(AN: Hey guys, I'm back with another one, this is more of an 'outside watchers' than a 'people meet percabeth' but oh well. It's sort of an AU set just after the end of The House of Hades, so spoilers if you haven't read that. I'm sorry if this is out of character, I haven't read the HoO series in forever. Also, I like the detail that Annabeth and Percy still have the grey hairs from holding up the sky, even though I know that they faded. Enjoy!)

I begin to drift off, my head lolling against my chest. How bad could falling asleep be? I mean I know I'm supposed to be watching Percy and Annabeth, but they haven't moved in two days... No, I have to stay awake for them, I owe them that. 

I get up and walk towards them, they look horrible. When we first got them on the ship, they were covered in so much dust and grime that we could barely see their skin. Cuts still riddle their skin, so deep in some places that we could see bones. They look so scary and thin, like skeletons of their past selves. I burst into tears, how could you go through what they did and still be okay? were they ever really going to be okay?

I hear footsteps running down the hallway, great. I've woken everyone up with my sobs. Jason comes in first, his face worried. When he sees me sobbing he wraps his arms around me, holding me together. As everyone files into the room, we stand there silently, hoping that Annabeth and Percy are going to be okay. That's when something loud clangs from the boiler room, and Annabeth sits straight up. Her eyes are dark and stormy as she searches for a weapon, any weapon. When she finds none she looks up.

"Where is Percy?" she says, her voice low and quiet.

None of us answer. 

"WHERE IS PERCY?" she yells, worry beginning to seep into her voice. Jason is the first to snap out of his shock.

"Annabeth, he's right next to you..." 

"No, he's not... where is he? Percy? PERCY? Percy..." 

She begins to sob. It's only then that I notice how her eyes are glazed over, like they would if she was sleepwalking. She must be dreaming, no wonder she can't find Percy.

I jump into action, "guys, what do we do? How are we supposed to help her?" but before we can do anything, Percy's eyes fly open. He sits straight up like he hasn't been in a coma for two days! As he steps out of the bed, some of his cuts beginning to open again. He envelopes her in his arms and starts whispering in her ear. She eventually begins to calm down, quietly sobbing into Percy's arms. That's when we leave, hoping that they will be okay. 

***

The next morning when we wake up, Percy and Annabeth are already sitting at the kitchen table, smiling proudly even though they look exhausted. It suddenly hits me that things are going to take a while to get back to normal, Percy and Annabeth look like they're about to collapse from exhaustion, and that's only from walking from the infirmary to the kitchen. We're supposed to be fighting Gaea in a couple of weeks and these two look like they couldn't even make it out of the ship. 

But as Annabeth leans over to kiss Percy, I remember something important. The only reason they're alive today is that they have each other, and with time, they will get better.

(AN: I'm so fricking sorry for the absolout shitshow that was this chapter, I will do better. It was really short, I didn't have a plot, and piper was super outa character. On another note, I'm going to do one based on a youtube video of percabeth, but I don't want to do the usual 'boyfriend tag'. Does anyone know a cute couple challenge/video thing? Thanks for 1.6K, I really appreciate you guys so much. Iris 🌈)