"Are you even sure this is safe?"
She rolled her eyes and snorted a little, stretching her arms.
"Relax, Jackson. I'll leave your face intact so Rachel can still ogle it later."
He spluttered, a warm red splashing across his cheeks. "What's that s'posed to mean?" His face got redder still as his voice cracked near the end, before desperately trying to disguise it with a cough. "Tha-that still doesn't explain my question, Chase."
She smirked, as if taking pleasure in his discomfort (although she probably was), and cracked her knuckles for dramatic effect.
"It'll be fine, and I'm sure your little fanclub would love to have the chance to swoon and titter over your injuries. It's a win win."
He grimaced. "More like a lose lose."
She bared her teeth in a sarcastic smile. "But don't you trust me?"
Percy was pretty sure all the blood had rushed to his head at that point, but tried to remain 'cool' by flashing her his own cheeky grin. 'Cool' had ended up looking more like 'stupid', but at least that made her smile for real. The smirk was completely wiped off his face when he remembered what was about to happen. "So uhh... So you've practiced this before, right?"
She sighed in exasperation. "Yes. And you were willing to volunteer because you're my friend, right?"
He stared at the floor. Maybe I want us to be more than frien-ARGHHHHHHHHHHH
His train of thought was cut short as Annabeth judo-flipped him, and he slammed onto the mat that felt suspiciously like concrete.
He felt light-headed, but not because of the concussion- well, yes, but it was mostly due to the fact that Annabeth was staring down at him with an amused look on her face, and Percy, being the person he was, thought she looked really cute despite her trying to kill him.
Or maybe because the impact had physically turned his brain to mush. Either works.