'twas too late for me to post this yesterday after Restless Tides went up, so here it is now!
written for a prompt on tumblr!

Inconvenience

She spots the enemy ten feet away. It crawls down the kitchen wall fast enough to raise every hair on her body and she freezes. Poised to attack, it lifts off on a slender string of web and drifts her way. Annabeth takes a sharp inhale of breath and, shaking quite terribly, places her mug of coffee on the kitchen island behind her. This infiltration just had to happen one of the days where Piper had stayed overnight at work and Annabeth was alone, in the earliest hours of the day, facing off with her worst enemies.

Life in the tiny Manhattan apartment with her best friend was working out great except for this. "It's just chillin' and keeping the other buggies out of here," Annabeth could almost hear Piper say, but there was nothing… absolutely nothing that Annabeth would rather face more than a sticky, disgusting horror of a weaver spider. Honestly, she'd rather grapple with a nine-foot tall cockroach.

The enormous ball of panic in her stomach was threatening to escape via a scream but Annabeth clasped a hand over her mouth. Mind in overdrive, she raced through all the friends she could call to kill this thing. Jason… was already at work at this time of day and Thalia was obviously sleeping. There was no time to call any of her friends out of the city, because she still did have work in a couple hours. Unfortunately 'there was a spider in my apartment' was not a valid reason to call in late. No one on her floor would be awake at this time of morning, seeing as most of her neighbors were senior citizens. Well except for the guy across the hall. He just recently moved in, and she didn't even know his name so how could she… "Oh my god." She squeaked, as the spider touched down on the opposite countertop and seemed to beeline straight for her. All the nervous energy bundled in her body sprung and Annabeth scrambled out of the kitchen and raced to the front door.

In her baby blue pajama shorts and sports bra, she flung open her door in the hallway lit with early morning spring sunlight and took no time wasting to race to the door opposite to her own. Without thinking, she knocked twice and failed to hold back a squeak as she thought of the spider's path.

What if it went into her coffee and she didn't notice and she drank it up? Suddenly, everything felt way too dizzy and before she could race back to her bathroom to upchuck the bile rising in her belly, the door opened.

Before she could register anything else, there was a bronzed shirtless chest in front of her. If she wasn't so panicked, it might've taken Annabeth a few more seconds to rip her eyes away. Looking up at her neighbor and trying not to hyperventilate, she let loose a jumble of words,

"Gah… spider… my apartment please help me!" It definitely took the guy a moment or two to decipher what she was asking before he grinned widely. "Sure thing, neighbor," he said cheekily, with a little laugh that would've made her twitch with annoyance. He padded across the hall and she followed, bouncing from foot to foot. The curls of his black hair became highlighted in the gold light from her apartment's windows as he walked in confidently.

"Where…?" He began but Annabeth just shoved a finger in the direction of the kitchen with a small whimper. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a tissue, while she paused in the doorway to watch nervously.

Instead of killing the spider, he scooped it up with the tissue and pushed open the kitchen window, depositing the nasty enemy on the tiny sill before closing the window tight. "There!" He brushed off his hands and turned to her with an even bigger grin than before, "I've got to say that's one of the easier rescues I've ever done."

Her heartbeat slowed as the crisis was taken care of, but before anything else it sped up again as she realized who was in her kitchen. He was taller than her, tan and chiseled like a god, but with his grin her gut prickled. Her cheeks felt hot in embarrassment.

"Easier rescues?" She said, folding her arms.

"Well yeah," he began, "Usually I save people from fires, not spiders. First time I've seen someone so panicked about one of those little guys before, either."

She blew out her nose. "It's a curse. Now thank you and I'll make sure not to inconvenience you again." With that, she turned to see him out. It took her two steps to realize he wasn't following.

"I'm Percy." He said as she turned back around. The overconfident, slightly sassy grin turned into a more genuine smile and his eyes held hers. It was stunning how clear and green they were, and how they sparkled even when his curly shaggy black hair dipped into them.

"I'm Annabeth." She said gently. She watched carefully as he made his way out of her kitchen and back to the door again. The neighbor, Percy, who looked her age yet smiled like he was just a goofy teenage boy, paused in the doorway as she stood with him.

"Well I wouldn't really mind being inconvenienced again, Annabeth." His eyebrows raised and the little smile grew a bit wider as he said her name. "I'll see you around."

With that, he walked down the hall and disappeared into his own apartment. She slumped against the doorframe, staring after him and wondering if he'd rescue her from the little butterflies in her stomach too.

pretty short, pretty sweet c:
i love ending drabbles with cute little one liners! i think this one might've been my favorite!
please review!