Hey, guys! I'm back with a non-crack fic! I have a Christmas themed one shot I'm still working on. I was going to have it out sooner, like by Christmas, but some things came up so I wasn't able to do that.

Before anyone reads this chapter, I just want to say I don't have any trauma, so I don't personally know how people deal with it or if it comes in swings like I write in this chapter. I apologize if I offend anyone, that was not my intent. And the title is sarcastic, as you will find out the further you read. Trauma is not funny at all.

This is based before HoO, so Percy and Annabeth are still new to dating.

WARNING: Talk of trauma and child abuse

Enjoy!

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Percy opens his bedroom door after coming home from a tiring day at school, only to find his girlfriend of three months laying on the floor with her legs propped up against his bed. His heart thumps wildly in his chest at just the sight of her. Her wild blonde curls fan out around her, and even though she's only wearing plain black leggings and his swim team hoodie, he still thinks she looks absolutely gorgeous.

"Hey," he greets and shuts the door behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom let me in," she mutters nonchalantly while tossing one of his blue stress balls up in the air and catching it repeatedly. He watches her with furrowed eyebrows. She keeps her eyes strained on the ceiling, her lips pressing into a thin white line, something she only does when she's either stressed or upset. He hadn't done anything to upset her, had he? Their relationship is still so new, and he's terrified of doing the wrong thing and messing it up.

"You know what I mean. It's a weekday." Percy sits down on his bed, cross legged, and stares down at her worriedly. He decides it's probably best not to mention anything about her tense shoulders or off behavior, and pulls his school books out from his backpack instead. She finally looks up at him, only to roll her eyes, and he sticks his tongue out at her in retaliation.

"I come over here on weekdays," she says and throws the stress ball at him. It hits his shoulder and he gasps in feign hurt, grasping his faintly aching shoulder, and falls back onto the bed. She chuckles softly at his antics but shrieks loudly when he chucks it back at her, hitting her directly on her upper arm. She curls her fingers around it where it landed a few inches away and resumes throwing it up and catching it.

"Rarely," he says with a roll of his eyes.

"Not my fault," she sighs, clutching the stress ball tighter.

Percy nods. "I know, I know. School and rebuilding Olympus, I get it."

Annabeth gives him a grateful smile. "But I did come over last Thursday."

"You did," he says, "but then you made me study the entire time."

"Then you shouldn't have called me, asking me to come help you study."

"I didn't think you'd actually do it!"

Her face scrunches in confusion. "Um, why? Hello, child of Athena here?"

"Okay, shut up. Or I'll hit you with a pillow," he threatens.

She arches an eyebrow. "A pillow? Please, I've been through worse."

The smile he sported slowly fades. He looks down at her shoulder where the scar from the knife she's taken for him hides underneath her (his) sweatshirt. She'd meant it as a joke, he knows, but it's sad how true her words are. And in a way, it's not funny. Not when she almost died taking those sacrifices.

"Perce?" Annabeth asks and follows his gaze. "Oh."

Her voice sounds far away and underwater. He's looking right at her, fully aware she's okay, but his vision blurs and all he can see is her covered in blood, laying on the ground in a puddle of red as he swings his sword wildly, screaming at everyone to get back. Kronos' laugh plays in the distance and he jerks away, falling back into reality.

"-ercy? Are you okay?" Annabeth's asking as he blinks out of the flashback.

He forces a smile and flips through his Geometry textbook. "Yeah. Why?"

"You spaced out," she explains, sitting up, and sets her hand over his on the bed.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking about the horrors of geometry!" he lies with a weak chuckle, squeezing her hand once before grabbing a pencil from his backpack. He taps the eraser against the textbook page and huffs out a breath. "See? I'm already scared!"

She stares at him with raised eyebrows. Yeah, she definitely does not believe him, like at all, but she doesn't press any further, and for that he's grateful. "Whatever you say," she mutters, rising to her feet, and she presses a soft kiss to his cheek before grabbing her own backpack resting against the doorframe. She plops herself down at his desk, spinning around in the chair just for fun, and he can't help but laugh. "Get back to your geometry, seaweed brain," she says when the sound reaches her ears.

"At your command, wise girl," he throws back sarcastically, but finishes up his current problem.

They work individually in a comfortable silence for about ten minutes until the silence itself becomes unbearable. It's like an opening for the memories of the past summer to seep into his already crowded mind. He reaches over into the drawer of his nightstand and takes out a Led Zeppelin CD, slipping it into the CD player, but he keeps the volume low so as to not disrupt Annabeth from whatever she's doing.

"Hey, 'Beth?" he calls over to her after another couple minutes. She hums in response but doesn't turn around. "There's this problem- can you help?"

"I can try," she says and saunters over to him, looking down at the open textbook.

"This one." He taps his pencil eraser on the number twelve.

Her grey eyes scan over the words a few times. "Okay, so, 3x+11 on this triangle over here is equal to 5x-8 on this triangle," she explains and nudges him so she can squeeze onto the bed beside him, plucking the pencil out of his hands. She writes the numbers down on his notebook paper. "So, set them equal to each other like this then subtract 3x from both sides, so you'd get 11= 2x-8."

"Is that the answer?" Percy asks.

Annabeth shakes her head. "No. Do you want me to keep going?"

"Can you do this one? And I'll do part b?"

"Sure." She shrugs and looks between the textbook and the notebook. "All right. Now, you'd add eight to both sides, leaving you with... 19-2x. Wait, no. 19=2x. Divide that by two and..." she trails off to grab his calculator from the foot of the bed and punches in the equation. "And the final answer is x=9.5!"

"Okay, I think I've got it," he says and Annabeth hands him the pencil. She doesn't leave right away, staying to watch him work through this problem, and quite honestly, he doesn't want her to leave. He likes the comfort her presence gives him, and also, he's pretty sure he's in love with her. "Okay, um, does it matter what order I put them in?"

She looks at the problem. "No, they're equal to each other, so it shouldn't."

He nods and writes the equation down. "So, 4y-7 is equal to 2y-1?"

"Exactly," she confirms with a proud smile.

"I then would add... no, subtract 2y from both sides, right?" he asks hesitantly, but lets out a breath of relief when she nods against his shoulder. He then makes a split second decision to just work it out then have her look it over once he's finished. He then adds 7 to both sides, leaving him with 2y=6, and he divides 2 from both sides. His final answer is y=3. He tilts the notebook so Annabeth can see.

She looks over it. "Great job, Percy. See, I told you, you're smart. You just doubt yourself."

His heart pounds harder and he kisses her temple. "Thanks. Help me with another one?"

"Try it by yourself, then I'll look over it again, okay?"

"Okay," he agrees.

Annabeth slides off his bed and starts over to his desk where she'd been working on homework before he called her over. She makes it not even a full foot when her hair shifts and leaves her neck exposed, and Percy notices a nasty red gash that certainly wasn't there the last time he saw her. Not to mention, it looks far too fresh to be from last weekend. He wonders if this is why she's been so tense today.

He reaches out and curls his fingers around her wrist, stopping her. She turns around with a frown on her face, but a question in her eyes. "Hey, what's-"

A knock coming from the other side of his door cuts him off. He lets her go as the doorknob turns and his mom pushes through the doorway a moment later, a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in hand, and a smile tugging at her lips.

"Hey, kids! I brought you guys a little snack while you finish up homework," she says cheerily and sets the plate on the TV stand next to the door. "Oh- and Paul went out to buy some frozen pizzas for dinner. I hope that's all right?" she looks at Annabeth first who nods. "Great! And I did tell him to get olive just for you, dear. Percy, stop. You haven't even tried olive pizza."

He snaps his mouth closed. "Is he getting anything other than olive?"

"Yes, dear. Sausage and pepperoni."

"Oh, good. I thought I was going to be tortured with olive pizza tonight," he says dramatically.

Annabeth scrunches her nose up as she looks at him. "I might pull an uno reverse card and smack you with a pillow."

His mom chuckles. "Okay, well, I leave you two to it!" She gives him another smile before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

"You can threaten me all you want, but in front of my mom- that's just embarrassing."

"You threatened me first!"

"Only because you're the annoying one."

"Nope. That would be you."

"How?"

"Only annoying people don't like olives on their pizza."

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret," Percy says and Annabeth leans in closer. "My mom doesn't like olives on her pizza. She was just being nice. So you technically just called my mother annoying."

Annabeth huffs. "Everyone but you isn't annoying."

"I see how it is," Percy says, but his lips twitch upwards. "You find joy in making fun of me."

"You make fun of me too just for entertainment," Annabeth shoots back.

"And where is your proof?"

"Grover told me."

"No, he did not. He would never betray me in such a way."

"Well, he did. Shall I plan his funeral?"

"Maybe," Percy mutters. "Nah, I love him too much."

"Should- should I go get him?" she asks teasingly. "If you love him so much, why not trade me for him?"

Percy rolls his eyes. "Now you're just being ridiculous."

"Great, you're rubbing off on me."

"You sound offended."

"I am."

"Ouch."

Annabeth laughs when he falls back onto the bed dramatically. The bed dips down by his knees and someone lays down beside him, and he can't help but smile when her arms slide around his middle, her face burying into his chest, and he feels her shoulders still shaking with laughter. He lifts his arm off his face and turns onto his side, wrapping it around Annabeth's shoulders, his hand splayed across her shoulder blade.

He and Annabeth have only been together for about three months- easily the best three months of his life- but they've already gotten pretty comfortable with each other. When they first started dating, Percy was afraid it was going to be awkward and uncomfortable, with being friends for four years and all, but they surprisingly had an easy transition from friends to lovers. At first, snuggling was a little... weird. Neither of them knew where to lay or put their arms, but within a couple weeks they figured it out, and Percy soon learned that Annabeth is a huge cuddle bug- but she'll never admit it.

"What were you going to say before your mom came in?" Annabeth mumbles.

"What- oh," Percy says, remembering. "There's- there's a gash on your neck."

Her hand instinctively reaches up to cover the back of her neck. "Yeah?"

"When did you get it?" he asks, grabbing the hand covering the wonder and lacing their fingers.

"Um, earlier today," she admits, squeezing his hand. "Why?"

"No reason, really. You just didn't say anything about a monster attack."

She pulls her face away from his chest to meet his eyes. "Am I supposed to?"

His eyes widened. "No! That's not what I meant. I just-"

"You just what?"

"I hate seeing you hurt." His eyes are glued to hers as he unwraps his hand from around her so he can touch the area of her shoulder where the scar is. "I can't stop thinking about it," he whispers, almost brokenly.

There's a long tick of silence as she stares at him, unblinking. He swears he can hear their heartbeats synchronize through the quiet atmosphere, but then she's shuffling closer and stuttering out a breath, burying her face in his neck, and she clutches a fistfull of his shirt for comfort. "Me neither," she breathes.

He squeezes his eyes shut and holds her tight against him. "It's not fair."

She shakes her head, her curls tickling his cheek. "It isn't."

"Do you think we should talk about it?"

"The war won't leave us, no matter how much we talk about it."

"No," He agrees, "but, maybe, it will take our minds off it."

She tightens her hold on him for a second. "Okay."

"Okay?" He asks just to make sure.

"Okay!" she whisper-shouts in frustration.

"Okay."

"Stop it with the okays."

"Oka- anyway, how do we talk about it?"

Annabeth takes a deep breath. "I don't know. I- I've never really talked about it with anyone."

"Well, me neither," Percy reminds her. "You know what might help?"

"What?"

"Those cookies my mom brought in."

"They definitely will. Go get them."

He smiles weakly and detaches himself from her, immediately missing the contact. He crosses the room and grabs the plate of cookies off the TV stand. He pauses the CD player on his way back to the bed, the room becoming even more silent. It makes him uneasy. He joins Annabeth back on the bed. She's sitting against the headboard, patting down her frizzy curls, and he sets the cookies down between them.

"Should I go first?" he offers, grabbing a cookie and taking a bite.

"Sure," she says quietly and his heart clenches at her red rimmed eyes.

"Before I came to camp," he begins, "my mom got married when I was three to an absolute pig. He drank constantly, always played poker and gambled with his equally as nasty friends. He had no respect for my mom or any woman, but he wasn't only disrespectful." He takes a deep breath and Annabeth squeezes his hand. He's told her a little bit about Smelly Gabe, but he'd purposely left out the huge details. But he thinks she deserves to know now. "He- well, he started by stealing my money for his poker games. The money I earned. Maybe by not doing the right things, but I still earned it."

"The secret candy stash in your dorm?" she asks. "Grover told me."

"Does he tell you all my secrets?" he asks, partially offended.

"Maybe." She shrugs and hides a smile behind a cookie.

"Anyway," he stresses. "He would threaten to punch my lights out if I ever told my mom what he was doing. But stealing money wasn't good enough for him. On days when my mom worked late, he'd get drunk and... hit me. Hard. Really hard. One time he threw a beer bottle at my head, and I needed stitches. I told my mom I fell at the skatepark." He parts his air where the scar is on the side of his head and Annabeth leans up to look, her fingertips brushing against the bumpy flesh gently. "Yeah, and he had this pocket knife-"

Annabeth places her hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "Percy."

"Yeah?"

"You don't need to tell me all the details. I- I won't make you do that."

Percy nods, grateful that she understands how hard this is to talk about. "It wasn't until my mom and I were leaving for Montauk- the night I came to camp- that I found out he'd been hitting my mom too. At school that day I learned the warding off evil sign from Grover and I used it on him before we left."

Annabeth screws her eyes shut and leans her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, don't be." He leans his head on hers. "And, I guess, when I got to camp, I was filled with this false hope that everything was going to get better. I had a chance to make more friends, a chance to start a new life. But then my mom- my mom got taken, and I was sent on that quest, and it was exciting, but at the same time... I knew this life wasn't going to be perfect. The more quests I went on, the more I started hating the gods for what they were putting us through. And when you got stabbed... that was the last straw.

"I didn't fight the war for the gods. I fought for the people I care about. My mom, Paul, Grover, you, and everyone at camp. If I hadn't fought, who knows what would have happened? Would my mom still be here? Would you even be here with me?" Percy shakes his head. Annabeth stays silent beside him, but he doesn't mind. He'd rather her just listen. "But the gods didn't deserve anyone to fight for them."

Outside, thunder rumbles.

Annabeth humorlessly chuckles. "You're lucky you weren't blasted."

"I did their dirty work for years," Percy murmurs. "The lest they can do is not blast me."

"Zeus needs to put on his big boy pants. Maybe keep his you-know-what inside his pants too."

Percy barks out a laugh. "Did I ever tell you that I think he looks like a hippie?"

She snorts. "Honestly, I see it."

His smile isn't forced as he looks down at her lovingly, brushing the baby hairs away from her forehead with his fingertips. She'd shifted to laying on her side during their conversation, and now she's looking up at him with those grey eyes he'd fallen in love with. He almost forgets they were previously talking about their past trauma. Almost.

He clears his throat. "Um, I wouldn't say I regret fighting in the war, but I wish we didn't have to fight in the first place. It haunts me more than I want to admit, and in more ways than one. I- I've been getting small flashbacks and I can't stop hearing Kronos' laugh."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is- when I was spaced out earlier, I couldn't stop seeing you laying on that bridge in a puddle of blood after you took that knife, and I heard Kronos' laugh in the back of my mind. It only happens when I have a bad episode. I haven't told anyone."

Annabeth frowns. "Why didn't you tell me you were having flashbacks?"

"It seemed unimportant at the time," he tells her honestly.

"Percy." She tugs him down so he's laying next to her. Her eyes bore into his and he closes his own when her fingers begin running through his black hair, and she presses a whisper of a kiss to his lips. "Nothing about your trauma is unimportant, okay? If you're having flashbacks, you need to tell someone. I promise you, Percy, people do care. They won't push you away and they will help you. I promise."

"How can you promise me that?" he asks, opening his eyes. "I'm not worth being helped."

"Yes, Percy. Yes, you are," she says sternly, eyebrows scrunched together adorable.

He averts his gaze, looking anywhere but her. "Can we talk about you now?"

Annabeth lets out a frustrated breath, probably wondering when he'll ever accept that people do care about him, but she agrees nonetheless. It takes her a few minutes to put together what she wants to say and where she wants to start, because there's so much. Too much. Percy rests and squeezes her hip where his hand is lazilly resting in hope it comforts her.

She takes a deep breath before letting out everything she's been holding in for so long, "I hate my life. Most of it anyway. From the day I was born, to the night I left, I had a father who was always too busy with work to worry about me, and a stepmom who never really cared for me since I was a reminder of my father's past lover.

"There were nights when spiders would sneak into my room and bite me. I'd scream but my stepmom only told me to stop making a scene because I'll wake up my brothers. The morning after I'd wake up with cobwebs covering my eyes, nose, and mouth, but the bites faded before I could show anyone. My stepmom thought the cobwebs were a prank." Her eyes close and Percy kisses the crease between her eyebrows. "My dad was out of town for work when the spiders came back, and my stepmom wouldn't let me call him. She said he wouldn't come home early for me. That night I ran away. At seven years-old."

He's never liked hearing the story of how and why she ran away at that young of an age. She'd told him about it briefly in the zoo truck all those years ago, but she never told him this much. It always baffles him how someone could feel so unwanted at the age of seven that they felt the need to run away from home to make things better. And of course, Annabeth gets along with her family now- for the most part- but there's always going to be this scar that will never fade. It pains him that she'll be stuck with this pain for the rest of her life.

"Then I met Thalia and Luke," she continues, "and they became my family. We lost Thalia on the way to camp, so Luke and Grover were all I had left. But then Grover had to go watch over you and soon after, Luke left too. In the worst way possible. And I hate him for it."

The mention of Luke no longer sparks any jealousy inside him anymore. Instead it spreads a deep sadness, for himself and Annabeth. He'd been Annabeth's only family for the longest time, a big brother to her. Percy could never understand how Luke could betray the gods if that meant betraying Annabeth as well and leaving her behind. It left her with so much pain and brought her so much suffering, and Percy hates him for it too.

"But then you came, and I hated you for a while, but then you helped me realize that we didn't have to follow in our parents' footsteps. I think that's when things started looking up," she says with a soft smile, grabbing the hand that's still on her hip and giving it three squeezes. He returns the smile. "But then we started arguing with the stress of the war and everything else. And then the war itself happened and... gods."

Percy frowns but doesn't push her to keep going. Sometimes, it's better to just stay silent and listen, give the other person your full attention. He waits patiently for her, holding onto her hand tightly, and he's tempted to kiss her cheek or forehead, but he doesn't think that's very appropriate for this specific situation.

"I thought I was going to lose you," Annabeth whispers softly after another minute. There's tears gathering in her eyes at the harmful memories, and he wipes away the first one to escape with the pad of his thumb. Her throat tightens as she swallows thickly. "Then I thought I was going to lose myself. But in the end, I lost Luke."

Percy holds his arm out and she leans into him. He holds her trembling frame and tries to keep his own tears at bay. He never cries, so why should he now? Annabeth slides her arms around him, locking her fingers over his Achilles spot. His breath hitches at the implication behind the gesture and he buries his face in her hair.

"I'm scared of losing you too," he says quietly.

She only hugs him tighter, but that's enough for him.

They hold on to each other until the sun filtering through the window slowly fades to dusk before setting behind the horizon all together. Percy's forced to remove an arm around Annabeth flip on his bedside lamp. The light causes a faint yellow hue to envelope the room. He lays back down, and he's almost convinced she's asleep until his mom comes in, announcing dinner's read, and Annabeth sits up blearily.

"I'm going to use the bathroom real quick," she announces.

He directs his gaze back to the ceiling once she's shut the bathroom door behind her. It's quite funny, he thinks, how you can go from bantering with your girlfriend one second, then crying in each other's arms the next. They've gone through too much over the years to keep it bottled inside, and he knows he's at fault for doing that way too often, but he feels lighter somehow after spilling everything to Annabeth. He also feels better, knowing Annabeth trusts him enough to tell him so much about her childhood and how she's been feeling. All he wants to do now is make her feel okay again.

Speaking of Annabeth, the sink turns on and off before the door creaks open and she steps back into his room. Her cheeks don't look as blotchy and her eyes have been relieved from the red tint they once held. She puts her school work back into her backpack and zips it up before coming to meet him halfway where he'd gotten up to stand.

"Thank you," she mumbles against his shoulder as they hug,

Percy tugs on one of her curls. "Thank you."

She laughs, a real genuine laugh. It's nice to hear her so happy after watching her break down in his arms only an hour or two ago. She kisses him quickly and he chases her lips when she pulls away, smiling against her mouth when she relents.

"Okay, come on," she says once they pull away, grabbing his hand. "Let's not have your mom walk in on us kissing."

"Yeah, that's almost as embarrassing as you threatening me in front of her earlier."

"Oh stop," she says with another laugh. "Now, seriously, come on."

They walk out the door at the same time, and end up getting stuck in the doorway. Annabeth gives him an unimpressed look before they promptly tumble into the hallway. And to make matters even worse, Percy somehow accidentally trips over her foot, sending them sprawling to the floor, and they're a tangle of limbs as Paul laughs at them from the kitchen, snapping a picture of them for blackmail.

"Oh my gods- Percy, get your foot away from my face."

"Your knee is in my stomach!"

"Not my fault!"

"I tripped over your foot!"

"I'm still not the one who tripped!"

"That is a fair point, Percy!" Paul calls from the kitchen.

"Not helping!" he yells at his stepdad.

Annabeth chuckles. "They're on my side. Now, get up."

"You get up."

"Don't be difficult."

"I hate you."

"Glad we're on the same page."

"Hey!"

"You said it first."

"Okay... and?"

"Just get off me."

"'Beth, you're on me."

Sally pokes her head from around the corner and laughs. "How did this even happen?"

"He tripped over my foot!" Annabeth exclaims. "And now we're stuck."

"Oh my- well, that is talent," she says, looking at her son in amusement.

Percy lets his head fall to the floor, right beside Annabeth's leg. "Good to know you all have faith in me."

"Get up and then we'll have faith in you," Annabeth says.

"That's not faith."

"Oh whatever. Please, get up. I'm hungry."

"I'm Percy."

"I will force you to eat olive pizza if you do not get off me."

Percy doesn't think he's ever shot up so fast in his entire life. He kicks Annabeth's leg away and makes a run for it to the kitchen, almost knocking his chair down as he sits down. Paul's watching him in amusement from across the table as he grabs two slices of pepperoni at record speed before Annabeth even gets the chance to force olive pizza down his throat.

"Well, I certainly know how to get you to do stuff now," Annabeth says, laughing.

"My heart stopped when you said that. Never do it again."

She doesn't respond, just grabs a huge slice of olive pizza and takes a huge bite out of it.

"Gross!"

After dinner is all cleaned up and Annabeth's said her goodbyes to his parents, they're settling into Percy's hoof dented prius. He waits till the car heats up before driving in the direction of her boarding school. They hold hands on the middle console, and Percy spares a glance over at Annabeth who's resting her head against the window, the street lights illuminating her face in a variety of colors.

"Thanks for stopping over today," he says, breaking the silence.

"Hm, you don't have to thank me for that. I love coming over," she says with a smile.

He lifts their intertwined hands and kisses her knuckles.

Her smile widens but she doesn't say anything else.

The rest of the car ride is spent in silence, but it's peaceful. It's so unlike the deadly silence in his room earlier today, and Percy knows it's because of the talk they had. It's only temporary, he understands it, but who says they'll never talk about it again? But for now, he's focusing on the familiar hum of the prius and honks of the cars outside, and Annabeth sitting beside him with her hand linked with his. The heat from her palm sends an electric wave up his arm.

He's almost sad when they finally reach her boarding school. He pulls up to the front and sets the car in park, leaning back in his seat as Annabeth gathers all her stuff. She opens her car door but before leaving, she leans over and kisses him.

"Thank you again," she says. "It helped a lot."

He smiles and kisses her once more. "It did, didn't it? I'll see you...?"

"It's Thursday so probably tomorrow. Can I stay for the weekend?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll let my mom know."

"Great." She pecks his lips again.

"See you," he calls as she exits the car. He waits until she's safely inside her building before heading back to his apartment, a smile plastered to his fast.

It's quite funny how many emotions you can show in a day, Percy thinks. You can go from bantering back and forth with your girlfriend, to crying in each other's arms, only to be back to bantering an hour later, and then being all soft and lovely soon after.

Guess that's what trauma does to you.

----

Phew, that was a rollercoaster.

I just want to make it clear again, I don't have any trauma, so I don't know how people deal with it or if comes in swings like this, so I am deeply sorry if I offend anyone.

Hope you enjoyed!