01

of hurricanes and broken elevators

If there was one thing Percy Jackson knew for certain, it was that he was completely and irrevocably in love with Annabeth Chase. Sure, there often were moments when he wasn't entirely too sure whether she even knew he existed. To him, though, his entire life revolved around Annabeth.

Jason, Percy's best friend, was the only one who knew about his little crush, which may or may not have had something to do with Jason being the only person Percy constantly hung out with. However, being the nuisance he was, Jason often dismissed Percy's love as a mere infatuation.

At that, Percy was mostly affronted and usually ignored Jason for about five minutes before his resolve cracked and he began excitedly talking to his friend about anything that just caught his attention. He'd often be mocked by Jason, to which Percy would retaliate with by offhandedly mentioning Jason's crush on Piper.

Back to Annabeth, Percy honestly believed he loved her, but his attempts to get noticed never worked. Once, he tried asking her out by buying approximately twenty-five balloons and a bouquet of roses, under the assumption that it was a grand gesture.

On his way to school, he went to pick up his phone and accidentally let go of the balloons. Unfortunately, a flock of birds happened to be flying overhead and pecked through the balloons. It ultimately led to him slouched in defeat while pieces of popped rubber fell on him like confetti. He realized he still had the roses and decided to go with those. Percy ended up tripping over a fallen pen and onto the flowers, which were immediately crushed.

Although things have been worse, it could be easily concluded that Percy didn't have the best luck. Which was why he was currently running in the middle of a mild hurricane, rushing to get home.

He was often described to be stubborn, mostly by Jason, but it was most likely why he insisted on going out in the midst of multiple hurricane warnings and the beginning of a currently small, but furious storm. All because he ran out of blue food coloring.

After rushing to the supermarket, which, for some reason, was still open, Percy bought all the blue coloring they had and left after paying for it, plastic bags in hand. He ran as if he was being chased by monsters, which almost caused his bags to rip.

When he finally made it to his apartment building, he was drenched in water because of his marvelous idea to not take an umbrella. Dripping with water, he trudged across to the elevator. Mrs. Dodds, a woman who often substituted for his math teacher and despised him, glared at Percy's antics as she talked to her sister on the phone in the lobby.

When he made it into the elevator, he released his hold and let his bags fall to the floor. He then pressed the button for the 18th floor and waited for the doors to close. Before it could completely close, though, he heard a feminine voice shout.

"Stop! Hold the elevator!" The voice sounded strangely familiar, but he brushed the feeling off and quickly punched the 'Open Door' button.

She rushed in, also soaked to the core. The person turned to him with a grateful smile, which caused him to jump.

"Annabeth?"

Said girl grinned genuinely and nodded, "Hey, Percy."

He smiled back, ogling at her, and most likely looking like a creep. He opened his mouth to say something cool back at her, such as a smooth line that would have her swooning. Instead, he made a choked sound, not unlike what a strangled cat would sound like. Of course, he tried to play it off by winking at her, which then lead to her asking if there was something in his eye, concerned. But hey, at least she seemed concerned for him, which made him feel a little better.

"Uh, nothing. I- I'm fine. Floor what? I mean, uh, what floor?" Percy winced inwardly, but Annabeth just looked at him strangely.

"Seventeenth," she replied, smiling again, but probably in pity.

Percy, momentarily dazed, knew where the button was by heart, but accidentally punched it. Of course, one may think his finger just pressed onto the button too hard and too fast, but in reality, he actually punched it. All the lights in place of the buttons flickered a couple of times before the elevator lights shut down with them as Percy watched in horror.

To make it even better, the elevator shuddered to a stop roughly, which lead to Percy to accidentally trip on his bags of food coloring. He then crashed into Annabeth, who went down with him.

Had it been a cheesy, romantic movie (and Percy may have been a pretty big fan of those), Annabeth would've landed on him and they would have gazed into each other's eyes for a painfully long time. Then, they would have met into a soft kiss.

As much as Percy would have liked for that to have happened, it didn't. Instead, he fell onto her and, considering he (although Jason liked to call him petite) was mildly muscular and quite larger than Annabeth's small, delicate figure, he crushed her.

"Ow," Annabeth groaned, muffled under Percy, "I really don't mean to insult you, Perce, but you might want to lay off of the cheeseburgers."

"And you might want to eat a little more," Percy shot back before pausing, "I mean, um-"

"You know, you could just get off, instead," Annabeth interrupted him as she was turning faintly blue at this point.

Blushing, Percy leaped off, accidentally elbowing Annabeth in the ribs as he did so.

"Sorry, Annabeth. I am so sorry, please forgive me. I honestly didn't mean that," he began to ramble.

"It's fine, Percy."

"Okay, but it was pretty comfortable down there," Percy blurted, as a last resort of even attempting to flirt.

"Maybe if our roles were reversed," Annabeth said, grinning widely.

Wait a second. Was she still hung up on him being "fat" or was there some other meaning to her words? Percy wondered. He immediately turned red at the prospect, but the sound of a cell phone ringtone rang through the confined space of the elevator. Annabeth reached into her bag, which Percy hadn't noticed before, and pulled out her phone.

"Hello? Pipes, is that you?" It was most likely Piper McLean, Percy deduced.

He eavesdropped on their not-so-private-anymore conversation and learned something pretty interesting. Piper had a crush on Jason and he sort of planned to call Jason later and tell him. Or maybe he should just let the bastard suffer. He deserved it.

"Hey, Perce? I'm going to call for help, 'kay?" Percy jolted as his thoughts were broken.

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes at him before grinning and repeating herself.

Annabeth went back to her phone after an incoherent murmur from Percy. His mind then wandered as he looked at his companion. Her hair was drying up and because it was out, a lock had fallen in her face. She made no move to move it, which was bothering Percy. He then looked at her again, really looked at her, as he noticed the way the the light from her phone illuminated her face, making it the only visible thing ever since the lights went out.

His heart skipped a few beats when he saw how pretty, no, how beautiful she looked and he suddenly felt the urge to kiss her. As quickly as that feeling came, another strange feeling joined it.

Percy couldn't breathe. He felt suffocated and just wanted to get out. The space felt too small, even if Annabeth, of all people, was there. His chest constricted and he just had to get it off his chest. He was being dragged down into a swirling sea of overwhelming emotions and he was drowning in them.

"Annabeth?" He started before she looked up at him, "I like you. I occasionally feel like it might be a little stronger than that, but I really like you."

He said it quickly, but it was more than enough. He was now breathing underwater in his sea of emotions, somewhat comfortable, but still unable to surface. Looking down, Percy couldn't bring himself to look at Annabeth.

When he mustered up the courage to do so, she came rushing at him. Annabeth grabbed his face and kissed him and oh gods, it was bliss. He emerged from the ocean, finally able to breathe freely and soar.

There weren't any fireworks or anything. It was just the two of them, alone and together. An unfamiliar warmth spread through his body as he kissed her. No, it wasn't completely perfect. It was kind of awkward, considering they were soaking with rainwater and likely to get sick. Yet, it couldn't have been better.

But, most importantly, it felt like home.