A/N: I HAVE RETURNED! I know I said I wouldn't be posting Percabeth stories anytime soon. Or anything related to Percy Jackson, for that matter. Well, put it this way. I lied. And for most of you familiar with my stories, you know I always come back at some point, right? Well, here you go! I love ya' guys! As always, I'll try to update as much as possible. I might make really long chapters and post them, once or twice a month. Probably twice.

Chapter One: Monstrous Kisses

Percy stumbled up the apartment stairs, bleary-eyed, with his workbag dragging behind him. After a long night at the aquarium he had been "apprenticing" at, he was more than exhausted. If there was such a word that meant, "More than exhausted" he'd love to hear it. But after he slept, and had something to eat. He was starving. Well, he was almost always hungry, but he hadn't eaten anything all day, literally. He finally got to the top of the stairs, the floor that his apartment was on. Percy fumbled for his keys in his dress pants pockets, and finally got a hold on them. He jabbed a random key into the lock, or at least tried to. He looked down, and saw him holding his car key, instead. He let out a tired, zombie-like groan.

"Come on…" He murmured, "I just want to sleep." Percy flipped through the variety of keys, and finally found the apartment one. This time, he got the door unlocked, and pushed the door open. Percy stumbled into the darkened apartment, and made his way towards the kitchen, not bothering to close the door. He kicked off his shoes, loosened his black tie, and yanked the fridge door open. He glanced around at his selection, and quickly spotted the leftover ham from a few nights ago. Annabeth, surprisingly enough, had cooked it. But they only got about halfway through the meal before they had a food fight (which ended in their bedroom). He reached for the drying rack for a plate, tossed a couple of slabs of the cold meat on, grabbed a jar of mayonnaise and a couple of pieces of cheddar cheese, and kicked the fridge door shut. He set his food down on the kitchen table, and then walked over to get a couple of slices of sourdough bread. He walked back over to his other food, bread in hand. As he prepared his sandwich, he mentally went over his schedule for tomorrow. He had to get up at five-thirty, and well, who knows when he would be getting out of work. He finished up his work of art sandwich and took a quick bite. Percy nearly dropped his beautiful sandwich when he heard yapping coming from the hall, getting closer and closer.

"Shh! Quiet, Meatball! You're going to wake Annabeth up!" Marco, their Boston Terrier, always started barking when he knew food was being eaten. Hence the name Meatball. Percy flipped the kitchen light on so he could see his crazy little dog. Just as he did, he jumped again, when he saw Marco sitting down in front of the fridge, staring at him with his buggy, brown eyes, "Marco! There you are, buddy!" Percy crouched down so he could give his dog some love. After Percy got more than enough kisses from him, he set him back down so he could eat. Marco ran out of the kitchen and back into the darkness, strangely enough. Normally, he would sit down and beg until Percy gave him some food. Percy would always give him table scraps, but not Annabeth. She said, "He needs to be trained to know that he can't have scraps." But Percy still caught her giving Marco a small piece of bacon on a few rare occasions.

"Marco? Where are you goin', buddy?" Percy stood back up, and saw his dog running into their bedroom. Percy whispered in a hissy voice, "Marco, no!" He ran after him, and found Marco just as he was jumping on their bed. Percy could faintly see Annabeth under the covers. Marco started barking and howling at her, "No, Marco!" He hissed, "You meathead!" Annabeth stirred under the covers,

"Percy?" Her sleepy voice asked.

"Hey…" He whispered guiltily, "Sorry Marco-" Marco started barking again, and Percy raised his voice a little louder, "Sorry Marco woke you up!" He walked over, leaned down, and kissed her on her cheek. He snapped back the second his lips came into contact with her skin. It was slimy…and tasted revolting! He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, getting slime on it.

"Er…Annabeth? Are you alright?" He turned on the lamp on the bedside table, and yelped when he saw not Annabeth, but something green and well, slimy, lying in his bed. A one-eyed…green, slimy thing in his bed. A Cyclopes, "Gah! You're not Annabeth!" Percy stumbled out of the room, snatching up Marco. As he went down the hall as fast as he could, he pulled Riptide out of his pocket, and bit the cap off. He frowned, and panicked a little, when Riptide didn't grow into his trusty sword, he looked down at the pen; it read New York Aquarium: Connecting People to Wild Nature!

"Fantastic." He muttered, and spat the pen out. Percy backed up into the lit kitchen, and finally found the true Riptide. He uncapped it, and it grew into its sword form. He heard the Cyclops's heavy breathing getting closer and closer. And finally, it came into the light,

"Any last words, Son of Poseidon?" The Cyclops asked, grinning, and showing its yellow, fuzzy teeth. Percy shrugged,

"Yeah. Look behind you." He panted. Sure enough, the monster whirled around to look at the big giant nothing that was behind him. Percy charged, running Riptide right through his back. It wailed in pain, and then exploded into a column of greenish and putrid slime, splashing it here and there on Marco's fur. Percy, too tired to even walk, collapsed on the floor, and fell asleep.

"What in the Hades happened here?" Marco demanded with Annabeth's voice in a dream Percy was currently having. He tipped his head.

"What do you mean?" He muttered.

"I mean, what happened here? There's slime all over place!"

Percy looked around, "What-"

"Get up, Percy!" Percy snapped awake, Annabeth was looming over him, and not looking very happy. He sat up, running a hand through his slimy hair.

"I thought I told you Percy, you can't microwave green Jell-O." She muttered sleepily.

"Long night?" He asked.

"Yep…I had to work on this one thing and-Hey, don't try to change the subject, mister! Where did all this slime come from, anyway?" Percy explained everything to her.

She sighed tiredly, "Whatever, I'm going to sleep. I've got to go to bed. I'm exhausted, and I have to get up at eight."

"I wouldn't sleep on the bed if I were you." Percy murmured.

She turned on her heels to look at him, "Why not?"

"There's monster slime on your side of the bed."

"That's okay, I'll just sleep on your side of the bed." Annabeth replied almost automatically.

He frowned, "Okay…where am I going to sleep?"

"The sofa."

A/N: This was just a test run, that's why it's a shorter chapter. I wanted to see how you guys thought it was, and whether or not you want me to continue it.

P.S. Percy and Annabeth are both 25-ish now. Just thought you guys would want to know.

~L-P