Hey, guys. Welcome to another one-shot (Attempt #2 as I refer to it).

So the idea for this story was actually suggested to me by ObeliskX (Thank you, btw, if you're reading). He told me it'd be cool if I could write a Percabeth Genderbent story where m!Annabeth gets scared by a spider and f!Percy has to jump in and save him, and I liked that idea, so I brought it to life with some extra twists. Inspired by the cover picture (by Viria). I actually thought it'd be incredibly weird to right the genderbent versions of two of my favorite characters, but strangely, that wasn't so :/.

FYI: Before you read this story I did not mean to pick on anybody who has arachnophobia, this was purely for fun, so please don't take it offensively (Not that I think you will, but just in case, right?). I have arachnophobia myself, so I know how it is (spiders are evil little creatures) .

Anyway, enough talk for now. Enjoy! :)

Just days after the events of TLT…

Percy was struggling with her weapon, sure Riptide was a perfect balance, but that didn't make it any less weird to hold a sword. Just days ago she had been a normal girl (well as normal as one can be without knowing they're a demigod), but so recently she was suddenly Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, accused of stealing Zues' Masterbolt. Suddenly she had to glance at everything a second time, once through mortal eyes and a second time through demigod eyes. Now that she thought about it, suddenly learning to use a sword was definitely not the weirdest thing that had happened to her so far.

"Andrew?" Percy asked, fiddling with the grip on the hilt of Riptide. She sighed, just now realizing he'd turn into a huge show-off if she asked for help. Andrew turned and glanced her way for all but a second before he was facing the dummy he was pelting once again. Percy admired his concentration, wondering if someday she'd be able to do that just as well without any… 'encouragement'. He was swift and calculating, never hesitating to place a heavy hit to the weak points.

"Yeah?" he asked, returning his dagger to the scabbard at his side. Percy hadn't even realized he'd finished until he had asked the question. She shook her head, pulling herself out of her daydreams and proceeded to rub her arm in embarrassment. He'd never stop picking on her for this.

"Could you, maybe…" she sighed and blinked before facing the son of Athena's stormy grey eyes. "…would you mind helping me become less awkward with this thing?" Percy gestured to her sword, annoyed and Andrew smirked like this event had made his day.

"Sure, Seaweedbrain." He teased, grabbing a training sword from a nearby stand. Percy rolled her eyes and held out her sword, preparing to follow his lead. "Gah!" Andrew suddenly cried. There was a muffled clang as his training sword hit the dirt, causing Percy to jump to her guard. She swiveled her head around quickly looking for what surprised him, having no luck she turned her head to Andrew, only then following his eyes to the sword on the ground.

"What?" she asked, seeing as her brain could no longer stand the silence. Andrew didn't answer, he just watched that sword like a hawk, she pinpointed the obvious fear in his expression and looked back down at the sword in confusion. "Is there something wrong with it?" she questioned, approaching the blade to investigate. She felt a strong, surprisingly cold, hand grab her arm and she turned to meet Andrew's warning gaze.

"No, don't!" he told her, voice deadly serious. "That thing is evil." Percy looked back from him to the sword, over and over again, not fully grasping the point.

"What…the sword?" she tilted her head at him before picking up the blade carefully and examining it. "What's the big deal?" Andrew's stature fell limp and he took a couple steps back, his eyes staying fixed on the other side of the sword. Percy's eyes grew wide before she put on a brave face and spun the blade around. What she saw next connected the dots and yet, still surprised her. "Ew, that is the biggest spider I have ever seen, doesn't anybody clean up around here?" She looked back at Andrew's fearful state, he was backed up against a wall and had glare on to rival a god's. Percy had never laughed so hard since she'd discovered she was a demigod. "You're afraid of spiders? Seriously?!" she then flicked the arachnid off the sword with her finger and smashed it under her shoe without so much as a hesitation.

"Yeah, well…" Andrew kept his eyes fixated on the blob on the ground as he returned to Percy's side. "…It runs in the family…" his words were so quiet they were almost lost to the wind. He looked as though he couldn't believe Percy had conquered the creature so easily.

"You've faced Greek monsters time and time again, and that little bug scares you?" Percy gestured to the blob as if she hadn't just crushed the creature mercilessly.

"Arachnid." Andrew corrected. "It's not a bug, it's an arachnid and most Athena kids have arachnophobia, and for an incredibly good reason too." Andrew crossed his arms stubbornly at that.

Percy narrowed her eyes at him, with a disbelieving expression. "You've got to be kidding me." Then suddenly, a playful smirk tugged at her lips and she laughed. "Well at least I know how to get you to leave me alone when I want you too."

"That's not funny." Andrew stated, glaring at her promptly.

"Maybe that's because it's hilarious." Percy suggested, elbowing him playfully. Andrew narrowed his eyes at her, stating quite simply that he was not amused. Percy's smile fell. "Dude, they don't eat people, they eat bugs. Plus, that thing is minuscule standing next to you. You have nothing to worry about." Percy assured, proud of her use of the word minuscule.

"Nothing to worry about…?" Andrew rolled his eyes. "Percy, spider bites can kill. Not to mention they're mother, Arachne, is huge and determined to take vengeance against my mother, which means vengeance against her children too. Plus, those things are Hades creepy." Percy placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head at him.

"And exactly what part of this is not funny to you?" she asked. Andrew glared at her and grabbed the now-rid-of-spider training sword from the daughter of Poseidon's hands. He lifted it up towards his face and then held flat in the air just under her neck.

"Oh, bring on." He dared, teasing vengeance lighting a fire in his eyes. Percy smirked slyly and held herself ready, bringing out Riptide.

"You know this won't be a fair fight, right?" she asked.

"Absolutely." He assured with a vexatious smirk. He pulled his sword back, giving Percy an open invitation to attack. "Ladies first." He offered in a challenging tone. Percy glared at him and dug her heels into the dirt as if to hold her ground. She already knew if she attacked him first she'd go down quick, at least if he attacked her first she would have a chance to prevent it.

"Nah, brains before brawn." She insisted, smugly. Andrew snickered and thrusted his sword upon hers.

"If you insist."

...o0o…

After Andrew and Percy fell to the ground panting, Percy had already lost nearly every round and felt like she could no longer stand. As she looked at Andrew's victorious smirk she rolled her eyes. "Suddenly having arachnophobia doesn't seem so 'funny' after all, does it Seaweedbrain?"

After gathering up enough breath so she could reply, Percy raised her hand to a proposition. "Look, I'll make you a deal," Andrew stared her in the eyes, as if to say 'I'm listening'. "I won't tease you about your fear if you promise not to hold this against me, deal?" Andrew looked as though he was thinking about it before getting up and holding his hand out to help her do the same.

As soon as they gripped each other's hands, Andrew grinned cunningly. "Deal." He agreed. As soon as Percy got to her feet and dusted herself off she processed his expression.

"Wait, you just tricked me didn't you?" she asked. Andrew's grin grew and he tilted his head.

"I got exactly what I wanted, if that's the answer that you were looking for." He replied.

"Wait, so you whipped my butt at sword fighting just to get me to stop teasing you?" Percy crossed her arms and pouted. "Wiseguy." She mumbled.

"Hey, look on the bright side." Andrew insisted. "You're not so awkward with your sword anymore are you?" Percy glared at him.

"Considering I'm an angry female with that very sword you speak of, I'm not so sure that's a good thing for you." Andrew laughed and turned to walk away, leaving Percy pouting behind him. In an evil moment, Percy snuck up to him and tapped her fingers against his back ever so lightly. She could feel the son of Athena's back snap straight and the vibrations of fear run through his body as she pulled away. Andrew turned to face her, slapping his hand against hers in surprise.

"PERCY!" he yelled, realizing it was her immediately. Percy went into a fit of laughter and smiled innocently at him, she couldn't contain herself though and laughed a little bit more.

"It was worth it to see your face." She choked out. It was then that Percy felt something crawl up her arm and she turned her head to face it, only to find another spider. Oh the irony. "I hate the out-doors." She decided.

"GAH!" Andrew cried seeing the creature on her arm and leaping back in terror. He whipped out his dagger in seconds and by that point Percy couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard. In fact, her hand was so shaky from laughter she barely flicked the spider off her before it started crawling up her sleeve. Andrew jumped away instantly, from where the eight legged fend was propelled, swiping his dagger uselessly across the air and Percy thought she was going to be one of the first people to die from laughter.

"Relax." She finally said, as Andrew checked to make sure the creature was gone. "It's not on you." Andrew sighed and sheathed his dagger before looking back to meet Percy's teasing grin.

"Don't say a word." He warned, darkly. She then slipped her arm around his shoulders and led him away from the arachnid infested site.

"Nope, what I have to say, has to be heard." She insisted. "Spiderphobia is absolutely 'funny'." Andrew glared at his path and avoided her eyes.

"Arachnophobia." He corrected, grudgingly. And Percy laughed. "I hope we're on different teams in the next capture the flag." He threatened, with an evil grin. Percy's laughter faltered and expression of fear crossed her face. Memories of the past capture the flags washed over her and she bit her lip with nervous tension.

"Message received, Wiseguy." She assured.

"That's what I thought, Seaweedbrain." Andrew replied.

So, how was it? I thought it was pretty good myself, actually, probably because it was so much fun to write! Please express your feelings in a review, and constructive criticism is always appreciated. Flames will be ignored.

Now guys, let's hope you haven't exited out of the page by this point, because (not only would that totally suck) I have something to ask. If you liked this story, I actually had planned on making it a two-shot, because I feel I need to express m!Annabeth's (or Andrew's) feelings about spiders after the events of MoA and so forth. Should I do it? If you think so, please express your opinion in your review.

A final thanks to ObeliskX for the suggestion, sorry it was so short, but maybe I'll take you up on your other ideas in the future (for now, it's probably best I stick with one-shots or three-shots until I get back into the mood of multi-chapter). Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading everyone.

Samantha's Library.