Chapter Text
Percy and Annabeth had made movie nights a very common occurrence over the summer. Percy had a long list of movies that he deemed “required” for Annabeth to watch. Mostly superhero movies, comedies, normal teenage-boy cinema. But the movie nights that were Annabeth’s favorite were the ones featuring movies Percy had watched with his mother.
So tonight, when Annabeth walked over to the Poseidon cabin, she was excited to watch the movie Percy had selected for the night: The Wizard of Oz. Percy had referenced it on their quest, and Annabeth had not had a clue what he was talking about. She guessed, after tonight, she finally would.
She walked up the marble steps that led up to Percy’s cabin, hands absent-mindly running over the columns that towered over her head. She knocked on the huge door. She checked her watch, she was right on time.
After knocking, she heard crashing behind the door, along with a few Ancient Greek curses.
“Percy?” she called. “Everything okay in there?”
“Just a moment!” Percy yelled back. Annabeth heard more shuffling, and finally he appeared in the doorway in front of her.
She took him in, his ever-unruly blond curls, his crooked smile, his deep blue eyes trained on her. He wore his camp t-shirt, and his bead-less necklace hung around his neck. Annabeth was also wearing her camp shirt, her usual cargo pants with her Yankees cap tucked into a pocket. Her necklace held 5 more beads than his did, but they swapped necklaces so much that nobody could really keep track of how many either of them had.
“What was all that noise about?” Annabeth asked, leaning to look over Percy’s shoulder into the cabin.
“Just hiding the bodies,” Percy replied, completely straight-faced.
Annabeth couldn’t help but laugh, both at his joke and at how proud of it he seemed. She knew her laughs were hard-won, but it came so easy to Percy.
“Move over, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth demanded, shoving past him. “There’s bugs out here.”
Percy walked into the cabin, following Annabeth. He closed the door behind them, swatting at the moths that had gathered near the lights outside the cabin.
Annabeth looked around the cabin, and saw their usual set-up. Percy had piled all of the pillows and blankets from his bed on the floor in the center of the room, the bootleg television Chiron let them use plopped at the end of the blankets. There was a tangled mess of wires plugging it into the wall, the antenna stuck every which way. Once they’d figured out the position that made it play, they’d kept it there, worried even a nudge would lose the signal.
Percy had also piled snacks on the ground, cookies stolen from the mess hall, chips and sodas from the giftshop, blue candy that his mom sent him weekly.
“You pulled out all the stops,” Annabeth said, sitting down on the blanket pile and reclining back. Percy appeared above her, looking down.
“What can I say?” Percy asked, taking a seat next to her on the blankets. “We’ve got an amazing movie to watch tonight.”
“You say that every time,” Annabeth laughed. “I’m never going to recover from when you made me watch Twilight.”
Percy feigned hurt, putting a hand on his heart. “You wound me!” he said, falling back on the pillows. “Twilight’s a great movie!”
“Whatever,” Annabeth said, swatting his arm. “Let’s watch.”
Percy put in the movie, and they went quiet as the credits began.
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Percy loved watching movies with Annabeth. He was perfectly content to put a movie in, and spend his time watching her instead of the movie. The way her face lit up during happy parts, tears pricked at her eyes during sad parts, how she tried to guess every ending. Those things were what Percy liked, just being in her company.
So when he pressed play on The Wizard of Oz, her eyes snapped to the screen and he stopped talking. The movie played, and Percy marveled at how Annabeth had such a strong reaction to everything. She all but cackled during the funny parts, and seemed about to panic during the tense parts.
“Wait,” Annabeth said, pointing at the screen. “Aunt Em?”
“What about her?” Percy asked, turning to meet her gaze.
“Like Medusa?” Annabeth asked, eyes flitting between Percy and the old lady on the screen.
“Completely coincidental,” Percy assured her. “Odd, though.”
Annabeth seemed to calm down at that, but regardless Percy hoped she knew that he wouldn’t pick a movie that would make them relive their trauma.
“I still feel like I shouldn’t be looking into her eyes, though,” Annabeth laughed, turning away from the screen.
Look into mine, then, Percy thought, immediately tamping it down to where he kept all the things that confused him. This was Annabeth, his friend. Nothing more. He couldn’t help feel butterflies in his stomach though, as Annabeth kept her gaze trained on him.
“Is she gone yet?” Annabeth asked.
“You know, I think you're the first person to watch this movie and be afraid of the old lady,” Percy laughed, taking a bite of one of the cookies on the plate next to him.
“I’m not like the other girls,” Annabeth joked, taking a cookie and finally turning back to the screen.
No, you’re not, Percy thought. You’re the most unique person I’ve ever met.
Percy quickly turned his eyes back to the screen, a blush rising in his cheeks. He didn’t understand why he was having these thoughts, why Annabeth made his stomach tumble and his brain run wild. Percy wasn’t all that surprised though. He was used to his mind wandering.
They watched the rest of the movie, and it wasn’t until the screen went dark that Annabeth turned back to Percy.
“So that’s why you said ‘not in Kansas’ when we were in the Underworld!” She exclaimed. She seemed to register that all he meant was that they were in a new and unfamiliar place. “You must’ve thought I was such an idiot.”
The thought made Percy laugh. “Believe me, that thought has never crossed my mind, Wise Girl.”
Annabeth smiled, eyes sparkling. “I think this is one of the favorite movies that we’ve watched.”
“My mom told me you’d like it,” Percy told her. “It was always one of her favorites.”
“You talked to your mom about this?” Annabeth said, a blush rising on her cheeks.
Of course Percy did. Not only did he want tonight to be perfect, his mom was very invested in his friendship. Percy wanted to tell her that, tell her that he needed all the help he could get to not mess this up. He wanted to tell her that she meant so much to him, that he wanted to share every part of his life with her. He wanted her to be able to understand all of his references.
He settled for an abridged version. “You know my mom loves you.”
“Who doesn’t?” Annabeth joked, standing up and brushing the cookie crumbs off of her pants. Percy looked up at her, immediately feeling sad at the thought of her leaving so soon.
“Come on, Seaweed Brain. It’s a nice night. Let’s go for a walk,” Annabeth told him.
“Maybe we’ll find the Yellow Brick Road,” Percy added, meeting Annabeth at the door and opening it for her. They stepped out into the night, and Percy marveled at the quiet that had fallen over camp. It was usually bustling with activity, but now, the clearing was empty of people and only a few torches still burned. Percy didn’t realize how late it was.
“Well, if we do, it’d be fun to go to Oz,” Annabeth told Percy, grabbing his arm and leading him to the woods around the cabins. They would basically walk a long circle around the cabins, causing them to end up at Annabeth’s cabin.
“But what about the fact that you’d be stuck there?” Percy asked, matching Annabeth’s pace as they walked.
“Well, you’d be with me,” Annabeth told him. “So I wouldn’t be alone.”
Percy vowed then that he would never leave her alone. That he’d follow her anywhere, to Oz, to the ends of the earth. He supposed that was what friends were for.
“It’s easy to forget what’s important when you’re alone,” Percy told her, recalling that she’d said those same words back at the Lotus Casino all those weeks ago.
“You’re right,” Annabeth said, obviously making the connection too. She smiled at him.
“I have to say though, it would be fun to wear those sparkly red shoes,” Percy said. “I think they’re definitely my style.”
Annabeth laughed, loud and pure. Percy took it as a win every time he made her laugh like that, every second she was completely herself around him. Completely unguarded. He immediately put a hand over her mouth to cover her laugh though, once he heard voices around them.
“Who goes there?” Chiron’s voice yelled into the night. “It’s way past curfew!”
Percy and Annabeth ducked behind Cabin 5, peeking around the corner to see Chiron standing right next to the Zeus cabin, looking around the clearing.
“I can make it next door unnoticed,” Annabeth reasoned. “But you’ll definitely get caught if you head back to your cabin.”
“And then no more movie nights,” Percy finished, feeling defeated already. They should’ve kept better track of time, they should’ve been more careful. Now he was losing one of the most important things to him.
“Wait,” Annabeth said, putting a hand on his arm. “I have an idea.”
“What?” Percy asked, turning to her.
Annabeth reached into her pants pocket, pulling out her Yankees cap.
“Use this, sneak around back, and climb in a window or something,” Annabeth told him, pushing the hat into his hand.
“Are you sure it’ll work for me?” Percy asked, running his finger over the logo stitched on the hat. “You know, with your mom hating me and all?”
“Well, she gave it to me,” Annabeth reminded him. “And I don’t hate you.”
Percy blushed. He turned the hat over in his hands, part of him still worried that putting it on would incinerate him. Please don’t kill me, Athena. Percy prayed. I didn’t mean to keep your daughter out late.
“Try it, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said.
Percy obeyed, putting it on his head. He immediately disappeared. He marveled at the feeling, the way he could stick a hand out and see nothing.
“That’s pretty cool, Wise Girl,” he said to Annabeth. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep it safe.”
“I trust you,” Annabeth told him. Percy didn’t know how much he needed to hear that. “Now go!”
Annabeth turned and started sneaking towards the entrance to Athena cabin. Percy turned the opposite direction, sprinting back towards the Poseidon cabin.
He knew he should probably be more careful, but he didn’t know how long the enchantment would last for him. He got to his cabin quickly, running around back and fingering the latch of one of the windows. He pushed it up, putting one leg up on the ledge and pushing himself over. He landed hard on his pile of blankets, laying still for a long while. He prayed Chiron didn’t hear his fall, prayed no one would come and investigate.
Once he was sure the coast was clear, he pulled off Annabeth’s cap, laying it down on the pillow next to him. As he began to slip into sleep, his hand gripped the hat like a lifeline, and it brought him an unimaginable amount of comfort. It was the best Percy Jackson had ever slept in his life.
