Can Be Both (A Percabeth AU)

Chapter 2

Annabeth is leaning up against his car when he finally makes it out to the parking lot, but she says little else besides a greeting, even after they've driven for ten minutes.
"So…" Percy starts. "Am I taking you home or to the Jackson residence?"

She offers up a barely-there smile. Percy doesn't like that. "The second option, please."

Beyond that, the ride is silent. Annabeth looks out the window and twists her hands like she isn't sure what to do with herself. Usually, she nods along to whatever he happens to be playing, occasionally offering her opinion when the song is over. She's always told him that she loves car rides with him better than anything. It would be an understatement to say he's worried.

Annabeth doesn't say another word until he's shut the front door behind them. He toes off his shoes, humming idly. "I'm thinking of breaking up with Luke," she tells him, without prelude.

Percy pauses. Then he laughs. "Yeah, right. What are you really upset about?"

She scowls then, her face twisting up into something displeased and confused all at once. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, and I'm dating Halle Berry," Percy snorts, nudging her shoulder with his own on his way into the kitchen. "Tell me what's up. For real."

Annabeth sinks into the nearest chair, clearly exhausted. For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Percy wonders if Annabeth's being honest. "I think," Annabeth says slowly as if she's trying out the words for size, "that I don't love him anymore."

Percy doesn't believe that for a second. "Why do you say that?"

Her face falls and Percy's heart drops along with it. He goes to her, reaching out to pull her into a quick hug, rubbing her back. She accepts the comfort, leaning into him. "Hey," he says, mock-sternly, pulling back to meet her eyes. "Don't fall apart on me, now. Tell me why you're thinking like this all of a sudden."

Annabeth sniffles, even if there aren't any tears in her eyes. "It's not actually that sudden," she admits. "I've been thinking about it ever since I started seriously looking at colleges."

"There's no way that's true," Percy says, squeezing her upper arms. "C'mon, you were looking at colleges in the middle of last year."

Annabeth blinks at him, eyes sad and conflicted. "I know," she says in a gentle tone, eventually.

He raises his eyebrows a little but doesn't let his shock show beyond that. "Okay. Now we've established when, but tell me why."

Annabeth bites her thumbnail, so Percy bats her hand away, levelling her with a look. She sighs. "It started last year at his birthday party. You were there when it happened, I think, but Luke walked up to me and kissed me—which, I mean. That's not out of our norm, or anything, but he knows I'm not particularly into PDA…" Percy nods. Even he knows this. "And I just didn't feel anything?"

Percy bites the inside of his cheek, remembering Luke's none-too-subtle displays of affection throughout the party and sliding into the chair beside her every time she spoke to a boy who wasn't him. There's a high probability that she was too bothered by his reactions to focus on how she was feeling. "Okay."

"So"—Annabeth pauses to draw in a deep breath, and Percy moves a chair so that he can beside her—"I thought it was just me being silly, or whatever, but then after the party, I stayed around, and he kissed me again, like really kissed me, not just a quick one, and it was still just nothing." She sounds frustrated, pushing her hair out of her face. Percy sees a little scar on her forehead from a mishap with a tree branch when they were twelve. "And ever since then, I've been feeling less and less around him."