HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEG! (jasongraceless) We talked about this months ago and I'm guessing you forgot we even had this conversation. Or that you sent me screenshots of it, but guesS WHAT. WE TALKED ABOUT AN AU FOR "Annabeth has a crush on Percy and Jason interrogates her." Sorry for the horrible editing and how rushed the ending is! Hope your birthday is everything and more, because you deserve it all.

I'm Going To Die

"Oh my God, Jason, go away."

"Sharing is caring, Annabeth."

Swinging her eyes to glare at the boy she'd known since the first grade—could tolerate since the third, maybe—Annabeth let out an annoyed huff. "I'm not telling you."

His pout was about as convincing as the argument he put up last week at their debate tournament—which was to say, not very convincing at all. She drew no sympathy for her nosy best friend as he meagerly batted his short blond eyelashes in hopes to soften her unyielding resolve. "But Itold you about Piper," he whined, lowering his voice as one of the librarians pushed a cart past their table. They weresupposed to be studying right now, but as far as how much she'd actually reviewed in the past hour, it was safe to say they still had work to do. "And I told you about that one time at camp-"

"Jason, please. I still have nightmares." A shiver scurried over her spine and she blinked away the memory of that particular conversation.

He only smirked.

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth made to pack up her books. Study Hall ended in about ten minutes, but she had exhausted her tolerance for studying any longer. With finals coming up, she couldn't really afford to be slacking off, but Jason had been badgering her about this every chance he got. She found that she needed more break time than usual with the insistent annoyance.

"I deserve to know!" he protested, sounding something alike to her younger brothers when questioning the contents of their birthday gifts. "It's best friend law; I should know who you like."

She could already feel the blush crawling up her neck, close to cutting off her breath. A strangled sound escaped her throat. "Keep your voice down," she hissed, eyes whipping back and forth to see who could have heard.

Jason's expression was dry as he watched her. "Oh no," he deadpanned. "Someone might find out you have a crush. How scandalous."

Ignoring him, she continued packing the textbooks into her book bag. If she could make it through the next ten minutes without strangling her best friend, that would be ideal. She focused on her breathing as, once again, he asked her to reveal the name of her crush.

Annabeth was…well, she was kind of hung up over a guy. It was no big deal, really. As much of a commotion as Jason was making about it, you'd think she was in love with the dude—which, first of all, no. In reality, she just sort of got all warm and tingly when he was around. Nothing serious. And so what if she would give up her first-born to run her fingers through his messy black hair? Or that she'd already started a tag on Tumblr to keep her "Seaweed Brain" rants organized? That didn't provide proof of her supposed "infatuation." Not even a little bit.

Okay, so maybe she really liked the kid. Still! She didn't ask for this.

"Come ooon, Annabeth," he groaned, repeatedly poking at her shoulder and bumping his forehead into her cheek. He was like an affectionate kitten when trying to get what he wanted. "Tell me."

"You're a pest," she grunted, shoving him away. "It's none of your business. And it's my right to keep it to myself."

The look on his face expressed the hurt he felt, and Annabeth tried to convince herself she wasn't affected. It wasn't fair; maybe under different circumstances, yeah, she'd tell Jason in a heart beat. But these weren't normal circumstances! She knew her best friend would judge her for this particular choice in crush.

Jason sighed, looking like a kicked puppy with blue eyes wide and innocent. "Why don't you want me to know? I thought we told each other everything."

"Don't go there," she sighed.

"I remember when my dad left. You were the first person I called."

Something caught in her throat and she turned away, shaking her head. "That was low, Jason."

He shrugged, looking only slightly apologetic. "I just don't want to feel like you can't trust me. You know you can trust me, right?"

She did. Really. But that didn't mean he'd understand… or refrain himself from dropping his jaw the second Percy Jackson's name left her lips.

So, okay, they both knew the guy. More than enough times had the two testosterone fueled boys started up an argument in Yearbook Club about whether the photos should be candid or posed for—Jason's argument being that the yearbook was not a circus, people would keep these books for years to come, and show their kids the pictures printed within. So that last thing he needed was for some poor child to find a picture of his dad digging for gold in the back of a Chemistry class. The two guys both felt a sense of leadership, and Annabeth could hardly keep from rolling her eyes when they butted heads. Which was something close to constantly.

"How about just a letter?" Jason proposed, rubbing his arm from where she had pushed him. The hope on his face was hard to ignore, its warmth slipping into the cracks of her icy exterior and warming her resolve.

Her eyebrows drew together. "What do you mean?"

Setting his hands in front of him carefully, as if she were an easily spooked horse, he responded evenly, "What does his name start with? That's barely anything."

She thought about it. There weren't exactly a lot of names out there starting with the letter "P." But the look her best friend wore was sort of pitiful and she didn't want to see it attached to his face any longer. With a reluctant sigh, Annabeth pursed her lips. "It's P."

"P?" Jason slumped. "I don't know any P's, are you kidding? Whose name starts with a P?"

"Yes you do." She rolled her eyes. "Think of everyone."

"I can't think of anyone except that fucktard in Yearbook."

His expression was pensive as he tapped his chin. Annabeth's lungs stalled in her chest. She choked on a little air. The first thing that came to her mind-

"I'm going to die."

For a second, Jason's forehead puckered. He squinted his eyes, watching her until the thin-slit blue sprung open wide. "Oh shit!"

One of the librarians at the front desk sent their table a glare hot enough to boil the ink right off the pages of every book in the damned library, hissing out a steaming "Shh!" along with it. Jason's eyes were dinner plates and his body just sort of…froze.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" she muttered, hiding her head in her hands.

He was still quiet and it worried her. She couldn't find the courage to look him in the eyes, so she kept her burning face buried under her fingers.

Then- "I'm so sorry."

Strangled laughter bubbled from her chest, sneaking out of her mouth without permission. "Jason-"

"I like him," he tried to convince, spreading his hands. "He's very… tenacious."

"You mean pig-headed?" she brushed off in a hoarse voice. "Jason, really, I don't care-"

"I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine-"

Click

"Yeah, this is why I like candid's…" an achingly familiar voice drawled smugly.

Annabeth only gave herself a moment to balk at the table in front of her before spinning around to see a smiling Percy Jackson standing behind her, camera slung around his neck. His green eyes shone brightly, the ever-present excited glint melting her from the inside out. She blinked, flinging her eyes away before he could catch her staring.

"Jackson," Jason acknowledged tightly, pushing his lips into the most uncomfortable smile Annabeth had ever witnessed on his face. She almost giggled at the sight of it. "Funny seeing you here."

Percy smirked, nodding his head in greeting as well. "What, I can't be found in libraries now?" He shook his head, motioning to the camera in his hands. "I'm just getting some shots for Yearbook. Obviously. I couldn't miss out on whatever just went down over here. Can I ask why you're blushing, Annabeth?"

His eyes caught hers and she decided she had to throw up, because holy shit he was looking at her face. And this was the most embarrassed she'd been since her father showed up to pick her up from school that one time wearing nothing but his rubber ducky robe and slippers. Jason's eye twitched and he forced out a chummy laugh. "Ha. Ha-ha. Ha. No. You can't." Percy only smiled wider, shaking his head.

Annabeth—by God, have some sympathy and end her suffering—finally managed to find words. She just wished she'd thought them through before spitting them out like hot coals.

"Are you going to put that picture in the yearbook?"

With a smirk that would put the Stoll brothers to shame—the same of which who had just spent the last two weeks in detention for breaking into the school's computer system and changing all the names on the attendance records to "BooBoo Stalin"—Percy chuckled. "Why do you ask?"

"Please don't."

"C'mon. I think it's cute."

The ability to process anything her mind was presented with had left her quite suddenly in that moment and she thought she might have heard Jason gag behind his hand. Had the library been this hot an hour ago? Why did her skin have that odd pins-and-needles feeling?

Another hardy laugh was tossed their way from Percy's direction. "Alright, Jason. You look like you'll explode another moment in my presence." He laid a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, leaning in. "I'll leave now. Catch you guys later, okay?"

Clearing her throat, Annabeth blinked rapidly and stuttered out a "s-see you later" before turning to Jason with wide eyes. Her shoulder was hot where his hand had been—where his hand had been, oh god. "Did that just happen?"

Jason closed his eyes, slumping forward onto the table with a sigh. "Today's been all kinds of unbelievable, Annabeth."

It was two weeks later when she approached her locker, best friend in tow. Jason was blathering on about how he should have earned a better grade for his Algebra final, and Annabeth only rolled her eyes. "Maybe if we'd actually studied, you would have done better."

Jason huffed. "Maybe if you didn't go all googly eyes for Percy Jackson, then you wouldn't have had to worry about keeping it from me. Therefore skipping the whole process of my ditching studying to discover said crush. So really, it's your fault I got an 83 on Mr. Pecker's exam."

"Your logic is flawed," she stated, patting his shoulder. "If you didn't despise the cutest guy in school-"

"Oh please!" he broke in indignantly. "I'm the cutest. You know I'm the cutest."

Letting her eyelids drop exasperatedly, Annabeth only nodded. She wasn't in the mood for this. Running on four hours of sleep the night before, she only wanted to get her books and head to class. They'd just be watching movies today, seeing as finals were over, so she could probably catch up on some sleep in class. Spinning the lock on her locker, she faced Jason again and changed the subject. "Did you ever submit the superlatives page for Yearbook?"

"Yesterday," he affirmed with a proud smile. "And I took the pictures. All planned out and posed for. As it should be."

"Here we go again…"

"No, let me just explain to you the importance of keeping those God awful, candid, Percy-pics from my yearbook. First of all-"

Before Annabeth could tune out of the lecture she was about to receive, she popped open her locker, surprised to see a piece of paper flutter down from the top shelf. Jason was still going on about double chins and blinking while Annabeth bent down to retrieve the paper. Turning it over in her hands, she felt throat close up.

"What?" Jason cut in suddenly, peeking over her shoulder. "What are you looking at? Why are you choking again?"

It was the photo of Jason and herself in the library. She was red-faced with her head in her hands and Jason was very obviously shocked, eyes wide and hands spread; his mouth formed a little O.

"Oh my God," she muttered, feeling a wave of heat overtake her as she turned the image over in her hands and noticed the writing on the back. The hallway spun circles around her. "I'm going to die."

I didn't put it in the yearbook, Annabeth, but I still think it's cute. Thought you'd like a copy.

If you stop by the little diner off fourth street this Saturday at noon, maybe I can convince you why candid's are better.Hope to see you there :)

-Percy

"That explains the choking, I guess."