AN: I don't own anything
Percy, was screwed. Percy was in the spot that every prideful, single man dreaded. Percy, was lovesick. And—Percy was sure—if their relationship had any semblance of normalcy, he would be the doting boyfriend. Percy trembled at the thought of him playing the role of a guy in some cheesy romance movie: calling his girlfriend every couple hours just to check-up, chauffeuring her places, buying flowers 'just because.' The list could go on and on.
Even though their meetings were restricted to once a week, Percy thought of Annabeth every day of the week. He wanted to know more and more about her. And, the sad thing was, the things he did know about her, played in his head like a constant, never-ending movie.
Like the other day, Percy was at the station. All the cokes in the refrigerator had been drunken and the only other place to get one was the stupid vending machine the city had put in just to milk money from the people who keep it safe from fire—or so Percy and his friends thought of it. And besides the prices being a rip-off, the machine more-often-than-not ate your money; which was exactly what happened to Percy. He had simply stared at it, unbelieving at his bad day. And then, his mind drifted off to thoughts of Annabeth.
"I bet Annabeth wouldn't take this crap from a coke machine," he thought. "She would probably be the one kicking the shit out of the machine—wearing high heels too. And then if that didn't work, she was smart. Annabeth would probably figure out some way to dismantle the machine, take whatever she wanted, and put it back together without anyone knowing."
And then later that day, he was stuck in traffic, and he thought about her again. Just how sad is that? Sitting in a car, on one of the busiest streets of New York, surrounded by cranky people and aggressive cab drivers, and Percy still thought about Annabeth. He was wondering what she was doing at the moment. He guessed she was working on designs and was speculating other theories when he was jarred out of his thoughts by a loud honk. Percy immediately apologized—to the emptiness of his car—and pulled forward.
Then he created a whole new daydream. Annabeth had woken up at eight, scheduling the coming day and remembering that she had a meeting at six. While eating lunch she had been struck by inspiration and immediately began drawing. At five-thirty, rush hour, she regained consciousness of the outside world and remembered her meeting. She hastily straightened her clothes, tied her hair up into a bun, gathered her documents, and got into her car. Now she was speeding through the congested streets of New York honking at every person regardless if they were driving well or not.
You wanna know more, more, more about me
I'm the girl who's kicking the coke machine
I'm the one that's honking at you cuz I left late again
Percy smiled at the thought as he finally reached his apartment. He set his keys on his kitchen counter and was brought to alert by his ringing phone before he could begin his sappy daydreaming again. He looked at the caller id and saw it was a blocked number. "Hello?"
"Hey Percy. It's Nico."
Percy should've known. At the moment, Nico was the only one with his number that didn't have his own number. He was a bit of a nomad and didn't' have a house number. He didn't have a cell phone either because he didn't like to be kept track of. If he wanted to talk to you, he'd call you.
"Hey. I haven't heard from you in a while."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I've been a little busy. But I'm in town right now."
"Yeah? We should meet up and hang out." Percy felt his hesitance over the phone. Nico was not a people person whatsoever.
"…sorry but I can't. I'm only here to meet up with Hades before I have to head out to my next site." Nico owned his own company, mining almost every kind of metal or jewels found underground. His business did pretty well, but sometimes, things were a little hard to find and he reluctantly had to rely on Hades to fund him. And because of a particularly bad period of time, Nico owed Hades a lot. Most of the time Hades left Nico alone, but on the occasion he wanted something, he found some kind of way to get in touch with Nico and bring him to New York to tell him exactly what that was.
"No, it's all good. I understand. What did you need then?"
"A favor."
Percy hesitated, it was Friday. "When?"
"Tomorrow. My sister—Bianca—is coming to New York for vacation. I was wondering if you could take her sightseeing."
After hearing that it would have no conflict with his time with Annabeth, Percy agreed wholeheartedly. "Sure no problem. But why don't you take her instead?"
Something triggered in Percy's head and he began thinking about Annabeth again. He felt a smile spread across his face as he thought about how easily he had agreed. With Annabeth, it would've been a whole different battle. Asking her in a straightforward manner would've required him to grovel before Annabeth even considered agreeing.
No. The best way to get a favor out of Annabeth was to take a jab at her pride. Talk about it right in front of her, but don't ask her to help. She'll ask, you'll explain more, but then tell her it's probably out of her abilities. Then, without pause, she'll become more than willing to help—she'll be determined.
Not that Percy had ever done this; this was just what would probably happen from what he noticed about her personality. Reverse psychology was definitely the best option to try.
"…-ext site. And besides, I only come to New York when Hades tells me to. I don't know where to take her."
Percy had forgotten that Nico was on the other line and made an unintelligent sounding huh? when he snapped out of his thoughts.
Nico had heard that sound from Percy before. "Who's the girl?"
Percy replied after some hesitance, well aware of the extent of his obsession. "Her name's Annabeth and Gods is she amazing. She's all I think about. I can't even get a good night's sleep because of her."
Nico snorted and Percy practically saw him roll his eyes. "I'm sure she is," sarcasm was oozing.
"Shut up Nico. She's different. Nothing like my other relationships. She's just as beautiful if not more, but with Annabeth, there's just so much more than just what you see."
You wanna know more, more, more about me
Gotta know reverse psychology
I'm the reason why you can't get to sleep
I'm the girl you never get just quite what you see
"I'll take your word for it. But I have to go soon; I'm running out of coins. But Percy, I really need you to do this favor for me, and do it really well. My sister deserves a good vacation. We used to live from foster home to orphanage to foster home, but as soon as she turned 18, she took me and we left. All she's been doing her whole life is taking care of me. She needs a good vacation and time to relax. Please do that for her."
Percy checked the time and was alarmed by how later it was getting; he had to leave for Half-Blood soon. "Yeah, sure, no problem. When does she land tomorrow?"
"Six-thirty. Thanks Percy."
And then there was a relieving—to Percy at least—click, and he hurriedly went to put on a different shirt before leaving.
Percy, thankfully, was not too late because Annabeth didn't look too pissed. Like always, they talked and drank, thriving the most in a week in those few hours they spent with each other. They danced some, kissed some, drank some, and were making their way out the door half an hour past midnight.
Coincidentally, Nico had just finished his talk—argument—with Hades and was leaving as well. He spotted the pair while walking out of the alley way. He himself was invisible to the two, naturally blending in with the shadows. He preferred the darkness and stayed in its dark embrace while he watched the happy couple walk away.
Nico was not surprised at not having been proved wrong. The girl, Annabeth, hanging on Percy's arm was exactly the kind of girl he had pictured. Pretty and easy. The way she was clinging to and leaning on Percy. The way she was awkwardly walking and tangling their limbs together only helped to exacerbate Nico's thoughts. "Don't let me stop you," he muttered while walking the other direction.
Percy turned to look at an alley behind him, feeling a stare on him from within the shadows. He saw nothing and quickly returned his attention to Annabeth. Annabeth, still, after all this time never failed to pique Percy's interest. How could someone so balanced, so deft, so graceful, manage to break a heel? And even with this minor set-back, she didn't need Percy's help walking like any other girl would have—though she took it all the same.
As Annabeth leaned her weight on Percy, using him as a crutch for her uneven-heighted figure and tangling their limbs together, Percy couldn't help but think, if this were to become a relationship, Percy could be a hero, but never her gallant knight. Only her equal.
Percy was sure if anything, Annabeth was the one sweeping him off his feet.
You think that you know me
You think that I'm only
When everything I do is only to get tangled up in you
You wanna know more, more, more about me
I'm the girl that's sweeping you off your feet
The smarter thing would have been to call a cab, but the duo walked all the way to Annabeth's apartment, relishing their unintimate closeness. By the time they reached Annabeth's apartment, it was close to one.
Annbeth walked in, making a big show of tossing her broken heels into a corner. She turned to share a grin with Percy but quickly turned the corners of her mouth down when she saw Percy still hesitating the door. "Aren't you going to come in?"
"Well…"
And in that pause of silence, Annabeth had heard it all. They had never refused the others' invitation before, why would he now; unless something had changed.
"I'm supposed to pick up a friend from the airport tomorrow at six-thirty. I should probably be getting home and trying to get as much sleep as I can fit in."
The pained look in Percy's eyes was almost enough to put Annabeth's doubts to rest. Almost. She automatically put up a wall, and Percy could feel and hear it when she replied tersely, "Yeah, ok. I understand."
Percy's heart broke—though it shouldn't have—at hearing the coolness and detachedness of her voice. "Don't think I don't want to spend the rest of the night with you; I really do. It's just…I made a promise." And if Percy Jackson was one thing, it was loyal.
Percy desperately hoped that Annabeth understood how unwilling he truly was to cut their evening short. He desperately hoped Annabeth wouldn't think that these were how their future evening would end—if she decided to continue their future at all. If her rigid pose and hand placed on her jutted hip meant anything.
"No Percy, its fine." Annabeth didn't even know why she was acting this way. She wasn't mad, she understood; she really did. She just…she was just frustrated for some reason unknown to her. She knew her body language was at an extreme opposite to her words but she just wanted to know what Percy would do. Although it was selfish, she wanted to know if he would do what she told him or what she wanted. Honestly, even she didn't know what the right answer would be in this situation.
Can't you see I want you by the way I push you away
Don't judge me tomorrow by the way I'm acting today
Mix the words up with the actions do it all for your reaction,
After the longest—and so far most awkward—second later, Percy left.
AN: BUM BUM BUM!!!!! Brutal cliff hanger huh?
I got this chapter out earlier than i thought. This actually turned out to be a really intense chapter. Much bigger range of emotions than i originally planned. It was supposed to be just a bunch of fluff with Percy constantly thinking about Annabeth. But then, an anonymous reviewer (yay reviewers!!) asked me to somehow add Nico in. Which got me thinking...which got me to this...which actually fit into my plot line really well. To me, Nico is the kid in your class that no one notices and doesn't want anyone to notice them anyways. I tried to capture that and also how he kind of is the shadows and how the shadows sort-of own him? (I don't know how else to say it)
Anyways...I don't know if you guys got that, but THANKS to that anonymous reviewer (see what adding your opinion will do?) and all my other amazing reviewers.
Next chapter is based on Kelly Clarkson's: Don't Let Me Stop You. I think this chapter will take me a little longer with all the stuff i want to fit in. If it becomes really long i might do a prologue like with Take Me On The Floor...But DON'T get your hopes up. If you get them crushed and i take a long time, don't blame me ;)