you need me, I'll be right beside you. Just knock on the door or something." He smiled as he laid down and scooted over so that she could join him under the covers. "Come on, I won't bite. Unless of course it will tickle me too badly. Then I might bite your arm or something like that. You wouldn't want that. Right?" He winked at her teasingly, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes. "Okay, okay. That's enough of that. Goodnight." He turned towards the wall so he couldn't see her reaction and waited patiently for her response.
After a few seconds of silence, she sighed softly before laying down on her side and closing her eyes. Her breathing evened out shortly after and soon, he heard her mumbling something that sounded like: "Sweet dreams..."
***
As dawn broke, Annabeth awoke slowly, stretching out in a way that she knew would aggravate the soreness that was lingering in her muscles after spending the night in cramped positions for hours. She yawned slightly as she opened her eyes and stretched again, rolling onto her front to face Percy. They'd been together for months now, so she was familiar with sleeping arrangements. While she appreciated the fact that Percy didn't seem inclined to kick her out of his bed whenever possible, he did occasionally make it necessary for her to sleep elsewhere.
At first, she was unsure of whether or not he would respond when she woke him up. After all, they hadn't shared a bed since their time together during their quest to save Paris, and she didn't know if he was still having trouble sleeping alone after being with her for so long, especially without anyone else around, or if he just liked sleeping in her arms. In any case, she decided to leave him alone, assuming that he would get up eventually, so she proceeded to sit up and pull the covers off of herself. With only a pair of boxers on, she took a moment to admire his bare body. He truly did fit in so well with her. As she continued to study him, she realized something was wrong, even though she hadn't felt him move. His skin felt clammy and cold, despite the warmth that radiated from her own body. Had he been crying in his sleep?
Deciding not to disturb the boy any further, she slipped into her shoes and left the room.
***
After checking on Jason, Percy spent the rest of the day relaxing and going through some of his favorite books to kill time before dinner. When he received a knock on the door, he assumed it was Jason, so he went downstairs. Upon opening it and finding the same person on the other side, however, he wondered why he'd woken up from such a peaceful dream.
"Hey, Annabeth," he said softly as he opened the door wider, allowing her to enter the house without knocking. "What's up? Did you fall asleep here? I figured you'd be in bed by now. Is something wrong?"
"No, I'm fine."
It almost sounded as if she'd tried lying, but given that Percy had learned long ago not to take things at face value, he knew better. He didn't push the topic either. "Well, what brings you here this early?" he asked instead.
She looked down before lifting up the item she held in her hands. He recognized it immediately. The silver compass. She'd found it the previous year, when they'd explored the Amazon jungle. She'd lost it during an expedition into the jungle. It had remained lost until she stumbled upon Percy while he was searching for Jason and ended up getting the piece in the process.
"Do you think it works? Like, I can use it to find my way through those strange woods surrounding the temple. Or maybe we'll even meet that guy again."
Percy raised both eyebrows in surprise after she had finished talking and blinked several times before shaking his head. "You really are something else, you know that? How are you ever gonna find someone when you have to follow directions from a compass?" He grinned widely before adding. "Also, do you realize what time of year it is here? The temperature should have dropped a lot by now, and with no sign whatsoever that we're approaching summer season, it's definitely going to get colder tomorrow than it is now. There's no way that we're going to be able to figure out how to get to your destination. Not only that, but it's already snowing. So even if you were able to find it and managed to use the compass to locate it, there probably won't even be a road for us to drive across to get to it."
"Oh, come on," Annabeth said as she pouted. "Just give me a hint or two. Please?"
Percival raised his eyebrows, trying not to laugh at the cute expression that she was sporting right now. "There's literally nothing I can tell you besides the fact that we're nowhere near your place. And besides, I'm pretty sure the weather forecast predicted that it was going to rain all day yesterday. So even if we manage to get our bearings, we still end up completely lost because of the storm. Also, we've never been anywhere near a forest, so even if we could manage to track down your old compass, which I'm sure we absolutely could not, there's no way you're ever going to find your way through the woods. And, as I mentioned earlier, the roads have gotten so bad that there will probably be no way to safely drive through them anyway. We'd probably just end up stuck on the shoulder of the road until morning, and then we'd have to walk the rest of the way." He shrugged before continuing, a small smirk playing on his lips once more. "And don't forget about that whole 'truce' thing. That means that if I do manage to find you, I'm not allowed to touch you or anything, unless I'm allowed to help you. Remember when I said we needed to agree on that before going any further with whatever relationship we have?" He stopped to let out a nervous chuckle.
Annabeth rolled her eyes in response, letting out an exasperated sigh before turning to look at him properly. "So, you really expect me to believe that I've been able to spend all of these past weeks with you and not kiss you every chance I get?"