Percabeth Oneshots

Rest

By forevfangirlwrites

Being present in the moment is harder than it should be. She thinks she's going to regret not remembering this moment to the exact detail. But there's too much happening around her, chatter to her left, music to the right and a level of exhaustion that she isn't feeling but knows is under the surface of every movement she's making.

It's fun, but it's also a lot. Maybe because it's been nonstop for what feels like five months but is really just three weeks. Nonstop movement, seeing family, friends, camp, and she can keep going only because she's used to running off of nothing.

But her quest days feel like a far distant past and the pace of her life has changed in a way that she's forgotten what it's like to have this much going on. Is this what getting old is like?

A hand on her shoulder makes her turn. She already knows it's him, but she takes a moment to stare. Stare at the way the firelight dances across his face adding more shadows to the dark circles under his eyes, stare at the way his lips are quirking upward and eyes that betray some of his tiredness.

"Hey."

Annabeth isn't the most romantic person ever, but it feels like a scene from a movie the way her entire being seems to zero on him and him alone. The background that was already fading blurs to something even more indecipherable and his voice comes to the foreground.

"Hi."

It comes out more breathless in a way that surprises her too. His eyebrows rise up, but he pulls her closer to him. She doesn't want to melt into the touch because she's stronger than that, she's done harder quests than visiting family and friends and making nonstop plans for three weeks, but she can't help but lean in.

"Bed?" he whispers in her ear. She wonders if everyone else can read her the way he just did.

"I can stay up," she replies, defiantly.

He chuckles and she feels it against her cheek.

"But you don't have to."

She doesn't have to.

Percy is already looking at her when she looks up at him again, eyes wide with wonder because he's right. It's what she needed, permission to let herself rest.

"I have my moments," he jokes even though she didn't say anything. He stands up, grabbing her hand to help her up too. "Come on."

She follows him as he leads her to his cabin, no one sparing them a second glance as they leave the festivities.

The quiet feels like breath of fresh air.

"Thank you," she says as he shuts the door behind them.

He leans down to kiss her forehead. "I'm tired too."

It's validating to know she isn't the only one.

"What happened to us?" she asks as she changes into her pajamas.

"Nothing," Percy answers, moving around her to put his jeans away. "We just get a choice now."

It's true that on a quest there is no choice. In a matter of life or death you need to keep moving, doing what needs to be done.

But there will come a time, she thinks, composing a letter for her younger self in her mind, there will come a time where you can rest, a time where you'll get the choice to rest.

She climbs into bed with Percy already half asleep, but he slings an arm around her waist just like he does every night, and she feels her body relax for the first time all day.

But really, she thinks right before she falls asleep, the choice has been there more times than it hasn't, she just needs to learn how to take it.