A/N: And here's the end to that cliffhanger! Hope you enjoy!

The sky is a pink haze by the time Annabeth gets home and dashes up the steps to the roof, note and Pepsi in hand, and perhaps it's her own preoccupied thoughts that cause the surprise when the door swings open and the yellow light spills onto concrete to reveal a figure in the relative dark.

The last thing Annabeth expects when she opens the door to the roof is someone else to be there.

In hindsight, it shouldn't have been that surprising. She knew someone else frequented the roof and they were bound to run into each other eventually. But in the moment, all she can do is stand and stare as the figure turns and—wait she recognizes that face.

Dark hair swept to the side haphazardly, lean build, defined jaw (that is open to mimic the look of surprise she probably has on her face).

It's definitely him.

"You," she says, the first word her brain manages to come up with.

She steps further onto the roof, still holding the door open so light can come through. It also allows him to see her better and though it's hard to tell with the lighting, she thinks it's the same deep flush that had graced his face a day ago when they had run into each other...or rather, when he had (almost) run into her.

He holds up a hand in a little awkward wave. "Hi."

Good to know his slight awkwardness is always cute and not just that one time.

"Hi," she replies with a smile. Stepping forward fully, she lets the door swing shut behind her and they're plunged into the last light of the day.

He stands up at the motion and they stand there facing each other for a second. It's obvious by the silence that follows that they were not expecting the other to be there.

She really should say something, but words are quite literally failing her. She's tempted to just turn around and leave, but luckily, he speaks up.

"Well, didn't see that coming," he jokes. He's stating the obvious, but it's the ice breaker they needed, because she feels a genuine smile come to her face.

"Yeah, neither did I...it's nice to finally meet you, though." She holds out a hand and hopes he accepts the invitation to get to know each other better.

She shouldn't have even bothered to worry because as soon as she holds out her hand he takes it, shaking firmly.

"Nice to meet you too," he replies with a grin.

He moves to sit back down in his chair and she follows the motion.

"I'm guessing you're the one who left the bottle?" he asks, leaning back in the chair.

She nods, slightly ashamed. "Yeah, sorry, I dozed off and then in my hurry to get inside, I forgot about it. I came back as soon as I could to get rid of it only to find that someone else had..."

She's rambling but this is all so weird that she's kind of nervous.

"You're good, it happens. I was just surprised to see it because it was the first time I realized that I'm not the only person who comes up here."

She nods. She knows the feeling well. She remembers when she had realized the chair had been moved.

"I think we might be the only two though, since I'm guessing you're the one who left the smiley face note. It's still surprising that more people haven't found it."

He smiles like the smiley face. "Yep, that was me. And I don't know, don't think that many people roam around the building randomly."

"I did the first day I moved here."

He looks surprised at that. "Really? When did you move in?"

"Almost two months ago now." It's weird to know it's been two months already, it feels like it's gone slow and fast at the same time and she's mostly left with the feeling like something has passed and she's missed out.

He nods appreciatively. "Wow, I've been living here for like a year and I only found it a month ago."

She shakes her head. "See, this is why it's important to explore the apartment building you move into, immediately."

He laughs, holding up his hands. "You right, you right."

She smiles back and there's another moment of silence before the weight in her left hand makes itself known and Jesus has she really been holding onto this Pepsi can all this time?

"Oh! Shit, I completely forgot. This was for you…" she holds out the can shyly. "If you want it, that is…"

It takes him a second to react and she's afraid she's fucked up the entire thing, when he smiles and accepts it.

"Thank you? But why, though?"`

She bites her lip. "Well you see I wanted to respond to your note, but I didn't know how, so I thought maybe I'd just offer a drink in return, but not like alcohol cause I didn't know if that would be a good idea so I thought soda would be a safe bet and I was going to leave it out for you."

She stops her narrative there because she doesn't need to go into the ten million doubts she had about doing any of it in the first place and how this was her second attempt.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," he replies with a grin. "I do like Pepsi, and I'm sorry my note didn't leave much room for a response."

She waves it off. "Eh, it's alright."

She hears the sound of crinkling and he speaks up, "Oh, there's a note on the can." Fuck, she forgot to take that off.

"It's not important," she says in what she hopes is a dismissive tone.

"Well, I'll take the fact that I can't make out the words as a sign it's getting too late," he jokes back and holy shit when did it get so dark?

"You're right, we should head in."

He holds open the door for her and she steps through, blinking a little at how bright the light is.

"Ah, it burns," he jokes, closing the door behind them as they walk down the steps.

"My eyes, my eyes!" she jokes back.

His laugh echoes in the stairwell. She decides she likes the sound.

They get to the landing and once again stand facing each other. He's even cuter in the light and there's a slight color to his face as he rubs his neck..nervously?

"So um, wanna hang out again sometime?"

Yeah, he definitely makes all that awkwardness cute.

She smiles back. "How about tomorrow at six? You know the place."

He grins, all traces of awkwardness disappearing. "Make it six thirty and I'm in."

"Deal."

She's three steps on her way down to the third floor when—

"Wait, I didn't catch your name!"

She turns to look back at him, leaning against the door to the roof. "Annabeth!" she yells back.

"Percy!"

She tries to hide the warm smile making its way to her face.

Percy. Why does that sound like the start of something good?

"Six thirty!" she yells as she descends the steps, without the note or the can or the worries.

-.-

Percy is the kind of person that other people say "runs late". He calls it "running on time". (He had made it to his spot right before they were called up to accept their diplomas, after all).

But this is one of the few times he's made it somewhere early. And he has a brick. (Don't ask where he got that from).

He's rigging up the brick against the door to the roof so it stays open when the door at the bottom opens up and Annabeth steps through.

"Hey!" She gives a small wave as she climbs up the stairs.

Percy straightens up from his work and smiles when the door stays open. "Hey!"

She looks over at his handiwork and nods approvingly. "Nice work."

He grins and god she's gorgeous in this lighting. "Thanks, I'm quite the handyman."

"Are you?" she asks as they both make their way to their respective lawn chairs. She's holding two Pepsi cans and offers him one. "For all your hard work."

He laughs and accepts the drink. "Thanks, and kinda, I worked in construction for a while."

"Really? That's so cool! Is that what you do now?"

He leans back into his chair and it creaks in protest. "No, that was a while ago, but it was fun."

She nods and leans back too. "I bet."

He's kind of glad she didn't push and ask him what he's doing now. He just doesn't want to talk about his work as a temp. It's not that exciting nor is it what he truly wants. Its sole purpose is to pay the bills and not be a conversation topic.

"What about you? You ever dabble in construction?" He asks her, taking a sip of the Pepsi.

She huffs out a laugh. "Oh yeah, for sure, dabbled with a hammer and nails in college with a side of changing lightbulbs."

It's ridiculous, but it makes him laugh, like full on guffaw. He doesn't even remember the last time he used that word.

She smiles at his reaction. "Thank you, I'll be here all night."

"I hope so."

She looks at him surprised and he freezes because holy fuck that came out way flirtier than he had intended.

"I mean like, keep the laughs coming," he adds, awkwardly, cringing at himself and the obviously horrible save. Way to ruin a friendship and day and a half in.

Luckily, Annabeth brushes past his lame and awkward attempt. "Well, no guarantees, but I'll try. Comedy isn't really a side gig for me."

"You should try it out," he tells her, thanking every god that he hadn't embarrassed himself into oblivion.

She shakes her head. "Nah, I'm not that talented. Also not really my thing."

"What is your thing?" And he genuinely wants to know. It's been a long time since he's met someone new and really learned about them. One of the best parts of human connection as well as being a writer, is meeting people and learning their story.

He wants to learn Annabeth's story. Actually, he kind of wants to be a part of Annabeth's story.

The question seems to have stumped her because she's quiet, eyebrows drawn in together for a minute before she sighs. "Watching Youtube, I guess."

"Like cat videos?" That's usually what he ends up seeing on Youtube, or other random videos like that.

She takes a sip of her drink. "No…like, um, people."

He doesn't really get what she's talking about so he stills his face and hopes she'll continue.

She does, somewhat hesitantly. "Like Youtubers, I, uh, follow specific channels."

He nods. Now that he knows what she's talking about, he doesn't see why she's so hesitant to mention it.

"That's cool! I've never really followed like channels and people on Youtube." He keeps his tone light. Maybe she's nervous about being judged? He definitely understands that feeling.

"Yeah, um, they're great, or well I think so at least." She offers a small smile.

"You'll have to recommend me some." He grins back. It's not just for her benefit, he does genuinely want to see what it's about.

She lets out a small breath and nods. "Sure," and then moving past it, "so what's your thing?"

And just like that the roles are reversed.

"I write," he finds himself saying. Why he just told a stranger he writes sooner than his close friend and roommate, he doesn't know. Maybe because he's used to strangers knowing about his writing.

Nevertheless, he still flushes when Annabeth looks over at him surprised and curious all at once and says, "Really? That's so cool."

He shrugs, it's not that cool, it's actually mostly Not Cool and Very Frustrating most of the time. "Sure, I mean, its alright."

She leans back in her chair. "Well, I'm not good at writing, so I think it's cool."

He shrugs again, awkward and still kind of struggling with this conversation topic that he brought up. Annabeth must pick up on it because the next thing she says takes the attention off him.

"Well, guess we both have something to teach each other."

He smiles back and holds up his can to be clinked as she laughs and complies. And in the setting rays of the summer sun, the words sound a little bit like a promise.

A/N: And there you have it! They've finally met! I hope you guys like the way this is going, the percabeth really starts from here on out!

Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And as always, thanks for reading!

See ya! :)