“Hey, mom?”

Sally glanced at her son over her shoulder as she pulled a platter down from a cupboard in front of her. “Is it a girl?”

Percy froze mid-bite, leaving his blue chocolate chip cookie hanging. “Wait––what?”

Sally laughed. “Wild guess. You've got that look on your face, the one where your forehead creases because you're worried about something.”

“I––” Percy touched his forehead, looking offended. “What?!”

“It's cute,” she reassured him.

Percy huffed, shoving the rest of his cookie into his mouth. He waited until he swallowed the chocolatey goodness before sighing.

“Okay, so you were kind of right.”

“Kind of?”

“It is about a girl. But it's. . .different.”

Sally used a spatula to remove a fresh batch of cookies from a warm pan. She didn't have to be facing Percy for him to know she had her eyebrow raised and wanted him to go on.

“Her name's Annabeth. She. . .well, she hates me, I think. But today her best friend asked me to help her out.”

“Help Annabeth? Or help Annabeth's friend?”

“Anna––you knew what I meant.”

Sally chuckled.

“Anyways. . .” Percy paused, wondering how he was going to explain this. There was no doubt in his mind that his mother could help him out. She'd always known what to say or do, and even if she wasn't always direct with it, her advice always pushed Percy in the right direction. There was just the small problem of describing the situation when he barely knew the half of it himself.

Sally set the full platter of cookies on the counter and turned her full attention on him.

“Annabeth has always been kinda distant, I guess. And whenever I try to talk to her, she ignores me or adopts this excessively sarcastic tone, like I'm ruining her day. She's also. . .Athena is her mom.”

Sally took the new information in stride, nodding for him to continue.

“So I assumed she just disliked me in general. Anyways, Piper, her friend, almost tripped me when I was coming out of the bathroom just so she could ask me for my help. And then she said that Annabeth didn't hate me, but that she was afraid of me. . .or letting me into her life? Something like that.

“I tried to tell Piper she was crazy, but then she said a few more things and convinced me, so I agreed to help her.” Percy dragged a hand down his face. “The only problem is, I don't know why Annabeth is the way she is.”

Sally leaned against a cabinet, nibbling a cookie in thought. “Did Piper say anything? About Annabeth's life?”

Percy shook his head. “Nope. The bell rang before we could get that far, and I doubt she'd spill everything anyways. She's scary.”

“So why don't you ask Annabeth?”

Percy gave an incredulous look. “She won't talk to me! Much less tell me what's bugging her. It's not really my business, anyways.”

Sally was quiet for a moment. She studied her son, brushing a few dark strands of hair from his eyes.

“You're involved, are you not? The moment Annabeth shut you out, you were. And today, when Piper asked for your help, it became your business.”

Percy raised his eyebrows as she continued.

“So tomorrow, you should ask Annabeth. You know very well that people aren't always what they seem, and from what I'm hearing, Piper needs you to be the one to break through the surface. Right?”

Percy fidgeted with the tablecloth, mulling over her words. It wasn't surprise he was feeling, it was relief. This was what he would've done in the first place.

“Right.”

/ / /

“So I got sent to the office for eating my supplies, but could you blame me? I mean, I was young. And really, what's the difference? Food is food.”

“Oh, gross.” Percy went to change the subject of conversation with Grover when he spotted what he'd been looking for all day: a head of blonde curls paired with the glare of steel.

He quickly shoved the rest of his books from his last period into his locker, shoving the lock upwards so it clicked shut.

“Hey, I'll catch you later, G-man.”

Grover glanced up from his own books before switching his gaze to Annabeth across the hall.

“Mhm. Okay.”

Percy rolled his eyes and jogged over to Annabeth, wishing he'd practiced what he wanted to say before actually approaching her. But he spent the whole day searching in between periods, scouring the lunchroom at noon only to find out she was at the library, and he was ready to finally put his plan into action.

Spoiler alert: he had no plan.

“Annabeth, hey.”

The blonde didn't look at him as she grabbed a few books from her locker and slipped them into a bag. “What?”

“What––what do you mean what?” Percy pouted. “I'm just trying to say hi.”

“That's cool. I've got to go.”

Percy narrowed his eyes at her, second guessing this entire idea and wondering if maybe, sometimes, his mom made mistakes.

But then he caught a glimpse of a glaring Piper over Annabeth's shoulder and reminded himself that Sally had never been wrong. As Annabeth began walking away, he caught up and strode next to her.

“So I was actually wondering if we could talk for a bit,” Percy said.

Annabeth eyed him from the side, raising an eyebrow.

When she didn't speak, Percy sighed and tore a hand through his already messy hair, deciding to get right to the point this time.

“How are you?”

Pathetic. That was a dumb question, and yet he still asked it.

Stupid.

“I'm. . .fine.” Annabeth actually answered, so Percy brushed off his moment of failure and pushed on.

“Are you, though?” At the look on Annabeth's face, he added, “I mean, isn't that what we all say? ‘I'm fine.’ Like, are you actually fine?” He laughed awkwardly. “Can never know these days, am I right?”

They reached a fork in between two buildings, and Annabeth took a deep breath.

“Look, I'm gonna go. I don't have time for this.”

“Wait!” Percy held his hands out, grasping for anything to keep her there longer and actually make progress. “Um. . .where ya headed?”

“To the library.”

“You really spend a lot of time there,” he muttered, observing to himself. Then he remembered what he was trying to get at and met her eyes.

“Okay, I did not almost-fail a test thinking about this just so you could walk away before we actually got anywhere.” Percy straightened. “There's something wrong, I just know it. You're too smart to go about like this, anyone with eyes can see it. What's wrong, Annabeth? I want to help, for real.”

The blonde took a step back, staring at him with slightly wider eyes than before. “What are you talking about?”

“You're not really fine, Annabeth. I'm not that dumb.”

She grasped her bag tighter than necessary and rolled her eyes. But Percy saw it––it wasn't as strong as her usual, you're an idiot eye roll. It was lacking, and Percy almost felt bad pushing her like this, but he knew it was for her own good.

“Okay. . .I'm going.” Annabeth turned to go, but Percy caught her wrist as gently as he could.

“Come on, Annabeth. It's okay to not be okay.”

She turned on him abruptly, her hair swinging around with the momentum.

“Why do you care so much?”

Because Piper told me to.

No. That wasn't the reason at all, it had never been. Annabeth's best friend had simply been the push he'd needed to take a step forward and do something for once.

“I don't know. I don't know why I care so much, I don't know why I'm trying so hard.” Percy met her gaze. “But do I have to? Do I need a reason to help you out?”

Annabeth took another step backwards, shaking her head. “I––”

“I'm trying to help you, Wise Girl. Piper was worried about you, and I barely know you but I get it––I get what you're going through. Can you just let me in?”

He felt his heart pound in sympathy when he knew he broke through her guard, when the fear seeped into her eyes and she slid down the wall behind her, her head in her hands.

From then, Percy would have to tread carefully. He'd gotten this far, and he wasn't going to give up on her.

So he slid down next to her without a word, waiting for the situation to sink in and for her to make the first move. He wasn't about to cross any boundaries.

“Gods, go away, Percy.”

“No.”

Annabeth looked up at him, the fury in her eyes saying enough, before burying her head back in her knees. But Percy wasn't going to leave, and he wasn't trying to take the easy way out. He wanted to really, truly help her.

As much as the revelation scared him, it said a lot about how this girl had affected him. And now she was in his life. Percy realized he wanted it to stay that way.

But only if he could get her to accept it as well.

“You can talk to me,” he said, directing his gaze towards the sky. He waited for her to speak, watching the clouds drift by in the lazy manner they always did. Clouds had it so easy.

“It's not good to keep everything bottled up, you know. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?”

No response.

“My mom used to sit me down and ask me how I was feeling, every night before I went to bed. I was. . .a troubled kid, and it really helped to keep my feelings in check. Otherwise, I would've snapped when I got angry or pushed away the people I cared for.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Annabeth's head lift a little, but he pretended not to notice and kept talking.

“Truthfully, I could tell something was up with you from day one. But I only really started trying after Piper mentioned something to me.”

“Piper?” Annabeth whispered incredulously.

“She's your best friend, right? She cares a lot, and she was worried.” Finally, Percy turned to look at her. She was leaning against the wall, looking straight ahead and wearing a mostly plain expression, despite the obvious creases of misery evident on her face.

“It's okay to be cared for, Annabeth. In fact, it's important.”

She glanced at him, then back at the trees in the distance. “I know.” Annabeth's voice was a whisper, barely meangingful to the normal ear, but Percy heard it. He heard the pain and exhaustion, the absolute dread of what awaited her when she woke each morning. He recognized it.

What exactly was she dealing with?

“You know when adults would tell ridiculous stories about how highschool was a nightmare, or when older kids say it was the worst time of their life?”

Percy nodded, calm on the outside but internally praying she would continue talking.

“Well,” Annabeth gave a bitter laugh, “we never believed them, because highschool’s supposed to be fun and fulfilling, right? That's how we envision it. And then right after, we go to college, because it's totally not expensive and our parents support everything we do.”

She finally looked him right in the eye, huffing. “Well highschool sucks and my parents suck and life is a nightmare.”

Percy understood what she meant. A lot. He didn't say anything, and Annabeth seemed to take that as an invitation to spill everything on her mind.

“At this point, I don't even think it's worth it. Actually, at this point, school is my escape. I don't want to go home, because my step-mom's a witch and my dad pretends like nothing's wrong. And I have to love my brothers even though they're happy and I'm not, and it's hard. And no one understands, because I'm a teenager and we don't have real problems.” Annabeth started crying, but they were tears of anger, and most likely relief.

Percy knew how it felt to finally tell someone. It was amazing, and Annabeth deserved it.

“So now I don't know what to do and I'm miserable. It's nice having Piper, but her issues are so different from mine and she just doesn't get it. Her dad's kind of like mine, in the way that he doesn't pay much attention to her, but he's trying and my parents aren't. My real mom doesn't care about me either, she's off somewhere in Manhattan making it big, so I don't matter.

“And then there was Luke, who, long story short, was like my brother, but he got into some trouble and ended up getting himself killed. And I miss him so much, but I feel like I shouldn't? Because he did things even when I pleaded with him not to, and so now I don't feel like I have any real family because he was all I had.”

Percy tried harder than he ever had to keep up as she rambled, letting everything spill out at once and in mumbles. He'd had no idea she was going through these kinds of things, and he felt like crying himself when he watched her wipe her red eyes before continuing, choking down sobs.

“Sometimes I want to run away, maybe go see if my mom really doesn't care. But I know it's stupid and now I'm stuck, I'm stuck in this stupid pit because I can't climb out and it's just––” She looked at him, her face streaked with tears and her hair sticking to her face. “It's horrible. How do I make it stop?”

Percy shook his head and gave her the only answer he knew––comfort. It didn't fix anything, but it was a start.

So he gathered her shaking and confused form in his arms and pressed her head into his chest, letting her cry with everything she'd been going through for the past few months, maybe the last few years, and she didn't complain.

They sat like that for probably an hour, but Percy didn't keep track. He just held Annabeth, promising her he'd help, making a promise to himself––that he'd do this a million times if that's what it took for her to get better.

Because when you're broken, that's what you need.

Percy would know.

a / n

sally deserves the world, kids.

okieeee what'd you think ?

and whOa, you guys are so amazing. i say “ this is trash ” and fifteen lovely comments later, my mind has been changed.

thanks for everything, my readers are the best thing i could've asked for in a lifetime <333

peace out in demigodishness and all that,

~ grace 💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙