Chapter Text
Percy didn’t quite know how he got here, lying next to Annabeth on her bed in Cabin 6. You’d think it was romantic, at least, that's what all her brothers and sisters thought when she led him in here with a firm grip on his wrist. But in truth Percy was pretty sure that this was the most uncomfortable experience he had ever had. He was as stiff as a board, not even letting the tip of his finger come within 5 inches of Annabeth in fear that she would kick him out.
Even still there was no way that he would want to be anywhere else, even just being in her presence made him feel good.
Percy wasn't sure what it was about her exactly that pulled him in so much but it could have something to do with the fact that he knew that whatever happened, she would always be on his side. And with the subtle hints that she had dropped to him he was pretty sure she felt the same way. Percy had always been someone who wouldn't dream of hurting or betraying his friends, no matter the situation. He knew he had proved that on their quest, with the arch and the golden throne being just a couple of examples. He had also noticed that Annabeth had been distancing herself from other people at camp, at this point Percy was pretty much the only person she spent time with and he was almost certain that it had quite a lot to do with Luke.
Saying that Luke's betrayal had hit Annabeth hard would be an understatement, she had barely left her cabin for the first three days, only emerging for meals and mandatory meetings and she almost always showed up with red rims around her eyes.
Percy was worried to say the least but he didn’t know how to help her when she was so desperate not to talk to anyone. He might not be the best when it came to emotions (that was more Grover’s forte) but one thing Percy did know was that the worst thing you can do is bottle it up. He knew Annabeth was struggling and he was ready to barge in and force her to talk to him until one day she just showed up at his cabin. He was slightly astounded for a moment and she seemed almost shy which was the last thing he ever expected her to be, but she just asked if she could come in and when Percy finally managed to stutter out a yes she just sat down on one of the empty bunks pulled a book out of her bag and started reading.
Percy was slightly confused for a while before he decided to just carry on with the drawing he’d been doing in his sketchbook. He wasn’t a particularly good artist but he had always enjoyed drawing as it helped him to make sense of the things happening around him. And so it became somewhat of a routine for them. Her reading a book (usually a different one everyday) and him sketching some mythical creature they had encountered (although a lot of his recent sketches had been of the owls he often saw in the woods). Until this lunchtime when Annabeth had come over to his table, ignoring the reprimanding glances she was receiving from Chiron, and asked if he could meet her in her cabin later.
Being the seaweed brained idiot that she always knew him as, he had not thought to go and get his sketchbook before he went and so now he was just lying there awkwardly as unlike his cabin all of the bunks in the Athena cabin were full and so they had to share Annabeth's. Working up the courage he asked her,
“Annabeth, why are we in your cabin instead of mine?”
She turned and looked at him,
“Did I not tell you?” She seemed surprised
“Um-no. Unless I forgot which is very possible and in which case I apologise as-” he was rambling now.
Annabeth simply let out a small laugh that for some reason made his cheeks feel hot,
“It's fine Seaweed Brain, I’m pretty sure I forgot to tell you anyway. I asked Chiron if he had a monster proof TV, which he doesn’t but he did give me this Laptop instead which apparently has something called Disney+ on it. I'm not entirely sure what that is but i assumed you would know so…” She stopped talking, noticing the astounded look on his face.
“O-oh I’m sorry if you don’t want to, it's just that you said we could watch a movie after the quest was over and I thought now would be good time…”
“No no no, Its amazing Annabeth! I guess I was just surprised you remembered, I mean it was a while ago.” Percy hurried to reassure her.
“Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to this since you first mentioned it back in Waterland.” Percy was smiling softly at her, an emotion in his eyes that Annabeth couldn’t recognise.
“Well then Wise Girl, what film do you feel like watching?” Percy’s face lit up in anticipation.
“Oh wait, do you mind if I have a shower before we start? My hair is kinda greasy and I won't have time for one tomorrow.” Annabeth suddenly remembered.
“Of course, don’t be too long though. I might watch something without you.” Annabeth let out a small chuckle at his teasing tone.
“Sure Seaweed Brain, 10 minutes. Max” She tapped his nose on her way to the bathroom, an action that brought a dark flush to Percy’s cheeks that he hoped Annabeth hadn’t seen.
Annabeth was true to her word and emerged from the bathroom exactly 8 minutes later with her hair half dried with a towel. She took a few seconds to tug a brush through it before joining Percy on the bed again. They were alone in the cabin now, her siblings had gone down to the campfire. Truthfully she hoped they would stay there until the movie they watched was finished, call her selfish but all she had wanted for a good week now was some alone time with Percy to watch a movie. Technically they were breaking the rule of a male and female camper being alone in a cabin together but she figured Chiron wouldn’t mind considering the highly dangerous quest to stop a war that they had just been on.
“I’ll ask you again, what movie do you feel like watching?” Percy brought her back to earth with a smile.
“I don’t know any so I guess we could just watch your favourite.”
“Yessssss. Okay so my favourite movie is called Finding Nemo and it is the best film in the world. It's about this fish that gets lost and his dad and his friend have to go and find him.” Annabeth smiled as he typed it into the search box, of course such a stupid sounding movie would be his favourite.
1 hour and 40 minutes later Annabeth had officially watched her very first movie and she had thoroughly enjoyed it. Whilst she was right in saying that it was a bit stupid she found herself laughing more than she ever had before, although to be fair most of the things she was laughing at were Percy’s stupid comments. By the end they were both pretty tired and almost falling asleep. Still Annabeth didn’t want him to leave and she was almost certain that a similar thought was running through his mind.
They stayed like that, in comfortable silence for another half an hour, curled up together, his arm around her shoulder, his hand playing with her hair. Annabeth was embarrassed as her hair was tangled from the way it had dried whilst she was lying down. However it was evident that Percy didn’t care as the next words from his lips were,
“Your hair is really soft after you wash it.”
Looking back Annabeth thought that might be the moment she realised that her little crush might not be so little after all.