A/N Hey people! I'm writing chapter eleven of PoF right now, but I thought I'd post this little oneshot to satiate you if you're interested.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sadly.

Enjoy!

Annabeth and Piper were in the arena training. Annabeth had been pleasantly surprised by Piper's unremitting desire to learn how to fight, to learn how to properly defend herself against monsters. Most Aphrodite girls—or boys—steered clear of anything that could dirty up their Gucci or break a perfectly polished nail. She could only think of one other beauty child who'd ever cared about fighting….

"No, Piper," she said, after closely observing the girl hack at one of the training dummies. "You don't hold the hilt like that, not edge in. You're not Norman Bates." Annabeth fisted her own dagger and placed her thumb on the rise. "Hold it like this."

Piper nodded and tried again, immediately preferring Annabeth's technique. She smiled and stabbed the dummy in the chest.

Annabeth grinned. Well, as much as she could. These days, it was amazing that she even got up and out of bed anymore. Piper had never known her without the worried, heartbroken glint in her eyes. She didn't comment anymore, just chose to ignore it, eager for the day when Annabeth could be reunited with her boyfriend.

"You're getting much better," Annabeth praised, and Piper couldn't help but blush. She wasn't used to compliments not relating to her looks, to things that she had no control over.

"Thanks. It means a lot, coming from you."

Annabeth didn't question what that meant. She knew. Piper had heard the rumors no doubt. She knew the kind of quests Annabeth had been on before. She'd also seen her fight. Annabeth wasn't proud for nothing. She'd struggled through a lot of things to become the best, and she wasn't going to downplay her skill.

Piper laid down on the blacktop then, panting slightly, drenched in sweat. Annabeth sat down beside her, looking as murderously calm as she always did.

"So you're a daughter of Athena."

Annabeth didn't say anything for a while, and for a moment, Piper assumed that she hadn't heard her at all. She smiled sadly eventually, and Piper realized she'd just been thinking, something that she seemed to do a lot.

"Yeah."

"So you're all crafty and wise."

Annabeth shrugged. "Comes with the territory, I guess. It took time, though. All Athena children are born intelligent. It takes time to become wise."

Piper let that sink in, thinking that she must have experienced a lot emotionally to come to that conclusion.

She also wondered what it was like to just know nearly everything about everything. Piper had, on many occasions, wished that she was also Athena's daughter. Being the daughter of beauty and love sometimes made her feel shallow.

"Do you ever wish you had a different Olympian parent?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No, never. Not once. I think intelligence is one of the most important things someone could have, if not the most important. It's definitely come in handy on my quests."

Piper didn't want to offend her, seeing as she was really her only female friend, but she just couldn't help herself.

"So you don't think love is important?"

Annabeth tensed slightly, looking at the skies before glancing at Piper. "I never said that." Her eyes returned to the pile of hay in front of them. "I just don't value love as much. It wouldn't really help me in a fight."

Piper knew she was likely about to be slapped, but she was unable to force her mouth closed.

"Why do you fight for the gods, Annabeth?"

"Because…why wouldn't I?"

"Well, why is it wise to fight for them?"

"Because they'd likely kill me otherwise. Because the world would be destroyed if I didn't. Because it's the right thing to do."

Biting her lip, Piper dug herself in deeper.

"So your emotions do play a part in this?"

Annabeth threw a scathing look over her shoulder at Piper.

"That's beside the point."

Piper shook her head, pouring her water bottle over her stomach, trying to cool off in the intense heat.

"I don't think so. You love your mom, Annabeth?"

"Of course, she's my mom."

"You love Thalia?"

"She's my best friend, but—"

"How about Grover? Or Chiron? Malcolm?"

"What does that—"

"Do you love Percy?"

Annabeth didn't reply, and Piper figured she was either about to be gutted or she'd been spot on with her guess.

"There are many kinds of love, Annabeth, not only romantic. You love your mom, and your brother, and your best friend in the familial way, because they're your family, or the closest you have to it. Same as I love my dad or Leo. You fought in all those battles to protect them, because you love them.

"But you also love Percy. Romantically. You trust him more than anyone else. You believe him, in him. You'd do anything for him, and that includes sacrificing yourself for him, which you've apparently done before. You've made decisions that weren't always wise because you trusted Percy, because you loved Percy. And you still make decisions now based on him even though he's not here, because you'll always love him.

"You won that war because you loved your family, you loved Percy, and you even loved Luke. You didn't have to think about those things you did in the end because you did them out of love and not out of logic.

"You and Percy started out as friends, in which everything was companionable love. Then, as best friends, it was familial. Now, since you're dating, it's romantic love. One day, it will be physical. Your whole entire life revolves around love of some sort. Even if it's only love for architecture. Love for facts.

"You love being wise."

Annabeth's mouth had gone dry, not sure how to respond. "Um…."

Piper sat up, shrugging it off. "I'm a strange girl, Annabeth. I'm the daughter of Aphrodite, yet I hate dressing up. I wish I got acne or had a big nose or something unattractive. I like to fight, and I want to improve. I don't want to be helpless and sit around doing my nails. But she's still my mom. And I still believe that love, above all, is the most important thing, because it influences everything else. You shouldn't be ignorant of love, Annabeth, because although it's bliss, it's not wise."

Piper stood up, sheathed Katoptris in its holster, and stalked off, back to her cabin. She was smelly and sweaty and wanted to get in a good shower before she went to eat dinner.

Annabeth stayed where she was, knowing that everything Piper had said was true. Love really was the deciding factor in all things. And she hated admitting it.

Still, she'd never think that Aphrodite was better than Athena, because although Aphrodite knew about love better than anyone else, she'd never properly been in love. She wasn't really wise about the subject.

But sitting there, thinking of Percy, she realized that she was. And maybe Piper was, too.

A/N So, what did you think? I don't know, but I was just sitting around watching random British TV shows, thinking about nothing in particular, when this popped into my mind. I thought it would be fun. It was. I hope you guys had fun, too!

The title's kind of ridiculous, I know. I'd saved it on my computer as AP Bonding, and obviously that wouldn't work. But anywho...

Oh, and I googled (why isn't that accepted as a word yet?) knife techniques and I watched a few videos, so this is all secondary information. If it's wrong, eh, we're not perfect. Sorry. By the way, I'd just watched Psycho in my film study class, so that's why I mentioned Norman Bates. Hitchcock is pretty cool.

Please tell me what you thought. I'm doing this because I enjoy writing, but I also want to get better, so if you have an opinion, share it with me! It would mean a lot!

-SheCan

Au revoir!