A/N: Hey guys! Back again for another weekly update! Hope you enjoy!
Annabeth realizes just how...boring her life must be when she's so ecstatic for six thirty to roll around that she's there ten minutes early with another two Pepsi cans, sitting in her ugly beat up orange lawn chair.
It's a passing thought really, not something she wants to spend too much time dwelling on. Besides, this is the kind of thing that anyone would be excited about, making a friend on the rooftop of your apartment building? That's straight out of some romcom.
Anyway, the point is that she's allowed to be excited. This is good, this is progress, and that's what she's wanted right? The whole point of moving here and starting her life fresh and all that.
She checks her phone for the time. She'd rather be talking to Percy than in her own head. It's exactly six thirty and she starts getting a little antsy. Sure, they said six thirty, but it doesn't necessarily mean on the dot. He's probably on the way.
A minute passes, and she wiggles her toes inside her shoes because technically he's late and he wasn't yesterday so maybe he just doesn't want to see her again, maybe she was too pushy, or maybe he just decided she was too boring and she wouldn't really blame him—
A loud sound startles her out of her thoughts and she looks anxiously towards the door, thinking maybe it's him, but it's just someone throwing out the trash.
She gets up. She knows she's kind of spiraling, nervous for no sane reason. He's probably just running late and she needs to calm the fuck down.
Pacing the length of the roof, she looks across the other various barren rooftops and small streets that make up the little residential area of camped townhomes and multi unit buildings like hers.
Standing above everything, high enough for her to observe but low enough to still feel like she's a part of it all, she smiles. This is the reason she loves it up here.
A sound makes her look back and sure enough, Percy's there, opening the door to the roof and pushing the brick against it to keep it open.
"Hey! I'm so sorry I'm late! The buses were behind schedule and—"
She walks over to hand him a can of Pepsi. "Don't worry about it."
He accepts the can with a smile and she mentally scolds herself for worrying about it. He looks a little harrid, his hair a little messier than yesterday, but it's a really good look on him.
"Thanks, but I do feel bad, didn't want you to think I'd bailed or something," he chuckles at his words but she can sense the nervous energy behind them.
She realizes then that he's just as nervous about all this as she is. It makes her feel better.
Taking a breath, she smiles. "Well maybe you should take my number, so you can let me know next time."
There's a beat where she worries that she said the wrong thing, but he grins and pulls out his phone. "That's a great idea."
She punches in her contact with slightly shaky fingers. She doesn't know why she's so full of this nervous energy.
"There ya go," she says, handing it back to him. He looks at the contact, then back at her, then back at the contact and types something else before nodding and putting away his phone.
"What was that?" she asks, feeling a little like she just got analyzed.
"Just choosing your emoji," he responds casually, taking a sip.
"Okay, first of all, you put emojis on people's contacts?" she raises an eyebrow at him. " And second of all, what is mine?"
He smiles, huffing a little. "Well first of all, you don't? And why should I tell you after that judgemental tone?"
"Okay, I'm sorry," she amends, smiling "I didn't mean it like that, you're right that I don't. Please tell me what mine is?"
He shakes his head. "Nope, no one knows what their emoji is."
She looks at him incredulously. "You mean everyone has one but no one knows what it is?"
He shrugs. "Well, Grover does cause he's my best friend, and Nico found out because he's my roommate."
She eyes him, pulling her lips together. "One day I'll find out!"
He laughs and it's the most accomplished she's felt all day. She wants to make him laugh more.
"You can try," he challenges back, grinning and it all just feels so natural. She's only barely aware of the fact that her statement promises a future that doesn't currently exist yet.
"So how was your day?" she asks, switching topics because she's made quite a few...putting herself out there kinda moves, and even though he's going along, she needs to stop.
His profile in the sun looks beautiful, light illuminating his cheekbones and the shadows running along his jawline and— did she mention she needs to stop?
Luckily, he's not looking at her as he shrugs and responds. "Pretty normal."
"What's pretty normal?" she asks.
Suddenly those green eyes are on her once again. He shrugs again. "Oh you know, work being boring and tedious, public transportation being, well...public transportation and…" he trails off.
"And meeting strangers on the roof of your apartment building?" she teases.
"Strangers? I thought we were friends, you wound me Annabeth!" he cries dramatically causing her to chuckle at his antics.
"But yeah," he continues, "this is a typical Thursday for me. Work, public transportation and beautiful girls on rooftops."
Well fuck. She can feel the heat rise to her face, but she has to keep going, even though she can feel her heart beating faster.
He's blushing too, avoiding her eyes, and she needs to say something quick.
"Oh really, what happened to all the other girls?" she teases, playing along.
Percy's shoulders relax a little as he smiles slyly. "They just weren't good enough."
Leaning back in her chair, she raises an eyebrow. "Someone has high standards."
"Or maybe," he responds, eyes twinkling, "they just weren't as good as you."
Well fuck. Again. That's the most direct flirting since he showed up on the roof at six thirty five. And even though there's been a build up, she's still taken back.
Her lack of response causes Percy to retreat. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to—"
God she feels like an idiot. "No," she cuts him off. "No it's fine I just, how do I follow that up ya know?" She goes for what she hopes is a reassuring smile, but she's still blushing and hoping she hasn't messed everything up.
"Well can't help with that," he replies easily. But she can see behind the smile that he's worried he crossed a line.
In an attempt to fix the situation she blurts, "I'm sure you could help me with some other things."
Instant mortification is what follows after the words are said and it's his turn to be taken back. But once he reads her face, he starts to laugh and she relaxes a miniscule amount.
What had she been thinking? (Evidently, the other things he could help her out with)
His laughter dies down and he winks at her. "I look forward to it."
-.-
The grin on Percy's face follows him into the next day, so much so that he gets some looks and hesitant smiles from some of his coworkers.
He doesn't really interact with any of them all that much so he understands their surprise, but he's too giddy in his own world to really care. He doesn't remember the last time he felt like the nervous excitement of meeting someone completely new and learning all the little things about them.
And he wants to learn all about Annabeth—how she likes her coffee, what she's like on sunny saturday afternoons, her favorite dessert. He wants to know it all, and with the way they've been texting he's got a good start.
He feels his phone buzz in his pocket and his heart beats a little louder at the excitement of knowing it's her. Trying (and failing) to contain the smile on his face, he sits down at his desk, pulling out his phone immediately.
It's refreshing to learn someone new, he thinks, answering her question on his thoughts on pineapple on pizza (gross, by the way). All the people in his life he knows pretty well—Nico, Grover, Thalia, but he hadn't met someone new in...forever. Come to think of it, his life had been pretty stagnant.
"It's the honeymoon phase," Leo says sagely as Percy pulls his phone out for a third time.
"Don't you have a meeting?" Percy shoots back, not looking up from his texting.
There's a silence, and when he looks up, Leo's leaning back in his chair, headset off, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
Leo is the other temp and the only person here who Percy considers a friend. They hit it off immediately when Leo walked in wearing a STARS Labs sweatshirt and plopped onto the empty desk space beside him, and said, "You're the other one right?"
And they became the "other ones," which sounds much angstier than it actually is.
"It's just a friend," Percy mumbles in response to the raised eyebrow, which is almost disappearing behind the mop of curly brown hair.
Leo smirks and turns back to his screen. "Ah."
Percy makes a face at him but his phone buzzes so the smile wins. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Leo smiles mysteriously. "Ah," he repeats, as if that explains everything. It reminds him a little too much of the slight smirk Nico had thrown his way when he had mentioned he was going out to see someone. They would make a dangerous pair...he decides to never let them meet.
Just as he's about to reply with what probably would have been a great comeback, fortunately, Calypso chooses that moment to walk by and wave at them, and Leo suddenly looks like a deer in headlights. His complexion might be too dark to show it but Percy's convinced Leo would have turned red.
"Ah," he says and it's Leo's turn to make a face at him.
-.-
It's one of those days that Annabeth gets to see Piper in real life instead of through a phone, so she tries to make the most of it and not check her phone constantly.
But Piper's her best friend for a reason and five minutes into the conversation she gives her The Look™. The best friend look that is used when bullshit needs to be called and tea needs to be spilt.
Piper leans back. "Spill."
Annabeth sighs. "So...I met this guy…." she starts slowly, knowing full well that Piper will be pissed.
Piper's look turns into a glare. "Who I was going to tell you about! I just wanted to ease it in, it's only been a few days, I promise! I wanted to tell you in person," she rushes to add. She actually is sorry about it, Piper deserves to know.
It must come through, because Piper's glare lessens and she nods for her to continue.
So she starts her story of the roof and the Pepsi and finally getting his number and by the end of it, Piper looks a mixture of shocked and excited.
"Okay, you did not preface this by saying it's a plot to some romance novel," Piper fake grumbles but her smile gives it away. "And secondly, did you find him on insta yet?"
Annabeth shakes her head and sips her coffee as Piper pulls out her phone, presumably to check both Facebook and Instagram.
"We've been texting on and off all day, getting to know each other a bit more," she continues.
Piper looks up from her phone (and searching). "And? How do you feel about him?"
That's...kinda hard to explain. He's the first potential love interest in her life in a long time. The first friend she's made outside of college and he's...different. Maybe it's just because of the way they met, on a rooftop against the setting sun, but something about him feels different. Probably in the way new things feel different, but she remembers the spark behind his eyes when he talked. He had a passion in life, and that was hard to find. She envies that.
Percy could be the thing she's looking for, the progress she's seeking. He makes her heart beat a little faster and her face feel warm and she has a good feeling about him.
"He makes me smile," she responds finally.
Piper puts down her phone and looks at her earnestly. "Good. You guys have a unique story and it seems like you've found something really cool. I hope it works out."
The "you always have me part" is left out but Piper doesn't need to say it for her to know it. She couldn't ask for a more supportive friend.
Taking a sip of her coffee as Piper holds out a profile to confirm if it's him she smiles.
She thinks it will.
A/N: Sow hat did you think? The spark is lit, and I hope you stick around for the fire lol But yeah, a lot more percabeth in this chapter! Also introducing LEO! (Also more Piper and Annabeth being bffs)
Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!
And as always, thanks for reading!
See ya! :)