So here it is. Part II. Sorry for the wait, I know, I'm terrible. But in my defense I wasn't sure how I wanted this part to go. I think it's really good, it delves into Annabeth's overthinker side and it shows how much she cares for Percy and how much she values him, but then again, I could be biased. Hopefully you all enjoy it. Any and all mistakes are mine, because it is currently 2:00 am, and I really wanted to get this out, but I am WAY too tired to proofread it. Oh well, please do enjoy!

Words w/out AN: 1991

Pairing(s): Percabeth

I am not Rick, so I own nothing.

Part II

Ever since their movie night a week ago, Percy and Annabeth have been in a bit of a weird spot. They still hang out, like, everyday. They still go out to eat together, and watch movies late into the night. Everything was the same, but it wasn't.

The tone of everything they do, has completely shifted. Annabeth isn't sure if she can properly describe it. Something as simple as their hands brushing together, or innocently playing footsies under the table when they go out to eat, suddenly seems like something more. The lingering touches, their hand holding. All of these casual touches have Annabeth on edge. Because at first, Annabeth thought she was just imagining it. That it was only in her head, but she sees it on Percy, too. If he puts his arm around her, he gets a confused look on his face. He looks as if he wants to say something, as if he wants more.

But he never does.

At least that's what Annabeth assumed, but the signs of weird were everywhere. As of last week, Percy has started being even more physical her. Which was a surprise, since their relationship was already pretty physical. But now he holds her hand or tosses an arm around her shoulder whenever they're walking somewhere, anywhere.

And for some reason, Annabeth can't find a reason to want it to stop.

The best Annabeth could do to describe their situation, was to say it's in a transitional phase. They're in between best friends, and boyfriend/girlfriend. They've been acting like boyfriend and girlfriend. Except they're still only best friends. Which Annabeth can't really complain, because, yeah yeah, he's the best-best friend in the world and she's so lucky to have him, but she wants more.

Can you really blame her for being greedy?

And all of these lingering touches he keeps giving her are sending her brain into overdrive. She can't stop thinking about them, about what they mean, but she can't find herself pulling away either. In fact, she's either reciprocating the touches or fondly thinking about them 99% of the time.

They cause her to blush, to start to stutter and mumble. To be all smiley, and lovey-dovey for the rest of the day. Which is especially weird, since she would never use words like those. She's pretty sure her best friend has no idea what he does to her.

This would all be pretty funny to her if she was reading it in a book and the main character was in love with her best friend. Except this isn't fiction. This is Annabeth's reality. And if this was any other guy, she'd try and use her brain to trick him into admitting how he felt.

Except this was Percy.

Sweet, loyal, caring Percy. The same Percy who's been her best friend for seven years and knows every trick in her book. He can see right through her without even trying. One time he even knew she was mad just by the way she was walking.

He said her fists were clenched and she jutted her lower lip out. He said it was fairly easy to spot, but she knows he only noticed because of how good at observing he is.

Although she's pretty sure she has the same effect on him, that he has on her. Like when she rests her palm right over his heart on his chest, or she wraps her hand around his upper arm. For a millisecond, she swears he gets flustered. He clenches and stiffens up, he avoids eye contact. She's even felt his heartbeat increase, but then, after that millisecond, he relaxes and is back to normal. Albeit, he seems like he smiles his lopsided grin even wider. Sometimes Annabeth purposely tries to fluster Percy, she can't make things too easy for him.

Of course, all of this is running through Annabeth's mind. She just can't help it sometimes. Her brain just goes off on tangents of it's own, and frankly it's annoying, since Annabeth has many other things her brain could be thinking about. Like her calculus test next Wednesday, or her history project that's due in almost a month.

Maybe she doesn't have anything better to think about, but anything has to be better than her pining over Percy.

At the moment Annabeth is at Percy's house. Sally went out on a date with Paul a couple hours earlier, leaving the entire house to her and Percy. Percy had went to the kitchen to get them some snacks while they worked on calculus together. She had watched his retreating figure, trying to pinpoint the exact moment things had slowly started to creep towards boyfriend/girlfriend territory.

Annabeth decided to push her thoughts to the back of her mind, choosing to focus on more important things right now. Even if that meant actually doing her dreadful calculus homework.

Her legs were stretched out on the couch, her calculus textbook resting on her lap. She was focusing on answering the next question, when Percy came clambering in. A plate of blue cookies in hand.

"You made cookies during the five minutes you left?" Annabeth rhetorically asked, because obviously, he didn't make cookies in the past five minutes, but she was still curious as to how he got the cookies nonetheless.

"Nah," he replied, setting the cookies down on the coffee table. "My mom made them before she left, but I forgot they were in the fridge.

Percy slid her textbook off her lap, letting it fall to the ground. He sprawled himself over the couch, which meant he also sprawled himself over Annabeth's outstretched legs. His head laid in her lap and he was looking up at her.

Annabeth indignantly huffed, but eventually let Percy continue using her as a pillow. She ran a hand through his messy hair, using it to smooth it out. Once she was happy with it, she just continued stroking through it.

This is what she meant. When things were weird. They act so much like a couple. This time Annabeth didn't even realize what she was doing. This was just her first instinct, it was what felt most natural. She tried not to get too embarrassed, but secretly she was loving it. Percy's silky smooth, raven hair was enticing. She looked down at Percy's face, trying to gauge how he reacted to her smoothing out his hair, but he had his eyes closed and was smiling in content.

Annabeth stopped stroking his hair, but left her hand in it. "We should continue working on calculus." You could practically hear the smile in her voice, showing how elated she was.

Percy peeked one eye open, focusing on her face and then opening the other eye. He loudly sighed and shifted around on her legs, probably trying to get more comfortable. "Why?" He complained. "I'll just go for a 50, so I don't have to study anymore and we can just watch movies instead or something."

Annabeth shook her head and laughed, that was definitely something Percy would do. She grabbed a cookie and started nibbling on it. "What do you want to do, then?"

He snagged the cookie out of her hand, instead of just grabbing one of the many from the plate. Annabeth expected it though, so she took the cookie back, broke it in half and gave it to him again. He smiled, and with a mouthful of cookie said, "I wanna eat cookies, then sleep. Preferably with you."

Percy's face immediately turned a deep shade of crimson. Annabeth found a blush creeping up her face, too. "That's not what I meant!" He quickly amended. "I just meant, uhh, I'm laying on your legs right now, and it's comfy. So I wanted to sleep, but I needed you here, since I'm using your legs. Yeah."

Annabeth laughed and smoothed out his shirt for him, grabbing another cookie. "It's fine, Seaweed Brain. I'm going to your bed though, since it's a million times more comfortable than this couch."

Percy managed to blush even more, "Uhh, yeah, sounds good."

Annabeth managed to get up, even though Percy was laying on the lower half of her body. She made her way to his bedroom. Percy scrambled up, stuffing one final cookie in his mouth before making his way over to her.

Annabeth was always a critical thinker. Using her brain and logic to solve whichever problems she faced. It's why she loves school, and why she does so well in it. She was never a rash decision maker, like Percy. He was always making split second decisions that were more or less based on impulse or your gut. They were opposites, which meant they contrasted well. They worked together. Annabeth was the brains, Percy was the quick decision maker.

But right now, all of Annabeth's preparation or logical thinking wasn't helping her with her Percy situation.

They were currently headed to Percy's room, to sleep together. Sure, they would probably only sleep, but still. It's confusing trying to figure out what they were. So she threw all logic out of the window. She thought to herself. What would Percy do? Impulse decisions were never something Annabeth did, but she was tired of being confused, and she figured doing what Percy was best at was the only way to figure out what to do.

In the hallway connecting Percy's room to the living room and kitchen, Annabeth spun around. Percy had to abruptly stop to avoid colliding with her.

"Uhh, what are you doing?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

She didn't say anything. Instead choosing to take a step closer, pushing Percy so his back was up against the wall, she continued moving forward until there was little to no distance in between them. She locked eyes with him. Suddenly more nervous than she's ever been before. Gazing into his confused sea green eyes, Annabeth suddenly wanted to stop, to take the safe route and not doing anything. But before she could let fear take over, she willed herself to continue. She placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart, and closed the distance between her lips and his.

At first nothing happened, Percy lips were still against hers. She thought he didn't want to do this. She was about to stop, face burning from embarrassment, when suddenly his lips started to work against hers. He placed an arm around her waist, pulling her impossibly close and she tangled a hand in his raven locks, the other hand still resting over his heart. She could feel his heartbeat rapidly increasing, but she thought nothing of it. After all, hers was doing the same.

When they finally pulled apart, Annabeth collapsed into Percy, she sighed with gratitude. She looked up at him, grey eyes filled with happiness, it delighted her to no end when she saw his were the same.

Percy grinned at her, "That was awesome. That was really, really awesome. We should've done that sooner."

She laughed, but it was muffled through Percy's shirt. "Yeah, we should've done that a while ago."

Annabeth actually was tired now, so she decided to sleep. She looked up at Percy who was dreamily smiling. He was staring at her in a daze. She figured he wouldn't be able to properly speak for the next few hours so she grabbed his hand and led him to his bedroom.

So here she was, happily drifting off to sleep. Her best friend, soon to be boyfriend, right beside her, his arm tucked around her waist. Happy thoughts have been flowing out of her and she couldn't be more overjoyed. The man she loves, loves her back. Things couldn't be better. And with sleep slowly taking over her, her final thoughts are movie nights may be better than studying. But any night with Percy is better than even that.