Percabeth {One Shots}- UNDER EDITING

Thanks, Annabeth *

this takes place in the battle of the labyrinth when they are fourteen.

"Annabeth, come on!" Percy's voice echoed out in the halls of the maze. She grit her teeth instead of responding and charged after him, practically pushing him out of the way and sprinting ahead. 

"I'd be able to go a lot faster if you weren't hogging the whole path!" She couldn't hold in her response anymore, and she wasn't close enough to him now to see what his reaction was. She didn't even know why  he was rushing her so bad. What was the big deal? They were stuck in this stupid maze anyway. It wasn't like they were going to find the way out any second now. They were far from being done with this maze, that much Annabeth knew.

But she let Percy call the shots. If anyone would find a way out of this ancient mess, it would be the son of Poseidon. Percy had always come through before, and Annabeth wasn't about to give up on him now.

"Here," he called out, and when she stopped running and turned around, he was on his knees, gasping for breath. "Annabeth, we gotta stop."

She stayed standing, hands on her hips, trying to get enough air. She doubled over at the same time that Percy stumbled, and he didn't catch himself. He let himself fall to the floor, raising one arm to his forehead. He looked horrible, and she told him so.

"Well," he said in-between breaths, "I'm not a track star."

The only light was coming from a distant torch behind them. Annabeth pulled off her backpack and rummaged through it for something to light a fire with. She found a couple of bent matches and some rolled up pieces of paper. 

When she had a small fire going, she glanced over at Percy. She thought he was sleeping- he looked  asleep. But he opened one bloodshot eye and tried to frown at her. He failed. "What're you doing?"

"Checking to see if you're alive." She said, sounding confident. But really, she was scared. Were they just going to stop here, in the middle of the hallway? What was around that corner not lit by the fire? What about ahead of them, the rest of the way shrouded in darkness? 

Percy seemed too exhausted to really care about that. He tried to talk to her, but his open eye closed, seemingly against his will, and he gave himself a minute. When she was sure he wouldn't answer her, he said, "We're never going to get out of here."

This surprised her. She had expected him to say something like "I'm still breathing" or "You're weird" or anything other than what he said. But she was thinking that, too. She was more than sure that they'd be stuck in there forever, but she couldn't let Percy know that.

"No we're not," she said. "Percy, we're gonna be fine. You're gonna get us out of here. You can do it- you've fought more than stone walls, this is going to be over soon."

He was definitely asleep this time. The arm he had raised above his head fell down with a thump, and he didn't stir. Annabeth let herself think about the first time they'd met, when he'd come around after the battle with the Minotaur. You drool when you sleep. She wasn't sure if he still did- right now, it looked like it was a no. She laughed when she remembered the look on his face after she'd said that, the clear "What do you mean? " staring back at her. When she looked at him again, she was surprised when her heart thumped extra loudly in her chest. She looked away.

She figured this meant she had first watch, so she pulled out a book. She didn't understand why she brought books on a trip like this, especially reading books. Percy gave her a reason to, she guessed. 

Annabeth was starting to get mad after the fifth time reading the same paragraph. Her mind kept wandering back to Percy. She finally set the book down and let herself look over at him. But instead of finding him like she had a moment ago, she found his face screwed up, almost in pain, and she realized he was having a nightmare. 

"Percy," she said, softly at first then louder. "Percy."

He didn't budge. She sighed, moved her book from off from her knees and crawled over to him. She called his name again before putting her hand on his shoulder, and Percy's eyes snapped open, his hand clamped on her wrist, and he nearly flipped her before he realized who it was. Then he let out a quivering breath and put his forehead on her arm. Annabeth didn't move, paralyzed almost, wondering why he reacted like that. Who did he think she was?

"Percy?" she asked quietly. "Are you, uh, okay?"

He didn't answer right away. He held his head right where it was for a minute or two longer, then let himself move away from her. He rolled on his side, facing the wall. "Do you want me to take watch?"

Percy was in no state to take watch. And Annabeth didn't want him to. "No," she said. "I- I've got it under control. You were just, um, having a nightmare."

She wasn't normally at a loss for words, but she was now. She looked away from him, over to her book and backpack in the corner. She had a sweatshirt there, and in a movement where she wasn't quite piloting her own system, she had taken it and smoothed it over Percy's shoulders. 

She almost took it back. Almost. But then she watched him take it and put the cuff under his cheek, almost by his jaw. She smiled softly, then put her hand on his shoulder, ready to take it back after a soft-spoken goodnight. 

But then Percy grabbed her hand. He took it and held it with his own, like it was an anchor holding him to the real world. Someone else was there with him. Annabeth was there with him. He wasn't alone, no matter how alone he may have felt. 

"Thank you," he said, voice so quiet Annabeth had to strain to hear it. "Thanks, Annabeth."

She smiled again, and it was a real smile. She reached as far as she could when he was holding her hand, and grabbed her book. Then she set up camp again, holding Percy's hand and sitting with him. She found that, sitting with him like that, she could finally read her book.

Percy was gonna get her through this. 

edited. july 19th, 2017.

a/n: damn guys two in one day i'm doin good. ALSO: this is based off of the work "Sleepy Head" by pjowriters on tumblr. go check them out, they're awesome! i wouldn't recommend them if they weren't good :)