A/N: Hey guys! Back again with another update! Hope you like it!

Annabeth is exhausted. She's stayed up way too late editing a video and her eyes are threatening to close. Even her arms feel heavy holding her laptop. But she's done it. She's finished her third video (involving real houseplants instead of the usual fake ones.)

An actual groan escapes her as she puts down her laptop and stretches, her stiff body protesting from being in the same position for the past two hours.

The time reads 2:15 am and she pads through her quiet apartment to pour out a glass of water. She's done it. She's finished editing the video in time for her self proclaimed update day.

And she's drained.

But, surprisingly, it feels good.

Strangely enough, every ache, every yawn makes her feel like she's done something. That sense of satisfaction from creating something that after busting her ass for hours makes her feel…complete.

The realization hits her in the face and she stands there in her kitchen at 2:15 am with her heart beating loudly, because it finally doesn't feel like something's off anymore.

Sure, she's only made three Youtube videos, sure she's not that good and she only has a handful of subscribers but she's found her thing. She knows her goal. She wants to make more videos, grow her audience. It's the most learning and growth that she's had since college.

She's not naive enough to believe she can make a career out of it, but that's okay. She's not trying to. She just wants to make something cool and help people along the way. And even more surprisingly, she likes her work more.

As if on cue, her phone chimes with an email for an automated testing report for work that runs at 2am everyday. But instead of frowning at it, she wants to open it. She wants to see if the testing she's done is working.

It's like her motivation for life itself has increased.

And suddenly she's wide awake.

Percy was right. Everyone does need a creative outlet.

Speaking of her boyfriend, she wants nothing more than to run to him right now, and tell him everything. She wants to share this realization, wants to thank him for helping her.

But it's 2:30am and she won't see him till tomorrow night.

Frowning, she decides she needs to change that.

-.-

Percy stares at the order he's supposed to be working on, but his tiredness is winning out and he feels his eyes blink close.

"Long night, huh?" Leo says, startling him awake. His friend is leaning against his desk, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way.

Percy shakes his head, rubbing his face in his hands. "If only. I'm just having a really hard time sleeping lately."

Leo's grin morphs into a sympathetic look. "Damn, that sucks dude."

Percy leans forward on his desk. "Yeah, I just need to stay awake through work at this point."

"I'm getting some coffee, want me to grab you a cup?" Leo offers.

"How about I get you a cup? Walking around will help wake me up anyway and I'll save you the trip." He yawns as he stands up and stretches.

"You sure?"

Percy nods, reassuring him, and moves towards the cafeteria. He wishes he knew why he was having trouble sleeping. He had cut out intaking any kind of caffeine after five o'clock (though it hadn't been a problem in the past) and tried every sleep trick or hack he could find.

But for some reason, the last week has been especially rough.

He brings Leo a cup of coffee and decides to ask Annabeth for ideas when he sees her this evening.

But when Annabeth opens the door, she looks just as tired as he feels. The bags under her eyes are back and her hair is frizzy and disheveled.

"Are you okay?" are the first words out of his mouth.

She grins at him and he realizes that despite the bags there's a spark in her eyes. "Yeah," she says as she tugs him inside and nestles herself against him in a hug. "I'm doing great."

"Thank you," she adds, looking up at him.

He knows he's tired and that may be why, but he has no clue what she's talking about.

"Huh?" he manages, focusing more on the feeling of having his girlfriend in his arms than anything else.

"You were right," she replies simply, "I needed a creative outlet."

He thinks this is most likely about her Youtube videos and nods along, his tired mind too wrapped up in her scent to really focus.

"Are you okay?' she asks, noticing his unresponsiveness.

"Yeah, tired," he mumbles into her hair. "Haven't been sleeping well."

She doesn't respond and instead pulls him down so he's resting her forehead on hers.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She brings a hand up to cup the side of his face.

He sighs, relishing her touch. "I've tried everything. I was going to ask you today if you had any ideas that might help."

He can hear the smile in her voice as she answers. "Just one."

And with that she pulls him into a searing kiss that sends a shock through his tired body. He finds himself tugging at her lower lip asking for an entrance without even realizing it. His body works faster than his brain and suddenly he's mapping out her mouth and she's moaning against him.

"I lied," she whispers, breathing heavily when they pull apart. She's flush against him and he's going crazy. "I've got another idea."

"Hmm?" He takes the time to pepper kisses down her necks and her breath shudders.

Her response is just to tug him towards her bedroom.

When Percy wakes up the next morning, Annabeth's already out of bed and he can hear the shower running. The sun peeks from her window and he's got maybe five minutes before he has to go back to his place to get ready for work.

It's the best night's sleep he's gotten in forever. When he sits up and stretches, muscles just a little sore from their activities from the night before, he feels refreshed.

It's not till after he pulls on his clothes and reaches for his phone till he sees the key perched atop his phone case.

He's not tired anymore and gets the message loud and clear.

-.-

"Holy fuck!" Nico yelps as Percy lets himself in once again. "Percy, I will take away your key!"

"It's my apartment," he defends.

Nico rolls his eyes and turns back to the dishes he's doing. "It used to be your apartment," he corrects.

Percy puts a hand over his heart. "I'm hurt!"

Nico rolls his eyes again but Percy can see a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He likes to believe Nico misses him.

He knows he does anyway, and makes a point to visit his old place to hang out with Nico often. And though he does his best to mask his emotions, he thinks Nico is grateful for the consistent contact.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Nico replies in a dry voice that does nothing to quell Percy's smile.

"Oh, Annabeth's throwing an 'It's almost summer!' party thing at our place," he says, looking at the fruit bowl on the table. "Since when do you have a fruit bowl?"

"I'm home! Hey babe….and Percy," Will adds, eyes landing on Percy who's inspecting the small kitchen table.

"Since when do you guys have a fruit bowl?" he asks by way of greeting.

Will shrugs. "Since my sister visited and said we needed a little 'something' on the table."

Percy nods. Every time he visits, there's something new in the space and he can see traces of Will around, slowly making a stronghold in Nico's life. It's good. It's really good. Especially since he catches Nico with a small smile on his face whenever his eyes drift towards those traces of Will.

"Cool," he replies, directing his grin from Nico to Will. "So anyway, see you guys this Saturday!"

And without waiting for any sort of confirmation he strolls out the door.

A/N: I don't know about you guys, but I love the feeling of exhaustion that comes after a day of hard work over something you love. The tiredness from knowing you've created something…anyone else agree?

Also, this was brought up in a comment in the last chapter and I think it's important to address here: let's normalize having real-world jobs to pay bills and having creative hobbies outside of that! I STRONGLY believe not making your job your entire life, working to live and not living to work, to put it another way.

For Annabeth here, she likes her job and doing youtube is just a creative outlet on the side for fun.

For Percy, writing a book is his goal, the job is just there to keep him going till he makes the goal. Obviously, it would be great if he could only do writing, but it's difficult to start on a creative career so he gets something that can pay the bills, but still keeps working on his creative endeavor!

Anyway, that was something I thought was important to take away from this story.

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

And as always, thanks for reading!

See ya! :)