How can you miss someone you've never met?

('Cause I need you now but I don't know you yet)

But can you find me soon because I'm in my head?

(Yeah, I need you now but I don't know you yet)

~IDK You Yet by Alexander 23

vi.

Annabeth Chase has accomplished a lot in her twenty three years of life, but breaking a god's brain is a new one in her book.

She scrambles off her bed, eyes wide, adjusting her skirt back down to be around her legs and throwing on the closest shirt (gods know where her blouse and her bra went? fuck ) she could find.

The god just laid there, half naked, drinking in the scene before him. His eyebrows are scrunched together, cheeks still flushed gold.

Annabeth ignores him, and walks out the room.

"What are you doing-" she hears him and some clanking as the cuffs slide against her bedpost when the god shifts to sit up in protest.

Annabeth stalks to her bathroom, changes into a pair of jeans to feel a little more in control, all the while muttering all the ancient Greek curses she can remember (from eat my pants to fuck Heracles ).

She slams her bathroom door angrily, stomping to her kitchenette and taking out a glass to pour out some Chardonnay she got from one of her firm's Partners two months ago. She hadn't thought that she would need this so soon.

vii.

"Are you drinking?!"

"Yes. Shhh." She snaps, and then tilts her head up to finish the drink.

"What is going on - is this a kink ? Handcuffing someone in the middle of - of that - and leaving to have a glass of wine and sitting on your couch for twenty minutes?"

Obviously , Annabeth thinks, obviously the god still has no clue who she is. If he did, he would have discovered that the cuffs are god proof already, and that he's hopelessly, helplessly stuck in her apartment with her, stretched out on her bed, until she decides to release him into the wild. (Upon which he will surely smite her without much of a thought.)

Instead, he's clueless, and probably curious what Annabeth the Mortal is up to. This is probably the most excitement in his godly life in a long, long time.

But Annabeth knows that she has to deal with the problem on her bed soon, because Fates loves to laugh at her and this handsome beautiful stranger of a god will bring trouble beyond comprehension to her doorstep in no time.

Sighing, she turns, and pushes her bedroom door open.

"Care to take this off of me? Or if you wanted to continue, you could just take off your-" He froze. His ocean eyes are glued to something on her chest, but Annabeth knows that he wasn't admiring the shape of her breasts through the shirt; she looks down. Fuck.

She is wearing her Camp tee out of all things.

The god looks at her, eyes clear and alert without any hints of lust (but with some hints of recognition), and looks back to his left arm with horror. He tugs. He tugs again, harder. The handcuff holds.

His arm glows; the handcuff glows in response, and he yelps in pain.

"What is the meaning of this!" He looks back at her with murderous hurricane eyes. "You tricked me!"

"I swear on the Styx that I wasn't trying to trick you." Annabeth says softly, trying to placate the god. He reminds her of a feral, trapped animal at the moment.

Trapped, yes, but not for long.

He can't use any of his divinity to escape these cuffs. However, once he realizes that he can break her bedpost and tug both the handcuffs and the post with him to break free with physical force, he will do so and kill her.

As long as she acts confident, Annabeth thinks, she still has control and a glimmer of hope to get out of this alive.

viii.

"If I turn into my true form you will burn," he threatens.

"Then you will be in a lot of trouble for killing the two-time Hero of Olympus," she hedges.

ix.

"Put this on," she says, tossing his shirt to him.

He doesn't seem pleased, but he does so clumsily with one hand. One of his sleeves hangs by his side; he looks ridiculous. Annabeth is just glad that his temper has simmered down.

"I nearly had sex with a daughter of Athena," he says to himself, almost in a whisper of horror.

Annabeth looks at him across the room, annoyed, "and this daughter of Athena nearly had sex with a god ."

"What's so bad about that?" he drawls, amusement dancing across his eyes, the glee from those words clearing the stormy glare he had just minutes ago.

Annabeth feels sick. He just baited her. He was trying to annoy her with the comment. He's still playing a game. A god's game. He thinks he is the puppet master and she is the marionette; he wants to make her dance but she won't let him.

"How did you know that I am a daughter of Athena?" she says, instead of accusing him (gods) of being often irresponsible with sex. She has absolutely no (read: zero ) desire of being a mother to a half-(three quarters?) blood. Annabeth can't even begin to imagine what kinds of terror that can bring.

"I've heard of you," he says, obviously delighted by the knowledge that he's gaining control of the conversation, "Miss Hero of Olympus - who would have thought that you kept god-proof handcuffs next to your bed? Imagine this on Hephaestus TV: BREAKING NEWS - Daughter of Athena Annabeth Chase-"

"-Stop."

"Keeps top-grade god-proof handcuffs for kinky sex with gods. Who will be next? Apollo? Hermes?" He paused dramatically and gasped, " Zeus? "

Annabeth turns away, cheeks flushed with red from anger and from embarrassment, "You're never getting out of these."

He laughs.

"I will, because-"

"-you're a god? These are designed to hold-"

"I know. I was going to say, it's because I will swear on the Styx to not hurt you, and," he holds eye contact with her, and she almost sees genuine sincerity in them, "I will owe you a favor."

She was going to snap at him, but stos herself just in time.

A favor from a god is a big deal, and this one can come in handy. She might need it someday; if she holds this favor, she can protect her friends from an impossible, eventual situation. Like the one with Jason a few years ago.

It becomes an easy decision.

"Any favor?" She asks.

"Any favor." He replies.

x.

Despite her better judgement, Annabeth releases him after he swears on Styx that he (or anyone on his behalf) will never hurt her, and that he owes her a favor that she can call on anytime, no questions asked.

His pants buttoned and shirt readjusted, he turns to introduce himself.

"By the way, I'm -"

"-Perseus," she cuts in, satisfaction curling in her at the surprise and shock he displays.

"I know who you are. Once, I prayed to you when I was crossing the Sea of Monsters. I just didn't realize that you are just like the rest of them ."

Perseus looks like he wants to say something. His brows furrow, but then he relaxes and vanishes with a soft pop.

Annabeth shakes her head. She needs some sleep.

She just wishes that her apartment doesn't smell so much like the ocean.

A/N: Withered495, bricksandstaplers, A Handsome Nerd, FolkLuz21, Wumertil, Charlee56, Henrie James Locker, and the couple of Guests - I am so thankful of your comments. I've been going through a tough time and your thoughts make me smile; I feel like these reviews are really the only things I'm looking forward to these days because of how bleak everything (in my life and in the world) has been. So, thank you.