Part II of The Floor is Lava

Inspired by Community S5E5: "Geothermal Escapism."

Annabeth POV 

Annabeth would like to report that she and Percy traveled across the quad in pleasant silence, occasionally giggling at the fat campus squirrels or making small talk about what Percy plans to do during his spring break at home.

However, Annabeth is unable to give such a report since she and Percy are currently using his prize fleece as a shield from the disks being thrown at them by the Ultimate Frisbee team.

"This sucks," she mutters. She can't see. Percy is her eyes, but he's not exactly the most observant person. He hasn't driven her into any lamposts yet, but he did neglect to mention a curb. Miraculously, they hopped that curb without capsizing the Jazzy.

"Yeah, it does suck," Percy agrees. "Tree. Tree. Oh my god, tree."

"Oh, sorry, let me just shrink the Jazzy so you can keep your hair nice."

"Screw you."

"Whatcha doin' under that blanket, lovebirds?" someone sneers.

Annabeth emerges from the blanket shield, catches a red Frisbee mid-air, and then tosses it back into the tree, effectively knocking Octavian-slash-Gary into a patch of mud. "We're not dating!" she shouts.

"I can't stand that guy," Percy says.

She doesn't respond. He doesn't need her to validate his feelings against their former TA.

"If he's lying about having amnesia, I'm going to kill him for ruining Frisbee for Jason."

All she can say is, "Oh." Percy's never really gotten violent before. Mr. Brunner's campus-wide games bring out the worst in people, but never the worst in Percy. Annabeth didn't know there was a worst in him.

CRACK!

Just Annabeth's luck. She's doing an awesome job taking out the Ultimate Frisbee team's alliance and it freakin' rains!

"Woah!" Lee Fletcher slips on a leaf and falls into the same mud puddle as the rest of the team.

Percy moves around beneath the blanket and says, "Do you want to get back under?"

What has her life come to? She's so hung up on a game of hot lava that she's forgotten about how frizzy her hair gets in the rain, and all because she wants to help some guy from her study group get home for spring break.

Well, he's not just some guy from her study group. At the very least he's her friend, and it would be a shame for him not to see his sister's Valentine's Day cards.

"I'm sorry about your blanket getting wet," she says when she covers herself with the golden fleece. It's actually very soft. Maybe she should have entered more raffles during her years at New Rome.

"It's okay," he says. "I'm just glad it turned out to be useful. Besides, the laundry in our apartment complex is free, so I can just dry it when I get back. Hey, look!"

"I can't look. I'm under a blanket and all I can see is your back. Did you know that the New Rome intermural rugby team was founded in 2005?"

"That new?" he asks.

"I mean, that's what it says on the back of your sweatshirt."

Percy yanks the blanket off the two of them, and Annabeth fights the urge to giggle at the way his hair sticks up from the static electricity. He points toward the building in front of him. Oh. The library. For a minute, it felt like the two of them were going on a romantic joyride on their stolen Jazzy. On second thought, it's totally not romantic, because they stole the scooter from a disabled person, and that is not a cool and romantic thing to do.

Annabeth steers them closer and closer...

And then the jazzy stops. She turns it off and then turns it back on.

It moves another foot and then stops.

"Oh my god," she groans at the little red light blinking on the dashboard.

"What?" Percy asks.

"We're toast. Jazzy's dead."

He whips his head around, shock in his ocean-green eyes. "Wait, like we drove it in the rain and it's broken forever?"

"No," Annabeth says. "I think it just needs to be charged. At least, we're going to tell ourselves that."

"So we're going to have to centipede up the library stairs?" he asks. "Alright, bring it on. What do we have?"

Annabeth shows him the broken cue stick.

"Okay, so that, plus my chicken sandwiches and blanket gets us... Shit, absolutely nothing. Can you reach the banister from here?" he asks.

The handrail on the library steps is not close enough for Annabeth to reach. She doesn't have a full stick to pole-vault it with, and even if she did, her lady parts do not like that risk.

They are completely and utterly screwed.

"So much for that really awesome plan I wasn't going to tell you about until we got to the library stacks," Annabeth quips.

"Did it involve knocking shelves over like dominos?"

"Perhaps."

And then, like a spooky castle in an old-timey movie, the doors to the library open. Yes, it's probably because someone pushed the automatic button, but it's still ominous.

And what do you know? Coming out of the library on wooden chairs centipede-style is Jason and Frank. It's a miracle.

"Over here!" Percy shouts, throwing the blanket off his head and waving his arms like a man overboard.

Annabeth pulls the blanket out from over her head. Holy crap, this blanket has a hood on it. Now she understands why Percy wanted to pick it up so badly. She is wearing the blanket like a Harry Potter villain or something. She wouldn't know. She's only seen the movies.

"Can you toss us a couple of chairs or something?" Percy asks.

Frank cups his hands around his mouth to be heard over the rain. Maybe he looks like a Harry Potter character in his purple New Rome hockey rainjacket. Annabeth wouldn't know. She was blackout drunk when Piper put the movie on. "You can't enter Hazel's Island unless you swear to share the spoils of war with the rest of the allies!" Frank shouts.

"How are we supposed to share a plane ticket?" Annabeth asks.

Jason shrugs. "We're going to resell it to someone stupid and make a ton of money."

They can't resell that ticket to someone stupid! Someone stupid needs that ticket to get home to his mom and his adorable little sister and his stepdad named Paul.

"Why the hell does Hazel always turn into a badass when the campus is in chaos?" Percy asks.

"Why the hell does the campus in chaos turn you two on?" Jason retorts.

Annabeth gasps. "I'm just cold!" She is holding onto Percy's waist like a girl on a motorcycle because she is cold and she is sticking to that story.

"Why are you guys suddenly Communists?" Percy asks. That's quite a jump.

Frank stutters, "We can share the wealth and not be Communists!"

"Guys, have mercy," Percy shouts. "Our ride broke down!"

Jason wipes the rain from his glasses and squints. "Is that Brunner's scooter?"

"It's a Jazzy!" Annabeth shouts back, her voice hoarse from shouting. She clears her throat. She hasn't been this hoarse since... Wait. It's Plan Time™.

Annabeth sighs in exasperation. "Can you guys let us up there to negotiate so we're not shouting? I think I'm coming down with something."

It's never a good thing to take advantage of your friends' kindness, but Frank is just too kind for his own good. Of course, he falls for Annabeth's trap. He falls for it without any convincing, which makes her feel a tiny bit guilty, but then she remembers that this is for the greater good. This is for Percy's mother, whom Annabeth has never met. She's sure she's a wonderful lady though. Why else would Percy want to go home?

Jason grabs some inflatable innertubes and builds a raft for Annabeth and Percy to use.

She says a silent goodbye to her trusty steed, hoping that Mr. Brunner will find it eventually. Then, she and Percy grab their equipment and abandon the ship.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us this way," Percy says from on top of an innertube shaped like a corgi.

Annabeth doesn't want to whack her friends. They are very nice guys and her sticks are sharp.

It's a good thing she has another plan that's a little less... personal.

"Cool, thanks," says Annabeth. She swipes an extra inflatable and hopes that Percy will get the idea.

Normally, she wouldn't look back to check if he was following her, but she does. She needs to not do stuff like this. When she starts doing nice things for people, she starts to care for them a little, and then her abandonment issues decide to make an unwelcome appearance, and that never turns out well for her.

But she does check for him, and she's relieved to find that he has a boogie board—a smart choice since the other rafts are vulnerable to things like broken cue sticks.

She forgot that they're in the library now though, and now she and her partner have a tough decision to make. "What do you think, Percy?" she asks. "Tables or inflatables?"

"You're giving me a choice?" he teases, his mouth turning up into a smirk.

"Don't make me regret it."

"Hmm," he says, really taking his time with the urgent decision.

Then, they hear a chair thud. "Excuse me!" Frank calls from the doorway. "You never told us if you want to join Hazel's Island and split the prize or not!"

"Frank, I'm pretty sure they're out," Jason says.

"Tables," Percy says, dropping his boogie board and mounting a chair. He holds out his hand to help Annabeth off her raft.

"Wait," she says. "Bring the boogie board."

He raises an eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"

"Have you ever been hit in the shin with a boogie board?"

"Point taken." Percy ties the velcro strap around his wrist and then helps Annabeth onto the table.

She drapes the blanket over her shoulder so it doesn't get lost, and starts running to keep up.

"Hey, you!" Silena calls from a nearby table.

Annabeth flings the blanket like it's an Indiana Jones whip, and Percy gets the idea. They each take an end of the blanket and run toward poor unsuspecting Silena.

"Woah!" she yells when the blanket catches her ankles, effectively launching her into the hot lava.

That was an excellent maneuver, and she didn't even have to tell Percy what the strategy was. In fact, she doesn't have to tell Percy that they're going to do it again to trip Malcolm Pace and the entire MythoMagic Club. That's how in sync they are.

As if he can read her mind, he says, "Stacks." That was her plan. They're going to lead their study group's alliance to the massive bookshelves toward the back of the building. It's an elaborate plan that she came up with as the Jazzy ran out of juice, and he just picked up on that.

She should have known better than to underestimate Percy Jackson. Is he... perfect?

"There's too many of them."

"Too many of what?"

And then she sees it. The entire men's lacrosse team is coming at them, sticks and all.

"They're like wild animals," Annabeth says. "Anything we can do to throw them off guard is an instant win-"

"Get on my back."

"Excuse me?" Excuse me is what she asks, but she decides not to question his plan. She climbs onto his incredibly toned swimmer's back and tries not to think about all the times she scratched her nails down it and all the times she apologized for the visible marks the other guys on the New Rome swimming and diving team made fun of on days subsequent to her and Percy's—ahem—meetings.

Percy takes a leap of faith and runs straight toward the lacrosse players, and Annabeth finally latches onto the plan, as well as his back. He's the driver and she's the gunner.

He steers like nobody's business, putting Annabeth face-to-face with a new jock upon each quarter-turn, and she hits like nobody's business, threatening to stab people with her broken cue sticks on each turn.

"Sorry, Butch!" she yells.

"I'm okay!"

And then she sees Pollux, running to the rafts they accidentally left too close to the table. How stupid could she have been to have left an escape pod within reach?

Percy turns again, knocking someone out with the boogie board attached to his wrist. "In my pocket."

"On it." There's nothing sexual about sticking your hand in a guy's pocket and coming up with a spicy Chick-fil-A sandwich. Nothing at all, so she takes that sandwich and then throws it at the back of Pollux's neck. Maybe she shouldn't have quit the softball team in middle school, because the impact is hard enough to send him face-first into the lava. Another one bites the dust.

"Percy and Annabeth... as like, one unit," Jason says from atop his chair.

"Would they call that 'Percabeth?'" Frank asks, earning a slap to the back of the head.

"Shut up, man!"

Percy slowly eases Annabeth off his back and sticks his hand in his pocket. He doesn't need to have good aim with this next chicken sandwich because Jason's head is essentially a magnet. The spicy homophobic sandwich hits him in the forehead, and because nobody has the stamina to withstand it, he falls over backward and into the lava. Hopefully, the hot lava breaks his fall so he doesn't get another concussion.

"Oh my god, you just killed Jason!" Frank yells.

Percy sticks his hand in his pocket, but here's the thing: Annabeth is fairly certain that he just threw the last sandwich unless he's hiding some chicken nuggets in there or something.

Frank shrieks and jumps into the lava.

Frank Zhang just committed hot lava suicide.

Percy takes his hand out of his pocket, proving that there was not, in fact, another sandwich—just as Annabeth suspected. She's genuinely impressed by Percy's ability to psychologically manipulate poor innocent Frank.

And then Hazel approaches the team on a raft. How it's moving, Annabeth has no idea, but it's kind of large.

Luckily, Annabeth has amazing aim and throws half of the broken cue stick as the raft.

It pops immediately upon impact, and as she hits the ground, Hazel says, "I didn't even get to finish my dramatic entrance..."

"That's okay!" Leo yells from somewhere off in the distance. "I've got a grand entrance!"

That should be Annabeth and Percy on that Jazzy they stole from a disabled person, not Leo and whoever that girl is.

"Take a look at my girlfriend!" he says.

The girl holding onto his waist says, "I'm his girlfriend."

They're actually kind of cute together, and Annabeth is really happy for Leo, but that means that now she and Percy are the only ones who aren't dating anyone.

It's going really fast. Like, way faster than it did when Percy and Annabeth were riding it. That little shit tuned it up! That is so not fair.

"Gimme that boogie board," she says.

With a RIP, Percy undoes the velcro strap and gives the styrofoam board to Annabeth, who goes all apeshit on Leo and his cute nerdy girlfriend.

"Ow, geez!" Leo says.

"I... I want no part of this. Sorry, babe." Leo's girlfriend kisses him on the cheek and then hops off the scooter, totally ignoring that she's burning in hot lava, and walks off to go do whatever it is she does. Annabeth wouldn't know.

Leo winces when the boogie board hits him in the head. "Geez!" he shouts, holding his arms up in defense. He never should have taken his hands off the controls because the Jazzy starts to spin around and then like a mechanical bull, it throws Leo into the lava.

"I should have never taken apart that mechanical bull!" he shouts.

"Some friend you are, Annabeth!" Piper shouts.

"What?"

Piper crosses her arms and shifts her weight on the desk she's chosen to stand on. "Jason and I were going to use our share of the money to pay for our wedding!"

"You... you what?"

Annabeth will admit, she's not really a romantic person. She doesn't understand the whole "ring by spring" thing. She thought Piper at the very least would be a reasonable person. Annabeth thought she might focus on securing a plan for after college, then save up some money, and then plan the wedding if she and Jason are still together. They haven't even been together for a year, after all.

But Annabeth has more pressing issues than contemplating Piper's questionable life choices.

"It is so on!" Piper says.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I'd love to see you come over here and fight me."

"This part of the plan, Wise Girl?" Percy asks.

"Watch."

Piper ties a couple of balloons from the Dollar Tree to her belt loops and gets ready to jump.

And because this is not a cartoon, the balloons do not carry her to Annabeth and Percy. They drop her right into the lava.

"Shit," Piper says. "Well, I hope you enjoy those plane tickets, Annabeth. Whatever it is you're doing with them."

Annabeth opens her mouth to speak, but what is she supposed to say? Instead of letting you use this money for your wedding, I'm helping this guy I've claimed to hate to win it so he can go back home to his mom for spring break. Yeah, that's believable, and totally not something she wants to admit to Piper.

Percy throws an arm around her and says, "She's helping me win so I can go home for spring break!"

"Oh, that's really nice! Why didn't you say something earlier?" Piper asks.

She grunts in reply. "I'm going to the stacks. We're going to end this."

"Oh, good idea!" Leo says. "There's like, a ton of dead people climbing around on the shelves!"

"Yep," says Annabeth, "we've got a plan."

"Did you say dead people?" Percy asks.

"They're after all the people who are still in the game," Jason explains, rubbing his head. "It's hella freaky. They're like a bunch of zombies"

Percy sighs and says, "Fan-freaking-tastic."

Something tells Annabeth that this is not going to be fan-freaking-tastic.

✎✎✎

"Shoot," Annabeth says, her foot slipping again. She should have picked a better day to wear her fake Docs. They keep slipping and the zombie students swimming around in the lava aren't making balance any easier.

"Can you not step on my face every time you slip?" Percy asks.

"You know what?" Annabeth asks. "That's a valid concern. Switch places with me."

He takes her hand and climbs a few shelves, trying not to scuff the spines of the books.

"You should tie us together with that blanket or something," she says.

Percy winces. "Wise Girl, I gotta tell you something."

"Yes?"

"Zombie Mark took the blanket."

It's not ideal. She should be mad. She usually gets mad at him when things like this happen. Instead, she tries to be patient. "It's fine. Everything is fine."

"Oh, everything is absolutely not fine!" a voice from below yells.

A cold hand grips Annabeth's ankle, and it's all downhill from here.

"Get off me, Nico!" she yells.

"Never! I was going on spring break, and now I'm stuck here! Sure, I'll go to the beach anyway, but there's something about a spring break in Florida that hits different! Actually, I wouldn't know because I've never been on a spring break in Florida!" he complains.

He tugs a little more, and Annabeth's sure she's a goner, except Percy is a really nice guy and tightens his grip on her hand. She didn't even realize she was still holding his hand until this moment.

"Percy, let me go! Get to the next shelf and finish the plan."

"No!" he says. He doesn't want to let her go, but she can see the strain in his eyes, and the sweat beading on his forehead.

"You can't pull me up," she says. "Please, Percy."

"You're not getting away from me," he says.

Protective is a really hot look on Percy. It's so hot she kind of wants to kiss him, weird confusing feelings and all.

So she kicks Nico in the face to hold him back a little longer and presses her lips to Percy's. He tastes like cookies and also saltwater, which is weird because he spends a lot of time in a chlorinated pool. She'd like to tug on his hair, she'd like to rub her palm against the stubble he gets when he has a lot of homework due at the end of the week, and she wants to just keep kissing him like this forever. Well, she probably couldn't handle doing that forever—if that were the case, she wouldn't get to see that smirk of a smile that makes her blood boil or hear him call her Wise Girl quite as often as she'd like.

And the magical moment has to come to an end when Nico di Angelo shouts, "Why the hell is it always me in the middle of this? God, I hate straight people."

Annabeth gives Percy a wink and says to Nico, "Well, it's a good thing we're both bisexual."

"Annabeth, we should probably talk about this," Percy stammers.

"I'm bi, and you owe me a date. What more is there to talk about?"

Percy smirks. "Not El Taco Fiesta."

"Not El Taco Fiesta."

"Seven okay?" he asks.

"You have a flight to catch. After spring break," Annabeth says. "Tell your sister and mom I say hi."

"And my stepdad, Paul."

"And your stepdad Paul." That's not exactly what Annabeth would like to be her last words, but if she hangs on any longer, she'll bring Percy down with her and Nico.

So she lets go of his hand and plummets into the disease-infested hoard of zombies below, which isn't the most flattering end to the story.

The flattering ending is the pride she feels when the bookshelves topple over like dominos, all according to plan.

And all according to plan, Percy Jackson is going to win the campus-wide game of hot lava, and he will go home for spring break.

✎✎✎

Percy Jackson won the prize, and Annabeth is very proud of him.

Percy Jackson did not win a ticket home for spring break. Turns out Mr. Brunner and the staff at the Campus Activities Office anticipated Nico di Angelo winning the prize and bought him and his boyfriend Will two tickets to paradise—spring break in Florida.

Annabeth connects her phone to the Bluetooth in Percy's Jeep and cranks Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA." She used to kind of hate Miley Cyrus, but ever since Percy played her nonstop that time he tried to become an Uber driver, her music has been growing on her. Plus, they're about to hop on a plane at LAX.

"The bikini top on the plane is a little extra," Percy says, taking note of Annabeth's attire.

She leans over the center console and kisses her—get ready for this—boyfriend. "Let's get this spring break started."

"Okay, but we're FaceTiming my mom and sister as soon as the plane touches down," he says. "And my stepdad, Paul."

"And your stepdad, Paul," Annabeth says.

And together, they spend their first date on spring break in Florida.