PERCY JACKSON

After arguably the best sleep of my life, I woke up with a face full of lemon-scented hair. Taking in a deep breath, I smiled as I recognized who the fresh-smelling blonde locks belonged to. My girlfriend, dressed in my shirt, was draped along my body, essentially hugging me in her sleep.

As I slowly gained consciousness, I methodically rubbed my hand along Annabeth's back. Recollecting last night's event, I slowly grew angry. Tracing meaningless shapes on the back of her shirt soothed me, preventing me from blowing up.

I couldn't believe how close Annabeth was to being raped. My own girlfriend was sexually assaulted and violated and I wasn't there to stop it. I knew coming to California would introduce new risks, but I didn't expect one to greet us during our first week here.

I sighed, trying to pull my attention away from those negative thoughts. California was nice. It was a fresh start - a new beginning. We just had to make the best of it.

A deep grumble came from the petite girl laying on my chest and I smiled. She wriggled around, trying to get comfortable again, and nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck.

I cradled one hand against the back of her head as my other continued to rest on her back. "Morning, beautiful."

Annabeth grunted in response, causing a low chuckle to bubble up from my chest. 

"How are you feeling?" I asked her.

"Terrible," she admitted. "Headache. Stomach ache. Everything aches."

I kissed the crown of her head. "I'm sorry. I wish I could take the pain away."

She sighed and hugged me closer. "An ibuprofen would help."

I smiled. "I would go get you one if you let me go," I stated teasingly.

Annabeth whined, "But I'm comfy."

I kept rubbing her back for another couple minutes before informing her that I was taking the hike to the kitchen, letting her know she was welcome to join me. Begrudgingly, she shuffled along beside me down the labyrinth of hallways leading to Jason's kitchen.

For some reason, I was surprised to see the blond himself seated at the kitchen island, munching on a bowl of cereal.

"Morning, Jase," I greeted.

He looked up at us. "Oh, hey, guys. Sleep well?"

I nodded and looked down at Annabeth, who scrunched up her nose. "As good as I expected to, given the circumstances," she related.

He smiled. "Feel free to raid the cupboards for anything you need. We've got cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, toast, anything you want."

"Painkillers?" I inquired.

Jason hopped off of his barstool. "Yeah, I'll grab some. Make yourselves at home," he instructed, heading over to a cabinet to find some medicine.

Annabeth sat herself at the far right barstool, leaving a gap between her and where my cousin had been sitting.

"You want something to eat?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "Not really, but I probably shouldn't take meds on an empty stomach."

"Truth." I began opening the cupboards, looking for something we could share. Spotting a loaf of bread, I piped up, "How about a piece of toast?"

Annabeth tapped her fingers on the island countertop. "Sure," she finally decided.

I pulled out the bread and popped three pieces into the toaster. While those heated up, I found some plates, butterknives, butter, and jelly.

Leaning back on the counter, I cleared my throat. "Have you talked to Reyna?" I asked my girlfriend.

Her eyes widened. "Oh no, she's going to kill me."

I scoffed. "As if," I retorted. "Just text her and let her know you're alive, at least. You can tell her the full story when you see her at the dorm tonight."

"Speaking of the dorm," Annabeth continued, typing on her phone, "do you think we're going to be in trouble for staying out all night?"

The toast sprung out of the toaster and I began to butter them up. "Not sure," I admitted. "They could go easy on us because the semester hasn't even started, or they could be super harsh for the same exact reason."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Light jelly on mine, please."

I smiled wryly. "I know, Wise Girl. You hate when there's globs of jelly on your toast. Always have."

She looked down sheepishly. "Sometimes I forget I've known you a third of my life," she commented.

"Blocking out the trauma, perhaps," Jason joked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Definitely," she agreed jokingly.

I passed her the plate I prepared with one piece of toast and sat down beside her with my two pieces. 

Jason passed Annabeth the bottle of ibuprofen before retaking his seat on the far left.

"I can't believe how big this house is," I quipped. "I really am out of my element here in California."

"This is the street of super rich people, remember, Perce?" Annabeth recollected. "With a million bathrooms each?"

I laughed. "So you do remember some of last night, that's good. You didn't completely drown in alcohol.

She frowned. "Yeah, I remember." She swallowed a few painkillers before continuing to eat her small breakfast.

After we all ate, the three of us crashed out in the living room so that Annabeth could feel better before we went back out into the world. Jason browsed Netflix while my girlfriend laid back on the couch with her eyes closed. I wasn't quite sure if she was sleeping or not.

I collapsed onto one of the armchairs and got lost in my mind, thinking about a bunch of things. Annabeth crossed my mind at least a dozen times as I thought about college, my family, my friends, and just life in general. I really hoped everything turned out okay.

After about an hour, Annabeth decided she was feeling good enough to function as a normal human again, which included getting dressed and heading back to campus.

"Jason, do you have anything I could wear so I don't walk into the dorms looking like I got laid last night?" she asked.

He rolled his bright blue eyes. "You can either borrow something of my step-mothers or of mine, it's up to you."

She made a face. "I'll look at what you have. Maybe some sweats and a t-shirt?" she thought out loud.

"Does that mean I get my shirt back?" I asked her mockingly.

Annabeth rolled her daunting grey eyes. "It wasn't my idea to take it in the first place so you have no right to be all grumpy about it," she pointed out.

"I'm just teasing," I assured, "and if I'm remembering correctly, you're preferred option was strutting around in your underwear, so..."

Her cheeks flushed firetruck red. "Perseus," she hissed.

Jason and I laughed. We all stood up and my cousin led us to his room, where Annabeth found a pair of sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt that she slipped on in the bathroom.

"Think fast," she ordered, balling up my shirt and throwing it at me.

I caught it against my chest and pulled it on. "Thanks."

"Did you guys leave anything in the guest room?" Jason asked.

Unsure, we went down the hallway to check. Annabeth grabbed her dress from the night before, which was scrapped on the floor.

"This is it," she said.

"Alright, let's go hop in the car and I can take you guys to your campus."

We took the long trek through the house, exiting out the front door and piling into Jason's Audi. I let Annabeth have the passenger seat since she was still having stomach issues and I wanted to reduce the chance of her hurling in the vehicle as much as possible.

The drive to OAAA was short and filled with soft music. Once we arrived to campus, we thanked Jason about a hundred times before he drove off and we went down to our dorms.

I walked with Annabeth to her dorm building and refused to leave her side until we were in front of her door.

"Percy, I'm fine," she assured me.

I bit my lip. "I know you're fine. I'm just worried. If you need anything at all, call me, okay?"

She nodded, reaching up to hug me around the neck. "Promise."

I wrapped my arms around her lower back and held her against me. "I love you so much, Annabeth. I love you more than anything in this world. The fact that you were hurt so badly last night and I couldn't do anything to stop it, it...it scares me. I want to be able to protect you, but I couldn't. And I'm sorry."

I felt something wet graze my neck and I realized my girlfriend was crying. "It isn't your fault, Percy."

"It certainly isn't your fault, either. You know that, right?"

There was a pause. "Yeah, I know."

I squeezed her one last time before pulling away. "I love you, Annabeth. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Annabeth smiled, rubbing her watery eyes. "Yeah, okay. I love you, too, Percy. See you later."

She opened her door and stepped inside, waving goodbye. The second the door closed, I heard the sound of her roommate berating her in a motherly tone. I smiled softly. My girl was in good hands.

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YO YO YO WHAT THE HICKILDY HECK IS THIS??! ANOTHER UPDATE?!

No, your eyes do not deceive you. I have posted...AGAIN. In the span of like, three days?Hope you liked this chapter. Verrryyy fluffy. Pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. And did ya catch that cute 1D reference in the chapter title? Did ya did ya did ya? XD

Big things are coming soon. No spoilers tho ;) hope you're still enjoying this book! if you liked this chapter, a vote and a comment would make my day :D no pressure tho, have a good day/night and DRINK SOME WATER