A/N: Hmm...think beginning of The Lightning Thief, somewhat AU because Percy's new, claimed, but Annabeth is friends with him already. Let's just pretend that Percy spent more time than usual in CHB before going on his quest. And, at this point fuck it, let's make it movie-verse because Percy's too young to have sexual interactions with anyone. Logan Lerman is adorable in any case, so it'll do, even though the movie was absolutely terrible.

So in general, my version of the camp is skewed in different ways...the rules, the timeline, etc. I just kinda felt like writing it that way, sorry if it doesn't float your boat.

Disclaimer: I by no means own Percy Jackson. Though I'd love to, dont get me wrong.

Luke was sitting on the edge of the Hermes cabin table, a girl only to be described as "busty" sitting comfortably in his lap. They giggled together at unheard jokes, nearly inaudible words slipping from their lips in a way that seemed too easy. The girl's arms circled around Luke's neck, playing with his all-too-perfect blonde hair. Even at dinner, when any other camper was rubbing their bagged eyes and barely awake after a long day, he managed to look flawless. Luke kept flashing his all-too-perfect smirk, his too-perfect skin becoming a playground for the girl to trace her fingers across.

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Percy sat at a distance, his gaze every once in a while flicking to the two. And once in a while as in every other second. His plate had remained full with with food, his fork sitting untouched, on a folded napkin, on polished wood. He had migrated from his usual long, empty table to sit with Annabeth and the other Athena demigods. Not that it mattered to him where he sat; he wasn't really looking at his friend, much less listening to her.

Said friend had taken notice of Percy's absent-mindedness.

"Hey. SEAWEED BRAIN." Annabeth snapped her fingers inches in front of the boy's face, calling his attention.

"Hm," was Percy's reply, and hardly gave Annabeth a quick glance, just catching a glimpse of her blonde hair before locking his eyes back on the Hermes table.

She punched him in the arm, finally getting the attention she wanted.

"Ow! Damn, what was that for?!" he hissed, rubbing his arm. Annabeth glared at him, tapping her nails against the table.

"Care to spill what's so interesting about the Hermes table?" she asked perceptively, raising her eyebrows. Percy looked away quickly, and covered his blush by running his fingers through his dark hair.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

"Am I that boring?" she tested, her eyes narrowing.

"No! No…sorry..." the demigod rubbed the back of his neck, nervous. "I'm just tired, that's all," Percy said, which was only partially true. "I mean, it's been such a long day, with training and everything. I think I'm finally getting a hang of that sword I've been using. It's lighter than the last one, but—"

"I understand that you're jealous, obviously," Annabeth interrupted in a lower tone, going back to eating her food in an uninterested manner. Percy was jolted out of his failed diversion, blanching.

"What?! No, no of course not. Why would you think that?" His eyes flicked nervously over to Luke and the girl again, giving himself away. "I'm just looking in that general direction, is all." Annabeth chewed slowly. "No, really. I'm just spacing out, you know? Tired. It's been a long day, training and all, and I had cleanup duty in the kitchens last night…" Percy tossed out excuses, hoping one would stick.

"Come on, Percy. It's so obvious," Annabeth sighed, ignoring her friend's ranting.

"It is?" Percy said in a small voice. The young demigod seemed to shrink in size, fearing the worst.

"Well, you won't take your eyes off her, for one."

"Huh?"

"I understand. You've never had a girl all over you like that before." Annabeth said knowingly, putting a bite of eggs in her mouth. She chewed, putting the food in the side of her mouth before speaking again. "It's only natural for you to be jealous of Luke."

Percy blinked, a wave of relief passing through him.

"Yeah. I'm jealous of Luke." He played along with it, though Percy's mind wasn't on the anonymous girl. He was very much more focused on blonde hair, a playful smirk, and a V cut Camp Half Blood shirt.

"You sure she's your type? She's one of those shallow Aphrodite girls," Annabeth said, raising her eyebrows while continuing to eat her dinner. "In any case, she has no class, slobbering all over Luke where anyone can see."

Percy didn't say that he'd gladly be in the same shameless position, if he had the chance.

"Uh—well, just considering, you know… it's not like she'll say yes anyways."

"Seaweed brain, you're the new kid. Everyone wants to find out who you are. You beat Clarisse's ass, remember? Twice. Go talk to her."

"I don't even know her name!" Percy was beginning to panic now, as he didn't want the situation to progress this far. It didn't occur to him that Annaberh might actually make him get any closer to the Hermes table.

"Then go ask."

"But—I don't want to, I was just—come on, they're practically mouth to mouth, I'd be interrupting."

"Then go talk to her friend. Don't be such a loser, go interact with another human."

"But-"

"Now." Percy knew that tone, and got up out of his seat. He grabbed his plate of uneaten food, just then noticing that he had gotten pizza. Why had he grabbed a fork?

Oh, yeah. Too busy staring at…them.

Cradling his cold food on his tray near his chest, Percy started walking in the general direction of the Hermes table. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Annabeth still watching him, eyes dead set. He sighed, resigning himself to the task, covering twenty paces and ending up in front of the two demigods with locked lips. He stood awkwardly for a moment, shifting on his feet until they noticed him.

Luke left the girl's lips with a slick pop, eyes flicking to the boy who stood in front of him.

"Oh. Hey, Perce, sorry." Luke smiled, flushing slightly, and wiped a drop of saliva from his lip. Percy glanced at Annabeth, expertly hiding a blush from the man. The blonde gave him a thumbs up, accompanied by a contrastingly intimidating stare.

Wow, Percy thought. Expert job giving me self-confidence, there.

"Hi. I, just, wanted to drop by. Is this…uh…somebody new?" Ooooh. Wrong thing to say. Percy thought, as the dark haired girl gave him a death glare rival to Annabeth's trademark one.

Luke raised an eyebrow, but ignored the comment. Bad start. Percy opened his mouth, glancing at the pretty girl who still sat in Luke's lap, as if she was pretending the conversation weren't happening. She eyed the son of Poseidon up and down, Ing everything from his height to his complexion.

"Need anything, Perce? Help with sword training, or something? It's a little late, maybe tomorrow."

"Uh, no, no it's just…" Percy scrambled for words; some sort of explanation to why he was standing in front of his mentor who was obviously busy.

"Look a bit frazzled there, you okay?" Luke flashed a confident smirk, and Percy knew he was done for.

"Sorry, it was nothing…I just wanted to say hi. See you…at practice tomorrow…" Percy mumbled, stuffing a bite of cold pizza into his mouth to create a reason to stop talking.

"Okay?" Luke said, ignoring how the Aphrodite girl in his lap kept running a finger down his shirt. "See you, Percy. You sure you're—"

"M' fine," he said through his food. Before Luke could say anything else, his 'girlfriend' kissed him on the lips, drawing his attention back.

Percy heard her whisper a couple phrases, probably something to redeem herself as being the second to attention in the presence of Percy demon. The demigod felt a short pang of pride for accomplishing the "distract Luke from apparent girlfriend" task, but it quickly vanished as Luke and the girl locked lips again. He mumbled an unheard "goodbye" to excuse himself from the two's new makeout session, and darted off to the fire, giving the rest of his uneaten food to the gods as offering. Not really an offering at the time, though. Just an excuse to get the hell out of the commons. He didn't even trouble himself with checking if Annabeth was watching; it wasn't like he cared.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Percy made his way back to his empty cabin, the number 3 hanging loosely next to the doorframe. Even though it hadn't been used in ages, somehow the interior was clean of dust. Percy suspected that Chiron had some sort of charm set on it. Clothes, however, were strewn carelessly around one of the beds. Besides daily check ups for cleanliness by the designated counselor, the demigod didn't need to bother with keeping others happy.

"She's such a bigmouth…" Percy grumbled to himself, talking about Annabeth, of course. "Always getting into other people's business…

He undressed, as he had left dinner early and he didn't have anything scheduled for evening hours. Shorts, socks, shirt. Percy felt slightly dirty taking his clothes off, because a certain man kept crossing his mind.

"Stop," he mumbled to himself, just for the sake of creating sound in the quiet, dark, otherwise empty room.

The sun hadn't yet set, but was close to it.

Percy hadn't seen if Annabeth had watched the attempt to talk to Luke—sorry, no. He had forgotten Annabeth had wanted him to talk to the girl. Or even, a girl at all. He had at least LOOKED like he was talking to her. Oh well. It's not like Percy had wanted to learn that snotty brat's name anyways. Besides a pretty face and a busty chest, Percy didn't find anything attractive about the Aphrodite chick at all. Well, she had been the definition of gorgeous, but not in the young demigod's eyes. That definition had…lighter hair. A taller, more masculine, blue-eyed definition.

In fact, Percy realized he hadn't even spoken to the girl at all, much less learned her name. If he wanted to convince Annabeth that nothing weird was going on, just teen hormones, Percy needed to step up to the plate. He had to get a girlfriend.

I need to get a girlfriend…

But what about Luke?

It's not like you have a chance with him…

But…it's Luke…

I know.

Talking to himself helped Percy pass the time in his empty cabin.

What if he actually does like me? Way deep down?

If you're seriously considering it, you're crazy.

Maybe just a little bit?

Don't kid yourself, Perseus Jackson.

Percy's inner conversation wasn't the best he'd had. He felt sick, as if he'd done something terrible. And in his own opinion, he had. He, Percy Jackson, had had the guts to have a crush on Luke Castellan. Luke Castellan, the most handsome, most perfect, and furthermost out-of-his-league person on camp grounds. It It sounded stupid, how cliche it was. Like some sort of romantic comedy where he had no chance.

"This is going to be a blast!" Percy groaned sarcastically, falling back onto his bed in his plain blue boxers. "Just fantastic! Attempting to get a girl to date me when no one even knows I exist, when I really like somebody else…who isn't even a girl…" He trailed off. "All to get around Annabeth. Gods." Percy flipped onto his side, burying his head under his pillow. He chewed on his lip, trying to clear his frantically racing head.

Tomorrow was going to be a great day. Fantastic. Awesome. Outstanding. Brilliant. Amazing. And Percy Jackson needed to get a thesaurus, because he needed to find more words to use in a sarcastic manner.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~