Chapter 16

-Percy-

"I hate this."

He and Annabeth are sitting in his living room. Sally is out on a date with Paul while Annabeth tries to help Percy with his math homework.

She rolls her eyes and leans close to him, pressing the eraser of her pencil to his paper as she speaks.

"It's very simple, Percy. Watch how I do it."

She copies his equation on her own piece of paper and walks him through step by step until she finishes it.

"Show off. You make this look easy," he grumbles.

"But do you understand how I did it?"

"So the answer is 32?"

"Percy." Her voice is stern.

"Alright, I guess it makes sense," he replies, raising his hands in surrender.

"Then try the next problem by yourself," she commands him.

"You know you're very distracting," Percy muses.

"Oh am I?" she asks him, raising an eyebrow. "How so?"

"You just are. Your eyes, your hair, your-"

Annabeth smiles and smacks his chest. "Knock it off, Seaweed Brain. Just do the next problem and you might get a reward out of it."

That peaks his interest. "What kind of reward?"

"That is to be determined when you finish the problem," she replies, kissing his cheek as a clue.

He flashes her his signature lopsided smile and gets to work. Getting it started is easy enough but halfway through the problem he gets stuck. His eyes look to the previous problem he did and he starts using it at a reference - following each step and replacing the previous numbers with the current ones. Pretty soon, he finally manages to complete the problem and leans back so Annabeth can take a look.

Her stormy grey eyes study the equation, searching for any mistakes. Her focused expression changes into a giddy smile and she looks up at Percy.

"You got it!"

"All right! So do I get that reward?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes and her smile softens.

"Yes you get your reward," she says as she grabs his shirt and pulls him into a kiss.

He hums and tries to deepen it after a few moments, wrapping his arms around her - but she quickly pulls away and pins his arms to his side.

"No. Not until you finish your homework," she says, but she sounds just as affected as he is.

Percy gives her his puppy eyes and pokes out his bottom lip in an attempt to guilt her into kissing him again.

She bites her own lip but manages to hold herself back.

"Not this time, Seaweed Brain."

He groans but uses her challenge as inspiration to finish his work. It takes him about an hour to finish -during which Annabeth had gotten up multiple times and even put a pizza in the oven for them to eat while he worked.

He drops his pencil onto the table when he finishes and leans back on the couch.

"Am I done?"

Annabeth looks over his worksheet and a smile forms on her face.

"Yup. And you did it well this time."

Percy breathes an exaggerated sigh of relief, forgetting about Annabeth's promise to him for a moment. She laughs and takes his hand, pulling him up off the couch and towards his room.

"Where are you taking me?" he asks her.

"Your room, duh," was her reply.

She grins at him and pulls him into his room, shutting the door behind her. As soon as she heard the click of the latch, she pulled Percy by the shirt to her and kissed him. He rests his hands around her waist, holding her close to him as he kisses her back.

She hums into the kiss and bites his lip so she can slip her tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss. Annabeth's hands snake around his neck and brush through his hair.

They pull away and gaze into each other's eyes, both of them feeling breathless.

"So was doing your homework worth it?" Annabeth asks him.

Percy's eyes search hers for a moment before he smiles. "Yeah."

"Good. I'm not going to do this every time, though," Annabeth says with a smirk, earning her a groan of fake disappointment.

"Aww but I need something to work for," he complains.

Annabeth sticks her tongue out at him. "Sucks to be you."

She lets go of him and climbs onto his bed, patting the spot next to her after she gets comfortable.

Percy laughs, knowing what she wants. Sometimes they sit in his bed while they watch something together either on his phone or on his laptop. Usually, she curls up to him while they watch whatever show or movie they put on, which tends to end up with them making out or one of them falling asleep.

"Beth, we should probably go to the living room this time so Mom doesn't get upset," he says, though he doesn't sound happy about it.

He would rather stay in his room with her, but last time his mom walked in on them while Annabeth was on top of him in a way that was not at all innocent. They weren't doing anything compromising but Sally knew what to say to embarrass the two teens.

"I don't want to see little Percys and Annabeths running around my apartment just yet, you two!"

"It'll be fine, Perce. We won't do anything she won't like," Annabeth promises.

They've already established that they'll tell each other if they're doing something they don't like and Percy trusts her. He only hopes she can trust him though so far he hasn't done anything that would make her think otherwise.

"Well, we should at least keep the door open," he says then. Annabeth agrees so he opens the door before hopping onto the bed next to her.

He pulls up his laptop and hovers the mouse over all the streaming apps on it.

"Which one? Hulu? Netflix?"

He glances at Annabeth when she doesn't respond and sees a blush on her cheeks.

"What?"

She blinks at him. "What?"

"You're blushing at me," he says.

Her blush deepens. "No I'm not."

Percy smiles. "Yes you are. What are you thinking about?"

She bites her bottom lip, clearly a bit embarrassed.

"It's something Piper joked about a while back."

"Oh? What was it?"

"You really want to know?" she asks him. "I mean, it's not the worst thing ever but it's stupid that it just came back to me right now."

"Is it going to make me supposedly hate you?"

"No."

He sits up a bit more and looks at her, obviously wanting to hear it.

Annabeth sighs. "Piper said something about us and Netflix while she and I were shopping the other day. Said we could 'Netflix and chill'."

Heat climbs up Percy's neck. "Oh... Wait, so... We're not doing that, are we?"

Annabeth can't help but laugh, but her face is red. "God, no! I'm not ready to risk a kid!"

"Okay, not trying to encourage this or anything, but what if we had protection?"

Annabeth glances at him, mixed feelings in her eyes. "No! Well... At least not now, anyway. Besides do you even have that?"

Percy shrugs and grins mischievously. "Maybe..."

Annabeth smacks his arm and he laughs.

"I'm kidding! No, I don't have any of that!"

Annabeth makes a face at him. "That's what I thought, Seaweed Brain."

Percy chuckles and wraps his arm around her shoulders as she picks out a movie. His mind drifts to the thought of he and her having a family someday. It fills his stomach with butterflies and makes his heart do flips. He knows anything could happen between now and then that could tear them apart, but he realizes that Annabeth has done so much for him in such a short amount of time - getting Rachel to confess to basically everyone in school that he's not what she claimed he was, thus clearing his name. People started giving him a chance and so far things are looking good. She's defended him more than once even though she barely knew him and that's something he couldn't repay her for. He's not staying with her out of obligation though. Doing that feels fake and he hates when people do something fake like that. His feelings for her aren't just real, but they're growing even stronger.

He's falling in love with her.

...

-Annabeth-

She looks up at Percy halfway through the movie and sighs. It's just what she suspected. She's curled up next to him, her head on his shoulder and hand on his chest - she could feel the change in his breathing but she needed to be sure. His eyes are closed and his head fallen to one side, away from hers. He's asleep.

"Can't go one movie without one of us sleeping, huh?" she says softly.

As annoying as it can be, she can't get upset about it. She can't bring herself to wake him up because he looks so peaceful when he sleeps, but she really does need to get up and stretch. She shuffles a bit in an attempt to get up, but his arm is still curled around her, securing her to him. She pinches his side a bit and his other hand swats at hers, making her smile. She does it again and this time Percy stirs. His head flops over so it's facing her and his eyes twitch open.

"Hey sleepy head," she says.

"Hey," he says with a yawn. He stretches his arms a bit, allowing Annabeth to sit up. "What time is it?"

"We're just halfway through the movie. It hasn't been long."

"Halfway? Is mom home yet?"

"Nope, she's still out."

Percy nods and his head drops back onto his pillow. "I'm so tired..."

"I've noticed, but we can't fall asleep here," Annabeth reminds him.

"It's my room, I can sleep here whenever I want," he protests.

Annabeth raises an eyebrow at him. "Maybe, but are you going to leave me all alone?"

"You can join me," he says, without skipping a beat.

Heat rises to her face. "Percy, you know we can't do that."

Not yet, at least...

He groans and sits up, rubbing his eyes.

"Fine. I'll try to stay awake then."

"You usually don't nap, do you?" she asks him with an amused smirk.

"Not usually, no," he replies.

The movie is still playing so Annabeth reaches over Percy and hits the spacebar, sitting back up right after.

"So what do you want to do now?" she asks.

Percy shrugs. "I dunno. Swimming isn't an option right now. Maybe we could go for a walk?"

Annabeth glances out the window. "It's getting dark outside, so probably not a walk."

Percy shrugs. "Yeah probably not."

"We could sit outside for a bit?" she suggests. "On the fire escape?"

"It's too cold outside," he says.

"There's no winning, is there?" she asks him.

Percy laughs. "Against you? Never."

"Against me? What about you?" she protests. "You're shooting down every idea I come up with."

He smiles at her and pokes her side, making her squirm and jump away from him. "Oh no, you're not doing that!"

"You wanted to do something," he replies innocently, but the smile on his face is that of mischief.

"Tickling me isn't want I had in mind," she replies, slowly backing towards the bedroom door while Percy slowly approaches.

"Alright, well, how about you think of something to do while I do this," he says as he lunges for her to tickle her but she backpedals out of the room and runs to the living room, shouting in protest.

Percy chases Annabeth around his apartment for a few minutes until he finally corners her.

"Percy," Annabeth pleads, though she's laughing. "Let me go."

"Never," he challenges.

She tries to run around him but he catches her and holds her close. He starts tickling her sides and she shrieks with laughter, smacking his arms in a futile attempt to break free.

"Peeerrcyy!" she screams with her laughter, but he doesn't stop.

Soon, Annabeth is rolling on the floor, being tickled in various places like her neck, stomach, and sides. With her feet kicking at him, Percy doesn't dare go for them.

The front door opens and Sally walks in with Paul. She starts calling out that they're home, but she doesn't even get the first words out before Annabeth's laughter cut into their ears.

Percy must've heard the door open because he looks up for a moment, grinning when he sees them standing near the couch. "Oh, hi Mom! Hey Paul!"

Annabeth takes advantage of the distraction and swiftly gets away from Percy, taking refuge behind Sally. "Ha! Now what are you gonna do?"

"What was going on?" Paul asks Annabeth.

"Percy's being mean," she replies, poking her tongue out at Percy.

"It was a tickle fight," he says in defense.

"A very one sided tickle fight," Annabeth says. She picks up a pillow from the couch next to them and throws it at Percy, who swats it away, laughing.

"Well it certainly sounds like you two were having fun. Did Percy finish his homework?" Sally asks.

Annabeth smiles. "As promised, he's got it all done. And since finals are coming up, I'll even make sure he studies for them."

Percy frowns - not at all thrilled with the thought of studying. "I don't need to study, though."

Annabeth stares at him. "Yes you do. I'll make you study."

"Good luck getting me to do anything like that," he states, which earns him a look from Annabeth.

"Oh I'll make sure you do," she says, walking over to him and placing her hands on her hips.

"Is that a challenge, miss Chase?" he taunts.

"You're the one challenging me, Mr. Jackson," she retorts. She gives him a sweet smile and places her fingers under her chin. "After all, I have my ways to get you to study."

Percy's eyes lock onto hers and his breathing hitches - obviously entranced by her touch. Annabeth winks at him and starts walking away from him, letting her fingers scrape under his chin. He lets out a sound from his throat, like a soft whimper, as he watches her grab her coat.

"Well, I should probably start getting home before it gets too late," she says.

"Wait," Percy says, reaching out to her. "Um... why don't you stay for dinner?"

"Well, Paul and I already had dinner, so the kitchen's all yours," Sally says.

Annabeth smiles. "Well..."

"It'll be boring without you, Beth," Percy says.

Annabeth bites her lip, pretending to be thinking about it. Of course she wants to stay longer, and dinner with Percy, just the two of them, sounds nice. Especially since Percy knows how to cook and she absolutely loves his cooking.

"I don't know," she says in a sing song tone. "What would we have for dinner?"

"Well, we're kinda limited to what we have here at the moment, but I could always run to the store and get stuff," Percy offers.

"And who's money would you be using, young man?" Sally asks him.

"I could go with him," Annabeth speaks up. "I wouldn't mind paying for groceries."

"I can't let you do that, Beth," Percy says, though the look on his face is that of gratitude. "Besides, I've got money saved up from when I worked with the Di Angelos."

"I thought you spent that money," Sally says, a puzzled expression formed on her face.

"Not all of it. I still have plenty of it left."

"Alright, suit yourself. But I do want you having a job during your senior year. It would be good experience to have when you go off to college."

"If I get into college," he corrects.

"No, I'll make sure you make it in," Annabeth says. "You're not going to flunk school and make me leave you behind, Seaweed Brain."

"Seaweed Brain? Never heard that one before," Sally says, laughing.

"I don't know where she got it from, either," Percy says, trying and failing to be convincing.

"Yes you do. Now, what's for dinner?" Annabeth asks. She's still holding her coat in case they do go out to the store first.

"What are you in the mood for?" Percy asks.

...

Annabeth leans back against the backrest of her chair, breathing a sigh of contentment. Percy is sitting across from her and he's also looking content with their meal, the remains of which are left sitting in the large dish on the table. She had requested lasagna so they had to go to the store to get the ingredients for it. There may have been a couple times where they've gotten distracted in the store - mostly because Percy had found some foam swords in the toy aisle and decided to fight Annabeth with them. Naturally, he won that fight, but that's only because Annabeth warned him not to let her win. She hates it when things get handed to her on a silver platter, especially because she grew up with that sort of treatment. Always getting something she wants, at times even without asking about it; As a young girl, she enjoyed just having to look at something and getting it, but as she grew older, she quickly began to realize that she'd rather work for something than let it be handed to her. She knew that her childhood wasn't how the world worked. While most kids looked up to her and envied her, she always wanted to have a normal life like they did.

When they had returned from the store, Percy got right to work making the sauce and cooking the ground beef and everything while Annabeth sat at the table and watched him. She was amazed at how easily he did everything - the noodles were cooking in one corner of the stove while the sauce and meat were in two other pans. It looked to her like he's been doing this for a long time.

Dating a guy that can cook, she'd think to herself. Can't get any better than that.

Just when she thinks she understands Percy, he surprises her with something new that just makes him look even better.

"That was delicious," she sighs,

"Why thank you." The smile he gives her makes her melt. She knows he knows it drives her crazy when he does it. He doesn't even try anything - he just smiles and that's it for her.

...

"Percy, seriously?"

"I'm not good with this, okay?"

"You know mythological history better than your own country's?" Annabeth raises her eyebrows at her boyfriend in disappointed surprise.

"Hey! I know the major events well enough!" he objects.

"Lewis and Clark were important people in our history!"

"But they weren't interesting to me!"

"What could be more interesting than exploration?" Annabeth asks him.

Without skipping a beat, Percy replies, "You."

Laughter erupts beside them and Percy glances over at Jason and Leo.

He doesn't understand what's so funny about this.

"Sorry, sorry," Jason says, gasping for air. "It's just the look on her face after you said that."

"What?" He looks at Annabeth and she's staring at him. Her cheeks are red and her mouth is slightly open, moving as if she's trying to come up with a way to counter his answer.

It's at that moment it dawns on him what he said and heat rises in his face and neck.

"I-I... Umm..." he stammers but a smile slowly forms on Annabeth's face.

"Percy, I asked what, not who."

He sighs. "You're turning this into a grammar lesson now?"

Annabeth laughs and lightly smacks his arm. "Dummy."

Her phone rings and her happy expression quickly changes to one of concern and unease.

"Who is it?" Percy asks.

"I'll be right back. I should take this."

She gets up and walks to the corner of the room. The chatter of the other students ensures they can't hear what she's saying.

"So any plans for Christmas break?" Jason asks.

"Nothing new," Leo replies.

"Well after Christmas at my house I'm going to Piper's place to have it with her and her family," Jason says.

"Ooh you get to meet the in laws?" Percy teases.

Jason's eyes look elsewhere, but he has a sly, yet also nervous grin. "Maybe. What about you, Percy? You going to meet your in laws too?"

Percy scoffs. "Nah. That's not very likely. Her parents are all the way in San Francisco remember? Besides, she'd rather I don't meet them. Not now at least."

Annabeth walks up to them, a shocked look on her slightly paled face.

"Annabeth? Are you okay?" Percy asks, concerned.

"It was my dad," she says. "They're coming here for Christmas. They want me to go to the New York house while they're here."

"Seriously?!"

She nods and leans into Percy, who wraps his arm around her protectively.

"I just can't get one Christmas away from them, can I?"

"They're just visiting for Christmas, right? It can't be that bad," Percy says, trying to comfort her.

"You don't know my family Percy. Especially my mother. If she knows about you... I don't know how she'd react but it won't be positive."

"So I should just hide?" Percy asks, bewildered.

"I'm not scared of what she'd say to me, I'm scared of what she'd do to you. She always ruins people and did whatever she could to keep people away from me."

"Hey, don't worry about me, okay? I know you don't want me to meet them just yet so I'll just hang out with Grover or Leo," Percy says softly, his voice full of understanding.

"Or maybe you could hide with Percy," Leo jokes.

"I won't have to do that. Thalia's pretty protective already. Not that I need protection, I mean."

Percy smiles. "Well, if you need help with anything, you know who to call."

"Piper," she replies.

Percy fakes being hurt and presses his hand to his heart. "You wound me, Chase."

She kisses his cheek and laughs, the smile that forms on his face making her smile reappear. "Dummy."

...

A/N: Just a quick update on this story and Embers of the Republic! I've run out of spare chapters for Embers which explains why there haven't been any updates to it lately, but I'm working on the newest one. However, I'm also going to take some time to write out the next several chapters for Embers so that next chapter won't be up right away. As for this story here, I only have two weeks to get Chapter 18 finished to get it out on time. I've been struggling with writer's block again but I'll get it done on time. After that, I might not have any new chapters for a while so if there's no updates, I sincerely apologize and assure you that there will be more chapters. Thank you all for your continuous support!