spiders

9 0 0

by sheiehbrjsqkrj

by sheiehbrjsqkrj

Annabeth was enjoying the rare luxury of a peaceful morning. The sunlight was streaming through the windows of their New Rome apartment, and she’d decided to take a nice, long shower to relax. She hummed softly to herself, letting the hot water run over her shoulders, washing away the stress of the past few days.

Everything was calm, serene even—until she saw it.

A large, hairy spider sat on the shower wall, just above the shampoo bottles. Its legs twitched as it crawled slightly to the side, and Annabeth froze. She felt her heart race. Normally, she could face down monsters, hold her own in battle, and solve architectural problems that would stump anyone else. But spiders? No way.

"PERCY!" she shrieked, leaping out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself in one swift motion.

In the next second, Percy burst into the bathroom, tripping slightly as he scrambled in, water from the shower splashing on his shoes. “What’s wrong? Is it a monster? A Fury? A—”

“Spider!” Annabeth pointed at the wall, her eyes wide, backing up toward the sink. “Right there!”

Percy blinked, looking between Annabeth and the spider. His expression softened from panic to amusement as he realized what had terrified her.

“Wise Girl,” he said, suppressing a laugh, “you can fight off a legion of monsters, but one little spider gets you?”

Annabeth shot him a deadly look. “Don’t even start, Seaweed Brain. You know how I feel about spiders!”

Percy grinned but quickly held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll take care of it.”

He grabbed a tissue and carefully moved toward the shower. The spider, oblivious to the chaos it had caused, crawled lazily along the tile. With a quick movement, Percy scooped it up and carried it out of the bathroom, tossing it out the window.

When he came back, he found Annabeth still wrapped in her towel, arms crossed, glaring at him.

“Problem solved,” Percy said, giving her his best charming smile.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “You think this is funny, don’t you?”

“Maybe a little,” Percy admitted, walking over to her. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “But don’t worry, Wise Girl, I’ll always be here to save you from the big, bad spiders.”

She couldn’t help but smile, despite herself. “You’d better be.”

Percy kissed her on the forehead, grinning. “Always.”