So this chapter's gonna be a little different and will be split up into sections where Percabeth's just hanging out at Christmastime. It's also going to be a little longer cuz PERCABETH.

Percy

"Okay so we were just talking and then her head was on my shoulder and my arm was around her and we sort of just sat for a little bit and then she kissed me, on the cheek, and I don't know if kissing me twice on the cheek means something or is totally just sisterly?" Percy asked.

He was lying on his bed while Leo and Frank listened to his rant. The kiss in the dark confused him and he would be lying if he wasn't absolutely amazed and excited. Annabeth was just amazing and she had kissed him twice and before he got his hopes up he wanted to know what it meant.

"She totally likes you!" Leo said. "Two kisses on the cheek, one voluntary and after you two snuggled, practically equal one kiss on the lips!"

"Is there like a metric for kisses? Two kisses on the cheek are one kiss on the lips, three kisses on the lips are a make-out session, etc.?" Frank mused.

"I don't know Frank," Leo said.

"I'm confused," Percy said, raising his hand.

"Just listen young padawan. Annabeth likes you. You get along, your nice to her, peer pressure. All of those factors are a breeding ground for love," Leo said in a matter-of-fact way.

Percy leaned back in his bed and started thinking. If she did like him, would he ask her out? The answer was yes. Because he was pretty sure he was never going to meet a girl like Annabeth ever again and even if it didn't work out, it wouldn't hurt to try. At least, that was his reasoning with Rachel.

He started to climb down the ladder and pack everything he needed for Christmas at his mom's house. Since he didn't own a lot of things, there wasn't much to pack. He decided to leave his skateboard because New York at Christmastime was extremely busy and he wouldn't get to skate down the sidewalk while all of the tourists were there.

"When are you guys leaving?" Frank asked.

"Today at noon. Charlie volunteered to drive us because we can't leave the car at the subway station and we didn't want to get a taxi," Percy explained as he packed his clothes without folding them.

"Got it," Frank said, nodding his head.

"Can you pass me my lucky pen?" Percy asked.

Frank took the blue ballpoint pen that was resting on their dresser off of it and handed it to Percy. Most people were confused as to why he had a lucky pen but Frank, Leo, and Jason accepted it without question.

Percy had once visited Smelly Gabe's family. They lived in Maine by a river and Percy had found his way onto the roof which overlooked the river. When he leaned over to see if there was a turtle or rock below him, he fell down. But instead of landing on the hard dirt, he landed in the river which made the impact less harsh and made sure he didn't break any bones. The pen was in his pocket when he fell down and it had been his lucky pen ever since.

"Welcome to the Jackson house!" Percy said as he and Annabeth reached his apartment door.

She laughed. "Thank you." He knocked on the door and it flung open.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Sally said, giving them both a hug.

"Hi, mom!" Percy said happily.

"Hello, Mrs. Jackson. Thank you so much for inviting me," Annabeth said.

"Call me, Sally and you're very welcome," Sally said.

She pulled them both inside the apartment and telling them about their sleeping arrangements. Because of her ongoing politeness, she offered to sleep on the couch and Annabeth could sleep in her room, but Percy was not having that. He volunteered to sleep on the couch and Annabeth could sleep in his room. But Annabeth then insisted that both of them should sleep in their own beds and she could sleep on the couch.

It took a while for Percy and Annabeth to agree that for three days Annabeth would sleep in Percy's room and for the next three day's Percy would sleep in his own room.

"Well, that took a while. Now, I have to go to work soon, but Percy, can you show Annabeth around the city? I'll give you guys some money to get some food and you two can just have some fun. Enjoy your break," Sally said as she put her hair into a bun.

"Yeah sounds good," Percy said as Sally handed him a twenty and he gave her a hug.

"Thank you, Sally," Annabeth said as the two of them walked out of the apartment.

"Okay so push off with your right foot," Percy said.

The two of them were at an ice rink and Percy was attempting to teach Annabeth how to ice skate. She'd never ice skated before, which astounded Percy, and he was determined to help her out.

She was holding onto his forearms to balance. "I can't believe you talked me into this."

"It's a Christmas tradition with my mom and me," Percy said. "Welcome to the Jackson Christmas."

Annabeth pushed off slowly as Percy skated backward. He had been skating for a while so it was easy for him. She was getting the hang of it and she mentioned that she had gone rollerblading before and it was very similar.

"See!? You're getting the hang of it," Percy said.

"I guess I am," Annabeth said.

"How about this. You try skating by yourself, but hold onto my arm so you don't fall," Percy suggested.

She nodded, concentrating on not falling, and Percy turned around and she looped her arm through his. As they skated by they heard someone passing them yell, "You two are an adorable couple."

They didn't try to correct them.

"Percy, I swear to the gods if you throw another piece of tinsel at me!" Annabeth yelled as the three of them decorated the tree.

"Sorry, Wise Girl," Percy said, pulling some tinsel out of her hair.

"Play nice you two," Sally said with a laugh as she put up some decorations.

"We are. You should see us when we're fighting," Percy said.

"Heaven help us," Sally said.

As Christmas music played, Percy, Annabeth, and Sally decorated happily. It was Christmas eve after all and even if they didn't have the most expensive Christmas, it was always fun and heartfelt. And the anticipation was what counted.

"I'm going to go to bed, but you two can stay up until twelve," Sally said, standing up and walking to her room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Percy and Annabeth chorused back.

"So it's just us. What do you want to do?" Percy asked.

"Classic Christmas movie?" Annabeth suggested.

"Deal. Does the Grinch sound good?" He asked.

"The Grinch sounds awesome," she said.

Percy went to the Amazon app where they had bought the Grinch and turned it on. He went back to the couch with Annabeth and they started to watch. Somehow, by the end of the movie, his arm was around her and her head was resting against his chest.

"Are we going to talk about this?" Percy asked.

"Might as well," Annabeth said, straightening up, but with his arm still around her.

"So we're sort of like Quill and Gamora," Percy said, referring to Guardians of the Galaxy. Which is a great movie, BTW "We have this unspoken "thing" and neither of us has acknowledged it yet which is what we're doing now."

"That'd be a great analogy except for the fact the Quill is a demigod, Gamora's an alien, and neither of them exists," Annabeth pointed out.

"Regardless, there's this unspoken thing. What are we going to do about it?" Percy asked.

"Well, Seaweed Brain, you could ask me out," Annabeth said coyly with a smirk on her face.

Percy facepalmed. "This is why you're the smart one. So, Annabeth Chase. Would you like to go out with me next Saturday? We could go ice skating again or something like that."

Annabeth smiled. "I'd like that. By the way, it's 12:01 and we really should be going to sleep."

"Yeah we should," he said. Since Annabeth was sleeping on the couch tonight, he stood up to leave. But not before giving Annabeth the first Christmas gift of the day.

A kiss.