It's a little-known fact that Annabeth Chase did cheer for a year as a freshman before dropping it to fully pursue student council and homecoming committee. (Plus, she wasn't that good at cheer anyway but that's beside the point).

And since she bought the outfit for a ridiculous amount of money, she still has it. Its only use is to be worn on school pride day and even then, she switches out the skirt for jeans before the pep rally so as not to be confused with the actual cheer team.

"Wait, I get to ditch my last class?" Percy Jackson is walking over to her locker staring at his phone as he, undoubtedly, reads the reminder email that Mr. Brunner just sent out. "I should've joined this years ag-"

The words die on his lips as he looks up from his phone, gaze finally landing on her.

She shakes her head, shutting her locker to turn towards him. "It's to set up for the assembly, not ditch."

His normal black band tees and hoodies are swapped for a plain green shirt shrouded in a black zip up jacket that's been left open. It's the most amount of effort he's put in this entire spirit week. And though he's still wearing the rest of his usual black wardrobe, the pop of color looks nice.

It actually looks better that way.

"I see you've finally made an effort," she says, gesturing towards his shirt, trying not to seem like she'd just been staring at him.

But he doesn't respond, in fact he doesn't do anything but stare at her until she realizes that she is also wearing something she normally doesn't.

And judging by the way he's looking at her, he doesn't seem to mind.

Trying to use this information to gain the upper hand (and calm down the flutters that have started in her stomach) she takes a tiny step towards him.

"See something you like Jackson?" she teases, leaning her side against the locker.

She's expecting him to roll his eyes or maybe even blush, but instead he moves closer. "Very much so."

Those words should not cause the flutters to turn into a whole storm, yet she can feel herself melting towards him.

Now is the time she should come up with a snarky remark, or tease him, or anything to take the tension out of the situation but she can't really think when he's looking at her like that.

Thankfully, the bell rings, forcing them to jump apart.

Though she's pretty sure she's lost her upper hand, she makes an attempt to smile sweetly at him before she walks away.

"See you later Percy."

-.-

"Is there a reason why Jason is walking over to us?" Thalia asks, leaning back to open her bag of chips.

They're sitting at their usual lunch table with Piper to her right and Thalia in front, giving her the best view of the rest of the cafeteria.

Piper quickly glances back and smiles shyly. "I, uh, invited them to sit with us."

Thalia has time to shoot her a half-hearted glare by the time Jason and Leo end up by their table.

There're a few seconds of awkwardness before Jason speaks up.

"Hey," Jason says quietly, mostly directing it at Piper. Leo, in contrast, just rolls his eyes and sits down next to Thalia.

"Are you guys also bearing the brunt of their relationship or is it just me having to listen to Jason go on and on?" he asks by way of greeting.

Shockingly, Thalia is the first to respond. "You're not alone there."

Both Jason and Piper turn at her voice with different reactions, Jason making a face and Piper looking apologetic.

"You don't know the half of it," Leo continues, addressing Thalia. "On one hand it's Jason, on the other it's Percy."

"What is Percy saying?" The words leave her lips before she can help it. She leans back, as if physically distancing herself will do anything about the way her heart stuttered at hearing Leo's words and the immense curiosity they incited.

Leo turns to look at her with an odd half-smile on his face. "Don't tell me you don't know—"

But whatever she's supposed to know is lost on his lips when she feels a firm hand on her back.

She swings around ready to yell at whoever dared to touch her like that, when she's met with none other than the sea-green eyes they were just talking about.

"Hey Princess."

Right. Percy is also in her lunch period. She doesn't see him too often since he's usually off doing god knows what, but he's actually here, and…sitting next to her apparently.

The hand slides down to her lower back, causing her to arch her back just slightly before he lets go, leaning on the table instead with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

She's too flustered to win this battle. If he's making her pay for earlier, she's sad to say that it's worked.

"Jackson," she replies as coldly as she can, frowning at him to vent her own frustration at how nice that felt.

He shoots her a grin before reaching out and taking one of her mozzarella sticks.

"Hey!" She moves her lunch closer to her. "That's mine!"

"I know," he replies matter-of-factly. "That's why I took it."

She shoots him a glare, wondering how she could have ever fallen for his stupid charming smile in the first place. He's a thief and a—

"What? You can't share with your date? Come on."

He is her date. Ugh. She hates that that thought brings a warmth to her chest. She's actually going to have a date to homecoming this year.

He nudges her lightly with his elbow, clearly ready to say something else, when he pauses. His eyes glance past her. "What?"

She turns to find the rest of their table looking at them. What—oh right.

Once again, Thalia beats everyone to the punch. "Your date? You guys are going to homecoming together?"

She hopes her face isn't as red as she thinks. "Yeah," she responds as casually as she can.

"Since when?" Leo demands.

"Since I asked her," Percy speaks up, providing backup in the most inexplicable way.

She finds herself shifting towards him just a hair. "What is everyone's problem?"

"I got no problem," Leo responds, a smile erupting on his face as he tries to stifle it, focusing on his apple.

"No problem…yet…" Thalia shoots one last glare before turning back to her own food.

Slowly normal conversation resumes and she joins in, talking with Leo and Thalia about an episode of a tv-show that just came out.

Percy is quiet beside her for a bit, which is surprising, but she tries to ignore all thoughts related to him as she focuses on the conversation.

But then, sure enough, he bumps his knee against hers. "Hey," he whispers, clearly trying to talk to her alone.

"What?" she asks quietly, leaning in closer to him to hear his response.

His hand comes to toy with her hair which is tied in a high ponytail with a ribbon.

"You going to keep wearing this?"

She wants to be annoyed with him playing with her hair, but she can't bring herself to tell him to stop.

"Why?"

Instead of answering he nods towards her food. "Are you done? Need help throwing it away?"

Confused as to how the conversation went from her outfit to the trash, she just nods. Might as well play it through to see what he's getting at.

She stands up, gathers her trash as Percy picks up a stray chip bag, and they walk away together. He stays close enough for her arm to brush against his shirt.

"Because then everyone at the assembly will see you like this," he whispers, continuing their conversation. "And I though that was just supposed to be for me."

She almost drops her food at how low his voice has gotten. It's to make sure no one else can hear what he's saying but damn…

Throwing the trash into the garbage with a little more force than necessary, she turns back to him.

"You just need to learn how to share," she aims for teasing him back but it's a little hard with how charged the conversation has gotten.

She tells herself it isn't that big of a deal; the whole cheer team will be wearing the outfit and it's not that special. But she knows what Percy is getting at and that knowledge doesn't help calm her down.

His hand comes to her waist, tugging to her a stop.

"Nah," he replies with a smirk. "Plus, something tells me you'd rather I keep you to myself anyway."

She wonders if he can see the way her breath hitches a little at the words.

This game of chicken is going to be the death of her, she doesn't even know how to respond to that,

Feeling her face flush, she quickly turns around and beelines for their table. There is no way she'll be able to hide how much she loved the sound of his words if he sees her face for any longer.

She needs air, but since that's not possible, she jumps into the group conversation trying to ignore Percy entirely. It's the only way to get through this.

He's actually quiet for the rest of lunch and only when the bell rings and everyone gets up, does he stop her.

"Annabeth."

The use of her actual name causes her to legitimately pause before him, a little concerned.

"What?"

"Listen…" he seems…unsure, further adding to her concern. She hasn't seen Percy like this too often, he's struggling to find the words.

"Are you…was that…was that last remark out of line?"

Oh. He took her reaction as negative.

That's the farthest thing from the truth and though she doesn't really know how to explain that without looking like an idiot, she needs to say something to assuage his worry.

"No," she replies slowly, looking up at him. "It was…fine."

To further prove her point, she lifts her chin up, reaching out to play with one of the stings on his zip-up hoodie.

"Really fine," she emphasizes.

By the way his eyes seem to darken a little, she thinks she's conveyed what she was trying to.

"Keep it up Jackson," she says as she begins to walk away. "If you want to keep me."

The cool thing would be to walk away without turning back. But she is dying to see the expression on his face so she turns around.

Bad idea.

She turns back, failing at hiding her blush and to push back every thought that had flooded her mind at the sight of his face.

-.-

She does change before the pep rally starts.

She was going to anyway but at this point, she doesn't think she can handle the way Percy looks at her with it on, and she needs to focus on the assembly ahead of her.

Heading into the gym from the locker room, she runs through her checklist of things. The signs are up, the cheer and dance teams seem to be ready.

Mr. Brunner shoots her a thumbs up, which helps since she knows he's going over everything too.

The last thing she needs to do is check with Travis and Connor on sound.

But on her way there, she's interrupted by a frowny Percy Jackson and she wonders what the hell happened in between lunch and now to put him in a bad mood.

She really needs this to go well. Sighing, she approaches him, baring herself for the worst. He narrows his eyes and opens his mouth.

"You changed."

Oh my god. They're about to mc the pep assembly and all he can think about is her lack of a cheerleading outfit.

Shaking her head, she looks at him amusedly. "Didn't you say something about not wanting to 'share'" She puts air quotes around the word share.

He falls into place beside her as she continues walking.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to be denied the view—"

Whatever he's about to say is cut off by Travis greeting her. "Annabeth!"

"Everything good here?" she asks, moving forward to peer over Conner's shoulder at the laptop. "You guys did a sound check?"

Conner nods. "About to, you're just in time. Here's the mic."

She takes it from him and speaks into it. "Check one two."

Her voice echoes through the gym properly.

Conner grins. "Beautiful."

She smiles, nodding towards Percy. "Do you have his mic too?"

The frown has returned to Percy's face, and it all but confirms her theory that he's jealous. It's so stupid that she wants to face palm, after all, she's going with him to homecoming.

Wait, when did she become Percy's…

Cutting off that shocking thought before it can blossom into something she does not have the capacity to think about, she tunes in as Percy does the same mic check.

"Alright, you guys are good to go," Travis informs them.

"Never mind," Percy grumbles under his breath as they walk away. "It's a good thing you changed."

Sighing and attempting to hold back a smile she stops abruptly to turn towards him.

"I'm gonna need you to stop sulking."

He scrunches his face at her. "No."

"And will you take off the jacket, let's actually see some of the school colors please."

Without thinking, she moves to push the zip up hoodie from his shoulders. It's not till her hands slide down his arms does she realize what she's done and just how good he feels.

Backing away, she clears her throat. "You have the script?"

But it's too late for distractions. Percy is grinning at her now. Jacket, dangling half-off of him.

"Aren't you going to finish the job?" he teases.

Avoiding looking at his arms, she shrugs, "You can do it."

"But I won't…so if you want it off," he pauses to look at her. "Take it off."

The butterflies in her stomach aren't just from the anticipation of the pep rally anymore.

Students start to trickle through the doors, they don't have enough time.

She has no choice but to finish what she had started. But she's not going to let him win. Starting unnecessarily high up on his bicep, she purposefully slides her hands down his arms again, snagging the jacket off.

"Better?" she asks, looking up at him in what she hopes is in an innocent way.

Before he can respond, she throws the jacket in his face, laughing as he stumbles from the surprise.

"Come on Jackson, it's showtime."

Once the students have settled in and Mr. Brunner gives her the go ahead, she speaks into the mic.

"Good afternoon, Goode High and welcome to Homecoming 2023 pep assembly!"

There's a fair amount of cheers but she shakes her head. "I'm gonna need to hear more energy!"

Louder cheers this time, and she nods. "Better, but I think we need some more school spirit, don't you think Percy?"

It's clear that the eyes turn to him. There's definitely some surprise from the audience at his appearance.

"Yeah," he responds with not as much enthusiasm as her, but at least it's not flat. "Let's get the experts at school spirit in here. Please welcome the Goode High Cheer team!"

He manages to make the last sentence sound like an announcement at least, as the cheer team jogs up to the center, ready to start their routine.

"There are so many people," he whispers to her once the music has started.

Is that a hint of nervousness? From Percy freaking Jackson?

As casually as she can, she shrugs. "Sure, but it's not like we'll see them again after this year."

She hopes the words have a calming effect, it's as close to his own language as she can get it.

He looks at her, evidently surprised at the comment and somehow picking up on her attempt to help him.

"Doesn't make it less important though."

She searches his face for any sign of teasing, but it seems for once Percy Jackson is actually being genuine.

And taking her side.

She could hug him.

But she can't, not in front of all these people. So instead, she bumps his shoulder playfully and hopes he gets what she's trying to say.

His answering smile makes her think he has.

It also makes her think she might be in deeper trouble than she thought when the idea of kissing him floods her brain.

A/N: A surprise update for this story since I wasn't able to prepare anything new for this week, but I hope you guys liked it!

Wasn't able to get my beta to go over it, so apologies if there are some mistakes.

The plot thickens, much like the tension between Percy and Annabeth lol A lot of you liked the flirting from the last chapter so I hope this also fulfilled the wish for more.

Please Comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!