Will needs fresh air. He'll find Raphael and take the hellhound for a walk; that's a decent excuse.

He pushes the button on the elevator, and then he hears footsteps coming down the hall. "I don't want to talk," he calls.

"But you promised," says Percy. "Please, Annabeth, I... I got us coffee."

Shit. Percy's here, and Will is in Annabeth's body. Of course, he thinks he's Annabeth. Why wouldn't he?

Will takes a cup of coffee from Percy's hand.

"So, uh..." Percy starts. He clears his throat. "Sorry, I'm awkward."

"Don't you want to save this for later?" Will asks, his voice catching in his throat. This can't be happening. There's no way this is real. He's about to have a conversation with Percy Jackson about sex that he did not have in the middle of a hotel hallway.

"No, I can't," he says. "I don't want to chicken out."

"Make it quick," Will says.

Percy sighs and rolls his sleeves up to his elbow. "I'm not going to lie and say I know for sure how I feel about you; that wouldn't be fair for either of us, but I know there's something between us I can't ignore. You had to have felt it too."

Every alarm is going off in Will's head right now. He cannot lose Annabeth. He swore he'd always be there for her, and he's not about to let another guy take advantage of her. She deserves the world, and if there's someone out there who can give it to her, then Will can confidently say he hasn't met them yet.

He looks at the guy in front of him. Percy's face is full of stubble like he's too lazy to take care of himself. Will appreciates everything Percy's done for him, but really, what can he do for Annabeth besides take her heart and trample all over it?

"I... didn't," Will says, his voice sounding meek, "and I'd prefer if we didn't bring this up again."

Percy's eyebrows furrow. "Wait, are you for real? Annabeth-"

"I'm done talking about this, Percy." Will steps into the elevator. "Thanks for the coffee though."

The doors close, and he takes a sip of the coffee. It's just the way Annabeth likes it. Well, the way she actually likes it. She'll say she likes her coffee black, and then go and dump a ton of sugar in it, and when that doesn't quite work, she'll pour some out into the sink and replace it with milk.

It's still not quite sweet enough for Will, but he needs the energy. Contrary to popular belief, he is an introvert. Arguments—hell, even just talking to people—really zap his energy. It's nothing some fresh air and a little alone time won't fix, though!

He takes another sip of the coffee and then his eyes widen. Is there nectar in this?

Maybe Percy isn't a total douche. Really, if Will thinks about it, he can't recall anything Percy did wrong other than being Annabeth's ex-boyfriend.

Will's one of those friends that hates everyone his best friends hate, and for a long time, that meant hating Luke, and Percy, and now trying really hard to show Annabeth that Drew is actually a cool person so that he doesn't have to hate her too.

So what's he supposed to do if his best friend suddenly can tolerate one of the people he's put in so much energy hating for her? This guy clearly cares about Annabeth; he knows her real coffee order for gods' sake!

Will's sort of a stubborn guy, but he knows when he's wrong. He should probably go apologize to Annabeth, wherever she is.

Shit, he left her alone in the bathroom after making it his life's mission to never abandon her.

He's a shitty friend.

Correction: Will is currently being a shitty friend. There's still time for him to fix this. There's always time to fix mistakes and prove that he's not, in fact, a terrible person.

And he's not going to talk to Percy until he's back in his own body again. If he runs into him as Annabeth, he'll be tempted to set them up. Yes, he's starting to come around to what they did last night. If Will thinks about it, the idea of exes going on a strictly business life-or-death quest only to spend a magical night of passion together in a hotel in Paris is super romantic. It should definitely end with them professing their love for one another and making out with little to no tongue the way they do in those Hallmark movies Nico's obsessed with. The only thing missing is an old man selling hot chocolate who looks suspiciously like Santa Claus!

If Will doesn't get his-slash-Annabeth's ass back to the hotel now and make things right, that Hallmark ending will never come true!

And hey, the quest isn't over yet. There's plenty of time for Santa Claus to make an appearance. Never bet against Santa Claus.

Will throws out the coffee Percy got for Annabeth because he's from Texas and only ever drinks iced coffee. Drama Time is over; it's no longer his time to shine. It's Annabeth and Percy's moment, and maybe Santa Claus's too.

He rounds the corner, sort of wishing he had packed a more dramatic outfit to run in with Annabeth's body. All he has are these moderately flowy sleeves, and they are not doing the job.

Stay focused, he says to himself. Eyes on the prize! He rounds another corner with ease, regretting how far he walked.

And then he slams into an admittedly handsome man, but not handsome the way Nico is. He's more like, conventionally handsome. He looks like the kind of guy whose name is Landon and whose only personality trait is playing lacrosse in high school. He's got floppy brown hair and a mischievous smirk like the Stoll brothers, but also not like the Stoll brothers because they probably stole Will's wallet or slapped a kick me sign onto his back. This guy looks at Will knowingly, and he gets the feeling that he should know this guy from somewhere.

He rakes his eyes up and down Annabeth's body. Did she hook up with this guy or something? Will swears, Annabeth can do a lot better than fucking Landon. He's wearing Adidas sweatpants. That is completely and utterly unacceptable.

"You're not an easy woman to find, Annabeth," Landon sneers. "You're smart; I'll give you credit for ditching my spy with your friends, but really? Going out all by yourself? What a silly thing for a girl to do."

Will scrambles to his feet, trying to ignore the stinging pain where his palms scraped against the pavement. There has to be a way out of this, but he didn't get Annabeth's wits when he swapped bodies with her.

He tries for the chopsticks Annabeth usually keeps in her hair, but then remembers that he put her hair in a French braid when he was lost in thought. Two French braids actually. Annabeth looks really cute with pigtails.

"What do you want with me?" Will asks, trying to stall for some time. His Annabeth impression is a lot better when he actually has her voice. He just has to work up the false confidence, but this guy is so tall! How does Annabeth face all the Landons of the world when she's at least a head shorter than them all?

Will balls his fists hoping that'll look menacing. Yeah, this guy won't even risk taking on Annabeth Chase.

The Landonish guy just chuckles. "Well, you'll just have to find that out for yourself. I promise I'll wait for just the right moment to hurt you. My brother would kill me if I brought you to him in any condition but pristine."

"That's kinda nasty," Will says, hearing his panicked Texan accent slip through Annabeth's voice. "I mean, if you're trying to freak me out, it worked. Great job, Landon."

He laughs again, grabbing Will's wrist before he can get a bitch slap in. Damn, Will has always wanted to bitch slap someone. If he dies before he gets the chance he is going to be so upset.

Wait, if he dies in Annabeth's body... what'll happen to her?

New objective: do whatever the hell this guy wants and stay the fuck alive. That's not exactly an Annabeth-worthy plan, but Will's never been one for unnecessary risks.

"Please don't kill me," Will says. "You're gonna have to deal with my friends if I'm dead." Of course, Will means the real Annabeth, who is hopefully looking for him right now because he's been gone a suspicious amount of time.

Unless she's still mad at him, or unless he set her off by leaving her alone. Oh, gods, if she's completely melting down because of him, he'll never forgive himself.

"I'm not worried about your friends," Landon says. "They won't even know where you've gone. They won't even know I've taken you. Maybe you got drunk and fell into the river."

Will most certainly did not get drunk and fall into a river, so he decides on a plan that's like, twenty-percent Annabeth-worthy, and then passes out when the strong scent of chloroform hits his nose.