Alternatively

Game On

"Hey, your hair looks good today."

She nearly dropped her clipboard. "What?"

"Your hair," he repeated, waving a hand vaguely around his head. "Did you do something different?"

Furious heat flooded her face. It was so random; the compliment should have been given upon walking up to her if it was truly casual and on the fly. But they were half way through inspections before Percy had offered the comment.

"No," Annabeth decided at last, turning back to her checklist. "It's just a pony tail."

"Oh."

They continued looking over the Demeter cabin in silence. She lifted up a plant frond to make sure no one had hidden any contraband again, peeking at her partner out of the corner of her eye. He was tapping his pencil against his board, staring at the leafy vines climbing up the side of a window. His face, outlined in late morning sun, was clear and unworried, as if he hadn't just shaken her with a single comment.

Her hair hasn't been any different than the past two days, which he had been present for. Why bring it up suddenly, out of the blue?

He must have felt her stare, because he turned to blink at her. "What?"

"Are you making fun of me?"

"What?"

"Did you like," she patted the top of her head self consciously. "Did you put something in my hair or something?"

"No," he raised an eyebrow. "I was just saying your hair looked nice, is that so weird?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

She crossed her arms with a huff. "Because you never say stuff like that, it's weird!"

"I say stuff like that all the time," he argued, mirroring her stance. "You just think it's weird because you never compliment anyone ever."

Her embarrassment was slowly being overtaken by anger and pride. "That's not even remotely true."

"Oh yeah? Because I can count on one hand you've complimented me, and it looks like a zero."

"Fine, you want a compliment? Your shirt looks clean today."

"That's not a compliment!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "What do you want then?"

"I dunno, maybe it's nice to hear, "Wow, Percy, you look nice today" or "Gee, that shirt brings out the color of your eyes" or something."

She stared at him for a second, not really comprehending what he was saying. He did realize she was fully obligated to punch him for just suggesting something so vulnerable, right?

But he just shook his head, looking back to his own clipboard. "Forget it."

There was an unspoken 'You wouldn't understand' and a coil of hot emotion curled in her gut. What wouldn't she get? She can compliment him, she knows how to take compliments. They were fourteen, not shut ins; people said nice things to each other all the time.

They finished their inspections and walked to the mess hall, only talking about trivial things like archery and if the nymphs cleaned up the trashed amphitheater. He clearly thought she couldn't understand, but she would show him. She could dish it out too, and he will learn that it's a whole lot more awkward than he thought. Annabeth was not one to be shown up.

She sat at her table until Chiron officially announced lunch to start, staring with steely resolve at the single person at the Poseidon table. It was kind of rude of him to ignore her gaze, because she knew that he knew she was trying to make eye contact and he was stubbornly looking everywhere but her. When he stood to get in line for the sacrificial flame, she quickly (but not too fast to look eager) joined him.