Flowers In Your Hair {Percabeth AU}

Going Up In Smoke

Bloodstream by The Chainsmokers

Annabeth's P.O.V

Spray painting on walls, coming up with cleverly thought up quotes to write, was a fun way to spend time with someone.
Going around the city only added to the adventure of the rebellious graffiti artists.

Faces hidden with hoodies, hands colored with paint and (mostly black, blue and red), bags on shoulders filled with alphabet stencils and more spray cans along with laughter and smiles- that was how these rebels looked like.

Annabeth felt happy and free after a lot of time. Her friends always took her as a good girl, and here she was breaking laws and vandalizing buildings.
It was memories like these that she lived and existed for. She longed for adventure and a person to go on an adventure with.
She could've asked Piper or Hazel, or maybe even Thalia; but she wasn't the one to break stereotypes. She wasn't the type of person to do things for the shock value.

Somehow, they both ended up at a kids park. Annabeth swung herself on a swing, while Percy slid down a slide, laughing like the kid he seemed to be at heart. Annabeth laughed at his laughing and soon they had tears running down their eyes, clutching their stomachs.

Percy stumbled to the swing, next to her and sat on it, slightly swinging himself back and forth along with her. He was still chuckling.

"This is the most fun that I have had in years," Annabeth remarked, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Told you, you should hang with me," Percy replied smugly.

Annabeth hummed sarcastically and playfully punched him on his arm. He just smiled and looked at her. She looked into his wild ocean eyes as well, and for a moment, the world had stopped. It was as if nothing existed in their surroundings, except them and this moment.

No matter how perfect this moment seemed for a kiss, they didn't kiss. Instead, they averted their gaze from each other and focused on other things.
Percy seemed fascinated with the ground underneath his feet, while Annabeth looked at the sky.

Suddenly Percy said, "I have an idea for a song that I would like you to hear."

"Really?" she asked, getting interested.

"Yeah, but I have only come up with the first verse," he replied.

"It's alright, I won't judge. And maybe, with me here, you could improvise," she said trying to encourage him. It seemed to do the trick because he seemed happy.

"I've been drunk three times this week. Spent all my money on a fleeting moment. I thought I-I-I-I-I-I can shake this off. Now I-I-I-I-I-I can't make this stop.
Yeah, things were sweet three months ago, when I was living how I wanna on my own. And I thought I-I-I-I-I-I don't need that much. I guess I-I-I-I-I-I was out of touch," he sang.

I clapped for him and smiled. It was good. Really good.

"That was great!" she said. "You haven't come up with a chorus yet, right?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"How about this, I'm fucked up, I'm faded, I'm so complicated. Those things that I said, they were so overrated. But I-I-I-I-I-I, yeah, I meant it. Oh yeah, I-I-I-I-I-I, really fucking meant it," she sang.

"Yeah I meant it," he followed her lead, then continued, " I gave up three times this week. Went through those feelings like I wasn't worth nothing. I thought I-I-I-I-I-I can shake this off. No, I-I-I-I-I-I can't be this soft."

They both sang the chorus; " I'm fucked up, I'm faded, I'm so complicated. Those things that I said, they were so overrated. But I-I-I-I-I-I, yeah, I meant it. Oh yeah, I-I-I-I-I-I, really fucking meant it."

They continued to jam for a while and when they stopped, it felt like an amazing moment.

"Did we just do what I think we did?" Percy asked after a while of silence.

"Yes, Jackson. We composed a whole fucking song in a matter of minutes," Annabeth replied just as amazed as the singer sitting next to her on a swing.

"When Luke and I will be recording, we will definitely call you to sing those parts," he said, grinning widely.

"Thanks," Annabeth said, smiling back at him.

They sat on their swings for a while, letting a comfortable silence rule between them.
Then, they got up and took a cab home, because they were too tired to walk after running around in the streets, vandalizing things.
Percy dropped her to her apartment. Before he left, she asked, "Do you think we will news reports dedicated to us tomorrow?"

He smirked and said, "I low-key believe so." Then he left.

Annabeth couldn't help but smile, a genuine smile that very few had a privilege to see on her face.

Humming the tune of the song that they composed, Annabeth climbed the stairs to her apartment.
The door was still locked meaning the group still hadn't returned from their night out.

She opened the door and went into her apartment. It was quiet again. But this time, she didn't feel the usual loneliness that seemed to creep up to her every time she found the apartment this way.
She was happy. Truly happy, that too after such a long time.

She remembered the reason why she had always liked being around Percy. He always seemed to bring joy to her life. Whenever she was with him, her inner turmoil always seemed to take a holiday and go to Hawaii or something.
She never felt lonely with him. With the others, she just felt empty and fake. She felt like a lie before he came.

Percy Jackson, her knight in shining armor.
But a thought bothered her.

He had saved her, but who was there to save him?
Where was she when he needed to be saved? Wasn't love a two-way thing?

But you were the one who left him, her inner voice said.

And just like that, she returned back to her world of anxiety and over thinking. Just with one thought.

'When will this end?' she asked herself yet again.
'Maybe never,' came the answer. 'But you still gotta try to live.'

Yeah, she would. She was strong. She could do it. Her anxiety won't bring her back to depression. She won't let it.

Annabeth went to her room and picked up her phone. She switched it on and saw many missed calls and text messages left by her friends on her phone.

She called Piper to ask what was wrong.
The choppy-haired woman picked up after the fifth ring.

"Hey Piper. What's up? Why did you call me so many times?" she asked.

"I was calling to inform you that we were staying over at Jason's for the weekend night. And Hazel went to Frank's house," Piper's voice said on the other end of the phone.

"So, I am alone for the rest of the night," Annabeth deadpanned.

"Sorry, Ann. We will make it up to you."

"It's alright. You don't have to. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, bye."

After that, Piper hung up on her, before she could say goodbye to her.

Annabeth sighed and locked the door behind her as she went back to the fire escape balcony to smoke again.

She wasn't up for dinner nor for sleeping.

Her plans were set. Her pain was going up in smoke tonight.