Natural (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Meeting the Family

Annabeth shifted in the driver's seat, meaning to place her arm on the armrest, only to find there was a pair of feet there. She recoiled in surprise, glancing down at the feet, which were Piper's, and trying to regain her composure. In her small moment of surprise, she had jerked the wheel very violently to the left, and she was infinitely thankful that the road they were on was deserted.

It seemed kind of strange to admit, but Annabeth sometimes forgot that she was in the car with someone else. Sure, it wasn't uncommon for her to be absent-minded about her surroundings and be focusing more on her own thoughts, but she was always aware of who she was with simply because a situation could easily get dangerous and she always needed to be prepared for that.

Risking a glance at Piper, Annabeth found that tense muscles in her face suddenly relaxed, even if she had been unaware that her face had tensed in any way. Piper had brought a particularly fluffy pillow from the back of the van up to the front so she could rest her head against it as she slept. Her current position was something like a small kitten's; completely adorable and quite obviously child-like. The pillow had been propped up against the window, and Piper's face was pressed into it, her mouth slightly open. Her fingers had curled into fists by her face, and she had somehow managed to twist in such a way that she was able to spread her legs sideways and onto the armrest.

Feeling a slight pull in her stomach, Annabeth kept her eyes on the road, perfectly aware that a very cute Piper was right next to her. She raised the volume on the radio; not much, just enough so that she could hear the words in the songs instead of meaningless garble. A small smile tugged at her lips as she glanced over again, her sweater on Piper giving her a rather unexplainable happiness as she continued driving.

~

Piper sat up straight in her seat, finally accepting the fact that she wasn't asleep anymore. With great difficulty, she managed to wrench her eyes open, and then she rubbed them rather violently so that when she blinked they didn't stay closed.

"Awake?" Annabeth asked from her place in the driver's seat, taking a second to glance at Piper before returning her eyes to the road. Piper nodded begrudgingly, making a face as she smacked her lips. Annabeth pretended that she didn't think that was unbearably cute. "It's around two... Do you want to get something to eat?"

It was quite obvious that Annabeth was hungry because of the quiet growl that came from her stomach, and Piper wondered why she even bothered to ask if she was already that hungry. And besides, Piper liked three main things in her life, and one of them was food. The other two were sleeping and Annabeth. Not necessarily in that order.

"Yeah," Piper croaked, stuffing the pillow she'd used by her legs and running a couple fingers through her hair.

"Do you want to get out or just eat on the way?"

"Get out."

"Mmk." Piper didn't miss the split second expression of relief before Annabeth wiped it away. Annabeth pulled the van into a parking space at a fast food place, and the two of the exited the van, stretching their legs.

After they'd ordered their food, they picked sat down at an empty table, and Piper rested her head on her arms, still feeling a bit groggy. "When are we going to get there?" she asked lazily, looking over at Annabeth, who'd also rested her head on her arms so that they were eye-level.

Annabeth seemed to think for a second, closing her obviously tired eyes for a moment. "We'll probably make it a bit after it gets dark. It shouldn't take us too long now."

"Do you want me to drive?"

"You don't know the way."

For a moment, they held each other's gaze, and Annabeth couldn't pick what color she thought Piper's eyes were, and Piper couldn't think of a time when gray eyes had looked so warm. And then their order was called.