We Didn't Even Break Up [Rewritten] (2022)

Doppelgänger

Hey folks, here's the first one shot— for context since ya girl likes to jump head first into shit, no context, yk yk, it's like the day after Percy burst through the apartment door and catches Ryder and Annabeth :)
- it's not beta read, still working on shit
- I really like this one, please hate on it :) i love the hate especially when it's warranted
-enjoy
—lex feldz
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Annabeth rolled over and smiled at the mop of black hair next to her. She scrunched her fingers in it and kissed the top of his head.

"Coffee." Ryder groaned.

"Let's go together?"

Ryder shook his head into the pillow, and it was too cute for her not to want to get him anything he wanted. It was like when Percy would sleep in and pull her to his chest, peppering her shoulders with kisses. She missed the cuddly mornings,

"What do you want?" She asked, brushing his hair up with her fingers.

"Chai mocha latte." He stretched.

"Card, please." She said sweetly, not wanting to pay ten dollars for his coffee.

"In my pants on the floor— my wallet." He threw her pillow over his head, signifying the end of their conversation.

Annabeth dressed and grabbed his wallet before heading out the door. She was craving the coffee from the little coffee house by Sally's apartment more than anything that morning, needing some semblance of home.

So, she was off across Manhattan, closer to Little Italy, where Sally lived and the coffee shop she loved.

The smell of fresh coffee and pastries filled her nose when she stepped through the doors. She had maybe too many memories at this shop, but she missed how they hand churned the freshly squeezed beans two minutes before she ordered it. She closed her eyes, taking in the fact that she could be here, and be present, be in the moment, enjoying the sound of the beans, the smell of the coffee being brewed, and the sound of people chattering around her.

When Annabeth opened her eyes, a mop of black hair caught her eye. If Ryder was at home, in bed...then—

Before she let her brain jump to the conclusion that she'd have to face Percy after he burst through the apartment, she rushed to the bathroom.

She looked in the mirror and tried to calm herself. The guy was wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt. She would recognize that shirt anywhere. She's worn that shirt.

Her gut churned, and anxiety climbed through her in the form of bile rising in her throat. She needed to sit down. She wasn't ready. Sure, she and Ryder had gone over what she wanted to say to him before she saw him again, but she was not prepared to see him. She was not ready to have to say those things to him. She was not trained.

Percy had come and gone as a hurricane passed; there was the wind, the indication, the signs that something was coming, the feeling. The beginning, the drizzle, the meeting of water and the world. In the first part of the storm, the rain increases, splattering against everything beneath the clouds containing the water. The eye of the storm, the calm, when it seems like it's over; until it's not. The harder rain is a shock, a reminder that the storm isn't finished. At least until it's ridden of all the water, the build-up, released back into the world. Where it belongs.

A lot of things Percy did were in that format. Annabeth knew something was coming. He came and changed her world. Changed the world and chose her. He showered her with love, drenching her, and encompassed her in him. Until it was over. She's in the eye of the storm, and here comes the terrestrial downpour. The end of him. The end of her.

Annabeth returned just as her drinks were called.

She had to pass him on the way to the counter.

She narrowly avoided him, slipping through conversations people were having and ended up almost walking into him— someone who looked like him.

It wasn't him.

Holding her coffees, she exited the shop with an unexpected feeling burning in her gut; disappointment, dissatisfaction, unease. Want. She wanted it to be him, and she couldn't explain why.

Why had she wanted it to be him?

It would only cause more problems.

Maybe it was because she missed his laugh. Maybe it was because she missed the way his arms looked gripping a cup of coffee. Maybe it was because he looked so cute in the mornings. Maybe it was because she wanted him to see how well she was doing without him. Maybe it was because she wanted him to be jealous.

Maybe it was because she missed him.

She returned home to find Ryder asleep in the middle of her bed. She left his coffee on the nightstand to go cold just as she knew their relationship would.

Nothing was permanent for Annabeth. Especially not the love of her life.

Annabeth hated how much she missed Percy. It wasn't fair, really. Her brain knows that he hurt her, and yet, her body craves him.

She misses his hugs, his smiles, his cooking, his body, his laugh, his stupid jokes, his one dimple that only showed when he was truly happy.

Ryder could only fill so many of the holes that Percy had left in her life. He could fill the role of being a warm body. He could fill the hole of companionship. He could fill the hole of somebody to fuck.

Ryder would never be able to fill the Percy-sized hole in her heart, and she would have to learn to live with a square peg in a star-shaped hole.