Whew! Two in a row, chickens! And this one is (almost) an actual drabble!

I meant to point out- the songs for this fic are It's Time by Imagine Dragons, She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5, Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park, Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran, Drops of Jupiter by Train, Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's and I Can't Help Myself by The Four Tops. I bump to these everytime a write a new chapter. Them plus Percabeth just makes me feel so mushy inside :)

Gods she looked pretty. Sure, she wasn't dressed up much or anything. She was just beautiful like that. The other girls were wearing their normal getup as well, but Annabeth looked... wow.

With the world ending and all, it had been decided that we should have something to boost our morale. A dance, or party if you will. Apparently the ancient Greeks partied all the time before war, though they left that part out of our history lessons.

The protests were unanimous. Why should we party, when we should be preparing for battle? There was so much to do, so many more we could rally, so many more weapons we could make, instead of wasting our time doing trivial things like having fun.

But Mr. D put his foot down. I would've thought he, of all people should be the most against this, being a god and all. He's seen firsthand what horrors we would face, even if he wasn't around for the first titan war. We were preparing to defend his seat of power. Shoot, he wasn't even at camp when he sent the verdict. He was off doing godly things, only stopping to bother us with an Iris-Message. Surely he wouldn't care if we were having a party or not.

He was resilient though, demanding we go off and have fun. He said it would drive us to madness if all we worried about was war war war all the time. A party would help. He, being the god of both, knows best apparently.

So that's how I found myself in the arena, on Friday night, listening to bad pop songs and drinking too-sweet strawberry lemonade.

The Aphrodite cabin was in charge of decorations, and it was a little too... girly for my liking. I mean, I knew there were guys in the cabin, but why did everything have to be about love with them? And why did love's colors have to be red and pink and white?

The party, surprisingly didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. Sliena and Beckendorf seemed to be the only couple dancing. Everyone else was either single or embarrassed. I saw Beckendorf's face and felt a twinge of sympathy. Poor guy. If he wasn't head over heels for Silena...

My eyes kept drifting over to Annabeth. She had her normally down hair in some up do style, her curls falling down her face and neck. Instead of her camp half-blood t-shirt she wore a plain blue one with the words "worlds best architect" on it, a gift from her father. She kept looking at the door, as if she couldn't wait to leave. I hoped it wasn't because of me.

Lately, our friendship had been anything but friendly. And while sometimes she was a little more difficult to be around than some other girls I've been keeping company with, I still cared about her. I would still die for her. I would still kill... for her.

The party reminded me of a time when things were easier, when my 16th birthday seemed like a distant obstacle. Now it was starting to seem more like an approaching nightmare. When this whole thing with Annabeth was nonexistent. When she and I had danced and talked like the best friends we were. I longed for a time like that.

The Stoll brothers were deejaying the party, which was hilarious. They were more of commentators than anything. The final songs of the night rolled around, and I figured now was a good time as any.

Feeling brave, I approached her for the first time in weeks. I held her eyes. Were they always so stormy? Gods, I was seriously starting to sound like a sap.

I meant to say something out of a movie like "Would you care for a dance?". Only the word "dance" came out (more like squeaked out). I kept my gaze level and unwavering though, which made me seem confident... hopefully.

She couldn't refuse me without making a scene, but I'd like to say she took my hand because she actually wanted to dance with me. I mirrored our position from all those years ago: hand on hip and hand in hers. Her palm was warmer than I remembered it being.

Sugar pie honey bunch,

you know that I love you.

I can't help myself

I love you and nobody else

We swayed to the song. It was a bit awkward at first. I mean, we haven't spoken to each other and suddenly we were dancing together. Not to mention the lyrics brought a blush to my face. But I hummed along to a song my mom probably listened to as a kid. Right? It was old, and so was she. Like velcro old.

"So... been working on any good projects lately?"

Her eyes lit up and her smile was warm. "You'd never believe the stuff I found on Daedulus's laptop the other day." Then she went into a talk about cylindrical doohickeys and metal rafts and support beams. Her excitement was infectious- even if some of the stuff she said was hard to understand. I was happy for her.

The oldies song ended and faded into something more modern: Linkin Park. I twirled her around and heard her laugh for the first time in weeks. It was lovely.

I could feel some eyes on us, but I didn't care. Who was I to be self-conscious? When you lived like I did, you didn't know which day could be your last. I had a titan coming after me for the gods sake. I couldn't afford to be doubtful of anything. It was one of the few things I enjoyed about not being normal.

"I like this song," she whispered. I pulled her closer, and she rested her head against my shoulder. And I realized- I liked it too. I liked it a lot.