Who Could Have Known (Percabeth AU)✔️

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Percy's POV

"Well... here goes nothing." Annabeth sighed. "Back before high school, believe it or not, Drew and I were friends."

My eyes widened in shock. Annabeth and Drew. Friends. "You're kidding."

"Nope."

"What happened?"

"Well... the summer of eight grade happened. All throughout eight grade, Drew began to gain popularity. She needed all the attention. She wanted to be front and center all the time. I didn't want that. I stayed as my shy and quiet self. Drew wanted me to be more like her. She told me that we could 'rule the school together.'" Annabeth made air quotes with her fingers. "I told her that that wasn't how I wanted to be. She realized that I wasn't going to join her and be popular, so she turned bitter. She became really mean to me. She was constantly insulting me, telling me that I was ugly or that I wasn't good enough to be popular like she was and that I was fat or too pale and just picking me apart piece by piece." Annabeth had tears in her eyes now. "She made me hate myself. I tried to ignore her, shut her out. But she always found a way to get under my skin. I was feeling really bad about myself and I just wanted it to be over." A tear escaped her waterline and rolled down Annabeth's cheek.

I knew exactly where this was going. My eyebrows furrowed with sympathy, my mouth opening slightly as my heart began to crack. I got goosebumps all over. I wanted to scoop Annabeth up. Tell her everything was okay. I wanted to be there for her past self. And I know it's impossible but I still felt guilty for not having her back.

"And the final straw was when she told me... she told me I could never be a normal girl," Annabeth wiped her cheeks before whispering, "because I didn't have a mother. She insulted not just me, but my mother and my family. I remember feeling so angry, yet helpless. Like there was nothing that I could do, despite how badly I wanted to take action.

"On the night of June 13, I cut myself. I was there, in the bathroom. Sitting on the side of the tub thinking that this was how I could escape it all. This was how I ended the pain. The razor blade in my hand, I..." her voice faltered. She didn't need to finish the sentence. She simply showed me here wrists. Long white scars trailed along her forearms. They were faint, meaning they were old, but still permanent. I grabbed her, and pulled her closer to me. She put her legs across my lap. I held her as she sobbed.

I felt horrible for her. I kissed the top of her head and rubbed circles into her back, whispering into her hair that it was okay. That I was here.

She looked up at me, and I down at her. We kissed. Slow, and gentle. I wanted to be careful with Annabeth, in the moment it was like she was so delicate, one wrong move could break her. I gently placed my right hand on her cheek, my left on her waist. She had her right hand on my face, leaning on the other. We pulled away shortly.

"Annabeth. You are the most beautiful person that I know. You are brave, strong and courageous. You are funny, smart and witty. I love you so much. You have so many people who do love you. Forget about Drew and her stupid lies. Because one thing is true: you will always be a better person than she is. In every single way."

***

Annabeth stopped crying after a while, I didn't keep track of how long. "I'm sorry. It seems that every time we do something I end up crying." She laughed.

I laughed. "No. You have nothing to apologize for." I kissed her hand. "You know that I love you right?"

"God, what did I do to deserve you?" She smiled at me gratefully. I smiled back.

"Hey. Why don't we head back to my place and have a movie marathon?"

"It's Tuesday Percy. We have school tomorrow."

"So what if we skip one day. It's not the end of the world."

She sighed. "I guess you're right. But what about your mom?"

"She's out right now with her good friend Paul."

"Ah. But what will she think of us skipping?"

"All I have to tell her is that you weren't up to it and she'll be completely okay with it." I smirked at my blonde haired beauty.

"Really?" Annabeth looked touched.

"Yeah. My mom loves you. Besides, she knows you've had a rough past."

Annabeth looked worried.

"Don't worry. I didn't tell her anything, but I think she can sense it. She's mentioned it to me before."

"Oh. Well, let's start cleaning up then." We started packing up the food. By then, the sun has completely set, the fairy lights being the only source of light. Annabeth looked gorgeous in the dim light. Well, she looked gorgeous in any light, but still. Her hair flowed like a golden waterfall in the faint ivory light. She was glowing, her flawless skin shimmering. I thought about how lucky I was to have such an incredible girlfriend. She was perfect.

As we packed up the last thing and closed the basket, thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Lovely." Annabeth said. She laughed. "Do we ever catch a break?"

"I don't think so, Wise Girl. Get ready to run." We grab the blanket and drape it over us after climbing down the rope ladder. The rain started out as a light drizzle, but quickly escalated. The drops of water hit the ground hard, making it hard to hear Annabeth's signal. "One, two, three!" We run from the cover of the treehouse onto the path. Annabeth squealed as the rain hit us. The blanket actually want much help. That just got wet and started dripping on us.

We finally made it to the car and quickly hopped in, soaked. "Well. That was fun."

I turned up the heat. "Yep." We sighed together. Annabeth plugged in her phone to the ox cord and 'San Fransisco' by 5 Seconds of Summer began to play. I knew that this was one of her favorite songs by them. She had recently gotten me into their music, saying she was a long-time fan.

She smiled at me. "I love you Seaweed Brain."

"I love you Wise Girl."

And we drove home to the sound of the windshield wipers keeping time with the music. The sound of the rain falling hard on the roof of my car.

I wanna get back to where we started. 
To the summer nights...