ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀ ʙɪᴛᴇꜱ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴀʙᴇᴛʜ/ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ

xɪᴠ ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ | ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇɴᴜʟᴛɪᴍᴀᴛᴇ ᴇᴠᴏʟᴜᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ꜰʀᴀɴᴋ ᴢʜᴀɴɢ

If there was ever a time where Percy would almost consider possibly drinking, it's now. But he doesn't order a drink, even when Nico offers to buy. Percy Jackson doesn't drink. Despite having about fifteen years to get over it, he's still pretty affected by his mom's ex-husband, the man he used to call Smelly Gabe.

Percy didn't think it would be so hard being in New Rome with all his old friends. Sure, he has his traveling buddy Nico. Whenever Sally insists he invites a friend over for dinner, it's always Nico. He's grateful for their friendship, although they aren't as close as his mother thinks they are. Nico's a full-time counselor at Camp Half-Blood and Percy's a marine biology teacher. There isn't much time for getting together anymore. And besides, things have always been a little awkward between the two of them. Nico accepted who he is and paired off with Will Solace. They didn't go their separate ways entirely; they kept in touch, but after Annabeth broke up with Percy, they came across a rough patch in their friendship. Percy had long since apologized; it was all his fault. He was frustrated and jealous that Nico spent so much time with Annabeth after she dumped him.

He just can't get over Annabeth. Call him stupid, but he was expecting the girl he left at Camp Half-Blood to come through that revolving door, crutches and all, just how he left her.

But she wears a leather jacket now! And she has those crazy piercings! She's cool.

Percy watches as Nico finishes off his first beer. The hotel bar is a strange place to meet up, but Frank texted them both and told them that's where they'd go over the itinerary.

She probably drinks now. Gods, Percy's worst nightmare is probably true; there's no way she hasn't dated other guys. The idea of Annabeth kissing someone else, having what they had with some other guy...

"Could I have another Coke please?" Percy asks the bartender. Sure, Percy's a sentimental guy, but he'd always thought he'd be able to move on. He always reassured himself that someday, when he was ready, he'd find another girl that could make him happy.

But now he's almost thirty years old, and he's still not ready. Everything he and Annabeth did together just isn't the same with someone else. Other girls don't laugh while he cheats at skipping rocks. They don't call him 'Seaweed Brain' or build the most elaborate sandcastles.

And they definitely didn't fall into Tartarus with him. It's weird, going from literal hell and back to reality, and then the person you went through it all with saying 'Hey, it's not working out, sorry.'

He tried taking another girl for a walk on the beach once. She just didn't get it the same way he did. She nodded when he told her about the different kinds of animals that used to live in the shells they found, but she wasn't paying attention. He could tell. She kept gazing at his abs and asking if they were going back to her place soon. He couldn't leave his mother home alone overnight. Besides, what's the point in having sex with someone you barely even know?

Percy gave in to one of those girls once. When Paul came home from the boarding school one week for Thanksgiving break, he tried it out. He met with a woman he found online for dinner, both of them knowing how the night would end. That sure made things awkward. She didn't even look like her pictures; brown roots were overtaking her bleach blonde hair, and her eyes were brown, not blue. He went through with it anyway, but it wasn't right. It wasn't Annabeth.

He tells himself it isn't weird or creepy, but deep down he knows how weird and potentially creepy it is whenever he thinks about that night in the stables on the Argo II, when he and Annabeth had been away from each other for so long, and all they wanted was to be close. It didn't matter that they were only teenagers; they'd been through so much together, and they were so confident that they were meant to be.