Hello people! I've FINALLY (it's literally been like 2 years…oops) managed to write another update for this story. I've been having such a difficult time writing this fic but I'm not giving up! Before you guys read tho SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS:

First, can we talk about the fact that UNCLE RICK IS GIVING US 2 NEW BOOKS IN 2023?! One of them being about Soangelo and the other about Percabeth and Grover! I could not be more excited! I remember SOBBING because I thought there wouldn't be any more books after Trials of Apollo but here we are! Also let's not forget the TV show that's coming out next year (I think?) too! It's a good time to be a PJO fan!

I also wanted to take a moment to recommend a fanfic to you all!

So, while I've been a little stuck with my own writing lately, I've still been reading other Percabeth stories and looking for new ones on here, Wattpad and Ao3. Recently, I came across one on Ao3 called Apartment 305 by Waddled. I'm telling you guys…it's INCREDIBLE! It's super long and the author is still writing it but so far it's 175 chapters and still going! There's also additional one shots and extra scenes published within the same timeline as the main story. The book has its own world! I have a good amount left to read before I'm caught up, but I've been so obsessed with it! It's AU Percabeth & Jasper and while I don't really read Piper/Jason centered stuff this story goes back and forth between Annabeth and Piper's POV's and I have zero complaints because the way this story is written is just so good and I love all the characters! SIDE NOTE: It does have quite a bit of explicit content so just keep that in mind if you plan to read it. If it were a movie it would probably be rated R for some of the scenes lol so it might not be the best if you're a younger reader. Anyways, let me know if any of you start it and how you like it! I can only dream about being that good of a writer one day like she's incredible at crafting her characters!

Ok back to business! Enjoy guys!

Disclaimer: Don't own


Annabeth and Thalia followed Silena backstage after the show. Music blasted from the speakers so loudly they could feel the bass in their chests as the club resumed its playlist for the night. After multiple cover songs and an encore, the live band had finally finished performing. Silena, Beckendorf, and Calypso had immediately started maneuvering their way backstage and dragged Annabeth and Thalia with them.

Annabeth took a shaky breath as they rounded the corner. Don't get her wrong, going backstage sounded awesome and she knew Thalia thought so too but it was the fact that she was about to meet more new people in an era she wasn't supposed to exist in that was throwing her off a bit. Not to mention she would have to introduce herself to the raven-haired guitar player she'd been drawn to the entire show.

"I don't know about you guys, but I feel like that was one of our best shows yet!" Miles shouted excitedly as he wiped the sweat from his brow with a rag. The adrenaline from being on stage still surged through his veins.

Nico smiled and helped himself to a few pretzels provided for them backstage. "Agreed"

"Great to have you two back. Nicky and I were struggling to find some decent musicians during the school year." Miles commented, directing his words to Leo and Percy.

Nico threw a pretzel at the lead singer in response to hearing the nickname Nicky. "It's true, we barely played much at all during the school year."

Leo smiled smugly, taking a bow sarcastically before replying. "We'll be here the whole summer folks." He said as if responding to a crowd of people and not a few friends.

"Yeah, thanks to Percy. I swear you ought to make him pay rent dude. Three months every summer for that last who knows how many years and Valdez gets to stay for free in one of the nicest beach houses in the area." Miles speaks, turning towards the lead guitar player who was in the middle of taking his electric guitar off his shoulder.

When Percy didn't respond Miles raised his eyebrows in question. "Perce?"

"Yeah, huh? What?" Percy replied, looking up and around the room before his eyes met those of his friends who looked at him perplexed.

"Did you just space out for that entire conversation?" Leo asked. Percy's lost expression answered that question.

"Sorry I just uh…got a lot on my mind. But yes, definitely one of our best shows." He replied, trying his best to guard his expression from his bandmates that knew him all too well.

The truth was he hadn't been able to get the image of the gorgeous blond out of his head since he laid eyes on her. It took everything he had to look at everyone in the audience and not just her as they performed. There was just something about her.

His attempts at hiding his thoughtful expression failed as Miles suddenly picked up on the air circling them. He had a gift for reading people and figuring out what they were thinking about. A playful smile formed on his lips as he looked at Percy understandingly.

"Ah I see."

"What?" Percy asked as Miles turned to face the others.

"Gentleman the reason our friend Jackson here had absolutely no idea what we were talking about is because he's got a little crush."

Percy stuttered exasperatedly. "You're delusional"

"Oh really? So it was just my imagination that you couldn't keep your eyes off that smoking hot blonde in the audience tonight?" Miles continued.

Percy's cheeks dusted pink as the others laughed.

"The one standing near Callie right? I noticed that too. I almost felt like I should've left the room with the way you and blondie were looking at each other." Leo joked, fanning himself with a napkin nearby as the others chuckled.

"Shut up. I don't even know the girl." Percy said, punching Leo in the shoulder.

Miles smiled when he saw a group of people approaching them around the corner. "Well now's your chance to get to know her. Looks like her and her friend are Sil and Callie's new friends."

"What do you-"

Percy turned around and before he could ask his question his eyes were met with a flash of blonde curls as she walked in alongside Beck, Silena, and Calypso.

Annabeth tried her best to smile and remember everyone's names as Calypso and Silena introduced them to their friends but the entire time she felt the burning gaze of the lead guitar player on her. Nerves consumed her as Silena brought her over to him with a mischievous smile on her face. There was no doubt her new friend was attempting to play matchmaker. Annabeth got the impression it wasn't the first time she'd tried.

"Annabeth, Percy. Percy, Annabeth." Silena said, gesturing between the two of them.

When her eyes met his she was taken even more off guard by the green shade of his eyes. Up close they were more intense. He gave her a small grin and held his hand out to her.

"Nice to meet you Annabeth." He said calmly.

"N-nice to meet you too" She said in response, silently cursing herself for stuttering.

She reached out and placed her hand in his and the warmth that coursed through her entire arm shocked her. His larger hand fit perfectly in hers. His skin was rough but soft at the same time. She felt the callouses on his fingers that could only have been from strumming his guitar. She couldn't for the life of her stop staring at him.

After realizing it had been way too long, the two of them hastily retracted their hands. Annabeth didn't need a mirror to know her cheeks were as red as a tomato. She looked down in attempt to hide it. She saw him scratch the back of his neck nervously from the corner of her eye.

"Um…you were great out there. Your solo during Working for the Weekend was spot on." Annabeth said after a beat had passed, her cheeks still flushed when she looked back up.

Percy's eyebrows shot up in surprise "Do you play?" He asked, referring to what Annabeth could only assume was the guitar.

She shook her head. "No, I wish. I never got around to learning but I can appreciate a good solo when I hear one. I love a good solo with any instrument honestly. Guitar, bass, drums, keys, you name it. Sometimes I'll actually listen to a song multiple times and focus on one instrument each time to get the full experience and-"

She chose that moment to meet his eyes. Percy was looking at her, his eyes sparked in curiosity, and he smiled in amusement. She noticed the two clearly defined dimples on his cheeks again and immediately looked away. Her cheeks heated up for the thousandth time in the last five minutes. At this point he was going to think her face was permanently that shade of red. Gods she was such a nerd.

"Sorry, I'm rambling." She said nervously.

Percy laughed, a glorious laugh that made her heart flutter.

"Don't apologize"

Percy stared at the girl in front of him as if she would disappear any second. Seriously, where had she come from? As far as first impressions went, she was completely captivating his attention without even trying.

"I actually do the same thing with songs. Thought I was the only one." He replied, truly astonished at the fact that she did that as well.

Annabeth smiled back at him. A look of relief washed over her face. She hadn't completely made a fool of herself.

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. So much goes into a song. People tend to focus on lyrics a lot of the time which, don't get me wrong they're also beautiful but instrumental pieces and solos have a voice of their own…as cheesy as that sounds." Percy cleared his throat nervously and it was Annabeth's turn to glance at him in amusement.

"Could not have said it better" She said almost dreamily in response.

A moment passed between them as they stood facing each other and grinning from ear to ear. Finally, Percy broke the silence.

"Are you from here?"

She nodded. "Lived in California my whole life" She replied without thinking.

"Really? How come I've never bumped into you? I've spent every summer here for as long as I can remember."

Annabeth went to reply but reality suddenly hit her like a bus as she remembered the events of the past few days. Her eyes widened in slight panic.

"Um that's because I live just a few hours from here. Usually spend my summers at home or traveling somewhere else but this year I decided to visit my aunt so I'm here till August with my best friend Thalia." She quickly explained, trying to remember what she had told Silena and Beck when they asked at the café.

"Ah I see"

"What about you?" Annabeth asked, trying to get the spotlight off her.

"I'm from New York actually but I come here every summer. It's a...tradition" He said the word tradition as if it was almost painful for him. An expression she couldn't read flashed across his features, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

"Yup, me and Percy here come every summer." A voice interrupted them. A boy Annabeth recognized as the drummer of the band came up behind Percy and ruffled his hair good-naturedly. Percy shoved him off.

"Hi, the name's Leo Valdez. Basically Percy's brother from another mother." The shorter Hispanic male introduced himself, sticking out his hand for her to shake.

"Also known as the class clown of the group" Calypso said, standing next to her boyfriend and giving him a look as if to say why did you interrupt them?!

Annabeth smiled and shook his hand. "Annabeth" she introduced.

Before anything else could be said Thalia came over, a look of suspicion on her face. She had been watching the entire exchange between her best friend and the lead guitar player. Having known the blonde for years, she knew Annabeth's type and Percy most definitely fit it. However, Annabeth hadn't had the best luck with her choice of guys in the past. Thalia knew that because she'd been there to pick up the pieces.

The choppy haired girl looked him up and down, her eyes narrowed in uncertainty. Annabeth immediately picked up on the hostility. She nudged Thalia's shoulder.

"This is Thalia. My best friend." She introduced, directing her words mostly towards Percy who was still stood across form her.

Percy introduced himself and smiled in what he hoped to be a welcoming way. Truth was Thalia was kind of scaring him with the way she was glaring at him. She seemed to take pride in making him uncomfortable.

"Well then! Now that everyone's met. Annabeth, Thalia, we normally all go to Scoops after a show you want to come?" Silena asked excitedly.

"Scoops?" Thalia asked confusedly.

Miles looked at her like she had two heads. "Yeah, you know…the most popular ice cream shop on the pier."

"Oi, they already said they don't usually spend their summers here. Listen next time." Beck voiced, smacking Miles upside the head rather harshly. The smaller of the two boys rubbed his head in pain. He tried his best to muster a glare in return but all Beckendorf could do was smile in satisfaction.

"Scoops is the best ice cream in town. Just opened a couple summers ago. It's only a little ways away from Luna's down at the pier. Technically it's not open at this hour. But we know a guy who works there and we get free ice cream." Calypso explained.

Suddenly everyone in the room turned towards the quiet bass player. Nico looked up from the floor. He smiled shyly towards Annabeth and Thalia and directed his response towards them.

"Yeah I uh, have a key." He said.

"We wouldn't want to impose-" Annabeth started until she was immediately cut off by her best friend.

"Free ice cream? We're in." Thalia voiced happily. Annabeth shot her a look to which Nico laughed at.

"It's fine Annabeth really, Steve doesn't care who I bring after hours as long as I lock up."

It was the most she'd heard Nico speak since they'd walked in. He seemed like a nice enough guy, just super reserved. Annabeth noted that he couldn't hold eye contact for more than a second. Thalia must have noticed too and smiled thankfully towards him.

"Well…alright. Sounds like fun." Annabeth replied after a beat. Silena squealed, clearly very excited that her two new friends would be joining them.

Percy watched the entire exchange in amusement. His gaze set on the blonde beauty as she smiled through red lips and rosy cheeks. Who was she? He thought internally. Whoever she was, he hated the way he felt drawn to her. A feeling that had been absent in him for so long. Something he refused to let bubble up to the surface. She was just a girl. An attractive one for sure but that was all there would be to it. An attraction and nothing more.

Before he could get any more lost in his thoughts, he reached for the inner pocket of his leather jacket. His fingers felt the familiar rough outline of a box as he stood up straighter.

"I'm uh…heading out back for a minute." He announced to the others. They nodded understandingly. As he started his trek towards the back staircase, he saw the shadow of a familiar figure walking behind him. He turned around briefly acknowledging him.

"Oh come on, didn't think I was gonna let you go alone did you?" Miles asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

Annabeth stared in confusion as the two boys headed out the back door. "Where are they going?"

"Smoke break" Leo explained as if it was a usual occurrence.

Annabeth felt her heart drop. Percy was a smoker? Her initial reaction to that piece of information was surprise before she once again remembered what decade they were in. The 80's. Practically everyone smoked, she should've been more surprised at the fact that they all hadn't gone outside. Still, just because it was popular didn't mean she liked it.


[Song Tribute-Ice Cream Man by Van Halen]

Upon entering the small ice cream shop Annabeth and Thalia were met with an array of bright colors and stripes. Blue and green booths lined the borders of the place while in the center lie an ice cream bar with purple bar stools. The ice cream counter had quite a few flavors with sliding glass doors on the inside of the counter so the employees could scoop it out of the barrels for customers.

The ice cream place was fairly close to Luna's and the location seemed vaguely familiar to Annabeth. If she had to make a guess she would have said they were standing in the location of the cell phone case store, well at least that's what it was in the year 2020. The thought both freaked her out but also made a part of her sad. It was such a cute shop. She wondered why it had gone out of business.

Before Annabeth even knew what was happening, she was being escorted to one of the purple bar stools with Thalia. Meanwhile, Percy had grabbed a giant boom box from behind the counter and turned it on to fill the atmosphere with some music. That was something she would have done. She smiled at the action.

"Time for you two to try one of the best concoctions that will ever hit your tastebuds!" Silena stated animatedly.

Beck laughed at his girlfriend's excitement before speaking. "She's right."

"Yeah, Nicky makes the best milkshakes in town." Miles spoke up.

"You have not lived until you've tried one of his salted caramel booze shakes." Calypso added.

"Excuse you, that we make." Leo argued, pointing his finger back and forth between Nico and himself.

"Oh please. The only thing you do is hand them out." Percy teased.

Nico rolled his eyes at his friends, his face a light shade of pink. "Guys, come on. They're just milkshakes."

"No, they're like pieces of art." Silena disagreed.

"Seriously dude. It's like you put crack in them. You don't…do you?" Miles asked, his face contorted into one of genuine interest near the end of his sentence.

Nico shoved him in the shoulder. "No, I don't. I've just worked here long enough to know where Steve keeps his stash of alcohol."

Annabeth watched as he hopped behind the counter, grabbing a few different things before turning towards the milkshake machine near the back. Leo followed close behind him. From what the blonde could see the Hispanic male was just getting in the way, but it looked like Nico didn't have the heart to tell him.

She found it quite endearing that a guy that appeared so introverted and that wore black like it was the only color on earth worked at a place as brightly colored and cheerful as Scoops Ice Cream Shoppe. It was adorable. The thought itself was enough to bring a smile to her face as she sat next to Thalia at the ice cream bar while they waited for the shakes to be made.

"My interest has been peaked" Thalia said, spinning around in her chair so she could face the others like Annabeth was. Everyone filled in around them. Silena, Beck, and Calypso sat at the booth nearest to the bar stools. Miles had hopped up onto the countertop.

Percy stood behind and slightly towards the left of Annabeth as he leaned against one of the pillars. Annabeth tried not to stare at the way he crossed his arms over his chest and mused his hair before leaning to the side in a way that shouldn't look as attractive as it did to her.

The topic of conversation appeared to involve a new movie that Calypso and Leo had gone to see the week before. Apparently, it was terrible and a waste of two hours of their lives they can't get back.

Five minutes later Leo went around serving everyone. When he handed a fountain glass to both Annabeth and Thalia everyone's eyes were on them. The glass was filled to the brim with a light brown milkshake and topped with some whipped cream and caramel drizzle.

Thalia wasted no time, taking a greedy sip from the red and white striped straw. Annabeth followed suit.

Immediately, a smooth sweet taste of caramel registered in Annabeth's head followed by a creamy oak flavor that must have been bourbon. The two flavors blended together perfectly and it took her no time to figure out why everyone was so obsessed with the dessert.

"Holy shit, Nico this is delicious!" Thalia voiced rather loudly.

Nico looked down bashfully. "I'm glad you like it."

Annabeth wanted to hug him. There was no other explanation. She just wanted to hug him for being such a humble human being.

"He's like that person you just want to protect from the world you know?" Silena had said when they had been performing on stage and Annabeth had gotten a brief set of information for each male in the band. Yeah, she definitely knew what Silena had meant.

The conversation resumed after everyone had received a milkshake. Thalia and Annabeth had just met these people but in the time span of just of few hours they had managed to make them feel so welcome. Annabeth felt like she had known them for years. Everyone was so genuine, so warm and inviting.

The summer was starting out on a high note that much was true.

Percy tried. He really did. He tried to engage in conversation, he tried to pay attention to the others he really did but his eyes kept lingering on Annabeth sitting in that ice cream bar stool. Her long tan legs were crossed over one another as she relaxed back into the seat. She sipped her milkshake and laughed along to something Calypso had said. Her cheekbones raised as she smiled, showcasing her perfect white teeth.

"Close your mouth lover boy, you're drooling." He heard a familiar voice say on his right.

He shook his head, coming out of whatever daze he had been in once again. "Shut it Sil."

"Oh, come on. You're interested in her and she's clearly been eyeing you too. What's the problem?"

"You know what the problem is"

Silena sighed. "Percy…it's been years. Don't you think it's time-"

"No." He cut her off.

He realized his harsh tone of voice might have been a bit rude so he turned towards her. "I just can't Sil."

"Can't or won't?" She asked, crossing her arms on her chest.

Percy huffed but before he could say anything she spoke up again.

"Look Percy, I'm not asking you to marry the girl. Just get to know her. She's cool."

Percy raised his eyebrows in question. "So you're telling me this isn't another one of your matchmaking schemes?"

"You know you're like a brother to me. What kind of annoying sister would I be if I didn't want you to be happy?"

Percy rolled his eyes, pulling her to his side in a small hug, "I am happy"

Silena smiled sadly.

No, you're not she thought.


Sorry for leaving you all on a cliffhanger but Percabeth finally met! I will try my very best to get the next chapter out as soon as I can. As I said before, this is a very difficult story for me to write because I've kind of created my own universe in a sense. I'm not really sure how I feel about this update if I'm honest but it is what it is. I'm going to try to stick to one POV for each chapter but this one was kind of two at once so I apologize if it's confusing. I need to get out of this writing block I've been in for who knows how long haha. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed it! Love you all!

REVIEW, REVIEW, AND REVIEW!

-M