I own nothing related to Percy Jackson or any other franchise mentioned in this story in any way.


As the next couple of weeks went by, Percy become a huge role model to Bobby and Matthew; Frederick and Susan became more and more satisfied with his service, giving Percy a key of his own so he could walk on days no one was home; and Annabeth grew fonder of the dog walker than she would care to admit, as did the dog walker grow fond of her. Percy continued to bring Annabeth breakfast pastries, even after the buy one get one deal ended, and there had been more than a few occasions on which Percy would hang around after his walk, maybe for just one episode of whatever show Annabeth was watching, or on which Annabeth happened to feel like going for a stroll at the precise time Percy was ready with the dogs.

"Hey, guys!" Annabeth heard Percy's voice as she rolled over in bed, rubbing her eyes. The dogs barked wildly in response, and Annabeth could hear the sounds of them jumping up and down. "Where is everyone?" Percy asked the dogs. Annabeth, of course, could have answered that question better than the dogs: the twins had spent the night at a friend's, and Frederick and Susan both would have left for work hours ago. However, the dogs answered by barking some more, and she heard the barking grow louder until there was wining outside of her door. She then saw her door open slightly, Percy tentatively poking his head in.

The first time Percy saw Annabeth's room, the one thing that struck him was how youthful it was. The room did not seem to quite match Annabeth's mature and intriguing personality. The walls were painted a soft, power yellow, offsetting the dark wood that matched the rest of the apartment. The three windows let in the bright sunlight, reflecting off of the white bookshelf, packed with large books about architecture and literature, that matched perfectly with the loft bed, crowded and messy desk underneath, taking advantage of every amount of space possible. Annabeth's comforter was a soft green, complimenting the yellow on the walls and the powder blue pillows.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Percy greeted her, enjoying the sight of Annabeth's tousled hair and sleepy eyes. "Shouldn't you be out of bed by now?"

"Go away," Annabeth threw a pillow at him, which Percy adeptly caught with a chuckle.

"I brought you a muffin," he tried again. Annabeth flopped onto her back with a sigh.

"Well in that case, I absolutely must get out of the warmth and safety of my hovel." Annabeth threw and arm over her eyes. Percy laughed, a loud and boisterous laugh.

"Hovel? Come on, it's a chocolate chip muffin," Percy taunted, holding up the paper bag.

"Chocolate chip, you say?" Annabeth looked at Percy out of the corner of her eye.

"Mmmhm," Percy grinned, nodding his head.

"Well. I guess it's time to get out of bed." Annabeth sat up as she came to her conclusion. Percy gave her a big, triumphant smile.

"M'lady," Percy joked as Annabeth got out of bed, offering her his arm, which she took with a smile.

"Thank you, kind sir," Annabeth joked back as the two journeyed into the kitchen. Annabeth took a seat at the kitchen table, eating her muffin, as Percy got the dogs ready to go.

"See you late, Annabeth," Percy said as he went out the front door.

"Bye, Percy, thanks for the muffin," Annabeth replied. Percy shot her a smile as he closed the door. Annabeth sighed. She did not know what it was about Percy that just made her heart flutter. She had had crushes before, of course, but this boy was different.

As Annabeth finished her muffin, her cell phone rang. Looking down, she saw her friend Piper's face lighting up the screen.

"Hey, Pipes," Annabeth answered, throwing away the wrapper from her muffin.

"Annabeth I am bored out of my mind over here. I'm coming over." Annabeth laughed at Piper's melodrama. Piper was one of Annabeth's best friends, and she came over uninvited fairly often.

"Alright then, see you soon," Annabeth hung up the phone, admittedly bored herself. About a half hour later, there was a knock at the door, and Annabeth was greeted by a girl with a tan complexion and chestnut hair to match. She was slightly taller than Annabeth, and the color of her eyes seemed to change with the light every time she moved. Piper was wearing denim shorts and a suede top with scalloped sleeves, complimenting her braided hair and lace up gladiator sandals.

"Piper!" Annabeth greeted as she let her in the apartment.

"Annabeth, you're still in your pajamas," Piper commented with a laugh.

"Yeah, I know, I slept in today, sue me," Annabeth defended.

"So what's new?" Piper asked as the two sat on the couch and turned on the television.

"Really, not much," Annabeth answered, choosing not to tell Piper about the new dog walker. However, just at that moment, Percy barged in with the dogs, and Annabeth noted what an incredibly Percy thing that was to do.

"That's new," Piper muttered, looking at Percy over her shoulder.

"Annabeth, you wouldn't believe what Charlie did today!" Percy yelled from the laundry room, putting the leashes away.

"Who is that?" Piper asked excitedly, looking at Annabeth.

"Hush, he's just the dog walker," Annabeth brushed her off.

"That is quite the dog walker," Piper commented as Percy came into the room and sat down on one of the Louis XVI armchairs.

"Annabeth, I didn't know you had friends!" Percy jeered as Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm Percy by the way." He introduced himself to Piper.

"Piper," she replied.

"So anyway," Percy returned his attention to Annabeth, "there was this squirrel and Charlie just decided to go after it. Naturally Molly couldn't have cared less about the squirrel, but it was everything I could do to hold Charlie back. I've never seen him try to run like that! He's seen squirrels before!" Annabeth laughed at how excited Percy was.

"I guess it was just a really special squirrel," she suggested.

"I guess," Percy agreed, standing up. "Well I'm supposed to meet a friend in half an hour so I better get going."

"I didn't know you had friends!" Annabeth mocked, putting a mask of surprise on her face. Percy chuckled.

"Well played, see you tomorrow, Annabeth." His voice seemed to soften at the end of his sentence as he left the apartment.

"Nothing's new, huh?" Piper questioned as soon as Percy left.

"What? He's just a new dog walker," Annabeth assured.

"Like hell he's just a new dog walker, you like him." Piper accused. Annabeth's face grew red.

"I don't," she denied.

"And what's better: he likes you too!" Piper did not even try to hide the excitement in her voice

"He doesn't, Piper," Annabeth shook her head. Piper looked at her like she was crazy.

"Annabeth, were you just in the same room that I was? You must be blind. I will say, you've got good taste though."

"He is pretty attractive, isn't he," Annabeth said with a sheepish smile.

"That's the understatement of the century." Piper said with a laugh.

The two girls decided to go to Times Square to spend some time walking around and shopping for the rest of the day. They both enjoyed the sights and sounds of Times Square. Taxis honked, people yelled, and street performers entranced tourists. The huge LED screens broadcasted ads for Coca-Cola, The New York Times, and the many Broadway shows that were currently playing. Annabeth and Piper spent hours people watching and going into the many stores, neither buying anything on this particular excursion, but enjoying looking at and, in many cases, making fun of the merchandise. The two laughed and enjoying hanging out together all day, and soon the sun was setting, and both girls were starving.

"Pizza?" Piper suggested, looking at Annabeth.

"Sounds great," Annabeth agreed. The two began walking towards their favorite pizza parlor in the area when they heard a voice from behind.

"Annabeth?" They turned to see Percy a few strides behind them with a blonde around the same height as Percy walking with him. Annabeth and Piper moved to the side of the sidewalk as Percy and his friend caught up with them.

"Hey, Percy, what a coincidence seeing you here," Annabeth greeted, "who's your friend?"

"Annabeth, Piper," Percy impressed himself at remembering the brunette's name from earlier, "this is Jason. Jason, Annabeth and Piper."

"Nice to meet you," Jason greeted, offering his hand to each the girls.

"So what are you guys up to?" Percy asked.

"We were just about to go get some pizza," Annabeth answered, giving him a smile.

"Hmm, pizza. That sounds pretty good to me, what do you think, Jason?" Percy turned to his friend.

"Sounds good to me," Jason replied.

"Mind if we join you?" Percy asked, giving Annabeth a slight smirk.

"Not at all," Annabeth answered, looking at Piper for approval. Piper, convinced that Percy and Annabeth were made for each other, and not minding the view of Percy's friend, gave Annabeth an enthusiastic nod.

"Miss me?" Percy asked Annabeth as the four began to stroll towards the pizza parlor. Annabeth looked up at him from the corner of her eye.

"You wish," she scoffed at him, walking a little faster to catch up with Piper and Jason as they approached the pizza parlor. The parlor was 50's themed with black and white checked, tile floor, red booths, and chrome tables. The group sat down at a booth, Jason sliding in next to Piper, forcing Annabeth to take the seat next to Percy. Percy smiled down at her as he opened his menu.

"So do you guys want to get a couple of larges to share? Or we can all just get personals. What do you think?" Piper asked, looking around the table.

"I think a couple of larges sounds like a good idea," Jason suggested. "Maybe one classic pepperoni and one meat lovers?"

"I'm actually a vegetarian," Piper said with a tentative smile, "let's just add one cheese and call it a day. You can never have too much pizza anyway."

"Sounds like a plan," Percy said as the waiter walked up to the table. He was a short, fifteen year old boy with orange hair and unfortunate acne.

"Hi, my name is Duncan, and I'll be taking care of you this evening. Can I start you off with something to drink?" he asked with a bored look on his face. Jason motioned for Piper to order first.

"I'll have a Dr. Pepper," she ordered, giving Duncan a smile.

"I'll have iced tea, please," Annabeth ordered next.

"I'll take a Coke," Percy said.

"Coke for me, too, and I think we're ready to order," Jason told Duncan.

"Okay go ahead, then," Duncan's voice cracked on the last word and his face went slightly red.

"Alright," Percy stared, "we're going to take a large meat lovers, a large pepperoni, and a large cheese, and go ahead and bring a basket of bread sticks, too."

"That'll be right up." Duncan said as he left to put the order in.

"So how do you two know each other?" Annabeth asked Jason and Percy.

"We were at NYU together this year," Jason answered.

"You go to NYU?" Annabeth turned to Percy. The topic of school had never come up in their brief chats and interactions.

"Just finished my freshman year," Percy said proudly.

"What's your major?" Annabeth asked, interest evident in her eyes.

"Marine biology," Percy answered with a smile.

"Suits you," Annabeth commented.

"What does that mean?" Percy inquired with a laugh.

"What about you, Jason?" Piper interrupted.

"Aerospace engineering," Jason answered, "planes and rockets and things."

"That sounds fun," Piper said.

"Yeah, it's a blast," Jason grinned proudly at his pun as the table broke out in fake laughter. "But what about you guys, where do you go? I haven't seen either of you around NYU."

"Piper and I actually just graduated," Annabeth answered, "I'll be going to Columbia in the fall."

"Columbia?" Percy asked, obviously impressed. Annabeth nodded with a smile. "Wow." Percy mumbled. This girl just got better and better, never ceasing to amaze him.

"Well, I'm no Annabeth," Piper said, "so I'll just be going to Furman University."

"Where's that?" Jason asked.

"South Carolina, I'm actually really looking forward to FU." Piper stated, smiling.

"FU?" Percy asked, eyebrow raised. "Do people really say that?"

"Oh yes," Piper assured. "They chant it at football games. It's a cheer and a jeer all at the same time." The table laughed.

"How convenient," Jason stated through his laughter. The pizza soon arrived and the four hungry students stuffed their faces, leaving hardly any left overs.

"That was amazing," Percy said, casually throwing his arm over the back of the booth. Annabeth tried to ignore the fact that his arm hair was tickling the back of her neck.

"Sure was," Piper agreed as Duncan brought the check.

"No, we don't split the check, you'll just have to work it out." He said with a sigh. The bill came out to forty-three dollars and forty-six cents.

"If we all put in thirteen dollars that will cover the cost plus tip," Annabeth said.

"Sure," Jason said, putting in his thirteen dollars. Piper followed suit, and Annabeth began pulling out her wallet. As she did so, however, Percy gently pushed her hand away under the table, casually tossing twenty-six dollars in, without Jason or Piper noticing. Annabeth looked up at him, but did not say anything, and they all got up to leave, the sun now long gone.

"Alright, well, I should get home," Piper said. "This was fun." She gave them each a hug and began walking home, and Jason soon followed.

"Let me walk you home," Percy said to Annabeth.

"It's really not that far," Annabeth said, shaking her head.

"Come on, we wouldn't want anything to happen to you, now would we?" Percy said, beginning to walk towards Annabeth's home. Annabeth smiled.

"I guess not." She said.

"So, Columbia, huh? You never told me you were super smart," Percy looked down at her, smiling. Annabeth laughed.

"I just worked really hard," she denied.

"I bet your head had a little something to do with it," Percy insisted. "What are you going to study?"

"Architecture," Annabeth answered without any hint of a doubt.

"You'll make a great architect," Percy told her. Annabeth smiled.

"Thanks," she said. They walked in comfortable silence for a while, simply enjoying being around each other. When they arrived at Annabeth's large, stone apartment building, Percy turned towards Annabeth, making them just inches apart. Annabeth's breath hitched, and a slight rain began to fall.

"Annabeth," Percy said.

"Yes?"

"Could we, uh," Percy looked down at his feet, then looked Annabeth straight in the eyes, "could we do this again sometime? But without Jason and Piper. Just the two of us?" Annabeth smiled.

"Like a date?" She teased.

"Yes," he replied, "like a date. Annabeth, will you go on a date with me?" Percy's voice was filled with hope and his eyes shone with vulnerability.

"Yes," Annabeth replied, grinning. They looked at each other, both smiling, both wet from the rain, before Annabeth turned and walked into her building.


As always, thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think in a review :).