"Babe! Do you know where my charger is?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes, adjusting her computer screen so that it was facing her. Percy bangs around in the kitchen some more, for what she suspects is his charger, before he starts cursing, and she suspects he stubbed his toe on the corner of the counter like he's done five times in the last week.

"Are you okay?" she asks after another minute of loud cursing, poking her head out from his bedroom.

"I'm just getting it all out before the students see."

Annabeth leans against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "I didn't know they made you that mad."

Percy snorts, coming up in front of her to wrap him in her arms. He kisses her forehead before responding. "They make me livid."

"Couldn't possibly be as terrible as my kids," she argues, smiling when his lips catch hers. "My calc kids can't even do simple algebra."

"I can't do simple algebra," he says, biting her lower lip. "That's why I teach marine."

"Marine is the most boring thing you could've possibly chosen to teach, but okay."

"Says the walking calculator."

Annabeth pinches his butt and he yelps.

"That was a compliment!"

"Make it sound like it next time," she says, retreating back to his room. "I know that you finished teaching for the day, but I haven't, so stay quiet."

"That's no fun."

"You want to know what's no fun? Having your students find out that you're hooking up with their math teacher."

Percy grins. "Is that what this is? And here I thought we were actually dating."

"We won't be if they find out because I will kill you," Annabeth threatens without malice. She takes a step back to retreat into his room and he takes a step to follow her, which sends alarm shooting through her mind. "What are you doing?"

Percy has an amused smile plastered to his face, and she knows she's about to be fighting whatever he decides to say next.

"I'm coming with you."

"Uh, no you're not."

"It's my bedroom."

"You shouldn't have invited me then," Annabeth says, eyeing him as he keeps following her. "What are you, my shadow?"

"I can be whatever you want me to be, baby."

It's so disgustingly cheesy but it's also so disgustingly him that she can't help but give in as he settles down onto the bed. Percy flips onto his stomach, reaching for the pillow she'd been using the previous night as Annabeth sits at his desk. As he turns his head towards her, his eyes trace over her, and she has to pretend not to notice, as though the red flush of her face didn't give her away.

Percy's hand reaches out to squeeze her knee to get her attention, and she feels butterflies in her stomach. They had been together for more than a few months now, and they'd been best friends for quite a while longer, but the way he looks at her never ceased to make her feel this way.

"I'm turning the class on," she mutters, the corners of her lips twitching up. Percy making a motion to zip his lips, making her snicker.

It's only a minute before someone's joining the class and Annabeth's snickering for an entirely different reason.

"Piper," Annabeth says, laughing. "What are you wearing?"

"I like to think that I am wearing Gucci," Piper says, posing over the camera. "What do you think?"

Annabeth has to stifle her laughs at her favorite student. "I think it looks… very original."

"Why do I feel like that means you think it's trashy, Ms. Chase? Do you think it's trashy?"

Annabeth shoves Percy's head out of frame as he tries to sneak a peek at Piper's outfit. "To be fair, you are wearing a trash bag."

"I am insulted that you do not know the difference between a trash bag and a plastic tarp," Piper says.

Percy grunts as Annabeth shoves him backwards onto the bed again in an attempt to keep him out of camera because she is almost one-thousand percent certain that Piper would recognize him, and considering they were in the middle of a pandemic, Piper would also know that they had been staying together for a while. Annabeth loves Piper, but Piper has zero filter and absolutely will make a comment if she knew.

Eventually, a few more students join, and Annabeth spends time talking to them, trying not to burst out laughing at Percy's mouthed remarks making fun of her students.

("Your students are dumb as hell, Annabeth."

"You are so lucky that we are on mute."

"How do they even mess up ten plus seven?"

"I literally don't even know.")

Annabeth just tries to get through the hour without walking to the kitchen, grabbing a knife, and murdering herself with it. She really loves her calculus students, but someone once said that the smartest people lack the most common sense, and boy, that could not have been more true.

She thinks she's in the clear. She makes it through the entire lesson without blowing her cover of staying with their teacher, and it's actually much more exhilarating than she would've expected. It was like she was hiding some dirty secret from them as she avoided eye contact behind the camera and tried not to awkwardly jerk around when his hand found its way back onto her knee, delicately tracing shapes.

Annabeth is so close, and just as she's getting ready to say goodbye, Piper just has to open her big mouth.

"Ms. Chase?"

"Yes, Piper?"

"Can I ask you something personal?"

Annabeth blinks, a sense of dread settling in her stomach. She suddenly feels as though something is about to go very, very wrong. "Depending on what it is, I may or may not answer."

Over the screen, Piper keeps a straight face, but Annabeth has taught her for over three years, and she recognizes the fire in her eyes.

"Earlier today, I had a class with Mr. Jackson. Did you know I'm in marine science?"

"I did not," Annabeth says, strained.

"I'm in marine science, and, uh, we had class earlier today over zoom. I was talking to Mr. Jackson for a little bit after."

"Were you? That's nice."

"Yeah, Mr. Jackson is a super nice teacher. I think you'd like him."

"Do you now?"

"Mh-hm. Anyways, we were talking, and I told him that I liked the painting that was hanging behind him."

Annabeth freezes.

"It's the same painting that's hanging behind you."

Oh god.

"Do you have something to tell us?" Piper asks.

Annabeth's ears begin to ring as she realizes that she is inevitably screwed. Of course Piper would have no shame in outing her to the entire class of seniors because that was just how Piper was, but Annabeth should've been smart enough not to film in the same spot because she knows her students well enough to know that there is a torment of sex jokes about to come her way.

"You're looking a little bit red there, Ms. Chase."

"What exactly are you implying, McLean?"

"Why are you in Mr. Jackson's apartment?"

Annabeth is so mortified that she cannot move, but Percy seems to be just as shameless as Piper because a second later, he's hopping into frame, smiling widely at her students.

"Hey, Piper!" Percy chirps.

"Mr. Jackson! So nice to see you! Why is Ms. Chase in your apartment?"

Percy clicks his tongue. "Now, that is a good question, but the most simple answer is that we're quarantining — is that a word? — together."

Annabeth sees Leo unmute himself and she immediately drops her face into her hands.

"Well, well, well," Leo tsks. "I didn't know we were studying chemistry right now."

"I will make you do integrals," Annabeth threatens.

"I'd like to see you try," Leo has the audacity to say.

Another student unmutes themself and Annabeth recognizes the voice as Reyna's.

"I am disgusted to find out that my teachers are dating," Reyna says.

Percy lights up. "Reyna! You haven't been showing up to my classes!"

"Mr. Jackson! That is because I simply do not care! Also, I would've preferred to not know that you two are living together."

"Me too," Annabeth mutters.

"Are you dating?" Piper asks. "I've always wanted you to date."

Annabeth's eye twitches. "I— no, Piper."

"We're not?" Percy frowns. "I thought we were."

"They don't need to know that," she hisses.

Percy, always a people pleaser, pointedly kisses her on the cheek. He was always able to brush things off with a laugh, and it's something that made Annabeth fall in love with him, but right now, it was something she thinks he would be better off without.

"They don't care," he dismisses, turning towards the camera. "Yes, we're dating! We've been dating for six months now."

"I hate you."

"That's so cute!" Piper exclaims.

"I want to throw up," Reyna says.

Leo gives an impish grin. "I felt my relationship senses tingling."

"Shut up, Leo, no one cares," Piper says, rolling her eyes. "Ms. Chase! I'm so happy for you! You guys should get married."

"Way to jump the gun, Piper," Percy says. "Give us another six months at least."

"Also, now that we know you two are staying together — we aren't stupid. We know what adults do when they're alone, so just try to keep that off camera, 'kay?"

Annabeth is actually going to drop down to the ground and cry in about two seconds. Piper wasn't particularly wrong in her assumptions, but Annabeth did not need her students to know about her personal life in this much detail!

"Don't think we don't know about what you do when you're alone with Jason," Percy teases, and Annabeth actually chokes on air.

"But we're not teachers—"

"Okay!" Annabeth interrupts, ready for this to be over. The can see the rest of her students screaming in chat, and she does not want to be here to witness this any longer. "I'm going to end this call now. Please never speak of this again."

"I will bring this up tomorrow!" Piper says cheerfully, waving at them. "I—"

Annabeth clicks off the screen immediately, and the room goes silent.

She stays there with her head buried in her hands for a while, Percy's hand still running up and down her back. His fingers curl as he scratches her skin languidly, waiting for her to get over her initial embarrassment.

"Oh my god," Annabeth mumbles into her hands. "That was awful."

"It wasn't as bad as you think it was," he assures.

"They're never going to let us live this down."

"They didn't care," Percy says, holding back a snicker. "At least now we can kiss in front of them."

"You're never getting any more kisses from me," Annabeth says, standing up from the chair to try and walk the humiliation away.

Percy grabs her wrist, tugging until she looks him in the eyes. "We'll see about that."

Annabeth is so flushed that she wants to die, and her students now know about her current living status and have their own conclusions as to what they do when they're alone, but the way he's looking at her makes her feel incredible.

She tilts her head as she looks at him and he does the same. There's a fire in his eyes as he challenges her.

"I'm not going to kiss you right now if that's what you're looking for."

Percy bites his lower lip, whole body shaking with laughter. "You so sure?"

Annabeth takes a step back as Percy takes one forwards. She finds herself cornered against the bed with nowhere to go. She turns back to face Percy, and she only has one second to prepare before he's grabbing her and falling onto the bed beside her.

"Percy," she says, jerking around when he started tickling her. "This isn't — funny!"

Percy kisses her neck, fingers moving her shirt up slightly to grip her sides. "I think it's hilarious. Your students found out you have a boyfriend. So what? You're human."

"Stop," she says, snorting and jerking again as he squeezes and palms her stomach.

"Kiss me."

Percy's fingers stop moving along her skin as he hovers over her, looking deeply into her eyes. She feels so warm and loved, laying here with her best friend, and he's the complete opposite of her, but maybe it's for the best. Maybe it's for moments like this, to balance her out.

And as she kisses him, she thinks that she can complain about her invasive students and cursed zoom calls later because the only thing that matters right now is making sure he keeps kissing her like she's the only thing in the world.

I don't know where I was going with this but here you go. Review?