Disclaimer: Rick owns the characters, I just created the plot.

This is for MaydayParade8123, who has giving me great advice and has been such a sweetheart to me. Her writing is amazing and her fics cheer me up when I feel down. Consider this a late Christmas/thank you present!

Percy thinks Christmas is by far his favorite holiday.

Christmas stands for everything Percy believes in: joy, forgiveness, and most of all family.

He enjoys deciding what to get for his family and friends, remembering odd bits of conversation between them that gives him clues about the things they would love.

Plus, there's nothing more fun like the agonized waiting that comes when he sees the brightly wrapped packages under his side of the tree.

This time, though, Percy has a feeling Christmas is going to be different. He isn't sure why he has that nagging feeling; all he knows is that it tugs at him at random moments and won't go away until he washes it down with homemade brownies and milk.

He likes to think, however, that no amount of warning and vague advice would have prepared him for her.

~0~ ~0~ ~0~

There are twelve days left before Christmas and Percy can't help but think how fitting it is.

He keeps playing "Twelve Days of Christmas" on repeat and it drives his cousin Nico so crazy that he threatens not to give him anything for Christmas. Percy knows he doesn't mean it but it only drives him more determined to play the song whenever possible.

Nico just ends up muttering how one day he'll make him pay and what the heck is a partridge in a pear tree anyway?

A few hours later, Percy gets a call from a frantic Grover. Apparently, his friend Grover went out to buy a Christmas present for Nico but he doesn't have a clue on what to get him. He's stuck there until he gets Nico a present and Percy needs to meet him right now because he always knows the perfect gift for anyone. They agree to meet in the mall's coffee shop and when Percy arrives, Grover has a scowl in his face and a headache thanks to the never-ending Christmas tunes.

It only takes Percy about five minutes to decide that they need to go to the bookstore for Nico's present.

Grover ends up buying him a Stephen King book because Percy's mom has been pestering Nico about reading more and Percy swears that Nico will dig this stuff. Grover soon caves in and ends up buying him a Peter Johnson figurine from this Greek mythology series he's obsessed with.

Overall, Percy's proud that his subtle hints have made Grover feel like he actually thought about Nico's gifts.

They're on their way to the door, about to leave, when Percy sees something that has him digging in his heels and skidding to a stop.

Annabeth Chase is standing in the dystopian section, deep in thought as she reads the back cover of the book she's holding.

Annabeth Chase is a sore subject for Percy. He's had a crush on her since forever, when actually it's been about two years.

When Grover looks back and sees where Percy's gaze is directed at, he rolls his eyes and heads over to the arts-and-craft aisle. To say Grover knows about Percy's crush on Annabeth is an understatement. He's been a witness to Percy's staring and idiotness around her so many times that it's no longer amusing.

Percy stays where he is, wondering if he should go up there and strike a conversation with her. It's not like he's never talked to her before. They're somewhat friends and know the basics of each other. Percy wants to be close friends with her, though. And then he wants to be something more than friends. However, he doesn't want to scare her off, so he shoves those thoughts away whenever he sees her.

He forces himself to walk over there, his stomach turning and twisting with each step. She doesn't look up once as he stands next to her.

"My friend recommended this book to me. I'm not so sure about it, though. What do you think?" she asks him, skipping the usual greeting.

She finally looks up to him as she hands him the book she was holding.

He doesn't know what the title of the book means. He doesn't even bother asking if she knows, all he can think about is how he has goosebumps in his arms.

He pretends to read the back cover, furrowing his eyebrows in an attempt to make it look like he's actually interested in the book.

"I think you should give it a try. Who knows, maybe it'll end up being your favorite book? You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, you know," he smiles.

Annabeth takes the book from him and stares at him. She soon shifts her stare to the bag he's tightly holding. "What book did you get?"

Feeling like his heart might burst if he speaks, he digs out the receipt and gives it to her.

"Never would have pegged you for the Stephen King type," she remarks, taking out a pen from her purse.

"It's not for me, it's for a friend," he manages to say.

"Then I strongly recommend this book, I have a feeling you'll like it," she says, bowing her head as she writes on the receipt.

Percy doesn't want to tell her that he's really picky when it comes to books but if Annabeth recommends it, he promises himself that he'll read every word even if it's boring.

"Anyway, I should go. I think I'll end up buying this book after all," she smiles, giving him back the receipt and walking away with a slight wave.

He looks down at the slightly crumpled receipt he's holding in his hand. He tries smoothing down the paper as he reads what she wrote.

"The Maze Runner"

Call me, you idiot.

( xxx ) xxx - xxxx

He has to read it twice and pinch himself to convince himself he's not dreaming. Once he's convinced, he rushes over to where Grover is, thrusting the paper into Grover's face.

"No joke?" Grover asks him after almost eating the paper.

Percy takes a deep breath and shakes his head.

"Well what are you waiting for? Go get the book so you'll have an excuse to actually call her!" Grover exclaims.

Percy rushes to find someone who works here so they can help him find the damn book. During all of this, he keeps his eyes alert. He wonders if he'll see Annabeth or if she's already finished paying. He doesn't see her curly blonde hair anywhere so he tries to swallow his disappointment and assure himself that it's for the best. After all, if he had seen her, he isn't sure what he would have done. He probably would have made an idiot out of himself and made her regret giving him her number.

As soon as he gets home, he ignores everyone and heads to his room. He throws himself to his bed and after changing his position he gets the book out. He doesn't pay much attention to the cover, frankly it's too green and boring. Instead, he heads right to the first page, hoping that this wouldn't turn out to be a ridiculous love story.

He stops reading when it's late at night and the house is finally quiet, signaling that everyone must have gone to sleep. He grabs the candy wrapper that's on his bedside table, sticks it on the page he's currently on, and reluctantly closes the book. He hadn't expected the book to be that good and he fights the urge to just keep reading.

He takes out the receipt, unsure whether to call or not. He knows he should wait a few days just so he doesn't look too eager but he's never been a patient person. Besides, if Annabeth didn't want him to call, she wouldn't have given him her number in the first place, right?

That thought only makes him more nervous.

He doesn't know why he has that number - her number - in his palm. He feels like asking her but he's afraid he won't like what she'll say. He can't even think about the possibility that maybe she found out about his crush and she's planning on setting him straight once he calls.

(No, that possibility makes his blood run cold and he can't breath quite right. It's better if he just deletes that and pretends like he never thought about it.)

He decides to call her, telling himself that he needs to stop acting like a coward.

He pushes the seven digits with more force than it is necessary and bites his lip when he presses Call.

The short ringing makes him feel like his insides are made of jelly.

"Hello?" a slightly muffled voice answers.

"Uh, hi!" Percy exclaims, the last part coming off as a question.

He inwardly cringes on how his voice was an octave higher.

"Who is this?" the voice asks.

"Um, it's me. My-I'm Percy? We go to the same school? You gave me your number earlier?" Percy stutters, feeling like someone was going to come out underneath his bed and tell him he's been Punk'd.

"Oh, right. Right. Sorry, I didn't recognize your voice for a second," the voice explains.

Of course she didn't recognize his voice. Percy knew that there was no rational reason he should feel embarrassed and a bit hurt, but it still stung.

"It's fine, Annabeth," he tries to assure her.

Percy swears he can faintly hear some type of music playing in the background. "I wasn't expecting you to call today."

He curses himself for calling her today. He knew he should have waited three days.

"Well me neither, but I just wanted to thank you for recommending the book," Percy tries to play it cool.

"Oh it was nothing. I was just doing my duties as an avid reader. I take it you liked it then?" she teases him.

"Yeah, thank you. You were right, it's a good book. Thanks," he repeats.

"You already said that," she reminds him.

"Right," he mutters.

He takes a deep breath and fights off the urge to tell her how great her voice sounds. Knowing his luck, she'll probably think he's trying to have phone sex with her, which he really doesn't want. (Not that he doesn't want to have sex with her - he is a teenage boy after all - but she means more to him than that. He doesn't want to associate her as just a good laid. He wants to refer to her as his girlfriend and find out what makes her laugh and mad. Really, he just wants everything with her.)

Being too immersed with his thoughts, he hadn't realized he had left Annabeth with an awkward silence.

He clears his throat. "So how's your book? Did you end up liking it?"

"I haven't had time to read it," she sighs.

"That sucks," he tries to lament.

"It does! I had to take care of my brothers and they finally went to bed. I swear, it's like they live to make my life miserable," she rants.

"You have brothers?" he inquires, wanting to know every single thing about her.

"Twins. They're both ten and more annoying than an alarm clock," she says, frustrated.

"What are their names?"

"Bobby and Matthew," she answers.

"I've always wanted a little brother," Percy blurts out.

"Are you an only child?"

"Unfortunately yes," he sighs.

"Well I can assure you you're not missing anything. You get a few years where they're sweet and adorable but they soon become intolerable," she assures him.

"I want that, though. I want to be someone's big brother. I want to embarrass them at every opportunity and be the person they secretly look up to. I don't know, it's always just kinda been my mom and I. I think she misses me, which is ridiculous because I see her everyday, but I think she misses me being her little boy," he admits.

"You really love your mom," she states softly.

"I do, she deserves the whole world for the crap she's been through. She's always been there for me and supported me no matter what. I just…I really love her," he chuckles. "Is that weird? I think it's a bit weird."

"It's not weird," she tells him, hesitating for a moment before rushing out her words, "My mom died when I was young. I don't really remember her that much."

"Are you okay?"

Percy knows that apologizing won't bring her mother back. He finds himself wishing she was right next to him so he could pull her against him and hug her while telling her that he was there for her no matter what. All she had to say was his name and he would be there with his arms open and his heart racing with every breath he took.

"I'm fine. It was a long time ago," she brushes off his concerns.

"I've never met my dad. I don't know if he's alive and I'm not even sure if he knows I exist. If he does, he does a great job in not giving a crap," he mutters, pulling on a loose thread in this pants.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It was a long time ago," he quotes her.

He can practically feel her rolling her eyes at him.

"Let's talk about something else," he suggests, not wanting to talk about his father anymore.

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?" she soon gives in.

"What's your favorite movie?" he asks her in a serious tone.

"Seriously?" she laughs.

"What?" Percy asks, not getting why she was laughing at him.

"Only you would have asked such a random question," she smirks.

"Hey, it's a very serious question. Now stop changing the subject and answer my question," he orders in a playful tone.

"I really like the movie Catching Fire," she reveals.

Percy hums, searching for that title in his memory. "Never watched it," he finally says.

"Well it's a sequel, maybe you watched The Hunger Games? That's the first movie," she clarifies.

"Nope," he told her, "Never watched that one also."

"Well we have got to fix that! I can't believe you've never watched those movies, the trilogy is so good," she gushes.

"It's a date then," he yawns.

Crap.

He sits up straighter and forgets his sleepiness when his brain registers what the heck he just said.

He's thinking if maybe he can somehow blame it on how tired he is when he hears her laughing slightly.

"Alright, just don't forget," she grins, her voice turning a bit cheery.

"I…uh I have to go," he mumbles.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then," she says, a bit confused at his sudden change of mood.

Percy pretty much hangs up on her without saying goodbye. He knows it's rude but at the moment he doesn't care. He's shocked that she implied - hell her words pretty much screamed it out loud - that she wouldn't be against the idea of going on a date with him. He doesn't know how to respond. He wishes he had a bolder and daring side who could have easily flirted with her and swept her off her feet with just one look.

He hopes he didn't just ruin his chance by hanging up on her.

A/N: This is kinda of a Christmas fic and I know it's late, but I really love Christmas fanfiction so there you go.

The story title is named after the song "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic.

The story cover is by Viria and if you haven't checked out her fanart, please do!

The main point of this fic so far is just about Percy's crush on Annabeth and the development of it. The story will probably end on Christmas. I'm not entirely sure, since I haven't finished this yet.