Percabeth One-Shots

Soul Mate

Oh shit.

These are the words that appeared on Annabeth Chase's skin when she was just over one month old, and have remained there ever since. It's safe to say that her parents were not best pleased; already developing an opinion of the person their daughter was going to spend her life with years before they would meet him. Her step-mother wrangled a Band-Aid onto the skin on the inside of Annabeth's wrist, covering the two not-so-innocent words, every morning until Annabeth was thirteen and refused to let her. Her step-mother only gave up arguing when Annabeth confessed that she had been removing the Band-Aid as soon as she got to school since she was seven.

They are her soul mate's first words to her, she has always insisted, she shouldn't have to hide them.

And okay, they're not the grandest of first words, but she could be far worse off. Like Justin Kelly, whose words (Do you have change for a dollar?) disappeared in seventh grade and he was left with nothing but a blank patch of skin; or Holly Abbott, who had been born with a blank wrist. Or even the many people Annabeth had met with the words Hi, Hello, or Hey on their wrist. Like, how many people do you meet for the first time and say hello to? At least hers narrows it down; she'll definitely know when she meets her soul mate.

But it hasn't happened yet. She's still young- only eighteen and in her first year of college at Columbia, but she's impatient. The fact that she knows people who have already met their first words people doesn't help her uneasiness. More than anything, she wants to know. She wants to know what he (or she, though she's fairly sure it will be a he) looks like, what he sounds like; how he will say the words- shouted or whispered, shocked, laughing, crying, screaming...

And she knows that she needs to let it happen on its own, trying to force the meeting does not make any difference. But Annabeth Chase does not like not knowing. She plans everything in her life; from what she will have for breakfast, to where she wants to work after graduating. But how is she supposed to plan the rest of her life without knowing who the person she's supposed to spend it with is?

And what worries her most of all- what she checks for first thing every morning- is that her words might disappear altogether, before she ever gets to hear them.

So Annabeth wants to hear them.

And when she does, it takes her completely by surprise.

___________________________

The strap of Annabeth's messenger bag digs into her shoulder as she holds onto the metal rail of the subway train, swaying slightly as they rattle along through the dark tunnel. Even in shorts and a vest top she feels sweat cover her back like a second layer of skin. She takes her hands off the rail to peel her hair away from her neck and twist it into a bun on top of her head. But before she can grab the pole again, the carriage gives a great lurch and she's shunted into the person standing next to her, her elbow collides painfully with their shoulder.

"Sorry!" she says automatically and looks up at the face of the man whose hand has flown to her shoulder to steady her.

He's handsome. Wearing a light blue button down and dark slacks, he looks professional; on the commute to work perhaps. And as his brown eyes hold hers for a moment, she wonders...

"That's okay," he says, and she snaps back to reality.

Wrong words.

She grasps the metal pole again, staring determinedly at her sneakers. The man looks away from her at the map above the nearest window, and they are nothing but two passing ships amongst the sea of strangers.

It's with a jolt that Annabeth realises the next stop is hers and she has to wrestle herself and her over-stuffed bag off the train, through the ticket barrier and up the stairs into the comparatively fresh air of the street. She looked up at the nearest street sign to get her bearings and set off down the sidewalk towards the library. She checks her wrist automatically and breathes again when she sees the two words on her skin.

And it's as she staring down at the words that she hears them, hurtling towards her at an alarming speed.

"OH SHIT!"

A body comes barrelling into her and Annabeth goes crashing to the floor with the body landing on top of her. The back of her head smacks the sidewalk and she feels like her skull has split open.

The shock of the impact delays Annabeth's registering of her tackler's words.

They had been yelled with a mixture of alarm and defeat as they tumbled to the ground together. Far louder and closer than she had ever imagined.

Annabeth blinks up at her stranger as he struggles onto his hands above her, wincing and frowning. His hair is a black mess; his skin is tanned and seems to be covered in plasters, bruises and fresh red scars; and his eyes are something between blue and green and she can't stop staring, open-mouthed at him.

But then her body remembers it's just been tackled to the sidewalk and she groans in pain.

"Your foot's on my leg," she mutters.

The guy swears and moves his foot off her leg almost instinctively, and then he freezes in place, staring down at her with wide eyes. And she's staring back because she is still feeling the same reeling shock at finally hearing those words spoken out loud to her; the words that have stared back at her from the skin of her wrist for as long as she's known.

And sure enough, his gaze flicks to his own wrist and hers follows, twisting her head and reading the words sideways.

Your foot's on my leg.

Well, he must have speculated about that a lot.

But slowly, reassuringly and infectiously, a grin pulls at the corners of his mouth until it is devouring his whole face.

"Hey," he says with a small smile. "I wondered when I would meet you."

She manages a laugh. "Same. Um, d'you recon we could continue this standing up?"

He blinks as though he has forgotten they are lying in the middle of a busy sidewalk and hastens to scramble up and pull her with him. His fingers are rough and they linger on her palm after she's upright once more.

Annabeth's head is throbbing but she manages to focus on his face and his hand as it holds hers. This can't be real, she thinks. But even as she does, she knows it can. Something about this stranger is deeply settling; his thumb brushes up her skin and over the words on her wrist as he reads them. Another smile tugs his lips.

"I'm Annabeth," she says quickly, eager to hear his reply.

"Percy." His eyes find hers. "Listen, this might be a bit forward considering I just skated into you, but do you wanna go out for lunch?"

Annabeth smiles. Her bag is full of books that need to be read and summarised before her classes this week; she had planned on spending the day in the park- away from the never ending distractions of campus- to get through it. But her first words person is holding her wrist, thumb still tracing his words on her skin, and she can't now imagine him letting go of her.

"I'd love to," she tells him.

Percy. Her soul mate.

--~•|•~--

♆This actually turned out better than I expected. What do you guys think? Please comment and vote ♡