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“You ever counted your scars?”
Blinking, Annabeth couldn’t stop herself from tuning into the conversation between Clarisse and Sherman, of all people, it turned out, the moment she heard they were talking about their scars. That hadn’t been a topic she’d ever thought of before, and she couldn’t help but frown when it came up.
“All the time,” Sherman huffed, and when she turned to look at him, he looked incredibly smug. There was something very off-putting about that, especially when she compared his smug look to Percy whenever he was confident. With Percy, he looked so cute whenever he was confident in something, with his eyes glowing and his posture shifted. Sherman just looked like an asshole. “The more I have, the better.”
“How many you got, then?” Clarisse raised her eyebrow.
“Thirteen,” he smirked, flexing his muscles and shooting Annabeth a quick look over when he saw she was there.
“That’s nothing,” Clarisse snorted. “I’m here with twenty.”
“Yeah, but you’re a girl,” Sherman huffed. “Doesn’t look good on you. Scars make me look rugged; they’d just make you look ugly.”
“The fuck you say to me, asshole?” Clarisse growled, but Annabeth was done listening to that. If Sherman was going to be an asshole, that wasn’t her problem, and it’d be better for her to just push that whole conversation out of her head.
So, of course, she couldn’t get it out of her head for the rest of the day. Not once had she ever thought of her scars. At least, not for any extended period of time. Whenever she’d get a scar, she’d just shrug and move on, but now, she wasn’t so sure.
Of course, she didn’t care about what Sherman had said. After all, the guy was a major asshole, so it wasn’t like she took his words to heart. The problem was that he’d said it in the first place, and it had brought back some events from her last relationships she’d tried to bury. Then again, had it been up to her, she’d have buried that entire relationship six feet deep along with all the memories, but considering it had led to her and Percy getting even closer, she couldn’t say that it hadn’t led to something good.
Plus, it meant that Percy would make Tyler’s life miserable whenever he saw the guy, which was also nice to see.
This, however, had been something she’d managed to forget about, something she didn’t like. The first time Tyler had managed to take off her shirt, it had been tame enough, even if they’d made out a bit and he’d let his hands roam, nothing really happened beyond that. It was after a while, after she’d told him she wanted to wait, that he started bringing up her scars. Not in any overt way, nothing that would count as an insult or anything, but he did say it was weird that she had that many scars, sounding incredibly condescending whenever he did, and he’d look at them like they were hideous whenever he thought she hadn’t been looking.
At the time, she’d ignored it, figuring he was just weirded out by them, not being a demigod. Or, at least, she tried to. But now, after hearing another demigod say basically the same thing, she couldn’t help but think about it again. What if they were right? What if that was why Tyler didn’t like her? Did he think she was hideous? It couldn’t be that, he had tried to sleep with her after all. But could he have just done that because he thought she’d be easy?
There were too many thoughts in her head, and none of them were good.
Thankfully, no one seemed to notice, which meant she was still very good at hiding her emotions. Unfortunately, however, that didn’t mean she managed to hide from everyone. Then again, she supposed she didn’t want to hide anything from him, at least not for long. The only problem was that she didn’t think she wanted to bring it up now.
That didn’t stop him from bringing it up when he saw her, though. “Beth? Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” she shrugged, knowing he wouldn’t buy it, but figuring it was a good way to tell him she didn’t want to talk about it now.
“Alright,” just as she’d expected, he didn’t push for it. What he did do instead was pull her onto his lap, drawing a smile out of her. “But you’re staying here.”
“Okay,” she giggled, tilting her head back to kiss him quickly. “Thanks, Percy. You’re the best friend I could ask for.”
“Anything for my princess,” he whispered, and Annabeth couldn’t help but feel warm all over, almost forgetting everything that Sherman had said. It wouldn’t be easy, but she knew she’d get over it.
Especially if she had Percy with her.
The rest of the campfire was fine, even if the two of them got a lot of looks from the other campers, starting from the moment she’d dropped onto his lap, and getting worse every time they kissed. That didn’t bother her, though, because it meant she was getting more kisses from Percy, something they’d been making sure to catch up on. That time she’d spent with Tyler had given them a bit of a withdrawal when it came to their kisses.
It wasn’t until they left camp that they started kissing more, though. It was always awkward for them to kiss in public, never mind in front of the other campers, so they waited until they got home before they got back to it. The visit to camp had been nice, even if Sherman’s words brought up memories she’d wanted to keep buried, but climbing into bed with Percy right next to her sounded a lot better.
“Percy?” she whispered as they lay in bed side by side.
“Yeah, Beth?” he shifted a little closer to her, his arms wrapping around her tightly.
“Goodnight kiss?” she asked a little hesitantly, the first time she’d ever been hesitant about it. Maybe he’d refuse because he thought her scars were ugly.
Before she could let that thought process go any further, he’d pressed his lips to hers, hard, and his hand went behind her head, the other on the small of her back, holding her like she was the most important thing in his life. She relaxed into him, finding her earlier thoughts silly in hindsight, especially considering this was Percy she was thinking about. Out of everyone in her life, he was the one she knew would never leave her, never hurt her, not on purpose anyway.
The kiss proved that and then some.
When he pulled back, he nuzzled her nose, just like she used to when they were younger and she was reassuring him. Seemed like he’d noticed a lot more than she’d thought.
“I’m not going anywhere, Beth,” he whispered. “Whenever you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll be here, yeah?’
“Okay,” she smiled, moving her head to rest on his chest. “I love you, Percy.”
“Love you, too, Beth,” he said as he squeezed her gently. “You’re the best friend I could ever have.”
“Right back at you,” she smiled, pushing him onto his back so she could curl on top of him. “Wanna sleep like this tonight. Think we can?”
“Sure,” his chest rumbled as he chuckled, his hand on the back of her head. “I’ve got you, Beth. Promise.”
As always, he kept that promise, and she woke up still in his arms. As usual, he was drooling, which she couldn’t help but smile at. Another thing she couldn’t help herself with was leaning up to kiss him awake, feeling his arms wrap around her back as he kissed her back.
“Morning,” he smiled as she pulled back.
“Morning,” she smiled. “Shower time?”
“Alright,” he nodded, throwing the sheets off and racing her to the shower. While they could have waited until later to clean up, it being Saturday and all, their showers were some of the most relaxing and uplifting moments they shared with each other that Annabeth could think of, and right now, she really needed some more comfort.
When they got in the shower, Percy immediately pulled her flush against him and tucked her head in his neck. He’d been growing a bit more the past few months, so now, he was standing a little taller than her. It was kind of nice to watch him grow, even if she missed being his height or taller. “Percy?”
“I’m not blind, Beth,” he whispered, kissing the side of her head. While they wouldn’t kiss outright, this was fine. It wasn’t like this was weird after all. “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”
“I…” she wasn’t sure how to bring it up at first, not knowing if she even should. But then she remembered that this was Percy she was talking to. It didn’t matter how she brought it up; he’d listen. “Do you think I’m ugly?”
“What?” he pulled back to look at her, his eyes wide. “No, never. You’re beautiful, Annabeth.”
“Oh,” she blinked, looking into his eyes, seeing how much he meant it. There was water dripping off his hair, at least the parts that weren’t matted to his forehead, and his eyes were glowing a bit, like he was confident in what he said. “You really think so?”
“I know so,” he whispered, kissing her forehead so gently she almost cried. “What brought this up?”
“Just something I heard Sherman say,” she shrugged, pressing up against him again as the water washed over them. “Brought up some memories from… Tyler.”
“I see,” he said, his voice a little tight. He never did like hearing Tyler’s name. “What was it?”
“It was about scars,” she sighed. “Sherman said scars aren’t good on girls, and Tyler… he used to stare at them like they were ugly. Like I shouldn’t have them.”
“Fuck them both,” he huffed. “Wait, not like that-”
Giggling, she pulled back to smile up at him, even as she still felt herself melting at his words. “I don’t think you’d be too happy if I did either of those.”
“Sue me for wanting your first time to be with someone who’s good to you,” he huffed, and she leaned up to kiss his nose, drawing a goofy smile out of him. “What was that for?”
“Just for being you,” she shrugged. “So… you don’t think my scars make me ugly?”
“Never,” he brought his hands up to cradle her face. “They make you look like a warrior. Like a barbarian princess, actually. They look amazing on you, Beth.”
“Oh yeah?” she smiled, shifting a bit at the praise. “You really think so?”
“I know so,” he had a look on his face that told her he was thinking of something, which meant he was about to make her feel very good about herself while also being borderline overwhelming. “I’ve got an idea.”
“I figured,” she threw her arms around his neck, not particularly worried about wasting water, considering Poseidon had blessed their apartment with endless water. “What is it?”
“How about we count your scars?” he raised his eyebrow, his hands on her waist. “I can help.”
“I… okay,” she nodded. Had it been anyone other than Percy, she likely wouldn’t have agreed to it easily. But if anyone could make her feel better about this, it was Percy. “How’re you planning on doing it?”
“Like this,” he leaned in to kiss her cheek, right where she had a mark from when she was back home, before she’d run away and met Luke and Thalia. “One.”
“Percy,” she whispered, but he didn’t stop, and she didn’t want him to, even if she wasn’t sure how to feel about this. “I…”
“Easy, Beth.” his breath was warm on her neck, and she felt more loved than she ever had in her life, secure in his arms as he pressed a kiss right to her neck, where she’d gotten scratched back when she ran away from home the second time. “Two.”
Moving over to her shoulder, he counted two more that she didn’t remember exactly, before lifting her arm and pressing a very tender kiss to the scar she’d gotten back at the Williamsburg Bridge. “Five.”
“I love you,” she whispered. “I don’t regret it.”
“I know,” he smiled before moving to her other shoulder and arm, counting another few. When he was done, he went over to her collarbone, kissing over each scar she had there and on her chest. Tilting her head up to make it easier for him meant she couldn’t see him, but she could feel him; feel him go down, onto her belly, which made her laugh a bit, then onto her legs, kissing every single scar she had.
When he finished up both of her legs, he stood back up, pulling her head down so he could kiss the grey streak in her hair, his hands on her cheeks and her hands around his wrists. “Twenty-seven.”
“I love you,” she’d been saying that a lot so far, but she meant it every time.
“I love you, too,” and she knew he meant it, too.
“Want me to do yours?” she looked up at him, knowing her eyes were shining.
“I mean,” he shrugged, a small smile on his face. “If you want, sure.”
Wasting no time, she pressed a kiss to his nose. “One.”
Then, she moved to his neck, shoulder, and chest, moving over every scar he had just like he had with her. There were a few on his arms, a few on his chest, a few on his legs, and she made sure she didn’t miss a single one. Just like he’d gone over her back, she went over his, pausing when she reached his mortal spot. While it wasn’t a scar, and it wasn’t scarred, she couldn’t stop herself from leaning in and pressing a long kiss to it.
The way he shuddered made her think she’d need to do that again at some point, and when he turned to look at her. The view was a bit different when she was on her knees, but she couldn’t say she hated it too much.
When she was done with his body, she stood again, having to lift herself on the tips of her toes and pull his head down to properly kiss the grey streak in his hair. She didn’t pull away for a bit, wanting to pour all her love and gratitude into it. When she pulled away, she dropped back down and smiled at him. “Twenty-three.”
“Not gonna tell me I’m pretty with my scars?” he raised his eyebrow, and she giggled.
“You’re very pretty, Perce,” she reached out to grab the shampoo so they could actually start showering. “Scars and all.”
As usual, they cleaned each other up, finding it easier to get to spots they couldn’t otherwise reach like this, and they wrapped up quickly, having been in the shower for a while already. When they got out, he pulled her back to the bed, pushing her onto her back and, now with both of them fully clothed, he kissed her, long and gently.
Maybe she did have a lot of scars. Maybe she did have more than some other girls. That didn’t matter. She was a demigod, a warrior, just like Percy said, and that meant they suited her.
And if Percy still considered her pretty even with them, then she would as well.