Archive of Our Own ^beta

It's the right thing to do , Annabeth thought over and over while she separated her curls into two braids.

“Your hair will grow healthier and you won’t have as many headaches,” she said to her reflection in the mirror while she finished the braids.

Her hair was long , ridiculously long, almost touching her waist-long. It was so heavy that the ends weren't even curly, just wavy and screaming to be trimmed. It was probably close to a year since the last time she got a haircut, and it had been just a small trim, barely a few centimeters shorter, and done by Piper.

The thing was, she loved her long hair but it was a bitch to maintain. So many special products and oils, it took hours to dry and the weight of her hair sometimes caused her head and neck aches. And that didn’t include the shedding, under normal circumstances she could find her hair everywhere around the house. And that led to the final reason  she was planning to cut her hair, one that, according to her app, was currently the size of a rutabaga (she had to google what fruit that was.) 

Annabeth Jackson was currently 25 weeks pregnant and yes her hair, while in desperate need of a trim, was currently looking fuller, thicker, and better than ever. Her app also told her this amazing hair wasn’t going to last and that she should be ready for massive hair loss during postpartum. Cutting her hair right now made sense really. It would take less time to manage, which would definitely be a plus for a future first time mom, by the time her daughter was born, it would be long enough to put in a quick bun and be done with it. And when the postpartum shedding comes, it wouldn’t be as bad as if her hair was at its current length. It was a win-win situation really and yet she wasn’t able to make the sip that would make her hair shorter.

“Babe, can you come for a little bit please?” Annabeth yelled and moments later her husband walked into their room. “I need you to cut my hair.”

“Okay,” Percy said but didn’t move towards her. The fact that he wasn’t phased by her request spoke volumes about how used he was to her pregnancy moods. “May I ask why?”

“Do you want the short answer or the long one?”

He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, a smile on his lips. “The one you want to tell me.”

“You know how my hair is everywhere?”

“Don’t I know.” 

“Well, it’s going to be worse once baby is here and I don’t want to deal with a newborn and long curly hair.”

“That’s fair.”

“So,” Annabeth extended her arm towards him, scissors in her hand. “Would you cut my hair?”

“If that’s what you want.” Percy walked towards her and took the scissors.

“Do you want me to sit?” 

He stood behind her, she was looking at their reflection in the mirror. After his last growth spurt in his teens, he had ended up being a few inches taller than her.

“Nah, this is okay.” Percy was about to cut the braid when he put the scissors down. “Your hair is too thick, can we make it in four braids instead?”

“Sure.” Before Annabeth could raise her hands Percy was already unbraiding her hair and started braiding it again. 

Once he had found out about Estelle he had decided that as an older brother he had to know how to braid hair and being the wonderful girlfriend she was, Annabeth had let him practice on her hair. It turned out Percy was really good at it, to the point that Annabeth usually asked him to do her hair on particularly humid days and for date nights or when she was feeling lazy. Percy had told her playing with her hair relaxed him so it was really a win-win situation for them.

“Is this okay? Or do you want to go shorter or longer?” Percy asked. Her hair was divided into four braids. Each braid had a hair tie around shoulder length and that’s where Percy would cut it. 

“Shorter, above my shoulders.”

He nodded and moved the hair ties. “Like this?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Okay, last chance to change your mind.”

Annabeth took a deep breath. While logically she knew it was a good choice, she loved her long hair and she was going to miss it. “Cut it.”

It had taken her weeks to reach that decision, and it had only taken Percy a few minutes with the scissors to make that decision final.

“It’s done, I think,” Percy said and put the scissors on the table next to freshly cut braids.

“Oh wow.” Annabeth looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was short, it didn’t even reach her shoulders short . She ran her fingers through it and was surprised at how fast she was touching air instead of hair. “This is definitely a change.”

“A good change?”

“I don’t hate it, so that’s a win.” Annabeth chuckled and shook her head. “It’s so light and bouncy, this is so weird.”

“I don’t think I have ever seen you with such short hair.”

“Excluding the hair cutting with a dagger disaster when I was eight, I don’t think I have ever had this length.” Not even after she had cut her hair at seventeen. Her hair had been in a bad state, falling out more often from her chronic state of stress and anxiety after Percy had been taken by Hera. And that combined, with accidentally burning the edges of her hair while drinking lava from the Phlegethon, well the only solution had been a really necessary haircut, and even that hadn’t been as dramatic as this.

Percy tsked. “I will forever be sad that no one took a picture of you back then.” 

“I, on the other hand, am relieved no one at camp immortalized my terrible haircut.” She turned to look at her husband. “Do you like it?”

“I do, but I might be biased because you are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“So you mean I should probably text Piper to ask her opinion then?”

Percy laughed. “I think you look amazing and beautiful and you are absolutely stunning.”

“At this moment? You think I look stunning at this moment?” Annabeth turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing black leggings and an oversized teal sweater that was not that oversized thanks to her bump.

“I mean, yeah.” Percy shrugged and Annabeth made a sound that was a mix of a sigh and a laugh.

“I’m going to take a selfie and send it to Piper.” She was about to start looking for her phone when she faced Percy again and bit her lips. “Can you say that again?”

Percy laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her as close as her bump would let him. “Annabeth Jackson, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and you look absolutely stunning with short hair.”

Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed dramatically. “I guess that text to Piper can wait.” She said and her lips met his.