Percy Jackson had made a promise to Annabeth, and he was determined to keep it. Make things right with her, and show her she was his number one. Number two? Don't lose his mind in the process without Theo.
For the first week, Percy executed his plan with military precision.
He sat with Annabeth at breakfast. He talked to her. He actually listened. He didn't look left. He didn't look right. He certainly didn't scan the perimeter like a search-and-rescue dog looking for a specific anxious demigod.
It was going well. Sort of.
The problem was, his head felt weirdly empty.
Usually, there was a running commentary. 'Oh gods, why is the oatmeal so lumpy?' or 'Don't look at the Apollo kids, they might try to write poetry about you.'
Now? Silence. Deafening, boring silence.
"So," Annabeth said, cutting her pancake with precise, sharp movements. She was watching him carefully, grey eyes narrowed slightly. "I was thinking about the new fortifications for the border. If we move the lookout post fifty yards west, we get a better view of the tree line."
"Yeah," Percy said, forcing himself to keep his eyes on her face and not drift towards the entrance of the pavilion. "Totally. West is... good direction. Very west-y."
Annabeth blinked. Her expression was one of patient inquiry. "Percy, are you even listening?"
"Yes! West! Lookout! Fortifications!" Percy nodded vigorously, taking a huge bite of pancake to shut himself up.
Inside his head, he was screaming. 'Theo? Come on, kid. Just one thought. Anything. Is the food bad? Are you scared of the harpies? Just say something!'
But there was nothing. Just a frustrating blank. Percy knew Theo was out there somewhere, probably making breakfast an unnecessarily dramatic affair in his own head, but the connection felt unusually distant, muffled. Theo was clearly out of reach.
Percy sighed internally. He didn't need Theo. He could back to be normal. He would be normal. He was Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon!
He had faced monsters, gods, and titans! He had literally held the sky! He could handle being normal! He had to. Even without Theo.
By afternoon, however, "normal" was starting to feel like torture.
It was sword practice. Usually a chance for Percy to bother Theo at the sideline, but now, it was just... sword practice.
Percy stood opposite Annabeth in the sparring arena, Riptide in pen form tucked into his pocket. He watched as she demonstrated a complex disarming maneuver with flawless grace, her movements precise and efficient.
Focus, Percy, he told himself. Focus on Annabeth. Focus on the forms. Focus on...
His eyes drifted. Just a little.
There, at the far edge of the arena, was Theo. He was lying dramatically on the grass, a book covering his face, clearly trying to appear utterly uninterested in the athletic endeavors of his peers.
Percy knew, he just knew, that inside, Theo was probably complaining about the dusty ground or the clang of bronze on bronze.
Percy's hand twitched on his pen. He imagined hearing Theo's mental yelp of surprise if a practice sword clattered a little too loudly nearby.
He pictured Theo launching himself into a sitting position, ready with an exasperated mental monologue.
"Percy?" Annabeth's voice was cool, pulling him back from his mental wanderings.
He snapped his head back. "Yes! Right here! Forms! Practicing!"
He uncapped Riptide. The celestial bronze gleamed as he executed a perfect parry and riposte against an imaginary opponent.
Annabeth lowered her sword. "Wow. You actually did it perfectly."
"Yeah," Percy said, but he didn't feel proud. It felt wrong. It was too easy.
He risked one more glance at Theo. Theo hadn't moved. The book remained steadfastly over his face.
'I am so bored. My arm is falling asleep. Why are we doing this? I could be doing something interesting right now.'
Percy's mouth twitched upwards.
He wanted so bad to go near him, to talk to him, and to ruffle his sun-kissed blonde hair.
He almost laughed out loud, but then he felt Annabeth's gaze burning into the side of his head. He quickly schooled his face into a look of intense concentration.
"Something funny?" she asked.
"No! No, just... thinking about strategy."
The breaking point came during free time.
Percy was sitting on the steps of Cabin 3 with Annabeth. They were supposed to be enjoying a quiet moment. The sun was warm, the breeze was nice. It should have been perfect.
But Percy was bouncing his leg. Up and down. Up and down.
He felt like he had drunk ten energy drinks. He needed to move. He needed to find Theo. He needed to splash him. He needed to hear what ridiculous scenario Theo was currently concocting in his head.
'If I walk slowly past the Hermes cabin, maybe I'll see him,' Percy thought. 'Just a quick look. Annabeth won't mind. It's just a look.'
He started to stand up.
"Where are you going?" Annabeth asked immediately. She didn't look up from her sketchbook, but her pencil stopped moving.
"Uh... bathroom?" Percy tried.
"You just went to the bathroom ten minutes ago."
"New rule! Hydration is important!"
Annabeth finally looked up, and her expression was unreadable. "Percy, sit down."
He sat. He slumped.
Across the green, he saw movement. A flash of blonde hair. Theo. He was carrying a stack of books, looking like he was trying to navigate a minefield. He was walking so carefully, as if the very ground might betray him.
Percy's hand tightened on the step. His whole body itched to go over there. To say something stupid. To make Theo's eye twitch.
He watched with rapt attention as Theo noticed them, and abruptly pivoted 90 degrees and started marching purposefully away.
He couldn't help it. He groaned. Loudly.
Annabeth turned to him fully now. "Okay, that's enough." Her tone was one of gentle exasperation.
"What? I didn't do anything!"
"You're miserable," she stated. "You look like a dog who's been told he can't go for a walk. You're acting like if you don't go see him right this second, the world is going to end."
"I am not!" Percy protested, even though he knew it was useless. Annabeth saw everything. "I just... he's interesting! He's like... a walking disaster area! It's entertaining!"
"Entertaining?" Annabeth's voice softened, tinged with a familiar hurt she struggled to hide. "More entertaining than us, Percy? Than our conversations, our time together?"
Percy froze. He saw the way she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the way her shoulders slumped just a little.
He realized then that his approach wasn't working. Being without Theo was only making him grumpy, and it wasn't making Annabeth feel any more secure. Because the fact remained: he was hiding something.
"No," Percy said quietly. "Nothing is more important than us, Annabeth. You know that."
He looked at her. He looked at the intelligent, beautiful girl who held his heart.
And then he looked towards where Theo had vanished. The silence in his head felt heavy again.
He was between a rock and a hard place. Or between a Wise Girl and an anxious walnut.
"I..." Percy started, his throat dry. "I promise I'll tell you. I just... I can't yet. But please believe me, it doesn't change anything between us."
Annabeth searched his face. She saw the desperation there. She saw that he was telling the truth about his feelings, even if he wasn't telling the whole truth.
"Percy, I don't want to cage you to our relationship," she continued, her gaze direct and steady again. "And I know I'm not the only thing you care about. I'm not that naive." She paused, a small, knowing smile touching her lips. "I don't hold your entire world. You're excessively loyal, that's what made you."
Percy managed a weak grin. "You say that like it's a bad thing. You really do know me, Wise Girl."
"I can see that," Annabeth conceded, a genuine smile now forming. "And honestly, I understand why you're curious. You don't have to stifle that, Percy. You don't have to walk on eggshells around me, pretending you're not interested in anything else." She gestured towards Theo's rapidly disappearing back. "Befriend him, however you want."
Percy's eyes widened, a flicker of hope replacing the misery. "Really?"
"Really," she confirmed, stepping closer and taking his hand, her touch firm and reassuring. Her thumb traced circles on his skin. "Just remember, Seaweed Brain, no matter how 'interesting' anyone else is, you still have a girlfriend who's pretty interesting herself. And I'm right here. Don't forget that." Her grey eyes held a clear warning, but also a deep affection. "Understand?"
Percy squeezed her hand. "Understood, thank you, Wise Girl. Crystal clear." He gave her a quick, relieved kiss on the forehead.
She let out a long breath. She stood up and offered him her hand. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."
"Where to?" Percy asked, taking it.
Annabeth smiled, a little mischievously. "Towards the woods. You clearly need to stretch your legs."
Percy grinned, a genuine, easy grin for the first time all day. Everything felt possible.
He squeezed her hand back, feeling a renewed sense of purpose. "Lead the way, Wise Girl."
That night, Theo lay in his bunk, staring at the ceiling with intense determination.
"Okay self. You have messed up. You got too close to the main character."
'This is getting too complicated,' he thought, rolling on the mattress. 'My simple plan of being a quiet observer is becoming a tangled mess. I'm not equipped for this level of interpersonal drama. I just want to sit on the sidelines and eat honey cookies.'
The truth was, Percy's absence over the last week had been... noticeable. Theo had found himself checking the usual spots, a weird sense of anticlimax settling in when Percy wasn't there to annoy him.
'I'm probably just used it,' he reasoned internally. 'Like a really annoying, persistent mosquito. Once it's gone, the quiet is unnerving.'
He hated this. He hated feeling... involved. He hated feeling a strange, unfamiliar pang of something that felt suspiciously like missing the very person he was trying to avoid.
He saw earlier that Percy and Annabeth disappear into the treeline, hands linked, their conversation flowing easily. A genuine, unbidden smile touched Theo's lips.
'There they go,' he thought, a wave of relief washing over him, mixed with that persistent, inconvenient ache. 'The golden couple. Where they belong. And I am... exactly where I should be.'
The next morning, Theo had enacted his avoidance strategy with the ruthless efficiency of a demigod trying to escape a particularly annoying monster.
He woke up earlier, ate later, and found the most obscure corners of Camp Half-Blood to read his Muggle books in.
He even started spending more time in the Stables, much to the delight of the pegasi and his own mild surprise, Blackjack had surprisingly friendly.
His plan was simple: become invisible. Re-establish his status as NPC #459. Let the main characters have their moment.
But if he was being honest, his carefully constructed apathy was fraying at the edges. The sudden lack of Percy's incessant presence was... jarring.
And it was horrible.
'Is this what withdrawal feels like?' Theo wondered one afternoon, attempting to meditate under a particularly prickly bush. 'I'm supposed to be celebrating! The protagonist is leaving me alone! Hooray!'
But the hooray felt hollow. His days, previously filled with dodging Percy, now felt strangely empty.
The silence was louder than any noise Percy had ever made.
He overheard whispers, of course. Campers buzzed about Percy and Annabeth, about how they were "back to normal," practically inseparable again.
Theo even saw them himself, walking hand-in-hand by the lake, laughing over some inside joke, their shoulders touching in a way that screamed "madly in love with each other."
'Good,' Theo told himself, forcing the thought. 'This is good. This is what it should be. They're happy. My mission is accomplished. Percabeth is back.'
But instead of relief, a strange, hot curl of something he refused to name tightened in his gut.
It felt a lot like disappointment. And maybe, just maybe, a little bit like loneliness.
He felt alone.
He picked up his book again, determined to lose himself in another world, another story. "Happily ever after," he muttered, almost convinced. "That's what they deserve. And that's what I'll give them."
He just hoped it didn't change him too much. He had a perfectly good, lazy, unnoticed life to get back to.
Percy noticed it immediately.
It wasn't just distance; it was a wall. A thick, impenetrable barrier built specifically to keep him out.
Before, even when Theo pretended not to look, Percy could feel his presence. He could feel the judgment, the exasperation, the noise.
Now? It was like walking into a room and finding the lights turned off.
Theo had mastered the art of looking through Percy. He looked at the sky, he looked at the ground, he looked intensely at his own shoelaces, but never, ever at Percy.
And then there was the escaping act.
Percy would spot him sitting on a bench, reading. He'd take a breath, ready to call his name.
'Oh no oh no oh no. Abort mission! Enemy spotted! Code Red!'
Before the sound even left his mouth.
Theo would literally pivot on his heel, change direction with the speed of a startled cat, and march off as if he was late for a very important appointment with absolutely nothing.
Percy heard the frantic thoughts clearly, and despite everything, his heart did a little flip.
He was there. The connection was back, loud and clear, but the owner was doing everything possible to sever it physically.
'He is not here. He does not exist. Do not engage. Do not acknowledge. Maintain the distance.'
The thoughts hit Percy, sharp and cold, cutting through the air. It was insulting. It was hilarious. And it was working.
Theo was avoiding him. Really avoiding him.
It stung. Badly.
And suddenly, the silence wasn't boring anymore. It felt wrong.
Percy stopped mid-step. His hand, raised in a wave, slowly fell to his side.
He was used to Theo complaining, Theo being dramatic, Theo yelling at him in his head. He was used to the noise. But this? This deliberate choice to pretend he wasn't there?
It felt like being shut out.
The connection was there, loud and clear, but it was being used as a shield, not a bridge.
Percy stood there alone on the grass, the cheerful chatter of the camp suddenly sounding very far away.
Theo wasn't just hiding. He was pushing him away.
Percy straightened up, his expression hardening. His jaw set firmly, the playful glint in his sea-green eyes hardening into something unyielding, something that brooked no argument.
He watched Theo's back as it disappeared around the corner of the strawberry fields, refusing to look back even once.
'Oh no, you don't,' He thought, The words echoing in his mind like a vow.
'You don't get to decide that for me, you don't get to build walls and expect me to stay on the other side. You're stuck with me, Theo.'