In Which Romantic Developments Occur

It was a typical day in the garage at Olympus Auto. Annabeth was replacing the AC unit in that goddamn minivan for the third time this week. Frank was perched in the bed of a truck eating his lunch—a ham sandwich on rye—and Leo was drumming on a toolbox with his wrench to the tune of AC/DC's "Back in Black."

This was probably the fourth time this morning that they'd started Leo's mixtape from the beginning. Every day, Leo made Frank and Annabeth do their work while listening to this cassette tape where he'd recorded all his favorite "fixin' tunes." To Annabeth's knowledge, it primarily consisted of classic rock tunes like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Guns N' Roses. She was convinced Leo thought he was Iron Man.

"Why can't we ever get to the end of your mixtape?" Frank asked with his mouth full of ham lunchmeat. "Or could we maybe start with the B side just to mix it up? I can't hear any of these songs without feeling like I should be fixing something."

"That's against the principle!" Leo said. "You have to listen to an album the whole way through!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes as she started the engine on the minivan again, trying her best to blast the air conditioning. "Can't we be like normal people and get a Bluetooth speaker? We could make a garage playlist that everyone could add to."

Leo scoffed. "And listen to Taylor Swift while I'm trying to be a badass? No thanks!"

Annabeth gasped. "Just because I'm a woman, you think I'm a Swiftie?"

"That warning was for Frank."

Frank pouted from the bed of the truck he should have been working on. "Her album Reputation is very badass, I'll have you know."

"What if the last track on the cassette is just 'Free Bird?'" Annabeth asked. "Then what? That has to count for at least three songs' worth of space."

The AC in the minivan kicked again, and against her better judgment, Annabeth pounded her fist against the unit. "Shit! Someone else's turn to work on this damned thing!"

Frank wiped the crumbs off his pants and hopped out of the truck. "I don't understand why they won't just let us scrap that thing. I don't think even Piper could sell this."

"What can't I sell?"

Everyone froze at the sound of Piper McLean's voice.

Leo was the first to speak up. "It's been weeks, and we can't get the AC in this damn minivan to work. I'd like to just take a day and dismantle the entire thing since it's a hunk of junk anyway, but Percy won't let us."

"Well, nobody's buying minivans anymore," said Piper. "Believe me; there's two we've been trying to sell. One has grass stains all over the carpet, and the other has a broken entertainment system, so nobody wants them, even used."

Frank sighed. "It's all about SUVs these days. The kind with the bucket seats."

Leo laughed. "I remember being stuffed into the backseat middle hump with the other foster kids at this one home I was staying at. They said it was because I was the shortest, but we were all like seven years old. The driver could have seen past any of us!"

"That's funny," Annabeth said. "I was a tall kid, and my stepmother used to throw me in the backset middle hump of her Mercedes between my twin halfbrothers just to keep them from strangling each other. I got a black eye doing that once."

"Children are demons," Piper agreed. "Well, I'm leaving early today because I've got a dentist's appointment. Will I be seeing you guys here tomorrow?"

"Yeah," said Frank. "All day, every day."

"Except for the weekends," Leo said. Leo took his weekends very seriously.

Annabeth climbed out of the minivan at last and cut the engine. "Have a good rest of the day, Piper."

"Yeah, I- Oh, black is a good color on you, Chase!"

Did Piper know what she was doing when she said stuff like that? When she called her by her last name? Annabeth could already feel the blush creeping up her face. "It's uh... It's my laundry day." Did she know that Annabeth would wear that same outfit for the rest of her life if it meant getting that kind of attention from her?

"I wish every day was laundry day, in that case," Piper said. "Next time Percy does a merch order, I'll tell him to put in for more of the black t-shirts." She winked on her way out.

Annabeth stood there for a minute, her right foot still inside the minivan and the sound of Guns N' Roses filling her ears.

Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty!

"Oh, won't you please take me home!" Leo sang along, doing air guitar.

"Annabeth? Earth to Annabeth?" Frank asked gently.

She shook it out. She needed to get a grip. Piper was a coworker, and even though Annabeth learned pretty quickly that Olympus Auto didn't particularly care if employees engaged in unprofessional activities, Annabeth wasn't proud of the feelings in her gut she got every time Piper said something in that honey-smooth voice of hers.

But did she have to throw in a wink? That stupid wink melts her every time. Now, she won't be able to concentrate until she gets home, takes a long, cold shower, and heats up her leftovers from the other night.

"Yeah, I'm here," she said to the guys. "I just got a little distracted. Is my water in the truck, Frank?"

"Leo, she's doing it again!"

"Doing what?" Annabeth demanded.

Frank's cheeks heated up, and for a second, Annabeth was reassured that Frank was even worse at hiding his embarrassment than her.

Leo sighed dramatically and dropped his air guitar. "Every time Piper comes in here, you get all like... like this, and then you ask for your water."

"I do not."

"Yes, you do," Leo said.

Frank passed Annabeth her water bottle. "It's okay to have a crush," he said. "She's nice and pretty."

"Frank, please-"

"If you don't want us to point it out," Leo said, "maybe get a little better at hiding it."

"But I don't have a crush on her!" Okay, that was a lie. Annabeth was totally head-over-heels for Piper McLean. She was gorgeous, and she didn't treat Annabeth like shit. She was perfect. Could you blame Annabeth?

Leo smirked. "Listen, if I were you, I would just shoot my shot. Get it over with, and hopefully, Drew won't find out about it."

"Wow," Annabeth said sarcastically. "It's a good thing I'm not into her because that advice was awful."

"Hey, I thought it was pretty good for an aroace guy like myself!" Leo said.

"Dropping it!" she declared. "We are not talking about this for the rest of the day! Or ever!"

"Fine, fine," said Leo. "Whatever you want, sweetheart."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Leo's term of endearment and went to find something else to work on; she'd had enough of the minivan for one day.

"Woah!" Frank shouted, tripping on a creeper. The plastic organizer he was carrying fell to the ground, practically in slow motion. The lid popped open upon impact, spilling bolts of various sizes everywhere.

There was something for Annabeth to do! Finally! She bent to the ground and started sorting the bolts back into their cubbyholes. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Frank said. "I'm just a little clumsy."

"Hey, it happens," she said.

She reached for the same bolt as him, and their hands touched. Instead of retracting his hand like a normal person, Frank held on to Annabeth's calloused fingers.

"For what it's worth," he said, "you're certainly further with Piper than I've ever gotten with my crush. I don't think she even knows I exist."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Frank had a crush, and Leo had yet to tease him? That was certainly news to her.

"I mean, it's not like I know her very well or anything," he rambled on. "We just volunteer at the soup kitchen together. Well, not really together. She makes the meals, and I pass them out to the folks who need them. I've heard she makes delicious chicken noodle soup, and she brings in freshly baked bread... Ah, but you don't want to hear all this."

Annabeth fell back on her heels. Work could wait. "It's okay; you can tell me about her."

"Well, if by some chance, I got the courage to talk to her, or if she miraculously noticed me, it could never work out."

"Why not?"

"She works for Jupiter," Frank said glumly.

Leo clamped a hand over his mouth. "No freakin' way! Sleeping with the enemy!"

Frank blushed. "It's not like that! I swear-"

"Tell us more about her," Annabeth said. "What's her name?"

He seemed to calm down a bit. "Her name is Hazel. She's really pretty and smart, and she's good with kids. That's important to me, you know."

Annabeth nodded, maybe not so much invested in Frank's crush as she was relieved that the heat was no longer on her. That was fine, though. They rarely ever talked about Frank's personal life.

"And she can cook, and she... Well, she must be smart if she's a salesperson for Jupiter."

Annabeth agreed. "She must be."

He sighed. "I really like her, guys. I don't know what to do."

Frank rested his head in his hands and looked between Annabeth and Leo before finally settling his stare on the bolt rolling on the floor in front of him.

Nothing but the sweet sounds of Leo's mixtape filled the silence.

Annabeth squeezed Frank's hand and then let go, pulling herself to her feet and dusting off her knees.

And then her plan hit.

She wished she could replace the AC in the minivan as fast as her plans tended to hit her. The plans and schemes just showed up unannounced when she didn't need them. The minivan was supposed to be fixed... Well, forever ago.

"Frank," she said. "Was that ham sandwich technically your lunch break?"

"Nah, I'm a fast eater."

She turned around. "Leo!"

"What?"

"You had lunch yet?"

"Shit," Leo said. "I forgot to pack one again."

"That'll be our cover," she declared.

Frank scrambled to put the bolts away and asked, "Our cover for what?"

Annabeth said, "We're going to Jupiter Auto Trader to get you a date."

"Woo!" Leo shouted. "Frank's got rizz!"

Before she could beg Leo to never use that word again, Frank jumped. "But how are we going to pull that off?"

Annabeth said, "Leave that to me."

***

"Turn around," Frank said from the backseat. His face had turned an odd shade of green. "I can't do this."

Annabeth pulled her Mini Cooper into a parking space and cut the engine. "I'd love to hear your excuse this time."

"Nervous tummy?"

Leo laughed from the shotgun seat. "Ha! That's great! You can ask Hazel to show you where the bathroom is!"

"Shh!" Frank hissed. "What if someone sees us?"

"That's the point," Annabeth said.

"But what if someone notices us?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "You mean someone like Hazel?"

"Can't we just stay in the car? I'm kind of enjoying music that isn't on Leo's mixtape."

"Hey!" Leo shouted.

Frank put his hands up in defense. "Just for a change!"

"But Annabeth listens to Metallica like one of those high school weirdos that sat on the back of the bus and had a goth phase instead of friends."

"Well, Leo, you won't believe this," Annabeth said.

"I don't want to know," he declared, getting out of the car. He pushed a button that eased the passenger seat forward slowly but surely.

"Can't we come up with some kind of a script before we go in?" Frank asked from the backseat.

Annabeth spilled her coffee into some bushes and then said, "Frank, we already went over this. You're going to be fine; just follow the plan and be yourself."

"I'm just not so sure I want to do this," he said.

"Oh my god," said Annabeth. "Get out of the car."

"Gods," Leo corrected, per company policy. "But she's right, man. Get out of the car before we look weird."

Frank started, "Leo-"

"No buts. We only have our lunch hour."

"That's even a stretch," Annabeth said. It took them about fifteen minutes with traffic to get over here, and they'd already wasted time trying to coax Frank out of the car.

"Frank!" Leo yelled.

"Can you move the seatbelt, please?" he asked, trying to untangle himself from a seatbelt that had gotten caught on the seat.

Frank hadn't even gotten out of the car, and already he'd managed to embarrass himself. Annabeth considered giving him an out; he seemed uncomfortable with the whole idea, and clearly, the plan wasn't going to be a great success.

And then Annabeth remembered this morning in the garage and the accusations Leo and Frank threw at her. They couldn't know about her crush on Piper. Annabeth was on thin ice; she knew that, but she needed to divert Leo and Frank so they wouldn't come closer to the confirmation they'd been looking for. If they broke Annabeth's barrier, they could spread rumors. Sure, they didn't seem like the kind of people who would do such a thing, but she had only known them for a few weeks. You could never be certain.

Therefore, some secrets were meant to remain under lock and key.

Frank took some deep breaths while Leo ruffled his short hair.

"Remember," Annabeth said to Frank, "you're looking to buy a car, and Leo and I are your moral support. Like those douchebags who pretend to know more about cars than the people selling them."

"Except you won't be douchebags, right?" Frank asked.

When neither of them answered, he insisted. "Promise me that you won't be douchebags."

"We won't," Leo said. "We'll just hype you up. I promise, man, I am an awesome wingman!"

Frank grumbled something that sounded close to, "That's what I was afraid of."

Leo clapped Frank on the back, and Annabeth led the guys into the lobby of Jupiter Auto Trader.