Written for the Challenges by the Dozen challenge at the Caesar's Palace forum. Prompt: Write an AU.

Also written for the Caesar's Palace Prompts: birth.

The following chapters will be written for the prompts "explorer" and "bang." (No not the dirty kind, you little silly goose.)

Percy was glad that he was a student of the College of the Atlantic. Being so close to Acadia meant field work, and field trips were no surprise. He was studying marine biology at the time, but taking classes in environmental science, which he was beginning to regret a bit. Hours of taking plant samples wasn't really his thing.

He had a summer job at Flame, a restaurant that catered to the younger and wilder audience at Bar Harbor while still managing to maintain their status on the side of the refined.

He was cleaning the tables on the patio when he saw a young woman being sat down in a spot near him.

Leo appeared at his side in a flash. "I'll let you have this one," he said. "Gotta find your Calypso someday, old man."

Percy snorted and shook his head. "Valdez, stop being creepy. She's a diner here. Out of boundaries."

"Also way out of your league," Piper commented as she walked by with some lobster rolls.

"Ugh, stop," Percy laughed. With that, he walked over to the girl's table.

"Hi, I'll be your server today," he says, going through the lines he's said hundreds of times already. "Can I start you off with anything to drink?"

"Just water will be fine."

"Just water? Okay! I'll give you a few minutes."

He disappeared back into the building for a pitcher of water. A minute later, he emerged back onto the patio and filled her glass.

"I'm ready to order," the girl said and closed her menu.

"All right, what will we be having today?"

"I'll be having your garden salad, please." Percy didn't miss the emphasis she put on the first word of her sentence.

She gave him a smile and handed him her menu.

Percy would never admit it, but he may have came by to ask "how are you doing?" more than he usually would.

"Ah, a normal tip," he sighed once his shift was over. "I did such a good job for her."

Leo clapped him on the back. "Who?"

"The girl seated on the patio today..." Percy shook his head. This was ridiculous. He needed to laid soon, if he was getting this desperate. "She was rather boring. Ordered water and a salad."

Leo laughed. "Okay, let's get home."

Percy and Leo shared an apartment with two other guys. Four was getting a little cozy, but that's all he could afford with college breathing down his back.

"Actually, Leo, I'm going to Cadillac Mountain to see the sunset and to stargaze," Percy interrupted before Leo could drag him to the parking lot.

"This is how you spend your Friday nights?" Leo joked. "No wonder you don't have a girl."

Percy smiled lightly and gave him a push. "Piss off."

"Okay, okay, maybe you'll find one there." Leo slung his arm around Percy's shoulders and led him to the car.

Percy had dropped Leo off at the apartment before heading to Cadilac Mountain. He was going to miss the sunset, but he would be able to appreciate the purple sky and dimming clouds. When he reached the top, the sun was down, and he could see the lights of Bar Harbor from afar twinkling like stars between the trees.

There was a new moon tonight, which meant one thing: stargazing.

In the dark he managed to almost stumble over a hunched over figure. He really needed to stop caning his head towards the sky and start paying attention to where he was walking.

"Sorry!" he whispered, not wanting to break the hushed silence filled only by the wind and the light chatter of tourists.

"It's all right," he heard the figure respond.

Wait, where'd he hear that voice? He turned around and saw a face framed by the light of the path's lantern. Oh, the girl he had seen this afternoon.

"Wait, Will?" she asked.

"Sorry, not your guy."

She tucked a string of curly hair behind her ear, tilting her head down in embarrassment. Percy tuned to go, but she blurted, "Weren't you the waiter at Flame?"

"Oh, that," Percy said, flustered, but secretly flattered that she had taken to remembering his name. "So Will was who I was today."

She tucked her legs into her chest, saying nothing.

"Okay," Percy said, feeling embarrassed already.

And that's the story of how Percy ran from a girl in the dark.

"Percy, I don't know if you were ever taught how to talk to another human being, but running away mid conversation isn't one of the guidelines!" Piper threw up her hands in exasperation.

"It wasn't a conversation," Percy mumbled between bites of lunch. "She recognized me. I recognized her. That's all."

"Do you think she's attractive at all?"

Percy spit out a bit of his sandwich. "What the hell?"

Piper stared at him across the table, calmly swallowing her soup. A few minutes passed like this before she realized that he wasn't going to talk to her about this subject.

"My god, you're as dull as a used crayon," she muttered, clanking her spoon against her plastic container. "It's almost as if you don't know what's going on."

Percy didn't think he'd have to run from this girl again, but there she was, at the supermarket, entering the grocery store right as he was checking out the fresh produce.

The next five minutes he spent dodging between aisles trying to get his food and leave before she spotted him.

Percy hid behind the bread table to do some watching of his own.

The encounters were getting uncanny at this point, and he wasn't sure what was going on. She didn't seem to be looking for him, but he knew that he wasn't the best at reading body language. She might have been swivelling her head around to look for someone, but she also might have been swivelling her head to look at the potato rack.

Should he call the police? Should he make a run for it? Should he confront her?

"Hi," Percy shot up from his crouched position under the loaves of bread.

The girl visibly jumped in surprise. "Oh, hi, guy whose name isn't Will."

Shit, she wasn't following him after all.

"I'm an idiot."

"Hi, An Idiot. I'm Annabeth."