"Oh, dear fuck."

Percy's been trying his very hardest not to be a complete mess about his break up. Calypso and he had only been dating for a couple of months, after all, when she broke things off. But he still felt shaken when he saw her around town, shopping, laughing, working, like she was having the time of her life, free of him and free of their relationship. As if he wasn't, like, worthy of at least a little bit of heartbreak. He thought he had to be.

It's not like he was super hung up over her, but he was big enough to admit he was hoping she was missing him. Wanting to prove to her that even though she ended things under the excuse that they didn't have enough time for each other (though Percy knew she actually wanted to get back together with her ex-girlfriend) he was still doing fine. He was happier. Whatever.

They went to different schools, but they still hung out at the same places, applied to the same part-time jobs, spent time with a joint group of friends. It was beyond shameful that he's been seeing her pretty much everywhere, but avoiding her like the plague each time it happened.

He isn't so lucky this time around, though.

It's Friday and he wants a bagel and a smoothie to celebrate getting a B on his book report in English. There's a coffee shop only a few blocks away from his school, and he walks there after class lets out. It's really warm today, but a light breeze keeps his skin from getting clammy. He wants to let his head fall back and soak up the sunshine without being judged by the people walking along side him, because summer is near and that is just really good news to a kid like Percy.

There's a bell above the door that jangles when he steps in. A blast of air conditioning hits him and he wipes the perspiration from his brow, eyes sweeping across the shop. A line has formed, but he doesn't mind the wait. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts up Candy Crush as he steps behind a person with a curly, blond bun atop their head.

He's perfectly content in that moment, swiping away at tiny images of sweets, when he hears a voice too familiar for his mind to have made up. A person too familiar for his luck to have avoided. "Iced macchiato for Bryan!" Calypso has a new job, it seems. She's a barista at the coffee shop closest to his school and now he's starting to think she's doing this on purpose, because there's no fucking way this stuff can just happen to him.

Luckily, she's not the one manning the register, taking orders. But when his order is placed, she'll make it and call out his name and know that it's him, because let's be real, he's the only Percy in this town. She'll look up to see him alone and sweaty and playing Candy Crush on his phone in her coffee shop on a Friday after school, and he just really wishes he could have done better than that. He knows he has to be capable of doing better than that.

The person two places ahead of him steps up to order, and he looks briefly at the girl directly in front of him again. She's watching someone playing guitar on the sidewalk outside and Percy catches a glimpse of her face.

It's Annabeth Chase, who's gone to school with him since basically the beginning of all time. She's become, like, insanely pretty since middle school, but as far as he knows, still very, very prickly.

But he's desperate.

Leaning forward and preparing for death, he whispers to her, "I'll pay for your order if you pretend to be into me for like five minutes."

She turns slowly, her brow quirked as she takes in his face of real and true shame. "Percy?"

"Uh, yep." He coughs, and says under his breath, "Please."

"Fine, but I'm getting a muffin, too," she says, flippant, stepping back to stand beside him. Her arm loops through his and Percy is kind of shocked honestly that it was that easy. Nothing's that easy.

It's their turn to order and Percy takes out his wallet. "What can I get you guys?" the cashier asks, smiling at their locked arms—which, yeah, Percy kind of misses. People smiling at him walking hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, being cute and winking like they've been there before.

Except he doesn't think he's actually said more than two words to Annabeth since, like, eighth grade? Yeah. But it's still kind of nice, he thinks quietly.

Annabeth orders a small iced coffee and a blueberry muffin, and he gets himself a bagel and a banana smoothie. "Coming right up, can I get a name for the order?"

"Put it under Percy," Annabeth chirps, letting out this bright smile that he was, like, totally not prepared for at all. He berates himself for staring at his own fake date for too long.

They sit at a table off to the corner, by the window where Annabeth was watching the guy play music. He can hear it through the window, small and soulful. "So," she says, sitting across from him and losing the smile in favor of dry amusement. "Who are you trying to fool?"

He rubs the back of his neck, feeling heat creep up his spine. "The girl making our drinks is my ex-girlfriend. She broke up with me two weeks ago and I'm pretty sure it was so she could hook back up with her other ex."

Annabeth winces. "Yikes."

"Like I want her to think I'm euphoric and free and flawless, but honestly I kind of miss having a partner? Or, at least having someone who was obligated to hang out with me and care about me and stuff." He shrugs, because he knows he's a mess, she doesn't have to say it.

"That's sort of an awful reason to be in a relationship," she snorts, tucking a curl behind her ear. It's kind of endearing? He hopes it doesn't show on his face. "You'll have better luck with them if you date people because you actually care about them. Not because you want a girlfriend and they fit the description."

"I mean you're probably right. I still want to make Calyspo jealous, though."

She sighs, like that much can't be helped. "Yeah, I get that. You paid for my coffee and a muffin I wasn't even going to buy before it was free, so I guess I can play along."

When Calypso calls out Percy's name, she looks up from the counter, surprise etched into her expression. She meets his eyes, but her gaze instantly flicks across the table to where Annabeth is sitting. He starts to get up, but she reaches over and squeezes his arm before standing to retrieve their order.

Calypso gives her a funny look, maybe because she's obviously not the name she just called out, or because she's probably too pretty to be hanging out with Percy. Either way, he's not exactly sure, but he's just glad to see that it looks like Annabeth already has a plan.

"Yeah, I realize I'm not Percy, but he's my boyfriend, so I can take the food." Her voice is sweet, like she's blatantly ignoring the weird look Calypso is giving her. Percy's trying not to feel the swoop in his stomach for when she called him her boyfriend.

Once she's seated in front of him again, he chances a glance back at Calypso, who's back to making orders, but keeps looking at them every few minutes. It's exactly what he thought he wanted, but it doesn't feel as satisfying when Annabeth starts talking to him, telling him about her day and the asshole teacher's aid who grades her history papers.

"Mr. Wallace, right?" Percy asks, laughing. He's more invested in the conversation than he probably should be, seeing as Annabeth is just making small talk to keep up appearances. "God, he's the worst. You know he refuses to give out perfect scores, even when you deserve them, because 'nobody's perfect'?"

Annabeth scoffs. "Believe me, I know. He's a fucking nightmare. At least it's almost the end of the semester. I'm ready for summer."

He agrees with every piece of his heart, and lets her know just that. They laugh and joke for what seems like hours, and Percy forgets why she's sitting there with him in the first place. When he remembers Calypso behind the counter, probably watching their conversation as closely as he'd wanted before, he feels itchy under his skin. He's being a little cruel, sitting here for so long, laughing loud, swooning for real and making a general fuss of how happy he is with his pretend girlfriend. That sort of thing was never his game.

But he's not sure he wants to be done talking to Annabeth. He's really sure he wants to keep doing it, actually.

"Hey," he says, when their conversation hits a comfortable pause. She looks up with soft eyes and cheeks pink from laughter.

"What's up?"

"You wanna go for a walk?"

Her eyebrows scrunch and his heart kind of squeezes a little bit. "She won't be able to see us if we leave."

"That's the idea," he says, wrinkling his nose to stop himself from blushing.

She looks at him seriously then, and it reminds him that she was really only here for the free muffin. He feels a little jumpy on the inside, and bites his lip when she speaks. "I hope this isn't just because you're unsatisfied as a single person."

"No, definitely not." He laughs a little, relieved. "I kind of just want… to hang out for real. If that's okay?"

"Yeah." She smiles, that bright one from before, the one that sort of takes his breath away. "That's okay."

…

When they finally start dating, he knows exactly what she was talking about. Because being with her is as easy as breathing and bickering endlessly is even easier, laughing is a given and banter is expected, and he doesn't think he's ever met someone who could fit her role quite as well as she does.

She doesn't think so either.

i just realized i never posted this on here. srry.