Chapter Text
It was near impossible for Thalia to find any time to herself. Luke and Annabeth were always at her side, usually together.
Luke was out at the nearest convenience store while she hunkered down with Annabeth at their latest safe house. It was a good sized cave, big enough for all three of them to sleep without smothering each other in the muggy summer night. As much Annabeth loved to cuddle, she preferred not to wake up in a puddle of sweat.
Luke wasn’t too thrilled about leaving the two of them by themselves, but Thalia had insisted. She figured babysitting Annabeth was the closest thing she’d get to privacy. She told him If he wanted to get the most out of his supply run, it was best to leave little miss monster-magnet behind.
Little did he know, she had her own reasons for trying to find some alone time. A stupid and impulsive 1reason, sure, but a reason.
In the back of her mind, she could already hear Luke nagging on her. It would bleed, it could get infected, it was a stupid idea. She shrugged him off. She wasn’t that stupid, she knew what she was doing. She boiled the pin and cleaned her ear with a bit of warm water on the edge of her t-shirt. She even numbbed it with an ice cube.
She was going to give herself an ear piercing.
She carefully hovered a safety pin over her ear by the reflection of her compact mirror. A piercing would make her feel like she was really doing something for herself, something cool. Still, her hands were trembling.
“What are you doing?” Annabeth asked, abandoning the sudoku puzzle book in her lap. “What’s that for?”
“It’s a piercing,” Thalia said, “so I can wear earrings.”
“That’s how earrings go in?” Annabeths eyes went wide.
“Just do your puzzle.”
“But I wanna watch.”
Thalia rolled her eyes and blew her hair out of her face. She needed a trim. Again.
“Fine. Just don’t tell Luke I let you.” Thalia stared at her shaking hands in the mirror. “And be quiet, I’m focusing.”
Annabeth sat down and scooted closer, silent and curious.
Thalia sucked in a sharp breath and bit her tongue. She scrunched up her nose and had to fight the urge to look away. Her fingers were sweaty on her ear as she struggled to keep a good hold on it. She steadied the piece of bark protecting her fingers on the other side.
She jammed it in and felt the hot sharp stab spread all the way through her ear. A pained gasp slipped through her teeth and she had to take a second to catch her breath. She slowly took her fingers away to assess the wound. Her earlobe was red and tender, just a tad bit of blood oozing around it. She dabbed at it with the damp corner of her t-shirt.
“Woah!” Annabeth gasped, admiring the metal spike, “doesn’t it hurt?”
“Not at all,” Thalia lied, “barely felt it.”
It hurt like a bitch, but just saying it made it feel true. Annabeth must’ve thought she was one of the strongest people she’d ever met. She wished she could be as cool as Annabeth thought she was.
“It's like you're all tough and scary now.” Annabeth laughed, like it was just about the coolest thing she had seen in her life.
No matter what she looked like, Annabeth would never really see her as scary, or intimidating. Thalia was like Annabeth's personal bodyguard. That or a teddy bear.
She admired it in the mirror with a proud smile. She finally had something that was all her own. Not Luke, not Zeus, not her mother. It didn’t really scare away monsters, but it showed everybody else that she wasn’t one to be messed with. She could stab herself with a needle like it was no big deal, walk it off feeling like she was on top of the world.
She fastened her makeshift earring and grabbed another pin from her pile, steadying it for the other side. A deep breath and another hot stab. It went surprisingly smooth. There wasn’t too much blood, and the initial pain even dulled down with a bit more ice. It was much cleaner than she expected as she examined it carefully in the mirror.
Then, she heard screaming.
It was a sharp, high pitched cry of pain, and there was only one person it could be. Her heart raced against her chest and she dropped what she was doing, dead in her tracks.
The needle Annabeth was holding made a small clink as it bounced to the ground. Both of her hands were clasped over her ears. She hissed as blood trickled out from between her fingers.
“Annabeth!” Thalia yelled, grabbing the kid’s shoulders, trying to mask her worry, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You said it didn’t hurt!” Annabeth wailed.
Annabeth's hands trembled as she avoided any eye contact with her. There shouldn’t have been that much blood on her tiny hands.
“Oh gods, Annabeth,” She scolded her through gritted teeth, “Obviously it hurts- here let me see that.”
She took her fingers off of her ear, where she had not only managed to get the pin through her ear, but through her finger as well. The puncture in her finger was deep and gushing blood, while the one in her ear was mangled and torn.
Thalia mentally scolded herself for turning her back, letting Annabeth get ahold of the pin in the first place. She should have known Annabeth would always try to copy her. She looked up to her, Thalia was always her role model for all things brave and confident. She didn’t see herself as a very good role model.
Not everything Thalia did was something she wanted Annabeth to mimic. Especially not if it got her hurt. She promised she would always keep her safe. And she always kept her promises.
Thalia wrapped her finger in a fresh band-aid. She had gotten the pin in pretty deep, but it was nothing a quick kiss couldn’t fix. As for her ear, it would just have to heal itself over. She was more shook up than anything. She just hoped Luke wouldn’t ask why their baby sister was holding a plastic baggie of ice over the side of her head.
“Did we learn a lesson here?” Thalia scolded as the ice she pressed against Annabeth's face made her squirm in her seat.
“No.” Annabeth mumbled, always too stubborn to admit when she’s wrong.
“How about, ‘don’t do everything sissy does’? That sounds like a fair lesson.”
“I almost had it.” Annabeth mumbled to herself.
“Annabeth, I’m 12. You’re only 7.” She spoke calmly, “Some things are just only for bigger kids to do.”
“I am a big kid!” Annabeth protested.
Thalia knew it didn’t make sense to her. Annabeth always wanted in on the action; namely whatever she and Luke were doing. Thalia knew some stuff she did would be dangerous, she couldn’t hide that from Annabeth. The best she could do was try to protect her from diving into it herself, before she was ready.
“How about when you’re 12 years old, then I’ll help you pierce your ears.” Thalia said, “Until then, no more needles near your face. Got it?”
“You promise?”
“Pinky promise. You know I never break a promise.”
