Chapter Text
“Wait a minute, how’d you find this out?” A smile played on her lips, but there was real concern in her eyes. Annabeth straddled his lap on the couch, one hand tangled in his hair and the other lifting his chin to make him look her in the eye.
“The grapevine. You know how rumors spread,” he said, trying his hardest not to incriminate anyone. Obviously, Percy found out because he was there when it happened, but he didn’t want her to worry about him. They’d been dating the last couple of years, but now that his deployment was over, they could finally relax.
“So it’s a rumor?” The smile dropped from her lips, concern and confusion flooding her features. Her hands dropped to his shoulders as she leaned away, enough that he could see her chest in his peripheral vision when he looked her in the eye; she wasn’t even naked but he was so desperate for her and he wanted her so bad that it wasn’t fair and oh gods she was waiting for him to answer and-
“Yeah. Something like that,” he shifted his weight, trying not to disturb her but she was sitting on him and-
“What aren’t you telling me?” He loved how blunt she was. Straight to the point, no beating around the bush.
He sighed. “I was there,” he murmured, almost ashamed that he was an accomplice.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” her voice was soft, similar to the one his mother used when she was trying to get it through his head that he wasn’t a disgrace to humankind, a thought he had far too many times as a child.
“I didn’t want you to worry,” he rested his forehead on hers, a touch more intimate than he could describe.
“Percy, I’m always going to worry, so you might as well just tell me what to worry about,” the gorgeous smile was on her lips again, but he felt it more than saw it because she kissed him, slow and sweet and not helping the fire that pooled low in his groin.
He pulled away. “I’ll keep that in mind next time,” he kissed her again, that slow, devious pace that he knew they both loved.
“We aren’t finished talking about this,”
“Nope,” he agreed, kissing her jawline, up to the soft spot behind her ear.
“You still need to tell me what happened,” she said, in a cute effort to try to control the situation, but he was thinking about something completely different.
“Well, Jason and Frank were there,” he started down her neck now, leaving little red marks he knew would fade in the morning.
“And you,” she added.
“And me,” he agreed. “Leo was there too, he started most of it.”
“And what exactly-” her breath caught as he nipped a spot just above her collarbone, sucking it enough to make a hickey. “What exactly happened?”
“Well,” he started, pulling the sleeves of her t-shirt down her arms. “Leo had the idea. Jason was completely against it, and Frank just didn’t want to get the sergeant involved.”
“And you?”
“I wanted to watch. Not particularly for it, but not against it either. Fuck around and find out, right?” He tugged on the hem of her shirt; she complied a little too easily, letting him take it off.
“So what happened?” He could hear the frustration in her voice. Whether it was because he was avoiding the question or it was sexually motivated, he wasn’t sure.
“Leo sprayed some arousal in this metal tube, like a spray disinfectant, I think?”
“Doesn’t matter, move on,” he reached behind her a fiddled with the clasp of her bra.
“Anyway, then he lit the inside of the tube on fire.”
“You’re joking.”
“Not even a little,” he finally got her bra off and kissed her.
She pulled away. “And then?”
“Then Sarge came in. Apparently, the shop building had cameras inside and he saw the whole thing.”
“And you all got in trouble?”
“Yeah. Jason was such a narc though. He was all ‘I didn’t do anything, Sarge. I told him not to.’” He rolled his eyes. He ran his thumbs over her nipples, extracting a moan from her. “I can’t stand him.”
“He’s your cousin.”
“And? He’s such a tattletale. I can’t stand his goody two-shoes attitude. I bet he’s never gotten in trouble for anything in his life. He’s never even cursed. He dropped a hammer on his foot and said ‘shoot’ about a hundred times.” He massaged her chest, surprised when she kept talking.
“I never got in trouble for anything, and you seem to like me plenty.”
“That’s different. You got into all sorts of mischief, you were just enough of a teacher's pet to talk your way out of it.”
She shrugged. “I’m very charismatic.” Her fingers ran down his chest, over his shirt, toying with the hem. She was such a tease. At least he was actually touching her. His grip changed, rubbing down her sides, down to her hips, the waistline of the jeans. She finally pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it somewhere behind her.
“You could say that again,” he captured her mouth in his, slipping his tongue in hers easily. He was good at pulling moans from her, even with the gaps in knowing and understanding the best way to get her to come undone from his deployments. In two weeks he would leave for another three months, only getting to talk to her so often. Not as often as he wanted. Never as often as he wanted.
“Percy?” She asked, reaching to wipe the sudden tears that had fallen. “What’s wrong?”
He leaned his forehead on hers, thinking of the best way to say what he was thinking. His last little lie had gotten him nowhere, and he didn’t like lying to her for no reason.
“Percy?” She asked again, her voice soft and kind and concerned.
“I’m scared,” he closed his eyes, trying not to cry more than he had.
“Hey now, look at me,” Her eyebrows crinkled together. “Why are you scared?”
“To leave you. Again. For so long.” he sniffled, and she wiped the tears from his cheeks. “Annabeth, it’s so hard to leave you. And I know it's for freedom and serving the country, but most days I just miss you so hard that it hurts.”
“Percy-”
“I don’t know if I can keep doing it. I mean, we’ve been together for almost three years, right?” It was rhetorical but she answered anyway.
“Yeah. Three years in two weeks, right before…” She trailed off. They both knew.
“And I’ve been gone for almost half of it.” Annabeth was crying too, and he hated himself for bringing it up.
“It’s not your fault-”
“It kinda is,” he tried to smile, but it fell flat. They sat for a moment, crying softly together. And maybe they were crying, but they were together and that was just about the only thing he cared about.
“I don’t know how to fix this,” he whispered.
“What if,” she started. “You called and changed your position? We could stay here, together, or wherever they place us, not important. You could work a regular nine-to-five on base or border patrol or something and then you wouldn’t have to leave so often-”
“Beth,” he interrupted. “How does your brain still work right now?”
“It never stops.”
“Because you are the most brilliant woman I have ever met.” A heavy blush crept from her chest to her ears. He rolled his eyes. “I say the worst dirty talk you have ever heard and you can keep a straight face, but I compliment you one time and that’s what makes you blush.”
“Shut up.”
“Gods be damned, I love you so much.”
“You’re being annoying,”
“Yeah right, you know you love me.”
“Fine. I love you, Percy Jackson.”
“I love you, Annabeth Chase. I think I have, for a long time.”
“Even high school?”
“Especially high school.”
She groaned, and he laughed.
“I’ve thought about it a couple of times, you working a regular job on base.”
“Yeah?” he prompted.
“It’s hard for me too, when you leave. I feel like I can’t function properly, and I miss you so much-” her hands were shaking. He took them in his, rubbing light circles on the back of her hand with his thumbs.
He kissed her, soft and reassuring. “We would probably have to be engaged for you to live with me.”
“That’s a really sucky way to propose,” she laughed though, and that was all he wanted from her. He wiped the tears from her face, cradling her head in his hands.
“I don’t have a ring yet, so you’ll get a nice proposal, don’t worry.”
“Not if I propose first.”
“You had the idea, might as well let me propose to lock it in.”
“If you take too long I’ll do it myself.”
“Then you better get me your ring size.”
“You better make some calls,”
“Tomorrow,” he promised. “Tonight can be just for us,” he wasn’t trying to procrastinate calling his only a little bit scary commanding officer and asking about a change in his work, but it was close to midnight and he was not about to ruin the man’s night. Besides, in the lamplight of their living room, the tears lovingly wiped away, he wanted to be with his almost fiance.
…
He called his commanding officer the next morning, as early as was acceptable. He made the call in the kitchen, not wanting to disturb Annabeth, and the secretary said his officer would get back to him. Annabeth found him, maybe five minutes later, pulling him close to her.
Then they were on the couch, lying there together. Her face was in the crook of his neck, their legs tangled together, his hand playing with her hair. She had fallen asleep a while ago, and he had been trying his best at it, but even with her weight on top of him, he couldn’t fall back asleep. So, of course, he thought.
It was early enough, he supposed. As part of his military training, he almost naturally woke up at five every morning, even on the weekends. Annabeth had always been an early bird, but never that early. Especially in high school. They had always known each other, all through middle school and early high school, but once they were put together for a project early junior year, they finally got to know each other.
Percy always thought she was a stuck-up bitch, but she was almost the opposite. She managed to get into almost as much trouble as he did, she was just able to talk her way out of it. She had told him, during their senior year at one of the sleepovers that had with Grover, that she thought he was some edgy punk kid, which he was eternally embarrassed about now, but he understood. He never took off the leather jacket his stepdad gave him when he was fourteen, which he grew into pretty much perfectly. First impressions were the weirdest thing.
They were best friends for a year and a half; until he enlisted.
He was scared he’d lost her forever with how upset she’d been when he told her he’d be leaving for basic training after graduation. She was pissed, actually. She threw her phone at him, almost nailing him in the head. He thinks she missed on purpose because she would never truly try to injure him. The worst part was sitting outside her bedroom door, begging her to let him in, only for there to be radio silence on the other side.
He eventually went home, leaving his jacket on her bedroom doorknob. His mother had been worried about him for coming home so late, but he was worried about Annabeth. They had gotten into fights before, but she had never iced him out.
That was the day he realized he was in love with her, even though they weren’t dating.
Two days after that, she called him. First, she apologized, then she yelled at him for walking home in late February without a jacket. It was three blocks, but he appreciated her concern.
They spent almost every waking hour together after that. They had sleepovers every weekend, talking late into the night about everything and nothing. They didn’t share a bed, but the floor, pulling all the blankets they could find onto the floor and draping one from her bedframe to her desk chair, creating a blanket fort. They would lie next to each other in the dark, whispering until the other fell asleep. They still weren’t dating, but the lines quickly blurred at Graduation, when she kissed him.
It was quick, a small peck when they posed for his mother in front of the building, diplomas in hand. She didn’t talk about it later, so he chalked it up to excitement and left it there, pondering about it late at night.
Then he left for basic training. It was a ten-week program, and they wouldn’t see each other for at least that long. He wrote letters to her almost every day, not able to call or text. Leo made fun of him, but Frank always gave him extra paper when he asked.
Annabeth cried when he gave her the stack of letters, each one with a number and theme on it. He told her to read them in order while he was deployed.
She read the first one as soon as she got home, which he figured she would do. It was the last letter he wrote before he graduated basic. It explained that he was fully in love with her, setting the stage for the rest of the love letters he had written. He knew she read it because she showed up on his doorstep, letter in hand a tears streaming down her face. She kissed him before he could ask what was going on, confessing that she felt the same way.
They still wrote letters to each other when he was away. She wrote in a journal for him to page through when he got back, he wrote them on loose paper and numbered them for her to read the next time he was gone.
A knock sounded at the door, disrupting his thoughts. He untangled himself from Annabeth, trying not to disrupt her too much, settling a blanket over her and throwing a shirt over his head before opening the door.
“Colonel Beckendorf,” Percy stood at attention, a habit he refused to break. “Good morning.” He didn’t really know what to say, but what else do you do when your commander shows up on your doorstep at six in the morning?
“At ease, Jackson.”
Percy relaxed. “Would you like to come in? I can get some coffee started if you’d like.”
“I’ll pass on the coffee,” the Colonel said, stepping inside. Percy closed the door behind him.
“So, what brings you here?” Percy asked, trying not to be so loud that he woke Annabeth up. Looking at the Colonel, he realized how underdressed he was. The Colonel had his full uniform, and Percy was in a dirty shirt and basketball shorts he’d had since high school. His hair was probably sticking up in the back.
“Your position change request. It seemed out of character for anyone in your regiment to call at five thirty, so I figured I drop by, see what’s going on.”
“I see. Well, I live with my partner, Annabeth Chase, and my deployment has been very hard on us both. We decided together that it would be best if I changed to a less time-commanding post,” he gestured to the dining table, motioning that they sit. The Colonel complied.
“Yes, I believe that’s what you said on the phone. Are you two married?”
“Not yet, Colonel, but I plan to propose to her soon. I figure that for the both of us to live on base, we’d need to be married?”
The Colonel shrugged. “It is not a requirement, but many soldiers are. What does Miss Chase do for a living?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“What do you suppose she will do if you live on base? Sit and do nothing while you work? Unless you plan on having children in the next six months, I would advise she gets some kind of job.”
“Would she need to go through basic?” He knew she could handle it, but something about the idea of sending her there made his skin crawl.
“Not necessarily. That can be discussed with her at a later date. I’ll send you the questionnaire,” the Colonel checked his watch. “Jackson, I’ll be frank. You’re one of our best. I just need one reason that doesn’t involve your girlfriend.”
Percy thought about it. “I’m never truly happy when I’m deployed. I know I’m serving my country, which is an honor, but I can’t help feeling like I’m missing what’s going on here. Colonel, I want to start a family with Annabeth, but I don’t want her to do it by herself. I didn’t have a good father figure until I was thirteen, and I don’t want history to repeat itself. All that is to say, I believe I have obligations to my life as a civilian that make being a top soldier difficult.”
The Colonel nodded. “Well said. Your request is approved. I’ll have my secretary send you the paperwork. Your request is granted.”
Careful not to get too excited, Percy asked, “Thank you, Colonel. I appreciate it. Will I still need to fulfill my next deployment in two weeks?”
The Colonel shrugged. “It will be outlined in the paperwork. Have a great day, Jackson. It was a pleasure working with you.”
The Colonel walked out, and Percy felt like he could finally breathe.
“Talk about the toughest interview of your life.”
“Beth! I didn’t realize you were up. How much of that did you hear?”
“Pretty much all of it,” she said, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders as she sat up.
He cringed. “Sorry about that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. You would’ve told me anyway.”
He shrugged. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” they both knew he was going to make it no matter what she said. His mother gave them an espresso machine for Christmas last year, and he put it to use every chance he got. He had always loved black coffee, so it was important to have the right blend and machine and everything. Annabeth took hers with the lightest splash of milk, which Percy thought was the weirdest thing ever. Not creamer, milk. Not even oat milk, cow milk. But he loved her anyway.
Annabeth eventually moved to their dining table, the blanket still wrapped around her. He knew she wore a light shirt and shorts underneath, which he figured were there in effect to torture him; the less likely option was that she had trouble cooling off during sleep. He set her mug of freshly made coffee, with her weird little splash of milk, and they sat together.
“So, you want to start a family, huh?”
“Yeah,” he could feel his ears warming up.
“Funny that you would tell your boss before your girlfriend,” she took a drink, looking at him over her mug. Her eyes had the same twinkle they always did when she teased him. He never got less embarrassed.
“I had to tell him something.”
“And that just so happened to be the first thing that came to mind?”
“Well, yeah. It’s not like we’ve never talked about it,” he pointed out, which was true. They hadn’t talked about it recently, or in close to two years, but they decided to wait until the time was right.
“You might want to marry me before I have your children.”
“Don’t worry, I want to do that too.”
“That’s a lot of wanting.”
“You have no idea.”