Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Percy and Annabeth had been studying for about an hour on Percy's bed. Studying the proper way to kiss, that is.

Okay, so maybe they were more just plain making out than "studying", but still. No one had to know the details.

They were facing each other on Percy's bed, laying on their sides. Percy's hand was cupping Annabeth's face and the other hand was gripping her hip. Annabeth's hands were gripping the material of his shirt right over his heart. Their kisses weren't anything explicit, just soft, innocent kisses, but that's all that they needed. Ever since Tartarus, they had learned to appreciate each other's simple touches. They didn't need anything more.

Annabeth smiled as she pulled away from one specifically sweet kiss. Percy followed her, leaning forward, not quite ready to break the kiss yet. Annabeth allowed him to kiss her again, bringing her hand up and running it through his hair, her fingers lightly scratching his scalp. She felt Percy shiver against her. She smiled, pulling away again to catch her breath.

"I love you," Percy murmured.

"Love you too," she replied in a quiet whisper, even though there was no one else in the apartment but the two of them. Sally was out shopping and Paul had gone out with some teacher friends of his.

Annabeth leaned forward, pressing her lips to Percy's again. She sighed into his mouth. She missed lazy afternoons like this. During the remainder of the summer after the war, it seemed like all Percy and Annabeth did was hang out in the Poseidon cabin, sometimes kissing, sometimes taking naps together, sometimes engaging in intense Mario-Kart races. But once school started, homework had swamped them, along with preparations for college, such as making sure they had enough credits and service hours to graduate. Adding the classes they taught at camp every now and then when they had a free day, they rarely had any time to just hang out together, despite going to the same school. It really sucked and, to be honest, Annabeth nor Percy were the same when they hadn't spent time together. So they needed this afternoon.

Percy pulled away first this time. He raked his hand through Annabeth's curls lazily, resting his head in his pillows. "If I fail my trig test on Monday, it's your fault."

Annabeth scoffed and punched him in the stomach. Of course, her fist was met with rock hard abs but she tried to ignore that. "Excuse me, but as I recall, you were the one who started kissing me when I was trying to study."

Percy pursed his lips like he was thinking, then promptly shook his head. "Nope. I disagree. This is entirely you fault." He brought his face closer to Annabeth's, pressing his forehead against hers. "I'm not really complaining, though. No worries."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but closed the distance between them. Percy kissed her back and they pulled away only when Percy's stomach moaned.

He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm hungry."

Annabeth laughed. "Guess we lost track of time and skipped lunch." Using her forearms, she pushed at Percy's chest. "Go make me a sandwich, woman."

Percy scowled, but when he pushed her, it was an affectionate push. He got up and crawled over Annabeth and off the bed. If you asked her, Annabeth would deny having checked out her boyfriend once he stood, stretching out to his full height of 6'3. But really, she couldn't help it. It was his fault for wearing the sweats that hung low on his hips and the thin t-shirt Annabeth could feel his abs through.

"Anything else you want while I'm up?" he asked.

"I want you to hurry," Annabeth replied, waving her hand. Percy rolled his eyes, but quickly left the room. She heard his whistling in the kitchen as he got to work on their sandwiches.

Sighing contentedly, Annabeth sat up, running a hand through her blonde tresses. She had a ridiculously happy small on her face that she always got after kissing Percy. Her hand fell to her lap and she lazily looked down at her undisturbed trig homework on the ground. They really should have studied. Annabeth might be a daughter of Athena, but she wasn't a math whiz or anything. And Percy especially can't pass a test without studying for it. For a moment, Annabeth felt bad for letting them get distracted and not studying. But then the whistling in the kitchen picked back up and Annabeth decided she wouldn't have done this afternoon any differently.

Annabeth slid off of the bed and started to collect her notes that were spread all over the floor after being pushed off of the bed. She stuffed them back into her notebook, then closed her textbook and moved to stuff it all into her backpack, which had been pushed underneath the bed. Annabeth reached under and pulled out her back. She was unzipping it before she even noticed the little devil crawling on top of it.

It wasn't that big. It was only about an inch wide and looked altogether non-threatening with its pretty bland black body and legs. It seemed just as scared as Annabeth was, crawling over the surface of the backpack in a confused panic, obviously unsure of what to do now that it had been caught. It decided to freeze, apparently, right in the middle of the backpack.

Annabeth screamed and jumped back onto the bed, cowering in fear. She supposed she should be over her fear of spiders by now, after facing Arachne. But somehow, it had only increased her fear. Almost as often as her Tartarus nightmares, Annabeth had dreams of all of those little spiders down in Arachne's lair crawling all over her again. It hadn't really helped Annabeth get her fear under control.

She heard Percy curse in the kitchen, along with the sound of clattering plates on the ground. Then he heard pounding footsteps and then he was in the doorway, Riptide opened and gleaming in the light. His eyes were murderous. It would have been a funny sight if Annabeth hadn't been so terrified.

"Where's the monster?" he demanded, then, seeing there was no monster, lowered his sword in confusion. "Annabeth?"

Annabeth pointed with a shaky finger down at her backpack. Percy's eyes followed and then widened with understanding once he saw the spider. After a couple seconds of staring, he began to laugh. Annabeth stared at him in bewilderment.

"What are you laughing at?" she scolded, a little irritated at him. "Kill it!"

Still chuckling, Percy ran into the bathroom and came back with some toilet paper. With an aura of calmness, as if he wasn't picking up a freaking spider, he pinched the spider with two fingers, then smashed it in the toilet paper. He left the room again to flush it, then returned, still laughing. Annabeth scowled at his as she climbed off the bed.

"Idiot," she muttered, zipping up her backpack and placing it against the wall.

"Aw, come on, Wise Girl," Percy prodded. "You've gotta admit that was pretty funny."

"It was not funny."

"You screamed so loudly, I thought you were being attacked by a monster. That is funny."

Annabeth tried to maintain her scowl, but failed miserably. The corners of her lips turned up the slightest bit. "Okay," she admitted. "Maybe it was a little bit funny."

Percy laughed again, strolling over to where she stood and wrapping her up in a hug. Annabeth sighed and snuggled against him. "Thank you," she said quietly.

She could practically feel Percy's smile. He rubbed a hand up and down her back soothingly. "No problem. I'll always be here to fight off the bad guys, whether it's a spider or an ancient Greek monster that might be trying to start the apocalypse."

Annabeth smiled. "My knight in slightly rusted armor."

"'Bout sums me up," Percy admitted, pulling away to kiss her. "Love you," he said against her lips.

Annabeth smiled. "Love you too, idiot."

"Dork," Percy shot back with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, shut up. Go finish making my sandwich."

So it's really late here and I have school tomorrow, but this popped into my head and I just had to write it. I saw this prompt on Instagram that said they want a "i heard you scream and thought you were getting attacked but it was just a spider" Percabeth AU. So yeah. I wanted to write it. Hope you all liked it! Review, maybe?