Him or her? (A Pipabeth story)

Chapter Eight

Percy's POV

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Percy sighed in frustration as he paced around his bedroom. Books and paper were scattered everywhere from his studying, but he couldn't focus. All he could focus on was Annabeth. He hadn't heard from Annabeth in ages and had started worrying that asking Leo to tell her that he'd be at Camp was a bad idea. He should have just Iris-messaged her himself.

You know what? Maybe I should message her, He thought. Having something to do finally besides studying and helping his mom with his little sister Estelle was somewhat relaxing.

Picking up a drachma from on his desk, he walked over to the fountain in the corner of his bedroom. He was about to toss the coin into the fountain when he hesitated. Would Annabeth even want to see him? He shook his head and tossed the coin anyway, muttering the words required and waited. Within a few moments, the mist shimmered before an image appeared. Annabeth was pacing in her cabin, muttering something about 'more buildings' and 'stupid ideas from the other campers.'

"Hey Annabeth," He spoke, managing a weak smile. He saw her jump in surprise and turn around. Her face went from surprised, to relief, to anger quicker than should be possible.

"Why didn't you just message me instead?" She asked, venom leaking into her voice. Percy could tell she hadn't wanted to sound like that, but her tone still made her wince.

"Sorry Annabeth... I.. I guess I thought it would make sense to get Leo to tell you since he did come by..."

"I'm sorry," Annabeth spoke softly, "I shouldn't have sounded like that. I've just... been having other things going on at the moment and it's hard to focus on one thing.." Percy titled his head in confusion.

"What do you have going on? You aren't working yourself too hard with planning for Olympus, are you?"

Annabeth chuckled. She turned to the side and bit her lip, a guilty look appearing on her face.

"No...just...other things..." She looked back at Percy and sighed. "Look, can I just talk to you later when you actually come to Camp?"

Percy smiled and tried to hide his disappointment, but was almost certain Annabeth could see right through him.

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll make sure to bring some of my moms blue cookies to share."

"Yeah, that would be nice." Percy saw Annabeth smile, a genuine smile, and he found himself smiling as well.

"Speaking of your mom, can you tell her I said hello?" Annabeth asked. Percy nodded his head, and was about to respond when he heard a door open, and saw the door to Annabeth's cabin slowly open. Annabeth jumped in surprise but visibly relaxed when it was Piper who walked through the door.

"Hey Piper," Percy spoke, smiling and waving at her from his side of the Iris message. Piper turned to him surprised and smiled back, thought it looked it the smile was slightly strained. He couldn't tell though.

"Hey Percy! You're coming back to Camp soon, right? In like a few days?"

"Yep. I've spent far too long with primarily Estelle and my mom for company." Piper laughed but Annabeth looked shocked.

"Oh Gods, I forgot you were coming back soon!" Her face looked pale and Percy looked at her concerned.

"You okay Wise-Girl?" Annabeth nodded, looking back between Piper and him panicked. Piper turned to him and spoke.

"Hey Percy, do you mind if we cut the call for now? I'm sure Annabeth can talk to you later."

Percy narrowed his eyes but his concern kept growing.

"Are you sure? Is there something happening that I don't know about? Annabeth—"

"Percy," Piper spoke, "Annabeth is fine. How about you just cut this message and you can properly talk and stuff when you get to Camp, alright?" Percy nodded and quickly said goodbye before swiping his hand through the mist and cutting the call. Annabeth was fine. Everything was fine. He'd just talk later. Yeah. Later. Shaking his head, he turned back to his mountainous pile of books to study from, and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that was telling him something was not right.

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Piper's POV

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Piper winced as she felt Annabeth glare at her as soon as Percy cut the message.

"Did you use Charmspeak on him?" Annabeth demanded.

"Yeah I did, but you looked stuck! I was trying to help."

Annabeth opened her mouth to say something before stopping for a few seconds and looking to the side.

"I'm just feeling so torn. And guilty. I need to tell him about...us. But I just can't. It's so annoying!"

"We could always stop if you wanted. You don't have to tell Percy about any of this. We could always just forget any of this," Piper suggested with a quiet voice. Annabeth turned to her quickly.

"No! We can't. Maybe...maybe if we had decided to forget about it earlier, but now....It would be impossible. I'll have to tell him. Percy will understand, right?" Piper stepped forwards and pulled Annabeth forwards when she noticed tears appearing on Annabeth's face.

"Annabeth...It'll be fine...Promise. How about we go do something to get your mind off of this?" Piper felt Annabeth's arms wrap around her upper body.

"No, I'd rather stay here with you."

Piper stayed silent, keeping her arms wrapped around Annabeth and listening to Annabeth's muffled sobbing.

"You still shouldn't have used Charmspeak on him," Annabeth whispered.

"Sorry, but you did look panicky." Piper felt Annabeth's arms tighten around her body.

"I may have been panicky but I could have dealt with the situation myself," Annabeth claimed. Piper giggled.

"'Course you could have, but I still wanted to help." She felt Annabeth nod her head on her shoulder.

She waited a few seconds before speaking again.

"Could we at least do something now?"

"Depends what it is," was the response she got. Piper thought for a few seconds before a smile grew on her face. She pulled back from the hug and held Annabeth's shoulder so they were face to face.

"I have an idea."

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Ten minutes later, and the two of them were sitting on a spare bed in Percy's cabin, watching a movie, and eating snacks they found stashed under the spare bed. In only a matter of ten to twenty minutes, a few of their friends had found them and joined, until after the first movie, they had a whole group of them in Percy's cabin. Piper didn't care. Sure she had intended for it to just be her and Annabeth, but sometimes, being around friends was better. And if having all their friends with them helped Annabeth keep her mind off when she'd have to talk to Percy, then Piper didn't care.

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