Chapter Text
I trade my soul for a wish
Pennies and dimes for a kiss
I wasn't looking for this
But now you're in my way
Annabeth is exhausted.
Despite it only being three o’clock in the afternoon, she’s absolutely exhausted. Despite only having travelled half an hour in the car, she feels as though she’s been trapped in it forever.
Her father reverses onto the drive of their new home as the moving van blocks the house across the street from view. There’s a beat of silence after he switches the engine off before her family bursts into action, wrenching doors open and piling outside into the stuffy afternoon heat. Annabeth follows more slowly, pulling her backpack over her shoulder as she climbs out of the car. Her younger brothers are already unloading the trunk, dragging suitcases up the path towards the white front door.
Annabeth stares at the foreboding building and pulls a face. It’s a nice house, a beautiful house, and she wonders if she’ll feel any more a part of this family than she had at their old place. This house is an upgrade, further out in the suburbs with another two bathrooms and a few surplus rooms with names like “reception room” and “sunroom”. It seems extravagant and is clearly one of the larger houses on the street. Her parents had explained that the upsizing is a result of her step-mother receiving a promotion at work and her father simultaneously getting a pay raise for some unexplained reason.
Annabeth thinks it’s likely to have more to do with her estranged uncle’s recent death, but she hasn’t thought it worth arguing over. She’s getting an en suite, so she’s keeping her complaints to a minimum.
“Hey, sweetheart. You wanna give us a hand?”
She turns around to glare at the moving guy who had just called her sweetheart. He’s in his late twenties and is sweating through his khaki shirt as he unloads boxes from the moving van. He’s being paid to move all this shit and apparently can’t quite manage it.
Annabeth walks over, side-eyeing him all the way, and takes the box he’s struggling with easily. She switches to a candy sweet smile.
“Sure, sweetheart. Don’t want you putting your back out with all this heavy lifting.”
He shifts and sighs uncomfortably and picks up another box to carry up the drive. Annabeth is about to follow when her gaze falls across the street, now unblocked as she stands at the back of the moving van, and she freezes in place.
Record scratch, freeze frame, slow motion music. All that jazz.
Annabeth is watching a music video. It’s the only possible explanation. She’s slipped into some strange parallel universe where her life is a music video and stupidly attractive boys are smudged with motor oil and leaning over the engines of their gorgeous muscle cars while shirtless.
Either that or she died in a fiery car crash and is currently living it up in the afterlife.
She blinks a few times and the image doesn’t go away.
The afternoon sun kisses the rusty blue muscle car as it sits quietly on the drive of the house directly opposite the Chase’s. It’s hood sits open, baring all of it’s intricate insides, duct tape and all, to the sunshine. The view of the engine is partially blocked by the music video feature as he leans over the hood and Annabeth openly stares at the expanse of bare skin, glistening ever so slightly under a sheen of sweat. He’s wearing basketball shorts and beat up converse and a snapback and that’s it. His torso is left bare and glorious, muscles shifting under sun kissed skin.
“Annabeth, what are you doing?” Bobby’s voice shatters her revere and has her turning back to the house. Her little brother stands on the doorstep with his hands held up in a what the hell are you doing gesture. Annabeth curses under her breath and shifts the box in her arms, remembering that it is actually quite heavy.
She casts the music video feature one last look over her shoulder before following Bobby inside.
Maybe she’ll prefer this house after all.
“Are you ready for the calc test?”
Next to her, Annabeth’s best friend groans dramatically. “Hazel, why would you remind me of that. I was having such a great day.”
They are sprawled out on the steps in front of school, soaking up some sun before class starts. Piper looks particularly brazen in her dungarees and sunglasses. Hazel sits sideways on the step below them, resting against Annabeth's legs.
Annabeth shoves at Piper’s shoulder. “Pipes, it’s eight thirty in the morning.”
“Yeah, and I had a great breakfast and a pretty sweet ride to school. No complaints.”
Hazel turns against Annabeth's legs and they share a smile. “She sure does complain a lot for someone with no complaints.”
Hazel laughs with crinkles around her eyes. “Are you ready for the calc test, Annabeth?”
“Hazel, I'm gonna kick that calc test’s ass. That calc test doesn't know what's comin. I'm bringing a can of whoopass on that-”
Piper holds her hand up to stop her. “Alright. Jesus, we get it. I'm surprised you managed to get any studying done this weekend with all that ogling at car guy.”
Hazel grins conspiratorially. “Oh yeah. Do you have an update?”
Annabeth sighs. “Not since last night. I still haven't seen his face.”
“Just his smokin hot bod,” Piper says.
Annabeth blows a breath out through her lips, making a pbfftt sound. “Maybe he has a horrible face.”
“Or a nasty personality,” Hazel suggests.
“Or maybe his face is as hot as the rest of him and his personality is great and Annabeth is going to marry him.”
“Alright, Piper. Maybe let me work up to speaking to him first, yeah.”
Piper smirks. “I’m preparing my speech for your wedding.”
Hazel says, “Why would you give a speech?”
“Because gender stereotypes can suck my dick and Annabeth’s dad is not invited to her wedding.”
Annabeth is caught mid-laugh by the deep rumble of an engine as a very familiar car rolls into the parking lot in front of them.
“Holy shit.”
“What?” Hazel asks, sounding concerned. Annabeth can’t tear her gaze away from the blue muscle car to check her expression. “Annabeth?”
“Oh my god, is that the car?”
Annabeth nods dumbly as the car glides easily into a space and the door opens and her jaw hits the goddamn floor. Music plays in her head as the driver steps out, reaching up to drop his bag on the roof of the car as he swings a jacket over his shoulders. Those same shoulders she had spent a weekend staring at. He pulls the strap of his bag over his shoulder and locks the car before walking away, walking towards them and Annabeth can’t quite breathe.
“Well holy shit,” Piper says, dipping her sunglasses as she appraises the owner of the car.
That being Percy Jackson.
The boy who has been in at least two of Annabeth’s classes since middle school. Who she has spoken to in passing but never enough to know him well. Who has grown from cute gangly boy to, apparently, star-of-a-music-video-hot seventeen year old.
Piper, as usual, ruins it. “It’s your sixth grade crush.”
“Oh my god, Piper, why.”
“Wait, who?” Hazel asks, lost. She had befriended them in freshman year and doesn't always remember the finer details of Annabeth’s and Piper’s elementary and middle school experience.
Piper grins. “I told you about him. He’s the one she wrote a Valentine's Day card to when we were in sixth grade. The one with the poem.”
“Oh my god.” Hazel’s face splits into a grin. “The mermaid boy.”
“I’m disowning both of you.”
“Aw, are we uninvited from the wedding?” Piper asks, laying it on thick as she leans on Annabeth’s shoulder.
“You won’t get to do your speech after all,” Hazel says sadly.
“I want my friendship bracelets back.”
Percy is still making his way over to the steps towards the front entrance during this exchange and Annabeth is only mildly ashamed to admit that she hasn’t taken her eyes off him once. He’s wearing black jeans with converses, a white t-shirt, and a light grey jacket and Annabeth can’t decide whether he looks sexier now or when he’d been shirtless, draped over the engine of his car.
She’s so busy contemplating this that she doesn’t really register that he’s going to walk right past them until he trips up the first step. He stumbles and rights himself before he falls on his face and throws an embarrassed smile their way because all three of them are openly staring at him and good god.
He’s hot and cute.
What the fuck.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hi, Percy,” Annabeth manages as Hazel and Piper chime, “heys” at him.
He gives a little nod before carrying on past them up the steps and into the depths of the school. All three girls’ eyes follow him until he’s gone from sight.
The bell rings, startling them all, and Piper punches her shoulder as they stand up.
“You’re fuckin screwed, man. I’m writing my speech during biology class.”
Annabeth’s bedroom is at the front of the house and her desk is situated in front of the window which looks out onto the street and the houses opposite. Two facts which had absolutely nothing to do with her striking a deal with her little brothers for this room. Nothing at all. She has to make a diorama of an active volcano and type up a week’s worth of world history notes now, but it’s worth it for the view she gets.
(Besides, she still has her own diorama from eighth grade which she can recycle, and she installed Dragon on her laptop last week so it will take no longer than an hour to dictate Matthew’s notes. She can blame any errors on her Dyslexia.)
The bedroom itself is also actually the biggest after her parents’, with an en suite and a walk in wardrobe and a four-poster bed. It makes Annabeth feel like she lives in a castle. She's only mildly ashamed to admit that she loves it.
Mostly she just loves having her own space. Her bedroom in the old house had been right next to her little brothers’ and they'd constantly been walking in without knocking. She may as well have taken the door off its hinges. This room feels like her own protected space, a gift she can actually be grateful to her parents for giving. It hadn't taken her log to move in. The walls are mostly bare, decorated only with a few looped strings holding up photos of she and her friends (overcrowding the few of her with her family) pinned up around the place. She likes things minimal, too much clutter means too many distractions.
However, speaking of distractions, Annabeth is wondering how far behind she's going to get on her homework this semester as she stares out of her window.
The window is open which means that Annabeth can faintly hear the music coming from the speakers of the car parked across the street. She recognises the song as one by Lupe Fiasco and vaguely wonders if Percy rides a skateboard in his spare time when he’s not draped over the open hood of his car. She lets herself get lost in that thought, watching Percy tuck the oily red cloth into the back pocket of his jeans as her world history homework lies abandoned under her elbows.
She's not sure how long she daydreams, her chin propped on her hand, before her phone buzzes and knocks her back into the land of the living. With a sigh, she drags her gaze away from the window and picks up her phone to see a text from Piper.
P: Dad has abandoned me (shock) come and keep me company this weekend pleeeaaaseeee
Annabeth rolls her eyes, grinning as she taps out a reply.
A: You're so needy. Is Hazel coming?
A text bubble pops up immediately and Piper’s reply follows seconds later.
P: She has that thing with her brother remember? It's just you and me, baby.
Piper will make her watch horror movies and they'll slide down the enormous staircase on the spare mattress and they'll probably go to the park tomorrow. Annabeth will get none of her homework so she'll have to finish it on Sunday night or in homeroom on Monday morning. She pushes up from her desk and starts shoving some clothes into her rucksack as she texts Piper back.
A: It's not like I'm getting any homework done anyway.
She packs her school stuff as well just in case and is pulling her sneakers on when Piper replies.
P: Oh yeah? Distracted are we?
The four sideeye emojis make Annabeth roll her eyes but she glances out the window again before replying. Percy is now lying underneath the car so all she can see of him are his ripped jeans and battered converses. She sighs.
A: Piper, everything he does is attractive. I'm so annoyed.
P: Ask. Him. Out.
A: fuck off
P: what's the worst that could happen??
A: he could hear me??
P: *rolling eyes emoji*
A: just let me work up to it
Gotta woo him a little, you know?
P: why are you eighty years old.
A: again. Fuck off.
P: when are you getting here. It's been years
A: gotta ask my dad then I'll leave
P: :)))))
Asking her dad for permission to stay at her friend’s house is laughably easy. She knocks on his study door, waits to be invited in, tells him Piper is going to be home alone and can she keep her company. He blinks at her like this is vaguely a surprising request (like she doesn't do this almost every other weekend) and asks if she'll be back on Sunday night before school.
“Maybe. I'll text you?”
He nods sagely and glances at his work like he's already been neglecting it for too long. “Okay. Have fun.”
Annabeth sometimes wonders how long it would take her family to report her as a missing person if she didn't come home from school one day. Her guess is two days.
(Cue violins.)
She skips out of the house before she can bump into her step-mother or brothers who no doubt will have more questions than her dad about where she's going. She almost forgets what's waiting for her outside when she slams the front door shut and looks up.
Oh jeez.
Percy’s mother has come outside with a bottle of water for him. He's scooting out from under the car when Annabeth walks down her drive to the sidewalk. Her gaze is caught as he accepts the bottle from his mom and, wait, presses a quick kiss to her cheek.
What the fuck.
Annabeth is about to call Piper to relate this new piece of information when Percy’s mom sees her. She waves and smiles kindly which prompts Percy into turning around and spotting her too and now it's a whole thing .
He looks surprised to see her. Of course, he hadn't seen her creeping last weekend and she'd somehow managed to avoid him during the week. But then his face cracks into a smile and her knees go weak and she wants to shoot herself in the head a little bit.
She lifts a hand in an awkward greeting and hits dial on Piper’s number, desperate for a distraction. Piper answers on the second ring and Annabeth tries not to run down the street as she feels Percy’s eyes follow her.
“Are you nearly here?” Piper asks.
“Leaving mine now. I'm gonna need distracting.”
“Oh god. What happened.”
Monday morning finds Annabeth standing in the bay window of her living room with her backpack on, hands clenched around the straps. She's been watching the cottage on the other side of the road for the past five minutes, waiting intently for the front door to open.
The lines she and Piper had debated over all day yesterday roam around in her head like bees, bumping against her skull and making her doubt this stupid idea even more with every sting. It had been Piper’s idea - of course - to get a lift with Percy to school, and Annabeth had initially agreed that it was a good idea.
Now, she's considering walking the fifteen miles to school instead. It had seemed so easy and simple when she and Piper had practised it. But Piper isn't Percy.
She isn't quite sure what makes her so nervous to approach Percy, she has more or less known him since the sixth grade. And Annabeth is not exactly self conscious, as Piper had pointed out several times in her argument.
But maybe she is about some things.
In an attempt to distract herself, Annabeth focuses on the appearance of the house on the other side of the street. The wooden slats covering the front of the house need a new coat of baby blue paint. The porch, with its flaking white paint also in need of a touch up, dips in the centre where three small steps lead to the gravel driveway.
Annabeth knows Percy’s father is not in the picture and hasn't been since at least the beginning of middle school. She wonders how much this impacts on the family’s finances; not enough apparently, to prevent Percy from owning a beautiful car at the age of seventeen.
Before she can dwell on it anymore, the screen door opens and out tumbles a jumble of long limbs and wild black hair. Before she can talk herself out of it, Annabeth makes for the front door, calling out a good bye to whoever is still in the house before yanking it open. Her heart thump thump thumps in her chest as she jogs down the drive. She forces herself to stop and glance each way before she walks across the road towards the car at the same time as Percy is unlocking it. He looks up at her and despite the fatigue clinging to his features, he smiles at her.
“Hey neighbour,” she says relaying hers and Piper’s practised words in her mind. “Sorry to spring this on you, but I was wondering if I could get a ride to school?”
Percy looks surprised for about a second before he's nodding enthusiastically and smiling at her.
“Sure. Sounds great.” He sounds so damn genuine she can't help but grin back at him. “Just let me unlock your door hang on.”
She waits as he slides into the driver’s seat and leans over to unlock the passenger door. She manages to get her expression under control by the time she's opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.
The first things she notices about the interior of the car is the leather seats because her thighs stick to the material as soon as she sits down. Perhaps shorts were a bad idea. Percy had parked the car in the shade which helps, but Annabeth knows for sure that this car doesn't have AC and it's approaching eighty degrees this morning. She cranks the window down and Percy throws her an apologetic smile as he follows suit.
“Sorry, no A.C.”
“That's alright. A small price to pay for driving such a nice car.”
He definitely ducks his chin as he thanks her and starts the ignition. The engine roars to life beneath the hood, like an animal hungry for the tarmac. The whole car rumbles around her and it feels strangely good as her bones and muscles shake themselves apart.
Percy pulls out onto the street and soon enough the wind whipping in through the windows is enough to cool them down. The silence feels a little awkward so Annabeth is grateful when Percy switches the radio on. It's a song she doesn't recognise but she immediately starts tapping her hand against the side of the car to the beat
She taps the radio with her finger. “Cassette?” she asks, raising her voice over the orchestra of engine, wind, and music.
Percy grins. “‘Fraid so. You like Led Zeppelin?”
Annabeth shrugs. “I guess so.”
He laughs. “They’re all my dad’s old tapes.”
And there's a clue into where the car came from. Annabeth wants to prove for more but she figures she shouldn't push too much in their first real conversation. She decides to keep it light.
“What type of car is it?”
“It's a ‘67 Riptide. My dad left it to me.”
The confirmation is strangely satisfying. But she's still not going to press it.
“It's beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
“You've had it long?”
Percy shrugs one shoulder, looking a little uncomfortable. “Since I was young, yeah. I started working on it long before I passed my test so it was a great feeling to finally drive it.”
“I bet. You passed when you were sixteen?”
He nods. “Soon as I was legal.”
“I still haven't taken my test.”
Percy actually whips his head around to stare at her in shock. “Dude, how? Don't you go crazy relying on rides?”
She laughs. “A little. My friend Piper is usually my chauffeur but I actually like walking most places. Or at least I did from my old house, we're a little further out here.”
“Well I don't mind being your new chauffeur.”
He blushes just after saying that and Annabeth grins. “I might take you up on that offer.”
She watches him bite his lip and stare steadfastly out the windshield instead of glancing at her. Butterflies thrill around her tummy and she feels slightly ridiculous about getting excited over such a little thing.
They make the rest of the journey in silence as the music plays and Annabeth spends the time taking in all the little details of Percy Jackson and his car.
There's a collection of stickers on the glove box in front of her, Converse and DC and Guns n Roses and Mobb Deep among several others. The whole car smells of oil and leather and it's possibly the sexiest thing she's ever come across.
Shifting from third to fourth always seems a little tricky, the steering wheel is thin and well-worn. Percy looks outstandingly good sitting behind it, unfairly good. He has one elbow hooked over the open window and rests his other hand loosely at the bottom of the steering wheel. He's wearing shorts and a faded grey t-shirt. He's also pulled a SnapBack backwards over his messy hair and wears a pair of sunglasses to finish Annabeth off entirely.
They arrive at school too soon and Annabeth hadn't quite prepared herself for this part. It feels like the entire school is watching as Percy pulls into a parking space and they wind up their windows.
“Can you lock that door?” Percy asks as he reaches into the backseat for his bag.
“Sure.”
Annabeth opens the door, swinging her bag over her shoulder as she climbs out of the car with as much grace as she can manage. She pops the lock and shuts the door and can't can't help but feel like the teen social elite from a cheesy 90s movie as she meets Percy’s gaze over the hood of the car.
They meet by the trunk and walk towards the front steps together. Annabeth nudges his arm with her elbow.
“Thanks for the ride.”
Percy grins at her, looking so damn cute she can't help but grin back. “Anytime. You want a lift home?”
Annabeth feels her eyebrows pull up. “You sure? You don't really have to be my chauffeur you know.”
He shrugs and smiles lopsidedly. “Why not? It makes sense.”
It sure does. Excitement thrills through her tummy as she thinks about meeting him this afternoon. But then she remembers her schedule and her mood drops. Her face must too because Percy’s eyebrows pull together.
“I have softball practice after school so I don't get out until five.”
Percy bites his lip, rolling it back and forth against his teeth. Annabeth has to stop herself from fixating on the movement so that she doesn't trip and fall flat on her face. If the whole courtyard hadn't already watched their entrance, she'd definitely attract their attention then.
“I would stay back,” he says, sounding regretful, “But I have to help my mom with something.”
Her heart absolutely swells . This boy is too sweet. She finds herself laughing a little.
“Don't worry about it.” She stops when they reach the steps and turns to face him where he stands one step below her. “Maybe you could give me another lift in the morning?”
Percy's face brightens and he's nodding again, shifting the strap of his bag on his shoulder as his cheeks turn pink. He's nervous . God, she might die.
“Meet you out front at 7.45?”
She nods. “Perfect. I'll have to think of a way to repay you.”
He blinks and purses his lips, looking as though he's figuring out whether to say what's on his mind. She smiles at him in what she hopes is a comforting way and readjusts her backpack straps.
“I'm sure you'll think of something,” Percy says eventually, eyes trained on the ground until he's done saying it.
Annabeth takes one step backwards towards where she knows her friends are waiting and watching the whole thing.
“I'm sure I will,” she says, holding his gaze.
Percy visibly swallows and when she turns on her heel to jog the rest of the steps, she's certain his eyes are on her the whole way.
Later than night, Annabeth tucks herself up in bed with her laptop and googles the ‘67 Riptide. She has rules about taking her laptop into bed to avoid sleepless nights but she can't help but make an exception now. She's wanted to do this hours ago but she's gotten home late from softball practice and then her step-mother had wanted help with dinner.
Now it's 11.30 and the glare of the screen is hurting her eyes but she can't really bring herself to care much.
There are only one hundred and twelve of the exact make and model left in the US, all produced from a manufacturer in San Diego. One in good condition would sell for seventy grand and parts are incredibly difficult to come by.
It's nearly one am when Annabeth comes across an article about a man who won first prize at a car show ten years ago with his ‘67 Riptide. His name was Po and he'd sadly passed away later the same year. Annabeth's heart plummets in her chest as she across down and enlarges the photo at the bottom of the article. Po and his family, July 21st 2007 , the caption reads. And there is the car in all of its glory, looking much the same as it does across the street from Annabeth’s open window right now. In front of it stand a tall, dark haired beardy man with an infectious grin on his face. His arm is around the shoulders of a beautiful woman wearing a sundress with her hands on the shoulders of a grinning seven year old Percy. His two front teeth are missing and his tongue pops out between them. His hair, the exact same shade as his father’s is a messy black nest and he has a deep tan with slightly sunburnt cheeks.
Looking at a photo like this Annabeth can't quite comprehend that Percy’s father is now dead. They look immortal, beaming and full of life. She can't imagine how hard it must have been for Percy and his mom when Po passed away.
She closes her laptop with a snap and pushes it onto her bedside table, only just now realising that her cheeks are wet with tears. She stubs at them, feeling ridiculous and guilty. Percy should have been able to tell her this himself if he'd wanted to.
Annabeth doesn't get much sleep that night. She stares at her ceiling and sees the picture of Percy and his family every time she closes her eyes.
And the really selfish part of her thinks, as she pictures their smiles and the easy love so visibly shared between them, that there isn't a single photo like that of her family in this house.
And then she hates herself all over again and groans as she drags herself out of bed. She crosses to her window and climbs onto the sill so that her legs are dangling against the outside of the house. All of the lights in the little house across the street are out, as they should be at this time. And it's quiet, peacefully so. Cicadas sing down the empty street as Annabeth breathes in the cool evening breeze and tries to empty her mind of everything.
She ends up watching the car parked across the street. She remembers what it had felt like sitting in the passenger seat with the air whipping through her hair. She remembers his flushed cheeks and his easy grip on the wheel and his cute laugh.
Eventually, feeling a bit lighter and a lot more sleepy, Annabeth climbs back into bed and sleeps. (She dreams about being driven by a cute boy in an old car along the coast and blushes immediately when she wakes up.)
It's the hottest weekend of the year so far but Percy is still out there working on his car. At this point Annabeth thinks the ground would probably have to open up and swallow the car whole to separate Percy from it. However, now knowing the things she does about where it came from, she thinks she understands the obsession a little more.
Annabeth stands in front of her bedroom window watching the sun bake Percy and his car for about ten minutes. Then she makes a decision and crosses over to her drawers to find something to wear. She's caught Percy staring at her legs more than once this week and plans to use that to her advantage. Pulling out her shortest denim shorts, Annabeth smiles to herself before shucking out of her pyjamas. Then she finds a suitably tight tank top and pulls on her beat up Nikes before running downstairs.
The heat outside hits her like a brick wall and, alright, she understands why Percy got rid of his shirt. Not that she was complaining anyway. Annabeth shuts her front door before anyone can follow her out and makes her way over to Percy.
He doesn't notice her; can't hear her coming with his headphones in. The white wire hangs down his back, plugged into the phone tucked into his back pocket. It's ridiculous how sexy she finds that. They're just headphones, but they make her want to press him up against the side of the car and press her fingers into his sweaty skin. They make her want to be pressed against him until there's no gap, no space left to fill. They make her want to kiss him until they can't breathe.
God, she wants to kiss him so much.
“Hey,” she says. But he doesn't hear her; she can hear the music faintly from his headphones so she's not surprised.
Annabeth moves to lean against the car instead, waiting for him to look up and notice her. Satisfyingly, it doesn't take long.
Percy jumps when he sees her and yanks his headphones out so that they're dangling around his neck as he straightens up.
“Hi,” he says, sounding breathless though he's hardly exerting himself.
His gaze drags down her body where she leans against the car, arms crossed across her chest and one leg bent with her foot pressed against the car door. Percy actually swallows which is perhaps the most satisfying thing she's seen all week. She's been dying to catch him unawares.
“Thought I could give you a hand,” she says, smiling when his eyes snap back up to her face, like he hadn't been aware they'd been wandering. “With the car,” she adds, when he just blinks at her.
“Oh. Oh yeah, that would be cool. You know much about cars?”
“Not really to be honest. I figured you could teach me what you got?”
His dark eyebrows pull up. “I could?”
Annabeth pushes away from the car. “I'm a pretty fast learner.” He appraises her again and she feels his gaze like a physical touch to her skin, setting her whole body alight. “And uh, I gotta start paying you back for all these lifts to school somehow.”
Percy manages to shake out a laugh, directing his gaze towards the exposed engine of his car instead of her legs. “Seems as though I’m the one doing you a favour again?” He’s smiling as he says it and it’s endearingly nervous.
She laughs. “I mean, sure. But once I pick things up, I’ll definitely be an asset.”
“Oh yeah?” His smile grows bravely into a smirk and she’s weirdly proud of him.
“Mhm.” She nods, smug. “Besides, I’m great company.”
A laugh bursts happily out of him and his hand jumps up to his chest. Annabeth doesn’t watch the muscles of his stomach jump and tense at all.
Nope, she keeps her gaze fixed on his face entirely.
“You sure are,” Percy says, and he’s laughing but it sounds genuine. “Come on then, young padawan. Let me show you how you replace a radiator pump.”
“Wow don’t hold back with the juicy stuff. Also am I gonna be treated to Star Wars references the whole time?”
Percy grins at her. “Oh yeah, buckle up.”
Annabeth smacks her forehead. “ God . Not puns too. What have I signed myself up for?”
He laughs at her theatrics and leans over the hood to fiddle with a smaller part on what she assumes is the radiator. She definitely needs to do some more research; she’s not used to being the student and despite how much she likes looking at Percy, she knows she’s going to become frustrated about this imbalance pretty soon.
“This is gonna be fun,” Percy promises her, and despite herself, Annabeth believes him.