ANNABETH

After Percy asked Annabeth to be his girlfriend, school and life became complicated. Her father came to visit out of nowhere to let her know he had changed jobs, which meant he would not be home for most of Thanksgiving break. Professors who had seemed to give easy tests warned her that the midterms were going to be endless hell.

So, when a weekend finally rolls around, a Friday afternoon after everyone's midterms are over and the last few weeks of the semester seem close and scary at the same time, Percy had called to tell her to be ready for 6:30 and prepare for a, in his words, "super freaking awesome date."

Piper smirks at her. "Girl, you are so getting laid tonight."

"Not for the first time," says Annabeth, carefully folding up the blankets on her bed, but she can feel a red blush spread across her cheeks. "Just – for the first time in, you know, a couple of days." She starts to smile and she can't stop, and it's one of the nicest feelings she's had in a long time. Luke never gave her that feeling – the mindless giddiness that infected even her most stressful moments, the flashing back to wonderful moments together – and with Percy it's a new experience every time. There's something about his general assumption that everyone has at least a little good in them that makes Annabeth sort of hope for the human race again.

There's a knock on the door and Piper jumps. "Is he supposed to be here now?" she asks, looking startled. "Oh, crap, I'm not out of my towel. I'm not even dressed!"

Annabeth takes a look at her watch. "He's not supposed to be here until 6:30," she says with a frown. "I'll get it though. Let him know he's early." She checks her watch again. 3:30. "Really stupidly early. What kind of crack is that boy on?"

"Something good, apparently, if he's that off on the timing," Piper says.

Annabeth is fully prepared to tease Percy about being eager when she pulls the door open to see a boy with dark hair curling against his ears, bright eyes with the same kind of mischief behind them that she sees in Piper's, and a giant grin.

"Piper didn't tell me she had a princess for a roommate," says the guy with a wink. "I'm Leo Valdez, nice to meet you." Annabeth shakes the hand he sticks out, and turns to Piper with an expression like, "did you know this kid was coming?"

Piper's jaw drops, and she sprints over to the door. "Fuckin' a, Leo!" she exclaims and, to Annabeth's surprise, knocks her out of the way to tackle the Latino boy halfway to the ground. He just barely steadies himself before catching her. "You didn't tell me you were coming this weekend!"

He laughs into her hair as he picks her up into a hug. "Thought I'd surprise you for Halloween," he says. "Plus, I knew you'd be busy and shit and tell me you couldn't hang out. So I came up anyway." Piper pulls away for a second to stare at Leo incredulously, and Annabeth honestly can't tell if they used to date or are just really good friends. It's answered when Piper hauls off and slugs him in the arm.

"You fucking idiot," she says, "now I either have to kick you out or make my roommate uncomfortable!"

"It's no big deal," Annabeth says, and she feels herself grinning. "Actually, this gives me a reason to sleep over Percy's tonight."

Leo's eyes light up, and Annabeth realizes he looks a lot younger than he probably is. "See, Piper? Your roommate's cool with it. So can I stay?"

"Let me think," she says, considering it slowly. "Course you can, moron. Besides, who else can I Halloween with, right? Gotta have my Jimmy Olsen."

"You don't get to be Superman ever again," says Leo, and he turns to Annabeth, stage whispering, "she abused the power."

"I would expect nothing less of her," says Annabeth. "Leo, you can come in if you want." As she moves to let them in, her eyes catch a bulletin outside their room.

"Hey, Piper," she says, letting the door shut behind her. "There's apparently a party in the Student Center tomorrow night. Some sort of Halloween thing. Do we want to go?"

Piper turns to Leo, and there seems to be some sort of silent exchange there. Annabeth watches in fascination as they communication with a couple of shrugs and eyebrow movements.

"Sure," says Piper. "We'll show Leo watch the school sanctioned fun is. And then we will go off to one of the frat parties and introduce him to what it's really like at a school like this."

Over the next couple hours, Annabeth and Piper give Leo a tour of campus. Annabeth learns that Leo's got skills with his hands, and went from apprentice to partner of his mother's mechanic shop by the time he was eighteen. She also learns that his father backs him when times are tough, but is unable to be there for him most of the time. Piper tells a bunch of stories about how she and Leo caused trouble, anything from teaching the eighth graders the trick of moving desks up to mess with teachers to setting a bonfire behind one of Piper's father's houses and throwing the biggest party of the year without planning it. Annabeth also learns that Leo is strangely obsessed with fire.

"It's just a thing," he says with a shrug, "I'm good at getting it to do what I want."

Annabeth still, at dinner, is a bit unsure what to make of this rambunctious fire starter who would be sleeping in her dorm room that evening.

"So, girls," Leo asks, "got any clue what you're going to be for Halloween?"

Annabeth shrugs. "Well, I was thinking I might do sludge princess, since Piper's got that makeup down."

"Hey!" Piper exclaims. "That was a fantastically done sludge princess and you know it."

Leo chuckles. "You still working on that stage makeup, Pipes?"

Piper folds her arms across her chest and frowns. "Shut up," she grumbles. "Just because the makeup isn't pretty doesn't mean it isn't good."

"I'm not going as a sludge princess," says Leo. "No matter how pretty I'd look. We should go as Charlie's Angels."

Piper snorts. "You'd make a terrible Bosley, Leo."

"I was thinking more Charlie."

"You never see Charlie," Annabeth laughs.

"You make a good point," he says. "But we'll come up with outfits. They're going to be awesome. Just prepare for it."

PIPER

"These are literally the worst possible Halloween costumes you could have come up with, Leo," says Piper. "Literally the worst."

"I have a date in an hour!" Annabeth exclaims. "Oh, god, how the hell am I expected to get all of this hairspray out?!"

Leo shrugs and touches delicately as his slicked back hair. "Look, Rizzo," he says to Piper, whose hair has been curled just enough to cover the undercut and look a little bit like the character she's imitating, "is your friend going to calm down or what?"

"She has a date in an hour, Leo!" Piper exclaims.

"Neither of you looked at the clock!" Leo responds. "And from now on I respond to nothing but Kenickie."

"I still have no idea why you didn't choose to be Danny," says Annabeth, touching her helmet head in the mirror. Piper has to admit, that pair of leather pants do look fairly good on Annabeth. Her butt looks magnificent. But the leather vest over a neon green tank top (thanks, for that idea, Leo) isn't Sandy as much as Piper. It'll have to do, especially since Piper's shoved herself into one of Annabeth's old pink cardigans. Duct tape lettering spells "Pink Ladies" across the back. It looks hilarious, she'll admit it, but Piper keeps pulling at her hair, which is strategically pulled back to make sure the curls look short enough.

"Quit that!" Annabeth exclaims. "You'll ruin it!"

"Kind of the point," grumbles Piper. "Jesus, it's like somebody stuck pin cushions in my brain. How do you go through life with this many bobby pins in your skull? Self hatred?"

"I never used bobby pins until I met you, numbskull," Annabeth replies.

Leo looks over at her, his slicked back hair glinting in the poor fluorescent dorm room lighting. "You know, before I liked you. Now that you insulted Piper with numbskull, I might like you more than I like her."

Annabeth does a victory dance while Piper just glares at Leo.

"This is so not fair," says Piper with a frown. "You're not supposed to team up against me. That's not how it works!"

"Disagree," says Annabeth with a bright smile. "You gave me Sandy hair. Now help me tame this mess into something tolerable – I don't have time to brush this out, shower, dress, put on makeup, and clean up this horror show."

"Just go like that," says Leo. "I'm pretty sure the 50's look works on anyone."

"The fifties look works on old white men, you donk," says Piper with an eye roll. "But yeah, nice try."

It takes then twenty of Annabeth's remaining sixty before all three of them realize that a giant halo of shame is all they're going to get form Annabeth's hair when it's dry. The hairspray is causing the curls to unfurl just enough to cause frizz and the hairbrush increases the static tenfold.

"You look like you just stuck your foot in an electrical socket," laughs Piper.

"No one's fault but yours, you ass," grumbles Annabeth. "Jesus, Percy's going to walk in and totally reconsider the whole girlfriend thing. And it's going to be all your fault. I'm going to retaliate by telling Reyna you were looking at engagement rings online."

Piper responds by pulling at the brush in Annabeth's hair a little too tightly, and Annabeth responds to that with a high pitched shriek.

Eventually, Piper shoves her in the shower ("I'M STILL IN MY JEANS!" "They'll dry, just rinse out your hair." "I'm going to kill you in your sleep!" "Sure, give it a try.) and doesn't let her out until her hair is soaked to her back and more malleable.

"See?" Piper says, ignoring the fact that the hair brush is literally stuck in Annabeth's hair. "No problem. Getting your hair wet didn't do anything to hurt it."

"Didn't do anything to help, either," comments Leo, who is flipping through Annabeth's copy of Frankenstein.

"Shut up, fudgehead," grumbles Piper.

Percy's knocking on the door by the time Piper manages to get Annabeth's hair all brushed out. Well, mostly. They brush keeps getting stuck. Annabeth's sitting in her desk chair in one of Piper's too-small robes, sweat pants, and her Sassy Cheeseburger shirt.

"Am I early?" Percy asks, looking befuddled as Piper pulls the door open, despite Annabeth's protests. He looks at his watch. "I did tell you six thirty, right?"

Annabeth nods, and Piper catches her short-but-sweet glare. "You told me right," Annabeth grumbles, "but a certain Piper McShittyPlanning decided to do ridiculous things with my hair and we just got it to make sense now."

Percy pouts and Piper resists the urge to laugh at him.

"I'm really sorry, Percy," Annabeth says, hitting Piper in the arm. "Did you make reservations for seven? I should be ready before then."

He shakes his head. "I totally should have made reservations, though," he says with a frown. "That was shitting planning on my part too." Then, it's like he blinks and realizes Leo's sitting on Piper's bed. "Can I ask who the dude is?"

"That's Leo," Piper says. "Nerd. Loser. Picked him up from the side of the street."

"I've known Piper since high school," Leo tries to put in.

"He's an assassin," says Annabeth.

"He kisses cats and eats hedgehogs."

"He once ate a jellyfish, stole it right from a baby."

Piper and Percy stare at Annabeth. She blinks. "Oh, crap. I meant to say jellybean."

"I don't know," says Leo. "I think maybe my street cred would go up if I ate a jellyfish."

"Except you stole it from a baby," says Percy. "I mean, wouldn't that make the baby even more badass than you would be?"

The guys stare at each other for a moment, and Piper observes them. She gets along with Percy great, but Leo can be abrasive and a downright douchebag. Unlike Piper, he doesn't know when to tone it down.

Leo turns to Annabeth. "Your boy's got a good grasp on the tactics of jellyfish," is apparently what he thinks is a good comment. Annabeth just nods.

"Did I get myself into an insane asylum and just collect you people as I walked down the halls or something?" Annabeth asks.

"Yes, we are Pokemon," says Piper with an eye roll. Then, in a strange turn of events, she and Percy both say, "Gotta catch 'em all."

"Dude!" exclaims Piper, and high fives Percy.

"I am surrounded by idiots," says Annabeth. "Just help my hair go back to normal, okay, Piper?"

Piper sighs. "Alright," she grumbles. "Let Grandma and Grandpa go on their date so the cool kids can go out and shake their booties."

"Never," says Annabeth, "call me Grandma again, hooligan teenager."

ANNABETH

She has to admit, Piper's got some skill. After her hair was twisted and braided and finally tamed from the disaster it was, Annabeth was dressed and made up before fifteen minutes were up.

"You ready to go?" Percy asks. "Because, I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten since noon."

"You are an idiot," Annabeth says, but she can feel herself smile. "Let's go."

With a wave to Piper and Leo and a skillful closing of the door in Piper's face to prevent her from being able to make any more horrible comments (the week before Piper had replaced all of Annabeth's cards and money with condoms) or doing anything awful.

Percy gallantly extends an arm and Annabeth laughs as she takes it. "Wow," she says with a smile, "a real gentleman."

Percy smiles and shrugs. "I try." They walk in silence for a little while until they reach a little restaurant, one Annabeth's been dying to try but hasn't had the time to visit. It's called Cucina Italiano and Annabeth's about to die. It smells like bread and tomato sauce and Italian food and, wow, she wasn't this hungry eight seconds ago.

"You've mentioned it a few times," says Percy. Annabeth can't do much but smile even wider.

They walk in, and suddenly Annabeth is very happy she dressed up for the occasion. It's a small place, almost a hole in the wall, and everyone is dressed up. She pulls a little on her dress – it feels too short, too young for this kind of place, oh, god, should she even be here? – until Percy realizes what she's doing and wordlessly takes her hand.

"This place is fancier than I expected," says Percy. "Are you…?"

"I think so," says Annabeth, not quite realizing she hasn't said anything specific yet. She does that sometimes – gets overwhelmed and confused to the point of only saying half of what she means. Somehow, Percy's gotten good at translating it.

"Want to hit the pizza place down the road?"

Annabeth nods. "Oh, hell yes."

Percy and Annabeth turn on their heels and book it to the pizza place that everyone from their school goes. It's noisy but not so loud they can't hear each other, and when Annabeth takes off her formal coat and cardigan, the dress she's wearing goes from too fancy to fine. She has to help Percy with his tie though – his best friend apparently tied it in a way that got a little too complicated.

"Thanks," Percy says, massaging his throat. "God, ties are like torture. I thought I was going to get strangled with that thing. I don't care how stylish it is, ties are evil."

"Fashion can be painful," says Annabeth, and she finds her hand rising up to pat her hair.

"I got that impression when I saw Piper get her hairbrush stuck in your hair," says Percy.

"It got stuck?!" Annabeth exclaims. "God, I knew I should never have let her get a hold on me. That one's going to kill me someday."

"You look good, though!" says Percy. "Really good. Really pretty. Your hair doesn't look like a frizzball anymore." He pauses. "That came out wrong."

"Thanks," says Annabeth. "Now that you're not being strangled, you look pretty nice too."

"Well, the strangulation added a bit of color to my skin," says Percy with an eye roll. "I'm never letting Jason dress me again."

"How come I haven't met any of your friends yet?" Annabeth says, and in a split second she realizes it may have been a good idea to come at that a little bit more gently. "I mean, I…" Yep, no way she could soften it now.

To her surprise, Percy frowns. "You have met my friends," he says. "Jason and Nico were at that party we met at. Did they not introduce themselves? They said they talked to you."

"I didn't realize they were your friends," Annabeth replies. "And, yeah, no names or introductions."

Percy rolls his eyes. "Well, they're idiots," he grumbles. "I've known Jason since he was born. He greeted me when he was nine months old and I was around a year old with a bite on my cheek. I think he thought it was a kiss." Annabeth feels bad that she's laughing too hard to let Percy continue, but she's even happier she's in this pizza place instead of the Italian restaurant, because she's started snorting.

"Bit you in the cheek?" she manages to laugh. "Like, actually bit you?"

Percy nods. "Right here," he says, and sure enough, there's a faint white scar against his darker skin, bright in the fluorescent lighting.

"It looks like you got bitten by a vampire," Annabeth laughs.

Percy furrows his brow and stares at Annabeth like he's concentrating, "You can't be with me, Annabeth. I'm a vegetarian vampire and all I want to do is drink your blood and kill you. Dead. Very dead." He squints his eyes even harder. "I sparkle in the sun."

Annabeth laughs more. "But Percy," she says, entirely deadpan, "I am a void character. I have no development or structure through the series, yet your character is obsessed with me."

Percy's not laughing. "That was disturbingly accurate," he says. "Don't do that again. Please?"

Annabeth nods. "No more being Bella for me, then. But your Edward was magnificent. I am quite impressed. I'm surprised you're not a drama major."

Percy chokes on his soda. "Oh, god," he says, snorting up water. Annabeth quickly hands him a napkin before he gets Pepsi all over his shirt. "No way. Not in – no way. I'm actually undeclared right now. I've gone back and forth between engineering because there are always jobs and physics because I want to design skate parks and stuff."

"Well I could help with that," says Annabeth, confused about how they've never talked about their majors yet. "I'm doing architecture. I mean, not really yet. I'm in an introduction to the history of architecture right now, but when I get further into it I can help with the designs."

"It's a deal," says Percy, eyes bright.

The rest of the dinner is noise and laughter and smiles and too much pizza for the average person. Annabeth can't remember the last time she's laughed this hard without Piper giving her a screwdriver or Piper being an idiot, and they close the restaurant down along with some drunken fools. The two walk arm in arm back to their dorm.

"Hold on," says Annabeth, digging in her pocket for keys. "I need to go upstairs and grab a change of clothes."

Percy nuzzles her neck, and Annabeth tilts her head to the side without realizing she's doing it. "Wait, not yet," she giggles. "Give me a few seconds."

"Okay," he says, kissing behind her ear once. "Your hair still smells like hairspray."

"Shut up, fuzzhead," she laughs.

She walks up the stairs and fusses for a few minutes with the key and opens the door.

Only to find Reyna and Piper making out on Piper's bed.

"For fuck's sake, Piper!" Annabeth exclaims. "Did you lose Leo?!"