Annabeth really didn't expect to stay up past midnight that day. 

She prioritized her studies, of course, and an adequate amount of sleep was the key to success. It was one of the reasons she turned down the offers of her friends who wanted to stay with her, why she payed extra and registered early all so she could have her own room in the dorms. She didn't have time for distractions. 

But when he'd come to her door with a soft knock and a pack of playing cards, what was she supposed to do? Turn him away? Him and his disheveled raven hair, sleepy lopsided grin, and sad bags beneath somehow-still-bright eyes? 

She wasn't cruel.

"I can't sleep."

Annabeth blinked, leaning against her door. She'd been studying at her desk, and the bright lights slipping through the doorway was bothering his eyes, she could tell. "Uh. . .okay. . ."

Percy stuck out his left arm, revealing a beat-up, worn pack of cards. "Want to play a couple rounds?"

"No," she said. "Not really."

Percy stuck his bottom lip out, squinting his eyes closed against the relentless light. She could still see a sliver of green. "Come on, Beth. Don't be so boring."

 "Annabeth," she corrected. "And we both have classes in the morning. Just go try listening to music or something."

"Already did," Percy muttered. "You really don't want to play a little? It'll relieve you of that disease you call 'studying.'" He shivered.

Annabeth wrinkled her nose. "When was the last time you got an A on something, Percy? From any class?"

He didn't have an answer for her. B's were his goal, he'd given up on Annabeth's god-tier expectations long ago.

She crossed her arms over her chest, triumphant. "Yeah. You should try catching that 'disease.' It works pretty well."

Percy threw up his arms, but it lacked his usual gusto. He was tired, that much was obvious. "This is besides the point! Just play a little with me until I can't keep my eyes open. Please?"

Annabeth stood her ground. "You know, you might already be asleep if you were laying in your bed, actually trying."

Percy forced himself to meet her gaze, even with his half-lidded eyes. Green on grey. And before Annabeth really had a moment to react, he trudged past her, shoving her door open wider.

"Perseus!" She hissed, trying not to wake up their roommates. "What are you doing?"

"It's Percy." He walked farther into her room until he found what he was looking for, turning around and holding it out for her to see. 

Annabeth cursed under her breath.

"Your weakness," Percy said, proud of himself. "If you don't want to play cards with me. . ."

He plopped down in front of her TV, patting the spot beside him. 

"Then Mario Kart it is."

So, yeah. Annabeth never planned to be up until 3AM that night, and she sure as heck hadn't planned to do it holding a Nintendo Switch controller. She didn't expect to enjoy herself, she didn't expect to feel a little sad when Percy left, she definitely didn't expect him to come back the next night.

Or the night after that. Or the one after that, or the one after that.

By the sixth night, though, she wasn't as surprised.

And on the twentieth night (yes, they'd both ended up counting), surprise payed another visit when Percy made her a deal. She was surprised to hear the words, "If I beat you, two out of three, you have to study with me."

He never actually beat her, but he didn't have to. She prioritized studies, after all. Study session one turned into study date number two, which somehow ended with study date five, kiss number one, and then confessions came somewhere down the line.

Percy didn't have trouble sleeping anymore.

a/n

read: he didn't have any trouble sleeping anymore because they played mario kart in place of it :)

IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING ASJNAKJSL IS ANYONE STILL HERE??

worst writer's block i've had in a while, i wrote a bajillion things for this book and scrapped them all for various reasons. so please just take this piece of fluff and savor it, i don't even know how it happened.

thank you for the continued support 😭🙏

BYE THANK YOU FOR BEING ALIVE AND BREATHING AND WAKING UP THIS MORNING ILY 

yours in demigodishness and all that,

~ grace 💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙