Going Viral

Chapter 42

March 6th

Annabeth's words seemed to make the whole place fall silent. The audience roared behind him for Thalia's solo but their noise sounded distant and unimportant and Percy could focus on was those three words.

I love you.

It was like his brain had shut down. Someone shoved his arms through a shirt and buttoned it up as someone else dabbed a cloth against his dripping face. His eyes never left her. Percy knew he should probably react, he could tell from the way she bit her lip and her forehead creased with worry that he should reassure her at the very least. He could say it back but...

How on earth was she here? She had mentioned booking a weekend off so she could drop by but he hadn't thought anything of it other than that she was just saying that to ease his mind. As far as he had been aware, Annabeth had been 1,250 miles away until about 30 seconds ago. They were the longest 30 seconds of his life, granted, but his brain was going so slowly that it could've been days and Percy would've been none the wiser.

"Dude!" Nico grabbed him by the collar and pulled him so that Annabeth was no longer in his vision. "Get a grip. We gotta get back on." As easy as it would be for Nico just to drag him back out to the audience looking like a hopelessly lost puppy, he wasn't cruel enough to do such a thing. Percy watches as his cousin goes back onto stage and jogs to his position amongst the drum kit while he allows himself a minute to get his breath back.

The brief idea Percy had had weeks ago flickers to life in the back of his brain. When he glances back at Annabeth, she's looking remarkably pale and is gnawing at her lip as though she's ravenous. He has to fix this. Again, he considers saying it back but even in Percy's skewed sense of time, he knows he's left it too late to do that now.

Instead of turning back to her, he whispers something to get Silena's attention. She looks rather reluctant to disentangle herself from where she's perched comfortably across Beckendorf's lap by the backup mic boxes, but she agrees to do as Percy asks nevertheless. Though Percy didn't pay it any mind, he notices the knowing look in her eyes as she hears his plan. Before he can doubt his actions, he's back in front of the crowd again.

It's impossible for him to focus on anything except the gap in the wings where he can catch a glimpse of Annabeth's blonde hair. It's tightly twisted into two braids that swing when she turns her head and there's a circle of frizz that frames her face where the baby hairs have escaped. Percy's hypnotised. If Thalia notices the way his fingers fumble over the strings as they play through the next song, she doesn't make a deal of it and chooses only to raise an eyebrow as he mouths a curse. If they were following their regular set list, Percy's solo would be coming up soon. Maybe she was concerned he'd mess up. It wouldn't be the first time he'd messed up when someone important was watching.

(In the early days, Sally had been backstage for Percy's first solo of Bake It Blue. Much to his own embarrassment, his vision had blurred with tears when he saw his mom was crying silently and he'd royally screwed up his finger positioning because of it. Let's just say that Percy was grateful they only had a handful of fans back then.)

His heart hammered when Thalia patted him on the back and followed Nico into the wings once more. Percy picked up the handheld mic and cleared his throat. Only when it slipped down between his fingers did he notice just quite how sweaty his hands have become.

"I promise I'm not usually this nervous." His laughter sounded forced. "It's just that someone really special showed up and now my brain's melted."

A teenager whispers to their friend and the pair of them beam up at him knowingly.

"Anyway..." He can hear her name being called out to him questioningly from all over the arena but he pretends not to notice. "I had this plan ages ago but I didn't think she'd show for me to ever do it, but she did and so I'm gonna completely embarrass her."

When he turns to the wings to try and get her attention, she's already as close as she could be without the fans spotting her. There's a small smile playing at her lips as though she knows what he's thinking. Annabeth waves to her clothes and shakes her head, laughing. Of course, she thinks she looks like a mess - and granted, there's a red stain on the sleeve of her sweater and she doesn't have any makeup on - but he thinks she looks as beautiful as ever. Appearing from behind her, Silena slides a bobby pin into her hair to contain some of her flyaway's and shoves her into sight.

Percy pulls up a stool and drags her gently to the seat. All the while, Annabeth is bright red and beaming ear to ear, her free hand hiding her face. Thankfully, no one had the bright idea to put a headset on her so when she mumbles "Oh, you are so dead, Seaweed Brain," he's the only one to have the pleasure of hearing her. There's no chance he would do this to her if she was genuinely uncomfortable with it, of course not, but her teasing sneer reassures him that she wouldn't let him pull her about so easily if she wanted to leave.

She crosses her knee over her leg when she sits down and smiles at a few of the screaming audience members. He supposes in her line of work, audience members don't tend to scream her name. Thankfully, she doesn't look to be bothered by it and even blows a kiss to a young girl who looks like she's about to pass out from excitement.

Percy gives a signal to Beckendorf to let him know he's finished with the handheld mic and is switching back to his headset before picking up his guitar and dragging his thumb across each of the strings. He hopes Annabeth can tell from the look in his eyes that this is his response to her words, not his awkward staring and mindless daydreaming.

Despite the fact that it felt like the entire arena was holding it's breath and waiting for him to sing, the only thing he noticed was the twinkle in her eyes and the pink tint that decorated her freckled nose. All he can think of are the three words she said to him, but not in the way he had considered them earlier when they'd thumped around his skull like the echoes of a church bell. This time, the words are in his own voice and he'll sing them to her all night if she wants him to.