growing pains
happy birthday @perseannabeth i would do this literally for nobody else in the entire universe. blowing u a big wet kiss hope u have the best time ever xxxxx
Jason Grace has a problem and he has nowhere else to go.
“I’m not really sure what you want me to do.” Annabeth plays with the lemon slice in her cosmo. To say she’d listened to his whining patiently is generous. He’d just about managed to hold her attention long enough to explain his situation, but she’d looked about a second away from falling asleep through his entire narration. Now she just glances desperately over her shoulder, as if she’s praying for someone to call her away.
“You could try to look like you want to talk to me, for starters.” Jason says flatly.
“Oh– no, sorry, Jason.” Annabeth’s smile is sheepish. “It’s just that, you know.”
“What?”
“You talk about Piper all the time.” She tells him. “I can listen to it once, maybe twice– but this is getting out of hand. I have the same advice now as I did three years ago when you first met her: ask her out and then shut up. Please.”
It’s easy for Annabeth to say it. The girl’s got everything going for her. She’s pretty, she’s clever, and she’s a lot of fun to be around. She could have asked any boy she wanted out and they’d be tripping over themselves for the opportunity. And, to really rub it into his woefully single self, by some miraculous stroke of luck, she’d found Percy Jackson– who matches her in every way possible and lifts her up like it’s what he’s built to do.
Jason is not like Percy Jackson. Percy has an effortless way about him– when he walks into a room, everyone turns to him. He doesn’t try to stand out, doesn’t put himself up on a podium to be heard– people gravitate towards him because he simply is. Jason isn’t even like Annabeth Chase. Her brilliance shines through her every step, and she has an inexplicable romance about her– it’s impossible not to fall slightly in love by just breathing the air around her. Jason is definitely nothing like Piper McLean, either. Piper is loud, obnoxious– but even in her belligerence, she’s understated. The part of her that she puts up on display is nothing like the quiet, contemplative girl she hides with layers and layers of armour. Both versions of her, if you’re lucky enough to see them, have something so innately likeable about them– she’s easy-going and calm and has this wonderful way of mollifying his most obstreperous anxieties.
What does Jason have? He’s measured, controlled because he’s terrified of letting his most primal, baseless fears get the best of him. He’s not particularly funny, and his only way to command attention is to boss people around, which he’s been told, multiple times (thanks, Percy), is a deeply unattractive quality. He’s not really the kind of man who should have the audacity to ask women out, really.
“I need to do something else.” He shakes his head. Asking her out is not an option. “I need you to get her out of my house.”
“Listen to yourself.” Annabeth groans. “How am I possibly meant to remove a person from your apartment? It’s not like I can spray roach repellent on her and cleanse your space of her.”
“Don’t call her a roach.” Jason frowns.
“You’re the one asking me to shoo her away.”
“Just invite her to your place!” Jason cries. “Say you want to, I don’t know– say you want some girl time with her and she can crash on your couch. Seriously, Annabeth. I can’t keep waking up to my best friend wandering about the kitchen in her jammies. It’s too domestic. I start to feel things.”
“Here’s a thought for you: maybe I don’t want to have her on my couch.” Annabeth makes a face at him. “Percy’s basically moved in and Beckendorf’s always around with Silena and Grover and Clarisse are always around, and sometimes Juniper and Chris tag along as well because both of those relationships are getting serious now, and not to mention Nico, who drops in unannounced all the time, or Tyson, or my brothers, or Silena’s sister– if I have to fit one more person in our two-bedroom flat, I think it’s going to explode.”
“I don’t know how you and Percy are still that close to your high school friends.” Jason says. “I only keep in touch with Reyna and Gwen, and that’s only because they moved to New York with me.”
“I actually had a good time in high school.” Annabeth smiles sweetly at him. “I wasn’t bullied and I didn’t hang out with the losers.”
“You’d have bullied me if you knew me in high school.” Jason says, and Annabeth nods.
“Yeah, I probably would’ve.”
“Back to my point,” Jason knows Annabeth is gifted when it comes to distracting and manipulating people, but he’s not going to fall for it. He needs a solution to his Piper problem, and he needs it now. “Please make Piper move out.”
“No.” Annabeth says forcefully. Then she hesitates. “Sorry. That was harsh. Have you considered that there’s a reason she asked to stay with you? She didn’t ask me. Didn’t ask Percy– and he has a whole spare room she could use, considering he spends all his time in my cramped apartment. She asked you.”
“Because we’re friends.”
“I’m her friend.”
“You compared her to a roach.”
“She’s used to it.” Annabeth shrugs. “I’ve called her much worse to her face.”
That’s another thing Jason doesn’t understand. Piper and Annabeth’s entire relationship is built on them bickering over absolutely nothing. A long time ago, Piper had confessed to him that she used to have a crush on Annabeth– that she’d goad her friend into arguments simply because it meant Annabeth was focusing on her. She’s never picked a fight with Jason before.
“Ugh.” Jason runs his hand over his face. When he looks up at his friend again, she’s downed the entirety of her cocktail in one impressive go. She signals the bartender for another one just as her boyfriend sidles up to them.
“How many drinks have you had?” Percy asks, studying her empty glass and wrapping his arms around her waist.
“It’s your turn to pick up the tab.” Annabeth sings, and Jason never gets tired of seeing the way she lights up around Percy. “I’ve been listening to Jason talk about Piper for three thousand years. I deserve whatever I drink.”
“I’m going to go broke dating her.” Percy tells Jason, not looking particularly bothered. He nuzzles Annabeth’s neck and she collapses in a fit of giggles. “And it’s all because you can’t ask a girl out.”
“That’s not true.” It sure is.
“Okay. How many girls have you asked out?” Percy raises an eyebrow.
“Well–,”
“None.” Annabeth fills in for him. “He waits, and waits, and waits until a girl asks him out.” She nudges Percy in the stomach with her elbow. “Sound familiar?”
“Hey.” Percy grabs the bottom of her barstool and swivels her away from the bar so she’s fully facing him. He leans his arms against the counter, boxing her in, and ducks his head until he’s at eye level with her. “I asked you out. Don’t you ever forget that.”
“Only after I kissed you.” Annabeth laughs. “Doesn't count.”
“Oh, it doesn’t count?” Percy scoffs. “I’m sorry, when’s our anniversary, again? Do we celebrate the day you kissed me and then ghosted me for two months?”
“That’s not what happened–”
“Can we get back to my problem!” Jason cries. “God, Annabeth. It’s impossible to hold a conversation with you.”
Annabeth shrugs, just as the bartender delivers her next drink, accompanied with an audacious wink. Her lips pull into a smug smile and she glances at Percy, whose jaw is set firmly but says nothing about it. All in one smooth motion, she rests her head against his chest and he shifts his weight from one foot to another, swaying her gently as his posture relaxes.
Is it so bad that Jason wants that? For someone to understand him, to soothe his insecurities and to want to know him so intimately? For someone to share his life with, for someone to listen when he speaks and listen when he doesn’t?
“Ask Percy.” She says finally.
Percy plucks her drink out of her hand and takes a long sip that clears half of it out. Good, Jason thinks. He’s watched Annabeth finish three of them already and he’d spotted her nursing a beer when he’d walked in. Whatever number she’s at, it’s well beyond human capacity, and the fact that she’s holding a conversation with him at all is pretty impressive.
“Ask Percy what?”
“Piper moved in with Jason while her apartment’s being fumigated.” Annabeth explains. “She’s crashing on his couch, but Jason thinks they’ve moved into domestic territory and it makes him want her more, and now he’s been complaining to me because he can neither tough it out for a couple of days nor pluck up the courage to ask her on a date. Charming, isn’t it?”
“God. She’s crashing on your couch?” Percy makes a face. “Why didn’t you offer to take the couch while she takes your bed? You’re meant to be a gentleman, Grace.”
“Well–,”
“Excuse me,” Annabeth cuts in. “Gentleman? This is coming from the same man who refuses to make me breakfast in bed the one time I asked him?”
“That’s different.” Percy says. “You were pretending to be sick so you could skip that stupid job interview. I don’t date cowards, Annabeth. You should know that.” Then he pokes Jason’s forehead. “Piper, on the other hand, just might have to.”
“I’m not a coward.” Jason crosses his arms over his chest. Their friends are scattered through the entire bar, but his eyes keep drifting to the girl in the corner, swaying her arm along to the music so she appears just engaged enough that nobody will bother her while she holds a seemingly riveting conversation with Leo. “I’m just… boring.”
“They’re not mutually exclusive.” Percy points out and Annabeth smacks him in the chest before turning to Jason.
“What are you talking about?” She demands. “Who told you that you were boring?”
“Well– you can barely stand to talk to me right now.” Jason shrugs. “It’s fine. I’m not insecure about it or anything. It’s just that she’s exciting. She’s like this livewire of energy and bad ideas and… I’m not. I’m too tame for her.”
“First of all,” Annabeth holds up her finger and Percy takes the opportunity to steal the rest of her drink. “You’re not boring. You just say boring things when you crib about Piper. Other times, you’re easily one of my favourite people in the world.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, though.” Percy cuts in. Judging by the unfocused look in his eye, he’d done a pretty good job racking up a tab himself. “She says it about everyone.”
“No, I’m serious.” Annabeth frowns up at him. Slowly, she leans forward to Jason, one hand outstretched. It draws him in, and he finds himself mimicking her. When they’re almost nose to nose, she flicks him on the forehead and he jumps back.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“For calling yourself boring.” Annabeth says. “The worst thing you can be in this world is boring. Or a serial killer, but you’re definitely not one of those, I don’t think.” She tilts her head to the side and considers him, like she’s double-checking for herself. “You store so much useless information in that massive head of yours. So much. I have never witnessed anyone be so knowledgeable about the stupidest things the way you are. And you’re just bossy enough that you force me to listen to you blather on about it– which is good, by the way, because now I know that vacuum cleaners used to be horse-drawn back in the nineteenth century. How many people know about the evolution of the hoover? Exactly. None.”
“Also,” Percy adds, his hand sliding up Annabeth’s body with little elegance. “We now know what a tittle is. And that it has nothing to do with boobs.”
“So I’m good at pointless facts. Thanks.” Jason mutters. “Piper doesn’t care about facts. She’s all about adventure and finding the next cool thing. I’m not cool.”
“Secondly,” Annabeth continues. She points to where Piper and Leo are now howling with laughter. “That girl there is, like, one of my closest friends, alright? And she’s– she’s…”
“Annoying?” Percy supplies and Annabeth waves him off.
“She’s exciting. You’re right. She moves fast.” Annabeth says. “But it’s not what she wants. If you haven’t seen her for who she is– the quiet part of her that sits in the corner in parties, that hasn’t stopped looking over at you since you walked in– then I don’t know what to tell you. If you haven’t understood the part of her that wants someone to love her as fiercely as she loves her friends… if you don’t see who she really is, after three years of being her friend– Jason, maybe you don’t deserve her.”
Jason risks another glance at her, but this time he catches her looking at him. Immediately, she straightens up, turning her head back to Leo and trying her hardest to cover her face. It’s cute, he thinks. She’s cute.
“What I’m saying it– you don’t have to be amazing to ask her out, stupid.” Annabeth flicks him on the forehead again and he slaps her hand away. “It’s not like you’re asking for her hand in marriage. It’s one date.”
“Besides, between the three of us–,” Percy looks over his shoulder in Piper’s direction. “I think she thinks you’re pretty amazing as you are.”
“She definitely does.” Annabeth seems inexplicably pleased with herself for doing nothing, really, except maybe bruising Jason’s forehead. “So stop whining about the fact that you get to spend all day with the girl you have been relentlessly in love with for years, and start enjoying the time you have with her.”
“And if she says no?”
“Nothing changes.” Percy shrugs. “Literally nothing will change. You can come right back to being a miserable old man. Annabeth and I will buy you a pet to cheer you up, maybe.”
“Yeah.” Annabeth nods. “So either you ask her out and then have a chance at a girlfriend, or you get a puppy. Looks like a win-win situation.”
When she says it like that– it doesn’t sound all bad. Maybe Jason would be good for Piper. Maybe she’d be good for him. Unfortunately for him, his friends are right– he’s not going to know if he doesn’t ask. If three years worth of dates and fleeting relationships hadn’t distracted him… maybe he’s best off giving it a go.
“Okay. I’m going to do it.” He declares.
“Now?” Percy presses a kiss to the top of Annabeth’s head.
“God, no. If she says no– I don’t want to make a scene. It’s Dakota’s day today.”
“He’d like nothing more than to see you make a scene.” Annabeth yawns. Apparently she’s sped straight past every phase of drunkenness right into the exhaustion state. She rests her head on Percy’s chest and he gathers her up in his arms. “Just go for it, Jason. You won’t make a scene and she won’t say no.”
“We should call a cab.” He says. “But tonight, Jason. Tonight, you make a move.”
He walks out of the bar with Annabeth and Percy, happy to wait for their Lyft with them. Annabeth is bundled up in Percy’s coat, his arm around her holding her steady. They’re conversing between themself, speaking in soft voices and a language nobody else is privy to. Plans for tomorrow, a recap of the night– it’s not for Jason to hear. It’s sweet– they complement each other in a way that suits them both.
Jason remembers the Annabeth he’d met at freshman orientation. The girl he’d shared a corridor with, the first friend he’d made in college. Annabeth from Before Percy was just as smart as the woman in front of him now— just as beautiful, just as sharp— but she was also desperately searching for something, hiding bits of her away because she was so afraid of being rejected. Today, she stands taller, has little to prove to the world; to herself. She’s confident in a way that inspires him— confident like she isn’t faking it anymore, and he has no doubt at all that it’s all Percy’s doing.
His mind drifts back to Piper, to the different sides of her that he’s had the pleasure of learning. Everyone has that— a tiny voice in their head that pushes them to be bigger, better, brighter to the world than they are. If Annabeth is any example– he lets himself believe for a moment that there’s a cure to that insecurity. That he could, in some way, be that cure for Piper the way she could be for him. That by finding the right person, the world won’t be as scary anymore.
The cab pulls up and Annabeth pauses, taking both of Jason’s hands in hers.
“Text me.” She says earnestly. “I want to celebrate with you both.”
Percy chucks him on the shoulder, wearing a small smile. “Both of us do.”
“Yeah.” Jason buries his fists in his pockets and bounces on the balls of his feet, looking back at the bar. “Wish me luck?”
“You don’t need it.” Annabeth calls as Percy helps her into a car. When she’s safely inside, he turns around with a grin and shoots Jason a thumbs up.
“You never have.”
Jason watches their car merge into the Manhattan traffic, the cool October air carrying a nostalgic longing as distance grows between them. Percy and Annabeth are returning now to their own life; one a hundred miles from him, from anyone else. Everybody was drifting away; forging their own way forward. When they’re out of sight, Jason turns back around, the dingy doors to the bar beckoning him in with the promise of a brand new life.
On the other side of these worn doors is a girl with stars in her eyes and moonlight in her step, and maybe– just maybe– she’s waiting for him.
With a deep breath, he steps in.
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"A Bump"
Summary: She holds her tee shirt tightly over her stomach where a perfect little bump is forming. Annabeth quickly snaps the photo grinning like she’s just been given a first place prize before yelling for Percy.
A/n: enjoy the ttpd references
Ao3
Part 1 Part 2
Percy insists on taking weekly photos of Annabeth. Full body pictures of her: standing in the kitchen cooking bacon, walking in the front door after work kicking off her heels, or standing in the light of their bathroom before bed. They aren’t particularly good photos. Not in the way he wants them to be.
They’re mostly blurry because Annabeth is talking with her arms or walking out of frame. Percy never tells her he’s taking them. According to him, he was “trying to get candid images.”
So, Annabeth documents her pregnancy for him. She takes selfies in their floor length mirror. The same pose each day. Tracking her belly’s progress.
She doesn’t tell Percy about them. Annabeth keeps the photos in a separate album on her phone with a plan to get them all printed out on glossy paper and put them into a scrapbook.
There’s no real physical progress in her first trimester. Beyond the morning sickness that lasts well into the night. Annabeth is sick at all times of day. She keeps crackers and breath mints in her purse now.
Percy often rubs her back as she heaves into the toilet.
“I wish I could do something.”
She grabs his hand from behind her. “This is something.”
It’s a nice moment ruined instantly by more vomit.
Annabeth takes the morning off on a random Tuesday or so her coworkers believe. They have a baby appointment (as Percy has taken to calling them). It’s that morning when Annabeth is taking her daily photo she feels the bump.
It’s like it grew overnight. She holds her tee shirt tightly over her stomach where a perfect little bump is forming. Annabeth quickly snaps the photo grinning like she’s just been given a first place prize before yelling for Percy.
“What? Are you hurt? Is baby okay?”
He’s holding her stomach. When Percy meets her eyes, Annabeth is trying not to tear up, and says, “a bump.”
Their appointment goes smoothly; they get lunch afterwards at this sandwich shop nearby.
“We should come here again,” Percy says, mid-chew.
“Close your mouth.”
He grins at Annabeth. The same trouble maker smirk she’s grown to love.
“But, I agree,” she tells him, “we should make our way through the menu. The buffalo chicken sandwich sounds really good.”
“Not gonna be too spicy for you, Chase?”
Annabeth rolls her eyes.
“Says the man who won’t touch wasabi with a ten foot pole.”
He glares at her like he wants to hit her.
“Can’t hit me, I’m pregnant.”
“Shut up.”
They’re sitting at a table for four so Percy moves around the table and takes the seat next to Annabeth. He puts his hand on her bare thigh.
It’s July in New York. She’s wearing Jean shorts and her camp shirt, which thankfully still fits. Annabeth knows with the bump now making itself known she won’t be wearing her beloved orange shirt for much longer. Maybe she can get Chiron to send her a bigger size without raising suspicion.
Percy squeezes her thigh bringing Annabeth back to the present. He moves his hand upwards, not even bothering to glance around to see if anyone’s watching them.
No one is.
Annabeth is hot. She tells herself it’s because the AC in the shop isn’t doing its job.
Her shorts are baggy enough so that Percy can reach in and rub his fingertips along her underwear.
“Percy…”
“Keep eating,” he says.
She takes another bite.
“Annabeth?”
Percy removes his hand and lets it sit on her expose thigh again.
“Hey Aimee!”
They had graduated together.
Annabeth remembers sitting next to her in their chemistry classes, both of them groaning over how boring their Professor had been. Aimee and her studied for every exam together and always paired up for labs. Together them both managed an A minus in the course.
“So this must be Percy,” Aimee says, “shame we never met before Annie and I graduated.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Annabeth told me how great of a chem partner you were.”
“If I were half as good as her, we would’ve gotten A pluses.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Annabeth tells her.
“We should catch up sometime,” Aimee replies, “get lunch or a drink. You still have my number?”
“Yeah, I’d love to.”
“And Percy, you’re welcome to join us unless Annabeth needs an excuse to get away.” The girls chuckle but Percy still smiles fondly at Annabeth.
“She might want to get away from me,” Percy says.
“Anyway, I’ll let you get back to it. It was great to see you, Annie.”
“You too, Aimee. I will text you.”
“Great!” She starts to walk away but turns at the last second, “by the way, you’re glowing Annie, whatever you’re doing keep it up.”
Annabeth blushes. She’s not about to tell Aimee the real reason she’s “glowing.”
“Thank you, Aimee.”
Percy moves back around to his side of the table.
“See the bump, it’s making you glow.”
“Is that why you can’t take your hands off me?” She asks.
“The bump is sexy, sue me.”
Annabeth rolls her eyes, watching Percy take his next bite. Gods, she was so down bad for this man it’s ridiculous.
“Don’t you think it’s crazy that I’m having your baby?”
Percy swallows. “No? I always thought we’d end up here.”
“Pregnant at 25?”
“Okay maybe not exactly this scenario—“ he grabs her hand from across the table. Adjusts her engagement ring as Percy tends to do, “—I love this scenario for the record.”
Annabeth smiles. “I know, me too.”
“I just always saw us…”
“Together,” she says.
Because she always did too.
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