Summer Things

Alice, The_Princess_Fangirl 

she/her

Summer Things

Stranger Things AU during summer. No spoilers, just S1.

Trigger Warning: Missing Child

Percy wasn't exactly sure what to do with the girl he'd found in the woods on the night of July 7th, 1983.

She had long hair and bright eyes. She was wet from the rain, and she didn't have an umbrella or raincoat or anything suitable for this weather.

He and his friends, Grover Underwood and Jason Grace, had brought her back to Percy's basement. She sat on a couch as the three teenagers stared at her.

"What do we do with her?" Grover eventually asked.

"Who are you?" Jason asked

The girl didn't respond. Grover clapped his hands in her face and she jerked back.

"Now we know she isn't deaf." Grover said, turning to Percy.

"Both of you, stop," Percy interrupted, "She's alone, probably ran away from something, scared and wet." He left the room and came back with dry clothes. He handed them to her.

The girl reached out to grab the clothes, and Percy noticed a marking on her wrist. It read, "Anna." The rest of the ink was to faded to be readable.

"Is your name Anna?" he asked her. She nodded, and Percy said, "We can call you An for short. I'm Perseus. People call me Percy. These are my friends, Grover and Jason."

"What should we do?" Jason asked, glancing at An.

"In the morning she can ring our doorbell. My mom can call child services then or something. Then we can go find Nico."

Their fourth friend, Nico di Angelo, has gone missing the day before. They were looking for him on their bikes in the woods when they found An.

Percy seemed like the only person in his family who cared. His mom was trying to understand, but she really didn't. Tyson was to busy focusing on his girlfriend, Ella. Estelle was six years old, she was completely oblivious.

"No," An said, her voice shaking. It was the first time they heard her speak. "Monster will find."

"The what?" Jason asked

"Monster!"

Percy leaned down so they were eye level. An nodded. "We won't call them."

"Percy!" Jason scolded, "Are you going to let a girl stay over?"

"Not like that!" he replied. He sighed, "Look, she just needs a place to stay. I'll let her live with me for a little while."

Jason still looked skeptical, but he said, "Fine, it's your house," he turned to An. "Go change over there." He pointed to the bathroom.

"And then go to sleep, okay?" Grover told her.

An changed. When she came back, she laid down in the fort that Estelle had made. His friends wished Percy luck and went home.

The next day, Percy woke up to An standing over him like a creepy doll in a horror movie. He yelped as An said, "You drool when sleep."

When his parents left for work and Tyson took Estelle to the park, Percy took An around the house. He showed her the lights and the TV and the bookshelf.

She pointed to the bookshelf and Percy gave her a book titled The Heroes of Olympus. She opened it and pointed to the words on the page. She pointed to Percy, then back to the book.

"I have dyslexia," Percy replied, "It means that the words get tangled for me. It's gotten a little better, but it's hard to read a book that thick."

An looked confused, but she got distracted when her stomach growled. She looked up at Percy, and he brought her to the kitchen.

An instantly began going through everything. Percy tried to stop her, but she kept going. When she opened the freezer, she grabbed an ice pop and ripped it open.

"What?" she asked

"That's an ice pop," Percy replied, "It's basically flavored ice. You eat it during Summer."

"Summer?"

Percy nodded. "Like, when the sun is shining and everything is warm. You go to the beach and Summer camp and stuff like that."

"Summer camp?" An repeated

"It's a place where you go and do cool stuff. Like rock climbing and crafting. I'm the best canoer there. But I can't go this year because Camp Half-Blood got flooded a few weeks ago with so much rain."

Instead of replying, An licked her ice pop. In a matter of minutes, it was gone. She took another one. Soon, she had eaten four ice pops. She licked the juice off her lips.

"Stop," Percy laughed, "It's not good to eat that many that fast."

An stared at him again. Not the creepy stare she was doing before, but the kind you do when you admire someone. The kind friends give each other. She finished the ice pop she was eating and said, "Take me to Summer."

"It's not really a place. But once all this is over, we can take you to the beach. There's one not far from here. We can go with Jason and Grover and Nico. But I don't think Nico likes beaches—wait!"

An had suddenly run upstairs, leaving Percy behind. She sprinted up the stairs and into Percy's room, where she had woken him up that morning. She pointed to a picture on Percy's desk. It was of Percy, Jason, Grover and Nico standing in front of the Camp Half-Blood entrance. They were smiling, even Nico, who barely smiled.

That's when Percy noticed she wasn't just pointing to the photo, she was pointing directly at Nico, black T-shirt and all. "Nico," An said.

"Yeah...that's Nico," Percy confirmed, "He's missing."

"I find him," An said. "Let me."

Percy knew she really couldn't, but he was desperate. "You know where Nico is?"

An shook her head. "Find."

In less than five minutes, Jason and Grover were in his room. Jason was intarogating An.

"How can you find Nico?" He asked, "Have you met him?"

"Powers," An said simply

Jason laughed. "Seriously?" He turned back to Grover and Percy. "She's insane."

An glared at him. The door, which was open before, shut instantly. No one was standing near it, no one could have bumped into it. It locked.

When Percy looked back at An, her nose was bleeding. "Powers," she repeated.

Jason gawked at her, and Grover looked like someone had robbed his house. Percy's mind was going all over the place, from: She has powers! to What did she do to the monster? to That's what she means by helping us find Nico.

"What else can you do?" Grover asked, "Can you like, plant trees with your mind?"

An wiped the blood off her nose in response. "Find Nico," she said

Percy nodded. "Okay," he said, "You can help us find Nico. You have any idea where he is?"

An close her eyes and went still. Another trickle of blood fell from her nose. When she opened her eyes, she said, "Come."

The three boys followed her outside and onto the road. The kids walked block after block, silently following the girl with powers and a shaved head. Suddenly, An stopped.

"Here."

It was Nico's house. This was not where he was. He was missing, the whole point is that he wasn't home.

At that moment, a teenage girl walked out of the house. She was about 18, two years older than Percy and his friends. It was Bianca di Angelo, Nico's older sister.

An pointed to Bianca. "Her. Help."

"Bianca's going to help us find Nico?" Grover asked, "I guess...I mean, her and Nico are pretty close."

Bianca noticed the four teenagers standing in front of her house and she waved them over. "I'm sorry guys, Nico isn't back yet." Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. "I'm going to the police for updates right now." She looked to An. "Who are you?"

"This is An," Percy quickly introduced the two. "Can we come to the police station with you?"

Bianca shrugged. "I guess. It won't really help, I'm just going for updates."

Still, the five of them were at the police station in less than 10 minutes. The Chief of Police, Officer Hades, greeted them.

Hades looked a lot like Nico, which made sense, because Hades was the di Angelo siblings's father. Maria and Hades weren't married when they had them, and eventually the two just fell out of touch.

Bianca didn't hesitate. "Dad, we're here to see if you have any updates?"

Hades sighed. "No, sorry," he said, "We're trying really hard to find him," He turned to Percy, An, Grover and Jason. "I though you said he didn't have many friends."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "He doesn't. These are it. I'm not even sure about the girl. Everyone else bullies him, they call him gay." Her voice turned desperate at the end, as if to say Please help me.

Hades paused. "Is he?"

"He's missing, that's what he is!" Bianca responded angrily. She sounded like a desperate sister, but Percy caught how she successfully changed the topic without raising suspicion. Was Nico really gay? If he was, no wonder he kept it hidden. Bianca was right, the bullies at school called him gay, but he'd always thought they just said stuff. But now, Percy wondered...

Hades snapped him back to reality. "We're looking Bianca, we are. It's just hard. We found his bike in the woods, if that helps."

Bianca and Hades kept arguing, and Jason gave the rest of them a look. They snuck out of the station and walked away. Bianca still had to drive them home, but she would probably be arguing with her dad for another good 10 minutes.

An stopped in her tracks and grew pale. "Monster," she whispered. Then louder: "Monster!"

Grover, Percy and Jason looked at each other in a panic. In a flash, a lion with gold fur and vicious fangs flew into sight. No one else was there, this creature had eyes purely on them. The kids turned and ran

"It's the Nemean Lion!" Grover yelled

"The what?" Percy screamed

"Do you remember anything from Mr. Brunner's class? The monster Heracles fought in Greek Mythology!"

In all honesty, it was the only interesting class when he was 12. But he wasn't the best at remembering everything in it.

But now he was racking his brain with every last detail, trying to remember who the Nemean Lion was, and more importantly, how to kill it.

"How did he kill it?" Jason yelled

"Um, he strangled it with his bare hands!" Grover responded, dodging a lion claw.

"Yeah, that'll work!" Percy called back sarcastically.

An, who was silently running as they were arguing, turned around and exclaimed, "Nico!"

The three boys stopped talking and looked over their shoulders. Hanging on, Nico was riding the lion, looking utterly terrified, but weirdly...powerful.

"Nico!" The boys called in excitement.

He didn't respond, he was hanging on to the lion for dear life. The Nemean Lion was still sprinting after the kids, and they quickly turned a corner.

"I kill it," An said determinedly. "I kill it."

"How?" Percy responded.

"Percy, dude!" Jason responded. "She has powers. She can strangle it. With her mind."

"But will it work?" Percy responded. He turned to An. "I can't let you die."

"Will not die. Hide."

Percy looked at his friend and sighed. Then it hit him like a truck.

An was his friend. They had known each other for less than 24 hours, but he knew it. He had introduced her to an ice pop, tracked down his friend, and now they were being chased by a lion.

"Please don't die." Percy repeated one last time, then ran behind a tree, where Grover and Jason were already hiding.

An turned to the Nemean Lion and held out her hand. She glared at it, then crushed her hand into a fist. The Nemean Lion stopped and fell to the ground, gasping for air. Nico had the opportunity and jumped off the creature and took off running towards them. The Nemean Lion finally stopped moving, and it disintegrated into dust. An wiped her bloody nose.

An dropped her hand and the boys came running out from behind the tree. They all bearhugged Nico.

Percy turned his head to face An. "You too."

An was hesitant, but she wrapped her arms around Percy.

"Urgh, guys, get off!" Nico protested, wrangling himself out. He turned to An. "And who are you?"

Jason gestured between Nico and An. "An, Nico. Nico, An. Now that introductions are out of the way, can you please tell us where the hell you've been?"

"I was just going for a bike ride at night, and then this thing—" he gestured to the Nemean Lion, who was now a pile of dust "—suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked me. I had no idea what to do, so I climbed a nearby tree. I thought it would just give up, but it stayed there. I eventually fell out of the tree, and I landed on its back. I've been riding it ever since. I swear I'm not making it up."

Grover said, "So you've been riding a lion for the last day and a half. With absolutely no food or water."

"It rained the other day. Probably have a disease now, but I'll live. Now, can you please tell me where the hell you found a girl with powers? Who's name is An?"

"Annabeth," Percy said, glancing at An's wrist. "Her name is Annabeth." The ink that was too faded to read now clearly read Annabeth.

"Annabeth. Still, how did you find her?"

"The monster was chasing her. She was in the woods. We were looking for you when we found her."

"Powers. Ride monsters, get powers. Monster kills with powers." Annabeth piped up. She explained in broken sentences that she lived alone in a cave, and one day the Nemean Lion had found her.

"People who ride the monster?" Nico asked, "No way."

He held his hand, and a branch from a nearby tree fell. His nose dripped with blood. He looked at his wrist, which now read Nico on it.

The boys started freaking out, and Annabeth smiled.

"Okay, now that everything is said and done, I think we need to get you to Bianca. She's going crazy without you."

"Let's go."

—

After a screaming Bianca hugged Nico, a trip to the hospital where Nico surprisingly didn't have any diseases, coming up with a story to tell the di Angelos, and explaining that Annabeth was a girl that had recently moved to New York, everything was said and done.

Now, one month later, Percy was going to keep his promise to Annabeth and take her to the beach. She had been living with the di Angelos, and to be honest, Percy wasn't even sure if Maria had noticed.

The glittering waves and cool wind along with the hot sun beating down on the...sandy sand, it was a pretty good day to go to the beach.

Grover had brought a volleyball, and they all went to the net.

After quickly explaining the rules to Annabeth, Percy served the ball. Nico refereed from the shade of the beach umbrella they brought with them. Percy and Annabeth won.

"Can we play again?" Annabeth asked. She could now speak in full sentences, but was still learning complicated words.

"Yeah!" Percy said.

"Annabeth's on my team!" Jason called, "She's a natural!"

Annabeth ran to the other side of the net, and they played again.

—

WE DID IT! WE FINALLY FINISHED!

As you can see, it was kind of like Stranger Things, but then again, not like Stranger Things at all. (Hey, at least the government isn't after them.)

I tried putting characters where they seemed to fit: Grover gives off major Dustin vibes, a future love triangle, perhaps, with Nico, Annabeth and Percy.

Okay I'm rambling, but seriously I hope you enjoyed. Please hit that vote button! Bye!