Percabeth

The start and the end

Percy fell in love with Annabeth Chase the very first moment he saw her.

It was the first game of the season and the crowds were settling in. Beckendorf had been the one to suggest it– his girlfriend was playing and it was his duty, as her boyfriend and as somebody to cared very deeply about her, to be there for as many games as his schedule allowed– and Percy never did turn down a chance to watch some ball. He'd tagged along with Beckendorf and Travis a little bit awkwardly and was only half-listening to their conversation when he noticed her.

Up until that moment, they'd been twelve girls in black and gold uniforms not unlike Percy's kit– but then she shucked off her windbreaker and re-tied her blonde hair into a ponytail, giving her long, slender arm a stretch as she took her position, and Percy wasn't just watching some game anymore.

She was tall, tan and he supposed she was conventionally pretty, but none of that truly mattered. He was in college; he could point out a hundred girls who were tall and tan and pretty. He watched her movements, the little jog she did as she braced herself and how she transformed right there, on the court, the moment the ball was in the air.

"Let's fucking go, come on Silena!" Beckendorf called, cupping his hands over his mouth.

In the half-second it took for Percy to glance over at Silena, who was standing right under the net, Blondie had somehow not only gained possession of the ball but was lining up to shoot from well outside the three-point line.

"There's no way-," Percy began to say as he watched the ball sailing through the air, and, miraculously, fell right through the hoop.

Beckendorf and Travis, like a lot of other Panther fans in the stands, were on their feet and cheering. Percy gawked at her as her teammates clapped her on the back and her face broke into a wide, almost giddy grin. She glanced over her shoulder at the audience, her cheeks flushed, and he could swear her eyes rested directly on him for a moment before she turned her attention back on the game.

Percy couldn't bear to take his eyes off of her for the rest of the game. It wasn't half as exciting as the first three minutes, but the Panthers' shooting guard more than made up for it. She moved like Anna Pavlova and played like James Harden and smiled like Julia Roberts and Percy was smitten. Every step she took was deliberate, every dribble calculated, every shot taken purposeful– she wasn't on the court to play a game, she was there to paint a picture. She was there to tell stories and to woo the crowd and judging by the way she kept looking up at them, she knew she was doing a fantastic job.

It took Percy two minutes to catch on to their strategy– get possession, pass to Chase, and trust that she'd do the rest. The visiting team wasn't stupid; they figured it out just as quickly, restructuring their play to defend her as best as they could, but their man-to-man did little to slow her down. She was light on her feet but powerful in her throws and it didn't take long to realise that she was next to invincible once the ball was in the air.

By the time the last quarter rolled around, she'd all but obliterated the visiting team's confidence. There was no substitution, no change in strategy, and no divine power to turn to that would bring their score up. Percy watched her sip on a pink water bottle during the time out, laughing at whatever her coach was saying, and leaned in towards Beckendorf.

"She's fucking phenomenal." He called over the chatter of the crowd. Beckendorf shrugged.

"I wouldn't want to play against them." He admitted. "Annabeth's a nightmare."

"As a person?" Percy asked. He'd heard her name before– she was friends with Beckendorf and Travis and all the guys on the basketball team. If he'd known she played the way she did, he'd have asked for an introduction a long time ago. Beckendorf snorted.