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Percy’s not the jealous one. He swears.
It’s usually Annabeth, unconsciously aiming dirty looks at girls who look at him for too long, or laugh too much at his stupid jokes (which is confusing to him, since she laughs at them the most of all). She tries to play it off, pretend she doesn’t care, but he knows. He’s known her too long to not know what the rise of her eyebrows and her tightly shut lips mean.
This time, though, he couldn’t help but notice how that guy sitting next to them at some Berkeley basketball game Annabeth’s friend forced her to go to - thus, Percy was there - kept sneaking glances at her and making comments about the game. Said friend ended up getting sick at the last minute, leaving Annabeth to sit next to That Guy. He seemed to have caught her disinterest and now proceeds to make fun of the players and talk about how the rules of basketball don’t even make sense, anyway.
The Guy was wearing a Berkeley t-shirt that said Chemistry. Not that Percy was staring at him. At all.
Chill, dude, Percy told himself. It’s just some guy. Annabeth’s probably just talking to him because she doesn’t want to be rude.
However, Percy did not chill. Who does this stupid Chemistry major dude think he is? He probably thinks he’s super smart. He probably goes to parties and recites the entire Periodic Table just to show off. Or whatever it is that stupid Chemistry majors do.
When the first twenty minutes of the game ended, The Guy left to go to the bathroom.
Percy playfully elbowed Annabeth. “Are you enjoying this awesome game of college basketball?”
“Truly fantastic,” she sighed. “I can’t believe Sara got sick. I’m gonna drag her to the Museum of Modern Art as revenge.”
“What? That’s not revenge. I like going to museums with you.”
“Well, she hates museums. She’s also not dating me.”
“Good,” Percy paused, trying to make it seem like his next comment was a casual one. “And, um, who is that guy sitting next to you?”
“Oh, Chad?”
Chad. Of course his name is Chad.
“He’s in my Calculus class. We’re on a group project together.”
Excellent.
“He seems nice,” Percy commented.
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“What is it?” She was smiling, catching onto the meaning behind his question. “Are you jealous?”
“Me? Jealous of Chad the Chemistry major? No way.”
“Wow, even I didn’t know he was a Chemistry major. Should I be jealous?”
“Yes, actually. Chad and I have been having an affair for three months. Sorry you had to find out like this.”
Whatever snarky comment Annabeth was about to respond with was interrupted by Chad coming back with not one but two popcorns. He gave the second one to Annabeth.
“Just thought you looked hungry,” he explained, then winked.
This guy has got to be fucking kidding me, Percy thought.
Annabeth accepted the popcorn, sent Percy a fake apologetic look and shrugged, throwing some popcorn into her mouth.
In a different day, Annabeth would have shut the guy down a long time ago. That had happened before, with and without Percy there. Today, though, she knew they were both in a playful mood, and she decided to tease him. Just a little bit. And he trusted her more than enough to let her.
The game went on, but Percy wasn’t paying attention. He could only listen to Chad cracking jokes about the players, and Annabeth laughing at some of them. He would sometimes nudge her arm to get her to pay attention to something, which was definitely not a sight for sore eyes, at least in Percy’s opinion.
When the bell rang to announce the end of the game, Percy couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief. They would finally say goodbye to Chad and get on their way. Chad wasn’t so excited to let them go, though.
“Annabeth!” He exclaimed, as if she wasn’t right next to him. “The game was super boring, but you were loads of fun. Do you wanna get coffee eventually, work on our group project?”
It was then that Percy felt the need to interject. You see, even when guys are hitting on Annabeth - which isn’t that uncommon, since she is the most attractive human being on the planet, according to her boyfriend - he doesn’t really feel the need to impose himself as her boyfriend. She would definitely hate it, and he trusts her. But this guy was not getting the hint.
Percy, not so discreetly, put an arm around her shoulder. “Babe, I just got a text from my mom. She wants to know if you got the cookies she sent her.”
That bit was true, Sally had sent Annabeth some cookies. However, Percy knew she had gotten them - he’d seen the open package on her desk earlier that day.
Annabeth looked like she was trying very hard to not laugh.
“Well, babe, you can tell her I got them yesterday,” she turned to Chad. “And coffee sounds good. I’ll text Jake and see when he can meet us. Oh, and have you met my boyfriend, Percy?”
Chad turned to Percy, his smile brighter than ever.
“Hey, man! It’s nice to meet you. I’m Chad. Do you go here?”
“Yeah, nice to meet you too. No, I go, uh, somewhere else,” Percy responded, avoiding explaining too much. It was hard explaining to mortals that he went to a university in a hidden mythological city. To avoid more questions, he decided to change the subject. “How’s Chemistry going?”
“Chemistry? I don’t stu- oh, my shirt. Right, sorry about the confusion, this is my boyfriend’s shirt. All right, see you soon, Annabeth! It was nice to meet you, Percy!”
As Chad walked away, Annabeth let out the laughter she’s been suppressing.
“Did you-” Percy started.
“-know he was gay? Yes. It wouldn’t have been as funny if I had told you, though.”
“So he wasn’t hitting on you?”
“No, he’s just a little overbearing sometimes. He’s dating Scott, remember him?”
“Scott from the party? Oh my gods. I hate you so much.”
Annabeth grabbed the front of his jacket and planted a kiss to his lips.
“Love you too.”
“Yeah, right. If I did that to you, you would kill me in two seconds.”
“Maybe, but I still love you.”
He looked at her, a playful smile still dancing on her lips, and suddenly Chad was a distant face in the back of his mind.
“I still love you too.”