Recorded Dreams (A Percabeth AU)

4

Annabeth POV-

I watched curiously as Apollo and Percy worked on the sound system. I'd always been curious on how everything works around here.

"If the voice isn't coming up loud enough through the headphones, switch these up a little more. Whatever you're hearing through the headphones is what everyone else will hear. Don't let the bars turn red, it will make people's ears bleed, try to keep them green," Apollo said. Percy nodded along. "You're going to turn these three to this point during certain parts of a song. Usually during the chorus."

Apollo gave more instructions and Percy looked about ready to die with all the commands, he moved around in his seat a lot and fidgetted. I could tell he was more of a hands on learner. "Apollo, how about I give him a trial run. I can sing one of my older songs to let him practice, you can go over what he doesn't know after that," I offered.

Apollo looked at me for a moment, a little angry with my interruption. I could tell that telling Percy to do something was no help to him though, he needed to just do it. I didn't know how I figured this out, but it seemed right.

"Fine. Go ahead in there. Percy, let's see what you can do," Apollo said. I stood up and walked into the actual studio. Percy seemed nervous to record, yet excited to be apart of it. I watched as he slowly turned some switches. Apollo seemed delighted that he knew which ones to use on the big pannel of them.

I started singing an old song of mine, one that I haven't sung in a while, but it was the first song to come to mind. I saw Apollo smiling as Percy adjusted the buttons which I took as he was doing it correctly. Only a few times did Apollo have to lean over and help adjust them. I never got too lost in the music like other singers, singing to me wasn't special, it wasn't an interest or a passion.

I finished the song. I saw Percy slowly turn the controls down. I walked slowly out of the room and I watched as Apollo pulled out the flash drive to listen to the recording.

"Let's see how you did," Apollo told Percy.

"Alright," Percy said enthusiastically. They plugged the flash drive into a nearby speaker and the music began. I listened through it, mainly because I didn't want to go home yet, but also because I was curious to see if he was good. I had a newbie record me once, it didn't go well. A days worth of recording had to be redone a week later because my throat was too dry to do it sooner.

I listened, hearing only a few errors with instrumentals or background music. A couple spots were choppy, but really good for the first day.

"This sounds really good, Percy, I'll leave you here to practice, I have a meeting with one of my workers, Rachel. She threw another blue hairbrush at someone, and we really need to sit down and talk about it. People are getting angry."

I couldn't help but laugh. She threw a hairbrush at Luke a while back, he had shown up and accidentally startled her, causing her to throw the brush. Back then, it wasn't funny, but now it was hilarious. Sometimes I wished I had gotten it on camera.

Apollo left the room. I started packing up my blue prints. Although, I didn't want to go home. I figured I'd let Percy practice in peace while I sat at the downstairs coffee shop for Apollo's Records workers only. As I slung the bag over my back, Percy spoke. "You don't have to leave, this is your studio. If you want privacy or whatever, I can go."

I smiled, many people were nice to me because I was famous, but his kindness just seemed genuine. "It's fine, Percy, you can stay here and practice. I was gonna go down to the coffee shop."

"Oh. Alright. You sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Okay. Where is the coffee shop anyways?" He asked, clearly curious to get something.

"I can show you if you want. It's pretty easy to find."

"I'll probably still manage to get lost." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"You strike me as the Seaweed Brain type," I teased. That was a weird thing too, usually I didn't feel comfortable enough around someone to tease them until I got to know them. As a famous singer, words could be used against you even easier, people took things more seriously.

"The what type?" He asked. He was smiling too, a crooked smile that made him seem mischievous, but it was also kinda cute. You didn't hear that from me.

"Seaweed Brain! You're head is full of kelp," I joked. He laughed.

"It is not! Besides, not all of us can be as smart as you, Wise Girl." I smiled at my new nickname, few people have ever established nicknames for me, Thalia called me Owl Face every so often, and of course Annie, which I hated.

"It's definitely is full of kelp, Seaweed Brain." I walked towards the door, showing him to the coffee shop. I flicked the light switch as we headed out and closed the door securely behind me.

We continued to banter about if he was a Seaweed Brain or not, I ended up winning, like usual. Finally, we arrived at the small shop. I saw Nico sitting at a table with Bianca, Zoë, and Thalia. They happily munched on muffins and drank their coffees.

"Why do you always get dark roast coffee, Nico?" Bianca asked. "You need to get something not so bitter, it will make you feel better."

"Dark roast coffee is as dark and bitter as my soul!" Nico exclaimed.

"In that case, maybe you should go with a Mocha with extra sugar and whipped topping," Bianca argued. (I don't know coffees, I honestly just looked it up. If there's any changes I need to make, tell me!)

"Don't forget the sprinkles," Thalia added. Nico rolled his eyes and went back to sipping his drink.

"Come on, Percy. We'll get some coffees and then we can sit and chat," I said, dragging him to the counter. I ordered just a hot cocoa, I was more in the mood for that today, plus Katie made an amazing cocoa and she always put extra marshmallows in for me. Percy got a weirder order...

"I want a cocoa too, but can you make it blue?" Percy asked.

"I can't make it blue, but I'll put in blueberry flavoring," Katie replied.

"Please?"

"Blueberry is the best I can do."

"Fine."

Our drinks came out and we sat down at a table across from one another.