It struck Percy as he was sitting in anatomy. He'd been bored out of his mind, staring brainlessly at the chalkboard while Ms. Goulding droned on about the leg bones, letting his thoughts slosh around in his head. Then the idea hit him like lightning.

How to get Calypso back.

It was far-fetched idea, one that likely wouldn't work and whose results were unpredictable, but it was an idea nonetheless.

See, after he and Annabeth watched To All The Boys I Loved Before, he couldn't stop thinking about fake dating. Could it actually work in real life? What if he found someone who could pretend to date him and make Calypso wildly jealous? Could he show Cal what she let go of?

That was where his idea came in: Annabeth. She would be the perfect candidate for a pretend girlfriend. Recently jilted, a sucker for strategy, crazy enough to go along with it.

Percy rehearses the plan in his head now as he lays on the floor in the kitchen. He has to frame this logically in order to appeal to Annabeth. Nine times out of ten she can see through a faulty scheme, so he needs to think of everything if he's going to convince her.

She'll want to know what's in it for her. If it's worth her time—wait, what time is it? He cranes his neck to get a glimpse at the oven clock.

Fuck.

It's nine fifteen. He's going to be late for this meetup he planned. Shit, shit shit shit. Annabeth's probably waiting in the tree house right now, pissed.

Percy scrambles to his feet and dashes out the back door.

It's been a long time since he's been in the tree house, not since he and Annabeth were still best friends. But it feels like no time has passed at all as he scales the rickety ladder and pokes his head through the entrance.

Everything inside is exactly like he recalls: the plastic Disney princess activity table, Annabeth's bookcase, the blankets and pillows piled up against the wall, his and Annabeth's initials carved into the wood near the roof. There's a decaying wasp nest is in the corner, a few dead cicadas crushed into the rug, but other than that, it's pretty clean. Nothing is covered in a thick layer of dust and grime like he was expecting.

Annabeth is sitting on one of the bean bag chairs, the purple one. It was always the one she liked better, because it was less stuffed than the green. It's strange to see her sitting on the chair now, so different from her younger self.

Annabeth's face is illuminated by her phone flashlight, eyebrows knitted together, gray eyes dark. Irritation practically radiates off her. There's a spider crawling up her leg but she doesn't seem to notice. Hopefully it'll crawl away before she does.

"Sorry I'm late," Percy says as he ambles over, the floorboards creaking under his weight. He has to duck his head to avoid bonking it on the roof.

"Yeah, whatever. I should've expected this." she mutters.

Percy settles onto the bean bag beside Annabeth's, tucking one leg under himself.

"You know, it seemed so much bigger in here when we were kids," he says. He pulls one of the books off the shelf and thumbs through. It's Annabeth's storybook. They would sit in here for hours with it and admire all the illustrations of knights and princesses and fairies and make up stories in their heads.

"I guess it did," Annabeth says, nodding. "The tree house felt like our own special place, like I couldn't be touched by the outside world when I was inside. We practically lived here in the summers, yeah?"

Percy chuckles. "Hey, do you remember our first tree house sleepover?"

"Uh, more like my first tree house sleepover. You chickened out!" Annabeth says, scoffing.

"I was scared, okay? Clarisse told me Bigfoot lived in the woods and when I heard a noise I thought he was about to maul me!"

"I was so mad at you after that. I don't think I spoke to you for a week. I mean, you abandoned me and you knew I was afraid of the dark!"

"I didn't abandon you—"

They both grin in spite of themselves. Annabeth looks weirdly soft in this lighting, younger, her curls almost golden.

And that spider is still on her leg. Percy doesn't want to alarm her, so he tries to be as inconspicuous as possible as he moves to flick it.

He isn't as inconspicuous as he thinks. He swats at the spider, but Annabeth notices before he can get it off.

"HOLY FUCK, NO!" She jumps off the bean bag, hits her head on the roof, swears again, and shakes her leg until the spider has probably been flung halfway to Europe. Percy doubles over cackling.

Annabeth sits back down with far too much dignity for someone who lost her shit over a tiny spider. "Let's get down to business."

"Okay then." Percy leans forward, clasps his hands on his knees. He takes a deep breath through his nose, then—

"I want you to be my girlfriend."

Revulsion flashes across Annabeth's face and he quickly clarifies, "I'd like you to be my fake girlfriend. My very, very, very fake girlfriend. Just so we can make our exes jealous."

She stares at him for a long time, incredulous. Then she bursts out laughing.

"That is…that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I mean, it's absurd!"

He sighs as she continues to laugh. "You've got to be joking, right?"

When Percy doesn't respond, her laughter slowly fades away. "Wait…holy shit, you're actually being serious."

He hadn't expected her to look at him like that, her expression so judgmental. It makes him fumble for his next words. "It would be like To All The Boys I Loved Before! You love that movie!"

"That's exactly the point, it's a movie! People don't fake date in real life. That shit's only in movies and books and stuff. It could never actually happen."

"But think about it! Dating for a bit could solve all our problems! You want your boyfriend back, I want Cal back. We'd both get what we want! It would be a mutually beneficial agreement!"

She rolls her eyes. "You're crazy. You wrote a note to me with a cryptic-ass message telling me to meet you here and I took the bait for some reason, only for you to ask me this. Jackson, you're a freaking lunatic."

"If you just hear me out—"

"Yeah no, I'm going to go home and do my homework and think about real ways to solve my problems. I love rom-coms as much as anyone, but they're just stories."

She gets up to leave.

"Come on, wait!"

Annabeth starts laughing again. "You're crazy!" she calls as she climbs down the ladder.

He sighs heavily and sinks down so he's practically parallel with the floor. This is just great. He hadn't expected her to completely shoot him down before he even had a chance to elaborate!

Well, it was worth a try.