Percy Jackson One Shots and Short Stories

#73 - What Happened After Happily Ever After (AU)

Chapter 73 - What Happened After Happily Ever After (AU)
published: Wednesday, 30 December 2020

Timeline: Alternate Universe (AU) with no demigods; Percy and Annabeth met and got married when they were 21

Synopsis: And they lived happily ever after. At least that's what Annabeth thought when she married almost too-perfect Percy Jackson. They met in a grocery store five years ago, got married three months later. Percy Jackson was the definition of "husband material". But there was one problem; Annabeth simply wasn't in love with him anymore. There were too many awkward silences, too much tension, and neither of them could even be bothered to fight. That is, until Percy begins acting weirdly, and then they don't seem to have any problems in that department. Light is shed upon aspects of Percy's past and Annabeth realises that the man she married isn't who she thought at all.

—*—

...87 members in total were arrested with ties to the aforementioned crime families, prosecuted under claims ranging from battery and assault to aiding and abetting kidnappings—

Annabeth shook her head.

Every single word she was reading off the screen of her laptop was going in one ear and out the other. Focus was especially elusive today, and she'd read the same sentence about five times today.

The pan on the stove sizzled.

She glanced up. Percy stood by the kitchen island, expertly mixing the lobster bisque together. The orange colour was so vibrant and mouth-watering it made Annabeth want to punch a wall.

Add that to the list of "Things Percy can do and Annabeth can't" — cooking.

The oil sizzled and jumped. Annabeth bit back a 'would you stop that'. She couldn't exactly tell him to stop because she'd been bugging him to take over dinner duties this week so she could work on her new case.

It had taken far too much begging and a heated argument for him to finally relent. That was the problem with Percy.

So many things about him ticked her off. Obviously, that wasn't a good thing to think about someone you'd been married to for—for almost 5 years. Wow. She hadn't realised it had been that long.

3 months after Annabeth met Percy, he proposed. It wasn't as much of the whirlwind-romance it sounded like. The proposal had happened in the middle of an argument — a screaming match, to be specific — when Percy demanded why she had to be so stubborn, and Annabeth retorted that he should leave before he got stuck with her, and Percy said that he wished he'd be stuck with her for the rest of his life.

And then, bam, another 3 months later they were married in a small ceremony in a pavilion on Long Island. Annabeth met Percy's mother for the first time at the wedding. Sally was a dream.

That was the thing about Percy, though. He annoyed her, yes, he always had, but it had always been in an endearing way because he was just so damn perfect she couldn't ignore it.

Perfect Percy, that was her friend Piper's nickname for him. Absolutely gorgeous — dark hair, sparkling green eyes and a grin that made Annabeth melt inside. Hard-working and determined — he was a marine biologist and researcher at NYU. Respectful — always held the door open for her when she got into the car. Kind — she'd seen him befriend every dog he came across.

And Annabeth kept a list of all those things in a nook in her brain, titled "Reasons I'm Still Here" — the List.

Because the deep, dark truth was that, despite how perfect Percy was, Annabeth just wasn't...well, she simply wasn't in love with him anymore.