Who: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase What: Finally talking about the mistletoe incident When: Backdated: Mid January Where: USC Campus Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete!
Annabeth’s holiday break had passed by a lot quicker than she had expected. While she had expressed wanting to be back at school, part of her was nervous about returning. Her nerves had nothing to do with school, though, and everything to do with a certain boy who was still in ever dream she had.
She and Percy hadn't talked since their kiss. Annabeth had no intentions of saying anything to him first. He had been the one to say that he hadn't meant to kiss her. That was a pretty big blow to her ego. Annabeth had been wanting Percy to kiss her and when he finally had he had said that he hadn't meant to. And then that had been it.
Walking through campus, she was lost in her own thoughts, playing with the owl charm on her wrist, about their less than stellar moments before she had left for her dad's house.
Percy had been trying to figure out what to say to Annabeth during the entire Winter break, but he still didn’t know what he could possibly say to make up for how he’d acted after he’d kissed her before Christmas. Up until that moment he’d been trying to figure out a good time to make a move and when he had, he hadn’t even been in control of himself, which was part of the reason he’d reacted the way he had and he felt horrible.
Even now that classes had started again for the new semester, Percy had yet to actually see Annabeth on campus and he didn’t know if she’d even respond to a text from him, so he was at a loss as to what to do.
For the moment, he too was distracted as he thought back over his last class and he didn’t notice Annabeth walking in his direction until he almost walked into her, “Crap. Sorry…”
Annabeth froze when he almost ran into her. She nearly found herself falling into him. Her hands gripped her books tighter against her chest. It figured that this would happen to her. This had been exactly what she had been dreading. “Percy,” she said with a raised eyebrow. She didn't know what else to say to him at the moment.
He still didn't seem too excited about seeing her. “It's important to keep your head up.”
“Yeah. Sorry,” Percy ran a hand through his thick, brown hair as he watched Annabeth, sheepishly. He hated the fact that things were awkward between them and hated even more that it was his fault that things were like this, “So, um...how was your break?” It sounded lame, even to him, but it was all he could think to say at that moment.
Annabeth had been worried from the start that something like this would have happened. It was part of why she hadn't said anything to Percy. His friendship was important to her, and now she wasn't sure what was going to happen. But, she put on her bravest face. She couldn't let him see she was hurt. “It was good. It was nice to see my dad.” Nothing about this conversation felt right. “How was yours?”
“It was good. Nice to spend it at the new house and stuff,” Percy was trying to think of something else to say that might fix what he had messed up. He hated that things were awkward, because Annabeth wasn’t just his friend, but he still had feelings for her, “Um….hey….so, we should probably talk.” The words were out before he had a chance to really think about it, but he couldn’t take it back and he could only hope that this might help.
Annabeth nodded at him. She was glad he had enjoyed himself. She knew he had been excited to have his mom around. For a second, she just stood there. They needed to talk. He was right, but she was a bit taken aback that he had even said anything. Annabeth had assumed that they would ignore it and eventually go back to just being friends. “Now?” Talking out in the open like this had its pros and cons.
“I mean...unless you have class. Crap, you probably have class.” After all, what else would she have been on campus for? He might not have had another class for a little while, but that didn’t mean that Annabeth didn’t have one that she was now late for because of him. “I don’t want to be the reason you’re late if you have class.”
Annabeth could have lied. She could have made Percy feel even more awkward, and for a brief moment the thought crossed her mind. Instead, she took a deep breath and shrugged. She was trying to go with mild indifference. “I actually just got out of class. I don't have anything else for the rest of the day.”
For a moment Percy had thought that Annabeth was going to take the out, so when she said she had just finished with class, he couldn’t help but let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in, “Oh. Well, wanna go over there?” He pointed towards an empty bench nearby. They could have gone someplace a little more private, but that would just drag this out and as far as he was concerned, they needed to talk as soon as possible.
She sort of just stood there for a second and looked at him. Were they really going to do this out here? Annabeth nodded and then moved towards the bench. “So, what it is you want to talk about?” She asked as she sat down. Annabeth knew what he wanted to talk about, but she wasn't going to be the one who said it first.
Once they were sitting, Percy ran a hand through his hair before turning his gaze back on Annabeth, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry about how I reacted last time we saw each other.” He was barely thinking about what he was saying, but knew that if he didn’t say something, he’d never get it out, “It’s just that, when I’ve thought about kissing you, something else wasn’t making me do it. I did it because I wanted to.”
Annabeth was getting ready to interrupt him and tell him it was fine when his words registered. She had to actually process what he said because she was pretty sure she was hearing things. Her head tilted to the side slightly and her brows furrowed together as she looked at him. “You thought about kissing me?” Somehow this information didn't match what she already knew.
That wasn’t exactly what Percy had intended to say, when he did talk to Annabeth, but once he’d started talking, the words had just started spilling out before he had a chance to really think about what he was saying. However, it was true and all he could do was nod, his cheeks flushing slightly, “Yeah. Yeah, I have.” He watched her, a little fear in his sea green eyes as he waited for her response.
Annabeth just stared at him, looking for any signs that he might be lying to her. She hated to think that he was only saying it to make her feel better. But when she looked at him she didn't see any of that at all. Her stomach flipped and she resisted the urge to smile. Annabeth wasn't really ready to give anything away. Instead of saying anything, she leaned forward and kissed him. She figured that it would say more than actual words at this point.
If Percy had been shocked the first time they’d kissed, he was even more shocked the second time. The last thing he’d expected was for Annabeth to kiss him after how things had been between them for the last month and for a moment he wondered if they weren’t compelled again, but then he realized that, unlike when they had kissed before, he was able to overthink it, which meant they definitely weren’t compelled.
Once Percy was a little less shocked about Annabeth kissing him, he returned the kiss, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek.
There was a brief moment when she had thought she had made a mistake kissing him again. Not because she didn't want to, but because it seemed to take him a second. She smiled a little when he finally seemed to get over the shock of her kiss. Eventually, Annabeth sat back and gently pinched his arm.
“Why didn't you say so before?” She asked exasperated. “I spent all of break thinking all sorts of terrible things.”
Just like Percy hadn’t been expected the kiss, he also hadn’t been expecting her to pinch him, “Ow!” He rubbed his arm and frowned slightly, “Have you met me? I overthink things and worry and I’m not very good at the whole talking part.” Except when it came to times like this.
“I think we know that answer,” she said with an eye roll. He had a point, but that didn't mean she wasn't still frustrated by it. To sort of make up for the violent reaction, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “It's just me.” Annabeth shrugged and looked down at her hands. “What does this mean?” She picked her head up to look at him. Annabeth had never really been in this situation before.
Percy felt his cheeks flush as Annabeth kissed him again and he knew that she would notice it when he looked at her, “I’m not really sure. I mean, maybe we could….get something to eat? If you’re not busy.” He wanted to ask Annabeth out, but he thought that hanging out as friends first would be the best idea after the way things had been for the last month.
Annabeth just smiled at him. This whole situation was new and strange to her, but she didn't mind. Her own cheeks were flushed, but she did her best to ignore it. “Lucky for you I need to eat.” She stood up and turned to look at him. “What did you have in mind?” She wasn't sure where they would go since they were on campus, but she didn't mind.