Chapter Text
Annabeth loved her brain. Most days.
Most days her brain provided her with cunning plans, fantastic ideas, and generally wonderful information. Her memory retention was a bit better than the other ADHD demigods around her, for which she was eternally grateful. Even something as small as “where did I leave my cup again?” was easy to frustrate others if she wasn’t there to help out. So yeah. Even on the days where she had to reread a textbook five times to get what it was telling her, or force Percy to body double so she would actually do her laundry, Annabeth generally loved her brain. All of it’s little quirks included.
Except.
The intrusive thoughts.
They had started when Percy first disappeared, but didn’t quite go away after he was found. These momentary shocks of thoughts unknown to her brain kept Annabeth on edge- on top of flying across the world to save said world from Gaea. She would just have these days where everything was just that much harder because of these stupid f*cking thoughts.
She piled her clothes into the dryer as Percy sat by the laundry room doorway, fiddling with the strings of his blue hoodie. She glanced over as she finished, closing the dryer door.
‘What if slam your hand into the dryer door?’ Rang into her mind, an unfriendly visitor that kicked off it’s shoes and decided to stay a while. ‘Remember that time you slammed your hand into the car door by accident? Remember what that felt like?’ Except the second thought was closer to the remembrance of pain that she felt, the flash of the car door closing onto her hand. Annabeth shook her head violently, trying to disperse the thoughts physically.
For a second, her mind cleared. She took a deep breath. Percy looked up, smiling at her from the floor.
‘What if you don’t actually find him attractive? What if you hate him?’ Annabeth’s stomach sank, and her legs followed suit. She crawled over to Percy, sinking into his arms as he automatically opened up to his partner.
“What’s up, Annie?” He asked, voice ebbing like the sea. “You okay?” And he was so soft. His hoodie was soft, his black hair soft as it drifted onto her forehead, Annabeth finding home in Percy’s chest, between his legs. He laid his head on top of hers, wrapping his arms fully around the blonde.
“No,” she replied, muffled by the fabric of his sweatshirt. “I hate my f*cking head.” She bit out, throat burning.
‘Remember the feeling of slamming your hand in the car door?’ Her head replied. On loop. On loop. On loop, the memory replayed. Annabeth buried her head deeper into Percy’s chest.
“Oh love, don’t say that,” his chest thrummed with his voice. “Your mind has gotten us out of so many jams. I love your mind,” he kissed her forehead, and Annabeth didn’t feel like she deserved it.
“Can I tell you something, that you can’t repeat to anyone else?” And he could feel his head nod. “Not even your mom?”
There was a moment of hesitation, a breath that Annabeth recognized as concern.
“Yeah, Beth. What’s up?”
Annabeth heaved in a heavy breath. ‘What if you actually hate him?’
“Sometimes I get these thoughts, that I don’t wanna have,” she began. ‘Remember the feeling of a Razor Scooter hitting the back of your ankles when you were a kid?’
“Mhm?” Percy added, running a hand over her curls. Annabeth took another deep breath. ‘What if you actually hate him?’
“Like, bad ones, Percy.” She raises her head, locking eyes with him. “Ones that make me feel like I’m a bad person, or that I shouldn’t be thinking these things at all. Ones that make me feel sick.”
Percy just nodded, keeping eye contact. “That sounds like it would be hard to deal with,” he swallowed. “That would leave me feeling pretty drained.”
Annabeth could, unfortunately, feel tears brimming her eyes. ‘What if you actually don’t find him attractive? What if you’ve been lying to him?’
“It is draining. It’s so f*cking draining, Percy.”
“Wanna talk about them?”
“What?” And out of all of the options, she hadn’t guessed Percy would go with that one. “You, you want to know what they are?”
Percy shrugged. “I mean, if it would help you deal with them. If not, that’s okay. We can just sit, too. Or hey, we could go watch a movie- I think Leo snagged a copy of Hoodwinked. I haven’t watched that in forever…” He trailed off, lost in thought. But then he brought his eyes back to Annabeth, cradling her cheek. “Point is, whatever you need. I’m here, Wise Girl.”
Annabeth swallowed the frog in her throat. “I think I’d wanna watch a movie? Something where we could just talk through it, not have to think so much?”
Percy nodded, kissing her forehead. “Of course, let’s go do that.”
‘What if you actually hate him?’ Her voice sprang back at her. To which Annabeth took a breath, grabbed Percy’s hand, and thought, ‘You’re just a thought. You’re not reality.’ As they rose together off of the floor, socked feet beginning to pad through the Argo II on their way to spend more quality time together. Thoughts, or no thoughts.
