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Percy hated coffee. Despised it, really.
But he drank it every single morning.
Why?
That was thanks to Annabeth Chase.
Percy was woken at the crack of dawn, the whirr of the blender cutting through the warm haze of sleep.
“Jason,” he groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “It’s too early.”
His roommate pulled his T-shirt over his head, before turning and shooting a grin at Percy.
“D’you want some?” he asked cheerily, before taking a swig of his accursed smoothie.
“No,” Percy grumbled.
“Are you sure? It might make you less grumpy,” Jason teased, putting the glass down as he laced up his trainers.
“Go away,” Percy muttered, rolling back over and squeezing his eyes shut.
He heard Jason laugh, then the thump of his footsteps as he left their little apartment, taking the smoothie with him.
Jason had been getting up at the crack of dawn every single day since the start of term for baseball practice. Well, good for him, but it meant he woke Percy up, and Percy did not deal well with early mornings.
He managed another couple of minutes lying in bed before he got bored and accepted that he wasn’t getting back to sleep. He jumped out of bed, shivering, and showered as quickly as possible, before getting dressed. It was freezing in the apartment, but neither of the boys had the money to pay for heating, so Percy just threw on a second jumper.
He inched open the cupboards, searching for food, but found nothing. They usually did their shopping on Sundays but had both been busy last weekend and hadn’t had time to restock since. Percy made a mental note to go after school, but doubted he’d remember.
He decided that he may as well head to college, maybe sit in the library until class started. He could finish his homework or have a nap. Either way, it was warm in there.
He brushed his teeth at the same time as raking a hand through his hair, realising that next train was only in a couple of minutes. Grabbing his battered rucksack, Percy legged it to the subway station, just managing to hop onto the train before it screeched out of the platform and carried him to college.
He exited with a flood of businesspeople, dolled up in suits and shiny black shoes, hair spiky with gel and slurping drinks bought from expensive coffee shops. Their musty cologne almost assaulted his nostrils as they marched to their high rise offices, yelling angrily into their phones, leaving him in the dust.
The idea struck him as the last man pushed past him, muttering a sorry in his vague direction. He could do with a nice pastry or something from one of those fancy cafes.
And it was as if fate wished it, because he had just passed a coffee shop.
Percy doubled back. As he entered, the warm aroma of freshly baked bread and melting chocolate chips engulfed him. The shop was quite small, but busy. People were sat at the bar, scrolling through their phones as they downed tiny espressos. Others were scattered around the tables, biting into flaky croissants. Percy had to fight from licking his lips.
He ventured to the counter. The girl serving scrawled the last customer’s name on a cup, before looking up to Percy.
She was beautiful, was Percy’s first thought.
She had blonde curly hair coiled up into a bun, a few wild tendrils escaping. Her eyes were a gorgeous grey colour, glittering with humour and a hint of steel. Her skin was tanned, and her nose was lightly dusted with freckles.
“What can I get for you?” she asked, prompting Percy out of his trance. Her voice held the sharp lilt of amusement, and he fought the blush that was rising across his cheeks.
“Uh-” he scanned the board behind her that displayed the menu. “A hot chocolate, and a cookie, please.”
“Is that chocolate chip?” she asked, fingers moving to the cash register, punching in the numbers.
Percy only nodded, his tongue twisting around the simple “yes.” A ghost of a smile grazed her lips as she rung up the right amount.
Then, as if hit by a realisation, her eyes widened.
“Sorry, I’ve just remembered; we’re out of hot chocolate,” she said, eyebrows knitting with worry. “One of my colleagues was supposed to grab some this morning, but they forgot.”
She threw the girl at the coffee machine a dirty look.
“Annie, I said I was sorry!” the girl laughed, her choppy brown hair swinging across her back as she removed the mug from the machine.
The blonde girl, Annie, rolled her eyes before turned back to Percy. “Anyway, sorry. We’re out of hot chocolate.”
Percy opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again, unable to think of what to say. Instead, he bobbed his head up and down in an approximation of a nod. He then glanced back at the menu board, and ordered the first drink he could decipher.
“I’ll have a mocha, please,” he said, trying to sound authoritative.
Annie raised an eyebrow, half a smirk forming, as if she wasn’t sure whether to be amused or not.
“A mocha’s half hot chocolate, half coffee,” she said, and Percy turned bright red.
“Y-yeah, I knew that” he blustered. “I was just joking.”
“Pretty silly joke,” she said, smirk growing wider.
“Can I have a flat white, then,” Percy said hurriedly, unwilling to embarrass himself any further. “Please.”
“You got it. To go?” Annie jabbed the buttons on the cash register while Percy nodded. “That’ll be $5.10, including the cookie.”
Percy’s eyebrows involuntarily raised at the price, and the barista choked out a laugh.
“I know, sorry,” she said.
“And I’m a college student, too,” Percy shook his head with mock disappointment, grinning, before handing over the respective notes and coins.
“And a name for the drink, please?” she asked, rifling through the register to find the correct change.
“Wilhelmina Isabelle Didgeridoo the fifteenth,” Percy said confidently, tucking the loose coins into his jeans pocket.
Annie probably was sceptical at the very least, but she dutifully scribbled it onto the cup.
“How’d you spell that-”
“Joking again,” Percy said, a laugh bubbling out of him. “It’s just Percy.”
She threw him the same look she’d given her coworker, one that stunk of annoyance but also mirth, crossing out what had been written previously, and scrawling his real name down.
“Thank you,” Percy said, through a grin.
“No problem. Have a good day,” she replied, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, as Percy left the counter.
“Finally!” He heard the next customer exclaim. “How long does it take to order a coffee?”
“Sorry, sir,” Annie said, as Percy moved round the shop, to the pickup point.
A few minutes later, the girl who’d forgotten to buy hot chocolate picked up his cup and cookie.
“Flat white, for Wilhelmina-” she struggled over the pronunciation of Percy’s fake name, before spotting the real one. “Sorry, for Percy.”
He bounded over to the counter again, his grin spread across his face like a flag waving in the wind.
“Thanks!” he cheeped. She smiled back, and he left the shop with his goodies in hand.
Pausing outside the door, he took a tentative sniff of the hot beverage, before reeling away in disgust. It smelt like something dead. Instead, he unwrapped the cookie from its paper prison and sank his teeth into the still-melting chocolate chips. What a nutritious breakfast.
He started on his way to college, alternating between sips of the dreaded coffee and the cookie. One was significantly tastier than the other.
Percy went into the library when he reached campus, settling down at a table, still clasping his flat white. It was good for one thing and one thing only – warming up his chilled hands, as they’d been exposed to the biting wind while he’d walked through the city.
He pulled out his laptop, and began to tap away at one of assignments, one that was overdue by about four days. He’d periodically forget how bad the coffee tasted, take a slurp and fight the urge to spit it out again, but didn’t think that would be very appreciated by the other students working nearby.
After about twenty minutes, he’d managed to finish the coffee, the cookie having been devoured within mere seconds of sitting down.
And although it had tasted horrible, Percy knew he wanted to return to the coffee shop, for both the cookies and the blonde barista.
The next few mornings ran like clockwork; Jason would wake Percy up with the terrible grinding of the blender, Percy would roll out of bed, dress as fast as possible, then stroll to the coffee shop.
The blonde girl was always serving. Percy had deluded himself into thinking that she was there for him, but that was probably just where she worked in the mornings.
Their conversation would always be peppered with smiles and grins, and Percy’s attempts at jokes, and her eye rolls.
Percy had managed to figure out that her name might not be Annie, though.
The girl who’d been there on the first day, the one who’d forgotten to buy the hot chocolate, called her a whole mix of different names. It was “Annie”, or “Beth”, or sometimes a weird combination of the two – “Annabeth”. Occasionally it was “Annie Bell”, which the blonde really seemed to dislike, and sometimes it was “wise girl”, whatever that meant, or “miss princess”. Both of those gained one of her famous eye rolls whenever they were thrown at her.
He finally settled on Annabeth after her dark-haired college spent a morning consistently calling her that, and only that. He assumed the other names were nicknames, acquired after years of friendship.
He wished he was friends with Annabeth. And possibly more.
Percy had gotten into the habit now of ordering a coffee – he couldn’t bear to ask for such an immature drink, like a hot chocolate, in front of the girl.
He knew it was stupid – the constant coffee drinking wasn’t making him like it anymore than he had beforehand, and surely it was a waste of money if he didn’t even like the drink he was paying for. That was another thing – it was ridiculously expensive to buy a coffee every day. But every day, without fail, there he was, queuing up, or chatting to the other customers in the café, or sinking his teeth into a chewy, rich brownie.
And Annabeth was beginning to notice.
“Piper,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth one morning. “He’s here.”
Piper looked up from the latte she was currently making, a wicked smirk morphing on her face when she noticed the dark-haired boy making his way to the counter.
“He’s definitely here for you,” Piper whispered. “Why would he keep coming back?”
“’Cause he likes coffee?” Annabeth shot back; eyebrows raised. “Duh.”
“Nah,” Piper shook her head, strands of her dark hair falling out of the loose ponytail it was barely contained by. “He’s here for you, 100%. He’s-”
"-coming,” Annabeth finished for her, cutting her off. "Shut up," she added quickly, standing up straight as Percy approached the counter. Piper rolled her dark eyes, smirking, and got back to the coffee machine.
Annabeth liked their morning conversations. She liked his efforts at making a joke, whether they succeeded or not. She liked his hair; it was always messy and ruffled. She liked his eyes; they were an enchanting sea green colour and constantly glimmered with mischief. Heck, she liked him-
“What can I get for you today?” she asked, dismissing any thoughts surrounding Percy’s physical appearance – she couldn’t afford to think like that about a patron, how creepy was that?
The tips of Percy’s ears seared red. “Can I have a hot chocolate please? Or are you still all out?” He said the last bit with a slight measure of amusement, and Annabeth fought to keep from rolling her eyes, as had become her habit.
“No coffee?” she asked absent-mindedly, tapping the numbers into the cash register.
“I don’t really like coffee, to be honest,” Percy said, ferreting in his pockets for change, and Annabeth’s fingers paused from their dance across the buttons.
“Are you serious?” she said, wide-eyed.
“Deadass,” Percy replied. Usually, Annabeth would have to stifle a laugh over his New York slang, but she was too shocked to pick up on it.
“But that’s what you’ve been ordering for the past week,” she said slowly. Why would he order it if he didn’t like it?
The dark-haired boy shrugged. “Yeah. Once you said you didn’t have any hot chocolate, I needed an excuse to keep talking to you.”
He said it so nonchalantly, it almost didn’t register with her.
“To – to keep talking to me?” she repeated after a moment, a blush of her own spreading across her cheeks.
Percy swallowed, a grin piercing the corner of his mouth. “You’re kinda pretty, y’know that?”
Annabeth was so very confused – how was she supposed to react?
Piper saved her, by leaning over, dark hair dangling in Annabeth’s face.
“She thinks you’re pretty alright yourself,” she said, smirking. “How about you guys move on with the order? There’s a queue.”
Percy glanced behind him, his ears reddening further when he spotted the old lady beaming at him.
“J-just the hot chocolate, then?” Annabeth said shakily. “That’ll be $3.40.”
“Still pricey, then?” Percy pushed the coins across the counter.
Feeling brave, Annabeth responded, “how about you let me pay for you some time?”
Percy’s mouth dropped open slightly before he closed it with a snap.
“How about you get my number down on that cup, too?” he pointed to where she was scribbling his name down, unable to make eye contact with the boy. He reeled off his number, and a smile slowly spread across Annabeth’s face, melting any embarrassment away.
“See you tomorrow?” he said, moving to the counter.
“See you tomorrow,” she agreed, starting to serve the old woman.
And they did see each other the next day - twice, actually.
Once, in the morning, when Percy ordered his customary drink (this time a hot chocolate, mind).
And once, in the evening, when Percy finally plucked up the courage to ask the barista he'd been crushing on out to dinner.