CHAPTER TWO: Pen

Song: We Found Love; Calvin Harris

Pairing: Percy/Annabeth

The first time they met, in that cramped coffee shop, they didn't know quite what to think of each other.

Annabeth clutched her paper cup close to her, soaking in the warmth. She took a sip, revelling in the simplicity of just being by herself. It was noisy at home, what with a distracted dad, a cook for a mother, and two little twin brothers. Not to mention the house was often messy, although she knew her step-mother May really tried to tidy up the house.

She bent down over her work, tracing carefully along the lines of her lovingly structured buildings with her biro. Annabeth loved architecture. She could ramble about it for days on end, although she knew people often got bored. Other people would often think she was mad for being so obsessed. She remembered once that a teenage girl had asked why she didn't like dresses, make-up and those sorts of things, like most seventeen year old girls.

Truth be told, Annabeth didn't know. It just gave her a safe feeling, a feeling of comfort. It made her secure, as strange as that might sound.

"Hey." Suddenly, out of the blue, a head popped up. It was a boy, maybe the same age as her, with raven-black hair and bright green eyes. He scratched his neck kind of nervously. "Could I borrow your pen?"

Annabeth stared at him curiously, clutching her pen tightly. "Why?" She asked suspiciously. Her instincts told her not to trust anybody. She was a protective girl, always liking to keep her guard up. Don't let your guard down for anybody, was something she often told herself.

"I just need a pen," the boy shrugged. He wore an orange t-shirt, scruffy jeans and scuffed sneakers. While Annabeth knew a few girls who would undoubtedly drool at him, Annabeth found no need to do so. "I'm helping my Mom with a novel."

Annabeth can't help but smirk at the stranger. "A mommy's boy? Cute." She leaned forward slightly towards him, slightly more interested. "A novel? What's it about?"

The green-eyed kid shrugged again, his face deepening into a frown. He seemed to do that a lot, Annabeth noted. "So what if I care for my Mom? Don't you? And I don't know about the novel," he shoved his hands in his pockets, looking slightly awkward. "Romance, or something? Probably something with a cliché happy ending."

Annabeth's eyes darkened at his comment about her mother. Her Mom had left at a young age. Even now, it was a touchy subject. Nodding slightly in thanks, she pressed the pen into his hand. "Keep it," she muttered tightly. "I've got to go."

She scooped up blueprints and her bag and promptly brushed past him, her mood darkened.

The second time they met, they were pretty sure the Fates were meddling around with them.

"No, don't you dare bring your cousin." Annabeth threw her head back in a laugh, feeling not at all awkward in the sea of people that walked past. The noise was loud, but that was just New York. Tons of people were chatting on phones, just like she was. "Okay, I'm going to see Luke now. See you later, Thals."

She ended the call and slipped her phone into her pocket, only to be met with green eyes. Strangely familiar green eyes..

"You look different when you smile."

Fully expecting to see Luke with that cliché line, or maybe Nico with his dry remarks. Only, she saw some faintly familiar. Very faintly, yes, but she could still remember him. Annabeth never forgot a face, no matter how significant.

"Pen boy?"

The black-haired, bright-eyed boy frowned, furrowing his eyebrows and looking slightly annoyed. "Pen boy? I have a name, you know. I could just as easily call you coffee shop girl."

Annabeth stared at him. What was he doing, talking to some random stranger on the street? And, how had he found her again? While New York wasn't the biggest place on Earth, it was no easy feat finding someone without any information. "What's your name then?"

The lanky boy ran a hand through his messy hair. "Perseus Jackson." He paused, as if thinking. "Actually, call me Percy."

Something inside Annabeth stirred, and she smirked at the boy, Percy. "Well then, Perseus Jackson. Are you looking for another pen?"

Percy smiled drily, his eyes flickering. "Nah, I don't need another pen. I was just saying how different you look when you're actually having fun. I thought you were just one of those pretty girls who thought they were above everyone else."

Annabeth's lips deepened into a small frown, and she glared at him, hoisting her blue scarf up higher and laying it over her shoulder, easily recalling the memory. "You're a picture perfect boy, I'm sure."

"I'm a man," Percy protested, in a manner that reminded her of her little brothers.

"Over eighteen? I doubt it." The smirk is spreading wider, and she can't help but raise her eyebrows at him. Annabeth wasn't being truthful, however. With his tall figure, and his slightly more elegant build, she guessed that he did something a little less muscle required. Maybe gymnastics, or swimming? At any rate, he could definitely pass for eighteen. His attitude, however, resembled one of a ten year-old's. Childish and cheeky, with a mischievous look. "You look barely over fourteen."

Percy looked affronted, huffing, "I'm eighteen next month."

"Happy birthday," Annabeth commented drily, running a hand through her wind-swept hair. She wanted to look good for Luke, but the weather wasn't having it. "I'm sorry, but I have to go." She peered around him into a dusty shop window, hating herself for caring about how she looked. Luke wouldn't care, she was pretty sure he had a thing for Thalia. She brushed a stray lock of hair away, before setting off.

"Wait, before you go." Annabeth felt a hand on her wrist, and she was pulled back by Percy. He grinned cheekily at her, his eyes glinting with mischievousness. "Actually, when you asked if I needed a pen... Do you have a pen I could use?"

She stared curiously at him, pulling a pen from her pocket. She always kept one on herself, in case she got any ideas that she needed to write down quickly. "Yeah. Why do you want one, Percy Jackson?"

"Ah, well..." He scratched the back of his neck, although he was still smiling widely. Annabeth couldn't help but think he was incredibly strange. "You see... there's this pretty girl... And I kind of want her number..."

Annabeth laughed, rolling her eyes. She grabbed his hand and scrawled her number onto the back of it. "You are such a player." She pressed the pen into his hands, smirking playfully at him. "Keep it. You look like you need it, to pick up all those pretty girls on the street."

The third time they met, they knew something was definitely up.

"Hey." A figure slipped into the bus seat beside Annabeth, and she looked up from her book to see someone very familiar.

"It's you again," she frowned at Perseus Jackson, that one player she had given pens to such a long time ago. "Pen boy."

Percy huffed again, tugging his jacket off. Annabeth had to veer away quickly to avoid being whacked by his arm. "Do you always nickname people? And I'm officially a man now, thanks. Eighteen years old, you know."

"Why are you not surprised to see me?" Annabeth stared at him incredulously. "The chances of meeting the same person three times in such a short period of time - and in such a big city - isn't likely." She glared at him suspiciously. "Please tell me you're not stalking me."

"Gods, no!" Percy said immediately, throwing his hands up in a surrendering gesture. Annabeth couldn't notice how he said GODS. That was strange, in her opinion. "And you're one wise girl, aren't you?" He stole her book with the speed of a thief, flipping through the pages. "Jeez, you need to stop reading. It's not good for your health."

"I'm glad you think I'm so wise," Annabeth said dryly, snatching her book back with ease, ignoring an old lady's disapproving look. "And reading's good for you. It makes you smarter. You should try it sometime," she snorted.

"Hey, I'm smart," Percy protested, looking disappointed. But by the happy glint in his eyes, Annabeth could tell he wasn't really hurt at all by her words. "I can do loads of things. And I have a way with the sea, and sea creatures."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, flipping her book open once again, and leaning against the bus window. "Maybe your head's just too full of kelp to function. Seaweed Brain," she couldn't help but smile at her own nickname for him. "I'm calling you that from now on."

"Wow, you really are rude," Percy frowned. Annabeth didn't reply, instead skimming the words of her book. She had already read this one before, but it never hurt to brush up on it again.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you." Annabeth snapped her book shut. Finally this dimwitted boy - sorry, man - figured it out. She'd been just about ready to slap him in the face until he had figured it out. Were all boys this stupid? No, because Luke wasn't. Her heart tightened suddenly.

"Normally, when you ask for a girl's number, you're supposed to call them back," Annabeth said as calmly as she could muster. She stared out the window at all the people that blurred past, and the lights that glinted in the faint evening light.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Percy pleaded, sounding genuine. "I was just... really busy?"

Annabeth stayed silent, waiting for him to go on.

However, she wasn't expecting his smirk. "Hey, we're talking now, right? I'm your true love's kiss, and you know it. Just give me a call when you're on your deathbed, and I'll run and kiss you, and then we'll live happily ever after."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, although she smiled faintly. "I barely know you, Percy. That's not going to happen. If I was on my deathbed, I wouldn't call you at all."

"Let's get to know each other then," Percy persisted, grinning wildly.

Annabeth got to her feet as the bus slowed to a stop. She slid past him, purposely not looking back at him. "Give me a call, Seaweed Brain."

Their first date was full of laughs, jokes and most of all, awkwardness, but the best part was saying goodbye.

"As much as I wasn't expecting it, that was fun, Percy," Annabeth smiled widely at him, tugging her hair loose from the ponytail that it had been up in. She was wearing simple clothes, denim shorts, a dressy t-shirt and sneakers, because typical Percy had chosen an amusement park as the setting for their first date.

She smirked at him, punching him teasingly in the arm. "And it was pretty funny seeing you wrangling with that stall."

Percy pretended to pout, although he was grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, I wanted to give you one of those giant teddy bears."

"You're so embarrassingly cheesy," Annabeth rolled her eyes. Her cheeks were still flushed from their last ride, a huge roller coaster, one that Percy had begged to go on.

"But my amazingness makes up for it, right?"

"I don't think so," Annabeth laughed, her grey eyes glittering with happiness. "But sure, whatever you want to believe."

Percy slung an arm around her shoulder. "But you enjoyed this, right?" He was slightly more serious, something which Annabeth found was kind of sweet.

"Of course I did, Seaweed Brain. What about you?"

"Well, I'm broke, but otherwise, it was great," Percy said, before pausing, his troublemaker smirk (the one Annabeth was now accustomed to seeing) taking over. "Still, I'm missing one thing that would make it better."

"A pen, maybe?" Annabeth unslung herself from his arms.

"Nope."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You are such a player, you know that?" And then she leaned upwards and gave him a small kiss.

"It works," Percy mumbled against her lips.

The last time they met, they were very much in love.

A/N:

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