Chapter Text
Percy had been at a college party for all of 15 minutes before deciding he would rather have his next swim session in a pool of deadly piranhas, than have another shallow conversation with a drunk stranger.
He got bored of pretending to be concerned with the weeds growing between the bricks at his feet and looked up, trying to find a recognizable face in the sea of blurred features and forgotten names. His eyes stopped on Grover, his roommate, across the yard whispering in a redhead's ear while leaning against a tree. Grover was probably the only person he had the energy to talk to right now, but he was otherwise occupied. Great. He kept scanning the yard, squinting to make sense of anyone under the flickering string lights that had been sloppily strung throughout the surrounding tree branches.
Then his eyes halted on another person in the crowd.
A sudden sense of relief washed over him, thankful for the familiar face. Her white summer dress was blowing slightly in the breeze as she swayed to the music, looking deeply uninterested. She had her long braids twisted into a ponytail with two braids left out to frame her face, one dark brown and one gray. The corners of his mouth raised ever so slightly as he thought of the shared poliosis that also appeared in his hair.
Hold on, what was her name again?
He wanted to go up to her, but he couldn’t even remember where they had met. There was an energy about her that was so familiar, but as he reached out and grasped for the memories, they seemed to turn to liquid and fall right through his fingers.
Percy was still staring in her direction when the pair of girls she was standing with leaned in to shout something in her ear, gesturing towards the large huddle of bodies that had gathered around what Percy could only assume was a game of beer pong. She shook her head and backed up against the fence to let her friends get past and join the ruckus on the other side of the party.
Before he could stop himself, he was already weaving his way through the packed crowd, hoping to catch her before she got too bored of leaning on the wooden fence alone. He didn’t know why, but he had to talk to her.
Percy felt her skeptical gaze examining him as he finally came into view in front of her. He hadn’t anticipated just how intense her dark eyes would be on his. His brain scolded his feet for not giving him enough time to figure out what the hell he was doing trying to approach her. There was a slight quirk of her eyebrows as she waited for him to explain why he was standing before her like an idiot.
“Hey,” he finally breathed out. There was a strange anxious electricity coursing through his veins that kept him talking, even after her unimpressed expression never let up. “Sorry if this is weird, but have we met before? I swear I know you from somewhere.”
“Definitely not.”
“Seriously?…You look so familiar…” It felt like the ground was opening up below his feet. He was going to fall to his death any second, he was sure of it.
“Yes, seriously. We’ve never met before sorry.”
“Oh, my bad I guess…” He started turning away, the embarrassment starting to settle in, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that they knew each other from somewhere. Maybe she just couldn’t remember? He turned back to her direction, an apologetic grimace on his face already bracing himself for the worst.
“Are you sure you don’t recognize me at all?”
“Well, yes I do recognize you.” She sighed, slightly shaking her head in regret. “But you definitely don’t know me.”
S hit.
Percy hadn’t been sure how often people were going to recognize him once he got here. Back home, everyone had always known him as ‘the swimmer’ so it stopped being extraordinary after a while. Even after he made it to the Olympic trials at the age of 16 and was only milliseconds away from knocking the most decorated swimmer in US history out of his spot at the games, nothing about his life really changed that drastically. Even if the numbers on his barren Instagram page jumped up by a few thousand and UC Berkeley gave him a full scholarship, the 80 other kids in his small high school in New York never treated him any differently.
But now, fresh off his first National title, more people than usual were raising their eyebrows in surprise at the sight of him. His face being all over Cal's social media probably didn’t help all that much either. The attention felt foreign to him, like it was all being directed at the wrong person. He was waiting for the day when he would wake up and realize this had all been some kind of prank where he had accidentally been placed in a famous person's body for a few months, and then everything would go back to normal. That hadn’t happened yet, unfortunately.
Lost in thought, Percy noticed the way her golden bracelets jangled together when she crossed her arms. “Is this how you try to pick up girls? Pretend you know them so you can get them to boost your ego because they already knew who you were?”
“Oh my god no,” he said, blinking himself back to reality. “I’ve never even approached another girl at a party before.” Now he was scrambling, and without even trying had already admitted he had no game. This definitely wasn’t helping his case. “I was so sure we had met before.”
“So you’re either a terrible liar or just…” She sighed. “...terribly pathetic. And I honestly don’t know which is worse.”
Liar or pathetic. Both terrific first impressions.
This was not at all how Percy thought this conversation would go but for some reason he wasn’t ready for it to end either. He wasn’t willing to let her get the last word so easily.
“Pathetic…I’ll take it.”
“Glad we’re in agreement.” She took a sip of her drink, still very unmoved by Percy’s attempts to crack her. He should probably just apologize and hope to never see this beautiful girl again, but after being under her glare for a few minutes now, he had noticed there was a slight sparkle in her eyes, so fleeting he almost missed it. A reluctant endearment that he wanted to get out of her again. If that was even possible.
“Can I at least get your name?” He had already embarrassed himself enough, there was no point in turning back now.
“Annabeth.”
“Annabeth,” he repeated. His heart sank when it didn’t ring a bell like he had been hoping it would. He really must have imagined ever knowing her before.
“I’m Percy, by the way.”
Annabeth allowed him to join her on the fence, still an arm's length between them, where they both observed the party from the periphery for a few moments. Percy could make out the drink table through the kitchen window from this angle.
“I was going to go get a refill, if you wanted to come with?” He tried to hide the fact that he still had several sips of his drink left. He could finish it on the walk over.
She took a little too long to accept the invitation, which should have told Percy there’s no way this was going anywhere, but he was just glad she didn’t turn him down.
After Annabeth had urged Percy to stay far away from the mysterious red punch that seemed to be popular amongst their classmates, they both ended up with drinks in hand and sitting at the base of the stairs inside. There was still the faint murmur of music from outside that eased the silence, but the stillness made it feel like they were in a completely different world than the students dancing outside.
“So are you enjoying the party?”
“Did it look like I was enjoying the party?” she said like the answer was obvious.
“I wasn’t really enjoying it much either.” The sliding kitchen doors creaked open and a group of teens stumbling over their feet stormed inside, rushing towards the bathroom down the hall. They sat silently for a few moments, sipping their drinks, trying to shake how out of place they felt.
“Anyways,” Annabeth broke the silence. “Now you’re supposed to ask me a normal question. Like where I’m from.”
“Okay, where are you from Annabeth?”
“A small town in Virginia.” More proof that they had never met before.
“Yeah, I’ve never been to Virginia.”
“See, we have literally never been in the same room before in our lives.”
“Well, we are now.”
“Unfortunately.” It seemed like she was going to keep insulting him right to his face with her signature blank expression, but Percy now knew to look closer for the glimmer of playfulness that was hidden in her deep brown eyes.
They stayed like this for a while, her black sneakers just a few inches to the left of his blue ones, as they compared their hometowns, their first days in Berkeley, the exhaustion from setting up their dorms, and getting dragged to this house party by their roommates.
Percy felt Annabeth's energy shift when she mentioned what she was studying.
“Architecture. It’s been my dream to be an architect since I was in elementary school.”
“What kind of architecture?”
She gushed about Greek and Roman architecture and other mathy terms Percy didn’t even know people his age actually knew the definition of. He watched intently as she tucked her gray braid behind her ear, noticing the bright blue nail polish that popped against her skin.
“Was Cal your dream school too?”
“No, it was actually Harvard, it has one of the best programs in the country, but Cal gave me a full ride so I couldn’t turn that down.”
“So you actually got into Harvard?”
“Yup.” She quickly took another gulp of her drink, failing to hide the bitterness of her tone. The more Percy talked to her, the more he realized how out of his league she was.
“So, what are you studying? Or do you plan on ignoring the academic part of college and just swimming?” Her voice had a judgmental edge that left a slight stinging feeling in the pit of Percy’s stomach. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked her more about Harvard.
“I’m undeclared right now,” he said, almost wincing knowing that he was definitely confirming what she must think of him. The airheaded athlete who gets to go to the best public school in the country but doesn't actually care about the academics. He wasn’t entirely sure if she was wrong.
“Makes sense.”
“Does it?”
“I mean yeah, hasn’t your whole life been swimming? It must be hard to be too invested in much else.” He couldn’t tell if she was mocking him or if she was genuinely being understanding.
He was about to ask her more about architecture because he liked the way her shoulders relaxed and her eyes stopped shooting daggers into his when she talked about it, but he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Grover and a few other guys he vaguely remembered meeting earlier that night.
“Hey, Ethan says he has keys that can take us to the top of the Campanile, I wanted to see if you were down to come, the views are crazy! You’re welcome to come too,” he said greeting Annabeth with an inviting smile.
Percy met Annabeth’s eyes and they both stared at each other, trying to decide what their next move was. Percy couldn’t place why, but he wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
They must have been taking too long to come to a decision because Grover was already walking away yelling over his shoulder, “If you don’t meet us on the porch in two minutes we’re leaving without you!”
Percy raised his eyebrow. “What do you think? Wanna check it out?”
His interest must have been written all over his face because she was already teasing him. “You know, you’re so bad at hiding what you’re thinking."
“Well, you said you liked architecture,” he offered back defensively. She definitely wanted to go too, she was just better at masking her eagerness.
“Okay, let's go. But don’t get any ideas, this doesn’t mean I want to come home with you.”
“Oh, I didn’t think…I wasn’t…” His tongue suddenly frozen and his cheeks burning hot from embarrassment. Was he coming off too flirty or suggestive? He wasn’t even sure if he was flirting. He didn’t think he was.
Annabeth saved him from his awkward buffering. “Good. Just making sure we’re on the same page.”
Grover and the other guys led the way, talking about anything that came to their slightly intoxicated minds while he and Annabeth trailed behind. Annabeth had grabbed another drink, much stronger than what they were drinking before, as they had left the party. Now it was being passed between the two of them as she explained the Campanile to Percy. She raved on with very few pauses between her words, throwing in several phrases that he didn’t even remotely recognize. He didn’t object to her playful lectures though. He was just impressed she was still able to come up with details, like it being the third largest clock tower in the world, even as her words started slurring. At the same time, Percy was finding it harder to keep the sarcastic and impulsive comments from slipping out of his mouth, and for some delirious reason Annabeth was starting to giggle in response.
When they finally made it to the base of the tower, the five college students craned their necks to marvel at the tall clock that stood illuminated against the dark Berkley night. Annabeth sighed in awe beside him.
“Can you believe it's over 100 years old and it still looks so beautiful?” He was transfixed by how calm she looked, with the subtle glow from the tower lighting up her brown skin.
“It looks like it's from a completely different world.” she gushed and he remembered he was supposed to be looking up at the clock, not at the otherworldly girl beside him. “I hope one day I can make something like that. Something permanent. Something that defies time.”
Ethan, the kid with the keys, fumbled to unlock the door while frantically looking around making sure no one was watching them.
“So... we definitely aren’t supposed to be going up there right now?” Annabeth whispered for just Percy to hear.
“Oh, definitely not.”
“If we get caught I’m gonna kill you by the way.” She was trying very hard to bring back the matter-of-fact tone she had earlier in the night, but the alcohol had loosened her up.
“If you say so,” he smirked back.
She shoved him as they started the long ascend up the stairs.
Percy and Annabeth’s chests were frantically rising and falling in unison once they finally got to the top. The stairway that led to the observation deck had been dark, narrow, and never ending, until Percy saw the constellations of lights from the city sprawled out in front of him.
Annabeth was quick to get a better view, already leaning her elbows on the stone railing to admire the twinkling skyline. Her silhouette was perfectly centered between the two marble columns that arched above her head.
With all the lights in the distance surrounding Annabeth like she was floating amongst fairy dust, Percy couldn’t help himself from pulling out his phone to snap a picture. He made sure it was the quickest picture he had ever taken. The last thing he needed was getting caught by the guys, or even worse, by Annabeth. Thankfully she was too transfixed by the view that she never turned, not even when Percy walked over to lean his elbows next to hers.
After a few beats of silence he asked, “So…what kinds of columns are these?”
“Corinthian,” she said, glancing up to admire the intricate marble details that hovered above them.
“I thought they were Greek.”
“Corinthian is a type of Greek column, Percy.”
“Right.”
She hesitated for a second.
“It's my dream to live in Greece one day.” She sighed looking back out towards the view of the bay. Percy lingered just a second too long admiring her side profile before he matched where her line of sight was directed. “Just imagine being surrounded by so much influential architecture.”
“I think Greece would suit you.” Percy thought he noticed her pursing her lips to keep them from revealing her smile.
“What about you? Where’s your dream place to live?"
“Honestly,” he thought for a moment. “Any small beach town my mom chooses. I don’t think it matters exactly where, I just hope we’re able to get out of the city at some point.”
“You don’t like New York?”
“No, I love it. But I know it’s not where my mom thought she would live forever. She got pregnant with me right after college and she never really had enough money to move or live out any of her dreams. And of course my dad was absolutely no help so…” He suddenly realized he was saying too much. He can’t remember the last time he told anyone about his dad.
Annabeth must have noticed the way his voice had suddenly dropped off. She offered a weak smile. “My dad sucks too.”
She didn’t seem particularly interested in saying anything more, so they let the silence speak for them instead. It was a soft stillness, cushioned by the distant sounds of nightlife and the incoherent conversations of their friends on the other side of the tower.
Percy marveled at the thousands of lights gleaming before him. Each one representing a different life.
“Views like this make you feel so small don’t they?” It was like she could read his mind.
“My brain hurts just thinking about all the people, all the different lives I’m looking at right now. So many different people that we’ll probably never meet, but can see from a distance.” He could see the lights reflected in Annabeth's eyes, she was so close.
“You know, I’ve never met another person with poliosis so similar to mine before.” He couldn’t tell if she had just now noticed or if she was just drunk, but to Percy’s horror Annabeth was leaning forward to trace her fingers through the gray chunk that stood out amongst his sandy blond hair. Her brief touch glued his feet to the floor and his eyes on hers. The glue must have somehow made its way to his brain too because he completely forgot he was supposed to say something in return.
“Yeah...” He nervously stammered out a few seconds too late. “Me neither.”
“Is that why you approached me earlier?”
“I-I don’t know.” The glue was still clogging up his brain because he couldn’t even remember what idiotic reasoning he had to approach this girl in the first place. Being this close to her intense eyes, her deep brown skin that was as smooth and sculpted as the marble that surrounded them, and the sweet lemony smell that washed over him when the wind blew her hair towards him, was absolutely terrifying.
Before Percy could do something stupid like stare at Annabeth’s lips for too long while their faces were this close together, he heard Grover shout his name from across the tower.
“Y’all ready to go? It's getting cold up here!”
Annabeth took one last sweeping glance at the city below them, and Percy marveled at her admiring the view one last time.
Annabeth had insisted that she didn’t need to be walked home, but no matter how much she brushed off his offer, Percy wouldn’t let up.
“Your dorm is literally on the way to mine.” It wasn’t. “Come on!”
“I told you you can’t come home with me.” The trek down the steep stairs had mostly sobered them up but their blinks now seemed to last longer and they walked like there were weights in their shoes. Both of them were minutes away from falling asleep standing up.
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare step foot inside. But my mom would kill me if she found out I let you get murdered because I didn’t walk you home.”
He could tell she still wanted to argue but thankfully her exhaustion hindered her usual stubbornness. She let out an exasperated sigh, finally giving in, and started to lead the way.
He said goodnight to the other guys over his shoulder as he rushed to catch up with the platform sneakers ahead of him.
“Not too bad for the first night of college, don't you think?” he said as he, very quickly, caught up with her stride.
“I think we should aim higher.”
“Higher than the tallest building on our campus?”
She glared at him. “You know what I mean. There’s better things to do here than stand around drinking in some random person's backyard.”
She was right. He honestly only started having fun tonight when they left the party. Or was it when he started talking to her? He wasn’t sure.
They were coming up to her building, and a subtle feeling of dread was creeping up on him. Was this where he was supposed to ask for her number? She had been the closest he had come to making a friend since he got here, besides Grover.
He spent too long worrying about how exactly he was supposed to let her know he wanted to hang out with her again, that all he could come up with when they reached the entrance was, “I’ll see you around.”
“I don’t know, it’s a pretty big school.” She turned and scanned her key to unlock the door. “Goodnight Percy.” Then the door shut behind her before he could say anything in return, her smug expression etched in his memory for good.