Hello. It's me. I've been working on this fucking thing for almost 3 months now because I was reading a bunch of super long oneshots and decided to try my hand at it. But I realized that cranking out 30k words wasn't gonna happen, so I split it in half to make a two-shot. This is supposed to be a Percabeth slowburn, inspired by "cause you've been sinning in this city" by the wonderful seaweedbraens (who also looked over it and found about a bazillion errors, so thanks!). Go peep their stuff, it's helluva lot better than mine.

I should mention that I have no idea what college life is like, so if it's inaccurate, I apologize.

Also, there's lotsa underage drinking and swearing and mentions of abuse, so... uh... yeah. Warning.

Enough word vomit.

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Percy stares at the now cold bath water and sighs. This is the time he dreads the most. The once warm, bubble-filled water, his escape from his ultra-busy college life, is now cold and there are no more bubbles.

It might seem a bit weird, a college junior taking bubble baths. It probably is, to be honest. Percy loves bubble baths, though. His housemate and friends know it too. They don't judge. And it is their fault anyway, partially, at least. Nico got him a bottle of the stuff for his birthday as a joke. Then Jason walked in on Percy in the middle of his bubble bath. Being the good friend he was, he told the rest of Percy's friends about his bubble bath obsession. When Piper found out, she'd squealed with unfiltered joy and promised Percy he would never run out of bubble bath. The rest of Percy's friends just shrugged it off, only sometimes jokingly mocking him.

Percy still isn't sure why they make fun of him. Jason claims to not enjoy watching Disney princess movies, but everyone knows his favorite is Tangled. Piper's proud of her assorted Justice clothes that still somehow fit her after nearly seventeen years. Leo loves Beyblades and Bakugan. Frank has a mad obsession with animals, even going so far as taking classes to become a zoology major. Hazel is probably the most mature of them, despite being the youngest and loving any sort of gem. Nico acts all dark and emo, the little bastard probably is, but he really, really likes Pokémon. And Thalia probably mugs people to pay rent.

No sooner had Percy pulled on a shirt when he hears voices coming from the first floor of his house, which he shares with Jason, even though most of their friends show up there anyway. Percy heads downstairs to see pretty much all of his friends gathered in his living room, plus one pretty blond girl he doesn't know, who was scrutinizing him with a look that seemed like she was analyzing him. Like she was making a plan to take him down. It was kind of unnerving.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" He asks, ignoring the girl. Leo holds up two bottles of tequila and flashes a devilish grin.

"What do you think, dude?"

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"Please tell me I didn't," Jason groans, holding his head in his hands. Percy rubs his back, staring at the video on his phone. It shows Jason from last night, drunk as hell, in nothing but his boxers belting out When Will My Life Begin from Tangled. "Piper's never gonna let me live it down."

"Neither will we, broski," Leo says, happily. Jason sighs.

"My head hurts," he mumbles. Frank slides a bottle of Aspirin across the table.

"You did at least seven shots, I'm not surprised," the big guy says. Percy turns off his phone and heads for the kitchen.

"What do you guys want for breakfast?" he calls.

"Waffles!" Leo yelps.

"Eggs!" shouts Frank.

"Something to get rid of this damn hangover," Jason says forlornly. Percy takes note of all their suggestions and begins rifling through the refrigerator and pantry to find the ingredients he needed. Percy's the designated chef of the group, having been preparing meals for his friends for a few years. Most of his friends agree that Percy was the best chef among them, followed closely by Hazel.

It takes a half hour for Percy to make Leo's waffles, Frank's eggs, and Jason's anti-hangover coffee. Percy slides the plates towards the recipients and hands Jason his mug. The poor guy's taken off his glasses and is massaging his temples.

"Drink up," Percy says. Jason grunts in thanks and sips the mug. "If I were you, I'd lay low today. Try to not exert yourself."

"I have a ton of work though…" Jason says. Percy was about to smack the back of his friend's head before remembering he had a headache. He settles for flicking his neck. Jason winces.

"Fuck the work. Get rid of the hangover,"

"Yes, mother," Jason mutters.

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On Tuesday, Percy's walking across campus when Piper runs up behind him.

"Perce!" she yellz. Percy jumps, not expecting someone to yell in his ear.

"God, Pipes, you gave me a heart attack," he says. Piper snorts.

"What are you, eighty?" she asks. "What're you doing this weekend?"

"Swim conditioning Friday night and Saturday morning, then nothing. Why?"

"I was thinking about a Game Night with everyone, Saturday. My place." she says excitedly. Percy nods.

"Sounds fun," he says and actually means it. Game Nights are always some of the most fun nights he's ever had, aside from Saturdays With The Boys when he was in high school. They always involve drinking and, of course, ultra-competitive games. Percy always wins Go Fish. He waves goodbye to Piper and heads for the science building. He makes his way through the corridors before arriving at his biology class. The professor is there already, along with a few other students, including Frank and Percy heads over to sit next to him.

The class passes uneventfully. Percy managed to sneak a quick nap as the professor drones on about genetics or whatever, which Frank wakes him up from by sticking a pencil in his ear. The professor dismisses them as Percy stares at his notes.

"It looks like a drunk eighth grader wrote these," he says, somewhat disappointed in himself. He may not be the neatest person in the world and, sure his handwriting does kinda suck, but his notes have always been organized. Jason says his writing is like Egyptian hieroglyphs, being the history nerd he is. The first time he said that, Percy smacked him with a foam brick.

"I'll give you my notes later," Frank offers. Percy's grateful for the big guy's kindness. He suspects it's because Frank is Canadian.

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Percy leaves the building, his thoughts drifting back to that blonde girl from a few days ago. He tried to remember her name, but all he can recall was that it started with an "A" and it definitely wasn't Ariel. She had been pretty though, Percy knows that much. Hopefully Piper would bring her to Game Night. He hadn't been in a relationship since, shit, freshman year. Percy's so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the other person until they slammed their shoulders into each other. The impact knocked Percy back a bit while the other person spun ungracefully, almost like a clumsy ballerina. When she caught her balance and whirled around angrily, Percy sees a pair of steely gray eyes, followed by long blonde curls. Shit.

They were quiet for a moment as both tried to place the other.

"Have we…"

"You're Piper's friend," she says instantly. Percy blinked. Of course she remembered him. She probably knows all the stupid stuff Percy did that night, which he couldn't remember, to save his life. An awkward silence arose as neither was sure what to say. It lasts long enough for Percy to note that she had a pink glittery pencil case peeking out of her backpack, a massive two inch binder in her hands, and the fact that she kind of smells like citrus when the breeze picked up a bit.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember your name," she says. Percy lets out a mental sigh. That was good.

"Percy Jackson at your service," he bows slightly. "You are?"

"Annabeth Chase." A slight smile spreads across her lips. Her very nice lips. Percy tires to shoo the thought from his mind.

'You just learned her name. She didn't even know yours,'

'She's hot, though,'

Inconsiderate mind.

"Nice to meet you, Annabeth."

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It's common knowledge among most of the student body that Percy is amazing at swimming. As a sophomore, he had qualified for the state quarterfinals in the five hundred meter freestyle and set records in numerous events for the school. But with all that skill came the need for extensive training. Percy dedicates at least two hours a day, three days a week in the off season for training and then gives each practice in the normal season his all, even going so far as to stay back afterwards. Now, as a junior, Percy is determined to make it to the semis and maybe even the state championship.

He's on his last few strokes of a set, concentrating on one thing, keeping his stroke consistent. His hand slams into the wall to finish and he comes up and takes a few breaths to ease his lungs, reaching for his water bottle. His coach stands over him, frowning.

"I dunno where you picked it up, but with each stroke you take, you do a little shimmy," he says, dancing on the deck to illustrate his point. Percy frowns too.

"Yeah, I felt it. As far as I know, I've been doing the same stroke,"

"Maybe, kid. Might just be because you've gotten so used to the way you swim, it's starting to work against you." Percy sighs. Great.

As Percy was walking out of the aquatics center, a familiar voice calls out his name. He turns around to see Annabeth jogging towards him.

"Hey," she says, somewhat breathless. Percy blinks.

"Hi. What're you…"

"Oh, I was over in the arts building- she gestures towards a nearby building. "And Piper texted me that you were probably almost done with swim practice and asked me to get you. You're coming over, right?" Percy was busy staring at her curls when something clicks.

"Wait, you're Piper's roommate?"

"We were in the same dorm room freshman and sophomore year. Are you coming or not?" Percy smiles in spite of himself.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he says.

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"No, listen! All I'm saying is that if you took your nerves out of your hand, you wouldn't feel the heat! So you can't then be burned!" Leo yells, flapping his hands wildly. The guy had been going on for the last half hour about how water isn't actually wet, you morons, it's the feeling of water on your skin, obviously.

"I don't think I have nerves in my heart," Nico says monotonously, upside down on the couch, staring at the wall. Will wails and throws himself at Nico.

"Nico, let me heal you! Allow me to give you feeling again!" Nico turns his head towards Will, his face turning pink from the blood rush.

"Fahck yoouuu," he slurs.

Around the table, Percy's other friends are in various stages of drunkenness, while he already has a pretty hefty buzz. Thalia, Jason's older sister, is quietly explaining to Reyna why men suck and should be killed, while the other girl argues that men should just be subdued and kept as slaves. To be totally honest, Percy's a bit scared of the two. Jason's glasses are upside down on his face as he attempts to play Uno with Piper, Leo, Frank, Percy, Thalia, and Reyna. Hazel is sitting next to Frank, nursing a half full glass of vodka with lemon in it, staring adoringly at her boyfriend. Annabeth's sandwiched between Percy and Piper, looking amused at the shenanigans of this group of people.

They're playing Uno, and it was one of the few games where all friendships were temporarily dissolved. For some reason, Leo had brought at least three decks, while Thalia produced two additional decks with "challenges" written on each card, to keep things interesting, she claimed. It's Percy's turn and he looks at his deck. Frank, who had gone before, had placed a red eight. Percy's cards are a red four, a normal wild card, a wild draw four, a green skip, a yellow reverse, and a red draw two. He plays the red card, to be safe. Annabeth narrows her eyes at the three cards she held and places one of Thalia's "challenge" cards. The red card used to be a two, but Thalia had smeared white-out over the number and written her own thing.

Either draw ten cards or sit on the next player's lap until your next turn and make them draw six

Percy feels the blood drain from his face. He looks at Thalia with panic in his eyes, earning only a smug smirk. Annabeth looks over at Percy and hopped on. He exhales slightly at the sudden weight. It's like his senses are in overdrive. Blood roars in his ears, he feels every spot where Annabeth's body touches his. In the back of his mind, Percy wonders if she could smell his breath. It probably reeks of tequila and Doritos. His palms begin sweating. Piper hands Percy six cards and he sees her poorly hidden smile at the awkwardness. She plays her card, a wild plus four on Jason who sighs and adds to his already substantially sized hand.

Leo continues babbling on about how water isn't wet until Annabeth finally puts a stop to it, saying that it's the bonding between the water molecules and whatever the water is in contact with that causes something to be wet, duh. Percy feels the vibrations of her voice reverberating through her body and into his. Disgruntled, Leo places his card, a blue skip, on Thalia who grunts in annoyance.

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After the Uno game had ended with Jason drunkenly weeping about the amount of cards he had doesn't diminish how much he loves each and every one of them and Annabeth winning, because of course she's amazing at Uno, Percy finds himself on the couch with Jason, Piper, and Annabeth talking about how Twinkies are the perfect food.

"Oi!" Thalia yells from the kitchen. "C'mere, Kelp Head!" Percy looks over the back of the couch to see Leo, Reyna, and Thalia mixing all the alcohol they could find into a shot glass.

"Why?"

"Try this," Reyna says, gesturing to the concoction. Percy, always up for a challenge, stands. He feels Annabeth's hand grab his wrist and pull him back down. She's clearly the most sober there and her gray eyes are concerned.

"Lemme go 'Nnabeth," Percy mumbles.

"Percy, if you drink that you're going to die of alcohol poisoning. Stay here. I'm getting you water." Percy watches her go, his gaze subconsciously straying to her hips, watching the way she swayed. He tears his gaze away and looks up at the ceiling.

"So, Perce. What do you think about Annabeth?" Piper asks. Percy reddens involuntarily.

"She's cool, I guess," he says. Piper raises an eyebrow while Jason snickers.

"Ah huh. Dude, I saw your face during Uno. You were so red you coulda been a fucking… uh… what's a red thing?"

"Piper's ass in bed!" Leo shouts from the kitchen. Jason screeches like a banshee and charges off the couch at Leo, who begins cackling and sprints away, while Piper laughs uncontrollably. Percy smiles at their antics.

"I wish he was that rough with me," Piper says, trying, and failing, to get her laughter under control. "Seriously though, Perce, you like her. You two would be so cute together." Percy frowns.

"Are we in fucking middle school? Annabeth's cute 'n' all-"

"She's not cute. She's gorgeous,"

"But I don't wanna date right now. Not after…" Piper's smile falls.

"Oh. Right." Percy nods right as Annabeth comes back with a glass of water for him. He takes a swig of it, trying very hard to hide his blush.

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The bubbles were consuming him yet again and Percy welcomes their embrace. Today was particularly stressful, unusual for a Saturday. He had woken up late for work, which meant his boss, a crabby old alcoholic known simply as Mr. D, had given him a thorough berating about responsibility, dedication, and hard work. Percy was doing his best to hold back his laughter. The old fart had probably never worked a day in his life. Granted, he had built up the small pizza bar he owned from the ground up, so Percy would give him that.

Work had sucked after that. He had to deal with Drew Tanaka flirting with him (Percy wasn't remotely interested), a group of drunken seniors (why anyone would be drinking at nine in the morning was beyond him), and an angry Karen, whose daughter looked mortified at her mother's behavior (Percy genuinely felt bad for the girl and was glad he didn't have to deal with that)and tipped Percy fifty dollars for kicking the lady out.

After work, swimming had been brutal. The head coach was gone which meant the assistant coach was running the practice. Being an older, no nonsense kind of guy, he'd ordered the entire team to swim all out for six hundred yards for seven minutes and thirty seconds, then immediately start ten fifty yard swims on a ridiculously fast time, five seconds slower than Percy's fastest meet time, then into three one hundred yard swims to practice pacing. A few freshmen made the mistake of arguing with him, the angered coach blew his whistle, scaring a lifeguard to attention, to tell the whole team to stop what they were doing.

"You kids are gonna fucking swim until I tell you to stop! Am I understood?!" The team murmured confirmation, which set him off even more.

"I said, am I understood?!" Percy could see the veins popping out of his forehead and bellowed, "Yes, Coach!"

"Go on the thirty!" Percy looked at the digital timer, which read sixteen minutes and twenty eight seconds. He hurriedly put on his goggles and pushed off.

"I can't believe he did that!" An indignant freshman says after practice. "I almost threw up! Hedge should not be a coach, like ever."

"You're so right," another one agrees. More and more people, mostly freshmen and sophomores, began complaining about how bad Coach Hedge was, how he should be fired for being needlessly tough, and so on. Percy had enough.

"Shut the hell up!" He barks, slamming his locker door. The conversations stopped. "It's your fucking fault we had to swim for thirty goddamn minutes without a break!" Percy glares at the freshman who had argued with Hedge. The kid opened his mouth to respond, but Percy silenced him. "I am not finished." He hissed. "Yes, Hedge was tough on us, but that's because us guys fucking suck. I'm the only swimmer who went to the semis in nearly ten fucking years. The girls send at a fucking relay every year and at least two individuals! And what do we do? We sit on our asses and do nothing. And you, freshie, don't help. So quit your fucking complaining and swim." Percy left the locker room in a huff, leaving behind a very shocked team.

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Percy sighs. He hated how the freshmen acted, like they were perfect and could do no wrong. There was only one perfect thing in this world and it was the bubbles he was immersed in. Unfortunately, the water was getting cold, so Percy gets out. None of his housemates were here, so the silence of the home was somewhat gratifying. Jason with Piper's for a date night, Frank and Hazel are in Vancouver to visit Frank's grandmother and to celebrate her ninety-third birthday, which would extend into the break they got for Thanksgiving in a few days. Leo has a date with some girl in his engineering class, Calypso, Percy recalls.

Percy has the house to himself.

He leaves the bathroom and heads downstairs, wanting to make a hefty dinner. The day had been draining and he was hungry.

Finding Nemo had been going for an hour while Percy was busy chowing down on a massive pile of spaghetti on the table when the doorbell rang. He pauses the movie and heads to answer.

When he opens the door, he's surprised to find a rather frazzled Annabeth in a dress. Percy blinks, suddenly remembering he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Uh, hi?" He says. Annabeth meets his eyes. Her eyes are red and teary. Percy frowns. Clearly something had happened. "You wanna come in?" She nods silently and Percy steps aside to let her in.

Percy goes to get a glass of water for her and thinks about what could have happened. When he'd first met her, he'd thought she was tough and damn near invincible. And she was. But she had an Achilles heel. Percy wasn't sure what went down, but it clearly had shaken her. He slides the water across the table and she takes it. Percy watches her before asking, "D'you need anything?"

"I just… need someone right now," she says quietly. "And I really don't wanna be alone."

"Uh, do you want a hug?" Percy asks timidly. Annabeth looks up at him. What was he thinking? They weren't that close. They were barely friends. More like acquaintances. "Or not. I've been told my hugs are great, but if you don't want to that's fine." She smiles slightly at his awkwardness and Percy's heart sings.

"A hug would be fine," she says.

Annabeth ended up staying. She'd showered, commented on the amount of two-in-one shampoos and lack of conditioners (Percy was the only one who used conditioner separately because chlorine murders hair), and promptly raided Percy's closet for a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt. Percy had been finishing up the table when she came down. He stares at her for a moment, earning a confused look. Percy looks away, his ears heating up. Annabeth sits at the table, confused at the lack of dishes.

"Why aren't there any plates?"

"It's called Caveman Spaghetti," Percy answers. "Throw down a tarp or somethin' and pile on the noodles." Annabeth glances over at the sink.

"You don't have any clean plates, do you?" She asks. Percy sighs.

"Leo was supposed to do them on Monday." Annabeth laughed and Percy restarts Nemo.

"Why these movies?" Annabeth asks a little later. They're sitting on the couch, watching Finding Dory and picking through a bag of chips. "Like, why Finding Nemo and Dory?"

"They're good. And I like ocean movies," Percy answers, not taking his eyes away. Dory and Hank were crazily rolling around the aquarium with a stroller. It was one of his favorite parts.

"But why do you like them?" Annabeth persists. "Surely you've seen other ocean movies. What about The Little Mermaid?"

"I don't like musicals," Percy says, still glued to the screen.

"Moana?"

"You're Welcome and Shiny are good songs, but it's not my favorite."

"Jaws?"

"Inaccurate."

"I can appreciate that. What about Titanic?" Percy wrinkles his nose.

"Ew." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Castaway?"

"Actually not bad, but it's not really an ocean movie."

"So you only like Finding Nemo and Finding Dory?"

"And Aquaman."

"But why Nemo and Dory?"

"Finding Nemo was the first movie I saw in a theater."

"Really? How old were you?"

"Ten." Percy replies simply. Annabeth raises an eyebrow.

"You saw your first movie when you were ten?"

"Yeah." Annabeth pauses the movie. Percy stares at Annabeth. "What was that for?"

"Why did you see your first movie at ten?" Annabeth askes, incredulous. Percy can't blame her for it. He takes a breath, searching for the words.

"My mom married this guy when I was four. His name was Gabe and he was an ass. He would take my mom's hard earned money and blow it all away in these stupid fucking poker games. She finally managed to scrape together enough to take me to see Nemo a few weeks after it came out. I guess it was like our little rebellion," Annabeth studies him with those intense gray eyes. Like she was analyzing his soul.

"He found out about that and was... livid. I don't know when it happened but he…" Percy chokes on his words. He feels Annabeth's hand lace with his, gently squeezing, telling him it was okay, he can stop if he needs to. Percy forges ahead. "He hit her. He hit her because of me." Annabeth inhales sharply, like she was expecting it, but actually hearing it made it worse.

"Percy, it wasn't your fault. You said he was an ass. That he was a horrible person."

"He was. But I couldn't make that thought go away. He started hitting me, too. He'd hit us where no one would see it. The backs of my thighs, my hips, my ribs. He almost broke one, actually." Percy closes his eyes. "It went for eight years. It finally stopped when I was twelve. He was piss drunk, driving his car, and went off a cliff into a ravine. They found his car as flat as a pancake. He was in it. When we found out, my mom didn't cry. I didn't cry. We were both glad he was gone. Maybe that sounds too harsh, but it was true." A silence falls. They sit in silence, Annabeth's hand still holding his. Finally, she seems to notice and lets go. They're quiet for a moment before Percy breaks the silence.

"Sorry for dumping all that on ya," he says with a weak smile. Annabeth shakes her head sincerely.

"No, no, it's fine. Some stuff needs to be let out sooner or later."

"Well, thanks anyway, Chase. For listening."

"Of course,."

Two hours later, a new movie was on. Neither of them were watching it, since they were too preoccupied with something else. Scrabble. Annabeth's destroying Percy by about twenty points and it's only the second round. It's Percy's turn and he looks at his letters. He has a word spelled out already, I-N-K, and an D, a G, a Q, and a Z. He looks at the board, back at his letters, then the board, then his letters. Aha. Annabeth had put down the word PUSH. Percy decides to add on that and adds -ING, giving him thirteen points. Annabeth scowls.

"Didn't know you were that smart,"

"I'm full of surprises." Maybe he would win.

Percy loses. Badly. Annabeth managed to get close to two hundred points while he scraped together a measly eighty.

"How are you able to get that many points?" Percy asks. Annabeth tilts her head in consideration.

"Not sure, but it involves having a functional brain." A smile pulls at her lips. Percy's honestly trying his hardest to not look. He wants to press his lips to hers, to hold her and never let go. But that's stupid. They barely know each other. No, scratch that. They know each other, but they're barely friends.

'Then why is she here?'

'Because she needed somewhere to stay.'

Percy's dead asleep in his room. Well, he was until he felt something poke him. He ignores it. It poked him again. He turns over, wanting sleep, until something shakes him.

"Percy," Annabeth's voice whispers. Slowly, Percy wakes, blinking. Annabeth is standing over him.

"Whu time 's it?" He asks groggily.

"It's two thirty," she says quietly. "And I can't sleep. Can… I crash in here?" Her hood, Percy's hood, technically, is pulled over her head, the oversize sleeves obscuring her hands, the hem of the shirt down around the middle of her thighs. Ambient blue light from Percy's alarm clock casts her face in a low light, igniting her gray irises and turning them the color of a lake. Her blonde curls shimmer with the yellow of the streetlights. She looks like an angel. Percy blinks.

"Uhm, sure," he scoots over, allowing her to snuggle next to him. She hugs his midriff, pulling him in.

"You're warm," she whispers.

"So I've been told."

"It's nice," she murmurs. Percy hums, simply wanting to break the silence. "G'night, Percy." She presses a kiss to his cheek and closes her eyes. Percy lies awake a little longer, staring at the ceiling, feeling Annabeth's arms around him, hearing her soft breathing in the darkness. He smiles.

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Three weeks later, it was Game Night at the boy's yet again. Jason and Piper are both wasted and sloppily making out on the couch while Leo, Thalia, and Reyna are locked in an intense game of Go Fish, taking a shot each time one of them went fishing, soldiering on through their well developed buzzes. Frank, Hazel, Nico, and Will are busy trying, and failing, to braid Percy's hair while he plays War against Annabeth. She's telling the braiders it was impossible to braid Percy's hair, you idiots, it's too short. Hazel tries to give her own advice as Will occasionally pulls out bits of Percy's hair, weeping every time he does so because Percy's hair is as soft as a kitten's belly, apparently. Percy doesn't even like cats that much.

"3… 2… 1… go!" Annabeth yells. She slaps down her card, a ten of hearts. Percy throws down his, revealing a jack of spades. He yells in victory while Annabeth buries her head in her hands because that's Percy's fifth win in a row.

"How do you keep winning?" She asks, exasperated.

"I dunno. My luck sucks,"

"I give up!" Frank yelps, dropping strands of Percy's half braided hair. "Your hair can't be braided, it just can't!"

"It's. Too. Fucking. Short, you numbskulls!" Annabeth says, reshuffling the cards.

"No one's said numbskull in thirty goddamn years, Beth!" Thalia yells.

"Suck it, Thalia!" Annabeth responds. Thalia raises her middle finger, not looking up. Percy smiles at Annabeth who scowls and throws down an ace of clubs, taking Percy's two of diamonds.

Later, they're all gathered in the living room with varying amounts of alcohol in their systems.

"Letsss… mmm... play... paranoia," Piper says. Percy had forgotten what a lightweight she was. The others murmur assent, except for Thalia and Annabeth , who looks confused.

"Are we in fucking high school?" Thalia complains.

"What's paranoia?" Annabeth asks. Piper looks aghast and about ready to throw hands, so Percy quickly explains.

"Someone asks a question about someone here to you secretly and you answer out loud. The answer can be anyone playing. Then you flip a coin 'n' if it lands on heads, you say what the question was. If it's tails, you move on."

"It's great for revealing deep, dark, secrets," Nico says, upside down yet again. "I hate it." Thalia and Reyna nod in agreement. Jason sobbes.

"I hate secrets! I don't like keeping things from people!"

"You stole my pen and told me a crow did it," Leo says pointedly. Jason sniffs.

"B'cause it was," he mumbles. Leo snorts.

"We were inside, you idiot."

"Who wants to go first?" Piper asks. No one speaks. "Fine, I will." She leans in towards Jason and whispers something indecipherable. His eyes widen, then shrink and he smiles.

"Oh, Percy, obviously,"

"Thanks, broski!"

"You don't even know the question," Reyna says. Percy gives her a look while she rolls her eyes. Piper flips a coin.

"Heads. I asked him who he'd take on a romantic date other than me."

"We've already done that though." Percy says and Jason nods. Piper stares blankly at them.

"If you two just came out as gay and kissed each other, that would not come as a surprise," she mutters. Jason winks at Percy, who blows a kiss back.

"Besides, you can't be the gay friends! I'm already the gay one! And so is Nico!" Will says, attempting to get Nico to sit up next to him, who keeps refusing. Jason leans to Leo and asks his question.

"Uh, probably Frank." Leo says. Frank pales as Piper flips the coin.

"Tails," she says. Frank exhales and Leo scowls.

The game continues without incident through the next few people. Leo says something to Thalia, which earns him a withering glare, which he meekly apologizes for. Hazel asks Annabeth something to which she answers with Percy's name. That immediately makes him understand why the game was called paranoia.

Eventually, they switch spots, landing Piper next to Percy. She goes first again, leaning towards Percy.

"Which girl is the cutest?" She whispers. Percy scowls.

"I hate you," he whispers back and looks around. There was only one person that made sense for him to say and that he actually thought was cute. "Annabeth." Piper flips the coin. Percy watches as it twirls in the air. It lands in Piper's palm and she places it in her palm. Percy stars at it. The head is up. Fear flashes quickly across his face, which he tries to hide, but Piper sees it.

"Tails," she says.

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Percy's working the closing shift alone a few days later. It's nearly midnight, which means he had to close up by himself. He's in the back, locking stuff down when he hears the door open and close. He sighs, wondering who would be coming in at this ungodly hour, as he trudges to the counter when he sees who's there. It's Annabeth. He blinks and frowns.

"Uh, Annabeth? Why are you here?" Annabeth sighs.

"Piper and Jason kicked me out again." Percy raises an eyebrow.

"Again? That's… what, twice in the past few weeks?" Annabeth nods, tracing the woodgrains in the counter.

"I hate to ask, but can I crash at your place again?"

"Yes," Percy says quickly, dropping the coins he's counting. "I mean, sure, yeah." He starts to stand and knocks his head on the bottom of the counter. Annabeth begins laughing. Not the short, outburst she did whenever they were with everyone else, but a long peal of genuine laughter and amusement. Percy likes it.

"What?" She asked, failing to stop her laugh. Fuck. He said that aloud.

"I like your laugh," Percy says swiftly, hanging up his apron, grabbing a pizza he had set aside for himself, and coming around the counter. "It's… genuine." Annabeth curls her lips.

"Thanks," she says. "You laugh a lot when you're drunk." Percy stops his walk to the front and tries to stand taller.

"I am never drunk," he lies. Annabeth snorts at that. Like a pig. "Okay, maybe sometimes." He opens the door, allowing Annabeth to walk out, and shuts it behind him, locking it.

"I think you mean whenever there's alcohol, you're drunk."

"Yeah…"

They're walking for a bit, talking about nothing in particular, when a rat runs out from an alley in front of them. Annabeth shrieks and jumps onto Percy, who's equally terrified.

"That thing is huge!" The rat doesn't seem to notice them, sitting on its hindquarters and scratching its side. Percy regards the smaller animal. It isn't that big, but large enough to cause anyone to freak out. Percy thinks or a moment before remembering some documentary he'd watched with his friend Grover in high school. Rats, while being damn near untamable, were incredibly smart. Percy carefully opens up the pizza box and rips off a chunk of pizza. Annabeth slowly lets go of Percy and Percy steps forward.

The rat's gray with black spots on his sides. It stops preening itself when it sees Percy and jumps back defensively, hissing. Quietly, Percy makes shushing sounds to try and calm it down. The rat isn't calmed, still in defense mode. Percy sets down the pizza chunk and slowly moves back to Annabeth, causing the rodent to skitter away. After a minute or two, the rat cautiously goes over to the pizza chunk, sniffs it, and pulls it away to wherever rats go. Annabeth stares at Percy.

"How…"

"My friend was a nature nut back in high school." Percy explains. Annabeth regards Percy with that weird look of hers. "What?"

"You surprise me more and more," she states. Percy shrugs.

"I'm full of surprises," he says. "Let's go."

They arrive back at Percy's place a little later. Annabeth runs upstairs to shower while Percy looks for a movie. He scrolls through Netflix for a bit before abandoning that and begins picking through Jason's DVDs. He pulls out Braveheart, figuring Annabeth would appreciate the history.

"Percyy!" Annabeth yells.

"What?!"

"I need a towel!" Percy sighs. Of course there wasn't one.

"Hang on!" He scrambles upstairs to his room and roots around for one that hopefully didn't smell too bad. If Annabeth dried herself off with a towel that smells like Percy's old gym socks, there was no way she was coming back.

Annabeth comes downstairs a few minutes later, wearing the same hoodie and shorts as last time. Percy blushes at the sight of her and turns away.

"What're we watching?" she asks.

"Braveheart. I figured you'd like the accuracy."

"Percy, that's so sweet." She says, smiling. "But Braveheart isn't… accurate." Percy blinks.

"What?"

"There's at least 4 different historical inaccuracies that I know off the top of my head."

"Of fuckin' course you know the inaccuracies."

Braveheart is a lot better than Percy remembers. It might be because Annabeth snuggles up next to him and falls asleep with her head on his shoulder.

Jason and Piper find them on the couch the next morning and promptly tease them for doing the devil's tango. Percy turns red and, after chasing Jason around, runs upstairs to scream into his pillow.

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Game Night has devolved into Crappy Karaoke Night. Piper and Leo are busy belting out Welcome to New York, while Jason is staring at his girlfriend adoringly. Nico is starting to soften up to Will the tiniest bit, Thalia and Reyna are still plotting the demise of men, Hazel and Frank aren't present, since it's apparently their six month anniversary and they're on a date. Percy's old friend Grover decided to visit today, of all times. He and Percy are catching up by doing shots and getting absolutely shit-faced because c'mon, it's the weekend and there's no classes on Monday. Annabeth is watching them with an amused smile on her face, but Percy is ignoring it as he downs his third shot. He's at the point where if he looks at her he's going to go on a drunken rant about how fucking beautiful she is because she looks like an actual angel.

Grover slams his glass onto the table.

"Ffffffuck megacorporations!" he shouts. Nobody hears him over the sound of Leo and Piper singing. Except Percy and Annabeth of course.

"Amen to that," Annabeth mutters.

"They're fucking up the environment! Capitalism is to blame for our problems!" Grover says. Percy starts chugging a bottle of Gatorade that Annabeth passes him, then spits it out because grape is nasty.

"Perrrrrcy, I need a place to stay tonight."

"You can stay with us," Annabeth says. Percy is surprised because one, Annabeth referred to her and him as an us. Two, he's surprised that Grover and her hit it off so quickly. He blinks.

"Yeah, you can have the couch,"

"You mean the couch that you and Percy got busy on?" Piper says, sliding into a chair next to Annabeth. "I mean, honestly, there is no fucking way you guys didn't." Percy seriously considers throwing the Gatorade bottle at Piper. But that'd be mean, so he doesn't. He settles for a napkin, which Piper grabs and throws back, but since it's paper it flies about two inches. Annabeth's phone starts buzzing. She looks at it and goes pale.

"I… gotta answer this," she mumbles and runs upstairs. Percy hears her ask "hello" before hearing a door slam shut. Piper frowns, but doesn't say anything.

Annabeth doesn't come down for almost half an hour. Leo heads out a few minutes after she disappeared, Thalia and Reyna follow suit. Nico and Will leave twenty minutes later. Finally, Piper goes upstairs to check on Annabeth. The house is silent and Percy hears sobbing.

"Percy!" Piper yells. "Get your ass up here!" Percy has never gotten out of a chair so quickly, leaving Grover and Jason to awkwardly make conversation.

Annabeth is sitting on the floor of the bathroom, tears streaking down her face. Percy isn't exactly sure what to do. He's never had to deal with a friend sobbing in the bathroom, unless you count that one time during sophomore year where Leo and Jason decided to play each other in Call of Duty while absolutely wasted to decide what kind of pizza to get and Jason lost but Leo felt awful for beating Jason so badly because Jason apparently sucks at video games, so Percy just ordered-

"Percy!" Piper's voice brings him back to the present and she pulls him into the hallway. Oh, right. Annabeth. On the floor. Just sobbing her eyes out. "She's staying here tonight." Piper says it with such conviction that Percy, in his half-drunken state, nods in obedience

Percy and Jason head home, while Percy was busy losing his mind.

"She's gonna be okay, dude," Jason tried to reassure his friend. "She's strong and Piper's like a therapist already. They're tight."

"But like… who called her that made her break down like that?" Percy asked. Jason bit the side of his lip, right near the scar where he had eaten a stapler when he was three.

"Piper's… told me some stuff. About Annabeth. All I know is that her home life, especially her relationship with her step-mom, wasn't the best." Percy was somewhat shocked. Annabeth had seemed like the kind of person who was close with her parents.

It was a few days after the whole "crying in the bathroom" thing. They'd hung out a bit since then, and Percy finally admitted to Piper one day that, yes, he had the teeniest, tiniest crush on Annabeth, holy shit, quit squealing.

"It's more of an attraction," he'd insisted. "Yeah, she's pretty and' all, but it's not like I like her." Piper merely grinned, much to Percy's chagrin. He was starting to suspect Jason was in on his secret, since he spent more time with Piper, effectively moving in with her. Meaning Annabeth ended up at Percy's.

It wasn't much different than living with Jason, really. They were both neat-freaks, Annabeth even more so (she color coded her fucking pencils, but some were glittery which was weird since he never pegged her for a glitter person). Percy started getting used to classical music playing softly in the evenings (it rubbed off on him and now he'd looked up a few to know what songs she's listening to). They'd help each other with their homework, though it was more like Annabeth doing Percy's work while he stares at her.

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Frank is piss drunk and that's fun. He'd slip into "Canadian Mode", as Leo called it, and start talking like in his native dialect. Everyone would ask him questions about Canadian culture, the differences between America and Canada and his thoughts on the world. He was always nice, except for when Dunkin' Donuts was brought up, at which point he got angry. Well, as angry as a Canadian can get. It was more like a puppy getting upset that someone took his toy. Not dangerous at all.

Percy glances over at Annabeth, who has a massive smile on her face, clearly enjoying herself. He's glad with the ease of which she assimilated into their group. She's able to hold her own against Thalia's snark, which was a superhuman feat itself, and snark back. It was like she was a mix of everyone in their group. Smart like Leo, a leader like Jason, caring like Hazel, could probably go a few rounds with Frank, and her and Piper could read people like no one's business. The only person she wasn't similar to was Percy. It wasn't a bad thing. Percy couldn't care less, to be honest. They were friends. Best friends.

They would send each other stupid memes, videos, and bad jokes. Annabeth would go on for hours about architecture and math and history while Percy did his best to pay attention. Then he'd start talking about sea life and how cool the ocean is and they've only explored like five percent so who knows what the fuck is down there. They'd stay up watching movies, playing games, making forts (Annabeth is really really good at that because duh), and sometimes if it got really late, they would inevitably cuddle on the couch or in a fort.

Percy pulls out of his thoughts back into the present. Frank's singing O' Canada at the top of his lungs as Leo attempts to sync the song video for it, Jason's rubbing a balloon on his head because he has the mindset of a child, Hazel's sorting through some weird decorative pebbles that Piper had, Piper's upside down mumbling something. Oh, and Annabeth is resting her head on Percy's shoulder, asleep. Percy's suddenly overcome with a wave of affection so strong, it makes his heart ache. Annabeth yawns, causing Percy to also yawn and get very tired, very fast. Percy shakes the sleeping girl awake.

"Wha's happenin'?" She asks drowsily.

"You fell asleep and I'm tired. You wanna go?" Annabeth yawns again and nods, closing her eyes to avoid the brightness of the room. Percy stands and pulls her up, catching her when she starts to fall.

"Hey, Pipes," Percy says. "We're gonna go." Piper nods. Percy watches his friends goofing around. He loves all of them.

They managed to make it back to Percy's place relatively quickly. Annabeth stumbles up the stairs and collapses onto Percy's bed, already asleep. Percy, unsure of what to do, pulls off her shoes, tossing them to the side, then turning off the lights and going downstairs. He flops onto the couch, oddly drained.

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The next morning, Percy wakes up to the smell of smoke. Annabeth's in the kitchen, attempting to cook eggs. She smiles at him in greeting.

"Sorry if they're burned. I've never really made my own food before." Percy shrugs sluggishly. He takes the plate of offered eggs and pokes at them. Annabeth sits next to him, takes a bite, and promptly spits them out.

"These are charcoal," she grumbles. Percy nods.

"Ya want some waffles?" Annabeth bites her lip.

"Would you be mad if I asked for pancakes?" She asks. Percy stares at her for a moment before heaving a sigh.

"Fiiiiine,"

Percy slides his plate into the sink and sits back at the table.

"So what's the plan for today, Beth?" She shrugs.

"I figured just staying here would work."

"But that's boooring. I wanna go do something."

"What is there to do?"

"I dunno. What if… we just wandered?"

"Wandered?"

"Yeah. Just… fuckin'... y'know," Percy waves his hands. "Wander."

They ended up wandering quite a bit, walking throughout the campus, checking out all the little things. It was fun, but agonizing. Percy wanted to hold Annabeth's hand so badly, it hurt.

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Piper confronts Percy the next day about the "weird fuckin' dynamic" he and Annabeth have. She's sure that they're friends-with-benefits, which Percy adamantly denies (which makes Piper even more crazy about that) and says they're just friends.

"Uh huh, sure," Piper says over the phone.

"We are!"

"Sure, buddy."

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In addition to the whole Annabeth situation, Percy also has his swim season to worry about. The start of the season is fast approaching and Percy was expected to begin taking charge as a junior. His stroke problems had also been plaguing him since the start of the school year. If something didn't change, he was worried he'd lose everything he'd built up to. So he started showing up early to pre-season workouts and staying later to figure out what was wrong.

Another hallmark of winter is the increased workload professors are loading on the students before winter break. Percy and his friends start doing more work and less drinking. That's not to say there's no alcohol involved because there's no way Percy's getting through his calculus work without a few shots. The stress is visibly taking its toll on all of them.

Annabeth is getting stressed over submissions for her architecture class, Jason's losing his shit over his history exams, Frank is about to turn into a dragon and just burn everything to the ground, Hazel wants to go into a hole and never come out. Piper and Leo, weirdly enough, aren't going insane and are providing moral support. Percy's grateful for it. Piper has this weird thing where she can calm anyone down if she talks long enough. Leo just makes bad jokes which makes everyone tell him to shut the fuck up because holy shit, that pun was awful.

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Percy's not sure how to feel about December. Sure, it's swimming season, but did it have to be so fucking cold? It's really annoying. Especially when one forgets their jacket because they figured a sweatshirt would suffice. Except they forgot that when you're wet, you get colder. Which is exactly what happened to Percy one day.

He's almost home when Annabeth pulls up in her car.

"Percy! What're you doing!?" She yells out the open window

"F-f-forgot my j-jacket," he stutters. "M' okay."

"No you're not, you're shivering, you idiot. Get in." Percy opens the door and hops in, still shivering. Annabeth cranks the heat up and, in a weird twist, gives Percy her jacket. He tries to give it back, but she shoves it at him. Percy sighs and puts it on. It smells like her and his heart melts a bit.

"Why'd you forget your jacket, dummy?"

"Th-thought I'd be f-fine with-th-out it."

"You're wet. Do I need to explain basic thermodynamics to you?"

"N-no."

"Thought so."

They finally get home and Percy tries to take the jacket off, but Annabeth grabs his arm and leads him to the front door, opening it. When they get inside, Annabeth tells him to sit at the table as she heats up a bowl of leftover soup. She places the bowl in front of Percy, whose hands are shaking so much, he almost drops the spoon. Instantly, Annabeth's hand was on his forehead. She frowns.

"You're really cold," she says, pushing her eyebrows together in concern. "How do you feel?"

"M-my head hurts. An-nd I f-feel nauseous." Percy say and sets the spoon down. "I don'... I don' feel good." He stumbles to the bathroom and promptly throws up. The world swims before his eyes as he retches again. Annabeth's instantly at his side, rubbing his back, murmuring reassuring words. He staggers to his feet.

"Need t' lay down," he mumbles. Annabeth nods silently and helps him to the couch where he collapses, shivering violently. Annabeth sprints upstairs and returns with two blankets, throwing them onto Percy and lays next to him, holding him close. Percy shivers and closes his eyes.

When Percy could see again, he's in his room. Annabeth's in front of him, smiling suggestively at him. Unbidden, Percy pulls his shirt off as Annabeth, gray irises showing her desire for him, presses her lips to his, her hands running along his abdomen and back. Percy's hands did the same, sliding beneath her shirt and pulling it up over her head. Their bodies are flush against each other and instincts take over.

Percy's eyes snap open. He's not in his room, he's on his couch. Annabeth isn't on top of him, pressing kisses to his collarbone and murmuring sweet nothings into his ear, she's at the table, working on something. Percy sits up.

"Beth?" he asks, more out of confusion than anything.

"Hey, Perce," she says, coming over to and feeling his forehead again, her expression filled with concern. "You slept for five hours. Are you okay? You were twitching a lot."

"Yeah. Yeah, 'm fine. What time is it?"

"Eleven p.m." she says.

"Oh. Okay."

"You sure you're okay?" she asks. "I'm pretty sure you had a brief case of hypothermia." Percy nods.

"I'm fine. Thanks."

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"Hang on. You what?" Piper asks over the phone.

"I had a dream that Annabeth 'n' me… y'know…"

"You had a sexy dream about you and Annabeth."

"...yeah."

"Oh my god, Percy."

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Christmas break finally arrives, after weeks of exams, deadlines, and general stress. Jason, Leo, and Piper are heading out for California together, since Piper's dad wanted to meet Jason and there's no way Leo's not going with them. Thalia and Reyna are staying on campus. Hazel and Frank are back up in Vancouver and Percy's going back to his mom's.

"What about you, Annabeth?" Reyna asks. "Where are you going for Christmas?" Annabeth freezes.

"I… I don't know," she says reluctantly. "My mom travels a lot."

"What about your dad?" Leo asks innocently. Annabeth's expression hardens for the briefest moment.

"I haven't talked to my dad in three years." she says bluntly. That kills the mood for a moment before Piper speaks up.

"Is everyone gonna be back here for New Years?" she asks brightly. Leave it to Piper to lighten the atmosphere. Jason nods.

"We should be."

"We're not going anywhere, so yeah." Reyna says. Thalia nods in agreement.

"Percy? Annabeth?"

"I'm not leaving the state, but I'll probably go to my mom's." Percy says.

Later, as Jason and Leo are loading up their bags into Leo's van, Piper pulls Percy aside.

"Invite her to your mom's." She hisses.

"What?" Percy asks, trying to dodge the subject. Piper rolls her eyes.

"Don't 'what' me, you idiot. You know exactly who and what I'm talking about."

"Are you sure?"

"You heard her. Her mom travels and she hasn't spoken to her dad in forever. Trust me on this. It'll mean the world to her." Piper gives Percy a quick hug before going to the others. Jason grips Percy in a bear hug.

"I'll miss ya," he says dramatically.

"I know. You'd better have something for me when you get back." Percy says, smiling. Jason pulls back and nods.

"Oi, lovebirds! We're tryna leave here!" Leo yells. Jason throws an arm over Percy's shoulder and leans close to his friend's ear.

"Good luck with her," he whispers.

When everyone's gone, Percy finally asks.

"Hey, you mentioned you don't really have anywhere to go for Christmas, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Uh, would you like to come to my mom's?" Percy says. He's never seen her smile so much.

"Yeah. I'd really like that."

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A few days later, Annabeth pulls her car into the parking lot outside Percy's old apartment. Being the gentleman he is, Percy gets out and walks around to open the door for Annabeth, but when he gets there, she's already out and starting to pull out her suitcase. Percy sighs and grabs his backpack.

"Why do you need a ginormous suitcase?"

"Because," she pulls harder. "I can't… fit… all my stuff… into… a… goddamned… backpack!" Annabeth yanks it free and stumbles, back forcing Percy to catch her. She blows a strand of hair out of her face and stands.

"Thanks."

"Anytime,"

Percy leads Annabeth to the black door that he used to live behind and knocks. Silence. He's about to knock again when it flies open and Sally Jackson wraps Percy into a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh, Percy, I'm so glad you could make it!" she says, letting go and kissing her son on the forehead, though she has to stand slightly on her tiptoes to do so.

"Mom, stop!" Percy pleads, slightly embarrassed that Annabeth had to see. Sally laughs and notices Annabeth.

"You must be Annabeth. Percy told me about you," she says. Percy turns red. Annabeth just smiles.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Jackson." She says politely. Sally rolls her eyes good naturedly.

"Call me Sally, dear. Mrs. Jackson makes me feel old. Please, come in, both of you." She turns, Percy and Annabeth following.

The smell of cookies hangs in the air as Christmas music drifted from a speaker. A loud bark comes from the living room and a black dog charges Percy and Annabeth.

"Hi girl!" Percy says as his dog skids to an unceremonious stop. She flops onto her back, begging for a belly rub.

"You never told me you had a dog," Annabeth says brightly, catching the dog's attention. She scoots over to Annabeth, sniffing her legs.

"Oh. Well, her name's Mrs. O'Leary."

"Funny name,"

"Hey, I got her from a friend. Don't blame me."

"I'm not," Annabeth says, laughing as Mrs. O'Leary tries to lick her face.

"Percy!" A girl's voice says. Percy's sister sprints around the corner, plowing into her older brother.

"Hey, Stella!" Percy says, giving Estelle a hug.

"I missed you!" she says. "Oh, also I drew you a thing…" her voice trails off. "When did you get a girlfriend?" Percy reddens. It wasn't her fault she was in sixth grade, he reminds himself.

"Stella, that's not my girlfriend. That's Annabeth and she's my best friend." Estelle tilts her head and regards Annabeth.

"You're pretty," she blurts and runs off. Percy turns to Annabeth who was trying not to laugh.

"Sorry," he says. Annabeth shakes her head, smiling.

"Don't be. I have two younger brothers. They were like her." Percy shrugs and heads farther into the apartment.

Percy's step-dad is wrestling with the plastic tree. His grunts and curses filter through the green plastic.

"Gosh darn this stinkin' tree!" he says.

"Hey, Paul," Percy says. Paul pokes his head out from behind the tree, green bits of plastic stuck in his hair.

"Oh, hello, Percy! Who's your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Percy yelps. "This is Annabeth. My friend." He stresses the last word because that's an important fact. Paul nods, a smile on his face that says "Uh huh, sure buddy." Percy leads Annabeth back to his room where they dump their stuff. Annabeth immediately pulls Percy into a hug.

"Thanks, Percy. For inviting me." Percy wraps his arms around her, returning the hug.

"Anytime, Annabeth," They're silent for a moment, holding on a bit longer than friends should when Estelle decides to burst through the door. Percy quickly lets go of Annabeth and they step apart. Estelle regards them for a moment, her eyes narrowed.

"Dinner's ready," she announces. Annabeth steps out of the room while Estelle slams the door. "What were you doing?" she asks. Percy sighs, trying to open the door. "Percy, tell meee. Pleeease?"

"We hugged. She didn't have anywhere to go this Christmas and she was glad I invited her. Can I leave now?"

"Do you like her?" Estelle's bluntness catches Percy off-guard. He thinks about it for a minute.

"I'm not sure."

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Since Percy and Annabeth had arrived a few days before Christmas, they had some down time. Annabeth spent that time forcing Percy to take her shopping so she could get something for his family. While Annabeth was doing that, Percy discreetly bought some things that his parents and Estelle could give her. Being the good friend he was, he got her a book with a bunch of architecture pictures to give her himself. He figured she'd like it.

When Christmas Day finally arrived, Estelle woke Percy up by jumping on him from her bed. He'd been sleeping in her room while Annabeth took Percy's old room. Estelle proceeded to run around the apartment excitedly, waking up Mrs. O'Leary, whose tail banged against walls and probably made their neighbors think a SWAT team was entering. When Sally and Paul were sufficiently roused, they made their way to the living room. Estelle tore into her gifts with glee while Paul drowsily sipped coffee from a mug and held up his phone to document the day. Sally alternated between taking pictures of Annabeth, Percy, and Estelle and gathering up the discarded wrapping paper.

Annabeth had gotten Percy a pair of Dory socks that read "I forgot…" on the back. When he realized what it was, he'd given Annabeth the biggest hug he could. Annabeth's reaction to the architecture book wasn't as energetic, but she'd pulled Percy into a hug and whispered, "This is the best gift anyone has ever given me." Percy blushed. Estelle noticed and winked at him, which he responded to by sticking out his tongue like the mature person he was.

It snowed that day, so of course Estelle wanted to go outside. Which meant Percy got dragged out with her. Annabeth went too, only to alleviate Percy's inevitable boredom. Unbeknownst to Percy, the two girls decided to ambush him by throwing snowballs when his back was turned. Of course, Percy wasn't one to back down from a fight, so he started making some to throw back. And just his luck. He turns his back for two seconds and Annabeth's already built a fort.

"Oh come the fuck on!"

"Language!" Annabeth yells as Estelle laughs and they launch a barrage at Percy. He dodges the snowballs and charges the mound of snow. Estelle shrieks and jumps off. Annabeth's just cresting the pile when Percy tackles her. They tumble down the pile and stop. Percy freezes, literally because holy shit his feet are cold, and also, oh hey, that's Annabeth's face less than an inch from his. Her eyes are boring into his and her lips, chapped and dry from the cold, are really, really fucking close. Some of her blonde curls are escaping her hat and goddammit she looks like the most beautiful person Percy has ever seen.

"Hey, lovebirds! Get up! I'm goin' inside!" Estelle yells, breaking Percy out of his reverie and he rolls to the side. Annabeth stands up and offers a hand. Percy takes it and as he's getting up, she promptly pushes him back down. He curses and hurls a handful of snow at her back. Annabeth just laughs as Percy stands.

"You suck," he says, but there's a smile on his face and no hostility in his words. She links her arm with his, smiling from ear to ear.

"Cheer up, grouchy." Percy's not grouchy. In fact, he's positively delighted.

Later that night, when everyone else has gone to bed, they're sitting at the kitchen table munching through the cookies that Sally had made and scrolling aimlessly through their respective Instagram feeds and Snapchat stories. Jason and Piper put the same exact thing on their stories because of course they did. Leo posted a video of him getting wasted with some of his old foster siblings he'd met up with. Thalia and Reyna didn't post anything probably because they were getting high. Frank had a picture of Hazel out in the snow, a smile on her face, with the caption "Look at her. She looks like an angel." Hazel did the exact opposite. She had a video of Frank bawling his eyes out while they were watching the Jim Carrey Grinch movie. Her caption read "he started crying when Grinch's heart grew." A sudden flash catches Percy off guard and he looks up to see Annabeth smiling and tapping away at her phone.

"What'd you do?!" he says, spewing cookie crumbs across the table.

"You'll see," Annabeth says. After a few moments she says, "Okay, look at my profile." Percy does and he sees a post with his face in it. He swipes through the post. There's five pictures of him front the last few days, the last one being the picture Annabeth just took of him in mid-bite, about to chomp on Santa's half-eaten head. The caption reads, "Happy Christmas to the best friend I could ever ask for." Percy looks up and smiles at her. He finishes the cookie and slides his phone into his pocket.

"I'm gonna go to bed now."

"Good idea," Annabeth says, standing and stretching. Her shirt, technically Percy's, rides up her midriff slightly. Percy looks away, embarrassed. They head for Percy's room in the dark and right before Annabeth goes in, she pulls Percy for a hug.

"Thank you, Percy," she whispers. "For everything."

"Anytime," he says. She lets go after a moment and gives Percy a smile, before shutting the door softly.

Percy exhales and enters Estelle's room. He's sliding into his sleeping bag when Estelle leans over the edge of her mattress.

"I know you like her," his sister whispers.

"Shut up, Stella." Percy hisses. Estelle sighs and lays her head on her pillow. Yet as much as he denies it, Percy knows she's right.

Percy and Annabeth head back to campus two days later. Sally's trying not to cry as she hugs them goodbye. Estelle gives her brother a huge hug.

"Keep me posted, you idiot," she says. Percy rolls his eyes.

"Fine,"

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It's New Years Eve and everyone is at Piper's and Jason's. Golden streamers adorn the walls and ceiling while black and white balloons are rolling across the floor. Percy's friends are there, along with a bunch of other people that Percy knows, like a few swim teammates and their girlfriends, proxy friends, and so on. Percy's holding a drink of something in his hand and even though he's not entirely sure what it is, he just knows it's a drink. Annabeth's in the living room, laughing with Piper, looking like a literal angel again. Jason saunters up to him, already drunk.

"Percy! Happy New Year!" he shouts, then grins and leans in. "Are you gonna try and kiss Annabeeth?" he whispers. Percy hides his face and the growing blush behind his cup and shrugs.

Soon enough eleven fifty-nine and the countdown's begun.

"TEN!" Annabeth's gripping Percy's wrist and he's so happy.

"NINE!" The energy is through the roof.

"EIGHT!" Percy catches Piper's stare and she flicks her chin towards Annabeth. Percy flips her the bird.

"SEVEN!" Leo's standing on the couch with Calypso who's laughing her head off.

"SIX!" Hazel is on Frank's back and already starting to press kisses to his cheek.

"FIVE!"

"FOUR!"

"THREE!"

"TWO!"

""ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone yells. Fireworks explode outside and Percy lets out a whoop. He looks down at Annabeth who has the biggest smile on her face.

"Happy New Year, Percy!" She says and pulls Percy's face down to hers. They pull apart and Percy's fairly sure his breath smells like alcohol.

"Happy New Year, Annabeth."

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Percy wakes up the next morning to two things. A splitting headache and someone's back. He's on the couch, a blanket over top of him and, oh, that's Jason snoring and twitching. Percy closes his eyes. He needs more sleep.

When he wakes up again, it's because there's a lot of noise. He drowsily sits up and looks around. Oh, right. New Year's Day. The day of absolutely devastating hangovers and possible regrets.

"Percy!" Leo yells from the table. He has hickeys peeking out from beneath his shirt and Calypso's sitting next to him. "Can you make breakfast?" Percy rubs the sleep from his eyes and rolls over Jason, pulling them to the floor.

"In a minute," he groans. Jason chooses that moment to wake up.

"Hey, Percy," he says, yawning. Neither of them choose to extract themselves from the blanket. Piper walks in and sees her boyfriend and friend on the floor, wrapping in a burrito.

"Get up, lovers. Percy, you gonna make something?" Percy doesn't move.

"Me 'n' Jason are busy right now,"

"I've known the two of you for almost four years and I still don't know whether you're gay for each other or not."

"They can't be gay anyway," Nico says from his spot on the same couch. Percy jumps at his voice. "I'm gay." Piper sighs and mutters something under her breath, probably something about boys being Neanderthals.

Everyone's sitting at the table and Percy's passing out their respective dishes. Hazel decided to help and added her own little pizzazz to each dish. Once everyone has their food, Percy slides into a chair between Annabeth and Frank and starts pouring syrup all over his pancakes. Annabeth stares at the swampy mess.

"You're going to drown your pancakes," she says. Percy continues applying the syrup, then stops.

"Listen, Annabeth. My food is an extension of me. I am a swimmer. I don't drown. Therefore, my pancakes don't." He digs his fork into the stack and shovels a forkful into his mouth with gusto. Annabeth stares at the pancakes as she tries to work out what the fuck he means. Across the table, Thalia gives her a look that says "he does that shit on the daily, don't take it personally."

"So what're everyone's resolutions?" Piper asks.

"Make Nico mine by the summer," Will says, reaching for Nico's hand who hisses and ducks beneath the table like a cat.

"Kill men," Thalia grumbles from behind her coffee. Frank scoots away from her the tiniest bit.

"Make sure Thalia doesn't kill anyone," Reyna says, earning a glare from Thalia.

"I'm going to try and keep my grades above a C," Hazel says. "With no panic attacks or mental breakdowns." Everyone stares at her. Percy raises his cup of orange juice.

"You're attempting the impossible. I wish you luck, young Padawan." Everyone else raises their cups, or fork in Jason's case, in salute to Hazel.

"I'm gonna figure out how the fuck Percy makes his cookies," Piper says around a mouthful of the aforementioned cookie. "They're so damn good. Why didn't you go for a culinary degree?"

"Didn't want to. It's just fun. Like a hobby." Percy says. "Oh, and I guess my resolution is to get shit in order. I gotta lotta stuff that's just scattered." Annabeth grunts.

"Your room is a disaster. Could start by fixing that up." Percy sighs.

"Don't feel like it."

"Lazy bum."

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Percy was closing up when Annabeth walked in. This wasn't anything new, she'd been doing so for a few months now. They'd leave the pizza shop with a box or two of leftover food and head home. Annabeth's arms were full of binders and folders of work today, so Percy, being the apex of chivalry he was, carried some of it.

After getting home, and unceremoniously dumping their stuff in their rooms, Percy heads downstairs to make food. He's rifling through the fridge to find something to make when he hears soft footsteps against the floor. Percy pays Annabeth no attention, assuming she was simply sitting at the table, on her phone. Instead, a pair of arms slide around his midriff. Percy freezes, holding a cucumber. Annabeth exhales contentedly behind his back.

"Um, 'Beth?"

"Yeah?"

"What... ah… what're you doing?"

"Hugging you."

"Why?"

"Am I not allowed to hug a friend?" She asks quietly. Percy sighs and smiles, even though she can't see it.

"Nah, you are." He searches through the fridge again, pulls out a tomato, and catches a whiff of Annabeth's shampoo. It smells like lemon.

Later that night, after Mean Girls finishes (Annabeth insisted that Percy watch it, acting like the fact he'd never seen it was the greatest crime of all time), Percy's pulling on a pair of shorts when Annabeth appears in his doorway. He notices her and jumps. She laughs lightly.

"Fuckin' shit, 'Beth,"

"You- you jumped like five feet up, I can't-"

"Can it, Campbells."

"Did you just-"

"I said can it!" Percy yelps. She shakes her head before dropping her gaze to Percy's chest. Percy turns red.

"You don't have to get embarrassed, Percy, we've shared the same bed before. Be mature wouldja?" she says, walking farther in and flopping on her back onto Percy's mattress. "Oh my god, I forgot how comfortable this was." Percy stares at her. Several scenarios run through his mind and he quickly wipes them away. Bad brain.

"I suppose you're staying?" he asks. Annabeth grunts in confirmation. "Any possibility I can make you leave?" She shakes her head. Percy sighs and turns off the light, hopping on next to his friend, even though they were pushing the definition of friends. They lay in the dark for a moment, listening to the light taps of the rain beginning to fall, before Annabeth breaks the silence.

"What's this I hear about your bubble baths?" she whispers. Percy snorts.

"It's a long story. Jason walked in on me in the middle of one once. And then Nico got a bottle of it for my birthday because Jason squealed about it. And Piper made sure I never ran out." Annabeth's soft laughter fills the darkness. The rain pattered harder against the window, giving a sense of urgency, causing Percy's heart rate to suddenly spike.

"Why were you taking one in the first place?" A smile was in her voice.

"I was homesick," Percy admits. "I would always take one on Fridays. It was my escape from…" he trails off, not finishing the thought.

"Oh," Annabeth says.

"I still enjoy them because they're relaxing. It's nice." He feels Annabeth move next to him and he looks over. She's facing him, those gray eyes, full of wisdom beyond her years, reflecting the street lights. It was a repeat of that one night. Percy's heart began beating faster as he shifts to face her.

"The more I learn about you, the more surprised I am. You're special, Percy Jackson." Without much warning, Annabeth kisses him. Her lips are soft and warm, the touch of her fingers gentle against his face.

It lasted only a few seconds before Annabeth pulls away.

"Good night, Percy," she whispers and turns over. Percy tries to steady his breathing, not wanting to wake her up. His heart is trying to push out of his chest and he's fairly sure she hears it. He wants it to happen again, to kiss her and feel her body against his and to hold her. But he doesn't move. And he doesn't know why.

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Percy tells Piper about the kiss and she absolutely loses it.

"I like her, Pipes. A lot."

"I know you do."

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Percy's working again a few days later, dealing with the evening rush. A decent amount of people came in because apparently the pizza was really good. He had just given the latest customer change when he saw Annabeth walk in with the rest of their friends. He takes their orders ("Jesus jetfuel Christ Leo, we don't have that many fucking peppers!"), takes a few more customers ("No, Drew, I don't want to come over."), then delivers his friends' food and sits down with them, since his shift was over. It's chaotic and messy and no one in the place gives a shit because everyone there is also in college and Percy's just so damn happy.

The group is united in the struggle that is college assignments. Jason spends a decent chunk of time with his forehead in his history textbook, bemoaning how much work there is. Percy absentmindedly pats his head.

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"I don't think I should." Percy says.

"Oh re-lax, drama queen," Piper replied over the phone. "Just do it."

"Are you sure?" Percy asks, trying to get Piper to talk him out of it.

"My god, yes Percy." She's exasperated now. Percy hears the front door open downstairs, hears Annabeth yell, "Percyy! I'm home!"

"She's home," Percy says, his heartbeat quickening and adrenaline starting to flow through his veins. "I can't do this."

"Yes the fuck you can!" Piper exclaims and hangs up. Percy sighs. Welp. Here goes nothing.

He walks downstairs slowly, hearing Annabeth humming the tune to a song he doesn't know. His heartbeat is roaring in his ears now.

"Hey 'Beth?" he hears himself say. "Can we talk for a sec?" No going back now. Annabeth looks up at him from her spot at the table, slight concern etching through her brow.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you like me?" Percy blurts. Annabeth gives a confused laugh and lowers her eyebrows.

"Of course I do. You're my best friend." That part stings, but Percy forges on.

"No, like, do you have feelings for me. A crush. Those kinds of feelings." Annabeth frowns.

"Uh, no? Like I said, you're my best friend." She turns her attention back to whatever she's working on and it's quiet for a moment.

"Best friends don't kiss each other." Good one, he thinks. Annabeth sets her pencil down and looks at Percy, raising an eyebrow.

"I've kissed Piper before. She's one of my best friends."

"But she's a girl. I'm not. And you didn't kiss her on the lips."

"Percy, what are you getting at?"

"I just… you've been giving me signals that you like me and I thought… I dunno… that maybe you did." For some reason, Annabeth gets mad.

"Percy, I don't like you," she snaps. "You are one of my best friends. Is it a rule that all guys have to date a girl that's friendly towards them?"

"What?! No! But you fucking kissed me, Annabeth, in my bed where we slept together. If you don't like me, you're sure as hell leading me on!"

"It was platonic!"

"Bullshit, a kiss on the fucking lips isn't fucking platonic!"

"Why does it matter?!" Annabeth yells.

"Because I really like you!"

"Oh, so now it's about you!"

"It's about both of us!"

"Well, I don't like you Percy and quite frankly, I can't be here right now." Annabeth crams her stuff into her bag and stalks towards the front door, flinging it open. "I'll be at Pipers," she says harshly. "Don't call me." The door slams shut.

Percy doesn't move for a moment, thinking about the clusterfuck that just went down. Then the reality of it comes crashing down. He sinks to the floor, his back against the wall.

"Fuck," he says.

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Next part will be up, I just have no idea when. Hopefully soon, but I have school work and I'm working on something else that's gonna be amazing. Just review, follow, and favorite, plz. It helps my motivation a lot.