Princesses, Punks, and One Problem.

Cracked Foundations

"Percy!" She yelled again. He only hunched his shoulders, trying to block her out, unsuccessfully. His dark jacket's collar skimmed his ears.
"Percy!" She called for the third time, this one almost a scream. If he didn't reply soon she was going to make quote the scene. What could he have meant that she had everything?!
Luckily for them both, he did stop. Slowly lowering his shoulders. But he made no other move, letting her walk over in front of him.
She folded her arms across her chest, looking up (how annoying!) at the punk. "What the heck are you talking about, that I have everything?" She demanded.
As he opened his mouth to reply, she noted the pink tinge in his cheeks. If he cleaned up and got a better haircut he would probably be really cute. She blushed herself at the thought. Either way, she was taken by Luke, right? She pushed that thought away dismissively, she really didn't want to think about Luke at all right now.
"You have everything... Just what I said. But you just take it and continue on with your life."

"I'm confused... What exactly do I have?" She was confused by his words, and she was trying to understand.
But that didn't seem to go over well with Percy. He threw up his hands and shook his head. "Unbelievable, you don't even know what you have!" He exclaimed.
"Then instead of being mad about it why don't you tell me?" She countered defensively.
"Can we not do this here?" He asked. This was going to be a long talk he could already tell, and it was getting dark anyway.
She sighed. "Fine. We can go to my apartment." She agreed, but on her terms.

His face contorted. It looked pained. "..." He hesitated. "Okay.." She could tell he didn't like the sound of that at all, but didn't have a better option for them instead.
"Let's go then." Just as he didn't want to go to her place, she didn't want to stay here in this... Not so reputable part of town.
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Her 'apartment' was more like a suite. Which only made Percy feel more out of place than he already did. Annabeth headed down a short hallway that opened to a living room on the left and a full kitchen on the right. Apartment my as$!  He could feel himself flushing, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the color to fade.
Following her down the hall, he watched the blonde take a seat on a leather couch. He himself sat down on a matching armchair, staring down at his shoes, clasping his hands in front of him to quit them from fiddling how they always seemed to.
"So." Annabeth started. "Talk." It wasn't a request. "And take off that stupid coat it's like eighty degrees!"
His teeth snagged his lip. He didn't want to take off his coat at all. Not because he was cold either. But because he didn't want anyone seeing the marks left by his last visit home.

"No thanks." He replied shortly, before taking a deep breath and beginning to answer her first question.
"Annabeth, you own everything. Clothes, a nice apartment, a boyfriend, you're smart... And you have a family." The last part was spoken in little more than a whisper.
"What was the last part? And seriously, take off the coat. You're creeping me out, like you have some knife in your coat and are waiting to stab me."
"The last part isn't important..." He was glad he wasn't looking at her. "And I'd really rather keep the coat on."
"Percy."
He winced. The way she said that reminded him of his mother. "Do it!"
He sighed softly, his fingers ever so slowly working the zipper, before he shrugged out of the warm leather that fell to match the couch below.

Nothing was wrong until his wrists, where there were purple and blue bruises dotting the skin. He folded his arms across his torso, feeling very alien in her expensive 'apartment'. "There, happy?" He grumbled.

She rolled her eyes. "You're so difficult on purpose, you know that, right?"

He shrugged. "I like my coat."

"Are you cold though? Now you're hugging yourself like you are."

He eyed her. "I'm sitting with crossed arms. Is there some reason you care anyway?"

She shook her head. "Whatever. Now the last part. What did you say?"

"Forget it okay?!" Her constant pestering irritated him, and he stood up, grabbing his jacket. "I should go."

"Percy, wait! It's fine, you don't have to tell me." She didn't want him to go, and when he stood up she'd seen his bruises. You only got those from struggling against someone. What kind of stories did this boy hold in? There was so much she didn't know about Percy Jackson. And she was willing to bet there wasn't much anyone knew about him. He was a loner, took everything for himself...And not always in a good way.

He cautiously lowered himself back down, his jacket falling on his knee. Quick as lightning Annabeth's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, right on a bruise, causing an involuntary wince from Percy. "Why do you have these?"

She was going to make him talk, even if it took all night.

"I fell." He was tugging at his arm, but she held it fast.

"The sooner you tell me the truth the sooner this'll be over," she replied, noting he was tense again.

His eyes wouldn't meet hers, looking over her shoulder at the painting of a night sky she had bought last year. "I really don't want to talk about it." His eyes were off somewhere else in his mind, unfocused past her.

"Percy, not everyone is out to get you. Help me understand why you're so distant to everyone else and why you hate everyone."

His head shook ever so slightly. "You're right. Not everyone wants to ruin my life, I just got the world's worst luck with finding the people who do." He was being vague on purpose, like he was protecting someone, and she knew it. Annabeth was good at reading people.

"Percy..." She paused, "Let me help you, please."

He was fighting with himself, two options warring inside. His shoulders suddenly sagged, like he'd given up. "It's not that simple. I can't just tell you and have you make all my problems go away."

"Just tell me what's going on..." She could see he was breaking, and she wanted to fix him. That may sound twisted and inhumane, but it was true. She wanted to mend him, restore the light that should decorate a human's eyes. The light that said 'I'm alive, I'm here. Hello.' It was dimming in Percy.

"Okay... I'll talk."