Who: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase What: Hanging out at the pool When: Backdated: Mid August Where: Public Pool Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete!
Classes would be starting soon and Percy was dreading it. It wasn’t that Percy had been doing bad during his last two years of college or anything, but he preferred having free time and no deadlines and he knew that if he went into video games, like he was studying for, there would be plenty of deadlines in his future, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
No classes had also meant more hanging out with Annabeth, which he preferred doing when they weren’t doing homework, because they didn’t get to talk too much when they were studying. So that was why Percy had invited Annabeth to the pool on one of his day’s off. He had thought it would be fun to spend the day hanging out by the pool with her to get some quality time in before classes started.
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Annabeth was pretty excited about school starting again. She knew that this year meant more classes that focused solely on her major, and that was the one thing she couldn't wait for. Annabeth wanted to be done and building things. She had a legacy she wanted to start.
Plus, it gave her something else to think about. Recently, she had been researching the Greek gods. The potential for something to happen to Luke loomed over her and she wanted to do whatever she could to help. At the same time, it was exhausting to not have any answers. It was a cycle that she was wanting to break for a few minutes.
She was happy that Percy has asked her to meet him at the pool. There weren't many days like this left, and she wanted to spend what time she had with Percy. Her towel was wrapped in her hands as she made her way to the entrance of the pool, and looked around for Percy.
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Percy had gotten to the pool a little earlier than Annabeth in an attempt to get two pool chairs for them and luckily, since it wasn’t peak summer any longer, there were fewer people who came to the pool so there were more open chairs. He had just settled into one of them when he saw Annabeth walk in.
Getting to his feet, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called her name then waved in an attempt to get her attention. He really liked Annabeth and enjoyed spending time with her, so he was happy that she had agreed to come hang out with him.
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Annabeth spotted Percy from across the pool and smiled. She was going to miss these moments. As she walked closer to him, she made a promise to herself to still try and have moments like this more often. For annabeth, studying was important, but she was trying to remember how important her friendships were, too.
It was all very different for her.
Stopping in front of one of the chairs, she dropped her towel onto it and smiled. “It's not as crowded as I thought it was going to be, she said with a smile. “I hope you weren't waiting long.”
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“I guess as the summer starts to end more people go on vacation, so less people come swimming.” Percy had always thought most people went on summer vacations earlier in the summer as opposed to squeezing it in near the end, but either way it didn’t really make any difference to him and less people at the pool meant less noise, so it wouldn’t be difficult for him and Annabeth to hear each other and a small crowd meant that there was actually room to move around, “So, did you want to go in the water first or just hang out for awhile?” Percy didn’t know why he still got so nervous around Annabeth. It really didn’t make any sense, considering how long they had known each other and the fact that they had kissed even. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t 100% sure if she felt anything more than friends for him that made him so nervous.
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“Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I can't say that I mind having more space for us,” she said with a shrug. When annabeth had been growing up, vacations had never been crammed into the last few days of vacation. It was something she remembered fondly about her childhood. Not that she felt that way about a lot of things. Annabeth looked at Percy and then the water. “Let’s swim. It's hot out, and besides, we can hang out in the water.” She smiled at him. “It'll be the best of both worlds.”
Annabeth didn't notice any awkwardness, but it was probably because she was trying to not think about it. She felt like things were moving forward, but she also wasn't rushing things either. Sometimes she considered saying something, but for the time being she was just trying to enjoy the time they had together.
Without waiting any longer, she kicked off her shorts and pulled off her tank top before walking towards the edge of the pool.
Stopping at the edge, she turned around to look at Percy. “Coming?”
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Percy nodded, “Sounds like a plan to me,” He was just taking off his own shirt when Annabeth began taking off her shorts and tank top and he couldn’t help but stare just a little. Sure, he’d known that inviting Annabeth to the pool meant seeing her in her bathing suit, but he hadn’t been fully prepared to see just so much bare skin. He also hadn’t expected to be caught staring and he felt his cheeks flush slightly as Annabeth turned towards him, “Y...Yeah, I am.” A little embarrassed, Percy dropped his shirt on one of the chairs then followed Annabeth to the edge of the pool, trying not to stare again.
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Annabeth smiled back at Percy, taking a minute to look at him a little longer than normal. Her face flushed, but she did her best to play it off. She leaned into him for a second, contemplating pushing him in. “Do you think it's cold?” She asked with a small tilt of her head? Her foot went forward to touch the top of the water. Turning her body towards him some she held a hand out to him. “Together?”
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“It’s not usually too cold. I mean, it is sitting in the sun all day.” Percy smirked at Annabeth then glanced down at her hand. He hesitated only a moment before reaching over and lacing their fingers together and squeezing her hand lightly, “Ready?” There weren’t too many people on their side of the pool so he didn’t have to worry about accidently jumping onto anyone.
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Annabeth rolled her eyes at him. “But the bottom of the pool might be cold! The top is deceiving,” she said very matter-of-factly. When he took her hand, she scooted closer to him. In a way, this whole together thing felt very familiar. Like they'd done this a thousand times before. Albeit jumping into a pool was a lot less dangerous than fighting monsters. “Ready,” she said with a squeeze of his hand. Annabeth could only hope he really jumped on with her.
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And he did jump with her.
It was strange, despite knowing that he was able to breath underwater, Percy still took a deep breath before jumping and only when when was under the water did he let it out. It was the strangest feeling, being able to breathe while submerged in water without any assistance, but he was getting used to it.
The other thing he was getting used to was the fact that he seemed to mostly only stay completely dry when he was fully dressed. If he was showering or swimming, he would get wet. He wasn’t sure if this was something his subconscious did; knowing when he should and shouldn’t stay dry or what, but as it was, it just seemed to happen without him even thinking about it. Coming back up to the surface, he pushed brown hair away from his eyes and glanced around for Annabeth.
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Annabeth wasn't nearly as lucky. She had zero water powers, and sometimes it bummed her out. At least she had her hat.
Surfacing, she took a deep breath and made sure to push the hair from her eyes. She turned around to look at Percy, and smiled. She hunkered down a little and floated just under the water in front of him. “How long have you lasted under water? Have you tried?” Annabeth had a million questions about how this all worked.
Those two questions were the easiest to ask. The rest of the things swirling around her head were far more complicated, and she wasn't sure she was ready to ask them. Her dreams were still happening, and the more they happened, the more she worried.
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Percy watched Annabeth as she surfaced and floated around in front of him, “I haven’t really timed myself lately. I just know that I can stay under more or less as long as I want. I mean, it’s like breathing air when I’m under, so it’s not like I have to hold my breath or anything.” He still didn’t understand how it worked, because he wasn’t breathing the actual water; he was breathing despite the water.
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“That must feel weird.” Annabeth couldn't imagine being underwater like that. She had a feeling she might have panicked for a little while. “This whole thing is weird. It's weird to be friends with people and watch all of this happen.” She was clearly referring to Luke and everything that came with that.
“Do you ever wonder what else will cross over? What else might happen?” Thalia had turned into a tree. Annabeth knew that anything could happen at any moment.
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Percy knew that Annabeth was worried about Luke and he understood that and tried not to get jealous, because it wasn’t like anything was going to happen between them since Luke was with Thalia. “I think that no matter what happens, we’ll be okay.” He reached for her hand in the water and gave it a reassuring squeeze, “And I do wonder that sometimes. I just hope that the Titans and monsters and things stay in the dreams and don’t think about coming here.” He knew, even as he said it, that something like that always tended to bring on the bad stuff in movies and TV shows, but Percy had to hope that nothing crazier from their dreams would happen.
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“I hope so.” Because what else could she say? “I still feel like I need to do something. Anything.” The whole sitting around while her friends were hurting wasn't sitting right with her. Annabeth didn't let go of his hand when he squeezed it. Instead, she used it to pull herself closer to him. “We probably just jinxed ourselves. Something will probably pop up just to spite us now.” She'd already had this conversation with Nico. “At least we’ll be expecting it, right? Better to be prepared.”
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As Annabeth pulled herself closer to him, Percy had the sudden urge to kiss her. He’d been wanting to kiss Annabeth again for quite some time and now seemed like the right time, “Probably, but whatever happens, we’ll take it on together.” Without thinking too much about it, so as not to talk himself out of it, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Annabeth’s.
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Annabeth didn't have time to say anything, but she didn't mind. This was a perfect distraction, and these sorts of moments seemed so few and far between. She made a mental note to make sure it happened more often. Sliding her hand from his she slipped both her arms around his neck, and pulled herself closer as she kissed him back. When she finally needed air, she pulled away from him, but rested her forehead against his. “I like the sound of together, seaweed brain,” she said before kissing him quickly one more time.