Can Be Both (A Percabeth AU)

Chapter 14

He wakes up to the smell of coffee and his first thought is no, because not only is the aroma reaching him but the sound of the coffee brewing is, too. Which means it's still being made, which means it's 8 A.M. because his mom is an early bird and refuses to sleep past this hour.

He groans, the sound muffled by the cushion, curling further into the couch and pulling his blanket over his head. He is tired.

It takes him a good ten minutes to gather his bearings. Bearings including a few choice events from the previous day, like hands on the soft expanse of Annabeth's stomach and an arm wrapped around her shoulder for the better part of the day. There's a kiss in there, too. Percy would think it a dream if he couldn't still feel the way she tugged at his shirt collar, nails barely brushing the skin underneath.

Percy rubs at his collarbone absently. There's not a chance Annabeth's still asleep, and if it were any other day she would have already pounced on him, cruelly pressing down on his sunburn and hugging him as a half-hearted apology after.

He wonders how long he can hide underneath the blanket.

"Percy! Breakfast!"

No, Percy mentally whines, frowning to himself, but he rolls off the couch anyways. He pulls a jacket out of the coat closet by the door, half because he knows his mother will reprimand him for arriving at the table shirtless and half because the walk back to his room is a long one and definitely not worth a mere shirt. He zips it up and cringes when the cool line of metal touches his skin.

"Morning, Mom," he greets, squeezing her shoulder when he reaches up to find a coffee cup.

"Morning, Percy," she answers, glancing around him. "Where's Annabeth?"

He can feel his cheeks heat up. He stares down at the coffee cup he grasped onto, and it's Annabeth's favorite one. Then Percy realizes that he doesn't even like coffee in the morning, and he's started preparing a cup for Annabeth out of blind habit.

He extracts his hand from the cup and steps back. Sally gives him a weird look, probably noticing that the redness to his cheeks isn't exactly sunburn. "Something I should know?"

"No, I feel fine," Percy blurts nervously, which doesn't really answer her question. "I'm gonna go... Annabeth."

Sally looks amused as she waves him off. "Go Annabeth, then. Don't let me hold you back."

Percy might be breaking out in hives. He exits the kitchen without a word.

Annabeth isn't sleeping, as Percy suspected. It's a wonder that his two favorite people are early risers when he can barely drag himself out of bed before noon. "Hey," he says, after a second.

She starts, looking up from her phone. "Hi," Annabeth answers, apparently feeling more vocal this morning. "Breakfast?"

"Breakfast," he affirms, watching as she unplugs her phone from his charger. He never minds when she borrows his things—actually, more recently, such actions have caused stupid smiles to spread across his face and linger for minutes on end. "Sleep well?"

Annabeth rolls her shoulders, presumably just as sunburned as himself. Her hair is half up in a ponytail and half out of it. A few particularly springy curls bounce when she slides off his bed. "I slept alright. You?"

"I've slept better," he responds, lifting a shoulder. He tips his head back a little. "Hurry up or else we'll spend all of breakfast listening to you complain about cold eggs."

He at least gets a small smile for his troubles. Annabeth isn't far behind him when he reenters the kitchen.

The majority of breakfast is spent weaving through idle conversation and infallibly avoiding each other's eyes when their toes knock together. If Sally notices anything strange in the air, she gracefully overlooks it and carries on as if it's any other weekend morning with Annabeth.