Annabeth's POV

Screaming.

I was woken up by screaming at about 3 a.m.

I quickly realized that it was coming from my room—where Percy was sleeping. I literally jumped off the couch, flying up the stairs and into my bedroom. I flipped on my lamp and ran to Percy's side.

"Percy! Percy, wake up! It's just a dream! Percy!" I shook him by the shoulders. He suddenly sat up, opening his eyes abruptly. His breathing was ragged and heavy. His face was streaked with tears. His hair was a mess, and his clothes were disheveled due to how he had been thrashing. He looked at me, and completely broke down.

I sat next to him on the bed and pulled him into a tight hug. His entire body shook with sobs, and his tears soaked my t-shirt. Though, I didn't really care—the only thing that mattered was calming Percy down. I rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him, and it worked, at least a little bit.

"He— And the—" He struggled to speak between sobs.

"Shhh." I stroked his messy hair, running my fingers through it occasionally.

I didn't know how long we sat there, but eventually Percy was sleeping again. I sighed, laying him back down. I was about to go back to the couch when Percy grabbed my hand. He looked up at me with puffy green eyes, an almost scared look on his face.

"Stay?" He whispered.

I looked at him for a moment before I responded. "Okay." I whispered back, nodding. I turned off the lamp, and got under the covers, sitting up a bit by leaning on my headboard. I put an arm around Percy, and he wrapped his arms around my torso, his head on my chest. My fingers traced circles on his shoulder. I quietly hummed a song, The Night We Met, by Lord Huron.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

(A/N: I actually love this song so much)

I felt Percy's heartbeat slow down to a regular pace against my side. His breathing evened out, and the quietest snores followed. I hummed the song all the way through before sighing.

This had reminded me of one time when Matthew had a bad nightmare. Much like tonight, I heard yelling, and I immediately knew that something was wrong with Bobby or Matthew.

I ran into their room to find Matthew screaming and crying, and a very concerned Bobby trying to wake him up. I ran to Matthew and quickly shook him awake, holding him close when he woke crying. I sat on one side of Matthew, and Bobby sat on the other. We both hugged him until he fell asleep, Bobby following in suit. I had hummed that same song.

A few minutes later, I saw my dad at the doorway, watching us with a smile. It was a rare occasion that Helen was away, and my father was home. God, what a perfect week that was.

The twins didn't notice my dad, but I did. He winked at me, and I smiled back before he turned and walked away.

Matthew had been so scared, and it felt horrible. I wanted to scoop him up and lock him away from anything and everything bad in the world. Bobby too. That must be how a mother feels. God, if that's true, I'm never having kids.

That protectiveness that I had felt over the twins that night was exactly what I was feeling now over Percy, and it scared me. I shouldn't care this much. I couldn't. Because that can lead to developing feelings, and then letting people in, and—

Moral of the story, that wasn't what I wanted.

But was it?

No. No, I didn't want to care about Jackson because I didn't want to catch feelings for him. But there's one problem;

It might be too late for the 'not caring' part.

Fuck.

><•><

I woke the next morning, and was a little startled at first. My arms were around Percy's shoulders, and his were wrapped around my waist. Our legs were tangled together. His head was on my chest, and he could probably hear my heart beating. I was just relieved to find that both of us were fully clothed.

I searched my surroundings, finding Percy's phone on my nightstand. I grabbed it and checked the time. 10:36 a.m. I smiled at his lock screen, a picture of him and an older woman, (who I assumed was his mother) hugging each other with big smiles on their faces. Snow was falling on the busy streets of New York City, where the picture was taken. They both wore coats, gloves, and hats. I had to say, Percy looked good in a beanie.

Wait, what?

"That's my mom." Percy woke beside me, removing his arms from my waist. I suddenly missed the feeling of his arms around me, but mentally slapped myself for thinking that way.

"She's pretty." I placed the phone back down on my nightstand.

"Yeah," he agreed. "She's the best person I know."

"Mamma's Boy." I snickered.

"Shut up, Chase." He smirked at me.

"You hungry?" I asked, standing and stretching my arms and back.

"I'm always hungry." Percy got up, stretching his arms. I laughed before heading down stairs, with Percy behind me. We walked into the kitchen and Percy sat at the island.

"Alrighty," I said as I began to put the ingredients for pancakes on the island. "We are going to make," I stood up straight from my kneeling position on the floor. "Pancakes." I grinned.

"Can they be blue?" He asked.

"The fuck do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Like can we use food dye to make them blue? Sometimes I wonder why I call you 'Wise'-ass." He mumbled that last part.

"What was that?" I asked mockingly.

He playfully rolled his eyes. "Nothing."

"Alright then, if your done talking back," Percy rolled his eyes again. "Step one!"

><•><

Jackson was covered in pancake batter. I mean covered. From head to toe. How, you ask? I may or may not have dumped the bowl on his head after he streaked some on my face.

Whoops.

"Annabeth!" He exclaimed.

I just stood there with a wide open grin on my face. I was stifling laughter.

He scoffed. "Ah fuck. I can't believe you've done this." He looked at me, quoting that one vine perfectly. I burst out laughing. "You are so gonna get it!" He reached for me.

I quickly ran to the other side of the island, wanting to get as far away from batter-covered-Percy as possible. We ran around the island until he finally caught me. He grabbed me around the waist from behind and spun me, getting pancake batter all over my clothes. I gasped. "Percy! You little shit! Put me down!" I yelled.

Though, part of me didn't want him to put me down. The other part of me punched the first part of me in the face. No. We did not want Jackson hugging us.

But did we?

No. We didn't.

I was pulled from my mind, just before Percy put me down.

He gave me one last squeeze for good measure, before letting go of me. My feet touched the floor—which was also adorned with blue pancake batter—and I nearly slipped.

"Shit!" I grabbed Percy's arms on instinct, and he helped me regain my balance. I looked down at my clothes. "I really hate you."

"No you don't." He smirked.

I didn't. But did I say that?

Oh fuck to the no.

Instead, I responded with, "I wanna slap the smirk right off your face."

"Go ahead." He leaned his head closer to my face, with a smug expression.

"I should. And I want to. But I won't. You don't need a red hand mark on your face to accompany your black eye." I said smugly, taking a step up to get right in his face.

I stared straight up into his eyes—we were so close that he took up most of my vision, there wasn't much else to look at—with a proud look. I suddenly realized how close we were, and how I hadn't made any movement to put more distance between us. Oh god.

Percy didn't say anything, instead, he leaned back to a normal distance from my face, I doing the same.

After a few minutes of silence, I spoke up. "Well, so much for pancakes." I shrugged. "You gotta get all of that out of your hair." I winced not so apologetically. "Good luck with that." I said before turning and walking up the stairs. I heard Percy follow me shortly after.

><•><

"Chase!" I heard Percy call from the shower. I sighed. "Wiseass!" Lets see how long I can ignore him. "ANNABETH FUCKING CHASE I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME." He yelled.

I groaned and got up. I walked into my bathroom. Steam rolled out from the door. "WHAT?" I yelled exasperatedly. 

"There's no more shampoo."

"Bro, there was like half a fucking bottle!" I protested.

"Okay, there was like one squirt left! And I need more."

"Ugh." I held out the groan.

"You're the one who dumped batter on my head. This is your fault, Wiseass." He said.

"Don't 'Wiseass' me." I retorted angrily.

"Can you just get me shampoo? Pleeeeease?" He asked.

"Ugh, fine!" With that, I walked out and slammed the door, beginning my journey downstairs for more shampoo.

"Here, dipshit." I stuck my hand past the side of the shower curtain, handing Percy the shampoo.

"That's a new one." He commented, taking the bottle from me.

"Yeah, yeah." I waited a few more minutes. "Anything to say to me, Asshole?" I asked, crossing my arms.

He stuck his head out. His hair was completely covered in shampoo, all scrubbed up. It looked kinda cute. What? No. No, it didn't. He looked ugly and childish. Yeah.

"Bye?" He asked.

"No, dumbass!" I stared at him like, really?

"Oh." Suddenly, he realized.

"'Oh.'" I mocked him, with a voice that just screams, stupidity.

He glared at me. "Thank you." He said begrudgingly.

"Your welcome." I said just as begrudgingly as he had. Then, I turned on my heel and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

"And hurry up!" I yelled.

I plopped into my desk chair.

I thought Jackson looked cute?

Ugh, what is wrong with me?

•••

Authors note

You guys, I know the whole pancake thing was like taken straight from WCHK but that's unimportant, okay? Bc they didn't kiss and percabeth didn't happen yet, so don't come for me. Anyways, thanks for all the reads! Don't forget to vote, comment, etc. thanks and love you guys!
-bella💕