The story starts when it was hot and it was summer.

The kind of day where the lake glitters too bright and everyone’s laughing a little too loud. You were supposed to meet Percy by the shore — just to talk. Maybe finally say what had been burning a hole through your chest for months.

You’d rehearsed it in your head all morning: “Hey, Percy, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…” Easy. Simple. Until it wasn’t.

Because by the time you reached the water, he wasn’t alone.

Annabeth was there — sitting beside him, her braid catching sunlight like it was spun gold, her laugh low and quick and smart. Percy was looking at her the way you’d always hoped he’d look at you. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just soft. Like something had settled.

You froze halfway down the hill, every heartbeat like a drumbeat in your ears.

He used to grin when he saw you coming. He didn’t see you at all this time.

Annabeth nudged his shoulder with hers, teasing him about something, and he laughed — that same laugh that used to be yours.

You told yourself it didn’t hurt. You told yourself you didn’t care. But the air felt heavier, the sun too hot, the lake too still. but by the Gods, You should have seen it coming, maybe. The way he talked about her after the quest — all admiration and awe and “Annabeth this, Annabeth that.” You’d smiled and nodded, like a good friend, while something inside you quietly cracked.

You’d underestimated her. And maybe him, too.

Because he was supposed to be yours. Not in the way people belong, but in the way people find each other — the way you thought you already had.

You stood there in the sunlight, invisible, watching them laugh, and thought, She doesn’t know who she’s stealing from.

And that was the moment the story changed.