Stucco hearts

Chapter 5

Sharing a bed with Percy Jackson is a strange sort of experience. The first night they climb into bed together, they are both a little tipsy from the wine and she is so tired that she barely comprehends the weight of another body on the other side of the bed before passing out. Percy's face is buried deep in the pillow when she wakes the next morning and she slips out of bed and towards the bathroom without waking him.

The following night is a little more awkward. They get ready for bed in silence, chancing nervous glances at one another and trying not to blush like pre-pubescent teens. Annabeth is acutely aware of his presence, his slow breathing, the rustle of sheets as he fidgets. It takes her a long time to fall asleep that night.

She gets used to sharing a bed with Percy with relative and concerning ease. And with this routine of brushing their teeth together, alternating showers, climbing into bed, and waking up in the morning - both groaning at what the day ahead will bring each of them - comes more routine to their days. After inviting Sally to dinner and realizing they have no food to make said dinner with, they make their first grocery shop together, and Annabeth gets to witness Percy's culinary skills first hand. They cut the pizza habit there and then and set aside Thursday evenings after Percy's work and before Annabeth's last lecture of the day to buy food for the week. Percy is a disaster to shop with. His monotonous work seems to cork up all of his extra energy, leaving him absolutely useless in his free time because he is so easily distracted. He ends up bounding around the store like a little kid hopped up on candy. Annabeth drags him along anyway. She won't admit it to anyone, but his presence makes a grocery shop far more entertaining.

While he cooks for them, she brings her work into the kitchen so as to keep him company. This leads to him enquiring about her work. And even though his eyes glaze over when she gets into the technicalities of architecture, she can tell he makes an effort to understand and asks her all sorts of questions. It actually helps - she has always learned best by going through things methodically, and teaching Percy basic architecture requires a great deal of simplifying and using practical examples. She demonstrates the joints of the San Francisco bridge by creating a little model out of lollipop sticks and string. It still sits on the mantel piece.

Annabeth unwittingly makes room for Percy in her life. A month passes, two months, three, and Annabeth forgets her life before this. She forgets her prison cell of an apartment and her single bed and her empty fridge. The weight of her mother-in-law's ring on her finger is barely noticeable any more, the weight of another person in her bed is a comfort. And the sight of Percy Jackson, her husband, in the mornings - with his black hair sticking every which way, his fists rubbing at sleepy eyes, his shirt rumpled, skin lined with sheet creases - is one that makes her heart beat a little bit faster. This sight brings intimacy into their relationship, a type of intimacy she has never had before. Her time with Luke had always been rushed; never spending the night or lingering for breakfast or a shower in the mornings.

Their arms brush together as they watch TV from the couch; his hand feathers over the small of her back as he holds a door open for her; she feels his hard chest against her back as they squeeze past one another in the small bathroom. And she finds that she doesn't hate these instances, she doesn't resent Percy for his closeness. At night, she is almost overcome with the horrifying urge to reach out for him, to press her body against his and share the bed, rather than simply sleep in it together.

Her relationship with Percy is slow; a snail's pace, really. It gives her time to adjust.

And it is monitored by their unfortunate marriage counsellor, Grover Underwood. He sits in his leather chair with a small notepad and pen in his hands and watches Percy and Annabeth sit on opposite ends of the couch. He's eternally patient with them and quells several smiles and groans of frustration at Annabeth's stunted answers and Percy's snarky remarks. And Annabeth finds that she actually likes Grover, until she remembers that he will be the one to initiate the court order for them to start a family; which makes her crawl into herself even more.