Going Viral

Chapter 29

October 10th

The Halfbloods lead singer shuts down reporter at the mention of his girlfriend.

Behind the lyrics of The Halfbloods new album: trouble in paradise for Percy Jackson?

Is Percy Jackson getting too big for his boots?

Destruction of property and other crimes committed by Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson admits he plans on proposing after only two months of dating Youtuber Annabeth Chase

10 things you didn't know about Annabeth Chase and her history of abuse

Percy's heart is racing at a million miles an hour. He's incredibly grateful that Annabeth is at a rehearsal and won't be on her phone. Even so, he left a voicemail warning her to avoid the news and come straight to Chiron's just in case.

The second the cab pulled over, Percy was jogging up the driveway of Chiron's big house. The building was practically a second home to The Halfbloods so he didn't even knock before swinging the door open and shouting for his manager. Nico appeared from the study and eyes his band-mate warily, stepping to one side to let him into the room.

"Have you seen?"

Percy nods stoically, not trusting his voice to remain steady if he spoke.

"What do you want to do?"

There's a moment of silence where Percy ponders how to answer such a broad question. Truthfully, he wants to find that godforsaken woman that conducted the interview and give her a good punch to her hateful sneer, though that would probably just create some more outlandish headlines. This wasn't the first time the press had tried to drag his name through the mud, but it's the first time they've tried to drag Annabeth down with him.

It was like Percy was a bad smell that all the nosy reporters wanted to expose. Though it wasn't fair to him, he didn't have it in him to care. But if they were going to drag down the people he loved with him then he wasn't going down without a fight.

"I need to speak to Annabeth first. This is my fault but it affects her just as much."

Chiron seems to understand and turns back to his computer where he is likely writing a 'strongly worded email' to Hera and Olympus News.

The minute the clock ticks over to 5pm, Annabeth rings.

"Percy, what's going on?" Even across the phone line, he could hear the fear in her voice. "I'm on the way to your managers, but I don't know what's happening. Luke said something about bad press? Is this the interview?"

Percy tries to keep her on the phone for the whole journey, partly because he wants to reassure her but mostly because he was scared. Scared for her to see the mess he'd made and the problems he'd caused. That's always what Percy seemed to do - jump from problem to problem until there was a trail of ruins behind him. It's surprising that they'd survived a two month relationship without him chewing up and spitting out her entire career with some dumb interview where he couldn't keep a hold of his emotions.

Although that's exactly what's happening right now, so maybe he hadn't gotten away with it.

She stumbles out of her cab twenty minutes later looking more than a little distressed. Her dance bag is thrown over one shoulder, her script is falling apart in her hands and her face is red and sweaty but a small part of him revels in her beauty even so.

But that's besides the point.

"Annabeth," He wraps an arm around her and helps her get a good enough grip of her script to slide it into her bag. As if she's the missing piece of his puzzle, Annabeth tucks neatly into his side.

They don't say another word until her stuff is set aside in one corner of the office and they're sat on Chiron's soft, teal couch. In the silence, Nico hands her his phone.

From beside her, Percy watches her eyes glass over as they skim the headlines. The moment she bites her lip, his arms wrap around her.

"They think- Good god, Percy, I know my dad's hardly father of the year but he's not-" She presses on the article and he's quick to take Nico's phone from her grasp.

"I wouldn't recommend reading them, trust me. It's like rubbing salt in a wound."

Something behind Annabeth's eyes hardens and she sits up a little straighter. "So what do we do now?"

~~~

Seeing Annabeth in this kind of light makes her look infinitely more incredible. She tightens her ponytail as if she's going to war and sits through the three minute video of Percy blowing up on Olympus News. Somehow, she talks through all of the differences in the original footage from Chiron's friend and the doctored footage, noting every word that doesn't sound quite right or every syllable that was cut together to form something that never came out of Percy's mouth.

"Here, watch Percy's shirt." She pressed play on the video and sure enough, the camera changes and Percy's top button is magically done up. "In the original footage, the button comes undone about halfway through. Same goes in the doctored footage until they cut back to this shot to make the sentence look smooth. The button is done up for a split second."

Percy frowned. "So, are we releasing the original footage? What's the plan?"

Chiron and Annabeth take the lead in explaining what needs to be done, who needs to do it and how. It makes a change from Thalia bossing him around at the very least - though with her currently visiting San Francisco, she can't possibly lead this operation. Like any obedient boyfriend would, he writes out what Annabeth dictates to him onto an Instagram story post and adapts it into his own wording.

I really wish I didn't have to make this statement.

The media will lie to you and twist people's words to get the headlines they want. I'm not going to tell you what to articles to believe or what reporters to trust, but I will tell you that that footage is not an accurate depiction of what happened that day.

Interviews can often feel pretty invasive and for that reason, we usually have a list of subjects we don't want to speak about. On that list was the topic of Annabeth's parents. This request was blatantly ignored by the hosts and made for a very hostile environment.

I'll admit my response was likely an overreaction, but in an already tense and uncomfortable interview, such a reaction seemed inevitable.

I'm fairly sure this isn't everything I'll say on the matter but I'm not sure I know how to get across what I want to say in the correct manner so I'm going to end it here.

"Happy?" He asked, ginger hovering over the 'share' button.

Annabeth nodded. "It's alright by me."

That was all the assurance Percy needed before he hit the button and logged out of his account.