Annabeth handed Percy the pencil. "Alright, I've done eight questions with you; it's time for you to try one yourself."
Percy frowned at the paper. "Uh, yo conozco… a la… bombero?"
"What? Percy we're doing algebra." Annabeth took a deep breath. "Do you think you could pay attention for like five minutes? I've been tutoring you for almost an hour and we still haven't even finished this worksheet."
"But I don't wanna fucking study," Percy complained, putting his head down on the table. "You said you were coming over to hang out, not do homework."
"Your mom said you needed help with your school work, so I'm helping you." Annabeth had to admit that Percy was kind of right; she had told him they could hang out. It was a Saturday morning and she'd promised Percy they could go see a movie or go to lunch or something; Annabeth had to admit that staying in and doing math homework was an unfair trade off. But she had promised Sally, and there was no way she would have let him fall behind anyways. So instead of going on a date with her hot boyfriend, she was going to teach that loveable idiot some algebra, which, in her book, was even better. Dates end. Knowledge is forever.
"You can do this Percy," Annabeth coaxed. "It's only one page of fill-in-the-blank. If you put your mind to it, we could be done in no time. These are quadratics, Percy. I've been doing these since sixth grade."
Percy lifted his head and picked up his pencil. "Well some people are good at math, others can talk to horses, I mean, take your pick."
"I'm going to ignore that for the sake of your education. Here's the problem: x2+8x+7=0, solve for x," Annabeth read.
Percy stared up at her blankly "What the fuck does that even mean?"
"Factor it," Annabeth reminded. "Remember? You need to factor."
Percy stood up. "I'm hungry. Do you want a snack?"
Annabeth grabbed his arm and pulled him back into his chair. "What I'd really like is some answers to these questions. What adds to 8 and multiplies to 7?"
"Is it… 2 and 4?" He asked hopefully.
"Close," Annabeth said. "Keep guessing."
"I have to go to the bathroom," Percy announced.
"You do not have to go to the bathroom. You have gone to the bathroom three times. Sit down and do your work."
He scrunched up his face. "7 and 1?"
"Good job!" She wrote it on the paper. "Now what would the equation look like?"
Percy sighed heavily and stared back down at the worksheet. "(x+7)(x+1)?"
Annabeth smiled and scribbled in the answer. "You got it! You're almost there. Now all you need to do is solve. You can do this."
Percy took off his shirt. "Wanna touch my abs?"
"Percy! Focus, god damnit!"
He stared down at the worksheet for a few seconds. "Um…x is equal to… 7 or 1?"
"Yes!" Annabeth exclaimed. She felt kind of stupid getting so excited over a math problem she could have solved in ten seconds, but coaxing this answer out of Percy was way harder than it should have been. She kissed him on the cheek to celebrate.
Percy responded by grabbing her face and kissing her on the lips instead. He may have been absolutely terrible at math, but he was good at kissing. Annabeth, on the other hand, was very good at both math and kissing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. After a few seconds he pulled away and grinned stupidly. "Wanna continue this on the couch?"
"Oh definitely." Annabeth unbuttoned the top button of her blouse and leaned in close. "Just as soon as we finish this worksheet."
Percy buried his face in his arms. "You don't have to torture me. Not cool, Annabeth!"
"You know what is cool?" Annabeth whispered into his ear. "Algebra."
Percy moaned incomprehensively into the table.
"Look, I'll make you a deal," Annabeth said lifting his head. "I will undo one button on my shirt for every problem you get right."
His eyes lit up. "Wait, strip tutoring? I just remembered; I love math!"
"That's what I thought," Annabeth answered. "Problem 2…"