heaven and hell and back again (heaven is you)

heaven

Percy sat down on the dock, kicking his legs in the water as tiny fish swam around his feet. If we were to describe this summer, he would simply say that it had been hell. There had been a few very memorable moments, of course, but it had been a hard one, to be sure. He'd always known they would have to deal with Kronos and Luke, but he hadn't quite expected the half-and-half combination of the two of them, and there was still more of a fight to come. He certainly wasn't looking forward to fighting someone he'd counted as a friend once. Annabeth and the rest of the campers who had been around awhile had to be having an even harder time. But Beckendorf had moved for the counselors to meet in the morning to start drafting plans, so Percy had to go to that. For now, though, he was content to sit here and watch the fireworks go up.

"Can I join you?" asked a quiet voice from behind him.

He turned around to see exactly who he'd known it would be. Annabeth stood a few paces back on the dock, arms wrapped around herself, feet bare, and hair tied up messily.

"Of course," he said, sliding over just a bit to make room for her beside him.

She sat down, sticking her own feet in the water, and leaned back, looking up at the sky silently. They hadn't mentioned her kissing him since he got back. He didn't really want to bring it up, either. Maybe she regretted it. Maybe she'd tell him she just wanted to be friends. And whatever way her response went, was it worth changing their relationship if he could potentially lose his best friend?

"You have no idea," Annabeth said suddenly, jarring from his internal musings, "how absolutely terrified I was when you disappeared."

Percy stared at her, but her eyes were trained on the sky. He wasn't sure if it was light from the fireworks that stained her cheeks.

"I'll try not to do it again," he joked, but it was half-hearted.

She took a deep breath. "We didn't think you'd survived. I thought... I thought you'd died, Percy. I thought you'd done something stupid and decided to sacrifice yourself for us."

For you, he wanted to say. Only for you.

"And... And I kept thinking, just give it one more day, don't worry, he'll be back, it'll all be fine." Annabeth looked over at him then, and to his surprise, tears were gathered in her eyes. "It took so many days, Percy. Gods, it was absolute hell; you don't understand. We didn't think you were coming back, and–"

"But I did," Percy interrupted. He pulled his leg out of the water and placed his foot behind her, turning fully to face her. "I came back, Annabeth. I always do. You don't have to worry about me."

"But I do anyways, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, "I can't help it. You're my best friend. I'm always going to worry about you."

"Well, I worry about you, too. Remember that time you jumped on that monster and literally fell off a cliff? And you were gone for so long, and they told me I couldn't go to rescue you. I was worried then."

"And you came anyways," she said, smiling oh, so sweetly at him. His heart did a funny little flip in his chest, and he ignored it.

"I was worried when Poly-what's-his-face got you," Percy said.

"Polyphemus," Annabeth corrected. "I was worried when you jumped off the Gateway Arch, and we couldn't find you."

"That day was one of the weirdest of my life," Percy remembered, laughing. "And that's saying something. I was worried when Geryon captured you."

"I was worried when you held the sky," she said, reaching over to him and touching the strands of silver in his dark hair, the little strip in his hair that matched the one in her blonde curls.

"You held it for longer than me," he said quietly. "So much longer."

Annabeth smiled then, brushing at the tears. "I did, didn't I?" She sighed, shoulders slumping as she watched the next fireworks explode, showering the beach with sparks. Closer to camp, along the beach, the younger kids raced around holding sparklers and jumping through fountain fireworks. "You think it'll ever be normal again?"

"We're half-bloods, Wise Girl," he teased. "I don't think 'normal' exists for us."

"Well, you never know," she replied with a laugh. They were quiet for a few moments more, and then she said, "Come on, let's go back to everyone else."

"Nooo," Percy groaned dramatically. "I wanna stay by the ocean!"

"Okay, baby," she laughed.

Percy watched her laugh. He couldn't help but think about what it might be like to hear her call him 'baby' as a term of endearment, not a joking insult. He would be allowed to notice the sparkle to her eyes, the way her hair curled around her face, the way her calves sloped down to her ankles. He would be allowed to linger on the sound of her laugh, remember every fact she'd ever mentioned when she thought he wasn't listening.

"Come on, Percy. They'll be missing us." Annabeth's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Seized by an unusual amount of courage, he leaned over, caught her arm, and pulled her back. She leaned against his chest, her legs tucked under her, his on either side of her.

Without saying a word, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to him, and he pressed his forehead against her shoulder.

"I'm never going to leave you again," he whispered, almost shyly, so quietly he wasn't sure she'd heard him. Very softly, almost imperceptibly, he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her curly head. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn Annabeth leaned into him ever so slightly.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she said. The words were teasing, but the breathless way she said them made him want to read too much into it. He didn't, though. He held her a moment longer, just too long to really be platonic, then released her.

"You're right; we should go," he said, standing and offering her his hand.

She took it, pulling herself up, and together they walked back into camp.

If the smell of her hair lingered with him for the rest of the night, he never mentioned it to her. If his eyes stayed on her a little too long when Silena raced over to drag her into the girls' circle, no one had to know. She was his own personal taste of heaven, it was true, but that wasn't something she would ever really know.