A/N: What?! An update within a week? What is happening?! I know, I know. Don't expect this. IT'S UNNATURAL. I'm blaming it on my sort-of insomnia (during the summer, especially).

Disclaimer: You know the drill, Rick owns everything.

Roommates – 9

"It was great talking to you Percy, after so long. Thanks for having me over. We should do this again sometime," Rachel offered, as she pulled on a jacket and headed out the door.

Percy smiled. "Sure thing, Rachel. Come back anytime." He waved as she headed to the elevator. "Bye." He watched her red curls bounce until she was out of sight. After shutting the door, he headed into the bedroom.

All the lights were off except for the lamp on top of the dresser. Percy walked as quietly as he could manage before he heard the faint sound of music. He glanced around the room until his eyes fell on Annabeth's sleeping form. Her hair was fanned out around her, just like a princess'. She was in sweats and curled up in a ball, probably from the cold. The heating system on their floor had been malfunctioning all week. But Percy's main focus was the headphones blasting music that were still on her ears.

Percy contemplated how comfortable Annabeth probably felt. In truth, she didn't look relaxed at all. So he did the only sensible thing he could think of. He reached over her and pulled off her headphones as gently as possible, finding the iPhone they were connected to. He then turned off the music and placed her phone with headphones on the dresser.

"So annoying…" he heard her murmur in her sleep. He didn't even try to hold back the smile that came upon his face. Then he searched the closet for an extra blanket and tucked her in, the way his mom did for him. She snuggled into the blanket and made a small sound of contentment. Percy smiled wider. It was kind of cute.

Kind of.

Line Break

Annabeth sat up in her bed and found that at some point in the night she'd lost her headphones and gained a warm blanket. It was peculiar. At home in San Francisco no one checked up on her. She was regarded as exceedingly mature for her age, and at some point her father had decided that she was no longer dependent upon him. Sure, he still cared for her greatly, but ever since Athena left things had changed. The house was quieter with the disappearance of Athena's constant nitpicking and her controlling personality. Her father buried himself in his history textbooks and battle scenes, and Annabeth surrounded herself with homework and architecture. They would only have breakfast together, both of them sipping coffee and occasionally sharing their plans for the day. It was…lonely.

That was of course, until Frederick met Susan. Annabeth didn't really hate Susan. She just didn't like Susan a lot. She was too nice and too happy. Mostly though, Annabeth was irked by the fact that anyone could take Athena's place. But that didn't stop her father from marrying Susan within the course of a year. Next thing she knew, freshmen year Annabeth had twin brothers, Mathew and Bobby. They were annoying, yet endearing. Annabeth liked them considerably more than Susan, even though they would often destroy her models for the architecture class she took in high school.

She thought about what Frederick would be doing now that she was gone. Probably following his usual routine, which involved locking himself up in the basement all day studying the physics of the catapult or something along those lines. He could have also gone to the university to work on some lectures. He was most likely doing one of the two, while Susan read and the boys messed around. It was always like that when she was there. She wondered if anyone missed her.

The faint smell of coffee brewing reached her nose. Annabeth stretched and got out of the comfort of her bed. She padded slowly to the kitchen, her feet barely echoing on the tile floor. Percy was humming softly to himself, his hands busy with two mugs of coffee. She almost laughed out loud seeing the state of his hair, but retained her composure. It was stuck up in all different directions. Percy, still oblivious of her presence, started to stir in sugar. Annabeth couldn't help but use the opportunity.

She tiptoed behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Percy jumped about a foot in the air. "What the?! Crap!" he spilled hot coffee all over himself before turning around, his eyes wide in surprise. His whole body visibly relaxed when he realized it was her. "God, Annabeth, I thought you were sleeping." He ran a hand through his hair nervously as he held out a cup of coffee to her. "Coffee?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Then as a joke, Annabeth added, "Is it blue?" Percy smiled at that as he handed her the coffee.

He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Would you like for it to be blue?"

Annabeth covered her mouth to hide the smile. He was just so…goofy. "Eh, no thanks. Blue food probably tastes like cardboard anyway." She made a face to convey her disgust.

Percy shrugged. "You don't know until you try it."

She rolled her eyes and sat down on one of the barstools, across the island from Percy, who was watching her closely, still in his coffee stained shirt. A silence ensued until Percy interrupted. "So about last night…"

Annabeth cut him off partly because she was worried and mostly because she hated confrontation, especially that which involved discussing emotions. "Are you okay, Percy?" she looked pointedly at his shirt.

Percy looked down at himself. "Oh, yeah. Meh, it only stings a little now."

She shrugged. "Just think of it as payback for spitting on me."

He smiled. "Really? So we're even then? You aren't mad at me?"

She hated how easily he could be assured that everything was fine, mostly because she wished she had that ability herself. Annabeth was always the one holding grudges and taking forever to get over small incidents.

"No way, I'm still pretty mad about that. I'll find a way for you to properly repay me." She said practically.

Percy frowned. "Right. As long as whatever it is does not involve you punching me."

Annabeth smirked. "That sounds tempting, actually." She finished off her coffee and got up to put it in the sink.

Percy backed away as she got closer to him. "Please don't." He held his hands up in mock surrender. Annabeth smiled as evilly as she could, stepping closer as Percy stepped back. Eventually he was cornered against the wall.

"Hmm…what should I do?" She tapped her chin, pretending to determine Percy's punishment as he looked on in fear.

Suddenly he bolted. Annabeth chased him around the room until somehow it turned around and Percy was chasing Annabeth. She locked herself up in the bathroom and a few seconds later a loud knock sounded against the door.

She waited a few moments, thinking it was a trick to get her to come out and lose to Percy, when she heard Thalia's voice.

"Hey, Kelp Head, is Annabeth here?" Thalia asked.

"Annabeth? Oh, yeah." She could practically hear the smile in his voice. "She's locked herself in the bathroom because she has diarrhea."

Annabeth threw open the bathroom door and stormed out. She shoved Percy and looked desperately at Thalia. "Don't listen to him, he's an idiot." Percy faked an expression of hurt. Thalia just raised an eyebrow coolly. Annabeth couldn't believe this. "I don't have diarrhea!"

Percy and Thalia burst out laughing. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Haha, guys, real mature, not elementary school humor at all."

Once the cousins both wiped the tears out of their eyes Thalia looked at Annabeth. "Get dressed, we're going out."

Annabeth was a bit thrown off. "Where?"

"Central Park. Then just around the area, you know. We are in New York. Put on something warm, it's chilly out. Luke's coming too." Then she gestured to Percy. "You want to come, cuz?"

He shook his head. "Sorry. Already got plans. I'm hanging out with some old friends. But have fun."

Annabeth pondered for a split second whether Rachel was one of the 'old friends' Percy was hanging out with. Then she mentally shook her head in disbelief. She could care less.

Suddenly Thalia seemed to notice the coffee stain on Percy's shirt, a mischievous look on her face. "Hey Kelp Head, what happened to your shirt? Can't help drooling when you're around Annabeth, can you?"

Percy blushed lightly."Psht, no, this was actually a result of one of Annabeth's murder plots." He tried to wave it off and direct the attention away from his flushed face.

Annabeth was as red as a tomato as she tried to save herself from humiliation. Everything had gotten so awkward in a matter of seconds. "Yep, death by coffee." She attempted a smile but was pretty sure it was more of a grimace. "Obviously didn't work though, 'cause Percy's still here. And not dead. So…"

"Sure, whatever you say." Thalia smirked and promptly left, yelling back a "be ready in ten!" to Annabeth about five steps into the hallway.

Percy shut the door and jerked his head slightly towards the direction of the bedroom. "You can get ready first, if you want. I mean. Um…so you have more time…" Percy felt like a deer in headlights. He felt like he'd been supernaturally teleported to some unknown world that no one had ever treaded before. Was he supposed to act normal, like Thalia hadn't suggested five minutes ago that he might have feelings for Annabeth? Was he supposed to address Annabeth and confess to her how he really felt? Except, he didn't know. They were just good friends. Nothing like…that. Well, sometimes he did have these strange urges around her, but they were really sporadic and varied. Like sometimes, he'd want to strangle her, and then others, he'd want to brush back those stupid stray curls that were always in her face.

Like, seriously, those curls were the worst thing ever. And not even because they were ugly. At first, Percy had been sure he'd thought that those princess curls were fake, created by a magic wand (or at least, that's what Percy thought those things girls used to curl their hair looked like). But after living with Annabeth for a few weeks, it had become clear to him that her hair was all natural. And he'd suddenly found he had a strange obsession with her hair. It always cascaded perfectly down her shoulders, and when she'd put her hair up, some curls would manage to fall out and frame her face in this way that annoyed him to no end. He wanted to tug on those curls, or at least get them out of her face.

And the worst part was, he couldn't understand why.

It was like she didn't even have to try to be beautiful.

Percy could not believe his thoughts. He decided to change his mind. It totally was not Annabeth who was beautiful. It was just the hair, he tried to convince himself. Just the hair. Obviously.

Annabeth could not stand the awkwardness. Percy was—oddly—not speaking, and the silence was causing her mind to stress. It was a gigantic elephant in the room, and it was crushing everything normal between her and Percy. She had to do something about it, she had to revive the sarcastic banter they shared and eliminate this annoying barrier that had suddenly plopped down from the sky, right in between them. So she said the first somewhat witty thing she could think of.

"Are you saying that I take longer to get dressed? That's sexist." She mentally patted herself on the back with that one. Truly a job well done.

Percy snapped out of his weird reverie. "Fine, then I'll go first. I'll try not to use all the hot water."

Never mind, Annabeth thought. Not a job well done. She still wanted to get ready first. "Actually, I think I should still go first. I was just conveying to you that not all women take hours upon hours in the bathroom getting dressed, since your own ignorant brain couldn't comprehend it by itself."

"Well, maybe, I was just trying to be nice. I take back my original offer, now though, since apparently being chivalrous is sexist. I'll happily go first."

"No, really, it's fine, I'll go. You should just relax," Annabeth said as pleasantly as she could.

"Nice try, but no thanks." They both stared each other down, until finally, he threw in a new challenge. "Whoever gets there first."

They both high tailed it to the bedroom, scrambling around frantically, locating all their clothes. Annabeth was sure she would win when Percy zoomed past her towards the bathroom. No way was she going to lose though, so she followed suit and chased after him. They both reached the doorway at the exact same time and pushed each other, before both of them squeezed in.

"HAHA! I WON!" Percy yelled triumphantly, since his body entered through the doorway successfully first.

Annabeth shook her head, not accepting defeat. "No way. You cheated and shoved me, therefore I deserve the bathroom first."

They argued back and forth until Percy suddenly started pulling off his tee shirt.

"What the heck, Percy?" Annabeth asked, miffed. She couldn't help but glance at his stomach to find those abs she's punched yesterday. Oh god. They were real. Not that she cared in the slightest. She attempted to fix her eyes back onto his face, trying to hide the blush she felt crawling up her neck.

Percy started to answer. "I won fair and square Annabeth-"

Was she breathing normally? She hoped so. But her unusual thoughts left her mind when she saw Percy's chest. The skin was red and angry, swelled up from the coffee burn.

"Oh my god, Percy." Annabeth said suddenly with a voice full of concern.

Percy, of course, oblivious to the apparent seriousness of the situation, replied with an intelligent. "What?"

She walked closer to him and placed a hand on his chest. It hurt him a little, but Percy's eyes still widened visibly in confusion. What was going on? Also, he really wanted his heart to stop beating so fast. He hoped Annabeth couldn't feel it. Not that his heart was beating that fast. Maybe.

It didn't seem to matter, though, since Annabeth seemed to be lost in her own world, not completely aware of her actions. She was thoroughly inspecting his chest, running her hand along his skin and only when Percy decided to look down did he realize why she was freaking out. His skin had burned a bit from the coffee this morning.

"Annabeth, it's no big deal. It was an accident, anyway. It looks worse than it actually feels." He smiled encouragingly. The last thing he needed was more awkwardness between them.

She looked up at him; hand still on his chest, her grey eyes a storm. "You need ice." She ran to the kitchen, and in five seconds flat was back with an ice pack. She reached out to place it on his chest, where her hands were just before, but she seemed to catch herself this time. Then she held it out to him, with a timid, "Here, take it."

Percy put the ice on his chest, watching Annabeth closely. His eyebrows scrunched together. "Annabeth, really, it's nothing. It's not your fault." He hated the look on her face. Her eyes were so clouded and she'd clenched her fists, clearly angry at herself. He didn't like it at all. He wanted her to smile and roll her eyes. That Annabeth was a lot easier to be around. "It's just karma since I dropped that suitcase on your head."

Annabeth locked her gray eyes on his. "It's not a joke, Percy." But he saw the corner of her mouth turn upwards. "I'm so horrible."

Percy gave her a lopsided grin. "We already discussed this ages ago. Let's just come to terms with the fact that you are indeed, horrible, and that you need to see a therapist."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm really starting to reconsider feeling bad for what I did." She looked at his chest again briefly. "Nope, actually I still feel bad about it."

"Oh, come off it, Annabeth. It'll be gone before you know it." He changed the subject. "I guess you win, you get to get ready first now. I'm just going to go to the kitchen and keep this ice on a little longer." He left the bathroom.

Annabeth could not believe him. If Percy had burned her, she probably would have declared war and shaved his head while he was sleeping or something. Well, not to that extreme, but she still would have made a big fuss about it.

Percy—freaking—Jackson was way too quick to forgive. And she hated him for that. It wasn't fair to the rest of the world for him to be so kind and trusting. She hated that he was instinctively nice and cared more about the wellbeing of others rather than his own wellbeing. Annabeth hated stupid Percy Jackson and his loyalty. It made her feel like a sick human being. Even though she was above average in the intelligence department, she was nowhere near as benevolent as Percy. Damn Percy Jackson.

Line Break

"Annie, what's gotten into you?" Thalia asked, frustrated with Annabeth's refusal to contribute to the conversation unless absolutely necessary. Thalia could practically envision all the gears and clockwork that was working in her brain as she deeply contemplated something.

Almost out of habit, she muttered a "don't call me 'Annie'" before returning back into her trance.

Thalia looked to Luke for help, but he simply shrugged. Plus, he found her thinking face kind of cute, so he didn't really mind.

Out of the blue, Thalia's electric blue eyes lit up with an idea. "Hey, Annabeth, got any history on Central Park?"

After hanging out with Annabeth for a while, Thalia had discerned Annabeth's weakness, which was basically, anything that involved history, facts, theories, etc., etc. She was a nerd down to her heart, and nothing can prevent a nerd from being…well, a nerd.

Annabeth's gray eyes instantly brightened. "Well, did you know that Central Park is actually the first urban landscaped park-" She basically turned into a documentary, her voice full of excitement as she spewed facts about Central Park's history into the air around her. Thalia tuned her out and smirked, happy that Annabeth was finally herself again, while Luke tried his best to pay attention, in an effort to impress her.

After she finished her detailed speech Central Park: A History, Thalia had some family emergency and had to leave with her brother Jason, who'd come to pick her up, leaving Annabeth and Luke alone. They walked leisurely around Central Park talking about their classes, friends, and laughing over embarrassing stories.

Luke was very considerate yet surprisingly witty and slightly reckless—at least, that's what Annabeth got from most of his high school stories. He didn't seem affected in the slightest by the sudden disappearance of Thalia (basically the life of their trio, since both Annabeth and Luke were more reserved than her), and they hit it off, like old friends. Even though, in reality, they were before only merely acquaintances.

Still, Annabeth found it nice to just let loose and meet someone new. Luke was nice to be around, he knew how to make her smile and laugh, but also knew when it was time to be serious. She needed this. She needed to just talk with someone about nothing and everything, to get her mind off…things.

Okay, fine, to get her mind off Percy.

They were having so much fun and then, time flew and the next thing she knew the night was ending and Luke and Annabeth were walking to Luke's car.

Luke suddenly stopped. Annabeth hesitated before stopping as well. They were right under a lamppost, so Annabeth could catch sight of Luke's scar over his eye. He smirked at her playfully. "So…" he started, purposefully, not ending the sentence.

"So…?" Annabeth inquired. She had no idea where he was going with this conversation.

"So, are you free tomorrow night?" he asked, still being very mysterious.

"I believe so," she answered, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Great. There's this new Italian restaurant that everyone's been raving about, right by the NU, and I was wondering if you'd join me in confirming whether the raving can be justified?"

Annabeth blinked. Did Luke just, ask her out on a date? It seemed so.

"So…is that a yes or a no?" he asked, some of the confidence leaving his voice.

Why couldn't she just say yes? What was holding her back? Here she was, being asked out by such a great person like Luke and she was struggling to say yes. What had gotten into her? She shook her head as if that could clear her mind.

"A no?" Luke said, slightly defeated when he saw the head shaking.

"No, I mean yes. Sorry. Yes." She finally said with firmness. "Sounds like fun."

Luke beamed. "Great. I'll pick you up at seven tomorrow then."

"Okay." Annabeth gave him a small smile. Why was smiling at him so hard all of a sudden?

The ride back home was in comfortable silence. Luke wished Annabeth goodnight and gave her a hug before she headed to her dorm, which should have left her feeling bubbly and light, but just felt more like a goodnight and a hug. Nothing special. It was all so bizarre.

Annabeth shrugged it off. Maybe it was her nerves. She had never actually kissed anyone; she'd always been above all those other high school girls who chased after boys all the time. She'd never really been on a date either. Maybe it was that fact that was bothering her. That made sense. She was just a little on edge because of the whole 'trying new things' thing.

Yes. Annabeth was going to go on a date tomorrow. With Luke. And she was happy about it.

At least, that's what she told herself.

A/N: Bet you weren't expecting that to happen. To be fair, I wasn't either, hehehe. But that's the cool thing about writing. You start something, but you can never be 100% sure how it's going to end. Or at least, that's how it works for me. Hope you liked! Also, you know how I said there was a spider on my wall last chapter? Well, it disappeared, but then overnight I got a spider bite…so it's out to get me! Also, thanks so much for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! THEY MAKE MY DAY! Bye loves!