Ever since Percy showed Annabeth her first movie it became sort of a tradition for them to meet up every Friday to watch movies in Percy's cabin and this week was no exception
Percy was just finishing arranging the pillows on his bed when he heard a knock on the door
"Annabeth," Percy starts with a sigh as he makes his way to the door "How many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to... knock" He trails off as he opens the door and doesn't see anyone standing there
He leans out of the door a bit, hanging onto the door frame to look to the left and the right before he grabs at the empty air in front of him resulting in a squeal followed by laughter
"Did you seriously think you could trick me" Percy spoke with a grin as Annabeth removed her cap and became visible in front of him
"I have before seaweed brain" She teased as she pushed her way into the cabin leaving a stunned Percy behind
"What do you mean by that? I thought you put your stalking days behind you" Percy joked as he shut the door
The "innocent" shrug Annabeth sends him instead of a response does nothing to ease his nerves
"What're we watching?" She asks instead while she makes herself comfortable on Percy's bed
Percy tries not to focus on how small she looks sinking into the pillows and blankets and instead directs his focus to the dvd player that was already set with the cd inserted
So far they've watched The Wizard of Oz, Princess and The Frog, Barbie, Star Wars, Hercules (solely so they could make fun of the inaccuracies), The Little Mermaid live action, and Spider-Man Homecoming (this one took a lot of convincing). Percy was content with sticking to these genres until Annabeth pointed out something during their last movie night
"Isn't it crazy to think we originally started these movie nights because you brought up horror movies and we still haven't even watched one"
Truthfully Percy had been avoiding horror movies altogether, their lives are scary enough and these movie nights were supposed to be an escape from all that but who was Percy to deny Annabeth of what she wanted? but he still made sure to choose a movie that wouldn't be too scary and also has some mystery to keep Annabeth's mind stimulated
"Scream" Percy replies with a smirk once he's started the movie
"Cool, never heard of it" Annabeth says sarcastically while she lifts the blanket so Percy can get underneath
Percy shakes his head with a laugh settling down beside her as the light from the movie starting illuminated the room
As mentioned before Percy chose a movie that he knew wouldn't be too scary for Annabeth, horror movies aren't really his thing either but him and Paul had recently been on a horror movie binge and they all ended up gathering in the living room to watch all of the scream movies since they were Sally's favorite movies when she was a teenager
Since Percy has already watched the movie he took the opportunity to watch Annabeth under the guise of "checking on her" as if the strongest warrior in camp would actually be-
Annabeth was suddenly clutching Percy's bicep, a barely concealed yelp making its way past her lips
Percy's eyes widened as he stared down at her
"You okay?" He asked willing himself to ignore her hand gripping his arm
She nodded mutely and released the grip she had on Percy's arm much to his disappointment although it was short lived as she continued to move her hand down, her fingers lightly tracing his forearm leaving goosebumps in its wake before she was intertwining their fingers together
Percy is 100% sure his face is bright red and if that wasn't bad enough his heart was beating so hard that Annabeth could probably hear it
"Sorry" she mumbles ducking her head down and loosening her grip on Percy's hand as if she's about to pull away and suddenly the butterflies swarming his stomach don't matter. He tightens his grip on her hand preventing her from pulling out of his grasp, shooting her a smile when she lifts her head to look at him
"Don't apologize.. what're friends for right?" Percy joked lightly but instantly regretted it when Annabeth tensed at his words
weird... he thought to himself before he could even begin to question her behavior Annabeth was turning away after giving him a stiff smile
"Right.. friends" she mumbled as she refocused on the movie, Percy was confused but he knew better than to push Annabeth on something she doesn't want to talk about and reluctantly turned back to the screen
Throughout the movie Annabeth would squeeze Percy's hand like it was a lifeline during the scary parts. Percy squeezes back every time, a form of silent communication between the two
'I'm here, you're okay'
Annabeth shoots him a smile, a genuine smile nothing like the grimace he was faced with before. Percy finds himself smiling back without even realizing it getting lost in Annabeth big brown eyes
Percy's heart rate begins to pick up as they continue to stare into each others eyes, soft smiles gracing both of their lips
The moment ended abruptly with Annabeth's eyes widening a fraction (he wouldn't have even been able to tell if he wasn't watching her so closely) and her turning away even faster
It's the moments like these that has Percy questioning if Annabeth might return his feelings but right now he's too content to even begin to overthink
In fact he's so content that he begins to doze off, slumping against the smaller girl next to him
Annabeth laughs lightly at the sight but makes no move to get him off of her. Instead moving closer to rest her head on his shoulder, she lets out a relieved sigh as she settles and tries to tune back into the movie but she had figured out who the killers were about 20 minutes in, and although she'd love to see how it ends (she's rooting for sidney obvi) she can't fight the drowsiness thats quickly washing over her body
***
The next morning Grover goes over to Percy's cabin to ask him how his little date went and best believe when he finds his two best friends cuddling he does not let them live it down for months on end.
