haha, weren't expecting that, were you.

Six year old Mariel Johnson was known to be the brattiest kid in the entire apartment complex. Everyone who had tried to babysit her knew it.

She threw loud, angry fits when she didn't get what she wanted, smashed her babysitter's belongings, wrecked her family's apartment, and was just an all around disaster.

No one wanted to babysit her, no daycare wanted her, and her older siblings, Miria and Michael, desperately tried to stay out of the house, simply because they didn't want to watch over her.

One would think she was angel; she had the looks of one.

An adorable toothy grin, long, curling brown hair, and bright brown eyes. Naturally, it was the total, complete opposite — she was definitely Satan's spawn.

So it came, one summer weekend, when her parents decided to jump on a plane to California, as their boss had given them tickets, and leave her behind.

Of course, Mariel had thrown a complete temper tantrum and demanded to be taken with them; however, her parents only had been given two tickets and couldn't take her. And the search began for the babysitter who could last a whole week with Mariel — a task that was seemingly impossible; most of the sitters had given up after the first hour.

The oldest, her sister, Miria, had moved out of New York to attend a college in Arizona, and the second oldest, Michael, was about to begin his senior year at Goode High School and decided to attend summer school to get a head start, leaving Mariel behind with no one.

And so, one week before the trip to California, the family, minus Miria and Mariel, who had gone to her room to play, had sat down at the table and had the final conversation about who would be watching Mariel on the trip.

"Do you have any friends who would want to sit her?" his mother begs.

Michael massages his forehead, grimacing.

"They've all heard the horror stories. No one really wants to…"

"Michael, please. We need to find someone for Mariel, or else you're gonna have to stay home and—" his father begins, but is cut off.

"No. I need to take my classes so I can have good grades this semester. You know how bad I was last year," he snaps.

"So, who will babysit her?" his mother groans, burying her face into her hands.

His father rubs soothing circles on his wife's back, before locking eyes with Michael.

"You need to find someone to sit her. By tomorrow."

Michael groans. He seriously needs to graduate soon.

—

"Gods, what's gotten you into a funk?"

Michael peeks up from where he had face planted onto the cafe table to see his best friend, Percy Jackson. His curious green eyes stares down at him, head cocked to the side.

"Fuckin' Mariel that's what. And my parents," he responds, shifting over to make room for Percy.

Percy nods gratefully and sits down, taking a bite of his apple. "The bratty little sister?" he queries.

"Yeah, that one. She's driven every babysitter out and I need to find her a sitter before my parents leave for California for like, a week."

The raven haired male blinks, before placing his head onto his hand and thinking thoughtfully.

"I mean…I can babysit her. Me and my girlfriend, Annabeth. We can do it."

Michael stares, holding his level gaze for a solid thirty seconds.

"Percy…you know how my sister is right?" he asks slowly. "You've heard the horror stories."

Percy shrugs. "Can't be too hard. I have a little sister, Estelle, and she drives my parents up a wall. If I can deal with a newborn kid, then Mariel will be a piece of cake."

Michael glances his best friend up and down. "And your girlfriend? Mariel is quite the brat."

A grin spreads slowly across his face. "She can definitely handle her."

Hope sparks in Michael as he takes his best friend's confident aura. Perhaps he does stand a chance.

—

"Bye mom!" Michael waves at his parents as they enter the car.

"Bye sweetie! Love you! Take care of your sister!" his mother calls back.

Mariel toddles after the car as it begins to back out. "Mommy! Daddy! Don't go!"

"Love you Mari! Be back soon!"

The garage shuts and as it hits the ground with a deafening thud, Mariel begins to cry.

"MOMMY! DADDY!" she screams, her voice reverberating throughout the empty garage. "COME BACK!"

Michael inches closer to his wailing sister. "Hey Mari, you wanna go back and get some—"

There's a crash and he barely ducks in time. When he looks behind him, a wrench had dented the wall and clattered to the floor. Shit, he was in for a rough time.

Her shrieks are interrupted by a ring of the doorbell, and Mariel stops her tantrum, her eyes brightening.

"Mommy? Daddy?"

"Maybe," Michael hedges.

He checks the time on his phone: 8:30 am. He has a summer class to get to in half an hour.

"You wanna go see who's at the door?" he asks, forcing a smile onto his face.

Mariel shoots him a toothy grin, a complete juxtaposition from her earlier cries.

"Yeah!"

Michael nods gingerly and takes his sister's hand, leading her out the garage. He locks the door for good measure. Just in case.

He releases her hand when they reach the doorway and she bounds towards it unlock the door. As it creaks open, Percy and a girl trailing behind him enter.

"Hey Perce! Glad to see you!" Michael greets.

"Hey dude. Yeah, glad to be here!" Percy turns towards the girl with a grin. "Annabeth, this is Michael. Michael, Annabeth."

She's pretty, Michael thinks, as he gazes at her. Her hair is blonde and tied into a messy, curly ponytail and her skin is California tan. Her most defining feature were her eyes; an intense, sharp gray that prodded him the longer he stared.

"Hi. Nice to meet you Michael."

Annabeth approaches him, hand outstretched. He shakes it and finds himself a tad surprised; her grip is firm.

"Likewise. Now, are you guys sure you can handle my sister? A little bit of warning: she's a brat."

Annabeth's eyes sparkle with determination. "Percy has a baby sister and I have two younger brothers. I think we can take her."

"And you don't mind coming back every day this week? I have summer classes to attend."

Percy exchanges a look with Annabeth. "We're fine. We don't mind. Now, should we meet your sister?"

"Ah right." Michael glances down to see a quivering Mariel behind the door. "Hey, come on out and meet your new babysitters for the week." He takes her by the hand and leads her out in front of the couple and he feels her tense. "This is Percy and Annabeth and they'll be taking care of you this week, okay?"

"But Michael…" she begins to whimper. "I want you."

He winces slightly and mouths a "sorry" to Percy. He smiles kindly and shrugs. Take your time.

"Mari, I'm not gonna be home sometimes, so they're gonna take care of you, okay?" he says. "Look, I have to go, or else I'm gonna be late, so be good for them, alright?"

Mariel begins to wail for the second time that morning and Michael sighs, wrapping her in a hug. She beats his back with her little fists and he grimaces at the tear tracks on his shirt. Great.

"Mariel." A voice, soft and sweet, comes from behind them, and gently pries the girl off of him.

It's Annabeth and he watches in awe as she hugs the girl tight, murmuring soothing words to the girl. As Michael steps back, Percy nudges him in the side.

"Told you we'll be fine," he mumbles. "Now go."

Michael blinks and realizes Annabeth's ploy, before he grabs his bag and dashes out the door.

—

Michael's not entirely sure how they manage it, Annabeth and Percy.

Over the course of the week, he leaves the house early and returns to Annabeth playing with her, or Percy cooking her lunch, or the pair of them watching TV on the couch. There's no sign of tantrums thrown anywhere, nothing broken or destroyed, and no yelling in the house.

And every day, he finds Mariel awake and excited to see Annabeth and Percy.

He's not sure how they do it.

On Friday afternoon, he approaches Percy as he cooks lunch for the four of them.

"How do you manage Mari? My parents barely do it, and so do I, and she's chased so many people away. Tell me your secrets!" His tone is joking, but there's a serious undertone, because Michael has to know.

Percy merely grins. "Well for one, Annabeth likes a challenge, and she's also a firm hand. And I just like kids in general. That's all there is, really."

Michael nods and leaves Percy to his cooking.

When he looks back in the living room, Annabeth and Mariel dressing up dolls together, he shrugs and ambles off to his room.

It's definitely witchcraft or something.

i've made the migration to ao3 and im not sure why im here, but it's most probably for percy jackson. man, i haven't uploaded here in a while.

also, this update is trash, since i have no motivation to continue this story whatsoever. so i think i'll just leave this here, as my final hurrah.

thanks to everyone who's followed me and this story, from the very very beginning, which isn't many of you. i know this story isn't the highest of quality, and isn't the longest, but it's still my first story and has great sentimental value to me. it's helped me develop my style so much, to this day, and im glad that everyone got to experience that with me. i didn't think this story would gain such a huge following (well, for me anyways) and everyone utterly stuns me to this day, that i still get views on this every now and then.

and so, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

[i may come back to update this once in a while, but it's highly unlikely.]

thanks for everything.

- love, soul