A/N: This is an AU one-shot. Lately, I've been obsessed with mortal-Percy and mortal-Annabeth, so this is the outcome. The one-shot should explain everything you need to know.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus.

Percy didn't know if he was going to be asked or not. Girls were claiming guys left and right, and he might have seen a few glances tossed his way, but he wasn't sure.

See, Percy's school was having a Sadie Hawkins dance this weekend for a Student Council fundraiser. It was kind of like their winter formal, and since they were going to have a prom closer to graduation, the Student Council officers had decided to call it a Sadie Hawkins. The girls were supposed to ask the guys to this dance instead of the traditional guys asking girls thing. Percy wanted to go, but he had to be asked by someone. He couldn't just show up by himself like a loser.

And it was strange because he thought that he would have been one of the first guys to be claimed. He was pretty popular (if he had to say so) and most everybody liked him. He was captain of the swim team. He had girls lining up to date him (not that he would use that) and normally just one or two of his smiles would melt anybody that walked by him.

So why wasn't anyone asking him to the dance?

He sighed angrily and shut his locker, trying not to let his emotions slip into his walk. All he needed right now was more drama floating around the school hallway.

"You're giving yourself away, Jackson," someone said as they looped their arm through one of his.

Percy knew who it was immediately. He smiled, "Am not."

Annabeth Chase had been one of his best friends for a long time now. She lived next door to him, and they had been hanging out for as long as he could remember. Even though Percy had a huge circle of friends, he considered Annabeth to be the most important.

She laughed lightly as they continued their walk to class, "Oh please. I can see it now. 'Hi, my name is Percy Jackson, and I'm upset because girls aren't throwing themselves at me.'"

"I am not!" Percy huffed. "But seriously! Why hasn't anyone asked me yet?"

Right on cue, a group of girls passed Percy and Annabeth. He looked up at them hopefully, but they just cast their eyes to the ground and laughed quietly before breezing past them.

That was it! He had to find out what was going on around here.

Ω

"Is there something on my face? In my teeth? Do my clothes look stupid today? What about my hair?" Percy fretted.

He was sitting at his lunch table with a few of his guy friends from the swim team, and Percy was about to go crazy. Girls had been avoiding him all day, and now it seemed that everybody had a date to the Sadie Hawkins dance except for Percy.

Normally he didn't get so caught up in the social ladder, but it was making him upset that all of his friends were getting asked by pretty girls. Where was his date?

Jason rolled his eyes, "Dude, calm down. You look fine. Stop freaking out. All of the girls are probably thinking that someone already asked you."

"But no one has," Percy said with a sigh.

Leo Valdez fell down on the other side of the table. He was already laughing and smiling like crazy, so Percy knew that something mildly amusing must have happened. The dude laughed at everything.

"Guess what just happened to me!" He said excitedly, nearly knocking over Jason's drink.

"The principal expelled you for sexually harassing girls?"

Percy looked up to see Rachel and Annabeth both sitting down at their table. Annabeth claimed her usual seat at his right, and Rachel sat across from them. Percy thought it was pretty lame that they sat in the same seat every day, but the one time he had tried to sit in a different spot, his friends had just moved to another table.

Leo and Jason had been Percy's friends for as long as Annabeth had. They had all gone to the same middle school together, and most of them lived in the same neighborhood. However, Rachel was the exception. She was kind of new to their group, which was fine with Percy. Instead of living in one of the middle income subdivisions like the rest of them, her family had a big house on the edge of the city. It was the perfect place to party on the weekends, and since her parents were never home, it was pretty great.

Jason snorted in laughter at Annabeth's comment, "Good one, Annabeth."

"Annabeth, you insult me!" Leo exclaimed. "But no, Lizzie asked me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance!"

Percy's jaw dropped.

"I thought you said you hated her eyebrows?" Rachel quizzed as she opened her lunchbox and pulled out her sushi.

"Who cares about her eyebrows?" Leo said. "I'm going to the dance!"

Percy tried not to scowl too hard, but even Leo got asked by someone. Leo, who was extremely annoying and difficult to be around, got asked to the dance. By a girl.

This was so unfair.

"Damn, Percy," Jason said. "Maybe you were right to worry. Even Leo was asked by someone."

Percy dropped his head against the table and groaned as everyone laughed.

Ω

"Mr. Jackson!"

Percy sat up straight in his desk when his English teacher (coincidentally his stepdad) called his name. He had been bent over his desk, scribbling and doodling on a piece of paper that he was supposed to be taking notes on.

He blushed as the rest of the class snickered, "Yes sir?"

Paul grinned lightly and jerked his head over to the door, "There's someone here for you."

Percy looked over to find Annabeth standing just inside the door. She was smiling brightly at him, and she motioned for him to hurry up. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail since lunch, and her eyes were sparkling crazily.

Percy got up and grabbed his stuff as Paul said, "Annabeth, you're coming over for dinner, right?"

"Of course I am! This dork needs help with his Algebra study guide," Annabeth said as Percy grabbed her hand and walked past her. The class was laughing, and Percy just knew he was extremely red.

As soon as they were out into the hallway, Percy let go of Annabeth and crossed his arms over his chest. He tried to bury his grin and scowl instead.

"What do you want, Annabeth?" He asked, "Is there a particular reason you decided to embarrass me in front of everyone?"

She poked him in the stomach, "Whatever! Now, come on! I have to show you something!"

Annabeth grabbed his hand and proceeded to drag him down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Percy asked.

She didn't answer as she pulled him past a few of the teachers (who just smiled lovingly at Annabeth, like what the heck is up with that? If Percy had been by himself, they would have given him detention) and out of a set of doors.

"Why are we going to the gym?" Percy said as Annabeth pulled open another set of doors and pushed him inside.

She shushed him and said, "Walk, Seaweed Brain!"

So even though Percy was a little worried about what the heck she was up to, he bit back a smile and let her push against his back and tug on his hands and arms until he was standing in front of the swimming pool.

Percy raised an eyebrow as Annabeth grinned at him. She kept looking back and forth between him and the swimming pool.

"What?" Percy asked expectantly.

Her grin widened, "There's a note at the bottom of the pool. I need you to go get it."

"A note?" Percy asked. How had a note ended up at the bottom of the pool? And why had Annabeth come all the way to his classroom and now expect him to dive down to the bottom of the pool and get it? "Why do I have to go get it? Can't someone else do it?"

"No!" Annabeth objected. "You have to get it. Now start stripping, Jackson!"

He rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt over his head, hoping that his blush wasn't too heavy. Annabeth made him nervous enough, and it was always worse when she was looking directly at him.

"I can't believe you're making me do this," he grumbled. His hands were trembling a little, but he ignored it and hoped Annabeth wouldn't notice. "Like, we could get in serious trouble for this."

"Scared, Seaweed Brain? And wait until all of your swim team buddies find out you won't even dive down to the bottom of the pool for me," Annabeth teased, coming closer to him and shoving his chest.

Percy scowled as he kicked his shoes away and shoved his jeans off of his hips. He was extremely thankful that he had picked a pair of black boxers this morning. At least he hadn't gone with Nemo like he had originally wanted.

He peeled his socks off of his feet and tossed them with the rest of his clothes. He glared as Annabeth laughed and commented that he looked pretty adorable.

"You so owe me," he muttered as he dove into the water.

He plunged down to the bottom of the pool easily, and after a few seconds of searching, he found a piece of paper (how was it still together?) taped to the tile. He swam over to it, but when he touched it, he realized it was plastic instead of paper. He calmly looked up toward the surface of the pool. Percy had always been comfortable in the water, and most of the time he felt like he belonged at the bottom of a pool more than he did on the surface. Then he remembered that Annabeth was at the surface, and he always came back up.

Percy grabbed the note, and he kicked back up toward the sky.

He hauled himself up out of the water and shoved his hair back from his face. Once his feet where touching the concrete again, he shifted his attention back to the note.

The plastic turned out to be a sealed sheet protector. The ends had been tapped shut to keep the water out of it. The piece of paper inside of it was white and it had ten words written on it.

"And you were terrified that no one was going to ask you," Annabeth said smugly. She was grinning and smirking at the look on his face.

He was still staring at the paper stupidly. Finally, he read it out loud.

"'Will you go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance with me?'" He repeated.

Okay. Percy felt really stupid.

This whole time he had been complaining and whining about no one asking him to the dance, and he hadn't even thought about Annabeth asking anyone. Frankly, he really couldn't believe that he hadn't thought about her asking him sooner. And she had played along with him! She had made him think that something was seriously wrong with him because no one had asked when in reality she had probably scared and threatened any other girl that had planned on asking him!

"You made me think that something was wrong because you wanted to ask me?" Percy said indignantly.

When he looked back up to Annabeth, he realized that they weren't the only ones in the gym. The entire swim team and most of their friends were standing a few feet behind Annabeth. Most of them had their cell phones out, and Percy just knew that this was going to be all over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Annabeth was doubled over laughing, and Percy grinned suddenly. He lunged forward, grabbing Annabeth by the legs and tossing her up onto his shoulder.

"Percy Jackson!" She squealed. "Don't you dare throw me in the-!"

Percy laughed crazily and ignored Annabeth as she tried to squirm out of his grip. Instead of setting her down, Percy tossed her into the water.

He heard his swim team howling with laughter behind him before he dived in after Annabeth. He caught up to her, and somehow she managed to scowl at him underwater. Percy dragged her up, and they broke the surface at the same time.

She was glaring at him, but Percy was laughing way too hard. Hesitantly, he reached out and let one of his arms circle her waist and pull her closer.

"And of course I'll go to the dance with you," he said with a giant smile.

Ω

"My hair smells like your shampoo," Annabeth said as she flopped down onto Percy's bed.

After Annabeth's epic Sadie Hawkins proposal, they had toweled off and driven back to Percy's house. Most of the time, Annabeth's parents weren't at home anyway, and even though Annabeth didn't have a problem with staying home by herself, Percy would rather have her here with him. So now they were hanging out in his bedroom, working on their homework. Annabeth had wanted to take a shower, so she had slipped on some of Percy's sweats and one of his old t-shirts after she had finished.

Percy laughed, "Come here and let me smell!"

"No, you weirdo!" She said as she laughed. She rolled over and shoved her feet under the sheets, pulling them up around her neck.

He pretended to glare at her, "My bed is going to smell like you."

"Then you'll have sweet dreams forever!" Annabeth said. Her voice was a little muffled, and he could only see her pretty gray eyes.

"Hmm," Percy hummed, desperately trying to cover his grin. "Can you show me how to do this Algebra?"

Annabeth leaned up on her elbow, "Noooo," she moaned. "I don't want to do homework."

"Then what the heck are we going to do until Mom gets home and finishes dinner?" Percy asked. He let his book and paper fall to sit on the top of his desk. He turned around in his swivel chair so he was watching her.

She patted the spot next to her, "Talk to me. We haven't had any best friend time lately."

"Yeah, but I have an Algebra test on Friday-" Percy broke off with a laugh when Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "And you thought I was serious!"

Percy jumped up from his chair and sprawled out on his bed next to Annabeth. This wasn't really anything new. For them to only be best friends, they were extremely… touchy. When they were alone, they were always touching. Annabeth liked to fist her hand in his shirt or bury her fingers in his hair.

It wasn't that Percy minded that they were like that—he guessed that it was normal for them—but sometimes it made him a little sad. When they were together, it made Percy wonder what an actual relationship with Annabeth would be like. Sometimes he tried to pull back and keep his emotions out of it, but Annabeth had worked her way into his heart a long time ago, and he knew that she wasn't going anywhere.

As he expected, Annabeth reached out and grabbed the hem of his t-shirt when he was finally settled into the spot next to her.

"I feel like I haven't seen you," Annabeth said. Her voice took an extremely soft tone that Percy knew was reserved for him and him alone.

"I see you every day. You sit beside me at lunch. I have almost half of my classes with you. Of course I see you," Percy joked lightly.

She frowned, "Yeah, but none of that is the same. I like hanging out with you like this."

"Me too," he said.

She stared at him for a minute, and they sat in silence.

Percy had never liked for a room or situation to be too quiet. With his ADHD, he felt like he always needed something to keep his attention. But when he was with Annabeth, things were different. If she wanted to sit in silence, then he wouldn't interrupt.

That was something else that Percy did. He always (more or less) gave Annabeth what she wanted. Maybe it was because he had a soft spot for her, or maybe it was because he had known her so long that he already knew what she wanted before she had to ask or tell him.

Annabeth (like Percy) grew up as an only child. Her mom had died in a car wreck when they were in the second grade, and ever since her dad had been working all of the time. Even though Percy didn't have any brothers or sisters, he still had his mom. Annabeth hadn't had anyone back then. So, they had started hanging out every day, and eventually, they just became best friends. Percy tried not to ever leave her side, but he wasn't always there. After dinner and at night were obviously the times when Percy wasn't there, and Annabeth was alone. She claimed that it was fine, but Percy could see what it did to her. After years of staying by herself, Annabeth was quiet and a little reserved when it came to her emotions and feelings.

It made Percy really upset sometimes. She was so awesome and funny and sweet, and it wasn't fair that she didn't share it with anyone else. It even took her a little while to warm up to Percy. If they had spent a few days apart, the next time that they were hanging out together Percy had to remind her that it was just him.

Percy reached out and offered his hand. She studied him for a few more seconds before she slipped her fingers in his.

"Annabeth," Percy hummed. "Talk to me."

"About what?" She asked.

He grinned suddenly, "Tell me how you managed to keep all of the other girls at school from asking me to the dance."

Annabeth laughed just as quickly as he had grinned, "Well, it wasn't easy."

"Of course it wasn't. Haven't you noticed that I'm extremely hot?" Percy joked.

She rolled her eyes and shoved him, "I've noticed that you're a dork."

"But seriously," he said. "Tell me how you did it. I know there was at least one girl besides you that wanted to ask me."

"It wasn't that hard actually," she said a little too breezily. "I told all of the girls in my Honors classes that you were taken, and I'm pretty sure that the rumor just spread. You were just too worried about someone asking you to listen to what everyone was saying."

Percy scowled as he rolled onto his back, "I still can't believe you invited my swim team to come and laugh at me. My phone is still blowing up from all of the Instagram notifications."

Annabeth was laughing, but she rolled over and crawled up onto his chest, knocking her knuckles against his collar bone. Percy noticed that she always did that at times like this. She tucked her head under his chin, and her grip tightened on his shirt.

"Well, I can't believe that you threw me into the swimming pool," she said. Percy ignored the glare that she tossed him.

They lay on Percy's bed for a long time, not saying anything. Annabeth stayed really still, and after a while, Percy thought that she had fallen asleep.

"Hey, Percy?" Annabeth asked, startling him.

He set one of his hands on her back, "Yeah?"

She leaned up so she could meet his gaze, "Would you have said yes to anybody that would have asked you to the dance?"

"No," he said immediately. "And for the record, I'm really glad that you were the one that asked me."

Annabeth smiled, and Percy thought he could make out a slight blush on her cheeks as she said, "Good. Me too."

Ω

Percy was a little tongue-tied. Annabeth looked great in gold.

They were standing in Annabeth's living room, letting both of their parents fawn over Annabeth's dress and Percy's tux. Annabeth's stepmom, Mia, kept snapping pictures when they weren't looking, and Percy's mom, Sally, was straightening Percy's tie and dabbing at Annabeth's make-up. The dance was tonight, and Annabeth and Percy were on their way to meet their friends for dinner.

Percy had walked in, expecting to pose for a few pictures, grab Annabeth, and get out of there. He hadn't expected that he would need a few minutes to drool over Annabeth.

She looked amazing. She was wearing a gold formal dress. It was a high-low, and the middle part that clung to her body was made entirely out of sequins. There was a layer of gold material that flowed to the ground and feathered out around her. The color contrasted deeply with her tan, and her make-up was perfect. Her grey eyes stood out even more than normal, and her lip gloss made her lips look great. Even under the low quality lights in the living room, she was sparkling.

"Percy!"

He jerked his eyes up to her face as she said his name. She looked amused, and he thought that he heard their parents laughing.

"Um, yeah?" He asked.

"I said your name five times," she smirked. "What are you staring at?"

Percy raised an eyebrow and let his eyes flit down her body again for her amusement. He said, "Not much."

Annabeth's mouth fell open and she kicked him in the shin with her heel, "Whatever! You know that I look awesome! You've been staring at me since you got here!"

He tried not to blush, but he knew that he was probably blood red. He tried to be smooth, "Maybe I have."

Percy smiled when she blushed slightly, and the color on her cheeks looked awesome too. "Shut up. Are you ready to go?"

"Wait!" Sally and Mia objected at the same time. "We need more pictures!"

"More pictures?" Annabeth asked.

Percy grabbed Annabeth by the waist and spun her toward him. She squeaked in surprise and grabbed his shoulder before setting one of her hands on his stomach to catch her balance.

"Come on, Annabeth, smile," Percy said as he moved behind her and set his hands on her waist. "I'm ready to go eat."

Ω

"This is a scene if I've ever seen one," Annabeth murmured to Percy.

They were sitting at one of the tables, sharing a cupcake and watching everybody that was still dancing. They had gone out to eat with the rest of their friends before they had come to the dance, and it had been pretty awesome.

Percy laughed quietly and leaned his head closer to hers, "Especially Leo out there dancing. He's going to be dehydrated, and then he's going to pass out. We'll have to drag him out of the gym and hide his body in the bushes."

Annabeth was laughing so hard that her head fell over onto his shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm saying that we need to get out of here before that happens, that way we won't be responsible for him." Jason said, sitting down in the chairs beside Percy and Annabeth.

Piper, his girlfriend, slapped him across the chest, "We are not leaving! You've been saying that all night!"

"Yeah, but Rachel left an hour ago to go get ready for the after party." Jason objected.

"After party means after the party, not during." Piper argued.

Jason and Piper had been dating for a few months now. They were perfect for each other, and as far as Percy knew, Jason had always liked Piper. They had gotten together after the very last football game that Jason had played. Jason was the quarterback and Piper was the head cheerleader. After Jason had thrown the last pass to win the last game, Piper had ran straight up to him and kissed him.

Annabeth had always loved how cliché it all had been. Percy remembered the night that it happened. Annabeth had grabbed his hand and had to bury her face in his shoulder to keep from squealing.

"We're going to that, aren't we?" Annabeth murmured in his ear.

"If you want to," Percy said.

"Duh."

Percy smiled as the rap song that had been playing cut to a slow song. He recognized it as one of Annabeth's favorites, so he quickly stood up and pulled her out toward the dance floor.

Annabeth was laughing as Percy spun her around. She had taken dance classes years ago, and she had even attempted teaching Percy. It had been an epic fail of course, but it was one of Percy's favorite memories.

She spun back to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Well, aren't you smooth?"

"Of course I am. After all, I am the Percy Jackson," he said playfully, snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her a tad bit closer.

She smiled at him, but she didn't say anything else. Her eyes were flitting around the room, and it looked like she was on the verge of biting her lip. Percy wondered what she was thinking about.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked suddenly. Percy hadn't been expecting her to say anything, so he was kind of caught off-guard when she spoke.

"Yeah?" He said, looking at her eyes.

She looked down at her shoes before meeting his gaze again, "Percy, I'm really glad that we came and I… I was going to tell you that—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Leo Valdez popped up out of nowhere and threw his arms around the both of them, shouting the lyrics to their song and swaying back and forth with the music.

That's it, Percy thought. He was going to strangle Leo and then bring him back to life so he could punch his lights out. Annabeth had been about to say something, and now that Leo had ruined the moment, who knew if she would ever tell him?

Percy shoved Leo away just as he yelled, "Dude!"

After Leo was a safe distance away (hopefully he wouldn't interrupt again) Percy met Annabeth's gaze and said, "Sorry, Leo is a lunatic, I swear. What did you want to tell me?"

She looked a little disappointed, but she faked a laugh anyway, "Oh, never mind. It's not a big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal," Percy objected. He tightened his grip on her hips a little. "Tell me."

Right as she was about to say it, Jason called his name. He looked up to see the other guy threading through their classmates and coming toward them.

Percy and Annabeth both sighed at the same time. Now he definitely wasn't going to figure it out!

"Don't worry about it, Percy. I'll tell you later," Annabeth said as she pressed even closer to him.

Percy looked down at her, "Promise?"

"Of course," she said. Percy thought that he heard her voice tremble.

Ω

The music was louder here than it had been back at the dance.

Percy and Annabeth had left the dance about thirty minutes before it was officially over. They had driven up to Rachel's house for her "after party" and had planned on staying for a few hours. There were a lot of different after parties going on tonight, but Rachel's was by far the biggest and the best.

"I think Piper and I are going to head out," Jason shouted over the music. They had been standing in the living room, watching as Annabeth and Piper danced with a few of the other girls in their class. They were both laughing and smiling.

"Why so early?" Percy asked.

"She invited me over. Her parents aren't home," Jason said.

Percy laughed, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Then that's nothing, right?" Jason winked and clapped him on the back before walking forward to collect Piper. Once they had said goodbye to most of the people in the crowds, they left.

Percy didn't notice when Rachel came up beside him and took his elbow. He had still been watching Annabeth on the dance floor with a few of her other friends. She was still in her dress, and the lights that Rachel had set up were making her dress look so sparkly.

"So, Perce, what'cha think about my party? Better than the dance?" Rachel asked.

"Oh of course," he said. The song changed, and more people swarmed the dance floor, so Percy lost his view of Annabeth.

"Annabeth looks very pretty tonight," Rachel hinted. She nudged him in the side.

Percy tried not to blush, "Yeah, she does."

"Good. Just making sure that you think so. Anyway, I'm off to see if the DJ can change this song. It sounds exactly like the one that was played just a few minutes ago," she said. She squeezed him arm lightly before slipping away.

He wanted to roll his eyes. Lately, all of his friends had been hinting about how pretty or how nice Annabeth was. Last week, Jason had even gone as far to say that they would be prefect together if Percy would ever get the balls to tell her how he really felt.

It made Percy a little mad. Like, how did all of his friends know how he felt about her? How did they know that he really did like her? And why were they pushing for him to tell her? Didn't they realize that he could lose her if she didn't feel the same way?

Percy had actually liked Annabeth for years (of course he had; she was freaking perfect) but he hadn't ever risked telling her because he didn't want to lose her. What if he told her and then she freaked out and never wanted to talk to him again?

He desperately pushed those thoughts out of his mind. There was no way that Annabeth liked him back. If she did, then she would have told him by now. Right now, Percy and Annabeth were best friends. They were close, and they knew everything about each other. A relationship between them would probably be perfect, but trying to get there was too much of a risk. What if Annabeth didn't feel the same way?

"Hey," someone breathed in his ear.

Percy smiled softly at the sound of Annabeth's voice. She wrapped one of her arms around his waist.

"Having fun?" Percy asked.

"Mmm," Annabeth hummed. "Let's go outside."

Before Percy could agree, Annabeth was already pulling him away from the crowd and through a set of doors that led to the deck.

The stars were bright, and there was a slight breeze blowing, making Annabeth's curls feather. Below the deck, there was a swimming pool, and there were a couple of people swimming and messing around. Their voices drifted off with the wind, so they didn't disturb Percy and Annabeth.

Annabeth pulled Percy toward the rail, and when they got there, she dropped his hand. She was staring out across the lake. She was still, and she was doing a good job of ignoring Percy altogether.

He moved to stand behind her, setting his hands on the rail just millimeters away from hers. His arms were circling her body, but they weren't touching. Annabeth smelled like lemons, something that had always been a constant for Percy.

She turned around so she was facing him. There were only a few inches of space in between them, and Percy was staring right at her gray eyes.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked. She reached up and set her hand over his heart.

He hoped that she couldn't feel how fast his heartbeat was. "Annabeth."

She was quiet for a second, but then she moved forward just a little so they were even closer.

"You know that you're my best friend, right?" She said, studying his gaze.

His body stiffened, and he had to pretend that his whole world hadn't just fallen down around him. So that was how she felt. She didn't want to be in a relationship with him. She didn't have the same feelings. She thought of them as just friends.

Even though his heart was hurting and he felt like he was going to throw up, he raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Of course I do."

She nodded and let out a breath, "Okay, good. Because lately I feel like you just don't know how important you are to me, and I just wouldn't be able to live without you, and I can't imagine not having you beside me, and I just-"

Percy grabbed one of her hands and let his fingers brush against her lips (which was a mistake because good god they were soft) to get her to stop talking.

"Hey," he said softly. "Calm down. I know all of that stuff, okay?"

She nodded again and the panicked look faded from her eyes, "Okay."

They stood there together for another few seconds while Percy tried to slow his heart rate. Then Annabeth said, "Percy? Can I have a hug?"

He smiled tightly and slipped his arms around her, "Of course you can."

Annabeth sighed as she folded against his chest. Her arms were wrapped around his waist, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. In her heels, she was almost as tall as Percy.

When Percy figured he could trust his voice again, he said, "Annabeth, all of that stuff you said, well I feel the same way. Like, you're my best friend and I couldn't live without you or anything."

She moved enough so she could see his face, and her smile was brilliant. "I know, Seaweed Brain."

Ω

Percy cut the engine to the car and got out, opening Annabeth's door for her.

They had stayed at Rachel's after party for a few hours. Once Rachel and some of the other jocks had brought out the beer, Annabeth had decided that she was ready to go. Percy couldn't blame her. They had both gotten generous scholarships from their dream schools, and it would be awful to have them taken away when they had already had plenty of fun.

And they had an awesome time. Percy was so glad that Annabeth had asked him to go, and even though his heart felt like it was breaking in two, he was ridiculously happy.

Percy held out his hand and helped Annabeth out of the car.

He thought that he heard her mutter something that sounded like, "screw it," before she grabbed his tie and yanked his head down.

When Percy blinked his confusion away after a few seconds, he realized that Annabeth was kissing him.

Annabeth was kissing him.

Annabeth. Was. Kissing. Him.

Annabeth was kissing him.

ANNABETH WAS KISSING HIM!

Why was she kissing him? Did it mean that she liked him? Did it mean that she wanted to be with him?

All too soon, Annabeth pulled back from his lips and looked down at their shoes. One of her hands was knotted in his hair, and the other was still holding on to his tie. She was blushing slightly, and she was fidgeting a little.

"Sorry," she said as she started to move away from him. "I've wanted to do that all night, but I just couldn't figure out how to tell you that I—"

Percy lunged forward and pulled her closer to him, crashing his lips to hers. He was grasping one of her hips, and his other hand was pressed flat against her back so she couldn't move away from him. Not that she wanted to. From the way she was clutching at his body, she probably couldn't have been pried away from him.

He wanted to groan. Annabeth was kissing him back just as passionately and enthusiastically as he was kissing her. This was incredible. Her lips were soft, and she still smelled like lemons.

After a few more minutes (or it could have been hours, Percy wasn't sure and he didn't care) he pulled back to rest his forehead against hers. Her smile was insanely big, and she was biting her bottom lip.

"I've wanted to do that for years," Percy whispered.

Annabeth started laughing then, and she pressed closer to him, weaving one of her legs in between both of his.

"Back at the dance I was trying to tell you how I felt, but then Leo and Jason interrupted. And then at Rachel's, I was trying to tell you, but I freaked out and ended up saying something stupid." Annabeth confessed.

Percy held back a grin, "I remember. When you said that, I thought you were friend-zoning me."

She grinned and ducked her chin, "I am literally going to die of embarrassment."

Percy laughed too, "No, you're not! You can't leave me!"

Annabeth leaned up again and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. She stayed close enough for their noses to brush after she pulled back.

"I am never going to get tired of that," he said. He refused to acknowledge the dreamy tone his voice had taken.

"That's fine with me," she breathed, giving him another few kisses.

They just stood there together, outside of Annabeth's house, trading kisses and whispering to each other for a long time. Percy was thinking that this was even more fun than the dance and the after part put together, and he never wanted to move. This was perfect. Everything with Annabeth was perfect.

He was tracing small circles on her back with his fingers, and she was pressing light kisses to his neck and face. Yeah. Nothing would ever get better than this.

Without meaning to, Percy said, "I seriously love you, Annabeth."

Percy hoped that his face wasn't blood red; he hadn't meant to say that. He had gotten with Annabeth like two seconds ago, and if he had just ruined it, then he was a bigger idiot than he had thought he was.

But her smile widened and she huddled closer to him, "I seriously love you too, Percy."

Percy was positive that everything was perfect now. He might have still felt a little stupid, but he was so ridiculously happy that he couldn't bring himself to care.

And it was all because of a Sadie Hawkins Dance.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review!

-SomethingMoreCreative