Percy ran through the narrow hall of his apartment, with a sheen of sweat on his brow and the feel of lead in his chest, throbbing with a heavy thump in his ears. "You might be taking this a little too seriously, you ever thought of that?"

"I'll be the judge of that," a voice growled as he felt a familiar celestial bronze knife miss his head by an inch.

"Really, it was just—"

"Just nothing. You're a demigod, right?"

There was a dead silence, followed by a thunk of another knife loud enough to sound over his heartbeat.

How many weapons did his pursuer anyway? And of all the things… of all the incredibly stupid things he had ever done, of all of the even more stupid decisions he had made during quests, why was this decision the one to end his life? Why?

"It wasn't anything serious! I-"

Thunk. Another knife missed him by half an inch.

"Percy, you're the hero of Olympus. How do you get so much credit if you can even steal from me?"

"Hey!" he protested. "'Stole' is a strong word. And you can't honestly consider that little thing as—" Percy was cut off as a slender hand grabbed his collar and dragged him up so the tips of his toes were barely skimming the ground. "I c-can't…"

"Can't what?"

Percy pulled the hands and collar away from his throat. "C-can't-t breathe!" The fists didn't even loosen until the hero pulled his knees up and lashed them into his captor's stomach. He curled his legs back up to his chest as he fell loose, tumbling with a small bounce back down to Earth. The shadow lurking over him faltered slightly.

Taking the opportunity presented to him, he grabbed a piece of cloth—a blanket—from what felt like a bed and whipped them over the person's head. It worked better than he could have hoped. When his attacker slipped and became entangled in the bed sheets, Percy leapt on to his back and jumped off towards the door. In doing so, he purposefully knocked his attacker's head back into the bed with a muffled 'oomph' as he made his escape.

His attacker didn't miss a beat and stuck a free leg out. Percy tripped, but managed to slam the door shut behind him. With a flick of his finger, the bedroom was securely locked.

In the ominously quiet hallway, he raised his hands up behind his head as he fought to regain his breath and leaned against the off-white frame. A gust of air whipped through the house through the open door, forgotten and abandoned in their sudden scuffle. If it had been any colder, Percy expected that his breath would have been small puffs of mist in the just-above-freezing weather.

Unfortunately for him, the sudden cold breeze knocking the door back against its rusted hinges supplied cover for the steps of his approaching opposition. He didn't even realize what was happening until his hands were pinned to his back, his cheek roughly scraping against the bare floorboards, and the cold feel of steel was pressed against his neck. "You think that just because you're a hero that I'll let you get away with such things? Under my own roof?"

He let out a nervous laugh. "I guess not."

"You guess not?" The metal was pushed harder against his neck. "I can assure you, hero boy, that this will be the last time you try to get away with these things. Any last words?"

His heart dropped as he realized there was no escaping this. He had been living on luck for so long, and even his lady had run off on him in the end. If the blood hadn't been cut off to his wrists, his hands would have been trembling like a small earthquake.

He wondered if his father would still be proud of him, knowing how low he had sunk.

Percy turned his head to better see the angry blonde using a knee to interlock his wrists and opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry but…"

"But what?"

"…I just couldn't wait for them to be baked. The cookie dough looked so good, and I just wanted a little taste!"

"You took half the batter," Annabeth hissed, "Half the batter. That's petty theft!"

"Petty theft?" The spoon against his neck let up as Percy flipped over to kick his girlfriend's knees out. "I'd hate to meet the poor teenager who decides to toilet paper your house. You'll try to get them in the nearest penitentiary for attempted murder!"

"You stole my cookie dough! Chocolate chip cookie dough!"

"I think we need to reconsider this situation," the hero muttered halfheartedly as the spoon dug painfully into his jugular again. "Please?"

Annabeth sighed.

"Fine. I won't kill you. At least you didn't eat any more."

Percy gulped nervously.

"Oh yeah, I should probably mention that those cookies you had cooling on the counter… Well, I might've eaten those too."