Hi! Is something burning?

Percy couldn't wait until he could collapse onto his couch. He was tired. He had been moving into his new apartment, carrying boxes up five flights of stairs and unpacking. Even with the help of his cousins, Thalia and Jason, it took impossibly long.

So the twenty four year old trudged up the stairs and kicked open his door and placed the very last box in his room, before letting out an exhausted cheer. He tried not to look at the boxes that were waiting to be unpacked and instead, he manoeuvred his way into the living room and flopped onto his slightly worn out couch. Face first into the leather, he closed his eyes and sighed, his arm hanging off the edge.

Just then, his stomach rumbled. He grimaced. He hadn't eaten anything since lunch, and glancing at his phone, he realised it was already seven in the evening. He really didn't want to move from the comfort of his couch, but if he wanted to actually satisfy his hunger, he would have to get up.

Percy rolled over and slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes before making up his mind. He would order pizza instead of digging through his near empty fridge. Humming to himself, he called the nearest pizzeria and ordered two large pizzas, deciding that he would keep the leftovers for tomorrow. Now he just had to wait patiently for his food to arrive.

He had twenty minutes to kill.

Percy got off the couch and made his way over to his room, and picked up his suitcase which contained his clothes. He rummaged through his bag until he found a decent shirt and pants before heading down to the bathroom.

He flicked the lights on, and blinked rapidly as the light blinded him momentarily. He stripped off his clothes and hopped into the shower, relaxing under the warm water. Under the heated water, his tense and sore shoulder muscles loosened. Washing away the sweat and grime from that day, he began singing his rendition of Disney songs (out of tune). Not that he could tell. Finally, he came out, wiping himself down and pulled on a pair of clean pants and walked out into his living room as he slipped a singlet over his head.

And that's when he smelt it.

He froze, a towel in one hand and the phone in the other, and began to scan his apartment for the source of smell. Something was burning. He knew when something was burning, courtesy of spending too much time with Leo. Leo was a walking fire hazard. Percy remembered one time when they were making breakfast, Leo had managed to set fire to their toast. Which wasn't actually in the toaster. To this day, Percy still doesn't know how Leo had done it.

Shaking his head to rid of the thoughts, Percy ran into the kitchen, his heart beating rapidly. He was sure he didn't leave anything turned on or left a candle burning. He didn't even own candles.

That's when he heard it. The shrill of an alarm sounding from behind the wall.

His neighbour.

Now normally, when he hears a fire alarm, he would assume that it was an accident, but judging by the amount of smoke he could detect, he knew this wasn't the case. Without thinking, he raced through his apartment and tore his front door open, and skidded to a halt at his neighbour's door.

"Hey! Is everything okay!" he called, knocking on the door. From beyond the door, he could make out the faint sound of someone shrieking and a crash. Percy's eyes widened and pounded harder, "Hello? Do you need help!"

The door was wrenched open and he was met with a girl with golden blonde hair which seemed to have fallen out of a ponytail. "You have to help me!" She cried, grasping his wrist and pulling him inside.

He hurried after her, noticing the smoke wafting from the kitchen. He pushed past her and his eyes were immediately drawn to the frying pan which was producing black smoke. Whatever was being cooked, was now burnt. He turned the stove off and backed away from the small flame, opening her cupboards, searching for something.

"Open the windows!" Percy yelled over the piercing fire alarm. The girl nodded quickly and rushed around the flat, throwing the windows wide open. He ran to the sink and filled a large saucepan with water. While the pan was filling up, he turned to the girl, who had frozen in the dining room with a look of terror, and cried out, "Do something!"

She was staring at him with wide eyes and shook his head, "I-I can't"

"What do you mean you can't! This is your kitchen!" Percy hollered back. The alarm continued to screech. He turned the tap off and poured the cold water onto the flame. The pan hissed dangerously but the flame died quickly, allowing him to let out the breath he was holding. He placed the pan onto the sink and leaned against the bench in relief.

With the windows open, the smoke disappeared after a minute and the alarm stopped.

Percy looked up and gave the woman a half smile, "You alright?"

She was still in the dining area, inching away from the table and towards the opposite wall. She let out a squeak, "U-Um yes! Thank you!" Her eyes were trained at something above his head. "Just great!"

He frowned and glanced around, "What's wrong? Something bothering you?"

"Um… since you're already here…" she started, never taking her eyes off the spot on the wall, "could you please get rid of that… that thing? Please?"

Percy blinked at her before following her finger and being greeted by a small spider. "Do you want me to… get rid of that spider?"

"Yes please. That… that monster came into my house while I was cooking! Get it out!" she hissed the last part. Percy bit back a chuckle and grabbed a container and hopped onto the marble bench top. Carefully, he reached upwards and trapped the spider underneath the container.

"Could you get me a piece of cardboard or something?" he asked, turning his face slightly. The woman composed herself, with the knowledge that the eight legged creature was hidden from sight. She ran off and came back moments later with a ripped piece of cardboard from an empty cereal box.

"Thanks," he grinned and slid the cardboard under the container. He then hopped down from the bench and carefully walked outside.

"Make sure you kill it!" She warned, hiding behind the safety of the door. Rolling his eyes, he squished the small spider and faced her with an amused look.

"Is that everything?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow.

She stepped away from the door and blushed, unconsciously smoothing her hair down. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Nah it's all good. How did the fire start anyway?" He was curious.

She bit her lip, "Um I was frying eggs when I saw that… thing. I freaked out and then I tried to kill it. But then it crawled towards me and I panicked, so I ran to my kitchen table, only to realise that I left the stove on."

Percy laughed, "Oh my god. You ran away because of a spider?"

"I'm scared of them." She muttered defensively. "Anyway, the spider was in between the stove and I, and I wasn't going to go anywhere near that thing. Just at that moment, the eggs start to burn, and I'm on top of my table. The smoke starts erupting from the pan and I didn't think it could get any worse. But it did. The fire alarm goes off. So I'm on the table, screaming at the spider to get lost while my dinner burns in the kitchen and there's this loud, high pitched ringing to top it off."

"Is that when I come over to help? Percy asked, chuckling.

"Yeah. That spider then crawled away, but it climbed up onto the wall. Glad I made the decision to open the door for you. Thank you, by the way."

"That's alright. I'm just happy that you weren't hurt."

"Thanks for helping. I didn't catch your name though…"

"Percy Jackson. I just moved in today. I'm your new neighbour." He put his hand in front of him.

The girl blushed again, "Oh god, that is so embarrassing. I'm Annabeth Chase. That was a horrible first meeting." She placed her hand into his and they shook.

"Well Annabeth, I just ordered pizza, so if you want, you could join me. I know we just met, but your dinner is ashes now." Percy offered. Annabeth looked at him, startled.

"Um… I mean I would love to but I don't want to burden you-"

"Geez Annabeth, it's fine. I want to get to know you, since you're my neighbour. You made me come out of my house, which is an impressive feat in itself. The least you could do is have dinner with me." He winked.

She sighed but a smile made its way onto her face, "If that's okay with you… Let me get changed though. These smell like smoke." With that, she walked back inside and began to close the door, but she paused in the doorway and tilted her head to the side as she glanced at him, "See you in ten minutes?"

"Sure. Just beware that my place is currently filled with boxes." Percy said, running a hand through his damp hair.

"That's fine." Annabeth replied, and the door shut with a click, leaving Percy standing outside her flat with a silly grin on his face. He was going to have a dinner (date) with one, very attractive neighbour. Percy couldn't believe his luck.

AN - Hello again! This one was based on a prompt I saw on Tumblr. It went something along the lines of, "Hi we're neighbours and I smelt burning! Here, let me help you…" I didn't know how to end it but oh well. Hope you liked it. Please leave any prompts for me in the reviews!

I would also like to thank everyone who has reviewed and favourited/followed this. It means so much to me! Also to the silent guests, I thank you for reading this story.

Till next time!