A/N: This one is for ObeliskX, who started me off on Genderbent!Percabeth. You'll probably see a lot more of genderbent couples from now on...I actually can't help but plan a Genderbent!Jasper.
_Andrew_
Girl on Fire began to issue loudly and annoyingly from my phone. I groaned once, twice before it ran out and I sighed in relief, going back to my essay.
Not a minute later, it began to ring even louder. I winced, the shrill tone of the Red Crab piercing my eardrums. I bet Lea had done something to her contact on my phone to make it ring more resoundingly than before if I didn't pick up the phone.
Scowling, I kicked off my sneakers and reached across the bed to grab the phone that was vibrating so much it would've leaped off the bed if I hadn't caught it.
"Yes, Lea?" I snapped into the phone.
"Hi, Andrew!" Her chirpy voice filtered robotically through the phone's speakers. "Do you like the ringtone I set for my contact?"
I could almost see her smirking.
"Lea, this better be important. This essay is due tomorrow and I've barely even begun it. Athena will have my head if I fail college."
"You wound me." She gasped dramatically. "Do you really think I would call you for no reason at all?"
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes; then remembered she couldn't see me. I rolled my eyes, and took immense pleasure in it.
"Yes, Lea Valdez. You are capable of calling people in the middle of the freaking night because you have no other thing to do. Go bother Carlisle."
"He's gardening."
I grumbled.
"Call Hazael."
"He dropped me very transparent hints about having 'alone time' with Francesca, and told me if I called, I'd be in trouble. And even I have limits. At least, when it's Frankie and Hazael, I do."
"Ugh."
"I know."
"Call Percie. She'll be bored or she'll be drooling and – OH HOLY HERA."
"What?!" I could hear Lea's panicked voice on the other end. "Is it a hellhound? No wait – you can take care of that on your own. Is it Athena? I bet its Athena. OMG. Is it Hera?!"
I started to hyperventilate into the phone.
"ANDREW CHASE. YOU BETTER FREAKING TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG BEFORE I BUST DOWN YOUR DOOR ON YOU."
I stared at the giant thing inching itself torturously slowly across my essay. Ohmygods. I'm going to have to disinfect it now.
"ANDREW FUCKING CHASE. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"Arachne..." I mumbled nonsensically, my hand trembling now.
"ARACHNE?! IN YOUR APARTMENT?! WHY DON'T MONSTERS JUST STAY DEAD?!"
"LEA SHUT UP I'M PANICKING HERE!" I yelled desperately, not sure she could hear it.
"CALL PERCIE. CALL PERCIE YOU FREAKING IDIOT...oh, what am I doing...I SAID CALL PERCIE."
"WHO?"
"PERSEPHONE JACKSON. YOUR GIRLFRIEND. THE DAUGHTER OF POSEIDON. THE ONE YOU JUDO-FLIPPED AT CAMP JUPITER. OBSESSED WITH BLUE FOOD."
Blue food.
"ANDREW CHASE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?! FUCKING ARACHNE IS IN YOUR APARTMENT! I'M ORDERING YOU TO PUT THE PHONE DOWN RIGHT NOW AND CALL PERCIE."
I watched fearfully as the object of my fear started to weave a web across the few precious lines of my essay. I cringed. It was desecrating it.
"OI. PETER. GET YOUR ASS OVER TO THE PHONE HERE AND CHARMSPEAK ANDREW INTO CALLING PERCIE. BLOODY ARACHNE IS IN HIS APARTMENT AND HE'S FREEZING UP."
Crashing noises came vaguely from the phone I clutched tightly in my hand. I watched, hypnotized, as a drop of my sweat splashed onto the floor.
"ANDREW CHASE. CALL PERSEPHONE JACKSON RIGHT NOW."
"Help me." I whispered pathetically.
"ANDREW CHASE. GROW A PAIR OF BALLS, FOR ZEUS' SAKE. MAN UP AND CALL YOUR GIRLFRIEND. THE REST OF US ARE IN NEW ROME. CALL. YOUR. GIRLFRIEND." A syrupy, yet somehow loud at the same time voice erupted from the speaker of my phone.
Percie. Green eyes. Riptide. Seaweed Brain.
I grabbed my phone and disconnected the call to Lea, dialling Percie's number feverishly.
_Percie_
I don't know what happened. One second I was dreaming of blue pancakes and the next my boyfriend was screaming into the phone.
"Whazzapened?" I mumbled sleepily into my phone. Someone screamed. In an extremely high pitch.
I jumped up, the sheets tangling around my waist, rubbing my poor eardrum.
"WHOA. Wise boy. What happened?"
I could vaguely make out something about Lea attacking her, Francesca and Hazael hooking up, and then...Arachne?
"ARACHNE is in your apartment?" I yelled into the phone. I heard a slight whoosh of air which could only mean Andrew was nodding his head. Vigorously.
"PERCIE, HELP. ME. MY ESSAY IS BEING DESTROYED. I WILL BE NEXT."
"ANDREW CHASE. MAN UP. TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE."
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU, YOU FREAKING SEAWEED BRAIN. I'M AT HOME. AND A GIANT THING IS DESTROYING MY ESSAY."
I pulled on shorts with one hand and a fresh tank top with another. I snatched Riptide from my bedside and ran out the front door, slamming it as I went. Thank Poseidon I didn't live with mom anymore. She would've killed me for slamming a door at 2 in the morning. I bolted up the stairs as fast as I could.
"PERCIE. PLEASE HELP ME. I'M GOING TO DIE."
"ANDREW. JUST HOLD ON, BABE. I'M COMING."
I burst onto the terrace, wheezing and doubling over, the phone still plastered to my ear. Andrew hiccupped on the other end.
Straining my neck towards the sky, I did the best taxicab whistle I could. A black shape swooped out of the sky.
'Sup boss? Blackjack tossed his glossy head towards me in greeting. I swung my legs over his back and held on to his mane.
"Blackjack. Let's go, buddy. Andrew's in trouble."
He whinnied in alarm and kicking up his hooves, galloped to the edge of the terrace and spread his wings, catching the wind sailing over Manhattan. He circled once, twice before I spotted Andrew's apartment building.
"There!" I pointed to the terrace and Blackjack nodded in understanding before diving and depositing me on the roof. I tumbled off his back and slammed my shoulder against the door to the inside of his apartment building. It gave way and I ran down the stairs, searching for Apartment No. 210.
"PERCIE, PLEASE. IT'S KILLING ME." His voice shrieked through my phone.
"I'M HERE, WISE BOY. JUST HOLD ON."
I ran past his door before recognizing it and skidded back. Kicking it off its hinges, I uncapped Riptide and threw my phone onto his settee on my way to his room.
"GET AWAY FROM MY BOYFRIEND, YOU BLOOD-SUCKING ARACHNID!" I yelled, bursting through the door with my sword pointed away from my body.
I stopped momentarily in confusion. Andrew was balled up in one corner of his room, shaking in fear. Arachne was nowhere. I lowered my sword.
"PERCIE! ON THE DESK. MY ESSAY. THE SPIDER."
I tried my best not to laugh as I found a spider barely the size of my pinky finger squatting contentedly on his web in the middle of a piece of paper on which Andrew had scribbled out a few words. There were a lot of ink blots covering whatever legible writing he had drafted.
I bit my lip and capped Riptide, it shrinking back to a normal ball-point pen. I pocketed it and advanced on the spider, picking up the paper carefully with both hands. The spider didn't seem too disturbed.
Quietly, I walked over to Andrew's open window, and flung the paper from its sides outwards where the wind caught it and blew the spider away. I thought I caught a look of surprise and panic on its tiny face as I threw it out. I almost felt sorry for it, but Andrew comes first.
Flapping the paper one more time for good measure, I laid it back on his desk and closed the window, stopping the wind from taking it away.
"Andrew. It's gone, baby. The spider is gone. I promise." I crouched down next to him and he peeked out from underneath his elbow.
"You're sure?"
I nodded solemnly. "I'm sure."
He pulled me to his chest and wriggled next to him, positioning myself comfortably as he peppered my face with light kisses as a way of saying thank you.
"I think it's time to move in with each other." I whispered, tracing light patterns on his bicep.
I caught the faintest flicker of a nod from him and I grinned, satisfied, as we fell asleep curled up against each other.
The next day, I moved in with Andrew. All the following rescue missions from spiders went much more smoothly from then on. Thank Poseidon.
A/N: Hope you like this one :) I was literally half-awake while I wrote so I sincerely apologize for any mistakes!
Mimi Out!
