Work Text:
Percy was frustrated.
He was so, so frustrated.
Some of the Ares kids dared him to do an apparently hard math sheet, which he stupidly agreed to doing after they said there was no way he could be such a great hero if he couldn’t do “simple math.”
He got through the first few questions fine, but the fifth question was giving him a tough time.
His brain just couldn’t understand how he was meant to do it. Percy knew theoretically he could quit, but by no means would he be okay with proving the kids from the Ares cabin right.
His thoughts were going at a mile a minute, repeating the same three words,
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I don’t understand!’
Percy’s eyes were beginning to water, his vision becoming cloudy. He just didn’t get it. How was he meant to solve this problem? If this one was this hard then how hard would the rest be?
He dropped his pencil onto the floor and tried to stop his hands from grabbing his hair. He failed, as he grabbed fistfuls of his curls.
“I don’t understand…” He cried, his face scrunching up in frustration.
“It doesn’t make sense! I don’t understand!”
Percy released one of his hands from his hair and raised his fist and punched his head, afterwards holding his forehead in pain.
The tears were flowing now, not in large streams, but they were slowly dropping down from his eyes onto his face.
His hand moved back to his hair, joining the other one as they pulled at the roots roughly. Percy could feel stands of his hair being pulled out and resting on his fingers, the pain of his hair being pulled making his eyes water more.
“I don’t understand!” He shouted, leaning over from his sitting position and sinking to the floor.
Annabeth hadn’t meant to overhear Percy.
She just happened to be walking past cabin three when she heard what sounded to be Percy’s voice shouting something along the lines of “I don’t understand!”
Her first thought was that it could have been him talking to Tyson, but then she remembered that he was doing something near the water—she thinks it was something to do with sea creatures—Which meant Percy was alone in his cabin.
So, she walked up to the door and knocked. And when she didn’t get an answer, she knocked again.
“Percy? Can I come in?”
He didn’t reply.
“Percy, I’m going to come in okay?”
Annabeth opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Percy hunched over on the floor crying and grasping at his hair.
She immediately shut the cabin door and ran up to Percy.
“Percy!” Annabeth shouted as she crouched down next to Percy.
No matter how much she called his name, she couldn’t seem to get through to him.
Percy was crying harder now, his body convulsing. with sobs.
Annabeth wasn’t sure what to do. She’d tried saying his name to get his attention but Percy wouldn’t respond. So, she go closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Was it the ideal thing to do? Probably not. But Annabeth wasn’t quite sure what other options she had at the moment.
Percy looked up at her, his grip on his hair loosening only by a bit.
There were tears rolling down his face, some falling onto his shirt and the rest hitting the floor. His eyes were red and puffy, he sniffed, trying to prevent his nose from running.
“Anna-Annabeth?” He spoke softly, his lips quivering.
“Percy, what happened?” She asked, moving her other hand to his cheek, rubbing Percy’s tears away with her thumb.
“I just don’t understand!” He shouted, his voice getting quieter at the end.
Annabeth tilted her head, “what don’t you understand?”
“This stupid math worksheet the Ares kids dared me to do!” His arms had been long gone from his head, now moved to cross over his chest.
“Come here,” Annabeth said smiling, she moved away slightly and then motioned to her lap.
Percy wiped his eyes, climbing onto her lap and latching onto her, his hands around her back and his head in her shoulder.
“Okay, so to start off you have to put 88 over 450…”
They finished the math sheet together, Annabeth admitting that it was extremely hard and that she understood why Percy was frustrated.
She did have to help him avoid pulling at his hair again, though; when they were stuck on a problem and she saw his hands moving to his hair, she took them in her hands and rubbed her fingers across his knuckles to calm him down. It worked so she ended up holding one of his hands the majority of the time.
When Percy showed the kids from the Ares cabin—Annabeth trailing behind him but out of view—they were pretty mad, but also shocked Percy had been able to complete it at all.
But, they did end up giving him a day off of teasing, so it was a win in his and Annabeth’s book.