

Never never never never never never never

The word kept repeating itself. She sobbed until she woke up.

Now she's sobbing on Percy's bed.

"Shh," he tries to calm her. He pulls her closer to him, tucks her into his side. When she looks up, they're nose to nose.

"Why did you make me go alone?" She whispers.

"I didn't, Annabeth, I'm here."

"But you were going to! You said, 'Get in the elevator. I'll hold the button.'"

That shuts him up. Annabeth's breathing slows now that that's out of her system.

A little voice in the back of her head says, but wouldn't you do the same thing?

"I couldn't let you die."

"At least we would have been together!" She shrieks. Oh gods, she's going to cry again.

He untangles himself from her. Instantly, her arms miss his warmth.

"Come here," Percy says from the other side of the bed, patting the space next to him. She crawls on her hands and knees over to him and folds herself under the covers. Her feet press against his legs and he exhales sharply. "You're freezing."

She shrugs.

They stay seated side by side, her arms curling over the covers and his arms curling under her. "You understand why I did it, don't you?"

He wanted her to be safe. He wanted her to get out, even if it meant he had to stay. To die, even.

"Yes."

"Good."

And even though she's still pissed off, she does understand. Because she knows that if their roles had been reversed, she would have done the same.

"But we're both here. Let's just be glad for that," Percy says.

She shivers. Still cold, but still scared. "I just don't want to lose you, Percy."

Annabeth takes Percy's hand and holds it close to her face. Cradles it at her neck. Kisses his palm.

He stares at her blankly for a minute. Then, after a long stretch of silence, he says, "I love you." The words tumble over the empty space between them.

She said it to him once, when they were falling. But he couldn't hear her. The wind was rushing past them too quickly. She said it another time, before that, when he knocked Octavian off the dock with a wave and returned her dagger. He's never said it back, not before now. And all she wants to do is cry.

"I know," she chokes out. "I know."

She settles down with one arm strewn across his middle. His hand turns her face into his side and she stops shaking after that.

She doesn't have any more bad dreams tonight.

And he won't let her go again.