Archive of Our Own ^beta

Freshman year of college

Annabeth hated three things about her life. The cold, the fact that she couldn't keep a boyfriend for more than a couple of months, and her eight a.m. classes.

First off, it was winter in New York. And the rest of the northern hemisphere, but that's aside the point.

Annabeth had no control over the snow that had to be at least a foot (30 cm) tall, and the air was freezing. There wasn't much wind, thank goodness, the buildings serving as good windblocks.

Annabeth's first investment that winter was a heavy winter coat.

Now she isn't cold.

Holding a boyfriend for more than a month was harder than she thought it would be. She's gone on her fair share of dates and had her share of boyfriends. She dated them until she realized that she didn't actually like them, breaking up with them as soon as she figured out what she wanted.

Annabeth had control over this, it wasn't her fault that every guy she tried dating was a bland potato.

She sometimes wonders if she even likes men.

She was utterly single, and maybe she was suffering a little fear of missing out, but that was probably just her other problems.

Her eight a.m. class is completely her fault. She thought she would make it, after all, she did it in high school.

Annabeth quickly learned that it was a bad idea, and only attended the mandatory classes. After all, she was studying to become a math teacher and the class was for basic elementary math, a subject she had passed and remembered clearly.

Annabeth had a date tonight, with some guy her friend Piper had set her up with. Hopefully, it went well, but she was seriously starting to doubt her friend.

...

Percy was doing good in his college classes. Snow had fallen the night before, the perfect texture to make a snowman. He would have to do that with his little sister later.

He wanted to become an elementary teacher ever since his sophomore year of high school. All it took was one good teacher and he knew that's what he wanted to be when he was older.

Percy knew, without a doubt, that he didn't want a girlfriend. He had a couple of long-term girlfriends. Rachel from freshman to junior year of high school, and Calypso from senior year until a couple of months ago. When he found out that Calypso had cheated on him with some twerp named Leo, he swore off love.

He'd never been in love though, so what did he know?

All he knew was that his scholarship was depending on him keeping up his grades, and he couldn't afford any distractions.

Somehow, his cousin's girlfriend Piper convinced him to go out with some girl from her advanced mathematics class.

If this didn't go well, he wasn't going to waste his time on anyone else.

(He couldn't help crossing his fingers and hoping that this date went well.)

...

Annabeth was ten minutes early. Piper told her the restaurant she was going to meet the guy, Percy Jackson, at an Olive Garden not too far from her house. She was wearing a red knee-length dress that she had thrifted years ago, using one of her thicker black belts to sinch the waist in.

They were to start the date at six o'clock sharp. Annabeth checked the time on her phone.

5:54 pm

Jackson wasn't even late yet, but she was getting impatient.

Annabeth really needed to stop overthinking.

The door opened and a young-looking guy with dark messy hair and light blue-green eyes walked in. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt and black dress pants. He looked around for a second before he saw Annabeth.

"Are you Annabeth Chase?" He asked, extending his hand for a handshake.

"Yeah. Percy Jackson?" She shook his hand.

"You got it," his hand fell to his side. "Let's go get a table, shall we?"

"Yeah."

As the hostess led them to a table, Annabeth tried to start a conversation once they sat down across from each other.

"So," she started. "What are you majoring in?"

"Education. You?"

"Same! I'm trying to specify in being a math teacher, how about you?"

"General elementary subjects. I want to make a safe space for kids so that they can be excited about going. I want to give them something I didn't experience until high school, you know?" The way he talked about teaching was admirable. He really wanted to give these kids a good education.

"Yeah. My math teacher in high school was really good, I loved how he taught. I want to give the next generation the same experience."

"My math teacher was really good too, where'd you go the high school?"

"Goode, what about you?"

"A lot of places, but I was at Goode for my freshman and sophomore years."

"Why'd you go to so many places?" Annabeth asked. This guy was interesting so far, but so were the other bland guys she'd dated.

"You know how it goes, a kid with ADHD and dyslexia can't focus and causes trouble. Got kicked out of class, then eventually schools. I went to ten different ones, I think."

"Wow. That's a lot of schools. Were you even in New York at that point?"

"Well, I lived in Manhattan my whole life. So I had to stay on the island, you know?"

"Yeah, I lived in Virginia, then New York, then California, then back to New York sophomore year."

"Dang, I hated moving schools, but different states? I don't think I could've handled that."

"It was rough, moving cross country so many times, but I plan to stick around for a while," she smiled at him, genuinely liking this guy.

The waitress came back and took their orders.

After she left, Percy resumed the conversation.

"How did you like California?" He asked.

"Well, I did like the weather. I missed the snow, though. There's just something magical about New York that California didn't have, you know?"

"Yeah, I kinda always felt that too. I mean, it is, like, the second most romantic city in the world."

"What's the first?" She asked because she genuinely didn't know a place less romantic than a city filled with smog and trash.

"Paris, obviously. I've always wanted to go to France after college. Or for college."

"Why didn't you?"

"Can't speak French." He said, plain and simple. "They had programs for English speakers, but it was in the wrong field. It really was too bad, but there wasn't much I could as a guy who could only speak one language."

"You could've gone to Quebec, picked up that French while also having the safety net of English speakers, and then gone to France when you were fluent."

He stared at her blankly for a second. "I guess I never thought about that. I did decide to try and learn it on my own though."

The waitress came with their food. She gave Percy his cheeseburger and fries, and Annabeth her house salad, which was essentially a chef salad with a different name. They thanked the waitress and she left to go tend other tables.

Annabeth stole one of the fries off of Percy's plate. "These are pretty good, you should try them."

"I didn't know we were stealing each other's food on the first date," he complained, grabbing one of the tomato slices from her salad.

"Jokes on you, I don't even like tomatoes!" Annabeth was excited. She hadn't had this much fun on a date in a really long time.

...

When Percy got home that night, he was giddy with excitement and practically glowing with joy.

His phone rang and he answered without even looking at the number.

"Hey."

"How was your date? Did it go well? Do you like her? Was she pretty? Were you-"

"Piper, one question at a time. You know my brain forgets more than one question at a time," he said, too happy to be annoyed.

"Okay, did you like her?" She asked, slowing down her words. Whether to annoy him or mock him, he wasn't sure.

"Yes. Oh my god, yes! She's so smart and pretty and she studies the same area that I study, is it too early to want to work at the same school as her so I can see her all the time?" He sat on his bed.

"And you say I ramble," Piper said, laughing on the other line. "So you like her, then? That's pretty good. How'd the date go?"

"So freaking good. I think it's the best first date I've ever been on. She and I just like clicked. It was amazing, you should've been there, Piper."

"I wish I was! The way you talk about it! Oh- hold on I'm getting another call, call me back later okay? I've got to take this."

The line went dead and Percy flopped onto his bed, facing the ceiling. A faint smile was on his lips and for the first time in a long time, Percy was happy.

...

Annabeth wanted nothing more than to skip her eight a.m. class, but today was the midterm and she had to go or her grade would plummet and she would fail. She couldn't afford to fail. Literally, she would lose her scholarships if she failed.

Her date with Percy was still on her mind, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to focus.

Sure, it had gone well and she had a good time, but what if he was putting up a front? What if he wasn't as nice on the second date? What if he didn't actually like her?

She allowed herself ten seconds to breathe and focus.

They had scheduled a second date tonight since the first one went so well. He wouldn't have agreed to a second one if he didn't like her, at least a little.

With that in mind, she went to class and took her midterm with only slight thoughts about Percy.

...

"Do you want to be my girlfriend? I know it's really soon, and we've only been on a couple of dates, but-" Percy was cut off by Annabeth kissing him.

"Yes, I want to be your girlfriend," she said. They were sitting in his car in front of her dorm after their fourth date, but Annabeth didn't really want to go home quite yet.

She leaned her head against his chest over the center console, not the most comfortable, but she'd had worse.

She wanted to be with him longer than any of her other relationships, maybe even years long.

They had talked extensively about the future and the possibility of having kids, getting married, and moving in together. What to do if the other got upset and how to handle arguments.

If anything, Annabeth was going into this relationship over-prepared.

Sophomore year

Annabeth loved three things about her life.  The warmth spring brought, her boyfriend of a year and a half, and her child psychology class.

First off, the warmth. It was the perfect temperature where you could wear a sweater if you wanted, but you'd be fine if you didn't.

Second off, her boyfriend. They had met on a blind date a month before they started officially dating, and Annabeth was the happiest she'd ever been.

Third, the child psychology class. It was a mandatory class she had to take as part of her education major, but she loved it. Psychology had always been fascinating to her, and learning about it was a lot of fun and Annabeth found herself excited to go to class.

She was fully in love with Percy Jackson and the happiest she'd ever been.

They had moved into an apartment together a couple of weeks before school started, not too far from campus but not close enough to feel like they weren't escaping school.

And Percy? He wasn't doing too bad either.