Chapter Text
At the start of her junior year of college, Annabeth Chase decided that it was finally time to move out of the dorms. So, she moved into an apartment with her best friend, Thalia Grace. Thalia was three years older than her, and had already graduated. She had spent the last few years traveling around a lot, but when she heard that Annabeth needed a roommate she decided to settle down in New York for the year. She already had a job at a nearby dojo giving self defense lessons, and a second job teaching archery.
Annabeth, on the other hand, had been going to Columbia University for the past two years, and was hoping to graduate this year. She was majoring in architecture, and had plans to join a huge architecture firm as soon as she finished school.
The one drawback of the apartment she shared with Thalia was their neighbors. Thalia’s brother, Jason Grace, lived next door to them with two of his friends, and they were the worst neighbors Annabeth had ever had. Music blasting through the walls at all hours of the day and night, strange crashes echoing from their apartment, and they had even once set the fire alarms off and the whole building had to evacuate. Annabeth had met Jason, and he seemed okay, but she had never even seen the other two guys Thalia told her were living there.
That was why Annabeth was so surprised when Thalia asked her if she wanted to come to dinner with her, Jason, and his friends. She immediately said no, but Thalia’s constant nagging and insisting that she had to “put that shit down and go do something fun” finally convinced her to go.
“But I don’t even want to meet them!” Annabeth protested. “They're such horrible neighbors, I bet they’re going to be horrible to have dinner with!” But Thalia just laughed at her.
“You’d be surprised. They’re actually not that bad.” That meant a lot coming from Thalia, considering that she held a very low opinion of most men. So Annabeth found herself standing outside a small Italian restaurant later that night, her and Thalia waiting for the boys before going in. She pulled out her phone, and checked the time. They had agreed to meet three minutes ago! She turned to Thalia.
“See! I told you this was a bad idea! They’re not even here on time!” Thalia simply shrugged, and Annabeth glared at the ground. About ten seconds later, a pair of dark blue converse high tops with waves painted on the sides stopped walking right in front of her. She looked up from the shoes, noting the jeans and casual gray tee the guy was wearing. Her eyes stopped on his face. He was really cute, was her first thought, but she quickly batted it away. Glancing behind him, she noticed Jason and a latino looking dude, so this just be the third roommate.
She looked back to his face. His sea green eyes sparkled as he grinned at her, and he held out a hand.
“Percy Jackson,” He said. Annabeth started at his hand for a second before grabbing it and shaking.
“Annabeth Chase.” Their hands had stopped moving, but neither of them let go. He was staring into her face, and she stared resolutely back. They didn’t break eye contact until Thalia coughed conspicuously, and Annabeth remembered that there were other people present. That it wasn’t just her and Percy, standing on the street together, hands still clasped in front of them, staring into each other's eyes. She cleared her throat and shuffled her feet, pulling away. When she looked up, Percy was still watching her, but this time with a small grin. He ran a hand through his already messy black hair, and Annabeth subconsciously tracked the movement before realizing what she was doing, and pointedly looked past him. She ignored Thalia’s knowing smirk, and went to greet Jason. He introduced her to Leo Valdez, who was majoring in engineering and seemed to have a constant mischievous smile. He seemed like the kind of guy all the teachers in high school would have hated, but all the kids loved.
Soon, they had all filed inside the restaurant and were brought to a table. Annabeth tried to avoid Percy and headed into the booth beside Thalia, but Thalia quickly backtracked, shoving Annabeth into the booth and taking the only other chair, leaving Percy no other seat than in the booth next to her. He smiled at her and slid in, making sure that he stayed a reasonable distance away. Or at least, as well as he could when they were squashed into such a tiny booth seat. Against her will, Annabeth felt her cheeks redden a little.
She stared straight at Thalia, keeping her expression blank, and Thalia raised an eyebrow. And then had the nerve to smirk. Annabeth glared before trying to concentrate on what Leo was saying. Something about a flamethrower? He seemed oblivious to the tension, and Annabeth tried to forget about it.
Throughout dinner, Annabeth tried to concentrate on her chicken alfredo and avoid looking to the boy on her left, but she couldn’t help it. He was too damn cute! With his sarcastic smirk, fluffy black hair, and sea green eyes that always seemed to be hiding a joke. Over the course of dinner, she learned that he swam for his college team and also worked part time in the dojo with Thalia. Apparently, he was the one who got her the job in the first place. He also had a little sister, who lived with his mom and step dad.
Annabeth found herself laughing at his jokes, and maybe leaning the slightest bit closer to him than she meant to. By the end of the evening, she knew that she wanted to see him again.
As soon as she and Thalia had shut the door to the apartment after saying goodnight to the boys, Thalia whirled around to face Annabeth.
“You like Percy!” She proclaimed in a sing-song voice. Annabeth crossed her arms, trying to force down the blush she knew was rising on her cheeks.
“I do not!”
“You so do!” Thalia laughed. “You were staring at him all night! And he kept looking at you too! You have to ask him out!” Annabeth shook her head.
“Fine, I guess he was nice, and sweet, and funny, and cute, and…” She trailed off when she realized Thalia was laughing at her, and she scowled. “But, I’m not looking for a relationship right now. You know I want to concentrate on school!” Thalia rolled her eyes.
“I know! But one date couldn’t hurt, right? When’s the last time you went out without me forcing you?” Annabeth thought back. It was probably when Luke Castellan, her childhood crush who was now more like an older brother figure, had visited her and Thalia. The three of them had been like family since Annabeth was really young, and Luke had wanted to meet up with them to celebrate her twentieth birthday. It has been a fun night, but she guessed that going out with family didn’t count the same way as it did with friends. Or potential dates.
“Maybe,” Annabeth eventually agreed, and that was enough for Thalia. For that night, at least. And although it wasn’t until two weeks later that Annabeth saw Percy again, he never completely left her thoughts.
Annabeth had dealt with her fair share of friends coming home drunk. Having so many older friends, like Luke and Thalia, had led to her taking care of them while they were intoxicated on more than one occasion when she was in high school, and it had happened even more times once she was in college. But, those experiences did not lessen her surprise when one very, very drunk Percy Jackson came stumbling into her apartment.
When Annabeth first heard the uneven footsteps, she had thought it was Thalia coming back from the bar she had gone out to with some of her friends from the dojo. But then she heard a voice that was very definitely not Thalia’s.
“Jason kicked me out…” He mumbled, and Annabeth whirled around. Percy was standing there, leaning into the kitchen counter, his eyes unfocused.
“He told me to go annoy Thalia…” his eyes slid over Annabeth. “You’re not Thalia…” Annabeth sighed, even as a few butterflies jumped in her stomach. She had wanted to see Percy again, but this was not her ideal situation.
“Percy…” She started, taking a hesitant step towards him. “Why did Jason kick you out?” he glared at the ground, and Annabeth couldn’t help but think that he looked like a kicked puppy. Drunk Percy was kind of adorable.
“Said I was being annoying.” He muttered before sliding to the ground and sitting criss cross applesauce on the kitchen tile.
“How much did you drink?”
“Just a little bit.” Percy tried to hold out his thumb and pointer finger pinched together for emphasis, but he couldn’t seem to hold his arm out straight. He squinted.
“It’s not working,” he told her, staring down at his arm. Annabeth huffed out a breath. She wanted to go yell at Jason. But first, she needed to get Percy some water. She reached for a glass, but reconsidered and filled up a plastic water bottle instead.
“Here,” She held it out to Percy. You need to get some water in you. He stared up at her, not taking the water.
“You're pretty,” he said, eyes wide and sincere. Heat rushed to Annabeth's face, and she had to remind herself that he was drunk. He didn't know what he was saying.
“Just drink this!” She shoved the water bottle into Percy’s hand before rushing out the door to bang on the boy’s apartment door.
“Jason,” she glared at him as soon as he opened the door. “Why is there a drunk Percy Jackson in my apartment?” her voice was as cold as she could possibly make it, and it brought her a little satisfaction when she saw Jason gulp.
“So, don’t kill me…” he started. “Leo challenged him to take a bunch of shots, then they somehow got into a mario kart tournament, and Percy won, and Leo got mad, and tried to steal Percy's blue lemonade. Then they started having a water fight, but Leo started sobbing about his professor not accepting his project proposal to make a mechanical dragon, and Percy said mermaids were better than dragons, and I thought they might get into a real fight so I separated them. I told Percy to go to Thalia. Is she not home?” Annabeth shook her head.
“No, she went out tonight.”
“Oh, sorry. You can send him back.” Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair, and Annabeth noticed the glasses perched on his nose and the papers spread out on the table behind him.
“What are you working on?” She asked abruptly. He blinked.
“Just this huge project I have due in a couple days. I’ll probably be up the next couple nights finishing it.” he admitted. Annabeth considered him. He looked… exhausted. He really didn’t look like he could take care of his two intoxicated friends as well as do any quality work on a project.
“Where’s Leo?”
“He’s sleeping. He can handle a lot more alcohol than Percy can.” Annabeth made a split second decision.
“I can take care of Percy. You go work on your project.” Jason's mouth opened a little as he processed what she said.
“Seriously?” He asked. Annabeth nodded.
“Of course.”
“Thank you! Oh my God, thank you!” Annabeth chuckled at his reaction before replying.
“Your welcome. I’ll send him back in the morning.” So Annabeth headed back to her apartment, ready to confront drunk Percy.
“Hey Percy?” She called when she got back to her apartment.
“Annabeth!” He stumbled over, a grin stretching across his face. “Did you kick his ass?” Annabeth squinted.
“Whose ass was I supposed to kick?” she asked gently.
“Jason!”
“Why would I kick Jason’s ass?”
“Because he was mean to me!” Percy whined. “Don’t make me go back!” Annabeth giggled a little. Percy was acting like a five year old!
“You don’t have to go back,” she reassured. “You can stay here tonight.” That wide grin stretched across his face again as his eyes slid past her.
“Yay!”
“So, I’m gonna get you more water, and maybe some food. Then you're going to go to sleep, okay?” Percy nodded, and Annabeth grabbed the plastic water bottle to go fill it up again. But when she got back, she was met with the sight of one shirtless Percy jackson, spread out and snoring on her sofa.
She let out a strangled gasp, freezing. Percy had a lean swimmer’s body, with a perfectly muscled torso and arms. And he... Annabeth shook herself, averting her eyes. She shouldn’t be ogling him! As long as he seemed okay, she could go to bed herself. So she forced herself to move to her room. But she spent hours laying there, eyes closed, unable to force away the image of Percy sleeping on her sofa in the next room.
The next morning, Annabeth stumbled blearily into the kitchen, starting the coffee maker and already reaching for a mug. She had slept horribly, and although she didn’t have any classes today she still had a lot of work she had to get done. A few minutes later she heard Thalia come in, but she didn’t even acknowledge her roommate, instead focusing in on her steaming cup of coffee. She only looked up when Thalia cleared her throat. Loudly.
“Why is Percy Jackson half naked on our couch?” She asked. Annabeth’s stomach dropped, and last night rushed back to her. She could feel the blush rise on her cheeks, and Thalia’s eyes widened.
“Did you sleep with him?” she shrieked. “Oh my God, Annabeth, I didn’t think you could do it!” Annabeth just stared at her for a second, before the words sank in.
“Of course not!” She shrieked right back. “He was drunk, and Jason kicked him out, so he came down here looking for you and passed out on the couch!” But Thalia wasn’t having any of that.
“And you’re telling me you didn’t do anything?” She asked, eyebrows raised. Annabeth just levelled her glare at her.
“No. Nothing happened. I just-” But she was cut off when a groan came from the couch, and both girls focused their attention on the boy, who was just starting to sit up.
“Y’all are loud…” He mumbled, and Thalia laughed.
“Yeah, well, you’re in our apartment.” Percy looked up, squinting around him. His face whitened when he looked down and realized he was shirtless, and Annabeth felt a little smug when she noticed the color that rose in his cheeks when his gaze snagged on her.
“What happened?” He asked her, eyes wide. She casually shrugged before answering.
“You and Leo were drunk, Jason kicked you out, you came down here and you passed out on my couch.”
“Nothing… else?”
“Nope!” Did he look... disappointed at her answer? But she brushed it off as his hangover, and Thalia escorted him out.
That night, he came back to their apartment to apologize to Annabeth.
“Hey, Annabeth,” he said, walking into the living room after Thalia let him in. “I just wanted to apologize for last night. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He reached a hand up to scratch the back of his neck, and Annabeth's heart practically melted at how cute it was.
“It’s okay,” She smiled up at him. “You were easy to take care of. Luke’s much worse.” she saw his face darken a little for a split second before a polite smile slid into place.
“Is Luke your boyfriend?” Annabeth just stared at him, but Thalia’s boisterous laughter was infectious, and suddenly they were both laughing harder than either of them had in weeks. Percy just looked confused.
“Uhh… Sorry, should I not have asked that?” Annabeth shook her head, trying to muster the ability to speak.
“No, you…” She tried to explain, but another laugh bubbled up and she couldn’t get the words out. Finally, she was able to calm down enough to speak.
“Luke is like my older brother,” She explained. “Thalia and I have known him since we were all kids, and he’s one of my best friends.” Percy seemed to visibly relax at her explanation.
“So…” he started, fidgeting his hands in front of him. “If you don’t have a boyfriend… Do you wanna get lunch together some time? To make up for last night? If you want to, of course, because you don’t have to, but I thought it would be nice if…” Annabeth laughed again, and he trailed off, looking hopeful.
“I’d love to get lunch with you,” she answered, grabbing a pen. “Let me give you my number.” So she scribbled down her phone number on a scrap of paper and handed to it Percy. She felt a tingle run up her arm where her hand brushed his, and she smiled up at him. He returned the grin, before reluctantly backing out the door and shutting it softly behind him. Thalia turned to Annabeth.
“You have a date with Percy Jackson!” She yelled gleefully, and Annabeth groaned, a light blush dusting her cheeks. But on the inside, she was overjoyed at the idea of a date with Percy.