don't over think

So she hadn't slept in her own room in over a week.

That was fine, right? Annabeth pondered as she stirred her coffee. She had taken over their kitchen counter as her makeshift drafting table, blueprints and pencils and rulers spread out and covering every surface. She had a huge project due tomorrow at her first class on Monday so today was going to be dedicated solely to schoolwork.

Annabeth had meant to spread her work out over the weekend, but she and Percy had ended up spending all of Saturday at the park with their friends. Then his mom had invited her and Percy over for dinner that night, and Annabeth would never ever say no to Sally Jackson. When they returned to their apartment near campus, she and Percy had gotten wine drunk and had sex and fallen asleep in his bed.

Just friends, right? Annabeth buried her face in her hands. Percy was in the shower, and this was the first time she was able to have a moment to herself to think. She was supposed to be thinking about her big design project, but her thoughts strayed to her best friend who she heard singing in the shower.

Ugh, life was so so good right now. For the first time ever. She loved their group of friends. She loved spending time with Percy. She loved living with Percy. Their arrangement had seemed perfect, as long as feelings didn't get involved. Because feelings equal mess, and with Annabeth's rigorous classes and internship and Percy's swim team schedule, they both had no time for mess.

Yet, she hadn't slept in her own room for a week. Last weekend, Annabeth had ambushed Percy after swim practice and she spent the night in his bed and they cuddled in the morning. She had been terrified of things being awkward when they got up and returned to real life. But no, Percy made her blue chocolate chip pancakes like he always did, and they ate breakfast and watched cartoons in their living room.

That night, after Annabeth had brushed her teeth and put her pajamas on, Percy had pulled her into his room. He didn't say anything, neither did she as she climbed under his covers and curled into his side. The next night Percy wordlessly climbed into her bed and spooned her after getting home late from swim practice. The night after that, Annabeth made spaghetti for dinner and they wordlessly went to sleep together.

They often communicated without words, roommate telepathy she decided — like when Percy knew exactly when she wanted to leave a party just from the glance she'd send him and how Annabeth knew exactly when to to distract him with a funny story from her day when he was feeling stressed just from his body language. They both knew that they slept better with each other at their sides, all warm and tangled up together under the covers.

Annabeth had awoken extra early that morning, extracting herself carefully out of Percy's warm embrace and set up camp at the kitchen counter. She needed to get this done, but she could not for the life of her stop thinking about Percy.

Annabeth heard the shower shut off. She chugged the rest of her coffee. A few moments later, Percy padded into the kitchen, dark curls glistening and a towel around his neck.

"Morning, 'Beth."

"Good morning," Annabeth said, trying to sound calm and breezy. She didn't. Percy shot her a look.

She ignored it, and pushed a mug of coffee towards him. She made it just how he liked it — two sugars and enough milk so it didn't even taste like coffee anymore.

"Thanks," Percy said, taking a sip and hopping up on the barstool next to her at their kitchen counter. "You were up early."

"I need to finish these blueprints before tomorrow, and they're just taking forever," Annabeth unrolled one and used her empty mug as a paper weight. The other corner began rolling back up, but Percy held it down.

"Where's your drafting table?"

"It's in my room, but there's just no space to set it up." Annabeth began sketching.

"You need an office."

Annabeth scoffed, "Yeah, let me just turn our coat closet into an office. Honestly, we're really luck we found an apartment in Manhattan that has a closet." She erased one of the lines she drew. Percy nursed his coffee, alternating the mugs between his hands so he could keep a hand on the edges of her blueprints that kept furling back up. Annabeth was grateful for the help, and it was few moments of them quietly working together before Percy broke the silence.

"What about your room? That can be your office."

"There's no room with my bed in the way."

"Then let's get rid of your bed, isn't your mattress just borrowed from Thalia anyway?"

Annabeth's hand paused over her pencil. She looked at Percy, who was stirring his coffee.

"But then where would I sleep." She asked slowly.

Percy took a swig from his mug, "My room."

"Percy—"

"Annabeth," Percy said, still staring at his coffee, "Last night, at my mom's, I saw how you were playing with my baby sister and how happy you made my mom when you guys were chatting, and I was looking at you three last night and I just remember thinking, 'Wow, those are my girls."

"Percy," Annabeth didn't know what she wanted to say.

"I know we said we'd just be roommates, but we became friends anyway and that worked out fine, right? And then we started sleeping together, and that's been awesome. But yesterday, at the park, when you made that stupid, dirty joke about Jason's professor, I just wanted to lean over and kiss you. But I couldn't. Why can I only kiss you when we're alone in our apartment?"

"Because the rules—"

"Fuck the rules, Annabeth. I want to kiss you in front of our friends at the park. I want to kiss you when you rant about books when we're studying in the library. I want to kiss you when I see you cheering in the stands at my swim meets in front of the whole crowd to see. I want to kiss you right now."

Percy tangled his fingers in her hair, leaning in, his lips not touching hers yet, "Don't you?"

Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, murmuring, "All the time." She pressed her lips against his like her life depended on it. Percy deepened the kiss before pulling away. Annabeth kept her arms around his neck, leaning her forehead against his. This was the first time they kissed outside of the context of their friends-with-benefits hookups, and it felt so right.

When Annabeth opened her eyes, she muttered, "So what does this mean."

"I don't want you to overthink," Percy murmured.

"But what are we now?"

"That's exactly why I don't want you to overthink things. We don't have to be anything."

"So we're just roommates who—"

"Who happen to be best friends and who happen to sleep in the same bed—"

"And who happen to have sex—"

"Yeah," Percy said, with a shrug, "And who happen to be in love with each other."

Annabeth smiled against his lips, "Did you just say you love me?"

Percy grinned, "Yeah, kind of a lot. I'm in love with you, Chase."

Annabeth laughed, her hand sliding down and resting on his chest, "I love you, too. So what now? I have to get rid of my bed?"

"I mean, only if you want to."

Annabeth grinned, "I don't know, I did see this gorgeous desk at IKEA and it would look great next to my night stand."

Percy stole a kiss, "Actually, I take it back, this is not worth a trip to Brooklyn."

"And since we'll be at IKEA anyway, we need to get a new duvet."

"What's wrong with my duvet?"

"Drool stains."

A/N: this is self-indulgent fluff & I'm not sorry. happy thanksgiving!