Can Be Both (A Percabeth AU)

Chapter 17

"I'm going to wreck your car," Annabeth tells Percy, point-blank. "There's no way we're going to get out of this without a bruise or two."

"It's just stick shift, Annabeth, it's not like you're piloting a plane." It's meant to sound encouraging, but he might be more on the exasperated side. Annabeth's been in the driver's seat for a full ten minutes and she hasn't even gotten around to starting the car. "It's going to be a little hard to learn how to drive stick if the car isn't on," he mentions lightly.

"There are three pedals," Annabeth observes, looking at her feet.

Percy laughs now, reaching over and patting her left knee. "Use this one and press the far left pedal to the floor. That's your clutch."

"To the floor?" Annabeth asks incredulously. "That doesn't sound right. Are you wrong?" She follows directions anyways, staring at him expectantly. "What now?"

"Okay, so now you're going to turn the key, and let go of the clutch-"

"Let go?"

"Take your foot off," he orders, after the car roars to life. "And now take off the emergency brake."

"This is so many steps," she complains half-heartedly, hand hovering over the center console. He directs her to the emergency brake, letting her pull it up herself.

"Now, clutch back to the floor," he says, tapping her left leg. He moves her hand from the emergency brake to the gear shift. "Now go into first g-"

The engine stalls out. Annabeth heaves a loud sigh, groaning in annoyance, and, naturally, Percy smiles. "It's fine, it's fine," he assures her, squeezing her hand over the gear shift. "It happens all the time when you're learning, I swear. I've stalled out probably a million times; you've seen me do it."

Annabeth nods, scowling at the windshield, noticeably frustrated. "I'm going to buy an automatic car."

"Hey, don't give up," Percy urges her, cracking a smile at her petulance. "It gets easier the more you do it."

They try again, and Annabeth actually manages to switch to first gear before she stalls out. She glares at the gear shift, probably mentally cursing it in the three languages she knows. The way she clenches her jaw is somehow endearing, and Percy is borderline ridiculous with his affections. "This is stupid."

"You're only saying that because you aren't getting it right away," Percy comments, waving her off. "Again. Remember, release the clutch slowly while you accelerate slowly, if you do either too fast you'll stall out."

Annabeth has to repeat the process five times before they manage to move more than a few inches. Percy cheers proudly, glad that they've chosen a back road. "Now when you get up to about 20 miles per hour, you're going to switch into second gear, and-"

"And to switch gears you have to hold down the clutch until you've finished shifting," Annabeth recites, worrying at her lip, sparing him a glance. "Do you think I could just go under 20 miles per hour forever?"

"We might not get home any time soon," he points out, but he's not opposed to spending that much time with her. Percy's opening his mouth to restate the fact that stick shift is a skill that comes through practice, but Annabeth stalls out before he can.

"Oops," she says, sounding far from apologetic. "Looks like I stalled out."

Percy reads her tone effortlessly. With a sigh, he says, "You stalled out on purpose, didn't you."

"Don't sound so disappointed in me," Annabeth responds, facing him. "It's pointless. I won't feel guilty."

"I read somewhere that robots feel no remorse." Percy raises an eyebrow at her blank stare. "What?"

"You read it?"

"Hey," Percy says indignantly, though he's not as offended as he's making himself out to be. "That's rude. I read."

"Okay, I can believe that you read, maybe. But about robots? Of all things?"

He narrows his eyes at her. "You're sounding a little defensive. Maybe I'm having my suspicions." Annabeth blinks at him, so Percy blinks right back. She left her hair down today, despite the heat, and it's kind of frizzy and flattened on the right side-which, Percy knows, is due to the fact that she always curls up on her right when trying to fall asleep.

"You are such an idiot," Annabeth says slowly, looking away from him. "Besides, if I'm a robot, that makes you attracted to a robot, and that's just weird."

Percy could form a pretty good argument against that, but the clouds move and let the sun shine through his windshield again. Light falls across Annabeth's face, making her squint a little, and Percy's heart does a familiar flutter-one that he's starting to associate with moments he falls a little more in love with her.

He unbuckles his seatbelt, gathering that Annabeth doesn't plan on driving again anytime soon, and leans across the center console. She looks at him out of the corner of her eye, but doesn't offer him attention beyond that. "Hey," he says, inching closer, "so, I'm pretty convinced you're a robot right now."

"Are you?" Annabeth questions, looking at her nails, the epitome of an unconcerned girlfriend.

He knocks his forehead against her temple, albeit lightly. "Yeah. Really convinced. Believing it. But, I could be persuaded to think otherwise..."

Annabeth barks out a laugh, turning to him with amused eyes. "You aren't even a quarter as smooth as you think you are," she declares and leans closer anyways, kissing him like she can't help herself. Percy knows the feeling.

They block the road for a while. Percy drives home.