PJO/HOO One Shots

Every Morning

The room is warm. That's the first thing she notices. It's always warm, she thinks to herself, squeezing her eyes shut as she stretches her limbs. The room is always warm but the bed is empty. Annabeth's gotten used to it.

Stifling a yawn with her fist, she drags herself out from the heaven that is her swathe of blankets and fluffy pillows to finally start her day. Annabeth's never been a morning person, so she drags her feet across the cold hardwood and squints as she reacquaints herself with the rest of her apartment. It's raining, so even with the blinds pulled open the apartment is dark, saved only by the dim lights that have been flicked on.

Turning into the kitchen, she catches sight of Percy's messy, scrawled handwriting on the fridge whiteboard. (They stuck it on over the summer for "organization," but it was really just home to their doodles and notes now).

Got the late shift again so don't wait up for me. Love you lots!
~P

Annabeth rolls her eyes, as if that would contradict the spread of warmth in her chest at the little smiley faces and hearts he tacked on. His handwriting is a little shaky, so she imagines him bent over the little board with his tongue poking out a little, concentrating hard to make sure his dyslexia didn't get in the way of making the note legible, and inexplicably tears spring to her eyes.

Her phone buzzes nearby. Incoming call from Percy Jackson, it reads. It's only 8:00 AM, so he should still be working, but she picks it up anyway.

"Good morning my love," he croons, his voice like warm honey on a hot summer day.

"Hi," she croaks, then coughs to try and cover up the watery notes in her voice. It doesn't work, because Percy Jackson knows her better than she knows herself.

"H-- Hey, are you crying?" His voice instantly turns to alarm, somehow making the feeling inside her chest more intense.

She chuckles kinda half-heartedly. "You turned on the heater," she says instead, dodging the question.

"Yeah, of course I did, I always do," he replies offhandedly. It's true. He has this app on his phone that connects to their heating and lighting and power outlets, and every time he works a night shift, without fail, he uses it to turn on the heater for her and put the lights on the dim setting to ease her into waking. All because she let it slip one day that she liked it.

"Mmmm, it's warm in here," Annabeth moaned, stumbling into the kitchen in her I-just-woke-up daze. "Oooh, and the lights aren't super bright for once."

Percy turned to her from the eggs he was mixing on the stove. "Yeah, I turned on the heater."

Annabeth came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her cold nose into his back. "Well I like it. There's nothing better than waking up to a warm apartment."

Percy shifted around until she was facing him, her back to the stove. He ducked down to press a soft kiss to her nose. "You're so freaking cute," he mumbled, but she'd already dozed off again.

She was brought out of the memory by Percy's voice on the other end.

"Hey, don't ignore the question, now. Why are you crying?"

She grins despite the achy feeling that has rooted itself in her chest. She can practically hear his frown. "I'm fine, really. I just... I don't know. I really love you, you know? I guess I've just been really missing you too. You've been working a lot of nights. It's not the same waking up to an empty bed."

It was quiet for a bit, the only sound coming through being the rain outside until Percy sighs. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry my love, but--"

"They need you," Annabeth finishes for him. "It's okay, I get it. How else would we pay for our fancy apartment?"

And it's true. With Annabeth and Percy having recently been promoted, they were finally able to live in their apartment comfortably instead of just scraping by paycheck to paycheck. Small luxuries like turning on the heater were now common occurrences.

Percy huffs. "How did I get so lucky, hm? Who made you so goddamned perfect?"

Annabeth scoffs, rolling her eyes at his accusing tone. He's so dramatic. Before she can get another word in though, he's speaking again.

"Open the door, by the way. My hands are full."

"What?" There's a small glimmer of hope threatening to crawl up her throat, but she pushes it down in case she's heard him wrong.

And Percy, being the little shithead that he is, just answers, "Oh, didn't I tell you? I got off early today. Picked up some donuts and coffee from the little Vietnamese shop you like."

She's at their door in 3 steps, flinging it open and there he is, looking tired and excited at the same time. And true to his word, he's holding a box of donuts and a cup holder with 2 coffees. The box is a little wet from the rain, but she doesn't mind in the slightest.

"Hey lovely." He grins down at her, looking entirely too smug. She kinda wants to punch him, but instead she kisses him, trying to pour all the love she just felt into it.

She can feel some stupid, snarky joke on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn't want to ruin the moment, so she settles for burying herself deeper into him and taking in deep lungfuls of his scent. "Thanks for turning on the heater," she mutters.

Percy's laugh reverberates through his chest. "For you? Always."

She senses there's a double meaning in that, a deeper conversation they need to have about their future, but she doesn't want to think too much right now. She just wants to live in this moment.

"Mmm, always?" she teases, but she hopes he gets her hint. "I think I could get used to that."

The smile that spreads over his face is brighter than the sun. "You better," he promises.

(Spoiler alert: she does).
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Wrote you guys something short and quick!! I've been wanting to put out another chapter for a while now but OF COURSE all the fics I'm working on are super long 🙃 so that will take a while but enjoy this instead!