This is a one shot I wrote for crazedauthors1093's one shot book, but have edited a lot and wanted to post myself :) Enjoy!

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Point of view: Alternating third person

Type: Song-fic AU (Safety Pin by 5 Seconds of Summer)

Main Ship: Percabeth

Word Count: 3979

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THE FIRST TIME PERCY SAW her was at the park. She was sitting with her back against a large pine tree, knees hugged against her chest, earbuds shoved in her small ears. Her crazy blonde curls were tucked under a black beanie, and she was wearing an oversized hoodie and black leggings, as well as sneakers. Her eyes were closed and her hand was resting on a small notebook.

Percy stepped closer, intrigued. He wondered why such a pretty girl was sitting by herself in the park in the pouring rain. He supposed others could wonder the same about him.

The girl's eyes shot open and her piercing grey eyes locked onto Percy's face. She glared a little bit. "What?" she spat.

"N-nothing. I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Can I help you?"

"No...nobody can help me," the broken boy whispered.

The girl's harsh gaze softened with sympathy. "Me neither," she responded quietly. "Only I can help me, and I'm not quite capable of that."

Percy quirked up the corner of his mouth. "Can I sit?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Can you?"

He lowered himself to the ground beside the blonde. Percy noticed her move the notebook to the other side of her, away from him. He didn't want to ask too many questions, because he personally understood how awful that was. If she wanted to share, she would, he assured himself.

"I'm Percy," he explained.

"Annabeth," she responded cooly. "Do you live here in Manhattan?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah. Do you?"

He figured he could inquire the same things she did, but he was wrong. A stony mask covered her delicate face. "No."

"Yeah, I've lived in Manhattan all of my life, with my mother."

"No dad?"

He looked at her, curious. She felt that she could ask anything, but he couldn't wonder anything in return? Who did this Annabeth girl think she was?

"No, he left us before I was even born. I was a mistake, and I've been making them ever since."

"How old are you?"

"Jeez, is this an interview?" Percy teased. "I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in a week."

"I just turned eighteen last month," Annabeth stated.

Finally, Percy though. We're getting somewhere.

"So, if you aren't from Manhattan, where are you from? Brooklyn?"

She shook her head. "California."

He supposed she almost looked like a Cali girl, with her sun-kissed blonde hair and tanned skin. She also had a narrow, athletic build that Percy recognized from the swimmers at his school.

"So are you on vacation or something?" Percy asked. He was trying to get Annabeth to open up without shutting her down. He hoped he didn't push her too far.

"Something like that," she mumbled. "I'm here by myself. I needed to get away."

Percy couldn't help himself. "From what?"

"Everything. School there was awful enough, but during the summer I am home alone all day and I can't help but feel...awful. I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't be bothering you with my problems. We've just met."

She moved to stand up, but he grabbed onto her arm. "I don't mind. Please, vent. I won't judge you, I promise."

Runaways, we're the long lost children
Running to the edge of the world
Everybody wants to throw us away

Annabeth sighed, settling into the earth. "My stepmom hates me. She wants everything to be perfect - perfect marriage, perfect kids with perfect attitudes. She had twins with my father a few years ago and they're her pride and joy. They're such a happy family, and then there's me. The outsider. I'm constantly in a bad mood because of school and my parents just can't deal with it. I don't fit the picture in California, so I ran away."

"You ran away? Wait, so you came all the way to the east coast as, like, a stowaway?"

"Yeah. I couldn't stand it there, so I did whatever it took to get here. I don't know if I'll stay or not. That's what I was thinking about before you came along," she admitted.

Percy hesitated. "What's in the book?"

Annabeth looked down into her lap, playing with her fingers. "That's where I sketch my blueprints. I want to be an architect."

"That's unique."

She scowled. "My mother was an architect before she passed away."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I don't really need your sympathy. I get it, I should move on after ten years. It won't earn me any attention. It won't make people like me."

"I like you." Percy blushed. "I - um, I mean, you seem pretty cool."

Annabeth smiled a tiny smile. "So, what's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

"Obviously you weren't in a good mood. Why else would someone go to the park in the middle of a thunderstorm? I know that I always go into the rain when I'm feeling more sad than usual. It's...calming."

Percy paused. He hadn't thought of it that way. He felt the same as always when he left the apartment - hungry, tired, and sore. But he supposed he never was in a particularly good mood anyway.

Broken boy meets broken girl

He decided that he would tell Annabeth the truth, especially since she told him. "I have a not-so-great stepparent too. My stepfather, Gabe, came around when I was younger, a few years after I was born. When I turned ten, he started abusing me."

Annabeth winced. "Nice birthday present."

Percy shrugged. "Yeah. I never told my mom, because we need the financial support that he gives us. But he still...y'know, does it. He's a nasty drunkard, and he releases his anger through his fists and into me."

"That's really awful. And you can't get any help?"

Percy shook his head. "As you said, only I can help me, and I can't quite seem to figure out how."

Annabeth looked up at him and smiled. "Maybe we can help each other."

*****

We'll safety-pin the pieces of our broken hearts back together

Patching up all the holes until we both feel much better

*****

PERCY WENT HOME THAT DAY feeling much better than before. That's when he began to suspect that maybe he was depressed. The last time he remembered feeling that good was before the abuse started. Maybe Gabe really was messing with his head.

He quietly opened up the door to the scruffy apartment he called home. The living room and kitchen floor were coated in trash, mostly beer bottles, cigarette butts, and old fast food containers.

When Percy had left the apartment to calm himself in the pouring rain, Gabe had just finished a beating on him and crashed on his bed. Percy crept to his mother's room and saw Gabe still passed out on the queen-sized bed. He breathed out a sigh of relief and stepped into the bathroom, softly shutting the door behind him.

Percy stripped off his drenched clothes, ready for a warm shower. He peeled off some bandages and glanced in the mirror hanging above the sink, wincing. His chest was lined with small cuts from a beer bottle Gabe had halfheartedly chucked at him. His ribs were coated in menacing purplish yellow bruises from Gabe's brutal kicks and punches. When Percy turned around, he could see that his back was no better off than his front.

Percy groaned as the water washed over him, stinging all of his cuts and abrasions. After his fast shower, he applied medication to the injuries he could reach, as well as fresh bandages. Then he threw on a hoodie and sweatpants before heading to his bedroom and crashing onto the bed.

After a slight hesitation, Percy grabbed his mom's old cell phone and opened up the texting application. Before leaving the park, he and Annabeth had exchanged numbers.

Percy's thumbs hovered over the small touch screen. What was he supposed to say? Would a simple "Hey" suffice? After a moment, he eventually typed the three letters and sent them, waiting for a response.

A minute later, Annabeth responded.

Hey.

Percy bit his lip, typing and erasing and typing again.

Deleted things, I really meant

What r u doing later

Searching for a job. You?

He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if it was too soon to ask when he could see her again.

Not much...how long does that take

Probably an hour or two. Maybe we can do something together after.

He smiled, appreciative that Annabeth had taken matters into her own hands. She was quite assertive, he had learned.

Sure

Do u like pizza

Who doesn't, Seaweed Brain?

Percy blushed. Annabeth had taken to calling him Seaweed Brain because, apparently, he was almost as oblivious as a blob of kelp. In return, she had earned the title Wise Girl for being able to differentiate kelp and seaweed, as well as other uncommon anomalies of the sea.

I can't leave until late tonight. Is that alright

That's fine. Meet at Domino's at ten?

He grinned, feeling giddy at the thought of seeing his new friend again.

I'll be there :)

*****

ANNABETH ARRIVED AT DOMINO'S PIZZA at exactly 9:57 P.M. Percy was nowhere in sight, but she had expected that. She entered the building and sat at a booth, not ordering yet because she wasn't sure what her companion would want.

Percy was much more complex than Annabeth had suspected. He was optimistic, yet depressed. Smart, yet oblivious. Encouraging, yet had minimal self-appreciation. She wondered if the abuse had caused Percy's depression, or if there was something deeper that had toppled him over the edge. It almost always was the latter.

With herself, her wicked stepmother was the cause. The first straw was her mother's death when Annabeth was only seven years old. Then, around middle school, she began being severely bullied by rotten rich kids and their followers. They made fun of her smarts, as well as her deceased mother. High school was when Helen started to really get to her. Annabeth finally understood that she wasn't wanted, and it broke her.

So, she rebelled. She ran away to show them that she didn't need them either. If they were going to hate her for being different, then she would leave them.

The only thing was...she did need them.

Raise ourselves and a middle finger

'Cause they all think we're twisted

Percy stumbled into the building five minutes past ten. "Sorry I'm late," he murmured as he slid into the booth across from her. "I needed to double-check everything."

Annabeth nodded. "No worries. What do you want? I was thinking that a pepperoni pizza sounded good."

"Pepperoni is fine. I'll go it order now. Do you want a drink?"

"No, and you don't have to buy it all."

"It's fine. Are you sure you don't want lemonade or something?"

"That works," Annabeth told him. He walked over to the counter and placed their order, handing over thirty dollars.

"Keep the change," she heard him murmur, before wandering back to the booth and sitting down. "It'll be ready in ten minutes," he related.

She nodded. "I have a question."

"Go ahead," he said.

"If your stepfather is abusing you, why don't you fight back? I get that when it started you probably weren't able to, but now you seem strong enough."

Percy stared at his hands, which were tightly clasped on the table. "If I tell you why, you have to promise not to judge me or tell anybody."

She nodded. "Of course. I would expect you to do the same."

He sucked in a deep breath, before whispering, "I think that I deserve it."

"What?" Annabeth exclaimed. "I'm sorry. That was rude. But, Percy, how could you possibly think you deserve to be beaten?" she whispered back fiercely.

"Why do you think that everybody hates you?" he shot back. "It's been imprinted in my brain, of course I believe it. I may not think it's true when I'm in a better mood, but in the moment, you have no idea what's flying through my head."

Annabeth closed her eyes and slowly nodded. "I kind of get it, I guess. When I was being tormented at school, I would just sit there and take it all in. I wouldn't tell anyone. I think that's why I...snapped."

You said you tried it all before

And it only makes it worse

Percy leaned closer to Annabeth, making her a little nervous. "We need to stick up for ourselves," he declared.

"Yeah," she agreed, fidgeting slightly.

"Why don't we help each other out? We can help each other solve our problems. I can help you face your family, and - "

"I can help you man up."

He chuckled, but Annabeth could tell he was uncomfortable. "Yeah, that."

"We can learn to help ourselves, Percy."

*****

No more waiting, we can save us from falling

*****

PERCY AND ANNABETH SPENT HIS birthday at the beach. Unlike the day they met, there was not a cloud in the sky. It was nice and warm outside. It was perfect.

Percy had always adored the beach. His parents had met at a small one in Montauk, and even though his dad didn't appreciate him, Percy still loved his father. Percy felt that going to the beach was a good way to stay connected with his temperamental dad.

At the beach, the two mostly talked about how they were planning to change for the better. It was like having a New Year's resolution...in the middle of August.

After the sun had set, Percy walked Annabeth back to her motel. The place where she was staying was very poorly built, but it was cheap enough for an eighteen year old girl to afford. Percy left once Annabeth was safely inside of her room, taking off down the hallway and back to his apartment building.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by the comforting scent of chocolate chip cookies. He closed the door and slid his worn-out Adidas sneakers off of his feet, trekking to the kitchen.

"Oh, Percy! Hi, sweetie! How was your day?"

He grinned at the sight of his lovely mother. She had long brown hair with small streaks of grey, shimmering eyes that changed color in the light, and the happiest smile that always brightened his day.

"Good. Are these for me?"

Sally nodded and slid a plate of blue cookies to him. Percy gobbled them up happily. So far, the day had been perfect.

Of course, it couldn't stay that way.

Gabe sauntered into the apartment, bringing his alcoholic stench with him. "Sally, what are you making?"

"I made cookies for Percy, Gabriel."

He scrunched up his piglike face with disgust. "Why? Why don't you make me some bean dip?"

Sally nodded. "Of course, sweetie. Why don't you go lay down in our bedroom and I'll bring some to you within an hour, yeah?"

Gabe belched, stomping toward Percy's mother. "No! Make it now! This rascal doesn't need you to watch him eat his cookies!"

Sally stayed calm, laying a hand on his chest. "Just go lay down, alright?"

"No!" Gabe swung his hand and smacked his loving wife across the cheek.

Sally squeaked, not reacting much. At that moment, Percy understood. He wasn't helping his mother by keeping his abuse a secret. She was already in on the secret. She was experiencing it just the same.

Percy saw red. He stood up, accidentally knocking his chair over. "What did you do?" he exclaimed.

"Teaching the brat a lesson," Gabe stated matter of factly. Then he casually shoved Percy back. Not even thinking, Percy swung his fist and landed a punch on Gabe's jaw. "You little..."

Gabe attacked Percy, pinning his arms so that he couldn't retaliate. It was the worst beating of Percy's life.

Just when he was about to pass out from pain and exhaustion, Sally ran for the telephone.

"You touch that thing, and this kid gets it," Gabe threatened.

Sally sadly stepped away from the phone.

"I'm fine, Mom. Leave, okay? I'm...fine."

"Oh, Percy." She stared longingly, before fleeing the apartment.

"Good choice, punk," Gabe seethed. He reared his arm back one last time and Percy was out like a light.

*****

and it only makes it worse

*****

PERCY WOKE UP ON THE floor an hour later. Gabe was no longer in the apartment, and Percy was grateful. He was also in pain, but not much worse than he had experienced before.

He managed to stand up and trudged to the bathroom. He shrugged off his shirt and grimaced at the large spread of injuries decorating his body. He doubted he could properly repair himself.

After a moment of inner debating, Percy texted Annabeth, saying he was coming over. He didn't wait for a response and began walking to her motel.

It took much longer than usual, but Percy had anticipated that. When he arrived at the motel, he couldn't get inside. It was a little past nine o'clock, so he supposed that they had locked it up. Percy stood outside of Annabeth's second-story room and wondered how to contact her. She hadn't answered her phone, and Percy barely had to energy to shout loud enough.

Suddenly an idea sprouted in his mind. He grabbed a few small pebbles from the garden lining the building and began pelting Annabeth's window.

Throwing rocks at your broken window

Only you can cure my sickness

About a minute later, Annabeth ran to the window, shoving the curtains aside. "What are you doing, Seaweed Brain?" she asked.

"Can you open the front door?" he croaked.

That was when Annabeth took in Percy's appearance. "Oh, Perce..."

"I know. Can you let me in?"

She nodded, rushing away and calling, "Be right there!"

Soon, but not soon enough, she had gotten to Percy. He was so weak he could barely stand on his own.

"What happened, Percy? What did he do to you?"

"That's not important. I think...I think I need to sit down."

Annabeth nodded vigorously, tossing his right arm over her shoulders. He winced from the pressure of his bruised ribs against her.

"I'm sorry. We have a long way to walk, we should get started."

"Yep," he groaned.

They began walking and eventually got the hang of walking together. Percy savored the feeling of being so close to Annabeth. He could smell her lemony scent and feel every curve through his and her clothes.

After walking up a flight of stairs - figures, the elevator was broken - the pair made it down the hall and into Annabeth's small hotel. Percy stumbled to the bed and sat down while she rushed to the bathroom for supplies.

Percy took in the disheveled state of the hotel room. The bed was made, which was about the only put together thing in the room. Clothes were hanging out of her suitcase and laundry basket, and other things were strewn across the floor as well.

Annabeth strolled back into the main part of the hotel room and was clutching a basket of bandaids and disinfectants. "This is all I could gather. Hopefully, it's enough."

Percy smiled weakly. "It's alright."

She stepped closer and ordered Percy to take off his shirt. He managed to do so with minimal help from her, which he was grateful for. Things were about to be awkward enough with or without Annabeth stripping him.

Percy laid on his back on the full-size bed. He resisted the urge to cross his arms and hide his body. The last time he had openly been shirtless around anyone was before Gabe had started abusing him visibly, six years before. That was also the last time he had swam. He hated how much power Gabe had over him.

"Has it ever been this bad? Or is this the usual?" Annabeth asked.

"This is one of the worst ones," he admitted.

"Why?"

"I stood up for my mom."

"Your mom?"

Percy bit his lip. "Yeah. Apparently, that jerk-wad was abusing her too. He slapped her because she was sitting with me while I ate the cookies she made for my birthday instead of making him bean dip, or whatever. I punched him, he almost killed me, and Mom ran away," he summarized.

"Oh, Percy."

He smiled sadly. "I know, I'm a mess."

"But you've done it. You are on the track to saving yourself."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "You really think so? I don't feel saved."

"No, you stood up for what you love. I haven't done anything."

"I think you've done plenty. You're showing everyone back in California that you do matter. You're also immortalizing your mom in your work. I still can't believe you got that internship on Wall Street."

Annabeth smiled, rubbing a wet towel across Percy's cuts. He sucked in a breath and did his best not to blush. His pulse was surging. He could feel the heat from Annabeth's hand through the thin paper towel.

She began applying disinfectant to some cuts near his ribs. "I hope my mom is proud of me," she whispered. "It's all I've ever really wanted, ever since I was a kid. I want to make the people I love proud. But nobody left loves me."

Percy shut his eyes. He couldn't stand to stare into those pained grey eyes a moment longer. "I don't think that your family hates you. They just don't understand you. They can't figure out why you're so sad."

"Neither can I!" she exclaimed. "I don't get why everything gets to me. I try so hard to block it all out and I can't!"

You said you tried it all before

And it only makes it worse

Oh, but this time, maybe this time

"You don't need to block it out, you need to solve it. I think I finally get it, Annabeth. We need to stop running away."

"That's all I've ever been good at," she said quietly.

"Not true," Percy countered. "You're good at architecture, and patching me up." he gestured to his chest, making her smile.

"I guess you're right, Perce. I need to move on, but not forget."

"Exactly."

In that moment, Percy realized something. With Annabeth leaning over him, gingerly applying bandages to his damaged body, frizzy curls hanging across her face, she had never looked more beautiful to him.

Percy breathed out through his nose as desire flowed through his body. Annabeth bit her lip and continued pressing bandaids onto his skin. Her hands were soft, he noted, and tiny. Her eyes had pale blue flecks in them. She had light freckles dusting her nose. Her lips were very pink.

Percy clasped Annabeth's cheek with his left hand. "Annabeth..."

"Y-yes, Percy?"

He moved to sit up, wanting to be face to face with her. "Thank you."

She nodded, eyes wide. "Of course. I'd do anything to help you after all you've done for me."

"I just helped you realize what needed to be done," he explained. "You've done all of the work without even realizing."

She smiled. "So humble," she teased.

Percy leaned closer, barely an inch separating the two. "I'm addicted to you, Annabeth," he murmured, slowly brushing their lips together. "I'm obsessed."

Once I had a little taste

Now I'm addicted to your fix

"Maybe this'll be the one rare occasion," she breathed out during the brief moment they were apart. "Maybe our two broken hearts and souls will combine into one perfectly good one. Maybe, for once, two wrongs will make everything right again."

Oh, yeah, this time, maybe this time

Two wrongs make it right

"We can save ourselves, Annabeth," he said, leaning in for a proper kiss.

It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Percy had had a few kisses in his time, and none had ever felt so good. He truly was addicted to this not-so-broken girl.