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Annabeth didn't know how her roommate got her into this charity event, but it wasn't worth the effort. The only people she’d run into thus far were stuffy and anachronistic, mostly eager to show off how much money they could give to the local universities--which, honestly, didn't even need any more donations, at least not in the way the high schools and the community colleges nearby did. Giving these universities more money made them nicer, which only made them more expensive.
It was all a trap, Annabeth was convinced.
Slapping another plastic smile on her face as she maneuvered around an elderly couple she most certainly would not be speaking to again, Annabeth allowed herself a moment to regret deciding she could foot the bill for her college education without her parents. She didn't regret it enough to renege. It just meant she had to get slightly more… creative in her efforts.
She hadn't hit the point where she considered stripping--but, cards on the table, she was not confident enough, coordinated enough, or able to hold her tongue well enough (pun not intended, thank you very much) for that industry. She wasn't too desperate, but she wasn't exactly comfortable either. She had a job; her boss was awful but the pay was nice, the hours flexible, the work easy enough. However, the interest on her loans was absurd, so a few more dollar signs in her bank account couldn't hurt.
Her roommate thought she was being ridiculous--sure, she had an academic scholarship, but it was only partial, and next year Annabeth would have to find an apartment, figure out her commute, eat , socialize with friends, visit family… the list could go on, but her roommate had shrugged at that point, metaphorically washing her hands.
“This is not my dilemma, girl. You stress me out with how far ahead you plan, but I’ll help you,” Brooklyn said. “My dad’s friend of a friend is going to a charity thing this weekend, so I’ll pull some strings and you can use it as an opportunity to network.”
Annabeth had accepted this immediately; she wasn’t against being someone’s good deed, whether that was a good word put in at an architecture firm or a check with her name on it.
“I mean,” Brooks continued, “it’s not like investing in your education would be a bad decision, nerd.” Annabeth had rolled her eyes affectionately, hugging Brooklyn before she walked to the library to study while her roommate had her alone time with her partner.
Now, Annabeth tugged on the sweetheart neckline of the shimmery blue dress Brooklyn had lent her and sipped on another flute of bubbly while scanning the crowd for someone new to network with. On Brooks, the subtle gold undertones of the navy blue fabric highlighted her dark skin, and the high slit showed off her wide hips and toned legs; on Annabeth, the goal was to, according to Brooks, “show off that Cali tan with my sprinkling of magic so they look at you, and then you trap them with your sharp wit. Think Black Widow, minus the saving the world and killing bad guys part.”
Which, in their opinion, were arguably the best parts of Black Widow, but the concept was doable. Hopefully.
Annabeth allowed the memory to flood a bit of life into the polite smile that had been decorating her features. People’s faces were beginning to blur together, one rich couple fading into the laughing group by the appetizers fading into the players looking for somebody without any rings or strings. She figured that maybe it was time to go, perhaps she’d networked enough for her first gala. Her heels were becoming increasingly uncomfortable, the pins keeping her curls up a nuisance. Giving the crowd a final scan, she turned to find the exit when a figure melted out of the blur and materialized beside her.
“Who are you looking for?” he asked. Annabeth glanced at him but hid her surprise well; the tall man with the windswept and wild dark hair smiled at her with kind, sea green eyes.
“A sugar daddy, apparently,” she replied. Which wasn't exactly true, but close enough. Her filters were delayed; she’d had way too many flutes of champagne and Annabeth had never been accused of being able to hold her liquor.
Her cheeks were slowly heating, but the man’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “A rich man you can marry then poison in his sleep?”
“Don't be so closed minded,” she jokingly admonished.
“My bad. A rich man or woman you can marry then poison in their sleep?”
Annabeth laughed despite herself, taking in the stranger. “A rich man who will die naturally in his own time but for now is willing to donate to my education and push architecture jobs my way in exchange for nothing but my smile, witty commentary, and maybe occasional service as arm candy at events like this.”
“Now you're being close minded. You don't think a woman wants to use you as arm candy, too?”
They both laughed then, and Annabeth takes a moment to admire the way the man’s suit clings to his form, a dark blue button up beneath his black sports coat. He was probably around her age, at least twenty one. He looked like his default setting was laughing, or getting into trouble. Annabeth was maybe a bit enamored, probably because this guy exudes vitality and this party was a lifeless plastic.
The man swung an arm wide, gesturing to the party before them as he introduced himself. “I’m Percy, welcome to probably the perfect place to find a sugar parent.”
Annabeth laughed again, but before she could retort, an older, silver-fox version of Percy was beside them.
“Hello, miss,” he smiled dazzlingly at her, snatching up her hand to plop a soft kiss on the back of it. Annabeth met the eyes of Percy over the man’s head and had to stifle what would've been an exceedingly embarrassing guffaw. “My name is Poseidon. I see you’ve met my son. I trust he’s only told you good things about me.”
“Actually, Dad, surprisingly, you were how we started our conversation,” Percy said goodnaturedly. Annabeth wished she was in position to elbow him.
“Ah, so you know of me, Miss…?”
“Annabeth,” she supplemented.
“Oh! Chase, I presume, the architect.” Pride lit up the young woman’s face just as prettily as recognition lit up Percy’s dad. This evening was a success if the whole room could remember that single qualifier about her: Annabeth the architect. Or, at least, the soon-to-be-an-architect. If they remember her name, they can bring it to the attention of the right people.
“It seems I’ve found you one, Annabeth,” Percy grinned, expertly dodging her look with a troublemaker’s wink. “So long as you don't mind them mildly drunk.”
“I am not ,” Poseidon laughed. “Really, were you talking about me? If not, we can start a conversation so that I can blow off my family over there.”
Percy sniggered. “Best of luck to the both of you then.” He tipped his head in parting and disappeared back into the crowd.
“They get suspicious when Percy and I are in the same place for too long, and it’s his turn to entertain,” Poseidon explained.
Annabeth grinned. Even if Percy and his father weren't clones of one another, she’d be able to sense the family resemblance. “Why don't you just leave?”
“ Appearances ,” he spat out like the word scalded his tongue. “I'm stuck here.”
If Brooklyn was here she’d tell him that now would be the time to grow a pair of ovaries since the pair he was born with wasn't quite doing the job, but Annabeth didn't think she could ever say something like that out loud to a stranger. Instead, she patted his arm with sympathy. “Oh, but I am not.”
Poseidon blinked, then laughed from his stomach, leading her toward the exit. “You wound me, Miss Annabeth. I would invite you to more of these to liven the place up some more, but I know my son would hang out with you and leave me with the wolves.”
Annabeth smirked slightly at the remark, but otherwise kept her cool. His eyes shone with mirth not unlike his son’s did, a fatherly tilt to his head and laughter weathered into his features. “I would like you to explain the joke I was the butt of earlier before you make your escape, however.”
“I'm just in search of future clients and benefactors of my education,” she admitted easily, getting the wording down. “It took me a bit of time to figure out how to say that without sounding like a gold digger. All the champagne kind of snuck up on me.”
“Ah, networking,” Poseidon understood. “If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I believe you’ve done what you wanted; the room loves you. It’s why I came over.”
Though she realized as much when he came over and recognized her, Annabeth still felt more than a bit of pride at his affirmation. Smirking, she focused on the last thing he said. “Not to collect on it being Percy’s turn to entertain the family?”
“Now, Ms. Chase, having multiple motives doesn't make any one worth less than the other.”
“If you say so, sir.”
They’d arrived at the ornate double French doors, so Poseidon fixed the cufflinks on his blue suit then ran his fingers around the collar of his white shirt checking for imperfections. “I hope to see you again, Annabeth, and I wish you the best of luck with your education.”
With well wishes mutually exchanged, Annabeth stepped out into the cool autumn night and hailed a taxi back to her dorm. In the cab, she texted Brooklyn to let her know she was on her way, had a rough time then a good time, and the mission was a success.
Almost immediately, she got back a string of emoticons that meant nothing to her beside the fact that Brooklyn’s boyfriend had her phone and was likely going to stay in their dorm overnight. Annabeth texted that she better not wake up to any sex noises. A winky face was sent so she groaned, but another message came in before she could settle into her despair reminding Annabeth that Brooks is way classier than that, thank you very much, beth .
Thankfully, Brooklyn was not a liar, and when Annabeth opened the door they were already most of the way to sleep. There was no funny business haunting her as she tried to sleep, but a young pair of ocean eyes did manage to wander their way into her dreams.
---
Brooklyn might have fixed her with the most knowing look Annabeth had ever been on the receiving end of in her life a few days after that first gala, but she gave Annabeth the information for the next couple of events. And when none of those yielded the set of eyes Annabeth was chasing, she caved and asked Brooks outright for details of events they would be at. The knowing looks after that particular conversation got even more self-satisfied, so Annabeth refused to go to the first two Brooklyn had mentioned.
At the third one though, she asked to borrow another dress. This charity was for inner city public schools across America, a cause Annabeth could actually get behind, and was certainly going to have the man she wanted to see, another motivator for the blonde. Percy became her wingman while networking. This was the gala she learned that Percy was into marine biology, and she expanded on her obsession with architecture and engineering.
The one that followed (raising funds and awareness for impoverished families) led to Percy’s confession that Poseidon was his father but was never married to his mother, but his step dad was a wonderful man, an English teacher who gave out essays like they were candy to his students (which Percy had been in his junior year of high school) but treated his mom right. Annabeth admitted that her own parents went through an amicable split because of her mother’s inability to not fall for intellectuals and her father’s distracted and easy going nature that didn't know how to put up a fight.
After that, there was an event for dyslexic kids, which both Annabeth and Percy found out the other was, along with ADHD. This was also where they talked about the ways their (first, for Percy at least) step-parents and blood family disappointed them. Here was where they exchanged phone numbers.
After that event, Brooklyn’s knowing look got real sappy, and she cooed every time she caught Annabeth smiling at texts on her phone. By then, she’d been talking to Percy everyday for weeks, had known him for maybe eight months. By then, she had been spending time with him outside of charity events. By then, she had accidentally met his mother when standing behind her in line at a grocery store while the woman was on the phone with her son, who she then put on speaker phone so she could have use of both hands. For obvious reasons, Annabeth was incapable of pretending she didn't know him.
So, yeah. By then, Annabeth may have also developed a bit of a crush on him.
It wasn't unwelcomed, then, when Percy called her up and they met for coffee and sweets at their mutual favorite hole in the wall cafe. Annabeth was drinking a black coffee because she was an adult, but Percy, who had yet to come to a similar conclusion about himself, was sipping something so sweetened that Annabeth only knew it started out as a regular coffee because she was there when he ordered it. Comfortably sitting side by side in their usual corner booth, they had also smuggled in a batch of Sally’s blue chocolate chip cookies.
Annabeth told him, “These cookies might be my favorite part of our friendship.”
“I want to be hurt by that, but if I was anybody else and I met someone with a mom like mine, I think I would say the same thing.”
Annabeth smiled at him before looking down again at her notes for the in-class essay coming up. She didn't need this Black literature class for her major, but Brooklyn loved it last year and Annabeth finally had space in her schedule to take it herself. She had taken American Lit in high school and, white-washed as it was, she still loved it for what it led her to. The lack of diversity of texts in that class pushed her to take an Asian American literature class last fall and an immigrant-centered one in the winter. Books were her kryptonite, and so was knowledge, and so was learning about other people, and so was learning in general. Annabeth wanted to be a well-rounded, cultured person; if the classes were there she was going to take them.
Percy was content with taking the classes that lined up with his major or had some basis in the general field of marine life and/or biology. He still hung out with Annabeth when she studied because she served as motivation for him to study and he served as a distraction when studying became soul sucking.
Which was happening right then, even though they’d really just begun. “Annabeth, why are we here?”
“To study,” she responded immediately as if she was actually focused on her notes.
Percy rolled his eyes. “You know this stuff though. You're not doing that workaholic, highlighting thing you do when you're confused.”
“I have a tell for when I don't get something?”
“Yep,” he popped the p . “You do this with your eyebrows--” Percy demonstrated by using his index fingers to exaggerate the triangular bunch of skin formed between his eyebrows when he furrowed them, “then you take a highlighter in each hand and switch between them, just color-coding your notes.”
“I do not,” Annabeth assured herself, but Percy shook his head.
“Yeah, you do. Sometimes you even hold a pen between your lips and I have to call your name a bunch of times to get your attention.”
“The annoying thing is, I can see this happening so clearly that I have to believe you.”
Percy threw an arm around her shoulders, and Annabeth pretended it did nothing to her heart rate. “It’s okay, Anniebeth. I can be right sometimes, too.”
Groaning, Annabeth threw her elbow into his side. “Stop calling me that, Seaweed Brain.”
“Whatever you say, Wise Girl,” he replied fondly. “Study your notes before you fail .”
Percy went back to sketching the anatomy of various marine life because he didn't have too much to study. Because the fates were either very kind or very cruel, he was right handed and therefore not really required to remove his left arm from around her shoulders. Annabeth thought it would distract her more, but with steady contact between them rather than the buzzing energy of knowing he was near, it was easy to study her notes.
Later, when the cookies were gone and their stomachs were berating them for consuming so much caffeine and sugar, Percy suggested they go get some real food. “Before I die, Beth.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes at his dramatics, but agreed anyway; what good was a Saturday if she didn't spend it out and about? She didn't notice when, but his arm had to have left its perch around her because the next time she was truly cognizant of Percy and all his limbs, he was packed and ready to go.
Once they were out the front door, Percy snagged her hand. Glancing down at their hands, Annabeth smiled to herself before intertwining their fingers and giving his hand a squeeze, her whole body waiting for his next move. Technically, it was probably her move still; intertwining their fingers didn't feel Black Widow enough to count as a full move.
She chickened out, though. By the time they had walked a couple blocks or so over to a local burger joint, she’d done nothing but leave her hand in his. While he was ordering, she also convinced Percy to get a water instead of something dumb like a milkshake by tightening her grip on him and raising her eyebrow when he looked down at her face. They’d gone there to quit it with all the sugar, yet Percy still almost ordered more and she wasn't even surprised.
He bought her food with his own; knowing what she would order, he was able to do so without asking her first and getting into it about how she could get her own. Also, he could do it because Annabeth wasn't really paying attention, but that was only because Percy was completely oblivious to how the cashier was definitely trying to catch his eye.
Annabeth was standing right there with her fingers tangled with his, for crying out loud. To be petty, she leaned lightly against his side, her head resting on his shoulder. Percy smiled down at her and paid quickly. The food took a little while to be done, so Annabeth busied herself by texting her brothers to see how they were while Percy and she elapsed into a comfortable silence.
When the food was done, Percy steered them over to one of the outside tables that had small benches on each side rather than seats. Annabeth didn't know whose move it was, but she sat next to him on the same bench, pressed together from foot to knee to thigh. Percy got them a basket of fries to share and Annabeth knew from experience she had to separate herself a portion of them before he inhaled them, but she left them alone right then.
“As a thanks for buying this lunch, Seaweed Brain, you can have free reign of the fries,” she declared. “Except these terms are void if my fry portion gets too low.”
Percy hummed like he was debating, then nodded. “Okay, but I think if we renegotiate your terms, we could make us work.”
“Really?” Annabeth was amused, willing to play this game.
“Sure,” he replied, but there was something a little different in his voice that Annabeth couldn't quite name. She leaned back to see his face better. “I’ll pitch in with your student loans and help you with your networking at events like the one we met in, but it’ll cost you a bit more than just witty commentary and a smile in exchange.”
Oh. Oh. Those terms , Annabeth realized. Her smile spread slowly and beautifully across her face. “Mmm? What more could you want?”
Percy’s voice was back to normal, a playful lilt. “Well, what else can I have?”
Annabeth was aware that both of them were leaning a bit closer, but she told him easily, “All of me, but be warned that includes the mean bits and the mood swings and may not always include the smile.”
Percy just shrugged, which was impressive with how close together they were. “Be warned that I come with the same conditions.” He paused, slightly wondering. “Can I really have all of you?”
“You can have everything,” Annabeth responded before she really processed the words. She added, “Except maybe the checks after dinner dates, because that's just fair. And you’re not paying my student loans. Also, I get to tell stuffy people that we don't like that you're my sugar daddy and that I'm basically your permanent escort.”
Percy laughed out loud, leaning away from her a bit with the motion. While she wasn't a fan of the distance, Annabeth liked the way he laughed from his very soul, and the way he was still laughing a little when they finally pressed their lips together.