InsaneJournal

Who: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase
What: Percy can breath underwater
When: Backdated: Mid October
Where: Pool at USC
Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly
Status: Complete!

For the last couple of weeks Percy had been experimenting with the abilities that the dreams had given him. The ones he could experiment with safely anyway; he wasn’t about to cut himself just to check if it would heal again. No, in fact, the ability he’d been experimenting with the most was his new found ability to be able to breath under water. He’d realized he could do it one night when he’d gotten so bored with his homework that he’d randomly decided to fill his bathroom sink and stick his head under the water. It had taken him a few tries to actually do it, but once he had, he’d been quite surprised to find that he wasn’t quite as anxious about it as he’d thought he would be.


Since then, he’d periodically fill the bath tub and submerge himself under water for a few moments before coming up for air; not that he actually needed it. Once he was sure that this was a permanent ability, he’d decided it was time to show Annabeth so he’d asked her to meet him at the campus pool, courtesy of a friend of his who was on the swim team and he was now waiting outside for her to show up.


--


Annabeth was a little bit jealous. There hadn't been any cool abilities given to her from her dreams. Not that she hadn't been given anything, but it was nothing like what her friends were experiencing at least. One could say that an invisibility cap was pretty cool, but she wasn't able to breathe under water or anything. This was exactly why she was so excited to see what Percy could do.


After finishing up some of her school work, Annabeth made her way to the campus pool. She hasn't been there before, but she'd passed it enough that she knew exactly where to go. It didn't take her long to spot Percy waiting outside for her. The moment she saw him she couldn't help but smile.


“I'm ready to be amazed,” she said as she came to a stop just in front of him.


--


When Percy saw Annabeth approaching, he couldn’t help but smile and maybe it was a little too big, but part of him didn’t really care. He couldn’t deny anymore that he liked Annabeth, but he still wasn’t quite sure how she felt, “Well good, cause you’re going to be amazed. I mean, unless this is the one time it doesn’t work and I drown.” Percy pushed the door open then glanced back at Annabeth, “If something does go wrong, do you know CPR?”


--


When she saw him smile at her like that, her cheeks immediately flushed. Annabeth did her best to ignore it simply because she didn't want to embarrass herself. “I'm not sure these things go away like that. Then again, Thalia isn't a tree anymore.” But that was different since she had been helped out of her tree state. “But don't worry. I promise not to let you die.” Leaning over she gently bumped her shoulder against his. “I mean, then I'd have to start the whole best friend screening process again and I just don't have time for that,” she teased. The actual thought of something happening to Percy was actually terrifying, and she was trying to not think about that.


--


Percy glanced over at Annabeth as he bumped her back, “Best friend? I didn’t know I ranked that high on the friend scale.” As they talked, Percy led the way to the pool and once there, he placed his bag, that contained a change of clothes and a towel, down on the floor. “Figured I was just your annoying friend; not best friend.” He couldn’t help but wonder now if that was all she saw him as.


--


Annabeth followed along, and shrugged some. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. The truth was she wanted him to be her best friend and more. More was definitely something she wanted. The dreams she had been having had only heightened that feeling. Annabeth knew Percy considered her his friend, but she thought maybe it was more than that. Best friend worked, right? “Do you hang out with your annoying friends this much?” Her head tilted ever so slightly as she stared at him. “It's not high in my list, but if you'd prefer to not be labeled my best friend …” she trailed off and rocked back on her heels. “I thought we were here to watch you swim.” Not debate their level of friendship.


--


Percy shook his head in response to her question, “No, I suppose I like the title of best friend.” But was that all it was? He wasn’t entirely sure how to find out. Girls were an entirely new territory for him. Sure, there had been girls he’d thought were cute before, but he’d had to put most of his focus on school work while in High School as a result of his ADHD and dyslexia that he hadn’t had much time for anything else. “Right. Me swimming. That’s what we came here for.”


Despite the fact that he knew he could breath underwater, Percy was still a little nervous. This would be the first time he submerged himself in water this deep. Taking a deep breath, Percy began removing his sneakers and socks followed by his shirt, which left him in his swim trunks.


--


“I like it, too.” For now, that was all she could say. She knew eventually she was going to have to step up and say something to him about the way she felt. Annabeth knew she would lose her mind eventually with all of this stepping on eggshells thing around him. Right now they had other things to worry about.


Annabeth just stared at him as he started to prepare for his underwater experiment. Her cheeks heated up as she watched him, but she did her best to look nonchalant about the whole thing. Hadn't she just told herself she wasn't going to think about that? Taking a deep breath she looked for him to the water. “I really hope this works.”


--


Percy wasn’t aware of Annabeth watching him more than she may have before, mostly because he was too nervous about what he was about to do. Staring down at the pool, he took a deep breath then glanced back at Annabeth, “Alright. Here goes nothing.” Turning back to the water, he sat down on the edge of the pool and proceeded to slide into the water, which came up to his shoulders. It wasn’t the pool itself that made him nervous, but the thought of submerging himself under the water. Sure, doing this was different than being trapped under a raft on a raging river, but it still made him nervous.


Taking one last look at Annabeth, he took a deep breath then lowered himself under the water. He’d involuntarily taking a deep breath before doing so, but once he was under the surface of the water, he released it once he was sure that doing so wouldn’t cause him to drown. It was a different feeling then dunking his face in the sink or submerging himself in the bathtub. The weird part about this whole experience was that under normal circumstances, he’d be inhaling water, but somehow he was breathing like normal.


--


When he looked back at her, she raised her hands and crossed her fingers. It seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. She hoped for his sake this did work and it wasn't something that had already come and gone. Annabeth knew at the very least she was there to help him no matter what was about to happen.


After he had submerged himself, Annabeth stepped up to the edge of the pool to watch him. She kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge, ready to jump in if she had to. Lucky for both of them, from what she could tell, he didn't seem to be struggling. She wasn't quite sure if that was because he hadn't been under long enough or because it was actually working.


--


It was working alright; the longer Percy stayed submerged underwater, the less anxious he began to be. Knowing that he wasn’t going to drown was making his fear of water subside quickly and he couldn’t help but wish that he’d had this ability back when he’d gone to camp. He wasn’t sure exactly how long he stayed under the water, but finally decided that it was probably best to assure Annabeth that he hadn’t drowned.


Kicking off the bottom of the pool, Percy’s head broke the surface of the water and he took a deep breath, more from reflex than anything else, “How long was that?” He didn’t know if she had actually been timing him, but she would probably know better than him how long it had been.


--


“You were under for more than five minutes. Percy, that's incredible!” She was relieved to see him when he surfaced. It was nice to know he was safe and simply not drowning at the bottom of the pool. Annabeth would have hated to have been wrong about what he was doing down there.


“How did it feel? Was it weird?” Being able to stay underwater for over five minutes probably was weird regardless, but that wasn't what she meant. “Did it feel different?” She had a million questions to ask him.


--


Percy couldn’t help but smile when he heard how long he’d been under and braced his hands on the side of the pool then hoisted himself up to sit on the edge, “It’s really weird. Like, I know I’m under water and I know that I should be drowning, but I could breath just like normal.” In the dreams he could stay dry underwater too, but it seemed that so far he only had the breathing underwater part down so far.


--


“That's incredible,” she said, her voice laced with a tad bit of envy and awe. “I haven't been given any gifts like that. I mean, an invisibility hat is pretty cool, though.” She didn't want to sound like she wasn't grateful, or that she necessarily wanted a power like that. It was more of an observation than anything else. “I feel like I would panic, but I suppose it wouldn't matter because you can breathe underwater no matter what.” Annabeth looked over at him and smiled. “I'm really happy you asked me to come see this.”


--


“I’ll admit, I wanted to panic the first time I did it, at home, but once I remind myself that I’m gonna be okay….it’s easy to relax.” Percy smiled up at Annabeth before getting to his feet and moving to his bag where he had a towel, “Well, there was no one else I wanted to show this to.” Sure there were others he could have asked to meet him there today, but Annabeth was the only one that he’d really wanted to show it to first.


--


Annabeth stood up, grabbing her shoes as she did so before walking over to him. She smiled at him when he said there was no one else he wanted to show this, too. It meant a lot to her. “I'm also really happy it actually worked,” she said with a little laugh. “Are you hungry? I could really go for some French fries if you're down.”


--


“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” Percy grabbed own stuff then gestured towards the locker rooms, “I’ll get changed then meet you outside.” Suffice to say this day was turning into a pretty good one.