Not as badly as he could have

Eventually, Annabeth settled on the wish she planned to make, as long as Percy would agree to it. It'd protect against Apollo, save Bob and Damasen from Tartarus, and also leave an opportunity for maybe trying out opening their relationship to Rachel as well. It'd be perfect, if Percy was willing to agree. And so, she began laying out her arguments in Ancient Greek.

Once she was finally done, she decided to head out to watch Percy teach some of the younger kids. The arena, if it could be called that, was full of kids, all paired off, and occasionally Percy would demonstrate or spar directly. He was slowing himself down, clearly, enough that even the younger campers could see his wrist motions, and he was pointing at them as he swung. It was cute, seeing him like this, in his element, around the other campers. He had a smile on his face, an open one, as he demonstrated move after move, and, occasionally, let himself be disarmed in a spar while holding back.

To the younger kids, and maybe even some of the older ones, it probably looked like playing around came naturally to him– and it was clear to all of them that he was playing around. None of them were foolish enough to assume Percy Jackson would lose so easily. But what they didn't see is how he'd tense up every time he let go of Riptide, the moments that he'd almost look like he was going for a more serious blow before he caught himself. The pit had left its scars on the both of them.

Annabeth got to her work, then, watching him, but her planned wish loomed heavily over her mind. She wasn't sure how he'd take it, despite her attempts to plan it out. She found her mind wandering to and fro, so much so that she barely noticed when the class finally ended. What she did notice was Percy coming and sitting by her.

"Hey Wise Girl," he greeted her. "Came to get some fresh air?"

"That, and I wanted to talk as soon as possible," Annabeth began. "This is pretty big, and we should probably figure it out before tonight, but... my first thing, I think it's changed my view on our relationship."

Percy's face looked confused for a moment. "Are you... breaking–"

"Gods no," Annabeth interrupted vehemently. "No, it just-" she paused and looked around, then continued. "No, not at all. Actually, sort of the opposite?"

"The... opposite? You do realize we're already dating, right?" he ribbed, before confusion returned to his face. "But seriously, what opposite?"

"So, when we were with Rachel, in her cave, towards the end of that– I maybe didn't mention exactly what she said, not in front of Rachel," Annabeth quickly said.

"Annabeth!" Percy cried out in a muffled exclamation. He looked disapproving.

"It wasn't anything important," Annabeth defended. "Or, at least I didn't think it was at the time. And I always planned to tell you, it just slipped my mind earlier."

"So...?"

"Yeah, uh. She mentioned you and Rachel are still mutually crushing on each other?" Annabeth said, trying to make it sound casual.

Percy went silent for a moment. Then, "Uh. What?" he said.

"She said you and Rachel still had crushes on each other. Did she lie?" Fuck, it'd be so goddamn awkward if Inara had lied, wouldn't it. She'd have to explain to Percy what she was thinking could happen, without any of the payoff of it actually happening, and then–

Percy spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. "I– hm. I don't really know? I love you, Annabeth, you don't have to worry about any feelings I might or might not have towards Rachel, anyways."

"I know that," Annabeth affirmed. "But do those feelings exist?"

"I guess... sort of?" Percy responded. "You know, I was definitely crushing on her a while ago, and we're still close. But it's kind of something that I guess is... cool? It's there, but it's not going to lead to anything. I don't know if I'd have ever thought of it as a crush if you, or, I guess, Inara, hadn't put it that way."

Annabeth nodded in agreement. "Makes sense, I suppose. She probably interprets things through a certain lens, and a crush was the best way to describe it. And... does she have a crush on you back?"

"I don't know, honestly," Percy said simply. "I mean... she's not supposed to, right? And she's been nothing but supportive of you and me, so... probably not? Or she does, but it doesn't matter, because she– oh." It looked as if a light went on in his brain. "But, okay, sorry, why are you making a wish about this?"

Annabeth looked around once again. "Maybe we can talk back in the cabin?"

"Sure, I guess," Percy acquiesced. But as they walked, he looked deep in thought, as if he was mulling over all the puzzle pieces Annabeth had put down, she noted.

"So," he said, when they finally entered the cabin, "You want to, what? Open up our relationship, and use a wish to make it so that Rachel can potentially join in without having to worry about her oath? And this is all a product of the wish you made? The one that–" Suddenly, the calm fell off Percy's face. "Fuck. Do I want this? Is that what's making you do this?"

Annabeth put her hand on Percy's arm. "Okay, yes, you got most of it right, though I'm thinking of all this in addition to what we were talking about. And as for last night's wish... I'm definitely influenced, but that's not the only reason." Percy opened his mouth to interrupt, but Annabeth continued before he could. "Please, listen to my reasoning, okay?" she said.

Percy nodded, though his face was still a mask of dark clouds.

"So, okay, yeah. I probably wouldn't have thought of this in the first place without that, sure. The wish, it turned down my jealousy to basically nothing, and it turned up my compersion. And sure, the fact that it did that does mean that somewhere, you'd like to have a relationship with more than one person."

"So it is my fault," Percy said, his frown deepening. "We need to use a wish to undo it."

"No, that's dumb," Annabeth insisted. "First off, I was the one who wished for it, you didn't even know I was planning on it. And second, I'm not a different person than I was before. Sure, a few things around sex and jealousy and shit changed, but I'm still me, and if I thought this was a stupid idea, I wouldn't do it."

"And if I refuse?" Percy asked.

"Then it doesn't happen, obviously," she said. "I'm not going to **** you into it. This is something that I think might be nice, and that I think you'll probably also enjoy, and so will Rachel. And it's just going to be temporarily expanding our relationship, and if things don't go well, we'll just go back to how things are right now."

Percy still looked suspicious. "Again, sure, you want this now, but it wasn't like you were a huge fan of Rachel when you thought we were together, or whatever. Doesn't that show that the wish changed you?"

"I mean, yeah, obviously it changed me," Annabeth shrugged. "But, honestly, if you'd brought this idea up to me even before that wish, I'd have reacted pretty differently than how I'd have reacted if you brought it up when we just got together. People change over time, and this isn't a huge change. I'm a tiny bit different now, but I'm still the same Annabeth."

"I..." Percy started. "And you really aren't just, I don't know, going along with whatever random fantasies I might have in my head?"

"You don't," Annabeth pointed out. "Sure, I'm now into some of the same things you are, but I don't have to act on it. This is just a case where I think I could like it, you would like it, Rachel would like it, and it gels well with our preexisting wish."

Percy went silent, thinking. After a minute or so, he sighed. "Fine, let's at least look at the wish you planned out."

Annabeth passed the computer over, and he looked over the wish. His eyes scanned it line by line, and by the end, he nodded. "Okay. It still doesn't lock us into anything, I guess, or **** anyone into anything particularly bad. It just opens up our options."

"Right," Annabeth agreed. Then, feeling bold, she asked a simple question: "You want to do it now?"

"Like, make the wish now? But it's like four in the afternoon," he pointed out.

"Sure, but we don't have to wait for night-time, and this way we have more time to figure things out for the next wish," she responded. "And I put a lot of work into this one, I don't want to do too much more brainstorming today."

Percy hesitated. "Fine," he said. "But this time I'm staying in the room with you. Both to keep you safe, and to make sure you don't lie again and ask for something bigger." He still seemed somewhat hurt about that.

"You know that was only for your sake, right?"

"I do," he admitted, bending over to grab the oil lamp. "That makes it worse, honestly. I don't like that you did that to yourself for me, even if you're saying it did turn out okay." He passed Annabeth the lamp.

"Like I promised. No wishes that you don't get the chance to vet," she said.

Then, she rubbed the lamp. Clouds of billowing smoke tumbled out, visible only to her, and from them emerged Inara, still clad in her gauzy fabrics. Annabeth's figure had been enhanced, but not to Inara's level of curves, which could have belonged to a fertility goddess if not for her lithe stomach. Her violet eyes pierced into Annabeth, standing out against Inara's dark skin. "You're ready for a second wish, then, daughter of wisdom?"

"I am," the grey-eyed blonde said firmly.

Inara smiled wickedly. "Then state your wish, and I shall grant it, as long as it is sexy in some way."

"Right." Her hand snaked over to Percy's, whose gaze was locked straight through Inara's legs. It'd have been amusing if not for the nervousness that reality-altering wishes created. She took a deep breath, and brought a piece of paper up to eye-level to read off of. "Inara. I wish that from now on, anyone not in the Underworld proper, who likes Percy or myself, would come to us and express that liking and, in the case of that liking being romantic or turning romantic, in the latter case triggering this process again, would accept our terms on having a romantic relationship or not, with no bindings, barriers or oaths stopping this process whether platonic or romantic, and with no one other than us finding any aspect of this whole process, other than any formed relationship on its own basis, particularly unusual or worthy of investigation." At the end, she let out an exhale. That last clause had been an addition by Percy, who'd realized that if they did start dating Rachel, they at least wanted people to recognize that they were dating, now.

"You really are a nerd, huh?" Inara asked. "Cute. Honestly, you're probably trying to get more out of this than you strictly should, but, well... I don't really care, given that this will lead to some fun little consequences."

A look of worry crossed Annabeth's face at that.

"Oh, don't look so sour," the dark-skinned spirit said. "Nothing too bad, nothing harmful. Anyways..."

W̵̠͘I̷̛̮S̵͇͝Ḧ̵̫́ ̷͙͗Ģ̸͘R̴͔̂A̸̬̿N̸̯͗Ț̷́Ẽ̷͎D̶̝̂

Once again, Annabeth felt an out of body experience, as if her body was floating along the ripples of the universe. It was a crashing feeling, and she could feel the very cosmos itself being rearranged, points of light ripped out of it as the very structure of the universe changed. Then, she collapsed to the side, Percy catching her before she could fall.

"It's done?" he asked. "You paused there for a second."

"Inara was just talking," Annabeth explained. "Time to see how it worked, huh?"

"I suppose so," Percy replied. He seemed a bit shaky, still, if less so.

Then, suddenly, Inara spoke up, her voice as sultry as always. "You know, that was quite an interesting wish, and I'm quite happy with it. So, I have a proposition for you."

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, noting her stiffen.

"Inara's still here, and it seems like she wants to make some kind of deal," Annabeth explained.