Coffee

Chapter 4

Percy Jackson was a contradiction. He went against everything Annabeth ever valued in a person. Granted she barely knew him, it being just a week after their rather unpleasant introduction. But still, anyone who jumped up at the mention of a Finding Nemo movie, had weird obsession with food that shouldn't no wasn't normal and left mugs unwashed was automatically knocked down on her list of respected people.

Especially the unwashed mug part.

She was curled up in a cocoon of blankets now, on the faded grey couch in the living room, her architecture text in her hands, reading the same sentence twice and skipping the next one and blinking wearily as the words started to swim before her eyes. She reached for the mug of ginger tea on the nearby table and changed her mind halfway to grab a tissue as she felt another sneeze tingling down her nose.

ACHOOO! The crumpled up tissue joined it's brethren on the floor.

She was sick. Very sick. The whole chicken soup and boxes of tissue sick. Except she had almost run out of tissues and there was no one around to fix her soup. She supposed it was her fault. After all she was the one who had stubbornly pushed Thalia into going on the blind date, announcing she was not a little child, she could take care of herself, she was a strong young independent woman who read the Financial Times and had attended dance lessons for six years-

Did she mention she was sick?

Leo predictably had got himself arrested around three hours ago for vandalizing the public library this afternoon. He claimed he had no idea what they were talking about, even tried pretending he was a clueless tourist (me no speech English, officer!) but the spray cans in his backpack told another story.

Jason and Piper were on a date and she had absolutely refused to have them come over and take care of her. Round two of the young independent woman and dance lessons had issued and her friends had all agreed to leave her alone and check up on her via calls.

Percy barely knew her and probably had no idea of her condition as he had left last night to his mum's place. He was going to attend the launch of her second novel tonight. It must have begun around twenty minutes ago.

So yes, it was her fault, she thought miserably as she took a sip of tea and made a face at the ice coldness that met her tongue.

She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew she was startled awake by the opening of the front door.

She watched silently as a snow covered Percy entered, shrugged off his jacket and closed the door softly behind him. He probably thinks I'm asleep she mused as he tip toed gently across the hall and placed his carrier bag on the counter. The blankets did a good job of hiding her slight frame.

He was pulling out boxes from the bag, careful to make the least noise as humanly possible (and failing adorably) and she was seriously contemplating the idea of yelling boo! when he turned around and spotted her among the masses of cushions and blankets.

Instead of being embarrassed at his useless display of caution he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively "See something you like, Chase?"

"In your dreams, Jackson!" She huffed and prayed to every god she could think of that she wasn't blushing as much as she felt. Please let him think it's the cold. Please. Please.

"Wait, what are you doing here, Percy?" she demanded suddenly as she struggled to sit up and check the time. "You're mother's book launch doesn't end in almost two hours."

He shrugged "It's no big deal. I was there for the whole opening speech and stuff. Now it's just autographing and the Q&A session. Besides" he turned around pretending to be busy unpacking as the back of his neck turned red "Thalia mentioned you were sick. Thought I'd check up on you."

Shit. Butterflies. In the stomach. Hard.

She felt the dance lessons and young woman speech wilt in her throat. She didn't want him to leave.

"Oh." she said casually. At least she hoped it sounded casual instead of the one octave high it actually came out as. Damn it.

"Yeah, well" he said, walking towards her with a red Tupperware in one hand and a box of tissues in the other, which he proceeded to arrange on the small table in front of her, barely managing to not knock the mug of tea down in the process. " I was there for the first one. Her first novel, I mean. It was about three years ago and me and Paul sat through the entire thing."

I nodded meekly, watching him struggle with the lid of the Tupperware. A delicious smell filled the room as he pried open the lid and set it down beside the box of tissues, and thrusted the opened container at me, a proud look taking over his features.

"From my mother." He said, as I sat up straighter and stared at the blue cookies inside. "It's one of her special recipes. She thought you might enjoy it."

I admit, my eyes welled up a bit at the kindness of that faceless woman. She probably had no idea who I was. My earlier doubts against the abnormality of the color rose up in me but it was rude not to accept. Besides that bewitching smell was climbing up my nose and filling my lungs and making me light headed.

The first bite was heaven. And the second a level above that. I didn't speak, merely proceeded to inhale my way through the stack of rich blue chocolaty goodness. When I finally emerged, an astounding six cookies in my belly, Percy was watching me with a soft, amused expression.

"That was good." I croak, taking in huge gulps of air. "Very good."

He nodded and took the container from my hands and when the table proved too crowded balanced it on his lap, a small smirk on his face. I had a ridiculous urge to snatch the cookies back, hold it to my chest and yell 'mine!'.

Come on Annabeth, let's act like a normal person now, shall we?

"Do you…does your mom always make them?" I ask, a bit jealous.

His eyes lit up. She did. It was apparently a regular in the Jackson household. She made it for breakfast, for dinner, when he was sick, when someone visited, when she was bored and on a lot of other everyday occasions that led me to the conclusion that Percy Jackson probably had diabetes.

I smiled contentedly, his rant slowly lulling me to a warm, sleepy haze, when something shiny and blue peeking out from under the box of tissues caught my eye.

"What's that?" I murmur, pointing.

He follows my gaze, smiles sheepishly and pulls out the mystery object. My eyes take a minute to take in the blue background and the orange blob.

"Finding Nemo?" I ask, bewildered.

"Finding Nemo." he agrees, one hand at the back of his neck "I thought you might want to see it. If you were bored or something." His eyes land on my architecture book, which was now open to a page titled ball bearing joints and quickly looks away.

"I've never watched it before."I say truthfully and blush when his mouth falls open.

"You've never watched it before?" he says, incredulous, his eyebrows scrunched together making him impossibly cute. At my embarrassed nod, he takes a long breath, sits up straighter and announces "Well that's not right. We are going to watch it right now and you'll realize the pure genius that you've been missing all these years!"

He walks into the kitchen and after a few minutes of silence returns back with two cups of steaming hot chocolate, marshmallows blobbing merrily on top. He sets them on the small table, knocking the box of tissues down to make space , deciding that they weren't that important since my cold had magically vanished after munching on his mom's cookies . Or, as I realized, ever since his arrival.

"What movies did you see as a kid?"He inquires pleasantly as he put the DVD in.

I was not going to admit that architectural documentaries were my favorite since seven years old or it was the discovery channel before that. No way in hell. So I say, in the most offhand manner I can manage "oh, you know the usual."

Thankfully he didn't push further, his eyes already glued to the screen as the movie started. He squeezed into the couch beside me, after endless attempts to make sure I was comfortable.

It was a good film, I admit. Certainly more entertaining than the daily activities of a Polyergus in the Amazon .

My eyes started to feel heavy, while Percy watched in rapt attention as Marlin woke up on the back of a sea turtle. I let my head fall onto his shoulder and after a moment of stiffness he relaxes and slowly pulls me closer, leaning his chin on my head, our heart beats on the same wild rhythm.

So yes, she supposed. Percy Jackson was a contradiction to everything on her brilliant list of brilliant values. That was, what she thought, made him different. Made him perfect. Made him…him.

Besides she felt it was high time she made a new list because her old one had been proven faulty. Finding Nemo was a fun movie, it made her laugh. Blue was now her favorite color, and now she couldn't imagine eating cookies that weren't tinted a shade of the ocean. So yes, Percy had taken notions that was a definite attribute of wrong on her long clever list and turned it into something that felt right.

Except the unwashed mugs part, she found out in the morning as she wandered into the kitchen and found the dirty cups from last night sitting by the sink. He had left early in the morning, after tucking her in with some extra blankets and the Tupperware of leftover cookies, still warm. And as she stood there, inhaling deeply the scent of chocolate that still lingered in the room, the ending of Finding Nemo, which she had missed, gnawing on her mind and the dirty cups with traces of marshmallow standing cheerily in front of her, she did something that she felt she hadn't done in a long time. She smiled.

So, yeah! That's another chapter down. Though I still have no idea where to lead this story. It was intended as a one shot and now has sprawled into something with no definite plot. Any ideas?

As always, reviews are whole heartedly welcome!