Going Viral

Chapter 8

June 12th

Percy's written 4 more songs about her. He's hopeless.

In the last couple weeks, Annabeth has easily become one of his closest friends. There was something about seeing her as Estelle's personal climbing frame and donning a blue tutu and a paper crown that made his stomach do flips and she'd even asked him to 'beta' her latest video (Percy wasn't actually sure what the word meant but he got to watch a 10 minute video of her being adorable and chattering about theatre before the rest of the world so he wasn't going to complain).

He feels a little guilty about writing so many songs with her in the forefront of his mind, especially because he hasn't told her. He was going to tell her the other day when they were messing about and making up harmonies to every song they could think of, but they'd been so relaxed and carefree and he didn't want to ruin it.

They're in her apartment, Luna playing round their feet, when he gets the idea to tell her again. It's no big deal, right? He's a musician and she's his muse, it doesn't matter that he felt enough about her to write a song from just a 30 second clip. It's completely normal that he's got a whole notebook dedicated to lyrics about her. It sounded a little obsessive, he'd admit, but it wasn't weird. Was it?

"Hey, Perce, can I ask you something?"

He and Luna froze from where they were jumping around each other and looked to where Annabeth emerged from the kitchen, wide-eyed.

"Yes?" He asked, trying not to break into a smile despite Annabeth's suppressed giggles.

"How would you feel about me posting that photo of us the other night on Instagram?"

Luna trots off to her bed and curls up, leaving Percy still and staring at Annabeth. "Umm..." He doesn't know what she wants him to say. "Sure, we're not a secret, right? We don't need to pretend we're not hanging out, do we?"

Biting her lip, Annabeth nods.

"Is something wrong?" For a second, Percy panics and think maybe there's something he's missing.

"No, it's fine, don't worry."

"Annabeth, what's wrong?"

Her face tightened. Something was bothering her. Tentatively, Percy took a step towards her. Annabeth didn't meet his eyes but stuck her arms out towards him for a hug.

Hoping she wouldn't be able to feel the racing of his heart, he pulled her into his arms. It took a split second for her to relax but then she lent her head against his shoulder and muffled a cry into his shirt. Percy's chest ached when he felt her body shudder. For a moment, all he did was hold her and hope that it would offer her some sense of comfort. What was bothering her was beyond him but he knew she didn't deserve it.

"Do you want-" His voice cracked and he cleared his throat to try and cover it. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her small shrug was something Percy understood, it was what Grover did when he wanted to vent but didn't want to be overbearing and didn't know how to start talking. Carefully, he guided her to the couch and sat down. Luna was nuzzling against their knees and Annabeth reached out to scratch her behind the ears, hiccuping. They sat in silence, her tucked under his arm, for another few minutes before she spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I just..."

Instead of speaking, Percy pulled her closer and pressed his nose into her hair.

"What are we doing?"

Her words made him pull away so he could look at her face. Red rimmed, shiny, grey eyes blinked up at him.

"Are you crying because of me- of us?"

"No, I just... Not just that. There's a lot of things, but I guess that's one of them." Percy raised his eyebrows and she carried on. "What are we doing, Percy? We've known each other less than a month and you're practically my best friend besides Piper, but give it a year and what will it matter. You're- You're you and you'll disappear on tour and forget about me."

He went to argue but Annabeth snapped and cut him off.

"You can deny it now but it's inevitable."

That statement stung.

"It's the truth. Everyone has their moments and then one day they just realise: I'm not worth it. It's what mom did, and then dad, then Clarisse and Malcolm and it's only a matter of time before it's Piper and you too."

"Annabeth..." He didn't know where to start but he needed to say something. "I can't speak for anyone else, I can't pretend to know what happened, but I can promise you I'm not going to disappear on a tour and forget you. It's practically impossible anyway, 70% of our set list is gonna be all these sappy songs I've written about you."

The words are out of his mouth before he can think about them.

"You wrote a song about me?" Her words are barely even a whisper but they make Percy's heart somersault.

No use hiding it now, Jackson.

"Several, actually."

He plays them - as many as he can remember - on Piper's 'decorative' guitar. It's out of tune so he has to start over again. When he reaches the first chorus, he glances up at her. Her cheeks are still wet and she's snivelling a little but she looks just as perfect as she always does.

It's crazy, girl, Been a bit of a whirlwind
Call me insane, all over you
Can't even tell you it took me a while.

I'm hopeless here, Head over heels
Something my mama said rings true
"The thing you fall in love with is a smile."

Bile builds in his throat when he finishes. It's not even half of what he's written but he's afraid he's already pushed her too far. Rookie mistake. In 10 minutes, he'd managed to scare her off by declaring his undying, obsessive love for her despite only learning her name last month. She looks shocked. Percy sets the guitar back in the stand and bites his lip, expecting her to slap him or yell or tell him he's wasting his time, that he was a creep and she wanted nothing to do with him.

Spoiler alert: she doesn't.