My Broken Pieces (Percabeth Au)

[ sixteen ]

"EW! Holy Hephaestus- Hazel, don't look! I repeat: Don't look!" Leo's screams, breaking me and Annabeth apart, and we both look towards the doorway.

I send Leo daggers as Annabeth sheepishly takes a step back, her cheeks flushed. Piper swats Leo's arm, Hazel and Frank both are looking anywhere but at us, and Jason is smirking.

"So, you finally grew a pair and told her?"

"Oh shut up," I say, and everyone starts laughing, breaking the tense and awkward silence.

Like usual, we put on a movie - this time Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One - and we all make ice cream sundaes.

Jason got blue cotton candy just for me, so I took a couple scoops of that, lots of sprinkles, and whipped cream. Annabeth took neapolitan - heavy on strawberry - and chocolate sauce.

"You're so boring," I whisper as she sits down next to me on the couch. Everyone else is still getting their ice cream, and I give Annabeth a quick kiss while they're all out of the room.

"You taste gross. Like sugar and diabetes." She scrunches her face up before going back to her ice cream.

Frowning, I turn back to her. "Really?"

"Yes."

Piper walks back into the room and smirks at the two of us before sitting down on a beanbag. She has whipped cream on her nose and chocolate sauce on her chin. I don't say anything.

The movie turns on, and no one really says anything.

I want to pull Annabeth into another room and kiss her until we can't breath. And then just talk for hours. But I can't do that yet, so I settle on wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her close.

•••

I open my eyes, but immediately close them again when I take in the chaotic room. Jason and Frank are playing around with Leo, who's so hopped up on sugar he probably won't sleep for the next week. Or maybe he's naturally like that.

Annabeth is still in my arms, but she's turned so her back is to me. I can hear Piper saying something about cheerleading.

I force myself to open my eyes and look down at Annabeth. She gives me a smile before turning back to Hazel and discussing the play. Annabeth wants to help build the set.

We all talk for a bit before looking at the time. It's only eleven, so Piper announces that the girls are going upstairs and that we better not even put a foot on the stairs unless we want our you-know-what's chopped off.

Jason laughs because he gets a free pass. Piper would chop the rest of us in less than a second. She wouldn't even have to think about it.

Frank's gone pale, so I go over and start talking to him. We discuss football for a while, but I'm not super into it. All I can think about is Annabeth.

Eventually, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom, hoping that if I "accidentally" use the upstairs bathroom because Leo was just in the one down here, I won't get in trouble.

While walking back down the hall, I check my phone.

I have a couple texts from Paul, and a missed call from both my mom and my stepdad.

Wondering what's wrong, I quickly call her back. My mom tends to worry, but this is unlike Paul. He usually convinces my mom to just send a text if I'm out late because he knows I'm in high school, and he knows I wouldn't get myself in trouble. Not on purpose, at least.

A thousand different possibilities run through my head. Was one of them in an accident, are they hurt, is the baby hurt, did something happen to our house, did they finally find that F I got in Math?

I run a hand through my hair as the silence on their end stretches on longer.

Finally, finally, they pick up.

"Hey bud, it's Paul."

"Paul- Is everyone okay? What happened?"

"Uhhh." I can hear Paul moving around, almost like he's trying to listen to two conversations at once.

"Paul?!" I can hear my voice creeping higher, but I don't care. "I'm really scared. What's going on?"

"Everything is fine. But you might want to stay out tonight. Your mom doesn't want you home."

"I'm freaking the hell out over here. Can you please-"

"Perce, I'm sorry. It's your dad."

"What?" I say, confused. We rarely mention my dad around the house. It's not like he's taboo or anything, there's just not a need to.

"He's here, Percy. Your dad is here."

"Why?" I whisper. Everything around me fades into silence. I can't even hear the next thing Paul says.

I've never met my dad. And I wasn't planning on ever meeting him. But still, as a kid, I couldn't help but wonder if every guy I met was my dad, and if he even knew.

Now he's here.

There's really only one thing to do, right?

I hang up on Paul and walk out of the house.