Chapter Text
Just last week, Annabeth kissed her best friend, for the first time. Ever since they couldn’t spend a second apart. People around camp called it the “honeymoon phase,” but to her, it was more like first relationship awkwardness. Every morning, Percy would come and knock on the Athena cabin door with a flower for her. It was always something he picked himself and found that morning. Sometimes, he would get up an hour early and search around camp looking for the perfect flower. One day in particular, he forgot to set his alarm and slept in. By the time he got up, it was a bit later than when he usually stopped by. That morning, he picked a dandelion from right outside his cabin and darted over. By the time she opened the door, all of the fuzzy pieces had flown off. He didn’t even realize that he handed her what was basically a stalk of grass at that point. She laughed and put it with the rest of her flowers; all being pressed under a gigantic architecture textbook. She and Percy just fit together. Everything felt right. There was just one little thing nagging in the back of her mind.
If she wasn’t a child of Athena, maybe she could’ve let it go. She seriously wished she could let it go. But no amount of amazing days with Percy will change the fact that she saw him with a photo dated in 2014. 5 years into the future.
She tried every possible explanation. Maybe someone wrote the wrong date? Yeah, maybe… but Annabeth didn’t remember the events of that photo at all. Considering it was a gigantic party in Camp Half Blood, she thinks she would remember that. Maybe someone wrote the date as a prank? While it was technically possible, she couldn’t seem to find any sound reasoning as to why. It’s not like anyone was really meant to see it. And blackmail is better when it’s authentic. She didn’t even entertain the possibility that it was a fake photo because it looked way too real. Something just wasn’t right. And she had to ask Percy about it.
That evening, she and Percy sat together at the edge of the dock. They just got back from dinner and decided to watch the sunset together. Annabeth rested her head on Percy’s shoulder. It fits perfectly in the crook of his neck like a puzzle piece. She remembered just a few years ago when it would’ve hurt her neck to do this. She used to be a lot taller, much to Percy’s dismay. But he ended up with the last laugh, as he’s now three inches taller.
She gazed up at him, “Percy?”
“Yes, Wise Girl?”
Ugh, those eyes! Now that they were together, she could finally stare into those stupid perfect, sea-green eyes all she wanted. ‘Stay focused, Annabeth’ she had to remind herself.
“Remember when Rachel was becoming the Oracle? That photo you showed her… what was that?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. That was a mean thing to do. I was just scared for her, and that’s kinda the first thing I thought of.”
“Ah, impulsive as always.” she chuckled. “But no. I meant, why did you have it?”
“Someone gave it to me,” he said, stilted. Almost as if trying to say the least amount possible.
“Percy. I saw the back.”
She saw him take a deep breath. “C’mon,” he whispered as he grabbed her hand and led her back to his cabin.
When they got there, he carefully lifted his mattress and pulled out a light blue envelope from under it. He removed a folded-up piece of paper and handed it to Annabeth. It read:
“Hey! This is gonna sound super weird but a friend at camp found a way to time-travel letters. Insane, right? Well, this is a sort of test run… This is Percy Jackson from 2016 and I am 23 and a recent college graduate (I know, I never thought it would happen!). I won’t say much, because y’know, *future-spoilers*, but I just wanted to send some photos from the future if you ever need to blackmail someone. Hope you find a use for these photos. Love you, bro, Percy”
Annabeth studied the letter. The handwriting was his, and it seemed like something he would say. So time-traveling letters must be real then? But why, after creating this revolutionary technology, would someone only use it for blackmail?
“You’re cute when you do that.” Percy smiled.
“What?”
“Whenever you’re concentrating, you scrunch your face up and furrow your brows. It’s cute.”
“Shut up, Seaweed Brain.”
They sat quietly for a minute. Partially because it took Annabeth a little while to think through new information, and partially because Percy didn’t know what to say.
She finally broke the silence, “So, whose do you have?”
“I started with six photos. I only have one left.”
“And whose would that be?”
“Yours.”
And so returns to awkward silence. ‘Yours.’ Who says that? What could he even have of her? Should she be worried? It took her about a millisecond to realize how stupid that was. This was Percy, after all. He would never do something to hurt her. But that didn’t stop her curiosity.
“Can I see it?” she questioned.
“Y’know I’m not gonna stop you if you really want to… but you have to be sure.”
Now that was a curveball. What sort of photo could it be if he was this worried about her seeing it?
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, it’s not a bad photo. It’s just the background has some information about the future. I wasn’t sure if you would want to see that or not.”
Now this, was a tricky dilemma for Annabeth. Get a sneak peek of the future, or let it play out? Annabeth was a planner. She liked to be prepared for anything and everything. Especially change. That’s how she always had been. Part of it is her parentage, but even though she would never admit it, most of it isn’t.
Every family she’s ever had has abandoned her. Athena left her on her father’s doorstep without a second thought, her Dad couldn’t care less about her if it was inconvenient for him and his perfect new family, Luke joined Kronos, and Thalia joined the hunters. Nobody has ever stuck with her, through thick and thin. Nobody until Percy.
Despite how much she tried to push him away, he was loyal to her. She’d yelled at him, closed herself off, cried on his shoulder, but he never left. She knew he would never leave. She knew Percy would always be a part of her future. No matter what. And if Percy was there, what was there to be scared of?
“I don’t want to see it.” she decided.
“Okay.” he said, squeezing her hand.
And they left it there. Right under Percy’s mattress. And walked back to the dock.
~~~~~
Percy looked at that photo every night, but Annabeth didn’t see it again until it was taken.
She sat at her desk, where she had been sitting for almost 20 hours straight. On her desk, she kept a photo from her and Percy’s wedding and another of the couple and their daughter. Anytime she got frustrated with her work, she looked up and saw her two favorite people in the world. Her best friend in the world, and the little human they created together. It brought a smile to her face no matter what.
This day, in particular, she got slammed with a big presentation for her firm and some new upgrades on Olympus. Both were due the next morning, and were nowhere near her standard of perfection.
Percy stepped into the room. “Just put Charlotte to sleep- WOAH. Wise Girl, you sure you don’t want to take a quick power nap?”
She snarled at him, only for him to stifle a laugh and pull his phone out to take a photo. His face broke into a smile as he looked at it.
“What?” she asked.
He showed it to her, possibly the worst photo ever taken of Annabeth Chase in her entire lifetime. The bags under her eyes were as deep as trenches.
“That” she commented, “is horrible.”
“This was the photo.” he smiled.
She looked closer to see the photos in the background. It was all right there. Her entire world in the background of this photo. She pulled him down and pressed her lips against his.
“Thank you.”