(no subject)

[kelpful]

Characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase
Date: Throughout August
Location: Various
Situation: Catchall log for these two dummies
Warnings/Rating: N/A for now

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[kelpful]

Percy's reluctant to let go of her hand at first, squeezing it before slowly untangling their fingers. He relaxes when she slides both arms around him, though, reassured.

"It won't."

He says it the instant she's done and he understands, blurting without thought. It won't, because it can't, because Annabeth is all he really has left at the end of the day. When the gods and Gaea and whoever else wants to screw with him have taken everything from him, stripped him down to a name and nothing more, he still has Annabeth, still clings to her against everything else in any world. Even themselves.

"I won't let it. We won't let it."

Percy can't get into the details, though, the hows and whys of not letting it, because he doesn't have the answers there. He doesn't know how they can fight this. All he really has in a gut feeling, blatant in his voice and stronger than any words or explanations he could ever come up with.

[sophos]

He speaks up barely after she's done, and her arms tighten around him over it. It's a sentiment she has to believe. Tartarus will be the worst thing they ever face, and they have to get through it; if they can do that, they can combat everything else, too.

And if she says anything right now, it might dampen how much she's clinging and believing in it. So instead, she just hugs him even more tightly, but the feeling's there in her grip - she doesn't know how to fight it either, but they will. If there's anything she's realized in her friendship with Percy, it's that he's always there, he always comes back, no matter what happens. And she needs that as much as anything. "We won't," she repeats finally, softly but no less believing. Even if they don't know how, getting past this sort of thing has always been them. She has to keep fighting against the idea that this time it might not.

[kelpful]

More than anything else he's been able to tell himself, it's the way that Annabeth agrees with him that has him finally relaxing. Which in turn gets the air squeezed out of him by the way she's hugging him, but he'd be a crappy hero if he couldn't take a hug. Even from someone as strong as Annabeth.

He pulls away a little, just enough so that he can kiss her forehead. He pauses for a moment, considering, before a smile flickers across his face. Percy kisses her nose, her cheekbone, the opposite cheek itself; short, quick gestures of affection before he finds her mouth, easing his lips gently over hers. "Love you," he mumbles.

They have this. And they will always have this. There's no other option.

[sophos]

She can't help the flicker of a smile that creeps onto her own face when he kisses her, the softness of the gestures a nice change from the edge in the air between them. It's not completely gone, but it's enough for now.

Annabeth kisses him back easily, just as gently, her arms loosening enough to be something comfortable. "I love you, too."

And she'll hold on to that.