"Woah…"

He's looking down at his phone, still surprised at the message staring back at him. Annabeth's next to him on the couch, tapping away at her laptop, and shoots him a curious glance.

"What?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing, it's just…I haven't heard from her in ages…" He trails off to start typing a response.

"Who?"

He looks up to see Annabeth clearly abandoning her work to devote her full attention to him.

"A friend from high school," he explains. "She just DMed me on Instagram?"

Annabeth's eyebrows scrunch together in an adorable way. "What friend? What did she say?"

He can't hold back his smile as he responds. "Why are you so concerned?" he teases, poking her side.

She squeals and makes a face at him. "I'm just curious," she replies, crossing her arms.

He'd love to tease her further, but he has a hard time denying Annabeth…well, anything.

"She just said hi and that she saw I'm in LA and suggested we meet up sometime."

"Are you going to do it?" She sounds anxious and he raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, probably, I'm curious to see what she's like now. Plus, I don't really have that many friends here."

Annabeth doesn't respond, but everything about her body language screams that she's worried about something.

"What?" he prompts, nudging her arm.

"Nothing…"

"Do you not want me to go?" It's the only thing he can think that would cause her to react like this. Annabeth sighs, looking down at her lap.

"I just want you to be careful…I mean…it's just…"

Okay, he's starting to worry now. He scoots closer to her. "Annabeth, what is it?"

She sighs again. "It's just that now that you're publicly my boyfriend. Some people might….take advantage of you…"

She trails off but he finally pieces it together. "So you think she reached out because she knows I'm with you?"

Annabeth winces "I'm just saying it's a possibility and I don't want you to get hurt."

This line of thinking hadn't occurred to him and he considers it now. "I don't think she's like that…" he starts. "Or at least she wasn't in high school, she never kept up with celebrity news like that."

And if she really is the same as she was in high school (and Percy thinks that's a high probability) he doesn't think Annabeth has much to do with her reaching out to him.

"Well still, be careful."

Annabeth's worry is apparent and cuter than it probably should be.

"I will," he reassures, pulling her closer to him. She snuggles into his side. "And here I though you were just jealous."

Annabeth flushes and shoves him but doesn't move away. "I'm not jealous!"

He smiles into the kiss.

-.-

About an hour and a half later he gets a reply to his confirmation. He'd simply agreed and asked when and where would be convenient, and he's lying in bed when his phone buzzes.

It's a café, ironically not too far from Cali's, and the timing is fine too. He's replying as he hears Annabeth enter the room.

"Oh," he starts, still typing. "I decided to meet her by the way, it's at—"

His voice cuts off when he sees Annabeth still wrapped up in a towel from her shower. And though it's not the first time he's seen her like this, it never fails to impress him.

Especially when she's wearing a cute pout on her face.

"Where?" Annabeth asks.

"Huh?"

So maybe his head is completely somewhere else.

"Where are you meeting her?" Annabeth crosses her arms.

"Some café down the street from Cali's," he answers. Still distracted, he sits up in bed. "I have an idea."

"What?"

"Don't bother with your pajamas."

Annabeth blushes and he considers it a win. But unfortunately, she stalks off towards the huge walk-in closet. "When?"

"Right now, why are you changing?" he teases, leaning back against the headboard.

She pokes her head out of the closet just to make a face at him and it's painfully cute. "When are you seeing her?"

"Tomorrow. Wait, are you actually changing?"

Annabeth returns in pajamas and heads for the dresser to start her nighttime routine.

"Be careful," she says, meeting his eyes in the mirror.

"I will, but honestly I don't think she's like that, so don't worry."

"Who is this girl? You have a lot of faith in her for someone who hasn't seen her in years."

Is he crazy or does Annabeth actually sound a little angry?

"She was my chemistry lab partner. We sort of kept in touch after graduating, for like a year or so. And maybe she has changed, but she was the kind of person to be pretty set in her ways."

"That's not healthy," Annabeth says, vigorously applying some moisturizer.

He raises an eyebrow at her. "I never said it was. I'm just explaining why I don't think she'll be trying to use me or whatever."

Annabeth doesn't say anything, but he detects a pout in the way she applies the serum.

"If you say so."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Then why are you pouting?" He sits up again as she gets up and heads towards the bed.

"I'm not. I'm just concerned. I had a friend from high school reach out after I got a role saying how much she missed me and how we should catch up and then when I actually met her all she wanted to do was talk about the other actors."

Percy frowns. "What a dick move." Who would so blatantly do that to someone?

Annabeth shrugs. "Well, I just want to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to you."

Her concern actually warms his heart. He grabs her hand and pulls her closer to the edge of the bed where he's sitting.

"I promise I'll let you know if I sense that's happening."

Annabeth just nods, looking down at her feet.

"So you're just concerned?" he asks, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She glances at him in confusion. "What?"

He smiles. "'Cause I could have sworn there was some jealousy in the mix too."

"I'm not—"

But the rest of her words get cut off by a squeal when he pulls her onto the bed.

"Told you you didn't need to bother with pajamas."

Not that she was jealous, of course, but just in case, Percy lets her know she has nothing to worry about.

-.-

The nerves hits him right when he gets to the door of the café, because he's just now realizing that maybe the encounter will be awkward. They haven't spoken in a while, after all. But it's too late to back down now and he's reaching for the door handle when he notices a familiar hoodie standing beside him.

"Annabeth?" he whispers, looking around to see if anyone saw her but thankfully, there's no one.

"You invited me," she responds. She's got the hood up (of his old hoodie he might add) and sunglasses. The place isn't too crowded, either, so he relaxes a little.

He had asked her in the morning if she wanted to come along but she'd just shaken her head and told him it's okay.

But here she is.

"I did," he agrees. "Want to come in?"

"You go first." Annabeth pushes him so he walks in first, scanning the tables.

He spots her right away, sitting at a table towards the back. Much like he expected, she hasn't changed much, still sporting her rock band t-shirts and gauges. The only difference is that there are more tattoos covering her arms.

"Jackson," she calls, immediately recognizing him. "You've grown up."

"Clarisse," he replies with a wide smile. "You haven't."

She grins back at him. "Where's the fun in that? When'd you pull up to LA?"

He takes the seat across from her. "A little over a year ago, what about you?"

She shrugs. "About a year after high school."

"Wow, what're you up to now days?"

She holds out her arms. "You'll never guess."

"Tattoo artist?"

She nods appraisingly. "I'm impressed Jackson, you got smarter. Though it would have been a lot more helpful during chemistry."

Yep, she really hadn't changed that much at all. Percy can't help but grin.

"Hey, I did my share of the labs."

Clarisse rolls her eyes. "Barely." But before he can contest, she continues. "Oh also, I invited my boyfriend, hope you don't mind."

"I don't, actually I—"

"Hey Percy!" Another voice stops him in his tracks.

He turns to see his new barber standing there. "Chris?"

Chris grins. "Can you believe it? I didn't know you knew Clarisse."

"Ah… the punk girlfriend," Percy recalls. "This is crazy."

Chris takes a seat beside Clarisse. "I know right? When I told her about you, she mentioned she used to go to school with a guy named Percy and when she looked you up I was so surprised."

"Oh yeah, about that," Clarisse cuts in, blunt as ever. "Is it true you're dating Annabeth Chase?"

He chuckles. "Yes, it's actually confirmed so why are you asking like you can't believe it?"

Clarisse leans back with a smile. "I didn't think you could pull someone like her."

"Rude."

"She's too good for you."

She isn't wrong, but he's not happy about it. Clarisse laughs at his silence. She turns to Chris.

"He liked this one girl in our chem class and I swear he almost tripped on thin air just trying to walk towards her."

"Okay, it wasn't that bad," he cuts in as Chris laughs. "Actually, it was more—

He stops when he feels a hand on his arm. He turns to see Annabeth standing there. She must have followed him in and he wonders how much of the conversation she'd heard. Judging by the smile on her face, he'd wager most of it.

He gets up to let her in the inner seat next to the wall to hide her even further from everyone else. "Coast clear?" he asks, once she's situated.

She nods and they both turn to look at Chris and Clarisse wearing equal looks of surprise on their faces.

"Oh right, guys this is my girlfriend, Annabeth."

Annabeth gives them a small smile and wave. "Hi."

"Hey," Chris replies back and Clarisse shoots her a quick smile before glaring at him.

"Jackson, a little warning would be nice!" She turns back to Annabeth. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were coming, or I would've chosen a better place."

Annabeth smiles and he knows it's genuine. "No worries, I'm good. It's nice to meet you."

"Chris is the guy who cut my hair that I was telling you about," he tells her and Annabeth nods.

"I heard." She turns to Chris. "So you're the one who took away his long hair."

Chris grins. "Guessing you didn't like the cut."

"The cut is nice but…"

"Some guys look nicer with slightly longer hair," Clarisse finishes. "It makes sense for Jackson cause the less you can see of his face, the better, in my opinion."

"Then I suggest you grow out your hair too, La Rue."

Clarisse laughs and he can't help but chuckle along. Yep, she really hadn't changed.

-.-

They come back home after making plans to hang out with the pair again and Annabeth turns to him with a smile.

"She's quite a character."

He grins back. "Yeah, that's why I wasn't too worried."

Annabeth pouts and gently hits his arm. "Why didn't you tell me what she was like off the bat?"

"Because you're cute when you're worried."

"Percy!"

"And the twinge of jealousy was adorable."

"I wasn't jealous!"

"No," he soothes. "You weren't jealous."

"But," he continues with a smirk, ready to lean into a kiss. "You are mine."

A/N: Shoutout to anon on tumblr for the prompt! I hope you guys liked the twist! (I thought of it when I introduced Chris :) It was a lot of fun to write actually and that always feels good!

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

And as always, thanks for reading!