abraxaslogs | when floods they came or tides they raised

[ It doesn't occur to him to question why she's sequestered herself in this small, inconsequential corner of the castle, at least not yet. He just hopes that his confectionary remains intact and isn't like, melted to a failure of icing pooled at the bottom of the box, and also he hopes that he can get through this conversation without being reminded again of how absolutely stupid he'd acted in those fake memories.

Like, not even the barest semblance of cool, Annabeth must be ultra embarrassed of the way he'd been, right? Way to go, Jackson.

Except she's just said she missed him, and the words are out of his mouth before he can help himself, an automatic reflex and an honest confession. ]

I missed you too.

[ Because he has, even if he'd made efforts to give them a little distance, like he's gotta make up for how clingy he'd been in fake-god-world. ]

Um. [ Oh, right. ] Anyway, I — uh. Made —? [ Words!!!

Percy swallows, and without hesitation, pulls the box up from hiding and offers it to her. He tries to speak again and succeeds this time.

Miracles do happen once in a while. Even for him. ]

This is for you. Happy belated Birthday.

[ annabeth brightens a little again when he says he missed her too, and she feels silly over how nice it is to be missed, but in her defense she spent all day feeling the opposite. ]

[ whatever she's expecting of him, it's not this. she sort of stares at the box for a second, because she honestly hasn't thought about her birthday since they were in tartarus, and given she hasn't wanted to think about the pits of hell, it certainly fell to the wayside too. not to mention the fake centuries and apparent three weeks it was in reality - her birthday really does feel so long ago. his could very well be closer now, for all she knows. ]

[ with embarrassed delay, she sets her notebook down and reaches for the box instead, holding it a little gingerly. ]

Um. [ smart, clever, excellent work. she slides her hands over the lid, curling her fingers to pull it off. yes, perfect, she can easily focus on a belated birthday gift instead of literally anything else in her head. ] Should I open it now? Here?

Yeah, you really should. [ Percy huffs a soft laugh, and leans in to help her with the lid. ] It kind of has an expiry date of ... like the next hour if we're lucky. The icing will melt.

[ Sorry for the spoiler, but there is a little urgency on his part if only so she might get to glimpse at his hard work before it fizzles out into a mess of pastel colours. He'd worked hard on getting the colour gradients right, and while they are nowhere near champion chef levels, he's certain his mom would have given him a solid B- for a moderately okay icing job.

He even managed to scrawl a real messy 'Happy Bday' over its small surface area. Unfortunately 'Annabeth' and 'Sorry for being so weird since we got back, I still love you I swear, but like the right healthy amount' didn't quite make the cut. ]

[ he leans in to help, and she softens a little, working with him to gently take the lid off - especially when he all but tells her what's inside. ]

You made me a cupcake? [ she asks it a little teasingly, trying to reach that normalcy she has with him, leaving the lid in his hands as she peers inside. ]

[ it's messy. but it's orange, and red and a little pink, and annabeth gets the impression of a pastel sunset, with his (extra messy due to the nature of icing) chicken scratch writing squeezed on the top. the effort is palpable, however lopsided. she fucking loves it, immediately. ]

You made me a cupcake. [ she repeats it, a confirmation this time, and orders her stupid brain not to do something stupid, like cry about it. she carefully tears at the side of the box at the seams, trying to turn it into a makeshift plate. ] Is this what you were doing? I tried to find you at the stables...

[ her voice trails off. gods, does she feel extra stupid now. ]

I made you a cupcake. [ Percy confirms.

And given the expression on her face and the way she handles the box with care like she's doing her best not to disturb the fragility of the cupcake lest it turn back into a pumpkin at midnight, she looks like she might like it?

He realizes then that he'd been holding his breath in anticipation, paying way too close attention to every minute change in her expression: the way her mouth twitches, or her eyes crinkle — and now he lets it out ... only to raise his eyebrows in surprise. ]

You did?

[ Maybe he shouldn't be so surprised that she'd gone to look for him, but he is. After all, he'd been keeping his distance thinking she didn't want to spend crazy amounts of time together — not after their time in fake god-land.

Anyway, still feeling kind of embarrassed about it, he quickly shoves that thought aside. ]

Oh! There's a candle. [ Tucked to the side of the cupcake, away from sugary contamination, is a little twisted stick of glittery white wax with a wick sticking out of the top of it. ] It's not like the cheap ones you get at the CVS ... I just had to make sure it wasn't one of the magic ones.

[ He pauses.

And then groans. ]

... except lighters don't exist, and I kinda skipped the lesson on fire magic.

[ a soft smile flickers on her face. she definitely likes it, though maybe a huge part of that is the fact that he'd thought to make one for her in the first place. it is, quite literally, the thought that counts, and she feels warm all over. ]

Yeah. You sort of... vanished today. [ and she would prefer that not be a thing. of course she went looking for him. ]

[ but he even brought a candle. she spies it as he points it out, lifting it and sticking it at the top of the icing, away from the words. the whole set up delights her in a silly way, maybe because it feels so normal. until, of course, he brings up the lack of lighter. fear not, because it only takes annabeth a few moments to come up with a solution, especially after he mentions fire magic. ]

I think I can try to light it. Um, hold it for a second? [ she pushes it towards him and tries to remember what she watched some of the mages do when they lit the candles. gods, she hopes she can do it. she doesn't want to set the cupcake on fire, that just seems like it'd make everything worse. annabeth chase, seventeen, sets her own birthday treat aflame and completely embarrasses her boyfriend. even worse, what if she sets him on fire? ]

[ she's gonna try anyway. once he's got it in hand, she spends a few more moments thinking carefully over the spell, and her face scrunches up in concentration. taking a deep breath, she finally lifts her hand and mutters the phrase she learned. one second, two - the candle lights up and her nerves melt away. she laughs and smiles widely, looking up at him beaming. ]

Ha! I did it!

[ Annabeth looks up at him, beaming, and Percy feels almost light-headed with how happy her happiness makes him feel.

The little sunset-y cupcake in his hand now lit up, his face splits into a wide smile, heart pounding. ]

That was awesome. [ Look at that flame! It's real! And it's warm, and he totally doesn't miss how she placed it just past the messy icing scrawl still somehow intact. ] Way better than that time I tried to calm the horses down and failed big time.

[ That was strike one of his dislike of this whole Singularity ... Thorne ... magic stuff. ]

Please tell me you don't need me to sing to you. It'll be in everyone's best interest that I don't.

[ he smiles widely back at her, and her heart skips a beat. you'd think she'd be used to him smiling by now, but she's a little all over the place, so it hits her like a truck. in a good way. ]

[ besides, he called her awesome too. of course she's gonna feel good about that. ]

We were barely here to practice that. You should try it again. [ but she digresses. ] It was pretty cool though, wasn't it? [ she might be preening, a little bit. she did a magic! ]

What if I want you to sing to me? [ she says it teasingly, mostly because that also feels good - the silliness, the joking, the banter. it's all so comfortable and easy, and she feels better with him. ]

[ annabeth won't make him sing though. she grabs his wrist gently and pulls the cupcake closer. ] Do I at least get another happy birthday before I make a wish?

It was super cool.

[ And it really was.

Percy can't help but be so proud of her, because that kinda magic is no joke. Sure, he has his abilities thanks to his dad, but this is different. It's something she learned from one of the old books here, and it's got nothing to do with being a demigod.

Now he lets her guide his wrist and her cupcake until it's close enough to blow out the candle. He'll just count his blessings that she doesn't actually insist on making him sing. They'd be kicked out of Thorne for sure. ]

Yeah, of course — Happy Birthday, Wise Girl. [ His smile softens now to something more serious, more heartfelt. ] Make a wish.

[ He shakes his head. ]

And I'm sorry about today. It was dumb, but I thought —

[ the delight of being called cool is always an instant mood boost, even when and especially it comes from percy, despite knowing how much he cheers her on when it comes to this stuff. she does feel pretty proud of herself too, even if it's just a smaller spell - but she's never had any sort of inherent magic that way, like other demigods. ]

[ but he gives his happy birthday, and her smiles softens. she thinks for a moment, then leans in to blow out the candle - i wish percy and i could just be safe - then reaches out to take it back from him. just because she loves that he made it doesn't mean she isn't going to eat it. ]

[ only before she moves to take a bite, he apologizes, and her gaze zips back up to his face. ]

Probably not as dumb as what I thought. [ she's still a little worried, honestly, but it's been tempered by the cupcake. ] I... I didn't think you wanted to see me.

[ If he weren't holding the cupcake and its box in his hands, he'd be scrubbing at his face as though he could erase the embarrassment and guilt that has his cheeks feeling a little overwarm.

Instead he huffs a breath in lieu of a groan for himself and meets her eyes, sea-green to storm-grey. ]

No way, are you kidding? [ The ice-cold wash of stupidity floods through him as though he'd been thrown into the ocean, completely powerless. ] I figured, after how everything in that fake world went down, after I completely embarrassed myself with how ... clingy I was with you as a gross eldritch god, I thought maybe you'd want some space from me. Which — like, made sense at the time, but I should have just said something instead.

[ He still feels so stupid for even admitting this aloud, but the days of acting like a moron should have been behind them on account of how much he and Annabeth had been through since. ]

Or asked. I should have asked.

[ she momentarily forgets about the cupcake as she listens, taking in what he says and the expression on his face, feeling her own heating up in the process. ]

[ he wasn't avoiding her. the amount of relief that fills her so immediately is almost stupid. she's still harboring her own guilt about her actions in the illusion, but at least in this moment she can believe his promises. ]

[ annabeth aggressively shakes her head, feeling her cheeks go even redder as she acknowledges her own part in the feral way they apparently fell in love. she reaches out and pulls him to sit on the bench beside her, stubbornly tangling her fingers through his. ] Percy. I'm pretty sure I was just as obsessed with you. You don't have anything to be... embarrassed about. You don't have to hide from me.

[ and admittedly, there's a part of her that can't get over the fact that he was at her side for eight hundred years. even if it was an illusion - that's a long time to be loved. it's almost unfathomable for her and her trajectory of abandonment. ]

I'm the one who didn't want to leave. I thought maybe you needed space.

I know that now. [ Percy allows himself to be pulled down to sit next to her, squeezing her fingers entwined with his for reassurance.

It's nice to be connected like this. It's also way cool to be able to talk about this stuff and not feel like he has to hold anything back because Annabeth would understand. Even beyond being completely in love with her, she's his best friend — of course she'd understand. ] I mean, I knew that before but I really know that now. I was stupid, I'm sorry.

[ It still needs to be said, he thinks.

But now he's shaking his head, wanting nothing more than to get up and find whoever made all these stupid fake histories happen right now so he can fight them. ]

No, no, it was never about you, I promise. I know why it was harder for you to leave that illusion and I don't blame you for it. [ He squeezes her hand again. ] I'm just glad you believed me in the end, but I would never have left you there.

[ she squeezes back immediately, drawing the same comfort from holding his hand she always has, from the very first time she took it. percy is the steadiest presence she's ever had in her life. ]

You're not stupid. [ annabeth calls him stupid a lot, and he has his dumb moments - but annabeth doesn't think he's actually stupid. ] It's like all those memories are still swarming in our heads, even though none of it was real - sometimes it's hard to think straight about it. Especially since we only just got back.

[ her head is definitely still spinning. ]

And I know you wouldn't have left me there. [ she knows he wouldn't leave her anywhere, and that's a thought that's constantly both soothing and terrifying. her eyes glance over his face, over his cheek, but it's such a casual look and he's so close anyway, the way she lingers briefly on where she'd cut his skin is near imperceptible. she looks at him all the time. ]

[ he says he doesn't blame her, and she believes him. but that doesn't mean she isn't going to stew on her own remaining guilt about it. she can blame herself just fine and believe he wasn't avoiding her because of it. ]

We'll tell each other, if we ever need space. I promise I'll tell you, okay?

Okay.

[ Percy nods.

She's right, of course (but Annabeth's always right, especially about these things). Centuries of memories are competing for first place against each other and against his actual, real memories, like a confusing Olympics tournament with the crappiest prizes. Nights of well-rested sleep are already so hard to come by as it is when you're a demigod, but it's been made even moreso in the last couple of nights with snippets of a fake godly life popping up in too-vivid imagery. Overall, it's not an experience he recommends. 0/10, would not go there again, and he'll leave a scathing Yelp Review too while he's at it.

Hands still clasped together, and her cupcake box still safely out of harm's way or threat of being squashed in an unfortunate icing accident, he leans his head against her shoulder.

Now that the air's been cleared of any miscommunications and Percy's silly assumptions, he honestly feels better too. ] But not now right? 'Cause I actually don't want any space right now.

[ she already feels more grounded being back in sync with him, because that much has always been a reality of them. it's so intrinsic. it's second nature. there are eight hundred years of fake memories, but even just sitting beside him now makes it feel easier to sort through them, because she can look at him and remember what they've actually been through together, good and bad. ]

[ and the bad has certainly been challenging lately. the fake memories are not helping. ]

[ something in her wholly relaxes when he leans his head against her, and annabeth sinks into it. she rests her cheek atop his head, squeezing his hand too. ]

Definitely not right now. Please do not give me space right now. How's that?

[ she's trying to be very normal about the fact that she would rather not be sent into another spiral about his avoiding her, please and thank you. ]

[ Percy huffs a laugh. ]

Yeah, that's perfect. Message received, no drachma necessary.

[ And in his head, he makes the conscious decision not to think about their centuries of alternate godly memories for the rest of the evening. Yes, there's still a lot that can't be unseen and unremembered, and yeah, sure, by the time he settles into bed, they're probably going to come back with an ugly vengeance, but for right now, he just wants to be in this little alcove in this weird castle and celebrate his girlfriend's belated birthday.

He doesn't want eight hundred years of hallucinations to get in the way of them trying to just ... move into a kind of normal, forward direction.

So here's to that. ]

You should still try your cupcake though. I'm serious, I worked so hard on it.

[ she lets out her own laugh, a soft chuckle that he can probably feel rumble through her given how close they are. ]

[ this is really all she wanted after they returned to abraxas proper - and all she wants, like, in general. to have a little bit of normalcy. she doesn't want to think about gods in any form, fake or real, parents or themselves. she just wants to hang out with percy and try to have a good evening before nighttime rolls around. ]

[ annabeth smiles again when he mentions the cupcake, a certain warmth fluttering in too over the idea of percy making her a cupcake. but she doesn't want to dislodge from him, so she sort of... blindly reaches with her free hand to re-locate it. ]

Don't worry, I didn't forget. [ not entirely. ] Do you want to split it with me? Or should I pull a you and just inhale it?

Pull a me? [ He laughs but he isn't offended. Honestly, he knows exactly what she's talking about, and he's only just a little bit embarrassed about it.

Sometimes when eating, time is of the essence, okay! ] Birthday girl's choice.

[ Percy does eventually lift his head back up and straightens a little, even if he never lets go of Annabeth's hand throughout. ]

You know, while I was learning how to gradient the frosting, I had this thought like ... my mom would have loved to take a workshop like that one. I guess it just had me thinking.

[ he DOES know exactly what she means, so annabeth will not follow up with any sort of elaboration. she'll think on the sharing for now though. ]

[ she finds the cupcake and nearly smashes her palm right into the frosting, which would be tragic, because she'd rather ruin it with her teeth. she mourns the loss of his head on her shoulder, but she supposes it would be rather difficult to eat the cupcake like that. she can be satisfied with the way he keeps hold on her hand. ]

[ she nudges him, nodding at his free hand and gesturing with the dessert, trusting he'll understand she wants his help peeling the wrapper off the cupcake. this would be easier if she just let go of his hand, but again, she doesn't want to, so they can tag-team it. she'll hold, he can peel. ]

She does love baking. Thinking about what?

Like, I don't want this place to ever abduct my mom and I hope it never happens ...

[ Percy's momentarily distracted with his own thoughts, but at Annabeth's prompting he blinks at what she's implying and moves to help her peel the wrapper from her cupcake without hesitation, as though there's a whole other level of clockwork between them despite a billion other things swimming around in his mind.

The stickiness of slightly melted icing and sweet spongecake residue remains on his fingertips by the time he's finished pulling the wrapper from the cupcake to bundle it into a ball and toss it back into the box. He licks at his fingers. ]

... but I think about how she might like to see some of the libraries, or visit a place like Nocwich, or see how different the ocean is here. And she could learn how to bake from a top royal chef, and have a whole study room to write her book.

[ He knows she's in a way better place now than ever, and again, he'd never wish for her to be trapped here because while the list above is awesome, the rest of it kinda sucks — but he also hasn't seen her in what feels like years even if it's realistically only months and it's so, so stupid to miss your mom as if he were a six year old kid, but he does. He really, really misses his mom.

It doesn't help that he had Claire and Wanda for eight hundred years and now he doesn't even have that anymore. ]

[ the wrapper comes off in easy, record time, but the process is so mindless between them that annabeth is more focused on percy's face and distraction as she slowly pieces together where his thoughts are. the hand holding the cupcake sort of drops limply in her lap. ]

[ she squeezes his hand, her face falling a little bit. annabeth knows all too well how much sally misses her son - they spent many a day and night keeping each other company in the empty spaces percy should have been. there's no doubt in her mind that percy misses his mother just as much in return, and now they're even more than an ocean away. they're worlds away. it isn't about wanting her here so much as just wanting his mom again. ]

[ she also knows how much longer those months felt than they were, and how the escalation of the last few weeks at home have only made everything feel like so much more. ]

Yeah. I get it. [ she gets the undercurrent. ] There's a lot of stuff here she'd be fascinated by. Though her baking is already pretty top chef worthy.

You're right, it totally is. She'd either impress the royal baker guy here, or put him to shame. Honestly, I'm willing to bet it's the latter.

[ And she wouldn't give Percy such a middling grade in his icing skills either. But then again, she's probably a little biased anyway.

Percy shakes his head now, huffing a breath as though he could exhale away the clenching in his chest. ]

I'm sure we'll find our way out of here soon enough.

[ He has to believe, despite the length of time some of their fellow Summoned have been here, that they'll find their way back to their own home-worlds. He doesn't even want to consider what this place would be like if he'd come on his own without Annabeth — or vice versa. The hand still holding his gets another quick squeeze, like he's got to remind himself that they're here together and that's the biggest relief.

He absolutely doesn't want any distance from her right now. ]

[ she can't help the small smile that slips onto her face at his first remark of his mother, finding it simultaneously the most percy thing to say and the most sally thing to do. he isn't wrong. ]

Why not both? He'd be begging her for lessons.

[ something in her own heart clenches at the way he shakes his head, the expression he wears, knowing that as much as she misses home, it's got to be ten times worse for him. she's so tired of gods and singularities pulling him in too many directions. ]

[ annabeth tightens her grip on his hand after he squeezes it, leaving it that way with reassurance. ]

We will. [ she says it with all the determination he needs to hear, shoving aside any of her own doubts. she will believe they'll get home because percy needs it, because she does too - because the singularity might have shown them a future of this world, but it isn't one either of them want. ] We're going to get home.

[ Percy laughs. ]

You’re right. She’d be teaching him, and he’ll thank her for it.

[ Which is the way it should be, it’s the way the world makes sense to him. It isn’t even as though he’s putting her on a pedestal or anything (even though that may not be totally untrue either) but Sally Jackson really is the best person he knows. Annabeth is also right up there though. For all of the crap in his life, and all of the crap to come, he really does count himself lucky there.

He looks back up at her now, meeting her eyes with the sincerest gratitude. Their hands have no intentions whatsoever on separating, not now and probably not until they eventually get ushered off to bed. ]

Yeah. We just gotta … keep looking for that one clue, right?

[ He has to believe someone’s close to figuring that out, but if not, Percy and Annabeth are totally up for the job. ]

But first — birthday cupcake?

when floods they came or tides they raised — opens + closed

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sorry i immediately ruined this and made it sad

happy birthday 2 annabeth

cries

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