My Broken Pieces (Percabeth Au)

[ six ]

I dive into the water, cold surrounding me, and overwhelming my senses. I open my eyes, looking at the blue stripe lining the bottom of the pool. Muscle memory takes over and I start swimming freestyle.

One.

Two.

Three.

Breath.

And repeat.

I've been swimming a lot this weekend, because life has been kind of hectic. To cut to the chase, I found out that my mom was pregnant.

Flip turn.

Of course I was excited, but it was a lot to take in.

Glide.

Sure, I've gotten used to the fact that my mom and Paul are married, and that Paul is my stepdad.

Kick.

Kick.

Kick.

But, it's weird to think that he and my mom have been...ew no, not going to think about it. He's still my teacher.

Right.

Left.

Right.

If I'm being honest, I kind of want a baby brother.

Breath.

But it doesn't matter. I just want someone I can teach how to swim, someone I can play catch with.

I finish my freestyle warmup, and move on to an IM.

Freestyle.

I'm a little nervous about being an older brother. Since I have ADHD, and Dyslexia I barely ever had (and have) time to do things after school besides homework. Especially after I started football.

Flipturn.

Breastroke.

So, I've never been able to babysit. My mom was an only child, and my cousins on Paul's side are all in college. Obviously, I've never been able to watch them.

Backstroke.

To sum it up, I don't have a lot of experience with kids. I bet I'm terrible with them. Knowing my luck, my sibling will hate my guts.

Flipturn.

Butterfly.

I try to clear my mind, and focus on swimming, but it's hard. Eventually I give up and just try to sprint as fast as I can. After a 200, I feel myself starting to hyperventilate.

I sit on the edge of the pool and try to catch my breath. Hazel walks in and grins when she sees me. I try to smile back, but feel faint, so I give a small wave instead.

"Are you okay Percy? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine, Hazel, just got a little carried away," I slowly stand up and towel dry my hair, before grabbing my bag and going towards the locker room.

"Back in a minute." I quickly change into sweatpants and a shirt before going back out.

"You looked parched," Hazel hands me her water as I put on my slides, and I gratefully gulp it down.

The two of us make our way to the car, and I ask her how rehearsal was. She's helping out with the ensemble and is Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.

"Thanks for giving me a ride, I didn't think I would have to stay this late again, especially on a Friday," both of us laugh and I shake my head.

"Hazel, we're both going to pizza, it's fine." The two of us step out of the car and into The Last Slice diner, where we are the last of our friends to arrive. Hazel slides in next to Frank and whispers excitedly, I sit next to Leo, who is talking really fast and twisting straws together.

Annabeth and Luke come back with sodas for everyone, and set them down before taking the empty seats next to Hazel.

"We ordered pepperoni and plain, sound good?" Annabeth looks at me, and I nod, "and dry your hair better next time, you don't want to get hypothermia," I roll my eyes at Annabeth and flick my mostly dry hair at her. Luke glares at me and I quickly start a conversation with Jason and Piper.

The pizza arrives, and we all dig in. The conversation dulls for a bit as we all inhale as much pizza as humanly possible. Once we're full, I pull a bag of blue jelly beans out of my pocket and we pass them around.

"Okay, food for thought. Do we ever stop clapping, or is there just a longer amount of time in between claps?" Leo looks at us, his face mock serious, but his eyes laughing.

Piper considers the question for a second, slowly clapping her hands as she does so. "I don't think we ever stop. I (clap) am (long pause) still (clap) clapping," she finishes with a smile, and pops a jelly bean into her mouth.

"Wait," everyone looks at me, and I give a dramatic flourish of my hands, "Is cereal technically soup?"

"Yea, I don't think so," Frank shakes his head, and I laugh.

"At least consider it!"

Luke stands up and grabs Annabeth's hand, leading her out of the booth.

"Let's go back to my place."

I look up Annabeth, wanting to say goodbye, but she is focused on Piper. For a split second, I think she looks scared, but then she rearranges her features, her confident mask back in place. She mouths back to Piper, who shakes her head, laughing at her best friend.

Luke drags them out, Annabeth slowly trailing behind him. He shoves her through the door, the bell jingling before stopping when the door slams.

They get into his pickup, and Annabeth is clearly angry about something. The engine starts and they are gone, leaving me with a growing sense of dread.

I turn back to the others, who are still joking and teasing, they have not noticed a thing.