Percy's P.O.V

We didn't end up watching Mulan after dinner, instead the twins wanted all the time they had left with Annabeth to be spent racing on Mario Kart 8. Knowing we had a 5am flight back to New York, Annabeth and I had attempted an early night and turned in when the twins had.

It hadn't really turned out that way for me, as I didn't fall asleep until 1am and I was unsurprisingly exhausted when my alarm sounded at three in the morning. I dressed and packed the last couple of things before making my way downstairs as quietly as I could.

Annabeth was already downstairs as was her dad and Helen, the twins were still asleep, we'd said our goodbyes last night knowing we'd be up early.

"Did you sleep at all Seaweed Brain?" She asked me.

"Not really, how'd you sleep Wise Girl?" I asked.

"Better than you apparently" she replied, but judging by how tired she looked, it wasn't better by much.

Mrs. Chase had made us breakfast to go even though we insisted we'd be okay. Mr. Chase also refused to let us take a cab to the airport and insisted on driving us. Mr. Chase and I packed the car up as Annabeth said goodbye to her step-mom. When I said goodbye Mrs. Chase told me I was welcome back anytime, which I really appreciated.

The trip to the airport was quick due to it being really early in the morning and also a Sunday. Annabeth and I said goodbye to Mr. Chase before checking our bags in so he could get back home to bed.

"Thank you, Percy," Annabeth said to me as we sat by our gate waiting to board.

"What for?" I asked.

"Convincing me to do this, it's the most fun I've had with my family in ages, so thank you." She said.

"I had fun too" I said, "And we got all our studying done, and completed our coursework finals, I call that a productive weekend."

She laughed, I really loved her laugh it warmed my heart every time I heard it.

"I am glad you had fun though" I said seriously, "You're family's nice" I added.

"I felt included for the first time in a long time, so thank you".

"Anytime Wise Girl" I replied happy to hear that she felt included in her family.

Thinking back to the events of the weekend I remembered I'd taken a picture of her and her brothers while they were saying goodbye yesterday that I'd forgotten to send to her. I thought maybe I'd hold on to it and I'd get it printed for her for Christmas. I didn't get to revel in my idea for long though because we were called to board.

I was grateful to be back on solid ground when we landed in JFK, as much as I had enjoyed my time with Annabeth and her family, it would be a while before I stepped foot on another plane.

I dropped Annabeth at her apartment thirty minutes later and then made my way back to my apartment. We agreed even though we'd made a deal study when we got home today that we were both just too tired.

I dropped my bags on the floor as I entered my room and crashed out on the bed thinking of Annabeth and her beautiful smile, even if it was only just after half two in the afternoon.

I woke to the sound of my phone ringing.

"Hello?" I said groggily, without checking who it was.

"Percy!" My sister's voice came over the phone. I pulled the phone away from my ear to see that she'd called me on mom's phone.

"Estelle, is everything okay?" I asked.

"No" she replied, and I sat to attention in me bed and checked the alarm clock, 4pm.

"What's wrong?" I asked, a little panicked, "Is mom okay?"

"You said you'd be here today and you're not." She said, and she sounded sad. I breathed out. I'd totally forgotten in my state of exhaustion that I had promised to hang out with Estelle when I got back.

"I'm sorry Estelle, I'll be over soon, I promise." I said.

Remembering Annabeth still had my NYU hoody, I grabbed my old swim team hoody from high school and my keys and darted out the apartment. I couldn't believe I had forgotten that I said I'd hang out with my little sister, how awful was that?!

Fifteen minutes later I was sat watching Disney films with Estelle while mom cooked dinner and Paul graded papers in the kitchen. Today we were watching Aladdin, the animated version not the life action.

"Percy?"

"Yes Estelle?" I asked trying my best to stay focused on the task in hand and not fall asleep.

"Can I have my hair like that?" She asked pointing at Jasmine on the screen.

"I'm sure you could, yes" I replied not fully understanding the effect of my words until she got up and ran to her room. She returned moments later with her hairbrush, and several hair bobbles. "Oh, you mean like right now?" I asked and she nodded and looked at me with her sea green eyes that reflected my own, making them as wide as possible so she looked very much like the baby seal I told her stories about. The look that she had perfected and knew I just couldn't say no too.

"Alright then" I said gesturing for her to sit on the floor in front of me while I used my phone to find instructions on how to do her hair the way she wanted.

It took me a while but eventually I found one that looked like I could follow it. After two attempts I asked her to go and look in the mirror to see what she thought. She ran back to me moments later and gave me a hug.

"Thanks Percy" she said before sitting back down next to me on the sofa.

"You're welcome Estelle." I said smiling, happy that I was able to do stuff like this with her before she grew bored of hanging out with her older brother because she had her own friends. I knew the day would come so I just decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

Mom called us for dinner and Estelle ran through, while I stopped the film.

"Paul did you know that we had Princess Jasmine attending dinner this evening?" My mom asked Paul as I walked in, she noticed me out of the corner of her eye and winked at me like it was the best kept secret and smiled.

"Why no, I don't believe I did Sally, what an honour indeed" Paul said, Estelle laughed at them.

"Mom, Dad it's not Jasmine, it's me! Estelle!" She declared brightly smiling up at mom and Paul as she sat at the table.

"Is it really?" Paul said feigning surprise and pretending to squint to get a better look at her. "Well so it is" he replied smiling at her reaching out a hand to ruffle her hair like he always did. Estelle quickly moved out of the way.

"Dad don't ruin the hair!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry, old habits" he chuckled to himself, my mom smiled endearingly at Paul.

I smiled as I sat down at the table, I loved them all and I was incredibly lucky to have them.

Piper's P.O.V

Jason and I had literally just finished cleaning up the apartment after the party from last night and were sitting on the sofa trying to decide what to watch on TV when the apartment door opened. Annabeth walked in looking absolutely shattered. If I didn't know any better, I'd have said she was the one who was out partying last night not me.

"Hey" I said as she dropped her keys on the table near the door before sitting in the chair she always used to read.

"Hey Piper, Jason, how was the party?" she asked.

"It was good, you should see Hazel and Frank together now they're dating they're so cute" I said, she smiled and nodded. "How was home?" I asked tentatively knowing she normally didn't like to talk about it.

"It was good" she said before standing and yawning "I'm going to go for a nap, sorry, can we catch up tomorrow?" She asked.

"Sure, don't forget to set your alarm you have a final tomorrow." I reminded her, normally I wouldn't have too but she looked so tired, I did just to be on the safe side.

"Good plan" She said taking her phone from her pocket and setting an alarm before disappearing into her room.

Jason who had been silent for the exchange said, "I know I haven't known Annabeth that long, but that was odd right?"

"Very" I agreed, "Normally, she just shrugs when I ask her about a visit home and that's the only answer I get. That was a major improvement and to nap a day before a final is basically unheard of."

To say my interest was piqued about the events of the weekend in San Francisco would be an understatement.

"I'll text Percy, see what he'll tell me" Jason said as we settled in to watch Definitely, Maybe.

I didn't really pay attention to the film as I really wanted to know how Annabeth's weekend had gone. Unfortunately, Percy didn't text Jason back, so I would have to wait.

Annabeth walked into Jackson's with Thalia. She'd had her History of Architecture final this morning. I'd had a free morning in terms of classes and finals but spent it studying for my web coding final.

"Your normal black coffee?" I asked Thalia, I had already put my apron on, as Annabeth went to hang up her stuff.

"Great thanks Piper, how's that little brother of mine?" She asked and I felt myself blush. Thalia hadn't been able to make the party at the weekend.

"He's good" I said passing her the coffee.

"I've hardly seen him because you guys have been spending so much time together and that's all I get? He's good?" She said teasing me. Thalia and I had developed a friendship relatively quickly since Jason and I started dating, especially since she and Annabeth were such good friends.

"He's picking me up later, Mrs. Blofis has shortened our shifts because it's final's week, so Annabeth and I are finishing at 7pm, why don't you meet us here we can catch up with some food later and you can ask him." I smiled and then added "Also you can help me interrogate Annabeth about her weekend at home."

She raised an eyebrow at me in question before taking a sip of her coffee. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Annabeth was still in the back before saying "She came home exhausted, said her time at home was good and then went for a nap and that's all I know so far on the matter."

She raised her eyebrows again in surprise and I just nodded in understanding as Annabeth made her way out to the counter.

"In that case I'll see you at seven." Thalia said, before leaving.

"What was that about?" Annabeth asked as she picked up an empty tray to clear tables.

"I invited Thalia to hang out later after work" I told her. not technically a lie, but not the whole truth either.

Annabeth's P.O.V

So far, my day had been going relatively well. I managed to get up on time for my final which with how little sleep I'd had the night before, it was a miracle that I didn't sleep through it. The exam itself, went well, I'm pretty sure I passed.

Work had gone rather quickly as Mrs. Blofis had reduced our hours for finals week to allow us time to study, which I was always grateful for. I wanted to get one more practice test in tonight before my last exam, it was for my Materials V class. I was pretty confident. It was on materials used for construction and their properties and which were best suited for different structures.

I'd passed the two practice tests I'd done with Percy with 95% but I still wanted to do one more before tomorrow afternoon. Then all I had left to do was double check my blueprint for Thursday and that was finals week done for me.

Thalia had met us at the coffee shop at the end of our shift as had Jason. The three of them were now out in the living area of the apartment while I did my practice test for tomorrow's materials final. I was about halfway through when Thalia called me.

"Annabeth! Your phone is ringing!" She yelled.

"I'm busy, I'll call back later!" I shouted and tried to zone out the noise again to finish this test.

"Who's Seaweed Brain anyway?" She yelled.

"Thalia, I'm trying to do a test, answer it if you're that concerned!" I shouted back.

I didn't mind her answering my phone if it was Percy. She was his cousin after all. I turned my focus once again to my practice test and this time Thalia didn't interrupt me.

It was almost nine when I decided to call it quits on my studying. If I didn't know it now, I wouldn't know it tomorrow. Pretty sage advice that Percy had given me back in San Francisco. I'd managed to get a 98 on the practice test so I was pretty happy with that.

"How'd the practice test go?" Piper asked me once I'd joined them in the living area.

"Good, I got a 98" I replied picking up my phone to check my messages I had a few.

Unknown: Where were you this weekend? I missed you.

Okay? Creepy I deleted it and blocked the number and moved on.

Seaweed Brain: Hi Wise Girl? How did your final go?

I responded to that one.

Annabeth: Hi Seaweed Brain, sorry I missed your call. Did Thalia answer in the end? My final went okay, how did yours go?

"Hey Annabeth" Thalia's voice drew my attention away from my phone. "Is that a new hoody?"

"Huh?" I responded – 'real eloquent Annabeth', I thought, I hadn't really paid attention to what I had changed into when we got back from Jackson's. I'd just picked something comfortable. I realised looking down that I was wearing Percy's purple NYU hoody. Crap! Of course, Thalia would notice that mine was grey and this one wasn't, I mentally slapped myself for not paying attention while changing earlier.

"Oh, no its not new, I borrowed it over the weekend, I should return it actually." I said making a mental note to give Percy his hoody back even though it was comfy and smelled just like him.

Smelled just like him? Since when did I care about that?

"So, it's Percy's" she said, and I nodded.

"So how was the weekend trip home with him?" Thalia asked, and I could see Piper was just as curious, as if she'd been waiting all day to find out.

"It was good" I said just like I had yesterday when Piper asked. I thought back to the Friday, I'd been dreading going home to see my family. But it had actually turned out to be, well, a fun weekend all in all. I found myself smiling as I thought about it.

"Okay – so what happened then?" Thalia asked impatiently "because you never smile like that when we talk about you going home." She stated. She wasn't wrong. I avoided talking about my trips home normally.

"Well, it actually started off rather strangely, we got to the airport in plenty of time and there was an earlier flight, so they moved us up to that, Percy was as white as a sheet when we were waiting to board – did you know he is afraid of flying? Seaweed Brain-"

"Hold up" Thalia interrupted "Percy is Seaweed Brain?" she asked.

"Yeah" I said confused as to why that mattered.

"Carry on" she said and gestured for me to keep talking so I did, though she was giving me an odd look.

"Anyway," I continued, "he needed a distraction and he said he'd tell me why the cookies he'd dropped off the other day were blue, so I asked him about that. He told me about the cookies and the reason behind why they were blue and about the Walrus- "

I was interrupted again.

"He did not?" Jason said and Thalia looked just as shocked, whereas Piper just looked utterly confused.

"I'm sorry but what does a Walrus have to do with cookies being blue?" Piper asked.

"Everything," I replied "The Walrus told the Seal there was no such thing as blue food and thus blue cookies became a thing, anyway-" I tried again. But again I was interrupted, it was starting to get a little annoying, not being able to say more than a few words before one of them interrupted.

"He didn't – he showed you the story?" Thalia asked.

"No, he told me the story, it was a distraction thing, so anyway we boarded the plane and I told him about how I met you and Luke, and how I met Piper, I told him about Josh." I said.

"Next you're going to say he told you about Rachel and Cali" Jason said.

"Are they the penguin and the dolphin?" I asked genuinely curious, Jason and Thalia looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Piper still looked confused, and I didn't blame her. "What?" I asked.

"Okay, two things. One: he never, never, tells anyone about the Walrus period. Two: he never shares his writing with anyone except Estelle and she's never heard those stories because, well, because of what they're about." Jason said.

"Yeah," Thalia cut in "The only reason we know about the Walrus is because we were around when he was. And the only reason we know about the stories is because we found the files on his computer, but we were never allowed to read them. I can't believe he just told you." She said.

"I'm sure it's not that big of a deal, it was just to distract him from the fear of being on the plane and it worked apart from y'know take-off and landing." I said trying to gloss over it all pretty quickly. But I knew it had been a big deal, I was just now starting to understand how much of a big deal it had really been.

"Sorry can we just back up a bit" Piper said "You told him about Josh? And he opened up to you too, not that I really understand about what, did you tell him about the Luke thing as well?" She asked, I debated lying and saying no, but eventually I nodded in response.

"But you never tell anyone about them!" Piper said in surprise and I shrugged, I didn't really know what to tell her, I just kind of poured my heart out to Percy on the plain and I got the feeling he had done the same.

"Just sort of happened" I said, and now Jason was the one looking confused and like he was missing information, but thankfully he didn't ask.

"So, what happened when you landed?" Piper asked, the three of them hanging on my every word and I wasn't really sure whether I wanted that or not, but I did answer the question.

"Dad picked us up and took us home, he met Helen. The twins were out, so we studied until they got home for dinner." I said.

"You went all that way to study?" Jason asked sounding sceptical.

"Well yeah its finals week this week, I wasn't going to not study for my tests." I said like this was obvious.

"Don't try and understand the logic behind it Li'l bro, just accept that it's Annie's way" Thalia said, and Piper nodded along with her.

"Don't call me Annie" I sighed, how many times would I have to tell that I didn't like it?

"So, you and Percy studied then you had dinner, then what happened?" Piper asked.

"Let me guess, you studied." Thalia said, Piper laughed, and Jason, bless him, still looked confused.

"Actually no," I surprised them all by saying, "It was my plan, but the Twins wanted to race on one of their games and Percy challenged me, so that's what we did." I said as casually as I could because, it wasn't really that big of a deal.

"That's it the world's ending Annabeth Chase didn't spend all her time at home studying and not interacting with her family!" Piper declared dramatically. I just rolled my eyes.

"So, you raced, then what happened?" Thalia asked.

"Well, I said I'd race but only if he'd do an extra practice test for calculus if I won, he agreed but said if he won, I'd have to take the afternoon as a break from studying." I replied, "We ended up racing until 11pm, before calling it a night." I said.

"So, who won?" Jason asked.

"We called it draw" I said, and Thalia groaned.

"So, no-one won the bet" Thalia said, "And you spent all day studying fun." When I didn't confirm right away, she perked up and said, "Or not?"

Eventually I got to the end of my story about my time away from New York with Percy, it took a while with all the interruptions and the questions, but we got there in the end.

By the time I'd finished my tale Percy had texted me back.

Seaweed Brain: No, she didn't. It went okay. Still on for calculus tomorrow, after your final?

Annabeth: Yes- meet you at Jackson's?

Seaweed Brain: Great! See you then!

"So, when are you seeing him again?" Piper asked, me implying it would be a date.

"I'm helping him with calculus at the coffee shop tomorrow." I replied, and they all groaned. "What?" I asked.

"Annabeth don't take this the wrong way," Jason said, "but even I can tell that he clearly likes you and you clearly like him."

"We're just friends" I said but I felt less sure of that distinction now.

Percy had managed to get me to break out of my own little bubble and interact and enjoy spending time with my family. He'd managed to break down the walls surrounding my heart that were there because of Luke and Josh. He'd managed to get me to tell him about Luke and Josh without asking or prying. And I had felt safe enough to tell him of my own accord.

We had studied as well but he'd also managed to get me to let him in, further than I'd let anyone in, in a long time. I wasn't sure what to do about that now. I mean he was attractive, there was no denying it, he had perfect sea green eyes, and messy black hair that looked perfect without him even trying. He knew what he wanted to achieve in life, which I also found incredibly attractive.

My stomach started with little nervous jitters just thinking about all the fun we'd had together over the past few weeks that we'd known each other. I was slowly coming to the realisation that I liked Percy a lot more than I had originally thought I did.

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~Author's Note~

Hi All thank you so much for reading this chapter, I really hope you enjoyed!

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