Disclaimer: No one is as awesome as Uncle Rick. Including me. Characters belong to him.

*****flashback (still Percy's POV) *****

She's not answering. Shit, why isn't she answering? He forced himself to stare at the road and stop fidgeting.

Sure, they'd gone out before, but they'd never 'gone out'. Like, on a date. He knew Annabeth hated the 'exclusive' thing, but he appreciated her keeping them a secret. It just showed what she was willing to do for him. Not that this was all a cruel test. No. He really loved cared for Annabeth, but his father thought it best his relations with Annabeth was kept private.

Which is why he always felt like crap whenever she wanted to go out and he'd shoot her down. Sure, they'd gone to a fast-food restaurant or something with friends, but it was never serious. He could tell Annabeth was fed up.

Mainly the reason why he'd asked her out. BUT SHE'S NOT FREAKING ANSWERING!

His knuckles gripped the steering wheel, turning white. He needed to relax. Maybe she was just wondering why he had suddenly asked her out. Yeah, maybe. Annabeth did like to read in between the lines a lot. He always had to consider his words around her.

It had taken him all day to work up the nerve to ask her out and now he was left hanging. Maybe she was reconsidering being with Percy at all, not wanting anything to do with him. For what?! Asking her out?!

"I don't know." Her voice cut through the panic in his head. When he realized what she'd said, his heart wrenched. I don't know is a clear sign that she's not interested, right?

Wait. Of course she's interested. Annabeth Chase is his girlfriend. His girlfriend. But he still needed confirmation that Annabeth wasn't done with him. He knew she was starting to get skeptical.

He forced himself to act as if her response had no impact on him. "It's not a hard question. Yes or no?" Without hesitation, she answered. "Yes."

Happiness surged through him. He tried to remain calm, but he couldn't help but smile at her. She bit her lip, forcing back a smile, but her eyes shone brightly. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead her eyes flicked over to something in front of him. "Percy! The road!"

He quickly turned back, swerving back into the right lane, narrowly avoiding a massive truck heading their way. Annabeth had that affect on him; making him completely blindsided from the rest of the world. His hand snaked into hers, holding tightly and never letting go the whole ride back to her house.

*some time later**

"Dad! Guess what! I-" Percy stopped, looking around. There was no one else in the small hotel room. When he checked, only his small suitcase was left in the closet. Percy ran his hands through his hair.

"No big deal, right? Dad might just be out or something. He's coming back," He said to himself. 'With all his stuff? C'mon, Perce; you're not that stupid.' he said to himself.

His mother knew this would happen. But, no, Percy just had to disagree and say that Poseidon will actually act like a father for once. Sally and Percy had just gotten kicked out of their own apartment by Gabe, an abusive lazy bastard whom Sally was married to. She tried to get rid of him and it backfired in their face, so now they were in a nasty court battle. She thought a seventeen year old boy shouldn't be homeless while simultaneously going through all of this, so she decided it was best he stayed with his father so she could sort things out.

Poseidon Olympia was an entrepreneur and oceanographer, traveling all over for 'business' purposes. Sally and he always knew that was an excuse for not being a father to Percy and who knew how many other children.

And for some reason, Poseidon thought it would be a good idea for Percy to stay with him while he was in town. Something about "bonding" he claimed.

Yeah, some bonding. Most of the time Poseidon would be out at a bar or gods knows where, while Percy waited for him. But recently, he gave up trying. He and his dad will just never be as close as he was with his mother.

Searching the rooms again, he saw that there was no trace of Poseidon, or any signs that he'd been here. Typical.

He considered calling Annabeth. Her dad might let him stay with them. He could sleep in Luke's room or something. He dialed Annabeth's number. As he waited for her to pick up, he turned.

Poseidon's wallet was on the bed. He hung up and walked over to it, picking it up. A note fell out.

'Perseus,

I tried and I can't. Too much is going on right now. I left you enough money to support you and your mother for now. I'm sorry. I love you and your mother, Perseus. I hope we can try again soon.'

Percy ripped up the letter. He ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want his father's apologies. He didn't want Poseidon's money either. He could support his mother with is own money. He didn't need his father.

He didn't need anyone. Love is overrated, anyways. That's right. He'll show Poseidon that he didn't need his father's money or his love.

Annabeth's POV

"Thalia, you don't understand. He asked me on a date!"

Thalia rolled her eyes and pulled out her ear buds. "You said that last year, Annie. You know, when you actually started dating."

"No, that's when he asked me to be his girlfriend. We never officially gone on a date." Thalia sat up. "Sounds like a whole bunch of bullshit to me. Why do you even bother with that dickhead?"

"He's your cousin." She reminded her. She continued searching through her closet. Sure, she's been grounded till graduation, but that didn't mean Annabeth was going to actually stay home.

Her parents seriously didn't know how to punish their children. Wait, no, that wasn't true. Luke and the twins were being punished so much that dad had run out of ideas. And somehow Luke always managed to escape his punishment every time, the sly bastard.

Malcolm and Annabeth were the perfect children. She'd never been grounded, probably the reason dad didn't know what to do with her. Thalia had manipulated him into allowing her 'visits' from friends. And, as long as it was for school purposes, she was allowed to go over a friends' house.

"He might be blood, and I love him, but he's a total jackass. I'm just watching out for my future sister in law."

Annabeth burst out laughing. Thalia was totally obsessed with Luke. "But seriously, Annabeth. If it took him a whole year of being 'exclusive' to ask you out, there's something going on. I'm just trying to watch out for you."

"Or...maybe he's actually trying. Maybe he's actually changed." Annabeth knew that was highly unlikely. Percy was definitely changing, but most likely for the worst. But it never hurt to be optimistic.

Percy's POV

"Dude, don't you have somewhere you need to be?" Grover asked.

Percy shrugged, putting the phone on speaker. "I don't know what you mean."

The line went silent, then Grover sighed. "Seriously, Perce? We're going through this again?" Percy stared up at the ceiling, running a hand through his hair. "You lost me, man. What are you talking about?"

"If I could punch you right now, I would. You've been talking about this date since last week. And now you're all depressed?"

Oh. Right. His date with Annabeth. He hadn't totally forgotten, but he had pushed it to the back of his mind, due to his current state of homelessness. Technically that wasn't true- they were staying in the pre-paid hotel room- but the expensive and uncomfortably suffocating hotel room felt far from home. Especially since Percy refused to pay for food with his father's money.

"I take the silence as a sign that I'm right. You're not going to blow her off, are you?" He'd been asking himself that question since last week. He knew standing her up would crush her, but he couldn't continue. He can't do this.

Getting close to someone would just mean them leaving you in the end. He couldn't make himself go through that again, and he definitely didn't want to do that to Annabeth. It was better to end things before feelings ran too deep.

"So you are. Come on, dude, you know you're better than that!"

"What do you want me to do, Grover?" Percy snapped. "Go over to her house and tell her why I can't go on a date with her? Why I can't love her?"

"Yes, Percy. I want you to do exactly that. I know you're my bro, but I watch out for Annabeth too. Tell her."

"But-"

"No excuses Perce. Promise me you'll explain to her."

Percy sighed. "Fine. Later." He hung up. Slipping on his jacket, he grabbed his car keys and slipped out of the hotel room.

***At the lake****

Percy ripped off a branch from one of the trees and started dragging it through the sand. This was his lame excuse for a romantic gesture/breakup. He knew he promised Grover that he would tell Annabeth, but he couldn't. He wasn't strong enough to say to her face that he didn't love her.

He sat on the shore, his feet in the water, deep in thought. It was about an hour or two before Annabeth would show up.

He held a piece of paper in his hand, a pen in the other. He didn't know what to say. Everything he thought of sounded lame, definitely something that would make Annabeth hate him.

He heard leaves crunching. How long had he sat there trying to put pen to paper? He quickly scribbled something on the paper and set it down on the sand, running to hide in the trees.

A few seconds later, Annabeth came out, looking as beautiful as ever. Percy bit his lip, trying to keep himself from calling out her name. If he saw her up close, it would change those days of convincing himself he didn't need love in his life. And he was absolutely sure that he was better off alone.

He watched as she looked around, obviously expecting him. She waited there for hours, her head in her hands. Several times he almost reached out and touched her, then recoiled, remembering why he did this in the first place.

She finally realized that he wasn't coming. She stood up, flats in one hand, and started walking away. She stopped suddenly, looking down.

Percy's stomach dropped. She found it.

She picked up the pendant, studying it in her hands. Annabeth turned, reading a blue sticky note. She crumpled it up, her face turning red. He didn't know how he could possibly see it from here, but a tear slipped down her cheek.

Great. He tried to spare her feelings, but only managed in hurting her.

Like father, like son.

It repulsed him to be anything like his bastard of a father, but he knew it was true. He was just following in his father's footsteps. He was just bound to turn out like Poseidon.

A/N:

Hello! We're almost at 11,000 views! I'm so happy! If only I had as many reviews...but I'm still grateful!

I don't have anything else to say, so...bye, I guess?

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~greekfreak302