Summary: Percy and Annabeth go to the same college. They haven't met until now.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series or any characters I've adopted from it.

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Percy's not sure why he picks today to go out to the square. He's never been before, not since he toured the college two years ago and immediately decided the place was far too crowded and loud for his liking. Which doesn't go the say that Percy prefers absolutely zero people and silence, but he does value his personal space, which isn't something that's always available in the square.

He does go, though, stops to buy a (slightly disgusting) iced coffee along the way. There's a few booths set up, advertising the activities that take place later in the year, and there's quite a few artists busking around the expanse of land, hoping for a few spare dollars.

He walks past a few people that are pretty good, drops a dollar every time they seem friendly enough. He gives five dollars to that guy in his Family and Marital Counseling class, duly noting that the boy with a weird gold-ish color in his hair can carry a pretty decent tune.

The square is, blessedly, less crowded than it was when he last toured it. There's still a buzzing in the air though, the perfect amount of energy that leaves Percy at ease rather than wired. Stopping at a few booths, Percy decides to at least blow a solid half-hour if he's made the effort to walk out here.

He's halfway through the first flap of a positively boring pamphlet on argumentation when someone taps his shoulder.

He turns, a denial already on his lips, a 'no, not really looking for any extracurriculars, just trying to pass a bit of time', but the girl is so pretty that he doesn't say anything at all. He hates to be that guy, but Percy's not kidding himself when he easily labels her the most gorgeous girl he's ever seen.

"Hi," she says. He nods, like an idiot, and she gives him a weird look but doesn't stop grinning. "I'm Annabeth Chase, member of the Debate Union. Thinking of joining?"

Percy fumbles, flipping the pamphlet over. He wants to lie, if only to have her talk to him for a few more minutes (after all, it's not every day that stunning girls tap his shoulder for a quick chat), but he finds himself smiling sheepishly with a shrug. "Not really, just sort of looking around, I guess?"

Annabeth doesn't seem to mind his answer. "I figured. But it's more polite to at least offer than assume you didn't want to join."

Percy nods again. "Good thinking." She smiles at him, clearly not interested in walking away from the conversation. He can deal with that. "Right. Uh, my name's Percy."

"I'm aware," Annabeth tells him, making Percy's eyebrows dip in confusion. She rolls her eyes good-naturedly, pulling the pamphlet from his hand and flipping through it herself. "I have a few friends who enjoy going to swim team matches. It's hard to miss you. How many medals do you have now?"

"Enough," Percy answers, modestly. He loves swimming more than anything, but he often feels uncomfortable when asked to brag on his own accomplishments. Annabeth nods, like his answer is sufficient. "So… 'enjoying' swim team matches?"

Annabeth snorts. "Well, it's definitely not for the efficiency of your breaststroke."

Percy lets out a surprised laugh at her boldness. "Ah, well. It's always nice to be appreciated for technique and physicality, too, I guess."

"'I guess,'" Annabeth copies, setting the pamphlet back down. "So. What brought you to the square on this fine day?"

Sparing a glance up at the clouds, he takes a skeptic sip of his coffee. It's no less horrible than it was ten minutes ago. "Don't think the day is all that fine."

"Well, 'what brought you to the square on this positively shitty day' didn't have the same ring to it," Annabeth answers, looking at his coffee. "Is that disgusting?"

Percy nods immediately, laughing. "Yeah, it's probably the worst thing I've ever had here."

"You just kept making this face every time you drank it," she adds. "You could throw it away."

"I could," Percy agrees. "But then I might offend the girl who sold it to me. And she was nice. And also a freshman, I think, so. I'll be fine."

Annabeth blinks at him. "You," she begins, slowly, "would rather drink a bad coffee than potentially offend a college freshman who probably doesn't even remember you bought the drink?"

"She might," Percy argues feebly. "I like to think I make an impression."

"You're weird," she informs him. "And you would be horrible at debating. Thank God you didn't want to join, it would have truly been a task to get you up to par."

"Thanks." Percy coughs a little, downing another sip of his drink. It's a little less horrible, if he drinks it quickly. "Means a lot. I'm guessing you train newbies?"

"Usually, yeah," Annabeth replies, "the whole team trains them, really. I just have one on one sessions where I teach them more about the art."

"Art," Percy repeats. "Is, like, arguing really an art?"

Annabeth steps up to the challenge. "Is, like, swimming really an art?"

It's clearly a rhetorical question. Percy shifts his weight, nods after a few seconds. "Point taken."

"Everything's an art, if you look at it from a certain point of view," she adds, right as another girl shuffles over to the table, meekly picking up a few papers. Annabeth's eyes flicker over to the girl, checking to see if she's really interested or not.

"Just looking," the girl tells her with a small smile, walking off in the other direction with a stack of papers in her hand.

Annabeth sighs. "Damn."

"Needing arguers?"

"Debaters," she corrects, but nods. "Yeah, need a few more for our team. We have time though. What's your major?"

Percy blinks at the subject change. "Uh…" And it's not that he's embarrassed of his major, not really, but people always seem surprised when he says it. "Family Psychology."

Annabeth looks nothing but interested. "Really?"

"Yeah, I—-" Percy shrugs. "It's just what I wanted to do, so I did it."

"I knew that they offered the major, I've just never met someone in the program," Annabeth tells him. "That's cool. What do you want to do after you get your degree?"

"Sleep for two weeks straight," he says without missing a beat, evoking a laugh from her. It's a beautiful sight. "Then I would like to be a Family and Marriage Therapist, either that or work for the Department of Children and Families."

Annabeth cocks her head to the side, studying him. "Very cool."

He shrugs again and probably blushes. "Yeah, I guess. Your major?"

"Business Management. Kind of boring, but also interesting. Not sure what I'll end up doing with this big important degree though."

Percy shakes his head in a rush. "You'll be fine, you can do tons with that. I'm guessing you're good at math?"

"Sadly," Annabeth mutters darkly. He smiles at her, crossing one arm and holding onto his left shoulder. "I'm guessing you're good at empathy and sympathy and feelings and all that?"

He snorts a little, something less than attractive. Annabeth doesn't run away screaming, at least. "Yeah, yeah. Pretty good at 'feelings,'" he teases.

She narrows her eyes at him. "Well excuse me for not knowing fancy terms."

"You knew breaststroke," he backtracks, defending her. "That was good."

Annabeth lifts her eyebrows, chuckling, someone calling her name as soon as she opens her mouth to speak. Percy glances over her shoulder, admittedly a little disappointed—-once he got past how jaw-droppingly gorgeous Annabeth was, it was nice holding a conversation with her.

"I should probably get back to them," Annabeth tells him, turning back with an apologetic smile. "See you later?"

"Yeah," Percy blurts, "hopefully."

Annabeth's eyes seem to smile brighter than her mouth. "Hopefully," she repeats.

Percy finishes his ice coffee on the way to his final class of the day. It might be his imagination, but it doesn't taste quite as awful as before.

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